*tap tap tap* is this thing on?

Oh kids. I am so very tired. Sorry I haven't been around much lately. After Ohio I went to DC, which was a super busy time, and I flew back Friday to meet Danael at the airport-- we basically dropped our bags, picked up Brad, and went to meet Brian for dinner. It was weird because none of them know each other but I actually got to take a photo with my best friend from high school, my best friend from college, and my current best friend-- a feat most people only accomplish on their wedding day:




It was pretty rad. Saturday was the First Annual West Coast Texiesta and it was a hit, if I do say so myself (and I do). There were probably 40-50 people there, almost all of them in costume, and 11 of them real Texans! We had frito pie and Rotel dip and margaritas and black-eyed peas and buttermilk peach ice cream and trailer park toffee, oh my. I'll be posting more photos of the party later. There may even be a youtube appearance.

Bruce left yesterday and I dove into 3 loads of laundry, dusting, vacuuming, scrubbing the tub, and cooking (some dish I saw some chef make on Iron Chef America. I didn't even know what to call it but it was pretty darn good). I crashed pretty early and this morning I've been reading in bed for an hour- an unparalleled luxury this summer it seems, before I head out to the warehouse to stock gangboxes and then head to Brian's for an early birthday dinner. Tomorrow I have a doctor's appointment and need to get my doughy ass to yoga-- I haven't been in almost a month, so I can start work on Thursday and leave town on Monday.

After Phoenix, New Orleans, then 2 (2!!!) days off before San Jose, then seriously, y'all, it's September, and I leave on the 5th to hit Dallas, New York, and Long Beach, then a show here at home and then it's October. Really. I can't even re-read this post in fear that it will convince me to stay huddled under my covers for the rest of eternity. Or at least the rest of the morning.

slow-hi-o

Greetings from the midwest. This is exactly what I wanted to do this week-- nothing.




Yesterday I spent $150 at Whole Foods, and went swimming, and made a beautiful taco salad (romaine, black beans, green onions, tomatoes, corn, black olives, jicama, cheese, lime-garlic vinaigrette, on top of chili-lime chips and drizzled with salsa) and margaritas, watered the plants, and sat on the new deck until dark. Today I am doing laundry, making granola (for Tom) and peanut butter cookies (for Mom) and watching The Food Network. Tonight's dinner is kabobs and corn on the cob - on the grill, natch - and homemade buttermilk peach ice cream. If that turns out how I intend I will most definitely be posting the recipe. Ooh, and vodka mojitos with mint from the garden. Later I might take a bike ride, or else sit in the sun room with my book. Maybe both.

Hope everyone is having a good week! My next two months are incredibly busy, so I am enjoying my sloth for now.

my short lunch break

I ran across the street to my room to grab a sandwich for lunch (thank you, Residence Inn, for having a kitchen!) and picked up this e-mail from Tom. I have a confession to make- 90-95% of the time you send me a youtube link, or post it, or even embed it-- I don't watch them. Sorry. I just don't. It's just not my thing. Get over it.

But I watched this one, and if it doesn't make you smile, laugh, cry, or all three, then you are dead inside.

~Where's Matt?~

Back to work!

~sorry~

Last week was crazy busy getting ready to leave town for three weeks, and now I'm in Vegas, where there have been some thunderstorms, making it both a little cooler (carrots!) and a little more humid (sticks!).

Nothing new to report except that I'm traveling with Brian for the first time since 2005 and we are having a blast. Yesterday we managed to squeeze in pool time, work, pizza, and Blink. It's the episode I use to introduce people to Doctor Who*, especially if they're not sci-fi fans, per se. It's a gateway drug of sorts.

*Except Krysten, with whom I used The Girl in the Fireplace, because Blink hadn't aired yet. Same writer. More Doctor.

Day 4

Weekend of Jamie is still going strong. Yesterday I took a nice long 3-hr walk (about 7 miles) to the beach and back through the Park, and then ran a couple of errands, made some dynamite stuffed mushrooms, and read a magazine. Today I forced myself up early so there's no way I could talk myself out of yoga, and I am having my coffee and making a list of the things I need to do before I leave town. I am getting sort of tired of Jamiepalooza (only sort of), and feel like being out and about, but I don't get to do this all that often, so after yoga I intend to do some (very light) housework and then spending one more day of leisure (leisure= reading, doing Sudoku puzzles, cooking, and watching TV/movies). Because my next week looks like this:

Monday: conference call, yoga, and time to attack the to-do list (drugstore, bank, etc. etc.)
Tuesday: thrift-store shopping up & down Haight with my friend Seth, working a double shift/training a newbie at the studio
Wednesday: lunch with my friend Cameron, then having Wednesday Funday with Brian (I didn't want to attend Sunday Funday without him so I'm moving it to Wednesday when he gets back)
Thursday: work a double at the studio, do laundry
Friday: pack for my 3-week 3-city tour (Las Vegas, Columbus, Washington DC)
Saturday: fly, fly away

Crazy, no? It's been so long since I've had a 5-day work week with 2 days off every single week that I'm not sure how I could get anything done. Of course, there are the times I work from 6am to 10pm for 10 days straight and leave prescriptions at the pharmacy so long they put them back on the shelf, or get Fed Ex boxes returned to sender, so I guess it all comes out in the wash.

PS> it's been so foggy this week that you can hear the foghorns out in the ocean... just a low, melancholy hum out in the distance, like elephants. I like it. The world seems so quiet and small when you can barely see 2 blocks down the street; the foghorn punctuates the silence, but low and quietly, and sometimes almost imperceptibly. One of those sounds that you all of the sudden realize you've been hearing for hours. I's a little bit eerie but for some reason it reminds me where I am and how easy it would be to be somewhere else. Everybody loves the sound of a train in the distance, right?

it's EST in the important countries

Good morning from Jamiepalooza Day 2: Electric Bugaloo. Slept well, woke up on my own, had coffee and a homemade breakfast burrito (whole wheat tortilla, cheese, 1 fried egg, 1 veggie sausage patty, green onions, and salsa verde- YUM), and watched my last episode of Battlestar Galactica. I have to say, even when the show is not up to previous BSG awesomeness standards, it is still better than 90% of the ... shall I say, shit on American network TV. When, oh when will someone give Mary McDonnell an Emmy?


So now I am moving on to my boyfriend Doctor Who. Although I'm being slightly distracted by the Twilight Zone marathon on Sci-Fi. Currently there's a guy in a space ship, locked in the brig with only a speaker in the wall to talk to, and he just demanded to be told what time it is... well, there's no time in space, sir. No, what time it is on Earth. Oh, on Earth? It's 12 noon. For real. Hee.

the weekend of Jamie

remember how busy I was last time I was off? So very, very busy. So, after that, I worked a big ole 10-day show and then after, my co-worker Lena stayed with me for a few days. She was supposed to go to Big Sur with friends, but sadly, most of Northern California is still on fire, she couldn't go, and rather than make her change her flight she moved into Casa Jamie. It was lovely to have her-- we went out for Monday Funday with Brian, toured the Ferry Building and the Farmer's Market, saw the Chihuly exhibit at the DeYoung, went to Greens and Marnee Thai, and went thrift-store shopping. Great fun... BUT, I am tired.

She left this morning, while I worked a double at the yoga studio, and then I came home to 5 loads of laundry, some dusting and general picking-up around the house, and now... now I start MY time. Roommie is in London. Brian is in Idaho. The rest of my friends are at High Sierra. I have a kitchen full of groceries, two bottles of Portuguese wine, 8 episodes of Battlestar Galactica, and 8 episodes of Doctor Who. I'm calling it Jamiepalooza. The studio is closed tomorrow so I can't feel bad about skipping class, and I intend to fully observe the holiday with food, sci-fi, and pure, unmitigated Jamietime. When the television is over, I'm going to read my new books, see a movie or two, go to yoga, have Wednesday Funday when Brian gets home, and sleep a lot. Brilliant.

Jamiepalooza!!!

done~

I know, I know- I haven't updated in 10 days. That's because all I've done in 10 days is work, ride the bus, sleep, ride the bus, work, ride the bus, sleep, ride the bus... you get the idea. I did have a couple of dinners out with the co-workers but they were mostly short and peppered with yawns and various renditions of "ohmigah, I'm sooooo TIRED."

Anyway, I got off at 6:30 last night, went straight to my favorite bar for Sunday Funday, but since my favorite bar is in the Castro and it was Pride Weekend, well, let's just say it wasn't as much Sunday Funday as it was Sunday INSANEday. Jeez Louise. I couldn't handle it. I was in bed by 10:30 and slept for 13 hours (with a small window of awake thanks to a 7am text message... Bruce).

I am about to get up, make a cup of coffee, and topple onto the couch for a bit more um... nothing. But first, I got a t-shirt in the mail the other day. No note, no receipt. It's a size too small (bless you, friend) and says "Irony: it's the opposite of wrinkly." Oh, heeee. So, 'fess up. Who sent it???

the last day

Y'all. It is HOT. (Relatively, with my apologies to the rest of the country.) But when you wear Uggs and a hoodie every day of the year, and don't have central AC (or even a fan)... 82 degrees is HOT.

I went up to the roof today and snapped some photos. Bonus of hot is less fog. Notice I didn't say NO fog. Yes, that is the Pacific Ocean under that marine layer:




Isn't it pretty when it's hot? (click to enlarge)

So, today is my last day off. I got up on my own time and went to the market. Bonus? The bus is free today! Thanks, San Francisco! I walked to the tailor to pick up my jeans. I went up on the roof. I made this mouth-gasmic mushroom-mozzarella-thyme thing and practically stuck my head in the dish to lick up the drippings. I booked my birthday plane ticket. I am about to make peanut-butter chocolate chip cookies for the owner of my yoga studio (birthday) and my general freight foreman (retiring). Then I'm going to go to yoga, close & clean the studio, and get some sleep because I have to be at work tomorrow morning at 6:30am. Blurg. But, before I go, I leave you with a photo of the bridge, because honestly, have you seen our view???




OH. And the! list! I didn't finish it, but I'm comfortable in the amount I did get done:

• book my July plane ticket
• book Danael's plane ticket to come see me, whooop!
• buy Father's Day gift
• send Mother's Day gift *palms head*
• make cookies
  
• get a CA driver's license
• finish 2 books finished one: Stiff- loved it.
  
• get new jeans hemmed
  
• buy a bicycle- no, but did go to 4 stores, so I'm narrowing down.
  
• go to 7 yoga classes made it to 6
  
• **************** (a secret one that I don't want to tell anyone about until I know its outcome)
• figure out what the frack is wrong with my trackpad and fix it, already
  

So, there you have it. I think I did OK. Oh, and Happy Juneteenth.

but I'm still not doing myspace.

OK. I'm all a-twitter. Twitterpated, if you will.

You can follow me here, if you're interested.

Last day off. I have to run out and do some bloodwork before I eat or have coffee, so that kinda needs to happen right now. I'll update on the! list! when I get back.