Fiction Friday has been postponed due to an overload of work, Red Bull, and Vicodin. (The latter two mixed = fuzzy head...actually, all three mixed = fuzzy head(ache) )

Besides, I only read one cheezy romance novel this week. Mindless fluff. Two thumbs up.

Actually, I am in the middle of a romance novel disguised as a suspense novel. I'll let you know how it ends Monday.

My goals this weekend?

Balance the checkbook and pay bills.
Laundry.
Finish Season 2 of Alias.
Get sloshed on Sunday (it's been a while since I had a good sloshing...)

Go Patriots!!

Prognosis

Apparently, being able to dislocate ones shoulder at will is not a good thing. I have been diagnosed with a dislocated (sometimes!) shoulder, severly sprained thumb, and bruised (if not cracked--he coldn't tell but the treatment is the same) ribs. I have effectively been grounded. NO snowboarding under ANY circumstances, no dirtbike riding ( I told him I couldn't make any promises on that, but that I would take it easy when I went riding) and no anything that is going to hurt. It'll get me out of push-ups in karate, as will the splint for my thumb. I am totally bummed about snowboarding, but conditions have kind of sucked this season anyway, so maybe it will be better.

And now I have an appointment with the X Ray man, orthopedic surgeon, and MRI machine (where I will have to go ALL the way in as opposed to halway when they did my knee). Yuck.

On the bright side? New prescription for Vicodin. Yay.

Golden Globes last night?

Jennifer Garner was ROBBED. I too love Six Feet Under, but what have you done for us lately? She looked fabulous though. Maybe next year, Syd.

I am sitting here waiting for three o’clock to roll around so I can go to the doctor. I went to the desert with HammieLove and Dez on Saturday. It was great fun! I rode the Raptor again and went through some MAJOR mud puddles. Just call me Mud Pie. It was such a blast. I was covered from head to toe and happy as a clam. Then HL and I go off the main path to allow a Jeep to pass by. The track that we took was not fit for a quad (did I notice that…apparently not) and the next thing I know, the Raptor is upside down and I am clutching my side, thinking that I am going to die. It hurt that bad. I had to ride the 15 miles back to civilization, one handed since I seem to have screwed my thumb up too. A nurse that was there thinks that I cracked a couple of ribs and recommended that I get X Rays. Hence, the doctor appointment. The pain is getting progressively worse and people seem to be going out of their way to make me laugh. What dolls!

Oh, and I busted some stuff off of Dez’s bike. I was praying to die before she saw it, ‘cause I was SURE she was going to kill me otherwise. Like the great friend she is though, she was more concerned about me when she turned and saw only the wheels of the Raptor spinning in the air. What a bud!

On the bright side? There is a 30 inch base of snow in Big Bear and we will have money this weekend! Can you snowboard with cracked ribs?

Oh yeah…it’s Girl Scout Cookie season again. Is it bad for my diet that I just ordered 5 boxes? Heh.

And on the dieting front, I lost 3 pounds and a couple of inches in two weeks. My clothes are already fitting better. Thank you Dance Dance Revolution!

Fiction Friday!!

The book that I read this week (well, yesterday) is Apaches by Lorenzo Carcaterra (who is also the author of Street Boys which was the first Fiction Friday review).

Apaches is a novel based in New York City. It follows six former police officers that were forced to retire too soon due to severe on the job injuries. When one of the officers is enlisted to track down the kidnapped daughter of a friend, it leads him and his friends into a drug smuggling ring that uses dead babies as mules to carry drugs undetected (Ew.)
Boomer (the main character) leads his troop of renegade cops, who name themselves Apaches, to take down the leader of the drug ring, who is a ruthless as she is beautiful.

I was enamored by Street Boys so I had high expectations for this selection. I enjoyed the book though the pacing was little choppy for me. I had to suspend my disbelief at some of the actions of the rogue group. Overall, the book is a good diversion. A library check out maybe. I would not buy it though.

On the bright side? I lost three pounds in my two week foray into the Discovery Health Body Challenge. I was hoping for more, but I also have not been following their diet. Since I was home “sick” on Wednesday, my diet then consisted of chocolate chip cookies. Yum. And I have had about a soda a day to ward off terrible caffeine headaches.

Yay! All my shows are back on!

Alias

I am such a Vaughn and Syd 'shipper. "We'll find each other." So sweet! And Sark's "accent"? What a cool shout out to his native home, Oregon. Lauren "OmniAccent" Vaughn could take a few lessons from him.

American Idol

Not enough good auditions! The bad ones were funny, but I want to see the good people! And why didn't SoldierGirl Martha make it? I thought she was good.

Everwood

Spunk in the canyon? What happens to the poor thirsty hiker that picks that thermos up to drink? Ew.
I am tired of SadAmy. Go away.

Fiction Friday

(As shamelessly ripped off from Photo Friday and grace's Food Friday)

Today I am currently reading The Wizard and the Glass by Stephen King. TWATG is the fourth in The Dark Tower series. Dark Tower is Stephen King’s life’s work He began writing it when he was nineteen and would put a new book out every seven years or so. After his near fatal car accident, he decided to sit down and finish it. The Wolves of Calla , was released late 2003 with the other two books that will complete the series coming this year.

I have read TWATG previously, but I started reading the whole series again to refresh my memory.

I can’t really go into the whole story of this particular book because it wouldn’t make sense out of context, so let me tell you the premise of the series.

The Dark Tower series follows the quest of the world’s last gunslinger –a knight of sorts. His name is Roland of Gilead and he is on his quest for the Dark Tower. Roland seems to live in almost a futuristic parallel world, except that the world has “moved on.” I say futuristic because there are references to the “Old Ones” that created giant robotic animals that are “gatekeepers”, electricity, and other modern conveniences, yet the people in Roland’s world speak in an almost Shakespearean “high speech” and travel by horse.

Along the way, Roland ends up “drawing” (I apologize for the “”, but if you read the books, you will understand) three people from the world as we know it. A schizophrenic woman who is missing both legs, a boy named Jake, and a heroin addict named Eddie. The come from the same world but different times ( the 60’s and 80’s).

Roland, Susannah, Jake and Eddie follow the path of the Beam on the search for the Dark Tower, encountering many terrific and horrible things along the way.

From its inception with The Gunslinger, the Dark Tower series captured and held my attention. These books are nothing like King has ever written and definitely his best work. I recommend them highly.

On a second note, I am leaving work early to drive six hours to my mom's. But first? I have to go to the DMV. Yay me.

Reason # 231 Why I Love Living in San Diego

It will be 71 degrees today and sunny. In New Hampshire? -44 degrees. With wind chill? -100 degrees. Paying $1000 a month for a two bedroom apartment doesn't seem so crazy now, does it?

For the first time in the year that I have worked out downtown near my office (which is about 35 miles from my house), I FORGOT my work clothes. And the President of the ENTIRE company is coming to tour the office today. So I had to turn around, drive back to my house, get dressed there, get back in my car, fight traffic (which I usually miss by going to the gym so early) and show up to work late. Good morning!

On the bright side? Got my haircut last night and it looks fabulous. I HAVE to buy myself a flatiron. It is a miracle tool.

How much do I love Alias? I love everything about that damn show. So much in fact that I went to David Anders' website and got myself a Sarkie-poo wallpaper. Orlando Bloom has been retired for now...

I think that I am in a minority of my blogger friends, but I am a Republican. I love President Bush. My political affiliation aside, I was watching the news and saw Howard Dean. That man gives me the heebie-jeebies. I was worried about this election, but would almost understand if W. didn't get elected again ( yeah, the economy sucks. It's called booms and busts, people!...But I would still get the WHY) BUT, if Howard Dean is the candidate running against Bush, I just don't see him winning. He is not exactly endearing. This is going to be an interesting year.

I just got done reading a really good book. Street Boys by Lorenzo Carcaterra. I really recommend it. I also just read (I forgot on who's recommendation) Spy Girl by Amy Gray.

Can I start a Fiction Friday?

Traffic seems to taunt me every morning. The two mornings that I have made a concerted effort to get out the door on time, there has been NO traffic. Yesterday? I am running 4 minutes late and it is PACKED. Coincidence? Or f-ed up karma?

HammieLove and I had a heavy, but weird, decision to make yesterday. Our friend, PastorD, is a reserve chaplain for the Marine Corps. Ever since 9/11, he has had to travel abroad ALOT to Afghanistan and Iraq, sometimes for months at a time. He approached HammieLove last night with a proposition.

Apparently, PD has been contracted by a civilian agency (sounds like Alias!) to consult on the rebuilding of Iraq. (Now I have no idea why he, as a chaplain, would know anything about this...maybe his private job qualifies him for this...I don't know) His contract allows for $90,000.00 for an assistant/bodyguard. This assistant would have to spend six weeks doing military weapons training and would spend a year in Iraq. His job would be to basically watch PD's back as he was going about his business. PD originally asked another friend of ours who is a former Marine sniper. Sniper has a wife and two kids so he said no. Soooo, PD asks HammieLove! He said that if he wanted anyone else with him, he would want someone who is loyal, courageous, and who has balls. Now, HL has never been in the military, but he has a lot of weapons knowledge. HL very excitedly told me about this new opportunity.

Now, I had a panic attack right on the spot. In the five years that we have been dating, we have been apart 4 days at the most. And we were miserable. I am totally afraid of the dark, I hate being home by myself. I am not cut out for this. But this is an opportunity of a lifetime, and I don't want my fears to stop him from doing it.

HammieLove called me this morning after discussing taking a year leave of absence with his boss. His boss was okay with it and told him that he would do it himself if he didn't have a family. Greaaat. HL called to tell me that though he was flattered with the offer, he was going to turn it down because he didn't think that we could be apart like that. It was very sweet. And now I am relieved that I don't have to worry about that.

Happy New Year to you all!

I spent 5 wonderful days in the Ocotillo desert with HammieLove and Dez. Well, almost 5 days, since Dez and I had to get up at the god awful hour of 4:30 on Friday in order to drive the two hours from the desert to downtown in order to come to work. That sucked. We did look pretty funny walking down B Street in our full motocross gear (boots included, helmets not--though we were tempted) to go to the gym to shower.

We are back now, another successful trip under our belts. Successful trips are classified by all people and vehicles returning in one piece. We managed that this time, although I almost blew it!

We were riding along, HammieLove, Dez, me, and a couple other friends. I was riding Bubba, my '85 CR250. (Just so you know, Bubba has BALLS! This bike is faaaasssssstttt!) We were riding through a section of the Off Road Parl that is really sandy, and for those of you who don't ride, sand is pretty difficult to ride in. Very squishy. The sun was setting and causing a bit of a glare as it reflected off the settling dust. So here we were hauling ass through the sand when HL turned this corner and I went to follow, not noticing that the ground was sloped into a berm. Next thing I know, I am flying through the air with the greatest of ease, landing with not so great ease on my left shoulder, my helmet cracking onto the ground. My bike (which was about 6 feet behind me) had its hand;ebars buried into the sand, which caused the throttle to get stuck in the "on" position. I managed to get it to shut off before flopping onto my back to mutter "Ow" to myself. Dez almost ran me over coming around the same corner and she thought I was dead! I had never seen her so worried. All I was concerned about was my bike and whether that qualified as a real crash instead of a "biff." I figured that since I cleared my bike instead of having it land on me, it must have qualified. I got back on and rode away, but here today I sit with whiplash in my neck and a very sore shoulder. Thank Bob, no broken bones or Bossman would have killed me.

I get to go home and clean an apartment for a turnover. Yay.

On the bright side? The Discovery Health Body Challenge starts on Saturday and Dez and Kari are doing it with me. It should be fun!

My inner child is ten years old!

The adult world is pretty irrelevant to me. Whether
I'm off on my bicycle (or pony) exploring, lost
in a good book, or giggling with my best
friend, I live in a world apart, one full of
adventure and wonder and other stuff adults
don't understand.


How Old is Your Inner Child?
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I think a lot of people would agree with this. :) And you know what? I. DON'T. CARE. Hee!