Anogete's Journal

I must have the next Black Dagger Brotherhood book. Like now. Because Rehvenge is my favorite. Why do I have to wait until Tuesday? Why can't some unsuspecting bookstore stick it out on the shelf today instead of following the rules?

I've been in a not-so-bad mood about work for the past few days. Payroll Girl found another job. She's been hitting the job search hard for about four weeks now, and finally found something on the base. I'm happy for her because she wanted out much more than I did. She's planning on giving notice this coming week. I'm questioning whether I want to give up my comfy job for another where I most likely won't have the perks I have now. Despite the drama-llama, I have it pretty damn easy. Where else can you openly play computer games and read books without getting reprimanded, you know? So, whatever... I'm still half-assing the job search.

During my hour-long walk yesterday, this happened...



What the crap? Seriously? I was just out for an hour. ::shakes fist at sun::

Also, during the walk I developed a playlist in my head of super awesome songs to take a stroll to on a nice spring day. Have a mix CD of this scrumptious songs...

( spring strolling )

Many of the songs are quite rhythmic, which I find excellent for walking. Stick them on your favorite MP3 player and strut down the streets of your neighborhood. Just remember to wear sunscreen.

After a stifling day in the office, I had to get some fresh air after dinner this evening, so I took Ferguson on a walk to the park. It was all blue skies and sunshine with temperatures in the mid-60s. If you're not enjoying Spring yet, then I send my Spring mojo your way.



( other pictures behind the cut, including ferguson attempting to point a rabbit out to me )

I had uploaded several of the Learn Welsh Podcasts to my iPod, and I listened to them while walking Ferguson. I'm sure everyone at the park thought I was nutty, running around calling out random phrases in Welsh.

My laundry is in shambles. I half-assed it last week and ended up leaving a load in the washer and another in the drier. I have two other loads piled in my bathroom floor. I hate laundry.

Have I mentioned how much I hate parties? I have? Well, let me reiterate, I hate parties. This party, that party, those parties, all parties. Are there people at that party? Then I hate that party. I feel like three-fourth of the people in this world are psychic vampires, and they all happen to attend the parties I go to just so they can eat my energy and life force. Yes, I'm being paranoid, but I'm half out of my mind with exhaustion. Jason's mother decided that she needed to throw a huge 60th birthday bash. There were well over thirty people there, most of whom I don't know or only see two or three times a year. Did I mention how much I dislike hugging? Yes? Well, drat. I feel like Scrooge here. Or maybe Golem. I hates it, my precious.

The highlight of my day was hiking in the Sandias this morning. I didn't take a great deal of pictures just because I forgot I had the camera with me after the first few minutes. I dragged Jason along, even though he says he hates hiking. He's obviously a liar. Ferguson had great fun bounding through the brush. He's even in a couple of the pictures looking like he thinks he's a German Shepard when he's really just a ten-pound chihuahua.

( the pretty pictures )

I haven't seen the past two or three episodes of True Blood. I took a step back because some of the changes were annoying me. How are things going with that? Have they ruined Sam? They were tettering on them when I stopped watching by making him super dooper jealous and protective of Sookie. Has there been more Eric?

I'm going to go take something for this creeping headache and catch a nap while Jason watches stupid B-movies.

Jason's mother is hell bent on going to some wacky French restaurant in Uptown for dinner this evening. She's taking Jason and I out for his birthday. The thing is, I think the restaurant is a breakfast/lunch place, not a dinner place. As far as I know, they close at two o'clock in the afternoon. I've got my fingers crossed that this is true because I'm not a real big fan of French cuisine. Maybe we can talk her into making reservations at the Italian place across the street.

I toted my camera along on the walk Ferguson and I took this morning. Pictures of the lovely, sunny, and cool Sunday morning...

( we saw a roadrunner, but it was much too fast for me to get a picture )

I'm so happy autumn is nearly upon us. Walks when the temperature is in the low 60s are such a pleasure.

I thought this was very cute and a great tribute to dear Mr. Lovecraft.

I haven't really walked or jogged for enjoyment or exercise in about three weeks. With all the craziness going on at the old apartment and preparing for the move, I just wasn't in the mood to do much of anything else. With everything unpacked in the new apartment, I decided it was about time I got back into the swing of things this afternoon. Ferguson and I walked up to the beautiful park by the foothills. It's almost a mile away, which is the perfect length for a walk to and back in the evenings after dinner.

I took the High Desert trails up to the park and noticed an odd (and huge) metal sculpture sitting in the middle of the brush and cacti. I had my cell phone with me, so I took a picture.

( a flower from outer space )

It looks like I pasted that into the picture, but I really didn't. I have no idea what it is or is supposed to represent. Anyone want to hazard a guess? Maybe it is just intended to look neat.

I still have this low-level hum of anxiety running through me every minute of the day. Everything is fine now. I have no reason to be anxious or worried or nervous. Whenever this happens, I'm always concerned the anxiety will take hold of me like it did a few years ago and completely wreck my mental health for several months. I hate sitting on the verge of a panic attack over worrying about stupid things.

Oh, and work tomorrow. My inbox is probably overflowing. So crappy. Boo.

Jason and I decided to make good use of our mutual day off. We got up early (gasp!) and went hiking in the foothills of the Sandia Mountains. I had never been to the particular trail head we went to this morning, but the it was gorgeous. I'm so happy we went and enjoyed the fresh air with Ferguson. The trail started out quite nice and gentle, but when we crossed over into the Sandia National Forest and switched trails, it got to be a bit more difficult. Definitely manageable and still enjoyable, but many more climbs and drops.

Here are a few pictures of our walk. For those who haven't seen Ferguson before, he's the dog in a few of the shots. It was a bit chilly this morning, so he had his muscle shirt on. He was also in full-out dog mode with his nose to the ground, hoping to catch a rabbit.

( nature! )

I'm going to run off to Walgreens and pick my prints of the pictures up before I drop by the office. I shouldn't be going in on my day off, but I need to look over the applicants for the receptionist position. I'm also going to pick up Payroll Girl so we can go see Blackie, the Dachshund we saved.

I hope everyone on the flist is having a wonderful Monday, too.

Everyone is sad about Daylight Saving Time, but I'm actually enjoying it. No, I don't like getting up "earlier", but I do enjoy my evening walks. The early sunsets and temperatures in winter prevent me from walking Ferguson after dinner. It was warm enough and sunny enough that I was able to walk a couple miles yesterday evening. It felt so wonderful and boosted my energy level for the rest of the night.

Work is still in a shitty place. I'm blocking it all out so the stress and tension don't wear me down. The boss's daughter is coming in today to "interview" for the Controller position. The current Controller plans on telling her that he doesn't think she should take the job. I don't know whether that will change anything. At this point, I don't really care. I've done a bit of snooping online and found several open positions that would fit me. I don't plan on leaving in the next few months, but it is nice to know that there are places out there still hiring. It's funny because the boss thinks I'm the best thing since sliced bread after all this drama went down. She's told me several times over the last two days that she doesn't know what she would do without me. Meanwhile, I'm slipping one foot out the door. It's weird.

I watched Snow Cake several weeks ago and thought it was a beautiful movie. I highly recommend it to anyone who has not yet seen it. For those unfamiliar with the plot, it is about a man who picks up a hitchhiking young girl. A large semi-truck hits his car and the girl dies, but he is not seriously injured. After he is released, he travels to the girl's hometown to apologize to her mother. When he arrives, he realizes that the girl's mother is autistic. He ends up spending a week with her in her home while he helps with funeral arrangements. One of the most poignant moments in the movie for me was a scene that occurs after the girl's funeral. Everyone has gone over to the mother's house, and she is very nervous about others being in her space because she's very particular. She has not really dealt with her daughter's death up to that point. At one point, she freaks out and runs into the living room to turn on the stereo. She plays an odd Japanese song and dances around the room while all of the people look at her in horror. They don't understand what she is doing, so someone tries to stop her. The woman's mother (the grandmother) steps in and tells everyone to just let her daughter dance. It is at this point that the autistic woman finally lets go of her daughter and remembers her in a happy way.

All of this explanation isn't necessary to enjoy the oddball song she played, though. There is no official soundtrack to the movie, but I managed to dig up the song, called "Notteru Ondo". I believe it translates as "Good Rhythm". At any rate, I love the song, and it has certainly made my crappy Tuesday morning better.

Here is the link to download it if you're interested in listening. I promise that it will make you laugh or at least smile, just give it a few seconds.

I pulled Jason out of bed at 8:00am this morning so we could go exploring with Ferguson. I was off work on Friday, so I took Ferguson on a walk along the trails within The Academy grounds. It's a private school in the city just a half a mile from my apartment. The school is in the middle of many acres of land. Surrounding the school is a great deal of natural New Mexico landscape that hasn't been touched with the exception of the established trails that people walk on everyday. There is also a small river that runs through the area, but it is dried up the majority of the time.

We walked up there and slipped through the fence to let Ferguson play with all the wild animals (rabbits, squirrels, prairie dogs, etc). I heard there are five coyotes that live within the fenced-in preserve, but I hadn't seen one until today. It was several yards from us. It was frightened away by our presence. I tried to get a picture, but it was much too fast and constantly darting behind the weeds and cacti.

( pictures of our morning walk )

There has been much bitching about daylight savings time, but I'll be the minority and say that I'm enjoying it. The weather has been beautiful the last few days - actually close to seventy degrees here in Albuquerque. I had to abandon my evening walks this winter because of the temperatures and the fact that it gets dark so quickly after dinner. It's been far too long (October) since I've been able to get outside each day for some fresh air. Thankfully, due to daylight savings time, the sun doesn't set until seventy-thirty now. Ferguson and I went on a walk yesterday after dinner, and it was glorious. The weather was wonderful, and I had Justin Timberlake on the iPod.

Now, I just need to get a new pair of walking shoes. The ones I have are decent, but they aren't the best by any means. There's a New Balance store somewhere in Albuquerque, and I hope to drop by there in the next couple weeks for a proper pair of walking shoes that can also double as jogging shoes. I've resigned myself to dropping a load of cash on them since I'll be using them each day of the week. However, I refuse to pay as much as my boss did yesterday for her pair of walking shoes. She assured me that they were on sale, but admitted to still paying over two hundred and fifty bucks for them. They're supposed to force you to walk correctly because a portion of the back of the heel is missing. I think they just look weird.

And the best thing is that I'm not nearly as tired in the evenings after my walk. This winter I was falling asleep at ten o'clock while trying to read a book. However, last night I was able to sit up until midnight with the book and not feel sleepy at all. Exercise, how I love you. I just don't love you enough to join the trendy gym two blocks up the street.