Insanity

House is all nice and clean, even mopped the floors. Mowed the leaves on the front lawn and ran the lawn mower out of gas, yeah done for the season now. Glad my neighbor's maple trees have finally lost all their leave so my yard can stay nice now. :)

Mom is coming up to spend the next few days and go shopping with me. It'll be fun. Gonna make some chili in the crockpot tomorrow so we have a nice meal to return to after we got shopping, probably at Carousel. I'm the chauffeur which is fine because it's easier for me to drive than give directions, though I think Mom knows where most of the stores are by now.

It'll be interesting to see how Shadow behaves. He's extremely possessive of me and my attention, so I expect him to be on bad behavior, walking across the counters, etc to get my attention. Silly thing is if he'd be a nice kitty and go to my Mom she would pet him and give him attention too. He has rubbed her legs and gotten petted when she has sat in my seat and he didn't realize it wasn't me. Last few years I've laid in bed watching as he sat in the hallway between the 2 bedrooms and listen to my Mom talk to him. I dare him to go and jump on her bed, but that'll never happen. :)


Should be an interesting couple of days, but it's way better than going to work. :)

Been a busy week of vacation. Since I just bought the car couldn't really afford to go away, though I had thought about visiting my Aunt and Uncle down in North Carolina again.

Monday I took a Lion class at the Apple store. Came home and steamed off the rest of the border in my third bedroom room. Technically it is Shadow's room since his bed and condo are in there and he loves to sit and watch out that window. It also has a twin bed, so it's where my nephew sleeps when he stays overnight.

Tuesday I went and got the paint. The guy at the paint store said I shouldn't need primer since I'll be doing two coats anyway. He also suggested a different paint than I usually get, this one is low VOC, but made by the same company and it was cheaper. Had a couple of coupons, plus there was a rebate on the gallons of paint, so got them for about $20 each. Came home and spent the day painting with a couple of breaks to eat.

Wednesday my parents came up and gave me some pumpkins and potatoes. We went out for lunch and did some shopping. Mom and I both had 30% off at Kohl's and Wednesday was the last day you could use it.

Today I did the second coat this morning and tonight brought everything back into the room which should make Shadow happy. :)

The room had white at the top and bright yellow on the bottom. In a chair rail area there was a border. It was the only bedroom that I didn't paint after I moved into the house. I painted it 3 colors. The top is Cool Lagoon, the bottom Aquamarine, and in the middle is Nassau. It is bright and non-neutral, but still better than the lime green and orange I had to deal with in the other rooms.

This is a link to photos of the full transformation:https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.2390319558678.136041.1271528688&l=94a64b4cd7&type=1

Tomorrow I think I may go to the outlet mall. Don't want anything in particular, but it'll be something to do.

Sunday is our picnic at my boss' house. Not the way I really want to end my vacation, but... Still debating what I'm bringing.

On Wednesday I became the owner of a new set of wheels-- a 2011 Subaru Forester. They gave me about $1500 over Kelley Blue Book and got the payments down to a reasonable number-- not too much over what I was paying on my Spectra. The marine blue pearl car came in Saturday and they called me Monday. I test drove it Tuesday and checked all the numbers since a lot of the payment negotiation was over the phone and I couldn't see how they were making things work. They actually increased my trade in $800. The car also has a few things I wasn't expecting since I thought we were talking the bar bones model, but the price remained the same. Just missing one accessory I wanted, but I may be able to get it as one of my presents after I fill out a survey about my buying experience, if not my salesman said he'd give me his 25% discount on the luggage compartment cover. :)

I test drove a 2011 Subaru Forester today. They quoted me which seems like a really good deal, giving me a great trade in. The new payment would only be $60 to $70 more than I am currently paying. Not sure if I should pull the trigger on the deal or not. Have until Monday to decide. Problem is the other local Subaru Dealerships are closed on Sundays. The trade in is higher than the Kelley Blue Book value, even for a car with no door dings, etc. Part of me says I should not do it, but the other says, it is a good deal and I shouldn't pass it up.

On vacation for the next week. So nice to not have to go to work, not even gonna think about the place. Had to get up early this morning for an appointment to service my car---it was overdue for it's 30,000 check up plus I had a recall notice and needed my inspection done. Knew it was going to take a few hours and would rather have it only ruin part of my day. Lucked out since it started to rain soon after I got there.

Almost got a new cell phone today. I was looking at the Droid Incredible 2. Seems like a nice phone and the deal at the store was pretty good, but after paying out a bunch of money on the car service I decided to use the cash I earn through my health insurance by doing healthy activities, so I had to get online to activate/ charge the reloadable Visa card, and checked out the price at Verizon wireless online. The deal online was really really good because it had a $50 online discount, plus my $30 upgrade making the phone only $69.99, but when I went to add it to my cart, my upgrade discount didn't show up. I did an online chat with a representative, plus e-mailed Verizon wireless about it because $30 is $30 and $69.99 is better than $99.99. Of course now when I go to the website my upgrade credit only shows for certain phones, but I do have a transcript of the chat where I copied the info for the phone showing a price of $69.99-- hoping that Verizon will honor that--- contacted them several different ways and included the info showing both the online discount and upgrade discount. If they don't honor it, not sure if I want to buy it online or go back to the store I was at where the deal was $119 (which is more) but they would throw in a free accessory, plus they would help me set up my phone and go through how to use it with me. So we will see what happens, if not, I may just keep waiting. Not sure if I am ready to make the switch to a smartphone and paying the extra $30 a month.

Tomorrow I am planning on heading to Alexandria Bay and taking a boat tour, plus visit a winery. Haven't slept well the past few nights, though this morning I did fall back asleep because it was overcast this morning, but I had to get up early for the car. I have a friend who would be willing to join me, but I'm not sure, part of me would like the company, but another part wants to be able to do what I want to and not go along with someone else. So for now my plan is to play tomorrow by ear, if I can and do sleep late, all the better. If I get up too late (or much later than I want to be on the road by) I may just delay the trip by a day. Gotta check the weather to make sure it's not supposed to rain and to see how hot it's gonna be there. It's a less than 2 hour drive, but I want to make sure I have time for both the winery and the boat tour, plus explore Boldt Castle, and take lots and lots of pictures.

Have no real plans for the rest of the week. Next Saturday is my nephew's birthday party and I'm planning on spending the night so I can end my vacation by swimming in my parents' pool.

Well I had a pretty fun weekend with my family, I won't call it relaxing in any way. Saturday night I went down to my brother and sister-in law's. They took me out to dinner to celebrate my b-day next week. When we went back to the house my 4 1/2 nephew beat me soundly at Wii bowling. I broke 100 in each of the 3 games so I am happy. Then we had a chocolate cake with chocolate frosting---yummy! I think I slept ok for not being in my own bed and sharing it with a 4 1/2 year old who takes up 3/4 of the full size bed. My back is a little sore.

Sunday morning my sister-in-law and I ran our first 5K. I placed 145 out of 267 with a time of 31:46 which isn't too bad especially since I do not like to run at all. Debbie (my SIL) placed 150. LOL, I had to make sure I beat her. My nephew asked me why I beat Mommy. ;) Later on we met up with my parents for dinner at the Three Bear. It was a nice buffet. Then we played baseball with my nephew for a while before breaking out the fishing pole he got for Easter. I think he enjoyed fishing though he really doesn't understand it takes patience. My Mom brought out her pole too and cast it into the pond as well. She was checking to see how my nephew was doing when she realized that her bobber was gone. The fish grabbed the worm and headed directly to the bottom of the pond. She pulled out a bass which we think was around 10 pounds or so. She did release him back into the pond. It was the only bite we had. :) Afterward we celebrated my Dad'd b-day which is this Tuesday, letting him open his presents before having some cake.

I am a little sore today, though my back bothers me more than my legs. I did have a killer headache after I got home last night and most of today. I think it's finally passed. At least if I am still sore this coming weekend, I'm giving myself a little early b-day present of relaxation-- a massage Saturday afternoon.

My PC had a stroke, and I've upgraded to a new iMac. Course this means I've lost everything on my old computer since I can't get to the info, but it's a fresh start. Luckily it recognized the pictures and music I had on an external hard drive, plus all my pics from the last several years are still on the memory cards. Was glad to see the music I hadn't burned to CD was on the hard drive, though I think I remember where I found it. Eventually I'll rebuild my address book, but since I communicate with most people on Facebook and etc, I'm not too worried about it.

Been a while since I've posted anything here, so I may as well try to catch things up. Christmas was good. I think one of my resolutions for 2011 is to be more social since the past year or so, I've not done too many social activities. I went to a New Year's eve party at a friend's house. It was nice to have that option. I got to see a lot of people I hadn't seen recently. A few weeks ago I met some friends to watch the Jets/ Pittsberg playoff game. This past Wednesday a bunch of us girls met up for a GNO happy hour plus watching the play Rent. My best friend from high school had a girl's night out a month ago, and then the next weekend I went down there again for her surprise b-day party. Wow I know that's a lot more social activities than I've done in quite a while. Some of the lack of social activities has to do with the death of CNY SPaRC (Syracuse Professional and Recreational Club). It was a young professionals group I joined to make some friends and to get out more. The last few years they've had less and less events. Sad to see it go, but I think the core group has moved on.

I'm still making an efort to get to the gym 5-6 days a week. I've gained some of the weight back, so I'm trying to get that back off and lose some more before my 40th b-day this year. I'm also debating if I want to try and plan something for my b-day. There is a part of me that wants to do something, but the other doesn't want to be the one who plans her own party (though several friends do). Right now since my b-day is on a Monday, that means the Friday before is a Friday the 13th, and there is a part of me who wants to do something that night. Hey I have a black cat. :) We'll see if I do anything, usually I take myself out to dinner while my parents come up and take me out to dinner on the weekend. Since Mother's day is the weekend before, they will probably come up on the 15th.

I am sick of snow and shoveling. Can't wait until the white stuff stops falling, you know in June.. ;)

Think that pretty much catches everything up in my life currently. My least favorite holiday is this Monday.

Tomorrow I'll be doing the Making Strides for Breast Cancer walk. Not looking forward to getting up early, but the walk will be fun. I'm part of the team from work, I know a few friends are walking for their work too, and one of the girls from the gym works for the American Cancer Society, so she's working the event. I don't mind doing these walks, I just hate asking people for money. A few people donated, so that's alright.

Work this past week was rough. Monday when we got to work, we found out that our computer server was dead. Made it hard to do any work or even answer phone calls. Me and the other supervisor stayed while the other techs went home while repairs were being made. I pretty much just tried to make sure the Chemistry analyzers were ready to go once the computers were back up and all the testing was ordered. I ended up staying about an hour late to help get things caught up. Tuesday morning I went in at 7am to start reports since we hadn't done them the day before. Thursday was a long day. Our dr's decided to sell the practice to the local hospital basically. October 1st we would be under new ownership which means a lot of account numbers and stuff had to be changed beforehand. So Thursday the lab's job was to get as much of the work as we could finish done, and all the reports reviewed. We left work at 11pm. Now I did not stay straight thru-- I had a hair appointment, so ended up being away from work for about 2 hours. Friday the other computer system was down for much of the day. This system doesn't effect us working, but it's how we look up patient info and 'chart' patients not in our system. Now it was planned to be down to around noon for our ownership changeover, but somehow it took the system for the entire building. Yeah fun... It will be a nice paycheck. Right now I think my body is overtired from the stress and etc. Hopefully once I get home from the walk tomorrow, get groceries and get the stew going in the crockpot, I can kinda veg out for the day. I did lay around this evening, but didn't doze off.

Hopefully my one coworker has calmed down. She was on edge all Friday and made some comments that the boss heard and wasn't pleased about. I think this girl tries to do too much, be supertech and it's hitting her. Also she's been coming in earlier than her shift all week to help with start up and draw--at least that's why they say she's there. She works 10 hour days, so when she does that and leaves at the time that's not her normal hours, it throws things off. She got her day off on Wednesday, plus a few hours at home during the day Monday, so she shouldn't have been going off the way she was Friday. At one point she'll say how she needs money, but then bitches if she can't leave early . I ,on the other hand, was extremely calm during all the crap this week, though I think it hit me last night and this afternoon as tiredness. I only got to the gym twice, so I can't say that it was my workouts that helped keep me relaxed.

Really haven't kept this one too updated have I?

Just over a month ago I had my bathroom redone. I think it came out nice. My family all commented on it when they visited 2-3 weeks ago. Course my brother asked when I was doing the floors or why I didn't do the floors. I plan on doing them at some point--right now I am leaning towards tile because it's a small room and it will probably have a big impact. Just waiting until I have the money or know what I really want to do. A local flooring company advertises a pretty good price for tile installed every few weeks and the room size they quote is large than mine so I think I could get it done cheaper, and definitely cheaper than what the contractors were quoting. I just want something simple.

Picked up my ring today. It looks nice. My Mom and Aunt took a ring my grandmother had that had two diamonds and decided to give it to the two granddaughters. Since I am the oldest I got my choice of the diamonds and took the nicer one. I took a picture to a local jeweler, plus looked at some of the catalogues of settings. I found a couple I liked, and they actually designed a ring based on the settings I liked. It came out really nice. It's a nice way to remember my grandmother since I'll wear it all the time, well maybe not to boxing/sparring classes.

Tragic accident in my area, early in the morning. 4 people were killed when a double decker bus hit a train bridge. While it is sad and tragic, I can't help but blame it on the driver. The road has several signs, plus there is a blinking yellow light warning of the low bridge and that no vehicles over 10 feet 9 inches are allowed. The bridge also has orange metal on the bottom of it. It was totally preventable, if the driver had been paying attention.

Finally figured out or got my Wii wirelessly connected to my router. Not quite sure why I was working on this project, just more time wasters for the Wii I guess. I may check out the ability to download content from Netflix-- that might be worth it.

I just had to pick the hottest week of the year to take my summer vacation. ;)

Hasn't been too bad. Saturday I went to my friend's picnic. It was nice and I got a lot of compliments since I hadn't seen the people there in a year or so. :) Afterwards I drove to my parents house. I was only 20 minutes away, plus I amy as well spend the holiday with family, and yeah they have a pool. Spent Sunday and Monday in the pool. My brother and his family came down both days. It was fun playing with Andrew in the pool. I think one of his goals was to splash me, but we had fun trying to show him how to swim. He did pretty good, especially when he'd get on the kickboard and not want help as he splashed me, Grandma, and Papa. I was going to come home Monday, but by the time I got out of the pool for the finalk time Monday, I decided I may as well stay another night. I had left Shadow enough food in case I decided to stay. I was in the pool from 10am until about 12:30. I ate lunch, showered and headed home.

The house is warm. I have the fans going on the main two floors. If it gets too bad, I will turn on the a/c, but it's been comfortable down in my family room, and sleeping wasn't too bad last night. Ran errands today and saw Shrek 4. I liked it. Definitely one of my favorites, 3 is definitely my least favorite of the series. Tomorrow I'm getting my car detailed and will be stuck at the large mall. Gee being in a place with a/c and lots of stores to keep me occupied-- yeah it sucks... ;)

With this weather I don't really think I'm going to accomplish any projects or things around the house, though maybe Friday or Saturday I'll load my car up with my old printer, scanners, camera, etc and drop them off at Best Buy to recycle. At least it'll get them out of the house--less clutter for me.

I do need to go through the bags of clothes I plan on donating. I figure it might be better if I actually have a list of what's in each bag so I can claim it on my taxes. Plus I could probably weed out more stuff.

My USA shows start next week. Looking forward to White Collar and Psych. Covert Affairs also looks interesting. I'm already watching Burn Notice and Royal Pains, plus add in Leverage and I have more stuff to watch during the summer than during year, almost.

Just edited the journal, I still want to play around a bit more with layout and colors since I am feeling the need to switch up both my LJ and IJ--and strangely enough now they are too much alike. Need to add a few more userpics for my new interests.

Today I went to the gym as usual, and after my training session, I went into my trainer's office to schedule some extra sessions to make up for ones we've missed for various reasons. He told me that the gym is closing, probably by the end of May. I'm sad. I really like the classes and the people. I understand, and a part of me always wondered how the owner kept the place going. It was like a townie gym, not as big or modern or flashy as someplace like Gold's or Bally's. I'm going to miss it. I am hoping that Phillip can find somewhere to move the boxing program because that's what I go for and really enjoy. Neither of the other local gyms have classes that I want to take at the times I can attend, plus they aren't as convenient. Oh well something will work out, but it is sad. I will enjoy my next month and a half at Ultimate Fitness with my dysfunctional gym family. I am the first client to be told, so I'm not mentioning anything on Facebook where I'm friends with other gym members plus the trainers. Wish it wasn't going to close. Oh well, hopefully they move the programs to another facility or I can find something I like as well, but I will miss everyone from Ultimate Fitness.

I've done so well since I joined the gym that I don't want to backslide. :(

Last week was measurements at the gym. We hadn't done them since I signed up for this round of training back at the end of January. I came in at 2 pounds below my goal weight. Lost a bunch of inches-- maybe 4 from my waist, and an inch to an inch and a half everywhere else. Went downa precentage of body fat. I started working with Phillip last year July and within that time I have lost 30 pounds, 2 pants sizes, and numerous inches and several percent body fat. If we go back even farther to the summer before when I worked with Matt and the revolving door of trainers, I have lost over 50 pounds.

Ok, I can look at myself and see the difference. The thing is I can look at older pictures and I wasn't what you'd describe as fat-- I didn't have a belly, whatever. It's just like layers have melted away. It's weird to describe-- as Phillip said, I guess I was solid.

I bought myself a toy this week. A part of me wonders if I wasted the money, but I wanted it. Besides Best Buy had a deal, if I bought the Wii plus Resorts, I'd get Resorts for free and that's the game I really wanted. I played it for a couple of hours yesterday and about an hour tonight before getting online. There isn't much on TV lately that I like to watch, so I may be playing it in the evening instead of watching tv, unless of course I fall asleep on the couch, tired from class at the gym. Ok so right now I go to the gym 5 days a week-- 3 for classes and 2 for training, after the training is done, I'll be back to 4 classes a week.

Tomorrow we should be getting our sparring gear. I am so excited to get my chest protector and head gear. :)

I hate when time changes. Lost an hour of sleep this morning and now just have to get used to the shift. Tonight is usually the toughest going to bed an hour earlier than normal even though the clock says it is the later time.

Been working with the trainer again-- so I am usually tired when I get home at night--leads to a lot do evenings falling asleep on the couch, though I only work with him Thursday nights and Saturday mornings, I still do classes Mon thru Wed. As of Saturday I was 1.5 pounds from my original goal weight. So maybe really soon I'll beat it. :)

Sad that White Collar, Psych, and Burn Notice are done until summer, though that means I should be online more. Am kinda getting into Leverage-- I may need to buy the first season on DVD. Have only watched 2 entire episodes, and parts of a few others, but I like it. 'sides I can always give my Mom the DVD's later because she's been watching the show from the beginning. Sadly enough new episodes of this show don't start until summer either. ;/

Got time off to visit friends in May and for a wedding in August. It'll be nice. I am enjoying actually doing stuff and seeing people and places when I take time off, though I want to make sure I have a week off to just sit around home and relax.

This year's project is going to be to either replace my bathtub or have it covered by one of those acrylic liners ala reBath, Bathfitter, or Bath Renew. I do have a quote from a contractor that he can replace the tub in a day--it may be a long day, but it could be done, so I am leaning that way. I am feeling poor right now, so I am delaying that project for a little while. A previous owner of my house either painted or refinished the tub and now the paint is flaking off, besides the issues with the grout around the tub surround and tile. It needs to be fixed and sooner is better than later. It just doesn't help when it is my only bathroom.

Let's see anything else? Had fun in Florida, even though it was cold! Feeling a bit blah right now, probably catching the crud going around at work. SU is a #1 seed. Hope they do well and that AO isn't that badly injured. It's a special team and they (if healthy) have a change to win the national championship.

Think that catches everything up.

Stolen from deborak. When you see this post a poem in your journal.

Phenomenal Woman

Pretty women wonder where my secret lies.
I'm not cute or built to suit a fashion model's size
But when I start to tell them,
They think I'm telling lies.
I say,
It's in the reach of my arms
The span of my hips,
The stride of my step,
The curl of my lips.
I'm a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That's me.

I walk into a room
Just as cool as you please,
And to a man,
The fellows stand or
Fall down on their knees.
Then they swarm around me,
A hive of honey bees.
I say,
It's the fire in my eyes,
And the flash of my teeth,
The swing in my waist,
And the joy in my feet.
I'm a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That's me.

Men themselves have wondered
What they see in me.
They try so much
But they can't touch
My inner mystery.
When I try to show them
They say they still can't see.
I say,
It's in the arch of my back,
The sun of my smile,
The ride of my breasts,
The grace of my style.
I'm a woman

Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That's me.

Now you understand
Just why my head's not bowed.
I don't shout or jump about
Or have to talk real loud.
When you see me passing
It ought to make you proud.
I say,
It's in the click of my heels,
The bend of my hair,
the palm of my hand,
The need of my care,
'Cause I'm a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That's me.

Maya Angelou

Tomorrow I'll be heading off with my family to spend 8 days in hopefully sunny and warm Florida! It should be a fun time.

Ok, my week off of my healthy eating plan is over. :( It was nice to eat whatever I wanted with no regards to calories or anything, but it's time to get back on the wagon. Starting tomorrow I'm back to watching what I eat and writing it all down, plus the working out I already do. Not sure if I want to know the damage, but it was my trainer's suggestion.

Since I started working with him at the end of June, I've lost 22 pounds, 3-4 % body fat and several inches. I'm down one size-- and my smaller pants are still a bit roomy. :) I'm around 4 pounds away from the number I threw out as my goal, so that's not too shabby. :) The training is done for now. I am still going to the boxing and bootcamp classes 4 nights a week, plus now I'm doing the strength training on my own two nights a week. The trainer wants to start back up from January until March, so hopefully I don't regress during the next few months, though I don't think I will. I like wearing the smaller clothes, and what I see in the mirror, so yeah I want to keep it up.

Reply to this meme by yelling "Words!" and I will give you five words that remind me of you. Then post them in your IJ and explain what they mean to you.

Keleos gave me: Wine, lab, cat, Veronica Mars, and OINK!!!

Deborak gave me: Wine, farm animals, boxing, Venture Brothers, laboratory

Quillismighter gave me: Music, Roleplaying, Strife, Wine, Cats


I kinda sense a theme...

Ok, we'll start with the common theme-- wine. Actually until about 5 years ago, I wasn't much of a fan of wine. I pretty much only drank white zinfadel and that was rarely. Then I went on my first wine tour. It's a fun way to try a bunch of different wines without having to buy a bottle. I figured out from that trip that I enjoy semi-sweet white wines, my favorite actually being a red catawba-- Red Cat and Kat Knapp. I also love Riesling. Luckily the local liquor store carries a lot of NY wines so I can go there and buy a bottle when I want some---though I think they've stopped using their shoppers club cards. I currently have 10 unopened bottles of wine in my house.



Lab and laboratory: That's where I work. I was trying to figure out what to go to school for and science classes came relatively easily for me. I think the guidance counselor mentioned Medical Technology and it sounded interesting to me, so I majored in it. I am a licensed Medical Technologist and have been in the field going on 17 years now--damn I feel old. I work in a doctor's office lab, though we perform testing for more than just our practice. I spend most of my days testing blood or urine.

Cat: I grew up in a family with both cats and dogs, and I do like both. Strangely growing up we only had 3 cats over the years-- Penny, Thomas, (Jerry for a few months with Tom), and Toby while we went through Scotty, Dusty, Casey, Lady, Skipper, Bandit and Misty, Kramer, and now Tyke for dogs. Currently they have Cody, and I am one of the few people he actually will come out for. Toby was my buddy, he allowed me to pick him up and cradle him in my arms before carrying him from window to window. He would also lay on my chest for hours during the day. We also had a bunch of barn cats around especially with Chiffy who seemed to be preggers every time it was catly possible. I always loved finding the kittens and playing with them, especially the ones that hissed at me. Sometimes my visits home would be partially to see the pets. While I lived in an apartment, I never wanted a pet, I'm not sure why unless it was because many places wouldn't allow them, so I waited until I bought my house to get a cat. I'm not home a lot or at least not enough for a dog, so I decided I'd get a cat. Shadow is my first pet. He's spoiled, but he's also very affectionate. He is used to it being just the two of us, so he tends to act up or act very jealous when I have company. He's my goofball.

Now to finish the lists.
From Keleos:

Veronica Mars. I loved that TV show, and wish that it hadn't gotten canceled. I love detective shows and mysteries and it was different than any show out there--- how many teenagers are out there investigating crimes for extra cash?
OINK: Ok I'm not exactly sure how I learned to make that noise, but I've been able to do it since I was a kid. It's certainly a unique talent.

From Deborak:

Farm animals: Well I grew up on a dairy farm and we had Holstein cows. I helped feed the calves when I was little. When I was in 4H, I showed cows too. You lead them around in a circle and when you stop you have to pose them with the rear foot forward or back depending on their age.

Venture Brothers: Deborak introduced me to this show. I think she may have played it the first year I visited, but I didn't really get hooked until the next year. My favorite characters are Dr Girlfriend Mrs the Monarch, 24, and Brock. Looking forward to season 4 which starts tomorrow night!

Boxing: When I first joined a gym, I never wanted to do any of the classes. I liked doing the machines and that was it. Then I moved to this area and I think I read about kickboxing in one of my magazines and thought it sounded fun. I was still settling into the area so I thought it might be a fun way to meet people. I enjoyed it for a few months, think I got hurt, plus it was relatively expensive. The next time I joined a gym, I started going to classes called Body Attack. It was kickboxing techniques in a routine set to music. We certainly weren't learning to defend ourselves, since each song had a different routine. Between job changes and class time changes, plus buying a house, I quit that gym. 2 years ago clothes started getting tight and I refused to buy a larger size, so I looked for a gym that had fun classes since I'd now rather do a class that workout on the machines. One of the gyms was starting up it's kickboxing and boxing studio. I tried out one of their preview classes, almost passed out, and joined the gym. I've been going to classes since then (2 years ago) and last year renewed my membership for 2 more years. In the classes we get to punch real punching bags. It is a great stress reliever, and yeah I enjoy hitting things. In June my work hours finally changed so I could actually go to the gym 4 nights a week, and unless something comes up, I don't miss class. It's just something I find fun, and my trainer says I'm about the 3rd hardest hitter in class. I only have 3 pairs of boxing gloves--ok one real boxing gloves and two MMA gloves--technically 4 since I bought a new pair last week though I donated my old pair that was starting to rip out to the extra box at the gym. I also bought boxing shoes--- they do make it easier to turn and stuff for kicks. Yeah I may be a wee bit addicted, but it's nice to know that if someone has annoyed me at work, I can work out that anger and frustration at the gym. I am hoping that a friend has a Halloween party because I want to dress up as a boxer this year. I've lost 22 pounds and have muscles and I'd like to show it off. :)
From Quillismighter:

Music: I've always liked listening to music, though I have no musical ability. I tend to listen to Top 40 pop, but my MP3 player has everything from JPop, alternative, classic rock, country, rock, etc. I'm willing to listen to anything, and usually have the radio on as background noise.

Roleplaying: I'd guess that my first introduction to roleplaying was in college. Not sure how it really started, but somehow a bunch of us made up original characters and added them into a series/ universe we all knew, then we would add in characters from other genres,. It was a weird mix, but fun. My first true roleplaying was with Deb's greek gods group. It was a lot of fun.

Strife: My first character. I won't say that he was my favorite character on Herc, Xena, or YH, but he did fascinate me, and he does hold a piece of my heart. I always saw him as wanting to do anything to impress/ please his Uncle Ares. All he wanted was Ares' approval, so he'd keep trying no matter how many times he failed.