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autumnluv143The weekend was preceded this week by dread of Friday. But thanks to my fantastic array of friends and loved ones, I didn't have even a second where I felt the need to cry. This one was great (thanks y'all) but I still maintain that birthday's suck.
Friday: I worked all day and didn't have a single moment during the day where I was ready to quit and kill people. That's an improvement over...well..every other day I'm there. I left work and couldn't take the easy route to Fellini's because of traffic build up from the 18-wheeler still stuck on the interstate (see previous posts). I managed to show up around the same time as the first people to get there. We all sat down and it was a great night with wonderful conversation, happiness, good wine, free birthday tiramisu and even a couple presents. I got a way cool magnetic, adorable organizer cause she says I'm a "busy busy woman" and I got a cute book about friends (awwwww...puppies, kittens and LLAMAS!!), an awesome bookmark and a gift card to my store de secret sin....B&N. All in all it was quite a good day. Let's hope 30 is just as cool as 29 was.
Saturday: I went to class. English is not a class I enjoyed very much in high school. I love to write. Obviously. But I hate being graded on it. So we had several prompts for our in-class essay (to prepare us for the final) and one of them was (paraphrasing) "There are over 4.5 billion people in this world trying to make it....What makes you so special? In other words, justify your existence (You can also argue that you can't justify any one person's existence)." This is the one I chose. I realized about half way through that I really must be 90% of the way out of the funk I was in because I was able to write over 500 words on why I am important. I was actually kind of impressed with myself. The last in class essay we did, I got back and I got a B. For a rough draft of something written on the spot and just handed in, I'm not going to complain about that.
I left class and got back to my phone and there were voicemails. Bill collector, sister-in-law, Dennis from work. A girl from work had mentioned a couple weeks ago that they were all going to see TSO (Trans-Siberian Orchestra) and I had told her that if they had a cancellation, I would so take that ticket. Now, I was mostly kidding as I really didn't expect that to pan out. Dennis was calling to say that he'd had a cancellation and would I like to go. OMG! So I called him back and told him "thanks, but I really can't afford to pay you back for that." He said he didn't ask for all that and did I want to go. So, hell yes I went!. I met them at the New Orleans arena at 7 and managed to catch up to them right as they were walking in. The seats were on the floor about 7 rows back from the stage. I was so excited! I am a huge fan of TSO but hadn't gotten to see them live. Yay! So the show started and from beginning to end, I was only let down once. But believe me, the rest of the show totally made up for it! There was fire, lights, rock, a great story, an old bum (loved that part!), amazing music, amazing singing and snow! Not cotton falling from a wind turbine! Snow! It melted on you. It covered my hair! They gave a guitar away to a little boy towards the end of the show and the cutie guitar player went down the center row of the audience and played for a little kid. I ♥ TSO. My new favorite song is "Old, Dirty Bar" cause it almost made me cry.
Sunday: Oi, Sunday. I attempted to work on my research paper (due tomorrow). After the Saints lost, my dad went out with me to the sampling site. No luck. Caught 2 minnows, 3 snails, 1 crawfish, 1 case malaria, 1 case west nile, and spotted 15 anacondas. Ok, so not 15 and they were probably more like water moccasins. The place I needed to sample was the Chef hwy/510 interchange. Well when the fish I was looking for was caught last year, they were caught in the northwest quadrant of the interchange. Ok. Fine. We tried the drainage pond first, nothing, then another ditch before making it over to the northwest side. As we're approaching the ditch from either side of it, we're walking on the type of brush that's really airy underneath. As you step in it, your foot actually sinks down like 4" into the brush to the ground. Perfect place for a snake den, right? So, I'm watching my dad walk down one side of the bank of this ditch and I see a small snake slither out and slip down into the water. Me: Snake! Dad: Really? Me: Yeah, little one right after you walked past it. Dad: Ok. We keep walking and I see the weeds move across a 6" area down towards the water. I assume this is another snake. Fine. I look across to wear my dad is and as he's starting to get lower towards the ditch, this giant snake rolls out of the grass right below where he'd just stepped and slips into the water. The snake was as big around as my wrist and at minimum 5' long if it was an inch. I'm not specifically scared of snakes, but that did it. 3 snakes of the same family in less than 5 minutes? We're definitely in a den. Me: Woah! Step back! Step back! That was a huge snake! Dad: What? Where? Me: Right below where you just stepped. Dad: Yep, you've convinced me Me: I've convinced myself. Let's go. Dad: Yeah, you're right. Sampling halted due to urination Me: Yeah, I'll title my research with "Sampling incomplete due to fear based incontinence." Wait, I'm going to dump this stuff out. So I step out on the culvert to drop the few things I had caught back into the water and (no, I'm not kidding) another big snake comes out of the brush and into the water. Needless to say, I'll probably be falsifying my data.
The fact that I didn't get much accomplished this weekend has caused me to take today off and attempt to write my paper. Wish me luck you guys!
***Edit: On the way back from sampling, we stopped at the Irish Bayou truck stop and ran into my deaf friend Deborah. I haven't seen her in ages and was amazed to find out that my sign language skills are still (mostly) in tact. I had a whole conversation with her and only said a few words wrong. Sweet! I have got to keep in touch with her. I feel so bad that I've only seen her once since I've been back. Ah well...something to tack on to the to-do list.
Friday: I worked all day and didn't have a single moment during the day where I was ready to quit and kill people. That's an improvement over...well..every other day I'm there. I left work and couldn't take the easy route to Fellini's because of traffic build up from the 18-wheeler still stuck on the interstate (see previous posts). I managed to show up around the same time as the first people to get there. We all sat down and it was a great night with wonderful conversation, happiness, good wine, free birthday tiramisu and even a couple presents. I got a way cool magnetic, adorable organizer cause she says I'm a "busy busy woman" and I got a cute book about friends (awwwww...puppies, kittens and LLAMAS!!), an awesome bookmark and a gift card to my store de secret sin....B&N. All in all it was quite a good day. Let's hope 30 is just as cool as 29 was.
Saturday: I went to class. English is not a class I enjoyed very much in high school. I love to write. Obviously. But I hate being graded on it. So we had several prompts for our in-class essay (to prepare us for the final) and one of them was (paraphrasing) "There are over 4.5 billion people in this world trying to make it....What makes you so special? In other words, justify your existence (You can also argue that you can't justify any one person's existence)." This is the one I chose. I realized about half way through that I really must be 90% of the way out of the funk I was in because I was able to write over 500 words on why I am important. I was actually kind of impressed with myself. The last in class essay we did, I got back and I got a B. For a rough draft of something written on the spot and just handed in, I'm not going to complain about that.
I left class and got back to my phone and there were voicemails. Bill collector, sister-in-law, Dennis from work. A girl from work had mentioned a couple weeks ago that they were all going to see TSO (Trans-Siberian Orchestra) and I had told her that if they had a cancellation, I would so take that ticket. Now, I was mostly kidding as I really didn't expect that to pan out. Dennis was calling to say that he'd had a cancellation and would I like to go. OMG! So I called him back and told him "thanks, but I really can't afford to pay you back for that." He said he didn't ask for all that and did I want to go. So, hell yes I went!. I met them at the New Orleans arena at 7 and managed to catch up to them right as they were walking in. The seats were on the floor about 7 rows back from the stage. I was so excited! I am a huge fan of TSO but hadn't gotten to see them live. Yay! So the show started and from beginning to end, I was only let down once. But believe me, the rest of the show totally made up for it! There was fire, lights, rock, a great story, an old bum (loved that part!), amazing music, amazing singing and snow! Not cotton falling from a wind turbine! Snow! It melted on you. It covered my hair! They gave a guitar away to a little boy towards the end of the show and the cutie guitar player went down the center row of the audience and played for a little kid. I ♥ TSO. My new favorite song is "Old, Dirty Bar" cause it almost made me cry.
Sunday: Oi, Sunday. I attempted to work on my research paper (due tomorrow). After the Saints lost, my dad went out with me to the sampling site. No luck. Caught 2 minnows, 3 snails, 1 crawfish, 1 case malaria, 1 case west nile, and spotted 15 anacondas. Ok, so not 15 and they were probably more like water moccasins. The place I needed to sample was the Chef hwy/510 interchange. Well when the fish I was looking for was caught last year, they were caught in the northwest quadrant of the interchange. Ok. Fine. We tried the drainage pond first, nothing, then another ditch before making it over to the northwest side. As we're approaching the ditch from either side of it, we're walking on the type of brush that's really airy underneath. As you step in it, your foot actually sinks down like 4" into the brush to the ground. Perfect place for a snake den, right? So, I'm watching my dad walk down one side of the bank of this ditch and I see a small snake slither out and slip down into the water. Me: Snake! Dad: Really? Me: Yeah, little one right after you walked past it. Dad: Ok. We keep walking and I see the weeds move across a 6" area down towards the water. I assume this is another snake. Fine. I look across to wear my dad is and as he's starting to get lower towards the ditch, this giant snake rolls out of the grass right below where he'd just stepped and slips into the water. The snake was as big around as my wrist and at minimum 5' long if it was an inch. I'm not specifically scared of snakes, but that did it. 3 snakes of the same family in less than 5 minutes? We're definitely in a den. Me: Woah! Step back! Step back! That was a huge snake! Dad: What? Where? Me: Right below where you just stepped. Dad: Yep, you've convinced me Me: I've convinced myself. Let's go. Dad: Yeah, you're right. Sampling halted due to urination Me: Yeah, I'll title my research with "Sampling incomplete due to fear based incontinence." Wait, I'm going to dump this stuff out. So I step out on the culvert to drop the few things I had caught back into the water and (no, I'm not kidding) another big snake comes out of the brush and into the water. Needless to say, I'll probably be falsifying my data.
The fact that I didn't get much accomplished this weekend has caused me to take today off and attempt to write my paper. Wish me luck you guys!
***Edit: On the way back from sampling, we stopped at the Irish Bayou truck stop and ran into my deaf friend Deborah. I haven't seen her in ages and was amazed to find out that my sign language skills are still (mostly) in tact. I had a whole conversation with her and only said a few words wrong. Sweet! I have got to keep in touch with her. I feel so bad that I've only seen her once since I've been back. Ah well...something to tack on to the to-do list.
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no subject
Date: 2007-11-12 08:25 pm (UTC)I'm glad you had a good time. I had a wonderful time. And somehow, miraculously, we got 2nd-row seats from buying tickets at the box office an hour and a half before the official start time.
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Date: 2007-11-12 08:34 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-11-13 09:05 am (UTC)http://www.pestproducts.com/images/ctad.jpg If it looked like this.
no subject
Date: 2007-11-14 12:18 am (UTC)Ew, snakes. I would have run after the first one!!