simone: August 2005

key west and katrina

i didn't get to wear my new bcbg bikini but i did get to wear my new hyatt gift shop green poncho

more to come...still recovering from the journey to key west
somebody jinxed me bad

8/18/1969

what did one candle say to the other?
"don't birthdays burn you up?"

today is my birthday
i took the day off and friday to hang out with family and some friends
the official birthday blowout celebration will take place next weekend in key west
i do need to start training this weekend if anyone would like to take me out for some hoegaardens or margaritas

had a nice day at work yesterday...my co-workers know how i feel about cake and awkward office parties so they had bagels/cream cheese at our morning meeting
i got cards, black-eyed susans, a bracelet, and key west book (yes pinF it has a chapter on hurricanes)
i had lunch with my friend stanley
stanley is a resident and we share the same birthday
every year we have ourselves a little birthday party in the resident lounge at work
stanley was born 8/18/22
he is very bright, intelligent, went to purdue and has a phd in chemistry
he taught chemistry at rutgers and up until 2yrs ago was taking to r5 down to uofpenn to volunteer in the lab
he's thin, extremely shy and always wears a long sleeve shirt buttoned to the top
he explained spectroscopy and why the sky is blue...
"air absorbs a larger fraction of red and other colors more so than blue from the sun"
we talked about rainbows and the imaginary person
"roy g. biv" (red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, violet)
he went on about the index of refraction and did a little experiement with a cup of water and plastic fork
we then switched gears to the topic of movies
stanley enjoys james bond movies and asked if i had seen any
the only james bond movie i have seen is "octopussy" but i couldn't say "pussy" in front of this bright, academic 83 yr. old man
he named a few that i didn't recognize...i got a little nervous thinking he was gonna say "octopussy?" but he didn't...i don't think he's seen the movie or familiar with the amazingly talented but little understood creature... the octopus
we had a delightful birthday celebration
stanley enjoyed his plain chicken cutlet grinder and will be banging on my office door and leaving me notes in about 10 months to schedule another birthday luncheon

mr. cab driver

the fugitives in ohio were captured thanks to the cabbie's tip to police
mr. cab driver said his suspicions were aroused when they didn't try to aggressively recruit him after telling him they were amway salespeople

"you know amway people are all about amway, and when they didn't try any conversation further about it, that's when i pretty much thought, well, they're not with amway"

"would you like to try the amway satinique hair care system today?"

i grew up across the street from a cult-like "scamway" distributer couple who were always trying to push products onto my mom
they would bang on our front door with carpet cleaners, buckets, and "new" products and we would turn off the lights and hide (both cars parked out front)
a few years later i started babysitting for the amway couple's infant son and they would pay me in amway products...soaps, cleansers...some were even opened and possibly used
my mom would send me back to their home for "cash only" which i wasn't assertive enough to request so i would ask to "exchange" my products
i would end up coming home with burgandy nailpolish from amway's new "artistry" line
they kept calling me to babysit during their "amway product-based business meetings"
i resigned and moved on to a very lucrative babysitting job across the street and got paid in lots of cash, wknds in longport nj, trips to st. thomas, and...marijuana