Okay. I'm the strange one who doesn't have sex during my period. There. I've said it. I've come out of the closet and admitted it. It's not that I don't want to... not really. It's that the first 3-4 days, I'm really uncomfortable "down there." Swollen. Bloody. Messy. Lots of clots. (Sorry. TMI, I know.) Since sometimes it lasts 5 days and sometimes 6, I'm never quite sure when it's 'safe' to get some action going. Once, on the 6th day, I did and... well... Sweet Husband got all worried something was horribly wrong because he had gotten blood on himself. *sigh* No, dear. That was just me. The look on his face, though... I make double sure now before anything happens. It ain't the sheets, see, that's holding me back. It's that look on his face.

Now... today I had a half-day so I went shopping! I had a not-so-good time. I had a great time at Johnny Rockets, though! The general manager was there supervising, running the register (which is where I sat - at the counter - always the best seat in the house) and I swear... he could have been Mart. Sweet guy. Funny (told me to eat all my fries and when I left one, "I'm thwarting your authority!" I told him, he scowled. heh heh heh), sweet, short (dyed) blond hair, cute-but-not-overly-adorable face. Very nice guy. Nice build, too. (Told you the counter's the best seat in the house!!) Other than that... no BWG moments. Went shopping for clothes. I hate that I ate too much sugar at Christmas. Damn those Christmas cookies! Damn those cheesecakes! I got some pretty spring-time-ish blouses, though and a new pair of khakis, plus some other bath & body works stuff. (Cotton Blossom is my new must-have fragrance. mmmmm!)

Oh - at Johnny Rockets, I had a trainee waitress. She was good - very attentive & did everything she was supposed to do. BUT! One of her tables stiffed her. She gave them the wrong check - it was a good $10 cheaper than the 'real' one - and they paid the cheaper bill. She realized it, told her boss (Mr. Mart the General Manager) (actually, his name was 'Kevin') and he told her she'd have to cover the difference. I know that's standard restaurant procedure, but still. I felt bad for her. She got all red in the face and was about to cry, but it was her mistake, you know? Still, she makes less than minimum wage! And those soccer moms with too many kids just went ahead and took advantage of the trainee's mistake! Grrrr! So the waitress coughed up $10 from her tips w/o too much complaint. She didn't try to stiff the company, you know? So I tipped her $5 on a $7 bill. I can afford it and she was doing a good job for me.

I've never waited tables - I know I'd hate it - but I did work at that movie theater. I sold tickets & candy/popcorn/soda (I was there 3+ years! ugh!) so I have some idea what it's like to work food service. Basically, it sux and it's not fair that waiters make so much less than minimum wage. So what if they get tips? Lots of other types of workers get tips, too - and they don't get paid shit wages! Is it because waiting tables is a female- and young person-dominated industry? Could be... could be!

At any rate, I always tip as much as I can and when I've gotten bad service, I don't feel badly about leaving much less (if anything at all). I figure, if my lack of tip is going to push some waiter out of that career path, then I've done a service to all the diners after me. Thoughts?
posted by SPowers at 4:13 PM | Remember It!

Oh... boy! Have I got a crazy-ass wickedly funny internet site for you! The Ultimate Bad Candy Web Site!! Check it out! Go now! Mark & Glen are these insane guys who have searched the world over for the most horrendous examples of confectionary atrocities, actually taste them and then write about the experience... all so you won't have to!! Aren't they wonderful? Check out especially the page on Fruit Salted Plum Suckers... apparently, it's a salted lollipop with a prune chunk in the middle!

Oh - and it gets better... apparently some stuck-up mega-bitch named 'Venus Envy' (and I will not promote that chick's site by giving her address! I have principles!) blatantly plagiarized the Fruit Salted Plum Sucker essay... and other features on the Bad Candy site... and sent them to writerz.com as her own work!! When confronted, writerz did the right thing and took down the essay.. but Venus (no, I don't) Envy failed to reply. Read the entire sordid story by clicking the link at the top of the Fruit Sucker page. It's worth a trip. Believe me.

Let's see... what else is up? I got the mail today (as I always do) for the office. You know what we got? A sample issue of Highlights! I was so excited! I read the entire mag, did the puzzles all by myself and spent a good 45 minutes reliving my childhood. My mom used to subscribe to the mag for me (I was six). :::happy sigh:::

Otherwise... Erin's at lunch with her dad... Mike is busy fighting for 2nd place at the races. (Apparently, he went on a ranting rampage Monday night. The words "I am not shelling out all this money to come in 2nd place" were thrown at his crew. They got a 'fifth' on Tuesday. Yikes! Then they got a 'first' on Wednesday. Whew!) He may bitch at his crew, but to us he's all "it's just luck." Uh... huh. Okay. Whatever.

See, boating is expensive. Mike's boat isn't one of those $4-5 million wonders you see out there, but it is pricey. Plus, he pays for his crew to go with him to the race. He pays all travel expenses, food, parties, liquor, hotel, as well as some cash on top of that just for going. I guess he has a right to be upset... but isn't competition about winning AND losing? And don't you necessarily lose much more often than you win? I mean... considering he's racing against 10-15 or so other boats. The odds are extremely against him always coming in first. Right? Or am I missing something? My own competitive spirit doesn't get too bothered by that. But is that just because this ain't writing? Rather, it ain't writing that I've had anything to do with? Hmm.. I mean.. I take criticism well, particularly when it's both honest and legitimate. (I dismiss criticism based on things like... "I just don't like it when Trixie kisses Dan" or "I don't understand why Anne can't be nicer to people" or whatever. Things that aren't based on the characters as I've portrayed them. If I were being inconsistent, that'd be one thing, but if I'm not, then it's not a valid criticism.)

So I just wonder. I guess it's the stakes that make it so important, and the gratification that comes from winning. I think of that Titus episode about the car show, and how Titus just once wanted to win a trophy so he could say he had 'arrived' and was accepted by the people he'd always looked up to. Yeah... I guess I can relate to that after all.

Personal to Soul Mate: I told Sweet Husband about your 'thing' for Dave and he just asked me 'Why?' I gave him a sour look on your behalf.
posted by SPowers at 1:34 PM | Remember It!

Hey, Deb? bzzzzzzzt!

Danielle!! Welcome to the club!! I may not ever have been formally diagnosed with anything, but I may as well have been. See, when I was 19, I finally went to the gyno to get checked out - I never really got my period on a timely basis, either. The gyno found a huge cyst (so they say - it was only the size of a key lime), put me on birth control pills (hated them!), and finally cut me open to take it out. Turns out both my ovaries were 'pockmarked.' My left Fallopian tube got removed along with 20% of my left ovary. I've only got the one side with any chance to work normally. Yeah... I figure my chances are about the same as yours. You know what's kinda cool, though? Natural sex ROCKS!! Anytime - any place - anyway... it's all good. And cheap. And worry-free. 'Course... I don't want kids. Ever. You might. You're young, newly married. Kids may be part of your game plan. But you're young. Newly married. You have time if you want to get into fertility treatments & adoption options & all that. Please remember that nothing needs be decided today, this week or even this month, and if you need/want any specific support on this, there's apparently quite a few of us Trixie-people with experience in all these areas. Just thought I'd remind you you're not alone and that there's even more people in your boat than you might realize.

Gosh... I'm going to have a GREAT day! I have no work assignments for the rest of the week... a half day on Friday... Mike's still gone... Erin's taking today or tomorrow as a half day herself... Can I stand the sloth?
posted by SPowers at 7:11 AM | Remember It!

Complain? Moi? Did I not say I was not blaming anyone? Jeez!

I just got a call from the Mom-In-Law. Apparently, Uncle Frank wants Super Bowl tickets. (insert long rolling laughter here) Yeah, right. As if I have access to Super Bowl tickets. What - just because I live in Tampa and no one here really cares about either team playing? Not hardly!! My bosses both have Buccaneer season tickets - but they were both shut out of the wait list for Bowl tickets. There aren't any left - that's why they're being sold on E-Bay. All the rest of the tickets have gone to industry celebs and the like. They do NOT go to the fans (this is a problem, in my opinion). Anyway, he's willing to go as high as $1500 per ticket, for at least 2, 3 tickets if possible. Why does he want these tickets? He's a NY Giants fan from waaayyyy back. He lives in New Jersey, works construction in Manhattan... he's good for the cash.

(Oh - he's not, like, your average construction worker. He's a big shot executive at Structure Tone.)

Still... being able to say I have an 'uncle in the construction business' is kinda cool. (He's even Italian! How Sopranos is that!!)

Otherwise... I'm going to try to get some writing down. I just found out the perfect use for warm Caesar salad dressing. Rather... Dan figured it out. heh heh heh heh
posted by SPowers at 9:34 PM | Remember It!

EEEEEK! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!! Deb -you're a goddess! Now - if you could only show me how you changed the blog graphics.... and I desperately hope it'll be more intuitive than the home page was! (still shuddering from the aftereffects of THAT one)

Gosh - I just knew these graphics would be perfect as soon as I saw them. :-)

And you were able to work in my little stor-person!! Ain't she darling? Looks nothing like me at all. Honest - I'm not that cute.

I'm so thrilled - the huge scan job that I've been wrestling with since before Thanksgiving is DONE!! OVER!! I'm having two double chocolate chip cookies for my lunchtime snack just to celebrate. After this... who knows what mischief I'll get into? heh heh heh

Update on New Wave!! Check out the race reports/results here. Mike's (my boss) in Division I, Class E. He has 2 races every day this week (ugh!) and so far, after Monday, he's tied for 2nd place!! There was already one ramming incident, and apparently the field is so crowded, the protest board is working overtime! Now.. if only New Wave can beat Tiburon!
posted by SPowers at 1:05 PM | Remember It!

Misty! You WROTE! You're WRITING!! I dare not hope that I had something to do with it. I'm quite sure you managed to gather up the urge to write all on your own. (Privately, of course, I'm crediting my subtle forms of harassment.)

So... people want their stories to be MST-ed, eh? heh heh heh. I have permission to be my 'own bad self,' I'm guessing? Cool. They are a LOT of fun to do and since DQ just did one, I guess it must be my turn. My turn to do one for popular consumption, that is!

Let's see... not much else is going on. That's what happens when you spend almost 2 hours chatting on the phone with a Soul Mate. Of course, I might have spent the time writing if I hadn't had an unexpected afternoon conversation abruptly CANCELED! But no. I'm not blaming anyone. :-)
posted by SPowers at 9:45 PM | Remember It!

Heh. Reading this makes me smile - for many reasons. Whenever driving around central/south Florida, I find myself saying place names aloud. Something about the way the indian names roll off my tongue. I don't mean the easy ones like 'Okeechobee.' I mean, Wimauma. Tamiami. Caloosahatchee (or is that in Georgia? Now that I'm not in the car, I don't know...). Kissimmee. Immokalee. Wachula. Dunedin (of course, that's not indian, but it is nearby). Withlacoochee (sp?). Apopka. Suwanee. Did you know that when you cross the Suwannee River, there's a sign with the first several notes of that song? "Waaaayyy... down upon the SuannnnnnnEEEEE riVVEERRRRRR...." Yup. Even though Stephen Foster never visited the state. He just picked the name out of a hat, basically. It fit the meter of the song. *shrug*

And you know what else? I'm well acquainted with the special privileges of friendship. Do you think I could tease just anyone about forcing me to blog? Do you think I could treat just anyone the way I do DQ if we weren't friends - if we hadn't already built a solid friendship first? Course, teasing is one way to gently & with humor figure out what a person's boundaries are - or aren't. If I can tease DQ about what a terrible mother she is, if I can cringe in mock horror every time she forgets that her kids need to go to school every day, for example, then it's like I can relax with her and we can be ourselves. There's no pretense. No put-ons. And for Deb... do you have any idea how often I have called her SuperMom? My god... that woman has a gift for parenting. It's almost scary to me to be in the presence of so much natural maternal instinct - I'm almost afraid it'll rub off!! On me!! (That would be horrible -as Deb & DQ can be the first to proclaim.) Teasing is a way to relate to other people in a natural way. Life isn't sturm und drang every day - it can't be. It's too exhausting! It's too short not to be fun.

And if I'm not making sense... blame it on the Ibruprofen - the Wonder Drug that works REAL wonders! I've had four and I may go back for another helping before too much longer... I knew it was coming. If I was riding a wave yesterday... I've 'wiped out' today. Just holding on for that creative rush, due to arrive in the next 24-36 hours......... ah, the anticipation! I hope it lasts!!
posted by SPowers at 7:22 PM | Remember It!

Things I've learned over the weekend... Sweet Husband doesn't like pain. Handcuffs are easier to manipulate with a light on. Have sex when the mood strikes, even if it's 3:45 a.m. Don't be shy about asking for hot chocolate with extra marshmallows if that's what you really want for lunch.
posted by SPowers at 4:06 PM | Remember It!