I Just Have To.

Rant. Ok, this blog is going to be nothing but some good 'ol ranting- so if you don't want to read rants, stop reading!
I'm stressed. And annoyed. Here's a few reasons why:

1. PARKING. The fact that my apartment now requires you to have a 24-hour "guest pass" in order to park in visitor/future resident parking has left me with NO PARKING. Because I can't afford to pay $80 a month for my own parking spot, I have been parking in visitor/future resident parking for the past year. And despite the fact that this area of parking is almost never full, they now require passes. Today, after it taking AN HOUR AND A HALF for me to get home from work, I had to drive around for 35 minutes JUST so I could park some where and get to my own apartment.

2. MY COMPUTER. Starting yesterday my internet connection suddenly went to crap. I use "airport," which means my computer mooches off other people's internet signals. Ever since I bought this computer in May, it has worked beautifuly. But as of last night, it doesn't work half the time. Looks like I might have to head back to the library to use the internet.

3. MY KEYBOARD/GARAGEBAND. Let's just say that I have been trying for A LONG TIME to hook my keyboard up to my computer so that I can play and transfer songs. I bought my keyboard specifically so that I could write and record my own music. However- it's not working. I went to the Apple store where I bought my computer and asked them for advice (AND spent $27 on a device they recommended for it,) and nothing worked. I asked people at Best Buy, (AND bought ANOTHER device,) and it STILL doesn't work. I have had help and advice from Chris- still doesn't work. I have spent hours reading help pages and trying to figure things out and ... guess what? Yep. Still doesn't work. AHHHHH!

4. MY MAIL. Some one has been tampering with my mail. When I came home from Missouri, I found a package my dad had sent me half open (and he almost always sends $,) and that was missing. When I came home from Chris' the other day, I had two birthday cards sitting on the kitchen table. One of the cards had obviously been OPENED. It was a card from my aunt, you know the kind of cards that are shaped especially for $ and even have the pocket inside to KEEP the money in? Yeah, you can bet there was nooooo money in there. AND I didn't even get the birthday card from my dad it would seem.

5. MOVING. I'm moving in 3 weeks, and ... moving is stressful.

6. WORK. I'm not %100 sure where I'll be working, and being jobless sucks.

7. FORGETTING. Now- not that I really care or anything but ... my two roommates took our newest roommie Annie out to dinner the other week for her birthday. Annie has only been living here a couple months and they remembered her birthday and took her out to dinner. I have been living here for a YEAR and they completely and totally forgot mine. :(

I'm sure there are other things, but my head is hurting too much to type at the moment. GRRRRRRRRR.

Oh Goody.

Chris and I just saw the movie '1408.' It was pretty good. Aside from the SUPER annoying teenagers that were sitting in the back of the theater being OBNOXIOUS.

On August 20th I'm moving out of my apartment. The rent just keeps going up and my two roomies who have lived there for almost 4 years can't even handle how outrageous it's getting so they're not renewing the lease. I won't be living with them because they are completely set on somehow buying a house in Santa Monica aaaand I'm not exactly ready to invest in some multi-million dollar home near the beach. Um yeah- not going to happen. Even though I'm not %100 sure where I'm going, (and therefore WORKING,) I'm glad to be getting out of that building. There has been endless construction going on NONSTOP for the entire year that I have lived there and ... quite frankly ... it's driving me INSANE. And the fact that as of Wednesday I have NO WHERE TO PARK because I'm no longer aloud to park in visitor parking. (I've been parking in visitor parking for the past year because I refuse to pay $80 A MONTH on a parking spot.) Soooo yeah ... not really sure where my car is going to be parked for the next 3 weeks.

Tomorrow is my birthday and I will be 24. Ohhhhh goody. AND I have to spend the day working at the Elephant Bar. Yay. Can't wait. (Can you hear the sarcasm just dripping from my voice? I hope so.)

Well- Chris just made some pizza so I'm going to go eat now. Mmmmm.

24?!

Today at Stabucks I realized what a great barista I used to be when it took me like 15 minutes to get my drink- and it wasn't even that busy! I mean, geeeez. The poor dude making the drinks was making ONE drink at a time, and SLOWLY. I could make 5 drinks at a time! Arrrrrg.

My birthday is Saturday! I can't believe I'm almost 24, I'm getting to be such an old fart! :P And I'm ... of course ... working on Saturday. Grrr. I have a feeling that customers will be getting on my nerves more than usual that day. Everytime that some one tries to be a pain in the arse, I'll be tempted to be like, " No, I don't have to- it's my birthday!" Hahaha, but no.

:::yawn::: I'm tired.

It's the Not-So-Lovely Time of Year

For some stupid reason, for the past 4 years IN A ROW, my skin always breaks out around the middle of July into August. Aaaalways. My skin can be beautiful and clear almost all year long, but come middle July/August it always turns to crap. Grrrr.

Leroy Memories

A Tribute to Leroy (made by Christy):
Some of my favorite memories involving Leroy:

- The year that Leroy drove to Culver-Stockton to pick me up from college to take me home for the summer and we had our tornado encounter(s), with one particular encounter ending with Leroy and I running through a field towards the car while Leroy shreaked, "F**k!!!!

- All the nights/mornings where Leroy and I would just sit and "fester" on the couch in front of the tv, (aka "Fester til Five, Dead or Alive.")

- All the times where Leroy would barge into my room and start trying on my bras, (the black bra with roses on it being his favorite, haha.)

- The brawl involving Andrew, Leroy, and a suspicious green drink infamously called, "Rotten Groceries."

- Sitting at the piano and making up funny songs, like our "Mummy Song" that we wrote and recorded.

- All instances where I was "Magnolia" and Leroy was my "Uncle Aurthor."

- The time where we, (Leroy, Christy, Erika, Michelle, and I ... and maybe some others,) played "Harry Potter" outside and my character was a growth on Leroy's side ... I spent hours underneath the black cloak that he was wearing!

- The time where I was feeling sad so Leroy took me out to eat at Sonic- forgetting that he had a gigantic black uni-brow magic markered on his face!

- The time when Erika, Leroy and I got completely lost on a hiking trail near the Missouri River, (due to the fact that Leroy swore he know of a "short cut."

- Leroy always accidently calling the candy Jolly Ranchers "Magic Farmers."

- Leroy's infamous "Shut-ever!"

- All of my birthday and theme parties that he participated in

-The campout where Leroy first created the "I Am a Yeti" song and I was laughing so hard I thought I was going to die!

Home Sweet Home

After almost two weeks off from work and visiting family/friends in Missouri, today it was back to reality and work. Blegh. The first day of work after a semi-long vacation is always the worst. You get out of that "work mode" and into "vacation mode," and while switching to "vacation mode" is wonderful, switching BACK to work mode is not quite as fun.

It would take a decade to write all about the trip Chris and I took to Missouri, but here are some of my favorite "highlights":
- Spending time with Chris, Erika, Andrew, Esther, and Barf on Erika's porch while drinking one too many Schmirnoffs.
- Watching "Rave to the Grave" at Andrew and Esthers (HA!)
- Having Chris try on funny outfits at Erika and Barf's clothing store, "Retro Revolution."
- Having coffee with Esther, Jesse, and Michelle (and of course Chris.)
- Chris and I hanging out with Esther and Jesse playing Mario Party. (Our team, "Pure Evil," won!)
- Going out to The Flatbranch and The Wine Cellar to celebrate my birthday early.
- Playing hours of Scattegories with Chris on the screened-in-porch.
- Playing my first ever game of Scrabble with Chris (I won! Hehehehe!) :P
- Cooking "Fettucini con Lemon and Red Peppers" with Chris. (It was pretty tastey, while also quite lemon-y!)
- Going on a hike at Rock Bridge State Park with Esther (aka Resther) and getting lost- ending up at an elementry school and having to walk back on a narrow, winding road.
- Hanging out with Brana, Michelle, and Jesther at Comfort Inn while watching a GREAT thunderstorm! (And having an angry, red-faced man pound on the door!)
- Everyone going to eat at Sophia's and playing Bacci.
- Going to Devil's Ice Box

Unfortunetly, this trip home also made me a little sad because a.) There's a very good chance that this was the "last" time I'll see my grandparents, b.) It was the last time I'll ever be able to go into my family's house of 20 years, and c.) Leroy's death. Yes ... those are sad things. I don't like sad things. :( But overall, the trip was great.

We'll Miss You

We'll all miss you, Leroy! (Leroy Guindon August 5th, 1980 - July 8th, 2007)

Trip to Missouri So Far ...

DAY 1:
- Wake up at 3:30am- take shuttle to airport
- 7:25am- plane takes flight to Missouri
- 12:25pm- Arrive in KC, MO
- My luggage is missing
- My luggage won't be delivered until who knows when
- I begin to panick as I realize I'm going to "look ugly tomorrow" without my make-up

DAY 2:
- 9:25am- I wake up with a giant blue swastika drawn on my forehead during my sleep (by Andrew)
- 11:30am- Chris and I get up
- 1:20pm - Chris takes a big dump in Andrew and Esther's toilet, not realizing the water was off for repairs.
- 1:22pm- Chris smiles sheepishly and turns bright red as he walks out of the bathroom with a defeated look on his face, knowing this his pooped artistry is stagnating around in the porceline pot.
- 1:52pm- We're haning out with Mzzy and Esther

TO BE CONTINUED ...

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S'mores Slop

Last night as I was eating one of those little snack-sized chocolate pudding cups, I suddenly got inspired to make a s'mores type pie. I was like, "Hmmmm ... this pudding would taste super yummy on top of a nice graham cracker crust. Oooooh and I could put puffed marshmallow cream on top of the graham cracker crust, and THEN put the pudding on it! Heck ... I could put Hershey chocolate bars on top of the marshallmallow cream and THEN put the pudding on top!" So today that's exactly what I did- well sort of. I didn't by a graham cracker pie crust, instead I bought regular graham crackers. So instead of a "pie" I was thinking more of a parfait style. But I didn't have any parfait glasses, so I had to use a bowl. Well ... the bowl was too wide (as oppsed to the cup,) so instead of a s'mores parfait it was more like a bowl of s'mores slop. TASTEY slop mind you! Mmmmm!!! So good! It would have looked much more presentable in a nice clear parfait glasses but ohhhhh-de-well.

You Should Seek ...

So yeah, I took the greek mythology personality test too. I can't remember who it said I was, but it DID say at the end that I "should seek the Oracle," heehee. And if Chris is the Oracle, then it looks like I did. :P

Today I bought all the travel-sized shampoos, conditioners, etc. for Chris and I- I'm sooooo excited about Thursday! :D I can't wait!!!

Last night I watched Donald Duck cartoons for almost 2 hours. It was beautiful.

The Oracle

No, this isn't a blog about The Matrix or The 300; it's about the Greek Personality Test, which Michelle posted recently. Quite fun, especially if you're into personality tests or classical lit. Oh yes, and it's a great way to pass the time when you're waiting for some laundromats to open up.

Heuristic, detached, and analytical to a fault, you are most like The Oracle. You are able to tackle any subject with a fine toothed comb, and you possess an ability to pinpoint nuances and shades of meaning that other people do not have and cannot understand. Accomplishment and realization of ideas are, for you, secondary to the rigorous exploration of ideas and questions -- you are, first and foremost, a theorist. You hate authority, convention, tradition, and under no circumstances do you accept a leadership role (although, you will gladly advise leadership when they're going astray, whether they want you to or not). You excel at language, mathematics and philosophy.

You are typically easy-going and non-confrontational until someone violates one of the very few principles that you deem sacred, at which point you can fly into a rage. Although you possess a much greater understanding of process and systems than the people around you, you are always conscious of the possibility that you've missed something or made a mistake. You don't tend to become attached to particular theories, and will immediately discard mistaken notions once they're revealed to be incorrect (but you don't tolerate iconoclasts who try to discredit validated theories through the use of fallacies and bad data). Despite being outwardly humble, you probably think of yourself as being smarter than most other people. That's because you are. In fact, in your dealings with people your understanding of their motives is so expansive that you know what they're going to say before they say it, and in world affairs, you usually know what is going to take place before it actually does. This ability would make you unbeatable in debates if only you were a little more outgoing.

Famous people like you: Albert Einstein, Charles Darwin, Adam Smith, Thomas Jefferson, John McWhorter, Ramanujan, Marie Curie, Kurt Godel

Stay clear of: Apollo, Icarus, Hermes, Aphrodite

Seek out: Atlas, Prometheus, Daedalus

Link: The Greek Mythology Personality Test