Weekend email

Okay, here's another description of my weekend in an email. I took the time to write this all out to her and I didn't feel like writing it again.

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As for me, I just wanted to tell you about the fun weekend I had. First of all, I got a great haircut last week. That bad day I was having ended good because I went and got a cute haircut and then after that went to the pet store to relax. I got myself a really cool fish, a dragon fish. It looks like a dragon, with a long body, frilly fins and a gaping mouth. Then it's got these teeeeeeeeeeeeny little golden eyes with blacks dots inna middle. It's so freaky lookin'! Hehe! But I love my hair. It's above my shoulders and short for the summer. This time I made sure he didn't cut my bangs. I don't have bangs and it's short and bobby. I love it. Ron says it makes me look so much younger. Yep, that's what short hair does! It's cool because it's something different, but it'll grow out over the summer. I was tired of long hair for now.

Well my hairdresser told me that Rosie the spider sometimes likes to eat pinky mice. I thought, okay, cool....something different. Then I won't have to feed her for a few weeks. So I went to the pet store and got one pinky mouse on Friday. I gave it to Rosie and tried to forget about it. Saturday was really fun, my brother Steve took me out to breakfast and actually gave me a present!! It's the first time in years because he never had money and now he finally has a steady job!! He and Ron had coordinated and Ron told Steve to get me some fins to body surf with 'cause we were going to the beach on Sunday. Isn't he thoughtful??! Hehehehe! We changed the beach to Sunday because it was easier to coordinate with my cousin. So that was great, I got these awesome fins...but they didn't fit, they were too big. So when I got back from brunch with Steve, Ron and I went to a surf shop over by my work and got me the right size. I then took Ron to see where I work, which was really fun. I'm here alone again for the next few weeks. I really like it. Ron was really impressed with the building and it was so much fun showing him. Then we just went home and relaxed on Saturday night because we were gonna leave really early on Sunday. It was hotter than hell in my place so we just lounged around drinking beers and vodka and played video games. I kept up with him with the drinking and got really wasted. He didn't because he was sweating it all out. Once we settled in the watch a movie,I totally passed out. I don't remember much of anything. Good thing that doesn't happen too often. I like to remember things. I think it was because I hadn't eaten much other than the brunch with my brother. Beer is so filling, too...

So after the movie Ron carries me to bed. He said I was bobbing my head all over the place and smashed him in the face with my chin! Hahahahaha! Such a funny picture! He's all...are you alright?? And I'm like....uh-huh...yea... I don't remember a thing!! Then he told me that the Cuban neighbor from the front house came to the door at 1 a.m. Of course she doesn't speak English and Ron opens the door all bleary eyed and she's like....Yoolie mouse! Pointing toward the street. He said he went up front and there was Swirl on the front lawn!!! She had opened the cage door, I guess I hadn't closed it alla way tight before I put them out on the porch for the night! Hahaha! Little shit! I can't believe her! So Ron goes out front and calls her and she came right to him! Crazy rodent! So I hear about all this in the morning, we got up at seven to get to the beach by nine because we had to go alla way to pick up my cousin and his son. I totally woke up early with no hangover...nuthin'. Amazing! Oh yea, and speaking of mice....Saturday morning I noticed that Rosie still had not eaten the pinky and it was squirming all pathetic in the dirt. I felt so bad...I didn't want it to suffer so I tried to feed it to Stan. He of course just sniffed it. So I brought it over to the rats, thinking they might devour it like my other rat devoured that fuzzy mouse a few years ago. They just sniffed it...so I put it in a paper towel and put it in their cage, hoping they'd eat it. I didn't see it in the towel on Sunday morning so I thought they'd done the deed.

So Sunday we drive out to my cousin's and Ron takes me to grab breakfast at this great little greasy spoon where you get tons of food. We both got eggs and hashbrowns and bacon and sausage. It was HUGE and so yummy to my acid stomach. I hadn't eaten since the brunch the day before, hence my total drunkenness and passing out!! We made it to the beach by 9:15 and grabbed a six pack of beer. They downed five and I just had one 'cause I wanted to swim. Of course the water was FREEEZING! It took forever to get used to and I hadda try several times. Ron kept staring at me in my bikini...it was so lovely. My cousin brought a joint and we took a walk while Ron went in the water with his son. The hilight of the day was when I blew the boys away by swimming way the hell out in the ocean. There were huge waves that day, tons of holes in the bottom because of alla pounders. At one point I tried to 'body surf' and got stuck in the white water...I didn't get slammed though, I got out of it. I looked and saw Ron all far away and I waved and smiled...all the while blowing the water outta my nose! I kept swimming back and forth behind the waves, it was sooo much fun! My first ocean swim of the season! The only problem was the fins were really hurting me. The ones we got are too small (*sigh*) and were rubbing my feet raw in one spot. I wish I coulda stayed in longer. But once we got in both my cousin and Ron were like...WOW! Are you a seal??! For the rest of the day Ron kept saying....that was impressive....Wow.....sexy water mama! Hehehehehee!!! I couldn't wait to show off to him!

We left the beach when it started to get really crowded...around one or so. When we all got back to my house we relaxed and played video games and just hung out. Then we got some huge ass steaks and bbqed on my grill. It was so lovely. It was hot though, and I hadn't put my sunblock on right. I look like I have birthmarks on my body...I'm all splotchy on my chest...some on my butt, the backs of my knees. I'm never gonna have a nice tan, damn it! Hehehehe! Oh yea, and while we were bbqin'...my cousin's son was playing with the rats. Alla sudden he's like...OH MY! Did they have a baby?? The poor pinky was STILL alive and sqirming. By this time it hadn't eaten since Friday. I felt so bad I took it out and went and got some evaporated milk and fed it. Guess what's sitting on my desk right now? I've been feeding it since Sunday. I am a dork and a half. I even added a few rat/mouse pellets to the milk to add vitamins. I can't even kill a pinky mouse. It's so helpless and tiny an' cute. I was gonna take it back to the store, but I think I'm gonna see if I can feed it for a while. I don't know what to do...I'm torn. So for now I'm just fostering it. Doin' a little 'speermint. Fuck, I'm SUCH a nerd ass!!! Who the hell fosters a pinky mouse?? Pfft....

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The email goes on a little more, of course, but that part was my weekend. It was great. I can't believe it's already Wednesday. It's been a nice week. I think today after work I'm going to visit a bird store and start looking at birds. I've posted my parakeets on penny saver on the internet. If that doesn't work I'll probably move on to ebay. I feel bad treating animals like objects, but that's all these are to me. They have no personality and they're still petrified of me after a year. Oh well, I hope they make someone great aviary birds.

Computer woes gone...for now

I forgot to mention here how my home computer is working just wonderfully! I was reading old entries and came across the one where I'm swearing profusely about my computer situation.

Once again, Melanie came over and reformatted my computer. She's got an IT friend who she's copied all the programs from...she's just loaded with everything I need 'cause computers are her hobby. She's got three at home and she's always working on someone or another's computer problems. So we made a nice evening of it, made some artichokes and relaxed. It was cool and now my computer is happy. I am sooooo very careful to download virus updates and scan for viruses and spyware almost every time I use it. Not to mention Windows updates and patches. Gotta keep up on those, too. So for now, it's all good.

Ah, it's time to go home. I'm just wrapping up the works here and then I'm gonna run some errands. I'm also going to start bird shopping. I've posted my budgies on the Pennysaver online. Hopefully they'll sell pretty quickly. I'm really not in too much of a hurry because I've vowed to take my time while I'm looking for another companion parrot. I tend to rush and want things now NOW NOW! Bad habit. Must control myself. So I'm just gonna go and LOOOOK. Animals are like people, they all have different personalities. I need to get a bird that matches my lifestyle and that is somewhat tame. I want to be able to interact with it. I basically want another bird like Pickles and I haven't ever been able to find one. Leonard, the conure I had to get rid of, was almost as sweet as Pickles. But loud and messy. I'm still mad I got rid of her though. Yes, her...I named her before I had her DNA sexed...with lotsa parrots you can't tell what sex they are just by lookin'. She was a cool bird. She talked...said Whatcha doin', Hey Baby, Uh-Oh, Hello (of course), What?...and many combinations of those things. She also danced, which consisted of her swaying back and forth with her wings out going WOO-WOO! WOO-WOO! It was so cute. She made lots of noises, mimicked things, too. She had so much personality. I just want one other bird with personality. So I'm going to take my time.

Okay, I'm off to start my weekend. BYE BYE!

Birthday happenin's

For the first time in a while, I had an absolutely FABULOUS birthday. Not only did I get calls or emails from everyone I care about, Ron totally outdid himself. Well now of course Ron has a key to my place. I gave it to him about a month ago 'cause he comes over late at night a lot and it's nice for him to just be able to let himself in. I don't know why I didn't give it to him sooner. So anyway, I get home from work and couldn't help but notice a BRAND NEW flashy ass stereo in place of my old one that wouldn't play CDs anymore. It's all set up and gorgeous. I almost shit my pants right there... How did he know?? No one has ever done something like that for me. So of course I have to fiddle fart around with it and of course LISTEN to it. Oh man, it sounds GREAT! The speakers are huge and they have subwoofers so the thing shakes the floor! Plus, there was an added bonus...he had gotten the last one so he got the one on display, which had CDs in it. They forgot to take them out so I got two new CDs! I've listened to one of them, it's some artist I don't remember the name of right now but it's great. I haven't listened to the other one yet but it's a band I know. I don't remember the name of that one right now, either...BUT then, a little while later, I go to the fridge for some water and sqeal with delight when I see a huge cake with a dozen roses on top of it and a card. I am overwhelmed with sweetness and I have to call my mom and Melanie right away. Then one of my best friends from highschool, Marguerite, called me from France. Yes, the friend who was studying abroad CALLED. Awwwwww!!! I was so happy to hear from her. She's one of those friends who I don't see too often, but when I do it's like we fall right back into place. Of course I had to gush to her, too. She's so happy for me.

I keep remembering what she told me when she called during my drama with the ex. I was on my way to the dreaded counselor, the one I went to with him after the baby was born, and I was on the verge of tears. I didn't want to tell her what was going on because she thought I was totally done with that dork. I spilled to her and she felt so bad for me. She kept saying..."Oh Julie, honey...OH NO..." She tried to reason with me and one of the things she said stuck. She said that I keep going back for the comfort (I knew that but wouldn't admit it to myself, like most people do) and that we did have something but it's no longer there. Then she said what I'll always remember (I know, finally), that I am an awesome person and that there is not just one person out there for everyone. She told me I have a great personality and that I will meet someone else some day and fall in love and forget AAAaaaalll about the pain I was feeling right then. That couldn't have been more true. It's common logic, actually. That's how life goes. And hey, if this one doesn't work out...there will be someone else. But I'm so in love and so happy. I know it's just the beginning and relationships are work, but it's worth the ride. So yea, Marguerite is da bomb. I love her.

Ahem, so where was I... Oh yea, my birthday. It was great. After listening to music for a while I went to Boston Market an' picked myself up a nice big dinner din din. I even took Pickles (Lovebird) along for the ride. He loves to go on car rides. People always always always ask the same question..."He doesn't fly away???" It's so funny! I'm always like...well no, he can only fly short distances. It helps keep him tame and safe around the house. Plus I like to take him out to see the world. Ya know, since he can't fly and all. So that was fun. It's good for me to take Pickles out sometimes 'cause it helps me work on my social skills, talk to strangers who always come up and ask me about him. 'Cause he's just so damn pretty and cute. Little bastard bird

After The splendid dinner I just relaxed and fell asleep onna couch like a lazy ass. Actually, I was tired because of the lack of sleep. I only got to nap for about 20 minutes before Ron showed up early 'cause he got offa work early. So I woke up for a while and rewarded him for being such a fabulous boyfriend. *wink* *wink* Hehehehehe!

I'm looking soooo very foward to this weekend. We's gon' go to duh BEEEEEEEACH!!! Woowooweewee!!! Hippy hurray! I've been DYING to go. Plus I think my cousin Mark and his son are gonna come along. That should be fun. And with this new short haircut, I get to go in the water and come out and go in and come out and go in and and and...without worrying about my hair being a big, long fro. It'll just dry all nice and cute.

Oh wait, is this a work day? Am I still sitting at work? I guess so. Shit, I guess that means I hafta work. I should really get on it. This online diary shit is getting addicting, just like I thought it would. Awright. I might be back later. Bye bye for now.

Blooh blah blee

WOW!!!!! Not only am I adding yet ANOTHER entry today, I have CHANGED MY TEMPLATE! Thanks Lealoo! Wherever you are! I went to her cute little site, Lilydesigns.com. Great idea to help out all us html illiterates.
So far I've had a lovely birthday. I even got a little bonus check at work! YAY! I've gotten either emails or calls from all the important people (except one, but I forgive her because she's in France studying abroad) and that makes me feel so very good.

I forgot to mention in here that I got a haircut yesterday and I LOVE it! My hair is naturally curly and it's been a little past my shoulders and layered for the past couple of years. I was getting bored with that and needed a bit of a change so I cut off quite a bit. Now it's a little above my shoulders. It's an adorable cut and the best thing is that it'll probably grow out very nicely. I won't have to get anther hair cut for another 4 to 6 months. This is the first time in a long time that I've been excited about a cute haircut. I also stopped by the pet store yesterday to look at some cornsnakes after my hairdresser (another animal freak) told me how cute they are. I'll probably end up getting a snake someday so I was curious to check them out. They're awfully cute....for a snake... Then I just HAD to buy myself a new fishie since it's my birthday and I haven't gotten a new fish in so very long. I had never seen anything like it, that's why I got it. It's a dragonfish. The name doesn't lie, it's got a long body with fan-like frilly fins and purple-ish gold markings. Plus it's got this HUGE gaping mouth and these teeeeeeeeeeeeny lil' golden eyes. Cool lookin' fish, man.

I've also decided to sell my two parakeets and get a different bird. I'm going to take my time in picking out the next bird. I want to interact with it. I still miss the conure I had to get rid of a few years ago when I moved. I got these parakeets a year ago 'cause they're easy maintenance and I really thought I could tame them. The yellow one, Bananas (I know HOW original) is almost tame. This means she'll sit on my finger and not bite the shit outta me. The blue and white one, Apples, is a terrible biter. I stopped trying to handle her after about 3 months of getting bitten. The thing with birds and why most people don't really like them as pets is because they take so much patience and understanding. They're so different from dogs and cats...the main difference being that they're not domesticated. We've only been keeping parrots as pets for about the last 100 years. SO, before I get going on my bird soapbox...I'll save that for another entry. But I want a bird that I can interact with and at the same time can be a friend to my original birdie-bird, Pickles. He's a lovebird and is very bonded to me. So I wanna get him a friend, possibly another lovebird, so he won't be so attached to me. I didn't get a pair originally because I wanted Pickles to bond to me. Lovebirds don't HAVE to be in pairs, just so long as you give them a lot of attention. Oh hell, I'm going on and on again....

So now I can move on to better things, like the fact that I get to go HOME now. Hurray! I'm so very glad. I'm tired 'cause I only got four hours sleep last night. Slept over at Ron's. I don't usually do that because his place is so far from my work. But once in a while it's fine. I just have to get up so much earlier. Yuck, I have that cotton ball eyes feeling again. Awright, on to my way home to relax.

My day

Today is my 28th birthday. Wow. Another year has gone by. It flew the hell by when I wasn't lookin'. That always starts happening as you get older, don't it... Happy Birthday to meeeeeeeee!!!

Falling through

NO...it's NOT fun to play those kinds of things by ear. There must be some planning involved. At least something a bit more strategic... We are so lame. We always end up fucking things up. Well, not ALWAYS, but we almost always end up completely NOT doing what we'd "planned".

So let's get to my shitty weekend, shall we? Well, my weekend wasn't that shitty. It really could have been much worse I suppose. It's just that shit fell through, like it always does. To start things off, we...totally...lagged...when...it...came...to...getting...ready. Second, the drive was a lot further than originally calculated. It was to be seven hours instead of five. By the time we were all done getting ready it was 11:00 p.m. This is another thing Melanie and I aways do when we're planning to leave...we take FORfuckingEVER to get going. We decided to rethink whether or not we want to drive ALL the WAY to the artichoke festival, spend a few hours there and drive ALL THE WAY back. Hmmmm.....we make up our minds that we simply cannot go that far in one night, that if we would have been able to leave earlier in the afternoon things would be better. So we decide, instead, to drive to Santa Barbara and spend the day there. It's a much shorter drive and we calculate our arrival time to be about 3:00 a.m. Which it indeed was. Then we hit a snag, a BIG ASS snag...no place to stay. We thought ahead enough to write down the phone numbers of the Motel 6s and such in the area, but soon discovered that they were all booked. Who'da thunk a major tourist town would be all booked up at 3:00 a.m.?? Not us! We weren't about to pull over at a rest stop and sleep. HELL NO. We're not THAT stupid! Sooooo we ended up turning around and driving right back home. Melanie pulled into my driveway at 5:30 a.m. Such a lovely time of day. No, it really is. I rarely see it. It was a nice drive to a fro, we relaxed, talked and listened to music. Plus we got to take Melanie's lovely car...a 2002 Nissan Xterra. It was a comfy drive at least and I'm thankful that Melanie drove. She's a great driver. That did make the whole thing suck less. It was fun...sorta. I like to stay up all night sometimes.

So when I got home, needless to say, I went to sleep. Four hours later, Ron shows up. I had told him he could come by to use the computer to look something up about the bike show he was going to on Saturday. I heard him opening the door, peeked outta my bedroom and almost scared the shit outta him. Hehehehe, the look on his face was pretty funny. So he stuck around for a little while and I dozed on the couch with him. Then he left for the bike show and I went back to bed. I woke up at four and it was hotter than HELL in the house. Of course this weekend, of all weekends, it has to be HOT HOT HOT! And I couldn't go to the beach. Well, I could have, but I wanted to go with Ron and he was busy all weekend with stuff 'cause he thought I was gonna be gone.

Ugh, I've been working on this for too damn long now. I'm busy at work. Bleh. To make a long boring story a short boring story, I ended up doing nothing this weekend. I was too hot and lazy to even exercise. This is becoming a problem. I have plenty of things to do, draw, whatever. I just don't feel like doing them. Once again...I'm a lazy fuck. Oh well, whatever. Ron and I had a nice evening last night anyway, when he got home. We made spags and garlic bread an' meatie bwalls. Nice and yummy.

Ah yes, today I'm PMSing, the weather is cold (I hope I don't catch a cold from all this weather fluctuation) work is busy and I wanna go home. Which I'm going to do. Right. Now.

Artichoke fest

Hi there. Wow, it's Friday the 13th. Isn't that grand? It's gonna be a fun weekend. Melanie and I are finally going to make it up north to the artichoke festival. Yes, we are dorks like that...gonna go eat artichokes fried, artichokes baked, artichokes steamed, artichokes barbequed artichokes artichokes ARTICHOKES. We love them and have been planning on going to this festival for the past four years, 'cept something always comes up. Not this year. This year we get to just take off and go have fun for a few days. I can't wait. I'm looking forward to the drive, too. It's FIVE hours up north. I don't know what it is but I just love long drives. Especially when someone else is driving! So we're probably going to leave around 8 or 9 tonight, get there and take a nap in the car and then head to the festivities. It goes from noon 'til six on both Saturday and Sunday. So we're not sure when we're going to leave tomorrow. We may finish it out or head home early. It's fun to just play these things by ear.

I'm kind of down today. I'm not getting my raise that I'd hoped for. At least not THIS pay period anyway. May 11th marked my two year anniversary at the company and one year since my last raise. I emailed the owner, my other boss, in Poland, patting myself on the back for being here two years...you know, as kind of a *hint* *hint*. All I got was a vertual pat on the back and congrats from her. Great. Thanks. I guess I can't just EXPECT a raise, even though the company is doing better than it had last year AND I've "improved 100%" (as quoted by the owner) from the slacker dork I was when I started here. Oh well, I guess I'll ask my boss who is here with me every day how he thinks I'm doing and if there's anything I can improve upon. I did the same thing last year when I hit the year mark. There are no annual evaluations here. I just have to do it myself. I'm just afraid I've hit the ceiling here as far as salary and that I'm going to have to *gulp* go back to school and get more training in order to be worth more. It sucks because I hate school AND I hate working, even if it's doing something I'm supposed to enjoy. I've got a couple more illustration projects on the table and I JUST DON'T FEEL LIKE DRAWING. Ugh. Fuck, what is wrong with me?? I wonder how many times that particular rhetorical question has been asked on the internet. I should do a survey... Fuck, I'm just a lazy bitch. I shoulda been born a cat. My favorite thing to do is daydream. Wish I could make a career outta that.

Working for small companies is cool, but it sucks too. The main thing that sucks is the fact that I don't have insurance coverage. I have to buy my own. All I can afford right now are bullshit 'savings plans' that gouge my pocket and don't save me SHIT on my expensive fucking medication. I was very disappointed this week to find that the new plan I just bought saves me a whole .75 on my meds. Fucking BULLSHIT. I guess it's back to the drawing board, but not before losing lots of money. I'm good at that.

I'm just bummed. I shouldn't be. I keep thinking mind over matter. Don't worry so much. Ron keeps telling me not to worry but he just doesn't understand. It'll take him more time I guess. I've told him that this is just ME, this is how I am. I'm sorry. He of course tells me I don't have to apologize for being the way I am, that he'll help me, don't worry... I can't help but worry, almost constantly. It's a lot better since I'm taking this stupid medication though. I just keep going around in the same damn circle. Little improvements here and there but it's always the same. I'm sorry, I just can't be happy all the time. I have the bored feeling again. I think this trip will help. I wish I could go somewhere with Ron, but we're both broke. AGAIN. I suppose we could do something cheap...I'm so bad at planning things. I always leave it up to the guy. I shouldn't do that.

I've been adding to this all morning. I need to close this distraction and get back to focusing. Something that's almost impossible for my bored mind to do. I might write later.