live well. laugh often. LOVE much.

so yesterday was thanksgiving and i was not able to appreciate all the good tidings that come along with turkey day. i was hit with a debilitating migraine on wednesday afternoon, but when crissy called to tell me that clyde wanted to know if we wanted to go out that night, i felt like going so i didn't want to say no. i haven't been out for a while, so i just thought i could suck it up and go. the migraine got progressively worse (the beer probably didn't help and the people smoking DEFINITELY didn't help), and by the time we were driving home the nausea attacked and we had to pull over so i could puke. it's a good thing thanksgiving was super late in the evening this year because there was no way i could have gotten out of bed earlier to attend. i didn't even have any turkey. i was going to wait for the turkey to come out of the oven, but i hadn't eaten all day, so i just ate roast beef. i didn't have much of an appetite so when the turkey was finally done, i didn't want to eat.

well, me and chakee went driving today. oh, that girl is crazy. that's all i'm gonna say.

oooh, sofie called me this morning. she's in town and we are going to have lunch tomorrow! i'm excited. i haven't seen sofie in soooooo long. how fun!

well, i'm gonna go do something else. chakee if you read this... i left you a message on your voicemail, but i think i left my cel phone in your car. damn! call me.

andy, kyle, sean, sean's two friends, and i watched "gothika" last night. wow, that was a scary movie. i'm not really a good judge because i'm pretty wussy when it comes to scary movies. but there were a few parts that the boys did admit that they got scared (surprised is probably a better word). sean even said that he started looking away when he knew something was going to pop out on the screen (i, of course, watched 98% of the movie peeking through my fingers). but i guess he couldn't really watch the movie that way without being ridiculed by the other boys.

btw, crissy, elf was alright. a will farrell movie, and i thought it was funny. but i also think will farrell is hilarious.

i'm still at work. sucker. i have no idea why, either, but whatever. i'm getting paid and the only place i really need to rush off to is honey baked ham, and it's not like i'm dying to be there either. but i don't have anything to do, but answer the phones. and i can see the traffic outside my window and it looks like the 15 is painfully backed up. i guess there is a car fire on miramar road. alright, gotta go.

Below are four (4) questions. You have to answer them instantly. You can't take your time, answer all of them immediately. Okay? Let's find out just how clever you really are.

1. You are participating in a race. You overtake the second person. What position are you in? (Answer: If you answered that you are first, then you are absolutely wrong! If you overtake the second person and you take his place, you are second!)

2. To answer the second question, don't take as much time as you took for the first question. If you overtake the last person, then you are...? (Answer: If you answered that you are second to last, then you are wrong again. Tell me, how can you overtake the last person? You're not very good at this are you?)

3. Very tricky math! Note: This must be done in your head only. Do not use paper and pencil or a calculator. Try it. Take 1000 and add 40 to it. Now add another 1000. Now add 30. Add another 1000. Now add 20. Now add another 1000. Now add 10. What is the total? (Did you get 5000? The correct answer is actually 4100. Don't believe it? Check with your calculator! Today is definitely not your day. Maybe you will get the last question right?)

4. Mary's father has five daughters: #1 Nana, #2 Nene, #3 Nini, #4 Nono. What is the name of the fifth daughter? (Answer: Nunu? No! Of course not. Her name is Mary. Read the question again.)

after i posted my blog i just started doing a search on google for more christmas gifts. who am i kidding? i'm going back to bed.

i woke up early to write one of my statments of purpose. my first one that is due, actually. ::::::::sigh::::::::: i don't feel like doing it. is this because i don't have much of a statement? much of a purpose? lol... a little too introspective for me right now when i actually just want to get in bed and go back to sleep. anyway, i had something else i needed to take care of that required me to go to the post office (and i HATE HATE HATE the post office in mira mesa), but i just figured out i could take care of it online. YIPPEE! now, i have to make a choice. do i stay up and really work on my statement? or go back to sleep for a bit and do it before i go to work. i should probably do it now. i promised the professor from san marcos i would get it to her ASAP and i definitely want her to have it before thanksgiving break. what little there is of thanksgiving break, that is. i just need some motivation. hmmm... maybe i should go make coffee. :)

me and andy started christmas shopping yesterday. YES!!!! we just bought gifts for andy's nieces and nephews. i just want to get done pretty fast because the closer it gets to christmas, the meaner holiday shoppers get.

oh, and we saw "elf" on saturday night: why are you smiling? i like smiling. smiling is my favorite.

i am: marlou
i think: i have alot going on in my life right now
i know: how to avoid things
i want: peace and harmony in my life
i have: a love, a family, a house, a car, a job
i hate: arguing and fighting
i miss: my dad
i fear: snakes
i feel: busy
i hear: john lennon singing
i smell: tonight's dinner
i crave: ice cream
i search: for what will make me happy
i like: to laugh and make other people laugh
i long: to be in a profession i love
i believe: in god, in love, and in myself
i sing: all the time, but with no talent
i do not always: do what i should
i confuse: myself and probably everyone around me
i listen: to my gut
i usually can be found: nowhere really... i hide alot
i expect: to be happy
i shall: conquer all that i attempt

so, last night, me and andy are chitchatting in the kitchen as i'm trying to pour myself a glass of water. i pour, i drink, i put my glass in the sink (wow, that rhymed and i didn't even do that on purpose!). i start walking back to the room as andy is about to pour himself something to drink and he just starts laughing hysterically and is leaning up against the wall to hold himself up. i go back to the kitchen to see what the hysteria is and he asks me to get him a glass. thinking he's the loco one, i go to get him a glass. guess what. the water is in the cabinet with our glasses. that story wouldn't have been particularly funny, but andy kept telling me how crazy i was. and earlier when we were eating dinner, i couldn't conjure up one complete sentence that made sense. i kept having these fragment sentences that meant nothing. i must have been delirious yesterday. as a matter of fact, i was tired, but that water in the cabinet thing was actually funny.

so, right now i'm supposed to be writing some paragraphs for my statements of purpose for my grad school apps. doesn't it feel like i've been talking about this for centuries? work was pretty slow yesterday and i had my stuff out and everything to start writing, but i just can't seem to do it. i can't even make a beginning sentence to get the creative juices flowing. i just kept a blank word document open for 3 hours yesterday and never once even typed one letter just to start. alright, that's my goal for today. at least one stupid sentence. maybe even one stupid paragraph. blech, and i have to write 7 of these? god help me.

Here is a pretty neat little thing from Paul Harvey:

We tried so hard to make things better for our kids that we made them worse. For my grandchildren, I'd like better.

I'd really like for them to know about hand me down clothes and homemade ice cream and leftover meat loaf sandwiches. I really would.

I hope you learn humility by being humiliated, and that you learn honesty by being cheated.

I hope you learn to make your own bed and mow the lawn and wash the car.

And I really hope nobody gives you a brand new car when you are sixteen.

It will be good if at least one time you can see puppies born and your old dog put to sleep.

I hope you get a black eye fighting for something you believe in.

I hope you have to share a bedroom with your younger brother/sister. And it's all right if you have to draw a line down the middle of the room,but when he wants to crawl under the covers with you because he's scared, I hope you let him.

When you want to see a movie and your little brother/sister wants to tag along, I hope you'll let him/her.

I hope you have to walk uphill to school with your friends and that you live in a town where you can do it safely.

On rainy days when you have to catch a ride, I hope you don't ask your driver to drop you two blocks away so you won't be seen riding with someone as uncool as your Mom.

If you want a slingshot, I hope your Dad teaches you how to make one instead of buying one.

I hope you learn to dig in the dirt and read books.

When you learn to use computers, I hope you also learn to add and subtract in your head.

I hope you get teased by your friends when you have your first crush on a boy/girl, and when you talk back to your mother that you learn what ivory soap tastes like.

May you skin your knee climbing a mountain, burn your hand on a stove and stick your tongue on a frozen flagpole.

I don't care if you try a beer once, but I hope you don't like it. And if a friend offers you dope or a joint, I hope you realize he is not your friend.

I sure hope you make time to sit on a porch with your Grandma/Grandpa and go fishing with your Uncle.

May you feel sorrow at a funeral and joy during the holidays.

I hope your mother punishes you when you throw a baseball through your neighbor's window and that she hugs you and kisses you at Hanukkah/Christmas time when you give her a plaster mold of your hand.

These things I wish for you - tough times and disappointment, hard work and happiness. To me, it's the only way to appreciate life.

Written with a pen. Sealed with a kiss. I'm here for you. And if I die before you do, I'll go to heaven and wait for you.

Send this to all of your friends. We secure our friends, not by accepting favors, but by doing them.

sure, FAKER. that's what andy tried to say when i asked him to go to crissy's best friend's party. but guess what. he went. and he had a good time. why don't boys just listen to girls? and do what they say all the time? a timeless question, i guess....

yes, the pimp and ho party was quite an interesting experience. i don't even know how to describe it. i just kept being thankful that there was so much going on at my work (with the moving and construction within the office) that nobody asked me how my weekend was or what i did (which they usually do) cause then i would have 1)had to make up something that i did or 2) actually say "oh, just stopped by a pimp and ho party that had people dressed up like pimps and girls dressed in lingerie with everything that stood still that represented penises or boobs." but the open bar with everyone just opening and drinking anything that they could get their hands on was fun. too bad i didn't drink more. oh yeah, i also don't think that pizza that was in the kitchen was for our consumption. not after seeing all the food in the living room. oooops. oh, did i mention that the next morning, with all the 3 boys, sunday became "puke mania 2003" in our house? fools.

my friend, sheila, came over tonight for dinner. we had chimichangas. my guacamole was better than it has ever been (i think it was cause i did the avocado ripen in a paper bag trick) so that made me happy. but it was a good time with sheila. just like old times.... talking about boys. :)

did everyone read that article about that guy's mom finding out about his blog on blogger's website? it was hilarious. thank god my mom doesn't do search engines. lol. actually, i tried to do a google search for my blog and came up with nothing. i didn't go past the first page of the search so who knows. it could have been further back.

goddamn, could it be colder up in this mother? i'm not wearing as much clothes as i could be, so it's actually partly my fault, but it really is cold. man, i remember when it was 18 degrees at Tahoe. now that crap was cold. whoever heard about temperatures in the teens? i think if i go into weather that goes below zero i might just become a cryogenics experiment.

lol, someone told me a story and they said that someone they know actually said that at a party. funny.

well, i'm at home and bored all alone. andy and kyle went over to pb to go hang out with sean. i am too tired to not be in my pajamas so i just stayed home. kyle actually got home today from his vacation in new zealand. he got me a new zealand starbucks mug. i thought that was nice of him. i didn't even ask for a starbucks mug. :) anyway, we went to fuddruckers for dinner, and then they left. i've been searching on the internet to find a super-soaker (the behavior modifier for the dogs) because the one we had before broke. i went to target, we went to toys r us, and now i'm beginning to think they don't make them anymore. i can find anything on the internet and i can't find this. strange.

i'm gonna get in bed with my dogs. i'm so tired that i can't see straight or think clearly. this was a pointless post. zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.........................

i heard someone say that the other day and i just thought it would be a funny title. i usually don't censor the profanity on my blog, but as a title it seemed a tad vulgar. but we all know i have the potty mouth of a sailor. did you ever hear the story about "all swingin dicks?" lol. that was a good one.

this weekend went by fast. it's probably because work is so busy that i barely have time to breathe, so i try to do that breathing thing on the weekend. anyway, i went up to LA on saturday, mostly to visit glenn who is now living at his dad's house, and also to get some other stuff done. we had a good time. we had dinner at BJ's and any day that includes a pizookie is a good day.

yesterday was nice and relaxing. actually, it was a day mostly full of sleep which i needed. it was the first day in a long while that i actually got to sleep in. and i also fell asleep in the middle of "girls just wanna have fun" which i really was trying to stay awake to watch. i thought about calling you, chakee, about driving but i was sooo tired. and sorry i never called you back last sunday, but i got your message a few hours after you left it, and figured you sounded busy. maybe we can shoot for this weekend. i have a friend that is supposed to come into town from northern cal on friday, but if she ends up not coming, maybe i can take you on saturday. or maybe sunday. what'd you think? what are you plans for the weekend?

well, work is starting to finally settle down today since there is only half an hour left to go. i should do some stuff for my grad school apps. peace out.

i heard "poison" by BBD on my way to work and i had a great time jammin to that song in the car. i forgot how much i loved bbd. how funny. actually, i went out to meet a couple of my friends for drinks last night and they were telling me about how i just had to watch "i love the 80's" on VH1, so right before i left for work, me and andy were watching "i love the 80's strikes back" and i was feeling pretty nostalgic. if you remotely remember anything from the 80's you really should watch those group of shows on VH1. you just have to laugh at some of the fads back then and also say AWWW... to alot of stuff they remind you about. the one we watched today did big things about smurfs and another one on jelly shoes. two things i totally loved back in the day. yeah, it's funny.

well, the construction in our office is making me nutty. our office looks like a tornado hit it and the dust is making me pukey. and it probably won't be done for another month/month and a half. they've only painted some walls, and they still need to paint more walls and change the carpet in all the existing offices. ugh, i hated it when it was happening at our house, but i dislike it even more here because there is nothing i can do about it. remodel, remodel, go away......

last night me, andy, and kyle hung out at barnes and noble for 2 hours. not on purpose and not because we're losers with nothing else to do. andy was looking for a better book to help him with one of his programming classes and me and kyle went along just to go. andy pretty much went through every book they had on the topic to see which one he wanted. anyway, so there was this girl walking around and she walked passed me and andy (who were sitting on the ground, both reading books) was like "hiiiiiii...." not like "HIIII!!!!" but just kinda dragged it out in this weird crazy-like way. so i just ignored it thinking she was talking to whomever she was walking towards. but then she did it again to this group of people she was walking past and andy was like "she said hi to me." he said he knew she was talking to him because of the way she said hi to the people she passed after she passed us. anyway, i was hanging out with kyle over by the stationary earlier and that was the direction she was walking and i told andy "maybe she's gonna search out kyle and say hi to him." a few minutes later, kyle comes over to us and he told us that this crazy girl came up to him while he was reading a book and was like "what's your name?" kyle told her, then she goes "my name is michelle" and walked away. she walked passed again and andy made kyle confirm it was the same girl... we started talking about something else and andy told me i had A.D.D. and she comes over and goes "Attention Deficit......" and andy goes "disorder." none of us could look her in the eye cause we would have started laughing. it was crazy. i couldn't figure out if she was just kinda loopy, or she's one of those people who likes to make friends by going up to random strangers. anyway, if you see michelle at barnes and noble in mira mesa... steer clear.

so i never finished my story about when we went out of town. let me just break down the good stuff: me driving after 3 hours of sleep and under the influence of serious delirium and swerving to avoid a car in the parking lot that was parked, but what i thought was moving; the entire discussion about crayons; me making andy's sister cry after she had surgery, with me being the person was going to make EVERYONE cry; me pulling over in some random country town so kyle could puke out of the car; "recalculating route"; driving on MLK blvd. while andy and kyle were sleeping; the bum sleeping with his pants down in the public bathroom at midnight in the reflection pool park; driving in 50 degree weather, going 70 mph with all the windows down looking like morons; andy's friends telling me i didn't need to put my pajama top on to walk around our hotel room because "we're all adults here"; "nobody likes you because you cry. you cry. you cry."; driving out to BFR by myself to find the walmart that was 20 miles away; target being 260 miles away; trying to steal everything we could get our hands on (successful with sheraton pillow. Yes!); used condoms and baby kittens by the dumpster; hooker transaction going down; the naked version of PhotoHunt on Megatouch; and last but not least, me, andy and Shawn's version of Austin Power's picture montage with the Windsor castle guard. we had so much fun. :) lol.

and by the way, why shouldn't we trust a big butt and a smile? that hardly seems fair.

I saw this on MCAS Miramar's website and thought it had a good sentiment. I guess it can be a little reminder to ALL of us.

A carpenter was ready to retire and told his employer. The housing contractor was sorry to see him go and asked if he would build just one more house as a personal favor. The carpenter reluctantly agreed, and in time it was evident his heart wasn�t in his work. He resorted to sloppy workmanship, using short cuts, and even inferior materials. When he completed the house, his boss handed him the keys. �This is your new house,� he said, �It�s my humble gift to you for all your hard work over the years!� Surprised and shamefully so, the carpenter thought, if he had only known, he would have done such a better job. Now he�s stuck with a shoddy house of his own making.

So it is with some of us. We build our lives haphazardly, willing to put less than our best. Then in shock we look at our poorly constructed situation finding ourselves living in a house we have built with our own two hands. If only we had realized it, we could have done such a better job.

We�re all carpenters in a way. Each day of our lives we hammer a nail, place a board, or erect a wall. Don�t be distracted! We must continue to build wisely; our life is the only house we will ever personally build. Even if we live it for only one day, each day deserves to be lived graciously and with dignity. Our life today is the result of our attitude and past decisions. Our life tomorrow will be the result of our attitude and the choices we make today. Don�t give-up on yourself; continue to build your life wisely!