Until the Stars Are All Alight

Tuesday--Lunch with Dad at El Charro's. Helped him pick out agreed with his choice of conference table for his new office, which he's getting because he has a new boss who (rightly) thinks his current office (given by the previous boss, who made him move out of his nice one) sucks. Kristy's party. Awesome, pics to come when I feel less lazy. Jungle juice=OH. EM. GEE. Met Sam, didn't really get to talk to him but drove him home. (Short version on Sam: Kristy and I made a McD's run and we bumped into him, said hi, left. I bugged Kristy, all, "who was that??" and she agreed to invite him so I could meet him. Yay!) Claims to be extremely proficient with Rubik's Cube, have yet to see that. Definitely proficient on Rock Band/Guitar Hero guitar.

Wednesday--Lions, per new usual. I'm on the Social Committee (capitals mine). Vaguely disappointed at first (I didn't get to pick, I was involuntarily volunteered and I was kind of hoping to become, like, a copy editor or writer for the newsletter or some such) but then I realized that this means that not only do I put up crepe paper for the banquet but I might get to influence the color. Lol.

Thursday--Left work early (yay!), picked up Nico, drove back roads (yay Google Maps) to Springfield, met up w/Shelly, Dani, and Kia and had dinner @ Fazoli's. Got to see Shelly's ring in person, got to catch up. ^_^ Went to Hammons Hall for RENT. Words cannot describe how much better it is live. (Raunchier for sure, lol, funnier, sort of, and sweeter in spots--particularly seeing Angel and Collins get together. It's not really in the Broadway recording and it's just kind of taken for granted in the movie, but in the play it's acted out.

Angel: "Baby, I've been hearing violins all night."
Collins: "Is it anything to do with me? Are we a thing?"
Angel: "Baby, we're everything."
And thus ensues I'll Cover You.)

During intermission, a gay man (wearing an awesome hat and a pink shirt) walked up and asked if I had a Chocolate Kitty (I assume he meant Chococat) purse, and I told him no, just regular Hello Kitty. He pulls out his wallet, it's a pink Hello Kitty wallet with hot pink sequins. "I lived in Japan for three years. Old habits are hard to break." I squeed. "Lucky!" ^_^ Also, the woman who tore our tickets said that my shoes were cute, and Shelly liked my top. It was a happy night of compliments.

Afterwards, Shelly and Kia had to get back because they had class/work in the morning, but Dani was up for ice cream so she went with Nico and me to Steak & Shake. It was the really old one, that I remember as looking really old when I was there as a kid, lol. I totally didn't think it had any inside space, because we always only ever went to the drive-up window, lol.

Friday--MY BIRTHDAY!! Katchan woke me up, calling to wish me happy birthday. ^_^ Called Mom and moved lunch from the Steak House to Pizza Hut (goddammit, I wanted pizza), went back to sleep for a bit. Had lunch w/Mom and Dad, and Mom brought me birthday cookie (I totally thought I wasn't getting anything like that--Kristy offered to make me a birthday cake, but she didn't go to work Thursday or Friday because of Coldzilla), so yay! The parents gave me $$$ rather than presents. They know me so well. (Well, Mom said that she looked for a steering wheel cover but couldn't find one I'd like. I asked where she looked and immediately came up w/a store she missed. Lol.) Dad said his desk came in, etc, and he'd been putting it together, so I offered to come help him with it.

After he left Mom gave me The Record. (This is a long story, more on that later.) I took it, and the cookie, and the leftover pizza to my house (hey, I have pizza!...) then went out to Dad's office and helped him with the desk (which is black and glass and is going to look hot. Apparently Maxim magazine has a furniture line, and, more surprising, my dad actually likes it). He had to leave at 2:30 because he and Mom had a Lions thing in Little Rock (District Governor training, lol), so then I went around shopping. Got a Hello Kitty license plate frame at AutoZone (I went to look at steering wheel covers because I figured Mom only looked for purple ones and I could find something I liked), bought Ultra Violet Manic Panic and a fingernail-piercing kit at Tattooz by Sassy (where Brandon got his tattoo, when I went with him, lol), then it occurred to me to look at Hastings and found the matching steering wheel cover. ^_^ There was too much pink on it (waaaay more than the frame) so I doctored it (later) with colored Sharpies. YAY. Looks better than you'd think.

Got a call from Nico and hung out with him for a while--he's been sick, so we just watched TV-on-torrent-downloaded-and-burned-DVD and ate popsicles. He gave me an awesome PotC birthday card that plays the main theme when you open it. Soooooo going on my desk, at least for a little while. Left his place and went to SmartStyles to have my hair done. I got the red redone and had just a little bit of layering put in. While I was waiting, I missed a call, but heard the voicemail alert, so checked my messages, and SAM had called me. "Hey, it's Sam. Um, happy birthday! I'll talk to you later. Bye." SQUEE! Called Kristy and she said she gave him my number. :) Stored it.

Stopped at Arby's for dinner, and the only downer of the day happened--they quit selling cheesecake bites. I told the girl at the window that they couldn't DO that, it was my birthday, and that I was writing to corporate, lol.

Went home and started to use the Manic Panic, but read that you're supposed to use a tint brush, went on a wild goose chase to Walgreens and back to Wal*Mart, only to come back home and do it by hand. -_-* Oh well. Noticed that Wal*Mart was selling some restaurant booths for $40 a pop. Watched some TV (House, yay!) and went to bed.

Saturday--Nico woke me up wanting to go shopping, I told him to give me time to flatiron my hair, Kristy called wanting out of the house and to tell me that I DID have birthday cake, lol. Long story short me, Nico, Kristy, and Brandon ended up at Wal*Mart, I bought one of the restaurant booths (can you think of anywhere else to get a table and seating for four for $40?--I'll likely replace it eventually, but OMG I HAVE A TABLE), and Brandon drove it over in his truck. He and Nico were just leaving when Kristy and I got there, so Kristy and I went about our shopping while the two menfolks delivered my truck. Apparently they had to dis- and reassemble it to get it in. They ate some of my birthday cookie, and I would have been mad, but they cleaned the table, too. ^_^

In the meantime Kristy and I had...a meal of indeterminate name at McD's, lol, then went to drop off my groceries at my house before going to her house to meet up everyone for the club. Jacqui dropped by (I had missed a call from her, I had planned on calling her back from Kristy's) and gave me my present (Ty Pennington's book, which actually did have the nice pictures that I thought it didn't, that misunderstanding being the reason I didn't plunk down $20 for it when it first came out, and Hello Kitty gummy snacks, lol), and came with us to Kristy's, where A) Sam, Dena, and Raymond were watching Sin City, and B) all us girls put on club makeup/glitter lotion/really nice fake tattoos that I had just picked up at Wal*Mart. (Somehow, of course, I ended up watching Elijah Wood get mutilated/killed/etc, and totally missed all the good parts of that movie. -_-*) Boondock Saints also got watched, I got to sit next to Sam a lot.

At some point he asked if I got his message, and I was all, "Yeah! That was really sweet. *big grin*" When we left for the club, it was me, J, Kristy, and Sam in Kristy's car. ^_^ Had some drinks at the club, nothing new other than the Jamaican Wet Dream (something Nico had once a long time ago, the one time we went to the club before I could drink). Good stuff. Danced a little with Sam but was hesitant to touch him, had another drink, told Kristy about it all and she was like, "Dude, just back up to him and give him some *bump/grind motion here*!" Lol. Went to dance some more and couldn't find him. Brandon offered to dance with me and I turned him down. (I don't know. Salsa's one thing, but grinding him? Just no. And I like to grind, thanks. Nico says this is immature of me, Kristy was all "Frickin right!" I just knew I didn't want Sam to see me dancing with him and get the wrong idea.)

Complained to Kristy about not being able to find Sam (it was really crowded) and she helped me look--he was playing pool. Grabbed another drink and watched him play (I thought he kinda sucked, but I think he was just having an off night because apparently he's played in tournaments, etc), then dragged him back to the dance floor. This time I put my arms around his neck and he didn't seem to mind too much. X3 Danced until I was ready to fall over.

Sam came with me back to the table and met everybody (it was kind of funny, he hadn't been back to the table once Nico and his group showed up, I think Nico was starting to think I had made him up o_O). Then they gave last call/last song and we all left. I complained about the cold and Sam gave me his jacket. :D There was a lot of fighting going on in the parking lot--there had been cop cars there when we got there. We decided Sam should drive since he was the only one who hadn't had ANY alcohol, though I think either Jacqui or I would have been fine to drive. Kristy, on the other hand, was pretty sloshed (and for the record, Kristy gets lovey when she's drunk, she gave out lots of hugs, lol). We almost ran over people trying to get out of the parking lot. It was CRAZY. We had to pull over for Kristy to decide she wasn't sick after all, the group in Jared's car took the long way around, through Midway, and I don't even know about Nico.

We went inside Kristy's for a minute, I grabbed the rest of my cake (Kristy, J and I had each had a slice earlier, in between the makeup and stuff), and then Stuart was like, "I love you all, but I'm tired, so I'm kicking you out!" Lol. Gave the keys to Jacqui and told her to get in the car, and then everyone else walked off and it was just me and Sam standing there and I asked if he was working the next day.
"No."
"Well...do you want to have dinner with me tomorrow?"
"Uh...sure. You have my number, right? From when--"
"Yeah, from when you called me. I'll call you...tomorrow afternoon?"
"Sure. See you tomorrow."

Got in the car, squeed, drove home with J, and we chilled for about an hour (okay, okay, we drooled over Ty) and she went home.

Sunday (today)--Slept until about 2:30, got up, had some breakfast. Kristy texted me to have me go for a walk with her, got dressed, went over there. Called Sam on the way and set up dinner (as I told Kristy later: "It's supper, with Sam, at six, at the Steak House. It's all nicely alliterative."). Kristy and I walked from her house to work (she's determined to get back in shape and so she's walking to work this week, so she wanted to time it), then halfway back before her knee started to hurt--she twisted it a little last night, dancing. Stuart came and got us, we stopped at the gas station to say hi to Jared (he called after we walked through the parking lot and was all indignant, lol), then went back to Kristy's, then I went home to refresh before meeting Sam.

We were both a little early, lol. Dinner was nice, even though conversation was slow--I think we have the whole "it takes a while to get started with someone" thing going on. My silence, at first, is not at all indicative that I'm not having a good time.

As we were finishing, I was all, "Uh...do you want to go do something else?"
"Sure."
"Well, there's only two things to do in this town besides go eat, and that's go bowling or see a movie...and I really don't want to go bowling."
"Let's go see a movie."

We called the two movie hotlines (HA, I'm not the only one with them in my phone! XD) and decided on Jumper. I texted Jennifer from the theater bathroom, lol, to say that dinner had progressed to dinner-and-a-movie, and that so far he had picked up the tab even though I had done the asking. She texted back "Good boy!!!" Lol.

Jumper was good, Rachel Bilson's actually a decent actress (I was shocked; still hate The OC). I really wanted to grab Sam's hand, but resisted--though my hand was within his reach most of the time, lol.

After the movie I asked Sam if he wanted to do anything else or call it a night, and he just kinda shrugged, "Was there anything you wanted to do?"
"Nothing in particular, just, I don't have to be anywhere until I have to get to sleep..."

We decided to call it a night and I drove him back to his car, and as he was getting out, he was like, "Well, see you later." GACK. SAVE THE MOMENT.
"I had fun."
"Yeah...hey, when do you get off work tomorrow?"
*mental sigh of relief* "Well, four-thirty theoretically, but I usually get there half-an-hour late, so--"
"Five."
"Yeah."
"Well, do you want to do something tomorrow?"
"Yeah."
"Call me when you get off work?"
"Yeah."

:D So I have another date with him tomorrow. Checked my voicemail and Nico had called during the movie, called him back, and we decided to hang out and he'd be there to get me in a few moments, which I used to call Kristy and update her. Nico and I drove around aimlessly, did our construction rounds and got some fast food before he dropped me off. Watched some TV, started downloading the ep of Lost I missed to see Rent, and the complete series of John Doe (how did I forget about THAT this long??), wrote this, and went to bed. Here's to tomorrow!

I have to leave in the morning. ;_;

I'll be home...Sunday sometime? I guess? Jennifer's picking me up at the airport and I'm staying with her overnight before I drive home. 4.5 hours on plane + 2.5 hour layover + 5 hour drive = TOO MUCH.

So if Jennifer is cool with it my plan is to sleep in Sunday and leave at or before 2. That gets me in MH around 6 or 7. Ish. When I drive alone I don't stop a lot, lol.

Must pack. *sigh*

Though I'm coming home with a new DreamCast (since my old one...died...), some new clothes and jewelry, (finally) wallet-sized pics of Esme so I can show her off with the other kids, and lots of digital pics of Esme. LAWL.

I might be getting Photoshop. Hopefully. Because now I WANTS IT. *pokes Katchan* I'm going to finish my picture after I finish packing/Justin gets off the desktop, and I shall post it on DA. ^_^

And a tablet. I NEEEEEEEEEED A TABLET ZOMGWTFBBQ!!

Apparently my bank has freaked out. I used my debit card today and suddenly I can't log in to balance my checkbook. FTW? Not sure if I mis-typed my password too many times or if they're thinking my card got stolen since I used it in Canada. (Nico, am I right in thinking that the same thing happened to you the first time you went to Chicago with this bank?) So grr. Will have to handle that once I land in Minneapolis and can use my phone again. Grr. Grr. Grr.

Aside to Shelly: I was going to work on chapter on the plane up but due to unforeseen circumstances (the seats were angled in such a way that I couldn't open my laptop to where I could SEE THE SCREEN O_O) I couldn't. *cries* But I might tomorrow night at Jen's if she's all wanting to go to bed early. Or maybe Sunday if I get back at such a time that I can't hang with Nico.

We have to leave @ like 5:30. AM. *headdesk*

Hooray for the United States Postal Service, who managed to lose the $268 check I sent to the electric company, but got the cutoff notice the electric company sent to me within 48 hours.

No worries. I took care of it, but between the stop payment fee the bank charged for the original check and the late payment fee the electric company charged, I had to spend about $20 more. >_< Lesson learned: Just GO to the freaking authorized payment location and pay it in person, and get a receipt and instant account clearance.

I did finally get my credit card, but my credit limit was rather lower than I'd thought. Oh well. My tax return should get to me any day now. ^_^ And birthday money. Or at any rate I'm getting paid between now and then. My goal now is to have a computer before the end of April. (Somehow I knew this would happen.) Still enjoying the cable, though. The last time I had a night off I watched Friends, Scrubs, South Park, Will and Grace, and finished with three or four episodes of Mind of Mencia...and NOBODY YELLED AT ME FOR LIKING ANY OF IT.

Saturday I'm going with the parentals and Shelly to Branson for my birthday. The nice thing about having a birthday in the middle of the week is that I get to celebrate two weekends in a row. ^_^ Me and the parentals are going to the Ripley's Believe It Or Not museum (which I've always wanted to do, ever since it opened, and never have!! We went to the one in Texas when I was really little, like five, and I barely remember it and thought it was scary), and then Shelly's meeting us when she gets off work, and we're going to have dinner and go shopping (though not necessarily in that order).

Then the next Saturday me and Nico (at least, maybe more if anyone else, like, wants to tag along) are going to the Firehouse (the club in West Plains). I'm drinking a little, and dancing. And...I don't know.

OMG. I have a new phone. Our contract ran out and Dad renewed it (the parentals have decided to continue paying for my phone...I protested on grounds of being an independent woman now, but it was a pretty weak protest, lol), but we all got new phones. Mom got a new one that's exactly like her OLD one ("Because I know how it WORKS!"), but me and Dad got RAZRs! OH YEAH! *happy dance* He also added an internet package so I could download ringtones, and he said the extra $10 that it cost might come around to me. No problem.

And it has a camera, so I now, in effect, have a digital camera, or at least a similar device that cuts down on my wanting of a digital camera by about 99%. And one of the first things I figured out was that any picture you take can be your phone's wallpaper, so of course the first thing I photographed was... (can ya see it coming?) My Elijah Wood poster that Dani made for me. ^_^ Hee.

Another thing I like is that you can assign a ringtone to each individual in your address book (rather than by groups like my old phone). When Shelly calls my phone plays the Fellowship theme from LotR. ^_^ (Well, it should. She hasn't called me since I got it, I've called her, lol!) Nico is Sandstorm by Darude, and I haven't assigned anyone else. My general ringtone for everything else is Higher by Creed, which was what I had on my old phone. (But I had to re-download it, and pay for it again!)

So call me, because I have a pretty, shiny new phone that I like to talk on. Same number as before. ^_^

Argh, my email is down!

We are currently conducting scheduled maintenance on this eXcite feature. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause you, and thank you for your patience. We expect to have service restored shortly.

AAAAAAARGH!

I want a nap. Yet I want to be online.

I want school to be over! No. I don't. I want to not have any more assignments! I just want to show up for class and take tests and do nothing else!

AAAARGH! I made an avatar for Shelly but I can't post it because I need my email from imageshack because they don't have a traditional login! *screams and cries* NOR CAN I EMAIL HER MY CHAPTER!!! Wait. No. Worst comes to worst I'll send it from our yahoo account, lol. Duh.

*sigh* S'okay. I have a present for Shelly IRL. Mwahaha.

So, since Shelly's never going to update her own journal, I'm going to tell you (not that any of you save Hobbity know her, really)--she and her guy FI-NAL-LY made it official. They're "dating." Calling each other boyfriend and girlfriend. Key word being FI-NAL-LY! They've only known each other since she started going to college (she's in her third semester) and been hanging out "all the time" since the start of this semester...gah. His name's Josh; I have to confess I have not a clue what his last name is. (Not that I'd post it, mind you, but still, that's odd.)

OMG, Shelly! Guess who I have in class with me now. Remember the Gibbses? The British guy who was our speaker that one year at camp? Tammy is in (ironically enough) my US History class! I've known but kept forgetting to tell you. Go me. She hasn't really changed much; still hates Rachel; still big into the latest movies and such. Her accent's less obvious but still there.

Mrs. Richardson gave extra credit to students who attended some of the International Week lectures, so Monday we heard about Watoto Village, a program that takes kids off the streets/out of the slums of Kenya and puts them into a family environment. That was cool. Today we heard a REALLY boring lecture on "Yoga and Natural Healing." Uck. But it was twenty points, goshdammit! Tammy and I passed notes the whole time. Picking on typos in the slideshow and lamenting the lack of hot male teachers at this school. Guy in orange shirt was asleep! At least we weren't the only bored ones, lol.

Tammy works at the Movie Gallery here in town! Will have to investigate possibility of good movie deals...

At church on Sunday, they show song lyrics up on a screen. Sometimes they put a picture behind it. They showed one with a black-eyed Susan, but I thought it was a sunflower and thought of those Lijah pics...go me!

• "A preacher friend of mine told me that there used to be a clock at the back of his church, but they took it down and replaced it with a calendar..." --the preacher at my church

Lol. Joke of the moment: Skinniness is for single people. Single people go to the fridge, look, shrug helplessly because there's nothing interesting, and go to bed. Married people go to the bed, look, shrug helplessly because there's nothing interesting, and go to the fridge. XD

And I have nothing else worth saying, so I'll stop now...