The awesomest thing about having a laptop? Compooping. Pooping and computing at the same time. By which I mean looking up internet porn and pooping. By which I mean masturbating and pooping. Poopturbating?

Seriously though, if you have a disease that causes you to spend a lot of time & painful time at that in the bathroom, you cannot underestimate the value of a distraction whilst pooping.

This post was brought to you by the number 2.

So Jeremy is the sweetest guy in the entire world. I was talking to him on the phone (he's out of town for Thanksgiving) and he mentioned his dad was sick. I sort of half-joked, "Man, I hope you don't get it and then give it to me."

It was half a joke, because I know how douchey it is to be like, "Shit, what if I get it!" when the other person doesn't even have it. You should be worried for them before you even consider getting worried.

It was half serious because Jeremy is fucking superman. I'm not even kidding... dude hardly gets sick and when he does its like for a day. I had a really shitty cold last winter and felt completely fucking awful for a week. He caught it off me, and was like, minorly sick for a couple days. Whereas..... my family is super susceptible to stuff. I, believe it or not, used to be the healthiest person in my family (I believe my sister has surpassed me with the simple act of just not getting a horrible chronic immune disease as I did). And I still had bad colds. Our stupid family treated anyone sick like a fucking leper and was like, not allowed to touch anything. Then I got a disease that fucked up my immune system, and started taking drugs to fix the symptoms, but makes the immune system worse (at least as far as fighting off colds and the like). So yeah...

Anyway, he's the sweetest guy because he said, "yeah, I was worried about you getting it too." What a sweetie :) I pointed out he should be worried for himself and he pointed out what I did just now. But still.... so sweet. I mean, if I have a cold I try not to give it to him, but I never think, "Shit, I hope I don't get this cold because Jeremy could catch it." Maybe one day I'll have a chance at being anywhere near as an awesome human being as he is, but I dunno.

Of course, right after that I was a total dick to him, insofar as I played a minor prank on him. The reason it's dickish is that he's so gullible you feel bad afterwards. A group of his friends that has also become my friends were having a get together and invited him. He said he was out of town, but that they could call me about it. They called me, I went there, we were having fun. Then Jeremy txted me asking if they called. I decided it would be funny to be like, "No, why?" and then have him think they ditched me and wonder why. So he actually called one of them up, they said they didn't invite me after all, and they were playing naked truth or dare. And he wasn't even like, "Really??" he took it it hook line and sinker, he was like, "Oh..." and then got off the phone as soon as he could to avoid further creepy naked truth or dare talk. Then he called me and I told him about it and he was cool, but I felt a little bad afterwards. He's such a sweet guy and I torture him at every opportunity, from stuff like that to attacking him with tickling when he's tired and can't fight back.

Man... I can't remember what the last post I had on here was about and what stuff is probably missing. I don't know that anyone but Tina even reads it anymore, so I could just email her, but I guess I like to have a record for myself too. "Oh, what was I doing thanksgiving Saturday 2010? Being a dick to Jeremy? I'm so nostalgic about it," though hopefully Jeremy will let me be a dick (or actually nice to him, whatever) for years to come.

So, been doing a lot of Christmas shopping. Not really going to go into it on the off chance that someone DOES read this blog ;) but the problem is it makes you want to buy a bunch of crap. So a month or two ago I was looking at amazon for gifts to people and ended up getting rock band. I've wanted that game for a long time but didn't have a playstation and/or enough friends to play it, but now Jeremy's PS2 (and the PS3 he'll get from his mom for xmas) lives here so I ponyed up the ridiculous amount of cash needed. There was a sale and I was like, "I have to buy it now." I'm such a sucker. That is also how I ended up preordering dragonage II.

I dunno.... I used to try to save money even when I didn't need to, because I feel like it's a virtue and you should know how to live on a budget in case you fall on hard times. And I mean, I can save money, even have before while making a lot less. But lately I'm like "fuck it." I saved up for school, that didn't happen. Got money when my mom died. Now my dad has to start taking deductions from his IRA and doesn't need it that badly so said he would probably be splitting the payments between me and my sister as sort of an early inheritance deal (which, the condo I'm living in is part of my inheritance too, and at the same time he set aside the same amount he spent on the condo for my sister--yeah, my family is way richer than I ever knew growing up). So yeah I need a new car someday, and I'd like to take a bitchin' vacation somewhere not on this continent someday, but I have more than I really need to save right now. That's what I tell myself anyway, I guess I could have colitis related difficulties or something down the line and not be able to work but that would suuuuuuck.

Which, I'm kind of peeved, I've been missing a lot of work (which I already don't like) and now the doctor told them it doesn't need to be protected by FMLA because I'm on this new medication that I have to fucking inject myself with (which supposedly one of the side effects is an increased chance at leukemia) and should be getting better. Should, dude. Not actually happening though. So I have to fucking talk all that shit out and miss more work to actually see the doctor and that's going to be awesome. But I really don't want to go onto the next medication he'll probably suggest, which involves getting an IV infusion for several hours at the hospital every two weeks either.

In other news I have had crazy trouble sleeping this holiday weekend.

Oh yeah, my actual thanksgiving was nice, had the traditional dinner with my dad. We are going to eat some take out at my sister's or something tomorrow (she stopped attending her own family's thanksgiving on the actual day years before mom even passed cause she had to be dragged to both of her husband's parent's separate thanksgivings) for our thanksgiving with her.

Last but not least: 007 is exceptionally cute today. So you know that is motherfucking cute!

Guh.... stupid facebook. I randomly looked up my friends from high school. And they are all: better looking, married and/or have kids.

I dunno, I don't really want kids, but having kids is a sign you've moved on in your life, you're an actual adult. You're a grown up.

And they all look good, while I look fat and tired. Which, I am fatter and tireder than I was, and I guess they aren't. So there you go.

Anyway, just more reinforcement on me not wanting to go to the upcoming reunion. It's too much money to begin with ($20 bucks, $40 if I want to bring Jeremy to prove that I'm not a total loser and at least have a boyfriend). I'm not poor or anything, I can afford it, but I only want to drop that much money for something I'd really enjoy...... like the Sufjan Stevens concert I recently dropped like 80 bucks on for us to go and see (eee! I'm excited!). And again, it's easy to convince myself that all the dicks who were jerks to me back then have shitty lives now... if I don't actually run into them and find out about their fabulous lives. And old friends I want to see how they're doing? I can just facebook them.... which is what I was doing when I concluded that they are all doing better than I am, just now.

I dunno. I've had a rough couple years (mom passing away, shitty job, etc), but things are beginning to look up a little (great boyfriend, new job) so maybe when next reunion comes up I will feel better about things.

So today was pretty craparoo but ended well.

First off, I got a sore throat last night. Sorer than my perpetual dry throat I have problems with, even. And ever since I got a flap of skin infected down there once, I'm pretty obsessed with actually trying to look in there (mirror + flashlight). And.... I had a weird bump on the roof of my mouth near the back of my throat (soft palate area if you are a biology person). Well, it turns out it was just a canker sore, which just goes away after awhile, but I can't figure out how I got the darn thing, I'm not one who's prone to them. But, I didn't know that, so I literally spent approx. 3 hours at a quick care doctor office (and I don't know how much money) to be told it was nothing. Oh, and to have him actually poke it a couple of times which made it hurt worse.

Okay, normally something like this would just be annoying, and I'd blame myself for jumping the gun, (though when I wait and it gets worse I blame myself too, damned either way) several factors combined to make it the perfect storm of horribleness.

1) Most importantly, I forgot to take my antidepressants. When I'm in withdrawal on that, tiny things can make me upset and have panic attacks.

2) I had a horrible, horrible, horrible headache and I forgot to take advil before I went, so I was sort of trapped there for several hours trying to get somewhere, anywhere that I could just take some frickin' advil.

Oh, and worse than waiting for the doctor (which did suck, but there were for some reason about a million people ahead of me, so I get it) was afterwards they made me stick around a half hour just to sign whatever paper they make you sign after they treat you. So... the fact that I wasn't really treated for anything and then had to stick around that long stuck in my craw. And it was cold. And I had the headache. And I started having a panic attack. See, Jeremy has cankers (it's not contagious so I can't blame him) and I looked it up on Web MD once (seriously that site should be outlawed. I can sit there for hours looking at it and being convinced that I am going to die) and one of the causes is crohn's. Which is similar to colitis. So.... fuck, this is just another regular thing I can look forward to in my never ending cycle of deteriorating health? Just like the crazy breastbone thing? Is my immune system going to systematically kill everything? Or just half of everything, and let other diseases get the rest because it is too busy attacking my own body? And I started thinking of how old people immune systems get bad anyway and together with that I'm going to get every horrible thing possible, including shingles which sound like the worst thing ever. And I thought of my grandpa's girlfriend who got shingles from being treated for Leukemia, and was like, oh fuck that new drug I'm going to be taking soon, an increased chance of leukemia is a side effect. So my immune system is going to suck cause it sucks anyway, then I'm going to get on these drugs which hurt your immune system more, they're going to give me leukemia, and then I'm going to fucking get shingles and/or die from leukemia. So this stewed in my head more and more (yeah, panic brought on by stupid antidepressant withdrawal, at least partially) and all I want to do is fucking get out so I can have any other possible distraction from thinking about shingles and take some goddamn advil. I seriously was about to sneak out.... I went to the bathroom, and was going to just leave if they hadn't gotten to me yet.

But they did. So at least I didn't break the law or whatever by leaving before I sign whatever documents saying that if I die because my canker sore was secretly flesh eating disease and he diagnosed me wrong, the office is not at fault.

So I decided to call off work, on top of all of that my bowels felt awful too (didn't really mention it because I'm so sadly used to it. And a headache that is literally as bad as it can possibly be without being a migraine is at least good for taking your mind off the bowel pain).

Anyway, by the time I got home, I was feeling a lot better. I stopped off and bought advil at meijer (which is really close to the quick care office) and by the time I got home was good. I get the liquigels which are super fast! And had had a bowel movement which made me feel better.

So I decided to surprise Jeremy by having a good home cooked meal on the table when he came home for work..... and he was not that impressed. Err, maybe impressed isn't the word? I mean, I don't think I should get a nobel prize or anything just for lifting a finger to cook, but I thought it would at least be a nice dinner together. However, that sort of fell through because (for reasons I won't get into because this is a horribly long post already, but that are totally justified), he was super angry at his cell company. And Jeremy doesn't get angry much, so you know they did something pretty bad. Anyway, he didn't take it out on me, but was in his own world and seemed to barely notice. He wolfed down the food so that he could get to the cell store before it closed. Regularly, I might find it a little annoying, but I was pretty sad due to already having a shitty day and then of course, the drug withdrawal.

Anyway, within a little while of getting back home he realized I felt bad and kept apologizing and saying that the dinner was really good. He gave me a really nice backrub, which was esp. good because my back was sore. We cuddled and watched a movie. It was Coraline. I had really wanted to see it when it was in theaters (it's based on a book by an author I like), but for whatever reason never got around to it until now. It is really, really good. Actually, way better than the book. The book is for relatively small children, and hence not that detailed or anything, so the movie was better. How often does that happen?

Speaking of movies, I wanted to mention the Switch which we saw yesterday. I really liked it. It's by the same people as Little Miss Sunshine. It is not as good as that, but sort of has a similar energy. It is sort of a romantic comedy, but it's almost more of a father/son bro-mance to me. Which, by the way, I sort of like. There are so many romantic movies out there, so I'm glad when there are movies that explore other types of relationships. Anyway, the kid was adorable. I don't even like kids, so you know if I like a kid, that kid is awesome. And Jason Bateman is actually a pretty good actor. We all know he does comedy well (Arrested Development, what what!) and this is a comedy, but there were emotional bits (which is kind of why I wanted to see it, I like movies like Little Miss Sunshine that can be funny but sort of have an emotional core to them). I think we're going to see Tom Pilgrim vs the World soon, too. Jeremy's been pretty hot to see it since we saw the trailer. And Michael Cera is in it (another Arrested Development alum, what what!) and he's usually pretty good. I mean, I actually saw his Youth in Revolt not too long ago and it was better than I would've guessed.

So one other awesome thing that happened to me that I never remembered to blog about this month: I got a trip to the emergency room. Really, it turned out as well as a trip to the emergency room possibly can. I did have a problem, they diagnosed it, it was easily curable.

I guess I had something (I can't remember the name) where my sternum had an inflammation. I guess it's mostly caused by physical activity, which is why one would wonder why I got it. But I guess another cause can be something like.... bingo, ulcerative colitis. Not only it is a shitty disease, but it's the kind of shitty disease that gives you other shitty diseases. Anyway, it's curable with.... advil. So, good times.

So... tomorrow I have to have a TB test. It's to see if I have TB (I really felt dumb writing this part of the sentence) because I am going to go on some medication that helps with colitis.... by killing my immune system. Well, partially. Hopefully the part that needlessly attacks my colon. But anyway, TB + killed immune system = death, probably.

I'm kind of nervous about it, actually (the drug, not the test). The drug has a lot of side effects, it seems. Including a higher risk for leukemia, it said. But, on the other hand, using it could lessen the risk of colon cancer. So who the fuck knows... But I need something, I've been missing a lot of work lately. That probably isn't the only serious side effect, I just got partway through and was like, "You know what, I don't even want to know how badly I'm fucking up my body to fix another part of my fucked up body."

So today was pretty full and pretty good. Jeremy's sort of been having cabin fever cause we don't often go very many places (I dunno, at one point I thought I was borderline agoraphobic, I just don't go that many places, and almost never anywhere if I'm not with someone.... but it might just be laziness) and suggested a trip to Champaign, which we actually had discussed at one point months ago and never did. I have to say.... I spent way too much money, but I had a lot of fun and it was worth it.

Champaign, for people who don't live in the area, is about the same size as the Bizzle Nizzle. I like to refer to it as "the Pain" whereas Jeremy likes to pronounce it the way Christopher Walken pronounces champagne on the SNL sketch the Continental. Though a smallish size, it usually has a little more going on than Bniz, partially because U of I is there and for whatever reason they attract better stuff than ISU. So we had orig. planned to go to one restaurant Jeremy had been to before, but it was closed. And some of the stuff U of I attracts was a no go, as the students are not quite yet back for the fall. But we still were able to fill it with awesomness.

First off, I got a new toy.... my GPS has been broken for awhile now, so I decided to just go ahead and replace it. They've really evolved... this one has some cool new features, and was about one third cheaper than my old one (and that's considering dad got the orig. on a black friday deal). It was nice to have in a town that I'm only semi-familiar with.

Then we went to Curtis Orchard. It was really cool.... We used to have this really awesome orchard near town, but it closed around when I was in high school because the owners were sick and couldn't maintain it. They sold it, and the new dick owners didn't want to maintain it either. So it was nice to go to another good one. They had some stuff for kids, like a petting zoo with... what seemed to be a very sick turkey. But he made the gobbling noise! Which made me happy! (Frankly, he seemed to have been rescued from a farm. The other turkeys and other animals in general seemed to be in good health). They had a lot of things I missed from the old orchard like apples, peaches, pie, apple donuts, cider, apple butter, honey straws, and a bunch of new things.... such as an apple cider slush, which was quite good.

Then we went to The Great Impasta, a tasty italian restaurant in the area. Not only was the alfredo sauce on my noodles tasty, but they were home made noodles, and you could really tell. Jeremy liked his pesto & linguine too. They also had the bread/parmesan/olive oil situation like at Biaggi's. Oh, and lest I forget--FABULOUS tiramisu. I mean, I usually love tiramisu anyway, but the presentation on this was really beautiful and it was probably one of the better tiramisu's I've had in my life.

Our last stop was going to be the planetarium down there, but they were actually closed. Not because there was no students, but I guess they're doing some remodeling in there or something?

Oh, and in between the dinner and planetarium we were killing time and stopped at Best Buy.... and I ended up buying another computer game I probably don't need. I was pretty excited, though.... it's one of the few adventure games I've seen in a long time, you know, like the old sierra onea, where you try to solve problems and things and it makes a story. I can't remember the name, but the main character IS a sad clown, so you know it's gotta be good.

Then later some of Jeremy's friends were doing some karaoke at a bar. It was nice because we were pretty much the only ones there, so we got to sing all we want. And not hear horrible country songs the way it usually goes in this town. I also got to finally meet one of Jeremy's friends, Luke. The reason it's so funny to finally meet him is I've met his wife, his child, I've been in his house, played his Wii, drank his orange juice, met his brother, and know all his friends at this point. He seems like a cool guy, I believe the reason we never met before is that we have opposite work schedules.

In other news, Jeremy's moved his cat, Kirk, over here, and so far it is slow going. Bunny is getting better, but I can still tell that he's ill at ease with a predator around. But, if I had to introduce him to any cat, Kirk is the one I'd pick. Kirk is a coward too, and so won't go up to 007 and bother him, he's not all hyper like some cats, and is very gentle--he's had experience being around other animals and they really have to push him for him to even begin to try and hurt them back. Oh, and before I get any captain kirk jokes (such as I made when I first learned his name), it's actually similar to the german word for church, which is where Jeremy orig. found the stray little kitten some years ago. So hopefully they get used to each other.

Also, I was worried about my furniture and carpet, as kirk likes to claw a little, but we've gotten these crazy plastic things to put over his claws. So not only does that even further lessen his threat to bunny, it definitely lessens his threat to my property.

I think Kirk moving here makes it pretty much official, even though Jeremy's got some other stuff left to do, Kirk is the most important. And once he and the rabbit are settled, it will be nice--one of our hassles whilst hanging out together was which house to hang at, because if we hung out at his, 007 had to be locked up in his cage all day, and if we spent the day at mine, Kirk is VERY attached to Jeremy and really starts missing him.

So last night I finally saw Kick Ass. I'd been looking forward to it a long time, perhaps the only movie I've been looking forward to seeing in awhile. Anyway, it didn't disappoint. Even despite the presence of Nicholas Cage, who I'm not a big fan of.

My two gripes are that 1) it CLEARLY left the ending open for a sequel (which I've named Kickass II: Rise of McLovin). 2) It did market the trailer on it being ordinary people becoming superheroes. But I'd say 3 of the four superheros were Bruce Wayne rich and had access to Batmanesque gadgets (though those gadgets were somewhat more bloody). But the main guy was reasonably dopey, I guess, though he did get some slight physical upgrades partway through the movie.

But what I liked is that the main guy WAS really ordinary. And pretty stupid to go fighting crime as an ordinary guy. But all the characters seemed to have more heart than the average big budget action characters, and while the main guy wasn't super ugly, he didn't have that hollywood pretty boy aura about him either.

I guess in my head I'm comparing it to Percy Jackson/Lightning Thief which I also saw not too long ago and has some surface similarities in plot. i.e. regular dude ends up becoming super/doing super things. But Percy was ridiculously overpowered, did things no demigod did in the greek mythology upon which it was based. All the characters had that clean, perfect look of movie stars. It was just sort of bland and hard to care about. But, to be honest, I think Jeremy had higher hopes for it than I had. I find it hard to get excited about any movie based on a young adult novel. I mean, the trailers made it look like it might be good, so I had some interest, but meh.

Also: This guy's supposed to be all tough and they named him fucking Percy? That's such a girly name. I think he's supposed to be named after Perseus or something, but still. And half the time people would call him Pers (which sounds like Purse) which is even worse. For a couple days after we saw it Jeremy and I would do high voices and say things like, "I'm Percy! But people call me purse because I hold girl's purses while they go to the bathroom. I like to try on their makeup! Then I go home and masturbate and cry myself to sleep. I have to make sure it's not waterproof makeup though. That's my kryptonite!"

Also, a lot of the mythology was messed up. And like, the entrance to the underworld is under fucking California, Mt. Olympus is in the Empire State Building? Wouldn't you think some of that shit would be in Greece?

You know, I've been meaning to post this for awhile.... my friend Tina has this new blog. She's actually getting paid for it (which I think is awesome) so there are some links to products on there, but it's more like..... product placement in a movie, you enjoy the movie (or in this case, her blog, with lots of amusing personal stories) and just happen to see the product. Though.... I did end up buying something she linked, so maybe the people who pay her are pretty smart!

Anyway, it's called Tales Remembered.

So I felt slightly ashamed of getting a new computer, when my old one is perfectly fine..... buut, I wanted a laptop because my butt hurts from sitting all day at work on those crappy chairs, and you can lay down or sit on something softer when you don't have to sit at a desk.

Anyway, I really do like the laptop. One of the fun things I did tonight was video chat with my friends Ryan and Brooke, it was almost like really hanging out. I actually wouldn't have gotten the webcam if I had a choice, but it was included in the package, so it's cool that I found out I like it. Sort of like a bonus.

So... now they know what the insides of my nostrils and mouth look like. And I got to see them clean up cat pee. I believe this is the ultimate purpose of this sort of technology.

So.... I stayed home from work today. AGAIN. I've been doing it entirely too much, I would probably be fired by now if it weren't for FMLA. But my colitis has been acting up extra lately. It's sad, though, I prefer horrible bowel pain to working. Like.... I would definitely take my job as a whole over colitis as a whole (you can't quit or get a day off from colitis, it causes more complications in the long run, and I don't get paid for having it), but yes. A day of agonizing physical torture is better than a day of agonizing mental torture. So.... maybe it's the stress of HAVING this job that is making the colitis worse, I'm definitely about at the breaking point where I consider quitting all the time.

HOWEVER, I don't have to! I'm sooo happy! I recently found out that I got a position I applied for in another department. I've been trying to get over there for about 2 years now. It's not any more money or prestige but it's a waaaay better working environment. I.E.: not a call center. It sounds like I occasionally have to take a call but most of the job is doing stuff on the computer and not actually talking to people.

It's funny.... when I first started working at Borders, I'd get bummed if I had to work all alone in the back, but by the end of it, I would get really upset if they took any time back there away from me, just because I was so burned out on talking to customers. And then I've been working 3 years of a job with much more intense (i.e. more plentiful and more abusive customers) customer service since then.... so getting switched off to not talking to customers so much sounds beautiful to me. I was literally jumping up and down when I got the news.

Oh, anyway, RE: bowel issues: I do think the less customer stress will help, but I REALLY think the new drugs my doctor wants to switch me onto should help a lot. I guess they're 1) checking with my insurance to see if they're covered and 2) waiting for me to have a good time to take a tuberculosis test, of all things. I guess this is yet another drug that kills my immune system (not looking forward to taking that during winter, but whatever) so they want to make sure I don't have latent tuberculosis or something so I don't die of tuberculosis because of their drug.

So here's what I've been up to:

1) Planning a wedding! Just kidding, Jeremy did propose to me yesterday but he was high as a kite because he was coming off of anesthetics at the doctor's office. He had to have a colonoscopy (good news: they didn't find anything like colitis or cancer bad news: they didn't find anything at all so they don't really know what's causing his digestive issues). Here are some of the awesome things he said whilst under the influence:

J: I love you, my little chickadee (no, he doesn't normally call me that). You're so nice. You're so sweet. Will you marry me?

Me: Yes. What date?

J: Now.

Me: You didn't give me a ring.

J: *shows me a loop in his IV* here! I'll get you a better one later

Me: Thanks!

J: We're going to get married in Japan.

Me: Cool.

J: Kyoto. We're going to wear Japanese outfits.

Me: Awesome!

J: Where am I?

Me: The colonoscopy place.

J: When are they going to do it?

Me: They already did it.

J: No they didn't.

Me: The doctor told me they did.

J: I don't trust that doctor. He had an evil look about him.

Me: Really?

J: He cut me open with a light saber. I'm like humpty dumpty.... all my eggs fell out!

J: Darth Vader hates the gremlins like I do, but I don't trust him. Harrison Ford is on Darth Vader's side now too. He said, "Here's looking at you, kid!"

Me: Harrison Ford doesn't say that, Bogart says it in Casablanca

J: Nooo.... Bogey stole it from Harrison Ford

Me: Harrison Ford wasn't even born yet...

J: Noooo!!

J: The gremlins are trying to steal my blanket

Me: You keep kicking it off yourself

J: *pointing at my wallet chain* They're going to steal that too

Me: What would gremlins even do with a wallet chain?

J: They'll sell it to ghosts.

Me: What would ghosts do with a wallet chain?

J: They rattle it, to scare people, like with other chains

Me: The nurses said to sit up

J: I can't sit up, the gremlins will steal my soul

Me: I'll protect your soul

J: They'll steal your soul too. They have a machine, they'll suck it right out of your nose. *gestures at his nose and makes a slurping noise*

J: Where am I?

Me: The colonoscopy place

J: When are they going to do it?

Me: They already did it

J: No, they still have to do it. The gremlins are going to steal my soul out of my butt.

J: I'm superman and I'm in the hospital for kryptonite poisoning

Me: Oh?

J: Where is the justice league? I need them to fight crime. Oh nevermind, they're a bunch of lame-asses, they never do anything.

Me: Like aquaman?

J: Where's catwoman?

Me: She's not even part of the Justice League

J: She is now, but I don't trust her. Call Spiderman! Call spidey on the spidey phone!

J: What is that? *points to the plastic bag full of his street clothes*

Me: Your clothes

J: No it's not, only a lame-ass would wear that bullshit. I wear a cape! And sunglasses (starts describing the outfit of a guy from an anime he likes, Gurren Lagann).

Me: It's jeans, and your shoes...

J: No one wears jeans!

Me: Everyone wears jeans, except for like, me

J: I drive a mecha!

J: This is the best apple juice ever!

Me: I'm glad!

J: Write down the company name! I want to write them a letter telling them how awesome they are!

J: This pizza is like everything good in the world is in my mouth

2) Applying the fuck out of job postings. Does anyone have anywhere they think I'd fit in? I'd apply. Though.... it is relatively non rewarding looking at wanted ads in the paper. So lately it's mostly been jobs at ISU or my current employer I've applied for. So, I have an interview with my current employer for a position I've been trying to get for like two years now. Strictly lateral... I should fucking have it by now, but whatever. I've really been trying over there and have even sort of "played the game," by networking. So we'll see.

As for ISU, I guess they're on a hiring spree because it's the beginning or end of their fiscal year or something. I've applied for 5 jobs there the last month. The first, I got an interview (yay, first time I've gotten an interview with ISU in all the times I've applied there), but didn't get the job. I've got 4 more to go... (dunno if I would get an interview or not, a couple of them have been progressing slower than the first one).

So... today I talked to someone, and they said the Chipmunk version of Zombie was bunk, someone probably just chipmunkized the orig. song on their own and posted it as from the motion picture. I should've known better. Internet, why would I trust you?

Speaking of music, I've been listening to Pandora a lot lately. I think I've finally gotten my main station, "Randomness" to the point where it plays things I mostly approve of.... it takes awhile to add everything and weed everything out. It still isn't perfect (but what is?) esp. since it really focuses on certain things, esp. if they are more popular. You click "like" on one motherfucking Beatles or Coldplay song, you get ALL of them. Annoying because there are a LOT of Beatles songs on Pandora. And I only like two or three Coldplay songs, max. Plus, the thing has a fuckload of live songs, or ones that are also included on the band's greatest hits or something, so if you click like on a band or song, you might get several versions of it over and over. And it will play the more popular songs off an album a bunch of times but none of the others.

Gah it sounds like a complaint. But I like it. Esp. since I probably confuse the poor thing, my main station is pretty much EVERYTHING I like, not everything from a certain type. So it swings from oldies to emo to indie, to popular 90's/early 00's songs, and everything in between.

Okay, well, nothing in between, those are probably the only four categories of music I like, when I think about it. Still, can be somewhat contradictory.

My 4th of July was okay. I had to work but we did pot luck and so I had some good food, and the phones were slower than usual. They gave me the day after off, and I had dinner with my dad, his gf, and Jeremy. It was cool.

Of course, I was pretty sore through all of this because the Saturday before, Jeremy & I went swimming and I overdid it. It sucks... the older you get the easier it is to fuck up your body. I can't wait until I'm 50 and do one backstroke and kill myself. Of course, what I should do is just stay in shape but that seems like too much work. But the swimming itself was great, since I didn't get sore till later.

Let's see, what else have I done lately? I'm so bad at keeping up my blog these days.... back when I blogged all the time I wondered why other people didn't remember to do it every day, but then I got a life and it became harder to remember. Plus my ass hurts so much from the chairs at work I hate sitting at my computer to type.

Well, Ryan & Brooke visited in June. When I picked them up in Chicago we toured the city. First, we went to this mexican place called Xoco. I wasn't sure why they ate so much Mexican when they visited (esp. from random chain restaurants like Chevy's and Chipotle), given that they're from AZ, but whatever. Xoco was awesome. They had Jamaica with lemongrass (mmmmm) and awesome churros--might I add it was my first churro?

We went to Navy Pier and saw the Shanghai circus. They were awesome, though I decided to be dickish and whisper "I want my money back," to Ryan every time someone fell or dropped something. But it was rare--all in all they rocked.

Then we went to a hot dog place for an "authentic chicago dog." What we hadn't expected was an "authentic naked bike marathon" right outside the door. As someone observed, "dinner AND a show," for us.

Then we did a lot of chillin' that week, watching TV (invader Zim, yay!) other random things on netflix, playing games (despite Ryan being a lame-ass!). But we did go to a U pick strawberry place, and to matthiesen park.

And we ate well, we went to a variety of restaurants and I cooked meatloaf, pork chops, turkey roast, potatoes, and Jeremy cooked noodles & his famous chicken parm & spaghetti.

...it's so wrong that it's right.

So, my grandpa died this week. He was my last grandparent left. I mean, I could see it happening sooner or later, he'd been having a lot of health problems these last few years, but of course it never makes it easier. I have to say, he's probably also the only grandparent I was upset about passing. The first two went when I was really young, and the other one I never got along with all that well.

I'm not as sad as when my mom passed, which of course makes sense as I was a lot closer to her and saw her more often. But it seems to be expressing itself in a weird way too. Like with my mom I got all depressed and started crying all the time. I haven't really cried, but other things that usually don't bum me out as much have been making me more upset than usual so I'm sure it's probably related. I'm sure being on anti depressants makes a difference in how your emotions work too.

What sucks is how small I feel like my family is getting... Since we don't keep in contact with our extended relatives, basically all I have left is my dad and my sister. And my dad is going to turn 70 this year. I know it's morbid, but.... I think about it all the time. And it's so hard to keep in contact with my sister and her family, we're both so busy and have completely opposite schedules.

The older I get the more relationships I have, some of them that seemed rock solid, go awry. I look back on them and try to see what I should've done differently, what I did wrong. Family, though, is the security blanket. You or they have to really suck to alienate each other. I don't want my family to get smaller.

But I guess that's my own selfish reaction to grandpa passing away. I miss him, for him too, though. He was a really fun guy and was one of those people whose brains are completely agile right up till the end, his 90's.

So I changed my hierarchy of "annoying calls at work."

From most annoying to least annoying, it used to go:

Hostile people
People who don't speak English at all
Dumb people
People who don't speak English well

Of course, people who are combinations of any of the above are the most most annoying. I used to put hostile people above the others because they don't HAVE to be jerkoffs, whereas dumb people and foreigners don't really have a choice. But now hostile people are probably lower, as usually they yell at you briefly and just hang up and you don't have to deal with them anymore.

Anyway, aside from that change, I have a new category that goes on top. People who won't fucking listen to you. I got two extreme examples of this tonight on internet calls. Internet calls, for those who haven't heard me bitch about my job before (though these are usually the least annoying calls as they are straightforward and uncomplicated... unless the person is extremely annoying for other reasons) are when someone can't get into their internet acct with us. We have them answer their security questions to verify their identity, and then provide them with their username (if they forgot it), reset their password, and/or unlock their account if they've failed at their password too many times or failed at answering their security questions too many times.

Security questions are hard for people to get... the computer's a little picky on how they're typed in and if they don't get it exactly right, they can't get in. So after they answer it close enough for a human to think they're right, we tell them exactly how it's typed in so they can get past it.

If we reset their password, it gets changed to their birthdate in the format MMDDYYYY. Then, once they login with that password, the computer prompts them to pick a new password.

Not fucking rocket science, especially if you have someone on the phone with you walking you through it step by step.

Ugh, but I had this lady, this fucking lady who would not fucking listen to me. I'm not even going to go into the other one.

Me: So, I'm going to go over your security questions with you so that you can get past them, then I'm going to give you your password (past experience has taught me to do this first, otherwise the person is typing in their password etc. while I'm trying to tell them their security questions, and won't listen). The answer to the first question is Monkey. And--
Lady: There's nowhere to type that in!
Me: Okay, we haven't gotten to that yet. I'm just letting you know your security questions before we get to the password. So the first question, the answer is--
Lady: But there's nowhere to put it in!
Me: I know. You'll need to put in your username and password first, but I'm telling you this now so that you will know when you get there. So I'm going to go over the questions for you. So the answer to the first question is Monkey. The second is Chevrolet Cavalier--
Lady: There's nowhere to type that in!
Me: I know. But we're going to get that. So anyway, the answer is Monkey--
Lady: I already put in Monkey, that's how it got locked up the first time.
Me: I know, but as I said before the computer is really picky about how they're typed in, so I'm telling you exactly how they are typed in. So it's Monkey. Then the second one is Chevrolet Cavalier. There is a space between Chevrolet and Cavalier. The computer will not take it without that space.
Lady: I already put it in like that.
Me: Okay, I understand that you had problems before, that is why I'm making sure you have the answers so that when you login, it will all be correct. I have to go over all of them to make sure. So, the third answer is--
Lady: Rio De Janeiro, I know!
Me: Yes, but I have to tell you how it is typed in. Rio SPACE De SPACE Janeiro, then you have another space, and the word "Brazil."
Lady: I typed it in like that!
Me: Okay, and your password is going to be your birthdate, in the format two digits for month--
Lady: What is the password?
Me: Okay, and your password is going to be your birthdate, in the format two digits for month--
Lady: That's all?
Me: I'm not finished.... two digits for month, two digits for day, FOUR digits for year
Lady: Okay, I'm trying it. Two digits for year, right?
Me: No, FOUR digits for year.
Lady: Okay *tries it, surprisingly gets the password right somehow, but is baffled by the security questions*
Me: Okay, I'm going to go through the security questions again *another argument about how she already put them in right*
Me: Okay, listen closely *bitch keeps interrupting me, I am almost shouting listen closely to her over and over, she won't fucking shut up* "You have Rio De Janeiro Brazil. There is a space between Chevrolet and Cavalier--
Lady: I have to put "cavalier?"
Me: Yes, you have to put cavalier. Now, you have Rio SPACE De SPACE Janeiro SPACE Brazil.
Lady: I know

so she still can't get again. Lots more "please listen closelys" I'm about to lose it

Me: Look, I am going to spell everything exactly as it is in there. Please, please listen closely. C-H-E-V-R-O-L-E-T SPACE C-A-V-A-L-I-E-R.
Lady: I know, I know
Me: Just, please listen closely. I have R-I-O SPACE D-E SPACE J-A-N-E-I-R-O space B-R-A-Z-I-L.
Lady: Yes, I know. R-I-O-D-E SPACE J-A-N-E-R-O
Me: No, no no. Please listen closely. There is a SPACE between Rio and De, and you have to spell Janeiro differently, and you HAVE to have Brazil. *I do it all over*
Her: Z-I-L? What? That's not how to spell Janeiro...
Me: Brazil. You have to have Brazil on the end.
Her: R-I-O SPACE D-E SPACE J-A-N-E-R-O space B-R-A-Z-I-L
Me: I spell Janeiro for her again
Her: That's not how it's spelled!
Me: That's how it is in here, you can change it once you're logged in
Her: *finally gets in, mercifully seems to not have many troubles changing her password--the other lady I mentioned was fucking up that part considerably... but I'm too tired after writing about this lady to go into the other lady's problems, just know they are almost equal and I had to take both of these calls in one night*

In other news, more poop problems lately. Not sure exactly when they started, but it was a day or few before I went to Chicago. I really need to see my poop doctor. And still need to see my regular doctor about my persistently sore/dry throat (which, of course, is not helped by having to yell at stupid customers all day). Meh.

Which, btw, I WENT TO CHICAGO. A lot of people who live around here go all the time, but to me it's a big deal, I've only gone a handful of times in my lifetime even though it's only a couple hours away. I know it's a city with a more working class reputation or whatever, but it usually seems classy and elegant.... even with the occasional homeless person. The skyline is so beautiful, and all of the architecture is beautiful and unique. Whereas if you live in a smaller town, esp. one that got most of it's growth in the later 20th century... everything's all boring and box-like.

Anyway, Jeremy and I went up there because there was a Ben Folds show. I probably wouldn't've gone all the way to Chicago for a concert, even Ben, if I didn't have Jeremy. One, he really likes Ben too, and has never seen him. Two, he drove--I'm scared of driving in the third largest city in the US and avoid it if possible. We even got a hotel room and stayed the night so we could do more in the city.

There were some obstacles, for sure. 1) The weather was colder than we expected so we didn't dress for it. A good amount of our outside time (which was a lot, we walked a lot of places) was unpleasant. 2) Jeremy has problems with his knees or something, and we had to walk more than expected, so he was sore. 3) It was like, impossible to buy a fucking pass for the El. The extra walking was us walking all over trying to buy passes.

But there was definite goodness!

1) The hotel was really nice, and the continental breakfast was sweeeet
2) We went to a couple really good restaurants, which even further solidified my notion of Chicago's classiness. And they were tasty!
3) We went to the Art Institute. They have SO many famous paintings, ones I would've never guessed at. Seriously--more famous impressionist paintings than probably the Louvre has. A fuck ton of Monets, Renoirs, Van Gogh, etc. A really awesome famous Seurat* And that's just scraping the surface-i.e. things I personally like, there was some neo classicism or whatever, the sculptures of Rodin (though not the Thinker itself), fuck tons of Matisse (I hate that guy, I believe he is expressionist), Gaugin etc. The Seurat I mentioned was particularly impressive in person. It is made up of tiny, tiny dots and is on a huge canvas, and had this glow about it.
4) We went to Navy Pier. We took a boat tour on Lake Michigan, and the skyline was beautiful. And had funnel cake!

I'm going on another brief trip soon, Jeremy's birthday is on the first and we're going to his parent's house in Jacksonville for the weekend. Should be good, his parents seem pretty nice from what I can tell the last time we visited.

I'm saving the rest of my paid vacation for the trip to Grandpa's that may or may not ever happen, and the trip Ryan's taking up here. Both of which I'm looking forward to.

Other than that, I'm obsessed with a computer game called Dragon Age. Great graphics, even better story.

Oh, also that bastard rabbit has taken to tearing up my carpeting :/

__________
* paintings I saw included but were not limited to:
-4 monet haystacks Probably his lamest thing, but famous.

-Fucktons of other monet including this

-No Starry Night, but there's one of the famous self portraits, and I think I saw the bedroom one

-Renoir, my favorite, ton others

-the awesome-ass Seurat

Guh... My throat has been dry and scratchy for like.... a really long time. It sucks, I have to conserve my talking for my stupid job that I hate and use it less for talking to actual people. I need to see a doctor or something.

It's true.... I comforted that guy with the observation that the last two panels were impossible.... T would NEVER disrespect a man's mother like that.

And another one...

Fun day. Went to get my car washed with my dad... which is his idea of fun, anyway. We had lunch, too.

Talked with Julie a little while, though not forever cause she called while I was with Dad. Will have to call her back.

Hung out with Jeremy... he's attempting to teach me to ride a bike. I dunno, the last time I tried it seemed really fun, and ridiculous, and I didn't feel too bad that I didn't get it because I was using a bike way too tall for me and I could blame that. This time.... well, I made a lot more progress, but there were these two little kids cruising around the same parking lot biking as naturally as walking, and it made me feel bad. I kept thinking of what people were thinking, which is not something I usually do. Still, I intend to keep trying for a little while.