the slump.
i am SO excited for tomorrow to be the first of march, for two very important reasons:
1) i get paid. YAY! i'm still adjusting to being paid once a month instead of every other week, and though i did get paid around feb. 1, it was for a week's worth of work, and had nothing but taxes taken out. at least this time around i'll get a good idea of what my actual monthly income will be, minus benefits, savings, taxes, and all that other fun stuff that gets a chunk of my money before i do, ... and
2) historically, february is a bad month for me. i tend to sail through the holidays and most of winter without hitting the doldrums, but february has always proven my downfall, and this year has been no different. it's been an emotional rollercoaster ... one of those lame traveling carnival kinds that is close to the ground, rickety, and probably missing a few screws. i'm excited for the stable ground march is offering me at this point.
current mood: could you stop the world please, i'd like to get off

lesson learned.
a pro-alumni professor on campus asked one of us to come into his classes to speak to his students on the benefits of belonging to the alumni association. since i'm the official student-alumni liaison, i packed up a few pamphlets and circular mousepads and headed off to class. turns out the prof is an alum and is super excited about the alumni association (score!) and pitching in with students, but when it came time to give out my goodies, he had the brilliant idea to take a stack of the mousepads, and just wing them at the unsuspecting students. i wasn't exactly sure that was the way to win them over to my cause, but he insisted. i tried getting him to do it, as i was trying to weigh out the liability factors in my head... he insisted it would mean more coming from me. so with profuse apologies bookending my actions, i wound up and pitched... i nearly took off the heads of about 4 students as it was impossible to predict where the spinning disks would fly.
next class came round, i tossed them one-by-one.
current mood: i apologize to those i may have injured

poikilothermy
i would like to put forward the notion that i am, in fact, cold-blooded. i know what you're saying, that i'm a mammal, and therefore naturally warm-blooded. but by changing a few words in the referenced article to point to human characteristics, voila! i suddenly pop out of the definition:

Poikilotherms have behavioural means of temperature control; they can warm themselves up by basking in the sun, or shivering [wearing many layers often made up of wool, or finding a human space heater], and can cool themselves down by sheltering from the Sun under a rock [in cave-like home dwellings] or by bathing in water [merely going outside].

i would like to say that i made it a point to do some sun-basking this weekend, dress in layers, and once warmed, found myself a bit hotter than my normal space-heater.
i rest my case.
current mood: i'm hot... no wait...

tire'd
t-man had offered to take my car out on a date and fit her with new tires, but i didn't want to inconvenience him and insisted that i could take care of it this weekend... that is, until i heard it was supposed to rain again today, and the smarter of the angels on my shoulders reminded me about previous hydro-planing antics in the week.
my new tires look nice :)
ps - is it weird that the tire place kept the photocopy of my license and credit card that i sent along to authorize my credit card being used for the tires? i feel like there's potential for badness with that.
current mood: rain, rain, go away

no need to buy a vowel
though both parties are absolutely wacky in their own right, i prefer FF over GDSMFCSBP ... that or something better, you know how it goes :)
current mood: FRIENDly

scccaaaaary
and the rain rain rain came down down down, and decided to wash me right off the road. i'm an adventurous type, but i'm not one to put my life on the line unless absolutely necessary. and with the 4 balder-than-bald tires on my car, i've become an expert at hydroplaning. but even my expertise couldn't help me when i started slipping downhill on the highway and fishtailing. to add to my nervousness, the guy at the car shop decided to point out my lack of rubber. thanks guy, trust me, i know.
this morning i also treaded my way to poway to sell my computer to "vincent" from craigslist. i had spoken to the seemingly young (19 maybe?) and aloof man a few times to make arrangements, and he even went so far to give me his address and home number and mom's name in case i wanted to drop it off earlier. he'd make sure that mom or grandma had the money ready if i came up and he wasn't there... all this to say that i was a bit surprised when i rolled up to the house, and it was covered in old-lady crap. i'm not sure how to explain that more than stuffed animals, lots of lace covered in slipcovers, floral and cat motifs, and other, uh, crap. just use your imagination, i'm sure you'll be halfway there. not sure if i had the right house, i knocked on the door, and a half-dressed 45 year old man answered the door and invited me in. i declined, preferring to stand in the rain rather than in the hallway of the smoke-filled house o' kitsch. vincent grabbed a tshirt (yay!) and some shoes and came out to the car to grab the computer. he opted to take the bag of peripherals rather than the heavier monitor or tower. luckily i had wrapped them in plastic and protected them from the rain, so i grabbed the monitor and hauled it to the frontdoor. he followed up with the tower, and asked me to bring the monitor inside. against my better judgement, i actually went inside and followed vincent to his room (which i think may have actually been the laundry room) , and on the way i met grandma, who may have actually been 103 years old. vincent seemed insistent that we be friends (me and grandma), because he introduced us about 4 times. grandma took my hand and led me to the crap-filled living room where she asked incredibly personal questions about my health and lifestyle. vincent looked proud to have brought a decent girl into the house. in the meantime, he kept avoiding my hints that i had to go, so if he could just fork over the money, i could run screaming from the house. vincent finally grabbed his wallet and waved the money in front of me, and i took it as quickly and gracefully as i could muster, having not breathed for the last 10 minutes. i finally escaped the house, stepping over ceramic frogs at the front door and navigating the lawn jockey and pink plastic flamingos. maybe not the smartest move i've made, but at least i'm rid of the computer, and vincent doesn't know where *i* live.
current mood: i'm scared and feel just a little dirty

coming together
i went in to work today so i can focus on organizing my desk after the move and getting things done without being interrupted every 30 seconds. that's what happens, i guess, when your office is 85% female. i think even i am going to get over-estrogen'd.
yesterday i decided to skip karate and go up to torrey pines to walk around for my weekend workout. those of you who know my city-girl tendencies will be surprised to learn that before i knew it, i had ended up hiking around the sand and trees for a good 5 miles before getting back to my concrete, double-latte ways. a pleasant morning followed by a quiet (read: lame, though not for lack of trying) night dancing downtown with natalie, and my legs this morning were not wanting to get up with me. good thing i have tomorrow off (hooray for government jobs!) so perhaps they'll come around. unless i decide to actually go to karate :) i'll have to be careful though, as my close-to-healing foot bruise was reintroduced to pain as some clod-hopper came down on it last night while he was flailing about in what i suppose he considers "dancing".
current mood: ugh, gimp-y

i heart tuesday
i would like to personally advocate for the downplay, if not outright demolition, of valentines day, under the reason that it is incredibly forced and socially awkward. instead, i would like to encourage the idea of "some random tuesday"... meaning if you're going to go to lengths to plan something romantic and adoring, why not do it when no else is, on a random day when you're not competing for dinner reservations or taking out second mortgages for some flowers. sharing time together outside of the wash of red and pink hearts adds a layer of special-ness, rather than a layer of expectation.
maybe i just reject the notion of forced showcasing of care, much like i shrink from gift-giving at christmas-time. i suppose there are deeper issues at work here that i would rather not take a closer look at, but i think there's something to be said for taking the pressure off when it comes to february 14th.
this year i seem to be hyper-aware of the concept, for reasons most know about and a few have witnessed. and i have to admit that i am a little surprised by the effect it has had on me, not necessarily good, though i know there are quite a few other factors in play. i realize i'm being somewhat cryptic; i usually wear my world on my face and my heart on my sleeve, but it's cold out, so my hearts got a bit of a coat on it for the moment. hopefully it will shed it soon!
current mood: healing and loving

i left my stomach in puerto nuevo
i finally got to knock off another item from my summer to-do list, except it's no longer summer. but that's okay. yesterday, silvi and a i and a whole navigator full of people headed down south to eat lobsters and, as it turns out, apple soda, since the particular place we had chosen in puerto nuevo turned out to have no margaritas (wha??). we'll know better next time ;) we had a pretty painless trip until, on the way home again, it dawned on me that a new law was recently passed regarding american citizens needing a passport to travel between the US and mexico or canada. it dawned on me only because the people in the back were comparing travel stories and passport stamps. at the same time as the lightbulb went off in my head, my stomach did a somersault...
the conversation turned to "so, what do you suppose are the consequences if you DON'T have your passport?" as it turns out that *i*, of course, was the only fool who forgot hers. we spent the next hour or so sitting in border traffic, trying to figure out which product i would be most lucrative at hawking on the streets of TJ, as i'm sure the border patrol wasn't about to take my "oops! my bad!" excuse of forgetfulness. my fears were calmed a little after i convinced my mom to drop what she was doing (at home, safely within the US borders) and find out exactly what i would be facing. turns out that the passport is currently required for air travel only, with the ground passage rule going into effect next year... WHEW! i managed to eek by rather unscathed, save for the border patrol guy checking IDs calling me "mister brittan". i swear, i can't get away from that, can i?!
current mood: whew, that was close

it could be that i'm just a nerd
being in the new job is like coming home after being away for so long: things are familiar and brand new at the same time, both frustrating and exhilarating. there are some things that i've never even heard of or have had to think about, and then there are times when i seem to be the authority in the room.
this week is spirit week on campus, a tradition i am proud to have been part of instilling. the outbreak of blue and gold helps me to gauge my job... the more the students have trashed the place in spirit and color, the more excited they are. the more excited they are, the easier my job will be. that being said, i think i am the only person in my office who was TRULY excited (more than just a raised-eyebrow or widened-eye) when the students recently had a special election for a referendum, and garnered a 42% turnout of voters... for how 'apathetic' the campus is often accused of being, the students beat their previous turnout records by nearly 100%. sweet. there IS life outside the lab.
current mood: time to get ka-ra-zay!

too much cheese
i've been hearing a lot lately over the past few months "have you lost weight?". my reaction is usually "uhhh, i guess?" or "not on purpose."
after yesterday's festivities of food and food and food and football, i think people will stop asking.
current mood: unnnghhh