........don't forget yours

Friday, April 18, 2008

SHAKE, RATTLE AND ROLL

So, I was awakened this morning at about 4:30 to the sound of my water heater banging against my closet door. Being that I was sound asleep, it took me a few seconds after jolting out of bed and running around my apartment in my underwear a few times before I realized what was happening. It's not like an earthquake in St. Louis is a regular occurance, so needless to say, it took me a minute to figure out what was going on. My first thought was to get under my table, which is all I remember from my grade school earthquake drils, but I don't think my $50 Ikea table would have protected me all that much. I was told this morning by my boss who lived in California that the recomended practice is to stand in a doorway. So, there you go. That's my bit of advice for the next one.
The earthquake wasn't just localized to us either. Apparently, the epicenter was in southern Illinois and people as far as 900 miles away felt the effects. It was a 5.4earthquake, which is the strongest earthquake we've had in ST. Louis since 1968, from what I've read. Pretty crazy. But I guess it was bound to happen sooner or later.

Sunday, April 13, 2008

WHERE AM I??

The evening started out innocently enough, with the girls coming over for drinks but we soon stepped into the twilight zone.....
So the girls arrived at my place ready for an evening of music and drinks, we popped opened a bottle of wine, started chatting and the girls decided to step out onto the porch for a smoke where they were unexpectedly greeted by Satin's Squirrel. He was not very happy about us disturbing his space, but soon ran off to the roof somewhere. Back to wine and chatting, we finished our glasses and walked down the street for some Pizza before the concert. Upon enterinig this fine eating establishment, we were greeted by what seemed to be a mix of recently released convicts and homeless people, who were soon to be our waiters and waitresses. After some confusion with our waiter as to whether or not we would like plates to eat our pizza off of or if we would rather just eat it straight off of the table, we managed to have a pretty good meal. Then we decided that the rest of the clientel was so delightful that we should check out the bar area to mingle with the locals. It was everything I'd hoped it would be.....drunks with missing teeth, Gangsters wearing gold medalions, but our grand time in the bar was stopped short by some bad Chianti. So, off we went, back down the street to get our cars. A few steps out of the pizza place, we were greeted by the whistler. Well, not so much greeted, as stalked. We walked clutching our purses as images of horror flicks flashed in our minds and hoping the crazy whisling guy, walking not a foot behind us, was just a figment of our imagination. He was not, but luckily he went around us, continuing to whistle and we went on to get our cars. Convinced now, that we had entered an alternate universe somewhere along the evening, we pressed on to the Pageant. Parking was a nightmare, but we managed to find a parking lot semi near by, which we lovingly refer to as "The Pit". After dodging many pits and holes in the parking lot and avoiding a broken ankle, we made it to the corner were we saw the opening show......which consisted of a younger, seemingly autistic, male in some sort of convlusion..although he may have just been dancing. Finally making it to our destination, we entered relieved....until we were frisked for any inappropriate items. luckily we had left our gats at home that night. So, we entered without incident. Making our way upstairs, we found our seats. I was the last to sit. I was lucky enough to be seated next to the HULK. I think his knee was bigger than my waist, so needless to say....the gentleman needed some extra room. So, as I sat on my one ass cheek trying to give him the additional room he needed, we waited for the show to begin. I've never seen Feist live, but it was a fabulous show, despite my numb ass. And had it not been for the Zen like, performace shadow people who were making art projections on the back wall of the stage, I probably would have been a litte stressed at this point. But it was very relaxing and borderline meditative. The concert finished and we headed home, exhuasted from our evening in the twilight zone. But all in all, it was pretty good. Just another evening in the LOU.