Goodbye Doppelganger

So last night on Project Runway we said goodbye to my twin. Well, not really my twin, but Katherine is gone anyway. I didn't really think her dress/doggie hoodie combo was really all that bad other than being a little plain (Bradley's hideous concoction was a lot worse, and it got high marks from the judges!!!!), but I guess plain just doesn't cut it in the fashion world. Not for couture anyway.

So now I'm going to cut and paste my previous assessments of the contestants and add in my new observations from this week's episode (in red):

People I liked last week:
Laura - one of my faves so far, a very classy lady - she's turning out to be kind of a one-trick-pony - her design this week was a bit too similar in style to her ep. 1 design - move to ambivalent category
Robert - he used to design for Barbie!!
Uli - I loved her design in ep. 1 and ep. 3
Kayne - he was SO EXCITED to design for Miss USA
Allison - I like her personal style and want to see what she can do - thought she should have won this week

People I don't like:
Vincent - annoys the crap outta me and doesn't play well with others and designs ugly clothes
Angela - kind of incompetent but keeps getting through by the skin of her teeth - let's hope that doesn't last much longer - in her defense, I didn't think her outfit this week was as bad as everyone else did
Keith - he's a little (a LOT) full of himself after his win in ep. 1 - and nothing has changed here, even when he decided NOT TO DO the dog part of the challenge

People I am ambivalent about:
Katherine - she's the one who looks like me, but I've yet to see what she's all about - Bye Bye!!
Bonnie - don't know much about her
Bradley - seems sweet, but I HATED his design in ep. 1 ... and ep. 3 - if he doesn't prove himself worthy soon, he's moving to my dislike category
Jeffrey - his tattoos are a little wierd - jury's still out
Michael - I want him to be great but I'm just not sure yet - moving him to the like category - I'm diggin his designs

So that's the long and short of it. But seriously, every time I watch this show, I want to get back into fashion design, and start sewing things!!! Maybe I'll yoink my mom's sewing machine tonight ...

And speaking of clothes, I had a dream last ngith that I had a closet full of beautiful dresses!! I was trying to decide what to wear to a Prom (maybe a remnant of yesterday's convo with Jillybean about her Prom party?), and also trying to pick out a dress for ... my brother!!! Yeah, none of my dreams can be normal - there always has to be that one little part of it that reminds me that it's just a dream. But Oh how I wanted this one to come true when I woke up!! All those dresses! And I don't even wear dresses!!

Nyerp should be a word

It should be one of those words like "yoink" that acts as a sound effect for a specific action. Except, unlike "yoink," which is generally used when one person takes something away from another person, "nyerp" would be able to be used for ANY action the user chooses. For example, I click a link on a website, nyerp, I sit down on a chair, nyerp, I flip on a lightswitch, nyerp, I pat the kitty's head, nyerp nyerp. You get the idea.

I say this only because for some reason, this non-word keeps popping into my head when I do these random things, such as locking a door, or pushing a button on the microwave. No idea where it came from.

But we should totally start a petition.

Fashion Victim

I absolutely loveloveloveloveLOVE "Project Runway." YES, I know it's reality TV, which most of the time sucks ass, but this show doesn't, I swear! Hell, I don't need to sell you on it. I don't care one iota if you watch it yourself. More for me! :)

But yeah, the third season started last week, and I was already hooked after just one episode (not that that surprises me). The second episode was last night (Wednesday). I made it a point to leave a restaurant early just so I could make it home in time to watch the show. (So sue me. What else do I have other than my TV shows?) LOVE IT! I sooooo wanted to be a fashion designer when I was a kid, and every time I watch this show, I totally want to be one all over again. I have to say, if I ever do get back into that stuff, I'm gonna be first in line to be on this show. And I'll win it too!! The wierd thing is ... there is a girl on this season who LOOKS LIKE ME. Not exactly like me, but I used to have a hairstyle very similar to hers, and every time I see her I get this very eerie feeling, like she reminds me of who I was way back then. So strange. And last night?? SO SAD about who got eliminated! Yeah, Malan was a little wierd, and who knows if his accent is real or not, but he was one of my favorites!! I just really wanted to see what he was capable of, you know? I wanted to see who he was through his designs and see him succeed in the show (one of the things he said early in the episode brought me nearly to tears). Oh well. Malan, where ever you are, I'm still rooting for you!!! But I do agree with the beauty queen's choice for the best pageant gown - and the guy who designed it totally deserved to win. Yay for Kayne!

So here's the rundown of the remaining contestants ...

People I like:
Laura - one of my faves so far, a very classy lady
Robert - he used to design for Barbie!!
Uli - I loved her design in ep. 1
Kayne - he was SO EXCITED to design for Miss USA and totally deserved the win
Allison - I like her personal style and want to see what she can do

People I don't like:
Vincent - annoys the crap outta me and doesn't play well with others
Angela - kind of incompetent
Keith - he's a little (a LOT) full of himself after his win in ep. 1

People I am ambivalent about:
Katherine - she's the one who looks like me, but I've yet to see what she's all about
Bonnie - don't know much about her
Bradley - seems sweet, but I HATED his design in ep. 1
Jeffrey - his tattoos are a little wierd - jury's still out
Michael - I want him to be great but I'm just not sure yet

the little things, second installment

2) My Roommate's Cat
Bully, as she is more commonly known, is a funny cat. And I'm not even a cat person. She does some things that never cease to amuse me, such as these: a) she loves to be in the bathroom with me when I am getting ready in the morning. Her favorite thing to do is to jump up on the counter and stand right in front of me, meowing into my face and making it nearly impossible for me to brush my teeth without physically removing her from the counter. Or, what happens more often, is that I will turn on the other faucet just a trickle, so she can go play in that sink, thus distracting her from distracting me and making me late for work. b) her method of jumping onto said bathroom counter is to first jump onto the edge of the bathtup, and then onto the counter. If I close the shower curtain and block her route to the counter, she gets TOTALLY CONFUSED. c) when she misses the counter entirely. Recently, she tried to jump up there and her back legs must have slipped out from under her. She ended up hanging off the edge of the sink by her front paws, struggling in vain to get her (fat) body up where it wanted to be. It didn't work. I held onto her as she finally let go and slid down to the floor. d) her wide variety of meows. Seriously, this cat is ALWAYS talking. I don't know what the hell she's saying, but she sure likes the sound of her own voice. My favorite version is the loud maniacal meow that comes from down the hall when I'm in the living room, followed by the cat running into the room as if she's being chased by the devil himself. Who knows, maybe she is! e) she loves to chase bugs! f) her unconditional love of the ugliest rug in the apartment. If it were up to me, the thing would be chucked out the window and/or burned (the rug, not the cat), but she loves the thing so much, I can't bear to get rid of it ... plus it's not mine to get rid of. g) the fact that she is scared to death of everyone other than my roommate and myself. She runs into his bedroom when she hears someone ring the buzzer. There's a million other things that this cat does that make me laugh, but I am having a brain fart right now and this is all I can think of. More to follow perhaps.

3) The phrase "brain fart."
Especially when it's used by older, "grown-up" type people. At work.

a very yummy thing

Dude! I was at my parents' house for dinner last night and Mommers (Mommers? Really?) made this really good thing for dessert. If you like pineapple, peanuts, coconut and vanilla ice cream, you'll love it, I swear! You take slices of fresh pineapple, and glaze them with 2 tbsp brown sugar mixed with 1 tbsp lime juice, and then grill it! Put some oil on the griling surface, and over medium-high heat, cook it for approx. 8 minutes, flipping over half-way through (just FYI, you'll probably need less than 8 minutes - keep an eye on it), until it is brown on the edges. Then you put a slice or two in a dessert dish, sprinkle it with crushed peanuts and toasted coconut (Ha! I totally burned the coconut the first time I tried to toast it. BE CAREFUL!!), top with a scoop of ice cream, and voila!!

SO YUMMY!!

Disclaimer: This recipe is FROM MEMORY, so if you burn down your house while following these directions, I cannot be held responsible. Happy grilling! :)

the little things

I think it is important to remember the little things in life that keep you amused. Because sometimes when it seems like the world is out to get you, the only thing that will convince you that all is not thunderstorms and stepping in poop, is one of those funny little things that happens every once in a while that makes you smile despite yourself. This is why I am going to begin using this blog to keep track of those things for myself. So when I'm having "one of those days," I can refer back here, and hopefully I won't be tempted anymore to jab a sharp metal instrument into my eye socket.

Here's the first one.

1) Office Intercom
We have a paging system here at work, and most of the time, it works relatively well. The things that amuse me about it, however, are as follows: a) when one person begins a page, gets cut off by a page from another location, then has to begin their page all over again, trying very hard not to have an annoyed tone in their voice, b) the people who don't know how to pronouce a person's name, so when they repeat the name and extention for the second time, they say it completely different than the first, just to cover their bases, c) the people who stop mid-page because they forgot which extention they were paging to, d) when the extentions being paged to mysteriously have 5 digits, even though all extentions are only 4, and e) (my favorite) "John Smith, please call extention 1234, John Smith, extention ... Oh, there you are!"

now THAT makes more sense

For the longest time (okay, maybe only a week or so), there was a billboard along 90 that just baffled me. It was red, and contained the words "I pooted." That's it. "I pooted." No product advertised, no website to refer to, nothing whatsoever on the thing except those two words. "I pooted." As amusing as it was, I just didn't get it. I mean, am I dumb? Is there some inside joke here that I'm just not cool enough to be a part of?? Is there some subliminal message hidden inside the phrase "I pooted?"

It bugged me every time I saw it. That is, until last week ... when they finally finished the billboard!! Now there is a little cartoon character dude (not sure who), and an ad for a show on Cartoon Network. NOW I get it! The world makes sense again and I'm not dumb after all. Well, not about that anyway ...

Oh, blog.

How I have neglected you. Can you find it in your heart to forgive me??

I swear I am alive. Well, I think I am anyway. My coworker is finally back from her honeymoon, so my workload is back to normal, which means I once again have plenty of slack-off time. :)

As a general note on "how things are," I think I can say that my life is currently on an upswing. The very beginning of one. A personal issue that has been been causing me some serious stress over the last few months has, I believe, finally been resolved. Some sacrifices had to be made, but I think they were in everyone's best interest, and I can finally have a little peace of mind about my role in the sequence of events. I think that everyone is happy now, and that makes me happy too.

In other happy news, I got some good test results back from my doctor, which means that he is tapering off my Prednisone dosage (again), in favor of the Methotrexate as my maintenence medication. So if all goes well, I will be Chipmunk Cheeks no longer!! Yay! I seem to be responding well to the Methotrexate (no surprise to me since I had been on it before), which was one of the doctor's main concerns. I guess people don't always react well to it, but apparently I do. This is good 'cause it gets me off the Prednisone, but bad 'cause it means this 2-drink-per-week limit will be sticking around for the long haul. Not that I've been following it all that strictly anyway. ;) And also, if I plan of getting knocked up anytime soon, this will put a damper on those plans. But the likelihood of that happening is about the same as me getting struck by lightning, winning the lottery, and getting elected president of a small Eastern European country all in the same day.

Well, I certainly hope that this holiday weekend has been more exciting for everyone else than it has been for me. I have spent almost all of it cooped up in my apartment with nothing to do!! Friday night, I went out for a late dinner and drinks with some work friends, which was the extent of my social interaction during the weekend proper. Saturday I did zilch. The roomie went out dancing with a friend that night, and they brought some random Texan home with them, who apparently peed in his bed. Don't ask. Sunday, the only thing I really accomplished was baking a batch of cookies for a barbecue I will be attending later this evening. Unfortunately for me, I have to be at work today. There are maybe 7 people total working in the room where my cube is today, which is about 1/3 of the usual number. It's nice and quiet for a change, but it sucks to be here. At least I have the BBQ to go to tonight. I guess we're going to try to catch the fireworks, but with the weather as gross as it is, those plans might be abandoned. We'll see what happens. And tomorrow, once again, no plans, except for a tentative beach outing, and an attempt to clean my apartment. God knows it needs it. And I need the beach too, so let's hope that both of those things end up happening.

Cheers!