Archive for the 'Uncategorized' Category

Colorado

Sunday, April 1st, 2007



colorado, originally uploaded by kriscuz.

I wanted to formally tell everyone who reads this blog some exciting news. I’ve decided my time in NYC has come to an end and I am moving on. Moving on to bigger skies and cleaner air. Have you guessed yet? Here are some more clues…I’m moving to where the buffalo roam, the deer and the antelope play…actually I’m not so sure about that clue. While I was visiting there were some buffalo, but I’m not so sure how far they can roam and I must admit I didn’t see any deer or antelope.

Um, what else can I say…oh hell, I’ll just come right out and tell you…this city girl is moving to Colorado. Whooo! It’s the farthest west I’ll ever have lived.

I’ll be out of Brooklyn in May and then I’m spending the summer in Maryland, living in a cabin along the Chesapeake Bay and working at a camp. A sort of city detox before moving, if you will. haha. Then at the end of August I’ll make the big move to Colorado.

My lovely friends the J and Liz are out there already and have graciously offered to take me in until I get settled. Which hopefully won’t take too long. I am feeling positive about it all.

Yours,

Best Friend

Saturday, March 24th, 2007

seal, originally uploaded by kriscuz.

snow monkey

Saturday, March 24th, 2007



snow monkey, originally uploaded by kriscuz.

I visit this site at least once a day and so should you.
http://www.jigokudani-yaenkoen.co.jp/livecam/monkey/index.htm
Ever since I saw a National Geographic photograph about the Japanese Snow Monkey, my dream is to one day be sitting in a hot spring along side of those darn monkeys.

I need more storage

Saturday, March 24th, 2007



I need more storage, originally uploaded by kriscuz.

This is what my cd storage looks like. I thought I might need a visual aid for my last post.

Memories

Monday, March 19th, 2007

Hippo, originally uploaded by kriscuz.

I just wanted to post something pretty today.

I Heart Police Blotters

Friday, March 16th, 2007

Here are some reasons why -

An Elma man was charged with theft, resisting arrest
and second-degree obstruction of governmental
administration after a store owner reported the man stole
a 30-pack of beer and fled the scene on a go kart. Police
followed the suspect, who threw the beer and fled on foot
on Erie Street. Police found him hiding under fallen brush.
 

A patrol responded to the complaint of an unwelcome
guest pounding on the door of a French Lea Road
residence. Upon the officer’s arrival, the suspect, who had
a strong odor of alcohol on his breath, was standing on
the porch. When asked what he was doing, the suspect
said he was, “trying to get some action.” 

Harassment was reported on Sheridan Drive. Someone
entered a restaurant, pulled the complainant’s hair and
yanked menus out of her hands.

An Amherst resident returned to her home to find the
house unlocked and a non-threatening note in her
bathroom.

A Marine Drive tenant reportedly threatened to get the
landlord “ghetto style.”

A police officer responded to a complaint of a suspicious
person on Seneca Street. The officer stopped to question
an individual, who refused to answer questions and had
no identification on him. When the patrol asked the man
to have a seat, the suspect backed away. The officer
grabbed the man’s arm, and the suspect began to wrestle
with him, dumping over a container of an alcoholic
beverage he had been carrying. The suspect was placed
under arrest but began talking about Satan, “the beast”
and Leviathan, and started reciting strange chants. He told
the officer, “Oh yeah, buddy, you messed with the wrong
guy.”

Officers responded to Harvard Avenue, Depew, to
investigate a report of a motor vehicle accident with a cat.
The cat was pronounced dead at the scene. (something tells me the cat didn’t have much of a chance)

A 43-year-old Depew woman reported that her 41-
year-old husband hit her with a hot dog during an
argument.

A woman reported that she had been receiving strange
phone calls almost daily since Sept. 1 in which an
unknown caller whispers, “What do you want?” and, “Can I
clean your house?”

Several pairs of women’s undergarments were found
super glued to the hood of a person’s car near Brompton
Road. It turned out that someone was playing a prank on
a friend.

The patrol stopped a vehicle for crossing over the
double yellow lines on Union Road. The driver appeared to
be nervous and had bloodshot eyes. When asked if he had
taken any drugs, the suspect replied, “I’ve taken all sorts
of drugs, but nothing in the last couple months.”

A man in the Sheridan Parkside neighborhood had said
that he was chased by another man with a Louisville
Slugger baseball bat. When asked why, the party admitted
to having an affair with the first man’s wife.

Police responded to a parking lot on Sheridan Drive over
two youths fighting over a fast food order. One of the
boys apparently had stolen the other’s sweet-n-sour
sauce.

A security guard of a Depew grocery store reported that
a man grabbed a 12-pack of beer, some powdered drink
mix, a can of sardines and a box of condoms and ran out
the door. (Sounds like he’s got one heck of a night planned)

Police responded to a report of a disturbance at an
Edson Street address. They arrived to find a vehicle parked
on the front lawn and still running. The driver said she
had received harassing phone calls from a female at the
address and decided to confront her and drove onto the
lawn, nearly striking several people. She reportedly exited
the vehicle screaming and trying to punch everyone in the
front yard.

An East Bentham Parkway resident reported someone
tasted her meatloaf. No evidence of such crime was
found.

A young boy called from a cell phone on Kings Highway
reporting he had been knocked off of his bike by water
balloons thrown by a group of high school seniors in a
car. (awww, this one is just sad)

A Sable Palm Drive resident complained her boyfriend
was intoxicated and urinating on everything.

A man reported he went to get his car from a Genesee
Street parking lot when he lost his 13-year-old son.
Reportedly the youth saw a spider, panicked, and was
hiding somewhere in the lot. He was located. (again, this kid is 13!, unless he’s retarded he will never live it down)

Menacing was reported on Kenville Road when a woman, in her 30s, dressed in all red clothing, was chasing people in the street with a fork. She was taken home. (what can I say, I was having a bad day)

Lancaster police and fire officers responded to a report of a fire on Sandridge Road in Alden, but determined that a resident had burnt his pancakes.

A 20-year-old woman was locked out of an Euclid Avenue house by her 14-year-old brother, who was “just being a punk.”

A Bramblewood Lane resident reported that a turkey could not seem to find its way out of a neighbor’s backyard, which is completely fenced with a swimming pool. Resident said turkey was “crazily walking back and forth.”

Several young men “seemed to be up to no good,” a Homewood Avenue caller reported. The group was sitting in the driveway on lawn chairs enjoying cigars because the home-owners wife didn’t appreciate the smoke smell in the house.  (this one just made me laugh because I like to think about the person who made the call about men being “up to no good)

A Main Street, Depew, man, after reporting the theft of
his medication, asked police if it was true that if you file a
police report you can get a free prescription. Officers
gave the man a “stern, verbal reply” to this comment, and
told him the rumor was false.

A Depew resident reported that four suspicious adults
with children were in the area, ringing doorbells. Police
determined the suspects to be Jehovah’s Witnesses.

A male was reportedly yelling and screaming in his
Randolph Avenue driveway. Police reported he actually
was trying to rap.

Police aided a confused adult on Walden Avenue who
stated “The eye in the sky was watching her.”

 

I am a Polar Bear

Wednesday, January 3rd, 2007

Happy New Year.

Sorry I haven’t written in awhile.  I’ve been busy with life business. I’ve had ideas about things I want to write about. I had an open letter to Caroline Rhea all ready to go in my head. It was a letter asking her why she wore the outfit she wore on the Biggest Loser finale last month..or was it the month before?? I can’t remember.

Anyway, it was basically asking her why she has such bad taste. I also had a side letter prepared for the producers of the show asking them why they don’t hire her a stylist. The show seems to be popular…I would think they would have a budget for Caroline to buy some clothes. It seems she gets most of her clothes at JC Penney…or perhaps TJ Max. They don’t just look cheap…they are completely wrong for her. She is round…I understand the perils of being round, because I am round. We round people can’t wear round clothes. We need angles. We need sharp edges to counter our own roundness….Caroline wore a dress on the finale made entirely of round edges..and it was just so sad. Caroline, if you somehow come across the post I want you to email me. Give me a budget and 2 hours and I’ll make you look 200 times better. Promise. Love from one round girl to another.

This post is not supposed to be about Caroline Rhea…it’s supposed to be about my New Year’s Day adventure. Yes, I had an adventure! I had an idea a few months back about something I wanted to do. I guess I’ve always wanted to do it…since the first time I heard about it. So this year I was like, damn it…do it! Do it Krista! Follow thru on something for God’s sake! So I did it…and this is what I did…

www.flickr.com
  

This is a Flickr badge showing photos in a set called Coney Island Polar Bear Swim. Make your own badge here.

I did the Coney Island Polar Bear New Year’s Day swim! I said I was going to do it…and by God I did it. I don’t think anyone thought I would go through with it…maybe even me. I think I surprised myself. Not only did I need to wake up early-ish after staying up until 6 AM the night before, I had to don a bathing suit (not an pleasant task), take off my pants exposing my pasty white skin, and jump in an icy cold body of water! ICY.

Here’s how it went down. The night before I couldn’t sleep so I thought I would save time in the morning by getting a bag together of things I would need the next day - primarily my bathing suit, which I hadn’t seen in awhile. So I start looking…and looking…and finally find it..in a bag…with my sarong…which I hadn’t worn since August…and I apparently had forgotten about it and let it sit…wet…in the bag…for MONTHS. And it SMELLED…bad. But I didn’t have a choice, I had to wear it. I had no other suiting options. So I fabreezed the shit out of it, hung it up and hoped for the best.

In the morning I woke up at 10 AM and walked over to the suit…and it still stank of mold and old chlorine..the fabreeze hadn’t worked. Oh well, I figured I would be in the water soon and the ocean would wash that smell right away.

My friend, Rebecca, who I had told a few weeks ago my plan to jump in the ocean decided to join the madness and brought her little sister, visiting from Ohio, along. The ever silent Josh came along too as the official photographer. He soon found himself in the role of mom as well, as we looked to him to watch our bags and towel us off.

We road the F train to Coney Island looking like bag ladies in our sweats, tee shirts, old jackets, and greasy New Year’s eve hair. We joked that Josh had probably never had the “pleasure” of escorting such lovely woman, and probably never would again. As we walked toward the boardwalk we saw an assortment of other Polar Bears gathering. It was quite an eclectic gathering of individuals. Stout men with giant beer bellies, young girls with bikinis and sequined pants, old ladies wearing fur coats..all of us deciding the best place to be was at the trash strewn shores of Coney Island…in our bathing suits…in the rain…ready to jump in the cold cold Atlantic. I really would have considered it an enjoyable day even with the ocean plunge. Just watching all the people was enough for me. I could have sat my ass down on the beach and smiled just observing. The tubby little lady with the black bathing suit and camera mounted on a helmet. The two jokers wearing bad polar bear costumes fake fighting on the beach. The group of Staten Island Polar Bears who looked like they were still riding the beer wave from the night before.

Our little group decided we needed a club name and immediately dubbed ourselves the Pen-guines….pronounced either Pain-gun or Pen-gwine depending on your disposition. I preferred the former. Josh made up a flag out of a receipt and his umbrella. It was glorious.

Finally, it was time to jump in. People started pealing their clothes off, piece-by-piece. Trying to keep as much on as possible until the final moments. There was some sort of countdown and all of a sudden people just started running for the water. I tore my jacket off and grabbed Rebecca’s hand and ran for it.

The first touch of water on my toes didn’t feel that bad. I guess it was just the knowledge that there was no turning back…it was all or nothing…and there was no way I came all the way to Coney Island for nothing. So I kept going and all of a sudden I was up to my waist and the waves were coming at me. The waters were fairly choppy since we were having a bit of rain and wind on Sunday. I think it was then I had the flash. It was sort of a white light sort of feeling. Don’t laugh…I’m not making a dying joke - I’m talking like this jolt of whoah! It felt great. Then I came too and found that I had lost one flip-flop (not the best ocean shoe) and still needed to dunk. The rule is you need to be completely submerged in order for it to count. So, I looked at Rebecca and she had already gone under and she said come on..you need to go under…so I walked out a little deeper, took a deep breath and went under…for like 2 second and then ran for shore. Rebecca found my shoe and when I finally made it to dry ground I found I couldn’t catch my breath. I have a touch of asthma and this probably wasn’t the smartest idea - I think my mother said it best when she said - but Krista, your lungs!
But I made it. Rebecca and I ran to Josh and found her sister already changing into dry clothes. We took some obligatory post-swim pictures, watched a woman get naked in front of everyone, and decided to look for a place to eat. PS - my bathing suit still smelled bad after the swim.

In about 5 minutes we found ourselves in front of heaping portions of Nathan’s hot dogs and cheese fries. Delish and the perfect after swim treat.

After our lunch we made it back to the subway and I went home to a hot shower, my pjs, and an afternoon of cozy movie watching. It was pretty much the perfect day.

I’m gonna do it again next year, but before I do I’m gonna have to buy a new swimsuit.

 

November

Saturday, November 11th, 2006

I smell.  My hair is greasy.  I’m wearing dirty clothes.  I’m drinking rum and coke.  My left foot itches.  My cat is sleeping.  I keep losing at chess.  I’m watching pants off dance off on tv.  I went to the park today.  I made fun of yuppies who had a blanket expressly for picnics in the park.  I saw a couple who were pulling a dog in a wagon because the dog was too old to walk on his own.  I wanted to be able to do that for my dog, who lives with my parents and is very very old and who I know would love a wagon ride through the park.  I’m doing yoga tomorrow morning.  I watched the Favor of Love reunion today and was let down becasuse no one was able to actually hit New York in the jaw and make her cry.  I watched two movies, The Chumscrubber and Friends With Money today.  I would recommend both of them - both were strangely similar.  I had eggz benedict for brunch.  I made a sandwich for dinner.  I have bananas going bad in my kitchen.  I need to do laundry.  I wish I was somewhere else right now.

Weekend O’Fun Times

Monday, November 6th, 2006

I’m starting to think I need to change banks.  This makes me cringe in the deepest part of me.  It reminds me of when me and a few old coworkers looked up corporate anthems.  They do exist.  Here, I’ll prove it.  ZDnet, who had at one point hosted all of the corporate anthems, has taken the page down, but you can still find KPMGs and PWCs anthems around the internet if you look. 

My weekend was fun.  Jenosh (This is the new name for the couple-hood of Silent Josh and Jennie, I figured they needed a cute combo name like TomKat or Benniffer)  If you can think of a better name than Jenosh, send it on over to me.  Anyway, I forced Jenosh to come with me to PA and attend the grand family tradition of - Halloween party always held a week or so after Halloween.  It’s fun and an excuse to eat good food and act silly.  Sister Celia had the brilliant idea of going as a set of Garden Gnomes and Jennie built on the idea by broadening the category to include all manner or lawn ornimentation.  So Jennie dressed as a pink flamingo and Josh came as a lawn jockey, complete with lantern found at a local PA WalMart. 

Joe, my cousin, dressed as Dee Dee Ramone, very convincingly I might add (the black pageboy wig made the rounds of everyone’s heads by the end of the night), his mom, dressed as a Dr (which included a complementary blood pressure check after dinner, Bonus!) and Liesel, Joe’s girlfriend, dressed as Miss Argentina from Beetlejuice.  Awesome.  I hope to have pictures up shortly.  (I’m having photo issues because my home computer broke and I have nothing to download my photos on anymore.)  And of course I had to make the traditional embarrassing liquor store run in my costime.  So bad.

 

Ideas I’ve had for Children’s Books

Tuesday, October 31st, 2006

Never Kiss a Kitten With a Wet Face

Never Touch Your Face After Chopping Japapeno Peppers

French Women Never Touch Their Face - Mother Says Edition

Your Face is Going to Stay That Way

Your Ugly and so is Your Face

Tne Pokey Little Puppy and His Friend Fat Face