Friday, January 28, 2005


Shaken, Not Stirred

So on my way to work this morning, I got into a car accident. I’m driving down on the right lane of the U.S. 1-9 Highway (Southbound) when I feel this sudden “BOOOMPPPH!” from the left side and I lose control of the car. I steer back into my lane before hitting a railing on the right side and see the car who side-swiped me in front of me. I was shaken and scared. I honk on my horn and follow the vehicle. The vehicle pulls into a gas station and we both get out. As I got out, I noticed I was really shaky. As in my legs felt like jelly and I felt really small. The driver was a lady, who said, rather righteously “I had my blinkers on!” As if. Sure you had your blinkers on, but it’s not going to help if you’re parallel to me but proceed to go into my lane anyway. Then she says “I had my blinkers, and I didn’t see you.” I told her “you should really look into the lane before you go in. I’m going to call the police.” We were both polite and cordial. After my last accident, I realized it’s much better to be civil than to scream. I get back into my car and made the phone call. The cop got there within 10 minutes and we tell him our story and he writes up a report. I stayed in my car. As I wait in my car, I call my work to say I’m going to be late. I hear my voice cracking as I say “I’m going to be late…I got into a car accident.” I start to cry, which is weird for me. I cried because I was really scared. I sort of re-lived the part where I lost control of my car and then started bawling for no reason at all. I’m not a big crier. I was never the type to cry in sad movies, etc. (although it has happened). I think I cried partly because I was just stressed, and because I’m PMS-ing at the moment. Not a good combo if you factor in the car accident. Anyway, the whole thing was done in about 30 minutes or so. Then we all drove off.

I don’t think I was hurt. It’s just that the right side of my body feels bruised and kinda numb, like someone tackled me. And there’s a dull throb in the lower left side of my back. I’m sure it’ll go away, and I’m glad no one was truly hurt (as in, requiring a hospital). The damage to my car is small, but very noticeable --the left driver side area looks like someone tried to pry off the siding. The damage to her car is very minimal --slight scratches and dent on her right passenger side doors.

When I got to work, everyone was very sympathetic, even asking why I even bothered to come in. I decided to take a half-day. I was very lackluster today. I just didn’t feel like my normal self. It’s hard to explain. It just floored me how affected I was/am. This is the first time I got really shaken up. But I’m okay. I know it's not the world's biggest deal. It’s just weird to realize how things just come your way unexpectedly, both good or bad. And I realize that no matter how old you get, you still want the comfort of your mom or dad. I called my mom right after I got out of court and told her what happened. She was very soothing and made me feel a bit better.

Moral of the story: Life is truly short and you never know what the day brings. Carpe Diem! Also, the 1/9 Highway sucks big nuts so avoid it!. This is my second car accident on this highway in less than a span of 7 months.
POSTED BY KAT AT 1/28/2005 02:58:00 PM | 0 COMMENTS



Sunday, January 23, 2005


Walking in a Winter Wonderland....

Current Weather Conditions for New York, NY: Cloudy; 21°F; Feels Like 9°F; Wind: From North at 12 mph gusting to 24 mph...

It's the blizzard of 2005! At least that's what the reporters called the 10-15 inches of snow that descended upon the tri-state area this weekend. Early last week, a snow storm was expected to hit the tri-state area (NY/NJ/CT) early Saturday. Lo and behold: snow actually did come down hard! Yesterday, flurries appeared by 11 am; by noon, the roads were already slippery and visibility was low. It was windy and bitterly cold. Flood watch advisory for the coastal regions. Everyone was advised to stay in and stay clear of the roads.

I went to the gym yesterday morning and afterwards, stopped by the grocery to get food for dinner (since I knew we weren't going out). Everyone and their mom was at the grocery store stocking up on food as if there was no tomorrow. I'm thinking "what gives?! It's not like you're never ever going to leave your house again." People left and right were buying massive amounts of eggs, bread, milk, water as if Armageddon was coming. Yes, there is a storm, but really, it's expected only for a day or so. Are you planning on making french toast to live off for the next month or something?

I for one love it when it snows. Especially if you take advantage of it and go snowboarding (today would've been a great day to do so). I love watching the snow fall while curled up with a good book, a warm blankie, and a mug of hot cocoa (with Bailey's or Kahlua).

Snow clean-up is another thing altogether. The plow comes and dumps all the snow into your driveway where you have to shovel it all to get your car out. You also have to shovel your front steps, the sidewalk, driveway, etc. Then all that snow will eventually melt and then get frozen. The snow will also get really dirty and it'll be in your way. It'll take a few weeks (even months sometimes) for it to eventually thaw out and disappear.

Here are some pics from the Blizzard of 2005:

I have to clean off my car and dig it out of the snow. Good thing my driveway is hardly 2-car lengths long!


View from the front of our house


Our backyard


Our backyard from a different angle


Today, I plan on digging the car out and then go to band practice in the afternoon. Actually, I jsut came back from shoveling. The hubs yelled at me and said he'd do it himself because he has his won system of doing it. Whatever.

I must say, looking at all the snow kinda makes you just want to stay in the whole day. I'm also planning on playing in the backyard and practice some tricks with my board!

HAPPY MONDAY FOLKS!
POSTED BY KAT AT 1/23/2005 11:42:00 AM | 0 COMMENTS



Thursday, January 20, 2005


Financial Woes and Other Things…

Hi, my name is Kat and I’m broke.

I am so fucking broke it’s ridiculous. I got another credit card bill yesterday and almost fell on the floor when I saw the balance. Yes, yes I know that I’m not supposed to carry a balance month-to-month. Yes, I know I’m supposed to pay off the bill in full each time I get it. Yes I know all this. I just can’t afford to!

It’s not like I’ve put any new charges. I vow not to put any new charges. These are all Christmas related purchases and accruing old balance. Like I said before, my goal this year is to pay off the whole thing. It’ll probably take me a good year. It’s just so disheartening and daunting to see this huge figure on the bottom of the statement. I have no choice but to slowly pay if off month by month. This means of course, that the interest will also accrue. Woe is me. Last night, I seriously considered selling my jewelry or some of my designer bags (which I hardly use anyway). I’m really panicking. Truth is, I know I can do pay it off eventually. I’d like to just get rid of it once and for all and start saving anew. I have a lot of things I’m saving up for such as an upcoming shower, a new fridge, a bachelorette party (in Miami), and my parents’ wedding anniversary. But I can’t start saving because I need the money to pay off my monthly debts. It’s a vicious cycle.

I have no choice but to suck it up and bear the weight. I’m going to have to say no to a lot of invites to do things, dinners, group outings (unless the hubs comes along too). I was never the type to use the “I’m broke” card just to get out of an invite to do something. (Because I believe that if you really want to do something, you’d do it, broke or not). But now, I’m actually going to have to honestly say that I’m too broke to go out. Man, I feel like such a loser. I’m 28 years old, have virtually no savings, a huge credit card balance, and nothing else to show for.

I'm peeved. Can you tell?
POSTED BY KAT AT 1/20/2005 04:39:00 PM | 0 COMMENTS



Tuesday, January 18, 2005


Cool Runnings

It was a warm 9 degrees (Fahrenheit) this morning in the East Coast. My legs were quite numb by the time I got to my building this morning. Someone spilled coffee on the street and it had already frozen! Brrr.

And speaking of cold weather, I went snowboarding this past Sunday at Mt. Snow in Vermont. It was about 20 degrees out and the conditions were less-than-ideal. [Note: East Coast skiing conditions always pale in comparison to the skiing conditions in the Mid-West and West Coast.] There was hardly any snow (well, it hardly snowed at all this season so far), they had to make snow, there were tons of icy patches on the trails, and a lot of the trails had to be closed. But it was fun nonetheless. I love snowboarding. However, I realize that I'm just not as skilled as I used to be. About 3-4 seasons ago, I was a speedy and risqué rider. I would attempt 180's, try jumps and rails, and go barreling down the mountain. Nowadays, I'm more safety-conscious and too scared to go fast. For me, ever since I busted my shin trying to do a trick, I've stopped being daring.

Isn't it sad how when we were little kids, we couldn't care less about doing crazy things? I'd climb trees, go roller-skating down a hill without a helmet, etc… Now, I don't want to go down the mountain too fast for fear of falling. Part of me thinks "well if I fall, I fall. Who cares?" But the other part of my head goes "Yeah, you'll fall. Which means it'll hurt. You might even break something!" I don't know…but when I go to Colorado this February, I'm going to quash the "cautious" voice and go swooshing down the mountain! And however much I enjoy snowboarding, I will never get used to the cold! I hate sitting on the lifts while the wind stings my face and hands (even though I'm bundled up), freezing my arse off, and dealing with the constant runny nose. But hey, you gotta sacrifice a little.

In preparation for my Breckenridge, CO trip, I got new snowboarding boots yesterday. They are Salomons and feel awesome! All this time,I've been wearing boots that were a size too small for me. Who knew? I can't wait to try the new boots out. I wish I could get a new board too, but I've already got 2 and certainly don't need another one. The graphics on the new boards this season totally rock. My boards aren't even shiny.

Only 20 more days to go till Breckenridge! I can't wait to hit the infamous Colorado powder.

Welcome to the 21st Century

Last Thursday, I finally got my very own computer here at work! My friends were like "Oh, what kind of computer did you have before?" My answer is: this is the first time we attorneys have ever gotten a computer! Before, only the supervisory prosecutors and the appellate section (they work on appeal, motions, research, etc.) had computers. All the other folks had to share one computer per unit. So getting our own PC is a first! History in the making! My desk area looks so much more professional now with a PC on it!

POSTED BY KAT AT 1/18/2005 06:41:00 PM | 0 COMMENTS



Tuesday, January 11, 2005


Random Scribbles (aka Weekend Update)

Friday:
Last Friday, the hubs and I had dinner with his friend Pat who was visiting NYC with his wife Maria and 2-year old kid. We met with them and the hubs’ crew at Lemongrass Grill by Union Square. [We had dinner with Pat & Maria the week before and met his son Drew for the first time. I was amazed by Drew. He’s a lean, handsome little kid who was smart, very friendly, and energetic (read: all over the place). When the food came, he ate enthusiastically and gobbled up broccoli like they were candy bars! He also ate a small plate of noodles and finished a bowl of ice cream. What a cool kid!] The get-together on Friday included 5 more people and Drew entertained us all over again. Good times. Everyone kept asking us when is it our turn to pop out a kid. Who knows?

Unfortunately, during our walk to our car, I lost my scarf! My mom gave me a fur scarf (or is it a stole? Don’t know what you call it) for Christmas. I guess it fell off and I didn’t realize it was gone until we got home. *sigh* I was quite peeved to say the least...but when I recounted the story to my mom, all she said was "Well I hope someone found it and is using it at least. Better than it just lying on the street getting wet in the rain."

Saturday:
Saturday, the band tried out a new drummer. Our old drummer Lil’ A “quit” on us during the winter holidays. This pretty much sucked because we love Lil’ A and we already had a handful of songs using her beats. Now, we’re starting over from scratch. Although we still have hope that Lil’ A is coming back, we do have to keep on working on our songs. The new drummer was pretty cool. She looks like the Asian verision of Meg (of the White Stripes) and is into indie rock (which is pretty much what we play). My friends Girlie and Steve sat in during practice which made me nervous. I haven’t really played any of our stuff to other people because we have a lot to work on. We do have about 8-9 original songs, only 2 of which are “perfected.” Girlie and Steve were there to act us “judges” for the new drummer and to hear our stuff for the first time. Girlie is pretty darn honest and I was scared that she'd just announce that we suck. Fortunately, that didn’t happen. She was nice to say that “we weren’t bad” which is a great relief. We are rusty and we have never played with the new drummer before, so keep that in mind! As it turns out, Girlie made a short movie of our jam session. Click here to view the clip.

Sunday:
Sunday was spent at home doing chores. The hubs and I woke up early to go to church (we haven’t been since Christmas Eve; although we do try to go every Sunday, it doesn’t always happen.) Mass for us is at 10:30 am at a church only 5 minutes away. It turns out, they revamped their schedule and mass time is now 10 am! So we walk in right after the gospel and we’re like, “huh?” So we turned around. Next Sunday, we’ll definitely be on time.

More scribbles…

I am currently reading Eragon. Actually, I'm almost finished with Eragon. I rationed it out over 4 days (although I really wanted to finish it all in one day). This book rocks! I've been staving off buying this book so I could just borrow it from a friend, which I did (thanks Girlie!). If you're a Harry Potter fan, I highly recommend it! I can't wait for the second one to come out! And in that same vein, I can't wait for HP Book Six to come out!
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I can’t wait for tomorrow’s episode of ALIAS. I agree with you Batjay, Jennifer Garner's facial contours are amazing! And so is Michael Vartan's for that matter! Hehehe....
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Office politics suck.
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Shout-out to Tin who very graciously gave me some great financial advice that I am about to follow.
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Yay to me for losing 2 pounds and gaining muscle. I’m aiming for guns that will rival Madonna’s. I’m going to Miami at the end of March (for a bachelorette party) and want to be super-toned by then. Once I lose enough fat/gain muscle to make a difference, I’ll post a before and after picture.
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Just got my credit card bill yesterday. Almost had a heart attack. Ye gods...*sniffles*

POSTED BY KAT AT 1/11/2005 01:12:00 PM | 0 COMMENTS



Thursday, January 6, 2005


Authorized.Personnel.Only

I watched the season premiere of ALIAS last night. OMG, can I just tell you how much I luurve that show?! It was so good last night (even though I hardly remember what happened last season)! Best of all, it was on for 2 hours! So it was kinda like watching a movie. As a fan, I truly enjoyed it. If you haven’t seen it, start doing so! And in that same vein, let me just say that LOST (right before Alias) is sucking me in as well. I watch a lot of shows on a regular basis. The hubs thinks I’m a TV hog and I can be. But I don’t just watch TV for the sake of watching it (ok, that’s a lie…I sometimes do that.). I do have shows that I specifically follow:


--Alias (It just premiered last night and I’ll be glued to the tube every Wednesday)

--Desperate Housewives (the hubs watches this with me as well!)

--Lost (sucking me in!)

--King of Queens (the hubs got me watching this show and he’s not a TV hog at all)

--CSI: Miami (I watch when I can on Monday nights; I love Emily Procter!)

--The Simpsons (no need to explain)


Other than that, all the other shows I watch are just because it’s on. Also, I tend to keep the TV on as I do other things (e.g., read, book, play guitar, what have you).

Okay, this post wasn’t about TV. It’s just about random things. Like work for example. So I’m back to the daily grind. I got me a pretty high-profile case. Of course, this means I’m terrified. It’s a huge case for me and I feel pressured to do really well –which is why I was so pissed today because things didn’t turn out the way I wanted to. I can’t really discuss much since it’s an on-going case. Suffice it to say, I was upset at the decision made today in court during a specific proceeding.

POSTED BY KAT AT 1/06/2005 06:09:00 PM | 0 COMMENTS



Sunday, January 2, 2005


Tales of a Lazy-Ass Mo’ Fo

I took the whole week off work starting from Dec. 23th to Dec. 31st (note: I did have Dec. 24th and Dec. 31st off). I didn’t do jack shit aside from the obligatory Christmas shopping and running-around I had to do (and of course, celebrating Christmas & New Year’s). Man, I felt so decadent staying home all day and watching TV, eating bon-bons (read: many pieces of chocolate, cookies, brownies, and other snacks), polishing off whole novels in only a few hours, and not doing a single thing. The week rocked! I even slept in and got 8-9 hours of sleep (I don’t really like sleeping for more than 9 hours though cuz I get groggy). Although I must admit, I did get bored of the whole not-doing-anything bit for a whole week straight. I felt kinda bad that I didn’t bother to take care of any errands and do some home improvements.

Things I Meant to Do (but didn’t):

  • Go see the dentist for new cavities courtesy of massive amounts of sweets downed during the holidays. Plus I think I need new fillings.
  • Go get my car serviced for oil, brake-check, etc.
  • Do shit loads of laundry (I only did one load and they were just towels/linens so it didn’t really count because you can do that anytime).
  • Clean the house (well, I somewhat rearranged things and put things away).
  • Take down Christmas décor off tree.
  • Return all the crap I bought from the mall that I realized I don’t really like (or rather, can’t afford but bought anyway).
  • Scrub kitchen floors.
  • Go see dermatologist for white, square-shaped splotches that appeared on my left arm out of nowhere about a month ago.
  • Go to alterations guy and get 2 pairs of pants cut because as usual, the pants are meant for a person more than 5’4 tall. Also meant to pick up the stuff I dropped off more than 2 weeks ago.
  • Get my car washed. It’s filthy. Fully crusted with mud and other crap. And let's not mention the inside. The last car wash I had was about 5 months ago? I think. And that was because the BMW dealership felt bad that my rims were black with dirt and gave me a complimentary one. (That’s exactly what the guy said to me).
  • Paint windowsills.

Things I Did Do:

  • Read 3 books in 3 days.
  • Ate 5 meals a day.
  • Treated myself to Starbucks Mocha every morning. (uhm. That’s $3.13 x 10)
  • Hung out with friends, family, and the hubs. This includes parties, dinners, lunches, and just all-around chilling and doing up to no good.
  • Shopped and bought a ridiculous amount of clothes to tide me over till July (see previous entry about new year’s resolutions). I can't wait for the credit card bill.
  • Went to gym only 3 times.
  • Watched Season 1 of Jem and the Holograms in 2 days. Truly outrageous!!
  • Saw Meet the Fockers. I give it 3 out of 5 stars.
  • Saw Return of the King extended DVD version and watched some of the accompanying featurettes (total time glued to couch and TV: 6+ hours).
  • Did I mention I ate about 5 meals a day?
  • Hung out at Target and Barnes and Noble for hours at a time. Man, I dig those store!
  • Thought about doing chores from list above but didn’t actually do it.
  • Browsed E-bay and Amazon incessantly.
  • Went to practice with the band.
  • Pranced around the house with my Christmas gifts (e.g., 2 fur stoles from both mom and mom-in-law and no I didn't ask for them --it's not like I'm some fur buff or anything but of course I appreciate them! They are so freakily soft for obvious reasons! I also got a pair of bling-bling diamond studs; a diamond horse-shoe necklace from the hubs; the new Linkin Park/Jay-Z CD; and other cool loot).
  • Organized a group snowboarding trip to Breckenridge, CO for February! Yeah!

I think that’s about it. I felt like I was back in college/law school and had winter break! Tomorrow will be my first day back on the job in 11 days. Wow. So much for the lazy lifestyle I’ve been enjoying. Back to daily grind for me!

POSTED BY KAT AT 1/02/2005 10:54:00 PM | 0 COMMENTS






who is kat?

a wanna-be rockstar with mediocre guitar skills | mom to rockstar baby | guitarist in a band | 30 but not grown-up | this is all about my musings. music. motherhood. and mayhem.

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