Thankfuls - Bitter Defeat, but Happy News!

Yeah, I give up. I'm never going to write all those Thankfuls posts. SORRY.

I am feeling incredibly thankful today, though. For many reasons, of course. Like...it's Friday, and, you know family and all that shizz. But I'm not going to write a long post about how blessed I am because I'm just hopping on here real quick at work to say this:

Just checked my bank account and after my paycheck next week I'll have $5k in savings. ($500 from every paycheck goes into my savings account, lovingly named "HANDS OFF" - when we were saving for a house, it was "HOUSE FUND MOTHERFUCKER" so it is a bit more classy than it has been in the past...but I'm getting off topic and spending too much time on this post!)

Just having $5k is enough to be thankful about. That's how much my savings account had, oh....seven years ago? When I started as a wee freshman at MTSU. And then it slowly dwindled away over my six-year college career (hey, Judge-y, I got two degrees in those six years!) until we had -$1k at graduation (every $1k GTA check would pay off my maxed out credit card from the month before). So the fact that we've saved up in six months what I lost over the course of six years is fan-freaking-tastic, but the REALLY good news involves a slight backstory. (this post is way too long!)

A few weeks before we got married, Mr. T started getting troubling phone calls from credit companies. They were telling him all these loans in his name were about to go into default (is that the proper terminology?) and he needed to do something quick. Well Mr. T rarely feels a sense of urgency, so it took him a while to get around to calling up his madre to ask her what the deal was. He had two student loans and a credit card that had all been taken out for him to go to school a long, long time ago. And his mom was supposed to be paying them. Well, about two weeks before the wedding he heads to his hometown to talk to her about it. She goes over to a desk drawer and starts pulling out unopened envelopes from credit companies. Apparently she just....stopped paying them.

So Mr. T's credit is in shambles. Our home loan (and his Jeep loan) is in my name only, because his credit was so bad we probably wouldn't have been able to get a loan if he was involved. He has to pay hundreds of dollars on these guys every month - his entire paycheck, practically. And the interest rate on the credit card is so high his balance has barely gone down in the two years he's been paying on it.

A smart Wilson Family would have paid off Mr. T's loans before taking on more debt in the form of a mortgage (and also Mr. T's Jeep), but we're us so we didn't. And to be fair, he really needed a vehicle and this one was pretty stinking cheap. And our house is freaking ah-mazing. Anyway, after I started saving up money I was like....we can fix this now! So I told Mr. T that when I had $5k in my savings (wanted to have a decent buffer in case something terrible happened) we'd pay off his credit card. And then when I get back up to $5k we'd pay off his Jeep. They're right around $2k each. AND I'M ABOUT TO HAVE $5K IN MY SAVINGS ACCOUNT.

That's going to be over $200 each MONTH Mr. T doesn't have to throw away to debt! And in another couple months, ANOTHER $200/month!! That means my paycheck (and Miss C) won't be the only money available to pay bills! *happy dance*

SO THANKFUL.

TMI Baby Update

Welp...

Guess my Depo shot is wearing off - my period started today. >.<

I have an appointment for Wednesday to get another one. It was supposed to be last week, but with the job change I didn't have insurance for a month. Sooo.... Bah! Good news is I'm still not pregnant! Bad news is I'm having a stupid period. Going to do 3 more months with the shot, then switch over to the Implanon Rod, I do believe. Also, we (Mr. T) got paranoid that the shot might be wearing off a couple weeks ago, so we've been using condoms, just to be safe.

Finally - don't think I've forgotten about my Thankfuls! I just don't get on the computer a lot outside of work. I have a long list of things to blog about and I'll get to them eventually. Be patient!!

Thankfuls - Day 5

Thankfuls Recap:

• Day 1: Thankful for my job.
• Day 2: Thankful for not being in prison.
• Day 3: Thankful for scheduled blog posts.
• Day 4: Thankful for spammers.

Day 5:

Today I'm thankful for having a permanent, grown-up, full-time job.

Oh, wait. I already said my job. Well, what I was going for with this one is that I'm thankful for vacation time. Because I'm sick of my job. 8D

Okay, I'm not sick of my job. I just need a vacation. I will have been here six months on the 29th and haven't had one single vacation day. So that's not totally true. I've had a couple of half days, for doctor's appointments. And I took off the Friday we closed on our house. But that was while I was a contractor. So I  didn't have paid vacation time. In all my twenty-four years I have not once taken paid time off. I've never been GIVEN paid time off to take! So I'm taking it! I'm taking it all! MWAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

And by "all" I mean the two days they gave me that expire at the end of the month. And I'm taking them tomorrow and Wednesday. I will probably be a total laze-balls the entire time and LOVE IT. I *may* shower if I decide to go grocery shopping. Otherwise imma be playing some Assassin's Creed II with Senor Splinter in my lap all day e'ryday.

SO THANKFUL.

Thankfuls - Day 4

Thankfuls Recap:

• Day 1: Thankful for my job.
• Day 2: Thankful for not being in prison.
• Day 3: Thankful for scheduled blog posts.

Day 4:

Today I'm thankful for spammers.

If it wasn't for spam, I wouldn't have gotten ANY comments on my past...several...blog posts. THANKS, READERSHIP! I think Google's so good they never actually get published to my blog, though. I just get emails about them. Went to delete one, and it wasn't there. Magic! I am going to share some of the more delightful things they've said about my blog, though. They're so complimentary!

I need to to thank you for this fantastic read!
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you post…

You really make it seem so easy with your presentation but I find this matter to be really something that I think I would never understand.It seems too complex and extremely broad for me. I am looking forward for your next post, I will try to get the hang of it! 

Asking questions are actually nice thing if you are not understanding something entirely, but this paragraph gives fastidious understanding yet. 

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Hurrah, that's what I was looking for, what a material! present here at this weblog, thanks admin of this website.

I'm amazed, I have to admit. Seldom do I come across a blog that's both equally educative and amusing, and without a doubt, you've hit the nail on the head. The issue is something not enough folks are speaking intelligently about. Now i'm very happy I stumbled across this during my hunt for something relating to this. 

My family members always say that I am killing my time here at web, except I know I am getting experience every day by reading such pleasant content. 

I drop a leave a response whenever I especially enjoy a post on a site or if I have something to contribute to the discussion. Usually it's caused by the sincerness communicated in the post I browsed. And after this article "Thankfuls - Day 5". I was actually moved enough to drop a thought :) I actually do have a couple of questions for you if you tend not to mind. Is it just me or do a few of the responses come across as if they are left by brain dead individuals? :-P And, if you are posting at other social sites, I'd like to keep up with anything fresh you have to post. Could you list every one of all your public pages like your linkedin profile, Facebook page or twitter feed? 

Hi there it's me, I am also visiting this web page on a regular basis, this site is really fastidious and the viewers are in fact sharing fastidious thoughts.

Excellent weblog right here! Additionally your web site rather a lot up very fast! What host are you the usage of? Can I get your associate hyperlink in your host? I wish my site loaded up as fast as yours lol 

This next one was on my "TMI Baby Update" post:

I'd like to find out more? I'd like to find out some additional information. 

So...yeah - that's not even all of them! It's maybe 2/3. All I'm saying is...I'm getting more love from Spammers than my own "friends". And I'm about to lose my spammers' love, AND what little love I got from my friends, by putting the CAPTCHA back on my comments. SORRY, EVERYONE.

I guess the silver lining is that my blog is getting noticed enough to get spam? But apparently that takes very little notice, because I feel like I'm not noticed at all. Because, you know, NO COMMENTS.

SO THANKFUL.

Thankfuls - Day 3

Thankfuls Recap:

• Day 1: Thankful for my job.
• Day 2: Thankful for not being in prison.

Day 3:

Today I'm thankful for scheduled blog posts.

Yes, because I did a terrible job of posting a "thankful" every day, so now I'm going back and filling in all the missed ones!! Mwahahaha! Even though Thanksgiving is only [redacted] days away, and I've only done [redacted] "Thankfuls" posts, people in the future will look back and see all 22 of them - one a day - in all their glory. Woo!!

SO THANKFUL.

Thankfuls - Day 2

Thankfuls recap:

• Day 1: Thankful for my job.

Day 2:

Today I'm thankful I'm not in prison.

Let me explain. My car went kaput, as I kind of explained yesterday. Well, I didn't explain. I just said it went kaput. So, let me explain that. All last week (and maybe even the week before?) my car would start shaking when I got up to like 50mph. Told a few people about it and Mr. T even rode with me once - everyone agreed I probably needed to get a tire rotation. So I planned on doing that sometime this week. Maybe switch cars with Mr. T on his day off so he could take it in. Well, Monday morning I'm running late for work (SURPRISE). Run out to my car, get in, start it...the whole thing is just shaking. I'm like....crap.... But I gotta go to work! So I pull out the driveway and get to the first stop sign. "Check Engine" light comes on. Balls. I can't drive freaking 20+ miles to work, then 20+ miles back home with no clue what's broken on my car. So I thieve Mr. T's Jeep and go to work. He and LarsBar (temporary roommate - long story for later) drive it around with one of their car guru friends and all agree it's my transmission, probably. WOOOOOOOO. That's gonna be expensive. Still haven't gotten it looked at yet. That's a goal for my weekend.

Anyway, fast forward to yesterday. I've been driving the Jeep all week to work. It's freaking old - 20 years, I think. The gas gauge is super wonky on it. I've driven it four days and it's reading that is has 1/4 of a tank of gas. Not sure how accurate that is, but I'm running late for work (SURPRISE) so I figure I'll just buy gas on my way home. Get to work and realize I left my wallet at home. >.< OH WELL. Hopefully there's enough gas to make it home and then to a gas station. Fast forward to the end of the work day. Instead of coming home on 840 like I do in my car, I've been taking it easy on old Jeeparino and staying on 96. Slower speed limit and all that jazz. So I'm running low on gas (possibly) and trying to take it easy on this relic anyway. Not a lot of quick acceleration. This monster of a truck gets in front of me and is going supa slow. I'm ready for a very very frustrating drive home. But! Glory of glories! Do you hear angels singing?? Something I'd only heard about in fairy tales happened! He got over and let everyone pass him! It was beautiful!! Exclamation mark!

But. Now I'm the front car, after about 20 cars have been backed up. No bueno. I don't want to accelerate super quickly, but I don't want the hate of 20 commuters breathing down my neck, either. So I work my way back up to 55/60mph (speed limit is 55) and right when I do - RIGHT WHEN I DO - this truck pulls out in front of me. Goes maybe 100 feet and turns off. BAH! Start working my way back up....almost there....here we go....HAPPENS AGAIN. This happened to me FOUR TIMES. Four times! Right as I hit cruising speed someone pulled in front of me, forcing me to hit my brakes. The first three times they immediately turned back off. The third time dude didn't even use his blinker until right as he hit the turn. I had to slam on my brakes to avoid hitting him. The fourth guy, unfortunately, didn't turn off again. I say unfortunately, because he went about 50mph all the way into town. So. Much. Rage. Because all this - ALL OF THIS - happened before I even made it to the four-way stop in Triune. AND THEN SOMEONE WENT OUT OF TURN AT THE FOUR-WAY. It was my turn, slut ball. MY TURN.

And then...oh, and then...turning off of 96 into our subdivision I got behind a pickup and minivan. Who didn't once use their blinkers while navigating through the subdivision. And I was behind them all the way to my house! The minivan used their blinker one time. ONE TIME. And there are six turns just to get to my house - they turned off on the street right in front of our neighbor's. SEVEN TURNS - TWO CARS - BLINKER USED ONCE. And then I had to go inside, get my wallet, and go buy gas.

Final straw? Mr. T's Jeep is super dirty. The windshield is smudged and when the sun hits it in the morning...you can't see sh*t. All day week I had been fantasizing about washing it and the rear window while I pumped gas. AND THE GAS STATION DIDN'T HAVE ANY CLEANING FLUID IN ANY OF THE STATIONS. 

Thank GOODNESS I am taking two vacation days next week. I'm about to straight-up dead some fools if I don't get a break. Wargarble.

SO THANKFUL.

Thankfuls - Day 1

I've been trying to get motivated to start blogging again and...it ain't happening. I sit in front of a computer all day at work so when I get home I'm like "Oh f no, I'm not getting on a computer right now!" But I miss blogging. Throwing out my words for no one to read... I also haven't written in my journal in months. I lost it, again. Sigh. I'm a failure!

But! In honor of NaNoWriMo (we'll say, even though I'm definitely not writing a novel) and because those annoying FB status updates have started (gah, don't you HATE those??), I'm about to hit you with 22 solid days of Thankfuls. Yes, every day you get to hear about how awesome my life is. Have no fear, though! Since I am me, I'll probably also complain every day. That's how I do. I hope I don't get fired for posting a blog at work...because blogging is definitely not going to pay my bills.

*ahem: Day 1:

Today I find myself utterly exhausted at work. Like, "zoning out almost to the point of actual sleep" exhausted. Business Unit - send me things to put on your site so I have work! BUT. I do have a job - a job that I really do love (especially when Business Unit sends me work!) - that pays our bills even when Mr. T's job is a bit slow (come get tattooed, you fools!) and the transmission is (probably) out on my car and the dog gets an upset stomach so bad his farts smell like something straight from the pits of Hell for three days straight and we have to lock him in the garage because he can't go one night without diarrhea-ing in his crate but he still won't stop getting into things and ate an entire platter of cookies someone brought to our Halloween party that were delicious and I really enjoyed eating.

SO THANKFUL.

Friday Tunes

Day 18: A Song I Wish I Heard on the Radio

2011: "Hiphopopotamus vs Rhymenocerous" by Flight of the Conchords

What I said: "They really should play Flight of the Conchords on the radio..."

2012: "Velvet Elvis" by Alex Winston

I absolutely love Alex Winston. According to the top comments this video was somehow involved in a Google Chrome ad. I'm gonna go all hipster on you, but I was an Alex Winston fan WAY before any Chrome ad. 8P

Friday Tunes

Day 17: A Song I Hear Often on the Radio

2011: "Rumor Has It" by Adele

What I said: "I really like this one. Her voice is amazing, and the song is fun."

2012: "Good Time" by Owl City & Carly Rae Jepsen

I think it's funny that I was bashing Adele's music in my last Friday Tunes post and back in 2011 she was just getting popular and I really enjoyed her music. I really hope they aren't still playing this song as much as they are now next year. For to I like it enough for it to amuse me (most of the time), but I will lose my mind if they keep playing it. Also? Dude in Owl City is waay to old to be around all those kids. Creeper.

TMI Baby Update (This is a long one!)

tl;dr: No babies for three months! (Starting back in August.)

If you've been keeping up with these (I know you haven't 8P), I haven't posted one in awhile.

No, I'm not pregnant! Goodness gracious... I just got on a new kind of birth control - the Depo Provera shot. I wanted to get the Implanon Rod, but my doctor told me people can have weird side effects from it and decide it's not worth it. But if you don't leave it in for at least a year, you lose money (compared to other forms of BC, like the pill). Once you've had it in for a year or two (it lasts three years) you've saved money (compared to other forms of BC, like the pill). So, anyway - the shot has the same hormones (read: same side effects) as the rod, it's just less of a commitment. It only lasts three months, instead of three years. And the idea of it freaks me out less. That rod is freaking huge (that's what she said) to be shoving it into my arm! I mean, they numb the skin and everything, but geeze...freaky.

So...yeah - Depo Provera. I've had it in for about two months now. No period the first month, which was sweet! But then I spotted for an entire month. >.< For those of you who don't know - "spotting" is when you don't really have a period, but you bleed a little. I knew it was a potential side effect, so I didn't really care at first. I just used it as a way to finally throw away some old underwear. 8D But then it didn't go away! I finally started using super-light tampons. I only needed them for the first half of the day - wore one until just after lunch then tossed it. So, yeah - not a HUGE deal, but it was annoying. It finally stopped this past week, though!

And now I don't know what to do. I want to get the shot ASAP because I want to leave it in for as long as possible (we're planning on starting to try to have kids somewhere around August 2015 which is now just under three years). But if I'm going to have month-long periods (or worse - the doctor said it's pretty bad for having "irregularly irregular" periods, in that you never know when you're going to have one, how long it's going to last, or how heavy it's going to be), I'm not sure I want to commit to living with it for three years. BUT! I did read (and the doctor confirmed) that most of the side effects wear off after the first year - once your body adjusts to the hormones. Sooo....is it worth it then?

Then - ANOTHER hitch in the plan - I just got offered a permanent position at work (yayayayay!). Which is great...except that puts a huge '?' on top of my insurance. I'm not sure when my official start date is here, but once it happens I won't have insurance for a month. And then I won't have the same insurance I have now. So I may not even be able to go back to the same doctor (that I only just started going to because the insurance I got through the contracting agency didn't cover the doctor I've been going to for the past six years). Oy!

And that's my baby update!

(Mis)Adventures in Cooking

Okay, so even more than my weekend plans had already fallen apart....my weekend plans fell apart.

Friday I did buy groceries. I did not finish that stupid photo book (the bane of my existence). I did do laundry. (I just didn't get it put away!)

Saturday I slept in supa late, so I did not get the bathroom organized. I did go shoot with Mr. T and Company - well, I did not shoot, but I did go! I did get the bedroom organized! Mostly. I started on the filing cabinet. I would say I'm 95% done. I did vacuum the house downstairs, which was supposed to happen on Sunday. But go me for getting stuff done early! And we did take Tony out to eat. OM NOM NOM

Sunday. Oh, Sunday. This is where all the things fell apart. I did vacuum - on Saturday. Can't find the dustpan, though, so I did not sweep. Well, I tried to sweep. Mr. T is sick, so we did not go to church or his grandmother's for lunch. We did get ready to go to the wedding. And we did even leave FOR the wedding. However, I did not take into account the time zone change. So we left in time to get there at 5:00...Central Time. The wedding was in the Eastern Time Zone, though. So we would have been an hour late. >.< So we did not go to the wedding. Which really freed up our Sunday evening. 8P Which means I did get to cook my Crock Pot Chicken Enchilada Soup! Which prompted this post...

Let me give a blow-by-blow of all the near-fails of this cooking experience.

First, shopping:

1. Olive Oil didn't transfer over to my shopping list for some reason, so I didn't buy any.
• Used vegetable oil instead!
2. Somehow I picked up vegetable broth instead of chicken broth (still don't know how this happened).
• Oh, well - use vegetable broth instead!
3. Where the F do you find "chipotle chili in adobo sauce"????
• Never did find it - looked it up and it just makes things spicy...so left it out!
4. Didn't find cilantro, either.
• Don't really think it's necessary, move on!
5. I had scallions on my list, AND green onions (for another recipe). Had no clue what scallions were, so had to look them up. They're green onions...
• Didn't end up using them, anyway. Too lazy to cut them up for a topping.
6. Didn't buy sour cream.
• It's optional, and gross.

Now, the cooking:

1. Does anyone know how to mince garlic? I just chopped it up into tiny pieces. WORKED.
• Also, sauteing the onions and garlic? SMELLED AMAZING.
2. The super nice can opener I'd bought suddenly decided to stop working! I mean, it's not that nice - you still have to hand crank it. But it stopped working!
• Had to use our super ghetto old can openers. They get the job done, but aren't as easy to turn as the new one (used to be).
3. Made a huge mess opening the tomato sauce.
• Still don't know what happened there.
4. Defrosting the chicken was a nightmare. I had just thrown it in the freezer when I got back from Kroger on Friday (bought the kind that comes on the Styrofoam with the little juice collector at the bottom), so it was all frozen together. 
• Tried running hot water over it and burned the crap out of my hands (Mr. T still hasn't turned the hot water heater down from "boil"). Took it forever to thaw enough for me to pull all that off to thaw it in the microwave, but by then it was so thawed it started to COOK while "thawing" in the microwave!
5. Don't have measuring spoons (wtf, me?!).
• I had to guesstimate with an eating spoon that I'm assuming is a teaspoon or so.
6. The chicken was a little tough (I'm assuming from getting half-cooked in the microwave), so shredding it wasn't as easy as I was led to believe by my own brain when I read the directions earlier. 
• I got it hacked up anyway. Some of the pieces are a bit too big to pick up with a spoon, though. OH WELL.

All-in-all it turned out alright. The chicken was a bit tough and tasteless - it didn't absorb flavors like it should've after soaking in the crock pot for 5 hours. I blame it on the microwave over-defrosting it. Next time (if I plan ahead enough) I'll just defrost it in the refrigerator for 24 hours like you're supposed to.

Friday Tunes

Day 16: A Song I Used to Love but Now Hate

2011: "Bangers, Beans and Mash" by Infant Sorrow

What I said: Haha - just kidding! Still love Infant Sorrow. I just couldn't think of a song I now hate. I tend to either like it immediately or dislike it. Occasionally I'll start liking one I didn't before, once I've heard it enough and it's a stupid freaking catchy pop song (Katy Perry), but I've never gone the other way. That I can think of.

2012: "Rolling in the Deep" by Adele

Okay, so I don't *hate* this song. I'm just sooooo sick of hearing it! Adele EXPLODED on the music scene, and I was all over it. Loved her! But radio stations latched on to about 2 or 3 of her songs and are STILL playing them allllll the d*mn time! She's got more songs!

Weekend Plans

Gah! I have to get back in the habit of blogging again! So sorry!! Anyway, here is my schedule for this weekend. Let's see how closely I follow it...

Friday:	Buy groceries. Go home, finish the photo book I started forEVER ago - the one for our Secret Santa LAST. YEAR. Do laundry.
Saturday:	Get our bathroom organized. Go shooting with Mr. T, his Manager, and Manager's GF. >.< Get our bedroom organized. Get the filing cabinet sorted and in the bedroom. Put all our important papers in the filing cabinet before we lose them! Take Tony out to eat because we owe him an Olive Garden meal. 8P
Sunday:	Vacuum/sweep the house. Church. Eat with Mr. T's grandmother. Start my Crock Pot Chicken Enchilada so we can have it for dinner. Vacuum/sweep the house.

Balls! I forgot about the wedding on Sunday! All my plans are ruined! And by "ruined" I mean altered slightly. 8P

I did a GIS for "madness" and got this. I guess it's a band?

Well Hello There

Long time no chat, blogosphere.

I don't really have anything to say now, either. I just feel bad that I haven't posted in so long. My life has been pretty dull lately. I mean, what with buying a house and getting a permanent job offer from my company...Mom being in the hospital for three days...eh - what is there to talk about?

I guess it's because I spend all day in front of a computer at work. Eight hours staring at a screen, you don't really want to go home and stare at another screen. Plus, Miss C and I are trying to start up a workout regime (keep up with it on our blog!) and I am trying to unpack, even though I never have any free time to get anything done!

My photographer friend, along with her husband and their roommate, came over Monday night for spaghetti and The Avengers. Yesterday Miss C and I walked the dogs then got down to the very serious business of watching stupid stuff on TV. Love It or List It, TMZ, Tattoo Master, and some sort of tattoo show like Restaurant Nightmares or whatever it's called. Tonight is more dog walking and hopefully some exercise, instead of reverting to our natural state (vegetative).

Bit of a Scare

Dad calls me at 6:00am yesterday. I honestly didn't think about it - Sister said it freaked her out immediately. I'm generally oblivious at 6:00am. Well, anway, Dad says "I took your mom to the ER this morning - just a bit of a heart thing." Well now I'm awake! He told me they were transferring her to the hospital an hour away from my hometown (two hours away from my now-town) because the doctors there were more specialized. I asked if he thought I should go to the hospital and he said "Oh, no - carry on with business as usual."

Now, my dear darling father is terrible at letting you know about serious things. Mom was in the ER a few months ago and none of the kids knew until THREE DAYS LATER. So I had no idea how serious this was. I sent Sister a text along the lines of "What are your plans with this Mom thing? Should we go see her? Did you get more from Dad than 'It's a heart thing'?" Sister calls me about 30 minutes later almost in tears. She's talked to Mama N who talked to our parents' pastor who had actually seen Mom in the ER. He said she didn't look good at all and they were originally planning on airlifting her, but it was too foggy.

So of course we decide to go.

Apparently she felt bad all day on Wednesday and noticed her blood pressure was a little high before she went to bed (she's been monitoring it for her Primary Care doctor). She woke up with a bad headache around 4:00am and took some medicine. At some point she stopped being able to breathe. So they finally decided she should probably go to the ER. And not tell their children for about two hours. 8P

By the time we get there (the story could be much longer and less interesting - you're welcome) Mom is feeling much better. They have her on oxygen and she's able to breathe and talk without any problems. They determined she had fluid on her lungs. Sister was guessing (I'm not sure if a doctor every confirmed this) that Mom had had fluid on her lungs for at least a couple of months - Mom has had trouble sleeping for awhile.

We sit around all day and finally a doctor comes in. He listens to her lungs and asks her a bajillion questions. He tells her the fluid is the main concern - her inability to breathe probably caused her to panic and then raised her blood pressure. They need to figure out what caused the fluid and she will most definitely be in the hospital all weekend. Then Sister, Dad, and I all leave. Dad has to go pick up some clothes and stuff for Mom and Sister and I need to get back home.

On our way home, Mama N calls us - another doctor came in and checked Mom out. He said the high blood pressure strained her heart and caused fluid to build up on her lungs, so all they need to do is straighten out her blood pressure and she should be fine. She should be able to go home today (Friday, that is). So...who's right? Mom's going with Doc #2, because she wants to come home. :)

They did an echocardiogram on her this morning but I don't think they have the results back. I haven't heard anything, anyway. So still no work on if she's going to be in the hospital another day. Mom's feeling fine, though. Said she thinks she's all back to normal. Which, with Mom, "back to normal" still isn't all that great. ;)

Oh, hey - I just realized tonight is homecoming at my old high school. I was going to go to that. Mmm....I don't think I am anymore.

This is (Part 3 of) a Story of a Girl

Alright, Parts 1 and 2 should be linked now...


So....this is how our (mine and MC's) “friendship” ended:

My office was on the fourth floor of the building. His was on the third, where all our classes were. Often when our last class would get out at 7:30pm, I just wanted to go home. Screw walking up an entire flight of stairs - I would just leave all my books and stuff in his office and pick them up the next day. Well, on this fine day I went to his office to get my laptop, or something. His office was open, but he wasn’t inside (this NEVER happened). I walked over to get my laptop and realized his computer wasn’t locked, either!! Mind. Blown.

I get on his IM account and message our mutual friend Cheese. I’m like “CHEESE - WHAT DO I DO?!?!” Cheese, realizing this is a golden moment that may never be replicated, is on board and suggests I rearrange his office. Brilliant idea, Cheese! As I’m chatting with her, I notice his browser is open to a page explaining the difference between the two...terms?...e.g. and i.e. I’ve never understood the difference, so I was like...whatev - he probably needed it for something and who just knows that off the top of their heads? WEIRDOS.

Since Cheese and I were in agreement, I decided to rearrange his office. All the chairs got moved to the center of the room...I put all the small items in either the fridge, microwave, or filing cabinets. And honestly that’s about it. I had no idea when he was going to show back up and I didn’t want to get caught. At the beginning of the semester he had gotten into my office and screwed with my monitors so badly it had taken me like 30 minutes to get them straightened out. We all had dual monitors - he had switched mine so left was on the right and right was on the left, turned one vertical, and I don’t know what else. I say that just so you know why I thought this kind of joke would be okay.

Anyway, I go back up to my office and log on to Facebook. And there in my newsfeed is a post by Mr. MC himself, discussing his thesis. It was some pompous status about how great his thesis was. I don’t remember the exact wording, but he used either e.g. or i.e. (I’m sure he used the correct one, too.) I was like “teehee” and commented along the lines of “Is this why you had that “e.g. vs. i.e.” site pulled up on your computer?!” See what I did there? I let him know that *I* was the culprit behind the office destruction. I’m so clever!!

Well, anyway. He’s a douche, so his rebuttal was something about how he wanted to make sure he did things right, but a good example of failure would be some of the homework assignments I had turned in. Well now. I told you before how he was pissing me off more and more frequently the last year or so we were friends....and this really pissed me off. So I cut deep (and spoke the truth) - I said a real example of failure would be his own personal life. Ooohhhhh......ouch. So that pissed him off. He deleted all my comments. (HARSH MOVE, MAN!)

I forget where he posted it, but he said that his retaliation against me would happen soon and you’d know it when I started freaking out. So I vowed right then to not let anyone know when it happened. Especially him. Later that evening (or maybe the next one), I was working on a project for one of my classes. I finished it up and a few minutes later someone asked a question, so I opened my file back up and showed them what I had done. Then I just left it up for awhile and did some other stuff...eventually went to close it and my default close was a save and close (“:wq” in VIM - took a long time to break that habit when I started my all MS all the time job). Well it said I couldn’t access the file anymore. I was like...that’s weird...but figured it was just because I had left it open so long my session had timed out or something.

The next day Little Hippo came up to me and told me MC had told him what he’d done. I guess it had been too long without any acknowledgement, so he had to tell someone. He had logged on to Ranger as root and removed all the permissions on all my files. Instantly pissed - I realized that’s why my file had messed up the day before. If he had done it 15 minutes earlier, I would have been working on that file and unable to save my work. Remembering my vow, I said not a word on FB or to MC. I got with my non-douchey-but-smart office-mate and we got it all fixed in about 20 minutes.

But....I kept thinking about it, and about how much he could have broken. And just kept getting more pissed. I had already had a bad semester with KC - reached a breaking point and emailed the head of the dept about him....so maybe I was just in a tattling mood. But I emailed the CS Lab Admin and told him the whole story. And he got super pissed, too. Told me MC could get expelled for such a serious abuse of power. Instead, he decided to give him a taste of his own medicine and removed all his privileges on Ranger.

Well, what the lab admin didn’t know was that MC had a big demo of his thesis project on campus the next day. It wouldn’t affect his thesis or graduation or anything - it was just a way for the best and brightest of each dept to show off to the uppity-ups of the university. He had won it the year before. I guess he didn’t test anything prior to his demo, though... When the dean of Basic and Applied Sciences showed up, MC tried to show him stuff his account was blocked.

MC texted the STUDENT lab admin (not the one who had blocked him) with the succinct text of “Fix my accounts - now.” And this guy (the one who is married to my photographer friend, actually) had not a clue what had happened. So he was like...f you - you’re not my boss. And ignored him. So...I’m guessing MC didn’t win that year. :D

A bunch of stuff happened after that, but none of it memorable. I had to talk to the CS Lab Admin and the chair of the dept, explain my side of the story. It was so stupid. I fluctuated between feeling bad that it had all gone down (feeling like it was my fault) to being pissed that MC had taken it that far (feeling like it was his fault). I really regret not having balls enough to break off our friendship years before when I realized he was a douche.

I finally sent an email to the chair, the lab admin, and MC apologizing for things getting so out of control. No one responded to it, but later the chair thanked me for it. The lab admin told me MC never admitted to having any blame and instead tried to push it all on me. And MC never talked to me again. So.... That took care of that! No more worrying about being MC’s friend.

Then I hear that he’s telling Cheese that she shouldn’t go to grad school. That there are some students who do well in grad school and some that just “get by”. And she’d obviously be one of the latter. Apparently he’s STILL telling her that. Luckily she’s ignoring him and starting grad school in the fall. Unfortunately, she’s still TALKING to him. He has told her that once he starts making friends at his new job (Oh, you didn’t hear - he’s working at Google now. Did you miss the hour-long presentation he gave about how awesome he was??) he’ll stop talking to her. I wouldn’t hold my breath on all those new friends, MC.

And finally...we reach the end of my tale (saga?). This is the reason I started writing this blog. Beardie, MC’s friend from before MC was my friend, sent me a FB message saying “I was talking to MC and he said you tried to get him kicked out of the department? That’s all he would tell me. I’d love it if you gave me the full story.”

Oy. Alllll that rage came back. So I told Beardie the full story. His reply?

Wow.... well I guess my original guess of "sexing up an undergrad in his office" was WAY off. That all sounds really awful.

He also treated me like sh!t. As soon as we graduated I pretty much discontinued any contact. We only bumped into each other a couple of times on campus after that... or rather... he came and found me when I was practicing in the music building... I must have still been driving my old car. How else would he have known? He would just tell me about all these things he was doing.. conferences I guess? I don't know. His friendship was a pretty toxic one. I avoided any ACM things after we graduated just so I wouldn't have to be around him...

Well I apologize for him being a tool to you. I honestly thought most people in the department liked him... Congratulations on graduating and finding a job!

lulz - everyone hates you, MC. Even your friends. Get a new personality.

Look at Me!

I'm posting from my new STANDING DESK in my new HOUSE! Weeeee!!!!

Weeee!!!!

This is (Part 2 of) a Story of a Girl

If you missed Part 1....hopefully I remembered to add a link to it before I published this one. ;)


By the end of my undergrad career I had become really close “friends” with MC. I hate that he’s the focus of my CS story, but I want to be a warning to other people out there. Don’t be stupid like me. Sometimes I feel like I got out of an abusive relationship, lol. Not physical - he’s CS for crying out loud. But by the time our friendship was over I had zero confidence in myself in the one area of my life he had any influence - CS. I can’t imagine what he does to the women he dates.

Everyone else in the CS department is great. I mean...there are some weird ones. Well, some REALLY weird ones. We’re all weird. But most of us are the kind of weird that we can accept. Maybe no one outside of us can...but we do. There are some that we can’t even tolerate. But I’m not here to make fun of the freakiest of the freaks. That’s just mean. But try to tone down your weird, guys. Just a little. For me? Please?

So, anyway. By the time I graduated I was friends with most of the department. At least the group of people who were as far along into the program as I was. Three of us stuck around for grad school. I thought that was a lot. But this past year? I think EVERYONE stuck around for grad school. It amused me. Leave the nest, little birds! But I still visit campus...so who am I to judge?

Gah! So off-topic! Grad school. It was fun. Mostly. I think what detracted from it was my friendship with MC. By now he had made me dependent on him, school-wise. If I didn’t understand something I’d ask him for help. “Well how do you think you should do it?” I explain my thinking and am called an idiot and told how to do it - his way. I can’t emphasize this enough:

DO YOUR OWN WORK.

It’s tricky, because you can obviously get help from people. Every other friend I’ve had in the department I’ve been able to work with and still learn. So I guess I should say....always make sure you understand what you’re turning in. Don’t just let someone tell you how to do it. And if anyone EVER makes you feel stupid for not understanding something - get away from them. I don’t mean those people that are so freakishly smart you can’t believe they’re actually human. I mean people who purposefully insult you for not being as smart as they are.

He was constantly telling me I was dumb - telling other people I was dumb. He told me if it wasn’t for him I wouldn’t have made it through grad school. But you know what? I had classes without him. And I made perfectly good grades in them. And I actually KNEW the stuff I was doing. Well, except for Networks. But that class is BS. All the classes I had with MC...I don’t think I learned anything. Other than how worthless I was.

By the end of grad school I was sick of it. He was pissing me off on a weekly basis. No, daily, probably. The only reason I stayed his friend was because I knew after graduation we wouldn’t talk any more. I didn’t want him to think I was only his friend so I could get help from him. And I wasn’t brave enough to call him a dick. Well, that’s a lie. I think I did call him a dick a lot. He just didn’t care. Any time you call him out on his BS he just assumes you’re jealous.

Part 3 (the final part) should be posted next week. Stay tuned for the cluster f*ck that was the end of our friendship!! :D :D

Grandparents

I follow this blog. It’s written by a girl who has the same disease as the daughters of the women who write these blogs. She’s a pretty cool kid. Just started college. Anyway, her last post was about her grandfather who had just passed away. She was saying how she avoided writing about him while he was ill because she didn’t want to admit he was dying, and that she dreamed he’d be at her wedding and get to see her kids.

I almost lost it, guys. I told you before (link) about my grandparents all passing away really quickly. I only had one blood grandparent still living with Mr. T and I got married - my dad’s dad. And he and my adopted grandfather (Mama N’s dad) were both so frail we were scared to risk the hour drive and spending all day out in the heat at our outdoor wedding.

So there were no grandparents at my wedding. Just six months previously I had had three living grandparents, two of which had no signs of leaving us any time soon and the other two were significantly healthier than they were by the time the wedding rolled around. And it makes me really sad to think about.

I think about my mom’s parents a lot, actually. I miss them more than I miss my dad’s. That felt mean to say, but hear me out. My dad’s parents both lived into their 90s. They both got very ill prior to passing away. We knew they were going to pass soon, and we prepared ourselves. The same thing happened with Mr. T’s grandfather. When someone is that ill it’s painful to see them hang on. I’m so thankful I was raised to believe in God - I don’t see how anyone who doesn’t have that faith can cope when a loved one passes. Because I know that one day I will see my grandparents, and Mr. T’s grandfather, again one day. And that makes it okay.

Mom’s parents passed away so suddenly. They were healthy. Well, as healthy as people in their 70s can be. They had a garden, they lived on the river and went fishing almost daily, they were so young. They died in a car crash the day after Valentine’s Day - almost six months to the day of my wedding day. When my aunt saw me at the funeral home she hugged me and said how upset they’d be to know they wouldn’t be at my wedding. They never got to meet my niece. My sister wasn’t even pregnant yet, actually. She didn’t get pregnant until at least May, because I was living with them when they found out.

Anyway. I don’t know where I was going with that, other than I got sad and wanted to write to release it. My ability to ramble usually makes me get off-topic and less depressed. Yay, short attention spans! Also, it reminded me of when my cousin told me she was GLAD our grandparents were dead, because she had found pictures of me on FB that she found offensive. And then proceeded to call my mom and LEAVE HER A VOICEMAIL telling here there were NUDE images of me on the Internet. Oh goodness... Not a fan of all my family members - let me tell you.

I had taken down my posts that told that whole story after my dear cousin (I had some clever acronym for her, didn’t I?) found my blog. Thank you, Sister Dear! :P But I’ve never felt right about it. I called her some bad names (cunt being one of them), which was a bit low, but she accused me of being hypocritical for calling her gossipy then posting the whole thing for all my friends to see. But I wasn’t being gossipy! I was copy/pasting our exact conversation into a blog, then calling my cousin a cunt. So I feel like I let the terrorists win that one. I’m going to put those posts back up. I’m not going to link to them. But I’ll republish them.

This is (Part 1 of) a Story of a Girl

I wrote one really long post, and then split it into multiple posts, so maybe you'll read them...here is Part 1:

When I started in the CS department, I didn’t know anything about programming. I just liked computers. I mean...I used FB a lot, and I liked to play games - the Internet was fun...why not?! I mean, the major has “Computer” in the name! The other major I was looking at - Digital Animation - required art classes. I’m not an artist! Science! Let’s try it out!!

So...1170. It blew my mind. Looking back, I think I picked up on stuff relatively quickly. For most of my life I considered myself fairly intelligent. I made a 4.0 in high school, thankyouverymuch. My professor, though, man...he was a scary dude! Not that he was actually frightening - he just really emphasized the importance of understanding ev.re.thing. And I didn’t understand all of it. Honestly - I still don’t. But he drilled it into our heads that if we didn’t understand everything in 1170 there was no way we’d get through 2170.

Here is my CS shame: I panicked. I decided to retake the class. There was...maybe a month left? I decided to focus on other classes instead - I was retaking this one, right? My grade dropped from a B to a D. On top of that, I had discovered that you could skip classes! I was in a massive 100-student Psychology class and skipped it allll the time. Got a C. I had NEVER gotten a C, much less a D, in any class ever. So now that I’m paying for school, of course I do. I almost lost my scholarships the first semester. My parents almost killed me.

But! I retook 1170 that summer. I had another professor, and he was da bomb. Plus, I already knew everything from having already had the class. I aced it, no sweat. The next semester I signed up for 2170. It was a little more difficult, but I got through it. Really started to like it, too. Programming is fun! Woo!

The next semester I think I had 3080 and 3110. 3080 remained my favorite class through all 5.5 years I was taking CS classes (I didn’t have any my first semester). I loved the professor, I loved the subject...I wish I could take it again for fun. But I’m afraid I might not like it now. lol! Anyway. 3110 destroyed me. That class was sooo hard! But I got through it. I had the same professor I’d had for 2170 and I spent a lot of time in his office. He helped me so much, though! Also, I had made a friend (d’awww....). Little Hippo sat beside me in 3080. And would NOT shut up. It was either befriend him or murder him, and I wasn’t as angry of a person then as I am now. Lucky him.

Mmmm...then things start to get fuzzy. I had 3160 and that’s where I met MC. That professor has the students get contact information from other students in the class. Hm...who knew I had a sweet little Korean woman to blame for my terrible programming self-esteem. ;) Nah, she’s another one of my favorite professors - I can’t blame her.

At any rate - the last 2.5 years I was in undergrad I really got involved with the CS department. I made a ton of friends, really enjoyed *most* of my classes, and *most* of my professors (I have to admit, the longer I was in the department the less I liked programming - shhhhh...don’t tell anyone!). Just now I started thinking about blaming all that on MC, but I don’t think that’s fair. I’m just not as into it as most other CS majors are. I never cared to write code on my own, for fun. I didn’t research new technologies. I still don’t understand anything about computer hardware, and only the basics of software.

The only things that kept me in the program were my friends and the knowledge that if I tried to start over with another major I wouldn’t graduate on time. So of COURSE I stayed and got a Master’s in CS, too. >.<

Look for Part 2 next week.

Overly Automated POS...

Here is the blog post where I complain about my work bathroom. Ready for this?

So every time I go in the bathroom there is this *click* sound. I used to always think there was someone in the bathroom...but no one ever was. I don’t know how long I was here - probably at least a month or two - before I realized the lights further in the room were automatic. The ones right by the door are always on, but the back half aren’t.

Then there’s the toilet. Which works fine. NOT automatic, I should note. I’m actually surprised they aren’t. But they do spray water out when flushing. Waaaay too high-powered. It’s so gross! No one wants pee water (or worse) sprayed all over their legs! So I always flush then take a step forward to get closer to the door - further from the spray. But this means that more often than I’d care to admit I’ll hit my head as I bend down to pull my pants back up.

And now for the fun part. Automatic soap dispensers and sinks. It’s foamy soap, so it gets all dry and crusty if it sits too long. So the first ejaculation is all weird and sad - you gotta get two. Let me say right now, on record, that automatic soap dispensers are dumb. Why are they necessary? I get toilets - make sure people flush, sinks - make sure the water gets turned off, and paper towel dispensers - don’t want to touch anything “dirty” after just washing your hands. But soap?! Soooo unnecessary!!

Oy, the sinks! I have no clue where the motion sensor is on those stupid things. I flail my hands all over the place trying to get them to work. One day I sat there for a good 30 seconds before giving up and going to another sink. What always works, though, is pressing your hands right against the spout. But that means that when the water starts coming out (immediately), you’ve created that high-pressured spray that everyone loves coming out of a water hose in summer. Except it’s from a sink at work. And it will spray your torso. This isn’t just coming from me - I’ve seen it happen to several other ladies.

And finally - the cleaning. Dude, these bathroom are spotless. Which is great. But they’re spotless because a cleaning lady is in them THREE TIMES A DAY. Once in the morning, around 9:30 or so; once right after lunch time; and once around 3:00 in the afternoon. Is this really necessary?? There are probably less than 60 people total in this office! And they’re definitely not all women. The bathrooms on campus didn’t get cleaned this much, and they were servicing hundreds of students daily.

Well at least it's not this kind of sink... (source)

Let's Get Freaky

Well this post might be awkward for some. You’ve been warned.

I’m going to talk about sex. And Christians. And Christian sex. You’ve been doubly-warned. DON’T COMPLAIN IF YOU CAN’T HANDLE IT AND READ IT ANYWAY. :P

So, most Christians believe you should save yourself for marriage. I always believed this. I even went so far as to not want to kiss before marriage (that went out the window when I met Mr. Sexy back in my freshman year - but I never kissed my emo boyfriend who came before him!), but I think that was due to me being upset that no one had even tried to kiss me for the first 18-19 years of my life. Like...if I say I’m saving it, no one will know how big of a loser I am.

Anywho. I can see the reasoning for that. I’ve only had sex with Mr. T (But that happened prior to our wedding day - SURPRISE, anyone who didn’t know! If it makes you feel better, we were engaged, at least...). I did “fool around” with the douchebag that came before him. I won’t go into more detail than that, for all our sakes. And I really do regret that. He has given me nothing but regrets and bad memories. So on the one hand...

But then there’s that other hand. I had a lovely, lovely friend get married. She’s much more...conservative...than I am. And her friends were even more conservative than she! So she was a virgin going into her wedding night. And most of her bridesmaids - well, all her single bridesmaids - were also virgins. For her bachelorette party they made penis cupcakes...and they didn’t come close to looking anatomically correct. And one of the girls making it was married! With a child! Blew my mind. Anyway - the night before the wedding we all went shopping together. My dear friend bought all sorts of crazy stuff. Preparing for the worst. She doesn’t drink, but she was planning on having wine. She bought all sorts of calming stuff, and lubes, and stuff to help her “with the pain” after.

It totally blew my mind. And everyone else was freaking. the. f. out. It was crazy! I was like...it’s just sex!! It’s fun! I maaaay have been drunk the first time (HOW TERRIBLE OF ME), but it didn’t hurt all that bad. I just wasn’t seeing what the big deal was. So while all these virgins were telling her all these horror stories (WTF, ladies?!?!), I was trying to calm her down. I obviously failed.

I texted her while they were on their honeymoon, to check in on “the experience”. She had totally freaked. Now, she is a tiny little lady, and her husband is a fairly large man (I can’t speak for their...intimate areas...of course, but this is just overall size). So I’m sure there might have been some size differences. But I refuse to believe there wasn’t some psychological issues as well. They’re having to go to counseling, and have been married for quite some time now - still haven’t had sex. It’s...it’s really sad to me. I mean, I’m lazy and will often turn down the naughty time with Mr. T if it’s late and I need to go to bed (HOW TERRIBLE OF A PERSON AM I, SERIOUSLY?!)....but when he does convince me to cooperate, we both have a good time.

So...what’s my opinion? I have no idea. I do know that planning a wedding is fracking stressful. I can’t imagine having the whole “I’m about to have sex for the first time.” thought looming over me the entire time I’m picking out colors and dresses and the million other things women have to worry about because men just do. not. care. I do believe my wedding was less stressful because of it. We didn’t even have sex on our wedding night! Again, alcohol was the culprit (OMG, I SUCK) - I passed out after our after party.

And maybe that’s the answer. Don’t have sex on your wedding night. Know you’re not going to. Just enjoy being together as a married couple for the first time. Wait until you’re on your honeymoon and the stress of the wedding, and family is gone. You’re in an unfamiliar place, and you feel safe and adventurous with your love. Maybe that’s my advice. I don’t know.

I do know I’m terrified my kids are going to start having sex in high school. No parent wants that. I would prefer for them to wait until they’ve found the person they’re going to marry. Definitely wait until they’re adults and know what they want out of life and a life partner. I definitely don’t want to them to give it up to people who are barely acquaintances. But do I think they’re going to go to Hell if they have sex before their married? No. If they make a mistake and have sex with someone they end up not marrying? No. I do know this: I don’t want them to have the regrets I do over el douchebag. But I also know I don’t want them to have the same experience my friend has had.

In conclusion: ...I got nothing. Well, sex is an extremely personal thing. Do what you think is best. I won’t judge you, and anyone who does isn’t worth your time.

Also, I hope that if my dear friend reads this she doesn’t get upset with me. I love her, and her situation is breaking my heart. I hope things work out for her and her husband, and soon.

Suck It!

I will have a child one day, and my child will be awesome! You'll look at him and go, "Man. I wish my kid was that cool!" But no, your kid will be dumb and boring. He'll look like every other baby out there. You put him on the playground and not be able to pick which one is yours anymore. Everybody be coming up to you going "Awww... Look at your baby! He's such a baby-like baby!" And you'll be like "Yeah! My baby's a boring as I am! We live in a boring house with boring lives and do boring things!" And I'll look over, with a single tear glistening on my cheek, thinking Where did this country go wrong? And no one will have an answer! The world will weep for you!!




Yeah, no. Not really. My kid's gonna be the one eating sand and running into things. Get trapped in a corner because he doesn't know to turn around. But that's cool. At least I'll know which one's mine. :P

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Friday Tunes

Day 15: A Song That Describes Me

2011: "Milkshake" by Kelis

What I said: "This is what happens when I ask Mr. T his opinion..."

2012: "Who I Am Hates Who I've Been"

Another high school Christian...rock?...song. I feel it's applicable. Also, I like it. I think imma be jamming out to some past favorites tonight.

I'm sorry...

I think you’re a very pretty woman. Beautiful, even. You’ve got a pretty face, nice body. You’re much better at putting makeup on than I’ll ever be (even though I could argue you use too much makeup, but that’s not important in the long run). You model. I don’t. What do I know? People love your pictures - you get tons of compliments. Congratulations!

But....

Your face! When you pose, you make the worst face! And it’s the same face! In every picture! So many exclamation marks! But I wish someone would tell you... It’s not an attractive face. Half the time you look like you’re smelling a fart - the other half like you’re getting something shoved up your pooper. I know it’s “edgy” and “sexy” to have a stern face. But. Try smiling. Or a different edgy/sexy/stern face. Please! Do something! You’re too pretty for this.

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Rant

I wrote this a long time ago and am just now publishing it, lol

Why on earth are you* commenting on my stuff (on Facebook - feel free to comment here all you’d like, I enjoy the attention) if you don’t like it? I’m not talking about me saying something like “God hates <insert rage-inducing noun here>s!!!!” and then being surprised when people are angry. It’s when I post a status along the lines of “<TV show> is on!” and you respond with “I hate that show.” Or I say something about a movie I’m watching and you say “I hate <actor in movie>.” I mean...wtf?? But that’s fine, whatever. We have different taste in entertainment. But then you gotta go and take it all PERSONAL on me. I upload a picture of my fracking sweet Russell Brand tattoo and I get a “Why would you get someone you don’t even know tattooed on you??” and I upload a picture of my haircut (that is NOT new - I’ve had it for almost a full year now (holy crap, really???)) and you comment “Not my favorite.” What is that supposed to mean?! Why do you, person I don’t ever even see in real life, feel the need to comment on my life decisions that in no way affect you? Especially when you never leave any positive comments! I never get a friendly little “like” from you, oh no. Do you hate everything I do, and only when it gets so intolerable that you can’t hardly stand it you have to be all “I think it’s ‘meh’” on me? Why are we FB friends? Go away. And another thing - people who comment negatively and I IGNORE  YOU TO KEEP THE PEACE - otherwise I’m going to drive to your house and punch you in the nether regions, okay?! So, you have BEEN IGNORED and then feel the need to comment AGAIN, repeating yourself. Like “DID YOU  NOT NOTICE THAT I INSULTED THIS THING YOU MENTIONED? I THINK YOU MIGHT HAVE MISSED IT, PLEASE RESPOND NOW.”

*“You” is not directed toward a specific person. This has come up several times in my life from multiple people.

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What?

What on earth was I going to post about? I had an idea earlier, but now I have forgotten it. How very tragic. Le sigh...

I’m still going to post, you know. I just don’t know what I’m going to write about yet. It will come to me. Maybe. Actually, probably not. I usually never get those ideas back once they go.

I did have weird dreams Thursday night, though. I think it was Thursday night. Eh, I don’t remember when it was. But I had weird dreams.

One of them was that the brother-in-law from Weeds was MY brother-in-law. And, as in Weeds, he was in love with me. Not that he’s in love with ME in Weeds, just that he’s in love with his sister-in-law. Who was me in the dream. But not the show. Party. Ah, anyway... It wasn’t quite as light-hearted as Weeds, in that he was trying to kill Mr. T... His brother is dead in the show, but...wow, I didn’t actually consider that he would be Mr. T’s brother and also trying to kill him until just now. So, yeah. He was also willing to kill me if I didn’t love him back. I remember at one point he was trying to cut me, but with a knife so dull it wasn’t even hurting, much less breaking the skin. I think I might have even tried to help him because he was so sad about it... But it wasn’t a nightmare, either. Because he was still goofy...just in a murderous way. I woke up around the time Mr. T fake hanged himself to try to trick his brother (geeze, what a weird family) into thinking he was dead.

Now what was the other one? Oh! It was after we had moved into our new house (so set in the future, apparently), and all my family and friends had gone to a Mexican restaurant to eat. And one of my old CS friends who has since moved to SC and I haven’t seen in forever (Heh, CS and SC....la la la) was there and got super trashed. He started wandering around the restaurant, messing with people’s food. Like - total strangers. And I was freaking out because I didn’t want my family (who was eating inside) to notice us and all our friends (who were eating outside) had been drinking. So I guess that one was more of a nightmare than the first one.

POST FINISHED!

Friday Tunes

Day 14: A Song No One Would Expect Me to Love

2011: "Price Tag" by Jessie J ft. BoB (cover by Karmin)

What I said: "I don't really care if you expect me to like it or not...I like the original version of song, and I love Karmin. Go watch all their covers (and the originals, too)!"

2012: "Must Be Doing Something Right" by Billy Currington

I'm guessing people wouldn't expect me to like this because I do. not. listen to Country music anymore. But I lived and breathed Country music up until high school, when I finally started branching out into genres that are actually good. Oh, but how I love Country music from the 90s up through the early-ish 2000s.

Three Months

Well, my contract is half over now. I’ve been working here for three months - three more to go before it runs out. It’s still weird, having a job. School has started back...all my friends are talking about classes and professors - homework and exams. It’s...different. To not be a part of that anymore. But exciting. I’m finally starting to feel like maybe I’m an adult. Shhh... Don’t tell anyone.

Mr. T and I have finally been able to save money. In three months, I’ve gotten my savings account back to where it was...oh goodness...it must have been about four years ago. I never had to take out a student loan, praise Jesus, but if I had stayed in school for another year I think I probably would have. Or grown to really really REALLY love ramen.

We just had our two-year anniversary as well - you may have heard that rumor. Things are going great. It’s hard to have two totally different lifestyles under one roof, though. The hours a tattoo artist keeps aren’t the same hours an office worker with a nearly-one-hour commute can keep and still function. But we’re making it work. Mr. T might actually start getting to bed at a decent hour! I was especially weird last night and got all mopey about always having to sleep alone. I didn’t even realize it was an issue myself until just then. I was trying to fall asleep and couldn’t. Which never happens. Then I was like I really hate going to bed alone every night and went to get Mr. T. :) He was a great sport about it and said he’ll start trying to move up his bed time (you know, from 4:00 to maybe 1:00 or so :P).

That elusive five-year mark is getting dangerously close, too. The five year anniversary that we said we’d start trying to have kids. I feel like I’m starting to mature enough to be prepared for that. Then the animals do something to piss me off and my reaction makes me think What if that had been a child?? and I think maybe I’m not. lol! Children learn better than animals, maybe. They learn to communicate with you. And I’ll probably love them a little more than I do Splinter or Chairman... I mean, maybe. I know my niece has never upset me as much as the animals, even when she’s less cute than normal (hardly ever happens). But since I’m not around her 24/7, who knows? ;)

So, yeah. All that to say I’m starting to feel a little more mature, I guess. I mean, most of the time not really. But does anyone ever really feel grown up? You wake up one day and suddenly you’re 60 and you think Where did the time go? That scares me sometimes. Life on this planet is so fleeting. I mean, what - at best you get around 100 years? But if you last that long, the last couple decades aren’t going to be great. It’s a fact. People just...fall apart. Mentally, physically...it’s scary.

Speaking of... My uncle just found out he has lymphoma. THAT is terrifying. He’s in his late sixties. Always been healthy, as far as I know. He’s just been feeling bad the last few weeks and went in to get it checked out. “Oh, hey - you have cancer.” Those are words no one EVER wants to hear. (I’m sure those exact words have never been told to a patient, but you get my point.) I think he was going in today to find out how extensive it is. It just...it sucks.

I’ve been thinking about age a lot lately. And death. All my grandparents have passed away now. When I was growing up I always knew I was lucky that all four of them were still alive. Most of my friends had already lost one or two, or more. Then my grandmother passed away after my freshman year of college. We lost both my mom’s parents in a car accident the winter before Mr. T and I got married. And then finally my grandfather and pseudo-grandfather (Mama N’s dad) followed in the next couple years. One day it hit me - those were my parents parents. I mean...you know that, logically. But then you start thinking about how when your kids’ grandparents pass away...those are your parents. And I just can’t imagine a world without my parents in it.

omg - what’s happening!? I need to change the topic fast. This is too emotional for me. I think it’s because I started journaling again, and then misplaced my journal. All my feelings leaked out onto my blog. Ewww, gross.

So, right. Job. Money. Savings. Suddenly: Mr. T and I bought a house. If you know me, and all my readers do, you should probably already know this. Just in case you don’t - we did. We went for a house that will work for us for the rest of our lives. So it’s...a bit expensive. I mean, not terribly expensive. But we could definitely have gone for a smaller, more appropriate for us now house. But then we’d have to sell it and buy a new one in five or so years, when our kids are more people and less baby. Gah - in five years we’ll more than likely be parents...

But, if you’ve read my OTHER BLOG you would know Miss C is moving in with us. I offered her $100 less than what she would be paying in the apartment she was going to move into, and thanks to her love of the finer things in life she will be paying about half our mortgage. Woo!! :) Now if we could just find another roommate to pay the same amount... Nah - I don’t want a house full of people.

It’s scary, though. I mean...I just have a six-month contract. And even though I’m about 95% sure I’ll be offered a permanent position, it’s still not a guarantee. And if they don’t, I’m about....98%...sure the contracting firm can get me another contract/permanent position pretty quickly, but that is also not a guarantee. So...December could be a very bad month for us. But I’ve been able to save about $1k a month since I started work, and we’ve got another 3-4 months to go. So if I don’t have a job for...about a month...we should be fine. “Should” being the key word. That is if the pipes don’t burst, or a tree falls on the roof (I don’t think there are any trees big enough to do that, actually.), or or or... Buying a house is scary!!

Oh, but I can’t wait. I already started packing! Mr. T and Roommate were making fun of me, but it’s so important to start early and take your time! When I moved out of my last apartment before we got married, I got like five boxes done a few weeks early, then didn’t pack anything else until the day before I had to be out. It was a disaster! We were up until nearly 4:00 getting everything out. We ran out of boxes, crap was just getting thrown everywhere. Then I lived with my sister for three months, followed by nine months with Mr. T’s grandparents. I lost sooo much stuff. THAT’S NOT HAPPENING TO ME AGAIN.

We bought twenty of those fancy Bankers Boxes from Walmart. The ones you assemble yourself. They’re so sturdy! I love them. Everyone’s all “Don’t buy boxes - get them for free!!” But then you have to deal with all these weird sizes, and some aren’t all that sturdy anymore. You usually have to tape them back together, and then take them off to recycling when you’re done, because they’re useless. These boxes don’t require any tape, and you can break them back down to store and use later. I have one that I’ve been using for years to hold shoes. It’s still in excellent shape. They’re magnificent. And I definitely want a paycheck for my advertising, Bankers Boxes! I should get at least a nickel.

With DVDs, books, knick-knacks, giraffes, stuffed animals (I’M AN ADULT - LEAVE ME ALONE!)...I’ve filled up about eighteen of them. lol! But that’s eighteen boxes we don’t need to worry about packing anymore. And it’s eighteen boxes of things we don’t need for the next month. It could be argued that maybe we don’t EVER need them, if we won’t need them for an entire month. But to that I say “Suck it.”

I am terrified, though, that I might not get offered a permanent position. Have I already mentioned that? I think I did. What else was I going to say, then? No clue. But! HOUSE!

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(That was for Exum.)

I guess I’ll go now. This post is already so long no one’s going to read it. :P

Things We Need

I'm just gonna make a running list of things we'll need for the new place. What? you ask? Well, you OBVIOUSLY need to go here to catch up on what you've been missing! Shame on you!!

So, yeah, this post isn't really for you guys. And it would make more sense to just write it on a piece of paper, or type it in Excel or Word or something... But I feel like blogging. So I blog.

*ahem

Things We Need:

• better vacuum cleaner
• dresser for Mr. T
• dish washing detergent (FINALLY - a dishwasher!!)
• washer/dryer (possibly - she may give us hers, and if not we're gonna try to move the ones in this house...crappy as they are, they'd be free - but the could also disintegrate if we try to move them)