the ticket lottery ... after years of trying, I finally won!

My driving record:
__________________________




__________________________

There might be some parking tickets on there, except that I have never actually paid any of those parking tickets, and I don't know if they go on your record if you don't pay them. (I now consider the occasional paper under your wiper blade just another part of working downtown with 2-hour-limit meters. You sometimes just forget to go refill them. I'm pretty conditioned, though. Sometimes when I'm at a friend's house or something I'll panic after I've been there awhile, wondering if it's time to go put money in the meter.)

I happen to be one of the world's worse speeders, however. Well, I guess there are a lot of really bad speeders out there, so maybe I can't really claim that, but I usually feel like a snail if I'm not passing people pretty regularly. For someone with as much "lateness tendency" as I have, I have always considered it a mighty grace of God that my record has stayed like that for the near-decade since I started driving, as speeding has saved me from countless "late to work"'s.

Today, however, I met my match.

I was doing 71 in a 55 - all you who are calling me an elderly driver after hearing that, back off. That was only because I was slowing down for my exit. For those of you calling me a speed demon, that part of the freeway shouldn't be 55, anyway. The rest of the freeway is 65. (Which I still think is too slow.)

Anyway, that cop was rad. I knew I'd been had as soon as I turned the corner - that's a speed trap I always forget about, and he was practically pointing his radar gun in my face. He turned out to be the nicest cop ever, and took my ticket to 65 to boot. It's not even that inconvenient, because I work practically next door to the courthouse.

I have this respect for that cop, partly because he works in a rainforest on a motorcycle and was sweating like a dog when he pulled me over, and partly because he administered my christening ticket. I should have gotten his name and asked to take a picture with him. I guess a copy of the ticket will have to do.

I don't think all the credit goes to my cop, though. One possibility is that God decided it was time for me to come into my own. On the flip side, my roommate and I both left pretty late today, so she prayed we'd be safe on our way to work - she might well have prayed that cop on me. I'll let her work that out of her conscience while I'm over here, trying to figure out if the money I've made not being late to work exceeds the cost of my ticket, which I suspect it will, hands down.

tags

I've been tagged in two (2) things in the last few months and have done neither. Until now ...


From CPM --

1. Pick up the nearest book (at least 123 pages).
2. Turn to page 123.
3. Find the 5th sentence
4. Post the 5th sentence on your blog.
5. Tag 5 people.

"They flew in circles above her and then disappeared over the forest."
(from The Wild Swans, Hans Christian Andersen)

Oops. Forgot that fifth step ... consider yourself tagged if you want to be tagged :)

----

Other friend who tagged me, I'm not going to link to this one (sorry) --

The Five Tag

5 years ago: (2003) I was working again at the glass plant at home, and had just broken up with a really great guy because of timing problems and maybe it just wasn't quite the right fit


5 Months Ago: (January, effectively) Struggling with boy problems, going geocaching like mad, learning sales, going paintballing and beginning a fabulous new job

5 Things on my to-do list (what a week for this one, too ...):

1. Write the rest of my part of the cover story so my publisher can finish her part and the graphic designer can plug it in.
2. Write nine more stories this week.
3. Coordinate the other writers' stories and fill in the holes.
4. Do laundry.
5. Pack for the wedding I'm going to this weekend.

5 Snacks I enjoy:
1. Doritos
2. Pringles
3. Chocolate candy (but not hard candy ... like Snicker's or something)
4. Oranges
5. Strawberries

5 Things I would do if I were suddenly a billionaire:
1. Travel like mad.
2. Pay my rent for the next quite awhile so I don't have to think about it.
3. Philanthropic stuff like helping some people through college and paying some of my parents' bills.
4. Buy everyday stuff that I always want, but without worrying (nice hair stuff like Biolage and Sexy Hair concepts, good makeup, high quality food, the clothes I want, that type of thing.)
5. Invest, both in the stock market and in small businesses (particularly the one I work for, haha).

5 of my BAD habits:
1. Wasting time.
2. Not cleaning my room
3. Not cleaning the kitchen enough.
4. Debatable: Twirling my hair (it gives me split ends and makes me look young but man)
5. Not having enough self-confidence

5 Places I have lived:
1. Utah
2. Texas
3. Colorado
4. Iowa
5. New York

5 Jobs I have had:
1. Water trench cleaner
2. Line worker (picker in a warehouse)
3. Account executive
4. Web editor
5. News writer

5 things people don't know about me:
1. I am TRYING to learn the harmonica.
2. I wake up to ACDC's "Hell's Bells" every morning
3. I prefer Ariel to Tinkerbell
4. I cut hair and I want to go to hair school.
5. I used to dive (springboard diving).

interesting

I decided to splurge a little this weekend and take advantage of the Memorial Day sales, to make my room AWESOME (the only area I really have much control over, because my friend owns the house I live in). I got a 5x7 area rug (black, brown and beiges), a wine-colored comforter set, and a 300-thread-count set of beige sheets. Nearly everything was like 50% off.

Just wait. Oh man.

________ Is Not the Answer

I'm in a haiku-writing thing with some friends, and this week I came up with the theme because I was bored at Other Job. So bored, in fact, that I wrote mad numbers of haikus on this theme:

Saying No is Not the Answer
Clearly we need you
Every second of your life
should belong to us.

Emo (is not the answer, etc.)
I start to talk as
Though I want to cut myself.
I just sound stupid.

Busy Signals
Please get call waiting
The 21st century
is now upon us.

Violence
(this one is lifted from somewhere, though not in haiku form. The idea's not original.)
It's not the answer
unless the question is: "What
is not the answer?"

Hanging Up
Goes without saying:
"the answer" comes well before
any hanging up.

Your Mother
(funny bc I still make your mom jokes.)
"Your mom" jokes are old
I've never met your mother
I'll bet your mom's nice.

High Fashion
Your bubble wrap skirt
must be recycled
from my last Fed-Ex.

Pencil Sharpening
I can tell you're bored,
Tired, antsy, or maybe
it's actually dull.

Not Buying a New Lock
I can't work this lock
Excellent security!
Except, I live here.

Boiling
Watched pots never boil.
Handy, too, because this one
can't boil (or will burn).

Patriotic Cats
This cat wants YOU! to
feed, pet, and trip over him.
Especially trip.

the marketing of the future

You would do well to check out this story and the links I've provided at the bottom. I hope you've heard about this already, but if not, please be blown away.

http://www.ibelieveinharveydent.com
http://www.ibelieveinharveydenttoo.com (highlight the page)
http://www.whysoserious.com

Thanks to my friend Kyle (who, incidentally, was just sworn in after passing the bar) for showing me the original article.

i saw the sign

No ones gonna drag you up
To get into the light where you belong
But where do you belong?

That's our choice, huh?

"Do you ever blog anymore?" --flippin

Yeah, well.

Things have been busy. I'm writing a lot of articles these days (and consequentially spending a lot of time out on the road, interviewing and taking pictures), not doing sales anymore, but I work around 60 hrs/week. My work is thrilling, fascinating, enthralling, and whatever else your thesaurus can turn up. I've done a few new things lately as well:

-- I bought that car I was complaining about (which will need a name; I'll post pictures soon and the polls will open) -- it's a white 1995 Toyota Tercel with fantastic gas mileage, broken door handles, no dome light, bad wheel bearings (I'm fixing them soon, don't worry) and cracked leather seats. The previous owner (who sold it to me for $650 - bless the man and his dear wife) called it "his little go-cart." The only thing that makes me scared to drive it (besides those bearings) is the way I feel like I might blow off the road on a windy day. I need to gain some weight.

--I went to a drag race. A real one. Where people can just pay the $7 cover charge and go in and race their Hondas next to the dragsters. Freaking rad.

--I went to a minor league baseball game. It wasn't my first ever, but it was my first of the games here in the town I grew up in. Haha. It was rad even though we got creamed. I think it's time for a trip to the batting cages.

--I bought a softball. It's too white (it needs some dirt and scuffs, I'll work on that).

--Soon I'm going to an af2 league indoor football game. This really will be a first. This morning I interviewed the owner of the team.

--I learned to throw a football.

--I saw Forrest Gump. I know, I know.

--I thought seriously about being a high school English teacher.

--I moved out of my parents' house into my friend's house. Paying rent in the same town as my family is weird.

--I did my own taxes. Hooray for Turbo Tax. My home state made me mail it (since I was filing in two states they wouldn't accept an online file), so I hope I sent them all the right stuff.

All right, enough of this. Life updates are boring, sorry. I'll quit the list thing and write a real post soon.

curse you, Dragon Lady!

Dragon Lady posted a link to this typing test thing, and my scores have ranged between 83 wpm to 100 wpm (it falls between 97-100 if I'm really concentrating). Don't think I'm not going to to try to beat 120 next.

I wonder how fast I'd be if I cut my nails ...

when I was your age ...

Today I called someone's car phone.

I know I post a lot about the weather.

Hey, don't worry everyone! We got a cold front!

Right now it's 44.

Not exactly what I meant by "please let it not be quite so hot," but okay.

Somehow we need to settle into some happy medium. The forecast keeps us to mid-sixties for the next ten days. We'll see how that works out.

the long walk

I park my car an extra block or two away from my office, but still at a meter so I'm forced to get outside and walk a couple blocks every two hours (the meters have a two-hour limit).

I've really come to look forward to this, but today was the first actually hot day we've had, and that makes me really nervous for the summer. Summers are always bad here, but it's in the mid-80's and only the end of March.

On the elevator back up to the office just now, I thought about my room in the city last summer and of my less-than-appropriate sleeping attire, windows open and ceiling fan turned up. Here I have air conditioning ... maybe this summer will be bearable, after all.

CPM: Two in one week! Man oh man. :) I believe this is what we call "flying colors."

naturally

This is one of the images that came up as I was searching for medium haircuts today.