A beautiful day today...did a bit of trail running near my house, but I am very out of shape and nearly died. Ok, I exaggerated there just a little, but I did have to use my asthma inhaler about a billion times. Ok, ok...more like four times. That's still a lot!
The POINT is, it was absolutely gorgeous out and I was entirely grateful that I do not, in fact, have a full-time job that would have prevented me from enjoying it.
Apropos of nothing in particular, I am watching the movie Deep Blue Sea at the moment. It is not terribly good. More like just plain terrible, really. But I have to say, it makes Jaws look pretty plain and tame. I mean, how many people get eaten in Jaws?** Like three? I think about 10 people die in this flick, killed directly or indirectly by massive mutant sharks with the brain power of, I don't know, but something very very smart. Smarter than the people in the film, in fact, who just can't seem to stop getting eaten left and right. Even a HELICOPTER succumbs to the cunning ferocity of the sharks!!
But my favorite bit is when one of the mutant sharks uses the body of a guy to break the glass enclosure of the underwater lab, and it did it like this: It swam fast toward the glass window, the guy in its mouth, and then when it was about 20 feet away, it THREW the guy THROUGH THE WATER with enough force that he hit the glass and broke it!!! Amazing, truly amazing, especially when you take into account things like friction, and other matters of underwater physics that I (lowly English major that I am) really have no ability to discuss in anything approaching an intelligent manner.
Anyway, that scene makes me nearly laugh out loud every time. Er, not that I've seen this more than once, or anything...ahem...
The only redeeming feature in this movie is (and this might be a sad commentary in itself): LL Cool J. I know, I know. I SAID it was sad, didn't I?
I really need to get a life.
**Consider this a trivia question. Who knows the answer??
Monday, March 21, 2005
Saturday, March 19, 2005
Long Day
I should say, long week. Because that's what it's been. Long and difficult.
I said goodbye to the cowgirl on Friday. She'll be back for Easter, but it's definitely weird not having her around. The dog misses her too. The day she left it was raining, and I saw him sitting on the driveway, staring at the open gate. He was soaking wet, but didn't seem to notice. She's left before for days at a time, but he seemed to sense that this time was different.
She will take him away after Easter, and then I really don't know what I'll do.
I said goodbye to the cowgirl on Friday. She'll be back for Easter, but it's definitely weird not having her around. The dog misses her too. The day she left it was raining, and I saw him sitting on the driveway, staring at the open gate. He was soaking wet, but didn't seem to notice. She's left before for days at a time, but he seemed to sense that this time was different.
She will take him away after Easter, and then I really don't know what I'll do.
Friday, March 11, 2005
Laziness and Mansquito
I've been horribly slack in keeping up with my frogg files lately, many apologies.
It's not like I even have the excuse of being busy. I work part-time, and on my off hours I am usually slacking off with amazing proficiency. It's nice to know that I'm good at something, even if it's being as lazy as a cat.
However, I am also quite good at vaccuuming. I hate it, but I'm pretty good at it.
Apropos of nothing in particular, I saw a commercial today for a made-for-tv movie called "Mansquito": apparently about a man who mutates into a giant mosquito or something due to a lab accident (of course). A real winner, it sounds like to me. The title alone is...compelling.
Compelling me to puke, that is.
Who comes up with the ideas for these kinds of movies? Why are made-for-tv movies almost always bad? Has anyone ever actually seen one that was good? I ask you.
It's not like I even have the excuse of being busy. I work part-time, and on my off hours I am usually slacking off with amazing proficiency. It's nice to know that I'm good at something, even if it's being as lazy as a cat.
However, I am also quite good at vaccuuming. I hate it, but I'm pretty good at it.
Apropos of nothing in particular, I saw a commercial today for a made-for-tv movie called "Mansquito": apparently about a man who mutates into a giant mosquito or something due to a lab accident (of course). A real winner, it sounds like to me. The title alone is...compelling.
Compelling me to puke, that is.
Who comes up with the ideas for these kinds of movies? Why are made-for-tv movies almost always bad? Has anyone ever actually seen one that was good? I ask you.
Monday, March 07, 2005
Just Call Me Doctor Frogg
The cowgirl called me this morning. "Can you do me a favor?" she asked.
"uuhgruh," I said. (I was still in bed.)
"I forgot to give my dog his medicine," she said, ignoring my groans that were meant to signal my desire to stay in bed. "Can you give it to him?"
"I don't know how to give medicine to a dog!" I said, with a remarkable return to coherence.
"It's easy," she said, "You just blah blah blah..." Of course, she didn't say "blah blah blah" but that's mostly what I heard, because I was still in bed, and even though my verbal skills had kicked in, my listening skills were still way behind.
So I said ok when she was done talking, hung up, and went downstairs, where I gave shrieking Leo my routine threats of death and dismemberment if he wouldn't shut up (which he didn't), before picking up the medicine bottles and heading outside. The dog came bounding up to me full of trust and hope that I had come outside to play fetch with him. He was not too pleased when it became clear that a game of fetch, or anything else for that matter, was not on the cards. Instead, he got his jaws forced open, a hand shoved into his mouth, and a big red pill dropped down his throat. This wasn't nearly as much fun for him, I gathered. He made this abundantly clear by clamping his mouth tightly shut and refusing to take the second pill. We had a bit of a struggle over that one, but I eventually won the day. Afterwards I gave him a dog biscuit, and he was happy again.
That's what I like about dogs. They just never stop loving you, even when you do things to them that they really don't like.
I'm going to miss Indy when the cowgirl moves out and takes him away to her new digs. Of course, I'll miss the cowgirl too.
"uuhgruh," I said. (I was still in bed.)
"I forgot to give my dog his medicine," she said, ignoring my groans that were meant to signal my desire to stay in bed. "Can you give it to him?"
"I don't know how to give medicine to a dog!" I said, with a remarkable return to coherence.
"It's easy," she said, "You just blah blah blah..." Of course, she didn't say "blah blah blah" but that's mostly what I heard, because I was still in bed, and even though my verbal skills had kicked in, my listening skills were still way behind.
So I said ok when she was done talking, hung up, and went downstairs, where I gave shrieking Leo my routine threats of death and dismemberment if he wouldn't shut up (which he didn't), before picking up the medicine bottles and heading outside. The dog came bounding up to me full of trust and hope that I had come outside to play fetch with him. He was not too pleased when it became clear that a game of fetch, or anything else for that matter, was not on the cards. Instead, he got his jaws forced open, a hand shoved into his mouth, and a big red pill dropped down his throat. This wasn't nearly as much fun for him, I gathered. He made this abundantly clear by clamping his mouth tightly shut and refusing to take the second pill. We had a bit of a struggle over that one, but I eventually won the day. Afterwards I gave him a dog biscuit, and he was happy again.
That's what I like about dogs. They just never stop loving you, even when you do things to them that they really don't like.
I'm going to miss Indy when the cowgirl moves out and takes him away to her new digs. Of course, I'll miss the cowgirl too.
Tuesday, March 01, 2005
Car Trouble
So the other night I rear-ended a car. No, I'm sorry, that's not entirely accurate. I rear-ended TWO cars. In the space of five minutes. I am not a happy camper.
Ok, this is going to be the first and last time that I ever confess this, so listen up: I am not a particularly good driver. Ok? It's not that I don't know how to drive, or that I don't have plenty of experience. I just tend to get a bit...well, absent-minded I guess is the only word for it. It's especially bad if I am driving somewhere scenic. For example, as I was driving along a back highway out to 580 last week on my way back to Los Angeles, there was this amazing view in the distance of windmills spinning on the far green hills, under gray skies. It was MUCH more interesting to look over there ("there" being "off to my right") rather than anywhere more conventional, like, say, in front of me.
In New Zealand I was even worse. If anyone ever drove with me, I think they would have been petrified, but thankfully I did most of my long-distance driving alone. I'd zip along the winding country roads, leaning forward with my arms hugging the steering wheel so I could gaze upwards at gorgeous sunsets, or perhaps a flock of birds flying, or rising, rugged mountains. Again, the road directly in front of me had a terrible time keeping my attention.
I have had more near-misses than anyone has a right to deserve, I think. And Friday night I had to pay up, I guess.
I didn't have the excuse of gorgeous scenery that time, because I was driving to Hollywood and there is nothing to see along the way but a forest of taillights in the concrete jungle. Traffic was terrible. I was going about 2 miles an hour when I thought I felt an ant crawling on me. This sounds weird, but in fact I had found an ant on me while driving a few days before (which actually is weird in itself, hmmm). So I pulled down my mirror and was trying to check things out when suddenly I realized I had tapped the bumper of the car in front of me.
Thankfully there was no damage to either car and we both decided to just go on our way. I thanked God, shook my head at my idiocy, and got back in the car. Five minutes later (please don't ask me how I could possibly do this, because I honestly don't know), I jammed myself up against the very unforgiving tail of a huge truck. It didn't feel a thing, but oh, my poor little Honda did.
I should say, my SISTER'S poor Honda, because it's not even mine. The layers of irony in this tale are almost too numerous to, well, enumerate, but suffice to say my sister the globetrotter, who is currently in Portugal, lent the car to a friend in the Bay Area who rear-ended someone, and got it fixed in a most haphazard fashion. I have been trying to sort out getting the thing fixed properly with compensation from the friend when what do I do but go and ram another car, causing even more damage and pretty much nullifying my chances of getting the friend to pitch in anything further, because now the damage is MY fault!! Gah!!!!
Funny old thing, life. It would be a lot funnier if my insurance wouldn't DOUBLE if I go through them fix it. But it would, or very nearly. Which means I have to start making the round of the body shops. Which means there goes my paycheck for probably the next two months. Ha ha! Look, I'm laughing at how funny life is! HAHAHAHAHA!
*sigh*
(Actually, I did crack myself up there at the end. Sometimes I am so weird. Admit it, that's why you love me,)
Ok, this is going to be the first and last time that I ever confess this, so listen up: I am not a particularly good driver. Ok? It's not that I don't know how to drive, or that I don't have plenty of experience. I just tend to get a bit...well, absent-minded I guess is the only word for it. It's especially bad if I am driving somewhere scenic. For example, as I was driving along a back highway out to 580 last week on my way back to Los Angeles, there was this amazing view in the distance of windmills spinning on the far green hills, under gray skies. It was MUCH more interesting to look over there ("there" being "off to my right") rather than anywhere more conventional, like, say, in front of me.
In New Zealand I was even worse. If anyone ever drove with me, I think they would have been petrified, but thankfully I did most of my long-distance driving alone. I'd zip along the winding country roads, leaning forward with my arms hugging the steering wheel so I could gaze upwards at gorgeous sunsets, or perhaps a flock of birds flying, or rising, rugged mountains. Again, the road directly in front of me had a terrible time keeping my attention.
I have had more near-misses than anyone has a right to deserve, I think. And Friday night I had to pay up, I guess.
I didn't have the excuse of gorgeous scenery that time, because I was driving to Hollywood and there is nothing to see along the way but a forest of taillights in the concrete jungle. Traffic was terrible. I was going about 2 miles an hour when I thought I felt an ant crawling on me. This sounds weird, but in fact I had found an ant on me while driving a few days before (which actually is weird in itself, hmmm). So I pulled down my mirror and was trying to check things out when suddenly I realized I had tapped the bumper of the car in front of me.
Thankfully there was no damage to either car and we both decided to just go on our way. I thanked God, shook my head at my idiocy, and got back in the car. Five minutes later (please don't ask me how I could possibly do this, because I honestly don't know), I jammed myself up against the very unforgiving tail of a huge truck. It didn't feel a thing, but oh, my poor little Honda did.
I should say, my SISTER'S poor Honda, because it's not even mine. The layers of irony in this tale are almost too numerous to, well, enumerate, but suffice to say my sister the globetrotter, who is currently in Portugal, lent the car to a friend in the Bay Area who rear-ended someone, and got it fixed in a most haphazard fashion. I have been trying to sort out getting the thing fixed properly with compensation from the friend when what do I do but go and ram another car, causing even more damage and pretty much nullifying my chances of getting the friend to pitch in anything further, because now the damage is MY fault!! Gah!!!!
Funny old thing, life. It would be a lot funnier if my insurance wouldn't DOUBLE if I go through them fix it. But it would, or very nearly. Which means I have to start making the round of the body shops. Which means there goes my paycheck for probably the next two months. Ha ha! Look, I'm laughing at how funny life is! HAHAHAHAHA!
*sigh*
(Actually, I did crack myself up there at the end. Sometimes I am so weird. Admit it, that's why you love me,)
Monday, February 28, 2005
I Am Alcatraz
So the other day I was having a little round-table discussion with Mark, S4P and the Beccanator. (Yes, we really were sitting at a round table.)
We were talking about marriage and singleness, and Becca shared about how a friend of hers believes that if you wait too long to get married, then you just have more time to build up walls around your heart that will be hard to break down when the time comes. This troubled me, because after all, I've been single for most of my life.
"I must be Alcatraz!" I said, a little worriedly.
"Oh yeah, well then I'm Berlin!" retorted S4P, who has been single for even longer than me, seeing as how he is older. While I was still almost falling off my chair laughing, he thought better of his comment (since after alll, there is no more Berlin wall, hmmm) and ammended it to, "I'm China!" Which, of course, just made me laugh that much more.
But behind all the laughter, I had to admit to myself that there is some truth to this whole wall theory, at least in my case (I won't pretend to speak for Steve, Mark, Becca, or anyone else here). Quite frankly, I find it pretty easy to be single. I don't have to figure out what someone else is thinking. I don't have to worry about whether or not I am loved enough by someone, or whether I'm loving them enough. I don't have to check in with anyone before I make a decision to upend my life and travel halfway around the world for nine months (which I did twice in the past two years).
And yet, all that freedom has come with a price, namely that I am a prisoner (ironically) of my own fears--fears of getting close to someone, fears of getting hurt, fears of hurting someone else. I don't want to be Alcatraz. But that's what I've become, as I've tried to protect my fragile, easily-wounded heart. So yes, I've built some walls, no doubt about it. But, like the girl in the fairtytale, I'm waiting for the one who won't be daunted by their height, weight, and thickness, but who will care enough about what's behind them to get through one way or the other.
(By the way, that's pretty much what God has been doing with me, every single day. He knows what He's doing, though, and He has the right tools, not to mention plenty of patience...that's why I want a guy who knows Him. Breaching the wall is a delicate business and he should get his tips from an Expert!)
We were talking about marriage and singleness, and Becca shared about how a friend of hers believes that if you wait too long to get married, then you just have more time to build up walls around your heart that will be hard to break down when the time comes. This troubled me, because after all, I've been single for most of my life.
"I must be Alcatraz!" I said, a little worriedly.
"Oh yeah, well then I'm Berlin!" retorted S4P, who has been single for even longer than me, seeing as how he is older. While I was still almost falling off my chair laughing, he thought better of his comment (since after alll, there is no more Berlin wall, hmmm) and ammended it to, "I'm China!" Which, of course, just made me laugh that much more.
But behind all the laughter, I had to admit to myself that there is some truth to this whole wall theory, at least in my case (I won't pretend to speak for Steve, Mark, Becca, or anyone else here). Quite frankly, I find it pretty easy to be single. I don't have to figure out what someone else is thinking. I don't have to worry about whether or not I am loved enough by someone, or whether I'm loving them enough. I don't have to check in with anyone before I make a decision to upend my life and travel halfway around the world for nine months (which I did twice in the past two years).
And yet, all that freedom has come with a price, namely that I am a prisoner (ironically) of my own fears--fears of getting close to someone, fears of getting hurt, fears of hurting someone else. I don't want to be Alcatraz. But that's what I've become, as I've tried to protect my fragile, easily-wounded heart. So yes, I've built some walls, no doubt about it. But, like the girl in the fairtytale, I'm waiting for the one who won't be daunted by their height, weight, and thickness, but who will care enough about what's behind them to get through one way or the other.
(By the way, that's pretty much what God has been doing with me, every single day. He knows what He's doing, though, and He has the right tools, not to mention plenty of patience...that's why I want a guy who knows Him. Breaching the wall is a delicate business and he should get his tips from an Expert!)
Wednesday, February 23, 2005
The Frogg is Still Bloggin'
I know, I know. It's been several days since my last post, but I have an excuse. I've been out of town, living it up in Lake Tahoe and now hanging out with friends in the SF Bay Area.
I went snowboarding for President's Day weekend, along with Mark and S4P (steveforpresident). Along the way I had many interesting adventures, including, but by no means limited to: nearly getting hit on the head by a ski that fell without warning out of the sky while I was snowboarding under a chairlift; executing a flawless faceplant right underneath another chairlift, much to the delight and amusement of everyone on the lift; falling into deep powder while riding through the trees and getting hopelessly stuck; falling over laughing while watching S4P get stuck in deep powder; climbing up a four-foot wall of snow just to get to the stairs that would lead up to S4P's cabin; sliding down the same wall of snow to get to the car, only to lose my balance, hit the front of the car, and then fall underneath it; making a snowman (which ended up looking like a snowbear, actually) with Mark and S4P, and then videotaping its demise as Mark and S4P roundhouse-kicked it off the end of the pier on which we'd built it, "sacrificing" it to the freezing waters of Lake Tahoe. (I'd like to highlight that last scene as an illustration of the fact that, while boys may get older, they never quite grow up.)
So it was a busy weekend, as you can see.
I will be on my way back to Los Angeles tomorrow, and hopefully back to my routine of regular postings.
Until then, take care and have a lovely day.
I went snowboarding for President's Day weekend, along with Mark and S4P (steveforpresident). Along the way I had many interesting adventures, including, but by no means limited to: nearly getting hit on the head by a ski that fell without warning out of the sky while I was snowboarding under a chairlift; executing a flawless faceplant right underneath another chairlift, much to the delight and amusement of everyone on the lift; falling into deep powder while riding through the trees and getting hopelessly stuck; falling over laughing while watching S4P get stuck in deep powder; climbing up a four-foot wall of snow just to get to the stairs that would lead up to S4P's cabin; sliding down the same wall of snow to get to the car, only to lose my balance, hit the front of the car, and then fall underneath it; making a snowman (which ended up looking like a snowbear, actually) with Mark and S4P, and then videotaping its demise as Mark and S4P roundhouse-kicked it off the end of the pier on which we'd built it, "sacrificing" it to the freezing waters of Lake Tahoe. (I'd like to highlight that last scene as an illustration of the fact that, while boys may get older, they never quite grow up.)
So it was a busy weekend, as you can see.
I will be on my way back to Los Angeles tomorrow, and hopefully back to my routine of regular postings.
Until then, take care and have a lovely day.
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