bah! stupid!

one of my biggest pet peeves is a lack of consideration for others. it seriously pisses me off. and usually i do something that is equally lacking consideration, but whatever, the jackass earned it.

this morning i had one of those moments.

i was driving along, on my way to work, minding my own business. as i approach the area where i have to merge onto another highway, i turn on my blinker and start looking for a spot to merge in to. there's quite a bit of traffic, but i don't usually have any trouble.

well, this morning, Jackass Guy In The Volvo wanted to give me trouble. JGITV was behind a big utility truck and i didn't have quite enough room/time to get in front of that. also, there was a bunch more traffic behind JGITV and trying to get behind him, or them, would have required me to come to a stop. and you just don't stop in a merge lane. you just DON'T.

so.. where was i? oh yes, JGITV wouldn't let me in. he was just close enough to the white utility truck so that i couldn't get my car in. i could tell what he was doing becuase, i have to admit, i've done the same thing. so, karma? perhaps. but either way, i was pissed. so i gave a big SCREW YOU to the JGITV and began to move my car over. i figured cutting him off would do the trick.

it did.

JGITV let up and i was able to merge in.

but seriously, he could have spared us both the trouble and just let me in nicely. or at least gotten over in to the other lane. bah!

yikes

we lost our softball game.

let me rephrase that...

we were butchered at our softball game.

15-4 qualifies as a butchering, wouldn't you agree?

*sigh* oh well. at least the season is over. and we won $30 for where we placed.

wouldn't ya know it...

i hurt my back again. what am i, 80?? seriously, annoying! at least this time i know what i did. i went to my spinning class on monday because my back was feeling better and i thought i could handle it. after the class, my back feeling ok, i headed off to my softball game. i figured i would take it easy just to make sure i didn't hurt my back again. well, totally not thinking, i took the position of catcher when my team took the field. well, you guessed it, the first ball i bent down to pick up, my back went PING! and all the pain was back again.

dammit.

i played 2 more innings with my back in pain because there were only 3 girls playing, including me [our league has this lame rule where there has to be at least 3 girls playing on each team]. when another girl finally showed up, i sat out the rest of the game. i felt so lame. but, oh well.

we did win that softball game, though. we play again tonight, for the tournament, but don't worry; i'm not playing. i'll just be keeping score.

ok, twilight zone

pretty much all week i have dressed similar to someone. On Monday, Dean and i both ended up wearing green. Tuesday, Dean and i both wore blue. yesterday, my boss and i both had on purple. and today, my boss and i are wearing black. so weird!

maybe the back thing was a blessing

i've still got a few kinks in my back that i'm trying to work out. who knew it could take so long for a back to unkink?

anyway... this week has been quite a splendid one, thanks to my back. i haven't gone to the gym at all (i'm sure i'll be cursing myself for this some time next week); this means that i have actually had time to do things this week. time to enjoy things. i've spent more time with my kitty, read a lot of Harry Potter, played some Sims, AND kept the house some what respectable. it's amazing, really.

today, after work, instead of going to my softball game, i am going to Borders to play. Zoot mentioned MrZ's favorite book, Map of Bones, so i think i'm going to check that one out.

NOTE TO SELF:: Clean out car

yes, i am one of those people. the person that has a 4 door vehicle, which normally would seat 4-5 people, depending on size, but which only holds 2, maybe 3 is you're lucky, because of the amount of junk in the car. now, in my defense, not much of it is trash. ok, there's some trash. but it's nothing that can decompose or anything like that. nothing smelly!

but the amount of STUFF in my car always amazes me. and the rate at which it accumulates? even more amazing. i can have the inside of my car spotless and by the next day it's full again. ok, that may be a slight exaggeration, but still.

anyway... the point of this story is this: on my way home from work this afternoon, i decided to take advantage of the gorgeous weather and save my car from the A/C. i rolled down all my windows [i totally just typed winders] and opened up my sunroof. i was going down the highway, listening to some tunes and enjoying the warm sunshine. i wasn't too worried about all the stuff in my back seat because i had strategically positioned my gym bag [which i haven't used at all this week because of the back issue] and a golf umbrella [dean's, not mine] across the notable items that would have flown around in the car and possibly out the window. [do you see where this is going?]

well... just a little ways down the highway i hear a great rukus coming from the back seat. all of a sudden a plastic grocery bag comes flying up to the passeger seat and quickly flys back and out the rear window. only it's not completely out. no, a portion of it wrapped around the window frame of the car and the wind is keeping it there. so, while trying not to wreck my car in the afternoon traffic, i'm trying to figure out what to do with my plastic bag dilemma. i am not one for littering, so i would hate to have a plastic bag fly out of my car and junk up the land. also, what if i left a receipt in that plastic bag which held some sort of personal information? yes, i am paranoid about personal/credit information like that [i shred everything] and that was definitely my first thought. despite the fact that a receipt would surely have flown out of the bag at this point, based on its placement, my main concern is saving my information. yes, lame.

after a few seconds of pondering i realize that, dumbass, i could just roll the window up. so i did. and it snagged the plastic bag and prevented it from flying out of my car. but now i had a stupid plastic grocery bag flapping out of the window of my car. i had to drive all the way home looking like a moron with a plastic bag hanging from my car. because i was a moron with a plastic bag hanging from my car.

but at least i didn't litter.

the gray hairs aren't far behind, i'm sure

i did something to my back this weekend and i have no clue how. it's my lower back and it pretty much only hurts when i bend over. or stand up straight. or turn. or pretty much do anything that involves my lower back muscles. i've obviously pulled or strained something, but i don't remember an instance where i would have done it. i just woke up sunday morning with my back a bit tight and it just got worse from there.

man, i'm getting old....

oh, also, i am finally reading the latest Harry Potter book. i must be the only living person left on this planet who hasn't read it yet. but, i'm reading it now.

also, work is boring. would it be rude to up and leave in the middle of the day? it would? well damn...

you know you're getting older when...

your close friends start buying houses.

my best friend and her fiance are in the process of buying their first home. granted, it's a townhouse and it's in the Winchester area, but it is still a home and they are BUYING it. it gives me hope; maybe someday i will be able to own my own home, too.

i know, i know, i'm terrible

anyone who knows me in real life knows that i go to the gym a lot. i'm there 4-6 days a week usually, unless i'm having a particularly bad week. i do this for two reasons. 1) i was an overweight kid once i hit 5th/6th grade. it continued on through my freshman/sophomore year of college until, finally, in 2001 i got my act together and got myself to a healthy weight. working out keeps me healthy and feeling good. 2) i like to eat, plain and simple. obviously my tastes have changed after doing the weight loss thing; i cannot stand most fast food because, ICK. but i love a good meal (and don't get me wrong, i'm still a sucker for baked goods, desserts, and chocolate!). so, regular activity and exercise allows me to treat myself with the yummy, indulgent foods i love.

now that you've got that background story, here's the main reason for my post. i know this is totally going to make me sound like a HUGE bitch and a horrible, horrible person, but i know i can't be the only female who does this. anyway... i've been attending my gym for 2.5 years now. i know most of the people there, either by name or face. there are a few, both male and female, who are your stereotypical gym person; perfectly toned bodies, hair, clothes, etc. you know what i'm talking about. anyway, these people normally do not bother me because there are a lot more normal people at the gym than there are "perfect" people. this one girl, though? cannot. stop. loathing. her.

she's young (early 20s). she's blonde. insanely tan (tanning bed, mostly). tall (5' 9" i've heard her say). incredible long legs. perfectly thin. everything i'd like to be physically. i totally know and understand that i am insanely jealous... but i just can't stop. every time i see her i think HAAAATE.

the good thing, though? i totally use her as motivation. if we happen to be in the same class, whether it's spinning, weight lifting, or yoga, i push myself to keep up with her or surpass her when i can. i'm not pushing myself to the point of injury (i'm not that crazy), but just enough to make me work a bit harder.

we happened to be in the same spin class yesterday and i got such an awesome workout because i made sure that i never went slower than her. i like to think that my resistance was higher than her's, too, but there's really no way i can know that for sure. but anyway... i felt so great after the class that i went and ran for 2 miles (i'm training for a 5K in October). i know the jealousy part is incredibly immature and juvenile, but the competition that comes out of it seems to be working great.

can anyone else back me up on this? surely i'm not the only one that gets this way.

yeah... so.... the weekend....

so, the big story from my weekend was the white water rafting. i will preface this story by saying that this trip was my 3rd rafting trip and, while i in no way felt i was an expert, i was somewhat comfortable with the whole rafting 'thing'. Dean and i were going with a group of friends and we had all been rafting on the New River the previous 2 times we had gone. this year we decided to try a new river; we opted for the Youghigeney River in Pennsylvania. it was a lot closer [only 3.5 hours away] and we were able to get a nice package deal which included the rafting, lunch during the rafting, and our camping. the reason it was cheaper than our other rafting trips was because "we" [i say "we" because i didn't choose, our friend R. planned out the trip and i just agreed to it] had chosen the Guide Escorted Tour. this was different from a Guided Tour. you see, the Guided Tour [the kind i was used to] is where there is a rafting guide in every single raft. this type of guide sits in the back of the raft and steers the boat in the right direction while giving the rest of the rafters instructions on how to paddle. the Guide Escorted Tour does not have this. oh, there are Guides. just NOT IN YOUR BOAT. they raft along with you [some in kayaks] and explain what you should do for each rapid. but you and the people in your boat have to navigate the river and the rapids on your own.

yeah...

this picture is not a picture of my group. not even. the river was pretty low when we went which caused us to get stuck on EVERY. ROCK. IN. THE. RIVER. and i'm not exaggerating. ok, maybe just a little bit. but seriously, we got stuck on so many stupid rocks. granted, there was 7 of us piled in a large raft, so we had a lot to work with. but still, THE ROCKS. grrrrrr. most of the river was fine; mostly class III and class IV rapids. we've done multiple class V's on the New River. but there was this one rapid called Dimple Rock. this is where our trip took a turn for the worst.

to sum it up, we did not go through the rapid properly. we went through it so incorrectly that the current flung our boat up against the ginormous rock [Dimple Rock] on our left hand side. before we knew it, our boat was up on its side and dumping all of us into the river. a rescue team had been set up prior to the boats going through this rapid [that's always a good sign for an upcoming rapid... "wait, we gotta set up the rescue crew!"] so they went to work as soon as we toppled out of the raft. as soon as i fell into the water i felt the boat fall down over top of me, upside down. here is where i really started to panic; being under the raft is one of the worst places you can be. somehow [i don't really remember] i got out from under the boat and went cruising down through the rapids. water was gushing over my head, i couldn't see, and i really couldn't get a breath of air. my feet kept going down to try and touch the bottom of the river, but i had to keep telling myself not to do that [i easily could have gotten my feet trapped amongst the rocks]. after what was only a few seconds of swimming [although it felt like an eternity!] the current slammed me on a rock in just the right way so that i was able to sit on it and hold on for dear life. finally i was out of the running water and was able to breathe, but i was only able to muster up quick gasps. i tried to reorient myself as i told myself to calm down. up ahead of me was a guide on a large rock and he threw a rescue rope to me. i caught it and grabbed on to it as they had instructed us at the beginning of the trip. i let go of my precious, precious resting rock and felt myself fall back in to the river. the current quickly swung me around the rock that the guide was on and i thought i was going to be safe. but as i glanced back to the guide i noticed that the rope was going slack. fucker let go of the rope!! in his defense, i'm pretty sure he was telling me to swim to the shore [it wasn't too far off], but i couldn't hear what he was saying because of the rushing water. not to mention the PANIC. and honestly, i don't think i COULD have swam to the shore at that point; i can really only doggie paddle and, let's face it, that wasn't going to cut it with the kind of current i was in. but, as i flipped over on to my back [still telling myself to GET MY FEET UP] i saw another rescue guy standing in the water trying to help. and he was right in my path! the current was taking me straight to him! i reached my arm out to him [and i'm sure i would have pitifully yelled "help me!" if i could have] and he grabbed it and just PULLED. he dug his weight into the rocks and yanked me from the current. he swung me around and sat me down on the rocks in the shallow water of the shore and told me to sit there. and then he was gone. i just sat, shaking, nearly in tears, thanking every single deity i could think of that i was safe and finally, FINALLY! out of the rapids.

2 other people from my boat had gotten to the same spot as me, so we sat there, all stunned, scanning the river for our other friends. Dean and R had, somehow, managed to grap hold of our raft which had gotten stuck on some rocks in the middle of the river. C had gotten to the opposite shore and J was much further downstream but also on the shore. luckily everyone was accounted for and safe. there were no major injuries; just lots of shock. the worst part was having to get back into the boat again. all of us girls were done with the rafting and just wanted to get out and go home. unfortunately there was no way out of the river without traveling down the rest of the way in our raft. so, we had to get back in and keep going. and we did. the rest of the river was fine [but still getting stuck on rocks!].

i don't think i have ever been as happy to put my feet on solid earth as i was that day when our trip was over. i nearly kissed it i was so relieved.

quick update

ok, most of my crazy busy weekend is over. don't have much time to elaborate on everything right now, but let's just say that this white water rafting trip kicked my ass. there was a capsized raft, large rocks, scary river currents, and video footage to prove it. we're all fine; some minor bumps and bruises, but alive.

the wedding was fun (only a 15 minute ceremony!) and our friend's engagement party was great. sleeping in my own bed last night was heavenly.

now it is time for the surprise b-day brunch. those are always fun. :)

sell out

ok, so i got some ads. wanna fight about it? heh. anyway, yeah, just figured i would try to get some extra money. seeing as how i'm poor and all.

anywho... did you guys know that there is a Virginia Food Festival? well, there is. and it is awesome. Dean got free tickets through his office so we went. it was last night from 4-8pm in Richmond which meant we got to leave work early. yay! but let me tell you, if you are any sort of fan of food, you would have loved the Food Festival. all the food and wine/beer you could handle FOR FREE. the tickets were normally $25 a piece, but we totally got to go and eat/drink for free. it rocked. seriously. well, despite the 100+ degree weather, but whatever.

PS: Virginia has some yummy wine. mmm... wine...

hot enough for ya'?

so how hot is it where you are? right now it's a cool 97 degrees with 42% humidity in my area of Virginia. 42% humidity is actually pretty good for this area. but the 97 degrees? man, that's hot. and not in any fireman sort of way, either.

aside from the swealtering heat and humidity, what else has been going on? i feel like i haven't talked to you in a while, internets. oh wait, that's because i haven't! let's see, what have i been doing this past week or so...

last thursday night i had a softball game with my team. i get so frustrated playing softball; we always lose! i know we just play in a league for fun and i know that we are not 'hard-core' and i know it's not about winning or losing... but dammit it sucks to lose so much! i really dislike losing. plus... it really friggin sucks to play softball in the weather we've been having lately.

friday night i actually got a life (gasp!) and went out to a bar with some friends. it was good times. we went to the Clarendon Ballroom (for those of you in the area). i love going there because it is a non-smoking bar (and the place is huge!) so you don't leave at the end of the night reeking of smoke. and being a former smoker / non-smoker, that's really nice. we had a really good time at the ballroom; the only thing i would have changed would have been my shoes. yeah... made a poor choice on that. the pair i wore had a criss-cross thing going across the toes that just squished my tootsies in the most uncomfortable way ever. so i had to go and sit down a lot. but oh well. note to self: do not wear those shoes to long-standing-up events (haha, yeah, like i'll ever really listen to that! pain for fashion, right? lol)

saturday and sunday were actually very relaxing days with not much going on (a first in a long time!). dean and i were able to catch up on some household things we had been neglecting lately (dishes, cleaning, yard work, blah blah blah). we were also able to mooch off both of our parents for dinner. dean's parents took us to Outback on Friday night and my parents invited us over for dinner on Sunday night. hooray for not having to cook! or buy your own groceries! heh.

this week is going to be an incredibly crazy one, starting with today. tonight Dean and i have a board meeting to go to, tomorrow we are going to some food festival in Richmond, thursday night we are leaving for Pennsylvania, friday we are white water rafting in Pennsylvania, saturday we are leaving Pennsylvania super early to make it back to Virginia in time for dean's uncle's wedding at 2pm, saturday night we are going to an engagement party for a couple we know, on Sunday we are going to a surprise bday party for a friend of ours, and next monday night we have another softball game. whew! i'm tired just writing all that.