so i want you to know that i'm teething. that's right. teething. my bottom wisdom teeth are starting to show. it's a little painful. i could use something to bite. or maybe you could just remove the teeth.

so yesterday this woman at my church asked me to lead worship for 10 minutes at a women's luncheon this morning. i said sure. i get free food out of the deal and it's right before work. that would work out great. i make sure there's going to be a mic and somewhere to plug into. what? you need a microphone? somehow she thought my voice and guitar would carry unamplified through an entire gymnasium. that's ok most people who aren't familiar with the process don't think of sound stuff. ok let's start over. is there a pa system? check. mic? check. DI box? i don't know. someone running sound or flipping the switch or SOMETHING? i don't know. ummm ok let's start over. is there a man here i could talk to? i talked to a guy who was going to be around during the entire luncheon and he offered to kind of set everything up for me since i pretty much had to plug in, play, and go. so i get there this morning and guess what. just a microphone. no stand, nothing. you know what she says? maybe i can hold the mic in front of your face for you. haha that made me smile. so i'm scrambling through the sanctuary, disassembling stuff that was already set up, grabbing some cords and a mic stand and then scott comes to help and between the two of us we get everything set up and its no big deal, but a little frustrating nonetheless. and then i'm about ready to leave after i'm done and she comes and gives me a thank you card and $20. for ten minutes. and then i felt really bad about being frustrated. okay i'm done.

so they are repaving the parking lot in the condo complex that i live in. don't ask me who "they" is... all i can say is that it is some distant unknowable force because "they" never seem to be around when no one can find a parking spot. they split this repaving project into 4 sections, so from now until what will seem like the other side of eternity, we have 4 large parking sections' worth of guests and residents parking in 2-3 parking lots, which are already full on a regular basis. in other words, this is like shoving 8 huge marshmallows in your mouth and trying to say "chubby bunny." that's what the parking situation is like. impossible unless you come home at noon and stay home until the next morning and then come home at noon again while everyone else is still at work. and if you park in an illegal spot, your car gets towed. that's how empathetic "they" are in such times of grand inconvenience. so i'm not really sure what i'm going to do. some dude told me that if you park the front of your car at a curb and turn your steering wheel all the way to the right, they won't be able to tow it. i have no idea if this is true or not. the guy was mexican, and english not his first language. but i think i'll try.

so i worked tonight. pre-close. we got a lot of angry customers today. not specifically angry at us because we did something wrong, but just angry in general. some of them are regulars and just have perpetual poles up their asses. i mean really. how hard is it to say "i'd like a tall decaf coffee" without sounding like i just stole your boyfriend? but it happens all the time. my favorite are the people who come in right before close or smack in the middle of a super busy wave of customers and ask for a venti dry cappuccino. let me tell you a little something. starbucks has a hit list for people like this. so don't do it. venti is the largest size we have, and a cappuccino is espresso, a little milk, and then a ton of foam. and let me tell you something about the foam. making good foam, especially on whole milk, is NOT a nobrainer. it's a freaking pain to make. you can't just let the milk steam and do something else-- you have to watch the milk and adjust the height of the steamer while the milk is heating to get enough foam. and it takes some skill, AND we have to use a large pitcher to get enough foam for a venti size drink. a pitcher that, if you come in right before close, we will have already washed. which means that we will have to rewash it just because you wanted a venti cappuccino. if you come in at close, get something easy. ice tea, hot tea, black coffee. frappuccinos are ok. if you ask for multiple drinks that require us steaming more than one kind of milk, so help me God...

helen and i often go to the starbucks near the mall at night just to hang out and talk. during the week, this is a pleasant place to be. it's a popular hangout for mature college kids and single yuppies. on the weekends, however, this particular starbucks is teenybopper mania, because it's the only area in the suburbs open after 10 on weekends that all the high schoolers can hang out and make out at. for some reason, there are always a lot of guys in their souped (sp.?) up cars and bikes that congregate in the parking lot on weekends too. it's like a scene out of fast and the furious. well not really. but kind of. so yeah. lots of teenage girls trying to look like prostitutes to catch the attention of the wannabe thug guys. i think there's something wrong with a girl having to shave her bikini line to wear low-riding pants. i mean seriously. i don't know how you could do anything productive in pants that low. wow.

so my dad called today. and after reading my blog, he said he was sorry that he didn't come out sooner, as he didn't know that i didn't bring that many clothes. and after i hung up the phone, i felt bad because i realized that it's not so much that i don't have a sufficient amount of clothes with me-- it's more that when i have ALL my clothes, i really only have to do laundry once a month. haha ok so that's a slight exaggeration, but not too far from the truth. so don't worry Dad, i'll be okay with my three pairs of tattered pants and 1 white t-shirt that has yellow pit stains. i can live on that until you get here.

and rozi, i have a coupon for a free therapy session if you need someone to talk to after that freak episode with the necklace psycho last night.