Now Rhonda has no Honda - Camp J Highlights 2013

For past years highlights go here: 2011, 2012

Day One: Thursday

-God-breathed car driving manuals
:: It's never a good thing when driving to close your eyes and swerve when a car is coming at you on a gravel road. In fact I'm pretty sure it says that in all of the car driving manuals. And if it doesn't then it should somewhere. I'm sure God would say it. So it should be in car driving manuals. Like God-breathed scripture but this time it's God-breathed car driving manuals. Don't worry, it wasn't me driving. Just in the passenger seat grabbing the door handle and screaming like a girl.

-Space Cadet Tent
:: So every year Jim O and I sleep in tents. Mostly cause there's no room in the cabins but also because we get to set our own bedtimes and don't have to worry about tiny children. We set up our tents next to each other - this year right next to the campers - and spend about an hour each night venting and joking around until we fall asleep. After using the same tent for more than 10 years he got a new one this year.  It looks like something NASA would use on the moon and took almost an hour to set up by itself. Mostly cause we weren't going off the instructions, but still! Anyway, the whole time we're setting up I'm thinking about all the bugs in the trees right next to us and started yelling about ticks. He says ticks can't fly so they wouldn't be in trees, when I said they could climb he went oh, yeah.

-Rubber Bandit
:: An awesome name for a super villain came up with after attempting to use "rubber band" as a verb.


Day Two: Friday

-French Toast
:: Huzzah for French Toast. Same breakfast every year along with about 5 cups of coffee within a 2 hour period. But at least I was conscious for the mandatory meeting and registration. Which went well, though apparently 10:30 actually means 11 in counselor terms. For the second year in a row, maybe we should just move it back. But then they'll show up at 11:30.

-The Theme Song
:: Mentor wrote the theme song again as she does every year. This year's was a little different though because the verses don't rhyme but they caught on fairly quickly. By teen camp I had the whole thing memorized and I'm sure I'll be singing it while working just like I do every year for the two weeks following camp. Along with The Bear Song and HeeHaw.

-And Rhonda has no Honda
:: Campfire was my saving grace, as it is every year. No matter how stressful camp can be campfire always redeems it. Our male leader for skits and worship gets really into it, especially There's a Hole in the Bucket, along with the rest of the band. We kept renaming ourselves, but "Destiny's Step-Child" was the clear frontrunner. Though none of the kids understood it since they only know of Beyonce as Beyonce and haven't heard of Destiny's Child. Which makes me cry inside. Anyway, we sang our Pharaoh Pharaohs and King Jesus is All, and Mentor came down to help lead Flea and Pizza and all was well. We had two kingdom workers who came and helped out this year and taught the kids some new stuff. Stupid Rhonda and her crashed Honda were stuck in my head for the rest of camp. I literally fell over when they said that line and my teen helper had to check on me to make sure I was okay.


Day Three: Saturday

-"Does it say 'Blazer' on the back? Cause I don't know what one looks like."
:: Girls and cars.

-The Vote
:: I wasn't aware that even though I'm in charge of skits I have to get them approved before the kids perform them for their parents. Apparently I need to take a vote first because my skits are stupid. Even though I've never had complaints in the what? like 12 years that I've been doing them. So, youth camp sucked. Which is why there are virtually no highlights whatsoever and the blame for that lies entirely on one individual gunning for my job. Which she will get when she pulls this laptop from my cold dead hands. It is literally my favorite time of year and she killed it. Plain and simple. She didn't like HeeHaw and tried to sway my kids - IN THE MIDDLE OF MY SESSION - against it. Like, I'm handing out the lyrics and she comes up and says that's not a skit, here's a skit. The irony is that she recited a skit I'd already done with them two years ago, so apparently not all of my skits suck. Just the ones she doesn't like. Why she did it then IN THE MIDDLE OF MY SESSION still confuses me because she'd already pointed out that she hated it before camp started and knew I wasn't going to change it so what was the purpose of interrupting me in front of my kids other than to make me look bad? But that's okay, just gives me motivation to find skits she hates even more for next year.

I still don't know what I did to deserve the hostility as she didn't just criticize that but also everything else I was in charge of this year. Not saying anything negative to mentor about her song, Cheri about her crafts, Jayne about her cooking, Pastor about his bible studies or Steve about his games. Nope, just me. It's okay though because for once I stood up for myself. And I had Pastor and Jim there to back me up. We'll see what happens next year.

-"Boobs in Training"
:: One of the girl counselors is a friend of mine and since Megan couldn't make it this year she went around on night patrol with me. Apparently all of her girls were excited about training bras which we don't understand cause they suck. And we're confused as to why they call them "training bras" in the first place. Are they like training your boobs for the race of their lives?

-Train Honks
:: So apparently, when trains come through towns they have to honk a certain way. Like in a certain pattern. Weirdly enough I learned this at camp, not from growing up in a train-filled household or from dating a traingeek boyfriend. Remember how we were camped in tents and can hear everything? Including whoever it was that kept walking by our tents but we ignored them and continued to joke around cause we're goofy like that. Anyway, train honks were one of the many things that kept us up at night, along with owls, crickets, air conditioners attached to campers, stupid happy birds and one particularly loud toad which we were convinced was actually a moose.


Day Four: Sunday

-Out of the mouths of babes
:: One of my favorite quotes this year came from a young camper to a teenage counselor. The teen was putting on makeup when the kid came up to her and asked what she was doing. When the teen said she was putting on makeup so that she would look pretty the kid asked, "do you think it's working?"

-And that's what makes it all worth it.
:: So, try as she may to sway my kids and their parents they still had fun with HeeHaw, especially screaming and spitting in each others' faces during the last refrain. Even though it's tradition and I'd like to keep it going if it's going to cause this much drama I'll replace it with something else. I'm sure she'll find a problem with that as well, but hey, she'll just have to get used to it cause I'm a camp lifer and that won't be changing anytime soon.

-Damnit, Rhonda and your stupid Honda
:: Get out of my head. I don't need to be singing about you in the grocery store or in the car or anywhere else. It's amusing because I always lay out the outlines for these camp posts on my phone as they go and on each of the days somewhere "damnit rhonda" was written.

-Let's get pigs feet. 
:: Umm, let's not and say we did. Grocery shopping with Jim is always an adventure. We buy far too much and always find things that weren't on our list. Like toys. And ice cream - though that was on our list this year, just not this much of it. I have two gallons in my freezer. Huzzah for mint chip! Anyway, we went grocery shopping two times Sunday, three times Monday and then once again on Tuesday. Plus our Thursday night adventure to get props. Walmart and Rays love us.

-Stray Dog
:: Every year we place bets as to what time our teen camp pastor will arrive. Scuba Steve won this round I believe. Anyway, we thought he was there a lot earlier than he got there because we saw a dog running around and he always has his dogs. This one, however, had bloody paws and when we looked around Pastor was nowhere in sight. Since the teen campers love dogs they cleaned her up, gave him a makeshift collar and a leash and we called animal control. Who wouldn't come get her cause we were outside of city limits. The campground managers called in a favor and a few minutes later the county sheriff's car showed up to pick her up. Ah, memories from the last time that sheriff's car had a dog in it at camp and we were up all night ranting about happy birds.

-Thomas Edison = Earthy cause he's in the ground
:: Gotta play Apples to Apples. Not as fun without Noel but I had my sister and Scuba Steve who picked the right cards. We could always tell who played what card though because of the references made. Scuba Steve played Thomas Edison for earthy and my sister picked it as the winner. I found it highly entertaining. Though it didn't work for me during the next game when I tried Beethoven for the same category and it got rejected for something actually earthy.

-Crapsuck Campfire
:: Any campfire where you can't see anything just spells disaster. So, the teens couldn't see the songbooks and they couldn't see us and we couldn't see our music books and it was just a disaster that ended with a horrible horrible offkey version of Someday. It's only redeeming grace was when Thomas screwed up the lyrics to There's a Hole in the Bucket so the women actually won it. I said it would have to go down in history cause I'm pretty sure we will never win again. Though we did say at little kid's camp - in order not to have to sing it two nights in a row - that we broke down and bought them a new bucket. Though apparently they drilled a hole in it just so we could sing it again at teen camp.

-Pitch Perfect
:: Every year we show movies on the wall. This year instead of our usual cheesy space movie (though we skipped it last year as well) we watched Pitch Perfect for night one. Had a huge crowd all singing along with the music. Pastor had never seen it before and was laughing at Fat Amy. But who doesn't laugh at Rebel Wilson? If you haven't you should really watch this video:



"yeah and so will the cops!" She's highly entertaining.


Day Five: Monday

-Bug Zapper Lightsabers
:: Jim is smart enough to keep me away from sharp metal objects so my job in the kitchen is to kill flies and do dishes. This year Oldest Sister took care of the dishes so I just got the flies. Which is fine with me. In preparation for this big role I bought giant bug zappers and batteries to go with them. Michael and I were using them like lightsabers. I killed 23 on Monday alone.

-Stolen Phone Texting
:: Mean kitchen staff stole my phone and sent my boyfriend a mushy text. Pretty sure he knew it wasn't me cause we don't talk like that, but that didn't stop me from being paranoid about his response. And since I only had signal every other ten feet I was constantly checking it wherever I went.

-That's what a campfire is supposed to sound like!
:: I get really into campfires, actually all of Destiny's Step-Child does, but teen camps are even more fun than youth camp at times because the teens get super loud and dancy. I enjoy all their impromptu motions and some even get added permanently. Monday night's campfire was much better - mostly cause we were indoors and could see - but also because they really got into it and Someday was actually on key.

-Neville for the win!
:: Night two for movie night was Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. We had to change it up a bit, don't remember where the idea for Harry Potter came up but it did and I think that was the biggest crowd we've ever had to movie night. We were going to watch the second one the next night but that got overruled.


Day Six: Tuesday

-The slow clap
:: Tuesday is bowling day at teen camp. All the leaders usually bowl together though this year Scuba Steve got sick and napped instead. Each year we bring out the slow clap and it always either leads to a spare or a gutterball. Game number one I got a 105 but game number two was horrible, I bowled like an 80. Not sure what happened between games but whatever skill I developed seemed to disappear. But I only go bowling once a year - at camp - so maybe if I attempted to practice somewhere else I could figure out what the problem was.

-Pizza Pizza
:: After bowling we always get them pizza. We've been going back and forth from Pizza Hut to Walmart pizza. This year Jim was so tired we just went with Pizza Hut then used the boxes to start our campfire after. 34 teens + 6 adults = 10 pizzas plus 3 boxes of cheese sticks.



Add to that the pop and ice cream and they loved it.

-Dance Off
:: Every year the teens have a dance, whether it's organized or impromptu. This year's was a bit more organized than before cause they actually moved the tables AND they used their phones instead of my computer so it was much easier on me. Taylor and I took pictures so that we wouldn't have to dance. See how that works? We made them each do their best moves, they had some good ones.

-Jack the Frog King
:: Found the father of all frogs this year at camp. Compared to my shoe he was huge!


Granted I only wear size 8's but he was still huge. He sat completely still for hours, we think because of the owl we could hear in the trees cause he was gone the next morning. No one would believe me until I took them to him. Then they all screamed. We thought he might be fake until someone threw a stick and he moved.

-"How long does it take to get into my own house?"
:: We watched Gladiator for movie night number three. Though it was an accident, well not really. Pastor wanted to watch Braveheart so the other pastor went to Walmart and found a Braveheart/Gladiator combo. But then Gladiator got more votes we rebelled and watched it instead. I fell asleep, missing the last half an hour. I jumped from him agreeing to talk to the senator to him dead on the ground so I had to watch the rest when I got back.


Day Seven: Wednesday

-Clean up, clean up, everybody everywhere
:: Packing up the trailer and all of our junk seemed to take a lot longer this year. Though that's weird because we had even more kids to help. I think we had even more than previous years cause it barely fit in the trailer and then poor Jim's truck was completely overflowing with the rest of it.

-Rock and Roll McDonalds
:: As is tradition we stopped at McDonalds on the way back, though there were more of us than usual. It's always Scuba Steve, myself and Jim though this year Steve left early cause he was sick. Last year Michael joined our gang and this year he rejoined us along with Taylor, Dylan and Pastor with three of his kids. Usually we're all dead tired and say maybe 20 words, this year we were much louder. Michael did a calorie count and actually beat Steve's record from last year. But I guess that happens when you order 3 burgers, fries and mcnuggets.


And that was camp. As is tradition I will post the skits tomorrow.

For now I'm out. Hope you had a good week.

i say yes when i oughta say no.

Ah how I miss sleeping in.

Yesterday was long, more training and all that but I got to come home, watch some Homeland, talk to Sketch, plan out our next adventure - we're thinking March - and relax. But I was on the phone with her for like 2 hours and falling asleep by the time I got off so I skipped posting.

Today was nice, didn't have to go in until 5:30, though missed out on dinner with the boyfriend's family so that kind of sucked.

But the teen thing was fun. It was a cosplay party which is basically where they show up in costume and we play games. They did some charade stuff and then got candy and we played Apples to Apples, Clue, Life, Hangman, and Mafia.

I've watched people play mafia for years at camp and I still have no idea what it's about.

But they seem to enjoy it.

My gang all played Apples to Apples.

Used the same rule as at the Holiday Party since they again chose the adult version over the junior one. If you don't know who the person is hand it to me and pick a new card. Tonight's people included: Steve Martin, Al Pacino, Jacques Cousteau, John Travolta, amongst others.

Big surprise they knew who Georgia O'Keefe was.

Well, one of them at least.

They always make me feel super old when we play.

But I guess I am, at least compared to them.

They tend to stick together, not big into mingling. I had to encourage that a bit when they went to do the charades but they made it through unscathed.

But they're teens so that's kind of expected. I was that way as well.

Afterward we leaders went out for drinks.

And sorry, but Vegas rules apply so you get nothing.

Though I will say we were the loudest table there.

And it was humorous because we're a bunch of library people at a bar under investigation for having strippers there earlier this week.

I even got carded! Which rarely happens anymore.

It was a lot fun. Never really get to see these guys aside from inservice and youth services meetings. And meetings are meetings, as much fun as they may be.

Learned a lot of fun life lessons and humorous library stories so now I'm going to bed because I'm working all weekend. But I have Monday and Tuesday off so it'll be worth it.

On to the music:

They played an interesting collection of music at the bar tonight, ranging from NSync to Steppenwolf. I'll give you a varied range as well.

All Right Now - Free


classic, good jam song

I Get Around - Dragonette


cause i like them and it's catchy. another great jam song.

And it's humorous to see their reactions when the cymbal falls off.



Back to Storage Wars again. Why is Darrell known as "The Gambler" when he never buys anything? Like he'll bid and then quit. Like 5 out of every 6 episodes he goes home empty.

I think I'm watching far too much of this show to realize that.

Turning it off and putting on Homeland.

Crazy Horse, kinda like Mad Cow.

Oh where to start...

Yesterday was New Year's Eve. Slept in a bit, ate lunch with Mom and Dad and then Mom said that I should test out my new vacuum - just to make sure it works - by cleaning her carpets.

See how that works?

After that headed to pick up the boyfriend and then on to Oldest Sister's place for crab legs and entertainment.

Squirt's boyfriend was there and made it through the night unscathed so that says something about his character.

Made it through endless rounds of Apples to Apples and the combination of all of our snarkiness.

Quote of the day:
-"Crazy Horse. Kinda like Mad Cow." - Second Sister

We played for at least an hour, maybe two. I dominated. Had a lot of practice over the last few days though when they wanted to play tonight I was all Appled out so I watched the game with the boyfriend instead.

Anyway, the crablegs were awesome, Apples to Apples was awesome as were the musical stylings of Karmin and Neon Trees.

Notice how I left out Bieber.

Still have yet to catch the fever.

Don't hold your breath I don't think it'll come on anytime soon.

Stayed there passed midnight, the boyfriend claims he didn't fall asleep but I think otherwise as I had to wake him up as the ball dropped.

Today was totally different. Got to the farm around 11:15. Since the game was at noon we had to work around it but it seemed to work out okay. Got Mom Scandal season one and an immersion blender, amongst other things. Gave Dad a box full of mail with his and name but my address on it. King of Useless Knowledge his usual coffee, Oldest Sister whole collection of James Bond on blu ray. Brother got Black Ops video game, Favorite Sister-in-Law the Karmin CD, Second Sister some books and a fancy martini glass. Got Bubby a robot and a time capsule, Squirt got socks, Yoda slippers, a journal, chapstick and a Buckle giftcard. Younger ones I got a lot of toys, stuffed animals, dolls, legos, Skylander stuff, and all that.

Some kids got more than others but with them it's all about quantity over quality. And I'm not sure they noticed cause they didn't really say anything, but I still feel like I should have gotten more for a couple of the girls.

I've noticed when you know exactly what they want that's what you get them, however if you're not sure about someone you get them a lot hoping they'l like at least a few that you got.

But I still feel so bad, you know?

Okay, just need to move on.

Cause this is just making it worse.

I got some good stuff. Luggage, pillows, clothes, snacks, games, purple spoon cause Second Sister likes to get me purple stuff, amongst other things.

Watched the Husker game in the middle of the presents hysteria. I knew we wouldn't win but at least we kept up with them for a while.

Had to wear my Burkhead jersey since it was his last game.

Ate lunch, watched more football, ate some more, that's about it.

Now Carter and I are back at the apartment though my voice is almost completely gone. Tomorrow should be fun since I'm training a volunteer in the morning at work.

Carter was not pleased to come back to the apartment. He sat by the door for a while once we got back and stared at me as if to say, "take me back. you will do it and you will do it. now." The car ride back was ridiculous. Every other second he was yelling. He really likes the farm. Even if he spent most of his time there in the basement.

But he loves the basement cause he can climb in the ceiling cause there's a hole. No idea what he does up there, just as long as he doesn't come down with a dead rodent I think we're okay.

Alright, I really should crash. Had an awesome time with the family and the boyfriend.

Tomorrow is a big day.

Like big big day as it will be our first anniversary.

But tomorrow will be like his Monday since he had to go into work and he's been on normal people hours through his vacation so I told him I wouldn't be offended if he chose to sleep instead.

I'm gonna sleep right now, but first.

Okay, now I am officially out of christmas music.

The Christmas Can-Can - Straight No Chaser


tune in this week for some of my favorites from 2012.

you'd better change it back or we will both be sorry.

So I finally checked my grades today.

All A's for the semester so I'm at a 3.96 which isn't bad for grad school.

It'd be a 4.0 if it weren't for that A- man.

Killing me, Smalls!

So, two days to make up for.

Here we go.

Saturday, December 29th

Slept in, huzzah.

Ate lunch with the parentals. Turkey roast, potatoes and broccoli.

Apparently they're so easy even I could make them.

Not that I did, or have, but could.

At one point.

Attempt to make one.

Without burning down my apartment.

Watched some Castle with Mom and then headed off to see P squared for our early New Year's celebration.

See, every year we do our annual New Year's party thing in which we play games, watch all the music stuff - why are they still calling it "Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve" if he's dead? Not that I want it to change to anything with Ryan Seacrest in the title, but still? - drink sparkling cider and stay up far too late.

This year we covered most of those, though no running around the house like we used to. Though at midnight we did all yell "Happy New Year!" Amidst an intense game of Apples to Apples. Which you know already if you're on Facebook as I posted like 6 pictures of, "what the hell should i pick out of these options?"

As there were only 3 of us playing we laid down 2 red cards each every turn so there were more to choose from. And we worked our way through all of the red cards like we did last Thanksgiving but since we had like triple the players then this took much longer.

But we had fun.

I ended up coming from behind, winning with 67 green cards.

Wicked awesome. For a while I was getting my butt kicked cause I kept drawing people and countries.

And they make for lame nouns.

Then I got some good ones all in a row and came back to win it.

So that was fun. But you can tell we're getting old cause our old method of throwing a big ass amount of pillows and blankets on the floor and sleeping on the pile watching movies has now become all sleeping in legitimate beds or couches in separate rooms.

But I watched World's Dumbest for like 2 minutes before I was out like a late.

And we did watch a movie earlier in the night - Live Free or Die Hard which the younger of the squared hadn't seen.

Or any of them which makes me want to cry inside cause they're classics.

Well, the first one at least.

The only thing I remember about other two were Samuel L. Jackson, something about a school and then almost hitting a clown in a parking lot or park or something.

Though I think those are all in the same one.

Oh well, I own them. I'll go back and watch them again sometime when I'm bored.

Stoked for number 5 coming out next year.

So that was Friday. No, Saturday, cause today's Sunday.

This whole no work thing is messing with my mind.

Sunday, December 30th 

Okay so today was totally different. Woke up on the couch around 9:45. Set my alarm and everything though it was more like 9:50 by the time I got up and about 15 minutes after that before I left her apartment. Headed to see the boyfriend so we could drive up with his dad to see his sister on her birthday but he was sick.

Cold, chills, cough and all that.

Which I think Queen of the Known Universe has now as well so it must be going around.

Anyway, he stayed home to nap and all that so the boyfriend and I drove up by ourselves. Taking the scenic route as always so he could look at trains. Had his camera there just in case though he didn't stop like after the Xmas party.

Which is fine, though reminds me a bit of how my father is always making my mother go places to take pictures of trains.

We went out for dinner and then went to her place to open presents. Her boyfriend got her bop-it so the boys were playing it. The boyfriend had the high score when we left but Dion's probably already beaten it.

As we were leaving his mom noticed that I have a headlight out so we took backroads to his place to avoid the cops cause of our record with fix it tickets but then the light came back on randomly.

But then went out.

And then came back on again so I was okay to drive.

Which is weird though, right? Cause usually when it goes out it stays out?

Anyway, I need to get that checked out and my oil changed. Oh well, got time.

After we got to his place we watched some movie with Halle Berry, Bruce Willis and the dude that plays Phoebe's brother on Friends. I never learned his name but he's always amusing.

Lots of Bruce Willis this weekend.

I slept through a lot of it so Scale of Awesome would only be for half the movie but the parts I did see were a bit creepy. Not what I was expecting.

Alright, tomorrow is a big day. No plans set in stone, think we're gonna wing it.

May go to my sister's or go get dinner or see a movie or whatever. It's interesting to have no plans but I've never been in a serious relationship on New Year's.

So I don't know was normal people do on New Year's cause I'm used to music TV, movies and running around the house spraying sparking cider everywhere.

I should sleep, it's late. The stoplights were blinking again when I left. Gotta love small towns.


irony since we listened to it on the way there and then had only one on the way back.

though every time i hear it i think about fiction writing and my unfinished story. it could be awesome but i'm stuck.

“Well they say she died easy of a broken heart disease, as I listen through the cemetery trees.” – One Headlight, The Wallflowers

A week ago you were healthy. A week ago you were happy. A week ago we were together. Now you’re dead… and it’s my fault.

for more go here: this is a week of my favorite things day five

wrote it back with my awesome writing group in the college. back in the days when i actually had time for that stuff.


aw, 80's music.

out!

"Why was I so blind to see now the biggest fool is me..."

Today rocked.

I basically got paid to eat pizza, play Apples to Apples, and jam with my teen advisory board.

I'd call it a win.

Cause they're awesome.

And they seemed to have fun.

As did all the other teen advisory boards.

Basically, all the branches TAB kids came over to process the paperbacks that they picked out at Barnes and Noble a few months ago.

We fed them pizza - which was late - so we distracted them with board games in the meantime cause the processing went fairly quick.

Assembly line style.

But see, this is when unpacking my car comes in handy, so take that Oldest Sister and the Boyfriend!

As a youth camp director I have all these board games that stay in my car.

Mostly because I'm too lazy to take them out and then re-pack them every year, but also because for some reason we keep using them, like family holidays or apparently teen advisory board events.

My kids jumped on Apples to Apples while some of the other kids were all about catchphrase, or poker, or cranium.

And then there were others who just read the books.

They got first dibs on the ones processed so they were all excited.

But it was amusing to see the difference between branches.

I had 7 show up, which was exciting, plus Mentor and myself, and we all played Apples to Apples.

I ended up with three cards, basically sucked it up for the majority of the game and then got them all in a row, then continued to suck it up for the rest of the game.

Which is actually the norm for me.

But today was just a reminder of the age gap between me and teens.

See, I try to be cool and stuff, but then they ask questions like "Who's Mike Myers?" and I'm like, how old are you?!

It happened at camp as well, Noel and I really relied on each other for cards like Georgia O'Keefe or Richard Nixon.

So it reminds me that I should really invest in the Apples to Apples Junior Edition.

Though that'll probably have cards like Justin Bieber and I won't be so inclined to play it with them.

Especially if they're hard-core Bieber Fever and I use his card on like "lame" or "shallow" or "unoriginal" or something to that effect.

They would probably frown on that.

The boyfriend just called. I got to keep him awake while he was driving back to his hotel. Aww, he loves me.

Apparently people enjoy calling me past 11PM. I must just be that awesome.

He went to some train thing this weekend far far away.

He's lucky I like trains or this relationship would have some serious issues.

But I grew up around them as my dad is crazy obsessive about all things trains, cars, and beer mugs.

Maybe the boyfriend is just in it for the inheritance.

Maybe that's why he loves me.

Cause I get Dad's trains.

Or part of Dad's trains.

Well, when we were surrounded by white walls and sterilized equipment and trying to keep Mom from freaking out by joking about the whole thing I believe the exact deal was:

Brother: "We'll split the trains four ways, Carrie can have the beer mugs."
Second Sister: "I want the Corve."
Me: "Can I have the Bird?"
Brother: "Yes, we'll flip you the Bird."

I meant the T-Bird but I'm sure they'd do that too.

No, he loves me for more than the trains.

And I was so happy the other day, it literally made my day, cause I got to quote Castle.

"How do you know?"
"All the songs make sense."
"You listening to T-Pain?"

Kate Beckett actually.

I don't really listen to T-Pain for romantic advice.

Though my love life was brought up in Apples to Apples today.

Under "exhausting". I did not choose it as I actually like my boyfriend.

I went with "house guests" instead.

And, with that, I'm out for the night.

Big day tomorrow for Squirt. It's her confirmation/examination so we get to watch her and her classmates answer questions then eat a lot of food.

Woohoo!

I bought her a lot of stuff.

And got Mom a mother's day present as well. I'm gonna be the favorite. and that's all I'm saying.

Until she opens it.

Then I'll tell you.

What else?

Oh.

I've started watching "Suits" I got the first season. It's not bad.

Though I just keep seeing Rick Hoffman and thinking "Chapman actually started to talk to me about his feelings. It was like if the toaster started talking about the weather!"

Samantha Who.

I love Christina Applegate.

And it's got Gina Torres. aka Firefly's Zoe Washburne. She plays the bosslady. She's always a badass, I like her.

Somehow Rick Hoffman always plays the jerk you want to smack. Like always the boss jerk person who tries to be a ladies man but really fails epically.

But that was like Jeffrey Donovan who I wanted to smack for years but then he turned into Michael Weston and that made everything better.

Alright, song of the night:

"Hurt So Bad" Susan Tedeschi live

love it


"First of all I didn't pay him off. Second of all, if I hadn't paid him off you'd be in jail right now!"

Happy , Happy New Year!

Every time I heard the words 'happy new year' I could hear Captain Raydor's voice in my head and then Tao's follow-up, "I really hate her! Did I say that out loud?" Gotta love the Closer. I'm beginning to really like Mary McDonnell. Excellent addition to the cast, even if it is only a recurring guest spot.

And Wow, 1-1-11, that's new.

Today was our family xmas, so right now I'm exhausted and it's only 9:55. Sad day. Two nights of staying up late will do that to a girl I guess. First, two nights ago, I got to watch us get our butts wooped by Washington. That was just pitiful and sucks because now I gotta put up with my coworker who said we were gonna lose. There was no motivation from us at all. It's like our whole team is depressed or something. Bo needs to turn that around.
Then, last night was filled with playstation - aka SSX Tricky, Simpson's Road Rage and Dance Dance Revolution - drinking lots of sparkling cider even though we're both of age, flipping between Carson and Ryan and their crews (um, did Dick Clark look really at retiring age to anyone else or is that just me? and c'mon MTV step it up! Jersey Shore? Seriously?!) and falling asleep watching Boy Meets World. Same thing every year, but the Boy Meets World is new. We usually watch Pirates or Jason Bourne. Also, we didn't run around the house at midnight, sad day. Usually we bring a bottle of sparkling cider with us, shake it and then pop the cork spraying it everywhere in the process of awesomeness. (I say that word a lot, Awesomeness. I've noticed that my aunt has started saying it as well. It's catchy. Say it with me: Awesomeness.) Anyway, we took this year off of running as it was freaking freezing out there. And we're old. We figured that out while playing DDR and almost dying out after the first round. But it was fun. Same thing every year. Nothing really planned - it was funny. She texted and was like "you have plans for new years" and I was like "yeah with you!" and that was as far as the planning process went. We go with the flow.
And what was up with the countdown acts this year? I really need to listen to the radio more or something because the only people I recognized were MCR and Avril (hooray for a comeback from her btw).
Interesting fact about CK #-whatever-we're-up-to: I don't listen to the radio. I listen to my ipod. Constantly. And have a hookup for my car so it plays through the speakers.
So, because of this interesting fact, I had to text my best friend - "okay, i'm lame. who is that?" But she didn't know either so that was helpful.
Good times.

Today was awesome but exhausting as well. Big dinner with the family, excellent food as always, then opening presents which always turns into some kind of a disaster area with all the wrapping paper everywhere. Our family splurges. After the disaster area was cleared we played - you guessed it - some Apples to Apples which is fastly becoming a family favorite. This time, Sarah and Mark got hosed, ha! And Cindy and Teina dominated. We didn't play it for four hours, but it was around 2. Times flies. And again with the good one-liners: "Okay, who put 'labor unions' as irresistable?" "Steakspeare" "Toasters? Someone got tired of looking at that one in their hand. I got discarded." "Hmmm, amputations or Sunday drivers for horrifying?"
After that was pitch - 2 tables so the losers walked a whole 2 feet to the other one. No real walk of shame like at my aunt's when you had to go all the way downstairs. Cindy and I partnered up and did pretty well. I shot the moon with a AKQJ2 and drew the 3. Awesome.
Then more good food, meanwhile kids running all over the place. But they're between the ages of 1 and 6, what else are they supposed to be doing? While Mandy and Joe hung with the adults. Some crazy grandma gave two 4-year-old-boys fake shotguns that make noise when you pull the trigger. I'm sure their parents are loving that right about now. Don't look at me. I didn't pick them out. Geez mom. And my oldest sister got them fake chainsaws. It's hilarious. One year, like years ago, my second sister Sarah gave our only nephew at the time a drum set. He loved it, his parents didn't. Ever since, it's like they've been trying to one up each other for loudness just for payback. It's become kind of a running joke.

So, I guess it's time for the official list. The dreaded one. Which I've cut down to hopefully things that might actually last for longer than this week.
1. Write more, read more, eat less.
The first two are healthy and entertaining and will keep me out of trouble. The third is basically just going to become no food after 10PM. And more eating healthy during the day instead of being lazy and picking up Arby's just because it's on my way home. The drivethru guy knows me. It's funny and pathetic all in one. We always end with , "see you around."
Which leads me to number
2. Learn how to cook. At some point this year. Doesn't have to be right away. Just more than mac-and-cheese and microwave meals. I'm putting it off because I like my apartment and don't want to watch as it goes up in flames. Read Sketch and Edit Make Grilled Cheese if you get a chance. Based on a true story.

3. I'm not putting exercise more. Because I know it won't happen. I'm on my feet all day, and I'm not going to wake up early or have any energy by the end of the day to go to the rec center. What I am putting is keeping my mind open to taking self-defense classes this summer with my favorite patron.
4. Is to work on time management. Grad school starts on the 15th. I already have homework for it I haven't started. That all starts Monday. Ordering the textbook, visiting all the websites, finding out what I need to have done by the first class. My aunt is awesome because she teaches on that campus so she's going to show me where I'm going and where to park. Gotta love family connections.

Those are all I'm ready to fully put in writing. I'm sure more will develop throughout the month.

In other news, Congrats go out to the TCU Hornfrogs! Woohoo! I routed for them in baseball in Omaha so I felt I should again today. We got to watch parts of the games between family stuff.
Also, I'm thinking Oregon as the champion over Auburn. I've always liked them. Maybe that's because we never play them but still...

Music Rec: Two musical groups I'm commending just for the heck of it are Ashlyne Huff - check out her single "Heart of Gold" and Theory of a Dead Man's "Since You've Been Gone". Both very good emotional-from-the-heart songs, one more upbeat than the other.

It's a decent video since there is actual music and dancing, that's new for MTV nowadays, sadly.


Now that's depressing.

Neither video is spectacular but you get the point. The music is good, and underrated. So I'm recommending it. Spread the word.

Hope your New Years was merry and bright. Or wait, was that Christmas? Whatever. Hope you all had fun and made it home safely.


"Since you've been gone, I need to hear youuuuuuuu SAAAAAAAAAYYYYYY......"

"Spontaneous Combustion is pretty awesome, unless it happens to you."

Okay, today was just fun, not surprisingly. I love my family. But today was just funny fun. We went to my sister's for Thanksgiving and had amazing food. Then we played Apples to Apples for four hours. Not kidding. We played until we ran out of red cards. It was ridiculous. But hilarious. The title is one of the many one-liners that came from it. It fits right in with the others - "I always win soft" (my sister) "Bull fights? Really?" (sister-in-law) "Nothing more casual than having a baby" (brother-in-law) "Charming is the part you play in our friendship" (my sister to my sister-in-law trying to win her way with a create your own card. She laughed so hard she cried. Then my brother was like, "you might be the first one to lose with a create your own card!")
Plus the card combinations were funny. My mother, MY MOTHER! threw me "angry hornets" when I laid down "elitist" then there was "calm" which I picked "creamed corn" cause I mean, what's more calm than that? Unless of course it's "in a coma" which won the "relaxing" card. We're awful. But it's just funny stuff. And then there's the fact that my mom kept calling it "apples to oranges" and learned that that was not, in fact, it's name when my aunt texted her back and asked, "Is that anything like apples to apples?"
Long story short, it was fun and we were crazy. Who plays apples to apples for four hours? Seriously? Are we mental? No, we were just having fun. And even mom lasted about 3 hours before she gave in. The final tally ended with my brother and sister tying with 24, my niece getting 18, and then myself, my brother-in-law and my sister-in-law pulling in 17.

After that it was driving home and talking more about the car I still haven't picked out. Actually, I have it picked out already but they want me to keep looking. It's not like it was the first car I looked at or something. I know what kind of stuff I'm looking for. But whatever. I'm going with it. As long as it happens before Christmas I'm fine with it.

Hope you all had a happy Thanksgiving.

"The word is explosive. Choices are: hot lava, nice. atomic bombs, wow. electricity, yeah....bubble gum? what?!" (sister-in-law)