Saturday, July 31

151. So Much Love

I think I have finally attained a normal person's schedule! I woke up early, ate a brunch, and a dinner! And I'm tired a few hours after dark. It is too bizarre and a little unsettling.

The great parts about today were that we watched/ left on in the background the Discovery Channel for catching mini-marathons of Ultimate Car Build-Off and *trumpet fanfare* Mythbusters! Both were pretty mind-blowing and we all love the latter. The not as great parts were the rearranging of boxes and furniture in the new house. Thankfully, with the storm from yesterday and the almost storm today, the temperature was gorgeous! So nice and cool, with hints of breezes that almost made it chilly.

I got curious enough about the wash I've heard so much about in the back of the property that I asked for a guided tour in my flip flops. At least I was wearing khaki pants today and thank goodness for that too! For those of you that have not been to the desert, a wash is like a natural canal thing that fills with water during monsoon season. Otherwise, it's just like a dry river bed. Scientific definition, I know. :P Well, here are a few pictures I snapped in between my dodging of pokey everything.

Critter hole!

Look at all of those critter cubbyholes.

For not having any green, they still do have another of plant life!

That light colored sucker in front of the dead cactus? Yeah, wicked amount of needles that I believe like to jump out if you get too close.

Weird, I wonder why all of these piles have been placed along the mini wash?

The deeper wash. Finally!

As much as I adore critters, the amount of holes I saw this afternoon really freaked me out. The majority of those holes are currently being lived in by anything from tarantulas, various snakes, mice, scorpions, and other creepy crawlies. I really did not want to fall into or step too close and surprise the occupant(s). No thank you!

Remember that video that I posted yesterday? Well, the SO had done a heart earlier that had worked a lot better but I hadn't had my camera the first time. Once he learned that I posted the subsequent images and that people liked it, he wanted to get a better video! Welcome to part two:


Too fantastic, right?

As if all of that eye candy wasn't enough, I'm adding two current popular singles! I think they're both fun party songs, even if one is a kick butt cover.




Hope you enjoy. See you tomorrow! <3

Friday, July 30

150. Fire & Ice

Mmk, I may have finally caught up on my sleep last night/ this morning. I ended up redoing my closet (again) because I had a moment and suddenly wanted to use black hangers for my dressier clothes and white hangers for my everyday/ working clothes. And it had to be the same kinds of hangers too... Yeah, I can get that bad sometimes. I shall take a picture once the closet is completely finished. I was actually thinking about drawing diagram on the picture to explain how I usually organize my hung clothes. I swear it makes sense. At least in my head, lol.

I did dig for and haul in my bag of winter clothes and my last piece of luggage in from being stored in the garage. It was bigger than I remembered it, so I'll probably have to end up using it as makeshift shelving in my back of the closet. Lol, sounds fun right? I think I'm slightly sick in the head for getting a little excited about the concept. :P

I pulled myself away from re-doing my closet to help cook dinner. It was a yummy dish! The chicken was tenderized and lightly breaded and covered in sliced mushrooms topped off with Fontina cheese. It paired nicely with angel hair pasta. There was also freshly grated Parmesan cheese, basil, and olive oil involved- if that's any indication how great this dish can taste!

Tonight brought on a wicked little storm. It's the best one I've seen this monsoon season! Lightning and rolling thunder everywhere. The energy was amazing! It was pretty long-lasting as well. To top it all off, it made such a pretty sunset before it started.



Have I mentioned how much I love my camera? This is using its "Sunset" mode to emphasize and better capture the vivid and rich colors. This is even on its lowest quality settings as well, since my little old laptop has a conniption everything I try to use anything HD.

Later on, I worked and finished my card front/ cover for the card swap I'll be in this Sunday with a few Stampin' Up ladies. It'll be my first craft swap and I'm terribly excited. I like my design. It's simplistic, but I managed to use nothing but SU products despite not having very much. I did borrow a sheet of Designer Series Paper from the FMIL though. I was going to post a pic today but I guess I want to keep it a surprise for a little longer (However, it's kind of killing me right now! Ha ha!).

Oh! But the SO called me outside during the storm to show me something I've never seen before. I freaked out about how cool it was, lol.


Lighter fluid + floor + lighter = Fun!

I love how the storm has cooled everything off so dramatically. It feels great! That's all from me today, see you tomorrow! <3

Thursday, July 29

149. Check, Check, 1-2-1-2

Is it possible to be a day behind on your life? I kind of feel like that as I'm writing right now. I can't wait to get used to my new sleep schedule. I almost don't know what to do with myself with the extra hours.

Yesterday, I mentioned that it was the kitty-cat's (who seems to have really adopted me- hooray!) first night at the new place with his daddy. There was much supervised exploration done and once he was comfortable enough, he would not let his daddy out of his sight. At one point, the SO walked around the kitchen island three to four times and had kitty trotting behind him, barely a foot away. It was ridiculously cute.

He is the type of kitty that really likes being up. Up on doors, up on hutches, up on dressers, just anywhere as long as it's up. So here are a couple of pictures of him doing two of the things that he does best: being up and adorable.

This is a ledge that is above the kitchen. He's pretty high up.

Have to make sure daddy is within sight!

Up on the counter as we walk back and forth putting all the boxes back after mopping.

This was earlier today during my visit. He apparently felt that I should be done with the internet.


He did eventually start to check out all sorts of nooks and crannies that he could fit into to have his numerous cat naps. I'm glad he's much more a lover than a fighter. As a cat, he doesn't really take too kindly to your offerings of loving, but watch out when he decides it's time to be pet! His helpful headbutt will knock you into the next zip code to the unsuspecting.

Today, I more or less decided that my break and recovery from my trip were over and it was time to start building up to a bigger, badder, and better me. :P It started with rearranging all of my clothes. My next laundry day should be a blast and a half. Tomorrow, I'll finish that off by grabbing my bag of winter clothes and storing it my closet. At least one of my bins shall be tackled then too. /shudder. I'm not even looking at the screen right now but rather spinning around to try to decide what mess I want to get myself into. Oh, I guess I should sort out my shoe situation too... Lol.

Hm, maybe I should delve into sorting and putting away all of my books. They're bulky enough that when I'm done, it'll look I did a whole lot of work. XD Anything that helps me sleep better at night, aye?

Speaking of sleep... >_> I should get some. Until tomorrow, <3

Wednesday, July 28

148. Musical Interlude

We got up early this morning and were at the new house to sweep and mop up all of the tile in order to have it dry by the time we were ready to go pick up kitty-cat. He seems to be taking all the changes really well (for him)! Been keeping a pretty close eye on him just to make sure he doesn't start any bad habits but mostly because he's disgustingly cute and sweetly tentative. I'm glad that he seems to have really accepted me as a source of comfort when his daddy isn't right there. Lol, that doesn't stop him from running up to and looking underneath the bathroom door whenever the SO is in there. XD Too adorable, my darling boys.

Anyways, I'm really tired from moving around stuff so here is one of the latest videos from The Guild! They have started Season 4 and are on Episode 2 right now. This is the music video for this season! I love it and it was so unexpected. That also reminds me that the third and final season of The Legend of Neil has started as well. Both are PG-13. Actually, the latter is probably much closer to being rated R, lol. Just a warning since I won't be putting up the link. :P

&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;br/&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;a href="http://www.bing.com/videos/browse/originals/the-guild?videoId=8cb424dc-cbdb-40be-90c5-8fb450462d2f&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;fg=sharenoembed" target="_new"title="Season 4 - Music Video - "Game On""&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;Video: Season 4 - Music Video - "Game On"&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;lt;/a&amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;amp;gt;

Isn't that great?! Felicia Day and the whole cast and crew are just phenomenal!

Well, see you tomorrow! <3

Tuesday, July 27

147. Not It!

I was really kinda, maybe a little, somewhat slightly worried about what I was going to write about today. But you know me, I'll figure out some way to ramble and fill the silence. :P

Maybe I'm just not a movie person, which is weird because I thought I enjoyed them. The SO had his own mini movie marathon today and I didn't watch a single movie all the way through. I think the line up was 2012, Star Trek, and Transformers 2. I've seen all of them all the way through at least once... as if that's any consolation. Idk, I think I'm just really bad at watching movies. Always have, always will be, I guess. All of my friends from church and school growing up can firmly attest to this fact. It's really disappointing and hurtful to their movie-loving souls. Hm, I should figure that out. It's really not because I have much against any of these things either, I usually come in with a pretty open mind and not many expectations for any movie.

Sigh, anywho. I'm apparently still very much on Eastern Standard Time, much to my chagrin. I get so bored during the summer when I'm awake all these extra hours! What am I supposed to do with myself if laundry, dishes, and basic cleaning are all done and people are still sleeping? Go nuts and try to occupy myself with the internet I guess. I did an okay job of that today. During my hunt for stimuli I did end up finding out a little more about one of Provocraft's latest projects!

The Craft & Hobby Association (CHA) is currently hosting their Summer Convention & Trade Show in Illinois and there are a ton of new items and lines being debuted! Ugh! I would love to go someday. I mentioned it because a few bloggers that I follow have been bursting with excitement over the new *drumroll* Cricut Imagine! Long story short: it looks like a high tech Cricut Expression, it prints and cuts images!, it will still use existing cartridges and sync up well with the Gypsy. Little cellphone video clips are starting to pop up everywhere so you can look it up yourself. :P I'm not going to become responsible for any misinformation! Not it! Mmm... instead of cutting out multiple layers in different colors, you should be able to digitally choose the colors and some patterns for different parts of your cut/ printed image. Fancy, fancy stuff. I personally like piecing together everything just so I feel that I'm still doing some handiwork. When we eventually see the price tag of it, I'll probably like doing it the "old"-fashioned way quite a bit more, lol.

The end of July must really be convention season! CHA, Comic-con, Stampin' Up, and Thirty-One? Good gravy! I guess it's a good time since the kids are almost back to school and last minute summer vacation leftover budgets are burning a hole in people's pockets.

Before I pass out from stupid time changes:

This is my furry baby sister face-planting for a nap.

Sinking clouds! Please let it rain!

Awesome view right from the back yard. 

We ended up getting rain today!

That's all for today! See you tomorrow! <4-1

Monday, July 26

146. Got Your Face

I've been spending some time at FFIL's (future father-in-law's, lol, it's just so much easier to refer to them that way) house to check out all the stuff that has been unpacked since I've been gone. I have to say, good progress has been made!

Last night, the SO caved in and made a Facebook profile. I wrote on mine that the best things about that was I could finally tag him in the photographs of us that I've had up from the past two years and his joining was not my fault! I've been good, I swear! Lol, I'm not a huge fan of what social networking sites have been made into nowadays- it's a total drama-soaked joke, but I do like using it to start reconnecting with friends and acquaintances and then taking it further offline. That and I do tend to play quite a bit of games. Maybe not all the ultra-trendy ones because I can't stand the big deal made out of most of them when, imo, they are horribly constructed.

Anywho, I jumped on the chance/ was asked to help set up his profile. :D Hooray for a million notifications about being tagged in photos and getting accepted friend requests. I had to start trying to stalk his relatives from out of state, lol. That was actually his main motivation to joining. Got to love the digital age. I really hope to visit and meet them soon! Good thing they're mostly in one place, lol. Money is poo. :( Lol. We're still kinda hoping to visit my family this winter. The SO has met most of my immediate family but come on, it's my Mommy and my little furry sister! Plus, it'll be my old stomping grounds and modest but passionate wave of great friends to meet too, lol. :P That would be so cool if we could make that work! Just a tad overdue. Ha ha! That's more of a nervous laugh because much longer and I'm going to start receiving heated messages from them demanding that we have the wedding in Florida. Lol. /crawl into corner under the sheets and cowers.

The rest of my day was fairly uneventful and dedicated to getting my WoW fix. :D The SO did take me to a Mongolian Grill place. It's really great, there's a buffet where you fill up your bowl with what you want in your own personal stir fry. Right down to creating your own sauce! Then it's cooked on this giant round iron grill thing. You also get soup, rice, and sesame bread. : ) So good. That's all from me today! See you tomorrow <3

Sunday, July 25

145. Unpacking Heat

My new room is driving me bonkers. While I was gone, the SO decided to half surprise me by rearranging the furniture to now be mostly my stuff that has been stored in the garage since I moved in with his mom. I thought it was so incredibly sweet and really appreciated it. He left my bins in stacks so that I could figure out how I wanted them placed after my return. So, we spent the rest of Saturday completely re-doing the room. I like changing my rooms and furniture up a bit, ever since college. I guess I get bored or learn new ways of trying to simply my life. The latter part will forever be a work in progress, lol. It's not like I didn't like how he had put everything before! I just wanted to try something new-er. XD

Despite everything being in nice piles and more or less where it's going to be now, I go a little crazy just looking at it all. It seems that little to nothing is organized in any of my bins or drawers. So, while I'm taking care of all of my nasty paperwork during the day, I'll be sorting like a madwoman by night. Like some really awful superhero. I actually really like doing paperwork and am a huge fan of office supplies and what-nots (weird I know), but I don't like it when you're playing the whole hurry-up and wait game. No, not a fan at all. When most of the process is almost entirely out of my hands, that's when when we/ I have problems. Sigh. Just thinking about it makes my tummy hurt. :(

As insane as I drive myself when I'm organizing, I do enjoy the work because I know it'll be awesome when I'm done. My methods are... scary to see. Lol. I think I've mentioned that I usually dump everything I want to organize on the middle of the room, sort it all out into pretty specific piles, and then put it all away. It looks so horrible in the midst of the process, but it's usually pretty great once everything is said and done. Therefore... all incredulous comments about how much messier it looks when I'm cleaning can  be shoved back in their respective pie-holes. Lol. It works and it's more than you'll probably ever dare to do! :P

I started with my clothes today. I didn't have much room in the closet before I left and for a young lady, I really don't have nearly as many clothes as I've seen other girls have. Thanks to a couple of winter coats that weren't mine being removed, I actually have a little closet all to my self! Now, I have to rearrange all the work clothes my mom helped me get/ got for me (Hooray for not really having to do any of my own clothes shopping! It's better for all parties involved this way, lol) with my older stuff and redo what I have in my dresser... my bed is so dominated by clothes hangers and piles right now. At least it's all clean! I don't think I really like laundry. Maybe because it's one of the only chores I could never get out of growing up. Well, washing and putting dirty clothes into a hamper isn't too bad, it's the folding and putting away that takes forever for me.

Am I a nerd for planning on my own little Cricut cutting area? Yeah, yeah I am. Lol. I don't think I've poster my pic of my beloved machine and now I can't find it because my external hard drive is currently buried somewhere in this room, but here's an image from the Provocraft's Cricut site.
It's mat is 6" x 12" and I'm kinda jonesing for the big daddy Cricut Expression because I am a horrible person. Well, I always have craved it but didn't know where to find it for not $350. I know a good amount of places that do sell it for at least $100 off now. :P It has a cutting mat than can reach 12" x 24", /drool. My biggest complaint of having the size machine that I do is that if I'm using a 12" x 12" sheet of paper or cardstock, I have to chop it into at least half before using it. I think that may actually be my only complaint, lol. Anyways, it's going to get it's own little spot on my dresser next to where I'm going to keep all my crafting goodies. Oh man, is my crafting collection growing, lol. I have my pretty and organized bin of cardstock and 12" x 12" paper pads next to it and will be putting my big bin of origami and origami paper, bin of friendship bracelet supplies, and- once I figure how I want to organize them- bin of all my crafting tools next to that. That last bin should be holding all my stamping supplies, cutting tools, and miscellaneous supplies. Hopefully. Lol.

Oh! Did I let you know that I managed to steal back all of my polymer clay supplies from my storage at my folks house? I seriously thought the airport was going to freak out about me packing a pasta machine, clay, and poking tools in my luggage but they didn't! FMIL even had an old toaster oven that she was just about to donate that I'm going to be taking (yet again, into my room) to bake my clay in! I'm so excited about being to start that up again. I like making cute little figurines because... well, they're cute and tiny and have faces. What other reasons do I need?!


Here's an old picture I had to steal from my old Myspace of a bunch of figurines I made about two years back! They were my Xmas gifts for all. :D I had a blast trying to teach myself better methods to mass produce decent quality pieces. I can't wait to start again!

Ugh, it's so hot in the desert. XD Actually after that rainstorm I danced around it today has been wonderfully cool. However, running around while carrying loads of clothing generates quite a bit of heat. Dangit, I keep thinking about how I want to organize everything. I'll take pictures when I'll done with it, lol.

I'll also have a bin of semi-important papers and one for my various electronic cords and do-dads (because we can't forget that I'm an actual nerd too! Lol). Then I'm going to have drawers for my markers spot for my magazines and books, an area for my scrapbooks, and shelves full of who knows what. I'll try to keep the catch-all to a minimum but there's a slim chance of that ever happening. Ooh... I just realized I have yet to designated an area in my room for all my clay stuff... That pasta machine and toaster oven should probably just be left out in the open. Hm. Anymore of this and I'll end up making a book full of sketches to plan it all out, lol. Sigh, I'm such a dork.

It's going to be such a pain, I might snag a couple of pictures during my >_> creative chaos, but it's going to be great for me in the end! Hopefully, I'll be able to make time to craft like mad and not have to dig for all of my supplies.

That's all I'm going to rant about for now. I know it was more than you probably wanted to know about my thought process. XD See you tomorrow! <3

Saturday, July 24

144. Musical Chairs

Today started at least an hour earlier than my alarm for it was set, lol/ cry.

And my folks are really silly/ thoughtful/ invasive/ neurotic/ weird. They woke up even earlier than I did and repacked all of my luggage that I had finished up last night. My big luggage case, granted, had broken zipper pulls and a track that was tearing off at the corner and the front has a big scratch complete with little tear from when I moved out here. I hadn't really mentioned it and yet they poked and prodded and re-weighed my luggage during the wee hours of the day and deemed it unacceptable. I have no idea what else they may have added to it too. My folks, especially my mom, does stuff like that all the time. I think I've mentioned how I find her care packages to be pretty hilarious. I'm aware of her putting in two bottles of hair conditioner and a fancy electric toothbrush in there. I'll just have to see what pops up when I unpack completely. Also, my main carry-on was going to be a duffel bag full of books and two pairs of shoes and even though I told me mom that I would deal with hauling it across the airport, she deemed that ridiculously unacceptable (she is well aware of my tendency to face/ butt plant even on flat surfaces) she repacked my stuff in a matching wheel-y bag.

Normally, I can't stand the things in the same way that I cannot stand umbrellas. I see the handiness and other miscellaneous uses of each but people nowadays have little to no regard to the people around them. I can't count how many pedestrian piles ups I've seen due to those wheeling bags and backpacks nor can I count how many times I've almost had my eyes stabbed by umbrella branch tip things. It's probably a consequence of being short too. Ugh, can't stand 'em. Where was I? Ah, yes. I've had a few hiccups with putting them in the overhead compartments and keeping it out of everyone's way but rolling the books along have save my shoulders from getting strap burns and aching like mad. I'll kind of miss having that duffel bag around though. It looked kinda fancy and was handy for quick trips and sleepovers. :(

I'm currently typing this half of my blog post during my hour long layover in DFW (Dallas-Ft. Worth) and I just realized to save my iPod but help keep my sanity, that I could use my iTunes. Awe-inspiring stroke of genius right? Lol, shush. I'm tired. Ha ha. Aw, during our descent on my flight from Florida here, there was a little girl who's popping ears were too much to bear. She was sobbing and it was kinda heartbreaking. Then I thought about how I was raised to cry silently and trained to stop my crying within 3.5 minutes of being told I was done. I always thought it was a bit harsh, but man it comes in handy in public places. Lol, I was also taught how to chew and not swallow gum before my first flight after self-awareness. Some kids freak out with gum because it's treated like candy. I grew up viewing it as a breath freshener and ear-unpopper so I don't think I ever sought it out like a crack fiend like I know how some kids do.

Remember the whole keeping parts of sanity in tact? Another slight pet peeve that I'm sure many other people share: loud cell phone talkers. I never realized how unsettling I've found loud talkers until I grew to really value peace and quiet. It's like 8 times worse with cell phone service inside buildings, lol. I don't want to hear your conversations, even if they're in a language I don't recognize. Also, doesn't it seem like their battery life lasts at least three times longer than yours ever would? When my mom gets excited about certain stuff like comedy or talking with her sisters, she becomes one. I can't count how many times I've turned and hissed at her, "Mom! You're being LOUD!" to which she denies and then laughs to high heaven. Normally that house is pretty quiet. I sometimes start to panic a little when I visit a house with loud-talkers but I'm too polite to mention it at the time. Only as I'm leaving to whomever invited me, lol. Don't get me wrong, I've been known to get pretty loud from time to time but there's a time and place, lol. Sitting here, I've had an eye-twitch going on for about twenty minutes now. I'm pretty sure that's how that is supposed to work. XD

I was really amused when Miss K saw it coming last night at dinner, but there's a time when I start to get bored/ delirious enough that my usual mass amount of shame start to drop away. It happened during a lull in the conversation we were having about where to head to next when I overheard a catchy pop song that I liked and I started mouthing the words, then quietly singing along. I caught Miss K looking at me and grinning because she knew what I was going to do before I even realized what I was doing- I started dancing in my seat and rocking out and we both burst out laughing. Sometimes being pretty predictable can be a great thing. Lol. Even if you didn't think you knew me too well before reading this blog, I'm pretty sure you have a good idea of how I am by now. My sincere condolences. I mentioned the incident last night because I just started doing it again sitting here at the airport.

I love singing and I semi-secretly love performing. It's my Leo love for attention. I've been in choruses through school since 4th grade and participated in my church's choir (and dragged my reluctant friends with me) but it was actually my game, WoW, that I really lost my shame revolving around singing in front of strangers. Once we started actively using a voice-speech program to play the game, I just started serenading anyone who happened to stop by the channel. The whole getting up on stage I still get nervous about but just singing in front of people in informal settings I have a blast doing. I loved singing and harmonizing with my best friend-old roommate in the student dining halls. The hush that spreads around you as you started to build up volume. When people are trying to figure out if they're hearing a record or live music- when they trying to figure out where it's coming from- when they realize it's more than one voice- when they start trying to figure out the words and chorus. The pause when they try to figure out if you're done and then the shouted compliments or calls for encores or brief applause. It's all great. Lol. As much as I like the attention, I really love it if it just makes someone smile. To brighten up someone's day just a little for a moment. Music is so profoundly amazing. Loves it. Lol.

Well, my flight Should start boarding soon. Should. Tropical Storm Bonnie has been fairly kind to me thus far, am I weird that I hoped for a bigger impact and more rain back in Florida? We could use it. I hope I catch some good monsoon action when I get back to big and beautiful Arizona. *crosses fingers* I shall update more later!

. . . . .

Made it! It's so hot here. T_T I'm pretty sure I would have been deemed Miss Congeniality if my second flight was a pageant. I gave up my seat twice to keep two different families together. I was comped the $4 pack of cheese and crackers. :D I tried to help the SO rearrange my room but was tired/ borderline dehydrated I think. Anyways, We managed to clean the floors and rugs and move the biggest pieces of furniture before I was fried.

After a little bit of dinner, we started tackling at least putting all of my bins back into the room and re-setting up the internet for the house when I smelled rain from the window. Then I heard it, then the rest of the household came one right after the other to let us know that there was finally rain in this part of town! I was so excited (and maybe a bit delirious) that I ran out into the rain. I frolicked for a good ten or fifteen minutes. Long enough for me to get soaked and feel wrapped by the sweet aroma of greasewood in the air. I ran around with the dog- who didn't want to be out-crazied, splashed in puddles, and hopped on and off of rocks in the backyard giggling like mad. I haven't done that in so long. I love the rain. I would have kept going for much longer if we didn't start to see lightning in the distance.

I was refreshed physically and mentally by the end, changed into dry clothes and have managed to get all of my stuff back into my room. The real packing and re-organizing will start later on this week. FMIL told me that there was a belief in at least one of the Native American cultures that said that dancing or being out in the rain would give one power. I feel cleansed and energized.

That's all I can muster to write about today. See you tomorrow! <3

Friday, July 23

143. Back Around & Back Again

Today was my last day in my hometown before heading back in the morning. I'm not sure when I'll be back but I'm making a vow to myself to keep in touch with more people more often. If my mom has any say, which she totally does, I'll be back again for a decent length visit in December when people are forced to take a break from school or work for the numerous holidays.

It was really great to see the people I managed to get, but I feel that there was still not enough time to have nearly enough meaningful heart to heart conversations. It's one of my favorite things to do with people, but with how crazy everyone's lives and schedules are right now, it seems we could only get as far as getting the basic catch-up news in before getting caught up in venting about current strife. Not that that is bad, but those conversations could have been much deeper. I hope that we can figure out how to make it work like that in the near future. I still care too much (is there really such a thing?) for all of these people to not want to be a bigger part of their lives and consistently give my support.

As time goes on and we all grow up, I'm finding it easier and easier to let go of my resentful bitterness that I'm somewhat infamous for and just let bygones be bygones (or blame it on being kids :P) and get back to what's actually important- the lifelong friendship. The acceptance of who each person is- the good, the bad, and the really weird parts- and to love them anyways and support them as you grow together.

I don't really want to go back just yet because I feel like I've only started to scratch the surface with everything that I'm rectifying and rekindling, but I really miss my new home. That and I have a lot of business to take care of because being a grown up can also really blow chunks, lol. But we'll just ignore that part for now. Well, it's a good thing that love transcends distance and time. Those variable just add static, :P. I think I would really like to visit again soon. We shall see what happens in the next couple of months. It will be a lot of hard work, but it's high time that I get on that, make up for lost ground, and learn how to man up about taking responsibility for myself while maintaining a better me. I don't just want to get by, I want to be damn good at juggling it all. :D I've always had a lurking ambitious streak in me.

Have I mentioned how much I hate packing? I'm pretty sure I have. I hate the deadline and restrictions. I like packing and organizing the way that makes the most sense in my head. But no. I have to consider cushioning the somewhat fragile, maximum allotted weight, removing any liquids from carry-ons while making sure that they won't explode all over my clothes, and raaawrrr!!! :( But it's done. As done as it's going to get tonight. I am going to suffer so much during my travels tomorrow, lol/ cry. My check-in luggage is near the capacity and my carry-on is full of books. Yes, plural. If I need to remove a few pieces of clothing from my luggage for some reason, I can, but I'll already be dying lugging my duffel across the airport terminals tomorrow. I am quite familiar with that trek and it will not be fun. On my other arm, I'll have my tote bag all full of my actual purse and my laptop. :( WTB (want to buy) upper body strength.

At least when the SO picks me up from the airport I can break down sobbing with exhaustion as he pack mules my stuff to the car. I've missed him a lot. The three hour time difference and different cell phone service carriers have not been kind to us these past 25 days. Thank god for instant messenger, unlimited text messaging, and video/ virtual calls. Me and my dumb butt forget to bring my webcam this time. Yes, my laptop is old and lame enough to be from the time before webcams were automatically installed above your screen. And my cam is from before they were cute little Oreo cookie size too. Think giant Jawbreaker. Oh yes. Lol.

Hm. Well, I spent the day hanging out with the neighbors again. I tried to learn a few of the nuances and rules of volleyball. I am by no means the athletic type, but I tried. Well, I didn't dive for the ball since we were playing in a yard where the fluffy bear of a golden retriever goes potty in, lol. But I beat up my arms and thumbs. We managed not to bonk each other on the head despite the wind from Tropical Storm Bonnie. It had been raining on and off since last night. Haven't heard too many horrific stories about her passing just yet. We'll see what happens over the next few days with everyone panicking about it heading towards the oil spill. :( Poor ecosystems.

My evening was pretty eventful. I was picked up by one lovely friend so I could hang out at her place for a bit and have one more visit with her and her son. He was crying around the time that I was heading out and my leaving seemed to make him cry more! D: Aw! Even in his sobbing he reached out to give me a hug goodbye. I adore that boy. I then went off to dinner with the wonderful Miss K and a few other friends at a yummy restaurant called the Latin American Grill. Local restaurant with great food. I was amused that it was slightly easier for both parties involved if we ordered in Spanish. Gotta love being raised in a multicultural fashion/ area. I honestly didn't have much of a problem doing so, I do understand much more than I can speak. Go figure that I'm the same way about my own... cultural language? Hehe, anyways. It was good.

We headed back to Miss K's house to hang out a little bit. The rest of the group eventually made it too with Little Big Planet. Such a funny and cute game. I played it for a few minutes before another dear friend from back in the day came to pick me up. It seems that we haven't seen much of each other in the past few years either and we've known each other for about... 15 years. Wow/ ugh. Amazing. Lol. We grabbed frozen yogurt from one of those really trendy places.  This one was called, um, Frozen Yogurt. I'm pretty sure that's what it was actually called, lol.

It is a self-serve when a decent amount of flavors you can mix and match and many topping that you also add yourself. You pay about thirty cents per ounce so the tab you accumulate is your fault. XD I threw all sorts of stuff into mine. While waiting in line I was spotted by another friend I met in middle school. We didn't get to chat much and she's apparently leaving Sunday for Europe again so: go technology! Lol. I loved catching up with the great lady I was with though. We finished up our snack at my folk's house and they were happy to see her too, lol. Got to show the recent renovations yet again. :P

Sigh, I just really feel like to much time was wasted getting caught up in the right now and I missed out a lot on the going ons in many people's lives. Yes, I'm going to rectify that until it's all second nature. /nods.

Is it weird that when I see the word "extraordinary" I keep thinking about some being very ordinary or extra ordinary as opposed to something much more/ different than the ordinary? Yeah... when profound thoughts like that start popping into my head again, I need to cut myself off. :D Wish me (and everyone else to which the circumstances apply) a safe and smooth flight tomorrow! See you then <3

Thursday, July 22

142. Noncompliance

Let me just say that I do not enjoy going to the dentist.

I have my reasons and was pretty perturbed when my mom let me know that she managed to make an appointment earlier this week for the both of us to go in today. To add to that aggravation, it was scheduled for 2pm. I was woken up a few hours earlier than expected, because they gave us a ring to ask us to come in earlier. Honestly, even if it wasn't the dentist, I don't appreciate having to pay a cancellation or rescheduling fee when if they change it we don't get compensated at all. Or that we might lose out on our original appointment if we don't come in early because certain people don't want to stay for the full duration of their paid workday. Screw that.

Needless to say, I was quite the cranky-pants sitting in that waiting room half awake with my hair still wet from the quick shower I took. I know that its my health that they're trying to help/ repair. Actually, the people at this office have been generally nice and helpful in their own way. Doesn't mean I have to like it. Good thing that I was more or less taught to at least be courteous no matter how loud I'm screaming in my head. Lots of screaming and ranting and stomping going on in my head at the time too, lol.

I almost lol'ed in their faces when they realized I hadn't updated my patient information in about 7 years. Most of that time, I was seeing them about twice a year too. So, my mom went in first as I filled out the paperwork and decided to swallow a big girl pill. As much as I resent being there, I think I cooperate very well. Tilting my head from side to side, tilting my chin up and down, waiting until hands are out of my mouth before wiping away the dirty mouth water that's dripping into my ear, consciously making a consistent effort to give them as much working space as possible/ not chomping down on anything, etc. My hygienist hooked me up fee wise when she heard I was heading back out to Arizona until who knows when, which was a nice change of pace of her usually giving me tons of guff and grief, lol.

Thanks to several squirts of numbing spray, I eventually could not really move my lips or feel parts of my face- which I found amusing. :P My little ego/ sense of pride was stroked when she let my mom know that I had quite the high tolerance of pain. It made me slightly less angry about having to be there. The most I did was twitch my eye a little and make a fist a few times, never letting her verbally know when the numbing meds were wearing off or being washed away. I figure any poking and prodding I endure that hurts is my punishment for being neglectful- why would I whine/ complain about it? Lol, it goes back to something I've mentioned before: the more it actually hurts, the more I bunker down and man-up. I hope that carries through to future emergency situations. I really don't want to be the person that freaks the heck out and is essentially useless- or even worse, a deterrent- for being rescued or surviving.

Fast forwarding a bit, I was warned that I'd probably need to take an aspirin and it was advice I followed. I didn't completely make it through lunch and dinner today. :( More sadness caused by being deprived yet again of normal food. I did get to hang out one more time with a lovely friend of mine and we of course spent it playing video games right next to each other. XD Hooray WoW and Raving Rabbids 2 on the Wii (wheeee)!

Oh yeah! My brother and I stopped by a Barnes & Noble (<3) and I bought a book to help me learn ASL (American Sign Language). I know it's going to be helpful with the career I'm currently aiming for. I know the manual alphabet and started learning the numbers when I was volunteering in the classroom but I want to take it further, especially since I've been interested in learning some since elementary school. Hooray for having a love of books and libraries.

Anywho, I spent time with my dear friend, attempted to eat some dinner, tagged (aka was dragged) along while six little sucker fishes were purchased and took part in one of the funniest things I've seen in a really long time. My dad recently purchased a pre-owned but still very fancy car that has a computer command system thing. Can you tell that I'm becoming increasingly tired? Lol. Well, it's supposed to let you give voice commands for the wiper blades, gps, etc. When my dad tried to demonstrate by changing the temperature or climate control (whatever they call it nowadays) it refused to listen to him. 72 degrees was 85 and 68 was 79. It was hilariously horrible. Sometimes, it would start displaying local banks or Italian restaurants instead of doing anything temperature-related. Even my brother was giving a crack at it just to show me the issues that they've been having. At one point I exclaimed, "It's an Asian car that doesn't understand Asians!" However, when I gave the command, it got it on the first try every time. XD What is that?? My dad could make it switch back and forth from AM to FM radio but none of us could get it to display the way home. Awesome, just awesome.

The rest of my evening was more or less spent watching Animal Planet and Discovery Channel. I saw stuff about parasites that make me super paranoid and the episode of Deadliest Catch where the fleet heard about Captain Phil Harris' passing. That was heartbreaking. Those men go through so much by putting up such tough fronts (not to say that they aren't tough, it seems to be a grueling job) and to see nearly every single one of them start to shed tears at the news was just profound. I wrapped that all up by watching a few episodes of River Monsters. That's a show that I've been meaning to see, but either kept missing the time or not having cable. :( I think it was pretty darn cool and mind-boggling to see the size of those buggers he was catching!

I can mostly feel my face now :D Lol, that's it from me today. See you tomorrow! <3

Wednesday, July 21

141. Souletry

Sometimes updating this thing each day can feel like a total chore but I know I'll regret it in the morning if I don't get to it. Here I am trying to figure out how to lay down and type at the same time without having to do some ab/ neck crunch or burn my stomach from my overheating battery. This forsaken lingering cough does not help matters. Anyone want to lend me clean lungs for a few days?

Daytime was fairly uneventful with again hanging out with the neighbor kids pretty much each doing our own thing and half of us being bored out of our minds. Lol. I don't know how some teenagers get to adulthood without dying from boredom. We'll see what happens tomorrow with that one. I don't remember the last time I appreciated the fact that I could more or less type properly, so I don't have to have my eyes open as I type this. I will eventually look and see the mess that I've made, but I usually know when it happens thanks to my years of classical piano training, lol. No lie.

I did however end up meeting with another blast from the past. An amazing firecracker from high school that had joined the Marines and lived in Japan for two years. She and her friend picked me up and took me to the Paladium club down in... where were we? Lol. Coconut Creek? We went to their first poetry and comedy night to show support for all parties involved and I actually had a lot of fun. I had no idea what to expect, was slightly disappointed when I wasn't carded at the door (even though we were mentioning that I haven't had to do mental math since my freshman year), and heard a lot of amusing and interesting pieces.

Ha ha, I haven't heard about so much... intimacy in public in all my life. It was very South Florida and full of perspectives and cultures that I've grown up with and I had grown fond of but didn't realized I missed now that I'm trying to become a desert rat. I loved  the music, the banter, the atmosphere, and just trying to have a good time with good people. I really need to get out more often. Lmao. As much as I love sitting around, there is an entire world out there and I refuse to be a shut-in.

We really must be getting old because we left a tad early citing being just tired and having to wake up early tomorrow. Was it really just two or three years ago that I could pull a couple of all nighters without even so much as a soda in my system? Just the thought of it now makes me want to take a four hour nap.

Before I start whining about an aching back and swollen joints because of the storm that may come in tomorrow :P, I'll bid thee adieu! <3

Tuesday, July 20

140. A Decade & Six Hours Later

Hooray for having what I consider a jam-packed day. My mom almost busted down my door early this morning to let me know she was ready to stop letting me sleep in and for us to start shopping. It was 9:20am. And it only sounded like she was going to ram my door down in my groggy state, I'm sure she just knocked. Lol.

We hit up a handful of places and I don't know any other way of describing what my mom can do with shopping other than saying that it was magical. I still do not quite understand how she does it, but we almost always find exactly what we're looking for on the first trip out to a store or mall. And when we don't, I figure that it's because I jinxed the mission with my awkward presence. With three stops, we scored work pants, tops, and shoes for me on top of a couple of bathing suits. We even stopped and hung out for lunch and milkshakes. Home and chilling out by 2pm. It blows my mind. I am totally missing that "gene" rofl.

For the remainder of the afternoon, my brother and I hung out with our neighbor kids and played party video games on the Wii (wheeeee). Lol, sorry I always say it like that in my head and have to share. :D During that time I was sending out messages on Facebook, texts, and taking phone calls (because I'm awesome like that) trying my best to try to get a few old friends together before I left again.

We're from a group of friends that more or less met in middle school. We haven't been in the same room in about ten years. I realized that today and it is truly bizarre to say. It doesn't feel like that much time has passed at all. A few of us managed to make it to TGIF where we traded stories about our crazy antics from the past few years, what we were in the middle of mucking through right now, and reminiscing about the crazy and angsty attitudes we had in middle school. If it weren't for reality beating on our doors in the morning, I'm sure we would have stayed out all night doing crazy stuff together and continuing to chat. I really loved it.

In the past few years I have made the decision to do what I could and then some in order to keep in touch with certain people. When an opportunity presents itself involving an old friend, I'm going to say yes. This is almost the complete opposite of how I was growing up. I couldn't/ didn't do anything and I regret it. Life gets crazy but you can always make some sort of time for the people who have had great impacts on your life and the person you are today. It may not have been much more than a drawn out dinner, or a sleepover, or a random trip to a condo but I'm sure we'll be thinking about it for the rest of our lives. Living life and making memories are two of the best things you can do in your lifetime.

I would love to do a before and after shot but that was back when disposable cameras where reserved for super special occasions and I hated having pictures taken. I still am not crazy about it- can you tell when I literally snap several hundred pictures of an event but am only in about 3 pictures at the most?- but I have my moments. One of these days, I'll be able to unpack my year book(s) from those days and shove together some makeshift collage, but for tonight a recent picture of us young at heart but world-weary travelers will have to do. XD I'm going to get smacked upside the head by my older friends for saying such things...

Proof.

I hope that we all have many years left in us and that it's not another ten years before we play catch up again. Hopefully this will include much more people. And bless my brother's heart for listening to our horror stories about our starts to real life, college, and young adult experiences. TMI, I'm sure but the older you get, the more you shed your shame about taboos. Lol. 

Well, that's it from me with my coughing really getting to me. Until tomorrow! <3

Monday, July 19

139. Sweaty Eyes

No, no. Those are not tears coming from my eyes, they're just sweating. >_> I've been so tired the past few days that I've yet again come to that point when I'm yawning almost nonstop and my eyes are watery.

Took care of quite a few paperwork-laden tasks today but there were plenty that were just impossible. I really can't stand lunch breaks and red tape and sites of places that are supposed to be working together but have hardly conferred with each other ever. If you can't tell, I'm still very deep into fixing my passport-social security-driver's license-state residency-school schedule-teacher certification endeavor. Endeavor doesn't begin to cover it, but I'll be nice and un-metaphorical for now. I'll figure it all out somehow. I just hope it's soon and becomes much smoother than the process has been thus far.

This is also my last week in Florida until who knows when and I'm trying to balance keeping on top of my responsibilities and cram in as much time as possible with everyone I can get a hold of. I'm am by no means good at it at all. Lol/ sigh/ cry. Hooray for mixed emotions!

Here are a couple of recent pictures that I don't feel like sorting out :D

Dragonflies near the  ground = rain's a comin'!

Yet another summer storm brewing. Look at how much more clear the skies are behind us in the side rear view mirrors!

Bella and Chloe. Two sweet kitties that were included in my recent sleepover.

Crazy-lookin' caterpillar from the church parking lot.

See you tomorrow! <3

Sunday, July 18

138. We're Starving!

The day was consumed by church-related stuff. From 9:30am until 4:10pm. *Eye twitch* Even during the mass, there was some dial that was accidentally turned on by the previous group which had a generic talk show radio playing faintly for the first two-thirds of the mass. So much fail. XD The parish I grew up in is just a tad bit special. If it's not one thing going on, it's another. And if it wasn't that radio playing in the background, it would have been yet another cell phone going off. Sigh.

After the mass, my brother, his friend, his friend's sister, and I were bored out of our minds waiting for our folks to be done with rehearsals and meetings. We hung out in the trunk of my mom's SUV and ended up, once again, singing along to iPods and cell phones, dancing like the dorks we are, and even having my brother and his friend brush up on some old kung fu moves or trying out a few new breakdancing moves. I did my best to try to capture a few mid-air poses. We also saw this crazy caterpillar. I shall update tomorrow with the pictures.

It wasn't long before we were starving. My dad and I had not a single thing to eat prior to leaving for church, so I begged to go to a nearby McDonalds. He gave all of us kids a ride so he could steal my fries to tide him over before all the parents went out to eat at a buffet later. Lol. We headed back and ate our food in the church parking lot as if we had never been fed and/or it was our last meal on Earth. Lol. Once we finally got home, I actually managed to just rest up since my coughing is still prominent. >_>

Tomorrow marks the first day of my mom's vacation time! Hooray! I can't wait to spend time with her that doesn't consist of me being underfoot and shooed away like the domestic nuisance I am. :D See you then! Man, I really need to catch up with my media uploading...

Saturday, July 17

137. Ugh, Weekends

I'm actually not crazy about weekends. Before you burn me at the stake for making such a statement, hear me out. Lol.

Growing up, weekends translate into the full day of doing all of the errands that weren't finished during the work week because of, well, work. :P Silly things like banks and post offices closing the same time you finally got out of the good ole cubicle. Nowadays, life is slightly more understandable. Plus, there's all that new-fangled technology where you can do virtually everything online. No pun intended. There was usually too much stuff to do and catch up on around the house that there was hardly time for play. Even then, the play seemed like work with precise overlapping schedules to keep in mind.

Today was not an exception. My brother and I woke up to start working on ensuring that all his paperwork and setup were in place so that he can start college off smoothly next month. Ack! I'm really glad nothing has changed since I went in terms of financial aid and creating class schedules because this could have been absolutely horrid. Neither of us can believe that it's actually happening and all the pieces are falling into place. Every other hour, it seems like I just turn to him and say, "Whoa, I can't believe you're starting college this fall. I feel old." To which he replies with equal awe, "Oh man, I know! And you kinda are!" Gee, thanks. Lol. Little upstart. I'll give him what for! :P

We also made trips to (in no particular order) Home Depot, Office Depot, Office Max, a local library, Costco, and Wal-mart. Awesome. And by awesome, I really mean not awesome at all. We also did the typical chores around the house, rearranged furniture, and worked on compiling a photo album for church that I assume has to be done by noon tomorrow. I learned about it earlier today. There are over a hundred photos. I'm just saying.

Not to mentioned that I also got a little carsick in the middle of all of those trips. Maybe it had to do something with having a full belly of Chicken Bake and Berry Smoothie from Costco and by brother being a relatively new driver who's a little rough with his braking- I don't know. But I was seriously contemplating suddenly redecorating the aisles of our local Super Wal-mart. Yeah... that may be a little TMI but oh well, lol. I ended up taking a short nap upon arriving at home while my brother and dad tried to figure out how to make a waterfall cascade into the new pond that they built in the back yard last month. Lucky me!

By the time, my mom got home from work, my brother and I managed to sneak in about ten minutes of playing a little more Wii with our sore arms before we all headed off to dine at one of our favorite places. That pizza & pasta buffet I think I have been mentioning often since my return to Florida. Lol, it's seriously my third trip during this stay. Can't get enough of that place. Come on! It's about $5.50 per adult! One of the pasta/ soup cooks actually recognizes my brother and my dad. Even down to the staples that they usually order. I guess it doesn't hurt that my brother insists on tipping that station well each time we visit. I'm pretty sure we were tipping it for a few years before they set out jars. It just makes sense.

I would really like to own a karaoke machine sometime in my lifetime. I'm just saying. Lol. I just get so into singing aloud when I hear songs... and I don't mind at all sharing the spotlight- heck, I love singing duets and in groups. Sigh, so many things to buy, so little funds. Just another thing to add to my list of things I'd like to own eventually in my life. Another thing that's on that list is a button-pressing machine. :D The ones that are plastic and metal pins with cute pictures on/ in them? Yeah. I've done the research. Two hundred dollars can get you some pretty interesting things. Like the two aforementioned products and a sexy black Wii. Yes, I'm still on that. Usually, once I started being interested in something, I'll always want it. My mild obsession with doing research doesn't help things either. Almost makes eventually owning all of these kinds of things tangible. What a scary thought! XD

Ugh, I'm still coughing. I really hope it doesn't turn into one of those post-sickness coughs that last at least a month after you get better. So pointless. Didn't I have some sort of focus here earlier? Oh yeah. Weekends. Not my biggest cup of tea. :P Oh, that reminds me, go figure that you finally have a day or two that you're not working to take care of all of the things you weren't able to get to during the week and all of those offices are closed too because they get the same weekends. This is on top of the fact that there are office hours kept everywhere that are roughly 9-4 but then there's that two hour gap from 12- 2 in the middle for lunch. Really? Did you just have a 5 hour day for five days straight? A 25 hour work week? And I have to pay what in a processing/ administrative fee? Why not stagger lunch breaks and not have to cram some work in? /eye twitch. Life, bureaucracy, and red tape blow my mind. So does the fact that doctors are being put out of jobs because they can't afford the malpractice insurance despite how much they are paid. Oh, and so does the fact that teachers, who taught all of these doctors and politicians what they know, aren't overall being paid squat either. /shrugs.

I need some sleep before I drive myself completely nuts at the injustices of the system and all, lol. My face or shoulders may stick that way... or something like that. Ha ha, oye. Until tomorrow. <3

Friday, July 16

136. Arm's Reach

Today was fairly uneventful until the late afternoon. Then I had another one of my lovely friends stop by so we could play the Wii (wheeeeee)! My brother and I tried to warm up prior to my friend's arrival but we are apparently really out of video game shape. Our arms where so sore from last night! Lol. Silly Wii arm, when your elbow and wrist really hurt from the unnecessarily powerful and jerky movements you make for hours on end while playing games. Especially the ridiculous and ridiculously fun party games. :P

I was introduced to Samba de Amigo. It was amazing. I'm actually borrowing it for the next few days to further make a complete fool out of myself in the comfort of my parent's home. Lol. It is pretty politically incorrect and features creatures like cube-headed monkeys in sombreros, cactus people, and an Elvis impersonator dancing like they're the bus from Speed in super colorful and musically active surroundings. Your Wii remote controller and nunchuk are essentially your maracas. Mind you, this game is a remake of a Sega game that was released back in 1999. There's is posing and dancing involved too. I went and beat the easy and normal missions and attempted the first batch of hard levels. What a difference! I went from mostly A's with some B's to immediately failing everything. Lol. This is why I can't play any of the Dance Dance Revolution ( DDR) or Rock Band/ Guitar Hero games for the life of me. I have no coordination whatsoever.

But I tend to love games that receive horrible ratings so that's okay. All the cutesy and usually horribly glitched games for the Nintendo DS are right up my alley as well, lol. I am one of the reasons why that end of the video game world stays in business. My apologies to the actual gamers of the world. I have a weakness for furry critters made of pixels. It's almost sick. XD

I also showed my friend the Rayman's Raving Rabbids 2 game that Miss K, my brother, and I started playing last night. I adore that game. It is so amazingly absurd. Even now as I stretch, my arms are really sore. Lol. I think the Wii really has painted itself into/ dominated the market corner of being ideal as a party machine. I love playing the Mario Party and Smash Brothers Brawl games on it as well as the two aforementioned titles. If you have the physical ability to but can't get in front of and swing your arms like an idiot while yelling the strangest things in front of your friends at home, then you live a sad, sad life. Having shame will not get you far when playing these kinds of games. Lacking a sense of timing, direction, and hand-eye coordination doesn't help much either and those are my excuses. Lol.

I was also messing around with KaraokeParty.com tonight and wanted to post a video, but thanks to trial software, it doesn't look like the video will finish uploading for another two hours. :( I think it's a fun site, but I haven't had the best of luck with it myself. We'll see what happens with that. You should get to hear me sing! How... embarrassing. XD Until (probably) tomorrow, <3!

--- Update ---

I'm still awake 2.5 hours later, so the video actually finished! Can I just say that I really don't like hearing my recorded and digital-ized voice? Lol. I know what I hear is definitely not what other people hear but maybe my voice is just that shaky and such. Um... well here it is before I get too embarrassed and change my mind about the whole thing. Lol.


Thoughts?

Thursday, July 15

135. Staycation

I'm not quite sure why, but I was pretty exhausted yesterday so I slept in a little today. I did start trying to make plans to visit more with a few friends and by the time it finally started to go down, it was evening time. Lol. For some reason, my brother felt the same way and we hung out, did our chores, and munched on snacks all day. This really didn't help when we finally headed over to one of our favorite restaurants, Bellantes. It's an Italian-esque, pizza-pasta buffet place. For less than 6 bucks you get all the pasta, salad, pizza, and soup you want. It's glorious.

So, my friend, Miss K, my brother, and I stuffed our faces and stomachs incredibly full at the buffet. We all probably ate more than we should have. :P Lol. No one else was able/ up to join us, but that's okay. We headed over to Miss K's house and played Wii (Wheeeeee!)!! It wasn't the best idea, but we popped in my brother's Raving Rabbids 2 game and the three of us did our best to unlock all of the mini games in order to play the final rock band-like song. We finally managed to unlock all of the games, but for some reason that wasn't good enough. Too bad we don't remember how to fully unlock it all. :( But it was hilarious fun and I almost coughed myself to death from laughing and shouting too much. XD

That game is so beyond ridiculous. Players eating a bowl of chili and fueling a flight through a desert canyon with the resulting farts, holding the controls up by our brains to concentrate during a 4-way chess game that has only one piece on the board, smacking unruly rabbid children that are screaming in the back seat of a station wagon, and so much more. My favorite, especially because I'm halfway decent at it for once, are the rock band-like games. They have only six songs that are (I can't get no) Satisfaction, Celebration, Papa's Got a Brand New Bag, Smoke on the Water, A Teenager In Love, and the ultimate song: Funky Town. I can play those for hours. Heck, I may do that for most of tomorrow morning, lol. I got all nostalgic tonight.

That's it from me tonight, I'm wiped all over again. <4-1 Lol.

Wednesday, July 14

134. Mmm... Bed

I really do love sleeping. It's the whole falling asleep and waking up process that I am no fan of. I just suck at both. I don't know where else I want to take that tangent right now. I just really love my bed and I never want to leave it? Lol, but then I guess visiting with my friends would get a little weird. Just laying in bed in my pj's surrounded by friends standing around because I'll mostly likely have a bunch of crap on my bed so only the first person to arrive can sit down with me.

Um... I'm not really awake right now... apparently, so I'm going to post two things I finally saw today that made me incredibly happy:

New Old Spice Commercial with Isaiah Mustafa:

You're welcome. You are so very welcome.

And the first episode of The Guild's Season Four:
<a href="http://video.msn.com/?mkt=en-us&amp;from=sp&amp;fg=shareObject&amp;vid=9c194351-975c-4b54-9462-e85b3e87af8e" target="_new" title="Season 4 - Episode 1 - Epic Guilt">Video: Season 4 - Episode 1 - Epic Guilt</a>

I think that this is just too much awesome for me to handle all at once. This is on top of having a mini reunion with two good friends that I've had since elementary and middle school. Crazy stuff and good times. Man, we're getting old fast. Lol.

*Goofy tired grin* Mmk, g'nite! See you tomorrow! <3

Tuesday, July 13

133. Hilarity Or Delirium?

Yes, it was much harder to get up this morning than it was yesterday. We again got to campus half an hour early, contemplated taking a cat nap in the car, and then dragged ourselves to the dining hall to attempt to gorge on various yummy breakfast foods.

I realized that I really miss it. I miss using the waffle maker, mixing all my cereals into containers that were more deep plates than bowls, topping off my frozen yogurt even when I think I can't manage another bite. Toasting your own english muffins and bagels, grabbing fresh fruit, getting omelettes made to order, and all that other good stuff like bacon, gravy, hash browns, etc. I did my best and managed to get a bowl of Trix, Cocoapuffs, and Lucky Charms. Oh, and a banana with a glass of apple juice. I really wish I could have stuffed my face. We sat through a few more presentations together before my brother and I were separated as he was taught how to choose, check, and register for their classes. I went and sat through quite a few more presentations in a large hall classroom. One, by a representative of the Student Rec Center asked us to lift our phones into the air to see if we could possibly receive six bars of signal. Mine at the most gets four, lol. After we all tried, he laughed and thanked us for doing our aerobic exercise for the day. XD I don't know if it was the delirium, but many of us found that pretty friggin' hilarious.

Darn me for having breakfast though, because my body was all awake and functioning and I had to potty really badly in the middle of presentations at least twice. It was overall a painful process to get through today. Lol. The rep from the Career Counseling Services reasoned how the $20 fee for the deluxe services that they offer equated to $5 a month for the semester- the price of a Happy Meal. So hilarious. I think the part that I had the hardest time with, especially after how I felt at the end of yesterday, was the speech about the transition that the parents would go through in letting go of their student. Or, you know, the control and trust issues. Luckily, with the homework my brother and I did last night in terms of coming up with ideas for his Fall semester schedule, he breezed through the process and we met up earlier than expected. I think we almost cried with joy.

We picked up some goodies for my friend that was going to stop by and pick me up. She's expecting a girl in October. :D We hung out at my place for a little bit and then headed on over to her's. We decided that I'm going to sleep over tonight. I'm doing a little bit of crafting because I'm suffering major withdrawal from my crafting supplies, but that's another kettle of fish. :P I did take some pictures today, but will update this entry at a later date with those. Teehee, she has two cute kittens/ young cats here that I should snap a couple of photos of too. I'm exhausted but determined to have some good times with all my old friends on this coast. I must, must, must! I have no idea when I'll be able to visit next. However, I can't help but worry about all that is just over the horizon. Oh well, that's all from me today. :) See you tomorrow! <3

Monday, July 12

132. Off Colored Blood

I have had two incidences of vaguely feeling some sort of alumni school pride. :O And both have occurred post-graduation. Today was one of those days.

It started at 6am. What an un-kosher hour. Brother, dad, and I dragged our sorry butts awake and down to the campus. We arrived half an hour early and decided to take a quick run to the Burger King down the street for breakfast. I am So Starving. I could only manage three bites of my sausage-egg-cheese croissanwich and three pieces of tater tot/ hash browns before my cough-y throat would not allow it anymore. The school wanted us there by 7:30 and sign-in didn't commence until 8:30. Into the auditorium aka Ballrooms where we saw videos, listened to speakers, and visited a few booths. During an ice breaker, the peer advisers taught the group the school's fight song. They are the panthers with blue and gold blood. My blood, I found today, is actually tinged gold and green. :P While they prompted us to fist pump into, make a claw, and rake it across the air- I was so tempted to refuse and do my rock on-bull horns instead and stomp my feet. Lol. Go Bulls!

They finally separated the students from the parents and guests and our agenda consisted of being bombarded with presentations on what the students were being shown and every other resource available on campus. There were the typical questions, especially from first-timer parents that were pretty understandable. Even some from parents of older children who were already in that very college or other older institutes. But some. Ohhh some. Some were borderline ridiculous. If you honestly believe that your child will starve to death should they run out of money, wander onto a bus and be stranded at the docks during the wee hours in the middle of some drug ring, or cannot fathom what a roomful of trained advisers with tons of informative brochures and booklets are telling them to do step by step without you hovering over them, then just STOP IT. If you have such little faith in the possibility that you may have raised a competent human being- let alone one that is old enough to vote, enlist in the armed forces, and pay taxes to be considered an adult- or that little belief that the institution that the student either worked so hard to get into or that you are paying thousands upon thousands of dollars to get them there- then maybe neither of you should be there. Just keep them at home, coddle them for another year, and find some bull crap online mail-order degree instead. I mean really. Really now?!

Honestly, I applauded how well everyone of the presenters that we saw today did. They took on all these questions, comments, and concerns in great stride. I guess that's what happens after years of experience, tons of training, and a paycheck every other week can create. I'm glad to see that things haven't changed at all since I've gone. I really could have answered 98% of the questions very confidently and accurately after having gone through and dealing with all of it on my own at least a few times in the past few years. It was actually a bit of a confidence boost for me to realize that maybe I do know something about something that's kind of important. :) Now I really don't see why I can't figure out the challenges that I'm discovering now outside those hallowed halls. :P

We eventually had a lunch at the Subway on campus. It was a busy time of the day, I get that. Been there, done that. I remember. We had more than an hour to eat. I had this little wanker jostling into me the entire time we were waiting in line. The first time he knocked into my bag, he apologized. For the next fifteen minutes of nonstop bumping into me, there was no acknowledgment whatsoever. If you know me, you know that I don't like to be in people's ways. I'll scrunch up and move aside and I'm just really conscientious about that sort of thing. Idk, I don't like my personal space to be invaded by strangers, so I make it a point not to do that to others. Despite my best efforts and just short of climbing up on my brother's back, even though he almost ended up giving me a piggy back ride a few times, I am still being rocked into and elbowed and just constantly touched by this kid who was also apart of the freshman orientation.

Now, I do not condone bullying, especially of someone who seems to be at a disadvantage. But I was gearing up to clock this kid straight in the face. It is Extremely rare that I would want to beat up a freshman, but I was going to lay the smack down and kick that crap out of this kid. No one is pushing you, this isn't some stupid concert, it's the damn line to a sandwich buffet. REALLY?! UGH!!! It wasn't a bump every five seconds, it was non. stop. contact. That is not acceptable in my world. If my purse hadn't been stuffed with booklets and this little bugger was a little less pudgy, he would have owed me cab fare. That was how truly uncomfortable this experience was. Bless my brother though, he was so frustrated but grateful that I had come to show him support. Him letting me know and asking for my advice/ help distracted me enough from full out confronting that poor boy. I say poor and such with pity for him because mercy would be needed should he have begun to suffer my wrath.

Went back for more presentations and spiels, but we have received a bunch of free stuff throughout the day. Among the haul were drawstring bags, t-shirts, pens, a deck of cards, five spray pens of hand sanitizers, and a bottle of hand sanitizer. It's really kind of funny. There was a guy representing the technology services that had a goatee-beard thing that looked like a trident. It made me smile. :D We took a brief but hot tour of the campus in the middle of the day. There's this cute bridge that is known as the Kissing Bridge. It is said that any couple that shares a kiss on it will stay together forever. Aww... while we walked to the next spot, there was a teenage duckling that walked along side our tour group at the exact pace that we were wandering. He followed us down the entire hallway, it was so darn cute! There was also a large Rubix cube structure commonly referred to as the Spinning Cube that is supposed to give one good luck on an exam if they spin it all the way around. It just seems fun to play with. :P Lastly, we did see the seal- which you're not supposed to step on because it's bad luck to disrespect what it symbolizes for the university.

Gah, I'm sure there were a ton more presentations that I can't even remember the differences without looking at the extensive itinerary. We ended up having dinner (included with the orientation price) at the dining hall. Still packed with people as the student services continue to try to woo us by dj-ing party music. All the advisers got into a dance and were jamming all together. A few current students even joined in! It was great fun to watch as I attempted to eat some pretzels and pizza. It was not a very successful endeavor. We ended up high-tailing it home after that, skipping out on a few more presentations and a social pizza-ice cream party thing that was going to happen around 9pm. No thanks. We were tired, cranky, and exhausted.

I came home and my brain shut off. The next few hours passed in the blink of an eye and here I am. Still cranky about the whole ordeal of today. Tomorrow, my brother and I will be there yet again at 7 in the freakin' morning. We better be done earlier. Neither of us want him to miss out on really helpful information so we're praying they cram it in asap. Yes, this orientation is a two day exploration and the students were given the option of staying overnight in one of the dorm rooms! How intense. Great chance for the kids to test drive but jeez! That is so much to go through. I know he learned a lot today and it was just a review for me to remind me what I can talk to him about to help him through this stage. Please, please, please let tomorrow be a much easier day. T_T There are people I want to see and things I want to do with my day. Ugh, I'm buckling at the idea of another long day already. Good game, good game.

Wish me luck! Hopefully, I have nothing but good things to report. LOL. Right. I'm too... much of a jerk for that. XD <3

Sunday, July 11

131. Tac-y Guinea Pig

The title of today's post describes how I feel by the end of today.

Woke up pretty early so my mom could performing miracles/ emergency makeovers/ damage control. Whatever you want to call it. Lol. Got a bunch of my hair lopped off. It feels shorter than I ever remember having it in the past... oh man, maybe ten years? Different kind of shape and bounce to it. I do like it, I just really didn't pay attention to anything she was doing while cut it. Lol. Usually, I give some input or I ask enough questions to figure out the direction she's going with, but not today! So, I feel like I'm some sort of experimental test dummy for some of the things my mom has tried. Like a guinea pig. :P I have gotten a grand total of two haircuts this past year (not including today's) that were at the hands of someone else. It has been really freaky. My mom has cut, dyed, and styled my hair since she gave birth to me. Well, not at that exact moment, but I'm sure if she wanted it, she would have managed it. XD Super mom-woman she is. Me sound Yoda like yes. :P

Quick eyebrow-scaping was done. I don't know if I was that tired or what, but I did not feel the hot wax today in the slightest. Being a girl sucks! Why would we think of pouring hot wax onto our skin to forcibly rip out our hair by it very roots? We say it's for boys, but I swear it's to be girl-pretty. Guy-pretty is so much more natural when it comes down to it. I love being guy-pretty. That's something that I feel that I can handle managing on my own. Girl-pretty is beyond my powers. I need outside forces to descend upon me like locusts. Locusts with fairy godmother arsenals. Mom always half-jokes that "Beauty knows no pain!" and "No pain no gain!" My response has almost always been "All you gain is pain!! Beauty = Pain!!" To which she laughs before doing something hurtful to me. XD Never mess with a woman who has a pair of tweezers/ hot wax strips/ scissors/ cosmetic pencil/ bleach and/or dye chemicals in her hands.

We didn't manage to squeeze in the quick mani-pedi before we all had to get ready for church. Our new home church is now an hour away. :( We've never been that far away before, but this looks to be the first permanent home for our parish so I guess it's good in that aspect. I borrowed one of my mom's new sundresses from Ann Taylor (ooh fancy!) and sat with my brother and the two family friends that had shot fireworks with us on the Fourth. I snagged some video clips of the mass to show the SO and his family back in the AZ because I think ours are pretty darn different.

Said my hellos and did the Q&A dance with the parents of many of my childhood church friends and that was fun. Received lots of comments that I guess were positive overall. Lol. Pretty big plus. Afterward, a few of the families went out for dinner at a local restaurant where I, of course, still sat at The Kid Table. I came to the conclusion several years ago that I would be placed at the kid table at my own wedding if the parents had anything to do with it. It's fine, I don't eat their food or talk about their topics all that often. Us kids do our best to have a darn good (occasionally destructive) time. Today, we just chatted about flirting and pick up lines/ techniques and, especially with my cough, almost died laughing. I really was crying at one point. I think the best line from today was:

"I can't play the field! You can't play the field when you got no game!"

I absolutely Died. So much so that the parents stopped their shenanigans and usual raucous conversation and laughter to look at me smacking into the wall I was sitting next to, in tears from laughing. Such a true and honest statement. XD Teenagers are hilarious. I'm glad I've matured just enough to realize and appreciate this. Yes, even though I am solidly not in my teens, I'm still in a little denial. Just a little. Micro-denial? Lol. I'm a goof. Always will be. :P I can't wait to have kids of my own to embarrass the crap out of! Ha ha!

I still can't believe that every time I feel really close to being over this little illness, it likes to come back and punch me in the throat. By the time we wound down at home, I felt drained. Maybe I put a lot more energy into having coughing fits as quietly as possible than I thought. So, I rested (ugh, I never rest this much when I should!) because I just want this to be completely gone already and watched a few crafting videos to keep my brain busy. Apparently, I can't be left alone with a big box of any flavored Tic-Tacs though... I've almost devoured this container of Wintergreen that my mom threw at me to keep handy in my purse this morning. :( Oops! Darn things are addictive. I eat them faster than candy! Dangit, I popped one in as I wrote that... >_> Whoops... I think they need to go away now. Or I can finish them off and say I don't know what happened to them... but then I might not get any more. Then again, I shouldn't get any more anyways. Erm... Ahh! *Tosses pack out of room* XD My brother is going to be so confused when he finds it at his door across the way. XD

Tomorrow should be a really early and really long day. My brother has his Freshman Orientation and it's a two-day (with an option for over-nighting) event! Or should I say ordeal? When he told me how early it started, my immediate response was, "That was such a hurtful thing to say to me! How could you do that to me?" Lol. I totally mean the hurtful part, but it has been something I've talked and volunteered to tag along with for the better part of a month now. But why is it so early?! And so long? T_T Do you think they will mind if I just crawl into the car tomorrow in my pj's, sleep in the backseat on the way there, and then drudge around campus with a pillow? What am I talking about? It's college! They half expect some crap like that. I was just there!! Lmao. It's so so so incredibly tempting. But I don't like that whole pajama bottom thing in public. You made the effort to roll out of bed, the least you can do it change clothes. Or, better yet, where your clothes the night before if you don't want to bother changing in the morning. XD Boy, do I amuse myself.

Well, if I survive the tours, I should see you tomorrow! Thanks again for tuning in! <3

Saturday, July 10

130. Fast Forward

Hellooo there! Lol.

I felt like poo all of this morning. That pretty much sums that up. I did med-up and was able to get enough energy to stop by and visit with a dear old friend who recently moved about ten minutes away from my folks! I have known this lady for over a decade. That is a little crazy to think about, ha ha!

The last time I saw her, her firstborn was learning how to roll into the prone position and learning to lift his head up on his own. Um, yeah. Now, he's an enthusiastic two-year-old who show-boated for me during my entire visit. I love that kid! He's also expecting a little sister in the fall and I'm hoping to visit with them a ton more to help out and do one of the only things I do kinda well: craft! Lol, I am such a nerd.

I also watched a hour and a half-long dvd of my dad's recent trip. My mom and I hung out on the couch watching my cousins being total goofs and seeing how everyone has grown! Ahh! I'm sure I'm going to flip out about this for the next couple of years. I haven't seen them in about eight years. Many of them were about five years old back in that day. So yes, I just saw them in the midst of their teens years. What a friggin' change! It's so mind-blowing! There have been so many changes to that country, to the homes of my relatives, and to the kids appearances. It was nice to recognize personalities and hear commentary from my mom. Really helpful and always full of excitement listening to her.

We'll be watching disc two tomorrow and I can't wait. Mom almost got a little carried away and was about to pop that one in the moment we finished the first, but we realized it was pretty darn late already. Lol. I'm also going to our regular church's mass this week, so I'll be seeing a few more familiar faces tomorrow too! It can be really interesting. Or vaguely aggravating. Who knows? XD

I'm totally having one of those "Omg-time-is-flying-by-too-fast" existential moments/ phases/ panics right now so, we'll avoid all of that freaking out. I need to get some sleep tonight! Lol, um...

You know what I haven't missed from Florida? The mosquitoes. Yeah, that's right. I said it, ya little buggers. Get the heck away from me!

:) Mmk, see you tomorrow! And here's hoping that I don't wake up feeling worse than I have the past couple of days! /Sigh. <3
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