"Triumphant," indeed.

So, it's been two weeks since I last posted. Oh well, baby-steps, right? A large part of the problem these days is that I find myself with very little to say. Either I am less irritated by life in general than I used to be, or I just have less time and energy to complain about things that I hate. A few items:

1) I keep having wedding nightmares. Every time I have a dream about my wedding, they become anxiety-ridden, sweat-inducing visions of my personal wedding-planning incompetence, usually because I'm late or have forgotten to do something important, like book an officiant or tell people where the wedding is. The other night I had a horrible dream that I went to get my hair done before the wedding and they did hideous things to it--dyed it an ugly orange-blonde, chopped it off, then permed it. Christ, it was ugly. The BF, by the way, is largely absent from these dreams. In fact, the actual ceremony does not usual figure into them in any way.

2) Um. Obama for President!

I got nothin'.

The triumphant return of The Misanthrope

Did you miss me?

Eh, don't answer that. So anyways, the last time I posted was in October, so here's what happened in the intervening months.

1) BF and I moved to Olympia at the end of December. We found a house here that's in a good neighborhood and is pretty OK for the two of us. It's old and not big, but much better than the one bedroom apartments that have been our homes for the past four years or so. On not-cloudy days it gets a lot of sunshine (or as we call it in cat-speak "sunny sunshine"), which the cat enjoys and which greatly contributes towards my mental health.

2) BF got a temporary job working with the state senate for the legislative session. It was not exactly his dream job and kinda sucks that it's only temporary, but it gave him a nice taste of the politico life here in Washington state.

3) Umm, that's pretty much it so far. We have a wedding photographer, so that's one more thing to cross off the list in the wedding planning. Now I just need a cake, some flowers, a candle or two, a sound system, and I'll be set.

So with the dreariness of winter being almost over and the dreariness of spring about to begin, I am embarking on a self-improvement plan which has three-fourths to do with the upcoming nuptials and a need to not look bloated in my wedding dress, and one-fourth to do with turning 31 and having yet another cycle of existential angst.

Here's what I'm going to do: lose ten pounds by my wedding, and commit to writing for one hour per week, not including blog posts, which I will also commit to writing at least once a week. The blogging is not so important to life but I miss it and it does help my writing in some small way, so I might as well keep doing it even though I'm well aware I no longer have any readers. Plus I miss my memes!

So, we'll see how it goes.

So where was I before I was abducted by aliens?

Yeah. It has occurred to me that I can only apologize so many times about not updating the blog before I start to sound disingenuous. So let me just say: it looks like the blogging is not really happening right now. I really wish I had the energy and the time to pay more attention to it, but for the time being I just don't. I'll continue to post things here and there as I feel the urge, but it won't be anything regular. Hopefully when we move to Olympia and my commuting-hell days are over with I'll get back to posting on a more reasonable schedule once again.

For now, know this:
-The wedding date is set for August 2, 2008. The ceremony will be in the Sunken Gardens on the Capitol Campus in Olympia, and the reception will be by Capitol Lake at the Heritage Room.

Bridezilla lives!

I have achieved Dress. A dress, she has been bought. The dress which will be worn to the ceremony we call "Wedding" - that dress, the Ultimate Dress, is now hanging in my closet. WHOOPEE! It was slightly more expensive than I had been hoping for, but I (or rather my mom) had to buy it, because I'm sorry, it was The Dress. The One. The dress that every woman dreams about, the dress that is half-reality, half-myth - the dress that flatters my figure, makes my ass look small and my boobs look...OK, not big, but a good size anyway--and that actually makes my back, normally a no-man's land of flab and poor posture, appear svelte and toned. Sadly, I had to let another dress go that I was for the most part in love with except for the bodice, which was strapless and therefore unflattering - I need boobage enhancement, not boobage smooshment, which is what most strapless dresses seem to tend towards, plus I have this weird issue with armpit rolls of craptacular fatness. But other than that, the whole thing was lovely lovely lovely. *Sigh* But I'm still happy with the one I have, which really was much more flattering, and now I get to gaze at it with affection for another year.

So maybe the date still hasn't been set nor the venue booked, but the dress is good to go.

I am a monster

This is according to Easy's new vet. To hear her tell it, I am a negligent asshole who shouldn't be left in charge of life forms any more complex than a begonia, much less sentient beings. Apparently I have single-handedly ripped Easy's kidneys to shreds by not getting her teeth cleaned regularly (which by the way, costs more than getting my own damn teeth cleaned, something I've only managed to do about twice in the past five years due to my crippling poverty problem), and by just in general being a lousy excuse for a human being. I have also damaged her 14-year-old joints by not feeding her special glucosomine supplements, and have made her a dumpy, bedraggled shell of a feline by not taking her to the groomers to get her matts shaved off.

Well, sorry.

And then we find out that Easy's kidney disease has progressed (no doubt because I am a terrible person), and that she will likely need to be given fluids through an IV a few times a week for the rest of her life. We've not been told yet how much this treatment is going to cost, but I can't wait to see the look on the vet's face when I tell her we can't afford it.

In other news, I am thoroughly enjoying Behind the Scenes in the Museum, and I feel bad about what I said in my last post. It is utterly charming and witty and is no less of a piece of literature just because it happens to be entertaining rather than depressing.

The post that almost didn't have a title, because I forgot to write one in

So.....here I am again. I'm finding myself with very little to say these days, partially because I don't have the chance to read a lot of other blogs anymore, which I used to do in the the past, and which used to give me ideas for my own blog. Also I don't have as much free time both at work and in life in general, so I don't sit around and compose blog posts in my head the way I used to do. And with that build-up, let's go!

Here are some things:

-I used to lament our crappy cable package in Arlington, and was elated when were able to get an expanded set-up when we moved to Tacoma. We now get several HBO channels, BBC America, IFC, blah blah blah. However, I now spend more time flipping through channels than I do watching TV, because even when I find something I want to watch, I am always convinced that there might be something even better if I just keep flipping. By the time I cycle through all the channels, I've forgotten where the shows were that I would have considered watching, and I turn off the TV in defeat.
Message: Be happy with the cable channels you currently have.

-I am becoming retardeder and retardeder by the minute. Yesterday I stopped in at a nice little used bookstore on my way back home from a walk, but promised myself, since I am currently ass-poor what with all the moving expenses, that I was just going to buy one book. I found two books I wanted: Saturday by Ian McEwan in hardback for only $5 (apparently some of the end pages were torn out), or Behind the Scenes at the Museum by Kate Atkinson in paperback for $6.50. And do you know which one I chose? Yes, the latter. Now, I guess I should mention that Behind the Scenes was a New York Times Notable Book of the Year and winner of the Whitbread Book of the Year, so it's not like I was buying a Harlequin romance novel or something. But I think most people would agree that McEwan is the heavier literary hitter of the two. And not to mention, Saturday was a hardback and yet somehow cheaper than the paperback I chose. Oh well. My brain is dying, whoopety doo.

-I finished reading the seventh Harry Potter book a week or so ago, but I cannot record any reactions or criticism here because I don't want to spoil it for anyone else. All I will say is, now it's over. And what will I do without Harry Potter? Oh Ms. Rowling, how could you forsake us like this? Fine, just walk away with your billions and leave us. Cold-hearted bitch. *Sigh* I guess we still have two more movies to look forward to.

-I saw the movie Superbad last night. It was awesome. The language, it was so foul. The lines, they were so funny. And I hear tell that the movie is spot-on as far as the experience of a teenage boy goes. McLovin. Genius.

OK, I guess that pretty much wraps up the flotsam and jetsam of my mind for the past week. I will try my hardest to update more frequently, but once-a-week is sorta just where my life is at right now.

Um, so...I didn't die or anything

Things have just been a little crazy, what with the moving into a shitty basement apartment and the living in Tacoma while working in Olympia and the going to a friend's wedding the first weekend after moving. I've had about five minutes of down time since July 30th, not that that excuses me, I'm just saying. Also, the new job--I think I'll like it, it seems pretty good so far, and I'm slowly getting the hang of things. But, for various reasons, I can't write blog posts while I'm at work. As for commuting - if you look it up in the OED, I believe you'll find it under the definition for "BITCH." As much as I love Tacoma--and I do love Tacoma--this was quite possibly the stupidest idea I've ever had. I get up at 5:30 a.m., get home between 6-6:30 p.m., work out for an hour, take a shower, and have approximately one hour of my very own to eat dinner and flip through channels before going to bed at 9:00. This is not a life, people. On top of it all, I gained five pounds during the last month and I'm supposed to be going wedding-dress shopping in September.

So much for life getting better back on the west coast. We're already thinking that we're just going to have to bite the bullet and move to Olympia once our lease is up, which is only in six more months, thank god. However, I will sorely miss my neighborhood in Tacoma. I live in the Stadium District, which is a really odd mix of old stately homes, quaint brick apartment buildings, condos, and crazy people. And for some reason we can't quite figure out, tattoo parlors. But nice ones, with very tasteful flames painted on the sides of the buildings. From my neighborhood I also get a nice view of the Sound and Commencement Bay, which seems miraculous after the monotonous urbanity of DC. Don't get me wrong, Olympia has water views, too--they're just not quite as awe-inspiring as those of Tacoma. Our apartment is in this incredibly lucky spot where we get the comforts of a wealthy residential neighborhood--trees, sidewalks, peace and quiet, beautifully landscaped yards--and yet are near the hustle and bustle of downtown (which is mostly hustle, what with the drug dealers and prostitutes, but still), AND have water views within blocks of our apartment. These types of neighborhoods don't really seem to exist in Olympia, at least not for renters.

But, on the other hand, I really can't see living the commuter life for much longer than I absolutely have to. Oh Metro, I loved you so...