"Our lives are like "office space", you know, just with out the comedy..."

Ah, Dustin, you continually put a smile on my face! I liked this quote so much that I had to publish it...

Cannot wait for this weekend!!!

Count 'em Down!!

Okay...

1 more day (after today) of work for the year...
2 more days until we hit up San Francisco and the party is off the chain...
2 days until pay day...
15 days until Luis and I go to Portland...

WHAT THE EF?!?!?!?

Um, yeah....whilst going to work this morning, I encountered storm watch 2004 up close and personal...The wind obliterated my umbrella, blew my hood off, made it hard for me to walk, and the rain saturated my clothes - all in a matter of 15 seconds or less...So, here I sit at my desk, soaked to the bone (in wet jeans of all putred and uncomfortable things), attempting to dry off with my little mini-space heater, which I think may in fact explode at any minute from exhaustion...all I can do is laugh...

Inspiration...

"Don't ask yourself what the world needs; ask yourself what makes you come alive and then go & do that. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive."
~ Harold Whitman

"Back to reality"

I have been itching for a change...One that needs to come by my own instigation and one I don't seem to have the guts to perform...I thought I had stuff figured out the way I wanted and lo and behold things have inevitably shifted...I just gotta hang in there...my turn will come...

There have been some lame people out and about the last few days. Yesterday I had an "incident" in the mail room that has left me fuming...our mail man, albeit usually sweet and good natured, over-stuffed our boxes so when I was able to wedge one piece of mail out, it all came tumbling out on me...I was finally able to achieve a balance and pick it all up, when all of a sudden I tripped and all the mail went flying across the room. Pissed off, I threw my keys to the ground and started to pick all the pieces off the floor. While I was scooting around on my ass, some jack ass comes into the mail room staring at me and taunting me. "WHOA...look at your mess..." (repeat x4 with an even more obnoxious tone each time). I finally asked him if I was in his way and he said "oh, I can wait", to which I replied "No, you can't..." I figured, if he wasn't going to help, I wasn't going to give him any entertainment value...Bastard...So, I scooped up the first load and went back upstairs to the office.

Tonight I am playing santa :)

Can't wait to see everyone!!

New sets of countdowns:

1 day until I give Luis the rest of his gift
2 days until I go home for the Holiday
4 days until Christmast
10 days until New Years' Eve

Win some...lose some...

So, the GMAT has come and gone and I am none the wiser...literally...I achieved a sub-par score and am endeavoring to re-take the horrid exam...

Friday - aside from my academic snafu - was really fun. I had lunch with Luis, Silvia, Patirck, & Kareem @ Habana House and we managed to consume 2 pitchers of sangria. From there, I ran a bunch of errands, got ready, met up with Luis and went to my company holiday dinner at the Bayside in Newport. HOTT restaurant. My date looked very hott in his suit and we were definitely the "talked about couple". It was cute actually, my boss complimented me on the attractiveness of my date :) and how we are such a "hip couple", as we merely warmed up with the Beacon Pointe dinner. After, we were on our way up to Hollywood to meet up with Don & Vanessa, et. al. Copious quantities of alcohol and some funny stories later, Luis and I crashed on their couch.

Saturday - woke up to Lucy (the puppy) licking my face and crawling all over me and Luis. Hung out for a bit and then made the very hung-over drive back to Newport. I decided to do some stuff around the house and lay low. That consisted of wrapping presents and napping and watching "Win A Date with Tad Hamilton" strictly for the eye candy. (hehhehhehe) That night I met up with my granparents and some family friends at Buca Di Beppo for a 3 and a half hour dinner. It was so crowded - I rarely find myself in a clausterphobic state, but this was one of those occasions. I was against the wall and four deep and had no where to go. My grandma was practically sitting on me the whole time as there was no room. So, I was hung over and clausterphobic and in food coma from all the food we ordered...It was intense...fun, but intense...

Sunday I braved the mass of humanity and completed nearly all of my Christmas Shopping at South Coast Plaza. 3 gruelling hours later, I was exhausted, but accomplished. I had just enough time to go home and wrap some presents and meet up with the Sanchez family for dinner at Habana House. So relaxing - so fun! :) I went home to enjoy some Stoli Vanil and coke with Julie and her sister Noelle and some latent OC Drinking. Passed out around 11:30...

This weekend was great - all in all - because despite the let down of the test, I was spoiled by strong support from people who love me. They have all helped me to realize that there is always another opportunity for things and the GMAT is not the end of the world...

This week is going to be quick and chaotic. I am leaving to go home for Christmas on thursday afternoon and I can't believe all I have to do in the next 3 days...It is going to be some tight scheduling with people between now and then...

Jaded...

Okay, so there must be something in the air today...I feel like I am everyone's pin cushion...everyone I talk to looks at me like I have the plauge and gives me attitude...well, all except for Felix and Paul, who have been giving me pep talks this morning about kicking ass on the GMAT...but 2 out of like 15 people I have interracted with today is not a good ratio...

I am starting to really get nervous about the exam on friday...I really should have put more time and effort into studying and prepping...It became evident to me last night that although I am seemingly grasping a better understanding for basic math, I am too friggin slow at figuring out the answers...I can't help but feel stupid and lame...this is a really self-defeating process...I think I will doing "all right" on this test, but I am hoping for "stellar"...mediocrity isn't going to get me anything except a rejection letter from the schools I want to get into...So, I ask all my friends and loved ones to cross your fingers for me or light some candles or whatever be your standard...not to be cheesy, but to quote the Australian dance hit that was big in the clubs when I was last over there : "you know - I Need a Miracle...what I need to get me through..." (said repetitive and to a catchy bass line...)

I sliced my thumb last night when cooking (gasp! I tried to cook!!) and wouldn't ya know everytime I go to do something I bump it and it bleeds a little more...no fun...It wasn't a bad cut really, just in a poor location...

Work is grating my last nerves this week too...but I will vent about that at a later date...

Will give a weekend update later when I have refilled my coffee cup and have mellowed out a bit...

"I almost forget what it felt like to know when it feels right..."

I am ashamed to admit from where I got that quote...

I really have nothing profound or interesting to submit to this entry. I am merely ranting and raving as a form of killing precious paid time at my desk...I am performing somewhat of a protest at the moment and I do not want to finish updating a certain annoying someone's personal database...I feel that is not an efficient use of my valuable time, so I am going to engage in more entertaining activities for the time being...Just thought I would warn anyone so bold as to desire to read this drivel - you may just want to stop here.

Countdown until GMAT: 9 days
Countdown until "Ocean's 12": 2 days
Countdown until New Year's Eve in San Francisco: 23 days
Countdown until I can go home for the day: 45 minutes...

So tomorrow I am acting as super shuttle to medical offices for my grandparents. I am happy to do it for them, as they are always there for me when I need help...but the gesture scares me at the same time...I am scared to face the fear (head on) that keeps haunting me that my grandparents are in fact getting old and starting to (gasp!) act their respective ages...

I am increasingly excited for New Year's Eve!!! We are officially going to San Francisco to celebrate and I can't hardly wait!! Luis and I bought our plane tickets yesterday, which basically solidified the plans. It will be so much fun to go to the city and hang out with Dustin.

Let's see...what else can I ramble about...

I need a vacation...moreover, I need a night of good, stiff drinks, laughter, and antics...Anyone with me??

Okay...I am bored writing this - so it means it is time to stop before it gets more painful...for both the writer and the reader...

peace out...

"And it makes me feel so fine I can't control my brain..."

Name that artist & song! I will give an extra special present to anyone who can guess where those lyrics come from....

Actually - these particular lyrics were solely selected on the basis that they were random and catchy (per the norm), rather I am in such an elated mood...It is friday...business is outstanding....I am busy but content....I have plans this weekend....ahhhh....

So I went down to the basement to get the mail today and as I was waiting for the freight elevator to come back down to give me a lift the fire alarm started going off. All the building engineers came BOLTING out of a work room and ran into the stair wells. The stairs are supposed to be "fire safe", meaning if the building catches fire all the doors slam shut and people can stay safely in there until help arrives. Big generators came on instantly and all the magnetic doors slammed shut and i thought i was going to get stuck down in the basement. I had remembered from my safety class that i had to take (since i am the "floor marshall" for our suite) that the fire department was possibly going to do a random drill without telling us before the end of the year adn I was scared that this might be it. (i was scared because since i am the "floor marshall" i need to be there to make sure procedure is followed and everyone is out of the office and all the doors are closed. if i am not there to do this and the fire dept is doing a drill they can fine us like $5000.) so, in my infinite wisom, i decided to RUN all 8 flights of industrial stairs to my floor. the air generators were blowing gusts of air into the stairwells...it was intense. by the 4th floor it occurred to me that no one else was on the fire escape, so maybe the alarms stopped going off...i get the the 7th floor - all out of breath and shannon was standing at the door looking confused. i wheezed a "did the fire alarm go off" and she looked at me as though i were stoned. i explained what had happened and she laughed at me and told me i ran it for nothing. i dont regret it - it was great exercise....but still...kinda funny...

Happy friday...

You asked for my two cents and I gave you ten...

Reeeeeeal quick recap, since it has been a while.

Last week was Thanksgiving. Wednesday I flew home and hung out with the family. Thursday drank, played cards, ate a grip of food, watched movies. Friday drove out to Mt. St. Helens and saw it "blow some steam". Saturday went to dinner in the city for my mom's birthday at El Gaucho, which is on par with Ruth's Chris and was SOOOOOO good! I had a Blue Monk to drink , which I would love to try to make, if I can estimate ratios (it is made with Hypnotiq). Sunday flew back to the OC and was greeted by Luis who had for me the most romantic surprise :)

This week has been nuts. Monday worked almost an 11 hour day and earned a comp day because of it. I have been trying to make UPS labels (207 of them, to be exact) and it is taking FOREVER. I found out my friend got engaged and another is having DRAMA all over the damn place. I had coffee and pizookies with Silvia in Brea the other night and we nearly closed the joint we were so involved with conversation - it was great.

I need start buying Christmas presents and I NEED to work my ass off for the final push of studying before my exam. Lots on my mind, but I am in the best of spirits - because as with anything in life, there is a lot of fun to accompany the tedious! For instance, New Year's will be spent with Dustin in the Bay area!! I have some snowboarding possibilities lined up...Vegas trips...Maybe New York in March....

I really think we are on the verge of something great...2005, look out!!