Ten on Tuesday! Volume 15

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1. What does your car say about you? If you don’t have a car, what kind of car would be your daily driver?
I drive a pretty common car (charcoal Corolla), so I don't think that can say much about me.  But if you were to peek inside, you'd figure 3 things about me: 1) bit of a neat freak, 2) apparently I drink a lot of water because the only 'trash' in it are water bottles, and 3) why doesn't she label all the CDs she burns?  You might also think I'm a secret fatty because I keep a lot of random snacks (Ritz, granola bars, a tube of chips, etc.) tucked into obscure places (center console, door pockets, under seats, glovebox, etc), but it's actually because I always forget to eat, so I have to have food ready when I inevitably start shaking from not eating.

2. To this point, what has been your purpose on this planet?
I'm still discovering this.

3. If you could trade places with any person for any amount of time, who would it be?
Anna Wintour.  Simply because I'm incredibly curious about her life and the power she has.

4. What is your favorite kind of cake? If you don’t like cake, what is it about it that you don’t like?
Pound cake or carrot cake.

5. Would you have wanted to live in your parents’, grandparents’ or great-grandparents’ generation or only your own?
As interesting as I'm sure it would have been, no, I like my generation.  We take it for granted and we're criticized a lot (which I fully support), but it's a pretty amazing place to be in: we are the bridge to the new technological era, the ones raised in the "old" ways but having to make it and adapt to the "new."  It's difficult, but there's nowhere else I'd rather be.

6. Do you have any home remedies for illnesses, cleaning or otherwise?
Not really, at least none that I can think of.  I know 5 different ways to stop/treat a bloody nose, though (do NOT tip your head back, whatever you do).  Thank you, dry weather and a brother whose sinuses don't know how to function properly.

7. What is your ideal weather situation?
I love love love crisp fall days, where it's just cold enough to make your lungs hurt when you inhale and have to wear a good coat with a scarf and boots, but not freezing enough where all I'm doing is counting the moments until I can find a heater.

8. What is your best attribute (physical or personal)?
Oh dear...I really like my nails?  Odd, I know, but I get compliments on them a lot, and I take care of them.  So...that's nice.  And a personal attribute, I don't know--you'd have to ask someone close to me.

9. Do you text or surf while driving?
Nope.  I will sometimes text when I'm sitting at a stop light, but that's rare.  And I don't get internet on my phone, and I'd rather not; I love my social network, but I don't find it necessary to be connected all the time.

10. How long have you known your best friend?
Which best friend?  The best friend I've had the longest I've known for 12 years now, and my most "recent" best friend I met in 2nd year of college.   I miss them both terribly :(

The last picture of us! We were 11/12 years old.

I don't know what's up with my hair.
And yes, we are in a pumpkin patch, with cardboard cutouts of fruits and veggies.  Jealous?

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Well hello again, little blog.

Literally 1 of 2 photos I took the entire past 2 weeks.  Field view (and I swear we're closer than the photo looks).

Scoreboard! Loved it because of the Jack-in-the-Box ads.

In no particular order and almost zero explanation, this is what I've been up to the past 2 weeks:

D&Bs. Disgusting beer. Denny's 2-4-6-8 menu. Estate Sales. Greek food girls night. Sorrows drowned in a brownie cake hybrid dessert a la mode. Documentaries. Coffee Bean. WiiFit and Snowball Fight tournaments. Hiking. Seeing burn areas. Being terrified. Libraries. Windansea Beach in La Jolla. Being annoyed by high school girls trying to prove how tough and awesome they are by regaling everyone with stories of being, like, soooooo drunk.  Mexican food and margaritas and piña coladas.  Christina Aguilera's "Bionic" album. Shopping.  Book sales.  Creative havoc in the La Jolla Brookstone.  Reserved Chik-fil-a meals, because we're baller like that.  Padres vs. NY Mets game (18-6 Pads, wooo!). Fireworks shows. Panera drop-ins and writing sessions. Being amused that people are legitimately sad Panera took away the couch in their café. Downtown walking. Viewing parties. Bacon filled pancake tacos. Encinitas. Late night boba drinks. Summer dresses.  Tans (naturally, not GTL style). Grad school researching.

Hmmm...I'm slightly disturbed at how much food is mentioned there.  No wonder why I've been feeling more and more fat days.

Estate sales are really strange.  Fun, but strange.  A friend who found out I had gone to a few was thoroughly disgusted and said it was disturbing and gross, but...I don't really think so.  It's hardly a difference between thrift store shopping, you just happen to know the owner has passed.  What are they going to do with all that stuff, toss it in a landfill??  I suppose I can see the revulsion in terms of their clothing or bed linens.  But anyway, I found I really liked it mostly because it appealed to the journalistic/anthropological side of me.  (More commonly known as the nosy side.) I mean, one of the guys was a shoe repair cobbler and we got to see his entire workshop and all the tools he used! How cool is that?? You hardly find cobblers these days, at least not around these parts.  If I were a collector searching for antiques or vintage things, estate sales would be a haven.  One of the houses had every issue of Life magazine from 1936-1975!

The hike was fun.  I shouldn't even call it a hike, it was more a "nature walk" because holy geez our guide was going incredibly slow and stopping literally every step to talk about the flora.  I was surprised to learn that the trail we went to is in my suburb, right at the north end by the lake; I had no idea such things existed here.  A lot of it was sad, since you could see the burn areas from Firestorm 2007 still.  I almost almost almost made it to the water stream, but I had a massive freakout before and had to turn back, which is pretty disappointing. I was doing just fine, making it through all the weird plants and poison ivy (not through that, obviously, but you know what I mean), caterpillars, butterflies, flies, even the fire ants and the bees!  But then the guide stopped us to show us a trapdoor spider nest and starts telling us about how they trap their prey and all the other spiders that live out there.  I made it a few more minutes on the trail, but I couldn't get past the creepy crawly feeling and everything was making me jump, so I had to give up and get back to the safety of the parking lot.  Spiders...ugh.

Because a few people have asked, no, I'm not at Panera all the time because I adore it and need it and have their bread running through my veins.  While all that may be true, it's mostly because that's where my brother works.  I know all the people working there and I don't feel awkward going to work/write without buying anything.  And sometimes they even give me free stuff =D

And that is why I have been scarce around here.  And anywhere else.  Reader is backed up again, but I'm getting to it all, slowly but surely.  And getting back slowly but surely to blog comments.  I love you all for your patience!

Oh, in relation to that last post with the wrist pictures, I forget that people haven't always been following my blog, or haven't always read what I post, or things of the sort.  To those who asked, I have "the beginning stages of carpal tunnel" in both my wrists, and computer work aggravates it sometimes.

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Crappy webcam photos on the rise!

Through the magic of the internet, no one knew that I was "away" for awhile.  A few of the posts were written the day posted, but most of them were pre-set to be put up.  Why?  Was I on vacation? I freakin' wish.  Did I get a job? Psh.  Did I take a bloggy break? Not willingly.

This is me.  You know me.  Hi, me.

Please excuse the hair, it was a frizzy, puffy kind of day.  And it has since grown out quite a bit from the cut!  So, let's say this scene is that I'm working on my resumé.  Normally, I'd type my name, which uses the left hand.  But--oh! What's this?

Yeeep.  That wrist is wrapped.  Typing is still possible, but...not very efficient.  So, one hand typing!  Let's go, right hand!

Oh.  Well there goes that.

So, that's the reason I've had to resort to scheduled posts, and the reason why posting may be a bit slow around here.  I'm pretty sure my wrists are acting up because I keep my computer significantly lower than I should when I type, but I've still got to let them rest for a bit.  Since taking leave, they are better, which is nice to be able to do things and not think "ouch ouch pain pain pain" constantly.

BUT, I'll do what I can when I can.  And I'm hoping to use this downtime to catch up on my Reader and actually read all the other blogs and comment, since using the mouse and leaving small comments doesn't aggravate anything.

A post coming soon as to what I've been up to, but I hope everyone had lovely long weekends!

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