Lucky Magpie

Don’t know if I’ve shared this little tidbit, but, the Roommate will, on occasion, talk in his sleep.  I find this immensely amusing.  As far I know, I don’t talk in my sleep.  And seeing as the Roommate falls asleep faster than I do, we’ll never know.

I envy his ability to lay his head on his pillow and with in a few minutes, be snoring.  Blissfully in the land where the Wolves are in the Premier league and he’s their coach.  While I lay there, my mind a whirl of random, non linear thoughts, stretching from the days events to, if I put coffee in the microwave, would time travel is possible.

I’m not complaining, cause I like this time.  I get to listen to his snoring breathing, and I’ll kiss his shoulder and cuddle next to him and let my mind wander.  It’s pleasant.

But, if I’m feeling particularly mischievous, I’ll talk to the Roommate as he’s falling asleep.  I know, evil, right.  No, the thing is, if I do this, I’m practically guaranteed to get him talking in his sleep.  It’s magic!

The thing is, he’s so out of it, he’s unaware of what I’m doing.  I’ve told him before I do this.  That I use his sleep for my own enjoyment and yet, he’s powerless against my cunning ways.   So, like a wee babe his eyes will start to shut and I’ll say, “Do you think the dogs will bark?”  (We don’t have dogs, this is all a part of the magic.)  And he’ll mumble something like, “Mffpte lemme no.”  I’m getting close.  “Honey, did the trees move again?”  His reply, “Mingla mo gigal fort.”  Then I’ll leave him be for a while.  No point in completely ruining his sleep.

Within the hour though, I’m rewarded with a story, mumbled from his sleepy lips.

“Break the coaster and move the door.  No trees.”  Woohoo!  Result!

And then I’ll lay there, giggling to myself and he wakes up, wondering what’s the matter with me.  And I’ll tell him.  I’ll tell him that I wove a tapestry of jibberish and he responded in kind.  It’s a little game I like to play.  I don’t do it often, but these past few months I’ve missed it.  Yet, just as the Olympics come every four years, the time has rolled around and soon I’ll get to play this game in person again.  I am so ready for September.

September 5th, 2008 | Category: daily, the roommate | Leave a comment

Seeing as I tend to be an open book, I doubt there’s even ten, but here we go.

1. I can’t water ski.  I’ve tried on three different occasions and have failed gloriously each time.  I’d get on the skis, wait in the water and then boat sped off, I’m either still sitting in the water watching the boat bounce along on the waves or I’m attached to said boat and I’m bouncing on the waves.  In an unhappy kind of way.  So, yeah, I suck at water skiing.
2. I’m a horrible procrastinator.  Or rather, I’m a very good procrastinator.  The coziness of my bed is usually the down fall of my day.  If I can get out of bed at a decent time, that normally counter balances my tendency for procrastination.  I know this is a weakness, but bed. so. warm.
3. I can name all 206 (or close to it) bones in the human body.  Not sure why this knowledge has stayed in my brain, but it’s there.  I have the tendency to retain useless and boring trivia, like the names of all the bones in a human body.  I’m hoping one day this fact will come in handy, like if I were out to dinner and a man suddenly seizes, doubles over in pain.  People call out for a doctor and when a man steps up to help, looks at the poor man in trouble and says,”I wish I could help, but this man is having bone troubles and I can’t recall all the bones in the human body.”  I’ll step forward and gently let the doctor know, I can help.
4. I have an over active imagination.  See point 3.
5. I can still do head stands, cartwheels and splits.  Though, I’ve only ever been able to do a split with my left leg in front.  I’m a physical oddity, I know.
6. Things I wanted to be when I grew up:  a writer, after winning first place in a writing contest when I was 12 years old.   An artist.  A translator in a foreign country.  A doctor, but realized my loathing of all things mathematical would likely hinder this, and probably kill my patients.
7. I can knit, crochet, bake and cook with some skill.  I’m pretty good at them all.  I’m good wife material folks.  I actually used to think, if there ever was a third world war and you had to barter for goods, I’d be in good shape.  My only hindrance would be my tendency towards procrastination, but the hunger would fix that.
8. I have had bleach blond, normal blond, orange, red and pink colored hair.  I’m currently rocking my natural color and shall be for a while.
9. I have a tattoo, 3 piercings (nothing shocking, just my ears) and once upon a time had a nose ring, but I let that one grow shut.
10. Lilac is my favorite flower.  I can’t walk by one in bloom and not smell it.  While driving, if I see one I’ll shout and point, “LILAC!”, thus distracting the driver and potentially killing the driver, myself and any bystanders.  But they’re so pretty!

September 3rd, 2008 | Category: daily, me! | Leave a comment

Yeah, I’m sure most of the 30 people who come here daily (Hi guys!) noticed a few changes.  What?  Magpie?  Change things around on a whim?  Take 3 fucking hours to do one simple thing?  Bah!  Disbelief.

Then you don’t know me, now do you?  I am the person that if things are simple, that can’t be so, must make them difficult.  Must make things harder.  MUST FAIL!

I was on a call with the Roommate while trying to upload a new theme for the blog.  Try one, Fail!  Try two, Fail!  Try one of a different theme, FAIL HARDER!  Try two of different, woman will you not learn?  No, NO I will not learn!!!

I uninstalled everything.  EVERYTHING!  I reinstall everything.  FAIL!  I uninstall everything again.  I reinstall again.  FAIL SUCK BWAHAHAHAHA.

This was a brief conversation I had with the Roommate during my “Computer/Wordpress/FTP Meltdown August 2008″ (Being the 3rd meltdown of it’s kind this year.  Will I ever learn?)

[3:40:18 PM] Magpie says: it’s hard to bs your way with computers, cause they know when you’re bsing
[3:40:37 PM] Roommate says: lol
[3:40:52 PM] Magpie says: they all lack bs chips
[3:40:59 PM] Roommate says: lol
[3:41:12 PM] Magpie says: which puts me at a disadvantage

It honestly took me about 3 hours to get things worked out.  To do something I’ve done at least 3 times before.  My problem, I was looking in the wrong file.  The solution, to calm the fuck down and take my time.  This could be a good reason why I don’t work in IT.  That, and I’m allergic to pocket protectors.

Up next, reorganizing categories, that won’t cause me to break out into hives, no, not at all.

September 1st, 2008 | Category: daily, me! | Leave a comment

From CNN.com.

Authorities began ordering mandatory evacuations along Louisiana and Mississippi’s Gulf Coast earlier Saturday as Gustav roared past Cuba and into the Gulf of Mexico. iReport: Are you there? Send photos, video

People, just leave.  Please.  Be safe, take care, prayers and thoughts are with you.

August 30th, 2008 | Category: daily | Leave a comment

Ok, so I’ve been working my little tail feathers off.  And when I’m not preparing for tropical storms and hurricanes that could dampen my internet connection, I’m taking full advantage of that internet connect and working, working, working.  I know it would have been so cool if I came back here and could relay some fabulous story of being discovered by some big whig from Hollywood while working at a local pizzeria.  That you’d see you’re faithful Magpie on a silver screen come Christmas and my financial woes would be over.  Nope, I’ve been sitting on my ass, typing out answers to questions, such as:  What is a “hot carl” ? or What is a “rusty trombone“?  (Not even kidding, the amount of filth I get asked.)  The Urban Dictionary and I have gotten far too close for my comfort.

In times such as these my only solace (other than seeing the Roommates charming, smiling face) is music.  Good lordy, if it wasn’t for music I’d have gone kite surfing in a tropical storm myself.  At this second, the Beatles, Ticket To Ride, is ringing in my ears.  It was a Beatle-y kind of day for me.

So, because I’m being lazy right now, I’m gonna link a bunch of songs for you guys to enjoy.  Expect a variety, cause that’s how I roll.

My current musical love affair is Wolf Parade.  It’s hard to tell with me, cause I love so much music and such diverse artists, but these guys are in the serious running for my favorite band.  If you want to get me a gift, EVER, tickets to see these guys would get much love from me.  *HINT HINT HINT*  This song is from their new album, At Mount Zoomer.  It’s only 9 songs, which seems short, but they are worth every penny.  I recommend getting both albums though, you won’t be complete till you do.

Ok, next will be the Wombats.  I love these guys, their album Proudly Present A Guide To Love, Loss & Desperation is such fun. It’s hard to pick on song here, there are at least 5 I love and listen to consistently.  When I’m in a mood for fun, English and youthful, I listen to the Wombats.  It doesn’t hurt that they fall just after Wolf Parade in my music catalog.

Ok, this next one is pure fluff.  I view Robbie Williams as a male Madonna.  Which isn’t all bad, it’s just you only need them for certain situations.  Like, when no one is listening to you singing and your indie cred won’t be tarnished.  I’m tarnish my indie cred (just by saying indie cred, really) to give you Rock DJ, by Robbie Williams.  I know the words to this song, I dance in my bedroom to this song.  I put this song on repeat, cause dammit, it might be fluff, but fluff has never sounded so good.  It was annoyingly hard to find a good video of this on Youtube.

CJ, I challenge you to hate this song.

August 28th, 2008 | Category: daily, family (new and old), friends, lists, love, me!, music, the roommate, travel, video | Leave a comment

Over the weekend I had a major melt down.  Crying, freaking out, the works and all about money.  Which if you’re gonna freak out about something, that seems a good enough reason.  The drama is over, temporarily at least.

During my time of, ahem, quiet reflection, I scoured the internet for something to lift my spirits.  Thanks to Sweetney’s twitter I have found Cake Wrecks.

Oh Cake Wrecks, where have you been all my life?  Why am I only finding you now?  And when I read you blog, why doesn’t cake magically appear?

August 20th, 2008 | Category: daily | Comments (2)

Read the first part here.

For those of you unfamiliar with Second Life, let me explain a little.  If you’ve ever saw the computer game, the Sims, then it’s similar to that.  Only you design your own avatar/character.  You can pick the shape, skin color, hair color, hair style, eye color, you name it, you chose it.  Along with that, you build things, if you see it in Second Life, that means someone built the shape (tree, house, car, people, everything is built), created the texture (what the shape looks like color wise, fabrics, paint are types of texture).  Ok, enough of the boring bit.  The main thing about Second Life is that you meet people.  It’s like instant messaging, but the people walk around and interact.

This is how the Roommate and I first met and became friends.  We’d hang out at the same places and with the same group of friends.  We had the same sense of humor and within a few weeks could finish each other sentences.  But, we remained friends, though friends that got jealous when other people monopolize the others time.  Until one day we (still in the game) were honest with each other and decided to stop beating around the bush and become “partners” in the game.

The thing about Second Life is, it can quickly spill over into your “first life”, into real life.  I’d think about the Roommate, wonder how he was doing, if he was ok.  We started exchanging emails.  I still have most of those early emails.  We’d send packages in the mail, make play lists for our iPods and share various details of who we were outside of the game.  One day, I realized, I liked his character in Second Life, but I loved who he was in real life.

The nature of Second Life and relationships forged there is this, you are forced to communicate.  You have to deliberately decide what you are going to say.   Sure, you can filter yourself, make yourself look better in the game.  Once you step out of the game though, it’s all real.  But that foundation of communication, of IM’s, of emails, of letters, is already there.  It is not unusual for the Roommate and I to email up to 20 times a day.  Even when we are living in the same country, in the same town, in the same house.  We COMMUNICATE.  And don’t even get me started with the amount of time spent in IM.

So, we moved out of the game and started a long distance relationship.  Not knowing how it would work, only knowing that I cared for this man more than I could imagine.  It was amazing, yet equally terrifying.  Because, if I thought moving from a game to reality was a big step, how would I deal with meeting him for a first time?

August 18th, 2008 | Category: daily | Leave a comment

I’ll be a bit busy the next few days, working, sitting on my ass, working, laying down, working.

I also have a few other projects the require my attention.  I’ll continue the story I started, I just need to give myself some time to devote to it.

Until then please enjoy the pleasure that is brit glam rock from 2003.  I present you with The Darkness and their song, I Believe in a Thing Called Love.  I can’t stop listening to it.  It’s brilliant, trust me.

August 15th, 2008 | Category: daily | Leave a comment

Today is my daughters birthday.  She is nine years old.  Like all mothers say, it seems like yesterday she was just a baby, cradled in my arms.

I unfortuanately am unable to be with her on this day.  And that breaks my heart.  I sent her gifts (thanks Roommate for the help with that) and today I got to see her open them via webcam.  If it weren’t for Skype and webcams and microphones, I’d be a depressed wreck of a person.

She loved her presents, though I knew that one was exactly what she wanted, she had asked for it.  The other two were cool.  The password protected journal was a good choice, though her younger brother, M,  didn’t agree.  I asked him why, his response was “Mom, how am I gonna read it if it has a password?”

Umm, M, that’s the point.

August 12th, 2008 | Category: daily, kids | Comments (1)