Cash Money

i am compulsively checking my bank account to see if my government-issued rebate has shown up yet. how about now. how about now. now? any time guys. any time.

A Portrait

so about once a week for months now i have received these. quickly snapped portraits, often on his camera phone, at all times of day, in all moods, in all poses, with all different expressions. i have probably 75 of these in a file called pete pictures, and i figured i could go ahead and share those with you who have either a. trickled over from his site and are curious what the rev looks like or b. know me, know him or of him, and just are entertained that he takes lots of self portraits. enjoy.

editor's note: i have 146 of these portraits. 146.

Still Dragging

The Mono is a wily one. i think i'm pretty much back in the game, despite a ninth-inning stomach virus, i work for a few hours, and i feel like i need scaffolding to keep my eyes up. because scanning jewelry all day is really so tiring physically. lame.

From the Archives

embarrassing picture # 8437 of me, aired out as a means of filler-when-there's-nothing-much-going-on. this is from november 2004, according to my records, and has a reason. i promise. i, with some classmates, began a campaign to make my fellow wellesley students recapture that essential pause in our day - lunch - with a little fun. i had had too much of girls studying aggressively in the dining hall, their glares for my loud laughter, and people snapping from pressure. and thus began severance fun lunch. they were themed lunches, sometimes one day a week, sometimes for a full week blowout extravaganza, complete with VIP guests (the president of the college, favorite professors, etc.), performances, mini-classes, wall-to-wall decorations, candy, themed food from the dining hall, themed loud music, and, quite often, extremely embarrassing actions by yours truly. reference: the above. it was a hip hop themed fun lunch, and i went all out. i am totally from the streets, as you can see by my artfully flipped visor and strategically placed sweat band. that is how they dress on the streets these days, right? i'm down. anyway, by and large fun lunches were a hit, broke up the monotony of studystudystudy, and gave me a good reason to break out into costume. i miss them. maybe i could get my work to have them? something in me says no.

Tired

there are several ingredients that contribute to my having a good, solid, blissful sleep. i am one of those total darkness total silence sort of sleepers. i have not one but two black-out curtains on my windows. i unplugged and put away my bedside clock, too sick of its blaringly neon green numbers glowing in my face. yet there is one ingredient that is close to essential, one that i did not realize until last night i had been missing of late - cold. i sleep fitfully in any level of warmth. i must be under covers, yet if i get too warm i get restless and unable to fall into deep sleep. this morning, though, found me virtually unable to get out of bed from the sheer luxury of being wonderfully cozy under my comforter with a cool breeze wafting over me from my open window. i slept so much harder, so much deeper, with this coolness than i have in probably weeks. the only thing that would have made it better would be a full-on thunderstorm raging outside. i probably would still be asleep, in that case.

Sweet Serenades

i frequently get serenaded. rarely in person, though when it is in person it's usually more via a strummed guitar, like so:when it is not in person, which is more frequent, i get a phone call of a man blasting into full song. sometimes it's goofy. more often it's sweet, and i'm going to selfishly keep those to myself. for now, i will share with you that i often call pete puffin, stolen from the illustrious tv show "the girls next door" and what one of the girls calls hugh hefner. tonight i got:
"DO YOU KNOW THE PUFFIN MAN, THE PUFFIN MAN, THE PUFFIN MAANNNN?
DO YOU KNOW THE PUFFIN MAN, WHO LIVES ON SHELBY AAAAVVVVEEE?
DO YOU KNOW THE PUFFIN MAN, THE PUFFIN MAN, THE PUuuhuhhuhh hahahahaha"
and that's where it devolved into giggling. he brought it back later in the phone call. but was still thoroughly unable to stop laughing. ME EITHER. me either.

Taking My Tattoo To Heart

the silver lining of the past few days:

- at least i didn't feel this atrocious while i was in memphis for pete's birthday.

- good thing my toilet is four leaps from my bed.

- my bed is soft and comfortable.

- the weather seems nice outside, as viewed through my window.

- my roommate got me ginger ale.

- my mom got me food and juice.

- maalox gets better tasting the more you need it.

- i managed to stand long enough to take a shower last night and finally feel clean-ish.

- this virus has to end at some point.

Wrapping Up

the rest of our weekend together was rather uneventful. ill for a large portion of sunday, i reverted to my classic feel possibly better but at least not worse strategy: freeze. i sat completely immobile in bed until i finally felt stable enough, with the support of a packet of melba toast, to take a shower and move through the world. pete and i went to spend his macy's gift card on a flashy new fossil watch, then out for a birthday dinner at macaroni grill with his family. i was fading in and out in terms of strength until the arugula and steak salad i ate stepped in and helped out. the rest of the night was spent watching tv with his roommates and relaxing.

monday saw pete waking up early to go to work. it saw me passed out cold til 2 pm. then, being the obsessive compulsive that i am, i packed everything up perfectly, cleaned pete's room, and even (to his dismay, at my apparent destruction of some important receipts) did some laundry. i repainted my nails and passed some time watching tv. dinner was eaten out at a vietnamese restaurant - pete's first foray into the culture. his dinner turned out to be just at the threshold of spicyenoughtocausepain, though i think it may have crossed over since he downed about 4 glasses of water.

then, a very repetitive story on this boring blog, i had to leave him. he stood in line with me at greyhound until i was literally on the boarding "dock" (p.s. why does greyhound fancy themselves a shipping line that docks and boards and apparently sails forth smoothly). while i say he stood with me, i mean that he stood there with mouth agape at all of these wonderful people-watching opportunities that just happened upon him. i got his attention enough for a kiss goodbye, and then i boarded my ship. bus. whatever.

this was quite the ride back. i left memphis at 7:45 pm, scheduled to arrive in kansas city at 5:30 am. this bus was packed, and i unfortunately had seatmates the entire trip. the worst one was from jackson, mo, to st. louis, mo, as she decided that no rules applied to her and she would spend the entire two hours discussing with her friend delores, in her wheezy, smoker-tinged voice, all of the men that she is currently playing off of each other. the guy she had kissed goodbye and waved to as we pulled away from jackson apparently told her he loved her, and she said the same, but delores now knows that we're not sure if that's the truth and we're going to all be waiting til the end of the month to find out how she still feels. in the meantime she's going to go to olympia (washington? i'm not sure) to see steve, who paid for her ticket, and who she ALSO called en route. he told her he had a big b*ner waiting for her. cute. and then there's mike, in illinois, who has a pool. and jim, in olympia the same as steve, who has a SWEET tv. i am blown away by the fact that gruff, blowsy, smarmy women like this can wrap all these men around their fingers, making them give them things and money and who knows what else i certainly don't want to know, while many wonderful, intelligent, gorgeous women i know are left with no guys. disgusting. plus, she elbowed me in the side to find out when we were due in st. louis, and once i told her 12:45 am she commenced to loudly tell everyone she spoke with that we were due in at 12:15. whatever.

thank you jesus, i was not seated next to her on my ride from st. louis to kansas city. no thanks to anyone, i was seated in the aisle, with nothing to rest my head upon to sleep. commence horrendously unattractive sleeping with mouth wide open, head tilted back, and weird nasal passage semi-snoring. until such a time that some ASSWIPE, or sorry, assw*pe, decided to SMOKE a CIGARETTE on the BUS which is an ENCLOSED CONTAINER with NO VENTILATION. I HATE THIS PERSON. and will forever. i arrived in kansas city on time, reeking of smoke. a friend gave me a ride home, and i promptly passed back out til later in the day. what a trip.

Cuh See No

after much slightly inebriated confusion, we finally got everyone loaded into the van and rolled out. after more inebriated confusion, we selected a casino in tunica to actually go to. forty minutes and we were one happy group sprinting into a casino with one objective: bathrooms.

now we were ready to gamble. i did not bring a single dollar in cash with me. i very much intended to not gamble a dime, and i didn't - at least of my own money. we hit it big with $3 of pete's in a quarter slot machine, cleaning up with $24. as the night wound on, we managed to lose all of that. and then more. i blew a dollar of pete's and a dollar of his friend lauren's at nickel slots and declared myself officially unlucky. i became a slightly better lucky charm at the blackjack table for pete. we were stowing away $5 chips, til we landed at a bad table and walked out of the night with $4 in chips.

we cashed out at around 2:15 a.m. and pete worked his magic with a very large, very intimidating pit boss to get us comped food at the cafe. we got comped enough for two meals, despite the fact that, oddly, i was not in the mood for a large meal at 2:30 in the morning. a group of us sat down in the atrium cafe there and they all stuffed themselves, boys being boys and not caring what time of day it is for a huge raw bloody steak or some pretty foul looking pulled pork nachos.

three a.m. arrived and it was time for the ride back to memphis. generously, we tipped our increasingly patient driver with a cheeseburger and fries. we didn't get home til four. on top of The Mono, cooking all day, partying all night, and coming home to a freezing house, the late hour knocked me for quite a loop. i was out until literally 4 p.m. the next day, awake off and on with waves of general illness. it was worth it, though, since the party went over hugely and everyone had a blast. you always know a party's a success when you wake up to pee the next morning and walk through a living room littered with happily snoozing bodies, food remnants, many beer cans, and later, people pulling out the refrigerated remains to revisit the snacks of the day. the rev certainly turned 24 (74? 91?) with a bang!

Moving On

got caught up in conversation with the reverend two nights back. then last night as i was in the midst of writing this, my internet connection went out and i gave up and went to bed. someday i'll get back in the groove of posting every day. someday.

so back to the weekend. i woke up to birthday day with pete laying in bed, fists clenched and thrust skyward despite closed eyes, smirk on his face, croaking out "24!" the first thing he wanted to do? get the computer out and see how many facebook birthday wish wall posts he'd received. i then proposed a trip to the bagel company for eggels and coffee, which went over well.

after brunch, it was shopping time. we hit up walmart for supplies, filled a cart, and headed home to get preparations going for the afternoon cookout. feeling a little droopy from The Mono, i pulled a chair up to the kitchen table and got to cooking. a two-layer red velvet sheet cake with white frosting, fresh pico de gallo, fresh guacamole, seven layer dip, and 40 jalapeno poppers later, i was left with a whole mess of food and a hell of a capsaicin burn on my hands.

having to get ready for the party, i wrapped my hands in tanktops to apply eye makeup and avoid permanent damage to my eyes, all the while whimpering at the pain. i actually felt nauseous it hurt so badly. seeing the glimmer of approaching tears in my eyes pete took pity on me and began googling remedies. we tried smearing vegetable oil on my hands. twice. we tried a combination of bleach and water as a soak. we tried good old soap and water. nothing doing. finally, pete and his friend gray ran to the gas station and got me ice cold fatty vitamin D milk. as the party began and friends started trickling in, i sat down in the middle of the living room and dunked my hands into hypothermic-inducing milk in a bubba keg. way to make a first acquaintance. BUT. IT. WORKED. instantly. no more fire on my hands, and i was able to actually enjoy life again.

and so we barbecued. and bocce-d. and some (ok all but me) drank. and we sang happy birthday to the be-crowned birthday boy. and we ate and ate and ate. and then finally, ten o'clock arrived and so did our chauffeured van, waiting to whisk 14 of us off to tunica, ms, home of a jillion casinos. i'm going to go ahead and split the tale off here. i will regale you in the future of our time at the casino, and the rest of the weekend.

Wow

so, it's been a while. once again it was for a reason - yet another trip to see my rev for his birthday. this time, thanks to The Mono, i opted to take a chauffeured mode of transportation: the greyhound bus. thursday, all day long, i rode the greyhound from kansas city to memphis through what were at times torrential downpours. that equaled sleepy time for me, and i spent most of the trip dozing.

i arrived to a sunny, warm memphis evening and pete bringing me a dozen pink roses. i apparently foiled an elaborate plan to scream my name and film my arrival complete with balloons and flowers flying and who knows what all else to embarrass me in front of a rather diverse bus station crowd. maybe next time.

we had a quiet couple of first nights - pete & sam's italian food was in order for my first night, and it was every bit as good as pete had talked up. especially their salad...i could go for more of that right now. friday pete worked, so i luxuriated and slept in before we again went out for dinner, this time at los compadres for mexican. again yummy, despite an extremely loud and annoying to all but themselves group of people the next table over. we snagged some extra chips on the way out for the big party day that was forthcoming, which i will leave you hanging on - stay tuned for a whole mess of cooking, hunan hand, bocce ball, fire, slot machines, pit bosses, chauffeured vans, and late late nights.

Dunzo

yes, i lost my shiz when KU won. i have evil thoughts of bringing the memphis boys some kleenex for their loss. HA suckahz.

in other dunzo news, i am definitely done with this whole sitting-in-bed-all-the-livelong-day thing. it was a nice luxury there for a couple days, but now i am ready to go train for a marathon rather than keep sitting here. so dull. you can only watch so many episodes of the first 48 without getting a little down. i have redone my nails approximately 6 times in as many days. i have walked all the way to the kitchen, and back. i have made the executive decision to sleep that extra two hours. i have, remarkably, showered (more than once). the puzzling thing at this point is if the lethargy is from the mono itself or from just being constantly...lethargic. guess i'll find out.

Delivery

i'm spoiled. this time with food. pete ordered me a small pizza for dinner tonight so in my mono-induced state i didn't have to deal with getting myself dinner. i very happily sat on my bed with my original crust pepperoni and onion pizza and ate about half of it, maybe more, probably not less, and am now stuffed and content. he knows my weak spots, this man.

Too Much Tension!!

i cannot handle this.

tonight i made the grave mistake of both watching the lord of the rings: two towers and tracking the KU vs. UNC (ihateroywilliamshe'satraitor) game score At The Same Time.

i seriously almost hyperventilated, about 12 times.

and now i have to wait til tomorrow night for the end of the trilogy, not that i don't know what happens but what if gondor just doesn't show up? what will sauron's retribution be? will gollum kill frodo and sam? i don't rememberrrrrrrr ahhhhhhhhhhhhh.....

but hey! KU won! killah. i hope roy williams went into the locker room with his dejected team and just broke down bawling in front of all of them. this is what you get for abandoning the greatest basketball program in the country for some lame ass alma mater.

up next: kansas kicking memphis' ass. i'm putting a box of kleenex in the mail for pete and his roommates. they'll need it.

Follow Up

to wrap up a couple stories i've started....

yes, i have mono. no, it is not fun. i basically feel like i've just been filled with sand. i get tired rolling over in bed, and winded walking to the kitchen. day by day it gets a bit better though, and i'm hoping for a solid step towards recovery by next weekend, since i'm due in memphis for pete's 74th birthday.

my theft: my insurance has wonderfully decided to NOT cover my theft, thanks to some ridiculous clause in my renter's insurance contract. so, that's great.

i just watched the first lord of the rings. that movie keeps me on edge for the three solid hours or whatever it runs. they almost die about every 3 minutes, with big thundering overtures and scary crazy orcs running around and demons of doom and mean wizards and all that. not to mention the original bromance, frodo & sam, tugging at my heartstrings. i concluded, though, that i am definitely an elf. i just have to learn elvish. getting on that.

Surround Sound

"blood work came back annnnnd....i have mono."

"always thought you were a stereo kinda gal.."

"i don't get it."

"mono...stereo. that's gold!"

The Man, The Myth, The Legend

from our summer camp yearbook, 8 years ago: "Katie,
My life's been COMPLETELY changed from meeting you! You're every guy's dream girl, except that you're mean as hell! I hope you got a pic of me and Dan together, I know how you like that sorta thang...I wish you'd realized how in love with you I am earlier. I'll miss you, definitely! I LOVE YOU! Keep in touch!
- Pete"