A Huge Thank You!

A huge thank you to everyone who called, PM'd, commented on my blog and came out last night to help me celebrate my birthday!!! I had a freaking wonderful time!

My best friend who lives in New York happened to be in town. Her husband had a conference in Monterey. She drove up yesterday around noon and we hung out all day. Just as we were leaving the house a flower delivery appeared. Turns out my roomie from my sophomore year in college sent me some gorgeous Gerber daisies. Thanks Peanut! That was so amazing! Got some nice sunburns on our arms from hanging out talking in the Botanical Gardens. Somehow we put sunscreen on our faces, but not our arms. Morons! Then we went to Ocean Beach for a bit.

Around 6 we met up with my other good friend Karen at Annabelle's Bar and Grill. Had a cocktail and then a bottle of wine with a yummy dinner. Finally headed over to my surprise location.

Kristine was a rock star and organized for everyone to surprise me at Mars Bar for some cocktails before BaGG. It was great to see so many folks who came from far away!! Made me feel all warm and gooey inside - no you pervs, not in THAT way. I reserve that for later in the evening. But I digress. I arrive and there was Muse, Lil' Shadow, Penguin, Omar, Kristine, Josh and his hot new girl whose name escapes me (sorry!). My best friend and Karen joined in the fun. Eddie Spaghetti showed up. Then my dear friend Raja appeared (in photo). The drinks were definitely flowing. From out of nowhere Kristine produced a fantabulous birthday cake. I think I had to blow out the candles at least 3 times. They probably just wanted me to keep bending over in that dress. ;-)

Some of us eventually headed over to BaGG where we spent the rest of the evening. Good times as always were had. It was great to see so many folks there - Kevin, Elliotte, Jen, Brenda, Matt, Ally, Chris, Tom, Martin, etc. The Miss BaGG contest was entertaining. I think we finally grabbed a cab around 2:45am or so. Didn't get to sleep until the usual 5am. Ugh - so fun to play, but lack of sleep is killing me. Had to be responsible finally around 9am and head home so I could grab my car and pick up my family at the airport. Was convinced to stay in bed a bit longer to snooze, but finally made the effort to leave at 9:30.

As I was driving to the airport my phone rings. It was Omar and Kristine wanting to know if I wanted to join them for cheeseburgers. Man that sounded SO good at that point in time. Unfortunately I couldn't join them. Figured it might be a bit wrong to leave my brother, sis-in-law and little niece stranded at the airport. It was a shame considering if they had called an hour earlier I would have been 3 blocks from them and it would have been so easy.

Been dragging all day, but it is fabulous to see my family. My brother and I put together my bookshelves today so that's nice to have that finished. It's great to hang out with Isabella - my 18 month old niece. And I love my brother and my sis-in-law. Really makes my birthday special to be able to spend time with them.

Anyway, again, a huge thanks to everyone for yesterday. An even larger thanks to Kristine for arranging it all! Y'all made me feel loved and that means the world! Big hugs to all. I'm a happy girl! :-)

This birthday recap was brought to you by the words Sapphire and Tonic and the number Way Too Many.

Any Wiser?

Another year older today. Turning 29...for the first (and only) time. :-) The last one in the 20s. I remember being 15 and thinking 29 was SO old. I have to say, I don't feel any differently than I did at 21. It's amazing how your perspective changes on things. Birthdays always are a time for me to reflect on life, where I stand and where I want to be going.

Sometimes I think I haven't accomplished nearly enough for someone who is 29. I had all these ideas and dreams as a kid of all the things I would have done by now. Then I have friends around to remind me just what I have done in such a short time and it makes me feel a bit better.

I remember when I was younger, I thought by this point I would have everything figured out and would just be cruising through life. Boy was I wrong!!! I'm still trying to figure out just who I am. The good news is that changes all the time. The bad news is...that changes all the time. Then again, constant growth is a good thing.

I've made a lot of strides in the past year. Trying to open myself up more to new experiences, new people, new things. Sometimes it is difficult though. Walls were built for a reason and work amazingly well. How do you retrain yourself to not hide behind them? How do you believe that putting yourself out there is a good thing? How do you change your thinking to believe that being rejected is okay because you still took the risk and put yourself out there and in that is victory? Why is it so much easier to hide behind our fears than to break out of them? And at what age do I finally pull my head out of my ass and do so?

Maybe this will be the magic year. Stay tuned. :-)

This moment of reflection was brought to you by the letter B and the number 29.

Ahhhhhhhhhhh The Madness

What a weekend! Friday night I met up with Muse, Twitch, Razor and Raven in Campbell. We took The Handbasket down to Defiance in Santa Cruz. Ended up with a prime parking space in front of the club. Had a blast meeting some new folks and running into some folks I didn't expect to see - Rodent, Jason, Ben, Neko, Astrea, etc.

The after party was in The Handbasket. I don't even know how many folks we had in there at one point. I'm not much of a drunk dialer, but when suggested by others I think it is a fabulous idea! I'm not sure how many folks we called, but I know there were a lot! They were probably confused by all the screaming and yelling, but it's just because we love y'all! I think poor BoyChaos got the brunt of it - how many of us ended up calling him anyway? 5? 10? I have no idea what time we got to "sleep" that night/morning. I know it was light outside for sure! I did get to cuddle with Ben for the whole two hours of sleep I think we all got.

Saturday we drove back to Campbell and I headed home. Took an hour nap and then went down by City Hall and registered for Bay To Breakers. Figured I should do it legally at least once! Headed to a 40th birthday party for a friend. Finally reached the point of exhaustion so headed home to try and go to bed early. Then I realized I had to plan my costume and get stuff ready for the next day so was up til around 11pm.

Up at 5:10 to get ready and catch some public transportation to meet up with Kristine and the Sports Basement crew. Met a hilarious guy from Long Beach who had flown up for the race while getting some Jamba Juice. Finally met up with everyone and we were on our way. Eventually met up with Penguin, Hunny, Sasha, Omar and crew. Ran into Koyote and Shahadi (sp?). Lost everyone again. Ran into Panty Free. Found some folks. Lost everyone again. Ran into Matt. Repeat.

Kristine and I eventually found our way to The Handbasket and hung out for a few hours which was really fun. Twitch was kind enough to drive us all to our homes. Tried to take a nap which was foiled by a few phone calls. My family and friends have fabulous timing! It was probably payback for the drunk dailing on Friday night. :-)

Was supposed to have dinner with my old roomie that night. Ended up doing dinner with my old roomie and another friend who needed some comfort when her boyfriend decided to prove the theory that boys are dumb.

All in all, a fabulous weekend! I think my liver hurts though.

Need to rest up so I can survive the birthday festitivies later this week. :-)

This weekend recap was brought to you by the letter A and the number 3.

Best and Worst

In the past two days I've heard the best and worst things said to me in a while.

The best quote:

On Wednesday night with the current undefined boy who respects boundaries: "I've never had this much fun behaving before."

Kick ass!

Last night at the Gypsies Bay to Breakers prelube when I was complaining about it being so cold to a guy I haven't seen in months he says to me: "You have excess body fat. You shouldn't be cold."

Right, walking away now before I kick your ass.

People are funny sometimes.

These quotes were brought to you by the letter M and the number 2.

Marks - HNT

I apologize for the quality of these photos. They were taken with my camera phone.

This one I received on Sunday. What you can't see in the photo are the three long scratch marks that go through the bruise on my inner thigh. I would love to be able to tell you that this came from a rough sex session. Sadly, it did not. I was playing volleyball on Sunday. Someone out there has a very friendly black lab. (get your minds out of the gutter). He likes to jump on you as you are petting him. He got me with his claws pretty well and it bruised up nicely. Even though it's not, it does make a good rough sex bruise! The colours were much better earlier in the week.



This one, well, this one is marks from last night. I think I'll just leave it at that. ;-)




Happy HNT!

Power Tools are Cool

I'm planning on camping with the Iron Roses this year at my first Burning Man. The thing I like about them (besides the cool people), is how much I am learning during our work days. We've had 3 now that I've attended, including one this past Saturday.

I not only got to cut pipe using a band saw, I also got to use a drill press. That's right boys, I can cut and drill pipe with the best of them. ;-) It kicked ass! I even have a war wound. On the last hole I was drilling, a tiny piece of pipe flew up and burned the base of my throat. It now serves as my shrapnel wound from 'Nam story. Everyone needs a good shrapnel story.

Thanks to Heidi for teaching me how to use the tools and for giggling with me at my excitement! Yes, I'm a girl, but I can't help it - it was so much fun! And it makes you feel like a badass too. *sheepish grin*

This moment of power was brought to you by the letter P and the number 3.

Making a House a Home

As most of you know, I moved into my place at the beginning of March. I unpacked all the important things. I still have some boxes leftover - books, CDs, movies, etc. I need to get a bookcase/shelves which is why I've kept them all in boxes. Of course, I need a boy and a pickup truck for that and to get the entertainment center that is currently at a friend's house.

Inspired by Muse (insert your joke here), I finally decided to put some things on the wall today. Kristine was a doll and came over to help. We ended up making a collage on the living room wall of a bunch of my travel photos. It looks pretty darn cool and it's nice to have something up. Now I just need to do that in all my other rooms too! Also need to get a bunch of things framed so I can hang them. Oh well, it's a start.

Some day when it is all organized I'll have a house warming party. Just don't hold your breath on that happening any time soon. :-)

Anyone have a good eye and want to help hang some photos?

This susie-homemaker moment was brought to you by the letter H and the number 8.

Work Confusion

See, I don't post for ages and now 2 in one day!

I rolled off my client at the end of April. I'd been out there for 2.5 years which is a long ass time at any client. I was sad to go. When I was writing my farewell email I ended up having to add a couple distribution lists in addition to individual people because there were just too many.

I learned that my VP wanted to send me to LA to one of two projects. Either one is a nightmare and I really don't want to travel. Anyway, I positioned myself for another Project Manager role out at my old client which they decided to buy. Awesome, I get to stay local! They asked for the Statement of Work as soon as possible so they could get me out there. I gave it to them on May 4th. So far I'm still waiting for a signature! Normally that would be no big thing. And hey, two weeks "on the beach" pretty much kicks ass! Not to mention I'm still getting paid which is a plus.

However, last week I couldn't get in touch with my contact out there. I assumed that meant his wife was having a baby and was no big thing. On Friday I contacted the other person that might know. No response. Well, I just learned that there was a huge reorg done late last week. The group I was going to be working for is no more. To top all that, apparently the project may be on hold. I guess they never got permission from the owner of the company (and they've already spent $10M) and are kicking out the current company they have in there doing the work. Of course, I'm not learning this from either of my contacts. Rather from friends I have there. So I may not have a project at all now which sucks. I really don't want to travel.

There's a possibility of another role at the same client. I need to email the VP who is looking for someone to see if maybe I can snag that one instead. Keep your fingers crossed for me!

This annoyance was brought to you by the letter W and the number 3.

Minionization

I know it's been a while since I've posted. Life has been interesting and I've needed some time to process it all. Sadly, I think I need more time. To tide you over, here's what I did a week ago.

Last weekend had another beach burn. The weather was gorgeous! Sun was shining, flowers were blooming, skies were blue. I drove down Friday afternoon. PF was kind enough to have dropped off her little butterball trailer for me to stay in. I stopped at the Safeway in Santa Cruz to pick up some supplies. Ran into Chris and Diter while there. Headed to the beach and met up with folks who were there. This time we were further back in the site where they normally do these weekends. The ground had been too wet earlier in the year so we hadn't been back there yet. PF had dropped off her trailer near the entrance of the campground - a ways away from where we were going to be. I was a bit bummed, but don't have a towing package on my Honda so c'est la vie. Ended up heading back into town later with Niko to grab some white gas from Safeway.

When I arrived back more folks had appeared. Paul (from North Hampton, England - I've been drunk in his local pub) was a sweetheart and decided that wasn't acceptable. We borred a hitch from Chris and Paul hooked up the trailer and pulled it up to where everyone else was. Apparently we were supposed to park it at the Vampire Campground, but I didn't get the memo about that until too late. Instead Chris and Diter just got to rib me about it. I tried to offer Paul a gin and tonic as a thank you. Well, genius girl had bought everything except tonic. So trip number 3 to the store. Luckily it's not that far away.

It was a smaller crowd on Friday which was nice. Good folks. Hung in the Den of Iniquity with the vampires for most of it. Oh, I was minionized! That's right, I'm a vampire now. So all y'all better watch out! I may bite you and make you my minion. Muahahahhahahahaha!

Around 3am it was just Muse, Chris, Edric and myself. Chris ended up playing this horrible 80s set which I, of course, loved. Poison, Warrant, Electric Avenue, etc. The coup d'etat was Air Supply - Making Love Out of Nothing At All. Chris and I re-enacted the junior high dance moves. You know, the slow sway side to side, the girl looking bored at the ceiling, the guy looking at her boobs. I can't wait to see the photos! Muse and I eventually headed to the main campfire. There we got to watch Edric hook up with some scary woman which was hilarious. I finally crashed out at 6am.

Saturday was beautiful. Day was spent hanging out in the sunshine, listening to music, playing fizzball, etc. That evening Chris and I kept our tradition alive of single malt on the beach at sunset. 21 year old Balvenie. Good stuff! Spike and Edric joined us for part of it. They wandered off and Chris and I finished the bottle. Had a nice little makeout session with promises for more later. Around 11pm I tried to take a nap since I only had 4 hours of sleep. Was out about 30 minutes when PF arrived. At least I had that 30 minutes. Diter and I woke Chris at 1am. Was wandering between the vamps and the main fire. Finally settled in the vamp compound.

I received the ultimate diss that night. So, as I had mentioned, Chris and I had made plans for later. Around 3am I was chatting with another girl who announced she was going to go get laid. About 20 minutes later I walk outside and she's right there. I asked what had happened and she said that guy was out cold. So she was going to her backup makeout buddy...Chris. I said, "Actually I've got plans with him." She just laughed, said "Silly", stood up, took two steps into the compound and yelled, "Ok, where's my makeout buddy?" Sure enough, out comes Chris a minute later. I just looked at him and said, "Oh, I see how it is." He leans in and says, "I'm just making out with her. I have other plans for you." I said, "Oh, so I'm just supposed to wait in line?" He grinned and was half-joking as he said, "Yeah." I said, "Sorry, I don't wait in line. See ya."

So, it wasn't just one of those, hey we're both going to be there, I hope something happens and when it doesn't you're disappointed kind of things. No, this was a hey, plans were made and promises were made and then you go makeout with someone else? What the fuck? The next morning he came up and tried to give me this big old hug. I was like, "Oh no mister. You owe me big. You are so not off the hook." Men. WTF? Honestly!

Saturday night was another 6am night. Sunday was gorgeous again. Hung out with folks all morning. Played another round of fizzball. I've somehow become the official fizzball pitcher which is actually a lot of fun. Ordered some New Rock boots for ridiculously cheap from 6 of 9. Can't wait til they arrive! Made plans to do dinner with PF. Helped tear down the vamp compound and kept trying to leave, but they wouldn't let me. It was finally around 6pm when I got out of there. Met up in Santa Cruz with PF, Gas, BJ, Goggler, See More and One Dollah for dinner which was fun. Finally headed home exhausted, yet still happy from the weekend.

This ultimate diss was brought to you by the letter C and the number 2.

Hairy HNT Part 2

Haven't had a chance to find an appropriate picture. We're back to the hair. This was taken at a friend's house in Rotorua, New Zealand. I have no idea what I was looking at or why the photo was taken then. Yes, that's natural curl though my hair was kinda short at that point. Happy HNT!

Makeup Sex

Last night was another BaGG evening. Originally it was to be the CD release party for Clear Static. Thanks to Kristine I am totally in love with their song "Makeup Sex". Perhaps I should say with a mixed version of the song. Anyway, the evening turned into Shatter's funeral what with all the crazy stuff going on within Tribe.

It was another great evening at BaGG. Tons of folks showed up - Brenda, Chazz, Daxle, Laura, Daniel, Stefanos, George (yeah, like the last two are ever NOT there?) Matt, Kristine (in her kick-ass new boots!), etc. Met some cool new folks, danced my ass off and generally had a good time. Brenda and Freckle Girl tag-teamed some birthday spankings. A few others decided to help a bit as well. And I got a copy of the Clear Static disc they were giving out (thanks George!).

Struggling a bit today due to another late evening/morning out playing. A certain someone continues to keep me up until the wee hours of the morning. We both know we should just get some sleep, but the kissing (among other things) are so damn good it completely removes all thoughts of being responsible. Speaking of, I think it's time for a nap. :-)

Hope Floats

Happy Beltaine everyone! Hope you all celebrate appropriately today!

Friday was a bit hard with the funeral. My buddy asked me to go to the cemetary with him after. It was really interesting watching him during the services. It was a complete flashback to how I was 11 and again 5 years ago. Being the strong one for the family. Putting everyone else's needs first. I spoke to him last night as I plan on making sure he also takes care of himself. The poor guy - now one of his dad's cousins has died. Also, his dad's brother is in the hospital and probably won't last long. I'm not sure how much more his family can take. He's doing as well as can be expected, but I plan on continuing to check in on him and taking him out so he can get away.

All in all the weekend was pretty good. Went out for Chazz's birthday dinner Friday night. The people were fantastic and it was exactly the break I needed. Plus it was a really positive birthday for Chazz which totally made the drive across the bridge worthwhile. Folks were going out after, but I was pretty drained so went home to bed. Saturday I had a Burning Man camp workday down in Redwood City. It was a gorgeous day and despite the hard work was a lot of fun. We figured out our shade structure for our tents and I learned how to use some power tools and cut pipe. Power tools are cool!

Then it was a quick shower and headed to Ganesh's wedding reception in Atherton. It was a beautiful evening and met tons of really cool people. We had northern Indian cuisine which was yummy. They kept the food pretty mild for some of the folks there which was a bit disappointing because I like spicey food, but was still tasty. Turned into quite the dance party and didn't leave until after midnight. Stayed at PF's place and we were up talking til around 2am. Got up at 7am to get ready for the actual wedding in Livermore. I wore a saree which was a lot of fun and really comfortable. I think I was famous as I wasn't only the token white girl, I was the token white girl in a saree! It was really interesting to watch the ceremony. It goes on for several hours and no one really pays attention except at certain sections. The rest of the time everyone is hanging around chatting, drinking, etc. Really different from what I'm used to. We had southern Indian food which was really spicey and tasty.

Finally left around 2:30 and headed back to the City. I was fearful the weather in SF would suck, but it was beautiful here too. Played volleyball the rest of the afternoon in the sunshine which kicked ass. Then home and just hung out watching some TV. Nice way to end the weekend.

I'm on "the beach" this week while I try and sell some more work at Genentech. Kinda nice to be lazy. Got about 10 hours of sleep last night. Need several more nights of that and life will be rosey again.

I don't know if it's a combination of beautiful weather, being around good folks and not having to work, but life is looking a lot brighter than it was a few days ago. Thanks again to everyone for the support. I told you I'd be back to the cheerier me in no time. Thank you for making that possible! Please continue to keep my friend and his family in your thoughts/prayers.

This brighter moment in life is brought to you by the letter S and the number 5.