Thursday, January 26, 2006

yeah, it's been a week

and I have some things I want to write about, but I've been busy as well as lazy. I know those things don't go together, but trust me, it's happening.

Here's this week's entry for Photo Friday, the challenge is vanity.
If you think this beauty is bewitching from a distance, take a closer look at this dazzling make-up job. Oh, if only we could read the name tag.

Thursday, January 19, 2006

Wednesday, January 18, 2006

dance, cat, dance!

look, I've trained my cat in the art classical ballet.

Tuesday, January 17, 2006

rainbow bridge

We had Zach cremated and last Friday I finally picked up his remains. They had been sitting at the vet's office since last Tuesday, but I lacked the desire to drive over there for a whole week. Frankly, I kept putting it off because I didn't know what to do when I got to the office. I wasn't sure if I was supposed to stroll up to the counter and say "Hi! I'm here to get the ashes that used to be my cat!" or maybe I was supposed to walk in there with a super sad look on my face and they would remember me and just slide the remains on over. At any rate, neither of these options seemed very appealing to me, so I just put it off until Friday morning.

I imagined the whole transaction as I drove to the vet's office and was quite proud of myself when I realized that the term "remains" was much classier than "ashes." I was not proud of myself when I pulled into a metered spot in front of the office and remembered that I didn't have any change.

The office was more crowded than I had ever seen it before and when it was finally my turn I didn't want to say what I was there for in more than a whisper, I thought it would upset the other people there. This, of course, resulted in a very loud "WHAT?" from the surly lady (who I never liked) behind the desk. So I belted out a hearty "I'd like to pick up the remains of my pet" and I could hear people in the waiting room behind me clicking their tongues and sighing "aaawwwww." It was kind of humiliating and I decided at that point that I would avoid eye contact with everyone. The whole transaction took about 20 minutes and it was annoying. They finally handed me a small cedar box with some papers attached to the top with a rubber band and a small gold lock with keys to keep the box shut. My frustration with how long I was standing at the counter disappeared when I saw the card on the box which read "in loving memory of Zachary." It hit me pretty hard, I realized that he was all gone and in this tiny little box. I collected my things and left.

Greg and I carpooled on Friday so I didn't have time to go home and drop the box off. Driving to work with cat remains in the back seat is bizarre. What's even more odd was that I felt weird leaving Zach's remains in the car while I was in the office all day, so I kept the box on my desk at work. Who says you can't bring your pet to work? I didn't open the box to look at the actual ashes until I got home, but I did look through the papers that were attached by the rubber band. One of the papers in the bunch was something that looked a lot like a prayer card, it had a picture of a rainbow and it said:

Rainbow Bridge
Just this side of heaven lies the Rainbow Bridge.

When a beloved pet dies, it goes to the Rainbow Bridge. It makes friends with other animals and frolics over rolling hills and peaceful, lush meadows of green.

Our pets do not thirst or hunger. The old and sick are made young once more; the maimed and the ill become healed and strong. They are as healthy and playful as we remember them in days gone by.

Though happy and content, they still miss someone very special, someone they had to leave behind.

Together, the animals chase and play, but the day comes when a pet will suddenly stop and look into the distance... bright eyes intent, eager body quivering. Suddenly recognizing you, your pet bounds quickly across the green fields and into your embrace. You celebrate in joyous reunion. You will never again separate. Happy tears and kisses are warm and plenty; your hands caress the face you missed. You look once more into the loving eyes of your pet and know you never really parted. You realize that though out of sight, your love had been remembered.

And now, you cross the Rainbow Bridge together...


Now I'm not too hip with this Rainbow Bridge concept and I laughed a lot as I read about it. I'm not getting down on those people who think this is a touching sentiment, but I will tell you that I'm not one of those people. Neither is Alex, who had a lot of questions. Questions like: Why do they never have to get thirsty or hungry, why can't they just have an unlimited supply of food and water? Would a crazy cat lady get mauled by her hundred cats when arriving at the Rainbow Bridge? What if you go to Hell, does that mean your pets are forced to go there with you? What if your pet had multiple owners, does he just trot off with the owner who dies first? But I think what upset Alex the most was the idea that pets are forced to wait in limbo for their owners to kick it. He thinks it's really unfair, and if it's all true, he's convinced that Zach is going to be pissed when one of us finally shows up.

Wednesday, January 11, 2006

hit me with your Jesus stick?

Over the holiday break (yes, I know I'm not officially in school, but my job gave me a week and a half of free vacation) Alex and I went DVD crazy and watched the entire first season of Lost... in 3 days. After watching the first 24 episodes we realized that we could potentially catch up with the second season, you know, so we could watch the show like normal people. I frantically consulted with TiVo to see if he could score any season 2 for me, but he told me all he could get was a new episode on January 11. I was like "dude, it's January 1, you know I can't go that long without." Then TiVo shrugged his shoulders and offered me an episode of 24, so I cheated on him with iTunes. I bought what I could of the second season of Lost and then Alex and I were safe again. We hunkered down with the laptop and watched the remaining 9 episodes and were prepared to join the rest of the viewing flock tonight's new episode.

I have to admit that I felt a little let down. There's something sad about having 33 episodes at your fingertips and then being forced to sit down and watch only one at a time. Luckily, tonight's episode didn't leave me on the edge of my seat, so I don't have to worry about the DTs while waiting a whole week to see a new one. On the plus side, I can now have a civil conversation with my coworkers at lunch tomorrow instead of resorting to "LA LA LA LA I'M NOT LISTENING TO THIS LA LA LA LA LA" while character analyses are being knocked around and plot lines are revealed.

Tuesday, January 10, 2006

back to school

For the past 10 years Alex and I have traded off taking night classes or being full time students. Neither one of us has been a student of any kind since May, and now I've cracked, I can't go on without some education going on around here. I walked five blocks over to Laney College tonight and got the last seat in a basic photography class, where I'll finally learn how to use my camera correctly. I may regret this decision to take a class that meets on Sundays at 9 a.m., but I'm pretty jazzed about having access to a darkroom and a reason to use real film... all for a mere 54 bucks. Hooray for Community College.

Friday, January 06, 2006

photo friday - panorama


The view from my apartment at sunrise.

I'm pretty sure posting a photo this large is going to mess up the sidebar here, but I have no idea how to fix the code for that. This photo looks pretty lame if I post it any smaller, so sidebar be gone. Or I guess if you use Mozilla the sidebar just breaks the photo right in the middle. See why you shouldn't try to get all fancy if you don't understand the code?

update 1/19 - I'm tired of my missing sidebar and I'm also kind of tired of this photo, so now it's small.

Wednesday, January 04, 2006

favorite lyrics of the day (vol. 5)

from Honky Tonk Badonkadonk, Adkins Trace
Now Honey, you can't blame her
For what her mama gave her
You ain't gotta hate her
For workin' that money-maker
Band shuts down at two
But we're hangin' out till three
We hate to see her go
But love to watch her leave
With that honky tonk badonkadonk
Keepin' perfect rhythm
Make ya wanna swing along
Got it goin' on
Like Donkey Kong
And whoo-wee
Shut my mouth, slap your grandma
There outta be a law
Get the Sheriff on the phone
Lord have mercy, how's she even get them britches on
With that honky tonk badonkadonk

I was browsing through the list of top 100 songs purchased on iTunes the other day and this little ditty caught my eye. It was the title that did it for me, because I'm not a big (or even small) fan of country music. But I do have to give them credit for simple lyrics and catchy melodies; if you hear a country song once, chances are you'll be able to sing along the second the time you hear it... if that should ever happen.

The lyrics in this song are top notch, c'mon, Donkey Kong? And if you know me at all, you understand my fondness of the term badonkadonk. The fact that it was able to make the crossover from hip hop to country music just proves that badonkadonk has some serious potential to be the next annoying word, like bling.

Oh, who am I kidding, I could never be annoyed with bandonkadonk.

Tuesday, January 03, 2006

photo friday - best of 2005

I spaced out last Thursday night forgot all about Photo Friday. Probably because I was too busy watching Jesus Is Magic while eating pizza and drinking beer at the Parkway. I didn't make it into the top 10 entries, or even the top 100, but I did post on Friday, so I'm somewhere in the 200 zone for this challenge which already has over 600 entries.

I'm not absolutely sure if this is my best photo of 2005, but I loved it when I took it and it was the first picture that came to mind, so it became the chosen one.
Charles River (photo friday - best of 2005)
oh, and Happy New Year.