Putt-putt

So this is my newest little love, Puder. I pronounce it "putter", as opposed to the way the shelter people pronounced it..."pooter". I just couldn't bring myself to call her something so close to "poo-tang". Nasty. And she's way too cute to be nasty!

People and Their D@mn Guns

OK, I realize it's not really election time yet, so I don't usually start ranting about the idiots of the world who hold the Second Amendment as the end-all, be-all of the Bill of Rights. But given some recent happenings, I have to say that on the whole, people are just too fucking stupid to be allowed the use of firearms!

Cases to back this up:

#1. A 12-year-old (read: my sister's age) was shot in the head in front of her own home in Minneapolis this weekend. No one knows why, all we know is that her older sister found her laying there with a head wound, and the girl is in critical condition. Suspects in custody are also pre-teens.

#2. My friend Natalie has a psychopathic neighbor in her Florida apartment complex who gets his rocks off by shooting cans and feral cats. Never mind the fact that said cats did nothing to him; how about the fact that Natalie and her hubby Dean walk back there to feed the cats? Or the fact that there are little kids all over the place there? Seriously.

#3. The recent customer I had at the bank. He walked in proudly wearing his NRA shirt, sleeves torn off to make it a "muscle shirt", even though it was button-down flannel. And, and lest I forget, he had maybe half the number of teeth he should have, and started ranting about "big government" when his receipt showed his recent paycheck had been garnished. Nice. And we give this guy guns?

So, yes, candidates, please fix the medical care system and get our troops home from Iraq. But also, can we start yanking guns out of people's hands if they are idiots? Clearly, they don't shoot themselves with the guns, so there isn't any benefit to society by them having guns in the first place. Darwin applied here - the guns give these morons an unfair advantage in the survival cycle.

One Giant Step For Diane

Hello dear readers (all 2 of you)! I find myself mere hours away from signing the closing papers on my new condo, and I ponder: is this the biggest step I will take into adulthood? Should I never wed or have a child, it may very well be. I feel like I should have dressed up or gone out for the occasion; instead, I am rocking the Friday casual look, and will swing into Subway for the $1.99 roasted chicken breast sandwich on my way to Edina!

As I did the final pre-closing walk through last night, I was struck by how different this feels, how permanent, in comparison with the other places I've rented. I've been in Forest Lake for 3 years, but it's never really felt like "home". I don't know if it's the gun racks in the trucks, the occasional mullet, or the oft-seen Confederate flag bumper sticker, but FLake never grabbed me.

Now I can get used to the new little caveats of St. Louis Park. Will Hwy 100 become my nemesis, or my best means of getting to downtown for nights out? Will my neighbors like me, or will I like them? Do I have the slightest idea of where a grocery store, pharmacy, vet, or dry cleaner are? These are the fun things about relocating, the adventure of finding what is around you!

Wish me luck, dear readers, and that I don't end up with carpal tunnel after all this signing!

Plop, plop

How does that old Alka Seltzer commercial go? "Plop, plop, fizz, fizz, oh what a relief it is"? I'll be majorly relieved when this week is over!

I'm closing on my condo this Friday. It's been a long month of imposing on my cousin by staying at her place (so I don't have such a horrendous commute), and imposing on my old roommate and his new renter (and my friend), as almost all my stuff is still at that house, taking up space. I feel like a nomad, wandering from home to home but without one to call my very own.

Until now! Well, until Friday. It's gonna feel GREAT to sleep in my own place - even though it will be on an air mattress for the first week, until my brothers come down and help me move my furniture!

Here's to a place to call home - cheers, down go the Alka-Seltzer!

Cut off?

So apparently, I've been cut off by my favorite BP (booty provider). I'm trying to figure out how I offended; was it because I picked up some of the scattered tissues and various newspapers in his house? Because I fell asleep before he came to bed the last time I spent the night? Or was it because I drunk-dialed him Friday after HE turned ME down for dinner & booty? I'm trying to come to some logical conclusion, and I think I have it. Not to be all Sex & The City girl or anything, but any one of you would probably tell me: "He's just not that into you."

OK, I guess that's that. Unless he calls and explains what's up, I suppose that's what I have to go with. I draw the line at calling again; I'm not THAT girl who stalks and cries. But seriously, can't a girl get a little "it's over" phone call, at the very least?

How Lucky I Am

So it occurs to me that I'm awfully lucky.

Not in the I-win-the-lottery sense, or the get-bumped-to-first-class way, but in so many other shapes and forms. What brings on this epiphany? Well, I met with clients today who were absolutely the most charming, sweetest folks I've met in doing this job. They obviously love each other and their kids deeply, and they work hard for each other. How does this make ME lucky, and not them? Well, for starters, they are both deaf.

I never really thought about how different my life would be if I couldn't hear, or see, or walk, or all those things I just take for granted. Sure, I bitch about not being as skinny as I'd like, or that my Diana Ross hair goes out of whack every other day. But do I really have anything to complain about? When looking at what other people deal with on a day to day basis, I feel kind of bad for even THINKING my life has any such woe. I mean, really, to never be able to hear those damn birds every morning? Far worse than them waking you up, I think...

Anyway, it gets me to thinking that I should really make the best of what I have, because I'm so lucky to have it. I SHOULD watch the sunrise, because I can. I SHOULD listen to the opera, because I can. I SHOULD go for a walk, every day, because my legs work and my feet work and I can.

On that note, I'm going to take my lucky self out around the block for a nice stroll in the crisp September air. I'll listen to the wind in the trees, see the sun shine, and appreciate it just a little more than I normally do.

Whew, wedding!

Here comes the bride, and all her drunken cousins... Isn't that how it goes? Well, that's how it went at this weekend's festivities.

So my cousin Sara (a.k.a. "Little Sara") had a beautiful outdoor wedding on the shores of Lake Superior this weekend. The beauty extended to the local American Legion, where a bevy of Dugas cousins consumed mass quantities of beverages and celebrated the nuptials. Please note the "Zoolander" expression on my older brother's face...beer-induced, I'm sure.

All in all, a good time was had by all. The bride looked lovely, the peeps had a good time, and I am still recovering. Argh...so old!

What up, homies?

To all my peeps throughout the land - I am back on Blogger. Yes, I know, about d*mn time, yada yada yada. But there's been a heck of a lot going on!!

So I finally left teaching after 5 years. It was definitely the right decision, but it feels weird to be at a different job (more on that later), rather than in the classroom. The first day of school was thankfully a busy day at the new job, so I didn't reflect too much on what I was missing.

I think of all the things I will miss about teaching, the #1 thing is the people. This includes the people I worked with, but to some extent the students, too. There is an energy inherent to that population, and to be around it 24-7 and then not at all is weird. Of course, that energy isn't always positive, so I probably will get over it...say, right around Homecoming time, when they go over the top, or right before the holidays, when they're climbing the walls...

I had dinner with my girlfriends last month before one of them went back to Tampa. They were both so supportive, and I think they knew all along that I was meant to do something else with my life. Not that I was a bad teacher, but the signs were there that it wasn't something I could keep up at the pace I was going. In fact, I've gotten support from almost everyone I know in regards to the career change, which is so awesome and makes it so much easier!!

OK, that's it for now. Tune in again soon for adventures at the new job and random encounters from being on match.com!!