I found myself back at CoolNeon today picking up my order of techno strobes (always good to have a few on hand this time of year). It's been a year and a half since the last time I was there [inlink]twisted,139[/inlink] to pick up my naked skaters card from one of the naked skaters himself. Small world! Even smaller, when I walked through the door today, they said, "Hi Lisa!" They actually remembered me! I really should look into joining the midnight rollers now that I live in the city.

As usual, I'm not sure what to make of this. I met Mr. Coffee for [inlink]twisted,447[/inlink] movie night in Dolores Park last Thursday. He wasn't as hard to take in person as I feared. You might need a decoder ring [inlink]twisted,438[/inlink] to figure out his emails, but he was actually pretty easy to talk to. Despite the fact that approximately 5 minutes into the conversation he asked me if I was a "brainiac." WTF? No, I'm not a "brainiac." I might think a lot, but I'm not a brainiac. "What do you think about?" "Everything." "You're a brainiac." FUCK YOU TOO!

Anyway, I really don't know what he means by brainiac, so I'm not sure if I should be offended. Besides, it was so off-hand, I gotta give him credit for taking a stab at whatever his impression of me might have been. Still. Where does brainiac come from?

I may be a little sensitive about it since it immediately brought back the memory of 6th grade when the other kids called me "the brain." They also called me "Jeannie" since I sometimes wore my hair in a high ponytail and must have vaguely resembled Barbara Eden at the time. A resemblance that has long since worn off unfortunately. But the brain? That's got to be a crazy coincidence, right?

The reason they called me that in 6th grade was because I read all the time (another trait that has sadly worn off). I wasn't reading when I met Mr. Coffee, but I was characteristically reserved. I think that's where the brainiac thing comes from. Which is completely ridiculous. Since when does quiet = smart? Makes more sense to assume quiet = stupid. Or quiet = boring. It's nice that he gave me the benefit of the doubt, but I'm still kind of floored by it.

I guess I'm just not motivated by some things the way most people are. It's a curse really, since the world operates on a fairly standard approval system, which I understand and can appreciate, but is still foreign to me. Don't get me wrong, I'm totally thankful for it - the world would be a quiet and boring place otherwise. Maybe it's just that my timing is just off - I need a 5-second delay. Somehow I've managed to work around it all my life.

I remember being with my parents at a parent/teacher open house in junior high school. My social studies teacher was bitching about what a lousy student I was. My parents listened politely until he was finished. Without missing a beat, Mom summed up her reply: "she's a good student when she's motivated." Zing!! Way to go Mom!

Anyway, I could say a lot more on this topic, but here's an article from The Atlantic that really sums it up for me. If you ever wondered why some people are "unnaturally" quiet, this might be of interest to you. Or there's always the stupid / boring theory, haha.

(Usersound compliments of Mr. Coffee's band. Yeah, everyone is a performance artist out here. Hell, finding a parking space in this town is performance art!)

Movie night at the park was fun. I haven't seen The Graduate since I moved here. Interesting how much more tuned in I am to the location now that I live here.

Not that I can compete with 2 feet of snow and 300,000 homes without power, but my Friday the 13th was kind of weird too. Arrived for my last day of work, and 15 minutes later get a phone call from Brenda. When she started her car, it went haywire and the lights started flashing, horn started honking, CD ejected. Not something you hope for on a good day, but certainly not first thing in the morning in an enclosed garage. Luckily, she figured out locking the doors turned everything off. So I swung by and picked her up and we made our own private carpool to Milipitas, CA for our farewell lunch.

Funny thing is, when I emailed my family about the company's farewell plans, turns out my brother's company is also planning a "corporate event" at Dave & Busters in NYC on November 4th. (e:flacidness) - if you're working that day, you'll have to look out for them.

Word to the wise: I think I sprained my thumb on this damn rollerball game. Do NOT pick San Francisco for your location! Freakin' hills!

Since this corporate event did not sponsor alcohol, we had no choice but to take the after party to the tiki-lounge in Alameda, where mai tai's were on special. So I had four, which is a lot for me. Although I remember the days when I'd have two at lunch-time. Ironically, that was when I worked at the New England Journal of Medicine. Ha!

After my fourth I decided I'd better head across the Bay since I was supposed to meet Stevil for a show at the Elbow Room. Walked outside and was confronted with the surreal scene of a friend who was coming there to meet us filling out a police report. A biker rammed into her car while she was waiting to pull into a spot. The biker broke his leg and had to be taken to the hospital. Needless to say, she was pretty shook up, but handling it well. After contributing what moral support I could, going back inside to let everyone know what was going on, deciding another mai tai might not be in order, given the cop outside, I finally fled the scene with visions of flashing lights dancing in my head.

Found a great parking close to home (not easy on a Friday night), and grabbed my few personal possessions from work (tampons and soy sauce) from my car. Between locking the car and switching hands, the bag fell out of my hand and smashed into a million pieces. Wasted approximately 5 seconds wondering whether to salvage soy sauce infused tampons. The answer is no.

I decided with all the weridness already that day, I'd better sit tight at home. So I cancelled on Stevil. Oh yeah! I forgot to mention. I think I did tell you how every time Stevil & I have gone out so far, something has gone wrong for one or the other of us? Well, the last time, I got stopped on the way home from Mission of Burma because my headlight was out. The stupid thing out here is, when you get a fix-it ticket, you have to get the problem fixed in so many days, get it verified by a cop, then appear in COURT to get your violation stamped, and pay a $10 compliance fee! WTF! So anyway, with that experience still fresh in my mind and everything thing else that day, I decided a date with Stevil on Friday the 13th might not be a good idea.

p.s. - It took me three tries to finally finish this post. I think if I'd written the whole thing at once I would have been bored long before it was finished, haha.

Ok, that snow is totally out of control! If it were me, I would blame (e:Ajay). ;-)

There's not much I can do to help except to tell (e:chicoschica) : when I've had trouble logging off, sometimes I've cleared my brower's cache and cookies, then logged back in again, and been able to log out. Or, log in from a different browser and log out. Then you have to clear the cookies of the browser where you appear to be logged in, but to everyone else, you're already logged out. I know it's weird, but browser compatibility is an ongoing battle.

Good luck peeps -- and stay safe.

Since it's already been a weird week, I decided to go see "The Graduate" with Mr. Coffee tonight at Dolores Park Movie Night. I know, I know -- I'm not sure why I'm doing this. He's like a bad accident I can't tear my eyes away from. After gawking this long, seems I should at least fein some genuine interest before walking away. Why do I have to be so considerate AND so cynical all at the same time?

Anyway, he's bringing the wine, and we can get tamales from the tamale lady, and it's free. I mean, how bad can it be, right? I'll tell you tomorrow.

At least it probably won't snow, haha. Seriously, I cannot believe it's snowing there already. My brother says it also snowed in Chicago, so you're not alone.

Stay warm everyone! And be extra careful while driving and re-roofing.

p.s. -- My last day at work tomorrow features lunch and games at Dave & Buster's. Then after tomorrow I should have much more free time to work on my blog. I mean, house. haha.

off, that is.

Ok, maybe technically it's not being laid off if you're a contractor. But they made a BIG DEAL out of asking me YESTERDAY if I could be available through November 31. I said yes, except for the last week of Oct./first week of Nov. So they printed out a new contract for me, which I filed with the other half dozen. Then I promptly decided, shit! I can't deal with working here another month! And, NOVEMBER? That is a word that strikes fear in my heart. I'm pretty much in denial from November 1 through March 15. Or I was until I moved to California. But old habits die hard.

Anyway, I decided I'd better take today off. Which is why it was so weird to get the phone call saying they pulled the plug on our project (thank GOD! I hate to work on a losing proposition, but if you pay me $70/hour, I'll do almost anything, haha), and there's going to be a party Friday for everyone who dedicated the last EIGHT MONTHS OF THEIR LIVES working on this freakin' thing. So I'm going to go, and get paid $70/hour to be there.

I hate to be talking money with y'all again, but do you have any idea how empty this all is? Can't I get a job curing cancer or administering a kickass local social networking site or something? Doesn't anybody think that's worth my time? I'll only charge half price, haha.

My trip to Buffalo made me realize I'm long overdue for settling into my not-so-new abode. This Halloween will be exactly one year since I moved out of my old place, and all my stuff is still in storage. How crazy is that? I do kind of miss my stuff. But when I get it, I'm going to have to put it somewhere, and that somewhere should probably be more or less habitable. It's much easier to just keep my crap in storage.

To be fair, even though I moved here almost a year ago, I only got possession of the unit I want to live in a month and a half ago. And it needs a lot more work than I can do myself. Still, I've put my life on hold again. From the outside it might look like I'm progressing through life, but from the inside I know I'm just procrastinating.

Anyway - this topic is way too heavy for a fine Fall day. If I'm still a self-exiled nomad in the bleak mid-winter, there'll be plenty of time to bitch about it then. Meanwhile, Happy Columbus Day everybody. And Happy Birthday (e:Southernyankee)! Wish I'd had the chance to meet you.

So here I am, safely back in my own time and dimension. Whatever that means. ;-)

It was really amazing spending some real time with you all in my "alternate universe." I feel like J.T. Kirk after beaming down to an historically familiar time and place. Except, when he interacts with the "inhabitants," the plot is fairly predictable. But there's no predicting you guys. ;-)

Anyway, I did feel a little out of phase, although not as much as last trip, for what that's worth.

Ok, back to reality. At work they haven't yet realized there's no way we're going to be ready to launch by October 27th. So I made sure to reiterate I can't work the last week of October when (e:Paul) is here. They weren't phased by that, so I decided I might as well take advantage of their naivete and take the next two days off to go to the beach with Brenda & Kathy.

Stinson Beach, here I come! Right where I was almost 2 years ago [inlink]twisted,8[/inlink] when I first joined this site. Somehow it seems much longer ago, but at the same time like only yesterday. That's internet time for you!

Can't wait to cue up my new CDs from (e:Hodown) and blast off for the beach tomorrow! Have a great weekend everybody!

p.s. - regarding retro user pics. It's so easy to be cute when you're little. But when you get older, you have to be wearing the right outfit, be having a good hair day, be lit by flattering light...

Anyway, maybe it's the lighting at (e:PMTs). But you all are as cute as can be! Don't let anybody tell you otherwise!

I was going to buy a cheap knock-off, but the real thing was on sale if you bought two. So I'm double-dosing on hot apple cider night-time formula, and zesty orange mad-dash to the airport formula. (e:Paul), I'll leave the rest for you to take before you fly out here. And some for (e:Lilho,444) ! Get well soon!

p.s. - if anyone's going to be out by the airport this Friday - say around 9:16 p.m. - maybe I could catch a lift into town and save PMT a trip? Or if (e:Dragonlady7) is working, maybe I could hang out at the bar until you get off and catch the bus back with you? I'll pretend I'm on public [inlink]rzoo,7[/inlink] transphere!

Just thought I'd ask, since I haven't even gotten there yet and I've already been way too much trouble. ;-)

I got a $1100 washer/dryer combo for $200 on craigslist today. It's one of these European style deal-ies where you put the clothes in, and it washes then dries them in the same drum without any human intervention, all the while conserving energy and water.

Why haven't you heard of this God's gift to appliances, you ask? Well, for one thing it's expensive (unless you're a shrewd shopper such as myself), and the 2-3 punch is, it takes fucking 4EVER to finish a load of laundry, and only works on small loads unless you line dry.

So right there you've lost the American audience. I admit, I wrote it off too when I read you could wash up to 22 lbs, but could only dry up to 11 lbs of laundry at a time. (Like I even know what 11 lbs of laundry is.) But the killer for me was it could take up to 5 hours to wash & dry one load. That's crazy!

So I nixed the idea, only to return to it later. Anyway, long story short, when I found this one on craigslist for $200 ($1100 new 4 years ago), and realized I can plug it into a standard 115V outlet and attach it to my kitchen faucet for now, then plumb it permanently into my new kitchen upstairs later if I like it, I decided to give it a whirl.

Damn thing better work, since I need these clothes for work tomorrow!

Oh yeah, the price was actually $254, since I had to find someone to move the damn thing for me. I was going to go with 2 gals and a truck for $60, but had to leave a message. So then I called one guy with a truck for $40. He answered the phone and was ready to go. He asked if there would be anyone else to help him. I said I could open the door. (Hey! I don't like moving appliances! That's why I'm looking for 2 gals or 1 guy and a truck!) But since this thing is the size of a dishwasher, seems like one guy should be able to handle it. I have no idea. I read him the specs - dimensions and weight - he says he can do it.

Anyway, already too long story not so short. I end up helping him lift the damn thing down from his pickup truck (smashing my finger in the process). Then he can't get it up my front stairs. So he asks if I have a blanket to slide it up on. I don't have a blanket, but I do have the sleeping bag I've been sleeping under the past 10 months. So I get that. The thing is too heavy to slide up the stairs. So he flips it upside down to get it on the hand-truck and the two of us heave-ho it step-by-step up my stairs.

It was quite the spectacle. Good thing you guys weren't here to see it, haha. Then to top it off, I give him a $10 tip anyway. This thing better be worth it!

p.s. - Jean (of Dad & Jean fame) is very excited about my trip to Buffalo. I had a moment's pause before I told Dad during our weekly phone call that next Sunday when he calls I'll be in Buffalo. Turns out the company Jean used to work for, Rich-Seapak, is (or was) based in Buffalo. Even though she worked for the division on St. Simon's Island, she made frequent trips to the company headquarters in Buffalo. She says Buffalo is beautiful this time of year. I look forward to seeing it.