just laura

Two sets of my friends, each married to guys named John, packed up their bags and moved to England this weekend. Best of luck to Ivy and John from Houston (John’s starting a new career in London). And best of luck to Kat and John from Seattle (John returns to work in Leicestershire with his new bride). I’m sad to see them go, but am excited about potentially visiting at some point. :)

The WB has dubbed my high school “notoriously clique-ish” and has made it the focal point of their latest reality tv show: High School Reunion 2. I was class president, did newspaper and tons of student clubs and, yep, I’d agree it was indeed notoriously clique-ish (though really… what HS wasn’t clique-ish?). I’m entertained to see that I knew most of the people who made it onto the show… it’s easy since they’re the folks everyone knew like the prom queen, the quarterback, the cute kicker guy, etc. However, I’m most interested in checking out what old friends and classmates are up to nowadays… including the “gay” guy, the “geeky” guy, and the “tease,” “vixen,” and the “flirt.” I even had a crush on one of the boys who ended up on the show (anyone want to guess which one?). The show debuts next Sunday night (3/14) at 9/8 central and I can’t wait…. it’s sure to be full of drama and immaturity! Check out the message boards on the WB site to see some of the mudslinging that’s already started. :)

Tonight Skid Row is coming to Pioneer Square and the show is only $10. Anyone want to join me? Someone? Please? :) I hope to make it to the Fenix Underground by around 9 or 10pm! (opening band is at 9:15)

Holi is marked by vibrant processions which are accompanied by folk songs, dances and a general sense of abandoned vitality. Today Holi is an excuse for Indians to shed inhibitions and caste differences for a day of spring fever and Big Fun. Teenagers spend the day flirting and misbehaving in the streets, adults extend the hand of peace, and everyone chases everyone else around, throwing brightly colored powder (gulal) and water over each other.”

Start Date : 3/6/2004

Time : 1:00-5:00 PM

Venue : Marymoor Park, Redmond

Web: http://www.seattleindian.com/Seattle/eventDisplay.asp?id=283

Admission : FREE entrance for all

Somehow it just doesn’t feel like March already. Yes, I know the trees are blooming and the skies are getting brighter, but time seems to have flown by at a crazy pace. For fear of losing those weeks completely, I’ve attempted to recreate my first two months of 2004.

Misc. March stuff so far:

Bemoaned Seattle’s hockey team with Andrew, Erin, tyd, and John

Ate lavishly at brunch with Rod and Clare

Got colored at the Holi festival (and won movie tickets to an Indian cinema)

Visited the EMP with Phil

Worked out for the 19th day in a row (impressive for me, eh?)

Read a few good books:

- Coraline (Marcus Gaiman)

- The mistress of spices (Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni)

Misc Feb. Stuff:

Watched David Schmader’s newest play: Mansize

Applauded June’s newest play: Line One

Said goodbye at Kat & Jon’s leaving for England party

Sang along at an EMP Beatles party with Caroline

Danced at Chuck’s ChuckWarming Cajun Party

Worked hard in Baltimore with the nuns

Enjoyed a weekend with Jens in Minnesota

Was the only girl in the room at open mic night

Exercised my civic duty in the WA state presidential caucus

Dyed my hair pink :)

Revisited my Texan roots at the Tractor’s Asylum Street Spankers concert

Applauded the Sonics for beating the Celtics

Read a few good books:

- The Day I Turned Uncool: Confessions of a Reluctant Grown-up (Dan Zevin)

- Half Asleep in Frog Pajamas (Tom Robbins)

- I Know This Much is True (Wally Lamb)

Misc Jan. Stuff:

Celebrated Chinese New Year with Mike

Sang happy birthday wishes to John at his party

Went to my first “clothing optional” wedding for Kat and Jon

Partied with international students and firefighters at Andrew & Greg’s party

Partied with the elusive Jake

Raised my eye brows at the Erotic Art Show and Film Festival with Rod

Baked for a gluten free extravaganza with Erin

Paid homage to The Boss at an EMP party with Phil

Surivived a tense Sonics game btwen fighting, jetlag, sickness, Dieter, Wing, and Kava

Reluctantly returned from a great trip to India

Read a few good books:

- Franny and Zooey (J.D. Salinger)

- A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius (Dave Eggers)

- Interpreter of Maladies (Jhumpa Lahiri)

Okay. Time for me to get to work now…

I’ve been having a rough day today. At one point, I broke down into tears this morning without being provoked. At another point this afternoon, I made myself leave work for an hour so I could go sit outside and try to mellow out in the sunshine (65 degrees and blue skies). However, despite my rough morning, I just got the best phone call this afternoon and it’s made my whole day so much brighter! (Amazing how much strength a friendly voice can bring when you’re having a bad day). The call was from a high school friend who’s going to be on the WB High School Reunion show that premieres next Sunday. He saw that I’d left a comment on the WB site, tracked down my contact info over the good old internet, and called me up out of the blue. I hadn’t seen/heard from him in close to 11 years… probably not since my brother’s graduation back in May 1993! Anyway, enough rambling from me. I’m ready to get out of the office and back into the sun! Many thanks to Lenny for the call, and many thanks to Ben for prompting me to visit the WB site! Y’all rock! :)

I’ve been rather slow with March birthdays… haven’t sent any cards and have already missed everyone’s bday. However, that doesn’t mean I don’t think about them. Happy late birthday wishes go out to Jon, Meghan, Moses, and Alyssa! And a happy early birthday to Dieter (he’s next week) and Nitza (she’s this week). Take care!

Got an email from a Dave in Chicago who asks “Could you possibly send me some photographs of some of the
freighters that come into port?” If any locals have ideas about accessible places in Seattle to go for freighter photos, do drop me a comment. Thanks!

That’s right. I went out and chopped my hair off this week. Well, nothing too drastic, but I’m getting lots of comments from the gals at work so I guess it was drastic enough. I went in for a trim and went out with hair about 6 inches shorter. It’s now chin length instead of chest length. I wasn’t expecting it to be quite this short, but I’m actually content. :)

“High School Reunion 2″ premieres Sunday March 14 at 9 p.m.

“There’s more drama in paradise as creator Mike Fleiss (“The Bachelor”) takes a new batch of high-school classmates and plops them down in Hawaii to sort through their decade-old issues. This year’s class hails from Round Rock, Texas, and includes the typical mix of Homecoming Queen, Nerd, Popular Girl and Jock. There’s also a couple who married shortly after high school but are now divorced — she wants to get back together, he’s not sure — and three women who dated the ex-husband and are steamed because the ex-wife broke them up. All that’s in just the first two episodes.”

The best thing about exercise is that you die healthier. :) On that note, be proud to know that Caroline and I ran the Henry Weinhard’s 20th Annual St Patrick’s Day Dash this morning. Nothing like a 5K in brisk 40 degree weather to get your day started. Yeah for us! It was my first run in Seattle, and it was pretty entertaining. Unlike runs I’ve done in Austin and Houston, this one had lots of runners drinking coffee, tons of folks in costumes, one man running with a cigar, and some runners even drinking beer at the starting line. Now that’s dedication!

I’ve officially caught whatever miserable cold is going around work and my team. I couldn’t even sleep more than an hour or two at a time last night… which is just as well because we had work crews outside my second floor window at 7am this morning chopping down unruly tree branches. Sadly, the cold came at a less than ideal time too…. Juan and Isabel flew in yesterday from Austin and while I’m very excited to see them, I’m feeling awful and fear I’ll pass something to them over the course of the week. I’m sure I’ll feel better next week. In the mean time, if anyone has suggestions of things to see or do with them in rainy March weather, drop me a comment. Take care!

This is a shameless plug for my fabulous friend Alan. He’s doing an AIDS ride and would love your financial support… no matter how big or small a donation, all is appreciated. :) Excerpt from his journal: http://www.aidslifecycle.org/1495

“Thank you so much for visiting my AIDS/LifeCycle website! From June 6-12, 2004, I will be riding in the AIDS/LifeCycle, spending 7 days and riding 585 miles on my bike from San Francisco to Los Angeles to make a world of difference in the lives of people living with HIV and AIDS. Yes, my butt will be soar, but it’ll be well worth it: for the cause and for the excitement!

Your support is very important to me, as I’ve been involved in the AIDS/HIV community since my early college days in St. Louis. Volunteering at Food Outreach, a non-profit serving nutritious meals and groceries to people with HIV/AIDS, exposed me to the wonderful faces and the courage of those infected/affected by the disease. The friends I met and life lessons I learned there were invaluable. Then while studying in Kenya, I researched on the HIV/AIDS pandemic in sub-Saharan Africa and read stories after stories on the affects of the disease. These experiences have been emotional, but they have also been truly inspirational – to witness the abundance of hope, love, and the joy of living.

I have set myself to raise a minimum of $3,000 by May 2004 to support the San Francisco AIDS Foundation. With your help, let’s make the disease a bit more bearable.

Click the blue “Make a Donation” button and give what you can. Dig in your pocket / checkbooks a little deeper, because my friends and I will keep riding until AIDS and HIV are a thing of the past. All donations are fully tax-deductible. Please ask your friends to support me as well! Once again, THANK YOU for your support.

With much love and appreciation,

Alan / Homing

AIDS/LifeCycle Cyclist #1495″

http://www.aidslifecycle.org/1495

Bumper stickers recently spotted:

Re-elect Bush: Because You’ve Waited for Armageddon Long Enough!

Re-Defeat Bush in 2004

Dump Bush

Friends Don’t Let Friends Vote Republican

Impeach Bush

Defend America, Defeat Bush

Nothing Accomplished, Defeat Bush in ’04

No More Bushit

Republicans for Voldemort

What’s your favorite bumper sticker circulating right now?

I got to hang with the easy-going Isabel and Juan while they were in town during spring break. I was sick and didn’t have tons of energy, but did meet up with them in the evenings for dinner, catching up, and exploring Seattle neighborhoods. We did Thai in Fremont, dinner in Capital Hill, Ethiopian food in the Central District, and even Ivar’s Salmon House on Lake Union where they bought me dinner. (They also bought me flowers from Pike Place Market… what amazing house guests!). We also took a ferry ride out to Bainbridge Island (there aren’t too many ferries or islands in Central Texas where we’re from, so we figured we might as well do it while they were here). :) Alas, it was a short trip and the happy couple already left yesterday to head back to Austin.

Listening to their teaching stories makes me consider teaching again as a potential career… I’ve thought about it many times over the years. Of course, listening to their vacation schedule makes me seriously consider teaching as a potential career. :) I keep wanting a job with time off to travel, and what better than a week in the spring, two weeks in the winter, and three whole months in the summer? Show me another job with similar vacation perks and I’d probably consider that too!

Today I finally posted pics from when Clare, Rod, and I went to Kat and Jon’s wedding in January that was held at the Longhouse, a sex positive retreat center in Redmond. :) It was a clothing optional event, which could’ve made it quite bizarre, but it was actually a pretty traditional wedding. Exchange of vows, exchange of rings, wedding cake, toasts, throwing of the bride’s bouquet, etc. Quite a lovely day. You can check out the pics if you want to see how people dressed for the clothing optional event. :)

In other exciting friend news, I hung out with one of my best friend not once but twice this week… which feels like it practically doubled our whole last month’s total hang out time. Last night we did dinner and tonight we did dinner and bowling. However, we’re still fighting on a regular basis… which totally sucks. In fact, I don’t know if I’ve ever had a friendship that included two months of fighting. (We’ve been fighting since the very first day I returned from India). It really sucks to feel like you’re slowly losing your best friend and feel as though there’s nothing you can do about it. On the bright side, like I said, we hung out twice this month. Additionally, last night (for the first time in two months) I actually began to feel at least some clarity as for why some things are currently the way they are. Of course, we still don’t see eye to eye, even on the clarity, so who knows where that leaves us. I guess my biggest fear is not knowing if we’ll ever return to a normal friendship, or if these two months of fighting causes irrepairable harm, dismissing any chance of remaining best friends. I don’t want drama, hurt, frustration, isolation, insecurities, or issues. I just want my friend back.

Just found this stash of photos hiding deep in my laptop. They’re over a year old from a trip we took to snowy, snowy Washington DC. :) Enjoy!

Commercial heard recently on the radio: “Behold the hotdog…. the weenier… the weenie. By any other name, it’s still meat in a tube.” How true it is… But, you know what makes meat in a tube even better?? An Octodog frankfurther converter!

I need suggestions for good books and I’m turning to you, faithful readers, to help me out. Here are the books I’ve read so far this year and enjoyed. Have others you can recommend? Do share!

1. Franny and Zooey (J.D. Salinger)
2. A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius (Dave Eggers)
3. Interpreter of Maladies (Jhumpa Lahiri)
4. The Day I Turned Uncool: Confessions of a Reluctant Grown-up (Dan Zevin)
5. Half Asleep in Frog Pajamas (Tom Robbins)
6. I Know This Much is True (Wally Lamb)
7. Coraline (Marcus Gaiman)
8. The mistress of spices (Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni)
9. Running With Scissors (Augusten Burroughs)

Jason Webley announced a spring concert coming up April 30th at Town Hall. Anyone care to join me? :)

Jason Webley

?Only Just Beginning? CD Release

April 30, 2004

Town Hall Seattle, 1119 Eighth Ave (at Seneca St)

8 pm ? All Ages – $9

Nothing happened today… unless you count sitting on the couch tonight and watching the Pirates of the Caribbean. :)

You’d think that an absence of blogging would mean things were too exciting and happening to take time to write. But, if you thought that this week, you’d be way wrong. I’ve really been doing just about nothing. I’ve been sick for about the last two weeks and have been feeling like hell. This Thursday I finally went to the doctor. Got antibiotics. Stayed home from work all day. Feel better already. Mostly I’ve spent this last week just sitting and thinking and eating raspberry Jello. Yes, raspberry Jello. Yep, I’m not afraid to admit that I’m a vegetarian grossed out by ground up horse hooves that ate Jello this week and liked every minute of it. (Can you tell I haven’t had Jello in a few years? It’s like a forbidden pleasure that I’m just re-discovering… and it was yummy. I’m almost hoping for a potluck now just so I can attempt to make a Jello salad mold and have an excuse for more Jello). In addition to eating Jello, I spent a bunch of time just curled up on the couch with a big blanket… which makes for a good time to read (Barbara Kingsolver), watch bad TV (anyone seen Play It Straight?), watch movies (finally rented A Mighty Wind), and just think. Thinking about tons of stuff, but will get into that another day. For tonight, I’ve got to get prepared for the third episode of High School Reunion on the WB… featuring everyone’s favorite clique-ish hometown of good ol’ Round Rock, TX! And before then, I’ve got to prep some guacamole for my snack. Avocados were on sale at Marketime… guess things are indeed getting better. :)

• My prayers go out to Miss Beal and her family… both her grandmother and grandfather passed away from unrelated illnesses a week ago. Love you lots Miss Beal…
  
• In employment news, both Charles and Chris started new jobs this last week! Yeah Austin boys!
  
• In other employment news, Matthew ended a job last week. Yeah Matthew! Now that he’s got weekends open and lots of time on his hands, maybe he’ll bring over the West Wing and introduce me to his favorite TV fetish…
  
• In more employment news, Charlie and Stef are about to stir things up a little bit, so let’s hope the transitions go smoothly and hope they get some much deserved rest and relaxation very soon.
  
• In real estate news, my cousin Meghan and husband Vince just bought a house and are moving to Seattle! And not just anywhere in Seattle… they’re moving into a house less than a mile from me! Pretty crazy, eh?
  
• In random news, themes of India are still running strong through my life. Caroline was just in a Hindu wedding this weekend (fun!) and Carlos of the Q just sent me a picture this morning of himself at the Taj (quite funny!). Apparently he just got back from a trip.
  
• In travel news, Jens bought a ticket today and will be visiting Seattle in a few weeks (yipee!). I haven’t seen him since Feb, and he hasn’t been to Seattle in over ten years, so it should be fun for all involved.
  
• And in closing, I capped my two weeks of being sick and laying on the couch with a little drive out to the ocean. Me, Erin, and a big jar of Aleve went on the trip, ate lunch, spent some time on the beach, and then came back to Seattle, thus allowing me to watch a really sweet episode of High School Reunion that made me laugh out loud for the first time in weeks!

Bumbershoot has started to announce their line up for this year’s show…. including The Pixies, Nas, Nickelback, and BR-549.

And perhaps even more importantly, Summer Nights at the Pier will be announcing their line up next week on April 7th. I’m quite disappointed to know that Lyle Lovett won’t be able to make it this year, but I’m still hopeful for the rest of the summer. :) I’m not sure if I’ve ever been to a nicer venue… great artists performing on a pier over the water while the sun sets over the mountains. It’s an amazing experience! Who all did I see over the last year or two? I can’t remember all of the great shows I saw, but think this is most of them: Lyle Lovett, Indigo Girls, The Doors, Melissa Etheridge, Bjork, Shawn Colvin, Burt Bacharach, Bare Naked Ladies, Ani DiFranco, Tragically Hip, Flaming Lips, De La Soul, and India.Arie.