Really? I haven't mentioned this in the last 20 seconds?

In one week I will be in London-town napping off a long flight and preparing for boardage of a plane to Lebanon. This creates a massive to-do list for this week which includes fun things like "get reading material" and not fun things like "tell apt. office we have a wasps nest on our balcony." The list is long. I generally like to-do lists though. Keeps my brain focused. Otherwise I'm all "OOH SHINY."

Hi, in one week I will be in London-town. Did I mention that yet? Oh. Ok. Well, you can perceive my excitement. Excitement over travelling. In one week. To exciting places. Not that there hasn't been excitement around here. How many ways can it rain? I'm reminded of Forrest Gump quote, "One day it started raining, and it didn't quit for four months. We been through every kind of rain there is. Little bitty stingin' rain... and big ol' fat rain. Rain that flew in sideways. And sometimes rain even seemed to come straight up from underneath."

Friday's rain:
- Downpour in the early afternoon
- No interruption of my plans
- Tornado sirens going off in late afternoon, but no weather here at the apt. to warrant concern. I don't even think we had a drop when there were actual sirens going off.
- I still put laundry in in the basement in case I would have been cooped up down there. Might as well be productively safe?

Saturday's rain:
- sunburned by the pool in the morning
- in the immense humidity discover our central air is broken
- crazy fast moving storm.
- sirens go on, then off. then on. of- no, on. off? WHAT?
- listening to news on TV "at 124th report of funnel." Am reminded HELLO, I LIVE ON 124TH. have N tell me he thinks this is all "cool." I am decidedly anti-scary weather.
- Rains on and off the rest of the night.

Sunday's rain:
- Go out in the morning to a park. The park that is now a lake. Pretty darn freaky to see submerged playground equipment.
- Make eye appt. for N.
- 10 mins before appt skies break open and shower FURY upon the lands. The N still convincing me to head out with him. Um. No. Cancel appt.
- Storms on and off. Scary lightning. I hide out at computer to subside fears.
- Go to open window at night when rain stopped and have window completely break out of its sill. Add "fix window" on to-do list.

The greatest part of all of this were the TV weather reports. I'm not going to turn the seriousness of a tornado into a laughing matter, but c'mon, they were simply fantasticly crazy. ALL WEATHER ALL THE TIME. WE GOT EVERYONE IN THE STATION RIGHT NOW FOR YOU FOLKS. WE'RE GOING TO BE ON THIS FOR THE REST OF YOUR DAY. Lots of that. This was putting all their degrees to use(but things I could find out for myself on this thing called "the internet").

Other amusing highlights:
- They let people call in with what they are experiencing. "UHH Richard we have a car in the median and the people, the people look OK, but we have EMT on the scene. Wait, no one is moving really quickly. I think the people just have a broken-down car. We're not seeing any rain here at this point."
- The weather people kept being handed pieces of paper on-air with updates. It was all about how fast the weather person could read the paper, process it, and get the information out with out fumbling all over the words. It was like seeing a brain melt.
- I should have turned the live weather reports into a drinking game.
* phrase "super cell" = sip of beer
* phrase "take cover" = yell out "TO THE BATCAVE"
* funnel cloud spotted = take a shot & head to basement
* >50 mph wind = shake up a good martini
...etc


So besides weather antics, and a to-do list, I've only really had to keep my brain calm from the excitement of travelling. Because I'll be on a plane in a week... have I mentioned that?

Today's Revelations

* I dont like peeling oranges. I like cutting them into wedges and eating the delicious part out of the skin.
* Eating oranges made me happy
* Static electricity at the gym is scary. Kept shocking my poor left ear!!
* The internet is an endless resource for learning about static electricity. I think I've cured what the problems were (dry skin, fresh laundered clothes, dry air, cold morning, dry shoes)
* Gimme Arabic bread (thin pita) and melted mozzarella and I am a happy woman
* Pineapple scented things are totally ruined when they contain other totally not necessary scents like coconut. Or mandarin orange. Or "tropical" artificial scents. WHY CAN'T IT JUST BE PINEAPPLE?
--> sidenote: Boo to yankee candle for discontinuing pineapple paradise. That scent was the only reason I ever bought from them...and was the BEST smelling thing EVAR.
* I can totally tune out anything when I'm reading a book.
* Tuning everything out while reading a book is fabulous.
* There is a big crack in our wall that I never noticed
* I really do love and appreciate all my friends
* A band from college that I know totally got 5000 times better with the changeup of the lead singer. I've told the guitarist that they've needed a new lead singer for YEARS. To know how much better they sound now is pretty gratifying
* I need to do dishes. yuck.
* The apartment really is a lot better now that I'm around a lot more
* I don't miss taking a billion phone calls a day and solving horrid insurance cases.
* I keep dreaming about past jobs I've held.
* I dream a lot. and a lot more vividly than most people. I had a dream this week containing some random person from high school. Then I get a message from his wife (who I also went to high school with) that they are expecting a baby girl. So random that I had a dream and an important announcement involving the same RANDOM person.
* Even when I have access to all the cable channels at the gym, I always seem to end up watching a channel I get at home. I'm just used to all the food network, bravo, style, and women's channel entertainment.
* I can't wait until I can go play tennis, go for a bike ride, have a picnic, BE OUTSIDE AND NOT BE COLD, go for morning walks, golf, etc
* I've set my goals for tomorrow: dishes, buying soil to start the patio garden, going to a strength class at the Y, and going through one cupboard in the kitchen to match containers to covers.
* I can't bring myself to get rid of the bridal magazines. Why?
* Enchanted is a delightful movie
* Cuddling and watching Enchanted is the best
* I definitely know which kind of contact lenses I'm going with. I was given two sets to try out and one is a ton better than the ones I'm wearing today.
* You don't need to have a fancy camera to take a good picture
* I love my bestest friend