NOVEMBER

I can't belive it's November!

I actually got to Charlotte with 10 minutes to get to my connecting flight- and made it! I had to check my bag though which was a pain. I've never had to check a bag and I don't like waiting around for it. Fortunately Eytan was with me and I had him to talk to while we waited.

I have a little cold but it's not bothering me too much.

Halloween night was FUN!!!!!!!! I can't believe it. I even stayed out all night. We went to Trevor's house for a little bit, then went down to Anderson's (bar in Scottsdale) but Brie for got her ID, so we left and went to an outdoor party. We were too cold so we went back to Trevor's and brought a few people with us. I got along with JP and Travis, but I really can't stand Trevor or this other guy, JR. JR reminded me of Brian in every way! They both have the same hair, eyes, body type, and attitude. They both were in the Air Force but had to leave due to injuries from car accidents. JR got brain damage from his and I wonder if Brian did too- they are both assholes! I tried to stay away from him, but he kept following me around. Brie got very sentimental and told me I'm one of her favourite people and she wants to stay close after I move to New York- she puts me on a pedestal. Well, we've definitely gotten close, when Matt was away, and I really like spending time with her too. I hope they can arrange to come visit me in New York. I will definitely have to make a trip out to Phoenix sometime. After Trevor's we went over to Jeff's house which was fun as well (but not as fun for some reason). I wouldn't have minded talking to Jeff since I remember having a good conversation with him some time ago (I think so, anyway), but he was playing foosball all night with Trevor (at least it kept Trevor away from me).

Last night I had a STRANGE dream! I only remember the last part before I woke up. Paula was teaching Bob Wurdeman how to swim, Harvey was being obnoxious about my new license plates that I didn't want to deal with yet, and there was an aligator in the baby pool that was coming towards me as I was trying to warn everyone about it... strange!

Now I'm at the office waiting for Eytan to finish tutoring. Then we'll probably go get dinner and go home.

Tomorrow I'll try to leave early for New York and start furnishing the apartment. Then Saturday I'll go look for rugs with Paula in the morning. At noon is the Virginia Tech/Miami game that I hope Eytan will make it up to New York for and we can watch it together. Something tells me though, that he'll sleep in and I'll have to watch it by myself. Then at night Eytan & I will hopefully go see "The Best Man".

I have busy days ahead...

I hand-wrote two entries in New York but I don't know what happened to them. They're probably floating around the Four Seasons somewhere. So much has happened since I last wrote anything, I know I can't remember it all but I'll try to remember most.

Election Stuff: Harvey, Paula, Neil, Maxine, George, Eytan and I watched the election coverage for a while Tuesday night. I really don't want to say much about it since I'm sick of hearing the same things over and over by myself, the media, friends, family, aquaintences, and strangers so I don't feel like typing anything at all. Right now, I just think that neither of them should be president or we should go back to Civil War times and have Bush be president of the south and Gore of the north. If you don't like one of them, move to another area. Or maybe the West Coast and East Coast can have Gore and the rest of the country can have Bush. Me personally, I'm moving to Scotland.

Auction Stuff: Another great sale!!! Some phone snags as usual, but everything else went off without a hitch. And I had the best phone bidder of all time. I can't mention who it is here since there could be some odd chance that someone who shouldn't know will read this.

Apartment Stuff: I bought a living room rug last Saturday in New York at ABC. My favourite one was actually the least expensive so I was quite happy about that. The apartment seems smaller now that there are some things in it. I'm sure it'll work out- it'll at least teach me to be a minimalist. I also bought a pair of custom-made shoes. They were a little pricey, but worth it. So far I got a pair of black dress shoes. Then I'll need a pair of good walking shoes. Then I'll be all set to take on New York.

Social Stuff: The first night there I went to see "The Best Man" with Eytan. I loved Spalding Gray and the woman who played his wife, but that was it. Chris Noth had no conviction, the script was lop-sided, and the whole thing could have been done in 20 minutes. Eytan liked it though. I also thought the audience was interesting. I bet a lot of them were there because it was the weekend before the election so the topic appealed to them. The other group were the Chris Noth fans.

The other nights in New York were rather dull (besides election night, and even that wasn't all too exciting). I went to Manhattan Ocean Club with George and Eytan and then after George and I went to Connelly's and had a fascinating conversation about religion which inspired a bizarre dream that night where Paula was a religious fanatic who wanted me to go stay with Linda's brother on his boat (I don't know if Linda even has a brother). Another night I went to Connelly's by myself and met these obnoxious, drunk people who worked at Brooks Brothers. They kept buying me drinks though so it wasn't all that bad. Then they day we left, George, Eytan and I went to the Brooklyn Diner (our little tradition), then Eytan left for the train station. George and I went to pack up at the Four Seasons and headed out toward the Lincoln Tunnel to go home. About 3 seconds into the tunnel George said, "Oh shit! We forgot our luggage." (It was still at the Warwick). So we turned around in Hoboken, went back through the city, got to the Warwick, got our suitcases, went back through the city (took much longer the second time back to the tunnel), and headed home. I knew we got out too smoothly the first time. On the ride home, I learned that Georges parents and I used to be neighbours. They lived on Dr. Bird Rd. in Sandy Spring! I might have seen George in the early 80's at the 6-12 (Montgomery County's version of a 7-11) or the Highs or something. I saw a sign in, I think, Deleware for the Decoy museum which George and I decided was there so no one would find the real one. I actually learned Friday night at Eytan's gay, Jewish group (see below) that it's a hunting museum full of those little duck decoys. I liked our version better.

Dreams: I don't remember details, but I had two interesting dreams recently. The first one was on the 7th- I dreamed that Eytan, George and I were watching the election coverage and it said that Gore won. I woke up 4 times that night and each time I thought I had just dozed off while watching the tv showing all the democrats having celebrations. So I really thought Gore had won until I turned on the tv in the morning and heard the real story. Then last night I dreamed that I was in my apartment complex in Phoenix and I had discovered that there were secret underground passageways everywhere. I knew I shouldn't be snooping so I pretended I was one of the scientists who knew about it and I talked to this man who was going to help me learn more. He was just about to show me something when I woke up. I tried for an hour and a half to get back to sleep but I couldn't finish the dream. Oh well.

I've had a half a cold for the past week or so. I keep thinking it's almost gone but today I really mean it (I think). At least it hasn't kept me from doing what I need to do. It might have gone away a lot more quickly or maybe not have started at all if I had time to rest. I actually won't have time to rest until the end of January.

Friday night I went to a gay, Jewish dinner thing with Eytan. I felt very uncomfortable at first, but after the religious service part, I felt a little better. Most of the people there were gay men in their 60's and 70's. There was one younger man who sat next to me (Irving) who was very intelligent and interesting to talk to. He's a psychiatrist at Hopkins and from Australia. Eytan told me later that a few years ago he answered a personal ad that was Irving's and they went out on a date. Guess they didn't click. I don't blame Eytan though- except for the intelligence factor, I wouldn't want him either.

Last night I went to Heritage Players production of "The Compleat Works of Shakespeare". It started slow but got better. I think they tried too hard but one woman was very talented (had great comic timing). She seemed like a high maintenence woman though who thought a little too much of herself (she was rather cute though). They picked me for the "volunteer" (I didn't have a choice) to get up onstage and play Ophelia. I don't know why they picked me (everyone in the audience looked relieved it wasn't them). Usually people drag people they know up onstage since it's more fun. But they picked me. I had to scream Ophelia style. I tried to seem like an unwilling participant since that makes it more fun for them and the audience, but I was so happy to be back onstage I felt like being a ham. It's been too long! I didn't want to go back to my seat after the scene was over.

I was hoping to see some familiar faces but the cast of 3 were all new, and the few regulars who worked on the show weren't there that night. The only familiar face was Joe, the director, who was in "Hair" with me at Catonsville. I went to Jennings with him and a few other backstage people after the show- same old place. It was a good time though! There was a 15 year old girl who worked backstage who was the most intelligent, funny teenager I've ever met. She knew politics, musicals, and had some great one liners including one picking on Joe. I was quite impressed by her.

Now I'm sitting at Eytan's wondering when he'll be off the phone so I can check my email.

I can't believe I have to go home Tuesday. I'm ready to go back, but I'm not looking forward to all the stuff I left for myself. I have only 6 days before Neil and Maxine get there too. Then I have only 13 days to pack and move since I bumped up my flight to Baltimore so I can do the large lot sale. Actually, that I'm not too worried about. I think it should only really take 3-4 days to pack. I'm more worried about living out of boxes for a month before I get completely settled in New York. There's so many details to worry about... Never mind, I can't think about it right now. One thing at a time. One thing I should do though is make a list on the plane of all the details. I can even organise them into little categories- things to do before I move, what needs to be bought still, what I need to do after I move...

I've heard two negative things about "Charlie's Angels", but I don't trust either of their movie opinions completely, so I haven't completely given up hope. I still really want to see it. Although the fact that they fly around like they're in the Matrix sounds ridiculous.

Boring day, leave tomorrow, lots to do when I get back...

How odd, as soon as I uploaded this journal entry, I got an email from Rebecca asking me about my plans for New Years. She either read my mind or quickly read this entry before emailing.

I really need to go to bed but I'm not that tired. Or I'm really tired. I can't tell what I am right now. I just feel kind of odd and non-existant.

I'm home!

I forgot to mention that Eytan showed me Terry and Dena's wedding video so I could see the best man speech. Eytan did a fine job (although, it could have been a little more animated) and Heather (the maid of honour) had a great speech as well.

It was raining and foggy when I left Baltimore but my flight still left basically on time. I bet if I had been flying to Phili there would have been major delays. So I got to Charlotte with very little time to make my connection (especially since the gate was all the way on the other side of the terminal) but the flight to Phoenix was delayed so there was no problem. On the flight to Charlotte they almost made me check my bag as I was getting on the plane, but I insisted my bag stay with me and I just walked on. I got the last baggage space! Then when I got to Charlotte I asked if there was a way to make sure my bag stayed with me since I always have a seat in the first 2 rows so by the time my row is called, there is no more room on the plane for baggage (and I have such a small suitcase too). She told me I could board early. I got in line to board with first class and small children traveling alone and the woman stopped me telling me I had to wait for my row to be called. I told her the woman at the gate counter told me I could board early and she had a concerned look on her face when she asked me, "Oh, do you need assistance?" I told her no and went on my merry way putting my suitcase right above me in the overhead bin. I have to remember that trick for next time!

There was a flight attendent on the flight to Phoenix who reminded me of Sherry. She talked non-stop. Fortunately for me, she was only in the first class section. I got to watch (since I was in the first coach row) her annoy all the first class passengers. She said goodbye to all of them on the way out using their first names. At least she was friendly and didn't have a nasty attitude like some people can have. At BWI, I stopped at Roy Rogers for breakfast (I was hungry and it was the only place with breakfast food) and the cashier was the nastiest woman I've encountered in a long time! She gave me a major attitude when ordering and after I got my food, I overheard her say to the next person in line in a bitchy tone, "I heard you the first time!"

I tried to watch "Autumn in New York" on the plane but when you watch the screen that's too close to you, it's all dark and you can't see anything. Being in the first row, the only option I had was to watch the first class screen. That annoying flight attendent kept closing the curtain so I couldn't see (that's not why she closed it but it was irritating). I kept opening it back up and the game went on about 20-30 times during the movie. Good thing the movie was crap- I wasn't too upset about missing some of it.

On the Super Shuttle home, I had the same annoying driver that I had on the way 2 weeks ago. What luck!

OH! George finally gave me one of the WWI Germany military caps I've been eyeing! They were in the closet at the office and when we were done looking at them we both came out of the closet. I told Lisa that we both came out of the closet and now Bill was the only straight person working there ;) At least he didn't hear me. He has a habit of walking in on things I'm saying that he really doesn't want to hear. Of course, Bill's uncomfortable with most things people can say.

Mini Rant of the Day:So now I'm home and I'm overwhelmed by the things everywhere. What are all these things and where do they come from and why do you only notice them when you're ready to move? Why do you always have more things when you never buy things (or at least think you never buy things)? I HATE things!!

I changed my Sprint PCS plan to the new 2000 minutes for $49.00! I hope it's worth it- hanging around with them for another year.

And I cancelled my MCI long distance after one too many problems with the fraud department cancelling my card even after I tell them that I will be making a high volume of calls the next few days. I think it's ridiculous to decided when there's fraudulent activity on your card. Credit Card companies don't do that. So, even after I know of this problem and try to stop it before happening, it still doesn't work. They go overboard on the protection thing (I know, it's so they get the money they're earning by the calls made) and I've had enough. So, I just won't have long distance on my phone. I'll still have the Sprint minutes (although, it doesn't go into effect until next month, so I guess I don't have those minutes). Maybe I can use my other calling card number on my land line. Or maybe I can use the 10-10-220 thing without having a long distance carrier on my land line. Or maybe I'll just use email to communicate and let the long distance people call me.

And why do I have "The Jeffersons" theme song in my head?

I did some Christmas shopping today and started looking at some furniture (didn't get very far though). I'm now looking into travel options for this coming summer. I want to go to England & Scotland (and possibly Amsterdam for a few nights) for around 2 weeks. The only reason this trip wouldn't work is if I decide to take classes in the summer (or maybe it can if the sessions aren't the whole summer). This is just the preliminary stages anyway, who knows what I'll really wind up doing?

I seem to be caught back right now in November and December of 1997. Walking around Towson with Brian, going Christmas shopping with him, going to the Elk's Lodge with both Brian and Dwaine, meeting Dwaine for drinks and being caught up in that little lifestyle, Christmas parties, college basketball games, bars, cold weather, warm and friendly homes. Perhaps it's the Frank Sinatra CD... Whatever the reason, I feel comfortable. That was a perfect holiday time of year for me. I even really felt like a part of that prominent Towson family.

Today is one of those days when you feel like you're working and working and yet nothing seems to be getting done. And all the little things aren't working. I tried to call Hunter but never got through to anyone and their automated system kept giving me errors. I tried to reserve a car for December but I'm not finding any good rates. I tried Christmas shopping but I either can't find anything or I find something, get it to the shopping cart, and then Netscape crashes or I get disconnected. I'm trying to find a Goodwill where I can drop off some bags of stuff but no one answers the phone at any of the locations I called. What a waste of a day.

It's only 2:00 though so I still have time. It's cold though and all I want to do is pour a glass of red wine, curl under the blankets, and watch a good movie. Fortunately for all the deadlines I need to meet, I neither have red wine nor a good movie. But I have brandy and plenty of so-so movies. No, I have to accomplish at least 2 things before I won't feel guilty hanging out on the couch. Okay, I'll get the mail & pay bills and reserve a car for December.

I got a good start on making piles of stuff- trash, Goodwill, keep. The problem is that I don't know where to put the stuff I'm keeping. I should go get some boxes later.

Matt & Brie left for San Francisco today. It'll be nice to have the place to myself for a few days before Neil & Maxine come in. I think I'll set aside some time for myself- maybe when I go out for boxes, I'll rent a movie too.

I'm kind of lost with my sleeping pattern of the past few days. Two nights ago, I fell asleep around midnight and woke up at 8:00. Last night, I fell asleep around 11:00 and woke up at 3:30. Maybe tonight I'll get back on track, although more than likely, I'll develop the need for sleep for the rest of the month before getting back to normal. It's cold and I have tons to do this month- that'll make my cruel brain really find the need for sleep.

One of these days I'll remember to get my film developed. Maybe today? doubt it. I probably won't even go get boxes today. I think Sunday night will be the best time to find boxes. Although, I don't know the grocery stores out here.

Why can't I find a good deal on a car rental for December? I don't like my options with Alamo, Hertz, Avis, Thrifty, National (although, this one is best), or Budget. Am I missing one besides Dollar which I'm not in the mood to deal with?

I can't believe it's almost Thanksgiving. I'd better go start gathering recipies. I hope I can find a way to fit us all at or at least near the table.

8:30 PM
A telemarketer just called me except it took me a long time to figure out it was a telemarketer since he didn't speak English well enough for me to understand what he was saying. Whatever company he was calling for must be really desperate to hire someone who doesn't speak English.

A car alarm is going off outside my window right now. The owner isn't around, I guess, since it's been going off for 5 minutes. How obnoxious!

"High Fidelity" is on Pay-Per-View tonight. I think I'll watch and tape it. There have been some good movies on tv this month. Last night was "Pushing Tin" and "Fight Club" and tonight "High Fidelity". Great, more tapes mean more things to move. Oh well, these are worth it.

Had another night of plenty of sleep now I should be ready to take on this busy day. I think I have enough energy to get everything done, I just have to do it and stop procrastinating. Although, I kind of wanted to write an Epinion today too. And I'm interested in watching some of the Florida/Florida State game which will be fine since it's not on until 6:00 (I think).

My hair is shedding by the handful and my skin is drier than dry. See, some humidity is good.

Why is it that I never have much to say on the weekends?

ESPN's "3 Play" game is stupid. I don't know why I bother with it. I probably wouldn't if it didn't pop up every time I went to their web site. It's almost impossible to win. Yesterday I finally got in the 92 percentile and I still was no where close to winning. It's the luck of the draw, no strategy, I don't like that.

I also got a roll of film developed (crappy, grainy pictures), tried to look at laptops but couldn't find any stores in the area (I didn't want to drive all the way to Metro Center to go to Comp USA), bought some iced tea, tried to get boxes but the store didn't have any, took out the trash, found a Goodwill location that takes donations, mailed the mail, and got two movies at Blockbuster- "Any Given Sunday" and "Timecode".

Now I think I'll eat some lunch and watch a movie.

Right now, the thing I'm looking forward to most about moving is getting away from these obnoxious upstairs neighbours! The one above me LOVE rap and listens to it ALL DAY LONG!! Why can't she at least leave once in a while?

Last night I had A LOT of strange dreams but I don't remember a whole lot now. One- I was in some community theatre production with Joe Durika (from Hair) and Jonothan from Hair as well. The stage was a loft and we had to climb up a ladder for every entrance. There was a part in the show where, individually, we got up on stage and the audience would tell us who we were by asking us questions. I didn't want to go since it was the first time I was in the show and I wanted to watch someone else first, but Paula said it was no big deal and even she did it one night. So I went. They started asking me about the Clinton administration, Hilary Clinton, and what I thought about the Florida voting situation- I guess they decided I was some political figure. I remember feeling uncomfortable since I didn't want to offend anyone. Anyway, I had no idea what they were asking me (and I thought I kept up on current events). Rather than answer their questions, I decided it was time for the show to move on- I went down the ladder and into the dressing room to change. There were 2 girls from Park in the dressing room- they looked the same as they did around 10 years ago. Then another dream I had- I was standing in a hallway (I think from the same theatre production) and I was wearing a skirt that I still had from 3rd grade (I really do still have that skirt). There was a girl that I hadn't seen in years that also had that skirt (she had the shirt too, I lost mine). We talked about the fact that we knew how old each other's clothes were since we remembered each other from 3rd grade. This could have really happened. In 3rd grade Jill Heine had the same skirt and shirt I had (I guess our mothers shopped at the same fabric store since both outfits were homemade).

This is basically the last day I have to make room for Neil and Maxine. Then I need to figure out how to arrange the furniture so everyone can fit in here without feeling claustrophobic.

I'll also try to finish Christmas shopping today. And maybe even buy some more furniture for the apartment. I think I'll try to get everything except the entertainment centre which I need to work out with Harvey anyway.

Sometimes I think I spend more time finding news stories and cool websites than I do writing the actual journal entry.

So I fell asleep around, I think, 8:00 PM last night- this has GOT TO STOP! I woke up at 2:30 and went back to sleep until 3:00. Now I'm awake. At least I have a huge jump start on my day which is good since yesterday I didn't finish everything. I still have a few hours of cleaning/organising to do before my guests come.

I hope it warms up a little bit in the next few days. I hate using heat here in November it should be warm enough to not need it!

I hate Chris Weinke- he needs to get out of college and play with people his own age.

Again, I'm wishing there was a good place to go for breakfast around here. I guess I could head over to Perkins now before it gets crowded. But I was hoping to be a little productive before I go eat. Never mind, I think I'll just go now and get some energy before I tackle my day.

I think I'm the world's best procrastinator!

Perfect timing- I arrived at Perkins just as the 20 construction workers were leaving.

There was a homeless man there talking to a woman about how someone is trying to help him find a job. He said they could find him a job with more money and that's what he wants, more money. Some other guy left his paper and the homeless man asked if he could read it. What was the first section he went to? The classifieds? NO! He looked at the Sports Page. And that was it. He read the Sports Page and then left the restaurant leaving the paper at his table.

Looking forward to Christmas Eve- church, Christmas music, cold weather (the ONLY time I like cold weather), egg nog... I'll have to remember to not pack my Christmas CD's and "Rent"! I bet Josh will like egg nog...

After they leave, I can go return my movies and pick up some milk, cereal, and orange juice for Neil & Maxine so they can have something to eat tomorrow. Maybe I'll also see if the store has any boxes.

Now I'm off to Blockbuster and the food store...

I feel so out of it right now though. I don't know what time or day it is. Is it still morning? Did I sleep yet? What have I done today? Or was that yesterday? Or the day before? Or what if I didn't do it at all and it was really a dream? Huh? I'm confusing myself as I type. I hope I snap out of it before I have to leave for the airport. I hate walking through the airport in a daze.

There's an ice cream truck outside playing obnoxiously loud and chipper music and showing no signs of leaving. Maybe this is the perfect time to drag myself to the store.

What crap! Did I really expect accurate information? The actual departing times were the exact same as the scheduled departing times. Yeah, I'm sure the plane left the gate at the exact departure time and it took off right away! Hopefully the real times aren't too far off from the on time status listed. If it was really late, I'm sure the web site would have the correct information.

My back is killing me from all the bending up and down (I guess that's what it's from). I wish I could just lay on the couch and relax but then I'll be scared I won't get up to go to the airport. I'd better stay upright.

I was listening to NPR in the car earlier and during one of their little musical interludes, the music sounded just like Roger tuning his guitar in the opening scene of "Rent". Now I've had that in my head for the past few hours.

Oh yeah, I guess I could watch the Redskins too. I'm so out of it.

I picked Neil, Maxine, Paula, and Harvey up at the airport Monday night and both flights got in on time.

Yesterday Maxine, Neil, and Paula helped me do some packing (Maxine is terrific!) and we went food shopping. Then we just hung out here until we met Harvey at a Mexican restaurant for dinner. The place was really crowded and noisy but we finally got a table for four and added an extra chair at the end that there really wasn't room for. So I sat on the end and people kept walking back and forth bumping my chair (as if Mexican food wasn't messy enough, I got the added bumps to round out the meal). Finally they got really busy and the servers were walking by constantly! One person knocked my chair all the way and it bumped my bad knee into the table. Our server asked everyone at the table if I could move my chair in so people could get by. Why didn't she ask me? Because I was doubled over in pain, I guess. It was at the end of the meal so I just waited outside. Now my knee is all out of whack. That added to the bad back from lifting heavy boxes makes it pretty difficult to walk and drive (fortunately, I remember how to drive with my left foot.

Today I dropped off some things at Goodwill on the way to meet Paula and Harvey. We all went to the Botanical Gardens which I wasn't really into (I hate desert plants, espeically cacti) and then went downtown to Heritage Square for some afternoon tea. We were going to look around in some of the Victorian houses but no one seemed really into it. Maxine had seen it already, Neil thought they looked boring, and I was the one that wanted to go to begin with, but I was in such pain, all I really wanted to do was go home and sit still for a while. So now Neil and Maxine are with Paula and Harvey and I'll pick them up after dinner.

Besides from being in pain, being stressed out about getting everything done for the move, making dinner tomorrow and having company, Harvey had been getting on my nerves all day. We didn't get along and supposedly we made everyone else miserable. So that's just one more added thing to be stressed about. Oh, and Harvey is furious with me for a change. I don't know what to do. When he's angry, he doesn't listen. I just want to let it blow over but I doubt it will before tomorrow. He threatened to leave tomorrow and not come to dinner but I don't think Paula will let him do that. I am trying to be civil but when he makes stupid comments and doesn't trust anything I'm telling him (directions, etc) it makes it difficult. After the 4th time he askes me the same directions, it gets a little irritating. Especially since he does it all the time. If he wants my directions, he should listen and trust me, if not, he should just drive wherever he wants to or get directions from someone else. And why does he have to take plans and change them around 5 times so that I'm completely confused? He makes everything so complicated which is always difficult, but today, when there's enough chaos with company and moving and plans, it's REALLY difficult. So, I don't think we'll get to go over business plans, look at entertainment centres, and I won't get to give him a crash course on the World Wide Web. With the entertainment centres, I think we left off with just getting a TV stand and he didn't care what kind (I think he meant it, but maybe he was just being pissy. Just in case, I won't buy anything yet).

Anyway, I'm hoping they will all have a nice relaxing afternoon and evening and everyone will be in good spirits tomorrow. Please- I hate tension.

The amount of email I'm getting is ridiculous! I checked it yesterday until 5:30 PM. This morning at 8:00 I had 48 messages. Now at 3:30, I have 43 more. What do all these people want? I guess they want me to have another hour that I can't use for other important things.

I just called to see if I could cut my lease short one month since my lease isn't up until the end of January, but it costs more to break the lease than to pay the extra month. Oh well.

Now I'm going to try to find my checks that I was going to deposit today. I guess when I was cleaning, they got shuffled somewhere. Or I put them somewhere where I could find them easily except that I'm not finding them easily. All people do this, right?

I also needed to call Home Elements because they're causing problems with delivery of the sofa (they won't deliver to New York), but I forgot to call this morning and they're closed now. I guess it can wait until Friday afternoon if I can remember to call from Utah.

What I will get done this evening is find the checks (hopefully), more organising of stuff, take care of some work, pay bills, buy some furniture (maybe), and maybe relax a little bit.

Right now it doesn't feel like I'll be able to relax because all I can think about is how miesrable Neil, Maxine, Paula, and Harvey are. Maybe I'll forget in an hour or two.

Oh yes, one irritation of yesterday was that all my bookmarks disappeared (remember when bookmarks meant the little cardboard thing you used to remember the page you were on in the book you were reading?)! Fortunately, all of them until a month ago were on Blink but the ones from the past month are gone! The file is no where to be found. It makes no sense to me; 'tis a mistery, this is! Anyway, so now I'm still suffering, trying to organise what I have and remember what was lost.

Oh, and I'm a little upset with Neil and Maxine for telling Harvey that it was all my fault, he didn't do anything wrong, they are completely on his side, and he should be furious with me for doing what I did. Even if they do feel that way, I don't appreciate the fact that they would share that information. They aren't a part of this issue and they don't understand the whole thing so it's not their business to say anything one way or the other. "That's just my opinion, I could be wrong."

I hate feeling outraged! I have never found anything to take me out of that mood though. Sometimes New Order works. Maybe I'll try a New Order CD. It's that time of year anyway. I decided to pick "Substance" since that's what Brian and I listened to on Thanksgiving weekend when we put up the Christmas lights in '97.

Well, I'm on song #3 and I feel slightly better. I think I'm trying too hard. Actually, I feel a lot better already than I thought I would.

Now I'm reading some Epinions and trying to relax. I do love New Order. Every time a new song starts, I feel instantly better. Of course then I go back to feeling on edge but at least I have a few more songs before the CD ends to try and jump start my good mood. I probably shouldn't type this, but another thing that's keeping my mood mellow is IE- it's behaving this evening.

The most obnoxious car alarm is going off outside my window. It has a nice variety of 3 different obnoxious choices of noises which will alternate every 15-20 seconds. This has been going on for the past 5 minutes.

Now I'm listening to some of my MP3's on random order. Right now it's playing Frente's, "Horrible". I do love this song.

CNN's big stories of the morning:
- Florida Recount
- Middle East Bus Bombing
- Man Accused of Having Ballot stuffed in His Jacket
- Clinton Pardons the Thanksgiving Turkey

Happy Thanksgiving!

This morning I took out the trash, took a shower, went to the bank, and still got to the food store an hour before I'm supposed to pick up the turkey. Rather than go in and see if I could get it early, I came to Starbucks to relax for a little bit. For some reason, I walked in, read the seasonal coffee choices, listened to the mellow music, looked around at the fellow patrons, and a rush of Christmas spirit overwhelmed me to the point of tears. I wanted to wish everyone around me a happy Thanksgiving- but I didn't.

Wow! This Iced Gingerbread Latte is amazing! I'll have to come back before the holiday season is over. Hmm. There's a guy here who looks exactly like Eric (director of "Hair"). For some reason, I really enjoy the music at Starbucks. It's probably the "Singers & Standards" satellite channel and maybe "Light Sounds" too.

See, I feel like everything from yesterday is washed away. Now if only everyone else could feel the same way, we could have a pleasant day.

Can't wait to watch The Patriots on their first ever Thanksgiving football game. They won't win but hopefully it will be a good game.

Oh yes, I saw a banner ad the other day that said, "Don't forget- November is Alzheimer Awareness Month". I don't think they meant it as a joke, but I thought it was funny.

When was it decided that Dallas and Detroit would play on Thanksgiving and why?

Thanksgiving dinner went off without a hitch. It was very uneventful, but I think everyone enjoyed themselves.

This morning Neil, Maxine, and I flew to Salt Lake City. We drove to Antelope Island, watched the cheesy movie at the Visitor's Centre, and drove around looking for wildlife. Maybe it was too cold for them to be out since all we saw were a few bison.

Then we went to lunch at a pub, and after lunch, Neil and Maxine walked around and I went to a Private Club, got in for free, talked to Brian the bartender for a little while and watched the 1st half of the Texas/Texas A&M game, and then came back to the hotel to take care of some things. Now I'm waiting for N&M to come back. Tonight, Neil and I are going to see the Jazz/Nets game. It was either that or go see "Ragtime". I don't have a huge need to see "Ragtime" in Utah and Maxine didn't want to see it, so we'll do basketball instead. I've never been to an NBA game so I'm looking forward to it. I told Neil he could see "Ragtime" in Baltimore when it comes there. I think it's coming there in February. I just wish it was either later in the basketball season or I knew the teams better. I don't really know either team. Is Keith Van Horn still with the Nets?

Happy day! I got to the lounge just in time for the VT/Virginia game! So I can watch for an hour before we go to dinner.

We left SLC this morning and headed up to Park City- didn't take long at all (I thought the roads might be snowy but they weren't at all). After we checked in, we went to an ice rink so Maxine could skate- if my feet weren't killing me from my shoes, I would have skated too. Then we walked around Main St. after going to the Bad-Ass Coffee Shop.

Last night we didn't wind up doing anything- no show, no basketball game. Instead we walked around Temple Square looking at the Christmas lights & floating candles, listening to the recorded choir, and watching the animated nativity scene. Suddenly, I felt a wave of sadness come over me. I don't know if it was the religious stuff or a sense of loneliness from looking at all the couples walking around, or the beginning of the Christmas season in general, or a combination of them all. Whatever the reason, I was miserable until I went to bed.

Park City is beautiful and cold (and this really isn't cold yet). I'm hoping to have a very relaxing weekend before I return to my chaos. As long as I have something to read or something to write, I'll keep myself busy while still relaxing. At least there aren't too many activities I want to do so there's even more of a chance I'll take the time to relax (because there's nothing else to do, not because I'm good at sitting around).

Well, Virginia scored a touchdown already in the 1st 5 minutes of the 1st quarter at VT. Now Vick is limping off the field for a change. Now VT scored a touchdown. Real exciting game. Still, tradition counts for something.

I miss Blacksburg, I know I was just there this summer, but I miss it. I can't wait to go! I found Joe's email address and he told me I can stop by any time. So I'll get to see Joe, Josh, Chandra, maybe Andy... It'll be a fun time.

Okay, what's up with Virginia scoring again in the 1st quarter? Without Antoine Womack they'd be nowhere. Hmm... I'm getting a little buzz from the wine. Probably because I haven't had anything to eat since lunch yesterday (except for some granola and a piece of sausage this morning). And I really thought Tech would dominate this game. They really don't deserve to be ranked #5. Some major recruiting needs to be done for next year whether or not Vick goes Pro.

I get to see 5 cities' Christmas lights! SLC, Park City, Phoenix (and vicinity), Baltimore, and NRV. No New York though, although most lights will probably still be up January 3rd. I can't believe I only have 2 weeks to get settled and registered for classes... Wait! I'm on vacation and won't think about that now!

Happy thoughts, happy thoughts, happy thoughts!

Tomorrow's plans are up in the air. Maxine wants to go cross-country skiiing, I want to either go on a sleigh ride or take a gondala up the mountain as long as you don't have to ski back down. If those don't work, I'll just hang out here at the resort and relax.

So VT beat Virginia 42-21. It would have been really embarrassing if they had lost. At least Vick can still throw.

GAP commercials are getting really odd. What's up with the floating people? And the clothes aren't even interesting. I think their orange kick needs to go away.

On that note... I'm heading back to the room to try to fall asleep.

I really think it's colder in wind-tunnel-from-Hell New York City than it is up here in the snowy mountains.

On this beautiful day, Neil & I went to Olympic Park while Maxine went shopping at the outlet stores. We watched a video of the bobsled teams and louge and then we took a tour in a van. We saw the louge/bobsled/skeleton track, the top of the ski jump (we weren't supposed to go up there since it was all under construction but out guide was nice and let us go because it was slow), and the 4 million dollar clock/scoreboard. It was so beautiful up there and it was nice seeing it now before all the people get there. It would have been nice to see some of the athletes practicing but we just missed to Nordic jumpers and the bobsledders hadn't started yet. Oh well. We did see the Irish and Japanese teams arriving for practice.

Now we're back at the hotel to rest, watch football, and find out about the Forida recount situation. Right now Bush is leading by 564 votes (or something like that). I think they should just elect Bush. If Gore is elected, I think there's a good chance someone will attempt to assassinate him, being that this is a year that ends in zero. Of course if Bush is elected and gets assassinated and Cheney has another heart attack...

The Ravens killed the Bengals today. Neil can be a Ravens fan now that they're doing well and the Redskins seem to be killing their hopes for the playoffs. I'm glad I didn't do the pick-every-week-including-the-playoffs-and-Super Bowl-at-the-beginning-of-the-season thing. I have no clue who will makes the playoffs, let alone the Super Bowl. Glad I kept Watters on my fantasy team. He just ran for major yardage (I missed how much exactly). Now he caught a pass and got to the one yard line! Now he just scored a touchdown. Go Watters! But why is Seattle playing at University of Washington?

Finally, they're laying off the holiday tunes and playing Pachelbell's Cannon! I love this! Sitting in a warm lodge, sipping coffee, listening to one of my favourite pieces of music. Uh-oh, now they're playing that racey cartoon music. The one that makes you anxious. Now I'm feeling hyper and restless. Ah- it stopped.

I just found out that the lodge has a computer that you can use anytime! Maybe that's what I can do tonight after everything closes and Neil & Maxine go to bed. I certainly have a lot of journal writing to type and upload!

Charlie Gibson's house is right up the hill from the lodge (I had no idea who he was, I wish I knew who more famous people were). It looks like it has been vacated for years. The bartender said that the house is done, but he's never seen anyone go up there.

I'm istting on one of my favourite places to write- a window seat under a bay window. To make it even better, there's a light flurry and it's still a little dark so you can see Christmas lights on the trees. If I'm ever able to build a house (or find one like this), it would be a house with a stone front (siding on the back and sides), a ceiling to floor bay window with a wondow seat overlooking something than a busy road and a room with a stone fireplace. It would be nice if this could be in New England. I'll keep dreaming.

Speaking of dreaming, for the hour that I actually got to sleep last night, I had a dream that Greg Lake (as in Emerson, LAKE, and Palmer) had a house up the street from Paula & Harvey's. I told Josh and he was really excited and wanted to meet him. We found him and hung uot with him for a little while. I don't remember the details anymore.

Park City (or maybe winter sports in general) attracts good looing, clean cut, young men. Although it also attracts the hippies. I went to Mother Urbans by myself last night and it was empty except for 3 clean cut guys on one side of the bar and 3 hippies on the other side. I was sitting on the hippy side (not on purpose, I got there frst and they sat next to me). I wanted to go talk to the other guys but couldn't figure out a way to go do that. I didn't stay long though since the shuttle stops at 11:00 and I didn't feel like finding another way back.

Maxine left this morning to go cross-country skiing (again I would have gone if I wasn't already in pain) and I don't know what Neil's doing today. I want to stay here, read, write, have a drink (maybe something to eat), and listen to "Side Show" since there's a CD player in the room. I'll also go use the computer here (although I won't upload the journal since the computer setup is too uncomfortable to sit there for too long and right now I have 10 notebook pages- but my writing is fairly big).

I'm irritated with my feet- there are bruises and blisters all over them and my ankles look like they've been tied up with a thin rope. So I'm walking funny. Walking funny does wonders for the knees, hips, and back...

Now I'm back on my cute window seat listening to "Side Show"- "Terry, how about a good luck kiss...". I love this show! I want a man who's a combination of Terry and Buddy- the deep voice and passion of Terry and the honesty and caring ways of Buddy. I'm not asking too much, am I?

It stopped snowing.

Now I'm at the Bad-Ass Coffee Shop waiting for Neil & Maxine. I like this place- quiet and comfortable. There's a friendly dog here who seems to like the man sitting on the couch trying to read. I think I'll go pick out a book to read myself. The only semi-interesting choice that's not a novel is Hal Roach's "Unnecessary Sayings of The Irish in Conversation". The Economic textbook I just looked at was boring- I'm assuming it was written for 12-15 year olds.

I always feel strange after I get home from a trip on a plane. It's a hyper feeling- like I have so much to do, I don't know what to do first. It takes about an hour to settle into whatever I'm doing (usually checking email these days).

Now I feel like I want to be alone (I haven't had any alone time in over a week) but Matt & Brie are here. Oh well, guess I'll have to wait for tomorrow afternoon.

I wrote to Andy telling him I'd be in Blacksburg over Christmas and New Years and I just got an email back with some very kind words that I really needed to hear right now. It's nice to feel cared about in any which way. Especially now, I've been kinda lonely recently with the holidays coming up and everything. I keep having these wonderful dreams though. Last night I dreamed that I met my soulmate. I was in a dance program at some college in Baltimore City. Our group was wandering all over the city because we didn't have classes that day. We went to a movie theatre and a bar and some other places. Then I met a guy in the group at Constitution Ave (I'm assuming in DC) and Park Ave (in New York? or maybe a park in DC?) and he and I instantly clicked. We walked all over the city together and we both knew that we were going to be together for a long time. I was a little cautious though. The strange thing was that Neil told me in the morning that he dreamed that I was married and everyone was telling him how pretty I looked in my dress and how happy I looked.

Last night after dinner, I went to a pub to watch Monday Night Football. I liked the atmosphere much better than Mother Urbans. I met a guy from West Virginia and had fun talking about college football (he's a Mountaineers fan of course), Pro football, and prunes (he made moonshine from prunes). I told him the little story I heard on CNN while waiting at the Phoenix airport to go to SLC. Supposedly the prune industry (I didn't even know they had an industry, I thought it would be part of the fruit industry or part of the food manufacturing industry) doesn't like the bad image they get so they're changing the name to Dried Plums. I guess that might help, people are stupid enough that they will think it's a new product. Anyway, I was very surprised at the outcome of Monday Night's game. What happened to Green Bay? Favre threw fine but his receivers couldn't hold onto the ball. The Panthers really had a good game too.

Weird. I heard noises in the next room and I thought it was Neil and Maxine since I've been so used to hearing them the past few days. I can't wait till I don't have a roommate.

Whoa! Just had a little scare. I was going too quickly when I was saving this notepad file and thought I deleted all the text and saved it like that. Fortunately, what I did was open a new notepad file and save that blank one. I still have this journal file.

I really want to lie down on the couch and not have anyone around for a little while. Why can't they at least go in their room? I don't want to stay in my room. Oh well, they'll be out by Friday.

I just looked at a bottle of water I bought and it says it expires on Ovtober 12th of 2002. I didn't know water expired.

Since I'll be down in Blacksburg on January 1st, I'll be able to watch the Hokies at the Gator Bowl with other Tech fans (if any of them are around).

I seem to be able to use Amazon and upload my journal using Netscape now. I wonder why it works now but not last month? Who cares? No More IE!!!!

Last night I went to the Hilton where Neil and Maxine were staying and had dinner with them at The Point in Tyme. Yum! This morning I met them there for breakfast- yum again. Then I dropped them off at the airport.

I gave myself a day off today (sort off)- I just did things that needed to get done but weren't that difficult. Tomorrow I really need to get cracking on the moving thing. Here's what I hope to accomplish:
- Call Salvation Army to arrange picking up of furniture
- Call APS to shut off gas & electric
- Call Qwest to turn off phone service
- Get a change of address form
- Get film developed
- Go to the food store
- Buy remaining furniture and linens
- Call New York DMV to see what is required to obtain a license
- Call Verizon to set up local phone in New York?
- Go through the mail
Now that I typed it, it doesn't seem too bad. I can finish this stuff and still get work done. And I'm contemplating going out to get the mail now (and pick up something to eat) and start on that.

Today, so far, is pretty productive. Here's what I wrote at 10:00 this morning:
I'm sitting at Starbucks sipping my Iced Gingerbread Latte while waiting for my film to be developed. I think I'll also run to Blockbuster to see if there are any movies I want to watch tonight. I just went to AJ's for some iced tea and discovered they're selling Honest Tea now! Of course I had to get some. Wow, all the way from Bethesda, MD. I guess they're getting popular. Good for them- it's good stuff!

This morning I tried to figure out how, when, and where to rent a car in Baltimore. I called George to see if he could give me a ride Saturday & Sunday so I wouldn't have to rent a car at the airport (which would mean returning it to the airport since none of the city locations allow you to return airport rentals), but he said he'll be "entertaining important clients" (in other words, taking Davitt out on the company card) so I can't count on him for rides. I thought I would rent at the airport and return it Monday and fly to New York and then take a Super Shuttle to Rent-A-Wreck when I fly back Tuesday. Now Harvey convinced me to not go to New York at all (I was just going to go up there to set up a bank account and get a driver's license) since it's not worth the trip. I still thought it would be worth getting those two things out of the way so I'd have less to do in January, but maybe not. I don't know. I still don't think I'll be able to get everything done in time to start classes, but if there aren't too many blockades at every step, maybe I'll make it. Of course I'll be exhausted... I don't feel like thinking about this right now. I just need to concentrate on the things that need to get accomplished before I move.

Oh, I should go get a change of address card!

So now it's 4:00. I just got an email from Jeff and he told me that he met Bruce Jenner (another famous person I've never heard of). Anyway, Jeff will be in Baltimore on the 20th so hopefully we can doing something on the 21st or 22nd. I miss him a lot. I tend to miss everyone this time of year.

So Mussina's with the Yankees for $84 million/6 years. If the Orioles hadn't spent all that money on Albert Belle, maybe they would have had more money to offer Mussina. Still, having Mussina would not give the Orioles a winning team, they need a lot more than him. Angelos is such an idiot.

Okay, so Netscape won't let me upload my journal. It won't accept any text. Oh well, looks like I'll have to keep IE around. I also really need to see about a laptop.

I got an acceptence letter from Hunter today. It came with a list of phone numbers so I called the Testing centre to find out some more information. Now it looks like I can take the tests either on the 3rd or the 18th of January. And since I was wrong about when classes start (they don't start until the 27th- thank you, a normal school), I can take them on the 18th. You take all of them in one day; it'll take 6 hours.

I also rented a car from Avis for the 15th-18th. Even though I called them (and all the rental companies) to ask if I could return it to another location and they said no, when I made the reservation online, it let me enter a different return location. So I have it in writing in case they give me a problem. I'm glad I don't have to go all the way back to the airport for no reason. Then on the 18th, I'll rent a Rent-A-Wreck; they are hald the price of other rental companies.

Too much time was spent talking to Kevin (Matt's old roommate) about free lance web design. He's working for a Food Software company right now and wants to start working for himself. He asked if I had any clients I wanted to get rid of. I also told him about a few web sites to check out for free lance work. I wouldn't have minded talking to him, but I know about all these horrible things he's done from Brie talking about it all the time. Of course I only know her side... Still, he has to be somewhat of a problem if we had to move all of Matt's stuff out of there when he was in Austria (but maybe Brie just thought Kevin would want Matt's stuff out). I did meet him once but I didn't learn much about him. Now I know his life story (from Arizona, family from Phili, worked for Intel for a while...)

I mailed the change of address card. Please USPS, don't screw up my mail again!!!!!!!!!!! That car mess is still in the back of my mind. I wonder why I haven't heard anything else from State Farm. Did it magically go away? Yeah sure.

Last night I watched "American Beauty" with Matt & Brie. That really is a grat movie!

It's getting late. I think I'll make my phone calls tomorrow. Today I'll just buy furniture, a TV, and linens.

I got my pictures- they're not too exciting but there might be 3-4 good ones. There's a good one of Brie from Halloween. I wish I had remembered to ask someone to take a picture of me- I liked my Freudian Slip costume.

My November file isn't as big as I thought it would be by now.

An ice cream truck decided this week that it would start driving around my apartment complex. I hate listening to that music every afternoon. At least this afternoon it only drove around my parking lot for a few minutes (usually it's outside my window for a good 10 minutes). Oops, spoke too soon. It's back!