Hyvenese = Chinese from Hyvee

Oh the lessons I learn from my coworkers. I've never had their Chinese, but their sushi isn't awful.

I mean, it's not good, but it's not awful.


How does one say goodbye to a friend of 14 years?

From the outside it may appear as if she was only my 7th and 8th grade teacher, but the reality is so much more.

Let’s start from the beginning.

You know how there’s always that one kid that’s better friends with their teacher than their classmates?

The nerd who gets all their jokes and hangs out with them at recess?

That was me.

I blame it on the fact that my siblings are way older than me so I get along better with people who are older.

G Wigger and I bonded over the TV show Friends – the first of many shows we bonded over – and it went from there. I used to write her notes and draw her pictures. I’m pretty sure I was the favorite cause she let me where sunglasses indoors. Again, nerd.

When asked about that later she responded “you have to pick your battles.”

She put up with my tantrums when it came to math – it was not my favorite subject – and even after school got out we stayed in touch. Jump forward a few years and you’ll hit where the nerd in me decided that Jim and I could take over Camp J – no problem. Ha!

We invaded her classroom almost daily for an entire summer cleaning out boxes, updating files, creating schedules, assigning counselors, stuffing lanyards, and then sorting t-shirts and sending out mailings. She called herself Camp J’s “number one fan” and helped out even though she avoided the actual camp like the plague.

It was during all this Camp J prep that 2G was formed.

Every year my old high school hosts a golf tournament as a fundraiser for the school. We decided – having no golf experience whatsoever – that we would start a team of our own and compete. The team was made up of Pastor (our leader and the only one with actual golf talent from the start), Jim O, G-Wigger and myself. We came up with the nicknames Blackstone, Dash Riprock, Homey G-Wigger, and Choot ‘em Lizbet, respectively.

Eventually we’d put those nicknames on bright orange t-shirts so you could see us at all times.



Though, we were told, you didn’t need to see us to know where we were cause we were the loudest ones there so you could hear us from across the course. But hey, our drinking team has a golfing problem – what can we say?

Two out of the four years we’ve competed I was unceremoniously thrown from the cart. Though that might have been partly my fault since I was leaning out to grab wayward golf balls.

Plus I had to save Bertha. Don’t ask.

But it was worth the bumps and bruises.

Golf isn’t the only sport 2G competes in. Softball is actually our specialty. We play scrappy but we dominate. Every game G-Wigger and I would warm up together and after every game we would stop for icecream.

We told her that since the golf tournament is in the summer that she should come back for it every year, however since softball games are usually on Sunday nights in the fall that won’t be an option.

Our team will never be the same.

Sports weren’t our only thing recently. We’d go to movies – see post “At least the baby stopped crying” – or out for jalapeno margaritas.

The adventures are so numerous she even has her own tag. "Homey G Wigger". And only my favorite people get their own tag.

So how does one say goodbye to someone who’s had such an impact on one’s life?

I could thank her I suppose. For sticking with me through the good times and the bad. Tell her how grateful I am for all the times she was there for me. Not just for math but for everything.

But I still feel like that that doesn’t begin to cover how much of an influence she’s had on my life.

So I’ve decided instead of goodbye, it’s just so long for now. We’re gonna pen pal it up. And it’s not the end. She’ll be back for big events – confirmations, golf, and a wedding if it ever happens.

And that makes it easier.




Okay, on to happier, less emotional things.

Took a trip out to Illinois to visit the BFF. Sketch and Edit’s Excellent Adventure. Take Two.

Or is it three? Whatever, either way it rocked.

Minus the 9 hour drive it took to get there, that is.

We jammed. Made camo cake.

Check it out.







Gotta have orange frosting with a camo cake. It actually tasted pretty good.

Other cooking adventures included booze popsicles. Looks like sherbet, tastes like vodka.

Holy crap those were strong. It probably had to do with the fact that it wasn't just vodka it was also mixed with tequila. Knocked us on our butts.

Non-cooking adventures were catching up on Grey's, and we watched a bit of Raising Hope.

Which I’d seen part of like one episode one time, so now of course I had to check out season one from the library. It’s actually quite entertaining.

And then of course we hit up the races cause her boyfriend has a car. Like in the races. With a driver. Who's pretty good. Got second in his heat, but then it got rained out. So we jammed in the trailer. See Facebook for pictures.

It was good to see her. It had been like a year. Or two. More like two.

That should change.



What else? The boyfriend and I are doing great. We’ve been going to a lot of races lately. We hit up the World of Outlaws the other day in Greenwood and my guy won! After I had bought his t-shirt. And it’s awesome, it’s like a pit crew shirt with all the advertisements on it.

Plus he signed it.

I was proud that I picked him and that I got the shirt before he won the race instead of after. Plus he beat the guy who always wins and you gotta root for underdogs.

Races aren’t the only fun things we’re going to, a few weeks ago we went to my sister-in-law’s surprise 40th birthday party. The surprise part being the event we dragged her to Omaha for. It was a Murder Mystery party at a hotel – professionally done, it was fun.

We all had to pick aliases. I was Regina Philange.

Make me proud people, make me proud.

Mom was Cher. Dad was John Wayne. After picking the killer’s name as his alias and being told it was already in use (but not told it was the killer) the boyfriend went with Dr. Emmett Brown from Back to the Future.

I know, how does one pick the name of the killer out of the like 80 million names available? It was amusing.

The problem with their setup was that you had to be paying attention to nametags to figure out who-done-it cause the detectives who were supposed to be solving the crime did nothing but distract you. But that’s okay, we went for the fun of it and it was fun, even though I was forced to walk the cat walk to prove my innocence.

Long story.

This week we went fireworks shopping. And you know me with my fireworks. Hit up my mother ship. aka the Dorm Mom's stand. Got some good deals. I'm stoked!

After the 4th he and I are taking a trip to Iowa for another motorcar excursion so look forward to those highlights....

What else?

College World Series! My team won! Go Black Gold! The Cool Aunt was also for Vandy so anytime they did something good we’d text “black gold!” We saw them play live one of the years we went so that’s what we like them.

And speaking of a lot going on, I’ve been working tons on camp stuff. I’m getting excited, it’s coming up! Again this year we have more boys than girls but that may change since they have ‘til July 7th to turn everything in.

I'm really excited for my 7th and 8th graders skit. No HeeHaw this year but they're still singing. Don't worry, they won't hate this one.

And Smo is coming this year. I'm so excited! Gonna be my Skits and Worship helper. Which is good cause there will be lots...

Scale of Awesome’s for you:

Edge of Tomorrow


Scale of Awesome says 7/10. Interesting premise but not a huge fan of Tom Cruise.

Bowfinger


Scale of Awesome says 5/10. So horrible. Yet funny.

300


Scale of Awesome says 5/10. Am I the only person on this planet that didn't like this movie? I feel like it. It's only redeeming quality?



Gerard Butler. And the "This is Sparta" kick. That was badass.

On to the music:

Strong Enough - Cher


a month later and it's still in my head. awesomeness.

and one for an upcoming concert:

From Me To You - Beatles


so excited! debating what my favorite Beatles song is. this is one of many. Probably Hey Jude. Maybe Yesterday. Blackbird. Day Tripper. Paperback Writer. Hello Goodbye. Let it Be. Love Me Do. Yellow Submarine. She Loves You.

Too many good ones to choose from...

And I'm out. I promise it won't take me another month to post.

You do me wrong now, My love is strong now.

So if you thought that yesterday's post was awkward and ended suddenly, it was and it did.

But that's cause of the chaos that was currently going on in the apartment at that time.

Let me give you the whole story.

Okay, so, I don't know what time it was that I wrote that but it was far after midnight and I decided that I wanted popcorn so I put some in the microwave and hit the "popcorn" button.

Or so I thought.

Then I started posting and watching baseball and got all distracted and like 10 minutes later I'm like, is that popcorn done yet? I can still hear the microwave but it's not popping.

So I look up and HOLY CRAP.

Like billows of smoke coming from the kitchen.

I ran to stop the microwave, grabbed a towel and waved it in front of the smoke detector for like 5 minutes.

Meanwhile Carter is just sitting there staring at me going, what the hell did you do now, you idiot?

I turn on like every fan in the apartment and open the doors so the smoke will filter out then go back to fanning the smoke detector cause the last thing I want to do is set that off and then all the neighbors will wake up.

So, anyway, I can barely breathe and give up like 5 minutes later and Carter and I escape to the balcony which is where that post ended.

Right after it ended I thought I heard knocking on my apartment door, so thinking it was a neighbor coming to check if everything is okay I get up to go inside and run straight into the screen door.

Cause you know, forgot that I closed that.

By the time I get to the door the person is gone.

So then I freaked out like, what if they called fire and rescue?

Crap.

I have to change.

Can't have them showing up when I'm wearing this.

Cause you know, you're never supposed to wear anything you don't want emergency personnel to see.

Or anything that panics the cat.

Sometimes those two coincide.

So I change but it still smells like smoke so I slept with the balcony door open with the screen door closed.

Came home tonight and it still smelled like smoke so I made stir fry in order to cover it up.

And it worked.

And I didn't burn it.

Which is new.

So yes, I guessing you never knew anyone who lit popcorn on fire in a microwave.

Congratulations, now you can all say that you do.

It takes a special amount of skills to do that.

And burn soup.

And slice your foot open when you're making grilled cheese.

Choosing your foot over your grilled cheese as you hop to the bathroom blood trail dragging behind you.

Go here: Sketch and Edit Make Grilled Cheese

Based on a true story.

Just substitute my mother for Sketch, add in some worry for my health and subtract all those sarcastic remarks.

From then on Mom did all the making of grilled cheese sandwiches.

So you could say it was strategy move.


Anyway, I had all this stuff that I wanted to say about yesterday but it got cut short like how I love snarky Walmart employees who tell you not to combine the lighter fluid and donuts that you bought.

Well, the boyfriend bought.

And how UCLA dominated and won the College World Series! So my backup backup team dominated!

Actually would have been my first backup if I would have gone with my gut.

Oh well, still owe the Cool Aunt a round of jalapeno margaritas.

Speaking of the Cool Aunt we saw a preview - also yesterday - for House of Cards and I was like, what is this? It looks awesome! and then it said what it was called and I went, "oh, i have that checked out right now."

Cause the Cool Aunt recommended it and it just came in. But I had requested it purely on her recommendation without looking into it further.

I knew Kevin Spacey was in it.

And that she said to watch it.

But that was it.

So now I'm gonna watch it.

This weekend.

When I'm not working on that takehome test.


Today was good.

I like my job again, yay!

For a teen summer reading event we're making book board games so I'm making an example one and chose Harry Potter.

For which I get to read all the book summaries so I can remember all the places and people and all that to put on the game board.

It's a lot of fun.

Though I am artistically changed so the drawing part of it will be lax.

I also had another teen pick up an application form for TAB today. She seems pretty cool and very mature for her age.

She would make five new members in the past 3 months.

Huzzah!


On to the music.

A continuation of She and Him week plus an additional indie song.

Colors - April Smith and the Great Picture Show


Which I love, these guys are fantastic. You should really watch this one. If you hate it you can yell at me later.

back to She and Him

You Really Got a Hold On Me


love it.

Dream a Little Dream of Me


one of my favorite songs of all time and she does it justice.

Wouldn't It Be Nice


another classic.


stoked to see them tomorrow.

legitimate pre-midnight post, holy crap tag in use.

AND my homework is done.

AND i'm catching up on Major Crimes.

yeehaw.

oh easy mac, oh easy mac, of all the cheese most lovely...

Homework finished and posted with 10 minutes to spare.

Yes, 11:49PM.

But I made it!

However, the downfall to spending my entire night doing homework is that all of my creative genius is used up.

So you should stop reading now.

I could ramble to you about open source vs. proprietary software.

But I'm pretty sure you wouldn't want to read that.

Unless you're a librarian.

But probably not even then, that's the last thing we wanna read about after hours.

By the way that's like the 50th time I've spelled proprietary in a 6 hour period and I still spelled it wrong.

Ugh.

Have I mentioned how ready I am to be done?

Next assignment is a take home test due on the 3rd but we don't get it until Thursday.

So there goes my weekend.

Or Monday cause I think I'm off.

Speaking of Mondays, today was definitely one.

Go to work and it's fine until I go to get out of my car and there's a downpour.

Like literal downpour.

And me, underestimating the rain as usual, didn't bring a jacket so I was soaked for most of the morning.

The slow day was helpful though because I got a chance to upload my TAB master database and sort through my jars for the event on the 17th.

Which I shouldn't be worried about right now cause the book board game one comes first on the 3rd.

Though I'm guessing our numbers will be low because 1 it's the 3rd of July and 2 because teens don't use our branch as much as the others.

Cause we don't offer them anything.

I'm working on that though.

Seriously should stop reading now.

I would.

Night was boring aside from one massive moment of awesomeness.

No, not UCLA winning though I was thrilled.

I'M GOING TO SEE SHE AND HIM!!

Del she won tickets and invited me.

We were gonna go originally but we got distracted and then they were sold out.

But she won tickets so now we're back in the game.

In honor of the awesomeness that will be Thursday I now declare it to be She and Him week!

In which I will post my favorites by them throughout the week.

If you're not a fan then get over it.

And also, you're missing out on life cause they are just that awesome.

Okay, so my favorites in no particular order...

I Put a Spell on You


see how much of life you're missing out on?

for serious.

Why Do You Let Me Stay Here


this one is a bit morbid but i still love it. 1:02 still cracks me up.

yes, I know, I blew my whole going to bed early thing but we knew that was doomed from the start.

will soon.

after i eat my easy mac.

cause you don't really take time to eat when you're on a deadline.

i ate so much of that stuff in high school you could have called me "easy mac" and i would have answered.

whoa. mac and cheese. totally forgot - sketch and i went by "mac" and "cheese" for a while though i can't remember why.

flashbacks.

3 guesses as to which one of us was the cheese.

if you can't get it in 3 you lack some deduction skills.

okay, now you really need to stop reading this post.

and she's out!

Wanna play dodgerock?

Beard growing contest and go!



While I usually hate these commercials - this one included - I enjoy the dodgerock.

Yes, I know, I didn't post yesterday.

Mostly because the 5 words to describe my day would have been negative (minus Volunteer and Hardware of course).

And I don't like posting when I'm like that cause it turns out like one of Meredith's whiny narratives on Grey's.

Even The Bosswomen have noticed I'm not happy.

And apparently they talk about it cause I had one check on me in the morning and the other check on me in the afternoon.

I'm in a slump of sorts.

It's more of a long story.

Lack of sleep probably isn't helping.

So, it's time for a weekend off.

Get out of my head and have fun.

Worlds of it.

Yes, we're headed to KC for more roller coasters.

And guessing from how it went last year it's gonna be 10AM to even later this year because I don't have to work the next day.

Huzzah!

And, as previously mentioned, he is obsessive about roller coasters. Last year we rode like 17 times in a 10 hour period.

Go here for our adventures from last year: The Difference Between "If" and "When"


5 words for today
Library
Laundry
Pack
Camp
Homework

Library - the day flew by pretty quickly. Got to see one of my TAB kids and another future TAB kid. Two of my new adult volunteers came in to shelve. And three new aides are starting this week. We lost a few of our lifers, but that's more of a long story.

Laundry - you know how you think you're caught up with laundry so you don't do it for a few days and then you're like crap, where did this come from? I'm there. So load after load so I have clothes for this weekend.

Pack - the question is, what to wear tomorrow. It's gonna be hot, so not jeans. I'm debating t-shirts, it's down to Star Wars or Warehouse 13. Also, what do you do when you're not allowed to take pictures with your camera while riding roller coasters? Buy spy glasses with a camera in them of course! Stoked. Though I'm sure I'll lose them somewhere along the way. If not I'll hit you with some cool videos when I get back.

Camp - got a ton of application forms yesterday and today so I spent most of the night uploading those and sending out confirmation emails. Looking good so far though super short on teen help and female counselors.

Homework - I have a massive paper due on Monday at midnight. I've started on it sort of. Meaning I found sources but done nothing else. Oh, I did clear the topic with the professor. Does that count? I'm thinking of printing off the sources and reading them on the drive out there and back. Then writing up an outline so I can get it done on Sunday when we get back.

and that was my day.

Oh, I stopped for gas so we'd have enough for the trip there.

And I called the Little Shelver Boy my fake boyfriend. But again, that's a long story.

Oh yeah, and I'm watching CWS. Go UCLA!

And I talked to Obi Wan about camp stuff.

And at some point I worked with the new temp and we talked roller coasters. And my family being goofy.

Oh yeah, Wordie and I quoted Monty Python.

"what are you gonna do, bleed on me?" "your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries."

There. That was my day.

Song of the day:

I Hope You're the End of My Story - Pistol Annies


love these girls.

last night I fell asleep at 11:30 - I know!! So early!! I was proud. Yet I was still space cadet in the morning.

tonight I'm posting early so I can print off those sources and then crash.

he says we're leaving at like 8 tomorrow morning.

i will probably sleep on the way there.

then it's fun in the sun. the hot hot sun. and then apparently a bigass moon, which is gonna be super cool whilst riding roller coasters.

go here: Supermoon 2013

sorry, worked reference most of today, it never ends.

legitimate pre-midnight post, holy crap tag in use.

My day in five words.

A new blog segment for you.

Five words to summarize my day:

Cereal
Library
Baseball
Post
Crash

You have no idea how long it took for me to limit my day to five words.

As boring as it may have been.

You should try it and tell me if it's just difficult for rambly English majors or if it's hard for everyone.

So first there was cereal - which is the norm for my mornings.

Library of course - nine hours of library.

Baseball - watched Bubby play, he rocked it here's right before his line drive to left.



and then watched Indiana lose so I'm officially out now that my backup lost.

So go UCLA!

Post - obviously I'm here.

Crash - next stop.

and that's all I got.

Cause, as said, my day was boring, aside from all the baseball.

Here's your music, I'm gonna crash.

Cause, as predicted, I did not go to bed last night early as planned.

So I'm going to attempt it again.

And actually try this time.

One Day - Matisyahu



Heartbeats - Jose Gonzalez



Levitate - Hadouken


very cool video.

and I'm out!

Holy Frijoles!

Okay, so this is what happens when I watch Sports Nation.

I find clips like these:



Yay, Rob Dyrdek!

Which then leads to clips like this...

Kickalicious


dude. watch it all the way through. the very last clip is my favorite. and got him a job in the NFL.

Which then leads to clips like this...



That's Husker football right there.

I still think that call was crap.

and then that leads me to looking up the fall schedule and if you know anything about me and Husker football its endless so I need to turn off Sports Nation right now.


I was zonked today.

I went to bed far too late so tonight I'm aiming for earlier, though you know as well as I do that won't happen.

Work was super busy, think I had like 40 some stats, though that's probably because I was on the front desk four hours in a row.

Was totally bummed cause they closed the Chinese joint next door.

I'm wounded man, I loved that place.

Granted it was usually just me there which explains their sudden closing, but still, that was killer food.

Dude.

Not cool.


The new lab is up and running.

It's all fancy.

24 filtered computers plus 1 young adult and 2 unfiltered.

Means a lot less waiting than there was when we had 17 total.

It's massive and all open and stuff.

It freaks people out when they walk up the stairs.

No more claustrophobic walls.

Actual air circulation.

Yay!


So tonight was big, of sorts, The Voice finale.

Called it.

Go Danielle!

Glad Michelle came in second.

Just not how I pictured the photo finish after the blind auditions?

From the start Judith was the clear leader and then she had to sing Bieber and there went that.

But Danielle deserved it.

She was a powerhouse. For 16 she was incredible.


The cool thing about the finale is that the whole top 16 comes back to perform.

The finalists get to choose who they sing with.

Michelle brought back Team Usher so that was cool - they sang We Can Work It Out - the Stevie Wonder version which I love and was my favorite song of the night.

We Can Work It Out - Team Usher - Vedo, Michelle, Cathia and Josiah


Danielle brought back Sarah, Caroline and Amber for a Carrie Underwood song, The Swon Brothers brought back Holly, Justin and Amber for something country but for the life of me I can't remember what it was.

The ones that didn't sing with the finalists sang in groups, though some doubled like Josiah, Vedo and Cathia.

These are my two favorites from the night:

Ain't Too Proud To Beg - Josiah, Vedo, Kris and Garrett


plus Holly on the sax, that was awesome. totally retro.

My Lovin' You're Never Gonna Get It - Cathia, Sasha, Karina and Judith


powerhouses. for serious.


Notice how I'm not posting Xtina and Pitbull?

As much as I love her, good god that was horrible live.

And Cher.

What the crap was on her head?



Was that alive?

Pretty sure I saw it move.

Okay, so now you can all cheer.

No more Voice ramblings until next season.

Anyway, after the Voice was homework, camp stuff, now I'm watching baseball...my LSU boys lost today.

Which means, yes, you guessed it, I owe the Cool Aunt a round of jalapeno margaritas cause her North Carolina lasted longer than my LSU.

Now I'm cheering for my backup - Indiana.

Go Hoosiers!

And that was my day.

Out - whoa, legitimate pre-midnight post, haven't had one of those in a while.

Holy crap tag in use.

Keep Calm and Drink Kale - Geaux Tigers!

Happy Father's Day!

Got crap for not calling my father until 6:30.

Some of us work during the day!

Joking.

Got him something pretty cool.

Hoping he'll like it.

Now just have to figure out a time to go out to the farmhouse to give it to him.



Another empty Sunday at the library, yet the day seemed to fly by.

I'm sure iced coffee and a cinnamon roll helped with that.

Got to jam with some of my favorite coworkers so even though the day was slow we still had fun.

Making plans for when we win Powerball.

Yes when because Queen of the Known Universe is that determined so there's no if anymore.

So when we win, what am I gonna do with my share of the winnings?

Apparently I need to put more thought into my plan because they already have theirs nailed down.

Queen of the Known Universe wants a gulf-stream.

The Old New Guy wants a yacht.

Queen of the Known Universe told him that his servers have to wear chaps when she comes to visit.

There's more to their plans but those were the major factors.

For me, I totally drew a blank.

I could go with the cliche mansion, pool, nice car, sound systems.

But that's really not me.

So throughout the day I came up with a plan.

So far it includes:
- A casino of my own design
- With a golf course in the back
- And then my mansion on the other side of the golf course
- So I can drive a golf cart every day to work

The casino is just a fun thing cause you know, the house always wins, but like can you imagine designing your casino?

Like I could draw up my own blue prints, choose the restaurants, the entertainment, design the rooms - it just sounds fun.

The golf course is more of an inside joke.

Cause you know me and my lack of golfing skills.

But every time Homey G Wigger and I go out golfing - to practice for the tee it up for tuition tournament - we talk about building our own and what we would do with each hole.

"Take another little piece of my grass now baby."

We make a lot of divots.

And the mansions we would build surrounding it for all the rich people. And awesome restaurants.

Anyway, we'd build one here in Nebraska and then expand.

Cause ours would be just that awesome.

So, yes, casino, golf course, personalized golf cart with security system so people couldn't steal it.

And according to the Old New Guy it needs a helipad on the top so he'll have somewhere to land his helicopter.

And now apparently we need to come up with some sort of communication system for the three of us.

Like CB radios but more modern.

So that's my plan so far.

Any other suggestions?

Anyway, that's all I really remember about work today.

Afterwards I got to watch my LSU boys lose....

Cause of errors....

Ugh.

But that's okay, we're still in it and we're gonna dominate the losers bracket and make a comeback.

That kale juice is gonna do it man.

So that was my day.

Don't go in tomorrow until 4, woohoo!

Song of the Day:

Piece of My Heart - Janis Joplin


rocks it.

You and me are through though, watch me hit it solo, I'mma do it acapella.

Ah the joys of a busy Saturday.

Actually the day flew by fairly quickly.

Had a super busy morning in the lab, lunch from Amigos, afternoon checking in in the backroom and even though our system was wonky I got through 6 carts and then headed back out to the desk.

After work was the real fun.

My original plans fell through for the night so that meant it was College World Series time!

Missed the opening game cause I had to work so I recorded it.

Mom has picked her team - Oregon State - who lost but they're still in it.

The Wordsmith has also picked his teams - he always goes with North Carolina so I didn't really have to ask, however with him he and I always pick backups.

Mine is Indiana, his is Louisville.

Meaning my backup just kicked his backup's ass.

2-0 final score.

Take that!

I figured, Big Ten, plus Omaha has officially adopted them - we always go for the underdog, Cal State, Stony Brook, etc. etc.

Tomorrow LSU plays - my main team - so we'll see how well they can dominate UCLA.

Who I also like but couldn't pick as my backup since they play each other in the first round.

Anyway, tonight was good.

Relaxing.

Love the College World Series.

And I did more work on camp stuff - so I don't feel guilty for taking a night off to watch baseball.

And my homework is done for the week.

Sent me a confirmation email in the middle of the night last night saying he got my paper.

Scared the crap out of me - you never want to get an email in the middle of the night from your instructor titled "Assignment #1" cause it makes you paranoid that something went wrong.

Apparently someone asked if he would send out confirmation emails so that explains it.

But I'm enjoying this weekend cause discussion boards don't resume until Monday and the next major assignment isn't due until the 24th.

Alright, I was supposed to be sleeping like 4 hours ago so I'm gonna crash and burn.

Here's some music for you.

My new favorite song.

Acapella - Karmin


All the harmony went fallin' out of key so now you gotta find another.

very cool lyric video...the real one comes out after the song is released - on the 25th! - so i'll post that one later.


and if you're not a fan of Karmin - though who isn't really, they're fantastic and from Nebraska so how can you beat that - go with this classic:


another Song You Know But Forgot You Knew It

Let Your Love Flow - Bellamy Brothers


that crowd has no enthusiasm whatsoever.

Let's order the tornado roll cause we're in a tornado watch.

So, today was much better.

Slept in.

Did homework all day.

Like all day.

From waking moment until dinner until now.

Taking a 30 minute break for lunch - Taco Bell - and then a dinner break with the Cool Aunt.

An entire day dedicated to SirsiDynix.

Its origin, external evaluations and possible directions for its future.

I know, you're all as enthused as I was all day.

But it's done!

And submitted!

Next major assignment due - aside from the constant discussion boards - is the 24th.

Huzzah.

Dinner was awesome, as always.

Sushi. We've basically worked our way through the menu so now we're just picking at random.

Had some good ones and then green tea ice cream for desert.

Which we've never had so we're switching it up.

Talked about fun family stuff.

And school stuff.

And some not so fun stuff.

But it was cool to catch up, haven't seen her in a few months.

AND it is officially CWS season - that's the College World Series for those of you who aren't fans - it starts tomorrow so we've both picked our teams.

She picked North Carolina, I'm all for LSU.

She wouldn't let Grams get away with USA, so she went with UCLA.

Not sure who Mom is for - Mom and I used to have 3 dollars on each game. I think I was up 9 by the end of the series.

The Cool Aunt and I have a new deal - whoever's team gets knocked out of the series first has to buy the next round of jalapeno margaritas.

I love LSU, I always root for them when they're in it - they throw me beads - but I do recognize a lot of the players from NC.

Sadly Stony Brook and Vanderbilt didn't make it - that would have been awesome.

We're all for the Black/Gold and Seawolves.

Games start tomorrow afternoon so my DVR is set.

We usually go but this year we are both super swamped.

By things like homework, ugh.

I feel bad for not starting my other class's homework - I'm taking two, however the homework for the other class isn't due until July 31st.

And there's no class participation cause it's online with no discussion boards.

So my plan is finish this one and then do that one.

But it still feels weird putting it off.

Especially when I spend all day doing homework for this one.

Anyway, when we got outside from dinner it looked all stormy - as was predicted for this whole weekend - but no rain or thunder yet.

Yet being the keyword.

Alright, I'm off.

Finally up to the new episode of Major Crimes.

Actual Huzzah!

Song of the day:

Runaway - Del Shannon


whoa. paul had hair.

retro.


Off to bed. Work tomorrow.

Roam if you want to, roam around the world...

Okay so Arizona won.

I can live with that, they haven't had a championship in a while.

Sad that SC couldn't pull off a 3-peat, but they did make it to the championship so that says something.

Had fun watching the game, a lazy night with the boyfriend. He fell asleep on the couch, don't think he's into the CWS as much as me, but that's probably true for a lot of people. Just glad to see him and talk to him as we've both been pretty busy lately.

This week is full of baseball, Bubby has two games that I'm going to keep book for since Oldest Sister is out of town.

And at some point before Thursday I have to write a paper. Come up with a presentable strategy to use in a library book group. And read some books. And post about them. But I've posted two already so just two more. I think that's all the assignments I have for this class. Just gotta remember to pick up the Library Goddess at 7AM on Saturday. or I'm in big trouble.

Pretty tired at the moment, no idea why. Slept in and only worked from 4-6. Then it was baseball with the boyfriend. But perhaps I should sleep soon so I don't hate myself when I wake up in the morning.

Songs of the night:


you'd be surprised how many comments were about mushrooms and cocaine. or maybe you wouldn't be.


heard this one on the way to the college town last night.

we joked cause it reminds me of the wedding singer, but apparently before that movie came out it was a big hit. so i'm young. which is good, cause her children make me feel old.


"...me, fatty, sideburns lady, and the mutants over at table nine..."

Out, full day of work tomorrow.

so we're coming out of the kitchen cause there's something we forgot to say to you...

I find myself watching the Arizona vs. FSU game over and over because I keep falling asleep and I want to watch the extra innings. I mean, I know who wins, but I still want to watch the extra innings.

Actually a pretty good day, taught one of the interns how to do expired/cancelled holds, checked in a whole cart of new stuff, helped out at the Summer Reading Event with the Saltdogs, got my picture taken with the mascot after my camera phone backfired on me like twice, found some books for an outreach event with one of my TAB kids, did some supply runs meanwhile stabbing myself with a pencil, taught a different intern all the Lab stuff with Girlscout - Team Awesome reunited - and then came the highlight of the day which was girls night with the Queen of Awesome.

That rocked.

Got some indian food, will probably eat my chicken tikka leftovers at around 2AM - have you ever noticed how good food tastes in the early AM's?

Actual adult conversation about actual real-life stuff mixed with a really strong cosmo and our amusing stories made for a fun night. After dinner we hit up a coffee shop and sat outside for a while. Her kiddos are getting older and my camp is coming up so we talked all about the joys of children running wild.

A nice break from the norm and makes me miss the home branch even more. But I get to work there next week so that'll be fun.

Took some excellent pictures, I'd upload them in my phone wasn't being so weird. Technology and me are just not cohesive today.

But it wasn't all play today, wrote and submit a paper tonight. We had to attend a summer reading event and do a write-up, done! Now all I have left for that class is a nonfiction reading strategy due Thursday, upload some audience and appeal reviews on goodreads for 4 nonfiction and 4 cultural j books, and do a media book project pimping out a book in a virtual way, and then I'm done!

So tomorrow will be a big day as well, after work I gotta go get groceries cause Smo is coming and I got nothing, then clean, then write the nonfiction strategy paper and upload those reviews then go to bed. And Thursdays I'm supposed to go to my nephew's game and learn how to do book as apparently they want me to do that for some future games. For some reason. Guess we'll figure that out.

Oh and Thursday is also Food Drive Day, meaning early morning picking up barrels and driving to all the branches to drop them off and explain the gameplan. Meaning I should have that officially written out so I'll know how to explain it. In actual grown up words that sound professional and make sense and stuff.

Yes, and stuff.

Alright, song of the day:

Heard this one immediately after our departure from girls night and found it fitting.

Sisters Are Doing It For Themselves - Eurythmics feat. Aretha Franklin

love the dance moves from 2:18-2:20

out!

and baby, you've got what it takes.

Pretty busy day today, worked 9-6, then hit up Squirt's volleyball games, and made it home to watch SC lose to Arkansas, sad day.

But we're not out of it yet we can come back. Take on Kent State on Wednesday, the only Cinderella left of the bunch. Still sad Stony Brook got eliminated, still blaming it on jitters. It's a lot to take, few errors and a lack of offense kind of kick your own butt.

That just leaves Arkansas and Arizona as undefeated. I don't have problems with either of those, Zona kicked UCLA's butt so that was cool and Arkansas has NE's old coach Dave Van Horn. That's who Grams picked for the tournament. Cool Aunt got her a shirt, bet she was excited to see them beat SC tonight.

Sad day for me, but they'll come back.

Stoked Florida is toast.

We're not big fan of the Floridas. Or anything from Texas. Minus A&M, I don't mind them. And the Horned Frogs from TCU, they're okay. Kind of an interesting logo but I guess so is a gamecock, seawolf or cornhusker really.

Enough about the CWS, I'm sure I'll overload you with that for the next week.

What else is going on?

School. Lots of homework there, though not as much this week which is nice since I'm semi-busy.

Big plans for a girls night tomorrow with the Queen of Awesome, desperately need one of those, gonna get some indian food, then Thursday night Smo is coming out to stay over as she has a thing here on Friday. I'm just glad I have Friday off. Gonna sleep in, do some homework, work some movies maybe. I have so many freakin' things checked out that I haven't gotten to yet cause all I watch is baseball.

And skateboarding.

I love DVR.

Apparently the boyfriend is excited about Dallas's return to TV.

I have no qualm against Dallas, though I didn't watch the original, apparently I'm supposed to look into it.

I'll add it to my list, along with the rest of Dark Shadows and Bewitched seasons 2-8.

Anyway, so I'm trying to work on some time management this week. Did a little homework tonight, planning mostly and finding books, can write and finish everything Wednesday night and since it's not due until Thursday at 11:59PM I'll have to time to finish any leftovers before Smo gets here at 11.

What else? Umm... few more camp applications today so got to input all that information. But I'm kind of a nerd for that stuff, I like assigning campers and counselors to cabins and coming up with a schedule, ordering t-shirts, and writing skits.

Speaking of, will have to work more on that soon, though technically I can't officially write/finish them until like the day of cause my numbers are constantly changing. I get frantic phone calls from parents on Thursday asking if their kid can still come on Friday. But I don't want to be that camp that turns people away so we make room and switch stuff around. Same reason we don't charge campers that much, we want to encourage them to come, get bigger every year. If that means we're gonna have to come up with some extra space we'll find it.

Like I said, nerd. I'm queen of the nerds.

And this queen of the nerds is thinking she should probably stop rambling about things like baseball, tv and camp so you will not actually think she is the nerd queen.

Cause I'm not a fan of that nickname.

Even though it's probably true.

So, on to the music recs, here's an unknown, he does a lot of covers and he's really talented on the guitar especially. He goes by "The other Josh Turner" as he is not the one you think of when you hear the name.

These are only a couple of my favorites, check them out.

"Baby (You've Got What It Takes)" cover by Josh Turner and Larkin Dodgen

these kids are great, excellent cover. his guitar is fantastic, wish i could play like that.


"Get Back" cover by Josh Turner and friends

like i said, impressive.

Alright, out for the night.

But I'm thinking it over anyway

Yes, I missed yesterday.

Fell asleep watching the game. Then street skateboarding.

I love my DVR.

Not much from today, full day at work but it was pretty slow. Even though there were a surprising amount of people there.

Yesterday was fun, had class in the morning then a camp meeting in the afternoon.

Long day, but worth it. Talked about the upcoming assignments a lot and got out early - we don't have class next week so they gave us time to work on assignments due in the next couple weeks. Only one more class left to actually attend, the rest is just homework posted online.

Camp meeting was basically just t-shirt stuff, worked on some songbook stuff, and finally have copies of it run off to send to people - liz finished what i've been putting off for months cause she's awesome like that - so I'll send those out this week, gotta get their addresses first.

And the usual joking around was included as well, t-shirt designs for our golf team included though homey-g-wigger was absent. She'll be around for our next meeting in a couple weeks when make final decisions, though I just got an email from Pastor with some design options.

What else from yesterday? Oh yeah, so how does one break into a safe?

That sounds bad.

I have this safe from college which I haven't opened since.

And I lost the keys so I want to get whatever it is out of the safe but can't get into without keys. So I'm thinking of taking it to the farm and having dad saw it open. That'll be an interesting adventure.

But as I'm not a criminal and don't know how to pick locks I'm thinking that is my only option.

Will photograph that adventure I'm sure.

Speaking of photographs, Superwoman included that freakin' bird photo in her weekly email to the staff and I got this email from my boss's boss's boss saying when she read "carrie's bird" she thought it was me flipping someone off.

I told her I appreciate her faith in my customer service, haha. But that Superwoman would most likely take points away for something like that.

And right now I'm at 145.5 and I'm kinda diggin' that score, even though I'm still being beaten by both Space Cadet and my mother, but those are longer stories which if you searched on here long enough you could probably find.

So that was yesterday, today was a full day at work, thought a lot about food drive logistics - more on that later - then came home to watch some CWS I had taped, so sad Stony Brook is toast. They were cool, got us on ESPN and everything with our shirts.

I like Stony Brook, they were the underdogs and their pitcher is highly amusing.



But they made it to Omaha and that's huge for an unknown, especially since they had the best record of the bunch. I think the jitters took them down, especially at the game we went to. Lots of errors.

Oh well, I'm all for SC now, they're gonna dominate, 3-PEAT!

Anyway, I'm off to bed. Exhausted and have to work all day tomorrow. Yeehaw?

Song of the night:

Song You Know But Forgot You Knew It

"Barely Breathing" Duncan Sheik



out

Liquid Onions and Rally Ranchers

Ah, the College World Series.

My third year of attendance, but this was the first year my team lost.

LSU dominated, Vanderbilt rocked it, Stony Brook...got hosed.

But they did it in style.

When Nebraska doesn't make it - which is always - Omaha tends to adopt the underdog so it was a sea of red, but not for the usual reason. The stands were selling out of Stony Brook stuff, I guess when they heard about that the coaches were handing some shirts out yesterday to spread the love.

Was an excellent adventure of a day. Worked 9-11, answered some grammar questions in reference, then came back, changed, grabbed camera and went over to the Cool Aunt's house where we immediately left, picked up my cousin, and headed to Omaha. Got some rock star parking, they wanted to charge 30 bucks to park in a lot but the Cool Aunt found a spot for $1.50 worth of quarters.

Hit up a shop then headed for the food tent, we got wristbands for free hamburgers/hotdogs, and other various barbecue stuff. You know how they put ketchup into those little packets and mustard and that stuff? Well, apparently now they put chopped onions in them as well. Handy, but bizarre. They were all liquid-y and weird.

Couldn't taste them anyway so I guess it didn't matter.

Amongst the many fixings was also jolly ranchers. We loaded up on those, ate them during the game after labeling them "Rally Ranchers" though no rally seemed to start because of them. It was attempted but after UCLA took a 4-0 lead in the first inning it wasn't looking pretty.

Anyway, after the food we stopped by some tents to get some fan gear then headed in.

The seats were fantastic, 3rd base line, felt like we were on the field.

We even got on camera in our awesome Stony Brook shirts. Was humorous cause I get this text from SMO asking if I was at the CWS wearing a Stony Brook shirt.


Yes.


Yeah, Cool Aunt and I made ESPN, lovely. I DVR'd it. Should take a picture, still frame.

Anyway, the thing about sitting on third base line is that you constantly need to pay attention or you will get hit in the head with a foul ball. But you know, that only happened like twice, most of them were at least 20 feet away. Every time one headed our direction I yelled out our usual "Blatt!" word of warning, then Kyle would yell "Bounce" so it would land and bounce toward him. He caught one last year, was pretty cool.

Go here: Still Call it Rosenblatt

One dude hit like 6 foul balls in a row. Is there a maximum on that?

Final 9-1 UCLA, gotta set my DVR so I can tape the rest of them. Working all the time kind of takes away the time I usually watch them.

Anyway, took a lot of pictures, observed right field and left field fans argue about who sucks, got on TV - ESPN even so I'll add/cross that one on/off the bucket list.

Really need to start one of those.

Maybe tomorrow.

Gotta sleep now.

Early class tomorrow and coffee can only go so far.

OUT!

"Our House" Madness


all ended up singing this by the end of the day after we heard it whilest using the restrooms after the game.

interesting video.

OUT

Freakin' Birds.

What a weirdass day.

No, seriously, what a weirdass day.

Where do I begin?

Woke up with still no air-conditioning so I got to call that in. Luckily our maintenance people are fantastic and it was fixed by the time I got home, needed a new fan or something.

Go to work, first thing was the staff meeting. Got to explain the prizes for the teen's summer reading program. They get a free betta fish. How cool is that? And ice cream and Saltdogs tickets and Amigos coupon, etc.

So that was fine.

Everything at work was fine up until like 10. Which is when the staff meeting ended and we opened.

After that I was toast.

Dropped an entire stack of DVDs, discs flying everywhere. That was smooth.

I screwed up telling patrons due dates twice. And I only helped two patrons at the desk that hour.

Though I did get it right immediately after I screwed it over.

But still, obnoxious. I just figured it was cause I was caffeine-less. So I went for a Mountain Dew assuming all will be healed.

...
...
...

All was not healed.

Okay.

So here's the kicker.

Off-desk hour, usually I spend stocking supplies. Which was my intended goal, so I walk into the backroom and it was just like any other time I walk in the backroom you know daily - actually like 8 times daily - except this time I look over and there's a bird sitting on one of the bookdrop carts.

Me, thinking this is a prank because there's a fake bird somewhere in the building and I know that cause it scared the crap out of me the first time, decide to go check it out.


And I'm walking and I get closer and then... it moved.

I freaked.

Ran to the safety of Queen of the Known Universe and Info-Man at the front desk.

They proceeded to make fun of me.

And told me to call animal control/Superwoman as she was the supervisor on duty that hour.



But she was at lunch, and it was just a bird, so I went with the guard instead.

This guard is a big tall guy, fought in wars, knows lots about weapons and all that so I figured I was safe.

We go to the backroom and devise a plan. Clear a path to the outside door - which was propped open cause the delivery man was there - and scare him towards it.

Sounds like a fine plan, right?

Problem is that birds are uncooperative.

The guard walked towards it making loud noises and waving his arms and the freakin' thing flies STRAIGHT AT ME! Who was standing NOWHERE NEAR THE DOOR WE WERE ATTEMPTING TO LEAD IT TO.

So I'm like crouched in a corner screaming bloody murder, the guard starts chasing the bird around the backroom, it flies all over the place except the direction we want it, and leaving messes wherever it goes - disgusting and I'll get there I promise - finally it flies into the back hallway. Which is good cause that's halfway to the door.

Then it decides to hide in a corner.

At that point I stayed the heck away from the back hallway. Now I just hear the guard yelling, bird wings flapping, and the delivery guy laughing his ass off. I round the corner, still freaking out, and see the door slam with the bird on the other side of it.

Goal.

But oh my god.

Seriously.

So, I go out to the desk still a bit freaked, actually I was basically freaked for the rest of the day but for various other reasons, and Info-Man hits me with "now we know what you're afraid of" implying there will be pranks.

Which I'm prepared for, I had a prank war going with Glee-Loving Boss until I moved to the work branch full time.

But the thing is I'm not scared of birds.

I'm just not a fan of them flying in my direction.

Which I explained to BossLady when she returned from lunch - not Superwoman, BossLady aka my immediate supervisor. I give her a tour of the backroom and all the places the bird went and she resolved to cleaning it up....after she chased me with it. Long story.

I refused to touch it cause I was still in that freak-out mindstate so I followed her around the room and handed her sanitizing wipes. Meanwhile the intern was laughing.

There was a lot of laughing about the incident.

I can now.

I told Mentor "it scared the crap out of me."
and she came back with "it scared the crap out of him too."

Anyway, the rest of the day like every time I opened a door or my locker I paused expecting stuff to fly out at me.

And sadly, that's not the end to the weirdness of today.

So I was in charge of the teen summer reading program today aka "Monster 'Dos" where the College of Hair Design people came and gave a bunch of kids colored hair and scary hairdos that they'll go home, scare their parents with and the parents will probably come back next time and be like, what the heck were you thinking?

Anyway, so I introduced a couple of my TAB kids who talked about TAB and joining and all the stuff we do.

I've seriously had 5 new members within the past two weeks.

And of course we don't meet again until September so there's gonna be a lot of reminder emails and phone calls after the summer.

The event went off without a hitch, and as there was time at the end the kids talked me into getting my hair colored.

Now I have orange lightning bolts with green stars.

They rock and I'm keeping them for the game tomorrow. Gonna rock it out at the stadium.

And since I had to do it we talked Mentor and another one of my youth services supervisors who I joke around a lot with - she's the one I always show my torn up leg to after I play softball cause she screams and tells me to wear pants - into doing it. She got pink hair and Mentor got a green star.

A lot of the little kids got some pretty crazy big hair but I'm not so big on that. Sticking with the lightning bolts and stars for now.

Which reminds me I gotta get my hair dyed before camp. They won't recognize me without it.

And my sideway hat.

Okay, so after work there's rain and hail and major wind, lots of lightning and thunder, actually still doing it. Hope I get this posted before the power goes out or something.

But I managed to get all my homework done and posted and I'm good until class on Saturday.

Will sleep well tonight with my air-conditioner fixed, though I'm guessing I'll have nightmares about birds or something.

Feel like my aunt.

One of the "favorite aunties" is deathly afraid of birds.

Probably partially my father's fault. He used to talk the other "favorite auntie" into chasing her with chickens when they were little.

Speaking of fun aunties, get to jam tomorrow with the Cool Aunt and my two cousins as we're going to the OPENING GAME for the COLLEGE WORLD SERIES! Woohoo!

It'll probably rain, it always does. First year we went and there was a 2 hour rain delay, but last year it only rained a little in the morning and then it was great all day.

Game starts at 4 but we like to go early, hit all the booths, walk around and take pictures. Oh yeah, gotta charge my camera.

So I'm working for two hours tomorrow then taking off to change, grab the camera, and meet up with them.

Stoked.

I need some new shirts.

Oh, irony of the day?

Was wearing a Batman shirt today.

Was tragically scared of winged creatures and totally not a superhero.

Will do better tomorrow.

I know, this post was super long compared to most recent ones. And, if you didn't read the above madness I'll sum it up for you now:

Bird in the Backroom
Not cool - Bird flies at you.
Cool - Guard comes to rescue.
Not cool - Bird poop all over.
Cool - Supervisor cleans up poop so I don't have to.
Not cool - Supervisor proceeds to chase me with said poop.
Cool - Anecdote to tell at work.
Not cool - Coworkers threaten bird pranks.

And then some stuff about lightning bolts and stars and storms and the college world series opener tomorrow.

There you go.

Video of the Day:


"The Birds" in 1 minute and 40 seconds

words cannot express how much i love that this is paired with kill bill music.


Freakin' birds.

I get a good feeling, yeah

Falling asleep so yes this is short.

Well, it's official, TAB is out for the summer. Which means I have time to plan out some activities for the upcoming school year. Artwork is first to decorate the YA, after that I'm clueless, any suggestions?

I'll figure it out.

More projects maybe. Plan for upcoming events.

Eh.

I'll figure it out.

Just got home from Bubby's baseball game. They only won 15-4.

Which is an "only" since last game they won 25-0 and the one before that was 24-1.

Bubby was great, played catcher, 1st base and shortstop.

I think their power is in their pitchers, they're great. Accurate and fast.

And amusing, they're only 12.

Makes me look forward even more to the opening game for CWS. Wonder who will be playing. Gotta check into that. Figure out who I want to root for. But it'll be a while. Last year's was highly entertaining, mimosa's for breakfast, lots of booths and t-shirts. I'm stoked.

Before the game was homework - I'm done for Tuesday but I'll finish Thursday's tomorrow night. Wednesday is Valentino's with the family so gotta start it early.

And of course work 9-6. Tomorrow I'm at the home branch for the money, huzzah! I get to sleep in a whole extra five minutes. Which doesn't seem like a lot but it feels like it when you're half asleep.

So that's the plan for tomorrow, work, homework...that's all I got.

"Good Feeling" Flo Rida

i wondered who sang this song, but i'd never listened all the way through. now i got it.

Been listening to XM a lot cause it's a free trial to draw you in. It might be working. I'm liking the no commercial thing. And the comedy channel is highly amusing. Plus the prime country channel brings back some good memories.

But then they're stuck in my head.

We'll see.

Tomorrow's Word of the Day: "Flexanimous: an adjective meaning 'having the power to influence, moving, affecting.' It comes from Latin words meaning 'bend' and 'mind'. 



alright, out for the night. more tomorrow.

Drapes, Fireworks, Hairless Cats, Flex Seal, CWS, Music Overload

Dear Blogspot,
Today I was a Ninja of Awesome. I was a kickass shelver this morning - shelved for four hours straight while avoiding the mass of children that had congregated in the middle of the library to watch a musician. He was pretty good actually but now I have that "green grass grows all around" song stuck in my head. Ugh.

Just wanted to let you know that my Mom is pretty much awesome. Today, we bought drapes. Yes, after living here for over a year I'm officially sick of waking up to the sun at 5AM. So she bought me drapes. Plus the curtain rods. Now we just gotta get the maintenance dudes to install them. They are also pretty cool guys. Then, I went fireworks shopping while she got my oil changed - also her idea. And then, I hit up the McDonalds drive-thru right behind her and I went to pay for my pop and the chick gave me the weirdest look ever and said, "Um...the lady in front of you paid for yours. So, you're good to go." and I was "That's my mom." and the look on her face became like one of those epiphany looks "Ohhh! Okay!" So I called Mom and she said when she said that to her the chick probably thought it was some pay it forward kind of thing. But seriously, the look on her face was hysterical. So yeah, my Mom is awesome.

And, speaking of mothers, got to see my dorm mom today! She loves me. Bought some fireworks and stayed under 100. Which is impressive for me. I know that that may seem high to you but I go all out. When I see the fireworks tents go up I'm like ecstatic. It's like when they start selling candy canes. I'm addicted to those things and stock up. I still have 2 boxes in my cabinet. But yeah, fireworks! Totally stoked! Before we used to do this big block party thing at Oldest Sister's place but then they moved so since then we haven't really found a permanent replacement. This year we're going to Second Sister's house. I think we did that last year as well. Maybe that'll be our new place. Dad is making steaks. Or so I've heard. I told Oldest Sister that she has to make frog-eye salad - anyone else know what that is? it's fantastic - because she owes me. Even though she doesn't really. Or she could just teach me how to make it. I don't think I could burn that. But you never know, I did burn grilled cheese. Go here: My Life in Closed Captions: Sketch and Edit Make Grilled Cheese

Another highlight, I pulled into my parking lot earlier today and saw this plastic looking cat in a windowsill sitting like stock still. And I was like, "I hope that's fake, cause if not that's a really unfortunate-looking cat." And then....it moved. So someone in my building has a really unfortunate-looking cat. One of those hairless cats, you know? And I love cats, I am a cat person. Even though mine bites me. But hairless cats just freak me out. Plus it kinda reminds me of that episode of Friends where Rachel gets a hairless cat because her grandma had one and it's like vicious so they give it to Gunther.

Dude! I want Flex Seal! It's rubber in a can! You could like make anything waterproof. And the second can's free!

Sorry, more ESPN commercials. Maybe tonight I'll dream about building a raft with spray-can rubber. That Alec Balwin thinking I'm Jesus dream was just plain weird.

I'm sad that the CWS - that's College World Series, not Carpooling With Santa *cough*SecondSister*cough* might be over tonight. Even though I want SC to win it. It would be super cool for them to win the last game in Rosenblatt and the first game in Pseudo-Rosenblatt. Yes, Pseudo Rosenblatt. Because TD Ameritrade is just too long.


So, it was a good day, which is funny because the next few days for the past couple of years have kind of sucked. Long story. But we need some good jam out music for a good day.

"I've Had the Time of My Life" Glee Cast Version

Wow, Sam with short hair. Retro.

"Forget You" Glee Cast Version

Is it weird that my favorite Glee cast member is a guest star? Holly Holiday is my hero. Seriously. Constant Ninja of Awesome.
and yes, I know I've posted this more than I've posted any other song. Want me to post the other 2 I post more than any of the others too?

Why not.
They're good dancing tunes. Well, the first one is. The second will be more of a cool down I should go to bed thing.

"You Drive Me Crazy" Shakin' Stevens

He's Welsh. And it was the 80's. Deal with it. I love it!

"Reflecting Light" Sam Phillips

Cool down time. It's in my top 10. Pretty sure these last three are all in my top 10.

Gonna finish the game then crash.

OUT!