This past week was both an incredible challenge and really busy. Like I wrote earlier in the week, I did miss half of NCIS because of the tape’s error. I wound up watching it (again) on CBS.com, which turned out to be okay because then I can let my bird out of his cage during that time so I can still supervise him. He enjoyed the outside time, and I enjoyed the hotness that is Mark Harmon and Michael Weatherly. Now, I have gotten some emails about how I am obsessed with this show, and I would like to point out that some are addicted to House, othes are addicted to Law and Order - NCIS is just my show of choice.

My English Comp class was incredibly stupid. The more I attend this class, the more I really dislike the Professor. I wish she would teach! Most of the stuff she talks about can be wrapped up in about 30 minutes, which is perfectly fine with me - but it takes her an hour to get to that topic because she is constantly talking back and forth with a student…as in cracking jokes, laughing etc. It’s like the other people in the class are not even there. After class I had showed her what I was working on for my descriptive essay. She said that it was strongly worded, but it was just the skeleton and I needed to explain how people get over-medicated, why they get over-medicated not in the direction I was going. I just could not wrap my head around that idea and could not twist the paper around to bring it to the angle that she wanted. I decided that I’ll use this idea as my argumentative/persuasive essay/research paper and as the debate at the end of the class. Instead I chose another topic which I was thoroughly able to explain, both it’s history and different aspects of things. I feel that this is a strong paper and am hoping my grade will reflect that.

I also got my math test results back and I’m disappointed. I only got a 95 on this test and I think I could have done better. That’s what I get for spending a little more time on the computer instead of working on my homework. That’s a bad sign, because it means that I’m comfortable just enough to slack off but still course on by the skin of my teeth. I have never (ever) had a 100 on my tests except on that first test and I know someone will comment that a 95 is still awesome but in all honesty, it’s really not. I could have done better and on this next chapter I’ll turn off my computer while I’m working on my homework so I will not be tempted. I seriously want to make the Deans list. And I think that by pushing myself to succeed it will only look that much better on my future resumé.

Yesterday was my twenty-fifth birthday. It was very low-key and I guess I’m at that point in my life where I’m like “who cares? I’ll have another one next year.” I wound up going out to the mall with my Sister and Brother-In-Law where we watched the stupidity of people and escalators. Seriously? A man on a walker went down the escalator, a woman holding a stroller (yes! seriously!) and a woman walking up the down escalator with a tiny baby in her arms. I got a new shirt from NY&Co and enjoyed a pretzel from Aunt Annies (yummy!) My Mother made her most hated meal for me (to prepare, not eat) - Stuffed Cabbage. It was so good! I was very tired because I couldn’t sleep the night before so I was very low-key, which was also okay.

Other than that, my week was hectic (with work) and it on a good note and right now I just feel like taking a nap.

So, I think it took me an entire day to figure out what the next topic I was going to use for my essay. I first started out with Emotional Abuse and really didn’t think I could put enough of an unbiased spin on it to actually complete it the way it should have been. Which leads me to the actual topic. “Under The Influence: The Over-Medicated Nation.” Ah HA, by golly, I think I’ve got it - heh. I’ve got to start working on that though. Can I really come up with four pages of Pharmaceutical rip-offs? Oh hell yes, I know I can! Trust me, if I could rub my hands together and give shifty eyes, I would. I swear, if I hear one more person tell me that they “lost” their narcotic, I just might land in the nut-house. This happened a lot at retail and we just sent them on their way, I don’t see as much of it on the insurance end of it, but seriously, people. Get serious, just fess up and tell me that you took more than you should.

I spent the majority of my evening doing my math homework and I think I just died a little inside. One of those questions was like, “If a falcon dives five times faster than a pheasant flies….” Turns out the equation was like 5x + x = 222 or something and we had to find out what the mph on the falcon and the pheasant were. Tomorrow I have to do the actual test (because that’s the only thing that’s graded), I’m not really looking forward to that, I’d really like to get to the mall!

It’s been so nice here lately - as evident by that photo. That was taken on the sidelight of my parents front door Thursday morning. I was wearing my Mutts pajama pants and my old “Just Ride” t-shirt and did not feel like going outside to take it.

And, in other news, I talked to a dog breeder the other night (the breed I am not saying for fear that some of those naysayers will slander me). I explained that I was not looking for a [dog] anytime in the near future, but was looking at sometime after I graduate from College. I explained (truthfully) about the situation with Keegan and said that the reason I was waiting to buy was to make sure I was financially stable enough. [They] replied that it sounded like I did what I could at the time and if anyone should be ashamed, it should be [X] and that when the time is right I would be more than welcome to [their breed]. Dude, I have waited for that moment since I was five. I don’t think I’ve mentioned this breed anywhere or to anyone, so it will come as a surprise to a select few. It is not a Greyhound nor a Labrador. I figured why spend the same amount of money and get my second (or third) choice? And yeah, I might be going on twenty-five, but you know what? I’m entitled to look for something to make me happy. Holy S—. Five years from now I’ll be Thirty. When the hell did age creap up on me?

Meme from Anne behind the cut (and since she was the last to comment, this one is going to Claudia):
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Not only am I peeved at PayPerPost (come on, it’s been 3 weeks since I’ve had an available opportunity!) but I’m a little disgruntled with my Fantastico at the moment. I have had this big, ugly, yellow “WordPress 2.6.1 is available! Please update now,” above my wordpress administration panel for a month, and now my Fantastico is finally updated - and you guessed it, now it says “WordPress 2.6.2 is available! Please update now.” I’m so lame, I don’t know how to update it myself, so I’ll just have to wait until Fantastico updates in a month or so to update it, by then it will probably be up to 2.6.8 or something.

I have no new photos, my batteries are dead (edit: I just found some batteries, yay!) and the last few days have been long, drawn out and given me plenty of “writing” mood and I can now probably churn out another 15 pages on my novel - if I so dared. I’m kind of skipping around in the story and writing about things that come to mind then I’ll go back in and give it the fillers and stuff it needs later. And I swear to G– if my bird does not stop screaming at me I may just give him a time out. His little hormones are surging and he’s giving kisses to everything and won’t stop staring at himself in the mirror. If only I could be so vain. I realized that he’s fallen “in love” with one of his toys, as male birds often do, and have moved the toy to another area in his cage to see if that qualms his urges - if the behavior continues I know my eardrums will eventually shatter from the increasingly loud, shrill noise he insists on making every one second. And not for nothing, but I’ve run out of band-aids and yeah, the toy had to go.

I wound up beating my high score on the game yesterday, I know it sounds lame, but I got a 162. And what is it with sleezy bar men that think that they can just hit on any woman? There I am sitting with my Sister and Brother-In-Law and a few of their friends. We’re playing the bowling game (there’s like 9 of us at that point playing) and this dude keeps squeezing my shoulder, patting my back. At one point he quips “Man, you’ve got a nice back, but I hope that’s not how our whole relationship is gonna be.” Can we say creepy? And at another point he bends down while I’m sitting on the stool and he grabs my leg to get a stray string off of my capris off. Yeah, that’s nice and all, but ya kinda invaded my bubble there. My sister and I were joking that we needed to buy a Wii so we could use that game instead of having to spend like 5 bucks a weekend on the game in the bar. Then we had to laugh because here we are in the mid to late twenties wanting to play a freaking video game. Then we decided that we were going to try to take Western Humanities together next semester - or English Comp II. Not too sure which class we’ll try for together.

I’ve got to set the VCR in the t.v. room for the correct time and date because September 23, baby! NCIS premiers. I think I’m probably the only one out there that does not have a DVR, but that’s alright, I don’t need fancy equipment. As long as my tape works out or CBS posts the new episode online, I will see it. So, if you haven’t seen the show, go watch it.

Anywho, I’m off to go write some of my novel.

Edit: I had been refreshing PPP about every 3 or 4 minutes while writing this post. I refreshed just as this was saving to WP and oh em gee. There was a new qualified opportunity and all of the posts were already taken. Dude. Seriously?!

Friday was a long day at work, I put in another 10 1/2 hours but it just sucks because I won’t get any overtime because last Monday was a holiday. But I will confess, my bank account balance on Friday was beautiful, just beautiful. Too bad over half of it had to get sent out to pay those pesky things called bills. Well, on the brightside at least I’ll get caught up on some of them! I’m setting aside some extra cash because I suddenly realized that my bird needs a new cage. Since I’m at school or gone the majority of the week (I’m up before he wakes up and home after he’s asleep) he started to develop some screaming habits again and his cage is so full of toys and interactive things that it’s like a jungle. Plus some extra wingspace would just be good for him.

Friday night I wound up having the leftover black beans and rice (which is like my new favorite love. I didn’t realize how tasty black beans were!) before heading out to the chosen hangout spot. Brother-in-law and I played 2 games of pool (my Sister didn’t feel like it, I suppose!), I downed two virgin Shirley Temples (one of my favorite non-alcoholic drinks. I’m lame. What can I say?) while we were playing bowling. We decided that The Bears were going to beat The Colts today (but I think I missed the game, drats) so I’m not sure if I won the bet or not, I’ll find out in a little bit I suppose.

I wound up not getting a goodnight sleep Friday night and I don’t know why. I do know that my parents neighbor on my side of the house had his light on until the wee hours of the morning and that annoys the heck out of me. Am I the only one that has to have total darkness while trying to sleep? I use my cellphone as an alarm clock and when it’s being charged it’s lit, so I have to cover it up. I cover up the clock so I don’t see the digits change, and I wish that I was able to hang up some dark curtains in there, it drives me nuts. When I first moved in, it took me forever to get used to having a fan on again from the sound, I’m not a big fan of noise either. Friday gave way to Saturday which was absolutely beautiful.

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I knew that my funky mood wouldn’t last more than a day. This morning I woke up and all was right with the world (except that I kept having this nagging feeling that I was supposed to work today! which I’m not since it’s Labor Day). Speaking of Labor Day, I’m surprised they didn’t have a marathon of NCIS on USA. They had one for Memorial Day and for July 4th - and technically since it’s a show based on the U.S. navy, I figured they’d surely have one on today! I’m kind of bummed that they didn’t.

So, we wound up going out to Target and to Petsmart today. I blew more money that I shouldn’t have wasted, though my bird is happily slamming around his new toy and I now have yet another pair of slacks and a nice dress shirt to wear to work this week. I wound up finding a really awesome silky type shirt that has a black base with white, red and grey heather colored flowers all over it. I’m really up for the prints guys and I can’t stop! I swear, one of these days someone is going to call up that ridiculous show on me (I can’t even think of the name of it. It’s on TLC). At least I am picking up some pointers from the show, I realized that if I want to make my hips look smaller, I have to buy flared or wide leg pants. The illusion is nice especially while I’m dieting.

I totally procrastinated on my homework this weekend, guys. I wanted to do it on Wednesday when I got home from school so I had that whole weekend ahead of me and it just passed by! I made myself do it yesterday because, well, class is on Wednesday and I really wanted to do nothing today! Now I don’t remember if I had to do 2 chapters or one, so after dinner I’m going to force myself to sit down and do the other chapter before I go on my bike ride. Speaking of dinner, I wound up going out to the store and getting some Zucchini and Mushrooms. I had Japanese for the first time on Friday and they put this awesome Zucchini and Mushroom stir fry in with my combo and I want to recreate it. So I’m going to marinate them tonight and stir fry them tomorrow before class and serve them with either noodles or chicken, I haven’t decided yet. I’ll put the recipe up once I’ve tried it, to make sure that I don’t need to tweak it.

And the lady at the supermarket really irked me. I asked for a pound of the roasted chicken breast (it’s supposedly healthier for you than turkey breast) and she gave me less than a half a pound. I asked for a quarter pound of yellow american and I got a half pound. I asked for a half pound of mozzerella cheese and got about a quarter pound. It wasn’t even like she wasn’t paying attention to me, she just didn’t do it right! I had to stand there for 15 minutes while she resliced the stuff. It’s really not that hard!

Since I had a 3 day weekend, I decided I was going to take some pictures today, and I wound up taking some really awesome ones today (behind the cut). I really am enjoying my Polaroid that I got when I sent the defective one in. I love the clarity of the shots and it really makes me want to save up faster for my Digital SLR. It’s amazing how two exact models can produce two totally different pictures! On more school related notes, I’m going to see if the school has a Newspaper I can join either as a columnist or photographer (maybe both). If they don’t maybe I’ll take a Photography class just for the fun of it.

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Wow, almost (if not all) of my paycheck is gone. I had to buy some more new blouses for my new job and wasn’t expecting my bill to be quite that much. I also went online to see my class schedule and to see if my English Professor had been announced yet, but still says “TBA.” I needed to get my books for my math class anyway; it was way expensive for them bundled and I didn’t realize until today I had the option of buying the two of the books seperately. So, I went online and found them seperate and spent about half of what the bundled book cost. But still! It’s so expensive (especially since my loan hasn’t come in yet!)

The payment for my classes is due by the 18th (tomorrow!) and because my loan has not been processed, packaged and been available, I also had to put 25% of the class(es) down so that I wouldn’t be dropped from the classes because the loan hasn’t been processed and packaged yet. I now have until October 23rd to come up with the remaining balance - and hopefully the loan will be ready by then, or else this first semester is totally on me. I really wish that someone had explained to me in the way beginning that the FAFSA does not seek out loans, but only grants that you qualify for and that loans are completely seperate entities. And yes, after standing in line for an hour and a half on Thursday, I finally did get to talk to someone which is how I found out all of these things.

Friday was a pretty sad day for me. One of my coworkers gave me a cake and I wound up crying (I’m such a softy!) I recieved hugs from just about everyone - and that made me cry all over again. Who would have thought I could have been so attached to these people? I am really going to miss some of my favorite customers, and even as much as I complain about one of the ladies there, she is the one I will miss the most. I am excited for tomorrow, but a little nervous too. I’m worried that I won’t fit in or be up to par with what they want. I hope that I’ve gotten the right clothes and the right styles; and I hope I look the part.But I think that everyone feels that way before their first day, right? I know that if I just put my head to it, I know that I will succeed!

People have called me crazy recently for starting a new job and starting college all within 2 weeks of each other. Yes, I do think I am a little crazy, but I think that I can handle this; actually I know I can! These were things I needed to do and wanted to do. I need to create a better vision of myself and see myself differently and this is how I’m going to do it. People can either choose to like me or choose not to like me, but the only person that really matters in all of this is myself. I’ll be able to financially get back on my feet and that is one thing I’m really looking forward to!

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