Peace Corps, Here I Come!

It's official. I received my Peace Corps Invitation this morning!

Country of Service: KAZAKHSTAN

Dates of Service: August 18, 2008 - November 7, 2010

I'm still taking it all in, and wading through the massive amounts of information that was Fed-Exed to me, but it's really happening. It's kind of crazy how much my world changed in a matter of hours. Before this morning it all felt very distant and intangible, but now it is suddenly very real. Holy cow! I'm leaving the country in less than 8 weeks!

Let the fun begin! Because you better believe I plan on making the most of these next two months...

Sasser Syndrome

I was explaining at a recent softball game that I suffer from "Sasser Syndrome". Everyone looked at me like I was crazy. I looked back at this group of Fantasy Baseball fanatics, especially Jason who knows practically every baseball trivia question in the book, and said, "You know, the catcher Mickey or Mackey Sasser, who couldn't throw the ball back to the pitcher?" They insisted I was making it up and no one had any idea who I was talking about (including Jason).

Unfortunately for me, my credibility had been recently questioned when I swore up and down that the 1989 World Series game was played in Oakland, not San Francisco (an honest mistake, I swear). So they all dismissed my allegation and moved on. Well... I hate being wrong (and rarely, RARELY am) so I just had to prove myself right!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mackey_Sasser

Yes, that's right. Mackey Sasser. :)

He's quite the looker, huh?

My SF Giants

So, they may not be the San Francisco Giants that I grew up cheering for. Oh how I miss those days with Matt Williams, Kevin Mitchell, Robby Thompson & Will Clark... BUT, they are still MY San Francisco Giants.

And maybe this isn't really their season, but they're still setting records and putting their names in the books. Find me another team this season that has accomplished both a TRIPLE PLAY




and STEALING HOME.



Or find me a team, period, that has accomplished both in a single season. And I am proud to be able to say that I witnessed one of these amazing feats. Yes, that's right. I took Ryan to the Giants game where Castillo, Durham and Bowker turned a fabulous triple play. How many people can say that they have seen a triple play live?

Nevermind the fact that the Giants lost that game in 13 innings (a very LONG 13 innings), you can forgive them that when you've just witnessed a triple play! :)

I'm trying to see as many Giants games as possible this season before I leave the country. So far I've got a record of 2-2 this season - I started thinking that I needed to stop going to games with Ryan because they were losing every game he attended. But the Giants did manage to pull off a fantastic win against the Tigers for Ryan's birthday on Monday, so I'm willing to reconsider. But I'm still wary...

My favorite Giants seats at AT&T park yet. Thanks Megan and Matt R.!

Bleachers! Can't beat the ambiance of screaming fans...

Triple play game! Go home San Diego.

We were surrounded by Detroit fans, but Bowker shut them up with his homerun. Happy Birthday Ryan!

Giants games with the family, just like old times. (Except this time Robby Thompson doesn't live down the street.) For those of you who don't know... Robby Thompson used to live on Oakview Drive in San Carlos (yup! MY street). On the day he moved, Ryan went down to his house and asked him to sign a ball. I was a wuss and too afraid to ask so I stayed home - still regret that decision.

So, if anyone feels like a Giants game this season... you know that I'm always up for it.

Guys and ?

I've decided that someone needs to take on the task of inventing a new word. Not just any word, I've got one in mind:

There's no acceptable female equivalent for "guy" in the English language.

I, personally, constantly use the term "girl" to refer to females my age or around my age, but really that's the equivalent to "boy".

I rarely use the word "woman" because it just sounds so stuffy and mature. It's not natural for me to say that I was talking to this "woman" the other day when she was in her twenties.

And I refuse to believe that "gal" is an adequate term unless you live in the South and square dance on a regular basis.

"Lady" just makes me think of Lady and the Tramp, or some women at an English tea party.

"Chick" is acceptable in certain circumstances, but isn't really a word that a female can use to refer to another female. That's a word that should exist primarily in the male vocabulary.

So, someone please invent a new word for me to use. Thank you.

The Happiness that Is/Was "The Fort"

I've got this friend. Her name is Stephanie. She's an actor.

Oh and yes, I've learned it's more PC to call her an actor than an actress. Darn feminism and equal rights interfering with the English language. We invent these words and we don't even use them, argh.

Anyways, back to the point.

She is currently performing in a show in San Francisco called Headspace (nice plug, I know). A group of us went to see the show and celebrate this budding actor friend recently. We show up only to find, what? That there's a fort! Um, yea!

The stage was a round stage and they had constructed various seating arrangements around it, one of which was a fort! So, of course we all fought over the fort and crammed as many of us as possible on it. You'd do it too, dont lie.

But what I've come to realize is that the fort is genius. I mean, truly genius. Because, while I am a fan of theater and enjoy a good show every season or so, this is definitely not the case for everyone. You know there are guys who have been dragged to plays by their girlfriends one too many times. So what do you do? You put a fort in the theater and suddenly the child in us all emerges and you're stoked to be watching this performance before you because you're camped out in a fort. Because really, who doesn't love a fort?

And even for those of us who do love a good show every once in a while, there's always something about the venue to complain about: no leg room, seats are squeaky, smells bad, etc. But lie down in a fort with pillows and try complaining about the venue...

Now, if you insist on being one of those people who swears they don't appreciate a good fort, you shouldn't be reading my blog because we shouldn't be friends. But, I suppose I'll let you stay (my readership isn't quite large enough to turn anyone away just yet).

Oh, and don't forget the best part: The top of the fort had a bucket that they could raise and lower for food and drinks. This is not a joke. Fort + Bucket = Elation.

I can't finish this post without confirming that actor friend Stephanie is indeed a rockstar, not to mention MY friend. :) Yes, Stephanie you heard it here first, I'm your friend not just Mike's.

Jason and Matt experiencing the happiness that is the fort.

Sure, there were couches too... but not quite the same as the fort.

And the happiness continues...

Ahh the fort... in all it's glory. Note the bucket.

Natural Born Tendencies

What's with this whole potty training thing? I haven't been able to escape the phenomenon lately. And, to be completely honest, I don't think it is something that Americans should talk about, not to mention draw attention to. I mean, who decided, "Hey! Let's remind people that they aren't born with the ability to not crap their pants?"

Think about it... someone actually has to train you how to recognize that you are going to poop and beyond that, to actually make your way to a potty to dispose of your own waste. If no one taught us, we'd just sit there, perfectly content filling our pants with our own poop. I think it is absolutely foul.

On television a couple of days ago there was a family who was working on potty training their sextuplets. First of all, women - take pride in the fact that we are way more on top of this whole poop in the potty thing. Boys are apparently much more resistant to the whole toilet issue. But, as a whole, we are all much less capable of being trained to poop in a toilet than to pee in it. I have this awful image of a three year old girl being held at arms length in the air, being rushed to the bathtub with her panties overflowing with poop.

I just have a really hard time imagining being that age and not being able to prevent something so horrid from happening. Or, worse, not thinking that it's horrid. It just brings me back to the realization that babies are gross. They emit foulness from every orifice. If you don't believe me, watch the following video:



Now don't get me wrong... I love kids, but gross.

Again, I was confronted with the potty training issue when I came across a news article featuring a woman who claims she can potty train any child in one day. One of her tricks - if the kid makes a mess, they are forced to clean it up themselves. Can you imagine? Oh Sally just pooped her pants again... Sally, you know what to do... Go get in that bathtub and clean yourself up. And clean up those dirty panties before you put them in the washing machine, you hear? I mean, it sounds absurd, but isn't there a little part of you that would absolutely love to hand the task off to the child? AND if they are forced to handle their own soiled clothing you think they are going to be a little more desperate to figure out the whole potty thing right? I'll consider it my "last resort" method...

I also want to add that I'm awesome. I talked to my mom about all of this and she said I was the easiest kid to potty train ever. Take that Ryan! I guess it kind of makes sense... I mean I'm so disgusted by the idea now that I was clearly also disgusted by it then. I was so ahead of my time. :)

HIV Negative-Positive

Ever wonder what it's like to live life in the "in-between"? Well, I've been doing it for a few weeks now, in a variety of different ways - the most disturbing of which is my HIV status.

I always thought that HIV was a hit or miss kind of thing? You know, either you have it or you don't... Well, apparently with the Peace Corps it's not that simple. Although I have officially tested "Negative" for HIV, my results have been rejected by the Peace Corps. I started wondering if maybe there was more to this HIV thing?

Since becoming HIV Negative-Positive my outlook on life has changed drastically. I received my rejection notice on May 28th and since then, life has not been the same. I got sunburned, my batting average dropped to 0.333 in Tuesday night's game, I decided to paint my toenails purple, the lovely people of Starbucks have learned my name and my order by heart. All very rare occurences in my life up until my diagnosis.

I visited my doctor on Tuesday, hoping she could provide some comfort. Although, as mentioned in a previous post, she's not exactly the most comforting of doctors. She just told me some depressing story about a patient of hers who gets tested regularly for HIV because he has a thing for prostitutes. He must also be suffering from HIV Negative-Positive, it's the only explanation. :)

My doctor gave me another lab report declaring me HIV Negative, so I can only hope that with evidence of my blood work the Peace Corps will reconsider their initial rejection and I can return to being a regular HIV Negative individual. I think the chances are good...

*On a side note, thanks to Lauren for giving me the idea for this much overdue blog post. Ideas and inspiration are always welcome as I am a regular victim of blogger's block.