train vs car travel

Going home to Bakersfield in 16-17 days and I need to decide, train or car.

Both take about the same amount of time and cost about the same. My dad has graciously offered to help me pay for it.

Cons to train:

Train leaves Chico at 3am.

I have no transportation in Bakersfield for the couple of days I'm there, meaning I either have to rely on other people to drive me around or borrow a car.

I have no way to lug any gifts back or down. Back is no problem, I don't want anything this year but down would bum me out.

Also it's cheaper to leave at 3am Christmas Eve and arrive Christmas Eve day at 130pm than the Thursday previous.

Train is slightly more than car in gas (although gas prices could go up before X-Mas eve) but...

I have to get someone to pick me up and drop me off at both ends of the trip.

I have to be more selective in what I pack and when I go and come back.

Definitely no chance to me zipping over to SLO for a day, but then again who is going to be home anyway?

Pros to train:

Train arrives in Bakersfield at 1:15pm

I only have to ride the bus for one hour if I get a certain route. Everything else is glorious train with snack cars and bathrooms and electrical outlets.

I can sleep on the train (no I know I won't, but the idea is there)

I have anxiety when I drive alone on long country roads. I only developed it living in SLO and taking the two shitty roads out of SLO to Bakersfield. I will be going alone this trip I'm pretty sure and the drive back always takes 12 hours. ALWAYS.

Ben can watch the cat, my house, and my car while I'm gone. Other than the 3am drop off/pick up times, I'm sure he'd have no problem with it.

So internet, what do you think I should do?

crush crush crush

Halloween was so fun this year. Ben and I went to see my friend Dain's cover band and throughly rocked out. We had tacos before hand. Ben was a bunny. I was of course the Lady Hello Kitty.

Speaking of Ladies, I only saw two Lady Gaga's this year. One did have her hair rolled up in cans like in the "Telephone" video though.

Treat Street was fun. There was one other Hello Kitty and she was adorable. Probably about four years old. She took of RUNNING across a booth to hug me. It was really sweet. Actually most of the kids were very sweet and cute.

Ben came over last night and we ate Jack O'Lantern pizza and tried to watch movies but we couldn't get into either movie he brought. We talked a lot and he ate some of the candy he told me I needed to buy (not one trick or treater came by the way, I'm going to have candy for months) and he giggled at me because I got irrationally jealous of these two broads he knew before me. Yeah, hi, I'm SANE. Ha ha.

The thing about Ben is that I can say anything to him. And he makes me laugh. And reminds me to eat and sometimes I wake up and see that he's done my dishes or fixed some other disaster in my house. Like when the cat broke my dvd player (no really she snapped a wire) he fixed it. He fixed my computer. He came to rescue me when I ran out of gas. He fusses over me a little bit, I think because he knows I'm kind of a baby and need that sort of thing. At least at home. And his parents seem to like me for some reason or another, even when I show up at their house dressed like Hello Kitty.

My parents are mostly to thank for my Halloween. My gosh my dad and Mama D bought my costume and gave me a little Halloween Bonus so I could have some fun. Ben helped a ton too but with the way Chico is, it was nice to have some extra scratch in case I wanted to take a cab.

It was definitely fun to celebrate again. I do LOVE Halloween but for the last three years didn't really celebrate at all. Last year I did dress up but ended up in a fight with my ex at the end of the night so really...

Anyway I had a nice weekend. I have a band rolling through the station today at 1 to play and Novembeard starts tonight as well. I have to roll out to Duffy's after work to support all my guys in growing their beards "for the kids."

Looking forward to Thanksgiving. I miss my folks and I can't wait to go home. Seriously.

the rah rah rah heard round the world

"Bad Romance" just turned one. One song... Seriously changed my life. Ask anyone.

how to piss off a radio dj in 30 seconds or less

Okay for those of you not in radio let me start by saying this: a radio DJ's headphones are like... well they're like their LIVES. Headphones are one of the few things most of us will shell out some serious bank on (and really when you're in our business anything over five bucks is serious cash, but I digress) and most people have a pair that cost a MINIMUM of 70+ dollars. At least.

They are also kind of a personal item. I mean we wear them on our heads and our ears, and clean as anyone is, that's kind of some intimate contact. As a rule, most people don't share hairbrushes and q-tips, so you get the idea.

What some people do not understand is that headphones are a piece of sensitive equipment and being the neurotic crazy people most radio folks are, we do fetishize them a tiny bit and probably are overly sensitive about our personal pairs. It's pretty rare to lend them out and often times it's almost impossible to use someone else's because your pair sounds and feels the way you want them to. These are your ears, so to speak and using someone else's headphones is like trying to hear with someone else's ears. Even if you're comfortable rubbing something on your head that's been on someone else's head (and believe me, I've borrowed a pair here and there for various reasons) most of the time it just feels, weird.

Anyway back to the point... I don't lend my headphones out very often. I'm obviously extremely crazy about them. While I didn't purchase them personally, they weren't cheap and I can not imagine being able to afford to replace them with a comparable pair any point in the near future. I also can't see myself using anything but these. I love them.



That being said, I do on occasion let someone else use them. Like I let Jeremy use them for like five minutes the other day when he was learning the board/automation system again and he gave them back to me in the same condition I handed them to him in, because yo, V-Rock gets it, right? But when I lend them out and they come back to me... well okay with the cords all wrapped up around the headband/ear pieces that makes me nuts, because it does damage the wires inside the cords. Think about when you pinch off a hose to stop the flow of water if that doesn't make sense. Or when I lend them out and then have to go track down the adapter that plugs into the mixing board because someone either left it plugged into the board or just pulled it off and left it on the counter? Man that makes me see red, because what if it's lost? How do I do my show without being able to plug myself into the board?

Other things people have done that almost drove me to a rage fit... wearing too much hair gel and using my headphones (so gross!) not putting them back in the drawer or handing them to me, you know just tossing them on a desk, out of their little bag? Arrugh maddening. Or tangling the cords and just leaving them knotted up. Taking them without asking? Man I want to cut a bitch when that happens, and when you work in a place without locking drawers, cabinets, etc, it will happen. (Both the stealing of headphones and the me cutting a bitch.)

Am I the only one who's this crazy?