Andi’s Blog…or life according to the voices in my head…

Last night we went to a Round Rock Express game. It was so much more fun than I expected it to be. Before this I’d only ever been to one college game many years ago in the middle of the daytime scorching heat with terrible seats way up high despite the fact that the stands were only about ¼ full. Still, that was my only baseball experience prior to last night so I expected to be a bit bored. I was quite pleasantly surprised.

When we arrived, the air in the stadium seemed to be buzzing (even more so than at the one pro hockey game I’ve attended). It was a gorgeous August evening, pleasantly warm with a nice breeze, perfect weather for a baseball game. First we found the beer and big pretzels, and then we found our seats. I’m not sure if it was the beer or our close seats (only 14 rows up from the field) but something really made this game exciting. Oh wait, it could have been that we were sitting in the foul ball section and almost every single batter popped one right into our seats. The likelihood of getting pegged in the head by a fast moving leather sphere will certainly force a person to pay attention to the game.

It was early in the game when we almost got our hands on a ball. It looked like it was heading right for us, but landed a few seats over across the aisle. It bounced once and the guy on the end of that row caught it with one hand without even spilling the chili fries he was holding in his other hand. We were all quite impressed. Not long after that another one headed for us but landed 2 rows back. A little girl about 7 or so tried to catch it right out of the sky, but it smacked her hand pretty hard and she lost it. She did her best to hold back her tears, but a few seconds later she was whimpering and clutching her hand. I hope she didn’t break anything; she did spend the rest of the game with an ice pack on her hand though. The guy a few seats over who got the ball when the little girl lost it was nice enough to give it to her, so I was happy when he caught a squishy souvenir ball during the 7th inning stretch. I thought the little girl was quite a trooper and handled herself well, not wailing and making a big scene. Especially since a few minutes later a left handed batter sent a foul into the stands on the opposite side of the field and that ball caused a whole gaggle of teenage girls to scatter and scream so loud we could easily hear their high-pitched shrieking all the way over on our side.

Baseball, as it turns out, is a pretty low scoring game. At the bottom of the 7th we were still tied with the Salt Lake City Bees 0-0 when we finally made something happen with 2 runs. We scored again in the 8th and ended up winning the game 3-0.

So what did I learn from this wonderful summer evening? I learned that cotton candy has flavors. I never knew this until the cotton candy lady came to our section shouting, “COTTON CANDY!!!! GET YOUR BLUE RASPBERRY AND STRAWBERRY COTTON CANDY!!!!” Seriously, I always thought cotton candy just had colors, blue pink and the occasional yellow and that it was just cotton candy-flavored, or more accurately sugar-flavored. I had to check this out for myself so I got some of the blue stuff and it tasted like…cotton candy. Maybe my palette is not sophisticated enough to detect these new flavors.

Anyway, we had a great time. I think we are now baseball fans, and I guess since Tim grew up in Houston and the Express are a farm team for the Houston Astros, then that makes us Astros fans too. We’re planning on attending a couple more games this season if we can make it happen with our schedules.

HAPPY MAZDA DAY TO ME!!!

I got my “new” car today! She’s a 2003 Champaigne color 5 speed Mazda Protege…not actually new, but definitely the newest car I’ve ever owned and I totally love her. I’ve been so excited since we picked her up today. It feels like Christmas!!!

I want to post more, but I’m too worn out from all the excitement. I’ll try to post a picture soon.

I know it’s been a while, but I haven’t been all that inspired to post anything. The only real update is that I have rejoined the workforce. A little over three weeks ago I started working at the big hardware store that’s not the orange one. I’m the paint counter girl. Basically it’s an ok job, but less than a month in and the hell that is retail is already taking a toll on me. I just keep reminding myself that as long as all goes as planned with school this will be my last crap job before I can start my real career. Still, at this point that seems so far away. I’m not really in the mood to delve into the mundane details about mixing paint colors, and I’m definitely too tired to explain how horrible the management at this store is, so I guess that about sums up the news.

Oh, and the two classes I’m taking this fall are the last prerequisites I have to complete. If I get A’s in both of these I’ll have a 4.0 when applying to the radiology program next spring. Admission to the program is based entirely on GPA, so I don’t see how they could possibly deny me. I guess there’s at least a little good news in this post.

Sorry for the long delay in posting, but my summer has been devoted to some rather intense classes. It’s not that the material was all that difficult, just that they cram an entire semester into 5 weeks so it’s a little daunting and I took classes both summer sessions, so not much time to breathe. My last test is tomorrow in College Algebra. It’s not a cumulative final which is nice, and I’ve done so well on the 3 previous tests that I only have to score a 35 or better to make an A. That takes a lot of pressure off! The other nice thing is that an A in this class (along with the 4.0 I have in the rest of my pre-reqs) should more or less guarantee my acceptance into the radiology program. Wish me luck.

Last night Tim and I went to dinner with my mom. After dinner we stopped by Home Depot because Mom wanted some new flowers to plant in her backyard. While she was shopping in the garden section Tim and I went to check out tile options (he’s redoing the master bath in his house). We were a bit disappointed with the tile selection and didn’t want to leave Mom alone in the garden section too long, so amazingly we were able to leave Home Depot without Tim spending a single dime.

After we dropped my mom and her new plants off we decided to go out for ice cream. I haven’t had Baskin Robbins in ages, so this was a nice treat. We had a lovely time sitting on the outside bench, licking our ice cream cones, and watching a very small boy with a huge head run around. He looked like a small life-sized bobble head.

Then we headed to the grocery store because I needed four specific items, milk, apples, kitchen funnels, and face soap. This was meant to be a quick in and out mission, but alas… My grocery store was remodeled and expanded a couple of months ago. I’ve been in several times since then, but I usually go directly to the isles I need and don’t spend much time browsing. This trip was different. We got “lost” in one of the remodeled sections and Tim found the amazing dollar isle. Everything on it was only $1, and it wasn’t all crap either. I found a car charger for my cell phone for $1; Cingular wanted somewhere in the neighborhood of $20 for a car charger when I got the phone. Granted this one doesn’t have the official Cingular logo and the plastic casing doesn’t look quite as sturdy, but how much abuse is a car cell phone charger really going to get? Tim found seven tool related items. I find it a little ironic that he didn’t spend any money in Home Depot but got seven $1 items at the grocery store, and he’s pretty picky about his tools, so he was ecstatic about the deal. They were all little things, some clamps and stuff like that, no power tools, but still it was a bargain.

Then I happened upon a dream item. I was so excited that I think I bought about half a dozen of these. There has been a huge void in my life since KFC did away with the Spork several years ago and started using regular boring plastic flatware just like everyone else. Now I finally have a Spork again, and it’s a bottle opener too! 24 hours later and I’m still giddy about it. :-)

I just read Sharron’s post on child leashes which reminded me of a radio debate I heard on my drive home yesterday. Apparently the DJs had gone to the opening of some swanky new joint in town and were horrified when another guest started breastfeeding her infant at the bar. One of these DJs is a mother of 2 and clearly stated that she wasn’t opposed to breastfeeding but that there are limits on what is socially acceptable. This started a tirade of angry calls from mothers claiming that these DJs were opposing breastfeeding and supporting “formula milk propaganda” when everyone knows that breast milk is much more nutritious for the baby. There were also several calls from stupid guys with comments like, “Sure it’s ok to breastfeed in public. Heck, anytime I get to see me some hooters I’m one happy sumonabitch!” The DJs tried to get across that they weren’t even opposed to public breastfeeding as long as the mother was discreet, but that there are places where it isn’t acceptable such as this swanky bar opening, and that this mother wasn’t at all discreet and totally exposed herself to everyone in the bar. People kept calling in saying that it was a natural thing and prude Americans should just get over it and that a mother has a legal right to breastfeed anywhere at anytime.

Ok, I’m not a mother, so I’m not sure if I’m qualified to speak on this or not. I guess my general opinion is that Americans are a bit prude, but I don’t see that changing anytime soon and a polite person will have the presence of mind to consider whether or not her actions would cause other people to be uncomfortable in certain situations. There are lots of things that are natural bodily functions, but that doesn’t mean that it’s acceptable to do them all in plain view of the surrounding people, and just because something is a legal right doesn’t make it universally appropriate. As far as the breast milk vs. formula milk argument…isn’t that what breast pumps are for?!

But let’s stop a moment and look at what’s really wrong with this whole picture and what not one single caller bothered to mention. SHE HAD AN INFANT IN A BAR!!! Not only do I find this completely unacceptable in terms of what is good for the baby, but I’m also quite fed up with having my adult time ruined because selfish parents insist on dragging along their rug rats to places that should be adult only venues. I’m not just talking about bars. I recently had what would have been an otherwise pleasant dinner in a somewhat upscale restaurant ruined by an adjacent table. At the aforementioned table sat 2 parents. 5 kids accompanied them, but none of these kids were sitting at the table. No, they were all 5 running around the table, stealing each others food, arguing, spilling drinks, and making A LOT of noise. As if this general annoyance wasn’t bad enough, they kept our poor waiter so busy that I never once got a refill on my beverage and we almost had to ask another waiter to get our check.

So, I guess in my opinion the best solutions can be summed up with the following words: discretion, breast pump, babysitter, pizza guy, child friendly restaurants with playscapes.

As a sidenote, I have a friend who’s currently going through tons of redtape so that he and his wife can be approved to adopt through the state rather than a private agency. They are having to take parenting classes, parenting tests, all of their finances are under contstant review, and even the size of their house and the condition of their neighborhood are heavily weighted factors in how many children they are allowed to adopt if they are approved at all. Happily, it looks good for them, but I can’t help wondering if we wouldn’t all be better off if they made EVERYONE get a “parenting license” before one was allowed to reproduce. Ok, ok, I know that’s a bit extreme and a little Brave New Worldish, but I still wonder…

Wow, a lot has happened since April and I haven’t posted about any of it. I’ll start with the school update. I finished the spring semester with A’s in both of my classes. I was quite sure I’d get an A in Algebra, so sure, in fact, that I didn’t waste any time studying for the final at all. I spent all of my study time sprucing up my lab book and studying for my Anatomy & Physiology final. I started off strong in the beginning of the semester, but near the end I was terribly worried that I’d end up with a high B in that class, but a B is a B. Somehow I managed to pull it off and got the A I desperately needed for my Radiology application next spring.

Ok, enough about school. I’m sure that the tens of you who actually read this are far more interested in news about the boy that I’ve eluded to in a couple of vague entries. Tim and I started dating in early April and life has been a blast since then. Our first date was a nice picnic in the park. He brought the food, and it was real food, not just bologna and mayo sandwiches. We spent a couple of hours flying my awesome dragon kite (67” wingspan). At first we had a little trouble keeping it in the air since the wind wasn’t constant, but once I figured out that I could gently tug the string and make the wings flap to gain altitude it was great. That’s right, you can make the wings FLAP and it looks like a “real” dragon actually flying. It scared all the other silly kites away. ;-) After the kite flying we played some putt-putt and discovered that I really suck at putting. I think I’ll stick to 9-ball instead of golf.

We’ve had several fun dates since then and I won’t bore you with all the details, but here are some highlights. Tim likes to get lovely flowers like these stargazer lilies just to have on the table when we have dinner at his place. He also sent some yellow lilies to my house after our 4th date (he made me dinner). I was floored; no one has ever sent me flowers before. Sadly, I didn’t think to get a picture of those, but I am attempting to root the yellow roses that were also in that arrangement. He made me veal parmesan which was really special, but what really got my attention was that he remembered from a previous dinner date that I love artichoke hearts and he sought out a recipe for artichoke dip so that I could snack on that while he cooked the main course. I seem to have discovered a rare creature here-to-fore thought to be only a myth: Attention to Detail Man. Now, before I get flooded with angry comments from defensive guys let me just say that I’m sure many of you are well meaning and perhaps a few of you even fall into this category. For the rest of you, take note – little special things like this artichoke example are far more impressive to most women than jewelry that you had some random salesgirl help you pick out.

Although it was only a few weeks into the relationship, Tim bravely accepted my invitation to accompany me to my cousin’s wedding in Shreveport, LA. We had a fabulous time, and it was nice to get all dressed up for a change. Speaking of dressed up, I had a terrible time trying to find a dress that I liked. After trying on what must have been the 50th dress I decided that the stores are selling nothing but crap this season and I’d be better off to make my own dress. I was very pleased with the way it turned out, especially since I made a few alterations to the original pattern. Most notably, I decided not to put a zipper in the back. Zippers tend to be a bit unforgiving both from the sewing and the wearing points of view. Besides, I thought my lace-up idea was much prettier.

Last weekend we had a mini-vacation in San Antonio. We spent Saturday at Six Flags. The lines weren’t too long, but getting stuck in the sun was a little exhausting. Tim got this cute pic of me with the Looney Toons gang. I didn’t notice it at the time, but that wascally wabbit was definitely up to no good. We had fun on all of the rides, but our favorite was definitely the Superman Krypton Coaster.

Sunday we went to the zoo. It was a nice fairly breezy day, and the zoo had lots of shade which made things more pleasant. Still, most of the big animals were too hot or napping too far away (if they were out at all) to be very photogenic. Many of the small animals were a little more perky, but seemed a bit camera shy and usually zoomed off right as I was about to take a picture. Here are a few that did come out ok: a rare albino alligator and a squirrel monkey that had the cutest face, but turned away just as the camera snapped. This little monkey apparently found me quite arousing. He took one look at me as we stepped up to his pen and then he immediately started spanking his own little monkey. Thankfully Tim didn’t get a picture of that.

I’ve also gotten Tim hooked on Firefly. We have 3 episodes to go and then Serenity which we’ll probably get to sometime this weekend. It’s so nice to finally be in a relationship again. It’s been far too long, but Tim was definitely worth the wait. :-)

Well, I think that about sums it up for now. I promise I’ll try to be better and post new updates in a more timely fashion. Cheers! :-)

Today I was eaten alive…by mosquitoes. Seriously, this wasn’t just a couple of pesky bites. I felt one on my arm, then smacked at one on my thigh. Then I looked down and both of my legs from knee to ankle were literally covered. I couldn’t see skin, only black insects happily draining the life juice from me. I think I ended up with about 50-60 bites in a matter of seconds. My legs swelled up a little and I’ve felt pretty crappy the rest of the day since then. I went to the grocery store shortly after the incident to get some sort of bug bite/sting remedy, but by the time I got there the itching had mostly stopped. When I got home I took a Benedryl tablet which knocked me out for a few hours. I figured the Benedryl might help neutralize the poison since a few summers ago a pharmacist recommended it when I got stung by a scorpion that had been secretly stowed away in my pocket for several hours before he woke up and stung me, but that’s another story.

Anyway, I guess I’m mostly better. The swelling has gone away, most of the itching has subsided, and thanks to my Benedryl induced nap I now only feel groggy rather than weak, dizzy, queasy, and shaky like I did shortly after I was swarmed. Can an OD of mosquito venom make a person sick, or am I just being a big wus? As long as I’m not sick tomorrow (mini vacation this weekend) then I’m happy.

All I have to do today is clean the house and do some laundry so I’ll be ready for my date on time tonight. Doesn’t sound too daunting, still, I can’t seem to get started on anything. I’ve spent half the day doing…well…nothing. That’s not entirely true. I did waste the better part of an hour playing kitten cannon. Then I happened upon a CD I forgot I had and decided it was absolutely imperative that I load it onto my IPod now. It seems I’ll do anything to keep from doing what I should be doing. If I can just get the first load of laundry to the washing machine then maybe everything else will magically fall into place…

Perhaps I’ll write more on this later, but for now I just want to bask in the moment. Today I had my best first date ever. :-)