Ballszilla!

I went to work two hours late (sanctioned) because I didn't get hardly any sleep last night, and today still managed to be tedious and long.  Woo!  I stood out there for an hour and a half this evening before I went home and absolutely no one would take a survey.  And the ones that agreed didn't qualify for a survey.  Goody!

While I was at work today, S had an equally long day rearranging the entire living room by herself.  Crazy woman.  It's pretty great, actually.  I'm now on the other end of the couch and in the corner by the windows, and I really dig it.  It feels sort of fort-ish.  Ha. Anyway, she did an incredible amount of work, and between that and digging out a bunch of clothes that were by the bed in the bedroom, she definitely kicked ass today.  Go S!!  Also, she found my other ballet flat I've been missing for four months that I swore up and down was under the couch.  It was under the couch.  And she found a shirt I've been missing for almost a year, so I'm really excited to get to wear it again.

I'm attempting to catch up on the laundry, since now that I'm working, it's not really getting done and everyone is out of clothes.  Joy.  Sometime in the next few days I am going to have to go through and sort all the laundry so we can have J take it downstairs and we can start getting it all washed again.  It's Mount Laundry in the hallway for now, though.  Oh god.

I'm taking Girl Child trick or treating on Halloween, and I'm all excited because I get to wear my glow in the dark Toy Story shirt and have it actually GLOW.  Yesssss.

While I was sorting the laundry out into what we need immediately tomorrow and what we can wait on for later this weekend, I got confused about some shirts, because S and I trade shirts around a lot.  (We both wear huge shirts when we're just hanging out at home.)  So I was trying to ask S about it, and I said her name, and she said, "Ballszilla!"  Because unlike a normal person, she greets people like this sometimes.  The hilarity was too much for me though, as it made me collapse laughing.  And then she yelled things like, "Floor!  Lamp!  Wall!  Dog!" and got great amusement from me laughing at this stuff.  I laughed so hard and for so long that I cramped my abdominal muscles and made my entire face hurt.  It was great.  She and Girl Child were sitting there laughing at me laugh silently, clapping like a retarded seal.  I love being here.

So today hasn't exactly been exciting or anything, but all in all a good day.  I'm too tired to write anything of substance, sorry.  If I could, I'd get all Link Round Up or ranty or some shit, but I'm just too exhausted to put a coherent sentence together.  I may do a picture update sometime soon, though, because I need to perform a camera dump very, very soon.  It's completely full.  I've got pictures dating back to April on that thing.

I'm obsessed with playing Solitaire on my iPod lately.  I don't know what to make of this.

And now, laundry!

Harry Potter and the VMAs

It's been a few days.  I haven't had much to say, really, so things have been boring!  Sorry!

Anyway, today I finally saw Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2.  I was really irritated by some of the (unnecessary) changes that were made to the movie, including the HUGE plot change at the beginning of the Battle of Hogwarts.  I also cried from the point where Harry speaks briefly with Snape until just before the end of the battle.  I was really disappointed, though, all in all - they could have done it more justice.  I'm so glad Pottermore will be open in October, I'm looking forward to stuff that is actually canon.  At least I'll always have the books.

This afternoon was fairly uneventful - I got a migraine from a combination of lack of caffeine and attempting to stop crying and probably eyestrain and had to take a nap, had to suffer through a millionth viewing of a Pirates of the Caribbean movie, and heard a funny story about the Toddler.

The Toddler was not very pleased at being left behind when S dropped me off at the movie theater this morning.  (I went to the first showing they had available so it would be super cheap.)  When S got him ready to go pick me up, he ran to the door and said, "Me?  Meee?  Me!  Meee!"  When they got outside, he chanted "ME!" while looking everywhere for me before S told him that they had to go bye-bye to get me.  So he ran to the side of the car his car seat is on and tried to open the door himself.  Then he checked the car for me.  When I got in the car, he said, "Me!"  It was pretty cute.  He does the exact same thing, only with a lot more crying and screaming, whenever S leaves the house with M or to make a quick trip to the grocery store when he's awake and left in my care.  I imagine he also didn't spend the two hours I was gone asking for me, either, like he does when S is gone.  ("Ma?  Mom?  Ma?  Mama?  Ma?  Mom? Mommm!"  Imagine this protracted over the course of two hours, broken up by tantrums and staring at the television.)  Moral of the story?  Toddlers are a strange species.

I finally repolished my toenails tonight.  This is probably the most exciting thing I've done in weeks.  They're very dark, because it's getting to be fall and they should stay polished long enough for the weather to cool off so I can stop sweating profusely every time I move.  Fuck summer.  I had many problems polishing my toenails, too.  There was less than an ounce of nail polish remover left in the bottle, and Girl Child managed to lose her bottle, so I had to be very careful when using it to make sure I got all the old polish off on the first try.  Then, of course, the color I wanted to use died, so I grabbed the OPI bottle of black that was in the hallway, only to discover that the (almost completely full) bottle was permanently stuck shut.  J couldn't get it open when Girl Child asked him to earlier today, so he didn't even try when I asked him.  S saved the day with a different bottle of black that has reddish undertones, which was actually pretty cool and closer to what I was originally going for.

Speaking of sweating, S thinks I might have a thyroid problem.  Gahoogy-hoo.  I really need to get to a doctor sometime soon and figure out what all my myriad problems are.

Wearing my glow in the dark Toy Story shirt to the theater today would have been way more awesome if I'd ever been in a room that was actually completely black.  On the other hand, it is totally entertaining to get under the covers and look at my shirt.  Yes, I am easily entertained, and I do find it hilarious when Sunshine chases (and catches) her tail.

So tonight, after the nail polishing, S and I watched the MTV Video Music Awards.  What a waste of time that turned out to be.  I was so disappointed.  It was completely moronic, Lady Gaga was pretending to be a man again, which was really irritating, and the only good performance was Adele.  She was stunning.  Her nails were a little scary, though.  30 Seconds to Mars was nominated for Best Direction, Best Cinematography, and Best Editing, which was why S wanted to watch it, but they didn't even show those on the broadcast.  And they didn't win.  I don't know who did, but that was pretty disappointing, especially since we got treated to a Lil Wayne performance before it immediately cut to the stupidest show I've ever had the misfortune to find myself watching in my life.  It was called I Just Want My Pants Back.  It was filmed very much in the style of another MTV show called Undressed, which was on in 1998, except with hipsters instead of college students.  Snarky hipsters who don't behave like any normal person I've ever seen.

Basically, MTV is a travesty, and really needs to find a new name for themselves, since I haven't even heard of a music video being featured on MTV in at least five years.  The whole thing was a train wreck.  One part that was good was when some guy I've never heard of named Rick Ross was in his "dressing room" in a pre-recorded segment, and he was painting and pretending to be Bob Ross.  That was absolutely hilarious.  "Happy little tree... right there.  Happy little trees."

Anyway.  I hope I never have the misfortune to ever have to watch MTV again for the rest of my life.  I don't care if that makes me old, I like quality music, and almost none of that was quality.  It was pulp.

I have a lot of links.  Because I am a lazy blogger.  Crap.

Links Round-Up Ahoy!  (Apparently it's a nautical edition.)

GameStop is a bunch of jackasses, and they'll be lucky if I ever set foot in one of their stores again after this stunt.  I might apply for a job with them, though, but I will never shop there.  I like my games unopened and unsullied, thanks.

Ron Paul finds FEMA unnecessary.  Oh boy.  I really do wonder which of the Republican candidates are going to terrify me into voting for Obama in the 2012 election, even though I was already pretty sure I was going to vote for him anyway unless someone truly awesome came along.

I'm disturbed by what some people label as unsafe.  I don't think radio waves are harmful.  I don't know why anyone ever would.  And of course this crazy woman is homeschooling her kids!  This is just as bad as that genderless baby.  I wonder if they're friends?

Corporations suck.  I want a job.  Fuck the fucking shareholders.

I love Bad Translator.

You know, I want to make a Jayne Cobb hat.  I would totally wear it.  I do not, however, think it is a good idea to cosplay as a Jayne Cobb hat.  What the hell.

Also, vote for my Rage Comic.  I really want to make the front page.

(This blog title was so easy!!  Haha!)

And now, I go to bed.

Telemarketer Torture and Sad Memories

Today has been kind of weird.  I spent a good portion of the day talking to C, who I haven't really had the opportunity to talk to at great length in years due to circumstances, about recent and ancient history.  There aren't a whole lot of people that I talk to now who knew me well when I was a teenager, so it's a bit of a different experience.  I can't say E, LK, or JHB fit into that category - JHB never talks about much other than his interests, and I wasn't as close to him at the beginning of high school as I was to C. 

Anyway, talking to someone who knew me so well during that time period is a little weird in some ways, but it's also pretty awesome.  Anyway, that was the primary activity of the day, talking about all manner of subjects.  We basically picked up the friendship where it got left off in 2005, except with higher maturity levels.  It's different to talk to him now.  I can't explain why, as I'm in a weird state of mind and I'm having a hard time stringing a sentence together.

S tortured a telemarketer for 20 minutes today.  He wouldn't let her hang up, so it's his own fault.  He was really desperate for her to pay for a vacation to Branson.  Eventually the Toddler got bored, and this resulted in a lot of noise between me trying to contain him and him screaming, and it became a hilarious phone conversation with a really weird telemarketer who wouldn't let her hang up.  She kept telling him she didn't have money for that, and he'd suggest J was hiding money or that maybe I was hiding money, and suggested she tell the Toddler to go play in the sandbox and told her how he teases his kids with telling them to play in traffic.  Seriously crazy telemarketer.  Actually, at one point, I shouted at her that the kitchen was on fire in an attempt to get him to let her hang up.

The Toddler nearly broke the TV screen today because he decided to start smacking it.  Fun.

J woke up really early today, when I was laying the Toddler down for a nap, so once the Toddler got up, I was really excited, thinking I'd finally have the opportunity to fold the laundry in peace, but I only managed the kids' laundry before J came in to say he needed to take a nap, so I still have about five loads of laundry to fold.  Crap.

Today's been boring.  As usual.  I think I may watch Firefly again tonight while folding laundry so I can get it put the hell away.  Speaking of putting laundry away, I'm really annoyed with Girl Child, who won't let me put her laundry away and won't do it herself.  I had that dresser completely neat and she dumped everything out of it all over everywhere in her room.  And she's hogging a good basket because she won't put away the clothes I just folded for her.  Ridiculous.

I really need to get enough sleep consistently every night.  I'm always so tired.  And I'm having memory problems, which may or may not be related to lack of sleep.  I completely forgot what happened this morning.

My ex-fiance sent my stuff back to me from England, and it arrived this morning.  Two mugs I'd forgotten about (he forgot the fridge magnets, though, which upsets me a little, but I'll live), some clothes, a crocheting project I started in 2007 and never finished, a bathing suit that's way too small for me, a purse I'd forgotten about leaving there, and the bucket we collected seashells and sea glass in when we went to Scarborough.  This was the only thing that made me cry.  It was broken when it arrived, too, so it had to be thrown away.  The Toddler kept trying to steal it from me.  I hadn't expected it to be so painful, getting all that stuff back.

Anyway.  There's really not much to say after that.  It's really too bad this is such a depressing note to leave this on, but there isn't much more to say.  I feel like crap.  Today was just totally lame.  There were good parts, but my current state of mind says that today was a really dumb day.  I think I just need to sleep.  I'm just exhausted and kind of crabby.  Hopefully I'll have something interesting to write about in a day or two when I stop feeling like this.

I Can't Think of Anything to Put Here

I've been out of the house more today than I have in the past week.  We went to the grocery store, my bank, and Wal-Mart, where I got some schizophrenic Halloween underwear and a glow-in-the-dark Toy Story shirt, but I forgot to get nail files and a new toothbrush and we never got anything for J for his lunch at work, so we're going to have to go out again.  We took the Toddler to Arby's for a quick lunch, and he got to sit on the bench next to S like a big boy, which was really cute.

Why is it that we always have lots of errands on days when there's a heat advisory?  It's some sort of... can't think of the word, but it's like the world is working against us.  S can't think of the word I want, either.  Stupid brain.

Today, I ordered some stuff online, one of which I am really excited about -  this shirt.  Oh yes.  I am so excited.

I'm still using the No 'Poo treatment, and my hair is wonderful.  I have next to no frizz, except on particularly humid days, so this winter will probably be wonderful.  My hair feels much thicker and silkier, and it's much easier to get a brush through it, unless it's in the morning.  I think I get in a wrestling match with my pillows or something when I'm sleeping, because I always wake up with the craziest morning hair ever.  It almost tops how I remember my mother's from when I was little.  Then again, she's always had curly hair, so her hair will always be crazier than mine.  Anyway.  My hair is great, and since S is also using the same stuff, we're saving about $240 a year, because we're not buying shampoo for each of us anymore.  (Everyone in the house has different hair types, so each person needs their own shampoo when we buy commercial shampoo.)  But that's a ridiculous amount of money we're saving by not having to buy shampoo and conditioner, not to mention styling products!

In other "crunchy" news, I still really want to make my own body wash.  I'll probably do that after I have a job and have the money to throw at it so I can get really nice stuff.

The dogs never got bathed last night because S was in too much pain and I was too tired.  We have to get it done sometime soon, but I don't even know when we'll be able to.  Whee!

Speaking of dogs, Shadow was just laying all over me.  He just leaped off the couch, though.  And now the baby is awake, so this post is done, because we have to get dressed all over again and go out and finish errands.  And oh god, the laundry!

The Captain Obvious Club has a New Member!

I'm back from my trip to Topeka.

This morning, my phone played my text message tone several times back to back (the Final Fantasy X victory fanfare), and S said, "You have texts!" I said, "Yes," and she said, "I'm Captain Obvious!"

I love it here. I really appreciate it when I've been gone for awhile.

Anyway, my trip to Topeka was interesting. I stayed with E's dad, who I'll call DM, and E on Monday night. DM picked me up first and we drove together to the airport to pick E up from her flight. I talked his ear off, because I talk nervously when I'm.. nervous. Ha. Anyway, E was starving when we picked her up, so we went to a Cracker Barrel near the airport to get some food. I got a baconriffic BLT, and E got her usual standby, chicken tenders, mac and cheese, corn, and mashed potatoes. DM got a salad. I chronicle this because the food was pretty bad. Mine and DM's turned out fine, but poor E had a gelatinous blob of potatoes that she couldn't eat, and her mac and cheese was a bit burnt.

Mashed potatoes should not behave like this.

Anyway, after that, we went to Macy's to buy a suit for DM for the funeral (the reason E was in town at all), which was some serious hilarity, as E appears to think that she can make her dad be something he's not. She wanted him to get new shoes that had these scary, long squared toes - they were horrifying. Apparently they're quite fashionable, but they weren't him at all. The salesman and I found a pair that worked much better for DM that E said would do, and then she made him get a new tie and belt. And a shirt. Poor man. And immediately after the shopping trip, we made the two-hour drive to DM's house, which is about halfway between Topeka and Manhattan, way out in the country. The property is gorgeous. I took pictures.

This is what DM gets to see every morning.  So. Jealous.

Since I didn't know the man who died (he was E's stepmother's father), I wasn't planning on going to the funeral, even though E said it would be fine if I went. (DM did not agree and was perfectly fine with me being entirely too uncomfortable with the concept of going to the funeral.) The funeral was in Wichita, so DM and E dropped me off at LK's house to spend the day and night. Well, they tried to drop me off, but LK wasn't even there, she was at her friend-boy's apartment, and her mother, MK, was there with LK's puppy, Thor. (He's a four month old Akita.)

Thor, the blurriest puppy in existence.

MK had no idea I was coming. She didn't even recognize E or me until we got right up to the porch, and then she got really happy. I haven't seen her since I was about 12, so that's probably a pretty dramatic change, I don't look anything like I did when I was 12. LK is apparently a master of communication, woo. After calling LK repeatedly, we managed to communicate that she needed to arrive like now, and she eventually showed up about half an hour later. There were hellos and goodbyes, and I spent the rest of the day hanging out with LK, and ended up helping LK paint her bedroom.

The house LK and her roommate are renting is owned by MK, and they're working on fixing it up really nice, which would be fine if their contractor would cooperate. He was supposed to be there by 11:00, and didn't show up until 6:00 that evening, screwed up the crown molding so they have a six-foot space that doesn't have any, and even though he promised to install the carpet, he didn't do it. He looked kind of like a skinny Jeff Daniels, except what hair he had left was shaved.

Contractor Guy kind of looked like this.  (Jeff Daniels)

In the evening, LK's roommate came home from work and picking her baby up from daycare.  The baby was 10 months old, but about the size of a typical 7 or 8 month old, and very cute.  She really likes to kick.  I got to hang out with her for a little while when her mother and LK went to the neighbors' house to get their wifi password, because they were willing to share the wifi until LK can afford to get internet in the house.  So MK and I played pass the baby and kept her entertained.  I love babies.  Then LK had to pick her friend-boy up from work, and he decided to stay over.

After the contractor and MK left, one of their friends showed up to hang out right about the time I decided to go to bed, so I slept through the rest of the night's events.  Apparently they were drinking, and LK's friend-boy decided it would be a brilliant idea to jump over the porch railing to get down instead of walking between the people on the stairs, and wound up badly injuring his ankle - they weren't sure if he broke it or just sprained it badly, but he had to be carried upstairs and was up most of the night crying from the pain.  They couldn't take him to the hospital because they were all unsafe to drive, so LK took him to the hospital in the morning.  No idea if he's okay or not, but I hope he will be, he was a nice guy.

E and DM showed up to pick us up for lunch while she was dropping him off at the hospital, so we had to wait for her to get back, and then we went to Bobo's Drive-In, which has been operating in Topeka since 1948.  Then we dropped Leah off at home and E and I went to her mother's house to visit her for a few hours, while DM went off and did some work at his company's Topeka location.  He likes to work.  I'm calling E's mother CR.

CR has a new dog, a seven month old Shiba Inu named Sam.  She had a Shar Pei named Ginger until May, but Ginger was too old and sick and had to be put down.  Sam is nuts.  He tried to eat my pants.  One of CR's cats tried to eat my feet, too, which I wasn't too pleased about, especially since I don't even like cats.  CR was pretty cool; I haven't seen her since E's wedding, and she knows about the divorce, so at least we could speak freely about that for awhile.  She's convinced E's husband is going to try to kill her or something because he's really obsessed with her.  There was a long talk about how E just needs to move the hell out and let her husband deal with not being able to afford their townhouse alone, especially since until about a week ago he was planning on trying to screw her in the divorce and get all her stuff, until he realized that under Tennessee law, you get to keep everything that you had before the marriage and only the stuff you got during the marriage gets split down the middle.  He even wanted to take E's dog, Buddy, who he doesn't even like.

Anyway, CR knows I'm an atheist and that E is no longer Catholic (she's been involved with First Assembly of God since we were in high school), but it really bothers her, so she gave me a rosary.  Not sure what I'm going to do with it.  Girl Child wants it to wear as a decoration, since it's not like I'll ever use it.  I've been an atheist since I was about 10.  CR is really nice, though, and was pretty happy to see us.  We set up her new speakers that E got her, and we explained that the new Firefox is the only one available now and that all of her stuff is still there and that she will just have to go through the effort of reorganizing everything.  Apparently she just got a new computer not too long ago, and she's really mad at it.

DM picked us up after a few hours (we were there for two or three, I'm not sure), and we drove E back to the airport to go back to Nashville, and then he drove me home.  He's really a sweet man, he told me I could always call him if I'm in any trouble, even though he lives two hours away.  He also really wants me to get my learner's permit set up so I can drive with him next time he goes to Nashville to see E so I can get some driving practice in.  I don't think he realizes how scary merging is, haha.  But her dad is really, really cool.  I think I kind of annoy him a lot, what with the incessant talking and all, but he likes me anyway.  And I proved I'm capable of being quiet, because he had a business phone call when he drove me home after dropping E off and I only talked when I needed to tell him that we needed to take an exit.

Anyway, it was a pretty good trip.  I called home while we were driving E to the airport, and S let the Toddler talk to me on the phone, and he was all kinds of excited to talk to me.  Totally made my day.  He calls me "Me" now, and it's really, really cute.  I missed the hell out of everyone while I was gone, too.

Last night was also movie night, and we were watching the third X-Men movie.  I played FFX for ten minutes after everyone dispersed, and then I passed out.  And today's been pretty ordinary, I had my camera out because there's a massive spider outside the living room window, and I was taking pictures and then decided to take a photo of Sunshine, but the Toddler photobombed it.  It's hilarious.  I won't share the photobomb (no faces, remember?), but I will share a picture of the spider.

"Why hello there, Mister Spider, are you enjoying your breakfast?"

Jam Session

Here's a quick post to explain how my day is going.

Girl Child and I just had a jam session of hilarious proportions.  She played chords on her guitar while I sang horribly like Phoebe from Friends.  It's our Posterity Video of Posterity, and we'll be putting it on my YouTube account later once I have possession of the file.

In any case, we've been getting along really well today (my relationship with her is like she's my kid sister, so we fight a lot).  I helped her get some secret items for her Final Fantasy X game earlier, and then nagged her about cleaning her room.  We definitely have a strange relationship.

There's not much else to say, really.  Just a really good day.