Moving On

When you're moving your whole world becomes boxes. That's all you think about is boxes. Boxes, where are there boxes? You just wander down the street going in and out of stores. Are there boxes here? Have you seen any boxes? I mean it's all you think about. You can't even talk to people because you can't concentrate. Shut up I'm looking for boxes. Just after a while you become like really into it you can smell them. You walk into a store. There's boxes here. Don't tell me you don't have boxes. Dammit, I can SMELL them. I'm like I'm obsessed. I love the smell of cardboard in the morning. You could be at a funeral. Everyone's mourning crying around, and you're looking at the casket. That's a nice box. Does anyone know where that guy got that box? When he's done with it do you think I could get that? It's got some nice handles on it. And that's what death is really. It's the last big move of your life. The hearse is like the van. The pale bearers are your close friends, the only ones you could ask to help you with a big move like that. And the casket is that great, perfect box you've been waiting for your whole life. The only problem is, once you find it, you're in it. - Jerry Seinfeld

I'm moving. You got any boxes?

Someone Handed Me A Sword

Okay, so I started this draft about.. oh.. two months ago. I'm determined to get a post out tonight and I know that you all will love this one, so two-month old story revamped it is.

My mom will be the first to tell you that I never was a big fan of change when I was little. The stories that are always told about me at family reunions are the ones about me crying over change. The most commonly referenced involves my Nanny Vassie, my bed, and lots of tears. I've been told the story hundreds of times, I'm sure, but I feel that it's best she retell it, so I'll leave that thread there. The thread I really want to run with in this post is how I used to hate trying new things, was completely unreasonable with change, and would take forever to do anything unusual to me. I use "used to" because these days, it seems I want to try it all.

Anyone who knows me knows that I like an adventure. I love packing up and heading out and just.. disappearing for a little while. I've been in the Bay Area for almost a year now and I'm going crazy without a real move (more on that another day). One of the reasons I think I haven't completely lost it, tossed the girls and some clothes in the car and headed for Seattle or beyond, is because the Bay Area has a lot of random stuff to do. It's a big city with hundreds of various sized ones surrounding it. There's all kinds of indoor and outdoor activities just within a gas tank from my door. Just between you and me, I want to learn and do it all.

On that note, I'll quickly get into why and then explain the title. See, I have this theory that most people just.. aren't prepared for whatever comes their way. And the best way to be prepared is to learn and practice the skills you might need. Like snowboarding. I love skiing, but you never know when I'm going to be stranded on a mountain with bad guys (seriously, bad guys) chasing me and all I have to get away on is a snowboard. I might not be amazing at it, but if I know how to at least get down the mountain, I'll have more of a chance than those skiiers that refuse to learn boarding. Same thing goes for learning to jump out of a plane, surf, ride a motorcycle, fly a helicopter, bungee jump, so on and so forth. With this theory in mind, I present to you.. fencing.

Shaun really likes fencing and used to be on the team at his college. He was looking to get back into it a couple of months ago and found a gym with an open floor night. Curious to see if anyone wanted to join him, he asked our group of friends. I was the only one that not only jumped for the chance, but was available. We spent about 3 hours in this sweaty loft teaching me the basics, exercising, and just generally poking me with sticks. I wasn't very good, at all. But! One. They let me use a sword. Two. I got to "stab" Shaun. And three. They let me use a sword!!

Swaptastic

I did it again. I signed up for another swap! Now, while I'm super proud of what I made for my partner, I've already written up the post about what I got.

"I received!! FINALLY! I had Meleriffic send to my office instead of house and while it's definitely more secure (last package I had sent to my house was stolen from my doorstep), it takes a lot longer to get through the office mail. ANYWAY! OMG! Image overload, coming your way.

When I opened the package I was talking to a coworker and both of our reactions were immediately "Whoa". Meleriffic, you out did yourself, completely. I was a little overwhelmed, still am really, but I love it ALL. I'll start with the group shot:


So I had to explain most all of this to my coworker, but then a fellow geek walked by and threatened to steal most of it. Let's see how much you guys can recognize without the explanations.

First up! The dice bag! I play DnD and while I already have a dice bag, I know this one won't go to waste. It actually is the perfect size for a crochet project bag, so my cat get at the pieces. That, or I will actually need a bigger dice bag soon. I keep getting more somehow. The quote on it is from Discworld, which I LOVE and i laughed so hard when I read it the first time. More when I read the note explaining everything.

Out of what looks like the same sweater she made me arm warmers for at work (someone refuses to let it get above 60 in here). I put them on and haven't taken them off since. It's been a super stressful week and "Don't Panic" in big, bold, friendly letters on my arm is exactly what I need right now.

Melerific did a lot of research on my DnD character and I think one of the things to come out of that research is a completely adorable set of dice hangers. It's a D4 and D8 and while I can't put them in the car cause the dog will eat them.. they're on my monitor as I type.

So this is amazing. My DnD character, Ed, who is a wizard with a thing for pirate hats and fire, in all her glory, embroidery style! The detail on this is amazing and I already have may too many places I want to put her. I could put her on a quilt, on the back of a hoodie, frame her, make her a pillow.. the possibilities are endless and I LOVE THE DETAIL! It's exactly how I imagined her! The material is a bit creased from travel and I didn't have anything to really stretch it out, so this picture just doesn't do it justice.

Onto the Mario goodness! First off, stitch markers! These are completely adorable. I never actually have had stitch markers before, I always end up using bits of yarn and I hate it. But now.. my knitting projects are going to be done in style! Woot!

I would have to say that this one is in my top 5 for this swap (I can't decide on a number one..). It's a Rubix cube with pictures from my favorite animes of all time. I've already had it wander off in the hands of various coworkers. It's got Cowboy Bebop, Gundam Wing, Trigun, Totoro, Full Metal Alchemist, and Howl's Moving Castle pictures for the sides. I refuse to let anyone mix it up.. I love it too much. They can mix up the normal one I already had at my desk, heh. I'm going to definitely copy this idea for a future swap, hehe.

If I had to pick one thing that just made me completely squeal from this package, this would definitely be it. I can't stop hugging it and grinning wildly. She made me my own Poporing from Ragnarok Online. I can't tell you how many of these adorable little guys I've killed to get their rares or exp from.. and how many I had as pets in game. I know I mentioned them in the questionaire, but not this specific breed of one.. and it is by far my favorite in the game and she made it perfectly! He's in my lap right now and I still can't stop hugging him! I'm spamming my old guild mates with images of it now to make them jealous.

Okay this next one is just amazing and I've had to beat off a few coworkers to keep it at my desk. It's a Mario castle with figures from the games. The effort that went into this is amazing and it's completely perfect. She burned into the wood to give it a real brick look and texture. It's the right scale for the figures and I really want to play Mario now, damnit! It's now perched on the file cabinet above my desk.

Okay, I just have to pause and say Melerific really did out do herself. Just completely. I really want to finish everything that I started and didn't have time to finish and ship it to her.

Okay, two more. More Mario! (I really love Mario.. like really. The midi files from the original are all my ringers and alarms and stuff.) I was in love with this box before I even opened it or knew what it was. And then I opened it and a few other wrapping and learned it was a Zen garden! With an amazing Mario scene painted on the inside of the lid. I'm really hesitant to open the sand and put it in there (I knock things off my desk a lot), so think I'm going to use it as a candy/goodie box instead. I hope that's okay? Either way I LOVE it.

Okay, I'm saving the most amazing one for last... the picture! She had her friend draw my DnD character for me and then framed it in this amazing frame. It's EXACTLY what I described and pictured Ed as, down to the letter. Just completely love it. I'm going to take it home and put it in my library, front and center so I get asked about it.

This package was too much and I LOVE it all. I dare say that this is the best swap package I've ever gotten. She nailed me exactly and I really want to hustle up and finish all the other stuff I started for her now, hehe. Thank you sooooooooooo much Melerific!"





Love, Peace and Mario Madness!
Tar

Yes, I Do Own a Dress

And heels too.

Cisco was added to the Dow Jones recently to replace GM. To celebrate my friends and I decided to dress up and hit the town in style. When I mentioned to the organizer that I was planning on attending and would have to pick what to wear, he said something along the lines of "Oh, I mean, don't worry too much about it. I mean, do you even own a skirt?" The only reply to this was, of course, to glare and vow that I would not only show up in a skirt but I would do him one better and arrive in a dress. Accessories, as well. He used this knowledge to fuel other people to dress up as well, stating simply "Even Tiffany is wearing a dress!" Now to the pictures.


From left to right: Shaun (coworker, Donovan's twin, one of "the boys"); Stephine (Virgina's roommate); Ben/Lodi/White Ben (coworker, one of "the boys"); Virgina (coworker, photographer, friend); Me; Dennis (organizer, coworker, friend); .. some guy.. Alex? (coworker, I think).


This is my (and most everyone's) favorite picture of me from the party. She took it when I wasn't paying attention, obviously, and the funny thing is the one right after it where I posed was HORRIBLE. It's now my profile picture a lot of places.



We went to iHop afterwards for the after-party and "omg I'm starving" get together. I've never been to an iHop with 18 people cramming into seating meant for 12 before. It was hilariously fun. My camera was one of the only ones left by this time and it got passed around a bit. When I got it back and took the pictures off, I was pleased to find gems like this one. This is my favorite picture from the whole iHop adventure. Brian (just met him that night) is the guy right up in the shot and Venkat (softball "manager") is standing. I think I asked him something about ties to get him to turn and look at me.. I'm not sure, but I do know that sometime near when this picture was taken, we all stole the guy's ties and practiced tying them. I was the only female who had some prior knowledge.


No, I did not wear those shoes the whole night. I drove, as usual, and was smart enough to toss my flip flops in the back of the car before we left. I wore heels most the night.. my calves were sore the next day/that day (I didn't get home until 4:30). There are a lot of awesome things going on in this picture. All I have to add is that yes, Shaun is most always that amusing.


Last but not least, that picture. I have no idea what Josh (Sonia's husband & my Yahoo! softball teammate) was telling Ben(/Katie/Asian Ben, coworker & one of "the boys"), but I do know that I couldn't not take a picture of him telling it.

So I just realized that I mentioned a LOT of stuff that you guys may or may not already know. Like I have a group of guys that I hang out with that I refer to as "my/the boys", that I play on a Yahoo! softball team, that I rarely wear skirts (okay, you knew that already), or that I got a new tattoo (did ya notice it in one of the pics?). I'm going to try and get better, I swear, about updating. What you don't realize is that I've been writing bits and pieces of blog posts and saving them as drafts to come back to later. I just never seem to come back to them.. I'll try, though.

Peace, Love, and thank you Aunt Jeannie for turning me on to White House/Black Market!
Tar

I Meet the Most Interesting People

I’m not sure if it says something about me that I tend to attract interesting people. My friend Dennis believes without a doubt that I have the widest and most diverse group of friends out of everyone he knows. I can’t seem to have a conversation with him without him remarking at how amazing this fact is. I’ll admit that I do have a wide berth of acquaintances, spanning across most (if not all) typical genres and groups of people. I always had assumed that this was somewhat typical of someone that travelled and moved around as much as I did (and hopefully will do again, soon). A recent encounter on an airplane has adjusted my view of myself and relationships, so much so that I felt the need to write this post up instead of work while on the shuttle to Fort Collins. This is an interesting post for me because, you see, I’m writing it now but won’t be able to post it until Saturday, at the earliest. It wasn’t going to be my “I went to Colorado, Surprise!” post, but like I already said, I had an interesting encounter. I won’t get into the details of the trip I’m currently on, as that isn’t what I’m really itching to get down. I’ll save that all for another post.

No, this post is going to be able me and the interesting people I tend to find myself surrounded by. I’ve always known that my friends are a bit different, each one unique and special (and maybe a bit crazy) that makes them stick out from the swell of the general population. A couple may have something in common but it’s not rare for me to have several friends that’s only connection in the world is me. I’ve discussed with Shaun (co-worker and close friend in San Jose) the difference between my way of finding friends and his, and I think that a brief summary would help explain what I’m going to be diving into. Shaun and I both joined Cisco at the same time and with the same group of new hires. His approach to finding friends in that group was to hang out with them all, mine was to concentrate on only one or two people. I find that people natural group together into genres and “clicks” on their own and that I always seem to be floating between a couple of those natural divisions. Shaun was the starting point for one of those groups, inviting anyone and everyone he could to outings and events, letting people drop out on their own from the group. He’d use the outing to learn more about people and then decide who to pursue more one-on-one friendships with. Me, on the other hand, decided to start with exploring one-on-one friendships right off the bat. Typically this lands me fewer contacts, but the ones I have are stronger and more meaningful, in my opinion. I also tend to end up forging friendships with people in different groups, meaning I have access to a much larger friend base then the people that stick to just one group. This explains the strange set of friends I have in Fort Collins, and why I have to spend today and tonight juggling 4 different groups of friends I’m obligated (and extremely looking forward to) hanging out with. (Hmm.. I think I’m starting to use parenthesis and commas incorrectly, again.) I’m a bit critical when it comes to establishing meaningful friendships and I guard certain levels of information from people until I learn on what level I can trust them. I’d like to think that I’m not overly rude but if you don’t interest me and I don’t feel a connection, I don’t feel much reason to talk to you beyond what is required. If it takes me 4 introductions to remember someone’s name, it’s probably because I’ve met too many of them and they’ve all blurred together. This summary of how I pick friends really doesn’t explain how interesting people tend to find me, though. It just explains why I pick interesting people. I’ve decided the reason for the prior is because I am, in fact, interesting. At least, that’s what I’ve been told.

The most recent person to tell me this was the gentleman I sat next to on the plane today. I knew he was a bit different (him and his wife) when they asked to sit next to me and he took the center seat, his wife the aisle. He was a shorter man, balding, Indian, and wearing those ultra UV-protection sunglasses. He had no problem talking to me and asking me questions people tend to feel are too personal and I was glad to have sat next to someone as refreshingly open as myself. I wasn’t aware how different this couple was for about an hour, though, as I immediately fell asleep before we even pulled away from the gate. It was a 7:15am flight, I had gone to bed at midnight the night prior and gotten up to take the train at 4:10am. Did I mention I’ve been working 18 hour days this week? Yeah.. I deserved a good pass out. I was enjoying it, too, until my Indian friend accidently knocked his nearly full can of Diet Coke onto my leg during his own enjoyable slumber. His wife waked me, apologizing profusely, and offered me the airline snacks I missed during my nap to make up for it. Not a lot got on me and I wasn’t too concerned, not after that blissful hour of sleep and was drifting off again when I realized the little girl in the seat in front of me had been dropping nearly all her toys on the floor and they were sliding back to me. After a lengthy and complicated retrieval process (crayons are more difficult to pick up with your toes when you’re knees are restricted by the seat in front of you), I was suddenly asked by my Indian friend about my lip ring. I’m very rarely asked by anyone under the age of 30 about the piercing and was please to answer, more so when his wife became very interested in it. She continued to drill me about it and the pros and cons of other piercings, as if she were interested in getting one herself. He, I learned, slips in and out of sleep very easily and would make comments or ask questions occasionally. Eventually she decided that I just must have him read my palm and shook him until he blinked enough sleep from his eyes to take my hand and start studying it.

Now, I’ve never held much stock in these kinds of things, though I understand that to some people they hold a lot of weight. I’m not completely against the concept of palm reading, just wary of it. Nonetheless, I was amused by the entire situation and realizing I was too awake to get back to sleep, let him continue. He studied both of my hands for a very long while, sometimes slipping back into the slumber world only to be shaken out of it by his wife. He only asked me which hand I wrote with and then started to mumble to himself as he kept studying. After nearly a good 20 minutes of study he turned to me, pushed his sunglasses to perch on his forehead and asked me my name. I smirked and told him and then he remarked with what I’m assuming to be wonder “Tiffany, you are a very interesting specimen” and then immediately went back to studying. His wife’s eyes asked with intense interest what he said and when I told her, she literally clapped her hands in glee. She leaned across him to tell me with a very serious tone that he very rarely spent this much time reading anyone’s palm and that I should feel special for what he told me. I was amused, for sure, and enjoyed the swell of ego that came from both their statements.

He ended up studying my hand for just over an hour and demanded that I let him do charts for me. It turns out that he comes from a long line of priests and that he was chosen as the priest for this generation back at his family’s temple in Indian. He was raised as such and when the time came for him to take the position, he refused the title and came to America instead. I truly believe that this is in-fact his true past as everything he told me about myself I agree to be true. He told me that I was very self-confident but never could seem to find giving myself to anything completely. He said that I’m very nice and make a lot of compromises for other people but refuse to let them do the same for me. I need to be wary of trusting people that will take advantage of this and because of this, should put off marrying as late as I possibly can, when I’m sure I’m not compromising. He said I refuse to let myself grow attached to anyone or anything and until I learn to do more for myself, should continue to do so. He said that I’m a “free spirit”, unable to stay in one place too long because I can’t seem to get attached to anything. He also said that I should embrace that while I’m young, as well as find a job that allows me to do so, as well as is what I really want to do. He said that if I let myself, I could easily become a manager within a year or so, but probably wouldn’t because I don’t like where I’m at. He also said that while I’m fantastic with kids, I shouldn’t have some for a long while because I won’t be able to really become attached to them.

When he and his wife learned that I live in San Jose, they were insistent on having me over for dinner sometime. This is actually the second time I’ve been asked to come over for dinner to someone’s house that I met on a plane. The last flight I had, actually, I met a woman who demanded I let her take me to my apartment from the airport instead of taking the lightrail (I politely refused until I realized that I would have to wait an hour for the next train). She was a nanny and we talked about her charges and my experience with Caitlin. Interesting people, indeed. I think that it’s happening more often on recently flights simply because I’m flying Southwest, which lets you pick where you sit when you get on the plane, as a first come, first seat choice system. Makes sense, when you think about it, that I would pick interesting people to sit next to, and they me.

Anyway, we’re nearly Fort Collins and I have to start packing up. I’ll post this Saturday and then write another one on Monday or so.

Love, Peace, and I really wish I had my car,
Tar

A Day of Firsts (for Ichi, at least)

This is most likely going to be a shorter post because I need to get back to work so I can get home, but I wanted to get it down before I got lost in my own stuff again. This week is going to be crazy busy. Just insane. Anyway, this post isn't about that. It's about Ichi's day of firsts.

Saturday I had big plans. Plans that Ichi decided weren't all that thrilling to her. First I was going to take her to the dog park, something I know that she would have enjoyed, and then I was going to get my allergy shots. The order reversed from a normal Saturday, but I was planning on going to my Dungeon's and Dragons game at noon, so it made more sense this way. The game was going to end at 6 and from there my buddy Ben and I would head up to Oakland to catch The Shins in concert. I knew, however, that these plans were going to be out of whack as soon as I rolled out of bed.

My little puppy girl has become an adult dog, everyone. That's right, Ichi's had her first heat as of Saturday morning. While this is a exciting (if not a bit messy) event, it also means she can't go to the dog park for at least a month. Walking her is a little bit more of a challenge, as well. Le sigh.

This post isn't really about that, though. No.. this post is about Ichi's first chocolate bar. Hopefully, her first and last chocolate bar. Not sure how many of you know this, but chocolate is poisonous to dogs (and cats). The purer the chocolate, the worse it is. And Ichi decided to make her first chocolate experience a good one. It's really my fault for leaving the bar on the coffee table. It had been there for nearly 6 months, half eaten and open. Buried under fabric and books. Didn't stop the bored puppy. Nope, not at all. I was in the shower, totally unaware. She was apparently having a morning snack. Why she did it now after 6 months is completely lost on me.. but anyway, back to the chocolate.

I'm lucky I noticed the wrapper, otherwise I would have never known she had eaten it. Not until it was far too late. We're talking I was going to leave her home alone for 7 hours too late. After I noticed the wrapper, I called the emergency vet and talked to them about it. They recommended I bring her in, so I went ahead and did. We weren't 100% on if she had in fact ate the bar but it's always better to play it safe in these situations. More so when you consider Ichi had a pretty empty stomach. They went ahead and drugged her and emptied her stomach of what little there was in there, and sure enough, a very decent and deadly amount of dark chocolate. She's fine now, completely back up to par. Aside from a few spots on the carpet from making sure she really had an empty stomach when we got home and a dent in my back account, there was no harm done. I'd like to say she learned her lesson.. but I think, really, I'm the one that learned something.

Love, Peace, and is it really 3am?!
Tar