My McDonald's is cooler than your McDonald's.

Sure, I had to wait for my Southwest Chicken Salad - order same every time - but they gave me free icecream and a coupon for free food.

So, take that.

Aside from that today sucked.

I mean, work was alright.

And I'm okay now.

But between work and now has been ridiculous.

So remember my whole curtains thing?

And how I have them.

And they've been laying on my foosball table for two years now?

So, Mom bought me a rod attached to brackets that extend out farther than the blinds.

And at a glance it looked like it was long enough across, so I called and asked if tomorrow maintenance could come and set it up.

Then, upon further inspection, the rod is about 4 inches too short.

So, in a panic, I run to Lowe's.

But see, I already have a rod, I just don't have brackets that extend far enough away from the wall, so I figured I could buy longer ones and they would work with the rod that I have.

Turns out that the rod is too big for the brackets.

Like the divot isn't wide enough for the pole to lay in.

So then I had to go back and get another rod.

Turns out the rod I bought - when I went back - didn't extend long enough either.

So I had to go back again.

This time I bought a longer one, that extends and it fits in the brackets.

So there was much rejoicing.

After there was an excessive amount of four letter variety.

I'm sure my neighbors were alarmed.

But it's done now.

And Oldest Sister and Squirt made an appearance in support.

I gave her her Doctor Who Where's Waldo book I had ordered for her.

It's pretty exciting.

Gotta keep up the favorite aunt status.

Anyway, I had all these plans that I was going to clean the apartment and then start some homework but since I'm was so frustrated I probably would have broken things or wrote nothing but angst I figured I'd take the night off and do it tomorrow.

Don't have to go in until 4, so from the time I'm up, the time I go to work - for 2 hours - and then after 'til the time I go to bed I have to write up the presentation for Thursday.

10 minute speech, I can ramblenation it.

The undergrads find me amusing.

Not sure why.

But they're grading us.

Sort of.

So I'll be informative and charming and fly through it.

After I like puke beforehand cause I hate public speaking.

Literally makes me nauseous and like shaking and all that.

Which is weird, cause I did drama in high school.

And I was in English major in college which meant a lot of presentations.

And now I work in public service.

But still, I hate it.

Just makes me nervous.

I don't remember what else I was going to talk about, let me scroll up.

Salad, curtains, Lowe's, family, grad school, oh right, work.

So yeah, work was alright, I guess.

Typical Sunday.

Except I was supposed to train 3 GoPo's today, but only 1 showed up.

Not my problem.

It's their responsibility to get their 20 hours of volunteering done by May. If they don't show up for a preapproved time, then it's on them to set up another, or find somewhere else to volunteer.

The one I had was fantastic.

Did some computer stuff, then ran a Lost in Transit list...

Which is basically a list of stuff that went missing during delivery from branch to branch.

Most things were improperly checked in.

Or never made it to delivery in the first place.

Either way they go on a list and we have awesome volunteers who run them.

Lost in Transit.

That was gonna be our band name at the home branch.

Pretty sure that's in here somewhere...oh yeah: Joe Studley and the Lost In Transit

He still hates that nickname.

Wow, when posts were short.

What happened to those days anyway?

Makes me want to look over my old stuff and figured out if that was a rare occurrence or when all this rambling was triggered.

I know, I know, at birth. Shutup.

Speaking of birth, Mom came in today.

Brought me my jacket.

That I left at the music mentor's benefit yesterday.

Funny story, so I left my jacket there, yeah, but see I always keep my wallet in my jacket pocket.

But for some weird reason that morning I took my wallet out of my jacket pocket and put it in my pants pocket instead.

Which I never do.

So someone was watching out for me, cause I wouldn't have gotten far without that.

What else from today?

Got to work with some cool people. Team Awesome was reunited for a few hours....Queen of the Known Universe won, ugh, in our stats competition. Think she beat me by like 3 points, but to be fair she did have like 30 minutes more public service than me cause I was training the GoPo. Who knows, I could have gotten 4 points in those 30 minutes and then I would've dominated.

I already owe people candybars cause stupid Louisville beat my Shockers.

Ugh.

Oh well, I figured Louisville will win it all after they beat Duke like they did. Injury and all.

But Wordie is all for Michigan so we'll see how that goes.

Alright, and that was my day, so let's skip to the music so I can crash.

Hoping maintenance doesn't get here at 8AM tomorrow.

Setting my alarm for 9.

Now watch, they won't get here 'til 2.

Hurt So Good - Carly Rae Jepsen

i know, i know, but it's catchy. not as catchy as call me maybe, but close.

"Weird to meet you." "Likewise."

When it comes to popsicles stick with what you know.

Don't try to be adventurous cause it will backfire.

I eat a lot of popsicles.

More than most normal human beings, like 3 or 4 times a week.

Just nightly ritual or habit or whatever. I don't know, but I fly through boxes.

Anyway, I usually stick with this same brand that's got grape and cherry and orange and orange used to be my favorite but now I'm kinda liking the cherry - surprisingly cause I always used to hate cherry, it was too sweet - anyway, I saw this other box that had like pineapple and other fruit stuff as flavoring and I like pineapple and other fruit stuff so I figured I'd try it?

Epic fail.

So, 2012 was a big year. Many memories were made though I do have to say and yes I will be sappy romantic girl for the next few minutes so you can skim this section if you'd like - would be getting back together with the boyfriend one year ago today.

I went out to his place cause Mondays are the worst for him.

Yes, I'm aware it's Wednesday but it's Monday to him because of the holidays and vacation and he had to switch from normal people hours to third shift hours. So he slept, well, attempted to sleep all day but woke up at seven to meet me at the movies.

We saw Jack Reacher and holy crap, I totally underestimated it. Scale of Awesome puts it at around 9/10. Tom Cruise was fantastic, I know, shocking. We're hoping there will be a sequel.



Awesome action scenes with just enough comedy - like the hat thing - to make you laugh but not like it's trying too hard.

I should probably mention that I lost my voice today. I don't feel sick, I have a runny nose, but the voice is just gone. It's bad. Should have called Juwanna and sang some Amazing Grace as is our tradition.

I did tell him he didn't have to kiss me on our anniversary but he braved it anyway. Though when a girl phrases it like that and the boyfriend agrees he's gonna catch hell the next morning.

Similar to how we say we're fine.

We're not.


Alright, as promised you'll get a week of my favorites from 2012. Let's start with some big ones.


Brokenhearted - Karmin



after some promotions from Ellen and a lot of video viewings on youtube they hit it big. gotta take pride in the fact they're from nebraska. don't have a lot of those.

Everybody Talks - Neon Trees


so stoked to see these guys in March!! the boyfriend spoils me.

Call Me, Maybe - Carly Rae Jepson


no matter where you go you can't escape this song. it's just too dang catchy.

alright i'm out!

The difference between "if" and "when"

As you've noticed I did not post last night.

I had quite the day.

Meeting in the morning - 8:30 but I got there at 8:15 - with the Library Goddess at her house. Which is awesome by the way. She made me coffee - bought caramel flavoring just for me - and stuffed me full of cinnamon rolls, sending one home with me for the boyfriend. We put together our online newsletter and sent it off to be published to the official website, woohoo!

First one down, and it was super easy. Lots of copy and paste work, I dunno what I was freakin' out about. Looks great and got some cool pictures to include from fellow library employees.

After that I headed back to the apartment and met up with the boyfriend and left about 10:30. It takes about 3 hours and some odd minutes to get to Worlds of Fun - it's not just fun, there's worlds of it - so we got there at about 1:30.

I like rollercoasters, but my boyfriend, he's a diehard fan. It was highly amusing. I haven't had that much fun in a very long time.

We were there from 1:30-11:30PM.

Riding rollercoasters.

For 10 hours.

And other spinny things that made me nauseous. But basically everything labeled "high thrill" - their term not mine.

By the end of the 10 hours we had ridden at least 16 times on the rollercoasters, it might have been 17 but we lost count.

The Prowler we went on like 5 times - much cooler and faster at night. Or maybe it just seemed that way cause you couldn't see where we were going. By the end of the night the announcer was calling it the "pa-row-la" which is now how I pronounce it.

And then the Patriot we went on at least 4 times. That one was my favorite cause it was inverted - your feet dangled and you were strapped in by your shoulders instead of sitting in a cart. There were lots of upside down, flailing moments, it was sweet.

The Mamba is the tallest and fastest of them and we sat up front - well, the first time, which reminded me of the last time I went to Worlds of Fun back in 1999 cause I rode in the front then with one of my parents friends. He and I rode all the coasters that were there at that time, but there are a lot more now.

I actually cheated because I couldn't remember the exact year we went. But I was a kid, and you don't keep track of that stuff. I thought I was about 10. I remember we rode out in a van-ish thing. Jackie and I basically sat in the back on a mattress playing card games. While we were in KC they bought a washer dryer set, which was highly amusing to drive back with.

Anyway, I cheated, because I remember when we went we stopped at a McDonalds cause it was raining and they weren't open yet. At McDonalds they had these Tarzan straws that when you took a drink they'd talk. I remember finding one once when I was cleaning out the kitchen for mom. So I googled the year Tarzan came out in theaters - 1999 - and realized it had been 13 years since I'd been there.

How did I live without google on my phone before? It's just so handy, I think I use it at least 5 times a day.

Where was I? Yes, so we rode on the front of the Mamba last time I was there and I got a green shirt with a snake on it with all the dimensions and speeds and all that - no idea where it is now.

So it was cool being able to do it again.

I don't remember swearing quite so much or so loudly back in 1999, but there was a lot of that going on this time around. Oh my god, so the Timberwolf was another one we rode a couple of times and this little girl was sitting behind us and screaming her guts out.

No, like, literally. I thought she was flying out of her chair or something because of these crazy high pitch screams. I was like, waiting for her to take a break to breathe, but there was none of that. And the best part of it all was turning around right after the ride and she was like smiling it up. Like totally did it on purpose.

Hysterical.

We attempted to ride on the back car of the Timberwolf and the Prowler which are both wooden ones, and you get beat up pretty bad back there. Pulled over the top of the hills and thrash side to side. By the time you get out of the car you can barely stand...and then you go get back in line.

But again, we cheated.

This time I blame him, but I don't blame him cause it was totally worth it.

Remember how I said he was a diehard? Apparently the boy has no patience for lines so he decides we need to buy these "Fast Lane" bracelets. With these you can use a separate entrance that takes you straight to the front of the line.

They were expensive but worth it.

Even though we got nothing but glares as we passed by like hundreds of people.

That was fun.

Anyway, I'm guessing without them we probably only would have ridden each one just a couple times cause the lines got super long as the day went on.

BECAUSE it was opening weekend for their Halloween stuff.

This place was decked out. For serious. Everywhere you look there were skulls, spiders, decorative lighting which looked super awesome at night. I'll post pictures of that on Facebook later.

And they don't just do that for Halloween, they build haunted houses.

We went through 6.

Aaannd, because our patience is limited when it comes to theme parks, this time we got "Fright Lane" lanyards taking us to the front of the line. First off there was the insane asylum - super disorienting because there was all this fog and you literally couldn't see where you were going. Like I was grabbing his shirt because if he got farther than a few inches from me I would have lost him in the fog. After that one was,

Cornstalkers which was all outdoors and basically like a maze but with people jumping out at you. And they were good - everyone in all the houses was really good cause half of them would sit there and wait and look like a dummy and then they'd move and you'd be like, "holy crap, i thought you were fake."

After the corn came Bloodshed, which was basically a place where they created monsters, it was alright, but there was a group of teenage girls in front of us that wouldn't move. Like they'd see something scary, scream and huddle and just stand there until they gathered the courage to move on. So that took forever, until they got apparently too freaked out and decided to turn around and get the heck out of there.

I was most looking forward to the London Terror, which was up next, but it was the most disappointing. I just wanted more London horror, you know? I was waiting for Jack the Ripper and all that, but got nothing but steampunk - which is cool but not scary - and weird looking wench women.

Yes, weird looking wench women.

In fishnets.

Although I did have an interesting conversation with a steampunk about my Pippi Longstocking hat, that I totally wore the whole day, roller coasters included. The Cool Aunt has started giving me these off the wall hats for Christmas, they're sweet.

After London was this broken down dollhouse thing which was basically filled with barbies nailed to the wall. Which was bizarre but not scary. And last but not least came "Zombie High" which I guess is the newest of haunted houses there. It was alright I guess, although like 1/3 of the way in the lights turned on cause someone hit the emergency stop button. But that lasted maybe 20 seconds before we were going again.

All in all they weren't completely scary, I think I jumped a few times and that was just in the Cornstalkers one because they'd hide in the stalks and jump out at you. The rest of the stuff wasn't so bad because they weren't allowed to touch you. They'd basically stick their face near your face and they were wearing these creepy/crazy masks or their faces were painted. Or they'd scream or beat the wall or something. I mean, it was worth going through and checking out, but nothing that will scar me for life.

There were a lot of random clowns - Juwanna would have died - and strange characters just wandering the grounds as well. I got a sweet picture of me and some giant dude with an ax that reminded me a bit of Attila the Hun.

There were more roller coasters - the Spinning Dragons was a four person cart that spun as you rode and we went with these two cute kiddos who were in front of us. The Boomerang that you start out going forward, get all the way to the end and then it sends you back backwards.

And I got a sweet picture of us on the Patriot. After going on the rides several times you learn where each of their cameras are, well, he did, and made faces every time we came around. I bought my favorite of the expressions, perhaps I will post it later.

We also went on the ThunderHawk which wasn't a coaster but you did go up and down and spin around, "we don't spit in your house so please don't do it off our ride"

and then two of them where you stood against a wall and it spun you so that you were sucked up against the wall - in one of them the floor dropped out and you didn't move because of the suction to the wall.

I had to take a slight break after that one. I was feeling the nausea full circle.

Ha.

But he was proud cause I didn't throw up the whole day, and apparently I lasted longer than his family because we did 10 hours of rollercoasters, and I guess they only last a few.

But we had fun, and plan to do it again. Gonna hit up like Ceder Point and Busch Gardens and all that. Maybe do something once a year.

I'm sure when we go he'll make us take the train to get there, but that's fine.

Yes, when we go.

We're making plans.

I'm making plans.

It's new and different.

I've never been an actual making plans kind of person - and I'm not meaning to sound all Finn from Grey's Anatomy on you - but seriously, the majority of my relationships haven't lasted much longer than a Mento so I've never felt the urge to make plans like this.

But with him it's different.

I've noticed lately that when we talk it's gone from "if" to "when".

You know what I mean?

It's not just a possibility, it's a will happen kind of thing. But not just things like "when" we go to another theme park we should ride even more rollercoasters, though there are those "when"s as well. I'm talking more about the "when" we get married we'll have an open bar, kind of "when"s.

See, throughout Tweet's wedding extravaganza everyone was all over us saying we were next and asking when it would happen and all that. And I directed them to him, saying that he would be the one asking, and he was apparently directing them to me because supposedly I'm in charge.

And then his mom said that we're supposed to have three kids. Cause she wants lots of grandkids.

Neither of us is ready to get married or have kids at the moment. Even though we've dated before that didn't really count as much as these past 9 months. Though probably including them would put us over the year mark. But, marriage and kids are kind of big things and you don't want to rush into them.

But I keep having all these "when" thoughts. I'm actually excited to spend time with him, whether it's at Worlds of Fun or watching movies on a couch. And I've never really felt like that about anyone.

Which makes me sound like a girl, but I'm happy. Like legitimately happy which hasn't happened in a very long time - relationship-wise.

Like this weekend was fantastic. After all the roller coasters and haunted houses we drove all the way back here, got back at like 3:00, then woke up at 10 because he needed to put air in his tires. Then he came back to the apartment and slept all day while I went to work from 11:30-6 - it's only fair cause I'll sleep tonight while he's at work.

But it was nice coming home to someone other than my big fat cat.

Who also loves me and is sleeping next to me at the moment.

We watched "This is Spinal Tap" when I got home from work. Um, interesting, but it had its moments. Then he took off cause he has to work, leaving me here with my big fat cat, attempting to post whilst watching the Avengers with the commentary that tells you everything that's happening on the screen.

It makes me laugh, "he's wearing sunglasses even though it's dark"

"the boxer punches the bag right across the gym and it bursts open. the boxer is captain america."

Anyway, so we're back and it was straight back to life cause I went in this morning and was total zombie-mode all day. I mean, I got through it, but barely. Thankfully it was a Sunday and rather slow. And he goes back to work tonight. So, vacation over. For now. Vegas will be fun. And it's fastly approaching.

Okay, I think I've rambled long enough.

I'll leave you with some music and most likely crash as soon as my head hits the pillow. I'm zonked. And it's only 11:11.

These two songs were sang repeatedly while we stood in line.

and not by me...



love it. though after singing it with a minnesotan accent there's no going back.


think this is the first time i've listened to the full song. it wasn't just him singing this one though, it seemed like practically all the employees were as well. something about the "hands up" thing on rollercoasters.

after i got some sweet light up gloves it was even cooler.

And I'm out. And sleeping in cause I don't go in until 4, huzzah!

and look, a legitimate 11:33.

So call me maybe.

Super proud at this moment.

Squirt rocked it today.

Her confirmation, there were five of them but she was the loudest and answered all her questions correctly.

Took me back to my confirmation.

There were 7 of us.

Basically passed the microphone back and forth.

And answered all the same questions about commandments, keys, creeds, but listening to them again and attempting to answer them in my head reminds me I should really brush up on all my catechism stuff.

Today was great. She kicked butt. Then there was lots of kids running, and cupcakes eaten - red velvet was the best - plus some Vegas talk and jamming with Grams and the Cool Aunt.

After all that it was underdog movies central, "We Are Marshall", "A League of Their Own" and "The Big Green". Which was much better when I was their age. Now that I'm older it's not as good, though it does have some good one-liners.

"We're gonna come and get ya, little porker."

Quotes of the day:

Oldest Sister: "You know what I hate? When I get a diet coke and forget where I put it."

Squirt: "I like to burn wieners."
Bubby: "That'll make men run and scream."

Oldest Sister: "What's up with the fat kid?"

All the Way May: "So some of yous are gonna have to go home."
Kit: "What do you mean some of us?"
ATWM: "Do it." *Doris throws ball at them, Dottie catches it with bare hand
ATWM: "Okay some of them are going home."

one of my favorite parts. aside from the dance scene in which we stole the majority of our choreography for Choralfest senior year. except we did it for "If it ain't got that swing." the joys of KRT. so much fun, totally miss it.

Beckett: "You trashed her office looking for your dignity?"

Alright, tomorrow means back to work so I'm out.

Will attempt to fall asleep before midnight this time, though I'm doubtful.

Really need to work on going to bed earlier.

"Call Me Maybe" Carly Rae Jepsen
one of those songs that's ridiculously cheesy yet completely catchy and addictive. and the video is amusing.


"Lay off the high ones."
"I like the high ones."
"Mule!"
"Nag!"