hi ho, hi ho, it's off to lakeland i go...
after a flurry of late-night preparations, i am ready to conquer the karate world out in florida. or at least i'm ready to take a week off work. i'll try to let y'all know how we're doing, but i'll have to text message it because i can't afford the 80-cents-a-minute roaming charges (thank you, cingular!) wish me US luck!

the glasses
i have a terrible confession to make. i feel awful about it. i did something that one should never ever do. i hit a kid with glasses... and they flew across the floor, with his head following inches behind. thankfully, only one of those falling objects clattered to the ground...
t-minus 5 days until i pack up the mouth guard and head to booneville florida for nationals. i made the mistake decision to compete in all 3 events, which means that i should probably practice all 3 before i get there. i'm waiting for sunday to pick up weapons, so i might as well get fighting out of the way. last night kayleen and i fought 10-12 o' the boys in the dojo... that was an interesting experience. i admire kayleen's style, she's excellent at finding your open targets. personally, i just want the whole ordeal to finish, but at least i scream loud. it's a tactic; scare 'em to death. or perhaps deafen them, i don't know.
one of the boys got a little carried away on the kicking my arm/shoulder/back area, to the point i had to back up and go "whoawhoawhoa,reLAX!". unfortunately, the next guy up turned out to be much shorter than the kicker, and i accidentally nailed him in the face, sending his glasses (and the rest of him) sprawling.
i hate it when i do that. i feel SO bad. seriously.
later, the kicker came to justify his mad-kicking-spree, explaining that it was his only defense because i'm so strong (like an axe to the redwood, y'know?). uh, right, apology accepted? i was a bit preoccupied with the kid i knocked over ("please don't tell your mom!!")... consider yourself warned, all you glasses-wearing-karate-girls-going-to-nationals, watch out. here i come.

a wise woman once told me...

what does it matter 'cuz it's all going to change in 6 weeks anyway...

listen to your echo, cyn!

the loooooooove boat
hmmm, looks like i'm down to a post a week. life is to be lived and logged... noting to self to get back on that.
after a failed attempt last week, shama-lama and i finally got to hang out. the woman and i work practically on top of each other, and we never get to see each other :( so shannon used her fabulous skills of persuasion to score 2 tickets to a harbor cruise featuring saucy monkey and drunk older people. guaranteed to be a good time. besides the weird couple next to us (we're totally going to be featured on some weirdos website... like they are on mine?), we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves, our molsons, our (my) johnny black with cherries and cherries and more cherries. the bartenders liked us, apparently. and all i could think the whole time (besides 'ouch, 14 hours in heels') was, 'damn, i'm lucky. really really lucky.'

rescue me

CANCER (June 22-July 22). You're feeling expansive -- big ideas and lots of love to give. Your schedule and job could be cramping your style, or even worse, constricting your soul! Figure out how to free up some time and energy so you can embrace the new.

i have been putting in 10-12 hour days here at the office with no lunch breaks. i told my boss that i had had enough, i was taking thursday off and still i showed up at 9:30 (hey, at least i got to sleep in a little...). i've been trying, quite successfully it seems, to squelch that growing voice in the back of my mind who is begging me to stop, walk away, go enjoy myself and re-establish the relationships that matter, and not those associated with the words 'microsoft', 'database', or 'deadline'.

time to launch the "bring back social britt" campaign...

neighborly
i like grocery stores. i could spend hours in there. sometimes i do. i was conditioned to grocery shop from a rather young age; would be sent to the store with chaotic lists of specifications, a lot of them stemming from the current ice cream status (e.g. "i want 3 cartons of french silk, and if they don't have that, then 2 cartons of butter pecan and one of moosetracks, but only the dreyers kind and if they don't have that then 1 carton of french silk, one of moosetracks, and one of strawberry"). guess-timations were not appreciated. i usually dig on the music they play at grocery stores as well; it's all about the soft rock and oldies to get me dancing and singing while searching for that can of beans. i get a lot of strange looks, especially when i interrupt my own singing/dancing/skipping/etc to talk to myself.

yup. that's right. i talk to myself.

i have been a little disappointed with my g-store adventures as of late if only for the fact that i have no atm card nowadays (long, drawn out drama), and apparently that makes me a criminal when i try to write a check for over the amount to get some cash. today, for example, i was told that i could only get cash if i had cleared at least 8 previous checks at that particular store. umm, no, i usually use my atm, so i can avoid this crap. feeling a little helpless and quite peeved, i returned to my car to find a familiar sight parked next to me. i dialed fiona's number, and after my boss answered the phone, she rushed out of the store to find me standing next to her car (and mine) in the supermarket parking lot. i think the reality hit for her that we're definitely neighbors now. and for me, well, i'll have to be careful about getting caught dancing in the bread aisle...

3 AM
boys, here's a tip on life and love and lust and everything in between, from me to you:

if you have the (maybe drunken? maybe not?) urge to call up a girl on your way home after you've shut down the strip club to regale her with stories of the dancer you were having such a great conversation with (that is, until she left you because you weren't wanting the VIP room, and besides the lights came on, but she was totally into you, i'm sure, because she was telling you all the stuff she wanted to do to you that technically aren't allowed by the joint, and shouldn't be considering it's under strict investigation for political corruption...), well, let me just impart to you this clue:

THAT'S NOT HOT.

weekend fun
You were born on a Thursday under the astrological sign Cancer.
Your Life path number is 11. The moon's phase on the day you were born was waxing gibbous.

As of 6/3/2005 7:33:29 PM CDT
You are 25 years old.
You are 311 months old.
You are 1,352 weeks old.
You are 9,465 days old.
You are 227,179 hours old.
You are 13,630,773 minutes old.
You are 817,846,409 seconds old.

There are 32 days till your next birthday ((hinthint...)) on which your cake will have 26 candles on it.

Those 26 candles produce 26 BTU's, or 6,552 calories of heat (that's only 6.5520 food Calories!) . You can boil 2.97 US ounces of water with that many candles.

Your birth tree is ((i like this part...)) the Fir Tree, the Mysterious
Extraordinary taste, dignity, cultivated airs, loves anything beautiful, moody, stubborn, tends to egoism but cares for those close to it,rather modest, very ambitious, talented, industrious, uncontent lover, many friends, many foes, very reliable.

And now it's YOUR TURN!

well, now, that's different.
i stopped into a duck'in'n'go hair cutting place last night to get a trim. now that my hair is past my chin, i figured it will be too obvious if i try to maintain it myself and hack giant angles into the back. as the receptionist got my name, i was escorted to a chair and sat down, wondering if i had set myself up for yet another disaster in the hair arena when out came my designated stylist, debbie. debbie had long black hair, pink lips, a long red dress, and the biggest muscles i have ever seen on a hair handler. debbie was also a man.
despite the minor glitch of unhitching my smock to cut the back and therefore COVERING me in my own snipped hair (i had to go through 8 layers of my lint roller to be able to walk into a store), my head turned out fabulous, and learned quite a bit about both body-building AND internet dating. so thank you, debbie.

postcard secrets
a well of emotions discovered... loneliness, protection, guilt, appreciation, empathy... swirl and overflow when i see these.