Movie Buddy

I need a movie buddy for the following movies:

Miss Congeniality 2
Guess Who
Beauty Shop

If you too harbor a secret desire to watch silly movies, please let me know. Ideally, we'll pay the ticket price for one movie, and then linger in the bathrooms between showtimes so we can catch all three.

No one needs to know.

Dinner with a Libra and an Aries

So last night when I got home after work, I found Max and Aaron sitting in my living room in front of my huge collection of take-out/delivery menus. Apparently, they had finally decided, after a mere THREE HOURS of debate, that they wanted either Chinese or pizza. I guess they were waiting for me to be the tiebreaker, but I didn't really care either way.

It took us another 45 minutes to choose the one we ultimately ordered. First we tried to visualize the food to see if we preferred one over the other. Then we thought maybe we should do a coin flip. Or possibly have Chinese for dinner and pizza for lunch today. Then we decided we should do a coin flip to see if we should do a coin flip or have Chinese for dinner and pizza for lunch today. Finally, after two rounds of flipping, it was settled: Chinese.

Next came 15 minutes of debate on which Chinese restaurant to order from, and which items to order. Followed by a ten minute debate on whether we should pay with cash or credit card. Followed by debate on whose credit card we'd pay with.

Man. It was rough, I tell you. Rough.

Asian Invasion

I forgot to mention that over the weekend I hung out with not one, not two, not three, not four...but FIVE similarly-aged Chinese people (unrelated to me - as far as I know). That's an all-time post high school record.

Anyway, as I was playing poker with everyone, I felt like I'd done my momma proud. Gambling with six Asians.* That's the mark of a true Chinese girl.



*Personally, in my book, Amol, who's Indian, should really count only as "honorary Asian" but you white folks keep insisting on calling him Asian, as does he, so I'll just go with that for now.

Monday News

The Good:
SEASON 4 of CHEERS is now on DVD and available through Netflix. I predict a stay-in-bed Cheers marathon!!!

The Bad:
So my Aunt Marilyn told me that Bobo, her dog who had died a few years ago, had started to stay in bed and not get up as he got older so maybe Pig is getting old and doesn't want to get up. :(

The Ugly:
Watched Mother at Sixteen (A Lifetime Original Movie) last night and sobbed at the end. Also, ate a gigantic piece of white sheet cake from the grocery store. The kind with the white frosting and colored flowers. The kind that doesn't go bad for weeks, even unrefrigerated, because it's full of hydrogenated oil, shortening and other crap.

Pig's New Attitude

Well, Miiiiizzzzzz Pig here has a developed a new, shall we say, att-i-tude these days. Probably has gotten big headed about her blog or something. She has decided not to BOTHER waking me up any more. This bitch ain't nobody's alarm clock. Apparently, she is above sitting by my bed, moaning and groaning and pleading for me to take her out. It is too much of a waste of her time. Now, she wants to be the one woken up. She's not moving until I'm ready for her.

I had noticed, pretty much since my dad left, that Pig had not been coming to my bedside to wake me up. At first, I thought she was tired and was just sleeping in (as late as I was!) Sometimes, I'd hear her whine from her bed a few times, and then just go back to sleep.

Yesterday morning, I woke up and just laid there for a bit. Not quite ready to get out of bed. I knew Pig was awake because I heard her sort of move around in her bed. Also, I was humming songs that I'd sing if I were a contestant on American Idol and there was no way she could sleep through THAT. Anyway, I finally sat up and lo and behold, Pig was awake but PRETENDING to be asleep. Now, this was not just my imagination. She was curled up, perfectly still, but both her eyes were open and I could see her looking at me out of the corner of her eye. So then I decided to play a trick on her and I laid back down on the bed and waited for her to come to me. Well, apparently TWO can play at that game, because she still wouldn't get up. I sat up again, and there she was, eyes wide open, sneaking looks at me out of the corner of her eyes.

Finally I got tired of waiting, gave up, sat up, and whispered "Pig!" and she immediately got up. Stretched her front legs, then her back legs, yawned, came over and went, oh so innocently, Hmmmmmmmmmm. But I could see in her eyes that she knew she had won.

Easter Weekend

Dammit. Blogger sucks and just lost my post. Boo. Had posted about a Monk-esque funny thing that happened at the hair salon but now I'm too lazy to retype. Involved me scooting further and further down my chair to evade my hair stylist's comb as I had noticed she had pulled my comb out of a drawer labeled "soiled" and the cleanliness of it suddenly came into question in my mind. The original post was much more colorful and exciting but that's pretty much the gist of it.

Also had posted about how Max went to Mexico today but was sweet and came over and made me breakfast this morning so that we could spend some time together. And that not having Max around is at the very least, inconvenient, as I had to plunge my own toilet today. And that the mere act of plunging the toilet left me slightly breathless and with sore arms and haha, aren't I in bad physical shape? No need go to the gym today as plunging the toilet surely counts for both cardio and weight training/sculpting.

Also, not to be all damsel-in-distress, but without Max, all I could do was watch the big fat hornet that flew in my apartment. It was so big that I could see all its markings and legs from several feet away. Max would have ignored my warnings on the danger of angering a hornet and probably killed it or at least swatted it out. I couldn't ignore such warnings so all I could to was watch it fly around for 45 minutes, bumping its head on the ceiling. Stupid thing finally landed on the kitchen window screen, so I quickly shut the window and its now caught between the screen and the window. FOREVER. Muhahahah....Actually, I feel sort of bad for it so if anyone has any suggestions on what I can do, please let me know. Obviously, opening the window and letting it fly back into my apartment is out of the question. Also, removing the screen from the outside is also out of the question as I live on the 2nd floor and cannot reach the window.

Poker & Whiskey Do Not Go Well Together

So Max's friend Aaron is in town from Grayling. I met up with the both of them last night at Barney's to grab a few beers and watch the pathetic performance of the Pistons against Philly. Wow. They stunk. The Pistons, I mean. Not Max and Aaron. Well, they could have smelled, but I didn't notice it if they did.

Anyway...afterwards, we rounded up enough people to play a small game of poker. And let me tell you folks, poker and whiskey - not a good combo. I actually came back from behind to make it to the final two but then made a really really stupid and reckless call to lose it all...to Amol. Which I suppose is fine, since I beat him last week, but I really would have liked to win. Oh well.

Evil Rexall Drugstore

Oh a pox on Rexall's! What evil evil lighting they have there! Goddamn. On account of their vicious lighting and terrible placement of large magnifying mirrors, I came home with over $60 worth of beauty products including the L'Oreal Microdermabrasion kit, some Revlon Skinlight shimmer lotion thing, and a fancy weekly hair conditioner.

I'm never going in there again.

Microdermabrasion thing is cool yet scary. Feels like I'm scrubbing my face with tiny tiny pieces of glass - although even after one treatment I could see the difference. Okay, maybe not see the difference, but could definitely feel a difference.

Mindgames

I have a New Awesome Mindgame. I've played it two days in a row. Feel free to give it a try. I think you'll like it.

In the evenings, I tell myself that I going to wake up at 7 a.m. the next morning, go to the gym for 1/2 hour, come back, eat breakfast, walk Pig for 1/2 hour, shower, blow dry my hair and leave for work, looking fabulous and energized, by 10 a.m. Now, I know 10 a.m. sounds awfully late, but trust me, these are fairly standard hours in my industry, and my office is only five minutes away so technically I will be at the office by 10:05.

Having discovered that I need about nine hours of sleep (actually, I need ten but I decided that was a little ridiculous) I then work backwards and figure out I need to go to sleep by 10:00 p.m.

And I do.

But then, when my alarm rings at 7 a.m. I decide the gym sounds icky and even though I'm fully awake and should just get up and go, I go back to sleep. Plus, in my dream I'm dating the sexy gardner from Desperate Housewives so I should definitely get back to him.

So then I wake up at 9:30 A.M. Having slept 11 1/2 hours, I FEEL GLORIOUS!!!! I feel the way Eddie Murphy feels in Coming to America, when he's being woken up by an orchestra or choir, whatever. Of course, I can't shower, my hair looks like a mess, Pig doesn't get her morning walk, I eat a crappy breakfast, and I get to work late...but dude, I sleep 11 1/2 HOURS a night this way!!!!

And I get to date the sexy gardner from Desperate Housewives.

Weekend Recap

Ah well, this was a very nice weekend. Friday night I went over to Amol's to play poker and won! Whoo hoo! It was a very exciting game as I was definitely the "Comeback Kid" and came back from behind twice to win. It was especially glorious towards the end because after suffering a bad beat, Amol had about 15 times more chips than I did but I still managed to beat him!

Saturday morning I went to the library. Yes, the library. Am no longer anti-library. I finally paid all my fines (nearly $30) and was granted privileges again. I had requested several books earlier in the week, and I didn't think they'd be there yet so I went around and picked up five different mystery (what else?) books. Then I got to the front desk and surprisingly, my requested books had arrived (mainly because there's no waiting list for them - apparently no one else wanted to read The Fudge Cake Murder: A Hannah Swensen Mystery) so I went home with ten books. All crappy mystery books. Sweet.

Saturday night was like an LSAT logic question. Max and I had a terrible time trying to make plans. The choices for the evening were as follows:

1. Go to a bar
2. Go to Sharky's party in Westwood
3. Play Poker
4. Hang out in someone's apartment

Max was up for everything except for going to a bar and possibly going to Sharky's party.

I was up very everything except for hanging in someone's apartment and going to Sharky's party.

Josh was up for everything but playing poker.

Amol was up for everything except for hanging in someone's aparment.

AD was up for everything but didn't have a car.

So what did we end up doing? Staying in and watching Runaway Bride. Poor Max. I think I pushed my luck though with "13 Going on 30" - he got up to watch tv in the other room after 15 minutes.

Georgia Tech Sucks Ass

Dammit. Am out of the tournament. :(

BAD BAD MAX

Well, was rather annoyed with Max just now. I was busily doing grown-up stuff - researching mutual funds on the computer - when I suddenly looked up to see Max grinning like a Cheshire cat. Immediately asked him what he did, and he laughed and wouldn't tell me. Finally confessed that HE HAD JUST HIGHLIGHTED PIG'S HEAD WITH A FLOURESCENT MARKER. I ran over to Pig and indeed, there was a bright yellow patch smack dab in the middle of her forehead. Poor Pig. She was just sleeping on the couch, completely oblivous to this...defacement. Now, mind you, since she's a Dalamatian, the yellow was really obvious.

Yes, it was funny, but I was still pretty irritated. Max kept insisting that it'd come off and I pointed out that she only bathes once a month so it'd likely take a year for it to wash off. I demanded that he immediately scrub it out, which he did. Luckily it did rinse off. Otherwise, Pig would have had what appeared to be a bright pee stain on her face for the rest of the year.

Grrrrrrr. He better sleep with one eye open tonight.

Pig's Picks

Argh. Pig's picks suck.

NO COOKIES FOR PIG!!!!

St. Patty's Day Dinner

So, just got back from Andrea's St. Patty's Day family dinner. Am stuffed with delicious corn beef and cabbage and all sort of other goodies. Mmmhhhh. More importantly, I was able to record Ivory, Andrea's mom's pet bird.* Ivory deserves her own 24/7 streaming video/sound website. She's the craziest bird I've ever seen. These are the things I know about Ivory - I'm sure there are countless stories about her...

-Dances when you sing Kumbaya
-Was briefly addicted to coffee
-Takes imaginary bird baths and plays with imaginary water
-Is in love with Jake
-VERY TALKATIVE - says things like "Poor Ivory" and "Good Girl" and "Red Rum" (last one compliments of Kate)
-Cuddles
-Picks off her own feathers when she's nervous (that part is a little gross...)

Anyway, you can hear her below talking to Jake. Unfortunately she's not saying much, but you get an idea. She's fairly mellow in the clip - usually she's about ten times more "outgoing."

*Sadly, it took me over ten tries to log into my audio blogger account..had somehow managed to forget my PIN number even though I set up the account only two weeks ago...

Ivory - Beware, She's Loud!!

Happy St. Patrick's Day!!!

What an exciting day! May your beer and pee be green (okay, maybe just your beer) and may all your NCAA picks be right (unless you are in my pool in which case I'm going to "crash" you - apparently, a new Italian sports term coined by Marco, Max's brother-in-law...long story, never mind...)! Max got up at 7:00 a.m. this morning thinking that was when the first games would start, but turns out they started at around 9:00 a.m. Hehe. Should be a fun day - lots of checking of scores online and I'm going to Andrea's later in the evening for a homemade corn beef dinner. Also, am tuning in here and there to the Congressional hearing on the whole baseball/steroids thing so that too is entertaining. I assume all the players are in fact guilty of taking steroids but I'm curious to see how they'll respond under oath. Also, I like to watch people dodge and field questions. For a long time, I was obsessed with watching Ari Fleischer give his daily White House briefing. Me and Ari?...yeah, we had breakfast every morning for a year.

Important Health News II

Wow. I feel awesome! You know how studies show people don't get enough sleep and usually require somewhere between six to eight hours of sleep? Well, last night I fell asleep at about 11:30 p.m. and woke up naturally, sans alarm, sans Pig grunting, at around 9:00 a.m. Felt good. On top of that, I took a half hour nap at lunch (today has not been a particularly productive "work" day obviously) and NOW I FEEL AWESOME!!! ROOOOAAAAARRRR!!!! (chest thumping a la Tarzan - okay, not really...)

Ten hours of sleep, baby!!! That's what I need every day. Why didn't I discover this earlier??? Dude, I could rule the world now! I could write and finish the untitled Kate & Sareet novel today! I could learn a thousand new Chinese characters!! I could run a marathon!! Whoo hoo!!

But first, I'm going to waste more work time by researching online if it's normal to require TEN HOURS of sleep.

Pig Picks

So Pig and I have made our NCAA picks. I'm feeling pretty good about them and based them mainly on gut feeling and well...Pig. I won't talk about it too much at this point, not until all the brackets are turned in, but I chose my champion winner based on the fact that the team name (or part of it) appeared in my Agatha Raisin novel. Pig was also of great help. At first, I would just tell her that her right paw represented one team, and her left paw represented another, and that she should "shake" and tell me which team she wanted to choose. This proved to be a bit of a problem as I suspected she was getting lazy and would just hand me the paw that was closest to me (and the cookie). So then I put a cookie in each hand, assigned teams, walked to the middle of the living room and had her choose. That seemed to work well although on a few occassions, I'd forget to assign a team so we'd have to re-do.

So, we have our fingers and paws crossed. If you haven't turned in your brackets, be sure to do so soon! (if you'd like to join and want to know how, let me know!)

Important Health News

Well, this is truly amazing. Apparently, if you're sick, you should not drink vats of wine as that will leave you so dehydrated that you will get leg cramps in the middle of the night (got two last week! one on each leg!) . In addition, you will be tired and groggy, and just generally look ugly.

Should you engage in such stupid behavior, you must go on a Mission Detox which includes drinking lots of water and taking vitamins and sleeping a lot. While this means you'll have to pee every 15 minutes, the appearance of your wrinkles will diminish and you will no longer have that unhealthy sallow look about you.

Amazing. Water. Water is amazing. People should drink more of that stuff. Although I do think it's making me look a bit puffy. Oh well.

In other health news, it appears I am allergic to work. Or at least this office. I was fine until I got here and have since gone through an entire roll of toilet paper. Toilet paper and not tissues, because my office is too cheap to buy kleenex.

Office Etiquette

I think I gave one of my co-workers the cold I had last week. The same cold I picked up from yet another co-worker, who had been out sick the week before with it. I feel really badly about my role as the little office carrier monkey, but I really couldn't stay home on account of the fact that I was mad busy with my own work and trying to cover another co-worker's work while she sunbathed in Hawaii. So. I want to say something like, "Hey, feel better" but I'm afraid this co-worker going to take the opportunity to yell at me for giving her my cold. But it seems really rude not to. Dilemma.

Return to Normalcy

Well, things are settling back to normal. Dad left last night, thereby officially signaling the end of my week of vida loca. (*sigh*) It was fun while it lasted. I spent most of today napping on the couch and reading the latest Agatha Raisin book while Max watched sports on tv. Speaking of which, March Madness is upon us and soon I will have to turn in my bracket for the NCAA pool Max is organizing. I love doing a bracket and being part of a tournament. I think it appeals to the innate gambler in me. The buy-in is $20, and so far I think we have about 14 people in the pool, so it'll be a decent sized pot. Frankly, I find college basketball entirely boring, so usually I choose arbitrarily - sometimes on the color of the uniform, the name of the school, or a random hunch. I'm thinking of letting Pig choose for me this year. I mean, obviously, I'm not going to pick a 16th seeded team over a first, just because of what Pig thinks. But, on some of the close ones, like the 8th seed vs the 9th seed, I might just go with her choice. I'll have to think of way to figure out which team she wants though. I'm thinking something involving cookies.

Livin' La Vida Loca

So, I haven't been posting lately because I've been too busy livin' la vida loca. And when you're livin' la vida loca, I guess blogging doesn't come to mind quite as often as when you're livin' la vida frozen-dinner and generic diet pop. This week has been awesome with Dad in town. I've probably put on five pounds since he got here. I'm not kidding at all. Dad just keeps on cookin'. The other night I had dungeness crab, cajun salmon and shrimp cocktail. The night before that he cooked steak. Wednesday lunch was breaded pork chops and purple potatoes. Today's lunch is linguini with pesto sauce. And the wine consumption at my place has been ridiculous. Last night Max, Plumb & Kate (they have a blog now, check it out!) came over and the five of us went through six bottles of wine! And half a bottle of Kettle One. And a tiramisu cake. Ahh la vida loca. I'll miss it when I'm back to drinking chicken broth in a mug and eating soft-boiled eggs for lunch.

Pig Heard Around the World - Turn Up The Volume! (We're a little shy at first!)

Today's Lunch Specials

Wow. Dad made me lemon-pepper salmon, lil potatoes sauteed with zuchini & mushrooms, and crusty french bread for lunch. Topped it all off with two glasses of nice chardonnay, which was probably one glass too many, as I spent the first hour after lunch just staring at the computer screen. This week has been awesome so far. Have probably already put on an extra two pounds but it's totally worth it. It's like I'm on vacation, rather than him!

Weekend Recap

Well, the highlight of this weekend was definitely the Gospel Brunch at House of Blues. Hmm-mhh. I'm not religious at all, but if I were, I'd go to a gospel church every Sunday. Amen. The music and energy was awesome. Uh-huh. Max, Julia, my Dad and I all went for the 10:00 a.m. brunch. Yeeah. The food was pretty good, but, lord, it was all. about. the. music. A-men.

Afterward, we watched the Pistons lose to the Kings. Well, everyone else watched the Pistons lose to the Kings. I fell asleep on the couch. Still a bit sick so the napping helped. Didn't do much for the rest of the day. Watched some tv, caught SPEED again (yes, still have not gotten over my renewed lurve for Keanu) and just generally hung out. Dad made me chicken noodle soup for dinner - very nice.

So I guess this will be my last "weekend recap" since now I can post over the weekend. Hmm. Bit sad about that. I rather enjoyed wasting time at the office on a Monday morning writing up lengthy posts about what I did over the weekend. Oh well.

Pig's Blog

Pig has a blog! I've added the link to the side but here it is:

www.notoriouspig.blogspot.com

My Very First Weekend Post

So, I never thought this would happen but I'm actually posting from my own apartment at this very minute! Since my dad's arrival he's done the following:

-Clean up my dying plants and restore them to life
-Make me breakfast, lunch and dessert
-Walk & feed Pig in the morning while I slept in
-Replenish my liquor cabinet with top shelf stuff
-Buy groceries and ingredients with the intention of making me homemade chicken noodle soup
-Upgrade my computer (Max bought me an older one for $40 from a co-worker of his, which since it was old, I stuck in my closet and forgot about)
-Install wireless card thing-a-bobber so now I have a working computer and Internet at home!!!

In return I've taken him to Yoshinoya Beef Bowl and El Pollo Loco (fast food restaurants). I think I'm getting the better end of the deal here.

(And no, I don't totally suck - I have taken him to nice restaurants and driven around a bit - but yes, I did actually take him to Yoshinoya Beef Bowl and El Pollo Loco).

Sneaky Fleece

So on my way to work this afternoon, as I was half way out the door, my dad commented, "Maybe you should change. I don't think you should wear that fleece to work. Didn't you say you weren't going to wear fleece to the office anymore" Hahahah. My dad thwarted my plans to sneak fleece to work.

Someone Hates Me

Well, last night when I got home after work, I discovered that I seemed to be missing hot water. No hot water in either the bathroom or kitchen. Called up Manuel, who went to check, but couldn't find anything blatantly wrong with the pipes. He promised to check all the pipes this morning, so I figured - well, hopefully it'll be ok in the morning.

Hot water issue became a real serious problem this morning when Manuel continued not to be able to find anything wrong. In an effort to fix it, he decided to shut off all the water, so basically, I smell worse than Pig today. Also am getting sick, so rather than going to work without brushing my teeth and showering (ewwwwww - and I skipped my shower yesterday so I am really really disgusting right now), I decided to stay in for the morning and hang out with my dad, who came in town last night.

So apparently Manuel tore up a ton of pipes, thinking there was a leak, only to discover much later that someone had turned off some valve in the garage. Only mine (well, technically the girl in the apartment below me shares the same line). No one else's. Who would do this? NO FRIGGIN' IDEA. Manuel tells me he suspects it's an act of vandalism committed by one of my neighbors. So....who hates me (or the girl below)? I know the woman in Apt. #2 does, but I can't imagine she'd do that.

There is also someone stealing mail so now I have to mail my netflix dvd's from the office.

Also strange - a few days ago, I opened my door and there was a weight-belt laying there. You know, the kind that guys wear when they're moving heavy stuff to protect their backs. It's still there - unclaimed. Is it someone's present to me? Maybe someone's trying to threaten me - like "I'm going to, uh, break your back"

Anyway, someone hates me. Or the girl below.

Things I'd Find Amusing for 15 Minutes but Would Later Hate

I think Pig needs a pet. I think she would like a fish.

http://losangeles.craigslist.org/fur/62083812.html

Higher Education

Well, I did it. I've enrolled myself into an evening business class at a local school. I'm being vague because somehow I imagine there are tons of blog admirers waiting to meet me in person, and to be honest - I don't really look my best on a week night and I'd hate to disappoint. :)

Anyway, I'm very excited! I haven't taken a class, except for Aerobics and Pilates, since college, which feels about a gabillion years ago. And I'm proud that rather than taking a fun class like "Egyptian Hieroglyphics" (how cool would that be??) I've decided to take a more practical class. It meets once a week for three hours so I'm really really hoping it won't be as dry as the summer session of Accounting II that I took once. Blech.

I really felt like it was necessary to do something to stimulate my brain as I was beginning to suspect that I have been getting dumb. I can't think of the right words sometimes and the other day, when I was trying to figure my BMI (Body Mass Index - or something like that) and the calories I'm supposed to have each day, I ACTUALLY FILLED OUT MY FITNESS MAGAZINE WRONG. Seriously - I had to cross everything out and re-do it. And, I had to use a calculator. So embarassing.

Anyway, this means now I'll be missing a night of American Idol but I think it's for the best. I can always tape it.

TV & Poker

TV & Poker - Argh. Banes of my existence and loves of my life. After meeting with Kate last night regarding our novel, I should have gone home and gone straight to bed. However, first I had to watch the episode of American Idol I taped. Then, my eye caught the championship game of Celebrity Poker and dammit, I just couldn't resist. Stayed up till 1 a.m., which normally is enough of a problem (I'm tired the next morning, groggy, don't make it to the gym), but was a super big problem this morning as I was supposed to get up early to give Pig a bath and clean the apartment. My dad is coming to visit and arrives Thursday night. My apartment and dog are filthy. I was also supposed to wash my carpet last weekend and forgot entirely - why? Because I was too busy playing poker and watching TV. And you might say - "Well, Sareet, you can clean tonight" but I CAN'T because I'm playing poker tonight.

I have problems.

2005 Resolutions - March Update

Well, it's been a short month and the last time I did this was technically on Feb. 7th, so I haven't really given myself too much time to make any changes, but since it is the first of the month, and since I don't feel like working at the moment, I'm going to go over my 2005 Resolutions and see how I've been doing.

E= Excellent. Completed.
VG=Very Good. Not quite all the way there but almost.
OK=Ok. Right down the middle
NSG=Not So Good.
NAM=No Attempt Made.

Okay, here it goes:

2005 Resolutions

PHYSICAL HEALTH:

- Floss my teeth six days out of seven each week....okay fine, floss my teeth daily.
OK. Have averaged about 3x time a week, which is an improvement from last month.

- End exercise hiatus and get back to the gym.
NSG/NAM. Have gone to the gym only 3x THIS MONTH.

- Take my vitamins every day and drink more water.
NSG. Only took my vitamins about 3 times this month. And am most definitely not drinking enough water.

MENTAL/EMOTIONAL HEALTH:

-Watch less tv.
NAM. American Idol seriously hurting the efforts. Also, with the rains, I've laid around the couch and watched tv a lot.

-Travel - take short trips and take one out-of-country trip
VG. Have decided not to go sailing in Greece but will likely go to London/Paris with my aunt later this year. Am planning on going up to San Francisco next month. Also going to Vegas at the end of April!

-Learn...stuff. By taking classes and reading more.
OK. I think that writing the UNTITLED KATE & SAREET NOVEL constitutes as learning. Plus I'm seriously thinking about trying to learn how to write Chinese. Might pick up a book and start trying again.

-Volunteer
NAM

-Set up a tithe-ing plan and donate money regularly to a cause I support
NAM

FINANCIAL HEALTH:
-Get to work earlier and spend my time more productively at work
NSG. I'm upgrading from last month because I've actually shown up to work a little bit earlier than normal this week. Also have been taking shorter lunches.

-Dress more appropriately for work. No more fleece at the office, even on hump days.
NSG. Am beginning to give up on this one. I find the green sneakers I'm wearing far more comfortable than anything else in my closet. Also accidentally wore flipflops to work the other day.

-Network more
NSG. Have gone out to meet people but not nearly enough.

-Stay on the budget that I made
OK. Have adjusted the budget slightly to make it easier to stick with. Also made some pocket cash from poker so that was good. And I set up an automatic deduction for my car insurance, which should help. Also adjusted tax thing at work so that more is taken out so that I can get a bigger refund next year. Or at least not owe money.

Here are Pig's resolutions for 2005:

1.) Take a long walk (at least 1/2 hr) each day and/or go to the dog park.
OK. Have been walking her to work a lot more often, although the rain did keep us indoors for several days. Not our fault though.

2.) Brush teeth every other day. Okay fine, brush teeth every day.
NSG/NAM. Only brushed teeth about two times this month.

3.) Brush fur once a week.
NAM.

So okay. Much better than last month. I think that the exercising is pretty sad, and I really need to work on the NAM's but overall, I think I would give myself an "MUCH IMPROVED" rating. Better than last month's rating of "SHITTY." We'll see how this month goes.

American Idol is Going to Kill Me

Seriously. This whole three nights a week thing is really cramping my social life. Last night I was supposed to meet with Kate to work on the UNTITLED KATE & SAREET NOVEL but I had to bail on account of AI and getting back home late. I tried to suggest a "conference call" but, let's face it - that's just entirely ridiculous. Novels that will make millions do not get written over the phone. Especially when the two writers live less than ten minutes apart. Argh. I suck.

I've decided not to care about the Weds episode, thereby limiting my AI watching to a mere TWO nights a week. I can find out who gets kicked off from one of my all time favorite sites:

www.televisionwithoutpity.com

Shh - don't tell. I've actually ordered TWP apparel from their site.