Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Morning After

I'm feeling better, except for where my poor poor bottom was abused by the bike seat. Aleve to the rescue, haha. The meds worked to help me get to sleep and after that I was able to get myself back to sleep every time I woke up. It helped that I finally got the promised phone call from SP right as I was about to turn off my phone. The conversation was like 20 minutes long, but it was nice to get one, and while he didn't tell me HOW he's been missing me, he said he has been (and added that it was for more than just sex, haha).

An intellectual is a person who has discovered something more interesting than sex.
- Aldous Huxley

I'm not sure I qualify as an intellectual.

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Altitude and Sickness

I absolutely have a mild case of altitude sickness, luckily it mostly onset post some serious working out (and probably because of it, haha). I could NOT catch my breath today while biking and that was a good warning of what was to come. Serious dizziness and a loopy feeling along with some irritability. So I'm here, writing a blog about the trip and stuff so far instead of going out tonight like we planned. The sleep I should get soon should do me good, here's hoping I wake up tomorrow feeling all kinds of better. This blog will probably be pretty disjointed, my sentences are a mess even in my head. Sorry. :(

So, we're in CO. It's freakin' GORGEOUS. Unfortunately the second the plane touched down I felt stabbing pain in my temple. And some nausea. I love to fly, I like everything about it except the proximity to strange human beings. I even like turbulence. (I have learned somehow to turn off my fear response... if I'm aware of it. It's the unconscious fears that take me out I think, and control me when I have no notion I'm being controlled.) Basically, I knew all of this wasn't a flight reaction. By the time we made it through baggage claim (a noxious affair when my mom and her SO are involved, she dumps her bags on me ASAP to go inhale carcinogens so then I get to smell them in the car for the next 2 hours, he steps up to get our bags off the line... and misses them, all of them, and I see them but can't leave all the bags I'm standing knee deep in to help, grr) I was walking funny when the pain would lance through my head. So I ask for something to take, mom has something, I take it blindly, only to find out it has something in it I'm allergic to. Luckily my reaction was mild (a little facial swelling), and the other ingredients did help. Scary, thanks mom. We went to bed after a stop at Buffalo Bill's grave, the couple hour drive from Denver to Keystone, and a stop at the grocery store (where I ended up choosing and planning our meals on the fly, Mom's SO also clearly had some altitude adjusting to do, he was out of it and a half). I woke up feeling sooo thirsty but good this morning, I've had over 14 glasses of water today. I actually drained my camelback for the first time ever, all by myself, in less than 3 hours.

We got things together this morning... VERY SLOWLY. I had to make our reservations and plans for the week... which totally weirded me out to do because it's not my money or just me on the trip. But I did it... I hope they can hang and that we have fun.... Then I finally got them out of the house to go biking. I swear, what is it with moms and a need to WAY overprepare for everything and yet still not bring the right things?? My backpack ended up weighing over 20 pounds today for the bike ride, just because I had to bring so many things she insisted on!! And even then she borrowed my beanie when it got cold, then smoked in it - so now I don't want to touch it until it's washed - and my ears nearly froze off without it on the last half of the trip. It was 16 miles (12 almost entirely downhill though, with minimal peddling), it should have been 18, but we weren't able to finish it in time. We went up to Vail pass and came down through Copper, Frisco, and almost to Dillon. It started out gorgeous, then a storm blew in and we were riding against the wind in freezing rain (there's still some snow up that high!!) for the last bit. I just couldn't catch my breath anymore, and my balance had gotten very wobbly. It could have been the wind too, but I felt so intensely weird. Mom had to walk the bike a lot during this part so we didn't have time to do the last 2 miles, but that was for the best with the breathing issues I was having, because of course I still pushed it until I realized she was completely miserable, then I called it quits for all of us. For some reason, I'm the decision maker on this trip, weird. Mom's SO got us lost 3 different times (he took charge of the map and managed to F that up royally, he was horrible about telling us if we were going the right way too, if you want to lead then DO IT, otherwise let someone else who actually will lead have the damn map). I was so frustrated a few times and the altitude stuff is supposed to make you irritable, but I was smart. Before we started out I popped my ipod on in my bag, snaked one earbud into one ear, and put it on a soothing mix I like to use for painting calmly or yoga. I think it saved us all, me having a soothing soundtrack for this ride. :) All in all it was the most gorgeous ride ever, I even LIKED the hardcore biker thrill I got from the rain, the breathing issues, all of it. And watching a storm roll in over the Rockies is definitely badass, trying to outrace it was pretty intense too. I loved the first part of the trail the most, when I could still breath, and the downhills were steeper. I got going so fast peddling was slowing me down a LOT, so I just stopped and raced down the mountain! :D What a rush, my ass is killing me, but what a rush. Then we came back and had a snack and popped down to the hot tub. Sometimes I push the third wheel feeling far away, other times I can't help but be aware of it. I think part of why vacations with them are difficult isn't just because we're on different speeds (me - fast, them - not so much), have different mentalities ( me - less is more, them - overprepare and plan), but also because I feel constantly alone. Even when we're all together. The hot tub made me so dizzy I couldn't walk, oops. So then it was upstairs to lay down, and we had to cancel going bowling for the night, which was sad. I wanted to a lot and it might have helped to be around them like that smiling and relaxing some more after being so annoyed at the last part of the trip. Even if I feel bitchy, I need to curb it, it's not fair to anyone, and I think it leaked through quite a bit a few times. Oops.

I'm so worried about my bestest Anne back home. Her life is a mess right now and I wish I could be there for her, do something, anything at all!! I hate going days like this without talking to her and knowing how she is. I think the combo of the odd woman out feeling and this being cut off from my friends thing really sucks.

I was sad when I talked to the boy (SP) the other night and he was having a screening of one of my movies he borrowed that I was supposed to watch with a bunch of the new girls I've been hanging out with and all his friends were going, including said girls. I was also sad when he asked me to call him, I did, and he asked about what's been going on but yawned through my answer and got off the phone with me super fast. Then he said he'd call when he was taking care of my cats, I would have loved to hear my girl kitty, and he forgot. I had to call him. Then he said he'd call tonight after our bowling team bowled, and he never did. It's now midnight there, no call. And I don't want to call him again when he said he would, some for stubborn reasons but mostly because I'm feeling fragile. All that really helps with the relationship concerns and the feeling lonely stuff.

I know things are happening with my best friends and I don't know about them and I hate it, hate it, hate it. I also loved every minute of the time with my sister and it reminded me just how much I love being around her and talking to her and just her. I hate that it seems like we can't ever sustain that long distance.

This place the walls are thin.... I don't feel FREE to talk you know? And voices carry on the air, it doesn't have A/C so the windows are always open to every room.... So going outside isn't the answer. I could go down to the pool or the lobby maybe, and I might have to tomorrow if this feeling persists. My mom is very nosy about my time, lol, I think she feels like she needs to have as much of it as she can when I'm around, and I understand that. I'm really hoping all of these feelings are just compounded by the overall something-is-wrong-here of the altitude nonsense, and not that bad in reality.

I'm going to go try to drug myself to sleep, which usually doesn't work, but is worth a shot tonight.... Here's to waking up refreshed, and ready to whitewater raft for half the day, woohoo!

Thursday, June 19, 2008

A typical ramble

Come with me, down the rabbit hole, for your first serious ramble. I haven't had a lot of sexual.. partners? We'll call them that for lack of a better word. I have had an 18 year old guy when I was years older than he was, a couple of guys 2 years older than I was (one when I was 18 - the first for a long time, the other 22), a guy... hmm... I think he was 30 and I was 22.... someone else around that age gap, and then now one year older. I really wish them being older automatically made it better, lol, but I think it's all about experiences. The one of them who was 30 clearly had seen too much porn or had women pretend they liked certain things or were impressed with certain things that I had never known another girl to be impressed by. (Granted, I have only had a select couple of handfuls of girl and guy friends willing to talk about these things with me, it makes a lot of people uncomfortable, go figure.) Luckily The Italian was quite well endowed and unhampered by drinking, so all was eventually forgiven and I even suppressed all of my giggles at some of his 'techniques' to save his ego - ahhhh, the things I'll do to be courteous. The youngest of them had the most impressive package, and I've sometimes wavered on my mental decision that he wasn't that good with it (I don't THINK he was), I think it was just that good on it's own so the memories are all hazed over happy ones, lol. Maybe it all comes down to sexual chemistry, plain and simple. They can know all the right moves but if YOU + THEM doesn't work then you might orgasm but it won't be a great sexual experience? Ugh, thinking about sex is soooo depressing when I can't have any. It's like... going to the shoe store and finding the sexiest pair of boots ever. I can touch them, try them on, get a little rush from wearing them in the store and knowing they look good... but once that's over I still have to put them back in the box and walk away only to dream of them later. Emo kid levels of sadness.

Sorry, I had a fruitless trip to DSW tonight and was very disappointed. My mom did buy me a hat however, haha. I also found some things I left behind in a closet here that fit me, a dress that I should have re-tailored that I could use to attend a wedding later this summer (ewwwwwwwww, I don't want to talk about that yet), etc. So it was sort of like shopping without spending money, which is pretty cool. The vacation is actually going very well so far. I think my moving away has sunken in with my family. My mom rarely treats me like a child anymore, her LTR doesn't either (and reminds her not to, love him for that), and my grandmother seems to finally see me as someone who NEEDS to do my own thing...... weird. 1st night here we went out for sushi and mom made a point to tell me she didn't have anything for ME to do while I was here... :) YAY, she finally got the vacation point!! THEN (I nearly choked on some salmon over this, I actually did swallow a piece of ginger whole...lol) she brought up homosexual marriage, children in homosexual marriages, and religion's role in all of that.... I slowly put down my sushi, looking at her levelly across the table, and quietly asked, "Are you sure you want to talk about this now?" Her response pleased me to no end, where this woman has been on the phone the last six months I don't know, but it was nice that she was here now, " Yes", she said, "I know how you feel about homosexuality, and I know we might not agree but I'd really like to hear what you think." WOW! Go mom! Score one for the potential of a strengthening of the mom-daughter friendship on this trip! She, her LTR, and I had a lively discussion about it. Mom actually began to agree with me more than when it started by the end of it, which wasn't the objective, but was certainly a nice boon. I am starting to think that her LTR knows less about me than previously assumed, though I've hidden nothing, he may just not see what he's not looking for. I actually think mom was using me as a foil to help bring him around to a more liberal pov, for some reason the man listens to me and always considers what I say very carefully. (Too bad I can't seem to find a sexy manmeat boyfriend who will do that.) Apparently her LTR doesn't understand why they need to be married under the church, or have kids, etc. I actually found that while he believes in Christianity quite strongly, he has apparently had some falling out with the church a bit as well. Mom asked me a bit about how I feel about it now, I was honest in that I felt that unfortunately many churches are just a box people stand on. They use them to look down on and judge and hold themselves high, they use them to fuel hypocrisy... and that I had found this to be particularly true where I currently live. I told her I thought religion can be so incredibly beautiful, and that if you need and want faith in your life then you deserve it as much as the atheist deserves their disbelief, then I stopped. I didn't go in to where I'm at right this moment. I'm drifting, and I like it. For once I have no need to poke or prod at it, though I know it won't be long probably until that changes. Interesting development, and it was more the SPIRIT of the discussion that eased some tension within me. I slept well that night, which never happens here (I was exhausted too, but that won't do it for me alone).

Today I went and visited my grandmother. 2 hours there, 3 hours back. Through and then out of the city...to the cows and the porta potties....and finally back again. While I was on the plane here listening to my ipod and an audiobook of Christopher Moore's You Suck: A Love Story I was flipping through an in flight magazine. I was doing so mostly to have an excuse for my occasional laugh, smiles, and other expressions that accompanied listening to a CM novel. However, I actually did end up reading part of an article, it was intended to be about restaurants but started out by saying: "Houston, I'm not supposed to like it." It went on to lament the city's flaws (lack of zoning, the insane sprawl of it, the sheer size and magnitude of the freeways, the strip malls, the smog, etc.) and yet... while reading it I could see it all in my head, and while parts of it are pretty ugly, I got excited to be back. Then the writer magically took the same mental turn I already had, and he extolled the virtues of having the Montrose head shop next door to the hole in the wall eatery with the best bread I've ever had, the Beer Can House (which would never pass zoning laws, haha), The Orange Show, and many other things he said better than I ever can.... Oh Nostalgia! That's the feeling and the word that enveloped me as I got into my mom's car and hit the Beltway this morning. That old familiar pavement, I put on 94.5 the Buzz (my old Alternative fave radio station, which I will still listen to even if it's all sold out to the CLEARCHANNEL juggernaut), and just drove. I smiled at buildings, at stupid drivers, at near death freeway experiences, at the EZ Tag I zoomed under, at the changes I saw, all the way past all my old stomping grounds. I actually remembered the entire way to my Grandmother's place, miles and miles from the city. The best part was the SKY. I love the sky here, it's mesmerized me since I was in the 3rd grade. It's so open it feels like the day can just go on forever and ever to me when I look at it. I used to love to lie on hills in the grass and stare at it. I honestly have not had the urge to do that since I left here, and it's not because I've gotten older. Even better, it was storming around me but not over the freeway on my way home. A stick lightning show, one funnel cloud, black and grey clouds whipping together, trees blowing, wind howling, and I could see the rain sheeting in the distance. It all felt like a show put on just for me to watch on my long ride back to my mom's house. I loved every second of it, I was giddy just watching, it was difficult to concentrate on the drive with so much to see. I didn't even call anyone or listen to anything until it was over. :)

So visiting with my grandma... why do old people think I care who has gone to see which doctor about what?? I nearly nodded off about 3 times while she went on and on about all of these people I don't know and who they have seen and why and what's going on with that. Very odd. She didn't ask much about me. I think that's a good sign actually. It at least meant that she didn't criticize. I think it's her way of saying she knows I'm ok. She actually liked my hair, haha, she NEVER likes my hair. We played with her dog, had lunch at the house, her LTR (I do not like him and just have to say so whenever I can) came to that, we made lots of small talk, I watched horrid TV shows I would never subject myself to normally... and left feeling lighter. I did the right thing going out there, she was actually happy and I could tell. So I guess if nearly putting me to sleep with her random rambling made her happy, it also made me happy to do it. It's not like I'm here often, and I usually manage to wiggle out of seeing her on my own. We talked about our tiny family a little bit too. My in when she needs something, out when she doesn't cousin in particular. I even told her about the no nonsense get on or off the train voice mail I left the cousin, right before she disappeared again (after getting Christmas gifts out of everyone of course), and she didn't spaz. I think my grandma actually understood that I left it because I do care, though I know she doesn't know why I care from a distance now (so they can't draw me in and try to control me like they used to). Her life makes me a little sad, she really doesn't do much of anything anymore but take the dog to the groomer once every two weeks, go take care of her laundromats once a week, occasionally make food for her and the icky LTR, and go out to eat with him. It's TV, all the time. And she's not that old, but she's so weak now. She did a lot of complaining, but I no longer feel the least bit responsible either, which is a welcome feeling. I used to. Even if it was out of my hands, I'd feel bad, like I should or could fix it or talk to the right person who would for her. It's nice to know I've outgrown some of my guilty conscience.

Then I had some fun talks with my sister Cami and BMF Frances on the way home. I arrived and mom and the LTR were waiting. I hooked up their Wii for them, and we headed out to dinner. Dinner was fun, I can't even remember what we talked about. I like that they find me funny, and even occassionally witty, that's all I remember. The LTR in particular always seems to enjoy my company a lot. Granted it's Day 2. Too soon to be sick of me, haha. The sass still seems cute now. He headed off, and mom and I took a disappointing trip to DSW (but I got a new hat!), followed by one to Stein Mart to help mom get a top for her reunion this weekend. We picked out the top, and I approved an outfit for the second day of it when we got home. I hope I seemed appropriately enthused, I was getting lost in my own head a bit at this point. A fantastic dressy casual dress I saw at Stein Mart clicked a weird reminder in my brain of the wedding I need to attend in August which knocked into my current thoughts on my boyperson.... and I found that miasma hard to crawl out of, it might have even driven me here subconsciously to purge. (I talked to mom about him a little when she asked on a 1st night post dinner dog walk - she ACTUALLY LISTENED SUPPORTIVELY, but I didn't overtax her with it, just skimmed some of it.)

So, where did all of this mental masturbation come from? Yeah, I wondered if I named this blog right on the first go... but that's exactly what this is. Purging just a portion of the randomness. I couldn't sleep, I finished You Suck: A Love Story, and I thought that since the first 2 days of the trip went well, I'd like to write that down and remember it. :) So there ya go old chap.

P.S. The interview with CM post audiobook was very interesting. I wish I had even a drop of writing talent. All I have is the ability to semi-coherently string words together, and occasionally use ones with lots of syllables. Sad.

Saturday, June 14, 2008

Adoration

... is very addictive. I wanted to remember to expand on this later, so I'm saving this here for now to ponder and write about when I have more time.

Welcome!

I'm excited to have this quiet place to ramble. To spill the excess from the mundane thoughts I normally share with those around me. The rest of it usually remains deep within, but maybe, just MAYBE spewing a little bit of it out here will help soothe my naturally restless soul. I'm working toward the idea of contentment. It's definitely not something I'm good at, being content. However, I would like to learn to achieve it, even if I can't keep it. Purging some thoughts just might help. I'll also just be using this as a place to save very random thoughts and ideas that I want to keep somewhere, but not necessarily where my family could stumble into them.

In other news: 5 days and counting until I go home. I desperately wish this was an event to be excited about. I am super happy about seeing my sister Cami, I love and miss her. She's the one person I am always wishing I knew better, but like me she can be a tough cookie to crack, haha, and I never want to pressure her. She's one of the few whose opinion I actually immediately take into consideration even if it's polar to mine. She's the only person whose thoughts on childbearing made me re-assess my own (anti) for the first time in years. That right there says how much impact she can have on me. But then there's the rest of my family....

I joke that the country music has gone to my mothers' brain. Or perhaps it's Fox news.... I really hope it's not her boyfriend that did it.... I just don't know. However, when I left she was fairly open minded for a semi-Christian republican. Now.... she's bigoted, racist (though she tries to cover it with some issue or whatever, bullshit), and very right wing. SCARY. She also has started preaching random Christian nonsense at me. WTF. We've had 1 good conversation in months and months, and it was short and I made it good. The rest sucked. She asks what's going on with me, I tell her, she spazzes on me for 'overthinking' and 'overplanning' everything.... I never ask for her opinion. The last time she did that she then told me that God was going to take over the course of my life if I kept believing I controlled it.... and then basically said HE was going to impregnate me. Nice. So the next day everything looked like sperm to me (literally, the water droplets on my car, the yogurt on my spoon, everything) and it was funny. BUT the fact that she said it to me and believed it are not funny. I've been keeping my mouth shut for months, which might not have been the best course of action at all. I probably should have immediately told her she is offending me and not to talk to me about those things.... it just seems so sad to fight when we see each other 2-3 times a year. She doesn't know me at all anymore and I don't know if she wants to. I also know she usually parrots someone else's opinions.... so I'm sort of morbidly curious to find out where she's getting this crap now. I LIKE her boyfriend though, and I'm worried (95% sure) it's him. Sadness. And I'm spending DAYS in Colorado with the two of them with no other company very soon..... eek.