Couch Surfer #2 Update

Sebastian, my couch surfer #2, arrived last Friday night, just after midnight. I was out dancing at Clockwork Orange and he called and then texted me to let me know that he would meet me at my apartment. So, I left the club, drove home to meet him and then we chatted for quite a while. Shane & Ron showed up around 2 AM and Ron got a chance to practice some of that German he's been studying on a live person!! Those podcasts have really paid off because Sebastian said that he could understand everything Ron was saying and apparently Ron was understanding what Sebastian was saying too! So, it looks like we'll be set in both France and Germany as far as languages go!

On Saturday, I cooked a HUGE breakfast for me, Shane and Sebastian - bacon, eggs, potatoes with onions cooked in bacon grease, YUM! And then Sebastian headed out to Hollywood & Highland to do some shopping. Apparently, the jeans in Germany are very expensive, so he wanted to buy some while he was here. He also went to Venice and Santa Monica. Meanwhile, Shane & I listened to the rain and watched the last five episodes of Heroes Season 1 so she'd be all caught up for the premiere on Monday. Sebastian met up with us over at L&N's for their movie party later that evening. We ended up watching "Support Your Local Sheriff" and "The Sting." Both were really good! He showed up in time to play Loopin' Louie and sleep through "The Sting." Poor thing, he was still trying to adjust to US time.


On Sunday, he was already gone by the time I woke up which was nice because it gave me a chance to clean up the kitchen and watch some football. He went again to Hollywood & Highland and then 3rd Street Promenade and then drove up PCH to Malibu. It was gorgeous weather on Sunday, so it was perfect for that!! He met me back at my place to go out to dinner with me and Travis. We ended up going to Colombo's, a place that I'd been wanting to try FOREVER! It was OK. Has that really old school feel to it and they have a piano guy singing the standards with a crazy lookin' chick playing a bass. Then we headed over to Barnes & Noble in Old Town Pasadena because Sebastian wanted to get a book about California to figure out where to stop as he drove up to San Jose on Monday. After that, we picked up a piece of Godiva chocolate cheesecake and walked to Lucky Baldwin's for a couple beers.

It was really cool hanging out with him and comparing notes about the differences between Germany and the US. Things he mentioned were: he likes that retailers are nice to you even if you don't buy anything! Also, people in Germany don't call dates "dates." It's just going to dinner with someone. They don't have a different way to indicate that it's a romantic relationship like we do. And people in Germany don't own guns, I guess they're not allowed to.

How will I know what time it is?

I just tried to call time and the phone number has been discontinued as of September 19th! What the heck? Has there been a replacement service issued? I'm going to have to look into this!

How else will I know EXACTLY what time it is down to a 10-second interval?!

Well, according to this article, it's not coming back and we were one of the two states (along with Nevada) holding out on eliminating the need to call time. I'm so bummed. I've been calling time my whole life!! Boo. It's like a whole new era.

Only one more day...

Only one more day to get my apartment cleaned up for my friend who's visiting for the weekend. I should've probably cleaned up for my couch surfer Sebastian, but bah, he was getting a free place to stay! And I didn't make time to do it. Oh, speaking of, if I have time tonight, I'll post some photos of me with Sebastian!

I pretty much put stuff away last night and tonight I have more laundry to do, dusting, need to clean the bathroom, change the cat box, and vacuum. Whew. And maybe squeeze watching "Beauty and the Geek" in there somewhere. If you're not watching that show, TiVo it!! It's sooo great. They have a girl geek with a hot guy this season. I can't wait. I was getting teary-eyed just watching the snippets of the upcoming season that they played at the end of the first ep. I wonder if the girls will start fighting over the guy hottie. We'll see! This show never disappoints. I love it.

Oh and we definitely are going to Belgium. I heard back from Reinhold and he has us set-up to stay with a friend. He's going to take us to some psytrance party on Saturday the 13th. I don't even know what psytrance is, but it sounds interesting. And he told me what he wants me to bring.... Mexican wrestling masks!! Luckily, I know someone who knows someone who is going to Mexico this weekend and I asked him to pick me up 15 to take with me. What an odd request! I certainly wasn't expecting that!

For all my iPod friends

I am guessing I'm the last to know about this since I don't even own an iPod, but just in case, Amazon is now selling mp3s! I heart Amazon. You can buy that 1234 song for $0.89. Is that how much iTunes charges?

Heroes Season 2 Premiere

First thing that needs to be mentioned. Oh. My. Gah. If I thought Peter looked hot with the angry and that scar from that future episode last season, I was so wrong. With the haircut and workout regime he was apparently on during the off-season? Even hot-ter. I might be able to overlook that little sideways bottom lip thing he's always doing if they keep doing scenes without his shirt on! :-)

Other than that, I was very pleased with the season opener. Lots of questions to be answered and we're starting off with a bang!

I'm glad to see Mr. Bennet has a plan (as if there was any doubt).

And that Mr. Muggles is safe in hiding.

And that the man worse than the boogie man apparently is going to be a big part of this season.

Sylar, of course, isn't dead, but where's Nikki? I'm sure she's somewhere!

And who was the guy in the hoodie?

And Sark has really lost a lot of weight. I almost didn't recognize him!

And why is it that girls always fall for guys just like their (flying) dads?

Guitar Hero Tidbits

I remembered earlier this week that Guitar Hero 3 is scheduled to come out next month!! When I get back from Europe, I'll probably be playing that game A LOT!! GH3 is coming bundled with a wireless Kramer controller for $90 and if you pre-order it, you'll receive a free dual gig bag (already got one...), a GH key chain, a GH designer 2" wide strap and free shipping. Not bad. My first guitar is getting a little loose. Hmmm... it may be time for a new guitar! The controller alone is $60 and the game alone is $50, so it might be worth it for me, considering how much usage those controllers get.

Also, I just heard on the radio you can pre-order real guitar controllers for $399 from Art Guitar. I remember talking to Grant at the Guitar Hero Bar and we were doing some quick math and figuring they'd probably cost about that much. The only problem is that they have KISS all over them. Ick! I have a guitar body (I should post a picture of it) that I got from my bro-in-law. I just need to see if Grant can convert it for me!

So, maybe a GH party over Halloween weekend or the weekend after that?

Couch Surfing - Guest #2

I was contacted a couple weeks ago by a guy from Germany who is going to be in LA this weekend and was looking for a couch to surf on... I hemmed and hawed about it, but finally decided that I could do the hosting this weekend! So, he should be arriving tomorrow night!

I've invited him to go out with us, but I don't know if he'll be feeling up to it. If anyone has any German language needs, let me know! I'll try to remember to take some pictures this time. I want to add them to my couch surfing profile.

The Universe has a Sense of Humor

I was just talking to a friend the other day about how the universe has a sense of humor. It can throw funny stuff that you're not expecting your way!

Last night, #5 comes over and we fix sandwiches and we catch up on the last month. Then, he goes to clean a little spot on his shirt. And that's when I realize he's wearing this:



And I started giggling... He says, "Are you laughing at me? Have I had a little spot on my shirt the whole time?" I said, "No! I'm not laughing at you!" Which was true. And then I immediately said, "Oh, let me take a picture of you for my phone so when you're calling it'll pop up!"

How freakin' funny is that!!! The universe definitely has a sense of humor. Enjoy, all my party-people friends... You know who you are... Enjoy!

Football pool has started

We're entering week 3 of NFL football and I just got an email notification letting me know that I came in second place for week #1. So I have some credits coming my way... not exactly sure how many but I'll soon find out! I tied for second last week, but got bumped to third based on the tiebreaker. I can't claim any credit for that. I actually forgot to put in my picks and it defaulted to all the favorites...

The season is off to a good start! Coming in 2nd and 3rd out of 31 people isn't too shabby. Now I just have to remember to put my picks in while I'm in Europe...

Belgium, here we come!

When I got home from hiking tonight, I had an email from Reinhold waiting for me!

He said that he wants me to come visit him and that I can stay at his house and talked about his art shop a bit. Then he asked if I could send him some stuff from the US. I halfway expected it after seeing the stuff he's selling at his shop. There were lots of movie posters, old style shoes, records, etc.

I called Ron and it looks like we'll be going to Belgium too! This is going to be awesome!!

Belgium friend

I totally forgot that a guy I dated while I was in high school lives in Belgium! His name is Reinhold and he was staying with friends to visit the U.S. I think he was a little older than me, I just remember that he wasn't in high school anymore. He was terribly charming and a ton of fun to be with. I can't remember the end of everything... I think he left and went back home. I remember we exchanged a letter or two and he mailed me some photos of him and his friends. I wonder if I still have those somewhere... Here's what I do remember...

* He was in love with gangsta rap and took public transportation (BUSES!) from Newport Beach, CA to Compton. Why? Because Compton was/is(?) mentioned all the time in the rap songs. So he wanted to see what it looked like with his own eyes. I just remember that he wasn't impressed. And that it was like a three hour bus ride. One way.

* He was dying to see graffiti art and wanted so badly to be a graffiti artist. I had a friend who was kind of into that, so I think we took a car ride up to a spot where supposedly all the "good" artists did their work and he took some pictures. His street name was "Stick." And he'd take pictures making this "S" with his hands.

* He taught me how to dip my fries into mayonnaise. And I've been doing it ever since.

* He loved reggae and we'd spend hours hanging out and I learned to enjoy it quite a bit too. In fact, I never really listened to it after he left and when I met Jason, anytime he played reggae, it reminded me of Reinhold.

Maybe Ron & I can swing by Belgium for a day or two to check out his art shop that he has now. Apparently he had a band briefly too. That would be so cool if I could arrange that! I just sent off an email to the art shop, so we'll see if hear back from him!

Busy week

This week is going to be fairly busy, but good. I went walking last night with Erin & Chris. Then we went and got some free gelato that was delicious! I had the Cupido which was dark chocolate and hazelnuts. Yum, yum, yum!

Tonight - Taking Travis to the airport and then hiking
Wednesday - #5 is coming over to play Guitar Hero
Thursday - Laundry and hopefully more walking... woo-hoo! :-)
Friday - 80s Dancing with Ron & Shane
Saturday - Movie party with L&N
Sunday - Dumplings(?) and football, cleaning up the apartment.

The following weekend, I'll be seeing the mystery man (MM). So, the apartment must be cleaned since it will be his first time seeing it. So NEXT week is probably looking like this:

Monday - Cleaning, walking
Tuesday - Hiking
Wednesday - Cleaning & Games
Thursday - Dinner with MM at the beach
Friday - Dinner/Drinks with MM and friends

Somehow, sometime, over the next couple weeks, I need to squeeze in research on Paris and Germany. I've only picked out a few places to see while we're there. It's a little worrisome. And surprisingly, really, only a little. A couple years ago, I think I would've been much more stressed about not having more of an itinerary, but I guess I can take heart in that this won't be my last trip, so this might be just a fun, adventurous trip!

Weekend Recap

This weekend was fun without being crazy, which is so nice. I felt relaxed even though I was pretty busy most of the weekend.

Since it has really cooled down, I've been making a very strong effort to exercise more. I don't actually hate exercising, I just hate being overheated and when it's 90-100 degrees outside, I just can't bring myself to do it!

Friday night - Met Erin at the park after work and we walked for about 45 minutes. Then we headed back to my place and I thawed some chicken and made us dinner while she constructed a super-awesome house for our Sims to live in! I bought Sims2 for the PS2 last year and have hardly played it, so I thought it was about time to crack it open.

Saturday - Woke up, exercised for about 20 minutes then headed over to pick up sandwiches for my games day I held ALL day Saturday. We had a great time! Played games, Guitar Hero and met some new peeps! We played two good games of Werewolf. I moderated both and kind of screwed up the first one, but oh well. Live and learn. I'll make sure to be better about it in the future. The second game, the seer actually stayed alive and was the key to killing the final werewolf. It was great!!

Sunday - Shane and I went to the park to walk and then I walked the mile to meet Erin at a nearby theater that was hosting the Valley Film Festival. We saw a short called "My Wallet" (which I wasn't crazy about, but I'm not into slapstick-y type "humor") and "11 Minutes Ago" which I really really liked. It's a romance and I liked the story a lot. The actors were actually pretty decent too. Then Erin & I walked down to Pit Fire Pizza to meet up with Liz and enjoyed the beautiful weather we were having yesterday! Sunny, 70s with a slight breeze. We sat outside and chatted about knitting, shoes (Liz recommends Zappos.com which I'm going to peruse today during lunch) and movies. After that, I went home to eat a quick lunch myself and headed over to Chris' for a pretty fun afternoon of gaming. I managed to win Traumfabrik for the first time ever(!) and On the Underground. I came in hilariously DEAD last during Ticket to Ride 1910. The five player game is just cut-off city!! It was great! Lots of cursing, flipping off and for me, drawing of tickets just hoping to get something useful! At least I ended with a positive point value!! :-) Yes, that's how bad it was!!

Overall, a pretty fun and relaxing weekend!!

Gift Central

My place was Gift Central yesterday!

First, I received a "thank you" gift from my friend that I helped pack all Saturday last month. It's a half membership to the Bacon of the Month Club!!! How cool is that!!! I'll be receiving one pack of bacon every month! I received my first one last month and it's some sort of apple something or the other. I'll take a picture of it to post when I actually get around to cooking it. But it looks like I can cross "bacon" off my shopping list for the next year! Bacon. Is. Good.

As I was saying "bye" to some friends, I noticed a package sitting on my doorstep that wasn't there when I got home. It contained a cute green package with a "get well" card! When I unwrapped it, it was Heroes Season 1 on DVD!!! Now I can watch the 73 minute uncut pilot before Season 2 starts on September 24th! How cool is that! If anyone needs a refresher... let me know!

A big "thank you" to my gift-givers! You guys are the best!

I'm Ready for Fall

Have you noticed the days are getting shorter? I left a meeting a couple weeks ago at 7:30 PM and it was dark. It made me do a little happy dance inside... Why? Because that means fall is on the way! I love summer, but really, I think I have a thing for all the seasons (shhhhh...). Each and every one of them brings something special to the table.

Fall is football, soup, socks and jackets! It's blankets and roasts and cookies!

And you wanna know what happens when I have "free" time? And I haven't been to Costco for a while? And I'm tired of eating out all the time and I've been jonesin' to cook? And I've been missing autumn?

I come home bearing a big, giant, beautiful red 8 quart Le Creuset French oven... I'd been really wanting one of these last year, but could never find one big enough at a store. Finally! This cherry red French oven is mine! I can't WAIT to cook in it. I hope to have more pictures this fall of beautiful, delicious meals in it!

Feeling better

Worse than being at home because I'm sick might be... being sick at home and alone. When I was married, I was hardly ever sick (not that you'd guess that from the last few months!), but when I was Jason did a really good job of tending to me. (Which, I'm finding out, isn't necessarily the case with all spouses!) I was really missing that over the weekend. At one point on Saturday night, I was feeling so down because I felt so lousy and I just wished I had someone there with me. But I didn't want to infect anyone, so I just went to sleep. I did end up talking to and seeing Jason on Sunday and it did help me feel better mentally. I was tempted to go lay down on his couch all day so he could take care of me, but that would've been wrong somehow, so I settled for dinner and chatting. A lesser of two evils.

However, I'm feeling much better than I have since Saturday and am at work today! Thank you to everyone who called, emailed, and texted to check up on me and a big "thank you" to Shane who drove some OJ and other supplies over yesterday!! I really appreciate all the contact because being sick and alone sucks. It really does.

I'm sick!

Since I made my ambitious post about all the stuff I was going to get done over the weekend, I have accomplished zero items. I've been laying on my couch watching TV and sleeping since Saturday. I didn't go to work today and I'm not going to work tomorrow. It sucks. And, my couch is extremely uncomfortable. Horribly so. It's a cool looking couch, but my goodness, it's not made to lay on for three days straight.

I mainly have a cough and runny nose. I also have zero energy. I have to save up enough energy to get up for a few minutes to tend to getting a drink and stuff. It really blows.

I have no plans this weekend!

As of this moment, I have zero plans to leave my house for any type of social engagement this weekend. I was enticed and invited, but I made no solid commitments to leaving my apartment for any reason! While technically, I have no plans to leave, I do have a lot of stuff I need/want to do. Namely:

• Clean up! I haven't really done any cleaning for about two weeks because I've been home relatively little time since then and when I have been home, I've been exhausted.
• Email couchsurfing people in Paris to try to find some couches to crash on for my trip next month. Wow, next month! I can't believe it!! It'll be here before I know it! Also...
• Look into booking a hotel for Essen - I have a room secured, but there might be a more economical room available, but I need to check.
  
• Mail in my jury duty notice. I "served" jury duty in August and I need to mail in my summons, which I've been putting off for a couple weeks now.
• Work on road rally clues - The road rally is at the end of the month, so I need to review to clues to remind myself where I left off and potentially finish them up.
• Exercise - Even if it's just for 15 minutes.
• Watch BSG - I have the second disc of eps from season 1! Can't wait to watch it!
• Go shopping - I need to buy a couple things from Macy's and they're having a big sale tomorrow. Plus, I have coupons. Need I say more?
  
• Blog - I feel like there was something to blog about... hmmm...
  
• Buy a new camera - My digital camera is dying. I got a recommendation of a camera to buy, but then I looked at Consumer Reports and that model isn't highly rated, so now I'm all torn. Should I just buy the one that was recommended by a pro photographer or one that has good ratings by CR? Decisions, decisions... I definitely want to take care of it though before I go on my trip!
  

Crazy Chemistry

After talking to a friend, I think I've realized that one thing I clearly need to add to the "must-have" column my "Ideal Husband" checklist is "crazy amounts of chemistry. " Mad, passionate, delicious chemistry! Because without chemistry, what do you have? I'll tell you what...

A friend. A good friend. Sometimes, a really good friend that you wished you were attracted to in a romantic way, but what can you do? If it's not there, it's not there! At least that's how it works for me. If it's not there at the beginning, it won't develop. It's possible to do some tweaking to improve existing chemistry, but for me, it's either there or not. And the only one way to assess it is up close and personal!

Which is why I don't mess around with emailing eHarmony guys for a month before meeting them. I'd much rather just meet and assess chemistry right away and just get that over with. There have been a few guys that I've been interested in based on emails and phone calls, but then I spent time with them and it's okay chemistry-wise... but not off the charts. And that pretty much extinguishes any desire. Without chemistry, I lose all romantic interest. If I'm looking for someone to spend the rest of my life with, I need to be very attracted to them (and vice versa).

No matter how many problems I had with Jason, we always had the chemistry. It might've waned temporarily at times, but never for long and even at the end, it was pretty good. I think part of it was that I just fell so completely in love with him because we clicked on many levels, including the mental and physical attraction. It probably blinded us to other problems, but that's life! Man, I really want to find that again. Crazy chemistry with someone that fits the other stuff on my list too. That would be so cool. A girl can dream, can't she?

This just added... a little "chemistry" humor!

Dating update

Since the "downgrading" of the dating relationship with #5 to more of a friend status, we haven't talked much. Mainly because he went to Europe for a week and had to get caught up on stuff. He did call the other night and we got caught up on what's been happening with each other. He asked about the kitty cat, I asked about his trip. You know, the usual. We made no plans to get together or talk again. I figure I'll wait for him to call me. I'm still somewhat on the fence and I don't want to be the one doing the pursuing. He's the one that wants to take it slow, so he can take it as sloooow as he'd like. I will follow his lead on this.

In addition, there's someone else I'm interested in, but I have been VERY reluctant to post anything about him. For various reasons. So, I guess I'll just say this: I think I'll know better by the end of the month whether there is anything more to this than just mutual interest/curiosity. And if there is, I will most likely post about it (and him) at that time. Til then, he'll just be the mystery man. The very handsome, smart and funny mystery man...

Kitty Update

Evie is doing much better! She came down with a fever, so the vet prescribed two different liquid antibiotics (yea for me!). While I'm trying to hold her down to shove icky Pepto-Bismol pink looking antibiotics down her throat, I was thinking... "Where's Jason when I need him?!" :-) He always handled all animal issues which meant me never giving a cat a pill or shoving liquid stuff down their throats.

On with the update... the antibiotics worked to bring down her fever and since they did, I canceled the appointment I had with the specialist to get the ultrasound done. That, by the way, was going to cost $560. So far, she seems to be maintaining her health and she's been acting normal. The vet said that if she stops eating again and is acting sick, I should take her to the internist. It's been about a week since she's seemed better, so I'm hoping she had some intestinal bug that the medicine cleared up and we're home free for now.

Thanks to everyone who has been asking about her!! I should post a picture. It's been a while. I'll try to do that tonight!

Heroes Premiere Party?

Who's in for a "Heroes" season premiere party? Plan is we'll watch the original unaired pilot and the final episode before settling in and watching the first one of the new season. The only downfall? I don't have cable, so it will be a bit fuzzy unless someone else would like to host!!

Guitar Hero Humor

Here are a couple comics that my friend emailed me! Thanks Giles! Do my friends know me or what? :-)