That you've passed another stage in your life, it comes right back up to bite you in the ass.

As many of you know, last week was my 29th birthday, last month I started my first "real job", and for the last two years, everyone around me has been getting married (or divorced) and having babies. Lots of babies. There were 8 in my office alone last year. This makes it really easy to think,"Ok, this is the stage where people are having kids. Wow I feel old."

Makes sense right??? Wrong.

This week, it's been back to High School. Nothing wrong with it, of course, it's just amusing that suddenly out of the blue two of my friends are working on new relationships. And it's like HS all over again. Giddiness, giggling fits, gross make out details.

I actually said EWWWWWWWWW more than once yesterday. And giggled.

And the thing is, I love these people, and I couldn't be happier for them, and I love listening to their giggles and insecurities and hopefulness, but at the same time, it is kind of jarring. But in a good way.

/stream of consciousness

PS if this is about you (you know who you are) and anything I said bothers you, talk to me. I'm merely venting my overwhelming sense of irony. I laughed more last night talking to you then I have in a long time!

Posted by: caltechgirl at 10:13 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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As I suspect is the case for most of us, I'll be offline until Monday, although I will still be checking email....

I just wanted to take a moment, before I get too carried away with work, to share some of the things I'm thankful for this year, in no particular order:

for health, even though it's not always the best
for Love, which sustains me every day
for my wonderful husband who makes me laugh every day
for my family, who have always been there for me and for each other
for my wonderful job that makes me happy and pays me better than I imagined
for DH's job, with normal students that don't try to hurt him
for my house, which we despaired of finding, and then of keeping, but which is wonderful
for my puppy, who is 6 years old and worth her weight in Molybdenum, but is still my Princess
for all our servicepeople, who sacrifice so much and so willingly that the rest of us don't have to...
for our police and firemen and paramedics who do the same at home
for our nation, that we can enjoy the freedoms we have
for good doctors and kind nurses
for funny emails that made me laugh when I was so stressed
for the friends and family that gathered around my mother on the day of Dad's surgery
for all of the generous folks who pitched in to make our Valour-IT fundraiser so spectacular. We raised over $75,000 together. That's a lot of laptops.

for wonderful friends, online, offline, and both. Y'all bring so much to my life

What are you thankful for this year?

Posted by: caltechgirl at 10:16 AM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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Only too true.

Back at home as of noon yesterday. My husband's best buddy in college gifted us with AWESOME tickets to last night's USC/Fresno State game.

Which was both the most awesome and most insane game I have ever been too.

Anyway, somewhere in the middle of the game, Reggie Bush took off on a 65 yard TD run and I was jumping up and down so hard that this amply endowed girl came right out of a certain support garment.....

I must have been a sight. Pigtails and other things flapping, jumping up and down, screaming "Run Reggie Run" over and over again.

We also got to meet Reggie's little bro (before the game) and Mike Garrett, Heisman trophy winner and USC athletic director (after the game)

The officiating was terrible, the stats were insane, and I'm gonna love going back to Fresno on Wednesday

Also, quickly before I go, Dad is doing ok. He's getting up and walking a little, sitting in the chair, pissing off the nurses because he wants to get up more than they want him to. His blood sugars are high, but they tell us his pancreas is still recuperating from being cut into, so hopefully that will ease off and he won't need insulin.

That would piss me off. His pancreas was perfectly healthy, no blood sugar issues, no cancer, and they removed part of it "Just to be safe". Yeah. Don't fuck with my pancreas, thanks. Take everything else.

Anyway, so much more to say, but I have to pick up the threads of my life and get back to normal. More tomorrow.

Thanks to the fabuloso guest bloggers who kept everyone entertained and made me laugh this week

Posted by: caltechgirl at 05:45 PM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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1 WELCOME BACK!!! So very glad to see you!! Happy that Dad is on the mend. : )

Posted by: Christina at November 20, 2005 07:12 PM (zJsUT)

2 heh. You had better seats than Ed did.... he's got the cheap season tickets way up high. Glad to hear you got to go to a game! From the subject header, I thought you just jumped your husband during the game from excitement.... Not that there's anything wrong with that!

Posted by: Bill at November 20, 2005 07:12 PM (67MBU)

3 WTF? I'd be pissed about losing part of my pancreas, too! Sheesh! But yeah, pissing off the nurses is A GOOD THING. Heh. I hope he's finer n' froghair reallllly soon! M

Posted by: Margi at November 20, 2005 07:59 PM (nwEQH)

4 I hope your father does better. However, it had to be some sight to see you jump out of your underwear. LOL

Posted by: Contagion at November 21, 2005 05:22 AM (Q5WxB)

5 It's a good sign that he's pissing off the nurses! Welcome back, CaltechGirl!

Posted by: Marie at November 21, 2005 06:22 AM (410kz)

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I must not be, living right that is.

I'm allergic to chocolate and alcohol in that they both induce migraines.

Sucks, right?!

Because there is little else left but sex and caffeine and the first is not always so convenient, I tend to indulge in the latter.

I have never acquired a taste for coffee and prefer to take my caffeine in the form of soda, particularly Diet Coke.

Well, hell, apparently THAT's not good for me, either.

Sometimes, it just sucks to be me!

Posted by: Christina at 08:16 AM | Comments (1) | Add Comment
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I have a confession.

I know nothing about rocket science, chemistry or physics.

I was a Political Science, English, and History major.

However, I did take biology in the tenth grade.

In fact, my blood type is A+.

Back in the days before AIDS was an issue (so, I'm thirty-eight), one of the labs in biology was to determine blood type with litmus paper. To perform our experiments, we were issued little pointed tools to plunge into our fingers to make them bleed, as well as different colored slips of tiny paper on which to put droplets of blood to observe reactions and determine blood types.

Note, we were not offered latex gloves. The only other items provided were alcohol wipes and band-aids.

Now that I think about it, I probably contracted hepatitis...

In any event, there was this guy named Darrin in my class. He was an obnoxious sort and after everyone chose their respective lab partners, he was, not surprisingly, the odd man out.

Unfortunately for me, my partner and I were one of the first people finished with typing our blood and Darrin asked me to help him as he was having great difficulty poking himself in the finger. He kept stabbing himself, but was not doing it hard enough to actually break the skin.

Wimp.

I begged off because we still needed to clean our station; however, my disloyal lab partner volunteered to do it for us and I was left to assist gross guy.

I realize "gross" and "obnoxious" may well be generic terms, but they so fail to do justice to Darrin. The poor guy was one of those persecuted souls that no one liked. His appearance and aromatic body habitus aside, he was loud, a know-it-all when he knew nothing, and spit all over everyone and everything whenever he spoke. He was altogether an odious and objectionable human.

Add to the mix he had the most annoying habit of following me around.

To say the very least, Darrin was not on my top 2000 list of favorite humans. Secondly, I was easily annoyed back then and had something of a temper.

I declined to assist Darrin with his experiment, but my rejection was overheard by the Biology teacher, Coach Allgood. That was when things turned all bad, at least for poor Darrin. Coach insisted I assist and while most of the rest of the class pointed and snickered, I grabbed his hand, cleaned off one of his offensive fingers, took the cap off the needle, and plunged it forceably into his appendage.

I could not have predicted what would next transpire.

The poor boy dropped to his knees in pain then keeled over in a dead faint at the sight of his own blood.

There really wasn't that much blood, but apparently it was far too much for him.

I learned two things from this experience:

All and all, I think it went very well.

Posted by: Christina at 12:32 PM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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Anybody else think that those "Breasts Not Bombs" chicks would get a LOT more sympathy if they shaved their pits?????

Just sayin'....

Posted by: caltechgirl at 05:10 PM | Comments (10) | Add Comment
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You know who you are.

First, for the little twerp in the Chartreuse metal flake Kia Rio with the tinted windows, I know how manly you are. Your sweet little ride is all I need to see to know you are indeed a stud. You even drive like one, thinking you can merge in front of me and cut me off..... See, your POS little KIA has even less to recommend it in the power department than most. Probably just like you. I know all I need to know about your sense of humor, too. You are the funniest human being on earth for cutting back in front of me and riding your brakes. I hope you were laughing too when you got stuck behind that semi.....

Second, for the busy gentleman in the silver Elantra at Costco. I don't know what is so attractive about me that you felt you needed to cut me off to get into the gas station, and then the ultimate was when you laughed at me because my Costco card is demagnetized and I had to get the Costco guy to come help me get the pump to work because you "weren't going to fall for" me asking you to slide your Costco card so that the INCREDIBLY impatient man behind you could get to the gas faster.... I want you to know I am indebted to you forever for allowing me to flip you off as you drove away in your smugness and your cheapass car.

Posted by: caltechgirl at 05:06 PM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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