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By kilax, February 12, 2008 6:12 am

Do you ever wake up in the middle of the night from a dream so frightening and realistic that you can’t fall back asleep?

I usually don’t. I usually only remember the dreams I have during my one-hour nap on the train to work in the morning. But last night I went to bed just a little bit early and woke up around 3:30 from the most awful and realistic dream of my life.

In my dream, it was about 3:00 in the morning, and I woke up because I heard Data getting into something in the kitchen downstairs. I walked to the top of the stair bainster, peered into the kitchen and said “Data, what are you doing?”

But Data wasn’t in the kitchen alone. The light was on, and he was in there with some man, who was rummaging through our stuff. He saw me, and I ran back into my bedroom. I tried to call 911 but my phone wouldn’t connect. I ran to open the window and jump out but there were more men outside. Then the man came into the room with one of our fancy wüsthof knives from the kitchen.

It’s kind of humorous that I was dreaming about our wüsthof knives, because there is an ongoing joke between me and Steven, about how much he is in love with them. But it’s not funny when someone comes after you with one in a dream.

So in the dream, I had a knife too (I am not sure how, I don’t keep knives in my bedroom). Mine was more of a butcher’s knife, and his was some fancy curved knife. I struggled with the man and yelled at Steven to get out of bed and take the knife from the man. Miraculously, he was able to take it a way, and I pushed the man onto the floor and did that neck twist you see in all the movies that makes someone pass out. The whole time, I was frantically calling for Data, because I was worried the man had hurt him. Steven and I continued to try to call 911 but we couldn’t get through. Then I woke up.

The dream was so awful because it was in my house, and it was a culmination of all the fears I have rolled into one – house getting robbed, being threatened with death, someone hurting my cat, having to jump out of the window, using one of our precious wüsthof knives to shed blood, etc.

I knew I shouldn’t have watched any of The Punisher last night before going to bed.

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By kilax, February 11, 2008 5:35 am

After Hilly, Dave, Kevin, SJ, Suze and Rachel did the CD cover meme, I finally had to do it too. I have a slight problem where if I go to bed without having a post ready for the next day, I can’t sleep. Nice.

The rules are:

1. The first article title HERE is the name of your band.
2. The last four words of the very last quote HERE is the title of your album.
3. The third picture HERE, no matter what it is, will be your album cover.
4. Now take your pic, add the band name and title to it, then post it.

The funny thing is, every time I have seen this meme, I have “played at home” and come up with some pretty cool covers. Of course, I didn’t save any of them. Oh well.

My name, quote, and photo.

I promise, if I ever start a band, it will be called “Hymie the Robot.” In fact, I think I will change my legal name to Hymie the Robot the next time I’m at the DMV.

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By kilax, February 10, 2008 7:53 pm

After 3:00 pm every Sunday I start to feel crummy and cranky. I feel like the weekend is wasted. I don’t want to do my laundry. I don’t want to prepare the salad and vegetables for the week. I don’t want to move. I want to stay in bed all afternoon.

Sounds like the description of a fun person to be around, right?

Or maybe it sounds like the description of what everyone feels like before going back to work on Monday!

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By kilax, February 9, 2008 9:24 pm

Remember this photo from last year? (from the January 15th post)

My sister and her boyfriend got into an accident today on their way to Mall of America. They hit a patch of ice on the highway, spun out and were sideways on the road. Then a car hit them and ripped her front bumper off. Luckily, everyone is okay, but while they were waiting for the cops to arrive, they saw 6 more cars spin out in the same spot and go into the ditch. Yikes.

When it happened to me, I was driving and spun out on a bridge. I ran into one side of the bridge, did a 180, the hit the other side. When it stopped, I was facing the wrong way on the road, but all the cars coming towards me had (thankfully!) stopped. I did a 3-point turn and kept driving. Then I pulled over at a gas station and realized my bumper was hanging off. Oops. Some nice guy helped me rip it off and put it in the back seat. I told him thanks and bought him a cup of coffee.

What really sucked about that happening was that my dad had just replaced my back bumper for me (some asshole hit it earlier the previous year, then drove off), and the accident put another huge dent in it.

But anyway! My poor sister! This girl does not have good luck with cars! I don’t seem to either. Us Ilax women don’t belong on the road. We belong in the back of a limo. Or at least in the passenger seat of a Saab 9-3.

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By kilax, February 8, 2008 5:54 am

Which new movies are you looking forward to seeing in 2008?

We rarely go to the movie theater. Nothing seems to spark our interest. We saw two movies last summer – Knocked Up and Transformers, and then we didn’t see another until last weekend. And what did we choose to see then? Some Oscar nominated picture? No, Cloverfield.

Anyway, that got me thinking about how I am really excited about some movies coming out this year! I think I may actually be spending some time in the theater! I would like to see (in order of release date):

• Jumper February 14 (because it looks so cool)
• The Other Boleyn Girl February 29 (you knew this one)
• 21 March 28 (The preview for this movie about college kids counting cards to win blackjack in Vegas looked cool…)
• Iron Man May 2 (This is based on some comic book I am not familiar with… but the preview made it look hella cool!)
• Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull May 22
• Sex and the City: The Movie May 30 (I know, it’s smut… but I love it! And Steven actually said he would see it with me!)
• The Dark Knight July 18 (Who doesn’t want to see this?!)
• Quantum of Solace November 7 (the new James Bond movie!)
• Star Trek December 25 (Put that on the list to make Steven happy)

I feel like I am missing some! Don’t be surprised if this list expands throughout the day… especially as you tell me yours!

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By kilax, February 7, 2008 5:35 am

Steven had the right idea.

About a month ago, Steven took me to the train station to pick up my car, which was completely covered in snow. “Wouldn’t it be great if there was a service that cleared snow off your car for you while you were riding the train home?” he asked.

“Uh huh.” (I’m really supportive.)

“You could sign up for a service, and they would clear off your car whenever it snowed! You could let them know which train you were taking home and your car would be ready to go when you got off the train. They could charge you a couple of dollars each time.”

“Steven, you’re going to have to charge them more than that if you want to make any money.” (Filled with encouragement and optimism, yes?)

…

Yesterday, I would have paid someone $10 or more to dig my car out of the snow to drive home.

So. Sick. Of. ALL. THIS. GD. SNOW!!!

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By kilax, February 4, 2008 5:34 am

When I saw a commercial for this yesterday I was in awe:

There is a problem with this photo though. It shows a pie tin and some sort of pie crust inside of it, then the filling. But what do you need a pie tin and crust for when you have “Ready-to-Eat” cheesecake filling? Doesn’t that just mean it is ready to eat right out of the tub?

Because if I wanted to be any more of a careless pig, that is what I would eat. Luckily, Target didn’t have any when we did our shopping yesterday.

Ha ha.

Actually, Steven and I are on a pretty healthy eating plan. At the beginning of the week, we stock up on salad, fruit, vegetables, and healthy snacks. And we take them to work and eat them. We usually do really well throughout the week on not eating out (unless we are working VERY late – it happens) and making sure we don’t eat too much throughout the day.

I could be doing a lot better on exercising though. Steven just jumps on the treadmill and is off and running… when I get on I am huffing and puffing and get discouraged. And it doesn’t help I have been getting home past 8:30 a few nights a week.

But I’m trying. And that’s what counts. I am sure that I will eventually catch up with my work and be able to commit some time to exercise… because we all know work is more important than exercise, right? Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight…

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By kilax, February 3, 2008 6:55 pm

My mother called me last night to ask me if I spent any time in Lane Bryant during the day.

Uh… no…? Why…?

Oh.

A gunman killed 5 women and injured 1, in a Lane Bryant in Tinley Park, Illinois. One of the women killed was a store clerk and the others were shoppers.

My mother heard that Tinley Park was a Chicago suburb, and was worried that it might be near where I live. Actually, it’s at least 60 miles from our house.

I heard about the story briefly on the television before she called and hadn’t even thought twice about it. I didn’t stop to think that my mother might hear the story and be worried.

This made me think about how jaded I have become regarding violence and murder. I read about it in the paper every day and don’t think twice about it.

How awful is that? I feel like I am so over-exposed to sensational news stories that when I hear/read a real one, I don’t have a true reaction to it.

The more I think about this story, the more awful I feel about it. I can’t imagine the horror of doing something that is part of your routine – shopping, working, dining – and having something like this happen.

The sad part is that the killer is still on the loose, and even if they do catch him, it won’t bring these people back.

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By kilax, February 2, 2008 6:36 pm

Kimberly tagged me with this book meme:

Pick up the nearest book of 123 pages or more.
Find Page 123.
Find the first 5 sentences.
Post the next 3 sentences.

Can you guess what the nearest book was? Maybe you can after this excerpt:

Despite criticism for its ensuing invasion, the U.S. claimed that stabilizing Iraq was the only way to prevent another nuclear attack like the one carried out on Hiroshima and Nagasaki by Iraq. The U.S. plans to continue occupying the nation until Iraq either returns the kidnapped Lindbergh baby, or admits to all the acts of unjust violence for which it is responsible, including the Boston Massacre, a series of shark attacks in the summer of 1998, and the U.S. invasion of Iraq.

Okay, that isn’t 3 sentences, and it isn’t actually after the first 5 sentences… but the other text on the page was bullet points, so I thought this made the most sense.

Of course, the book is Our Dumb World: Atlas of the Planet Earth. I raved about the book in this post, and it is still on my nightstand, which means I pick it up to laugh out loud every night.

The 123rd page happened to be titled “Iraq: They Had It Coming.” So… sorry if I insulted anyone by posting it.

I usually don’t talk about politics here. In fact, I don’t think I ever have. I don’t want to insult or offend anyone. Because while we are all entitled to our own opinion, politics seems to be something everyone thinks their opinion is right about. So, people don’t have discussions about politics, they have arguments. Most of the time.

But, since I kind of brought it up, I really hope our government settles on a plan and date to safely pull our troops out of Iraq. I can’t imagine what it is like to have a husband/wife, brother/sister, son/daughter, nephew/niece, friend, acquaintance (anyone!) in the war. I worry enough about Steven getting home safely from this commute; I can’t imagine the worry and stress those people go through.

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By kilax, February 1, 2008 5:35 am

Do you do your own income tax return, or does someone else do it for you? What is your general feeling for income tax return time?

Are you disturbed that I am asking you these questions on the first day of February? Seems a bit early, doesn’t it?! Well, my answer will explain why I am asking so soon…

Last year was the first time I paid someone else do my taxes for me. I (or my dad, when I lived in Rome) have done my own taxes since I was 14, but last year I had W-2s from two states and all those pesky student loan and tuition documents to try to figure out… so I sent my taxes to H&R Block with Steven’s. We’ll be sending them to H&R Block again this year, and probably for the rest of our lives. Ha ha. It’s so much easier.

We look forward to having our taxes done, because we usually both get a hefty return. It’s like this huge surprise bonus that we forget about every year until the middle of January… then we anxiously await to receive our W-2s and send them out. We save the money, pay off debt or buy expensive toys (the truth). We are dropping off our tax info today, so it’s on my mind.

But when I told my dad this, he pointed out that the government has my money all year long, and that if I was a responsible adult, I could have it in my own savings account earning interest on it. Something he admitted to not being able to do himself, but I think he had hope for me.

I see the point, and it makes me curious as to what other people’s strategies are. Right now, I’d rather overpay than have to pay in. Maybe someday, when I have actually savings, I will take a closer look at what is withdrawn from my check. But I am playing it safe for now, because I don’t want to be stuck paying in.