Head Games

Last night, I lost at pool again. Not by tons, but it doesn't really matter. Losing is losing. I'm not upset about it, though. It turns out that I was recruited for the team again this season not for my amazing technical skills (riiight.) but for my psychological coaching abilities. Jason (ranked at a 7) put himself up second and Noah's team played their highest ranked player (a 6). In case that doesn't mean anything to you, Jason had to make more shots to win than the other team's guy. Anyway, about half way through the match, they were tied, which actually meant Jason was behind. He holds himself to super high standards when he's playing pool and he gets mad at himself if he's not playing perfect...this does not help his game. So, I put on my nurse's uniform (just kidding), went over to him between racks and worked my magic. Needless to say, he won. Damn, I'm good. In related news, I'm getting much better at taking directions when I'm playing. I think we're on the back side of the learning curve.

Jiggy

So, we're in London and we're talking about what we want to do for dinner and the rest of the evening. I threw out an idea and Mom said it sounded good and then Dad says, with a big grin on his face, "I'm jiggy for it!" Oi. I looked at my dad, shook my head, did my best to look disgusted and said, "It's WITH, not FOR. Jiggy WITH it. Geez." He, of course, said, "Ohhh! Ok, I'm jiggy with it." and started laughing. By this time my mom was cracking up and I just lost it. For the rest of the trip, we all said we were jiggy for whatever.

Sometimes I pretend I'm not related to these people.

A Modest Proposal

In order to reduce overall stress levels, establish a healthier, more positive work environment and a more productive work force, I propose a new nationwide work scheduling system: mandatory two week paid vacation every other month. All in favor?

Yesterday, a resident brought 4 bottles of different wines to us here in the office. Can you say sweet? He said he'd bring more (he works for a distributor) before he moves to his new house. So, last night I cracked open the bottle of chardonnay I took home and tried not to think about work. I'm sure that by November, I'll be ready to go on vacation again. Either that or I'll be an official wino.

And Another Thing...

My friend Chris is coming back tomorrow from a year away in Australia. This makes me happy for multiple reasons, the top 3 of which are as follows:

3. My Playstation is starting to collect dust and it's just not fun playing Crash Bandicoot Team Racing by myself.

2. Chris is almost always up for a beer or three...or five. Sweet.

1. Chris and I have fantastic arguments about ridiculous crap. I love that.

While I Was Gone...

I bought two cds in London at a place called Fopp, an "independent entertainment retailer" which has a great selection of used cds, books and dvds as well as some new stuff. Both are 2 disc compilations (we all know I'm a mixed tape/cd addict). There are a few bands on the one I'm listening to today, called Strange and Beautiful (which I got for 5 pounds! Woo!), that I'd never heard before and absolutely love...specifically: Aqualung's "Strange and Beautiful," Dot Allison's "Colour me," The Flaming Lips' "Yoshimi Battles The Pink Robots Part 1," Feeder's "Just The Way I'm Feeling," and Virgin Souls' "Personality." The Flaming Lips song alone was worth it just for the lyrics. Evidently, Part 2 is just screaming. Nice.

TKO In The First Round

I got home last night from work around 6:30p and by 7, I was passed out. A phone call a few hours later from the friend I was supposed to hang out with woke me up. Needless to say, I didn't go out and went back to sleep until 6:30 this morning. So much for jumping right back into things, eh? I AM going out tonight, though. Fo' sho'.

Fun And Games

I missed Wednesday nights. Last night was great (except that I lost my pool match...but our team won anyway) and I'm ready to go out and do it again tonight. Woo!

Picture Pages, Picture Pages...

UK Trip - Sept 2004 Woo!

Flashback

I had a dream last night that I was making out with Christian Slater. You'd think that would be cool but it was weird. My sister kept barging in because we were still sharing a hotel room, but we weren't anywhere familiar. I think the dream had something to do with the fact that we saw him walking down the street pushing his kid in a stroller the first day we were in London. I found out he's there doing a show (Jack Nicholson's role in One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest) after we saw him on the street and then my dad went to see it and said it was great. The second day we were there, we went to Harrod's and my dad shook hands with Mohammed Al-Fayed, the owner (and father of Dodi Al-Fayed who died in the car crash with Princess Diana), who happened to be touring the store that day with the press following him around and a huge entourage.

Not that you asked.

Home.

Well, I'm back. While I'm sure I'll be writing bits and pieces of my travel adventures here, I'll be telling the whole story (probably repeatedly, so I apologize in advance for that) at the bar tonight and tomorrow night. I wasn't homesick while I was gone, but I definitely missed my friends. Hope to see everyone soon!

Catching My Breath

I'm in Dublin. Rock on. Details when I get back...

And So It Begins...

My parents were already at the airport when I checked in, so I went through the security check and they took my nail scissors and mini swiss army knife. Sucky. They let me keep the tweezers out of the swiss army knife and that's all I really cared about. When we got here, we were told it was too early to check in and to come back at 3pm. It was 11:30 am and all I wanted was a shower. The owner said the only reason we couldn't check in was because the rooms weren't cleaned yet, but if I wanted to take a shower, I could go ahead. I get up the three narrow, steep flights of stairs, lugging my gigantic suitcase, and find out that our shower has almost no water pressure. I felt like I was taking a shower in the sink. Nonetheless, beggars can't be choosers and I was just happy to be clean. It's as hot here today as it has been in Portland and that's just gross. I'm hoping against hope that it cools off the rest of the week.

After we got something to eat and changed out our money, my mom and I hopped on a bus and ended up in Soho, then over in Piccadilly Circus wandering around Carnaby St., and then over into Leicester Square and Trafalgar Square. Got some great pictures of the archetecture and planning to get more tomorrow. My sister gets here in about 1/2 hour, so I'm off to claim the big bed...ha ha!

Hasta La Vista, Baby.

The next post you read will be written from a cafe in London. Sweeeet. I'm at the bar tonight, so come down and drink and say bon voyage!

45 Hours, 25 Minutes, 7 Seconds And Counting...

I'm not excited to leave or anything.

Pajama night at the bar was fun stuff. Sitting at the 24hr Hotcake House at 1am in my pjs and a robe was....interesting. Some guy, who we're all pretty sure was a bonafide pimp, asked me, apparently because I had on purple, if I'd just come from the Prince concert...you know, because people always go to concerts in their jammies and robe. Things started to get loopy right around the time the food arrived. I still don't know what was so damn funny.

I'm excited to go, but I'll definitely miss here while I'm gone.

Get Me The Hell Out Of Here.

Got plenty of sleep but my mind is already in London and I'm feeling kinda peckish. I only have a few things to get wrapped up here before I leave so that's a good feeling. But my patience with things here is short and I think that's half a product of short-timers and half a product of being sick of everyone whining all the time. People make their own paths. If you've made decisions that have an outcome you don't like, do something to change your situation. Don't just bitch about it and expect everyone to sympathize. Frankly, I'm sick of being sympathetic to people who expect things to magically get better for them without changing their approach to life.

Ok, I'm done ranting. For now.