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

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?

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.

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:

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

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

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

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