Here in Katie’s Head

I have an itch to write, but I know better than to write about the thing that is actually on my mind. So in lieu of a genuine glimpse into my head, here are somethings that I nearly thought about today:

• I need to buy blank DVDs, but I’m not sure where I can get the best deal, so I’m putting it off.
• I was invited to Bonnie Bing’s 60th birthday cocktail party/roast, which is a benefit for CASA of Sedgwick County, but I’m doubtful that I can score a date for a $60/plate charity event. Interested in putting down some cash to rub elbows with Wichita elite? (After further consideration, I might be willing to put down the whole $120 if I had a date who was willing to play dress up with me. I get so few chances to put on a pretty dress and heels.)
• As of Saturday, I’ve officially lost 20 pounds. The plan was to hit 20 and then set a new goal. I’d like to lose another 10 and then reevaluate again.
• My intro pilates class is getting better each week, but it’s still boring.
• I want to go camping. In a tent. Marshmallows, fire and alcohol should be involved.
• I want to go out to the Lake Afton Observatory for nerdy stargazing.
• I want to go to the drive-in. I hear they’re showing Knocked Up and Ocean’s 13 on the same screen. There has to be someone else who wants to see both of those this weekend, right?
• I want to do all of those things because I just realized that it is summer, and I don’t have any vacation planned, and I desperately need to do cliche summer activities in order to maintain my sanity.
• Someone went through every post on my secret blog this morning, and after a pang of paranoia, I have a guess as to who it must have been. The site stats were fun for seeing the insane google searches that bring people here, but they’re also very crazy-making.
• I need to go to the grocery store and do laundry.
• I hope the pair of German shepherds that were guarding my garage this morning don’t come back. Although it was hilarious that Cat Lady was so afraid of them that she wouldn’t leave the house.
• I need to stop being a chicken.

Sigh. And now I will go write about that other thing in my diary.

Posted: 10:17 pm · Category: Lists · Comments: 5

I’ve been making To Do lists. And then I always end up doing things that should have been on the list but were originally forgotten. Whatever. Stuff gets done either way. This weekend was less boring than I expected.

• I went to Dillards and made an appointment for one of those silly makeup makeover sessions. I’ve never really worn makeup, so this will either be helpful, hilarious or humiliating. Either way, I can blog about it. The appointment’s on Dec. 2 and my little sister is going with me. I think it will be fun.
• I bought some cheap makeup and got acquainted with it. Huh. It really does make you look better. Also, mascara is a pain in the butt.
• I kinda raked the leaves. By “kinda raked,” I mean that I definitely raked, just not very well. The neighbors are rolling their eyes at me. My sisters kinda helped. By “kinda helped” I mean that Whitney sat inside reading The Areas of My Expertise while Caroline made me pay her $12.25 to hold the bag while I shoved leaves into it. I think Caroline and I are alike in how we approach projects: we both envision something very specific, but then get a little sloppy with the details and then it looks like a crappier version of the initial vision. Not that I’m blaming her for the crappy state of my lawn. I’m just relieved that my apathy for clean execution is either genetic or generational, and thusly not my fault.
• I saw Borat. Everyone I know must have gotten into advance screenings or something because apparently everyone else saw it before me. So now I have caught up. My review? Well, it was exactly what I expected it to be, and that always disappoints me. Maybe I should stop reading movie reviews. They spoil my fun.
• I went to the grocery store and paid full price for Diet Coke (which always seemed to be on some perpetual sale). Ouch. If they keep charging me $4 for a 12-pack, that might sting enough to make me cut back. We can only hope.
• I gave myself an emergency haircut. I was long overdue, and because I don’t want to look like my normal shaggy self when I visit Lawrence this week, I had to take things into my own hands. Literally. On the spectrum of haircuts I’ve given myself over the years (ranging from “can’t leave the house for a month” to “THIS is why I saved the $30 and did it myself”), this was one of the best. Mostly because there were so many very, very bad ones.
• I fixed the stupid problem I was having with my dryer. Don’t ask. I think I may have also fixed the problem I was having with my washer, too.
• I made serious progress on my knitting. (Oh, and last weekend I lined the pockets of the Badass Scarf with some REALLY SOFT fleece, so now it’s even more badass. Speaking of the scarf, where’s your response, J.D.?) Mom tricked me into making her a pocket scarf, and it’s almost done now. And I started my first-ever sweater with some fancypants yarn.
• And other things that are even more boring.

Posted: 11:26 pm · Category: Family, Lists · Comments: 8

I updated my 100 Things list. Most items are new, most old ones have been updated.

And I’m contemplating a redesign.

Posted: 7:33 pm · Category: Lists, Meta · Comments: 1

1. Laundry.
2. Call the dealership about my car being stupid.
3. Get a new battery for my car remote.
4. Clean and vacuum at least the living room. I get partial credit for this one
5. Take the mountain of Diet Coke cans and newspapers to be recycled.
6. Go visit Grandma.
7. Finish the “badass scarf” so that I can prove to j.d. that it really is badass.
8. Spy on the house across the street.
9. Scavenge for treasure (or at least a rake) in the garage. (Joaquin left some old computers and other random crap in there, and I really doubt he’s coming back for any of it, so I’m considering having a garage sale.)
10. Stop biting my nails. (The stress of the last six months still shows.) It won’t last, but at least I tried.
11. Look for fabric for curtains. Or just buy some shitty ones at Wal-Mart.
12. Do something about the slow shower drain.

One down, eleven to go.

Update: Well, some progress made. I also accomplished things that I forgot to put on the list, including buying beer, taking out the trash, paying bills, buying blank CDs, burning the videos I promised my sister onto CDs, throwing out all pre-breakup artifacts and finishing a book. I feel productive.

Posted: 10:46 am · Category: Duplex, Lists · Comments: 1

When I moved to Larryville for college, I wrote a list of things I liked about Wichita.

But now I’m moving back in a week, so it’s time to write a similar list for Lawrence.

Things that I will not miss about Lawrence

1. Frat guys
2. “That guy” in the newsroom, the only person in the world that everyone hates (coincidentally, he used to be a frat guy)
3. Loud parties when I’m trying to sleep
4. The overly self-righteous liberal nutjobs who make the rest of us liberals look bad
5. Homework, term papers and group projects
6. Johnson County SUVs taking all the good parking spots

Things I will miss about Lawrence

1. All the great restaurants (favorites: India Palace, La Parrilla, Mad Greek, Pizza Shuttle, Vermont St. BBQ, Yello Sub, Zen Zero)
2. The hippies
3. Working on campus
4. The hippies
5. The nutty commercials for local businesses (”Dr. Lenahan. Dr. Lenahan! Dr. Lenahan!!!,” auto shop employees dressed up as Austin Powers characters for no apparent reason, Broadband Man being generally odd)
6. Flirty cashiers at World Market
7. Perkins Restaurant, for being open all night and for getting much better waitresses this year (the old ones were crap)
8. The smoking ban
9. The smoking ban
10. The smoking ban
11. The hippies
12. All the other awesome people who are not hippies

Posted: 12:54 pm · Category: Lawrence, Lists · Tags: kansas, Lawrence · Comments: 5

A list of things:

1. The season finale of Six Feet Under managed several suprises.
   1. Holy shit, Hoyt!
   2. I’m hot for Billy. Ohhhhh man.
2. To the locals: If you get a chance to catch Evil Kansas on KUJH, it is one hilarious TV show. I got a sneak preview of episode three when the director let the station manager take a look at it, and I laughed the whole way through. This episode premieres Friday and should be in heavy rotation after that.
3. To my classmate who saw me trip over the curb behind Fraser, thank you for laughing at me. Seriously. I don’t know why, but that made me feel better about being a spaz.
4. I had a dream this morning, woke up and thought, “ha! like that would happen!” And then it did happen. Wow.
5. I keep thinking this whole wireless internet thing will get old, but every day it’s still so awesome.
6. I get to go home this weekend! Yay! And then I get to go to Winfield! Double yay!
7. Either I have lost my mind or I have become an optimist. Sadly, there’s far more evidence to support the argument that I’ve lost my mind.

Posted: 8:24 pm · Category: Lists · Comments: 2

It is time for me to pimp the return of Meeting of the Minds, where we are kicking things off by talking about food. As a big fan of both food and intelligent (?) discussion, this is quite exciting for me. Three cheers for Pat and the rest of the MOTM team.

Posted: 10:02 pm · Category: Lists · Comments: 1