If you hang out with me long enough, you’ll see that I can have a pretty morbid, crass, and dry sense of humor. That said, let me just rant about my frustration with the post office. So, I went to the Berkeley post office the other day, and there was about 6 people ahead of me. I was short on time, so I was relieved to see that the line was going by pretty fast. There were 4 post office tellers working the desk, so I thought that I would get out of there on time. Well let me tell ya, there ain’t no one slower than a post office teller. They must have the life sucked out of them with a blood sucking leech every morning before the work shift. Anyway, as the line grew shorter, I held my number in my little hand with excitement that I was going to be next. “Just call my number lady. Number 62…..just call my freakin’ number.”
60…..
61…..
…..and then…… all four tellers left. They went in the back room where they received another dose of leech sucking. I, with 5 others, felt my blood starting to boil. (You see, this isn’t the first time I’ve had bad experiences with post office workers. This is how it is with me.) I waited for 10 more minutes, looking at the clock anxiously awaiting their arrival. Finally, one of them slowly came back. She finally called, “62,” and I ran up. I gave her my package ticket and she went to go find it……..little did I know, the back room is also the fucking black hole.

In the end, I waited another 15 minutes for her to come back and give me a phone number. She didn’t have the package. (The package I was picking up for my sister as a favor.) So, my sister called the supervisor and told her what happened. The supervisor then repremanded my sister and scolded, “We didn’t lose your package. We just can’t find it.” uh, duh duh duh.

We went back together to the post office to find that they couldn’t find the package again. We told them we weren’t leaving until they found it and that we spoke with the supervisor, who later found it in the black hole.

After we left, my sister said, “no wonder people send anthrax to the post office. If only they did their job better.” I laughed and thought that physical contact would be more satisfying. A good punch in the face would suffice.

haha.

(i know, we’re bad. but it’s a joke, get it?)

The hubby and I just came back from Los Angeles a couple days ago. We made the trek out to the city of Angels to see the 2006 Los Angeles Marathon and cheer on his brother and sister. About 13,000 (from the last we heard) were in the race, and they all had to run 26 miles. It took our guys about 5 hours and 20 minutes. The reason for the race??? The hubby’s sister was turning 30 that day and the marathon was the perfect opportunity to celebrate it.

We road our bikes with my cousin and her two kids (and little friend), to the 17 mile mark to cheer on the runners. The littlest girl of the bunch (who is 4), commented, “I saw his boobies!! Mommy, his shirt is off and I can see his boobies!” and “Hey, those guys are walking….what’s up with that?”
The eldest however, was a bit embarrased when her mommy was cheering on the crowd.

We still do not like L.A. and all of it’s mass. Plus, the people there are freakin’ lunatics and we already felt like we needed to get liposuction and botox injections while we were there. The metamorphoses was starting to creep in and we had to get the hell out. Other than that, it was a pretty good trip.

Lately, I have been having trouble sleeping. It’s been going on for a couple months now, and I think it is due to me becoming a light sleeper. The hub-ster is taking a nap right now and although I am also super tired, I can’t seem to nod off into dream land! So, I’m going to start designing things so that I can play with my GOCCO printer.

I was introduced to the Gocco through a friend of mine a while back. She taught me the basics of the whole thing and I just fell in love with it. So, I purchased my little Gocco in January and haven’t even broken it out yet. I have opened it up and admired it a couple times, but have been too chicken to actually use it. The cool thing about this machine, is I can print stickers, cards, fabric, etc, etc…..! My sister and I were thinking about screen printing underwear with her signature “poo” design, right on the butt. hahahaha! We have such bad potty humor. Man, the sky’s the limit with Gocco!

When I make my first Gocco stuff, I will post it up here so you can all “oooh” and “ahhhh” over it. Unfortunately, Gocco is hard to find now because Japan will no longer be distributing it to the U.S. anymore. Supplies will only be around for three more years……but since I have a short attention span, I’ll be on to something else by then. For more info about Gocco, go to: www.savegocco.com.

Today in my seminar class, we went over masses. We started with some of J. Haydn’s masses, and then we ended with Mozart’s Mass in C-Minor. After hearing the last movement of the Gloria, I had a thought that right at that moment, I could die a happy person. With all the pressures of being innovative and original with contemporary classical music, hearing this tonight made me realize that in the end, I love music that just sounds good. Yeah, it sounds a bit juvenile, but the pressure out there in the contemporary world completely bites my ass. I have forgotten how this mass brings chills and how absolutely perfect everything is brought together.

Of course, I’ll probably go back to the contemporary world tomorrow morning….but tonight was an exhilerating detour.

Currently, I have two separate lives. Although it keeps things fun and interesting, at times, I feel like I can have multiple personalities! Aside from music and school, I co-own a shop called RELISH AT HOME with my friend Kelly in Berkeley. We are in an industrial area, so people are always a little suprised when they walk into our store. The place is only 400 square feet, and we used every square inch of it! We carry women’s accessories and gift items mostly by independent and/or local designers. Kelly has a line of felt tissue packs that she carries in there…too cute! I also did a line of baby t-shirts and bibs with Good on Paper Design …she is so talented!!
One of my favorite areas of the store is the lounge area. It’s a little place to pass out when the day has been a bit rough. It has also become a place where guys hang out while the girls shop. AND, it’s the place where our resident dog and mascot, Pixel, sleeps when he comes in.

We feature a *Designer of the Month* at the shop where a designer comes in and showcases their line. We always provide refreshments and a goodie bag for people (everyone is welcome!), so it also becomes a great time to mingle. So far, we have done jam tasting with CMB Sweets, a stationery line with Good on Paper Design, and a chocolate tasting with Coco-Luxe. Our next one will be a jewelry designer, so keep posted! You can also sign up on our mailinglist on our website to receive updates.
If you’re ever in the neighborhood, check us out! We are at:
2703 7th Street, #112, Berkeley.

Our website is:
www.relishathome.com
we will be launching an online store this summer!

It’s been a little busy lately with work and school. I have a paper due on Friday and today, I was trying to get some composing done for my lesson tomorrow. Unfortunately, I have major writer’s block and after sitting at the piano for five hours so far today, I accomplished only six measly measures. What the hell is going on? Emotionally, I feel as though I have been tackled and pinned down on the ground lately, so I think that might have something to do with it. Instead of forcing my ideas on paper, I decided to day dream.

It is rainy outside and it’s expected to rain all week. I used to like the cold weather and dressing up in layers until I gained 10 pounds since I started Grad school….therefore making it a wee bit hard to fit into my clothes! Ack! So, I’m dreaming about beautiful, warm, weather. The beaches are white and the water is crystal blue. I am in my flip flops and could care less about makeup & looking nice. Where is this place? HAWAII. boy do i miss it. My hubby and I want to go to Thailand, but this summer, we will be taking a trip to Chicago instead. It’s called, “we don’t have money and we have to go to a wedding,” trip. Here is a picture of me in a sea cave in Hawaii…….oh dude, I’m on the next flight.

Other things on my mind??? MY NEW PUPPY!! Brad and I bought a Yorkie pup and will be bringing the little guy home in April. We needed a dog that didn’t shed due to crazy allergies that Brad has. So, we chose the scrappiest, ugliest, and craziest dog of all the non-shedding breeds. This will be interesting. But, I’m sure it’ll bring joy to my days when I’m working at home alone! I have become a slave to my office, so a little company will be fantastic. We’re thinking about naming him “nigel” from our favorite character on Spinal Tap. We’ve certainly have gotten great suggestions, so we’re still keeping out mind open to his name. At the moment, they call him “fat joe” because he’s the biggest of the bunch. Here’s the fatso!! He’s the guy on the right.

awwwwww……

i just came back from eating the most fantastic, authentic, italian meal. brad and i went into this italian restaurant in san pablo, and when we walked in, we thought we warped into a different reality. seeing as though san pablo is kind of a ghetto-y area, (with it’s beautiful trailer parks, check into cash places, dollar store, and casino), we were pleasantly surprised by this restaurant called, “la strada.” it was SOOOO good. as authentic as you get! the waiters, the chefs, the customers, were all italian. i felt a little out of place, but i rolled out of there on my belly feeling good.

check it out. you won’t be disappointed.

after reading so many blogs from other people and being curiously fascinated by the whole idea, i figured that i’d try out my own. i’ve had this space for about two months now, but finally taking the leap to blogdom!

what am i doing? i’m taking a freakin’ break. i’m working on a mass so that i can start my beethoven sonata analysis paper. haven’t even taken a shower yet, but figure that since no one will see me come out of the office today, why bother?

had an interesting conversation with my sister today. we brought up the subject of married vs. singles. ever since i got married a couple years back, i’ve noticed an interesting behavior pattern from people. brad and i have become a part of the “married’s,” which also means that we are lepers. people always ask, “how’s married life?” and i simply reply, “the same.” which generally means, brad and i did not have a great big epiphany that we were getting married on our wedding day….i mean, for god’s sake, it took a freakin’ year to plan it. since we had already been together for seven years, we already made the commitment to each other a long time ago. the next question always is, “well, i mean, how has it changed you guys?” and again, i simply reply, “hasn’t changed us, it’s changed everyone around us.” - i can talk about this subject for hours.

the next topic we brought up was the whole, guys vs. girls thing. seeing as though my sister is about 7 years younger than me, she goes through some phases in life that i’ve already encountered. the big question is: when you get older, why does the border between boy and girl become a big, fat, ugly, black line? when i was growing up, i tended to be a tomboy. i was a part of the “guys” and just got a long better w/them. but as i got older, a fine line was drawn between my guy friends and me. a guys night out couldn’t be a guys night with nancy there because she has boobs. AND, if i was invited, all the girlfriends and wives had to come as well. defeats the pupose of ‘guys night out’, but i guess so does boobs. i suppose it’s not so bad though because i really like the wives and girlfriends….it just took some getting used to. in the end, i pretty much gave up on this whole “idea” that guys and girls can be friends, and became a part of the social-norm. for my sister who is going through this thing, i said, “good luck.” there’s really nothing else to say.

us at lake tahoe. brrrrrr!