The last moments

I have two and a half hours before I leave for the airport. I just painted my toe nails and I've begun the process of cramming things into my suitcases, realizing that despite the fact that I think I'm an amazing packer, I'm really not an amazing packer. Will it all fit? it has to fit. But I don't know that it's all going to fit...

I only semi-belong...

the longer I live in Boulder, the more I come to realize that there is a very specific type of person that belongs in Boulder and can live her long term. I share some of the same qualities as this person but not all of them. and therefore, I beginning to realize I can't be here in the long term.

case in point: it's snowing AGAIN. it's the third time this month. it's only October. and if I weren't going to Hawaii tomorrow (tomorrow!), I'd be freaking out.

people are taking this weather stuff all in stride. I am not. here's a typical conversation to illustrate what I'm talking about:

me: um, it's snowing AGAIN today...

Boulderite: I know. isn't it great!

me: um, well... um, but it's October. and it's snowing AGAIN.

Boulderite: well, that's nothing. a lot of times it snows in September. and I've even seen it snow in July...

me: um, yeah, well...

Boulderite: don't worry, the sun will be out tomorrow and it will all melt.

me: yeah, but... well... I think I'm used to a little more stability you know, in my weather... in my life... things are just so... drastic and extreme around here...

Boulderite (with stupid grin and twinkley eyes): well, welcome to Colorado!

me: yeah, um... thanks...

yes, yes. isn't everything wonderful and great? isn't every day just a gift of which we can make the best? meet new people? try crazy new sports? climb a mountain or two? no wonder I haven't bothered to change my driver's license yet.

So maybe it's possible that Casa Bonita was so wonderful that I just couldn't process it, sort of in the same was as the vapor cave? Or maybe it's that after spending the whole day in Denver (hair cut with my friend Robby who looks so much like Moby, then off to the art museum, then the wine bar where I had the most amazing pumpkin cheesecake ever) that I was just on sensory overload and thus, could process Casa Bonita?

And so It was sort of a blur. I remember playing skee ball. And then Ms. Pac Man (funny how she's still around an Mr. Pac Man isn't.) And I remember the high school cliff divers who had the most chiseled abs I've ever seen in person. And I sort of remember going through black bart's cave. But there were no monkeys in costume as the menu promised. So that was it. I didn't bring my camera but Jessica brought hers and she let me borrow it for a bit. I tried to capture the cliff diver's abs. I'll let you know how it turned out.

Super exciting, fun stuff!

Okay, okay, okay - so if it weren't awesome enough that one week from tomorrow, I'll be in Hawaii (not the disaster area part, the other parts), this Saturday, I'm supposedly* going to Casa Bonita, you know, the crazy restaurant from the infamous South Park episode. I ask you, could life be any better?

*I'm saying "supposedly" because the plan was hatched last night whilst playing board games and drinking wine.

gnomeless

Earlier this week, Pete #3 was kidnapped. Yesterday, I received a dire note from him in the mail. He said he is being treated okay but misses home and is trying to escape. Apparently, his kidnapper has placed him in the kitchen next to another figurine - a plump gentleman of Italian heritage who is constantly carrying a loaf of bread. Apparently, this guy (a.k.a. Fat Sam) is not much of a conversationalist.

Luckily, the kidnappers return address was on the envelope so organizing a rescue mission shouldn't be too hard.

But I'm thinking I need to act fast. Today, the kidnapper sent me an email about Pete #3. Apparently, he's under a lot of stress and has developed a bet wetting problem. He also refuses to take out the trash and always leaves the toilet seat up. The kidnapper also pointed me to this website, which, for at least five minutes, I found to be the best thing ever.

Yesterday I worked for about three hours in the afternoon and so now, I'm sitting here with not much to do. If anyone else is out there with not much to do, please, please, please email me. A girl can only do so much online shopping...

The dream is dead

Last week, I had this brilliant idea to start a blog called "what I did at work today." The idea was that each day, I would provide a brief synopsis of the day's activities. I thought of the idea after a coworker and I each spent a good two hours last Thursday searching the internet for pictures of animals with hats. So last Thursday's entry would have said "Spent two hours searching the internet for pictures of animals wearing hats."

Today, as I was trying to start the blog from work, I discovered that whatididatworktoday.blogpost.com is already taken (by some crazy religious group). It's a total bummer, especially since I was at a party on Thursday night and told a bunch of strangers about the website and insisted they remember to check it out. What they must think of me...

spent the weekend on the western side of the state in the towns of Silverton and Ouray. the weekend was almost overwhelmingly good; hiked around old ghost towns in the mountains, visited the grand canyon of colorado, hit the hot springs and almost passed out in the "vaporcave"...

you can check out more pics here.

Okay, so I worked for about four hours today and accomplished pretty much everything I have to do for the next few weeks. I even threw in a few extra activities and got those done too.

I've told my boss that I don't think I really have that much to do. She looked at me like I was crazy.

I somehow got myself some work with the marketing and education department and my boss said "I'm just concerned because I don't want them taking you away from you work here..." Well I'm now sitting here with my headphones on, with no music playing, staring at my screen and my boss is worried about someone taking me away from this?

So my new mantra is this "I just need to make it through ski season, I just need to make it through ski season, I just need to make it through ski season..."

What's in my muffin?

This morning, I got a blueberry muffin from Vic's, the local coffee shop. Vic's, like every other place in Boulder, does not have normal baked goods so I knew I wouldn't be getting an old-fashioned blueberry muffin. Usually, they're blueberry cornmeal or blueberry oatmeal. But this morning's muffin is blueberry + ? and I can't figure out what ? is...

Anyway, when I got up to the counter, there was a $20 on the ground. I knew it wasn't mine and like every good Boulderite, I believe in karma so I picked it up and said "um... there's a $20 bill on the ground..." and the guy at the counter said "um... maybe the woman behind you? cause she was the last in line?" I asked "woman behind me" if she had dropped some money she said, "I don't know..." then saw the $20 in my hand and said "oh yeah, probably," and took it. Hmm... I bet she's not a Boulderite. And if we have lightening later today, I bet she gets hit.

Tonight I ate ice cream and listened to Billy Collins discuss poetry with Terry Gross. One of the poems they discussed was "Those Winter Sundays" by Robert Hayden which is so incredibly beautiful:

--

Sundays too my father got up early
and put his clothes on in the blueblack cold,
then with cracked hands that ached
from labor in the weekday weather made
banked fires blaze. No one ever thanked him.

I'd wake and hear the cold splintering, breaking.
When the rooms were warm, he'd call,
and slowly I would rise and dress,
fearing the chronic angers of that house,

Speaking indifferently to him,
who had driven out the cold
and polished my good shoes as well.
What did I know, what did I know
of love's austere and lonely offices?

--

See what I mean? That's good stuff.


Then later, I made a CD for my friend Mike. I called it "Girl Power." It was a response to his CD "Music to listen to while being a guy." Also good stuff

I was just perusing the NY Times, the Style section, in fact, and I it's very "Sex in the City," but I happened to read one of the marriage profiles (you know, the really in depth ones) and so... I couldn't help but wonder, is it possible for a single person to read one of those profiles and then feel good about herself?

Yesterday, my friends and I caroused it up at the Great American Beer Festival and today, I was feeling decidedly un-good. Sorry to anyone who encountered me and/or talked to me because I definitely wasn't with it.

I don't really remember drinking that many beers so I'm thinking it was the combination of so many different kinds of beer plus the duration of the evening plus the general craziness of it all.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it...