31 July 2008

What have I done? What have you done?

I got this from a Blog I stalk. You are supposed to put the things you have done in bold. And at first I thought it was too long to read, but then I found myself wanting to bold the things I've done...So, you don't have to care what I've done, but you might consider checking how much you've done. Here goes:

200 Have and Have-not's
1. Touched an iceberg
2. Slept under the stars
3. Been a part of a hockey fight
4. Changed a baby's diaper
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than you can afford to charity
7. Swam with wild dolphins
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a tarantula
10. Said "I love you" and meant it
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched a lightning storm at sea
14. Stayed up all night long and watched the sun rise
15. Seen the Northern Lights
16. Gone to a huge sports game
17. Walked the stairs to the top of the Statue of Liberty

18. Grown and eaten your own vegetables
19. Looked up at the night sky through a telescope
20. Had an uncontrollable giggling fit at the worst possible moment
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Bet on a winning horse
23. Taken a sick day when you're not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Taken an ice cold bath/Shower
28. Had a meaningful conversation with a beggar
29. Seen a total eclipse
30. Ridden a roller coaster
31. Hit a home run
32. Danced like a fool and not cared who was looking
33. Adopted an accent for fun
34. Visited the birthplace of your ancestors
35. Felt very happy about your life, even for just a moment
36. Loved your job 90% of the time
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Watched wild whales
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Gone on a midnight walk on the beach
41. Gone sky diving
42. Visited Ireland
43. Ever bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited India
45. Bench-pressed your own weight
46. Milked a cow
47. Alphabetized your personal files
48. Ever worn a superhero costume
49. Sung karaoke
50. Lounged around in bed all day (does it count if I was sick?)
51. Gone scuba diving
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Done something you should regret, but don't
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Been in a movie
60. Gone without food for 3 days
61. Made cookies from scratch
62. Won first prize in a costume contest
63. Got flowers for no reason
64. Been in a combat zone
65. Spoken more than one language fluently
66. Gotten into a fight while attempting to defend someone
67. Bounced a check
68. Read - and understood - your credit report
69. Recently bought and played with a favorite childhood toy
70. Found out something significant that your ancestors did
71. Called or written your Congress person

72. Picked up and moved to another city to just start over
73. Walked the Golden Gate Bridge
74. Helped an animal give birth
75. Been fired or laid off from a job
76. Won money
77. Broken a bone
78. Ridden a motorcycle
79. Driven any land vehicle at a speed of greater than 100 mph
80. Hiked to the bottom of the Grand Canyon
81. Slept through an entire flight: takeoff, flight, and landing
82. Taken a canoe trip that lasted more than 2 days
83. Eaten sushi
84. Had your picture in the newspaper
85. Read The Bible cover to cover
86. Changed someone's mind about something you care deeply about
87. Gotten someone fired for their actions
88. Gone back to school
89. Changed your name
90. Caught a fly in the air with your bare hands
91. Eaten fried green tomatoes
92. Read The Iliad
93. Taught yourself an art from scratch
94. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
95. Apologized to someone years after inflicting the hurt
96. Communicated with someone without sharing a common spoken language
97. Been elected to public office
98. Thought to yourself that you're living your dream
99. Had to put someone you love into hospice care
100. Sold your own artwork to someone who didn't know you
101. Had a booth at a street fair
102. Dyed your hair
103. Been a DJ
104. Rocked a baby to sleep
105. Ever dropped a cat from a high place to see if it really lands on all fours
106. Raked your carpet
107. Brought out the best in people
108. Brought out the worst in people
109. Worn a mood ring
110. Ridden a horse
111. Carved an animal from a piece of wood or bar of soap
112. Cooked a dish where four people asked for the recipe
113. Buried a child (Does it count that it was in a play?)
114. Gone to a Broadway (or equivalent to your country) play
115. Been inside the pyramids
116. Shot a basketball into a basket
117. Danced at a disco
118. Played in a band
119. Shot a bird
120. Gone to an arboretum
121. Tutored someone
122. Ridden a train
123. Brought an old fad back into style
124. Eaten caviar
125. Let a salesman talk you into something you didn’t need
126. Ridden a giraffe or elephant
127. Published a book
128. Pieced a quilt
129. Lived in an historic place
130. Acted in a play or performed on a stage
131. Asked for a raise
132. Made a hole-in-one (Does mini-golf count?)
133. Gone deep sea fishing
134. Gone roller skating
135. Run a marathon
136. Learned to surf
137. Invented something
138. Flown first class
139. Spent the night in a 5-star luxury suite
140. Flown in a helicopter
141. Visited Africa
142. Sang a solo
143. Gone spelunking
144. Learned how to take a compliment
145. Written a love-story
146. Seen Michelangelo’s David
147. Had your portrait painted
148. Written a fan letter
149. Spent the night in something haunted
150. Owned a St. Bernard or Great Dane
151. Ran away
152. Learned to juggle
153. Been a boss
154. Sat on a jury
155. Lied about your weight
156. Gone on a diet
157. Found an arrowhead or a gold nugget
158. Written a poem
159. Carried your lunch in a lunchbox
160. Gotten food poisoning
161. Gone on a service, humanitarian or religious mission
162. Hiked the Grand Canyon
163. Sat on a park bench and fed the ducks
164. Gone to the opera
165. Gotten a letter from someone famous
166. Worn knickers
167. Ridden in a limousine
168. Attended the Olympics
169. Learned to hula or waltz
170. Read a half dozen Nancy Drew or Hardy Boys books
171. Been stuck in an elevator
172. Had a revelatory dream
173. Thought you might crash in an airplane
174. Had a song dedicated to you on the radio or at a concert
175. Saved someone’s life
176. Eaten raw whale
177. Know how to tat, smock or do needlepoint
178. Laughed till your side hurt
179. Straddled the equator
180. Taken a photograph of something other than people that is worth framing
181. Gone to a Shakespeare Festival
182. Sent a message in a bottle
183. Spent the night in a hotel
184. Been a cashier
185. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
186. Joined a union
187. Donated blood or plasma
188. Built a campfire
189. Kept a blog
190. Had hives
191. Worn custom made shoes or boots
192. Made a PowerPoint presentation
193. Taken a Hunter’s Safety Course
194. Served at a soup kitchen
195. Conquered the Rubik’s cube
196. Know CPR
197. Ridden in or owned a convertible
198. Found a long lost friend
199. Helped solve a crime
200. Commented on a friend's blog today.

Wow--I've done a lot of stuff, and I found a few things that I think I will do soon.

30 July 2008

Austen Heroine

Thanks to encouragement from buried in the book, I've officially started reading Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. I'm a little nervous because I hear it's a hard read, and I'm very simple minded. I'm also a very slow reader, so over 300 pages of intelligent writing in only one month is intimidating...but at least I'm trying to be educated, right? That must count for something. Anyways, in honor of this great accomplishment,* I took this quiz and found out that:

I am Elinor Dashwood!

Take the Quiz here!

*Can I call reading the first page an accomplishment?

29 July 2008

Left Out of the Dance Festival

Who else felt that? I think the Earth just did a little shimmy-was either a 5.6 or 5.8, pretty big! And not too far from home; about 2 Miles SW of Chino Hills. I was just sitting here at work talking to my coworkers about who knows what, and then we felt some movement, and we all just stayed right where we were and rode it out. Kinda funny to just stand around durring an earthquake, but I guess that's what you get used to in CA-waiting. We just waited to see if it would get worse. It was a fairly mild quake, mostly just rolling, rather than the more damaging jults that are usually shown in movies. If you're worried about quakes, you can check out these safety tips. Aftershocks have been pretty active, but so far I've only felt one. Wondering about quakes in your area? It's not hard to find recent quakes of the World, and Seismic activity for CA & NV: They are both updated regularly.

UPDATE: both of the linked sites above have lowered it to a 5.4

21 July 2008

Dear CAS Department,

Do you hate me? I've tried to give you the benefit of the doubt in the past. I thought that maybe you were just really busy; or maybe it was my own lack of desire to meet with you that caused our lack of communication....But this is getting ridiculous. Do I really have to make contact with you before I register EVERY semester? I thought that meeting with a councilor and explaining to her that the Psych 351 class I took met the requirement for your CAS 101 class because it used the same textbook, and it's an upper level course, so it is harder. (Why do you hate the Psych department? This is not the only time you discouraged their classes. Remember last semester when I had to take both your version, and the Psych version of the same class? Remember what it was called? "Research methods in Psychology." In Psychology. Why wouldn't count the Psychology version of this class? I mean, the Psychology Department should be the experts in psychology, right? Just saying.) Anyway, so now, once again, I was trying to register last week and got the dreaded message: " Unable to add this class - requisites have not been met." Okay, I can accept that. Technically it has not been met. So I shoot an email off to my councilor and ask her to once again make a note on my records that this has been met...but she replied that she's out of the office and that I should contact the other councilor...(Okay, everyone deserves a vacation--especially during the summer.)...And when I call the other councilor, I always end up at voice mail. And I've already left a few messages. So I try email, but get no reply. Did the whole department go on vacation? (Maybe next semester you can try to take your vacations before or after registration.) Or are you all just really bad at responding to calls and emails? (New Department Policy: Reply to all emails and voice mails before you go home at the end of the day. Okay, I'd even give you like 3 days to reply. I'm not unreasonable--I know how busy things can get.) Because while I'm trying to track someone down to click a few buttons on their computer, all the classes I wanted to add are filling up. Quickly. And since I work full time, I really don't have many classes available to me. And since you guys are anal retentive about your courses being taken in order, this delay will add yet another semester to my academic career. I've already been in college for 10 years. And it's still gonna take me at least 5 to finish my masters. Please don't prolong it any more--I'm about to run out of money! (Is that what this is about? The money? Because you just raised tuition by 10%, and you're charging me over $300 in fees. You're already raping my bank account, but I might be willing to throw more your way if it meant I could register without having to go through this torture every time!) Seriously. Please let me register. I'm not asking for much here, and I really do stay out of your hair the rest of the time, don't I? Have I done something to offend you? Because I'm sorry--I really am.
Waiting (somewhat) patiently,
Heather

15 July 2008

My Desk Got A Little Brighter

Look what I just got while I was at work:
So CUTE!!! And, they'll be there all week long. :-)

10 July 2008

I'm a Princess


You Are Aurora! (A.K.A. Sleeping Beauty)
Image hosted by Photobucket.com
Thoughtful and loving. Authority figures probably have been sheltering you all of your life. Thankfully you're a very tranquil person who is content with what life has given you, but secretly you want to know how the outside world works.

09 July 2008

Just trying to forget

Tonight I received some information I don't really know how to take. So instead of processing it, I'm avoiding it...because maybe then it won't be true. It's how I've dealt with other news too, but I've never received news this huge before. And I don't know how to distract myself this time. And I know that when I said "I'm not crying..." You could see right through my lies, to the tears that were waiting to fall. And I know that all night, and all day tomorrow they will be lurking behind my eyes, waiting to jump out the moment I'm alone...or as soon as I run out of thoughts to distract myself with....And who do I talk to when it's not my story to tell? And the only one who knows is the one I should put a brave face on for? Where do you find comfort?

...Religion. It's my faith will have to get me through this. It is hope that will comfort a friend in need. It is knowledge that brings action. and that's what I need to trust in.

Would you do this?

Top Speed, No Tickets By Greg Brown of MSN autos
According to this article, there is a company called Supercar Life, which will allow you to ride in the 5 cars shown above (Aston Martin DB9, Porsche 911 Turbo, Mercedes CLK63 AMG Black Series, Lamborghini Gallardo and Ferrari F430) for just under $5,000. This price includes the professional training and high speed driving personalized to meet your comfort level, along with "a fully catered breakfast and lunch, a cocktail reception the night before the event, a photo of you and your favorite car, an in-car DVD of you driving each car, a gift bag with Supercar Life gear, and a glass of champagne to share with your fellow drivers at the end of the day." (I got a kick out of the last sentence: "The gallons of fuel you burn over the course of your many laps are free." Dear Mr. Brown, Free? I don't think so. I think the gas is part of the $5000 price tag. But nice try. Love, Heather)
So, here's the question(s): Would you do this? Is your need for speed worth $5000? Do you think this is a bargain? And, how much is their insurance?!?

08 July 2008

Enjoy

Who needs an excuse for ice cream? I'm a Big Fan of it, and completely willing to eat it for no reason, but some people think they need a reason to celebrate, so here it is: the month of July is National Ice Cream Month! Go out and have a scoop today! If you want someone to go with you, I can always make time for Ice Cream!

03 July 2008

Feeling the Itch

I think I need a trip to Mexico. I've never heard of this before and it's almost scary, considering my need to plug my nose when under water, but I kinda want a Janzu Water Massage!