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OCTOBER '08 ARCHIVES 10:35 PM 10/1/2008today's idiotic moment of the day is brought to you by my cousin randy, who finally got his act together and started a facebook account. i'm guessing he didn't pay too much attention to the fields of his profile though:  anyway, back to my brutal week. i am having some serious exhaustion issues. also, my car is going to be out for another couple of weeks for additional suspension work. great, i always wanted to blow two months worth of lease payments to drive a rented sonata. 12:06 AM 10/7/2008 today's post is going to be positive and upbeat because october is my favorite month out of the year and i'm sure you guys are totally sick of hearing about my busy season woes. well, for the record, i'm sorry....sorry that i don't have more understanding readers, that is. haha. just kidding. for some odd reason you guys keep coming back for more (is it because you feel bad about your own lives and then you read about mine and realize that things aren't so terrible, after all?) which is why i keep delivering like the champ that i am. speaking of champs.... dude at office: wow, so you're running the half marathon next week? me: yeah, i've been training since the beginning of july. dude at office: jesus. if i had to run a half marathon tomorrow, it'd take me like... two hours or something. me: (uncomfortable pause) ummm, actually, it's probably going to take me well over two hours. dude at office: oh. oh, well... yeah, i mean... well i used to run cross country and track in high school, you know? me: yeah. well, i was in the marching band. anyway, since i promised a positive update, i would like to take this time to now thank all of my friends who have managed to pull me through another bad busy season. sometimes i swear this is worse for you guys than it is for me. i might have to deal with a lot of crap at work but at least i don't have to put up with a cranky connie. so thanks a bunch, from the very bottom of my cold, unfeeling heart. i mean that sincerely. normally i would love to blow my entire raise on a nice dinner for everybody but i'm not sure how you all feel about eating at mcdonald's (dollar menu only, please). HAHA. oh, if only i was being sarcastic. since it seems as if i am completely incapable of writing a genuinely upbeat post, i'm gonna log off for now. besides, catching up on beauty sleep is a critical part of building up enough stamina to stagger all 13.1 miles to the finish line next sunday. if i actually manage to finish this thing, drinks are on me. only i will be too tired to drink so you guys can just take my credit card and have fun. remember, only at mcdonald's though, i'm still poor. before i go, here are two pictures that made me laugh:  jack's yahoo messenger rendition of my sister barging into my room unannounced.  keri just unearthed the classiest picture of me EVER from our paris trip in 2005, where we literally spent all week debating about what the bidet is used for (clearly, i had the right idea). "it's a tub for little babies" and "maybe a convenient way to rinse off feet" were some of the theories being tossed around. my friends are idiots. but i love them anyways. xoxo. 10:30 PM 10/12/2008 i have lots of happy news to report. first of all, the body shop finally finished up all the work on my BMW. first thing i did when i slid back into the driver's seat was sing REUNITED AND IT FEEEEEEELS SOOOOOO GOOOOOOOOOD to my steering wheel. i am NOT joking. aside from the fact that this accident cost me a ridiculously large sum of money (don't ask), i am quite pleased with the work. now let's keep our fingers crossed that i make it through the remainder of this lease without any more major mishaps. great, i just jinxed myself. which means tomorrow i'll probably get run over by some random tank on the 110n. so onto more happy news: me, lynn, keri and tracy ran the half marathon today in long beach AND SURVIVED. i was not very optimistic going into the race because let's face it, running freaking sucks. at least for me. considering how lynn had shin splints, keri's bum knee was totally acting up, tracy had major chafing around mile 7 and i was just plain tired and cranky, it was nothing short of a miracle that we finished right around our expected time. an excerpt from a conversation around mile 8: lynn: see? it's not so bad, right? me: ummm. yes, it is. lynn: but it's so nice out! isn't this fun? me: no. lynn: yes it is! and look, we're right on the beach! isn't it pretty? me: (huffing and puffing) yeah, it's great. lynn: now don't you want to do another one of these? me: NO. ok, i totally admit i was debbie downer the last half of the run. i can't help it, running brings out the worst in me. the marathoners were smoking us at the end, which was both awe-inspiring and downright depressing. i cannot, for the life of me, imagine doing all 26.2 miles. it's just plain nuts. anyway, while i am grateful that lynn peer-pressured me into doing this, i think i am done, at least for a while. my legs are pretty sore and i am a bit worried about hobbling around work tomorrow in heels. it'll be interesting, that's for sure.  keri's picture of me running, which is super cute but also super inaccurate, since i was frowning pretty much the whole way through until the finish line. also my legs are nowhere near that skinny (i wish). all right, well that's it for now. i am in vegas the end of this week and denver until tuesday, which should be fun. if i don't freeze to death, that is. maybe i'll go for a nice short run this weekend, like five or six miles. HAHAHA. disregard, that's delirium from the muscle soreness kicking in. hope you guys all had a great weekend. adios. 4:04 PM 10/21/2008 so, i've been sitting here on the floor of the denver airport for nearly an hour, and i've just come to the terrible realization that i planted myself right on top of a giant stain from somebody's recently spilled coffee. it was soaked into the carpet and now most of it is soaked into the right butt cheek of my new jeans. great, just great. i checked my baggage ($15 for one bag! ridiculous!) so of course i have nothing to change into. i bet people are going to think i peed my pants. on the bright side, my butt is smelling pretty good. how gross is that? i must be suffering from caffeine withdrawal again. note to self: quit trying to go more than two days without starbucks. anyways, i had a nice trip to vegas and denver. vegas was fine, as usual. i wisely chose not to gamble this time, mostly because i'm still trying to recover from my horrible blackjack run in july at excalibur (of all places). i finally got to go to rum jungle with some coworkers - everything i had was actually really good. except for that terrible bat bite drink, though, which tasted like rubbing alcohol with a hint of grenadine mixed in. eww. stayed through friday night, and then flew out to denver saturday morning at the butt crack of dawn... ok, this city is absolutely gorgeous. everybody here is so dang outdoorsy and healthy that it kinda makes me sick. the denver half marathon was on sunday morning - we saw all the runners coming into the hotel after the race and i felt all smug because now i can say i've BEEN THERE, DONE THAT. we also saw the REI flagship store and that place would be utopia if i were into that kinda stuff.....which i'm not. haha. honestly, what's up with ultra-expensive sleeping bags that can withstand sub zero temperatures? WHY!?!? just get a hotel room! or better yet, go to florida where it never gets that cold. jeez. after denver we drove a couple hours west to avon, where we stayed for two nights at the ritz-carlton in bachelor gulch. the property itself was stunning, although i really could have done without the deer and buffalo heads stuck up on the wall (they make me sad). the resort even had a firepit outside in the back along with a basket full of marshmallows and long sticks for roasting, which i thought was a nice touch. hit up the spa for a few hours and then went to dinner at the newly opened spago's. the restaraunt lived up to its predecessor's reputation - expensive, but so good! we also went for a short hike in the morning up the mountain to partially ease the guilt from eating nonstop. man, it's vacations like these that make me want to win the lottery and quit my job to travel full time. sigh. one can only dream. well, i guess it's back to work for me tomorrow. weird how it feels like i've been away forever even though i only technically took off monday and tuesday. sometimes i really have trouble remembering why i choose to work the hours i do. it's definitely not for the money, that's for sure.  driving to bachelor gulch - so pretty, it was unreal.  on our way back to denver - brrr! i took this was right after jack threw a snowball at my head. 10:09 PM 10/26/2008 i haven't gone running in two weeks. somehow i don't think the excuse of "well i just finished a half marathon" is gonna fly anymore. sadly, i can't even blame it on the existence of any running-related injuries - i'm just plain lazy. arghhh. i will pay one of you twenty bucks if you can motivate me to get my butt in gear. OR..... we could just take that twenty and buy a huge ice cream sundae instead! YAY. i have nothing spectacular to report. i went speed shopping today and managed to blow a decent sized chunk of my paycheck on two dresses, one cardigan and two sweaters. again, i'm just doing my part to stimulate the american economy in these tough times. did i mention that my 401k and roth IRA are practically worthless now? i've stopped opening my statements because all the red hurts my eyes. i suppose i could go on a rant about how much it sucks to have to pay for other people's greed but i really see no point in assigning blame. we're all partially responsible for this mess for as long as we continue to be willing participants in today's economy. i'm getting pretty tired of all the idiotic whining from both parties - even if we're two seconds away from financial disaster, we still have it better than the vast majority of other people out there. i do have a bone to pick with joe the plumber though. honestly, if you think you have a realistic chance of pulling in $250K+ in income, don't tell me one of your biggest concerns is "wah wah wah, i can't believe any money i pull in over $160K is gonna get taxed at 33% instead of 28%." you know what i would be saying if i was making $250K? probably something along the lines of "SUH-WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEET, IT'S TIME TO GO SHOPPING!" it's not called redistributing the wealth or socialism, dumbass - it's called doing your part to fund america so we can continue to enjoy the many, many freedoms we have. and in case you're curious, i'm sitting in the third to highest tax bracket right now and i don't have a problem paying a higher share than somebody who makes $15K a year. at the end of the day, i'm okay with a decent chunk of my hard earned cash going towards the salaries of the men and women who defend, educate and support this country. i went to public school my entire life. i own a gun because it's my constitutional right to do so. i can log online and talk about nearly anything i want without getting censored. i can sue somebody in court if they've wronged me. and because rights and privileges like these don't come cheap, we owe it to ourselves to make sure our government has the resources it needs to do its job. pay your fair share of taxes, dammit! it's the american thing to do. okay, i'm done. almost. the election is coming up soon and although i'm still nowhere near 100% on board with obama (sigh), the thought of having palin in the white house seriously worries me. if she wins (let's face it, very few of us are paying close attention to mccain anymore), her victory will mean that you don't really need substantial experience or expertise to succeed - you just have to be blessed with good looks and a spunky personality. and that would be a terrible disservice to every woman who has legitimately worked her ass off to get to somewhere in life. LIKE ME. haha. all right, i'm really done now. have a fabulous week, everybody. adios. 9:58 AM 10/31/2008 well, it looks like we're almost at election day. personally i can't wait for the dumb commercials to stop. krispy kreme is giving away free patriotic donuts to all voters on november 4th. i think ben & jerry is also giving away free ice cream scoops too. man, i love america. in other countries, people get persecuted for expressing their opinion. but us? we get free donuts and ice cream!!!! incredible. anyways, all silliness aside, i hope you guys get out there and vote. unless you're stupid, in which case you should go educate yourself before you take the rest of the country down with you. haha.  in case you were wondering where i stand in this election. | |||||||
Copyright 2006 Connie Cheng
