Reply to this post, and I'll tell you one reason why I like you (doesn't matter how frequently or infrequently we talk/comment). Then repost this and spread the love.

Guess what?  It's me!  I'm the naked fat girl in the locker room.  And I love it!  All those women with "perfect" bodies who are very very careful never to let anybody else in the locker room see them naked....and then there is me.  No, I don't purposefully flaunt my naked-ness but yes, I will walk from my locker to the shower naked because I don't want to dirty my clean towel with sweatyness and because my towel doesn't fit all the way around me.  And yes, I will be naked in the sauna.  Because it feeeeels good.  

Please excuse my giddiness, but I just joined a new gym (with a sauna!) and got back from my first visit so I've got those exercise and sauna endorphins pumping.  I love my new gym, but I am disappointed that nakedness is not allowed in the sauna.  I feel like they have now institutionalized body shame.  I'm glad I'm not buying into it.  And I felt bad for the lady in the sauna in a bathing suit.

Didn't get into grad school.  Still trying to keep on going with my life.  I just applied for a job in environmental education that I actually really want and Andrew and I worked really hard on my cover letter.  I did a price audit today at Sears through an online mystery shopper thing I just signed up for.  It is not a very serious job, but I had to dress business casual and people at the shop totally took me seriously.  It felt good.  I would like to be taken seriously and respected.  And i got along really well with the people at the store.  They liked me.  It felt good to be liked as a professional.

I started an Unemployed Meet Up group!  http://www.meetup.com/The-Unemployment-Allstars

I hope someone joins.  I had to pay money to start it so someone had better join.  

The word meme really annoys me so I don't usually do them, but I liked this one:

This has been going around the blogosphere for some time. Play along if you’d like by bolding the items you’ve done:

1. Started my own blog [does lj count?]
2. Slept under the stars
3. Played in a band [only if 8th grade jazz band counts!]
4. Visited Hawaii
5. Watched a meteor shower
6. Given more than I can afford to charity
7. Been to Disneyland/world
8. Climbed a mountain
9. Held a praying mantis
10. Sung a solo
11. Bungee jumped
12. Visited Paris
13. Watched lightning at sea
14. Taught myself an art from scratch
15. Adopted a child
16. Had food poisoning
17. Walked to the top of the Statue of Liberty
18. Grown my own vegetables
19. Seen the Mona Lisa in France
20. Slept on an overnight train
21. Had a pillow fight
22. Hitchhiked
23. Taken a sick day when you’re not ill
24. Built a snow fort
25. Held a lamb
26. Gone skinny dipping
27. Run a marathon
28. Ridden in a gondola in Venice
29. Seen a total eclipse [of the moon]
30. Watched a sunrise or sunset
31. Hit a home run
32. Been on a cruise
33. Seen Niagara Falls in person
34. Visited the birthplace of my ancestors
35. Seen an Amish community
36. Taught myself a new language
37. Had enough money to be truly satisfied
38. Seen the Leaning Tower of Pisa in person
39. Gone rock climbing
40. Seen Michelangelo’s David
41. Sung karaoke
42. Seen Old Faithful geyser erupt
43. Bought a stranger a meal at a restaurant
44. Visited Africa
45. Walked on a beach by moonlight
46. Been transported in an ambulance
47. Had my portrait painted [i was little and i had a banana in my hand that i would not give up so the guy painted the banana into the portrait.  then half way through i ate the banana so they had to find me another one to finish the painting.  that is how the story goes.  the guy must not have been a great painter if he couldn't have just painted me without the banana.  but it is still a cute story.]
48. Gone deep sea fishing
49. Seen the Sistine Chapel in person
50. Been to the top of the Eiffel Tower in Paris
51. Gone scuba diving or snorkeling
52. Kissed in the rain
53. Played in the mud
54. Gone to a drive-in theater
55. Been in a movie
56. Visited the Great Wall of China
57. Started a business
58. Taken a martial arts class
59. Visited Russia
60. Served at a soup kitchen
61. Sold Girl Scout Cookies
62. Gone whale watching
63. Got flowers for no reason [there is always a reason to get flowers]
64. Donated blood, platelets or plasma
65. Gone sky diving
66. Visited a Nazi Concentration Camp
67. Bounced a check
68. Flown in a helicopter
69. Saved a favorite childhood toy
70. Visited the Lincoln Memorial
71. Eaten caviar
72. Pieced a quilt
73. Stood in Times Square
74. Toured the Everglades
75. Been fired from a job
76. Seen the Changing of the Guards in London
77. Broken a bone
78. Been on a speeding motorcycle
79. Seen the Grand Canyon in person
80. Published a book
81. Visited the Vatican
82. Bought a brand new car
83. Walked in Jerusalem
84. Had my picture in the newspaper
85. Read the entire Bible
86. Visited the White House
87. Killed and prepared an animal for eating
88. Had chickenpox
89. Saved someone’s life [Frankie - yes she is a dog but she counts!]
90. Sat on a jury
91. Met someone famous
92. Joined a book club
93. Lost a loved one [yes, i'm counting my dog]
94. Had a baby
95. Seen the Alamo in person
96. Swam in the Great Salt Lake
97. Been involved in a law suit
98. Owned a cell phone
99. Been stung by a bee
100. Rode an elephant

I've done a lot of crap!

Would anyone come if Andrew and I had an election night party at our house?  Watch the election, play dance dance revolution and katamari (if we did that we would have to listen to the election), play other games, eat pizza, cheer or cry.

why is everyone saying that Palin won?  WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH EVERYONE?!  Just because Palin didn't suck as bad as everyone was joking that she would doesn't mean that she won.  I knew that those low expectations were going to fuck us over, I just didn't know how much.  I'm so fucking mad.  Biden answered questions clearly and had important things to say.  Palin dodged questions and the fucking pundits were praising her for it!  I'm so goddamn mad.  Yes she looked really good and talked to the camera well (I kept on yelling at Biden to look at the fucking camera but he kept ignoring me) but if you actually listened to what each of them was saying, Biden won hands down. 


fuck fuck shit motherfucking cocksucker.  i'm so mad and i don't know what to do with myself.  my shoulders are up at my ears.  stress!!!!  if obama doesn't win this shit i just don't know...

I think that I am opposed to the bailout.  I hate to disagree with my democratic peepes, but this guy from NACA on Here and Now this afternoon made a lot of sense.  Normally when I here anything related to the stock market my brain shuts down so I have been reserving judgment on this whole thing and have been leaning toward siding with the democratic congresspeople (if they are opposing the republicans, how could they be wrong) and my mom (who is a very smart lady). 

But the man on the radio first of all has credentials because he warned congress about this shit years ago and because he never allowed NACA to sell sub-prime mortgages because he knew they were bad even though he had a hard time finding clients because everyone wanted a sub prime loan.  As I understand it, he says the government should put a moratorium on foreclosures and should require the restructuring of all sub prime loans so that people can pay them and they don't lose their homes.  He also defended the so-called "stupid people who took these ridiculous loans" (and yes, I have been guilty of calling them stupid as well) by saying that they were offered the chance to buy a nice house in a nice neighborhood where their kids could go to nice schools and it was understandibly hard to turn down especially since they were offered these mortgages by reputable companies.

1.  He is Spock.

2.  He wrote and performed a children's song about Bilbo Baggins.

3.  He takes pictures of naked fat ladies.

I have been preoccupied the last few days because my mother has been in the hospital with severe pain.  The doctors think that it is Shingles, which is the recurrence of the chicken pox virus that lives in the body of anyone who has ever had chicken pox.  People over 60 are at elevated risk for it, but there is a vaccine that cuts the possibility of getting Shingles in half.  So here is the promised PSA:

If you know anyone over 60, advise them to get the vaccine because many doctors fail to inform their patients about it.

It is not life-threatening, but as my mom put it, she might as well be dead.  The pain can be excruciating (my mother has been on morphine and has been in the hospital since monday).  And this might not have happened had she gotten the vaccine.