"Life's Just a Cocktail Party on the Street.."

Had a lovely dinner at Rick & Kim's house (Mike's brother and sister-and-law). We were joined by another of his brother's, Brendan, and Brendan's girlfriend Melissa.

The menu was SERIOUS (potato and chive soup, prime rib, spinache souffle, twice baked potatoes, and yorkshire pudding!). And for dessert, a cranberry strudel (with yummy orange zest). My palate was in HEAVEN!

I cinched the win on our game of Cranium by managing to spell the word "catastrophe" backwards the first try without writing anything down. That's right! Who's yer Momma?! haha! Considering all the granny smith green apple cider I'd had and the after-dinner amaretto... I was pretty impressed with myself. ;)

So this time I dreamed I was camping and saw a Komodo Dragon. LOL. I ran to the car to get my camera (which was inside the car charging through a cigarette lighter adapter), shut the door closed, and the thing saw me so I started skipping back to the back of the trailer at a good pace, got all poised about 6 feet behind it, trained my camera right on the back edge of the trailer, zoomed in some, and waited for it to present itself because I just KNEW I was going to get at LEAST a couple of kickass shots.

When the giant truck of the people camping next to us came charging into view on my finder, it about scared me half to death. That was supposed to be the Komodo! Where had it gone? Was it still coming?!

I waited a minute, crouched there and ready, then finally pulled the camera down and looked toward the neighbors' campsite. I said "Did you guys see the monitor lizard?" and they go "Ayup. Tossed it back into the river."

I was pissed.

hahaha

No idea why, however, since the things are meat-eaters and this was no small Komodo and I had no business trying to get the thing to follow me in hopes of getting a good picture of it. But it *was* a dream after all! Guess I thought I was Shazzam the Komodo Huntress or something!


To see a lizard (just a lizard, generally) in your dream, signifies your primal instincts and reactions toward sex, food, etc. and your anxieties toward these feelings. The lizard can also be representative of a person who you view as cold-blooded, fearful, or thick-skinned. On a more positive note, the lizard also symbolizes emerging creativity, renewal, and revitalization. It may also suggest that you are well-grounded.

*shrug!*

Specific info that I could find on the Komodo dragon itself (which seems as if it would be much more prudent since the type of lizard in my dream was very specific), basically stated that the Komodo has spiritual and psychic symbolism and could represent a fight, a battle, as in a real one going on, or it could represent a change of circumstances, new direction in life.

All in all I'm not really sure what to make of the dream. But it was interesting! And I acted completely out of character in it (luring it toward me for the perfect shot)! haha!

Last night I dreamt I was in the middle of chatting with online and alla sudden my computer started doing some VERY wonky stuff. Weird windows were popping up all over, the entire look of my desktop changed and I couldn't control any of it. I kept thinking to myself... "I JUST ran a virus scan not an hour ago!" and I had.

But it was very obviously a virus or worm of some sort.

I kept trying to close down windows and more kept frantically popping back open (you know... the typical porn surfing nightmare.. i know you people know what I mean... haha!).

All I wanted to do was to be able to get icq to work long enough for me to send a msg to so that he'd know what was going on and why i was suddenly about to disappear, but the stupid computer wouldn't let me click on icq. I don't really remember anything more than that... just that all attempts to make further contact with him were futile. *snicker*

It was an interesting dream. And a frustrating one.

You see the stars are moving so slowly
But still the earth is moving so fast
Can't you see the moon is so lonely
She's still trapped in the pain of the past

. . .

There's no religion but sex and music
There's no religion but sound and dancing
There's no religion but line and color
There's no religion but sacred trance

There's no religion but the endless ocean
There's no religion but the moon and stars
There's no religion but time and motion
There's no religion, just tribal scars

Throw a pebble and watch the ocean
See the ripples vanish in the distance
It's just the same with all the emotions
It's just the same in every instance

There's no religion but the joys of rhythm
There's no religion but the rites of Spring
There's no religion in the path of hate
No prayer but the one I sing

There's no religion but sex and music
There's no religion that's right or winning
There's no religion in the path of hatred
Ain't no prayer but the one I'm singing

Snagged this from the 100 Things About Me webring which I happened to stumble upon in my websurfing a couple of days ago. I thought it was neat... Many of you have probably already seen/read/and even DONE this yourself as it's been around for years, but .

100 Things About Me

1. I moved and changed schools eight times between grades 2 and 7.

2. I began dying my hair at age 11 (and haven’t stopped since!).

3. I have a brother whom I have neither seen nor spoken too since 1995 (not by my choice).

4. The first three cd’s I ever owned were: Led Zeppelin IV, The Firm, and INXS – Listen Like Thieves. (My brother bought them for me, along with my first cd player.)

5. Our 3A marching band won second in State during my sophomore year in high school.

6. I have seen Aerosmith and ZZ Top 3x each in concert.

7. I type 112 cwpm.

8. I played the lead in the One-Act Play three of the four years I was in high school.

9. I have been “the first” for three virgins.

10. My favorite arcade game is Pinball!

11. I play the saxophone, the flute, and am a fledgling at guitar.

12. I have a miniature Dachshund named Weenie.

13. My dog is the best birthday present I have ever received.

14. My birthday is on 9/11.

15. I have only ever met one of my four grandparents.

16. I have been to 28 different states in the U.S.

17. When I first entered college I was in pursuit of a Pharmacy degree.

18. I graduated from college with an Associate of Science in Radiography.

19. The first computer I ever owned was an Apple IIe.

20. Before I learned how to ride it, I would sit atop my bike at the head of my driveway and will myself to have the balls to try to ride the driveway slope to where it met the street.

21. Sometimes I would sit there for over half an hour finding every reason NOT to go for it, then finally get off my bike and go pack it away in the garage again.

22. When I was 6 years old I had a pair of goldfish (won at the County Fair) named Pinkie and Fonzie.

23. I pride myself on my wide range of musical knowledge across a variety of genres. I can usually “name that tune” in VERY few notes…

24. My earliest memory of what I wanted to be when I grew up was a singer.

25. When I was around age 6 and belting out the words to a song currently playing on the car radio, my step-father told me to stfu because my singing sucked. I was devastated.

26. I never tried out for the school choir, but played in the band from 6th grade onward (both saxophone and flute).

27. Autumn is my favorite season of the year.

28. I do not believe in ‘god’ in the Christian sense.

29. My first pet was a puppy my parents got a couple of months before I was born. He was a sheepdog named Yogi.

30. I was five years old and away visiting my Grandma when Yogi died. When I returned, my parents told me that he had run away.

31. I walked up and down my street every day for weeks after Yogi “disappeared” calling for him and wondering why he would have run away from us.

32. A sentimental TV commercial can have me in tears in less than 30-seconds.

33. Fantasy is my favorite genre of book.

34. I love anything/everything to do with faeries, fairytales, folklore and mythology.

35. I used to collect unicorns.

36. After I gave up unicorns I started a shot glass collection. I have 100’s of the things.

37. I don’t collect anything at all now, except good memories and I do my damnedest to collect lots of those as often as possible!

38. I love music. All kinds. (Almost.)

39. While in high school I competed in spelling bees, typing contests, extemporaneous speaking, debate, duet acting, poetry and prose reading competitions and was on our school’s “mock court” team. I also competed with our One-Act Play cast each year, as well as the Concert Band, the Marching Band, and the Jazz Band.

40. One week after graduating high school in 1989, I moved out of the state and have only been back one time since then (for my ten-year class reunion).

41. I believe that everyone should attend at least ONE of their high school reunions, regardless of their “status” or popularity back when they were actually IN high school.

42. I love to go camping and do so frequently.

43. I am bisexual and not afraid to say so.

44. I have only visited two countries outside the United States: Mexico and Costa Rica.

45. My parents divorced when I was 6 yrs old. Both remarried other people, eventually divorced them, then later remarried EACH OTHER when I was 16 yrs old.

46. I’ve been married three times.

47. I am a HUGE Neil Gaiman fan.

48. I am a Virgo and act just like one. :P

49. I’ve never broken a bone (and hope I didn’t just jinx myself by typing that!)

50. My son Jory is my life’s greatest achievement.

51. My grandmother taught me how to quilt and crochet when I was 8 years old.

52. I was voted “Most Beautiful” by my classmates my senior year in high school.

53. I was voted “Person Who’s Changed the Most” at my 10-year class reunion and I’m still not quite sure how to take that or what they meant by it exactly. (me in 1999)

54. I would love to own my own business (just have to figure out WHAT!)

55. I gave birth to my son via Caesarian Section.

56. Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin and Tori Amos are some of the most “artistic” musicians I have ever encountered.

57. I love taking pictures, but am not all that good at it.

58. I lied on #36. I happen to have a completely insane fetish for cover songs and have hundreds of them stored on my harddrive.

59. I have 40+ different covers of the Jimi Hendrix song “Little Wing”.

60. I no longer have a gall bladder.

61. My favorite color is Forest Green.

62. My favorite movie of all-time is Pulp Fiction.

63. I know all the words to every song from the Grease soundtrack and after Pulp Fiction, Grease is the movie I have watched the greatest number of times.

64. I have the coolest sister in the entire world!

65. I wish the workweek was Sat/Sun and the “weekend” was Mon-Fri.

66. I have a gap between my front teeth and HATE it, but remind myself that Lauren Bacall, Madonna, and Sandra Bernhard have the money to change their ‘gaps’ if they want to… but haven’t.

67. I spend very little time talking on the telephone recreationally.

68. I spend a HELLUVA lot of time on my computer.

69. I’d rather “take turns” than 69 and I prefer a one-on-one encounter over a 3-some.

70. I’ve been writing prose, poetry and short stories since I was 6 years old and actually still have the very first story I ever wrote.

71. All my friends and family are freaks (and I use the term ‘freak’ affectionately.)

72. I have far more friends via the Internet that I have never met face to face than those I call friend in “real” life.

73. I have been chatting and making (and sometimes also meeting!) friends over the Internet since 1993.

74. I could roll over the Atari 2400 “Asteroids” game repeatedly for hours on end.

75. I took tap dancing lessons when I was a little girl.

76. I am afraid of heights.

77. My left breast is slightly larger than my right one.

78. I have a birthmark on the back of my head hidden beneath all of my hair.

79. I have a more-than-passing interest in many aspects of BDSM.

80. I have attended more than 10 private fetish play parties.

81. At one of those parties I was asked by the host to produce ID because he was afraid I was underage and didn’t want my daddy banging at his door with a shotgun. (I happened to be 22 at the time.)

82. I got carded at an Outback restaurant two weeks ago when ordering a Dirty Martini. (I’m 32.)

83. I lied on the application for my first job (Eckerd Drug) and said I was 16 (and legal to work) when I was still only 15. They never figured it out.

84. My first car was a brown 1979 MG Midget convertible. I LOVED that car!

85. I really enjoy rain, particularly thunderstorms.

86. I don’t much care for cats; never have.

87. I wish I lived somewhere in the Northwestern United States, but refuse to move my child away from his extended family (whom all live in Florida).

88. I’ve lived through severe addictions to more than one online game. (Sojourn MUD and EverQuest, specifically).

89. I enjoy meeting new people and getting to know them.

90. I have never had a pedicure and the entire idea of paying someone to slough dead skin off my feet completely disgusts me.

91. I think society and the world in general is PURE HELL on gay men.

92. I was present at the candlelight vigil held at Haight-Ashbury the day after Jerry Garcia’s death.

93. I have visited Jimi Hendrix’s original gravesite (before they built the huge memorial monument that is there now) and signed the guest book registry that gets mailed periodically to Jimi’s remaining family.

94. I totally dig old cemeteries. Not just ANY cemetery. OLD cemeteries. I find them fascinating in every way.

95. I could do my boss’s job better than she does and we both know it.

96. The last three years have been the happiest of my adult life.

97. I’m a perfectionist, a worrier, and a procrastinator.

98. I despise being late for ANYthing.

99. I am an aspiring alcoholic.

100. I want my friend Paul out of Afghanistan and back home in Canada ASAP!


It sure took up a good portion of my afternoon here at work and for that... I am HAPPY! 45 minutes to go!

For those who don't already know... one tiny fraction of the job I do here at UF is work with and register all of the high school dual enrollment students each semester. The following is an email I received from one of them over the weekend. It brought a tear to my eye. I'm such a sentimental little beeyotch! ;)

From: ...@aol.com
Date sent: Sun, 14 Dec 2003 12:53:52 EST
Subject: UF Acceptance
To: rho@...

Rhonda,

Thank you so much for everything that you've done for me. I enjoyed my
experience at UF this summer so much and I also learned a lot about
college life. Getting 2 A's in the classes that I took I'm sure helped me
immensely, but if it wasn't for you, I never would have gotten it done.
You were a tremendous help, and I just wanted to thank you, for I am now a Florida Gator.

Thanks Again,
Michael S.

My poor little LJ is in dire need of an update! So here it is:

My weekend
It was great! The traffic and the weather were very good to us on the four-hour drive down and back from Punta Gorda, FL, where my parents live. Jory was with us and my sister and her husband were also there. We had a really great visit, some really good eats, a lot of fun gabbing and playing games, and OF COURSE... one cannot forget the whole gift exchange thing! I might be 32 years old, but I still like opening my Christmas presents, dammit! ;)

I got lots of great new books that I cannot wait to read... A super cool Led Zeppelin "song remains the same" shirt... A very, very neat hand-beaded (orange, blue and silver beads) keychain with a little silver gator dangling from the end of it (GO GATORS!)... A gift card to bath & bodyworks (woot!)... Some clothes and a new "office sweater" (it's always so damned COLD in here!)... some other miscellaneous stuff.... and my favorite prezzie of all which was a portable mp3 player and a wireless audio adapter so I can beam the stuff onto the home/car stereo, etc. Wheeeee! It's so teeny tiny and I LOVE it! (Sometimes good things really DO come in small packages!).

Jory got some cool things like a remote control airplane, a digital camera of his own (he's always been REALLY into picture taking and is already creating some really hilarious photos and movie shorts with it. I'll have to post some of them here.), an electronic battleship game (remember those?! haha! I LOVED mine as a kid), some of the fancy schmancy spandex cycling shorts and shirt, and other assorted things. Basically, he made out like a bandit. As usual. That's what happens when you're the only grandchild for BOTH sets of your grandparents. *snicker*

This Week
Just finalizing things at work and then TWO WEEKS vacation! w00t! I am REALLY looking forward to it. Things are wrapping up pretty nicely here at work and I should have things pretty well in order and organized to leave in wait for my sorrowful return on January 5th. *snicker*

Vacation
I'll be on vacation as soon as I can leave this coming Friday, until 8am on Monday, January 5th. Jory will be with his father (and that side of the family) the entire time as Nolan and I trade off every other year on who gets him for the holidays (hence, why MY family celebrated our xmas so damned early this time). Most of my first week off will be spent simply RELAXING and very likely doing the daily "wake and bake" accompanied by Bloody Mary. hahaha!

Then we'll be heading off into the wild blue yonder to go camping for the next 8 days. Two nights on the beach in Destin, FL followed by five nights in New Orleans, followed by another stop-over night in Chipley, FL on our drive back to Gainesville. I can't wait! New Years in New Orleans. I have sooooooooo many things I want to see and do and have been hitting all my N.O. friends up for suggestions on specific restaurants and points of interest. As long as I've lived in Gville (only 10hrs from N.O.), I've never done more than drive through the city and that's it. This is going to be a real treat for me and something I've been wanting to do for a very long time. YAY!

a THOUSAND DOLLAR CHRISTMAS BONUS!!

"Strangers are just family you have yet to come to know..."

-Mitch Albom, the five people you meet in heaven

AND!!!

I had THE worst fucking nightmare last night. OMG! It was just horrible, horrible, horrible. I would even wake up during it and make a big production of rolling to my other side, fluffing my pillow and adjusting my blankets and then would fall back asleep and the damned thing would pick right up where it left off! VILE, VILE, EVIL THING!

I dreamed that Mike and I had taken Jory and a friend camping and there was a pond nearby that had alligators in it (not uncommon at all here in Florida) and we'd had a very stern talk with the boys not to go anywhere near it. (Can you see where this is going? sigh.)

We began unloading everything and setting up our camp.. the boys take off on their bikes... the next thing I know I'm looking down this hill from our campsite and there's Jory swimming IN THE POND completely oblivious to the five or six 6-7ft long alligators swarming around him in the water. Apparently there was a tree down across the pond at the far end and Jory had seen something on it or near it that he wanted to check out and he was swimming over to it to have a look. I'm standing there a good 40 yards away looking down on the whole thing and I have never felt so absolutely horrified in my entire life.

I scream Jory's name at the top of my lungs and he turns to look, sees the alligators and then starts to swim back to the near side of the pond and one clamps its mouth down on his lower leg and I am absolutely hysterical at this point screaming at Mike to DO SOMETHING and fumbling in my purse for my cell phone to call 911 (of course grabbing everything out of my purse BUT my damned phone...)

omg.. the whole thing was just horrible. I'd wake... try to shake it off.. and then just fall asleep to move on to the next chapter of it. UGH

Needless to say, I didn't have any problem getting outta bed this morning when my alarm went off. In fact, right now, I don't care if I *ever* sleep again.

(This is something they had on the tables at the departmental holiday luncheon I went to today and I thought it was cute. Yes... I got them all right! *teehee* Can you?)

The following words are alternate titles for several well-known Christmas Carols:

Quadruped with crimson proboscis
5PM to 6AM without noise
Miniscule hamlet in the far east
Ancient benevolent despot
Adorn the vestibule
Exuberance directed to the planet
Listen, aerial spirits harmonizing
Monarchial trio
Yonder in the haystack
Assemble, everyone who believes
Hallowed post meridian
Fantasies of a colorless December 25th
Tin tintinnabulums
A dozen 24-hour yule periods
Befell during the transparent witching hour
Homo sapien of crystallized vapor
I merely desire a pair of incisors
I spied my maternal parent osculating a fat man in red
Perambulating through December solistice fantasy
Aloft on the acme of the abode

Children...
go run and jump and play

You'll be...
men and women someday

Then you'll have to leave
your world of make-believe
now children

Children...
who call each other names

Children...
playing grown-up games

We cheer you when you're sad
and spank you when you're bad
now children

Pride goes before destruction
A haughty spirit goes before a fall
Don't you know that we're all children
And it's all for one and one for all? Hmm?

Children...
who think that they are grown

Children...
with children of their own

From the cradle to the grave
why must we all behave

Like children?

--Joe South

rofl jory just said "i don't say bad words because i know my momma wouldn't want me to say 'em... and besides... i never feel like saying them... and besides... i wouldn't even know what kinda sentence to put them in."

I mentioned it before, but Mystic River is easily the best film I've seen all year. There are one or maybe two things I would have done differently or left out altogether had I been the director, but other than that... (and usually I completely pick everything apart thanks to the motion pictures class I took my freshman year of college), everything about this film is superb. The storyline is good... the editing and directorialship is good... and the acting (all the way through several of the supporting roles) is SUPERB. Hands down, this is one of the best films I've seen in a really long time.

Mystic River

Rotten Tomatoes Review Site (if you're into reviews... Sometimes I like reading the reviews on the really bad movies most of all because they can be so brutally hilarious.

Either way... if you plan to see this movie at some point... I recommend not reading *too* much of the synopsis at the actual movie site if it goes on for more than a couple of sentences or it may serve as too much a spoiler.

What a great weekend!

I not only got everything done that I'd promised myself I would do (a feat in itself!), but I actually had time to just "hang out" some with friends and also watch a couple of movies with Mike.

Saturday I truly busted my ass and did almost all of my shopping and now only have two more stops to make with very specific purchases in mind, which should make the experience a piece of cake (*crossing fingers*).

Sunday I made some kickass breakfast burritos and drank half a pot of coffee with whipped cream dolloped on top. YUM! I watched "I Am Sam" (Sean Penn/Dakota Fanning) and "Drumline" (both were okay... nothing to really write home about. S. Penn did a decent bit of acting in "I Am Sam" but he blew me away in Mystic River (which if you have not yet seen, you are *really* doing yourself an injustice!), then took a little nap and ran out to do another couple hours of shopping.

I got home in time to have dinner and sit down to watch HBO's film "Angels in America", which is an adaptation of a Pulitzer and two-time Tony Prize winning play, starring Al Pacino and Meryl Streep (two of my favorite actors!). What a weird show that was! The second half of it comes on this Sunday night... but the first half alone was pretty funky. I can certainly see the home it must've made for itself on the stage, but I'm not so sure about the movie adaptation. It's just... different. It also has that chick from West Wing that I really like (Mary-Louise Parker).

Anyways... I'll definitely tune in for its conclusion but wow... what bleak subject matter to be showing just a couple of weeks before Christmas! Don't they say depression/suicide rates already do something like quadringle during these couple of months of the year? LOL Anyone else out there watch this?

The only blah thing from my weekend is that I'd hoped to make it out to the BFE party in Orlando and just couldn't make it. Wah! I hear it was a really great time and man how I *hate* missing a good party!!! *stomps feet*

So.... I'm back at work. Another day, another dollar, eh? Have a million and twelve things to do this week and still going to try to leave at least a couple hours early (if possible!) on Friday to make the 4-hour trek down to my parents for our weekend holiday celebration. I know the visit will be enjoyable, and making the trip this weekend instead of the weekend of the actual xmas holiday ought to be helpful as well, but I still despise that drive!!

I'll check in again later... Right now I need to get some shit done here. Blah! ;)

Well... here I am at work again. and 'tis Friday.

And I seem to have some sort of unspoken rule that I do as little work as possible on Fridays (particularly when 3/4 of the rest of my co-workers are not in the office today for various reasons).

When the cat is away... the mice will play!

But the funny thing about that is that I have a desk full of work to do and by 10AM I'm already bored of surfing the net and figuring most of my net friends won't wake up and be online to chat with for at least a couple more hours. Wake up already people! You KNOW who you are! Don't be the one responsible for *forcing* me to work for lack of anything better to pass the time! The HORROR!

Too bad I can't be out getting my Christmas shopping done right now instead...

I want to strangle my boss.

Actually something slower and more painful might be preferable.

...

I feel completely disorganized, unmotivated, and up to my EARS with things to get done. I'm not sure wtf is up with that, but I vow to get it all together by this weekend. I just cannot go another week with so many loose ends. It's so... UN-Virgo! (And besides all that, my family is celebrating their holiday the weekend after this one, so this weekend is my very last chance to get everything done. Way to procrastinate, Rhonda! Woohoo!)

Things to get done:

-- finish my christmas shopping for main family gathering
-- wrap all that stuff
-- help mom plan the menu/figure out what i'm going to make/get the stuff to make it
-- finish christmas shopping for everyone *else* on my list
-- deliver nolan's bday/xmas prezzies to him
-- get from nolan (and deliver) the tapes he converted for John's friend
-- shop around on cell phone plans and upgrade mine, along with phone
-- get Jory some new jeans and a new heavy jacket (he's outgrown almost everything "winter")
-- bring Jory's old clothes/toys in to work to give away to the women here with grandchildren
-- make a decision on my vacation and New Year's plans and do reservations, etc.

Less urgent:
-- put closet door back on in J's bedroom
-- mail J's 2nd grade school pics out to family
-- finish scanning my stash of rave flyers
-- finish updating my RPG's webpage (narrative and October thread of the month)
-- install calendar on the RPG webpage
-- find pics/drawings to use for 3 of my characters in the RPG and tweak the bios that I wanted to rewrite
-- get marc started with an intro thread in the game

This be SOUP weather! Can I get a witness?

Formal Dining Must Dos (Eating Soup)

Soup, usually the first course, shows you off as a savvy diner or someone whose
manners could do with polishing! Soup is served either in a wide, shallow dish,
or a smaller bowl, resting on an under-plate.

• Spoon the soup away from you, towards the center of the bowl.

• Sip from the side of the spoon. Never put the whole spoon in your mouth or slurp.
Noisy eating is better placed in the farmyard, rather than the dining table!

• Tip the bowl away from you and spoon the soup across the bowl to get at the last bits.

• After finishing the soup, place the spoon in the under-plate, or in the soup plate at
a 10:20 position.

...

From what I read, slurping one's soup is quite acceptable in China, however. ;)

...

John Belush -- R.I.P.
Deathbed Soup Tales

...

I'm off to eat some soup!

I am not your rolling wheels
I am the highway
I am not your carpet ride
I am the sky
I am not your blowing wind
I am the lightning
I am not your autumn moon
I am the night

I *still* haven't quite recovered from my weekend out of town. The visit on Wed night and Thurs with my parents was great, but visits home anymore always seem to end up with me spending most of my time in my mom's bedroom trying to fix her computer or install something new on it or explain to her over and over how to to do something on it. Ugh. I love my mom and I really and truly don't mind helping her with that stuff, but when I only make it down to see them 3 or 4 times a year... I'd rather be able to spend my time there actually visiting with them, ya know?

Left mom and dad's on Thursday afternoon after Tgiving dinner. **Note to self for future: Don't plan stuff that requires one to be really motivated shortly after eating a huge Thanksgiving dinner.** haha! It was REALLY hard to get my butt up off the couch and load up to head out to my sister's Peace River property for the weekend campout. But... I managed.

The campout was a lot of fun. There were about 30 people actually camping and then during the day on Friday and Saturday another 15-20 would show up for the day and leave later on, but not stay overnight. The weather was great! Almost rained, but didn't. Almost got a touch too cold on Saturday night, but not quite (course all the substances in my system likely changed my own personal perception of exactly how cold it felt! haha!) I didn't take NEAR as many pictures as I'd planned to, but did get a few good ones though I haven't yet had a chance to even nab them off of my camera yet. I also didn't make it to the bone orchard nearby that I ALWAYS say I'm going to go roam every time I go camp there (and then forget until we leave and drive past it again on the way out). Figures. :P

The ride home on Sunday was definitely the suck and I was *so* glad I wasn't the one behind the wheel. I'd had about 6.5 hours sleep since Wed and the going-home-on-Sunday-of-Thanksgiving-weekend traffic was NASTAY. That came as no surprise really... but still... having to be in it anyways was no fun at all. What is normally a 4-hour drive home took 6 hours and we were damned lucky we were heading north instead of south. At least northbound I-75 kept a pretty steady (but REALLY thick) 50mph cruise. The southbound side was barely rolling starting at the turnpike exit at Wildwood and was completely backed up all the way until we exited in Gainesville and beyond. NOT PRETTY!!

Got home just in time to speed-unload the car and jump in the shower before the season finale of Carnivale started at 9. Watched that (juicy cliffhanger for certain!... now I'll probably only have to wait a year or so for Season 2 to start *rolls eyes*). Then... I COLLAPSED!

It's been busy back at work and I went to bed early again trying to catch up on lost sleep last night. Now I've just got to get my shit together to finish up my shopping for my family's xmas celebration which is the weekend after this one. Yes... ANOTHER 4-hour drive out-of-towner. I know I must be getting old because I just don't wanna do the every-weekend-out-of-town thing anymore! No BFE this Saturday for me... *pouts* Guess I'll make it down there one of these days. Just turning out to be bad timing for me this year (and I was really wanting to go too!) If anyone is reading this who plans to be there... have double the fun so you can make up for my missing out on it! ;)

Now... I return you to your regularly scheduled activity. I have a ton of work to get done.