Bootstrap's Bootstraps

I have a day off. My second in a row, actually. I'm just sitting at home, watching movies, hanging out with the dogs and cats, playing on the internet. My attention span's a little short, but I guess I can be distractable on my day off. We saw Transformers 2 yesterday. It was pretty good, but honestly the same as the first one, just bigger. Ya know, more robots, more Megan Fox, more explosions, more huge robot battles. It was worth the $5 per person. Tonight, we're pulling a double movie night, with Up and Hangover. I'm excited to see Up, and Hangover's supposed to be funny, so it'll be a good way to end my "weekend". I only get a certain number of days off per week, and they haven't been consecutive in a really long time. All in all, things in my life are alright. A little strained for cash, a little tired, a little overworked, but it's all good in the long run. I'm ready for something to happen, but I don't want to take any time off from work... Go figure. I love my job, and I'm dreading JP's leaving, but the inevitable must happen, I suppose. Anywho, that's all I have for now. I'm posting a picture of me holding Puma with Maverick in the background, since I said I'd post a picture of my favorite little kitty. :)

uh...

Hello dear ones. Life is relatively great on my end of the world. I got decent grades this past semester, and I am finally beginning the vacation I've been needing so desperately. I love my job still, and working at Cracker Barrel is just as rewarding and fun as it was over a year ago when I started. I'm still dating Steve, and we're happy. He's a sweet guy, really, and he takes care of me. I haven't missed a car payment or even been late, and things are still running smoothly with my little white Cobalt. Puma is still the most amazing cat in the world, Peanut and Rose are growing on me, and being close to friends is incredibly excellent. Some drama has been happening at a bar I frequent, but that's nothing new. Steve no longer works there, which is new, but not unexpected, given the aforementioned drama. I can't think of any significant details to provide that would make much sense, and I'm a little scatterbrained at the moment, so I'll supply more information later. For now, suffice to say that things are fine and I'm doing well. I'll have to tell y'all about the Special Olympics and my plan with Mother to go to Galveston for a few days this summer, as well as a briefing on the drama at the bar and the developments at work. Love and hugs! I now go to prepare for the Barrel once again. Hi-ho, hi-ho...

B&N

So, I'm sitting in Barnes & Noble in Beaumont, playing on the computer. I had to purchase Wi-Fi access, but I guess it wasn't terribly expensive, so it's alright. I think I'm about to get a drink from Starbucks and head back home. I'm having a pretty decent vacation, not doing a whole lot and enjoying it. I've slept in two days in a row, and I go back to Huntsville tomorrow. I have a lunch date with friends tomorrow, and then a gym date with Courtney some time this week. I have some homework to do, but I'm not terribly concerned about it all.

I just talked to JP via Yahoo Messenger and he said he was enjoying his vacation, but his cable is out and he has nothing to do. Don't you just hate that?

I have a Lighting Design project to do, an art project to officially get started on, and a musical scene to choose. I think either Oklahoma! or West Side Story. I haven't decided for sure yet.

I'm a little vaguely up in the air right now, so I'll head out, not having anything specifically concerete to say. Thanks for listening, though! Love and hugs!

The Next Chapter

Right now, I currently feel intoxicated. I can honestly promise that I have consumed no alcohol in over a week, at the least. I guess it's a combination of my equilibrium being slightly off and my sinuses still being clogged. I've been slightly deathly ill lately, by the way. On and off fever, hacking cough, draining sinuses, fatigue, body aches, and general exhaustion. I've been sleeping for hours on end every day, and I'm finally getting better. I'm actually sitting in class today! Yay! This has been a rather sickly semester for me thus far. First a little cold, then a nasty stomach bug that made me want to die, and then this really horrible, yucky "crud" that's been plaguing me for the past week. Hopefully it'll all go away and I can go another few years without getting severely sick again.

My scene went up yesterday. I got hit pretty hard, and I cried, but I'll tough it out and move on. I guess you live and learn. I could make excuses about my main character dropping out less than a week before the performance, my severe illness, the lack of time and rehearsal, and the lack of available rehearsal space, but I refuse to make unnecessary excuses for my lack of proper scene choice. Maybe it's a pride thing.

I have a project due on Friday that should be relatively simple to make and complete, but I have to sit down and do it. I have a show to see tonight. Angels In America opens tonight, and I'm looking forward to seeing it. Since my directing scene's finished, I have to begin research on my musical scene as soon as possible. Things are slowing down a little, so I think I'll make it.

Still giving myself the B-12 shots, and still doing just fine with them, though no major changes yet. I need to put together a to-do list and a grocery list for Wal-Mart. I need shampoo. I need to do laundry, too. Always something to do. But that's life. Not in my normal peppy mood today, sorry. Just dealing as I can.

JP's birthday was Sunday. I gave him a card and a little fuzzy yellow duck that went with the theme of the card. It was kind of funny because I borrowed his keys to put his card and duck in his car in order to avoid embarassment and gossip, and he asked me to take his balloon and gifts to the car. His mother and sisters had been by earlier that day and brought gifts and the balloon. It was such a comfortable, normal thing to do. It felt like Jarrod and me all over again, with the familiarity and the comfort and the predictability. Another interesting discovery was one I think I've made before, and that is that he doesn't ever ask me to do anything as far as work goes. I was working with Heather on Sunday and he asked her to spot sweep when we were both standing there, and then told her to go light the lanterns on the tables, rather than me. I didn't mind, but I found it a little odd. To top it off, I was sweeping under a big table so we could seat people there again and he touched me on the elbow and told me the busser could do it. I don't know why he does that, but it may be because he knows that I'm willing to do anything he needs done, both for work and on a slightly personal level. (Think shopping for his mom's Mother's Day gift when given a spending limit within the store, or taking his birthday presents to his car, or getting him medicine for his migraines.)

Ok, class is over, so I'm off. Love and hugs, as always.

The Bomb-Diggity

Well, it's done. The big test that required my presence at work is complete. I have no idea how we fared as a whole, but I was complimented by our district manager on my hard work, so I guess that's good. Apparently I'm the bomb-diggity. Quite an accomplishment, huh? We had to prove our ability to the "big bosses" this past weekend, and my general manager specifically scheduled me on the day I requested off just so he could ensure that we were doing our very best by having the very best. The "A" team, so to speak. Like I said, I don't know if our endeavors were successful. I'll find out when I call and talk to Kevin (the GM) today or tomorrow about my schedule on Saturday.

I went to a baby shower last night, an that was fun. I found some really adorable things for the baby, so I was proud of myself. And then Steve and I had an argument because he randomly thought I was off work on Valentine's Day. Um... not so much. The thing is, everybody wants that day off, so JP (now in charge of schedules) isn't letting anybody off of work based solely upon requests. Not that I even requested it off. I did ask to work the morning, though, and I'll call in a favor to Kevin to see if I can get things worked out. Steve got the day off and wants to make a big deal of it, but I just want him to stop spending money on me. He's blowing hundreds of dollars (I assume) on gifts for me that I absolutely don't need. I wish he'd save his money. A friend of ours had the idea that from now on, when Steve wants to buy me something that isn't necessary, he can put the money in a savings account and use it when we want to take a vacation somewhere. I think that's a fantastic idea.

My father and I were debating the grammatical correctness of the phrase, "I can so." I responded to the accusation of not being able to talk without using my hands with the above phrase, and my father decided it was not, in fact, grammatically correct. Thoughts? Opinions? Arguments?

I hate having homework. I also hate being tired for no reason. I got plenty of sleep last night, but I'm still tired. No idea why. And now I'm hungry. Poo.

Anywho, I'm out. Time to actually pay attention in class. Lighting design. Woo hoo. Love and hugs!

UPDATE: We were awarded a certificate of mastery!!! Wooo hoo!!! Go us! And I'm working Saturday morning, leaving the evening free for time with Steve on Valentine's Day. A little perturbed about my actress not being able to hold up her end of the bargain and actually toughing it out and NOT COMPLAINING!!! She whines a lot. But she's old, and is apparently under the impression that she's the only one with a full plate. I'm calling a big, resounding BS on that one. But it'll be ok.

I hope.

And... I'm back!

I gave myself a shot of B-12 this morning. It's prescribed by the doctor. My levels are supposed to be around 1100, but the tests showed mine to be around 270. Not so great. So, I have to give myself a shot once a week for four weeks, then once every other week for four shots, and then once a month until the rest of the shots run out. That should last a couple years. It's supposed to give me more energy and make me more able to process carbs and create new proteins. Yay for that. I'm still tired, though. And now my leg hurts. :( The funny part is, I psyched myself out last night about this stupid shot and had a really rough night last night. This morning, I get up, get the shot ready, and just do, and then laugh at myself because it was really easy and relatively painless. Just like it was somebody else giving the shot. Go figure.

Other than that, I'm going 90 miles an hour down life's highway with school, tons of homework, and an almost-full-time job, so there's probably a reason my B-12 is so low. Apparently your body uses more under stress and when you get busy with a million things on your plate. Go figure.

In other news, Steve and I are back together. I don't know how long it will last, but I'm comfortable with him. As I told a friend, he may or may not be Mr. Right, but he's Mr. Right Now, and I can handle that. I don't particularly care for being single. The whole idea scares me a little. If Hawaii is in the future, I might change my mind, but I have a year to decide.

I'm going to Germany next month! Woo!!! I'm actually incredibly excited about that. It's a great opportunity and I know I'll have a blast.

Sorry this is so short, but I have an art assignment due tomorrow that will take about 20 minutes, a play to read (about an hour), a lighting design assignment to finish (about an hour), and possibly a nap to take (20 minutes or two hours...) all before bed tonight. It's going to be a long day, so I'll have to remember to grab food before I really get involved in homework. That whole remembering to eat thing is sometimes pretty difficult.

Hope things are going well for everybody! Love and hugs!

Puma

I have a new kitty. His name is Puma, and he's amazing!!! He's fun and playful and loves sitting in my lap! He got fixed yesterday, and was a little groggy in the car, but he really had fun after the drugs wore off and the dogs decided to say hello. He was pretty much playing karate kitty, trying to swipe all of the dogs at once, like you see in the movies. It was pretty hilarious.

On a more serious note, I have a friend running in a marathon for charity, specifically for the Ronald McDonald House in the Texas Children's Hospital in Houston. She's running on behalf of the child of a friend who died in the hospital after being born with severe physical problems. They've been working on this for about four weeks and have already raised more than $3,000. She's actually sitting here telling us about this fund raising process and the overwhelming support from around the country. It's an amazingly inspiring story. You can read more about Team Chloe on their Facebook group page. There's another article discussing their work and the progress of the movement that began about a month ago by text message, devised by two young women who know Chloe's mother. It's awesome. I'm asking everyone to donate if they can, and at least get interested in what these wonderful women are doing in memory of a beautiful little girl.

Obama and Education

Alright, so I visited Obama's education page and was reading through his ideas. In theory, it's a wonderful plan to streamline financial aid and reduce the application to just one form, remove the standardized test requirements, push pre-school, and make a serious effort to keep kids in school. The only huge issue I have is that he most likely won't get it done. Surprise surprise. I know there are promises made by each president to improve our education system, and none of those promises are ever completly fulfilled. I'll be honestly impressed and seriously might change my mind about the effectiveness of this guy if he gets this stuff done.

The other thing I was looking at is this new movement in Obama's governing plan that will force those between the ages of 18 to 25 to serve three months out of the year on a homeland training force, so to speak. It will focus on crisis response and the proper procedure for recovery from nuclear attack and (I assume) natural disasters. My big thing about that is I'm 21, and every summer, when I would be supposedly doing this service, I'm either taking classes or working in order to graduate from college. When I become a professional, I won't have time for at least a few years to go play with shovels for three months out of the year. I'm sorry, but this is not cool. I have one summer left before I hit the real world, and I'll be danged if I'm wasting it at some training camp that I didn't sign up for. It's forced volunteering, and it's crap.

These are going to be college kids digging ditches for community service. Now, I think I know where this is coming from. Obama has this plan to give free college tuition for at least 2/3 of the total if you perform 100 hours of community service (per year, I think), so perhaps he thinks that forcing young people to volunteer their time and effort will make them more worthy of the money he wants to give them.

I have no idea if what I just said makes sense, since I was listening to talk radio while writing it, but I think it might. Let me know.

O M G.

Ok, so the election results last night... Severely disappointing, to say the least. On an interesting note, my parents were invited (and actually WENT to) an election party last night. I couldn't sit and watch the results. I just checked the results online every now and again while watching Get Smart, which is a very cute movie. So much for Nobama. I guess we'll have to wait it out. I don't know about the man's safety, though. After those radicals planned to assassinate him the first time, I'm sure he'll be in greater danger as time passes. We shall see. We have to leave it all to God now. Our vote is done. I did vote, did not get Starbucks, did not get Ben & Jerry's, and did not get a sticker. Oh well. I did my part, and I think my voice was heard. Too bad not enough people agreed with me. Down we go. Anybody up for a rollercoaster ride?

Stop Spreading the Rumors Around...

I taught my first lesson today at the Woodlands High School! I talked about vocal health and breathing techniques, plus a few stress-relief techniques to relax the vocal muscles. It was a ton of fun, and the kids were great and really interested in the lesson. I teach again on Friday, and finally on Monday. I'll give a test to the students on Wednesday and finish the lessons. I'll actually be able to use these lessons as my unit for my teacher work sample, so that will be fantastic.

I despise those who begin rumors, but I have decided to rise above them and look objectively until they can no longer affect me. I really hope things don't change so drastically that I'm unhappy, but I think I'll be able to handle it. I knew this might happen, so I guess I was more prepared than I thought. To fill you all in, I've been hanging out and talking to JP at work. Some morning shift employees questioned another manager if anything was going on between us, and, when the manager questioned him about it, JP replied that there wasn't anything between us, which is absolutely true. We're friends. However, he called me over to talk to him at work and mentioned that things had been brought up (again, actually), so basically he can't talk to me or be around me excessively at work.

I've been thinking about the whole situation, and I can't figure out if he knows that he's been hanging around me more than anyone else, and I don't know if he thinks there is or was anything between us before, simply because of the wording he used. I'm still up in the air about this whole situation, but I'll just have to wait and see, as usual. Love, darlings.

Christmas...

I've had Christmas on the brain for the past few weeks. Between work putting up Christmas trees and ornaments and Miracle on 34th Street on TV, I'm already singing carols. Odd, isn't it, how time flies? I haven't started shopping yet, but I know what I'm getting every one of the people on my list. I'm already getting excited! And I'm beginning to believe in Santa Claus again...

Ike

Ok, so Ike wasn't really that bad as far as hurricanes go. Yeah, we got some wind and rain, and yeah, he turned the lights off, but we made it, and none of the trailer houses in Steve's neighborhood were damaged at all. Weak hurricane. By default.

The thing that sucks is that we have no power anywhere but campus, which is an incredibly boring place, we have a curfew from 8 PM to 6 AM to keep us from causing trouble, and I can't contact work to find out what's going on because nobody is answering the phone. Oh well. At least I have internet and some A/C to sleep in. Fyi, I heart my laptop.

Later, taters!

Random

Ok, so this will be a quick blog post. Class is about to start, and I'm sitting at a table with three pretty awesome girls, and I think I actually am going to enjoy my methods block! Woo! Class is starting, so I'm off. More later!

A Wonderful Thought

I found the following via the stumble button, and I thought it was wonderful.

Wannabe Hippie

A woman who feels desired is many things:
She is less likely to reach frustration with
you
or the children
or the cat
or the dog.
She is more likely to feel like an important part of
your life
and the home you share
and the children you created together.
She is more likely to look at her own body
and instead of feeling disgust at the way it has changed
since bringing your children into the world,
she is more likely to remember the feel of
your hands on her hips
or trailing down her spine
or the way that you pull her in
and fit her perfectly into the spaces of your own form.
A woman who feels desired
is so much easier to sit across the table from
as she is less likely to be judging
her own skin
her own curves
her own worth
her place in the bed that you share.
She is more likely to care for the body she has been given,
feed it good, whole foods
put it to frequent use in the garden
enjoy the pull of muscle
and increasing strength
as she carries ever-growing children
and becomes more confident with household repairs.
A woman who feels desired will rear children
who see their bodies as perfect works of art
that should be celebrated
respected
and capable of love.

It takes very little to make a woman feel desired.
It does not require
expensive jewelery
exotic flowers
pages of poems
romantic dates
or even dramatic words.
You can tell a woman you desire her
with nothing more than a look
a simple touch
a well placed word
and by listening to what she's saying
and then responding appropriately.

Without those simple things
even a strong woman may start to feel
less.
And less leads to
depression
self loathing
anger
frustration
bad parenting
and a marriage
that may not last the next five years.

So when your wife asks you,
"Do you find me sexy?"
the answer should never be
a long pause
followed by a apologetic
"I just love you."

Lie to me
if you have to,
but tell me "yes"
and then watch
as my confidence continues
to bloom
and my heart stays open
even when the world
is throwing us curve balls.
Because sometimes,
a woman needs to know she is desired
or she'll start to believe
it is no longer true.