Friday June 28th

Wait, wait, wait.... don't get me wrong, I LOVE my Talon, but I'm just ready for something even FASTER! My mission in life is to "Kick everyone's butt on the road". Life won't be complete if I can't at some point in time, and now seems as good of a time as any. I'm childless, I'm making enough money, and I'm young. What a great combo. Give me Horsepower or give me death. Isn't that how it goes?

Ok, so here's the situation, bubs. I'm looking for a:

• 1993 Dodge Stealth R/T Turbo
• 1993 Mazda RX-7 Turbo Coupe
• 1992 Nissan 300ZX Twin Turbo
• 1996 Pontiac Firebird TransAm V8

They all have over 250 HP. The Stealth, and 300ZX are over 300 HP! AND (most importantly) they're all in the price range I'm looking for. Any suggestions from the peanut gallery?

Wed. June 19th

Oh, how did this all begin?! I think it must have been the summer after my Sophamore year in college when I noticed I was cursed with dry lips. I went out and bought my first Chapstick. It was great for a while, but then I just needed more. I moved on to Carmex. Yes, Carmex was much better, and I wouldn't leave home without it. I took it to work (waitress) with me, I took it shopping, out on dates, anywhere I went... even to sleep.

Hold on... just thinking about it makes me need some now. I know I shouldn't but I really can't resist, as it is truely and addiction of sorts.

A few months later it came to pass that Carmex was no longer enough to satisfy my need for moist lips, and I bought my first tube of medicated Blistex. YES! This is the ultimate.

I would never again be without Blistex close by. I do realize I'm obsessed with it... that I have a problem. The other day I couldn't find my Blistex, and I realized it must have fallen out of my purse. It was a horribe discovery. Could I make it through the morning without one swipe of precious Blistex over my dependant lips? I had confidence in myself. I knew it would be a painful few hours till lunch came around... but I had the thought in my head I could do it.

An hour later, I could no longer concentrate on my work. All I could think about was getting my hands on some Blistex. I jumped up from my desk like a person possessed, with only one mission on my mind-- to find Blistex.

I went down the elevator to the lobby and walked across to a hotel attached to the building I work in. There must be a gift shop somewhere in that hotel... one that might sell Blistex. A-ha! I found one! I ran up to the lady and said, "Do you have any Blistex, please?" Ithink the word "please" came out a little too desperately because she looked at me oddly. I held my breath, waiting for her answer. "Yes, I do." She said and grabbed a tube and rang it up. "That will be $3.19." What?? $3.19 for a tube of Blistex? It costs $1.00 in the store. What am I doing? It was then I realized I would have paid $20 for that tube. I handed her the cash and tore at the box. I slid out the tube like it was a roll of the most rare and precious gold coins ever discovered. My eyes glanced over the shiny casing lovingly, then I flipped off the cap and spread it's innards all over my craving lips. AHHH! Heaven! Mmmmm!

This is when the thought of giving up Blistex crossed my mind. Could I do it? Is this the feeling an alcoholic feels when about to give up the bottle? Is this the feeling a druggie feels when giving up the needle? Man! No wonder it's so hard for them to shake the habit. I could NEVER give up my Blistex addiction. It would be too physically painful! Even the thought gives me the shakes. I just couldn't handle it, man! I need the Blistex! I need the Blistex! I NEED THE BLISTEX! AHHHHHHHHHH!

Tues. June 4th

Here it is, Saturday morning at 11:15 am, sunny out, and Nick and I decide to go to the bank. I walk into the bathroom to brush my teeth and comb my hair. After a minute or so, the lights begin flickering. "What the...", I think to myself. This has never happened before. I couldn't figure out why the lights would be flickering, as I didn't turn on the hair dryer or anything that would make the lights dim. We had new neighbors just moving in downstairs so I figured it must have something to do with them. Like maybe they were running 5 vacume cleaners at the same time or something (yeah right).

"Hey what's going on out there?!" Nick yells from the shower as he notices the lights flickering, too.

"I don't know, this is weird, though." As I say this, the lights turn off for a full 2 seconds, and I stand still. "Uhh... I think we have poltergeists, maybe." I state and Nick giggles. I'm now done combing my hair so I leave the bathroom; as I walk by the bedroom window I hear a strange sound. What is that?

Hesitantly I turn and start towards the window which is covered by mini-blinds. The sound is getting louder. I pull two of the slats apart with my thumb and forefinger. "Holy Sh*t!" I exclaim, then squeal in surprise. "It's hailing golf balls out there!" I yell loudly so that Nick can hear. I was so confused, because just minutes ago, it was sunny and 85 degrees. As I take another look I see tree branches blowing around the parking lot. I blink my eyes. Huh? OH MAN! My heart starts pumping really fast and adrenalin rushes through my body. This must be what happens right before a tornado! I yank the mini-blinds up to get a better look. Yep, definitely pre-tornado weather.

"Nick! Nick! Nick!" I yell as I rush to the doorway of the bathroom, still turning to look out the window, expecting it to implode any second. "Hurry! Get out of the shower! There's going to be a tornado!"

"What?" Nick says, sounding sort of annoyed. The lights go out again, this time for about 5 seconds.

"I mean it Nick. Hurry! You've got to see this." And I run to turn the TV on to see if there is a tornado warning symbol up the corner. No, only thunder storm warnings. By this time, Nick is out of the shower, dressed and opening up our front door. "What are you doing? Don't go out there! What should we do? We have no basement!"

"Oh man, Katie, come look at this." He says as he stands frozen by the door. I jump up and run to his side. I follow his gesture and see a huge tree has ripped in half and fallen across the way.

Here's where I really start to get nervous. And here's where the power goes out for good. I tug on Nick's sleeve. "What should we do?" I watch a pickup truck underneath our window pick up off the ground an inch, then set back down, then pick back up, then set back down. I slam the door.

"No, come on," Nick says as he reopens the door. "We should take shelter in the Laundromat." I look at him skeptically. I think it's a good idea to get out of our second floor apartment, but I don't think we stand a chance against that wind for long enough to run into the open Laundromat.

"Are you sure we should leave?" I say and he runs for the phone. I begin looking frantically for my tennis shoes, which I of course, can't find right away. By the time I find them and put them on, Nick is hanging up the phone.

"That was my Mom, she said definitely not to go outside. We should sit in the tub with pillows over us. She said it doesn't seem to be that bad by them yet." I'm already running, gathering up pillows.

Police and ambulence sirens are coming from everywhere. "Come ON! Let's get in the tub!" I beg.

"Nah, I don't want to get in the tub. Let's watch." Nick suggests and the perverse fascination for danger and the chance to see an actual tornado takes control of me. I drop the pillows and join him in front of the open door. We watch wide-eyed.

Now it's 11:30 a.m., 15 minutes from when I first noticed the hail. The storm seems to have calmed down slightly. We shut the door and try the TV again to no avail. We sit down. "Should we go to the bank?" I ask. Nick shakes his head. "Aww... come on, I really do have to go. We can make it before it closes and we can check out the storm as we go." He then agrees.

Nicks runs first to the car, getting soaked, gets in and unlocks the passenger door for me. I follow suit, scrambling to the car as fast as I can. As we drive through the complex we notice all the down trees. I feel sorry for those poor trees. The flag poles in front of our apartment office are bent at a 45 degree angle. Hmmm.... As we leave the complex, we notice several streets are blocked off due to fallen postlamps and traffic signals. Most of the traffic lights are out along the way and everybody's doing the 4-way stop thing. (I just love it when people become civilized in time of chaos.)

Later that day when we went to Chili's for linner (yes, I said linner, it was 2:30), we found out there was a tornado just a few miles away from our apartment that tore up the Addison Airport pretty bad. Winds were reported there of 112 miles an hour!!!!! (That's hurricane force, folks) Many buildings in North Dallas were severely damaged- hundreds of windows in sky rises had blown out. Cars over-turned on the freeway and the power was out for miles around.

Yep, that was my closest brush with a tornado. It was pretty exciting, so I guess as long as it doesn't kill anyone, tornados aren't so bad afterall. Maybe now I will stop dreaming about them so much. But maybe now I will dream about them even more.

Mon. May 20th

Well, here I am, all (sort-of) settled into my new life and job and apartment in Texas. If you didn't know, I just moved from Milwaukee, WI to Dallas, TX two weeks ago.

HOLY LONG DRIVE!

And that's all I have to say about that.

Have you missed me? Did I mention it's a high of 95 today? (Please note my last journal entry written in Wisconsin where it was snowing) Texas is very windy. It's very buggy. It's very hot. It's very fun and alive, though.

Nick, my prefi (prounounced PreeFee), had his 30th birthday last weekend. HUH? Are you stuck on him being 30 or the word "prefi"? I'll assume it's the latter. I want to explain it to you, anyway.

Have you ever thought that the term girlfriend/boyfriend was too mild a word to represent your beloved? I mean, you're not married... you're not even engaged, but you're definitely more than boyfriend and girlfriend, right? The term boyfriend/girlfriend reminds you of a snotty-nosed, pimply highschool teeny-bopper who's dated someone for two weeks. But your beloved is much more than that, he's/she's someone you're fairly sure someday you would marry, and you want to express that to people. So what word do you use? Beloved? One-and-only? Significant Other? Steady Partner? No, you don't, because those words are all stupid. Instead, you say "Hi meet my girlfriend, Suzi", but you're not satisfied with the message that phrase conveys. Well, here's where my word, prefi, comes in. It's short for Pre-fiance, and it rolls of the tounge quite nicely.

As a matter of fact, I feel quite sure that if we start introducing our non-married/non-engaged significant others this way, the word will really catch on! With your help, prefi could be in Webster's Dictionary before the year 2000!

What? You say you don't have a prefi? Well, get one! Everyone can have a prefi, even if they're married, because a prefi is just that, a person who is close to you, but no more (yet). Btw, I'm not encouraging cheating here, if you're married, I'll let you have a prefi, but your spouse must consent first.

So, Nick, my prefi, turned 30 last Friday. That's all folks!

Wed. May 1st

Tomorrow will be my last day of work at Frontier. Weird. I'm really going to miss it here alot. I love the people I work with. I've been coming here 5 days (sometimes 6 days) a week for 9+ hours a day for the past year and a half. I can't believe how fast the time has gone. As a matter of fact, I can recall so easily my first day sitting in this very cube reading my first SuperTCP Pro manual (no training programs "back then"). Tomorrow I'll have to empty out my desk and all. Take down all the photos and papers I have hanging on the walls. As a matter of fact, my cube is starting to get suspicious I'm leaving. My computer definitely knows. It's scared of being used by someone else. I told it I understood, and hugged it for a while. (!!)

The weirdest thing is that I'm not only leaving Frontier, but I'm leaving the place I've grown up in- the Milwaukee area. We moved here when I was 5 or so, and it's pretty much all I know. All my friends are here. I will be leaving them and my brother behind. I already know how nostalgic it will be when I come back for occassional visits. I will see the old movie theatres and old skate rink and memories now practically forgotten will come back strong. I guess that's where I'll start to feel "old".

It will be weird to come back and say "Oh WOW! They put up a new traffic light there!" or "Hmmm! When did that Target store go up?"