Last night for some reason I fell asleep as soon as I got home at 6:10PM and didn't wake up again for more than five minutes until 7:45 this morning. I must have needed the sleep, but it still felt absolutely bizarre to waste an entire evening sleeping. I didn't even go to the gym or clean up my living room like I had planned, just got home, sat down on the sofa to play with my kitty for a few minutes before I headed out again, and BAM. Consciousness lost.

As unproductive as this was, it did result in an extremely vivid, extremely odd dream in which I found myself on a quest to find two large (and very tacky) pendants, a blue one and an orange one. I had been sent on this quest by Liam Neeson. I don't really remember too much detail now, but I discovered when I got the two pendants that if I held the blue one over my right eye I could see what Liam Neeson was seeing, and if I held the orange one over my left eye I could see what some other random person was seeing. Sneaky Neeson decided to betray me and take the pendants for himself (although why he wanted them I'm not too sure, they didn't seem to have much practical purpose), and I was forced to hide in an alley in some sci-fi city that literally had a carpet of garbage. My brilliant idea was to burrow under the garbage and wait for Neeson to go away. I was found, Neeson tried to take the pendants, and we ended up in an epic hand-to-hand battle. Which I won, naturally.

I realize that I'm probably the only one who cares about this, but it still cracks me up. ^_^

In other news, this is the second day my home computer has been in the shop - I'm really hoping I get it back this afternoon. >_<

Driving to the beach on a sunny day with all your windows open and Dire Straits blaring from the speakers is perfection.

In my little part of Western Washington, the weather has been a little... off... for spring. The temperature has rarely risen above 50 degrees, and if we happen to get a day of partial sun, by evening it'll be raining and we won't see the sun again for the next five days. Oh, and it snowed in April. Unusual? Yes.

Still, even with all that in mind, I didn't really think that this Severe Weather Alert on Weather.com was necessary:

"AFTER A COOL AND CLOUDY SPRING IN WESTERN WASHINGTON...A DRAMATIC SHIFT TO HOT AND SUNNY WEATHER WILL GET UNDERWAY TODAY. WIDESPREAD RECORD HIGH TEMPERATURES ARE EXPECTED ON FRIDAY.

TEMPERATURES WILL BEGIN TO CLIMB TODAY...AS A MASSIVE AREA OF HIGH PRESSURE IN THE UPPER ATMOSPHERE BUILDS OVER THE REGION. WEAK NORTHERLY ONSHORE FLOW WILL KEEP TEMPERATURES FROM GETTING REALLY HOT. STILL...HIGH TEMPERATURES ACROSS MUCH OF WESTERN WASHINGTON WILL BE IN THE 70S AND LOWER 80S."

blah blah blah...

"AFTER SUCH COOL WEATHER THIS SPRING... PEOPLE SHOULD REFRESH THEMSELVES ON BASIC HOT WEATHER TIPS. WHEN THE WEATHER WARMS UP...BE SURE TO SLOW DOWN...DRINK PLENTY OF WATER...WEAR LIGHTWEIGHT AND LIGHT COLORED CLOTHING...AND BE SURE TO PROTECT YOURSELF FROM SUNBURN BY WEARING SUNSCREEN AND A HAT. BY SATURDAY...THE HUMIDITY WILL RISE A BIT AND MAKE THE AIR FEEL MUGGY. THE ELDERLY AND THE VERY YOUNG ARE THE MOST LIKELY GROUPS TO EXPERIENCE ADVERSE HEALTH EFFECTS FROM THE HEAT."

Okay, guys. I know it's been a while since we've had a nice day. But it hasn't been that long.

This is the first severe weather alert I've ever seen warning people about temperatures rising all the way to possibly the low 80s.

Good lord.

I wish I had thought to take a photo of this.

I'm in my car driving home from work, and I turn onto a street... right behind this little white pickup truck.

Now, I am no more prejucided against trucks than I am against any other vehicle. I am more than happy to share the road with them. Under normal circumstances, that is.

I saw, in the bed of this little white truck, a pile of huge pieces of wood that reached nearly to the roof of the cab. Sections of logs, might be a better way to put it. Were they secured? At all? Of course not! Were they stacked in a way that might make you think they were a bit stable? Pffft! One big, haphazard pile. And my very very favorite part were the two enormous chainsaws just stuck blade down in the middle of the pile.

I felt very safe. Yep. Very safe indeed.

Like I said, I wish I had a picture. This is what camera phones are for.

Having worked in a real estate office for almost seven years, I've seen a lot of houses go on the market. Out of all the houses that my office has listed, there has been maybe three or four that I've walked into to photograph them, and said to myself, if I had the money I would buy this house in a SECOND. I see a lot of houses that I could live in and be happy with, but only those very few that have really "spoken" to me.

The houses I've fallen in love with aren't the high end multi million dollar homes with stunning views and hundreds of feet of waterfront. They aren't even the $500k homes with a view or tons of acreage. They're in the $200k range, and some have new appliances, fresh paint, etc, but mostly they're just really, really neat.

The house I went and photographed today was one of those houses that inspired love at first sight. The exterior and location were great. Close to town, but set back in the woods on a little over two and a half acres. Surrounded on three sides with trees but with a huge, beautifully landscaped front yard. Neighbors that were close, but screened off by the trees. Charming front porch. Then I went inside and saw the gorgeous older softwood floors, the open floor plan, the wood ceilings, and the huge master bedroom.

I've re-created my WoW blog - all future WoW geek posts will be made at Power Word: Totem. I didn't want to flood my normal blog with gamer stuff. ^_^ I'm still putting it together, but it's there.

I watched three movies this weekend. Empire Records (always good for a laugh), In The Name of the King (although now that I think about it, I didn't actually watch that movie... it was so bad I fell asleep during the first twenty minutes), and The Orphanage.

The Orphanage was produced by Guillermo Del Toro, reason enough for me to be excited to see the film. I had seen previews for it but it had been so long since I had seen one I had completely forgotten what it was about, so when I picked it up at the video store I quickly scanned the back before heading home.

My sister was briefly admitted to the hospital this week (breathing trouble, love the allergy season), and after that particular scare had been more or less laid to rest, my mom has some news she had to share with me.

"So the ER doctor who saw Caroline," she said in a tone of barely restrained excitement during a phone call. "You're never going to guess who he looks like."

I immediately start thinking about celebrities. "Who?" I asked curiously.

"I never would have figured it out. I was sitting there trying to think of who he looked like FOR AGES, and Caroline figured it out right away! He looks JUST LIKE Andrew! But cuter! And he's a doctor!"

That was so totally not what I was expecting to hear that it made me laugh. I was with Andrew for about a year before things fell apart, and my family knew him pretty well. My mom continued to tell me how much the two resembled each other, except Dr had shorter hair and was "cuter" (yes, that was definitely repeated several times).

"It's like Andrew has a clone!" my mom said at one point. "Wouldn't that be weird if you dated him?"

This was clearly out of the realm of possibilities - I mean, I don't think I'll be going to the ER any time soon (knock on wood!) and I can't think of any other way I would meet an ER doc - but it was certainly amusing to think about. Yes, it would be weird. And there would be a lot of potential for mistakes.

"OH! OOOH ANDREW! Err... I mean..."

"How was band practice? I mean.... work?"

Ehh... you get the picture. ^_^

And speaking of pictures, my mom managed to find one of Dr. Andrew Clone, and she emailed it to me. And she's right - he looks JUST LIKE my ex!

(Warning: Geek Post)

I found out about The Running of Da Bulls from a WoW blog that I enjoy very much, Big Red Kitty.

"A running of the bulls! That’s our idea. 10,000 level one Taurens barreling… somewhere. And facing terrible… things. Culminating in a fabulous ending… somewhere else."

This sounds like a fantastic idea to me! 10,000 Taurens running across Azeroth? Yes please! I'm in! Even more so, since BRK recently lost a friend, the Running will be dedicated to her memory. And I think that's a wonderful thing. What better tribute?

If your interested in participating and adding to the vast (hopefully) numbers, the details can be found here, including a route map and basic ground rules.

Or, a brief synopsis:

"Saturday, May 3rd, 2008! 7pm EDT (11pm GMT) on Cenarian Circle server. Not server time, look closely. 7pm Eastern Daylight Time. Make adjustments for your time zone as required."

And now I'm pleased to announce that Harpy*, my baby troll shaman, dinged 30 yesterday! YAY!

I've learned a few things playing my shammy:

1. The addon TotemTimers is AMAZING. However, when first getting used to this addon and the new totem interface that it gives you, it might not be such a good idea to move your totems out of their accustomed places in the action bars right away. Because you might find yourself fleeing from three or four mobs, and you might want to lay down an Earthbind Totem so you can go Ghost Wolf and get the hell out of there, and you might not be able to find it in time. Resulting, ultimately, in death. Not that I would know from experience, or anything. >_>

2. Enhancement shamans are AWESOME. When I first started the shammy I wasn't entirely sure I was going to enjoy playing one period, but not only am I enjoying the shaman, I haven't felt the urge to change specs once. Harpy is officially off her probationary period, and can look forward to seeing Outlands.

3. Shaman class quests are VERY ANNOYING. I realize that Ghost Wolf increases our movement speed by 40%, but I don't think that means that we should have to run all over hell and creation for our totems. >_< 4. Anhks are expensive, and make me glad that Guild Leader friend is giving me a weekly allowance and running me through lots of instances while I level. O_O

That's it for now. I have some fun screen shots to post, but I think I'll wait for a while. I don't want to overload the blog with WoW. ^_^

BUT! BUT! Running of Da Bulls! Do it!!! ^_^

*Armory is still showing her at 28 for some reason, but I'm definitely 30. Windfury Weapon FTW!