My Elder Friend, Part 2

My Elder Friend

Tiradentes

Today is one of my favorite Brazilian holidays: Tiradentes! Translated to mean "tooth puller," Tiradentes commemorates the 1792 death of Joaquim José da Silva Xavier, a dentist turned rebel, was hung and quartered for his part in a movement towards liberating Brazil from Portugal.

Free movies?!?

I just thought this looked like fun, and it happens to start tonight! ...I probably wont be able to make it to any of the shows, but maybe some of you would like to. Just know that while the showings are free, reservations are necessary.

The poem in my pocket

This is the image I see at night,
When my head lies down and eyes close tight.
Deep into sleep I peacefully dive;
The dream I feared would never arrive.

*I don't actually have any pockets in my clothes today, so does it count if it's in the pocket of my school bag? ...would it help if I promise to read it often? Or if I shared it?

The End of Tax Season!

One of the perks of working in a tax related office is the free day we get on April 16th. The office shuts down, and everyone takes a day to relax. For me, that means a day at the beach. And as a special bonus, 2 old friends are in town, so I might take them with me. :-) And if I wasnt such a dedicated student, I'd take the day off school too. But its the one class I actually like, so I dont mind going. Today is a great day!

Book Tag

Ok, so this time it was Rebecca who tagged me. This is a different one...much easier (assuming you can count to 5):
To complete this tag you must:
1. Pick up the nearest book (at least 123 pages)
2. Turn to page 123
3.Find the 5th sentence
4. Post the 5th sentence on your blog
5.Tag 5 people

"Monseigneur, hear me!" (I was a little afraid the first sentance would go on forever, luckily I got a short one...the 4th sentence was 5 lines long!)

Amandapalooza

I know that it was a whole week ago, but I'm finally going to get my pictures from Amandapalooza up. (They've been on my web album for a while...maybe I'll add that link somewhere for anyone that's interested in spying on my pictures.)
While driving on the freeway, Katie and I found some fun. It was nice to be a passenger and therefore able to see the sights around me. (Thanks for driving Katie!) Now, I've been known to take a picture or two while driving but as a passenger I went crazy! The fun started with this one: He was right along side us pretty much the whole time we were on the 10. It was fun trying to get the pictures because when I finally realized I could take the picture, we could only see him through the windows of other cars. But Katie's a pro driver and got me close enough to get these:








That's right. It says Geezers M. C. He's hardcore and wears a mask with his leather jacket and flag helmet. Rock on Gus! (Okay, so I don't actually know his name, and I can't remember what we decided it was...Katie--A little help here.)
We kinda lost track of him when we saw this truck:
This is Benny.* This is the new truck that he bought last week to compensate for the Body Building Competition he lost at muscle beach last month. He was afraid his girlfriend would be disappointed in him so he wanted a nice ride to make up for it...but she's super shallow and dumped him anyway. Poor guy. Good thing I'm a great girlfriend. He'll find that out soon, because he's gonna fall madly in love with me as he teaches me how to surf next week.**
The next moment of excitement was probably mostly just mine. We had a few minutes to kill, so we went driving up this random street near Duke's and found this nice community with a private elementary school that has a rock wall in the play ground. A Rock wall?!? How cool is that? I've always wanted to try climbing a rock wall, and these 5 year-olds can do it everyday. That's the life. I hope Benny plans on having kids, and living in that community. ...Living that close to the beach, we could go surfing everyday. Before or after work, of course.
And of course, the reason for the journey--Amanda!!!! Doesn't she look cute in her Villa? Ya, it's not so much her's as it is the Getty's....but she's working those capri's! Oh, Amanda. California was lucky to have you, even if it was for only a few days. I'm really glad your spring break was the same week as mine was! It also worked out nicely that my road trip kinda fell through so that I could spend more time with you. I probably would have been upset if you weren't here to fill my free day!

*I decided not to try to put a real picture of his face on here, because how weird would that be: minding your own business and browsing through blogs, when suddenly you see a dark, fuzzy image of yourself! And you think "I'm being stalked!?!" It might cause years of therapy, and I'm not willing to inflict that on someone so cute.
**The names and facts have been made up. Any similarity to real life, or people you may know is completely coincidental. The author's status as a girlfriend is according to her own reports, and has yet to be confirmed. If your boyfriend is named Benny, you have nothing to worry about: this is neither a picture of him, nor a factual evaluation of his body building abilities, although, you might want to make sure you really like him, and not just his money/social standing. Just a tip. If this is a picture of your boyfriend, BEWARE--He freeway flirts, which may, or may not be an indication of real flirting and/or fidelity to you.

Cheers!

I don't know what the occasion is, but if it means Martinellis in a fancy crystal goblet at my desk, I'm all in!

Safety!

You all have Jennette to thank for this, since she tagged me. You should check out her answers, because they are truly interesting. I'm really not all that interesting, (I hope I don't put you all to sleep) but here goes :
1- Technically I'm a receptionist, but I usually like to call myself either office manager, or personal assistant (I do a little bit of everything, really).
2- I decided sometime last year that I hate shaving my legs and pits. I pretty much don't do it any more.
3- I'm seriously thinking about dropping out of school. I talk about it all the time, and people think I'm joking, but I really need some time off...so I might fly off the deep end, take a semester off and move far, far away. Don't underestimate me--I've done it before. But don't worry. I'll be back...I always come back.
4- Sometimes I kiss my car. She's really good to me. And I'm sure it's no surprise that I talk to her.
5- My "friend" has started calling me again. 6 times in the last 2 weeks. I never answer (because I set his ring tone to silent), and he never leaves a message. I'm thinking that if there are any men near me next time he calls, I'll just have them answer (but then I'd have to turn his ringer back on, and I'm not sure I'm willing to take that chance).
6- I don't believe in dieting. It's just not worth it to me. If I want to eat something, I just eat it. Life is so much happier like that. My only successful diet experience was when I dropped out of school (see #3) and was only working part time (it was the best set up ever), and had time to cook my meals. My roomie and I were diligent about planning our meals and it was fun to go shopping for groceries. And we lived in a small town, so walking every where was easy. I miss those days of simple luxury.
7- I now wax (see #2).

That's just cold.

Last month, I had a free Saturday (those are few and far between) so I made plans with some friends to go snowboarding. But as time passed, my calender got busier, and I discovered that I had another obligation...A service project from 10-2. Right in the middle of the day. And I thought that all was lost. I was ready to call off the trip, and was talking to my friend Ryan, who was kinda the trip organizer, and he said that he actually enjoys night boarding better because there are fewer people, and the sun isn't beating down on you. So, we decided to give that a try...and then we found out that Ryan, who often works nights, would be working out of the state Friday night, and coming home Saturday afternoon, and I was ready to call it off again. He insisted that it would still happen, but I feared for the worst. True to my name, I'm full of doubt.

But it did happen! We finally made it to Mountain High at 7:30pm, and had a blast sliding down the snow on our butts! Well, not all of us...some people had been before, and were really good at it...mostly it was just me scooting down the bunny slope. But I'd definitely do it again if I got the chance!!!

Sometimes I tell lies...

Today I realized how much of a liar my job has turned me into. I've always avoided lies because I really am bad at telling them, and even worse at remembering them. But then I got a job answering the phone...and I've started telling them. And it's not even to try to make the company look good, or to avoid getting in trouble. I lie to telemarketers. All the time.

"Can I speak with the person who takes care of your credit card processing?"

"She's not here." (lie)

"Well, I am calling from (Fill in any annoying company name) company. We help (bla, bla, bla, bla)."

"Okay..." (read: I don't care.)

"Does she have a voice mail?"

"No, but I can take a message." (I can, but will I?)

"This is Natalie. I'm calling from (annoying company). My number is 1-800-bla, bla, bla-blabla, blabla. We help (bla, bla, bla, bla). "

"I'll tell her you called." (Big Fat Lie.)

"Thank y-"

Click.

April Fools Day

I thought I'd share the Top 100 fun April Fools Day pranks. I love this day. Anyone who knows me knows that I'm not a prankster. I could never pull anything off without laughing. According to The Guangming Daily (Beijing's main newspaper), "April Fool's Day is Liar's Day," and everyone knows I'm a bad liar. But it's always been a fun day in my house because when setting the table for meals, instead of using plates, forks, knives, spoons, etc. we used random kitchen items: maybe you'd get a cookie sheet instead of a plate; maybe a vase for a glass; a soup ladle for a spoon...It was always fun to find new things to make someone eat with. It's sad that even if I still did that, it would just be me...and it's really sad to pull pranks on yourself.
Anyway--Enjoy you're day of telling people anything you want!