some rants and some raves...

bureaucratic red tape...what's the deal? can one ever escape it? i simply want to have my baby, which is covered by insurance, and also receive the maternity leave which is legally entitled to me. ha. well, i can certainly have my leave and get my 66% of my salary granted i confirm it, and fill out copious amounts of paper, from numerous state and starbucks groups. i had no idea the depths to which i would have to crawl to make this work.

and this comes after my vain attempts at cashing in on savings bonds. of course, since they have my maiden name on them (mind you, my maiden name is now my middle name), the bank refuses to cash them. i have my old license, my marriage license, my old social security card...but alas, i could be a fraud, a thief, or better yet...a terrorist? of course, for all those covert government agencies that are now putting a watch on me for caustically alluding to my self as the "t" word, i do not subscribe to any radical, fundamentalist groups, spiritual or otherwise. although, i did work for greenpeace for one month, 2 years ago.

anyway...the least stressful part of living, having a baby, getting married (in no set order) is actually doing those things, contrary to popular belief. we stress ourselves out more by all the information overload and proof we have to have that we actually are in these situations. clearly, i'm pregnant. hmph.

so the rave this week? NORTH PARK. my jared's lovely new starbucks (which so happens to be one that i was supposed to work at) is nestled in the fine community just east of downtown SD, and boasts a wonderfully eclectic crowd of folks who i love being around. the houses are quaint little craftsmen beauties and the shops still lack the letters "corp." behind their name (save starbucks, of course). jared and i have agreed that this is definitely a place we wouldn't mind living come early next year. obviously too poor to buy, i would not mind at all renting one of the cute cottages down the road.

which leads me to the whole reason behind moving...our beautiful, precious gift from God. of course, i haven't actually seen anything but the definitive spine in the ultrasound, but i'm telling you, our baby is the most beautiful EVER. hands down. i have this inkling that it's a boy, but not enough to state it to the whole world. of course, i have random strangers telling me it's a boy because i'm carrying so high...but who really believes that? awww...it could be my little noah...or chloe. but for now, we'll just call it "noe"...sounds good enough. it's been kicking so much. i think it must have had the hiccups last night because it was relentlessly moving around like a little snake. it was the most bizarre thing to lay there and see my belly button roll with each squirm. i love my little nocturnal baby. last week i finally decided i was big enough to put headphones on the belly...and boy did the baby go crazy! i'm not sure if it was from shock and annoyance or sheer joy, but it was nonstop kick-fest for 1/2 hour. and despite the discomforts of pregnancy, the joy of this baby outweighs anything else...and because of that, my baby gets the vote for rave of the week (but then again, the baby gets my vote every week...forever).