Tuesday, August 26th PST
August 26, 2003

Weather Change




The weather is changing to autumn. You can almost smell fresh crayons in the air, indicating that school will start soon. I like the change. Last night I thought about putting the flannel sheets back on my bed but decided against it since we could still have plenty of warm days. Today it's even a little drizzly out. Great. Between the first rain that we've had in a long time and the home baseball game, traffic should be lovely. I think I will go work out after work!



Good news about work; it looks like my contract will be extended until at least April 1. Woohoo! I was already dreading the thought of unemployment or even of switching to a new group. That's seven more months of feeling a little more secure.



Nikki on 08.26.03 @ 11:16 AM PST [link]


Sunday, August 24th PST

A Note to Club Guys



A Note to Club Guys




Admittedly, I am not a frequenter of clubs, but I've been to enough to know some of the standard behavior. And, I realize that just because I don't fall into the "club girl" genre, there's a certain amount of that behavior that I have to endure when out in a club. For instance, I'm not all about bumping and grinding when dancing, but that's the way most dancing goes in a club, so I can deal with it for awhile if most of the other conditions are right. However, there is some behavior that I just can't and won't deal with. I don't think anyone should have to and I can't believe that anyone actually does. Last night, Keely and I went to the Last Supper Club, which is in Pioneer Square. It seemed like a good idea when she proposed the idea earlier in the evening, but once I got to the overly crowded basement dancefloor in my overtired state (we had been out very late the night before, I been up very early in the morning for a date, and then we'd been at the beach all afternoon and evening) I was cranky, not feeling attractive at all, and slightly overwhelmed and claustraphobiv by the amount of people on the dancefloor. About fifteen minutes before we were going to leave, this guy grabs me from behind and starts dancing, which was actually severe bumping and grinding. Well. Okay. I wasn't in the mood exactly, but I told myself that I should be happy someone wanted to dance with me.
Nikki on 08.24.03 @ 01:44 PM PST [more..]

Thursday, August 14th PST
August 14, 2003

Strange Day




So I woke up a little later than usual this morning. No biggie. So, I scurry around to collect my purse, my multitudes of badges, my Nalgene water bottle, and then my keys. Alas, the keys were no where. I checked all the usual places I toss them: the table, the computer desk, the buffet table, between the couch cushions, my bedroom, the kitchen counter. They were nowhere. So then I checked the door lock on the outside and the mailbox. Still nothing. I pulled out the hide-a-bed wondering if they slipped from my pocket and got jammed. Nothing. I looked in my clothes hamper thinking perhaps I'd put the keys on my shorts pocket when I got home from writing last night and when I threw the shorts in the hamper before bed, the keys fell out. Nothing. After about ten minutes, I find the keys in my opened workout bag in the livingroom. Either I tossed them and that's where they landed or a certain feline dragged them in there.



So finally I get out the door and as I walk up the block, I realize that one of the straps to my tank top is broken. (I had a tighter tank top underneath a looser one and the loose one broke). It must have snapped during my storm through the house. So, I went back into the house and changed into a t-shirt. I think God must have been delaying me for some reason!



I'm settled in the new cubicle. It's smaller and less enclosed. I guess it could be worse. I'll deal with it.



Oh, for you Theatre Sports fans, here's a link to a mockumentary they produced about some Xbox game or another. It's quite clever and my favorite actor is the star. http://www.ryantown.com/manbehindthemotion/



Nikki on 08.14.03 @ 12:36 PM PST [link]


Tuesday, August 12th PST
August 12, 2003

What? Two consecutive days??




I know, you're thinking that I must be insane or something. This is the first time in a long while that I've written two days in a row. Well, I have to keep my audience happy.



Last night I met up with Betsy at Zokas for a good, long writing session. I'm up to a whopping 22,000 words. It seems like I have written ten times more than that. At first I thought that a novel hovered around the 100,000 word mark, which was fairly discouraging, but then Betsy reminded me that the novel in a month thing is 50,000, which means I'm almost half-way there. That makes me feel like I am at least making headway. I focused last night on the sisters, which is challenging since I don't have a sister relationship to pull from. Sometimes when I write it feels like such drivel. But I push on, telling myself that I can go back and fix it later. Right now I must focus on getting the framework constructed. It's such a daunting task sometimes!



Mika is pretty much back to her old self now, one week after The Surgery. Last night she ripped and tore all through the house, chasing nothing, but something that must have really aggrevated her. I know she really wants the feather toy, but alas, that will have to wait another week. She is simply too high a jumper and I don't want to risk her tearing herself into two pieces. She insists upon jumping everywhere else, though, so I don't know what I am worried about.





Nikki on 08.12.03 @ 11:58 AM PST [link]


Monday, August 11th PST

It's Been Awhile...



It's Been Awhile...




I've received complaints lately that I haven't been keeping up on this. My sincere apologies.



I can't believe that it's August already. This has been a busy busy summer! I hope that the winter is as much fun and filled.



Friday night I met Dave and his wife, Stephanie, Kevin, and Erich at Big Time Pizza in Redmond. I haven't seen any of them in a long time, so it was very nice. Got caught up on the eternal, yet endearing, lab drama. I am so glad I don't work in there anymore! Afterwards, I went home and promptly fell asleep and slept through noon on Saturday. Didn't realize that I was so tired. Saturday I devoted myself to cleaning the apartment- one, because it needed it, two because people were coming over as a meeting point for later. But before that, I went to the ever exciting K-Mart on Aurora. Fun times. But after that, I found a cheap grocery store called Grocery Outlet, which is reminiscent of Aldi's in Wisconsin. It's not as robust, but it's sufficient for most things. Anyway, Suganthi, Joel, and Dan, and I went to the Fremont outdoor movie showing of Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. It was funny when the crowd clapped at certain parts, like when Charlie opens the chocolate bar and finds the golden ticket or when Verucia Salt drops down into the golden egg garbage pit. On Sunday, it rained of course, which was a nice change actually, but unfortunately, the church picnic was cancelled. Instead we had it on the stage, which was fun. Then last night I went to cell group.



That's it. That was the weekend. This week doesn't appear to be too busy yet...only thing on the calendar is the Uncapped meeting on Thursday. I've repacked my workout bag and stashed it in the car so I can get back into the habit of going right after work again. It's been too long since I went. Oh, and hopefully I'll work on the novel more now. Getting together with Betsy to write last week reminded me that I need to get cracking again. I am determined to finish writing this novel. I simply must or perish. I am too good at starting things and not finishing.




Nikki on 08.11.03 @ 11:05 AM PST [more..]