Of Course I Hear Voices: I Own Parrots

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Sent on the Sprint® Now Network from my BlackBerry®

It is late registration time, and of course that means my life is crazier than usual. One side effect of this is the return of the weird and disturbing dreams. So I am working 70 hours a week, and not sleeping. This is a bad combo.   Even when I do crash and burn (aka Sunday), I still only sleep for short periods of time. That is a major issue at times, but I try to just keep going. I've belabored the why me's of this and the being annoyed. Now I'm just going to run with it. It is time to track and try to make sense of this low grade madness. These dreams usually involve: People from my past A fiction piece I am working on People I know but totally bizarre situations. Bad things happening…sometimes tragic sometimes just odd They are so real I'm disappointed when I wake up.   Seriously, deciding to buy a truck on my way to work, somehow thinking I didn't have to be at work until 1, so I don't call to tell them I am late, and then losing my job isn't nice. See...

The college years will always have a special place in my heart. There were so many good songs from that era, but these bring back the most memories, Flagpole Sitta by Harvey Danger When I was in college, they released all these teenish movies the reminded me of my high school. This song was in the Disturbing Behavior soundtrack. The movie was okay, but this song always stuck out. I'll be the first to admit the idea of chipping the popular kids seemed pretty parallel to my high school experience, but the writing was lacking. Still this song is awesome: I've been around the world, and l've been around the world and found only stupid people are breeding....that is a classic line. Little Black Backpack by Stroke 9 This was my song back in the day. I'm not sure of all the reasons anymore, but it just became closely associated with me during college. Mayb...

I probably couldn't never had afforded it at the time, but this was a great place to stay. The rooms are fabulous, the steakhouse is awesome, and the staff is amazing. My sister and I stayed there as part of a trip I had won. We had a four day spa trip. We were treated like A-listers through out our whole stay. Staff members ...even the doormen remembered us and were always very helpful. We indulged at a spa just down the street, shopped on Michigan avenue and out at Clark and Belmont, went to a wine tasting and had an all arounf fabulous time. The bar was great and the steakhouse was amazing. We were able to eat three meals there, and each was awesome. They even had a little business center we both used to print our boarding passes and check in the with rest of the world. How can you not love the modern look, turn down service and the stick figure city scape?

I'm not a huge fan of going in cold. I like to be somewhat appraised of what I am getting into. Yes, I am overly cautious, but past mistakes have made it so I refuse to knowingly put myself in a similar situation. I'm not sure I have a set of criteria. I know it might be shallow, but finding out a guy lives in his parents basement because he is a stoner and can't keep a decent job, or because he's a constant victim that can't get his act together as opposed to he just had a run of bad luck isn't fun. I just want to know the basics upfront. I need to be able to put my own initial anxiety to rest. I'm not going to say complete strangers are just out of luck, but I would rather have some information before the initial meeting.

Like many oldest children I was the experiment. My parents were learning how to parent, and I was their trial run on all their rules and expectations. That just comes with the territory. It is just the way things are in most families. I think it made me more responsible as an adult. I have a different understanding. I think all oldest children are the experiment. Our parents are learning how to be parents. The oldest children get to be the ones put through trial and error. I think it made me more responsible. I have a different perspective on money and obligation. I feel like the "mom" of my friends, and like I should always be doing something ...

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If you haven't herd of guster....you are a good fourteen years behind the times. Don't fret, you can always start now. Here are three songs to get your feet wet. either way by guster It is only the greatest song ever. It is musically deep and lyrically . This will always be "my song." Medicine by guster It is some of their older work is on the Goldfly album, but this song is catchy and fabulous. , amsterdam by guster Killer guitar licks and lyrics make this awesome...and it is better live.

Well we are two weeks in and things keep getting interesting.   I will admit. I was scared when I arrived at Bentlys. I knew we couldn't survive another dead week. Things were looking bleak, but in the eleventh hour, singers came out of the woodwork and life was good. It is a strange group we have there, but it should be interesting to see who makes the top 18. Majors was slower this week, but we had some new faces come to audition. Buffet Concert = dead night at Britton Tavern. We started tryouts a little late, but it paid off. Open karaoke coaxed a few more into auditioning, so it was win/win.   We have one more week of auditions. I'm anxious to see how the tryouts for next week go. J I'm thinking it will be packed or dead. Either all the procrastinators will be out in full force, or it will be dead. I'm sort of hoping that is crazy busy! Then the 10 week contest begins after that…and that is where the fun begins. Theme weeks are fabulous, and I can't wait to see...

Sundays are the only day I have that are all mine. I work my real job Monday - Friday and many Saturdays. I work for P3 in varying capacities at least four nights a week if not five. I love my life. I love being on the go and independent. However, I need one day to recover from the week. If I want to sit in my pajamas and blog all day...I will. If I want to sleep in, I can. Sundays are my day favorite even though I know they mean Monday is only hours away.If I want to see my friends, I will. Otherwise it is just the fids and I chilling at the apartment.

I want you to imagine a lobster tank like the one they have at Red Lobster. Now I want you to picture this same tank in a big red case with a drop down claw, money slots and a joy stick. Had you told me this existed, I would not have believed you. However, some things just cannot be made up.   Yes one of our venues has one of these. Seriously, it is just like a toy machine but with lobsters. I knew they had this, but I had never actually witnessed it in use until last night. I arrived to find a group of men standing around it feeding dollar bills into it like it was the coolest thing ever.   This brought up a few questions: How high quality can these lobsters be? In theory, if you win a lobster, they cook it for you on site. I'm not knocking the kitchen staff, but this is a bar so I'm not sure they are tWthe best ones to cook a lobster. How do they feed the lobsters? How do they get the dead ones out? I mean you can't cook them after they are dead the meat gets icky. What ...

I am a movie snob. I'll be the first admit that. I wasn't expecting this to be a masterpiece, but there are some standards that were not met.. My brother and I were burning some time on the Friday after Thanksgiving. We had driven into "the city" (if you consider Toledo, a city ) to get sushi. We had no other plans until meeting our family for dinner at Tony Packo's. It made no sense for us to drive all the way to Woodville or Wauseon only to drive back. Neither of us are huge shoppers, and we were out of good ideas. We decided that maybe a movie would be a good time waster. We arrived at the theater only to discover that all the movies we wanted to see had already started. We saw Role Models listed an decided why not. Adam and I like comedies. Adam more than I like stupid humor. Really I prefer smart humor in a stupid humor costume...but anyway...we left the movie feeling robbed. Basically, the story was weak, The writing was worse, and all the funny part...

Indy Idol Week One Well we are officially through the first week of tryouts...and so far it has been interesting. Bently's: We only had 2 people tryout and apparently the manager double booked the venue AND Dave Matthews was in town...so I am hopeful that we have a better turn out next Saturday. Majors and Britton: A major difference. We have some good competition at both locations. I love judging. I have always loved music. I finally get to use all that Keynote training on performance and stage presence. I like being out and using some of that useless knowledge in my head. The downside: Judging people I don't particularly care for fairly. I'm sorry if you pursued and stole my friend's Boyfriend, or are a huge attention monger who threw a temper tantrum that kept me awake all night via e-mails to my phone...and this in recent memory it is hard to not be a little biased. Bad servers: My food is comped, but I still plan on tipping you until you, so please actually wait ...

This is a contest formatted like American Idol. We will have three weeks of tryouts at each location followed by 10 weeks of competition. Contestants may tryout one time each night. However, they are welcome to tryout at all three weeks of auditions. After week three, the results will be posted on facebook and emailed to the contestants. Conestants for the 10 week contest will be chosen by three judges. The judges will be scoring based on the following six categories: vocal ability, stage presence, appearance, confidence, entertaining, and enunciation. After tryouts are over, the competition begins. During the ten week contest, scores will be determined by the three judges as well as audience votes. Make sure to bring all your friends! Contestants must sign-up and select their song prior to each event. All songs will be performed in karaoke format. The winner gets $ 1000.00; 2nd place $ 400.00; 3rd place $ 100.00. Good Luck!!! Sign-in begins at 6pm, and auditions begin at 8pm. In...

Last week wasn’t bad. It was just exhausting. I didn’t realize how much I had on my plate. Late registration is tiring enough. Add to it my other jobs and it is a recipe for disaster. Just look at this: Monday: Worked 8-5 home, tanned, cooked, worked on job leads until 1, but couldn’t sleep. I was up until 4 Tuesday: Worked 8-5, ran home, changed clothes, grabbed stuff, ran to Bucky’s, shot pictures for Indy Idol finals until 1, home, “lost cell phone” aka put it on my nightstand and then couldn’t remember where I put it. Wednesday: Worked 8-11:30. Went home. Worked on editing photos, posting photos, web design and blogging until 2 Thursday: Worked 8-5. Came home, cooked, worked on blogging and job leads, went to Bucky’s and worked until 3. Friday: worked 8-5. Worked at home until 2:30 Saturday: When I left for work, I was thinking about the 2 e-mails I had received from P3 people, and ended up (totally legally and safely turning north on Meridian instead of south like I needed to. Wor...

When I was in third grade, I had to write and illustrate a book for my accelerated class. I was dreading this. I cannot draw to save my life. I knew this short coming. Still, I buckled down and wrote my first book. The premise was simple: Shelly gets glasses...something I had just gone through. I guess that started my using writing as therapy. I decided then that is what I want to be when I grew up. I guess that dream has come true in part, I am a writer, I am published. However, I still have to make it so writing is my full time job.I'm hoping that is a reality soon.

Thoughts for a Monday Some are positive…some are just ponderings…but here is what is on the old mind this week: 1) I am lucky to have a good job (that may be slowing pushing me towards another level of insanity…but it works for now), business is good, and I have gained momentum on following up leads and working on big picture things. I just know that the next month or so is going to be rough. I need to start picking up little projects for spending money for Vegas. I need to stay focused when I am exhausted after a long day. I love how the fiction writing and business building is going, but I’m not taking on the little revenue generators like I should. 2) I need to remember to take *me* time…and to enjoy it. I love my side work. I treasure my time with my friends, but I need to remember to take some time for just me  3) P3 is going into some crazy busy times. It should be interesting to see how things grow, morph and totally change in the coming months. I see many good things on the h...

It is a little hole in the wall diner on the edge of Union Square, and I love it. It is a great place to people watch during the day and grab a quick bite after a night out. You have to walk through dark hallways and stair wells to reach the restrooms (that can sometimes resemble to stall from the move Trainspotting), and I'm still not sure how that guy with a walker made it down there and back. Yes...it is the Pinecrest Diner in all its brown Formica glory. Most everything they serve is fabulous, but I love their breakfasts the most. My favorite is the ham and cheese omelette. Give me a bottle of ketchup for the hashbrowns and grape jelly for my wheat toast, and I am happy girl. It was my first meal upon landing in San Francisco, and something about it just brings back those memories. I was so excited to be there, and I couldn't wait to start my first, real, solo vacation. It is so bad for you. but I figure I walk off the calories during my stay.