the everyday adventures of sabrina

i'm happy, hope you're happy too

lazing on a sunny afternoon, in the almost summertime.

fifty degrees outside; going on eighty inside. packing some shit up, pruned back the basil plant a little, putting off doing laundry, pondering maybe going to working bikes to look at the selection to see if they have anything more wrist-friendly than the santa bike has been these days, pondering going up to the brown elephant to drop off some stuff i’ve been collecting to donate. setting up an rsync job to back up my home directory to my external firewire disk, so i can delete some of the music i rarely listen to from the laptop and clear up a little more space. in short, just your everyday average weekend bullshit, with an extra side of thinking about what colors to paint my new apartment. a few good things that have happened lately:

  • well, signed a lease, obviously. so the apartment search is over. that’s definitely a good thing.
  • i have been missing discs one and four from my police message in a box boxed set since i moved here. i was growing ever more depressed over that. finally, last weekend i decided to go through every single one of my jewel boxes and look to see where i had (mis)placed those CDs. finally found them both tucked into the every breath you take: the singles jewel box. (naturally i went through the jewel boxes alphabetically, i didn’t, oh, say, start with the logical place to look first.) this now means that i’m missing the every breath you take CD, but i don’t actually care about that because i have message in a box back, and that’s everything. also i’m happy because discs one and four were my favorites from that set so i was going to be extra sad if they were lost forever.
  • the weather’s been significantly less craptastic than projected. hooray for spring!
  • i have a play date for later in this week with the lovely miss anne thrope, wherein we plan to drink wine, watch bad eighties movies, and play Dance Dance Revolution like nobody’s watching (and like my living room is not floor to ceiling boxes).
  • have gotten to spend a pretty good amount of time with a bunch of friends lately. that’s always a good time. it makes me feel better about myself as a person if i can make m. laugh, even if b. [no, not that b., the other b.! curse this faux obfuscation! — uhhh, okay, if y’all post comments with your actual name, from here on out i’m not doing the stupid initial-obfuscation thing.] bill refuses to be my friend anymore once i become a filthy northsider.
  • amusingly: we have had two recent hires to upper level management that concern me. greg a., whom we stole from MIT, who is to become the senior director of the division of NSIT for which i toil; and bob z., the new president of the university. this means that my reporting structure from direct supervisor to the top now goes Bob, Bob, Greg, Greg, Bob. i find this very amusing. meet the new boss, same as the old boss!
  • vanity alert: on the advice of my hairdresser, i started treating my hair a little better (in terms of shampoo and extra conditioner TLC) a couple of months ago, and i believe that i am now reaping the rewards, as the current dye job is at least like four weeks old and is still purty. also, i have SHAMPOO COMMERCIAL SHINY HAIR. it’s all i can do to not sit in the sunshine and admire how shiny and smooth and non-frizzy and non-split-endy my hair is. lesson: always listen to your hairdresser, especially if he gives you hair tips and recommendations of some music you need to pick up in the same visit!
  • TWO WEEKS UNTIL OPENING DAY!!!

equal and opposite

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somewhere, somewhere there is a moron. this person is responsible for setting the list of songs to appear on a compilation disc called Their Greatest Hits by the Eagles. this person is responsible for excluding the song “Hotel California.” this person is responsible for making sure that when i woke up this morning with “Hotel California” inexplicably in my head i had no MP3 to conveniently play.

of course, for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction, so somewhere else there is a very smart person, and that very smart person is me for just happening to have the Hotel California lp.

last thing i remember, i was running for the door;
i had to find the passage back to the place i was before.
“relax,” said the nightman, “we are programmed to receive:
you can check out any time you like, but you can never leave.”

ETA: okay, they weren’t a moron. i checked; this compilation covers through ’75. Hotel California was, of course, ’76. my bad. — that said, i’m still very smart. :P

catblogging friday

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catblogging friday
Tiger’s wearing green. Kinda.

uh-huh

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Snow Advisory canceled…

i am thoroughly unimpressed with the performance of the national weather service today.

today:

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niqui: *shows up at 1320 for 1400 appointment with the oral surgeon*
receptionist: *shoves endless pile of paperwork at niqui*
niqui: *eventually asks for her ID and insurance card back*
receptionist: oh, i still have to photocopy them. give me a minute.
niqui: …
niqui: *waits another half hour; reads The Princess Bride*
tech #1: you can come back now. okay, over to the xray machine.
niqui: *is xrayed*
tech #2: okay, we’re going to show you a little video now. it’s wonky in the beginning but it gets better.
video: *is completely crappy; terrifies niqui with its contents*
niqui: *stares at corner rather than the display; has mental debate over whether or not she should read her book until the scary bad man is off the teevee*
video: *remains completely crappy until the end — bars of static obscuring a third of the screen — where it becomes inaudibly and unviewably crappy*
tech #2: all done?
niqui: you need to replace that tape. it was unwatchable.
tech #2: it’ll be just a few more minutes. *disappears again*
niqui: *resumes reading*
techs 1-5: *sit outside niqui’s door gossipping about their lives.*
niqui: *resents being forced to watch unwatchable video instead of being talked to, while everyone is so clearly busy out there*
surgeon: *appears!*
surgeon: do you have any questions?
niqui’s mental voice: what did i ever do to you?
niqui: no, i’m just slightly terrified.
surgeon: okay. *looks at xray* so why are you here today?
niqui: …
niqui’s mental voice: uhhhhh……
niqui: …for my wisdom teeth.
surgeon: oh, look at that one. that’s interesting.
niqui’s mental voice: oh do not even tell me my teeth are interesting because that shit i do not need.
surgeon: that looks like two teeth! or, well, maybe it’s just one. i can’t really tell.
niqui’s mental voice: i am going to die in here.
surgeon: you know, i’ve looked at thousands of xrays, i’ve seen ones where — *gestures, describes various frightening wisdom tooth scenarios niqui never needed to know about* — but that’s the first time i’ve seen something like that.
niqui: *begins composing Last Will and Testament.*
surgeon: so i’m not really concerned here.
niqui: …
niqui: *stares at two lower wisdom teeth on xray, both of which are squashing niqui’s normal teeth sideways*
surgeon: i don’t really want to take those two out. they’re so close to the nerve.
niqui’s mental voice: then SEND ME TO SOMEONE ELSE.
surgeon: tell you what, *scribbles out a scrip for amoxicillin, scribbles out a scrip for motrin*, come back in two weeks and we’ll see if we want to take these teeth out.
niqui’s mental voice: yes, perhaps the AMOXICILLIN will take care of the problem. i hear it’s great for removing teeth from my jaw. just like magic
accountant: that’ll be $5, please!

… so: today sucked. tomorrow’s to-do list now includes this line item:
call insurance company and ask how one can appeal the doctor to whom one was referred for services, if said doctor is A MORON.