A Clarification

My new Mazda will NOT be called the pickle. I'm thinking the Rachel Express... developing...

IIIIIIIIIIt's A New Car!

I finally got my new Mazda3i-touring and I love it. Now I just have the insurance, payments, warranty, and transfer of plates, title, and other little stuff like that to take care of. Ha! On the up-side, it's almost done!

The Rachel Train is with Wilbur today, and I'll get her back at the end of the day. Hopefully I will sell her to my sister? Not sure. Either to her or to a complete stranger where it will probably be treated a lot nicer... but shh, I didn't say that.

So now ya'll don't have to read about my trials and tribulations of finding a new car. Now it'll be about selling my old one!

However, at the end of all of this, I will make many vows to my brand spankin' new car that I didn't make to the Rachel Train.

~ I will never drive you through flooded seas.
~ I will never give you a love bump harder than a squeeze.
~ I will change your oil on a regular basis.
~ I will fix your windshield wipers promptly and not wait 2 years.
~ I will try to keep the hoodlums away from you with your new alarm.
~ I will not leave invaluable CDs inside, so that some punk will come along and rip off your face and mar your beauty.
~ I will not drive you over the canyon that St. Paul calls a road.

So many more promises to make, but I think that covers the basis. I feel pure bliss driving my beauteous new car. :-D Hooray!

The Sun Will Come Out Tomorrow

And by sun... I mean my checkbook. Tomorrow's the day I go talk to the Mazda guy and sign my money away for the next few years. A sad day for the Rachel Train, but a happy time for "unknown".

I'm so very grateful that the hard-balling, and the negotiating, and the option searching is over at last! I can stop making phone calls to different dealerships, loan venues, my insurance guy, and to my dad. I think he stressed out about it far more than I did. That's how you know they care, when they drive you to the precipice of insanity. That's my family. God love 'em.

I hope to have my new car next week. Hopefully I will not agree that "pickle" is a suitable name for it, but only time will tell.

Hurray!

Here Comes.... ?

I'm waiting to make the go-ahead call to John for my new Mazda3i-touring. (Isn't it purdy?) I can't wait! But I'm going to have to. We're checking out a few more financing options and sprucing up the little Rachel Train. Then it's go time!

I've been thinking about what to call my new companion. I don't even know how the Rachel Train came to be. It was always the Rachel Train. It's "all-aboard the Rachel Train" was legendary on the hill of Gustavus. Everyone (who was somebody) got to cruise in my pimped out ride.

People have suggested that I call it the Rachel Train as well, but let's face it, there's something about a pimped out Geo Prizm that can't quite be compared to a Mazda. And the Rachel Train is irreplaceable.

It's quite the pickle.

My Million Dollar Baby

Well, I brought my beloved Geo into Wilbur (my mechanic) today to fix the damage that only idiotic hoodlums could have made. My banged in lock. I figured I should get the slightly malfunctioning door handle fixed, since it's already there. To fix the bruised lock is going to cost me another little bundle for the parts. Wilbur can fix the temperamental handle without any parts.

This whole break-in is getting to be quite expensive. (and by quite expensive, I mean look for me in about a week living in a box at the end of the block.) And for what? A half dismembered CD player, and some Broadway/opera CD's. Stupid stupid people!

My hatred for these imbeciles is growing with each passing second. I don't understand the human race. Who would do something like that? Why not break into a car and steal a good CD player, or at least take the part that plays the CD's!? Why would you take something so meaningless to you, and not worth much to pawn shops, when it could mean a lot to someone. Who does that?!

Maybe I'm naive... but I just don't understand some people.

To My Amazing Friends

This is a thank you for those who have taken the time to start replenishing a part of my life that was stolen from me. Rob, Cathy, Abbie, and Brian, how can I ever thank you?

You've burned me CD's that you've had, or given me gift certificates to buy more, or have bought new ones as well. I can't even tell you how much I appreciate it. Music is the heart and soul of my being, and now it's being filled again with love and friendship. You guys are the best.

I love Carmen, and kudos to Rob for getting me a fabulous version of it! (With a little help from a fellow music nerd.) I now have a version of Carmen with Marilyn Horne and the Metropolitan Opera in the Deutsche Grammophon version. Yessss! And thank you for offering to burn me your collection as well.

Never worry that your friends are mooches, because it'll always be for the best. Karma friends, karma. Thanks to Cathy who burned about 1/3 of all my CD collection last summer (including an irreplaceable CD!) and taking the time to burn me all of them again, and sending them too me, along with some of hers. I can't tell you how grateful I will be to get that wonderful package in the mail.

Thanks to Abbie for offering to let me use her computer to burn CD's, and for coming up with the idea of visiting the local library for some of those rarer CD's. I wouldn't have thought to check them out, but I bet they'll have a lot of my older operas.

To get a gift certificate is great, to get one to one of my favorite stores is too much for words. Thanks Brian for the generous certificate to Applause to continue rebuilding my collection. Now I'll drag you there every night... they're open until midnight!

Thank you thank you thank you to everyone! These gestures really mean a lot to me. I can't tell you enough how grateful I am for your kindness and thoughtfulness. I love you guys.

The Car Quest Has Begun

I test drove the 3 cars last night that could possible replace my beloved Rachel Train. I'm looking at the Toyota Corolla CE, the Honda Civic LX, and the Mazda3 i-touring. It's not going to be an easy decision.

I started at Toyota and the Corolla drove very similarly to my little Geo. I liked the way it felt, and it was a nice ride. However, Toyota consists of packages and add-ons. The car comes with virtually nothing, and you must buy an entire package to add things. I haven't ever had power windows, and to get that, you had to buy the "UP" (upgrade) package, and to get ABS you had to add on the "safety package". It was all rather confusing, and you get a few more things in the packages than you really need or want.

Honda was our next stop. I thought this whole car shopping thing would be much easier. You find a car that you really feel comfortable in, and you'd just know which one to get. Wrong! The Civic handled so similar to the Corolla that it was going to be a tough decision. The Civic was a little more dramatic in the handling, not quite as supple as the Corolla, but very similar. I did not like the inside of the Civic. Perhaps if I were an 18 year old guy I would prefer the electronic double dash with all the flashing lights and graphics. Alas, I am not. They were distracting, even when I dimmed the dash. This car was bumped behind the Corolla on my favorite list.

We journey on to Mazda. We grow weary (after all it is 8:30 on a week night!), and since both of the other dealers compared these 3 cars as well, I expected the same feel as the other 2. My mistake! The Mazda3i has a bigger engine, it has much more space inside, and it handles much better than the other 2. The brakes were amazing too. My favorite to drive by far. The downside? There's huge rear blind spots that make it difficult for us little folks to see past. Otherwise, it was a very smooth ride. The dash was a little obnoxious with all red lights giving you the evil eye, but you can dim those pretty low, and at least it's not the flashing blue/white/red/green/yellow like the Civic.

Now it all comes down to my pocketbook. They're all in the same range, but it depends how much each will come down. The Mazda dealership that I went to, doesn't barter at all. They gave me a reasonable price, and said there's no haggling in this store at all. So, unless the Corolla can give me everything I want, (with the 8 million packages you have to buy to get power windows), it looks like the Mazda wins out. (The Civic is out of the running.) However, I think Toyota will come down significantly.

Only time, and some hard-balling will tell. I hate haggling. I'm not good at car haggling... because I've never done it, and it's a pain.

My Olympics Obsession

The Olympics have finally begun! I anxiously await sitting for hours in front of the TV watching curling and thousands of people skate around on the ice in speed skating, figure skating, pair skating, hokey, etc. It's Olympic time that makes me feel patriotic.

I always like a good game, but it's always more exciting to be rooting for someone. I went to a Angles/Yankees baseball game in LA, but didn't mind who won. It was a beautiful stadium and a perfect day to set the tone for a great game. Half way through I wondered why I wasn't more enthralled... I LOVE baseball! I came to the conclusion that it's not quite as fun if you don't have a team to cheer for. It makes you more invested. That's why the Olympics are so great.

When you see certain sports you know little about (for me it's curling), it makes an otherwise channel-flipping-worthy-sport fun to have someone to cheer for. It makes it that so much better to not just be cheering for your state or area, but to be cheering for you country! How great is that folks?! It makes me feel united with my country to know that every one around the USA is cheering for the same team.

I love watching every sport I possible can for the Olympics. The winter Olympics have less coverage than the summers unfortunately, because I miss the two cable channels that have solid Olympic coverage all day and night. It's so amazing to watch these athletes, that are the best in the world, compete against each other. It makes you want to take up speed skating, or the long jump, or curling! Well, ok maybe not curling...

What a great tradition. You can't help but love it.

My Grand Theft Auto

Well, I'm back from my Chicago audition/vacation. So much to write about! I'll have to do it in spurts. The first thing to be addressed should be the unfortunate incident that occurred before I even left for the big city.

My car was broken into.

Yes, that's right, some punk must have thought that I had big bucks to be driving a broken little Geo Prizm.

I was walking out with all my luggage at 7:30am Saturday morning, when I noticed that my car door was ajar. I walk closer, and realize that all the locks are unlocked, I peek inside and everything is strewn about. My glovebox was open and emptied, my CD player was destroyed, and worst of all, all my CD's were gone. I have kept them in a case in between the seats for 8 years now. They're my crutch.

They're my most cherished possession, and now they're gone. What thief would want Marilyn Horne, or all of my Broadway collections? The worst of it, is that most of them can't be replaced because they're not retail CD's. I got them by going to specific performances and then purchasing them at the theatre. Who would want them? They're not worth anything to those kinds of people. It's just such a depressing experience. It's like having a huge part of your life ripped away from you. I'm still really bummed about the CD's. I can't get over it. And it's not like I have 4k to throw down on new CD's either. That's the worst thing they could've taken.

My CD player's face was ripped off, but not the device that actually plays the CD's. These people are genius. Now it's useless to both of us. Keep in mind friends, that this was NOT a new player by any means. I think that it was about 10 years old, and it scratches CD's over time. I could care less about the CD player, but I still mourn the loss of all of my CD's.

Now my poor little Geo, who's been through thick and thin with me has to go to the shop, yet again. I need to replace her lock that was punctured, and see if we can do something about her sticky door, and replace her missing eye (side headlight).

My poor baby. Violated by a stranger.

Lunch-Time Crazies

Gather 'round my friends, and I shall tell you a tale of a true lunch-time crazy. Her name and origin are unknown, but some things you probably don't want to know.

Brian and I decide to head out to Perkins for an enjoyable lunch the other day. It started out great, we didn't have to sit in the bad waitress's section. Huzzah. Victory was ours for the taking!

We got a nice booth on the side with only one other booth adjoining. We had a very nice waitress to take our orders and were waiting quietly enjoying our beverages, when all of a sudden the lady behind Brian starts saying rather outrageous things. She was accusing that the little old man sitting across from her (directly behind Brian) was treating her like crap, and was constantly depleting her self esteem. She chose more trashy words, but sounded basically unhappy with life in general.

She wasn't yelling, but had her voice slightly raised, but then out of nowhere she shoves her soup bowl across the table at the little old man. Brian and I were stunned, but didn't make a run for it. Then faster than we had time to react, she throws her water glass at the little old man and it showers him and Brian. With her other hand she whips her bowl at the little old man, but it soars past both him and Brian and smashes inches away from my head on the wall. I look down and there's porcelain pieces all over me and the bench, Brian's soaking wet, and the crazy lady is yelling and storming out!

By the time we stand up, the lady is already walking out the door, and the little old man stands up and he's covered with soup, water, bread, and whatever else was on the table. He couldn't have been younger than 80. He looked like a sweet old man, and he hadn't said anything during lunch, despite her accusations, but he did say that he didn't need a towel to clean up. He just walked out.

Good riddance! And that my friends, is the tale of a Perkins lunch-time crazy.

Puppy Mill Tragedy

In Belle Prairie Minnesota, a "dog kennel" (aka a puppy mill) has been approved. (See links for articles.)

In a nutshell this is an operation for 600 small dogs to live in barely livable conditions. It was approved have no one living on the premises to care for the animals. This amazes me. Are people really that ignorant that they think that 600 dogs will be able to care for themselves? I don't know anyone that would have even one dog live on its own for any duration. No one will be there if there's a medical emergency, birthing complication, or despite the fact that dogs crave companionship and interaction.

Who are these people that think it's ok for dogs to be kept in small kennels without exercise or fresh food/water only to live out their lives to breed in these terrible conditions?! It's mind blowing to think that there's people out there that lack all compassion for other living beings. It makes me sick.

In addition to the cruel conditions, the "kennel" has plans to de-bark the dogs to prevent noise pollution. This entails:

"going down a dog's throat with a sharp debarking instrument and tearing apart it's vocal cords by removing chunks of flesh. The debarking tool is an elongated device, with serrated edges. The dog is under general anesthesia as the Vet reaches down it's throat tearing out chunks of vocal cords and tossing them in the bucket or the floor. This process is repeated over and over. The dog's head then must be kept facing down off the table to allow blood to drain and avoid drowning, despite an ET tube. Upon recovery, the dog drools, coughs up blood and sadly tries to bark. They are sent home the next day on tranquilizers to prevent barking which will cause scar tissue and enable the dogs to once again vocalize as they should."

I am incredulous that this proposal passed. I can't believe that it's not against animal rights yet. So many people are outraged, and have a right to be heard. If these articles had ANY affect on you, please sign the petition, and spread the word. It literally takes 15 seconds to complete online.

PLEASE help out the puppies that can't help themselves by signing the petition below.

Stop the Puppymill in Morrison County, Minnesota

Larry Has Been Found!

Well, I finally got a hold of Larry. I'm sure you all were losing sleep about it, so don't worry, lessons have been scheduled. I have to take off work, but that's the least of my worries.

For the time being, I feel the crabby beast has been contained. My apologies for all those who have felt its wrath the other day. It's ugly head will not rear in the near future.... hopefully.

My Arctic Apartment

After another weary day filled with turmoil, I return to my apartment only to find that it's only slightly warmer than an igloo in winter.

Poop.

So for the fourth, (yes fourth!) time this winter our heater has kicked the dust. In my pleasant state which has consumed me for the past few days, I pick up the phone to leave a cheery message on their voice mail. My roomie was gone, so I gave myself the liberty to free speech.

I kept my tone stern without sounding snotty or belligerent, but I stated my case. My message consisted of reminding them that it has been the fourth time our heat has been fixed this winter, including emergency maintenance, and someone was just in our apartment twice this week. I then proceeded to say that if they had no intention of fixing the heating problem that they should let us know immediately so we can start looking elsewhere. I then thanked them and asked them to get back to us as soon as possible. I think that's a reasonable message under the circumstances. After I hung up, I high-tailed it out of our ice box.

I got a call this morning from my roomie. Apparently, the manager of our little complex came over personally this morning at 7:45 am. (My roomie isn't on a morning schedule.) There were two of them, and they walked around our apartment and apologized that it wasn't fixed. They also made reference to the fact that our thermostat was probably broken... I'm sorry friends, but when you have to sit around in a parka and Uggs, it's not because you're under the impression that it's 58 degrees, it's because it really is 58 degrees.

While management was talking to my roomie, it came up that I sounded irate in my message (hmmm imagine that). So, my roomie undercuts me and says that I get upset a lot and that I was just really worked up. Then he goes on to say that it's not such a big deal, it's just a bit uncomfortable. There goes our leverage! This is the first time that management has personally intervened with our heating problem, and then my roomie goes and says that it's just a bit uncomfortable?! Maybe it's just a little uncomfortable for a Tauntaun, but for those of us without arctic fur, it's unbearable.

Strike two with the roomie. One more and....

Where is Larry?!?!

Well, I've been trying to get a hold of my voice lesson teacher, Larry, for almost a week now, but to no avail. No word on where he is, his voice mail doesn't make reference to his potential where-abouts, so I'm at a loss.

In this "connected era", it's rather bothersome to not be able to connect to someone. At the very least, I think it's common courtesy to your dependents to let them know if you hitch-hiked to the Mexican border, or if you pulled a Dave Chappelle. What happened to notification? Especially when everyone in the world can be contacted through 4 different e-mails, cell phones, home phones, PDA's, letters, voice mail, and word of mouth!

Maybe I'm just exerting my nervous tension due to upcoming auditions unto poor Larry, or maybe I'm just crabby. In any case, he has duties as an instructor to those he instructs! Where are you Larry?! People are relying on your for their sanity!

Apple Avid

I can hardly contain myself! The new Apple computers have come out. They are now equipped with the Intel Duo Core processors, and to top it all off, they came out with the updated iWork, iLife, iTunes, and QuickTime. Could anything be better? I think not!

These fine goodies will make appearances on the seventh of February. However, you can order through the Apple website earlier. Get 'em while they're hot folks! Apples for sale!

#1 Cruise Spokesperson

Let me tell you my friends, I had an amazing time on the cruise! I don't think I could ever go back to the old way of vacationing, planning what to do, looking for restaurants, hotels, etc. They take care of everything for you, and everyone has a pleasant demeanor! If you're bored, there's 8 things for you to do at any given time. If you're hungry, there's always many places to eat, or receive complimentary room service. It's fabulous to have so many things to do, but not feel bad if you don't want to do any of it! Cruising is the way to go.

Now I'm back here in the real world, and it's the pits. I'm swamped at work, and I still haven't really unpacked. My suitcases are "unpacked", but really they just vomited all over my room, and I haven't started to clean up the aftermath. Another day, another time.... maybe.

We had long days of traveling, but it was worth it. We boarded early on Thursday, and had a great welcome buffet. Everyone was still pretty tired, and anxious to get settled in from a long trip the day before. We met up with Cathy (she flew from Chicago) and got our bags, unpacked, walked around. (It seems like that day was forever ago, I don't even really remember what we did.) Oh, we had a drill, that was fun walking around in fabulous orange life jackets... hot. Our rooms were a lot more spacious than I thought they would be. Cathy and I had an interior room (aka a cave), but it had ample storage and space. Everyone else had a balcony room. They were beautiful, and had an extra bench, but I liked the interior rooms layout better. Even if you did wake up to pitch darkness every morning. It was like time was non-existent in our sunless room.

For our days at sea, we ate a lot, explored the ship and had a strict regimen of at least 3 morning hours of sun on the Lido deck. It was a rough life, but eating a huge breakfast tires you out, so it's a good thing we had to lay in the sun for a morning nap. That's pretty much how all our days at sea went. Got up, ate breakfast, sun-napped, ate lunch, walked around, ate ice cream, went to an activity, ate more ice cream, more activities, ate second lunch, more activities, happy hour, 5-course dinner, went to a show, went to bed. It was a gruelling schedule, but we managed to stick to it, and come on, with 24-hours a day ice cream, how can you go wrong?

Our first port was on the island of St. Maarten. It was a beautiful island with many beaches. We had registered for a snorkeling tour around a shipwreck, but found out (the minute we were supposed to leave) that it was cancelled. There had been storms that week, and the water was too churned up to see anything. Bummer, but my lungs were saved. So, we spent the day on the beach and walked around to different shops (spending far more than we should have), and enjoyed the great weather.

Our next stop was Barbados. We went on a long excursion that took us around the entire island. We saw plantations, a mahogany carving farm, and the rum distillery. It was really interesting to see the island in its entirety. Unfortunately, I was pumped full of motion sickness pills and was narcoleptic on the ride home.

Our final port was Martinique. It was a beautiful island. We took a catamaran around the island to a bat cave, but it was too rough to take the boat inside (thank goodness!). Then we headed over to a black sand beach where we got to snorkel (with gear of questionable hygiene, blech). The water was really murky and we couldn't see anything in the water, so we scraped the gear and just swam to shore. They stopped about a half-mile away from the beach, it was quite a haul! We body surfed and enjoyed the soft black sand, then took a dingy back to the catamaran. We had a nice long ride back to the docks, so Cathy and I sat out on the netting in the front, and looked in the water, but saw nothing. It was so beautiful, and really neat to be lying on a net with only the water beneath you, and the quiet wind blowing in the sails. This port of call was my favorite.

Now I'm back in the land of ice and cold. Booo! Whatever happened to the days of relaxing in the sun? Or the 75 degree "chilly" days? Or the 5 course meals with a wait-staff of 3? I'm sad to say that those days are now gone my friends. This is a sad day for all of us cruisers. :-(

A Much Needed Vacation... From Vacation

I finally get the vacation from all the vacations that I need. I leave at 7am on Wednesday with Carnival Cruise's 'Legend' for the ocean blue. I can't wait. I packed last night, and I hope I have everything. I had a near heart attack when I almost forgot my bathing suit. That would've been my luck. Since I had 3 days to think about it, while frantically trying to get everything done before I leave, I realized my mistake, and corrected it.

Packing is a very time consuming and stressful activity for the obsessive compulsive. Although, I think with 5 hours of neatly folding and contemplating weight issues, I have successfully packed a suitcase. I chose an expandable suitcase for the anticipated messy packaging on the way home. It's hard to know what will fall to the bottom of your suitcase. You don't want your heavy things, like shoes and bottles, to fall and plough through your lighter and neatly folded (and categorized) shirts. It will probably be rummaged through at the airport, it always is, but hopefully they will be kind enough to leave it as they found it.

We had our cruise-planning meeting on Friday night with all the ladies. It's going to be a great group dynamic. Everyone's a little sassy with a good sense of humor. Let the good times roll, along with copious amounts of rum! We decided what we wanted to do at each port, and surprisingly we agreed on almost everything.

We're going to snorkel at our first port in St. Martaan. I'm scared to death that I'm going to drown by inhaling water through the little tube they expect you to breath out of, but that's not going to stop me. Our second port is Barbados, and I'm going on a tour of a rum distillery, a mahogany carving shop, and a plantation. This little excursion has it all, I'm very excited... for the rum. Then our last port is Martinique, where we will go on a party cruise to cap off our week. There's going to be "live calypso music, dancing, and bottomless rum". What could be better?!

I'm getting really excited to head off to distant islands to relax in the sun. I'll be thinking of all you vitamin D deficient people with sadness while I'm soaking up the rays, but I don't I'll lose sleep over it. Ciao! I'll be back in a couple of weeks!

Packing Anxiety

Is there such a thing as packing anxiety? I think I may have a severe case of it. I'm already anxious about packing for my cruise next Wednesday. I think it could be a branch off of my OCD. I like to have everything just so. I've never been on a cruise before, and I'm not so worried about that, it'll be fine, I'm worried about packing!

I usually always forget something that seems so vital to my survival at the time: sunglasses, sunscreen, a third pair of white sandals... the list goes on and on. I also seem to pack everything that I think I should wear, but realize upon arrival that I never wear the things I packed. Which leaves me longing for my other clothes that are neatly tucked away in a far away closet.

I'm determined not to do that this time. I have a game plan this time. I won't bring a suitcase of shoes (as I did for Colorado), I will only bring my 5 most commonly worn shoes. I will only bring clothes that I know fit, I will leave my "someday I'll fit into these again" clothes at home (as I did in Italy). I won't forget my unders (as I did in Colorado), and I will bring enough to last me the entire trip. I will have all of my toiletries especially my toothbrush (which I failed to remember in Texas). I will bring sunscreen (forgotten in Costa Rica), so I won't have burned eyelids...again.

If I can abide by these few rules, I think I'll be ok. I also run into the difficulty of suitcase size. I usually pick one that fits everything perfectly. I neatly fold, there's never any wrinkles, and it's a perfect amount of space. However, on the return trip when everything needs to be washed anyway, I usually don't fold as neatly and I have to jam the suitcase closed. Is there a way to compensate for this dilemma? Too big and I risk my clothes doing more tumbling than Kerri Strug. Too small and I won't be able to buy anything there or fit all of my junk less folded.

I realize this is a sad sad thing to be posting about, but it's a grave concern. Does anyone have this sort of angst while they prepare for a trip? Do I need to join a support group? Who has time?! I need 3 whole days to pack. But if I pack too early, the creases set. Yikes! I'm at it again!

I need help.

Java Tampering

I headed into work today to start my daily routine of gulping down at least 3 mugs of coffee. I go into the sacred coffee area, and I start to pump the usually office's bitter caffeinated-sludge (that they try to pass off as coffee), when I smell an aroma.

It started out rather pleasant. I peered into my mug and notice it's not the usual ebony muck I force down. Then the smell hits me, like a sumo wrestler on crack. It's amaretto hazelnut coffee. It smells ok, what could be the big deal? I grab my mug and head back to the land of cubicles.

I start in on the forever piling work load and set my coffee aside. As I'm sitting in my non-ventilated cube, I start to feel queasy. The evil coffee was continually emitting a sickeningly sweet odor. I of course procrastinate quitting my work until the last possible second. I couldn't take it any longer, it was either the coffee or fresh air. I emptied that mug faster than a rain cloud in April. It was just sick.

Who makes coffee like that? Isn't coffee supposed to be for enjoyment? a caffeine high? a sugar high? for ingestion? Good gracious people! Choose one additive and stick to it! I prefer caffeine straight up.

The worst part? Nobody liked it. It sat in the regular coffee urn for the ENTIRE day. No coffee for Rachel.

Bastards.

Vacation Needed From the Vacation

I could really get used to having 4 day weekends with 3 days of work. Maybe that's how things out to be. I would like some more vacation to recuperate from all the vacation that I just had. Everyone has to do the vacation visits with everyone whom you haven't seen in at least a week, but does everyone have time to just veg out?

Whatever happened to the good old days of bumming around? Back in the good old days of my youth, I used to lounge around all the time. Now, when I really need to (in order to minimize my icy hot usage), I can't seem to find the time! Maybe we all need to pencil in some much needed personal time.

Filled with other obligations and time restraint, I find myself looking at an open night as an opportunity to schedule in more things, when really all I want to do is primp and relax. Maybe it's the guilt of having a free night, and knowing that I could be doing other things. If I have more than a couple of hours, I think: Well, I haven't seen so-and-so in a while, I should give them a call. Or... If I fit in another night of teaching, I could almost fit in all the lessons needed during my vacation. Or... I should really be doing - 'fill in the blank' because I said I would four score and seven years ago.

In any case, it's going to be my New Years resolution to take one evening a week for just myself. I shan't be bothered by anyone or anything. I will take a stand for lying down! I will see this through to the end!