could be i just need new parts for the filter.....

now i get to go into work and survey the damage to the peeling floor....

well kids, i'm back in illinois.

my fishtank filter stopped working, i think permanently, and there are hairballs on my carpet.

ahhhh.... the land of lincoln..........

my christmas was good.. i got some really good stuff.

i wonder - would we be better off if we saw christmas the way my neices do? they paid no mind to the presents, and were content to giggle and chew on ribbon the whole day.

do you believe in second chances?

so, if i use words like "props" and "peeps" and "shizzat", and put "yo" at the end of sentences, does that make me ghetto? do i gain street credibility? i need a ghetto tag.

keepin it real with my peeps; got my shizzat straight up in da hood yo......

well, maybe baby spit and smelly wetdog cigarette men wasn't the best intro i could've given to my homestate of maryland, but it still kicks major illinois ass any day of the week :).

no football game for me today, but that's okay i guess... spent the day at my dad's instead. he's trying to mellow out, which is big for him. i gotta give him props for that (props??!?). tomorrow i head back up to b'more to help my sister move, and to play with babies some more. on sunday night i got to rock one of them to sleep; there's really nothing like it in the world, i highly recommend it if you get the chance. i felt almost maternal, it was funny :).

xmas is coming.... and this is good...

i have baby spit on my shirt.

and that's okay.

i'm in maryland now, and just spent the evening with the two cutest babies ever in the world ever. tomorrow i'm going back for more.. i can't get enough of the baby spit. my trip here was uneventful, although i did sit with some guy named mike, who smelled like a wet dog smoking a cigarette. he was nice enough though, and said i was pretty :).

i'm tres tired now, and so will now go to bed. more later......as my mom is saying to the babies, time for "nappy night night".

yay for snow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! it's so pretty..heehee. today was pretty good.. i finished painting arsenic, and the meeting for three musketeers went really well. i came home from work early, and can stay in all night. yay! i have yummy food for dinner, and coinage to do laundry. yay again!

tomorrow i fly home to maryland for christmas. i'll be at o'hare until 4, when i fly out, if anyone wants to get crazy and party down at the ticket counters, anyone who's anyone will be there. i am tres excited, since i haven't been home since february. i get to see my nieces, who are the cutest babies ever, and hang out with my mom. yay! i will still be blog/net accessible - just know that i'll be blogging to you from almost 1,000 miles away. whoowee that's far. i wonder if my blog will look any different... maybe the type will be even smaller. :)

i come back to illinois on saturday, the 28th. i will play with my cat a whole bunch, and then possibly want a drink.

right now, i'm gonna shower.... can you see the little stink lines?

well today i had one of those 50/50 days. i got lots of painting done, and drawings for that hateful community opera - which i then handed off to the person i've sort of "sharing td responsibility with" - and that was good.. we're sposed to build the thing at rockford college over their break... i gave drawings to beth, 'cause she's cool, and figured it'd get built while i was away, and i'd paint the thing when i came back.. she told me today that she just found out they've closed the building 'til the 6th. so we can't build it while i'm gone, and that means i lose two weeks of build time and there's roughly one week to build and paint the thing. that was the week i was kinda hoping to leave free for whatever.. but nope. i lose. that was a big setback. but, on the other hand (and, i spose, the other "50") i put a dollar into the pepsi machine today and got $6.45 in change. yeah, really. so i had moral dilemma moment, then i asked nikki what i should do. she said "bonus! keep it! what's the dilemma!?".... and, as uncharacteristic it was, i did. i can do laundry now, and that's how i justified it. they owe me laundry dammit.

tomorrow is a meeting for three musketeers, which i am hopelessly unprepared for. so i'd better waste time blogging rather than actually try to accomplish something. makes total sense..... and yet, i continue to type.

as i said earlier today, i went to see "two towers" last night, with some friends. what an awesome movie. i highly recommend it.
i kinda want to see it again. i also want to see "gangs of new york", which i might see while i'm home for xmas. i also recommend picking up some portishead, if you haven't already got some.. really good stuff, particularly while blogging.

i'm gonna go try and make up something to bring to the meeting tomorrow, it's at 10 am.. i was stupid and said that's okay. i suck at mornings, i'm not a good person until like, i dunno, noon maybe. i think after the meeting i'll go win the powerball draw.

Jolly good, wot! Anyone for tennis? That'll be ten ponies, guv. You're the epitome of everything that is english. Yey :) Hoist that Union Jack!

How British are you?

this quiz was made by alanna

pretty funny stuff.... my grandma's family was british, and my grandpa's was irish.... so am i revolting against myself?

go see two towers! it'll knock your socks off!! ....more later. sit tight, i know you're quivering with anticipation.

so greg has his meyers briggs letters on his blog, and i have never taken the test but always wanted to....
i was curious about what my meyers briggs letters would be, the test turns out to be like $90... so i found a free quickie site, and took the quiz.. my letters are infp. you can take the quiz here: http://www.personalitypathways.com/type_inventory.html
and here's what my letters mean: http://www.personalitytype.com/types/infp.html - here you can find out how to love me, how to parent me as a child, how to communicate with me, and what my ideal careers are :).

saw harry potter tonight, what a kick ass movie!! i loved it! go see it! i also had a busy ass day today, so i'm going to bed.

I'm Homer, who are you? by Lexi

i'm homer. who knew?

i had to post this quote i just heard on tv...

"you can't fit a square jew in a round hole"

that makes me giggle. square people...hee hee

another concept that bothers me - community opera. i'm involved in one right now, and it's like nothing i've ever experienced before, nor do i ever hope to again. the amount of stuff these people don't know about how to produce a show would stop you in your tracks. several times i've started to just bang my head with a notebook and drool...it's very unattractive despite whatever you might be in to. i can't recommend it. the drooling or the opera. i've done community theater, and that was fun. at least the people involved there had some sense of what had to happen besides the acting part. i realize though, that this is definitely one of those things that i will laugh about when i'm done. as i do shot after shot... of liquor, not heroin - in spite of what you might have heard about me....

fyi - there is a blogger user group on yahoo, for real support answers by other bloggers who know what they're doing. it's brilliant!

i just saw a commercial on tv for "the people store". does this concept disturb anyone else?

tonight i went to an informal company christmas party. our administrative director had people over for dinner, christmas baskets, and liquor. i had a swell time, and spent a good part of the evening just observing the dynamics of the group that showed up. the people that work upstairs gathered and ate upstairs in the house, while we who work downstairs went to the basement to eat. it just sort of happened that way.

there were people who came though they didn't really want to, for varying reasons. our workplace politics are pretty fucked. they don't teach you how to deal with politics in school, but really.. can you teach that? academia is so microcosmic, the rules don't apply once you've left. i've only recently learned how important it is to be able to discern who the players are, and how to best play the field to your advantage; also, that the effects of your behavior and actions can be deceptively far reaching, through avenues you didn't know existed. i find myself thinking that i've aligned myself with certain groups at work and determining how to get the most out of the relationships i have formed there. suddenly, i have ulterior motives. sometimes i have an agenda, which i don't like to think about. i am surprised at how divisive the non-production underbelly can be, especially in light of the collaborative art we are supposed to be working collectively to achieve. i am also surprised, and disconcerted, at the insidious effects that the workplace environment can have on your attitude. i don't like this part of our business. i love what i do for a living , but hate that this is part of the package.. but really, does it have to be?

on a lighter note, i got a big bottle of whiskey from my boss - which i will be needing help drinking.. you know who you are :). time to bust out that inner child....

i shall eschew the use of upper case letters. i have comments and links - not bad for a first try.

'Tis my first post. And a jolly short one at that.