tammytoes

I just painted my toenails frosty pink.

I ate some apple pie.

Friday night, my car stereo was stolen. It was probably my fault – I likely left the passenger door unlocked. Initially discouraged by the lack of tunage, I have taken comfort in the silence. I think it’s easy to forget what a comfort quiet can be when we’re constantly bombarded with media, music, marketing, and white noise. I think I’ll leave it quiet for a while.

I gave my budgie some lettuce.

It was a rainy Memorial Day so I watched a DVD and took a nap.

This weekend, old friends fed me veggie lo mein and tucked me into their son’s bed. His room is decorated with glow-in-the-dark stars arranged as constellations. I slept under the stars in his bedroom, next to an unrivalled Lego tower, and smelled clean sheets.

At times, I have confused comfort with happiness. Sometimes, though, comfort is happiness.

Yesterday was my monthly birthday. I jumped over cones at derby practice. Then Ray took me to Lakeside Amusement Park, my favorite place in Denver. If you haven’t gone, plunk down your 2 bucks for gate admission, and revel in slightly-creepy, old-time amusement park fun. I love Lakeside, and they’ve given the park a pretty good paint job and replaced a lot of the lights in the ride signs. The Cyclone is one of the finest, and bumpiest, old roller coasters around (although I would highly recommend the wooden coaster at the pier in Santa Cruz). Please keep your hands and feet inside the ride at all times, seriously. Last year, we got stuck on the Cyclone because there was some sort of malfunction. Thankfully, we were very close to the end of the ride, so five or six burly ride operators could push us to the platform. No mechanical malfunctions last night, though. Also a thrill is the Wild Chipmunk, which looks rather dull from the ground, but I find to be one of the scariest rides on the planet. When I told the two ride operators that prior to taking off on the Chipmunk, one of them replied, “Nah. It’s not so bad.” The other one winked at me and said, “Depends on which car you happen to be in.” OK. We also rode the Ferris Wheel (a singular attraction in that it’s both terrifying and romantic) and a few others. We declined to ride anything that spins or makes use of G-forces on account of Ray’s sensitive chemostatic triggers. I can’t really blame this entirely on him, actually, because over the years I’ve rapidly lost my ability to hand tilt-o-whirls and scramblers. The last time we were on a zipper, I thought I was going to lose my lunch, my dinner, and my breakfast. So we spent the rest of our time there playing skee-ball and walking around, which is actually my favorite thing to do at Lakeside. I love to imagine places like that in their prime. They always seem to gesture to a time when pleasures were simpler and slower to me. Or maybe that’s just a fantasy of mine. But I like it, so I hold on to it. I love the way the Lakeside lights reflect off the lake. If I ever get a decent photo of it, I will share. I know for sure that we’ll be back again this summer. Then we went out for pie, which was another adventure. But as I type this, I realize that it’s a story that’s better told than written. It just doesn’t translate. So if you’re ever in the neighborhood, make sure to stop by and ask us about that night we went out for pie on my monthly birthday…

Also, Ray surprised me with tickets to see The Shins on Tuesday. Oh, happy day! AND it looks like the Rocky Mountain Rollergirls may finally have secured a home for our first bout. It’s not quite official yet, but Colorado friends please mark your calendars for July 16th, when the Sugar Kill Gang (that’s my team) will take on the Red Ridin’ Hoods at Bladium. Oh, happy summer!

Yesterday I attended StarFest 2005. Some highlights of my day:

11:25 am: First hobbit sighting of the day.
11:45 am: Burly group of men and women dressed like barbarians/vikings begin drinking in hotel atrium.
12:35 pm: Encounter with jawa and Tucscan Raider in lobby. Shot on site by jawa.
12:55 pm: Receive free postcard of Chekhov screaming and promotional carrot and zucchini seeds from upcoming Wallace and Grommitt film.
1:15 pm: Men and women dressed like Klingons join barbarian group to drink in lobby.
2:45 pm: Lightsaber battle in hotel atrium.
3:00 pm: Klingon touches Ray. Ray expresses discomfort.
3:05 pm: Overheard – Teenager solicits adult stranger to buy alcohol for him near registration booth.
3:10 pm: Spotted by school district employee I work closely with. She screams across the lobby, “Hey you geek!” She is also attending convention.
3:20 pm: Purchase Shaun of the Dead poster.
3:40 pm: Spot man in “Vader Hater” t-shirt.
4:05 pm: Extended Batman Begins trailer. I geek out.
6:00 pm: First non-costume related spandex sighting.
6:05 pm: Rastafarian werewolves spotted.
6:10 pm: Frank the Rabbit appears in lobby.
6:45 pm: Man walks by wearing Jabba the Hut “Original Gangsta” t-shirt.
7:00 pm: Conversation in elevator:
Woman: “Well, you know, I haven’t eaten since Wednesday. I lost all that weight for this convention, so I can’t drink like I used to.”
Man: “Well, I think you look GREAT!”
They kiss.
8:00 pm: Costume contest. Favorites include Decepticon costume made entirely of cardboard, wedding gown from “Legend,” Final Fantasy IX, cross-dressing Pirates of the Carribbean, Predators, bad air guitar performed by sullen teenager in Crow costume.
9:05 pm: Ray falls asleep during sign language rendition of entire Annie Lennox song “Into the West” performed by a woman in a hobbit costume. Wakes up, looks embarrased.
9:08 pm: Man in starfleet uniform with guitar performs a folk song about Babylon 5. I’m totally not kidding about this.
9:20 pm: Barbarian balancing beer cans in atrium loses balance, drops beers, stumbles around drunkenly.