Headache

I rarely get headaches...usually only when I have been crying or when I am really hungry or stressed for some reason. Fortunately, I save money from having to buy Tylenol. :) But I have a headache right now...I should probably just go to bed and sleep it off. This waking up early thing puts a big damper on my night owl hours!

Ever had one of those days that started out fine enough...thought you looked cute, it's nice weather, etc., and then out of nowhere there is a steep decline? I had on of those days today. It doesn't happen often, which only serves to magnify it. Sigh. I'll get over it. I always figure out a way to.

Three more days til vacation.

One more dance class.

Nikki on 07.31.05 @ 08:08 PM PST [link]

Excited for Nothing

Keely told me that the Packers were playing the Seahawks here in Seattle this year...Imagine my surprise and excitement! Finally! I've waited six years for this! So I scout out both teams' Web sites searching for the exact date and when I can buy these undoubtedly expensive yet priceless tickets, only to discover that they will play here NEXT year! Argh! I suppose I should be happy that it will be next year at all and this gives us time to save up for the tickets. :) But! Still!!

The blog has been quiet lately, I realize. I've been busy at work (Imagine that!), dance class (last one is this coming week), reading, knitting, carousing as usual.

This week I leave to go to Wisconsin for a few days, for Jeremiah's dedication. Hopefully it won't be too hot. I am less concerned about the heat and more about the mosquitoes. And the ticks. I really hate ticks.

Nikki on 07.29.05 @ 11:12 AM PST [link]

Dance, Dance, Dance

Last night we delved more deeply into the Cha Cha. It was more difficult in the beginning, but by the end I think I understood it. The problem is still trying to follow whomever is leading. I anticipate too much. I want to know what he's going to do. If it were just a routine...I would have less trouble with that. I can follow a routine just fine.

Some might say that dancing is just a metaphor for life. :)

Finally the weather has been nice and warm lately. It's about time.

Started a new, well new to me, Philippa Gergory book this week. I don't think that it will be as good as the last three that I read. But she's still a good writer and I am on this English history kick...

There's a bbq at work today that we dashtrash even get to attend. And a friend and I are grilling out tonight. Yippee! I love grilled food. If only I had some brats. That really would top it off. Note to self: When in Wisconsin in a couple weeks, remember to buy some brats to bring back.

Bought some new tennis shoes yesterday because the old ones, which are only about a year old if I remember correctly, are falling apart. Considering I really only wear them when I work out, I don't believe I got my money's worth. However, they never were the most comfortable shoe. When I first started to wear them, they left bruises around the the top part of my foot. I went for a walk around Greenlake in the new shoes last night and all seemed well. No blisters in sight. That's a good sign.

This is a boring blog entry today. My apologies.

Nikki on 07.20.05 @ 07:05 AM PST [link]

Weekend

So, it looks like a busy weekend. Tomorrow is the first meeting of my newly created knitting group. Hopefully at least some of the people who have been added to the list actually show up; it's been my experience that groups formed from culling the population that read Craigslist is iffy at best. But, even if it's just me, that's not so bad. I bought some new yarn last night: green and gold. You got it. Packer colors. Thinking of making my cousin, Jeremy, and his son, Konner, matching scarves or something for Christmas. The green is a real thick yarn and the yellow is thin, so I hope they mesh well. I have no idea as to what pattern. Good thing I have the Stitch and Bitch book. I have a lot of that yellow yarn, too. Good grief.

And then tomorrow at 4:30 is our third softball game of the season. We're 1-1, so hopefully this will be a better game than last week. None of us could get together for a practice and we'll be a few people short, so who knows. I am just hoping that my quad doesn't give me any trouble. It feels just fine right now, but it did last week, too, and it still hurt when I tried to run.

Shall I begin the countdown to when Keely returns? Nah...it's too early for that. I'll wait until it's a month out.

This waking up at 7 a, business is tiresome. Of course, no one tells me that I have to be into work by a certain time...but since I have to actually face the people that I work with, I feel compelled to be here nice and early. The upshot it, I don't feel guilty when I leave at 4:30. However, when I go home, I fall asleep early, demonstrated by last night's "nap" that began at 8:30 and was briefly interupted when I awoke at midnight long enough to take my contacts out and then go to bed "for real." Makes it difficult to have much of a social life. Not every night has been like that, though.

I am currently bookless, although I am waiting for a book from Amazon. It's another Philippa Gregory book. Speaking of which, I went into Half Price Books last night and they had the two that I just finished, one of which I had to pay full price for, and the other I bought for a reduced rate from Overstock.com, were there, cheap as ever. Dang it.

Nikki on 07.15.05 @ 10:42 AM PST [link]

Another Questionnaire

This was on Tim's blog, so I thought I would copy it. :)

1. Name the Last Four Things You Bought:
   
   That wasn't food or gas? A book at Half Price Books and various clothes items at Northgate Mall



2. Name Four Drinks You Regularly Drink:
   
   Water, Mountain Dew, Diet Cherry Coke, and...I think that's about it.



3. Last time you cried, and why?
   
   January. Plans I'd made were thwarted.



4. What's In Your CD Player?
   
   I have a 20 disk cd player, sothere are too many to name. In my bedroom stereo is Jars of Clay.



5. What's Under Your Bed?
   
   Rubbermaid containters with stuff.



6. What time did you wake up this morning?
   
   About 7:15 after I finally finished hitting the snooze button.



7. Current hair?
   
   Right now it's in a ponytail.



8. What are you wearing?
   
   Pink corderoy jeans, pink tank top, white cotton shirt, sandals



9. Current Worry?
   
   How long will this contract last? How am I going to lose the rest of this weight? It's actually easier to name the things I don't worry about.



10. Current Love?
    
    Jason Mraz and Scott Foley



11. Current Hate?
    
    I make it a policy not to hate people. There are people that I intensely dislike, but that's not what the question asked.



12. Favorite Place To Be?
    
    In my own little world.



13. Favorite Ice Cream?
    
    Chubby Hubby



14. If you could play an instrument, what would you play?
    
    Piano



15. Favorite colors?
    
    Blue, red, silver, pink



16. How tall are you?
    
    5'2"



17. Favorite expression?
    
    Oh please! You're incorrigible. It's not all about you.



18. One person from your past you wish you could go back and talk to?
    
    Hmmm....maybe Ryan.



19. One person from your past you wish you could be with right now?
    
    Hmmmm....don't know about that one.



20. Favorite day(s)?
    
    Sundays and Wednesdays



21. Where would you like to go?
    
    Greece, Ireland, Spain, England (because now I am obsessed with the monarchy thanks to the Philippa Gregory books)



22. Where Do you want to live?
    
    I want to stay in the Seattle area. I'd like a house somewhere.



23. Favorite food?
    
    Hummus, Pizza Hut Pepperoni pizza, french fries, potatoes



24. Number from 1 - 100?
    
    4



25. Number of pillows you sleep with?
    
    7, plus two small ones



26. What do you wear when you go to sleep?
    
    nothing very interesting



27. Do you like crossword puzzles?
    
    I have to be in the right mood.



28. Who do you think of most?
    
    Hmmm....Aubry and Spence, my novel characters.



29. What do you think you'll be doing in 10 years?
    
    Still writing this novel.



30. Are you paranoid?
    
    Yes, to a small degree.



31. Do you prefer clubs or bars?
    
    Eh. At least in bars you can play pool or something.



32. First piercing/tattoo?
    
    I got my ears pierced when I was 12.



33. Who was your first love?
    
    Well that depends. Unrequited love? Ryan.



34. Last person you yelled at?
    
    I am not really a yeller. I suppose Mika.



35. Last crush?
    
    I cannot divulge that information.



36. Last thing you ate?
    
    I just had some chocolate.



37. If you could be a pirate, would you?
    
    Hm. Maybe.



38. Last time you had sex?
    
    It depends on what you qualify as "sex."



39. If you could be with anyone right now, who would it be?
    
    Keely!



40. When and why did you last vomit?
    
    The last time I drank too much wine.



41. What's in your pockets right now?
    
    Nothing.



42. Last thing that made you laugh?
    
    Jason Mraz concert



43. Nicknames your parents call you?
    
    Bock - short for Nicker Bocker



44. Favorite song right now?
    
    I have a lot of favorite songs...lately I've been hearing "Stay" by Lisa Loeb and am reminded how much I like that song.



45. Favorite childhood pet?
    
    Mmmm...Grey Kitty or Pudge



46. Any pets now?
    
    Mika



47. Others describe your butt as...?
    
    I have no idea. Keely once said it's flat.



48. What celebrity do you look like?
    
    They don't let people who look like me be celebrities. :)



49. Inny or an outty?
    
    Inny



50. Things you shout to stupid drivers?
    
    Nice signal light!



51. Favorite restaurant?
    
    Melting Pot.



52. Favorite fruit?
    
    Bananas



53. Black olives or green olives?
    
    Both are nasty



54. What kind of phone do you own?
    
    Samsung cell phone



55. Fave celebrity?
    
    Depends for what reasons.



56. Is your music kept in a particular order?
    
    Used to be by genre but it's pretty mixed up right now.



57. Name a person that you would like to say FUCK YOU to:
    
    I don't know...



58. If your skin could be any color of the rainbow, what would you choose?
    
    Pink like a flamingo. lol



59. Strangest drug experience?
    
    I can't say that I've had one.



60. Favorite weather?
    
    Spring and summer



61. Describe your fingernails.
    
    Bitten down to the nub and littered with caverns



62. Worst injury you've ever had?
    
    Never been too injured, knock on wood.



63. How do you take your coffee?
    
    Cold, effervescent, and in a can labeled Mountain Dew.



64. Favorite kind of tape?
    
    Duct tape because this is what I will need when I have the naughty boys that I am destined to have.



65. Favorite thing to write or draw with?
    
    My Sensa pen that I bought when I was hired for my first "big girl job."



66. Last movie you rented?
    
    I always have Netflix movies around...right now I have Wimbledon and Ray.



67. Last movie you went to see in the theaters?
    
    I think it was Star Wars.



68. Were you a thumb sucker?
    
    No.



69. How old are you?
    
    31.



70. What are your dreams like?
    
    I usually can't remember them.



71. Hallucinations?
    
    Nope.



72. Worst hotel you've ever been in?
    
    When my mom, my grandparents, my great uncle and I went to Mexico, we stayed in this motel in Nuevo Loredo and I saw my first roach...yuck.



73. Best vacation?
    
    Hmmm...Mexico was great because it was my first vacation without my mom as a chaperone. But Florida for the band trip was a lot of fun, too.



74. What languages can you speak?
    
    A little Spanish. A little ASL.



75. Favorite mode of transportation?
    
    Airplane.



76. Favorite place to swim?
    
    Hot tub.



77. Last porno you saw?
    
    Did you know that the public access channel shows porn once a week really late at night? I thought that was strange...



78. Last song you listened to?
    
    Whatever was on the radio as I pulled into the parking garage at work; I don't remember.



79. Favorite kitchen utensil?
    
    Kitchen shears.



80. What will you be doing tomorrow?
    
    Work, working out, hopefully something fun afterwards.



81. What is your dying wish?
    
    Oh I don't know...that's so dramatic!



82. One regret?
    
    I don't think so. To regret something is to wish it had happened differently and if it had then I wouldn't be who I am now and I am okay with who I am. For the most part.



83. Your stance on the war?
    
    I think it was a bad idea.



84. What is your favorite candy bar?
    
    Take 5.



85. Say hi to someone:
    
    Hi, ET. Are you ever going to reveal yourself?

Nikki on 07.12.05 @ 06:42 AM PST [link]

Fourth of July

Judy came over and we mosied over to Gasworks breifly. I wasn't aware that there are so many booths and food places set up. That's good to know. Afterwards, we returned to my place and packed up all my picnic paraphenalia and headed to Golden Gardens. Strangely enough, when we arrived, the temperature had dropped significantly and my shorts and halter top (thank goodness I managed to bring my sweatshirt jacket) were a bit scant. I had this great idea that we'd be able to see the fireworks from Myrtle Edwards Park from the beach. This ended up not being the case. However, Golden Gardens apparently is a "safe zone" to set off whatever kind of fireworks you can manage to purchase, so we had out own personal show. To the left of where we sat was this bunch of mostly young guys with backpacks loaded with the stuff. And, a large case of Budwiser. They were harmless and enjoying themselves. At one point one of their explosions came too close to the couple sitting to our right (the man who apparently thought it okay for half of his butt crack to be exposed at all times), so they moved their festivities behind and to the left of us. Later that night, two guys, who we thought were part of that party, were shooting these fireworks at each other and several of their missles came perilously close to hitting us. So, we started yelling at them. Well, apparently they were separate from the group of guys I mentioned earlier and this is whom we began to yell at. So then, they explained, in a really jovial way considering how drunk they must have been, that it wasn't them but they were sorry anyway. And then, Matt (The Cute One as we called him, although not to his face) continued to come over and beseech us to light some fireworks with him because he didn't think that we were having any fun. I am not sure which of us he was flirting more with. I think he flirted more directly with Judy, actually, but he was nearly sitting on my lap while he did it...So, I don't know. Eventually, we succumbed to his cuteness and lit off some stuff and then dragged out blanket over to theirs. They were from California, on some road trip up the coast. I can't even imagine how much money they spent on the arsenol they had piled between the five of them. There was one chick with them, obviously the girlfriend to one of them, who really didn't appear to be enjoying herself. It's funny, once we moved over to their space, they paid less attention to us. I don't know what that was about, but it was kinda fun anyway. When we left finally, they didn't even realize that we were gone.

So I am back to work today. The commute was not bad at all. I think it only took about 25 minutes to get here, which is comparable to what I had before. I even managed to take the correct exit from I90.

Dance class was short last night as the teacher was caught in traffic, so we only had about 30 minutes. We focused mainly on the foxtrot...we learned how to turn in the step, which was good since my partner and I were tired of hitting the wall all the time. He still hasn't mastered the art of leading, so we didn't do well in that department. Maybe if I wouldn't try and lead... My question is, when are going to get to the dipping part? And the twirling? Those things I like! :)

Nikki on 07.06.05 @ 12:08 PM PST [link]

Books Galore

I have been scouring the Half Price Books stores on the Eastside for any of the Philippa Gregory books, to no avail; I purchased The Queen's Fool, which I am more than half-way finished with, at Barnes and Noble at full price. It's not a travesty, but if I can get a book for cheap, then I am happy. Anyway, I was out and about this morning and near the shop over on Ravenna so I went in and thankfully, the next book in the series, which isn't out in paperback even until October, was the only Gregory book on the shelf, The Virgin's Lover. I snatched it up quickly. The first book of hers that I read, The Other Boleyn Sister is about Henry the VIII/Ann Boleyn told through the eyes of Ann's sister, Mary. The current book that I am reading is about Queen Mary/Elizabeth told through the eyes of a young Jewish girl serving as their fool. The book I purchased today is about the reign of Queen Elizabeth told through Amy Dudley, wife of the queen's lover, Robert. They're thick books - nearly 500 pages, but fast reads because they're so interesting. At least I think. The lack of copies on the Half Price Books shelves makes me wonder if they're very popular and no one wants to part with them or very unpopular and no one is purchasing regular copies that eventually trickle to the used book stores...But they are generally on the best seller's lists, so I don't know. In any case, I enjoy them and I am well on my way to fulfilling July's requisite two books for the month.

While I perused the store today, I was once again overcome with how many books there are in the world to read, and how little time there is. SO MANY BOOKS I HAVEN'T READ! Argh. And here I am trying to write one to add to it all.

Well, it appears this morning that sometime between midnightish last night at 10:30 this morning, they finally turned off my work e-mail account. Dang it.

Here it is a beautiful day out and I am thinking about cleaning the house...

I injured/reinjured my quad muscle yesterday at softball practice. I don't know what happened. The first couple days last week both legs really hurt. Then of course it wore off as the week progressed and I worked out without pain. Yesterday, the left leg muscle was a wee bit tender, but that's it. But then, the first time I tried to run...a lot of pain. I took a bath last night. Rubbed on Sports Creme. Today it's still sore. I will probably work out in some fashion today. Maybe I should have warmed up and stretched before practicing yesterday...



Nikki on 07.03.05 @ 08:41 AM PST [link]