dammit, i missed allentown? Bummer.

So... I just got back from my reunion.
It was fun. somehow not quite what I was expecting though, but I'm not sure what I was expecting.... It was quite the baby-parade. Which I guess I should have known, but I hadn't thought of. I guess we had record attendance- 800+, from a class of ~1100. Though that might include spouses. And there were 75 kids registered. The "not married no kids" women like myself were few and far between, which made me feel lame. Whatever.

According to my friends, the 5th reunion is 'your chance to hook up with people you wanted to hook up with in college, but didn't' [too bad i didn't know that at the time] and apparently the 10 is the time to bring your kids.

I had a great, great time at my 5th. Not sure what it was. I didn't hook up. But it was a great time. So I was hoping for that again, but somehow the vibe was just different. But I got to see my old friends, even my freshman roommates that i haven't talked to in ages- and immediately it was like no time had passed at all- like we had just seen each other the week before, not ten years ago. So this was fun too. I guess just a little more mellow. Too mellow for some of the guys, apparently, who went to "crash" the 5yr reunion, because there wasn't enough 'young skirt'. Whatever.

Getting there was a disaster. Fucking air travel. But I'll save that rant for later. I did have a few creepy old guys on the plane though ask if I was a current student, and i said no I was going for reunion, and they asked what year, and when i said ten they said 'time has treated you well!', which I thought was a weird thing to say. But I guess it was a compliment, so I guess it was nice. shrug.

Finally got to eat at the ethiopian place I love, which is a good thing b/c I was so tired and cranky by the time I got there, that if i hadn't gotten to go I think I would have cried.

ended up pooping out early friday. But saturday caught up with people, and checked out the art gallery- they have some amazing stuff in there. Picasso, etc. And a piece they called the 'oldest known painting in america'

They had all sorts of lectures and stuff, but I wasn't feeling that ambitious.

then saturday night was the big reunion event. Everyone got all dolled up, and drank too much. One gay guy told me I make him wish he weren't gay. And one guy too drunk to even stand up called me beautiful. hey, I'll take what I can get. One of my close friends asked me why we had never hooked up. i realized I didn't have a good answer. [but no, we didn't last night, either.] And I saw two guys from my high school class, who I had had huge crushes on in HS, who are both still cute, but kind of boring... Which somehow made me a little bit happy.

And we finished dinner (at which they served ONLY decaf coffee, btw, which I thought was very odd) by singing our alma mater... It's only two verses, but somehow I can never remember the words. I know the beginning, and the end, but not the middle.
but I've always liked it- especially the part that goes 'bright college years, with pleasure rife, the shortest, gladdest, years of life...'

Bright College years, with pleasure rife,
The shortest, gladdest years of life;
How swiftly are ye gliding by!
Oh, why doth time so quickly fly?

The seasons come, the seasons go,
The earth is green or white with snow,
But time and change shall naught avail
To break the friendships formed at Yale.

In after years, should troubles rise
To cloud the blue of sunny skies,
How bright will seem, through mem'ry's haze
Those happy, golden, bygone days!

Oh, let us strive that ever we
May let these words our watch-cry be,
Where'er upon life's sea we sail:
"For God, for Country and for Yale!"

Aww crap. Gives me warm fuzzies.

And then at the end there's a big crescendo and we all wave white napkins and belt out the last line.

A very ridiculous line, I realize, but... it is what it is. I dunno. It's so embedded in the culture of the school. it actually makes me tear up a little. Queer, I know. but i got in almost an argument with someone over it, and i felt like an ass. A big privileged spoiled brat. Which maybe I am... but what am I supposed to do about it? I'm trying to do something good with my life... bah. [I was also told that I act like a retard in relationships. I wanted to say "no shit. I know this. I am working on it."]

From the definition of 'anticlimactic' in the American Heritage Dictionary. :/

A sudden descent in speaking or writing from the impressive or significant to the ludicrous or inconsequential, or an instance of it: "Waggish non-Yale men never seem weary of calling 'for God, for Country and for Yale' the outstanding single anticlimax in the English language" (Time).

What can I say. it was my college experience. i can't, and wouldn't, change it for anything. I understand that 99% of the country may not be able to relate and may think I'm some ridiculous snob... but... I dunno... I try not to be...

And to end, a few pix. I barely took any pix, which is a major bummer. I wanted tons.

Crap! it's 1am?! I have to work at 6. boooo!


Me and 2 of my 3 freshman roommates- who I hadn't seen/talked to in YEARS. Apparently whoever took the pic didn't know how to focus, which is a bummer.


Probably my fave friend... which I didn't realize til last night. He cracks me up. We were staying on campus (i.e. in dorms), so there were random desks in the rooms, and we're just hanging out, and he goes "hold on, just let me lie down for a second" and we finished our conversation with him laying on a desk. Seemed very uncomfortable.


I always had a bit of a crush on this guy. Well, everyone did. Well not so much "crush" as I thought he was a great guy, and a catch. He's greek. We have the same birthday. And this is his new (as of last week) fiancee. Also greek, which makes his family happy. She's a sweetheart (and beautiful, no?) so I'm happy for both of them.


Me and my friend and her fiance- they're getting married in a few weeks and I'm the MOH. Hadn't spent much time with her fiance before, but he seemed cool.




Sunday brunch in the Freshman Commons. This place is huge, and looks like a train station. And that banner is absolutely ginormous. They only get it out for special occasions, so I had to take pix.

ok, new and improved post. Much less whiny and depressing! If you missed the short-lived previous one, consider yourself lucky.

I was just talking to Paul, and he made me realize that I totally haven't even mentioned-

I'm going to my 10 year college reunion this weekend!
How insane!
I'm so old!!!

I'm so excited though. The 5 year was super fun. I hope this is even better. I'm really excited to see friends that I probably haven't seen... since the last reunion. :(

But unfortunately, in order to make up for getting the weekend off, I'm having to work all sorts of extra hours. Like- 27hr yesterday, and 27hr tomorrow.
That's why I missed the parties this wknd. BOOO.

and while we're talking about religion, sort of...
I was just telling paul this story too, and he said "omg you have to post that" so here goes.

So last night I was on call. I was in the OR from 1 to 4pm or so doing a bypass surgery for this lady's leg. I kind of hate that surgery, and it takes a long time. (3 hours is fast. The one I did the other day took 6. ugh.)
But so I had JUST finished. I was in the recovery room writing orders. i was thinking 'ahh... now I get a little break. maybe i can go to the bathroom and get something to drink. maybe even eat lunch."
But noooo.
The med student comes in looking for me, nearly in a panic. "omg there you are thank god you're done! You need to go help in the ER! Like right now! It's bad."

ugh, so much for a little break.

So I go to the ER.

Now, this is the ER at Suburban. It's usually BUSY, but pretty straightforward. Gallbladders and appedicitis and bowel obstructions are the bread and butter. no gunshot wounds, nothing like that. (thank god.)

So I get there... and it's a 21 year old girl, with abdominal pain. She went to her doctor, who sent her for a CT scan. When they saw the CT scan they sent her to the ER immediately.

She was bleeding internally, and she looked like shit.
She was pale as death, moaning and shivering... she looked awful.
Her vital signs were crappy. Her blood counts were dropping.

She was literally bleeding to death.

She needed surgery. NOW.

So we're talking to her and her family. She's practically a baby, and her baby-faced husband was there with her holding her hand and crying and kissing her forehead and telling her she'd be ok. I almost started crying just watching them say goodbye as we started to roll her away.

We didn't know exactly what was wrong, and there was no time for more tests. We thought it might be her spleen bleeding, but we weren't sure. But it didn't matter. We just knew we had to go in there and find the bleeding and make it stop.

So we're talking to the family about consent for surgery. And then we get to the part about blood transfusions, and they say oh no, absolutely not. Because they were jehovah's witnesses.

Now, I feel like it would be one thing if it was your own life you were dealing with... but for your child?
I think I'd be like 'fuck you God- my baby is dying. give her blood!'

But they didn't. We said "you just need to know the risks and benefits. But she is bleeding a lot, and she could die if we don't give her blood." And they said "we know. No blood." And that's their right. We tell them risks/benefits, and can give recommendations if they want, but it is THEIR decision, and we are bound to it, even if we disagree.

And as we were walking down the hall, I said "i just can't imagine being willing to DIE, or to let your child die, over religious beliefs."

And my intern replied "me neither. But I also can't imagine not believing in god, and I try to remember that."

I mean it's one thing if you're a million years old and have cancer and don't want to go through hell. But 21 and healthy, newlywed, with her whole life ahead of her... she's too young to die.

And the conclusion of the story... we took her to surgery, and she lost about 2.5 liters of blood. That's about 50% of your blood. We thought maybe she had a ruptured spleen, but it ended up being a ruptured ovarian cyst.

We didn't give her any blood transfusions. And when I left the hospital this morning, she was doing pretty well. Fingers crossed!

Ok, and one last thing- I got a belated birthday present today. Apple tv. I'm going to try to get it set up tonight and will give a report. supposedly it plays youtube now, too.

oowee, it's getting sticky out there, isn't it? might be time to haul out the AC one of these days.

So... my dinner plans fell through tonight (bummer), but, instead, i managed to be amazingly productive and do all the crap I've been putting off forever.

Laundry (like six loads- still needs to be folded)
changed my sheets
cleaned the fish tank
groceries ($212 worth!!!! but in my defense, i haven't been to the store in probably 2months. I was living off toast and pickles, and then i ran out of bread. I don't know what my problem is. I love wegmans. I just hate motivating to go.)
did a bunch of paperwork/email crap
got all the stuff to grow tomatoes and basil on my back porch!

All that's left is to PLANT the tomatoes, fold the laundry, and take my dress to a tailor.

but on the gay pride note- you may have seen this before, but i swiped it from a forum that I read and thought it was pretty good.

Dr. Laura Schlessinger is a radio personality who dispenses advice to
people who call in to her radio show. Recently, she said that, as an
observant Orthodox Jew, homosexuality is an abomination according to
Leviticus 18:22 and cannot be condoned under any circumstance. The
following is an open letter to Dr. Laura penned by a east coast
resident, which was posted on the Internet.

Dear Dr. Laura:

Thank you for doing so much to educate people regarding God's Law. I
have learned a great deal from your show, and try to share that
knowledge with as many people as I can. When someone tries to defend
the homosexual lifestyle, for example, I simply remind them that
Leviticus 18:22 clearly states it to be an abomination. End of
debate. I do need some advice from you, however, regarding some of
the other specific laws and how to follow them:

When I burn a bull on the altar as a sacrifice, I know it creates a
pleasing odor for the Lord - Lev.1:9. The problem is my neighbors.
They claim the odor is not pleasing to them. Should I smite them?

I would like to sell my daughter into slavery, as sanctioned in
Exodus 21:7. In this day and age, what do you think would be a fair
price for her?

I know that I am allowed no contact with a woman while she is in her
period of menstrual uncleanliness - Lev.15:19- 24. The problem is,
how do I tell? I have tried asking, but most women take offense.

Lev. 25:44 states that I may indeed possess slaves, both male and
female, provided they are purchased from neighboring nations. A
friend of mine claims that this applies to Mexicans, but not
Canadians. Can you clarify? Why can't I own Canadians?

I have a neighbor who insists on working on the Sabbath. Exodus 35:2
clearly states he should be put to death. Am I morally obligated to
kill him myself?

A friend of mine feels that even though eating shellfish is an
abomination - Lev. 11:10, it is a lesser abomination than
homosexuality. I don't agree. Can you settle this?

Lev. 21:20 states that I may not approach the altar of God if I have
a defect in my sight. I have to admit that I wear reading glasses.
Does my vision have to be 20/20, or is there some wiggle room here?

Most of my male friends get their hair trimmed, including the hair
around their temples, even though this is expressly forbidden by Lev.
19:27. How should they die?

I know from Lev. 11:6-8 that touching the skin of a dead pig makes me
unclean, but may I still play football if I wear gloves?

My uncle has a farm. He violates Lev. 19:19 by planting two different
crops in the same field, as does his wife by wearing garments made of
two different kinds of thread (cotton/polyester blend). He also tends
to curse and blaspheme a lot. Is it really necessary that we go to
all the trouble of getting the whole town together to stone them? -
Lev.24:10-16. Couldn't we just burn them to death at a private family
affair like we do with people who sleep with their in-laws? (Lev.
20:14)

I know you have studied these things extensively, so I am confident
you can help. Thank you again for reminding us that God's word is
eternal and unchanging.

thank you

I'm not much of a country fan, but I will make an allowance for cool old classic country, esp willie nelson. (and ok, i kinda like carrie underwood's 'before he cheats'- guilty pleasure).

But so I heard this song the other day, and I thought it was super-cool.
Willie Nelson doing a duet with Toots Hibbert (of toots and the maytals).

I just love the way willie nelson's voice is SO identifiable.

In any case, I heard the song, thought it was cool, and just looked it up and bought it on itunes.

Then looked in my library to play it- only to find I already had the whole album.

what a doof.

Anyway, enjoy! (it's my user song).

Help!

I am the maid of honor in my friend's wedding next month.

And of course, I have a big silly dress to wear.

I need to have said big silly dress taken in.

Can anyone recommend a tailor/seamstress? This is more than just hemming some slacks, so I don't want to just go to a random dry cleaner or something...

"SINGLE BLACK FEMALE seeks male companionship, ethnicity unimportant.
I'm a very good looking girl who LOVES to play. I love long
walks in woods, riding in your pickup truck, hunting, camping and fishing trips,
cozy winter nights lying by the fire. Candlelight dinners will have me
eating out of your hand. Rub me the right way and watch me respond. I'll
be at the front door when you get home from work, wearing only what
nature gave me. Kiss me and I'm yours. Call (404) xxx-xxxx and ask for
"Daisy."





Over 15,000 men found themselves talking to the Atlanta Humane Society
about an 8-week old black Labrador retriever.

A paul-style phone-purge gave these pix:



A SWEETHEART of a stray dog that wandered in while I was getting my hair cut. He was the sweetest thing ever. Fortunately when I went back later, his owner had come and found him. Apparently he cried tears of relief when he finally found him. :)


At work, lookin good!! haha. glasses and all. Ugh.


Cutest. things. ever.


I can't believe this tiny thing is 12GB. I remember my first powerbook, with it's blazing fast 33mhz processor, and after I filled up the 20mb hard drive, I got a little external 100mb hard drive, which I was sure was more space than I could EVER use. Oh, how times have changed.


Drinking beer at the Malamute at about 930am on a wednesday, after a long night at work. KLASSY! I had to 'borrow' my glass though. It was like the old-style Canadian 'double label', and said "I'd rather be partying. Oh wait. I am partying."


A wine tasting bar in the pittsburgh? philadelphia? (i forget) airport on my way to vacation. it was not open at 6am or whenever it was I was there. Good thinking.

I feel like i'm 100 years old.
My whole body is sore, and I'm fucking TIRED.
I can't imagine being a farmer.

I spent my weekend helping a friend with a bunch of yardwork. putting up a little fence, transplanting a bunch of little trees then laying out about 3 miles of soaker hose to water them, several trips to lowe's for various necessities, and nearly catching on fire. And watching Saw 3.

apparently when you plant grass you are supposed to cover it with straw to keep moisture in, and birds out.

That is fine for a small area, but is slow-going and labor-intensive.

So there is a machine to help do this.

Straw is very flammable.

Tires burn for a long time.

It was scary/exciting/depressing/cool all at once.

And now i'm back at work, and am not happy about it.
No memorial day cookout or any of that for me.

But honestly, a full weekend of doing some real WORK kind of feels good... makes me feel... productive? And makes me think "I don't know how people do this ALL the time." One weekend is enough for me.

I dunno. We busted our butts, but got a lot done. Even if I did get whiny and cranky by the end. If I close my eyes, I can imagine the brown dirt turning into a lush green lawn. :)

I want a massage. My muscles ache and my hands are all torn up. Despite several showers I think I still have straw in my hair. ;)

oy. time for some caffeine to wake me up.

happy memorial day peeps. have a beer and burger for me!

ok this is a random PSA, but I just went downstairs to get my mail, and was greeted by the delicious smell of fresh-baked cookies-

there's an open house going on, in my house, right now.

So if anyone's interested- come on by!

Of course, I will not be here, and they're not showing my apt- but still. It looks good and they're nice ppl, and it's a great house. (and I'm a DREAM tenant, and I need good new owners who won't kick me out!)

(and to just cut to the chase, they're asking 179.)

Ok I am at work and I just went to pick up dinner, and I was driving down maple, waiting at the light to turn on NF blvd, and I noticed the car 2 in front of me had an estrip sticker. maroon car, lots of other stickers, including IRL- who was it??