They just Never Give Up

So, Troy is obsessed with me. I think it's lucky that I'm not still in Minneapolis. Otherwise there could be some Jerry Springer type episodes in my personal life which I will avoid by all means.

katrina....
thought i saw you in rainbow uptown saturday night. i
was in line so didn't go pursue. was it you?
troy

I guess once you've had Kat, you can never go back.....or something like that......

Rice Village

So I went to the part of Houston called Rice Village today. It's not so great. I thought it might be like uptown with eclectic little shops and coffehouses galore. But, not so much. It was a commercialized outdoor Mecca.....kind of like the Mall O' America, but with no roof and no theme park. Had a nice little lunch at a Chinese place, which apparently wasn't good enough to remember the name of......and I also visited the coolest Half-Price Books I have ever been in. It was huge. They had things organzied out nicely....there were people swarming everywhere. I had a slight drool incident with the little hottie mchotterson behind the counter when I was paying for my books, but besides that, I think that they will let me return.

Relaxing....ahhhhhhh

So, there hasn't been much to blog about because I haven't really done anything over the last couple of days. Sleep, eat, same ol'. NRG and I had some lunch yesterday and went to the bookstore. His facination lies with mysticism and religion.....mine lies with fiction and the occult. I introduced him to Half-Price Books, which he fell in love with immediately.

I am currently waiting for Jim and his boy toy to call so that I can get on the road to Austin. I'm super excited about the trip because I have never been and I get to see Jim and Shawn (AKA Boy Toy). Just don't tell Shawn I called him that, he doesn't like it very much.

The last couple of days have been very enriching. The house is clean, the laundry is done, and I feel good about the decisions I have made for my future. Returning to school, moving back to Minneapolis (if all goes as planned). It may be because of the beautiful day here today, but the future looks bright.

Ok, maybe something sordid will happen in Austin that I can report on. Otherwise, hope you all had a wonderful Holiday!!

Almost Christmas?

Is it really almost Christmas? Because I didn't notice with the temperature almost reaching 80 yesterday and the 70 degree weather I am not enjoying today as I slave away inside the safety of my cubicle.

Serial Dater

I have this problem. I'm a bit of a serial dater. I meet someone. They seem interested and ask me out.....and I have to say yes. It's one of my downfalls. My biggest problem sometimes is that I keep saying yes to things when I don't really mean it. I don't mean that mom, so quit yer worryin'.

Would you like to go out again? Yes!

Dinner? Yes!

Think we should live together? Yes! (But, don't tell my mom!)

Can I call you? Yes!

I have this thing with wanting to be liked. Not everyone likes to hear no. Sometimes, when the mood is right I find that NO is an easy word. But, when he's nice but you don't feel that strong of a connection, NO is the hardest word to say. I want every date to be like the first date. You talk, possibly hold hands, he buys you a drink or two, treats you like a lady. There isn't enough time in one date for him to go from gentleman to asshole. So, here I am with someone who wants to see me again, and I'm not sure if I'm so interested. How do I tell him without hurting his feelings? This one is too good for the "not interested I'm leaving speech".

Next!

Mr. Not So Much

Here is the latest installment of people who have answered my ad and will never get a response. Again.....just because I'm not a size 2, it doesn't mean that I am interested in dating every guy out there that doesn't know what exercise is.......if you catch my drift.



Notice the evil eyebrow peaking up over the black line of anonymity. Also, holding a cute puppy (kitty or other small animal) does not make you that much more attractive. This reminds me of another rule of computer dating that I follow. Do not, under any circumstances, date anyone who had a photo of a vehicle in their profile. It's a sign, I believe, of virility, or lack there of. This is not a proven theory, but just a theory, like when you see a guy driving too fast down the road in his overpriced sports car you just want to holler, "Sorry about your dick, dude!"

No date for the movies

What Bob Said

Always, and I mean always, be nice to your server.

THE MIKE'S--

So, not all of you know me, therefore would know about my friends......and their nicknames. Daddy Jeff happens to be a reader and commenter (but mostly just a catalyst for trouble when Eunice Crunch is around). Anyway, most of them have monikers before their names so that they are easily differentiated and described with little to no effort. I just bored myself by searching for the story of the Mikes in my archeives, but was unable to find one.....so here goes.....also, I need to stop starting most of my posts with so.......

Bathroom Mike--Not very proud of his appointed nickname but earned the first night I met him. Patty Pumpkin Pants and I had known met David (later to become Grandpa Pants--but that's a whole other story) a few weeks (days?) when he invited us to go to some holiday party with him and a friend. We accepted and made our way into NE Minneapolis one cold January (?) night. As the party began to die down we were unable to find one of our group, Mike. No where to be found, and neither was that hairdresser from Great Clips sporting the crappy jacket. After a bit of searching we found him making friends with poorly dressed hair dresser in the upstairs bathroom....enough said. He has also managed to earn the name Webcam Mike.....I'll let you wonder about that one.......

Disco Mike--Used to work for ComDisco.....

Jewish Mike---Catholic.....but really wishes he was Jewish

Lawyer Mike--Used to be a lawyer, I guess he still is, but non-practicing currently

Roommate Mike--Patty Pumpkin Pants' old roomie

So there are other nicknames out there for people we would see out all the time, but never knew their names......Ugly Rainbow Fag, Nicholas Cage Look-alike, The Humper, Rat Hair Boy....and so on......

I'm pretty for crying out loud. Why do these old, scary men answer my damn personal ad!



It's not that I wouldn't date someone unattractive, and I'm sure this guy has some great personal habits (NASCAR being one of his favorite "sports"--no surprise there really). It's nice too how open his is about things, like mentioning that he doesn't have a car (so he's just looking for someone to drive.......), I wonder if he has a job? Guess I'll never know.....

Joy, the boy and I stopped at Half Price Books last night. This is one of those places where I could spend hours of my time searching for books to occupy my lonely evenings. I had a specific book in mind, but of course ended up buying more. It's not that I don't currently have plenty of books to occupy my time, but I just like to have more of them.....than anyone. Anyway, one of the books that I was looking for was, The Devil Wears Prada. I wasn't sure where to look, so I go up to the counter to ask the nice man. I end up having to slowly repeat and than spell almost every word out to him. I was only slightly irritated, because he ended up making me laugh.

He said to me, "I don't even know what a PRADA is!"

I had to hold back the chuckle as I explained to him what a "PRADA" is.

I also spent some time in the relationships area looking for a book my friend Eddie recommended for me. He's going to be my life coach, whatever the hell that is, anyway I was baffled by the outrageous number of books that focused on the female orgasm and the ways to acheive said orgasm. I looked, but found none that covered the male orgasm, I think I have to look in the "When the Wind Blows" category or something like that.

I had another one of those date things last night. After the huge disappointment on Saturday, OK, it really wasn't huge, just a disappointment, I don't want to be wasting time talking on the phone and getting to really like them before I see their jacked up teeth or some other little thing that will drive me to the point of insanity.

So last night I went for a walk with a nice man. He's a bit younger than I am (25), very tall (6'5"), a teacher (who doesn't like teachers), and very much a gentleman (let's see how long that lasts). We talked for a little over an hour (not just one of us, mind you) and I found him to be intelligent, well read, and a super hottie (nice teeth and hands). So, hopefully he'll call me tonight and we'll see what's going to happen with the first official date.

I wonder sometimes what attracts us to other people. Compared to my "date" (Boy Wonder or BW) on Saturday night, here are the differences, and let's call this Kat's dating guide(let's call last night's "date" Superman or SM):

1. BW was nervous and figety--SM confident and calm

2. BW had some funny colored jacked up teeth--SM straight and white teeth

3. BW bored me with job talk--SM avoided all topics that weren't about who we were (not what we were)

4. BW bald head-- SM bald head

5. BW didn't ask me one question--SM asked thoughtful questions

So those were some of the differences and in the case of #4 a similarity (I really do have a thing for bald men).

I'll let you know how it goes!

1.

Don't get me wrong, I really like where I sit. It's a nice little cube at the end of the row, furthest from the main isle. I have privacy, my radio playing assorted tunes, bottled water, a secret stash of chocolate and I can kick my shoes off any time I like. The only thing I really hate about where I sit is that the printer is extremely close to my little piece of heaven. So people, with nothing to say, feel obligated to swing by and bore me with their idle chatter. How was your weekend? Did you do anything exciting? Blah, blah, blah. I'm sick of it. I wish they would just leave me alone to work in peace.

I give them their space even though I have to pass by their cubes every time I get up from my desk, unless I'm just going to the printer of course. Does this make me some sort of bitch? I hope so, then maybe they'll just leave me alone!!!!

Yesterday afternoon I joined Joy and her fiancee Rob, and their friends (and wedding party members) to a matinee performance by the Trans Siberian Orchestra. It was a spectacle to behold, with lights and loud music. I really enjoyed it. I found out from Dale, the best man, that a member from a group called Savatage writes all the music for the TSO. This is a group that I became somewhat familiar with while still in high school. One of their songs was used at a church retreat that I had gone to. It's off this album. Scroll down to the very last song called Believe. There is a little speaker symbol next to the length of the song. I think you all might enjoy it very much.

OK, well off to work for me. Have a great day!

So they caught Saddam. I really hope that this is all I get to watch for the next week. Don't get me wrong, I'm happy, but really, I hate watching the same thing 100 times over.

So last night I went out on a "date" with someone from Match.com. We have been chatting via email and a bit on the phone. So last night, neither of us had much to do and we met for a drink. We met at some place called Cacho's. It was the kind of place where you order your food in line and then you get a number and go back to pick it up when your number comes up. They had a bar area, and we went there to get a drink and we picked a table and sat. All I can say about this very short date, was that I have never talked so little, or been so uninterested. He managed to bore me for an hour about his job and his apartment. My neck and cheeks hurt from giving him the smile and nod for so long. I asked questions to appear to be interested, but was never asked any in return.

As it got closer to 9PM, I had one of two choices, I could either "go powder my nose" never to return, or go balls to the wall and tell him I just wasn't intereted. I opted for the latter. I came right out and told him that I wasn't feeling it, and that I wanted to go home alone. He was gracious, walked out with me and that was it. So, on to the next one I guess.

Is this healthy, I mean seriously, NO means NO!

o.k. so i had to go back to your old message to get your address. you know you are such a beautiful person, AND I WOULD LOVE TO HAVE YOU BACK. but nicole made me erase your phone #. meaning i don't have it anymore. you were such the most beautiful girlfriend to have and i miss it and i'm sooooo f***ing sorry i didn't spend time with you. fuck..but i miss you. i need you. call me. e-mail me. do something. i miss you like you wont believe....
troy

And he says I'm the one with issues. I don't think so. His phone number is deleted out of my cell and I have deleted his email.....I should be blocking him, don't you think?

It's dreary and dismal in Houston today. I need something exciting to happen to me. I've got nothing to share with my dear readers. Unless you want to hear about the first time I got drunk, or better yet the first time I saw my mom drunk, which is by far a much better story.

There I was a bright young girl of about 9. My mother was a stay at homer who adored and worshiped me. One day the daddy decided to have a work party at our house, so my mom slaved all day in the kitchen preparing a feast. When it came to the wine (or whatever she was drinking) it started out one for you, one for me, but ended with one for you, 10 for me (if you know what I'm saying). The absence of food in her stomach and all that liquor was not a good combination. Half way through the party my dad had to carry her up the stairs and put her to bed before causing the whole family shame. There was one point where she puked on herself. Ahh, I remember it not so well, I'm sure the mom will have something to add eventually.

That was the only time I've ever seen her drunk, I'm sure she usually tossed back a couple well after I was asleep. Just kidding. Anyway, I'll never let her forget it. Sorry Mom!

I have had this urge to cook all week, which unexpectedly ended today, when I realized tonight would be the first time I could cook for someone other than myself. Funny how that works.

Anyway, Joy told the Boy that we could go to a place called Cici's Pizza (Palace from Hell) for dinner last night! We pull up to the joint and I look over at Joy, then I look back at the place, and back to Joy again.

"Is this some sort of kid's pizza place," I ask.

"No, but they have a game room."

"Can you just promise me that we don't have to sit right next to the game room?"

"I'll see what I can do," replyed Joy.

So it turns out this joint is a pizza buffet place (not expecting that), and horrors of working the Pizza Hut buffet run rapidly through my mind. Greedy customers screaming out requests from the opposite side of the restaurant, refilling ingredients on the salad bar while simultaneously refilling drinks and running pizzas out to the buffet.

Joy managed to get through the drink line well before the boy and snag us the cleanest table the furthest away from the horrid game room. It really didn't matter much because the children ran amuck throughout the restaurant anyway. The boy on the other hand, when he couldn't spy his mother, ran to the table closest to the game room after pouring his drink. My eyes quickly searched for Joy, praying that I wouldn't have to sit at the cursed table. I said a quick prayer and headed in her direction when I found her. The boy was somewhat disappointed when Joy told him that we didn't need to sit at the table closest to the game room, but after chowing on some pizza and spending his dollars in the arcade forgot all about the power struggle that kept me from killing the first child innocent child to come screaming out of the game room and spill some sort of drink or food item on me.

The highlight of the meal was when the power went out for 5 minutes and there was only the sweet silence of people actually talking to one another and feet padding there way up to the buffet before they starved to death.

Note to self: Never eat there again.

All I want for Christmas:

1. Letter Sweater with a cursive K on it.

2. The Wolves of Calla by Stephen King.

3. 2nd set of high count sheets (for backup) Queen Size. White is good.

4. Diamond or Pearl earrings.

5. Updated Amazon Wish List

So, if you were having a hard time trying to figure out what to get me, the problem is now solved. Ok, well, I'm off, talk to you later.

Trying to set the page up in a new format. Let's see how it goes. I think I lost a lot of stuff. But with Joy's help things will be back to normal around here any day now.

I don't know if I have ever written about this before, but I know I've told this story several times. Anyway, it's good for a laugh, so here goes.

Growing up in Highland was a unique experience. There aren't very many places where you can leave your keys in your car to run into the post office or grocery store, but Highland is one of them. Population 799, is below the sign as you drive into town. No stop lights, one gas station, a Ford Dealership, a few churches and several bars (many more when I was younger, not so many now). Anyway, this story is about church, kind of.

Holy Name Seminary was an all boys school in Madison, which was only about an hour drive from Highland. The reason this is so important is because of a certain preist that worked there. I don't even remember his real name anymore, but when our priest in Highland would go out of town, one of the priests from Holy Name would come and do mass at our church. I know this is wrong on so many levels but this priest was HOT. I mean H-O-T hot. All of us girls, and even a few moms would be sitting up in the front pews during the way too short service. We came up for a nickname for this hunky priest..........Father What-a-waste. I think he knew us girls lusted after him, with visions of Thorn Birds in our heads. How horrible is that? Anyway, I told the story to co-workers at lunch today and they got a kick out of it. I thought you might too.

Damn Cats woke me up at about 3:40 this morning.

3:40--Awakened from slumber by the sound of one of the cats clawing at my 400 count Egyptian Cotton sheets. Swift move of leg knocks cat firmly to floor.

3:45--Verge of falling back to sleep when I hear the shuffling of CD's and movement in the direction of my window seat. Yell--Fucking CATS! Attempt to go back to sleep.

3:46--Again the shuffle of CD's and now with the blinds. Yell GET OUT! Hear paws scamper.

3:47--Hear cat nails on the floor, try to pretend it's rain on the window. Scream---AAARRRGGGGHHHHHH! Hear 2 sets of claws on floor as cats scamper for cover.

3:48--Cat attempts to claw at sheets again. Receive strong breeze as hand flails in darkness in general direction of clawing.

3:49--Cat jumps on bed to stick its ass/head in face. Push cat away and hopes it jumps off bed (have strong feeling it is favorite cat--the lesser of the three evils).

3:50--3:49-Too distracted by debate going on in head to hear much of anything. Attempting to sleep unsuccessfully. Torn between getting up early and staying in bed and being late for work.

4:00--hear the CD's shuffling again, say fuck it, and get up. Turn on light and put on glasses, but too late to see which cat is the first to die.

4:01--Brewing coffee and trying to tell myself that it's Saturday and I really don't have to go to work for another two days.

5:00ish--Snap to realization that going to work is imminent. Get ready and head out the door forgetting Lean Cuisine meal for lunch.

OK, one of the cats must die in order to set an example for the other two cats.

Also, must make mental note to shut door all the time like I have been for the last 2ish months.

Love Actually--

I just saw this movie and as much as I loved it, it made me sad. At 30, I'm almost afraid that I will never find true love. They say that most things in your life you can blame on your mother, but for me finding true love on my terms is not my mothers fault. I blame it on Hollywood and these idealistic fantasies that love is all fireworks. I expect love to be like Cary Grant and Doris Day movies, like Rhett Butler and Scarlett O'Hara, like Sabrina, like How to Marry a Millionaire, like Bridget Jones' Diary. It's all excitement and drama and romance and disappointment only to be elated. For me it's disappointment all the way around. I'm usually attracted to the worse type, no ambition, treats me bad, doesn't call when he says he will. You know the type, some of you are probably that guy.

Now, most of you (those bastards that are in love) will say, when you stop looking it's right there in front of you. The problem is I watch these movies and I pretend not to look, but I always look. Then I settle for a time when I know I should keep looking. I try to do other things to prevent me from looking, but that only makes things worse. Because I just keep looking that much harder. I'm in an odd place right now too, which doesn't help things. I have plans to move back to Minneapolis in the spring, so why even bother trying to find Mr. Right while I'm here, and why should I settle for Mr. Right Now. The biggest problem is I love the drama involved with trying to find him. The stories about horrible dates and sketchy characters. It makes for good conversation.

What I'm trying to say is, the more I try to stop looking, the harder I look. So now I don't know what to do. Love sucks!

Not as long as I thought. Well, have a great day!

I'm going to do two seperate posts for today. The first is about my poker party experience and the second is about the dreaded four letter word. Yes, my friends, it's about love.

So, Joy's fiancee graciously invited me to attend a poker party with some people that he is aquainted with. We gathered together in a home in SW Houston with $20 to buy into the opportunity to win $200. I knew I had no chance at the big jackpot, but decided to play for fun. I took my $400 in chips and sat down for some serious card playing. Magically I ended up at a table where I was the only female and the only inexperienced player.

My octet ended up being a hoot. They taught me to play and eventually took all my money. We were playing hour long games and the games alternated between two types of poker, Texas Hold 'Em and 7 card stud. Now, considering I have never in my life played poker before I must say I suck! Once I caught onto the game things were good, but not without losing some of my precious chips.....oh, my precious. Unbeknownst to me there is this thing called bluffing. I think I understand it now, but it's a little bit too late. Also, there is another these other two things called A Flush and A Full House. From what I could gather these are good things, and you should continue to raise the ante until all you get all the money you can from the other suckers at the table, but only now do I understand these two things. I managed to hang on longer than some of the other more experienced players, but sadly I ended up losing all of my precious chips after 3 1/2 hours of play. Another thing I learned about poker is to not scream. I almost gave one of the guys at my table a heartattack and managed to earn the nickname "The Screamer". All in all I had a hoot, and hope I get invited back again.

Just a note, the next post might be long.

There are cookies in the west work room courtesy of our Force Placed Vendor. Please help yourself.

Signed-Kat's Supervisor

Guess who was first in line?

Oops, gotta run.....just heard about fudge in the other work room.....I love the holidays!

I'm out of Q-Tips, I'm staying late at work, and my ears are really itchy.....this is going to drive me nuts!

I've been slipping back into funky mode again. I don't know if going to Minneapolis was the best idea. I miss it so much there. It just made me realize what I was giving up. Sometimes it's difficult for me to see what I have gained because of the move. Today, I'm going to list all my positives about living in Texas:

1. I get to see and talk to Joy all the time (against her will if need be)

2. The weather doesn't suck (often)

3. I love my job

4. The opportunity to reinvent myself (which I haven't done--see yesterday's post)

5. Joined two book clubs

6. Made a new friend in NRG (AKA David--to be used interchangeably at will)

7. Becoming more focused on the future

8. Able to purge "stuff" from my life (ie-all the stuff I sold and gave away before moving here)

9. Realize the importance of friends and family (easy to do when they're soooooo far away)

10. Being the person who walks that walk and not just talks the talk (how many people say they are going to move, but never do).

On that note, I'm pretty sure that I will be back in Minneapolis in the spring (I'm no dummy, no way I would move back before spring). I've got a place to live, I've got plans to go to school, and I should hopefully be able to land a job. The company I work for now has an office downtown, so we'll see how much ass I have to kiss in order to land that. OK, well, only 5ish months to go before I get back home. Now might be a good time to start preparing for the welcome home party. Just an idea!

Things to Do:

1. Decide where to go to Grad School

2. Get moving on the wedding invites

3. Study for Grad School admissions test

4. Begin healty eating/exercise program

5. Make Friends in Houston

6. Stay in touch with Minneapolis friends

What I actually do:

Sit on couch, watch TV, update blog, read book

Have you ever noticed when someone doesn't want to say what they mean, they come up with a colorful way of phrasing it:

For instance, guess what these phrases mean:

Dropping the Kids off at the Pool

Paddling the little man in the boat

Praying to the porcelain God

Fit to be Tied

and on and on.......Well I think we can all figure out what they mean. I just think it's funny we can't all say what we mean, but that sometimes the euphemism is much more descriptive than using the actual words. Ok, Catch you on the flip side!

I've been doing quite a bit of reading lately. Maybe too much, you'll soon find out why! I was talking to Joy about my trip home and about two instances that freaked me out a bit. The first happened while enjoying my first class flight. We were decending and as we cut through the clouds there were bright flashes of light due to the reflection of the sun on the clouds. It reminded me of a book I read a couple of years ago. For a split second I thought that possibly we were going through a time warp. Airframe by Michael Crichton is what made me think that I was on my way to a great adventure where I would be that ass kickin' b-yatch I've always wanted to be. Anyway, there was no time warp and I'm still here and I have't kicked anyones ass.

Currently I am reading Stephen King's The Stand. If you haven't read it or don't know anything about it, it's about a virus that is contracted through the air and kills its victims in less than a week. It's highly contagious and only a small percentage of the population is immune to it. In the book you know someone has it because they have a cough, just a slight tickle in the back of the throat. So, as I am waiting for my luggage at the carousel, this lady walks by me and coughs. I was all like, bitch, are you trying to kill me. I haven't had any tickles in the back of my throat, but I wasn't feeling so hot this morning. I'm sure I'm fine, just need some sleep. But, you never know when some virus is going to escape from a military base and infect all of us. Then people will die and the rest of us have to clean up and repopulate the earth after fighting evil and winning.

OK, so just a bit of an overactive imagination sometimes. Sleep tight!