tae-bo, mail and trivia

This morning as I was waking from my hazy sleep I felt Eric lean over to give me a kiss goodbye.  I wiggled my head out from my pillow.

[scripty]
ERIC
Sweet Pea?

PAMIE
Yeah?

ERIC
What am I getting for birthday week?

PAMIE
Oh, sweetie–

(I reached up, put my hand to his face, and pushed him away.)

PAMIE
Go to work.  Go make Mommy some money so she can buy her sauce and watch her stories.
[/scripty]

His birthday is in nine days.  I have nine more days of this.  I think his birthday week will actually start two days earlier, though, on the Thursday, as I’m treating him to Astroworld on that Friday and then Saturday is his birthday.  That way my portion of birthday week will end the day before we go to his family reunion.  Then his mother can take over birthday week.  I think she should get a couple of days in on this, don’t you?

Last night I finished reading “Wake Up, I’m Fat.”  I felt a little guilty about immediately doing my Tae-Bo afterwards, but it was what I had scheduled.  I decided that I had a full hour so I was going to do the advanced, but it had been a while since I did the original (or what they now call the “studio”) advanced.  I had been doing the “Live” version for a while.  So I popped in the old advanced, ready to see Shelly’s scary hair again.

Remember when I said that the “Live” advanced was harder than the original?  Yeah, I was a big idiot.  No.  Not harder.  Much, much easier.  You hardly ever feel like crying when you do the “Live” version.  But there I was again, reduced to a pile of sweat and tears when I was doing the buttwork on the floor.  I had forgotten how much pain is involved in the squat kicks.  I had forgotten how many squat kicks you have to do.  I had forgotten how Billy said “You’d better BELIEVE in yourself!”

I was laughing last time I did the eight-minute, because when Billy shouts, “Horse!” and jumps into the stance, it sounds like he’s insulting all of them:  “Whores!”

But I made it through the tape completing more of the advanced than I had ever done before.  I stayed through the swivel kicks.  I didn’t wuss out on the floor work.  I did all of the stomach crunches.  I even got back up after the stretching for the next round of squats and punches (which, to be honest, I had been skipping after about a month of doing the advanced tape).  I was there to the end, jumping up and down with my hands in the air.  I can’t believe how much further I can go now than I could two months ago.  I don’t even get tired when I climb the three flights of stairs to my apartment now, and I’ve got to tell you– there’s not a friend I have that doesn’t say immediately when walking into my apartment, “What the fuck’s up with your stairs?  You tryin’ to kill me?”

But remember what I said.  The original advanced is much harder than the “Live” advanced.  Oh my golly.   For those of my fellow Tae-Boer’s out there– are you still doing it?   Are you still doing the tapes?  Have you noticed results?

Birthday Week Brouhaha

Today I thought I’d go through my mail bag to share with you some of the letters to the editor, so to speak.  I do get some interesting mail out there, and I was wondering if this was common with all journallers, or if it is just because this page used to be known in certain circles as “Pamie’s panties.”    Let’s see:

First off I should say that mail is my favorite thing about Squishy.  Well, mostly I like having a chronicle of my life for a number of reasons (writing ideas, memories, being able to win arguments because I have dates and times), but I really like the feedback that I get in writing.  That’s why I started the forum.  Anyway–

For some reason, lately, I’ve been turning up in people’s dreams:

I must have Squishy on the brain, cos I got caught up on a bunch of entries
yesterday, which made me have a dream about YOU!

It was weird in a fun and comical way, so I guess I have to tell you about
it (nothing disgusting or anything…)

So, Eric was out of the picture, I don’t know why, so you were holding
boyfriend try-outs. You lived in a pet store, which you owned, and there
were only a few pets, because you only sold special, expensive pets. The
store was really nice. I remember asking you why you were doing this, and
you said you wouldn’t do comedy anymore because it was too stressful, and
you wanted a more fulfilling job.
Anyways, I showed up for the try-out, and you told me immediately that I got
the job (not that I’m sure being your boyfriend is a _job_, but hey, it’s a
dream). So then you showed me around the pet store and introduced me to
your favorite pets, and you also told me that part of my boyfriend duties
were to keep the bathroom clean (which I definitely don’t like doin in real
life), but I was so charmed by you that I readily agreed. I also remember
you being very charming and radiant, which I thought was really cool. “Wow,
Pamie’s really cool, I’m so lucky she likes me” I remember thinking, and
then my baby girl started crying and I woke up.

What can it mean??? :)

Anyways, it was a very fun dream , so I thank you for being you, and I hope
you understand that we can’t continue to see each  other any more. I hope
you go back to being a comedienne; I like you better than way :)

your pal.

p.s. I authorize you to use this material in any way you choose should you
decide to write about this incident in your journal.

I’m just printing the disclaimer here, just in case.

I do like the letters about how Squishy picked up their day, or made them forget about something that was bothering them for a while.  I really liked this one:

…in fact, the best part of the day is when me and my wife home from
work, get together, sit down, and read Squishy together.
We both just sit and hold hands and laugh.

That makes it all worth it, doesn’t it?

Sometimes my entries backfire:

Hey, I really enjoy your site.
But I forwarded your piece about how things change when couples live
together to my girlfriend, and we were supposed to start looking for a
place next month, but now she’s not sure she wants to.

Sometimes people tell me more than I should probably know:

Yay, you and I are on the same menstrual cycle.  Ain’t it fun?

But not all of it is full of love.  I did get this e-mail recently:

I am a big fan of the actor you called stupid, Bill Pullman. He’s really
great and you should think about it instead of writing bad words and
stupid messages on Internet about him and his movies. You need help,
cause no one is interested in your evenings. And the next time plz talk
about something interesting, thanks.

I’m not sure if she’s a regular reader, but she is a big Bill Pullman fan.  She was polite at least, adding a “thanks,” which did make me wonder if all of Bill Pullman’s fans are as polite, or if she could be somehow related.  For the record, I am a fan of his work, as I really do like “Lost Highway.”  I mostly like it for every thing else about the film, but he was a part of the film, and I think he made a fine “What do we do when we can’t get Kyle” choice.  For any other Bill Pullman fans out there that I might have offended, I’m terribly sorry.

Then I get e-mail like this one:

Subject: perve

why don’t you send me a naughty e-mail since you’re into sex!!

You first, buddy.  I’m not going to work hard for something that’s not going to come out in the end.  ha.  i’m so clever.

Here’s my favorite recent one.  There was nothing in the e-mail.  Just an empty letter.  I was about to delete it when I noticed the subject line:

i love to eat you and your panties jerry

“Jerry” is his signature.  It took a second to realize that until I saw his full name listed in the return address.  If you’re going to leave your full name when you send someone dirty e-mails, you should at least know how to use e-mail.  That’s all I’m saying.
At first glance when I saw “Jerry,” I got a little worried, as that’s my manager’s name.  But upon seeing the full name in the return address, I hung up with my lawyer.

You can see why I love getting e-mail.  I get all kinds, from all kinds of people.  Anyone can wander onto these pages.  I always love it when they leave a little bit behind to mark their place.

Today’s Birthday Week present is a trivia game.  It’s small, and it’s pretty easy.  Scroll down slowly if you don’t want to see the answer right away.  Oh, and another thing:  don’t go here if you don’t want to see what I look like.  It’s a picture from last year, but I remember the headshot fiasco.  In any event, here’s the game.

And the new splash page is up and totally rocking, thanks to my friend Jon.  You need the Macromedia Flash plug-in to run it, so if you don’t have it, go get it.

Birthday Week totally rules.