amazing

Penelope Jean

Penelope Jean Britton, 67, a resident of Anacortes since 1984, died on December 30, 2008 at Island Hospital, the result of a malignant brain tumor diagnosed in April 2008. Penny was a Christmas baby born in Portland, OR, and was employed as a teacher in the Communications Department at Western Washington University where earlier this year she won the Ronald Kleinknecht Excellence in Teaching Award. Penny attended Oregon State University, graduated with an undergraduate degree from Western Washington University, and held a Master’s Degree in Theology from Fuller Theological Seminary. She was a licensed private pilot and a U.S. Coast Guard licensed Captain for Sail and Power vessels. Penny was a member of Trinity Anglican Church in Mount Vernon where she moderated the adult forum. She was a life member of Kappa Alpha Theta Sorority, a Volunteer for Skagit Hospice, and a member of the Honor Society of Phi Kappa Phi. She was a member of the Seattle and Anacortes Yacht Clubs. Penny loved to travel and took every opportunity which included trips to China, Japan, England, Australia, New Zealand, Europe, Africa and Israel. One trip lasted nearly 2 years during which she lived with her husband on a sailboat and home-schooled her children while visiting ports along the U.S. east coast, the Bahamas, and West Indies. Penelope Jean’s life demonstrated love, joy, peace, gentleness, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, long-suffering and self control. She was a beautiful, thoughtful, gifted and intelligent, woman who let her Lord Jesus direct her paths. People who knew her loved her. Penny was attacked by separate cancers four times. She won three of the fights. She was a strong and steady supporter of groups seeking cancer cures. Penelope Jean is survived by her husband, Dick Britton; 2 sons, Alex and Ben Britton; 2 daughters, Kirsten Young and Bethany Erickson; 5 grandsons, Hunter, Piers, Chance, Eli, and Gavin; 5 granddaughters, Janessa, Chloe, Sloane, Trinity Ruth, and Penny’s namesake, Reese Penelope; sister, Deanna Jenkins; brother, Doug Clayton; many nieces; nephews; aunts; uncles; and a wonderful assortment of in-laws. Plans are being made for a memorial service. Donations should be directed towards your favorite cancer cure seeking organization. Arrangements are in the care of Evans Funeral Chapel and Crematory, Inc., Anacortes, WA and the San Juan Islands.

Penny

Well most sadly for the second time in one year, I (and many others) have had the horrible misfortune to have to say goodbye to an amazing and inspirational professor at Western. Penny Britton was by far my favorite professor during my time at Western. She was kind, unflinchingly funny, caring and inspirational. Penny battled breast cancer three times. She beat it three times. My senior year during my spring quarter while working closely with her, it was found out that she had a brain tumor. When it was removed it was found to be the size of a fist. When she returned from time away she was incredibly upbeat and healthy. When I saw her in the office she screamed, "ahhh Diana! I missed you! Wanna see my scar, it's awesome." I love Penny. Her classes not only taught me so much about Communication, but taught me about my peers, myself and my relationships. I can't imagine the Comm department without the amazing energy and light of Penny Britton. My heart and thoughts go out to her husband and family who she adored and spoke of lovingly and often during class. She's an amazing woman and will not be soon forgotten.

let it rain

The rain is back. This is the Bellingham that I know and love! Thankfully the snow is melting and the world is pretty much back to normal here. Can't wait for it all to be gone!

ps, Merry Christmas ... fools.

pps, I google image searched rain, this came up

Budget

Can someone help me form a budget? I have no money and with all these generous extra days off I'm going to have even less ...

Kiddo

Owner of the company called me kiddo today. It's spreading. He then told me that all cookies reside in Cashmere. Also he told me that he loves Aplets and Cotlets. I believe that his exact words were, "Diane, you going home for Christmas? They have those Aplets and Cotlets things there don't they. I love those things Kiddo." Previously in the day he told me that two of his clients were coming in at the same time for an appointment so we were going to have to "tag team" them. I fought laughter a lot today.

Boss also gave me the day off tomorrow so that I could get a head start on the pass. They are pretty nice to me I guess.

Seriously though with the kiddo ... I kinda think they think I'm 12 ...

(image? I googled kiddo.)

Berenstain Bears

Do you remember the Berenstain Bears from childhood? They were quite possibly my favorite book series as a child. Too much junk food was my favorite. Why? Because when I was little I liked all the tiny packages that they illustrated. I was big on tiny stuff when I was little. Maybe it was because I myself was tiny. Polly Pockets were HUGE for me ... tiny stuff.

Boots

Boss called this morning, "Hey kiddo, it's Char, well, we gotta open the office, people need us. Can you make it in by nine, maybe ride the bus or something? We will be closing around 3:30. OK see you then kiddo"

So I went back to sleep for half hour. Got ready. Put on my SJP sneakers that I wear instead of snow boots because I don't have snow boots. I went out and started scraping the six inches of snow off my car that has accumulated over night. Massive amounts of snow got into my shoes and of course all over my jeans which were then soaking wet. Started all-bying it (I have all wheel drive, not four wheel) through the parking lot to the street. The snow was deep at the top of the little hill and my poor little subby barely made it through. While I was sitting there waiting to get out into the street I look over and see a girl in a two-door little hatch back Jetta or something completely stuck in the snow on the side of the road and sobbing on her cell phone. I felt bad, but kinda not. What kind of tool goes out on the roads like they are in a car like that!?

Got to work ... barely. Walked in the front door, boss says:
"Hey kiddo you made it! Thanks for coming in on such ... Why are you not wearing boots!?!?! Diana, you need to wear boots out there! Are those sneakers!?!? Diana what are you doing!? What size are your feet, we need to get you some boots!"
Diana/Kiddo: "Uhh I'm fine. These shoes are ok. Yeah I mean my feet are a little wet, but I brought extra socks. Please don't buy me boots"
Boss:"KIDDO!!"

I went and bought boots after work today that I both can't afford, and don't like. Peer pressure sucks! But I guess dry feet won't be so bad ...

(Actual boots not pictured)

d'bag

Also I had a voicemail from my Dad today while I was doing Spinster Sunday, it went something like this:

"woodrow (my Dad calls me many variations on the nickname Woody, its way too long of a story or I would just tell you), I was talking to zater today (all Duggans and Duggan friends love the use of nicknames for people) and he told me that when he was driving you home from the bars over Thanksgiving (yes, one of my good friends' Dad was our DD the night after Thanksgiving when we went to the local bar and got plowed, or lit if you are little BP) that you called me a douche bag. Why would you call your Dad a douche bag? Suck it."

FYI I called him a douche bag because he wears his blue tooth headset dealy thing around the house. I've told him that he is being douche baggy, is partaking in douche baggery, and is displaying douche baggish tendencies when he does this. He always just tells me to suck it.

Here is the un-commented-on version of the voicemail, since after reading this blog even I found it confusing:

"woodrow, I was talking to zater today and he told me that when he was driving you home from the bars over Thanksgiving that you called me a douche bag. Why would you call your Dad a douche bag? Suck it."

Date night

Last night I had a great date. We watched two movies, made a bobali pizza, baked cookies, it was awesome. It was with my dearest Rachel. We are each other's boyfriends right now since neither of us have one. It was kinda awesome. Movies included The Shining, and Forgetting Sarah Marshall. Good combo. I had never seen The Shining before and it freaking blew my mind. It freaked me out ... a lot. That kid, ugh gives me the willies. As I stated right after it ended, "I NEVER want to shine."

Sarah Marshall was hysterical. It was a nice change after watching the Shining. There was a little too much male full frontal in the first ten minutes though. Yowza

Since today is Sunday it was of course Spinster Sunday. Went to Woods for coffee, drank some coffee. Snowed in for sure. I've been riding the bus everywhere. I need to buy a bus pass because I've probably almost paid one off with as much as I've had to ride in the last week or so. I guess I should look into that.

Why do my blogs suck so much lately?

no work, no money

Another snow day is upon me! Yesterday I got to leave work at about noon because it was starting to snow cats and dogs. It was fine, I assumed things would clear up so I did all my chores thinking I shouldn't waste my time. I cleaned the kitchen, did crafts for Christmas presents, read Harry Potter, baked a casserole, cleaned my room etc etc. It was a very productive and busy Wednesday afternoon. Then I started thinking to myself, well yes this is lovely, but I'm not getting paid. I need me those dollas! Then I got calls from TWO different co-workers telling me that we were probably not going to have work today. Balls. I decided I would wake up at normal time and call my boss anyway. I called, I didn't have to work today. She seemed thankful for my concern haha. Always the suck up. But then I was wide awake because it was morning, so I chatted with Rachel on the telly, quite possibly the earliest conversation I've had with her ever and made myself coffee in a HUGE mug. Now I'm watching Indiana Jones, because I effing love Indiana Jones. Later I'm going to buy stamps. Big day.

Snow Day!

Today it started snowing fairly hard in Bellingham. Since Bellingham does not do so hot in snow (read: it effing blows, no snow plows, no salt or sand or ANYTHING, but crashes, sadness, and no work) my boss called at about 11:30 and asked if I had done all of my stuff for the day. Of course I said yes because being the smart little cookie that I am I foresaw the shit weather and imminent closing of the office so I did everything WAY earlier than usual. So after I told her that everything was done she said the magic words, YOU CAN GO HOME EARLY SWEET CHEEKS! She normally does not call me sweet cheeks but only on special occasions ... or on the phone. Mostly she calls me kiddo, or sweetie, which I'm OK with most of the time because she is like my cool young Grandma or older Aunt, when of course she's not yelling at me. We have a complicated relationship. But she sent me home early today, so its a good day. I called my Dad to tell him, he asked me what I was going to do, and I told him that I had a date. He honestly sounded really excited, but I followed with ... Harry Potter, Harry Potter is my date. Thus far I have made Christmas presents, cooked, blogged (well I'm almost done), and read a little. It's a good day!

under pressure ... dun dun dun da da dun dun

Well, not really. But I wanted an excuse to use that as a title. So my dear miss Nicole (you Greylockers who might read this are aware of her) started a blog which makes me kinda jealous. She is going to read 100 books in one year, and blog about them. NICE. Which makes me want to tell you about the books that I've read lately.

OK, so I'm a nerd. Yeah I got crazy (or wicked, or hella, depending on who you are) into the Twilight series and polished off those suckers this summer. Since then I have read, Into the Wild, A Confederacy of Dunces, Breakfast of Champions, and tried to read The Omnivore's Dilemma. I just can't get into that though. It's too much like I'm reading a text book. My current book status is HARRY POTTER! Man I forgot how addictive this effing books are. I decided to re-read the books last Wednesday and I am currently half way done with the third. I wanted to read seven again but decided to truly enjoy it I should have freshly read all the others. I hope to be done by Christmas because (thanks to Nicole's blog and my general nerdiness) my list of "next reads" is growing like nuts.

What a boring read I just composed for you. But hey, at least it wasn't about prop 8 right!?! Not that I'm over being outraged about that whole mess. OK my lovelies, I have to go read more HP and eat dinner. Go read, expand your beautiful minds.

more video

apparently my whole blog is now devoted to prop 8. enjoy:

See more Jack Black videos at Funny or Die

ping ping ping

If I ever make a rap video, steel drums will be prominently featured.

hay-o

Can Keith get a what what?

sewing

Ok, here is my newest idea of how I'm going to pass my time. Sewing. I know how to sew, as I did sew the single greatest dress to ever be worn at a Cashmere High School winter ball. I do a little hand sewing in the form of finishing homemade pillows, hemming pants and sewing on buttons. However, I always have to get someone to thread the machine for me, put the bobbin in etc. I kinda suck at the mechanical stuff. I want to sew myself an outfit. Clearly it will be a paisley pantsuit. Most likely in a shade of pink or teal. I think I might look into taking a class, but I would have to have a sewing machine for that. So I might look into getting a used one or something. Ok thats all. Sewing.

my man

KJW has informed me that the love of my life (or at LEAST my Halloween hookup, as she has called him) awaits me in a bar in West Seattle slinging tunes for karaoke. I will gussy myself. I will wear my sweatpants (ooo almost let the costume slip) and other garb and I will impress him. I will be Mrs. Joe Karaoke by years end!

sunday bloody sunday

Today was pretty much the best Sunday ever. Woke up, a tiny bit hung over (that was not part of the best Sunday ever) at about 10:00. Drug my ass out to the couch and proceeded to lay there for the entire day. I stood up and cleaned, cooked a little, and organized the apartment. It was nice. I'm still wearing my pajamas as a matter of fact. I did put on a sweatshirt though when I got a little cold. I watched two seasons of sex and the city, and a disc of arrested development. It was so pleasant. I really don't want to go to work tomorrow, even though all the big wigs won't be there so it should be a really chill next few days. The anxiety will come back though I'm sure. I still need to find someone to pick me up from the car shop and I need to learn how to ride the bus to work ... maybe thats what I should have done today.

hearts

Oh goodness, I'm glad that my super liberal boss can still impart her super liberal funnies on me from the east coast:

See more funny videos and funny pictures at CollegeHumor.

I'm in the mere for the weekend. Doing the Oktoberfest thing, should be a good time. Beer, boys, baclava, NO bratwurst though. Unless they make soy/tofu/veggies brats which I'm pretty sure they don't do in the worth. Anywho, pumped about all the beer and getting the rest of my stuff to get back to the little apartment in the ham. Other than that, not much is up. Work is a little boring lately, I know its going to pick up soon though ... oh well

That is all, please laugh at Sarah Palin with me

post office

So, everyday at work I have to go on errands. At first I found them to be a giant waste of my time, now I find them as amazing because I get to go outside and waste time around downtown ... I mean work really hard. One of my errands is going to the post office. I go there to empty the full PO box, pay for weird mail we can't do at the office and get certified mail ... certified. The same man stamps my certified mail everyday and I love him. Apparently he had a stroke a couple years ago and now does not hear or speak very well. He always waves me up to the front of the line and stamps my mail, makes some silly joke and then winks at me when I leave. I love him. The other day some rude boys were making fun of him in line ... no they di'uhnt! I felt a strong surge of motherly instinct to punch them in the throat with one hand, and balls with the other. I did neither but I seethed quietly to myself and then gave them dirty looks when he waved me to the front ahead of them. People are mean. My affinity for him may be heightened because of my own family history with strokes. Being that I never knew my grandmother pre-stroke, I only knew her with limited speech, and mobility I totally get the stroke thing. STILL, he's my little friend. I heart him.

Post Turtle

While suturing a cut on the hand of a 75-year-old Texas rancher whose hand was caught in a gate while working cattle, the doctor struck up a conversation with the old man. Eventually the topic got around to Sarah Palin and her bid to be a heartbeat away from being President.

The old rancher said, 'Well, ya know, Palin is a post turtle.' Not being familiar with the term, the doctor asked him what a post turtle was. The old rancher said, 'When you're driving down a country road and you come across a fence post with a turtle balanced on top, that's a post turtle.'

The old rancher saw a puzzled look on the doctor's face, so he continued to explain. 'You know she didn't get up there by herself, she doesn't belong up there, she doesn't know what to do while she is up there, and you just wonder what kind of dumb ass put her up there to begin with.'

my first real weekend

What an exciting weekend I have had. Woah is me. First my little BP called me on Thursday from the road up to Bellingham. When he was not distracted by shifting, drinking soda, or the roadside corn he was going to barter for he told me that the office was NOT on. It devastated me. I love the office. So instead I watched the vice presidential debate, argued with my dad via text message, felt solidarity with miss keels and insulted my ex boyfriend about his barely legal current girlfriend. It amused me to no end. I actually did feel kinda bad about some of that, and kinda not about most of it.

Then on Friday me and miss Rachel went out for drinks and cheesey tortillas at Jalapenos. I love me some of those big mama's wooo weee. Then at the ripe old time of 9:00 we staggered over to the bar at Bob's and had more drinks. There was a creepy old man there, he was of course drawn to me. He tried chatting me up, staring at me, telling me I had beautiful eyes, that I was incredibly attractive and that I had a beautiful smile. I kept telling him that he was freaking me out and needed to stop. Then he touched my back ... too far. Rachel tried to save us by saying that we needed to meet a friend (an underage one) at another bar, the waitress came over with our bills in hand and a very apologetic look on her face when she saw he had descended on our table. It was nice. So we bolted, went to the Up, Rachel tried to make me hit on guys which I was just not feeling so much. So she cozied up to a weirdy while I texted miss Gaby, mister Dan and my Mom ahaha. Then I called Gaby to tell her all the weirdness that was going on. Eventually I was sober and ready to go home so of course I had to drive weirdy home. It was half way to my house, then I doubled back to take Rachel home then finally got home around one. It's tough being old and getting tired at 10:00.

Saturday I woke up and shortly after mister BP called me to go for some coffee. It was great. We went to this funny little coffee shop by my house that has intrigued me and we gossiped about all our friends. Got some good laughs. I miss my boys so much! It was grand to catch up with my little BP. Then me, miss Rachel and miss Whitney went and saw the world's worst movie. Please, anyone who may happen to read this DO NOT GO SEE NICK AND NORA'S INFINITE PLAYLIST! Not only will the theater be filled with 16 year old assholes who will piss you off, but it is THE WORST film that I have ever seen. Lord it was horrendous. We also got mexican food which was pretty good but the margaritas were no big mama's thats for sure. Oh also on Saturday I decided to try harder and become a vegetarian after watching fast food nation. I almost vomited many times.

Today I woke up, put on Indiana Jones (because I don't have TV). Took a shower and I think I might walk over to Albertson's (which I hate) for a couple things. I'm going to attempt to make Rachel's vegetarian tuna salad which is delicious, and actually tastes like tuna, which is odd.

Ok, that was my weekend recap. It's nice not having any homework or anything that I MUST do over the weekend.

Next weekend might be Oktoberfest. Woot woot!

post debate

Well I just watch the vice presidential debate. Man I wish Palin would not have been there. If that would have happened I would still like the word maverick. I would like (for effect) to put up some of the text messages that I sent during the debate, mainly to my good pal miss keels, and my Dad. They are as follows:

"every other word out of her mouth is "senator I respect you for that" I think she may want to switch sides..."

"yeah, I am really anti her"

"stop calling yourself a maverick and quit pumping sunshine up mccain's ass"

"I want to punch her in the head. I wish she would just stop calling herself a maverick and telling stupid stories and answer like a politician who could run the country. Quit giving shout outs!"

"I would rather have a political person who answers questions and behaves like an adult with some political background than someone who runs off the fact she is an attractive middle aged woman with a special needs child"

"go dems. they want out of iraq they see there is no such thing as winning. They believe in equal rights not just for people who look just like them"

I don't like McCain or Palin. I do like Obama and Biden. I at least respect them. I will not vote for someone just because they were a POW (no matter how much I respect them for that, and am grateful for their sacrifices, it doesn't make them a good presidential candidate because of it), or because they are a woman.

ok, end rant. Politics get me fired up.

to be cool ... or not

So I'm either going to join jazzercise which looks like a lot of fun, or I'm going to join a yoga studio, which looks hard, trendy, and intimidating. Ultimately though I think either choice would be good, but the jazzercise studio is right next to my office ... tough choice.

fiance!?!

Today was a day. I worked. It was actually kinda nice because the office was quiet, I got a lot done, and pretty much no one was on my case. Plus I had a really nice lunch with another really new girl there who I'm pretty sure is my age, new best friend!?! She seems shy, I'll have to break her of that. Then this afternoon I go out on my errands. Go to the first bank, park, go inside, it's ape shit crazy in there. Ten thousand people, I stand in line for fifteen minutes. I realize as I see the meter maid stroll by that I had only paid the meter for 8 minutes thinking there was no way it could take longer than that. Walk outside, nice little yellow envelope on my windshield. I worked for Western parking for two and half years and NEVER got a ticket at Western, then I'm downtown DOING MY JOB and get one, lame. It was only ten bucks though so I'm not that beat up about it. Then I go to the NEXT bank that I have to do a deposit at. A really cute young nice guy is helping me, totally chatting me up on what I do in my spare time, what my job is, asking me if I'm in school and we are making banter and making fun of each other's jobs and just having a good time during this little transaction. I think to myself, "self, if he asks for your number, don't you even hesitate, just give it to him" "ps self, you look hot in your trendy dress clothes that you can almost pull off ... go you" Then I tell him about my parking ticket and he exclaims with glee, "oh man, I got a ticket a while ago I totally forgot, if you had not said that then I would have never paid it, thanks for taking one for the team haha" I find this amusing, oh he's so cute, I think he's into me, there is hard core flirting going on, this trip isn't so bad after all even though I got a parking ticket. THEN he says to me, "yeah I was up at mount baker with my fiance and we were blah blah blah" I lost interest, he said the dreaded word (along with girlfriend, boyfriend, wife, common law wife, long term relationship, etc etc) and I zoned out. He is still nice and cute, I wish that that bank was the one that I had to go to everyday so that I could build a really fun look at us working and doing business relationship. Might happen. Probably not. Why are all the taken ones the really good flirters ... wait, that makes sense.

i have stuff ... and things

So I finally have stuff in my apartment that isn't clothes or two plates. Yes thats right, I have finally moved all of my furniture, and random shit into my apartment. I actually am writing this post from my bed ... oo la la. And no, not my bed of a foam egg crate pad with an old comforter on it, my actual mattress bed. It's mild to moderately awesome. Closer to moderately. So here I am feeling like i'm actually living in this apartment, it's pretty nice. Tomorrow I will go to work and when I come home I will plop down on my couch and watch the office on dvd and feel good. Oh, my couch was all saggy in the middle so I went to Lowe's and bought a piece of wood to put in it to un-sag it. Mark the day, it was my very first home improvement project ... in this apartment. I had one other home improvement project in my last apartment where I bought a shower head extension because the water hit me between the shoulder blades and my thighs started getting sore from squatting to rinse my hair in the shower. It was a situation. So there you go. Now my couch is firm, I can cook, eat, entertain. All in all things are shaping up quite nicely. Go new apartment ... that doesn't look like a homeless person is squatting in it anymore!

update on life

i bought new shoes yesterday because of the blister situation. they are so fucking bellingham its out of control. and ya know what, no more blisters today. booyah.

bought more sweaters and crap today, it costs a lot of money to look super awesome at your weird job ... just saying

new office tonight, so effing pumped. got a call from my little drewy today he was very slick and asked me if i lived in bellingham them followed it up with a "so i hear that there is a new office on tonight ... can i come over and watch it?" very slick my little drewy very slick. well since i don't have tv, a couch, or cable i told him no, BUT that he could come over and watch it at Rachel's house. so, me drewy and miss rachel are going to have a little partay. mostly just watching the office and eating sweet potato fries.

thats all, i'm already getting tired at around 10:00, maybe earlier.

excited to get my bed this weekend, AND tv, AND entertainment center and various other pieces of furniture. yay for having my belongings back!

new job

I can feel you out there wondering what my new job was like. Let me give you some tids:

one crazy supervisor
one adorable little boy, yes a child runs around the office
one small white poofy dog named spike
one lady training me who has only worked there three weeks
many new office policies that i may never learn
one walk around downtown running errands
four average to large sized blisters from new dress shoes
one compliment on new dress clothes that i had to buy
two hours before i was forced to answer the phone for the first time
one time getting reprimanded from the owner of the company
one eye roll from the owner of the company
one time the owner of the company told us "nice little ladies" at the front not to carry large boxes
one exhausted little lady

bought new shoes after work
bought 120 dollars worth of groceries
watched four episodes of the office (so far) on my computer because i don't have a tv (or bed, or couch, or table, or chairs or anything to sit on, or anything to set things on)

going to bed at 10 ... i'm officially old now, thats when old people go to bed

pumped for the season premiere of the office tomorrow

might drink one of the 24 ounce coors lights i bought

nice

starting to work out

in new apartment!
on new internet that i set up myself!
watching the office online because i don't have a tv or cable yet!
sleeping on egg crate mat because i don't have my bed yet!
starting new job tomorrow!
ironed my pants!
excited about life a bit!
drama seems to be calming!
excitement!

apartment

I'm entering panic mode. I need an apartment or a freaking place to live. Anyone (Keeley, KJW) know of a place? I've been hunting, filling out applications etc. its draining and I feel like a bum sleeping on couches when I'm going to be working an actual full time job. Yikes. I should hear tomorrow if I got the place that I really want. I BETTER hear tomorrow, either that or I answer one of the many ads on Craigslist for the 28 year old men who need room mates. They couldn't be that bad ... right? This is what I've come to ...

woops

I highly doubt that anyone reads this anymore. even keels? in any case. i did the camp thing, got home end of august, did the unemployed thing for about a month. went to all corners of the state and visited people, was in a wedding, loathed myself for being unemployed, played wizard staff, met boys, it was cool. then (as of Tuesday of last) I because employed again! Hooray! So starting next wednesday, I will be an employee of someone. More specifically I will be an administrative assistant for a CPA firm in Bellingham. Yes, my dear sweet Bellingham will be my home again. I'm anxiously awaiting the call from a landlord that I have a place to live. Everyone cross their fingers for me that I actually got that place. Other than that, not really anything is going on. Got a job, back in the work force, life is changing, its all very big time! Don't know how I'm going to cope. I guess we will see. Perhaps lots of angsty blogs will start popping up once I have a home with internet access ... or when I start using Rachel's computer while I stay with her ... we will see. Ok, thats all.

Olympics

The olympics are just around the corner and they mark four years of relatively low amounts of crying at sports. Thats almost the truth considering that I cry at NFL montages, commercials, anything involving troops, and throw improbably sport victories in there and I'm practically a basket case. Well I opened today so I had some time to read the news. Here is my teary eyed moment of the morning:

Dara Torres' eyes were watery and not from just having climbed out of the pool. She was crying at the cheers from 13,247 fans who saw the 41-year-old mother complete her improbable Olympic comeback.
Torres became the oldest American swimmer ever on an Olympic team. She'll be the oldest female swimmer at the Games since 44-year-old Brenda Holmes of Canada in 1972.
After the race, Torres' cell phone was clogged with 115 messages, texts and calls

Yes, I was a basket case.

uhh

camp has sucked all my free time. this was my horoscope:

You shouldn't expect to make very much progress in anything today

It's extrodinarily accurate.

Shower

I have not taken a shower today, and no one gives too shits about it. Blam, working at summer camp is fun.

Camp update

Camp thus far has still been busy. Lots of oreientation and learning how to do everything. It's fun to be meeting so many new people and making connections with the people that I work with and live with and everything.

I'm starting to have concerns about the food situation. It is fried, greasy, cheesey and just plain made for kids. I find myself eating a salad at every meal ... with the greasey cheesey pasta with eight types of meat and whatnot, it's going to be a problem. Yesterday we went to this girls camp down the street called Romaca, which is affectionately called HO-maca by all the female staff of my camp. It's very odd how the directors of each camp whore their staff out to each other because they become so deprived of the opposite sex. It was funny to watch (especially the younger guys) run around after the girls and put on shit tons of cologne and try to impress them. The girls and me just sat around and talked about how their dining room was sub-par to ours, there was not enough food, they were mean, and just in general how our camp is much better. Clearly having a staff of about 200 here right now and around 20-25 of them being women is pretty good odds. Not to mention that of those 20-25 women they are either way out of the age range of the people here, married, have children, or are dating one of the guys that are already here. Its a perk. And I just found out that HO-maca is coming HERE for dinner which kinda sucks because now I feel social pressure to dress up in somewhat decent clothes. Lame.

OH, another perk of this job, I can not shower, wear gym clothes, and its perfectly fine and even encouraged. Some of the highest ranking people wear shitty gym clothes that are ripped and paint splattered and no one cares! Plus once the kids get here we have shirts assigned so we only have to worry about pants.

Ok, not much else is going on in life. We have been going out a lot and I'm tired! I have turned into a big dull dud in my old age. Ok, more news later.

MORE pig in boots

So you didn't think life could get any better after pig in boots? Well you were wrong, here is VIDEO of pig in boots!

OH ALSO

Other tids I forgot to mention in my facebook induced fit of embarassment:

• KJW tells me things when she's drunk that are icky. In all fairness, KJW tells me things when she's sober that are icky.
• Kunta-Courthouse now has a snazzy blog link on my list of important nouns
• Two days until I graduate.
• Three hours until I get my cap and gown and dance around like an idiot in it while listening to Whitney Houston.
• Six hours until my quarterly Thai date with my room mate.
• Sevenish hours until Big Mamas with Em, Erin, I think Kunta Courthouse and perhaps KJW? I don't know the official guestlist, but I know it includes me, strawberries and multiple shots of tequilla, and I'm happy about that.

That is all. Happy Thursday (my last in the ham ... sadness)!

facebook ... you screwed me again

So I'm at work right now, facebooking because clearly I don't have any schoolwork to be doing (mini happy dance in honor of me). So this guy comes over to interrupt my stalking of high school classmates and their children. Ge comes over and says that there is a permit waiting for him. I find the paperwork and while I'm filling it out he looks over at the computer screen and goes "uh oh, facebooking at work huh" and of course being the big idiot that I am I go, "well of course, I'm all done with school I don't have any studying to do". We proceed to talk about graduation and whatnot and I fill out his paperwork wrong and have to start over. He looks at me and goes, "uh oh, you're blushing, you just got caught facebooking at work!" Clearly I REALLY start blushing. Did I mention that this is the really cute kinda nerdy personal trainer from the gym that I've had a crush on for oh ... two years!? And he's getting a permit to go take a picture with the President of the University because he's an outstanding scholar. I'm such a smooth operator. We then wish each other congratulations and he goes, well I guess I'll be seeing you Saturday afternoon! Crap.

I won't lie, I also then tried to stalk HIM a little on facebook because I now had his first and last name. Couldn't find him ...

Last Test

I am about to leave to go take my very last test in college! I'm hoping it's very easy because I didn't really study all that much for it ... whoops. Here's to hoping that I pass and am given my degree!

I think I'm not grown up enough to be a college graduate ... hmm. Especially since I've been far more worried about what shoes I will wear to graduation, than finishing papers and studying for tests, I have my priorities.

PS, I think I'm going to borrow a pair of black patent leather peep toe cork wedges from Em for graduation, in case you were wondering.

PPS, that was A LOT of adjectives to adequately describe one pair of shoes

pig in boots

Clearly the cutest thing I have ever seen:

Journal

I just real journaled for the first time in 5 months! I know this because like a really cool obsessed with record keeping freak I note the date and day of the week of each of my journal entries. Really cool right. It was a little bit ridic to go back and read what I was up to five months ago. There were many things that could have been called 'obvious foreshadowing' that I just didn't know at the time. Now I just want it to be five months from NOW so that I can go back and read THIS entry and think about how silly I was. Oh journals, they are fun.

OK, just for the record, the picture is actually a diary. I don't keep a diary. Diaries are for 13 year old who love people named Max ... apparently. I don't love Max ... well like that. I keep a journal, which is for serious people who are almost college graduates! Max, I still love you, just not in a 'you're a stud' and 'dogs rule' sort of way. I hope we can get through this.

Greylock

Well I leave for camp in less than two weeks and I'm getting excited and nervous. Will east coasties understand me? Will I get confused easily by the fast paced world of the east coast? Will the the low context culture confused the high context west coastie in me? Is the language different? Will I get the accents? Will they get MY accent (that clearly I don't have)? Is the food going to make me sick? Do they even have food? So many questions. I don't have the answers!

I have one more day of classes (which I'm considering skipping because I just don't care that much).

I have three more work days (next week).

One final next Wednesday.

One paper due on Monday.

One bridesmaid dress to shop for.

One package of dirty bachelorette invites to buy.

One day of signing my apartment away to the sub-letter (thank god).

One digital camera to buy!

Did I mention that I have to drive a 14ft Uhaul from Woodinville to Puyallup?!? Dear god, that's exciting. I hope I don't die right before camp ... that would suck.

Um, that's all. My life is one big countdown right now.

mr dinadoogz

file this under: perhaps-the-perfect-guy-who-loves-animals-and-is-also-a-fireman

yowza

horoscope

Here was my horoscope from today:

Timing is everything when it comes to any kind of relationship -- so you need to stop trying to rush things! Whether you're eager to hear about a job prospect, dying for the cutie to call, or impatient about when your sweetie will propose, you have to realize that you don't have any influence in this situation. Your hopes and wishes, no matter how strong they are, cannot force someone to do something that they don't want to do or aren't ready to do. Relax and focus on something else.

Yikes.

help me

I really need a direction in life. I've been without one for a while now and it's mildly starting to freak me out. Call me crazy, but a tiny part of me really wants to join the peace corps. Is that crazy? Yes. It is. It's crazy like a fox. But I do like foxes ...

Also I want to do something with the environment. Someone help me find a job where I can help the environment. I want to help people (and myself) be better to our silly little earth. Where are those jobs? "silly little earth helper" that should be my title. Ill type it into Monster and see what happens.

Seriously though, someone find me a job. And I love Washington so if it was here that would also be dandy. Do it.

Offering up a boob

This is why I could never be a Chinese policewoman during a natural disaster. Well this amongst other reasons:

A Chinese policewoman is being hailed as a hero after taking it upon herself to breast-feed several infants who were separated from their mothers or orphaned by China's devastating earthquake.
Officer Jiang Xiaojuan, 29, the mother of a 6-month-old boy, responded to the call of duty and the instincts of motherhood when the magnitude 7.9 quake struck on May 12.
"I am breast-feeding, so I can feed babies. I didn't think of it much," she said. "It is a mother's reaction, and a basic duty as a police officer to help."

I'm sorry, but that's kinda bizarre

Heaven on Earth

This made me smile. Then made me incredibly jealous.

MORRIS, Ill. - You'd need a lot of milk to dunk all the cookies that spilled on an interstate highway in Illinois this morning.
A trailer loaded with 14 tons of double-stuffed Oreos overturned, dumping boxes of cookies all over the road and the median about 50 miles southwest of Chicago.
It shut down the highway and backed up traffic.

That is one of my definitions of heaven. A literal highway full of cookies. Now if that was right next to the chow mein interstate, macaroni salad freeway, chip roundabout, and ice cream thoroughfare, they really would have my heart.

crying

So, I cry at almost anything. In the last three weeks I have cried approximately 35 times for various reasons, news articles, radio commercials, my conversations with people, Meerkat Manor (SPOILER ALERT: Flower died, I cried at work in the break room, it was awful ... she was such a prolific leader), TV in general, its been weird. Here is just one reason why I should not be allowed to read the news in public. I start crying reading articles like this:

Chinese teenager Yang Liu lay alive but buried under the rubble of her school on Wednesday, knowing that the only way she will survive is if she loses her legs.

"In my whole life, I've never done anything like this, I've never seen anything like this, but we must be soldiers now," said the leader, Yang Xin.
"We must fully do our duties," he said. "You are my flesh and blood, and the people buried in here are our flesh and blood."

I think I lost it right around "we must be soldiers now". As everyone knows ANY mention of the war, the troops, troops' families, babies born to soldiers while they are away, soldiers coming home, soldiers dying, families finding out a soldier has died etc. etc. makes me cry ... a lot.

It's official ... I've turned into my mother. I just thought it would take longer.

Cutest Ever

I made an executive decision today. Baby Meerkats are the cutest animals in the world.

Priorities

Everyone has certain priorities. I'm guessing this child was ... unplanned.

DARWIN, Australia - An Australian man has been fined after buckling in a case of beer with a seat belt but leaving a 5-year-old child to sit on the car’s floor, police said Tuesday.

The 30-can beer case was strapped in between two adults sitting in the back seat of the car. The child was also in back, but on the car’s floor.

“I haven’t ever seen something like this before,” he said. “This is the first time that the beer has taken priority over a child.”

In all fairness, that beer might have been really expensive.

I love it

OK I found the forum that housed that last picture and I can't not post a more.

No they di-uhnt

Picture number two that made my shitty day a tiny bit less shitty:

hot

Very few things could make me happy today. Luckily I found one of them:

Virtual Age

Not only am I stealing this fun internet quiz from KJW, but I schooled her on life expectancy. So, there.

My virtual age: 6.4 years
Life expectancy: 88 years


That is a LONG time. Only 67 years to go!

Grandma Sue

I used to watch this all the time! First Bob Barker, then Sue, whats the world coming to?

Oxygen's "Talk Sex" call-in show with colorful septugenarian educator Sue Johanson is ending its run after six seasons, the network announced Tuesday.
The final show airs at midnight Sunday.
"I'm going to miss it terribly," Johanson told The Associated Press. "It's been part of my life and I just love it. I'm going to miss writing scripts. I'm going to miss having to read books. I'm going to miss playing with sex toys."

The world may never be the same.

Pot Suckers

This article caught my eye, then made me laugh, out loud, in public.

Georgia retailers soon will be banned from selling candy flavored to taste like marijuana to children.

Senator Doug Stoner pushed the bill in the senate. "I don't think that folks are aware this is going on," Stoner told Channel 2 in April. "It's mainly, from what I can tell, particularly targeted to minority communities."

Senator STONER, was against the measure! Anyone?

Yowza

I just had a moment. I just read that Scarlett Johansson and Ryan Reynolds were engaged and I thought Ryan Gosling. Two of my favorite people in "show business". I hate Ryan Reynolds. Though I think he's cuter than the dickens, I think he's a bit of a tool. I love Ryan Gosling, he is both pretty to look at, and not a tool. Scar Jo is my "celeb I would go gay for" so obviously I like her. Ok, pointless post.

My prof just asked me to be her grading TA for the rest of the quarter and she said that if I did it I would get a small stipend, her undying gratification and a glowing letter of recommendation. I'm doing it for the letter. I want a job. Oh and I'm doing it for the stipend, I bet its less than 50 bucks. I'm ok with that.

Post dedicated to Ryan Gosling

Pop

This is weirdly satifying.

POP

Too much

It's just too much cute. I can't handle it.

Jobs

I just wrote five cover letters. They suck. I just want a job. Is it that hard? I like short sentences. Someone give me a job. I'm not qualified for anything. Oh well. Bum-ness it is.

I want a job please
I guess I have to grow up
Not ready for that

Job angst haiku. I win.

Happy note: I'm getting paid to write these cover letters, this blog, countless emails, and balance my checkbook. I win for having the cushiest college job ever.

Dolphins

This is the reason why I know I'm going straight to hell (well one reason among many):

A 30-year-old dolphin at Sea World has died after colliding with another dolphin while performing aerial tricks, the Orlando, Florida, amusement park said Monday.

"This is an unfortunate, random incident," Bides said in a written statement.
"While it is not unusual to have two animals performing aerial behaviors at the same time, we are reviewing the situation to ensure even such a random incident does not occur again."

I laughed when I read this. I'm kind of a horrible person. I just liked how they called it random like three times. Plus the dolphin's name was sharky and the one it ran into was named Tyler. Thats just funny. Sharky beat Tyler. Anyone? Bueller?

To the best of my knowledge this picture does not feature Sharky or Tyler.

TULIPS

My big adventure for the weekend? Tulips, lots and lots of tulips. Well in all honesty there were also daffodils. They were pretty too, but kinda dead. Apparently we missed the prime of the daffodils. The tulips were part of my "secret date" which is meant like the destination was secret, not the fact that we were on date. At least I think so ... crap. In any case, this was my last weekend with said boy being that he leaves for stupid Alaska until September. Who likes Alaska anyway? OK, here are a couple pictures of the insane amounts of flowers that I saw. You should be horrible impressed.

Yes the first picture is of a tiny cute little Asian boy running around in the flowers, the second is one of my artsy attempts at my favorite purple ones, and the last is of these two really hot people we saw walking around.

happy

This makes me happy, around one minute it gets really good:

contacts

I forgot the most amazing feeling in the world until yesterday morning at about 6:30. You guessed it, opening and then jamming into your eye, a new pair of contacts. I'm a cheap cheap lady so I wait a long time between opening new packs. I write down the date in my planner so that I won't open a new one too early and theoretically waste money. The last couple days I have not been able to see. It was painful putting them in, and I rushed home in the afternoons so that I could put on my glasses. But then, yesterday, yesterday morning, I bucked up and for the first time in eight long weeks, merely four weeks after I should have, and I opened a new pair of contacts. I can't even feel them! So much so that I fell asleep with them in, don't worry, I could feel them after that. So there you have it. If you ever want to really cheer me up, open me a new pair of contacts, it's quite possibly the best feeling in the world. (But don't open me a pair of MY contacts because thats just a waste ... and you don't know the date that I wrote in my planner!)

GROLAR bear

OK, so it's Alaska week on the Discovery channel (which is in my top five channels for sure, A&E, USA, NBC, BRAVO ... sometimes MTV and TLC ... OK it's more than five, but Discovery is high up there) and on the big opening night of the week they talked about bears. I love bears. I love POLAR bears, mostly because they look really cuddly and nice but they are mean little devils. I love them. They talked about this crazy hybrid of Polar and Grizzly bears which they called Prizzly bears. Clearly this is a lame name for such a freaking awesome bear. I have renamed it the GROLAR bear. Which you much pronounce with a really hard and rolling GROOOOO-lar bear. Way cooler.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/12738644/

it's early yet

So I just took a test. I did not prepare for it, in fact I shirked all responsibility, went over to the boys' house and watched TV, ate an entire pint of ice cream and just in general pretended that I didn't have an exam at 8:30. Well, I think it's pretty safe to say that I'm not confident in my performance. In fact I walked out of the room thinking, "so that's how it feels to get a solid C on a test. Well it isn't the first time, probably won't be the last." Then I realized that it COULD be the last! I'm graduating soon suckas! This very well could be the last time that I do marginally shitty on a test! Three bonus points for me.

Update on my cold!? Sure. I still have a head cold, complete with sniffles, attractive nose dripping, annoying horn blowing sound effects, and general nastiness. However, I have also evolved to sport a hacking cough complete with phlegmmy undertones. I'm a ball of sexual attraction. Also in reference to previous dirty clothes nose blowing mention, I chose a CLEAN t-shirt to sit by my bed to blow my nose on. I know you were curious.

If I were a dog, this is exactly how I would picture myself coughing. Also eerily similar to how I actually look ... when coughing.

Not OK

Ok before I start bitching about things I have one funny thing that happened at work today. A guy came in to pay a ticket and he had to fill out this little form so that I could waive one of his fees (because I'm that damn nice ... tell your friends). So he fills it out and then tears it off the pad, looks at me, and goes "do I take this, or do you keep it?" Why on earth would I have some guy fill out a form, just to keep it and do nothing with it?! People don't often think, this is quite possibly what makes my life a constant comedy, and occasionally a tragedy.

Sad news (in bullet form for simplicity and length):

• I bid farewell to my fake long term relationship Scotty. He has decided to leave me to become a grown up with a real job and crap. What a loser.
• I also bid farewell to miss Sandboney. She has also decided to leave me in search of grad school or some other such nonsense. Again ... what a loser.
• I bid farewell AGAIN to baby Gaby my little travel size friend. She has decided to leave me to live at home with her family, save money and then live the life of a grown up. Stop it.
• I bid farewell to a gentleman that I have been spending a great deal of time with lately. It sucks because he is leaving for five months at a really fun time in our relationship and I want to punch him in the head for this. He ALSO is leaving for a job. Since when are jobs cooler than me? I know I don't pay well (I really only pay is hugs and sarcasm) but I thought I had more of a draw than this!
• Sadly, I also had to bid farewell to one of my favorite and most inspirational professors while at Western. Last spring he disclosed to our class that was extremely tight knit that he had pancreatic cancer. He was incredibly up beat, planned to beat it, and kept right on teaching our class. This last Friday he lost his battle with cancer. He was an incredible asset to our department and many many people are being affected by his death. His memorial is this friday, and while I'm glad that I get to be there to celebrate his life, it's enormously difficult for me to think about his death.

Life all in all has been fab (I'm either in the 80's or a 15 year old girl right now) and I've been really happy. I ate an entirely too large chunk of salmon last night, enjoyed a delicious coffee this morning and get to see dear miss Em tonight who I have not seen in over a month. These things makes me happy. More snarky comments to come ...

My Powers

I finally figured out what my super power is. No it's not perfect comic timing (though I do posess it), no it's not the world's frizziest hair (though I also have that), it is knowing EXACTLY when I get sick. Yesterday I was sitting on my couch watching a really depressing documentary On Demand (Born into Brothels, if you're interested) and I sniffled. Just once. I knew what was up though. I now officially have a cold. I made sure to note the time of course, it was 3:17pm. At 3:17pm on April 20th, 2008 I got sick. It rapidly progressed, I was blowing my nose constantly enough to get the reaction of, "Jesus that cold hit you fast" from someone whom I had seen for the last like four days straight (those days are to be referred to as the 'pre-cold era'). It was no good. It also prompted me to wake up at 4:38am (I always look at the clock when I wake up at night) and shuffle myself to the end of my bed, grab some dirty laundry from the basket and blow my nose on it. Now for those who think thats gross, think about it. Not only am I saving paper from being used and discarded thus hurting the earth, but I'm also not using a hanky which just makes for MORE laundry which means MORE washing machine which is both MORE electricity and MORE soap. I'm such a freaking good environmentalist it's obscene. Not to mention that my dirty clothes basket is way closer to a tired sniffly me than the tissue in the bathroom. Go me. I hope to also be able to note the exact last time that I am sick.

Suck on it

I have found approximately 35 reasons in the last two days to say "suck on it" this is the most recent:

President Bush and first lady Laura Bush welcomed Pope Benedict XVI in an elaborate ceremony Wednesday morning on the South Lawn of the White House.

In remarks greeting the pope, Bush called the United States "a nation of prayer."

Bush was interrupted by applause as he said, "In a world where some treat life as something to be debased and discarded, we need your message that all human life is sacred and that each of us is willed."

Then he of course went and plotted how he could kill some more Iraquis in the next few days, cut social security and make everyone who ISN'T Christian feel like crap. Kudos. How long until he's gone again?

Videos

I'll do an exhaustive post about how much the Super Bowl angered me later. I have three fuuuunny videos to share:

The political one:



The raunchy one:



The Super Bowl one:

PAUL BROGAN SUPER BOWL RAP

Add to My Profile | More Videos

I hope those work ...

Motivation

It makes me a fair amount of motivation to do most things. Whether its just plain proving someone wrong, or trying to do my best or pass a class, whatever I have to be fairly motivated. I have however always prided myself on being able to do anything if I just put my nose to the grindstone and do it.

I also lack the skills of making decisions quickly about big events in my life. Case in point, I'm trying to decide if I should work at a summer camp this summer. It sounds like such an amazing place, and experience and a ton of fun, not to mention that one of my great friends (ahem KEELEY) will be there all summer. I am hung up on the money, the distance, the logistics of it all. I want to just relax and take the job! My contract came in the mail today, they offered me the job last week. I'm thinking it through while still trying to do my Bellingham thing on this side of the country. It's hard for me to make these decisions.

So I'm unsure if I have a point here. I guess I just suck at making decisions, but I'm good at keeping with them once I make them? Who knows. Also Heath Ledger died today. That was unexpected, it makes me feel weird.

PROOF

So, I was cruising through some pictures on facebook today, and I found some proof to myself that I actually have lost weight, it felt nice. It actually kinda looks like both of us have lost weight, not that fischer really needs to, but anywho. So on the left is June 2007, and the right is December 2007. And yes, I'm wearing a tank top in both June and December. It was a theme party ...

So you have Mono

Yes folks, I've got it ... the kissing disease. May I just start by saying that mono has quite the stigma attached to it! Everyone turns their nose up at me and gets all uppity when I say that I have mono ... it's not cancer or AIDS or something it's just mono! Lets start from the beginning:
Last week I started noticing that my throat hurt but only on the left side. I distinctly remember telling several people this on Thursday fearing that Max had somehow given me his tonsillitis through osmosis or something. Then by Saturday it was incredibly difficult to swallow, and I could see this giant lump in my throat. I called a nurse on my insurance she just told me home remedies to get through the weekend until I could go to the doctor. Saturday night is full of inspecting all of my friends' throats and them inspecting mine to see what 'normal' looks like. (sidebar: Brittany has a dagger hangy ball as do I, Gaby's is all long and wide, Evan's is really short and nubby, Scott's was pretty normal, and Maxy's throat is so disgusting right now because of the tonsillitis). Monday rolls around and everyone at work looks at my throat and freaks out thinking it is disgusting. I go to the health center and show it to them, they make me wait for about half an hour for a nurse to look at it, she looks at it and informs me that it is either mono or strep. Well my rapid strep test was negative and I could hardly believe mono since I felt fine other than the throat. So they ran a blood test ... MONO! I actually said, "WHAT!?! how is that possible I FEEL FINE!" The nurse just giggled, apparently I have a slight fever, hugely swollen glands and giant tonsils, all indicative of mono. The blood confirmed. So thus far I still feel fine, I'm not exceptionally tired or sick or anything, I just can't work out because my immune system is really down and my spleen is ready to rupture if I get hit or work out too hard. AND I can't drink until I'm over it. Thats like six weeks ... SIX WEEKS. Now I know that doesn't seem like a lot, and I'm not an alcoholic or anything, but 80's night is just not going to be the same if I'm not a little tipsy! I guess it's work it though if I can get back to normal faster, and I don't want my liver to freak out and give up on me at such a young age. So thats the skinny. Also I've had to kinda warn people that I might have given them mono. Some have taken it better than others, most people are unconcerned about it, Scott had a freak out thinking that we were sharing drinks, but other people have been OK. Actually sometimes I don't think I give people enough credit about stuff like this. That being said, I have had my fair share of people freak out and demand that I not get anywhere near them. FYI you can only spread it through "intimate contact with saliva" so most everyone is safe! Easily the best part of the whole ordeal though has been that at the health center they gave me a pamphlet called, "so, you have mono: taking the next step" haha, love it.

OK, well that is your update on my communicable diseases for today haha. Enjoy your hump day.
PS, I Google image searched "mononucleosis" and this picture came up, how appropriate.

First day of classes

Today was my 11th first day of classes at Western. That means that I only have one more first day of classes until I graduate. I'm accepting your congratulations as they stream in. What do I think so far you're asking? A bulleted list please? I just want to make the people happy:

• Comm 498 - Communication Ethics. This class weirdly sounds interesting. Here are some of things we discussed today concerning ethical communication. This one is silly: is it ethical to tell your roommate that they look horrible in their clothing? Does this depend on if it is for a date and confidence is more important than looking good, or what if it is an interview where really they do need to look good? More serious: is it ethical to hide that your child is adopted? At what point do you tell them they are? Should you be straight from the beginning or drop it like a bomb later when they can understand? Is there always just one answer? In any case, I think the class will be interesting and the professor (who is my advisor) is hysterical. And you can tell he is a total sarcastic asshole nerd, which is frankly right up my alley. Because of course, I am a sarcastic asshole nerd, who likes to have other people like me around.



• Environmental Science 101 - It is literally the largest class offered on campus. There are 450 people in my class, we are in the largest lecture hall on campus, and people were sitting on the stairs. Our midterms are online, all notes are posted on his website, and clearly role will not be taken. I caught my first cat nap of the quarter in this class today. I did however get a little excited about learning about environmental things, since I am an aspiring environmental hippie.



• Psychology 119 - Psych of Gender. The teacher made me laugh. She made fun of men for oggling women and let us out an hour and a half early. I like her already.



• Communication 325 - Intercultural Communication. I actually donn't have this class until tomorrow, but it is with a prof I had last quarter who I think really likes me, so it should be ok haha.

Thats it. 16 credits closer to graduating on June 14th 2008, not that I'm counting. Other neat pearls in the life of Diana right now?

• I wrote an angry letter to WTA that I'm going to type up after this and send to: WTA, Associated Students, Alternative Transportation and the President of Western. Yeah, I got a little fire lit under my ass today.



• I submitted my application for camp this summer. I got a call from the office manager today but I was in class when she called, I now need to figure out a time to call back during New York business hours ...



• Still working out like a fiend, hoping to lose more lbs this quarter, feeling pretty good about it so far even though I have not lost any since I've been back. I think that getting back into the schedule of class and everything will help regulate myself and get my work outs and food back under control.

I think thats it. Also here is a picture of puppies ... just for fun.

Reverse Miracle

This just made me laugh:
The vision of toast appears on the face of the Virgin Mary

A local woman claimed to have seen a vision of a piece of toast on a picture of the Virgin Mary at her local church. Betty Tilley, 62, was praying silently at the Sacred Heart Catholic church when she looked up to see a ray of light slanting in through the window, illuminating a reproduction painting of the Virgin Mary and as she moved closer she was amazed by what she saw.
"There’s just no question in my mind that it was a miracle. Right there, on the face of the Holy Mary, Mother of God, I could see a nice piece of toasted sliced white bread."

I'm honestly kinda giggling out loud right now.

I would have guessed higher

You are 61% hippie.

You're near the middle of the spectrum, but you've got an open mind. Society needs more people like you.

Are you a hippie?
Quizzes for MySpace

I'm not exactly sure which questions brought me down! I would have thought I was more of a hippie than that. OH well, I'm good with the middle of the road

Lemming

So in accordance to all bloggers I will do a quasi year in review post. Here are some important gems that I can remember.

1. I finished my Junior year of college.
2. I applied and was accepted to my major ... finally (communication, fyi)
3. I turned 21 years of age
4. I went to Reno with my mom, one of my best friends from home, and her mom for a few days to celebrate my birthday
5. I worked 40 hours a week at the PKO for the summer and have no money to show for it
6. I found a wonderful place called the nightlight, with a wonderful thing called 80's night. It's how I spent most of my Thursdays.
7. I started consuming alcoholic beverages at a rate that would impress sailors. I don't know if thats a highlight or a low light, I guess it depends on who you ask.
8. I infiltrated a new group of friends who I can hardly believe I haven't known for forever. I love them all so much and have so much freaking fun with them!
9. I started my Senior year of college.
10. I got the nickname the "office tart" for no reason at all, my co-workers can be rough sometimes.
11. I furthered my relationships with amazing friends, and introduced old friends to new ones, much to their ... pleasure.
12. I started a weight loss program with my friends quasi modeled after the Biggest Loser on NBC ... and won.
13. I'm starting to feel confident in myself 27 pounds lighter.
14. I'm looking forward to continuing my weight loss to a new healthy me.
15. I got to spend new years with some of the fellas who I absolutely adore, some who I have known longer than others.

Thats it I guess. It was a good year, I feel like I hit a lot of milestones this year, many that I hadn't planned on, some that I wish I hadn't hit. I'm looking forward to continuing being healthy in 2008, looking out for myself better, and being happy. Still looking for that ever elusive boy to sweep me off my feet, but I guess I just need to give it time haha. So farewell to 2007, I'm headed to the gym!