My dogs are super cute - even Widget, who has asthma and how much I hate cable

Before I begin, I have to mention that today is my mom's birthday. Of course, she's away in California with my aunt and Grandma, so we aren't going to do anything special other than call her and wish her a happy birthday, but it's still an occasion to acknowledge. I wish I could have gone with her since I haven't been out to California or Albuquerque since Ronnie and I started dating five years ago. Sometimes I feel like she's being selfish going out by herself and not even inviting us to come see our own family, but then I remember how expensive it is. But still. We weren't even invited to my Grandpa's military funeral in Albuquerque. Not even invited. Elizabeth secretly bought her own plane ticket and fly out and was reprimanded. It just doesn't seem right.

I brushed Widget's mangy fur today and I was pleasantly surprised. He looks as soft as he did when he when we first got him! All it took was a simple brushing. Now's he's cutie again!

I'm still excited about our new TV. It's a Toshiba Regza. Even though we only have regular broadcast channels, we now have a ton more. Four times as many, actually. We went from having eight channels to having 32 or so. We now have a weather channel and some of the MPTV (Milwaukee's PBS) channels are weather and traffic channels. My dad is entertaining because he often watches them like they're regular programs. I'm extremely relieved that we aren't getting cable at my apartment next year. I hated having to pay for it last year (my portion was about $20/mo for about 9 months - or about $180 total). It's just like drinking - I never really got into it, and thus I don't have much interest in it. I wouldn't buy a bottle just because, which is why paying for TV I didn't watch was just as asinine. This wasn't meant to be a rant about paying for cable, but it is now. Here goes: I tried to stick up for myself. I tried to say that we didn't need cable, citing the potential for distraction in addition to the cost as reasons for not getting it. All I was met with were comments suggesting that not having cable would mean the end for some. Realizing that there was no way to get out of having it, I went along. And then I realized that at least half of us living there lack cable at home and could probably have done without it. I would have liked to have known that $180 ago. So it goes. Regardless, next year we have all decided to use our money for better things and also have the option to chose our ISP, meaning we actually have an option this time around.

I was thinking about gossip the other day. It's kind of crazy how much gossip goes on. I also started thinking about specific kinds of gossip, like celebrity gossip. I wonder, does an interest in gossip bigger (for lack of a better word) than one's self cause one to gossip less than normal about one's daily life, or does it lack an effect? Alternatively, it could be observed that an interest in celebrity gossip, for example, is spurred by an interest in personal gossip, or vice-versa. Either way, it would be interesting to research.

I decided to join AnswerBag.com so that I could answer random questions. One that I chose to answer asked me to determine my magical dwarf name. Since I was bored enough, I took the time to figure it out (lol about three seconds). You take the first two letters of your first name, the last two of your last name, and then add the middle letter of your middle name (if you have an even number of letters, you take the one that makes the most sense). Mine, since I know everyone is dying to know, would be Merdy. Ronnie's would be Roeyr. The funny part is that these actually sound like names that might come up in DnD, if one could actually pronounce Ronnie's magical dwarf name. Katie K's would be Kaons. Some don't work out too well, like Steph's: Stsey (I would pronounce it like the tsetse fly) or many of the examples to follow. My mom's would be Shrdy, my dad's Grrdo or Grrdr. Steven's would be Strdv. Sounds kind of Norse. Or maybe Russian. Tom's would be Tokia and Dianah's would be Dikye. Elizabeth's would be Elern or Liern depending on whether or not she went by her full name or nickname. Anyone else remember JTT? Hot stuff back in the 90's. Anyway, his name would be Joasy. If you went by his birth name, however, it would be Jossy. What dumb fun. Anyway, my sn on Answer Bag is 'future archaeologist'. Look me up :)

That's about it for now, I believe. I have to finish cleaning the house tomorrow and I have another 10 miles to bike tomorrow at 8:15 am! Yay for getting in shape! :)

Archaeology and Caitlyn's upcoming visit

Today I checked my email to find that I have yet again been denied admittance into the School of Business. But that's okay. I've decided that archaeology is the life for me. In fact, I even spent time downloading the Indiana Jones font (SF Fedora) in order to make this picture of me in the future. My boobs look hot since I didn't take the time to make the body that of a woman's. Whatever - I tried to keep the image as original as possible. I am quite serious about doing archaeology and earning a Master's and perhaps a PhD. It's really nice having a plan. There's something romantic about becoming an archaeologist and working in the field and doing research.


Today I spent the entire day cleaning the house so that when Caitlyn and possibly Alex come the house won't look so bad. It's been just me, Dad, and Steven, so it seems that it has been left up to me to clean. I did the dishes for an hour today. An hour. That's kind of ridiculous. At least my dad helped pick up some stuff and vacuum. Tomorrow will be spent in a similar fashion but it's all worth it - I really miss Cait! I have to plan some fun stuff to do. I know for sure we're going to Summerfest on July 3rd - but I still have to work on the 2nd. She'll be here Tuesday so that night or Wednesday night we can cook out with Ronnie and his friends. I'm not too concerned about planning stuff since just seeing each other will be fun. We'll definitely go to Georgie Porgies though, since I didn't get to take anyone there last time. I really can't wait for them to come!!

Brewers Game!

I started working at Parks and Rec on Monday and I've already got a nice tan. Of course, it will become a horrible farmer's tan, but a tan's a tan. I'm over at Deerfield which is perfect since I live only two blocks away! Finally, something worthwhile is nearby! Anyway, there's a field trip to the Brewers game today (they're playing the Blue Jays) and I get to go. Of course, that means that later on I'll miss out on a field trip, but that's okay. We're getting another 50-some kids today, which will put us at approximately 117, with six staffers. It kind of stinks without Aly there since she's such a big help.

Today I checked my bank account and they dropped my interest rate from 2.23% to 1.99%. Nice. They did it because I'm supposed to keep $1000 in my account at all times, and I spent enough to put my account at $989.73. So, I was assessed a $40 fee and then another $7.50 fee and had my mom not put my account back up to $1000, I would be charged even more. The worst part is that I haven't spent money in forever. I've been doing a great job saving. But not good enough I guess. So it goes.

On Saturday my mom leaves for about three weeks to visit my aunt in California. Normally I would think that would be an okay thing, but I hate being left home alone with Steven. It was the last time she left that he headbutted me and we nearly killed each other. Today he's sick and can't seem to utter much more than the f-word and unintelligible strings of syllables. Anyway, I might go visit Katie on Saturday. I miss her a lot!! On Sunday Nick and Nicole are having people over at their house in Marshall, so Ronnie and I are going to visit and bring two watermelons. I haven't been there yet, so I'm excited to see their place and see Aiden!

We FINALLY got a new TV! Ours broke so long ago that I think Ronnie and I had only been dating a year or two when it died. Since then, we've been using a small t.v. on a plant stand as our main source of television viewing. My parents bought one that's digital or whatever, so they gave me their t.v. converter box for my t.v. next year. P.S. I'm super-excited to move in with those wonderful ladies! And thank God I don't have to share a room. I can't express enough how happy that makes me!!!!!

Ghosts, Dragons, and National Geographic

Remember how I was saying that our stovetop randomly caught fire the other day? Well, apparently my parents would rather replace the entire range than deal with a perhaps faulty burner. It is my belief, and my father's, that a ghost may have been involved in the sudden fire. My dad went next door and talked to Bill, the neighbor, to see if anyone died in this house. Turns out someone did! Before we lived here, there was a middle-aged couple who lived here for only two years. Before them, a family named the Weirs resided here, until Leona, the mother, passed away. If her ghost were here, it would explain a whole lot. Like the fire and the coffin-sized forms in the backyard. I secretly hope there really is a ghost. Freaky things happen here sometimes. And I like to be scared, so long as knives aren't thrown at me like in 13 Ghosts.

So this Dungeons and Dragons thing is getting eh. I don't know. My character sheet for the games we were playing with Ronnie, Ryan, Scott, Jose, Mike, and Jack is lost so I have two choices: start over or simply watch. No thanks. I'm not starting over. So, I'm going to only play the newer version game with most of the same crew. I really liked having a camel, though.


I've decided what I want to do with my life. I would really like to work for National Geographic as a writer/photo journalist. That means I'll be in school for a while longer. I may have to get a PhD in order to get a good job. I'll get a Master's and then see what happens before I commit myself to such an incredible undertaking. I plan on becoming an archaeologist - so working in Cultural Resource Management wouldn't be so bad, but being a part of National Geo would be absolutely incredible - a dream job! This summer I'll be at Parks and Rec again (I start Monday) and maybe DeRango's - if they decide to rehire me. I really need to the money, so I'm willing to work in food service yet again if I have to.

Lately I've been feeling like no matter what I do, I'm not important at all to Ronnie. I mentioned to him that I'm trying to eat around 1600 calories/day because I've been eating too much for the amount of work I'm doing. He got upset saying that starving yourself isn't healthy and whatnot - but I don't think he understands what I was saying. Basically, I've been rather sedentary while consuming many of the same foods and quantities - so eating less is NOT going to hurt. But this is just an example of what has been upsetting me lately. I feel like he doesn't care about me as much as he used to. No matter what I do, I feel like he criticizes me. It would be one thing if he seemed concerned, but he doesn't. I think it might be this way because I've literally seen him every day this summer. It's hard to appreciate someone when you see them all the time. So I'm going to stop calling him and see if he calls me. It'll be hard. But he never calls me. I just need proof that he cares since right now I'm not feeling the love. We didn't do anything special for our anniversary, and that didn't help me feel appreciated at all. So what I'm looking for is for Ronnie to give me more love. I'm trying to get back into shape and I really need his support.

Tomorrow is our five year anniversary!

I just had to get that out. I'm excited, even though I have nothing planned and neither does Ronnie. We'll see if we do anything exciting, and if number 27 on my summer list gets crossed off....lol.

Tonight I'm watching So You Think You Can Dance with my parents right now. I mean, could we at least watch Deal or No Deal? I do so love game shows....anyway, I finally gave Ronnie a break from me. I haven't been home for about three days because it's such a hassle to take my mom to work every morning at 7 am and pick her up again at 2:30 pm. So I let my mom take the car and just sleep over at Ronnie's. Today I picked up bagels for us from Einstein's and they were delicious! I love spending every day with him, but I feel bad being with him all the time sometimes. So I'm having an at-home night with my mom and dad. It's not so bad.

Well, there is one bad thing. The stovetop caught on fire this morning and so the whole oven is out of commission. Apparently my mom put a sugar container on the burner and had cooked nothing since yesterday when the thing just combusted. A small fire, my dad ran in and put it out as my mom came upstairs from doing the laundry. Someone from Whirlpool is coming out on Saturday, but until then, I guess we can't use it.

Ronnie, Monica, and I went to Puppy World yesterday and saw baby puppies! Earlier, Ronnie, his mom, and I saw a boxer for $1100 - which seemed like a lot of money (not that the price was unreasonable). The baby bulldog we saw was $3200. To me, that's unreasonable. There are lots of breeders online selling similar puppies (without shots, however) for a lot less. I really hope that Ronnie gets a puppy for his own. It would be nice.

Speaking of Ronnie, he pinched his finger in the door yesterday so bad that it has yet to stop bleeding and his nail is blue. I feel so bad for him. I was originally thinking about reserving a hotel room downtown or somewhere fancy for a night where we could go to dinner and enjoy a romantic night together. But that's kind of out of the question now since he's hurt. I just hope we end up doing something romantic - even if it's just going out to dinner together. The whole point of celebrating our anniversary is to reflect on all the time we've been together and to look forward to the future.

Well, now that we're watching a movie, I should wrap it up. Plus Widget has to tinkle - big surprise!

Buckethead, a baptism, and d&d

So the past few days have been fun. Last night me, Ronnie, Mike, Laura, Andy, and Karey went downtown to Riversplash to see Buckethead. Quite an experience. We managed to park for only $4 but when we got there a bottle of water was $3. So it goes. Anyway, in case anyone is not familiar with this fellow, he wears a KFC bucket on his head and plays metalish music (he plays Jordan from Guitar Hero). To be honest, the show got to be long since all of the songs sounded the same. I have to say that I was impressed by his skill though. His endurance was incredible; he played his whole set straight through with only two breaks, which isn't bad for an hour and a half long set. As was expected, being underage meant having to deal with walking down Water St. and not being able to get into any bars, but tons of drunk people on the streets. I guess my point is that when I'm 21 hopefully I will be able to get more out of it. The fireworks were cool, and made a nice intermission.

I forgot to mention that that was Ronnie's first concert. Ever. Crazy.

Today Ronnie became a godfather! Ryan and Yvonne's baby was baptized today and afterwards we all went over to their new apartment to celebrate. I broke down and had my third soda of the summer (how can one resist orange soda?) while again, everybody but Ronnie, Mike, and I drank. I have little desire to drink, but it's annoying knowing that I can't. I ate a lot of tortilla chips and pretzels. My favorite thing about pretzels: eating a ton of them at once. Let me explain: I like to eat them one at a time and not swallow until my mouth is full of chewed-up pretzels. Then I swallow. It's so much better than eating and swallowing them immediately. Try it. You'll like it.

Tomorrow we're all going over to Ryan's to play some D&D. At least I know about it this time. Last time Ronnie didn't even tell me they were playing. Nice. It really sucks being left out. But that was over a week ago, and thus, I am (mostly) over it. We (me, Ronnie, Mike, Jose, Scott, Jack, and Ryan, obviously) are starting bright and early at 11 am. There'll be a cookout, which will be fun. I've had smore stuff with me for over a week since we haven't all had a chance to get together since the last time everyone cooked out at Eric's.

Notice how I haven't hung out with any girls this summer? Me too. Weird.