I confess...

I am a hoarder. I actually think I'm a compulsive hoarder.

Otherwise known as a 'pack rat' - I keep everything: cards, mail, bills, notes, papers, stuff. I keep it in boxes. I keep it in piles. I keep it in or on every available surface in my apartment. I've been this way since high school. And, today, it all came crashing down.

The building manager had to come into my apartment because he thought water was leaking from my bathroom to another tenant's parking space. This was done while I was gone. He called once I returned. I've been threatened with eviction and I am scared shitless. I've sat on my bed for the past hour, rocking back and forth, crying, shaking and sobbing. Then, I got off my ass. I called my parents. I told a friend. I asked for good thoughts from my friends in TwitterVille. I am putting into a blog for all to see. And prayers will be last. Not a last resort, it's the last thing I will do because it's the ultimate surrender...and God is giving me the 'what for' right now.

Putting this out to people, in this blog, or by me calling family and friends, shames me to no end. I am fucking embarrassed that I am a grown woman who has no impulse control, who can live (in no way is this living at all) in such atrocious conditions! I have a path from my front door to the kitchen, to the bed and to the bathroom. That is all the space I have; the rest is clutter.

I need good thoughts this week, people. And a lot of large trash bags.

all I really need to do is find myself a brand new lover...

Found these beauties at Zappos.com (thee best shoe place EVER!):

Hellooo, Luvah!

OK. So, at 6'2" I really have no business whatsoever getting a pair of 4" pumps. But uhmahgaw, Becky! LOOK. At. These. SHOES!

I don't know when...I don't know where...I don't know why...I do know I'll be rockin' the hell outta these shoes!

there's something happening here; what it is ain't exactly clear...

Dude, work is stressing me out big time. Seriously stressing me out!

Day after day I fail to understand the stuff I - as HR - have to do for and endure from people. My failure to understand frustrates and stressed me.

I left work early yesterday (2:37 p.m. to be exact) to go drink with my Bridge Building Girls at Timmy Nolan's. Then up and at 'em this a.m. at 11 for breakfast & Bloody Mary's. I've slept most of my day away...

I'll go into this more later. Much later. I'm getting too stressed thinking about it. I need time away; need to examine - well, re-examine as it were.

It's a 3-day weekend! I fucking need it.

**Update**...Transformers...

Update to this blog entry:

Turns out Waiter Guy is a misnomer; should be Waiter Boy as he isn't 21. Yet.

He invited the Princess over to smoke out with him and his roommates. And suggested her contribution to the 'party' be beer.

I love me a good story!

...about Transformers cuz there's more than meets the eye

Hit Mexicali late last night for dinner and the obligatory margarita with the Princess. We were seated between two couples: to my left was a pretty girl, chatting away, while the slightly left-of-nerd guy with her stared adoringly; on my right was a pretty girl so obsessively fascinated with her black beans & rice to notice the super duper hot guy she was with happened to be texting and snickering (and wearing pajama bottoms) for a good ten minutes. Ahh, young love.

As I sat with my back to the restaurant, I couldn't see our waiter. (Well, he did stand directly behind me when taking our order...). Anyway, as the Princess orders a margarita, she gets all flippy and twirly. I have never seen her like this before! She's all wide-eyed, she's oddly smiley and she's blushing. This is happening right in front of me! I'm perplexed. And completely enthralled!

"He is so cute! I mean really cute." She squealed. "Should I ask him out?" I choke down my salsa covered chip.

"Sure. Why not?" Hey, above all else, I'm a friend.

"I've never done that before. Well, I did once. But I was 20 years old. Should I ask him out? What should I do? Do you think he's cute?" She's totally serious. And I'm thinking she should write on her napkin:

DO YOU LIKE ME? CHECK YES OR NO

"If you think he's cute and you want to ask him out, go for it!" Hey, above all else, I'm a friend. I wanted to tell her to wait until the couples on either side of us had left, or wait until we're ready to leave so she wouldn't be uncomfortable. But, by this time, her eyes had clouded over and her ears had shut - she had her eyes on the prize.

This is where it gets uncomfortable.

Waiter guy walks over. Princess is playing with her hair (dead serious).
"Umm...do...do you...uh...doyouhaveagirlfriend?" :::Rissa begins to squirm:::
"Me?" Duh. :::inhale:::
"Yeah. Do you...doyouhaveagirlfriend." :::squirm becomes a cringe:::
"No. No I don't." :::exhale:::
"Well, okay. Uh. Uh...well, you...well, you totally know what I'm going to ask you!" Princess is giggling. To my credit, I did not guffaw out loud.

The rest of that particular sequence is hazy because a) I became invisible as Waiter Guy stepped on my foot to get closer to the Princess and b) the DJ was spinning the Jets, so I focused there.

After that, our conversation was a lost cause. Princess kept scanning the room, looking for him; smiling and waving each time he passed by. I picked at my food, wondering if I should blatanly Twitter the event or be discreet.

The fourth or fifth time Waiter Guy came 'round he says: "Oh, by the way, my name is Paul. What's yours?" To my credit, I did not guffaw out loud.

As we're leaving, Paul calls to the Princess. I walk outside, madly Twittering. For the ride home, she's lamenting that she picked up on a 21 year old and how that makes her a Cougar. To my credit, I did not guffaw out loud.

I'll take you there...

I love gadgets! iPods, universal remote controls, new and improved cell phones, whatever. Ohh, I'm not technically savvy or some such thing; I just love gadgets. And since my last trip to PhilaPA, I've been obsessed with GPS (global positioning system). Obsessed. I know!

In the past few months, I've casually researched systems ~ Garmin, Magellan, TomTom. Turns out everyone's gotten into the GPS game: HP, JVC, Kenwood, Sony. After talking with my friend Dave (The Car Guy on ABC 7) and using one of his systems, decided to choose one from Garmin, Magellan or Tom Tom, top three brands.

And so the serious research began. I read the Top 5 GPS article at CNET. I investigated all the bells and whistles ~ screen size (size does matter), text to speech, bluetooth, MP3 player, traffic capabilities, voice command, celebrity voice and so much more. Enough bells and whistles to make a girl's head spin! I narrowed down the list to my 3 'must-haves':

1. With the text-to-speech function, instead of the 'voice' saying 'Exit in 1.5 miles' it says 'Exit Main Street in 1.5 miles.' Brilliant for the visual girl!
2. As of July 1st, driving while on the cell is a huge No-no. So, I'm gonna need bluetooth connection on the GPS. Much easier than the earbud things.
3. L.A. is notorious for its traffic. Obviously, I'm going to need traffic capabilities - a system which directs me around the accident, gives me alternate routes to traffic jams. Brilliant!

I devoured CNET. I read everything on the Garmin website. I read everything on the Magellan website. I'm not sure how/when/why I ruled out Tom Tom (perhaps because I each time I said the name I sang 'Genius of Love')...after all of that, I'd decided on the Magellan Maestro 4250, rated 3rd in the CNET article.

There I am - staring at the GPS display at Best Buy. No 4250. Oh, sadness prevails! I'm trying to eavesdrop on the sales guy, only catching every 4th or 5th word...instead, I pick up a brochure. I locate my must-haves, all of which were checked on the line of the Magellan Maestro 3250. Hmm...what's this? I looked at my notes (yes, I brought my notes!) to find the difference between the 4250 and the 3250. 4250 has a bigger screen and voice command; 3250 is $100 off the original price. Done. Oh happy day!

While I'm reading, Sales Guy walked away. However, Manager Guy was there, so I asked him for help. "Which one did you want?" "The Magellan 3250." Stone-faced, he said "Just a minute." He turned his back, talked with Sales Guy II. After a few minutes, both come back to me. "This is Sales Guy II and he's going to help you." Read: talk you into buying a more expensive model.

Sales Guy II tried to talk me into a Garmin: Best Buy is soon going to carry only the Garmin units (Me: nod, "uh huh"); 40% of the units sold have been returned (Me: nod, "Really? Why?") - customers weren't satisfied (Me: "Hmm. Nothing specific - hard to use, touch screen doesn't work?"); Garmin has the same features you're looking for, most popular brand, no complaints (Me: "So, you'll drop the price to match the Magellan?"); Anything else for you? (Me: "The $40 warranty, thanks!").

$364 later, Rissa is driving around Burbank with her Magellan Maestro 3250! I set my preferences, registered my Triple A membership on the Magellan site which gives me TWO FREE YEARS of traffic service + direct-dial to AAA if I ever break down. Woot woot! The bluetooth took me a bit longer to set up as there were no directions. Total trial and error; I finally figured it out.

OH! The other night, driving to dinner, I was showing off my new gadget. I punched in the name of the restaurant, certain it would direct me to the freeway. It didn't. Hmm. I ignored MM3250 and headed to the freeway. And, whaddyaknow ~ traffic jam. Ohhh, I will never again doubt the wisdom of the Magellan Maestro!

spa-ah-ah

In lieu of a birthday trip to PhilaPA, I took a birthday trip to Burke Williams Spa-ah-ah. Turns out, much more relaxing at BWS. Who knew.

Arriving at BWS an hour before my appointment time, I planned to take advantage of the facilities ~ sauna, steam rooms, misting rooms, jacuzzi pool, quiet room. However, because my first service was a bikini wax, the customer service chick (who announced my services out loud in front of 3 men - 2 of whom were not BWS staff!) advised it would be best to wait. Uh...okay.

In the Women's Spa area, I located my locker, slipped into my comfy robe and headed to the showers. The water pressure was divine! And the shower heads? Two words - clean boobs. With 45 minutes until my appointment, I hide out in the quiet room. Heaven. Seriously. The room is dimly lit with a padded bench running the length of the room on one side and small booth-type seats along the other side. There's no music, no talking. Just quiet. Alone, I stretch out along the bench, curled under a blanket. I was on that edge of dozing when...whoosh...the door opens and in walk 3 giggling, talking girls. Ugh. Oblivious to the two huge 'No Talking' signs posted, they continued to giggle and chit-chat, alternating between stage-whispers and regular run o'the mill talking. Thankfully, the Appointment Keeper came in, reminded them of the quiet room's purpose and they left. By this time, it was my turn.

Luiza is my go-to girl at Burke Williams Sherman Oaks ~ facials, waxing, massage. She's not a chatty Cathy, gets in there, does her thing, then poof you're done and gone. Now, bikini waxes are not pleasurable experiences. I usually pop a couple Tylenol or Aleve prior to...of course, this time, I forgot. However, Luiza has this system - she pulls the strip and immediately runs her hand over the spot to lessen the pain. Sometimes, it works; sometimes, it does not. I love her for the fact that she's considerate enough to do it. I also love Luiza because she's a self-proclaimed perfectionist. Strange, I know. She'll say - let's do this, it'll look so much cleaner; and if we do that, we'll certainly have to do this, it'll look so much cleaner! And, she's right.

After the pain, came the pleasure - a facial. Oooh, I love me a good facial! Oddly enough, my favorite part of the facial process is the extraction portion, which is painful. Well, it's uncom...no, it's painful. She steamed my face, exfoliated and cleansed it, then got down to the extraction. My poor nose! Luiza said my t-zone was crying out for extractions. She finished with a moisturizer, chapstick and a huge cup of water. Ahh...

I went back to the quiet room, slept for 40 minutes; then sat in the jacuzzi pool for 20 minutes ~ the perfect way to end the spa day.

Tomorrow? Deluxe Spa mani and pedi. Hooray for days off!

Girl of 100 Lists ~ 7 Songs

This blog was Filched from kateelliott on LiveJournal:

~ 7 Songs Meme ~

(because sometimes, I really can't get my thoughts together for a decent blog)

List 7 songs you are really into right now. Good or bad, these are the songs on heavy rotation in your car, on your stereo, iPod or turntable; these are the songs currently rockin' your world.

C'mon, let me turn you on to some new music; and I'll let you turn me on, too.

1 ~ Mercy by Duffy ~ reminds me of Dusty Springfield and Amy Winehouse (without the drama)

2 ~ Test by Little Dragon ~ unable to accurately describe the sound, it's electronica pop and oh-so-good!

3 ~ Fascination by Alphabeat ~ I'm crazy about fun dance-y pop music!

4 ~ Buffalo Gals by Malcolm McLaren ~ all this scratchin' is makin' me itch

5 ~ American Boy by Estelle ~ saw her in a small club in Santa Monica with John Legend and she's effing amazing!

6 ~ Chasing Pavements by Adele ~ she'll be in L.A. again on 5/21; LOVE HER!

7 ~ RollerCoaster by Major Maker ~ fun dance-y pop music!

About last night...

Was lucky enough to get tickets to Estelle's Los Angeles debut last night at the Temple Bar in Santa Monica ($10/ticket ~ uhh, HELLO!). She was amazing! Holy crap. John Legend in his business and musical brilliance signed her to his Home School record label; and he done good.

Check it out: