i was born in a goldmine, you were born by the sea

at the request of a dear friend, i recently attempted to read twilight. after getting 300 pages in, i gave up. i suppose i'm not much for romance-y books. i'm more into crime, mystery and children fighting each other to the death. i'm currently working on reading 'the age of wonder.' it's extremely intriguing so far. it's one of those books that i wish i could small wonder. (small wonder: (v) to flip a book in front of your eyes and read the entire thing).

friday night orin and i had a nerd evening. i appreciate people who are willing to go along with my nerdventures. we were on our way to the science center to learn about the night sky and i was telling him that the only thing that i love as much as outer space is dinosaurs. anyway, we get to the museum and it turns out that it is... i kid you not... DINOSAUR NIGHT. the presentation was half about outer space and the other half about dinosaurs. it was a dream come true. after the presentation was over we met with the astronomical society.

those people were characters, to say the least.

there was a man who looked like doc brown and was showing me star charts from the 70s. and the indian man who smelled like expensive cologne. and the young guy who sounded like he was from west virginia and was very excited to be there. all interesting people. seeing them was almost as awesome as getting to use the telescopes. we were lucky enough to see venus, jupiter with her moons, a couple stars and a nice close up of the moon.

saturday i went to c-ville with some of the ladies and we picked apples. i must tell you that apple picking is far more enjoyable than strawberry picking. apple picking involves less physical labor, hunting and sweat. also, the apple place sells things like apple cider donuts, apple salsa and offers hay rides. it was a lovely day and i would go apple picking again. i probably won't ever pick strawberries again. unless they are free after i pick them.

so i was getting a facial today and i was telling the esthetician that i'm having issues with jawline acne right now and she responds, 'are you stressed?' i laughed.

i think if you had ten people and you asked them if they were stressed 8 of them would say yes. 1 would just start crying. and the last would be so far gone that she wouldn't even realize where she is. basically, what i'm saying is 'of course i'm stressed! everyone is!'

it also reminded me of an episode of 30 rock when liz's coworkers had done something especially ridiculous and she yells 'you're the reason for my jawline acne!' don't think that yelling that hasn't crossed my mind on several occasions. actually, in all reality my coworkers are pretty amazing. and they only drive me crazy a relatively small portion of my life compared to either (a) corporate or (b) party hosts.

speaking of coworkers, one of mine is growing a beard for me. last week i was telling him that i love when it's playoffs b/c he grows a beard and he looks really good in a beard. so today he walks in with what looks like 3 or 4 days of growth and says 'i'm growing this for you.' i cause hair to grow on men's faces. or at least a man's face. but hey, it's a start.

a real class act

caitlin and i had a fun outing this evening. i saw online that the virginia museum of fine art was open today until 9 pm and had a jazz band and since it was all free i decided i was going to go. and caitlin was more than happy to come with me.

i must tell you, there's nothing like knowing the name of painting or recognizing a painter by style to make me feel like a genius. being in art museums generally make me feel like i'm the smartest person alive by 1. being there and 2. having some knowledge of art works.

after we had toured the museum a bit we made our way to the cafe. we sat on the outside patio and i enjoyed a dinner of cheese and fruit while listening to the jazz band play. the weather was perfect and it was a wonderful, rich moment... being there.

i wish there were more evenings like that.

next friday the richmond astronomical society has their sky watch at the science center. they set up their telescopes for the public to use for free. i'm. totally. there.

oh, npr

so when i heard this on npr tonight i was a little heated. the first muslim college has opened in the us, which i think is awesome! i think it's a great idea to be able receive an education against the backdrop of your faith. what upset me was a quote from a student... saying that the reason she decided to go there was so that she could be with people who looked like her, thought like her, had the same experiences as her and so on. it just seems foolish to intentionally surround yourself with people who won't challenge you to think outside yourself.

i'm not overly worked up about, i mean it was a quote from, mostly likely, an 18 year old girl who still has lots of learning to do. and i'm certain that the majority of the students are attending for other reason entirely.

scurrrrrred

i believe this is a drawing of me. my paranoia about being stabbed at work or shot any time outside of work has reached an all time high. which is awesome. and by awesome i mean making me think i've become a crazy person. i blame the sudden surge of violent crimes that have hit close to home.

anyway tonight the front door was making pounding noises which led to dan telling me i should hide in the closet but there's no room in the closet and my axe is buried under 72 hours worth of supplies because i'm also paranoid about hurricanes making my life flood and there being no electricity for weeks. some times i really wish people just didn't tell me things because i have a ridiculous over active imagination and a crippling fear of everything. ugggh. i'm considering getting a baseball bat to keep under my bed. and i probably need to get a gun. and valium. mostly some valium.

i hate being afraid of everything.

comedy sportz closing?!?

i wish it was some sort of sick joke. but sadly it's not. comedy sportz sent out this link this evening. i watched the video of james' plea for help and i cried. comedy sportz has meant so much to me over the years. i first fell in love with comedy sportz when i was in high school when i played on my school's team. i even went to csz camp one summer. it was through comedy sportz that i came into my own. i learned to have a voice. i learned to believe in me. i learned i was good at something. i learned i was funny. comedy sportz camp taught me one of the greatest lessons i've learned in life... FAIL BIG. they always told is that it was better to fail big than to fail not trying. so if you're going down, take the risk, jump in with both feet and FAIL BIG. it's something i think about all the time, especially lately at this cross roads in my life.

they also taught me the difference between sexy and creepy. which, 10 years later, is something i still share with people. 10 years later and people are still laughing at that joke!

and then i think about all the shows i've attended at the theater on seward. the friends i've taken there. the birthdays, holidays and special occasions i've celebrated there. the time i broke my foot there! the laughs i've had. the times i've been feeling so down and miserable that i would just get in the car and drive to a show, knowing that comedy sportz would make it all ok. there are just so many memories and comedy sportz has been such a huge part of my life... i can't bear to think of it not being there. man, i'm crying again!

if you can, purchase some tickets. give them to friends in la. go see a show, you won't regret it. i promise.

in the mean time, comedy sportz and all the talented act-letes will be in my prayers. you're so much more than just a show in la. you've helped make me who i am.

incredible

story time. so, first important information to have: the roads in virginia are not lit like they are in other parts of the country. when you are driving through your neighborhood, around town or on the freeway the only light is from your headlights. why virginia thinks this is a good idea i will never know. i've always thought it was terrible because it means you can't go running at night... because we also don't have sidewalks here.

anyway, this evening i was driving down 288, which is a highway with two lanes going each direction. i see a disabled vehicle pulled off to the right with it's hazards on, and as i am in the lane closest to them i decide it would be a good idea to move over to the left lane. i check my mirror and see that another car is coming up pretty fast in that lane and decided not to move. then i got the impression that no, i really needed to change lanes and that person could slow down (i was going the speed limit after all).

just as i am changing lanes and passing the disabled car what should come into the view from my headlights? a person standing in the center of the lane i was just in. a moment goes like this: lane change, person, i'm gone. had to all occur in under 2 seconds. if i hadn't changed lanes i would have hit that person going 65 miles an hour because i didn't see them until i was right on them. i can't even imagine what that would have been like. i can't imagine the amount of awful terrible things that would be happening right now if i hadn't listened and changed lanes. and i can't imagine what the person could have been doing standing on the highway. how self involved, selfish and stupid can that person be? whatever was lost on the freeway was not worth risking their life and the lives of the other people on the highway. i understand that we all make mistakes, but standing on the freeway in the dark is a pretty stupid mistake.

at any rate what i wanted to say was that i am grateful for a Heavenly Father who prevented a tragedy this evening. i am grateful to have the Spirit as a companion. i am grateful that i listened.

back in the swing

i've started running again. and by running i mean mostly walking. taking a couple months off was a bad idea. at any rate i've done at least 2 miles each day for the last 3 days. in a couple weeks i want to head to the downtown trail for the 6 miler. hopefully it will stop raining for a few days so it's not all muddy but i'm antsy to get back on that trail. i love it so much. it's just the most beautiful run and it totally makes it worth it.

i've developed a phantom of the opera obsession lately. i've watched the movie twice this week. ha. the music is addictive!