Here I am sitting in an internet cafe across the street from our small hotel again. It has the catchy title of easyInternetCafe. It's cool, and warmish, although it is a wet cool/warm type thing, so spending all day in it yesterday made me feel really cold for a long time. I spent extra time in bed this morning warming up.

Today I am going to and check out a few other big locales that tourists like myself visit. ON the way there I have to stop at the BIG department store they have (you know like Macy's and crap). I seems that whenever I don't stop at one of these places, people always ask me if I did. I could see if they have a watch. I don't have one and desperately need one...okay maybe no desperately...it is a good conversation starter. The morning breakfast which consisted of a baguette, cheese, jam, muffin and cold cereal (corn flakes) not my most favorite kind of cereal will hold me through...I hope. I might have to get a bit more coffee before I embark though.

Last night we went on a walking tour of the city's evil little underbelly....a ghost tour you might say. We ended up in what is called The Black Masouluem where one of my contacts came out and had to keep it in my mouth for the next half hour until I could find light to put it back in. I was afraid that I was going to start digesting it...luckily that wasn't the case. Equally lucky, I was not "attacked" by a poltergeist...although one woman claimed afterward that "she is a cynic...and as a cynic she did not believe what was happening to her in the room where MacKenzie haunts.... something...was trying to pull her leg. Several times." Hm. I rather like to think that the women who led us on the trip was on hell of a story teller. I can definitely tell that I watch too much TV that pull the lid off these kind of things...but I was entertained. My favorite part of the tour was after we got out of the Black Masouleum, and searching for that one person who had a flashlight how I was fooled by little red glowing bits of light all around me. Almost EVERYONE had a cigarette.

Anyway. I am off to Jenners and then to the ...I forget what it is called, but I will get a postcard and remember the proper name later.

Hello! From Scotland! Wow, this place is warm, postively balmy! I am sitting in an internet cafe across the street from our impossibly small, hotel. They don't have washcloths (damn, I should have pack one), I took the hottest shower of my life ( stupid celcius crap) and there is no alarm clock in the room. This last one added with my lack of a watch has led me to not know what time it is. My plans for the day is to go and check out the Edinburgh Castle and perhaps find a watch.

For two pounds I got myself two or three hours or so of internet time. I think I will share it with Tim who is currently working his little booty off, later. And the TV still sucks, but it is worth it to hear everyone have scottish accents.

WaaHOO. Last day of work then a vacation. Today, I merely have to finish the goddamned Cell, have a meeting with Katie at 10:00, order pizza and set up for Andrew the temp and my ride for the last couple of months to work, going away party. He is going back into the strange world of Opera production. Tim and I may attend our first opera when he gets us tix for the Turn of the Screw sometimes in last March, early April.

Last night I was going to bake brownies, but I got home late after shopping after work. Tim was staying late, so I decided I was in no rush to get home, so I stopped by Borders where I bought The Cabinet of Curiosities (27 bucks!, but I figured it was okay because I was going to go on vacation and vacation needs a great book...and extra indulgence...kind of thing), a Kit called "Stamp a Christian Greeting" which is awesome because for $5.99 I got: 20 stamps (the only lame one being WWJD), a pair of paper scissors with a pattern I did not have, six colored pencils, a stencil sheets, 5 little brass ornaments, gold string, six blank cards with envelopes, two brush markers AND a book! I played with the set all last night, using sheets from my newly acquired journal with metal covers. I can't explain it...it's cool and I got it for three bucks, on sale 75% off.

I made Andrew's going away card this morning. 8) I loves it. And I know Sigrid would love it too, if she could see what a bargain it was.

Hm Live journal is down today, and last night I do believe. I was going to post the previous link in that too...but it won't come up. I haven't been able to get my daily cup of spying in. Kind of shortened my morning procrastination ritual too.

Today I had some Baja Express with Tim, over at Willo-bee. It wasn't that great, Chipolte still beats them. Hell Taco Bell beats them. Last night I scanned, and worked on a letter to a pen pal. Letter three to Kim, who lives in the mountains. I also picked up two more potential penpal's...we shall see how it works out. I am actually rather glad that I have been keeping up the five new ones, while maintaining friends and family. My New Year's resolution is working out well still.

Kate brought me a flyer to Bert Menco's art exhibit reception next week, but I am going to be gone! *wail* I wanted to stalk stalk stalk. To show up and be like..."Oh...Bert? Is that YOU? What a coincidence." Nah. I don't know if I could do that with a serious face...especially after Jenni told him that I had a dream about him and he came over for the details the VERY next day after being gone for like a month or so. CRAP! I was going to link you to Bert's site...but's down too. What the hell is up with the internet today? Strike?

As promised last week or so..maybe even two weeks ago. I have scanned (just for you) the photos from the lost box of photos, waaaaay up on the highest shelf in the third, oddly shaped closet (that is now clean and organized). These pictures are taken over the span of two days in February of 1998 with me and my trusty camera, that my brother got me for Christmas from Walmart. See how many of the folks you recognize.

So, in case you missed the "these pictures" hint....click HERE.

This weekend was a weekend filled with more movie watching, popcorn eating (which has greatly improved since we bought 'I Can't Believe It's Not Butter --- Spray" to spray on it with it's zero calorie buttery goodness, and eating out at IHOP. We watched:

Ballistic: Echs VS Sever --> Worst action film I have seen in years. Ack. Tim asked "How hungry *was* Antonio?
Imposter --> What? This movie was great! Gary Sinase is a civilian that gets replaced with a clone with a bomb in it. Or has he? I really liked it, the plot was well laid, you kept guessing till the end... Tim said it was better than Minority Report. I have to agree.
Goldmember --> Eh.
Insomniac --> It was good. Robin Williams totally reminds me of the this carpentry guy that get assigned to me for ...well carpentry issues. Same creepy smile always there...an underlying since of rage. Ew. I don't like him and wouldn't trust him alone. But he gets my stuff done for me...so I have to be nice. AND Al Pacino..did he really stay up for six days to look that hellish in the end?

We didn't rent any more movies for this upcoming week, because of our trip. So we watched three episodes of Babylon Five, and the taped Angel. Tonight we finally have the conclusion of Joe Millionaire that SHOULD have played last week. Stupid fox. My predicition is that one of the female contestants is actually a millionaire looking for love. We shall see, it all ends tonight.

I just got a box of chocolates!
Neat.

It was from a student who asked about a computer a couple months ago, and I finally gave to her this last week. It's a G4...it's only sin was not having a lot of memory and being a bit slow. She is having it on a "permanent" loan. But the box of chocolate was a thank you. How nice is that?

Last night we played pool, and darts. It was fun. I got drunk on three beers! Not smoking really makes the alcohol work for you. On the way home we stopped at the lighthouse for another beer, and then went to bed. I was tired as heck. This morning I woke up to Migo pulling my glasses off the nightstand. Stupid cat knocked them down, and of course without my glasses.... I can't find my glasses. I had Tim find them for me.

Oh last night I made whipped Jello for the first time. It is REALLY tasty.
Tim wore red plaid pants, and a red shirt today. I can't believe he dressed up for Valentines. Who is this Tim of mine?

The end result of Jessica's meeting with Holly was that Jessica "took a lot of responsibility' [read, she knew she fucked up], and has a "Hard time adjusting to the variety of personalities" and had to be convinced that "we weren't out to get her." Which I think is funny. I haven't been out to get her except when I have to do her job. Even then, I am only out for myself so I don't have to do her job anymore.

Today is D Day for our dear Jessica. Holly has come back and been appraised of the Jessica Situation, and conveniently has arranged for a six month review to happen with her today, in their normal meeting. At three o'clock. Andrew, the temp and my morning ride for a least until next Friday has predicted that she will be cling. She won't quit. When you are as defensive as her, then you cannot quit because that would me mean failure.

Boy, when I had my first review with Holly, it was my three month. I thought I was doing okay...still learning the ropes and such, but all in all okay. Then I met with Holly and ended up crying. She made my cry, ladies and gentlemen...and the ironic thing is...it was a good review! I do not envy Jessica right now. She has no idea what is about to happen. ... .and yet. I am excited. I am evil. I do not like this woman, and working with her takes every ounce of professionalism I have.

So Friday night I had nothing better to do than to go through a box I found in the closet with pictures. It was a mess from early college, and high school with duplicates and what not. I decided to sort through the pictures and find all the duplicates. One of the stacks I found was a day in the life of me sometime in 1998....It's crazy the people on that roll, I am going to have to scan it. Also, I am going to sort through the duplicates and send them to the appropriate people. I think it will be a nice surprise to have in the mailbox.

Saturday I slept until 10:00 and got up because I was hungry. I felt cross eyed and not quite right and found NO food in the kitchen. My darling ate all the breakfast items. I had a drink of orange juice and went back to bed. Forty five minutes later Tim comes in to get ready for his Mech Warriors tournament. He says "Do you want to go and see a movie tonight?" I respond "No, I am going to see one now. You can drop me off in Evanston (not a huge feat because he was going to pick up his friend Matt who also plays little robot figurine games)." I get dressed and we go. He drops me off in by the theater and I glance at the car clock, which reads 12.29. I'm still hungry, so I am debating getting food first or a ticket first. I decide for the ticket first, and go up. The lines are big and I wait. The next showing of Chicago is at 2.30....so my turn I sayd "One for Chicago, please." She says "That will be 5.50" I am shocked. What? IT was supposed to cost me 9.50....what's going on? Oh, maybe if you buy your ticket before two, then they give you matinee prices? She gives me the ticket and I walk away. What? She gave me a ticket for the 11.35 showing of Chicago. I stand there. Confused. Looking at the ticket I read that the issue time is 11.38. Yet the show time says 11.35. It takes another full minute before I realize the actual time is 11.38 and the car clock is an hour ahead because we are lazy bastards and never change it. I get a pop and head to the movie in time to see two previews. Chicago was good, my favorite scene was the puppet scene... the worst part was getting a headache ten min into it. I knew I felt cross eyed for a reason.

After the movie, I went to Jewel for Advil and Clarks for breakfast. I got a table by myself and read Cryptonomicon (which is taking forever to read) and got the Denver skillet, with pan cakes. The waitress was super nice, so I gave her a big tip. Had a nice meal and enjoyed myself immensely, and decided to do a little shopping on the way to the train. Luckily while I was in Ala Card Tim called saying the game was over and that he could pick me up! I just had to wait 40 minutes which I could easily do by heading over to Tom Thumb (the biggest craft store you have ever seen). On the way I went into a flower shop and put together a little bouquet, and bought two plants. The lady was SO nice she gave me a pink rose as I was leaving (it later bloomed beautifully). Then at Tom Thumb I found three stamps, and some blank cards and envelopes (50!!!) -- so I can easily make my own cards without having to cut the paper.

Tim picked me up...did so so on his Mech Warriors fight....Matt got second place. And we went home. I laid down for a while because now I had a stomach ache and a the remnants of a headache...laying down didn't help, so I made some herb tea and started to watch movies, TV, play with stamps a bit...and knit. Tim and I watched: Jeepers Creepers (not that bad of a movie, Tim said he was actually scared for awhile there...), Angel, and Lifeforce (a rented DVD based on the novel Space Vampire's) which actually wasn't that bad, expect for too many suspended belief parts...).

Sunday we went grocery shopping, Tim got another storage unit for his growing Mech collection, and a PC game, socks, sweat pants and fleece sweater, rented: Ballistic, Insomniac, and Goldmember and War of the Monsters. Made dinner for Bekah and Greg who came over at 7:00, ate and then we all played War of the Monsters until 12.30 AM. That game is FUN.

Last night I cleaned. Of course after watching the Michael Jackson special on TV. In the end, Tim and I just felt kind of sad for him. The press pusehd him too hard on some thing and made a bigger deal of out the bed than they should have. Come on, the dude is strange in EVERYTHING he does, why focus on one thing? I have to agree with the British reporter in Primetime that Micheal is just 'under developed'. IF anything he had digressed over the past few years, to this state he is in now. And did not anyone else see just how lonely he was? So isolated. Sad. I would not trade places for anything.

.....after that, I wanted to work out a bit, so I cleaned the bedroom and even organized the closet. Now I have left to organize the shelves and make it pretty.I found enough cat hair to make another cat, and I fixed my night stand. Nice. 8) I wish I had a house to work on. I would be so cool. Callie is talking about getting a house, so she said I could help her work on hers. =^-^=

No plans this weekend.
Getting excited for Scotland.

Thankfull I did not commit a MDK (Murder death kill). I was going to...I was close...but I prevailed. Instead I went out at lunch time and bought a nice mocha. Money that I was almost going to use on a pack of smokes...but evil Jessica will not make me buy smokes. Not me. I am stronger than her. Evil. One.

Um. Nothing much else going on. I wrote two letters and a card last night. That's about it. Oh, and I updated Excerpts....for those of you who are interested.

House on the Rock has generated a record number of hits in one day! It totally must be because Tim wrote something. He always gets the press, I am just the arm candy. Anyway, I found my livejournal account had more friends added! People *actually* added me as a friend. Incredible, almost tempting enough to move over to live journal....almost. I must ...still.....resist. Ack. The only reason I am staying with blogger still is because it allows me to maintain influence over the design of the page...and because I have been using it for SO long. Although I really wish it would have that nifty little "comment" feature...

After work, I was destroyed from the monster that is Jessica and...must not....talk about her. I get so frusturated angry just even thinking about .... stop it. I stopped for a drink at the Light House with Tim and then got pissy and wanted to go home. Which I did, and watched Buffy. Um. Buffy....yeah, the only good thing about it was that Tim made another great dinner and then we watched Lilo and Stitch...which I did enjoy. Thank you, I like children's stories...they do have elements of fantasy in them and disney does throw a bone or two to the parents.... (not that I am a parent, but I am an adult). In any case, I enjoyed the movie.

No good mail. ALthough did I tell you about the great mail day I had on Monday? A letter from my Mom, my plane tickets to Scotland/London, a letter from Sofia my Austrian penpal...1st letter, and a letter from an older penpal who also lives in IL, and my trashy Time magazine. It was a GREAT mail day that will go down in history.

After the movie I finished a letter, chatted with...er...maybe I didn't chat with anyone. I thought I did though. Oh, maybe it was the letter..that feels like I am talking to someone.

Hmm... that was weird. I think I found a blog bug. In any case. HOUSE ON THE ROCK is updated...finally. Tim wrote the text and I put it together for you.

Finally,

It is not ... holy cow almost four o clock. Where did the day go? The Sam's club trip was okay, and then we had to stop by a pizza place, so that the temp could personally walk into the store and hand the manager a map for the delivery location of the pizza on Saturday. What? I refused to be part of such stupidity and let the temp go and do this, after I told him he should fax or simply ... call. He said no, that since this was "Be Nice to the Incompetent Jessica Week" he would do this inane project. While I was protesting I went into this cute store called Mostly Handmade and browsed. I found this great cheezy indian on a pony in a box that rides... called Wind UP horse and rider. It's great, because it is a cheesy little indian with a pink head band, yellow and pink feathers complete with a blue tomahawk. Universities are filled with PC conscientious people, so when *I* have something corny like this, they are a bit of at a loss.

I also got candy for the cauldron and dressed the cauldron up a bit with red hearts and white paper.

I went to Ikea this weekend with Mischa and his friend Steve. Under dire threats of an early morning, I actually was up at 8:00. But no one came. So I watched movie on HBO, made a cappuccino or two and then called Micha at 10:00 to find out if he was going to go at all. Sure enough, he over slept, and then picked me up a half hour later.

While playing "dodge the dog bombs" outside waiting for my ride, Bekah and Greg walked by with their little dog. It seems they are going to rent an apartment two buildings away from us. A block and a half is too far. Kidding. Their other apartment is terrible, loud rhino neighbors, very ghetto. Very.

And so, Ikea was fine. I had to stop half way through for a muffin and more coffee because I feeling dizzy and hadn't eaten anything...afterward I felt better. Still, I was SUPER hungry by that evening as was Tim. What did he do you might ask? He went off to his Mech Warrior thing, and instead of getting decimated this time...he also ruined my chance to ask this:

Q. What does corn and Tim have in common?
A. Both are often creamed.

Ha.. BUT, he was victorious. Unbelievable. He beat his nemesis..a snotty little 16 year old nerd as well as the other two victim mechs bot players that made this battle victorious.

Got home at 5:30 in time to unwind a bit before we had to leave at 6:00 for dinner with Eric and Kate, Inc. What did I buy? Oh come on, do you really want to know? No you don't. You're just saying that.

Dinner was Indian food. I have found, I don't care for Indian food. Too spicy.

Afterward we went to Brew and View, where I suffered through the hardest non-smoking situation yet. Watching JackAss. Oh my god, it was pure torture. Pure. Utter. Torture. Let's just say I got pretty drunk. The other movie was 8 Mile, which I have seen before. Then we moved to another bar...I don't know why. We just did..oh wait I do know why. Jackass was going to play again, and that would have REALLY made me smoke. Around 1.30 Tim and I decided we were drunk enough and headed home after getting a award donut and decaf coffee for the ride home.

Sunday, in my movie and knitting phase I watched: Demolition Man [I actually enjoyed this movie immensely!], Zoolander [Another funny movie], and then we went grocery shopping, digital camera shopping...we didn't find one. The thing about Chicago is everything is always picked over and sucky. The only thing Chicago has in abundance is assholes and restaurants. SO, I will take a suggestion for a camera if you got it. After food gathering, we rented some movies and went home. Watched Brotherhood of the Wolf. Wow...those independent french movies always have to have a whore house and go one for too long.

It's like...they don't know how to edit movies, like they took a book and literally changed it into a movie. If the french had done Lord of the Rings, you can bet a hundred trolls that Tom Bombedil would have been in it.
+++++

Today I got one of the nicest emails in a long time. An old friend of mine from college sent me an email. We have barely kept in touch the last three or four years and only by the skin of our nails. He was always busy and would update me the 'very next chance he got', which never came. Well the email I got today said he was sorry for that, and that he hoped it would change in March when he moved to Belfast and started a new job...but he also said " My biggest regret about my time in America is never looking you in the face and saying that I thought you were a brilliant, special person, which I truly did from that first time I met you."

Aww. The thing about Mike is that he is one of those really interesting people you meet and imagine to have been like Edgar Allen Poe, or some other misunderstood, strangely tragic persons.

I have to go to Sam's Club this morning to purchase things for the recruitment weekend, for ... blah. I will write more when I get back.