Dunder Mifflin Infinity!!!

Here is the ad I made for Dunder Mifflin Infinity--the Office fansite/contest for this season...click on it to check out the webpage and give me points for this week's task!

I'm Baaack!

Alright I've been slack about blogging lately as per usual. Feel like I've been super busy lately, dont know with what exactly..mostly working and looking for a new job! Plus I'm trying to be on a super diet before I head to Mexico in November! Also I've been wasting time as a member of the Flint, MI branch of Dunder Mifflin Infinity (a website for those of us addicted to The Office, there are new tasks every week that coincide with the episodes on TV). Anyways you can check out my profile at:
Dunder Mifflin Infinity

Update!

Well it’s been an interesting week, things are starting to wind down at my current job as slowly operations are being moved overseas, which means of course lots of going away parties!!! I missed a big one on Wed. night because naturally I was hung over from going out on Tuesday night! Out on a Tuesday you say?? Yes, well my friend Lisa found out she got a job that day so we innocently met after I got off work for a celebratory drink which turned into several and a big night out, and of course I had a blast.
Also I’ve got a few interviews coming up next week so I should know soon what my next move will be job wise, Hint—it might include relocating again, so good thing I haven’t signed any leases in San Francisco  I think from here on out I should just assume I won’t be in any one place too long!
Also I’ve been a writing fool as of late, not on the blog of course but short stories, think I might type a couple up this weekend and stick them on the blog..so watch out for that!

Oh the Horror, Part 2!

So here’s part 2 of the post on the backpacker bars in Sydney, as I pointed out last time a blog called Gridskipper posted a list of the best bars to shag a backpacker in Sydney. I realized that I’d been to all and had an incident of some sort. I listed a few in the last post, so here are the remaining stories about 2 more bars on the list. #3 is Sidebar, which as pointed out is the hostel bar for the WakeUp! Hostel in Sydney. I stayed at the WakeUp! For like a week before I moved to Brisbane and that week included Valentines Day so yes I spent Valentines Day at the Side Bar, I ended up going with 2 of the guys who were in my room (I was staying in an 8-bed dorm). Needless to say it was a traffic light party, where you wear Green if you are single; yellow if you’re a maybe and Red if you’re taken. Simon the 18 year old Brit backpacker I was with wore a bright green kimono he’d gotten when he backpacked through Vietnam. I didn’t wear one of the corresponding colors, not that it mattered after the drink specials, bar sponsored drinking games, and occasional free shots and drinks that the bar gave everyone…bleh! Needless to say after that night Simon thought he was my boyfriend and I had to hang with him the whole week…you can’t avoid someone when they sleep in the bunk above you.
Next up we have World Bar in Kings Cross. Kings Cross was the backpacker hangout but I hated that neighborhood, so literally I only went out there once. Conor and Danielle and I and mad Mary all headed down to World Bar to meet up with some other Irish Conor knew. On the way we drank all 6 of our emergency beers (these were the beers that conor would put in the band of his pants for the bus ride/walk to whatever place we were going out at). Then Danielle and I had no telling how many vodka lemonades. Needless to say I had a good time and I met a very nice/cute Irishman who Danielle says is the cutest boy in her town and me and him hung out a few times…so all in all I would give World Bar thumbs up. The picture is of the lot of us at World Bar!!!

Oh the Horror!

So I was just perusing Gridskipper, which is kind of a guide to cities around the world but it's basically a blog from various, backpackers, travellers, etc. talking about good bars, restaurants and the like. However I was mildly horrified by this post..Entitled something to the effect of where to find a backpacker to shag in Sydney. The list is here:
http://gridskipper.com/travel/sydney/shagging-a-backpacker-in-sydney-279121.php

Of course when I read it I had in fact been to every one of those bars at least once, and have a story...I think that says something, and I really don't want to think about what exactly. I would agree with their #1 listing of Scubar...damn Scubar, damn them to hell, they had super cheap drinks and pizza. I think you could get a jug of snakebites and a pizza for $10 AUD..which is like $8. Also after that until like midnight jugs of beer would be about $5. After my very first day of work in Sydney I went and met up with this guy I met at orientation and we of course went to Scubar, at about 6pm and didn't leave until close..bleh! Also the girl that worked the bar in there was always super pissy, one time she was telling me how there were rats all over the house she shared with like 10 other backpackers..eww. Then there's 3 wise monkeys which is I think 3 or 4 on the list, there were lots of incidents there too, especially our first couple of weeks in Sydney since it was by our hostel. But the most famous incident at 3 wise monkeys was when Eric and my irish flatmate did heaps of tequila shots there, then stole the maraccas from the band and on the way home Danielle got in a fight with her boyfriend and got out of the cab on the side of the highway, and Eric got out too and they walked home..then someone broke the door off the bathroom later that night..damn you 3 wise monkeys..damn you!! Also I've seen the Lebanese bouncers there literally throw people out into the middle of the street..NICE!
This brings us finally to #2 on the list The Coogee Palace Hotel, which was down the road from my flat, so of course I frequented it. I think all I need to say about this place was that my company Christmas party was held there and it was open bar, and yes I did make out with my boss, and no I don't know if anyone saw, and yes I was embarassed everytime I had to go into his office for the next 2 months...and so be warned..if you go into any of the bars on that list..you WILL have an incident, there's no way around it!!!!!!!!! Also stay tuned for stories about the other bars on the list!!

Taxicab Confessions

I’ve had some interesting cab rides in my time for sure, but I think the one I took on Sunday just about took the cake. I went downtown to check out the gay pride festival at civic center, however when I got there and ate a hot dog, my hangover kicked in and I just said hi to everyone and decided to head home. I went down to Muni and there were sooo many people waiting and it didn’t look like any trains were coming so I decided to just catch a cab home. After waiting on the corner for a while and being forced into conversation with the toothless man holding a furniture liquidation sale sign (FYI he gets paid $70 a day cash!), a cab finally stopped and I thought it was smooth sailing from there. As soon as I got in the guy started talking non stop and then his phone rang and he started talking in Hebrew so I knew I was in trouble right there, because as I’ve learned from living with the Israelis in Australia they are always up to something. Then the guy started telling me how the night before he was driving around the Yankees in his cab and that they ride with him every time they are in town and also by the way do I know where he can buy some weed, etc. Then finally we get to my street and I tell him which driveway to pull into and he says, “Of course, I will take anywhere you want to go, even right up to your bedroom.” So I was already feeling nauseous and that just about pushed me over the edge, I got outta that cab and ran up the stairs, WITHOUT the Israeli cabbie!

Trouble!

Yesterday my best buddy Joey got a random email from his friend Eunicia who none of us have talked to for at least 3-4 years, she had basically dropped off the face of the earth. Apparently she is back in town and will be out and about for pride weekend on Saturday night. Now a little background on Eunicia, back in what is now known as the wild and wooly days her and Joey were co-workers. Every weekend she would come and stay at our house and her and Joey would go clubbing, usually at 1015, or sometimes we’d go hang out at 711 club, a little bar that was on Market St. Usually there was some crazy incident with Eunicia where she passed out somewhere or Joey got lost or some drama. The one time I went out alone with Eunicia I was in a car wreck and woke up on a sailboat, that’s just the kind of stuff that happens when you go out with Eunicia. It started out as an innocent night, we were just gonna go to the Marina and have a few drinks at this bar where Eunicia knew the doorman. Next thing you know she is telling these guys that ask if they can share our table that it’s gonna cost them Jager shots all night, surprisingly they agreed. The night gets a bit hazy after that but I do know that after the bar closed we were gonna go drink at someone’s house, on the way, the car drove up on the curb and the airbags deployed so we drove the rest of the way (which was like 2 blocks) with the danged airbags out. Turns out the house we were going to was in fact a boat, and we had a few more drinks there and I went to sleep in one of the bunks. When I woke up I just felt rocking and for a minute I forgot where I was and was afraid to open my eyes because I thought the rocking must be a sign of a BAD hangover, turns out the rocking was just because I WAS ON A BOAT IN THE OCEAN! I woke Eunicia up and we went to open the hatch, praying that we were still docked and then got the hell off that boat! So yep I’m wary of hanging with Eunicia on Sat. night, unless of course she’s calmed down, but somehow I doubt that.

The Flying Dutchman

So today I was randomly thinking every Dutch person I’ve ever met is crazy. I mean the obvious first one that jumps to mind is Soot Face my former classmate who wanted us to put soot on our faces for a presentation. But really the looney Dutchman I was thinking of in this case is Michel this guy that lived down the street from me in Brisbane; he was a friend of my landlord and used to hang out at our house a lot. One of the first times I met him he was telling me how he was a graphic designer and gave me his card—cool I said and thought nothing of it. Weeks later I saw him on his bike wearing a suit and I assumed of course that he was going to work at whatever Graphic Design place he worked at. When he was at the house later I told him I saw him riding to work and he’s like yeah I just started working at the travel gear shop up the road (this shop was like REI)..so it was odd that he was wearing a suit, whatever I thought maybe he’s the manager. Then one night I was out drinking with my landlord and the subject of Michel came up and he’s all yeah he’s so full of it, he owes me so much money and never pays me back. Then I said oh is his business not going well? Then Dylan cracks up and says, what business, Michel hasn’t had a job in years he’s been on the dole (welfare) ever since I’ve known him, he never even went to Uni. So basically Michel dresses up for a phantom job and has fake business cards..lord knows why?? Maybe to get girls? If that’s the case then good on him because it sure did work on me.

Too Much Fun!!!

Last week I was chatting to a friend about life I guess and my job situation, etc. and then she says to me, you know what your problem is and mine too?? We've had too much fun..at first I was like huh? and she says think about it, we've had lots of adventures, lived overseas, traveled heaps, etc. and so normal life is just boring. Getting up and going into the office is boring, work is boring, and yep everything just boring, compared to people who've never been anywhere or done much who can be content with the daily grind..we will never be that. So I agree perhaps I've had too much fun and perhaps I'll never be content but hell that can't all be bad, I remember the good times and I'm sure there's more to come. Meanwhile I hang out for 8 hours somewhere everyday and listen to the radio with shopping, eating and gossip breaks inbetween oh and I get paid for it so I suppose it's not all bad.

Let Go

Today I did something that was rare for me, I just plain let go of everything that was keeping me estranged from a good friend of mine, it just wasn't worth feeling that little tinge in my stomach whenever I thought of him. So I sent him an email and well it's just left up to fate now. So you know who you are :) and if you read this, I missed you, and I hate that I hadn't talked to you since I left Australia, I know that you've been going through some of the biggest stuff in your life these last months and I should have written the minute I found out, I know you would have done that for me. I miss you, and I will talk to you soon.

Anyways I know that was serious, but well it had to be said and for some reason I feel better also putting it out there in the Universe, and also when I come back and read this everytime I'll remember what it is to be a good friend, and that I haven't always been one.

MIA

Yep I've been missing as of late, no excuse much except to say that I've been lax, but dammit it's summertime, which means time for me to get my act together, because no doubt there will be many summertime antics to report..so rest assured I'll be a bloggin'

Oh Blanche

So Rue McClanahan, who is of course Blanche on everyone's favorite show about oldies, The Golden Girls has a new book called, My First Five Husbands...and the ones who got away (I'm not making it up!) which I haven't read but I will b/c well it has to be good with a title like that! Anyhow to my point..I bet the writing process for that book went something like this clip.

My Secret Crush

My secret crush which is no longer going to be secret is on Chris Carrabba from the band Dashboard Confessional. As you can see from the pic he is very cute, and also has so very many tattoos which I don't normally go for, nor do I normally go for the "rocker" type. I happened to catch him being interviewed on Fuse the other day and thought, damn he's hot, I think I've seen him in music videos before and thought so, but then forgot all about it. Needless to say I think this secret crush stems from another oh so embarassing secret crush I had at A&M. I lived in a complex of 4 dorms, 2 mens and 2 womens that we're connected by a huge common lobby which had pool tables, a food court, ping pong tables, study area, etc. Anyways there was a desk that was manned 24 hours a day in the lobby mostly to check out pool cues and ping pong balls and I'm guessing make sure no one severely vandalaised the lobby. Matt Can'trememberhislastname worked at the desk. He looked kinda like this Dashboard Confessional character and he was in fact in a rock band. I've been racking my brain the last couple of days to remember what the name of his band was but dammit I just can't recall. He was totally into the little hipster crowd at A&M (my god I can't even believe there was one). He was a senior and I was a pesky freshman when I first met him, I remember I used to go down there and chat to him, timed of course for when he was supposed to get off work so we could walk across campus to wherever he was going, then we'd part ways. I can't even remember how I first met him, if I just went up and introduced myself or what, I'm sure it's so embarassing I blocked it out since I used to sit with my friends in that lobby from about 6pm to 5am every single day and we had nothing better to do than flirt with guys or see what kind of trouble we could get into. Soon Matt and I became good enough friends that he would let me sit behind the desk with him and we'd talk about The Simpsons and my classes and his band and his girlfriend (who went to Baylor if I recall correctly)--also let me just say that what self-professed wannabe rockstar has a girlfriend that goes to Baylor!!!!!!!!!! I remember I was so disappointed he had a girlfriend, I mean after all he was perfect for me. I'm sure he thought I was just a silly little girl, and I'm almost positive that at least once he'd seen me make out in the lobby with someone after a party (he never mentioned it and neither did I). Finally after months of following him around and sitting with him in the lobby during his shifts offering to fetch him a soda or some pizza he invited me to a party! I was so excited, this was gonna be my chance, proof that he actually liked me!!! I dragged my friend Shivani with me, and of course at the party he said hi to me and we had a short chat and then he went off with his friends and ignored me the rest of the night. I was crushed, well crushed for about 2 hours, until I got back to the dorms, and Shivani and I ran into some friends who were with a new guy I didn't know, he was cute, we talked, hit it off and that's the night I met my college boyfriend that I dated for about 3 years. I didn't totally forget about Matt though, I'd still say hi when I wandered through the lobby and one night when he said it was his last shift, I sat behind the desk with him and we chatted about what he would do after school and if his band would stay together, etc. and when it was time for him to leave he gave me his namebadge, I still have it, I ran across it in a box in San Francisco a few years ago, it made me smile when I saw it, perhaps I should tell Joey to dig it out for me so I can find out what Matt's last name was and google him...let the madness begin again!!!!!!

Easter Weekend

This easter weekend was fairly uneventful compared to easter's past but all in all a good time. Friday I went to see Grindhouse which is an excellent film. I particularly liked liked the second installment DeathProof, the first one had it's moments for sure but I was more sucked into the world in Deathproof, I guess because it almost seemed as if it could really happen or something. Yesterday we had a family Easter dinner which was fairly uneventful besides the fact that my brother and cousin when they got sent to the store to buy some stuff that my aunt forgot came back with a bottle of Sailor Jerry's 92 proof spiced Navy rum, which they hid in my brother's room and kept using to spike their cokes all day. I myself stuck to a mojito and some wine my grandma brought over. Needless to say my brother came home from work and had to take a nap today..as is the case I'm sure with my cousin. I have to say that my favorite Easter is one that went totally awry. A few years ago when I was living in San Francisco, Joey, my brother and I decided to have an Easter Dinner Party at our house. Each of us were supposed to invite someone, at the time I was dating this stockbroker type guy and he hadn't met any of my friends yet and what not so I decided to invite him. Needless to say we all got into some wine before the dinner so by the time the guests started arriving I think we were all a little tipsy. Let me just begin to list some of the many things that went wrong.
1) Joey asked my date how much money he made, like 10 mintues after he got there, and when he said something non-commital like, oh enough, Joey persisted, starting naming ranges, etc. until he got an answer.
2) As we sat down to dinner my brother's friend Eddie got there and he was wearing a huge easter bonnet with all this easter grass, plastic eggs and peeps glued to it, then he proceeded to show us how the peeps were 69ing and in various other sexual positions.
3) Joey's date Julio arrived and he was already super drunk and having inappropriate conversation at the dinner table.
4) We weren't even drinking real wine, but in fact some Wild Vines, which sells for like $3 a bottle and looks like Boones, no doubt my date was discovering how classy I was. In fact I think he was horrified, he left as soon as dinner was over and I never heard from him again.
5) After dinner we retired into our "bar" where we turned on the strobe light and pretended to be in the Matrix, Julio and I re-enacted several key fight scenes :)
6) Apparently they are pictures that I've never seen, Joey is going to look for them tonight so I can post some..sure to be more horrid details I left out!

Ah the sunset..

Last Saturday night my aunt and I drove into Santa Monica along the Pacific Coast Highway to check out my uncle's girlfriend's art opening at a gallery called Arena 1. It's a pretty cool gallery, they've set it up in an old airplane hanger so it's massive and is like a maze, but lots of room to show cool stuff and plent of room for installations. Anyhow the show was good and so was the drive there, we drove through Malibu around sunset and it was of course beautiful, of course you couldn't pay me to live right on the water b/c of the traffic nighmares on PCH..but it's pretty to look. This weekend is of course Easter and tonight I'm headed out to a big dinner with my dad's side of the family..gotta try and spend lots of time with everyone before I take off!!

Grandma vs. The Sign!!!

As soon as we rounded the corner into my grandma's cul-de-sac I knew that all hell was going to break loose because there was a real estate For Sale sign in front of my grandma's house and I know that it's not for sale. Since my mom lives across the street from grandma we had a great view to the sign. My sister told me that she thought grandma didn't know it was out there since she hadn't mentioned it and sure enough when we told her she was pissed. Apparently when my grandma came home from work she came into the house from the garage so she hadn't seen the front of the house. Anyways so she said she was gonna call the company or something and that was that. A little later on last night as my mom, brother and I were headed to the store we passed grandma's and saw her kicking the sign and trying to uproot it. Of course we cracked up and my mom turned around and stopped the car, then my brother got out and helped her, she kept trying to break off the swingy part of the sign (I'm surprised she didn't end up hitting herself in the head with it) and was trying to knock the whole signpost over. She finally suceeded with my brother's help and then she threw part of the sign in the bushes..you can see the end result in the pic. Also she's planning to place several more calls on Monday to her homeowners association and the realty company and the city and lord knows who else. Poor guy who put the sign in front of the wrong house!! Give 'em hell gramms!!!!

Designing Women

I do love Designing Women and of course Julia's rants, this particular one has to be one of my all-time favs!!! Because that is the night that the lights went out in GEORGIA!

Notes from everywhere...

First of all I'm back at my mom's for a visit so it's been a busy week, I flew into LA Sunday afternoon and have been catching up with folks this week. Friday night I went to dinner with an old boss of mine at Beach Chalet which is right on the water at Ocean Beach in SF, got to see a beautiful sunset and had a yummy dinner and some good beer (they make their own). Then it was back home and Joey and I ended up having a mini-movie marathon, watched 2 great movies, including Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown which I have never seen but was just great.
Saturday we headed to this event called Beer and Bites, which was put on by the SF Brewers Guild, to taste lots of beers and have some good foods, they had lots of fancy foods like pate and oysters which I don't really like but the beer was great and we couldn't have asked for a more beautiful setting, it was at the Officers Club at Fort Mason, which is kinda fancy and has a beautiful view of the bay and Alcatraz.
I've decided I have to live close to the ocean, nothing beats a beautiful view of the sea or being able to go for a run along the beach, which is what I did yesterday with my brother, forget that I thought I'd collapse and we ran over some dunes, it was such a nice day and I love the smell of the ocean.
In random news I was hit on by a call center operator from India that I always speak to on the phone about one of my credit cards. Earlier this week I paid it off at it was at that point he's all..my real name is --- not Shane Williams as you've known me as (I knew they gave them fake names!) and then asked if he could email and said if I ever came to India we could go for a tea..it was all too much!!
Alright gotta jet, I'm staying at my grandma's which is a story in itself and she's lurking..will write more on that adventure later.

My Obsessions

So occasionally I get obsessed with things, then spend hours on the internet researching, reading or looking into said obsession. Then oddly enough one day it'll pass, I forget all about it and am onto something else..weird how the mind works, so recent obsessions...

Gawker- this website reports on New York Media, etc. not really a particular interest of mine but every time I go to the site I discover something new to look into or about a legal battle involving people I've never heard of but is some sort of magazine/newspaper saga that is interesting to read about. Plus I find out about weird magazines that I've never heard of or get to read about rich entitled white folks, which can be entertaining. Anyhow my two favorite features in Gawker are undoubtedly Altarcations (which scores the couples featured in Sunday's New York Times who got married last week, inevitably deciding which couple are probably the biggest jerks) and Unethicist (which answers the same questions as the New York Times Ethicist column, but of course with better answers).

Luxury Real Estate- I don't know why it fascinates me so but I could look at houses I can't or probably won't ever afford in exotic locales all day long! It all started when I checked out the International Herald Tribune's Raising the Roof Blog, about international real estate. Then I moved onto checking out various properties listed LuxuryRealEstate.com. Mostly I look at apartments in Manhattan that I can't afford but they've got homes in cities all over the world to look at, seriously last week I think I spent a few hours a day everyday checking out this site.

Also there are the old standbys, Go Fug Yourself ( wonderful commentaries on celebrity fashions) and The Onion (although I've been more obsessed with the print edition than the online one lately b/c the print edition has great weekly event listings and what not)

Okay gotta go find the next internet obsession, happy surfing everyone! Also Aggies take on Memphis tonight..go Ags!!!

Notes on the weekend

I ended up watching lots of NCAA basketball this weekend which was nice, had a couple beers and watched some games with my dad on Friday night and basically took it easy since I knew Saturday was gonna be a big day. Since it was St. Patrick's Day we headed to the festival they had at Civic Center, so we drank some beer and listened to some Irish bands all afternoon, mostly drank beer though. Then headed over to an Irish bar in the Haight where there were lots of drunk people causing a commotion. I had a few guiness there and a sake shot oddly enough that the bartender gave us for free. When we left there we headed back towards the Castro and about one beer in there it was time for me to go home, didn't even finish my beer, just hightailed it home to go to bed. Sunday I headed over to the Deyoung museum in Golden Gate Park to see an exhibit they are having on Vivienne Westwood. It was really good, plus their permanent collection has some really great American paintings all the way from colonial times to modern art, so it's always nice to browse through there. Later in the day I was headed to meet Joey for a movie and the train I was on abrubtly stopped, and we were told to exit the train it was going out of service. Unfortunately it turned out that someone jumped from a wall in front of the train, it was really eerie. Thank goodness we were told not to look in a certain direction when exiting the train if we did not want to see the body..I wasn't even curious to look I'm sure I would have had nightmares. The whole incident was really upsetting and I feel for the driver of the train he seemed really shook up. So I ended up walking the rest of the way to meet Joey and we made it to the movies. I saw The Namesake, which was a really great film, as it was a great book..worth a look. So now I'm wrapping up my last week in San Francisco trying to think about what I want to make sure and do before I leave the city!!