One of my once in a blue moon posts

So you know what I miss? AOL instant messaging. Back in college, specifically my freshman year (eight years ago? yikes!!) I used to "chat" with friends online and there was something about that live written interaction that I loved. So you may have noticed I'm not much of a blogger, and I'm not sure why. I'm only very rarely in the mood to blog. But AIM could keep me busy for hours. Not that I need to spend two hours at a time instant messaging again, because there's just not time for that, but I really do miss it. I remember loving the sound of the door creaking open when a friend signed on, and lamenting that harsh sould of the door shutting if someone unexpectedly left or was kicked off by their computer. And even though the magic wand sound of sending messages back and forth might have given my roomate a facial tick(tic?), to me it was worth it. I think the time-delay of having about five more seconds to think before responding to what people said to you was also benefical for me. It lent itself to significantly more witty banter...or maybe just a different sort of banter altogether. There are some hilarious moments that can't be duplicated in another setting, like when I meant to type "I'm looking for some corn pops" and I sent it as "I'm looking for some porn cops." Maybe it's not so funny to the reader now but late at night in a college dorm, while eating corn pops and AIMing, it was enough to make tears stream down your face. And or course there was always the classic typing of "nad" instead of and. Everybody always used "lol" but my favorite was "ahahahaha!" It made me want to laugh out loud more. There were all kinds of things you could do with the text that I appreciated. Of course, I recognize that it's not the best way to communicate anything important, but it was fun. I never really liked talking on the phone, and that was finally something where I could talk to and keep in touch with my friends from home without having to deal with my mild phone phobia. I remember when "silvrgirl" was someone that I really didn't know! Back when a lot of my friends now were new friends then. Back when I first learned that CaptnSkunk(I know that's not right but it was something like that right?) had a literary side. I don't even remember my own screen name anymore. I can't believe it was so long ago now. Well, I know AIM is still out there but the time for it is gone (or is it? j/k) and I must plow on without it. I've always been a bit too nostalgic for my own good...

MATTERHORN, not Maderhorn, and Happy Hour Regrets

I got made fun of for spelling Matterhorn wrong in the last post. I had a feeling it was wrong when I was writing it but I was too lazy to look it up. Spelling snob Jeff acted like I had spelled my own name wrong so I felt compelled to create a post to make sure all the rest of you spelling snobs don't write me off. ;-) Also, I would like to sing the praises of a recently discovered substance that I am now a huge fan of...Afrin 12 hour nose spray. Don't worry, I'm not abusing it, but man that stuff makes my life better during a cold. Finally, I was very sad not to be able to come to happy hour tonight, especially as I am off work and we got an invitation call--I hate turning down invitation calls, because I really did want to go! But if I don't just let myself get over this cold I've had for like 6 weeks now (because of the germy preschoolers) I'll never fully recover. An because alcohol is on the mind, I will leave you with an alcohol related quote:

"I'd rather have a bottle in front of me than a frontal lobotamy."

You might have heard it already and I don't know who said it but right now it's all I got. hang tough...

xmas at Disneyland and other tales

So it finally began to feel like Christmas for me this weekend. We started off by going out to Jeff's Mom's house for an early Christmas dinner and gift exchange, where I was lucky enough to receive a homemade blanket, a starter's kit for beginning knitters (the scarf I started definitely has some problems), a starbucks card, and some other cool stuff I'm forgetting. Oh Jeff and I also got some cool pots and pans.

On Sunday Jeff and I went to Disneyland with Steve and Aimee (his brother and sister-in-law). Now, I haven't been to Disneyland in something like five years, and even though I was pretty much all growns up the last time I went, I think that my memory of Disneyland is from when I was a kid because I noticed these differences:

1. The Sleeping Beauty Castle used to be a lot bigger.
2. the Maderhorn used to be completely covered with snow, not just white paint patches on fake cement.
3. The rides used to be longer (except for small world which is painfully long)
4. The Tiki Room jokes used to be REALLY funny, and now, not so much.
5. I don't remember hacking up a lung at Disneyland as a kid ( my cough at D-land was out of control)

BUT I did have a really good time. Highlights of the day: The first one needs a preface. Here is the preface, which is actually a very bad thing--Jeff's brother Steve has a degenerative back condition that prevents him from standing in one place for more than 20 minutes or so. He can walk all day, but the pressure caused by standing makes the disk in his back swell or something, and is really painful. Result: He had to get a wheelchair for Disneyland because the lines were all mostly at least an hour or two long. Ultimate result: We got to go to the front of the lines as part of the wheelchair party. It was nice to be able to go on all the rides we wanted on such a busy day. I do have to say that there is something to be said for waiting in lines for rides though, because it builds up your anticipation for a ride, and I like to people-watch while in line.

Other highlights included FINALLY going to Disneyland as a group of four. I frequently ended up going to Disneyland in groups of three or five (when I went with friends), and hated going on rides by myself. I distinctly remember feeling lame having to ride in one of the Haunted Mansion chairs by myself. I mean, I know it happens to everyone at some point, and if you don't have an even number that's just what happens, but it's annoying you know? So it was cool to not have to worry about that anymore. Speaking of the haunted mansion, they have it all decked out Jack Skeleton style from the nightmare before christmas. It's pretty different and really well done. What else? The sourdough breadbowls are just like I remember them. It was really cold (which I love) and there were a lot of cute toddlers running around in beanies and oversized jackets. the Christmas decorations were really cool, especially in New Orleans Square. Jeff took some good pictures, including one indecent shot of a reindeer in the petting zoo. If you're reading this, I think you should delete that one. Watch, he'll probably post it on the blog now. All in all a very good time.

Today I am working on wrapping miscelaneous presents, callling friends and relatives that I have neglected to call recently, deep-cleaning my apartment (I think i'm going to tackle one room a day), and grocery shopping. just in case you wanted to know. Hopefully I'll see you all at happy hour, if not before...

early one mornin i was makin the rounds...

i took a shot o' cocaine and i shot my woman down,
Shot her down because she made me sore,
I thought I was her daddy but she had five more...

So they're not the most profound of his lyrics by any means, but it's a damn good song. I have a newfound love for Johnny Cash. That's from my new album Live from Folsom Prison that I bought last week. Every one or two years, something (a movie, song, actor, book) strikes a major chord with me, and I get sort of borderline obsessed with whatever that subject might be for a while, and then it just sort of fades but I still love them. In the past it's been Jane Austen, Humphrey Bogart, among others. But right now I'm on a Cash fix. There aren't too many things that I get that way about, so I feel justified in indulging the obsession a bit. I think Jeff is pretty sick of him though and that it's time to stop playing the CDs in the car all the time. I have no doubt that he will find some way to make fun of me about it in a comment.

In other news, something interesting I learned tonight:

There are these rooms called anechoic chambers that audiologists use for research purposes--they are the most soundproof rooms that exist, where any sound made in the room is absorbed by foam walls, and the test subject is even elevated off the floor so that they are in the very center of the room. So when there is no noise there is ABSOLUTELY no noise. So they did some kind of experiment where they asked people to go in there with the lights off as well (pitch blackness as well as complete silence). With the auditory and visual senses completely shut off, most test subjects started to have auditory and visual hallucinations because their brain couldn't handle it. sounded kinda crazy to me.

Since all I have to talk about is work or school, I will now share some preschooler comments from work that I have heard in recent weeks:

"It smells like it's raining poopies.'( a timeless classic)
"We found a dead bird over there and it's stuck in the fence, and it's missing a head and now it can't fly anymore and now it is separated from its family and now it won't have any fun any more.' (that's from today.)
"Connor's outside having a templeton" (referring to another student having a temper tantrum).
"We are watering the flowers so that they will be happy and good and nice." (Jake)
"In Thailand we gog to meg fike mig fow toog bok my fada took wig lug crab in a bucket--This is from a student named Long Kong, who has a very strong accent and I can usually only pick up the first and last part of what he says. I respond with something like "really?" or "cool!" and he usually nods and walks away.

Well that's all for now.

a pause for the cause

The other night at Hamburger Hamlet we had this waitress..65-70ish woman who had painted her fingernails bright blue. She was awesome, and after we ordered our drinks she was all, "You folks wanna enjoy your drinks for a coupla minutes? I need a pause for the cause." So now I am trying to bring that expression into my varied lexicon. Actually I hear expressions that I like all the time and I very rarely remember to use them, or if I do they sound contrived or something.

I am not going to write a really long post on this one in case the computer doesn't let me post again. But let me just say that Pete is being an instigator on my blog. That last comment to Lauri? Them's fightin' words....

The Goondocks have been infiltrated

This is Jeff posting as Amanda. She has been having problems posting from her sister's computer, so I am checking to make sure she could post from mine. It just goes to show that PCs are better than Macs. Man, having said that I feel almost as nerdy as Pete.

In any case, hopefully the real Amanda will post again soon.

"The More We Get together the happier we'll be..."

Three words: Special Day Class preschool.

For those of you who aren't too familiar with the world of education that means a preschool class full of kids with some kind of disorder-emotional problems, or developmentally delayed. I am now a "behaviorist" in a classroom that has six-seven adults and eleven students. It's pretty much what you would expect a preschool class to be like except there's more screaming and "accidents"(not everyone knows how to use the potty-This part of the job is not as fun). But the kid I am working with is really sweet and pretty smart, and extremely cute. Just a little disengaged at times. There is one kid that has a face that looks like a 40 yr old mobster face but he's only three. All of the kids are pretty darn cute. We have circle time, and free play time, and story time, and art time, and center time. all of it is loud. but it pays decent and i like it a lot better than what I was doing before. And if you're wondering what the subject title is about it's because I got to sing that song twice yesterday:

The more we get together, together together,
The more we get together the happier we'll be
Cause your friends are my friends and my friends are your friends
The more we get together the happier we'll be.

I think it has some truth to it...I mean, it has so many different levels...