Monthly Archives: December 2001
I'm sick and my family is driving me nuts.
I was dumb and booked my flight back from New Orleans to be after the new year (the third) and so I'm kinda stuck here. Everyone bickers and it's just one huge passive aggressive party.
I'm also sick, which doesn't help my mood much. My mom has this thing about turning on the air conditioner (we may be in New Orleans, but it is still 40-50's outside! and damn cold) during the day and blasting the heat at night. Also at times, she'll switch the temp going from really hot to really cold or vice versa. The rat in my step brother's room isn't helping me much either as I think that I'm allergic.
I just wanna go home. I miss Tom, my friends, my room, the snow, a constant temperature, my car, etc.
Update from before:
Got to go to rocky horror with my brother way out in covington, which happens to be over the 23 mile bridge across lake ponchartrain. Needless to say it was a long boring drive. Regardless, rocky was cool even though there wasnt a cast or a lot of audience participation. I was all dressed up in my leather and with black poser makeup on so I got a few looks when Larry and I went to IHOP. The food was good and we got home around 4.
I woke the next morning 9 ish to spend a little time with my gramma who was chillin out here while big Larry, Grampa, and Mom went to the Dday museum. We watched movies and talked and I did my nails. It was a nice relaxing day.
I was missing Tom a bit, so I gave him a call. He had relatives over and didn't have much time to talk. He really didn't seem to interested anyway, so whatever. He doesn't reply to my emails either so who knows what is going on there. One can never really tell, but I love him anyway. He told me that his ex did come over on saturday and that during that, his dad and him went out shopping for his mom's bday present. Steph was only supposed to be there for an hour and she wasn't gone by the time they had got back, so they drove around the block a bit until she was gone. I guess the girls saw them driving around and Steph was offended and hurt that he didn't want to be in the same house as her. Well, honey, life is rough. You manipulate someone and treat them like shit, almost putting them on prozac, yeah they're probably not going to want to see you or talk to you. I guess Tom's mom didn't find out about Steph being over there until after the fact and was extremely upset about it. I guess she layed down some rule about not having steph over while Tom was there that Julie kinda forgot about. So everyone's pissed at Julie, but fortunately Tom is putting that aside until Julie has gone back to school, which I think is very mature of him. He said that he didn't want to lose any time with her just because she did something to piss him off. This makes me happy :) I'm kinda peeved at Tom though because he tried to put some sort of jealous girlfriend thing on me by saying that I would be pissed if Steph came over, which is completely not the case. I think that it would've been good for him to see her, actually. It just might've shown him that he has come a long way since she's hurt him. Who knows. Anyway, that situation is over and everyone is doing okay, including Tom.
Later in the afternoon, the museum crew got home and bit everyone's head off and started up the bicker-fest again, so I took a nap. We had dinner and later on, lil Larry and I went to get coffee and hang out for a bit. We also headed to walmart and back to blockbuster (who fortunately wasn't robbed last night) so that larry could buy that rocky horror DVD set that he had wanted. We watched a bit of that and Larry made me do the time warp and yell at the tv which was fun :) I tried to call Joe, but he had some burr up his ass and was busy watching a movie, so I guess he's calling me back later. Fortunately, I also got to talk a bit to Jay yesterday who made me realize how much I miss my friends and also how much they miss me as well.
Either way, it doesn't look like New Years will be too eventful for me. Probably just going to chill with the family and blow my nose a lot.
Hope all you have a safe and happy New Year.
12.31.01 1:04pm(0 comments)
Today was pretty cool:
I went shopping with my mom and got the lord of the rings boxed set in trade paper back, a sweet magic pre-built deck, a pair of jeans for 10 bucks from old navy (plus some other clothes for really cheap), a few things from bath n body works, and that purse from claires that I had been wanting with the flames on it for 10 bucks. We had sushi for lunch (again) and headed over to gramma and grampas. I even got them to try our leftover sushi. Gramma thumbs up, Grampa thumbs down. Oh yeah, and no pickled ginger for gramma :) We chilled and went to dinner later. Larry and I played a few games of magic and I kicked his butt with my sweet new red-blue-black deck. Tonight we're going to the rocky horror picture show, which should be entertaining at the least :)
And now for something completely different:
Last night when I was talking with Tom, he mentioned that his sister was planning on bringing Tom's ex-girlfriend over to their house and Tom is seriously pissed. Julie(Tom's sister) says that Tom got himself into that situation because Julie was friends with Steph (that's the ex) first. Tom says that Steph really dissed him hardcore and sent him into a bit of a mild depression and he doesn't feel that Steph should be welcome in the house. It doesn't bother me that Steph and Tom may speak again. I'm really confident in my relationship with Tom and besides, that girl only has one thing on me, being that she's skinny, and that's really inconsequential. Frankly, I rule and Tom agrees. He keeps telling me I'm many leagues above this other chick :)
However, I'm worried about how it is affecting Tom. I told him to take advantage of the situation and go do something cool while Steph is over at the house as a treat to himself. He still feels a bit betrayed by his sister and is determined to hold a grudge if she follows through with this plan. I don't know how well it will go over with his parents either being that from what I hear they weren't too fond of her. It really sucks that I can't be there to give him a hug and assure him that I would protect him from the big bad mean ex girlfriend. That's just something I'm going to have to get used to. I guess I hope that it doesn't go through, that way Tom won't have to deal with it. If he does have to deal with it, I hope he finds a way to cope. I know he likes to withdraw when faced with opposition, and I hope that doesn't effect his relationship with his sister. I can see where she is coming from, but... ya know... I think family takes priority over friends, but then again, I'm an only child :)
Friends and lovers may come and go, but your family is always going to be your family.
12.29.01 11:16pm(0 comments)
Quick Update:
Thursday:
Woke up still drunk from wednesday night's escapade and went to "commander's palace" (the brennan's masterpiece restaurant) with the fam. I had the most excellent bunny and mushroom gumbo, crab cakes, and creole bread pudding souffle. While the Larrys and Mom took Cassie to the airport, Gramma, Grampa and I came back to the house and watched "what women want" which is an actually cute movie. All men should see it.
Chilled out and bonded with the family for the rest of the day.
Friday:
Friday was girl's day out. Mom and I ran a bunch of errands, had sushi at a nearby cafe (Zen Cafe, good sushi), walked around the french quarter and went to the psychic. Apparently, I've got a lot of good things going for me. Hopefully her prophecy will come true. There's talk in dodge of Mom, Larry, Tom and I going to Tokyo over spring break. We're still doing a "feasibility analysis" now, but I think we'll find a way to pull it off. Airfare is extremely cheap right now and Larry used to live in Tokyo, so that gives us an extra edge. I should probably check with my friend Sean who just recently did an exchange program over there and see what he recommends. I hope it pans out :)
Friday night I had dinner with the fam, but it was pork chops, and I really can't stand those things. I read a bit and talked on the phone with Tom. It was good to hear his voice as I really miss home. I guess it's still snowing up in grand ole Ohio.
I got to hang out with Lawrence, my 16 year old step brother who happens to be rather cool. He plays trombone and is seriously into music, so we talk about that a lot. Little did I know that he also plays magic, so we played a game last night. He had 8 million crazy big creatures out last night and could've killed me off at any time. I was drowning in mana and couldn't do much. Fortunately for me, I pulled out a fireball, pumped it up with all the mana I had and offed him. Hehehehe, he should have killed me off when he had the chance :) We sat at PJ's coffee house for a bit and talked, witnessed the robbery of the blockbuster next door, and eventually rented a movie. He's a cool kid and despite our age difference, easy to relate and converse with. He's big into the rocky horror picture show and he's going to take me to it tonight :)
Today, I'm going to go spend my old navy gift card and go visit with my grandparents. Hopefully I can kick this nastiness cold that keeps me awake all night (other than the extreme heat, the stinky rat, and the TV's that my mom likes to blare at 6 in the morning).
Hope everyone is enjoying their break and getting good night's sleep :)
12.29.01 11:12am(0 comments)
Oh my...
They took me out to the karaoke bar (Cat's Meow, on bourbon st) last night and I got extremely drunk. If you'd like to check it out go here. It's a 24 hour archive, so you'll have to check it out soon. I'd upload a picture, but I was still drunk when I woke up this morning. My mind is not quite with me.
Happy Holidays!
12.27.01 11:18am(0 comments)
Merry Christmas to all!
My family has a tradition of opening presents on christmas eve, but either way, santa was good to me :)
Hope everyone is having fun in Ohio with all the SNOW! *bitter*
See y'all when I get back :)
12.25.01 1:04pm(0 comments)
Okay, I know I haven't journaled in awhile, so I'm going to do this in installments... where did I leave off? ahh yes...
Thursday night:
Tom and I went over to Joe's place and kate / jaime soon showed up. Joe put out a great spread /appetizers / deserts and all was fabulous. Also, joe got me some carruth, a mini fondue set, a linux voodoo penguin, and some sailor moon stickers :) Great stuff. After that Tom and I went back home and watched cowboy bebop, always a good time :)
Friday:
I got up eventually (I had overslept), went to work, and ushered off Tom back to his dorm room. My last day was pretty much awesome as it consisted of a great lunch and a little happy ending. I was able to go out to lunch with Mike, Mike, and Dave where we eventually burst into conversation about religion. I just love talking to Dave about religion. He's this devout catholic, but get this.. he's not pushy and he's actually really easy to talk with about religion! Imagine that! We touched on many topics, birth control, abortion, being a good christian, and most interestingly whether or not gandhi would go to hell. A good time was had by all :) Later that afternoon, they showed me how they were planning on implementing my internship project and everything worked beautifully. After all the crap I went through, I'm going to miss that place, if nothing else the people.
After I left work I grabbed stuff for dinner and ran home. I made some green bean casserole, did some laundry, finished wrapping presents, and took a shower. Tom had a rough exam, so we didn't start dinner until around 6 ish. Jenn, Jeremy, Tom and I had dinner and then opened presents. The other people liked all the presents that I got them and I really dug mine. This year, Jenn opted not to get me stationary or pink / red striped socks w/ holes in them and matching gloves. She got me a scanner instead, which is really awesome. Tom got me a beautiful saphire and diamond ring. The cool thing about it is that the ring used to be his mother's and it was handed down to me. Being in a family with little to no traditions, this really meant a lot to me, much much more than any ring bought from a store could've done. Tom and I, oddly enough, bought each other the same present 3 times. We both got each other some cowboy bebop, underwear, and pajamas :) Now all I gotta do is teach that boy how to pick out lingerie and I'm set :) Anyway, he got me a lot of other cool stuff as well (including 3 months of guitar lessons) and lots of other excellent bounty. I'm trying to be brief here however :)
After dinner was over, we headed to lord of the rings with his friends. Even though we had aweful seats (2nd row) the movie was excellent and well worth the cramping afterword. I won't spoil it for you. Just go see it. Now...
It was a short night and we were both tired anyway. We headed to bed around 1 and I coaxed Tom out of bed at around 5-ish. Poor guy, but he had to finish packing and go that whole thing called graduation.
Saturday:
I send Tom off to finish his chores and slept in a little bit longer. I ended up getting up early as well because I still needed to pack for my new orleans trip. Tom's parents showed up 9 ish and headed over. I gave Tom his present (a bulova watch) so he could wear it during the ceremony. We all went to the ceremony and it was really cool to see Tom in his cap n' gown. His mom and I cheered and yelled for him when he went across the stage :) *giggle* After the ceremony was over, we had a mini grad party for Tom at my place, complete with potato salad, hamburgers, and fondue. After that we headed back to Kent. Tom's parent's are really cool and obviously very nice for letting me leave my car with them and taking me to / picking me up from the airport.
I had dinner there and they gave me presents! I got pajamas and "Non Campus Mentis." Definitely good stuff. After that, we all watched a Magoo Christmas and ate christmas cookies infront of a fire. Why can't my family be like this? Ya know... normal n stuff??? Then Tom's cousin's came around carolling. They're some really cool people so we chatted with them before they went off to see a movie. After all the commotion was over, I headed straight to bed. Tom and I were able to sleep in the same room together (woooOOOhhh!). Tom's mom asked me if that was okay, and I didn't quite know what to say. I said that it was no problem. I can't help but to think, especially since they lived together when they were in college, that they don't *know.* I mean, come on. I guess my family is just a bit more open than others. It's kind of hard to be conservative when you're born out of wedlock n' all :)
Saturday:
I woke up early and headed to the airport with Tom and his dad. I was supposed to check in at northwest(with the really short line), but I had to go to continental(with the really fr*ckin long line) because my flight was operated by them instead of northwest. Like that makes sense. Anyway, I waited in line for an hour + and then was "randomly" selected to be checked and poked and prodded and violated because I MUST SEEM LIKE SUCH A FRICKEN THREAT TO AIR SECURITY!!! What I really think is that I made it on someone's shitlist at some point and now they're always going to check me. Anyway, my flights were uneventful and my grandparents picked me up from the airport. My mom couldn't make it because she was working the craft show for aunt katie's gifts.
I chilled at the craft show and then with gramma and grampa a bit at the motorhome. Gramma showed me the afghan that she's making for my room and it's gorgeous. After that we helped move stuff to the storage room after the craft show. I figured we were going out to dinner afterwards, but Larry (my stepdad) had to do christmas shopping because he had done none at all yet. Therefore in efforts not to make him feel left out, we had to eat leftovers at home. Welcome home Kristy. I waited all day to eat (well I spent the only dollar I had on a bagel for breakfast and had some pretzels and peanuts throughout the day) with my family at a nice meal, but hey, we can't let anyone feel left out. *rolls eyes* Anyway, thats the short description up until now.
I still have shopping to do. I'm tired. I'm sick of my family. I want to go back to Ohio where there is snow and sane people. Perhaps, I'll be able to think about other things soon.
gahhh... I'm soo tired.
12.23.01 11:36pm(4 comments)
So it's been a wierd past couple of days.
Yesterday, I was up at 3am to do my show, which ended up being rather chaotic. I get to west hall and all the doors are locked, so I go get the keys. I get into the studio and someone's been messin around with all the equipment and I can't get anything to work right. Finally, I get things to calm down and my show goes well.
Work was pretty sweet as I got some significant bugs fixed in my program. I brought in the 11 mugs full of candy that I had made for everyone. They all seemed to enjoy it, but I felt really embarrassed when I realized that I left all the pricetags on the mugs. GAH! They took me out to lunch at the Diamond River cafe, which was quite nice, and I had a filet mignon wrapped in bacon (*OH YEAH*). My mentor and other colleague gave me a 50 dollar gift certificate for Finders which was absolutely sweet of them and completely unexpected. I haven't bought a cd for myself in so long, I hardly know what to buy. It will be a long and arduous decision making process :) After work, I worked out in the pilates studio for the last time *sniff* but it was a really good workout.
On the way home, I was trying to get to the highway and out of findlay, so I was taking the shortcut on the side streets. Up ahead I saw a car parked on the side of the road turn on its lights and start to move... and move some more.. and gradually get into my way. Even though I was honking and I slammed onto the breaks and swerved to the complete other side of the road, this chick managed to hit my front right side. Since she was only 16 and had her license for two months, her father begged me to let his best friend the body shop mechanic fix my car, which was still drivable anyway. Remembering when I hit that pole two weeks after I had recieved my license, I decided to not call the cops. I got all the info I needed and planned to meet this guy at the shop at 7:30 in the morning and he offered me a ride to work.
I sped home and got behind some asshole going 65 in the fast lane and riding right beside a few semis for about 15 miles of the trip. Talk about getting some serious road rage. Not only had some brat hit my car because she was completely oblivious to what was going around her, I was following grampa in the fastlane.
I eventually met up with Pete and we got dinner at the new mexican place in BG. Tom was supposed to come, but I had missed him all 3 times I had tried to call his room. Pete and I had a good dinner and good conversation as always. I like Pete, he's a really down to earth kind of guy and he's very easy to talk to. I dropped off Pete and tried Tom's room once again.
He was in this time and we decided to head up to Franklin Park. Poor Tom, we just missed each other by a manner of seconds when I had called and he felt really bad. Franklin Park wasnt as crowded as I had expected and I was able to finish shopping for Tom. After we closed down the mall, we headed to best buy so I could get a few stocking stuffers for Tom and the new Manheim Steamroller Xmas CD for my mom. Of course we checked out the laptops and I am still liking the new toshiba satellite model. Tom doesn't the the cutouts work for it and make it look unsturdy, but I think it's nice, thin, and has everything I could ever want in a laptop. Perhaps someday I could buy one :)
By the time we left bestbuy, I was exhausted, but Tom hadn't had anything to eat all day. We swung by arbys and headed home. Jay had mentioned that he was closing with his ex girlfriend at cosmos, so I thought it would be wise to go over and rally up some support. When we got there we found out that he had just sent her home at the beginning of the shift which I found very entertaining :) We chatted with him and Justin for awhile and headed back home at about midnight.
I was absolutely exhausted, but I just had coffee so it was hard to fall asleep and I estimate that I fell asleep around 1am. Luckily for me, I was harshly awakened at 5 am by the sound of my printer going psycho. The power flickered on and off three or four times and my printer was just going crazy. So I tried to catch a few winks, but it was time for me to get up. I lit some candles and tried to get my stuff together. Tom had offered to take me back to the dorms so I could shower before work. Just as I finished packing up all my stuff, the power came back on and I took a shower at home.
I headed off early for work and found the mechanic's garage. Fortunately for me, my fears were avoided in that the guy showed up and dropped me off at work.
Work went well today other than me being extremely tired. I had my preformance evaluation this morning and that went a lot better than I had expected. For lunch, a bunch of the IT co-ops got together and headed to Waldo Peppers. I had chicken fajitas and it was only 5 bucks. Those guys are really nice, but I felt kind of bad because they all had business casual and I look like butt (as people often do when they get dressed in pitch black).
Tonight is Joe's Christmas party, so I have something to look forward to. Hopefully I might have a chance to catch some z's before I head over there. I'm so ready for this week to be over.
Tomorrow night is the christmas party at my house with Jenn, her boyfriend, Tom and I. I'm excited because I got everyone really cool presents and I'm excited for them to open the presents! Jenn is making ham and scallopped potatoes and spinach dip and rolls. I'm in charge of the green bean casserole and the desert, which will be fondue :) I still have to finish wrapping Tom's presents, one of Jenn's presents, and get cards, but other than that I'm all set.
I'm so tired...
12.20.01 1:45pm(0 comments)