Last week was frantically busy, at least in my own head -- which is why no shenanigans appeared in this space. I had no attention span at all. I've still got last week's to-do list posted on my computer, and only a few things are crossed off. It was busy at work, and everything else has been especially crazy because of my apartment painting and recarpeting. The birds stayed with Jenfu, while I stayed with Jenfu and La Wade and even camped out on my own floor. Insanity!

On Friday, I brought the birds back home. They've been little troupers through the whole thing, even though they were squeezed into a little cage that they hated, then stored in a closet for a week, then taken on BART, then dropped right in the middle of the BART station (thank god they didn't fly out of the cage; the bottom dropped out completely), and now they are living on the floor because I don't have any furniture to put them on.

Speaking of the floor, I suggested to my landlord that we get some sort of gray (maybe medium gray) carpeting, which I thought would go nicely with the bright blue of my bedroom and the pale yellow of my living room. (The bedroom is a little too dark; the living room is a little too light, but overall the colors came out nice.) I mentally prepared myself -- since I hadn't seen the carpet -- for ugly, thin, industrial-looking gray. But no! The carpet is very nice and plush -- and teal. My carpet is teal.

Does the teal carpet go well with the pale yellow walls? Almost. Not really. Maybe if you are a parrot, as Harmony said. Does the teal go well with the bright blue bedroom? Why no. No, it does not.

I'm going to maybe think about getting an area rug for the bedroom to cover up as much of the teal as possible. I'm not sure what I'm going to keep in there besides my bed; probably bookshelves and a dresser. (Maybe I will get a reclining chair and a fake dead polar bear rug, and call it a library.) The desk and TV are both going to go into the living room, along with the birds. (I'll probably keep them on the file cabinet for now, or get a bird stand.)

I think the living room will be very interesting once I get my pink couch. (Pink couch, yellow walls, and teal carpet? Maybe I'll buy a life-sized cardboard Elton John cutout and stand it in the corner, and the horror will be complete.)

Anyway, I appreciate the plushness and newness of the carpet, and it certainly does have "personality" if you consider "terrifically tacky" to be a type of personality. And the vinyl they put in for the kitchenette area is very nice, so there's that.

This weekend I am going to try and hit up garage sales to get some of the furniture I need. I don't have a furniture budget at all, but I need to get a couch, a dresser (right now I have three dressers: one is too small, one is falling apart, and one is too big and inefficient), a desk, a desk chair, a wine rack, a coffee table, a nightstand, and probably another bookshelf for my bedroom/library.

I sure do miss my digital camera these days. I would love to take before and after pictures of my house. Or maybe just a picture of me pointing at the carpet and crying.

Other than the bird moving, this weekend we had Candlemas (or Eastermas or Peepmas or Cat Hairmas or whatever we decided to call it) at Shannon's house on Sunday. Humboldt Fog is my new favorite cheese; it is amazing. We also had macaroni and cheese that was divine (better than they have at Home Restaurant) and asparagus, and edible flowers, and strawberry shortcake! Yet another amazing Mas meal. Next month is my turn: Teal Carpetmas. I think the menu will be pizza and microwave popcorn.

I also somewhat accidentally booked a hotel room in Tahoe on Priceline, and spontaneously went with some friends who wanted to learn how to gamble: Jenfu and Ian. First stop was Pancake Circus with Beth and Jeremy, and then the lovely lake and the casino, etc.

I unfortunately didn't win any money, although I had a little luck at craps. But we had a lot of fun anyway, and we're looking forward to TUSCon in Vegas.

My favorite gambling story was when Ian won 200 credits on a penny slot machine, and it had to be hand-paid because the machine didn't dispense pennies I guess. The attendant came by, looked at the screen and said, "Woah! We'll take your picture!" and then mimed taking a picture, like they do with all the big winners. "Does he get a big check with his name on it?" I asked. The attendant just kept laughing as he handed Ian his jackpot: two crisp $1 bills.

That's about it for this weekend's adventures. Bruce was here last weekend and we did a whole bunch of fabulous stuff that I will write about as soon as I get the pictures. (Speaking of which, Dan put up a bunch of pictures from his trip here, so go check that out -- also his Israel photos from the previous entry are amazing.)

While Bruce was here, his new nephew was born: on April 4 (04/04/04) at 4:04 p.m.! He weighed 4 pounds, 15 ounces. (Yes, he was a preemie. But he came home yesterday and is doing fine.) When I was in Tahoe I bet "4" on the roulette wheel a bunch of times in his honor, but I lost. Whatever, new nephew.

Other than that, I'm going to be spending this week trying to decorate my house. (Motifs suggested thus far are "cruise ship" and "school textbook.") I'm also going to a show this week, we have a Boozecon this weekend, I'm going to New York in a couple of weeks.

On a more dorky note, The Office: Series 2 comes out on DVD on the 20th, and you can bet I'm right on top of that. If anyone can make me feel better about my color scheme, it's David Brent -- he would definitely approve. Maybe that's the cardboard cutout I should get.