I Smell Victory!

With that big nose I know the Phanatic smells it too! We're just one

game away boys! Victory is coming to Philadelphia!

The parade is coming through town!

What's In A Name?

Names are important. Your name becomes a part of who you are. This is how people know you. A good name vs. a bad name can mean the difference between a lifetime of normalacy or a lifetime of torment. Yet it never ceases to amaze me how mothers and fathers will agree to disagree and name their daughter something like Shithead - pronounced "shi-theed".

I myself narrowly escaped receiving an ungodly name at birth. Supposedly my father wanted to name me Thaddeus, in the event that I was a boy. What hallucinogenic drug he was on at the time, I do not know, but luckily I was born with a vagina and the rest is history. Granted, I still was not thrilled with the name that I did get, but it surely was a step up from Thaddeus.

The other day I ventured into Chattanooga to visit RockCreek Outfitters at Hamilton Place. One of my coworkers had told me about this really cool water bottle she had purchased there and since I had thrown out my Nalgene I felt that now was as good a time as any to look into getting something new.

RockCreek Outfitters is an outdoor sporting goods and apparel store here in the south. For the most part I really enjoy browsing through their merchandise. The reason I say browse is because although they have some really useful and wellmade products, they are extremely overpriced. When I first walked into the store I spotted a green fleece that zips up the front. It was nothing special, just a fleece, an $85 fleece! But I digress.

I walked around for awhile and when I found the water bottles, I picked the one I wanted and hopped in line to pay. In front of me was a couple with a little boy who I'd say was somewhere around the terrible two's. Both his parents were dressed like they were ready to hit the trails with their little one in tow, and it seemed he too would have preferred this because he was twisting and contorting himself in his mother's arms, trying to escape. Of course it wasn't enough that he was squirming and aggrevating his parents. He had to aggrevate everyone else in the store. Thus it was that he was screaming and crying at the top of his lungs, all the time with me behind him, a front row seat, lucky me.

As his cries reached unspeakable ear deafening decibels his mother intervened and proceeded to scold him. "Canyon!" she exclaimed. I nearly fell backwards. She might have just named him Granola, or Kayak, or Canoe for Pete's sake! This poor child has to live the rest of his life being named after a huge hole in the ground! Normally I might reason that this name was different, unique. But then I ask myself, "Would I want to be named Canyon?" No. It's one thing to be in touch with Mother Nature, but you yourself are not Mother Nature and your child should not be named as if he were the son of Mother Nature. I rest my case!

Nickname Addendum

• P.P. or Little P.P. - Thumper's favorite nickname for me
• Peroosky - Another one of Thumper's favorites
• Philly - From the guy who works in the pharmacy at the hospital
• Pat-Town - Jamie's first nickname for me
• Shawty - Called this here recently by one of the janitors at the hospital
• Patita - Nellie's new favorite for me
• Roomie- Something Mag still calls me even though we're not roommates

Happy Anniversary!

I love to celebrate special occasions. In fact it doesn't even have to be a well known, nationally recognized holiday for me to want to celebrate. Yet I've found that I don't have to spend money, or decorate, or even eat cake (which is one of my most favorite things to do - especially if I make the cake myself) in order to feel celebratory.

For the most part I've found that I can just keep reminding myself why I ought to feel happy and, I do. Too bad this doesn't work on any random day when I'm feeling craptacular. I suppose I can't trick even myself because it seems that I know when there's something legitimate to celebrate and just some placebo celebration to put some pep in my step.

Either way, today holds a real reason to celebrate something really quite wonderful. Today has been 6 months that Thumper and I have been together! Yeah! To me 6 months is a big deal, not as big a deal as 1 year, but a big deal nonetheless.

We didn't do anything to celebrate. I'm not even really sure that he realizes it's been 6 months, but all day I felt like I was walking on air, which really is no different from how I feel on a daily basis since we first started dating.

I feel happy! Which actually, that word, "happy", doesn't do justice to what I'm really feeling. I feel light and airy. I feel butterflies in my stomach. I feel like a girl in love.

More Of Love

Here is another great love song done by Shinedown. I'm not sure which one I like more.

If You Only Knew

If you only knew
I'm hanging by a thread
The web I spin for you.
If you only knew
I'd sacrifice my beating
Heart before I lose you.
I still hold onto the letters
You returned
I swear I've lived and learned.

[Chorus]

It's 4:03 and I can't sleep
Without you next to me I
Toss and turn like the sea.
If I drown tonight, bring me
Back to life
Breathe your breath in me.
The only thing that I still believe
In is you, if you only knew.

If you only knew
How many times I counted
All the words that went wrong.
If you only knew
How I refuse to let you go,
Even when you're gone.
I don't regret any days I
Spent, nights we shared,
Or letters that I sent.

[Chorus]

It's 4:03 and I can't sleep
Without you next to me I
Toss and turn like the sea.
If I drown tonight, bring me
Back to life
Breathe your breath in me.
The only thing that I still believe
In is you, if you only knew.
If you only knew.

I still hold onto the letters
You returned.
You help me live and learn.

[Chorus]

It's 4:03 and I can't sleep
Without you next to me I
Toss and turn like the sea.
If I drown tonight, bring me
Back to life
Breathe your breath in me.
The only thing that I still believe
In is you, believe in is you.
I still believe in you.
Oh, if you only knew.

Poetic Props

I never would have thought that a band as hard as Shinedown could be so poetic, but here is one of those instances where I have to admit that I was wrong. These are some of the most beautiful lyrics that I have heard in a long time, from a band so fresh. Check them out for yourself and while you're at it visit YouTube for the full video experience.

The Crow and the Butterfly

I painted your room at
Midnight, so I'd know
Yesterday was over.
I put all your books
On the top shelf,
Even the one with
The four leaf clover,
Man, I'm getting older.

I took all your pictures
Off the wall and wrapped
Them in a newspaper blanket.
I haven't slept in what seems
Like a century, and now I can
Barely breathe.

[Chorus]

Just like a crow chasing the butterfly,
Dandelions lost in the summer sky.
When you and I were getting
High as outer space, I never
Thought you'd slip away,
I guess I was just a little too late.

You're words still serenade me,
Your lullabies won't let me sleep.
I've never heard such a haunting melody.
Oh, it's killing me,
You know I can barely breathe.

[Chorus]

Just like a crow chasing the butterfly,
Dandelions lost in the summer sky.
When you and I were getting
High as outer space, I never
Thought you'd slip away,
I guess I was just a little too late.

Just like a crow chasing the butterfly,
Dandelions lost in the summer sky.
When you and I were getting
High as outer space, I never
Thought you'd slip away.

Like a crow chasing the butterfly,
Dandelions lost in the summer sky.
When you and I were getting
High as outer space, I never
Thought you'd slip away,
I guess I was just a little too late,
Just a little too late.

Blog Disclaimer

I'm one of the most honest people I know. Besides the fact that I'm a really bad liar, I just believe that honesty is the best policy. I can save myself a whole lot of aggrevation by just telling the truth the first time around as opposed to conjuring up some tall-tale that I have to keep up with anyways.

This blog contains 100% honesty. This blog serves as an outlet for all the things that I feel, but sometimes struggle to express. If honesty is not something that you value, then don't read this blog. If you are one of those people who can't handle honesty, often lightly seasoned with a dash of humor, then don't read this blog.

I don't intend to stop writing my thoughts and feelings because there is someone out there who feels offended because of what I think and feel. This is who I am. This is me, the unrated version, stripped naked, and then scribbled on paper for the free world to see. I'm brave enough to be honest. If you can't appreciate honesty, then don't read this blog.

Butterflies

I'm off orientation at work, flying solo, and so for the past week or so I tried to get myself reorganized. I even went onto Microsoft Word and created a new flowsheet so I can keep track of everything.

The other day I put a picture of Thumper and I on my newly reorganized work folder, and of course this generated a slew of questions about my hunny, and then I got to bragging and one person asked me do I still get "that feeling" when I'm around him? You mean the butterflies? Of course! I might be worried if I didn't!

Hell Yeah!

As I sit here at work in these wee morning hours, fighting the urge to fall asleep, I glanced across the desk at that little flip calendar that I so often blog about and had to chuckle to myself. The tidbit for today reads:

Money talks, but all it can ever say is goodbye.

Hell yeah! What more can I say? This one speaks for itself!