This Yellow Taxi Cab In Which I Ride

The List.

Blog Date: 2.15.2010. Engage. I'm lying in bed and I just watched TV on my laptop. Technology is pretty cool. Today, I signed up for NetFlix, just after returning my evil cable box to the firey chasm from whence it came! (okay, so the cable box isn't really that evil. The 80 dollars it was costing me on the hand...). I also exchanged the phone modem for the internet only converter. All in all, I'll be saving about a hundred dollars a month. And NetFlix appears to be better than DVR capabilities ever was! And it's only 8.99 a month! Hoo-ahhh! This past Sunday, I spent most of the day at Uncommon Grounds in Saratoga. My plan was to venture to the mall too, and have dinner some place else entirely. I ended up just reading and surfing for a full eight hours! (I think it's my record amount of time spent in a coffee shop). On Saturday, I wrote the following but didn't post it because I didn't have web capabilities: I find myself sitting in Dunkin Donuts in Amsterd...

The list. It's open mic and you should be here at caffe lena. We miss your pesence and especially your voice. Most likely you are at home and not wanting to venture out into the cold January night that we are having. I don't blame you; it is very cold and the roads are somewhat treacherous in parts if you aren't careful. Enjoy your being warm, but think about us here at the open mic. After all, we are thinking about you! Wish you were here

I hate sweat pants and I use the word "hate" because it is a simple word and tends to be precise. However, I feel a stronger distaste to sweat pants than the word "hate" can truly communicate. (This thought is brought to you by the three college age women at Panera bread who are wearing sweats and look disgusting). *Note: the last time I wore sweat pants, I was in 6th grade. I have not worn them since. I'm in Panera Bread (as you may have guessed) in Schenectady. I'm having a "me-date." First, I picked up some cat paraphernalia for Orea (my cat), which was the purpose of me leaving the house today. Then, I went to Barnes and Noble and spent about fifty dollars on books. I think I am excited about reading again. I had picked up a bunch of books back in late summer and started reading one of them. I just couldn't get into it... it remains one of only a handful of books that I started and did not complete. I grabbed some interesting looking fantas...

It must be open mic night. I am sitting quietly in a back corner of rhe caffe with the harmonica contraption around my neck. Of course, I am feeling uneasy about playing the harmonica for the first time in front of people... I guess: here goes nothin'. Guitars

It's a new year and I have been out of the house a couple of times so far. Which essentially means I'm not fulfilling my resolution of hybernating until spring. Although, this morning (it's really almost noon), I find myself in bed and not wanting to get out of it regardless of how much crap housework I have to do today. I have heard the phone ring twice and my cell phone buzz once and I haven't made any moves to detach myself from the bed. One of the times-that-I-left-my-house-so-far-this-year was suppossed to be fun and somewhat fulfilling. It turned out to be awkward and I left. I went to an open mic night in Fultonville. I had first heard about the open mic some time last summer and had every intention of attending some time. It is held once a month in a basement in a church. I finally made myself go (telling myself it was my new year's resolution to put myself in new situations) this past Saturday night. I arrived at about ten minutes to seven, found the sign u...

I wasn't planning on writing about 2009 until 2010, but I'm awake and I can't sleep. I had a rather trying day at work today and have been feeling quite unfulfilled since then. My hope is that unloading some thoughts into this blog-thing will result in enough easing of my mind in order for me to fall asleep. It has now become a ritual on the blog for me to write about the past year on New Year's day. First, however, I re-read the previous New Year's day post and compare and contrast (apparently) last year's self to this year's self. The 2008 post is found here. The first thing I noticed in re-reading the post is that a lot of positives occurred throughout 2008. There were lights at the end of tunnels and I generally seemed to make steps in good directions. One thing that I didn't post about that day, but was on my mind non-the-less, was my relationship with Stephanie. It was about that time that things started to feel not-right. There were many discussio...

Being that I celebrated Christmas/my-birthday with my family on the Saturday six days before actual Christmas/my-birthday, the 25th of December was rather uneventful. There were no candles to blow and no wishes to make. There was no out-of-tune and out-of-sync singing of happy birthday . And there were no spankings and/or a pinch-to-grow-an-inch. Especially, there were no hugs. There was very little socializing (I attempted to go to a gathering at a friend's place, but no one else was gathering and so I left so the boyfriend/ex-boyfriend -- she and he couldn't seem to agree -- could be there without the oddity of my random being-there-ness). Even so, I felt mostly fulfilled, as I had received many merry-and/or-happy-birthdays from friends and family via facebook messages, myspace messages, text messages, and phone calls. I also got to spend my birthday (for the first time in my entire life!) doing just exactly what I wanted to. And for this year, I wanted to play a video game t...

It has been a very buys last two weeks. I haven't had the time to sit, organize my thoughts, and blog. I'm not quite sure where to start. It really has been that busy and my thoughts are a whirlwind. Two Thursdays ago, I attended Open Mic as usual. It was a good night overall, and I feel as though I did a particularly good job on my Christmas song, Frozen . I also played Endless . After playing I received really wonderful compliments from some people in the audience. One was from, Tom (think), who hosts an open mic in Fultonville at a church once a month. He was quite impressed with Frozen , which made me feel very good. I have to say that it may be one of my most well-written songs as far as the whole package is concerned. On Friday and Saturday, I did some Christmas shopping and started making my black santa hat (yes, I bought materials and sewed a santa hat for myself -- I can be quite crafty). I wrapped gifts for my family and put them underneath my tree. The doing of these...

Ho Ho Hosting Caffe Lena's open mic!! Lots of christmas songs. It's freezing cold outside but feels warm in the caffe. Friends and songs. It doesn't get any more christmas spirity than this. Love it!! Ho Ho Hosting

It's not very late on a cold December Sunday. Even so, I am in bed (which is where I spent a good portion of my day) being warm and sleepy. The headache that I have had since this morning is finally subsiding and I feel that I may be able to fall asleep peacefully without being in pain. The comfort of this realization has prompted me to open up blogger and write. You see, it has been a while since I've blogged. Two weeks, as a matter of fact. And I should have a lot to write about. The problem with having a lot to write about is that when you do open blogger a whole bunch of things start to happen: 1) You have no idea where to start 2) You fear that you'll forget to write about something 3) You leave out bits and pieces of things in order to prevent yourself from writing a lot 4) You know it's going to take a while to get it all down, so you give up and leave it as a draft. All such thoughts are going through my head... Still, I haven't blogged in two weeks and I ne...

It is now Sunday. Which means I am three days late writing about day six of my vacation and two days late writing about seven five. I'm a bad blogger some times. I have been very busy since being home. There was a gathering Saturday night at a friend's house and I have had to unpack and tidy things up after the unpacking. I picked my cat up on Saturday and slept A LOT. I guess I was partially jet-lagged and partially behind on sleep. I have also been taking care of the sunburn that I had gotten on Thursday and haven't written about yet... Okay. Time for the catch up. I woke up Thursday morning (Day 6 of the Vaca) in the late morning and went straight for the poolside. Of course I put on sun tan lotion and took extra care to make sure I covered my back. In fact, I put on SPF 15 first and then added SPF 30 to my back because I had gotten a little red in some spots. In the next four hours, I laid on my stomach, laid on my back and switched back and forth between the two. I...

I don't remember getting a tattoo last night... I do remember getting the word "Light" stamped on my left hand when I walked into a dance club (time out: Yes. I went into a dance club). I attempted to wash "Light" off my hand, but it doesn't seem to want to come off at this time... More on the dance club later. First a catch up. I woke up Wednesday morning and had some breakfast. My plan for the day? Lay by the pool. What did I do? I laid by the pool. First, I went across the street to shop for a beach towel. I had checked out some other places the night before, but didn't find any that weren't either cheaply made or costing more than I wanted to spend.

Today, I saw something that I have never seen in real life before... but first: a catch up. I woke up this morning late again. I love me some sleeping in time. Got dressed, ate breakfast, and packed my stuff. Then I hopped in my lame rental car and headed off toward Ormond Beach (which is a part of Daytona Beach) and my hotel. I felt sad leaving Tif's house. I had a blast catching up and just hanging out. Tif is fun 100 percent of the time! My lame Hyundai Accent became a little less lame when I figured out how to change the EQ on the radio. Whoever had the car before me turned the treble way up and the bass down. WHO TURNS THE BASS DOWN !?!?!?!? No wonder I had to blast the radio just to hear the beat. I fixed the problem and felt a little bit better about driving it. It took me a little less than an hour to get to my hotel. I checked in and brought my stuff up to my room, smelling the salty sea the entire time. Here are some pictures of my room and the view: Aft...

I am sleepy. So very sleepy. It's almost 11 and I've just returned from having a great dinner with Tif and her friends near Cocoa Beach. We ate at a bar and grill called (appropriately) Grills . Grills is on the inter coastal waterway (not that you needed to know that) and there was a nice breeze that kept things cool on an otherwise warmish night. Right now, Tif is (seriously) using a nail file (at my suggestion) to fix a tooth crown that broke on her today. And it worked, apparently. So, the moral of the story is: if you ever break your tooth crown, you can use a nail file to smooth out the sharp parts and make your mouth happy. Today's blog posting is soundtracked by the song Cape Canaveral by Conor Oberst. This is because there are a lot of signs around and to Titusville that also direct you to Cape Canaveral, which prompts me to think about -- and sing -- the song. I am listening to it on iTunes right now. This morning, I got a late start. The alarm went off at...

I am sitting at my friend Tif's house. We just got home from an adventure at Sea World! We had a fabulous time. Firstly: a catch up. Albany. The plane boarded a little sooner than was planned and there were only like 40 people on it so it boarded fast. We ended up landing about 30 minutes earlier than expected, which was sweet because the line for picking up the rental car was long and took forever. I picked up my car. It's a Hyundai Accent and looks like this:

The Rental. Hyundai Accent.

Dolphin

At Sea World. Watching a whale show. Sitting in the 'soak zone.' having a blast. Remind me to tell you about the roller coasters and getting soaked on the Antlantis ride. Right. Done texting. Back to the show. Shamu

I am sitting in the Albany International Airport wishing I had my guitar. I'm afraid to travel with it, don't want anything to happen to it. Maybe when I get some money I will buy a "travel guitar" for future travels. There is free wi-fi here. Yay! I hope there is the same at my condo. I'm insanely early for my flight... my dad dropped me off and had an appointment to go to for work, so I couldn't get here any later. No problem. I can type. Click-clickity-click-click-click.