> recent entries
> calendar
> friends
> profile

Thursday, December 24th, 2009

ticasdaze

7:56p On The News I don't get to watch the evening network news as often as I'd like, but I'm finding Diane Sawyer to be a nice and refreshing change-of-evening-news pace on ABC's World News. She just stepped into the anchor spot...Monday?...taking over for Charlie Gibson, who'd stepped into the chair after Peter Jennings passed away of lung cancer a few years ago (Well, there was the combo of Elizabeth Vargas and Bob Woodruff for a little while in between. Gah, I remember being so sad about Peter Jennings). I liked Charlie Gibson as an anchor, especially over his competition. Brian Williams, while he cracked me up somethin stupid when he hosted Saturday Night Live a while back, is so staunchy to me. And Katie Couric sometimes comes across like she's trying to hard or in a way that doesn't always feel authentic. But I really like Diane's newscast. I think my mom put it best when we discussed this the other day: "It's like she's sharing the news with you instead of preaching it at you." I know that they're just the news-readers, but it's all in the delivery. It's also this authenticity vs fakeness that deters me from wanting to watch the local news much. I CANNOT STAND the people on the local ABC affiliate, but appreciate that at least they tend to stay journalistic with it. I don't always like the Fox affiliate because, much like Fox Corp, they have this strange sensationalistic angle to so much of what they do. Definitely not feeling the local CBS news, which always ranks at the bottom as far as the ratings for good reason. Their station's folks are an odd mix of vacant-behind-the-eyes and 'i-graduated-to-a-bigger-market-than-Chattanooga!' I watched their late news about a week ago, which included what looked like a syndicated fluff piece that tested condoms for holes (which had me sitting here making a face at the tv going "huh??"). 11Alive, our NBC, has likable personalities but I wish they did just the tiniest bit less fluff. Yes, I pay that much attention to the news and you've just read a "Damn, I'm an old person" moment here in Tica's Daze. News Junky-like, ticachu p.s. Speaking of news people, I was so sad to hear that George Michael up in DC passed away! I watched him the entire time growing up on NBC4 and then after I moved out of the area on Sports Machine until he left it about 2 years ago. This is one of my favorite memories of George Michael though - laughing his arse off with Jim Vance about the stumbling Fashion Week model. Thanks for the memories (and teaching me about sports), George Michael!!! RIP current music: Wait Til The Sun Shines, Nelly - stock traders on the NYSE

(comment on this)

Monday, December 21st, 2009

ticasdaze

8:46a food poisoning Last night was awful. I felt weak and was having awful cramping pains so i decided to go to bed at 830. Didn't get to stay there for long. I spent HOURS undoing everything the cleaning company did on Friday, praying to the porcelain gods to make it all stop. About 115, i was practically throwing people out of the way at Kroger trying to get to the Gatorade. Couldn't sleep for a while and more porceline praying. on and off sleep finally came. I didn't check last night but my themometer says i'm running a fever but have chills. Still nauseous to the point of not being able to sit up for very long. I wish the ginger ale fairy would bring me some. that sounds so great... Post from mobile portal m.livejournal.com

(1 comment | comment on this)

Sunday, December 20th, 2009

ticasdaze

5:55p Looking Back I wonder if I'm ever going to be able to look back on 2009 and remember anything other than persistent sadness and what feels like non-stop celebrity death watch? Brittany Murphy died today - of a 'cardiac event' at 32 years old. Cardiac at 32?!? Of course, we're all speculating that's code for 'coroner needs to determine which drug killed her'. Or maybe it was the eating disorder catching up with her? Or some disease she/we didn't even know she had (a la that dude from Housewives)? I'm sure TMZ will start spreading the news before the report even finishes being written at the LA County Coroner's Office. RIP, Brittany Murphy. The rest of the weekend has been okay. I showed the condo to someone who'd contacted me about my roommate ad yesterday. Let's just say that she didn't seem to quite come across to me as the brightest flame on the menorah. I gave her directions, very specifically noting that she needed to come into Midtown/Downtown ATL and follow I-75 North. She calls me 2 minutes before our agreed-upon time from beyond south of the Airport on I-85 SOUTH, at least 10 miles from downtown, asking if she's getting close. Huh??? *smh* As someone who gets lost all.the.time, I had a smidgen of understanding for her. But at the same time, it was just the beginning of the things that made me really uncomfortable about her. Other things included the kinda creepy, hovering boyfriend that came with her and the whole young, spacey, vacant-headed thing she seemed to have going on. I can't see her faring well in my home. At one point when I was showing her around, I had this vision of asking her to please give me her rent check on the 25th and she's hands me a can of beans asking if they were the right temperature. Yeah...she's not going to work out. And then last night was the Annual Funtime Holiday Party. I was a little late, but made my best batch yet of chocolate chip cookies, including some bacon chocolate chip cookies that were apparently a hit. I was very happy that people seemed to like them so much, even those who were skeptical at first. I should really jot down the recipe mods that I made vs. the last batch so that I don't forget what I did differently this time. The party itself was fun as usual - I don't get to see some of that crowd very often, so I was very glad to see them last night. We always talk about making dinner parties a regular thing; let's see if we can actually get that off the ground in '10. I thought I might be in the mood for a movie out tonight...but I have too mush ish to do around here to get ready to leave on Friday. So I'm going to cook Tica's Turkey Chili and watch National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation and get ready for the week. -ticachu current mood: a lil chilly current music: National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation

(comment on this)

Friday, December 18th, 2009

ticasdaze

8:05p Clean House I had a cleaning company come today to clean the condo, mostly because I sure as hell was tired of trying to get every trace of dog hair out of here and scrub these next-to-impossible stains that my roommate's stuff left. I was really nervous about it...but they did an AMAZING job!! I couldn't stop saying "Wow" over and over again for 10-15 minutes after I walked in the door! My dinner got cold from neglect because I was running around the condo happily looking at every fresh nook and cranny. They even did things like get all artsy with arranging my throw pillows, straightening up my mountain of laundry, and repositioning the lamps for maximum light. This condo has probably never been this clean. LOL! I don't give a gaddamn how much they charge; I'm paying the cleaning company every cent of whatever they tell me that my total comes up to on Monday (yes, I get to revel in cleanliness for 3 days charge-free - just to make sure that I'm supersatisfied with the results here). I mean, the floors are beautiful, my mirrors are impeccable, and it just smells new in here. Hmm, I should really see if I can afford to have them come out once a month or once a quarter. Clean house makes me v. happy, tica current mood: excited current music: It's A Wonderful Life

(1 comment | comment on this)

ticasdaze

6:45a And the Award for the Lamest Holiday Party Goes To... I'm so glad that the Annual Funtime Holiday Party (hosted by the always awesome party-thrower, funkygreendog) is this weekend because I'd hate for my only memories of Holiday Party Season 2009 to only consist of the awful lameness that was the Big Orange Box holiday party last night. EVERYBODY was declaring it the lamest party ever thrown about 20 minutes into it and nothing could save it. The venue was way too big for our group and was dark, very few people showed up - about 60 out of 170 in the department, the dj sucked (who the heck mixed My Humps followed by a supermellow Michael Jackson song??), it was a cash bar, and the food was exactly what we had last year. There were little spurts of dancing, including the SVP showcasing that she has about 3 dance moves. She'd never done the Electric Slide. I don't care that you're a 40somethin year old white lady, how in the hell do you get through life having never even SEEN the Electric Slide?!? What was hilarious is that nobody wanted to talk to her, so she kept randomly coming up bursting into people's conversations. I sent her away as soon as I saw someone hit the dance floor: Tica: Oh, look there's Paul. He always knows how to get the dance party started. SVP: Carl? Yeah, Carl looks like a great dancer! *scurries off to dance with Paul* Tica: *high-fiving coworkers* That was way too easy. Um..is she planning to learn anybody's name? I spent half of the night chatting with my team and the other half of the party hanging out with this guy. Hmm, I have no idea what his name is. I see him around the floor all the time and his desk is a few seats down from my current work crush (ew, i hate how 12 year old that makes me sound, but I don't know how else to phrase it). I guess I should be grateful that we had a party at all; I know the committee at least tried to make it a party. Bratty, Ticachu current mood: sick current music: The Bert Show

(1 comment | comment on this)

Thursday, December 17th, 2009

ticasdaze

7:36a A night fit for Jose Mercado A++ - I did a 5k fun run for the first time last night! A whole 5k!! And I met Jeff Galloway (a big name in the running world), whom I actually ended up liking a lot more on first impression than I thought I would. We also got to 'test drive' a pair of Mizunos during the fun run, which had some cool technology and looked good on my feet...but I was begging for my Adidas by the time we got back to the store. During the run last night, I ended up falling behind my group a little bit. Fortunately, there was another runner that was off-pace with me and she and I ran together and eventually ended up catching up with the rest of the group. As it turns out, she's the mother of one of the girls that used to work on Big Orange Box business at the agency! Small world for sure. So she and I caught up for a while post-run. Oh, and I got a freebie pair of new socks (I'm slightly obsessed with having ample supplies of good running socks for running days). A+ - After the run, I went to dinner with funkygreendog , which was fun as usual. Mmm...tacos. And we finally finalized what I'm bringing to the party on Saturday - the infamous bacon cookies are making a comeback! Hmm, I guess that needs to find that recipe again, huh? C- - After taking the day off yesterday, I actually woke up a little sick this morning. Probably from running last night in the cold weather and then drinking last night. Oh, and tinkering with the heat last night because at one point I was very chilly (I sleep wrapped up in this humongous sweater) but I woke up some time in the middle of the night because I was VERY hot. But now I'm wondering if it was actually hot in here or if I had a fever. D'ah well. Time to get up and get dressed. My department holiday party is tonight, so I think I have to kinda dress up today. Tired, ticachu current mood: a little sickly

(1 comment | comment on this)

Wednesday, December 16th, 2009

ticasdaze

4:59p A Funny Thing Happened On The Way to Work I didn't go. I woke up this morning and decided that I wasn't going to waste my time sitting bored in the office. So I took the day off and got some stuff done around the house - mostly cleaning and, most importantly, more Christmas decorating. A potential roommate was supposed to come today at lunch to take a look-see...but she never showed up. Wtf? If this had happened on a day when I had actually gone to work and come home on my lunch break, I'd have been super-pissed. But as it stands, I'm not in the least bit surprised that she flaked because that's just been my luck with this whole roommate search. So I officially give up on the roommate hunt. But my place looks way more festive than it did 24 hours ago :) Time to go change clothes for tonight's group run. I think it's 46 minutes in the coldneighborhoods of Sandy Springs. Yikes! Sadly, I don't think that I'm going to be able to afford to rejoin the running group in January when the $ are due again. Fortunately, I think WestStride has a free running group that will allow me to join up. But they only meet once a week. So hopefully I'll be able to run with them on Tuesdays, train by myself a few times a week, and run at least once a week with the cool girls I met in the current running group. If nothing else, I need to start working on some speedwork; I'm tired of being slow as cold syrup in a snowstorm. All these things in due time - at least I have the start a plan, right? Chilly, Tica current mood: cold current music: today's ep of One Life to Live on the dvr

(comment on this)

Tuesday, December 15th, 2009

ticasdaze

11:54p Sometimes, I just need Someone to talk to. Someone that I can be vulnerable with. Someone with whom I can let my guard down sans worry about being judged (or having the story travel to other people). Someone who knows me enough to know when it's "out of character" for me to be sitting at the bar on a Tuesday night. Someone who will listen without acting as if they have all of the answers. But it's okay if they maybe have a suggestion or two. Sometimes, I just need a friend. -ticachu current mood: contemplative

(comment on this)

Monday, December 14th, 2009

ticasdaze

9:18p The Singing Glee So NBC has this new "special" (which is so obviously a pilot to see if they can make a summer series out of this a la The Singing Bee) called The Sing Off, which appears to be an acapella competition. Um, have I ever mentioned how much I HATE cheesy acapella groups? When I was a freshman in college at UVA, they were everywhere and I found them SO annoying and...stagey, for lack of a better word. Although they were insanely popular, it just let me further know why the Charlottesville crowd was not for me. Maybe it's a little ironic, given the totally bad taste that memory just left in my mouth, that I love Fox's Glee - which NBC is clearly trying to test for real-life applicability. But I think the difference is that Glee is about nerdy high school kids, so I think the cheesy singing group thing works in that setting because everyone in high school is trying too hard to make what they're doing bigger than it really is (says the former marching band chick who was SO into our shows. Well, except the year we did Star Trek because that was the ultimate in nerddom). This show is also obviously a way for NBC to burn off the talent holding deal they seem to have with Nick Lachey, since he often seems to be hosting these things for them. NBC's trying to be slick, but I know their game. Tv Girl, Ticachu current mood: there's no satisfying me today current music: pilot episode of Glee

(4 comments | comment on this)

ticasdaze

12:41p Roommate Update I am LIVID right now! i just got my electric bill for the month. $150 fuckin dollars?!? I've been in this condo for almost a year and even when it was gawd-awful cold at one point last year, our bill was never that high. I knew i wasn't fussing at my former roommate about turning off the lights and to stop jacking up the heat for nothin. Argh...iLm so angry right now bc i have no idea how the hell i'm going to be able to pay that bill myself. *deep breath* God, please please bring me relief. Serenity Now, ticachu Post from mobile portal m.livejournal.com ETA: Now that I've had a few hours to calm down...I'm still annoyed with him. I also sent him a message today about getting this place cleaned and he tried to act like I was crazy. Our lease says this place has to be returned to ready-to-rent condition. His idea of cleaning the floors: vacuuming the hardwoods with his ginormous 1989 rug vacuum to get the dog hair up. Um...no. In slightly brighter news, I got a bite on my Facebook ad. But she's a 21 year old college student. *sigh* Why is this happening to me?? current mood: angry

(comment on this)

Sunday, December 13th, 2009

ticasdaze

8:12p Meep! On the way to Columbia, I found myself getting kind bored (ugh @ any stretch of I-20 that doesn't go through an actual real city) so I popped in my Christmas Mix cd. This definitely kept me amused as I was trying to remember the words to some of the songs. So the 12 Days of Christmas comes on and, even though Harry Belafonte kept singing, I kept forgetting the order of the items. It was actually kind of a funny game to keep myself awake because I kept making stuff up ("9 Liquor bottles, 8 Jimmy Choos, 7 Swinging Santas, 6 Teeny Weenies, 5 shopping spreeeees...."). Anyway, so then I switch from the cd to the radio...where I found a Christmas music all-the-time station. Yay! Singing along and maybe 2 songs later, another version of the 12 Days of Christmas. It took me a minute to figure out that it was the Muppets. Huh?? I don't think I'd never heard that version before. So I'm singing along and when they got the the 9th day of Christmas, I almost ran off the road because I was laughing SO HARD! current mood: amused current music: 12 Days of Christmas - Muppets

(comment on this)

ticasdaze

7:57p Festivus for the Rest of Us Honestly, I only know in passing what the heck "festivus" is. I know that most people's references to it have something to do with Seinfeld, which is a show that Jeb often teases me about because I've only sat through 2 episodes total in life. But lack of knowledge didn't stop me from wanting to go when my friend Ace invited me to the Festivus party she and her man were throwing. So Homie and I crossed the state line yesterday and went to Columbia. The trip was definitely well worth it. Not only was it awesome to see one of my favorite couples (gosh, they seem like they make each other so happy) and their animals, but I had a really good time at their party. The Airing of the Grievances game was hilarious and I ended up with whatever everyone voted as the Tackiest Gift in the White Elephant game. Gift #1: "Kit for being a female baller/gangsta", complete with fake blingin grill, these strange fake cigarettes that blew dust, and awful makeup (trashy super-bright lipstick and practically a lump of coal for eyeliner). I couldn't help but LOL at that. But then my 'gift' got stolen and I ended up with a box (labeled "Quality Meats") full of packing peanuts. Tacky! If we're friends on Facebook, I'm tagged in the photos - check my profile. This morning, we hit the Original Pancake House for breakfast, which was perfect because pancakes and hot chocolate are two of my top favorite foods. The drive home to Atlanta was kinda weird...very foggy so it looked like I was driving to nowhere. Hmm, there may be a metaphor in there somewhere. I think I needed that kinda last minute road trip as a bit of a reboot. I needed some uninterrupted time to think, which the (rainy) 3 hour drive out to Columbia gave me. I needed a break from these 4 walls. And I needed a reminder that, regardless of what I think, there are people out there who are happy to see me when I show up. Back to reality, ticachu current mood: okay current music: SuperNanny marathon on Style

(comment on this)

Friday, December 11th, 2009

ticasdaze

4:44p and friday...flirty friday Have you ever met someone and just the sight of them sends you (and your heart) into this whole really happy other place? It's been a long time since I've genuinely felt that way about a guy...until I kept running into one of the artists. It's not really much of a hormone-crazy sexual thing. More of a 'he's smart and funny and i really really like talking to him' thing. We spent 20 minutes talking today and it was probably the 2nd best moment of my week so far. Kinda enjoying the slow build-up, Miss Tica Post from mobile portal m.livejournal.com current mood: elated

(comment on this)

ticasdaze

12:11a It was a Thursday, a work day I think it might be Shape Your Future Week. Our Alumni Chapter held our monthly social gathering at RA Sushi tonight and I made the best contact ever - a VERY well-connected recruiter! Score!! He gave me some pointers on how to network (actually he said that I do well but need to be more confident), offered to help me with my job hunting activities, and even gave me some insight into the trip to Costa Rica that I'm planning dreaming about. WooWooWoo...where have you been all my life?! He's offering me this help...but I don't really know what the job is that I'm looking for. Not having that answer makes me sound so unfocused. Ideally, I'd like to stay in something media-related since I really do like it most of the time (when I don't feel like company policies are cutting off my ability to breathe and enjoy my job). Speaking of which, I have my semi-annual review coming up so it's time (yet again) to do the dreaded self-evaluation. I feel like it's punishment that I have to do this 'educational' introspective exercise TWICE a year as opposed to once like everyone else on my team who's not hourly. And I never know what to say, which makes this whole process even worse. Especially in the category called "key development areas". Let's see: I can't develop a promotion (am I even going to be there in six weeks??) because there's no position to promote me to and every 'development' opportunity that came up in the last few months got squashed because of the Big Fat Thursday Document that landed back on my plate. I think I'm going to try to take advantage of a quiet office and go in early tomorrow morning to work on cobbling together something for this review. Let's just get this ish over with. I just realized that I need to bake those chocolate chip spice cookies I made a few weeks ago...and cannot remember for the life of me what recipe I used as the base for the cookie. Maybe it'll come to me in my sleep teecee current mood: tired

(comment on this)