As Miss Zoot said earlier today, “I may be a bleeding heart liberal - but I’m also quite patriotic.” (I really hope I’m quoting from another blogger correctly, I’m still pretty new to this, and I don’t want to offend peeps…I’m attributing enough credit, right? I also left a comment on her post about quoting her?)

Sometimes I just have to laugh at myself, because I am such a liberal. I often get very jaded and sarcastic about our country: the new spying laws, gun control bills, racial profiling, waterboarding, etc…But really? It’s a great place to live. Especially now that there are only 199 days left of Bush Rule (under the 200 mark! SWEET!)

JS and I spent a lovely afternoon at Del Mar Beach (thanks, Google Images!). It was an odd day, weather wise. Not overcast, per se, but foggy. Very foggy. Yet still nice and warm. Later in the day, the fog burnt off, but it gave the beach a mysterious and hidden quality to it (even though it was jam packed with people). Normally, my IA self doesn’t like to be near so many people, but today, it was totally fine. I’m sure a lot of it has to do with the recent No Alcohol on Beaches rule, but everyone was just there to have a good time. There were tons of families - including, of course, dozens of babies in cute diaper ruffle swim suites and sailor hats. I think it also helps that Del Mar is more of a “yuppie” or “country club” sort of atmosphere. All the people who want to get drunk and rowdy tend to head to PB (don’t let the website fool ya, PB is a very, very scary place).

ANYWAY, the point of this post was to give you more videos! Which, apparently WordPress does not want me to share with you because the code keeps getting jacked up and messing up the blog. It’s too late to keep going at it, so I quit. Sorry to leave you videoless. You can see them on YouTube.

PS, It’s not too late to enter in my amazing BlogHer giveaway! Simply leave a comment on this post before midnight tonight to win!

I actually meant “sometime before the new car smell wears off.” I wasn’t lying to you, InterWebs, I promise. Why you gotta be like that? You’ll get the car pictures.

Right now, though, you get to listen to me whine about oozing, itchy eyes. LUCKY YOU! The worst part of pink eye, other than the obvious discomfort (and OH MY GOD, I don’t remember it being this miserable as a child), is the feeling that you’re a nasty, unhygienic who wipes her nose on the back of her hand and then rubs her eyes.

Well, I am not that person. Sure, I may skimp on the hair washing now and then, but I’m clean! I don’t smell! I wash my hands compulsively! So, I have decided to blame this disease on the dog. She has no scruples when it comes to what she licks. It must be her fault. It’s a good thing she’s cute, otherwise this might be the end of our friendship.

You’d think Tonks would feel a little guilty, perhaps, for giving her Mistress such a terrible affliction. Well, you’d be wrong. Tonks is nothing short of ecstatic that I am home to play with her all day. She doesn’t seem to mind that I have a shit load of work waiting for me at the office. (Then again, since I just discovered Discovery Health Chanel, I don’t mind nearly as much as I should…that shit’s addictive.)

In other health related news, I’ve been researching popular OBGYN’s in the area…finding a doctor is NOT easy. I mean, it’s easy to find ones on the insurance plan and what not, but finding one who doesn’t make you cry, or who won’t be blase about worrisome symptoms is an entirely different matter. It’s not that I disliked my old Woman Doctor, it’s just that I didn’t love him…nor his office staff. When I had bleeding after the positive HPT, they were dismissive. Same with the cramps that followed. When I did eventually miscarry, the doctor returned my call with a “I’m not surprised.” WELL THANK YOU VERY MUCH. They then told me to take Motrin for the pain. I finally got some codeine out of them, and they didn’t seem too concerned when I developed a reaction to it. I had to ask them TWICE to add it to my chart.

So, I went on a hunt. I looked up doctor ratings on various sites. I called one place, but the lady who answered the phone was snotty…it may not be indicative of the entire office, but still, not the first impression I was going for. She also didn’t understand what it is I was looking for in the appointment (are the words “pre-pregnancy consultation” THAT difficult? She put me down for a pap instead. NOT THE SAME THING.) Then I found a doctor who was listed in San Diego’s top 100 doctors. Funnily enough, the long waiting list only made me more sure that I want to see this particular doctor. So, there ya go. I’ll maybe meet my new Woman Doctor sometime in September. Hopefully he won’t be an ass and his staff won’t be incompetent.

Since this has essentially turned into a WonderSpot Health Report, I am also THRILLED to let you know that I am completely off of my Lexapro! It took much longer than I expected, especially the last drop off (once I starting cutting the pills into eighths, it just got a little ridiculous). I went through a minor withdrawal period, but nothing so bad as what I’ve experienced before. I feel fine, AND I think I’m already starting to shed a little of the 15-20 pounds I gained from being on it. I’m being very conscientious about monitoring for returning depression symptoms, and taking steps now to prevent them (bah! another reason for doctors to push exercise: it combats depression…jerks). I’m really looking forward to this summer being a time to return to good health WITHOUT chemical assistance.

Technorati Tags: Health, Pregnancy, Miscarriage, Depression

Hi there! Long time no see! How’s it all hanging, InterNets? I hope you’ll all forgive my updating respite of the last 2 weeks. Allow me to welcome you back by using one of my favorite blogging techniques: bullets! (Wait! Don’t go! Tomorrow I’ll do a photo essay, promise!)

• The past 2 weeks I’ve been working on a really big production for my company. So far it’s involved interviewing nearly 60 members of leadership over 6 days, to be edited into a 20-25 minute piece. It’s the first project I’ve taken-on on my own, and it’s been incredibly challenging (to say the least). I hired one of our faculty to direct, and got a very small crew from LA. I made a few amateur mistakes, and paid through the nose for them. The crew was overworked, and we were rarely on schedule. And with most of the people we were interviewing? They didn’t have the patience to wait around while we reset the camera for a more creative angle.
• Because of all of that, on the second to last day of filming, I burst into tears in my boss’s office (away from the crew, I at least have SOME decorum). I was exhausted from 10-11 hour days, some without breaking for lunch, and having the director ignore me and my attempts to keep things on schedule. Even though I knew better, I took it all very personally and felt that it was because he didn’t respect me…maybe true, maybe not, but I felt like a schmo for losing it like that, even though my boss, of course, did not care at all.
• I’m now on book 7 of my consecutive read through of Harry Potter. It’s hard to savor it when I just want to devour all of the words.
• Tonks got bit on the eye by a mosquito or spider last night and JS and I watched her obsessively for an hour, debating whether or not it warranted a trip to the Puppy Hospital. I settled for giving her a tiny bit of Benadryl and snuggling with her on the couch while we finished Season 2 of The West Wing.
• I’m going to LA tomorrow to see John! and to meet with an editor for the above project. It’ll be so nice to see him again; it feels like it’s been years.
• I got a letter from the California Victim’s Compensation Program, and I may actually get a large portion of my crime related expenses back. It’d been so long since I applied for it that I wrote it off as a lost cause, but now it looks like it could happen! Not for a few months, I’m sure, but it was such a nice thing to have happen. I know it’s silly, but it also makes me feel good in a “they really DO believe me” sorta way, which is lame, I know, but not uncommon for this sort of situation.
• What else? Oh, yeah! We got a new car! Actually, JS did the actual buying of, but I helped! We got an Infiniti EX35 and it’s very lovely. To help offset the extra cost, we’re checking out cheaper neighborhoods to live in…which is something we’ve been looking at anyway, what with all this gibber jabber of having kids and what not. Then again, moving is a long, annoying process so it may not happen this year.
• After buying the car, we went and got a late lunch, and 30 minutes after, I thought I was going to die from eating the hamburger (and not a fast food one, either). It’s the second time in 2 weeks that it’s happened, and a month or so ago I had stomach pains after eating a steak, so I think I’m no longer eating beef. Drastic, perhaps, but dude? If you’d felt it, you’d do the same thing…if not vow to never eat again.

And that is all there is to report at the moment. I’ll take some actual pictures of the car tomorrow, and perhaps throw some gratuitous shots of Tonks in for the hell of it. I’m still recovering from the Hamburger of Death, so I don’t have tons of energy to hunt down my camera and then upload the pictures.

Technorati Tags: Life, Consumerism, Health, Work

So I told y’all about the outline I’ve done. It just so happens that I still like my story idea. This doesn’t happen often, so keep your bits crossed for me. My plan is to start writing the book on the 21st, because that’s when I’m done with the “hard” part of this huge production project I’m working on.

Speaking of. I have this project. It’s huge. Yesterday I felt like that Weird Al song, where he talks about wanting to eat glass and jump naked into nails, or something, instead of spending another moment with someone….substitute “working on this project” for “with someone” and yeah….that about covers it. Today went much better. And when we start filming tomorrow, it’ll be even more betterer. So I may just live.

Plus, it’s sorta cool, because this is the first big project I’ve managed (mostly) on my own, and it seems to be working (cut to WonderSpot: knocking EVERY piece of wood available to her (no, not a euphemism)). So it feels good. It also helps to feel good about something because I did not get into my Oh So Cool Writer’s Conference that I’ve been dreaming about for months. Which is sad, but not terribly surprising. There weren’t tons of spots open, and there were tons of people who applied. Still, it stings a big.

You know what helps with the sting? (Other than booze, JOHN. (Kidding, booze helps tremendously.)) Booking a 10 day vacation to Maui. Yes, yes I did. I just got off Expedia (dot coooooooooooooom) and everything. And I’m not staying in one of those “No-tell Motel”s that simply throws some Hawaiian flowers on the wall to distract you from the mold on the ceiling. No sir, ma’am.

I booked at the Westin Resort.

I know I’m being a bitch right now, and I’m sorry, but I can’t help it. I’m so excited. And let me throw a bit of rationalization out here for ya: JS and I are insanely stressed. We’re both working crazy jobs - he’s taken on a temporary role he never wanted to help out some colleagues and friends, and I’m working a position that doesn’t technically exist yet and thus doesn’t pay me appropriately yet. Couple that with the personal traumas of the past few months and…we need a break. We need to get away someplace where we can just laze around, drinking Mai Tai’s for breakfast (OK fine, that’ll just be me) and worrying only about which SPF we remembered to bring down from the room.

If I could take y’all with me, I would. Well, maybe. Not to the same hotel, perhaps, but we could share the island OK, I’m sure. I know you could all use a tropical get away, too.

Now to either lose 20 pounds, or find a cute 1 piece that slims and adds cleavage (and by “adds,” I mean “creates from nothing.”) Any suggestions? You have 6 weeks. Aaaaaand. GO!

(I haven’t told him yet, but I’m going to ask John to guest blog for me while I’m gone. He has some great LA stories for y’all. Make him tell you about cleaning the oven…)

And in a totally unrelated note, my mother and I have been emailing over the past few days, and it’s been normal. Chatty. Sweet. No talk about me single handedly destroying our family and the Christian faith. And I’m very, very happy about this. I hope it continues, but I’m also trying not to read too much into it. She’s still angry and hurt, I’m sure (over what? yeah, that’s still the million dollar question), and I know healing isn’t instantaneous, but I think this is a good sign.

Technorati Tags: Life, Random, HAWAII, Vacation, Family, Work

I survived my weekend in Sacramento, just barely. Workwise, actually, the weekend went remarkably well. It was one of our University’s Commencement Exercises, and I go up each year to help out. I dress the VIP’s in their robes, and greet the keynote speaker, etc…Mostly, for the Commencement in Sacramento, there’s a lot of eating, and a lot of drinking. I learned my first year to be careful with the drinking, because man does it ever suck ass to wake up at 6AM with a raging hangover and only 4 hours of sleep. My two tricks are: drink VERY slowly, so no one thinks you have an empty glass and thus feels obligated to buy you another drink, or: act drunk even when you’re not so they leave you the hell alone (the only problem with this trick is that you have to live with the teasing of getting plowed at a work function).

This year a bunch of us decided to go see Sex and the City after the Saturday dinner, which excluded us from the boozing all together. Much, much easier. I have to confess, I never really watched the show. I’ve never had HBO, and whenever it’s on TBS now, I’ll watch it only if there’s nothing better on…but it just doesn’t grab me. Sorry, devotees! Any-hoodle, my take on the movie was that it was entertaining, but stayed in the depression/conflict stage for entirely too long. I also wish that Charlotte had been given more of a story line. I really like her.

After the movie, around 1:15AM, the girls and I went outside to wait for a cab to take us back to the hotel, and we noticed a stream of cop cars pulling up around the corner. So we peered through the trees, and there was some massively huge street fight going on. Punches, knives, cops shoving people’s faces into the street. Uh, yeah. It was terrifying. I kept waiting to hear gun shots, and tried to casually stand behind solid objects to deflect any stray bullets.

Luckily, none of us died, or ended up in some police round up. We still have no idea what started the whole thing, though. All I know is, I’ll forever be grateful for the cabbie who let 5 women into his car while he waited at a green light with cars honking all around him.

And that was my weekend. It was great to get home again, see the puppy (she’ll be a year in August!!! *sniff*), and sleep in my own bed again. Also, to shower. Is it just me, or do airplanes always smell like feet and farts? I swear to God I’d know that smell anywhere.

Now I’m trying to buckle down and really hammer out my thesis novel (yeah, I’ve gone back to the idea of a novel, not short stories). I’m outlining it now, which was my saving grace when writing my screenplay a year or so ago. Whenever I got writers block, I just looked down at my detailed outline and knew exactly what to write next. Here’s hoping the same trick works again.

Technorati Tags: Writing, Life, Work, Sex and the City