Where are we? What the hell is going on?

Good day. Packed for camping, hung out with Molly, watched TV with my mom, babysat, and had a hard-but-necessary conversation with a person I care for very deeply. Now to bed, perchance to dream. But really, with my track record, not-dreaming would be okay too.

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EDIT: Find our sponsors here.

Finally. Down to business.

The time has come [the walrus said]. I have enough time (and enough caffeine running through my veins) to tell you all about Seamus, who is now a week old. Well...he's actually a few years old, but today is our one-week anniversary, if you want to pull out that game.

There he is, in all his glory. This was before the flood waters of the Chicago river assaulted him. Now he's a bit dustier. But I love him just the same. He's a 2007 Prius. I don't know the package number, but he has JBL speakers. No navigation or bluetooth, though, so I think that puts him at a III, not a IV, though he has all the buttons of a IV. And he's got a back-up camera, which beeps when I'm in reverse, and is proving only a little helpful, and mostly annoying.

Here are some pictures of Seamus communing with nature, as Hybrids are wont to do.

Note: the leaf loves the windshield

Also note the comfort level of the robin with the car. They are part of the same circle of life, and so are inherently brothers...

Yup. I love my car. He and I have already bonded a lot over the past week. And he and Geoffrey get along...mostly. Geoffrey has a stand that I don't want to start sticking to Seamus, as he is rather fragile and shiny and I don't want to get him mottled and sticky.

Anyway. Onwards and upwards.

Today was great. I was still kind of in a giddy buzz from lack of sleep (I had to wake up at eight to clean my room before our cleaning crew got here) but I deposited money in the bank, met my new babysitting charge (the adorable nine-month-old child of my former English teacher) and took a nap. And I hung out with Cari, saw her new house, which is pretty sweet. And I replied to some emails.

Tomorrow I have to pack for camping next week. Beeteedubs, I shan't be blogging next week, as wifi is hard to come by in les mountains.

I think that's all there is to report. Our sponsors have been busy today, and want to share their bounty with you.

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Minimalist effort

Okay, so it's 3:30 in the morning. I don't have the brain power to actually make a real post here. At some point, I plan on telling you all about my new car, Seamus, but, again, I want to wait until I'm not using drool-propelled touch-typing.

Today, I watched Annabelle. She was kind of antsy all day, and when I put her down for a nap (because she was getting all cry-y and that usually comes before the "kerplunk!" that sounds as her already sleeping head hits the pillow) she stayed awake for two hours before doing her little whiny I-threw-my-blanket-on-the-floor-so-you-will-now-come-pick-it-up or come-come-now-I'm-obviously-not-sleeping-get-me-out-of-here cry. Knowing it was not going to stop, I went in there, saw that yes, indeed, her blanket was on the floor. So I gave it to her. Then I told her to go back to sleep. She told me she had poopies, and, thinking that sleeping would be hard if you were covered in your own excrement, I picked her up out of her crib and put her on the changing table, only to find she didn't have poopies. I told her that she shouldn't lie to me, and that I was going to put her back in her crib anyway. She started crying. I left. She didn't stop crying for forty-five minutes. But then she slept for an hour and a half. Ugh. Naptime has never sucked so much.

But the rest of the day was excellent. Well, besides the debauchery with the better business bureau an their jankity answering machine message, and the fact that I tore up the inside of my mouth with all the fried chicken I ate. I take-two-ed the going out with the belowmentioned friend, and it worked this time. I haven't seen in him in months, and haven't spent six straight hours with him in years. It was really great. I love that feeling you get when you rediscover something, like all that money I found a few weeks ago, or the diary I'd kept when I was six or seven (that I now keep in my car to keep track of gas mileage), or the friendship that I thought I'd lost.

Anyway. Excellent day. Ending late, but excellent nonetheless.

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Schwoops, catch up time.

Not much happened today. Cleaned my room a bit (not really to any noticeable degree) picked up a DVD from Molly and "helped" her pack for school/watched Jeopardy! and Gilmore Girls, made dinner, went over to a friend's house, but then came home before actually going out with said friend, (long-ish story that's probably none of your business, unless you are said friend, in which case you already know said story and my recounting of it will probably just frustrate you) came home, read Dune, went to bed early.

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What makes it a..."sonic" screwdriver, though?

Freelance day, as a rule. Woke up, impromptu-taking-care-of-Annabelle hour, then kind of nothing for a while, then random-hang-out-with-Molly hour-ish, then dinner, then unplanned-movie/DVRed-television-show-watching bit, then Dr. Who (first this, then some of this, and always, a lot of this).

I'll write yesterday's blog tomorrow. (It seems the doctor has rubbed off on me a bit...)

Ta!

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Lucky I'm in love with my best friend, lucky to have been where I have been...

Saturday. Whew. Saturday.

It started at 6:30 in the morning when I woke up to a thunder crack, scared that my plans were going to be foiled for the day. Because I had a big day planned, you know. Ben and I had decided to try to meet halfway between Grand Rapids and Chicago (approximately New Buffalo, MI) and go to the beach for the day.

I checked weather.com, which told me the worst of the storms was going to pass within the next hour.five, so I calmed down and leisurely got ready to go. Around 8:15, I popped into my new car(! that's right, I didn't tell you about it so that it could be a surprise for Ben, because I know he reads this stupid thing, even though I tell him not to) and drove away.

However, thanks to aforementioned thunderstorms, in under an hour.five, Seamus and I looked like this.

Yeah, it took us about five hours to get to Michigan City, IN, which was three hours more than I'd planned for. (Really, the highest water we drove through was only about two feet or less. And Seamus is made of hearty stock. I'm proud of him) But then the day went up hill. It was a gorgeous beach day, and we spent most of the good sunlight lying in the rays and playing in the waves. As my RA from last year says, "So good!" And we went north to New Buffalo for dinner and we watched the sunset from the dunes, and we sat in the rain and watched the clouds (including those issuing from the natural gas steam things) and had a lovely day/night. I left around 11:00 and got home around 1:30, too tired, smelly, and sandy to want to blog. So there you have it.

While we walked around New Buffalo, we saw a lot of water fowl. Including this one that was hanging out with all the mama and papa geese, but was definitely not a goose.

Poor little gangly teenaged swan. Reminds me a lot of myself in Junior High. Luckily, I'm far more graceful and elegant now...

Anyway. Very awesome day.

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But these are old-man shoes...

Movies are constantly disappointing me. Take, for instance, Despicable Me, which I saw yesterday. It was a great movie. Yes, a children's movie, with a children's movie's flaws, but a great movie once you get past that, which is pretty easy for me.

But real life will never get this cute.

A man's nose can't be that pointy, his legs can't be that spindly, and his adorable little adopted daughters would never be that spunky, nor would his minions be that...weird. Steve Carell doesn't even have an accent. Great movie...great disappointment.

Take, for instance, The Sorcerer's Apprentice, which I just got back from seeing. Not as great a movie, but a much greater disappointment. So, it was another sci-fi/fantasy movie with half-baked explanations that greatly irk the actual sci-fi fan. Big deal. It was no Twilight-disaster movie; it was just a Nicholas-Cage-playing-opposite-a-tennis-ball-on-a-stick movie. But so much of me wished that so much of it was real...ugh.

I wish I could just be normal and detach myself from the fiction I love. I seem to have more troubles than most of my friends at settling for the harsh fact that books and movies are just that and little else. But I suppose, without that...feeling...that almost-pain I get after every time that harsh fact settles in again...without that, I wouldn't be as interested in books and movies as I am. And without those little faux realities, I don't know how much I'd like living in the real one. So, I'll just have to deal with the pain.

That's really all I did today. I watched Annabelle a bit (we went to the library again) and ran some errands, and then went to a movie with Cari. Good day. Tomorrow will be better (=D) By the way, if anyone is reading this and cares (fat chance) I probably won't blog tomorrow night. If I miss it, I'll recap on Sunday night.

Sponsors' Time!

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Can't get down, can't get level; when I'm up, I can't get down...

I barely slept at all last night. I had a lot on my mind, worrying about a lot of inane stuff that, of course, turned to nothing in the morning. I don't think I'm the only person I know whose sleep is so connected to her waking, but I'm the only person who will admit it. My dreams always have something to do with things going on in my life, be it video games I'm playing, things I'm worried about, something I was doing just before bed, and they often carry the same weighty emotions as those real life events. If I'm anxious or excited just before getting into bed, I often can't sleep, and when I do, I have very vivid and immediately recurring dreams of whatever is making me anxious or excited. Sounds pretty straightforward, but it feels really disruptive. I know a few people who have really odd dreams, but they never actually pertain to life, and they rarely ever have trouble sleeping because of their subconscious.

I sometimes wish I was like that. But then again, this is my superpower.

Anyway. Other than that, I learned how cashier's checks work today, and I saw Despicable Me today with my mom and Dennis. The more I think about it, the more I like it. It seemed kind of lame at first, and it is pretty predictable, but it's really cute, and Steve Carell is really good, I think.

Then I [kind of] made dinner. I started making dinner, and then Patrick took over the chicken because he likes grilling things, and my mom took over the macaroni and green beans, because she thought I was doing the chicken and she didn't want anything to explode. So...I set the table...? But it was good, so I don't care.

Tomorrow, to Radio Shack. Also, I think I'm watching Annabelle. Also, I hope I'm seeing Sorcerer's Apprentice. If not, then I shall see it another time.

Okay. Gone now.

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Yawwwwwn...

Long day. GPS did come. I spent a few hours messing with it, so now there's a horse instead of a car icon, and an Australian guy giving me directions. I named him Geoffrey. Car shopping was much more enjoyable today than Friday. I took control of the conversation this time, and I felt pretty comfortable with it. I've learned a lot throughout this whole process, both about my finances, and about how to handle salespeople. I've also learned a lot about car insurance companies. More than I want to, really. Anyway, I'll be glad when this whole process is over.

Geoffrey's kinda cute. He says "I-L" instead of "Illinois" for things like IL 53 and such. I kind of wish he would just stop text-to-speech-ing...I'll see what I can do about that tomorrow.

Now I'm looking up information on warrantees and parts covered thereby. Lots of fun...

Night night.

And now, a word from our sponsors. Please, only watch this once...I don't even know why I'm putting it up here...I hate it. But it's late...and I'm...confused.

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P.S. I was wrong; I'm making dinner tomorrow night, not tonight.

Whoever loses has to get an ugly haircut...the only problem is, you already lost that bet...

Today was my day to watch Annabelle, which I did dutifully, and joyfully. And pretty sleepily for the first couple hours. She watched some Elmo while I woke up slowly, and then played with trains, and then she and I went to lunch with MiMa (my mom) and then she took a nap. After nap we played with her giant exercise ball (which I have taken to calling "Max" and keeping in my room for those days when I feel especially spry) and then play dough before her daddy got home and we ate dinner.

Also, in that time, Dennis went to the oral surgeon and came back with a few less teeth.

I think not. I doted on him, probably not as much as I should have, although he's one of those people, you know, who doesn't want anybody to help him, so there may not have been much I could have done. I guess we'll never know now.

In other news, Ben has discovered WoW. Specifically, free 10-day trials thereof. Thus opens a potentially dangerous chapter of his life...

But at least it gives me one more thing about which to mock him mercilessly. I do enjoy having a large arsenal of those. I mean, if the guy is going to be all super-computer intelligent and be in a major that's probably going to land him in a nigh-instantly lucrative job post-college, I'm going to need a huge vat of meaningless things that make him look .01% stupider.

I'm not too worried, from the girlfriend standpoint. I'm pretty sure I can trust that Ben will be responsible enough not to drive me to the verge of insanity and turn me into the girlfriend that everybody hates, who will then, in turn, turn him into the guy who's catatonic, curled up in the fetal position in the corner, chewing on his own hair. He's just a swell guy, that way.

My GPS is supposed to come tomorrow. My father and I are doing more car shopping tomorrow. Also, I'm making dinner tomorrow.

And I'm catching up on sleep tonight. I really want to watch some Star Trek, though...

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Bed, Bed, I couldn't go to bed, my head's too light to try to set it dowwwwwwn...

False.

I'm going to bed right now.

I'm so tired...I've been tired all day. I took Fudge for her annual vaccinations today, ordered a GPS (Garmin Nuvi 1250 from BestBuy.com because I found a fairly sizable gift certificate while cleaning my room last week) aaaaaand...yeah. Made some calls, ran some errands, but didn't get done all of what I wanted to. Tomorrow I'm watching Annabelle and helping Dennis out if he needs help recovering from his wisdom-teeth surgery. I got mine out earlier this summer, so I'm really eager to help since I know at least something of what he'll be experiencing (mine weren't impacted though...) but I don't think he wants my help. It frustrates me when people don't let me help them when I want to. I'm such a selfish person, I don't offer to help often...

Anyway. To bed.

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Eyelids...drooping...

>
I must have slept ten to eleven hours last night and this morning...crazy. I kind of putzed around until my mom and I left at 3 to see Dennis do the Green show in Bloomington at the Illinois Shakespeare Festival. Then we saw the Tempest. Everything was great. I really enjoyed it. The Tempest is an odd comedy, though, I've found. In my experiences, Shakespearean comedies can often double as modern-day comedies, in that they're actually really funny as well as just having a happy ending. Tempest...mmm...not so much. It's just a happy ending.

Then I drove home, and now I'm watching Dirty Jobs. It's actually a good show. I like the guy; he's funny.

Of course, as the hour rolls over, the infomercials are beginning. DCN breaking special news report! (DCN stands for Dollar Coins News...aka Buy-Our-Collector-Presidential-Dollar-Series-Coins-That-We're-Going-To-Pretend-Are-Worth-More-Than-$1)

My cue to get to bed.

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What a piece of work is [wo]man...

Didn't do much today. Watched Annabelle, then went car shopping, then my plans to go out fell through, so I watched a really crappy Sandra Bullock movie on ABC before eating McDonald's for dinner and falling asleep watching TNG on Youtube. I'll probably write more about all this tomorrow, but, as I said, I'm falling asleep.

[heart]

[EDIT]

I took Annabelle to the Library in the morning. My mom had suggested that we look at zoo books, especially if we could find one about Elephants, because Annabelle likes them a lot I guess. However, this plan was made before we actually got to the library. When we got to the library, everything changed. Annabelle saw the big wooden Thomas the Tank Engine bookshelf thing, and all she wanted to do was "hop on board" and read books "all by myself." So I kind of supervised that for a bit, and then she got distracted by a Barney book and waddled around reading that "all by myself" too. Then she started running around and screaming, so I told her we had to go be quiet at the library and not run around where I couldn't catch her, and she started crying. So I picked her up and started walking out, and she cried louder, and, while walking out, I said, "If you stop crying, we can stay. If you keep crying we have to go home." Before we got to the elevator, she had stopped crying and promised me that she wouldn't cry the whole rest of the time. So we went on the search for some elephant books, but found Elmo books first. So we read two of those, one of which we read twice, and then we went home.

Then I went used-car shopping with my dad some more. We only got to Elgin Toyota before I decided I was too tired to continue. Really, I was kind of disgusted at the whole process. Pulling people's strings and messing with people's minds is not my game. Ugh. I'm going to take a little car-shopping break for a while.

After that, I came home, watched Practical Magic, which, for all its well-crafted casting, is a terrible movie. Watched some ST-TNG, mostly on YouTube, and fell asleep that way.

That was my day in full. No sponsors today. Los siento.

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While up above the waves, my doomsday squad ignites the atmosphere..

Today was rather laid back, all things considered. I didn't have a list of things to do today, because I figured my schedule was pretty packed without one. This morning I went to court for my "moving violation" (it was tagged as "improper lane usage"...who knew you weren't supposed to try to use a lane that already had a car in it?) and to get my license back. That was nerve racking. We got there an hour and a half early, so I read some Dune, which was good.

Then my dad and I went car shopping a bit, and then to move some investments in to my name, and then car shopping some more. Got some good information...no car. Good information I probably could have gotten from the internet...but I have to admit, it was kind of fun to see how the whole system works. And I got to test drive a 2009 Prius, too, which was really fun.

After that, I realized I didn't have any thing on my schedule, so I got an appointment for my dog for the vet, and then played some video games, ate pizza, watched Star Trek, and just kind of hung out. I had been invited to a friend's parent's barbecue, but I don't know many of that friend's other friends, so I didn't go in order to avoid making things awkward for other people. And myself. I don't like awkwardness...and I do like video games. Plus, I'm kind of a homebody.

Anyway, now I think I'm going to read a bit and hit the hay. Tomorrow, I'm watching Annabelle, then car shopping some more, than actually going out and hanging out with friends! Woah, shocker, I know. Don't worry, though. I'll make good choices.

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Take my heart and please don't break it!

Well, today, I got done one of the things that was on my [two-thing] list, plus a couple things that weren't. I did go to the post office and mail both a package and a letter. I didn't give my dog a bath. I woke up too late.

However, I did get bunch of prints made of pictures I took over the past couple months, and I've been meaning to do that since May, so I declare that a win. I also put those photos into frames, made my brother a collage of him with his daughter at the zoo, and decorated a mat frame for that. That's one August-birthday present completed! I'll probably give it to him when he's here this weekend, though...I'm terrible at hiding those things, and I'm just an impatient person.

And my room is still clean! Huzzah!

Technically, hanging out with my mom was also on my list, though I don't put things like that on a list. We watched Sleepless in Seattle, which I used to love when I was younger, but have now realized that it's actually pretty creepy. Well, I still like the movie, but only because I have a little crush on Tom Hanks. And Sam Baldwin. He's a well crafted character.

Time for bed. Fun times ahead of me tomorrow. And then more fun times after that.

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In order that you may view this without the sidebar getting in the way, I have spaced things out awkwardly. If your neuroses are making you freak out about this, I suggest you take a deep breath, count if that helps, and then press play, drowning out your fears in some good tunes.

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If we could walk with the animals, talk with the animals...

Zoo today, with my niece. Evidently, it was her second trip to the zoo. I did not know this yesterday, when I was excited to be able to experience with her her first glimpse into the life of the wild. Nope, she went last year with her mommy and daddy. So little old Mary had to settle for second. Kids these days, you know? They got some nerve.

But it was fun. It was hot, and it was sunny, and it was really awesome when we went to the underground [and air conditioned] viewing for the seals and the hippos and the polar bear...the last of which wasn't even on exhibit today, but we just hung out in the observation room for a while anyway.

I did feel really bad for those animals though. I had an interesting conversation with my father this morning about the differences between animal torture and human torture. Really, I was wondering whether shock-bark collars are really ethical, and he was arguing that the animal can still exhibit free will and choose not to bark. We're not forcing it to bark and then shocking it for doing so. But I don't know. There has to be some way to allow dogs and humans to coexist. Because, yeah, domesticating animals in the first place was probably not a smart move, but now that the breeds exist, it's not like we're going to give them a habitat of their own. They were bred for captivity, and who knows if they could even survive healthily on their own. So there's got to be some good way of allowing us to live together...either by them not barking as much or by us just getting over it. Personally, I'm all for a little compromise. My dog barks too much, and my old dog didn't bark at all, but I've known plenty of dogs who knew when it was a good idea to bark and when it wasn't. That is the ideal situation, I think.

As for the poor tiger pacing around in his pen today...I still don't know. As a conservation effort, yeah, captivity is better than extinction. And education is good and all...but those animals don't belong in those cages, really. Of course, those specific animals probably wouldn't do so well on the outside, either.

And the rest of my day was pretty relaxed. Mostly I rested my poor, swollen feet. I wrote a letter, updated my resumé, and my room is still clean. Then went to Cari's, watched some of "The Office," (season four, if you were wondering) and avoided the dive-bombing moths outside her front door. All in all a very good day.

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