recent life events.

1. I saw the Fish Tank Guy again the other night. He was jumping around his living room making weird arm gestures. Being the savvy spy that I am, I assumed he was playing Nintendo Wii. Maybe even one of those new, super cool Wii Fit games. I was momentarily jealous. But as I passed his porch I caught a glimpse of the TV. He was watching Family Guy.
2. I was eating a microwave pizza the other night while watching Law and Order and had an unfortunate freak accident. A rather large piece of scalding cheese flew off the pizza while I was taking a bit and landed on my lip. It not only hurt but also left a freaky burn mark on my lower lip. This makes my lips look like they are severely chapped. It also kind of makes me look like I have herpes.
   
3. I've been letting my cats go on the porch for a little while each night. They dig it. I heard one of them tell the other that I am the coolest cat mommy around.

--buelsy (does not have herpes)

there's always memory lane.

I took my old iPod to the gym with me tonight. This is the iPod I bought right before I moved to UCLA and engraved with the words, "have a little faith, there's magic in the night." And let me tell you, that iPod has taken me to some magical places. I don't think I'll ever be able to get rid of it.

While I was foraging the cross ramp, I found an old playlist titled "Power Up." It reeks of KROQ and the summer of 2005, but in a good way. It's nostalgic, but not the type that makes you feel droopy for the rest of the day. It's intense, but not like Fergie (when I listen to Fergie at the gym I feel so intense that I want to punch things... and people). It's going to be my playlist for the rest of this week. Maybe it should be yours too:

1. "Sugar We're Going Down" -- Fall Out Boy
2. "Move Along" -- The All-American Rejects
3. "Banquet" -- Bloq Party
4. "Helena" -- My Chemical Romance
5. "A Favor House Atlantic" -- Coheed and Cambria
6. "Holiday From Real" -- Jack's Mannequin
7. "Futures" -- Jimmy Eats World

Seven is the magic number.

--buelsy (toughin' it out)

goin' to the big city(!)

I went to Cedar Rapids with K today. We shopped at Steve & Barry's, which was a little too good to be true. Everything in the store was nine bucks. I bought three things for my sister, and two things for myself. As long as the purchases for others outweigh purchases for self, I figure that Christmas time personal splurging is okay. S & B's apparently maxed out* our karma though, because we spent the following hour and a half searching for and finding two different Indian restaurants that upon eventual discovery... were closed. We then opted for an establishment called "Sushi House" which made us both want to throw up. The sensation of wanting to throw up led to a rather sketchy stop in Brandon, Iowa (Home of A Very Large Frying Pan), where we peed in a "Kwik Trip" that I'm pretty sure is going to be featured in Saw 5.

It was an extremely fun day.

*Speaking of maxing things out, one of my favorite Life Stories of all time happened in New Orleans in 2006. Clutching neon green hand grenades, SD and myself attempted to rebuild the city of Nola through the purchase of excessively priced souvenirs. At one particular establishment, SD's card was declined. So she tried another. And another. All declined. Although most people would be visibly flustered in this situation, SD calmly sipped her hand grenade, motioned toward my wallet, turned to the cashier and said: Oops. I maxed out.

RANDOM MONDAY NIGHT MUSINGS:

1. Hugs and love for the random girlfriend on The Real Housewives of Orange County who just pointed out that one mother's expectations for her children are particularly gendered in nature.
2. Final grades have been submitted. It was an A- sorta semester. That's what happens when you grade under the influence of Cup Of Joe's.
   
3. There is a sign near the condiments and other food amenities in Maucker Union at UNI that says: We have switched to a "greener" napkin. Please pull carefully as they tear easily. Every time I read this sign, I make a slight alteration in my head: We have switched to a "greener" napkin because they are cheaper. Please pull carefully as they tear easily because they are shitty.
4. Glamour magazine (which is on my highly preferred reading list) did a story about the fiance of a sex offender that was arrested for soliciting sex to a fake 14 year-old virgin on Dateline: To Catch A Predator. The woman decided to stay with the offender despite having two daughters, aged 11 and 13. In fact, she married him during her lunch break less than a month after the Dateline incident went down. My favorite part of the story was on page 187, when the woman revealed that in 2003, she was briefly addicted to crystal meth.
5. Clearly, I am watching the Real Housewives right now. A 21 year old without a job just got a fairly large tattoo with his mother's credit card. The mother asked her 7 year old what he thought about the tattoo. He said: "Um. BAD." Like, duh, Mom.

Speaking of moms, I'm going home tomorrow night. A and I are leaving for Des Moines (where all the prettiest girls live) at 2 a.m. We fly out at 5 and will be in L.A. by 9. I get that prickly feeling under my eyes when I think about it.

--buelsy (back to l.a.)