Brick

So, I was reading a Spinner article of the saddest songs, and #11 was one of my favorites from my wimpy phase in high school. For reference, here are the lyrics courtesy of LyricsFreak:

Brick / Ben Folds Five

6 am day after Christmas
I throw some clothes on in
The dark
The smell of cold
Car seat is freezing
The world is sleeping and
I am numb
Up the stairs to her apartment
She is balled up on the couch
Her mom and dad went down
To Charlotte
They're not home to find us
Out
And we drive
Now that I have founds someone
I'm feeling more alone
Than I ever have before

Chorus
Shes a brick and I'm drowning
Slowly
Off the coast and I'm headed
Nowhere
Shes a brick and I'm drowning
Slowly

They call her name at 7:30
I pace around the parking lot
Then I walk down to buy her
Flowers
And sell some gifts that I got
Cant you see
Its not me you're dying for
Now shes feeling more alone
Than she ever has before

As weeks went by
It showed that she was not fine
They told me son its time
To tell the truth
And she broke down and I broke
Down
cause I was tired of lying
Driving back to her apartment
For the moment were alone
Shes alone
And I'm alone
Now I know it

I had no idea it was about an abortion!!! Now, I can rationalize the scene in Dirty Dancing that I saw when I was little. I mean, to a child, it makes perfect sense that poor girl fell on a table and it collapsed, and she got stabbed by a rusty knife (I was an imaginative child). But as a teenager ... I still didn't know about that kind of thing??

Proof that high school health education doesn't work. That, or I live in my own special little world. Or a combination of the two.

9/1/07

Happy September!

Today:

• Slept in until 10 and lazed around all morning. It was great not having to get up early and rush off somewhere.
  
• Made a veggie omelet, but it couldn't compare to the one I had in Anchorage.
• Finally decided to brave the heat outside, and pick up our race packets for Monday. We headed out to the Disneyland Resort to the Health & Fitness Expo that inevitably seems to accompany these things, checked out a couple of exhibits, and got our packets. I seriously considered buying one of these really cute running skirts, but was too afraid of the price to even look (rightly so). Now, I wish I had! After looking at the race route, I started having serious doubts. I haven't trained much - can I really run 13.1 miles at 15 mph??? ::edit:: OK, 4 mph. I was tired last night::
  
• Drove up to USC for the tailgate. Really, you'd think they'd work hard to clear up the construction at least on these days. After driving around for probably an hour (not uncommon) we ended up parking for $20 in a garage nearby. The tailgate was probably the most fun I've been to though! I was a little disappointed I didn't get a ticket to the game, but it was nice to come home and relax too.
• Finished cleaning and organizing my desk. It still has a ways to go, but I've organized more than a few little "piles."
  
• Fixed up my hallway closet. I was actually intending to get rid of some clothes, but it was still too hot to do such extensive work. I also learned that I will never buy another t shirt - I have a lifetime supply of free ones from runs and events. And now a really cool long-sleeved tech shirt from the half marathon!
  
• Started reorganizing my iPod music. Even though they discourage music during the race this weekend, I really don't know how I will do without it! I really wanted to buy Moby's "Extreme Ways" from the Bourne Ultimatum, but you can only buy it on iTunes if you buy the whole soundtrack. Bogus!! I'd call myself a fairweather Moby fan, so I'm not really interested in a different album. :-(
  

Surveys

I do surveys quite a bit. There are a few trustworthy ones that actually get you some things you'd want. Here are my big two:

Allure Experts

Since I don't have much time to read the magazine, I'm a member of their expert panel. It was by invitation for a while, but now anyone is free to sign up. You earn points, and then once a year redeem them. I did one survey and won a very cute pink makeup bag (that I use to store my colored pens), but have only done one since. The surveys are few and far between and the site is sketchy, but I'm sticking it out because I still love the magazine.

Harris Polls

I get a lot of these surveys, and they're usually short. The one I got today though was very long, but I got a lot of points for it. You also earn points for taking the surveys, and order from a catalog of "gifts." I've ordered a wedding magazine with my points, but haven't gotten it yet - it's been 2 months, but it was free. They have some nice gifts, and they have some ... pointless gifts.

My Coke Rewards

I hate this site. I hate putting in the obscenely long codes. The printing on the can boxes and the tiny lids is near impossible to read most of the time. And I drink a ton of DC, so this should be a really good program for me. It got worse when they "upgraded" the site, apparently for people with ADD and a T1/LAN line.

Bizrate

This may as well be spam. I ordered my Pranayama jacket from Roots, and took a survey through them for a "Roots coupon" - that ended up being a magazine subscription request, much like those scams where you could win $1,000,000 if you just order 10 magazines. Very unfortunate, stay away!

Shopping

Well, I did treat myself to an Old Navy trip after work today. With me, it's usually hit-or-miss; the last time I was there about 3 weeks ago, I was confronted by trapeze shirts and ill-fitting long sleeved shirts. I can't help but wonder who they are using for fit models!

On the way in I saw their Fall Preview sale. Uh huh, everyone who's anyone goes to Old Navy for the clearance section, in the off chance they have something cute and not XXL. The other thing I saw was more unflattering trapeze shirts.

And then, $5 long tanks??? If nothing else, that made it worth my time!

So, if you ignore the trapeze shirts, here are the other things I recommend:










I wanted these, but they didn't have my size and didn't have any that weren't already filthy.











These were so cute in plaid! But I didn't try it on, for fear of looking like I was 12.

I did try on a couple of things from the girls' section, which is a neat money-saving trick. If you're a size 4, that correlates just about with a girls' size 16, or XL. Unfortunately, the sleeves weren't quite large enough for me.

I did buy a very cute work shirt, in slate, with a turtleneck collar and buttons in the back. Perfect for wearing your hair up, and $10!

I even marched down to Tilly's and tried on a rust Billabong dress. Unfortunately all they had were size small, and the medium would have probably been too big. For $23 on clearance, it should be pretty near perfect!

I also bought my school supplies that Target failed to provide from Wal Mart, spending a whopping $5!! I also bought floral wire, so there's no excuse not to make my roses - except now I have to find my tape.

8/31/07

Today was a particularly uninteresting day. Not many people were in the office for the long weekend, and the cafeteria was creepily empty at lunch time. I helped some people with their systems problems - and no, I'm not in IT! My IT solutions include:

"Just keep pressing the button until it works."
"No, it won't mess it up more. It's already broken!"

Believe it or not, this was sage advice and saved multiple peoples' day.
I should pursue a career in IT!

To do, for this weekend:
- iGoogle has a nifty to-do list widget. Why am I not using that, and instead carrying around a post-it portfolio (which I forgot today)??
- I'm taking myself to Old Navy for some fall basics and then to Wal Mart in desperate search of basic school supplies.
- Drive through car wash.
- USC tailgate this weekend! Yay!
- Maybe have time before the tailgate to look at Ikea for wedding decorations. I like the Santa Ana store better than the Carson one, but the Carson store is on the way.
- Order one of the Roots jackets I found this week.
- Decorate the dining room with wedding decorations, and blog about it!
- Finish cleaning up my desk at home. My work desk is amazingly clean.
- Make ribbon roses for our engagement vase.
- Order my last book for class from Amazon.
- Run 13 miles!!
- Finish my entrepreneurship homework.
- Check the shipping status of my various gift orders. Boo to the holiday weekend, and not getting things shipped!

Making a to-do list has been really good for me. I've been keeping track of what I'm getting done, and crossing things off feels really good! Plus, staying organized is really helpful when you don't have much time.

8/30/07

Yesterday:
- Was my first day in 6 that I didn't have class! I let myself sleep in a little, and felt wonderful the rest of the day. In fact, I don't even remember going to bed the night before.
- Didn't have too much work in the morning. Had lunch with my friend, and while we were talking I realized: we've worked together a really long time! Plus, they had Greek salad in the cafeteria, so I was pretty excited about that (why doesn't Daphne's advertise their Greek salads more??).
- Ran around to avert crisis all afternoon. Ended the day victorious!
- Dropped a friend at her house and then called home. I was so excited to tell my mom that my grandma's photo book was on its way!
- Came home and obsessively read I can have cheezburger?
- Had dinner at Wood Ranch, while Andy patiently listened to the story of my crazy afternoon. It was really good, but an awful lot of food and a little bit on the pricier side. I'd recommend it for a nice night out.
- Filled up on gas after a failed Sam's attempt, came home, and went to bed.

Decisions

I must be in a very black-and-white mood.

Oh Roots ... If only you weren't so expensive ... and in Canada ... and all eco-friendly ...
















Which do I choose? I'm leaning toward the right Pranayama jacket.

Honestly, if I could exchange wardrobes with anyone right now, it'd be my friend Maggie. She's got such great style!!

August

Where did August go?

1-2: These days count, they were pretty standard and I was working an extra couple of hours a day to get ready for vacation.
3-5: Don't really count. I mostly "checked in" Friday, because I got to work at 6:30, and left at 2 pm. And the weekend in St. Louis went by so fast! I wish I'd just stayed through Monday.
6-9: These days count also; I was working pretty hard at work, worrying about pre-fall, trying to get my homework started for it, and searching all over for long sleeved shirts. For the record, you can't buy even lightweight long-sleeved shirts in Southern California in early August, even if it is back-to-school time. Well - you can at Old Navy. I'd bought a medium black shirt marked "long sleeve" the week before, but when I tried it on ... the sleeves only came 3/4 on me, and the scoop neck was ... extreme.
10-20: These were 10 amazing days on the second-best vacation I've ever taken. Hopefully I'll get a little time to blog about it this weekend, or at least start. Why second best? Well, no one could ever beat Playa Del Carmen.
21-23: These count. I spent them getting ready for pre-fall. I did't realize how stressed out I was about it until after the fact.
24-26: These so count. Why is spending 8 hours at school so much more exhausting than 8 hours at work? Probably because your brain needs to be active the whole time (you know you take mental health breaks at work, don't pretend!) and you really need that weekend to catch up.
27-29: These count as a day and a half each. Without a weekend to rest and catch up, even my most interesting class was painful to sit through.

30: I suppose today counts. I gave myself an extra 30 minutes of sleep, and it was so worth it.

Total days in August: 16.5

Weight

Occasionally when I feel like I'm back down to a normal weight I like to try on clothes from college. Today was the striped pants I bought from the Gap because they were so perfect ... at the time. Unfortunately, vertically striped pants that don't fit vertically are not flattering in the slightest.

Today? At first I thought they were questionable. After about 15 minutes? Awesome!

Cake

My friend sent me an amazing cake website today. We're not doing fondant (I love buttercream!) but it never hurts to look.

Like cookies better? I'm making some of these for Christmas!

And this site made my day. It was a bad one, so it should work for you too!

8/29/2007

One last class before the 6-day marathon is over. I'm exhausted!

Today:

• I had planned on wearing my blue turtleneck and black pants for my video interview today (not for a job!). But the shirt was too short for my baggy pants, so I switched to a plain white top. That's right. I should know better. Not only did I look ghostly on screen, I spilled leftover coffee from last night on it. Luckily that was out of the frame. Why did I have to wear black pants? Because I wanted to wear these:
  

They don't look as witchy in real life. And they're insanely comfortable!

• Had a hectic day. But I think I made everyone happy before I left. I didn't really get to have lunch, and I stayed late. What a good employee!
  
• Drove down to school around 5 - the drive to OC is nicer than to LA. What a bummer.
  

Last night, when I pulled into the parking lot, I felt like I had driven in to a BMW sales lot. And here I am with my dirty, little, 13 year old car. That still needs a wash (tomorrow).

I actually can't wait for tomorrow. It's a friend's birthday, and after work I plan on sleeping. That way, I'll feel up to doing my homework and running the half marathon, and feel a little less like this:

Red Rain

Every now and again, Jack FM will get a certain song in its rotation and always seem to play it when I'm in the car (I know, I'm always in the car).

As a result, I'll now deposit Peter Gabriel's "Red Rain" to be stuck in your head for weeks. You're welcome! :-)

Diet

So, I've been trying for a long time to get back to my college weight. I've saved my favorite clothes from then in the hopes that I'll someday fit in again.

After final exams and the cruise, I was ... in not such good shape. But I was careful all weekend, and am finally back to my post-exams pre-cruise weight!

Now I just have to keep being diligent. I like eating healthy food, but it's usually just not available. Between gas and food it looks like this will be an expensive semester. And, of course, a Slim-Fast shake, snack mix, celery and Laughing Cow cheese is not the dinner of champions.

First Day of School

Like kids everywhere, today is my first day of the fall semester. I have to admit I'm a little nervous because now I'm officially a 2nd year student, and it's all electives from here on out. We went "back to school" shopping today over lunch, and can you believe Target is entirely out of college-ruled paper and sturdy folders?? That's the awful truth.

I'm still working with Shutterfly - with the help of my cousin and mom now, we've got all the table names in. At first, I was going to use Blurb, because their free software gives you a lot more flexibility. But as today drew closer, I realized I needed Shutterfly's reigning in. I've seen books from both places, and they come out the same quality and price. Next time, though, I don't think I'll use Shutterfly if I have the option. You can only load 10 pictures at a time, and it's slow. Plus, if you're filling up a whole album, you're going to be loading a lot of pictures. I think I blogged while they loaded. Once I got the hang of the program and options, I realized it wasn't that limited, but I still like the freedom of total control.

Yes, I'm slowly becoming a Facebook fan more than Myspace. Sorry guys. I haven't gotten all the features worked out, but so far I've reconnected with a lot of cool people!

Today was kind of like my first day back at work. I don't count last week because I was so groggy from the trip. It's going to be a hectic week! I spent most of the morning unpacking my desk.

OK, time to get to work on my reading!

Mother Teresa

I've been reading this article (it's kind of long and I'm kind of busy) on Mother Teresa. I haven't decided yet if I like it or not.

I think I'd rather read the Bourne series books instead.

Weekend

Wow, what a big weekend.

Yesterday:

• Pre-fall all day. Afterwards, I went with a friend to buy books. One of my classes has so many! And they're all self-help sounding, like "how to deal with difficult people" and "living in crisis." Altogether, $352. Ouch.
  
• Went to see the Bourne Ultimatum with Andy & a friend. What an awesome movie!!! I think it would have been more predictable if I hadn't been so sleepy. But he's so clever - it's such a fun movie. Right before I got a chicken gyro from Daphne's, but I was too tired and it made me a little sick.
  

Today:

• 1/2 day of Pre-fall, which ended early. They gave us boxed lunches that were not so good, and then had an extra career session. I really shouldn't go to those, as they really bug me. People are so ... dependent. It rained a little but that meant it was the perfect day for Disneyland!
  
• Came home, decompressed a little, and went out to Disneyland. I love it there - everything is so well maintained. We rode the Haunted Mansion, Big Thunder Mountain, Pirates of the Caribbean (in the front!), watched the parade (since we couldn't get across anyway), Space Mountain (in the front again!) and left. A very fun time. We'd originally planned to go check out the new pirate island, but it was closed for Fantasmic tonight.
• Had dinner at Millie's. It's kind of hidden between the McDonald's and Mimi's Cafe on Harbor, and I just happened to spot it on the way to Mimi's. It's fantastic! I had soup and salad - all very fresh, and the chicken tortilla soup was amazing. Ate too much, but hopefully it was all healthy stuff.

Tomorrow I start the regular semester. I'm halfway through my 6 straight days of class. To do, still:

• Check out the Hungry? guides. The founder came and spoke at my class, and it sounds like a great idea.
  
• Look up the Wetfeet entry on Sony. Maybe the CIA too. They're advertising a lot, and I always forget that I want to check that out. (but not super secret agent style)
• Still need to ask people for guest list additions. I guess I can't be mad if I don't ask.
  
• Finish organizing my desk at home.
• Drive through the car wash. It must have rained while we were on vacation, and my car is filthy.
  
• Post an entry or two on the wedding blog.
  
• Buy more movie tickets from work.
• Finish up my grandma's photo book. I'm almost done, with the help of my cousin!
  
• Check out the new fall clothes, if they're out yet.