Inflatable Sheep!

This title makes reference to a post in someone else's blog, but I'm not allowed to openly share the link yet, so you'll just have to WAIT. Anyway, I'm beat. My shoulders are sore, my jaw is tired (from non-stop gum chewing), and my face feels dirty. I just finished my first day in my new internship! I LOVE this department. I think I'll have a really fun time doing this job, and I really like the people. All day I've been absorbing new information; sitting with other people (hence the gum chewing, to avoid blasting them with stink-mouth), watching ppt presentations, practicing DOING the stuff I've been watching and reading about, etc. And after my healthy breakfast&lunch of hot pocket, cheetos, and pop tarts, I'm feeling up to an evening meal of [insert name of fast food restaurant here]. I know I shouldn't eat this garbage, but I'm so tired, and I don't want to a) go to the store, b) cook anything, or c) wait for anything to be cooked by Brett. Brett, who is now 20 minutes late to pick me up and hasn't even left the office yet. Something. And we're supposed to go visit dad this weekend but I have no flight info. Something else. Did I mention I was tired? I'm also getting kind of cranky. I wanted to go to Old Navy tonight to look for some things (since their site was down Sunday and now we're going away for the weekend), but it's getting late and I bet it'll be crowded if we get there any later than this. I HATE shopping with other people around...I'm the kind of person who goes shopping just as the store opens, on a day that no one ELSE would want to be there that early, just so I can avoid the people. Oh! My Sephora package was supposed to arrive this afternoon. I'm glad we're leaving late, now it can have more time hanging out in the rain.
Anyway, Brett just wrote me to say that he's ready to go, so woohoo! I'm outta here.

Thursday through Sunday

Thursday
We got a message from dad saying that Jacob (my youngest brother, who took GOLD at nationals this year) is most likely leaving home two years early to train with the coach of the national gymnastics team, at the coach's request. Jacob is brilliant at tramopoline (as Brett and I prefer to call it) and is a little young to be moving out, but is definitely deserving of the opportunity.

Friday
I interviewed for an internship position in the scheduling department at WaMu and was asked to start MONDAY. So I'll be working M-F for at least a few months, and Brett and I will be able to carpool again, because I won't be able to start at 4:30am anymore, since I'll be in a regular job in a department that's NOT open 24hrs. Yay!

After work, we went to Jon's house for his very fun birthday party, and had Thai food, wine, and cake. We also marveled at his nephew's mad skillz at reciting lines from Napoleon Dynamite, and played Outburst! Then we slept over (as planned) because...

Saturday
We went for a walk with Brett's family in Magnuson Park, and then came home and fell asleep and pretty much just lounged around for the rest of the day, trying to make up for the lack of sleep we'd experienced every night that week, since we hadn't really gotten used to my new schedule yet.

Sunday (today)
I tried to shop at Old Navy online, but their site's been down all day. How ghetto is THAT? You'd think that they'd want it to go down on a Tuesday or something, because most people have better things to do on Tuesday than shop online, but Sunday morning? Even when I'm at work I usually shop online on Sunday. As long as there's nothing else for me to do. Because work comes first, of course.

Also, my dad called again, because he's had another heart attack. I guess it was pretty big this time, but he SAYS he feels pretty good, and that he'll be fine. I don't believe him, but I guess I'll see how he's doing when we get there. We're flying to Cincinnati this weekend, I think. Numero four, I think this is. Sigh. I should get my cholesterol checked again, and I should exercise more. I'd prefer not to have any heart attacks, let alone four.

My Finger

The swelling's gone down quite a bit, and the photo doesn't make it look as bad as it feels. But it's still pretty ugly I guess. It's getting better, but typing with a bandaid on is getting a little irratating, and I bet I'll be keeping a bandaid on it for a good long while.

Muffins, Meeting, and Mucus

Costco brought us free muffins and cookies today, so since I spent most of my break pigging out I don't have time to write a big post, but let me just say this: my team (and a bunch of other people too; we're not that special) had meeting w/ a new VP here at WaMu today and he seemed really cool. Personable, smiley, and full of great ideas. I'm sure I'm not supposed to talk about any of it, but he made me pretty happy. I seldom trust people 100%, so I still want to actually see his plans in action before I'm TOTALLY happy, but things are looking up.

Also, I woke up this morning and my mouth tasted sort of like it does when I have strep. And I keep smelling this really gross smell, and I think my nose is smelling itself, and that maybe I have a sinus infection. Gross.

Back to work now, and then I get to go HOME at 1:15pm, because that's when my shift ends now!!! WOOHOO!!! :D

Mother of God.

My finger hurts. On our way to work Friday Brett and I listened to Philip Glass, and the cd was still playing when he came to pick me up again on our way home. It's nice music for a quiet drive in the dark when you're tired, but when you're more awake, it's sunny outside, and you're stuck in rush hour traffic it's a little boring. At least that's how *I* feel. So after sitting on the freeway for awhile, I turned it up from quiet-background level to not-that-easy-to-talk-over level, and said "I LOVE this melody!" (there was of course, not much of a melody going on.)
So Brett voted to listen to Gorillaz, and I certainly didn't object. But then when I went to grab the case for the Philip Glass disk (which had been thrown into the backseat), something sliced under my fingernail. I STILL don't know what it was, because Brett had a lot of crap back there that he was bringing home from work, but it felt like the corner of a plastic report cover or something. The point jammed under my fingernail, and then when I jerked my hand away from it in pain I somehow managed to slice it all the way over and through THE SIDE OF MY FINGERNAIL, instead of back out past the tip, the way it came in. So it hurt SO badly, and when I finally stopped pinching it and howling, I saw that it was bleeding UNDER the nail. Not a good sign. Brett suggested that I keep putting pressure on it so that I didn't get more blood under there, which sounded like a good idea to me, because as someone who's never lost a nail before I was hoping I could just squeeze it until it like, reconnected or something. But no.
It was really painful, but sort of okay when we got home, but the nail was definitely detached from the skin on one side, and it appeared to be ripped or split somehow, but I didn't want to mess with it, because IT'LL JUST DECIDE TO STICK ITSELF BACK TOGETHER, RIGHT?
So then later that night we get home from Megan's super fun surprise pizza birthday party and decide to snuggle up in front of an episode of Farscape, but Brett's head was smooshing me, so I tried to shove him over a little and hair from his beard went INSIDE the newly formed split between my fingernail and the skin on the side of the nail. Holy. Crap. I actually cried tears. And could hardly speak. It was like NEEDLES under my nail. UNDER my nail. And then it was really bleeding, and swollen, and throbbing. We bound it up in a tight bandaid, but when I woke up Saturday morning the end of my finger was comically swollen and red, and the nail was all oozy and bloody. It stayed that way until late yesterday, when it started to be not just a dull pain all the time and a stronger dull pain when touched, but also a SHARP pain when anything brushed against it just the right way. So a new bandaid was applied.
It still hurts just as bad this morning, so I pulled back the bandaid to take a peak, and the side of my nail is gone. I don't know when THAT happened...it almost seems like it just turned to jelly and wiped off or something, but I don't think that actually happens. It's not that big of a part that's missing; about two thirds of the length of the nail are gone from a 1mm strip on the outside edge of my left pointer finger (which sucks, because I'm left handed). But it's lame because it's not the two thirds from the tip back, it's two thirds from just above the cuticle forward. And it's all puffy and discolored, and it looks SO disgusting, and it hurts like you wouldn't believe. Maybe I'll post a picture later, if anyone wants to see. It's really gnarly.

Something

I keep not fixing my website. I should do that this weekend, but we have other stuff to do instead. Ugh. I've been so tired lately, and my new schedule hasn't even started yet. It's like my body knows it's about to start getting up at 3:45am and I'm adjusting ahead of time without even trying. I've gone to sleep at 8pm every night this week. Even if I wasn't actually in bed, I'd just fall asleep. Yesterday I fell asleep at my computer BEFORE 8pm. We'll see how well my plans tonight work out. With my luck I'll end up falling asleep at the restaurant. Anyhow, I didn't get around to posting this earlier, but Ali has a store on etsy now, and she sells the CUTEST purses. They're unique and pretty in a laid-back-cool kind of way. She'll probably hate my description, but "whatevs." They sell fast, but she seems to always have something up, so check it out here:
malisonian.etsy.com and buy your malisonian today! Also, her blog has moved to a subfolder of her website or something, so I need to update my link for that, but I'm not doing it right now. In the meantime, I'll post it here.
Now I have to get back to work, but oh yeah! One more thing: we're making plans for another halloween potluck/costume party this year, so those of you who are friends, family, or friends-of-friends should mark your calendars to come on October 29th. The rest of you can eat it, because it won't be THAT big.

I'm tired

and I really don't want to work today. It took us almost an hour to get to work again this morning because even though we left earlier than usual so Brett could make a 7am meeting, it's raining really hard outside and there was an accident on the road. A one-car accident. Good job, guy. My work schedule is supposed to change next week so I'll be coming in at *4:30am* and leaving at 1:15pm, which I'm hoping will actually end up being really nice, because I'll have much better traffic (with no traffic, it takes about 25 minutes to get here) and work is usually much slower that early in the morning. Until then though, I'm stuck with this schedule. And I bet it's going to be reeeeally busy today, because a bunch of people are on vacation. :|

My eyes! My eyes!

Okay. Last night I was sitting in the bathroom, doing sitting in the bathroom type things, and gagging my way through the current Delia's catalog. I mean, really. Please. Some things were cute, but most of it seemed like it was just ugly on purpose. I was disturbed and felt out of touch and old because I just couldn't find some of that stuff attractive AT ALL. I say again, some things were cute, but a lot of it was just repulsive. Then just now at work I was walking down the hall and passed a girl wearing horrible jeans. She was young and pulled together in a mostly uninteresting sort of way, except for the fact that she was wearing normal medium-blue denim jeans with a faded spot on her ass. Now. I understand that these are popular. I even find a lot of them cute, if it's done right. But her's was a strikingly pale circle that covered most of the lower half of her ass and a few inches of the top of her thighs. It looked like she'd sat on a cake, and it just drew my eyes right to the fact that her jeans were a little small in the butt, if you know what I mean. Ugh. I'm no fashionista, but please...anyone should know that stuff like that isn't a good idea.

Tired.

Due to some incidents of movie watching and garageband this weekend, I've yet to finish fixing up my website. I'm working on it. I'm super tired now though, so I'm going to bed, and I'll work on it more tomorrow. If there are any wealthy people out there interested in giving me enough money to quit my job, I'd love to update my html first thing in the morning, but as it stands it will have to come after I spend nine hours at work and two hours in rush hour traffic. Until then, I'll leave you with this:

AtTheGayBar.mov

The Changeling

I got my new computer! Those of you who hung out with me this weekend already know this, but we picked it up on Thursday. It's up and running just fine so far, and I'm working on changing the colors on my site a little, so sorry for the mess today...just bare with me and hopefully all the links will work (and the ones that work will match the index page) before I go to bed tonight.

I copied this quiz from Jon.

5 IMPORTANT THINGS INSIDE YOUR BAG:
1. wallet
2. keys
3. gum (*smack!*)
4. lipgloss
5. compact

5 THINGS YOU WEAR EVERYDAY:
1. ring
2. watch
3. necklace
4. earrings
5. undies (different pairs, thank you)

5 OF YOUR FAVORITE FOODS:
1. chocolate
2. babies
3. hot & sour soup
4. sushi
5. anything Brett makes

5 OF YOUR CLOSEST FRIENDS:
1. Brett
2. Jon
3. Shannon
4. Lots of other people who won't all fit into two spaces (see "places to go" to the left to see some of them)

5 OF YOUR FAVE MOVIES:
1. Shaun of the Dead
2. Dawn of the Dead (newer)
3. Harry Potter (all)
4. Misc. Comedy
5. Misc. Horror

5 THINGS IN YOUR ROOM:
1. a bed
2. too much clothing
3. a bathroom
4. cat toys
5. cat o' nine tails (bought as a halloween prop, but hung on the wall to scare people all year round)

5 THINGS YOU ATE TODAY:
1. 3 squares of "The Bat Bar" from the Endangered Species Chocolate Company
2. 2 hard boiled eggs
3. 1 party cup full of jalepeno cheese puffs
4. 2 turkey sandwiches
5. 3 pieces of cheese

5 THINGS YOU COULDN'T LIVE WITHOUT:
1. air
2. food
3. a properly functioning body
4. protection from extreme weather
5. freedom of expression

The good, the bad, and the ugly?

The Good: My mac might finally arrive today. Well, it already TRIED to arrive today, but we were at work, so they might have it available for pickup when we leave work tonight. But they couldn't say for sure.
Also good, Maria and her oh-so-stylish jewelry are mentioned in the Seattle Style File on NWSource today. Check it out HERE and scroll straight to "Maria Carter Designs jewelry" to read about her work.

The Bad: Um, because I haven't had a computer, I haven't been able to help Maria with her website. Notice the lack of hyperlinkage on her name in the NWSource article. Damn.

The Ugly?: Okay, so I watched a show last night where they were debating about America's beauty obsession, and for a substantial amount of time they focused on Dove's "Real Women Have Real Curves" ad campaign. Almost everyone on the show repeatedly made reference to it as a campaign that shows "real" women INSTEAD OF BEAUTIFUL WOMEN. Now. 1) Who of the women depicted isn't totally beautiful? I've yet to find anyone who I'd categorize as anything less than very, very pretty. 2) REAL women aren't beautiful? and 3) The people on the show were trying to make "real" people feel better about themselves, like "oh, you shouldn't try to look like US, and advertisers are finally realizing that sometimes it's better to NOT use beautiful people, and that's okay." But by consistently referring to "real" people as NOT BEAUTIFUL they only succeeded in making me feel bad about myself. I mean, I thought I was alright, but if the women in the dove campaign can so easily be dismissed as not beautiful, where does that put me?

What is the sound of a thousand angels crying?

My mac mini did not come today. For reasons far beyond my understanding it was shipped from Alaska to Indiana, which is where it's been since late last night. What the butt? I know my geography is poor, but if I were to draw a line from AK to WA I don't believe IN would be a point ANYWHERE on that line. This did not bother me this morning, as my "estimated delivery date" still showed as Aug 3rd and I was operating under the assumption that FedEx would get its shit together and haul that thing back out to WA at breakneck speed, but I was wrong. Aug 3rd is now almost done with, yet SpedEx still estimates it will arrive by noon today.

FORTUNATELY, aside from not getting my computer, the rest of my day has also been crap. Work: crap. Drive home from work: crap. So-called "down" time after drive: also crap. Dinner: meh, spinach pizza, not so crappy. Nobody needs to hear WHY these things have been not so good, because probably on the scale of problems people have in the world, mine rate somewhere between an eye-roll and a sarcastically played air-violin. But I've still felt lame and depressed and angry all day. And it's not even TIME for that this month yet. What's wrong with me...a woman, feeling depressed and angry for reasons OTHER than hormones. That's an abomination. Anyway, this post is getting a little Brettesque what with all the ranting, so I'm going to bed. Good afternoon, good morning, and goodnight.

Human, Human, Human After All...

Okay, so I know this album is a little mechanical. Very mechanical. But still...I just love it. I really like the noises they create...like, drippy, liquidy, organic sounding noises, but also clearly inorganic and very clearly synthesized. Something. I just watched the first half of The Stand tonight...pretty good, but a far cry from the book, which I wish would come out on audio cd at some point. Even if it was like, $50 I'd still buy it. I've read it probably three or four times now, but I really hate sitting still and reading, so I'd prefer to be able to just listen to it. Since that's not an option I'm watching the miniseries again instead. Oh, and guess what?!? FedEx shipment status as of 4:29pm Aug 2, 2005: Departed FedEx location ANCHORAGE, AK!!! It might ACTUALLY get here soon! I was beginning to think it would be stuck in China forever. Let's just hope now that it's not damaged from all the "regulatory agency" shenanigans and it's long journey. Since I'll have access to photoshop and garageband and dreamweaver and all that stuff, and I'll be obligated to start both being productive again and engaging in my normal hobbies this could mean the end of my consistent posting. BUT, I don't want it to be, and it really doesn't take that long to just write a little bit each day, so I'll do my best to keep it up. Not that THAT means much. Steeeeeam Machiiiiiiine...

Mew.

Star was bugging me like crazy this morning. She kept following me around like, "mew? mewmew? mew mewmew mew mew?" I'd pick her up, hold her for awhile, and then she'd squirm away, only to be back again a few minutes later doing the same thing. Finally I decided that she was cold and using me to warm herself up, because it was rainy and overcast this morning and since we haven't needed to turn the heat on in months it WAS kind of chilly in the house. So I set up her little winter-time heating pad and she happily jumped up and fell asleep on it, not to bug me again for the rest of the day. So then just before Brett switched places with me so that I could use his computer (since mine is STILL stuck in fucking Shenzhen) I went over to give her some unwanted attention and she looked so relaxed it was comical. Her fur was all unkempt and sticking out at odd angles, and she had this droopy-eyed stoned look on her face like she wasn't getting up for aaanything. I think that if she was to get TOO hot she'd know to get up, right? Let's hope.

Anyway, so I finally saw Spencer Tunick's Naked States. It was exactly as good as I thought it would be (which was pretty good), so I'll be bumping up Naked World to the top of my queue now. Brett was funny and had no idea what I was talking about when I was trying to explain what it was, so it was tough to get him to want to watch it, but I think he liked it too. As soon as I start to explain it though I knew he wasn't in to it. "It's a documentary about this artist..." was as far as I got before he scrunched up his face and started to protest. But I made him let me finish and after I'd explained that there would be lots of naked people I knew I had a chance. In the end, the argument I used to get it on the screen was "you don't even have to pay attention." And he agreed to watch it from behind the shielding normalcy of Civilization or whatever the crap he was doing on his laptop the whole time. But he DID pay attention and did like it, so yay!

We also saw Charlie and the Chocolate Factory this weekend, with Shannon, who I'm happy to say will be in town for a few weeks. I knew Tim Burton's movie would be truer to the creepy, trippy vision of Roald Dahl than the old movie was, and I was correct. What a long, strange trip it was. Still suitable for children, but I'd say probably more suitable for the older kind of child, who has more candy on his sweaty wrist than in his sticky little hand. If you know what I mean. But even though none of us are any kind of child, we all three still liked it, and we'll probably buy it. We'll definitely buy The Corpse Bride though. They played a trailer for that before the Chocolate Factory and I'm already in love. Tim Burton is the coolest ever.

And last of all, while going through some of my old papers this weekend I bravely read a line of something to Brett, which he then felt I needed to post online. It's like, not related to anything else I've talked about, because I really didn't feel like talking about religion just to tie in this dumb quote of myself, but here goes:

lines drawn with human imperfection
raise mortal egos to delusions of permanence

Totally.
Fucking.
Lame.
Not a poem, not a...anything, really. But still, that's my reaction to the idea that people are just fo' sho' going to live eternally in some literal "heaven". Like being just a brief and tiny piece of this amazing universe is so ugly and unacceptable. So whatevs...it's well put I guess. And I'm going to bed.