JamieWriter's blog: "What's happened (diary of sorts)"

So I was at another Starbucks for the second time in one day. This one had a poster on the message board about an Egyptian King Tut thing going on at the Franklin Institute in Philly. It's been on tour, and this is its final stop. It's there until the end of Sept. Wow. Imagine a day where I'd get to go see Egyptian stuff (says the girl with Ankh's on her fingernails), and it's in center city Philly, which means that there could be dinner at a Hard Rock Café. (Which anyone who has ever been to either of my web-pages, or has seen half my shirt collection, or knows one of my big reasons for going to Boston on my freakin honeymoon; can tell you- I'm a HUGE HRC fan!) I'm just saying... WOW. It would only be better if there was an Aerosmith concert to end it. Anyway. Not sure if there's enough left in the travel budget this month, but doubt it. It was more of a short little fantasy. Makes me wonder if anyone else I know saw one of those posters and was all, "Holy crap! That's got Jamie written all over it!" Ok, clearly no one has, because they'd have told me. Gotta get far enough out of Philly, but not to far out, in order to find out that something this cool is happening in Philly. Go figure. Maybe Mom will get sent to Doylestown more often, so we can find out about these things... Oh yeah, we were behind a truck in traffic with TWO Aerosmith window clings. And yes, I seriously considered jumping out and stealing one. Coffee buzz is gone. Sleep now.

That was what I saw last week when I first called Dell Tech support. There was much run around had, and I spent $40 to try and back up my hard drive (there was nothing left thanks to this blue screen coming up so often.). My hard drive was dead, so they sent me a new one. I was so happy for about 15 hours. And then
I called again, and this time they downloaded a patch. That didn't work either. So Dell is now going to send a tech out to install a new memory card. And I am back to the waiting game.

I left Renee's place on Halloween night. (I went down to take her boys, my godsons, trick-or-treating. And to have fun with my best friend, carve a pumpkin, hang out with her family, get candy, hit Eric on the head with my wand... ) I was driving home on the turnpike, and had just gotten onto the Northeast Extension. 12:20AM Suddenly, a deer leapt down from the hill onto the highway and rammed into my car! To be clear, I did not hit the deer. It most decidedly choose to hit me! I saw it for a split second before it plowed me, and I remember screaming. I remember hearing the loud sickening break as my window shattered and then exploded into my car. The next thing I know, I was pulled on the side of the road and covered in tiny little shards of glass. I had to reach around the glass to find my cell phone and call 911 for help. The officer was named John. He asked me what city I was in. "Whatever city it is where the Northeast extension of the turnpike starts. What is that? Philadelphia, Plymouth Meeting? I'm not sure." He asked me about a mile marker, which is when I noticed I had managed to park right by one. "20. 20 with a 6 under it." I was too frazzled to think if that would be mile marker 20 and six tenths or what. Then the officer asked me if I was alright. Humm. I was covered in broken glass. But yes, I seemed to be alright. He told me to look in a mirror to see if I was cut. Nope. The only blood was a tiny cut on my thumb. I was fine, and this is good. Then he asked me how the deer was. I had been looking in my driver's side mirror for a bit now, and cars had been whizzing by in both lanes. With the exception of their headlights, and the mall parking lot lights in the far distance, the road itself was completely dark. I couldn't see a thing. So the officer said he would send someone. I asked him if I should call AAA in the meantime or something, and he said that yes I should. Then he asked me if anyone else was in the car with me. As I said no, I looked over to my passenger seat. My jacket was sitting there, covered in glass like every other surface of my car. And then my mind was suddenly hit with everything that had just happened. It was only a year and one month ago that someone had ran a red light and hit my old car. What if this car was totaled too? How did I get hit AGAIN??? Am I target practice? I wasn't even speeding. If anything, I was under the limit because I had just merged onto the extension. How could this have happened? And then the question rang in my mind, "Is anyone else in the car with you?" What if John had taken the day off and gone along? What if he had been sitting there beside me? What if a deer had jumped off a bank onto the road and used its antlers to smash my window in and had hit John? No seatbelt or airbag would have helped! At this point I lost it. I hung up with the officer and called Renee and started crying hysterically, something I don't recall ever doing right after an accident before. In fact, I think I'm usually pretty calm and organized and thinking about whom I'm supposed to call and what names I'm supposed to get and that sort of thing. But now I was mush. She had to figure out where I was, why I was crying like she had never heard me cry before, and what was going on! She did manage to calm me down, as best friends tend to do. I relayed all that happened, and eventually she asked if I ever called AAA or my insurance agency. So I hung up and called AAA. They said it was already reported and someone was already on their way for me and to just show my card when they got there. Okay. Seconds later, a tow truck showed up. I think the guy's name was Jeff or Bill, something like that. He was a tall slender older fellow with glasses. I thought he had come to tow me. No. He was just the emergency response person, and was not going to tow me at all. He took a walk to see if he could find the deer. There was no sign of it. Since I was now out of the car, I brushed some of the glass off of myself and went to look at the damage. Renee had reminded me that I had my camera with me, and therefore should take some pictures in case the insurance company would need them. I looked at my poor car. And really, it didn't look that bad. No dents, no dings, no paint falling off or bent tires. It looked like my passenger side window was gone (if not for the bits of glass, one might have thought it was simply rolled down), and my passenger side mirror was gone (except for a fragment of the arm). That appeared to be all the damage done. [Though, at the time, my mind was still considering that just because it doesn't LOOK bad doesn't mean that underneath there isn't a bent frame or leaks or who knows what. It turns out that there isn't.] Glass on the floor. What's left of my window. What's left of my mirror. So, all in all, I was fine, and the car wasn't to bad. A second tow truck now pulled up as I was finishing taking some pictures. I believe this guy was named Steve. He handed me a business card, but it didn't have his name on it. The guys decided that I should pull my car further off the road. And, since my 4-way/ hazard lights weren't working, that I should just leave my lights on. Tow truck guy number two already had a mini-van on board which he was towing from an accident, so he couldn't take me. The guys assured me that a third tow truck would arrive in 20 minutes, and that I should just sit tight and wait. So I got back in my car to wait. I called my parents house, waking my mom up, and let her know what happened. I had a Gilmore Girls flashback from the episode where Rory is hit by a deer. (My cousin Amy later IMed me with this same thought. LOL.) I then called my insurance company. I think I was disconnected the first time. I redialed and eventually got a representative named Lisa who sounded like I woke her up from a dead sleep. I have no idea why this would be, as I did dial an 800 number that was on my insurance card, not a phone number to someone's home. But I don't really know how Allstate has things run. I gave her the details of what happened, and she gave me a claim number, and then a phone number that she said I would want to use later (though she never said why). She then said I have "liability only." I realized that I had no idea what that actually meant. My mind flashed to the movie Twister: [Jo is salvaging belongings from her crashed truck and looking at Bill's new truck] Jo: You got full insurance on that truck? Bill: Liability only. Jo: [thoughtfully] Liability only... Jo: It's a very nice truck. Melissa: [smiling] Thank you. Bill: Don't even think about it. [Jo keeps cleaning out her truck] Bill: No way. So the Allstate person hangs up with me, and I am again alone on the side of the highway, pulling bits of glass from my hair. I hear the smallest noise (leaves rustling, more glass falling, who knows) and get the paranoid idea in my head that the deer is going to come back to finish the job. I call Renee again and point out that, if this were a horror movie, someone in a hockey mask with a machete would be here to kill me any moment now. Renee said she called my mom to let her know what happened but that my mom hadn't answered. I said that's probably because she was on the phone with me. We laughed. We talked for about another 10 minutes, during which I wondered where on Earth tow truck guy #3 could possibly be. I REALLY REALLY had to go to the bathroom. But this is a big open road, not even a guard rail to hide behind. And I knew that if I went out there to hide by my car and try it, that would be the moment the tow truck would show up. So I just held it. Finally the tow truck did show up. The driver was a young man named Jared, who some of my friends I'm certain would have hit on the whole ride home. He started hooking up my car and asked what was wrong with it. I told him that I was hit by a deer, and though it looked like just the window and mirror were gone, I wasn't sure if there was anything else. "You're kidding, right? You actually called a tow truck over a window and mirror?" If he had been there an hour ago and seen me all shaken up and covered in glass, maybe he would have been a bit nicer about this. Maybe not. Either way, I pointed out that I do pay for AAA plus membership and have the free towing, so it seemed better to use it then to possibly get pieces of glass in my eye while trying to drive, or get a ticket for not having a passenger side mirror. And, as I said, I wasn't sure if there was other damage underneath that I simply couldn't see. (I decided not to mention to this cheeky guy that I wasn't even sure if I could drive at this moment because I was still shaken up pretty good and jumping out of my skin every time I heard something in the woods. The last time I remember being this scared I was a child. Why a deer should bother me more then any other thing, I don't know. Situations where people are normally afraid don't seem to have much effect, but toss a deer at my window and I panic. It makes no sense.) So I decided that, since I was going to be stuck in a vehicle with this guy for the next hour of my life at least, I had to find a way to get him to be nicer to me, or at least not make me feel like I should burst into tears for calling for help after getting attacked by a wild animal who was possibly trying to impress some female as part of mating season! I offered to pick his wooden blocks off the road for him. "No, don't touch them. They're probably to dirty for you." Oh great, he thinks I'm one of those princess types. I went about making pleasant conversation. I found out that he had gotten off of work at midnight, but was on-call with three different places until 7am. So he was getting paid overtime to come get me. I made that sound like something one should be ecstatic about, when in my head I was screaming "So why are you being grumpy with me if you're getting overtime??? And, hello, you did CHOOSE this job, didn't you?" We discussed driving various vehicles, and I mentioned that I used to drive a forklift. This is when he finally started warming up to me, perhaps because Princesses do not drive forklifts. He told me that he also occasionally drives a limo for some rich fellow, and that he has to do this on Thursday. The guy apparently requests Jared specifically every time he flies to this area. (I suppose he's never asked the rich guy, "Are you serious? You really want to take a LIMO somewhere??"...) The rest of the ride was alright. I found out that, from the Quakertown exit, the only open gas station at this time of night is the Turkey Hill in Coopersburg. (Where I finally got to use a bathroom, and Jared got himself some coffee.) We arrived at my family's house at 2:37 am. (Some of you will get why that time is funny. For the rest of you- it's in the address. Also the house number used in several horror films, such as SAW II. The number tends to 'stalk' me.) I left my dad a note, and my mom and I covered my car with a tarp. Since my lights had never been turned off, the car battery was now dead. Something we noticed as Jared was pulling out of the driveway- just out of shouting range. So far, my dad has found a mirror for me on e-bay. I still need a window, which we're going to look at the junk yards and glass shops for. Apparently, "liability" means that when a deer hits you, you get to pay for it. John said that this is what I get for eating venison stew and deer jerky all the time. Hee hee. Renee pointed out that, earlier on Halloween, I was laughing at a Dodge Durango with the "Don't dodge it, RAM it" window sticker (Isn't that a sticker for a Dodge Ram? Did they miss the joke?), and now a deer had taken the advice! Perhaps it had a tattoo like that which I didn't see in the dead of night. Ha ha. Renee's mom pointed out that, since my accident was at 12:20am, I was actually hit on All Saints Day, not Halloween. Nice to know. (It was also my cousin Brandon's birthday.) And that is the story of the deer that went trick-or-treating on the turnpike, and choose to do TRICK on me!

(Hopefully the pics with show up. This is copy paste.) Summer 2006 July 2006 On July 2nd, John and I went to see “Superman Returns” at the movies. We saw fireworks on our way there. Apparently that’s the night everyone had them, which we didn’t know until later. So I didn’t really get to GO to see fireworks this year for Independence Day, but I saw some while driving along. I also saw some small ones and some fire crackers people were setting off as I was running errands on the 4th. I’m sad that I missed going to watch fireworks this year, but oh well. July 9th was Pappy H’s birthday. He went to the Buck truck and tractor pull with my parents and brother. I finally finished the photo CD of my brother’s graduation from High School and Vo-tech. I made a bunch of copies so he could give them to some of his friends. On July 10th my car went to Star Pontiac to get the AC repaired. My dad had tried to fix it, but had no luck. Apparently part of the problem was that I needed a new compressor. I also needed a new belt. So, $1100 in repairs later—I got my car back (on the 13th). I had to borrow $500 from my dad to pay for it. And there went the nest egg! July 11th was my best friend Renee’s b-day. We had been planning to get together that day, but that back failed since I didn’t have a car! On the 12th my dad decided that he wouldn’t co-sign for our wedding loan. So we’re going to have to come up with another way. The banks won’t give John a loan because he doesn’t owe money to enough people, and won’t give me one because of my lack of income. Go figure. July 14th at 3:24 am, my mom called my cell phone. Apparently, my dad and brother were headed to Jacktown (you might remember me mentioning the winter show w/ the stew and wieners) with the trailer, when it broke at the bottom of the road! So John and I drove up to help them unload all the engines, tractors, and two mini-choppers. My mom tried to tell my dad that the boat trailer wasn’t going to hold all that weight, but he had to find out the hard way. It could have been worse, it could have broken on the highway, or all the priceless stuff could have fallen off and broken! So we helped unload the trailer and haul it all back to the house. Then reloaded some stuff into the back of the other truck. Then we met my grandfather for breakfast. I finally got to give him his birthday card. Then we all drove to Jacktown. Pappy in the lead with his van and trailer, Mommy in the pickup behind him, my Dad and Kev in the dual-wheel pickup next, and John & I in my car at the end of the line. We got there and unloaded. It started to get warm out pretty quick as the sun was rising. John, my mom, and I did a quick walk through in the flea market. Didn’t buy anything, though I did give my mom $1 to pick up a Japanese cookbook John saw. (He collects cook books with international recipes.) John saw a Sega Saturn game system for $1, but he didn’t want it because there was no power cord and he didn’t know if it worked. I thought he should have got it for that price, because we could always check E-bay for a power cord. But whatever! By the time we got done looking (not everyone was even set up), it was pretty warm and humid.  I got a small ice-cream, Butter Pecan flavor, and was shocked that it was $1.75! They were .50 cents when I was a kid! Sheesh. A few cents more would have bought me a ½ gallon at the store! Yeah well. After that, John and I headed home. So I at least got to spend a few hours at the Jacktown summer show this year. Not the time and way I planned, but oh well. The engines and choppers and tractors and Maytag stuff. Kev’s Maytag badge collection. Me with the fan! A few people were wondering how John and I were able to take all the trips we took this spring. The first was Baltimore, which was carefully planned and saved for. I saved money by shopping around on the internet for a deal on a hotel room. We spilt $110 three ways for our weekend room. We saved on gas by using the public transit there. Saved on attractions by finding out about the ‘City Pass’ which gave us HUGE discounts! We spent under $300 for that entire trip- including gas, hotel, attractions, food, and postcards! Would have spent less had I seen the coupons I had for the lunch that day… The trip to Ohio didn’t cost me a dime. That was my dad buying gas so I’d drive through the night and we’d get there when they opened. He also bought the food. Atlantic City was another carefully planned trip. That huge beautiful suite room we had was under $200, and split between six people. It only took a little more then a tank of gas to get there and back. Parking is free at Caesar’s with the rewards card. We cooked in the room, ate at a cheap buffet, and mom bought lunch with her big winnings. John and I each only put $10 toward gambling- any higher bets were made with winnings. The New York City trip was really cheap. I just had to drive from here to Rissa’s. No hotel cost! The bus was only $2.50 a person. The cab ride Renee and I split $10 each. So really, I spent less then $150 for both John and I on that trip. So by planning ahead and searching for deals, we were able to go on some nice trips! This is why I’m planning my wedding so carefully. The “cheap wedding” books only tell you how to get your wedding down to $15,000. I’m planning to get it to under $5000. I’m doing good so far! John is now talking about us taking a trans-Atlantic cruise for our honeymoon, and that is a bit harder to find a great deal on. But I’m working on it. On the 15th, my mom called me to ask if she could come stay at my place for a while. 4 trees and 2 phone poles fell over at the bottom of my parent’s road! No one can drive around it, and everyone has lost power! My mom had to crawl through the branches and walk a mile up the mountain in the hot weather just to get home. She had to grab some stuff before leaving for the night. Something about the bottom of that road right now… cursed? A trailer brakes, next day trees and phone polls fall over? To bad it isn’t time for Celtic Classic, eh? Could have had someone come toss them! Ha ha. ↓ Amy age 8. ↑ Those are the trees after they cut and piled them. ↑ Penis cakes. ↑ Amy 21! On the 18th, my cousin Amy had her 21st birthday! She decided to have a “penis party” with Kuma↓ penis shaped cakes and hot dogs and cheese balls and stuff. She’s a funny one. On the 19th, John got his promotion at work!!! He’s a team lead now. Same job pretty much. Same hours. But a small pay raise. Yippie!!  We also found out that his brothers, Jessie and Allen ‘Bud’ are working at there on weekend nights sometimes through a temp agency. Good for them. Also, my family got a new dog that day. His name is Kuma, and he’s a 7 year old Akita (like Sampson was). July 21-23rd, Renee and her new man Eric stayed at our place. We had a relaxing weekend of watching movies- namely “Fun with Dick and Jane,” “Cheaper by the Dozen 2,” “Starsky and Hutch,” “Stepford Wives,” and “Viva La Bam” {which I was asleep during}. Renee got a new digital video camera/ camera for her birthday, so she gave me her old digital camera. Awesomeness! John was cooking, making everyone nice and fat! A chicken and rice dish, ravioli dish, and pasta shells w/ ricotta and shrimp. We played the “Hard Rock Café RIFF DVD” game that Rissa bought for me. Renee and I had an adventure at Giant and Wal-greens at 3am involving vibrating rings and a shiatsu massage chair. We went to dinner at Starter’s Pub, and to the movies theater to see “Clerks II” and “Click.” Clerks II is way funnier if you’ve seen all the other Jay and Silent Bob movies, which I have. And, warning, they made it to offend people! Ha-ha. Yeah. Good times.  Click was good, but had an unexpected sad part near the end. Also an uber cool moment where Adam Sandler is wearing an Aerosmith shirt. Hell yeah. Oh, the soundtrack to Clerks 2 was BANGING. Yeah. Ohhh… and if you go see it, watch ALLLL the way to the end. Wait for it, wait for it, wait… no, keep waiting… there, the MySpace friends listed. I’m 98% certain that way down on that list you’ll see JamieWriter :) Yeah. It’s down with the W’s. There’s an LA journalist having a cow about the whole “myspace friends” thing! Anyway, here are some of the pics from our weekend. July 24th I watched “Kyle XY” with my mom and Kev. It’s a new show on ABC Family Channel. This teenager was found naked in the woods with NO memory and no belly-button. He’s first learning everything. The brother on the show thinks Kyle is an alien. I’m think he might be a science experiment, like a clone or something like that. After the show, we discussed playing some board games, but Kev was tired. Tuesday the 25th my mom and I watched “Rescue Me.” Wednesday I stayed home and worked on finishing up a big pen-pal mailing project I had going on. So I worked mostly on that, along with checking some e-mail and signing up for mystery shops and on-line surveys. Take Surveys, Influence New Products, Earn Rewards http://fun.mysurvey.com/join.cfm?r=2667492 So then it was Thursday the 27th. Mom, Kev, and I played Scrabble. My mom won. Then we watched “Windfall.” I came home and completed the last pen-pal mailing! I woke up Friday around 3pm- about a half hour after John left for work. It was thundering outside like crazy, but no rain or lightning. So I took a shower and hoped not to get electrocuted. Went to the post office and the UPS store. After the UPS store, I grabbed a Subway sandwich. They brought back Seafood& Crab!!! Alright, that was like 2 months ago, but I don’t think I remembered to celebrate it before. YIPPIE!!! Alrighty then. So then I headed to my parent’s place. John and my Dad were working overtime that Friday; so Mom, Kev, and I opted to have game night! First we played Scrabble, and I won! (Though Kev did make a 50-some point word!) Then we played Trump Apprentice, and my mom won. (Beating Kev and I- who were a team! ) And then we played Cranium, and my mom won again. In Cranium, I was supposed to draw the Golden Gate Bridge. Then later, I was supposed to ‘act out’ being a bridge, and then after that my mom was supposed to sculpt a jail (Alcatraz is closest to the Golden Gate Bridge…). We thought it was funny that these 3 things all went together, like the game had a theme. Ha ha. Oh yeah… Mikey Shadow tried to help too… see? Ha-ha. When John and my Dad got home from work, John and I headed to Hollywood Video. Then we came home. A 60 page letter from my pen-pal Anna was waiting for me! Along with a birthday card, my first one this year! Yay, I feel so loved! Among her many words of wit and wisdom was advice that I shouldn’t be made to feel like a burden for my breathing condition, which is NOT MY FAULT. I was talking to John’s mom the other day. She is not at all happy with Lisa, the woman Jessie is currently dating. Everything was fine at first, I suppose. Jessie was working at the state mental hospital as an orderly, and Lisa was a patient. Yeah. Well she got out, and told him that she had only been in there because the doctor changed her diabetic medicine and wanted to observe her. Okay fine. And they were doing well together. Lisa’s daughter, Destini, is just a little older then Billy. Well it seems that now there is something wrong with Lisa. Apparently she was so messed up on July 4th that she forgot she had a daughter, and forgot how to feed and care for herself. Clearly she has some problems. And she is (or has) going to Assisted Living. Alright, I’m all for her getting the help she needs. And I can be compassionate about the fact that she’s got problems. What gets John’s mom (and me a bit too) is that JJ needs extra taking care of, because of his diabetes. He needs to constantly monitor his sugar levels and have shots. This woman FORGOT she had a daughter, and can’t even care for herself. And this is who Jessie wants for JJ’s new mommy? This is who he wants to leave his child alone with for hours unsupervised while he’s at work? He keeps talking about how he thinks she’ll be so great for the kids. She forgot she had one of her own. Do you see mom’s point? That maybe, right now, she’s not the person you want to leave your child -that needs extra care- alone with. If they figure out how to get her functioning again, okay. But right now, doesn’t it seem weird? And she even told Jessie she doesn’t want to be with the kids right now. Followed up with telling him that she thinks he’s depressed and needs to go on lots of fun anti-depressants and move to assisted living with her and to hell with… what was it again… oh right, his kids!... Yeah. I see John’s mom’s point of view. She’s just worried for her grandkids, as I am worried for my nephews. She’s also worried about Jessie, because Lisa is trying to get him hooked on anti-depressants which Jessie’s doctor told him he doesn’t need. Nice. ♥ Semmy& Ahmed ♥ By the way, my Uncle John is out of the hospital and doing well now. And my pen-pal Sem-Sem (Semmy) that got engaged- she’s married now! Just sent me an e-mail with some pics. AUGUST 2006 On August 1st, I was heading to my mom’s for game night again. I was trying to find my pics from NYC first, because my Aunt Fluffy’s birthday is Aug 3rd. But I can’t find them! Serves me right for totally cleaning everything… So I had to print out a pic from my computer. When we were in NYC I saw a place called “Fluffy’s café& bakery”! Had to show that to her! So, after I got all this printed and stuff, I finally left to go to my mom’s. I get there, and she has me trying to explain the software that came with her digital camera to her. Uhh… right. So after I finally figure all that out, we move on to GAME NIGHT! Scrabble again. Kevin won this time. 96 points for making QUIZ after he made UPON off of my BATTEN. It was a good game. Sadly, during the game, my mom accidentally burned the fish she had on the grill. So we ended up ordering Chinese food instead- yum! Came home and watched the taped episodes from Sunday of THE DEAD ZONE and 4400. By the way, they have FINALLY finished with the porches! No more dirt piles. They are all painted and done now! Wow. In case you’re wondering why the pictures look blurry- that’s because it’s so freaking hot and humid out that the lens on the camera fogged up the second I walked out the door!!! Save me from this heat. Northern Alaska? Shove me in a freezer? Anything… Oh, Allentown FINALLY has its very own STARBUCKS! In the parking lot of the South Mall, which is right by ME!  Prior to its opening, I got hooked on Dunkin’ Donuts blueberry coffee coolata. Who’d have thought blueberry would be a tasty coffee flavor? Well it is! Ever have one? I am also in need of a ‘beauty tip’ here. I have a LOT (like 2 dozen) bug bites. It really looks like a disease or something, it’s awful! They are all pretty much healing, sorta. I put Band-aide brand anti-itch gel on them to dry them out. But they have left these awful little red spots. I’ve been applying Neutrogena multi-vitamin formula and cocoa butter to them everyday. It has made the skin smoother, but hasn’t done very much for the redness. Any ideas on making the red (and/ or pink) spots go away? I’m not a vain person, but people have actually asked me if I was okay. August 3rd I called Fluffy to sing Happy Birthday to her. My mom gave her the card, picture, and candy that I got for her. This was also family game night again! First we played Clue, and I won. (Mrs. White with the Rope in the Lounge!) Then we played four rounds of UNO, of which I won twice, and my mom and Kev each won once. Mikey was watching us. Me winning Clue. Lots of cards in hand! Kev wins UNO! Mom wins UNO. I win UNO. I’m about to win for the 2nd time with this wild card. Mikey! I’ve been hanging out in an MSN chat room called “One Trivia Place” and actually know some of the answers. The morning of August 4th was the coolest, because it asked questions where Metallica and Aerosmith were answers! On August 5th, John and I went to dinner and a movie. We saw Pirates of the Caribbean 2- Dead Man’s Chest. An excellent film, perhaps even better then the first one; and leads me to believe that there will most definitely be a third! We had dinner at Starter’s Pub. I had a Sex on the Beach to drink, and a Swiss BLT mushroom burger. We split an appetizer of Texas Chili potato skins as well. Quite an enjoyable evening. On the 6th John made Baked Angel Hair with Eggplant, and turned it into a birthday treat! Recipe for you to try and/or to pass on is toward the end of this letter. We used a regular eggplant, and John added ricotta. On the 8th, my brother bought “Larry the Cable Guy- Health Inspector” and we all watched that. On the 9th I had two mystery shops, and then went to Starbucks- which was completely relaxing and wonderful. On the 10th, I went with my mom early in the morning to Toys-R-Us in King of Prussia to reset the Disney DVDs there (she was filling in). I also had another mystery shop that day. The morning of the 11th I did a mystery shop for McDonald’s breakfast. Did you hear about the terror alert? Now they don’t let any liquids onto planes. Bath& Body Works shut down a bunch of their airport stores, because everything they sold there is not allowed on planes. And the Duty-free shops are suffering profit loss, because their biggest sellers are perfume and alcohol, which are no longer allowed. I’m wondering how dentists are feeling about the fact that people eat on planes, and now are not permitted toothpaste or mouthwash? Women have to prove that it is really breast milk they are carrying- so how long until some sexual lawsuit comes out of that? But when just the mention of a thought that there might possibly maybe be an attack sometime somewhere has this big of an effect… are we really winning? If someone says they might beat you up toady, and you choose to stay inside and hide under the bed as result, have you won? It just seems a bit off to me, that’s all I’m saying. I was also thinking that, if these terrorist are planning to use toothpaste and breast milk as a cover for explosives, then why not other things from Mission Impossible? Buttons, tie clips, heal of the shoe… So really, shouldn’t we all just fly naked? Believe it or not, I (as a joke) was googling this idea. It’s real. There’s an actual NAKED AIR. Yeah. Now we just need a separate container for the luggage, one towed behind the plane, and there we go. (I’m like 70% kidding.) On another note, I redid my myspace page a bit. Just cleaned and reorganized and added some stuff. So, if you have the net, check it out!  http://www.myspace.com/jamiewriter August 15. Went to sleep around 11am after reading Writer’s Digest and EGM. Woke up around 7pm and got ready to head to my parent’s for game night. While my mom was making dinner and stuff, I told her about the weird dreams I had. One was that there was this huge tarantula spider in my house, which I was trying to kill by sucking it up with the vacuum cleaner. But it was so big that the vacuum couldn’t suck it up! So a neighbor took the vacuum and spider, logged half in and half out of the hose; outside, saying she was going to save it because anything that big and hard to kill was probably endangered. So I pull out my other vacuum cleaner and use it to suck up another spider and its HUGE web, and a smaller spider that was coming down at me from the ceiling. Eww. Okay, three schools of thought on this. Was my dream a result of seeing a 2” brown striped ugly spider on the door of my apartment building when I came home Monday night? Or was it perhaps some deep seeded Freudian sub-conscience thing that’s really about something in my life… like a desire to not have my home invaded by spiders which I can’t stand? Or, option three, do they have some other meaning like my dream dictionary suggests? “To dream of a spider, denotes that you will be careful and energetic in your labors, and fortune will be amassed to pleasing proportions. To see one building its web, foretells that you will be happy and secure in your own home. To kill one signifies quarrels with your wife or sweetheart… To dream of a large spider confronting you, signifies that your elevation to fortune will be swift… To dream that you see a very large spider and a small one coming toward you, denotes that you will be prosperous, and that you will feel for a time that you are immensely successful… If you kill the spider, you will eventually come into fair estate… To see spider webs, denotes pleasant associations and fortunate ventures. To dream of using a vacuum cleaner, denotes that you will soon need to make some decisions concerning a personal or professional relationship. If you do not sort out the situation quickly, complications will arise, causing great confusion.” Have any other thoughts on that? After this fun discussion, we sat down to playing games. Two rounds of UNO, both won by Kevin. Then a game of Head of the Class… series 12 ©1965. Ha ha. I used the “Sis” game piece, Kev used “Brother” and my mom used “Cowboy Joe,” which we mocked throughout the entire game. My mom won. Then we watched Rescue Me. I have a new fav quote, that I saw on Food Network. “It is not the years in your life; it’s the life in your years.” By the way, when I was reading EGM (Electronic Gaming Monthly) there was a comment about North Korea trying to shoot 5 nuclear missiles at Tokyo! Did you hear about this? I didn’t. It’s sad that my news is coming from a comment in a gaming magazine. (The guy was worried about how it would have slowed video game production, and the editor said that if NK really did manage to hit Tokyo with nukes he’d have much bigger problems then a lack of new games.) August 21st was my birthday! I’m enclosing a separate letter with details about my birthday weekend. Kev won. Joey full hand. Draw 2 pile! My Animal Crossing mansion. My animal crossings designs. My Brain Age. On August 22nd, Joey was visiting my brother. My mom, Kev, Joey, and I played a few rounds of Uno. One game lasted less then two minutes. Kev won a game using Wild cards. There was a point where Joey had so many cards in his hands that he could hardly hold them! At point we were all dropping “Draw Two” cards one after the other! Since I got a Nintendo DS for my birthday, my favorite games have been “Brain Age” “Animal Crossing Wild World” and “Nintendogs.” I have a mansion in Animal Crossing. And I’ve been making a couple of designs. Some were easy, like the Aerosmith one. But some required a bit more effort, like the Jack Skeleton and the unicorn. What do you think? I also have my animals giving greetings like “Aerosmith” and “Metallica.” It’s fun! On August 28th I had a mystery shop at Pricerite. The store failed most of the objectives. When there is a rotting banana peel with bugs flying around it, you’re failing. When there is trash everywhere, a bad smell at the door, and carts not taken in while three employees stand around on their cell phones, you’re failing. When you have expired meat, and mislabeled chicken, and expired watermelon cuts- you’re failing! Yeah. I got my Brain Age down to 20, which is the best possible score; on August 30th! That game is really fun. It can be hard sometimes though. I’m not good at Triangle Math. September 2006 For Labor Day this year… I went out and labored! Ha ha. I had a mystery shop at Weis in Whitehall. They passed fairly well I think. There were some problems outside with trash in the cart area and using broken displays to hold plants. And I was supposed to evaluate the pharmacy, but couldn’t because it was closed! (Hey, wasn’t my idea to do the shop on a holiday!) The next day I had a mystery shop at Weis in Emmaus. The parking lot had more litter then I could count. It was sad. Then I get inside the store, and it’s under construction! I couldn’t evaluate the meat and seafood departments, because they were non-existent at the time! Was there anything blocking the aisles? Uh… how about construction equipment? Guys doing stuff in the ceiling, customers trying to avoid getting “dusted” as they attempted to shop. Yeah. Then the woman that bagged my order had no idea what she was doing. Seven heavy cans and a jar of pasta sauce in one dinky plastic bag. It broke. And put the eggs in a bag then throw the heavy Pillsbury biscuit can on them! I’ve seen little children do a better job bagging groceries. Some people think my mystery shopping job is evil, because employees get in trouble. Like I’m the secret police. Well, they can only get in trouble if something is wrong. And yes, when I worked at the dollar store, I was mystery shopped. So I’ve been on the other end of this. But guess what, I got a pat on the head because I was doing my job well. So it does go both ways. People that are doing a good job can get recognized by the higher ups via a mystery shop! And I also have a direct effect on improving stores. The Pricerite store that I’m always doing had a broken cruddy water fountain that was quickly decaying and being used for trash. I mentioned it, and now that broken thing is gone! One less eye sore in the world. Sure, that’s only a tiny difference. But it’s only a small job. Not like I’m a politician or queen or something. I had my myspace page decorated with a picture of NYC and a patriotic theme for Sept 11th. The 16th of September was the Buck. Renee came up for the weekend so she could go with us. It was my parents, Kev, Renee, John, and I. We got there hours before the main gate opens, because we were getting pit passes. We had our hands stamped —with the word HOT— and then we went to dinner at a diner down the road. My mom and I both got the liver and onions. This place served them with gravy and bacon. It was good. Not as good as the place in Scranton though. After dinner we went back to the Buck. We got really good parking facing the entrance/ exit. When parking in a grass field though, no one remembers how to leave in an orderly fashion! We went inside the pit and took a TON of pictures. I think we actually have at least two shots of every vehicle. Plus the pics we took during the actual event! And Renee’s camera has video, so that’s even more! Mischief Maker- Renee& Jamie. Wild Hare- Kev, Jamie, Renee. Persuader. This guy broke down at the start. Jamie& Renee are HOT! Renee’s mom made me a Halloween costume! I’m going to be an angel (wings coming later). Renee is going to be a dark angel. Vinny, her two-year old, is going to be a little devil. And Zane, her one-year old is going to be a cherub. On Sept 18th I had another mystery shop, Pricerite again. They did a lot better this time. Less trash, the bad smell was gone, things were mostly date code fresh. But when I left the store, someone stopped me and demanded to see my receipt. She put a black check mark on it and then walked away. This was probably the exit greeter, but she wasn’t wearing a uniform or a name badge! So, if not an employee, then a security problem. The new fall TV season has begun! I know I watch too much TV (4 times a week), but gotta do something while having dinner! And it’s fun to hang out with my mom and relax watching shows together. So Monday is 7th Heaven (a show that has been UN-cancelled! The new CW brought it back.), and Heroes. Tuesday is Gilmore Girls. Wednesday is One Tree Hill and Kidnapped. Thursday is Smallville, Supernatural, and ER (and taping Ace of Cakes and Good Eats.) On the 23rd I was really sick.  Watched Gilmore Girls season 6 and Alf season 3. That was the weekend I had planned to finish my letters and mail them. But instead I fell behind! I had managed earlier to send a birthday, anniversary, and shower gift to my friend Erica, who’s having TWINS! (Her shower was this month, her son Nick turned 6 on the 29th, and her& Joe’s anniversary was the 22nd.) The 29th is also my pen-pal Dragonkin’s birthday! On Sept 30th, John and I took my mom to see “The Guardian,” which was a really excellent movie! Next month is Halloween, and the birthdays of Anna, Lyle, my mom, my car SPUNKY, Ginger, & my Grammy. Nov will bring John and my 6th years together anniversary, and Thanksgiving. And then Christmas will be around the corner, along with Kev’s 19th birthday. Well, that’s the update for now! Until John has a credit record (which I’m working on), there are no new plans for the wedding. Yes, it does look like we’ll probably have it up here. Yes, outdoor ones are far too expensive. Keep in touch! Love ya! –Jamie Sue Check this out! Movies/ TV series we rented lately: (Scale of 1-10 of like, 10 being loved!) Jarhead-7, Aeon Flux-7, Cheaper by the Dozen Two- 9, Fun with Dick& Jane- 7, Just Friends- 7, Proof- 8 (great love story even if this isn’t a romance movie!), A Sound of Thunder- 9 (a must for ‘Jurassic Park’ fans!), Stay- 6, Yours Mine & Ours- 8, Kiss the Bride- 9, Eight Below- 7, Casanova- 8 (H. Ledger), Two for the Money- 7, An Unfinished Life- 8, Not Another Teen Movie- 6, Man with one Red Shoe- 6, The Shield seasons one two three and four- 8, Syriana- 4, Big Mamma’s House Two- 7, She’s the Man- 8, Benchwarmers- 6, Six Feet Under seasons one two and three- 6 (but the first two episodes sucked), Fat Albert- 7, Flight 93 ((It was a very good movie, but I’m not giving it a grade because it’s an insult to give it less then a 10, but yet a 10 would mean I love it to death and am listing it as a favorite, which isn’t true. So just see it, or don’t, whatever. The girl, Elizabeth, talking to her mom for the last time is the saddest part in my opinion.)), The Snurks- 6, Night Watch- 5, Irish Jam- 6, The Matador- 5, V for Vendetta- 8, The Shaggy Dog- 8, Prison Break season one- 8, Akeelah and the Bee- 7, The Sentinel- 7, Friends with Money- 4, Take the Lead- 8, Desperate Housewives season two- 10, Just My Luck- 7, LOST season two- 9, Under the Tuscan Sun- 7, Triangle (Luke Perry)- 5, Silent Hill- 7, Desperation- 6, Stay Alive- 9, Lucky Number Sleven- 8, Doogal- 5, Stick It- 8, Grey’s Anatomy season two- 9 Pic of me by Renee Take Surveys, Influence Products, Earn Rewards! http://fun.mysurvey.com/join.cfm?r=2667492 Easy Money for surveys! http://www.surveysavvy.com/?id=799190 They pay you to read e-mail! http://www.sendearnings.com/?r=wench7 Finally got my medical ID bracelet in July! And it came with both a normal chain, and a cool beaded one that matches the wedding ring I’m getting! My birthstone is Peridot, John’s is Aquamarine, and the clear would be the diamond. I bought it off of E-bay. The last line is “ICE” and my mom’s cell. (In Case of Emergency- an acronym we all should have in our cell phones!) JAMIE- LATEX ALLERGY RESPIRATORY TROUBLE KEEP ROOM 60f/15C ORGAN DONOR, EXCEPT EYES AND SKIN. TYPE O+ ICE MOM ###-###-#### Baked Angel Hair with Eggplant Recipe courtesy Giada De Laurentiis Recipe Summary Difficulty: Medium Prep Time: 30 minutes Inactive Prep Time: 1 hour 20 minutes Cook Time: 2 hours 5 minutes Yield: 8 servings User Rating: 1/3 cup plus 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil 4 to 6 Japanese eggplants (about 2 pounds total), cut into 1-inch cubes Salt and freshly ground black pepper 1 tablespoon minced garlic 1 pound mild Italian turkey sausage, casings removed 1/3 cup dry red wine 3 cups marinara sauce 1 teaspoon dried crushed red pepper flakes 8 ounces angel hair pasta 1 pound mozzarella, diced 1 cup freshly grated Parmesan 1 (17 1/4-ounce) package frozen puff pastry (2 sheets), thawed Heat 1/3 cup of oil in a large nonstick frying pan over medium-high heat. Add half of the eggplant and toss to coat in the oil. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Saute the eggplant until it is golden and tender, about 10 minutes. Decrease the heat to medium. Add half of the garlic and saute until it is tender, about 2 minutes longer. Using a slotted spoon, transfer the eggplant mixture to a large bowl. Repeat with the remaining 1/4 cup oil and the remaining eggplant and garlic. Add the sausage and wine to the same frying pan. Cook over medium-high heat until the wine evaporates and the sausage is brown, breaking the sausage into pieces with the back of a spoon, about 8 minutes. Add the sausage, marinara sauce, and crushed red pepper to the eggplant mixture, and toss to combine. Meanwhile, bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. Add the angel hair and cook for 1 to 2 minutes, stirring constantly, until pasta is still slightly crunchy and undercooked. Drain. Toss the angel hair with the eggplant mixture. Cool completely. Add the mozzarella and Parmesan and toss to combine. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Roll out 1 pastry sheet on a floured surface to a 13 1/2-inch square. Transfer to a 9-inch springform pan, allowing the excess pastry to hang over the rim. Spoon the pasta mixture into the pan. Place the second pastry sheet atop the pasta filling. Pinch the edges of the pastry sheets together to seal. Trim the overhanging pastry edges to about 1-inch. Fold the pastry edges in to form a decorative border. Cut a slit in the center of the top pastry to allow the steam to escape. Bake until the pastry is brown and puffed on top, about 1 hour and 30 minutes. Let stand for 20 minutes. Remove the pan sides and serve. Episode#: EI1F18 Copyright © 2006 Television Food Network, G.P., All Rights Reserved