that rosebud girl

*sigh*

you ever have one of those days when you want to just run your car into a tree?

chalk this up as one of those days….

stuff.

so it’s been a whirlwind few days….and it’s raining again outside…stupid thunderstorms….but i guess i may not have to worry about watering the lawn….

i went to old navy today because i wanted some new clothes…i always run out of clothes….besides, i needed pants and shorts that actually fit. so i went and happily found out that i’ve dropped a couple of sizes. sweet. i am nice and trim again. the only bad thing was that my little shopping spree set me back over a hundred bucks….oh well.

on saturday, mark came down from albany, and he, pete and i went to a phillies game. we’d all never been to the new citizens bank park before….let me say that it was awesome. we wandered around a bit before the game, had some kick-ass pork sandwiches, just took in the view….i loved it. we had upper deck seats, right above home plate. ed came and visited for a couple of innings. but it’s a stunning ballpark. i took some pictures i’ll put up later. great views and great atmosphere. but the phils lost that night. leave it to the phils to screw up an otherwise fun night…..the three of us headed back to pete’s after the game….watched some chappelle show….shot the breeze…the usual. it was great seeing mark again. i hope he and michele can come to the wedding (there may be scheduling issues). i hope i can find some time to mosey on up to albany too. *sigh* so many things to do, so little time….

on monday, i started my first day as a volunteer with the delaware humane association….i take care of cats at the shelter’s adoption center at a petsmart store near my house. so many cats. all so adorable. i wish i could take one home. but i can’t. i already have a big stray cat hanging out at our house. i still don’t know what to do with him. but the shelter is taking care of my cat fix….it’s a lot of fun playing with like, 10 cats. and everyone there is really nice. i think i’ll start out working once a week up there, maybe squeeze in another day later….who knows? but it’s nice to do something with cats. i feel all philantropic now.

neeley (our intern) is moving in on friday officially….our house is still a minor disaster….ugh….too much to do, too little time….and there’s another chips quinn intern starting on tuesday (after memorial day)….her name is candice….i’m going to take her out to lunch that day because i’m going to be her buddy for the summer….interns are fun…. they remind me of what it was like to be in this business before i got all cynical….hahaha….

okay, back to work now. blah. and it’s still raining outside.

assume, and you make an ass out of you and me …

just another example of how rampant ignorance is, even in places you don’t really expect it to be…

so i got into work today and opened up my e-mail, and got this message. it was from one of the secretaries here at work, and it was sent out to me, edward and this other lady named janet, who’s a night copy editor:

David [the executive editor at the paper] would like to know if you would be available for a brainstorming session concerning a Spanish-language version of Celebrations.The session is being held at noon on Wednesday at noon here at The News Journal.If you are available, please let me know as soon as possible.

okay, first of all, ed and i are NOT hispanic. we’re NOT latino. um, hello? the other lady who this message went out to is indeed Mexican-American. but ed and i aren’t even close. my guess is that this was sent to ed and i because we have spanish-sounding last names. so here was my response:Lois,
Ed and I would love to, except we’re not Spanish speakers at all or even Hispanic or Latino (despite our last names). We’re Filipino. I don’t know a lick of Spanish, though I do know serviceable Tagalog. Ed took some Spanish in high school, but well, I believe it’s gone all out the window for him.Thanks,
Jenniferget a clue, people. what’s the first rule of journalism? don’t assume anything — it makes an ass out of you and me! obviously, someone broke this rule. i showed jeff this email and we burst out laughing. he was like, “i can’t believe these people even made that assumption.” no kidding.

get a clue, people. what’s the first rule of journalism? obviously, someone broke this rule. i showed jeff this email and we burst out laughing. he was like, “i can’t believe these people even made that assumption.” no kidding.anyway, my rant is over.

i hate leaves.

’tis murphy’s law:

when you start raking your leaves and have them in nice pile, a gust of wind will blow…and dump more leaves onto your yard.

stupid trees. why did they have to shed leaves? my front yard and driveway and ed’s car are blanketed in leaves. it sucks. i swept up as much as i could off the front doorsteps and the driveway. the front yard? tried, but then gave up. ugh. i like the trees for their shade, but can’t they stop shedding????

supposedly this will stop in june or so, according to my neighbor. grrrr…

i also went to open the garage door and saw this BIG ASS spider on one of the door panels. ewwwwwwwww! i hate spiders. i busted out some bug spray and sprayed it like hell. i don’t know if it died. i think it still managed to crawl away. but it was huge! probably the size of half my fist. brown and nasty. insects suck. and it’s almost summer, so i have to prepare for a deluge of creepy crawly and flying things. yuck.

yeah, yeah, i’m such a wimp. insects are still gross.

okay, i need to shower now. it’s hot out there! and i accidentally left a box of whoppers in my very hot car, so they’re all melted and clumpy. hopefully a little refrigeration will save them….

noooo! not adulthood!

yet another sign that i’m an adult again….

so i was at work today when i got an instant message from rodney. i wasn’t doing much so we got to chatting for quite a while. in the midst of our conversation, he gave me some awesome news: he and marjorie are expecting! that’s so awesome. hearing that made me pretty happy. she’s supposed to give birth on nov. 26….not too long after my wedding…which i suppose means they can’t make it out to san diego. kinda sad, but man, they’re having a kid. cool.

but yeah, i’m suffering from adult syndrome again….oy! yet another reminder about the fact that we’re all grown up….i still remember when we were just a bunch of kids in high school….wow. i’m kinda floored.

it’s a random thought, but i feel a little nostalgic. i remember being in high school. i remember hanging out with rodney and marj. i remember all this stuff. it’s also heartening to me to be able to get in touch with those guys again. sometime in our conversation, i mentioned to rodney that i knew the whereabouts of exactly four of my former classmates. so sad. but that’s just the way it goes.

it also gives me that fuzzy feeling to realize one other thing: time heals all wounds. enough said. we get second chances sometimes. we get the chance to reconnect. and it’s something i am very grateful for.

on a less sentimental note, i also went to the local petsmart store to buy some cat food and got to chatting with one of the volunteers from the Delaware Humane Association….they have a little adoption center there, and i got to pet some of the cats. i’d been wanting to volunteer for the humane association for a while to take care of cats….so i filled out an application and stuff. hopefully they call me back. it works out now because i live close to that petsmart….not the case when we still lived in Bear.

anyhow, that’s all for today. relatively eventful, i guess you could say. now i guess i should go and get some sleep….

arcade days.

sometimes, you just gotta take a trip into the way-back machine….

okay, i’ll admit. i’m a geek. i’m an arcade nut. i grew up in arcades. i can’t tell you how many quarters i’ve pumped into machines…if i thought about it, i might get mad because i’d be damn rich if i saved all that change! i met two of my best childhood friends in an arcade. (sadly, i have not kept in touch with either one. but that’s an entirely different story.) but yes, i am a game nut. and i’m talking about those old-school games, like ms. pac man and super mario brothers and stuff — God bless the original old-school Nintendo!

but the other day, i was tooling around the internet and stumbled upon emulators and other geeky computer things. basically, i found a way to play all my old-school favorites on my computer: ms. pacman, galaga, bubble bobble (also my dad’s fave!), mappy land. holy crap. i was in kid heaven. all of a sudden, i was 7 again. and man, was it sweet. and i didn’t have to have any quarters handy.

sadly, though, i could not find frogger. come on, man! frogger ruled. i still play it at gameworks if i’m ever there — they have it in their 25 cents only section. i love frogger.

ed saw me playing some of those games and thought i was a dork. oh well. i’ll just go on being that little kid running around in the arcade again….