Long sigh. I'm supposed to be working, but it's Sunday afternoon and I don't want to work. I just have crushing anxiety about going to work tomorrow, so working now might help all that, but no amount of soul-crushing worry seems to be enough to make me address my responsibilities right now.

I am going to go for a run along the Embarcadero, and that might help. I am also going to eat a burrito.

Couple of happy things to catch up on -- vegetarianism and a new manfriend. I have outgrown the term boyfriend. I am nearly 40.

The vegetarianism has come from reading about and then acting upon the 7-day Detox Diet in The Purification Plan. The book offers seven days of directions on how to cleanse naturally, and the recipes inside are fantastic. Don't trust the grocery list, though, because it will have you buying things you don't need and not buying things you do need. Having said that, I think the week of eating nothing but vegetables has changed me for life. I wouldn't have believed it possible, but I now look forward to eating a heaping plate of vegetables, and the thought of a chicken sandwich with bacon and ranch dressing may still sound good but I don't think I could actually take a bite of it. Today marks two weeks of mostly vegetarianism (I ate a shrimp on Friday night) and I've not only lost nine pounds, I'm feeling great. I have even kicked caffeine more or less.

And the new manfriend. I had a date with Michael after work on Friday and he just left (Sunday afternoon). We met a month ago and had gone out four or five times before this weekend of sin and enjoyment. How to describe him? Ummm, open, artistic, worldy, softspoken, great sense of humor, fit, confident, sexy, thoughtful, all kinds of good. So I like hanging around with him. I get the feeling there's not a lot of drama in his life, and we seem to be on the same level. I get the feeling there's not a lot of judging going on with either of us. I just like what I see and I know he likes me too. I also feel safe being completely open and honest with him. I like the fact that he's a public transportation kind of guy, a surfer, with a masters degree and a plan to get an MFA this fall at the College of the Arts in creative writing. He reminds me of a young Michael Stipe but I just google-imaged Michael Stipe and Michael doesn't look that much like him but he has the curly hair, the pouty lips, and the dance moves. He also loves my cooking and pulls more than his own weight in the kitchen. So yeah, hurrah for internet dating. Date #1 is a keeper.

Currently Clueless About Tagging

I really want to know how to tag my posts with categories. Can anyone point me in the right direction?

Muse: Invincible

Went to see Muse last night and I am in love with their music. These guys rocked the Radiohead type of moaning song, the pure pop of Duran Duran, Kiss-inspired heavy metal, and punk rock a la the Clash. All of that at the hands of a multi-talented singer-guitarist-pianist-dancer guy Matthew Bellamy. I loved his Willie Wonka-in-white outfit complete with a fringey scarf and some bling near his waist and on his shoes. He really had it going on.

Were there other guys in the band? Yeah, there was a hard-working bassist and an imaginative drummer, also a keyboard player from time to time. But Bellamy was the show. I pulled out my signature dance moves from the 80's and got down for the entire ~2 hour concert.

Muse. Go see them.

I just want to give Mimi Smartypants a shout for being so damn funny. Nose candy doesn't mean the same thing to a four-year-old.

chicka bowm bowm

Hannes the Estonian, no. Hello Michael.

Oh yummy. I had a fun date #2 yesterday. Ever dated a Pisces? Not me, I never have. But one thing I know about this pisces is that there is a sexual tension that is wow-wow mm -- ok tension is not even describing it. My actual words were "I want to take things slow, spend time getting to know each other and talking," but the thought that kept going through my head is "I am going to fuck you so well." I am pretty sure my body was saying the same thing.

Sorry! TMI. But yeah, he's a cutie. And we made out to Elliott Smith after watching Parker Posey in "The OH in Ohio." Guess what the Oh in Ohio is ... did you guess the big "O"? Well, that's what it is. This movie, unbeknownst to me, is about Parker achieving an orgasm despite her history of sexual dysfunction (which according to the movie afflicts 30 million women, assumedly in the US). It's kind of funny that I invited Michael back to my place and opened up my room mate's NetFlix and that was the movie. Seriously, no idea.

She gets it on with Danny Devito, and sticks with him because he gives her the big O. (I'm not buying that, personally. He had a hella hairy back.)

If I'm not buying Danny DeV, what am I buying? -- Fiber One bars. With 140 calories and 9 grams of dietary fiber (35% DV), and delicious oats and nuts, the Fiber One bars are making me happy.

I can't believe I've gone on and on about my (not really happening yet) sex life when the big news is that I got that house. $333K. Numerology went into that proposal, let me tell you. I'm going to have some work to do. I've been doubling up on my diet of HGTV "fix this house" programming. I'm pretty excited, glad to have the opportuntiy to do another fixer upper. Who knows if I'll make any money on the effort but right now I feel very, very rich.

Moo! Manchanima! Sa-weet!

Oh man, I can't believe I didn't mention it first! I got the house at $333K. Looks like I'd better get my Martha on.

More

After a lot of hemming and hawing (what the hell does that mean, really?), I submitted a counter offer on the house of $333K. It's a pretty low offer but it's fair. We'll see what the sellers do from here.

Patrick and I talked yesterday for the first time in a month and he made me angry. He was crying on the phone because he misses me and I don't know what the hell to do with that. He just wanted me to talk to him. If I'm such a good girlfriend, why did he break up with me exactly? I told him I couldn't help him with his pain. Was that mean?

Pony-what?

I forgot to mention that Andrew came to visit! We talked about my blog and he asked me where ponygirl came from (it's a play on Ponyboy Curtis from S.E.Hinton's book The Outsiders). Andrew kindly informed me that "ponygirl" has another meaning. I had no idea.

Another Gigantic Project...Perhaps

Most of the time these days I don't feel like writing anything in this journal thing. Today is no exception, but as I've said before I owe it to my fans. ha

So today here are five things I'm thankful for:

1. as a surprise, my roommate hid twenty-four easter eggs around the apartment for me to find, and then he left for Pasadena. I could only find sixteen so this weekend I'll be looking for the remaining eight.
2. I got a parking spot right in front of my apt. and I don't have to move until Tuesday
3. I got an unexpected 5% raise today as well as thirty full minutes of praise for my phenomenal work on the job. heh heh.
4. I realized the new scale in the bathroom says I weigh four pounds more than the old scale does so I'm not as fat as I thought (don't try to follow my logic)
5. I hucked two bags of clothes down to the dry cleaner this morning so come Monday I'll have a whole new wardrobe

This weekend I plan to stay in SF versus going to Tahoe. I think this is maybe the third weekend of this entire ski season that I haven't driven over there. The snow is all but gone and I'm not up for the drive.

So the deal on buying another house -- I have a contract on another fixer upper over there and it's my turn to counter-offer. I'm in a quandary about whether to really go for it or not. I'm negotiating for around 85% of the original asking price of $399K which is great, but the question is this: do I really want the responsibility of fixing up another house? I think I do, but I need to know that I do. I've got the end-of-ski-season Tahoe fatigue that hits me every year, and that's making me question whether I can handle being tied to another big project. Guess I'll have to decide by tomorrow. I keep looking for signs around me and the big one today is that Patrick called and warned and warned and warned me not to do it. Which makes me want to do it. He reminds me of my dad in that respect, telling me I'm making a mistake. Had I listened to my dad all these years I wouldn't have done most of the top ten things I've gotten the most enjoyment from in my life. No disrespect to Merle, but sometimes you gotta say WTF. Here's the new Tahoe house...I'll let you know if I buy it.