Groundhog Day

This morning Punxsutawney Phil saw his shadow. Six more weeks of winter, if you believe in these sorts of things. The article I read said there were an estimated 15,000 onlookers present for the animal's prediction, and that in the 122 years the event's been happening, he's seen his shadow 97 times. Looks like a conspiracy to me...

No one claimed the pocket-found iPod. It's been 2 weeks, so I can safely assume it's mine now. I still have to get it charged- I don't have the proper USB cable.

I've decided to purge some BS from my life. Meaning getting rid of the things that upset me. In doing so, I might have hurt some feelings but I frankly just don't care anymore. It's time to start over.

Chemistry (aka MATH) can suck a dick. Even though I got a 100 on the first exam. It still can suck it. And A&P, you're making my brain implode a little bit every day. The bones/processes/fossa/foramina aren't too bad, just a shitload of memorization. But the muscles all look the same. Yes, they're easy enough to identify in a book in which they are all nicely colored in with colored pencils. But on a dog/cow/cat/goat cadaver- it all looks like chicken. And damn, there are a lot of them.

You know in the movie, when he's living the same day over and over and over again? Yeah...

It always happens in threes.

Last Tuesday it was Brad Renfro. This Tuesday it's Heath Ledger. Which 20something still-holding-on-to-a-modicum-of-acting-success-celebrity will it be next Tuesday?

I'd like to thank The Reaver and FBBX! for telling me about www.woot.com. I really needed another website to compulsively check every ten minutes/tempt me to buy gadgets I don't need. Yes. I am addicted. Yet I have refrained from making any purchases thus far.

I am a Good Person. At least I will try to be, but I will be doing so without also getting completely shafted in the end... the story behind this is:
Saturday night I went to Mercury Lounge with Becca (after an already long, but ridiculously fun, day). Alfredo was playing music, a dance party was going, and things were great. I took off my coat and purse and put it on the floor against the wall inside so I could 'dance' (read: look stupid) without interference. More people decided to pile up their coats there too.

Fast forward, it's time to go. I get my stuff, start the walk home. I had some gloves in my handwarmer-pockets (you know, those little slit pockets at chest level) on my coat. I pulled them out and felt something in one of the pockets. I figured it was my cell phone, since I regularly drop it in there. Nope. I reach in and pull out a random iPod Nano.
What I figure is that someone went to move it from their pants pocket to the coat pocket of one of the other coats in the pile, and put it in my pocket instead accidentally. I have no idea who it belongs to; there isn't a name engraved on it and the battery is dead so I can't turn it on. Hell, I really don't even know how to work one...

So when I say I'm going to be a Good Person but not get shafted, I mean I know I would be sad if I lost this.

So I'm going to call Mercury and see if anyone reported it missing. I'll leave my number and say if someone does to have them call me. If it can be described I'll return it, no problem. If I see a 'lost' ad in the Flagpole I'll return it, no problem. I will not, however, turn it into Mercury's lost-and-found because it was lost into my coat, not their floor or whatever. And I know how bar/restaurant lost-and-founds work... it would sit there for 3 days (tops) before an employee pulled a 'minesies'. (Yes, when you lose nice stuff at places, it doesn't hang out there long... you pretty much gotta come back that day for it). I don't think it makes me too evil to think that if the owner doesn't claim it, than I should be the one to keep it. Of course then I'll have to figure out how the damn thing works.

P.S. I went over my alotted 400 text messages last month. By a lot. Soooo.... yeah. If you can just call more, that would be cool. Or don't be offended if I don't respond.

The Confessional

I've been a bad girl. The 'Eych!' video I had up for, oh 8 months, finally triggered MySpace's copyright filter and they removed it from my profile. They also suspended my upload privileges until I complete their Copyright Education Program. Shame on me! I know this is a much worse offense than creating a false profile and harrassing a 13-year-old girl until she hangs herself in her closet. Or posing as a girl to lure unsuspecting teenage boys to meet me at some shady motel. Or sending out the most annoying "Dude, can you believe we went to high school with her? Check out these pics!" virus comment and "Find hott girls who want to party with you in your town! Get laid tonight!" friend request (always from some chick named Desiree or Jasmine).

I need a job. BAD. I am officially freaking out about money now. I really am over the restaurant business though and am trying to stay out of it, but with no luck thus far. Hell, I'm considering applying to work in the dining hall at UGA (yes, still food service, and yes, still for all the same people I can't stand waiting on... but at least I'd get health insurance). Or even- dun dun dunnn- DialAmerica. I hate the phone. That's how bad off I am.

The truth is that I'm a lazy bastard. I wouldn't mind sitting in my house all day long in my PJ's doing nothing and seeing nobody, just watching movies and hanging out with my cats (it's hard to disappoint them). I don't want to do a damn thing. Unfortunately, if I do this much longer, I won't have a house to sit in. Which leads me to...

I think I'm also over Athens. I love this town, but I hate this town. Now that things are the way they are, I feel as if I have no reason to be here anymore. I'm not going anywhere, and other than school, I have nothing binding here. I have a few really awesome friends, but another truthful thing about me is that I just don't connect to other people they way others do. More than once over the past month, I've considered packing it in, packing it up, and moving up to Cincinnati. There I'd have a free place to live (until they drove me crazy...); I could work some bullshit job part-time, and go to school. I already looked into what it would take to transfer into the Vet Tech program there... more than I want to do really, which is what kept me from actually doing it. Because yes, I'm lazy.

I suppose if I'm going to title this blog 'The Confessional', perhaps I should come up with some other Things You May Not Have Known About Me.

1) If you send me a message or an email, it will take me at least two weeks to respond. If I respond at all. It's not because I don't like you. As I said earlier, I'm lazy.

2) I like shoes. A LOT. I wear the same ratty sneakers every day, but my closet holds the truth.

3) I have a third nipple... PSYCH! (or is it sike?)

4) I hate math. I'm taking chemistry right now, which they tell me is science. But they lie. Chemistry is another word for math.

5) I really like making out. You probably didn't want to know this but too bad. It's true. I definitely carry the potential to be a make-out whore (though I think that's much too strong of a word for such an innocuous and often innocent activity). I don't live up to my potential. Here's the funny part... the 2 or 3 times I've made out with someone in the past year (yes... year.), it has NOT been with the on-again/off-again dude. Because he has no interest in such activities. We'll leave it at that...

6) I am more concerned with aging than I should be. I am well aware of the silver hairs that are now intermixing with the brown ones. I use body lotion way more than I used to. I am also paranoid that the small little wrinkles at the corners of my eyes are going to explode overnight into full-on crow's feet.

7) A large part of my wardrobe is made up of clothing that came from other people's closets. One man's trash is another's treasure, you know.

8) Every time I smell Dr. Pepper or Mr. Pibb... or sorry, Pibb Extra, I think "Man, I want some. It smells good!". Then I taste it and remember how much I don't like it. When I worked at the restaurant, I did this about once a week.

9) I get shit on by birds on a regular basis. I know people who have never been crapped on; it's a once-monthly event for me. I have heard that this could be considered good luck, but...

10) I play a scratch-off lottery ticket once a week, usually on Friday. I've been doing this for at least a year, if not longer, and I've won maybe 3 times. Never more than $2.

11) I like to write long-winded, wordy blogs that most people probably don't finish reading. Oh wait... you already knew that.

Pasteurized process cheese food

Not a lot going on. Still unemployed. But this needs to change soon. I have got to motivate myself to take a more proactive role in things like this. If I could just sit at my house all day forever and do nothing, I would...

School is back on. This quarter should prove a busy one- Veterinary A&P might just kick my ass. Plus chemistry, which I'm not too worried about, except the math part.

Got new tires for my bike. I couldn't really afford it, but I had no choice as I blew the rear one out on Tuesday. They were both pretty dryrotted... they were the same tires that came with the bike in 1994. It was time.

Tonight I took about 4 bites from something called a "Snack Stick". It was a Slim Jim knock-off, and pretty sketchy. It felt like it was covered with wax. And the second ingredient on the package was 'mechanically separated chicken'.

Any budding hairstylists out there? Anyone want to cut my hair? I need at least a trim, but would probably lose an eye if I tried to do it myself. I am too broke to go to the salon... so my head is up for grabs.

Tonight, I am going to chill out at home. I think I'll take a hot bath... yeah... just wish I had some wine to drink at the same time. Or some ice cream. Eating ice cream in a hot bath is amazing. (especially if you partake of another bowl beforehand) Everyone should try it!

Ween. At the Georgia Theatre. YES. Tickets go on sale tomorrow at noon through GA Theatre's website. Yeah, I'm broke. But I will not eat for 3 days to get a ticket to see Ween. Fuck yeah.

Other than that, I think I'm about to hermitize myself for a while. I'm kinda over people for the time being, plus I got a lot of shit to do. So if you want to hang out with me let me know. And don't feel neglected if I don't call you... it's not you, it's me. I'm an equal opportunity ignorer.

Peace out.

I've got nowhere to go, and noone to see

Welcome to the South:
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ATM attack blamed on snowfall mania

A man who beat on an ATM Tuesday night claimed he was excited about a light snowfall, but police think he and his friends may have been trying to break into the machine, Athens-Clarke police said.

Officers were dispatched at about 11 p.m. to the Bank of America at the corner of Hawthorne and Prince avenues on a report of three suspicious men who were banging on an ATM, police said.

Brian James Begeal, 21, told officers he was "hitting on (the ATM) because he is a drummer and this was the first time he had ever seen snow fall," according to police.

Begeal and one of his companions, 18-year-old Simon Andrew Cotterell, each had a backpack containing a pry bar, bolt cutters, screwdrivers, pliers, a razor knife and a flashlight, police said, and both were charged with possession of burglary tools.

The third man, 20-year-old Frank Louis Ovinnio, said if he knew his friends had the tools he wouldn't have been with them because he is trying to become a police officer, police said.

The three men were charged with loitering or prowling, police said.

Published in the Athens Banner-Herald on 010308
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I am broke. Well, almost. I have a few jobs I've applied for that I am still waiting to hear about, but I can't be jobless much longer. I'll have to do the restaurant BS again I think, but I hate to take a job somewhere only to leave after a few weeks should my first choices work out...

I've been given one more reason not to trust you. Say what you want, but I do view things differently than you. And most recently you even said exactly what I've been saying for a while now. It's just too late.

I went to Ohio for a week. It was cold there. I came back to Athens, and it went and got cold here. Colder than Ohio even. I didn't bring it back, I promise. I did get to have dinner with Martha and Jon in Cincinnati, as they were passing through on their drive back from Canada. They crashed for the evening in my Grandma's basement. Good times.

If I don't have a cold anymore, why do I still get snot crusties in my nose? Not fair.

I took some pictures on New Years Eve, but I will never see them. My camera disappeared somewhere between Mercury Lounge and Martha's house. It may be in the back seat of the car we rode in, but I'll check the two other places it may be as well. Though it's really not that big of a deal- the camera wasn't that nice (it had already broken apart a couple times that night, but I'd put it back together), and the only pictures on it were from that night. Oh well.

"Please get out of the way."

I got a B in algebra. And microbiology. Fine with me, considering I put minimal effort into both of those classes. Rocked an A in VET 101 too. Yeah, I'm awesome.

I'll be leaving for Cincinnati on Sunday. I didn't go last year, so it should be interesting. My family up there is very conservative, and every time they see me, someone has to act shocked and comment on my nose ring, of all things. "When did you do that??" is always the question. Funny thing is I've had it for a long time, and they've all seen it at least once before. This year however... they don't know about the tattoo. I might keep it that way. Just one more thing for them to rail me on...

Also, speaking of leaving for Cincy, I need a cat sitter. I mean, you don't have to come hang out with them- Joe's the only one who'd be truly down with hanging out with a semi-stranger. Sadie would watch from a distance, and maybe sidle up for some loving after about 15 minutes. Oliver will be under the bed or in my closet. The whole time. You may see him streak past in a full-out run on the way to one of these places when he realizes the person who came through the front door isn't me. Nope, just feed and water them. And scoop the litter. That's the big one. I can put out enough food and water for a week, but that box can't go a week or I come home to great fun. I mean, you can hang out if you want, watch a movie, whatever. Just don't steal my shit. So, any takers?

Grill holiday party was Monday. Fun, but not the epic blowout of years past. No band; karaoke instead. Not at The Grill; upstairs Tasty World instead. Very few old-school employees... well, really only one or two. Eh. Was made furious by observing the actions of a 19-year-old soon-to-be-ex-coworker. Walked home alone.

I bought car insurance today. Tomorrow I have to go do the tag/title thing. Then I have to charge the battery because I was a dumbass and forgot to start the damn thing for a while. And then I get to learn to drive! Wooo!

I joined Facebook. What the hell is wrong with me? One thing though... I'm not fond of the layout or the editing capabilities. Also, you can't just look at profiles unless you're part of some network or something. Still trying to figure it out. 3 hours in, I've already got 3 friends!

Um. That's all really. I gotta pee. And I'm cold. And sleepy.

Thursday Thoughts

Random shit.

When shopping for scrubs for my school labs, I noticed something. It's hard to find scrubs that actually fit smaller people. As in XS scrubs (with 'short' pants) are still a little too big for me. I am a small (read: short) person, but I'm proportional, meaning I'm not particularly skinny. So a girl my height who weighs 20 lbs. less would be swimming in my size XS scrubs. BUT- I also noticed that all brands of scrubs came in sizes up to 5XL. WTF?? Wouldn't you hope that people working in the health industry would take enough care of themselves to not be wearing a 5XL? Or even an XXL (women anyway) for that matter?? Just thought it was a bit of an oxy-moron.

Dear Fellow Females: when using a public bathroom, I know most of you are intensely paranoid of what you may pick up off the toilet seat (I know all of us other coffee shop patrons are just disgusting!), so you save your skin and hover when you go potty. Well, then, be a lady and wipe up your splashback because yes, you did splash on the seat. Some of us are too damn short to hover comfortably. As it is, my feet don't completely touch the floor when I sit, so the hover ain't happening. I have to sit. And if you did too, this wouldn't even be an issue. Plus, I understand basic biology and know that it would take some rather unscrupulous behavior on both yours and my parts (literally) to actually contaminate/be contaminated with something infectious. In short, if you must be a germophobe at least clean up after yourself. Thanks.

This is the first time EVER that my laptop has connected to the internet through ERC's wireless network. Usually I get an "IP conflict" error message. Today it connected all by itself. Nice.

All my lab finals are finished. One test and three regular finals to go (actually four; one final I have actually is two finals in one. Goody!).

Yup. Still need a job. But I guess for that to happen I need to submit applications. I was sick all last week, so I slept all my free time away. Next week after finals IT IS ON.

Well, my last attempt at closure/communication/whatever was ignored. Even though the other party was the one that wanted to discuss things further, they then dropped all communication. I guess that gets me off the hook on that one, and off the hook in general...

I'll be going to Cincinnati for Christmas this year, though I can't afford it. I just have to, since I didn't go last year. It's been two years since I've seen my family. It will be nice, but I'm sure they'll drive me insane. If anyone is going to be staying in Athens that week, I will need someone to check in on/feed/scoop up after my cats...

Time for band 'practice'. Which means meeting up at Cutters and 'practicing' drinking beer. Only for a little bit for me...more homework later, though I actually got a chunk done today. Go Me!