The sad middle class I problems I face

The biggest annoyance about the storm for me last night?  The rain broke my phone.  Argh.  I was on the phone and got out of my car and it got wet and it broke the microphone.

THREE days before my phone is eligible for an upgrade.  

Luckily, I had kept my last phone (I usually donate them when I get a new phone) because the eris had a really crappy alarm clock on it.  So, the Verizon Wireless guy at the store couldn't fix it, but he helped me activate my old phone so I could at least have a phone of some sort (the only downfall to having your cell phone being your only phone).  

However, I don't have any contacts in there from my new phone (so if you gave me your number sometime in the last 2 years or so, I probably don't have it) because the card holder on my old phone is damaged and they couldn't download the contacts onto the new phone manually b/c it's so crappy.  Sigh.  Hopefully, when I eventually get my new phone I can re-transfer them.  We'll see.  I'm special like that and will probably have issues getting that to work.  

But now I'm trying to pick out a new phone.  I had it narrowed down to the Droid 3 and the Samsung Charge, but now I'm seeing the Droid Bionic comes out in about a week and a half, and maybe I should wait and see that one?  

The difficult decisions I face.

Sadly, I won't have my phone in time for Chicago, which is kind of crappy b/c I wanted to be able to use the nav system on my phone.  Blargh.  I may reactivate the phone before going to Chicago and using the awesome cousin's phone as our phone in case someone needs to reach us and my phone for the maps?  Who knows.  (I could just be old fashioned and use an actual paper map, but that seems like a lot of work...).

And yes, I did just write an entire post about my phone.  

Thank God I found the good in goodbye*

• I went camping this weekend.  I now have 46 bug bites (at my last count, I may have missed a few).  I was dinner for the entire park's population of bugs.  Including the numerous crickets that kept jumping on my head (yes, I was wearing bug spray, I swear).  Luckily, the beer was plentiful and the company was lovely, so I still had a fantastic time. I also discovered a previously unknown skill I have.  I can't cook bacon without burning it on a normal stove.  But, I can apparently cook it on a bunsen burner type camp stove (I also make some mad good french toast).  Good to know

• There is a contractor at work that is constantly wearing an Utley jersey.  He wears it so often, that when I see actual pictures of Utley (or see him on TV), I think to myself, that's not Chase Utley.  Then I remember that I'm apparently a moron.  Just because someone WEARS a Chase Utley shirt, it doesn't actually MAKE them Chase Utley.  The fact I even have to remind myself of this makes me realize why people think I'm an airhead.

• After a few days in a row of rain, my mom would throw us outside in our raincoats and tell us to play outside (she wouldn't do this in the middle of a storm or anything, so don't think my mom was endangering us in anyway).  Apparently, we were a bit...high strung after being cooped up indoors for a few days in a row.  I find that I am STILL this way.  I didn't run much last week because of weather and work and then I was at the beach/camping this weekend so didn't run then either.  I only ran once for 3 miles last week.  That is apparently not enough for me.  I have been so squirrelly lately (I left work too late last night to run again).  Today, I HAD to run.  I even bailed on dinner with some friends because I REALLY had to go running.  I feel a little less stabby, and a lot more rational (seriously, sometimes I cringe at how irrational I can get).  So that's a plus.  

• So how about that earthquake?  At first we all thought that something out on the production floor had exploded or something (we were trying to repair a robot and I thought maybe something had gone horribly wrong).  And then, I realized it's an earthquake.  I wasn't scared or anything, just a little disconcerted.  However, I'm quite glad I wasn't in Virginia this week.  That would have been a little more disconcerting I'm sure.  Unfortunately, I have to go to VA for the day again on Tuesday.  That's a lot of driving for one day.  Sigh.

• However, then on Friday, I'm going to CHICAGO!!!!  I CANNOT WAIT.  Seriously.  CANNOT WAIT.  EEK!

• I've been trying to find a used copy of Knit. Sock. Love. for what seems like forever.  I am cheap.  I don't want to pay $27 for a knitting book.  However, the used copies are MORE than the new copies?  Um, $145 for a USED copy of a $27 book?  Is it gold plated???  WTF?  

*Beyonce (As annoying as I find Beyonce, I have a kind of girl crush on her and Rihanna.  Go figure).  

Bedtime...no songs

I did something very unlike me, and I'm so proud of myself.

I'm very anti-confrontations and usually avoid them at all costs.  But, I've been thinking and thinking and thinking, and I couldn't take it anymore.  I really didn't want to just give up on a friend, so I said something.  And honestly? Even if nothing changes, I feel much better and I said my piece, and at least if something bad happens between us, I tried. 

Yay me.

You better lose yourself in the music, the moment*

I think I mentioned helping RR move in my last rambling post.  Although we moved some stuff ourselves, her new company hired her professional movers to pack up her stuff and send it to VA.  You'd think this would help make the move easier, no?  However, I'm dreading my move (being up here while all my stuff I need to move in VA is not going to make this move any easier) because honestly, this move was just not fun, and I'm worried mine will suck just as much logistically.

It started out amusingly.  The movers came at the beginning of the week and packed up her stuff for her.  While there, they asked her if the bong was coming.  Um, it's a hookah, from Israel (no really, it actually was a hookah) and yes it's coming.  They were apparently VERY thorough and made sure they packed everything.  Including these lovely bits of lint that were very carefully placed in the box with her other valuables (who packs lint???).




















They then proceeded to load one truck with her stuff and drive it to the warehouse to transfer it to a different moving company's truck (I have NO IDEA).  Somewhere in this process they managed to damage at least 3 pieces of her furniture, and I'm not even sure what else.  Originally, it was thought the delivery date would be Monday, so RR planned to drive up to Virginia (from South Carolina) on Friday evening, stay the night with K and I in Richmond, and then drive the last hour and a half to her place at a leisurely rate.  That would give her two days to get her keys and clean the apartment before the movers show up.

That Friday evening, while driving up to Richmond, the movers call and tell her that now they will be arriving at her place first thing Saturday morning.  Um, nice 14 hour notice?  The rental place was going to be closed by the time she got up there, so she didn't really have much choice other than staying in Richmond as planned and waking up at the butt crack of dawn to drive further north and get her keys early Saturday morning and hopefully have an hour or so to clean.  Not ideal, but doable.

She gets her keys, goes to her apartment...and they don't work.  She is then told by the rental company that the keys work for everyone but her, she must be using them wrong (ha! apparently she's an idiot that hasn't figured out the basic mechanics of a key!).  THREE different people show up and are unable to get into her apartment (but you know, the keys totally work!).  At this point, the movers have also arrived and are starting to bring her boxes of stuff in and basically piling them up in the hallway because there is nowhere else to put them.

Locksmiths are called, the maintenance guy is called, and about 2-3 hours later, she FINALLY gets in her apartment, where apparently the air conditioner is leaking and water is running down the middle of the bedroom floor.  The maintenance people tell her, oh we don't work on Sundays.  Put a towel under it and call us on Monday.  Seriously?

I think at that point I would have been a little bitchy and told them that their asses were there now and they were going to fix it now.  But, we were so tired and just relieved to be in the apartment, that it wasn't even worth fussing over.  And, the maintenance people and movers all appeared to be under the impression that I was RR's girlfriend, and I didn't want them thinking she was dating a bitchy girl.  Got to keep my reputation intact.

It started raining with half her stuff laying around outside off the truck.  It was like a thousand degrees inside the apartment (hi, no air conditioning).  We had no food or water at the apartment thanks to the 14 hour notice and the keys not working, leaving no time to run and grab anything.

All in all, it was a rough day.  And I keep thinking, I have to do this myself in about a month.  Hopefully mine goes a little smoother (I at least already have a key that I know works...that's a plus).

*Eminem (I just listened to most ATROCIOUS Taylor Swift cover of this song.  It was awful.  So I had to listen to the original)

That girl don't fake it, give her rules she'll break it*

Random thoughts from the weekend that pretty much have nothing to do with each other

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I have been thinking a lot about the relationships in my life lately.  The ones that I am so happy to have back, the ones that have always been there, but now I'm able to see them more, and the ones that make me feel like shit and yet I can't seem to let go.  I'm really bad at letting go.  

I keep thinking, that things will go back to how they were before.  But I know they won't.  And I don't seem to know how to break things off before they blow up in my face.  (Case in point, a few weekends ago, a friend and I had a HORRIBLE break up because I couldn't figure out how to distance myself from them before it got awful).  

Oddly enough, in the midst of all this.  I got a phone call this weekend from the person who has probably hurt me the most in my life.  I was kind of amazed to discover that I really HAVE let them go.  I don't care about them or anything they do (other than feeling sorry for the people they are currently hurting).  I've been wanting them to call for the longest time so I could tell them EVERYTHING I had thought up over the past years about what an awful, weak person they are.  I didn't even care enough anymore to say anything. It's done.  They ARE out of my life, and I didn't even realize it.  

I don't really know where I'm going with this.  At all.  I think I'm just trying to work out in my head what to do about some of my so called friendships that just seem to make me feel like crap.  Is it their fault, is it mine?  And does it really matter either way?

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I went running on the trails when I was in Richmond.  This trail has a really sandy soil base.  It hadn't rained in a while.  It felt like I was running on the beach, it was ridiculously loose sand.  Then, the next day I helped RR move some of her stuff up three flights of stairs (including a ridiculously heavy air conditioner).  I believe she compared me to a pack horse at one time (sadly, this is not the first time the comparison has been made...not exactly flattering).  I also spent approximately 15 hours in a car this weekend.  I am stiff and my calf muscles are KILLING me.

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I went for a run again today.  This was intended to be a "recovery" run.  Fail.

I am an idiot and forgot I basically live at the top of a hill.  I didn't want to drive to the park to go running, so I went running around here.  I had a VERY hilly run (and a very SLOW run).  My calf muscles are still killing me and I'm still insanely stiff.

I used the foam roller after my run today and kind of wanted to cry.  I have two really bad spots on my left leg (outside my calf right below the knee, and my hip flexor) and my right leg is just overall sore.  I don't understand how a piece of foam can be so torturous.

**********

I am so ready to move.  I'm so sick of the horrible internet here.  I'm so sick of the TV not working anytime it rains (stupid Direct TV).  I'm so sick of not being able to do laundry here b/c people are idiots and don't understand the concept of washing a FULL load at once (really, you don't need to tie up FOUR washers with ONE pair of underwear in each one).  And not understanding that you have to turn ON the dryer for it actually dry.  

People keep telling me that living in a hotel is so freaking sweet and I should be grateful for it and not paying rent.  Yeah, it's sweet.  Until you actually LIVE in a hotel.  I am ready to pay rent again and just have my own place.  I don't care how whiny that sounds.  I'm over this place.  I want to be gone.  

**********

I'm going camping this weekend, then our family birthday dinner celebration thing, and then CHICAGO (and my birthday)!  My next few weekends are going to rock.  I keep telling myself this so I don't get too grumpy about being here.  

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I think that's probably enough random thoughts.  Hope everyone's weekend rocked.  

*Ben Kweller (love that little man)

Turn up the bass, turn up the treble. I'm about to take you to a whole another level*

Random Thoughts (it's too early in the morning to be coherent)

I'm sitting at the car dealer waiting for my car to be fixed (and inspected).  All the new cars in the showroom is making me want to say, screw it, I'll just take a new one home.  I'm obviously not going to, but they're so pretty. And shiny.  And have cool new features.  I want I want (however, I also want to not have a car payment which is coming soon...so I suppose I can get over it).  Although, I guess we'll wait and see how much they're going to charge me for this visit.  Sigh.  At least they have internet!

**********

The South makes me grumpy.  I swear, there is this cloud of doom that gets activated when I cross the Mason Dixon line.  It makes the traffic terrible, the drivers turn into idiots, and I get the terrible urge to use my car as a ramrod.  I seriously NEVER get road rage at home.  No matter how bad the traffic is or how stupid the drivers are, I just shrug it off.  I get to the south and all I want to do is yell at people for being stupid and figure out how to develop mental powers that will let me move cars off the road with the power of my mind.  (Seriously, is the concept of a left lane for passing that difficult to comprehend?).   

**********

 I got my headboard yesterday!  I'm so excited!  It's so pretty!  I am an idiot and forgot to take a picture (I was in a rush to get on the road to VA).

The delivery guy asked if I wanted him to connect the headboard to my bed.  I had to laugh and tell him there was nothing for him to connect it to. 

As of now, my house has 3 chairs, a rug, a cedar chest, and now a headboard.  I'm getting there....

**********

I am a dumbass.  I have a filing cabinet that had some old paperwork that i didn't want to get rid of, and then I have a file box full of important paperwork that comes with me (it's in the hotel now).  I THOUGHT my social security card and birth certificate were in there with my passport and other important papers.  Um.  No. 

Apparently, they were chilling in my storage unit for the past TWO years.  That's a HORRIFYING thought.  I'm so relieved that they were actually there. 

Unfortunately, now I need to go get my social security card corrected because they didn't spell my name correctly on it.  And really mom?  You never bothered to fix that when I first got it?

**********

Yay seeing RR tonight!

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Worst family member ever.  Our family reunion camp is this weekend.  I had planned to attend.  And....yeah, obviously not anymore.  Stupid trip to VA.  Hope everyone has a good reunion with out me (sorry I'm not bringing the awesomeness). 

*T-Pain (another song I am not entirely sure why I like.  But it's fun to run to.  And seriously, they worked in Kissing Cam to the song.  That's just impressive). 

So ready for vacation.

That is all.

Time can never mend the careless whispers of a good friend*

This weekend we had a surprise party for J for her birthday.  I went down a few hours early to help JP set up and help clean and such.  About half an hour before everyone is supposed to show up, J is still in cleaning mode (and doesn't seem to wonder why I'm volunteering to help her clean) and doesn't appear to be having any intentions of showering/changing/etc.  

Did you know there is NO polite way to tell someone they need to go shower now?  Seriously.  I was "strongly suggesting" she go take a shower now.  She's like, um?  Do I smell?  I'm cleaning?  What is wrong with you?  Yes, you smell.  Awkward.

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After the party, a few of us stuck around and we had a fire in the fire pit and sat around drinking beers and scotch (it tastes like burning).    

It started to rain, and instead of going inside, we just dragged the canopy over the fire and sat under the canopy.  It was pretty nice, however, now I feel like I smell like a bonfire.  I've showered twice so far today, and I STILL smell like it.  (Apparently now I'M the one that smells?)

**********

I'm not really ready for this weekend to be over, and I don't really want to return to work tomorrow.  But, at least it's a short week since I'm taking a few days off to go back to Richmond to take care of some stuff before I have to move (ugh, Virginia).  However, on the plus side, I should get to see RR this weekend and her new place.  So that's fantastic.  And, even more fantastic, once we both move, we're only going to be about 3.5 hours apart as opposed to the 10-12ish hours we are now. 

Definitely doable in a weekend, and I'm hoping we see each other a lot more than we have the past few years.  

**********

Hope everyone had a fantastic weekend!

*George Michael (This has randomly been in my head the past few weeks.  JH used to make me listen to it ALL the time in college and it would drive me INSANE.  Yet now, I feel compelled to listen to it every time it comes on).  

I hope you don't take this the wrong way, Girl you look better with the lights off*

In 2005 (ish?), RR and I went to Scotland (as did my mom), and we decided to take a tour of the Scottish Highlands, that we affectionately refer to as the eating and sleeping tour of Scotland (I'll get to that in a minute).  

While on this tour, we went to Glen Coe, Loch Ness, and other famous Highland landmarks.  We went on this trip mid-March when it was freezing and raining pretty much every day.  Basically, a low mist hung over everything, all the time.  And while this made me have to wear pretty much every article of clothing packed at once for the whole trip, it also made the view of pretty much everything, absolutely beautiful.  

Yesterday, I went for a run in the park, and it was crazy.  It had just rained, and there was a low level mist floating on the path and over the river, and it looked amazingly like Scotland, except ridiculously warmer.  

It was probably the best run I've had all summer, and it made me feel SO MUCH BETTER and less irritable, and it was basically everything a run should be.  And, I was actually able to sleep well last night, so I'm finally feeling caught up on my sleep, and yeah, it's nice.

As for the eating and sleeping tour of Scotland, my mom really wanted a break from us, so she convinced us we should take a day trip to the Highlands.  On a bus.  

Anyone that knows me, knows that motion sickness and I are very well acquainted.  I do NOT do well as a passenger in back seats of cars or buses.  So, I'm not entirely sure why I thought a bus tour would be a good idea, but I bought my ticket, and then, I realized.  That was stupid.

I can kind of mitigate some of the effects of motion sickness by taking Dramamine and constantly eating candy/pretzels/etc.  Unfortunately, Dramamine tends to knock me out and all I want to do is sleep.  

So, this trip consisted of me falling asleep between bus stops and while not sleeping, eating twizzlers and pretzels.  Any time we would stop at a tourist center, I'd be feeling sick, so I'd go to the tea shop and get tea and scones.  And, RR being the awesome friend that she is, joined me.  I'm not kidding when I say on a 10 hour bus tour, we slept for 8 hours, ate at least 6 scones, drank at least 6 cups of tea, and god knows how many twizzlers and pretzels.  It was awful.  Even when we stopped for lunch and dinner, all we ate was scones and tea.  

I also have no recollection of anything on this tour other than Glen Coe (there was a random guy in a kilt with a sword there, which is really the only reason I remember this place) and Loch Ness (where the weird guy on the bus bottled some of the lake's water and then drank it on the way home on the bus).  

I would rank this as one of the worst days we had in Scotland, however, it's definitely one of our favorite Fat Kid memories from the trip. 

*New Boyz (I like this song, but I have yet to figure out how NOT to take this the wrong way?  I mean sure, THINK it, but don't TELL me this).  

So...there's that

Needed something pretty this week:

Flowers always make me happier.

Party rock is in the house tonight, Everybody just have a good time*

The weekend kind of started out shitty again.  I worked pretty late Friday night, and then had a pretty big fight when I got home with a friend, and then said screw it and went to bed and laid there feeling sorry for myself.  Gah!  I laugh at how melodramatic I was there, but seriously, I was not in the mood to do anything else.

But, then Saturday came along, and I had a really good time.  I took my parents out to brunch and went shopping with my mom.  Then, the parents kept Oscar and I drove up to go to the city with JH.  And, as an added bonus Mike and a friend from college came as well, and I met a new friend of JH's who is awesome.  

We went to go see a band in the Village, and I always feel so old after going out in the city.  We never leave till late, and I'm always super tired and it's past my bedtime and I get grumpy (I am such a bitch when I'm tired).  This weekend was no exception.  We had to drop a few people off in Jersey City on the way back to JH's house, and I was getting grumpier and grumpier driving there (um, it's like a 15 minute drive, if even, I got ridiculously grumpy in that short amount of time).  So, we dropped Mike off and I said screw it, I'm not driving anymore, and made Trent drive us back to JH's.  

I then proceeded to fall asleep in the back seat with JH, which looking back was probably not the best idea since we were the only two that knew how to get back to her house.  We finally made it back around 5:30, and all I could think was that if it was the work week, I'd be getting up about now (and that L was probably going to be getting up in an hour or so).  

I then had to wake up about 5 hours later and go to L's to borrow her van to go buy a new piece of furniture for the new house.  It was a $100 cart from Ikea, that the lady wanted $15 for, and I talked her down to $10 (I have no idea where this skill set came from on Sunday, I usually suck at bargaining).  

So $100 seems a bit steep for this thing, but $10?  Awesome.  

And then, I drove home to have dinner with the parents, and back to the hotel to try and get some sleep (major fail) before going back to work crazy early today.  And now, I'm exhausted today.  As in, I tried to convince myself that I didn't really need to wake up this morning because I was already running late so I might as well sleep a little longer.  Sleepy logic is my favorite kind.

And I'm ending this post with a kind of question.  On Saturday night, someone called me Meek S.  Now, it was said as a joke at the time, but really?  Do I come across as meek?  

*LMFAO - I am mildly OBSESSED with this song (mildly is not really an accurate description of how much I love this song).  I cannot figure out why I'm so drawn to it, since it's pretty much everything I hate in a song.  And yet, LOVE LOVE LOVE.