Queen of Rambles

I had all sorts of great stuff to write about but now I can’t remember any of it. I’m convinced I’m sick and running a fever but Mike denies it and the thermometer denies it so I guess I’m being a hypochondriac. I just don’t feel quite up to snuff.

I spent a good portion of the day hanging out with Annica, which is always a trip and a half. She is just so strange, yet she thinks I’m strange. The difference? I don’t tell her that I think she’s a total weirdo but she has no problem calling me a weirdo right to my face. I wonder what she’d do if I told her how I really felt. I do like her a lot and she’s been a great friend, but she’s just incredibly odd.

Friday night our dear hubbos had a little work party to celebrate their bosses impending departure. Annica can’t stand it when her hubbo goes out to party even though she used to be the biggest party animal in town. She called him and told him a complete lie to get him to come home then when he got home she gave him a letter saying that she wanted to go out and smoke and drink and lounge around in the back of a classic car. Then she’d crawl home at four in the morning and puke for a couple of hours. Doesn’t that sound like a fun dream? I just can’t even imagine ever wanting to do something like that. I had a single margarita this summer and it gave me all the buzz I needed. I suppose we just have completely opposite ideas about fun.

She was also mad because her husband’s second cousin is staying with them for a few days. The story is kind of convoluted so I’ll try to condense it. This 18 year old cousin was biking through Sweden with his friends but then his back went out. Their plan was to end with a trip up a mountain near Kiruna so someone called Annica and arranged fro him to take a train up here and wait for his friends. That’s all well and good, I suppose, except that he’s a spoiled rotten brat. What 18 year old boy isn’t? Sure, I do know some 18 year old boys who would be responsible and nice and a pleasure to have around, but in all honesty I would not invite one into my home unless I had close personal knowledge of his behavior. They’d never even met him. I don’t know what she was excepting, but she got the stereotypical spoiled brat. He’s been eating them out of house and home, getting surly when Annica doesn’t hop to meet his demands, leaving his trash every where, watching TV really loudly, using their phone for expensive phone calls and basically just being an ass. I honestly don’t ever remember acting like that, but I know that my sister still acts like that. I guess it’s all just a matter of maturity. Anyway, she and I took the kids to a park to play for a while and when we got home she went inside to bring out some snacks (we were eating outside since it was a beautiful day and the kids were covered in dirt). When she came out she seemed to be in complete shock. She just couldn’t believe that the boy hadn’t done the dishes while we were gone! Now, sure it would have been nice if he would have done the dishes but I can’t believe she was honestly surprised. She’d been complaining for two hours about his piggish behavior so I don’t see how this was a shock. I don’t think even the most well-behaved 18 year old would have taken the initiative and did the dishes as a nice surprise. I just had to shake my head and laugh at her dumbfoundment (is that even a word?).

See, the thing is, Annica really would do the dishes. She’s an incredibly generous and helpful person and would do just about anything for any body. She doesn’t understand when people don’t reciprocate. I think we get along so well because we are both friendly by nature, even though she is way more outgoing than I am. She has a hard time getting along with people here in Kiruna because they are very unfriendly and don’t take kindly to her openness. Today we saw a lady pushing a pram that was the same type as Annica’s. We watched them walk by while we were waiting for the little girls to catch up with us and Annica noticed that one of the wheels was about to fall off this lady’s pram. It’s a common problem with that particular kind so she ran after the lady and told her about it and showed her how to fix it. The whole time this woman was looking at Annica like she’d completely lost her mind. She didn’t say thank you or anything, just gave a kind of dead pan stare while looking uncomfortable. I can see why Annica has problems in this society. It’s just not very open to friendliness from strangers.

I guess that about sums up my day. I’ve been avoiding the computer like a good little girl and my wrist is feeling much better. I even used the blender to blend my shakes, even though that dirties more dishes. Good thing I have my own personal dishwasher–and he’s good at kissing too.

Speaking of my shakes!

Now I have another story to tell, this one extolling the virtues of friendly Swedes.

It’s not often that I run into a friendly person around here so it’s always note-worthy when I get good service. Today I needed to buy another box of diet shake powder but the store was out of chocolate. I asked the girl working if they had any in the back but they didn’t. Instead, she suggested that I try a different brand. I was kind of skeptical so she went in the back and made me a shake so I could try it! Can you believe that? I’m glad she did because I would have been very pissed if I bought the stuff. It was utterly and completely nasty. I had a nasty aspertane after taste in my mouth for an hour after taking one little drink. Ugh! Plus, I am not convinced it was a healthy replacement anyway. It only has 80 calories per shake compared to the 250 calories of the brand I’m currently using. Fewer calories sounds good for better weight loss, but if you follow the program you’re only getting about 400 calories per day. That just isn’t right. I may be a fool, but I’m not that big of a fool. I ended up buying my brand in vanilla. I hope I like it. I put the powder in a container thing and noticed it smells like sugar cookie dough so I have a good feeling about this.

I was talking to my mom yesterday and was complaining since I can’t seem to lose any poundage. I think I’m losing inches but the change is not reflected on the scale. Very frustrating. She suggested that I stop exercising for a week and then when I start again I’ll lose weight. She didn’t seem to think about all the weight I would gain in that week of no exercise. Silly woman. She also told me she was pregnant with triplets and didn’t know who the father was. Now you can see where I get my habit of saying totally off the wall things that have no basis in fact. As I was explaining to Mike the other day, something isn’t a lie if you have no expectations of people believing you. Of course, I know better than that but it doesn’t stop me from saying stupid random stuff all the time. I guess I got my pay back this morning. Mike left me a very sweet card thanking me for three beardless years (he shaved off his beard the first time he visited me). The noted ended with the announcement that he is pregnant. We are very, very silly.

And now it really is time for bed.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 19th, 2003 at 10:08 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.