simplicity

new position...

2008-12-08T18:41:00.001-06:00

My new position has kept me busy. While I absolutely love what I do so far, it’s the prep I don’t like. I spend a good portion of my time in meetings. Meetings with whom might you ask?

Everybody. My team decides or approves every marketing piece. It took 2 hours to go through 4 weeks of stuff, ugh.

I’m not complaining. I’m happy to have a job and I actually like this position better than my last. My bosses seem pretty cool. Even the crazy lady is starting to rub off on me. It’s the other people I’m worried about.

After our first team meeting with 12 of us, I realized this is a team full of A-type personality people. A type personality people are usually impatient workaholics who constantly strive for high achievements (myself included).

It’s just after that meeting, I felt like if I turned my back for too long somebody might stab me. There are three people on the team I’ve worked with a little and quite frankly don’t care to work with again but will do it if I have to. They exemplify these characteristics to the T. Nevertheless, it should be fun.

On that note, with my busy schedule this will probably be my last post of the year. Have a wonderful holiday!

for the record...i probably would have gone crazy too

2008-12-02T18:38:00.000-06:00

I just got through watching that Britney For the Record special on MTV and it left me feeling really bad for her. I know we shouldn’t feel bad for her because she has millions of dollars and is a celebrity but all of this started when she was only 15 or 16. She was kid. The attention and paparazzi following her is normal to her. It’s been like that for nearly half of her life. I can’t say I wouldn’t have gone crazy if I had that kind of life.

She says creating music and being in the studio makes her happy and I think that’s why she’s been able to put out two CD’s during all of this mess. I really don’t think her dad wanted her to get back into all of this. It seems like for a while he wanted her to do television for the more structured schedule so she could raise her kids. That’s why she did some appearances on How I Met Your Mother. But Britney got back in the studio and started writing and boom here’s a cd.

I wonder about her financial state. You might think, she’s earned millions but, when you are rich, you can blow through tons of money living a certain lifestyle. And I wonder if this tour and everything else is her dad’s way of making her some more money for those kids. We all know Britney is going to have to provide for those kids at least until they are 18.

Then maybe after all of this she will retire. I think she needs to. She deserves it. She truly doesn’t know what normal, as we know it, is. In the meantime, I think we can all enjoy her latest cd and quite possibly her last tour.

i'm a walking disaster...

2008-11-18T17:17:00.000-06:00

I didn’t realize until a couple days ago, what a walking disaster I’ve been for the past couple of months. Since I have so many other important things to take care of, I tend to brush off my “scrapes and bruisies.” It wasn’t until one of my friends pointed out the reoccurrences of my scrapes and bruises.

Back in August, I got hit by a baseball at a minor league game. I don’t like baseball. I only went because the tickets were free and I got an all-you-can-eat pass. Well, I was near the concession stand when the baseball ricocheted off the stadium and hit me on the head. I ducked and tried to try to miss it, but it hit me anyway. It was so embarrassing. I felt like everyone was looking at me. The medic came over to examine me. Then I immediately left the game. No biggie – there just happened to be several co-workers at the game since we all got free tickets.

In September, I got stung by a swarm of wasps in the backyard. I had no idea wasps could sting you through your clothes until that night. I was stung all down the side of my back and right arm. It really was no big deal to me until I started webbing and stinging didn’t go away after 30 minutes. Several hours later after medicating the wound and drugging myself up I was fine.

In October, I burned myself while cooking. I accidentally touched the small part of the skillet that isn’t cool-to-touch. I really didn’t think it was that big of a deal until my wrist continued to burn 30 minutes afterwards.

I suppose this month’s injury could have been prevented had I not been drinking. So I don’t want to get into the details of how it happened, but I severely injured my knee. I really didn’t think it was a big deal until I started bleeding. But I have to say this one was totally worth it since it was a sex injury.

my soap opera...

2008-11-16T15:18:00.000-06:00

Sometime between now and the end of this year I was supposed to be tested to see if I’m a match to be a kidney donor for my dad. It was going to be perfect timing because I take a lot of vacation days in November and December, so I would have plenty of time to do the full work up. Then if I was a match, we can go ahead and do the surgery next year.

Of course that plan is now halted. Nothing ever goes the way it’s planned. Before my dad can become a kidney recipient, he has to pass all of these test and get approval from several doctors. So I wasn’t surprised when I was told my dad has to go in for an angiogram to get approval from the heart doctor. Unfortunately, there is something abnormal with his heart so they have to find out what it is. That could result from doctors doing nothing to putting in a stint or opening up his chest for heart surgery.

The good news is everything is done at once. So dad has to have the angiogram. If doctors see nothing he goes home. If doctors see he just needs a stint, they will do it right there and then. That also means he’ll have a longer hospital stay. If doctors see he needs something more, then they wait for our approval; do the surgery and a longer hospital stay.

The bad news is I have to plan for all three scenarios which has kept me pretty busy lately. For those who don’t know my dad is the worst patient ever. So about 20% of my time is spent on health-related issues. If it isn’t one thing it’s another. Sometimes I feel like my life is a soap opera between family, men and work…I just hope I’ll be able to make some money off of it.

there's something in the water.

2008-11-10T20:54:00.000-06:00

There are a lot of people at my job popping up pregnant. So either something is in the water, or this theory my co-worker (we'll call her M) and I have, must be true. There are about six people M and I know who are pregnant (one is including her).

We truly believe it is due to the recession we are in. People don’t have the money to go out, so they stay in and make some nookie. Think about it, why else is everyone getting pregnant?

silver lining of a recession

2008-11-02T18:00:00.000-06:00

Everyday I watch the news when I come home and I tell you it has never been this depressing. Everyday when I watch the world news they give a run down of what companies are laying off and how many people they are laying off. Each day it’s a new set of companies. Twenty minutes of the 30-minute newscast is about the economy, its effects and of course the election (which also eludes to the current economic state).

It has never been this bad in majority of Americans lifetime and the outlook even looks bleaker. I can’t help but think that maybe all of this means something a little deeper. Maybe perhaps we as a whole are not living the way God intended us to live. We have gotten all caught up in the material things of life – clothes, electronics, cars – that we’ve taken for granted the necessities.

Whatever happened to the days where you only buy something when you had the money? It has become a regular thing for us to get loans (or put on credit) things that are not a true necessities. I was watching 20/20 one night and they quoted an older man in his 80’s saying when they didn’t have the money to buy something they just didn’t.

Now isn’t that a concept? I hate this recession as much as anyone else, but maybe…just maybe we can all learn something from this. Maybe we will learn how to manage our cash a little better. Maybe we will learn not to spend all of our money or so much of our money on frivolous items. Maybe we will learn its not all about keeping with the Joneses, but more of living out your dreams and goals. Maybe we will learn to appreciate people, experiences and moments more than material things. But more importantly maybe we can learn to be a little more grateful for every thing we do have. So next time the economy is doing well and money is "overflowing" our pockets we won't go out on a shopping spree but instead cherish the important things.

ain't this some hot shit...

2008-10-30T07:39:00.001-06:00

After three hours of layoffs and a 30-minute “we hate to, but we had to do this” meeting with the “powers that be,” I got my reassignment. They basically broke up all the teams and formed new ones.

As of Dec. 1, I will be on the creative consistency team. I was apprehensive, but interested. And seriously after the morning we had I was just happy to still have a job.

So we all had one-on-one meetings with our new boss. I knew nothing about my new boss. I had just seen and heard of her. We’ll call her KP. The times I’ve seen KP she was dressed in tights, leg warmers, bright colors. (She’s a woman in her 50’s.) KP is very high up in the organization and she is looked well upon. I slowly realized, as I talked to people, it was a good thing to be on her team. I was told she’s crazy, but apparently this is the team everyone wants to be on.
I had a five-minute meeting with her. This is how it went:

“HI! IT’S SO NICE TO MEET YOU!” she said. I write in all caps because she’s very hyper and talks really loud.

I just smiled said the same and sat in her office. By the way, she has office. At my job, you don’t get an office unless you are very high up…very.

“I JUST WANT TO TELL YOU WE HAVE THE BEST TEAM. ONLY THE BEST IS ON THE TEAM. OUR TEAM IS HOT SHIT. AND YOU CAN GO BACK AND TELL EVERYONE THAT” she said.

She got out the organization chart and showed it to me. Our team is on the level of all the other 5 teams, but says “WE MAY LOOK LIKE WE ARE HERE ON THIS CHART, BUT WE ARE REALLY HERE.” She points to the top.

According to my new boss, we may be called creative consistency team, but we are really the creative lead team. We determine the direction of every marketing piece that goes out the company. In other words we set the tone, the voice, environment, etc. We determine what style is used, both art and copy-wise. We are more on a concept level. I will no longer be working on physical tasks so to speak; I will be developing concepts with a small group of people.

So no more Internet or catalog writing. I will now be the one my former co-workers hate. Because I will be the one telling them how they should write things in everything across the board - internet, catalogs, etc.

After listening to her and thinking about it, I think it’s a good move. Basically, I’ve been put on the team who initiates change. There’s only two copy positions. I was picked for one. So maybe someone was looking after me after all. It’ll make more marketable and it will make it much easier for me to move throughout the company.

Now if I can handle my new boss. My old boss was crazy, but this…is a whole other different kind of crazy. My old boss ain’t got nothing on this lady. It’ll be interesting…

a sad day...

2008-10-29T19:12:00.000-06:00

It was like they were randomly shooting at people. I knew it would be bad, but its totally something you do not ever want to experience. Good news: I’m safe and I could potentially have a very good job for the future. (We’ll talk about that in another post.) Bad news: There were a lot of people laid off.

We knew it would be a crazy day when we saw a mouse run across from my cubicle to my co-workers. I was pissed. I can’t work under these conditions, I kept saying. I said this would be a good day to do layoffs. Because if they lay me off I won’t be so sad today. I started applying for other jobs after a mouse was found in another co-worker’s drawer. Mice poop was on her desk. This was the fifth mouse sighting we had encountered.

Who knew 15 minutes later the layoffs start? It’s been a year since they told us there would be layoffs. It was like they were randomly shooting people. Six people were set up meetings with HR for packages, one was told he had until Nov. 30, then his position would be eliminated. Thirty minutes later it became apparent, this was the day. They started calling people and asking them to go down to the other side of the building. One by one people’s phone started ringing. You did not want to get that ring.

For three hours everyone was on edge. It was the longest 3 hours of our lives. Whenever a phone rang, someone jumped. After a while, the rule became, “don’t call anybody.” Because whenever someone got that call, they just walked down to the other side of the building. Each person was gone for a while, then came back, got their stuff and left.

I will never forget one of my co-workers who started packing up his stuff. We asked where we was going and he said, “They are going to let me go.” We all looked kind of like, you don’t know that. He hadn’t gotten the call. Then right there and then his phone rang.

It wasn’t just the people who had been there for 20 years and were over 60; there were even some people in their 20’s and 30’s.

There were about 120 in our department. Calls were made randomly on teams. By lunch a whole team was let go along with about 20 other people. That’s not including the people upstairs who were laid off. It was bad.

My boss who was part of the committee that outlined the reorganization came back after noon. She told us they were done laying off people. “That was the hardest thing I ever had to do,” she said. She just started crying and hugging all of us.

I’m not so sure if I like the fact of being warned a whole year in advance or not. But to endure three hours of lay offs was exhausting. It was sad…very sad.

etiquette in the workplace...

2008-10-21T19:14:00.000-06:00

I have a lot of pet peeves, but one that bugs me more than most is unprofessionalism in the workplace. I’ve never met so many rude people in my life. Since when it is appropriate for a manager to ask what rumors are going around in the middle of a staff meeting? It only spurs more rumors.

When is it appropriate to ask about someone’s health problems in a middle of a meeting? Even when that person isn’t there.

I think I hit my boiling point this week when I got a political e-mail from a co-worker earlier this week. It’s really not about the fact that I didn’t agree with the e-mail (it was completely endorsing mccain/palin, that’s another entry), but it’s the fact that the workplace is not for political e-mails nor conversation. What really pissed me off is the fact that my co-worker e-mailed it to my immediate boss who has made it (inappropriately) clear she was voting for obama and was pro-choice. So why e-mail it to her? My co-worker fell short of e-mailing it to our higher up who has also made it (inappropriately) clear she was a democrat.

I thought the bad etiquette would end there, but it didn’t. A manager asked a co-worker of mine how much she bought her christmas tree for. It wouldn’t have bothered me so if much, if it hadn’t been the third time I’ve had her ask somebody how much something cost. It’s none of her freaking business! I know she won’t ask me something like that because I will tell her exactly that.

All of this has got me thinking, where has good etiquette gone. Should I insist that our team take an etiquette course? Or maybe it’s that these people don’t have any common sense?

The older I get the more I realize I’m a lot smarter than I have ever given myself credit. I should start aiming a tad higher.

cowboys...

2008-10-13T19:16:00.001-06:00

I love how this city is so in love with the Cowboys. If anything happens to our beloved Cowboys, it’s front-page news; top story of the broadcast.

This has been a disappointing week for our boys. I think the headline that summed it up the most (and the one I loved the most was, “pinky panic.”

In any other city, the top news story would not be about how the quarterback will be out for four weeks. Or how Pac Man got into an argument in a restroom of a club (big surprise).

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not complaining. I’m just saying if the world was ending and at the same time Dallas Cowboys starting QB was out of the whole season or Pac Man went on another one of his “adventures,” the Cowboys would triumphant.

I learned a long time ago when I first moved to the city when they interrupted a regularly scheduled program to show the Dallas Cowboys parade for winning a championship.

my own mini recession...

2008-09-28T18:52:00.000-06:00

So if you haven’t figured out, I’m on break or a recession; much like our economy haha. In light of rising costs, job loss and other things, I’ve been picking up freelance work here and there to subsidize.

But no fear, I’ll be back with tons of stories soon. So much has happened from my exciting dating life (haha, as if…) to layoffs. I have been keeping notes so hold tight. I have plenty to talk about!

noise...

2008-06-10T21:03:00.001-06:00

Do you ever feel like sometimes there’s just too much noise?

I’m not just talking about the sounds of vehicles, children or video games. I’m talking about noise. Even the noises in your head. (I’m not going crazy, I promise.) Sometimes there are just so many thoughts going through my head - from the daily things I have to do to the decisions I must make.

I have had such a hard time blocking out all the noise. Sometimes it so much that I can’t even hear myself.

Now I’m finding that there are these rare instances in my life where I’m able to block out the noise. (It all started a couple of months ago.) I don’t think about anything else but the present - the here and now. It makes things so easy.

Life really isn’t hard. Just live for now. I keep saying this over and over again, but I haven’t been this happy in a very long time.

handicap perks...

2008-06-08T20:41:00.001-06:00

I am so bored. I’m so ready to go back to work. The highlight of my week was riding the cart in my favorite grocery store, Central Market. I figured since I’m handicapped I should take full advantage of it. I already begged my doctor to give me a note or something so I could get a handicap sticker, but he said I wouldn’t qualify.

But riding the cart wasn't bad at all. It was nice being able to breeze down the aisles faster. People just kind of move out your way. I did get looks though. All the kids kind of kept looking at me. But I’m just going to chalk that up to beauty. Or maybe they just wish they could have driven the cart, hehe. The only bad part is having to reach for the items on the top shelf or out of reach. But did I get first-class service at the check out line. The cashier at the 1 through 10 item line let me checked me out immediately (even though I had about 20 items).

She said, “Don’t get up. I’ll get everything. You just rest.”

It was great. She put everything back in the cart’s basket and told me I could use the cart in the parking lot. I was having a good time, until my cart ran out of battery in the middle of the street. Thank goodness no cars were coming, or I would have been road kill. I had to get out and push the cart to the side. Being handicap is so hard…

on the wrong foot...

2008-06-06T00:11:00.003-06:00

Just when I thought doc/nurse and I were getting off on the right foot (pun intended), boy was I wrong. I’m so mad. I went to the doctor for my follow-up appointment today. The doctor wanted to take a look at the foot and make sure everything was okay. He did and everything is fine. I even got good news. Doc said he didn’t have to cut nearly as much as he thought he would have to therefore, I should heal a lot faster. So he’s hoping to get me out of the boot and into a tennis shoe in four weeks, instead of the five he initially estimated before the surgery. That was the good news.

From there on, the entire appointment went downhill. First off, I’d like say, I know I’m not an easy person to please, especially when I spend hundreds of dollars on something. I feel like I am doing you a service my giving you my money, specifically $574 of my money. So you better do a damn good job.

The day after the surgery I noticed my third toe wasn’t hurting. It should have been because they were supposed to take the knuckle out of the toe since it rubs up against my shoes. It was one of those minor things that the doctor suggested I go ahead do while they were doing the bunionectomy. It’s not necessary.

So imagine the way I reacted when Doc basically told me he forgot to operate on the third toe. Then he tried to blame it on me. Doc said he wasn’t sure if he was supposed to operate on that toe. When he came into the operating room that morning, he talked about the big toe and I said ok. Since I didn’t say anything about the third toe, he didn’t do anything once in the operating room. Doc also said, “and it wasn’t on the paperwork. And if it’s not on the paperwork, I can’t do it.”

That’s where he is wrong. It was on the paperwork. I brought the freaking paperwork to the surgery center that morning. It was on there. I also didn’t like the fact that he tried to put it on me. I'm so mad.

Then he tried to mitigate it by saying, well I can give you a local anesthesia and do it in the office real quick. Hell no, I don’t want to do it in the office while I'm awake. I wanted you to do it all at once while I was under the first fucking time. I don’t want to be in pain a second time. Grrr…I was pissed.

Then I asked the nurse if I could have a smaller boot, because the one they gave me at the surgery center was way too big. I had already tripped over my foot twice in it. She gave me one that fit perfectly to me but she said it was too small and I may hit my big toe on it. It’s better than me tripping over my own foot and falling over. Now that’s going to hurt! They cut me at the top of my foot, not on my toe. Hell, I tripped on the way to the X-ray room at the doctor’s office. I was fuming by the time I left the office. Shit, I’m still mad.

My mom and dad recommended this doctor. In fact, he did foot surgery on my mom last year and it turned out really well - no problems. But of course, with my luck something always gets screwed up. I think I’m going to find a new doctor.

real pain...

2008-06-05T16:28:00.000-06:00

I thought I had experienced pain, until Monday morning. The anesthesia wore off the most horrific pain I’ve ever encountered set into my foot. I took the Vicodin the doctor prescribed 2 hours earlier but it still hadn’t kicked in. Thirty minutes later the nurse called me back to tell me to cut slits in my bandage because it was probably too tight, since my foot swelled up more. I was also given the go ahead to take my migraine medicine to try to get rid of the pain. An hour later, I felt much better. I slept practically the rest of the day. That was my worst day after the surgery.

I guess you could say the surgery went well. I wasn’t actually awake for the procedure. The last thing I remember is the doctors pushing me down the hallway in the gurney. Dr. H., the anesthesiologist, just asked me if the meds were starting to work. I told him I wasn’t sure if it was the meds or the bed moving that was making me feel weird. Then the next thing I knew, I woke up and a nurse took the breathing mask off of my face. It only took about an hour, so the actual surgery wasn’t bad at all.

The only thing I knew was that had all males operating on me with the exception of one female. It was interesting because I had never seen so many males in the operating room. I had a male nurse, male doctor, male anesthesiologist, another male who walked in there to introduce himself as someone who would be in the room, another male doctor who was assisting my doctor and then there was an Asian female who would be helping. Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining, as we all know I love males, but it was interesting. The other thing I do know is that they must have strapped me down while I was sleep, because when I woke up I notice an indent on my upper thigh. I guess they didn't want me to move. It was weird because I didn't remember having the surgery, yet it was evident I had it because my foot was in a blue boot now.

Unfortunately I haven't been able to walk until today. It still hurts a little, but more when I walk. I’m supposed to get this surgery done on my left foot too, but I don’t know. Monday was pretty horrific. If I could avoid a Monday like that I’ll be fine. But if there’s another Monday like that one, I’m not so sure I want to have that surgery again. Maybe it’ll be worth walking in pain on the left foot for the rest of my life.

duck hunt...

2008-06-01T17:57:00.002-06:00

Its been about two months and the ducks are still here. About two weeks ago as I was leaving for work, I saw one of the ducks in the middle of the road. I ran to get into my car, started up the engine, revved it up, but as soon as I got down to the street, he had moved -- right in front of a car. That damn bird! I would have hit the car if I tried to hit him. Grrr…I was so mad.

At least the birds stayed out of the pool for my graduation party. But that was only because people were in the pool. I say "out of the pool" because the night before they circled our house and decided not to land after they saw my cousins 9-year-old son in the pool. I swear they keep a watch on our house.

So after a reader suggestion I contact Bird-X, Inc.. They have some neat stuff, but much of it is very expensive. After talking to one of their staffers we decided an affordable option was buying a fake gator and putting it in the pool. So we did that last weekend. The gator’s eyes light up and even a light breeze will keep gator moving around the pool. I have to say it worked for a while. That is until one morning we woke up and a duck was in the pool with gator.

This morning again, there were two ducks in the pool with gator playing with him. As soon as I saw them I went out there to shoot them with the Co2 gun. They left feathers all in the pool. Those damn ducks! There’s only one real affordable way to get rid of them for good.

oh please help me mr. hottie...

2008-05-28T19:02:00.000-06:00

I’m not excited at all about having this foot surgery. The only thing I’m remotely happy about is the fact that I’m probably going to get some really good sleep. For those of you who don’t know, I love sleep. I could sleep all day if I had the time. In fact, I love drug-induced sleep. You know the kind where you take some type of medicine that makes you drowsy and you don’t wake up the slightest little noise. Oh, I love that sleep. That’s the greatest for me because I’m a really light sleeper. I hear the newspaper guy throw the paper every morning at 5 a.m., unless I’m having a drug-induced sleep. I’ll get plenty of that after my surgery.

Other than that, I’m not really digging this blue boot for 5 weeks. It’s so ugly and big. I have got to come up with something else. I asked Nurse Ellen if it comes in other colors, but she looked at me like I was crazy. Nurse Ellen and I have built a wonderful relationship these past couple of months. After we got past the day she got snippy with me because she thought I wasn’t taking the surgery seriously. We built inroads when she realized who I was (the daughter of two of her other patients they’ve done surgery on. Now we’ve got a pretty good friendship going. I call her once every couple of days to ask her questions and see how she is doing. She does the same for me.

Now I just need some good pick up lines. Earlier today I was thinking and I could really use this whole foot thing to my advantage.

“Oh, I’m in so much pain Mr. Hottie.” I’d say. “Can you pick me up and take me anywhere you want.” (Preferably with your shirt off.)

My co-worker said she’d try to help me think of some good lines. See, there could be a good side in all of this…

cake

2008-05-27T05:53:00.001-06:00

watch...

2008-05-27T05:52:00.000-06:00

Weekend wrap-up...

2008-05-27T05:49:00.004-06:00

Weekends go by so fast - even the ones where we have an extra day off. I slept all day yesterday after the graduation party, which turned out well. I think I spent too much time outside. You know how you feel a bit hungover after a night of drinking? That’s the way I felt Monday, except I didn’t have a drop of alcohol. I felt icky after swimming and spending hours outside because of my sinuses.

I was elated it didn’t rain and everyone got a chance to take a dip in the pool. Almost everyone came who RSVPed, which made for a packed house, but I think everyone had fun. The cake turned out beautifully. I’ll have to post a photo soon. It was delicious too.

Overall, it was a great party. I got all of these presents, which was kind of unexpected. I knew my parents’ friends would bring presents, but I didn’t expect my friends too. I just wanted them to come and get the free food. Most surprisingly, I finally got the watch from my parents I had been saving up for. For the past year, I’ve been saving up my Nordstrom gift cards to by this Burberry watch. Well, I finally got enough back in April. I just hadn’t bought it yet. But my parents bought it for me as my graduation present. Totally unexpected! I didn’t think they were getting me anything because the party was kind of a present. That and I usually can find a present beforehand since I’m so nosy. But this, I had no idea about.

It was good to see everyone though. I feel like it was a good time to have a party, since I’ll be having surgery next week. My dad will be having surgery next month too. So it’s right before we get back to all of our health business.

graduation extravaganza

2008-05-20T16:18:00.005-06:00

My small graduation party has turned into a huge extravaganza right before my eyes. I invited about 20-25 people. Many of them were four hours way, out of town so I didn’t expect them to come, so it was more like an announcement.

Imagine my surprise when all of them start calling last weekend to let me know they are booking their hotel. The grand total – 46 people.

The party is technically supposed to be a pool party. We plan on having barbecue among other things. I hope it doesn’t rain or I don’t know what I’m going to do.

So yes, I have a big weekend coming up. My cousin will be the first to come in town on Friday. Everyone is excited about swimming in the pool. Meanwhile, I have to get everything ready – mainly the food. Then I have a wedding to attend on Saturday. Not to mention, I have to get ahead on my work a bit, since I’ll be out for my surgery. I’ll work from home some, but I have a bunch of Internet stuff to do. By the way, my gripe for the day is having to spend $574.26 for them to cut on my foot and put me in pain. They should pay me for getting a stab at my foot (pun intended). Anyways, then there’s freelance stuff (hey, I have to bring in some extra cash to at the least pay to fill up my tank.).

However, the party should be interesting. There’s going to be a great mix of people there, which always creates an electic atmosphere.

he's back and they are alive...

2008-05-19T16:42:00.004-06:00

S finally came back and all of the fish are alive. I had never been so happy to see him. He also brought me back a bottle of tequila. It was expensive and supposed to be one of the best. We are going to open it in a couple of weeks after I have my surgery. I will need something to numb the pain.

So I’m going under the knife in less than 2 weeks. I decided to go ahead and get the surgery over with after my foot locked up on me for the second time while I was driving. I guess I didn’t realize the severity of it until suddenly my big toe on my right foot collapsed while I was driving on the freeway. I had this excruciating pain in my right foot that wouldn’t go away. So I pulled over on the side of the freeway until the pain subsided. I knew what the problem was and how to temporarily fix it. After all, I’ve had this problem almost all my life. It’s just my big toes has never collapsed on me like this and caused as much as it did that day. I called my friend I was going to meet to tell him I was going to be late. He offered to come and get me, but I declined. I would never condone anyone getting out of the car on a freeway (especially that already has a speed limit of 70 mph) - yet alone, myself getting out of the car. In order for the pain to subside, I had to put something in between my big toe and second toe to straighten it out. Unfortunately, that week I had cleaned out my car and had nothing in my car except for one thing – a sanitary pad (I always keep an extra one in my car, in case I have an unexpected period). In shame, I ripped the pad and put part of it between my toes. As if this couldn’t have happened at worse time. After about 10 minutes the pain subsided and I was able to drive to my destination with a pad in between my toes. Try not to laugh too hard. My co-worker couldn't stop laughing as I was telling her what happened. (I'm the only one in my group who's not married and doesn't have kids; so everybody at my job lives vicariously though my adventures.)

I’m a bit stubborn so it took one more time for this to happen for me to book my surgery. Luckily, the second time I had my brother in the car with me, so he had to take over driving. And you know it must have been some pain if I let my brother drive my car.

So in two weeks I’m going under the knife while knocked out. I wonder what I will dream of...

fishsitter...yes I am

2008-05-12T20:37:00.004-06:00

I never thought I’d say this but I’m fish sitting. They aren’t just ordinary fish. These amazing salt water fish and I’m scared I’m going to kill them. Or I guess I’m more scared that my best friend S will kill me if I kill his fish.

He says he won’t be mad at me if I do, but I’m not so sure about that. I can barely take care of myself, yet alone some living and breathing fish. My track record isn’t so great with fish. The first fish I had named Trixsy lasted the longest and that was for about a month.

S’s fish aren’t just regular fish, like mine were. It takes so much to feed them. He has like 10-15 of them in this huge tank. There’s Big Daddy, Sharky, Nemo, Tigger (I named him)…the list goes on.

I have to feed them every other day until S gets back. Then it's not just feeding them. It's filling up the tank with water, putting cap fulls of these green stuff and even cleaning out the poop container (eww...). The things I do for S. I swear if this was anybody but S I wouldn't do it.

But man, I hope he comes back soon. I don’t know if I’m doing everything right. Did I put enough water in? Did I put enough food in? Did I put the seaweed in right? Oh my goodness, I hope that fish doesn’t bite me. This could be the end of S and I as we know it.

Ooo, idea. Maybe I should use this as a test. S wants me to move in with him, but I’m hesitant because I don’t want to ruin our friendship. I already feel like we are some old married couple. All we do is fight all the time and we know each other a little too well. But arguing is our thing. That’s what we do and we do it well. S might drive me crazy sometimes, but it is what it is.

So I think I'm going to use this as a test. Let’s see how well this goes first. Then we’ll talk about the moving in thing. Hey and maybe I won’t have anything to worry about. I did everything he told me to do right…I think.

And he did leave me the number to the fish doctor. If all else fails I can just call him. He’s $75 an hour, but I think it just might be worth it, if it means saving our friendship.

it's war...

2008-05-04T20:09:00.000-06:00

Those damn ducks! They won’t go away. They keep coming back. We got a bb gun, hit them and they still keep coming back. This is unreal. I called the city and they said since it’s a mallard duck, they can’t touch them; they are protected by law. Protected by law my ass. We didn’t get a $40,000 pool to be harassed by some damn ducks.

We went to Academy to get the gun last week. The salesmen had never heard of ducks so bold. They said they put up a fake owl to get rid of ducks, but they were unsure if it would get rid of ducks. I doubt it because these ducks are bigger than an owl and quite frankly seem to be fairly smart.

So we’ve been shooting the ducks since Wednesday. No change. Saturday I go out there to shoot the duck again. I missed with the first shot. After that, I realized I needed to reload. I turn the door knob to go back in the house to get the ammunition and that’s when I realized I locked myself out. That damn duck! I’m sure he was just laughing at me. So I had to go to my neighbor’s house to get the extra key.

Seriously, I can’t believe these ducks keeping coming back. Tonight there were about four of them circling our house. They’d fly into our pool leave them come back. It’s like they were mocking us. I’m mad now.

So I searched the Internet for solutions to get rid of ducks. Here are some answers I found:

“I know of a suburb of st louis that had a problem with wild geese. They got themselves a border collie if you cant have a dog in your area or dont know someone who has a dog that will chase them off I think they also have something that makes a noise that wild birds do not like whenever they come in a certain area that works like an invisible fence. I dont know where to find it but I hope this info helps.”

“There is a company that puts out "natural" repellents for landscapes called "liquid fence". They make something for every kind of animal, including ducks. Here is a link with the product. You apply it on the lawn and it is unpalatable to ducks and geese when they feed, making them go elsewhere to eat. I talked to a company Representative a few months back and he said that they have had great feedback from customers. It even has a 100% money back guarantee included. Hope this helps you out..”

“leave some crocodiles in ur pool.”

“first you need to find out where they are coming from and then when you find that out you need to make a food trail from your pool to that place and lead them further on dump a lot of food run and pray they don't follow you.”

“if you pound stakes in the ground ,or use existing trees ,and run fishing line from one to the others in a square like pattern ,it is not only invisible to the naked eye ,but NO birds will fly OVER NOR UNDER the lines . works great for pool decks also.”

“Point 12 gauge in general direction of ducks.....pull trigger.”

They are all very interesting answers. I don’t know about making my whole backyard a war zone, although it’s almost kind of that way now. But the longer this goes on, the longer I’m liking the last suggestion…I’ve never had duck for dinner, but I’d sure like to try it.

that rascally duck...

2008-04-30T13:59:00.000-06:00

I’ve had it with those damn ducks! They are going down.

Ever since we got this pool 2 years ago, two ducks have tried to make it their home. In fact, these two ducks have made my neighborhood their neighborhood. One is a huge green duck (male) and the other is a gray smaller duck (female). I swear they've gotten bigger. Somebody must be feeding them around our neighborhood and that's why they keep hanging out here. They peruse our front yard. Fly into our backyard and swim in our pool. In years past, I could just go outside, throw some ice at the ducks, they leave and never come back (at least for a couple of days).

Well, imagine my surprise yesterday when they came back for the second day in a row. This time the two weren’t in the water. Instead they were sitting next to our pool pooping! I was livid. When I chased them off yesterday afternoon, the male came back 20 minutes later. (He checks out the backyard first, then goes back to get his wifey once its clear.) So for an hour yesterday afternoon, I was chasing the ducks out of the water because they kept coming back.

I’ve had it now! I’m going to Academy this afternoon to get a pellet gun. I’m taking them down and they are going to go back and tell all of their friends not to ever come back to my house. Or at the least pick someone else’s yard to go back too. There are several other pools in the area they can go wade in. They just choose ours because we don’t have a dog. But I know of a pool two streets down and they have no animals either.This is it. Since I don’t have school anymore, I can duck hunt all afternoon.

do you believe in miracles...

2008-04-29T16:23:00.001-06:00

So dad goes to the doctor and we were told they’d probably have to put him in the hospital immediately to do one more surgery before he starts dialysis. But for some odd reason his creatinine levels hadn’t gotten higher. (The higher the levels the more his kidney is failing him.) The doctor had no idea why. So we’ve been warned once again, when he goes back to the doctor in June if his creatinine levels are any higher he has to go into the hospital immediately.

Anyways, several people have asked me how did my dad get in this situation. Was it from bad dieting or what? The answer is no.

Years back, dad had kidney stones. He had to have surgery to get them out. The doctor didn’t get them all out. Therefore it damaged one of his kidneys. That left him with one kidney and he’s a diabetic. So that’s the story folks.

Meanwhile, we have plenty to celebrate. Instead of walking, I decided to just have a party for my graduation. It’s kind of funny, because my list started with 25 people, but it has slowly grown to about 35.

I think my parents are excited about having a party, since dad’s surgery has been delayed. That way all of the family can come up and see him before everything starts. This all means I get everything I want for the party. Well mostly… dad only cut half of my food list (usually he cuts it down to ¼.). I think he was pleased I put barbecue on the list. For those of you who know me, I’m not that crazy about barbecue. But my people will expect barbecue on Memorial day weekend. So I just added a bunch more stuff that I actually like to eat.I have to get a bubble blowing machine, a cake, ice cream maker.

Ooo and I ordered two new swim suits today! Since I lost 20 pounds my old ones don’t fit. Should be interesting…

just like a piece of cake...

2008-04-25T17:20:00.000-06:00

So I called the nurse a couple of days ago because I had a more questions about the foot surgery I’m supposed to have. My questions were fairly easy: are you for sure it will be 6 weeks before I’m able to drive? Are you sure you can’t do both feet at once? How long will it be until I can get in a dress shoe? (All of this is a.k.a. when exactly will I have my social life back.)

I tried to explain to her my situation. It is after all, unlike no other. See the entire month of May I have very important things to do. I’m pretty much booked solid. Then I have a bridal shower to go to in July at Schlitterbahn. Then I have a vacation in October. I also have a wedding I’m in in February. I also have this thing I like to call restlessness, so I can’t stay at home for long periods of time. It makes me sick. No, I mean it…really, really sick. I start having driving and shopping withdraws and then I’ll get a horrible migraine.

After explaining all of this to the nurse, she tried to use a scare tactic. I quote her, “You need to take this seriously. This is a major surgery. He will be cutting and taking out some bones. You are going to have to give your foot time to heal. You need to make time for it.”

Whatever.

I guess I have hard time with this because I don’t consider this “major” surgery. When I hear major surgery, I think heart bypass, leaky valve (or is that a car?). Not cutting some bones in your foot. It’s just a foot! After all, it’s only day surgery.

I don’t mean to downplay it. I get that it’s important and all, but it always could be worse. Maybe all of this comes from watching my parents go in and out of the hospital since I was a kid. They’ve had organs taken out, veins tied and a lot more other major parts of the body cut into. So compare that to foot surgery and it should be a piece of cake right?

As I took my dad to the hospital today, I was thinking this is really all normal to me – register at the desk, go back to the room, change into the hospital gown, get the IV put into you, have the anesthesiologist come in, he/she makes you count back from 10 as he gives you the sleepy medicine, family leaves as they roll you out. (Believe it or not, there are some nurses that know my family and I by first name.) The only difference is I’m the one who will be in the bed.

no more school...

2008-04-24T22:19:00.000-06:00

I’m done! I’m officially done with school! I finally have my life back. It feels so good to do nothing. Well not nothing…I always have something to do. It’s just I don’t have to do school stuff. No more group projects. I think that’s the most exciting thing.

seriously, why do doctors get paid so much?

2008-04-17T09:26:00.001-06:00

I keep asking myself that question after I went to the doctor on Monday. It’s Thursday and I’m still sick. I knew I was in trouble when she started asking me if my allergist had given me any medicine.

“No. I’ve tried everything on the market and it doesn’t work.”

Then she gave me a sample of some other medicine to take. And told me if that didn’t work to continue taking Sudafed. Nevermind the fact that I took that all day Sunday and progressively got worse.

I don’t have time to be sick. I have a huge project due a week from today, an interview tomorrow and a birthday party to go to Saturday.
So why do doctors get paid so much?

are you a gambler?

2008-04-16T09:21:00.000-06:00

I’ve never been much of a gambler. I don’t like to gamble because I don’t like losing. You see with gambling you have no control over it. It’s much like that game show Deal or No Deal. It’s all about luck.

I like to have control. It doesn’t matter to me whether it a little or a lot I just have to have control. So even if I am gambling, if I have at least a little bit of control, I’m okay with it.

With that being said, have you ever done something knowing that you were walking into fire, but just couldn’t help yourself? You know nothing good will come of it, yet you do it anyway. I tend to do that a lot in my life. The funny thing is I never end up regretting it. Maybe its because I am very fully aware of what I’m getting myself into or it’s the fact that I have control over it.

what's life without some risk?

2008-04-13T00:40:00.001-06:00

Do you ever fear that you’ll wake up one day when you are 60 and realize you’ve been living most your life for everyone else? Or that you haven't really lived at all?

I do. I can seriously say I have lived most of my life trying to please everyone else. (That’s one of my faults.) I think it comes from me always wanting to please my parents when I was kid. Then from there it started spreading. There have been certain people in my life that I want to approve of things that I do. I’m tired. I’m tired of trying to please everybody and make everyone happy.

What about how I feel? So what if I am “ruining” my life. There’s nothing that can’t be fixed. Truthfully, unless, it has to do with my career, I don’t think I will truly be devastated.
If there is anything I take away from the EMBA program there is one thing - you have to take risks. In order for the payoff to be big, you have to be willing to take the risks. And I think that can apply to almost everything: work, school and even your personal life.

I’m tired of playing it safe. It’s time to take some risks. I may crash and burn a few times (which might be a little fun), but what’s life without some risk? Isn't that what living is all about?

to weddings, health and school...

2008-04-08T23:58:00.001-06:00

I can’t believe its already April. Time flies! I feel like I’ve been going a million miles an hour for the past two months, but truth be told, I wouldn’t want it any other way. So here’s the run down:

Weddings… Who isn’t getting married? Me (and thank goodness!). I think 2008 is the year of weddings – four to be exact. There’s always something wedding related going on. While I am so happy for all of my friends and family making that huge commitment, could they have not spread these things out? You would think all of this wedding stuff would make me want to get married someday, but oddly enough its kind of doing the opposite. It makes me want to get married even less. I guess I just see marriage a bit differently than most. I think of it as nothing but a contract. Afterall, don’t you make your undying commitment to that loved one before you get married to him/her? Let’s hope, lol. I guess the thing I’d be excited about is the party…and what a party it is! I think I’ll just have a party and skip the whole vows thing. It makes things so much easier – you don’t have to worry about merging anything.

Health… But then again who needs a husband when you have a wonderful best friend who’s willing to take care of you even when you are one less foot. I have to have foot surgery on both of my feet (but I can only do one at a time.) Long story short, this has been a problem all my life, its just progressed to the point where I’m in pain. So doctor has to cut some bones, take some out and anything else to make my feet the best in the world (after all, if I have to have surgery, I better go all the way and have the perfect toes ever). Bad news: I won’t be able to drive for 5 weeks (for the right foot, which has to be done first)! And I’ll have to wear that ugly boot. All of this totally means death to my social life! I am so not having my dad be my chauffer and take me to the club. Eww! Meanwhile, my best friend offers to put me in a wheel chair and hook me up to the back of his car, lol. I think I’ll just hire my brother to chauffer me around. After all, he’ll be 21 in two weeks – slightly cooler than taking dad to the club.

School… 16 days to go and it can’t come fast enough. This group project is killing me. I’ve always known that I work better alone, but this whole project just confirms it. My group decided to do everything together. So we have met everyday this week and have plans to meet for the rest of this week after work. (eeek!) I get so much more done by myself. It’s not just the fact that there are five people doing this. I guess I’m just realizing I run 3 times faster than the rest of society. Seriously, I’m 26, clock is ticking…I’ve got so much more left to do.

between italy and now...

2008-04-06T19:40:00.000-06:00

I just realized, but sometime in between the time I left for Italy and now I actually feel normal again. Well, not exactly “normal,” but a better normal. I know that might sound weird, but for almost two years I hadn’t felt right. I didn’t feel like myself at all. I wasn’t having fun when I went out. It’s hard to explain, but it’s almost like I was trapped in this bubble. I felt like I wasn’t me. And somehow in between Italy and now that went away.

I know all of this probably makes no sense, but I guess what I’m trying to say is I’m happy. Not to say I wasn’t happy before. It’s a different kind of happy. I feel like I’m in control again.

i'm back...

2008-03-27T20:47:00.000-06:00

I’m back from Rome. Sorry I haven’t updated this in a while. I’ve been very busy, so I’m going to make this short.

Rome
It was absolutely beautiful. I love it! I want to go back. I didn’t want to leave. Many people don’t get this: but for the first time in a very long time I felt alive. I felt like I was actually living. That’s why I think I liked it so much. I didn’t have to worry about pleasing anyone. I could do whatever I wanted and not have to worry about what people thought or anyone judging me. It seems so simple, but sometimes it’s the hardest thing. I think it was so much easier when you are thousands (not hundreds) of miles away to do it. Therefore, I don’t regret anything. I am so happy I went on that trip and I hope to go on more. I’m thinking at least once a year out of the states.

Work
It’s been crazy! We sure do have a lot more work for a department that supposed be laying off people. So there is still that fear going around. I’m over it. I’ve already been applying for jobs - done some interviews. So now I’m doing the waiting game, while still applying for jobs. The good news: I got a raise - a significant one too! However, I have my suspicions about that, but that’s for another entry when I have more time.

"the clique"

2008-02-24T21:10:00.000-06:00

Periodically I’ll get the most random person telling me a story or their thoughts at work. I mean a person who I never really carry a conversation with. Today this woman (I say woman, not co-worker because I’ve never worked on any projects with her) stopped me in the hallway to find out my thoughts on the training of Photoshop. I thought it was fine with me considering I already know the basics. Like many conversations, she was the one who had a problem with the training. Then after about five minutes of talking she finally admitted it had nothing about the training – it was about who was leading the training. A group of three girls came up with the idea – the same group of girls this woman doesn’t like. She didn’t really give a reason. She just said she thought they were fake.

I felt kind of bad for this woman because she’s in her 40’s and still hasn’t figured it out yet. For blogging sake, lets call these girls “the clique” (because that’s what they are). You know how there is always that clique that hangs out together. The clique tends to stick with their own crowd. It’s much like high school but it transcends into the workplace. These are the girls that typically go to lunch together, get coffee together, do happy hour together and occasionally do a double date together.

I imagine one day the woman overheard “the clique” talking about going out to lunch or the mall. The clique didn’t invite her. Probably a couple of months later “the clique” finally realized the woman and decided to invite her since she was sitting there by herself. By that time, the woman thought it was a pity invitation so she declined.

I felt bad for the woman. I’ve been there. You keep wondering why they haven’t invited you or why they don’t talk to you. The woman just hasn’t figured out yet. Do you really want to be part of something like that? Not to mention the minute you are in “the clique” and you start sharing your personal life; the next thing you know it’s all around the office. Call me unsociable, or maybe it’s just the fact I was never in “the clique,” but why care? After being rejected all in grade school, it doesn’t faze me. I enjoy being alone, considering I can’t carry an intelligent conversation with half the idiots in this world. In fact, I think its great when you are not the clique because it makes it that much easier when you become their boss.

So there was only one thing I could tell the woman today – just let it go!

dreaming of Italy...

2008-02-07T19:49:00.001-06:00

It’s about a month until I officially go to Italy. People keep asking me if I’m excited, but truthfully I haven’t had much time to think about it between school and this job mess going on.
But apparently on some subconscious level I haven’t forgotten about it. For the second time I had a dream about being in Italy. In this most recent dream, I forgot all of my money. The only thing I had was my credit card. I had no idea what kind of fees came with it. I just knew I could withdraw money from it.

It’s kind of weird because both of the dreams I’ve had, has to do with losing or leaving something here. All I have to say is, I’m going to start making a list. I have a feeling its going to be a headache packing.

the week of hell...

2008-02-02T20:08:00.000-06:00

No, I haven’t fell off the face of this earth. I’ve just been super busy and not necessarily with school. It’s been more or less work.

This past week was like hell. For three months now we’ve known our company would be doing layoffs. So the clock has just been ticking to when they would actually happen.

Well imagine this…you wake up one morning and as you are getting dressed you hear about the 200 layoffs to happen at your job. No big deal right? We’ve known this since November. So I look at a national newspaper to read the story. The story is about cutting job specifically in our division.

I really do like my job, but this was the first time I did not want to go to work. So when I got there everybody had heard about it on their way in except my boss. Around 9 a.m. our CEO posted an announcement. It basically summed up the articles stating they are gong to start laying off people now and forward. Meanwhile, our boss is in a regularly scheduled meeting with her boss. Oh, the thoughts going through our minds.

We immediately saw a pink slip being given to her. She was also being told to let us all go. Well, 10 minutes later she comes back to see us chatting in the hallway. She had no idea about the article. No idea about the announcement. She said the meeting lasted 3 minutes because her boss was out today.

I think this past week was like a nightmare for everybody. There were all of these rumors and so many changes going on. Whenever there was a message left for one of us, we'd be too scared to pick it up because it could be about letting us go. I was already prepared not to pick up the phone if I saw on the caller id the "big boss" was calling.

Therefore all of this has prompted us all to do some major drinking this weekend.

22 days...strep still here

2008-01-22T21:51:00.000-06:00

So you know how I was trying to make this year better. I'm still trying - while I still have strep! I'm on my second dose on antibiotics.

What a way to ring in the new year. Spend the first 22 days sick on and off with strep

i love sleep...

2008-01-13T17:56:00.000-06:00

I love to sleep. I think that’s one of my favorite things. Or maybe its just the fact of waking up refreshed. I am able to be 10 times more productive. Normally I have to have 8 hours of sleep to be refreshed. No less than 7 to not be cranky. I went to bed around 9:30 Friday night and slept 9 hours. It felt so good. I think I’m going to start sleeping 9 hours every night if I can fit it in.

Anyways, I just woke up and I had another premonition. I often have them. Although sometimes I know it’s a premonition after I wake up. Other times I don’t even remember the dream until it starts to happen. I’ve had them ever since I can remember. And they’ve been about the most mundane things, like going to go eat. I have had them about my best friend, even when we weren’t talking. I guess I should just consider it a blessing that I can sometimes see these things beforehand. It’s just hard to see the things that don’t want to happen before they happen.

Talk about stress...

2008-01-11T17:18:00.000-06:00

I officially start my last class of the MBA program tomorrow. This whole program has felt like it has gone by fast (after all, it’s only been a year), but in some respects it seems like last year was the slowest. Sitting in those classes 9 to 5, some were easier than others. But those that drug throughout the day were so slow.

I have one last group project and unfortunately how well we do on this group project hinges on whether I pass this class or not. I have to pass the class because it’s the exit class to receive my degree.

We have to pick a public or private company and create a 3-year strategic plan with an exit strategy. We also have to do an environmental analysis. We have from tomorrow until April 26 to complete it. From what I hear, you end up practically turning in a book. And we have to give a presentation.

Talk about stress. Everything rides on this project. It includes everything we’ve learned – accounting, finance, marketing, international business, etc. The dean of the program is our instructor.

So if I’m freaking out in April – don’t mind me. I’m just trying to pass this class so the past year won’t be worth nothing!

By the way, no more school after this…at least for the next couple of years.

so 10 more it is...hopefully

2008-01-08T20:50:00.000-06:00

I headed back to the gym this week. It wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. I started on a Monday, because I tend to have my most energy. Therefore it was easy to finish my 40-minute workout.

I finally determined what my goal weight will be - 125. To some that may sound a bit too much, but I would be satisfied at 130. I say 125, because we all know it’s a lot harder to “maintain” your weight. So I’d like to have some breathing room. I picked 125 after Mischa Barton’s arrest for a DUI. Her mugshot with all of her stats were plastered all over the television. Height: 5’9; Weight: 125. I’m 5'7 or 5'8, so I figured I should be about her weight.

I’m quite surprised with all of this though. On my weigh-in day, Monday, I was way too scared to step on the scale. (I haven’t been officially on WW since Christmas.) When I went to the doctor in between that I had gained 2 pounds (eek!) Imagine my surprise when I stepped on the scale and I’ve lost even more weight. Overall, I’ve lost a total of 12 pounds since I started this endeavor in late October. (I lost those 2 pounds somewhere in between. Maybe guilt?)

I guess I keep having these visions of me laying poolside all flabby and overweight. I’ve got to look decent this summer. Last summer, I used school as an excuse. This summer there’s no excuses. I have six months to look acceptable.

So 10 more it is…hopefully

what a way to start 2008...

2008-01-04T17:52:00.000-06:00

I have strep. I have strep. I had to write it twice, because I can't quite believe it. What a way to bring in the new year. Here I go finally trying to be positive and I end up with strep.

I was so happy to go back to work on Wednesday. I got bored at home, off from work for almost 2 weeks. I tried to ignore my sore throat but when it had gotten worse by Thursday morning, I decided to go to the doctor downstairs at work. (I felt like I was in grade school again, going to see the nurse.)

She tested me for strep, which I was surprised I ended up having. I haven't had it in ages. But I guess the test doesn't lie and it came back positive. I was told I was contagious for the next 24 hours and not to cough, share drinks or etc. with anyone.

Once I came back to my desk with the diagnosis, everyone treated me like I was alien. No one wanted to come near me (not that I was trying to get by anyone), so I worked from home. I went in for half a day today to do the things I couldn't do at home.

What a way to start 2008...

2008...time flies

2008-01-01T11:45:00.000-06:00

I’m glad 2008 is here. I think this year will be a bit brighter for me than 2007. I don’t want to dwell too much on the past two years which have been, let’s just say, not the best for the books. I spent practically the entire 2007 in school. I'm not complaining. I did it to myself. I knew exactly what I was doing when I signed up for school. I'm just glad that's over with. I felt like I was dreaming the entire year. Now I just want to look forward, because there’s a lot to look at.

For one, I’m going to Italy! I keep forgetting about it and the weeks are going by fast. So there is a little more than two months left until one of my friends and I leave for Italy. I think it’s really going to be an adventure. I’m going to try and remember every minute of it.

There will inevitably be bad times. It's no doubt dad will only get more sick, until he gets a kidney. I'd be wise in guessing there will probably be another death in the family. There has been at least one since 2006. (I think people are just getting at the age.) Not to mention, there is a chance I will get laid off in the next month, but I'll try to be optimistic.

The good news is I’ll be officially graduating with my masters degree in May. Mother has talked me into walking. I still don’t see the point – I really don’t remember my last two graduations, so why this one? But she agreed to pay for everything from the invitations to the cap and gown. I’ll just be happy to have that piece of paper.

While we are on the subject of school – yes, one class left – and I have a major group project. The best part is my whole year won’t be bogged down in classes. Life can go back to normal, or at least as best as it can.

I hope to do some more travelling this year too. After all, I won’t have school to take up my time – at least two more trips. (I have to put that new camera to use).

Not to mention, I’ll be going to at least two weddings this year. One of my friends and my mom’s godson is getting married. And, another friend just got engaged (last night!). Man, that’s a sign. Almost all of my friends will be married. Am I getting old or what? Pretty soon, they will be popping out babies. (Hey, just don’t call me to babysit. – j/k)

I was looking at pictures not too long ago of my friends and I when we were in college. It seems so long ago; we look so young. We are adults now, which is a little scary to me. You remember when people always asked you, “Where do you see yourself in 10 years?” We are almost at the 10 years.

Wow, now ain’t that something.

Santa baby...

2007-12-28T01:27:00.000-06:00

Sometimes I really wish there was a real Santa. I could tell him exactly what I want and he could get it for me. It was only after I took an exotic dancing class, when I realized Santa may not be able to give me what I really need.

In between all of the craziness this past month, I took some time out to take another dance class. I had been taking belly dancing since November. It was fun, but I have to say it’s obviously not my strong suit. However, I did take another exotic dancing class.

Rewind: About two years ago, a couple of friends and I took an art of exotic dancing workshop. I know what you are thinking, but these workshops and classes are to empower women and help them build confidence. Okay, and to have a little fun too.

Ever since then I’ve been wanting to take another class, but as you know life gets in the way. Then I saw that the Santa Baby chair dancing class was 50 percent off. These classes are not the cheapest, so I had to jump on it and take it.

It was worth it. It was a great class. I learned a lot of steps and movements. I’d recommend it to any woman.

While it was fun, it was a bit frustrated for me. It made me realize that I’m still not back to my old self again. I guess subconsciously I was hoping that this class would jumpstart me back to being normal. But I just didn’t feel it. I didn’t feel anything I was doing. I felt like I was doing normal dance steps to a routine. So I was a bit disappointed about that part.

I’ve been trying so hard for the past few months. I just still feel like something isn’t right. I feel like something is missing or I’m broken. It’s hard for me to explain and I don’t expect anyone to get it. It’s just a feeling.

I’m thinking this might be too big of a job for Santa. I’ll just pray for this one.

relaxed and ready...

2007-12-26T01:20:00.000-06:00

They say you don’t really start to relax until your third day off. Today is my seventh day off. I’m relaxed. I’m beyond relaxed. So bored, I started reading books for my last class. And I actually did some work today

worst Christmas gift?

2007-12-24T17:15:00.000-06:00

Although Christmas isn’t really about gift-giving, there are those few gifts that just make you wonder, “What was he/she thinking?”

For example, a neighbor/friend gave my mother samples of perfume. Yes, samples. And she put it in a Christmas bag. I thought maybe there was a back story – you know maybe they were talking about this certain kind of perfume and my mom said she wanted to try it. But no. No back story, just perfume samples.

So what’s the worst Christmas gift you’ve ever gotten?

A sight to be seen...

2007-12-12T22:14:00.000-06:00

I couldn’t let today go by without telling you what I saw at the mall today as I was picking up my new Coach bag (Yay, I know!). I was looking for a parking spot when I saw a woman come out of the mall with her dog on a leash.

She opened the trunk of her car, got a stroller out. She put the dog in the stroller obviously made just for him. As I was walking into the mall, there she was pushing the stroller with her dog in it.

I’m not saying anything more…

Mr. X...

2007-12-12T20:41:00.000-06:00

Ok so you know how I talked about the coworker who has a crush on me a couple of entries ago; since I have a little time I thought I’d tell the full story.

This all started about four or five months ago when he asked me to lunch. For the story sake, we will call this co-worker Mr. X. I don’t work directly with Mr. X. He just works in another department within our department.

Mr. X is married to a flight attendant and has a child who is 22 years old (I know only four years younger than me). Since I can remember I’ve always said “Hi,” to Mr. X in the hallway, like I do with everyone else.

For the longest Mr. X had kept asking me to lunch. I’ve made up every excuse in the book from having the study during lunch (which was sometimes the truth) to not taking lunch at all. Eventually he started e-mailing me and we had conversations. As persistent as he is, he continued to ask me out for lunch, even offering to pay.

Finally after a couple of months the e-mails stopped. I think he got the hint. Of course I would still run into him in the hallways and at every occasion he would try to keep up a 5+ minute conversation, but it’s better than lunch right?

Throughout this whole thing Mr. X had no idea I have a boyfriend. Even though I love my boyfriend very much, I don’t talk about him that much.

So imagine Mr. X’s surprise when he met my boyfriend at the company Christmas party last Saturday. It was evident to Sweetness what was going on. I finally introduced Sweetness to Mr. X and Mr. X introduced me to his wife. I was so drunk that I didn’t pay too much attention.

The story doesn’t end here. On Monday, I ran into Mr. X. We chatted about the party for a bit. He told his wife I was his girlfriend. Yes, girlfriend! I walked away as quickly as I could. I don’t know what kind of relationship him and his wife has, but whatever it is I don’t want to be part of it.

there's always a silver lining...

2007-12-10T18:08:00.000-06:00

I was thinking about my recent weight loss at work today. (Surprisingly, I lost another two pounds this past week, despite my sometimes bad eating habits.) I wonder if it was really Weight Watchers that caused me to lose so much weight.

After hearing more news (a.k.a. rumors) over the pending layoffs, none of us could eat lunch. So I’m starting to think maybe it’s the “I don’t know if I’ll have a job (today, tomorrow or even next year)” or the "have too much work to do, can't eat" weight loss plan.

At least there is a silver lining!

it was a good weekend...a really good weekend

2007-12-09T15:19:00.000-06:00

Who knew the annual company holiday party could be so fun? I’m not sure if it was the gambling or the drinks – probably the drinks. It was hard once I started drinking I couldn’t stop.

I just have had a rough week or two weeks at work. We keep getting more and more work and there is no sign of it stopping – all the while not knowing if any of us will have a job come next year (although I think that will be the case next year for a lot of other people in general). That’s why I can’t keep updating this thing regularly. I have so much work, I can’t take my vacation. I leave work to come home and work on work again. So it was evident I needed a drink or two.

And I had a drink or two. I still can’t believe I got so sloshed at a company party. But I’m not lonely. I remember going to the restroom and talking to some random associate. She was so drunk. Drunker than I was. She kept telling me how pretty my hair was and referring to some movie. You see that’s what I love about working for a big company. You can get loaded at a company party, but since there are thousands of people who work there, you can’t possibly know everybody. So you can get drunk in front of these people and quite frankly never see them again.

I think that was the case for many of us. I ran in boss lady – in typical fashion. The first thing she says to me is “That’s not my husband!” I hadn’t even gotten a chance to say “Hi.” Yet alone even process if the guy she was with was her husband or not. And the thing is she never introduced the guy; the guy ended up introducing himself. It was hilarious – as crazy as boss lady is, I can always count on her for a laugh.

Then I ran into another co-worker who Sweetness said was drunk. I was pretty gone myself to even figure out. All I do know is she said she was going to go smoke (but she doesn’t smoke, at least when she’s sober).

Then from there I ran into the co-worker I sit by. She knew from the second she saw me I was drunk. I remember when I walked away, I finished off another glass and the wine spilled all over my face. At that moment, I ran into another person I worked with. It was so evident I was drunk to her. I was like…oh well! At least I didn’t run into anybody too important.

As I was leaving, I ran into this guy who has had this crush on me. I finally met his wife (yeah, I’ll leave this full story for another entry). But Sweetness said it was very noticeable that he perked up with he saw me.

Even more impressive – I won $3,000 at the black jack table. Of course it wasn’t real money. I’m never that good when its real money. Overall it was a good night…a really good night!

I was kind of out of control. Sweetness and I had some really good “alone” time earlier that evening. It was so good I wanted to continue it in the car. We won’t get into that, but lets just say it was a good weekend …a really good weekend.

10 pounds lighter...

2007-12-03T21:00:00.001-06:00

It’s been about a month since I started Weight Watchers and I’ve lost 10 pounds. I’m so excited. I’m down to my goal weight. And I have to say I didn’t exactly follow everything to the T. After two weeks, I kind of wrote it off, but at the same time I didn’t.

In those two weeks I picked up the difference between the good/bad eating habits and cut down on the bad eating habits. While I did find myself eating some bad foods, I didn’t pig out on them like I usually do. I just ate a little.

So I’m down 10 pounds and didn’t even know it. I’m not sure if I’m going to continue to lose weight. I’m still within my healthy weight range. But it's so exciting knowing that I lost 10 pounds without trying too hard. It just makes me wonder how much I can lose if I really, really try...hmm

More importantly all of this means…time for more shopping. I have to reward myself right?

Cyber Monday

2007-11-26T21:42:00.000-06:00

I think the only thing I like about the holiday season is the shopping. I've been shopping for the past two weeks and I can't stop. My bank account is slowly shrinking but the good news is I don't eat as much. See, if given the option: eat or shop. I always pick shop. Therefore, I've spent the past month eating Lean Cusine and Smart Ones for lunch. Oh wait, I can't forget about my new favorite: Campbells Soup. It warms me up at work because I am always freezing (today included).

But back to the topic at hand: shopping. I spend half of my day at work frantically searching Internet sites for the best deals. After all, it is Cyber Monday. I MUST buy something. I must contibute to our economy. It is falling apart as we speak.

Nothing. I found nothing. I really need some pants. You really have no idea how hard it is to find pants for a 5'8 woman with my proportions. I wear a size 6, but have to buy an 8 for length – and still that sometimes isn't enough.

Then I surfed for something for Sweetness. I haven't quite pinned down exactly what I'm going to get him but I have some ideas. I kind of go from one extreme to the other each day. So today, I checked out some HDTVs, but none really struck me as a great deal.

I finally settled on something that had nothing to do with CyberMonday – my project I've been working on for grandma. So I ended up working on that for a little bit. Until I realized that I'm at work and actually had work to do.

Nevertheless, my shopping on CyberMonday was very unsuccessful.

Maybe I will still snag a great deal right before or after Christmas. I don't think people will be spending a lot of money, so retailers will have to slash their prices. So maybe it is best that I hold out.

update...

2007-11-25T20:24:00.000-06:00

Did the holidays come upon you as fast as it came upon me? I barely have had time to breathe. I guess I thought life would slow down a bit after finishing up classes for the semester but that has proven to be incorrect.

Work has kept me swamped. Don’t you hate it when you go in to work early, so you won’t have to stay late; but end up staying late anyway? That was the last week for me.

I know I’m only 26 but sometimes I feel like I am literally about to lose my mind. Because I have so much to do, I’m finding that I’m forgetting things even though I write it down. Last week, I literally felt like if one more thing was put on my plate I was going to snap. I guess it didn’t help that I wasn’t sleeping at night because of the nightmares.

But the good news is: all I did today was sleep. I was heavily medicated, but I slept! Nothing like a day’s worth of sleep to make you feel better. I haven’t stepped foot out of my house, which would normally drive me crazy. But with it being 40 degrees and rainy, I love staying in my bed with my space heater running to warm my room to 75 and I’m still freezing. (Apparently, I have no blood…either that or I’m getting sick.) So in short, I’m back and I have tons of stories to tell…from my yearly visit with the “kids” to my happy hour stories.

Weekend wrap

2007-11-12T19:38:00.000-06:00

Last weekend was a weekend of beginnings and endings.

I met Sweetness mother for the first time. I went to my last class and celebrated it all the way into the way into the next day. Then I did some work. I’m still trying to figure out how I made it through the weekend. So first lets just rewind to Friday.

I met Sweetness and his mother at Cantina Laredo. She actually is really cool (if I can say that about a mother). Sweetness looks just like her and they both have that laid-back attitude about them. She is a lot more talkative than Sweetness (but Sweetness is a naturally quiet person). Mother Sweetness has a lot of energy and is just overall very friendly. She likes shopping and going out to eat (just like me). More importantly, she doesn’t mind that I don’t want kids (neither does Sweetness). And…apparently she doesn’t think I’m all that bad. She told Sweetness that I was a good one.

No more class…Can I just say what a relief it is? Even though I have one more course to take, it’s just a relief that I don’t have to spend another eight hours in a Saturday class. Believe it or not, I have to start applying for graduation now! I’m so glad to have my life back… so glad that I had to have a drink on Saturday.

I met up with some coworkers Saturday night to have some drinks. I feel like I’m free. I didn’t have worry about anything (except one test, but if I fail, I’ll still make a decent grade in the class so no pressure). I ended up drinking way more than I realized. It’s just forces me to loosen up which is just what I need.

So Sunday I had to catch up on work work. We are completely swamped at work. In between having 50 pages going to press before Thanksgiving, dance rehearsals and being angel tree coordinator I was about to go crazy. But I just had to have a drink and chill.

weekend wrap up...

2007-11-04T17:04:00.001-06:00

This weekend was a busy one. The good thing is that I got all of the important things done. I worked out. I didn’t blow my diet. I got the bulk of my project done. And I got up at 5:30 Friday morning to take my finance test, which I made an 87 on (that’s good given I had less than a week to learn four chapters). I am 10 times less stressed after getting all of those things done. All I have to do is finish up my project and take my last test after this Saturday (my last class by the way).

I can’t even express how happy I am to finish up everything. Only one class left that I don’t even have to go to. I probably won’t know what to do with all of my free time. But there is so much I want to do. From the simplest things, like having dinner with my friends, to the most complicated ones, like get back to working on my book.

Besides the boring stuff, I did have a pretty fun weekend. Friday I went to a fashion show and Saturday I went to a bachelorette party. The fashion show was so much fun. I think it keeps getting better and better each time. It was nice especially since we could actually afford the items that were being modeled. The models always make me feel like I am fat. But I can just consider it motivation to lose more weight.

I didn’t get a chance to spend as much time with Sweetness as usual. But he is so understanding, maybe a little too understanding. He said that if I was too uncomfortable, I don’t have to meet his mother. Normally, I would think that’s great and not do it. But I feel kind of sad that he doesn’t really want me to meet her. It’s almost like I’m not that important. And I know that’s not the case. I know he’s just being nice and understanding like he always is. So I’m not quite sure what I’m going to do. I guess I’m going both ways because I’m so used to people telling me what to do. And Sweetness never tells me what to do. That’s one of the key things I like about him. He never pressures me into doing something. He just listens to me and supports me in everything.

Happy Halloween!

2007-10-31T19:54:00.000-06:00

It’s been one of those days. Wait, scratch that… months! Work alone is keeping me busy. But I have to finish up this finance class too. I really don’t even have time to keep up with the blog. Right now, as we speak, I am writing, designing a page and about to go to dance practice. Tons of things going on, but with time constraints I’m going to have to make it brief.

In about a week I’m going to have to meet Mother Sweetness. I’m kind of nervous about it. I’m not fond of meeting boyfriend’s parents because I’m not too much of a family person. But his mother is coming in town to see him, so I think I’m going to have to meet her for the first time. It should be interesting. She’ll probably either hate me or love me…

I’ve been on a diet now for three days and I have lost 3 pounds already. I entered a contest at work to lose so many pounds by Dec. Just in time for us to pack it back on by Christmas. So I have to work out at least three times a week. I’ve been going everyday this week. Even at 6:30 in the morning! By the end of the week I could lose up to 10 pounds, which for me would mean my goal weight. That’s the weight Weight Watchers set for me. And I’m not supposed to go below another number, which would be five pounds less than my goal weight. Now, my goal weight is much less than that. I can’t believe this stuff really works and you know it’s really not that hard too. I think once I’m done with it I’ll continue it during the week and eat “good” (i.e. bad) on the weekends…

The good news is hopefully in a couple of weeks, I’ll look semi-decent in this dance routine I have to perform. Unfortunately, I have to wear this skin-tight outfit so it shows all your problem areas you can usually hide. Had I known we would have been stuck with this kind of outfit, I would have out right refused to dance in the routine. I really don’t want to wear this in front of work people. Hell, I wouldn’t even wear this outfit out to the club…

Britney’s CD is out. Did you get it yet? I have! I refuse to become a closet Britney fan. The girl may be crazy but I like her songs. Besides she’s going to need the money to pay for child support once K-Fed gets the kids. Majority of the songs on her CD sound pretty good.

Happy Halloween! I gave out candy to the trick or treaters earlier. I like seeing all of the costumes - much like the kid halloween parade they had earlier at work today. Unfortunately, I ran out of candy so I had to close up shop early. And they kept ringing the doorbell, even though the light wasn't on. That was so irritating. I think next year when I'm done giving out candy, those who ring my doorbell I'm going to turn the sprinklers on them, hehe. Now that would be hilarious!

Anyways, Halloween has got to be one of my favorite holidays. Why? Because for one day out of the year you get to be someone else you are not. I was a bee again this year – for at least a couple of hours. I think next year I’ll be a princess.

natural disaster...

2007-10-23T20:24:00.000-06:00

I’ve always had this thought that one day the world is going to end – either by a natural or man-made disaster. I’ve been watching the news reports about the wildfires in California and I am just stunned. I’m a news junkie so I naturally keep up with these things routinely, but this is almost Katrina like. Makes me think, what can we do? It was so easy for us to help the Katrina people because they were next door but California is much further. Either way, I’m saddened. California is my favorite state next to Texas. The only other place I’d even consider living in.

My uncle, who I visited in August, evacuated his house in La Jolla last night. His family stayed at a hotel on the college campus. He said it’s unbelievable. Across the freeway, where we stayed at a hotel three months ago in Rancho Bernardo, many of the houses burned.

I guess what ticked me off the most today was when I was driving in to work this morning. I was listening to the radio and local DJ had the nerve to say that’s the risk some of these people took by moving to California (or Malibu). I was so mad that I wanted to call in but I didn’t have the time. I already have too much work to do.

But luckily the other DJ’s enlightened him and reminded him that no matter where you stay there is a risk of something happening. Dallas is at risk for a tornado. I felt like he was blaming these people for buying a house out there or living in California. First of all, somebody has to live there. It’s home to millions of people. And just because there are risks for these natural disaster does that mean we should avoid living there? If that’s the case then we would never find a home.

Seriously, it seems like these people are taking it very well for having lost everything. Most of the people I’ve seen being interviewed were just sad if they lost the pictures or any other memories. I think it just shows how strong we are as Americans.

That’s enough on my thoughts, if they make any sense (I’m heavily medicated). I’m too tired to expand any more. My allergies have taken a toll on me. Journal entry to come on that soon.

hair

2007-10-16T17:04:00.000-06:00

Last weekend I spent part of it getting my hair done. I’ve always hated getting my hair done. It always takes up so much time. That’s why I’m so keen on adding in fake hair. Nevertheless last Sunday seemed to go by fairly quick. When I went to go get my braids put back in I was reminded of a funny story that happened to me about a month ago. I had to share it with my hairdresser.
My friends and I were meeting at a restaurant to have dinner. It was one of those expensive restaurants with very dim lighting – so dim that you can’t see the prices on the menu. Well, I got there a tad early so I sat down on the bench. From the moment I walked in there the hostess kept looking at me. I tried to avoid eye contact with her thinking “Am I underdressed or something?” Since it was Friday I just decided to wear a pair of jeans, nice shirt and heels. The last time I went to a expensive restaurant I was completely overdressed as I sat down with people wearing jeans all around me.
So I kept thinking, “Should I know this woman?” because at that point nothing could jog my memory. Finally I looked at her and she came over to me.
“Your hair is so beautiful. What kind of braids are those?” she said.
I told her and she began to stare at them. “Do you mind?” she said as she held up a tiny flashlight.
I was so stunned that I said, “Ok.”
She took the flashlight and started looking in my hair. She explained to me how she had been trying to find a new hair style, etc. When I finally sat down at the table with my friends and recounted the story, I realized how odd that was.
The only good thing was she didn’t touch my hair. I absolutely hate when people touch my hair, especially when they don’t ask and you have no idea who they are. (You have no idea where their hands have been.) What an odd experience! Every time I think of it I just laugh.

movie...

2007-10-14T20:46:00.001-06:00

This weekend I went to go see Tyler Perry’s Why Did I Get Married? What a great movie! I recommend you go to see it. It’s funny and so true.

The movie is about four couples that take a group vacation. It takes you on the wild twist of their lives. I don’t want to get into the details of it because I’d like to you watch it yourself. But definitely worth one going to see.

Other than that the weekend kind of sucked. What a weekend! It started off with my head in the toilet from 6 p.m. Friday. It’s like it’s getting worse and worse the more I get sick. I had a long excruciating finance class from 9 to 5 p.m. The good news is: I understood everything she taught. She’s a very good teacher. Four classes down, only two more to go.

falling into the season...

2007-10-12T04:37:00.000-06:00

I don't know what is in the air this time of year, but I'm always continously sick. This year is no exception. The silver lining is that I've probably lost a couple of pounds, since I can't seem to eat anything for at least the first half of the day.

To the point, I won't be updating this thing quite so much for the next couple of months for several reason. One, I get to start my last arousing class of the semester - finance. I read the first chapter of the book and thought "this won't be so bad." I couldn't even get through the second page of the next chapter. Oh well, as long as I at least make a C.

Yes, I've lowered my standards. Since I've made all A's in the program. I think I can afford a C. I'm tired.

Secondly, I am obviously coming down with something. I've been freezing (all day), have a headache and achy all over. Eww, I hate this season. Although, I am looking forward to going shopping for winter clothes. But everyone always gets so sick once fall and winter comes around.

Last but not least, this is busy season at work. The work is already starting to pile up and I've got some huge projects that I can't do anything less than excellent on.

I'm going to sleep.

problem solved...

2007-10-11T01:04:00.000-06:00

The situation with Sweetness escalated so much that I really don’t want to get into it. But I can say that we resolved it. Thanks a lot to the help of Mother Sweetness. She was able to talk some sense into him.

why is it that some men don't get it?

2007-10-09T00:52:00.000-06:00

Recap: Last week Sweetness’ ex called in three times. Yes, three times!

So after contemplating all of my options (that including making sure Sweetness’ ex life was a living hell) I decided to be an adult about all of this. I approached the subject with Sweetness about getting rid of the ex.

“I think you should stop talking to Miss Gulch,” I said.

“That’s interesting,” he said. Interesting I thought. Why would he say that? How is it interesting? I AM your girlfriend. This shouldn’t be any surprise to you.

“Well I don’t like the fact that you talk to her seeing how it was only less than a year ago you sent her some flowers. It’s not like she calls you sparingly. She continuously calls you,” I said.

He’s still silent.

“You say you don’t care about her, but obviously you still have some feelings for her because you keep talking to her,” I said.

Finally, “Of course I care about her. She’s my friend,” he said. “But not in the same way I care about you.”

He said he would think about it - conversation over.

Grrr…why is it that some men don’t get it? For someone who is in a committed relationship. I don’t think it should be something he has to think about.

could he be or not?...

2007-10-08T18:13:00.000-06:00

I think he could be the one!

Recap: Sweetness and I got into a little tiff about if or if not we should establish a gift giving procedure. After failing to compromise, Sweetness decided he was going to do whatever he wanted to do.

Fast-forward to Saturday: All drugged-up and empty from puking (can I ever have a birthday without getting sick?), Sweetness gives me the long-awaited present before our night out. I admit it – at one point I was a bit worried. I told him he should run the gift by his sister. But he insisted that I would like it. So he was right. He got me a gift card to Build-A-Bear Workshop – which is only the GREATEST PLACE ON EARTH!

Sweentess remembered months ago that I mentioned I wanted to build a bear for myself there. So he wants to take me to build a bear. I have to say I’m impressed. A 24-year-old man picked out a birthday gift for his girlfriend all on his own without any help from me or anyone.

Ironically enough, I told my last boyfriend that I wanted a build a bear for my birthday. What did I get? Not a build a bear.

Could Sweetness be the one? Well maybe at least until I get mad at him next time, lol.

good news...

2007-10-06T11:22:00.000-06:00

Dad’s dialysis has been delayed. He was supposed to start this month, but when he went to the doctor his kidney hadn’t progressed that much. So the doctor said he could wait another 2-6 months to start. I think that’s the best news I’ve had all week.

Dad had surgery three weeks ago so they could tie his veins. Mother and I were under the impression that they would leave some type of entry way open so we could do the dialysis. (I say “we” because he has elected to do home dialysis which mean we are going to have to hook him up.) But they didn’t.

The surgery is allowing his vein to surface right under the skin so we may see it. That way we can hook him up for dialysis using a needle. The weirdest thing is when you touch his wrist, you can feel his pulse. I know everybody pulse can be felt that way. But his is like right there. You don’t have to focus to feel it. The minute you touch his wrist you can feel it.

Even better news…the doctor has decided to start a search for a match for him soon (which is early than usual). And I think mom is starting to lean toward letting me get tested. If I can get mom on board then dad will eventually follow.

Well I’ve got to get out of here. Tons of stuff to do!

i've had it...

2007-10-04T22:04:00.000-06:00

I am so mad! That skank had the nerve to call my boyfriend three times this week. Three times! I swear just let me have at her just once I will tear her into pieces and I wouldn't feel bad about it at all. (I'm really good at that kind of stuff.) Her boyfriend is in jail, so I guess she wants to borrow mine.

I’m so angry. Miss Gulch is still calling Sweetness. Seriously! This all started Wednesday night. We were watching television. As we watch the same shows, we IM each other. Well he told me she was on the phone.

I called him – knowing that he would switch over to talk to me. She hung up.

Less than 30 minutes later, the b**** called him again. He IMed me and I called him. He told her his girlfriend (me) is on the other line so he had to go. She hung up.

Then she had the nerve to call him again today. I’m pissed. I am beyond pissed. It’s not just the fact that she’s been calling. It’s the fact that I want all of this week to be about me and I don't want him talking to his ex. It’s my birthday Saturday. Then why can’t I have all of his attention (mainly his unattention to his ex)? Is that really too much to ask?

I’ve tried being the nice, good girl and acceptable of all this. But it just doesn’t suit me well at all – not one bit.

she never ceases to amaze me...

2007-10-02T17:11:00.000-06:00

I had my mid-year review this afternoon with my boss. My performance reviews with her has been very interesting – from her talking about her own performance review (which wasn’t so great) to her telling me she feels like she doesn’t do anything (reality check: because she doesn’t). But I have to say today takes the cake.

We are in the middle of the review when she suddenly puts her hands over her mouth as her eyes widen.

“I think I’m going to throw up in my mouth,” she said. (10 points for who guesses correctly what movie that line comes from.)

“Oh no,” I said concerned. “There’s a trash can behind you.”

“I’m going to restroom,” she said.

Boss lady gets up and is about the run out of the room when she peeks her head back in and says, “I’m not pregnant.”

I looked astonished. For the life of me, I will never understand my boss.

P.S. Being pregnant wasn’t even the first thing on my mind, considering she’s 53 and it was just after lunch. Now, I think she just might be.

After all there was one time she freaked out and started thinking she was pregnant because her and her husband didn’t use a condom. I sat there thinking, “TMI – way too much info.”

listen...

2007-10-01T20:22:00.000-06:00

I’m being forced to go to the fair – another teambuilding activity. My company has taken on this initiative to promote teambuilding and rewards. Therefore, the first event part of this initiative is Fair Day.

I feel like I’m in grade school again. You know where we all got a ticket to go to the fair – except we got a choice if we want to go. This time I really don’t get a choice. Even though our boss says we can opt not to go, but you know if I don’t go it looks bad.

I don’t want to go to the fair. I don’t know if it’s because of the weather, the transportation, the cost or the company. Either way, I’d rather stay at the office and work. So we discussed it at work today. The company is paying for everyone’s ticket and the $10 parking. But in an effort to save the company money, my boss thought it would be cool if we took the city bus or the train.

Mind you, this trip to the fair will be during the week, which means there will be no traffic. But it also means there are no city bus that goes straight from the parking ride to the fair. That means we will have to go to the nearest Park and Ride and ride the city bus all the way to the fair which will include many stops. The total time: 1 hour and 10 minutes. They also decided to look at the rail because it will be “fun.” The rail doesn’t go to the fair thankfully.

I just wonder if any of these people have ever rode a city bus because I don’t see the point in taking the city bus since the fair doesn’t open until 10. There will be no traffic and they want to leave around 3, before rush hour traffic. Perhaps we should carpool? Either way I’m taking my own car. I’m not driving on the other side of town to go to Park and Ride to take the city bus to go to the fair.

If that’s not enough the company is only paying for our ticket (which will be $4 the day we go when we bring a can), which means we have to pay for food, rides, or anything else we want to do there. By the way, the fair is NOT cheap these days. So we are basically forced to spend some type of money because we are going to need a drink considering it will still be hot. And maybe even something to eat.

Not to mention between all of this, especially around this time of season, I try to avoid going outside since my allergies are bad. So if I get sick because of being outside all day, they are going to have to deal with me being out for two days.

I’m not trying to sound ungrateful or anything but our company leaders should take the time to actually ask the employees what would they like to do as a teambuilding activity. I saw at least half of the people in the room roll their eyes when they found out we are going to the fair.

Just four months ago, I had to go to a pool party at my boss house which I did not want to go to. Half of the people in my group are over the age of 40. They don’t want work people to see them in swimsuit (I understand that). So only 5 people got in the pool. We just sat there and talked in the hot July sun (NOT FUN).

Why can’t we do some teambuilding activity that’s normal? Like bowling or a happy hour after work. Or perhaps a lunch. Or could we just stick with our old tried-and-true shopping and the movies. Nobody ever really objected to that.

Or here's a novel idea: Listen to your employees!

nothing like a Sunday night...

2007-09-30T19:23:00.000-06:00

There is nothing like lying in bed watching Desperate Housewives and Brothers & Sisters while eating some deliciously warm dessert (brownies this week) while drinking a glass of wine or milk. I’ve missed my Sunday nights. There’s nothing like capping off a weekend of drinking in bed eating sweets. After all, I spend enough time working out during the week.

week off

2007-09-25T04:29:00.000-06:00

Between being sick and trying to finish all my school work, I'm going to take this week off.

hot pink, sequins, flashy...

2007-09-19T16:29:00.000-06:00

Apparently, I have this uncanny way of always being volunteered for things. First it was the snack cart now it’s our departmental awards show.

For the sake anonymity, we’ll call the ceremony THE SHOW. While it may seem like something simple. THE SHOW is always this huge production. I would imagine the company gives our department quite a bit of money to do this eacy year. We hire a professional videographer. We have a set, decorations and some type of favors to give out everyone. Not to mention we actually give out trophy awards (looks like a mini-Oscar) and gift certificates. Well I’m on THE SHOW committee.

Last year I helped out with THE SHOW (it was a scary theme) as needed (which means whenever someone asked me to do it. I never volunteered). Before I knew it I was suckered into performing Michael Jackson’s Thriller dance (which unfortunately is on DVD).

About two months ago I got an e-mail announcing that it was time for THE SHOW again. The committee members were announced and my name was on it. I asked how did I get on the committee. I got some story about how so and so was supposed ask me. Long story, short, if I wanted out I had to find a replacement.

Personally I think I got put on the committee because of my sheer proximity to THE SHOW chairperson. She sits across from me. I can just envision it. She had all the representatives for each division and realized there wasn’t a one for our division. She looked up and there I was – sucker!

This year, THE SHOW is a musical. (I hate musicals!) Therefore six genres will be performed in the show – country, 50s, rock, disco, a traditional musical and pop. We rewrote a song from each genre so it would relate to work.

Despite the fact that I told them I would be more beneficial as head of the advertising committee. I was appointed “head” of the script committee. I admit I haven’t really done anything. That’s mainly because there was really nothing I could contribute. The only genre I really know about is pop and the chairperson rewrote the words to our pop song.

Nevertheless, I thought things were going pretty well. I got dragged on this committee and I’m getting away with doing nothing but spending three hours a week at these meetings. All was well, until I found my name on the list of dancers for the show. If it wasn’t enough that I had to dance to Thriller in front of my co-workers last year, now I have to dance to Shut Up and Drive in front of everybody. At first glance it doesn’t sound so bad right?

Today I overheard the chairperson ordering the costumes. These are the words I heard: sequins, hot pink, flashy, one-time wear. I’m scared; real scared.

When will it ever end?

the heidi's of the world...

2007-09-18T16:34:00.000-06:00

I don’t know how I get suckered into these reality television shows (maybe because there is nothing else that comes on), but I just can’t stop watching them. I watched the episode of The Hills last night and can’t help thinking that Heidi is a prime example of what so many women do when they get into a relationship. They start dating a guy and become enamored in him and eventually lose all sight of everything or everyone else. Now I think Heidi is an extreme case of this and I think on some level she does what she does for the fame and money. After all, she is coming out with a CD. Some people are willing to sell their souls or get married to anyone to be “successful,” but that’s another entry.

Heidi is just like many women we know today. They get into a relationship and lose themselves. I could probably think of 10 women who I’ve watched this happen to. That got me thinking, why do women do this? You rarely see men get this way about a woman. Is there something in a woman’s genes that makes us more prone?

Thankfully, I’ve never really had this problem – perhaps its because I’ve watched so many other women with this problem. The thought of losing my identity is scary. Perhaps it’s my realistic (a.k.a. what Sweetness sometimes refers to as pessimistic) view of thinking.

For example, Sweetness will say, “We can go to Vegas this year.”
I say, “Ok, if we are still together, we can go.”

It’s not that I’m saying I have plans of breaking up with him. Perhaps its just I don’t like to get my hopes up. I want to be realistic.

With that being said, there is a 50 percent divorce rate in the U.S. That means if you do get married (and that’s a big DO, pun intended) there is a huge chance you will be alone one day in your life and I don’t mean as a widow. So are you willing to take that chance and alienate all of your friends in your life who you might need someday in case you are all alone, old, fat and gray?

In my history, people are too unpredictable. Just when you thought you’ve nailed down their personality, you’re wrong. Just when you thought you can trust them they are wrong. Therefore, I always like to keep a suitcase, passport in the car and some extra cash…just in case!

cookies...

2007-09-16T18:01:00.000-06:00

So I've been working on this little project. Besides having a migraine nearly all weekend, I made cookies. They didn't turn out exactly the way I wanted them to (icing-wise) but it's a good start.

Let me know what you think!

Also, if you want to be a test subject let me know. I can't possibly keep baking 3 dozen of cookies at my house each weekend.

he's learned well...

2007-09-12T18:16:00.001-06:00

Sweetness and I haven’t really gotten into an argument yet. I like to argue. Sweetness doesn’t. He’s really laid-back, kind of goes with the flow. So imagine my surprise last night when for the first time he told me no. I was really caught off guard. For the seven months we have been dating, he has never told me no. I was speechless.

It all started after he asked me what I wanted for my birthday. He said he had been trying to think of something for the past couple of months.

“I really don’t need or want anything. So you don’t need to get me anything,” I said assuredly.

He didn’t like that idea. So I said if we wanted to do the whole gift-giving thing, we should establish some parameters or restrictions. In my history of gift giving, it starts off all sentimental then years later it becomes this thing where you spend about as much as the other person and vice versa. Then you both end up spending an unbelievable, really unreasonable amount of money on each other. So I suggested restrictions.

He said no, it’s about the sentimental value – not money. He said if he wants to buy me a yacht, he’ll buy me a yacht. (I’ll just buy you a bigger and better yacht I thought.) Sweetness said he knew I would be difficult with this but not that difficult. I was surprised. I told him he had never been so mean to me before.

He said, “I’m just being direct – the way you always are with me. You just aren’t used to getting it thrown back at you.”

I offered a compromise – like putting one or two restrictions. He said no. He claims that when we compromise it’s really always my way, which is totally not true. That only happens like half the time. Ok so maybe three-fourths of a time. But I can’t help it I’m always right.

He said, “No. You can make restrictions but I’m doing whatever I want to do. You asked me a long time ago if I was a push over and I told you I’m not when it comes to certain things.”

“Okay, we’ll do it your way,” I said smiling. While I was surprised, I couldn’t help feel slightly good. Good to know he has a spine. He’s learned well (smirk).

the class from hell...

2007-09-10T18:55:00.000-06:00

I went to my first class on Saturday. By the time I left the only thing I knew was the following: I have two case studies due next Saturday, a test the Saturday after that and some group project due in four weeks along with another test. I don’t know what the group project will be about because the teacher hasn’t decided. He hasn’t really decided what the test will be like either.

Oh and did I mention majority of the class has no textbooks and we are not connected online through the Blackboard system (that’s how we take all of our classes and get things like our syllabus, discussion boards, etc.)? I had a huge headache by the time I left class.

We don’t have textbooks because the university bookstore ran out and had to order more. We can’t order it from anywhere else because it’s a customized book. We were told the bookstore wouldn’t get them until Tuesday. Then they have to mail them to us, which means will get them on Wednesday – maybe.

I guess it wouldn’t have been so bad if the instructor was on the ball. He had no idea what he was going to do. I’ll give him this – he knows the subject of the class well. He’s just not organized at all. We kept asking him the same questions and he would never really answer them. In the end, we realized he doesn’t have this class planned out at all.

I guess I should note when we all signed up for this class another instructor was assigned to it. Then all of a sudden we got this new instructor, which is an adjunct professor.

Well, he was supposed to scan in the case studies and e-mail them to us this morning. Guess what? The day is half way over and no e-mail. Why am I not surprised?

I was hoping to have a low-stress semester since this is my last full semester. Apparently, that’s not going to happen. So far, I’ve used today at work to finish up my assignments for my other class. Hopefully I can knock out all of this stuff because I’ll need all the time I can get later for this class from hell.

Meanwhile, I’ve been working on another project to keep me busy once I’m done with school. I’ll have to tell you more about that later…

One class down, five more to go.

no more texts please...

2007-09-07T19:57:00.000-06:00

How do you tell a person nicely, QUIT TEXTING ME!

My cousin text messages me all the time. It’s not personalized text messages. Its forwards. You know what you usually do in an e-mail? Then they tell you to forward it back to them and 10 other people. (Yeah right!) I have never returned her a forward or anything else. Hell, I don’t even talk to her that much. In fact, I only really talk to her on either Christmas or Thanksgiving (whenever I go to Houston) or if she comes up here. I get at least 3 texts a week and number recently seems to be quickly increasing.

I’m not alone. She texts my brother and my uncle in San Diego and neither of them talk to her that much either. My uncle (who is in his 50s) told me he didn’t even know what it was the first time she text him or how to text her back. He just finds it annoying too. She even texts my uncle's ex-wife in freaking Minnesota. She hasn't talked to her on the phone in more than 2 years. She texts my mom too, but at least she talks to her frequently. So basically, she just texts everyone in her cell phone. I even got a text picture that made noises today. It was a cartoon character picture. I’m just tired of her wasting my text messages. Obviously she must be on the limitless text plan.

So how do you tell a family member nicely, STOP TEXTING ME!

senioritis

2007-09-06T19:42:00.000-06:00

I think I’m having senioritis. You remember when you didn’t want to do anything your senior of high school. Well, now that I’ve had a month off from school. I’m finding it very hard to get back to work, especially considering I have three classes left. I can see the light and boy doesn’t it shine so brightly.

It doesn’t really help that one of my classes is easy. I just need to do it that’s all, especially since I'm taking two classes at once.

It also doesn’t help that I’ve gotten the “talk.” You know the talk that you get from your boss saying “we’re giving you more work.” Ok, given I’ll admit I really didn’t that much work to begin with. Although there have been times at work were I’ve been busy, I’ve never worked at the capacity that I worked at my previous job. So I’m not scared or really even mad (seeing how that’s what they pay me to do), but it does put a little damper on my plans. See for the past eight months, I’ve done a lot of my school stuff during work time. And right now I don’t have anytime to do anything except work. I don’t even have time to do a discussion board. Well, it was nice while it lasted.

simply put...

2007-09-05T19:40:00.000-06:00

So I’ve been following this whole Michael Vick dog fighting thing and I really find it troubling how many people are defending him. Including Whoopi Goldberg from The View. She said that Vick might have been unaware that something that seems to be the cultural norm where he is from is morally reprehensible in other country.

“Instead of just saying he’s a beast or a monster, this is a kid who comes from a culture where (this) is not questioned,” Goldberg said. She goes on to say that dog fighting is prevalent among the South.

I’m not an animal lover at al but I don’t think that this should even be a discussion. Dog fighting is illegal. Vick knows right from wrong. He might have come from a place where it’s acceptable, but in that same place it is illegal. It’s just whether you get caught or not. Vick is grown man who knows the difference between right and wrong. Simply put, there is no excuse. He’s going to have to accept his punishment like an adult. Name calling and all the other stuff that comes along with is just childish behavior and really uncalled for because in the end he is going to be punished. Any other conversation beyond that doesn’t matter.

sometimes, i just can't stop myself...

2007-09-04T21:44:00.000-06:00

Do you ever do something you know is bad or naughty, yet you do it anyway? Like,

I seem to be the prime suspect for things like that. I can’t help myself. I know it’s wrong. I know its trouble, but I do it anyway. It’s not necessarily what I accomplish, but more of the feeling I get actually doing the act.

I always get this rush when I do things like that. Maybe that’s what always gets me in trouble. I mean, how do your stop yourself from doing things like that?

airplane rides...

2007-08-30T17:40:00.000-06:00

As previously mentioned, I vacationed in San Francisco and San Diego. If there’s anything I like about my family it is that we all have this understanding that we can’t stand being around each other for more than a couple of hours. Therefore, driving from San Francisco to San Diego was no an option. So we took a $49 flight out of Oakland Airport (Southwest didn’t start flying out of SFO until last Friday) to San Diego. But we flew to San Francisco on American Airlines bright and early at 7 a.m.

I’d have to say it was pretty good flight, except for the kids onboard. As you’ve probably figured out, I’m not a fan of kids at all – especially kids who scream, run and are just overall rude. Luckily on this flight there were no kids sitting really close to me. But there were some sitting about 5 rows up (we’re on an M80) that managed to even disturb me. I remember seeing the two kids when they boarded the flight. They looked well mannered, which has never really fooled me. The little boy, who was probably about 8, was dressed in khakis and a polo shirt. I remember the little girl, who was probably about 6, vividly. What drew me to her was the fact that she was had on a red and white polk-a-dot dress with a matching bowtie in her head. She looked like Minnie Mouse. I felt bad for the little girl because I was sure it was the mother (in a blue sheath dress) who picked out her clothes.

Nevertheless I knew something was wrong when the parents sat 4 rows ahead of the kids. When a parent doesn’t want to even sit with his/her kids during a plane ride, you just know these kids have to be bad – and they were! They made so much noise and kept pressing the button for the flight attendant to come. It was ridiculous. And I tell you I wasn’t so mad at the children as I was with the parents. Don’t have kids if you don’t want to take care of them properly. If they couldn’t get four seats together, one parent should have sat with one child while the other parent sat with the other. They were a family of four.

Then there was the plane ride on Southwest Airlines to San Diego. I am a huge fan of Southwest Airlines. I’ve traveled the airline for years as well as American. But I have to say, there is a vast difference between to two. Despite all of American’s perks, if I had to pick out of two I’d pick Southwest Airlines hands down. But getting anywhere non-stop out Dallas is almost impossible on Southwest, which limits us Dallas-sites.

I’ve gotten used to all the noises Southwest Airlines planes make, from the lift off to the flaps expanding. I’ve gotten so comfortable, that I find myself freaking out when I don’t hear anything during lift off. Then I remember I’m flying American Airlines.

Anyways, the flight to San Diego on Southwest was an adventure. As soon as we finished climbing to altitude, there was all of this turbulence. It was odd because it was such a beautiful day. No clouds in sight. This wasn’t a little turbulence. It was pretty bad. I’m a good flyer. I don’t get spooked easily, but for a second I didn’t think we would make it. Mother was freaking out. She’s not that great of a flyer. Well, 20 minutes later the pilot announces that the turbulence was from another plane. Apparently we were 10 miles right behind another plane (in the air). All I could think about was that story on Dateline, run about three months ago, about the air traffic controller’s messing up and planes barely missing each other in the air – and that was at D/FW International Airport. Way to go. I give the pilot credit for telling us that. I’m not so sure I would’ve done the same.

Then there was flight on American back home. Kids – again! There was a little girl about 6 years old who was constantly stood in her seat, screaming and banging on the seat. All her dad kept doing was apologizing to the guy behind him. (I was across the aisle.) How about he pins that little girl down in her seat and put her seat belt on. I would think at that age, you should start training you child to shut up and sit in the seat during a flight.

Overall, I’d say the flying was pretty good. It could have been worse – delays. Out of the three flights I caught only one was delayed and it was only by an hour.

i'm back...

2007-08-27T20:01:00.000-06:00

Vacation was absolutely wonderful! I could’ve stayed for another week, but I didn’t want to use anymore vacation days (I have to keep some for Italy and Vegas!) It was so great. I cut myself off from everything – work, school. I didn’t think I would be able to do it but I only checked my work e-mail twice and my personal e-mail once. Before vacation, I swear I was truly about to go crazy. The minute I landed back in Dallas, the hundreds of things I have to do came back to me. I felt like it was dream being in California.

The weather was absolutely gorgeous. I kept thinking, “Hmm…what kind of job could I do here?” Levi’s is headquartered in San Francisco. I believe Gap is also headquartered in Cali. I’m so close to Seattle, what about Nordstroms? I’d love to work there.

Anyways, as I daydreamed about quitting my current job and moving to California I absolutely enjoyed every bit of my trip. I never needed a vacation like I needed this one. Everything was converging on me and it was just too much to handle. So I nice getaway was purely a necessity.

San Francisco was beautiful. I could live there except it was a tad too cold for me. I think my favorite part was the shopping at Union Square. Oh and then there was the fortune cookie factory. It was so cool how they made them. I was going to take a picture until the owner lady said “No pictures.” I’m still upset about that. But I was a bit soothed over after she made me two personalized fortune cookies. Also, I bought an entire bag of fortune cookies back. (Never mind the fact that I’ve already ate half of them) Maybe it’ll give me good luck. Then, there was Alcatraz. It was pretty cool until night fell upon us and it was freezing on the island.

Now San Diego is definitely livable. The highs are 82. The night time is just gorgeous. You can open the window pretty much all day. I had lunch at Coronado Beach. Even though San Diego is beautiful, I got bored really quick since I’ve been there so many times. So one of my friends came to save me and take me back to Los Angeles with her. I had so much fun! She took me out to some bars and I drank my little heart out. It was long overdue. Unfortunately, I had to come back to catch my flight to Dallas. And for the first time I rode a motorcycle. It was crazy. I just figured if I’m going to do it I should do it on the back of my uncle’s motorcycle and it was so cool. Although, I admit I was a bit scared – totally not in my nature. But it was something new and what I needed.

So that’s the summary of my trip. Over the next few days I’ll give you more bits and details of the entire adventure. From the crazy airplane ride to my “guitar lessons,” which I plan to continue here. I'm trying to catch up on all of my stuff at work. But I do feel much better.

Hola bloggers...

2007-08-16T19:59:00.001-06:00

I'm off to Cali for some rest, relaxation and sunshine. Therefore I will be on break on Aug. 27. It's vacation time!

vixens, singledom, the hills...oh my

2007-08-14T21:32:00.000-06:00

Even though I no longer have class, I have found many ways to keep myself busy. Since I have little time to update this thing and have many things to talk about, I’ve decided to do this entry differently

- Sweetness grandmother has been in the hospital for two weeks. So he and his sister went back to Michigan to see her. Of course I had to give him my goodbye speech:

“Have a good trip,” I said.

“Ok.”

“So are you going to see any of your friends,” I asked.

“Probably Anthony,” he replied.

“That sounds cool. I’m just going to come out and say it, you can’t see any of your exes.”

I say exes because another one has surfaced. The problem is Sweetness can be way too nice sometimes. This is the ex that cheated on him and wanted to be his first. Fortunately, that didn’t happen. She told Sweetness to tell me "not to get too comfortable." He told her I was already comfortable (see, way too nice to the ex). I told him he should have told her I’m real comfortable…comfortable in his bed. She needs to go find some other guy to be her baby’s daddy, because it’s not going to be my Sweetness.

I tell you if those two vixens lived in Texas, there is no way I would put up with this. But since they are thousands of miles away, they really pose no threat.

- Since Sweetness had to unexpectedly go out of town, I had a single moment Saturday night. I had to go solo to a friend’s graduation party. It’s kind of funny how some people give you that look when you are just about the only single person in the room.

Sometimes it sucks, but for the most part I actually don’t mind. It gives me a chance to people watch. I can notice a lot more things around. I also am more apt to meet new people. Not to mention I can leave when I want to and don’t have to worry about anybody else. I’m really good at being selfish.

-OMG! Did you see The Hills last night? Was that not the best episode or what? I feel so bad for Lauren. It’s not like that's jus any rumor. They are not in high school. They’ve grown up. She’s a celebrity. That could seriously ruin her reputation and make it very hard for her to get a job in the fashion industry. I would have told Heidi off too. I just found it hard to believe Heidi has been sitting under a rock and has no idea what’s going on. It’s only all up in the tabloids. Lauren’s mother even knew.

By the way, what’s up with Audrina’s eyes? Is that her contacts? If so, I want those. I want to look captivating to guys. Speaking of Audrina, how many of these girls are going to forgive guys who’ve screwed with them before? While I do believe some people can change, I wouldn’t want to be the test dummy for that.

On another note, maybe I should try to get on a reality tv show too. Lauren might have to deal with cameras, but when you really think about it, it might be a good trade off. The girl has probably gotten so many perks from this whole thing including a clothing line, which was one of her dreams.

i think i can, i think i can...

2007-08-08T16:22:00.000-06:00

Last weekend was very enjoyable. It was the first time in a long time I got to enjoy myself, well at least for a couple of hours. I finished up my last class of the summer. Then that afternoon I enjoyed a swim in the pool with my cousins who were in town. (Yes, I did say swim.)

For those of you who don’t know, I can’t swim. There have been those who have tried to teach me. In fact, I took lessons when I was 5, 7 and 9. No luck. Well, thanks to one of my youngest cousins who is 8 years old, I can swim. She brought this amazing thing to my house – a noddle. It’s the Styrofoam thing you can put under your arms and it helps you float. For the first time I was swimming away. I admit I’m still a novice. After all, the 8-year-old insisted she race me in the pool and offered the noodle to me, while she swam without one. But I think I’ll have this swimming thing all down in less than two weeks before I head to California. That way I can go to the beach and be one of those California girls. I can go out in the ocean with my foam board so I’ll look cool like everybody else. Besides I kind of like swimming I feel like Nemo. I can't help but do a fish face as I float in the water.

Not to mention all of this swimming is giving me a work out. My back and abs have been sore ever since. On another note, aren’t you all enjoying this weather? After rain most of the summer, it’s finally almost 100 degrees. Normally, I would gripe about it, but I’ll take 100 degree weather over raining all summer any day.

Good news; bad news

2007-08-06T20:05:00.001-06:00

I’m tired. It’s that kind of tired you get when you sleep a good 8 hours but you are still tired. Exhaustion. I need several days off. So I have good news and bad news. The bad news: just when I thought things would be wrapping up (I'm done with school for the summer), I still have so much more to do.

My family is falling apart and there’s not much I can do. I can’t get into the details due to the legal E’s. But mom barely eats or sleep. In addition to dad not having much energy, his blood pressure has shot up. Now my brother is sick too. So that’s left me to do all of the leg work – the calling, errands, and whatever else is needed. So if I’m not posting that much in the next couple of weeks that’s because I’m crazy busy.

The good news: I go on vacation in two weeks! Yay! Almost an entire week in California. We are flying to San Francisco. We’ll stay there for a couple of days and fly down to San Diego for another three days. San Francisco will be a bit busy. But since we’ve been to San Diego a countless amount of times, I’ll get a chance to relax there. I’m thoroughly looking forward to it.

More good news: I’m going to Italy in March! It’s not just for fun. I get class credit for it. I needed it as an elective to graduate (wink, wink). I’ve never been out of the country, so it’ll be interesting. Luckily I’m going with an entire group of people including one of my friends. Now I just need to find out where exactly Italy is on the map.

Despite my lack of postings lately, I do have some stories to tell. So stay tuned.

week off...

2007-07-30T21:41:00.000-06:00

I'm taking the week off...I'm too busy.

In the meantime, check out the Diva's Thought's blog. The link is to the right.

ideas...

2007-07-27T19:52:00.000-06:00

As previously stated in my last entry, Sweetness and I finally did the deed. But it wasn’t until afterwards, I realized Mother Sweetness could really hate me (the slut) for taking away his purity. So here are some ideas I pitched to Sweetness:

Idea #1: He could tell her I was a virgin to and he was my first.He said: My sister saw your profile on match.com. It said you loved going to Vegas.
I said: So many virgins love going to Vegas.

Idea #2: Here’s a novel idea, don’t tell her. He said: She’s going to know. My mom just knows these things. She always knows stuff.
I said: No, she just knows you, because she’s knowing you for 24 years. Besides you are pretty easy to figure you. You need to get better at covering up things.

Idea #3: When she asks, just kindly suggest that nothing happened.He said: Are you telling me to lie to my mom?
I said: Of course not! I would never do such a thing. I’m just saying to hint that nothing really happened.

You see Sweetness has the uncanny way of being honest with people. Apparently he says he can’t lie. (We’ll have to fix that, because he’s going to have to do some story telling whenever he meets my parents if he wants to make a good impression.) So when people ask him things, he just tells the truth.

Sweetness said his mom will not care. After all, she is the same woman who thinks you should make sure you are sexually compatible before you get married.

But I can’t help but think, did we do it too soon? Maybe she’ll think I’m one of those loose girls. I guess the good part about it is, once you do it, you’ve done. It doesn’t matter how many times you do it after that. So I guess we better get to practicing.

touched for the very first time...

2007-07-25T05:56:00.001-06:00

Sweetness and I have been dating since March and there is one thing I have failed to mention. You remember how I kept saying he is so innocent? Well, he really is. He is so innocent to the point that he is still a virgin.

You see I figured it out after we had been dating for a couple of months. There had been slight clues like his lack of recent relationships. Well that and the fact the man just screamed nerd. Like most women would, I just figured this 24-year-old wasn’t a virgin. (What are the odds?) But just out of curiosity I asked him one night. He said he was, which I still found it hard to believe. I thought he could be lying. But after carefully assessing everything he had told me before, it is quite plausible the man is still a virgin. What are the odds? Of all people me with a virgin? Is this some joke?

Well, Sweetness isn’t waiting until marriage. He said he is just waiting for the right girl. And apparently that girl was me. (Notice the verb change.)

It was getting harder and harder everyday. Every time we got hot and heavy, I was always the one who had to stop it. Quite naturally he wasn’t going to be the one to stop it because he has been ready to do it for a long time.

So Sweetness and I finally did it. And I have to say for a virgin, the man wasn’t bad at all. He was actually pretty good. He was worried he would be a “minute man.” But he had no problem there. I was ready to stop before he was. It was so good we went for round two.

I think I was just as relieved as he was to get it over with. That is until I put more thought into this whole thing. You see everyone knew Sweetness was a virgin -- his mother, father, sister and friends. So now, I will forever be known as the girl who took his virginity.

On one hand, his father would high five me. On the other, I don't what is mother would think. What if she thinks I’m the devil for taking her son’s purity? I’m the slut who converted him. I have to correct this. So later this week (since this entry is getting too long for my taste) I’ll tell you the ideas I pitched to Sweetness to tell his mother.

the boy is mine...

2007-07-23T19:32:00.000-06:00

Like in almost every relationship, a couple usually has the subject of ex’s come up. I no longer talk to any of my ex-boyfriends. Mainly, because I don’t have many ex-boyfriends. Secondly, most of the boyfriends I did have, the relationship ended badly.

On the other hand, as you can probably imagine some of Sweetness’ past relationships ended amicably. One quite notable relationship he had from seventh to ninth grade. It was with this girl we’ll call Miss Gulch. The two broke up because Sweetness moved. From that time on, Sweetness and her kept in touch. Even when the two were out high school, they randomly ran into each other at a Walmart in Atlanta. Every since then they have been in touch on and off. Sweetness even sent Miss Gulch flowers this past Valentines Day.

He says they have been just friends since the ninth grade. In fact, when I refer to her as his “ex-girlfriend,” he doesn’t even think it should count since they went out in seventh grade. I think it should considering they have been corresponding ever since. And let’s just get real, obviously he has always had some sort of crush on her ever since. After all, he did send her flowers for Valentines Day. Not to mention it was while she had a boyfriend. Miss Gulch and her boyfriend's relationship was obviously on the rocks, especially since she was spending time talking to Sweetness on the phone. Either way I have no right to get mad because I didn't start dating him and we weren't exclusive until two months later.

Being the adult that I am, I told Sweetness I trust him. (I just don’t trust her.) He can still correspond with her. After all, she is thousands of miles away in Michigan.

The story continues…
Miss Gulch called him Saturday. Sweetness said it was a short conversation. She asked him why he hadn’t called her. He told her it was because he didn’t have her number. She asked him when he was coming to visit her. He said I don’t know. He doesn’t have any plans as of this moment to come home.

Now women, I think we can all read between the lines. Miss Gulch has probably broken up with her boyfriend. She’s probably thinking “Well Sweetness will be available.” Sweetness hasn’t told her he has a girlfriend. I keep insisting that he does. In fact I told him exactly what to say,

“I have a supermodel-like girlfriend who works in the fashion industry. She’s beautiful, smart and sexy. I’m in love with her. I want to be with her for the rest of my life.”

We all know the minute he says that he has a girlfriend, he will automatically become really attractive to her. She already got her chance and missed out. Sweetness is mine.

the snack cart lady...

2007-07-19T20:19:00.000-06:00

I’m sure we’ve all had times where we perform duties that are not our job description. Well most recently, I’ve been the “snack cart lady.” Twice this week, I’ve had to push a cart around, playing music similar to what the ice cream truck plays, as I go down each aisle.

It is somewhat my fault that I’ve become the snack cart lady. My boss was encouraging us to volunteer for it, since all the proceeds go the charity, so I decided to help. It wasn’t until my co-worker and I went to go sign up we realized we were the only two names on the page. Suddenly, we felt scared – this could potentially be our new duty everyday for the next three months. Then we felt bad because no one else had signed up. So we decided to put down another co-worker’s name to help. (Misery loves company!)

So twice a week I must push a cart (which is not that light might I add) down aisle after aisle, lightly screaming “snacks, soda, 50 cents.” I’ve never considered myself a good salesperson, but I suppose I did pretty good the first few times. Those who I knew, I could get to buy at least one thing. After all, everything on the cart is cheaper than the vending machines. Even better, we have Dr. Pepper, which is not sold anywhere within our building.

Then there were those people who asked, “Are you new here?”

“No I’m not,” I said smiling. “I’m just anti-social, so I usually just stay in my corner by the window in the women’s area.”

I suppose it wasn’t too bad, I got to figure out where those associates I see all the time in the hallway sit. I also was able to compare my cubicle to others. (I need to get to decorating my cube. There are some that are really good!)

I suppose I should admit my motives weren’t completely pure in volunteering for the job. I knew the big boss would find out who’s been volunteering. He knows everything. Therefore, I knew it would look good especially when I come by his office to offer him some treats. I had to compensate for the fact that I hadn’t been parking next to him these past few weeks (due to rain) in the morning. That’s my way of being able to chat it up with him. (Hey, after all, he is the man who decides who gets raises or not.)

Anyways, I’m stuck pushing a cart around week after week until September. The good news is I don’t have a ring a bell anymore. And I guess it doesn’t hurt to meet some more people.

bootylicious and all that...

2007-07-17T16:14:00.000-06:00

Five classes down. Four more classes left before I complete the program. Three left for this year. One left for the summer. I think I need a month-long vacation, but I guess a week will have to do.

As you might have noticed I haven’t been updating this thing as frequently once again due to school. I just got done with a double header (a.k.a. class two weekends in a row.). I feel like I’m going to strike out if coach doesn’t put me in the bullpen for a bit. But I’ve got to crank out enough energy for two more classes and a few more assignments.

Enough about school and my lame references to baseball. The highlight of my weekend was going to the Beyonce concert. To sum it up, it was off the hook; bootylicious and some. …if I only had time to change into my entire outfit. I had to settle for a black tube top and tight jeans, instead of my black miniskirt, since I had to change at the hospital. (It would been a bit odd coming out of the hospital looking all bootylicious.) Unfortunately, my friends didn’t get a chance to change into their bootylicious outfits either.

Beyonce performed for two hours singing songs from her two albums and songs from previous Destiny Child’s albums. It was great! Everybody was dancing and singing. I couldn’t help but yell, “I love you Beyonce!”

It wasn’t until Friday night I realized how captivating the diva really is. (I say diva, because she has every right to be one.) She made me want to jump up on stage and do the dance she does during the “Crazy In Love” video just like I’ve been performing in my room. “Uh oh, uh oh, uh oh, oh no no.” I want some weave like Beyonce. I like her outfits too. I just might be Beyonce for Halloween.

The opening act, Robin Thicke wasn’t so bad either. It took my two friends and I a huge margarita to really feel it, but the man is kind of hot.

Overall, the night was fantastic. It was well worth the $100, sore throat and droopy eyes during marketing class the next day. I might just have to get front row seats next time.

dinner date gone well...

2007-07-11T20:34:00.000-06:00

The day after the dinner date I got “rave reviews.” Sister Sweetness liked me. She said I was pretty too. Sister Sweetness told Mother Sweetness everything. (Yes!)

The dinner actually went pretty well considering Sweetness and I were very irritated at each other before we even made it to the restaurant. I got irritated because the plans kept getting changed at the last minute. Then I was even more irritated when Sweetness showed up to my house late. (I can’t make a bad first impression.) Sweetness was irritated because I got mad at him and he was overall having a bad day. So the car ride on the way was very tense. And for those of you who know me when I’m irritated or mad, I don’t hold back.

“You can tell your sister it’s your fault, we’re late,” I said.

“Ok, I will,” he said sarcastically, which made me even more mad.

I contemplated, whether I should drive horrible, (he already doesn’t like my driving) just to make him even more upset or not. But I decided to drive good. After all, his sister would suspect something happened if we didn’t show up, I thought. Not until after we leave the restaurant, that’s another story.

Despite our very tense and practically speechless drive to the restaurant, the dinner turned out well. Sister Sweetness has this way of uplifting people’s spirits. Well, at least mine. Sweetness looked like he was about to go off the edge.

When we walked into the restaurant the first thing Sweetness' brother-in-law says is "You're late!"

"It's his fault," I said pointing at Sweetness who looked pissed.

As the night went on between the waitress and his brother-in-law picking on him, his day didn’t get any better. I started to feel bad for him. Although, I’ll never admit it to him, I felt kind of bad for giving him a hard time. (Well, at least it toughens him up.) But at the same time, sitting next to him at the table, all angry and stuff, I thought it was kind of hott. I wanted to make out with him.

Anyways, at risk of sounding like a teenager, Sister Sweetness is really cool. She’s pretty, likes to shop and very smart. She is really, really talkative. Now, I see why Sweetness doesn’t mind me talking for hours on end. He’s got to be used it. She’s just fun to be around. She is the exact type of person I would hang out with as a friend. I actually wouldn’t mind hanging around her more often.

Overall, I'd say the dinner went well. Sweetness and I made up from our little tiff later that night. The entire ordeal was a stark contrast from the last time I met a boyfriend's family. His family tried to turn me into housewife #3. They preferred a woman who would be barefoot and pregnant in the country. For those of you who know me, that's NOT me at all.

Meanwhile, Sweetness' family is a bit more modern. He doesn't want kids. I'm not so sure his sister does either. From what I hear, his parents seem to be modern or a bit "hip" on times. They approve of co-habitation before marriage. It's nice to meet people in modern times.

my funeral...

2007-07-09T20:23:00.000-06:00

Lately, mother has been ragging me about going over the will with her since she’s having surgery this Friday. She always feels the need to review over the will with me every time she or dad has a surgery. I don’t know why, but you would think I would know the will by heart since we’ve reviewed it four times in the past year. But that got me thinking about my death and will.

Who will I leave my possessions to when I’m old, gray and fat? Especially, if I’m married and my future hubby is already in the grave. My best friend doesn’t need or really want anything of mine. Well, except maybe my bear, I’ve had since I was 5 years old. But I’m thinking I’ll have Boki retired with me too.

I supposed I could have all my money given to a favorite niece or nephew. Hmm…perhaps someone who exemplifies myself. We won’t get into that now.

Anyways, I want my funeral to be fancy and in style. Everyone wears all black (no color whatsoever). No flowers. I don’t like receiving flowers now. Why would I want to receive flowers when I’m dead? We’ll just recommend donations to a charity to be named later. Or better yet, everyone can bring a stuffed animal and they can all be donated to the Children’s Advocacy Center for Denton County.

My people tend to have food, like an entire meal, after the funeral. I never did get that and still don’t. (Would anyone care to enlighten me?) I don’t want an entire meal at my funeral. I just want cake - that’s one of my favorites. I want a huge buttercream icing cake with white inside – tiered!

There needs to be a book where everybody can sign it. I don’t just want people to write their names. I want them to write a message. You know kind of like you did in your high school yearbook?

I’ll designate the pretty picture I want blown up really big for the funeral. I don’t want an ugly picture. I’d want one of my parents to say a couple of words and my best friend to talk about how wonderful I was and how much he misses me. (I’ll prepare the speech beforehand. It wouldn’t hurt for them to cry a tear or two.) It’ll be a heart wrenching speech that everyone will remember forever.

Then I’d like a building named after me for all of my contributions to society and whatever company I helped turnaround. I like the sound of that. Have you ever thought about it? Your funeral is important. After all, it will be the last most important event of your life.

meet the sister...

2007-07-06T21:57:00.000-06:00

I knew it was a matter of time before I was asked. Sweetness wants me to meet his sister. Normally, I would be running scared or nervous, but for once I’m not. From previous conversations, it seems that Sister Sweetness and I are a very similar. (Though, I hope he doesn’t feel like he’s dating his sister, eww…)

So we are supposed to go on a double date with her and her husband. It should be interesting. I have to be on my best behavior because whatever Sister Sweetness perceives, thinks or picks up, she is going to tell Mother Sweetness who is miles away in Michigan. (Not that there’s anything wrong with it. I’d do the same too.)

It should be okay. She’s around my age. She’s 29, very talkative, loves to shop and likes the finer things in life, like I. I have a feeling she might have unknowingly prepped Sweetness for my sometimes odd and difficult behavior. Sweetness doesn’t seem to mind when I talk endlessly about anything. He doesn’t mind going shopping with me or watching girly movies. In fact, I find that he watches some of the same movies I like to watch alone like the Princess Diaries and 13 going on 30. I think a lot of that comes from the fact that he was around women a lot growing up.

Anyways, I just wonder what Sister Sweetness will look like? I mean, I’ve seen pictures of her, but I wonder what she’s like in person. I wonder what her personality is like. Do you think she wonders what I’m like? How much has Sweetness told her about me? I hope she doesn’t think I’m a slut. What am I going to wear? Should I go conservative, trendy or what? The clock is ticking.

July 4

2007-07-04T16:10:00.000-06:00

In honor of the fourth, can you ace the citizenship quiz?

I only got 65% percent correct. Let me know what you get!

My FAQ's

2007-07-02T18:50:00.000-06:00

Lately, there have been many inquiries from my friends and family (yes, even my mother and father) about my whereabouts. It seems that I have dropped off the face of this earth. And sometimes I feel like I have.

But never fear I’m still here – just really busy mainly with school and work. This blog right here is generally written in between working on pages at work. I try to keep up, but generally, it’s harder to write when you have nothing to write about.

Since I constantly get the same questions, I decided to make my own FAQ’s. That way, when people ask, I can just refer them to here.

What have you been doing this whole entire summer?
This summer I’m taking 9 hours. That’s three classes in three months. So that’s left me with class every Saturday from 9-5 for the next three weekends out of four. I end my accounting class in a week. Then I pick right back up (no break in between, in fact they actually overlap) with marketing. I do my entire marketing course in four weeks. Well, you only have class on Saturdays. So what do you do during the week? Well, I leave work around 4:30. Make it home no later than 5 in order to study/complete homework for at least two hours (sometimes more for those harder classes). I may only have three class dates per course but the rest of the work is online. I do that every day Monday through Thursday. On Fridays I either take the night off or (if I have class the next day) review over stuff for at least an hour and get tons of rest for an arousing 8-hour class. After class on Saturday, I’m so wiped out, that I usually go out to eat and come back home to be in bed by 10. And Sundays? I generally reserve that again for studying/sleeping.

When will the madness stop?
After November 10, it will all start to drastically slow down. That’s when I just finish up my last class of the semester, which is completely online. My only and last class of the program is next year. That’s completely online too.

So, do you ever do anything fun?
Why of course I do. I go to work. I watch TV occasionally. I write here on my blog. I go out to eat. Isn’t that fun? Other than that, fun doesn’t come until August when I get about a month off and go on vacation. Next year will be fun too.

Do you miss hanging out with your friends?
Of course I miss every single one of you – well almost all of you, j/k. But I’d rather do it all in one year than spread it out over two or three years.

Well, what if I want to hang out with you? Can you make time for me?
Sure. We’ll just pull our calendars and compare. It may not be in the next few days, but we’ll find something.

Well, do you even have time for Sweetness? Does he care?
Umm…a little, I guess. He works on the weekends. So I really only see him once, maybe twice a week if we are lucky. I don’t think he cares that much that I’m this busy because it’s for school. Besides I’m going to have to patient with him come this fall, when he’s in school.

When do you graduate?
I really don’t know when I will officially graduate. I don’t plan on going to graduation ceremony unless I’m dragged by my mother. I will be completely done with the program after I take a study tour (a.k.a. one week vacation). So more than likely next May.

Do you like being in school?
It’s ok. You have to do what you have to do. The thing I hate about it the most is that I spend $3,000 a semester, which leaves me with hardly any money. (Not that I need any money considering I don’t have time to go out.) I’m not that great at school either, but in the end it will all pay off.

my challenge to you...

2007-06-29T16:28:00.001-06:00

I’ve been doing Pilates for a couple of months now and I’ve just now realized why I like it. I’m not that keen on slow exercises. I generally like to do cardio exercises (like step aerobics, cardio latin dance, etc.). But I decided to do Pilates after my co-worker told me it helps with your abs.

I was very surprised that I keep going. But I think it’s because of the instructor. She always tells me how great I’m doing and how strong I am. Well, us. It makes me feel good, even though I don’t do those hard poses. Even if I just lay there, she’ll say, “great job.” It makes me feel good. I think people like to hear praises.

So I challenge you and I to praise at least one person a day. It can be something as simple as “I love your outfit,” or “I appreciate you.”

cell phones...

2007-06-25T16:00:00.000-06:00

Sometimes you hate them, but some people like me really can’t live without them. If I don’t have my cell phone, I feel like I’m without my contacts/glasses.

My cell phone died Tuesday. My one-year-old Motorola Razor randomly shut off one me. I took it to Verizon that afternoon. Apparently, it could have been the battery or water damage. But of course the first question was, “Do you have insurance?”

“No,” I said sulking and batting my eyes to male across the counter. That was when I noticed the rep. looking at my chest. The entire time he spoke to me, well really my chest. With that, a few smiles and eye glares later, I was out of there with a new phone and battery for $70 (I got the same rate, as if I had insurance).

Three days later, my cell phone died on me again. Apparently, it was a short circuit. This time I lost all of my contacts. I was mad. And I wanted to slap that b**** behind the counter who kept smiling at me the entire time.

I have had so many problems with this cell phone. My mom, who has the same kind, has had problems too. In fact, come to think of it my last cell phone wasn’t too great either. That got me thinking. The last cell phone I had that I had no problems with was the old Nokia phone. You remember the big (well big compared to what's out now) bulky ones that was fairly popular some years back? (It wasn’t a flip phone) That was the best phone I had.

Just as I was thinking about that and talking to my co-worker, she pulls out the same one. She said “I have had this phone for years. I only use it in emergencies, but it’s reliable.” Damn her, I should have kept that phone too. So I would have gotten a couple of giggles from friends, but at least I would have some reliability. They just don’t make them like they used to.

no Angelina fan here...

2007-06-20T19:53:00.000-06:00

Angelina Jolie’s movie “A Mighty Heart” is out. It looks pretty good. While talking about the movie one of my co-worker’s and I got on the subject of Angelina Jolie.

Previously, I’ve never really had a problem with Angelina. She was not one of my favorites. Now, if anyone asked me for my list of female celebrities I’d make out with, she’d be on it, but that’s another story. Main thing is I wasn’t crazy about her and will never be.

Anyways, my co-worker and I were talking about how interesting it is everyone has forgotten this woman stole somebody’s husband. It’s so weird because when I see pictures of Angelina, Brad Pitt and their children, I don’t think happy family. I think “Oh that’s the woman that stole Jennifer Aniston’s husband.” What gets me is no one really made a big deal about it when it all happened. It was just “Jennifer and Brad are getting a divorce.” Next day, “Brad and Angelina are together.”

I guess it makes me so mad because I’ve always thought if I were in that situation, I would be the Jennifer Aniston. I would be heartbroken and freaking pissed. I’ll give Angelina props for all of her charity work and adopting kids, but that still doesn’t replace the fact that she took somebody’s husband (Not to put no blame on Brad. It’s his fault too.). For that, I will never be a fan of her.

officially exclusive...

2007-06-17T19:20:00.000-06:00

I knew it was coming. I mean after all Sweetness and I have been dating for three months. We’re officially exclusive. He asked me Saturday. I don’t know whether to puke or jump in joy. Puke, because part of me still detests the thought of the cuddling, hand holding and “I love you”s. I think that portion of me will never go away. Jump in joy because he is a nice guy. I really do like him, but I like my singledom too.

So naturally, I had to test him. “Can I wear my bootylicious mini-skirt to the Beyonce concert with my matching body-bearing top (even though you won’t be there)?”

He said, “Yes.”

“Really?”

“I trust you,” he replied. That makes two of us. I mean I trust him, but about as much as I trust anybody after three months. Trust and I just don’t go well together anyway. He could very well take a knife stab it my heart, twist it around and leave. Okay, so maybe that was a bit too graphic. But that’s the way I see it.

Anyways, so we spent both evenings together this weekend and he didn’t get on my nerves. I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. He’s so quiet. I don’t ever see him getting on my nerves. If anything, I probably get on his nerves. I suppose it was nice. Saturday night, after the movie, we went back to his place. We fell asleep on the couch together watching the Disney Channel. It was serene.

not again...

2007-06-13T18:25:00.000-06:00

I’ve been taking classes for six months straight and I can say I am burnt out. This is when I start getting all cranky and tired all of the time.

So I’ve gotten about half of my grades in for this last class I was in. I made all 95’s or 100’s. The only thing that is left is the group project grade.

If I end up making a B in this class because of this group project I am going to be so mad. It’ll be the second time it’s happened to me. I have to get all the A’s I can get now, because this accounting is kicking my ass. And what’s worse is that now that I’m starting to grasp it, I realize that I can get this stuff down. It’s just can I get it down in 6 weeks? I need an A.

Four down; four more classes to go for the year. If I can just get through accounting, even if it is with a B, I will be so grateful. They (those who have finished the program) say all the classes I have left are hard. So what do I have left? Marketing, global business, finance (another tough class) and some strategic management class that’s completely online.