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  • I'm Obsessed With This Song

    Forgive the posting of song lyrics, but I am completely obsessed with New Moon, the soundtrack, and particularly this song, which is hauntingly beautiful, and makes me cry by the first 2 or 3 notes.

    Lykke Li - "Possibility"

    There’s a possibility
    There’s a possibility
    All that I had was all I gon’ get
    There’s a possibility
    There’s a possibility
    All I gon’ get is gone with your step

    So tell me when you hear my heart stop,
    You’re the only one who knows
    Tell me when you hear my silence
    There’s a possibility
    I wouldn’t know

    Know that when you leave
    Know that when you leave
    By blood and by mean
    You walk like a thief
    By blood and by mean
    I fall when you leave

    So tell me when you hear my heart stop,
    You’re the only one who knows
    Tell me when you hear my silence
    There’s a possibility
    I wouldn’t know

    Tell me when my sigh is over
    You’re the reason why I’m close
    Tell me if you hear me falling
    There's a possibility
    It wouldn’t show

    By blood and by mean
    I fall when you leave
    By blood and by mean
    I follow your lead

  • Squeee! Part 3

    The vacay is still going strong, although I can feel the end approaching which bums me out a little bit.

    • Wednesday
      • I did do a little closet organizing, but not much.
      • My mom helped me switch out my old couch for a newer version of my old couch (she had its twin just sitting down in her basement anyway). It's so much comfier without a spring poking me in the ass all the time.
      • I drove down to Fort Collins, visited with my dad a little since I didn't get to see him on Thanksgiving, and then headed over to my grandma's house to spend the night.
    • Thursday
      • Thanksgiving!
      • I mostly helped my mom with the shopping and cooking, and when I wasn't doing that, I watched Beauty & the Beast. I haven't watched a Disney movie in a loooong time. I love that Belle is so independent and intelligent and kind and bookish and NOT shallow. She is probably one of the best Disney princesses for a girl to look up to. Not that I'm for that or anything.
      • We had a total of 13 people at dinner (which was DELICIOUS). I was looking through the photos I took and I realized that every single one of us except my grandmother has blue eyes. Odd.
      • I got to take home some turkey, gravy, mashed potatoes, and creamed corn, and I'm so psyched to dig in this evening.
      • Photos!

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    Our 41-pound, home-grown, home-butchered turkey.

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    Family friend Keith, my cousin Andrea, and Keith's daughters Molly and Annie. They loved the ginormous coloring book my grandmother brought over. (Who doesn't love a big coloring book?)

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    I love this photo! My grandmother, mother, and aunt.

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    My grandma and her husband Ted (he's a great guy but I still can't call him Grandpa yet). She's holding a black olive on her nose, btw.

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    My cousin Michael, his wife Amber, and their 7-month-old baby Ashlin, who has the cutest, chubbiest cheeks ever.

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    My cousin Casey, with his very '70s haircut.

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    Mom and me.

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    Lame teenager pose #1.

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    Lame teenager pose #2.

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    Ashlin reaching for a giant turkey leg. Lol. This photo is a tradition in our family. We have photos like this of all of us kids, either gnawing on big turkey legs or potatoes or sitting in stew pots. It's just plain funny.

    That's all!

    • Friday
      • I lounged around the house all morning.
      • Jennifer came over to help me organize my closets. We got through my huge box full of "memory stuff" and then ended up looking through a bunch of my old photos (I knew that would happen).
      • Later we had vegetarian Mexican food (I try to be considerate when I eat with her since she's a hard-core veggie) and then went to see New Moon.
    • Saturday
      • I pretty much stayed in all day long and watched Netflix movies: the first 2 discs of Hex: Season 1 (a British Charmed-like series which I'm not sure is any good), Hannibal Rising (I'm in love with the star, Gaspard Ulliel), etc.
      • Erik called me at 9:30pm to ask if I wanted to make cookies (strange, strange man), but I was too absorbed in couch-potato mode to go anywhere.
    • Sunday
      • I gossiped with Paige for a half hour about Twilight (she and Greg just read the first book, and saw the movie!). They aren't in love with it like I am, though, but at least we can talk about it now. And maybe they'll get sucked in to the series the more they read/watch.
      • Watched more movies, including a documentary about a group of seniors who sing rock songs (Young at Heart), at which I cried really, really hard.
      • Nick is back in town after being in California for a week!
      • Re-dyed my hair, watched Family Guy and American Dad, and am now getting ready for bed.

    Other stuff:
    I'm feeling bummed that I have to go back to work tomorrow, and yet it's probably good because I'd be getting really depressed if I didn't have stuff to do every day.

    I have one more week of school left, and then finals week, and them I'm DONE. If I can just survive my Women & the Law final, I'll be happy. I'll be pleased with a B in that course; I'm setting the standards low so I don't get too disappointed if I choke and forget one of the court cases. It's ok not to be perfect, right?

    Tomorrow I have my second therapy appointment with my new therapist. I hope it goes well; she seems cool, but I really want someone I can be comfortable and feel safe with, someone I can really talk to instead of just getting through the hour. We'll see.

    New Moon viewing totals as of 10pm tonight: 7

  • Happy Thanksgiving!

    I hope everyone enjoys their Thanksgiving holiday, however they celebrate it. I'll be with family, helping them to cook our feast and eat one of our home-raised, 41-pound turkeys (that's a small one!).

    What I'm thankful for: my family and friends, you guys on Xanga, having a job, doing well in school, my lovely apartment, being able to afford a car and some entertainment-type extras that make life more fun, and being able to function fairly normally given the mental illness stuff that I have (but which does NOT define me). Oh, and pumpkin pie. I am SO thankful for pumpkin pie.

    P.S. This is so me.
    xmzs

  • Squeee! Part 2

    The staycation is still EXCELLENT.

    • Sunday (evening)
      • Watched a bunch of my Netflix movies: Bill Maher's "I'm Swiss," The Haunted Airman, and How to Be. The first was funny (as Bill Maher always is), the second was god-awful, and the third was cute-ish but weird, and I was not happy about Robert Pattinson with shoulder-length, scraggly, Kurt Cobain-type hair. Blech.
      • Someone rang my buzzer at about 10:30 last night and I think it was an accident (people push the wrong button once or twice a month, at least), but it caught me off guard and it totally freaked me out. I hid in my room until I was sure that nobody was trying to show up unexpectedly. For some reason, I always think it's going to be someone from my past showing up drunk and ruining my current state of mind (which is better than it has been for a long time). That or someone sneaking in and hurting me.
    • Monday
      • Got up, had Basic 4 cereal (omg I love that stuff), and saw the matinee showing of A Christmas Carol with Ashley. The 3-D was AMAZING. I'll admit I was stoned at the time, but seriously, it was the best I've ever seen. It felt like the snowflakes were falling right on my head! Anyway, it was a good movie, but even *I* got a wee bit scared at a couple of places, so prepare the little ones if you take them. P.S. We had the entire theater to ourselves during the movie. Don't you just love that?
      • After the movie, Ashley and I went back to her place and when Robert got off of work, he made homemade focaccia bread (holy fuck it was gooood) and spaghetti. We lit a fire because it was cold as hell, watched something about Custer's last stand on the History Channel, got really, really high, and enjoyed some major relaxation.
      • I was going to go home and go to bed after that, but I ended up seeing New Moon again. I've decided that I LOVE THIS MOVIE.
    • Tuesday
      • I renewed my lease for another year, and am getting $125 off my December rent, just in time for Christmas! YAY!
      • Did a little Christmas shopping at the mall, got some stuff at The Container Store for organizing my closets, filled up and washed my car, and got my hair cut (just a couple of inches and some layering).
      • My mom is coming over soon and she wants to spend the night (which she has never done), so we are going to have some dinner (I'll probably take her to Pho on 6th because it's my new favorite place ever) and then see New Moon. I know, I know, it will be my 3rd time seeing it, but I really don't care. Also, my mom's asshole boyfriend will be out of town, so maybe she'll actually be mentally available tonight.
    • Wednesday
      • I hope to go through my bedroom closets, get rid of old clothing and shoes, organize all the stuff in my memories box (which is now overflowing to the point that I can't put even one more thing in it without the box breaking), and just generally make it prettier and easier to find things. 
      • I'll be driving to Fort Collins after that to settle in for the Thanksgiving holiday, but I think I'll just stay one night and come home Thursday evening. We'll see.
  • Squeee!!!!!!!

    My 9-day staycation is going really well so far.

    • Friday:
      • Got a lot done at work, then sat around the last 90 minutes of the work day playing Farkle with my coworkers.
      • Saw NEW MOON!!! with Jennifer. We were there almost 2 hours early and still weren't the first people lined up. So many 8th-grade girls I couldn't believe it. And every time any attractive male appeared on the screen there was a collective gasp. There were also nonbelievers in the audience who laughed periodically through the movie, and a few people who yelled "fail!" at the ending. Bah. I plan on seeing it again (without the gaggles of giggling girls (ooh! alliteration!)), so I can decide if I really like it or not. I'm leaning towards yes.
    • Saturday:
      • Got SUCH good sleep!
      • Jeff and Erik called me, and we went to go see Precious. It was an incredible movie, and if you can get through the sadness of it all, it's actually really inspiring and definitely a movie you can talk about afterwards. In fact, go see it NOW so we can talk about it.
      • We went to Pho on 6th after and shared appetizers (garlic-chili edamame (which was SO GOOD), steamed BBQ pork buns, and Chinese sausage turnip cakes). I had an epic chopsticks fail (as usual), so I had to ask the question of shame: "Can I have a fork"? Our waiter was so wee and adorable, we couldn't sop commenting on him. I'm pretty sure he came right from the Lord of the Rings books. Oh, and Nick met up with us for tea afterwards (yay!).
      • Then we decided to do an early Thanksgiving dessert thing, so we went to the grocery store, picked up some egg nog and pumpkin pie, and took it back to my place. We ate, and then Nick insisted we watch this hilarious podcast by Jessi Klein. (Seriously, stick through the whole thing; it's awesome.) Nick had to leave, but Jeff and Erik stuck around and we watched Sunshine Cleaning (it was good, although we all laughed at the many holes in the plot).
    • Sunday
      • Got up early and went grocery shopping (it was so necessary).
      • Tidied up the kitchen, watered the plants, changed the cat litter, and did some other housecleaning-type things.
      • Next on the agenda: finish my homework (and then I'm free from school ALL WEEK!), and watch movies. I have 2 Robert Pattinson films to watch: The Haunted Airman and How to Be.
    • Next Week
      • Who knows? I'll check in later!
  • Cop-Out Cell Phone Pic Entry

    The animals
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    Tilly, stretching and looking like she's about to do something mischievous (she did).

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    Tilly likes to crawl into my pants when I am in the bathroom. What a freak. It's ridiculous, but if I don't let her in, she scratches at the door until I go insane.

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    Scary vampire cat!!!

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    T-Bone!!! Aww. He always looks so guilty when he looks up. Also, you can't see it, but my sister's boyfriend dyed his tail RED. Wtf.

    Me
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    I think this was right after a therapy session or something, so I wasn't all that pleased.

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    Halloween. I decided to take off half of my makeup only and see what it looked like. Verdict: weird.

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    Not the best picture of me, but my skin looked GREAT that day.

    Other stuff
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    My "I read banned books" bookbag, with the "I read banned books" button that Paige got me. Repetitive? Yes. Awesome? Also yes.

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    I really hate people who paint religious messages on their semi trucks like giant billboards. Ugh.

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    Oh, GNC. What *will* you think up next?

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    An actual DVD title at Blockbuster.

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    I don't know if this person just likes Kerouac, or if they (probably he) consider themselves to be a wandering poet of some type, but come on. Vanity plates? For Kerouac? He would hate that. And this car was a Lexus or something, and was parked in an expensive lot in a fancy downtown building. What kind of bullshit is that?

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    The mirror I bought for, and installed in, my bedroom. I love it.

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    If you've been reading me for awhile, you know I don't work in a great area of town. This became even more evident when a company that tests urine for drugs moved in 2 doors down. It's called "Wiz Quiz". As in, "take a wiz in this cup". *shudder*

  • Xanga is boring. But this will be a long entry anyway.

    I never thought I would say it, but Xanga is just plain BORING compared to Facebook. Sure, I don't do any deep self-examination or talk about my real feelings on Facebook, but hey! There's Scrabble! And quizzes! And games where I get to grow my very own (digital) farm!

    Ugh.

    I can hardly even force myself to sign on to Xanga anymore, even though I'm sure the writing is good for me. Or maybe I'm just trying to push it when I don't really need to. I don't know. It would be nice to know what I should and shouldn't be doing, to have someone guide me when my own feelings and emotions are too muddled to see clearly. That sounds like a religious thing, but it so isn't.

    Speaking of, I'm reading The Year of Living Biblically by A.J. Jacobs. It's actually really fascinating, and reads kind of like a really long series of blog entries. The style is similar to David Sedaris, I think, except this guy does "immersion" writing where he throws himself into what he is writing about so he can speak from personal experience. His other projects include reading the entire Encyclopaedia Britannica, A to Z (The Know-It-All), and more recently, experimenting with a variety of radical lifestyles (The Guinea Pig Diaries). I totally love this guy.

    I'm psyched about my spring 2010 classes, btw: Myth, Symbol & Illusion, and Women of Color. It's a good thing I'm looking forward to them, because they are both required for my major or minor.

    Hmm, what else? I've been communicating with a South African (former) teacher to add some depth to my research paper on Barriers to Education for South African Girls. There's nothing like getting firsthand perspective.

    Also, in addition to 8 unpaid furlough days at work and no raise (even for cost of living) for the 3rd year in a row, we will also be required to submit more to our retirement plans in order to bail out the program. I just know that I'll be paying for the fucking baby boomers to retire, and when it's time for me, there won't be a cent left to live on.

    Is anyone following the health care reform hullabaloo? Women are getting royally fucked by this plan. It's like they are so desperate to pass SOME plan, ANY plan, that they will pass the WRONG plan, the kind of plan that takes women back almost 40 years. Why are our reproductive rights (and health) always so expendable to lawmakers? It's sickening, and I'm angry.

    I'm not sure what I'm doing for Thanksgiving. Part of me wants to say, "fuck it!" and just do something without my family. I just want to ditch both sides, not deal with stressful and depressing family bullshit, and do something more relaxing and fun. I think I would feel bad and get guilt trips if I did that, but I really am tired of "colorful" holidays, or holidays when I am shuttling back and forth from one family to another so that I can fulfill the obligation of seeing everyone. Then again, I don't have anywhere else to go on Thanksgiving, and I would hate to be alone, sad, and with no turkey or pie (oh, the horrors!).

    My therapist apparently had some major illness that put her in the hospital, meaning she had to cancel our last appointment and I won't be seeing her again before she retires. Maybe it's better, not having that emotional goodbye session, but I miss her a lot, and I hope she will be ok. My first appointment with the new woman is this coming Monday. I thought I would feel cool and blasé, but I'm starting to get nervous. I know I don't have to be, though. Breathe.

    I can't wait until next Friday the 20th. New Moon is FINALLY hitting theaters (you bet your ass I have my advance tickets, Becky), and then my 9-day vacation kicks off. It's a staycation, actually. I'll be cleaning closets, heading to the Container Store, and getting organized. I want the kinds of closets that you see in those "amazing closet organizer!" commercials, where everything has a place and it looks perfect. I'm finding myself getting more anal about stuff like that as I get older. I also find that I feel more at ease and happy when things are clean and organized. It's better for my mental state than disorganization and chaos, anyway.

    I've been fairly happy, or at least okay, for awhile now. I started taking St. John's Wort, and I think it's helped perk me up a bit. I'm also taking a Bach's Essences flower therapy (Google it). I started it for my alternative medicine class, and am going to finish the bottle. It's supposed to address the mental problems that cause physical illness, including anxiety, low self-esteem, the inability to let go of past events, putting too much pressure on yourself, the inability to deal with change, etc. It may seem a bit foofy or whatever, but after having had my life, I'm not turning down anything that will make me happier and healthier.

    For now, I think that's it. Thanks for reading this random hodgepodge of disconnected thoughts.

    Oh, wait. P.S. It's finally happened. My friend Jennifer and I (who share a cubicle 40 hours a week and hang out on certain nights and weekends too) now have the same menstrual cycle. Wtf. She asked me for a tampon today, and then an hour later, I started my period. UGH.

  • Happy Halloween!

    I fucked up my back this morning when I slipped on the ice while shoveling almost 2 feet of snow off of my car. Luckily, I found some painkillers and have been flying high for the last hour. This also means I am going to my coworker's Halloween party after all. So yay.

    Happy Halloween. I'm going for a "hipster witch" kind of thing. Must...find...striped...socks.

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  • Snow Storm Time!

    I have nothing whatsoever to post about. I just wanted to write that it is snowing here...and use an exclamation point. Because who doesn't love an exclamation point?

    !!!

  • It's the kind of dark where I can see the light

    The title of today's entry is metaphorical, but it's a bonus that I started writing it before the sun was up and by the time I was finished, the sunrise was peeking in.

    Dark:

    • Feeling a little uneasy about not visiting Ron in the hospital, even though I know it was the right decision.
    • Waiting for the other shoe to drop in regards to my great-grandfather. He's still kicking, but still ill.
    • Uncomfortable with the crush I still have on my married coworker. I don't want this but it won't go away.
    • Feeling like every assignment for my classes is going to be the one that pushes me over the "I can't do this, I give up" edge.
    • One of those people who spins multiple plates on top of stick thingies? That's me at work.
    • I only have one more visit with my therapist before she retires and I have to start over with someone new.

    Light:

    • Friday:
      -I got most of my email cleared out and my desk all cleaned off and organized at work
      -Watched the Schweddy Balls video with my coworkers (there was pretty much nobody there)
      -Met a deadline early so I didn't have to stress about it the next week
      -Nick stopped by to surprise me at work, which was SO AWESOME. He drew this on the little message board outside my cube:
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      -Got stoned with Robert and Ashley, had some delicious food, and then went to see Where the Wild Things Are. I cried. It was good, but probably not a movie I would see many times over.
    • Saturday
      -For the first time in months (seriously), I deep-cleaned my apartment. It took me hours to do it all, but I am SO much happier and willing to be social now that my living space is clean. Tilly is happier too, I think.
      -It was a perfect fall day with the cool, crisp air smelling of snow to come, and the trees on fire with yellow and red and orange leaves.
      -Nick and Jennifer came over and we went to the 16th street mall for a zombie crawl. We got there just in time to see all the people dressed as zombies limping and crawling by, making zombie noises, and just generally being awesome. There was a performance piece where a crowd of zombies attacked a girl and turned her into one of them. Haha!
      -After that we got Thai food, ate it at my house, and then watched a few episodes of The Office. I had never seen it before and Nick got me season 2 for my birthday. It was funny and yet hard to watch at the same time. I want to smack every character on that show for being an idiot.
      -We also watched an episode of Dollhouse from season 1. This is one of my favorite shows right now. Anyone a fan? I pretty much like anything Joss Whedon does. He made Buffy & the Vampire Slayer, so I knew I had to give his other series a try.
    • Sunday
      -I slept until 10 (even though it was a strange sleep), which is practically unheard of for me.
      -It snowed off and on all day, which I LOVE.
      -I made beef stew and an oatmeal molasses bread in the breadmaker, and my house was filled with delicious smells all day.
      -Nick came by because he was in the area, and he brought me a muffin! I seriously love muffins. We hung out for a little bit, watched the Mom Jeans video, and he successfully completed one of the "pocket posh logic" puzzles that Jeff and Erik gave me for my birthday. Apparently my brain is not made to think that way, because I haven't been able to complete any of them. Which sucks, because the inscription they wrote inside says:
      "From your Xanga friends, blog about this when you finish them! P.S. If you are never able to finish them (being a woman and all), feel free to lie and say you finished them anyway! P.P.S. The schnozzberries taste like schnozzberries."
      Bastards!
      -I got all of my homework done, like I planned to.
      -I was able to take a nap (because I had to take Benadryl for my shitty allergies), and then went to bed earlyish.

    That's all, folks.