The Best Toys

My kitty has a lot of toys. He has a Lazar pointer, jingle balls, mice of various shapes and sizes, birds on strings (with many spares - he "kills" these quite often), and lets not forget shoelaces, yarn, cardboard, plastic bags, and any paper he can find. But the very best toys are the ones he finds himself and brings inside. Like this one:


Yes, that is a lizard he's got. He loves being outside on the balcony and sometimes other little animals find their way up there too. Ghost then brings them inside to play. The first he did this, he had a cockroach. This isn't the first lizard he's brought in either, but its the largest one so far.

I'm sure you all know how the story ends. The cat killed the lizard. Big surprise. But cats will be predators.

The lizard has gone on to its next stage in life, and is now fertilizing my tomato plant.

In other news, The Race for the Cure was last Saturday. I made it to the Rivercenter Mall (about half-way) and then had to alternate between running and walking. I didn't see the clock when I started, but I think I finished between 30 - 35 minutes. Which is not bad for my first 5k ever.

This happens every year

Or it seems like it.

I got my tax refund last week. It wasn't much, but it was enough that I thought I could go pick up some books and movies that I've been wanting for while plus some things that I need - like new pants. I spent all last week prioritizing my wish lists. Which ones do I want to most. If they don't have it, what substitutions will I accept. I know, its a little obsessive, but these are books we're talking about. And I haven't actually bought any new books (for me) in over a year.

I was going to go shopping yesterday. It was my day off and I had no other plans. But then, my car died. It just wouldn't start. Luckily for me there are about 20 car repair places on my street. Its working fine now.

It seems like every time I get a little extra money and I want to spend it on myself, something major breaks and I have to spend that extra money on the broken thing. Last time I think a couple of tires split and I had to buy new ones. Another time my water heater broke. Does this happen to anyone else? or is it just me?

Race for the Cure

Well, its official. I got my T-shirt and number in the mail. I'm officially participating in the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure on April 4. That gives me 19 days to practice running 5 kilometers. I won't say "train" because a) I don't have a trainer or a program or anything like that, and b) even if I did, I wouldn't do everything he/she/it says anyways.

I can run 3 miles right now, which is close to 5k, but its a very slow run. More like a jog. But then, I don't have to be fast, since I'm not doing the timed competition. I would like to finish in under 40 minutes though (yes, you can laugh here) which is about what it takes me now.

And the Prizes are In

The 23 Things may be over, but the fun keeps on happening.

Anyone who was able to finish the 23 Things by the end of January was eligible for a prize. Turns out that we got to choose our prize. Since the 23 Thing was all about technology, the prizes were all technology related too. We could choose from a Flickr pro account, an MP3 player, or a flash drive.

Remember all those posts I did had the phrase "If I had an MP3 player. . . ?" Well, now I do. So now I can actually do all those things that I wish I could. YAY!

Swan Lake

Like my little brother, I cannot drive without music. I need something I can listen to, otherwise I start talking to myself. And when I'm talking to myself, I pay more attention to what I'm saying then the other cars on the road. Its not a good thing. But music keeps me from doing that. Yes, music can be a distraction when driving, but not as much as a distraction as me monologuing.

As I was driving home one night, as I was scanning through stations, I heard Swan Lake. I don't usually listen to classical music when I'm driving. Its hard to sing to, but every time I hear Swan Lake I have to listen. Its probably the only piece of classical music that I can hear anywhere in the piece and recognize.

When I was really little and still had to take naps, my mom would play Swan Lake on the record player to encourage us to sleep. Or at least be still. Sadly enough, I have never seen the ballet. In my dream city - the city where I will one day live, but haven't found yet - there will be a ballet company that does more than 2 productions a year and I will see Swan Lake.

Happy Quirky Alone Day!

For most people, Feb. 14 means Valentine's Day. A day when you give/get chocolates and flowers to your significant other. But Feb. 14th is also Quirky Alone Day. A day to celebrate those who are just a little bit different from the average bear.

Do you want to find out if you belong to them? Take this quiz to see if you're quirky.

I took the quiz and guess what? I'm very quirky.

"How quirkyalone are you? Your score was 92. Very quirkyalone: Relatives may give you quizzical looks, and so may friends, but you know in your heart of hearts that you are following your inner voice. Though you may not be romancing a single person, you are romancing the world. Celebrate your freedom on National Quirkyalone Day, February 14th!"

Best Things About New Orleans

So this is the last part of the fabulous Great Cruise of 2008. After touring through several countries, we had to return to the US. But the fun was not over yet. Nope, we had 2 more days of fabulous-ness in New Orleans. The highlights of which are:

1) getting my first ever cup of gumbo and having a claw sticking out of it. I ordered the seafood gumbo, which came with crab. But, they don't take the crab apart before they put it the gumbo. Nope, you get the thing whole. 'Twas a little alarming to see, if you're not expecting it. Messy to eat, but still oh so good.

2) Staying in a haunted house. One of the first things we did was take a haunted history tour of New Orleans. You can't stay in the French Quarter without taking this tour. The best part is that its at night, and any local who sees you will make ghost noises as they walk by. The second best thing is that our hotel was the second stop on the tour. Alas, we did not see any ghosts.

3) St Joseph's Cathedral's Free Christmas Concerts. We were only a block away from St. Joseph's so we went to this every night. Guess who we saw? Ellis Marsalis. If you know anything about jazz, you know how cool this was.

4) Po'boy's as big as your head. Before we left for this trip, many people told us we had to eat at Mulate's. They have really good food and live Cajun Music. On the day we had planned to go, we had po'boys for lunch. By the time we got to Mulate's, which was probably around 8:00 pm, we were still full from the po'boys. We had to force ourselves to just eat dessert.