Well it is time for that good ol’ monthly update I guess.

First off I’m not in Hell. Haven’t been for a few weeks. I’m on the other side of the world in place that is actually more pretentious than Hell. Yeah. Malibu.

I’m here to head up our emergency assessment units after the California wildfires. There are some perks to the assignment but none of them really even begin to balance out the horrors I’m seeing everyday. It’s a tough time and I still have a few more weeks to go.

To bring a bit of levity to our situation the group (there are 10 of us all sharing this huge house) we have all reverted back to our college days. There is the all night partying, with the drinking and the loud music and me coming out of my bedroom in the morning to stumble over guys passed out on the floor in the living room next to half empty pizza boxes. I feel like I’m living in a frat house… but I’m finding that after the week I’ve had it isn’t really all that bad. We find ways to cope.

My ways have varied slightly (although I have, admittedly, done a good bit of my own drinking). I’ve gone shopping. Lots of shopping. I managed to check off another of the “1001 things Sabine must do before she dies” when I purchased a pair shoes that cost me more than what I pay in rent. Before I leave I plan to take full advantage of my temporary home and venture down into the L.A. garment district. My fabric stash has fallen under 200 yards – this must be remedied.

Other important news would be that a few months ago as I was preparing to book my annual trip to Mexico for Thanksgiving; I got a call from Jeff. He informed me that instead of visiting him this year that he was coming to me. After some freaking out, I started to get excited. Then word came down that I would be in California for Thanksgiving. It took a bit of a group effort, but plans were rearranged and now I’m here and Jeff is with me. We even have plans to take us away from here for the holiday. My assistant was able to score us a reservation at a resort outside of Sonoma for Thanksgiving. Then we are going to head North to do some exploring before heading back here next week.

Then I should be heading back home sometime in the 2^nd week of December for some well deserved alone time.

Oh and before I left I finally, after a 6 month hiatus, got my ass into my car and went to an event. Of course that event was in Texas and I decided on Tuesday that I was going, and then proceeded to frantically run around my house looking for pieces of my kit, that I hadn’t seen since Gulf, until I left Thursday night. But it was totally worth it. I was able to surprise a lot of people that I love (because on that of short of notice I decided not to tell anyone that I was going) and have some good girl time with Sarah. I actually enjoyed myself at an event for the first time in probably close to 2 years. I was beginning to wonder if I was actually ever going to be able to enjoy myself at an event again. But I did, even more I’m actually looking forward to being able to do it again. So who knows you people may actually see me sometime before March… maybe.

So I took some vacation days. Actually I’m taking a lot of vacation days in the coming months (big Texas trip in the works), but knowing that me traveling to Texas even if I am going to be gone for 14 days is by no means a vacation - I took a few days off in July as well for some real r&r. But I really didn’t have a clue what I was actually going to do with my time off. Sarah voted for a cruise. Mike voted for getting hitched in Vegas. But in the end I decided to give the long weekend what it really deserves.

You see, it is Harry Potter weekend. And I’m used to doing something big on Harry Potter weekends. I have very fond memories $100 meals and fancy dresses. I mean really you take a book designed for junior high kids and you make it into a national phenomenon that makes every adult want to join in on the fanaticism but then all the celebrating is geared towards a 12 year old girl who gets to stay up past bedtime.

So as adults we can either sneak into a Walmart at midnight and grab our copy with a rotisserie chicken or we can make a big deal out of the event all on our own. I’ve tried both and frankly? I like an excuse to dress up much better.

So this year, I’m taking a few days off holing myself up on a little island in the luxury suite of the local b&b. I’ve also managed to secure a full day at one of the local spas on Friday in preparation for the long weekend of marathon reading.

My requirements were all based on prime places to spend time lost in a book.

A bed with a view –

A Jacuzzi tub –

A comfy couch –

So all in all I don’t think I did that bad… and really a lounge chair on the beach is just a bonus.

_{Please no one call attention to the flaw in the plan. I realize I have opted to vacation in the middle of hurricane season on a tiny island in the Atlantic Ocean. I’m fully aware of the disaster potential, but at least if I’m stranded I’ll have the book to keep me company.}

Before I move on to that laundry list of things I need to blog about, I’ve decided to jump ahead and quickly cover this weekend. Well not so much cover it as send out a few thank you notes. You see this weekend had the all the makings of drama filled angsty disaster and I wasn’t exactly being the most tolerant flower in the garden. I was mad. I was mad, confused, and angry. I wanted to throw things. I wanted to kick shins. It wasn’t very pretty. But as luck would have it, I’m surrounded by some great men in my life. Men that balled up, took the brunt of my attack (even though it was never meant to be directed at them), and showed me that they loved me in their own little individual ways. By the end of weekend I wasn’t mad anymore – I was resolved. And I no longer believed that all little boys should be lying dead in ditches, which was a huge improvement over Tuesday night.

Dear Mike,

I’m sorry. You got the worst of it, didn’t you? But you took it and you understood and you offered… well you offered just about everything, didn’t you? From pedicures to a bottle of bourbon even going so far to offer to hire a hit man. You took me out and showed me a good time and more than made up for what you knew I was missing out on. By the time I left on Friday morning, I was at least ready to be seen in public without that burning desire to drive the heel of my shoe into someone’s eye.

Not to mention you are now officially classified as one of Sabine’s True Friends. (For the general audience – this is a classification that you can only be awarded after you have fulfilled the duty of taking Sabine to the ER, and Mike has been waiting for years now to have a chance.)

Thanks, hun
Sabine

______

Dear Dirk,

I’m going to miss you when you are gone. Texas just won’t be the same without you. Thanks for taking time out of your busy packing schedule and driving out to see Sarah and I. But even more than that thanks for bring the big protective bear I can always count on. Just remember to set aside an emergency air fund, because you are my #12 and one day the guys aren’t going to be able to talk me out of making you make good on that promise.

Love.You.Mean.It.
Sabine, your #2… (wait a minute – now that you are moving to Canada, does that mean I’m getting demoted to #3?)

______

Dear Gavin,

I would say that now more than ever my point has been proven. I get pissy, you show up, we whisper and giggle in the dark while pissing off all of our friends, and suddenly the world doesn’t suck so much. I’ve decided it is your SuperChicken power (I can’t believe you bought the hat, btw – such a sheep.). I love you… even if you did the hog the bed… steal my pillow… and snore in my ear. Thanks for being you and I can’t wait for August.

Love,
Sabine

______

Dear Brandr,

Well don’t you have a way at making a girl feel loved? You kept me company Saturday Night after my Ansteorran friends left for home. You flirted and you flattered, and you made me feel all girly inside. I made you my scapegoat and you just laughed and went along with it. Then you taught me the hand signal for “huge squid”, and I don’t know how I have managed to live my life up to this point without that knowledge.

You rock, my friend.
Sabine

And at last but not least –

Dear Heebie,

While hot heads were abounding this weekend you stayed all calm and cool. You manned up and spoke to me honestly about some troubles and we worked thru it. You were there every time I needed something during the vigil. You banished the alien hiding under my shoulder blade. You played a nice rousing game “Brandr did it!” (officially the “it” game of summer) with me and you kept yourself firmly planted between me and the oogey drunk guy. All that combined makes you a fairly rockin’ guy.

But then you found the spot… and that makes you my new favorite.

Love you looooonglong time,
Sabine

So there you have it – my recap. Up next? How I landed my ass in Chicago on a Friday morning.

So for the random question of the day –

When you see a chick wearing silver shoes your first thought is:

1) “She looks like a hooker.”
2) “She looks like she snuck into her grandmother’s closet.”
3) “Metallic shoes just look cheap/stupid/trashy… etc.”
4) “Metallic shoes so rock the summer season.”

(Read on …)

So happier topics…

The weekend rocked.

Last week as we all know there was some rather shitty feelings going on. When faced with the thought of a weekend at home in bed, I blanched. I’m just not that girl, but I knew that if given half the chance I could become that girl. So I went to the museum, the only quirk being the exhibit I wanted to see was a Pompeii exhibit… in Mobile, AL. But I haven’t had any decent bonding time alone with my car since Gulf Wars so a 7 hour drive to a museum seemed like an excellent idea.

And it was. I got me out of the house early on Saturday, I got to have a great lunch with Mike at a vegetarian/raw bar place he found in his neck of the woods. I reached Spanish Fort, AL mid-afternoon and got some quality shopping time in at one of my favorite shopping centers. A decent dinner where I had given my self permission to cheat, but didn’t feel the “want to”. A decent hotel with really shitty soft water and a good nights sleep. Followed by a museum exhibit about one of the places I’m passionate about, where my only complaint is I wish the exhibit was bigger… but IMHO still worth my drive… not to mention a fairly nifty IMAX film about Greece (it wasn’t “300” on an IMAX screen but not all of us feel the need to one up the other *smirk*). Then I headed home and was safely home and in bed at a more than decent hour.

That makes for an entire weekend of me not being the lazy stressed slug that I could have easily turned into. There were many many highlights… for example –

The Drive? I will fully admit I’m an odd one. I love to drive. I’ll even take it one step further and say I need it. Driving resets my Feng Shui. A long drive alone in a car calms me. It gives me mandatory down time and I’m learning that it actually takes about 3 hours to really turn my brain off the “stuff” and enjoy myself. So about halfway thru a long drive I find myself finally starting to relax… I breathe deeper and I can ponder life’s more important aspects… like finding great shoes instead of dwelling on all the work crap or the life crap.

The Spanish Fort shopping center? I always find the best shoes there. Always. I get excited when I leave Florida and enter Alabama not because I’m finally leaving ThePitOfHell (well maybe that too) but because I know I’m 40 miles away from my next really great pair of shoes. This trip was no different – they are black with the cutest little ankle strap… and Sarah has already said “Oh Look! FuckMe Heels!”

The Sleep? I actually got a really decent night’s sleep. The hotel wasn’t the best and I quite possibly STILL have conditioner in my hair that won’t rinse out. But I slept! Like 7 hours! And woke up rested! With really strange dreams! Yeah, I dreamed what can only be loosely titled as “Winter Wonders: The Musical.” All I will admit is –

- That I play a wicked harmonica.
- That Sarah has some real soul in her to be able to pull off the Christina Aguilera song she did.
- The Bannerman Barbershop Quartet? Nuff said.
- 3 of our favorite Gleann Abhann Knights covering not one but two Papa Roach songs…
- and Big John? Does a spot on perfect Jay-Z impersonation. (which for the record is the second dream I have had in which Big John was playing Jay-Z.)

Maybe I should think twice about letting my Sansa play while I’m asleep.

Speaking of music? I’m going to go ahead and vote that 4 hours into a 7 hour drive on a dark lonely stretch of Florida interstate is not the exactly the best place to discover the newest “sex” song… but it did make the thought processes of the last 3 hours of the journey incredibly interesting… frustrating, but interesting. And for your listening pleasure? I provide you with that song, and tell you that if you haven’t already given the band Finger Eleven a chance… then you, my dear friend, are a slacker.

Finger Eleven – Paralyzer

Okok, I’ve been told I can’t keep silent any longer. I do have good reason(s) for keeping silent – mainly my health and my job are sucking ass this week but those are separate entries for another day.

What you want to know about is Arizona.

Yeah, I went.

You already know that I had some very mixed emotions about this trip. I wanted to go – that part was never in question, but the logical part of my mind (and at times my gut) thought this could very possibly be a bad idea. It was paranoia in its most raw form. I know this because it manifested itself on various planes.

What if it is bad*?
What if it is awkward?
What if he really is an axe murderer**?
What if there isn’t a spark?
What if it is good?

Yeah – you read that right I was worried that it was going to be good. In my head, having something good with a guy all the way on the other side of the country was a logistical nightmare that my head didn’t even want to compute.

The one thing I didn’t take into account was that if there weren’t any axes to be seen… and if it wasn’t bad or awkward… and if there was more of a spark than even I was prepared for… then it would be good….

…and nothing else would matter.
And the paranoia would dissipate.
And I’d be left with something that was natural and good.

That is what I got. A truly wonderful weekend with an amazing man.

I know that the concept of what I want is fluid at best, but I saw last weekend that there are some things that are more important to me than I realized. And the ironic part is they are all the small things, even minute, that meant more than the grand gestures. He reached for my hand when we walked. He groped me under the table. He marveled at the softness of my skin. He stood behind me in the checkout line at the bookstore sniffing my neck cause he couldn’t get over how great I smelled (yeah, that was my melting point). I’m positive that half of Phoenix saw us and thought we were completely and disgustingly pathetic. I loved it.

And did I mention he thinks my shoes are just the sexiest things? Score one for summer sandals.

Right now, all I can say is that there isn’t anything better than waking up in his arms with one of the puppies*** asleep on my feet. I want more of that.

And I’m going to get it (sans puppies, though) next month we are meeting in New Orleans. We’ve decided to spend a few days enjoying the Quarter before heading out to Sarah’s Elevation.

So, yes, it was a good weekend – even great. So great that I didn’t even care that he threw a lamp at me****.

_{*”bad” of course varying from “bad” to “VERYBAD” and all levels in between.
** based on my track record these are things that must be considered…
*** how can 2 puppies be THAT cute and loving? And he didn’t believe me when I told him that I had never met a dog that didn’t love me, and that bribing wouldn’t needed.
**** That is my story and I’m sticking to it… cause if he didn’t throw it then how in the world did it manage to hit me in the forehead. Don’t listen to his story cause he says that he wasn’t even in the room at the time and that I did it to myself. Now how could I possibly throw at lamp at myself, I ask you? I maintain he did it in retaliation because he believes I taught one of the puppies how to jump up on the kitchen counters. Which for the record? I *so* didn’t. Why would I do that?}

Damn it has been awhile, hasn’t it?

I’m a slacker… but at least I’m back with a good one.

Sacrilege or Brilliance?

I vote Brilliance but then again we all know my weakness with boys and their guitars.  And that voice… I’ve loved that voice every since I managed to snag a bootleg copy of his first CD.  Oh, and I hate U2.  So I’m biased.

_{(it helps if you read this out loud to yourself using the strongest Texas twang you can muster… it really does lend the proper character and mood of the words)}

Well another Gulf Wars come and gone. And if you are just now showing up to catch Sabine’s Highlight Reel, then you have missed out and I’m not even certain that I could catch you up.

It wasn’t a great War. It wasn’t a shitty War, although I’ve been informed that I have more than enough right to refer to it as such. Luckily entirely too many people love me entirely too much. And I’m not sure why cause I sure as hell don’t deserve it.

But I think I’m going to end up chalking this War up as an odd one. Maybe in few weeks when things settle and my laundry is finally all washed; maybe then I can move it to the “good” column… but for now? We shall stick with odd.

Every year, I’ve offered a recap. This year it is just too much to take in. There were a lot of highs and a lot of lows… a lot of angry and mean but also a lot of happy and fun. Some disappointments but some surprises. Honestly looking back everything balanced itself out fairly damn well and really turned out for the best all the way around. (Don’t you hate it when it does that?)

But Hell, it took Liam 30 minutes with a flowchart and 5 PowerPoint slides just to comprehend 9 hours of my life at War. So starting with Friday morning and the text message that went something like “Just now getting on the road (2 hours late)… had to clean the blood off the floor… and pick the glass shards out of my foot… and cry… I cried a lot.” would just be kinda ludicrous.

So I’m taking the wussy way out this year. All of you know the drill, you pick the people, you give a comment, it’s all anonymous, and designed to make everyone paranoid. But? Just to let some of you off the hook there are only 25 people on this list and when you take into account the 3600+ people onsite you can extrapolate that I had to leave one or 2 of you out. Hell, I can think of more than handful right off the top of my head that should be on here but aren’t.

So we shall now commence with the giving of Sabine’s War Recap (You are still using that Texas accent, right?) –

(Read on …)

Ok a bit of explanation about that last post. You see Sarah started a new challenge. All the rules can accessed here, but the gist is that she started last Monday with a quote challenge for anyone who wished to participate and chose me to do this Monday’s new quote and to chose next week’s quote master out of everyone who participated last week.

So here we are on my Monday – I wanted to get this up sooner but after driving home from TheBoy’s place to find my Mother waiting for me in my home… well it has been a long day. But it is still Monday so I haven’t broken the rules quite yet.

Choosing a quote was kinda difficult the first quote my mind went for was on the deep end, and well, Sarah kinda covered the deep part last week. So I went in a different direction… with a quote that already has a bit of history with me… but I’ll save that for my actual post.

The quote is -

Yeah. One can have fun with that.

And I chose to pass this torch onto Bri next week, so remember if you want your own turn at being the QuoteMaster then you have to participate. If you choose to participate, please post a comment here in this post with a link to your post; and it must be a public post available for anyone to read… and Bri will pick her victim from that list next Monday.

Did I miss anything?

Happy Trails! And now if you will excuse me… I have a Mother to placate so my bit of an essay will have to wait till tomorrow.

MaryMary

Bri

CinnKitty

Shelia

Sarah

Kat

Evil Sara

Rixende

So what do you talk about when the thing that is first and foremost in your mind is something you can’t talk about? And the second thing is an uber secret evil plan with an emphasis on the secret part?

…

The Blackberry Green Tea Frappuccino doesn’t suck near as much as I expected it to. I may even dig it a bit… well as much as I can dig a Starbuck’s beverage that has no coffee in it.

…

Yeah, I got nuthin’.

…

Oh! Sarah asked for songs! Songs I can do. In fact a while back I ran across a song that really spoke to me and it reminds me of Sarah a bit, as well. Cause while the changes we are going thru aren’t the same we are both going thru a changing stage whether we like it or not…
So here you go, Sarah. Love you.

“In Your Own Way” by Caleb Kane

And take a minute to reflect in your own way
Take your time and connect in your own way
I know it’s good to be alone some days
But you got a long face in your own way, baby
I know you got a big heart in your own way
Independent and smart in your own way
And even though you get along somehow
You’re missing out now in your own way, baby

And since you asked so nicely I’ll even let you borrow my 2 personal anthems.

“One Hit Wonder” by Everclear

and

“Walk the Walk” by Poe

I’ll be dead.

This weekend I encountered 2 very different types of boys. The first, after a very unexpected phone call, had me sleeping like a baby for a good portion of the night. But the second? The second had me up all night pawing thru closets and pacing the floors.

If I’m lucky I might get 2 or 3 hours of sleep on an average night and woe to the boy who takes That away from me. It makes me grumpy almost as grumpy as the fact that all of my brilliant moments come at 3 a.m. This boy in question?

James.

Yesterday in a volley of phone calls this evil plan of James’ was born. An evil plan, which I love. An evil plan, which involves me dressing up. An evil plan, which enables me to play with accessories. An evil plan, that after trying on just about everything I own it was decided that I’m going to have to start from scratch.

Now talking to Sarah, we worked out a plan where I was at least starting with a base garment that I already owned. It wasn’t perfect but it would work and I wouldn’t have to stress over having to start from the beginning…

Until 3 a.m. this morning.

When I realized that I had been an idiot. When I realized that the entire night the perfect fabric for this was already in a box prepped and ready to go to Amalia and with a bit of tweaking would be perfect. Now I just have to track down my seamstress and beg for that dress to be done a month earlier.

And then find accessories.

And probably end up having to make accessories.

This hurts, James. It’s a good pain but it hurts. That is until I wind up burning my fingers on a glue gun, then? Well then I only have 2 words of advice for you, James.

Shin Guards.

Cause it will be all your fault.

(Read on …)

It was brought to my attention by one of the many Keepers that I am obviously going to need more than one DrunkDress if I plan to make it thru an entire War dressed properly. See the idea was that after my first War my Keepers began to complain because as I drank more it became harder and harder to keep track of me… I apparently have a tendency to wander when I’m tipsy. And a drunk girl wearing a black dress in a crowd of people is hard to find especially when you vowed to protect her with your life.

So there was some insisting and finally the DrunkDress was born - a hot pink monstrosity of a cotehardie that my seamstress disavows all knowledge of. It’s wonderful. Anyone over 6 foot only has to look out over the crowd of a party to spot me. Why? Cause I glow in that dress. Shortly after that the DrunkChupa came along for those cold winter DrunkNights. And today? Today, I bought 8 yards of fabric for DrunkDress ver.2

Behold the most beautiful butt ass ugly fabric known to man… or at least to me in my 2 hours of searching today -

and it is 100% linen!!! It’s going to make a kickass cote.

Coming soon to a Gothic Wars and Gulf Wars Girls’ Night Out near you.

So quickly -
Where have I been? Playing host to my Mother all week. If that wasn’t enough, work has been semi crazy especially since with the raise I actually feel the need to work harder than I have been (or something equally insane as that). Desk arrived so there has been much setting up of the office (finally). Mother worked her magic and totally rearranged my home so I have had to search for my toothbrush and coffee cup every morning.

How’s life, Sabine? Doing good… even close to settling on great, and if I can say that on the tail end of a week long visit from my Mother then life must be fucking fantastic.

Did you learn something new this week? Yep. I learned that you can’t be boy crazy on your own schedule apparently it sets it’s schedule to someone else’s appointment book… and it doesn’t always happen at the most convenient time for you.

Any new and exciting plans for the weekend? Yes. For a bit now I have been wanting to head over to Orlando, grab a hotel room, and spend a few days shopping. Cause the shopping is much better over there. So I decided that after spending the weekend with my Mother I deserved it. And then there is the matter of that bonus check burning a hole in my bank account. So I’m going. And I am taking a friend… a friend that used to be something more than a friend, but as always I’m the idiot who believes that exes can be friends after the fact. We are renting a Tahoe… He plans on golfing… I plan on spending money (cause I have a Tahoe to fill)… then we plan on drinking ourselves stupid, because after this week we both need that. We do not plan on eloping despite how happy that would make Sarah. If I’m not terribly hung over and hating life on Sunday, I’ll let everyone know how the whole “trying to be friends” thing worked out.

Or we can just all start making assumptions now…

This is an event I have wanted to make for years now…

Fools’ War XVII - More Trouble than it’s Worth!

Click on that and find the “Fool’s War Film Preview”. It’s damn funny. Every event needs to put that kind of effort into their websites.

This will be our girl’s trip next year. Mark your calendars.