Just another face in the crowd...

I get a lot of people telling me that I look like someone they know... it kind of bugs me because it make me feel common and not special. Like today, for instance, when I was walking toward my work, a guy approached me and asked if I worked at the Mac store. When I told him no, he said I looked like a girl he had met there.

Do other people get that a lot, or is it just me? I'm not saying that it's a super-frequent occurrence that someone tells me that I look like someone they know, but it seems to happen often enough.

Funny bum

I parked far away from work today because I didn't wanna have to pay to park (which I've been doing the past few days). While I was walking down the sketchy part of the street to my car, a bum sitting on the sidewalk looked up at me and asked, "Will you love me forever?"

Needless to say, I was at a loss for words.

Turd on my bed

Contrary to what you may be thinking upon reading the subject heading of this particular post, I did not, in fact, poop in my bed. Last night, when I was getting ready to go to sleep, I was struck with an all-too-familiar pungent and repulsive odor: cat crap. Now my dear little Hector has a knack of taking a huge dump right before I go to sleep every night (I think this is due in large part to the fact that I typically clean his litter box in the evening, and he likes to "test out" the fresh litter). At any rate, the smell seemed to be even more pervasive than usual, and I groped my way to my bed, gasping and choking for air. I climbed into my bed and realized that the crap odor seemed to have grown in strength and intensity. Then I saw it-- out of the corner of my eye, on the edge of my bed, lay a perfect blemish on my blue floral sheets: a cat turd. I shrieked in surprise, jumped off of my bed, and reprimanded Hector, who stared up at me from the floor, wide-eyed and innocent, as if to ask, "Who, me?".

200 smackeroos!

I just found $200 in my piggy bank...this makes me very happy.

There's something about having actual $100 bills in a piggy bank that makes me less likely to spend it...I think that money feels fake online, like I'm not really spending anything. Maybe I should just cash out my savings account and hoard it in my bedroom-- I might be less inclined to spend it that way.

Orchestra

Yesterday was my first official rehearsal with the orchestra that I joined. It was so much fun-- I haven't played in an orchestra since junior year of high school, and I forgot how hard it is to try and play your part while listening to everyone else play their part, too. The orchestra is a pretty goofy hodge-podge of people, but I think that that's its charm. I sounded hideously awful, and I was out of tune and off-rhythm the entire rehearsal, but it felt so good to be playing my violin again that I really didn't care. The orchestra meets once a week for 12 weeks, and our concert is in mid-December, where we will be performing three songs, one of which, ironically enough, is a Bach concerto that I played as a duet with a friend in high school at one of our concerts. I still have the first half of the song memorized, so that one shouldn't be too bad. I just need to get back in the groove...

Tony Danza

Hopefully this will be the first and only time that I ever devote an entire blog entry to Tony Danza, but this is just too funny to resist. Right now I'm watching this ridiculous (is there any other kind?) Lifetime movie starring Tony Danza, and he plays a southern hick father of three with multiple personality disorder who murders his oldest daughter. This movie is incredibly disturbing for two reasons: 1) Tony Danza as a deranged murderer? Creepy ; 2) Tony Micelli with a southern Italian accent? Even creepier.

Right after this movie is another made-for-TV feature starring Joanna Kearns...I guess it's "return of the 80s sitcom parents night."

And the verdict is...

I ended up getting one of my parking tickets cut in half (I did a "mitigation by mail" and sent in a statement explaining the circumstances) and one of them dismissed (I went downtown to the Municipal Court and defended myself in person). So instead of having to pay $76 in parking tickets, I only have to pay $20. Needless to say I am very happy with the results. My faith in the justice system has been restored, and at least I know that while the meter maids are completely ruthless, the magistrates have some sense of compassion.

The simple life

Not the show, of course, but my life. Right now it's simple. And simple is good. I get to stay up late, then I get to sleep in. I get to lounge around in my pajamas, watch TV, go for a run, do some "On Demand" exercises courtesy of Comcast digital cable (I've been promised thinner thighs, firmer buns, and flatter abs in 7 days), then take a leisurely shower, spend an unnecessary amount of time straightening my hair and primping, and then go to work. Things are good right now, and I'm really enjoying this whole part-time thing. Of course, ideally, I'd like to fit in some writing some time between the hair-straightening and eight-minute abs, since having more time to write was kind of a major factor in my whole decision to work part-time.

I'm also finding time for extracurricular activities, too. I think being around students all the time now has made me reminisce on the days of being more of a "Jack of all trades"-type-- dabbling in sports here, music there... so anyway, I recently decided that I really missed playing the violin, bought all new strings for mine, and then signed up to play in a local all-ages community orchestra. I get into these phases where I get really bored with myself, and I have to do something that is interesting and independent. I think it's a self-defense mechanism to prevent me from becoming a completely reclusive hermit. The orchestra starts in a week and a half, and rehearsals will be once a week for an hour. I just hope that I'm not too rusty to try and pull this off. Before a couple days ago, I hadn't played my violin in over a year. But I'm hoping that weekly rehearsals will encourage me to practice and play more consistently. Oh, I forgot to mention one more thing: it's called the Ravenna Second String Orchestra (because it's for intermediate-level musicians). Isn't that the cutest name?