Sweet Catastrophe

Today is pretty lame. It started good. Spanish class went much better than I had expected to, and Ryan came home and surprised me with Super Smash Bros Brawl–we planned to have it the week it came out, but we were at Disney, so it’s been delayed.

But now here I am…I went to work at 3 and they sent me to lunch at 5. Wtf? I just ate at like, 2, and it’s so warm out I’ve already downed a bottle of water since I got to work so I’m definitely not full. And I sliced my finger on some fiberglass columns and got some stuck in there–it doesn’t just itch, it’s stinging. Ugh…where the hell are the band aids.

I’m pretty sure I’m just pmsing during the wrong week, but gah!

I’m supposed to go to Joolie’s Birthday party tonight, but those totally aren’t my people and I so don’t feel like it. I think I’m gonna stay here and play Brawl.

Not long ago, Joolie asked if I was any good at coordinating colors for a home—I’m totally not so I can’t help them in that area. I am, however, pretty good at figuring out all the things you need, that you might not think about, so I’ve been working on a list for them of things they need, that they may not think about.

I’ve looked around, and I know they need shelf paper, curtain rods, a mirror, plasma tv mount (they have an amazing new television that’s just propped on the floor…), outdoor lights, power strips, a microwave stand, shower curtains, and definitely new cleaning supplies (they need to keep this new place much cleaner than what they did with the old one), and probably a new dvd rack.

Since they’re moving from one place to another, they’ve got a good start with the stuff they already have, but I’ve got to take a closer look at some of the basic stuff they’ve already got and figure out what won’t work in the new place. It’s a bigger place, so not having room won’t really be an issue, but there are things like curtains and stuff that won’t necessarily carry over to the new house. They’re good so far, but they’ve still got a long way to go.

The brake-changing was successful. I feel confident that I could actually do it myself now, which makes it even more ridiculous to me that everywhere in town wanted over $100 to do it. It didn’t even take very long and we were using basic hand tools to do everything whereas they’ve got tools designed to quickly do the job.

The most annoying part of the whole process was the mosquitoes. No lie, we weren’t out there 90 minutes and I ended up with over 30 bites. With all the rain we’ve had lately, they’re running rampant. I just can’t take it though–if you put me in a crowd of ten other people, spray those people with sugar water and put bug repellent on me, I’ll still be the one with the most bites. Lucky me, I’m allergic! A good percentage of my bites usually turn into pretty bad knots. Only two knotted up this time, luckily. Oh how I dream of Hilton Head rentals, relaxing and mosquito-free. I can’t even sit around the Parkview fire in the evenings without getting gnawed on. *annoyed*

There was no arguing whatsoever. There wasn’t even a single complaint. He came close to commenting on how messy the apartment was, but saved himself by instead, talking about how it must suck not to have enough storage.

He also said something I never thought he’d say–he doesn’t care how long it takes me to finish college. “You’re doing great.” That stopped me dead in my tracks.

See, he’s always fallen into that misconception about college being a 4-year thing, period. Well no, that’s based on either taking 15 hours every semester, or taking a full load every summer–which are both things that just aren’t very possible if you’re truly making it on your own and paying your own way. There just aren’t enough hours in the day. Originally, I was on the 5-year plan, that’s what I decided. Illness and crappy registration processes have bumped me over to the 6-year plan. I care. I’m a little bothered by it, but I keep reminding myself that I’m doing something most people never bother to do, and that as much as I think people care, no one gives a damn how long it takes me to finish college, as long as I finish.—That’s all a completely different post though!

So my Easter has been pretty bland. I had a short shift at work this morning and came home to do a load of laundry and tidy up the apartment some before my dad comes by.

He’ll be here in a bit to change the brakes on my car. Everywhere here in town wanted $100+ so Daddy said he’d just come do it. Thank God for daddies.

Work was short, but interesting enough! Lee left the broom leaning inside the doorway for the rollup door. I didn’t see it. You see where this is going.

Instead of slamming the ’stop’ button, I thought I’d just kick it out of the way quickly…but that doesn’t work when it’s leaning in the groove the door actually slides into. *Snap* Big oops! I freaked a little. The door kept going almost to the end, so I was pretty worried I had broken it. I’d definitely be looking into some credit card debt relief then because there’s no way I could pay for one of those doors! I waited until no one was around to check it out and make sure it was still working. *Sigh of relief*

I also got yelled at because a manager was trying to be helpful….This older gentleman wanted a brochure on one of the sheds outside, but we only keep those out in the sheds. The guy said he’d already looked and there wasn’t any out there, but of course, Billy went to double-check to make sure they weren’t misplaced or hadn’t been overlooked. So I got yelled at because the man felt like Billy was calling him a liar….and wouldn’t you know it, when Billy returned after looking in the store for a pamphlet on that particular shed, the guy was SO nice to him. Today I understand ornery.

So now I’m just waiting and hoping the brake-changing goes smoothly. I’d hate for him to find something else wrong, or run into a problem or, heaven forbid, find something to fuss at me about…we’re doing so well!

So I got my new phone on Tuesday. Of course, I ended up choosing the most expensive phone Alltel offers… :-X Krizit says I’m gonna have to break out the hot lingerie and put out for this one…I say nahhh–He knew what he was getting into when he decided to buy me a new phone for Christmas. [<--Yeah that's right, I'm a good girlfriend, *I* made the decision to get my Christmas present way late so we could get it cheaper when our contract was almost up....with no bitching to him about it! I was patient!]

Anyway, I got the HTC PPC6800 (more commonly known as the Mogul). It’s a beautiful little smartphone. Unfortunately, I’ve never had a smartphone so I’m having to work to learn this thing. There are literally at least 3 ways to accomplish each possible task and I inevitably forget that and try to do something the hardest way. It’s taking some time, but I’ll get there.

I was really proud of my accomplishment yesterday. I can barely work the damn phone, but I can hack it! Okay….”hack” in the most mild sense of the word.

I don’t use an alarm clock, I use my phone. I just tune out the alarm clock now, but I always hear the phone, so it really irked me to find that I couldn’t use my own ringtones for the alarm. You’re only allowed to choose from a small selection–not even the whole pre-loaded ringtone catalog. Weird. Big problem there since all but one of those choices is basically a short beep and it doesn’t repeat so that does me no good! The longer alarm was a really annoying sound that’ll just piss me off, so I set out to remedy this problem.

I can connect my phone to my computer via usb, but the phone isn’t a searchable device. I had to go through EVERY folder on the phone to find where the alarm ringtones were stored. I shit you not, they were in the last possible folder to open, and they weren’t titled in any way to make it easy to discern which folder they might be in. Finding them was a task in itself, but after that, I had to play around until I figured out not only the proper format for the files, but I had to play around with an editor to find the settings that would give me good enough quality with a small enough file size–this was something I had 0 experience with, so I was beyond elated when I got it all straight! I outsmarted the smartphone!! Woo! Aren’t you impressed? Just nod.

So now I’ve just gotta figure out how to use AIM on it and sort out one more annoying problem and I think I’ll have it all straight.

Know when you get a text message and your ringtone is going off, you can hit a button to silence that, right? Well, I can’t. Or at least, I can’t find a way. I could already be in the middle of replying to the text and my tone will continue on until I stop it. Even if I hit the button that essentially puts my phone in sleep mode and turns the screen off–that stops the song, but as soon as I turn it back on, it continues where it left off!!

I’m gonna play with a different file type in a bit and see if that has anything to do with it. Otherwise, I’ll pull my hair out.

Peggy has ignored my request to not work until 8am. I can’t even function anymore today. I didn’t get home until 4 and I had too much to do to feel like I could take a nap. By the time I got most of it out of the way, it was really just too late for a nap. So now I’m just pushing through till a reasonable bedtime.

I can’t think straight though. I keep losing my train of thought and forgetting what I was about to do. Like an hour ago, I got up to leave for Wal Mart to pick up some bread, pet supplies, and my prescription. I got distracted when I heard the dishwasher finish its cycle; I walked into the kitchen to sort out the next set of dirty dishes and then came back to my chair. I spaced on the whole Wal Mart trip. I guess I’ll have to do that tomorrow.

Yeah…I just stopped to watch something on tv for like, 5 minutes and forgot what else I wanted to blog…

I used to have a lot of problems with my dad. We were too much alike and he struggled to find the right parenting methods for me when he and Mom got divorced. (I chose to live with him–I knew my mom couldn’t really afford to take care of me) We’ve finally reached the point where we don’t argue every conversation. He doesn’t try to lay guilt trips on me for not calling, and I try to call more often. I’m glad we’ve gotten to that.

He called earlier today with a really weird request. He’s been dating a younger woman for quite some time now. He’s fully aware that a good chunk of their relationship hinges on the support he can offer her and he’s fine with that. As far as I’m concerned, as long as he doesn’t hold any delusional ideas about what they really have, then I can understand where he’s at. He’s getting the affection he needs, and he’s able to take care of someone–something I never really let him do. He’s filling two holes and well, he’s been pretty screwed over by women, my mother included, so I get it.

Anyway, though this situation has been pretty good for him, they split for a bit and she got into some stupid stuff and now he’s trying to help her again. My father called me today and asked if I’d be willing to drop his girlfriend off at a drug treatment facility. It’s actually a ’secret’ place here in town for battered women and their children, but it also serves as an addiction facility. Men aren’t generally allowed there, other than immediate family and only in certain circumstances, so he called me in case he wouldn’t be able to drop her off. I’m awaiting his call.

Really odd situation, but it says a lot to me that he would call me and not only entrust me with the details of this confidential situation, but ask me a favor. It’s a very adult moment to have your father ask such an important favor of you.

I’m upstairs blogging from my new phone. Awesome? Yup.

After my night of sleeping on clouds–we woke up pretty slowly and made some lazy plans. We called and made appointments in the resort spa….yeah.

So before lunch, Ryan and I headed down for a 30 minute private jacuzzi before and hour-long couples massage. It was an amazing experience for my first massage. We had two great, personable masseuses rather than snobbish ones, which I was worried about for some reason.

We got to relax a bit after while we waiting on Joolie and Brandell–they had the appointment after us. We all checked out and hit the bus to Downtown Disney. The first order of business was food. It was after 3 and none of us had eaten. Off to the Rainforest Cafe and oh my god what an incredible dining experience! To say this place really fills the rainforest motif is a complete understatement! The animals actually move and in regular intervals they do sort of a little scene and there’s also a storm! The lights dim and there’s thunder and lightening and rain sounds, it’s too cool. (You should search it on Google Images) The food was probably the best we ate the whole trip. We got the huge appetizer sampler and we were all speechless. There was a crab dip that I’m still completely obsessing over–no joke. ["Big Blue Crab Delight: A treasure from the sea! Our creamy, homemade dip is loaded with tender crabmeat and served with crispy tri-color tortilla chips for dipping." *droooooooooool*] I’m gonna do some snooping around online and see if I can find a recipe.

We’ve all talked about the Rainforest Cafe a lot and we all at least want to stop through there again sometime if we’re near–even if we’re not going to Disney. I’d love to be able to take a lot of people down there. I can’t imagine being able to send out birthday invitations for this place. I think everyone would have an amazing time though!

Honestly, the rest of the day was really just us making our way around the shops and checking out the little sights such as the Lego sculptures and such. It’s weird how you can do so little and still have such a great time. I think they pump drugs into the air on Disney property. There’s just this happy/fun vibe through the whole place. It’s a little on the crazy side.

We finally hit the road after 11 and got home at 4am and crashed. I’m still unhappy about being home, but at least now I’ve gotten past most of the big stuff I had to do.

I can’t wait to go back.

Joolie and Brandell are working on the new house the right way. They’re getting everything done before they move in. That way they’ll actually be motivated to do it all.

Part of that is furnishing the place. They’re doing great so far, but they got a great dining room table and grabbed the chairs that came with it. Once they got home, they realized the chairs are almost as tall as the table! Very awkward! So now they’re searching around for new chairs that’ll actually match the table. It’s not proving to be a very easy task.

I was going to suggest directbuy, but I’m honestly not too familiar myself with how that all works and I’d hate to suggest it without really knowing. Anyone want to give me a good rundown? What I’ve read thus far makes it sound like a good idea for some of the stuff they’ll be looking into.

So who’s got the scoop?