What season is this?

So, it's been about a month and I have no excuse. It's not like I've been really busy with life or work or anything, I have had plenty of time to update here but just haven't felt like it.

So, list of big news to cover:

1. Job

2. Twins

3. Hannah

4. Sybylla

5. Books

6. Computer

7. Snow

So there are a lot of things I could talk about under each heading but I'll try to keep it short and sweet.

1. Job

So a lot has been going on with the job. Amanda and I are the two new people, Alaina has been there since last February, Katie has been there a few years, and Joe has been there for like 15 years. So the first project was testing different drugs on their ability to relieve pain. We used rats and fractures (to create the bone pain). Katie did the dosing, then Katie and Alaina would watch them for flinching behavior for a couple minutes, Alaina put them in the incapacitance chamber (measures how much weight they put on each leg), and then it was handed to myself or Amanda. We would paint their back feet with Crayola fingerpaint and put them in a cardboard box with a piece of paper at the bottom and have them run across the paper. After the paper dried we measured the length of each foot's stride, and then the widths of the strides. Basically it turned out no useful data but it was a learning experience for everyone. After we did the paint we would anesthetize the rats with isofluorane gas and xray them. Then we went back upstairs and analyzed and graphed all the data we had just collected in SigmaPlot!

Then on the third week we got Monday off for Columbus Day, and then Amanda and I had orientation training on Wed-Fri. A lot of boring lectures and videos but we did make friends with someone in Biomed (in charge of all the equipment), Tom. They had really good muffins on the first day of orientation. We also got paid on Friday, which was awesome!

This week has been really slow. Amanda and I are little more than useless without Alaina or Katie, and Alaina was in Nebraska on Monday and Tuesday and Katie was ill or at school for most of the week. The one thing we did work on was learning about a new project that Amanda will basically be doing involving pain and cognition. So we had been weighing and playing with a bunch of new mice, getting them used to us and learning what their normal mass is just to find out today that those mice were getting switched to a cancer project (that apparently I and Katie will mostly be working on) and we were getting new mice for the cognition one on Tuesday. So basically everything we did manage to do this week was for nothing lol. Other than figuring out how to use the activity boxes that test the mice intelligence (they have to push levers when lights come on to get a treat). I also managed to get a pedestrian key for the gate that I had been walking past every morning, that was really exciting and basically cut my already short commute in half.

2. Twins

So the Twins starting coming back in the league near the end of the season and I was lucky enough to have a good friend (Hannah) who's mother got the swine flu. Sounds horrible, but because her mom got sick they had a spare ticket to the second game against the KC Royals, on October 3 in the Metrodome. The crowd was huge and our seats were in the second to last row right behind home plate. It was a great game, boring at first but got very interesting around the fifth inning. And we pulled off a win! They then went on to tie with the Detroit Tigers, play a tiebreaker game in the Metrodome, and win the League! And then of course the stupid Yankees kicked our ass, but it was still a good regular season!

3. Hannah

So speaking of Hannah, it's been pretty awesome. We basically fell almost completely out of touch near the end of college, but reconnected a few times over the summer and now have done quite a few things together. Watching movies, going out to movies, the Twins game of course, and we're going to go see an orchestra concert sometime in the near future. She lives up here in Minneapolis as well - probably should have mentioned that. She's living in a 2BR apartment with her friend from college. They may be getting a cat soon.

4. Sybylla

And of course with me now living about 3 miles away I've also been seeing Sybylla. Not quite as much as I thought I would, but we have gone to see a movie, gone out to lunch, etc. I went to a fun restaurant called the Chatterbox Pub with her and her mom on her birthday. We played Apples to Apples (they provide games to play) and I lost. I also watched her cat Daisy for a week while her and her mom went to Kansas for a funeral. Daisy is so small and skinny I tried to trick her into eating more food. Shirley (Sybylla's mom) cooked chicken for me to give Daisy and I mixed in some dry cat food and nuked it all together. I also got to use their car while they were gone, which was awesome. I had forgotten how convenient it is having a car. We also went out to Sarah's birthday dinner at a Greek restaurant this past Saturday. The food was surprisingly good, I really need to expand my food choices. Sarah decided to have a hobbit birthday, which means she gave all of us presents that she got in Europe this past summer. I got a cute little Italian leather coin purse with a print of a painting of Florence on it. It's very soft and nice. Vicki was there as well, and it was nice seeing her considering I hadn't since my birthday.

5. Books

So this past weekend Half-Priced Books was having a huge sale at the Grandstand at the Fairgrounds. I finally mustered up the courage to get there via public transportation on Sunday later in the afternoon. And was so glad I did! I got there near the end of the sale which meant the prices just kept dropping. I ended up with 10 CDs, 4 videos, and 6 books all for a total of $3.21. It was amazing. Then this week at work they were having some sort of fundraising sale and I got 3 more books for $1. I should be set on the book front for awhile now.

6. Computer

So last Thursday I finally ordered myself a new computer. A Dell Studio Desktop to be precise. I've been talking about it for ages but my Mayo check came through and Dell was having a big online sale so I finally just went and ordered one. It arrived this Thursday (ie yesterday) and my wonderful neighbors were kind enough to sign it and put it in the house. I spent yesterday after work setting it up and installing some programs and loving its speed and gigantic HD screen. The only problem is that the speakers I ordered with it (external) worked for about 30 seconds and then stopped. Meaning I couldn't sit back and enjoy a nice movie unless I wanted to wear headphones, but I talked to someone today and Dell should be sending me a new set soon. It also has Vista, which I will be getting rid of as soon as I can get the free Windows 7 upgrade.

7. Snow

So for some reason this October has been ridiculous. Actually June through now the weather has been ridiculous. The summer was cold and dry, September was sunny and gorgeous, and October has been cold and wet and occasionally snowy. It snowed two weeks ago and then again today it was coming down for a few hours in beautiful big fluffy flakes. The kind of snow you want to see in December. It was just starting to stick to the ground when the snow turned back into rain and melted it all away.

As far as I'm concerned, I've been doing well, enjoying the freedom of living in the cities, cursing the lack of a vehicle, but overall excited about life. I've started perusing through grad school ideas, since our overall lab supervisor is a big pusher for further education, and just wondering where life will take me. How cheesy. On the other hand I may also be getting sick. Was extremely tired today (and no I didn't stay up that late playing with my new computer last night). I got home early, started working on this post, and then went to take what I thought was going to be a 30 minute nap. It ended up lasting almost 2 1/2 hours. I've also set this screen saver to go through My Pictures and can literally just sit and watch the pictures pass for hours. Ah memories. Also while typing this up I've taken a shower and started cleaning the bathroom. The toilet and sink are now clean and shiny, but the floor and the shower still need to be done. My room is also a sty, and I should be working on it now. My mom is coming up (I think tomorrow?) and so I really should clean things up before she gets here.

So I'm going to go do that. I hope. Or I'll find another way to procrastinate.

Hello real world!

So I realize it's been awhile, and a lot has happened, I'm just getting lazier in my old age (22).

Big events: Mayo, Spay, Book, Move, Job.

Went in to Mayo to finish my study. Spent a lot of boring time sitting around and napping, but hopefully that means I'll be getting a nice fat paycheck any day now. Of course they'll send it to Rochester but I'll get it eventually. Still haven't decided what to do with the money, but a desktop is sounding better and better.

So Belle got spayed on Wednesday. Same day as the Mayo study. I felt so bad for her. We (mom and I) went to pick her up after the Mayo study and she was all loopy/dopey. It was kind of funny because her eyes were half-closed and she'd just stand there and then start leaning. On Thursday it was a bit difficult with her because she was all excited and stir crazy but we couldn't really let her run around too much in case her stitches came out.

On Thursday I also finally called the library to ask what to do about the book I lost. And it turns out someone had returned it! Woohoo! I don't even know if I ever talked about it here but yea.

On Friday night Gramma Karen came up. The rest of the family and her went to the homecoming parade and football game while I furiously packed.

As far as my quilt goes, it's nearly complete (the front side at least) but the sewing machine kept messing up and so I had to stop.

Back to the main events, on Saturday we got up and mom, dad, gramma, and I drove up to Minneapolis to move me into my new place. Megan drove over from Eau Claire and met us there right after we had finished loading everything in. My room looks amazing, the house is great, and my roommate is incredibly nice and laid back. We went to McDonald's to eat and then everyone but Megan left. Megan helped me unpack the stuff into my room and then we went to Target for some stuff I needed. Eventually Megan left and I spent the rest of the night finishing organizing.

On Sunday I spent the day riding around the neighborhood clocking how long it takes me to get to the closest grocery store and to the VA. Then Sybylla and her mom took me out to lunch at Noodles and then over to Target to get some milk. Went back home and worked on the paperwork the VA sent me. Eventually took a shower and went to bed watching Firefly.

Finally, today (Monday) I got up at 6:40am (way too early), got ready for work, sat around nervously waiting, and finally left at 7:30am. Got there extremely early and waited. Eventually the room filled up (interns, cafeteria workers, doctors, it was full of new employees from all over the VA) and for the first 2 hours all we did was the paperwork I'd gone over the day before. So I went downstairs and wandered around. Eventually we watched some dress code video and had an hour break for lunch. I didn't pack one so I rode my bike home and had a sandwich, which was nice. Went back to the VA and learned all about the benefits offered. It was intense, and a bit overwhelming. Finished with the orientation stuff around 3pm and then was taken (finally) to the lab. I got assigned a desk space and then spent the rest of the time going over more computer orientation stuff. I did meet the other new lab tech (Amanda) and another one who works at the lab who graduated from St. Olaf in '08 (Alana or Elena or something like that). Got home, hung out for a bit, and then rode my bike over to Oxendale's to get some taco cheese. Rode back home and cooked tacos, mmmm. Now just watching some Family Guy until I shower and get to bed.

I'm crafty!

So I spent a lot of yesterday and a good part of today finally doing something I'd been wanting to do since I was, like, 9 years old. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I have finally started actually making a quilt out of old t shirts! I spent all the time picking out the shirts, ironing them, cutting them into squares, and arranging them in a semi random, semi patterned arrangement. I've got everything from Girl Scout camp to Australia in a variety of colors - and it really emptied out my dresser. This project came about when I was attempting to clean up my room in order to make packing a lot easier. Basically I emptied my dresser onto the floor, saw all the t shirts, and was inspired! Which means that now there are cut up pieces of t shirt all over the basement floor and the rest of my clothes are still covering the floor in my room. So much for cleaning.

In other news, I finally started the Mayo poop study I signed up for back in June. Basically they fed me some radioactive eggs on Wednesday morning and took pictures of them moving through my system all day Wednesday and in the early morning Thursday and today (Friday). Now I have to take a couple of pills for a couple weeks and then do it all over again. But hey - they're paying me for it! I haven't decided what to do with the money yet. I could be a smart, responsible person and save it for a rainy day or to help start paying off those loans. Or I could use it to buy myself a new, much needed, computer (desktop or laptop? It's so hard to decide). Or I could use it towards a brilliant vacation to somewhere I've never been! If you read this, vote on it! Help me decide! Or if you have another idea feel free to share it.

So Megan just called. Apparently her computer's virus/malware just crashed and now her computer keeps crashing and her school's IT can't even figure out what's wrong with it. And I thought my comp was bad - her's is barely a year old! I suppose I did have times when I freaked out about it - like when I got the blue screen of death. Luckily I had the kick ass Dell warranty. Not anymore though!

So I've got all the squares cut out and laid out and I really want to start sewing, because I know that soon I'll get bored with this project and then it will never get done. Like that other mitten that I never knitted. Sigh. Mom won't let me start sewing it without her. She's convinced we'll need to use like a special needle or something, but I just want to get the sucker done! It doesn't have to be perfect, heck half the t shirts have paint stains. But her, dad, and Sara are all at the Century-Mayo football game.

I just got done watching Two Weeks Notice (I love Sandra Bullock) and now I just found one of the best movies is playing on tbs - The Holiday.

Belle's been cute today - following me all around the house, playing with the t shirt scraps. Now she's sleeping in the bed that my mom made for her.

Hmm I wonder if this is an Imogen Heap song. It must be! I just heard part of one on the radio the other day as background to a new song. It was kind of infuriating because the announcer didn't give any credit to them, just to the dude who sang over their song. Now that I think about it, I probably lost all their music when I got the blue screen of death. I should work on recovering that.

I also finally managed to design Sara's homecoming tickets, that she asked me to do months ago. The first one I did was, according to Sara, too boring and simple. So then I did another and that one was too complex and cluttered. So she took both versions to the rest of the student government, and lo and behold, they chose my first design.

This weekend I only work at night, which is kind of nice because I can finally go outside and enjoy the nice weather. Of course I probably won't. Or it'll rain. But tomorrow morning, if it's not raining, dad and I are going fishing again. Hopefully we'll have better luck than last time.

I really want to see Gamer and Surrogates. They both look amazing. I finally saw Post-Grad with mom, Sara, and Emily L. It was funny, but of course everything worked out for her in the end. Which just looked like a big fat lie to me. That and she chose to leave her dream job for the guy she discovered she loved (the plot was a tad predictable), which no one ever really does. I like movies.

I'm drinking root beer through a straw, and I'm convinced the straw has a leak in it but I can't find a leak anywhere! It's really frustrating in a not very frustrating kind of way. Ouch, I just hiccuped while burping and something just hurt when they crossed. Ouchies.

I want a Jude Law. Or even a Jack Black, I'm really not picky. Actually he's very sweet in this movie.

I'm still feeling crafty. I should exploit that and go work on my latchhook pillow or knitting or painting or something. Instead I'll probably just finish watching The Holiday and then whatever's on after that until I finally go to bed.

I don't know if it's good or bad, but all the time I spent gaming while I was at school I now spend watching TV. And it's generally nothing all that good either. I watch crap like Project Runway and America's Next Top Model. But they show them on season-long marathons during the day and it just gets so addicting, and the next one is always on right after the first so I have to know what happens next! Sigh. On the latest ANTM one of the girls is from my hometown. And she won the first challenge! So if you watch that, cheer for Rae! She's my age too, but I don't know her. Apparently my dad knows her dad though.

So I'm probably definitely moving into a house about 5 blocks away from the VA with a 27 year old guy and his 2 year old yellow lab. I can't remember if I've talked about this before, probably have, but it's a really nice house. I want to get a nice big adult-sized bed. My parents were all for it at first, but now they're chickening out, which is one of many things that have ticked me off lately.

The freaking VA. I actually don't want to go into all the latest horrendous things they've done to me, but I'll sum it up briefly. Apparently, my birthday has been changed to September 30, I was offered the position first by the lab and then two weeks later by HR, and it's impossible to just get things done: it all has to go through someone else in another department after getting background checks, fingerprints, and physicals.

Sigh. And yet I'm still going to work for them because I also continue to get rejection emails from all around the US. So I'll put in my two years, save up every penny I can, and then fly my ass somewhere else. I should have done that back in June, when I still had 6 months before having to pay back my loans. By then I would have probably found a job wherever I flew to and could always have the amazing story as part of my life. Remember after graduation when I flew off to ______ for a year? That was so amazing. Oh well. There's some saying about regrets but I don't remember what it is.

The leaves are turning color. I don't know what made me think of that since it's very dark out and I can't see the leaves. But they are, and it saddens me. It can't be fall already! And I can't still be at home during the fall, it's just unnatural.

I think I've finally run out of things to talk about. Thanks for sticking with me so far! And remember to vote!

PS - I FOUND THE LEAK! It was in the bendy bit. I knew it!

Post #100

Yep, that's right. This is my 100th post on this blog. Kind of sad and impressive at the same time. If each post was a page, I'd have a 100 page book already written. Of course some are a lot longer than a page and some are a lot shorter, but they might even out. Anyway, a lot has happened since Kristin was here.



First of all, I can't believe it's already September. I don't know where the summer went but I am not ready for it to be over.



Well I spent the days after Kristin left mostly working at Culver's. On Wednesday I got an email from the VA finally officially offering me a job. And on Friday I emailed them back accepting it. Still not sure if that was the best move but it's not like I have any other offers on the table. Since then I've been looking for apartments in the cities close to public transportation.



On Saturday the whole family (including Belle) drove up to Eau Claire to move Megan into her school. We had to rent a U-Haul and because they double booked the size we wanted we ended up getting a gigantic one. It was freezing cold and we couldn't figure out how to put her stupid futon together but it was kind of fun. Went to Arby's afterwards.

On Sunday we got up early again, this time to drive up to the Metrodome to watch the Twins beat the Rangers 5-3. We parked on the street and walked over and hung out at the food plaza for awhile, then watched the game and lost our voices cheering. The fans were great - the wave went all the way around the stadium 4 times before dying. Mauer was kind of having a sucky day but the rest of the players were doing pretty good. After the game, I drove home and first mom made me drive around the neighborhoods where I looked up craigslist ads for places to live. Basically we were the drivers everyone hates, slowly driving past houses, getting lost following the GPS. Finally convinced them to let me drive home.

Monday I got up later - on my 22nd birthday! Got dressed and headed up to the cities again. This time I went to Sybylla's house where I met her and Vicki. Then we headed to a church for the shuttle to the state fair. Spent the day at the fair, eating fried food on a stick and seeing animals and walking around. We saw a sheep give birth to triplets, I ate a footlong corndog, got a bucket of delicious cookies for my birthday along with all you can drink milk for $1, rode down a giant slide on a potato sack, watched a pond full of fish, and a bunch of random state fair fun with the roomies. After that, I went over to visit one of my potential living situations. It's in a 3 bedroom house with a 27 year old guy and his 2 year old lab. It's also about 5 blocks away from the VA - yay walking distance! His name is Jordan and he is really nice. I could easily see myself living there. It is a little more expensive than I wanted though.

Tuesday I slept in and did nothing all day but bring Belle to the dog park and then to puppy class.

Today I got up early and went to Mayo to do a screening. They had to take blood and I got a bit light-headed. It took forever, and every time I go there it's going to be like at 7 am. Ugh. At least the study is going to pay well. Then I took Belle to the dog park, and then came home and I was going to start packing stuff up. That didn't work too well though. Then went to work and had to train a 14 year old with ADHD. UGH. She didn't pay attention, was slow as molasses, and then proceeded to tell her friends who came in that she was "learning quick" and "hardly needed any more training." I wanted to strangle her and just do it myself. I hate training. Luckily she was only there until 7, and then I got to have more fun in drive thru and then set and then just helping people start closing. At some point I stupidly agreed to work until 8 tomorrow, but I did get to get off an hour early on Saturday (we're going up to the cities to see a Lynx game).

Now I'm just watching some George Lopez and wondering what to do. Getting tired though so I may head to bed early. Sorry this post is so late - I actually started it last night and forgot to finish it. Good thing it autosaves!

Weekend with Kristin

So this has been a very intense weekend, and yes I know I'm skipping over what's happened since the cliff incident. I'm skipping it because basically nothing other than me working every single day between Friday and Thursday happened.

On Thursday (20th) night after work I went to see District 9 with some people from work. Well at least it was supposed to be some people from work but some of them backed out at the last minute so it ended up being just Josh and I. Josh is practically the only non-manager at Culver's who has worked there longer than I have. He also just graduated college and, like me, is looking for a job. So we went to the movie and it was amazing. Such a brilliant idea and so unique from every other alien movie out there. I really recommend seeing it.

On Friday I started preparing for Kristin to arrive. Kristin was one of my best friends while I was in Australia and lives in Greenbay, Wisconsin. Why I haven't seen her before this weekend is a mystery of poor planning on our part. Anyway, she came on Friday afternoon and we ended up bringing Belle to the dog park and then going to the mall. Saw Hannah working at the pretzel place and then went to Maurice's for Kristin to get a new shirt. Wandered around for a bit and then ate dinner at Applebee's while watching the Vikings play for the first time with Brett Favre as quarterback. He sucked. On the way home we stopped at a redbox to get a movie - Push. Didn't end up watching it but played cribbage instead. Then went to bed in the basement.

Was woken up very very early by Belle whining, and of course since it was Saturday no one else in my family got up with her (to be fair, mom was away on her girl's weekend and Sara was camping). Took care of her, went back to bed for a little while, and then woke up early and got ready to go to the Renaissance Festival. Unfortunately there wasn't an actual address listed, which made it hard to find using the GPS. Kristin drove and we got there just before they opened the gate. We got in, picked up a schedule of shows and events, and planned out the day. It was brilliant - we got to see so many amazing shows and got great seats to the joust! We also ate good food there and Kristin got a few neat souvenirs. We left about 30 minutes before it closed - it was just so much fun! We got home, ate food, and then watched Push. It was pretty good, but felt like it wasn't really over when the movie ended. Rearranged our sleeping arrangements and went to sleep a bit early.

Woken up again by Belle but this time dad got up with her the second time so it was alright. Kristin was feeling a bit sick so she showered and then napped for awhile as I showered and ate breakfast. Also got coupons for the MN Zoo, which was where we were headed that day. This time I drove, and luckily since it's well known, year round, and has an actual address we got there with no delay. We toured the outdoor exhibits first - smart move considering how hot it got later in the day. Started with the tigers and worked our way around the loop. We then went inside to see the sharks and dolphins, and spent a lot of time watching the dolphins play. One of them swam up and splashed the crowd, all on its own! They were so graceful in the water, not to mention playful and fun to watch. We then went through the tropics trail and then over to the bird show. That was really exciting, and amazing what they can teach birds to do! Finally we got something to eat and headed back to Rochester. Kristin packed up and left for Greenbay and I crashed.

Today (Monday) I worked from 11 - 3:30 (was supposed to work until 4) and then came home, showered, took a little nap, and then went over to Hannah's house at 5 pm. There we watched The Fellowship of the Ring and The Two Towers before finally calling it quits. One can only handle so much Frodo! We also talked a lot about how depressing it is to be unemployed and not going back to school. She works at the pretzel place again tomorrow and, since I don't work, I'm considering popping over to say hi. Well after the 6 hour marathon at her house I came home and watched the end of How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days with Megan and Sara and then came up here to post this entry.

Over the weekend I took 342 pictures and about 11 videos. Insane. Well that's all there is, and I'm still tired from the weekend, so I'm off to bed soon.

Hanging over the cliff's edge

So today was so exciting I had to post about it. Last night Megan was sad because she had no plans for the weekend, so she and I tentatively planned to go tubing in Lanesboro today. So I set my alarm to go off at 10:30 am and went to bed.

This morning I woke up, found out that Megan was still sleeping, and so went back to bed. Woke up later and we started getting ready to go. We got dressed, started packing up towels and sunscreen and Megan looked up the directions and tried to find some tubes that weren't popped (unsuccessful in that). Eventually we managed to get into the car and get going around 12:30.

Headed south and got stuck in road construction traffic and so it took us about 40 minutes just to get out of Rochester. We kept going and started to see some rain clouds on the horizon. This is when we realized we never actually checked the weather for today. So since my aunt and uncle and cousin were down camping at a campsite near Lanesboro we called to see if it was raining and it was. We decided since it was just scattered showers and still hot we'd just keep going anyway. On the way we saw a sign for the campsite our relatives were staying at and decided to head there and just go tubing on that section of the river.

We were going up the long narrow drive up to the place when all of a sudden a huge semi truck came barrelling down the middle of the road. Megan was driving and she started moving towards the side of the road since it was narrow and we'd only both fit if we hugged the sides. The truck moved over a little but not nearly far enough and so to avoid an accident, Megan pulled over just enough so that the left wheels of the car went off the road. Unfortunately, since we were back in the hills and the road was going up the side of it, where the road ended so did the ground. Which meant the wheels were basically hanging over empty space. Okay that's a slight exaggeration, it did have a steep drop but the wheels were on ground, it just happened to be very muddy and slick and the car sank into it and basically the stuff underneath the car was resting on the asphalt.

A man and his kid who drove up behind the semi actually stopped and helped keep us from totally freaking out as I climbed into the back and out of the car and Megan set the emergency brake and climbed out as well. He corroborated our story and even remembered the kind of truck so we could send angry phone calls to the company. Called our aunt and uncle and they came and really took care of us. They called the tow place while we called our parents and our parents found out we have towing insurance and so a guy came out and hooked up the left side of the car to a crane and the right side to a tree on the other side of the road and he pulled the car up and over and there (luckily) wasn't any damage to the car.

Drove it up and parked in the campsite parking lot and there Megan and I just ate our packed lunch and tried to calm down from all the stress. Then went and played volleyball with our relatives and their friends and then borrowed some of their tubes and went tubing. Eventually got too tired and cold and headed home.

Got home and Belle was super hyper, which of course means no one did anything with her all day. So I took her to the dog park for about 30 minutes until it started raining. Then we headed home.

Well that's about it for today, other than watching George Lopez and reading Flowers in the Attic, which is a really depressing book.

I also managed to get some sun on the river, hooray for vitamin D!

Drama at the Dog Park

Sigh. So I'll start off with a story from tonight and then backtrack and try to fill in as much from the last 11 days as possible.

So around 7:30 tonight I decided to take Belle to the dog park and mom decided to join me because she'd never taken Belle there before. So we got there and she played with a cute little bloodhound for awhile and then found a cute little 3 1/2 month old black lab puppy to play with. They were playing nice together and mom was busy chatting up the owner of the other puppy when Megan, Sara, and Emily L. came and watched her play. Of course this was a bit overwhelming for me because I usually go with her alone or maybe with Megan. I don't tend to chat a lot with other owners and am very non-confrontational. A few weeks back for example there was this basset hound puppy that plays a little too rough. Megan was there with me and it just pulled or bit down a little too hard and Belle would yelp and run away (or try to) with her tail between her legs. So last time I just would pick up Belle and walk her over to a different group of dogs to play with. This time however, the basset hound was back and its owners weren't watching it hardly at all (they were sitting at a picnic table 100 yards away). Well it came and interrupted the little lab puppy playtime and started barking at them and again playing too rough. Mom got worried and tried to pull the basset off of Belle and kept saying "no" and just kept trying to separate them. The basset owners noticed and the guy started yelling "she's just a puppy, she's just barking." Which of course inspired mom to yell back something about how she wasn't just barking and how she knows because she goes to puppy class and so there was a mini yelling match between mom and this guy and then the girl got a bit involved and then I did too but meanwhile he came over and put his dog on a leash and walked it away. Of course that inspired a lot of gossip between us 5 and the black lab puppy's owner. Because of how defensive he was and how quick he was to try and defend his dog it makes me think that it had happened before. You'd think he'd learn to watch his puppy and try to teach it to be less aggressive instead of just defending it and letting the behavior solidify itself in this poor puppy. Once that dog grows up it won't have any excuse for its aggressive behavior and its owners will regret not training it properly. Anyway, the basset hound owners just walked their puppy over to another picnic table full of people to probably talk about us. Sigh. There's never any drama when I take her by myself.

As far as these past 11 days have been, I seriously haven't done anything of note. One night I went over to Jackie's (when Sara had her Holy Spirit class reunion party at our house) and we watched Legend of Zorro. Yesterday Jackie and Natalie (her sister) and I took some old paperback books to this new used bookstore where you can trade in your old books for store credit and then use it to buy other used books from them. It was great, I got rid of about 7 books (big deal for me) and got 3 new ones. Afterwards Natalie went to her friend's house and Jackie and I went downtown to return some library books and run some errands. Then I went home and went to let out Becky's dogs (fat old black lab and hyper little shih tzu) and then to meet mom and Belle at her puppy class. Belle lost one of her teeth at the class (she's supposed to lose them all by around 5 months).

Later last night I was catching up with some people online and then got into a texting argument with an ex which was incredibly unpleasant. It's just that he doesn't get me at all lol. Keeps thinking that when I say I don't want to talk to him it's because I still have feelings for him. Sigh.

I really don't know what else to talk about here which is incredibly lame. Considering how long it's been since I last posted, I really haven't done a whole lot.

Went to the funeral and saw my cousin who got bit by a (brown recluse?) spider and had to go to the ER three times to get the bite cleaned out and get some good pain drugs.

Right now my sister (Sara) is practicing for her danceline tryouts tomorrow by dancing to this horriblely annoying music.

Dad and I are watching Extra. Not really sure why. Also watching CSI: NY which is about a stalker who got killed by one of the people he was stalking and I totally don't blame her.

I'm bored and I think I've been bored all summer. One thing I have been doing lately is playing Spore. I got the game when my hard drive crashed only to find out my computer can't handle it. But apparently my mom's laptop has a good enough video card to play it so that has been my latest addiction. I haven't been as obsessive with it as I would be just because I have to use my mom's computer to play it.

Last night there was supposed to be a big meteor shower but I went out during the supposed peak time and didn't see a thing. It didn't help that the moon was so full and bright and it was freezing outside. I wish I could curl up in a sleeping bag next to someone and just stare at the stars all night.

I had to reapply for the VA through like usajobs.com or something and I just got an email from them saying that I qualify for the job, but it's not a job offer. Wtf does that mean? I don't even know what to expect from them anymore. I don't really want this job but I do want a job and I'm sort of assuming after all this bs they've put me through they darn well better give me one.