Where is middle ground when you want to see Slumdog Millionaire and your boyfriend wants to see Paul Blart: Mall Cop?

I love my cats. Cats cats cats. If only they spoke English and could drive me to the grocery store, then they would be perfect.

CABIN FEVER!

When my boss Jean found out I was going to have to take the bus home from work MWF, she told me to work from home those days until I can drive again. Now I am only going into the office T and Th for the next month. As much as I like the human interaction in the office, I do like working from bed. Plus the prospect of taking the bus with the brace on was something I wasn't excited about.

with Sarah McLaughlin make me cry every time I see them. If I had all the money and space in the world, I would adopt all of the animals!

I guess that's what the advertising agency that makes those commercials was going for...

I had my knee surgery on December 19th. I was in a lot of pain for about the first week, especially when trying to walk or sit or breathe. Getting up into bed was too painful so I ended up sleeping on couches (mine, my mom's, and my grandma's) for a week and a half. That pretty much screwed up my back, so now I have pain in two places to worry about.

I did have a great holiday. Mike drove me down to my mom's on the 24th before he left me for a month to go to Australia. My mom, aunt and I had Christmas eve dinner at the dining table (WHAT??). Christmas morning we opened presents. I got a Dyson vaccum (yes!!!!) and a Harvey's Seatbelt Bag (yes!!!!). Then I went down to my grandma's at the beach and had Christmas with the big fam (I think 26 people were there). I got some clothes, another cute purse from my sister, and some money. Score. I wasn't feeling well the rest of the night, so I ate dinner and then laid on the couch for the rest of the night. I was at my grandma's until the 29th, and really had a great time. In addition to my dad, stepmom and sister, my Aunt Phoebe, Uncle Frank, Aunt Sis, and cousins Mollie, Estella, Tony, and Elena were also staying there (plus Grandma!) so it was a full house. It felt great to have so many loving people around. Other family members were also in and out at all times. We went to the movies, ate big family dinners every night, sat out on the beach drinking wine, and just had a great time.

On the 29th my dad took me back to my mom's where I plopped on the couch, worked remotely, and watched a lot of CNN/HGTV. Mom made a lot of good food and it was good to spend time with her.

Now, after two weeks of loving family, I am home and alone. I can't go anywhere because I have to wear this leg brace for another MONTH which means I can't drive. Being here alone is such a stark contrast to my holiday. Its pretty depressing. I am so bored. There is nothing on tv and I can't really do much else. My cats won't leave me alone since they were attention deprived for the last two weeks. I keep crying at everything, stupid movies, makeover shows, everything. To top everything off I have to try to go to work next week. Its going to be a combination of rides from my very nice co-worker and taking the bus. I can't wait for Mike to come home, but he won't be back until the 19th. Two weeks seems like an eternity...

As most of you are aware, I am very much against the death penalty. Its not just because I think killing is wrong or that the death penalty system is deeply flawed, but its also for fiscal and global political reasons. Proponents of the death penalty will always say, well you wait until its someone you know that they've killed, you will change your mind. Well, guess what, I still haven't.

My ex boyfriend was murdered a few years back in a robbery of his work. I found out a couple of months after the fact and was pretty devastated. They arrested the guy who did it and his trial ended recently. He was found guilty and is set to be executed. When I found out he was sentenced to death, I was not excited (don't get me wrong, I was very glad to hear that he was found guilty).

Some of my usual arguments against the death penalty are, "Well, in California the list is so long and the appeals process takes forever, most death row prisoners die waiting to die, while costing the government millions of dollars each" or "how can you put someone to death based on circumstantial evidence?" but in this case those doesn't apply since it took place in Texas and there was concrete evidence (a video camera captured the entire thing) that he did it. However, my emotional reaction is that I still feel sick about it because he will be killed pretty soon in Texas, but he doesn't deserve a quick death. This guy needs to sit in his cell for the next 60 years and think about what he's done. He needs to live long enough to be remorseful. Killing him right away is an easy out for HIM. Killing him is in no way closure for how I feel about what happened; its not going to bring him back.

And while I am at it, I am going to throw a political rant in here: How is it that 137 countries in the world (such as the UK, France, and Germany) don't practice capital punishment, but we are in the company of countries such as Iran, North Korea, and Sudan that still do. How can we lead by example when our criminal justice system is so flawed? We are a society that needs to move away from the ancient "Eye for an Eye" mentality if we are going to evolve.

::End Rant::

Well, looks like the surgery I had in May was only a temporary fix. My kneecap dislocated about two weeks ago (which the surgery was supposed to prevent) which means its under the knife again for me. This time its a more invasive surgery where they are going to actually cut my knee open and reattach my patellar tendon with screws into the bone. ::SHUDDER:: Because I have spent SOOO much money in medical bills this year and basically paid off all my required copays and coinsurance, I basically had to tell the doctor to cram it in before Jan 1 so I don't have to pay for it. This means I get to have surgery on December 19. Hopefully I will be fine in time for Christmas with the fam who is coming out from Colorado. I am so frustrated that I went through all the pain and work (4 1/2 months of physical therapy down the drain!) for this damn knee, only for it not to matter. Now I have to go through all this crap again. Sometimes I feel like I give up, just chop the damn knee off.

So I haven't updated in a while. I think the only person that really cares is Tina. So this one is for you Tina.

Mike is moving in with me, officially in November, unofficially he is pretty much there all the time. I'm excited to have him around all the time, although I will also get some space since he works at weird times.

Best Buy bought Napster a few weeks back. Nothing is really changing, other than Best Buy is buying out the stock that wasn't really worth anything. So I will have some money to pay off credit card debt soon.

Mike and I are going on a couple of weekend trips. This weekend is going to be Anaheim/Disneyland (we are getting season passes YAY!) and then in November we and some friends are going down to Temecula for some wine tasting/Indian casino action. I like going on weekend trips but they always make me apprehensive about money.

My heart has been doing weird things lately, most likely due to caffeine and stress. I haven't seen a doctor yet and I probably should, but I always tend to make more out of medical conditions than they are.

Other than that nothing exciting really. UCLA is mediocre this season, so sad. I've been going to the games despite that.

At the request of Tina I will do a real update at some point soon talking about the Best Buy buyout.

However, today was a day for weird celebrity sightings, so I had to share. My co-worker saw Shia Labeouf on the street outside our office. Apparently we just missed Britney Spears at Starbucks. On our way back from Starbucks there was a swarm of paparazzi outside of the tanning salon taking pictures of Corey Haim (yes seriously). At lunch I saw Mark McGrath walking into Bristol Farms as I was leaving.

But the most exciting sighting of the day was this dude at the Echoplex:

So Costa Rica was amazing. It was up there, probably top 3 trips I have ever been on. We got so much packed into such a short time, and all of it was outstanding. Here is my rundown of what I did:

Day One: Got into San Jose around noon. Took a cab ride from a shady cabby who asked if we minded if he picked up his grandson from school on the way to our hotel. (Yes, we minded). Checked into the hotel and then went on a quest for food. Realized San Jose was super shady. Found food at a bar, paid $8 for both lunch and beer, for BOTH of us. Walked down the shopping street for a bit. Later had drinks at the hotel, at some American ex-pat/hooker (legal in CR) bar, then off to the clubbing super mall.

Day Two: Woke up late, checked into our next hotel down the street. Went to the Jade Museum. Got caught in the rain. Met some members of our tour group. Walked around and grabbed lunch and beers. Went to a shady casino. Went back to the hotel for our tour meeting. Met everyone and then went out to dinner.

Day Three: Woke up early for our bus ride to La Fortuna. Checked into the hotel and walked around town. Had lunch at a cheap soda down the street. Later in the day went for a hike in the rainforest surrounding the Arenal Volcano. Saw birds and spider monkeys. Went to a viewpoint to watch the lava flows and eat pizza. It was too cloudy to see the lava. Went to the Baldi Hot Springs for a bit on our way back down to town. Went to a local bar.

Day Four: Woke up early to hike down (and afterwards up) 600 stairs to the La Fortuna waterfall. Waded in the water for a bit. Went back to town for a quick breakfast. Took a bus to Rio Balsa for white water rafting. Absolutely LOVED white water rafting. Had lunch afterwards and went back to town. Later in the evening took a bus back to the volcano and we actually saw the awesomeness of the lava flows. Went for dinner/drinks at a local establishment.

Day Five: Woke up and checked out of the hotel. Took a bus to Lake Arenal, took a boat across Lake Arenal, and then rode horses 13km to vans that were waiting to take us to Monteverde. The road to Monteverde was most definitely the worst road I have been on in my life. Got to Monteverde/Santa Elena and checked into our hotel. Walked in the pouring rain to the Monteverde Frog Pond to see all of the different species of frogs. Went to dinner at The Treehouse, a restaurant built around a living tree.

Day Six: Woke up early to walk through the rain for a guided hike of the Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve. Didn't see a whole lot of wildlife due to the rain. Stopped by the Monteverde cheese factory. Sampled the most disgusting invention ever: Choco Cheese. Had lunch and went back to the hotel for a bit. A van picked us up and took us to go ziplining. Went down 8 ziplines, 2 rappels, and climbed through the center of a huge tree. It was still raining. Went to dinner and picked up booze. Went back to the hotel and played drunken charades.

Day Seven: Took a bus down the coast. Stopped in Herrudera for lunch at the beach. Stopped at a bridge overlooking a group of crocodiles. Continued down to Quepos and checked into our hotel. Explored the town for a bit. Drank some beers at Wacky Wanda's. Went out to dinner at a restaurant built around an old plane. Went across the street to El Gato Negro, the gay bar, for open bar night (all you can drink for $10!) Laughed as all the boys hit on Mike (his new nickname is "El Negro Guapo"). Talked to a couple from Mexico City for about an hour. Got pretty drunk.

Day Eight: Woke up and took a public bus to the Manuel Antonio National Park. Saw tons of wildlife, including sloths, an armadillo, and iguanas. Went on a muddy hike through the forest. I gave up and took my shoes off, walking barefoot through the mud. Ended the hike at a beautiful white sand beach. Went for a swim and then ate the food we had brought with us. Raccoons stole some food and my Red Bull. An iguana tried to eat a plastic toy dinosaur. Hiked back to the front of the park and took the bus back to town. Went to the pool for a bit. Played pool for a bit. Went to dinner in town.

Day Nine: Woke up early for a boat tour of the Damas Island Estuary. There were White Faced Monkeys in the courtyard of our hotel when we woke up. Saw more monkeys, lizards, snakes, spiders, turtles, birds, etc. on our tour of the estuary. Came back to the hotel to find Squirrel Monkeys in the courtyard (very rare!). Fed the monkeys bananas and played with them for a bit. Hopped on the bus to San Jose. Checked into our hotel and went out for our last dinner. Went to the casino and lost about $8.

Day Ten: Most everyone left but us. Hung out at the hotel for a bit, and then checked into our other hotel. Relaxed for a bit then grabbed lunch. Walked up to the National Museum and looked at old Costa Rican artifacts. Walked down to the flea market to buy souvenirs, and then went to some other little shops. Went back to the hotel and then out to the ex-pat/hooker bar. Met our tour guide and his girlfriend for dinner. Found out that our tour guide was in fact the brother of one of Mike's co-workers, who had actually given us his number as someone to call in Costa Rica. Got a little freaked out at how small a world it is.

Day Eleven: Woke up at 2:45 am for our 6:45 flight. Said goodbye to Costa Rica and went home!