Dancing to the ButterBeat

Now a break for the painfully cute Butterstick,


We now return to our regularly scheduled blathering.

I got to thinking today about how everything has been so normal. I mean with me, and life and the day to day. It's been so normal that I've stopped thinking that it was weird. So normal that I am going to go right ahead and say it and not worry about waking the sleeping robot: The Drugs Are Working.

It's about time, right?

Yeah, I think so too.

One tick, two tick, ick ick

I must say that the holiday weekend was a success! I went climbing and managed to lead a couple of trad routes without losing my shit completely. Yes, they were only 5.6, but they were wet. That's got to count for something. Oh and we ate at the Chinese place in Lincoln that has the General Gau's tofu that is so totally amazing that I am drooling right now at the thought of it.

Sadly, on the way home Sunday evening, we witnessed the aftermath of this accident. Which I can't stop thinking about. I am terrified of car accidents and bad drivers in general, and seeing the charred remains of a wreck like that one and stretchers and emergency vehicles all over the road gives me nightmares. And knowing that 2 kids lost their parents in the accident just makes me feel sick inside.

Inexplicably, my sister found 2 ticks on her today. I need to get her a flea collar or something.

Shake. And Bake.

Tonight is the season finale of Top Chef so to celebrate, G and I made a gourmet dinner. Shake and Bake pork chops, crescent rolls and mixed veggies. We stopped short of instant mashed potatoes however. (baked. mmmm.) Wicked good, yo.

Last night, I attended my brother's National Honor Society Induction. I brought along the latest Mountain Gear catalog so I would have something to keep me from clawing my eyes out in boredom. My sister and I played that game where you point to random ugly things and say, "You have to wear that!" (A variation on the "That's your boyfriend" game.) We happened upon these pants and immediately cracked up. For the rest of the night everything was followed by "with crotch zip." Yes, I am a mature adult! Oh, and when someone's cell phone went off and played "The Entertainer" during a moment of silence, I totally did not cause a scene by busting out laughing. And I didn't blame my sister either.

The Upside to Hiking in the Rain

Once again, I dragged my sister on one of my hair-brained misadventures. In my defense, however, it was sunny when we left. Once we got to Williamsburg, it was decidedly overcast and threatening rain.

I had picked this particular hike because it included a Fire Tower which we hoped would be like the one in the worst movie ever. Of course we didn't actually want to be pursued by "cannibalistic mountain men grossly disfigured through generations of in-breeding" but it did make the hike more exciting. Oh wait, that was the rain storm.

We were probably 2 miles from the car when it started raining. Hard. And since it was perfectly sunny when we left home this morning I had neglected to bring my rain jacket.

Before it really started coming down, we had the good fortune to see some newts on the trail. Or salamanders. I don't pretend to know the difference, but let's be honest here, NEWT is a much funner word to say. Newt!

Eventually, we made it back to the car and it promptly stopped raining and the sun came out.

I took my sister to Bub's where I introduced her to the awesomeness that is Bar-B-Que. Oh man. If there's anything better than a pulled pork sandwich and a juke box with unlimited free plays after being rained on for an hour, I don't know what it is.

A Schooligan CAN Change

I used to hate avocado. I was told that it was only because I had never had a good one. I kept trying them and kept hating them until a recent trip to California when I learned what all the fuss was about.

Now I get it. And I will admit that I was wrong. Avocados are awesome. I made some amazing guacamole tonight. My brother, who also hates avocados, tried it and was converted.

Absinthe You've Been Gone

Yesterday, my sister excitedly dragged me into the kitchen, "Hey weiner, Look!" And there they were. The official biscuits of Schooligan Nation. My dad had purchased them, and upon his return from the store, my sister eagerly pounced on the box "PENNY FARTHING COOKIES!!" My father was rightly impressed by Annie's knowledge of obscure transportation and asked how she knew what they were. She rolled her eyes and sighed, "Dad, I know my antique bicycles."

Long night at the climbing gym. A bunch of people, some annoying, some self sufficient, kept me there until late, but didn't allow me to actually do any climbing myself. I mean, except for the pathetic traverses around the gym where I fell off every five seconds. I did, however, manage to finish setting my route, inspired by this video.



They MUST have been tripping.

P.S. I am in no way related to the boy in the black wife beater.

Confessions from the Top Secret Schooligan Files

I just finished a bowl of Edy's French Silk Ice Cream. (Am huge fan of the reduced fat ice cream. 1/2 the fat of regular ice cream = I can eat 2x as much!) For some reason, I am always suckered into this flavor. I don't know why. I don't even know what French Silk is. That's right, I have no idea what it is or why I even get it. Apparently I am not alone, as I googled "French Silk" and got about 1000 different recipes for pie.

In other ice cream news, my sister and I were at Dairy Queen the other week and got 2 Blizzards, Reece's Peanut Butter Cups and Snickers. We were totally disappointed to find that they had "Hardly any candy pieces in them." I mean, seriously, why get ice cream with yummy stuff blended in if there isn't any yummy stuff?

My sister emailed DQ headquarters and complained. Yesterday, she got a letter from Dairy Queen International apologizing for the Blizzards not living up to the quality standards we have come to expect from Dairy Queen's independently owned franchises. They included $7 worth of gift certificates and promised to launch an ivestigation into the Blizzard making at our local DQ.

Thank goodness! I would hate to see other people suffer the cruelty of Blizzards with "hardly any candy pieces in them."

Schooligan Nation: More complete from Bear to Zzzzz

Despite there being a Texas Ranch House marathon on the TV, Emily and I headed up to Mount Monadnock for an afternoon hike (Or as Timmycliff put it, an approach without a climb.) It was a bit of a slog for me due in no part to my Margarita consumption the night before. We sumitted and crouched down behind a boulder to much some clif bars and blueberry poptarts and get out of the wind.

The trip down was... uneventful. Until we were about 2/3 the way back to the car and rounded a bend and came upon a BEAR hanging out on the side of the trail. We stopped short and simultaneously had this reaction:
"Oh cool. It's a bear."
"OHMYGOD it's a BEAR!!!"

Lucky for us, Mr. Fuzzy Ears wasn't having a bad day or a sudden desire to maul. We looked at each other for half a minute and then he turned around and ambled away.

I just want to thank the Duggar Family for being so crazy. If it weren't for your 16 kids we might not have been talking animatedly and alerting the BEAR to our presence and instead surprised him and gotten ourselves mauled. You saved our lives.

Not having beat my body up quite enough, I went up to Rumney on Saturday with Rob adn Alissa. It was a perfect day for climbing and I was enjoying myself so much that I allowed Rob to convince me to get on this ridiculously vicious 5.10d at Triple Corners. Actually it was more like, "Oh, your gear is at the top, so if you want it back..." I fall for this every time. Those Schooligans, they just don't learn.

I managed to completely mangle my hands jamming a crack over and over and over while failing to do the crux move. You'd think I'd remember to tape up. (See above, re: not learning.) I eventually finished the route and retrieved my gear but not before starring in "Hang Fest 2006." Oy.

So, I haven't been sleeping very well. Or very much. I'm not sure why as I am not feeling bad or anxious in any other way. (I mean other than the usual, "Cat, you did NOT just knock over those flowers and spill water all over my bank statement!") I just couldn't seem to fall asleep and wake up rested. No matter what. So I went to see my doc on Monday. She gave me some Ambien in the hopes that it would help reset my sleep timer. She also made me promise to call her if had any concerns. Or, you know, drove my car into a tree or something. So far, so good.

Thursday 13

Thirteen Things That Will NEVER Get Old

1. Scott Joplin's "The Entertainer"
2. Cereal Bawks
3. Blueberry Frosted PopTarts
4. Grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup. (Best on a cold day, but good pretty much any time.)
5. The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole Aged 13 3/4
6. Chinese Take Out (I think there have only been 2 occasions in my life when I didn't want any, and at least one of those was immediately following a dumpling orgy.)
7. Gin and Tonics (Especially drunk while lounging on the sofa in my underwear on a hot day. I am still PISSED that I left the bottle of Tanqueray in the freezer of my old apartment.)
8. Snuggling with the wee kitty zizzer snoozle pantses.
9. Climbing (duh.)
10. Napping in the middle of the day (Bonus points if on beach)
11. Hillarious (slash "drunk") home videos (bonus points if people fall in a humourous manner.)
12. Mechanical bulls
13. Leaving work early. (heh.)



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I don't begrudge you moving to the West Coast

But it doesn't mean I'm not gonna miss you like hell.

My friend Mikey had a going away BBQ this weekend. Fucker got himself a better paying job in a better climate in the same state as his girlfriend, AND TOOK IT!! Despite getting to catch up with some long lost climbing buddies (this means you, Graham and Ben) and meeting some new ones, the whole event was overall just v. sad. But like they say in Whistle Stop, "A heart can be broken, but it will keep beating just the same." Or, "I have yet another reason to visit California."



On Sunday, I declared it "Lazy Sunday" and had PT make me cornbread (yum, thanks!) while I watched the Phantom Gourmet. Well, at least until the Phantom was over, then I declared "Sunday where we drive around the backroads of Sturbridge looking for a Holiday Inn that is really a Best Western and then go hiking in Tick Country." My sister and I had a lovely hike through Wells State Park where we saw beaver dams, tadpoles and an unattended baby. (That was later attended to, thank goodness.)

We hiked an awesome trail up to the top of a rocky ridge where we stood and surveyed the landscape and wondered if the updraft was strong enough to keep us from falling off. (We didn't get close enough to the edge to find out.) As we were about ready to head down, I SENSED something. My tick sense told me to check my sock. Sure enough, one of the little bastards was trying to burrow his way through my SmartWool. We flicked him away and took off running back to the car, glancing occasionally over our shoulders to see if he was gonna catch up to us on his mountain bike. (Hahahha. NOPE! Victory!)