Everything goes better with cold medicine

Being sick has forced me to spend a lot of time curled up on my beloved love seat (how can anything be so comfy and yet so very ugly?) watching movies. I've been working my way through DVDs that i own, but haven't watched, in alphabetical order (you know me), leading to the unholy double-feature of Barbarella: Queen of the Universe and Batman: The Movie. Holy hallucinations, Batman, feverish and on cold medicine is NOT the frame of mind one should be in for these movies - or else it is PRECISELY the frame of mind you should be in for these movies! I can't remember when i last saw Batman, but the only things i remembered were Lee Merriweather as Catwoman and the "Bat Shark Repellent Spray" scene. Maybe it was the fever, but man i loved this movie. With lines like, "The sum of the angles of that rectangle are too monstrous to contemplate" and "... a submarine filled with human jetsam," how can you go wrong? From crash landing the Batcopter at a Foam Rubber Wholesalers Convention that Batman thought he "saw from the corner of my eye" to a dastardly plot involving a giant Jack in the Box and an exploding octopus i thought i was going to laugh myself silly. Plus, this movie has shown me what i want for my birthday: please, please, please, won't someone get me a post-war surplus, pre-Atomic submarine retrofitted to look like a swimming penguin, complete with rear flapping flippers, pleeeeeeeeease? Of course the non-stop hilarity of Batman was a much needed remedy for the ... uhhh... spectacle that is Barbarella : Queen of the Universe. Wow. I originally saw this movie in the mid-80s for an urgent and incredibly important reason: this is the movie from which Duran Duran chose their name! So it has been 20 years since i witnessed Barbarella. Wow. What was with the 60s? Wow. That's some movie. It's very... let's go with, subtle. If i read the multi-layered subtext correctly, war is bad, sex is good and there should always be huge screens of bubbling-ooze effects (were those ever cutting-edge?) to gaze at when high, my pretty-pretty. Don't get me wrong, this movie was fun and funny, but i think probably unintentionally so. I laughed at the sheer incredulousness (is that a word?) of it all - beds shaped like women, hookahs with men swimming in them, attack dolls (they were actually scary), attack parakeets (parakeets, people?), attack orgasm-pianos (never thought i'd have a reason to use that phrase), pure liquid evil and a nymphomaniac tyrant queen whose crown is a giant horn. Like I said, subtle. It was suppose to be over-the-top like a comic book, but, wow. I've never seen danger so unsuspenseful and sex so unerotic. I do have to give Barbarella this, the effects may have sucked, but at least it was visually vibrant and interesting. Plus great costumes; i love color-coordinated boots! The experience does leave me with one burning question, though : how could anyone take Jane Fonda seriously about anything after this?

THWARTED!

There was a lovely break in the weather recently. In fact, on Thursday the only way to describe the day was GLORIOUS - the sun was out, it was warm (relatively), there were even birds singing (no lie) in February. I had already planned on a few days off, so i decided to go on an adventure. I picked a destination, planned a budget, told my staff (okay, i at least told Wendy) I'd be unreachable and even planned to rearrange my workout schedule to not miss strength training. Sunday I woke up head pounding, throat scratchy and a mucus factory. Okay, i think, I am the Queen of OTC meds. I'll just take a DayQuil-Aleve-Airbourne cocktail and be on my way. I wandered into the kitchen for water to wash it all down and find SNOW! It was supposed to rain in the afternoon and there it was snowing in the morning. I am talking huge, sticky flakes showering down and quickly coating everything in white. It was 45 damned degrees 16 hours earlier. There was some foot stomping and railing at the sky. Then i double-dosed NyQuil and went back to bed. Know what I hate? Being thwarted.

Are You Blue?

In the last two weeks I have received several calls and e-mails from friends and/or family who are down in the dumps. I think it is February, a month the I believe should be renamed Crapuary. I have personal reasons for hating this month, but I feel like the weather, the amount of sunlight and the longing for Spring makes everyone feel just a little bit out of sorts. I am in surprisingly good spirits for this time of year. [weird dreams of Matt in a coma aside] In fact, I feel like I am in a better mood than most of the people I've been talking too, lately. For that reason, I have decided that if you need a smile, you can have one of mine. I spent much of last summer convalescing from a bitter illness and focused on positive aspects of my life by listing one thing that makes me smile everyday on the Lists of Bests website. It was an exercise in paying attention to the everyday things around me and in finding simple pleasures. I used to add an item every day, but now I add an item weekly because of time constraints. Feel free to look at what makes me smile. Some are obvious, while others are references to specific events that no one would understand but me. Hopefully you'll find some that make you smile as well. And ask yourself, "What made me smile today?"

The Body Fantastic

I spent this morning in a great brainstorming meeting about a new show on the human body. One of my team members - Annie - suggested an arc about the amazing and unusual things about our bodies, which prompted another team member - Thom - to share an article he found comparing the body to machines. I know nothing about the site it is from, so in no way endorse anything else on the site, but i loved the article. In fact, I think this might be one of the best paragraphs i've read lately:

Yet despite all these things, many people hate their bodies. They think they're the wrong shape, the wrong height, the wrong color or have hair in the wrong places. They obsess over the minutia of their body's imperfections instead of appreciating the genius of its design.

Welcome Friends

So last week there were a few snow days here in Maryland. Kate P [many of you would know her as Mrs. Jason] decided to use her time wisely to start a blog. From the name For the Love of Yarn I think you can ascertain what she will be talking about. Welcome to Kate! BTW, as I was adding Kate's blog to my list, I realized that there are several people's blogs that i read that many of you don't know. With their permission I have added them to the list as well. Erin [Just another day...] used to work for me until she moved laterally in the company. Francie [Francie in the Land of Beguines] [whom i often refer to by her given name Heidi and should not be confused with my high school best friend, Franci] ties Lynn as my longest running friend as we met in second grade. One of the things I love the most about adding these three links on the same day is that you couldn't manufacture three more different blogs, women or relationships in my life. It heartens me to realize I have such totally different people as friends and can thoroughly enjoy posts about cat antics, knitted hedgehogs and human sexuality as Christian symbolism. I am beyond lucky and well into blessed to have these women, and ALL OF YOU, in my life. Thanks.

The Sound of Ice Melting

It was almost 50 degrees today and WOW did it feel great to not need 47 layers to be outside. The warm weather seemed to make everyone act odd today, though. It was like a preemptive Spring Fever. I was in a middle school today (always a laugh riot), all the kids were in strange moods and right at the beginning of our last show, the school went into lockdown. That would be creepy enough, but at this school they have chosen not to announce "lockdown" instead this message came over the PA, "Attention please. All teachers, please read your e-mail immediately." Yeah, that's subtle. that will keep the kids from knowing something is amiss. And if you are a visitor in the school, set up in the media center with no teachers around and no access to their e-mail, you have NO IDEA what's going on. Eventually a media specialist showed up, whispered "we're in lockdown" and skittered away to start locking all of the access points to the library. When we heard "Attention, please. Teachers, please check your e-mail one more time," we knew it must have ended and a few minutes later our kids came rolling in for 25 minutes of a 50 minute show. The best part - we still don't know what happened. Apparently they don't tell the teachers until the next day. [though we did see some of Baltimore County's finest cruising the hallways] Did anything exciting happened at your job today?

Happy New Year!

Welcome to the Year of the Pig! No, i am not Chinese and no, i don't subscribe to astrology, but any holiday that lasts for 15 days and involves fireworks and tiny red envelopes filled with money is my kind of holiday! Besides, I was born in the year of the pig so this has sentimental value for me. All Hail Pigs! (BTW, if you didn't see Google's banner today, go now : cute dancing pigs!)

It's not ALL scull-drudgery

I thought after the last post you might be despairing over the slave-like conditions in the Nikiverse (at least you should have been) so I wanted to assure you that things are back to their normal break-neck pace of funness around here. Between yesterday and today I will attend 2 scrapbooking crops, have dinner with beloved friends, go to work, go to the gym, drive nearly 300 miles and attend a music festival. In fact, I am typing this as a brief respite from the awesomeness. I hope you are all having as great of a weekend as me. And until I get a chance to post about the music festival, contemplate the new word I learned there : technocorrdian.

The Glamourous Life

I don't take a lot of time off. In fact, I am often in trouble with the PTB at my place of business for accruing too much time. So I took several days off this week - in a row! What did I do with this precious time? Glamourous and amazing things. Yesterday, I cleaned the basement. I live in a Victorian that has been cut into 5 apartments and the laundry room is in the basement. I think the last time it was cleaned was IN the Victorian Era. You all know I don't mind mess, but dirt, dirt is another matter. There were layers of dust clinging to the walls and bottles of detergent abandoned since the Eisenhower administration. I don't think I have ever seen such a mess, and I used to work in fire restoration. I've been waiting to feel like this apartment is my home, like I am not the new kid in the house. Finally someone else moved in and I have gone to work. I threw stuff away, washed up found relics, swept the walls and floors and cleaned on, in and behind every piece of furniture. It took almost 4 hours to make it tidy. Now I can fold clean clothes without worrying about them getting dirty from the room. Wow, this is the life!

Happy Birthdays!

It is a double birthday here in the Nikiverse. Happy Birthday to Stacey; i hope you skipped work today. Happy Birthday to my favorite person in the whole world, my bestest of best friends, my radiant, fabulous, lovely, talented, wonderful, funny cousin, Rickki! Bunny Power! I hope this was an extra special day for you both!

Adhesives, Aisle 3

So what did you do last night? I ate pizza, watched Season 7 of Stargate SG-1 on DVD and installed ribbon racks in my studio. That's right, I said "ribbon racks." Some of you might recall that i designed and bought the hardware for the ribbon racks 2 years ago to put into the Blue Room; however, the project was never completed. Now, in the new Blue Room - okay, given the reality of my apartment it is really the Blue Cubbyhole - they are installed and marvelous. No longer, when i need ribbon or fiber will i have to search through various bags and boxes, possibly overlooking the perfect embellishment for the project in question. Oh no, now i merely have to glance beneath the wee mystery window to see all four rows of ribbon glory sorted by size, style, color and purpose. The only hard part now will be how to chose which ribbon to use. My studio space is slowly coming together and more and more it is looking like a wholesale craft store. It makes me giddy with delight. Wait till you see.

Where's the service, people?

So Baltimore was covered in several inches of snow and ice. It was nasty. Everything closed or opened late this morning. Even the cultural institution I work at closed, and you know that never happens. I am all for safety. However, by the afternoon the roads had been cleared and the sun was even trying to peek out. So I dragged my sorry self out of my cozy, warm apartment, dug out my car and shoveled the portion of the driveway that the plows had turned into a blockade and drove to the gym. I want you to understand that I did exercise to go exercise and then the gym was CLOSED! This is supposed to be a 24-hour establishment. I paid for a 24-hour establishment. It was 4:00 in the afternoon, the road was clear, their parking lot was clear, heck even the steps into the gym were clear, but there was no one there to let Niki in to ride the bikes. Restaurants are open, gas stations are open, Home Depot was open, even the LIBRARY is open and my 24-hour gym is closed? It was right to close last night and be closed this morning for the safety of their staff, but they couldn't open at noon, or 2:00 or 4:00 or 6:00? The rules are different if you are going to claim to be a 24-hour establishment; at least, they should be. Needless to say, I am unhappy. If I were a more cynical person I would take this as some kind of sign and go have a double bacon cheeseburger.

Ohhh, the nonsense

I wonder how many of you are sleeping at 6:45am EST. Not Niki, oh no. Today there is suppossed to be a small winter storm over the Mid-Atlantic, dropping a few inches of snow and yummy freezing rain. It isn't really a big deal except that it is suppossed to be the worst over the county in which I am scheduled to shows. The county directly to the west has closed. The county directly to the east has closed. But the county I am going to? OH NO! We have to truck out there knowing that they will probably close school early, we'll have to reschedule the second show and then drive home in the freezing blech. Ohhhhh... the nonsense.

USPS should go Public

Ya know whose stock I would buy? - the United States Postal Service. I swear that the value of their stock would rise on what I spend there, alone. I don't know anyone else who has both a "postage" and a "boxes" line item in their personal budget. Not only do I have a mailing schedule set up at my house, I found out today that there is a 24 hour shipping kiosk inside of the central Post Office on Fayette St in Baltimore. I can now ship boxes and envelopes, Standard, Express or Priority, day or night; PLUS they have mail pickup 365 days a year (i assume 366 in Leap Years). Do you realize that this means that i could mail something to anyone of you at 3am on a federal holiday? Yippee!!! Technology is awesome, but I love me some Snail Mail!

Gleeps, Trixie!

There are still 15 packed boxes sitting in my sunroom (yes, yes, i realize i moved in May), 7 or 8 of which are boxes of books. One night i couldn't sleep and wanted to read. I didn't have a new book to start (besides Herman Hesse's Siddhartha, which continues to sit on the shelf mocking me) and was certainly not going to unpack a box at 3am in the 16 degree cold, so i grabbed something that was unpacked, Trixie Belden and the Happy Valley Mystery. For those of you unfamiliar with Trixie - i'm gonna assume that's everyone - she is a 13-14 year old girl who solves mysteries with her brothers and friends while having fantastical adventures, helping people and even finding awkward teen love. Think Nancy Drew meets Scooby Doo. [would that crossover be the Drew-Doo mystery revue?] Her adventures are both wonderful and ridiculous peppered with the nearly alien lifestyle of wealthy upstate New York in the early 60's (did anyone ever really dress for dinner, even at home and refer to jeans as dungarees?) . There were 34 books in the series, i think, of which i own 31. The originals (lovely hardbacks) I inherited from my sister when i was really little. I read all of them between the ages of 8 and 12. In the past 2 weeks I have reread 9 of the books and I am in love with them again. I am amazed at how my own senses of friendship, loyalty and charity are the same as this fictional girl's. It has me wondering if I liked the books back then because Trixie and I were so much alike, or if part of Niki was formulated by reading about Trixie. They say that the books you read as a child are some of the most important ones of your life because they contribute to your development. That feels very true in this experience. I am really enjoying revisiting my childhood, along side this schoolgirl sleuth. If you haven't reread any book from your youth recently, I highly suggest it. Pick up something you loved as a child and read it looking to see if you find a piece of yourself within its pages.

Is it the Pod People?

In the last week I have gone to the gym 4 times, worked out with my personal trainer, seen my doctor when I was healthy (apperantly you are suppossed to have more than one check-up per decade), had blood taken without crying and started this blog. More than one person has asked if I am really Niki or if I have been replaced by an EBE. Nope. It's me. really. Besides, if this was an alien foothold situation, would i tell you?

Can You Freebase Tylenol?

Here in the nikiverse, Thursdays are "personal trainer" day so i think every Friday post will begin with a litany of new aches. Apperantly if you neglect your body for a decade and then start working out on a regular basis, your body can be somewhat unamused. Today's odd twinge is the top of my shoulders; i don't think you use the tops of your shoulders for anything except to do overhead presses.

Dragged Kicking and Screaming...

Last autumn Jason and Kate brought me to 1996 by buying me a DVD player.
At Christmas Mel and Mike got me in 1998 by sending me a cell phone.
 I suppose I might as well join 2002 by starting a blog.
Don't get me wrong, I'll all for technology; it's just that it doesn't matter much to me.
However, I have noticed that I really do read and enjoy the blogs of my friends. It makes me feel closer to them.
  I have been repeatedly asked to write one so that others can share in the adventures I call my life. So here it is : the Nikiverse. In all of its splendor and glory, here I will chronicle the interesting and not-so interesting tales of Niki.
People often say that things are different here in the Nikiverse: laws, rules, even physics doesn't necessarily apply in my non-linear head.
 I can't promise it will be interesting, but I feel pretty sure it will be different.