My sister and I are very different people. To explain our differences, I used to use the story about the night before my dad had his heart surgery a few summers ago. We said our goodbyes at the hospital (b/c there was a not-small chance that he wouldn't survive the surgery), and Lindsay, my mom, and I went home. My mom went straight to bed, I went straight for the chocolate cake, and Lindz went straight for her running shoes. The girl jogged for an hour.

That *used* to be my illistration for how different we are. This will be my new one:

My folks are in town this week. The four of us went out to eat with Nancy and Bob. At the end of dinner, Lindsay got her purse out.

Nancy: "Ohh...is it real?"
Lindsay: "Yes. And it wasn't that expensive."
Nancy: "Ohh...can I touch?"

Nancy was referring to my sister's Louis Vuitton purse. (FYI: I had to look up the spelling on the internet)

Me: "So, how much is 'not that expensive'?"
Lindsay: "$600."
*eyes begin to water**starts choking on tongue* Me: "YOU SPENT $600 ON A PURSE?!!?"
Linsday: "No. Chris spent $600 on a purse."

$600.

On. A. Purse.

Reeediculous.

As we were leaving the restaurant, my mom complimented me on my incredibly cute shoes.

Me: "Thanks, Mom. They were $15 at Kmart."





Dear Future Husband: If you ever spend $600 on one single gift for me, it better be a plane ticket to Hawaii.

holy cow. i seriously cannot wait to live in l.a.!!

In improv, I love it when things come full circle. In life, it's even sweeter.

My first Thanksgiving out here, Paul and I drove out to San Diego to eat at my cousin's. N&B came, too. Nancy cooked, the boys made cookies.

This will be my last Thanksgiving in AZ (as a resident). I'm driving out to San Diego to eat at my cousin's. N&B are coming, too. Nancy will cook. Bob and Eric will make cookies. Then Friday I drive up to L.A. to be in my friend's (Chris) film.

Exciting stuff, my friends. Exciting stuff.

To be honest, I'm kind of not looking forward to this week. I go straight from work to train w/ Eric. Then Remainders rehearsal. I will need to squeeze in dinner and (maybe) type some PIF notes beforehand. I will not be staying the full 3 hours b/c 1. i have to get up at 4:30 the next day, and 2. i have a lot of PIF notes to post. Tuesday I go straight from work to the last law thing I have to do, which won't be over til 9 or so. Then I drive down to Tucson to pick up zha and bring him back here for a few days. Which means I won't be getting back until the middle of the night. Wednesday I go straight from work to a NITA meeting (I'm doing that again this year--see last year's posts around this time). Thursday I have a chiro appointment. Friday and Sat I have to work and I have sessions with Eric. So, busy week. I'm thinking about taking Wednesday off--at least partially--so I can sleep.

Tonight after the PIF meeting, I went over to my sister's new condo. And finally got to meet Chris (her boyfriend-slash-guy she bought condo with). He was really nice, and their place was quite posh. I'm impressed--both with the boy and her abode. The kid sis done good.

I'm glad I got a nap in today b/c I'm pooped!

Well, off to bed.

It's amazing what an attitude change, some exercise, and eating well does for your mental health! Things have been crazy/stressful at work, but I've been able to handle it much better than last week. Soley because I'm taking care of myself. Wow. I mean, seriously, I can't describe how much I wanted to gouge my eyes out with a spork and fling them at all of these claims piling up, then stab the people around me. But since Saturday, my homicidal tendencies are waning. Hooray! There was only one time I almost snapped. But that was because a fellow employee put candy on my desk not 4 minutes after I explained I wasn't eating candy anymore. She would have totally deserved a small disembowelment.

P.S. Thank you guys for your phone calls and text messages. I promise to return them as soon as I can!

Today is a great day. Actually, things started to change yesterday morning. Or, to be more specific, Saturday. I'm making some changes in my life for the good, and I'm really excited about it. Tonight I'm going to Remainders rehearsal for the first time in weeks. I miss improv so much. Last night was the PIF meeting, and even though I promised to have minutes up after the meeting, they won't go up until tonight. I had a tiny bit of dinner then went straight to bed. I was beat.

One of the changes is that I've decided to not work overtime during the week. This last month of working every waking second really beat the crap out of me. I'm also bringing my gym clothes to work so I can go there straight after. And I'm going to make a few more appointments with my trainer. I'm getting on a schedule with that. I made a breakfast burrito this morning, and just generally feel better b/c I've decided to feel better.

Oh, and Chris Gaede called last night. I was wanting to get out of PHX for a bit in a couple of weeks, and was originally thinking of hitting LA. Then Tucson came up. Then LA came up from the Tucson plans. Well, Chris mentioned last week to let him know when I would be in town so he could write a part in for me (he's filming on the weekends). Last night he was all excited b/c he figured a part out and wanted to know specifically when I could come out. Rock! So I told him I was at his disposal. After this weekend I got nuthin'. Thanksgiving will probably be @ N&Bs, but that's only on Thursday. I have the rest of that weekend off. And I don't have to work! Woohoo! So, basically, I'm pumped.

On top of all of this, I finally got to see My McBrayer on Conan from last week. He's so stinking cute I could bake him in the oven and eat him with a spoon!

Heroes tonight!

I'm not even 20 minutes into Sunset Blvd, and I love it already for sentimental reasons. The apartment where the writer lives is the same building zha lived in two years ago. I stayed there when Cosand and I went out to the LA Improv Fest! Then, when the writer is leaving the drugstore (which I believe is now a restaurant we ate at), he talks about going home to Ohio. I figure he'd mention Cinci or some other big city. But, no. He says maybe he can get a job back at the Dayton Evening Post (which is now the Dayton Daily News)! Crazy!

I used to watch Star Trek: TNG about a million years ago. OK, maybe more like 10. I think I was in high school. Anyway, I remember this episode where all of these other realities existed from different decisions made. I think one of them was what if Picard wasn't the captain. This whole other reality would exist, branched off from his decision to not go into the academy. Every once in a while I wonder what my other realities are. What if I had *really* answered the question, "What do you want?" Would the weekend have changed? Maybe he would have felt weird for a day and avoided me. Would things be different now? Eh, probably not.

To be honest, I'm glad I didn't say anything. First off, I don't like to mess with the status quo. Secondly, I know what he would have said back. But then there's this part of me that's like, eff it--you only live once. And I think it's important for people to know when you care about them. But I always tend to tell them when I'm leaving. I took Bruce Cromer out to lunch a week before I moved to AZ to let him know how much he meant to me as a professor and a mentor. And, of course, there's my famous letter to JM, knowing I would probably never see him again.

Oh well. I missed my window. And it's not going to come around again. I'm not all doldrums about it, I'm just stating facts. But sometimes I wonder what that alternate universe is like.

Dear Green Tea: Why must you be so good for me, yet taste to bad?

Dear Wool: Thank you for being oh-so warm. My finger tips are blue at work, but my arms are nice and toasty.

Yesterday at work I ate so much junk food that I actually didn't want any more. That's saying a lot!

Klutzy move 4872: Walking down the stairs from my second floor apartment, the heel of my shoe gets caught on the stone step. I'm wearing sandals, and the part of my shoe that's stuck is sort of on the inside. As in, when i am standing, my foot rests on that particular area. It takes talent to get the inside of a shoe stuck. Anyway, I fall forward but am able to catch myself before eating cement. It is uber quiet in my complex at 7 in the morning, and the commotion I make could raise the dead.

Heroes: I am glad the pixie girl who's been with Suresh's Annoying Son is working for Cheerleader's Dad. I completely hated her, and kept thinking the only thing that could possibly make her any better is if she's bad. And she is! Maybe she'll kill him and they will have to get a new narrator. Like Hiro!!

I have a bug bite on the inside of my ear. It just started itching an hour ago. Do we have mosquitoes in our building??

How can I get so much sleep, but still be so tired. Oh, yeah, cuz I'm sick of work.

Last night I had really sad dreams. I woke up very home sick, and with vivid images of fall colors in the neighborhood where I grew up.