it's your anniversary

I kinda feel like I should be receiving gifts, some fine crystal, a new cd, jewelry of some sort, except I don't wear much jewelry, maybe a pair of shoes, that's something I could use. That Tony! Toni! Tone! song is in my head.

And I promised a mindblowing post, I was going to think about it last night but was too busy. I thought about doing a hundred things about me post, but it seems to be too late for that.

So I read my first post, and I think I will reflect upon if I've changed in the past year. First of all I still don't have many regular readers besides my friends, and I don't think they even read regularly, and I still worry about revealing my dorkiness. I'm still not over myself as I continue to be obsessed with myself and consequently self concious, however, I feel that I have slightly improved in accepting my idiosyncrasies. I continue to be socially inept but with the advice of my former therapist and friends I am trying to fake it, at least every once in a while. I still talk quietly as people often point this out to me, and then they usually point out that I have a very loud laugh (infectious, as I've been told). A relationship (or non-relationship) ended that needed to end as I was crying on a daily basis and not from happiness. I made a small step towards a goal of trying to figure out what to do other than work here and live in Mpls. My relationship with my family has remained pretty much the same. Friends have come and gone, I've gotten closer to some and grown apart from others, but I still love them a whole lot, and we've gone through some difficult things this past year. I got to explore the good 'ol U.S.A a little.

Hmmm, well not mind-blowing, and no sordid secrets either. But it's my blog, and I'll reflect if I want to.

Happy anniversary to me.

tommorrow

Instead of the crap I write here on a daily basis, I will try to write something profound for my one year blog anniversary. Perhaps I will reveal a shady secret...doubtful, or hmmm I don't know, but it will be at least adequate. If I set high standards then I will hopefully measure up.

Looking at my desk I notice I have several post it notes that I have no idea what they are referring to, yet I can't get rid of them because I fear they may have important info. on them.

under the weather

that's how I'm feeling, I called in late to work, got here and realized I didn't really need to be here.

Beth, if you're listening, you kicked ass on the amazing race, it was so fun to watch you.

If people don't shut up about my tights I may lash out, it may sound weird, but I get upset about people complimenting me sometimes, or more annoyed by it. Yes, I know my tights are cute, that is why I'm wearing them. And yes I get annoyed by stupid things.

what is he thinking?

My Grandpa got hitched last weekend. He's in his mid? late? 80's and married a woman who I think is 49 and he's known for maybe 3 months. This has disturbed my family since we think he's getting swindled. Oh well, not much to be done about it, concern had already been expressed and he clearly did his own thing.

It's starting to get a little chilly. My one year blog anniversary is coming up on friday. Who from Bethel is reading my blog?? Well, whoever it is knows how much of a sinner I am.

so yeah

Well, I posted this tongue in cheek ad on craigslist personals about being homely looking for smokin' hot guy who makes cheesecake and I mentioned that I have a nice rack. So I got several responses...it was quite a witty post really. Anyways I met up with a guy yesterday for brunch, we had exchanged some pretty good emails. So although he isn't quite what I had expected I had an overall good time and he seems to like me. This is my first experiment with internet type dating or whatever so I'm just trying to have fun with it I guess. Coffee shop guy is either uninterested or something so I've kinda given up on him.

U2 was awesome, it was quite thrilling to be in their presence.

Betsy is cool, I haven't been home much to hang out with her and so the getting to know her is going a little slow, but she's very nice and laid back.

I must go home now and laze about.

mikey, she likes me!

Nice to hear from you Sal. Looking forward to reunification someday.

Tonight I meet my new roomate Betsy, and in a couple days I won't have the place to myself anymore. Bummer, but oh well, maybe we'll be great friends.

the aftermath

No good story really. The concert was really good, we unfortunately missed most of Rilo Kiley, but other than the couple Johnny Cash covers Coldplay was good. I like Johnny Cash, but I don't want to hear him via Coldplay. Kevin, my date, well, he was very nice and talked a lot, looked o.k., etc., but not much connection. We did the obligatory we should hang out sometime, but I doubt that will happen. I mean, I got to go for free and he was nice company so I'm not complaining in the slightest.

I'm really tired and my tummy hurts.

stuffed

My small apartment is now stuffed with furniture, I think it makes it cozy, Olivia, I doubt you would be pleased however. I learned I can fit quite a bit into my hatchback.

I just called middle-aged nurse Lori to tell her the u2 ticket is hers if she wants it. I'm excited to go with her, she's like your friend's cool mom, she is so funny.

Hopefully I'll have a good story about my blind date.

my cup runneth over

Lots of stuff on my plate this week. Picking up furniture tonight and attempting to clean my old room for Betsy, Coldplay tomorrow, drawing nude model on wed. and more cleaning, meeting new roommate thurs., BONO and the gang friday, roommate moving in Sat. good grief I'm busy, but at least it is mostly with fun and excitement. I'll be at the Target center twice this week, that is ridiculous.

I kinda want a Mr. beer home brewing kit, wouldn't it be fun to make your own beer.

Went to the dentist today, and unfortunately the tooth that I already poured a few hundred into for root canal and crown needs another root canal. I have to go to a specialist and have some surgical procedure done. At least my other teeth are fine. I think my hygenest was high.

Hey Olivia

Does the naked squirrel man have curly gray hair?? If so he's been lingering on the sidewalk near our house or across the street. Last night he was across the street just staring at the yard, house or tree, it was bizarre (yet fascinating), not that I expect normal behavior from the guy.

For the rest of you: Naked squirrel man is a man that lives in the second floor of the apartment building next door. He often leaves his window open in hopes that he will befriend a squirrel. He has a squirrel feeder by the window and gets angry at pigeons who try to partake in the squirrel food. I have never been witness to his nakedness (only shirtless), but Olivia has had the pleasure twice or thrice, apparently the window perfectly frames his manhood from the nipple line down to mid-thigh.

I won

I am the winner of going on a blind date to see Coldplay and Rilo Kiley tuesday night, apparently writing in complete sentences is a good thing. I love craigslist, I've found a roomate, rugs, lamp(s?), a date and free ticket for coldplay, free TV stand and potential table all in the past couple weeks.

Went to the Walker last night with Cassie and Eli, for the first time since they remodeled it to see the Chuck Close exhibit. Ran into old high school acquiantances, college acquaintance and our painting prof at Bethel. Did a fun project where we could manipulate a polaroid picture of ourselves.

I'm practically falling asleep at my desk, I have been staying up later than I should, and there is a variety of noises the cats make throughout the night that wake me, like scratching the plastic of the litter box, and Lucy needing love every morning between 5:30 and 6 a.m., she ignores me at any decent hour. Last night was kind of a bizarre night as well and I didn't sleep well, thinking about stuff.

What is going on with my coffee shop love interest you ask? A whole lot of nothing...well, I felt mildly rejected the other day, just mildly. I can't read him very well, but we seem to at least be in buddy status, and that's cool with me.

one of those days

Today is kind of one of those days where you (or I specifically) want to live in a hole away from society. Like that book about that boy who lives in the tree which I can never remember the name of but Olivia knows. I'm feeling sorta like a freak of nature, I'm far too self-concious and I don't like it, I notice my heart racing and my hands shaking when I'm in social situations in which I don't feel comfortable, unless that is normal, I don't know. Ignorance is bliss, I'm not quite ignorant enough, close but no cigar.

I'm gonna fix me up a salad, I'm hungry.

it's that time of year

for the Corn Maze! This year I may have a friend that might go with me. I want to conquer the corn maze.

I sold my second item on Ebay.

GG premier was satisfying.

Sarah Fuj, if you read this still, I hope your move went well and you are surviving the ghetto, call me. And Sally, I still want to be your friend, call me, and MS flava (and Sally), I'm coming to Chicago the weekend of Oct. 8-9th, if you want to see the Toulouse-Latrec exhibit with us, let me know.

Allright, back to the mound of work I have....

yeehaw!

Middle aged nurse Lori might go see Bono with me, she may be middle aged, but she kicks ass.

don't let me down

I burned my tongue on my pot pie, I guess I should feel lucky that I have a tongue.

I just learned that I no longer have a concert going friend to see Bono with...so I'll probably be rockin' out by myself with strangers, excellent.

Maybe I should wear false eyelashes, just for fun, along with our previous wig wearing plan.

Annoying nurse has returned from her trip, a much needed break. She demonstrated an italian kiss on me, she didn't actually kiss me but got a little closer than I would have liked. I'm not a touchy feely sort by any means so I value my personal space. She did bring chocolate back so I will cut her some slack.

Things are progressing nicely with my coffeeshop crush. I would go into further detail but have an irrational fear that he or someone that hangs out at the shop reads this, highly unlikely, but possible (since someone googled the shop name and got to my site), and then my crush would be revealed. Not that I'm not easily read anyways, since I'm a general dork, but even bigger dork around someone I like. In any case we have plans to hang out outside the shop realm this week.

what do you do when?

work is super busy, say 2 months behind in admitting not to mention all the other shit that will get behind while we are busy trying to catch up....

you change your blog colors

once again

Apparently an open box is too easily mistaken for a litter box, as I caught Lucy in the act this morning. I'm not sure what her confusion is, she's lucky she is cute and far less annoying than George otherwise she'd be way less forgiveable for ruining a lot of stickers.

I'm hoping to hit up some Garage sales this weekend, clean, perhaps the farmers market, I have to work too, maybe catch a movie, church, etc., etc.

away from home

In an attempt to get our data entry caught up we have been displaced to another office building more free of distractions such as phones, annoying nurses, a more watchful eye to deter any unneccesary web surfing. Nice actually, I feel like I'm accomplishing a worthwhile amount of work. Other than butting heads with co-workers over music selection (my taste in music being impeccable of course), and the cold it is quite lovely here. Clean, nice colors, windows, quiet instead of the dump where I work.

I have a new roomate named Betsy, won't meet her until she moves in in a couple weeks since she is in Montana right now. I haven't lived with anyone I've not known since freshman year of college, but from our brief conversations she sounds nice and laid back, hopefully we will get along fine. Considering roomate hell of last year not much can be worse.

The cat peed on the church curriculum for some reason, I realize I changed litter brands on them but that was a few days ago and they seemed to adjust after the peeing in my clothes basket incident. If it was George, I had wondered if he was possesed the other day, the way the light was hitting his eyes made him look psychotic, and he kept making this odd sound. So perhaps the demon that has taken over George's small body just doesn't want children to learn about Jesus.

buffalo pals

Part 3: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

-Upon arrival at the barns, we noticed a barricade made of a trailor and a man explaining to us that the barns were closed because they were changing the animals. No big pig for us.

-We walked by the dairy barn which sells excellent milkshakes. I pondered getting one, but was feeling the aftereffects of the deep fried snicker, which on its own does some damage. Add a milkshake to that and I don't even want to know what I'd be putting my body through.

-There was no bonsai or orchid display in the horticulture buiding, a dissapointment, but we did not despair. We admired some displays, some of which were done by Sarah's previous employer. I had a heck of a time looking at the flowers that had been in competition, espedailly the theme display's like dinner time, or fireworks, and other random categories.

-Onward to the Fine Arts buiding, feeling the time crunch. Having had my own submission to the State Fair show rejected a few years back, I always am interested to see what meets their standards as a fine piece of art. I learned that if I do a cheesy painting of a young lad sitting in the grass with his faithful friend, not only will my piece be accepted, but it will receive an honorable mention.

-With that said there was a fair amount worth seeing, and it was dissapointing that it closed before we were able to thoroughly peruse the entire building.

-Bull Bites and a beer were calling out to us with their siren song. Having already spent far more money than I had budgeted, I passed on my own order and just munched on Cassie's generous offering to share. As I finished my honeyweiss, I went to catch the tail end of the Temptations cover band they had in the bandshell, hoping to see some good dancing. I was more entertained by the random crowd and the number of middle aged women bustin' a move.

-Thankfully Cassie agreed to go to the Haunted House with me. Normal haunted house type stuff to make you scream and get your heart racing. Some dude whipping a chain that wouldn't let Cassie by until she asked him, and a scary swamp monster that was well concealed were the most memorable.

-It was late and we were worn, tired, but not hungry. The delimma was now the bus ride back to the car. This time we had Coby and the stroller. Sarah and the babe were forced to the back of the bus by the crowd while Cassie and I were left to listen to drunk obnoxious teenagers.

-Finally the bus stopped at the church, and someone kindly helped Sarah get Coby off the bus. I was dropped off at my car. We wished eachother goodnight.

The end.

where are you?

I spend 2 full weeks with Sally after not seeing or hardly talking to her for a couple months, then she up and moves to Chicago and hardly keeps in touch. Sally, where's the love??

My coffeeshop crush did a little freestyle rap about me yesterday. I found it to be quite endearing. Now to continues the saga of our fair experience.

Part 2: The Food

-After Cassie and I get our $9 tickets and go through the gates, I head to the 4-h building to use the restroom and she heads over the the 3rd Lair to meet up with Sarah, Nixon, Coby and Emily and to find an ATM. The 4-H building is eerily quiet and I wonder why no one is looking at the exhibits, one of my favorite fair activities. The bathroom is nice and clean however.

-I walk over to the 3rd Lair and sit down with Nixon, Coby is in his stroller fascinated by a pinwheel, and Emily is marching around with a furry hat. Nixon and I exchange pleasantries and wait for Sarah and Cassie to return.

-Sarah and Cassie get back, and Sarah needs to feed Coby, Cassie and I are also hungry so off we go. I coerce Cassie to go to the Food building, she looks less than thrilled. Several options catch our eye, but we ended up being torn between the Sausage Sisters and Walleye on a stick. We put our heads together and formulated a plan. We would share the Sausage Sisters, and each get our own Walleye on a stick, then would maybe get cheesecurds later to share

-Perfect timing as we meet back up with Sarah, who had just finished feeding Coby. Nixon and Emily had gone, so it was us girls and the baby. Items on our agenda are as follows; Horticulture building (hoping that the bonsai and orchids were on display), Fine Arts building, the big pig, and I had my heart set on the haunted house.

-On our way to the horticulture building we spy the deep fried candybar booth. Cassie and I had already discussed our want for a deep fried snickers, and Sarah expressed interest as well. We each purchased our treats, and after biting into the sweetness decide we must get the all you can drink milk. We delayed our trip to the horticulture building and forged on to the milk booth.

-On the way I brag to Cassie and Sarah about my 4-H achievements at the Steele County Fair. Champion Indoor Gardening (yet these days I have difficulty keeping plants alive), Reserve Champion fine arts, Reserve Champion photography (but my dad actually took the picture, well, practically), Grand Champion market lamb, to name a few.

-Upon our arrival, co-worker Alyssa surprises me with baby Leah strapped to her stomach, and gets me excited about milk. Introductions are made and she and I bitch a little and exchange a bit of office gossip. Since I was going to be working in another office the next day, we planned to correspond via email, as she had a story to tell me that was apparently innapropriate to talk about right then.

-Sarah and I partake in 2 glasses of ice cold, refreshing 2% milk, Cassie did not partake of the milk.

-Since we were close to the barns we further postpone the horticulture building in hopes of seeing the Big Pig.

myblogsux.blogspot.com

I would use that except its already been used. But really, I read back upon recent entries and feel they are rather....mundane. They might be of interest to my small group of friends but even then I don't know. Last night as we were piling into Cassie's new ride, excited that baby Coby's stroller fit in the back of her scion, I said, "I'll put that in my blog", which I just did, also stating that it would probably be more exciting than what I usually write on here.

Here's a step by step synopsis of our time at the Great Minnesota get Together a.k.a. the State Fair.

Part 1: The Quest

-Cassie and I are back and forth on our cell phones, trying to figure out where to meet b/c she's stuck in traffic, I suggest the Har Mar b/c I believe they have a park and ride, she agrees to meet there in front of Frank's, but she really means Michael's.

-I stop at good 'ol M+S coffeehouse since I was in the vicinity and hadn't checked it out since they remodeled. Hilde and Mark were there and I said hello. The interior was shockingly different, if I didn't have such fond memories of what M+S was I would think it was nice, but instead I felt some dissapointment. I got a coffee however, and noticed they had some delectable new treats. I made note of that and decided I would give the new M+S a chance in order to taste said treats.

-I figure I should bust to the Har Mar, I get there and there is in fact, no park and ride such as they have had in years past. I park to call the busline to find another park and ride, figuring it will take Cassie a few more minutes to arrive. But, I received a call from her while on hold with the busline, she was at Michael's, she said to come over and I could take her spot and hop in her vehicle. I drive for approximately 38-51 seconds, she backs out of her spot and as I'm waiting I take note that there is an open spot directly across from hers, not to mention several in the rows behind.

-We find another park and ride, this one at a church. Cassie informs me that that is where she went to church before going to HOM.

-I slightly need to go potty so as we are waiting I ask the park and ride guy if there is a bathroom open in the church. He looks at me and points in a random direction, then says something about a sattelite. I'm sure I had a quizzical look on my face b/c I did not know sattelite was another word for biffy. He informed me as much. I decided I could hold it. The old man came over later and looked at me intensly, apparently trying to determine how badly I needed to pee.

-Cassie and I take a seat on the bus, and the bus drives over to the HS. A mass of High Schooler's get on the bus. Taking the seats across from us are a young couple, the young lady wearing a nice blouse that enhanced her ample cleavage. I asked Cassie if she agreed that the young lady's shirt was rather fancy to be going to the fair where you walk around and eat greasy food, go on rides, play games, look at livestock, or just walk amongst crowds of gross sweaty people. We also pondered High School relationships shortly.

-We get off the bus and light a smoke upon arrival at the fair gates. I think about the possibility of running into my family.