Hair Color Poll

Some people have very strong opinions about my hair color -- most do not, but if you could...take the time and vote in the poll over there ----->
Here are photos to help you...

Blonde

Brunette

I don't think I look particularly bad with either color, but would like to know which you all prefer. Thanks for taking the time to vote! :)

Instant Gratifaction

Patience is a Virtue. Or so they say. I suppose that is true, but it is so hard for me. I am so impatient. I know it's awful, but it's true. I am 27 years old and I couldn't sleep the night before Christmas. What is that?? I've always been this way. Now Christmas is over and I can't wait for Spring. Christmas - Check, Why is it still cold? Oh, because I have to wait 5 months for warmer weather. Seriously? It's just awful.

And society isn't helping me any. First there are the cliches like fast food and cell phones. We can't wait for anything. But now we have On Demand and video streaming. I just got an X-Box and can stream hundreds of movies and TV shows from Netflix to watch instantly. It's unbelievable. I'm obsessed with it. I decided I might as well go back and watch all 5 seasons of Lost before the premier in a month. Might as well...it's right there. So we've gone from having to wait until a show we liked was actually on TV, to the incredible advancement of TV on DVD which was taken a step further by rental stores. Then we couldn't bother to get up to go to the store so we created Netflix and Blockbuster Online so they would come straight to our mailbox. And now, it's right there, magically waiting for me inside my television. I'm now left to suffer through the last 25 minutes of my work day (don't even get me started on the fact that I'm working the day after Christmas because people can't wait until Monday to see an apartment, pay rent, etc.)until I get home to House of the Rising Sun.

Happy Un-Birthday!

Today is not my birthday. It's not even my half birthday, which fell on Thanksgiving this year so I completely forgot to celebrate. It seems like a lot of people I know are having birthdays this month which has me thinking about birthdays. Yesterday my grandpa celebrated his 80th birthday. Lots of grandparents are 80, but if you sit down and think about it, that's a lot of birthdays. I feel like I've done a lot in my 27.5 years, but 80! That's a lot. So to celebrate this occasion we had a family party (a brunch) for those who could attend at the Greenwood Red Lobster. Yes, I said a brunch. It was the first time I'd visited the Red Lobster at brunchtime, but it was surprisingly busy. We planned to meet at 11:00 and since people were driving a ways, we all were there by 10 'til (well, that's when I got there, everyone else was already there and I have no idea how long they'd been there). The Red Lobster doesn't open until 11:00 so my parents, grandparents, aunt and uncle were waiting in their cars in the parking lot when I pulled in. I hadn't really thought about it being too early for a dinner restaurant to be open until I got there, but what I enjoyed the most about this scene was that my family were not the only people waiting in the Red Lobster parking lot Sunday morning for them to open the doors. There were three or four other carloads of people waiting on that Red Lobster manager to unlock the front door. Who knew? We had a lovely time and my grandpa enjoyed all of the attention.

In other birthday news, with the passing of my (uncelebrated) half birthday and all of these other birthdays I've been thinking about how old I am and how I feel about that, and I have come to a couple of conclusions. 1. I kind of like being as old as I am. I've gone through some phases where I feel like I haven't accomplished what I'd wanted by this time in my life, blah, blah, blah. But I'm kind of over that. I like being in my late-twenties. I feel like a grown up. I can take care of myself and my dog, do what I want-when I want, make my own decisions, and even admire an attractive older man (I saw Jeff Bridges on the Today Show this morning and I don't know what it is, but I'd totally make out with him if I had the chance). So I'm happy in my own skin...even if it is aging. 2. Most of the people that I spend a lot of time with who are "my age" (which is still calculated by what year you graduated high school) are 28 so I guess for that reason, I feel like I'm 28. Even though in reality, I'm a young 27 1/2. Now that I think I'm 28, I'm starting to feel a little bit of pressure because 28 seems like an important year for me. After 28 is 29 and by the time I'm 29, I really do need to have my sh*t together. For this reason, I've decided that I need more than a year to get through everything I need to do when I'm 28 so I'm just going to start being 28 now which gives me more like a year and a half which seems a lot more doable than 12 months, which can just fly by. So that's my plan. I think it's a good one.

Before I sign off, I'd like to send a special shout-out to the inspiration behind today's blog, Robby, who turns 28 today. Happy birthday, Robby, and good luck being 28 for just a year.

Christmas Card Question

So I ordered these Christmas cards with a picture of me and Tilly. (NOTE: This is not an opportunity to tell me how lame it is to send out a card with a picture of me and my dog!) Well, once the cards arrived, I realized that the photo I chose may be a little too cleavagey.

I'm torn because I want your opinion on the appropriateness of this photo card, but I don't want to post the picture because it would ruin the surprise when this card appears in your mailbox. So if you are able, without actually seeing the picture, weigh in on how bad it would be to send these cards out to all my friends and family. If it helps, the picture is from the same photo shoot as a facebook profile picture I posted a few weeks back of me and Till. In the card photo, I'm leaning over so you, the photo viewer, are kind of looking down my shirt.

Once the cards arrived, I decided it was too questionable to risk sending out and thought I'd just take another picture and order new cards. The problem is that now it's time to send cards out and I don't have a new picture. It would just be so much easier to just send out the ones I have.

So I'm asking you all to tell me what you think. Would you or your family be offended by a christmas card picture with a little more cleavage than you were expecting? Let me know what you think.

The Games People Play

I know I'm starting to sound like a boring Carrie Bradshaw column and for that I'm sorry. I'll try to spice it up a bit, but for now I'm venting some more. I'm just sick of all the BS game playing. I don't understand why it's necessary. You meet someone and either you like them or you don't. You like each other, you hang out. You don't, you don't. I think it should basically be that simple. Maybe I'm way off base and the game-playing is in fact just a part of our culture...Like saying please and thank you. If that's the case, I need to get better at it. I'm good at meeting people and flirting. I'm also good at being someones girlfriend. I am not good at the wait 3 days to call and don't text until texted game that gets you from point A to C. This is what frustrates me.

So, after several text messages, e-mails and rainchecks, I finally went out with Jesse... And I am sorry to report that I don't think I will becoming Jesse's girl any time soon. I apologize for getting everyone's hopes up, but it doesn't seem to be meant to be. After literally months of communicating primarily via text message, we found a time to meet when we were both available (obviously, I am terribly busy rarely have time for something as trivial as dating...my dvr is way too full for that). So we went to the Ale Emporium, my favorite restaurant/bar and had a good time. I looked gorgeous and was pretty hilarious although maybe a little on the loud side, as you can maybe imagine. Now I had a curfew for this date because I had to pick Aaron up at the airport at 9, which means I virtually turned back into a pumpkin at 8:30 because that is about when I should have left Ale, but that still gave us a good 2 hours to get to know each other which I thought was sufficient for a first date. He looked just like his pictures, which I was a little suspicious about since I'd been talking to him for so long and never seen him (I was starting to doubt his existence). He was a really nice guy - smart, funny, etc., but there really was no spark as they say. Still, I'd decided that I'd go out with him again if he was interested. So I leave a little before 9, albeit a little later than I should have, to drive to the airport. We hugged goodbye and that was that. I walked away thinking it was in no way a waste of time, but probably wouldn't amount to much. So really I shouldn't have been surprised when I received a text message at 12:17am that read "I'm guessing no spark. It's ok. You're an awesome girl and if you ever want someone to just throw back some beers after work, I'd show. I think you're pretty cool". The thing about this message is that it almost made me want to fight it. Like wait, no spark? You thought there was no spark? With me? This got me wondering if this was all part of the game. Does he send this just to make me want him? Or is it more of a defensive move? I'll probably never know.

So that's where things are now. Back to the drawing board I guess. I'm just sick of the games people play.

The obsession continues...

I cannot get enough of this! It's sad really. And my current favorite song lyric comes from this song as well. This is that.

Anything other than yes is no, anything other than stay is go...Anything less than I love you is lying...

How to: Comment on my Blog

I've had a few people try to comment (at least claim to try and comment), and get hung up where it asks for your google account. You do not have to have a google account to comment. If you do have one, you can log in and use it, but you don't have to. To comment without a google account, click on either "Name/URL" to just type in your name. Or click on "Anonymous" to comment anonymously.

Just in case you're out there dying to comment, and feeling inhibited by the website.

John 14:13

There's this guy - some might call him a bum - who stands on the corner of 96th and Allisonville (right across the street from Riverwood), begging for money with a sign that reads "Family Facing Eviction: Anything Helps". He's out there every month. The first time I saw him, I felt a little bad, but also laughed to myself (imagine an evil laugh) because I could have easily been evicting him. And unfortunately, due to the nature of my job, I have very little sympathy for people who don't/can't pay their rent. I know that is terrible, but it's true. Well now, the guy's out there every month, which only makes me like him less. I imagine he does pretty well on that corner. Just takes him a couple days to make all of his rent money. Not a bad gig, if you think about it. Actually, when you think about it that way, I've got a couple residents I'm going to send out there. Now the guy's out there again (he's probably cleaning up with all the holiday traffic). He even looks a little bit like Santa Claus which is definitely not hurting his cause. So today I find out that not only is he jolly, but he's also spreading the word of God. Apparently, the man is passing out homemade worry stones (or rocks). The man is obviously stealing smooth landscaping rocks from the apartment community that he owes money to, and writing bible verses on them. He's passing these out to people who give him money. Now that's a classy bum!

Shondell Out!

The 3 B's

During Sorority Rush, there were three things we were not allowed to talk about with the rushees. We referred to those as the 3 B's. They were Boys, Booze, and I can't think of the third one. For today, I'm going with boobs. Boys, Booze and Boobs. You'll see why momentarily.

Let's start with boys. They suck. I know this is cliche so I'll keep it brief, but it's true. Even the nice ones are a-holes inside. They can't help it. It's in their DNA or something. Just look at Tiger. If Tiger can cheat on his wife than there's nobody out there who doesn't have that in them. Men in relationships are constantly fighting against their natural urge to be unfaithful. I do not have scientific evidence to back this up...just personal observations. It's hard to fault men for this because I truly believe it is hard-wired in them to be this way. So really we should be rewarding them every time they don't act on these impulses. Now I am digressing because this is not my current man matter. Every issue we as women have with men comes down to this one simple truth. So I'm dating or whatever sort of. And some people in my life like my mother and therapist are concerned that I will avoid going out at all because of my fear of getting hurt and end up holed up for the rest of my life. Well, that may be a little dramatic, but you get the gist. I just need to trust my instincts and not let anybody else convince me otherwise. Nothing really to report on this front which is fine. Moving on.

I have nothing to say about booze, but seeing as how I could only remember two of the three B's, I couldn't leave one of them out.

No, I am not taking advantage of this blog as an avenue to remind you all that I have perfect breasts. Oh look, I went ahead and did it anyway! Anyway, I'm currently in a debate with myself about breast health. This began when my sister called with a story (that I will not share here) which led to her informing me that we should be going braless as much as possible because wearing a bra can increase your risk of breast cancer. Apparently this was on Oprah, which obviously makes it true. I had never heard this before, but I had heard that wearing a bra more - specifically to sleep in was good to maintain breast perkiness. Charina at work (I like to roll the r when I pronounce her name, especially in my head because I can't really roll my r's out loud) has told me that her mother always told her to always wear a bra for this reason. Charina herself is pretty petite, but she claims that her mother is in her 60s and has shockingly perky breasts. So I'm torn. If anybody has any further insight on this bra vs. no bra debate, I would appreciate it.

Same thing on the 3rd B...Let me know if you remember what it was.

A Proclamation

This is the last year that I work a holiday weekend. This is miserable. I hate having to work when nobody else has to. It's the worst so I'm saying outloud that I will do everything in my power to prevent this from happening again.

I hope the rest of you are enjoying your long Thanksgiving weekend. Maybe stop posting about it on the facebook though, Ash. It just makes me sad.

Perfectly Lonely

I'm completely obsessed with John Mayer's newest album, Battle Studies. I love it. It's great.You should listen to it. I can burn it for you if you want. Just let me know. I have about five favorites, but the song I stole the title from is track 10. John just totally gets me. I am perfectly lonely. "Cause I don't belong to anyone and nobody belongs to me" I like the title as much as any other lyric in the song, though. It says what I'm feeling better than I can express it any other way. Yes, I'm alone, but I'm pretty good with that right now. Not to say that I'll feel that way forever, because we all know I want the white picket fence and the happily ever after, but right now as I type this, I am perfectly lonely.

Now that being said, I am dabbling in the world of dating which definitely sounds a lot more fun than it really is. I've got a couple guys I've been talking to, but nothing serious obviously. And I've been primarily meeting these guys online (which despite anyone's best efforts still carries a stigma) The rules are different when you "meet" somebody on a dating site. There's no real obligation to call. It's not like a friend of a friend where your friend is going to call their friend and check up to see how the date went. If you don't like somebody, you just don't call back. At least that's what I've found and done. Now that I think about it, maybe that's just a precedent that I'm setting. But the whole thing's a lot of work and I certainly don't have the time to let every guy I don't like down gently. On top of that...it's like you can jump in and out of this thing whenever you want. I had a guy call me like 3 weeks ago then say he'd call me later that day, he never called, then he texts me the other day - literally 3 weeks after he was supposed to call me. And I guess this is acceptable behavior in this situation. I don't know. I wasn't super attached after the first round of text messaging a few weeks back so I wasn't crushed when I didn't hear from him. Actually, my favorite thing about him right now is the fact that his name is Jesse and I think it'd be fun to be Jesse's Girl. I've had a renewed love of that song ever since Rick Springfield guest starred on Californication a few weeks ago. If you get Showtime, watch it on demand. Very funny. So he's got the name thing going for him, but so far that's about it. Oh and there's a lot of e-mailing/texting involved in this online dating game so you really have to be on it. I really need somebody that can hold their own in a witty e-mail exchange. And grammar counts. I can't stand when people e-mail me and make grammatical and/or spelling errors. I totally judge for that so take the time and run a spell check before you hit send. All in all the whole thing's exhausting and so far not worth it, but ya never know. As always, I'll keep you posted.

Team Edward

I figure, if you're gonna be a loser, go all in. And that's what we're doing. Ashlee and I will be seeing New Moon at midnight tonight and we are very excited about it. She wanted a t-shirt so I had to make us both shirts and they turned out so cute that I'm actually excited to wear it.You should know that I individually placed each of those 'rhinestones'. That is dedication.

Now, clearly, I'm on Team Edward, which leaves Ashlee to be on Team Jacob. This really shouldn't surprise anyone. Jacob is sweet and sensitive and would never hurt Bella while Edward is smooth and sexy and badass. (Spoiler Alert!)While I like Jacob,I don't understand rooting for the losing team. We read the books, we know how it ends! Anyway, I'm excited and I don't care how lame it is.

Weekend Update

I don't really have any stories, but I haven't written this week so I'm writing something. Anything. I haven't decided yet. Just writing. Well, I might write something funny later, but for now here's an update. I'm at work. Got in this morning and realized I was wearing blue tights instead of black. Why do I even own blue tights?!? Fortunately, I live 50 feet away so I ran home and changed. Then we discovered that two apartments were broken into. Someone kicked the doors in. Why do people do this? They took one lady's "big screen TV" (I don't really know what she meant by that and I'm kind of curious to be honest - was it a flat screen? how big? old school big screen? I'm just curious) They didn't take anything from the other guy. He told me he didn't have a big screen so that must be why. Neither of them had renter's insurance so this is your friendly reminder to get renter's insurance if you are renting an apartment. It's cheap and so worth it if anything ever happened! So that's my day so far. The good news is that I'm off this weekend - WOO HOO! - so I just need to get through today.

Generally speaking, I've been really happy lately. Nothing has really changed that I'm aware of, but from day to day I'm just really happy. So I thought I'd share in case anyone out there is still worried about me. The cool part about this is that I'm not happy because of some guy or even some great new job. (That all still sucks)I'm just happy with me. So basically I rock and can now do anything. Speaking of, I've been busy lately. I decided I'm going to start working on a novel. I like to write and having been throwing around ideas in my head and in my journal for a while so I'm going to actually put pen to paper as they say. My mother, however, thinks I should write a self-help divorce book as she believes that would be more profitable (it's doubtful that anything I write will be profitable, but not for lack of awesomeness) so I'm working on that, too. It's like a fun spin on a depressing divorce book. I'll keep you posted on my progress. On top of the books, I've decided become a life coach. I don't really know if you can do that legally without a license, but I'm looking into it. I just spend a lot of my time cheering people up and telling them how to live their lives more successfully (for the privacy of my clients, I cannot share their personal information) and I've decided I'm good at telling people what to do (insert mean joke here) and people do that for a living so it's something I'm considering.

Shondell Out

Wild Strawberries

I have this resident who is kind of off. He's always nice, but just really different. I actually leased him an apartment when he lived at a different property I worked at and then again where I am now so I've known this guy forever. Well he just came in to talk about rent and some other things and I'm talking to him. Now, I'm not really as interested in talking to residents as some people - Joe for instance, will talk to anybody for an hour. Soups did the same thing. He really cared about his residents. Not that I don't...I want them to be happy and healthy, but I don't really want to hear about it. I know that makes me sound like a bad person. So you should know that I listen and nod and smile and laugh at their stories because I know they might just need to talk to somebody. Now the point of all that back story is to make you understand that when this guy was talking, I was mostly just nodding along. He's a sweet guy, but just talks about odd stuff. So I was pleasantly surprised when I enjoyed his story. We were talking about pets because he had to pay a pet fee and he asked if I liked dogs or cats and I told him I had a dog. He asked what kind and I told him she's a mutt, and that we're not really sure what she is. He thinks mutts are the best. He's had some purebreds and they were stupid or mean, but always had good luck with mutts. I agreed. Then he starts telling this story about how lucky he was to live on a farm growing up. They had cats, but they were mean. He's since grown to love cats and their cat is now a member of the family. They would have paid more than the $200 pet fee for her. Anyway, he grew up on a farm in southern Indiana and there was a railroad track at the back of their property. He's telling me how there was a big, what he called an impasse, leading out to this railroad track. He's telling me how it was pure Indiana prairie out there. He just loved it. And out on this prairie, these wild strawberries grew. Wild strawberries, he says, are just the absolute sweetest strawberries you've ever tasted. And that's like a mutt. They are a little wild, but just the sweetest.

I thought that was the neatest analogy. I had never heard anyone compare a dog to a wild strawberry, and I thought, 'That is Tilly'. She is wild, but the sweetest dog. Now you should know, when he started talking about the railroad track and the prairie, I had no idea where he was going with this story and I was floored when be brought it back to the dog thing. This may be why I was so impressed with it. I totally didn't see it coming. Regardless, I'm just glad I was paying attention in between nods and smiles.

Happy Fall from Tilly!

I think this is as close as I'm gonna get to dressing Tilly up for Halloween, as cute as that would be! :-) I haven't posted pictures of her in a while so I thought you'd all be interested in seeing how beautiful she's gotten. She's just about a year old. I think she was born around the first of October, although nobody's 100% sure. She was about 3 1/2 months old when I got her according to the vet who spayed her. Anyway, she's calming down a little bit, but still causes trouble occasionally. You should know that in the time it took me to write this blog, the stuffed jack-o-lantern has been destroyed.

It's Tuesday, right?

I know it's Wednesday and I'm sorry. I was sick yesterday and didn't do much of anything. I still have a touch of a fever, but I have to go to work because the owners are coming and Joey just won't know what to do if I'm not there. :-) So I'm toughing it out.

It's almost Halloween and this is the most thought I've given it so far. I'm not real big on dressing up and I clearly don't have any plans so I'm just not worrying about it. Maybe something will come up, maybe it won't. Whatev. My fall back is always the animal ears. Oh and I have those awesome hippy pants that I made last year (that's right, made). OK, now I kind of want to do somthing. :-) There wasn't a lot of photographic evidence of those pants last year so I'd like to wear them again. On that note, if anybody is doing anything or wants to do anything, let me know. There is a volleyball match that night so I could just go to Lafayette for that and avoid the whole "what to do?" fiasco. I kind of want to dress Tilly up. Maybe I'll make her a hippy outfit to match mine! How cute would that be?!? Or lame, but whatever.

Throw me a bone!

I'm making a real effort to write more. I've gone to more of a quantity over quality approach, and am posting more shorter entries. I feel like this is working for me and we're getting some entertaining stuff. It's not all brilliant, but it doesn't have to be because I'm writing so much more. It's a lot less pressure which I love. The problem is that I'm not getting any feedback. You all know there is a place for comments. If you don't feel comfortable posting so publicly, feel free to shoot me an email or a text. I would just like to know somebody is reading besides Ashlee.

Now that that's out of the way. Not a lot of other news. We went and visited Lindsay last weekend. It was fun. So good to see Lindsay! And nice to have a couple days off. Also, my dad just called to invite me down to Florida in December (Don't freak out, Ash! Call me and I'll fill you in) I am so excited and think I might actually be able to get off work and make it happen. The beach is just what I need! Also a good motivator to lose some weight. I'm feeling fat. Especially after finding a picture from 4 years ago when I was so cute. And we're getting a tanning bed in the clubhouse for residents (i.e. me) to use for free. So hopefully by Dec. 16 I'll be skinny AND tan. It doesn't get much better than that! OK, I'm gonna go color my hair. Maybe leave a comment. Let me know you're out there.

Red Devil Volleyball

So as predicted I am tired, but I am writing because it is Tuesday. Despite my predjudice to all things north of 96th street, I made the journey to Fishers High School to see Fish coach the Richmond Red Devils. I'll share the highlights.

NOTE: I just started writing my blog based on the notes that I made while (intently)watching the match, but decided that the notes were better than the long version so I'm just posting the notes.

1. Tall-ass camera (as described by Kyle that is apparently drug around to all matches)
2. Dean Knapp - Scarred me for life (JV coach for Richmond and younger brother of a girl I used to play with. He once held me under water for so long I thought I was going to die)
3. Jarett Habel - Ultimate Frisbee (Asst. coach at Fishers and a former Purdue manager. The only real conversation we ever had was about ultimate frisbee)
4. Wish I'd had my camera (to document Fish coaching)
5. How does Fish's hair affect his coaching??
6. Fishers is fancy (it cost $5 to get in and they had amazing concessions), but the gym is so 2000 - very dated.
7. A few people might think I'm a college scout. I knew I should have worn a shirt from an obscure university that might actually be recruiting at that match (ex. U of I, Rose Hulman)
8. Sideout cheer - it's been a while since I've gotten to hear one of those...for real...from real high school volleyball players.
9. WTF is up with 3 out of 5? It's just too long for a high school match.
10. I was completely disappointed by the absence of Magic Passing Bands on either team in the gym.

All in all, it was good volleyball and a good time. Richmond lost in three games, but they were good games. It was very entertaining. And it was good to see Fish. That's all for now.

Shondell Out.

Awww...

This may be more appropriate as a facebook share, but it's really sweet. No need to watch if you don't love dogs.

People I Deal with at Work, Part 1: The Residents

Despite plenty of evidence to the contrary (me having time to write this blog while at work), my job is not boring. I admit I spend a lot of time complaining about it, but it does provide me with plenty of interesting stories. Many of these I don't share for fear of annoying people who won't find them funny because you weren't there. No offense to the teachers out there...I love you all, but you know how teachers are always telling you stories about the kids in their class?? This is what I'm trying to avoid. In small doses, that is fine, but I just really don't care that much about the kids in their class. If I'm going to hear kid stories I'd like them to at least be YOUR kids. I can deal with that. I digress, and I really mean no offense and I'm going to feel bad if people stop telling me "kid at school" stories because I'll think you read this and were offended so keep them coming! Back to me. While my job is similar to many other jobs in a lot of ways - I work in an office, I sit at a desk and play on the computer all day - it is also unique in the fact that many of the people I'm working with from day to day live here. This is what differentiates selling apartments from any other sales job. You work hard and kiss ass to make the sale, but then instead of taking your product and leaving never to be heard from again, they move in! This means anything you promised them better be true because they will call you on it because they live here! Now that you get it, I will be profiling a few of the residents that I get to deal with.

1. The Buddy - This guy thinks he's my buddy. He pops in all the time just to say hi because we're buddies. He comments on my outfits - "All black today, huh?" Uh, yeah, apparently. And when he has a service request, he's cool about it. No big deal, but my tub's clogged so just whenever. Or I need a new furnace filter, but don't worry about installing it tell the guys they can just drop it off and I'll do it. This is all well and good until something doesn't get done or they get a letter that they owe money. Then it's all "I've been really understanding, but..." Just be straight up with me. Nobody asked you to put your own filter in. It doesn't make a difference to me. The worst is if something really bad happens in their apartment (ex. mold, break-in, etc) because then they never leave. They're here all day every day. But for the most part, this guy's not so bad. Moving on...

2. The Contractor - This guy is a contractor or works for a contractor or used to be a contractor or his brother's a contractor or her dad's a contractor or they just think they're a contractor. This person does a couple of different things. First, they want to see the apartment before they move in, which is fine if it's ready, but sometimes its not ready until they want to move in because they needed it right away and still want to be picky. But they don't care if it's not ready. At least that's what they think until they get in there and it's dirty and smells like cooking grease because everything looks worse when it smells like cooking grease. Trust me. So before they move in they already have a list of stuff they expect done before they move in. Most of which would have been done and the rest they wouldn't have noticed if it weren't for the stupid grease. This, by the way, is why we don't show apartments before they're officially ready. (These people sometimes sneak in when they're laying carpet or something) Then the worst is if something breaks in their apartment because no matter how we fix it or who fixes it, they know somebody who would have done a better job. Or they were watching the people work and they didn't do this right or that. These people can be nice in person, but have the potential to be completely annoying if anything ever goes wrong in their apartment. Oh, and they also know all the building codes, OSHA laws, health department numbers and can and will tell us what we are doing wrong and threaten to call and report us if it is not corrected.

3. The Screamer - These people yell about anything and everything. They yell at me, they yell at their kids, they yell at their husband, or their neighbor. It doesn't matter what the issue is, but it can be resolved through screaming. These are the same people who post their complaints on apartmentratings.com. That's like virtual screaming. Most of these people hate me, but some of them come in and apologize after the screaming only to turn around and do it again the next day. They also pass this along to their children. As I was leaving the complex last night for dinner, I passed four teenagers yelling at each other while a police officer sorted it out. While I probably should have stopped to be sure everything was OK...I just kept driving. The worst thing about these people is that they are perfectly pleasant when they lease the apartment. The screaming doesn't start until after they move in.

4. The Partyer - This one's not as bad as it sounds. These guys know what they're doing. They throw parties every weekend and nobody complains because they invite everyone. It's genius, really. Everyone loves these guys. They're just so cool. The police occasionally get called, probably by the new guy who hasn't gotten his invite yet, but these guys sweet talk the cops and the party rages on. These guys don't complain, they pay their rent on time and generally spend all the time they aren't partying being careful to stay under the radar. I like these guys. I can sleep through anything so as long as I'm not getting phone calls (which I'm not - it's still amazing to me because these parties get loud and can encompass the entire street), I don't care.

5. The Ghost - This is the last type of resident I'm going to talk about and definitely my favorite. This is the resident you never see and never hear from. Their rent is always magically in the drop box on the 1st, but they never call the office, never stop by, aren't loud, don't get complaints, don't even come out to walk their dog until nobody else is around. It's as if they don't exist.

This is part one of a four part series on the people I deal with at work.

I'm tired of being alone so hurry up and get here...

Tuesdays...

I would like to apologize for the error in communication. When I said I would write at least every Tuesday, my intention was to have at least one new post a week so if you checked once a week you would always have at least one new something to read. Going forward, I will be sure that there is something new posted on Tuesday even if I post three new things in the week prior. I hope this clears things up, Soups and Pooh!

Discipline

Dating: It's a numbers game and I suck at it. I expect every guy I meet to fall head over heels for me. What's that about?!? The fact that I haven't completely failed means that if I were playing the game like I'm supposed to I think I'd actually be pretty good at it. Numbers game. Numbers game. I just have to keep reminding myself of that. I need a few more coals in the fire and I think they'd all do better. Coals? I don't think it's coals. What do I need in the fire here? What's the expression? Anyway, I think you get what I'm trying to say here. (EDITOR'S NOTE: It's irons in the fire, not coals. It just came to me.)

Anyway, here's what I've learned so far about dating boys. 1. Nobody's gonna buy the cow if they can get the milk for free. 2. They always want what they can't have.

Sounds simple enough. So why is it so hard? To successfully navigate this... I hate to call it a game but that's what it is, I need to do a lot of things different. I need to stop worrying so much for one. I spend half my time analyzing the other half of it and being angry. I need to stop being so angry. And I need to start doing. Eating healthier, working out, getting out, organizing my life, enjoying myself. I think if I do this, everything else will fall into place. I was just watching Mercy [It's another new show. I think I'm going to do a recap of all the fall TV that I've been watching. That way it wasn't for nothing. I'm just waiting on the week to finish out. There are some good shows on tomorrow night.] and there was a nurse who everybody wanted. She kept ignoring calls from this hot lawyer guy and everyone kept asking her why and she just replied, "Discipline". I need the discipline to not get caught up in every little thing. I've got to spread it out....share the love and I'm hoping once I stop worrying about it, I won't need to worry about it quite so much.

Managing Expectations

I'm watching Eastwick from last night (it's a new show about witches and rather entertaining), at least the first 20 minutes of it so I can fast forward through the commercials on Grey's. In the last 10 minutes, I've decided two things. One is that I like the name Roxanne. The other is that I think I would seem much less crazy if I were more eccentric. It's all about managing expectations. If I start reading tarroh cards, wearing scarves and buying Buddha statues, people won't expect me to be sane.

As it is now, I come off a little too normal at first glance. This is deceiving and sets unrealistic expectations. I'm going to work on changing that.

Just a goof...

I should be on a commercial for match.com. You know, I'm just a goof looking for my ball?? That girl is lame! I on the other hand am what match.com is all about. So I paid for a 6 month membership six months ago under the ruse that "if you don't find a match in 6 months, the next 6 months is free"....Well it turns out there are a lot of stipulations to that rule and I got lazy and tired of stupid match so I don't qualify because I didn't send enough e-mails. On top of that the stupid thing auto-renewed my account at the end of the six months even though i never get on there anymore. I still get e-mails daily from guys writing or winking or whatever, and today I got an e-mail from a guy saying that he joined Match just to e-mail me. Now that I say that out loud it sounds like it could be a line, and a good one at that, but I didn't think that when I read it so obviously it worked. Apparently, I have something that gives people hope. OK, that's an overstatement, but this guy was checking out match.com after seeing the goofball girl on the commercial with moderate to low expectations and then saw me and thought, "hey, maybe there is somebody on here for me". Turns out he was wrong because I won't be writing him back, but it's the thought that counts and I appreciate that. Made me feel good.

I have also made a decision that I will be updating this blog every Tuesday. It's possible there will be more frequent updates, but at least every Tuesday so check back next Tuesday for another update!

Feels like Wednesday...

I know I haven't written forever, but my computer's been broken. I keep thinking of things to write about, but I don't have anywhere to write them...so they've been going in my private diary instead, which I guess is good for my future grandchildren who I assume will eventually find it after my death and read about all the not so wild escapades of their grandmother, but not so good for you, my readers. I only hope you can forgive me.

So it's Friday afternoon, going on evening and once again I have no plans. I've been feeling sorry for myself the last couple weeks, but I've come to the conclusion that that isn't doing anything for me. So to clarify, that is not what I am doing right now.

I've come to another conclusion in my absence. My posts lately haven't been as good as they were a year ago because I'm censoring myself more than I used to. I think this is mostly due to the fact that there's a chance that the people in my stories could be reading this which wasn't so much the case last year. And whether it's a fear of hurting feelings or embarassing myself, I leave out most of the good stuff and what's left is hardly worth reading. I'm going to work on that because the truth is that nobody really reads this so the odds of somebody reading something I don't want them to read are pretty slim. I'm still doing it though....right now, I'm afraid to write what I want to. I'll try baby steps, maybe.

For the last couple of weeks, Ashlee has been talking about moving down here and, most likely, moving in with me. This was originally my idea because we're both pretty lonely most of the time and she's living in Lafayette which is no fun. She was excited of course and began applying for jobs, but isn't so good at looking at the reality of the situation which is she's in a lease that she can't afford to break so she's pretty much stuck until March. This means that I'm stuck, too. But I'm not stuck in Lafayette. I'm here in Indianapolis, a hip and happening metropolis! I shouldn't be staying in every Friday night. I'm way too pretty for that! Seriously! I almost titled a post that a couple weeks ago. I am pretty, and right now I'm tan, too, which isn't going to last forever so I need to stop dilly-dallying and get out there. I'm also fun, and not always in a loud, annoying way although that does happen sometimes. I just don't know why I can't figure out how to be out there. That's my current mission. Advice is welcome. As our invitations. Anywhere, really. I'm not picky. I just need to get out of the house!

It's now officially Friday evening, however I have no plans and three work days ahead of me before I get a day off. Friday has lost all meaning to me. It feels more like Wednesday, and there's nothing exciting about a Wednesday.

Attention Reader(s):

Go back and read my old posts. I just did and they are really good. Apparently depression suited me artistically. This will also give you something to do while I get over my writers block and get a new battery for my computer and get over my mini-depression (I can tell it's not a real depression because I can't write like I could last summer). I may have some updates for you in the near future as well. Let's hope.

"Do you ever use a register?"

That was the personal banker to me...My response was a blank stare followed by "A what?". This should have come as no surprise seeing as how I was sitting across from John, the kinda cute personal banker, disputing my overdraft charges. How sad that when he asked about a register all I could think of was a cash register or a wedding registry....A check register did not cross my mind. Do people still use check registers?? In this age of online banking, I hate to admit that I have never balanced my checkbook. So I've made a few decisions about my life. Most importantly, it's not as bad as I sometimes make it out to be. I've been getting a little too whiny for my liking lately. Turns out I'm happier when I'm happy so from now on, I'm gonna be happy.

Now that we have that out of the way, I've also decided to be more responsible. I can't afford any more overdraft fees. :-) I'm paying my bills on time, getting my car fixed and I might even balance my checkbook. If I can remember how to do that.

Well, I'm on vacation this week and heading up to Lake Tippy for a week with the family. Be back in a week...

The Elusive Mr. Right

http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200803/single-marry

Something I've been thinking about....Thoughts??

Celebrate we will...

Because life is short, but sweet for certain.

An old friend and sorority sister's life was cut way too short over the weekend, and it has me thinking. I hate that it takes a tragedy to remind us all how much we mean to each other. As I read this, it sounds cliche, but that doesn't make it less true. I'm also not sure how I feel about the fact that Dave lyrics are the best way to express this sentiment, but those lyrics say exactly what I'm feeling better than I can say it. Because it's not that Lindsay and I hung out every weekend or talked on the phone every night....I haven't seen her for years, and in some ways that makes this harder. My first thought when I heard the news was that I cannot imagine a world without her in it. I can't put into words why that is, but for those of you who know her, you understand. I can't think of another Chi-O who could bring us all together like this. Again, it sounds cliche, but Lindsay was such a good friend to everybody. There are girls three years younger and three years older who are affected by this the same as the girls in her pledge class. Take me for example...like I said we were never best friends, but we kept in touch on facebook and she would send messages when something good happened or some thing sad, and I know that if I ran into her there would be hugging and screaming. We're still sorority girls after all. You just know she cared, and that means more than you realize.

It's just a reminder of how short life is, and you never know when it will end. We don't know how many more hot and sticky summer days, spring flowers, Phish concerts, family cookouts, sucky work days, birthday parties, thunderstorms, good work days, beers on the deck, visits and phone calls with my sisters, texts from my brother, Apples to Apples with friends, walks with the dog, etc. My point is that all of these little things that for the most part we take for granted (many of which aren't even worthy of pictures on facebook) make up our life. This is it so let's live in the moment and enjoy it as it happens. Good or bad, boring or exciting, this is it.

Bouncin' Around the Room

I completely intended to post something before the Phish show, but that did not happen. Where to start, what to say? So it's Sunday now, Father's Day (Happy Father's Day, Dad! I love you!). I'm pretty sure my dad doesn't read my blog, but sometimes my mom does so I trust she will pass along the shout out. Anyway, I'm at work. Starting today, we are required to open the office on Sundays. I think this is they worst idea ever, but nobody asked me. They should have though. I've been here a lot longer than anyone else and I know how this is going to play out. We never get enough traffic to make up for the problems that are caused (today, I haven't seen anybody and the phone rang once but they hung up when I answered) It messes up the whole schedule and we're thin during the week and then someone has to work the whole weekend. That's my biggest problem with it - the actually being here on Sunday part. It's the Sabbath for goodness sake! I go through phases where I complain about my job, but the one redeeming quality that it had was that we were closed on Sundays so even when I had to work every Saturday, I knew I had Sunday off. Well, that's out the window now so I guess I need a new job. I just don't make enough money to deal with this. I don't really make enough even if I didn't have to deal with it, but whatever. Back to Phish...

So Phish was Friday night. It was my first Phish show. In fact, I wasn't even a fan until a couple of weeks ago. I was familiar with the band, but never really listened to their music. Robby's a big fan and he and Sara were planning on going. We discussed this a couple months ago and Ward and I thought it would be fun if we went, too (Two things here: 1. we thought this despite the fact that neither of us were really fans and 2. I can't say this with complete certainty having no evidence of the contrary, but I think it was way more fun for everyone involved with us being there. I am defining everyone as Karli, Ward, Robby, Sara, everybody in the lawn and the band - I can't really speak for the folks in the pavilion...) So, obviously, we went. In the weeks and months leading up to this event, Robby was concerned that we would not appreciate the show - the band, the music, the experience, etc. He also seemed concerned that if we were not enjoying ourselves we would blame him and in turn ruin his concert experience. This is real...he was seriously concerned about this. This idea was absurd for a couple of reasons. First of all, we wouldn't go if we didn't want to (nobody tied us up and threw us in a trunk) and so regardless of our opinions on the band, show, etc, we were going to enjoy it for what it was, and secondly, Even if we were having a miserable time, we would never take it out on Robby at the show, knowing how important it was to him. That being said, you should know why Robby may have been concerned. If we rewind about 10 months or so to last summer, Ward ended up with a couple of extra tickets to Buffett and Robby agreed to go, knowing good and well he wasn't really a fan. I won't drag this out, but he spent the majority of the concert complaining. I imagine this is why Robby was worried about our behavior. His worry was unnecessary...we rose above. Just the same, Robby wasn't taking any chances so he thought he would do some pre-concert preparation. This involved making us each Phish CDs personalized to our own musical taste (this was impressive) plenty of Phish trivia and a showing of Bittersweet Motel, a Phishumentary (haha, nobody calls it that so don't go around calling it that....it's a documentary about the band - the music, the culture, the followers, etc.) So I couldn't get enough. I know, it kind of took me by surprise as well. I enjoyed the music more than I ever have before. I've always skipped to the next track during the jamming parts of most songs. So I'm loving the music...can't get enough...I want everything I can get my hands on. Fortunately, Robby kept making me CDs to feed my cravings. I also read whatever I could about the band. I love the fans, the culture, the story. It's just very cool. Long story short-ish, I'm a phan - and have been throwing a "ph" in the place of an "f" whenever possible.

That being said, I would like to address something. Many of you know this about me, but some of you may not. From the time I was a small child, I have gone to bed very early. I have a hard time staying up late. Even in college, I would have to nap from 7-9 so I could go out at 10. For some reason, I just do not do well late in the evening. Most days I go to bed between 9 and 10. Usually closer to 10:00, but I've been known to turn in before 9 as well. There are times when I'm active and am able to stay awake later, but this is not always the case. Most of you, who do not have this affliction, do not realize the lack of control I have over my body when it wants to go to sleep. I've been known to fall asleep at parties, in movie theaters, there is really no place or event that is an exception. The fact that I fall asleep does not mean that I am bored, or not enjoying myself or wish I were somewhere else. I just can't help it. A good example of this occurred the summer of 2004. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban was released in theaters and I was excited. I've read all the books and I couldn't wait to see the movie. Prisoner of Azkaban was one of my favorite books (maybe my favorite at the time) and I was pumped for the movie. We had purchased tickets ahead of time to see the first showing. I believe this was a midnight show, but I'm not positive. I go to the movie. I am so excited. It's going to be great. You can probably see where this is going....I fell asleep. Not only did I fall asleep, but I could not stay awake. It didn't matter what I did, I could not keep my eyes open. For you regular people, imagine taking a couple benadryl and trying to watch a movie. Nobody really noticed and I was able to play it off for the most part, but I was furious. This was a good movie. New director and a departure from the first two movies...it was really good. Everyone loved it. I ended up going to a matinee the next day so I could actively participate in discussions and loved the movie, of course. The reason I told this story is that towards the end of the amazing Phish show, which was delayed for a while by severe thunder and lightning, I was having a hard time staying awake. This is as frustrating for me as it is for the people I am with, and I wanted everyone to know that it is in no way a reflection of the anything that is going on around me. I hate that I wasn't fully engaged in that amazing second set, but I was there and mostly conscious and all in all thoroughly enjoyed my Phish experience! As I've mentioned before, I wish I could go back in time 15 years and discover the band then. Just think how different my life could be...

Oh, Hail!

OK, I'm venting a little bit here. I just got home from work and am grateful that my apartment is dry. Not everyone around here is so lucky. Right about 5:00 this afternoon it started storming. For about 40 minutes we had torrential rain, yes torrential, and golf ball sized hail. The hail may not have lasted the entire time, but it was long enough to do plenty of damage. Please see the teeny tiny photo below...

This was all well and good while we were watching it out the window and gawking about how big it was. When it let up I ran out to move my car under a carport....I bet you can see where this is going.....4 words: Too little, too late. So, of course, my car is covered with hail dings. Of course it is! So now I have to deal with that. If that's not bad enough, the phone rings (I'm still at work) and it's a resident informing me that she has ankle deep water covering her apartment. Great....just great. And it wasn't just her. There were three apartments afflicted by this natural disaster. To add insult to injury, the second two just moved in. One of them moved in a week ago and the other just moved in Saturday. I convinced them it's a great place to live, they move in, they're happy, then bam! their apartment floods. While I know it was out of my control, I feel responsible. So yeah, they're standing outside throwing a football around while they wait for the carpet extractor to get there. Hopefully, that's soon.


In addition to that, the parking lot is flooded all around my apartment so all my neighbor's cars are under water. They're all standing outside while I hide in here with the blinds closed. I was thinking about going to run, and I may still, but I wouldn't hold your breath. I'm trying to get motivated to train for a pretend marathon. I've fallen off the work-out wagon a little since the weight loss challenge ended so I need something to motivate me. I think I'm going to try and start running. Keep track of how far I run in preparation for my pretend marathon which will be taking place at some uncertain time in the future.


Well, I feel a little better now. Now I'm ready for bed. :-)

Weight-Lost Challenge

While many people thought I would have written about this before now, but I have shown tremendous restraint. Impressive, I know. We are now officially in the final 24 hours of this challenge. The act of writing that makes me hungry. So the way this thing works is we weigh in once a week (we do this on Wednesdays before Lost, hence the name). We are measuring our weight loss by percentage weight lost so that it is fair, and whoever loses the largest percent at the end is the winner. The three losers will pay the winner $100 each so the winner gets $300. The players are Soups, Robby, Ward and me (although Soups sorta threw in the towel a few weeks back and is no longer really in contention) The final weigh in will take place tomorrow night at approximately 7:30 PM and at this point in time the race is way too close to call.

I have entered my final phase of this competition. I cannot reveal what that consists of at this time, but it's not super fun. I was leading at the last weigh in, but I don't think I've lost anything since last week....I'm honestly just hoping I didn't gain, and I have no way of knowing how everyone else is doing. Keep your fingers crossed and I'll let you know how it turns out...

Incurable Optimism

OK, so I stole this from Michael J. Fox, but with his recent TV special to promote his most recent book, I have been sucked into his incurable optimism. I have always thought of myself as an optimist, but it's not always as easy as it sounds to know that everything is going to work out. I know this could be overkill, but it's something I've been focusing on...with Marty McFly's book and the uncertainty I hadn't expected in my life. Anyway, I have to stay optimistic or I will end up completely depressed. I really like this quote from How I Met Your Mother (I know it's lame that I'm taking so much life advice from a sit-com). It embodies what I hope for, I guess, and I think it's pretty true.

"Don't forget, on any day, you can step out the front door and your world can change forever"

It has before, and it will again...

We Live and We Learn

My pendulum is still swinging a little wide, but I'm noticing a definite improvement. For example, I met a boy and let myself get totally caught up in it. (I know, I know better than that!) Then as quickly as my short lived love affair began, it was over. So in the span of 10 days, I was on top of the world and then came crashing back down to earth. So that sucked, but it's not all bad. It gave me hope. For the first time, I met somebody that I hadn't known before that I could see myself being happy with. That is progress, and something I was starting to doubt was ever going to happen, despite the insistence of friends and family. Everyone says "you're a great catch...you'll meet someone", but until that happens, it's hard to believe. So while I'm slightly disheartened, I know there's hope. From this experience, I have also just about decided to give up match.com. How embarassing to say you met your boyfriend/fiance/husband online. No offense to all the people who do this, but I just don't feel comfortable with that. There's an episode of How I met your mother when Ted brings a girl to the bar that he met online and Barney says that only crazy girls find guys online - this is when he introduces the hot/crazy scale, which I have taken into consideration before making many an important decision in my life. So while the pros of online dating are 1. I don't have to go anywhere 2. there are a lot of people on there that I might not otherwise meet 3. you skip a lot of the BS. The downside is 1. There are a lot of losers out there 2. it's kinda lame 3.you skip a lot of the BS. So I'm still trying to decide how to procede. I guess I will accept opinions on this topic.

In other news, today is my mother's 50th birthday! If you see or hear from her, please wish her a happy birthday. Even though at this point, it will probably be belated. She has had the best birthday ever so far which is encouraging. Her team teachers decorated her room and brought her a cake, she got flowers from me, lots of flowers from my dad, another cake from the parents of her students and they basically partied all day. I think she would most definitely agree that this is one of, if not the best birthday she has ever had. It's only getting better because my dad's having a party for her Saturday and they're going out tonight and she's as happy with her life as she ever has been. I know not every birthday has been so perfect so I just need to keep in mind that while things aren't as perfect right now as I think they could be, the best is yet to come.

Busy doing nothing...

OK, I'm sorry... I keep meaning to write... I really do... It's nothing personal... I've just been so busy. Busy doing nothing, but just the same. I do seriously have two or three drafts started. I just never have the patience to finish them. Lucky for all of you, I'm stuck at work on a gorgeous Saturday afternoon, and am rebelling by blogging. I have a lot of thoughts on Wal-Mart, but I think that deserves its own blog so I'm going to save it.



It's been kind of a big week. Sunday was Easter. That was just this past Sunday, right? Yeah, it was. Anyway, Ashlee came down Saturday night and we went to see .Records. - please note the name change - which was thrilling as always and then went to my church Sunday morning. We then went to Lafayette where I spent most of the day with Allie, blowing bubbles, watering flowers and cleaning up imaginary stars. Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday passed in a blur of April Showers with the one exception being the phone call I received from Miss Allie Tuesday afternoon asking if I would be coming to her birthday. Heartbreakingly, the answer was no because I had to work. I hear she had a pretty fab party at Chuck-E-Cheese sans Karli so all is well. Thursday the sun came out and so did baby Camryn. Camyrn Paige O'Maley was born Thursday night to proud parents Soups and Ami. To quote Rachel Green, I can't believe one of us actually has one of these. It's kind of crazy, but so exciting. Cut to today and I'm just trying to get through the next two and a half hours so I can go to Ward-a-palooza!



Now that I've gotten through the recap, we can get down to business. So the sun has been out since Thursday which makes me happy. It's 70 degrees and sunny which is about as perfect as a spring day can get so I'm itching to get out of here, but in good spirits just the same. I've been trying to work on me a little bit. I am just so ready to be back to good. Not that I'm not good. I'm OK. It's just harder for me to get there from time to time. And I think I'm swinging farther than I used to with my moods which makes people think I'm crazy, myself included. And that's just not good for anyone. So in order to accomplish this, I am seeing a therapist who is trying to help me be OK just as me so I can be good for somebody else which is good for everybody really. You would think I would have some funny things to say about therapy, but I'm drawing a blank. Maybe because it's not court ordered or anything. I am sure over time there will be something. The long and the short of all that is just that I'm trying to be sunnier all the time, not just when it's sunny.

I'm tempted to go back to Wal-Mart because at least I know that stuff is funny, but I'm getting a little verbous as it is and I don't want to risk another 500 words that may or may not be hilarious. OK, so one last thought that I had earlier today...You know how all the Richmond folks stick together, right? And then they have a few folks who attach themselves...Well, I feel like in some ways I was converted to that lifestyle, much like some people convert to Judaism for their Jewish spouse. And now, much like Charlotte (well, Charlotte for like 2 episodes) in Sex in the City after she and the bald guy whose name I can't think of right now..maybe started with an H, I'm still Jewish even though I did it just for that one guy not really for the religion. OK, I'm not really sure where I was going with that without it hurting peoples' feelings and that's not at all how I intended it to sound. :-) I just had a couple come in to see an apartment so they distracted me. They are moving from Peru! Who lives in Peru? Peru, Indiana that is. I know lots of people live in Peru the country. My great-grandma lived in Peru so I know where it is, but I don't think I've ever known anyone else from there. OK, that's all I have for now. Two more hours then I'm out of here. I hope the sun sticks around!

Does anyone else use blogger and really want to write a post about scooters?

Contentment

I need something funny here to counteract the debbie-downerness of my last post. Well, I'm not feeling super funny, but I am feeling better. The weather is getting nice and I was able to enjoy the breeze all day at work. After work, Tilly and I went for a long walk which was good for both of us. Then I swung by the library and went tanning. I grabbed some food and came home for my favorite TV night. So I realize this doesn't sound like a huge improvement from where I was two days ago, but I'm getting there. I even think I might try and work out in the morning. We'll see. :-)

Tomorrow is St. Patty's Day so that should be fun. I hope so at least.

Kiss me I'm 1/5th Irish!

I like watching the puddles gather rain...

Update: My life is lame. I stayed in and watched Dexter all night Saturday. I looked damn cute though. Such a shame. I was hopeful that somebody would give me a call or swing by and pick me up, but of course that didn't happen. That never happens. I just don't know what to do to make that happen. I know I sound so pathetic and I hate that. But I'm a fun and cool person. Why don't people want to hang out with me? Is there something I could be doing to get myself out there more? Obviously, I'm not going to meet anybody staying in every night. Help, please. Seriously.

All I can say is that my life is pretty....TBD

I just want to start drinking. Is there anything wrong with that? I'm working my bazillionth Saturday in a row and I am ready to go home. It has been dead today, and the only thing keeping me going is Pandora. And now I've got everyone else listening to it today, too. Well, I guess by "everyone", I mean Soups. Everyone who's anyone, at least. Isn't that right, Soups?? And, I missed Ami's baby shower because I had to be here. I'm not really sure how important it was for me to be here. My phone has rung 6 times, once it was my mom, once it was Ashlee, twice it was Soups and twice it was Joey. (I'm transitioning from Joe to Joey - it's way more fun calling you Joey) Isn't it funny how I act like anybody is reading this besides Soups and my sister? Speaking of....I'm gonna throw some mad props to my man, Soups for also working a bazillion Saturdays in a row. It's not fun so I've got love for you for that.

Pandora: I started out the morning with a George Harrison station then rolled that into a little old school John Mayer station (no, you can't pick "old school" John Mayer as an inspiration, but it would be cool if you could.) Then went with some up-beat country (Zac Brown Band) then some chill country (Carrie Underwood) and now I'm in the final stretch of my day so I need some Katy Perry to get me through.

I want to go out tonight so I'm trying to make that happen. I'm not really doing so well so far. Ashlee is in town so I thought she'd come out with me, but no, she has other plans. Whatever. So I'm trying to find someone else to tag along with. I really need some girl friends. It's too bad you can't take dogs to bars.

I've been waiting all fricking day for the stupid sun to come out, but it hasn't happened yet. It was supposed to be nice today. Actually I have no idea where I heard that. I think I got that weather report by means of a long game of telephone. I guess cloudy and cold is what I deserve. Come on Spring!! I am so ready.

Well, I only have about 25 more minutes so wish me luck, and hopefully things will come together and I won't end up drinking with Tilly at home tonight....

K-Shon out. Peace.

Looks like I've got myself a 'coon dog

This is not the raccoon, but rather a somewhat ironic representation of the actual creepy raccoon that I found treed outside my back door. (Ironic because I just so happened to buy a stuffed raccoon the same night that my dog discovered her destiny as a coon dog.) Well, I guess you kind of had to be here to appreciate it, but raccoons really creep me out so I had to share. And I couldn't get a picture of the real raccoon - he snuck away when I came in to grab my camera - so Tilly pictures will have to suffice.

Facebook

So Ward, allegedly, posted this note on his facebook page where he wrote something about each of his friends - facebook friends that is. Now I am forced to only assume that this happened because I did not see it with my own two eyes and just as quickly as it was posted, it was gone. You would think that after going to all of that work, you would want something like that posted for more than 12 hours, but what do I know. This is all beside the point though.

My point here is that this made me think about all of my so called friends on the facebook (yeah, I still call it the facebook. This is a little bit because when I joined that was the url, and partly because I'm from Muncie and have a little redneck and sometimes add random "the"'s in front of things. Ex. "The Walmart". I don't think that I could write something about each of my friends. Of course I could about my real friends, but I am currently friends with 404 people and I am curious how many of those people I don't really know. I am going to attempt this exercise here on the blog and then unfriend anyone who I don't really know. Deal? Deal.

OK, so after scrolling through the first page of my friends, I have noticed that a lot of people - maybe most - fall in the middle. These aren't people I talk to all the time - or ever - and I may not even look at their pictures, but I know them and know how I know them and know something about them. I hate to unfriend people from high school just because that's kind of what facebook is all about. Then there are people I was friends with in college. Same concept as high school really. People I may have had a class with - these people are a little iffy, but I hate to get rid of them. What if they notice. I know - get over yourself, Karli. People I've worked with or work with - pretty much the same as class. Then there's family. I have to keep my family. Oh and the people that I'm actually friends with and still talk to on a regular basis - no brainer.

OK, so to sum up, I'm not deleting anyone. At least not tonight.

Addicted to Mountain Dew

So first of all, I'd like to state for the record that I will never respond to someone yelling "shoatie" out their car window in the Wal-mart parking lot. What is that about?

I'm watching 20/20 about folks from the hills of Kentucky which is where Mark's family is from. Now, if you're watching this you should know most of his family isn't as poor as what you're seeing, but they all live in those same hills. I have learned a few things about the Appalachian people.

They're not educated, drink a lot and do a lot of drugs, but none of that is really news. But apparently they are also addicted to Mountain Dew. I forget the statistic, but Mountain Dew consumption in Eastern Kentucky is like 50% higher than anywhere else. They put it in baby bottles, give it to their kids. It's all they drink. So not surprisingly, all their teeth fall out.

They had to add subtitles so that regular English speakers could understand these hillbillies with their extreme dialect. The fellow talking mentioned a "hollow". I'm not sure how fancy 20/20 thinks they are, but that word is "hollar". Hollow is an adjective. Hollar is a noun describing the valley between hills or mountains in Kentucky. I just wanted to make sure you all knew that because I was so surprised that Diane Sawyer didn't.

Editor's Note: Evidently, spellcheck also needs this lesson. It is not recognizing hollar.

I wanna dance with somebody....

I wanna feel the heat with somebody...

Oh, Whitney. There's nothing like pre-cracked out Whitney. She knows what she's talking about. I just need a little sumthin sumthin in my life right now.

Things are good with Tilly. I love her. She's a sweet girl and I am so happy that I have her. So my home life is pretty good. My work life is a completely different story. I need to work on that. I feel completely out of control which I hate. So I'm just hanging in there for the time being. And my personal life.....well, you can imagine.

I'm mad at that damn groundhog, by the way. That thing ALWAYS sees its shadow. I need Spring. I need Spring and I need it now. So does Tilly. But mostly I do. I am almost almost 27. I have got to get moving and get my life back together. Wish me luck.

Tilly

So this is Tilly. She is 4 months old, and I pick her up on Sunday. I went down to see her yesterday, and she is so sweet. I can't wait to get her home and for everyone to meet her. A few words to all the skeptics out there - my allergies will be fine, and I need something to get me up and moving. I come home every night and fall asleep. I think Tilly will get me off the couch. So get excited because I am!

TGIWTF?!?

Four hours ago, I was all, "Yay, it's Friday". I'm off this weekend. I got a extra large paycheck today. I was making plans to redecorate my apartment. Everything was good. Then I get an e-mail from my regional manager saying she needs us to come over for a brief meeting. Still I'm not thinking much of it. Well, a little background info is necessary here before I go on. I manage an apartment complex and for the last 3 years I have worked for one company. This company recently sold the complex where I work so the last two weeks have consisted of transitioning to the new management company. There were three properties sold and collectively we have all felt very fortunate for how smooth the transition has been and how well everything is going. Cut to this: I go to the meeting and find out that the new owners apparently fired the company that I just started working for and I will now be working for yet a different management company. So all of the transitioning, new hire paperwork, interviewing for my own job, learning new computer systems and policies that I just finished will start over on Monday. This, along with some other technicalities that aren't worth mentioning here (at least not yet) have gotten me a little bent out of shape.

I am an optimist, as I have mentioned many times before, and I will remain optimistic. The new company is a good company and everything will probably be just fine. It is just frustrating. Once I start go get in the groove and relax, BAM. It's like not so fast, Karli. Anyway, I will be just fine. I just hate that everything has to be so complicated.

So I have now found myself feeling much less stable than I did this morning, which is something I was so happy to have. So I got this bonus on my check today so I was planning this mini extreme makeover of my apartment. But now that I'm not sure what's going on I am more hesitant to procede. It just makes me want to scream! Well, I just decided that the extreme makeover is still on. As long as I'm here, I need to be happy. So wish me luck. I have high hopes for this evening.

I'm going to go see the dog tomorrow so vote on a name!! I have a couple favorites...

How much is that doggy in the window?

So I am not going to spend this entry rationalizing why I should or should not get a dog. Mostly because I'm afraid should not would win out. The allergies and responsibility and messes....I'm not sure that sounds like me, but I do want a dog. And I have for a while. Every month or so I'll jump on petfinder.com and see if there are any dogs screaming at me to be mine. Well yesterday when I did this, I found one. She's a beagle/golden mix which should make for such a good dog. Oh, and she's gorgeous. I could post the picture from petfinder, but that would be a little creepy so I'm not doing that. I'll wait. I basically just wanted to get it out here so nobody would be shocked when I came home with a dog one day. I will keep you posted.