7:45

7:45
Originally uploaded by purekatherine

I'm not quite as far as I'd like to be right now. I'd originally intended to read 1/5 of my assignment in each of the 5 days I have to do that, but when I realized I have another book that I should be reading before Monday I decided I might want to move through this one a bit faster. So I'm hoping for at least 1/4 of the assignment for each day, but closer to 1/3, so maybe I'll do a little more during commercials or after my shows?

6:30

6:30
Originally uploaded by purekatherine

Getting there! Now it's time to move around a bit again, but I'll read for another half hour or so before Ugly Betty and the rest of the ABC Thursday line-up!

5:15

5:15
Originally uploaded by purekatherine

To be able to see my progress and to have a reason to take some breaks, I will be sharing some pie charts on my reading Jane Eyre. This is the first, from 5:15 today. I actually read this and finished it around 4:30, but then I had to create a Mii on my new roommate's Wii and get within 300 points of pro status in bowling.

Now I go to read at least another 20 pages, what's represented there is that I have read 11 pages of 208 that are to be read before noon on Tuesday.

Goals

I've got some goals for this year that I'm now actively working on, and I kind of feel like I can make them happen.

☑ I will not get another parking ticket for the rest of the year. I just paid off more than $350 in them, and I am not so happy about that, so I won't bother myself with them again.

☑ I will not get another over draft/late/over limit fee on credit cards or checking accounts again. I'm officially on the good side of my credit card balances, and will continue to work on staying that way by sending them money, and not using them. Weird how simple that is, huh?

☑ I will finish this list later, as I started it last night when I got disconnected from the internet, and now I can't remember lots of other things that I wanted to include.

Annoying people

I'm in the English Study room on campus, and there are two guys in here who are annoying me to no end.

They seem to have graduated in 2006, and think that they have all the answers to life since getting out of high school.

I'd like to slap them. None of us have any answers idiots!

Really kind of want to do this.

Friendly Folding Keychain - More DIY How To Projects

Not with my car key, since that seems like a lot of bulk to have hanging from a key while driving and that's not supposed to be the greatest thing, but for my others it would be nice!

School is definitely in

In order to stay on top of everything for school, I have been seriously slacking on blogging. That is ok though, right? I mean, is anyone really going to be mad at me for neglecting my blog in order to get an A in each of my 6 classes?

I'm starting to get into a bit of a routine, so let's hope that I'll update soon!

Saturday Happenings

For a Saturday that I thought had nothing going on, I did quite a lot today.

I slept in compared to the last two days that I was working for Laura's dad, which I actually really enjoyed, and then just kind of laid in bed and looked for a new place to live until about 1 when I called a guy who had a promising ad. He was free for me to see it right then, so I decided to go. I figured that if I wanted the place, there was probably a decent number of other people who also would want it, so I better act fast, right?

The place seemed fine, and if I had to live there or nowhere I wouldn't be opposed to it, but I don't think that I would be the best fit for that situation. They have a dog who was really excited, but he wasn't mentioned in the ad. Not a big deal, but it kind of makes me wonder if there is some other detail that I need to know that is being left out.

I also made some plans to meet up with a girl to see her place tomorrow.

At 2 I got to meet up with Liz to go buy our text books for this semester. I spent $231.16 on them. That part wasn't so fun, but catching up with Liz was! We're going to get together on Monday before class for lunch. I totally forgot just how much I missed her!

After I dropped Liz off again I drove past the house I'm going to see tomorrow and I like the look of it from the outside, so that's good! Then I came home and intended to look up my textbooks online to see if I can buy some for a better rate and return the ones I got today, but instead I could barely keep my eyes open so I put on an episode of The Colbert Report courtesy of Hulu and laid down to take a break for 20 minutes or so. An hour later I woke up right at the time my mom was supposed to pick me up for box office duty for Wild Party.

Box office was not as bad as I expected it to be. I think I might volunteer to do spotlight for the next show. I always get annoyed with the spotlights when I'm watching a show, so why not participate and remedy that?

When we finished there my mom took me out to Hamburger Patties for some dinner, and Jeff and Greg joined us after they finished the show. I always forget that they have karaoke there, so it was a bit loud. We kept talking about doing a song, and then Greg just went to sign us up. He sang Proud Mary and Jeff and I danced backup. I made the mistake of inviting some random guy up though, so Jeff and I couldn't do our amazing Kati and Jeff-ness with him on the tiny stage as well.

That was the end of our meal though, so I headed over to Streets of London where Laura and a bunch of the guys were, only to have us all wander around midtown until we could meet up with one of her dodgeball and kickball teammates. The rest of us then just walked home, and I found a few replies to the ad I posted on Craigslist earlier. One of them I actually went to an Incubus concert with in Tahoe, so we'll see how that all goes!

Now it's time for bed, because it's 3 am. Hopefully I'll get to sleep well! Wish me luck with the roommate search.

Project Pipeline

As much as I talk about not really wanting to teach in California, I would really like to be able to get into a classroom sooner, rather than later. So, next week I'm going to attend an information session about Project Pipeline to see just what I can do about that.

I still have a lot of work to go into my BA in English, but I think something like this will help me know what I can be doing after that.

Also, I really wanted to be asleep already, but my poor roommate is sick and throwing up every 10 minutes or so, and the toilet is about 10 feet from my head when I'm in bed.

It's happening again

She's gorgeous. They're gorgeous. I believe that they are genuinely happy. I don't see how those qualities can be anything but amazing for us as a whole. No matter what you feel about policy, I really believe that a little love is nothing but good for figuring out the best things for all involved, and I refuse to believe that the love and joy in those expressions is anything other than genuine.



Please don't say that she's copying Jackie. Yes, her style is very reminiscent of our last Lady of Hope, but that's because they both understand classic looks.



Even when she looks pissed she looks amazing, and seriously, would you want to mess with that look?


I might be a little bit jealous of the fist bump.

I feel fat.

You know one benefit of being so sick that you can't eat, and constantly feel like you're going to throw up?

Losing weight.

That is not the kind of sick that I am. I am the kind of sick that I can't sleep for more than an hour and a half even when I'm dead on my feet. After talking to Daren just before 7 this morning I got up for a couple of hours, ate a bit because my stomach was almost screaming at me, and then I was finally able to fall asleep for a couple of hours and really rest. I got out of bed again around 3 or 4, and made sure to get some more food, to keep my strength up.

I've also been really good about staying hydrated. Because of the lack of activity, the normal intake of food and the greater intake of water, I've gained back the weight that I lost a couple weeks ago. Hopefully it's just a temporary thing and as soon as I can stand to be out of bed again I will be and it will drop right off!

In other news, I'm thinking of dropping my prices on everything in my shop. I don't have the space to be able to create right now, and I'd really like to just get rid of some of it. I'm not usually a big fan of discounting, but it's kind of costing me more to store them than it's worth. I think I'll make my decisions on that in the next couple of days, and maybe start to change them at the end of the week.

6 courses?

I just signed up for a 6th course for this semester.

I have no idea if I can actually do this. I've been wanting for a long time to finish my degree and get out though, so I might as well really go for it, right?

I am going to bed as soon as I finish posting this, in hopes of getting to school tomorrow and talking with an academic advisor to see just how much I have to finish, and where I should go from here. Then I should have a pretty good idea of whether or not i really need to betaking 6 courses, or if maybe one of these ones isn't necessary at all.

I'm also hoping to get to Dimple Records in Davis tomorrow to sell some DVDs and talk to Vanessa about a possible part time job. Wish me luck!

Sleep

I've been sleeping a lot lately. Like, a lot, a lot.

It has crossed my mind that this may be a symptom of things that I'd rather not see happening again, but since I'm not seeing any other symptoms to accompany it, I think I'll be ok. I think it has more to do with not having anything do to.

I would love to feel like I had space to do something and start sewing a bit, or making more jewelry, but I really don't feel like I can do that here. I'm trying pretty dang hard, but there always seems to be something that they're doing that feels like a slap in the face. At times I've thought about finding another roommate who is nit picky about the common areas being clean too, but I don't really think that would work.

I can't think of anything in this house that I use that belongs to one of my roommates, so at least other than moving costs it isn't really going to cost me anything to live on my own!

Dots and great soda

My idea of the perfect random gift...

I recently found out that my love of Dots may not be as random as I thought.

It seems that my father is pretty fond of them as well. I do think I'm a little more picky about them though, as I eat the orange, red, green and yellow ones before I go for the pinks. It would be really amazing to have a box of just the pinks.

Oh, and a nice bottle of either of these wouldn't hurt to wash it down.

I need a new place

You know what's worse than living in a bad apartment?

Living in a potentially amazing one with horrible roommates.

We have ants.

As with everything else that has happened in this house, I seem to be the only one who cares. And of course, guess whose room they decided to trek to from the opposite side of the living room. I have other things I need to get done today, so I'll write more about how amazing this apartment could be later.

Beds are nice.

I was determined to go to bed just after 11 tonight. Since it is now 12:09, I obviously failed.

Tomorrow I will hopefully be able to get myself up earlier than normal though. I definitely know that I will sleep well, which should help with getting up, right?

I haven't mentioned yet that I bought this lovely thing at Bed Bath and Beyond a week ago. I've recently realized that the biggest reason I don't drink as much water as I'd like is that I have to leave my room to do so. Not something I really like to do when it's this cold out. When I do get the energy to go out to the colder kitchen, I'd much rather have a roy rogers if I have soda in the fridge anyway, even if I want to cut back on my soda intake. So now I have a 2.2 liter bottle in my room.

I tend to pour it into a cup and drink from that until it's about half full. I'm up to about 3/4 of it in one day. I hope that it will help me to save some money, since I have about $2 to my name at the moment!

Provo Acoustic

This is for anyone who has made any sort of jokes about Utah to me recently.

Anyone who enjoys good acoustic music would probably also enjoy it. There is an option to "Play All Videos" on the right. You should go for that.

Lighter subject material as promised; The EX

One thing that I'm really looking forward to in moving is creating what will truly be my own space. I've had a set of plates for a few years that I totally love, but as is life in shared spaces, they have been bumped and chipped, and recently stained. They are still more than useable, and I intend on passing them onto my brother as soon as I can. I have decided to start accumulating things for an actually decorated kitchen though!

It started with a wood sign that I got from my Papa for Christmas. It's red. I currently have nothing that is red. My bedroom is all blues and greens, and there's no real escaping that as I truly adore my bedroom. My couch is blue, and a shade that would feel very country if paired with the red, and country simply isn't my style. So the kitchen will get the sign, and I will get to buy new things for it!

I've tried really hard to find a down side to this, and haven't yet come up with a real one.

I've already seen a couple of dish sets at Bed Bath & Beyond that I love and would work for a red white and black kitchen, which only makes me more eager to find an awesome place and get into it! Then I find things like this...

I don't think I even need to say anything, do I? It's a knife block that's a dude!

It's called The Ex. I love it. I saw it in a still from the movie Yes Man and I had to find it. For the record, I believe I googled knife holder man, and he was the first thing to come up.

Help me forget!

I recently heard something that I'm not even 100% sure that I heard. I didn't want to see anything in the moment, but now it's kind of getting to me. I really don't want to make anything big out of this because it's way too early to be thinking about issues like this at all, but that doesn't change that it's bothering me.

Sorry to be so cryptic, but I needed to vent, yet I can't really get detailed about it without it probably turning into a bigger event than I'd like.

I'll do my best to have a much more interesting post after I get some errands done tomorrow (later today).

Nerd vs Geek vs Dork

Awesome pin by Ursula and Olive

In the pool of high school outcasts there are a few common labels. While I wouldn't exactly consider myself an outcast, I definitely am not 100% mainstream, so the question becomes, which of those terms fit me?

I have to admit that I'm not actually sure. I tend to use all three pretty interchangeably.

So I'm asking for some help. What are your interpretations of the words, "Nerd," "Geek," and, "Dork?"

Maybe if I had a better understanding of the differences between them I would know what to really say that I am.

PS, there's a bit of discussion going on about it here.

I washed my hands in a puddle today.

Today I decided to be a good daughter (and maybe I needed someone to buy me a tank of gas). My dad is moving out of my mother's house this weekend (they've been apart for 14 years, she let him stay there for a few months at a time that it was needed, no dig emotional deal, no worries). This of course means that I children are expected to be there in the hauling and dropping of furniture. We started today with renting a truck and going to the storage unit he's got most of his stuff in now so tomorrow will go a lot smoother with unloading, loading, and then unloading again. Really, I swear that elimination of the first loading will make tomorrow heaven compared to most moving days.

We found a broken jar of pear butter, which of course needed to be cleaned with supplies that we didn't have. I went to the office and was able to get a trash bag, but I didn't even think to really ask for anything else. Once I got as much of the glass as I could possibly get with just my hands, we decided that it was in a spot that we could kind of avoid, and put some paper over it because it was gross. I then went to go wash my hands in the office.

That's hard to do when they left for what was posted to be a 45 minute lunch about 2 minutes before that.

Have I mentioned yet that it was raining just enough to get everything we took out of the unit soggy? Well it was. (I'm not complaining about the rain, as I know we need it, and I actually love it. Our timing I'm not a big fan of though.) I had way too much pear butter on my fingers to just wipe it off somewhere though. Looking down while calling my dad to let me back in the gate I noticed an accumulation of rain that is commonly called a small puddle. It looked like the only choice I really had, so I took it.

I don't care what anyone thinks about Sacramento weather, rinsing your hands in puddle water and then not being able to dry them off before the wind gets to them makes them colder than I really remember them being.

It was not exactly an enjoyable experience, and I may start carrying wet naps.

(Sorry for all the parenthetical comments, it's late. Also, why did I not know that my dad made pear butter, and why did I not get any?)

Ok, I'm game!

Go buy some stuff from Sophie! Her stuff is awesome!

And now onto my real post!

I know it's entirely cliche and expected to blog about plans and resolutions today, and I'm not usually one for following crowds too closely, but I still have some things to share today!

I think this year might actually get to be my traveling year that I've wanted for a while now. Whether it's repeated visits to a place I never thought I'd have a desire to see, or meeting travel goals I've had for years; I'd like to take a trip every other month or so. Maybe more often that!

Part of that I hope will include an awesome summer road trip, hopefully with some company for at least part of it, and lots of new places along the way!

To be able to take these trips, I will need to have a better handle on my finances. This is why I need to wrap this up and get to writing some cover letters to send in tomorrow!

Please wish me luck, and I'd love some suggestions on that money stuff, as well as where to go on these trips!

Flat Irons are Amazing.

I've taken to curling my hair on a relatively regular basis lately, and after a compliment from a particularly reliable source, I decided to stop borrowing my roommate's flat iron and invest the whole $14 in one for myself! I can now have my wonderfully ironic curls any time that I'd like!



After all, if one needs irony in their life, it should definitely be introduced by way of their hair, right?

I'm like, eerily conscious of something amazing that's taking place, and not wanting to over think it.

It's been way too long since I've been posting regularly, and this time I know why! Lots of things have been going on, and being a little unsure of just who reads this I've been hesitant to write about things that I can't get out of my head. I've just now decided though that I am going to start writing again anyway. Once I get this window open and have some music going it's usually easier to think of some less-loaded topics to bring up.

Like now, I just was thinking of what I could write about now, and I have about 12 ideas, and can't come close to deciding! Maybe I'll try to write a couple more entries to post later when I'm done with this one, that would be pretty dang productive of me, don't know if I could handle that.

It's the time of the year for self-reflection and new leaves and all that good stuff, and I'm definitely joining in on that front. I've made a decision or two that I won't be sharing here, as well as a few that I hope will be reflected in my postings here. I can't wait to have space to create new things and maybe even think things through a bit more when I find my own place, so you may get to see lots of little creative things that I'll be doing to be able to create that kind of space when I move into what will inevitably be a too small space to do all the things I'd like to.

Time to be doing these things may be a little difficult to come by, as I am currently on the hunt for a part time job, and I already have a crazy schedule with my classes alone...

I just used the word anomaly. Better yet, it was in my Facebook status.

I'm impressed.

To keep from screaming

I'm currently sitting in the dark. My power is out because my roommates are complete idiots. We have an issue with fuses in our house, mainly being that most of our house is all on the same one. Rather than being smart about it though, they leave just about everything not only plugged in, but on. So when I'm trying to blow dry my hair, I can't do that because they are playing a video game, with a space heater going and every light on, whether their in the house or not.

I can't believe it's been 2 weeks since I've updated. Finals have made be really busy. They aren't actually terribly complicated so much as a lot of stuff all happening at the same time.

I've been talking a little too late online lately, but no real complaints about that. I'll just have to catch up on sleep a bit in the next few days since I have them off!

Another list!

This one is more because I'm losing track of the things I have to do, so if I post it publicly then I have somewhere to go back to!

For today...
1. Pay Endodontist. done.
2. Pay parking tickets.done.
3. Go to bank.done.
4. Go to bead store.done.
5. Go to post office.postponed until tomorrow.
6. Go to work.done.

A little more general...
1. Finish paper due Thursday.
2. Pay ridiculous ticket.
3. Read through Shakespeare script.
4. Get more sleep.

Etsy for Black Friday!

I've been meaning to do this one for a while, now I have my very own mug and candle from this seller to enjoy some apple cider with a nice flame flicker while I type this!


berdandbee is an awesome store on Etsy with vintage and new items. The mugs and ceramics are hand painted, and simply awesome. This shop is offering 20% off this weekend, so if you like something, snag it now!





GetReadySetGO makes me want to travel, you? I love the added details to what already started as awesome items. I don't know if they are doing any sales for this crazy weekend, but they definitely do personalized stuff, so check it out!





purposedesign is a really awesome store on Etsy with several different types of spice rack type things that I can't wait until I can have one without roommates wanting to use them! (hint hint, housewarming for when I get my own place!)

Listing!

So, I'm working on making some goal lists, and rather than just thinking about it, I'm starting tonight!

1. Go to sleep.
2. Get iPhone.
3. Travel everywhere!

There is a wide timeline on this list. The first should be done in a few minutes, the second just a couple months, and the third, well, I hope to start as soon as I can!

Gimme Gimme

Busy busy

Working way more than I'd thought is really putting a hamper on my blogging!

Lots of things have been going on though.

I went to see Twilight last night at midnight. It was fine, but I finally understand how people are not always amazed by the Harry Potter series. I feel like a lot of the magic of the movie was left up to the assumption that viewers have read the book. Maybe it was mostly the midnight showing and all the laughter at every little detail making me feel like I was outside of the biggest inside joke on the planet, or maybe I'm right and it really wasn't all too spectacular. I am willing to see it again to confirm, but probably not until the spring until it comes out on DVD.

I have lots of new ideas for my Etsy shop. A few things that I've already got made and need pictures of, and then more that I have ideas for, but haven't actually put together yet. Hopefully I will be a lot more organized in the coming weeks and see about eventually getting some of that stuff up.

I was on the front page the other day! Yay! The day before my treasury was picked for the front page. It was fun. Hopefully this will continue!

I've got an opinion to ask about hair cuts, but it's getting late and I don't want to track down pictures, so I'm going to wait until tomorrow for that post!

Drunk!

mike and me
Originally uploaded by purekatherine

So, I'm a little bit drunk. And I'm blogging. I thought that you guys might like to know that.

I have to be at work for DennisAnderson in less than 10 hours, to it's a good thing that I have Laura, who will let me sleep on her couch tonight so I don't have to go home drunk tonight.

I feel like I have a lot to blog about, but I can't even remember that stuff when I'm sober, so what do you really expect of me right now?

Just for the record, since I believe that Dennis will get this through a Google notifier or something, I am determined to remember all of this tomorrow. (That's more of an inside joke than me really being a black out drunk. Promise.)

Let a Moment Change Your Life.

I love the lyrics of the chorus, I want to keep them in mind in my daily life.

The thing is, I can't tell if he's saying

"Let a moment change your life." or "Let a moment change your mind."

Doesn't change that I want to incorporate it to my life.

Continuing the Fight

No, not the one that I've gone on and on about through posting the words of others (though I am still fighting that fight).

I had to go to the bank today, only to remember after I'd biked the 11 blocks that it is closed for Veterans' Day.

On my way there though, I smiled and said, "Hello" to everyone who made eye contact. I did the same on the way back. A couple people looked a little surprised, which I think is great thing. I don't think that we say, "Hello," to strangers enough. Think of how pleasant it would be if we all went around smiling and just saying, "Hello," or even, "Good Afternoon." I know that I would enjoy a lot more days.

So try it, see how many smiles you can get!

Not really an entry

I don't want to say anything too soon, but I think that I'm starting to get my financial woes figured out.

Hopefully some social things will be worked out soon as well.

I need to go to bed, so hopefully I'll do a better update tomorrow.

School and such

I think I need to stop promising that I'm going to post on my breaks at school. I never end up doing it. There's always something like picking out classes to be done then.

I don't actually get to sign up for classes until the 5th of December, but I'd like to have a few potential schedules ready for things like possibly getting a part time job, or some classes being full. I'd also really like to take another class or two with some of the girls that I have in my classes this semester, so I'll have to see how that works out.

I thought that I was going to drop my incredibly boring, impossible to figure out Philosophy of Science course (I know, the name makes it sound either full of potential or totally unbelievably horrible, it's the latter) until a friend in the class looked through the grading scale and helped me to realized that I can put almost no work into the rest of the course and still pass with a C-. So instead I'll put a little bit of work into it and hopefully pass with a B+!

I went to two civil rights events this week and may be going to two more by the end of the weekend. I don't want this blog to become all about those, and I'm often too tired to process what's gone on when I get home, so maybe you'll get an update, and maybe you won't.

Exactly what I am feeling about yesterday's results.

If you're new here, I live in California. The female part of the song is definitely how I feel about the Presidential race.

I would like a Nemesis.

So much good and so much bad all on the same day!

I have pictures from the candlelight vigil that I went to tonight, but I don't have them uploaded yet, so you'll have to wait until I get home tomorrow to see them!

I'm bringing my laptop to school tomorrow, so I'll definitely be blogging in my 3 hour break!

Until then, I'm going to be silly.

I VOTED!

I got to ride my bike and warn two people to take off a sticker or close their jacket because there is no campaigning allowed within 100 feet of a polling place!

I hope the rest of the day goes this well!

More than I expected

I went to see She & Him in San Francisco tonight. It was a lot of fun, and though I was very determined to not buy any merch when one of the venue's employees was kind of rude, I did buy a copy of their album on vinyl anyway. I know this means that the venue will now get a cut, but there was a digital download and I wasn't thinking ahead to being able to download the digital copy if I were to order it online right when I got home.

If you've ever heard of M. Ward or Zooey Deschanel I would very much encourage you to click on the link above, as there is a media player on the site and you can hear a bit of what they do!

In other news, I was just outside at 2:45 am because I heard a mysteriously ominous sound that I could only identify as having a car involved and being pretty dramatic.

It turns out that there was a car attempting to make a U-turn, and didn't quite miss the last car parked along the side of the road.

Both people in the car appeared to be drunk since the passenger didn't seem to think that the driver should be getting behind the wheel again, nor did the driver believe that the passenger would be able to drive. But when my neighbor went out to make sure that they were ok (I could see from my window that they were) they both got into the car after assuring him that they were ok and they drove off.

A couple of other neighbors from across the street were outside by the time that I got down stairs, but I was able to confirm that they did hit the car because I saw them checking out the bumper pretty closely and determining that there wasn't anything that they could see.

Back when I was up in the front window I got to see the two of them freaking out over their own front bumper though. It was a brand new car too! No license plates yet, and the passenger was yelling about it being a $70,000 car.

Hope they got home ok!

Supplement.

So this isn't a real blog, please forgive me.

Lots of things have gone on in the past few days and it's way later than I should be up.

I'm loving the downpour that we've been having lately, and I can't wait to wake up in the morning and hopefully be able to blog in what will be then our rain room. (It's usually a sunroom, but it's way better when it's a rain room!)

I make no real promises about this timeline though, I do have plans to go see She and Him in San Francisco tomorrow, so my day might get a little wrapped up in that.

My brother must be a liar

The following was written during a very confusing lecture in my Shakespeare class. I've been told by other members of the class that I'm probably better off for not having paid much attention.

I currently have four mosquito bites.

On. My. Face.

I've heard a little guy buzzing around my head while trying to sleep for a week or so. In mentioning it to my brother, I learned that I had nothing really to fear. I already knew that only females bite, but Jeff informed me that the way to tell the difference between the sexes is audible. There is a slight physical difference between the two that causes the males only to buzz when flying.

Well, either my brother doesn't know what he's talking about, or Mr. Mosquito has a girlfriend in my room as well. Or maybe he and I are both wrong and the males bite sometimes too. This definitely calls for some Wikipedia time.

Luckily these don't really itch terrible unless I touch them so I just have to keep my hands off of my face. I can tell you that's not the easiest tack while attending one of the most boring classes I've ever been enrolled in.



Wikipedia didn't have much to say about the buzzing, but it did say that females are the only ones who drink blood, and they are attracted to CO2, which is I guess why i flies around my dang face!

This site however does specify that both sexes make noise and explains that it's actually a mating thing.

Jeff, you have been proven wrong.

Story from an Etsy member

This was posted in the forums on Etsy today and I thought it was something that others should maybe read as well.

The seller who posted it is Vidrio

So I went to a Proposition 8 protest yesterday and it was crazy. Tons of people on both sides. The part that really got to me was the people of the No side were chanting about love and freedom which was great. But the people on the Yes side were just hateful. First they had tons of their kids with them. I'm all for kids observing the political process but what these "parents" had their children do was despicable. They had kids chanting "Fags go to Hell, Fags get AIDS". Many on the No side were crying at the site of this. This continued on and off through most of the protest.

In between the hate being sung out by children I talked to some Yes on 8 people about why they would support this amendment and one woman said to me "You people are always crying for tolerance, well now it's your turn to tolerate us and let this proposition pass." I explained to that her statement made absolutely no sense. She refused to listen as did just about every other person on the Yes side.

Then I met an african-american man on the yes side. He was holding a bible and was shouting that gay marriage is against god. So I went up to him and asked if we could speak for a moment. He said yes and I asked him if he had actually ever read the bible. he said he didn't have to read the whole bible to know that being gay was wrong. So I then asked him if he was aware that the main reasons given by whites to not free the slaves were direct quotes from the bible. I explained to him that if he really wanted to follow everything the bible said we would have to make slavery legal again. He got pretty angry when I said that. I then asked if he was aware that there are many laws in the bible that were written to be taken just as serious as the "man shall not lie with man" part. He asked me for examples and I told him that the bible also says we can not eat shell fish, work on the sabbath, we must stone our children for disobeying, not allow to women to sleep in the same home together when they have their periods even if they are family and yes have slaves.

He said "God bless you" and walked over to the chanting children and chanted with them.

It hit me then that I will never change anyone's mind about this. I truly believe this country is on the verge of becoming the next Nazi Germany. I don't think I can sit and wait for them to drag me to a concentration camp and make me wear a pink triangle.

I guess I agree that we are at a cross roads right now and if this amendment passes we just took the wrong road. If it does pass I guess I will start saving up to move to Canada or Spain. I guess there is no point in staying in a country that hates me so much.

I just thought I'd share my experience with my etsy friends. I do love you all even if you hate me for what I am.

For the love of God and all things holy...NO on Prop 8!

This was posted by a lovely man on Facebook by the name of Mike Yee. I don't think that I've seen it better put by anyone.


For the love of God and all things holy...NO on Prop 8!
Wednesday, October 1, 2008 at 5:24pm
A couple weeks ago, on an early Saturday morning, there was a stranger ringing my doorbell. I was still in my pj's, so I decided not to answer the door (when I looked out the window I didn't recognize who it was). The doorbell-ringer finally left something on the gate and left. It turns out that it was a flyer in SUPPORT of Proposition 8 (the proposition that would ban gay marriage).

I was livid. My heart started to race. I began to fantasize about all the fantastic ways I could have handled this situation had I answered the door. In the end, unfortunately, I was only left with these fantasies. Two weeks later, though, this incident still remains on my mind, and I'm just as infuriated now as I was then.

One of the biggest claims from the Yes on Prop 8 folks is that in May of 2008 the Supreme Court of California reversed the "will of the people." This is such a transparent argument IF you consider the context of the election during which the proposition was voted upon. First of all, Prop 22 appeared during a Primary election, NOT a General Election. The 2000 California primary election took place when Al Gore was already the clear Democratic front-runner and there was a hotly-contested race for the Republican candidacy between Bush and McCain. As a result, there was less incentive for Democrats (read: more open-minded voters) to go to the poll. Opponents of same-sex marriage love to cite that 61% of voters supported Prop 22. This is HUGELY misleading. What they SHOULD be saying is that 61% of THOSE WHO VOTED AT THE TIME favored Prop 22. As it turns out though, those 61% only made up approximately 30% of eligible California voters; approximately 20% of eligible voters ended up voting against it; and 50% of eligible voters (sadly) never went to the polls at all. So the bottom line here: it is simply not true to say that Prop 22 was supported by "the majority of Californians."

My next beef: since when does an issue of civil rights deserve to be at the mercy of public opinion? It's tacky to bring it up, but I don't think a majority of slaveowners back in the day would have voted in favor of losing their workers. We already know that inter-racial marriage wasn't popular. There are simply some issues that don't deserve to be in the hands of the public.

Also (and now I'm addressing proponents of this ridiculous proposition), what the HELL is it to you or anybody else who somebody else marries? For every gay couple who weds, does a straight couple lose a diamond off their wedding band? Do they lose a year off their counted anniversaries? What? How does it affect you? Well, of course there's no answer because it simply doesn't.

What it ultimately comes down to is fear, ignorance and good ol' fashioned ego. The real reason that people oppose gay marriage is that it legitimizes relationships and lifestyles that, in their view, are immoral. Well, you see, the beauty of our country is that even WITH legalized gay marriage, you or any other closed- and/or like-minded bigot do not have to personally accept gay marriage. YOU will still have the freedom to hold your archaic, prehistoric and ignorant views while the rest of enlightened society gets to experience more love.

Proponents of Prop 8 love to say that they are not trying to discriminate against gays and lesbians, and that they have nothing personal against gays and lesbians. But let's face it, that's the only issue here. It's not about the "sanctity of marriage" (a phrase that, like "activist judges," invariably causes me to cringe everytime I hear it), nor is it about religious freedom (because churches will not be required to perform same-sex marriages). It's about ultra-conservatives being unable and unwilling to give up what THEY feel is their last legalized form of discrimination.

Please, I urge all my friends in California to vote No on Prop 8 in November. Maybe you could even urge your own friends and family to do the same.

A nice average?

Tonight was a long night.

Some really good highs, and yet also some pretty disappointing lows.

To keep it positive, I continued with my changing the world today. I had an interview, and though I was worried that I was running late, I decided to take my bike instead of my car.

Thinking about it that way makes me feel like today was much better than I felt it was before.

I should have more to write tomorrow, since I probably should be doing homework instead.

Continuing.

Today I continued my trek to change the world.
I didn't do much, but I saw an opportunity to help a woman and I decided to take it.

There was a graduate fair at school today, and a woman taking down one booth was having trouble getting a display into the box it stores in. She couldn't really see the edges and it would get caught (which I understand is a difficult to picture from text) so one of the times that she was trying the box fell over. I was reading on a bench in the surrounding courtyard, so I got up and held the box steady.

I don't think that she really needed the help. I think that she had figured it out the try before, but she seemed to have a better attitude than before. I hope that wasn't just my imagination.

I have an interview tomorrow. I'm not sure yet where I stand on wanting the position, so hopefully I'll have some awesome questions about it before 3 tomorrow and after the interview I'll know precisely where I stand!



**EDIT** Tomorrow I will also make the phone call to my landlord to get the sink fixed. It's more important to stop wasting the water than to get my roommates to take responsibility.

Oh, and I also put everything in our living room and my bedroom that I didn't need plugged in all the time on a power strip. I'll now be turning them off whenever not in use. I'm kind of excited to see how it effects our energy bill. I let my roommates know what I did for the living room so they knew what was up if the TV wasn't working, but I'm not expecting them to do the same. I'm definitely interested in the next few months electricity bills!

I saved a life today.

I'm pretty sure the turn around time isn't that fast, but I did donate blood today!

It was my second time doing so. My first time it was really fast, like 4:30 to fill the bag. This time I'm pretty sure that the blood pressure arm band was on too tight because it took almost 11 minutes! The needle also burned a little, which I was warned about by a co-worker 2 months ago when i donated, and since I thought it would only be few minutes, I didn't worry about it too much. I was very glad to have it out of my arm though.

I also signed up and swabbed my cheeks to get on the marrow donation registry. They really need minorities, and males tend to be better matches, but you never really know, right?

These two simple things are just the beginning of my new goal.

I've decided that I'm going to change the world.



I found Ben Jelen again the other day, and well, he's cute so I follow what he says. Not really. But his lyrics and the video for Pulse definitely make me want to get off of my ass. (I would have posted Pulse here, but it's got some things like starving children in it. I encourage you to watch it though, it should be one of the first suggested after Wreckage is done playing.)

I realize for now that getting off my ass is going to consist of some very small things, but it's more important that one does what they can than uproot their lives for something, right? So when I get the chance I'm going to do things like donate blood. (Apparently if I do so in the actual clinic my O- can be used for babies and more specialized things than it can be when donated through a blood drive location.) I think I might try to pick up trash a little when I'm out walking. I'm not sure what else, but I'll definitely have my eyes open for opportunity, and I will always love suggestions.

Maybe after I graduate I'll look into the Peace Corps!

I should be reading

I should really be either reading or sleeping.

I have 13 pages to write before 8 am on Tuesday. It is currently 3:35 am Monday. That gives me just under 28 1/2 hours in which to gather my information and write.

I'm pretty sure the writing will not take too long.

Getting me to do the reading however, that will suck.

Hopefully you will not see another post from me until at least the afternoon on Tuesday.

How Rude!

I saw Jodie Sweetin give a lecture on Thursday night. If you're not currently familiar with her, you probably were 13 years ago.



I actually really enjoyed the lecture, as well as the time spent with Kristine. Jodie (we're totally on a first name basis I decided) seemed rather nervous, with lots of hair touching and deep breaths, but she kept it together and I thought she was cute. She even said, "How rude," for us!

I've been told a time or two that I look like her (I don't really see it) so I brought my camera in hopes of getting a picture with her to actually let people decide. The line for the meet and greet was crazy though, so Kristine and I just went to Chipotle.

It was a good evening.

I got a treasury!

So, I have a treasury on Etsy right now, you should all check it out.

I'll add a nifty picture of it tomorrow.

School Woes

I don't like Midterms. I also don't like having a lot to do at the beginning of a term and then feeling behind the rest of the term. I think that this semester is going to be more of a learning experience than actually for a lot of credit.

I got a degree assessment today and it seems that I will probably graduate in the summer of 2012.

W.
T.
F.

What was all the time that I spent doing things at community college if it's now going to take me this long? I really don't like the idea of summer school, but since I have to take a foreign language I think that might be when I do it. If I'm actually in the country and all. I mean, if I've got that long to go I might as well do at least one of the semesters abroad, right?

Such a Californian

My roommate and I found ourselves shivering this weekend. It was in the 60's and we were kind of bundled up, but I think the fact that we could hear the wind outside made us think we were colder than we were. Today it's actually colder inside than it was, but not so much wind and we feel perfectly fine.

I have a test tomorrow that I should have spent a lot more time preparing for, but I hope that I will still be able to do ok, I just have to remember to stay calm and be willing to read through and back up my points in the essay portion. Those are the notes that my cute TA gave me on my essay before, so watch out now! There is no advice i take better than advice from a cute boy.

We also had a house party this weekend, it was a lot of fun and I can't wait for the next one! It will be a bad sweater and cookie party!!!

I'm going to head to bed, but after my test tomorrow I should be good on getting to updating again!

Second Saturday?

In talking to DennisAnderson in chat Wednesday night he mentioned doing a show on Saturday for Sacramento's monthly art walk and he said that he thinks that they still have spots open, so I should attend as well.

So I'm thinking about it. I need some extra cash this month, and it's a very small table fee, so it's not too much of a gamble that I would make the same back. I still need to call tomorrow to see if there are open spots, but I think that if there are I'm going to go for it.

I'm supposed to be having a party that night, but oh well. My friends can come visit me and go to the party afterward, or come and party without me until I get home!

I went in for the second part of my root canal this afternoon. It was quite an olfactory experience.

During the initial topical ointment application I smelled something like banana, but since I don't like banana and it didn't make me want to gag, it confused me. It was really more candied than banana, so I think it was more the sweet that i focused on.

After that there was bubble gum, thought I don't remember what was happening when I smelled that.

When they put the rubber around my tooth to make sure that none of the bacteria gets into the rest of my mouth I smelled a public pool. Not in a bad way, I liked the smell.

The bubble gum continued throughout the procedure. When it was done I was looking around and noticed that the box of gloves that the assistant was using said they were bubble gum flavored! I thought that was kind of crazy, but it very much explains my constant smell of bubble gum.

It's 4 and a half hours later, and I am finally not numb.

Now that there's no danger of biting my tongue and not knowing about it, it's time to make some food!

Getting back on track.

Today is the last day that I am house sitting for the bfff's parents. I've enjoyed it quite a bit. Her cats kind of make me want one, though the way that things are in my house makes me not really want to be the only one taking responsibility for one. But we shall see, I have floated the idea to the roommates and if they pursue it a bit more we may still go for it.

I should be getting the supplies that I ordered on Etsy any day now, and I really can't wait. I really need to reorganize my whole room before really getting into more creating, but if I have the supplies there maybe I'll be able to motivate myself to get my shit together so I can work with them!

Along with the house sitting being over, Laura gets back into town tonight!!! She and I do a really great impression of getting really sick of each other sometimes, but dang have I missed that girl. I can't wait to hear all about Italy and her favorite parts.

I am currently looking for a job, and I think I've found something that sounds pretty awesome, so I hope that I can do it. Sylvan Learning Center is hiring Teaching Assistants for nights and weekends relatively close to my house. It's further than I'd wanted to work from home because it will mean driving instead of biking at nights, but it sounds pretty awesome. (For those of you who don't know I'm an English major hoping to teach middle or high school English and I've often been told that I should teach math, so I'm hoping that not only would I be a great teaching assistant, but maybe there would even be room for growth!)

I'd rather not leave you without something fun to look at in this post, so let me find something!

I hope that you already know of the Llama song, otherwise this is definitely not as fun.

Please bear with me.

I'm trying to mess with my layout and i'm not having the easiest time. If you know what you're doing I would love the help!

...From Outer Space

For anyone who isn't aware, which would be most people who read this I believe, I have recently started listing on Etsy again.

I'm hoping that I will be a little more successful this time around since I think I'll be able to focus better on it.

I'm still not completely organized in my new place, so I plan on getting organized soon and being able to have a decent workflow, and therefore keep up with the site better.

No more babies.

I don't often talk too much about politics here because I'm pretty sure that if you know me at all you know almost exactly where I stand on most issues that matter to me at all. But I saw something a few days ago that I can't help but comment on here.

While driving on 16th a few days ago I saw a bumper sticker. Not being the kind of person who understands putting political opinions on cars I've recently been hyper-aware of bumper stickers and I can't help but read them. This car had one of the maybe 10 McCain stickers I've seen (which actually makes me smile because there are so many more people openly passionate about Obama) along with another above it. I could tell as soon as I recognized the McCain one that I would definitely love anything else that this person felt so passionately about to put on their car.



I have to admit, I totally and one hundred percent agree.

I totally don't believe that a person can be Catholic and Pro-Abortion. I bet that my reasoning for that is very different than the middle-aged man driving that soccer mom car though. I don't happen to believe that you can be a person and be Pro-Abortion.

Why is it that so many Pro-Life advocates can't seem to understand that being Pro-Choice is not at all Pro-Abortion or Anti-Life?

To truly be Pro-Abortion, one would have to believe that no more kids should ever be born. I have met some people who actively despise children, but I don't think that I could ever get one of them to really admit that no one else should ever have kids and we should just let the world die out.

So crazy soccer mom driving middle-aged man, or whomever actually put that sticker on that car, you are totally right. You cannot be Catholic and Pro-Abortion. Thank you very much for reminding me of that.

As is suspected.

I've got a paper due tomorrow. Anyone surprised that I'm posting again? Me either.

I don't want to stay up all night doing it, so I should probably start reading the second part of my comparison, right?

I've decided that I'm going to change up my blogger look soon. I'll probably do it tomorrow at school when I have time to really just sit and not get anything really done.

I'd love to have tons to talk about right now, but either I don't really have anything to talk about, or it's all being blocked by the knowledge that I need to be working on my paper. So instead I'm going to share something that I recently was made aware of by my favorite new blogger, Lindsay Katai.

Looks like things could go our way this time, huh? As Lindsay noted, data can be found at Five Thirty Eight.

A reason to do my homework!

I have a total crush on my American Lit TA.

I'm trying to turn that into a great motivator to actually get something from the class rather than just giving the professor what she wants. That probably means that I should be reading/writing my paper rather than sitting here watching The Biggest Loser and eating dinner. I think tonight is going to be my last lazy day when I shouldn't be lazy though, so it's ok.

For any of you who didn't know, one of my favorite things to do during the week is to make dinner and eat it while watching BL. This week I decided to actually make something relatively real, rather than my typical Hamburger Helper. I didn't stray to terribly far though.

PS. I already tried to find him on Facebook, no luck otherwise I'd totally let you all in on the lurking.

Ideas please

I need to do something. I need to make a difference. I'm able bodied (for the most part) and have a desire to see the my idea of the potential of our society made into the reality of our society.

Please let me know if you have ideas on how to do this. I'll be starting by making sure to leave as little a mark as I can, so I should go to sleep and stop wasting electricity.

Crushed and Swollen

I currently have a swollen jaw. I don't like it. Tomorrow I get to call to add dental insurance to my plan and then go find a doctor.



I've also got a crush that I'm not enjoying, but I think that's mostly because I haven't seen him in a week and the slight chance that I was going to see him tonight seems to be gone. Hopefully he can hang out tomorrow before my crazy week starts on Tuesday!

Please vote

I have some stuff that I've written out during my morning classes, but in browsing Facebook for just a few minutes I've come to realize that I have something far more important to say at the moment.

Please vote!

I can't even really put into words just how important it is for every single voice to be heard on some of the things on the ballots this November. If you're in California you have a say in allowing people to live their lives without the government telling them that it is wrong. Whether or not you agree with another person's lifestyle has very little to do with it. If you don't believe that someone has the right to tell you how to live your life, please vote No on Prop. 8 this November. No matter where you live if you like having the choice to make your own decisions, please vote for Obama, as I am terrified that Roe v. Wade has a chance of being overturned if McCain makes it to office. Whether or not you support someone actually having an abortion is entirely beside the point. We need to be free to make these choices for ourselves. It's kind of like how Republicans tend to want to keep their own money so they can choose what they do with it.

silent screamforachange

I need to start doing all of my homework, and when I'm not doing that I should be riding my bike and figuring out healthier things to eat. I could use all the help with this that I can get.

The weather is supposed to get a bit cooler in the next few days, so I hope that will help, since I really like to just sleep through the heat when I can. Please wish me luck, this is going to be difficult, but I need to do it.

It's 11:31pm and I'm sweating.

Also, I have a bit of a crush on a guy who just wants to be friends, but is still hanging out with me. From what I know about boys, they don't still hang out if they're not interested. I feel like this is a pattern and I don't like it.

And it begins

Written throughout my first day of class at Sac State.

Day One 8:49am

First day of classes and things aren't yet going awful. Even though things haven't officially begun I had to get here and all that, so there have been many opportunities for things to take a negative turn already.

Getting up.

I'm sure it was mostly the excitement of the day, but I was able to get up and out the door without any issues. I even have time to put on a little make up! Note added while typing. This is especially odd because I don't think that I slept for more than 2 hours at a time last night.

Riding the bus

For my first time riding the bus in Sacramento, it went pretty dang well. That might have something to do with only having to flash my student ID and then follow the other students as a sign of which stop to get off at. Oh, aand there's the whole thing where the stop is just called, "Sacramento State."

Finding my first class

There was a girl on the bus who did a bit of a leech job and was a little annoying, but was very nice about helping me find my first class. I am a little bummed about not knowing how to shake her from now on. I guess riding my bike to class would fix that a bit. There was however a guy that Angela and I met on Saturday when we went out who was on the bus. His girlfriend was really nice and I hope to hang out with them again, so I'll have to say, "Hello," to him on Thursday.

First class

My first class has now passed and it went alright. No real trouble finding my next course either. I'm waiting for my second class to begin now and there are who girls I went to high school with sitting about 5 feet from me. One of them I actually had a class with and am hoping she doesn't recognize me. I don't remember specifically why, but I don't remember being especially fond of her. Of course my teacher is now not only taking roll, but has had us make name tags for our desks, so she probably will recognize me now.

Second Class

She recognized me. Even only going by Katherine when she only knew me as Kati. Her name is Emily Davis, though that means nothing to any of you.
My second class is my Shakespeare class. The one that I don't feel should be a requirement. I was a little excited to be able to give my opinion on that topic though, it was a topic of discussion at the department retreat I guess. I have to admit that I'm going to be frustrated if it is decided in a year that it's no longer required.
Now I'm waiting for my linguistics class to start. I'm a complete nerd and I'm excited for this course!
Today I'm even more excited about the idea of food in only 75 minutes! I hope the lines aren't too terribly long!

The food getting went well. I think I made a friend. She's in the class I have right before my break, and now that I didn't get into my attempted add class she's also in the only after my now 3 hour break. She goes by Katie, but her given name is Kathryn. We've already discussed my displeasure with this. She blames her parents.
I shouldn't write too much more simply because I don't want to deal with transcribing it when I get home!

There's a praying mantis in my living room. I don't know what to think of that.

I'm pretty sure that I just need a boy to come over and take it outside. I've done a little googling and I believe that they might try to bite or sting, but for an average adult it should just feel like a pinch.

Last Day!

Today is my last day of work. I don't actually have anything to do. I'm sure that I could find things if I asked, but I don't actually want to do anything. I'd kind of really like to not be here. I did just find out that I messed something up in the system pretty bad, but I guess it's not something that I can fix. I feel bad, but what I did was in an effort to make things go more smoothly.

The road to hell... right?

I shaved my arms last night and since my arm hair is so light I always forget just how much of it I have. Today I'm dealing with small bumps of irritation, which should be cured with some exfoliation and time, as well as many spots that I seem to have missed. I guess that's what happens when your hair sticks right to your skin when it's wet. I'm not even really sure why I did it. Sure, the blonde hair that I can see bothers me, but I know that it's not something that anyone else notices.

Last night I had every intention of watching Obama's speech, but then I ended up on the phone with a friend I don't talk to often enough and going out to eat with other friends. I have no doubt that it is already online for me to view when I get time this weekend. I'm actually a little more interested in what McCain has to say so I can pull some more concrete reasoning as to why I do not want him as my next president.

Anyone reading this who is not currently registered to vote, please remedy that. Even if you don't agree with me I think the tiny little voice that we have with our ballots is so much bigger than we give it credit for, and we all need to be using it.

Groped by an Eastern European woman.

I got my bridesmaid's dress fitted today. It's costing as much as the dress because of the boning inside the dress. It looks a million times better than it did 2 sizes too big for me. Imagine that.

The seamstress is putting boobs in it for me since I don't want to wear a bra. It's nothing terribly major, just pads where there would be empty space or serious alterations otherwise.

I'm tempted to go tanning before the wedding if I get my loans right away and can do it. The darker skin with the navy dress and blonde hair I think would be really awesome. But if I can't start it next week I'm worried that it would look too red or something the day of.

Anyone have any tips?

Tipsy Katherine

I'm tipsy, but I'm posting anyway. I tend to spell better when I've got a drink or two in me because I'm terrified that I'm going to spell things terribly and people can tell I'm tipsy just from that.

I think I'm currently ruining my roommate's friend's night by hanging out in her room while they are playing dice. He's definitely got a thing for her, and I mistakenly walked in on what might've been a moment just a bit ago. They should have known that I was coming back when I was talking about a Sesame Street clip that was on YouTube and then I jumped up and ran toward my room, duh I'm grabbing my laptop to show them, right?

I think I pissed off my other roommate when I told her that it offends me when she uses the word, "gay" as a universal negative. She insisted that she's stubborn and not going to change because it bothers me, or something to that effect. I don't remember the exact verbage, but I definitely know that she said she's not going to change. We haven't seen her since, it's been like 30 minutes, and normally she's in here back and forth a bunch.

I think we're playing Scrabble now, yay!

I need a distraction!

If I wanted to be here any less I think it would be physically impossible for me to be in this building. Senioritis is kicking in hard.

Yesterday was the worst birthday I can remember having.

Last evening I got the best gift I’ve ever gotten for my birthday.

There is a homeless guy who hangs out by my new place who seems to be a little bit in love with me.

I really wish that Aaron wasn’t going to Outside Lands this weekend so we could hang out again sooner. I also really love that he’s into Outside Lands though, and am enormously jealous that I’m not going myself.

For not having anything to do here I’m really not too inspired to write either. It’s a little odd, ‘cause I have lots that I could write about. I guess it’s more that I don’t want to start writing only to get the email that I’m waiting on saying that I can actually do the one thing that’s not going to make me want to blow my brains out. That sentence was a bit more dramatic than I’d intended it to be.

The above mentioned homeless man asked me to marry him and has at least 5 teeth missing. Interestingly enough, I don’t think that I told him a flat out, “No.” I may leave my digital camera somewhere for Holly to grab the next time she watches a scene play out with he and I, since he talks to me literally in front of my house, and hangs out about 20 yards away at the bus stop.

I think that my goal for next week will be three full posts about specific topics by the end of the week. I know that I’m not going to be too busy, unless they start creating things just for me to be able to do them, which would really take more of everyone else’s time and probably not be such a great idea.

Ok, when I’m on time to work I’ve left by now, and yet the email that I’m waiting on still isn’t here. I don’t think that I should have to do this work now, right?

Happy Birthday to Mallory!

I hope that you heard my phone call at midnight and smiled at least! I hope it did not make Howie bark and wake you up though.

I just said goodbye at the end of a first date. I really like talking to him and I'm very interested to see how it goes after he and I aren't so busy and can see each other again.

It's not even 10 in the morning and today is already the worst day of the week.

And I'm back!

Moving this weekend was interesting.

In some ways I'm already wishing that I had just found a one bedroom. My new place is pretty cool though, an old Victorian with a front room of windows. We found a pin on the ledge for Kate Winslet in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, so we've named the room Clementine.

My roommates have people over far more often than I'd like. Last night and just about half an hour ago there was a completely unexpected ring of the doorbell. Currently the unannounced guest has taken over the only TV with cable and my DVD player with some ridiculous anime. I'm a little bit disturbed by it and as soon as I finish this I think I'll work on organizing my room.

I'd really wanted to be done with it already, but on Sunday I dropped a large shelf on my foot and ended up in the ER for a few hours. My foot swelled pretty quickly, and ended up looking like I had half a baseball under my skin. Since then I haven't been able to carry things up and down stairs, which makes it difficult to move things from one upstairs apartment to another.

I bribed my brothers to move the last of my stuff on Tuesday, so now it's all here, but I still can't move around too well, so it's not put away at all.

I guess whatever the anime was is some sort of series because there's annoying Japanese singing and credits on at the moment. I think I'll put on some music and clean my room.

Dogs, Exes, Pants, Money

I just took a quiz to find out what kind of dog I should get. I don't have any intention of actually getting a dog, but Mallory's excitement for Howie makes me think about it a bit. The results told me nothing. I was looking for a bit of a breed list and I got a paragraph telling me that toy breeds are what I should look for. Well duh!

That's not what inspired me to post though. When I got to the end, since it wasn't actually a dog site it suggested other quizzes that I should take. One of them was, "Are you over your Ex?" Is it just me, or if you're even asking yourself that are you pretty much not? Or at least if you're taking a quiz to figure it out are you not?

Just something that crossed my mind when reading it.

I saw The Sisterhood of The Traveling Pants today. It was marvelous. Hopefully there will be a bit more of a review about it later. I make no promises though, there's a pretty cool scholarship essay due at the end of the month.

Nothing to actually say.

Oh man do I need a break. So many changes are right around the corner, and I'm anxious and a little afraid of them.

I got approved for a new apartment that I want last week, and we'll get officially approved on Tuesday. If for some reason we don't get it, I think I'm going to help Holly and Angela find a place for the two of them, and look into other options for myself. There's actually a house full of guys that I'm interested in, so I might e-mail them tomorrow for the heck of it.

I'm currently looking for a bit of a project bike for my dad and I to fix up in the next few weeks so I can ride to school. That's one reason that I'm also hoping to change my schedule to have all of my classes on Tuesday and Thursday. I already know that I am so not going to want to get up and ride every morning. Any encouragement from others would be greatly appreciated.

I also am trying a certain project this semester that will require me to buy some new clothes at the end of the semester. I'll try to write more when it's not 1 am.

Wilma post!

I hate my mom's wireless router. It's terrible. I have to reset either that, or my AirPort about every five minutes. This does not seem like something that I should have to do. I have not used Wilma on any other wireless connection yet, so I am seriously hoping that it is not actually a problem with her.

I guess I will find out the next time that I'm around one.

I got the apartment that I wanted!!!

If you would like my address let me know, I like mail. I'm actually going to try to be sending out some letters to people soon anyway, so some of you will have my address. I make no promises though. I got forever stamps for a reason people.

I will have a way better room for the same price, with two awesome girls in a Victorian house. I want visitors!

I will try to take some pictures as soon as we move in, because this place really is awesome. We should be able to move in next weekend. They started painting it today, so it'll be ready for people on 08/08/08. As soon as I get specific confirmation from the owner that he's ok with our credit check I will set up to get our cable and utilities set up. Good thing I don't really care about the opening ceremonies, right?

I'm happy that I'll be able to spend very little money this semester because it means that there will be money available for things that are not yet planned. Hopefully awesome things that are not yet planned.

I'm currently listening to a cover album by a band called the morning benders. I'm enjoying it. It was a free download here so if you're at all interested in free new stuff you should go check it out!

I can tell that I've been busier than normal at work when I have a few things running through my head that I would like to post about, but I never get around to doing it. This is one of those times. I also attribute this to my current laptop that I am not happy with. Ace has been fine for a first laptop that I had nothing to do with picking, but he's 3 years old now I think, because I'm pretty sure I knew Voldemort and Mallory when I got him. Actually, I know for a fact that I did because I would not have known of the Ace that he is named after if I hadn't already met Mallory. I guess that means I'd met Socratic as well.

That reminds me! Mallory, if you want to go to their show let me know, I'll call Vinny and have him or Andy put you and Matt on the list. He and I still mention you every time that I see them, so I have no doubt that he'd like to see you.

Back to the lack of updating though. I hope to see an improvement in it soon, since I believe that Wilhemina will be arriving some time tomorrow and I'll have an awesome laptop! I really can't wait to have something that I should be able to know exactly what to expect from it on a regular basis. I'm a little apprehensive about getting used to the Mac controls, but I guess I'll figure it all out eventually.

Me updating today doesn't actually mean that I have any less work to do, so I'll get back to that and let you know when Wilma gets here!

Work + School = No Bueno.

My boss just told us all that she’s been offered another position within our ginormous company. Since the only reason that I was thinking of staying on during the school year was because she wanted me to, I have the feeling that I won’t be working come September.

This is a good thing for her, and I really do hope that she enjoys the position. The person that they will probably have take over for her though, I refuse to work directly under. I already don’t like how much I see this woman bending rules and don’t like it when my name is associated with those projects, I refuse to have to do any more of it.

I just looked through all of my financial aid again for this semester, and I decided to go ahead and take the second loan that was offered. I went through and tried to estimate on the high side what my monthly expenses would be, and then divided the rest to figure out how much I could afford in rent. I will be much happier with the extra cash upfront.

I do hope to have some sort of a part time position during the school year, though. I also intend to be filling out scholarships that I will hopefully get, and be able to save some money that way as well. The bottom line is that it’s definitely worth accruing a bit more debt if it means that I can get through school faster.

Any tips on my way through?

Weekly Review #1?

First attempt at a weekly summary type of post. This will by no means be a weekly event.

A few things have happened in the past week or so that I thought were note worthy, so I wanted to let you know about them. These are coming in order of remembrance, not importance or chronology.

I went on a first date last week. I’m going to admit it now, and I want to hear no comments about this part. I met him through match.com. We e-mailed back and forth for a few weeks, and I finally decided to just go for it. While walking there I was stoked. I saw him, and realized I was so not ready for something like this. I don’t want to blame this on the Jeff thing, because it can’t just be about that, but for what ever reason, I walked into the restaurant even though he was outside, making sure that he couldn’t see my face. I decided to just go for it, and the worst that could happen was that I not like him.

It actually went ok. I’m not really interested in anything more than friendship because of some specifics that don’t need to be shared in this entry.

Laura and I saw Hancock. I’d heard that it was a disappointment for some, but I really enjoyed it. Sure there were things that were amazingly obvious from way early on, but I never really knew how they were going to actually make it happen, so it was enjoyable to watch the journey, knowing that certain things were going to happen along the way.

Laura and I also saw Wall-E last week. Gorgeous movie. I wasn’t happy with the pace, plot or moral though.

I gave blood for the first time last Wednesday. It was an enjoyable experience, with the only negative side effect being the itchy-not-quite-bruise that I had at the site until yesterday.

I found out today at work that if my department was cut from the current one supervisor, four billers (plus another who is abusing benefits) and me down to three people over all, it would be the supervisor, one particular biller, and me, with some billing training I believe.

That was great, except that I don’t really want to work more than 16 hours this semester, so with a little luck maybe they will keep another biller on, or bring one more on part time. If I could get hired on and earn more per hour that would be grand.

My brother Scott is moving in with my dad until his wedding to avoid him having to be alone. He’s dealing with his wife’s death better than we thought. I don’t know how to help him really, but I’m trying to just be there for him. We’re going to see Get Smart tomorrow, so that should be fun.

Oh! Laura and I went with her parents to see The Sound of Music and Music Circus. I’m sorry to say that I was not terribly impressed. The performers were great and I did enjoy the evening, but I did not enjoy the interpretation of Maria or Brigita. With a piece so beloved as The Sound of Music, I understand taking a few liberties with some of the details, but not a main character!

Ok, that’s a lot to update about. Hopefully I’ll keep it up!

I know that it’s been more than a month, and that’s plenty of time to get over the non-relationship that lasted the 6 months before that, but I’m really not over Jeff. I don’t know if it’s the extra emotion of recent events, or just how it is, but I’m really missing him and hating the way that things ended.

To just stop calling like that shows just how little he respected me in the first place.

I’m not sure where to go with these feelings. I’m kind of afraid to tell the person who I tell most other things to for fear of disappointing her. I need to hear something about it being ok though.

I get that he simply wasn’t into me enough, and it’s over. I’m just still hurting and I don’t know what to do. I actually would really like to make more guy friends and try to stay away from romantic relationships for a bit. I’m not really happy with the male support that I currently have in my life, maybe that would help.

Someone please tell me that you’d have waited 10 more years of being single to find the person that you have now. Tell me that it really is worth the wait and it’s going to happen, because if it’s not I’d rather get over that fact now and get used to this.

Independence Day.

I just made the first of three calls to credit card companies to increase my credit limit. In an hour or so I think I’ll go call another. I’m saving one in particular for last because I’m pretty sure that if they know why I’d like the increase they will definitely give it to me, provided that my credit score isn’t worse than when they gave me the card in the first place, which I don’t believe it is.

I’m going to Laura’s parents’ house for 4th of July festivities tomorrow and I’m very excited. I had planned on spending the day watching the What NOT To Wear marathon on TLC, and would have been perfectly content to do so. The problem with that would be the having to tell my mother that not only was I not spending the day lying around her pool, but I was going to spend it alone.

I just think that if my options are alone or my family, the former is a much better observance of Independence Day.

Back, from outter space.

I want to start updating more regularly. I have actually thought about updating a lot in the past week, but I was a little bit preoccupied.

My dad’s wife of 5 weeks passed away last Monday. We still don’t know exactly why, but we believe that it was quick and hopefully painless. I’m not going to go into much detail about it because if you know anything about my dad and Karen, it’s probably that I was not a fan of hers, nor was she a fan of mine. I have a lot of mixed emotions toward a lot of different aspects of this whole situation, but publicly declaring them is probably not a viable remedy.

This past weekend we all went to a family reunion for my mom’s side of the family.

My brother’s wedding in September will be too soon to see them all again. I’m very glad that there will be a decent showing of my dad’s family as well, since it was made pretty clear to me that I’m a Wessel and not a Davini this weekend.

I’m looking for a new apartment again. My brother and I realized that it wasn’t going to work for us to live together about 3 weeks into our lease, so we’ve kind of been counting down the days until we could split. Our lease is not up until the end of September, but he’s currently looking for a new roommate, and now that I’ve found Holly I’ve been looking for more apartments.

I’d originally been looking for a one bedroom because of the financial aid that I’m getting this semester, but I think I’m just too practical for that. Why get a one bedroom that costs as much as a two if I could then have someone to split rent and utilities with? This way I will definitely be able to afford the semester with the grants that I’ve been offered and only one of the loans. Can’t really find a down side to having less debt.

I’ve got a lot of small projects I’d like to start, but I might wait until I move so I don’t have to stop them and never pick them up again. One of them is actually sitting down and writing out a few things running through my mind for blog entries that really would be more essays. I could probably do that before moving.

This is probably a little silly, but I’m proud of it so I’m going to share. I’ve been working on my credit lately, and I’m going to treat myself to a sparkly new MacBook Pro as soon as I talk to my credit card company and get a credit increase. I’d planned to that during my lunch today, but I left my phone at home, so I guess I’ll either go home for lunch or do it another day.

Quite a happy suprise

I checked my account balance online this morning at work, and I noticed something odd. I had the paycheck that I expected in there from the hours that I worked last week, but there were two other deposits made from my employer. One that is the same as I would get for a full 40 hour week, and one more for just under $100.

As exciting as that was, I didn't really want it to come back and bite me in the ass. So I called my Accountemps rep to ask about it. He didn't know what was up, so he gave me the payroll number to find out.

Turns out, I have been working with the company for 1500 hours, so I was eligible for holiday pay, which is what the smallest check was for, and I got a Length of Service bonus that was equal to one week in pay!

So now I have payments pending for 2 of my 3 credit cards that will bring the balance to $0, and the payments that I would have sent to them next week will go to the last, and I will be completely out of debt two weeks from now!

And now I'm back again

I haven't been to great about updating my blogspot lately. For a while it was all about my Etsy shop, which you should see if you haven't yet 'cause even though I'm not updating there as much as I used to I'm still very proud of the pieces I have there. In looking for something new to occupy my thoughts and time, I've decided to start trying to update here again.

I'm trying to also be more positive about little things that I'm proud of accomplishing, so I think that's what I'll try to fill this space with. I don't know a better way to start than to jump right in, so here goes!

A week and a half ago I started on my second real heartbreak of my life.

While that's not really something that I'm entirely proud of, I am proud of the fact that I have loved, relatively generously in my life. I'm also proud that because this is an unusual breakup situation, I'm much further along in the process of getting over it than I would normally expect. I'm figuring out that the reason that I wasn't given any sort of reason for the split either time really has more to do with them than it does me. I was as open and honest as I could be, which is exactly how I am, the fact that they couldn't let me know either what more they wanted, or whatever else was wrong is no fault of my own.

This weekend I met a guy that I really enjoyed talking to, and when he asked I didn't hesitate to give him my number.

I've never truly been attracted to anyone in a bar. Mostly because for the entire time I've been going to bars I've either gone with a group of guys, or had one on my mind while I was there. This time I found one I liked, there were really casual reasons that allowed me to talk to him. We ended up talking for quite a while, and then he asked for my number. It's been a few days and he hasn't called, so I'm starting to think that he won't, but that's alright. He doesn't know enough about me to really be so put off, so whatever his reason is for not calling probably has nothing to do with me. The point is, I let my guard down and met someone.

I'm going back to school in the fall!

Ok, this one is a little more exciting than the others, because I've decided that I'm not going to work while I'm in school. I'm currently at a job that I don't like and is not at all the start of a career for me, but I don't want to bother looking for something else when school is only a couple of months away! For now I need to start seriously applying to some scholarships, and looking into what kind of student loans are available, and just how much time I want to spend on school. I should probably make an appointment with an academic advisor to make sure that I understand just which courses I need to take too.