Anyway... Hi. I am Angi. I talk to myself. I like ice cream and have an ice cream maker and make ice cream lots of ice cream. I'm not a dog person. I have a ferret, and her name is Frankie. I like to knit and crochet and sew and bead and do metal work and use power tools. I make up weird names for people. I have my motorcycle licence, and got my first motorcycle in April, '04. I have put about 13,000+ miles on it now! I also made a website for our group, "The Mild Ones." I love VW's. They should make a convertable jetta. I want a 1969 red convertable bug. I am the oldest of three siblings, and therfore am a little bossy at times. I am a Daddy's girl. As a Taurus I am an annoying optimist, and an occasional pessimist . My lucky numbers are 2 and 4. I miss my sisters back in UT! I like to watch movies just to find editing mistakes and inconsistancies. I hate beans and anything with a bean texture. I have a sweet tooth, but hate chocolate. I am addicted to sun. I love fruit. I hate being cold!I love raspberries and anything with a raspberry flavor. I like to eat popcorn and watch lightening storms and dance in the rain.
The mood at work completely changes when you have a casual Friday. I have only had two previous to this at my new place of employment, and have never had a casual Friday anywhere else I have worked that required "business attire."This casual Friday was extra special because the “bosses” were out!All the big-wigs here are on an Alaskan Cruise.(Brrrrrrrr!)So, when the cats are away, the mice will play!Everyone just seemed more up beat and jovial. (He he, I just looked up synonyms for “jovial” and it came up with the following: fun-loving, full of beans, and buoyant.Sorry, I found that funny.)
M came skipping into my office Friday morning, grinning from ear to ear, and said: “Angi, we have no bosses today!What will we do?” and then promptly invited me to go out to lunch.So M and I went to Pei Wei in the Bluffs Shopping Center (near Fashion Island).I have to admit, I have not been invited to have lunch outside of the office since I started in December.True my boss took me out to lunch for my B-day, but that doesn’t really count.I usually pack my lunch just because getting lunch when you ride a motorcycle can be a hassle, and there is the money-saving factor.However, I really enjoyed getting out of the office, and M is really funny.You don’t really notice her at work, as she tends to be quiet and passive.
So, I plan on doing some more unhealthy eating-out!
I had the best weekend.My mom was in So Cal on business and I got to see her!We spent the day in Old Town Pasadena.I went online and did a search on Old Town and found this site: www.oldpasadena.org.They have a long list of things to do in Old Town, and it allows you to customize an itinerary for your day there.They even have a heading called “Girls Day Out” and it lists all the spas and girly treatments you can do in Old Pasadena.If you have never been, I absolutely recommend visiting.
Mom flew into the Burbank airport on Sunday morning and meet up with me in Pasadena.Since my birthday had been a few days before, Mom packed along my gifts.And since my Dad’s birthday had been a month before, I had packed along his gift.(Sorry it’s so late Dad!)I received a very cute wind-chime with a little glass and wire fish on the top.I named the fish Floyd, Floyd the Flounder.I also got a salt & pepper set with a matching oil bottle with purple pansies painted on them.They are very kitchen cute.My brother had also brought back a gorgeous Kimono style robe from Afghanistan.It is purple on one side and reversible to black on the other.On the black side, there is an embroidered dragon on the back.Thanks Bro!
Mom and I had brunch (“You'd love it, it’s not quite breakfast, it’s not quite lunch, but it comes with a slice of cantaloupe at the end” - Simpsons) at this little bakery called Aux Delices.I had the best Fruit Tart and a huge Caesar Salad.We then walked to Dream of Tibet, a little store with clothing, deities, books, music, and anything else Tibetan you could want.Mom bought some fish scale nail files!They are about 2” long and 1” wide, and they are rough fish scales.The card said they were the perfect roughness to be a nail file; Mom bought four.
We then went down this street to a really fun boutique called Lula Mae, “a gift store with style, whit and whimsy.”They had a baby shirt inside that said “Come party at my crib.” If I had a baby, they would be wearing that shirt.They also had a ton of retro style items.I almost bought a green and pink striped card holder, (for those of you not in the know, I collect card holders)but thought of all the money I had spent on Saturday and stopped myself.Like that?I showed self-control and frugality!
We then went to Mimio, a paper shop.They feature handmade paper and specialty paper, as well as cards, invitations, journals, photo albums, and scrap booking.It was a very cute, fun shop.After paper-viewing, we went to Try My Nuts. This store is filled with every kind if nut and nut covered with something you can think of. They also have an entire wall full of hot sauces. We ended up getting some dried peaches and sodas. I know, it's weird to go to a nut store for the fruit, but hey, we're just weird like that!
Afterwards, we felt a little peckish and decided to walk over to Cheesecake Factory for a late lunch.I don’t know if this is usual, but the place was packed!We waited for about 20 minutes before getting a table.I had my old stand-by of Angel-hair pasta and Mom had the Cheesesteak sandwich.One thing you can say for Cheescake factory, their servings are huge!
After lunch was over, we visited another shop or two and decided to call it a day. Mom watched as I packed up my bike and then we said good-bye. I was sooo glad I was able to see her! I can't wait for my visit to SLC in June.
You know, I miss celebrating my birthday with my family.I miss not having my mom and dad wake me up with a huge bouquet of balloons.Mom would also prepare whatever you wanted for dinner, or you could go to the restaurant of your choice.The weekend after a birthday, the whole family would get together for a birthday party.Mom & Dad would have picked out whatever cake you wanted (I always had Angel Food Cake with REAL strawberries, {none of that fake gel-y strawberry goo} and cream, with mint leaves on top.)
Now, I get a phone call from Mom and Dad, and a card from Grandma with a check.I have to cook whatever I want for dinner, and I have to make my own birthday cake!Boo-hoo!
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There is something so refreshing about birthdays.It’s almost like New Years.It’s a chance to resolve to change and do.What are my resolutions for my birthday, you may ask?Honestly, I don’t know yet.I have this feeling of being able to “start over,” but can’t figure out what to change and/or do.
I could resolve to get serious about school and just get my Associates.
I could resolve to actually get serious about buying a new (read: new for me, used for someone else) car.
I could resolve to try and save money for a change (no pun intended) instead of spending it all the time.
I could.
I may.
I will. Those will be my resolutions.I just have to get over my self-imposed excuses not to accomplish those resolutions.
But…it’s so hard to go to class when I work so late, and I don’t know what I want to do.
But…it’s so much money to get a new car, and anyway, the weather is perfect for riding my motorcycle.
But…I NEED everything I buy.
Well, the last one is not entirely true.I tend to get hit by a lot of big expenses at once.
Examples:Trip to SLC to see my sister graduate; $250.00
Get 15,000-mile service on my motorcycle; $500.00 (I am getting another quote!)
Buy a car!
See, all at once.
It has been a nice birthday despite everything.It’s not over yet, so we shall see what else the day brings.
On a VERY happy note, my Mom will be in So Cal on business, so… I get to see her on Sunday!Happy b-day to me indeed!
What a weekend.It was very emotionally tiring.Some things that happened are only now hitting me.
My Grandma called Saturday morning to tell T and I that Nana (grandma’s mom) was in the hospital and it didn’t look good.Grandma and Grandpa had spent last weekend here in Orange County, and we had had a great family BBQ Sunday evening.I got to see cousins I hadn’t seen since last August!We had a great time.Anyway Grandma and Grandpa headed home to Bakersfield on Tuesday (4/26).I guess Nana had been a little sick and hadn’t told anyone.
On Friday, Nana threw up, and Grandma took her to the doctor.He prescribed something and sent her home.Grandma took Nana home and went to fill the prescription.When she got back, Nana was REALLY sick and very weak.Grandma called the paramedics and they took her to the hospital.Nana was in so much pain her whole body was shaking.They gave her some Morphine and it did nothing.She was still hurting.So they gave her another dose.That finally seemed to cut through some of the pain and her body calmed down. My Aunt S.S. hurried over to the hospital to sit with Grandma and Nana.They were there all night, till 5 AM Saturday morning.
Nana’s doctor didn’t know what was wrong with her, and he was talking about just moving her into a home to pass away peacefully.The whole family was under the impression that there was nothing left but to “make her as comfortable as possible.”
My Aunt S.A. and her two girls were on their way down from Oregon.My Uncle S was also on his way up from Orange County.We took turn all day Saturday and Sunday morning visiting Nana in the hospital.Nana was so excited to see us all!
Sunday afternoon, a doctor comes in and starts asking Nana some more questions about how she felt.They had been doing tons of tests, and had taken X-rays the first night she was in.Nana had net been able to hold down food, and she kept complaining that her stomach area hurt. The doctor said he thought the problem might me her gallbladder.He wanted the family’s permission to discuss surgery options with the surgeon on staff.Everyone agreed.Grandma went to the hospital to discuss things with the doctor and Nana.She came back and said that Nana would be having exploratory surgery on Monday morning.If the surgeon found something wrong while he was in there, he would fix her up.
Monday morning we all get to the hospital early to see Nana before surgery.The surgeon had told Nana that he had just operated on a 106-year-old woman and she was recovering just fine.I think that calmed Nana to know she wasn’t the oldest patient.She went into surgery at about 12:15 and the surgeon came out at about 2:30.He said that he had found a portion of her small intestine had died.So he had cut out the dead section and sewed the two parts back together.Everything had gone great with no complications!
They would hold Nana in ICU for the night for observation.We all went to Grandma’s and Grandpa’s to rest, and then went out for a big family dinner at Outback steakhouse.There was such a happy feeling and a feeling of relief.Nana was going to be okay!
Tuesday morning T and I went over to see Nana before we headed back home.They were going to keep her in ICU for a while longer because her blood pressure was high.The nurse noticed that when family was in the room, Nana slept better, and her heart rate and blood pressure would go down.We told Nana good by and headed home.
Updates from Grandma have been really good.
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On Saturday, while T and I were rushing up to Bakersfield we came upon a really bad car wreck.We had stopped for gas at Magic Mountain, and about 35 miles past MM we spotted an overturned car in a ditch.I thought the car had been there for a while, but T pulled off the road really fast.I pulled off after him and we began to walk up the hill towards the car.I still wasn’t really sure why, but I began to feel a little anxious as two more cars pulled over next to us.Once we made it up to the car, I knew it hadn’t been there for a while.You could smell burnt breaks really strong.Two guys were kneeling down by the passenger side of the car.Once I got to that side I saw a pair of legs sticking out of the back seat window, and the guys trying to pull on them.T gets down next to them and together they all pull out this elderly woman.They laid her down on the ground and…I was able to see the damage.Her left side of her head was crushed in and her right had had almost completely “de-gloved.”She wasn’t moving at all.One of the guys checked for breathing and shook his head.The other asked him if he was going to start CPR and he said it was no use.She must have died on impact because there was little blood, and none of her injuries were bleeding.The guys covered her face with a pillow from the back of the crushed car.
Another guy on the driver side of the car calls out that someone is moving.We rush to the driver side and see an elderly guy, upside down, still pinned in his seat.His head had come out of the window, and was caught between the car and the ground.Seven or eight guys lined up along the car and liftrd it off of his head while I pushed it into the car before they set it back down.We tried to pull him out of the driver side window, but he was caught on something.I kneeled down and looked into the car and saw he was completely pinned by his steering wheel.I couldn’t open the door from the outside because the handle was broken off, and I couldn’t reach the handle on the inside.The guy was trying to help us get him out, but he was still stuck.Someone else crawled into the car by the passenger side window and they are able to free his legs.They started pulling him out, and his shirt gets stuck on some bent metal from the car frame.I crawled inside the car and free him and they pulled him out.
They laid him down next to the woman (I am assuming it’s his wife) and someone hurried to cover her body with some sweaters and jackets so he couldn’t see it.The man was breathing really shallow, and kept trying to reach his hand over to the woman, but the guys helping just pulled it back.T sat down and held his hand.Someone on his cell phone called out that the paramedics were on their way, and someone else calls out the fire department were also on their way.Another man produced some bolt cutters and began to cut away the barbwire the car had landed on, and that the couple had been placed on.A CHP car showed up maybe two minutes later.He knelt down next to the woman and lifted the pillow off of her face, and just shook his head.He then turned to the man and started to talk to him.T and I left right after that.
I just kept thinking how horrible it must be for that man to have lost his wife right there, just like that.
I read in the paper the next morning that the man was 81 and the woman was 74.They had pronounced the woman dead at the scene, and the man had been taken to the hospital with massive head injuries.Apparently the car had been drifting across the lane and the man overcorrected and the car flipped off of the road.
I felt pretty much okay about the whole event, but then I really wasn’t thinking on it. When I told what happened to someone at work a few day later, it started to hit me.I’ve pushed it out of my mind for now.
T and I took the kids (ferrets) out to the park today. This is their second time out. T put them in his tank bag and we headed down the street. I was hoping Frankie would be a little more daring on this trip.On her first outing, her tail was poofed out to three times its normal size, and she refused to stay down on the grass.As soon as I would set her down, she would run up to my legs and try to climb them.
How cute!She knows her mommy!
This time was just the same.Turd, being the big tough ferret, starts sniffing around, climbing trees, and trying to get into the squirrel holes.I would set Frankie down and then sit down a few feet away.She would run up to me and run up my back, inside my shirt.I began to feel really bad about trying to get her to explore.T said that Frankie is just lazy and she knows I will carry her around.
They also got to meet their first dog. Turd walked right up to the beagel and they started touching noses. The dog that started to actuall back away from Turd to go back to its owner. Frankie remained safely tucked away in the crook of my arm. She wasn't getting anywhere near that dog.
It’s fun to watch the difference between the two of them.Turd is much bigger, and is defiantly more active.He loves to play-fight your hand, and refuses to be held.He is smart too.He is the one who figured out how to open the gate on their cage once I unlock it, and he will eat anything.Frankie on the other hand is smaller, and likes to play in her tunnel.She usually likes to be held, and loves tuck her head under my hair behind my neck.The only thing she will eat is ferret food, and ferret vitamins.Frankie is also a little monkey!She loves to climb to the top of her cage, the bookshelf, or my dresser!
Here is a good example of their personalities.Their cage is about 5’ tall and 3’ x 2’ wide and long.They have three “floors” in their cage, the “basement” being the box that holds their bedding and the “bathroom”.1st floor is essentially the “kitchen/dining room,” 2nd floor is just an empty “room” and 3rd floor is the “bedroom” with their hammock and igloo.They have a gate on the basement level and the 2nd floor.Usually I unlock the basement gate and try run out of the room before they get out.Turd will paw at the gate till it pops open and then they both jump out to play in the room.
The personality difference shows when I open the 2nd floor gate.This one I have to actually open because Turd can’t get the leverage needed to paw it open.Once it is open, Turd runs up to the opening, musters his courage, and jumps down to the floor.Frankie waits till Turd is out of the cage, then saunters up to the opening, and glances out.She will sit there for a few moments before deciding if she really wants to get out of the cage.Once she has decided, she contorts her body around the gate, and climbs out.She hangs for a few moments on the side of the cage, and then either carefully lowers herself down to the floor, or carefully climbs up to the top of the cage.
I’m not flaky really I’m not.And usually I’m not forgetful, but every once in a while I have to wonder what’s going on up there in Angi-land.
I forgot my dad’s birthday.
Well, I didn’t really forget so much as I forgot to call and wish him a happy birthday.Forgot for a week.Then my mom called on Monday to remind me that I hadn’t called, and I told her I would call after class that night if it weren’t too late and I would definitely call on Tuesday.That was two days ago and I still haven’t called.
Very bad Angi.Very bad!
Every morning I wake up feeling guilty for not calling the night before and determined to call that night, and for get to call.
But not tonight!Dad, I am calling to wish you a happy belated birthday 10 days late.And your gift is in the mail.Saturday, Saturday your gift will be in the mail.Hopefully.It’s the thought that counts though, right?
But this has been happening with other things as well.I have been horrible at getting back to people, specifically my sisters when they call, my friends in Utah, and K.I haven’t spoken or seen K since just after, wow, after Thanksgiving.Damn!
So, to-do list when I get home: Call dad.Get addresses of friends in UT to send them letters.Call my sista’s and get a hold of K.And I must get dad’s gift this weekend.
People are opsessed with categories and labels. I'll admit, I to feed into the obsession. If we didn't, there would be no massive "quiz" databases. What beer can are you? How old is your soul? Which Disney character best discribes you? What is your pirate name? (My friend sent me that one while I had to wear my eye-patch. I must admit, it helped me feel better)
Anyway, here is my contibution to the growing quiz hysteria:
Now we all know how my Linguistic Profile matches up to the general population. I have no idea how I can speak "Yankee" and "Dixie" at the same time. And apparently there is no "Western" category, and since when is it a "Dixie" twang instead of "Southern"?
Last night we had the first Mild Ones mid-week monthly dinner. We meet at BJ's at 7:30; well most of us met at BJ's at 7:30. Two people (yup, me and T) were late and in a very rare twist of fate, it wasn’t because of me we were late.
Someone (we shall allow them to be nameless) stuck the garage remote in an unsecured pocket of their chaps and it fell out.Now normally I would not even care, you can just go out and buy a new one.However, when this is the second time it has happened in as many days, and it’s the last remote to above mentioned garage, then I get a little miffed.
So it’s 7:15 and we have no remote to get my bike out of the garage.T calls the emergency maintenance # and we have to wait for 15 minutes while they see if being locked out of your garage constitutes an emergency.
It doesn’t, but the maintenance guy that lives on the property agreed to open our garage.On the garages there is a key lock that disengages the opener and allows you to just lift the door open.You would think Management would give you the key in addition to the remote.Well, they don’t.That would make too much sense.After all, what do you do during a power-outage?Wait for the maintenance guy to come around and open all of the 100 or so garages?So maintenance guy cut us a key and we can now open our garage the un-lazy way.
In summary, the lessoned learned before dinner:
Always put something you want to keep in a secure pocket.
Anywho…back to dinner.
It was a lot of fun.I had never eaten at BJ’s before and they have the BEST pizza, let alone the best Spinach and Artichoke pizza I have ever had the pleasure of sampling.And there was enough leftover for me to justify taking it home to have for lunch today.
I found this quiz while blog-hopping this morning:
You scored as Buddhism. Your beliefs most closely resemble those of Buddhism. Do more research on Buddhism and possibly consider becoming Buddhist, if you are not already. In Buddhism, there are Four Noble Truths: (1) Life is suffering. (2) All suffering is caused by ignorance of the nature of reality and the craving, attachment, and grasping that result from such ignorance. (3) Suffering can be ended by overcoming ignorance and attachment. (4) The path to the suppression of suffering is the Noble Eightfold Path, which consists of right views, right intention, right speech, right action, right livelihood, right effort, right-mindedness, and right contemplation. These eight are usually divided into three categories that base the Buddhist faith: morality, wisdom, and samadhi, or concentration. In Buddhism, there is no hierarchy, nor caste system; the Buddha taught that one's spiritual worth is not based on birth.
