In case you hadn't heard, I'm moving! And there's some stuff I really don't want to move with me, not even to take to Goodwill. Will you help me out? Visit the Craigslist posting to see all the details.

Thanks! It's good stuff, just won't fit in the new place.

Did I mention it's all free? Freefreefreefreefreefreefreefree. Free.

All gone.

Attention: my ownership of the following domains has officially lapsed and I have finally figured out how to get Dotster to stop reminding me of this fact.

BUCKLIKEFUNNIES.ORG
BUCKLIKEFUNNIES.NET
BUCKLIKEFUNNIES.COM

Feel free to go ahead and register these domains. They're good names, and they deserve to be registered, with all the attendant double entendre humor that you can dig up. Let me know when you've done this so I can see what you've done with them!

BTW, HITSLUTS.ORG, .COM, and .NET are also available. 'Cause I know you were wondering.

Gosh, I don't think I was very clear in that last post. But that's alright. It was rather late, I was hyped up on caffeine (drinking Cokes all night will do that to you) and my ears were numb, and I think it's clear that I hadn't quite formulated the thoughts I wanted to express.

Well, now it's Monday, I have named it Low Productivity Monday, and I still haven't got those thoughts ready for verbalization. But I'm going to try anyway:

I'm not saying that all of a sudden I want a boyfriend/husband and kids and the house with the white picket fence. Heck no. Rather, it seems as though those are the rites of passage that have always ushered people into the next phase of their lives. I haven't gone through any of those rites. And while it's fun being young and young at heart, I still feel like a kid - no one to think of but myself, nothing to do on weekends but lay around and watch tv and eat popcorn watch soap operas and eat bon bons, and I still take my laundry Home to my parents'.

So what do 30-somethings do that make them feel like grown-ups without taking on a family or a house?

Oh, and the more I see my new apartment, the more I like it. Yay!

And the guy at Trader Joe's complimented me on my choice of power bars. I don't eat these for power, btw, they just get me through the 11-12 p.m. hour when breakfast is a dim memory and lunch seem soooo far away. Sometimes they make a good dinner too.

I've thought a lot lately about my life, what it's about, why am I here, what's the point, etc. This isn't a new train of thought, but as I'm sure others might have guessed long before I came along, it takes on a new significance the older you get.

For instance, I'm 2 weeks short of my 33rd birthday, and I'm just now returning from a night on the town. Although the last two hours spent dancing was everything I wanted the evening to be, there was a point at about 10:30 when I was wondering what the hell I was doing at that bar, with those people, having those conversations. Which brings me to my point, sort of.

I haven't even been drinking tonight.

That wasn't my point. The point is, that after nights like these, when I get home sometime between 2 and dawn, I keep saying to myself, see? I'm still young! I can have more fun out and about than most of the people I know who are significantly younger than myself!

But I'm about to be 33. Why do I need to keep proving to myself that I'm young? I am young! In mind and in body (mostly).

I think about people who are younger than myself, who are married and have kids and maybe even own a house (gasp!), and I wonder if it's better on that side of the fence, and should I want those things, and does what they do on a Saturday night make what I do on a Saturday night pointless and irrelevant.

I can tell you that writing a long-winded blog post at 2:45 a.m. is pointless and irrelevant. And sitting for 3 hours in a bar with a bunch of people I hardly know or care to know, and yelling at them over the din of the dj, and drinking coke because I'm the DD, is pointless and irrelevant.

But the dancing ... the dancing was awesome.

Speaking of dancing and long nights, we're going to the Saddlerack on the 12th. Join us!! It'll be fun! As I tell my friends, even if you're not into two-stepping, they have at least 2 bars and the people-watching is priceless.

And so ends this rambling, albeit sober, glimpse into my brain in the wee hours of a Saturday night/Sunday morning. Stay tuned for this post to be either deleted or rewritten when I have the time and energy.

Since I moved to the Bay area back in fall of 1993, I have moved a total of 11 times (including this move). 11 moves in 11 1/2 years ... some places I stayed at for a few years, others for only a few months. With one exception every move has been into a bigger and better place. This move, however, has me moving into a smaller space - and with no extra storage. Not only that, there are hardwood floors to consider, which for some reason I feel requires a "cleaner" (aka, no stuff just piled around because they have nowhere else to go) look than carpet.

So this move is all about purging:
All those old calendars that I always thought of as a sort of diary ... I haven't looked at a single one since I took them off the wall.
Those blankets I bought in New Mexico that I keep in case they're needed for a picnic or a concert that haven't seen the light of day in years.
Books I'll never read again; supplies for art project that just aren't going to happen, ever; the bean bag that I have been dragging around with me since I moved out of my parents' place that I never sit in; the ancient computer that I replaced 2 years ago and have yet to clean and recycle, etc.

Each decision to put stuff in that pile causes a little pain, a little loss. But considering that a lot of this stuff lives in places I never look into anyway or is rather something I trip over all time, I am pretty sure I won't miss them when they're gone.

Having made the decision, though, I wish I had someone to take it all away, instead of having to gather them all up and dispose of them myself. Goodwill here I come!

Sunlight breaking through the rain is as sweet as a smile through tears ... unless that sun is right in front of you, and reflecting up from the rain-wet streets and your windshield is all streaky. Ouch! My eyes!

Never a dull moment around here.

Here follows a conversation regarding the horror that is Keira Knightly performing in a Jane Austin movie (refer to Jessa's original post):

JessaJune: humph. Men.
Booboolina: what happened?
JessaJune: defending Keria Knightly playing Elizabeth.
JessaJune: what do they know?
Booboolina: exactly
JessaJune: sheesh
Booboolina: have you been having this conversation with more than one man?
JessaJune: Ron just weighed in with a pro-Keria comment
JessaJune: and Jefe had followed up his first one, more emphatically
Booboolina: she's a stick insect!!
Booboolina: how can any man want to snuggle up to that? there's nothing to hold on to!
JessaJune: I know! And besides, you might poke out an eye!
Booboolina: eek!
Booboolina: even if you manage to hold down the arms and shoulders and knees to protect your eyes, that jaw of hers could knock you out!
Booboolina: we are so mean.
JessaJune: yes, yes we are
JessaJune: but it's fun
JessaJune: and still, that doesn't change the fact that she should not play Elizabeth Bennet, EVER.
Booboolina: NEVER!
Booboolina: Stick Insect would not have been considered beautiful back then.
JessaJune: EXACTLY.
Booboolina: she would have looked ill and too thin and everyone would have shunned her and told her to eat more
JessaJune: it was, in fact a stereotype of the uptight, grasping, cold sort of woman
JessaJune: thin with sharp features
Booboolina: sharp enough to POKE YER EYE OUT!

Can you tell we feel strongly about this?

So it's past 10 p.m. and I have done everything *but* pack tonight. Same thing as last night, except that last night, I came home, looked at my email and then went to bed at 6. Boy did I need the sleep. Tonight I stayed awake and arranged to get more boxes, updated the events listing on the right, and found the camera I want when my camera finally gives up the ghost, which will be soon if current behavior is any indication, and set up a way for people to contribute to my new camera. My birthday's coming up, after all.

So yeah, denial, as they say, isn't just a river in Egypt. It's a way of life this week.

I have some stuff that will not be making the move with me. Would anyone like an entertainment center? A desk? An umbrella? A cd storage thingy? I can't see what else is in the stack past the mess that stands between us. I'll post complete descriptions and photos later. As of right now, they are free to the person who comes and picks them up.

Holy cow. How did it get to the 24th already?

Anyway, I'm moving on the 5th! Do you want to help? I'm offering food as the inducement to spend the morning in Daly City and the early afternoon in Oakland moving some furniture and quite a few well-packed boxes. Good food! No box too heavy for most people! I already have enough people joining the party that this won't be too tiresome, and you'll score major karma points.

Let me know if you're interested, and I'll send along the details.

I know that when the guy two cube-rows over keeps yelling about gender benders, he's referring to something so technical that real life male/female relations could never have anything to do with it (bleh - icky mental image there), but ... still. It's Friday afternoon and to hear him yell "HAVE YOU GOT THE GENDER BENDER?!?!" is more than a little funny. Remind me to tell you one day about the time he was yelling "CAN YOU SEE THE SUN?!?!" We were practically on the floor.

Oh, and congratulations to Jish and his lovely wife! They picked up the keys to their new house today!!

So what do you think of the redesign? I'm not sure how I feel yet. I still need to figure out how to pad the right edge of the center column so that the text doesn't run off into the void. And I need to find a different color for the unlinked text over in the right column. Black isn't good, but I don't like underlining my links to make them stand out.

Otherwise, I like the blues and the layout. More changes to come in my copious spare time.

Yay!

Oh, and anyone who would like to take on redesigning my comments form will get a plate of brownies for their trouble. Please. It's from two designs ago!!

These are the People in my Neighborhood - an awesome project. If I felt any affinity for the people in my neighborhood, I'd participate. Maybe after I move. [via Mighty Girl]

SXSW Baby! is back! Are you going?

If you wanted to sleep with him, you would have married him.

So my friend in San Antonio has officially finished her PhD and finalized her divorce as of December (see #5) and she's applying for jobs all over the country now, which is good, since I need someplace new to visit. I have already been to Texas once now this year, I am going to SXSW in March, and I have sworn to return to SA for Fiesta in April. And given that I've been averaging two trips to Dallas per year, I'm up to 5 trips to that state already.

Is there anything fun going on in any of the other states?

I got back from San Antonio a little while ago - why do so many people go grocery shopping at 5 p.m. on MLK Day? - and I learned a few things while I was there:

1) Remember the Alamo.
2) If you must pack your nail polish in your purse, which then goes in your carry-on bag, make sure the the cap is screwed on tight, or you'll be reminded of your mistake often. Very very often. Hell, might as well get a new purse.
3) Dodgeball can be good a second time, if watched with an appreciative audience.
4) People you thought you knew really well and believed would never hurt you can be incredibly mean and vindictive sometimes for no reason. All you can do is roll with the punches and not lose faith in humanity. (Applies to others this time)
5) It takes about 3 hours to burn 5 years' worth of divorce paperwork.
6) Don't sleep through the drink service on flights or you'll be left very very thirsty.
7) Being able to take your shoes off during that flight can increase your comfort level by a power of 10.
8) I am not reacting to the stress of impending change very well. Or maybe it's from sleeping on the plane, or those down pillows I was given over the weekend ... or maybe all three. My shoulders have been chronically attached to my ears all weekend long. If this keeps up, I'll move wrong and then I won't be able to turn my head and driving will become much more difficult in the days to come.
9) It takes $2 to take the shuttle from the Oakland Airport to the BART station, exact change only.
10) Newfoundlands are frickin' HUGE dogs.

I got the apartment!! I decided on the one with the great location! I'm moving in a few weeks! Stay tuned for the "You help me move my shit and I'll feed you whatever you want" email.

I am still in shock. This move goes against over 10 years of San Francisco/Peninsula snobbery. I will officially live in the East Bay. In Oakland, no less. Does this mean I have to be a Raiders fan?

Good points:
less than 1/3 of the time spent commuting
more sun
a neighborhood I can and want to walk around in and get everything I need
no more mandatory bridge toll (it'll all be voluntary)
I can finally buy a big bed
did I mention the short commute time?
when the big one hits, I will be less likely to fall into the ocean

Less-than-good points:
far from the ocean
less fog (<- sarcasm)
farther away from SF/Peninsula friends
um ... yeah, that's about it.

So yay me!

So I went to see an apartment yesterday, the first apartment I've looked at since I lost the perfect apartment in September, and it was great. It wasn't perfect, but I've gotten to the point where I can live with that. There were a few things about it, however, that made me think that perhaps I should give looking another shot, so that I would feel better about signing on the first thing I'd seen.

So I stayed up late last night, combing craigslist for last-minute postings, to make sure that I knew everything that was available in my price range, and then I spent this morning making phone calls and setting up appointments. Then I called Jane so that I would have a second opinion and not go flying off the handle into a less-than-desirable apartment. And we headed over the Bridge.

I had found not one, not two, but three wonderful apartments. After several months of nothing, suddenly there were more than I knew what to do with. I have managed to knock 2 of the 4 out of the running, but I'm left with two that are proving very difficult to decide between. One has the awesome location, and is an ok place. The other is an awesome apartment, but the location is kind of sketchy. Not bad, just not great. Neither has anything really going against it. Both have very good things going for them. What to do, what to do.

I am torn.

Oh yeah, resolutions? Let's call them Guidelines for 2005 instead.

1) I am going to try to quit cracking my joints - this includes my knuckles, wrists, elbows (this one is the hardest), shoulders, hips, knees, ankles, and toes (I lied - toes tie with elbows as the hardest to quit). I know I can do this because I successfully stopped cracking my neck - which is a totally different kind of joint and you should NEVER crack your neck - a couple of years ago. And I never could crack my back in a satisfying manner. I'm already fucking up my body enough without adding to the likelihood of arthritis later on.

2) Be more on top of birthdays. I used to be pretty good about this, even if it was just a phone call or a card that arrived on or near the right day. I've failed pretty much utterly in the past couple of years, and I feel really bad about it. I want to stop feeling bad, and make someone else feel good about being remembered.

3) Follow through on some of the guidelines I decided on last year, namely moving, buying a bed and a new car. Hey wow, I haven't looked at these in a while, and it appears that I actually followed through on some of them. I did better than I thought. Still working on those marriage plans.

So there you are. The new Kristin of 2005, non-joint cracking, remembering you on your birthday, and living better.

When I was reading the paper yesterday, an article on efforts to help out after the tsunamis said that relief organizations find themselves almost with a surplus of aid (how cool is that, eh?), but ....:

Aid officials said there was plenty of food and clothing, even a surplus. But thousands of people were living in hundreds of small camps and other temporary shelters without adequate sanitation, and health officials in Colombo warned of the possibility of widespread disease. Eric Fernando, a spokesman for Sri Lanka's president, Chandrika Kumaratunga, said international aid had been abundant, but that there was a pressing need for water-purification equipment.

Sarah describes her aid organization of choice, and what your money can do to get the survivors what they really need right now to keep on surviving.

Big Heads of 2004. It's a wonder my huge melon isn't featured here. [via RTFALargeHead]

On my way to have dinner with Jessa this evening, I had wanted very much to take the Baby Bullet, partly because I haven't been on the train since they made the new line available and I wanted to try it out, and partly because I didn't really want to take an hour to get down there.

I got there just in time to watch it pull away from the station. Yay!

But it was worth it. I was late for three reasons: to watch the sunset (full-size versions can be found here), to get a book to occupy me on my trip, and to change to a heavier jacket with a scarf 'cause it's cold here. I got the book, and then left it in my truck, so I bought a paper. Did you know that stuff is happening out there? I had no idea. I should read the paper more often. And not just for the funnies. Or the crossword.

The dinner was great, the ice cream afterwards was yummy, the conversation enlightening, amusing, and satisfying, and the gifts! I just finished The Eyre Affair, which is one of the most entertaining and engrossing books I've read in a long time (including Don Quixote, which is close to taking me a year to finish *sigh*), so what a treat to get not only Emma, but Persuasion too! I will be so cultured and elegant no one will know what to do with me. *snort* I make myself laugh.

Speaking of which, have you ever walked into a place and thought "this place is too trendy for me"? It happened to me twice in one afternoon last week. Hopefully in a few weeks I can show you what I bought that will make me the trendiest chick on the block. Or maybe just move me a bit farther along in the Who Can Keep Up with the Trendy Jones? game. Not really a goal of mine, but it doesn't hurt to try stuff out once in a while, right?

Right. How was your New Year's Eve? Did you have a good time? How are those resolutions coming along?

There used to be a site/project called the Mayfly Project - the idea is to sum up your past year in 20 words or less. It's a good exercise, to think about what's happened in the past 12 months, how it fits into the larger Tale that is your life as well as its impact in the smaller, more immediate sense. Meg isn't doing the project this year, which is a shame, but I thought I'd go through the exercise anyway, 'cause I need the perspective (my 2001 and 2002 entries). Here is my 2004, in a nutshell:

Didn’t move, or evolve. Bad dating experiences. Good friend experiences. Celebrated Carly’s first birthday and Lily’s birth. Things looking up.

Happy New Year!!

I'm happy to report that although I expected to and was perfectly content to stay inside last night and watch movies (again. alone.), a last-minute phone call (1 of the 2 total phone calls I received yesterday) got me out of the apartment and down to the south bay - on a rainy night, no less - to eat lots and lots of home-made egg rolls, some really good soup, and some more egg rolls, followed by heading out to the rockin' St. Stephen's Green in downtown rockin' Mountain View, followed by ... you guessed it ... Road House, one of the best movies ever made.

I hope you met some wonderful people last night (I did), got a kiss at midnight (I didn't), and have started the new year off with a bang (not literally).

Happy New Year!!