Yes. Yes, I do. I bought some new blades today and I’m very excited. I decided to get new ones because, well, I’ve thought about it for a while, but mostly I was inspired cause a friend of mine is having her birthday party at a skating rink and I thought this would be a good time. I’ve had the same Rollerblades since I was 12, so this is a big deal for me. These ones are K2′s and apparently they are brand new, like the guy at the store said I’m probably the first one in Nashville to get them. That warrants a few pictures I think.

Yea, I’m a cheese.

So, for those of you who haven’t heard the story, which is probably very few of you, I’ll go ahead and tell ya. My old Rollerblades mean a lot to me and its taken a long time for me to consider buying new ones. To give you an idea of what I mean by “old”, here are a few pictures:

Ironically, the color schemes are very similar between the two skates.

Anyway, I received these skates on September 5th, 1992. Why do I remember the exact day? Well, my dad was in a particularly generous mood and he offered to buy these skates for me, mostly on a whim. He never bought things on a whim, but they were on sale and he bought them for me at Sport Chalet after we had lunch at Coco’s in Long Beach. Still wondering what is special about it right? Soon after our shopping, my dad headed off to referee an adult soccer game. It was there that he had a fatal heart attack and passed away before the ambulance arrived on the field.

So, there you have it. I was the last one in my family to eat with him, and the Rollerblades were the last material gift he gave me. I’ll keep them forever. I refer to them as my magic skates because in the ump-teen years I’ve had them, I’ve never had to change the wheels or bearings and they are still quiet, I’ve never fallen, and my feet still fit in them. And I’m sure my feet have grown since I was 12. Anyway, its been a great ride and its time to retire them. May the magic live on.

Take a look at this intersection:

If you look closely, you’ll notice that all four corners have some sort of barrier and 3 of them are completely torn up. I have to cross this street at least 3 times a day, so that’s at least 6 treks across the intersection. I feel like I’m taking my life into my own hands.

And this is right outside Vanderbilt. I wonder if they are trying to drum up business for the ED.

I am so excited. I am finally going to get professional headshots! I can’t believe I’ve gone this long without getting them, but there you have it. Last year for Metamorphoses, I had a co-worker take some shots of me outside our work building and ended up using one of those to put in the lobby. People were nice and said they liked it, but you could tell a night and day difference between mine and the professional shots. Anyway, I go to the studio next Wednesday. I’ll be sure to let you know how it goes.

On a similar subject, I’m now waiting to hear about the play I had callbacks for last Thursday. I hate this inevitable waiting period. Actually, what I hate more is when companies don’t call you at all if you are not cast. I realize thats the way professional theatre goes, but I think it sucks. If they won’t call, they should at least post a cast list so you can see for yourself that you weren’t cast, instead of just being left wondering.

This morning my office is a buzz with Easter stories and I feel a little left out. Even the mothers with babies less than a year old have some sort of Easter story. It makes me realize that I’m in that phase of my life where holidays like Easter mean very little in terms of being able to do fun stuff. My mother-in-law asked me yesterday if we (jason and I) were going to any Easter Egg hunts. I mean, where would we go? Even if we did belong to a church, it would be silly for two grown adults sans children to hunt for Easter eggs. So I suppose I have to wait till we have children old enough to know what hunting for eggs even means before we’ll have any part in the tradition. Man, that could be like 8 or 10 years! That’s kinda sad. Why isn’t there an Easter activity for adults??

The thing I miss most about Easter, I’ve missed for over 14 years. My dad used to make up the silliest egg hunts around our house. We’d wake up Easter morning to some sort of treat and a clue on our bedroom floor. The clue would lead us to somewhere else in the house, in particular, I remember at least one year the clue leading me to the toilet. I think the clue was something like “If you push my handle, I’ll wisk away your waste” or something silly like that. Probably something a little more childish. But anyway. The hunt would usually end outside with the discovery of a large basket filled with chocolate goodies. Those were good times. My mom didn’t continue that after he died, but I never expected her to, nor do I blame her for not doing so. It was truly his thing. That is definitely one tradition I will pass on to my kids someday.  I mean, memories like that last a lifetime.

I always know I’m afraid when I lock my car doors the second I get in my car, before even putting the keys in the ignition. I did that today at the car wash. I was being lazy, compared to the last few times I’ve washed my car in my driveway, and took it to the do-it-yourself on Charlotte Ave. I was fine until a seemingly-homeless man came up and offered to wash my car for me for “2 tokens”. I guess he can sell them to someone else, I dunno. Anyway, I told him no and he kindly walked away. I finished washing, but it was about 6 o’clock and getting a little dark, so I kept looking around for other people. Nothing else really happened, but the rest of the trip I was a little uneasy. I went to the Kroger on Charlotte after I washed my car and when I got done shopping and got to my car, I did the lock-the-doors-immediately thing when I got inside. I felt kinda stupid, but it was also uncontrollable. There wasn’t even anyone around, but I felt compelled to lock myself in my car.

If such a place existed, I have to say I’d probably move there. I am addicted to Tex Mex. I’ve been trying to avoid admitting it by eating at a variety of restaurants, but they all seem to be mexican restaruants, if not “fresh mex”. We probably eat at Baja Fresh 2-3 nights a week right now. The other nights we eat Baja Burrito, US Border Cantina, or Jack in the Box, which, as you might know, serves Southwestern Chicken Fajitas. I’m not sure what to do. Should I be ashamed? Does anyone else suffer from this addiction?

As I was driving in to work today, I stopped at a light and looked in my rear view mirror. Behind me was a very young attractive black woman with an incredibly dark complexion. I thought to myself, does she ever complain that her skin is too dark? Bear with me here. I realize that sounds like a pretty racist thing to say, but I think I’m going somewhere with this.

If pastey white girls can complain that they are so pale, why wouldn’t it be okay for dark African American girls to think they are too dark? And if that is acceptable, why aren’t there “whiting salons”. Now, I’m sure they wouldn’t be called “whiting salons”, but we have tanning salons for the exact opposite purpose. I know, I go to one. And I go because I’m pretty pale in the winter and like to have some color in the summer. And that’s socially acceptable, but somehow I don’t think the same would be true for this example.

So Jason heads off tomorrow for a 3 day backpacking adventure in SouthEast TN with his dad. I don’t know if they’ve decided exactly where they are going, but its probably either to Fall Creek Falls or Savage Gulf. They’ve done the Savage Gulf trip before, but it hadn’t rained in a long time so they didn’t get to see any of the supposedly breathtaking falls that are around that area. I hope they get to see some this time. As you might have noticed, for those of you who live in TN, it has dropped a cool 30 degrees overnight and now they will be camping in freezing conditions. Jason’s response? “Great! Now we have a reason to make a fire! I love fires!”   God bless him.

I just got the official word that I am being called back for the ABE show on Thursday night. Fun fun!

Surprisingly, I walked away unscathed on Sunday, after my first soccer game (or rather, after my first athletic anything) in a year.  The team seems to be a great group of people and I have a feeling we’ll be celebrating often with a round of beer. No celebration on Sunday though since we lost the game. :( However, there was no referee (due to a death in the family) so the game does not count towards the standings. It was a good “practice” game. I’ve really got to get my butt in gear, though, because goals scored by women count for 2 goals, so they want us up there as often as possible. I’m not used to playing offense, so I need to practice. Unfortunately, my good buddy (mentioned in the previous post) was not able to come to the game due to a last minute sickness. Blech! Sorry K. Hope you feel better soon! Luckily, we have a weekend off next week because of Easter, so I have some time to practice. Jason caught a pretty good shot of me trying to defend my ball. That’s me in the gold (duh!):