Bad Day indeed!

It's 10:40pm and I'm in the LA airport. I should be in the air right now but my flight scheduled for 9:10 was delayed to 11:49pm. I forgot to mention that we've been here since 5:20pm-ish. It's been a long day. At this point we'll get in to Eugene at 2:30am. Which is better than the alternative: sleeping in the airport overnight. *knock on wood*

The good news is that I was able to work via wireless from a sports bar at the terminal. So at least the entire day wasn't wasted!

In other news, I have two inflamed zits forming on my face. Yesss! I just heard that song "Bad Day" and thought of Faythe.

Blue Brick Wall

I was surprised when I opened my package and saw this yarn. It's quite a bit different than the photo on the site, what with the purple and brown tones. I even considered returning the yarn but Tina at BMFA talked me out of it when she told me the inspiration behind Blue Brick Wall.

Apparently she used to travel to India a lot where she saw a magnificent blue brick wall in Madras. That wall became the inspiration behind this colorway. Once it had a story, I had to keep it. And so far I'm not disappointed as to how it looks with this linen stitch. I think BMFA would sell more yarn if they told their inspiration behind the different colors. I'm a sucker for marketing and I'm pretty sure others are too.

More evidence that Faythe is crazier than I am

Have you read Faythe's latest rant? Apparently she had food poisoning and spent much of her time on the toilet. The funny part is how I got an email from Faythe's Mom with her side of the story.

"It went okay until Faith got sick and she wouldn't listen to me when I told her to limit her food intake. She just kept on eating whatever she wanted."

Hilaaaaaarious!!

A storm is brewing

I'm not a fan of flying. It's not that I'm afraid of the actual flight, but rather the annoyances that come with it. First, I'm always afraid I'm going to be told that I'm too fat for one seat. Secondly, there's the whole getting to the airport on time, changing planes with short layovers in unfamiliar airports, etc. And then there's the quick decision making when you have to buy a ticket last minute online. I hate those cheap ticket websites! They all make it seem like you're getting a good deal but when you get ready to make your purchase, you realize they're listing the one way prices only, pre-tax. Or how about looking at prices in morning and checking back in that evening when you have the money and the prices have dramatically raised?

To top it off, I keep hearing stories of family members fighting over another not-yet deceased family members items and how they feel entitled to something, just because they're the child of the terminally ill person. More stories of redneck behavior, screaming children, funeral talk, headstone decisions, casket transportation...well, it's just about all I can take. If it wasn't for the fact that I'll be saying goodbye to someone for the last time, I wouldn't go. I just wish these people would grow up and stop thinking so selfishly.

I finally commited to a flight into Oregon and back. The fact we'll be taking a turboprop has disturbed Apollo but he's in for a big surprise when he see's the Eugene airport!

I just hope I can spend some good quality time with my Grandpa before he leaves us. The flight, the struggle, it will be worth it.

Taking in the scenery

Mom and Aimee look across the bay towards downtown San Diego from Coronado. Mom's obsessed with the airplanes that seemingly fly between the buildings when coming in for a landing and always gets excited when she seems them: this is a great vantage point for watching plans "nearly" fly into buildings. Much of our time last year was spent trying to get near hit photographs. She's like a little kid when it comes to the airplanes.

Merry Christmas!

Yes, that's right, I said it! No "Happy Holidays" for me. After all, the holiday is supposed to represent Christ's birth, not presents! Presents are nice though. :) Keep 'em coming!

Meanwhile, check out this swag Mom made for me the first night of her stay!

Rock and Weave Bunny Foo Foo's

I gave Aimee her socks already so I can finally show them to you. I'm still unsure if they fit her correctly...I think the cuff may be a little too big. The socks are basically comprised of a knitted strip (which becomes the cuff) on the side of which you pick up the appropriate number of stitches and knit a sock. Two buttons are added to keep the cuff together.

Pattern: Rock and Weave by A. Karen Alfke
Materials: One hank Socks that Rock Little Bunny Foo Foo, four 1/2 inch shell buttons

Exhausted.

We got up at 4am this morning and took Mom and Tyler to Amtrak. After breakfast, a short nap, a mani and pedicure, we went to check out the Bodies Exhibition at UTC.

While fascinating (the diseased lungs made the biggest impact on me), I couldn't help but wonder who these people pissed off and what their offense was.

Sure, the guides at the exhibit will tell you that all the bodies were donated to science after Chinese officials failed to identify them or locate their next of kin. Still, considering the human rights violations in China, anything is possible.

Anyway, through the process of Plastination, liquids in the body are replaced with polymer or other such chemicals. You can read more about it here. This enables us to see veins, arteries, nerves etc.

Honestly, when I went to see the exhibit, it was out of an intellectual interest in the human body. I had never considered it to be gory, disrespectful or even controversial. I still don't think it was gory or disrespectful but I can see where the controversy would fall in to place.

Now that the family is gone, I just may go to bed before midnight. I'm aiming at 10pm tonight. Yay. Tired.

Trying to sneak in trip to liquor store

Maybe after Seaworld?

The cats breaking Mom in

On Mom's first day, Zoe looked at Mom and then threw up on the rug in front of her. She then casually walked away, leaving Mom staring at the mess.

Today, the second day, Simba jumped out of the litter box, scooted his butt across the carpet in front of Mom and then ran off, rubbing poo into his fur and the carpet. While I caught the cat so I could clean up what remained stuck to him, I could hear Mom talking about the stink. I finally got to the poo that was matted into the carpet, all the while Mom begged me to cover up the remaining turds in the litter box.

I wonder what they have planned for tomorrow?

No alcohol yet

We're currently watching the Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom on Animal Planet. I think we've spent about two or so hours on various animal shows. Though we're watching and listening to the current show about Alaskan bears, Mom is speaking over the narrator and correcting him when he's wrong, has left out information or she just wants to add her opinion.

We finally used the limbs cut off from the bottom of the Christmas tree to make what I think is called a swag for our door. We also fixed up some fake wreaths for the two doors in front of the building. It was fun putting them together with Mom. The best part was the mother/daughter struggle over who knew how to correctly attach the swag to our front door.

Oh, by the way. Aimee, Mom wants you to take care of the hangnail on her toe when you get here.

The usual holiday antics begin

Mom just called me from Emeryville, CA. She's currently on an Amtrak train because she mistrusts airplanes and is afraid of the heights. I may have neglected to tell her about all the recent train accidents.

Anyway, so she's in Emeryville and her voice sounds scratchy from lack of sleep - I can imagine her eyes are pretty big too from all the staring at people around her. She tells me a story about some crazy lady at one of the train stops. (There's always at least one crazy person on the train when she travels. One day she'll be the crazy lady everyone talks about.) Our conversation goes something like this:

Me: So your train is on time?
Mom: Yes, we were almost late but right now we're stopped at Emeryville...oh can you hear the guy on the loudspeaker?
Guy on loudspeaker: Next stop, Oakland. Please have your tickets and ID out.
Me: Yep, he said something about Oakland and to have your tickets and ID ready.
Mom: Did you hear? He said our next stop is Oakland and to have our tickets and ID out.
Me: .
Mom: Rayleen?? RAYLEEN!?
Me: I'm here, Mom.
Mom: Well I think I'm going to go since I'm losing you, I didn't hear what you said at all. I'm going to turn this thing off since the only charger I have is the one for the car and I don't have the type you plug into your house.
Me: Well, you can check the battery if you want and see how much power you have.
Mom: And plus when it rings, it wakes everyone up around me and I can't get it out in time to turn it off.
Me: You know you can turn down the volume.
Mom: And it's so loud....hey the chicken coop is finally done! Except I don't have any chickens.
Me: Mom, have you tried turning down the volume?
Mom: What? How do you do that?

And so on. Oh, it's going to be a fun week! I'll update you on my sanity as the week progresses.

I'm not sure why I'm not in bed yet

My drive to and from work can last anywhere from 35 minutes to over an hour, depending on the days events or accidents. During my commute while avoiding wood pallets, drunk drivers or tire peelings, I have a lot of time to contemplate life. Like this morning when I realized I have a new freckle growing in next to my upper lip. It dawned on me that if anything should happen to my Cindy Crawford mole (like if it should pack up and leave, etc), this new freckle could totally step in and take over! I even covered The Mole with one finger to see what my face would look like without it and while it's not quite the same, I think it'll do. Yep, Mini-Mole will make a fine substitute.

Anyway, that's the sort of thing I think about while driving. Yep.

Suspicious Activity

Simba got in trouble last night.

It all started when I walked into the bedroom, turned on the light and saw Simba standing in the middle of the bed, staring at me. This is what we consider to be Suspicious Activity. You see, Simba has a track record of peeing on the bed. We don't know why. It may be due to jealousy or frustration, who knows. If only he could leave a Post-it explaining to us why he's doing it. I assume he would say something like this:

So after I saw Simba, he ran out of the room. About an hour later, Apollo went into the bedroom and saw Simba on the bed in the same spot. As soon as Apollo turned on the light - well, if it's possible for a cat to break the sound barrier from running, he would have. Apollo checked and sure enough, cat urine! We don't really know if it's Simba or Zoe but Simba is always the one in the area with Suspicious Activity (such as sniffing the bed or giving us the "huh?" look) when the urine is discovered. I suppose it's possible that Zoe is also one of the contributors but she never acts suspicious or is caught near the urine. She also doesn't act guilty or run at the smell of cat urine. Wouldn't it be awful if she was guilty and Simba was the one that always got in trouble? Is it possible she is so sneaky that she knows she won't get in trouble so she doesn't react?

This is always a possibility:

But since it only happens once or twice a year, I don't think it could be a UI.

If only cats could write! Then again, if they could the world would be full of all sorts of elitist prose. I think we have enough of that as it is.

More ghetto please

I came home from work yesterday to see some of the lights set up on the faux balcony outside. It was pretty.


Upon closer examination, I saw something interesting. Extension cords outside! I wasn't too surprised though, I've seen worse!

Since then more decorations have been added, it looks even better. :) And yes, with the same extension cord outside the window. Did I mention that it's been raining here lately?

Faythe is crazier than I am!

"You scored 25% intoxication, 50% hotness, 75% complexity, and 25% craziness!"

You are Fennel! You're a cool cat. Crisp, clean, fresh, and extremely complicated. You're like quantum physics or modern jazz. Think Niels Bohr meets Ornette Coleman. You may look normal now, but once you sprout, you look kind of, uh, funny.

Link: The Which Spice Are You Test written by jodiesattva on OkCupid Free Online Dating, home of the The Dating Persona Test

Sneaky cat

Well, I just listed a Wii for a ridiculous price on eBay. We'll see if it sells!

On another horizon of That Which Shouldn't Be, Apollo caught Simba walking on the kitchen counter this morning! He only knew because Zoe kept looking upwards in the direction of the kitchen. When he peered around the corner, there was Simba doing a tight rope walk on the tile in front of the sink. I'm beginning to suspect Simba walks on the counters at night when we sleep.

After he was busted, Simba ran into the bedroom and hid. Apollo didn't have to say anything other then "Simba!" You can't say he didn't know what he was doing was wrong!!

"I Know Who Killed Me"

And now I know why this movie flopped! And it wasn't because of Lohan's publicity issues when the movie was released, either. The over use of the color blue was annoying, the "twist" was so far fetched...meh! And the end? Pulease!

Though I've heard that most people watched this film due to Lohan's pole dancing scenes, I don't even think they made it worth it. Even so, they only last a few minutes so you could theoretically look for them in the chapter selection and be done with it.

Otherwise, don't waste your time.