Saturday, July 15, 2006

Miss Goody-Two-Shoes Hits the Tampa Bar Scene!

There's truly a first time for everything. I went out with my friends last night to celebrate our last day of school, our three-week summer break (no getting up at 5 AM for three weeks--Yay!), and our first year in the court reporting program. We got out at noon, so I followed Amy and Brooke to Amy's house so she could get ready, and so Brooke could drop off her car since she was staying there. Afterward, we went to Melanie's place and ate a yummy lunch that she cooked for us--pulled pork and black beans and rice. Mel is a fantastic cook; it was sooooo good. My mouth is still watering just thinking about it. We hung around for a while waiting for Anna, and when she got there, we went to Rick's on the River, a cool little place on the Hillsborough River.

I'm not much of a drinker, and they all know that, but Brooke made it her personal mission to get me drunk. Her words to me last Tuesday: "I hope you pass out! Ooh, I'd better bring a camera!" Oooookaaaay. Nice friends, eh? I don't think she meant any harm....

Since I don't know what I like, other than margaritas, I made that my drink of the evening. Mel's friend Krista showed up a little after we got there. She's a lot of fun. She just got accepted into law school, and after she had a few, she was arguing with this obnoxious old guy (who kept hitting on each of us in turn) about the integrity of public defenders who are assigned to defend people like the guy who *allegedly* raped and murdered 9-year-old Jessica Lunsford last year. I could see that Krista will make a good attorney :)

My "initiation" (since I hadn't been able to go out with them in the past) was to drink a Jaeger Bomb, which is Red Bull and Jaegermeister. It was nasty--tasted like cough syrup. And it also knocked me on my ass. I stuck with margaritas. Except for the Buttery Nipple that Brooke bought me. It was okay. I'd actually had that before. Our friend Ron, who is in the culinary program at our school, showed up. He's a bit scary-looking when you first see him: Mohawk (although only a *little* one :) , piercings, and tattoos. But he's the nicest guy. Totally harmless. I probably had the best time talking to him last night, despite Brooke trying to set me up with a decent guy we met at the bar. I'm not looking to get "hooked up" or whatever with anyone right now, so I just tried to be nice. I don't know about meeting guys in bars, anyway, since I rarely go. Not really my thing.

I had one more margarita, even though I was already feeling a little buzzed, danced with Ron, Brooke, and Krista (I am SUCH a white girl!), and drunk-dialed a cute guy friend, even though I was not full-on drunk. I didn't say anything embarrassing, which is kinda the definition of drunk-dialing, and I knew he was a safe bet because, A). he's really far away, and B). he gets the whole drunk-dialing thing, at least according to prior conversations we had had :) Mel bought me a Red Bull and kept getting me water to balance stuff out, and I was fine to drive home. Amy had another spare bedroom for me to sleep in if I had overdone it, but I was truly fine. I was actually more impaired from being up for 21 hours than anything. Got home, took a shower (smelled like smoke--Gag!), went to bed, and got up this morning feeling no ill effects.

Final tally: One mini-shot of vodka and lemonade, one Jaeger Bomb, one Buttery Nipple, three margaritas. In nine hours.

So that's my first experience out with the girls. I will now return to my regularly scheduled Goody-Two-Shoes life :)

Anybody Want a Sweater??

Okay, that's gross. Sorry. Decided to brush my cat, Dixie, this afternoon. This is the result after about 10 minutes of grooming with a regular brush:














I'll *finish* tomorrow by going over her with the shedding tool....

Tuesday, July 04, 2006

Midnight Run 10K

Well, the name of this post *could* have been "I Shoulda Done the 5K But Apparently I'm a Glutton For Punishment." The 10K started at 12:15 AM, at which time I am usually snoozing away in my comfy bed with my super-fluffy pillows and my prized-possession 600-thread count sheets, in which I plan to be buried (I get deep, deep discounts from work, which is the only reason I have stuff like that. I certainly don't pay retail. But I digress...) So I'm standing there at 11:35 PM, yawning and watching all the smart people take off for their 5K, knowing that in 40 minutes I would be running twice as far, asking myself, "What the hell was I thinking??" But I'm getting ahead of myself.

I ditched school yesterday (like pretty much everybody else) with plans to sleep in, relax a bit and rest up since I knew I wouldn't be home until well after 2 AM. Hahaha, yeah, right. I woke up at 7:30 to wait for the storm shutter guys to show up, and then we painted most of the afternoon. Guess I shouldn't complain--it was my room we painted :) And I was not given the night off from work like I had requested (I don't know who I have to kill to get a day off from that place, I swear....), so, because I'm a dedicated employee (read: chump), I showed up at 5 PM and worked my shift. The closing manager told me he would try to get me out early, and he did--10:20 PM. I had forgotten my Balance bar, so I ate a bag of pretzels and drank a pop at work, and shared a big bag of Swedish fish with the girl who worked with me. Counted the money, did my office duties, and changed into my running clothes and was out the door and on my way to Dunedin, tired and dehydrated.

"Slow Twin" Bill, whose boss paid for my entry (thanks again, Bill and Bill's boss!), gave me some tips on where to park. I wound up in the Publix parking lot across the street from the race start. I picked up my bib and t-shirt and looked for Bill. It's much more difficult to find someone in the dark, and since it was the Fourth of July, there were way more Stars and Stripes doo rags than usual. I figured, correctly, that he was doing both the 5K and the 10K ("Crazy Twin" Bill), and I didn't see him until he was coming in from his 5K. I hollered at him, but he must not have heard me.

We lined up around 12:05 AM for the start of the 10K, sang the "Star Spangled Banner," and we were off. I had my beloved iPod, which helped me forget how tired I was. It was kind of spooky running in the dark along the causeway. There were some light posts, and a half-moon, I believe, which reflected off the water. Very pretty. (I have a thing with water--I always have this weird urge to jump in.) I would like to actually SEE where I was running; I bet it's pretty. Once we got past the gate to Honeymoon Island, there were NO lights. The course was advertised as "well-lit." Umm, not so much. There were candles in empty water jugs lining the course on the island, which was cool-looking. But you couldn't see five feet in front of you. So I just followed the line of illuminated jugs :) Ran back into Dunedin where Bill found me right before I hit the parking lot where the finish line was and ran me in. I finished in 1:18:19, which is stellar for me. My typical 10K time before
this was in the 1:22 range. Talked to Bill for a while, drank some Gatorade and ate a banana, then left for home at around 2 AM. Got there at 2:45 (after I stopped at Steak 'n Shake for a vanilla shake), showered, and was in bed by 3:15. This was actually a fun race. Hot and humid, but fun. I would do it again. Although I would NOT get up early and work all day beforehand :)

Hope everyone has a Happy Fourth!