My friends are ridiculous.

graylan is inappropriate, originally uploaded by emily ca..

But that doesn't mean you don't get to see pictures of them from this weekend's wedding.

LIttle ditty about Jack and Christine.

I could not make the song "Jack and Diane" leave my head during the wedding. Isn't that ridiculous?

Anyway, so, the wedding happened and now I'm back in San Jose. Well, Campbell, but to most of y'all, same diff. I have seen half of everyone I know in the past few days, including a most unexpected but extremely useful visit with the Editor, who picked me up from the airport when some dumbass parked in front of our driveway so Kevin couldn't come get me himself. I think I had a pretty good visit with all the people I don't usually get to see and meet some I've never seen but heard plenty about. I stayed with my aunt up in Mukilteo, which was comfortable and nice because she really seems to enjoy having company, and I enjoy not having to pay for hotel rooms or sleep on couches. My mom drove me around to a lot of places, but I also got rides from friends (including the very generous Lauren, who drove me all the way from Wallingford to Mukilteo one night). I saw just about every Haremite who still lives in the Seattle area (including a really lovely visit with Jen), I got a bunch of reading material from Bulldog News, and I brought vegan Thai takeout up to my mom and aunt (the latter of whom is allergic to shrimp and typically can't eat Thai food at all).

Ohhh, yeah, and I was in Christine and Jack's wedding. (It's...not Danger anymore, it's Jack. Long story, sorta, but not worth telling if you don't already know the guy, I'd wager. Besides, making the guy change his name to get married if she is changing hers seems fair enough to me.) It was my first bridesmaid gig, so that was interesting. Christine was a slightly frazzled but absolutely radiant bride. Jack very sweetly needed the handkerchief to wipe his teary eyes as much as she did when they said their vows. Instead of a wedding cake, they had a huge, cascading pile of chocolate chip cookies. I got to give a toast, which I made far too big a deal of, but I think those concerned found it amusing enough.

After lamenting that we seem able to have Harem reunions only for the purposes of watching other people get hitched, we started trying to figure out who is "next." Jana was absolutely certain would be me, since Kevin and I have been together almost 4 years now (forget the whole 3 months of being broken up! Hell, I think we have), but I told her to bite her damn tongue. Then Christine went ahead and did a bouquet toss (a tradition I kind of despise, and she agreed, but went ahead with it at the other bridesmaids' request anyway), and guess who caught the damn thing? That's right, Jana. So I won't say anything else if you won't, lady.

It's about time.

I haven't posted in awhile, and my mood has de-soured somewhat since the last post. Not for any particular reason, though.

My neck really hates me, though. I wake up hurting pretty much every day. It's super awesome.

This weekend was the Massive Attack show up in Berkeley. I got off work early on Friday so we could make it up with a minimum of bad traffic, and it worked out just fine. The worst traffic was actually leaving the parking garage at the end of the evening. I went with Kevin, my boss, and her boyfriend, and it seemed like everyone had a pretty good time.

I don't have a lot of blog-related shit to say lately. Next weekend I'll be in Seattle for Christine and Danger's lovely wedding. I don't have a lot of time, so I don't plan on a lot of side-visiting, but if you're in Seattle and see this and aren't attending the wedding and want to see me (look at all those conditions!), shoot me a comment or email and let me know.

Time to re-dye the hair and possibly give it a trim so I don't look rooty and scruffy next weekend.

The losingest hobo metaphor.

Jesus, I just realized how pathetic that sounded. I don't really think I am a loser among losers who suck less than me. I just think I am a normal person who sucks more than some other normal people.

That's only slightly less pathetic, I know.

When somebody asks if I'm okay, I don't know what to say.

The badness continued this week. In a physical manifestation of stress and irritation, I made my neck angry, and it has remained angry for a few days now. Work continued to make me want to pull my hair out and/or shoot myself in the face (such a lovely metaphor), so much so that on Thursday, my boss was actually worried about me, because by 4 p.m., my brain had pretty much turned itself off. Also, I got in trouble for writing a swear word on paper. It's almost funny when we talk about it in the office, but it isn't really that funny.

I feel pretty lethargic and tired and unexcited about life this weekend. I can't really even think about doing "fun" things because even watching TV is sort of too much--not that it stops me from leaving it on nigh constantly, because what else can I do to distract myself from how crappy I'm feeling?

I have a hunch that if I started exercising and being good, I might feel stronger and some of this neck shit would take care of itself more, and I'd have a better outlet for stress, and I'd feel more energetic in general after awhile, but fuck, getting to that point feels to me like climbing Everest. I have to sit down and catch my breath just thinking about it.

Sometimes I feel like a hobo who can't catch a train. I'm waiting at the tracks, but they keep passing me by. I see all the other hobos getting on, but I can't seem to do it myself.

Wow, this post is a fucking downer. Sorries.

Bad week.

This has not been an awesome week. I'm at least out of my apartment, but I'm going to get charged for cleaning. The upside is, I don't have to do any more work, because they would've charged me for cleaning even if I did my damndest, because you know how apartment managers and their ilk see invisible dirt. So any deposit I get back is just gravy.

Work has been hellish, and the possible light at the end of the tunnel in the form of another job opportunity vanished suddenly, which was a huge bummer. Then this morning I hit a parked truck while pulling out of the driveway. I mean, I have insurance and it should cover that, but fuck. Not a good way to start the day.

I did go see Factotum, which was pretty good, if also a downer. It was all, "Yeah, wow, alcoholism isn't fun, after all." However, my cute-ass new shoes gave me a blister while walking to the theater, so it was just another level of not-awesome.

Uhmm... what's good? New house still rocks, had a good visit with my mom last weekend, there are a ton of tomatoes around, and except for one day where I thought I was getting a sinus infection, my nose has been pretty okay. We tried a different dish we didn't know we hadn't tried at our favorite Ethiopian restaurant that was fantastic. I need to do laundry this weekend and I'm doing a little catsitting. Catsitting has a side benefit of being able to catch up on Deadwood on the On Demand, unless I am blinded by the cats' cuteness. It's a long weekend, and even though I'm not at Bumbershoot, I'm glad to have the extra day off.

I don't even know what's going on, really. I'm tired. It's been a really long week. Bleh.

Woo woo, new house!

It's rad!

Yay!

I am really tired and someday I will post pictures of it and the 2-foot-long horseshoe-shaped cucumber we received in our CSA share this week! Hilarity will ensue!

Also I got a massage! I really needed it! There is a place two blocks from here and they rock!

I am baking pizzas for dinner now! Delicious!

Hacky.

I started cleaning out my closet yesterday.

That quickly kicked up enough dust to inflame my allergic asthma indefinitely.

Thanks, closet. Thanks, dust mites. I hate you.

I want to take a day off and pack and move and be happy because the new house totally makes me happy.

Everyone loves a conga line.

needs more conga, originally uploaded by emily ca..

Some wedding pictures posted here.

Busyness ahoy!

Son of a bitch, there's a lot going on. Sorry for not updating. I haven't even bothered to get photos off my camera and put them on Flickr for awhile, but that will have to wait.

Work has been mildly hellish, but there are new people who are cool and I still love my coworkers and all that. Plus on Wednesday night the Editor and I went up to the city and saw Anton Barbeau and The Loud Family at the Hotel Utah and damn if that wasn't a fucking excellent show. It was a much-needed outing for us both, and we got lots of good talking done as well as rocking. The evening also involved dinner at Amber Cafe, namely the eggplant and mushroom wraps, which are delicious.

But the big news is this: Kevin and I rented a new house. We're moving over the next few weeks. I hope some of you can come see it. It's going to be really fucking excellent. The rent is a bit steep by most peoples' standards, but we can afford it, and the pluses are about a mile long: hardwood floors except the big bedroom that Kevin will use for music stuff, almost all double-paned windows, gardener and water and garbage are included, pretty yard with fruit trees (persimmon, orange, and grapefruit), absolutely phenomenal location (if you know Campbell, it's two blocks off Campbell Ave. near the Los Gatos Creek Trail -- right between downtown Campbell and the Pruneyard), all the charm of a 1940s-vintage home with all the updates a caring owner would make, recently reomodeled kitchen with gas range, and landlords who are friendly and ridiculously reasonable. Sorry for the lengthy sentence; hope it was parsable. Anyway, the point is, the place is super great and we are both really excited to live there.

Tonight I am flying to Washington to be around for only about 30 hours so I can attend my old college friend/roommate's wedding in Olympia. I get in around midnight, sleep in a motel by the airport, get picked up by Josie, Christine, et al., eat a meal in a park, then go see most of my Seattle friends and celebrate some peoples' love or whatever goes on at these "wedding" things, then go back to the motel, sleep a bit, and catch a fucking 6 a.m. flight. It's going to be an AWESOME weekend.

Next weekend is the Death Cab for Cutie/Spoon show in Berkeley, and the weekend after that we're seeing Zack Galifianakis at the Fillmore. In between we will be moving all our crap into the new place. Yay!

Al Gore is right.

I know that a hot day in July isn't truly evidence of global warming, but still.

It's fucking inescapable.

The other day at work, I walked outside and it was just as hot outside as it usually is when I first get in my car in the evening. That's disgusting.

I hear pretty much the entire West coast is like this right now, except apparently Southern California, which is getting more reasonable temps in the 70s and 80s. I swear to christ it's in the 100s all night here. Okay, not really, but it stays unbelievably hot. We thought about going to Santa Cruz to cool off, but it was in the 90s there, too. Monterey sounded reasonably pleasant, but it's about a two-hour drive, and by the time we could've left, we would've been in the car for the better chunk of the afternoon, which... ugh.

Heat makes me totally lethargic. I had plans to make curry paste and cook all kinds of crap this weekend and it hasn't happened. I walk in the kitchen and think about wiping off the cutting board or rinsing out the blender jar and just go sit back down. The heat also makes me feel like a fat slug. These things combined made me a raging bitch for half of yesterday.

Wow, it was so ho(t) I forgot I was writing a blog entry. We are going to Santa Cruz, where is is in the 80s and 90s and not 103 like it is here right fucking now.

Music and parents.

I am thinking about this lately because I sent my mom a couple CDs -- a copy of Ben Folds Five's The Unauthorized Biography of Reinhold Messner and a mix of Neko Case songs I thought she'd dig -- and she called me from the road this morning to say she did like them. Which filled me with warm fuzzies.

There have always been a handful -- but only a handful -- of things we both liked, and a laundry list of things we disliked immensely in each others' stereos. There was always the Beatles, Simon and Garfunkel, and Cat Stevens. She has somewhat recently gotten into U2, of all things, and while I'm not especially into U2 (no hate, no love), it's made me think she might be more open to new stuff now than she might've been when I was a whiny teenager who loved the Smashing Pumpkins. (Though she readily cops to enjoying some Radiohead, even then.)

Then there was the time she was asking me how to go about finding one particular mp3 online, and it didn't occur to me to ask which one, but it turned out that she wanted Jeff Buckley. I mean, really?

So while I'm sure I'd never try to get my mom into Deerhoof or spend an evening listening to Slint's Spiderland with her, I wonder how much music we might manage to have in common now.

What do you and your parents both like? What would you try to get your parents into? Or are you and your parents completely at odds when it comes to music? (Becky, I already know the answer in your case; your mom is special and I love her anyway. I also owe her email. Now what did I do with that business card....)

For fucking serious.

I got will-call tickets to a show that's in September at the Greek in Berkeley.

Massive Attack. DJ Shadow opening. Yes.

I loved this shit since high school and still actually love it. Not even Radiohead really passed that muster.

I have an ex-boyfriend who allegedly quit listening to both of them after we broke up, despite loving them, on account of my fondness for them. I almost feel like I owe it to the asshole.

Not to mention I owe it to myself. Massive fucking Attack and DJ goddamn Shadow!

What else is going on? Not really anything. I have some more photos I should suck off the camera like sweet, sweet nectar and post. A lot of them involve trees. I've been watching videos, but I can't remember them now. Nothing memorable, apparently!

Yesterday in Santa Cruz...

beach, originally uploaded by emily ca..

We showed up on a chilly, windy, overcast Aptos beach just after sunset. It was wonderful.

Early Saturday.

My camera has arrived. It's fucking slick. I think I've got a good handle on the major controls at this point, but I am still experimenting with it before I start posting a ot of pictures. When I do, you'll see them at this site -- that's right, I've gone and signed up for a damn Flickr account, so friend me, contact me, link me; do whatever you want to do with that information. I swear there will soon be more images than my user icon.

I just noticed a receipt for my prescriptions on the desk in front of me. (The apartment... it's very messy.) Apparently if the HMO didn't have my back, I would've dropped $134 for 100 allegra tablets and $80.60 for the nasal spray, instead of their respective $10 and $25. So, I may see doctors in the system that fucked up their entire kidney transplant program, but at least I'm not paying an obscene amount of money to do so.

This week has been not super-fantastic, personally, partly because I've had this low-level stomachache all damn week. I did a little more catsitting, but Kevin wasn't feeling up to inflaming his allergies, so there are no funny stories about the kitten. (Besides that it says "mew!" in that tiny little voice of hers a lot and likes to attack things, especially the other two cats, and you can imagine how happy they are about it. Potential carnage involving one tiny and cute cat and one beautiful and graceful cat isn't really funny, though.)

Not sure what all is going on this weekend. Charlie Murphy is playing the Improv in downtown San Jose and I was going to try to go with my coworkers, but I guess they forgot (and so did I, kinda). I am not really much of a 4th of July kind of girl, since none of the following things could be in any way construed as my bag: excessive displays of patriotism, things exploding, barbecues (it's the whole meat cooking smell thing), drinking alcohol, hot weather.

Today I plan on cleaning my kitchen, maybe the rest of my apartment, and handing over a rent check. I know, dream big, right?

Everything reminds me.

So, weekend. It was very weekendish, what with all the not working and stuff I was up to. Yep, no work at all. Friday night... no work, unless you count cooking some pretty tasty aloo gobi (curried potatoes and cauliflower) with some not quite as tasty mustard greens and a cold, weirdly spiced salad involving lots of chickpeas, red onion, and shredded kohlrabi. I tried to call my mom, but she was busy when I had time to talk and then I was busy when she had time to talk. Such is the way of things. I need to send her some music for the road.

Speaking of music and roads, Saturday involved a nice toasty trip to Santa Cruz. First up was visiting Kevin's mom, grandfather, and uncle, who was in town for the week. He picked up an obscene amount of Ethiopian food from our favorite place and we hardly made a dent, but it was tasty. Then we all hung out in his mom's garden, picking and eating ollaliberries (a type of blackberry) and strawberries, making fresh meyer lemonade, etc. Always delightful. We followed this up, in short order, with dinner at Mobo Sushi with the Editor and Jenn in downtown Santa Cruz, which has extensive and exciting vegetarian sushi offerings in addition to its many popular fish-based rolls. After that, we went up to the Editor's friends' amazing house near the Mystery Spot and carpooled to the Rio from there. Neko Case and her band were absolutely beautiful (and apparently Neko is a big fan of casseroles, provided they aren't made with cream of mushroom soup), though I can't say the same for her opening act.

We crashed at the friends' friends' house (which was being housesat) and got breakfast at Dharma's before heading back over the hill to chill without having to be in public or outdoors. Not that there was anything chilly about it; heat is vastly overrated, especially now, with daily highs in the 90s or higher all over the Bay Area. But we watched a little Firefly, ran an errand for some pet project of Kevin's, and so on. In the evening Kevin didn't feel much like rocking, and I didn't feel much like making him drive me over the hill just so I could do some rocking, so we settled on staying here. Well, kind of. Kevin planned to call a few of his favorite restaurants in Mountain View and order one or two good, cold dishes from each. This was a time-consuming but fun project, and the only drawbacks were that by the time we settled in with our feast, it wasn't so hot as to require the cool dishes, and that the tea he picked for me at the boba tea shop was icky. (For the record, I hate boba tea. I hate pearls, I hate milky shit, and I hate stuff that's way too sweet. I just want iced fucking tea and I'd like to have options besides black, but I am not the world. Iced green tea from Tea Era on Castro is neither milky nor contaminated with pearls, but it is sickeningly sweet.)

Today I feel like all kinds of dumb little things are going wrong for me, and for some of those I spend a lot of time with, it was actually crappy. While I just had one of those days where you get every yellow light and it's excruciating to type accurately and why the fuck does my toe hurt and some kid at Target almost spilled a half gallon of cranberry juice all over me, my boss was home sick and Kevin got carted off to the ER by his coworkers for nearly fucking passing out at lunch. Dude has a fever and the most useless, vague diagnosis a clown college physician's assistant is legally allowed to hand out. He seems much better when under the influence of simple OTC medicines and plenty of fluids, though. So that's where I've been all evening.

And now I'm going to go bask in the breezy embrace of the cheap fan I just bought at Target.

Allegra helps me play with kittens.

I learned my lesson today, as I was between refills of the stuff and managed to get all tight-chesty and eye-itchy from playing with cats again. I wasn't terribly bothered over the weekend, so it must be the Allegra. Or I'm actually allergic to my friend, but that seems unlikely.

One of the few evening farmer's markets in this area isn't far from my house, so the Editor and I checked it out for dinner. One of the three bread stalls was selling organic baguettes for $1, so you know I hit that. Plus I got some potatoes, because you can't have cauliflower without potatoes and I have a giant head of cauliflower from my CSA share. I also had an orange honey stick, because they were a quarter and I like sugar. Mmmm, sugar! Dinner consisted of garlic naan, samosas, and baingan bharta from an Indian food stall and curried lentils and spinach-stuffed flatbread from an Afghan/Italian (wtf, right?) "East Meets West" food stall. Everything was rather delicious.

Last weekend was full of laziness and mostly filled with catsitting and TV-on-DVD watching. Namely, Kevin and I watched the first half of Firefly, and yes, you were all fucking right, okay? It is good. I'm not about to go write fanfic or anything, but it was good. (And Jen, now I know what all your damn LJ user icons are!) We are borrowing the rest of the series and Serenity shortly, but I forgot to get them tonight. Alas. We are busy, anyway.

This coming weekend should be significantly less restful, as we have tickets to two shows down in Santa Cruz on Saturday (Neko Case) and Sunday (Built to Spill) nights and plan on enjoying Santa Cruz the rest of the weekend. We are owed a "thank you for catsitting" dinner as well, and free food aside, hanging out with the Editor and Jenn is always a treat. Tomorrow night we're headed to Santa Cruz as well, just to visit his mom's side of the family because her brother is in town. We are bringing them Ethiopian food, apparently. Maybe for once an entire order of hot timatim fitfit will disappear without any left over for lunch. There is always so damn much of that stuff, but it's so delicious, I don't care.

Yeah, and speaking of treats, I treated myself to a new camera this evening. Well, I bought it on eBay. A nice Panasonic Lumix DMC-FX9. It's a point-and-shoot, but really, I don't think I have it in me to do much more than that on a regular basis, and this thing looks hot and I plan on keeping it in my purse for random and hopefully excessive photography. The auction was a good deal, too, because it comes in an unopened box with a manufacturer warranty and a 1 GB memory card for about $100 less than most online shops are selling it for with just a 16 MB card. Do I need a camera? Absolutely not. But some of you are picture hounds and it could be fun.

It's being hot in San Jose. I really hate the weather.

So...tired.

Okay, so I was going to post a really exciting recap of my weekend and not one, but two great Mountain Goats shows, but I am so fucking exhausted at the moment I'd rather die than think about forming interesting sentences. I need to eat some food and go to the Editor's house and meet their kitten and be instructed on its care and feeding. Their other two cats are beautiful and lovely and kittens embarrassingly make me squee.

I am tired because (1) I got 6 hours of sleep and I'm a 7 hours or more kind of girl and (2) the first day of my period is never any fun. I can't relish it like some, uh, artists, I guess. If I had a red tent to visit, I'd probably spend my time there in a fetal position, begging for cups of tea and dark chocolate. Not exactly female empowerment time.

Anyway, last night and Friday night I saw the Mountain Goats for the second and third times. The Friday night show was in Seattle and I took my friends Chris and Lauren and they enjoyed it very much. They played a bunch of really old stuff (like on the tapes/compilations, lots of stuff I don't have because I just not that hardcore, really) and some of the songs that will be on the new album. JD told amusing stories. Then the encore included "No Children" AND "The Best Ever Death Metal Band in Denton," both of which are so great and such a treat to hear. Last night's show in SF was a bit more sedate, as JD had gotten sick and was at risk of damaging his vocal chords should he belt out a few too many fan favorites. The "No Children" debate was quashed with a performance where the audience was on tuneless, shouted vocals and John and Peter played the music and giving cues for the verses. Otherwise, they delved further into the obscure, which includes a lot of great songs you might not otherwise hear because, admittedly, listening to the old recordings is kind of a chore, no matter how great the lyrics are. John Vanderslice, another fantastic performer, gave a nice rendition of "Your Belgian Things," though I heard his performance of the same the night before was a little more enthusiastic.

So, the rest of the weekend. I visited lots of friends -- besides Chris and Lauren, I saw Becky (and her cat Pippen), Josie (and Boo), Christine, Danger, Jana, Tom, and Graylan. There was a visit to the University District farmer's market where we found delicious tomatoes, cheese, and other locally-produced goodies, Pagliacci's pizza delivered, heart disease-inducing real mac and cheese made, and lots of catching up among old friends. I made it to Olympia Saturday night and spent two good days with my family. Sunday was my brother's senior recital, and it was great. His performance was beautiful (I especially liked the pieces he composed himself), there was an awesome turnout, and I got to spend time with family and family friends I don't see often. (Speaking of which, I owe lots of emails...) Plus, mom made bucolne dulce, which is a divine layered dessert consisting of meringue, chocolate, whipped cream, and strawberries.

On the other hand, I was suffering from a bit of a cold/cat allergies/sinus infection/who the fuck knows all weekend. And, again, I'm super tired at the moment, so forgive my awkward phrasing in this entry. I'm trying to be descriptive and no doubt failing.

Take me to the operator.

Oh, Barbara Morgenstern. You are so cute. Your cuteness improves each time I see you. And that last song played with the Mountain Goats was just delicious.

But please let me get your catchy hit song out of my head.

I will update later with the goings-on of the weekend and more tMG gushing.

Dip me in dust mites and call me Sneezy.

I returned to the allergist yesterday. To her great surprise, the swelling in my nose had gone down "75%," she said. She was impressed. Needless to say, I'm impressed, mostly with breathing. I've been using just the allegra and the rhinocort aqua for a few days now and all seems well enough.

The doctor explained that the grass allergies are seasonal and should be over their annual peak in July. She told me to get dust mite-blocking mattress and pillow covers for my bedding and make sure to wash my sheets in hot water at least every two weeks (hey, I use a coin-op washer, this doesn't happen already, okay?). Then she said I could start getting the allergy shots in July.

Allergy shots can actually kill you, by the way. Not likely, but it's possible. I think I'll take my chances, though. I will get one shot with cats and dust and one with grasses and in three to five years, if all goes well, I should be able to go both medicine- and shot-free into the allergen-riddled world.

Anyway, the success of the allergy treatments leaves me with little excuse when it comes to exercise. Until now, I've been lazy because I felt like crap all the time (and yes, not exercising certainly contributed, but being unable to breathe didn't help much), but now I can only claim to be lazy. So I've got to figure out the best way for me to integrate good exercise into my daily routine, and maybe it's the stupid workout video game and maybe it's something else. I don't really like being with people or having to go somewhere because, again, lazy. This is not a call for suggestions, by the way.

Wednesday evening I saw the Eels and Smoosh at the Fillmore with Kevin, the Editor, and an old friend of the Editor's. It was an absolute blast. They have a guy (we think they called him Crazy Al, but there was some debate as to the last word) onstage with them, dressed as a security guard, who annouces things, does weird shit like "dance" by doing kung fu/boxing moves/push-ups, and squirts whipped cream into willing audience members' mouths. Fucking fantastic.

Tonight is Jim Gaffigan at the Mountain Winery. What a pretty place for a silly show. Next weekend I am headed to the PacNW to see some of my favorite people and one of my favorite bands.

All my Netflixes lately are Deadwood Season 2. It is delicious. We did rent some things from Bradley Video last week--Fear and Trembling, which I liked okay; Face, the Japanese movie about a woman who kills her sister and flees, which I didn't like much; and re-watching The 40-Year-Old Virgin and Ghost World. Kevin didn't like the latter much, which saddened me.

Also, I bought some unnecessary crap in the form of shiny oxblood-colored mock croc Dansko clogs on eBay, a pretty black and silver-striped skirt, and a bunch more tea from a new website. Isn't consumerism grand?