Edit: I drove to Natchitoches with Mario's brother.  I'm not sure how long we'll be up here; the roads are blocked and I'm not really keen on going back to a house without power and sewage.  The good news is that my house is okay...my parent's house is a different story.  Cell phone calls are impossible right now, so we have resorted to text messaging.  I've heard that the water tower on Robert is down, along with the Twin Span.  Fuck.  Old Town is supposed to be wiped out as well....Hwy 11 completely under water, up to the roof along Pontchartrain.  My parents live in Slidell, the rest of my family in New Orleans. 

There is no solid news on Slidell because they can't get anyone in there.  The people across the street from my parents, who's house is about 5' higher, stayed.  Their son is in Colorado and he spoke with them around 8am yesterday before it got bad.  At that point we had lost a lot of trees and the fences were down.  He hasn't been able to reach them since then.  I'll post more info when I get it, and pictures when I get back to my office.

Happiness Is a Warm Loaf Of My Mom's Banana Bread

Well, it wasn't warm when I finally got it, but it was still super yummy!  Three cheers for my very excellent mother and her very excellent baking skills!!!

1. Reply with your name and I will write something random about you.
2. I will then tell you what song/movie reminds me of you.
3. I will pick a flavor of jello to wrestle with you in.
4. I will say something that only makes sense to you and me.
5. I will tell you my first memory of you.
6. I will tell you what animal you remind me of.
7. I'll then ask you something that I've always wondered about you.
8. If I do this for you, you must post this on your blog.

I start classes today.  Once again I begin the 8-5 work 6-9 school shuffle.  Tonight's class is Computer Science 101.  It is a requirement and I cannot test out of it.  Basically it is an intro to Microsoft Office.  I will learn how to use Word, PowerPoint, and Excel.  Amsterdamnit!  Anyone born after 1975 can do that shit.  I looked over the course objectives......modifying text, inserting worksheets, creating headers and footers.....This course is a semester long; I think I'm gonna need to start hitting the drive-through daiquiris on my way to class and pouring them into a Smoothie King cup.

**Edit: Last night we learned how to make text bold in Word.  I think this is some kind of punishment for something horrible I did in a former life.**

In other news, I've developed some "Neighbor-Proof" packaging for Laurel.  I'm sending out the test package today.  Here's a preview:

Special features include:

• 
  
  SUPER SIZED "A" to indicate the package's destination is the guest house, not the main house
  
  
• 
  
  BRIGHT PINK DUCT TAPE around entire package to insure that the package is not only noticed, but tamper-proof
  
  
• 
  
  Three angry chipmunks stuffed inside that WILL ATTACK if they do not hear Gizmo crying for attention

I'm sending it out this afternoon with a tracking number.  Those bitches aren't messing up this one!!

**Guess Who's Back**

Matt gave me a quick performance of "Tiny Cities of Ashes" last night.  Five minutes later he spilled his beer on the carpet.  Oh well.  I'm just glad there were no incidents on the drive down.

In other news:  Kristin and I saw the most adorable kittens near Evangeline's Sunday night.

And Timo, who has been in the country for less than two weeks, wins the Powerful Perception Award for his astute observations of Chris and Ben Saturday night.  Sunday morning he told me: "It's hard to believe they are friends.  Ben hates everything and says 'son of a bitch!' all of the time, and Chris is quiet and smiles all of the time."  The boy is clever. 

So....not too much going on now.  Matt moves in tomorrow, so it's gonna be a hectic week getting everything situated.  I'm a bit worried about this arrangement; I haven't lived with anyone in a long time and I'm so used to doing things my way.  And I have major trust issues, but I'm working on those.  I'm mostly worried about his little brother unofficially moving in.  I love Jacob, I think of him as my own little brother sometimes, but the truth is he's not my brother and I'm not obligated to give him a second home.  I don't want to come home from 8 hours of work + 3 hours of school to find him and his buddies drinking my beer and eating my tofu.  Okay, I'm not so worried about the latter.  And can I say for the record, to anyone who will be living in/visiting my house that unless you see me personally light a cigarette and smoke it inside, there is NO SMOKING in my house.  I'll let the drums stay if Matt will agree to that. 

In other news, I've been having crazy headaches.  About two years ago I started getting these episodes where I would feel really weird for about twenty minutes - dizzy, nauseated - then I would get tunnel vision which slowly faded to darkness and I wouldn't be able to hear anything.  It would last for like, five minutes, and then I would be okay but totally exhausted.  There's no pain involved in these episodes.  They happen, like every few months, not too frequent.  The first few times it happened I was stoned and thought it was just something to do with that.  (I also thought I was dying, because I imagine that when you die slowly your senses just fade away)  But since I've cut down on that activity and it still happens, I don't think it's related to the pot.  The past month I've started getting throbs of pain in a very specific part of my brain, excruciating for about two seconds, off and on for about five minutes, in roughly six hour intervals.  During and after these painful episodes I get double vision.  So I made an appointment with a neurologist for next week.  Yesterday I was telling my dad about it and started laughing and said that what I told him about the symptoms was almost exactly what happens to him.  He said the first scenario started happening in his early twenties, and the painful episodes started in his late twenties.  He said none of his doctors have been able to figure it out. 

So it could be some hereditary disorder.  Or, since my dad also did a lot of drugs in his early twenties, it could be something involving that.  Hopefully I get some answers next week.  I quit taking pain medication a few weeks ago.....popping Tylenol all day can't be good for you.  Now people probably just think I have some nerve disorder when a painful episode hits because I just twitch a lot. 

Anyways....gonna go get some lunch with my bloated friend.  TMI?  I thought so, too.  Later 'gators!

What do you do when you've overloaded the blender and you can't lift it to pour out your daiquiris?  You grab a straw and say "Glasses?  We don't need no stinking glasses!", as Lauren graciously demonstrates:

Isn't Lauren's new kitchen pretty?  I snapped a photo of the washcloth I made her as a housewarming gift; I forgot to take a pic before I gave it to her:

The picture on the left shows the color well; the picture on the right shows that I knit the center too tightly and therefore the petals are cupped instead of flat.  I kind of like it that way--it's cute and floppy--but I really need to pay attention to my gauge.  The pattern is from "Weekend Knits" and the yarn is 100% cotton chenille.  I don't remember the brand, but it is the one called for in the book, which I do not have with me at the moment.  I bought a skein for myself when I bought Lauren's yarn, so one day Katy will have a washcloth of her own, but right now I have too many WIPs to be selfish

The new profile pic is the result of having a fight with a boy and your oh-so-sweet dog offers to cheer you up by letting you dye a blue streak on her head.  Back down, PETA, it's food coloring.

id·i·o·syn·cra·sy
Pronunciation Key
n. pl. id·i·o·syn·cra·sies
A structural or behavioral characteristic peculiar to an individual or group.

Write down five of your own personal idiosyncrasies. Then, if you wish, tag five people from your live gerbil or friendslist to do the same.

1.  I drive in circles.

When I am driving about town, I don't like to retrace my path.  I'll take the interstate on the way to my destination, then cruise back home along side streets.  For example:  I take I-12 to work, but Hwy 190 home.  I don't know why I do this...I think it keeps me from feeling like I'm wasting my time, passing the same buildings all the time.

2.  I'm pretty messy, but my closet is anally organized.

I like my clothes on thick, white plastic hangers, facing left, please, in rainbow order.  Light pinks start on the left, then we work our way through ROYGBIV to off-whites, then browns and blacks.  Except for my nice clothes, most of which are black.  They are all on padded or rubber coated metal hangers, facing right.  When I have spare time I go through and space the hangers a finger's width apart.  This is why I have two closets and Matt only gets one

3.  I NEVER use Tupperware.

I swear that using Tupperware makes food taste like plastic.  And you can't microwave anything in it, because not only does it ruin the container, but who knows what kind of reaction occurs in that microwave...probably gets all kinds of plastic particles in the food.  I'll re-use those thin plastic containers that you get at salad bars, but mainly I use glass jars. 

4.  I have to drink my milk in one big gulp.

I just don't like to sip milk, and I never share milk.  We all know that every time you sip some of your saliva goes back into your drink, and it just seems worse in milk.  This is the same reason that I never drink the last sip of my beer. 

5.  What happens to one half of me must happen to the other half as well.

If I stub the pinky toe on my left toe, I have to hit the one on the right.  If I accidentally bite one cheek, I bite the other.  If I step on a crack/rock/bump in the pavement with one foot, I have to step on something similar with the other foot.  If I change lanes and hit the reflectors with one side of the car, I have to hit them with the other side.  If I hit my knuckles on the wall with one hand, I have to hit the knuckles on the other hand.   I think you get the point.  It's very tedious, but totally necessary.

**Edit:  The sad thing about this meme is that I had to stop myself at five.  I think I could list at least five more, but then I would just seem like a total freak.

I'm on vacation and without a computer, so I haven't been able to update.  I just want to jump in and say:

KAYSAR WAS ROBBED!!

**UPDATE** Voting has ended, so I'll be watching tomorrow night to see who gets a second chance.  I was horribly disappointed by the disastrous results of the election in November, I hope the US doesn't let me down again!

Ok, so, I have a confession to make.  Last night, I went to Wal-Mart.  I know, I know, but it was 8pm and Whale Rider was on PBS and I really really really wanted to see it.  Unfortunately the new apartment doesn't get reception like the old apartment, so I decided to get a new antennae.  Wal-Mart was the only place open, and I was half-thinking that I would go, buy the antennae, use it for the night, then return it and get another one somewhere else. 

As I drove into the parking lot, I felt my pulse quicken.  So. Many. Cars.  I got trapped in a lane with five cars waiting for one 'prime' spot near the door.  I looked to my side and saw many open spaces available so I pulled into one and walked towards the entrance, passing the cars still waiting for that great spot.  As I walked through the parking lot, it became very clear to me that I was on enemy territory: it seemed that every car in the lot had a Dubya sticker on the bumper.  A few had those silly "Boycott France" stickers.  Seriously?  Then stop worshipping the Statue of Liberty, you morons. 

Anyways....I walked through the door and OMG it is so freaking bright in Wal-Mart.  There were children everywhere, and they all seemed to scream on cue when I got there.  I saw the "Electronics" banner and tried to focus on that as I navigated the rugrats and tried to fight off the building panic attack.  That place is just too huge, too bright, too plastic for me.  I found the TV antennas, but to my dismay there was not one on the shelf that said "I'm the one you want!" and, of course, there were no sales people around to help.  I called Chris and he gave his advice as to which one I should get.  I quickly took that antennae and headed for the registers. 

I first went to the Express Lane, but there was a long line.  Then I saw the self-checkout, and I rushed over to beat two 13 year-olds laden with enough nail polish, make-up, and ponytail holders to last them through puberty.  I scanned my one item, and I think the machine got pissed I was only buying that one, 12 dollar item.  I couldn't find the credit card reader, and the unit started beeping at me.  I finally found it and scanned my card, grabbed by bag, and tried to grab the receipt before it was finished printing.  It got caught a bit, but managed to spit my receipt out to me.  I hurried out of the door into the chaos of the parking lot--Where did I park my car?  Shit.

It took about 10 minutes to find my car, and then I was on my way home.  I rushed in, connected the antennae, and found out that it worked maybe 5% better than the one I already had.  Goddamnit!  Now I have to go back there to return it.  Katy is not a happy camper.  Not only did I have to go to fucking Wal-Mart, it turned out to be a totally worthless trip.  And I didn't get to see Whale Rider.  Maybe Mario and I will consider satellite or cable after all.

*****Anxiously awaiting news on Shelly's baby...her doc was going to induce on the 24th if she hadn't gone into labor yet; figers crossed that all went well*****