Just for Shits and Giggles (and to bitch and moan)

James Cameron is bone dry.

2010-06-06T19:19:00.000-07:00

Finally saw Avatar tonight. I must agree that the special effects and the scenery were beautiful and well executed. But the story line??? Anybody else notice it was basically Dances with Wolves crossed with Medicine Man, set in space? And the big army spacesuit thingies? Hello Star Wars and The Matrix! I can just see James Cameron's meeting with the movie big wigs: "Ok guys, I'm all out of ideas. I really can't think of anything new to do. But here's what we're gonna do. We're gonna take an old idea, set it in space and use really kick ass special effects. On top of that we're gonna offer it in 3D to make it seem new and exciting! With all those bells and whistles, nobody will even notice that it's not a new storyline!" And a lot of people were fooled. In this day and age of ADHD and what seems to be decreased intelligence in the masses, the movie execs were more than happy to give the green light. It's just sad to see the once great James Cameron churn out this crap. Anybody remember the original Terminator? Oh how the mighty have fallen.

Advice

2010-01-28T18:36:00.000-08:00

I love my friends, don't get me wrong, but sometimes their "helpful advice" really annoys the shit out of me. For example, I went to a get together at a friend's house where a guy that was supposedly interested in me was going to be. My friends told me to hang back and not come on too strong. I admit, I do tend to come on too strong from time to time and have scared guys away so I tried to follow their advice. Not even half way through the night when I noticed his interest had waned and he was spending all his time talking to another girl, I texted one of my friends. Her response? Be aggressive. Ok, what? I was doing what you told me, hang back, don't come on too strong and now I'm supposed to be aggressive and go after him? Ugh. I hate playing games. Why can't I just be myself??? I need to stop listening to them. Then comes last night. We go to a bar for karaoke. My friend goes outside for a smoke and comes back with a guy for me to meet. Apparently he told her that I was hot. Anyway, he comes over and says "if I give you my number, will you call it?" I told him it would depend. I asked him if he smoked and he said yes, so I told him I wouldn't call him. He said "seriously?" and I said yes. Then he said "what if I said I'd quit for you?" and I told him I'd think about it. Yeah, right. No guy is going to quit smoking for a girl he met at a bar when he'd been drinking. Good line though... So he gives me his number anyway and walks off. My friends ask me what was said so I told them the story. And they were all saying "you need to stop being so picky. It's not a big deal if he smokes! You should call him." etc. Fast forward to an hour or so later and my friend comes back and says that she was talking to the guy outside and he mentioned having an 8 year old son and something about being in jail. She says "do not call him. He's not good enough for you." Yeah, I could have told you that before but noooooo, I had to not be so picky. They are always doing that to me. Saying that I'm too picky but not wanting me to date any of their friends and acquaintance because "I'm too good for them". I hate that line. Makes me want to vomit. I'm so sick of hearing advice from my friends, my mom, random strangers. It's really annoying. I get that I must be doing something wrong since I'm still single, but none of what they are saying to me, is helping. Groan.

"if there's words to give me faith again, I haven't heard a single one of them"

--Sold Out, LDE

Here's to the Future!!!

2010-01-04T18:08:00.000-08:00

We all know I hate New Years. I think I blame When Harry Met Sally for my hate of this holiday. But I also hate the passage of time. I hate getting older and I hate change, for the most part... Change has brought me some good things. Like my house, for example. I love, love, love my house. It's absolutely perfect for me. I wanted two bathrooms, lots of light and windows, a big yard with a privacy fence. And I got it. So I suppose not all change is bad. As for my job, I love parts of it. And the more Sundays I work, the more I realize what I love the best about my job. It's the critical care and emergency part of it. It's really hard to do just that when you work in a practice that does routine stuff as well as emergency stuff. Which is why I like working Sundays. There are no appointments and no routine surgeries. I don't have to deal with any doctor techs or doctors that aren't related to the ICU. And I don't have to deal with any routine surgeries that need to get recovered in ICU or moved to ICU for "babysitting". Don't get me wrong, I like those techs and doctors, but it's just so different. We look at cases and patients a totally different way and the decisions that they make really annoy me sometimes. And sometimes it makes things more difficult when transferring patients over from appointments or from routine surgery. I really hate having a routine surgery recover in ICU. I can't really explain it, other than if it didn't start as an ICU case and I'm just getting involved with it when it's recovering, it feels as if it just doesn't belong there. I only want to deal with critical cases. I don't want to have to recover a cruciate or a full mouth extraction. And I know what I have to do if I don't want to deal with that stuff. I need to get a job in an ICU that only does that stuff. But right now, Windcrest owns me. They have been paying for my classes so I can't just up and leave. Besides, leaving scares the crap out of me. It goes back to the whole "change is bad" thing. And since I like being in control, I don't know how I would handle going from being a big fish in a little pond, to a little fish in a big pond. I'm sure I will move on someday, otherwise I know I'll get burned out. But I need to wait until I can start getting ready for my EM/CC certification. Which means I've still got 3.5 years to go. Hopefully I don't go crazy before that. In the meantine I'll just keep swimming, just keep swimming, swimming, swimming, swimming in my little pond.

I just keeping thinking about it

2009-12-06T17:05:00.000-08:00

I've been thinking a lot about all the stuff I wrote in those old blogs. I was talking to Nancy and Meadows at work the other day about the work stuff. I can't believe I lasted that long at WAH the way it used to be! I guess I didn't know that it could be better than it was and I loved the actual work so I stuck with it. But boy, what a difference between then and now! No longer do I dread working shifts with some people. No longer do I feel like I have nobody to talk to in management about issues I'm having. We finally have an AWESOME crew, ICU especially (but I may partial to that considering I hired them). I love the people I work with. We all get along so well. And nobody sucks in the skills department! To think, we used to put up with working with such less than stellar techs. I'm proud I stuck it out and that I helped make it what it is now (well, me and the 3 other tech supervisors!). And it's so weird to think about the set up back then. Not having specific ICU techs. Having to do hospital runs, 4th office, ISO and ICU. Not having a hospitalist. <> How did we ever get by?!?! And to think that I was hesitant to work three 12 hour shifts a week. Sheesh.

And other stuff I've been thinking about from the old blogs... geez! Was I ever that naive???

Reflections...

2009-12-04T14:22:00.001-08:00

Ok, I just spent like the last hour reading all my past blogs. Wow. That's all I can say. Wow.

Everything Old is New Again...and again...and again...

2009-12-04T13:29:00.000-08:00

Wow. It's been YEARS since I've blogged. I don't know why I stopped actually. I always have something to say (as all my friends, co-workers, enemies and random strangers can attest to). Guess I just got bored with it. So what's been happening with me... hmmm... man, I don't even know where I left off... Well, I got a promotion (Critical Care Supervisor), got another tattoo (from the Story of B), bought a house (in Wilmington), had some good times (I've got pictures to prove it!), and had some bad times (can't we just forget about those?). What else is there? I guess owning a house has been the biggest thing in my life so far. The process itself was complicated and super stressful, but now I'm uber happy to be in my own home. Decorated the way I want, don't have anybody to answer to, just me and my dogs. But it's a big responsibility too. Paying for a mortgage? Gah! Just the thought of my having a mortgage makes me want to run to the mirror to check for gray hair and wrinkles. It seems weird that I would own a house. I always feel like I'm younger than I am. I'm way too immature to own a house!!!! As great as owning a house is, it does make me feel like time is going by way too quickly. I guess I'll always feel like there's not enough time or money to do everything that I want to do. I guess everybody feels that way though...

Sick Bastards

2007-07-21T07:25:00.000-07:00

Sometimes the doctors at work are asked to give their opinions on possible abuse cases from the SPCA. This is one that came in the other day. It's incredibly sad. You have been forewarned.

An SPCA officer came in with a dead snake the other day to have Dr. Dawkins examine it and say whether or not abuse was involved. Apparently the night before cops were called to a house for a domestic dispute. They found the snake (still alive at the time) with 3 large slashes on him and a butcher knife in his tank. They called the SPCA who confiscated him. The snake died later that night. I saw the snake when Dr. Dawkins examined him. One of the slashes cut straight through his spinal cord. The SPCA officer said he took video of the snake the night before. The top half was still moving and the bottom half below that cut wasn't. Turns out the boyfriend and girlfriend were fighting and I guess in retaliation the girlfriend cut up his snake. What kind of sick person does that???? Kills an innocent creature to get back at someone else. She'll probably only be fined. A person like that though should be locked up. It takes a truly sick person to do stuff like that. And that could only be the beginning. Maybe someday she'll get really pissed and kill somebody.

Anyway, this was really difficult for me, coming on the heels of Augustus' demise. I had to go outside for a few minutes, cry and get myself back together before going on with work. I hope that sick bastard gets the book thrown at her.

Doing the Limbo

2006-12-11T07:21:00.000-08:00

I feel like my life is in limbo right now. Professionally and personally. I guess the catalyst for this blog would be my work Christmas party last night. It kinda hammered home some points.

First off, professional life:
Over a year ago I was promoted to ICU Supervisor at work. At first it wasn't very much extra responsibility. Then I started doing the schedule, then running the meetings. After that, disciplining staff, sitting in on write ups, sitting in on evaluations and now doing write ups and evaluations. I started out double checking on emergency referrals, to being in charge of emergency referrals and having to run reports and fill out a spreadsheet weekly on them. I meet with the tech manager on a regular basis. We work hand in hand on a huge amount of issues. I write new policies and procedures. I've got almost free reign in implementing changes in ICU. So in the last year my responsibilities have increased 10 fold. But here's the limbo part. I'm not technically management. I don't have to go to the management meetings. I don't have final say in some things in which I feel I should have final say. And some people don't see me as a supervisor at all. It makes things a little difficult when I'm disciplining and things in that nature. And to add insult to injury, at last year's work Christmas party all the management got bracelets to drink for free, including me. This year, I didn't get one. Somebody trying to tell me something???? So I always feel like I don't know where I am at work. I'm not just a tech, but I'm not management either. It drives me crazy.

On to the personal life:
My date to the party this year was April. Don't get me wrong, I love my girl and we always have a good time, but it's a little depressing to see all the other people with their husbands and boyfriends. It's no secret that I have shitty luck with guys. I honestly don't know why. Yes, I understand I'm not supermodel material, but I should still be able to find someone. It may come as a shock to all my loyal readers but I've never had a long relationship. "No! It can't be!" you protest. Alas, it is true. I date occasionally. I had relationships that have lasted about a month. But nothing serious. And here's the limbo part. I feel like I'm stuck between being a kid and an adult. How can I, at 26, never have a serious relationship? My friends are living with their partners, getting married, having kids. Me, I'm looking for a boyfriend. I feel like I'm way behind the rest of my peers. Not that I want to get married right this second. I just want a guarantee that it'll happen eventually. Like within the next 10 years maybe? And I'm so exhausted with trying to find someone. "Don't try so hard, it'll happen when you're not looking for it", yeah, shut up Mom. I can't even meet anybody. Bars are a bust cause guys are just looking to get laid. And it's an estrogenfest at work. And speaking of estrogen, no doubt I'll be fending off lesbian rumors at work now. How can I not be a lesbian? I'm 26, never seem to have a boyfriend and I brought a girl as my date to the Christmas party. Oh and I love it when people (jokingly) suggest I become a lesbian since I have such bad luck with men. Excuse me, but being gay is something you are born as. Not something you become because no one of the opposite sex will have you. Thanks for the advice but I'll stick to being single. And stick to my vibrator.

A Follow Up to my Last Blog

2006-09-25T11:52:00.000-07:00

This story just keeps getting better. But to put everybody at ease I'll start with an update on the puppy's condition. Her leg was amputated on Friday and she was spayed at the same time. One of our doctors is going to adopt her. So far she's doing well. We think the reason that she is so small is a combination of poor nutrition, the fact that she had lots of roundworms and hookworms and that she had drug paraphernalia in her stomach. Oh yes, you read that last part right. During surgery the doctor thought she saw something weird in her stomach, and she felt something hard so they opened up the stomach and found part of a crack pipe in there! Can you believe it? How ridiculous is that?

As for the owner and her friend.... turns out the info they gave us was bogus. Bogus phone number and bogus address. Big surprise. But, later on that day the friend comes back in for her purse. Our manager told her we couldn't give her the purse without ID so she asks her friend (the dog's owner) to come in and ID her! Hello?!?!?! Your friend just dumped a dog and walked out on her bill! Only a total idiot would come back in. But I don't think the owner ever did come in though... So later on we get a call from the girl's probation officer asking us why we refused to give her back her purse! So the manager told him that the woman's purse was at the police station and he could call them to get the purse back. What a friggin moron!!!!! You'd think her probation officer would be the last person she would want to know about her skipping out on bills and having drugs. Apparently she's not the brightest star in the sky. Damn. Anybody else think she should be sterilized to keep her genes from being in the population?

I hate some people

2006-09-21T18:06:00.000-07:00

People ask me sometimes if I watch that animal cops show on Animal Planet. I don't. Because I get to see enough of that at work. And today's story is by far one of the craziest ever. This afternoon the emergency door rang and Greg went to answer it. I see two women go into a room with a crate. I couldn't see what was in the crate at the time. When Greg came out a little while later he told me what he found. A little pit bull puppy. The owner told him that she had broken a toe nail about 3 weeks ago and since then had been chewing her foot raw. So they decided to put a bandage on the leg. Well if you put a tight wrap on a growing puppy's leg for an extended period of time, it's not gonna look good. Greg said there was pus and blood just pouring out of the thing when he cut the bandage off. The leg was 4 times its normal size. Dr. Cullen went in and spoke to the owners about options. Since the leg looked so bad and it obviously wasn't a new problem, the only hope was amputation. So Greg went in with the estimate. They said they couldn't afford it and wanted to put the dog down. So Greg came back out to make an estimate for euthanasia. When he goes back in the room with the estimate, the owner and her friend are gone. They just left the poor little thing in the crate in the middle of the room. One of the kennel girls who was just coming in at that time said she saw them peel off in a Mercedes. Wait, it gets better. Dawn (one of the receptionists) comes back with a purse and says one of the girls left it in the bathroom. We weren't sure if she was talking about the same people we just saw for the emergency or if it was somebody else. So Dawn opens it to look for ID. She finds a driver's license. And a baggie of weed. Hello?!?!?! What friggin stupid people. Although I bet that dumbass is kicking herself tonight. Not only did she leave her purse at a place where she never wants to go back, she left her dope behind! On top of that we have the owner's address that she gave us. So we gave all that info to the SPCA to follow up with cruelty and abandonment charges. And the cops were called to pick up the drugs. As for the poor dog, she'll probably be put to sleep tomorrow. She probably wouldn't survive the surgery anyway. She is severely underweight and the infection has probably spread throughout her body. We have another pit bull puppy that was dumped living at the hospital right now (of course). Other than having worms, he's healthy. He's 2 months old and about the same size as this puppy. Only she's 6 months old. Just to give you a better idea of what shitty condition this dog is in. It's times like this that make me hate people. People who abuse poor, defenseless animals are pure evil. I hope they get arrested.

Just call me the Better Business Bureau

2006-06-09T15:14:00.000-07:00

Mr. Macy, you're Santa Claus may be real but your mattress division sucks ass. I still like Macy's and will still shop there (hello shoes and Benefit cosmetics) but that's the last time I ever buy a mattress from them. A few weeks ago April and I went shopping for a new bed for me. I had to bring her along cause she's my financial advisor and I have no idea what things are supposed to cost. So anyway, we go to Macy's cause I have a 10% off coupon and I thought Macy's was a good place to buy a mattress. So I pick out a nice queen bed and we proceed to the register to pay for everything. Well the sales guy was obviously new so it took FOREVER for him to get everything done. It wasn't that bad cause April and I just sat on a bed and chatted but after a while we started getting worried that we'd miss our movie date with Russ, Shannon and Trishy. So the guy tells me that he can't get a delivery date for my bed frame because it's made by a different company than the mattress and box spring. He says I'll just have to keep calling customer service until they can give me a date. So I tell him forget it and to just cancel the whole thing, I'd rather get everything all at once and I'm not about to call customer service everyday. I have a job and that's not it. At that point he calls over the other sales guy to help him cancel it and the other guy asks me why I want to cancel it. I explain everything to him and he says, "don't worry, you won't have to call customer service. We'll take care of it for you and you'll get everything together." So I asked him if he could guarantee that and he said yes. I asked him if he could put it in writing and he said yes and made a note on the receipt guaranteeing that the frame would be delivered with the mattress and box spring.

Fast forward a week. I get a call from Macy's saying they will be delivering my bed the next day between 11-1. Sounds good, I didn't have plans until 3. They end up calling at 12:45 to say that the truck broke down, they are fixing it and they will now be delivering between 1:30-3:30. My parents got back from shopping at about 3 and the delivery guys still hadn't arrived. So I got ready and left for MAD and AD's house warming at about 4. I got a call from my dad at 6:30 to tell me that they had finally delivered my bed... minus the frame. I was pissed. I called and bitched to a manager but there was obviously nothing she could do about it. So basically this guy lied to me just to get a sale out of me. Bastard.

Fast forward another week. The frame was supposed to be delivered today between 11-1. Macy's called at 1 to tell me the delivery guys were running late and would be there in 15 minutes. Fine. I'm not happy, but again, there's nothing I can do. They finally show up about 20 minutes later. The one guy just goes upstairs puts the frame down then leaves. I'm like, ok.... The other guy comes in to get me to sign the papers. I give him this look and he says "do you need us to set it up" in a tone of voice like this is a huge inconvenience for him. So I said "well, isn't that included???" And he starts stomping upstairs with a big sigh and he's mumbling about running late, not that I would care, blah blah blah. What an asshole. It took him like 5 minutes to set up the frame and for him and his buddy to put the mattress and box spring back on top. Jackass. That's your fucking job!!!!!!!!

So needless to say it was not a pleasant experience for me. But my bed is friggin awesome!!! It's like an island. I love it. I don't want to leave it. Ever. :P I'm going to go write an angry e-mail to Macy's now. You know, I only write these blog to protect you my lovely readers. I'm like the BBB, I'll tell you where not to shop. So what have we learned? Victoria's Secret is evil and Macy's sucks for deliveries. :)

Some days just suck (warning, this blog is graphic and not for the feint of heart).

2006-06-07T18:25:00.000-07:00

So let me preface this blog with the fact that I still love my job. But some aspects of my job are not so good. We had a 8 month old pit bull puppy in isolation for parvo. For those of you who aren't in the field, parvo is an virus infection that only (for the most part) affects unvaccinated puppies. As long as you vaccinate your dog on schedule, you shouldn't have to worry about it. And almost without fail, the dogs we have to hospitalize for parvo have owners who are too stupid or too poor to vaccinate (or both). Most dogs survive, but the treatments are extensive and very expensive. The owners of this pit bull did not have the money. So after two days of treatment we had to euthanize the dog. And that sucks. If they had had the money to treat, she probably would have pulled through. After doing this job for almost two years, I've gotten pretty good at locking my emotions away for PTSes (that's short for Put To Sleep). I usually help with a PTS with no problems. This time, it was different. The owners didn't want to be present, so Dr. Freeman and I euthanized her alone. We went in to isolation and when the puppy saw us, she started wagging her tail. And I started to cry. It was just so unfair. She was such a good dog and she had so much potential. It really upset me.

And earlier that day we had this woman bring her dog in for a PTS. He was 13 years old and already on his way out. She said she had found him laying outside, not moving. He's wrapped up in a carpet, so Karen and I just grab him, carpet and all and put him on the cart. The owner didn't want to be present so we took him right back to the treatment room. He was dying in front of our eyes, so as soon as the papers were signed we euthanized him right there without bothering to move him. He looked so unkempt. Totally matted and not taken care of. So after he's gone, I go to grab him to bag him up and his flesh just comes off in pieces! And maggots start poring out of him. It was so disgusting. They were obviously not taking care of him. Flesh coming out in chunks and maggots do not happen overnight. And it wasn't just cause he was old. It was neglect.

I realize that the things that suck about my job is mostly because of people. It's the people which bother me and upset me. Which is why I like working with animals. Cause most people suck. And I hate having to deal with their stupid decisions. And seeing people who don't take care of their pets. Pets are a luxury. If you can't afford them or take care of them, don't have them!!!! This is Bob Barker saying help control the pet population, have your pets spayed or neutered (and vaccinated)!

Cat Bite Fever

2006-05-19T06:30:00.000-07:00

Had a bit of a rough week. A cat bit my hand on Tuesday and then another cat bit the side of my face yesterday. I hadn't been bit at work in forever and now twice in one week???? I guess every job has it's downside. :P My bosses made me go to the medical aid unit yesterday. So pointless. The bite wound is like nothing. Three little punctures! It still hurts a little, but still... Anyway, I waited for a friggin hour for this doctor who was as old as the hills with the shakes to ask me a bizillion questions unrelated to the bite wound. He then takes a quick glance at it, says it looks more like a scratch and sends me on my way with a prescription for antibiotics and three yogurts a day to counteract the potential yeast buildup. Such fun.

But on a side note, driving back to work after the doctor I saw a guy with a bumper sticker that read: "You looked better on myspace". How funny is that??? :)

The Blog to End All Blogs

2006-05-03T07:21:00.000-07:00

First off, I have to add a few things that I missed from my first vacation blog. After we got our formal pictures done we were walking around trying to decide which restaurant to go to for dinner when this guy says to me "nice dress". The problem with this statement is that he was walking behind me and staring straight at my ass while saying this. I'm like, uh thanks. I probably would have started talking to him if it wasn't for the fact that he looked like a stalker waiting for new prey. Ick.

Also it was pretty rough seas that night and the ship was rocking a lot. April got a little seasick and could not finish her lobster dinner! Hahahahaha! I had to point that out and make fun of her for it. She was on Dramamine and everything! I, of the cast iron stomach, took no such drugs and had no such problems. :)

On to our first stop of the cruise. Our ship docked in Costa Maya, Mexico for our first excursion. We got on a bus for a 2 hour bus ride to the Kohunlich Mayan ruins. The ride was a little long, but there was beautiful landscapes to look at, a history lesson from our guide and of course, a nice nap. The day was gorgeous and the ruins were amazing. We walked around with our guide for a few hours and took a bunch of pictures. There were houses, a ball court and a small pyramid that we could climb. There was an awesome view of the other ruins from the top of the pyramid. I can see why it could take thousands of years to discover these ruins. The landscape is so lush and thick you could probably get lost two feet off the track. I could have stayed there forever.... Unfortunately, we couldn't so we got back on the bus for our box lunch (kinda gross) and 2 hour ride back to the ship. Once back at Costa Maya we walked around the stores there and went down to the water to take pictures. The water was such a beautiful shade of blue. I have never seen that in my life. The only oceans I'd ever seen were that lovely brown color that hides a multitude of scary aquatic wildlife (yes, it's scary. Shut up).

Our entertainment that night was a comedian by the name of Joe Yannetty. He was hilarious! They put him in one of the smaller rooms and it was packed! We laughed so friggin hard that April and I decided that for the rest of the cruise, anything he was in, we would go see. His set finished at about 11pm and after that it was 70's Night Fever Dance Party. We stayed for just a little bit of that and then went to bed.

Next up: Santo Tomas, Guatemala

And on a side note. I just have to go off on a little tantrum here. Something really bothered me this weekend and I just have to talk about it now. On Saturday, Trishy, April and I went to Ag Day at UD. Always a good time. We ate Pigwiches and cotton candy, saw some livestock and toured the booths. I ran into a couple of people that I hadn't seen in years. Of course the inevitable "what are you up to these days" comes up. I tell them I'm a vet tech and without fail they always ask "oh, and are you thinking about going back to school to become a vet?". This really, really bothers me. When a person tells you she's a nurse at a human hospital do you automatically ask her, "oh, and are you thinking of going to med school to become a doctor?". No. But it's like a vet tech to people is just a stepping stone. No one wants to JUST be a vet tech. I love my job. I've never been happier with the work I was doing. And frankly I don't want to be a vet. Why spend all my money and put myself in debt, make myself miserable for years to take in boring appointments and do surgery once a week. I think my job is way more interesting. I take care of all the critical patients. I take blood, run bloodwork, place IV catheters, give drugs, take in emergencies, help with emergency surgeries, help save animals, give comfort to animals that are dying, give a shoulder to cry on to upset owners. I do all the dirtiest, bloodiest work. But this couldn't possibly be what I want to do with my life. After all, I'm JUST a vet tech. Well to hell with everybody who thinks that. And if you've ever thought that, here's a little something for you to ponder. I work harder than I ever have in my life and I'm happier than I've ever been in my life. How many people can say that?

Vacation Blog #1. Hello Ladies and Gentlemen. This is the Captain speaking, from the left side of my bed.

2006-04-19T10:51:00.000-07:00

Hey everybody! As many (and hopefully all) of you know, April and I went on a cruise last week. I will be posting all (and I do mean all) about it in stages. So here is blog #1. We left DE April 8th. My parents dropped us off at the airport at about 9:30am and our plane landed in Miami at about 3:30pm. By the time we got to the ship it was almost 5 (that's when the ship sailed) so we got to miss the safety drill. But you know, it's not a big deal. I figure if we start sinking nobody is gonna pay attention to lining up and getting in the appropriate boat. It'll be every man and woman for him/herself and we'll all be pushing and shoving each other. It's sad, but true. So we get up on deck and there's waiters handing out drinks as soon as you step out the door! They aren't free, but who cares?!?!?! We were finally on vacation! So we get our drinks and go to the top deck to watch as we sail away from Miami. Sigh. It was awesome. We could hardly believe that we were there. A little while later we cleaned up and got all pretty for dinner. Unlike other cruises (including Rob's - sucka!) we had Freestyle Cruising. Which means we eat where we want, when we want and by ourselves instead of sitting with a crowd of people we don't know (and don't want to know). After dinner we went to the show being hosted by the cruise director. It introduced all the entertainment staff that was going to be on board all week. There was one group called Harmony and Rhythm that played all the time. They sucked. They were always messing up the song lyrics. We avoided them as much as possible. We stayed up late, had some drinks, watched some entertainers, danced and went to bed nice and tipsy.

The next day was our first sea day. We spent it relaxing on the deck laying out, getting some sun, reading and of course, drinking. It was sooooo nice. We pretty much stayed out there all day. That night was our formal night, so we got all dressed up and got formal portraits done. While we were waiting in line there was a couple ahead of us who were getting ready to get their picture taken. The guy then turns to his girlfriend, gets down on one knee and proposes! It was so cute. She was crying and they seemed so happy. Now they have beautiful pictures of their engagement. Lucky bitch. :P Anyway, we had a lovely dinner and after dinner we saw the show Encore, Mr. Producer which was a compilation of different songs from different musicals. The dance troupe was awesome. Again, more drinks and having fun before crashing in preparation for our excursion the next day.

Next up, Costa Maya and Santo Tomas

Song Quiz #2 Answers

2006-04-07T09:32:00.000-07:00

Sorry it took so long guys. I know you were dying to find out the answers. Been soooooooo friggin busy with work, as most of you know. But I figured since I'd be gone for a week on my cruise, I'd leave you guys a little something to read and reread when you are missing me! :P You know the drill, blue answers were guessed correctly, red were guessed wrong, black were not guessed at all.

1. In my dreams I’m dying all the time. Then I wake its kaleidostrophic mind.
Porcelain- Moby

2. How ‘bout getting off of these antibiotics? How ‘bout stopping eating when I’m full up?
Thank You- Alanis Morissette

3. Met a girl, thought she was grand. Fell in love, found our first hand.
She Fuckin’ Hates Me- Puddle of Mudd

4. So you sailed away into a grey sky morning. No one here to stay, love can be so boring.
Grey Sky Morning (Best I Ever Had)- Vertical Horizon

5. See the pyramids along the Nile. Watch the sun rise from a tropic isle.
You Belong to Me- Rufus Wainwright (this one's partly right. Right song title, wrong singer)

6. Who would sell their soul for love? Or waste one tear on compromise?
That Kind of Love- Alison Krauss

7. Whatcha been doing? Whatcha been doing? Woah , woah, woah. Haven’t seen you ‘round.
Boyfriend- Ashlee Simpson

8. Opened my eyes. The fire had come. Not for the end of days, not for the faithless ones.
Little Heaven- Toad the Wet Sprocket

9. All the shadows blue, in the winter moon, stars within the darkness. They remember you, and they sorrow too.
The Winds that Blow- Duncan Sheik

10. I missed you so much that I begged you to fly here to see me. You must have broke down cause you finally said that you would.
Feeling Way too Damn- Nickelback

11. Everybody wants to be loved, every once in a while. We all need someone to hold on to like a helpless child.
Long Time Coming- Oliver James (I'm gonna give Sarah this one even though she labeled it by the wrong number)

12. Words, like violence, break the silence. Come crashing in to my little world.
Enjoy the Silence- Depeche Mode

13. I waited till I saw sun. Don’t know why I didn’t come.
Don’t Know Why- Norah Jones

14. Take a walk. Out the gate you go and never stop.
Jesusland- Ben Folds

15. Oh I could hide ‘neath the wings of the the bluebird as she sings. The 6 o’clock alarm would never ring.
Daydream Believer- Mary Beth (remake from the Monkees, partly right!)

16. My love must be a kind of blind love. I can’t see anyone but you.
I Only Have Eyes for You- The Flamingoes (I'll give you that one)

17. Fell in love with a boy. Fell in love once, and almost completely.
Fell in Love with a Boy- Joss Stone (Can't believe nobody got this one!)

18. Lucky you were born not far away so we could both make fun of distance.
Whenever, Wherever- Shakira

19. Oh the walls are closing in. I can feel it in my bones. Like water rising up to my chin. Another long night to be alone.
Can You Hear Me Now- Emmylou Harris

20. When the night has come. And the land is dark, and the moon is the only light we’ll see.
Stand by Me- Jann Arden (remake)

21. Threw some chords together. The combination D-E-F.
These Words- Natasha Beddingfield

22. Say you don’t know me, or recognize my face. Say you don’t care who goes to that kind of place.
Built This City- Jefferson Starship (80s music! Yeah!)

23. I saw it written and I saw it say, pink moon is on it’s way.
Pink Moon- Nick Drake

24. City's breaking down on a camel's back, They just have to go 'cause they don't hold back.
Feel Good Inc.- Gorillaz

25. A man decides after 70 years, that what he goes there for, is to unlock the door.
Crazy- Seal

26. Give me release, witness me. I am outside, give me peace.
Silence- Sarah McLachlan

27. She take my money when I'm in need. Yeah she's a trifflin friend indeed.
Gold Digger- Kanye West

28. Jan lays down and wrestles in her sleep. Moonlight spills on comic books and superstars in magazines.
Standing Outside a Broken Phone Booth with Money in my Hand- Primitive Radio Gods

29. Hey mama, this that beat that make you groove, mama. Get on the floor and move your booty, mama.
Hey Mama- Black Eyed Peas

30. I won’t talk, I won’t breathe. I won’t move till you finally see, that you belong with me.
True- Ryan Cabrera

:)

Old "Haunts"

2006-03-01T19:42:00.000-08:00

I hate driving through Newark. It always depresses me. I suppose it's because my senior year of college was the happiest time in my life. I saw my friends all the time, I was taking awesome classes, working on my research, my parents were still happy, I was having FUN and I was in love (albeit unrequited, but that's another story). Things are ok now, they aren't that bad but I'm not really and truly happy. And the fun times are few and far between. So every time I drive down to Newark all those memories flash back. My wildlife classes with awesome people. Activities with my fraternity. Practically living at the girls' apartment. That one guy. Or maybe it's just the getting older part that's depressing. Yes, I realize I'm not anywhere near "over the hill" but I've always hated getting older. I never seem to be accomplishing anything. It always seems like when that birthday rolls around I'm always thinking "Gee, I thought I'd have (blank)by now." And I guess back then it just seemed like the whole world was wide open to me. Things were great and I suppose I just thought things could only get better. Now I have my doubts. So whenever I drive through campus and see all those students all I can think about is how I wish I could go back. I finally understand the true meaning of the phrase "old haunts". Because Newark will always haunt me.

Stolen from Sarah

2006-02-13T18:02:00.000-08:00

Sarah had this cool thing on her blog. It's called a Johari Window. Basically you pick 6 words that you think describe yourself. The people you know pick 6 words they think describe you (not knowing the words you picked for yourself). After they've picked you can see which ones overlap. It's pretty interesting. So after filling hers out I created my own! The link is below. Go take it!
Isabelle's Johari Window

I'm Doing it Again!

2006-02-02T08:00:00.000-08:00

Ok, just cause I had fun doing it last time, I'm putting up another song quiz. Only this time I took out all the little known artists that were featured on Buffy. This should make it a little easier. But I don't really listen to that many main stream artists. At least not on my computer. So give it a shot!

1. In my dreams I’m dying all the time. Then I wake its kaleidostrophic mind.

2. How ‘bout getting off of these antibiotics? How ‘bout stopping eating when I’m full up?

3. Met a girl, thought she was grand. Fell in love, found our first hand.

4. So you sailed away into a grey sky morning. No one here to stay, love can be so boring.

5. See the pyramids along the Nile. Watch the sun rise from a tropic isle.

6. Who would sell their soul for love? Or waste one tear on compromise?

7. Whatcha been doing? Whatcha been doing? Woah , woah, woah. Haven’t seen you ‘round.

8. Opened my eyes. The fire had come. Not for the end of days, not for the faithless ones.

9. All the shadows blue, in the winter moon, stars within the darkness. They remember you, and they sorrow too.

10. I missed you so much that I begged you to fly here to see me. You must have broke down cause you finally said that you would.

11. Everybody wants to be loved, every once in a while. We all need someone to hold on to like a helpless child.

12. Words, like violence, break the silence. Come crashing in to my little world.

13. I waited till I saw the sun. Don’t know why I didn’t come.

14. Take a walk, out the gate you go and never stop. Pass all the stores and wig shops.

15. Oh I could hide ‘neath the wings of the the bluebird as she sings. The 6 o’clock alarm would never ring.

16. My love must be a kind of blind love. I can’t see anyone but you.

17. Fell in love with a boy. Fell in love once, and almost completely.

18. Lucky you were born not far away so we could both make fun of distance.

19. Oh the walls are closing in. I can feel it in my bones. Like water rising up to my chin. Another long night to be alone.

20. When the night has come. And the land is dark, and the moon is the only light we’ll see.

21. Threw some chords together. The combination D-E-F.

22. Say you don’t know me, or recognize my face. Say you don’t care who goes to that kind of place.

23. I saw it written and I saw it say, pink moon is on it’s way.

24. City's breaking down on a camel's back, They just have to go 'cause they don't hold back.

25. A man decides after 70 years, that what he goes there for, is to unlock the door.

26. Give me release, witness me. I am outside, give me peace.

27. She take my money when I'm in need. Yeah she's a trifflin friend indeed.

28. Jan lays down and wrestles in her sleep. Moonlight spills on comic books and superstars in magazines.

29. Hey mama, this that beat that make you groove, mama. Get on the floor and move your booty, mama.

30. I won’t talk, I won’t breathe. I won’t move till you finally see, that you belong with me.

Crotch Flower

2006-01-31T18:03:00.000-08:00

Had a good weekend. I worked Saturday from 7am until about 7:35pm. Then I went over to April's. Grabbed some pizza on the way and we watched movies while stuffing our faces. It was great. Went to bed at about 1:30am with plans to sleep in the next day, go to Costco and plan our cruise. My cell phone rings at 5:45am. It's Kelly our overnight tech. Remember that chick who always called out, Tara? Well since we fired "Keri" we've been pretty short in the treatment room, so we asked her to fill in a couple of days a month. So she was scheduled to work Sunday. And wouldn't you know it, she called out again. (just as an aside, you like how some people I use fake names and some people I use real names.... I don't know. I'm weird. Back to the story.) So I'm trying to think about who could fill in. Cause I'm way tired, I'm at April's apartment so I don't have any clean scrubs to wear and I just really don't want to go in. I had plans! How often does that happen!?!?!?! So after finding out all my usual go-to people are already working I begged Kelly to call Aaliyah (the assistant tech manager) to see if she'd work. And she did!!! Thank god! So I got to sleep in until 11 (that's unheard of!). Had a nice breakfast cooked by my lovely hostess. Went to Costco (checked out some hot guys and got tampons in bulk - score!) and planned our cruise. And we booked it!!! We are going on Norwegian Cruise Lines to the Western Caribbean from April 8-15! I'm soooooo friggin excited! It's gonna be so awesome!

I coulda sworn I had something else to blog about, but I forget now.... oh well.... too excited about our trip!

Nightmare

2006-01-27T18:36:00.000-08:00

I had a horrible nightmare last night. I dreamt that I went to a club in NYC and got really, really drunk. When I woke up the next morning I was pregnant. Like way pregnant. My belly was as big as if I'd been pregnant for 5 months. So then I find out that I had sex with this random guy and I can't even remember it. So for the rest of the dream I'm going around New York trying to find this guy. I can't even begin to describe what I was feeling in that dream. I've had the wiggins all day today just thinking about it. It wasn't so much the fact that I was pregnant (as scary as that thought is) but the fact that I would get so drunk and that I would have a one night stand with a guy I don't know. That's just not something I would ever do. That's the one down side of having such vivid dreams. When I have a scary dream, the feelings I have are extremely intense. And the after effects last long after I wake up. Let's hope I don't have another one of those for a while.

Ding, Dong the Witch is Dead

2006-01-12T12:57:00.000-08:00

FINALLY, after a little less than a year of my complaints (and not just mine) "Keri" has been fired! To be honest, I don't know what took them so friggin long. Almost everybody in the treatment room had a problem with her and most of us were wondering why she was still working there when it was clear to us that she was not worth it. Well, we got a new tech manager and I guess it takes the opinion of someone on the outside looking in to see what us in the treatment room already knew. She had to go. So they let her go on Monday. I knew she wouldn't take it gracefully and of course she didn't. She called me later that day, telling me that all the reasons they had for firing her were untrue and how nobody ever talked to her about problems they had with her so this was all a surprise. Well I can tell you, she's just fooling herself. I had to write all this documentation of complaints I received in my two months as CCT supervisor and all the times I had to have a "chat" with her because of complaints/problems. The next day she called one of the treatment room gals and told her she was the reason "Keri" got fired and that she was next. Which is completely untrue. She then came in to the office and demanded to speak with our tech manager and argued with her. When the manager that did the actual firing came in, "Keri" refused to speak with her and left, claiming that she was evil and that she hated her. Come on! I'll admit it, I've been fired before and I deserved it. I didn't fight it, I didn't lie to myself. I sucked it up and took responsibility for myself. Yeah, it was bad, but I had no one to blame but myself (ok, I might have blamed my boss just a little, and my circumstances, but still...). I didn't try to take anybody down with me. What can I say? "Keri" has never been accused of being classy.

And now for something completely different. I went to the doctor today for my really bad cold. It's weird, but going to the doctor is the only time I really feel that time has passed and that's the only place where I notice that I've gotten older. I've been going to the same doctor since I was 15. He's seen me through some tough times, in the early stages of my disease before I went to a specialist. He's a good guy. But it's weird to sit in that waiting room and remember sitting there with my mom. Filling out the insurance forms, first with my mom filling it out for me. Then going to the doctor by myself but filling out the forms with my dad paying the bills and the insurance under his name. And finally filling them out with my name in the section for billing and insurance! Egads! I'm all grown up! And my doctor coming in and asking me if I'm still in school. Nope! I have a full time job with my own insurance now! It's scary! But it also kinda makes me feel good......

Ok class. Let's share. When did you realize you were finally growing up?

Answers to the Movie Quote Quiz

2006-01-07T14:54:00.000-08:00

Here's the answer to the Movie Quote Quiz! Movies that were guessed correctly are in blue, movies that were guessed incorrectly are in red, and movies that were not guessed are in black.

1. Stop calling me Warren! My name’s not fucking Warren!
Empire Records

2. Let’s be bad guys.
Serenity

3. What do you do? You laugh. I'm not saying I don't cry but in between I laugh and I realize how silly it is to take anything too seriously. Plus, I look forward to a good cry. It feels pretty good.
Garden State

4. Tell me you like my hat, Shannon!
Far and Away (before Tom Cruise went insane)

5. Mess with the best, die like the rest.
Hackers (Angelina Jolie is hot)

6. Well, if you must know, it was because he was very jealous, and I had these days of the week underpants.
When Harry Met Sally (I tried using a line from this movie that was a little less well known! :P)

7. You've made your big gay bed and now you must slumber gaily in it!
Three to Tango (this movie is seriously under recognized. It's hilarious!)

8. Excuse me, Bear Fucker! Do you need assistance?
Super Troopers

9. I carried a watermelon.
Dirty Dancing

10. How do you like that? The guy gets laid more times dead than I do alive.
Weekend at Bernie's (one of my fave 80s movies)

11. I'll bet someone back east is going, "Now why don't he write?"
Dances with Wolves (definitely one of my all time favorite movies. I would love to live back then)

12. Toe pick!
The Cutting Edge

13. I do ballet because it has nothing to do with the people. Give me tiaras and boys in tights any day.
Center Stage (I never get tired of this movie)

14. There’s so many things I don’t understand. Like, why do the fish stop swimming and lie on top of the tide pools after a heavy rain? Why do you hear the waves inside the big shells? Why are all these funny hairs growing on me????
The Blue Lagoon (by far one of my favorite quotes! I love randomness)

15. Sometimes I sing and dance around the house in my underwear. Doesn't make me Madonna. Never will.
Working Girl (can you tell that I love 80s movies?)

16. Stay alive, no matter what occurs! I will find you!
The Last of the Mohicans (this movie makes me cry every single time. Awesome soundtrack too)

17. Goodnight you neophiliac!!!
Someone Like You (Hugh...sigh...)

18. I told everybody you were a dendrophiliac.
Can't Hardly Wait (gotta loves those "philiacs". No pun intended)

19. Well, you see, I didn't know where your office was. So I asked the newsboy. He didn't know. So I asked the fireman, green grocerer, the butcher, the baker, they didn't know. But the liquor store guy... he knew.
Who Framed Roger Rabbit

20. Through dangers untold and hardships unnumbered, I have fought my way here to the castle beyond the goblin city to take back the child that you have stolen. For my will is as strong as yours. And my kingdom is as great. You have no power over me.
Labyrinth (my absolute, all time favorite movie, hands down)

21. Swing away Merrill. Merrill... swing away.
Signs (soooo creepy)

22. Woman: ANNIE GOOLAHEY??? Where in God's name did I grow up, Dogpatch?
Man: No, not there honey over in Goober, Idaho.
Overboard (it's 80s. Need I say more?)

23. Guy 1: Inconceivable!
Guy 2: You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.
The Princess Bride (why yes, I do know every word to this movie)

24. That’ll teach him to mess with a man and his mannequin.
Mannequin (again, 80s)

25. Everything. OK! I'll talk! In third grade, I cheated on my history exam. In fourth grade, I stole my uncle Max's toupee and I glued it on my face when I was Moses in my Hebrew School play. In fifth grade, I knocked my sister Edie down the stairs and I blamed it on the dog... When my mom sent me to the summer camp for fat kids and then they served lunch I got nuts and I pigged out and they kicked me out... But the worst thing I ever done - I mixed a pot of fake puke at home and then I went to this movie theater, hid the puke in my jacket, climbed up to the balcony and then, t-t-then, I made a noise like this: hua-hua-hua-huaaaaaaa - and then I dumped it over the side, all over the people in the audience. And then, this was horrible, all the people started getting sick and throwing up all over each other. I never felt so bad in my entire life.
The Goonies (do the Truffle Shuffle!)

Well done everybody! I'm impressed! Now, who wants to come over and watch all of these movies with me?

:)

Answers to the song quiz

2005-12-27T16:15:00.000-08:00

Here's the answers to the song quiz. The ones in blue are the ones that were correctly guessed by people.

1. Put on my old sweater, she puts on a tight dress.
Junkie Girl, Rubber

2. I pick up my smile, put it in my pocket.
The Mountains Win Again, Blues Traveler

3. Hey my head spins at the thought that I’m sleeping my way out of this rut.
American Shoes, Motorace

4. I fall to pieces each time I see you again.
I Fall to Pieces, Patsy Cline

5. You’ve got a great car, yeah what’s wrong with it today?
Bohemian Like You, The Dandy Warhols

6. Free as a bird, it’s the next best thing to be.
Free As a Bird, The Beatles

7. You can send me a savior that lives til the end of time, promise the heavens but that only leaves me dry.
Never Mind, Four Star Mary

8. Must have been the devil who changed my mind, must’ve been the sound of the wind blowing, not me crying.
Black Cat Bone, Laika

9. Broken sky, heartaches that flowers won’t mend, say goodbye knowing that this is the end.
Life Will Go On, Chris Isaak

10. I don’t say much but I like to sing, won’t tell you what I’m thinking, you’ll just have to wait and see.
Shy, Epperley

11. I don’t wanna be the only girl, I don’t have to be the only one.
Lovin' Ain't So Easy, Velvet Chain

12. I’m coming out of my wishing well where only echoes lonely hear my prayers.
Like a Feather, Nikka Costa

13. I should’ve had faith, I should’ve taken a chance, should’ve been myself, I should’ve laughed.
Fell Into the Loneliness, Lori Carson

14. Though the water boils, don’t turn off the heat, can’t find the spoon that we once had, the sugar cubes will melt no more.
Spoon, Cibo Matto

15. And then sweet fishtail into a monster truck of shame, carved out of soap and steel and clay and salty fame.
Blind for Now, Lotion

16. I didn’t come this far, for you to make this hard for me.
How, Lisa Loeb

17. I can laugh at this dream and if I drown I’ll wake in the morning, this is liquid love in a plastic cup and if it leaks we can plug it right back up.
Washes Away, Trespassers William

18. I’m standing in the pouring rain you couldn’t even be there to pick me up. You’re taking me for granted again, you’re running out of time and you’re out of luck.
Moment of Weakness, Bif Naked

19. Tell tale signs of life behind those late night bed sit eyes. Embers of the fires sparking, all around the sky’s darkening.
Sound of the Revolution, Lunatic Calm

20. Everything is quiet since you’re not around and I live in numbness now, in the background.
In the Background, Third Eye Blind

21. Think I’ve slipped the net, but I cut myself free. I’m not losing it, so don’t forget me.
Never an Easy Way, Morcheeba

22. So denied, so I lied, are you the now or never kind?
Here's to the Night, Eve 6

23. I’m broke but I’m happy, I’m poor but I’m kind.
Hand in my Pocket, Alanis Morrisette

24. Is that all you want, is the misery? Does it keep you safe? Does it keep you company?
All You Want, Dashboard Prophets

25. You tell me summer’s here and the time is wrong. You tell me winter’s here and your days are getting long.
Tears Are in Your Eyes, Yo La Tengo

26. Of all the things I believed in, I just want to get it over with.
Goodbye to You, Michelle Branch

27. Some bright morning when this life is over, I’ll fly away.
I'll Fly Away, Alison Krauss & Gillian Welch

28. You thought the leaden winter would bring you down forever, but you rode upon a steemer to the violence of the sun.
Tale of Brave Ulysses, Cream

29. You don’t want to know, but that won’t stop me from showing.
Good Enough, Eight Stops Seven

30. I’ve got ladyfingers baby, I got kid gloves baby, I’ve got heart.
Ladyfingers, Luscious Jackson

Movie Quote Quiz

2005-12-22T16:31:00.000-08:00

Ok guys. I stole this from Rob too. Here are quotes from 25 movies in my personal movie collection. This should be easier than the song lyrics! Good luck!

1. Stop calling me Warren! My name’s not fucking Warren!

2. Let’s be bad guys.

3. What do you do? You laugh. I'm not saying I don't cry but in between I laugh and I realize how silly it is to take anything too seriously. Plus, I look forward to a good cry. It feels pretty good.

4. Tell me you like my hat, Shannon!

5. Mess with the best, die like the rest.

6. Well, if you must know, it was because he was very jealous, and I had these days of the week underpants.

7. You've made your big gay bed and now you must slumber gaily in it!

8. Excuse me, Bear Fucker! Do you need assistance?

9. I carried a watermelon.

10. How do you like that? The guy gets laid more times dead than I do alive.

11. I'll bet someone back east is going, "Now why don't he write?"

12. Toe pick!

13. I do ballet because it has nothing to do with the people. Give me tiaras and boys in tights any day.

14. There’s so many things I don’t understand. Like, why do the fish stop swimming and lie on top of the tide pools after a heavy rain? Why do you hear the waves inside the big shells? Why are all these funny hairs growing on me????

15. Sometimes I sing and dance around the house in my underwear. Doesn't make me Madonna. Never will.

16. Stay alive, no matter what occurs! I will find you!

17. Goodnight you neophiliac!!!

18. I told everybody you were a dendrophiliac.

19. Well, you see, I didn't know where your office was. So I asked the newsboy. He didn't know. So I asked the fireman, green grocer, the butcher, the baker, they didn't know. But the liquor store guy... he knew.

20. Through dangers untold and hardships unnumbered, I have fought my way here to the castle beyond the goblin city to take back the child that you have stolen. For my will is as strong as yours. And my kingdom is as great. You have no power over me.

21. Swing away Merrill. Merrill... swing away.

22. Woman: ANNIE GOOLAHEY??? Where in God's name did I grow up, Dogpatch?
Man: No, not there honey. Over in Goober, Idaho.

23. Guy 1: Inconceivable!
Guy 2: You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means.

24. That’ll teach him to mess with a man and his mannequin.

25. Everything. OK! I'll talk! In third grade, I cheated on my history exam. In fourth grade, I stole my uncle Max's toupee and I glued it on my face when I was Moses in my Hebrew School play. In fifth grade, I knocked my sister Edie down the stairs and I blamed it on the dog... When my mom sent me to the summer camp for fat kids and then they served lunch I got nuts and I pigged out and they kicked me out... But the worst thing I ever done - I mixed a pot of fake puke at home and then I went to this movie theater, hid the puke in my jacket, climbed up to the balcony and then, t-t-then, I made a noise like this: hua-hua-hua-huaaaaaaa - and then I dumped it over the side, all over the people in the audience. And then, this was horrible, all the people started getting sick and throwing up all over each other. I never felt so bad in my entire life.

:)

Crappy Day

2005-12-19T17:47:00.000-08:00

Today just sucked. Actually, come to think of it, the whole weekend pretty much sucked. I worked Saturday and I really wasn't feeling well. Sunday I was off but still had to go to work to get some things straightened out (wasn't pleasant, for me or anyone else involved). I still felt like shit, but I did manage to make it to the movies with April and Trishy. We saw the Chronicles of Narnia. It was really good. But because of the work thing I got there right as the movie was starting and the girls had stuff to do after the movie so I basically said about 3 words to both of them, which sucked. Today I was off and looking forward to a nice day of rest to get myself back on my feet, health-wise. My cell phone rings at 7:22am. It's Mel from work telling me that there is nobody from the Critical Care Team at work (they are supposed to start at 7am). Geri called out sick and Tara just didn't show up. So what can I do but hop in the shower and come in to work. I'm coughing like crazy and sound like a frog croaking, but at least I make it there by 8am (I can get ready super quick when I have to!). So I do my thing by myself with help from the treatment room and Michele comes in at 12:30 to help out in CCT.

Tara ended up calling at about 11am to say that she had been throwing up all morning and slept late which was why she didn't come in or call. Whatever. Her last day is tomorrow, so why would she care? She can do whatever she wants, it's not like we can fire her now. I'm actually glad she's leaving. She was ok as a person, but in the roughly two months she's worked with us she's called out 4 times (today would be her 5th) and left early twice. Oh and that first time she called out? That was the first day she was scheduled to work (after her initial training days, of course). I remember telling somebody it didn't bode well that she would call out on her first day....

Funny thing too, when I came in on Sunday I was talking with Geri and she says "I heard you worked yesterday while you were sick. Haven't you ever heard of sick days?" and I told her I don't take sick days unless I'm missing a limb or something. She just laughed. And she called in sick the next day. This job isn't like other jobs where, if you call in sick, you can just make up the work the next day or work from home. If you call in sick at our job, you screw everybody else over. We have to try to find someone to take your place and if we can't we just have to make do with being one person (or in this case, two people) short. Which means treatments don't get done on time and clients have to wait. And it sucks. It pisses everybody off. So I say, just suck it up. It wasn't like Geri had another 5 or 6 days of work to look forward to. She was off Friday and Saturday, worked Sunday, was supposed to work Monday and was off again until Friday! She couldn't just suck it up for one day?!?!?! Ugh. I know I'm not in her place and I shouldn't judge, but sometimes I just can't help it! It pisses me off to no end that I bend myself backwards for work and other people just can't be bothered. But whatever, I'll be back at work tomorrow, no doubt still coughing and sounding like shit and no doubt I'll get stuck working 12-4 on the 24th, but at least I know that I deserve all that lovely overtime pay! :)

Oh and just to top everything off, there's stuff going on with a guy. And it's really bumming me out. Go ahead and rip on me, Rob. You know you want to. :P

Cause I always do what Rob tells me...

2005-12-10T20:03:00.000-08:00

So Rob stole an idea from someone who stole an idea from someone else and now I'm stealing it from him. Well, I'm not really stealing it, since he suggests in his blog that everyone else give it a shot. I put my music on random and wrote down the first lyric or so of the song. It's up to you to identify the song and artist. A few of them are super easy, most of them are hard (but probably not for April, I'm sure she has ALL these songs on her computer. It's sick how similar we are). If you decide to do this as well, let me know so I can do it! Enjoy!

P.S. this guy is really annoying me cause he keeps referring to his favorite drink as a "gin in tonic". It's a gin AND tonic you idiot! Ok, just needed to get that out....

1. Put on my old sweater, she puts on a tight dress.

2. I pick up my smile, put it in my pocket.

3. Hey my head spins at the thought that I'm sleeping my way out of this rut.

4. I fall to pieces each time I see you again.

5. You've got a great car, yeah what's wrong with it today?

6. Free as a bird, it's the next best thing to be free as a bird.

7. You can send me a savior that lives til the end of time, promise the heavens but that only leaves me dry.

8. Must have been the devil who changed my mind, must've been the sound of the wind blowing, not me crying.

9. Broken sky, heartaches that flowers won't mend, say goodbye knowing that this is the end.

10. I don't say much but I like to sing, won't tell you what I'm thinking, you'll just have to wait and see.

11. I don't wanna be the only girl, I don't have to be the only one.

12. I'm coming out of my wishing well where only echoes lonely hear my prayers.

13. I should've had faith, I should've taken a chance, should've been myself, I should've laughed.

14. Though the water boils, don't turn off the heat, can't find the spoon that we once had, the sugar cubes will melt no more.

15. And then sweet fishtail into a monster truck of shame, carved out of soap and steel and clay and salty fame.

16. I didn't come this far, for you to make this hard for me.

17. I can laugh at this dream and if I drown I'll wake in the morning, this is liquid love in a plastic cup and if it leaks we can plug it right back up.

18. I'm standing in the pouring rain you couldn't even be there to pick me up. You're taking me for granted again, you're running out of time and you're out of luck.

19. Tell tale signs of life behind those late night bed sit eyes. Embers of the fires sparking, all around the sky's darkening.

20. Everything is quiet since you're not around and I live in numbness now, in the background.

21. Think I've slipped the net, but I cut myself free. I'm not losing it, so don't forget me.

22. So denied, so I lied, are you the now or never kind?

23. I'm broke but I'm happy, I'm poor but I'm kind.

24. Is that all you want, is the misery? Does it keep you safe? Does it keep you company?

25. You tell me summer's here and the time is wrong. You tell me winter's here and your days are getting long.

26. Of all the things I believed in, I just want to get it over with.

27. Some bright morning when this life is over, I'll fly away.

28. You thought the leaden winter would bring you down forever, but you rode upon a steemer to the violence of the sun.

29. You don't want to know, but that won't stop me from showing.

30. I've got ladyfingers baby, I got kid gloves baby, I've got heart.

Just When You Think You've Moved On....

2005-11-25T06:00:00.000-08:00

There was a guy, back in college. I was totally head over heels crazy for him. He didn't feel the same way, but I think he used my feelings for him to bolster his ego. I was happy with him most of the time, but he also made me cry a lot. A LOT. I got fed up with it all and three years ago I told him I never wanted to see him again. Since then I feel like I've moved on. I don't really think about him. When I'm awake that is. But in the last month or so I've dreamt about him 3 times. And it sucks. Because I don't want to think about him. And after dreaming about him, I get really depressed. I hate that I have no control over my subconscious. I want to move on completely. Damn him! And damn myself.

I'm Doomed to Repeat All My Mistakes

2005-10-17T15:39:00.000-07:00

April had a party on Saturday. It was a good time. Hung out with people I hadn't hung out with for a while. And what did these lovely people talk about? Well, among many, many things, we talked about two of my bad hookups. One of them came up because I introduced myself to a girl I'd apparently already met. I say "Hi, it's nice to finally meet you." And she says "We've actually already met. It was at Shannon's X-mas party last year." and she gives me this look. Oh. That party. Yeah, well I spent most of that party drunk and making out with this one guy. So of course we had a nice laugh rehashing that mistake. Me and this guy (we'll call him "Jim") went out a few times and then he stopped calling (do you see a pattern with guys I date???). I called him a few times and he texted/IMed me some very curt answers. So I stopped talking to him.

Well today, almost a whole year since we stopped talking, "Jim" IMs me a link. I have my suspicions. I'm almost positive that it's a virus. So I decide to IM him to let him know. Here's the convo:

Cimmera1: did you just send me a file?
"Jim": crappy aol virus... Apparently sent to everyone on my buddy list
Cimmera1: I figured that's what it was
Cimmera1: I didn't think you'd willingly be IMing me!

***dead silence here for a few minutes***

Cimmera1: well that was fun reminiscing
"Jim": yeah... i'm not much into reminiscing.. at least not today
Cimmera1: and not with me apparently. See ya.

***dead silence for a few more minutes***

"Jim" signed off at 6:47:31 PM.

So there you have it folks. Guys blow me off way too much. Why can't guys stop being pussies and say what's on their fucking minds? Why couldn't he tell me why he didn't want to date me anymore last year? And why, after a year, am I still on his IM list? I swear, I don't know what it is that I do wrong with guys. And they won't tell me. So I'm doomed to repeat it.

And yes, there was a second bad hook up of mine that we discussed that night, but no power on earth could make me divulge it here. :)

Best. Day. Ever.

2005-09-30T19:52:00.000-07:00

First of all, I apologize for taking so long to post this. I've been super busy with work and I just haven't been in the mood to blog (I know you find this hard to believe, but it's true!). So anyway, this is going to be a very detailed story of what happened Wednesday, September 30th, 2005. I will start with some background information so you don't get confused. Here we go: way back when, Joss Whedon (the creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer) created a tv show called "Firefly", which was an Asian Space Western (don't question it, just go with it). It aired on Fox and was cancelled after 11 episodes (Joss had filmed 14 eps and Fox aired the last few in random order, cause they're bastards). The complete series was then released on DVD where it sold 500,000 copies. I, being the huge Joss Whedon fan that I am, bought the DVD and promptly turned April into a fanatic as well. The high DVD sales made some people pay attention. Since the show was so successful on DVD they decided to make a movie of it, called "Serenity". It premiered in theaters September 30th, and yes April and I did go see it, twice (but that's another story).

Anyway, one of the characters on the show was "Wash" and he is played by Alan Tudyk (he played Heath Ledger's red-headed sidekick in "A Knight's Tale"). He is a very funny guy. April and I totally became obsessed with him (I might be a smidge more obsessed than her). We then heard that he was playing Lancelot in "Spamalot" on Broadway. And here beginneth our journey.

A few months ago, April and I decided to get tickets to Spamalot to see Alan (and because the show got very good reviews). The shows were pretty much booked and since we didn't want to spend more than a day in NYC we finally decided on a Wednesday 2pm matinee show. We then got the bright idea to get to the theater very early and see if we could catch Alan on his way into the show to get autographs and pics, etc. So that morning we boarded the train to NYC and got there about 2 and 1/2 hours before the show was scheduled to start. We scoped out the theater and found the stage door. We then ran to McDonald's, got some food and then came back to the theater to eat it there, on the street just so we wouldn't miss Alan coming in. So we stood there for about a 1/2 hour when we started thinking maybe the actors didn't come in that way after all. There were two guys standing by the door, obviously to make sure people didn't walk in off the street, so April and I argued about going to talk to them. Finally, April bribed me by saying she'd love me for forever and 2 days if I went, so I walked over there to talk to them. I started chit-chatting with them and finally brought up the subject at hand. I asked them if there was any chance that we'd be able to meet some of the cast members if we stood there long enough. The one guy said that we'd most definitely see them, but that most of them kind of rush in off the street at the last minute and don't stop to sign autographs until after the show. He then asks who we were hoping to meet. When I told him that we were there for Alan Tudyk, his attitude totally changed! He says: "Oh you're here for Alan!! He'd almost definitely stop to talk to you guys. He's a really nice guy. You'll probably see him fly by on his bike." So at this, April (who'd come over half way through the convo) and I got really excited! Yay! Our mission didn't appear to seem a total waste of time. So we went back to standing around. Talked to a couple of scary people who stopped to talk to us and then we see Tim Curry come walking down the alley! So we're like, bonus! He stops to sign some autographs, so we decide to get his too (might as well). He's really much shorter in person! April and I handled that really well, so we're thinking we'll be totally cool when Alan gets there. Not so. A little while later we see him come down the alley on his bike and we both start freaking out! We are both shaking and giddy like school girls. He shackles his bike to a tree on the street at the end of the alley and starts walking towards the door. He makes a bee line for a girl that came out of the stage door (obviously someone who works on the show), comes up behind her, grabs her ass and then kisses her! As his future wife I was none too pleased, but then he started walking towards us and the whole incident was put out of my mind. We make our approach and start babbling about how we are huge Firefly fans and if he wouldn't mind signing some autographs and take pics with us. He says "Sure!". And April and I are over the moon! He starts signing the autographs and he asks us if we've seen the movie yet. We tell him that we were going that Friday so he decides to put a quote from the movie on our autographs. Mine has the first part: "I am a leaf on the wind" and April has the second part: "watch how I soar". We're both still freaking out and he's being soooo nice! So again I ask him if we can take his picture (I'm going crazy, so yeah, I asked him twice, shoot me). He says yes and puts his arm around April for the picture. And then disaster strikes. The camera won't work! I had checked it that morning, but now it says dead battery! I'm on the verge of tears and I'm apologizing to Alan, feeling like a complete retard. He's like, it's ok. So I asked him for a hug instead, which he obliged! And off he went to go start the show...... while April and I are trying to compose ourselves.

At this point I've still feeling super shitty for the batteries dying (I swear they were fine that morning), and I'm apologizing to April profusely. There's still plenty of time before the show starts so we walked over to Time Square to kill some time. I then start thinking that maybe we could find a store where I could buy a disposable camera in case we see him again after the show. Besides, I wanted pics of the theater and whatnot. As it happens, there was a camera store just a block away from the theater so I decided to just buy another battery for my camera instead. We walked back to the theater, took some pics and about 10 minutes later they started seating for the show.

Our seats were 6 rows back from the stage, but all the way on the left so we were really close but we did have an obstructed view of the left-most corner of the stage. But it was all good. The show was hilarious! Tim Curry was awesome as King Arthur and Alan (in my opinion) stole the show as Lancelot (and a whole bunch of other characters too). It was well worth the ticket price. After the show we noticed that they had barricades up by the stage door and that people were waiting there for autographs. April and I decided to go over and see if maybe Alan came out. Only about 2 minutes later he did come out, so I took a picture of him signing autographs. As he got closer to us, April said "we got a new battery, can you take a picture with us now?" and of course, he obliged. I pretty much threw my camera at the nearest person, not waiting to see if they minded taking our pic, and before we knew it the picture was taken and he was moving on down the line. Satisfied, we walked down to the street to figure out our next step, staying in NYC for dinner or heading back to DE early to catch "Lost". We decided to head back early and starting walking down the street to go hail a cab. We walked a few steps before our paths crossed with (who else) Alan! I wanted to take some more pictures, but April said I couldn't cause it would be too stalkerish. She had a point. So I merely said "good show" and we walked on after a smile and a nod from Alan. We continue down to the next intersection were we stood waiting for the light to change. And guess who was waiting for the light as well! You guessed it! Alan on his bike. He glances over at us and smiles. So I waved to him and he waved back! The light turned green and he was off. Sigh. April and I were going nuts! It was soooo awesome.

And now just to finish off the story... we take a cab to the train station and while we are standing around waiting for them to announce which platform our train is on April and I discuss the show. And I say (at the top of my voice, no less): "Alan looked hot in that cock piece!" I turned bright red! "I mean, cod piece!" I turn to April: "Did I just yell cock in a crowded train station?" "Yup!". Oops! :)

And so endeth the story. Sorry it took so long to post. And sorry it was such a long one with lots of details. I just had to include everything because it was THE BEST DAY EVER! The End.

P.S. Just for Sarah: http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=21061304&Mytoken=E3BCEEFA-2866-4B21-9D01B178CE0BEF232937075078

This isn't happening!

2005-09-27T15:56:00.000-07:00

April and I got tickets to go see Alan Tudyk (from Firefly) in Spamalot in NYC tomorrow. We've been planning this for over a month. We got matinee tickets and we are getting there early to try and catch Alan on his way in to try and get his autograph and take pics with him. I've been looking forward to this soooo badly because I'm obsessed with Firefly! So yesterday I was at work and I wasn't feeling too good, but I figured it was just my allergies. I took a Claritin and didn't give it much thought. Well now, I wake up this morning with a full blown sinus infection! And that little bump on my chin yesterday has turned into a massive zit the size of Ohio! The day before Spamalot! It couldn't happen at a worse time! How am I supposed to make Alan fall in love with me at first sight and propose if I am all snotty and zitty??? Arg! This sucks! Figures the universe wouldn't want me to be sublimely happy even for one day....

Some People are Stupid

2005-09-14T13:18:00.000-07:00

Today, I went to my doctor's office and had an appointment with the nurse practicioner to get some meds refilled. As she's wrapping things up she asks me where I'm working now. So I tell her I'm working at Windcrest. And she says "I was going to go there, but its too expensive." And then she proceeds to tell me about her vet and how inexpensive it is. So I'm just nodding and smiling and then I say "Well, we're more expensive cause we're the best!" jokingly. And she says "yeah" all sarcastically and then I said "we are the most state of the art in the area." And then she proceeds to tell me that she loves her cat but if he ever got cancer or diabetes she would just put him down. And she goes on and on about how some people are weird that they are willing to pay all this stuff for their pets. And how stupid it is that there is even pet insurance. And she says "their just animals!". I'm like, hello!?!?! You are retarded. Don't say stuff like that to someone who works with animals. That's just stupid. What did you want me to say? "yeah, animals are not worth it. We shouldn't even bother treating them. If they get sick, we should just kill them." So I just didn't say anything. And she goes on to tell me that she house sat for a friend that had horses and cats and stuff and while she was watching them one of the cats got hurt and was suffering so she took it to the vet and had it put down because if she waited for her friend to come back her friend "would have let it suffer." I wanted to punch her in the face. By that time we were walking out of the room and I just started walking faster to go check out and left her standing there. Bitch.

Tit for Tat

2005-08-30T16:28:00.000-07:00

So you probably remember that post about me running into my neighbor wearing only a t-shirt and undies (re: now THAT was embarrassing)? Well, this morning I was walking my dogs at about 5am and guess who was out in just a t-shirt? My neighbor! He was at the top of his driveway on the grass with his dog, Marley. When Marley saw my dogs, he dragged his owner down to the street to come see us. He was wearing a really long t-shirt, so I didn't see anything (thank god, he's older than my dad!) but you could tell I had caught him at a bad time! So now we're even!

Also something interesting happened at work today. As you loyal readers know, I've mentioned "Keri" before and how she has a very abrasive personality. Well, one of the guys at work and her butt heads a lot. We'll call him.... "Sleeve". "Sleeve" is one of those guys who just doesn't take shit from anybody. But he's also pretty laid back and isn't ruffled easily. Today he just wasn't in a good mood. And neither was "Keri" so they were just spatting all morning. Things just escalated when they were trying to figure out an equation for converting a dose for a drug. Both of them were just not listening to each other and then they started yelling at each other! "Sleeve" tells her to just leave him alone and she's like "EXCUSE ME?!?!?". So he throws his pen on the counter and says "Screw this, I'm going home" and stomps out the door. I'm just standing there with my jaw hanging. So then "Keri" goes running after him. Thankfully, our assistant manager was there working on something on her day off and they went in to her to get everything straightened out. After about 20 minutes they both came back in and got back to work. "Sleeve" is still pretty pissed at this point but at least he's still working. And I don't really blame him. I'm getting along much better with "Keri" these days but she still rubs me the wrong way a lot. And she causes a lot of tension. "Sleeve" on the other hand is a chill guy, does his work and we get along and joke around a lot. So you can guess who I'd be rooting for...

And now management has all thrown us for a loop with this whole "critical care team" thing. I won't even bother explaining it to you, it's too complicated. Let's just say the whole thing is a big cluster fuck. So "Sleeve", "Keri" and I have been arguing a lot about it. And that's causing a lot of tension too. "Sleeve's" really not happy about it, and I hope he doesn't quit. I don't really like it either, but basically I'm just putting up with it because I want to work there. In this case, I think it's better to just go with the flow. Meanwhile, "Sleeve" and "Keri" are swimming upstream.

myspace...in heaven?

2005-08-15T19:52:00.000-07:00

Ok, I'm the first one to admit it when I'm wrong (and that's not very often :P ). I've actually become quite addicted to using myspace (egads!). A bunch of people I know (ok, ok only 6) are on there and I like checking the boards and comments. And I just like looking at random people's profiles and reading Shannon's blog (since she posts almost everyday). I even asked Shannon how to get a pretty background (egads again!). So there you have it. I've been converted to the dark side. But I still prefer to blog on here then on myspace. So don't worry, the Shits and Giggles will continue! (I know you were worried...)

I've figured out Victoria's Secret

2005-08-08T20:10:00.000-07:00

Yes, I've figured out her secret: she's a sizeist. Here's my story. So I'm out shopping with Shannon K. today. I told her I wanted to stop by Victoria's Secret to get some new bras and panties. I go in and find a bra that I like, I see a little sign beneath it that says they have sizes 32A-38DD. I'm a 38DD, so I figure I'm in the clear. I ask the saleswoman if they have the pink in a 38DD. She says "No, we don't carry it in a 38DD." So I refer her to the sign and she says "Oh we used to carry it in that size but we don't anymore." So I asked her if it was just in that style or all the bras. She says "all the bras, we don't carry that size anymore. We don't have them available on the website either." She says all of this matter of factly, like its no big deal. Well its a big deal to me!! You're telling me that your store, which specializes in bras has just decided to stop making a size?!?!?! What kind of sense does that make? It's like going to buy a shirt and the salesperson telling you they don't make them in large anymore. Ok, yeah, I have big boobs, but they are by no means abnormally grotesquely gigantic. It's not unreasonable to think they should carry that size. But no, they've decided to cater to small women only. Well thanks a lot. As if I don't have enough problems caused by my boobs. I can't wear strapless stuff, halter tops, or button down shirts. And now I have one less place to shop for bras. Great. It makes me want to get a breast reduction even more now. But why should I go through the pain and expense of surgery because the clothing industry is stupid? So I've decided instead to boycott Victoria's Secret. I had wanted to buy some panties too, but I told the saleswoman to forget it. I'm not giving those assholes my money. So maybe you want to tell me to get off my high horse or whatever, but if you sympathize with me at all, please boycott VS as well, and tell your friends to as well. I will also be writing a strongly worded letter to VS. It probably won't change anything, but it'll make me feel better.

a little aside

2005-08-07T03:22:00.000-07:00

Hey guys, I was reading one of my friends post and she was telling a funny story about some loser wanting to apply to work at her store. And this reminded me of an incident that happened to me a while back. I was pumping gas while wearing my uniform and this woman pumping gas next to me starts talking to me. Here is the conversation:

Woman: "Oh, you work at Windcrest? Are they hiring?"
Me: "Umm, I'm not sure."
Woman: "Because my son needs a job. He can't get a job. Well, it's not that he can't get one, there's plenty out there he's just not trying hard enough."

Well gee! Wait right there and let me run to work to get an application for your lazy ass son! Some people are so stupid. Did she think that her little story would ingratiate him to me? Maybe your son is retarded... and maybe it runs in the family.

Well THAT was embarrassing...

2005-08-05T15:31:00.000-07:00

Milou woke me up really early this morning to go outside. It was about 3:30am. So I go downstairs to let him out. All I'm wearing is what I sleep in: a white Hanes tee and my undies. And of course, I don't have my glasses on. So he goes outside to do his thing and comes back in. Of course now Nola has to go outside too. So I tie her up to her outdoor leash and go lie down on the couch until she's ready to come back in. I'm drifting in and out of sleep when Milou starts barking at the door (which he usually does when Nola's on the other side wanting to come in). So I go to let her in. I open the door and I don't see Nola because my mom's car is in the way. However, I do see a man there waving at me, but I can't identify him cause he's blurry without my glasses on. So I start panicking that something has happened to Nola so I don't even think about it, I hurry on out there. It turns out its one of my neighbors walking his dog. Since his dog and my dog are such good friends, they had come up the driveway for them to play a little bit. That's when I realize that I'm standing there in front of my neighbor (who's old enough to be my dad) in nothing but a t-shirt and underwear. So I'm tugging on my shirt trying to keep it down as much as I can and trying to make small talk with the guy. Not my finest moment. But what can you expect at 3:30 in the morning?

myspace...in hell!

2005-07-22T12:49:00.000-07:00

Recently I signed up to be part of myspace.com because one of my gfs was on there. But frankly, I doubt I'll be using it much. It frightens me! It's just too busy. There's stuff everywhere you look, there's pics, backgrounds, boxes, frames, it makes me nauseous to look at some of those pages! And I don't think it's very user friendly. I don't know how to do anything on there. And only days after signing up my mailbox is full with e-mails from random people (ok, maybe not full, more like 6 e-mails). Two from a band I've never even heard of, three from people wanting to be my "friend" (one of which was kinda disturbing) and one from a co-worker. How did you people find me!?!?!?! I'm just not impressed with that whole thing. It's too busy and like I told Amanda, there's too much frou-frou on there. I'll be sticking with blogger thank you very much. It's concise and to the point. And it doesn't make me want to puke.

True Story!

2005-07-18T11:22:00.000-07:00

Ok everyone. Be prepared for the most fucked up day in history ever! Yesterday was basically the day from hell. I was scheduled to work from noon until 8:30pm (although I never get out before 9:30). I walked in the door and Cheyenne and Dr. Graves were like "thank god you're here!". That never bodes well. So of course things were already crazy with emergencies coming in and retards like Kyle working. That's right, I used his real name. No more "Lyle". No need to protect his identity anymore. So for about an hour things are going pretty well. Cheyenne and I are getting shit done like nobody's business. Then the emergency door buzzes and it's someone dropping off their dead dog for cremation. I figured it would be a big dog (they usually are) so I asked Cheyenne to come with me to help me carry the body back in. So we are outside talking to this crying lady when I notice that Kyle has come outside with a miniature pinscher that had had a cystotomy the night before. I see him put him on the ground to walk him, but without a leash!!!! So I turn to Cheyenne and whisper to her that she needs to go over there and grab the dog before he runs away. The back parking lot where we walk most of the dogs (the ones boarding with us and the ones healthy enough to walk that far and back) is fenced in, however the side where we usually walk the sick dogs is not fenced in. So Cheyenne goes over there and I turn back to this lady and tell her I'll be right back and I go running back inside to get a leash for the min pin. I come back out and I see that the dog has almost made it to the street. Cheyenne is on his heels but Kyle being a pretty big guy is much further away. I run pell-mell after the dog and toss the leash at Kyle as I run by him. The dog gets into the street (and by street I mean 4 very busy lanes) with Cheyenne and I waving our arms trying to get cars to stop. Two cars slam on their brakes and the dog gets hit in the head by one of them. He then gets up and continues running across the street. At this point Cheyenne and I are running across the road like crazy people. It's only now that I realize that Cheyenne and I could have gotten hit by cars too. I didn't even think of it at that time. All I could think about was getting the dog. That and the fact that these people were seeing 3 employees of an animal hospital chasing a dog with a catheter hanging from it's leg and that we looked like a bunch of assholes. If I were a bystander seeing this spectacle, I would never take my dog to that hospital. So now I'm determined to catch the damn dog. He gets across the street where it's a big parking lot with some small office buildings. Cheyenne and I are running our hearts out. In case some of you didn't know I have asthma and I really can't run. But I'm running like crazy, repeating this phrase in my head like a mantra: "don't pass out!". We managed to get close to the dog a few times but the little bugger keeps getting away from us. A bunch of times I thought for sure that we were gonna lose him. I finally get him cornered and I try picking him up but he keeps biting me. I was thinking "just let him bite you, as long as you don't let him go" but the instinct to protect yourself is stronger than that and every time I reached out and he nipped, I pulled back. So I was thinking I needed to take my shirt off to catch him, but I didn't want to take my eyes off him for even one second. Then here comes Cheyenne and she whips off her shirt! What can I say, great minds think alike! We get him bundled up and he manages to bite Cheyenne a few times as well. So I start screaming my head off for Kyle to hurry up and bring the leash, which he finally does. We get the leash on him and I carry him back while Cheyenne puts her top back on :) I get the dog in the door, call Dr. Graves over to have him examined and tell Pam to call Mary Ann (the tech manager) immediately and tell her she needs to come in right that second. Dr. Graves examines the dog and says he's fine, he only has a fever. No worse the wear for getting hit by a car! To make a long story short (too late!), Mary Ann comes in along with Diane (the manager manager) to handle the crisis. Because now, the owner has to be called and told about what happened. She's surprisingly cool about it and Kyle is sent home, never to return (thank god). So now Cheyenne and I are catching our breaths and nursing our wounds (Cheyenne got the worst of it, poor girl. She came in with her hand dripping blood!).

But that's not the end of the story. Oh no! There's more. Things are relatively quiet for about an hour or so, then the Delaware Humane Association brings in a dog that had been spayed but because she was such a spaz (and probably because they didn't put a head collar on her) she'd busted her incision open and she had omentum hanging out and there was blood everywhere! So she had to be rushed into surgery. She recovered nicely, but her surgery put us behind on our treatments of the other animals. We had a half full ICU, the hospital runs, 4th office and ISO to do. And since we had a nice little epidemic of URI's sweeping through the cat condos, ISO was full. We were already short one person when Kyle was sent home and then we get a call from the 6pm person saying her car broke down and she couldn't come in! Nothing could go right yesterday! Thankfully Aaliyah came in and Melissa came in early. So we get started on treatments and wouldn't you know it, another emergency comes in. This time it's a huge Akita with bloat. Bloat is a condition that must be operated on right away or it can be fatal. So Dr. Graves goes back into surgery and Dr. Epple comes in just in time to assist. Aaliyah goes in to help monitor while Melissa, Cheyenne and I get started on treatments. It's about 8:30pm at this time and Cheyenne was supposed to leave at 4pm! But since she's such a sweetie she stayed and helped. She finally left at about 10ish and after tying up a few loose ends I managed to get out at 11:30pm. I got home, wolfed down dinner along with two Bacardi Silvers and went to bed hoping I'd never have another day like that! The End.

Silly Dream

2005-07-13T10:29:00.000-07:00

I didn't have to be at work until 2:30 pm today, so at around noon I decided to go take a little nap. And this is the dream I had. First of all it took place at the house I lived in in Canada, but in the dream, the house was here in Hockessin. Windcrest was closed for repairs and they were using my house in the meantime. The plan was for the house to be turned into another Windcrest hospital, but it hadn't been converted yet. The dream starts off with me in the laundry room with two kittens that I had to bathe. I was checking the washer and dryer and both had a load in so I couldn't wash the kittens (I'm thinking I was going to just throw them into the washer!). Also, all I'm wearing is a robe. In comes the gay guy from the movie "Saved". He's in the laundry room with me and I'm trying to make out with him but we keep getting interrupted. Then I get paged that Dr. Wood's next appointment is here. For some reason, I'm her tech today. So I go looking for her and she's in the backyard watching as some of the other doctors are doing surgery (in the backyard, out in the open). So I tell her that her next appointment is here. She tells me it's a bird with an ear infection (!) and that she wants me to go in and do an ear clean (!!) before she goes in to talk with the owners. So I go back and bring the people in. It turns out they are an old couple with a really fat bird. The only room that's open is the powder room. So the old man is sitting on the toilet, the old woman is sitting on the floor, I'm sitting on a stool and the bird's cage is on the counter. This whole time, I'm still in my robe and I'm trying to keep it from slipping cause I have nothing on underneath! So I get all their info and the woman tells me that the bird needs to be sedated before I can clean it's ears. And the people are complaining because they are in this tiny crowded room (however, they don't mention that it's a bathroom) and also that the walls aren't a pretty blue color like that walls of Windcrest (which aren't even blue in real life). So I explain to them that it's my parents' house and that we are going to convert it to a hospital, but we don't want to do it until we know that it's going to work out. Anyway, back to the bird. This bird has got two ridiculously big cheeks cause the old woman keeps stuffing seeds in its mouth. So I go out to talk to Dr. Wood to tell her about the sedation and I tell her that she has to be careful not to mention the fact that the bird is fat because the old woman gets upset when you mention it. Then, around the corner comes the guy from "Saved" with the kittens and he's walking back to the kitchen and I tell him not to leave cause I still want to make out with him. And then I wake up. Don't I have the craziest dreams??? They are fun though...

Damn you subconscious!

2005-06-27T09:12:00.000-07:00

I had a dream about Brian last night. For those of you who don't know, Brian is a guy I had a brief relationship with while I was living in Minnesota. Brian was a really good guy. Nothing terrible happened between us, except that he just stopped treating me life a girlfriend and started treating me like just a friend. I'm pretty sure I know why he did it. There was no future between us. Because Brian had two kids (whom I adored) and he owned a house and his entire life was in Minnesota. He would never be able to leave MN for me, and I could never stay in MN for him. It was pretty hard. Other than that small fact, he was the perfect guy for me. I could list all the reasons why, but I'm not going to bore you with all the details. So last night I dreamt that we were together. Le sigh. So of course I'm all depressed today. I wish I could just clone him, so I could have him here with me. But I suppose I need to keep my hopes up. "The right guy will come along" and all that shit. But what if he doesn't?

Further adventures from two recurring characters

2005-06-10T16:05:00.000-07:00

Today class, we will be discussing two recurring characters. "Keri" and "Luke". Let's start with the most recent character, "Keri". Ever since "Keri" and I had our big disagreement, every time she does something to piss me off, I just keep my mouth shut. I try to deal with her as little as possible. I only interact with her when absolutely necessary. Anyway, she's always complaining that she is always cleaning all the cages. Well, it makes sense since she's the one who does the least amount of work in the treatment room. It's just a fact of life, at work you are gonna have to clean cages and clean cages a lot. We all do it. And unlike her we also clean cages in the back. Most of the time Amanda cleans them, but I do try to clean my cages. Even this morning I was trying to help Amanda out and I cleaned a cage that was coated, literally coated with shit on all sides! And I always clean my cages in ISO cause Amanda's not allowed in there. So today there were a lot of doctor checks in the treatment books. I was helping Dr. Wood with all of them. I discharged an ICU patient, but did not get a chance to clean the cage right away. And then I let everybody else go to lunch since I was off at 2pm. There was too much to do at that time to clean the cage. But I knew I was going to have to go back to it, cause "Keri" freaks if you don't. So of course "Keri" gets back from lunch and says "don't forget you have a cage to clean." At this time I'm dealing with an emergency that just came in. So all I said was "yeah, I know" when all I wanted to do was tell her to shove it and I'd clean it when I had a chance. Well throughout the day another co-worker (we'll call her "Kirsten") was bitching to me about her. "Kirsten" had been away at school and hadn't had much of a chance to work with her up until this point. So she was complaining about everything that people have been complaining about for the last like 2 months. And of course I told her what I thought of "Keri" although I didn't go into as much detail as I would have liked to, I was trying to be good :P Well, it's after 2pm and I'm still at work. I finally get around to cleaning out the cage and while I'm doing this I hear "Keri" complaining to Dr. Wood about not knowing who discharged one of the other cases cause the cage was still dirty. Well it wasn't me, so I didn't say anything. And then she goes on to say "people around here think I'm their cleaning service and I'm sick of it. And then they talk about me behind my back." And I know she's saying it for my benefit cause she's talking louder than usual. And still I say nothing. Cause you know what, I've told her to her face several times what my issues were with her, but nothing changed, so I'm done talking to her. And if somebody else starts talking to me about her, I'm gonna be sympathetic and listen cause I feel the same way. So basically I continue to keep my mouth shut, but I pray everyday that she either quits or gets fired because work would be so much better if she did.

On to our next character. "Luke" called me today. It's been what, like two weeks? What the fuck is that? So I was very cold with him and he tells me that he's busy this weekend but wanted to know if I wanted to do something next weekend. So I told him, that it wasn't cool that he's called twice to do something and I never heard from him again. He said "I was anticipating that you felt like that, and I apologize." and he goes on with excuse after excuse. None of which are good enough. He could have called at anytime to tell me he couldn't make it. So he said that if I decided that I wanted to see him next weekend to call him. I told him I'd think about it....fat chance asshole.

And another co-worker rant...

2005-06-08T20:02:00.000-07:00

There's this older woman who I work with. We'll call her "Keri". She's very abrasive and I have a hard time working with her and keeping my cool. But I've gotten much better at just keeping my mouth shut (and this is no small feat). Today she really pissed me off but I still managed to not say anything. So here's the premise. Nancy, "Keri" and I are standing near each other in ICU and "Keri" says to Nancy "Ok, you're gonna help Isabelle with this." And I'm like, "help me out with what?" She wanted us to put a catheter in a dog. I didn't even know about this!!! But apparently, Nancy was supposed to help me with it. Well, Nancy and I were finishing what we were doing, when Mel comes up to me and says "You're gonna help "Keri" with this catheter so she can go to lunch." And she says it in a way that makes me feel like "Keri" was complaining about me ignoring her. Which I'm sure she was. So I go over to her and she's huffing and puffing and you can tell she's pissed. So I said "why don't you just go to lunch and Nancy and I will finish." And she says "Well I asked you to help me, but you were ignoring me. I'm not gonna beg for help." Excuse me? She didn't ask for help, she ordered Nancy to help me with something I didn't even know I was supposed to be doing! And then she is all bitchy about it. I told her to just go and we'd finish and she's like, "no." Alright fine, you wanna be a martyr, be a fucking martyr. Oh poor you, you can't go to lunch right away. But you still manage to get your two smoke breaks in don't you? Just like you do every damn day. What about those who've never taken a break in the 7 months they've worked there? Who work 12 hour shifts and only take one 1/2 hour lunch for the entire time because we are always too busy. Damn she pisses me off.

I should just give up and become a nun!

2005-05-29T19:36:00.000-07:00

What is it with guys? Or at least, what is it with guys and me? I went on two dates with this guy (we'll call him "Luke"). They were good dates, I had fun and we had plenty to talk about. After our second date (it was on a Saturday) "Luke" said he'd call me on Wednesday because it was my day off and he'd check to see how I had spent it. Well, he didn't call. He called me about two weeks later. It was the Thursday night before my b-day. He asked if I wanted to do something that weekend. I told him I couldn't cause I was doing the family b-day dinner on Friday, working Saturday and then I was working Sunday and also spending time w/ my family since it was Mother's Day and my father's b-day. However, I did tell him that if he wanted to come over Monday night he could have some b-day cake with me and my friend April. He said that sounded good and he'd call me on Sunday to finalize plans. So guess what happened next. He didn't call Sunday. In fact, he waited another two weeks to call me.

This time it was a Sunday. He was calling to tell me he'd been out of town off and on for the last two weeks and he was sorry he hadn't called and missed my b-day etc., etc., etc. He wanted to know if I wanted to go out with him that weekend. I called him back on Tuesday and told him I wasn't sure what my plans were but I would like to go out with him at some point. Never heard back from him. So my question is, why does he keep calling me to go out on the weekend and then not call me back? I know, I know, you guys are all saying "he's just not that into you". Well, you are probably right. I'm probably his back up in case he doesn't have anything else better to do that weekend. And I guess I'm just too pathetic to tell him to go to hell.

Are you a man or a fucking baby?

2005-05-25T13:50:00.000-07:00

I have this co-worker. I'll call him "Lyle". He's really starting to piss me off. First of all he comes in the other week and he says to me, "I'm on the schedule 7:30-4 tomorrow, but I have an exam at 10:30." I told him I wasn't in charge and he had to go to a manager. He talks to the manager and tells me that she told him he could come in after his exam. The next day, I'm working in treatment room with Kelly and she ends up having to go home because she was having an allergic reaction (turns out she's severely allergic to cats...maybe she should think of another career). Meanwhile, Geri (the ICU tech) gets permission from a manager to leave to go get her rabies shot. So I'm stuck by myself in treatment room. "Lyle" finally strolls in at 2:45. Ok, so here are two things that bug me about this. One of the other girls who I work with is in the same class as he is. She's known about this exam for three weeks. "Lyle" waited until the night before to tell us he couldn't work. And then he shows up at 2:45. Let's say he's a little slow (and this isn't much of a stretch of the imagination) and he needs the full two hours to write the exam. He should have been done at 12:30. It does not take 2 hours and 15 mins to get from Newark to Wilmington. No matter how much traffic there is. And then he goes on to bitch that he's not getting enough hours!

Fast forward to this past Sunday. The day was crazy busy. We had emergency after emergency and emergencies simultaneously. One of the techs couldn't come in cause her father died. That's understandable, no problem there. One of the other girls and I suggest to a manager that she should call "Lyle" to come in early (he was supposed to work at 4). He was bitching about not getting enough hours anyway, we thought he might want to jump at the opportunity to make some up. So the manager calls and talks to his mother. She says he's still sleeping and she'll ask him if he wants to come in when he gets up. Ok, his mom wants him to sleep in, whatever. I don't know about his mom, but if work calls me, it doesn't matter what time or day or whatever it is, my mom is waking my ass up. You don't sleep through a call from work. So we give it a couple of hours and call back at noon. His mom answers again. She says he's still sleeping and anyway he couldn't come in early because he had some things to do around the house. Are you kidding me??? I can't sleep in at my house until noon on my days off when work ISN'T calling me! My mom would NOT let that shit slide! I don't know where their priorities are but sleeping and stuff around the house comes second to job responsibilities.

So some people are saying "well it's not his responsibility to come in early." Whatever, we were swamped. I have NEVER said no when work has asked me to come in early, stay late or cover for somebody. Never. Even if it means working a 14 hour day (re: previous post). And then today my manager takes me aside and says that she heard I was bitching about "Lyle" about what happened on Sunday and it got back to him and now he's upset. Well fuck you, you should have gotten out of bed you lazy ass instead of having your mama field your calls. Be a fucking man.

Can somebody look up the definition of "lazy" in the dictionary?

2005-04-19T10:48:00.000-07:00

My dad today calls me lazy because I was still in bed at 11:00 am. You know, I'd really like to know what his definition of lazy is. Because I've been working everyday for the last two weeks. And yesterday I worked a 14 1/2 hour shift so that one of my co-workers could go home because she was sick. Lazy, my ass. And as you know, my job isn't one of those jobs where I just sit on my ass all day. No, I'm running around, taking care of a hundred different things at once. I'm lucky if I get to sit down for a minute, let alone have a break. Speaking of breaks, you know that 14 1/2 hour day I worked yesterday? I got one half hour lunch break all day. That's it. Today I'm working at 4, so because I'm so "lazy" my parents have me sweeping the hardwood floors, vacuuming the carpets, cleaning the downstairs bathroom and wiping down all the surfaces in the house because THEY are having friends over tonight. Tomorrow is my first day off in two weeks, and then after that it'll be another 10 days before my next day off. Geez, I hope my kids are never as lazy as I am.

"That's not fair!"

2005-03-03T14:21:00.000-08:00

Sarah: "That's not fair!"
Jareth: "You keep saying that. I wonder what your basis for comparison is."
--Labyrinth

Well, I'm saying it's not fair and my basis for comparison is my sister. Why does she get rewarded for being a dumbass? So let's start with some background info for you my darling readers (all 1 and a half of you). She started working at some small law firm as a temp until she passed her BAR exam. This was like a year and a half ago. She's since passed the BAR but hasn't found another job. She lives in a superb apartment in Rittenhouse Square in Philly for which her boyfriend pays the exorbitant rent. And since this job of hers is "temporary" she doesn't have health insurance (don't ask me why, I don't really get this part). Because of this she has to go through Cobraserv (just like me), who charges an arm and a leg and another arm for coverage. Who pays for her insurance? My father. Who pays for my insurance? I do. Who pays for her car insurance? My father. Who pays for my car insurance? I do. Hmmm... interesting, huh?

I know, you are saying I don't have to pay rent cause I live with my parents. But she doesn't pay rent because her boyfriend pays it. So what does she do with all the money she saves on insurance and rent? She spends it on a lot of clothes, shoes and crap. And she's spent so much money on that shit that she was seriously in debt. I won't state an exact number, but it's a lot. Really a lot. And on top of that she has student loans that need to be paid. So what do my parents do? They pay off her credit cards for her. She just has to pay them a small amount every month for 5 years to pay them back, interest free. Does anybody else think that at 27 she should have to pay for her own stupid, careless spending? But no, she gets off again. And then my parents complain to me that she's not responsible. She's not responsible because someone is always there to bail her out. My parents, her boyfriend, whatever. Meanwhile, I live at home to save money, I pay my credit card bills, I pay for my health insurance, car insurance, the $500 surgery for my dog and what do I get? Lectures that I don't do enough around the house. The whole thing just pisses me off. And I know I shouldn't be rewarded for being responsible, it's something you should just be. But sometimes I wonder, I already get lectured for not cleaning, I might as well spend a shitload of money, get a little longer lecture and have them pay off all my bills. Not that I'm going to do it, but still..... Can't I just get more than a pat on the head and a "way to not be retarded"?

Who needs enemies when you have... yourself.

2005-02-28T17:12:00.000-08:00

So I've been watching a lot of "Sex and the City" on On Demand. It's a really good show and it's really funny but I always get depressed after watching it. No, not because of my lack of sex, but because of how envious I am about their lives. That's right, I'm jealous of TV show characters. Every time I watch an ep, it just makes me want to move to New York. Actually it makes me want to move to New York with my girlfriends, cause it would suck to move out there alone! I'm relatively satisfied with my life at the moment. I love my job and my co-workers are awesome. But I definitely miss my girlfriends. We just don't see each other enough. I wish I could just hop in a cab and go visit them at any time of the day or night like Carrie does. And they are always going out to cool, new places. What is there that is cool and new in Delaware?

Although I really shouldn't complain too much because at least I'm home and that's better than being in the hell that was MN/SD. I pretty much try to pretend those two years didn't happen. I've blocked most of it out of my mind. Except for my one friend Jesse, whom I'd love to move to Delaware so we could hang out again (mind you, "The Jackhammer" is now engaged, so that wouldn't be so good...).

And then there is Carrie's fabulous apartment. Who wouldn't love to live in a Brownstone in NYC? I mean come on, I live with parents. Although again, I'm struck with guilt for not appreciating it more. I don't have to pay rent, I mooch food off of them all the time and there's plenty of room for my dogs to hang out and play. It just feels like since I've graduated from college I've had no direction. Like I'm standing still and waiting for my life to start. Right now I'm not hating my life like I was in MN, but I'm not gloriously happy either.

So let's say for a moment, that I could actually move to NYC (and take the girls with me!). I wouldn't be able to afford living there in anything other than a rat-infested hovel. I know what they say, money isn't everything, but you know what, it kinda is. Yes, I'm happy with my job, but it doesn't pay all that much. People ask me if I want to go to vet school some day, but I don't think I do. Do I want to be a vet tech for the rest of my life? I don't know. But I don't know what else I'd want to do. So I'm pretty sure I won't be making lots of money anytime soon. And as shallow as it seems, it's really depressing. Do I want to struggle to make ends meet forever? Do I want to look at things wistfully knowing I'll never own them? Do I want to live with my parents for the rest of my life???? NO! But what choice do I have?

So now I just sit around and mope (when I'm not working) and think about what my life could/should be. And watch "Sex and the City" and wish it was me, April, Trishie, Sarah and Katie having breakfast at the cafe and not them.

I'm so sick and tired....literally!

2005-02-26T04:57:00.000-08:00

Ok, so I worked 14 hours at Windcrest yesterday. They are so short on people that I couldn't say no. So it wasn't all that bad, the day went pretty well. But now I wake up this morning at 7:30 sick as a dog. I'm all congested and phlegmy! And I have to work again today from noon until 9:30! And again tomorrow, and again on Monday.... I just want to stay in bed all day today! But I can't. No rest for the wicked, right? ;) So now that I got that off my chest (the ranting, not the phlegm), I'm going back to bed for a couple of hours. Le sigh.