Raw chicken scares me. I only handle it with one hand, so that the other hand can maneuver the spices. No germs on my spice containers! No, siree! Once it's all good and spiced up, I wash both my hands, cover the pan with foil and stick it in my pre-heated oven. At that point, all is well. It's the handling of the chicken part that freaks me out the most. Salmonella. That rat bastard.

Anyway, now the chicken and rice are both cooked and warm, and my whole apartment smells like rosemary. It's pretty damn nice, I have to say. The only reason I'm not chowing down at the moment is that Joe will be home any second. I'm waiting for him. See how polite I am?

That means, of course, that this entry will likely be written in more than one sitting. Or maybe all of it will be hammered out on my keyboard in the few minutes I have left before Joe comes home. Maybe I'm just that good! Or maybe I'm not, and I'll just fool you into thinking I am. Or, you know, maybe no one really cares, anyway. Ha!

There is so much to tell, yet I have no idea where to begin to catch up. So, I'll just write about today instead.

Today rocked, y'all. First of all, I started the day with meditation. And that, my friends, is something I'll have to do daily. It's such a great way to set the tone for the day. And good things always seem to happen on days I meditate in the morning. I think we can all agree that good things are... well, good.

The first task I had to get to (after meditation) was figuring out this insane Ticketmaster fiasco. Wait, that's not true. The first thing I did was check email, and that's when I heard that Jessamyn had her baby yesterday! (Thank goodness for notify lists!) Welcome to the world, little Katie!

After I cooed over the picture of Jessamyn and Katie, I decided to deal with Ticketmaster. You see, Joe and I bought tickets to a concert in May. It's the Final Fantasy music played by an orchestra, and there will only be one performance in the United States. Video game music is so amazing when it's played by an orchestra, so we're really looking forward to it. Our Concert for Geeks!

For some reason, the bank had my old address listed somewhere and it made it seem like the billing address I gave was incorrect. The old address was only listed in this one obscure place; it had been changed everywhere else when I told them I moved, two years ago! I found all this out today on the phone. The girl I spoke to sounded impatient at first, until we were about to get off the phone. "Oh, wait--" she said. That's when she saw the old address, put me on hold, put a form through to change all the info, then got back to me to let me know it was all in place. She was being really cool with me by the end. Maybe because I had every right to be pissed at their mistake, but was still being nice and calm with her? I like to think so. Whatever the reasoning, I was extremely happy by the end of that conversation. I thanked her very much and she wished me a nice day.

Next on the list: Ticketmaster. I should mention here that I went around and around on the phone with my bank and Ticketmaster on Saturday, trying to figure out the problem to no avail. Having gotten somewhere was very encouraging. Eventually I was talking to a real live person and he asked for my new address, thinking he had my old one, even though that was not the case. I explained the craziness and he told me I'd have to call tomorrow morning to tell someone else.

"Oh, you want me to call tomorrow?" I asked. I was perfectly willing to do that, even though that sort of seemed like a pain since I was talking to him now.

"Well, actually," he said, and totally changed his mind. He said he'd run the address verification again and if there was a problem, he'd call me. If not, it'd be processed. Sweet!

I got off the phone feeling extraordinarily grateful to any and all universal forces that made those two phone calls go as smoothly as they did.

I thought to myself that I wanted to tell Misti about it, and then she called! Since she was in the neighborhood, we both thought it'd be fun for her to come on over. It was really nice just hanging out in my apartment and chatting and stuff. It's only the second time she's been over. My house had been in this insane state of clutter for far too long. So last Friday, I cleaned like a mofo and now everything is shiny and new! I love having a clean house! Not only does it feel good just to be in my house now, I'm also not at all embarrassed to have friends over. Yay!

So Misti and I hung out. Then I gave her my old desk chair, and guess what she just happened to have in her trunk? Old computer speakers that she was getting rid of. It just so happens that I don't have computer speakers, so I took them! It's hysterical how much stuff Misti and I have already ended up swapping. We just keep realizing we own stuff that would be better suited to each other than to ourselves. It rocks. It's like we're each other's personal shoppers, and we don't even know it half the time! Heh.

Misti and I have actually been hanging out pretty regularly, which makes me very happy. I love having great friends!

Misti, Steve and I even did a full moon celebration on Saturday night, which was really cool. Those are all about being peaceful, acknowledging the cycles of the earth and our lives, deciding what we want to focus on in the upcoming month and what we want to let go of in our lives. It's a very peaceful and lovely way to celebrate the natural processes of the universe. I had a wonderful time, felt incredibly uplifted afterwards, and even went home with a little gift from Misti -- a piece of malachite. It's incredibly beautiful, and it really speaks to me. It's so green and earthy, and well... me! I love it!

After Misti left today, I decided to get a haircut. And, miracle of all miracles, I do not hate it. I also do not love it to pieces, but the important thing here is that I do not hate it. Probably because the stylist didn't take much off! Heh. But man, what is it with me running into hairstylists that do not talk at all, even when I try to make conversation with them? I might try another place next time, since I haven't landed on anyone spectacular since leaving my not-really-that-spectacular-anyway hairstylist of yore (at least, not spectacular enough for the price she was charging!).

I decided to take my newly shorn head across the street where I could browse this really interesting store. I came away with some cool stuff! I bought a lotus flower candle holder, a dragonfly card, a sage/sweetgrass smudge stick, and five itty-bitty candles (orange, yellow, white, green and blue). Everything is so pretty! I love aesthetically pleasing stuff! In the spirit of everything going well, the girl at the counter even told me, "Wow, usually when people want candles, we're out of the colors they ask for! But all the ones you wanted are right here."

"Well, cool! That works out great for me," I said, and we both smiled.

Then I headed to the mall, where I bought a talking pedometer. Dude, it is the coolest thing IN THE WORLD!!!

I'm very excited, because now I can keep closer track of how far I'm walking. I'm doing pretty well on my mileage! I'm closing in on fifty miles. That's 10% of my goal!

And now for an even crazier announcement, I'm going to do a 10K walk in April!!! I've never done anything like that before! Misti said she'd join me, and I think her friend, Melissa, might also. Awesome! I am really loving walking. It's such good exercise, and now that I'm starting to eat better, it all seems to be coming together. I'll be all healthy and fit in no time!

Another advantage of taking walks is getting to see cool stuff like this:

    

So yeah, everything feels good right now. A big relief, considering things were kind of hairy for a little while. Today I'm feeling great. Heck, even my chicken dinner tasted good! Aha! I did eat it sometime during the course of this entry. But when?? The world may never know...