mmmm, tasty and pleasing to the eye

I just made an easy $40 doing a taste test that took just over an hour. If only I could make a career out of taste testing, I'd be fed, wouldn't have to put in a whole ton of hours to make a decent living, and the most greuling part of it is forming some sort of opinion, checking boxes and writing a few comments. Unfortunately you have to "qualify" which isn't as easy as it seems it should be.

Well, I'm tired, and I have to deal with my brother who got stranded up here in the cities which is making me slightly crabby, and it's 11:30 and I haven't smoked yet today, I shall go remedy that right now.

chocly anyone?

So I did end up securing the rental car, and made it to my sister's and back. My brother had the bright idea of taking the S. Dakota route because he "hates Nebraska", which added about 3 hours to our drive, we pulled in about 5 a.m., and was wakened mere hours later by screaming children, my brother on the other hand was pretty much non-functional the entire time we were there, he regained functionality just in time for us to drive back.

So, you know how you get with your family and you are pretty much sucked back into your childhood roles, or at least you aren't seen as an independent adult no matter how old you get or how long you've been out supporting yourself. Romaine, my oldest sister (just had her 40th b-day on friday), had this extremely grating way of treating me as though I hadn't progressed beyond age 12, or maybe even 10, pointing out obvious shit for example, "this car is an automatic", Oh really?, I hadn't yet learned the difference between an automatic transmission and a manual transmission, thanks, I guess you learn something new every day. So I can't say I wasn't a little short with her due to my annoyance. My nephew Teddy can best be described as a little hellion, the poor kid has absolutely no boundaries, is never punished and is only bribed with chocolate. And her obsession with cats is beyond anything normal, apparently she cut back to 12, and I'm sure not without much complaint. I love Romaine, really, but she needs some serious therapy. Per usual, my other sister, Noelle, and her husband balanced it out with their normalcy and their well behaved children. Overall I had a lovely time, once I got past the cat pee smell, and my niece is a sweet little babe, I just hope she stays mellow, for her sake and my sister's.

I came home to the pleasant surprise of a clean apartment, not just a quick cleansing either, Betsy really went to town and scrubbed and stuff, the pumpkin was gone, cats alive and seemingly well fed, it was great.

the opposite of a totally rad?, totally bad

If all went according to plan, I'd be a quarter of a way to Colorado right now, arriving at my sister's in the mid-morn, but as usual, something stupid must happen to foil my happy plan, such as my driver's license being in a "pending" status, preventing me from renting needed mode of transport to traverse the open and/or mountainous road. Apparently there was a "glitch". This "glitch" seems to be a recurring problem that rears it's ugly head as inopportune times, like when I'm reuniting with my high school crush after a long separation, or when I'm supposed to reunite with siblings of yore and meet my niece. See, I was pulled over a few years back, because I was driving along on the freeway and was so rude as to not change into the next lane over when passing the cop and the unfortunate one he had pulled over prior to myself. I didn't have my insurance card on me so I went in to court with card in hand thus proving I was indeed insured at time of said incident. Clearly there was much going on in the head of the clerk and she failed to put a red check next to my name, or whatever the procedure is to indicate that I had done my part. Fast forward to a year later, I'm driving from Brenda's daughter's birthday party to meet my aforementioned crush, who I hadn't seen in a couple years. It's cloudy and sprinkling a bit so I have my windshield wipers going periodically, but unfortunately it hadn't occured to me to put on my headlights, since it was mid-afternoon. So I get pulled over for this reason, not having my headlights on. I'm informed that my license is suspended and that my car will be towed. So as soon as I drive myself back to MplsI again go to the courthouse and argue my case, all is well, or so I thought. Fast forward like 3 years later, to today, I go to budget rental to pick up the car and get on the road and well, my license is denied. I panicked, thinking it was my unpaid parking tickets and cursing my irresponsibility, questioning my stupidity at choosing to sleep in instead of getting my ass to yes, the courthouse, to get those taken care of. So I call to get the scoop and see what can be done, am put on hold for a good hour, and am told it's this "glitch" from a few years ago, that I'm actually o.k. to drive even with a "pending" license, but try telling that to the budget people. The lady, who is very helpful, tells me she'll go to the appropriate people to rectify the situation, but that it usually takes 24-48 hours, well, by that time what's the point, and I explain as much and she offers to get on it and will tell them to fix it ASAP. I call a couple hours later and I'm now "valid", so again I go to budget, but no dice, I have to call the corporate office to get it cleared and they don't open til 8 a.m. So here I am, at the local shop after an intense episode of the amazing race (go Bransen's, you kick ass!), and some bonding with Betsy watching SATC, intrigued by this woman that my current crush is sitting with, wondering if they are "together", oh the torture, oh what a shitty day!

At least it only took 15 minutes to fix my chipped tooth, not chipped by biting on something hard, or even firm, but by flossing.

smelly

So there's a rotting pumpkin on our mantle from Halloween, which was once a lovely vision of carved fruit? vegetable? I guess I'm not sure what a pumpkin is...anyways, it has slowly but surely been transforming itself into an aromatic blob, due to dear Betsy's messy nature, well, and I guess I haven't cared enough to throw it out either. If it is still there when I get back from my sibling bonding time I will likely be disgusted enough to take matters into my own hands.

So thanks to Jenni and her generous lending of her laptop (thanks Jenni!) this is my first post from my local shop, where it is crowded, but no crush in sight....sigh.

My weekend was a decent mix of high productivity and sheer laziness. I'm really not looking forward to driving all night tues. night, I plan on making my brother drive through the mountainous parts and I'll stick to the easy stuff like Nebraska.

I'm wondering if my ol' friend Sally is still alive (MS flava, perhaps you can answer this for me) if so a text would be nice, or a phone call even better.

hooked up

I got Jenni's laptop hooked up with a wireless card (uh, Jenni, I'm still using your laptop by the way, hope you don't mind), so now I can go to my local shop and blog and surf to my hearts desire, with the added bonus of sideway glances at my unrequited coffeeshop love. I feel so technologically advanced now.

Had our first book club meeting last night which was a raging success and Cassie an excellent host as always. I got tipsy (for real tipsy, not drunk trying to pass of as tipsy as I'm prone to do) and reflecting upon the evening I may have been slightly obnoxious as I'm also prone to be when tipsy or drunk.

yay, Olivia guess what song is playing, that Janet Jackson song about the nice package that we used to belt out at Margarita's. If you even read this thing..what with all your european adventures your having.

it's about time...I guess

Finally it is cold and snowing, we've had very nice weather for the most part until yesterday, so I guess it is officially winter. This is less than exciting.

Feeling somewhat disheveled these days, been meaning to clean/organize, and just haven't had much time. Christmas is right around the corner, which is just swell.

give it a try

Actually I've found that working hard is actually somewhat pleasant and rewarding. I leave work feeling like I've accomplished something and earned my wages. Besides which our whole team has really come together to get caught up on a huge amount of work that a few days ago felt like a lost cause, but we are making some serious progress and may get caught up even before we planned on. I think I was mostly feeling bad about getting in trouble, I'm kinda goody two shoesish or at least can pull it off rather well, so thinking that my manager may be dissapointed in me left me feeling bad, but she's cool as always and has made it clear that it isn't an issue anymore.

Time is flying it is already almost mid Nov., so much to do and little time to do it. I forgot both my parent's birthdays I just realized, I usually send a card or give a call, whoops. It's been so warm here still that it just doesn't seem like thanksgiving is around the corner, though that will be ending quite shortly I'm sure.

rebel rebel

So yeah, anyways, my manager had a little chat with me, so I need to be limited in my online use. Which of course makes sense, I know I don't work as hard as I could or should, however, she mentioned herself that she should be monitering others too since they spend there fair share wasting time as well, but I'm the one that got the kick in the ass, and that is the irritating part, that I feel like the black sheep now. It's all good. Just makes me realize that I would do much better in a job that challenges me and all the more motivation to move on in the next few months.

detour

so I got in a bit o' trouble here at my place of employment, and as much as I hate to dissapoint, my posting may be a bit more sporadic since there is a more watchful eye...

I never

I'm wondering if I've felt such a lack of brain activity as I do now. I have ceased to think deeply about things, at least for the time being.

Just overheard a bit of MN nice, you know the not so witty banter consisting of a couple of really poor jokes in this case about a common last name here in MN and scandinavion roots. I understand smalltalk is a necessary element of socializing, but it doesn't mean I have to enjoy it, it is awkward, uninteresting, and surface, though some seem to have it down to an art form. Myself, not so much, I don't even usually reply back with a "how are you".

I really enjoy Betsy, but the girl is even messier than I am, and I'm used to Olivia picking up after me not contributing to the mess. She's so cute though, I'll have to try and get a picture of her. Not sure if I feel comfortable yet saying, hey, lets take a picture together, but maybe I can sneak one. She and I were pondering sex, or lack of in our cases...and had the idea to have a party inviting prospects of the opposing gender. I recall when Olivia and I decided last minute to throw our christmas party just so we'd have an excuse to invite cute boys, mine a random parking ramp boy (with cute curly hair) and hers the infamous Luke from class. It was a bust for both of us since neither of our interests showed, but we did have the avant-garde tree and Charlie Brown christmas.

who done it?

The murder mystery party was a good time, I mostly just laughed at others rather than being very much in character (Sadistic nurse Sally). Olivia...wish you coulda been there. It was much better than the party I attended friday night at my co-workers, other than Lori and Angela (who though she talks too much much of the time, I still enjoy her company) it mainly consisted of Holly's high school friends. I'm pretty amazed at how connected they have all stayed, not venturing much beyond the suburb they all grew up in. In any case I usually feel a bit out of place at her shindigs, though at one point there were 4 gals from the same high school working here due to Holly, so I do know them.

Wow, nothing but excitement and intrigue going on in the depths of my mind...

chuckleberry

Chuckle is one of my favorite words, I much prefer it to giggle, unless the giggling is being done by a guy.

Went Salsa dancing at first ave. last night for the first time in jeez, well over a year. Only saw one of the old gang. It was rather fun but I'm rather tired today.

I'd like to say I've been thinking deep thoughts lately but in all honesty I can't claim that to be the case. I'm really quite content with things right now and it's been pretty consistent. Of course I'm sure something will happen to completely stress me out soon enough, but I haven't felt truly down in a while, quite a different state than I was in at this time last year. So of course decreased amounts of angst makes for lack of interesting thoughts...that I would be willing to share here anyways.

new addition

My sister had her baby, a girl, her name is Claire, 7 lbs 2 oz or something like that. It's all very exciting and lovely.

Hmmmm, well, work is busy today, not that I have much of interest to say anyways.

let's hate those we don't know personally, shall we?

Not really, but it must be admitted that us Bransen family supporters are in consensus with the others in the race and their apparent dislike of the Weaver family. Damn them for beating the Gaghan family, the nice, positive family, it made us ladies cry for those cute kids.

I had something of a photo shoot yesterday, this photographer emailed me because of my homely ad and wanted asked if I'd be willing to be photographed. I agreed since he said it wasn't anything kinky, like a homely girl swimsuit calendar or something, we then exchanged a few emails mostly talking about art related things. Anyways, it was fun though I felt more than a bit self-concious, and he was a cool guy...it will be interesting to see how they turned out.