Cranky McCrankerston

Holy cow, am I cranky today.

Yesterday, while lifting (W-shoulders, know em? :) I pinched something between my shoulder blades. I felt it as soon as I did it & stopped doing the exercise. Needless to say, today I woke up in major pain. It’s one of those lovely can’t turn my head days, you all know the kind. BLAH!

On top of that, I’m having “one of those days” where everything is just testing me. It started before I even got out of bed! I stayed up late working, so I needed to sleep till at least 9 to get 6 hours of sleep, but noooooo. Come 8am I had 3 men working *right* outside my window on the building next to me. Clacking boards against the wall and talking to eachother, sometimes yelling. ug. This might as well all have been happening IN my bedroom, because the windows are so thin. And the most agonizing part is that no pillow on my head/earplugging was helping because their man-voices and wood-thudding was so deep, it was resonating right through. GRRR! And every time I tried to maneuver myself to cover my head or turn over to block the sound & light, my neck was too hurty & keeping me awake! waaaaaah!!!

I threw a full force 3 year old temper tantrum in my kitchen while trying to make myself breakfast, because I couldn’t get this one thing to work, and then the zipper open on a freezer bag wouldn’t open, and then my microwaving & toaster oven going at the same time blew a fuse. grrrr! When that fuse blows, I have to dig out my entire closet to get through this mini door & walk into this stuffy attic space to flick it back on. Sucks cuz I thought we’d taken care of it last time by switching out the plugs, but obviously not! Such a pain.

Man, what a week.

laughter is the best medicine

We (Darren, Ali, Hez & I) went & saw the 40 Year Old Virgin lastnight and it was HYSTERICAL!!!! I was laughing so hard at the end, I almost was afraid I wasn’t going to be able to stop, and I’d be that red faced, tears streaming down lunatic who can’t stop laughing even though the movie ended 45 minutes ago. hahaa! Luckily I pulled it together just in time as we stepped out into the well lit lobby, where I made a b-line to get a napkin to sop up my tears of joy. What a funny movie!!!

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I’m feeling SO much better today. Yesterday plain out sucked!!! It was like 10,000 Mondays all wrapped into one. I literally shed tears at my desk, it was miserable. I wanted so bad to just crawl into a ball and sleep all day… but instead I had to work. So, my substance abuse of choice was not 1, but 2 double shot lattes. Not sure if that helped, but by the end of the day, and after successfully getting a project out the door, I was at least better off than I started earlier in the day.

Some shit went down over the weekend that I don’t even feel like giving any kind of energy to, except to say that it sent me on one of those lovely emotional rollercoaster rides that went something like this (be sure to hold up your hands while you read this for the full effect): MAD!!, numb, horribly depressed, and now today – I think I am actually feeling ok. Maybe back to numb a little… but I’m not feeling the need to drink 2 lattes today – so hey! I’m making progress! hahaa.

Besides all that, I’m having a big ol sucky upheaval when it comes to my creativity. Or maybe the emotional (relationship) crap just mixed in with the good ol’ fashioned tortured artist within me and made me start really questioning why the fuck I even try to do ANYTHING in my life. gah.

But we all know that’s just silly. So I’m going to shelve it all for awhile & revisit when I’m not feeling so damn gloomy.

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Speaking of artsy stuff, we had a big sewing/craft salon on Sunday @ Hez’s! In attendance: Hez, Mai, Lucia, Jem, Lyne & me! yay! Mai worked on her sock monkey, Lucia knit, I cut out some fabric characters for Lyne to stitch on her bags and then I did a little painting. Lyne did a little sewing, Jem applied a felt flap girl to a shirt, and Hez showed off her new serger. Mid day we all went & ate tasty burrito’s on Mission St. Yumm!

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I have been working out, and today I finished the book I’ve been reading: Home Land by Sam Lipsyte. I didn’t really like it.

Next up: Designing with Web Standards, by Jeffrey Zeldman. Ya, I know – I can’t believe I haven’t read it yet either – but now is the time!!!

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In other “what willo’s bought for herself lately” news, I got myself some JBL Speakers for my laptop. They’re just simple little things (aka nice & cheap!), but I’m pretty stoked on em!! Now when I don’t want my music screaming over my living room stereo speakers, I can have them on right here in front of me. wooohoo!

once again, my life in photos

Loquat, Ex-boyfriends, Citizens Here & Abroad show @ GAMH!
Aug 20, 2005
SO FUN! I think I probably knew a good 35 people at this show. WHAT A NIGHT!!
20 photos
 
Friday Jazz in the Park (Sausalito) w/ the Weingals
Aug 19, 2005
Friday I drove up to spend some time with my dear friends David, Elana & their two kiddos Marissa & Zach! It was so fun!
43 photos
 
Becca’s Welcome Home Dinner
+ Alana Davis @ the Red Devil Lounge
Thursday, Aug 18, 2005
First Rebecca’s friends planned a wonderful dinner party @ Stray Fish to welcome her home from her long stay in Singapore! Then I headed over to the RDL for Alana Davis w/ Ali, Lucia & Daryl! It was so wonderful to finally see her live, she has such an amazing voice!
19 photos
 
Movie Night
Sunday, Aug 14, 2005
Darren, Trevor and Ali came over to watch Wet Hot American Summer at my place. Such a hilarious movie!! Trevor made us all an amazing FEAST of a dinner, complete with appetizers & dessert! yumm! Lyne & Nathan stopped by throughout the night, too.
22 photos
Game Night/Party @ Cam, Jenna & Jared’s House!
Saturday, Aug 13, 2005
We love game night! This one was a BLAST! I love my cutie girls!! xoxo
50 photos
 

humans are animals & animals are crazy

It’s a crazed nation we live in when people are dying from stampedes left & right. Pull it together, people! Walk calmly and mind your fellow humans around you. What are you, cows?!

Darren sent me this crazy link this morning (the man is a plethora of crazy links I tell you!) about this mad rush to buy cheap iBooks. Maaaan… you gotta read it & watch the slideshow. People are nuts!

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Speaking of crazy animals, I took my kitty to the vet this morning – and OMG does he HATE going to the vet. He’s totally the sweetest baby boy in his Mama’s arms – but you take him out of his safe little home (by of all worst fates, sticking the poor guy in a small carrier – ya, he hated that.) and in a scary big car, and then into some strange office with a bunch of crazy smells & sounds, all to get poked & jabbed by a stranger… he kinda loses it a little. :( poor guy!

He really is a bit of an extreme case when it comes to the vet’s… they have to take him in the back to spare me having to watch what can seem like torturing the poor guy. But I totally understand that’s the best route, and I’m very apologetic to them that he’s not more “adaptable”. haha. They say they’re used to it, etc. However, they did recommend next time I request anesthesia, so that they can actually give him a proper physical w/o him hissing and freaking out like a wildebeest.

Today he just had to get some routine shots, but they pretty much couldn’t give him a physical at all. I still had to pay for it though because they “tried”. Needless to say Kazoo is VERY happy to be back home. He was really lovey with me after he got out of the god forsaken kennel of doom. What a spoiled mama’s boy. :)

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p.s. how awesome is it that I sent 3 Netflix movies back yesterday (in a 2:30pm mail drop, no less) and I got an email this morning at 9am saying they’d received them! HOT DAMN!

p.s.s. One of the Bamboozled authors I work with just wrote a great review on the white stripes show that will go live 8/31 so I’ll link to it then – but for now, this is a pretty cool background article on our favorite Whites.

photo album explosion

OK, here’s a quick, but long overdue update of my life. So here is, basically, my life in photos. Feel free to make up debaucherous details in your head to make it really interesting.

So way back, two Wednesdays ago, Mat, Ali & I went to the Scissors for Lefty/Mary Timony show at the Bottom of the Hill & it was awesome! Scissors for Lefty are REALLY great! They’re a local band just starting to play around… Ali & I fell in love with them. Here’s the photo album from that night!

Thursday night I had a taco party redux, that somehow I didn’t take ANY photos at. How can we be sure the event really happened!? Hard to say, really. But it was fun, really it was! Kristin & Dave, Chris, Trevor, Lulu, Matt and I all enjoyed some tasty tacos. There’s a few photos of Trevor, Lulu & I that we took after the Jonathan Richman show in my Random August album. So at least we know THAT happened! haha.

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Friday night (a week ago) I went out for Hillary’s birthday celebration & had one too many tequila shots. And this album of the night proves it! hahaa. me + kat + tequila = danger danger :)


Kat, (sorry, forgot her name), Hillary (birthday girl), Dave & me @ Doc’s Clocks

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Saturday morning was kinda crazy cuz I woke up at 6:30am, realizing I left my car @ a meter… so I actually got up (on a few hours of sleep & probably still drunk) and powerwalked my way to my car. Weird! Then I went to Noah’s Bagels, got a tasty breakfast bagel, ate it & then came home & went back to bed. HA!

A few hours later I got up, to go met Darren at the Shooting Gallery for this KICK ASS event – a live painting extravaganza: Wet Paint. It was INCREDIBLE to see all these paintings created before our eyes, by artists/painters we’ve followed for years. Plus, D & I had some taaaaasty Phó in Little Saigon! Check out the photos!


Awww yaaaaa… (me w/ darren’s sunglasses* on)
*former sunglasses. he just lost em at zeitgeist. sucka.


Hot for Phó

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When I got home that afternoon, I went over & hung out w/ Nathan & the kitties for a bit and got a whole album of incredibly to-die-for-cute photos. I’m a Kitty Photographer to the Stars! :)


Cutty Fatty Kitty! (Fat Pants)


They don’t call him Fat Pants for nothin!! hahaa!


Funny Boots!


Boots catchin the string…

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Saturday night Ali & I met Trevor at the Heavenly States show at the Independent. We ran into the Birdmonster guys – and the other two Hijack boys Dave & Mike were there, too! So fuN!


Me, Zach, David and Ali

View the photos from the Heavenly States show.

Yes, I went to 5 shows last week. Very fun.
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Last Wednesday night Ali, Trevor & I hit the Kissing Tigers show. Trevor turned me onto this band back in February & I fell in love with them instantly and bought all their albums. So since then I’ve been so excited for them to come & play here and they finally did!! They were FANTASTIC live & it was a great night hangin w/ my peeps!


Kissing Tigers RULED!!!

Eric (remember the boy I met in NYC & then saw at du Nord?) happened to be in town, and joined us for the show – and even a mini party afterwards. awww yaaa :)


Eric & Ali makin trouble @ the Kissing Tigers show


Trevor, Ali & Willo @ Kissing Tigers

I got a ton of great photos of the band – view the Kissing Tigers photo album.

Eric is managing this band, Group Sounds in NYC. They’re pretty good – check em out.

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This last Friday night Misty and a whole crew of her friends & I hit the White Stripes at the Greek Theatre in Berkeley. My first time at the Greek AND seeing the White Stripes! It was great to finally see them live – they were great.


Jack White of the White Stripes @ The Greek Theatre

And the *best* part is that the show ended so early, we could still catch the Pony’s at Bottom of the Hill! They were AWESOME and it turned out to be a great night!


Misty, Trevor & I @ The Ponys


The Ponys @ Bottom of the Hill


View the whole album from Friday night!

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Lastnight was ridiculously fun. Photos to come. My Life Rules.

oh my god.

I finally MOPPED!!!

For those of you who have been to my house in the last few weeks have heard me griping about how I really needed to wash my floors. After the taco party (and any party, really) it needed it.

Well, my taco party was what? 2 1/2 weeks ago now? hahaa. Ya, that’s why this is monumental.

For the record: I hate mopping.

But my housecleaner had just come right before my party. So I couldn’t necessarily justify having her back a week later. So I tried to reassure myself that actually taking some time to quickly mop my floors probably wouldn’t kill me. But my goodness… it was all I could do to not ask my unemployed friends if they wanted to make a quick $20-$30.

I know, I’m such a baby – but guess what?! I DID IT! I didn’t always have a housecleaner, but man that is a chore I am so happy to not have to do on a regular basis. Although, I did feel so damn proud of how clean I was making my floors! :) It made me feel like I clean them myself with way more care than they do. But I think that’s just me giving myself a big pat on the back. ha!

Anyway – that’s seriously stop the presses news. You heard it here first.