Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Mother nature, how I love thee...

Tuesday 4/15/08

It's funny how some days you wake up feeling like the world hates you and anything and everything that can step in to throw you off track will and does. And then the next day you wake up and the sun is shining, birds are singing, people are out walking their dogs...



...and you are blinded by the sun because you can't find your sunglasses...



...the stupid birds have built a nest right outside of your window, so you are awakened to the annoying sounds of "chirp, chirp, chirp" and you want to rip apart their little bird nest...



...and the dogs are pooping on the sidewalk and the irresponsible dog owners forgot to bring their poop bags so they just leave it on the sidewalk for you to step in.



How's your day going? Do you have a case of the Tuesdays? I had really crazy/ scary dreams all night and didn't get much sleep, so needless to say I am a bit groggy. I fully intended on going to Starbucks for a venti Americano with an extra shot of espresso (I think that would be like 4), but as I was running late as usual I decided I better just go to work. When I got here I remembered I still had half of one I brought to Kristen on Friday. Sure it's a few days old, but it may still be good, right? Oh, I was very wrong. It tasted what I would imagine foot sweat mixed with coffee would taste like. So now I'm debating if I can make it another hour and a half without coffee or will I just suck it up and drink the god-awful packaged crap they have in the snack room and risk the chance of having severe stomach issues (and by issues I mean having to poop).

I apologize for all of my bitching. I should really think about everything I have and be grateful that I can even get out of bed to experience all the world had to offer. I have nothing to complain about. I should be looking at the glass as half full instead of half empty.



So, back to the coffee talk. I went home for lunch and on my way back to work, I swung through the Heine Bros. drive-thru and got iced coffees for Kristen and myself. Talk about a life changing event. Really, I think espresso is a miracle drug. I feel maybe a million times better than I did earlier. I'm still in pain, but I'm alert, able to have more than one thought at a time, and I will go out on a limb here and go as far as to say that I am jovial. I gave up coffee for my New Year's resolution. By January 2 I was dying. I really don't drink that much. I have maybe a half a cup while I'm getting ready in the morning, my iced coffee on the way to work and then an afternoon cup, which I never finish. Starbucks and Heine Bros can get somewhat expensive. I spend $2.40 a day on my iced coffee. However, I drive around on empty for weeks at a time, so I think it evens it out.

Sweetest moves

Wednesday 4/16/08

Dancing With the Dentists - starring Rock Steady and Dr. Macaroni
(Fyi - these are my friends)



Warning: These are trained professionals. The moves they are performing could be hazardous to your health. Do not try this at home.

Monday, April 7, 2008

Weekend update

The weekend was good/bad/good.

On the first Friday of every month, which means it was the First Friday Trolley Hop! What's the First Friday Trolley Hop? "It's an art show. It's a tourist attraction. It's a street party. It's a celebration of downtown Louisville that is bringing new visitors and new life to the Main and Market corridor." Basically, you go downtown, hop on the trolley, check out the art galleries and drink free wine.

My friend Super D, came over to pick me up for the hop. First mistake – drinking a bottle of wine before leaving the house. Pretty much every gallery has free wine and snacks, so needless to say, I had a few more glasses along the way. While hopping, I ran into my extremely happy friend and one of his extremely happy friends. Extremely happy men + art + wine = look out.

So, the rainbow brothers and my friends and I all headed down to Proof on Main (a restaurant/ art gallery) to have a few martinis and some appetizers. I’m pretty sure I didn’t need any martinis by this point, but as I was with my friends, I really didn’t have a choice (I guess I could have called a cab or someone to pick me up, but that really didn’t cross my mind at the time). Before I continue, I must tell you that the following events were made known to me yesterday. In my head, I only had two dirty martinis, but apparently it was more like 4. I guess I was saying that since I was Russian (1/4) it was okay. My extremely happy friend said that we went to the bathroom and when came out, I started pretending like I was, how shall I put this, making friends with these inflatable pieces of art. I don’t really have any recollection of this, but apparently everyone was laughing at me. Or laughing with me. I'm really not sure. Good times. Good times.

Before we left Proof, I got a call from the Dentist. He had just returned from a trip to Florida and wanted to meet us out for a little bit. So, when we left the restaurant I sent him a text saying we were on our way. About 30 minutes later I sent him another text saying the same thing (we made a quick detour at Super D's house). Shortly after, the Dentist called me to see where we were (he had now been waiting aprox. 45 minutes) and I then proceeded to ask "Oh, are you back in town yet." Yeah, it was like that.

Because I hadn't had my fill of nighttime activity at this point, or maybe because I didn’t have a choice, my friends and I headed back to the Highlands and went to Wick's Pizza to watch Super D's friend DJ or maybe he drummed. I'm not really sure.

All I recall was this white guy throwing it down (throwing it down = rapping). So we finally get to the bar. The Dentist is tired from his 10 hour car ride with his Braced Brother (his 25 year old friend who wears braces) and sees that we may have had a little too much hopping and decides it's best if he leaves us be. We watched the white Chuck D. spit his lyrics for a little while longer and then go across the street to O'shea's.

Even though we had been out and about for a while, it was probably only midnight at this point. I don't have a clear recollection of being at the bar, but I'm guessing I didn't spend any money, as I still had the crisp $20 I had got from the ATM on my bedside table the next morning. By this point Wigs and I were like, we have GOT to go. So then we went home. From the time of the last text I sent, I’m guessing I was in bed by 2.

One of the greatest women in the world came to town on Saturday. I fully intended on spending my morning preparing for Ginnie’s arrival – cleaning, grocery shopping, etc. I was also going to get in some exercise too - bike riding, gym, maybe a trail run. Yeah, things didn't really go as I planned. I was semi dying when my friend, Uno texted me around 10. After a brief chat, I managed to go back to sleep until around 11. I knew Ginnie would be arriving shoon, so I decided maybe a shower would help me feel a little better. Not so much. As soon as I got out of bed, I felt like my eyeballs were moving in and out of my head. As I stood beneath the steamy hot water, praying that I wouldn't fall or pass out, I began to see tiny little neon dots floating all around in front of me.

Now this is great. I get out of the shower and decide that the only option I have to make it through the day is to make myself throw up. Ahhh… much better. I got dressed, grabbed a triple espresso and was miraculously brought back from the dead. Amazing how a little caffeine can change your outlook on life.

Ginnie arrived around 1 and we headed to Just Fresh for some lunch. After devouring my Veggie Wrap without green peppers, we wandered in and out of the most of the shops on Bardstown Rd. Luckily I didn’t see anything I was too tempted to spend money on and I escaped the shopping excursion with only a new green purse and some incense. After shopping, I grabbed yet another espresso drink and we headed home.

Just to make sure I was fully back to normal, I took another shower before heading to my favorite neighborhood bar, The Dundee Tavern, to watch some basketball. Luckily there weren’t too many people up there, so I wasn’t too tempted to indulge in another night of debauchery. The Dentist, Ginnie and I had a couple of drinks and ate and then we headed back to my house before the second game was over. I don’t know if it was the remains of the night before or the fish sandwich, but after we got home, I started to feel the little catfish swimming to the top of my throat.

I told the Dentist it was imperative that he leave, and once again I was hovered over the toilet. Blackened catfish tastes much better going down than coming back up (aren’t you so glad I’m sharing this with you?). To my delight, we were in bed by midnight.

We both slept like the little angels we are and finally rolled out of bed around 10:30. We got dressed and headed up to the Heine Brothers to meet the Dentist and Super D. for coffee. We sat outside underneath the sunshine filled blue sky and collaborated on the crossword puzzle. After our daily dose of java, we then went to Kroger to get snacks for lunch and headed up to Cherokee Park for a little Dungeons and Dragons reenactment and a picnic.

Every Sunday a group of very avid Dungeons and Dragons fans gets decked out in their battle gear, grabs their foam weapons and meets at the park. I don't know if they are the coolest people I have ever seen or the dorkiest, but they are entertaining either way. To our dismay, the Dungeoners had not yet arrived. NOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! We set up camp at the top of Dog Hill instead and spent the next couple of hours reading magazines, listening to music and watching the dogs frolic merrily and unleashed around the field.

Sadly, Ginnie left around 3 and I took Sidney on a walk for about an hour. I had fully intended on spending the rest of my day riding my bike and running trails at Seneca Park, my extremely happy friend called and suggested we go to Waterfront Park so he could check out guys instead. We went down there for awhile and tossed around the football. When he realized that there probably weren’t any prospects for him, we left and met some of his friends at El Napolito’s for some margaritas. I had finally had all I could take of drinking and eating, so after that I made it home with just enough time to shower, eat a peanut butter and banana sandwich and watch Rock of Love with the Marine.

For once I was actually glad the weekend was over!

Daily Rudd

Jam of the day



For Doerr

Friday, April 4, 2008