trixie | The Plaid Pladd Blog

Posts Tagged ‘trixie’

Epic Solo Roadtrip of Self-Discovery!

December 17th, 2013 by pladd

Sunday I drove like 10.5 hours by myself! Definitely the longest solo roadtrip I’ve ever done–well, obviously Trixie was there so I wasn’t entirely alone. Like other roadtrips in our past, we fought constantly for control of the stereo (she only wanted ABBA, because of course). However, we managed to agree that the audiobook I’d picked out was completely fab. Finally:

Florida!!!

I actually meant to take selfies at each state Welcome Center sign, but this didn’t work out because:

South Carolina: raining
Georgia: no sign???
Florida: pack of ravenous mockingbirds made the parking lot too dangerous to remain stationary for long

Florida gets a bad rap from everyone, of course, as like some crazy lawless place, and I can’t deny that a bunch of weird shit goes down here. But it’s because Florida is basically the US version of Australia. In no other state does nature want to kill you quite so much. You’ve got your weirdass weather: hurricanes, daily torrential storms in the summer, lightning capital of the world some years, freak hail, waterspouts etc. And you’ve got your ridiculous wildlife: snakes, freaking gigantic spiders, alligators, birds that literally have no fear, stingrays, jellyfish, and maybe killer bees.

Last time I visited there was this news story about a guy stopped by the cops for running a stop sign, who leapt out of his car and ran into the wilderness, where he promptly fell into a mangrove and was mauled by an alligator. That kind of thing can’t happen anywhere else, because nowhere else are you living right on top of a swamp that wants its land back.

On the other hand, the welcome center was full of slightly tipsy old people, so some stereotypes are true.

Tagged: florida, roadtrips, trixie

Posted in Let Me Tell You About My Life |

Pink Hair Adventures

February 26th, 2013 by pladd

I’ve had pink hair for a little more than two weeks now, and it is pretty great.

The only bright thing on a gray day

I smile every time I look in the mirror. It’s hard to be sad or annoyed or worried when you look one wardrobe change away from being a cartoon superhero or really punk. Unfortunately, I don’t own any clothes like that, so I just end up looking like me with hot pink hair. Which is still awesome. I knew it would be awesome. I also knew people would generally stare at me, but there were some other things I didn’t expect. Clothes is one of them. I’ve been dressing myself with blondish hair my whole life, so I wasn’t really prepared for a change. Pretty much every color looked okay with my old hair. I guess except yellow or orange, so I don’t own anything like that. With hot pink, there’s more things to consider. Anything pink is probably out, since shades of pink clash, and red generally looks weird too. Even certain purples can look strange, which is unfortunate, since you know my closet is a purple-based ecosystem. It’s also just so bright. So even though my favorite turquoise jacket might look okay next to it, color-wise, I’m then wearing two incredibly bright things at once. It turns out, I own a lot of brightly colored things too, so getting dressed is suddenly a lot more complicated than before. I’m sure I’ll get used to it.

My dad pointed out that since my hair is already over the top, why do I care about the rest?

Maybe that’s true. At a certain point, I just reach a critical mass of colors and it probably doesn’t matter after that. Unfortunately, Cary is no Carrboro, so people don’t randomly compliment how cool my hair is in the street as much, but children make up for this. There were no children in Carrboro, but here they are everywhere, and they freaking love my hair. One girl in the frozen food section of Food Lion just screamed “PINK!” at me at the top of her lungs. One boy followed me around the library, refusing to speak to me, but silently grinning. The only child I’ve encountered who’s not ALL ABOUT this was my cousin Caleb. He’s only 8 months old, and spent a lot of time staring at me warily. Steven wondered if an 8-month-old girl would have done the same, or been more inured to pink being everywhere. I’ll report back when I find some more children to freak out.

BFFs!!!

I’ve also gotten to know a lot of people since dyeing my hair, which I love! It’s definitely a conversation starter, but it also makes me instantly memorable, so two trips anywhere makes me a regular. Even running errands is fun when you have pink hair!! Pretty much everything is fun when you have pink hair. Probably my favorite reaction has been from the senior class that meets at the same time as my aerobics class at the community center. You would think older people would be the most disapproving, but a lot of them seem to like seeing me. “What are you doing today, Flamingo Girl?” They remind me of my grandpa and how he was always friendly with everyone he met. Like him, they just seem to be enjoying life and all of its variety, which includes me and my electric flamingo hair.

Tagged: hair, snow, trixie

Posted in Let Me Tell You About My Life |

DMVentures Continue!

July 28th, 2009 by pladd

I got up earlier than necessary today to write the post below so that I would have fulfilled all other obligations before heading to the DMV to get my car registered here, believing, based on my previous DMVodyssey, that it would take all day.

NOT SO! Here is the evidence, barely half an hour after I originally left:

I like how you can see Steven's reflection in Trixie, the fact that he is not wearing shoes forever preserved

Trixie, naturally, is devastated, and pouted almost the entire way home. Luckily, an SUV winked at her at a stoplight, which I think lifted her spirits a little. Or, at least, proved that she can still be flirty as a North Carolina resident. She says it’ll be okay, as long as she never goes back to Florida. She doesn’t think she could hold her hood up now, amongst all those flashy convertibles with their tramp stamp spoilers.

I’ve anthropomorphized Trixie so much now that, if anything should happen to her, I will probably be inconsolable for days and demand that funerary rights be held.

Tagged: dmv, North Carolina, Steven, trixie

Posted in Uncategorized |

DMVentures! Also, some pictures!

July 24th, 2009 by pladd

This morning I celebrated my mom’s birthday by spending three hours at the DMV to get a North Carolina Driver’s License. This DMVodyssey actually began two days ago, when I realized that we would have to retake the tests before getting a license. I spent the day feverishly reading the handbook and trying to remember the exact distance you should be from the curb when parallel parking. Then yesterday when we started off on this intrepid task, we realized quickly that we had no idea where we were going, having forgotten to look up the address. We decided that we’d definitely seen signs for it around, so got comfortably lost for about an hour, when we finally realized that the signs we’d seen were for “License Plate Agency” not “Driver’s License Agency”. Apparently to increase productivity and frustration, North Carolina splits up their DMV services amongst several smaller offices, all in strip malls of varying sketchiness. At that point, we gave up and bought baked potatoes instead.

Then, this morning, I knew success was at our fingertips! We got there at 9am, with all appropriate paperwork, armed with library books (yeah, library card before driver’s license, that’s how I roll). Unfortunately, fifty-three other people had arrived before it even opened and only two people were working. Since there was no room to wait inside, Steven and I spent the majority of the three hours sitting on the concrete curb outside. Luckily, lots of people gave up! And, finally, our perseverance was rewarded:

Yay!!!! It's like a Biblical fable, really. If you just wait long enough in the smell of cigarettes and desperation, you too can have a piece of plastic with your picture and organ donor status.

Read the rest of this entry »

Tagged: apartment, dmv, moving, North Carolina, pictures, Steven, trixie

Posted in Uncategorized |

Roadtrip: Lightning Round! Winning Strategies

July 14th, 2009 by pladd

At the beginning of the final leg of this great race, I seem to have developed a much different strategy for success than my two esteemed competitors. Trixie has been enjoying the last day of living in the comfort of a garage by giving herself a full spa treatment, which includes doing meditative ignition exercises and only listening to the smooth jazz radio station. She even asked me to cut up round slices of melon to put on her windshield “for moisturizing” but I reminded her that her coat of wax would probably make that difficult. She accused me of attempted sabotage and I grudgingly bought her a full tank of gas. This partnership is already fraught with difficult.

Steven, in his usual inability to judge how long things will take, has apparently spent the last three days in non-stop packing activity, taking short breaks to steal shipping materials from behind businesses and, inexplicably, to engage in a little light woodworking. Since he’s been too busy to even talk to me, I can only assume that this is all part of a strategy to psych us out and make us overly confident. TOO BAD, Steven Wiggins, because I’ve totally read The Tortoise and the Hare, as well as its many variations “The Tortoise and the Hare Race to the Moon” or “M.C. Turtle and the Hip Hope Hare: A Nursery Rap”, (seriously). I’M A LIBRARIAN, YOU CAN’T FOOL ME WITH YOUR AESOP’S FABLE TRICKS! Naturally, Trixie and I will be upping our game to deal with this fake out.

Trixie suggested–in a strange fit of mature cooperation–that we get a book on CD from the library to avoid at least a few hours of fighting over the stereo (if she had her way it would be Taylor Swift’s “Love Story” for the full 12 hours). Unfortunately, there was only one checked in:

It's like Gossip Girl but with SPIES, apparently

I was disappointed that we couldn’t listen to Harry Potter to get psyched for the movie on Wednesday, but Trixie called me a nerd and said that she could tell from the cover that this would be A-MAZING! I can only hope she is not leading me astray. She also pointed out that, since her hood extends a few feet from the driver’s seat, she will technically cross any finish line before me. I explained that I planed to park, get out, and run screaming across before coming back for her. She explained that she would use that opportunity to crush my legs.

I bet there’s a psychological disorder where you anthropomorphize all inanimate objects around you with real pills and self-help books and everything.

Anyway, since I will be leaving around 6am to avoid Tampa rush hour, I imagine this is the last you’ll be hearing from me for awhile. Hopefully I will have the Internet working in the apartment before Friday, when I can update you on the glories of North Carolina and, most importantly, who won this exciting competition, although the Twitter box on the right should have a blow by blow account as I can update from my phone.

See you on the other side.

Tagged: roadtrip, Steven, trixie

Posted in Road Trip |

The Road Trip: LIGHTNING ROUND!

July 3rd, 2009 by pladd

Just when you thought it was over!

In the previous month of this competition, the competitors had to work together as a team to beat the clock–or, I guess, the calendar–and the fuel gauge, using up as little resources to see as much of the country as possible. Although they admitted defeat somewhere in the Midwest 8000 miles was enough to qualify them for The Lightning Round! [insert thunder sound effect]. In this round, competitors will be PITTED AGAINST EACH OTHER in a no-holds-barred, anything-goes, wash-and-wear all out race to the finish line, Carrboro, North Carolina, “the Paris of the Piedmont”, and home to the Invisible University of North Carolina, according to Wikipedia and the University’s self-proclaimed king. Unfortunately, I have to take the bus to Chapel Hill and attend the boring, visible University of North Carolina there in the fall.

Although this leg of the race is significantly shorter than the previous rounds, it’s still nothing to scoff at, especially since each competitor will be traveling a DIFFERENT ROUTE:
Read the rest of this entry »

Tagged: Carrboro, North Carolina, roadtrip, Steven, trixie

Posted in Road Trip |

Roadtrip: The Debriefing

June 12th, 2009 by pladd

Now that The Road Trip has officially been over for about a week I decided it would be a good time to reflect on it as a whole, since enough time has passed that Steven is no longer complaining about lack of Sonic and Trixie has had a bath. Also, I just remembered I’m bound by capital letters to update every Tuesday and Friday.
The Road Trip
8000 Miles
21 Days
14 States
5 Romance Novels
and Way Too Much fast food
Read the rest of this entry »

Tagged: interview, pictures, roadtrip, Steven, trixie

Posted in Road Trip |

Times I Have Almost Died: Tiremergency

June 6th, 2009 by pladd

I have a video of myself explaining this harrowing incident just after it happened, but it’s hard to understand me given the noise from the road and the awesomeness of my pigtails. So I’ll try to use my words.

The roads around Turkey Creek, Tennessee are actually mostly paved at this point, for varying definitions of the word “paved”, but there’s still plenty made of gravel, which Trixie was definitely upset over. She’s already been complaining about how hard it is to look cute and flirt with SUVs when you’re covered in smashed bugs, so all the dirt and little rocks were not helping her general attitude. Then, as we were bidding our farewells to the allergy-happy farmland a strange orange light in the shape of an exclamation point appeared on the dashboard. Remembering the snowflake incident, when Trixie miraculously predicted the odd snow in Houston this year with an indicator light (Bova saw it! It’s true!), I assumed this only could herald doom. Steven, being less excitable, looked it up in the manual and discovered it meant Low Tire Pressure.

Trixie’s first flat tire! From getting a big sharp rock stuck in the wheel! I assume she did it on purpose for attention, like a car version of a tantrum. So Steven changed the tire. The only major incident was when he refused to believe that the spare was a for reals tire and not just a fake one that we’d need to replace. After comparing the serial numbers with the one we took off he proclaimed Trixie to be “magical” or at least “more expensive than mine”. While changing the flat, a grizzled old man in a pickup stopped to ask if we needed some help. I told him we were good, so he offered us some Juicy Fruit and then went on his way.

Tagged: flat tire, miracle, roadtrip, Steven, trixie

Posted in Road Trip |