Originally uploaded by Planet Vicster.

Usually, OAK has planes take off over the Bay toward the north. I'm not entirely sure if it was because of the stormy weather, but on Easter Sunday they had planes landing from the north instead. By the time they went by this spot in Alameda (just a hair south of the airport) the planes were so low in their approach I could just about exchange greetings with the passengers.

Anyway, here's a shot of the San Francisco skyline with a plane (and a storm) approaching.

c'est moi
Originally uploaded by Planet Vicster.

Was relaxing with the iBook in the back of my car at my favourite chill-out spot today and saw an opportunity for a self-portrait. (Yes, I know it's a little weird that I hang out in the back seat of my car--alone--but I can get work done without the distraction of being in a cafe or at home with a certain kitty-boy shrieking for attention.)

In keeping with my tradition of self-portraiture, you only get to see one of my eyes! Besides, I had no make-up on and had just been for a brisk walk in the wind so was truly too frighteing a sight for a full-on portrait.

** How is it Senator Bill Frist (an M.D.) can tell just by looking at a video that Terri Schiavo isn't in a persistive vegetative state? These amazing powers might just revolutionize the way medical care is delivered! No more sitting around in waiting rooms for a lousy few minutes of our doctor's time...just send the doc a video and get an on-the-spot diagnosis without fiddling about with those annoying check-ups and tests and stuff.

** Terri Schiavo's brain-damaged state was caused by a lack of oxygen to her brain after she collapsed in 1990. It is believed that this collapse was the result of bulimia. So isn't it a little late to be concerned about Terri starving to death? It seems to me that happened 15 years ago. It is reported that after she and her husband Michael moved to Florida (after Terri's parents moved there) she had a sudden and dramatic weight loss and was subsequently treated for fertility problems (she had stopped menstruating, a symptom of bulimia). What a shame her parents didn't put up such a fight for her life when they actually had a chance to keep her from starving to death.

** I realize that conventional medical opinion is that Terri Schiavo cannot think or feel and is not aware of her surroundings. Still, I can't shake the feeling that starving to death is a horrible way to die, whether or not she's cognizant of it. Why does she have to waste away so horribly, yet we'll put a convicted murderer to sleep? That just doesn't make sense to me.

Statue #2
Originally uploaded by Planet Vicster.

Actually, I'm not really happy with the way this roll turned out. Part of the problem is that the batteries on the Pentax MX packed up (again--after only a week!) and I had to use the L-508 meter. As good as it is, the hand-held meter doesn't see quite the same way the Pentax does, so I need to root through my notes on exposure from this roll and have an adjustment cheat-sheet handy for next time. As I remember, I also was battling with light that day. I'd meter and compose a shot only to have the sun either come out from behind the clouds or suddenly hide behind them.

Oh well...at least it's not like I fucked up an entire roll (or 10) of film shot in a faraway land or something. I can go back to the mission and re-shoot one of these weekends.

Ready or not...
Originally uploaded by Planet Vicster.

I'll be officially 40 years old in another six minutes. It wasn't an awful day. In fact, a couple of my friends spoiled me with gifts (and the balloon pictured above) and I spent a ridiculous amount of money at Lush and L'Occitane.

I'm a bit more calm about this "40" thing than I have been in the last several weeks. I suppose I had finally just resigned myself to the fact that it was coming and I couldn't stop it (well, I could, but I have no intention of taking after my mother, thanks).

The thing is, "40" was always something looming in the distance. It was twenty years off, then ten years, five, then a couple years...and now it's HERE. And I just wasn't ready for it. There is just so much I thought I'd have done by now that I haven't done. Well, no sense looking back, I guess. It's here and I have to deal with it and I have to move forward in my life.

But first, I'll indulge in a Lush bath and drink a bottle of champagne while listening to "Yankee Hotel Foxtrot."

Former San Jose Sharks tough guy Link Gaetz has been suspended for the remainder of the season.

Of course, Gaetz being suspended is certainly one of those things that never change, but what I'm referring to is this paragraph:

...Last Sunday Thetford Mines had a game against the Verdun Dragons. Gaetz didn't have a shift all game and in between the second and third periods he was seen, without his jersey and without skates on, at a concession stand where he ordered a cheeseburger and promptly ate it. He returned to the bench for the third period.

See, in addition to having been with the Sharks, The Linkster was also a member of the (very) short-lived San Francisco Spiders. I have a very vivid memory of him sitting in the stands inhaling hot dog after hot dog and malted after malted (while he was meant to be getting game fit so he could actually play for the Spiders). And he'd scarf this food while sitting just a few feet from the Spiders bench, where coach Jean Perron could see him NOT GETTING FIT.

The Spiders sent him packing not long after this (not just because of the not getting fit part...there was a rather unfortunate incident that hastened his departure).

...can you close down a pub at 8:30 p.m. Geez, I think even in Kamloops the pubs stayed open past 9:00 p.m. on Sundays.

Portrait of Samantha
Originally uploaded by Planet Vicster.

At LAST! I finally had a camera and Sami in the same place! Sami is Simon's ex-girlfriend, but she's still MY sweetheart! She is a totally affectionate kitty (not to mention totally GORGEOUS) and will almost always come running up to me for leg rubs and scritchies.

(I see on this photo page on Flickr that someone has listed this as a favourite photo! Not sure how much credit I can take, but I'm sure Sami will be well chuffed!)

I was talking to one of my favourite clients this afternoon. We think so much alike and are always laughing with each other over the phone. Toward the end of our conversation this afternoon, she said, "I'm so glad you're there! Thank you for going to work there!"

Awwwwwww!

I wouldn't trade my Subaru Baja in for one, but I really love the 2005 Mustangs. They've given them the retro-funky head and tail lights and the instrument panel has a gorgeous retro look as well. Finally, the Mustang is a cool car again!

...and woke up back in Portland, Oregon?

On my way to work this morning, I kept wondering, "Why are we were having the Chinook Winds here in Oakland/Alameda?"

It's weird, I tells ya. Weird!

Laundry is a chore that I hate so much that it ranks below cleaning the toilet and cleaning the litter box. I took a vow that if I ever won a big lotto jackpot, As God Is My Witness, I'll Never Do Laundry Again!

Yeah, I hate it that much.

My hatred for doing laundry is fueled by the fact that:

the facilities at my apartments now use "smart cards" and I managed to get hold of the one STUPID CARD that never works; and

the local laundromats totally make their money off of their crappy dryers. I hate, hate, HATE pumping $10+ worth of quarters into these machines and wasting at least 45 minutes of my time only to pull DAMP CLOTHES out.

So, as you might imagine, I usually have a major case of the crankies by the time I'm done. But done I am (for now) so YAY ME!

I had put a new pair of jeans in the permanent press cycle in the dryer (since it was the only chance they had of actually drying) thinking they should be all right. In the last six months or so I have dropped a little more than three dress sizes (dress sizes??? Like I ever wear a dress...*snort*!). But when I took this pair out of the dryer and got ready to fold them they looked so small. "Well, crap!" I says to myself. "I managed to shrink these jeans. I guess the label meant it when it said 'tumble dry cool'. Oh well, I'll keep them around for when I drop into the next size down."

When I got home and was putting the clothes away (after Simon had had his opportunity to take a nap on top of the clean clothes, of course), I thought I'd try putting the shrunken pair on, just to see how bad the damage was. I fully expected to not be able to get them over my tooshie, but they fit PERFECTLY! So either the jeans didn't shrink as much as I thought, or my ass isn't as fat as I think it is.

So, what the hell, I'll say it again, just 'cos I deserve it...YAY ME!!!

It's Simon's favourite sweater, too
Originally uploaded by Planet Vicster.

The minute I put this polar fleece sweater down, he's in it settling down for a snooze. He's even been known to climb ito the front pocket (it stretches all the way across the sweater) to have a nap...while I was wearing it!

Alas, this sweater is now too big on me, so I don't get to wear it out of the house very often. But I don't dare take it to the charity shops or Simon might demand I go buy it back.

Anyway, here y'all go...take in all that sweet cuteness that is Simon (especially when he's sleeping)!

First of all, I want to point out that one of the friends who stood me up last week has apologized and I truly do appreciate her apologizing. As for the other friend, well, I guess she just really isn't my friend after all. (I really must learn to read the fine print: Just because some people say that I'm their friend that doesn't necessarily mean they're my friends.)

Next, to those of you who emailed me telling me not to feel bad because you have friends who were doing the same to you...I'm truly sorry. This is one instance where misery does NOT love company. I wouldn't want anyone to feel as low as I did this past weekend. (Oh yeah, and I am planning on adding a comments feature in my redesign of this here blog, but there are some issues I need to work out first.)

So I spent a lot of time last weekend reflecting on a lot of things. I'm less than two weeks away from a "milestone" birthday and my life is NOTHING like what I had envisioned this age being like. The whole friends flaking out on me thing is really "just another brick in the wall." (OK, that reference ought to give away which milestone birthday I'm about to have!) And no, it's not ALL bad. But there's too many things that just aren't working right now and I can no longer just smile and pretend things are fine.

Anyway, I still have a lot of work to do. One of the items at the top of the list is figuring out exactly what sort of "support system" I do have while I'm figuring the rest of this stuff out (or trying to figure it out, at least).

To be continued...

One of my "goals" for this year was to get out and go listen to live music and just generally interact with 3-dimensional human life forms, rather than stay at home with my computer. As part of this, I've taken to inviting my friends to come out with me. Pretty much any time they've invited me to go do things with them, I've been up for it (or got myself up for it) and thought I should finally start inviting THEM out too.

So far this year, I'm 0-4 on the outings I've invited friends to. For tonight's show, I invited TWO friends. They've both blown me off. And honestly, I'm really sick of going to these things by myself. I feel like such an asshole..."Hey, look at her there all alone! She's so lame her friends won't even hang out with her!"

I honestly don't know if I'm going to go tonight or not at this point. Part of me really wants to go, but part of me is just so hurt right now and so tired of pretending I'm all right with going out by myself when I'm not okay with it at all.

So, if any of you are at the Hemlock Tavern in San Francisco later this evening, if I'm there you'll know me: I'll be the dweeb who's there by herself. You'll probably want to stay far away from me, though, in case my dweebishness is contagious.

And after tonight, there will be much soul-searching and a thorough evaluation of my life and relationships. Because having friends shouldn't leave me this fucking lonely.

I couldn't stand it any longer. After work today I went to the Oakland Animal Shelter to see if the Sweet Little Blonde Girl dog had been reunited with her human(s) or if she was up for adoption. I tried to talk myself out of going: It's not like I could keep her in this small apartment if she was up for adoption (much as I'd love to--did I mention she was a real sweetheart?). But whether I checked up on her or not I was torturing myself wondering how she was and desperately hoping she had made some human connection, whether it was with her previous people or with a new, adoring family.

I checked out the adoption pens but didn't see her there. Then it was to the front desk where I had tearfully left her off a week ago. Evidently, I should have gotten a receipt or something because the officer at the desk couldn't tell me where this dog was. Without some sort of claim number she just couldn't find out if she had been reunited or adopted or sent out to one of the local rescue groups.

"But I can tell you we didn't put any dog like that down. If that helps." the woman said.

"Uh...I guess that helps a little," I replied on my way out the door.

Because I do obsess over things like this, I'll likely check out the local rescue/adoption sites over the weekend. I just want so much for that sweet girl to be loved and cared for.

Storm Clouds, Presidents Day, 2005
Originally uploaded by Planet Vicster.

This shot looks like I took two photos and Photoshopped them together, but really I didn't!

Later that day, these clouds gave way to a couple of really awesome thunderstorms (well I thought they were awesome...the cats, however, were NOT amused).