Twittle.

No, I did not forget about you. However, I finally gave in and did the most obnoxious thing ever.

I STARTED TWITTERING!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That isn't real excitement... more of obnoxious excitement. And no, my lack of blogging has nothing to do with Twitter.

Today is one of those weird days where I feel like I'm just sort of floating along. My horoscope says it's supposed to be a "9 day", but we will see about that. So far today: I came to work without showering, I only have one contact in, I somehow forgot to put on a bra while getting dressed, I sneakily got myself out of a parking ticket (not my car), I can't spell anything for shit, I just realized that I actually did in fact pay for my business license to be renewed (but a month and a half later I still haven't gotten it), and I have finally come to a full-on conclusion that a whole bunch of people that I have done business with in some way or another in the past few months are ASSHOLES.

But it's sunny out and avocados are on sale and I'm going to eat yogurt for lunch. So, whatevs. Today can kiss it. I refuse to be in a bad mood.

Slacker.

This week has been a real winner.

I've been pretty miserable, as I had to get an emergency root canal yesterday afternoon. More on that later, as the whole ordeal may end up involving a lawyer. Ask me in person if you really care that much about my teeth. I couldn't stop crying last night either, mostly just because I am a giant sissy. I am also so, so over having things wrong with my teeth. NEVER AGAIN.

I started eating yogurt again last week, and haven't been able to stop since. That was honestly the hardest thing for me to give up when I was attempting semi-veganism. Back on the crack! Nancy's nonfat plain yogurt with honey and raw walnuts is seriously one of the best things I have ever eaten. Sorry cows. Sorry bees. Not sorry walnut trees.

I still haven't uploaded any of my Portland pictures... Basically all you really need to know is that Friday night was ridiculous(ly wonderful), and then I spent the rest of my weekend being relaxed and mellow with Becca and Aaron. There were docks, strip clubs, plenty of getting lost, greyhounds, popcorn, sore butts, giant paella, sangria, parks, dog walks, ginger tea, long showers, Star Wars, bikes, bikes, and a lot more bikes. I am pretty much deeply, madly, disgustingly in love with Portland.

Mama is in town all weekend, and I can not WAIT to get off work and go cause trouble with her. I miss my family so much all the time. I have no idea what I'm going to do when she's out cruising next year.

Back to work.

The End of A Very Short Era

As of tomorrow night- Club Pop will be no more.

I haven't been in over a year and a half now, anyway... but once upon a time Club Pop was (mostly) the only thing that really mattered.

Their photo site doesn't seem to be up anymore, either. I think my heart kind of broke just a little teenie tiny baby bit. I was actually thinking about going- but as of this morning I now have an appointment for an emergency root canal tomorrow afternoon, and there's absolutely 0% chance that I'm going to want to go dance with a bunch of 18 year olds after that.

Boo.

Back.

I actually got back on Sunday night, but I've been really busy... not blogging.

I'm at work so this is all you get for now. More later.



Felix, Bryan, Ryan
Greg, me, Bubba

Yes, the greyhounds and popcorn were there too.

Wet Butts & Portland

Foolery.

I packed my bag for Portland last night, under the assumption that there wouldn't be any rain or crappy weather to deal with. Failing to take into consideration that I still had to ride in Seattle today. In the rain. Of course! So my one change of jeans and one hoodie are both soaked. Great way to start things off. I win!

Other than that... no blogging for a few days, as I'll be in Portland for Filmed By Bike.

See ya.

Poop.

GUESS WHAT JUST HAPPENED TO ME FOR THE SIXTH TIME???



Is this normal? Does anyone else get pooped on as much as I do? Why do birds always aim their little butts at me? Wtf?

Price Yourself

Yowch. Major blow to the ego.

Inspired by a zinger of a comment from a customer of mine about pricing because- "it's just a __________. I didn't expect it to be that much".

I price my labor based on two things- the first being what the average going rate is for sewing/tailoring/working with specialty fabrics, and the second being what I believe that my time is worth.

Based on what I sell most of my work for- I know that I'm not asking too much. This project happened to be rather large and time consuming- thus the "high" price.

So, now I'm curious. How much would you sell yourself for? This pertains to any skill-set at all. Whether it's playing/writing music, baking the best cookies ever, being really good at doing laundry, or anything else that tickles you the right way. How much do you feel your skills are worth?

Me? I'm priceless. But that breaks down to about $33/hr on an invoice.

Link Love!

A little Tuesday link love for you.



- Things With Antlers by Marc Johns. HI. Genius. Mad love.



- Treehouse of Amaze over at Kristatomic. I want all of them. And I think my new life goal is to live in a tree.



- Garfield Minus Garfield. Self explanatory, yeah? I was "reading" it at work and kept making awkward trying-not-to-laugh faces. Adorkable.

- Not a link, but it's still on the internets and worth sharing. Cocorosie's response to Akon's song I Wanna Fuck You. Which I actually super secretly love... but Cocorosie just blows Akon's ass right out of the water.



- Gala's repost from a zine on Infinite Relationships is definitely worth a read, at the very least.

- Dogs Looking Like People is nothing but ridiculous love.

CREEPER!

You have no idea how excited I am to be making this post right now. Yikes.

I realized yesterday while driving back home that a lot of my very favorite songs are either about being a creeper, or just really creepy to listen to. I still owe Mike a playlist, so I put this bad boy together. It actually rules kind of hard. Minus the Kanye song. It was just too creepy not to use... but it mostly just sucks. I am even amazing and added links to most all of the songs minus The Stryder (it just goes to the lyrics), because apparently they are no one. Sad.





Tegan and Sara- Living Room
The Police- Every Breath You Take
Islands- Creeper
The Blow- Eat Your Heart Up
Radiohead- A Wolf At the Door
Cocorosie- Werewolf
The Good Life- Empty Bed
The Knife- Bird
The Smiths- Girlfriend In A Coma
Kanye West- Drunk and Hot Girls
The Stryder- Intoxicated
The Unicorns- Ghost Mountain
Wintersleep- Orca

Pieces and Parts

I need a new bottom bracket and a new threaded headset. Recommend!

-------------

I am SO TIRED right now. Brutally. Despite sleeping on a $2,000 mattress on Saturday night (and going to bed at 10:30 wtf?) I somehow managed to be completely worn out by the time I got home last night. Vancouvie was good. I halfway fell in love with Granville Island but we didn't get to spend much time, and it was pouring on our heads, so that's how that goes I guess.

I am in dire need of two major life changes at the moment. When you get to this point- you just know. And it sucks a little, but it's time. I am sending you telepathic explanations right now, 'cause I can't write what I'm thinking. SECRETS!

The Haps!

I just Googalendar'd (yes) some boring things like Dr.'s appointments and getting paid (hah) and thought:

1. I need more Google Calendar buddies. So add me if you use it. DO IT. renai.marie(at)gmail(dot)com. And if you don't already then you should. The same goes for Google Reader.

2. I'm not boring anymore(!!!)



I also thought that if you aren't already stalking me via Google, you could just blog stalk me instead. Love love. Who doesn't like blog stalking???



Some stuffs that are coming up:

April 11th: Vancouver, BC with the boy and his fam! We're staying in some swanky ass hotel downtown and probably just going to spend too much money. Fine by me!

April 14th: Feminist Book Club! Back in action! If any ladies are interested in starting to come to meetings just holler in my direction. We drink wine and talk about sex more than anything else, but it's a really good time and no pressure to read a ton or agree with everyone or be all activisty or anything else either. We generally meet every other week in Wallingford.

April 17th-19th: Filmed By Bike in Portland! Heading down mid-day with a truck full of boys to cause heaps of trouble all weekend. So good. I'm staying with David and Ryan too, so all the better. I miss them too much all the time. There's also a race going on in Pekin, Illinois this weekend that I'm sponsoring. So, uh... go?

April 24th-26th: MOM! I love it when she visits. I am a mama's girl big time and I hate being so far away from her. Boohoo. This weekend also overlaps two lovely ladies birthdays. Mmm.



That's it for a sweet while. West Side Invite in May which I'm throwing in three top tube pads as prizes for. Maybe I should try riding my bike sometime.

Sleepy Baby.

Ughaahahahhhhgggggg.

EMERGENCY 911!

Just kidding.

That's basically what happened this morning at 3 motha'-fucking AM. We woke up to the fire alarm SCREAMING at us and it seriously took me a good 5 minutes to even figure out what was going on. So much for being good in an emergency. We ended up standing outside in the cold for nearly 45 minutes while the fire department sleepily checked the building. Finally back to bed and I couldn't fall asleep, so I have been a giant sleepy asshole all day. GRUMPZILLA! Nothing new, really.

Perfect Foods

This conversation took place at least twice over the weekend. We were trying to figure out our top five "perfect" foods. They had to be a single item- not a dish- and it helped if your reaction to it was something along the lines of "This is fucking genius!" This is my list, full of stolen pictures. I also can't say that they are actually in order, but they all have major staying power in my life. They also aren't always my "favorites", but I still think that they are perfect.



Credit: SurlyGrrrl

Avocado



Credit: job_earth

Pineapple



Credit: Marx Foods

Salmon (wild Alaskan)



Credit: Renamian

Chocolate (the real kind)



Credit: Vanessa Pike-Russell

Almonds



-----------------------------

What are yours, bb?

Weekend!

So much good in three little days.

Friday night Mant Jerkson picked me up and we went to his lady friends house to make pizza. I don't even remember what went on each of the two- but there were definitely quail eggs and green tomatoes involved. Heaven heaven heaven. Then we watched some terrible movie and went to an even more terrible bar on Beacon Hill. Terrible in all the right ways.



Saturday Matao and I decided to act like old people and walked around Greenlake. We ate some bad food, then I went to Becca's where I tried to befriend her new cat and instead he just scratched me. Story of my life. I don't even know how the rest of the night happened, but either way it was gooooooood.






Today Matao took me to breakfast at The Sunlight, then Chi Chi met up with us to go on a bike ride! We just went to Gasworks at first, but after Matao left to go to work we rode to Fremont and made eyes at Bubba so he gave us free pizza. We ate it on the sidewalk and made fun of crusties. Oops. We ended up riding out to Golden Gardens, and on the way April tried to take us both out. I heard this giant crash behind me and was so afraid to turn around and see what happened. She scraped her ankle. How does that happen??? Every time I fall I break half of my body, I swear. We got lots of sand in our shoes and got hollered at a million times. We rode back to Fremont and bummed free dinner off of Matao which was delicious and amazing. Then we got lost at Woodland Park, then rode around Greenlake and then finally home. I seriously can't believe that I wore a tshirt all day today, and last week I was riding in gloves and a jacket. ILY Seattle weather. Mmmm.







Now it's 9 o'clock and I totally just want to go to bed. Windows open.

Asthma Ain't Cool.

Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo.

I started thinking sometime last summer that I might have exercise induced asthma, but for the most part I figured I was either A. pushing myself too hard, or B. developing new allergies that would sort themselves out (right???). HAHA. Foolery.

Last night while riding the whole two miles to Matao's work, I nearly fell over dead riding up to Phinney. Yes, two whole blocks up a moderate grade. SOMEONE accused me of just being out of shape- but for craps sake I'm not THAT bad. I finally did a little research today and talked to my mama a bit (who was diagnosed with adult onset exercise induced asthma a few years back) and a lot of things started to click.

My main frustration with it (especially not knowing for sure) is that I have strong legs and decent stamina, but more and more often lately it's been hard for me to keep my lungs in check with what the rest of my body is trying to do. I'll finish a ride and not have any muscle fatigue at all, yet feel like I'm about to hyperventilate and fall over dead from lack of oxygen.

SWEET!

I guess the good news now is that I at least know that it's treatable. I still need to do the whole dreaded "finding a doctor" bit- but either way I feel a lot better.

Cool kids use inhalers, right? YEAH!

Swrve! and A Survey

FIRST! This comes from Ryan at ECBB: GreatCity.org has an article asking people in Seattle what's keeping them from riding, with a survey linked here. Go check it out and get on that shit!



SECOND!

I just ordered a new pair of (last seasons) knickers from Swrve!

Stoked!



They're just the basic women's cotton knickers, but I wanted something decent for warmer weather, and they fit the bill.

I already have their WWR Knickers



and their Hiding Hoodie



Both of which I love, love, love.

Love love love love squishy love squishy smushy love.