Vibrant.(Still) Unrepentant. Badass. Old. Queer

Good Evening, Kittens. So, what's new and exciting in your lives?  I'm doing laundry.  Yay!  And, drinking a martini. I suppose I should try to catch you up on all that's going on in my life, except not much is going on in my life.  Just the usual: Work. Sleep. Eat. SteamyHotButtsecks. Pottery. Tap. Tappitytappitytaptap. And running. I have signed up for the Asheville Half Marathon in June.  I know.  WTF, right?  Normally, I wait for a Fall Half.  But, I figured I need to visit the Parental Units and Asheville is close to their town. The course is hilly as all get out.  I'll survive somehow. Cuddly Little Boo Bear McLovin' has signed up for the Wildwoods 8K in NJ in May.  I'll be sidekickin' it there.  He doesn't want me to run (fine by me!). Of course, it's the weekend after my work trip to (wait for it) MIAMI!  Oh, yeah.  The reward for being sent to Detroit in February is a May trip to the Land of the Dolphins...

Hello, Kittens! I hope you all remembered that Monday was the Best Day of the Year!  And, I had a super-fantastic 4-day weekend to celebrate it! On Friday, I picked up the rental car and, after running a few errands (in which a "few errands" means "eating lunch and buying booze"), I drove to pick up Mike (Who Makes Cakes).  Then, we drove to pick up my cuddly little boo bear, M. And, then, we all drove to Virginia Beach. It. Took. For. EVER! Once we arrived, we checked in to our fabulous resort hotel and, then, went out to dinner. I may have had a few cocktails. Then, Mike (Who Makes Cakes) and I chilled in the hotel bar, whilst M (who may have had a few too many cocktails) went to bed.  Boo Bear just can't hang with the big boys ;-)  LOLz. Saturday was ABSO-fucking-LUTELY gorgeous.  After breakfast, we walked to the Virginia Beach Convention Center so I could pick up my (and Tomokito's) Shamrock Half Marathon runner's packets. Mike (Wh...

Good evening, Kittens! How the heck did it become March already?  On the plus side of the time flying is that it is almost the Best Day of the Year!  YAY! What happened last month?  Hmmmm ... M and I had a bit of a spat, but we made up. I went to Detroit for work.  Detroit.  In February.  I kinda hate my boss (except, I really like my boss(es) and they felt bad about sending me to Detroit, so I also get to go to Miami in May.  Oh, yeah~!).  BUT, I did get to hang out with the SuperFantastic Cuzin and (the blogger formerly known as) GayProf. As is my usual MO, I also made pottery.  Here are some photos: A flower pot, because I accidentally put my finger through the bottom while painting on the slip design ... oops An OK ish mug A teacuppy thing (obviously I need to work on my handle pulling) A Japanese-style teacup (because it was too dry to attach a handle.  bah.) A bowl with some glaze crawl (maybe it gives it p...

Where to start to bring you up to date?  Hmmmm. Worklife:  Work is still good.  I still like my job.  We are very short-staffed at the moment, but should be bringing on a few new people in the very near future (assuming their security clearances go off without a hitch, which -considering recent events- may not be that likely).  I am keeping my fingers crossed that Congress can get their collective heads out of their collective asses and not shut down the government.  I needz mah paychex. Lovelife: This part is a mess.  I have resumed sexual relations with my most recent ex.  We both know that we are not good as a couple ... except when we are naked and having the superhot buttsecks.  I'm pretty sure that this is not going to be sustainable in the long-term.  But, I am enjoying the ride (so to speak).  I am also trying to date some.  We'll see how that goes.  Runninglife: The Parks Half Marathon was fun.  I ran...

Good lord, kittens.  It's been awhile since I've filled you in on all the strange and wonderful things going on in my life. So, let's see ... Tap class has ended.  It was only 5 weeks long, but it was fun.  Most of my classmates are signing up for "Next Steps."  However, because that class starts at 8:30PM, I have registered to repeat "Intro."  It's like I'm being held back.  I'm in Remedial Tap.  Oh, well ... The "real" reason I'm staying in Intro is because I want to get home at a semi-reasonable hour on a worknight.  If I took Next Steps, I wouldn't get home until around 11.  And that is way too late for someone who has to wake up at 5:45 the next morning.  Tap class starts again on September 9th.  The day after I run a half-marathon.  Joy.  Yes.  I'm running the Parks Half Marathon on September 8th.  If you're local, come out to cheer me on.  If you are hyper-local, give me a ride to the starting l...

Good Evening, Kittens! As you may know, yesterday (3/17) was the Best Day of the Year!  And, I spent the entire Best Day of the Year weekend in fabulous and exciting New York City!  *w00t* But, before I left, M came over on Thursday night for a little pre-birthday celebration (and a lot of hot buttsecks).  He gave me a watch as my present, which was very sweet ... but also shows that he doesn't listen very well.  I had suggested that he not buy me a present, but should cook dinner or something for me sometime in the near future.  Anyway, this is the watch: It is cute.  and green. Then, Friday morning, there may (or may not) have been more buttsecks and I may (or may not) have been a smidge late for work ... It was after work when the real fun began.  I metro'ed over to Union Station and had time to have 2 cocktails, a beer, and locate a likker store that sold little boxes of wine before boarding my train to NYC. I arrived in NYC aroun...

Good Evening, Kittens! Let's play catch-up!  Two weekends ago, I flew to North Carolina.  It was my Dad's 75th Birthday.  So, after work (and after a couple of martinis), I caught a plane to my brother's place in Greensboro.  Then, the next morning, we drove the 3.5 hours to my parents' town.  There we had a lovely lunch with about 10 of my parents' friends in the beautiful (if somewhat stinky) town of Canton.  Canton's Paper Mill  After lunch, we just chilled at the parents' house and eventually had dinner at a Thai restaurant.  It was not that great.  It started snowing.  "The snow's supposed to stop around 6PM," Dad said.  It snowed all night.  The View from My Parents' Deck Because it was (a) snowy and (2) 24 degrees F outside, I decided to wait to do my 11 mile run until I got to Greensboro.  Which is what I did ... And, then, I had an early dinner and several cocktails with my brother, his gf, and the...

Good Evening, Kittens! As I am waiting for K-Factor to get home from her meeting (so she can drive us to Pottery Class), I thought I'd take a few minutes to update you on my fun-filled weekend. Friday night, the plans I thought I had turned out to be plans for this coming Friday.  Oops.  Calendar Entry Error!  So, I spent the night at home.  Alone.  Eating gelato and watching "Milk."  Which, btw, was fabulous.  And made me cry.  Bastards! And, it snowed.  WTF? (other than it being cold.  and winter, i mean.  This isn't forking Canadia or something). Saturday, I did errand-like things.  And sort of thought about cleaning.  In the late afternoon, Tomokito came down and we drank many cocktails and talked of many things.  SCGB and his SCBF were supposed to join us, but SCGB had the sniffles.  Or he hates me. Saturday evening, Mike (Who Makes Cakes) invited me out ... but, um, it was cold.  And, WTF?, i...

Good Evening, Kittens. I have returned from a fun-filled and slightly exhausting weekend in the City of Brothers Who Love. After work on Friday, I headed to Union Station.  My train wasn't scheduled to depart until nearly 9PM, so I had arranged to meet a friend for drinks/food beforehand. Said friend never showed up.  Grrrrr.  And, then, made some lousy excuse.  This is a friend that I used to hang out with last year, but he met a boyfriend and ignored me.  Now, they have broken up, and he contacted me again.  I thought I would give him another shot.  Oh, well.  I am done with that guy. The train trip to Philadelphia was uneventful.  I was mostly drunk.  V from Philly picked me up at the train station and we drove back to his place.  Had a few drinks.  And went to bed (it was nearly midnight). The next morning, there may (or may not) have been some Morning Fun.  Then, we met Lora for brunch at the Green Eggs Ca...

Good Evening, Kittens! It's been a heckuvaweek (so far). Monday, I went to the Trader Joe's.  And, then, I ironed 10 shirts.  Later, K-Factor came down and we watched "True Grit" (the remake, not the original).  It was pretty damn awesome.  I also made a potato leek soup (plus carrots).  It was delicious. Later that evening, K-Factor and I went to pottery class.  I made three bowls, worked on my mini-soup tureen project, and glazed two mugs and a bowl.  Good times. Tuesday, after work, I went for a 3.5 mile run.  And, then, I attended my monthly co-op board meeting.  Joy. Wednesday, I did laundry and talked to my BFF from college.  AND, today, THURSDAY, I had the job interview.  I think it went well.  I hope it went well.  I need the significant increase in salary that it would bring.  And, this evening, another Board member and I had an orientation/interview with a prospective buyer of one of the vacant u...

Good Evening, Kittens.  As I sit here waiting for Sandy, I thought I'd take a few minutes to update you on my week and weekend. The week was SuperCrazyBusyInsane!  I had a major deadline on Friday plus an event for Energy Action Month on the same day.  I spent most of the week trying to get all of that done.  GAH!  Fortunately, the event was a success (yay!) and I managed to get all of my reports and databases turned in on time (double yay!). After work on Friday, I was in a celebratory mood, so I came home, put on my pajamas, and made a martini.  As I was settling in for a long night of sofa-blobbing.  My friend, V, texted, "are we still going out tonight?" ... D'oh!  I had totally forgotten about that.  Oops.  SO, I put on real clothes.  He picked me up.  We had a quick dinner in Downtown Silver Spring, and, then, we went to the Green Lantern.  We left around midnight.  It was boozy good times. I may (or m...

Good Morning, Kittens! Not much to catch up on from the week.  Work is work.  I missed pottery class last Monday (sore back.  bad rain.  lazy).  My date with the SuperHot Trainer Guy got postponed (again).  His other job keeps him very busy, and he has to work late a lot.  *sigh*  And, I did laundry. This weekend, however, quite a bit happened. I decorated for Halloween.  Meaning, I put up my Halloween lights, including the Cute New Mummy Lights I got using a Target gift card I found the other day. THEN, I got a package: Cute Nu Shoooooz!  They are an early Xmas present from my parents.  Yay for parents who support your bad habits! That evening, I met SCGB at Adega for wine and carb-loading.  I had (most of) a ginormous flatbread pizza.  YUM! And, on Sunday, I woke up SuperEarly.  My co-worker and her BF picked me up and we headed to the Army Ten Miler.  I had a pretty good run.  It w...

Good Evening, Kittens! This past week has been chock full of fun and excitement!  Especially if you define "fun and excitement" as "feeling like Death Warmed Over!"  YAY! I contend that V from Philly gave me some sort of Deadly Philadelphia Germ.  He refutes that claim, because he has not been sick. Whatever.  Carrier. ANYWAY, I spent most of the week feeling like El Crapola.  The cold has been mostly in my chest.  Lots of coughing and hacking.  Not much sinus pain (huzzah for small favors).  And, thus, I did not do much. I did go to pottery class, where I threw two (future) mugs and a bowl. I also made two very yummy soups: black lentil/tomato/vegetable and thai red curry butternut squash (pictured above). This weekend, I have been feeling a bit better.  Still, I cancelled my planned daytrip to Philly to hang out with the fabulous Lora and Bossy.  I will see them -fer sure- when I run the Philadelphia Half Marathon in Nove...

Good Evening, Kittens! What a weekend!  It was definitely too short.  At least this coming week is only a four-day week for me!  and a four-day weekend!  BUT, enough looking ahead.  Let's look back and reflect ... My work week was pretty much the usual exercises in clusterfuckery.  I did have a phone interview.  We'll see how that goes.  I think the job would be interesting.  And I think it will pay more.  Not sure if I impressed them during the interview or not, though.  Oh, well.  We'll see ... I also got the bid for my kitchen remodeling project - $15,000.  Not including appliances.  My parents were supposed to be helping me pay for it.  But, after talking with my mother tonight, I'm not so sure I want their help.  Although I'm also not sure how I will pay for it otherwise.  Ugh.  There was too much "that's too expensive" and "you should find another contractor" and "you should get lower...

Good Evening, Kittens!  I hope your weekend (and the last of last week) was full of fun and excitement and delicious foodz.  Mine sure was! On Thursday, I made like an animated rat and made ratatouille.  The photo on the left is the Pre-Cooked Ratatouille.  I found a recipe in my Mark Bittman cookbook, How to Cook Everything Vegetarian , which included instructions for a stovetop version.  It was super easy.  And really yummy.  Yay! Plus, it used up almost all of my CSA veggies for the week. On Friday, I *finally* had my hairz did.  I missed my last two appointments because of my back and the training I went to.  SO, it had been almost 12 weeks since my last cut.  UGH.  My hairs were driving me crazy.  On the plus side, I suppose, is that you can now see what my actual natural hair color is ... So dark!  So gray! Fortunately, an hour or two later, I was restored to my full blond glory ... My Natural Color...

Good Morning, Kittens! As further proof that (if there is a God) S/He hates me, on Tuesday my back was almost entirely pain-free.  Not 100% better, mind you, but close ... maybe like 95%.  I was ecstatic.  I made all sorts of plans for the weekend ... like going for a short run.  And, well, that was it.  I was going to get back into running. And, then, Wednesday happened.  I awoke at my regular time (5:15AM) and tried to get out of bed.  "Tried" being the operative word.  WTF?  My back was in excruciating pain ... AGAIN!  SRSLY.  I am totally over this whole Bad Back Thing.  At least this time, I knew to get up and move around.  But, still, I have been in mucho pain the past couple of days.  I have left work early every day just because I can't stand it and I want to come home and be horizontal.  Hello, Heating Pad, my old friend.  I've come to lie on you again ... But enough about the sharp stabby...

Good Morning, Kittens! Grab a cup of coffee and let's chat about our weekends ... Friday, I had a chill evening at home, watching Charlie's Angels , Season 1, on DVD.  Oh, yeah.  Good times.  A HUGE storm came through, so that was fun.  Luckily, my building didn't lose power. On Saturday, I did lots of blobbing around the house.  And I cooked up some of my CSA veggies.  I did a stirfry with sweet onion, green squash, and tatsoi (which is some weird Asian leafy green).  AND, I threw in a jalapeno that I grew in my "garden." That afternoon, Tomokito had a small gathering at her apartment.  K-Factor and the Canadian were there.  And Eric from Baltimore came down.  And, I invited V (not the V in Philly, the V that lives up the road a ways).  Lots of boozy good times.  Then, V, Eric from Baltimore and I went to dinner.  Yummy Yummy Thai Foods.  Mmmm.  Tasty. After dinner, Eric from Baltimore headed back to ...

Good Evening, Kittens. And, *ugh*, blogger has a new look. So annoying to try to figure it out.  Bleah. ANYWAY, lots has been going on in Vutopia recently.  First, I received a call from the Brooklyn DA.  It would seem that a bandana recovered at the scene of my mugging last year had a DNA hit ... And, now, I may be extending my upcoming trip to NYC for a day in order to testify in front of a Grand Jury.  Good times.  Even if nothing comes of my part of the case, this kid is going to be put away for quite some time, I think. And, as a bonus, the DA's office will presumably pay for me to change my train ticket.  Huzzah. As for my weekend, I didn't do anything on Friday night except go to bed early and sleep late (well, late for me.  I woke up at 7:30).  Saturday was our co-op's yardwork day.  I weeded.  Spread mulch.  Trimmed bushes.  Good times. And on Saturday night, I went to bed VERY early, because I had to get u...

Good Evening, Kittens. After my rather boozy weekend and the interesting way brunches have been ending for me recently, I decided to declare this week (and maybe next) International Liver Resting Week(ish) 2012! Yes, I'm going off the sauce for a little while and drinking delicious smoothies (like the blueberry, apple, spinach, carrot, cashew one pictured) every day. Mmm. Smoothies. My liver has been working overtime and needs a vacation, fer sure. I think I'm going to wait until after the Parkway Classic 10-Miler on 22 April to fall off the wagon again. That way I can also use the "I'm training" excuse for the whole Not Drinking Thing. On the plus side, K mentioned that he is also giving up the boozy deliciousness for the week. Apparently, he, too, had a little too much fun this past weekend. We're going out to dinner on Friday. Hm. What is dinner out without booze even like? So odd ... In other news, pottery class yesterday was rather uninspiring. ...