So um hi

Hey there.

So... that last post, huh...

Yeah... umm...

SUPER DEPRESSING, AM I RIGHT?

Yeah guys... I'm kind of sorry about that. Since I've had a few people ask me about it and make sure I'm okay (which I truly appreciate and think you guys are so sweet and caring and awesome and I love you all!), I figured maybe I should explain/clarify/reiterate that I'm okay and that it was not a cry for help. It was more a writing exercise/getting emotions out kind of thing for myself 'cause you guys know me, I have to write out what I feel to work through it.

See what had happened was is that I was alone at a restaurant and my phone was dead, so I sat there looking super lame cause I wasn't doing anything while I was waiting for my food (I don't know about you guys but whenever I'm dining alone I feel like I need to be doing something, reading/writing/on my phone/anything, so as not to look like a loser just sitting there staring off into space). Because my phone was dead and I had no one to talk to, I pulled out a scrap paper that was in my purse and just started writing.

And that post is what came out.

I did stop part way and finished the rest when I got back home to type it all out. I'll admit that when I went back and reread it when I was done I realized it came out a lot more depressing than what I had started thinking it was going to be. I even debated on whether or not to even publish it, but by then it was 2 in the morning, I was tired, and I already had it all typed and ready to go. I even started writing a disclaimer of sorts saying basically what I am telling you now, but again I was tired, so I said screw it, deleted the disclaimer, and clicked publish.

That being said, yes, all of what I wrote out was true and what I was thinking and feeling at the time when I wrote it. But, as I said before, I'm one of those that once I write it all out and get it all down on paper, I feel much better afterwards, which is why I had the debate on whether to publish it. Because when I went back to read it, I felt differently at the end of it than when I did when I had started.

But because you guys are such wonderful people, the next day I had emails filled with concern and inspirational youtube video links. When explaining the situation to one of you, I decided that I should put up a happy post filled with puppies, and she suggested this:

To cheer me up/inspire me, another friend had sent me THIS video, THIS one, and my favorite of the three, this: 

Yesterday I was able to spend some of my time helping out my friend find songs for his wedding reception, so I listened to some really great and beautiful songs about love (and some that were just good in general) like these:

• "I Can't Make You Love Me/ Nick of Time" - Bon Iver
• "Tug of War" - Carly Rae Jepson (which side note, I LOVE many of her other songs that are not the completely over played and yet still enjoyable, to me anyway, "Call Me Maybe" so I suggest listening to her others)
• "I Melt With You" - Bowling for Soup
• "1, 2, 3, 4" - Plain White T's
• "Stole My Heart" - Little and Ashley
• "The Power of Love" - Huey Lewis
• "Love Train" - The O'Jays
• "Sweet Disposition" - The Temper Trap

Then, today, another friend shared with me some HILARIOUS videos that we're going to end up talking about on our podcast (I have a podcast... I told you guys about that right? No... well I have a podcast with a friend of mine called Gramblings. Search for it in iTunes and listen! We have 5 episodes already!). BUT because I love you guys so much and because a few of you were sweet enough to make sure I was okay, I'll share the videos with you early before I talk about them on the podcast:


And this guy's original videos are just as hilarious on their own:

Sometimes I prefer ink and paper

I know I haven't updated in a while, and I've been meaning to update about Comic Con, and believe me it will happen. But I gotta take care of some other things first. So until then, I decided I'd mix it up and kick it old school by writing out a post. Hopefully you can read it. :) (I posted the page in full, and then zoomed in on the paragraphs.)

1st page in full

1st page, 1st paragraph

1st page, 2nd paragraph

2nd page in full

2nd page, 1st paragraph

2nd page, 2nd paragraph

2nd page, last paragraph

Oh gosh... I already see a glaring error. Ahh the joys of writing on a piece of paper (*when Titanic came out not win. It was late when I wrote this. That's my excuse.)

So Here's the Dealio

I have about 3 posts in drafts that I started but then never got around to finishing.

My bad. I'm sorry.

They're pretty good too, and I'll probably still post them even though they might not be immediately relevant any more (which probably adds to the reason why I haven't finished them cause I didn't feel the same when I started writing them as I did when I went back to finish them).

As some of you may be aware, I am moving (to a new apartment).

Tomorrow.

Which means I've been kind of busy trying to pack and clean and pack and get rid of stuff (HOW DID I GET SO MUCH? WHY DO I KEEP BUYING CRAP?!)

And as more others of you are aware,* I'm going on vacation to the San Diego Comic Con (SDCC for you hip cats). 

The day after tomorrow.

Yeah.

Which means I've been packing up all of my crap AS WELL AS packing for vacation.

SO LIKE I'VE BEEN BUSY OKAY?

However, I'm taking my laptop with me on vacay because I'm hoping to get so many pictures of awesomeness and celebrities that I'll have to unload all my SD cards every night. Also, I'm hoping to do a little daily blog post of my adventures (we'll see if this happens I might be too overwhelmed/tired to do it).

BUT even if I'm not able to do a daily digest of my SDCC adventures while I'm there, I will for sure be tweeting and possibly tumbling pictures and the goings-on throughout the experience. So, feel free to live vicariously through me by checking:

My twitter: @missnesbit
My tumblr: missnesbit.tumblr.com
Also, I'm sure I'll also be posting on my Facebook for my FB friends as well!

(Small note on my Tumblr, I have a queue set up that will continue posting throughout the day, so if you see a post and it's not SDCC or vacation related it's because it's my queue. They are still humorous posts that you should look at, but it means I'm not actually online posting them.)

And of course, upon my return when I've gathered my senses and come back to reality and have possibly been revived from the nerd/geek death that I'm sure I will have suffered by the end, I will post a recap of the highlights.

But because I'm sure y'all are curious, here's a teaser about what I'm most excited about:

• Seeing my grandparents and Aunt and possibly my other Aunt and Uncle
• Staying in a beach house that is 1 mile away from it. (I've never stayed somewhere so close!)
• Seeing a few dear friends, including the wonderful Jessica!
• For sure seeing James Roday and Dule Hill of the TV show Psych at Nerd HQ
• Experiencing the crazy awesome epicness that is SDCC
• Possibly getting into the following panels
• Teen Wolf (don't judge me ok TYLER HOECHLIN PEOPLE)
• Community (Joel McHale! Danny Pudi! Donald Glover! EVERYONE!)
• 10th Aniversary of Firefly (THE WHOLE CAST IS GOING TO BE THERE)
• The Hobbit (Sir Ian Mckellan AND Martin Freeman AND Andy Serkis AND Peter Jackson AND Richard Armitage)
• Supernatural (JENSEN ACKLES MISHA COLLINS ENOUGH SAID)
• DOCTOR WHO (DOCTOR WHOOOOOOO!!!!)

I could go on, but who knows if I'll actually get into any of these things. If anything just going and being there is getting me excited enough. Like I haven't even been able to sleep very well these last few weeks because I've been so anxious about it all.

Anyways, wish me luck and I'll catch you peeps on the flipside!

*And really if you don't know we're probably not that great of friends or you just came across my blog or something cause I haven't been able to stop talking about it for like months now.

It All Started With That Damn Squirrel

Two posts two days in a ROW!! I'd just like to preface this with saying, don't expect me to be posting everyday now. Today was just too weird of a day and I had too great of a story to not tell you what happened. After this I'll go into hiding again till the end of the semester. Promise.

This morning, on my way to work, I hit a squirrel.

I tried to slow down, but it was just going too fast and then I distinctly heard a thud. (Gosh, if I'm in my car, animals should just stay away. Things never work out well for them.)

I felt a tinge of sadness and guilt for hitting it, but it's not like it was enough for me to do anything. I continued on to work and carried on with my day and forgot about the squirrel for the most part.

Should have known that squirrel was a sign of how the day would go.

At lunch, I purposefully avoided looking at some lady? (I don't know I wasn't looking at her/him remember?) who was begging for money, holding out her hat to cars that were at the stop light. I don't carry cash, so it's not like I had any to give anyway.

Another sign?

By the end of the day, I had forgotten all about both, and I was tired and ready to go home. I even thought to myself... perhaps I'll take a power nap before I have to go to a rehearsal (because I agreed to help a classmate with her final project; I clearly have a problem with telling people no).

FYI, that power nap never happened. Here's what did:


As I was leaving work, I turned right out of the parking lot and went about 20 feet before I was waved down by an older (probably in his 40s) African American man, wearing, oddly enough, a "Master Thug" shirt (as in Mastercard... get it?) (But I'll be honest, I didn't notice the shirt till later on, it just seemed interesting compared to what happened next. Also, I only added that he was black so you could get an accurate description. I really didn't care that he was black.) Next to him was what I assumed was his son, who looked like he was 17 or so. I pulled over and rolled down my window to see what was up.

He asked if I had a jack that they could borrow because they had a flat tire. Seemed like an innocent enough request to me and we were literally RIGHT in front of my work building, so I parked and pulled out the jack for him.

But then he told me they didn't have a spare tire to replace it with, which made me wonder why they needed a jack then if they didn't have something. The guy told me that he was just in the building to talk to a lawyer on the 12th floor, and he pulled out his paperwork to prove it to me (it looked legit... legit... like I even know? Ugh whatever.) He said he was trying to get a divorce, which is why he was there meeting with the lawyer. He told me he didn't have any money, and all he had was $2 (so he couldn't buy a tire either), which he gladly offered me several times (I didn't take it).

After making excuses myself (I had to get to class, I didn't have any cash) and having them not work, I said I could drive him to the tire place, which was down the street (about 3 minutes away) and drop him off. So, he left his son to watch the car (which was now on my jack) and he came with me to the tire place.

Now before you start lecturing me about how this was a terrible idea, I get it okay. There were tons of things I should have done differently or not done... I understand. But this is what happened. And I'd like to think that if it hadn't been what I should be doing, I would have gotten a sinking feeling about him or the situation. But I didn't. So I carried on... as you should do now with my story:


On the way to the tire place he tells me his nickname is Mike but his given name is Columbus "like the explorer Christopher" (got it) and that he's not from around there so he doesn't really know where he is because he's from the Garland/Dallas/635 area. I tell him my name is Mattie, but that's it. He then proceeds to tell me that he's trying to get a divorce from his wife who he hasn't seen in awhile because she ran off with another woman (WHAT? Did I hear that right?). And he's trying to get the divorce done so that he can marry the boy's (the 17 year old that was with him) mother. He also tells me how much he has to pay for rent etc. and how much he had to pay for the lawyer (you know clearly illustrating to me that he has no money to buy this tire).

So the first trip to the tire place (that's right I said first as in there were multiple trips), we go and borrow a lug nut wrench from the tire people because mine wouldn't fit on their car (and luckily the tire dude was SUPER nice in letting us just take it.) And then I decide I'll be super nice and drive him back. He asks the tire dude how much a used tire will be ($35), and he looks at me wondering what I'll say.

I don't know what happened. I guess I thought... $35 isn't too much; this guy looks pretty sad and he just wants to get a divorce from his gay soon to be ex wife so he can marry this other chick and be a dad to this kid. I don't know. I don't know okay.


And so I told him it was fine and I'd buy it for him. He practically jumped for joy and said he had to serve me and stopped me from opening my own car door so he could hold it open for me. We drove back to his car, and I waited for him to take the tire off, and we then drove BACK to the tire place. I bought him a new tire and then drove back to his car so he could put it on.

The little trips were probably the most interesting because he told me about how he always had a feeling his soon to be ex was gay but he could never prove it. I asked how he found out (hey he was already sharing and I was kind of curious... hello I was thinking of you guys. I wanted a good story. Ugh... me and my writer inclinations dang it.). He told me he was in prison (Ummm what? Yeah I didn't ask him this time and he didn't share the reason.) and she had written him a letter telling him, and when he got out and came home he found her and realized it was all true.

He asked me how that could be. How could another woman just run off with another woman? He couldn't understand it and didn't know why people did that because God doesn't like that. God wouldn't make them that way on purpose would he? That's not what it says in the Bible... etc. (He went on but I really didn't say much or comment on anything he was saying... I just kind of said "I don't know" a lot and nodded and said "I understand." I'm also not commenting to you about this either because of other reasons, so just know these words were from him and I remained neutral and rather silent while he rambled.) He also told me about how he was taught to respect women and how a relationship is about doing things for each other and listening to each other. He said he knows how to treat his woman right, even in bed (Umm ok... TMI. Luckily this was the last trip back to the car and we were super close to it.) and then quickly added he didn't mean "no disrespect... but it's true." (Thank you for that.) He said he'd come visit me, I told him that was okay (I wasn't going to give him any kind of address because even though I had spent $35 and he could have theoretically paid me back, I didn't care enough to want to see this person ever again.)

I waited in the car for a bit while he changed out the tire and while his "son" was finishing up he came over to me.

Now this is what kind of made me wonder if I should have done what I did and helped him because the man had the audacity to ask me this.


He asked if he could have $5. I got kind of angry at this and thought he was pretty rude for asking considering everything I've done for him at this point. I told him again I didn't have any cash, and I couldn't give him any money. He said he wanted to buy cigarettes and I could use my card. (EXCUSE ME?) Not going to lie, I got pissed. I told him, "I am not buying you cigarettes. I just bought you a $35 tire, and I don't even know you." He could tell I was pissed at him for even asking and he quickly and profusely tried to apologize and say that I already did so much and it was fine and he was just asking and it's okay.

He finished putting the tire on, gave me my jack back, and then I left (with the hope and his promise that he'd take the wrench from the tire place back. I sure hope he did.).

So here's my question to you... in a world where everyone is distrusting of everyone else, where there are so few occasions where others do good deeds because we feel like they are just scamming us, or where we judge someone based on what they look like or how they are dressed, was I being too trusting? Should I have just said "Sorry sucks to be you; I have to go, give me my jack back"? Should I have just ignored his waving and kept driving because he didn't look how a "trustworthy" person looks? Was I being a good samaritan or was I a sucker and being played for a fool by the "Master thug"?

I'd like to think that I was doing the right Christ-like thing and because of that the Lord was watching out for me and made sure nothing bad went down, but honestly I don't know the answer myself.

But what I do know is that it was all because of that damn squirrel.

Yeah... I know...

I'm terrible.

I'd like to claim that life has been really busy (which is not that far from the truth actually), but I've still managed to find the time to blog on Tumblr. So...

Y'all aren't mad at me about that, are you? You know I still love you. I do.

Please forgive me.

I'll be honest though, now that spring break is over and classes start up again and I only have about a month and a half left of the semester, I'm not sure how often I'll be back on here before the semester ends.

I shall try my best, but no promises. However, before I go away, I wanted to give you some highlights and updates in case you don't follow my Twitter/Tumblr and don't know what's going on in my life:

• Remember how I had posted about me being all cool and academic? This week I got to publish another post with In Media Res on the TV Show "Once Upon A Time." It can be found here: CLICK HERE
• This Thursday I'm going to the midnight showing of The Hunger Games and I'm so freakin' stoked to see this movie.
• This Saturday I have my presentation with my friend at a grad student symposium that I'm both equally nervous and excited for.
• This Sunday I may get a chance to meet the author of one of my all time favorite books as a child, The Phantom Tollbooth. This was the book that made me want to go into English and want to be a writer/editor. He's going to be at the Meyerson as the Dallas Symphony Orchestra performs the premiere pieces of two songs inspired by two of his books.
• If you didn't see on my various social networking sites, my whole family is going to ComicCon in July and I'm soooooooo excited for this you have no idea. AND the first day is ON MY BIRTHDAY. So it's a combined birthday and graduation gift to myself. :)
• My thesis is now a research blog, and I would love for you all to check it out and add it to your RSS feeds and comment on posts etc. (It's not very pretty at the moment and it only has one post so far cause I'm still working on it.) You can find it here: CLICK HERE
• I have now become a huge fan of Supernatural, more specifically Jensen Ackles, and I'm slowly but surely working my way through the seasons with my friends. (Although my mom wants me to hurry and finish cause she is now all caught up with the current season, 7th season mind you, and wants to talk about it. It took her about a month to get through them, and I'm in season 3. Yeah.)

And that's basically what's been going on in my life so far. I hope you guys are doing well and that you're not too angry that I've been slacking on this blog. I LOVE YOU.

When I Wander Around Anthropologie

This is what I think about (it's on my Tumblr):

CLICK HERE

In other news, I only have a few more weeks till my last semester starts and instead of trying to get things ready (like I was supposed to have all break) for my thesis, like you know finding books and articles and get the groundwork laid out), I'm trying to watch as much TV as possible.

Nothing is left in my Hulu queue, I'm all caught up on Doctor Who, and US Being Human, and a couple other shows that I had postponed watching because of school. I guess I'm trying to make my break as fulfilling as I can.

If only I didn't have to go to work, then I'd have TONS of time to watch tons of shows.

HAPPY NEW YEAR'S!

My new year's this year wasn't all that exciting although I had multiple events I could have attended/did attend. I think what it was was that I didn't get to hang out with the people I really wanted to be with, although the people I did end up being with were lovely, so it was fine. But it wasn't as great as I was hoping, you know?

Oh well. There's always next year I suppose.

The point is that it is now 2012, and I have exciting things planned/coming up for this year. It's going to be awesome.

See, even the Doctor agrees and thinks you will have a great year too!

A Weight Has Been Lifted... Sort of

On Thursday night I finished everything I had to for school, and once that happened, I seriously can't tell you how relieved I was. The week or two leading up to that point I had been stressed out of my mind. I had spent several nights in a row staying up till 4 in the morning trying to finish papers/projects/studying. (Although I'll admit, some of it was spent distracting myself on the Internet. I almost don't want to tell you, but I was trying to avoid working on a paper so much that I watched eleven, count it--ELEVEN, really crappy youtube lessons on how to fake a Scottish accent.*)

My plan once I finished the semester was to consume as much TV/movies as possible. I'm so behind on my shows because of school and have discovered a bunch of other shows and movies I want to watch but have been resisting because I didn't want to get obsessed and become more distracted from school (at least more so than I already was). I was so excited to be a total couch potato for a month before my last semester starts.

Yeah... I don't think it's going to work out how I planned.

I mean I have watched some shows, but I already have to get started on my master's capstone thesis. I also have to work on a group project because our paper proposal got accepted for this online journal called In Media Res, and it's due at the beginning of January. Not to mention there were some projects/videos that I started but wasn't able to finish (luckily my professor didn't care so much, so I didn't have to rush to finish them before the end of the semester, but I still feel I need to finish them since I started them already).

So.... looks like I won't be much of a couch potato during Christmas break.

Dang it.

*If you're curious I can kind of say "rural" and "loch," which I learned means lake which I think I knew already but for reason him saying it made more sense to me suddenly), and I have attempted to say "provocative" while rolling the "r" and it umm sounds far from provocative.

With 10 minutes left to spare...

I thought I'd wish all you lovely, beautiful people a very happy Halloween.

Cause I'm Tired

All you shall get tonight is a link to Tumblr post I just wrote.

I'm sorry. I'm tired, and I would have written more for you, but... you know. I'm tired.

And lazy.

Tired and lazy.

Here ya go: CLICK HERE

Some Highlights From Tumblr

As I'm sure y'all know by now, I have a Tumblr, and it's pretty awesome.

So awesome, in fact, that my dear friend, whom I absolutely adore, love, and admire and wish I was as beautiful, charming, and amazing as her and also that I had her life cause she gets to do so many awesome things, Jessica, added my tumblr to her "Can't Stop Reading" blogroll, which makes me feel uber special and honored.

Y'all should follow Jessica's blog because she's cute, funny, insightful, and her posts are always amazing!

And no, Jessica did not pay me to endorse her blog in any way... that you know of. (KIDDING!)

But anyways, I've had some entertaining things on there recently and thought I'd link to them on here in case y'all were leery of reading my Tumblr. :) I've got some good posts, like:

• My thoughts on how marriage proposals and food don't mix
• My dilemma when a class got canceled
• And what I decided to do
• How God totally loves me
• And the detailed story on how I disappointed (several times) a video game nerd

It's riveting stuff, folks. Truly.

Also in other news, I hung up all my paintings and framed pictures and calendar/dry erase board in my room today. I mainly did it cause I was tired of seeing them on the floor, but now they're up and my room doesn't look so blah and boring anymore. YAY!

Also, also, I made an attempt to get rid of some of the boxes I still have in the middle of my room (yeah I moved in July, don't judge me), and immediately gave up because I found MORE books when I thought I had already gone through all my books. I don't have anywhere to put them, and I've already kept 2 boxes packed of books to go to storage. When I found more, I broke down and gave up, so the box is still sitting open taunting me with more books that I don't know where to put.

It may be time to get some kind of eReader... dang it.

I Have Much To Say

But it'll have to wait (because I am SUPER tired). However, here's a few things you can look forward to:

• A FOTW post (warning, it does involve men with accents again)
• Recap of my whirlwind trip to Utah (complete with pictorial representations)
• Overview and initial feelings of how the semester is going to look including professors/classmates/course work etc.
• Nostalgia post (because why not?)
• An insightful (not on my part) and eye-opening post on dating/marriage
• A confession (nope, that's all I'm telling you!)

See? I got exciting stuff planned... I just need to type them all up. Hope you guys are doing well and have a FABULOUS Labor Day weekend!

The Thing I Told You To Keep Your Eyes Peeled For...

I'm going to Utah THIS WEEK!

Yup. It's going to be a SUPER quick kind of last-minute trip, and while it's a long story about how it ended up working out, the important thing is I'm going and I'm excited. I'm mainly going to help out my brother Cameron bring all of his stuff back down to Texas because he decided not to continue going to Utah State in Logan and instead move back home and transfer to University of Texas at Dallas (where I'm going for my Master's!).

BUT while I'm there I also get to see a few friends I haven't seen in literally years! I'm going to be able to go see my friend Libby at her wedding open house/reception (and she doesn't know I'm going to be there BT Dubs). I haven't seen Libby since before she left on her mission, which was like 4 years ago. Also there will be other people I know at the reception/open house that will be there as well that I'm so stoked to see, but besides Libby I'm psyched to get to see my friend Wes, whom I also haven't seen in like 4 years either. (I'm secretly hoping I get to see Academy Fantasia, Wes, so I sure hope you do it within the like 2 hours I'll see you.)

Among the peeps at the open house, I'm hoping to get to see my friend Carey, that is if our schedules can mesh and she can work me in around working with the BYU football team. :) I'll also see mi familia in Provo since we're staying with them and all... and of course I'll get to briefly drive the streets of Provo and remember all the good times I had in college.

Sounds like this trip will be awesome, right?

Well... here's the downsides (for all involved):

I will have to drive (because I'm hauling my brother's crap, remember?), but my dad, who is ALREADY in Utah with my brother at this very moment, insisted that he drive with me since he doesn't want me driving alone. So, I'm picking him up from the airport (after flying in from SLC) on Thursday and then heading out on the road where we will drive straight through, no stops, taking turns, until we arrive on Friday at the Bubble that is Provo, UT. Then Saturday morning we'll wake up super early and drive ALL the way back to the Promised Land of Texas, luckily stopping this time in the Land of Enchantment that is Albuquerque, NM for the night and continuing on on Sunday. Also, I have to miss the first day of 2 of my classes, but I already emailed my professors and they say it's cool. :)

Yeah... I'm pretty much going to be dead by the time this is all over. AWESOME! Just in time for the start of the semester too. It's going to be great.

The Apartment Saga--Boiled Down Short Version

Now that I'm past all the ridiculousness that happened with my seemingly cursed apartment, it doesn't seem like too much of a saga now. I'm really hoping, praying, and keeping my fingers crossed that we are on the other side of this hill and things are looking up. In short, here's what happened:

• Some drama happened with me and my family because I wasn't exactly packed yet and they decided to move all my stuff and pack it for me even though I didn't ask them to, which led to them being mad that I wasn't prepared and packed already.
• Because of said drama, I wasn't in a particularly pleasant mood and was rather distracted when signing the lease, which led to us signing the lease without looking at the apartment first (not a good move on my part).
• Once we had the keys, our initial looksie seemed okay, but as we started moving things in and taking a closer look we noticed a few things:
• Like how there was a giant cochroach on the ceiling, which was of course a tell-tale sign that there were others like it lurking all up in the kitchen and my roommate's bathroom/bedroom, which means umm we didn't use our kitchen (and really still haven't) or unpack anything in it.
• The pipes under the sink leaked (and still does actually) and we noticed that apparently this is a continuing problem because that one cabinet has been painted to cover up the water damage.
• The screen door was installed backwards (the lock was on the wrong side so couldn't latch) and the screen fell out, which to their credit, the complex did fix very quickly.
• Also we had a slight problem with our gate keys and of course couldn't get them working after the office was already closed, on the weekend.
• We couldn't get satellite because of the way our apartment faces and because the complex wouldn't let the satellite be outside the patio or attached to the railing.
• Of course you guys remember my little Internet problem. Well, since then, we found out that AT&T can only give us their basic DSL package (which is not what we had signed up for), which is incredibly slow, because our phone lines are too old to allow them to give us a faster package.
• There were other things with each of the issues, other little things that just compounded and made dealing with it all at once right when we moved in a HUGE pain.
• Most of these problems, in fact, were noticed after the office was closed or required other people (pest control, AT&T peeps, maintenance people, etc.), which means we had to wait on all of them to get things fixed. And I hate waiting.

Since then, the pest control people have come and sprayed/powdered and done who knows what else, and I'm happy to say that though I've seen plenty of dead roaches I haven't seen any live ones, which I would like to keep that way. We have unpacked most everything in the kitchen and even bought groceries! (We still haven't used the kitchen as in cooked anything because it's been too freakin' hot to do that.) After I bugged (haha!) my roommate because I'm too used to the fast Verizon Fios of my parents' house, we are switching to the much faster (at least than what we have now) Time Warner Cable so that I can watch a 20 min. episode of the Colbert Report in 20 min. (hopefully) instead of the 30-40 min. it took me a few days ago. (They are coming this Friday, so hopefully all will go well.)

Again, I don't want to jinx anything, but it appears as if things are looking up. Now if only I could find the time to actually unpack my room instead of having stacks of boxes everywhere...

Hallelujah, Praise the Lord!

That's right y'all!

The AT&T guy came today and after working his magic finally got our Internet working! I'm posting this from the comfort of my bedroom in my apartment and I can't tell you how happy I am. I don't want to jinx myself, but it looks like things may be looking up in this whole apartment saga (which remind me, I'm telling you all about later).

I would write more, but mi familia is putting me in charge of the dog while they eat delicious Mexican food from Nellie's and awesome burgers at Roscoe's. So, I'm chilling at their house for the weekend to spend time with this beautiful puppy:

I'll update tomorrow with a very belated FOTW. :) Yay for the interwebs!!!

Guys, I still don't have Internet.

I KNOW!
Don't even get me started. To see what happened, you should go here:

My Tumblr

It explains a lot and comes complete with funny GIFs that really illustrate my points and emotions through the process. The technician is supposed to come out on Thursday, so if there is any goodness in the world, I'll have Internet by then. But, knowing my luck, I doubt it. If you don't hear from me on Thursday, you'll know what happened.

Life Without Immediate Internet Access

IS HARD YO!

I haven't had Internet at my apartment (and won't have it until tomorrow night), and I am currently at my parental's house posting this. Who knew not having instant access to the Internet whenever I want would be so hard. It's not like I'm completely without it. I have it while I'm at work, and I have an iPhone for crying out loud, and I recently discovered that I could walk about 2 minutes (probably less than that; I'm not good at guesstimating) to my apartment complex's pool and access their free wifi (which I have done twice now). But, despite being able to access stuff on my iPhone, there are just some things I'd rather do on a computer (like blogging for example). And as much as I wanted to blog away at work... I figured my first week at the new job would probably not be the best time to be blogging.

SO, this is a short post letting you know that I've missed you guys and my ability to post whenever I want because I had 24/7 access to the Internet. Never fear, I have some FOTWs planned that are going to be AWESOME and some personal blog posts that I'm sure you're dying to read about my apartment and moving and the new job and what not (don't lie to me, I know you've been wondering).

As soon as I have the Internet hooked up tomorrow after 8pm, I will be blogging up a storm.

My apologies

Guys, I'm sorry I haven't posted anything in a few weeks. Life has been pretty crazy as of late and I just haven't had time to sit down and get some blogging done. I had a midterm for my online class that I was freaking out about so the weekend of the 4th of July was spent studying and then taking the test. Then this weekend I had my pre-Harry Potter Harry Potter party, which was a huge success and I had tons of fun, and also some good times out in the boonies with a few friends where I swam, ate fresh blackberries, and shot some guns. Pretty awesome.

Sadly, I'm not sure how much I'll be able to blog this week either because I'm MOVING this Friday!!! I know, I so haven't filled you guys in on things. I'm such a terrible blogger. :( But, I'm hoping that I'll be able to write up something soon. Until then, here's a brief recap on a few happenings and thoughts:

• I'm super excited and sad for the upcoming HP movie since it's the last one (Of course I'm going to the midnight showing)! Looking back at the older movies, those kids were so little then and are SOO grown up now! ALSO, the kid who played Neville is now incredibly hot. No, really.
• I only have about a month left of my class, which I'm glad about because I want it over so bad.
• Speaking of school, I met with my professor to discuss my idea for my capstone project, and she absolutely loved it, so I'm way excited to get started on the research for it and everything. It's going to be off the hook!
• I got a new position at work. Before, I edited journals, but now starting tomorrow, I'll be editing books and also helping out on the wiki they want to start. I'm excited and hoping that this new position (with a new boss and new cube) will be a good thing for me.
• This Friday is the day I can officially move into my apartment. It's in Richardson, so it's not too far away from my house, but it does mean I'm closer to work and school and also in a different YSA ward. I have mixed feelings about this fact.
• Also... I haven't started packing. I've packed 1 box and my room is a total disaster area. I might not be fully moving in on Friday... it might have to be in phases.
• On Tuesday I will be 25 years old. A QUARTER OF A CENTURY. I can do exciting things at this age now... like rent a car without having to pay an extra fee. And... that's about it. But, yeah, I can't believe I'll be 25 in 2 days. It's kind of crazy. I might have an existential breakdown... or at least I'm considering it.

See? I've had a lot of things going on lately... I hope you guys are doing well, and I promise as soon as things calm down a bit or I get a spare moment, I'll try to post some more things. I will say, I tend to post more frequently on my Tumblr if anyone cares to see what I'm up to on there....

I Clearly Have A Problem

After today, it has become clear to me that while I am in my car I am subconsciously a bird killer. Let me explain.

I went with my mom to Panera, and when we came out, my mom found this in the front of my car:

I don't know how it got there or when it actually happened, because it's not like I examine the front of my car every time I get in or out of my car (despite what they teach you in driving school). But, somehow I hit a small defenseless bird with my car and it got stuck.

But, if you'll recall, this isn't the first time I accidentally hit a bird with my car.

So, obviously, I am an accidental murderer of birds.

It's freakin' terrible, and I'll be honest I was more grossed out than upset about the bird (so maybe something is wrong with me!?) although I was upset about the bird too. But it gets better, I had to drive with the visible guilt evident on my car for at least 6 miles while my mom taunted me saying that other people were probably wondering why I had a bird stuck on my car, that it got sucked in after it pooped on my windshield and the like.

The worst part, though, was when my mom and I arrived at our final destination and we asked the older gentleman who was present to please remove it for me. So, he got a stick and flicked it out. Then he started swishing the stick around and all these feathers came out. Yuck.

What stinks is I just had my car washed. Now it's got bird poo, feathers, guts, and blood on it, AKA the evidence of my latest killing. Birds beware, you don't know when I'll strike next!

Crafts, Books, and My Imagination Running Away With Me

Recently, I've been on this crafting kick and I've been reading/following on Tumblr a lot of crafty blogs and crafty-type people for inspiration. I don't know why I do this to myself because we all know how I am about finishing projects that I start. But, anyway, I came across this video that explains how to make a cool invisible shelf that makes it looks like your books are floating on the wall, like so:

Pretty cool, right? So I decided I desperately needed these shelves, because not only do they look pretty sweet, but it would help me get all the piles of books that I have laying on the ground off the floor. Since the video made it look pretty easy, I figured, what the hey. Now because I did not have any big heavy books that I was willing to sacrifice, I decided to go to Half Price Books (oh how I love thee) to find some in the clearance section or there abouts that looked pretty cool that I would not care about cutting into.

Then I came across these lovely beauties:

Awesome right? Perfect for looking nice on the wall since the spine is really all I care about. Well, if you've never heard of Half Price Books, it's a used bookstore that buys and sells (at half price) used books. It is a real treasure trove and I love going there because 1. it's cheap and 2. it's got books and 3. I always find some pretty cool/unique stuff. I love going there just to see what I can find when I have no particular book I'm looking for, like for this project, for example.

Anyway, as I started looking through these red books to see how much they were ($6) and which ones I wanted (I couldn't buy all of them at $6 each!), I noticed that many of them had an inscription on the inside cover (another thing I love about looking through used books). Then I noticed it was all the same inscription over the period of 3 years and for various holidays:

They are all for "Mom" from "Neal" and sometimes from "Neal and Sally." It dates back from the mom's birthday in 1969 to Valentine's Day of 1971. Out of the 12 books in the collection available at Half Price books, only 4 of them did not have an inscription. Despite the lack of an inscription on 4 of them, I feel it's safe to assume that it was an entire set once owned by "Mom" and given to her from "Neal" (and a few from "Sally"). But, here's where my imagination ran away with me.

As I started thinking more and more about the inscription and why this whole set would be at Half Price Books, it made me kind of sad. I'm guessing Neal was the son (I know pretty crazy guess, huh?), and this woman either loved book collections, Newsweek, art, or art museums. In the hopes to get a great gift that he could spread out in several gifts (I'm sure they were expensive, since I just saw that the set is going for $135 on eBay.), Neal decided to get his mom this set of books to show his mom all of these great places and the art contained inside them since most likely she would not be able to go to these far off exotic art museums.

I'm also guessing that Sally was a sister. My mom thought that perhaps she was Neal's wife or girlfriend, but because Sally only shows up in two inscriptions: that for Christmas 1969 and June 14, 1970, I think I'll stick with my sister assumption. I'm curious, however, about the June 14, 1970 inscription, since it's the only specific date in the set. Is that "Mom's" birthday? An anniversary of marriage? Death? Why is this date so significant? The details are too few that I can't venture a guess on this one.

And finally, why did this entire beautiful collection wind up at the Half Price Books in McKinney, TX. Sadly, I think that "Mom" is no longer with us, and as "Neal" was forced to go through all of the things that once belonged to his mother, he couldn't bare to keep this book collection. Maybe they were too heavy, a waste of space, he felt he'd never have a use for them, or maybe they reminded him too much of his mother and all of the occasions and memories he had of her receiving each book and her reaction as she opened the present. Knowing he and the books might be better off in a new home, he sold them, along with others, I'm sure, to Half Price books.

Where a few have just become my new bookshelves...