new logo! This one was created by the wonderful Amy. Thanks, Amy! I know y’all loved last month’s logo, and I did too, so don’t worry, you’ll be seeing it again in the future.
4/3/06
An acidic and hostile place: since 1999
new logo! This one was created by the wonderful Amy. Thanks, Amy! I know y’all loved last month’s logo, and I did too, so don’t worry, you’ll be seeing it again in the future.
Hi, this is Jackie. I just realized that I called the wrong number. Unless Brianna is there. Thank you. It was so friggin’ cute I made Fred listen to it, too. I should have called her back and said “Hi Jackie, this is Robyn. Brianna’s not here – you did dial the wrong number – but thanks for leaving the CUTEST voicemail EVER!”
Lately, by the time evening rolls around, I am absolutely wiped out. I think this is a side effect of the surgery, which – from what I hear – lasts several weeks to a couple of months, and it SUCKS. Last night we were watching CSI at 7:00, and I could barely keep my eyes open. Hopefully it’ll pass quickly, because – did I mention? – this SUCKS. (Yes, I’m taking my iron and B12 supplements, so it’s not that.)
YOU Relationship Status: Married – it’ll be 8 years on Halloween. Shoe size : 9 wide. Parents still together? Yes. Siblings: Tracy, Randy, Debbie. Pets: Spot, Spanky, Miz Poo, Mister Boogers, Sugarbutt, and Tom Cullen. FAVORITES Color: Lemon yellow. Number: At the moment, I’m partial to 9. Animal: Cat, of course. Book: A Girl Named Zippy, She Got Up Off the Couch, The Stand, and Swan Song. Flower: Daffodils and sunflowers. DO YOU… Twirl your hair? No, but I run my hand through my hair an awful lot. Have tattoos? Not yet! Cheat on tests? I haven’t taken any tests to cheat on in years and years, so no. Like roller coasters? Yes, but I haven’t been on one in years. OPINIONS… Wish you could live somewhere else? Yes. Write in cursive or print? Usually print, unless it’s a letter. Own a cell phone? Yes. Current clothing: Yellow shirt, sports bra, gray pants, black pan-tays. Current hair: Medium-brown, shoulder-length with bangs. Current thing I ought to be doing: Cleaning. Current CD in stereo: There’s no CD in the stereo. There is, in fact, no stereo. Last movie you saw: Derailed. Last thing you ate: Pollo Sudado. Life on other planets? Why not? Do you hate yourself? No, but I certainly annoy myself quite often. Collect anything? Cats! ARE YOU… A daydreamer: Yes. Sarcastic: Occasionally. Shy: Yes. Talkative: Depends on who I’m with. WOULD YOU RATHER… Get your nose or lip pierced? Neither, ever. I like the look on other people sometimes, but for me? No. ARE YOU… Simple or complicated? Surprisingly simple. ABOUT YOU… What time is it: 8:15 am. Nickname(s): Mom, Bessie, Rob. WHAT DO YOU WANT? Where do you want to live: On the ocean. It doesn’t even have to be Maine ocean – just ANY ocean. Not holding my breath on that. How many kids do you want: One. What kind of job do you want: If I knew what I wanted to be when I grew up, I’d tell you, but I have NO IDEA. Do you want to get married: I already am. UNIQUE… Nervous Habits: Twitching my lower lip from side to side. Also, wiggling my feet. Are you double jointed? No. Can you roll your tongue? Yes. Can you raise one eyebrow? Yes, the left one. If I concentrate really, really hard I can raise the right one, but not very well. Can you cross your eyes? Yes. Do you make your bed daily? Yes; it’s the first thing I do when I get out of bed. CLOTHES, ETC Which shoe goes on first: The right. Ever thrown one at someone: Not that I remember. How much money do you carry in your wallet: Usually around $20. IN THE LAST MONTH HAVE YOU… Bought something: I’ve bought many things in the last month. Gotten sick: Vomited, yes. Gotten a cold or flu, no. Sang: I sing all the time during the day; less so when there’s someone other than the cats to hear me. Felt stupid: I’m quite sure I have. Missed someone: Not that I remember. Gotten your hair cut: Cut and colored, yes. I think. Unless it was late February? I don’t remember. Watched cartoons: Yes, South Park. Hey, it’s a cartoon! Lied: I’m sure I have. LAST PERSON THAT… Slept in your bed: Me! Saw you cry: Fred, I’m sure. Made you cry: FRED, I’M SURE. Saw a movie with you: Fred. Unless you mean gone out to see a movie, in which case it would probably be my sister, nephew, parents, and the spud while we were in Maine after Christmas. HAVE YOU EVER… Been to California: Yes, a couple of times. The last time was when the spud was… three? Somewhere around there. Been to Canada: Yes, a few times, but didn’t spend any great amount of time there. I’d love to spend a week on the Canadian coast. Wished you were the opposite sex: Every month. Snuck out of the house: When I was a teenager, yes.
Dude, sucks to be you tone of voice, “And then you’ll see a bright light in your right eye and it’ll go out, and you’ll die.” She gave me two days – not “at most, two days” or “two days at the very least” but exactly two days. AND FRED DIDN’T EVEN STAY HOME FROM WORK. I spent the entire two days running around trying to get everything in the house organized so Fred would be able to figure out how to do everything after I’d died. AND DID I MENTION HE DIDN’T EVEN STAY HOME FROM WORK? Bastard. If he can’t be bothered to stay home from work during my LAST TWO DAYS OF LIFE, he can figure out how to do everything on his own, damnit.
The Copper Duck) in Ducktown, TN. Looking for more time to kill that afternoon, we ended up at the Ducktown Basin Museum, which was very… museum-y. We drove around some more, drove into Cleveland to see if there was anyplace to shop or see a movie (there was a movie theater, showing the exact two movies we have no desire to ever see in our lives – V for Vendetta and Shaggy Dog), and then drove back to the cabin so I could take a short nap before we headed out for dinner. (Edited to add an explanation for why the river isn’t always running, stolen from Fred’s page: The river is controlled by the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA), and has been dammed in several places. They built a massive aqueduct through the mountains, and the river is actually diverted through that aqueduct most of the time, for the purpose of turning huge turbines and generating electricity. From late March until sometime in October, TVA schedules a series of releases of the river, to let it flow on its natural course through the riverbed. These computer-controlled releases create a perfect situation for whitewater rafting and kayaking, because one never needs worry about the water levels. If it rains, no problem. If there’s been a lack of rain, no problem. The levels of the river are constant during the releases, thanks to the dams. This time of year, they’re only releasing the river for 6 hours on Saturdays and Sundays. As it warms up, they’ll release it more often and for longer periods. By the height of summer, there are six release days a week, of maybe 10 hours a day. ) It took us maybe half an hour to eat dinner at a nearby restaurant, visit a convenience store to pick up snacks for the evening, and then we went back to the cabin for the evening. We watched the entire disc of four episodes of CSI and then went to bed some time after 10. Fred got up early Saturday morning, took a shower, and then headed out to get coffee and see if the river was running yet. According to the guy at the convenience store they’d start the river running at 9, but in actuality it didn’t get going until 10. By the time Fred got back to the cabin I was showered and dressed, and he woke up the spud so we could get going. And then we spent the next few hours driving around, waiting for the river to get going, and taking pictures. After an early lunch/ late breakfast (we tried to visit the Copper Duck again, but it didn’t open ’til noon, so we all had burgers at Albie’s, just down the road), we went back and spent a good long time standing over the spillway watching rafters and kayakers put in and take off down the river. When I told Fred that I’d like to take kayaking lessons and shoot for kayaking down the river next summer (2007, not 2006), you could have knocked him over with a feather. But the kayaking looked about 63,000 times more fun than the rafting, so I’m definitely up for it. And after that fascinating blow-by-blow description of our trip to Tennessee, how about a million pictures I took? The spillway, before they turned the river on. And after. Ducktown Basin Museum, mountains in the background. “Spud, go stand in that big metal thingy!” Part of the Burra Burra mine, collapsed on purpose. Looks an awful lot like the quarry, doesn’t it? It made me want to go for a swim. From our cabin deck, looking left. From our cabin deck, looking right. Can’t complain about the view, that’s for sure. An unimpressed Bluejay. My evening snack. It’s a little-known fact that the butt is the tenderest and most flavorful part of the cashew. A calm section of the river. If it hadn’t been 40 degrees, I would have for sure wanted to go for a swim. The spillway, with the river running. The spillway. Did you know part of the 1996 Olympics were held here? I had no idea. We walked across this bridge, and I stopped to take a picture over the side. I was pretty freaked out to find I could feel the bridge swaying in the breeze. Y’all know how much I love waterfalls! A crazy insane nut of a man, body-boarding down the VERY COLD Ocoee. Not fun. FUN. I can’t wait to do it myself! All of the pictures I took in Tennessee are here. Fred’s got an entry about the trip, here.
reading: Sleep No More, by Greg Iles. Finished recently: Is That a Moose in Your Pocket?, by Kim Green. I said yesterday I wasn’t that into the book. I kept being not being that into the book right up until the end. I don’t recommend it. When will I learn that it’s okay to put down a book I’m not that interested in? I guess it’s the optimist in me – I keep hoping, right up until the end, that it’ll pick up. This one never did. Also finished recently: Be More Chill, by Ned Vizzini. I really liked this book and it was a quick read. There’s a quote on the back cover wherein someone compares it to The Catcher in the Rye. I guess I can get behind that comparison – though I think Be More Chill was far better than Catcher. I’m not fond of that whiny-ass Holden Caulfield, personally.
reading: Is That a Moose in Your Pocket?, by Kim Green. I’m not that into it, but I think I’ll keep reading just to see what happens. Finished recently: Rosie Dunn, by Cecelia Ahern. Good book, but my lord did it start to drag toward the end. Because you KNOW what’s going to happen at the end, just not how or when, and I think the book could have been edited down a bit. It’s really weird when it comes to Cecelia Ahern’s books – I don’t care for her writing style, but I like her books. Isn’t that strange?
Big Love yesterday, and PLEASE. Who the hell didn’t know the instant Harry Dean Stanton handed over the pitcher of drink to Bruce Dern’s head wife during the pilot episode that there was poison in that thar pitcher? Harry Dean Stanton is one scary-looking motherfucker.