lxforever

“Oh…this is BINGO!” (“M-5?!” / “BiMgo?!”)

—Erik, 11/11/11, after we’d passed out Bingo cards and been playing a few rounds already…um, hello?

“…woman with kids or five parents?” “PARENTS?” “Parents!” “PARENTS?!” “PARROTS!”

—later on, 11/11/11…

“I wish you wouldn’t.”

—Michael J’s ‘wish’, 11/11/11

“I wish Jeff had a Christmas tree up in here right now.”

—Christie’s ‘wish’, 11/11/11…you got your wish, it is up now!

“Knowing is half the battle.”

—”Erik/Karate Kid/Rambo Face”, as he commanded I write it down, 11/11/11

time 10:22 PM feeling tired and warm and cozy wearing cool MN sweatshirt, flannel pants reading Running With Scissors music ummmm…Xmas music…and 1999 B*tch Mix ready for bed! or drawing? next draw! or bed?

I anticipate a LONG UPDATE AHEAD. Here are anchor links so you can skip to parts you wish to peruse (note, don’t expect this consideration for my readers to ever appear again):

Epic Wishes
EOTD 11-12-11
11-11-11 and partylove
bonus quotes

—

*selected* EPIC WISHES from 11-11-11:

“I wish Jeff had a Christmas tree up in here right now.” -late addition (Christie)

“I wish Harry Potter was at this party and that he would shake my hand and call me ‘chum’ or even ‘bro'”

“I wish we didn’t have to play this inane game.” (“That’s totally JEFF!” -Erik and me)

“I wish I had a rabbit in a hat with a bat and a six four Impala”

“I wish you wouldn’t.”

“I wish for a kitten.”

“I wish there were more binary games.”

enema/judge wish

“I wish Lexi would read this wish:
I wish I weighed more than my cousin Christie.” -a nod to my wish to weigh as much as my cousins in years past (note, I am almost sure I weigh more than them all now…I pack it in!)

“I wish I had a pilgrim statue too.” / “I wish jaundice jim would be on a rotating platform. Also a Disco Ball Please.” / “I wish I was carrying a large turkey and a basket of pumpkins.” -nods to Jaundice Jim, the centerpiece

—

EOTD 11-12-11 (“now with 33% less eleventy!” -@pourmecoffee)

Woke up at 7am. Had gone to sleep a bit past 4am so this was a terrible development. Could not fall back asleep. Considered getting up. Finally fell back asleep at 8 then awoke for good at 10. No good but better than the alternative perhaps? Got up and stretched, then began the task of cleaning up. Not so bad but lots of cupcake crumbs and the smell of spiked cider (“potpourri!” -Jeff) hanging in the air. Oops. Intense cleanup ensued, should have stopped to eat but did not. Jeff vacuumed. We rehashed the party multiple times. Finally at 12ish I put a stop to it and made us eggs and toast. I enjoyed a white-canned Coke and a glass of OJ as well, along with two of the AMAZING Oreo truffles Christie had brought. Breakfast at 1pm. Yep.

The house was in order and we set out to get in some PHYSICAL ACTIVITY before a sleep trap overtook us. Jeff to the gym, me off on my bike in the warm warm day. 60+ degrees. Sneaky November. Glorious but slow ride to ‘secret’/’name-unknown’ beach and lake past Fort Snelling. I stopped at the beach and did some more stretching and then meditating. I had to take it easy since I was feeling pretty woozy on not enough sleep/coming-on cold/too much to drink. But that was OK. Lots of slow riding and stopping to Take It All In. Beautiful solitude.

Home and shower and start putting up Xmas stuff. Turn on the Gopher game and see them getting crushed by the Badgers. Could’ve been worse though. Lights in the windows. At this point I begin to feel rather ill = horrible sleep catching up with me. I throw in the towel and ask Jeff to go pick up dinner. Try to draw and fail. Too tired. Jeff brings dinner home which is incredible and Very Necessary. Devour dinner and watch shows on the iPad. I can’t even find it in myself to read. Eventually I pass out while Jeff watches MN/WI hockey game. UMN wins! F yeah. Jeff tells me to get in the real bed which I do, for a blessed 11(oooh!) hours of sleep.

—

11-11-11 / Partylove

You didn’t think I’d let a momentous date like 11/11/11 escape without celebration, did you?

Jenny emailed me on Thursday to let me know Jack Burns was planning a hot dog party at work (since hot dogs look like 1s) to commemorate it, clearly Mr. Burns and I were meant to be friends. I also took note that it was corduroy day (the date which most resembles corduroy). I also appreciated the no fewer than 7 folks who texted/messaged/Facebooked me regarding the date. YOU KNOW ME.

(I also appreciate the Veterans. Just so we’re clear on that.)

(“TEAM AMERICA!” No, seriously though. I mean that.)

So to honor the date / most epic wish ever at 11:11 (timeout sidebar: yes I know it’s really 23:11 at 11:11 PM, but who would come to a party at 11:11 am? Jeff and I had a party alone then instead), I threw a little 11-11-11/Most Epic Wish Ever party. HUGE SUCCESS. I was so flattered by all who attended and willingly played Binary Bingo (YES!) and Fake Wishes (which ended up being way more hilarious than I ever intended!). And just hung out. It was pretty epic, really.

(“This was no bullshit party!” -Michael J. Yep!)

A good and happy time had by some people I love very much. I am very grateful. Even though I forgot the prosecco TOAST! I was occupied by distributing the cupcakes/candles, sorry. Anyway. THANK YOU ALL for attending and making it such a smashing success! I will never forget 11-11-11.

—

BONUS QUOTES from 11/11/11:

“This was no bullshit party!” -Michael J.

“Do you hear the microwave going?” -me, to Christie…yeah, Jeff/Erik/Dan were warming up jambalaya (???)

“Oh no, my wish is much worse than all of these…” -Scott, to Jeff/Dan, sidebar

“You don’t have alarms set for 11:11?!?! Lexi, I’m not sure if you can belong to Apt 3.” -Alyssa

“Parents / parrots” as detailed above…this was Jeff/Dan

” ‘I don’t have to explain myself.’ ” -Jeff via Michael J (“Yeah, so you’d roll right out of the bar…” -more rolling talk!)

“Would you rather date a woman with a giant ear or a giant nose?” -Jeff “Giant nose…that ear will hear everything I say.” -Erik

“The freaks come out ’cause the freaks come out.” -Erik

“What does the Jamaican cookie monster say? Mon-mon-mon-mon-mon. I just made that joke up today.” -Erik

There were probably more. It was a stupendous night.

—

And now, on to the holidays…yep. Merry Christmas?

The thing is, I already got my most epic wish ever…

Jeff.

—

Happy Armistice/Veterans/binary/most epic wish ever day! & thank you veterans.

This year…it’s been kind of scary.

And spectacular at times, too.

Definitely a year of extremes. You just never know.

When I listen to particular songs or think of certain moments or whatever though – I feel a little bit like I can’t breathe. It’s overwhelming.

I think the word is:
INTENSE.

And I guess I’d rather feel all of these things, good and grateful and bad and dark and awful and whatever, so intensely than just be.

But man. Whew.

(I’m in for an epic end-of-year post, that’s for sure.)

And winter is coming and I’m kind of afraid. Alternately afraid + excited. Afraid it will feel like last winter, excited because it might not.

I guess that is life?

Now: time for parks and lasagna with Diana. OUT.

1. Don’t worry, I can’t really ‘see’ anything in stats about my users. Just browser types used to view the site, search queries, and what pages have been hit recently. 75% of the ‘traffic’ is bots. So! Don’t be creeped out!

(However. It is interesting to note that while 75% of my traffic is bots, I still get ~75 hits a day. So. 25% of 75 = real people. Which is interesting…as I only know of 6.)

2. Oh……LIFE!!! Oh nostalgia.

back at it.

I am intrigued by the idea that someone on an iPhone w/ iOS 4.2 is visiting my site. Who are you? (I’m the iPhone on iOS5, duh).

Hmmmmmmm….I should make a mobile CSS.

“5-6-7-8 chomp!”

—Lauren, Katie, me, Bri?, 1998

“I wanted to love you like my mother’s mother’s mother did / civilian…”

—Wye Oak, Civilian

“…she was fully aware, from second to second to second, that it wasn’t a drug or a dream but just life happening to her, a life with only a present and no past…”

—Freedom

“You are an interesting species. You feel so lost, so cut off, so alone. Only you’re not. You see, in all our searching, the only thing we found that makes the loneliness bearable is each other.”

—Contact

time PM feeling hungry and peaceful and glad wearing cool blue shirt from Stephie, black pants reading nothing now! music WYE OAK and hopefully soon Florence + the Machine ready for snack next work

I walked back into the bedroom this morning crying my eyes out. I think I kind of scared Jeff. He was so nice though. I had gotten up early, since I kept waking up anyway (thanks Daylight Savings!), brewed some coffee and sat curled up on the couch finishing the last 20 pages of my book, Freedom. And I pretty much sobbed solidly through the last five or so pages.

I’m not sure if I’m turning into Jane Elizabeth Theissen already or what (except… I am crying at books—FICTIONAL CHARACTERS, mind you—not graduations of ACTUAL PEOPLE…I am pathetic), but I just couldn’t help myself. I tried to explain it, through tears, to Jeff—that I was crying about not just the characters, but life and loneliness and how all anyone has “is each other”—but I just can’t do it justice. An intense and incredible feeling and a most wonderful way to start the week.

Whew! So that was that. I suggest you read this book as soon as you can. It (clearly) blew me away. (Although the reviews on Amazon suggest that it, as I expected, is very polarizing, so…you may NOT like it. Anyway.)

In the meantime I have been on a crazy roll of SOCIALIZING. THE SOCIAL LIFE. I don’t anticipate this ending until after Diana’s bday party the 19th. Well, after that, actually. Here is a summary of the past few SOCIAL OUTINGS:

-last TUESDAY dinner with Jeff for our anniversary!! LOVE
-last WEDNESDAY coaching with Diana followed by meeting my mentee/seeing good ol’ fellow UMN alums/admin workers at the mentorship kickoff event. This was very fun although it is just crazy getting around the U/East Bank right now. So freakin’ convoluted. Dear dear construction…
-last THURSDAY meeting some of Kristin’s work friends at Town Hall Tap for a happy hour…they were great! (yes this is super random)
-FRIDAY met up with Angela for a happy hour, again at Town Hall Tap (yep), with mini Tiny I/Tiny II sized beers and all…then I came home and made Jeff and I a BBQ chicken pizza while drinking wine. Fun night!
-SATURDAY we went out to Eden Prairie to see Erik and go to the famed “JJs!!!” coffee/wine bar…we had wine and pretzels with ranch and a cheese plate, admired Erik’s middle-school drawings, and joked. A live band was even playing.
-SUNDAY (ok this is just becoming EOTW, sorry), amongst chores/cookingfest/etc., and an amazing swimmmmmmmm (between the phone calls), I talked to Christie (phone) about 2-year-olds-iPad-viewers, iPad mysteries, and anniversary celebrations, Jenny (phone) about Michigan visits/Friendmas in MN, getting hair and makeup done, and wedding-vs-reception times, and Daniel (over coffee) about trick-or-treating 2-year-olds, HS heartache, and divorcing ex-babysitters. SOCIAL LIFE!

Then I came home and had chili with Jeff and watched Walking Dead. YAY.

ALSO this weekend we went on an superfast, superfun bike ride in the sunny sun sun…possibly last?, HUNG OUT a lot reading/playing videogames (me/Jeff), and did a lot of yardwork. Getting ready for winter! I also engaged in massive COOKING/food prep Sunday which I kind of adore…good food for the week, people. I baked too…yummmmmmm.

Coming up in the SOCIAL LIFE/regular life:
-tonight, yoga with Jeff!!!
-today, I had lunch with Tiffany…LOVE seeing her! We need to do that more often.
-tomorrow, hang out with Jeff!
-Weds, coaching and lasagna with Diana!
-Thurs, nothing, hang out with Jeff!
-Friday, 11-11-11 Most Epic Wish Ever!!!
-Saturday….nothing. Probably put up the tree and drink fancy sugary coffee 🙂
-Sunday…nothing. Chores and laundry.
-Monday…nothing. MNF? Ha. OR help Cassie coach??
-Tuesday…college friends at Finnish Bistro (aka my new favorite hangout spot!)
-Wednesday, last gym class of this session/2011!
-Thurs, dentist
-Fri, nothing
-Sat, Diana’s bday party!
-Sun, baking party?
-Mon, Kelly!

THEN it is Thanksgiving. Um wow. That is a lot of stuff. Rest assured…I also have lots of downtime. I am just pre-making-up-for what I expect will be months of winter solitude/antisocialness.

Also. Five years ago around this time (yesterday on the date/today on the day, actually), I started at HITF. Where I met so many wonderful people. As I remarked to Angela on Friday, ‘that place just wasn’t real!’ Anyway. It is only fitting that I had a HH with Angela Friday and lunch with Tiffany today. Yesssssssss.

OUT!

Conclusions from 4 hours of cleaning out the basement of stuff from 1994-2004 (mostly cards, photos, and random memorabilia via 6733):

1. When everyone started emailing in 1998, that was Cool.

2. But it was even Cooler when no one emailed and we just wrote notes back and forth and back and forth, throughout the schoolday and even in class….and in RED PEN. Yessssss.

3. It is extremely creepy and cool to peer into my 16 + 17-year-old (i.e., the years for which I have the most NOTES) mind.

4. I have a LOTLOTLOTLOTLOT of REALLYREALLYREALLYREALLY good people who have loved me throughout my life and I am very, very lucky for that. NO idea how I met so many good people but I am grateful.

5. We made a list of True Ten and our most ‘ests’ in 2004ish (craziEST, scariEST, etc.) and mine was unpublishable. Well, OK. It was lesbianEST. HEH heh heh.

6. I loved living with Kristin and Alyssa!

7. Jeff gets the CUTEST CARDS EVER. Esp. with cute kitties and puppies :).

8. I got rid of a LOT of junk.

9. I then saw a scary centipede, screamed out loud, and ran away. I am now going grocery shopping. Adios.

Things that make me happy:

-Jeff picking me up from work with a surprise!
-Long chats and silly beer toasts with Jeff at Ol’ Mexico
-party/adventure/etc. plotting
-hardboiled eggs where the shell comes off pretty easily
-swimming on Sundays
-the rare moments that I feel understood by someone
-great books (can’t wait to go home and read tonight)
-handmade anniversary card by my Grandma…too cute!
-my cousin Rachel going to state volleyball her senior year and her team being UNDEFEATED so far!
-polite mentees
-neat to-do lists
-finding all kinds of creepy amazing weirdness in the basement (mostly things from HS) and cleaning it all up
-hot coffee
-sunlight
-yoga and how your body feels the rest of the day after it
-trying yoga with Jeff on Monday!
-HOLIDAY DRINKS being out! Holla sugary coffee!
-drawing and weird drawings
-Hanging Out

Things that do not make me happy:

-delays
-not being understood
-those possessing poor customer service skills. Do not mess with me this fall…or you will live to regret it!!! I am feeling very evil lately.

And then you find out that you were feeling better because old wounds/hurts/whatever had scabbed over and were almost healed, but all it takes is to pick it away once and everything comes back raw and sore and horrible.

(I have faith this will subside. But it’s scary [ha, Halloween…heh] how ohsoquickly those bad bad feelings can come flooding back.)

To those who don’t have the capacity to understand: I probably don’t want to hang out with you anymore. To the (VERY VERY) few who DO get it: a thanks doesn’t even begin to cover it.

Happy anniversary tomorrow to the light of my life. 2003/2008//8/3. I love you Jeff; you are…THE BEST.

“You looking at the king of the jungle now / stronger than ever can’t hold me down / a hundred miles feelin’ from the picture smile / straight game face, it’s game day / see me running through the crowd full of melee / no trick plays, I’m Bill Gates / take a genius to understand me // Oh, oh, sometimes I get a good feeling, yeah / I get a feeling that I never never never never had before, no no”

—Flo Rida

“I still keep my baby teeth / in the bedside table with my jewelry / you still sleep in the bed with me, / my jewelry, and my baby teeth”

—Wye Oak

“…Then we started playing hockey and it was all pizza, techmo…” -Dave “TECHNO?!” -Jeff “…and Coca-Cola.” -Dave

—Friday night 10/28/11

“G.bye!”

—Alissa character on MTV’s Awkward

time 5:31 PM (oooh) feeling great, happy, tired wearing Vikings shirt from Jeff reading Freedom music WYE OAK and pop, duh ready for hanging out with Jeff next clean the basement 😛

Jeff has been chasing me around the house and pretend-choking me, and then saying “It’s Halloween!”, as if that justifies it?

Hmmmmmmm.

(It’s Halloween! Almost. Also it looks like it’s going to be 60+ degrees on Nov. 1st yet again. What up weather! You must love us. Happy Anniversary us.)

My app is getting reviews and downloads and it’s really cool. EGO STROKING YEAH BABY.

Summaries of the day/weekend are both completely nonsensical and Very Very Important. EOTW:

I took Friday off work just…because. (Trying to burn through days off and there wasn’t a ton going on in the office anyway.) It was delightful. I did some chores, did the shopping (in yoga clothes, with a Desigual bag, for mostly organic things, no less…pretentiousness personified), did some yoga, went on a tiny run, cleaned out the linen closet, among other things. Oh yeah watched Grey’s and read my book, yeaaaahhhhh. Jeff came home and went to the gym while I got myself dolled up and then proceeded to cook dinner in a short skirt, pearls, and with an apron, with a glass of wine in one hand = felt very Betty Draper and cool. (Obviously I have thought too much about this.) Best Meal Ever! Jeff came home and got ready and we ate at 8. (8 at 8.)

THEN! Off to Sweeney’s in St. Paul, which turned out to be a REALLY cool place, who wants to meet me there??, with a sweet heated patio and all, for one more Dave’s-going-away event. Jeff and I sat in the patio sharing a pitcher of Labatt (on special!) and watching the end of the world series (Go Cards!). Dave then came out and joined us with his friends Stacy, Mike and Aaron. Aaron soon left and then a random stranger named ‘Kev’ (“I tried to get people to call me that for 18 years!” “so then you moved to Minnesota?” “It was like, ‘welcome to your HOME!'”) also joined the conversation…wacky. Dave was in a spectacular mood, many pitchers of beer were consumed, it was really cool to be outside under heat lamps with the giant fire and tree in the patio, and Dave’s friends were very fun and funny as well = A BRILLIANT TIME had by all. And good fries. I just couldn’t stop laughing. And it was so fun and nice to be out with Jeff.

Came home and totally passed out.

Saturday I woke up way too early. Too much drinking the night before = I never sleep well. Hence I am still tired today… Anyway. I got up and read my book with a glass of water and a mug of green tea in hopes that would resolve my weird feeling. Sort of. Finally got up and cleaned up and made us lemon-blueberry muffins. Good but I will have to find a different recipe methinks. Anyway. Had a few muffins and tropical yogurt feast and read some more. Drew my comic. Jeff finally got up too and enjoyed many muffins while he fussed around the house Getting Things Done. PROJECT JEFF! I am very grateful for him. He even fixed my HEADLIGHTS! They look A MAZ ING. OMG.

I then set out to find a white pumpkin and get Jeff soup. Mission Accomplished. I got a cotton-candy (seriously that’s the kind) white pumpkin at the Fulton Farmers Market (finally made it woooo!) which was adorable!, then a light blue one at the ‘pumpkin patch’ by 50th/the creek. A discount because it was so ugly! Ha. I also procured a latte on my way home. The sun being so warm and perfect and right overhead by this point, I then sat outside for an hour or so drinking my latte and reading. This was kind of the Best Thing Ever. Ahhh, the luxe life I lead…

Finally came in and made an egg salad while talking to my mom. We had a very wonderful 40-minute chat that I truly did enjoy very much! (“We’re having company for dinner!” “Ummmm…I have NEVER heard that phrase from you!”) It made me very happy to talk to her and have it be so nice. I forced egg salad onto Jeff too which he enjoyed, and a SweetTango, then I set out on my bike. SUNNY SUNNY SUN. Tour de Lakes, including Lake Harriet twice. I saw someone I know AGAIN but I don’t have the courage yet to say hi to her (my old diving coach). Maybe another time.

Home, shower, clean up, get dolled up (sort of) again. Jeff comes home from the gym and we watch the end of the Gopher football game together. Um, awesome!! They won!!! Totally nuts. Eventually Erik came over and he had a surprise/gift with him. Jaundice Jim aka the Pilgrim statue. We left this on the dining room table for Jeff to discover, then off to Roseville it was.

Met up with Diana, Bil and their friend Rick at the sports bar. Time for fights! “Did you ever think when we met 11 years ago at age 19 that we would someday be out at a sports bar watching fights with our significant others for four hours?” “No.” HA HA HA. Diana was the only one under 30 at the table. I felt kind of cool to be in the Club. Heh. Lots of joking, phone comparisons, plotting/gym opening ideas, and mischief (of Erik with Jeff, that is – full water glass eh?). And Pepsi (ugh, everyone should just have COKE!). Watched Wisconsin lose which made Jeff happy. I saw puppy commercials. Oh and fights I guess. Great fun!

From there off to Michael’s Halloween party. OOOOOH! Jeff looked extra-creepy with his getup and we made our way into the party zone. Tons of people! So many terrific costumes. Walk Like An Egyptian. I chatted up Mike’s friend Heidi for some time which was delightful. Also congratulated all those newlyweds (Adam, Tariq, Jen). Oooooh. “They’re dropping like flies.” That’s what happens, people. We were about to leave but then Mike pointed out we were 15 minutes away from the midnight surprise. SO we of course stayed and were WELL REWARDED with a midnight BEACH PARTY (“HEY! TWEEEEEEEEEEE! Are you having SEX on the BEACH?!?!”). The whistles/lifeguards reminded me of the Whistle-Blowing-Contests of our Dells-waterpark-adventures of our youth and the dancing in bikinis brought a warm feeling to my heart. So lovely. Dancing! We then did leave because we were both very tired.

Home and bed.

Sunday…today…still didn’t sleep well. Finally slept in a bit though…hey I try. Up and cleaning UP. Somehow our house was getting messy and the kitchen was a DZ Disaster Zone for sure. “Clean up, clean up!” Sorted/started laundry. The chores, the usual. Finally got some breakfast/lunch together, then off to the gym. They are closing for a week which is very annoying. I succeeded (Erik’s idea) in getting a 25% discount for that month. As it should be…duh. Working out, great press handstands, home with Jeff. I started carving my little white pumpkin and made some food…KERF bars which you should make, they are so awesome, brussel sprouts (roasted!) and I toasted the pumpkin seeds. YUM. Ate that, cider, kept up with correspondence, laundry, etc., I anticipate possibly working on the basement then making dinner and watching Zombie Show (Walking Dead) while covering my eyes tonight.

A GREAT weekend!

And tomorrow…Halloween. “We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful what we pretend to be.” -Kurt Vonnegut

Happy Halloween!