Soon to be Homeless

Well, maybe that's an exaggeration. I found out this weekend that I will need to move out of my lovely apartment by January. Which means that, since I refuse to move at Christmastime, that I would like to actually move by December so that everything is in place before I go back to WI for the holidays. So, that gives me a month. I have no idea whether or not to stay in Seattle or go back to the Eastside. There are pros and cons to both, although there are more pros to being on the Eastside, I think. But when I think about leaving Seattle...I feel sad. In a way, I feel like I grew up here. The past three years have been quite an odysey. So. I don't know what I am going to do. I am also considering buying a condo...but I don't know if I can set that up in a month and I don't want to be hasty and buy something crappy. I've become quite spoiled where I am and it's going to be hard to find something comparable, both in price and in looks. In an effort to emotionally disengage from it all, I've mentally begun compiling a list of the small things about the apartment that I don't like. Every place has these things, so none of it is all that bad.

• the cabinet door under the sink that pops open if any other sink cabinet door is opened
• the light over the couch that won't work
• only two windows that open
• no fireplace

I don't think that this list is really going to be that effective because there are too many things about the place that I really do love. Sigh.

So here it is Halloween and I am dressed up like a witch. I went all out: black dress, fishnet stockings, kneehigh boots, spiderweb gloves, long black wig, and of course the hat. Oh and some tattoos. The wig is kinda giving me a headache, but I will muster through. I am catching on to typing with gloves on.

I didn't go to the pumpkin patch this year...which means I didn't get my kiss in the pumpkin patch. Oh well. Dang rain.

Nikki on 10.31.05 @ 05:16 PM PST [link]

Cache

While at the movie Elizabethtown last night, staring into Orlando Bloom's lovely face, I decided to create a purse of celebrity men that I would like to collect. At first I thought it was only a few, but then I continued to remember more.

1. Scott Foley (Noel, from Felicity)
2. Zach Braff (from Garden State)
3. Orlando Bloom (from most contemporary movies that include sword fighting or weaponry of some sort)
4. Milo Ventimiglia (Jess, from Gilmore Girls)
5. Adam Sandler (I know you guys don't understand girls being enamored of him...but most girls I know are.)
6. Joseph Fiennes (Robert Dudley, from Elizabeth)

What can I say...I have a penchant for dark hair, dark eyed, brooding men (Well Adam really isn't brooding...it's his goofiness that is cute).

I think that there are more, but I can't remember them now.

Nikki on 10.26.05 @ 04:26 PM PST [link]

Family Ties

Sometimes when I am bored, I google my father's name to see if he has a Web presence yet. He never does. The only thing I know for near certain, that extends past the time my mom was with him, is that he has at least one other son, named after him who is barely a year younger than me. The guy worked fast. I have used every search term I can think of on every site that I can think of and still I come up with nothing...that is, free information. Sure, if I want to pay, I can get any amount of information. And generally, I really don't care enough to pay even a dollar. But I found this one site where I could pay $8 and get a list of addresses, both for him and his namesake. So I splurged and did it. It looks like he's still living in Rockford, although my brother (wow, that's kinda weird to think of that...I knew I had older sisters...) seems to live in MO. Today I was searching, although I don't plan on paying any more money, and it looks like, at one time, he lived both in Madison and Blue Mounds. What the heck? If Blue Mounds is where I think it is, we used to go there when I was a kid because there was a man-made lake with a beach, both those places are within an hour's drive. Of course, I don't know when he lived in Blue Mounds...but it's a tiny, I am pretty sure unincorporated town. We might have actually been in the town at the same time. That's a weird thought. I just can't believe none of these people have more of a Web presence than this!!

A friend cancelled on me for the movie tonight and I am annoyed...her excuse was lame. I have a feeling that there is an ulterior purpose that she doesn't want to divulge - probably that she has some kind of cult activity going on...or that she wants to stay home and watch Gilmore Girls. Argh. So then I invited another friend but she'd already seen it. Sigh. Just me tonight then.

Feeling much better today. Still kinda sniffly and watery eyes sometimes.

Addendum: Have found a movie partner.

Nikki on 10.25.05 @ 07:51 PM PST [link]

Out of My Mind

Yesterday was a bad day. Not only was I fighting a cold, my brain decided to pull one of its famous, albeit rare, Refuse to Work campaigns. I knew as soon as I was at the baby naming ceremony that it was going to be "one of those days" when I couldn't explain to someone what kind of content that I edit. When I experience one of these medicine induced episodes, the crazy thing is, I know what's going on. It's like when you hear of coma victims claiming that while they were unconcious, they heard everything you said to them. In my mind, as I am trying to verbally formulate a sentence and nothing makes sense, I can tell myself that it's one of "those" days. But can I fix it or stop it? Nope. Another weird thing is, I can e-mail and have internal dialogue just fine. But somewhere between my cerebrum and my mouth, there is a disconnect. It usually only lasts a day. But good grief is it aggravating. I feel so dumb!

This weekend was devoted to sleep.



Nikki on 10.24.05 @ 07:49 PM PST [link]

Competitive

I am a competitive person. Not really in the way many people are; I have never been into playing sports because I don't like letting people down. No, I am competitive in small, silent ways that I try and keep to myself. They're usually dumb things. Like, concerning the weight thing, I have three people that I must weigh less than. Now, these people know what I am up to, but there is no friendly competition going on really. This is just me being crazy and wanting to weigh the least. That's just one example. So anyway...when someone beats me to the punch on something, I get irritated. Remember, she/he doesn't realize that they've surpassed me because, again, he/she doesn't know that there's anything going on. But yesterday, someone did something that I had every intention of doing and now I can't do it because then it looks like an unoriginal idea and that I am doing it because he/she did it. Sigh. I cause myself to drink. Mt. Dew.

I've been getting to work early lately, which means I have been getting up around 7:00 am. That's early for me! It's nice because then I can leave at a decent time and it gives me time to scamper across the I90 bridge if I workout at the UDistrict YMCA, which actually has classes that I like. Tonight is Workout Like a Fiend night when I take both step and Latin aerobics.

Finished one of my books for the month. I think I can finish Harry Potter by the end of the weekend and then hopefully the advanced book of The Friendship Test so I can write the review. That would make three books for the month! Wahoo.



Nikki on 10.20.05 @ 05:26 PM PST [link]

The Devil Came Down to...Wallingford?

As I drove home one night last week, I noticed that the car ahead of me in the next lane on the 45th St. exit had the license plate "666"! The Devil either lives in my neighborhood or knows someone there. I don't know which is worse. The car was a black fancyish sedan with tinted windows. I didn't even get a peek at what the Devil looks like.

Work has been less than joyful lately. To make a long, rather dull story to anyone but me short, it ends up I was doing one of my tasks wrong. Well, at least I wasn't getting them done at the time they were supposed to be done. Of course, I thought I was doing it right and they let me go on that way for four months before anyone let me know...No one is really mad because I guess it wasn't just me - there were a lot of factors contributing to the lateness of the articles publishing. But still. I feel badly. But I think I've got everything caught up now...even ahead. Thus, the lack of blogging lately.

Lost another 1.5 pounds this last week.

Judy and I ate at PF Changs on Saturday night, as our monthly Try a New Restaurant campaign continues. It was pretty good, despite the fact we had to wait nearly one and a half hours to be seated. I would have been impressed with anything they brought me, I think. Next month I get to choose and I think I am going to choose this Morroccan place in Ballard. Never had that cuisine before. we "dressed cute" for the occasion and my sequin skirt scored many compliments. Now I just need more events to wear it to.

I think I am going to a pumpkin patch this week sometime, although I am not sure when. I love picking out pumpkins and I am not going to go into the sappy reasons why either. :) I'll spare you all that.

I feel like a reading machine lately. I read when I am on the bike working out. At home I am reading a different book. I received a review book from Harper Collins that I need to finish the review by November 1. It's chicklit, so I don't anticipate it being a difficult read...but still. One can only read so fast! I am almost finished with the gym book so maybe that will replace it.

Nikki on 10.18.05 @ 09:13 PM PST [link]

Don't Know What to Title This

It is definitely fall now.

I am in slighly better spirits than last week. Slightly being the operative word. A shopping excursion that resulted in some skirts helped. A three hour talk on the phone with Keely Sunday night helped.

Mika was really annoying me this morning. She was hungry and wouldn't leave me alone. I give her props for disguising her Feed Me Now tactics with Look How Cute and Snuggly I Am...but I know the difference. And at 7:30 A.M...I just don't want to deal with how much she wants to be petted. Even in my groggy state I know that as soon as I move to pet her she's going to run towards the food dish. I might as well just get up.

Kudos to me last night for eating salad when I could have had a myriad of bad things at the Jack in the Box.

So I was thinking about the novel the other day and I decided to cut half a scene earlier in the story. I hate to do that because I think it's strong...but I need it to be half of what it is in order to contrast with a scene later in the book. Sigh...I hate it when that happens.

It's only Wednesday...I keep thinking that it's Thursday because my Wednesday activity was shifted to yesterday...which is fine...but it mucks up my internal schedule. :)

Salad for lunch or no salad for lunch? I have carrot soup...salad just seems redundant.

Today's posting is so scattered and random.

Nikki on 10.12.05 @ 06:49 PM PST [link]

My Goal Bed

So I've been drooling over this bed for over a year. My friends continually ask when I am going to break down and get it and I always have an excuse: "When I get my income tax return." was the last one and I ended up not getting it. My new, hopefully not psuedo, goal is when I reach my goal weight. I really only need the head and foot pieces since I have a bed frame already. What I am afraid of is how to transport it. And, will it match up with my frame. At my rate, it will be awhile before I need to worry about it. :)


















Nikki on 10.07.05 @ 05:24 PM PST [link]

Latina

Traffic was the usual Thursday night suckage last night, so I didn't make it in time for step aerobics, so I decided to try "Lating Aerobics," which followed. It was interesting...There were only two of us besides the instructor. I thought that it would be more like the class that I went to at my regular gym: aerobics to Latin music with a salsa move thrown in every once in awhile. But no, this was a little more dancy; the theme was salsa. But it was fun. I sucked at it for the most part, but oh well. For the two hours at the gym, my spirits were lifted a bit.

But then I went home and plummeted again. Damn hormones. You know what, I am not going to blame it on hormones. A girl is entitled to a bad mood that inspires crying every once in awhile. For the most part, I like to think I am a happy enough person. I think that, usually, I am pretty adept at projecting happiness, even if someone has annoyed me or hurt my feelings even. But sometimes...well, you can't call it "happy" if there's nothing on the other side of the emotional spectrum, now can you?

So as I was weeping in my comfy bed last night, I thought, "What used to cheer me up?" And I remembered my flute. Mom says that she could usually tell what kind of mood I was in by what kind of song I played and how I played it. So, since no one was home upstairs to bother, I got the ole girl out. Then I tried to find a small screw driver since several of the notes wouldn't play and I know everything should be okay with it since it has brand new pads. I got them mostly to work, but not all the way, so I am going to have to have to take it in. I wonder how much that will cost me. But focusing on using a paring knife to turn the tiny screws in the flute stopped helped out and I was able to go about my business for the rest of the night, tear free.

ER was pretty good last night. I think they're going reunite Abbey and Luka. At first I thought, "Oh geez." But I think that would be okay. He definitely needs a decent woman...and she needs a good guy. I don't know where she stands on the whole marriage and family thing, though, and that's what has gone wrong with him and Sam...We shall see. And, are they bringing Gallant back?? I've watched enough tv over the years to know that they don't talk about past characters (unless they're dead, like Mark Green's name is still brought up once in awhile) unless they plan to bring them back. It would be great to have Gallant back. He was a good character.

Some might say I analyze tv shows too much.

Nikki on 10.07.05 @ 03:42 PM PST [link]

October Isn't That Great So Far

So somehow, and she has no idea how it happened, someone got a hold of my mom's credit card and has been charging up a storm. Her first clue was last week, someone claiming to be her credit card company said that someone had tried to make a purchase at a camera store but that it had been declined due to suspicion of fraud. He asked her for her social security number, which she wasn't comforable giving him, and he seemed fine with that and asked her instead the security question. He then put her on hold...for quite awhile and after about five minutes, she hung up. She then got her credit card and called the company back. They had no record of anything: not of a weird purchase, not of a call to her. Nothing. So this grated on her all weekend. On Monday, she got her credit card statement in the mail and she couldn't remember making a purchase that matched what was on the statement and the total she remembered it being wasn't vastly different. So she called the credit card company back and they still didn't know what she was talking about. This is about the time that she remembered that she has two credit cards from this company: Visa and Mastercard. The bill was one and the person on the line was from the other. So she went back to her purse to find that credit card...and it wasn't there. Of course. She found the number on the statement and called them and sure enough, there's over $500 of purchases on the card, one in Bremerton even. So they cancelled both her cards, just in case, and she won't be helf liable for thos charges, thank goodness. But neither of us can figure out how anyone got that card. She keeps them in a part of her purse completely separate from where she keeps her cash and debit card, so it's not like it accidentally slipped out when she was digging for something else. The purse is always with her and it's not like she goes out very often. It's a relatively new card, I guess, so it didn't get stolen out here last year (one of my theories was since there was a charge in Bremerton that maybe it got stolen out here and they sat on it all this time just waiting). She's only used it once, for a phone purchase. It couldn't be that someone came into the house and took it...because nothing else in her purse was gone. So it's all very creepy. I hope that they find whomever did it. Most likely they won't. We still don't know for sure if the call she received on Friday was a ligitimate call or not, though. Creepy!

Packers lost again on Monday night. I watched the first part at the gym and when I left it was tied 7-7. Then I went to a soccer game, because I thought that afterwards I was going to be going to watch the rest of the game at a sport bar. But no. Plans changed and I had to race home to watch the rest. What I missed wasn't good. The best part of the game was the last quarter, when the Packers managed to get within three points of tying. However, it wasn't meant to be and now we're 0-4. Pathetic.

I haven't been in the mood to write lately. I feel so...generic.

Nikki on 10.05.05 @ 08:00 AM PST [link]

Dueling Pianos

So Chopstix ended up being a pretty cool place! There were three pianists to rotated so that two were on stage while one rested his hands/voice. It's unbelievable the library of songs these guys knew! They played Friends in Low Places to Living on a Prayer to songs by Journey, Elton John, and even Baby Got Back. The battles were great; one player would start a request and then someone else from the audience would pay to have the song stopped and then the other player would play something else and then this was repeated until no one would pay anymore and one of the songs finally got to be finished. The vibe of the place was energetic and it's very interactive. While the place does serve alcohol, it really seemed secondary to just singing and having a good time. However, it's not really a place that a Christian bible study might want to consider since it got pretty raunchy at times. The "shot bitch," as they called the guy wandering around with jello and test tube shots for sale, did a rousing rendition of The Humpty Dance. I didn't think anyone knew the actual words to that song. It was pretty fun. I definitely want to return there. Soon! I kinda feel about it as I did the first time that I went to Theatre Sports...that I'd discovered some new culture that I couldn't believe I never knew existed before. :)

Tonight the Packers play...I'll only get to see the last quarter or so, but probably that's better. Have to witness less carnage that way.

Finally, it's October!

Lost a pound and a half last week...that's good. Of course I always hope for more. I would have been happier with five.

Sometimes I hate being female...not that I want to be male...sigh...too many surprise attacks...too many hormones.

I wonder how long I can put off buying my airplane ticket home before the prices start to be so high I have to rob a bank.

ET, aren't you impressed that I didn't end that statement with a question mark?

Nikki on 10.03.05 @ 11:04 AM PST [link]