Back from the Land of the Dead and Sleeping

I wish I could sleep. I love to sleep. It was fun. Well...in a sense. I enjoy taking naps and sleeping late.

Unfortunately, I haven't been able to sleep at all lately. At least not at night. I go to sleep somewhere around 6 a.m. and sleep til around 3 p.m. The only problem is that I have to be going to SafePlace to volunteer in order to fill up the quota for Rapoport. Not that I don't enjoy working there. The people are great and funny and it is very upbeat despite the huge problem that they deal with on regular occasions.

It feels great being in the middle and I like feeling like I'm actually contributing something to the world.

Don't get me wrong, I love doing nothing all summer. But, I tend to lose track of reality and summer becomes periods of sleeping, eating and watching TV. At least now (for the most part) there are days and nights. And I'm finally involved in one of my passions. Especially after working in The Vagina Monologues, I feel so much more about domestic and sexual violence.

Oh. And I'm addicted to Smallville. Pulled an One Tree Hill and watched almost all 8 seasons in a week. Greaaaaat.

Starting Summer off on the Right Foot

So summer has started.  And I can easily say that it has been highly anticipated.  Moving all my stuff back from Austin was hell.  The driving part wasn't so bad, but the moving all the stuff down to my truck was the bitch.  It didn't help that everyone else (or so it seemed) had decided that they wanted to move out at the exact same time.  The only high point was that I only dropped something once.  Out of the five trips I made to my car.  Go me.  Then there was the paint ball splatter that was on my driver's door.  That was definitely no bueno.  But other than that, it was okay.

On Wednesday, I went to have lunch with Joanna and Amano at Cici's, after which we went shopping.  Shopping with Joanna is always an...experience, to say the least.  Lol.  I <3>

Then we went to see Star Trek!  I had been wanting to see it since the commercials for it had first come out and I must say that I was not at all disappointed!  I think Joanna got frustrated with Amano and me because we kept whispering and laughing during the movie.  But we still paid attention.  

Thursday, I worked on my room.  It used to be the junk room in Thomas's house, and boy did it look like it.  It doesn't help that about a third of mom's clothes are on the floor.  But I got it cleaned up as much as I could and relaxed the rest of the day.

On Friday morning, I went to Big Lots with Mom to buy me a dresser and two storage bins for my room and her a wardrobe.  I also found four movies (Spiderwick Chronicles, Penelope, Stardust and Snow White) for really cheap.  Only paid $20 for all of them.  I actually really like Big Lots, since they have furniture for pretty cheap.  And the dresser and wardrobe were hella heavy.  Mom and I unloaded them from the back of the truck and it was NOT easy.

Then, I embarked down to Karan's.  I hadn't see Karan and Daddy (together) for a very long time.  Close to a year.  And they have an annual cook-out for Memorial Day.  So I decided to join them.

When I got here, Mac and Ray were here helping pour and finish the concrete.  They left about an hour after I showed up and it was just me and Daddy.  We didn't really do anything, he had to work outside to get things ready for today, and there wasn't really anything I could do.  Not that he should have been doing anything either.  He had knee surgery on both knees a little more than a month ago.  But he was pushing the limits.  Like always.

Karan got back from work around 6, but was working outside almost as soon as she got back, so I didn't even see her until 7.  Then, we (Karan and I) went to Brookshire's to get stuff for today, leaving Daddy to get cleaned up so she could cut his hair.  After she finished his hair, we called in for pizza and put on Paul Blart:  Mall Cop.  Then I went to bed.  Sweet sweet bed.

Today, I woke up two hours later than I had planned.  When I finally got up, Karan had pretty much everything finished.  Around an hour later, Toni and Rudy Ray showed up.  They were the first.  I hadn't ever met them, or if I had I was too little to remember, so I had to introduce myself.  It is somewhat disconcerting for all these people to know who I am when I really don't know who they are, other than their names.  But I'm used to it.  Especially with Daddy's friends.  Toni and I hit if off right away.  Somehow we just clicked.  It might have been over the talk of motorcycles.  I love them and her and husband and ridden in on one.  But we just really got to talking.

Before a lot of other people showed up, Toni told me that if I wanted to ride on the motorcycle, Rudy would take me.  So I said yes.  It. Was. Amazing.  I absolutely love motorcycles.  And as corny as it sounds, the wind through my hair.  I know they're dangerous.  Probably better than a lot of other people.  But I really loved it.  And Mom.  He doesn't drink (or at least he wasn't today), he's been riding for 4 years and he knew what he was doing.  So don't worry.  As much at least.  It also makes me really want a motorcycle or scooter.  I just really like being in the open air.

After that, more and more people started showing up. Hack and Peggy, Larry (Daddy's lawyer) and Linda, JB and Emma (I think that's her name), Pete showed up for a little while, the other Linda, Kevin and Allison (Kevin's gf), Kristy, Kash and Heath (with Max, their ADORABLE little shorkie) and Darryl, Sheila and Kayla just showed up.  

Today has been really fun.  But I'm so tired.  The mix of unusual schedules, two Claritin and the heat just make me ready to pass out.  I think I might go take a nap.  But I think this is a good start to the summer.

Crazy Home Life

So, I came home on Friday.  Not only was my first exam a week and a half from the last day of class, but since the AC in the Castilian totally sucks balls, I came home.  :)  Plus, I  missed my Mommy.

So when I came home, I mostly just lazed around.  I'm really glad to be out of the school environment.  But now I have to be in the job environment.  Joy.  But Friday night I went over to Shelby's, where we proceeded to continue the long-time tradition of staying up and watching movies.  However, we didn't even manage to make it through one ("Unbreakable" which really wasn't that good) before we both were ready to crash.  Granted, I hadn't gotten a good night's sleep in a couple of days since the heat was so bad.  Sleeping with feeling the AC was a wonder, though it definitely should not be.  Lol.

When I woke up, I discovered that Yvenne, their once-a-week housekeeper had taken my clothes to be washed.  While this wasn't necessarily a bad thing, since they did need to be washed, I had no other clothes to go back in.  That is pretty much all that happened Saturday.

On mother's day, I made the mistake of agreeing with Mom that as part of her present, I would help her keep the 2 and 3 year old's...It. Was. Hell.  Typically I LOVE kids, but multiple toddlers was no bueno.  It was made worse by a particularly hyperactive child.  I about died.  It lasted around 2 hours.  Then I took a nap.  I definitely needed one.  And mom was right.  It is the best form of birth control.

Monday was uneventful as well.  But today...man did I have fun!  I decided to revisit Gvine High School.  I was really excited!  Except when I finally goth there, C-lunch had just ended.  Which meant I was stuck in the very crowded lunch room.  I remember why I didn't like high school.  But I finally got to Sykes' room and went to have lunch with Shelby at Chili's.  It was fun.

But the best part was when I went back to chill in Boyd's room.  I hung out with Kevin and Jack mostly.  I missed them dearly.  They are some of the few people who would joke about all things sexual with me.  They told me funny stories from this year that I had missed.  I was really happy to see them again.  They always make me laugh.  Plus, as bad as it sounds, they were telling me jokes about how they had been picking on this freshman girl who had been hitting on them all year.  I just had to keep reminding them about how she was now considered jail-bait.  But I can't believe how much bigger they were!  Lol.  It was pretty amazing.  They actually seem grown up (at least physically).  Haha.

Then I visited Mrs. Hix.  It's always a pleasure to see her.  And little Richard just seems to be getting taller everytime I see him.  But I love to talk to her.  :)

Reminder to self, I need to call Ms. Lynn.  Don't forget.

A Case of the Mondays

This morning, I was completely shocked that I could pull myself out of bed!  I haaaate Mondays.  Especially the mornings.  Mornings in general tend to suck though.  Lol.  Which is why next semester all my classes are in late morning, early afternoon.  We really didn't do much in Japanese other than practice our skits and we watched Tampopo in Intro to Japan, which was really funny.

What I was really looking forward to though was the Women's Resource Agency luncheon.  I didn't get the director position, but I'm still really psyched about next year's directors!  Anna and Sara are going to do an amazing job.  I'm really looking forward to what they're going to do.  Plus, I got to see people that I haven't seen in a while (namely Tanya and Muneezeh) and we got to talk about women's issues!  Which always puts me in a good mood.  Though I am jealous that Anna has an internship in New York this summer with the ACLU reproductive rights section.  Totally jealous.  

Now, I have to practice for the skit for Japanese on Thursday.  So, Ja ne!

P.S.  I FINALLY WATCHED THE ENTIRETY OF THE STAR WARS SAGA (1-6)!!!!!  And I have to admit that I really did like the first part too.  :)

Birfday!

So, yesterday was birthday.  I wasn't planning on doing anything special since mom is in Nicaragua and because I didn't HAVE to do anything.  I was really looking forward to it!  And I got it.  I slept in until about 11 and when I woke up, I had 2 missed calls.  Being my normal self, I didn't check messages or anything until about 12:30 pm.  I had missed 2 more calls while I was just messing around on the computer.

I got nifty birthday messages from my mom (and Thomas), my dad, my aunt and uncle and Mikey.  They were absolutely wonderful!  I also had tons of facebook messages from a lot of people.  I guess since I had always done birthday with the family, I never realized how many good friends I had.  On top of that, when I had to go to my mentor meeting with Thomas, he gave me the cutest card with the sweetest message inside.  I also happened to get my birthday card from Aunt Lori and Gammy the night before (which included a $50 Starbucks giftcard) so I'm working on my card collection.

Then, when I got to the room, the door was double-bolted!  I was soo confused, but when I knocked, Allegra let me in to show me that she had set up a little birthday "surprise."  She had cleaned the dishes (which I hate doing) and made the counter up with little star confetti (I kept it), a tissue paper crane (nifty looking it was), my presents (3 Kit-Kats and 2 little stuffed sheep) and a really sweet note.  I was shocked.  Not because it was out of character, but because I honestly wasn't expecting it.  So then we had some cake to celebrate and it was definitely still yummy!

After that, I had made plans to meet with Ali (and to meet her mother) real quick so I could get my present from her.  She'd been teasing me all week with it, so I was really excited.  I expected it to me some earrings like her mother made, because I know that I've talked about how I envy her jewelry, but I get some home-made brownies with cream-cheese icing!  Which was sooo much better!  Not to knock the jewelry or anything, but because chocolate is always bueno!  Haha.

So now, I have chocolate cake, brownies and kit-kats sitting in the fridge.  Apparently all my friends want me to get fat for my birthday.  Lol.

Then later in the evening, my mom called!  It's really expensive to make international calls and they can only do it in the cities, but I was sooo glad to hear from her!  But she sounds like she's having fun so I'm happy for her.  And now, we have the start of the last week of school for my freshman year...

Birthday Dinners and Amazing Friends

My birthday is on Sunday and I wanted to do something to celebrate with my friends.  I hate being alone on my birthday and like to spend it surrounded with friends.  So I made plans to go go-karting and putt putting on Thursday (when it was 50% off) at Austin's Park and Pizza.

Needless to say, life got in the way.  I invited Allegra, Ali and Joanna to accompany me on this adventure.  However, Ali ended up needing to study for a quiz, which was no big because grades always come first and Joanna needed to be back by 7 for a study session for a mid-term she had today.  We didn't end up leaving the Castilian until 4:15 which means we really didn't get to my truck (our means of transportation) until around 4:40.  When we finally embarked, we hit traffic which slowed us down significantly.

I decided that it would be more economical and time-saving if we just went out to dinner.  Not that I didn't want to go eat Mexican food.  Which I did.  Because I haven't had good Mexican food in a long while.  Lol.  So we went to Chuy's, which turned out to be fun, despite the really small booths.  Joanna, as per usual, got quesadillas, and Allegra and I split nachos and fajita enchilada's (which ended up being too spicy for me to eat anyway).  We finished dinner in about an hour, which gave us plenty of time to get back on time for Joanna's study session.

Note to self:  Best birthday gift for Joanna is sopapillas.  With cinnamon.  And powered sugar.  End note.

I don't think we used the Tom-Tom (my wonderful gift from my Aunt and grandmother for my birthday) to get back to the Castilian, and just relied on Allegra's directions, which managed to get us back to I-35.

Needless to say it was a fun and well-spent evening.

Then, this morning I woke up at 6 a.m. to finish some homework that I didn't complete the night before.  Upon stepping (or jumping) out of bed, my foot decided to scream in agony and attempted to collapse under me.  No drama intended.  It just hurt that much.  Considering that I couldn't walk across the room without being in immense pain, walking to classes was out of the question.  So I emailed my professors and went back to sleep.

When I woke up, I was not feeling much better and my foot still hurt.  So when Joanna called (called, not texted) to see if I wanted to go to lunch with her slash just sit with her while she ate, I explained why I could not.  And then she did the most amazing thing!  After she was done eating, she came up to the room and told me she was going to bring me food!  And she did!  It was the nicest thing that someone has done for me in a while.  I am so grateful and lucky that I have such amazing friends.  I love having friends like this.  :)

P.S.  As a sad side-note, I didn't get Rapoport, but I don't feel too depressed about it.  I can't decide if I'm in shock and haven't accepted it or I just know that everything will work itself out.  Oh well.  Only time will truly tell.

...

So, apparently that was an epic fail.  Even more reason to go and read the blogs so you can see the funny emoticons!  ( ´ー｀)

OMG DENSHA OTOKO!!!!

So,  I had to read the first "mission" for Densha Otoko for my Intro to Japan class.  At first I was a little skeptical because most things are somewhat boring.  However, this story (which was made into a movie and TV series) is true.  Its about an otaku (nerd) who saves this woman on a train and falls in love with her.

At first, it sounded really cheesy.  But then I got hooked!  Its actually really funny.  And its kinda like "Dating for Dummies."  Plus, the emoticons are amazing!  I have so much respect for people who can do them (especially the more elaborate ones) because I can't.  To help spread the amusement, I am posting them here.  Remember, they are all thanks to Densha Otoko, which can be found here:  http://www.rinji.tv/densha/index.html  which I recommend for all to read!  :)

（　´　＾　`　　IN

（　-　o　- 　OUT

　　　 　 　 good job!!　　 　 　 　 　 ∩　　 ∩
　　　　　　　_ _∩　　　　　　 　 　 (⌒ ) 　 ( ⌒)　　 　 　 ∩_ _　good job!!
　　　 　 　 （ヨ,,. i　　 　 　 　 　 　 |　 |　　/　.ﾉ　 　 　 　 i　.,,E）
good job!!　　＼ ＼　　　　　 　 　 |　 |　 /　/ 　 　 　 　 /　/
　　_n　　　　　　＼ ＼　　　_､ _　 .|　 |　/　/ _、_　 　 ／ ノ
　（　 l　 　 　_､ _　 ＼ ＼（ <_,`　）|　 | /　/　,_ﾉ` ）／ ／　　　 _、_　　　 good job!!
　　＼ ＼　（ <_,`　）　＼　　 　 　 　 ﾉ（　　　　　　　／＿___（　,_ﾉ` ）　　　　n
　　　 ヽ___￣￣　ノ　　　|　　　　　 / 　 ヽ　　　　　 | ＿＿　　　 　 ＼ 　 　 l .,E）
　　　　　 / 　 　/ 　 　 /　　　　　/　　　　＼　　 　 ヽ 　 / 　 　 /＼　ヽ_／ ／

＿|￣|○

(つД｀) 

( ﾟДﾟ)⊃旦

(　ﾟдﾟ)SPACEOUT

(´･ω･`) 

(；´Д`)*pant*

　　　　　　　　　(´･ω･｀)
　　　　　　　　　(´･ω･｀)
　　　　　　　　　(´･ω･｀)
　　　　　　　　　(´･ω･｀)
　　　　　　　　　(´･ω･｀)
　　　　　　　　　(´･ω･｀)
　　　　　　　　　(´･ω･｀)
　　　　　　　　　(´･ω･｀)
　　　　　　　　　(´･ω･｀)
　　　∧__∧　　(´･ω･｀)
　　 ( ´･ω･)　　(´･ω･｀)　　I brought a bunch; please use them...
　　 /ヽ○==○(´･ω･｀)
　　/　　||＿　| (´･ω･｀)
　　し'￣(_)）￣(_)）￣(_)

∧＿∧
　（　・∀・） *heart pounding*
　（　∪ ∪
　と＿_）__）

　　　　　　／￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣
　　　　　　　| Upham! Upham! Ammo! Bring ammo! Uphaaaammmm!!
　　　　　　　＼＿＿＿＿＿　　＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿
　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　∨
　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　／￣￣ ＼ no ammo
　　　　　　/＼　　 　 ＿. ／ ￣￣＼ 　|＿＿＿__.|　　　　 ／￣＼
　　　　 ／|￣￣|＼/_ ヽ |＿＿＿_　|∩（・∀・；||┘　　|￣￣|￣￣|
　　　／￣￣|￣￣|￣|　 （´д｀； ||┘ ＿ユ_II＿＿＿　|￣|￣￣|￣￣|
　　 /￣￣|￣￣|￣￣|￣|（　”　つつ[三≡＿[----─ﾟ　 ￣|￣￣|￣￣|
　　/￣|￣￣|￣￣|￣￣|￣|　⌒＼⌒＼ 　||　 /￣￣|￣￣|￣￣|￣￣|￣￣|
　/￣￣|￣￣|￣￣|￣￣|￣］　＼＿）＿）..|||　|￣|￣￣|￣￣|￣￣|￣￣|￣￣

　　　　　∧＿∧　　　　_|￣|○ _|￣|○ _|￣|○ _|￣|○
　　　　　　　（；´Д｀）　　　 _|￣|○ _|￣|○ _|￣|○ _|￣|○
　　-=≡ 　/　　　 ヽ　　　　_|￣|○ _|￣|○ _|￣|○ _|￣|○
.　　　　　 /|　|　　 |. |　　　 _|￣|○ _|￣|○ _|￣|○ _|￣|○　　　　　　　　　　_|￣|○
　-=≡　/.　＼ヽ／＼＼_　 _|￣|○ _|￣|○ _|￣|○ _|￣|○　　　　　　　　　　_|￣|○
　　　　/　　　 ヽ⌒)==ヽ_）=_|￣|○ _|￣|○ _|￣|○ _|￣|○　　　　 ∧__∧ 　 _|￣|○
-= 　 /　/⌒＼.＼　||　　|| ._|￣|○ _|￣|○ _|￣|○ _|￣|○-=≡　( ´･ω･)　 _|￣|○
　　／ ／　　　 >　）|￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣|　　　　　/ヽ○==○_|￣|○
　/　/ 　　　　/ ／ .|＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿＿| -=≡　/　　||＿　||_ﾄ,￣|○
　し'　　　　　（＿つ ￣(_））￣ (.)）￣￣￣￣ (_））￣(.)）￣　　　　し'￣(_)）￣(_)）￣(_)）

　　　　　　　　　　　 ∧　 ∧
　　　　　　　　　　　 |1/　|1/
　　　　　　　　　 ／￣￣￣｀ヽ、
　　　　　　　　 /　　　　　　　　ヽ
　　　　　　　　/　 ⌒　 ⌒　　　 |
　　　　　　　　|　（●） （●）　　 |
　　　　　　　 /　　　　　　　　　　| 　　but my friends always tell
　　　　　　 /　　　　　　　　　　　|   me that I look like Moomin 
　　　　　　（　　　　　　　　　　＿ | *laughs*
　　　　　　（ヽ、　　　　　　　/ 　）|
　　　　　　 |　｀`ー――‐''"|　　ヽ|
　　　　　　 ゝ　ノ　　　　 　 ヽ　 ノ 

　　　　　　　　　　　 ∧　 ∧
　　　　　　　　　　　 |1/　|1/
　　　　　　　　　 ／￣￣￣｀ヽ、
　　　　　　　　 /　　　　　　　　ヽ
　　　　　　　　/　 ⌒　 ⌒　　　 |
　　　　　　　　|　　へ　 へ　　　 | 　　heheh, I just wanted to say it
　　　　　　　 /　　　　　　　　　　| 　　  out loud♪
　　　　　　 /　　　　　　　　　　　| 　　　
　　　　　　（　　　　　　　　　　＿ |
　　　　　　（ヽ、　　　　　　　/ 　）|
　　　　　　 |　｀`ー――‐''"|　　ヽ|
　　　　　　 ゝ　ノ　　　　 　 ヽ　 ノ
　￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣￣

(*´Д｀*)pants

( ´ー｀)

(((((((( ；ﾟДﾟ))))))) SHAKE SHAKE SHAKE SHAKE SHAKE SHAKE

ヽ(`Д´)ﾉ
Well no I wanted to but gyaahhhhwhatareyoudoinggstoppaeglaknrgklangka 

There is one more that I cannot add because it is too big.  But it is very awesome.  :)

THE Week

This is the week.

The week where (hopefully) my summer plans are decided.

I'm supposed to hear back from Rapoport by Thursday and I hope I'm going to have an answer from Ali.  Her and her mom are going to look at additional condos this weekend since she's in town.  Condos in general are a go, though I don't know if I'm included in that picture yet.

And this week is my birthday.  So either its going to really suck or be really awesome.  I'm hoping for the awesome choice, but I'm afraid its going to be the sucky one.  :(

As a side-note:  I seem to be obsessed with Disney and Non-Disney princesses, even more so than usual.  While I'm also watching a lot of Sweeney Todd.  I can't tell what's going on in my mind either.

Studying

I'm so proud of myself!  Yesterday, I actually did a copious amount of work.  I studied for my test and quiz and read most of the 50 pages I was supposed to read!  Go me!  Whoo-Hooo!!!  ;)

And boy am I looking forward to the weekend!  And movies.  Lots and lots of movies.