turning japanese i think i'm turning japanese i really think so

Your Japanese Name Is...

Riko Reizei

What's your Japanese Name?

bernie harris is too tall!

hi all, just in from a 5 day trip to mendocino county.

first, went to the craziest outdoor camping party i have ever been to. met some very cool people, did a lot of crazy dancing, ate some terrific food, and stayed up all night until dawn 3 nights in a row!

then 2 days of working, driving around the county, which basically meant my co-worker drove and i slept off the 3 nights of not sleeping previous to working.

1 day back from that, out in the woods, collecting my thoughts on the weekend.

now i have some things to do, so i may not be posting very much. ok probably not at all. i'll fill you all in later when i have access to a computer again.

paul - i'll anxiously await the photos from sydney

will - you attempt to stay out of trouble and get out of your funk

stan - keep eating healthy, you're doing awesome.

to everyone else, LIVE! please! do something exciting and meaningful with your life.

i stopped traffic!

no joke!

today, while playing what we fondly refer to as "frogger" across a somewhat busy 4 lane street, i saw an opening on the 2 left lanes, and my complete crossing would only be delayed by 1 truck going by in the other direction. so i hopped off the sidewalk and made my way to the center of the road, where i planned on waiting for the truck to go by and then skampering the rest of the way across the street.

except, the truck stopped! and the driver waved me by!

that's right fellas, i look THAT good. :D

enter ill

i just feel icky today. so i'm going home early. swing by the post office. maybe grab some chocolate at the local news/candy shop. then go lay down and feel sorry for myself.

pity comments welcome.

ps. the color of this text is the color of the shirt i'm wearing today.

gone people, all awkward in their things

i spent pretty much the whole day listening to jack johnson.

the i-tunes originals cd is actually pretty good, he explains a lot of stuff about his music, his roots, his lyrics, etc. also listened to live from boston, sept 2004. which, since i've never seen him in concert, i have to say was good. a co-worker saw him in concert awhile back, and said he had little personality in concert, might as well just go buy the studio cd vs. spending the money on the concert. but this one was good, he interacted with the audience, etc. this is inane info but interesting to me because i just read an article about him last night while doing laundry. and after seeing his photos i like him even more. he has a little patch of gray hair on the side. just like me! and he's only 2 years older. yes, he's married. but a girl can dream.

...it just occured to me that he looks a little like ben affleck. except jack's head is much more oval shaped.

speaking of men i find attractive...(were we?) ok well today i was thinking about older men i find especially handsome.

regardless of their political affiliations/views/ridiculous comments/dating women that are anorexic, i still find these men to be very handsome. maybe it's the way the furrow their brow. there are others but i'm working on finding decent photos. anyhow. just a random thought.

one frustrating thing about driving in traffic all the time, is motorcycles. and not just their presence on the interstate. i think they're dangerous but a fine commuting vehicle. what i don't like is when they come flying up out of nowhere, swerving and weaving in between cars traveling at high speeds. or even at low speeds. i guess it's their lives on the line, but it freaks me out a little when there is a car right next to me, and a motorcycle decides to just fly right through. danger! what if my car door accidentally flew open, or i unknowingly swerved ever so slightly toward the dotted line in the road? wha-bam! seems real bad.

another thing i was thinking about today - if i want to get more fruit into my diet, i am seriously considering the idea of smoothies. for breakfast, perhaps. buy a bunch of fruit at the store - strawberries, raspberries, cranberries, blueberries, limes, lemons, oranges, bananas, apples, etc - freeze them, then throw 'em in the blender with some milk or yogurt and ice and yummy breakfast treat. jamba juice is so good, but pricey and they serve their juice in those styrofoam cups. i'm more earth conscious than that!

oh yeah, and the answer to the quiz everyone has been waiting for...

what do i crave most after rugby practice?
some good answers: cold water, hot shower, health food, margaritas...all fine choices but if i drank a margarita every time i had practice i would have a drinking problem! and, it's hot here so the hot shower thing only works when it's cold in the winter and we get all muddy. water and fruit would be the healthy choices for me to eat, but the correct answer is:

freezer pops. i love them.

(me, at work, listening to jack johnson. life is beautiful.)

perfect weather

(sorry photos are blurry, low lighting in the woods today) :D

i slept dream free as far as i can remember, and when i woke up it was chilly. it was just the kind of morning that makes me long for the days of fuzzy pajamas with feet. all cuddly and warm. anyhow, i got up and put in some eyedrops because for some reason my eyes have been very dry in the mornings. except the eyedrops made my eyes burn! ugh.

i headed out to the woods this morning, my eyes still not quite open - does any one else have the problem where, when they wake up in the morning, their eyes refuse to open? not cause they're stuck closed, just that my eyelids are heavy and don't feel like lifting. maybe i should do some eyelid exercises to strengthen them up! back to the story at hand, i made it to my field site, surviving traffic half awake, and i had a long sleeve shirt on. i put on my vest and heavy gear and immediately realized, it was the kind of day where if you're standing around it feels cool but if you're moving, you're sweating. didn't need the long sleeve.

i am the kind of person that gets warm very easily. my feet being the exception to that rule. they're constantly cold. but my preference is to be chilly and put layers of clothes on, but if it gets hot to immediately remove the layers. sometimes in a temperature controlled building i'll put a long sleeve on and take it off numerous times during the day. my friend kurt used to say "kristen, you sure like layers." it's true.

but the weather today, man, it was just great. sunny but not hot. a little breeze occasionally. now that's living. so rare in the central valley of california!

speaking of which, i'm looking for a new job. not because i don't like my current one, but working for a university has it's flaws. the money is running out. so now i'm on the search for new job opportunities. some people think it's a blessing, i have this great opportunity in front of me to just do something completely new and exciting. travel maybe. who knows! thing is, i'm bad at making these decisions (ok i'm bad at almost all decisions except sleeping) so i don't know what i want to do with my life (who does?)

i'm actually considering trying to get involved with the rebuilding of new orleans louisiana. not sure how to do it but i think that's something i need to do. be with some people who feel the same way about helping others as i do. and using my prior skills and learning some new skills. oh maybe i never mentioned it on here before, i have done habitat for humanity 7 times. ranging in location from: portland maine, bridgeport connecticut, philadelphia pennsylvania, oneonta new york, and portland oregon. i am eager to get involved with that again, as i really like the feeling of seeing the work that is being accomplished by my hands. there is something very gratifying about it. and working with others who enjoy helping out, and working with families who want to rebuild their lives...those are people i need to be with at this point in my life, i think. where i live now is just kind of sterile. or else i'm blind to all the great opportunities that are popping up all over and i'm turning a blind eye. but i don't think so.

this place i live now, i am finding it incredibly difficult to make friends. and i'm a very outgoing person. i meet people and i think they're cool, and then that's it. they already have too many friends or are already too busy to spend any time with me. i figure there must be someone out there but after almost 3 years of looking, i'm ready to try something new.

here's a question for the day - what do i crave most after a hard rugby workout?

(there are a couple acceptable answers...good luck!)

peace my friends.

dream world

the past 4 days or so have been somewhat out of the ordinary. first off, thursday night i stayed up till 4am screwing around on this ol' computer. planning a reunion, looking for a new job, trying to stay in contact with about 750 people (literally), writing this blog, and surfing the web are starting to become a bit too much.

friday i got up around 9, skipped work, packed, then headed off to yosemite. which was ok except the winding roads which made me sick to my stomach cause i was sitting in the back seat. then we had a campfire which was great.

friday night i slept amazingly well and can't remember if i had any dreams, that's how well i slept (my tentmates informed me that i was snoring, which, i hardly ever do)(i have, on occasion, been known to snore 'cutely' - but rarely anything related to 'sawing logs').

saturday we went to mirror lake and there wasn't much water. but some cool sites. had a campfire. i drank pepsi which may have been my fatal mistake.






saturday night i could NOT fall asleep. i think i was a little afraid of snoring. but i was sweating in my sleeping bag. so i took off some layers. still hot. then i had to go to the bathroom. but my shoes were on the other side of the tent and i wasn't about to crawl over 2 other people. so i went out in my socks. and of course it was dark and i didn't bring my light and i peed on my foot. *sigh* so i had 1 wet sock and 1 dry sock. back to the tent, took off the wet sock. tried to get comfortable. fell asleep. dreamed about my 10 year reunion and there were all these decorations like an art gallery and people i didn't know were showing up and i thought it was great to see them, until the night ended and some security guy told me i couldn't be there and i had to clean everything out, then there was just SO much of my own stuff (furniture, etc) in this place, there was no way i could clean it out before the next day, then these other guys came and yelled at me because they were supposed to use the room...i woke up all panicky, and again, i had to go to the bathroom! this never happens to me. this time i got smart and put my shoes on, went, came back, was still sweating even though it was freezing outside. tossed and turned. back to sleep, dreamed about trying out for a rugby team where my grandma (died 9 years ago) and grandpa were there, and stuart little (the little white mouse) was playing on the team and everyone was trying to kill him and it was horrible!! i woke up again, and it was light out, and i HAD TO GO TO THE BATHROOM AGAIN. this was the most ridiculous night i've ever spent camping.

sunday was not that good, due to not sleeping very much and feeling somewhat ill after eating breakfast. then we were rushing around, trying to get out of there and packing stuff up. we went to bridal veil falls and then over to el capitan to watch the rock climbers. had a picnic lunch, then hiked closer to el cap to try to see the climbers closer up.





then we came home, again, on the winding roads, i felt ill and HOT for at least an hour. got home, made a bunch of phone calls, and went to sleep around 930pm. i had one long dream, which involved me going shopping for clubbing clothes with jamie lee curtis, then meeting up with the guys from the sopranos to knock someone off, then in a restaurant where jennifer aniston was, and brad pitt and angelina jolie showed up and i asked jennifer what she thought we should do. woke up very confused. ?

today is monday and i'm looking forward to another good night of sleep. can't stay on the computer too long or it will never happen.

plaid and paisley

last night it was chilly in my apt, so when i went to bed i decided to wear something warmer than shorts and a t-shirt. what i came up with was this sort of paisley flannel long sleeve pajama shirt that my grandma made for my dad umptee-ump years ago, which he passed on to me cause he couldn't wear it anymore...and some flannel plaid pajama pants. silly. even though it didn't match, it was so comfy. i would wear it out in public, i think, if needed. or even not.

i have not been blogging lately. this stems from my desire NOT to be at work every night. you see i don't have a computer at home which means that i can't just jump on and blog whenever i feel like it. even hard to do it during the down times at work, i mean, to come up with something so brilliant as i'm apt to write...takes a little time.

last night i contacted a few people, namely internet 'friends' which is weird cause i don't know them, but, i let people know a bunch of us from my work were going out to dollar drink night (i don't drink but it's fun to hang out and watch the silliness). anyhow, it's not that crowded but we're sitting outside on the deck just enjoying the cold night air and lack of people. then, i feel someone walk up behind me and put their hands on my waist. i think - is this someone i know? i look, and NO, it's some random guy who was just trying to make his way by. i feel, however, that there was really NO need for him to hold my waist while he did so.

thankfully that guy left, and filling his spot soon after were these other 2 guys. and i'm looking at them and thinking...i wonder if this is the guy from the internet. you see internet photos are a funny thing, they can be deceiving. i may look like a cutie from all you've seen so far, but in reality i'm a brow-furrowing burly angry rugby player. ha ha. the guy in the corner looks over, there's recognition, and he says sort of loudly while leaning, "hi i'm sean!" and i think "huh i didn't remember that being his name but OK" since it's the internet you can be whomever you want to be. he's sitting with someone i don't recognize, but there was a lull in the conversation at my table so i went over to chat.

sean and his friend, whose name i think is mike or matt, are from memphis tennessee. we talked about all kinds of things: rugby, what we do for livings, hurricane katrina, living in california, life, the future, families, etc. matt has a wife and a daughter, and mentions something at some point about sean's girlfriend. according to his website he is single but who knows these days right. no more talk of this stuff, however. we talk about what someone could do to make us really angry, about drinking, not drinking, parties, the 3rd friend of theirs from memphis who isn't there cause he's really busy with work and herbal remedies (hmm) and getting ready to move to canada to be with HIS girlfriend.

anyhow we have a lovely evening just chatting - matt says i'm one of the most task oriented people he's ever met. all my co-workers bail, and eventually sean and matt are freezing (me too, only i'm wearing a t-shirt and they have long sleeves) so we walk out to the sidewalk, i realize their car is in the opposite direction from where i'm going, and we all agree we had a nice time, it was nice meeting, we should hang out again sometime soon (matt has to trade off with his wife on going out cause someone has to stay home with child). we hugged goodnight and went our separate ways. i can only wonder what they had to say about me.

and as i walked home i had this nice feeling. like these were 2 of the most real people i've met in town since i've been living here. but then reality set in about 2 minutes later, where i had to tell myself i probably wouldn't be hearing from them again. just like everyone else i've met in this area. so then i have to wonder, why do they sustain hanging out with me ALL NIGHT if i give off this impression that they don't really want to spend any more time with me, they were just faking it or they're too busy for a new friend? i don't get it. i have more rants about men and how they ask for my phone number and then NEVER CALL (ps don't bother, i don't need the flattery or the game playing) but i wanted to just write about how last night was so nice. *sigh*

tomorrow i'm off to yosemite with my rugby girls. it is going to ROCK. i'm bringing the camera and the tripod. hoping to get some killer shots while i'm there. i'll let you know!

peace, y'all. hugs all around!

hungry

i'm starving. it's almost 10pm. so hungry. just writing because, well, it's a habit now. i like logging on and just staying logged on as long as possible. it's silly.

also, rugby practice is in full swing (although no one showed up to conditioning tonight except me) so i ran about 2.5 miles with sprints and jogs and some bleacher running and then some abs. whew. go me. it's amazing the variety of people you can see at the track. i like it.

now i just need to get motivated to go to the gym. ha like i have time!

chow.