Alyssa's Everyday Blog

Final Fantasy XIII - First Impressions

2010-03-16T14:13:00.002-04:00

So I bought FFXIII last week, pre-ordered it on Amazon so it came in on Thursday (or Friday, I can't remember). I've only played about 3-4 hours of the game, but so far I've been disappointed a bit. The graphics are great, don't get me wrong (and look even more beautiful on my 42" LCD tv) but there's just something lacking so far.

I think my biggest beef is its "Lost-factor." I spent the entire first two hours going "umm...did I miss something? I don't know what the crap these characters are really talking about. Wtf is a l'Cie and why is it so horrible?" I don't like when I'm told only half of a story, or I'm supposed to just "trust" the storyteller to eventually clear things up for me. I don't like being confused. It's almost belittling to me, as an audience.
I was told by a friend of mine who's gotten a good bit farther in the game than I have that the 50% of the story I'm missing is in the Datalog. I have MAJOR qualms with this. I don't want to interrupt my game to read backstory on something that just occured in a cutscene I just watched, mainly because I can't go watch it again and go "ohh. Ok, I get it now." That's annoying. It disturbs the flow of the game and I honestly feel it's a waste of my time. Tell me the story like you used to, through cutscenes and dialog. Don't make me read an impersonal "datalog." Yeah, I get the fact that increasing the length of a cutscene to provide raw information is costly, but honestly I don't care. Cut back on the graphics, I don't care. That's not why I play Final Fantasy anyway.

I also don't like the two different (for lack of a better word) modes the game has. I'm either watching a really boring cutscene that I'm only going to appreciate 50% of, or I'm on the edge of my seat during combat. I go from wanting to lay down on my bed and play, to sitting up straight and on edge while I'm fighting. Make up your mind!

I have zero emotional connection to any of the characters so far. Lightning annoys me because she's all brooding and "tough." I'm annoyed with Snow's character because I'm supposed to relate and care about his "love" for Serah (who is a l'Cie) when I just met them less than an hour ago. I guess I could say I have the same beef with their love story as I did with Twilight's; don't TELL me they're in love, show me. Oh, and the snot-nosed kid whose mother died? I just want to punch him in the face.

So thus far, I have been far from impressed about Final Fantasy XIII. I'm only a few hours in, so hopefully the game will turn around for me...but we'll just have to see.

The Need to Spend

2010-03-16T09:01:00.002-04:00

So for the past few weeks, I have been looking for ways to better my future that involves spending money. Up until recently, I was researching buying a home; now I'm researching buying a brand new car.

Why? Well, as most of you know, I have my BA in Psychology and a mountain of debt. I make good money for what I do, but nearly half of my monthly financial intake goes into student loans. I went to the bank to figure out what kind of home I can afford, and both the loan officer and I came to the conclusion that although my credit was FANTASTIC, I could probably only afford a 60k home. That's a really low number, as most of you are probably aware. "60k?! That barely buys a garage!" Well, here in the south houses are a good bit cheaper than other places in the US. So from that point I did my research on what homes were available around the Pickens area. There were a few that I liked, but were just in bad neighborhoods. It seemed like that was a trend; I had to either pick a really nice house in a bad neighborhood, or an ugly house in a good neighborhood. I just decided to nix the idea, since buying a home would give me very little wiggle room when it came to emergencies.

Then I decided that my new priority was to make my future house buying as easy as possible. "How can I eliminate future expenses NOW?" Well, aside from putting additional money into my student loans to pay them off as quickly as possible, I've decided to buy a brand new car with a REALLY good warranty. I figure while I have the money now, I might as well take advantage of it. I can still put extra money towards my student loans, and also guarantee me a great car with a warranty, so if it breaks down while I'm paying on a home, I won't have to pay for the repairs. My current vehicle probably doesn't have more than a year or two left in its life; it has a whopping 145k miles on it already. It's not going to last me very much longer, and I don't want it breaking down the moment I move out, adding yet another expense to my plate. That would be the last thing I need.

So now I'm looking at two cars, the Hyundai Accent and the Kia Forte. Both Hyundai and Kia have great warranties, so now I just have to go out and test drive them. I've told my sister and a few others that I have 2 main priorities in my next car: I want a fantastic warranty, and buttons. Yes, buttons. I want keyless entry, automatic doors, an aux port for my mp3 player, a kick-butt stereo system, etc. Buttons. I want buttons. I've gone my entire driving life without having the luxuries most people do. I mean, shoot, my Dodge Neon right now doesn't even have electric windows or locks. It doesn't even have a cd player! I have to listen to my mp3 player through one of those cassette adapters. So that's what I want. Luxury accessories and a warranty. Oh, and good gas mileage...but that's kind of a given, since both cars are teeny.

ZOMGUPDATEWTF

2010-02-22T14:18:00.002-05:00

Woo! I'm updating! Look! Do you see?! IT'S AN UPDATE! :) I know it's been forever since I've posted on this thing, but I figured while I had something to talk about, I might as well take advantage of it and post :)

Job is still going really well. Went to Charleston (technically Isle of Palms) almost all of last week for my first ever away-from-home-overnight conference. I enjoyed it! Our hotel room was PHENOMENAL. We had a 2 bedroom villa at the Wild Dunes resort. It had it's own fully functional kitchen and living room, 2 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms, which were both very very nice. The classes/presentations at the conference were surprisingly interesting as well, considering everyone was preparing me for a snorefest! The food at the hotel was subpar, but my overall experience was very good! Lots of going out to dinner with a little bit of shopping thrown in there.

I'm still dating Kyle, for those who are interested :) His living situation is a little volatile at the moment, so I'm not going to get to see him again soon, but we talk every day, which will just have to satisfy me until he can fly out here again. Needless to say, that man means a great deal to me and I can't WAIT until I can spend another weekend with him :) *sigh*

I'm going back to Tennessee this weekend with my church family for a church-getaway kinda thing. We're leaving Thursday and coming back Saturday...We're also supposed to be going to the Comedy Barn one of those days...so we'll have to see how that goes. I've been before, and it was just ok, but from what people have been saying, it should be interesting! I know for a fact Rhonda is deadset on getting Chris on stage :P

Other than that, life has been pretty steady! I'm waiting patiently for the sequel of Dragon Age to come out next month, as well as the next Final Fantasy game and Alice in Wonderland...March should be a fun month! I'm excited :)

Amg!

2010-01-26T12:50:00.001-05:00

2 more days!

Trips and Traveling

2010-01-12T12:47:00.002-05:00

I'm super excited for the next month or two. Lots of traveling and trips!

First of all, Kyle (whom I met online) is coming to visit me at the end of January. I'm super nervous but really excited about it at the same time.

2nd, I'm going to Pigeon Forge this coming weekend with the family. I won't have a TON of money, but enough to have a little fun. I like going to PF just in general, so I'm anticipating a good time :)

3rdly, I'm going to Charleston in February for a conference. I'm REALLY excited about that one for multiple reasons. First of all, it's my first ever overnight conference trip. Secondly, it's my first conference that's actually relevant to my job. Thirdly, the hotel we're staying at looks wonderful! We're hoping to get a 2 bedroom, 2 bath suite thing at the resort that comes with a full kitchen, dining room, and sitting area! It's going to be awesome.

I'm super excited!

Ethereal Homicide

2010-01-05T09:40:00.003-05:00

So I had a really bizarre dream last night...I dreamt that a girl I've known from high school, who I've never really liked, was my mortal enemy and kept trying to kill me. However, it wasn't like a "omg a killer is after me I better run" kind of dream. It was like we were two superheroes, without the super powers, trying to exact eachother's demise.

The only part I remember with clarity is where I was hiding in this kind of bunker, hoping to get some rest in a safe haven away from her, when I realized my left hand that was resting slightly above my head couldn't move. I looked up and there she is, with a blade against the inside of my hand and wrist. She sliced down, cutting open my hand and wrist, and I remember thinking "so this is what death feels like?"

I didn't die, however...I managed to somehow escape and find a man who was a doctor, although I didn't find him in a hospital, who told me that although I had lost a lot of blood, I wouldn't die. He couldn't stitch up my wounds; something about them being so deep that if he stitched them, they wouldn't heal properly. I also remember him examining my hand and opening the wounds up again, only to tell me they were too deep to be stitched up.

Then I woke up...Totally bizarre.

Lawl.

2010-01-04T09:27:00.002-05:00

I'm always so shocked when my town or South Carolina in general gets there name on one of my frequented websites...Today, as I was waiting on my client to show up for his appointment, I was browsing the intranetz and stumbled on this...

http://notalwaysright.com/in-spock-we-trust/3685

Pickens! Haha! Star Trek is OBVIOUSLY the cause behind the corruption of our youth. I mean, seriously! It's all so obvious now! Thank you random crazy in my hometown (we have so many) for clearing that up for us all.

I wonder if this happened at Movie Gallery or at Ingles?

Christmas-y Stuff

2009-12-16T10:32:00.004-05:00

I'm really excited about this upcoming weekend. My sister, brother-in-law, our parents, and I are going to Gatlinburg/Pigeon Forge, TN for the weekend. We're leaving sometime around 3 on Friday and coming back early Sunday. Lots of shopping will be had. I plan on taking my portable dvd player for the drive up, cause it's at least a 3 hour drive and may take longer depending on detours. Apparently there was a huge rock slide in I-40 in the mountains, so they've had to close it down completely, and from what I've heard, the detour route SUCKS. Hopefully Mendia will be able to get me the directions her family has and swears by to get around the detour traffic.

Sunday we also have our Christmas play at church. Thank the good Lord that I don't actually have to stand up there this year. All the music was pre-recorded at church so it could play while the actors are doing their thing. Which TOTALLY works for me. Rhonda and I did a duet together, singing Mary Did You Know and we got to record that as well. I'm sure I'll hate listening to myself sing when the time comes lol. I want to make these Oreo cream cheese balls for the dinner after that Teresa gave me the recipe for, but I'm just worried I might not have time to make them. The recipe seems to not be complicated, but take a fair amount of time. I also have to buy wax paper and vanilla almond bark, and Ingles was out last time I was there. Cross your fingers that I'll be able to find some before Friday!
....
....
....
....
I'm currently suffering from a headache. And cramps. Yay cramps.

Fail, DragonCon...Fail.

2009-12-09T09:57:00.002-05:00

So I was browsing my morning web-readings and I happened upon this blog post on the Least I Could Do website...Apparently Dragon Con, after moving their booth to a dark corner without their consideration and without apology, they are now denying them entry as guests at the show. The situation was Dragon Cons fault, Blind Ferrett was very calm about the situation, whereas they were rude, and now THEY'RE denying them access to booths. How. Rude.

http://forums.leasticoulddo.com/index.php?showtopic=31068 is the link to the blog/forum post.

All I have to say is now I am even LESS inclined to go to Dragon Con. Why should I give them my money when they treat their guests, that I'm there to see to begin with, so poorly? Dragon Con does nothing but host the event, whereas their guests pull in the crowd...and they treat them like this? No thanks, I'll spend my money elsewhere.

Someone Buy Me These Things!

2009-12-08T10:48:00.002-05:00

Because I can't afford them on my own, lol.

http://www.amazon.com/wishlist/37XNX0PYS95E0

At least I hope that link works...

Dragon Age

2009-12-03T12:20:00.003-05:00

IS AMAZING. Srsly.

I've only been playing it for 2 days, but it's so much fun. And what's really surprised me is how FAMILIAR it feels. When you first start out, you pick your gender, race, and class. I picked a Daelish female elf warrior. Everything about your character is customizable, practically. You can even go so far as to customize how high of a brow they have or how wide their eyes are set. They don't have a lot to chose haircut-wise or color, but eh. It's no big deal.

When I got into the actual gameplay, it felt really familiar. On my PS3, you have basically 4 buttons to press. X is standard attacks, and you can assign other attacks to the square, triangle, and circle buttons. L2 gets you into your basic menu like inventory and talents, and you level up as you complete the game, kill monsters, and discover items. As you level, you can learn new skills and increase your stats however you want. The map is easy to read and has arrows pointing the way towards the next event or person you need to speak to.

The voice acting ain't half bad either, I was surprised. The graphics are a little weird for actual people, especially when NPCs smile...but it's an improvement to no movement at all, right? You can also pick which party member you control, so you can switch out between your character or another in your current party. It's pretty nifty. It feels like a little bit of FFXII and a 3rd person RPG, like Boulders Gate. There is a LOT of blood though...I remember killing my first wolf and going "Ugh! I'm covered in spattered blood!" It was a little ridiculous, lol.

But overall I'm thoroughly enjoying the game. The controls are easy to adapt to and the game doesn't feel foreign at all. I can't wait to play it tonight when I get home :D

I'm not from the South...Really!

2009-11-05T10:13:00.002-05:00

This is why I get embarassed sometimes for being a South Carolinian...

http://www.wyff4.com/news/21522383/detail.html

Man sentenced to 3 years in prison for having sex with a horse.

"Multiple media outlets report that Rodell Vereen was sentenced Wednesday after pleading guilty to buggery. Buggery is a felony charge classified as an "offense against morality."

"Buggery?" Really? What kind of name is that? Is it a typo? *shrug* Iunno...but seriously, "buggery?!"

What's frightening, as you'll read in the article, is that HE'S DONE IT BEFORE! TO THE SAME HORSE!

What is wrong with people?

Like I Need Another Reason Not to Swim in the Ocean

2009-11-03T14:22:00.002-05:00

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2009/10/photogalleries/ocean-mucus-sea-pictures/

Look disgusting? Yeah, I think so too. According to the article, there is actual ocean "mucus" being expeled at an increasing rate in the Adriatic sea. Apparently, this stuff appears in the Mediterranean sea and can harbor bacteria and viruses like E.coli...

Like I need ANOTHER reason to not get in the ocean.

Apartment Hunting

2009-11-02T11:45:00.004-05:00

Over the weekend, Draeka, my sister, and I went roaming around to look at a couple apartments. I had my eye on a particular apartment for a while, but I wasn't quite sure if I really wanted to live there until I got to see an ACTUAL apartment. Well, Saturday I got to see them!

Their 3-bedroom apartments are 614 bucks a month with only a 200 dollar deposit. Their 2-bedroom apartments are 560. Extra 50 bucks a month is totally worth it in my opinion. So we get there and the ladies in the office are super nice and give us keys to look at the 3 bedroom apartment and the 2 bedroom. Well, the 3 bedroom apartment was a LOT nicer; new carpet and looked very well maintained. They weren't very big, but I think it would definitely work. The 2 bedroom apartments looked a lot skeezier, so that's a no.

We figured out that rent+ utilities for 2 people would be about 400 bucks a month, including cable and internet. Which, really, is not bad at all. I won't get to shop as often as I'd like, but I'd have my OWN APARTMENT.

Now, if we find a 3rd roommate, rent + utilities + cable and internet = 320 bucks (roughly). That's crazy cheap! So if you're interested in living with Draeka and I, and want to live in a nice apartment for really cheap, let me know! Or if you know someone who's looking. It's really a good deal.

I'm really excited!

Never

2009-10-30T09:40:00.001-04:00

underestimate the stupidity of others.

It Sucks When...

2009-10-29T11:52:00.002-04:00

You're the only one in the office to answer the phones, and you realize you have to pee.

I Hate to Sound Judgemental, But...

2009-10-19T13:50:00.004-04:00

As most of you already know, I worked at a local grocery store called Ingles for almost 6 years. I was a cashier for 2 (high school) and a video clerk for 4. I saw a lot of really crappy stuff while I worked at that grocery store, from poor management, disgusting bathrooms, insane customers...I never respected our store because the managers didn't even respect it. I still don't respect it to this day.

I learned very quickly while working at Ingles some key things:

1. Avoid the restroom at all costs. It will either A. be out of toilet paper B. stink or C. have poop smeared on one or more walls. I've also witnessed some female-specific messes, but those were far less frequent than poop...*shudders.*

2. NEVER eat food from the deli. If you've ever shopped at Ingles during the fall/summertime, surely you've noticed that there is a seasonal plague of flies that runs rampant in the deli/bakery. Yet they still serve food on the salad bar, which is free to all bugs/disgusting human beings that see it necessary to infect it.

-Here's a horror story for you: In relation to the seasonal fly issues, I cannot tell you how many times I walked through deli and saw flies literally trapped in the hot-food bar. They also didn't seem to care that there were flies at all, since all they did to deter them was fill sandwich bags full of what looked like water...what is the point in that anyway? It didn't help at all with the fly issue. I also saw flies IN the salad bar...disgusting...
-Oh, and another one: I was working in video one night with Amanda, and she informed me that she had found a dead bug in her sandwich from the deli. I mean, really, how do you not notice that there's a DEAD BUG in a sandwich container when you're the one making it? Just TODAY, I got a sandwich from the deli that had a dead bug wedged between the piece of cheese and the bread...TODAY! Again, how do you not notice that kind of stuff?

3. Never order cakes/eat bread from the bakery. I heard from a very reputable source that they, at one point, unloaded frozen loaves of bread in unwashed, bacteria-ridden shopping cart to be cooked in their ovens. You KNOW how utterly disgusting shopping carts in a grocery can get, and they were putting FOOD in them.

Of course, now I get to the point of the title of this blog entry...This may sound insensitive, snobbish, and all around bad, but...If you've seen the miscreants that work in the deli/bakery department, even in floral, you can understand why these people serve such disgusting food. I'm sure they're nice people, but if they can't even keep their own bodies maintained and hygenic, what makes you think they care about the food that they serve you?

So I'm done with Ingles food. If it's not pre-packaged and shipped in, I'm not interested. They've shown me on multiple occasions that they do not care about what employees they hire, how they maintain their store, or how they serve and prepare their food. I guess it's true what they say; the quickest way to stop shopping/eating somewhere is to work there.

Events of a Rainy Saturday

2009-10-12T15:14:00.002-04:00

So Saturday I spent half the day with two of the most awesome ladies ever; my sister and God-sister (Ami). We were supposed to go to the Pumpkintown festival here but it rained all Friday night, and anyone who's been before knows the area they have it at is heavely shaded and doesn't dry out for days. So pass on going to a mud hole!

Instead, we went to Greenville and did some good ol' shopping. We're doing a senior banquet for the seniors at church, so we're responsible for finding our own costumes. We went to the 3 big halloween stores in Greenville and I have to admit, I had a BLAST. I had forgotten how much fun halloween stores were. I found my costume at the 3rd place, as did Adri (at least most of it), and Ami got some good ideas for hers.

Afterwards, we headed to the mall and did some clothes shopping (what we do best!). Adri found two cute tops and a pair of jeans at American Eagle and I had a REALLY good shopping experience at Lane Bryant. 2 tops, 2 pairs of work pants, and a pair of pajama pants for a hundred bucks. I spent 106, saved 114. Pretty freaking awesome if I do say so myself. Especially when I could have spent a hundred bucks alone just on the pants, had they not been on sale.

As a random sidenote, as much as I hate Lady GaGa, I really like her music...

Slowly but Surely...

2009-10-08T15:37:00.003-04:00

I'm turning into a girl.

The other day I bought two new pieces of jewelry. I never buy jewelry, nor do I change up my everyday "jewelry" attire (I wear 2 basic rings, and a bracelet daily).

Also, I've actually started caring about my nails and keeping them maintained. I sent Draeka what she probably considered a very weird text message that read, "I'm totally digging my nails. No pun intended?" I was just sitting here at my desk, bored today, and happened to notice how pretty my nails look. They're long and polished, which is a drastic change to what they were in high school and college. Granted, I did polish them in college but they were always weird colors in all different shades of purple, blue, and green.

So yes, slowly but surely I'm turning into a girl. I think.

An Old T-shirt

2009-10-08T13:33:00.003-04:00

You know, I always find it so strange that you can miss something that gave you so much trouble; like an old t-shirt.

You throw it away, saying to yourself, "I'm so glad I don't have to wear that thing anymore!" with it's constant wrinkling, the worn holes, the faded color. You even try to wear it again, to get back what you had, and although you feel great wearing it for the first few minutes, after a while you realize that it just didn't fit anymore. You start to remember why you threw it away in the first place, and that maybe it wasn't worth keeping it around...

But you can still appreciate the warm memories, the good times you had wearing the shirt, although you've decided to part with it.

It's hard to keep yourself from reaching back into the bin, taking it back, and trying to make it work. It'll never be the same t-shirt you had before, no matter how long it's been since you threw it away.

All you can do is just hope the next owner treats it right and that it doesn't end up underneath a 50 foot pile of garbage.

O.M.G.

2009-10-06T16:10:00.003-04:00

HOME SWEET HOME!!!

We are FINALLY back in our office, after 5 weeks of working out of the Solicitor's Office conference room! Finally! We hired my preacher's wife (who cleans houses and buildings professionally) to clean the office this morning and she and her daughter did SUCH an amazing job! The office has NEVER smelled this nice! Everything is cleeeaaaaannn and it's just oh so wonderful to be back in our office.

Now I have lots and lots of work to catch up on now that we're back!

Monday Maybe?

2009-10-01T10:42:00.002-04:00

Big guy from Greenville came to Pickens to check out our office yesterday, in reference to the skunk situation...

No interior cleaning, but they're going to clean our air and heating unit, and probably shampoo the carpet. We have to clean our own offices, which I am TOTALLY ok with.

Crossing fingers that Monday or Tuesday we'll be back in our office!

Still no office...

2009-09-28T16:20:00.003-04:00

So I'm taking a few minutes to update this blog, although nothing in this office in regards to our skunk problem has been resolved. They have caught ONE skunk, and it's been 2 weeks since the trapper has seen tracks, so now we're just waiting on the big guys at the home office to stop bickering about who is going to pay the cleaning bill, and we'll be back to normal!

The office still stinks, although not as bad as that first weekend...it still needs cleaning. At LEAST underneath the building where our air and heat unit is.

We're managing the best we can, but I hate being so disconnected to everything! It's like we're in a prison in that stupid conference room...Blah.

Oh well. Hopefully everything will be straightened out in the next week or so. Cross your fingers!

Skunks are the spawn of Satan

2009-09-08T11:14:00.003-04:00

So I haven't updated in FOREVER because our office building has been infiltrated by a skunk. I'm never actually in my office, so I never have an opportunity to update.

I don't anticipate things going back to normal for another 2 weeks at minimum. So until then, I bid you adieu!

I love my job!

2009-08-27T10:24:00.003-04:00

I received my first County-paid raise today! 3% increase, which is almost 1k extra a year before taxes (I think).

I am so blessed to have the job I have. It has it's frustrations but I am so happy to work for the County.

Coming from Ingles to here, it's just been such a drastic change to what I considered being employed. After 6 years at Ingles, I was only making 6.50 an hour. I dealt with constant frustrations and bosses that refused to give me yearly REQUIRED raises. SIX YEARS and 3 bosses, and I only had a 75 cent pay increase the ENTIRE time I was employed with them.

I couldn't ask for more with this current job. I cannot describe how thankful I am to be here. I never expected to receive the benefits I do but I just praise God that he gave me to opportunity to work here. I really do believe it was an act of God that gave me this job. I hadn't even GRADUATED before I was offered the position, and I won it over other applicants that were much more qualified than I was. I give God the glory 100%, I couldn't have done it on my own. Thank you Lord for the hedge you've placed around me and my family!

I never expected to come out of college with a job I enjoyed, let alone with one that had so many benefits. Not only do I work for the County where I get good employee benefits, but I LIKE my job and I get paid much more than I anticipated. I love my co-workers and my boss, I am so lucky to work with such a great group of people. I know that doesn't sound a lot, but I came from a part-time job that I literally HATED with every fiber of my being. There was absolutely NOTHING pleasant about it. Nothing. It's like I've been given the exact opposite of what Ingles was.

I am just so incredibly thankful! Praise God!

To God be the glory, great things He has done;
So loved He the world that He gave us His Son,
Who yielded His life an atonement for sin,
And opened the life gate that all may go in

Praise the Lord, praise the Lord,
Let the earth hear His voice!
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord,
Let the people rejoice!
O come to the Father, through Jesus the Son
And give Him the glory,
great things He has done.

Yep!

2009-08-26T10:29:00.001-04:00

They're back!

The summer is at a close...

2009-08-24T11:16:00.002-04:00

I can already tell that last week was officially my last easy week at work. The Clemson students are back! I've received a couple phone calls from students or concerned parents about AEP, 3 more referrals, and an e-mail asking about AEP. I'm not really complaining though, I'm happy to be back and busy at work.

I did spend 45 minutes on the phone on Friday with an incredibly concerned and confused parent about PTI though, so that made my Friday afternoon go by even quicker. Again, not complaining.

I discovered on Friday (or Thursday, I'm not sure...) that I only have 1 day of vacation left before December. See, our annual leave policy changed at the end of last year (lucky me) to where everyone is allotted at minimum 10 days of vacation time. You get more with each # of years you've worked (I think it increases per 10) but you HAVE to use it by the end of the year, otherwise you lose it. They mainly did this to prevent people from stockpiling vacation time and then disappearing for 3 months for a paid vacation. Which, I guess, I can understand from a business standpoint. It still sucks though that you lose it if you don't take it. I'm not 100% sure what I'm going to do with my remaining day; I might just plan a weekend thing with friends and go up to Gatlinburg or something. Or if anything, I can just take a random Friday or Monday off and enjoy a lazy day at the house. I still have 31 hours of vacation time in my no-touchy-vacay-bank that I'll never lose (unless I use it, of course) but I'm saving that for emergencies.

I'm really really ready to be busy at work again...there's only so many times you can play Solitaire before you want to bash your head through your desk.

Solitaire

2009-08-17T10:05:00.003-04:00

So here lately I've been really addicted to Solitaire...don't ask me why. Whenever I'm at work and have a spare moment, I'm playing solitiare...whenever I'm home, playing Warcraft, and have to sit and wait (flying or waiting on a pull in a raid) I'm playing solitaire...It's ridiculously addicting at the moment.

Also, I bought Uno on my phone about 2 weeks ago and it makes me really really really want to play card and board games. Who wants to come over to my house this weekend and play some Uno and monopoly?! Lets do it!!

Unrealistic Expectations.

2009-08-14T11:25:00.003-04:00

I have zero desire to see The Time Traveler's Wife. I'm so tired of sappy, tear-jerking, unrealistic romances. Maybe I'm just jaded to all things sappy-romancy but meh. I'll pass. I have/had no desire to see The Notebook or Titanic, or any other movie that's supposed to just be about some time-bending and earth-shattering love. At least I watched Atonement because it was intelligent and artistic.

So meh, I say! I wish there was a way I could block all the commercials for it cause I swear, it's the most advertised movie I've seen all summer. I didn't even see that much Harry Potter stuff compared to The Time Traveler's Wife and 5 bucks says it won't pull in near as much money as HP did.

Can we stop giving women unrealistic expectations for their relationships please? Thanks.

This N' That

2009-08-05T08:52:00.003-04:00

1. I had a very strange dream last night. I dreamt that I was my druid (yes, I was graphically updated :P) and I managed to dream, within my dream, that I was playing Arkham Asylum, the new Batman video game. I wasn't sure how to play it, which made me nervous...The Joker was female, and her method of attack was chucking lipsticks at me. I wasn't exactly sure what the heck I was doing, so I got scared and did the "wake up wake up wake up you're dreaming" thing and woke up in Dalaran. Then I woke up for real. It was weird.

2. I had to seriously resist the woot.com deal today. 8gb touch screen MP3 player with video and camera capabilities for 50 bucks. Gotta keep reminding myself that I'm saving for an apartment. No more spending of unnecessary money!

3. I'm beginning to worry I might not be able to find a roommate. Which would suck. A lot.

4. I have orientation today at work, but it's only a group of 7 so it'll be fine. Then I'm leaving early so that'll be nice.

5. I'm hungry.

6. No one comments on my blog anymore, and it makes me sad.

7. I just wanted another entry so I could get to the number 7.

Apartment Hunting

2009-08-04T12:58:00.003-04:00

So I'm getting the "apartment bug" again where I get the itch to live on my own; move out of my parents house. Usually I'll go about 3 months where I'm ok living with my parents because 1. it enables me to go shopping (everyone knows how much I love to shop for clothes) 2. I'm not financially strained. But then I'll go through this month of wanting nothing more than to live in my own apartment. I make about 1,600 dollars a month, but 600 of it go to my student loans alone. I also have 2 computer bills, my auto insurance, the water bill, and my various credit card bills. That being said, I usually have about 300-400 bucks a month to do whatever I want with, and I'm starting to think I want to put it towards an apartment.

I figure if I get a roommate (which I don't think would be TOO hard), I could spend about 200-250 bucks on rent. Utilities would be maybe an additional 100. So that's the spare money I usually spend on myself.

The only issue I face right now is getting my student loans consolidated to (hopefully) reduce my payments each month and to start putting money back for deposits and furniture. With my current luck, I don't anticipate finding a man and getting married anytime soon, so saving for a home seems silly. I could put that money I've already saved into living room furniture, deposits, and getting all the utilities up and running in an apartment.

Another issue is finding the right apartment for me. Jamie and I drove around Pickens today looking at apartments for me, and most of them are pretty sketchy...there are a couple I'd consider, but it's nearly impossible to find out any information on them. No sign with contact info or anything. Most of them are like that, actually. Last time I was in Easley, the Deerfield Run apartments were freshly built (5-7 years old-ish) so they're probably filled with young couples or recently graduated high school graduates that don't go to college. It's also only about 15 minutes away from work, and Easley is a lot more city-ish so I think I'd be happy there.

Breakdown of my next steps:

1. Consolidate my loans. This is crutial, as it will decide if I can afford an apartment or not.

2. Find the right apartment. There are a lot in Easley I'd love to live in, I just need to do my research.

3. Find a roommate. There are a couple people that I could ask to live with me, Draeka probably would with the drop of a hat; only problem is, I think she's still in college...which puts a damper on things.

4. Get an apartment, pay all the deposits, and fill it with furniture!

I used to be anti-apartment based on the fact that it's literally just putting money down the toilet...but I don't want to buy a house, cause I KNOW I can't live on my own, and I can't tie myself down financially to a home incase something happens and I lose my roommate. So we'll just have to see how things go. Wish me luck!

Gives Me Hope & Operation Beautiful

2009-07-29T13:18:00.002-04:00

I began reading two websites that I think should be on everyone's reading list when they're feeling down...

www.givesmehope.com and www.operationbeautiful.com

These two websites are probably the most inspirational sites I've seen in a while...with all the drivel on the internet today, it gives ME hope when I see websites like these.

Here are some of my favorites from GivesMeHope:

"I suffer from severe depression. I try to keep that part of me away from friends because I'm worried they'll judge me for it. After revealing this to a dear friend via email, he went silent. I went to bed feeling worse than ever. Early the next morning, there was a knock at the door. He had driven all night to see me, just to give me a hug. GMH. "

"Every year, the graduating 8th grade class votes for superlatives. The teachers add up the votes. When 'Jordan A' was announced for Most Inspirational, teachers were in tears to see our entire class who never get along, give a standing ovation. He died in a fire in fourth grade and we still consider him part of our class."

"Today is my birthday. A couple months ago I was attacked by a dog that left horrendous scars on my face. My boyfriend made a book that says "You're the most beautiful thing I have ever seen" in over 100 different languages. GMH"

"At the grocery store I work at, a young lady with a baby just got done scanning her cartfull or groceries, but both of her cards were denied and she had no cash. She quietly asked to have them put back, when the man behind her said 'I'll pay for them' and smiled. They were total strangers. GMH"

"My car broke down in the middle of a very busy road at around 1 AM. Two men stopped & helped me push my car to the side of the road. A cop was driving by & offered to stay with me until a tow truck arrived, and sat with me for over an hour waiting. He was off duty, just getting off an 8 hr shift. GMH"

"There is a homeless guy in our town that a coworker of mine at times buys food for. She lost her wallet one day with $400 cash. She went back to the Jack in the Box a few days later & the homeless guy ran up to her with her wallet, it had fallen out of her purse - all $400 remained. He GMH."

Those are just a few, but there are pages upon pages of inspirational stories just like those.

Operation Beautiful is this movement of women leaving positive notes in public places to encourage eachother and remind them that they are beautiful no matter what they look like. Give the website a glance, I really enjoyed reading the articles and seeing all the notes people have posted. I'm going to start doing the same, I already have plans to do so when I go shopping on Saturday.

It GMH.

Relationships

2009-07-29T09:41:00.002-04:00

You know, for a while now I've been thinking a lot about my future and relationships...and myself, in general. It's hard to describe how frustrating it is to think so highly of yourself and yet so poorly at the same time...

I don't want to sound arrogant, snotty, or anything like that...but I really do think I have an amazing personality. I'm smart, funny, kind, forgiving, considerate...I mean, I play video games, I'm kind-hearted, thoughtful, caring...I'm not (typically) a jealous person and relatively patient. I don't get upset easily, I'm a pretty positive person. I have good morals, I don't lie or cheat or make fun of people. I don't bring them down to make myself feel better. I'm helpful, giving...I have a great family, I'm well-rounded and much more mature than my peers. I'm observant, aware of my surroundings, responsible...

And yet...

Physically I hate myself. Not 100%, but enough for me to automatically assume no guy would want to approach me or get to know me. I'm not ugly, but I feel like being overweight (although I am working on that) deters a lot of guys away from me. Because of that, I put up barriers to protect myself from rejection. I push people away, put on this front that says "I don't need you" so I don't risk feeling unwanted. You can't feel worthless for not being approached when you're the one that pushed them away. People always say that fat jokes are just that; jokes. But they have roots and we know that they stem from truth...we hear it all, and it hurts.

So it's tough for me. I know that if people got to know me, they'd see that I'm great; that I'd be the best thing to ever happen to them. I know in my heart that I can be one of the best girlfriends/wives anyone could have...it just takes people to invest in me personally to see that. If people can go past my physical self, see beyond my weight...they'll discover a gem. Problem is, not many want to invest that time and effort. Most people never go beyond the first impression, the first glance, and they pass me by. I'm passed by...

Blah...

2009-07-27T16:35:00.002-04:00

There's nothing like a good vacation to make you hate coming back to the real world.

Beach Trip 2009

2009-07-27T09:41:00.003-04:00

So as most of you probably already know, I went to Myrtle Beach for about 3 days last week (Wednesday to Saturday). It was a lot of fun, with only a few minor hiccups along the way. Wednesday was a half day at the beach since we couldn't check into the hotel until 4. Thursday was concert day, Friday was Free Style Amusement Park, and Saturday we had to leave. I'll go over in detail each day.

Wednesday: Wednesday I met Draeka in Rock Hill, since she lives in Raleigh, NC so we figured that was the best middle ground place to meet up. Her dad had to drive her since we didn't have a place to keep her car in Rock Hill. When we met up, I introduced Draeka to the White Horse, a restaurant that's a local favorite. She loved it :) After that, we drove the 3 and 1/2 hours to Myrtle listening to Rise Against and Repo The Genetic Opera until my mp3 player died. Then we had the fun task of finding a rock radio station. We got a little turned around on the way, but my GPS managed to get us there eventually. When we arrived in Myrtle, we found the hotel without any issues and were pleasantly surprised with the condition it was in. We had an ocean view room with a balcony, two full sized beds, and even had wireless internet and an HDTV. The wireless sucked though, I guess since so many were using the bandwidth, but it was enough to check our e-mails and log onto WoW sporadically. Once we checked in, we roamed around Myrtle Beach until Julia got back into town from her family outing. We went into a couple of the beachwear stores, where I bought a new bracelet and Draeka bought a turtle. We named him Boots. At about 7 oclock, we picked Julia up and went to Broadway at the Beach. It was INSANELY BUSY, holy crap. We couldn't find a parking spot to save our lives, a nice man in a van had to let us have his spot as he was leaving. Once we parked, we ate dinner at the Liberty restaurant (one of my favorites because they brew their own cream soda, and we all know how I feel about cream soda). After that, we walked around Broadway and did a little shopping. I bought a new t-shirt, more toenail polish, and some pajama pants. Draeka bought a pair of flipflops and I'm not sure what else. By the time we left, it was about 10 pm. As we were walking back to our car, the local baseball game was ending so they were shooting off fireworks. I got a couple videos of it and if I can figure out how to upload video on my blog, I'll post them. After we left, I dropped off Julia at her house and Draeka and I went to Wal Mart to buy a couple things. We finally got back into the hotel around 11:30, where Draeka passed out immediately. I stayed up for about an hour and a half watching tv and goofing off on the laptop, but then I went to bed too.

Thursday: Thursday was relatively lazy. We slept until 10:15 or so and then I called Julia to let her know we were awake. She came over to the hotel around 11:30 and we went walking on the beach for about 45 minutes. We ordered pizza from the pizza place in the hotel and then I took Julia back home around 2 (she had to go to work at 3). After that, we went to the Tanger Outlets because I needed to buy a belt (I somehow managed to forget to pack mine) and Draeka needed a pair of tennis shoes. We then went back to Wal Mart to buy a couple other things and then went to Barefoot Landing to buy my mom some pralines that she loves so much. The Rise Against concert was at 7, or at least the doors opened at 7, so we hurried at Barefoot so we could get there early. We arrived at the House of Blues at 5:30, where we stood outside in the boiling sun for an hour and a half before they let us in. We managed to find a pretty decent place on the floor to stand. We were on front row, but to the right side of the stage so we had 3 gigantic speakers right in our face. Couldn't see much of the bassists in the bands, but we could see a good bit of everything else. The first band to play was Billy Talent, and I was surprised to find that I actually enjoyed it. He spits a lot on stage, which is kind of gross, but he has good stage presence and the music was good. Next was Rancid, and I HATED RANCID. It was literally nothing but noise. I had to plug my ears through most of it because it was literally making my ears hurt. Like, physically hurt. When Rancid finally ended, it took them 20 minutes at minimum to set up for Rise Against. They were amazing though. The lead singer was surprisingly hot, and I could see him really well. We left right at 11pm to beat the traffic, but still got stuck in it anyway, and finally got back to the hotel at 11:30. I still can't decide if I'm a concert person or not. I was pretty miserable through 75% of the concert, but Rise Against was amazing so it kind of made it worth it. My feet were killing me, my head was throbbing, I was STARVING cause we never ate dinner, and I was tired of being shoved around. Thankfully Draeka deflected most of the shoving; she said she was my tank :P A lot of people were removed from the show because they were moshing or crowd surfing. One guy had to literally be picked up and dragged out of the show by 3 bouncers, it was pretty scary. As he was being dragged out, I noticed that he had a bloody nose. Lord knows what was going on in the middle of the floor.

Friday: This was a pretty fun day. I got to meet a somewhat new friend and had a lot of fun. I woke up at 8 to get ready to go spend a couple hours at Free Style Amusement Park, where we met Charlie. Julia and Draeka were there as well (of course, Julia invited herself to practically our entire vacation) and we rode about 5 rides. I was kind of disappointed with Free Style actually, it didn't seem to be as fun as Carowinds. The best ride was The Time Warp, and it wasn't even as fun as Top Gun. We left Free Style around 1:30 or so because it was threatening to storm, so we went to Olive Garden for lunch. Soup, salad and breadsticks ftw. Julia talked NON-STOP, Draeka even had to pull her back and tell her to shut her friggin trap a couple times. I really wanted to spend time with Charlie, but with Julia running her daggum mouth the entire time, it was hard. Worst. Wingman. Ever. But anyway, after lunch we went back to the hotel cause I wanted to put on more clothes (I was still wearing my spaghetti strap tank from the Park). We left there and went to Riply's Aquarium, where Charlie seemed to enjoy himself. I've been about 3 times before, so nothing was really new to me. I've also decided that it's so not worth the 20 bucks if you've already been. I think it was Draeka's first time going though, so I hope she enjoyed herself. After that, it was about 6pm so we decided to go back to Julia's place, grab some beach chairs, and then go chill at the beach. Draeka made the mistake of drinking a Yoo-hoo, which made her sick, so she didn't go to the beach with us. I had HOPED Julia would go with Draeka back up to the hotel, cause God did I want to get rid of her, but I had to tell her to leave before she would. When she finally left, I spent about 30-45 minutes talking to Charlie on the beach until it started threatening to storm again so we packed up and left. We went back up to the hotel and chilled til about 8:30pm, and then took Charlie back to his car. We had a couple hiccups trying to get back, cause I REALLY can't see well in the dark and Julia is the crappiest friggin navigator the world has ever seen, so we missed our exit. Had to find an alternate route. Finally made it back to Free Style, where Charlie was parked, gave him a hug and then left. I was sad he had to leave. I'd really like to see him again. I took Draeka and Julia through Zaxby's and McDonalds (because they couldn't decide on one place to eat, and I still wasn't hungry from lunch). I dropped Julia off at her home and we went back to the hotel. It was about 10 oclock when we got back and were AMAZED to find a great parking spot right outside the hotel entrance. We had been forced to park in the car garage (that was INCREDIBLY tiny, how 2 cars fit in the driving lane is beyond me) so we were excited to be able to park in the main area so we wouldn't have to go get my car in the morning just to pack up. However, I then realized that not only did Julia still have my room key (from when I suggested she leave the beach and hang with Draeka in the hotel room) but she also forgot her beach chairs. I called her frantically, begging her to come by the hotel so we could exchange everything and I not lose my parking spot (and I still hadn't packed, mind you). She tells me later on MSN that she isn't comfortable driving "that far" so late at night, but she'd try. It's a 10 minute drive down 2 streets. What's so complicated about that? Well, I get a phone call from her 10 minutes later saying that her dearest mommy said that if she wasn't comfortable driving, she shouldn't. And of course, dearest mommy knows everything. So she bailed on me with no room key and beach chairs that weren't even mine. I was TICKED. She says she's an adult and she can take care of herself, but she can't manage to drive 10 minutes down TWO STREETS to do me that favor? Puh-lease. She's still a child. *sigh* But anyways...so Draeka and I packed up that night and went to bed.

Saturday: We left the hotel about 8:15 and dropped off Julia's beach chairs at her house and got on the highway. Got into Rock Hill right at noon to meet with Draeka's dad, where we bought us lunch at the White Horse. I drove from RH back home, got in around 3:30, and I've been home since.

So all in all, it was a really good trip. Draeka is really good company and Myrtle Beach is one of my favorite places to vacation. I'll just remember next time to not let certain people know when I'm in town that way my vacation will be the best it can be. I want to go back and do it all over again!

Opposite Me (Is it Opposite Week?)

2009-07-17T14:29:00.003-04:00

So I think my alternate-universe-twin has somehow stolen the TARDIS and ended up the Update SC area in a crazy random happenstance (U see wut I did thar? Two nerd references in one), cause two people have asked me or made claims of things associated with me that are actually QUITE unlike me (if they knew me personally). I had to hold back laughter both times.

First was my client I saw at the beginning of the week. First time I had ever spoken with this guy one-on-one and he thought, for some reason, I was married to a guy that was his friend's coworker. Because I'm totally married to a guy in construction.

Second person was a lady I ocassionally have to call for work-related reasons, and she thought I was on maternity leave. So now I'm married to a man in construction and pregnant with his baby. SCORE!

Ugh

2009-07-16T09:05:00.002-04:00

I didn't even get 5 hours of sleep last night...I am feeling it this morning. My brain is somewhere completely different...I forgot to take my english muffins with me to work, so now I can't eat breakfast. I walked out of the house without the water bill that has to be paid today so I had to turn around and go back. I somehow managed to trip on the stupid carpet here at work when NOTHING was in my way.

You know that feeling when you stay up late the night before going on vacation and then get up early so you can sleep on the drive to wherever you're going? That feeling of numbness, like your body is still half asleep and half awake? Yeah...that's how I feel right now.

Sleep Disorder

2009-07-13T08:39:00.002-04:00

I have had the worst time trying to get the right amount of sleep this summer...I think my body still thinks I'm in college and that I can stay up until 1 or 2 oclock in the morning, cause I haven't fallen asleep before 1 for the past 2 weeks. Even when I TRY to go to bed early, I still don't actually fall asleep until 1 or later. It's a tad bit frustrating.

It wouldn't be so bad if I didn't have such issues getting out of bed in the morning in the first place. I can deal with being tired all day, I have coffee to combat that, but I can't deal with me unconsciously turning off my alarm and over sleeping. I've NEVER had that issue before, even in college when I'd have 8 am classes and wouldn't go to bed til 2.

Iunno what I'm going to do, cause I can't put my alarm on the other side of the room...If I do that, I'll wake up grumpy cause I couldn't turn off the alarm quick enough after I woke up. *sigh* I'll figure it out somehow.

OMGOMGOMG

2009-07-10T10:23:00.002-04:00

HARRY POTTER IN 4 DAYS!!!

MYRTLE BEACH IN 12 DAYS!!!

I'M SO EXCITED!!!

Pretty sure...

2009-07-09T14:49:00.001-04:00

I am bored out of my FREAKING MIND.

This N' That

2009-07-07T13:29:00.002-04:00

1. The serial killer is believed to be dead...he was shot and killed by police in Gaston County, NC after attempting to break into a residential home. He apparently has a 25 page criminal record, but somehow managed to still be on the streets. The Gaffney County police or whoever is responsible for his freedom will have to do some MAJOR PR work to get their name back, cause this is not reflecting well on our criminal justice system. Even if he DID serve 7 years in prison, this case proves how unrehabilitative our prison system is. "Unrehabilitative." I think I just made up a new word.

http://www.wyff4.com/news/19971838/detail.html <---the news article on the suspect. I'd just like to point how how much he does NOT look like the police sketch. Shows how reliable those are, am I right?

2. I had another thought here, but it seems as though I've lost it.

I am unhappy...

2009-07-07T08:51:00.003-04:00

I just got back from our bi-weekly weigh in for the Biggest Loser at work, and I've managed to gain back the 2 pounds I had lost. I'm pretty depressed about it.

Mainly because I'm really angry at my body. Two days of not eating well and I gain back everything I lost. 2 days out of 14 I was bad and I screwed up what I had earned. TWO DAYS. I eat crap for food for 12 days straight in the hopes of being able to treat myself for the holidays, and what do I learn? Nope, Alyssa isn't allowed to treat herself otherwise she explodes.

Well I'm getting serious. 4 days a week of an hour and a half (ish) at the gym, no excuses. 30 minutes on the elliptical, 30 on the treadmill and then 20 minutes on machines. If I have to go hungry for a little while then so be it. I'm going to start channeling my frustration through my work outs in the hopes that I can actually accomplish something.

Regardless, I am pulling this weight off whether I like it or not. I'm sick of being unhappy.

Summer of Death

2009-07-06T15:29:00.003-04:00

This is a really depressing summer!

David Carradine, Michael Jackson, Fera Faucette, Billy Mays, Air McNair...Celebrity deaths within the last month.

Perez Hilton got the crap beaten out of him (granted, he deserved it cause he really is full of crap and was probably at max capacity anyway).

And now there's a serial killer on the loose in Upstate South Carolina.

I hereby name the summer of 2009, the Summer of Death and Violence.

Unlazy

2009-07-06T08:42:00.001-04:00

I finally got unlazy and posted a profile picture. Enjoy.

I Feel Sick

2009-06-29T14:00:00.002-04:00

I have literally felt sick all day...matter of fact, I felt sick most of the weekend actually. Today I'm fighting a headache, nausea, and cramps...yay.

I took my multi-vitamin this morning, took an Advil about an hour after that (yes I ate breakfast before I took either) and I took two Midol after lunch (like, an hour ago I think). I still feel incredibly low energy; all I want to do is go home and rest.

Being a chick SUCKS.

How to Meet a Nerdy Girl

2009-06-27T09:01:00.001-04:00

My friend Amanda linked this on facebook and I just HAD to share. It's hilarious, and dead-on!

http://theparkbencher.blogspot.com/2009/06/how-to-meet-and-woo-nerdy-girl.html

Birthday Happiness!

2009-06-26T11:03:00.002-04:00

I just got my gift from the ladies I work with and it's the most adorable SC tote ever! It's big and baby blue and light brown. I also just ate a piece of the birthday cake Teresa baked for me, and it was very yummy! She even made it a bit more healthy than your average cake cause she substituted applesauce for the oil and used egg whites instead of the whole egg. It was very good! She also used fat free whipped cream to make it even healthier, so yay!

This was just what I needed to turn my mood around! :D

Hormones

2009-06-24T09:52:00.000-04:00

are fail. WTB less mood swings and more energy kthxbai.

Dr. Who is my Anti-Drug

2009-06-23T11:33:00.006-04:00

Not that I've ever considered drugs...but seriously, Dr. Who is amazing.

I'm thoroughly addicted to the show and quite frankly...I have a huge celebrity crush on David Tennant, lol. Most of you may know him from Harry Potter; he played Barty Crouch Jr (the weird tongue guy). He was creepy in the movie, but by golly he is adorable in Dr. Who.

How can you resist that smile? Really. He's quirky and cute and I love him. *fangirl sigh*

Want to be forever creeped about by angel statues? Watch the episode called "Blink" in the 2nd (I think) season. Imagine, if you will...You're in an abandoned courtyard, in a scary, dilapidated house and you see this...

Innocent looking, although slightly unnerving...You turn around to continue moving through the courtyard but you hear a noise behind you; the snap of a twig or the rustling of the wind. All of the sudden you're faced with this:

Yeah imagine THAT in your face after a mere seconds of having your back turned. It's frozen in place, not moving, yet still reaching out with that fearsome face. Turns out you're having a close encounter with an alien species called the Weeping Angels. Congrats! They're frozen as long as you're looking at them, but the moment you take your eyes off them, they move faster than you can think, and they want to kill you.

Whatever you do, DON'T BLINK!

My birthday is Saturday

2009-06-22T15:47:00.001-04:00

What are you buying me? :)

I. Hate. Twilight.

2009-06-17T15:30:00.003-04:00

I'm sure most of you (the whole 2-3 people that actually read this crap) have noticed that I added two images to my website, describing my hatred for Twilight.

Before I get started, I want to clarify that I am not a hateful person. 90% of the time I'm an overall happy girl that gets along with the majority of people. I don't usually have strong opinions about most stuff in pop culture and the like, possessing the attitude that hey...if that's your thing, then skippy for you. However...

I hate Twilight. HATE. Like, strong-as-a-thousand-suns hate. To quote myself: "She's stupid, annoying, moronic, zero talented, VASTLY OVERRATED, and makes me want to hurt things." Who am I talking about? The sad part is, I could say that about multiple things in relation to Twilight. In this particular instance, I was talking about Kristen Stewart. It could also be said about the series itself, Stephanie Meyers, or pretty much anything else somewhat related to Twilight. I've talked about why I hated the movie in one of my earlier posts (http://chickychica.blogspot.com/2009/03/twilight-and-legally-blonde-musical.html) so I won't divulge into huge detail. TL:DR version: it goes against everything I stand for. Feminism, Independence, QUALITY OF WORKMANSHIP, and overall talent in entertainment.

One of my biggest pet peeves in the entertainment industry is when people release utter crap and it still makes money. Twilight is utter crap. It's just about an angsty teenage girl who *gasp* gets noticed by the stereotypical hot guy who turns out to be a vampire. She's literally willing to GIVE UP HER LIFE for a guy she's known a mere few months in order to be with him forever. I'm sorry, but the independent woman in me would never make such a huge decision just because I "love" a guy, especially when I'm 16 and still in high school. No 16 year old in this day and age knows what love is, and the fact that she would throw away her entire life to be with Edward ticks me off. There is nothing I hate more than extreme romanticism and hopeless naivety. I have watched my friends throw away their perfectly good lives for a man. Not very good men either, mind you. They could have reached such potential, and yet they let themselves get caught on the barbed wire incasing such an unsatisfactory life.

Or perhaps I just have more self-respect and drive to excel in life to sympathize with such human beings. Twilight represents all that I've fought against as a woman, all the peer pressure and social norms I've rebelled against to be the successful woman I am today. Granted, I'm not Mother Theresa or anything but I have a great job with good pay and a very strong sense of self-worth. I have an education and a family I love with my whole heart, people I would never abandon just because a man takes an interest in me. Why would I throw away such a life? Why?

Twilight reinforces the stone-age ideals that men and marriage mean everything, that a woman's whole purpose in life is to meet a man and have babies. I spit on such ideals. What's worse is that society and the masses of Twi-tards (as I so affectionately call them) ENCOURAGE such ideals. Not only that, but they encourage poor writing talent, VERY poor directing/script writing talent, and just all around crap. THAT'S what is wrong with today's entertainment industry. Directors and writers get away with writing and producing such drivel and it therefore encourages others to make equally bad work. THIS is why I don't go to the movies often and Stephanie Meyers is why I hate romantic novels.

I know a lot of people don't read this blog, but FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, PEOPLE! WISE UP!

The Beach!

2009-06-16T09:16:00.002-04:00

I'm going to the beach with Draeka next month! We're staying in a hotel right on the beach, although we couldn't afford oceanfront, we still got oceanview! Which is much better than the hotels I was considering yesterday that weren't even ON the beach. It was also a STEAL of a deal, at only 236 bucks for 3 nights. 118 per person ain't bad at all! We anticipated paying at least 300 total.

We're having to meet in Rock Hill though, cause she lives in NC so we had to find a middle ground. I'm still excited though, cause it's another 3 and 1/2 hour drive from Rock Hill to the beach, so we'll have plenty of time to enjoy the car ride.

I also bought a GPS, which will definitely come in handy while we're gone. I know the area pretty well, but getting there is another story lol.

In a somewhat related note, I'm going to Dillard, GA this coming weekend with my church ladies. We're having to leave later than everyone else though, cause I can only take a half day off of work. Ami, my God-sister, was supposed to go but her stupid job is making her work Saturday...*sadface* so I'm just going with my mom. Our church trips never seem, at first glance, to be a lot of fun but once we get there it is so we'll just have to see. I'm just excited I'll be able to use my GPS :D

Yay for trips! This summer won't be quite so uneventful as I thought.

Dieting Is Not Easy.

2009-06-09T16:21:00.003-04:00

I've joined a team of 5 called "Waist-a-Weigh" for the Biggest Loser thing we're doing at work. I'm really trying to dedicate myself to dropping weight, and I know with Teresa helping me I can really accomplish something. We're going to have bi-weekly weigh-ins at the Admin building, and 2 big weigh-ins where prizes are distributed. The first weigh-in is going to be in August, the team of 5 that loses the most % of weight will win $100 dollars per person. The person with the highest % of weight loss will win $150 dollars. The 2nd big weigh-in will be in December and the winning team of 5 will each get $200 dollars per person. The person who loses the highest percentage of weight will win a Wii and a Wii Fit.

Needless to say, I'm pretty friggin motivated to win. I'm pretty competitive by nature, so I think this Biggest Loser thing will really get my butt in gear when it comes to my actual dedication.

Since January or so, I've been trying to make small changes to my eating habits and overall lifestyle. My lunches during the week mostly consist of Lean Cuisine or Smart Ones frozen meals, with the occasional (once every week or two weeks) McDonald's burger meal as a splurge. The weekends were pretty much rule-free, but I tried to keep my caloric-intake in the back of my mind. My main goal was to make a HABIT change, not go on a diet. Diets don't work, everyone knows that, so I've been slowly trying to change how I eat overall.

Until now, I haven't been paying attention to weight on the scales. Numbers aren't everything, and I've noticed that paying attention to the number on the scale tends to do more harm than good. I don't want to get overwhelmed with "oh my gosh I gained a pound today I hate myself," but I don't want to get negligent either. So in essence, I'm trying to find a healthy balance. Pun not intended.

I'm also going to be dedicating myself to the gym more. This week, I'm going to the gym everday after work and staying for at least an hour. Yesterday I was somewhat slack, as I only did 5 minutes on the elliptical and 30-45 on the treadmill. Today, I plan on doing 20 on the elliptical and my usual 30-40 on the treadmill. I'd also like to work on the machines a bit to build some muscle, but considering how crowded they were yesterday, it may not be an option. Like I said, as long as I get my hour in, I'll be satisfied.

I know for sure that if I'm going to get REAL results, I'm going to have to push myself harder than most people would have to. I have a really low metabolism and I pretty sedentary job (I'm at my desk 75% of the time) so I have to work extra hard to pull the weight off. I'm at a large (again, no pun intended) disadvantage biologically, as diabetes runs in my family and we are notoriously bad at losing weight. I'm just hoping that I can do what it takes to pull the weight off and keep it off. I did a bit of research and they say that 25 pounds within a 6 month period is a healthy amount of weight to lose. So from today until December, my goal is to lose 25 pounds. That'll put me down to my college weight, so maybe by this time next year I'll be back down to my high school weight. I found some pictures of me from high school in Tennessee, and I looked really really good. I want to look that good again.

So everyone cross your fingers that I don't go insane before this is all over, and I have the strength to finish what I've started!

ADD

2009-06-05T15:02:00.001-04:00

I'm having some MAJOR A.D.D. issues today...probably because 1. it's Friday 2. the boss is out sick and 3. it's Friday.

Is it 5 pm yet?!

Computer Update

2009-06-02T13:23:00.002-04:00

Yes I know you're all probably tired of reading about my new computer, but really I don't have much else to talk about, lol.

I checked my Alienware order status, and my computer shipped from Orlando, FL today at 9:00am. Estimated arrival time is tomorrow. Yay! However, I'm still lacking a monitor and a wireless network card...

So Chris and I (my sister's husband) are going to go to Greenville first thing tomorrow morning to buy my monitor and my wireless card from Best Buy (would you believe I have to drive an entire hour just to get to the closest reputable electronics store? It's sad.) and I'm hoping I'll get home by noon. Then I'll hang around the house and wait on the Fedex guy to show up so I can go ahead and start setting up my new computer! I'm super excited.

*crossing fingers that Fedex doesn't try to drop off my computer before noon*

WTB Computer Monitor

2009-06-01T15:13:00.004-04:00

that's retardedly on sale. The monitor I had my eye on last week isn't on sale anymore :( It was this sick LG 20" LCD monitor for 150, and now it's 179 :( I are sad.

I'm hoping I'll have a bit of time to loafer around Greenville on Friday and check a few places just in case Best Buy doesn't have what I want. I should be getting my computer this Thursday or Friday at the earliest, so I want to be able to set it up as soon as possible.

I don't really want to order online because it'll probably take forever to get here, otherwise I'd just order the cheap-o Acer for 110 bucks. I'm gonna keep researching and hoping something pops up between now and Friday.

I am

2009-06-01T11:41:00.003-04:00

SO OVER TWILIGHT!

Moar Harry Potter buzz plzkthx.

Can you...

2009-05-28T10:19:00.002-04:00

die from cramps?

Cause I think I might.

I need...

2009-05-27T10:26:00.001-04:00

a man.

No Hello Goodbye

2009-05-26T13:55:00.003-04:00

I would just like to know what happened to proper phone etiquette. I can't tell you how many times I've had conversations with people where they have not said hello nor goodbye at the beginning or end of the conversation.

It's a little annoying.

A Mystery to Me

2009-05-21T12:01:00.002-04:00

I don't understand why women who have clear skin wear foundation. Why? The whole purpose of foundation (liquid or otherwise) is to smooth out your skin tone and cover up blemishes. Why, when you have perfect skin anyway, would you wear foundation to cover it up?

There's a girl at my church who is absolutely gorgeous, but SMOTHERS her face in foundation...I really don't understand it. Is there some underlying insecurity? Is it habit? It just seems pointless to me...

Shoot, if I could go a day without wearing foundation and still look human, I'd do it.

Two potential PCs

2009-05-20T14:42:00.002-04:00

Alienware #1 total price = $1348.

[1] Area-51® 750i Processor: Intel® Core™ 2 Duo E8400 3.00GHz 6MB Cache 1333MHz FSB Alienware P2 Chassis: Alienware® P2 Chassis with AlienIce™ 3.0 Video Cooling - Space Black AlienFX®: Alienware® Standard System Lighting - Plasma Purple Alienware P2 Chassis Upgrades: Alienware® Standard System Cooling Power Supply: Alienware® 750 Watt Multi-GPU Approved Power Supply Graphics Processor: Single 512MB NVIDIA® GeForce® GTS 250 - Superclocked Edition Memory: 8GB Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 800MHz - 4 x 2048MB Motherboard: Alienware® Approved NVIDIA® nForce 750i SLI Motherboard Operating System (Office software not included): Genuine Windows Vista® Home Premium (64-bit Edition) with Service Pack 1 System Drive: Single Drive Configuration - 500GB SATA 3Gb/s 7,200RPM 16MB Cache Optical Drives : Single Drive Configuration - 20X Dual-Layer Burner (DVD±RW) Enthusiast Essentials: Single High Performance Gigabit Ethernet Ports Sound Card: High-Definition 7.1 Performance Audio Additional Monitors: 20" Dell UltraSharp™ 2009W - 1680 x 1050 (5ms) Widescreen Flat Panel Keyboard: Standard Keyboard - Standard Keyboard Mouse: Standard Mouse - Standard Optical 3-Button Mouse with Scroll Wheel Warranty: 1-Year AlienCare Onsite Service and 24/7 Toll-Free Phone Support

Alienware #2 total = $1298.

[1] Aurora™ Processor: AMD® Athlon™ X2 5200+ 2.7GHz Dual Core 2 x 512KB L2 Cache Alienware P2 Chassis: Alienware® P2 Chassis with AlienIce™ 3.0 Video Cooling - Space Black AlienFX®: Alienware® Standard System Lighting - Plasma Purple Alienware P2 Chassis Upgrades: Alienware® Standard System Cooling Power Supply: Alienware® 750 Watt Multi-GPU Approved Power Supply Graphics Processor: Single 896MB NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 260 Memory: 4GB« Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 800MHz - 4 x 1024MB Motherboard: Alienware® Approved AMD® 790FX Motherboard Includes PCI-Express 2.0, BIOS Overclocking Utility, and Support for AMD Phenom Quad-Core Processors Operating System (Office software not included): Windows Vista® Home Premium with Service Pack 1 – DirectX 10 Ready! System Drive: Single Drive Configuration - 500GB SATA 3Gb/s 7,200RPM 16MB Cache Optical Drives : Single Drive Configuration - 20X Dual-Layer Burner (DVD±RW) Enthusiast Essentials: Single High Performance Gigabit Ethernet Port Sound Card: High-Definition 7.1 Performance Audio - Standard Additional Monitors: 20" Dell UltraSharp™ 2009W - 1680 x 1050 (5ms) Widescreen Flat Panel Keyboard: Standard Keyboard - Standard Keyboard Mouse: Standard Mouse - Standard Optical 3-Button Mouse with Scroll Wheel Warranty: 1-Year AlienCare Onsite Service and 24/7 Toll-Free Phone Support

The only real difference between the two is that #1 seems to have a faster processor, although I'm not 100% sure. It also has a 512 video driver instead of 896, cause it came standard and I wasn't even sure if I needed 896 to begin with. It also has 8gb of RAM instead of #2s 4gb.

There's roughly what, a 50 dollar difference? Which do you think is better overall?

Where muh nerds at?

2009-05-20T11:42:00.003-04:00

Any of my local peeps know of any respectable computer places that build custom computers? I know there's one at the intersection of Laurens and Haywood in Greenville, but they always seemed kinda skeezy...Then there's Lovell Systems here locally, but meh. They're expensive and unfriendly.

I just wanna get a price estimate before I get my heart set on the HP desktop.

Owwie

2009-05-19T11:11:00.004-04:00

So this morning as I was getting ready for work, I twisted my left wrist wrong and now I think I've sprained it somehow...its pretty much non-functional beyond lightly gripping paperwork and typing. I tried to clip a huge stack of papers together with one of those giant black paper clip things and it nearly killed me. So owwie. I hurt :(

In other news, I think I've found the desktop I want. Here are the specs:

HP Pavilion Elite m9500z customizable Desktop PCNH836AV#ABA
– Genuine Windows Vista Home Premium with Service Pack 1 (64-bit)
– AMD Phenom(TM) 8650 triple-core processor [2.3GHz]
– FREE UPGRADE! 4GB DDR2-800MHz dual channel SDRAM [4x1024] from 3GB
– FREE UPGRADE! 640GB 7200 rpm SATA 3Gb/s hard drive from 500GB
– 1GB NVIDIA GeForce 9800GT [2 DVI, HDMI and VGA adapters]
– LightScribe 16X max. DVD+/-R/RW SuperMulti drive
– Wireless-N LAN card
– 15-in-1 memory card reader, 2 USB, 1394, audio
– No TV Tuner w/remote control
– Integrated 7.1 channel sound with front audio ports
– No speakers
– HP wireless keyboard and HP wireless optical mouse
– Microsoft(R) Works 9.0
– Norton Internet Security(TM) 2009 - 15 month
– HP Home & Home Office Store in-box envelope

The bolded sections were the highest priority purchases, 200 bucks was added to get the graphics card cause I want my computer to SCREAM graphically. Or at least yell at little :P The graphics card I have in my laptop right now barely squeaks and it's quite frustrating.

I didn't add speakers cause theirs were pretty expensive (cheapest one was 50 bucks, no thanks) and I think I can either borrow some of my dads or at least find some others that are cheaper elsewhere. I could probably nix the wireless keyboard and mouse, cause I already have a wireless mouse and I could just buy a wireless keyboard separately.

What do you guys think? The total, including the 100 dollar flat screen monitor is 1,139. I think once I get my Dell bill paid off, I'm just going to finance this one and pay huge chunks towards it. Wait til I have about 400 saved up and send it all in as the first payment. I should be able to pay anywhere between 50-100 monthly, so I should definitely get it paid off early. There's just no way I'm going to be able to save up over a thousand dollars in a few months time, and I need a new desktop NOW.

Opinions?

Holy Heck

2009-05-14T09:38:00.005-04:00

My head is KILLING ME. I went to bed around 10 last night, and I think I actually fell asleep around 10:45...which is good, cause that means I got a bit over 8 hours of sleep. However, my head is THROBBING because my pillow freaking sucks. I'm really tempted to buy a pillow off of the Sears website and have it shipped to me, cause it would probably take as much time as it would to have it shipped than for me to find time to go to the store.

I need a new pillow really badly though. I don't know what it is, but I've had the worst time trying to find the right pillow. I've gone through 3 so far! One went flat way too quickly, the other is too thick, and now the one I use is going flat too. *sigh*

I'm so sick of having these headaches.

I Am Ashamed

2009-05-12T15:22:00.002-04:00

to see that they are making a crappy ABC Family TV show out of my all-time favorite teen romance film.

Brace yourselves, cause(if you're like me) you might want to punch your monitor at seeing this atrocity. I give you, 10 Things I Hate About You...THE SHOW.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1321805/

Ok, so I couldn't find an image for that God-forsaken tv show but I did browse the shows forums briefly and this is what one poster had to say:

"...ABC has some mental disturbances with creating new things based off of either a.) sacred movies that should never be affiliated with TV, or b.) really old, obsolete films that serve no sustaining power in pop culture and leave most people thinking, "W.T.F.?" when they hear the idea. They do this with made for TV movies, ie. "Another Cinderella Story", "The Prince and Me 2", "The Edge 2", "Romy and Michelle, the Early Years", etc. I, personally remember all these movies, however, they are one and done movies, and the majority of your target audience has no idea where the hell these movies or ideas are coming from.
Now, they're doing "10 Things I hate about You". My best guess: Target audience is about 13-18 years old. I'm 17, I was 7 when the movie came out, I love the movie, but I didn't see it for many years after that. On top of it, where are they pulling this from? Why 10 Things I Hate About You? It's so irrelevant at this point in time, and aren't they supposed to have writers who can, oh I don't know, write their own ideas? Just a thought."

I am not only appalled by the fact that ABC Family would think of desecrating such a classic but I am FURIOUS that it actually got MADE. Is ABC Family trying to ride the coat-tails of Heath Ledgers death? Before The Dark Knight, Heath was most famous for 10 Things I Hate About You and a Knights Tale. What this show tells me is that ABC Family 1. has no respect for classic movies that in no way should have a sequel, let alone a SHOW and 2. they have no dignity or imagination.

Oh, and can I just TALK about the cast itself for a moment?

THIS is who they cast to be Cameron?! Puh-lease.

And THIS is Kat. THIS IS KAT! How on earth do you go from Julia Siles to THIS CHICK? Ugh.

Oh, and last but certainly not least...THIS is Patrick Verona. THIS is the guy they thought could play Heath Ledgers character.

I am fully convinced that ABC Family has lost their minds entirely.

Everytime...

2009-05-08T16:25:00.003-04:00

...I have to stay in the office by myself in the afternoon/evening, I go a bit nuts.

I'm used to a very noisy office; people talking, doors closing, phones ringing, printers printing, etc. Whenever I'm the only one in the office, it gets a bit creepy. The office building groans louder (yes old buildings groan) and my ears pick up a lot more noise than I'm used to.

For instance, I keep hearing men talking outside our building. I poke my head out my office door, look to the left, and there's no one out in the lobby. I look to the right, there's no one at the back door. Either there are some VERY loud men talking in the parking lot or I'm just going crazy.

I hate being in this office alone, it's so creepy quiet. It freaks me out.

Weird Eating Habits

2009-05-08T12:16:00.006-04:00

So I've noticed that I have a pattern when it comes to my eating habits...I seem to go through phases where I do nothing but eat healthy and feel disgusted thinking about bad foods, but then I go through another phase where all I want to do it EAT. I am currently in the I'M-GOING-TO-EAT-EVERYTHING-WITHIN-ARMS-REACH phase, and yeah...it's bad, lol. Right now I'm eating some Cow Tales "fun size" (which are not, in fact, fun but rather way too small to be enjoyable).

I wonder if it's hormonal...like how 1-2 weeks out of the month I tend to have the occasional violent mood swing and get stressed out more than usual. That's probably what it is, but dude it sucks! Must...not...eat...

*sigh*

(Image from goetzecandy.com)

All I know is, Cow Tales are the bomb.

I Really Wish...

2009-05-08T10:19:00.001-04:00

I could listen to streaming music at work. Not having an online radio sucks :(

Random SQUEE Moment

2009-05-06T09:49:00.002-04:00

HARRY POTTER IN 2 MONTHS! OMG! SO EXCITED!!!

TV Update

2009-05-04T12:28:00.004-04:00

So I'm pretty sure I'm officially addicted to Dollhouse.

Dollhouse, you say? Yes. It's the new Joss Whedon (if you have not heard of him, SHAME ON YOU) tv series that airs on Fox at 9 pm every Friday. This coming Friday will be the season finale, and I CANNOT WAIT!

For those of you unfamiliar with Dollhouse, it centers around this covert office/business type thing that houses dolls (duh). Dolls are people who have their minds stripped and reprogrammed to perform tasks and jobs assigned to them. Echo, the protagonist doll, is the one we follow the story most closely, although there are side stories associated with the other dolls and the dollhouse itself.

Throughout the series, we've witnessed the unraveling of the mind-influences on the dolls, as events seem to trigger past experiences in Echo, causing her to act out and behave like a non-doll (although she doesn't fully understand why and it only occurs in spurts). Additionally, there is a rogue doll named Alpha that they all fear because 1. he cuts people up and kills them and 2. he hasn't been caught.

Last episode we found out who Alpha is, and it seems as though the season finale is going to be AWESOME. If I ever doubted Joss Whedon's talent, I am a re-affirmed believer. The show is a bit slow to start as he introduces characters and plotlines, but it picks up a few episodes in as more is revealed about the dollhouse and the dolls residing within it.

Any of you out there that have not watched this show, go to hulu.com and watch it! It's free and the quality is great. You are doing yourself a disservice by not watching! Gogogo! XD

Blah.

2009-04-30T11:24:00.004-04:00

I don't really have a lot to say today, but I have a spare 15 minutes so I figured it would be a good idea to update.

If you guys haven't watched the new Harry Potter trailer, consider yourself negative 500 cool points. I'm not sure if it's because I'm in Harry Potter withdrawal (since the book series has ended) or the trailer is just that good, but I don't think I've ever been more excited to see a Harry Potter movie. http://www.mugglenet.com/movies/movie6/trailer.shtml GO WATCH!

I'm going to start making a genuine effort to meet new people and forgive others. I feel like it's time for me to have a small change of scenery and quite honestly, I'm tired of being single. I'm almost 23 years old and have no male prospects. I'm going to end up being a spinster with 15 cats in a smelly, moldy house on the street corner.

But whatever happens, happens. Hopefully the Lord will have mercy on my awkward soul and send me a man, lol. If not, then I will be happy with the life I've got. You don't get anywhere in life living with regrets.

This is me...

2009-04-28T15:51:00.001-04:00

procrastinating.

Funny Quotes

2009-04-23T11:25:00.001-04:00

Funny exchange between my sister and I:

Me: Holy crap...I just realized I'm going to be 23 in 2 months.

Adri: Are you having a mid mid twenty life crisis?

It made me laugh IRL.

One Flaw in Women

2009-04-23T10:12:00.001-04:00

I got this in an e-mail and I felt the need to share. Here's to all the wonderful women out there!

One Flaw In Women

Women have strengths that amaze men.

They bear hardships and they carry burdens, but they hold happiness, love and joy.

They smile when they want to scream.

They sing when they want to cry.

They cry when they are happy and laugh when they are nervous.

They fight for what they believe in.

They stand up to injustice.

They don't take "no" for an answer when they believe there is a better solution.

They go without so their family can have.

They go to the doctor with a frightened friend.

They love unconditionally.

They cry when their children excel and cheer when their friends get awards.

They are happy when they hear about a birth or a wedding.

Their hearts break when a friend dies.

They grieve at the loss of a family member, yet they are strong when they think there is no strength left.

They know that a hug and a kiss can heal a broken heart.

Women come in all shapes, sizes and colors.

They'll drive, fly, walk, run or e-mail you to show how much they care about you.

The heart of a woman is what makes the world keep turning.

They bring joy, hope and love.

They have compassion and ideas.

They give moral support to their family and friends.

Women have vital things to say and everything to give.

HOWEVER, IF THERE IS ONE FLAW IN WOMEN, IT IS THAT THEY FORGET THEIR WORTH.

Typos That Make Me Giggle

2009-04-23T09:42:00.001-04:00

Heh...this is what I said this morning to a friend of mine on AIM:

"I ran out of apply juice this morning. I are sad Lyssa-tree."

Then I realized I spelled "apple" as "apply" and it made me giggle.

Things That Suck

2009-04-22T16:15:00.001-04:00

Being a girl during one particular week out of the month.

Cramps.

Work.

The gym.

Your mom. (wait, what?)

This is adorable

2009-04-20T12:00:00.001-04:00

http://licd.com/comic/20090419

One of the few Beginnings comics that actually made me giggle.

Stressful Weekend

2009-04-20T11:29:00.002-04:00

So I had a pretty stressful weekend...My sister spent 7 hours in the ER complaining of nausea, back pain, and headaches. They did a blood test and it came back that her white blood cell count was high, meaning (at least they thought it meant) either it had something to do with her appendix or a cyst. Both not good. So I spent the entire evening freting about my sisters health, thinking she was going to have surgery (surgery terrifies me). Turns out she just has 3 kidney stones and will be in a lot of pain for the next few days. Granted, that's still not good news but at least she doesn't have to go under the knife.

Additionally, we did not have a good raid night in Warcraft (read the blog for the reasons why) and I got VERY little sleep. I went to bed around midnight, but couldn't fall asleep until almost 2 am. First, it was hot in my room so I finally forced myself to turn on the fan. Then it started thunderstorming so I unplugged my LCD tv just in case (I fall asleep to the tv so this contributed to my restlessness). Then one of my parents had the genius idea to turn on the dryer at 1:30 in the morning with what sounded like a friggin shoe bouncing around inside it. So needless to say, I'm tired this morning.

Oh, and we also found out what mix my sisters dog is. We knew he had terrier in him because his body frame was similar to Emmie's, who is a Jack Russell. What stumped us though was his head. His nose is much longer and his ears are bigger and stand up straight. I had an itching feeling that he might have Corgi in him but I wasn't sure. Well, when he was sick with Parvo last week, Adri and Chris asked the vet what breed he was and I was right. He's a Corgi terrier.

I heart that dog.

New Food

2009-04-17T09:18:00.004-04:00

Sparkling (carbonated) apple* juice is strangely good.

Pineapple orange muffins are yummy too.

Can you tell what I had for breakfast this morning? lol.

*Edit: Apparently, "apply" instead of "apple" is my new favorite typo, as Kury pointed out in http://chickychica.blogspot.com/2009/04/typos-that-make-me-giggle.html post. I have sense corrected it :P Thanks, Kury!

Multi-Vitamins

2009-04-16T13:26:00.002-04:00

Why on earth are the pills SO FREAKING HUGE?!

Honestly...It's like I'm not supposed to be healthy because the pills are so huge I can't swallow them.

Back story: When I was about 6-8 years old, I was sitting in the morning service at church, gnawing on one of those strawberry hard candies. They're pretty big and the wrapper is in the style of an actual strawberry; it even has indentions to simulate the seeds on a strawberry. You'd know what they were if you saw it.

Anyway, so I was eating one of those in church when I was little and I swallowed it. No, not swallow it entirely. It got stuck in my throat. Mom had to rush me to the ladies bathroom and give me the Heimlich maneuver to dislodge it. It felt like ages went by before I finally managed to throw it up. Needless to say, it was a rather traumatizing experience.

I went months laboriously chewing my food before I'd swallow it. It took YEARS for me to be able to swallow pills again, and to this day I can't swallow huge pills. The only ones I don't freak out about are headache pills like Tylenol, and that's the reason why I prefer Advil over everything else.

With that being said, I come to my point; Multi-vitamin pills are entirely too large. I bought One-A-day Energy once, swallowed one and it got stuck. I drank half my coffee before I got it down. Now, I'm taking Nature Made multi-daily and they aren't QUITE as big, but they're still bigger than a headache pill.

The multi-vitamin world is just not ready for someone with a traumatized pill-past.

English Muffins

2009-04-16T10:56:00.004-04:00

I am officially a fan.

Last week, as you know, I went to Tennessee with a few members of my family and tried for the first time toasted English muffins with butter. Since then, I have craved them so Monday I went to the grocery store and picked up a pack of 6. Instead of getting regular butter or margarine, however, I got honey spread. It's margarine mixed with a touch of honey and it is FREAKING AMAZING.

So for the last three days, my breakfast has consisted of two English muffins with honey spread, toasted, and I have loved every bite. If any of you have eaten at Fatz Cafe and had their wonderful poppysead rolls with their honey spread, you will know how good that stuff is. That honey butter and those poppysead rolls are one of the major factors in choosing Fatz as a place to have dinner.

What amazes me even more is that not only are English muffins better for you, but they LAST. I ate 2 this morning around 8:45, it's 11 am now and I'm still not hungry. All my other breakfasts (oatmeal, Lean Pockets breakfast sandwhiches) always make me hungry by 10:30 and I end up eating a snack. But not with my new handy-dandy-wonderfully-scrumptous English muffins!

English muffins, I am a fan!

Self-Analyzing

2009-04-15T10:11:00.005-04:00

Being a person with a psychology degree, I have this insatiable habit of self-analyzing my flaws, weakness, and positive qualities. What makes me act a certain way in this particular situation? Why do I behave the way I do? What happened in my past that molded me to react this specific way nearly everytime I'm presented with a certain situation?

One of the things that has puzzled me as of late is my inability to make eye contact with new people or those that I feel awkward around. What is it that makes it SO difficult to make eye contact, but talk as if there's nothing wrong? What is it about eye contact? Is there a sense of vulnerability in eye contact that makes me hesitate?

Perhaps eye contact stands for the officiality of a conversation; making the connection through conversation concrete. Maybe I'm afraid of making that connection in an effort to leave myself open for flight if things get awkward or I say something stupid and need to end the conversation quickly. That's my guess.

I still don't fully understand it, though. What IS it about eye contact? I'm thoroughly baffled.

Next Week Semi-Vacation

2009-04-03T09:53:00.003-04:00

Next week I'm going to Pidgeon Forge with a few of my family members (my mom, grandma, and sister) as sort of a girls trip thing.

My sister and I will be sharing a hotel room and my mother and grandmother will be sharing another. I just looked up the hotel and it doesn't have Wi-Fi internet :( I'm debating on whether or not it'll even be worth it to bring my laptop, but I guess it won't hurt. There's always the slim chance there's neighboring Wi-Fi I can leech off of :)

However, now that I know there's no internet access, that pretty much sets in stone my plans to bring my ps3. I figure having Soul Calibur 4 will keep me pretty entertained, and we can bring movies to watch if there's nothing on tv. I'm trying to think of games my sister and I can play together...but that probably just includes Soul Calibur and Guitar Hero.

I think what I'm looking the least forward to is shopping...I'm going to have zero money to spare to shop, so pretty much I'm just going to be walking around malls and shopping centers with everyone til my feet hurt, and not really getting anything out of it. I'm barely going to be able to afford food, let alone shopping. *sigh* Bills suck.

But oh well. At least I won't have to go to work for 3 days, come back to work one day, and then off for Good Friday the next. Nice and short work week. It'll be nice.

Twilight and Legally Blonde: The Musical! Reviews

2009-03-31T09:06:00.006-04:00

So I finally got around to watching Twilight last weekend. Yeah, I know it was doomed to be terrible but I felt like I had to watch it to make a proper judgement. I'll do a semi-short breakdown on why it was so terrible.

Photo from slashfilm.com
"We're all very deep and brooding. You can tell because we're staring intensely at the camera and scowling."

First of all, the acting wasn't spectacular by any means...the girl who played Bella was just AWFUL! It's like she was so full of teenage angst that she couldn't get a word out. "Too...angsty...can't...I...um...No." Seriously? C'mon now, at least emo-driven brats who hate the world can put a sentence together without dramatic pauses after every word. I'm just kind of over teenagers being dramatic. I'm over it. It was as if Edward's scowl was supposed to charm the ladies. I'm not buying it.

Additionally, for a movie where so little happens, it felt incredibly rushed...and it was 2 hours long! There wasn't any attempt on the part of the movie-makers to let the viewer figure out what was going on. Everything was explained blatently, as if we would just accept things the way they were. "Oh, they're in love now? But they just met a few days ago! Well ok, if you say so. HOW ROMANTIC! *squee* " When I see a romance, I don't want to be TOLD two people are in love, I want it to be shown to me. I want to feel as if their love is REAL, and the romance between Edward and Bella felt as if they were 5 years old and just shared a juicebox together. "Oh my gosh you're a VAMPIRE and DEEP and DARK and BROODING I LOVE YOU." Bah.

I have to admit, though, I was a bit biased from the beginning. I enjoyed the 1st book up until the last 30 or so pages, but only on a very superficial level. Kind of on the same level I read those silly chick-lit romance books; they're not intelligent, they're just simple romances with clever writing. Although Twilight's romance was simple, the writing was nowhere near clever.

I think, in the end, what makes me hate this movie and book is the fact that it is a representation of everything I've despised about adolescence. I've always been a logical person, always thinking efficiently and objectively. Rarely ever have I let myself get carried away from romantic feelings. I've always despised the girls that would throw away their life for a guy. They have so much potential, and anyone that would consider having a man on their arm more important than being independent, having a job, going to college, and MAKING something of themselves has always drove me nuts. Bella is a fictional representation of all those girls I've hated. "I'M 16 AND I LOVE YOU AND MARRY ME AND I WANT TO BE UNDEAD FOR YOU AND BLAH BLAH BLAH." *rolls eyes* Spare me? Please?

Rating from 1-10 (10 being the highest), I give Twilight a 3. And that's be generous.

Legally Blonde: The Musical, however, was far more enjoyable.

Photo from Nymag.com

There's something to be said about a musical play that can be about something so mundane as a blonde going to law school to win back her ex-boyfriend, that makes you care about the story. The music in-and-of-itself is very addicting and upbeat, so it's really hard to not feel good while you're listening to it. Character development was also key; I cared about Elle and her experience at Harvard Law School. I cared about the budding romance between Elle and Emmett. I cared about whether or not she got the internship. The point is I CARED. The acting was spectacular, they all were so talented. I thoroughly enjoyed it and would happily see it again.

I missed the original actress from Broadway, though. The girl who played Elle on this tour was the understudy of the original actress, and she was good, but I still liked the first actress better. After the show, my sister and I got to see the two dogs that played Bruiser in the show, and they were adorable. I love animals ^_^

Rating: 8. The only reason for rating it an 8 is that I would have liked to see a little bit more to the set, but seeing as how I saw it on a relatively small stage (our theater here isn't that fancy), I'm sure they did what they could with what they had.

But I still loved the play.

Rain

2009-03-27T11:48:00.002-04:00

Man, I know we're in a drought and all, and we need the rain, but seriously...I'm starting to wonder if the sun even exists anymore. It's literally been raining for almost 2 weeks. It rained all last week until the weekend, and it's been raining ALL this week.

I might as well just give up on having straight, non-frizzy hair.

Bah.

Bird Update #2

2009-03-26T10:39:00.002-04:00

So I did some research this morning waiting on my client to show up for his appointment, and I think I've figured out what kind of bird he is. I think he's a Mouring Dove, and I found a picture on a bird website:

That's our little bird friend!

Bird Update

2009-03-26T09:51:00.002-04:00

So yesterday we all thought that the bird was gone for good. We looked out in our little courtyard area and it wasn't there for nearly the entire office day, but around 4 (I think) he came back! We have no clue WHY he came back or where he had been, but Teresa saw him chillin on the brick outside sometime yesterday afternoon. He seemed to be moving better and ate a good bit of the bird food we had out there for him.

This morning when we all got to work, we went looking for him and alas, he's gone again. I'M thinking he just thinks our courtyard is a safe place to rest since it's so closed in (there's a brick wall and a wood gate).

We named him "Little Bit." Jeannie came up with it, lol. Maybe he'll come back this afternoon and we'll have something to entertain ourselves with again.

Poor Birdy

2009-03-24T11:12:00.004-04:00

We have a lone bird sitting in the back courtyard of our office...it's pitiful. We're thinking that it might be the same bird that smashed into my bosses window over the weekend. It's just sitting in the courtyard, chillin' in the sun. I hope it's not hurt!

Only reason why I noticed it to begin with was because it made it's grand entrance by smacking into MY window. Not hard enough to make a mark, mind you but it still made a *THUD* sound. Teresa and I immediately exchanged looks, lol.

Jeannie is gonna bring it some bird food when she gets back from her lunch break. I really hope it isn't hurt, I hate to see poor animals in pain.

I'll update in a bit with a picture I took this morning of it.

UPDATE: Here he/she is!

March 23rd, Already?!

2009-03-23T14:11:00.002-04:00

Geez...where has the month gone?

I'm ready for spring, I'm tired of looking at my coats hanging on the back of my chair, taking up space and being annoying. It's funny, but when I was in elementary school, the end of March was usually when I'd start begging my mom to let us swim in the lake below our house. She always told us that April 1st was the beginning date to swim, and unless we had a really cold winter that year, we could start going down to the lake to swim after then.

Now I doubt I'll swim at all the entire summer.

I doubt I'll even have a summer vacation, to be quite honest. I might go to Myrtle for a few days, or maybe Gatlinburg, but nothing that fantastic.

This Just In: A bird smacked into my boss's window sometime over the weekend and left an imprint. For real. It's hilarious.

Funny Conversation

2009-03-18T12:34:00.001-04:00

Me: I need you or dad to give my car a once over and make sure it can get me to NC.

Chris: Where you going?

Me: NC lol.

Chris: I know, but why?

Me: Visiting Draeka.

Chris: Is she your lesbian?

Me: No.

Chris: Don't lie.

Me: I don't. God is watching. lol.

Chris: Hah, good answer.

Chris: You gonna get drunk?

Me: No. God is watching, lol.

Chris: I'll drink it for you.

Me: You aren't going.

Chris: Why not?

Me: Because you smell funny.

New Warcraft Blog

2009-03-18T10:04:00.004-04:00

For those of you that are interested, I've started up a separate Warcraft-related blog. Most of you won't really get what I talk about in that blog, but those of you that will, are more than welcome to read it.

To get to it, just go to my complete profile and click "My World of Warcraft" under my Blog listings or click the link in my Distraction's section.

Blog layout

2009-03-17T13:39:00.002-04:00

I'm frustrated with my blog layout. It isn't exactly what I want. But I'm not sure what EXACTLY I want...something black and white...with a pattern or a picture...something like my myspace page, maybe. It's black with white flowers. I just don't know how I'd find something like that for my blog.

Bah. Oh well.

St. Patrick's Day

2009-03-17T10:04:00.002-04:00

So apparently this year's St. Patrick's day has completely and totally snuck up on me. I didn't even realize it was St. Patrick's day until I was seeing so much stuff about it online and I asked my sister when it was. Turns out, it's today.

Relatively small holidays like these tend to sneak up on me, don't really know why. I wouldn't even remember when Valentine's Day is if it wasn't the day after my dad's birthday.

However, I inadvertantly wore the ceremonial green clothing today without even realizing it, as I managed to pick out my green polka dot undies this morning. I guess I'm covered, eh? (No pun intended)

And yes, I do realize that was probably TMI, lol.

Current Worries

2009-03-16T10:09:00.002-04:00

I have to buy new tires in the next few days...It seems that my front end also needs to be aligned, because my front right tire is balding just on the outside and so is my back right tire (it was originally on the front, but I had them rotated a couple months ago). I don't have a ton of money this week, so buying new tires is going to be rough...

Additionally, I may be driving to Raleigh this weekend to visit with a friend of mine, so I don't know HOW many tires I need replaced. Do all 4 need to be replaced? Maybe just the two on the right side? Or the back two tires and the front right? I don't know...

I hate car maintenance, lol.

The standards of our local college

2009-03-11T10:08:00.004-04:00

I would just like to release a little steam right now, as I am about ready to punch a wall.

I would like to know how someone can manage to get into college, yet cannot manage to write down their proper address when they sign up for the AEP program. How difficult is that?! Seriously.

This hasn't happened once, it's happened MULTIPLE times. I really hate our local college, I am SO glad I didn't attend there. I would hate to be associated with some of the low-life morons that attend that university. At least I got a college education that had SUBSTANCE. Winthrop is a GOOD school and it's not famous merely because it has a football team.

...

...

Sometimes I really hate my job.

And you know, sometimes I feel a little snobby when I talk about my education. It just really bothers me that people who are capable of doing more with their minds than guzzling beer are still getting the same degree I am. Granted, my university has a better reputation but still; a BA is still a BA.

Maybe I just dislike the majority. I don't like being part of a crowd, or doing the same thing everyone else does just because it's cool. When I do something, when I invest THOUSANDS upon THOUSANDS of dollars into an education, I want the best one I can get. I want it to MEAN something, you know? I don't want my education to be substandard, or even average. I have a little more self-respect than that.

Or maybe I'm just a snob. *shrug*

At least I have standards.

Random Tuesday

2009-03-10T15:37:00.004-04:00

So I'm merely posting to get my collective thoughts...collected...from the previous couple days.

First of all, I really enjoyed my weekend! I spent the night at my sisters (which I haven't done in a while) and we watched Dr. Horrible's Sing Along Blog. Pretty sure I was addicted to it like crack cocaine (not that I know from personal experience, I'm just assuming :P). I'm listening to the soundtrack as I type, actually, lol. I really think Joss Whedon is awesome and physically cannot fail to entertain me. <3

Then we went to Verizon Wireless to activate my sisters new phone. Not much really to report, other than Verizon has the ugliest phones known to man. Alltel > Verizon. Am I spelling that right? "Verizon?" Meh. Who cares.

Then we had lunch at Between the Bun and MAN...that place makes me happy. Yummy yummy deli food. I could eat there like, everyday. I won't, obviously cause I'd go broke pretty quick but it's seriously THAT GOOD.

Oh, and the most memerable experience was listening to my sister chew out the wretched manager at Arby's. Haven't heard this story yet? Well, I'll give you the short version.
~Basically, me and Adri went to Arby's in separate cars on the way back to her house so we wouldn't have to cook when we got there. Well, we order very specific sandwhiches and always make sure to say our orders clearly. She got the Roasted Turkey and Swiss without mayo, onions, tomato, add mustard. I got the roasted turkey & swiss just minus tomato and onions. We get back to the house and Adri's starving, so she opens her sandwhich to find that it was SMOTHERED in mayo, no mustard, and had onions. We open mine (to make sure the orders weren't swapped) and mine was normal. Tomatoes and yucky onions were sitting there, grossing me out and stinking up my sandwhich. Well, Adri's angry at this point because we've both had terrible experiences at Arby's for the past few visits. It's usually filthy and they can't get our orders right, AND they're rude. Sooooo Adri called and chewed the chick out, and all she had to say was "What do you want me to do about it?" My jaw dropped at hearing this, and so did my sisters, so she hung up on the wench and wrote a very long e-mail to the Arby's complaint thing on their website.
So, long story short = Arby's sucks, BOYCOTT THEM! Nasty restaurant needs to die and be replaced by Chick Fil'a. *nods*

Other than that, there's not much else to report. Next weekend my parents are going out of town, but my dads going to be home at night (from like, 2 to 8 or 9 am) Friday night and Saturday night, so at least I won't be parentless for the WHOLE weekend. I will enjoy having the house to myself for the majority of the time though.

I do need to get my back tires replaced soon, but I think that can wait another 2 weeks or so. I'll ask Chris and make sure they're safe to drive on before I spend my tire money on other bills.

So that's it. Not much else to say :) Ta-ta!

Kids These Days

2009-03-05T11:39:00.006-05:00

I don't know why, but for SOME reason there is already a generation gap between the young adults I deal with on a daily basis and myself. I cannot describe how many times I have been frustrated because the college students I deal with are immature, irresponsible, and ungrateful.

For those of you that don't know, I am a case manager for a government program called AEP (Alcohol Education Program). 99% of my clients are college students who get busted for underage drinking at some party. They go through my program, attend classes and do community service work in order to get the charge removed from their record. It is not a difficult program, and it's a heck of a lot better than having a permanent criminal record AND getting your license suspended.

So many of my clients are irresponsible it's shocking, and they're college students! How they got into college is beyond me. They can't manage to attend a class or do community service work to save their lives. Don't they realize that their criminal record could keep them from getting a job they're going to COLLEGE to be qualified for? It's disgusting!

When I was at Winthrop, I never even dreamed of going to a party, even when I was old enough to drink. I don't need alcohol to have a good time, and quite frankly, those who depend on it are sad. There is so much more to life than killing brain cells and making a fool of yourself.

Now, those of you out there that actually appreciate the taste of alcohol (I am, obviously, not one of those people), if you want to drink, that's fine. But doing it underage is stupid. Just because you think you're adult enough to drink alcohol does not make you immune from the law. A law is a law, and even if you don't agree with it, you must still abide by it. Is one night of brainless fun worth risking your entire future?

It just bugs me how irresponsible people are nowadays. People have this sense of entitlement that grates on my nerves. No one owes you crap, get over yourself. You have to PROVE your self-worth, otherwise you just look like a douchebag with an ego problem. A lot of people do not seem to appreciate what has been given to them. Like the college students that flunk out just because they'd rather play video games or party all night long, instead of doing their work. Do they not realize that place on that campus could be filled with someone who WANTS to be there, who DESERVES to be there but merely does not have the means? Stop wasting everyone's time.

In fact, stop wasting your life.

OCD

2009-03-04T10:27:00.003-05:00

I definitely think I have OCD tendencies...

For example, whenever I fold up paper to go in an envelope, the fold lines must be straight and even. If they're off, even just slightly, I re-fold it.

Also, when I transfer funds out of my savings account, the amount remaining must be an even number. Say I have 335 bucks in savings and I need some money to cover dinner and a movie, I'll withdraw 35 bucks to make it a solid 300 left over. And if there is change in my savings, I transfer that over as well.

I'm weird.

Winthrop

2009-03-03T12:25:00.002-05:00

For the past few months, the fact that I am no longer a Winthrop student has been beat against my head. Around fall last year, I began having dreams of returning to Winthrop, only to find that it has changed a great deal or I am denied access. It was slightly depressing to go through, and also confusing, because consciously I didn't miss Winthrop as bad as my subconscious was apparently missing it.

I think about Winthrop a lot now and things I could have done differently, or how it used to be. I don't really know how I feel about it now; I miss Winthrop and being a college student, but I also don't want to lose what I have now. So it's weird.

Here's a list of what I do and do not miss about Winthrop:

-Enjoyable classes. Sometimes I really enjoyed going to class, especially when it was an art history or psychology class (Developmental excluded).

-The work. Surprisingly, I miss sitting at my desk and working on a paper, or studying for a test. I always got a feeling of accomplishment and pride once I had finished my work, and the good grades that would follow reinforced that.

-The free time. I REALLY miss being done with class at 2 pm and being able to goof around for the rest of the evening. I miss being able to tell myself "Ok, just write this paper and you can reward yourself with playing Warcraft, or Soul Calibur (or whatever game I was into at the time)."

-The caf'. Again, this surprises me, but I miss the cafeteria. Some of that food was really good, and even when it was bad, we still had fun by playing with it or making fun of it.

-The schedule. I miss being able to sleep until 8 or 9, or only having 8 am classes twice a week. I miss my Tuesday/Thursdays, where I'd have all morning classes and be done by lunch time or, at the latest, 3 pm.

-The campus. I miss living on campus, where I can walk wherever I need to be. I miss being able to just stop by a computer lab to print something, or grab a quick coffee drink at Javacity in between classes.

-The city. I miss being able to drive 5 minutes to get to Wal Mart, unlike here where I have to drive 30. I miss being able to just pick up and go to Olive Garden, cause it was even closer than the Wal Mart. I miss random trips to Target!!

-My friends. I miss being in such close proximity to my friends. They were always usually a building or so away, and I always got to socialize at meals. Now I have to go out of my way to see my home friends, since most of them are at least a 15 minute DRIVE away.

What I do NOT miss about Winthrop:

-Roommates in dorms. I REALLY don't miss accomodating for people, even if they were friends. I like that now I have my own room where I can (mostly) do whatever the crap I want. I can shut my door and not be bothered if I want. I can be messy if I want to be, I can re-arrange furniture if I so desire, and I can even FALL ASLEEP TO THE TV! Yay!

-Crappy classes. I HATED Developmental Psychology and 95% of my general education classes. I think the only general education class I enjoyed was Anthropology, and that's because the professor was fantastic. I didn't even enjoy my history classes, despite the fact that the professor was amazing (and not to mention adorable).

-Not having money. I made 75 bucks a week in college, and that barely paid for gas and food (keep in mind I was driving the Camaro most of my college career and driving 5 hours every weekend to get home and back). I love my paychecks now, although I am still pretty broke (600-700 bucks a month goes to student loan bills alone).

-The idiots that make decisions at Winthrop. I REALLY don't miss them. I mean, what kind of moron thinks that FORCING freshman to live on campus is going to keep them from partying when 99% of the parties happen RIGHT across the street from campus. What made it even worse was that because they were forcing freshman and sophmores to live on campus, they basically forced juniors and seniors to live off campus, when 75% of us didn't have cars. You either lived off campus or got stuck in a crappy freshman dorm with *shudder* community bathrooms. Please. I shoveled out 50+ grand to go to your school, the least you could do is give seniors priority over on-campus housing.

-4 AM fire alarms. I cannot tell you how many times we were woken up at 2-5 am because some moron let something burn in the kitchen or pulled the stupid fire alarm. Seriously, THAT'S why we couldn't have nice things.

So there you have it. My reflections on Winthrop University, lol.

Alyssa's Everyday Blog

Final Fantasy XIII - First Impressions

The Need to Spend

ZOMGUPDATEWTF

Amg!

Trips and Traveling

Ethereal Homicide

Lawl.

Christmas-y Stuff

Fail, DragonCon...Fail.

Someone Buy Me These Things!

Dragon Age

I'm not from the South...Really!

Like I Need Another Reason Not to Swim in the Ocean

Apartment Hunting

Never

It Sucks When...

I Hate to Sound Judgemental, But...

Events of a Rainy Saturday

Slowly but Surely...

An Old T-shirt

O.M.G.

Monday Maybe?

Still no office...

Skunks are the spawn of Satan

I love my job!

Yep!

The summer is at a close...

Solitaire

Unrealistic Expectations.

This N' That

Apartment Hunting

Gives Me Hope & Operation Beautiful

Relationships

Blah...

Beach Trip 2009

Opposite Me (Is it Opposite Week?)

Ugh

Sleep Disorder

OMGOMGOMG

Pretty sure...

This N' That

I am unhappy...

Summer of Death

Unlazy

I Feel Sick

How to Meet a Nerdy Girl

Birthday Happiness!

Hormones

Dr. Who is my Anti-Drug

My birthday is Saturday

I. Hate. Twilight.

The Beach!

Dieting Is Not Easy.

ADD

Computer Update

WTB Computer Monitor

I am

Can you...

I need...

No Hello Goodbye

A Mystery to Me

Two potential PCs

Where muh nerds at?

Owwie

Holy Heck

I Am Ashamed

Everytime...

Weird Eating Habits

I Really Wish...

Random *SQUEE* Moment

TV Update

Blah.

This is me...

Funny Quotes

One Flaw in Women

Typos That Make Me Giggle

Things That Suck

This is adorable

Stressful Weekend

Random SQUEE Moment