Soccer Ended

It seems my illustrious soccer career has ended before it had a chance to take off. Not enough people signed up for the house team, so I'm SOL. Good thing I only had purchased the socks and the shin guards, nothing all that expensive. I'm disappointed, but what can I do. I can't make someone on a team invite me to play on theirs. lol

Last night I slept for 12 hours straight.

I had a bit of a scare last night. I dumped some leftover couscous onto a plate to warm it up. When I touched it...it wasn't at all cold, despite having been in the fridge for twelve hours. I opened the fridge door and sure enough, it wasn't cold in there really at all. What the heck? I was scared that it was broken, although, the freezer was working fine. So I turned the thermostat to the coldest setting. The only thing that I can think of is that the door didn't shut all the way from when I replaced the egg carton from breakfast; I'd hung a dishtowel on the door handle and sometimes it impedes closure. This morning, all seemed well; it was cold like it should be. I'm left wondering what all I need to throw out now....

Nikki on 06.28.06 @ 01:26 PM PST [link]

Weekend

Pretty good weekend, although I was worried on Friday when I felt like crap again. On Saturday I went to the Kirkland DMV to renew my license. The picture turned out way better than the one from five years ago, although I still look bug eyed in it. But, at least I don't look like I am bald except for bangs. The guy was so nice that he was even allowing people to retake pictures if they didn't like them. Later that afternoon I played two softball games back to back. It was freaking hot. Note to self: Next time bring more water. After our team outing at Tacos Guaymas, I strolled around Greenlake. Later that night I watched a movie about Sylvia Plath, which was interesting. I haven't read much of her work and didn't know much about her life other than her suicide. Perhaps I will read The Bell Jar. On Sunday I spent a good portion of the day cleaning. It was another scorcher outside. I talked to a neighbor who informed me that five years ago, the condos in my complex we selling for two-thirds of what I paid. Man! I decided to give it one more try and figured out how to make my bike fit in the car so that I can close all the windows and such, so I drove back to Greenlake and did a lap. It didn't cool down dramatically overnight; I left my porch door opened. It's supposed to get in the 90s today. Yikes!

Nikki on 06.26.06 @ 09:55 AM PST [link]

Relapse

Yesterday afternoon I noticed that I had a throat tickle. By evening, it was back to hurting the way that it did this weekend. I think I'm better now than I was last night, but still not feeling great. Should have kept taking the cold medicine even though I felt better after Tuesday, I guess. Argh.

Two softball games tomorrow. That should be fun...It's supposed to be nice weather this weekend.

I am happy to say that I am not too sore from yoga yesterday. I'd predicted that I would be since it had been so long. There's some tenderness, but nothing unbearable.

Nikki on 06.23.06 @ 04:14 PM PST [link]

Soccer

So I don't know what happened...maybe I've been too heavily influenced by the myriad of tvs at work tuned into the World Cup. Or maybe subliminal messages were pumped into my ears as I sat and watched a friend play soccer on Monday nights. But yesterday I signed up to play on a beginner's soccer team at Arena Sports in Redmond. Part of the decision was based on the fact that I need a sport where I actually burn some calories. Softball is fun and all that...but it's a lot of standing around interrupted by a few sprints here and there. There appears to be a lot of running around for soccer. So, I'll give that a try.

Nikki on 06.22.06 @ 11:28 AM PST [link]

Addicted

Hello, my name is Nikki, and I am addicted to buying cheap DVDs off of Amazon.com. As I've mentioned before, I don't buy a lot of DVDs, usually only those that I really like and will rewatch many times. Amazon was a great place to buy DVDs to replace my old VHS tapes. Now today I took it one step further and bought DVDs that I never owned the VHS to (unless you count Little Women, which I had taped off of the college movie channel. Hopefully this won't become a problem. :)

Last night went to softball...and the other team never showed up. I believe that I was denied my night to shine. There's another game tonight, so maybe I will shine...if I decide to go. I had told the manager that I wouldn't be there because I thought I had plans...but then the plans got changed due to someone's flight plans...

Nikki on 06.21.06 @ 09:51 AM PST [link]

Writing Again

So last night, around 11 pm, as yet another Roseanna rerun was slated to begin, I thought to myself, "This would be a good time to work on the novel." It's been way too long. I can't remember exactly when I last worked on it. I think it might have been around Halloween. Sure, I blame it on a myriad of reasonable explanations: moving, new job, increased social activities. But the fact of the matter is, I spend a lot of time watching tv. So, I turned the tv off and booted the laptop up (I'm always worried, when it's been awhile, that it's not going to work for some reason). I even decided to write in the office, on the new bed, because dammit...it is an office, not just a repository for the stuff I don't know what to do with. But in keeping with my procrastinaical (like that new word?) work ethic, I "warmed up" with a quick game of Quiddler soliatire, which I lost.

First, I needed to familiarize myself with the characters again, so I began by reading random sections that were already written. Of course I found typos or sentences that just didn't work, so I edited for a bit. Then, I got up and got some kleenex. Finally, around 11:20, I actually started writing. It wasn't a completely new scene but a lengthening of a pre-existing scene, although I don't think that the scene really ended. Promptly at midnight I stopped. I didn't want to overwhelm myself right away. :)

However, I did copy it over to my flash drive, for two reasons. The copy on the flash drive was from over a year ago and it's always good to have a backup copy. Also, maybe when it's slow at work I will find the time to work on it. So I dropped it in my super cute bag purchased at Old Navy this weekend and there it is.

Nikki on 06.20.06 @ 08:44 AM PST [link]

Sick!

This is ridiculous. I am sick yet again. This time at least it's just a cold, not the flu like the last two times, but this is just so odd for me. I've been sick more often in the past eight months than I have in the past couple years. It's not really a great way to start out a new job...but I have dragged myself to work. I spent nearly the whole weekend sleeping. Summer colds suck!

Nikki on 06.19.06 @ 10:14 AM PST [link]

It's Like A Birthday Every Day!

So I've bitten the bullet and made the move to migrate all my archaic VHS tapes to DVD. I didn't really have a lot (maybe 15-20), just like I don't have a bunch of DVDs. I tend only to buy my very favorite ones, those that I would rewatch multiple times. I got on Amazon.com and hunted for some good deals. Some of them are used, but plenty of them are new. The caveat is, they're ordered from individual proprieters, not from Amazon itself, so they're trickling in. But, it's not so bad, because I have packages in the mail nearly every night when I get home. It's like getting a birthday present every day! I like presents! Of course, I bought these presents for myself, so it's not quite the same. :)

Not much going on this weekend. Going to a new eye doctor tomorrow. Hopefully they'll be more adept at ordering the correct lenses than Sears was. Otherwise, that it. What a boring life! :)

Nikki on 06.16.06 @ 11:03 AM PST [link]

Another Birthday Come And Gone

Friday began with a little sleeping in, which really isn't all that unusual except that it happened on a Friday instead of a weekend day. Judy and I met up for a pedicure and manicure in Newcastle, which was nice. I'm generally not one of those girls that needs her weekly spa session to feel like a woman...but every once in awhile it's fun. Plus, a little polish keeps my nibbling teeth away from my nails. Afterwards we ate lunch at a Mexican restaurant in the same mall because it was pouring outside and it just seemed like the best idea. We drove to Issaquah to watch a movie, but the first showing wasn't until much later than my time schedule allowed for, so instead we went to Famous Footwear and I bought some shoes: one pair for that evening and a pair of really cute sandals.

Later that night, I ate at a Thai restaurant, only because Cucina Cucina had a beastly line, as is normal for Remond Towne Center on a Friday night. The retreat from CC was fine, since I don't really enjoy that place anyway. I mean, what kind of Italian restaurant doesn't have free bread?? It was with trepidation that I approached Thai Ginger since I had not had any Thai food that I actually liked. It seems that while I enjoy peanut butter, I do not like cooked peanuts or peanut sauce in food. However, I found a dish with chicken and broccoli and noodles in a black bean sauce that was actually quite yummy. Then we were off to the Second Story Repertoire Theatre to see Seven Deadly Sins, a revue of other Broadway musical songs (mostly) that illustrated each of the seven deadly sins. It was quite amusing. I believe the strongest reaction of the evening to all of the songs presented was during the His Hits section, a montage of cliche things that men say to women. There was an audible gasp of the women in the audience when the sentence, "Relax and it won't hurt." was mentioned. I won't commentate any further on that.

So now I am 32. The birthday festivites may briefly flare tomorrow at work since it is the tradition that The Mouse decorates people's cubicles for their birthday. That should be cool.

The rest of the weekend passes quickly. Softball practice...for which I was very cranky but even now under my usual uncrankiness am still annoyed by. I also bought a bike at Target last night. I did some riding last night and this morning. My butt is very sore now. I babysat tonight for a few hours. Have been working on the freelance gig off and on, too. So now work begins again tomorrow. A somewhat busy week this week with two work softball games and one night of babysitting.

Nikki on 06.04.06 @ 11:53 PM PST [link]