Crunch time

I apologize for my lack of blogginess lately- but I have been really busy. I am getting married and I am now in the crunch time. I swear, planning a wedding is like having a second job but you don't get paid. In fact you have to pay them. I'm not knocking it- I'm excited to get married and I am glad that I am having a wedding and we aren't just running to Vegas or something. Its just a lot to do.

So here is my thought of the day: Why do we drive on a parkway and park in a drive way? Why are they called apartments when they are so close together? Why do we say the alarm went off when it actually (if you think about it) turned on? Why don't sheep shrink when it rains? What was Captain Hook called before he lost his hand? If knees were backwards, like a flamingo, what would chairs look like? Why do noses run and feet smell?

Ok so they were thoughts not one thought, so sue me.

Public transportation

My senior year of college I had to take an early class. This was bad because it was at UCSD at like 8:30 or 9 in the morning and if you know anything about traffic I would have had to leave my house in Vista by 6:30 to make it to class on time. The cool thing was I could take the train. I commuted the whole time I was at UCSD and it was pretty sucky, especially the traffic I would hit coming home so I always wanted to take the train but the last train leaves at 7:40 in the morning. I scheduled my classes much later in the day then that so I always had to drive. Well this one class I had my senior year was perfect timing-wise to take the train, so I did.

If you have never taken the coaster south- it is a pretty cool trip. Ocean views, the steady slow rocking of a train. Plus you are going 60 mph and the thought of sitting on the freeway going 10 mph made the trip so enjoyable. The bummer came in when I had to go home.

Since I took the train I obviously didn't have a car and the class would be over by 9:30 in the morning. It was pretty stupid I even had to come down for that little class but I did. Well the trains don't run North until 4 in the afternoon- there was no way I was just goign to sit around campus all day. There was a bus route that I could hop on on campus that would take me all the way back to the train station in Oceanside and it would come right around 9:45- 10. I thought that would be great- it was so cheap to take the bus.

Here's what stunk. We never went on the freeway or faster then maybe 30 mph the whole time. It would take 1 hour and 30 minutes for me to get back to the train station. That time of day driving in that direction would take me about 35 minutes. So I spent a lot of time on the bus. I got ot see a lot of the little towns in between La Jolla and Oceanside- Cardiff, Encinitas, Leucadia. We used to drive right past the house that Farrah Fawcett used to own- it was in Carlsbad. I learned how to read on a moving bus while I was facing sideways for over an hour without getting carsick. Pretty amazing huh?

I used to talk to people sometimes. My first trip there were some nice ladies heading to Carlsbad that I got to chat with. I met one crazy lady on another trip. It was always interesting seeing who would come on and off the bus. I would try to guess about them based on their clothes, where they got on and off, what they had with them. It was a rather interesting study of people riding that bus.

Ever since that class has ended I don't think I have been on another bus. And that is fine with me. All totalled, I spent somewhere around 15 hours on that city bus- crazy.

Do They Teach Grammar?

I am simply curious because when I was in school I remember learning a little. Elementary school- 3rd grade- Mrs. Laurence, we learned prefixes and suffixes. After that I moved here and the curriculum changed. Grammar wasn't in vogue anymore. I had a high school English teacher who thought it was important and taught it anyway but by then I was a lost cause. I'm not the only one- my age group for the most part, didn't learn grammar in school. I learned more about nouns, verbs, pronouns and adjectives from Mad Libs then I did in class.

Don't get me wrong- I was a good student and I did pretty well in english and writing classes because I could tell when things didn't sound right. But I have no idea what the words mean- like articles, what are they? Besides the definition of writings in a periodical, I haven't a clue. Prepositions- you got me, dangling modifiers- does that have to do with boogers? I actually had to go online and do search on "grammar" because I didn't even know any terms of the parts of speech I don't know- if that makes sense.

I heard that they are teaching grammar again- probably because many people I graduated with are barely literate but I wonder why the got rid of it in the first place?

My Cat the Hero

I miss having pets. I'm not allowed to at my house because I'm renting but when I lived with my parents and we have 2 dogs and a cat. There is something calming about having a pet. It is true that they help lower blood pressure. And, as you will learn below- they could save your life!

COLUMBUS, Ohio - Police aren't sure how else to explain it. But when an officer walked into an apartment Thursday night to answer a 911 call, an orange-and-tan striped cat was lying by a telephone on the living room floor. The cat's owner, Gary Rosheisen, was on the ground near his bed having fallen out of his wheelchair.

Rosheisen said his cat, Tommy, must have hit the right buttons to call 911.

"I know it sounds kind of weird," Officer Patrick Daugherty said, unsuccessfully searching for some other explanation.

Rosheisen said he couldn't get up because of pain from osteoporosis and ministrokes that disrupt his balance. He also wasn't wearing his medical-alert necklace and couldn't reach a cord above his pillow that alerts paramedics that he needs help.

Daugherty said police received a 911 call from Rosheisen's apartment, but there was no one on the phone. Police called back to make sure everything was OK, and when no one answered, they decided to check things out.

That's when Daugherty found Tommy next to the phone.

Rosheisen got the cat three years ago to help lower his blood pressure. He tried to train him to call 911, unsure if the training ever stuck.

The phone in the living room is always on the floor, and there are 12 small buttons — including a speed dial for 911 right above the button for the speaker phone.

"He's my hero," Rosheisen said.

© 2005 The Associated Press.

Where does she get it?

I know- I already have a crazy bathroom picture on this blog- but look! I found another!

Imagine opening the door to the bathroom- you gotta go bad, and this is the scene that greets you. That would be scary! You would probably pee your pants right there!

Just like the last bathroom pic, this too is a real, actual place. The floor is painted to look like that. Kinda makes me think of "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" when Eddie, the real live person, goes into Toon Town. He is in this tall building and he opens the door to the bathroom I believe and it said "out of order." Well by "out of order" they meant there was no floor and so he falls. Mickey Mouse and Bugs Bunny are skydiving and meet up with him on the way down. Its a silly movie but maybe that is where they got the idea for this bathroom.

I also think of the Winchester Mystery House mainly because it has stairs that go up to no where and doors that open to a 3 story drop. It is a weird house.

Sickie

I am sick. I hate being sick. I mean, no one loves being sick- it's not like people are "ooohhh, I can't wait to be sick. Lay the illness on me."

It could be worse- I just have a cold. But you know how colds just zap the energy out of you? Well that is how I feel, zapped. That and my nose is stuffy, which is also annoying.

So I guess that is all I really have to say- I am taking medicine and I think it has fried my brain on top of being zapped. I am very much looking forward to a wonderful little invention called NyQuil. I will take it tonight before bed. That stuff is amazing. Only when you're sick though, don't want to get addicted.