Working double shifts tonight. I already spent three hours at the desk earlier tonight from seven to ten, and now I'm working one of the late night shifts, affectionately dubbed "the crackhead shift." 

So I'll be sitting here until three. On the upside, I can have my laptop, snacks and internet down here. I'll be fine. :D

However, the most buoyant fact in my life is MY PARENTS ARE COMING TOMORROW. Which is great because that means that ALL MY STUFF WILL BE HERE! :D

Isn't it sad how I'm happier about my stuff than my parents? I am a shallow, shallow, materialistic person. Oh, well. At least I can admit it.

Oh, and to get back to OH GOD DOOR DECS from last post, I was totally up until 5:30 am this morning between cutting them out, designing a banner for my hall and posting up those stupid wockets in pockets. (Our hall theme is Dr. Seuss, and my floor has a wocket in their pocket.) Then I went to sleep for about two hours, found out I couldn't paint, then got another two hours of sleep. Woke up, painted a banner, then went *back* to bed, where I promptly passed the fuck out. (Rachel informed me of the abbreviation of PTFO this summer. I kind of like it.) Didn't even remotely wake up until maybe 3:15 or so. GOD, I'm so tired. Now my sleep schedule is just messed up from top to bottom. *sigh*

Anyway. Today was kind of relaxed, except we had early move-ins today, but there were none on my side of the fourth floor, so I didn't have to do anything. Sophie had a bunch of guy friends over playing Risk in the lobby (and all I can hear is Eddie Izzard going off in my head) while I was doing my first desk shift. Now there's no one down here in the lobby because everyone is asleep.

I think I'm going to watch The Thin Man (or, at least, the parts I fell asleep on last week) and eat my Doritos and Poptarts.

I love it. I've listened to it once, and I love it.

I love/hate him so much sometimes.

RIP Walter Cronkite. You were le awesome in the world of journalism.

In other news (mind the pun), Redbox is awesome. Mom and I watched Madea Goes To Jail (a movie I could not convince/beg/coerce my friends into seeing while it was in theaters) and it was LOLtastic. There was, of course, the recurring deep dramatic storyline as in all of Tyler Perry's movies, but it was pretty good. I also nicked Revolutionary Road and might watch that tonight too, if I get the chance.

Other other news, GOD I LOVE GETTING PAID. My new checking account is swelling and the only money that ever gets deposited are checks from the JCC. I feel quite rich (I'm sure it's not really anything, but for a college student, it's a fortune) and I have spent quite the fair share of the money I've earned. Even better, I'm not going to dwindle these funds during the year as I will get paid for being an RA and working the front desk every week. THEN I get a few hundred dollars in a stipend at the end of the semester. Oh, it will be glorious. I hate my job, but I love the money.

Countdown until last day of work: 14
Countdown of days left of work: 12
Countdown for departure for LSU: 19

Warning, TMI about to occur:

BLEEDING IS SO NOT OKAY. FUCK. I LIKE THOSE SHORTS. THIS IS SO GODDAMN NOT COOL. My back hurts, I come back to work and it's chaos, and controlling my bitchiness when dealing with whiny, immature teenagers is NOT what I want to be doing when I'm on my period. ARGHHHHHH.

Okay. I'm okay.

I don't have work until like, 1:30pm tomorrow, so I'm going to go find something to eat and maybe watch Revolutionary Road. Or read some more of that Jim Butcher series I keep talking about. Or something.

GAH. I hate work so much sometimes. There was drama today, and it was raining llamas all over the place.

Here's the sitch.

( Warning: Drama Llama Storm Ahead, Proceed Carefully Through Subsequent Rant Flurry.Collapse )

Besides that, the rest of the day went pretty okay, except I'm getting really fucking sick of kids being upset when there are no Lost and Found goggles to borrow while they're there. THEY ARE NOT YOURS. BUY SOME OF YOUR OWN AND FUCK OFF. DON'T GIVE ME THAT LOOK. Told the drama llama story about four times, and felt better about the whole damn thing with each retelling.

Came home, jumped in the shower and then back in the car with cold Chipotle leftovers to meet my cousin and her kids at the Children's Museum because Thursday nights from 5-8pm are free and there are a couple new exhibits that weren't around in the day when mom and I were frequent visitors. I had a good time, I hadn't seen them since probably Christmas, and they just get bigger all the time. They still like/remember me, which I enjoy. Also, only dealing with three children opposed to the waves I yell at on the daily was refreshing-- except for the crowds of just plain mean kids that were ruining some of the games for the other kids. I wanted to secretly smack them and walk away whistling, but I did not.

Proceeded to come home, watch the pilot re-air of Royal Pains. I like it, but not enough to sit down and watch it every week like I do so religiously with my other shows. Plink around on Charlie during commercials, play through Run and Open Your Eyes at least twice each. Realize a fair bit later in the evening that I can also play Chasing Cars because it's literally 6 notes being repeated the entire time. I have to play along with the song though, otherwise I lose my place/when the changes are in the song. Guess I gotta learn those lyrics too. Talked to Liz for a while. Actually, a short while by our standards. Just sayin'. Tentative plans made for this weekend -- which I have off! Glory be!

In other news: gay superheroes!

Early shift pros:
-no bastardly, conveniently deaf camp kids
-chatting with Krista (a nice, elderly lady from Austria(?) who does water aerobics and keeps all the guards up to-date on the who's who of the pool; also an avid Aeros enthusiast)
-being done at 1:00pm instead of just starting
-generally not having to stress about deal with Ken or Stanley

Early shift cons:
-waking up at fucking 8:00am in the morning
-removing lap lanes for the water aerobics class in the indoor pool
-watching the same lap swimmers slowly make their way up and down the pool over and over and over again
-not nearly as many fun people work the morning shifts as afternoon ones

I call it a tie, but shit if I'm not tired as hell right now for getting up so damned early this morning. Also, if there is an in-service before my shift tomorrow, fuck a duck, I'm not going. I am arriving at 9:45am sharp, and they can just suck it up.

Then Brittany came over (several hours later than planned, but I can't say I'm surprised) and we chilled out, maxin', relaxin' all cool, getting some sunrays outside by the pool when a couple of guys who were up to no good and worked on evening out our tans and catching up with each other.

I introduced her to Stuff White People Like, and she asked me all sorts of personal questions about my collegiate habits, among them the questions of boys, sex, and drinking. I forgot how much I missed hanging out with/talking to her because she's only a month older than me and we go through the same stuff at the same time. We hung out in the backyard, cooled off in the water a bit, then grabbed some food on the run and I dropped her off. All the while, exchanging stories, asking questions and generally catching up on life. (Also making plans to go to Six Flags or Schlitterbahn while she's in summer school and I can still make the drive up to San Marcos on the weekend. :D)

Late night, but I scored some highly delicious Subway and RAISING CANE'S, YES THEY HAVE IT IN HOUSTON YESSSSSSSSS on the way home. (Sorry about that last capslock, I thought I was going to try to have to last until August without Cane's sauce. I do not. I am ecstatic.)

Then to top it off, I watched The Devil Wears Prada because A) there was nothing on television and B) because I can. It was, and I also bid you, a good night.

Because Ken is literally throwing anything and everything at me in the JCC Lifeguard playbook. Today I was helping coach swim team.  

Oh, update on the grades:

3.8125 GPA HOLLA AT YA GIRL

Yes, that is right. I am a friggin' grade GANGSTA. Pulled an A out of my ass for Major American Authors and got a 99 in Fiction. Also aced my French final with a 93, so there was no need to freak out there, like Angelique always said.

I feel like I deserve to treat myself, but I don't know to what. I guess RENT is a good enough treat, as well as the jaunt to Austin! :D

Actually talked with Mom about my feelings today. It was weird. I haven't been feeling passionate about anything recently. Like, I get up and go to work because I'm a shallow, material person who wants the money. I was helping my aunt out because I feel obligated to because I don't mind offering my services, not because I particularly enjoy hanging out with her. (Don't get me wrong, I enjoy her company, but I have learned far too much about her personal life recently to actively seek out time with her that reminds me of mentally scarring words/images I can't unsee.) I don't know how to act around Amalie and I can feel the spiteful side of me just wanting to turn into the biggest bitch...

I can't tell if I might really be depressed, from this stressful freshman year, or if I'm still grieving Grandpa, or what the fuck is going on. I have happy days, I have good moments, I laugh and function, but I don't know if there's something really wrong or if I'm just being paranoid and bored/tired/over-analyzing. It's really frustrating to have had your whole emotional world thrown upside down and into question. Thanks, best friend. Thanks a fucking lot.

*sigh* Emotions aside, I'm downloading the Bones finale because I can't wait until tomorrow/I might be working or doing something while it's airing and I don't want to chance it. Slash I can't wait. *bounces* 60% done.

So the parental units drove up here to come get half my stuff. My bookshelf is bare, I found some old textbooks I can't wait to sell back (cash, cha-ching, cha-ching!), I halved my shoe collection and have now only three jackets to keep me warm. Decided to keep my bike, since it's such a convenience to me. I took odwn some of my posters, tried to empty my drawers a bit. I've only kept three pairs of jeans. Sent the freshly laundered sheets home, too, might as well. Only kept one sketchbook with me, and all my writings are on the way home as we speak now. I've still got the Kids of Eden transcript though.

We had a nice lunch of Chick-fil-A at the Union and I told them about the black greek stepping at Late Night LSU and stuff. Finally talked to my cousin Gerald (when I say cousin, I mean he's like an old uncle to me, but literally only a cousin-- he's got another grandchild FFS) about taking my fridge for the summer (and when I say 'I' I mean Dad).

This reminds me I need to make an inventory of all the stuff in the room that isn't mine that I use all the time. Like, the fan, and the microwave and the food storage and her pillow and dryer sheets and the rug and the TV tray and the printer... yeah. I gotta remember that stuff over the summer so I can actually have them in my room next year - which I will have all to myself ahhhhhhh! *sigh of single-child syndrome*

So the rents have been off about an hour now, probably edging toward Lafayette. They left some boxes and garbage bags. I'm going to have two full days without any finals, Wednesday and Thursday to pack up my stuff so that when I get out of Brit Lit on Friday, they'll pretty much meet me back here, I can toss stuff in the car and get the hell outta Dodge Baton Rouge.

Alright. I've got quite a to-do list for this weekend, including studying for that French test I missed, a culture presentation powerpoint for French extra credit, reading a book, finishing a play, reading an epic, writing a response paper, finishing my theatre painting project and making up a study schedule for next week because I have four finals in the first two days. FML.

Holy shit, this year went by fast. Goodbye, freshman year!

Also, a more somber, serious goodbye to Bea Arthur, one of my favorite actresses ever.



R.I.P.

Okay. Off to read Seasons of Migrations to the North outside (because it's beautiful), then workout for like an hour and a half to make up for not working out yesterday or the day before. Ta.

Countdown: 
13 days until I'm HOME FOR THE SUMMER

Steph didn't abandon ship Friday afternoon like she usually does; she ended up staying last night and leaving this morning. Which would have been fine except I've kinda grown accustomed to having my space by Friday night. Thankfully she didn't watch me watch Dollhouse intently from the edge of my desk like the good little glued fangirl I am because she was out with friends until midnight-ish. And I don't really mind her being around, like if she was here for a weekend. It wouldn't be an issue. Except she got up at like... 9 or 10 this morning to leave and started talking on her cell like nobody was asleep in the room. Granted, I do usually sleep through just about anything, but it was annoying nonetheless. I was actually up by noonish, which wasn't my plan.

Talked to my aunt (the one I'm named for) Adrienne more extensively about our rafting trip this summer, which is scheduled now for mid-July and possibly in Colorado, Utah or Cali. We also talked about maturity, my mom and me bragging about my wonderful family and telling stories that no one believes about my aunts being a little too drunk for their own goods sometimes. It was pretty sweet. Then talked to Dad for a bit, he got his shirt (which he complained would be too small, GRR) and socks and the "I'm all his fault" card. He gave me a little advice how to handle my allergies, which I am thankful for. I've just got to get to the store sometime soon. I've got some bday cards to buy/send and groceries to purchase. Otherwise I'm going to waste the sixty dollars mom sent on these awesome t-shirts or fast food or other random crap I don't need.

So I needed to get homework done today. Guess how much I achieved? Well, I watched a few episodes of Fresh Prince, cleaned my mirror, groomed my eyebrows back into a manageable order, and wrote down everything I need to accomplish school-wise for Monday or Tuesday on my whiteboard.

...

That's about it. OH! I did go print out The Tempest (because I don't feel like trying to go buy a copy just now) and some other stuff to facilitate homework getting done downstairs. So there's that.

I ate. Quite a bit, actually. Saved Chick-Fil-A sandwich from yesterday, can of pears, Doritos, M&Ms, hot chocolate, bowl of Cocoa Krispies, Tostitos + Pace. Well, maybe not so much. Hm. *shrug*

And then I almost won another game of Minesweeper, I had to guess on the last bomb and lost. If you take in another occasion that ended that same tragic way, I now have 10 expert wins to my name. I'm quite proud. Of course, I eventually got fed up with that and Bubble Spinner, that monstrously addicting crap that I'm absurdly good at (I'm not bragging, I'm serious) and now I'm looking for any-and-everything to do that is not my homework. I'm looking through my old sketchbooks. I'm stalking people on Facebook (although technically it's not stalking if you read it in the news feed). 

But what I'm really doing is enjoying I Can Haz Cheezburger like I haven't done in ages.



see more Lolcats and funny pictures

AN SO TEH THREETH DAY JAZZHANDS.

Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go sing Keane's Crystal Ball a few times because it's such a pretty song.

Liz and I have to wait all year to say that to each other.

:D

And Happy Kwanzaa crackers, since I'm the only legit black person some of you guys may know. (Who is also a RENThead.)

I got her tea and a Snoopy + Woodstock/Peanuts Friend book thingy. It's tiny and filled with quotes from good people.

I GOT A GLOSSY HARM AND MAC IN RETURN. And a satsuma. And TRUFFLE CHOCOLATES FROM MY OTHER OTHER MOM (BECAUSE MY OTHER MOM IS MOM "O", AKA MS EILEEN-- MAYBE LIZ'S MOM SHOULD BE OTHER MOM AND MOM "O" SHOULD BE PROPER MOM-- SORRY ABOUT THE CAPSLOCK, I WENT BACK TO THIS POST AND GOT CAUGHT UP IN IT AGAIN).

Swag:
Fuzzy Socks
NCIS on DVD seasons 3, 4 and 5
House season 4
JAG season 5
Aforementioned JAG glossy photo
Academy gift certificate - $100
Borders gift certificate - $20
2 Pajama sets - summer (Adrienne) and winter flannel (Carolyn)
Shiny gold (high-end) earrings (Ringo)
Guitar Hero World Tour, with a new guitar (BUT IT'S FUCKING BROKEN)
The Describer's Dictionary, by David Grambs which looks really interesting and I'm looking forward to it being one my most heavily used books
EZ Crank multi-use no batteries required item that is totally useful for hurricane-weatherers such as myself
And the entire Belgariad by David Eddings in paperback. (My mom had been hoarding them! No, lol, jk. Funny story: she got the second one way back and thought I would like it but I don't like to jump into series without the first book and we both promptly forgot about it until I meet that cherryfeather  kid and am all like OMFG DAVID EDDINGS BLAH BLAH THE BELGARIAD BLAH BLAH MALLOREON ROCKS SO HARD BLAH BLAH OMFG I LOVE THESE BOOKS OMG OMG BLAH etc.)

Went over to my Aunt Ringo's at around 3:00pm today to have dinner. DELICIOUS. Then we sat around and watched The Dark Knight and it was still as awesome as I remember it to be.

Then we just sat around and talked and I drove home because mom liked the cosmos Adrienne was shaking up.

LULZ Mom's now watching the end of the TNG marathon on Sci-Fi for today. I'[m off to play more GH even if it's on my old, trusty wired controller from GH2. (Though it totally sucks and I'm ultra bummed because there's like extra points earnable but only with the new guitar and stuff.) There are some AWESOME songs on there I need to play. I mean, the first song? Livin'. On. A. Prayer. (I'm sure I'll get round to posting all my favorite songs soon enough.)

Excuse me while I rock out with my cock out.

...

The hammer is my penis.

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R.I.P. Eartha Kitt. Growwwwl.

edit the second |

I should have uploaded a Christmas icon and DOWNLOADING THE DOCTOR WHO XMAS SPECIAL, OMFG I TOTALLY FORGOT. :D

When that's all you're running on and you're expected to hostess your family and corral younger cousins and become a de-facto babysitter and tell everyone about your life.

Yeah, I stayed up until God knows when (roughly 5AM? 5:30?) wrapping presents/restlessly unable to sleep. I finally fall asleep uncomfortably in a chair in the den because I know that A) if I get in bed I won't wake up until thirty minutes before everyone arrives and I need to get up wayyyy earlier than that and B) I couldn't be bothered to move I was so comfortable.

Am woken by the clanging sounds of a man doing dishes in the kitchen next door to me, with the swinging door WIDE FUCKING OPEN. So that every CLAMOR of a POT on the edge of the sink BANGS really fucking LOUDLY. I won't say his intention was to wake me up, but he certainly wasn't taking measures to make sure I stayed asleep.

Thanks, Dad.

Anyway, I trudge up to find that it's 7:00AM and he's starting the gumbo so I just offer to help. Do that for several hours (including the 8:30AM Chicken Broth -with low sodium- run to Walmart), finally help with the peach cobbler at the end of the morning (nigh on noon) once the gumbo is finally just stewing on the backburner (literally and figuratively) and where I had once planned to catch a nap I must now away to fix my hair/shower/shave my legs because dear sweet Lord I've become part Yeti in my spare time. Next time I look up it's half past two and aunts are starting to arrive.

I do pull in some decent swag tonight, but I'm too tired to post about it. Suffice to say I wrapped a shitload of presents, was minorly frustrated most of the night by the fact that I was being mooched for my baby-sitting services and my cousins didn't show up (the group of them who are my age) because they didn't get their shopping done on time. *frustrated noises* 

Did I mention I totally souped the cobbler by setting the oven to broil (for some toasted french bread) and not retrieving the cobbler until after I totally crisped the top/ruined the whole damn thing?

Yeah. Fun times. I'm not really having a good Christmas Eve.

So, I should be wrapping presents about now (that my dad got at the last minute for my mom), and getting ready to go to bed early, like the good believer-in-Santa that I am. (Hey. He still signs the proverbial checks around here.)

Oh, sweet Jesus, I'm developing one hell of a headache just above my right ear. Ah, fuck that hurts.

Last note: if you want Christmas fic, reply on the below post if it can be satisfied by a drabble. If not, feel free to ask me, but I will say this ahead of time; I am very prone to beginning projects and then leaving them to lament in my harddrive. So I apologize in advance if I suck at getting the finished product to you promptly.

Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night.

I decorated my aunt's house tonight for her while she was out shopping. Put together the tree, completely trimmed it, decorated a mantle and wrapped twinkling lights around a wine stand.

In roughly three hours.

I think I kind of rock.

In other news, I slept until 3:00pm today. Considering I didn't go to bed until half past four, though, kind of lessens that impact.

And apparently I need to explain to people how much it hurts when they A) make plans and break them B) don't make plans at all/never call or drop me a text and C) say they miss me and do shit about it for five days when we're both in the same city, or D) dump relationship problems on me when I'm already lonely enough as it is. I understand prior commitments, I understand being busy, I understand that you need someone to talk to and I promise to always be there. What I think some of my friends don't understand is how much it hurts me to talk about relationships when I'm practically pining for one of my own.

I understand that some of my friends are popular and that I do not get to monopolize their time. Fine. Just stop being distracted by whatever is immediately in front of you and remember that I'm here. Otherwise there's no point in wasting money on an airplane ticket that's the equivalent of half my Christmas money.

It just fucking hurts, and I don't know that they know. 

Those of you that are preparing to give me hugs (you know who you are, you usual suspects -looking at you, tikimoof , evrymemry ); you don't do this, it doesn't apply to you, and I don't want comfort. I want those of this that this *does* apply to to stop it.

Just had to get that out. The hurt hurts less when I acknowledge it.