gah! our move-in date has been pushed back from the 1^st to the 4^th! looks like i'll be taking time off from work after all. just as well...i kinda need a break. damn, i'm stuck in a confluence of three kinds of crap: moving, wedding, and war. it's my own personal perfect storm.



now where did i put that life jacket? oh right, he's already out to sea. :(

always something there to remind me: i was just flicking channels while working on a spreadsheet for work when i stumbled upon my old favorite, Mister Rogers' Neighborhood. i was half-listening to the show, when Mister Rogers started talking about what he would be doing that day. my ears perked up when i heard Fred mention that he was going to be meeting up with Lynn Swann, wide-receiver for the Pittsburg Steelers.

Mister Rogers watches former Pittsburgh Steeler wide receiver, Lynn Swann, practice ballet with a dance company. He tells Mister Rogers how dancing has helped him play football. In the Neighborhood of Make-Believe, Lynn Swann and Bob Dog are disappointed about losing a football game.

see, the thing is that J. was born in pennsylvania, his favorite pro football team is the Steelers and one of his favorite players of all-time is Lynn Swann. i can't wait to tell J. that Lynn had taken ballet since he was in the 4^th grade.



dammit i miss him.



J., that is, not Lynn Swann.

reversal of fortune: oh! what tremendous timing! what super serendipity! buffy is now on FX—twice a day!! and somehow i happened to be in the right place at the right time—it's starting today!! yippee!!

blue. i'm here and he's gone. there's nothing good about Loneliness, but it's a place i need to get used to visiting.



such is the life of a Navy wife (-to-be).

stress alert! movers come tomorrow, J. comes out with me to the 'rents for a long weekend, after which he drives south to the new home to start the new position. me, i'll be hanging with the folks until sunday, at which point i'll be hightailing it down south myself so i can meet the movers on the first.



all the while i'm supposed to be pulling the 9-5 from [a different] home and finishing up wedding details. oh joy oh blahblahblah...

now i remember why this used to drive me so crazy... i can't seem to get my template to do what i want it to. i guess i should poke around web money a bit more so i can try to figure out exactly what it is i'm actually doing.

DREAMLOG: i had gone to some hair salon to get my hair braided. i think i was under the impression that braiding would make my hair grow faster so it would be longer when the wedding rolled around. i must not have been paying close attention, because the woman wound up putting braids into my hair. the braids were bright red and did not blend in to my natural hair color at all. basically, she had braided my natural hair and then abruptly braided the fake stuff in right after it. gah, it was hideous.



the funny thing is that i think i was more concerned with having to sleep on them (i've heard that they can really hurt your scalp if you aren't used to it) and how much i paid for the 'do than anything else. the scene seemed to be straight out of this book, which i read over two months ago...

mapless.

we'd drive past violet clouds

rolling above death's hot horizion

a thousand Stars descend

as the highway speeds away

:::time to get back in that saddle:::

ok, one more thing: i'm planning another redesign. simple. austere. i have no patience for frills right now.

like kris, i don't have a whole lot to say today. everything has already been said by ten other people more articulate than myself. i'm tired and cold and anxious about so much, from our rapidly approaching wedding to the imminent possibility of WWIII.



talk soon.

other news about my car: i was following a WTC-related metafilter link yesterday and stumbled upon justin who was offering a free carfax background check to anyone who wanted one. well, the good news is that the car i bought a year and a half ago wasn't a lemon! i guess that's something, eh?



thanks, justin! ps—love the monkeys. :)

getting back to normal: so i drop the laundry off at the fluff 'n fold since our washer situation is still in disarray and thankfully remember that we're out of TP. i come out of Ye Olde Stoppe and Shoppe to find that my friggin' car won't start! i wasn't in the grocery for more than a few minutes and my battery seems to go dead?! methinks there's something seriously wrong with the car, but now is not the time to try to tackle it...so i just left a note on the dashboard with my phone number. if i have any luck at all, someone will just steal it.



addendum: as it turns out, the ring that tightens around the positive terminal of the battery was broken. the funny thing is that the receptionist for my insurance company's roadside assist diagnosed the problem. i don't need the car, but i dhope that the garage isn't so backed up that i won't see it until next week...

give blood. if you can't give blood, give money. if you can't give money, be kind to others. we all need each other's support more than ever.

the day after. did you see this made-for-TV movie in the early 80's? i did. scared the pre-teen bejeezus out of me. (not quite as much as this twilight zone episode, directed by wes craven interestingly enough, but anyways...)



today is our Day After. the horror of yesterday's tragedy has not yet passed and we are confronted with the question of what comes next. i am so very lucky in that i did not lose anyone close to me in the destruction, but we have all lost something as a result. much as the new york skyline will never be the same, neither will our lives as americans.



i just heard on the news that there are cell phone calls coming from the rubble of what was the World Trade Center. there might be some hope afterall.

one more accounted for: my last remaining girlfriend from high school and bridesmaid just checked in and is ok... now what do we do?

they're ok. thank goodness.

oh my god. i think i know someone who works in the WTC. please may he be alright.

"a blast from your past." this guy just calls me, telling me to guess who it is. i don't recognize his voice at all and ask him to give me a hint. he says something to the effect of "just think. it's a blast from your past." ok, i'm getting a little annoyed since i don't appreciate being jerked around like this (and i'm pretty damn certain that i don't know this person). the guy is kinda congested, so i mishear him when he says "it's john."



"dan? i don't know any dan. who is this?"



"no, i said it's john..."



ok, now i kinda freak out because i do know a john. from my "past." who sounds kinda like this. not someone i ever thought i'd be talking to, ever again. which was more than fine with me, so of course now my heart was racing as my body got ready to be pissed.



"...john sullivan."



"who?!"



"isn't this patty?"



"no this isn't 'patty.'"



click.



well-buried memories shouldn't be calling me up at home. not now.

all work and no blogging makes brigita a dull grrl. the fact remains that i'm still slammed with this project and i'm feeling kinda cranky, so you might not hear much from me until later. :(

illustration of how badly i want a dog: i keep the microsquish "Rocky the Dog" office assistant visible when i'm in excel even if i don't need him. so lame.

A: back-to-school sales, football season, and cooler temperatures.



Q: What are harbringers of fall, alex?



really, i am beyond stunned by the sudden change in the weather. last week i was unhappily stewing in my own juices then someone goes and waves a labor day wand and now i'm sitting here in long pants and a sweater! the wind has picked up and the trees are beginning to look a little crisp around the edges as well. that would explain why my pet wild squirrel, Mister Bojangles (named after the "circus mouse" from The Green Mile), has been busy eating all the nuts he can from the next-door-neighbors tree.



yes, i am that lonely. Mr. Bojangles has sometimes climbed over to our roof and i'd caught him clumbing up the screen of our kitchen windows before. a few weeks ago, i threw a few cherries out to him and watched him eat them all. i would have given him the whole lot (they were on the brink of going bad and we were going out of town for the weekend), but i was afraid that i would unintentionally give the poor creature cavities or a bad tummy ache.



well, he came back the next day, but i was worried about his becoming too familiar with humans and our home...i'd hate for the little guy to come scrambling into the apartment, only to be scared into a closet, pooping in J.'s golf shoes and the like. Mr. Bojangles hasn't come over to the kitchen window in a long time, and it's probably for the best. like i need more separation anxiety when we move...

we were experiencing technical difficulties... but are now back up and running. patience decidedly is a virtue, tho i'm really slammed with work at the moment, so posts will be sporadic at best.

better news! we got the apartment! so i need you guys to help me think of good dog names...we obviously haven't picked a pup just yet, but we're leaning towards american bulldogs, chesapeake bay retrievers, shar peis—really any ol' mutt that captures our hearts. any thoughts?

great news! J. and i had a very successful trip south this past weekend. after a unauspicious beginning (ie having to drive a rental car from DC to southern VA), we were able to meet some great people and find a great place! nothing is in stone at the moment, but the landlord was giving us good vibes. the apartment/condo is huge (2BR with vaulted ceilings), on the "main drag" of a fun neighborhood, and pet-friendly! to quote the man, he said that a dog "wasn't a deal-breaker," which is odd because they typically are. we don't have a doggie just yet, but we're hoping to get one as soon as we find a suitable candidate. J. is very excited about that.



i was also pretty impressed with the restaurants & bars we checked out over the weekend: pretty hip and veggie-friendly. the fact that *$ is just a short walk from the place is icing on the cake!



of course, this greqt news managed to give the both of us insomnia—J. was mulliung over his job prospects while i was up surfing the web for new furniture...