- - Wednesday, January 28, 2004 That's it. I've officially gone mad. You guessed it, bad day at work. Work has just tied me into a pretzel for the upteenth time, and I'm going to get out if it kills me. Of course, staying would kill me, so unless I have an unnecessary infatuation with death, It's on with the new job hunt. And good lord, it feels like a hunt. One of those easter egg hunts from elementary school, were everyone around you is packin' eggs left and right, and all you want to do is see how many plastic easter eggs can fit into someone's ear before their head exploded. Wow, who needs theropy when you've got Dr. Blogger PhD! Heh heh...oh. Well, I made a few calls this morning for some job leads that I've aquired from last week, so it's back to the waiting game. One of these crazy days, I'm going to make reporting short track & traveling my job. Don't laugh, because I'm just that crazy.

posted by April @ 4:33 PM [[ 0 comments ]]

- - Monday, January 26, 2004 Hmmmmm. I believe I've discovered, or finally come to the sad realization, that I would need a computer surgically affixed to my lower abdomen to get all the work I'd only dream of getting done. Yeeeeah. It Mega bites. Omg. I'm starting to TALK like a computer! Quick...someone help me ram my head into....RAM? RAM! Damn. Alrighty then, in other news - I finished some business cards for Bridie. She had asked me if I could whip her up some nice cards that she could hand out to possibly future sponsors. They look a little something like this (except the lettering is a dark fushia: She also wanted to have some letter heads with the BF.com logo on them, for printing purposes. I'm hoping to have a little package of fun BF.com stuff for her if I should happen to see her in Cleveland. I have a few things to accomplish for tomorrow when I drag myself walk in the door from work. I've been doing really well about working out everyday, so I need to make that first. Somedays I feel like Rocky...except I don't know anybody named Adrian.

posted by April @ 11:49 PM [[ 0 comments ]]

- - Sunday, January 25, 2004 WARNING: Deep post ahead BUSY weekend. Eh, I don't like those. Checklist for the weekend 1. Nails done - check 2. Cleveland plane tickets purchased - check 3. Car washed - check Today was Josiah's 18th birthday. Josiah is the little brother of one of my close friends, Justin. I grew up with this family, and seeing the "baby" turn 18 was really makin' me feel...well, freakin' old. Ended up spending all day at Justin's, just catching up...it's been a while. I have some major web work to do this coming week. I have a lot of additional photos to add to Bridie's site, and some designs for a new venture I've been plotting for a while. I've been seriously thinking about the rest of my life, and what I want to do with it. Where I want to see myself in 5, 10 years. Lately, a big majority of my post have been introspective, mentally and emotionally. I must say that this seems to be a regular accurance at the beginning of the year, since I've had time to look back on what my life has become. I remember after graduating high school, I made a promise that I wouldn't let a year go by without being able to look back and see that I had accomplished something - something to move forward. Whether it was a physical move forward, or even an emotional growth. Have I been working on changing the things about myself that I don't like? Do I follow my heart even when nothing around seems to be encouraging? There's things about my character, my habits, that I've come to the point where I won't rest until I've improved, or at least moved to the next level. I've had a vision in my mind's eye since I was young of the person that I wanted to grow to be. My loved ones, from my perspective, praise me far more than I deserve sometimes...and yet, I appreciate it because it pushes me to be a better person. So many times this month, I've needed a friend. Eh, not just someone to help me decide if my ass is too fat for those jeans, or someone to remember to remind me that 2 Grande Caramel Frappacinos a week is to be my legal limit. I was told a long time ago that you were blessed if you could count the number of close friends you had on one hand. Those friends that sit with you during your trying moments, when you're most definitely not the most fun person to be around. Other's may want someone to come along and just fix their problems, but I've grown to love the quality of a friend that simply does not know how to make it better, but dammit, they'll give misery company - even if it hurts them. My emotions have been rocky lately, and the explaination as vague as the look on my face. All I can say is that I feel a transformation trying to happen inside me, and until now, I've been fighting it. Growing as a person can sometimes be the best and worst of experiences and what makes me laugh is I can safely say I feel like Apolo locked up in the cabin on the coast of Washington - forced to choose an ordinary life or press on to be the person we're destin to be. Maybe that's why I admire those Olympic athletes the way I do. It's their purpose that inspires and infatuates me. Nobody will make my dreams happen but me. I'm ready to take a giant step from my job as a teacher, and teach myself to take risks...if my dreams are worth it to me.

posted by April @ 9:39 PM [[ 0 comments ]]

- - Thursday, January 22, 2004 Back in Sac: any chance I could sit for a minute? WonderBlog's Analogy of the Day My life, ever since I reached the Terrible Twenties, moves along like a conveyor belt on the fritz. For a good portion of it's generally mediocre existence, it flows at a predictable pace. However, so often life gets a "short", and I'm moving faster than Michael Jackson being chased out of Chuck E. Cheese. Moral? Never mention Michael and Cheese in the same sentence. That was really gross. Today's Review Current job is fine, Current-future job is still waiting to be found, and I have a lot of web work to do. Talked to Kimo on the phone tonight, haven't chatted with "my boy" in a while, lol. Always fun catching up with him and Jan, 2 of my most favorite peeps in this short track area we call Life. Kimo has this crazy idea for us to go skating in Cleveland. I'm taking him up on it, since there's nothing (so I hear) like skating with Kimo Anton Ohno ;) Muahaha. Lupe's B-day Last weekend was awesome, and I'm so glad I strapped my lazy ass in my car and drove 3 1/2 hours to Visalia, CA. Lupes is the perfect host, and I always enjoy her company. She's also one of the biggest "Kid's at heart" that I know, so watching her turn the big 3-0 was hilarious. We spent time in Downtown Visalia, just working on catching up since the last time we were together (which was Marquette, actually). I took a shot of the Fox Theater. Birds of a feather flock together...and apparently all the freakin' birds in this town flock to Starbucks. Lupe and I decided to both wear our Marquette sweaters, just to see what anyone would say. Comments from "May I ask what club you're from?" to "Is that all you need to know in that sport, Go Fast - Turn Left?" made us giggle. We shopped til we dropped in Tulare, CA, which I kept raving about their Nike Factory Store. I have this weird infatuation with trucker hats, and have so much fun trying to make Lupe wear one. She hates them. But, being the persuasive Ape that I am, I managed to tie her to the Clearance section and got her to pose with a Dickie's classic. Before heading to the house, I HAD to take a shot of Lupe's license plate. It's pretty simple, to the point. Lupe's family are too sweet. No, serious, I have 2 cavities from all that sugary goodness. Getting the house ready for her birthday bash, her parents had a BBQ, and her sister, Julissa, was preparing to set the cake on fire. The big ghetto "30" on the cake was my idea...thank you. According to tradition, the birthday girl was to take a big bite from the cake after blowing out the candles. Eh, let's just say Lupe gets a bit messy with her cake. This cake, called Tres Leches is the most off the hook cake known to man. And it's got to be a secret, because all I heard about the location of such a confection was that Lupe's dad "Knows a guy, that knows a guy..." Yeah, sounds shady, but the cakes are freakin' good. The birthday after-party was Lupe and I heading out, having a few pitchers of Kool-Aid, and talking about life plans. Our dear sista of the West Coast, Molls, came down Monday afternoon to make the trio of what we affectionately call Chunky's Angels. It was great to see these two freaks, it's been far too long. Molly and I have the same 3 1/2 hour drive to Central Kali, so it's a great meeting place. Hopefully, before Cleveland, we'll all reunite yet again. Cuz Lawd knows y'all betta watch yo neighbahood when da "Angels" come rollin' inta town. Shoooot.

posted by April @ 1:24 AM [[ 0 comments ]]

- - Sunday, January 18, 2004 Weekend on the Rocks Lupe & I just finished watching the Long Track Championships in Nagano. Man, what I wouldn't give to visit Nagano, Japan, that place looks amazingly beautiful. J-Rod seemed to be in full effect, she skated so well. I must have missed Joey Cheek, I don't remember seeing him race. Now, Bonnie Blair was my hero when I was 16. She always killed the competition, and was, in my book, one of the ultimate women athletes. Some people dream all their lives to make it to the Olympics, and even fewer dream of the gold...and she's got 5 of those expensive neck weights. I would never miss the speedskating during the olympics if I knew that her or Dan Jansen would be there. But, I think that poor Bonnie needs to stick to winning medals for skating, because she gets a big disqualification for commentating...blah. You know how Jim Carey asked, "You wanna hear the most annoying sound in the world?". I swear on Apolo's RBC's he was refering to Ms. Blair. Well, looks like Lupes will spend her birthday on ice. tee hee. We're going to drive to Fresno, CA today to hit the ice skating rink. I haven't been ice skating in months, so just say a little prayer for my ass...and my head...aaaand pretty much all body parts prone to serious injury.

posted by April @ 1:13 PM [[ 0 comments ]]

- - Saturday, January 17, 2004 Kings won. I could feel it was going to be a win. I'm usually as serious about my Kings' games as I am my ST competitions, but I actually wasn't planning on watching the game, since I had a trip planned. After work yesterday, I packed up the car and drove 3 hours, 20 mins (record time) to Visalia, CA. to see Lupe for the weekend. Lupe's birthday is tomorrow, so we're trippin' the light fantastic here in Central Kalifornia. I drove into town about 8pm last night, and we went to Red Robin and had drink[s], a tower of onion rings, and a lot of laughs. The kings/lakers game was playing on the big screen in the Bar, so we grabbed a booth, and I glanced over every so often. Today we kicked it around Tulare, CA, and let me tell you, Tulare has a kick-ass Nike Factory store! I'll have to post up some pictures, if not tomorrow, then when I get home on monday.

posted by April @ 9:15 PM [[ 0 comments ]]

- - Sunday, January 11, 2004 Whoa. Long time, no blog. I'm one of those notorious overachievers that suffers from a nasty case of procrastination. Aaaaaand, that usually equals out to... Well, let's see. Moderate achieving willpower + over achieving delusion x procastinating tendencies = I'm - 12 "To Do"s in the hole. Ok, before you bust out the violin, or pass me a little cheese with my [wh]ine, I'm just venting the frustrations of before I finally got myself on track. A new year means a new set of goals, and if that means tattooing "Finish what you start" on my ankle to remind me, so be it. Of course, if I get tired of that mantra, I can always have the tattoo altered to say: "Finish when your smart". Hmm. Maybe I should just start out with that one.

posted by April @ 7:32 PM [[ 0 comments ]]