kelly kell kell

i just created a LJ account

2005-08-16T18:49:00.000-07:00

oh yes, i've gone to the dark side. obi-wan would be so disappointed in me....

anyway, my name there is hobbitseeker. as you can see, i created it so that the insanity of my addiction to the COS forums from mugglenet could be enhanced. the forums are my heroin, oh yes, my precious, they are....

go check me out, and friend me.

want to learn mendelian genetics? read harry potter!

2005-08-12T10:26:00.000-07:00

nature.com recently posted an article (Harry Potter and the Recessive Allele) about genetics in harry potter. here's an excerpt:

"Wizards or witches can be of any race, and may be the offspring of a wizard and a witch, the offspring of two muggles ('muggle-born'), or of mixed ancestry ('half-blood'). This suggests that wizarding ability is inherited in a mendelian fashion, with the wizard allele (W) being recessive to the muggle allele (M). According to this hypothesis, all wizards and witches therefore have two copies of the wizard allele (WW). Harry's friends Ron Weasley and Neville Longbottom and his arch-enemy Draco Malfoy are 'pure-blood' wizards: WW with WW ancestors for generations back. Harry's friend Hermione is a powerful muggle-born witch (WW with WM parents). Their classmate Seamus is a half-blood wizard, the son of a witch and a muggle (WW with one WW and one WM parent). Harry (WW with WW parents) is not considered a pure-blood, as his mother was muggle-born."

how hilarious is that? i wish i could have learned genetics from harry potter instead of crazy moths in soot-covered industrial areas....

i'm so bored.

2005-08-11T09:10:00.000-07:00

i have absolutely nothing to do at work. preschool doesn't start until august 29th, and between now and then i have 3 meetings and an IEP to do. that's it. you'd think i'd be happy about that, but it is so incredibly boring to sit around doing nothing all day. at least when i'm off during the summer i'm free to do whatever i want. believe it or not, i'd rather have something to do than just sit here.

i have a meeting today at 1:30pm to discuss who my supervisor will be this year. yes, i've been working for a week already without having anyone supervise me. no one has cared what i do or when i do it. basically, i could be partying in juarez right now and no one would know (but who in their right mind would want to do that anyway?).

i already know who my supervisor is going to be, but i still have to sit through this meeting and listen to my old supervisor give reasons why i can't have the same supervisor that every other social worker has, even when i requested her. i already know i have no say in this. i could argue until my face is blue and it wouldn't matter. the higher-ups have made their decision and this meeting is just a joke, a farce to make it seem like they're listening to me and value my opinion when it comes to my job.

wow, i'm sounding quite bitter right now. you'd think after eating a quarter pint of haagen-dazs for breakfast i'd be in good spirits, but alas, i'm not. i'm just waiting for the weekend so i can get drunk and forget about this week.

i turn off lights with, like, my mind

2005-08-09T07:18:00.000-07:00

have you ever been walking or driving down the street and had street lamps burn out right as you pass them, only to watch them come back on as you walk away? this has been happening to me for years and i just chalked it down to coincidence on my part. however, it's been happening more frequently in recent years, so last night i decided to do a search on it, and low and behold, it's a real thing called "street light interference" or "street lamp phenomenon." apparently it has something to do with the electromagnetic field that we all have around us. when a street lamp is getting on its last legs, it can flicker on and off for awhile before finally burning out. well, apparently our bodies can send out enough interference in the electromagnetic field to disrupt an already-weakened light. of course, there's some people who says it's a psychic phenomenon and claim to be able to turn on and off lights of all sorts, eletronic devices such as tv's, and fry digital watches if they wear them. while i don't know if that's true or not, i'm glad i'm not the only one who's noticed i turn out street lamps when i walk under them. anyone else had this happen to them?

here and here are some links about SLI on about.com if you wanna check them out.

i can't fucking believe this

2005-08-04T16:17:00.000-07:00

ok.

so my "raise" for this school year was $475. no, not per month; $475 total for the whole year. that averages out to a tad bit over 1%. a 1% raise! woofuckinghoo!

but wait, it gets better.

i am mandated currently to put 9% of my pay into an "educational retirement" fund for the state, which basically is our retirement. i have no say in this, i can't refuse it or anything. this year, instead of 9%, it's going up to 12% of my pay. yes, it's going up 3%.

plus, i just discovered my healthcare is also going up 3%.

which means (come on math majors!) that this year i will be taking home LESS MONEY than i did last year.

yes, i, with my master's degree and experience, am taking a paycut. i can't afford to take a paycut--i don't make enough money to live on comfortably as it is. which means i'm going to have to take a second job to supplement my income.

anyone else think this fucking sucks?

send kelly to nyc

2005-08-01T18:49:00.000-07:00

i'm currently on a campaign to collect as many funds as possible for my relocation to nyc next summer.

hah, you say, kelly will never ever leave new mexico. it has sucked her in and she will never escape its poverty-inducing clutches.

to that i say hellz no! i'm moving, and it will most likely be next summer. i've even created a butdget for myself to save enough cash to finance such a move, plus i've already got my resume out to certain choice agencies where i'd like to work, with salary adjustments and a budget created for living in an expensive big city. my planning is going well, but of course i need all the help i can get. so if you're feeling generous and would like to donate to my cause, email me and i will inform you of your various donation options. i accept cash, your credit card, automobiles which i can then sell, small children (wait--scratch that, they're hard to travel with), or any type of gold bullion or precious gems you might have lying around the house.

hopefully by this time next year i will have landed a kickass job, moved in with my friend, and will be typing an entry whilst enjoying the city scenery before going out for a night on the town that puts las cruces nightlife to shame. and it'll all happen even faster with your help.....

new york new york!

2005-07-28T17:51:00.000-07:00

i'm finally back in NM, and hating every minute of it. i've decided i'm moving to nyc as soon as possible. it's so much cooler than NM could ever hope to be. and i have tons of friends there already, so the moving would be smooth.

anyway, new york was a fucking blast. i met the lords of the rhymes, i hung out with all my old college buddies, my friend jason sliced off his finger while chopping onions, and i drank so many diet sparks that i won't be surprised if my tongue is permanently yellow.

i created a separate blog for the reunion so all of my friends could post their thoughts and photos from the trip. you can find it here. My pictures are posted there, but here's a direct link to them. Enjoy!

light up the mic like a silmaril!

2005-07-20T14:57:00.000-07:00

That's a pic of Andrea and myself holding our limited edition Lords of the Rhymes promo dvds that Quickbeam gave us yesterday. Yes, we met and hung out with the Lords, and they were fucking awesome. Bombadil, Beam, and Morgoth met us at a bar and then we chilled at Morgoth's til 3am. More pics of me with them later once I get back to NM and can upload them. Elf booty got soul, motherfuckers.

oh. my. god.

2005-07-16T07:32:00.000-07:00

it took me seven hours and fifty-five minutes to read harry potter and the half-blood prince.

it was nothing like i imagined it would be.

it was better, it was worse, it was wonderful and terrible and definitely shocking, and it was so good i want to reread it again right now even though i just stayed up all night and my head is sore from reading for so long. i won't go into details, other than to say there were at least 2 separate times i had to stop reading for a few moments because i was crying too hard to see the words.

wow. *shakes head* wow. if you need me, i'll be rereading HBP, because that was a lot to chew on and i need a bit more time with it. wow.

Most memorable OotP scenes: #1

2005-07-15T14:07:00.000-07:00

Ah, the final post before HBP. It is now mere hours before I get book 6, and I doubt if I could be any more excited than I already am. Seth, Niki and Trisha are all going to the release party with me, and we're all dressing up! I'm going as Ginny Weasley from Chamber of Secrets, and Niki is going as Hermione from Prisoner of Azkaban. Seth is going as Sirius Black, and Trisha is going as Professor McGonagall. Anyway, here is the most memorable passage from Order of the Phoenix for me--it's not a happy passage, but it certainly is what I think about first when I think of this book, and it came as a shock to me when I first read it.

[Backstory: We are near the end of the book. Harry has been getting flashes of what Voldemort is doing through his dreams, and he has a dream that Voldemort has kidnapped Sirius and taken him to the Department of Mysteries in the Ministry of Magic, where he and his Death Eaters are now torturing Sirius. Harry, doing his "saving people thing" as Hermione calls it, breaks out of school with Ron, Hermione, Ginny, Neville Longbottom and Luna Lovegood. When they finally reach London, they break into the Dept. of Mysteries only to find Sirius not there. However, there is a glass orb with Harry's name on it, and he picks it up. The moment he does, a dozen Death Eaters, led by Lucius Malfoy and Bellatrix Lestrange, come to try to take the orb away from Harry, which turns out to be a prophecy about him and Voldemort, and a huge battle ensues--Ginny breaks her ankle, Luna gets knocked out, Hermione has an awful curse placed on her and Harry thinks she's dead, Ron gets a curse that makes him all loopy and he ends up having brains sucking at his skin. Neville and Harry get cornered in a room with a dais holding a black veil, and Neville's nose gets broken as he and Harry fight for their lives. Then, all of a sudden, the Order of the Phoenix members arrive, including Lupin, Tonks, Kingsley, Moody and Sirius.]

"The prophecy, give me the prophecy, Potter!" snarled Lucius Malfoy's voice in his ear, and Harry felt the tip of Malfoy's wand pressing hard between his ribs.

"No--get--off--me...Neville--catch it!"

Harry flung the prophecy across the floor, Neville spun himself around on his back and scooped the ball to his chest. Malfoy pointed the wand instead at Neville, but Harry jabbed his own wand back over his shoulder and yelled, "Impedimenta!"

Malfoy was blasted off his back. As Harry scrambled up again he looked around and saw Malfoy smash into the dais on which Sirius and Bellatrix were now dueling. Malfoy aimed his wand at Harry and Neville again, but before he could draw a breath to strike, Lupin had jumped between them.

"Harry, round up the others and GO!"

Harry siezed Neville by the shoulder of his robes and lifted him bodily onto the first tier of the stone steps. Neville's legs twitched and jerked [from a curse] and would not support his weight. Harry heaved again with all the strength he possessed and they climbed another step--

A spell hit the stone bench at Harry's heel. It crumbled away and he fell back to the step below: Neville sank to the ground, his legs still jerking and thrashing, and thrust the prophecy into his pocket.

"Come on!" said Harry desperately, hauling at Neville's robes. "Just try and push your legs--"

He gave another stupendous heave and Neville's robes tore all along the left seam--the small spun-glass ball dropped from his pocket and before either of them could catch it, one of Neville's floundering feet kicked it. It flew some ten feet to their right and smashed on the step beneath them. As both of them stared at the place where it had broken, appalled at what had happened, a pearly-white figure with hugely magnified eyes rose into the air, unnoticed by any but them. Harry could see its mouth moving, but in all the crashes and screams and yells surrounding them, not one word of the prophecy could he hear. The figure stopped speaking and dissolved into nothingness.

"Harry, I'b sorry!" cried Neville, his face anguished as his legs continued to flounder, "I'b so sorry Harry, I didn'd bean do--"

"It doesn't matter!" Harry shouted. "Just try and stand, let's get out of--"

"Dubbledore!" said Neville, his sweaty face suddenly transported, staring over Harry's shoulder.

"What?"

"DUBBLEDORE!"

Harry turned to look where Neville was staring. Directly above them, framed in the doorway from the Brain Room, stood Albus Dumbledore, his wand aloft, his face white and furious. Harry felt a kind of electric charge surge through every particle of his body--they were saved.

Dumbledore sped down the steps past Neville and Harry, who had no more thought of leaving. Dumbledore was already at the foot of the steps when the Death Eaters nearest realised he was there. There were yells; one of the Death Eaters ran for it, scrabbling like a monkey up the stone steps opposite. Dumbledore's spell pulled him back as easily and effortlessly as though he had hooked him with an invisible line--

Only one couple were still battling, apparently unaware of the new arrival. Harry saw Sirius duck Bellatrix's jet of red light: He was laughing at her. "Come on, you can do better than that!" he yelled, his voice echoing around the cavernous room.

The second jet of light hit him squarely on the chest.

The laughter had not quite died from his face, but his eyes widened in shock.

Harry released Neville, though he was unaware of doing so. He was jumping down the steps again, pulling out his wand, as Dumbledore turned to the dais too.

It seemed to take Sirius an age to fall. His body curved in a graceful arc as he sank backward from the ragged veil hanging from the arch....

And Harry saw the look of mingled fear and surprise on his godfather's wasted, once-handsome face as he fell through the ancient doorway and disappeared behind the veil, which fluttered for a moment as though in a high wind and then fell back into place.

Harry heard Bellatrix Lestrange's triumphant scream, but knew it meant nothing--Sirius had only just fallen through the archway, he would reappear from the other side any second....

But Sirius did not reappear.

"SIRIUS!" Harry yelled, "SIRIUS!"

He had just reached the floor, his breath coming in searing gasps. Sirius must be just behind the curtain, he, Harry, would pull him back out again....

But as he reached the ground and sprinted toward the dais, Lupin grabbed Harry around the chest, holding him back.

"There's nothing you can do, Harry--"

"Get him, save him, he's only just gone through!"

"It's too late, Harry--"

"We can still reach him--"

Harry struggled hard and visciously, but Lupin would not let go....

"There's nothing you can do, Harry...nothing...He's gone."

"He hasn't gone!" Harry yelled.

He did not believe it, he would not believe it; still he fought Lupin with every bit of strength he had: Lupin did not understand, people were behind that curtain, he had heard them whispering the first time he had entered the room--Sirius was hiding, simply lurking out of sight--

"SIRIUS!" he bellowed, "SIRIUS!"

"He can't come back, Harry," said Lupin, his voice breaking as he struggled to contain Harry. "He can't come back, because he's d--"

"HE--IS--NOT--DEAD!" roared Harry. "SIRIUS!"

There was movement going on around them, pointless bustling, the flashes of more spells. To Harry it was meaningless noise, the deflected curses flying past them did not matter, nothing mattered except that Lupin stop pretending that Sirius, who was standing feet from them behind that old curtain, was not going to emerge at any moment, shaking back his dark hair and eager to reenter the battle--

Lupin dragged Harry away from the dais, Harry still staring at the archway, angry at Sirius now for keeping him waiting--

But some part of him realized, even as he fought to break free from Lupin, that Sirius had never kept him waiting before....Sirius had risked everything, always, to see Harry, to help him....If Sirius was not reappearing out of that archway when Harry was yelling for him as though his life depended on it, the only possible explanation was that he could not come back....That he really was....

Most memorable OotP scenes: #2

2005-07-09T13:13:00.000-07:00

Ah, memory #2 from Order of the Phoenix. This one holds a dear place in my heart due to the incredible amount of hatred I have for the despicable literary character that is Dolores Umbridge.

[Backstory: Umbridge is still doing her nasty shit. She and the Ministry keep making all these Educational Decrees to make the students’ and professors’ lives horrible so that they won’t discuss Voldemort’s return, which they are still denying. Their latest scheme is the Inquisitorial Squad (think Spanish Inquisition) which hunts down those who won’t keep their mouth shut and gives them all sorts of hard times. Umbridge also has passed a decree removing Dumbledore from his position as Headmaster and becoming Headmaster herself. Fred and George, the Weasley twins and troublemakers, have decided that their best course of action is to wreak as much havoc as possible for their new "Headmistress," and everyone, including the professors, are supporting them, though usually privately.]

There was a great deal of shouting and movement coming from the entrance hall. [Harry] ran down the marble staircase and found what looked like most of the school assembled there.

I was just like the night when Trelawney had been sacked. Students were standing all around the walls in a great ring (some of them, Harry noticed, covered in a substance that looked very like Stinksap); teachers and ghosts were also in the crowd. Prominent among the onlookers were members of the Inquisitorial Squad, who were all looking exceptionally pleased with themselves, and Peeves [the poltergeist], who was bobbing overhead, gazing down upon Fred and George, who stood in the middle of the floor with the unmistakable look of two people who had just been cornered.

"So!" said Umbridge triumphantly, whom Harry realized was standing just a few stairs in front of him, once more looking down upon her prey. "So…you think it is amusing to turn a school corridor into a swamp, do you?"

"Pretty amusing, yeah," said Fred, looking back up at her without the slightest sign of fear.

Filch elbowed his way closer to Umbridge, almost crying with happiness.

"I’ve got the form, Headmistress," he said hoarsely, waving the piece of parchment Harry had just seen him take from her desk. "I’ve got the forms, and I’ve got the whips waiting….Oh, let me do it now…."

"Very good, Argus," she said. "You two," she went on, gazing down at Fred and George, "are about to learn what happens to wrongdoers in my school."

"You know what?" said Fred. "I don’t think we are."

He turned to his twin.

"George," said Fred, "I think we’ve outgrown full-time education."

"Yeah, I’ve been feeling that way myself," said George lightly.

"Time to test our talents in the real world, d’you reckon?" asked Fred.

"Definitely," said George.

And before Umbridge could say a word, they raised their wands and said together, "Accio Brooms!"

Harry heard a loud crash somewhere in the distance. Looking to his left he ducked just in time—Fred and George’s broomsticks, one still trailing the heavy chain and iron peg with which Umbridge had fasten them to the wall, were hurtling along the corridor toward their owners. They turned left, streaked down the stairs, and stopped sharply in front of the twins, the chain clattering loudly on the flagged stone floor.

"We won’t be seeing you," Fred told Professor Umbridge, swinging his leg over his broomstick.

"Yeah, don’t bother to keep in touch," said George, mounting his own.

Fred looked around at the assembled students, and at the silent, watchful crowd.

"If anyone fancies buying a Portable Swamp, as demonstrated upstairs, come to number ninety-three, Diagon Alley—Weasleys’ Wizarding Wheezes," he said in a loud voice. "Our new premises!"

"Special discounts to Hogwarts students who swear they’re going to use our products to get rid of this old bat," added George, pointing at Professor Umbridge.

"STOP THEM!" shrieked Umbridge, but it was too late. As the Inquisitorial Squad closed in, Fred and George kicked off from the floor, shooting fifteen feet into the air, the iron peg swinging dangerously below. Fred looked across the hall at the poltergeist bobbing on his level above the crowd.

"Give her hell from us, Peeves."

And Peeves, whom Harry had never seen take an order from a student before, swept his belled hat from his head and sprang to a salute as Fred and George wheeled about to tumultuous applause from the students below and sped out of the open front doors into the glorious sunset.

Most memorable OotP scenes: #3

2005-07-07T14:46:00.000-07:00

I decided that since there are only 8 days until half-blood prince comes out, i'd type up my 3 most memorable scenes from order of the phoenix. i'm sure most of you won't give a damn, but this is my blog and it amuses me to do this. so here's the thrid most memorable scene for me from OotP:

Detention with Dolores

[this is from ch. 13, where harry gets detention for telling his new defense against the dark arts teacher (umbridge) that voldemort is back. dolores umbridge is appointed from the ministry of magic and has told them they won't be learning any defense spells in the class, only theory, which makes no sense because at the end of the year they have a practical exam. this is because the ministry is denying that voldy is back because they don't want mass chaos and fear (and there's a bunch of politics thrown in too). harry says they need to learn to fight because of voldy, and umbridge gives him detention]

She handed him a long, thin black quill with an unusually sharp point.

"I want you to write 'I must not tell lies,'" she told him softly.

"How many times?" Harry asked, with a credible imitation of politeness.

"Oh, as long as it takes for the message to sink in," said Umbridge sweetly. "Off you go."

She moved over to her desk, sat down, and bent over a stack of parchment that looked like essays for marking. Harry raised the sharp black quill and then realized what was missing.

"You haven't given me any ink," he said.

"Oh, you won't need ink," said Professor Umbridge with the merest suggestion of a laugh in her voice.

Harry places the point of the quill on the paper and wrote: I must not tell lies.

He let out a gasp of pain. The words had appeared on the parchment in what appeared to be shining red ink. At the same time, the words had appeared on the back of Harry's right hand, cut into his skin as though traced there by a scalpel--yet even as he stared at the shining cut, the skin healed over again, leaving the place where it had been slightly redder then before but quite smooth.

Harry looked around at Umbridge. She was watching him, her wide, toadlike mouth stretched in a smile.

"Yes?"

"Nothing," said Harry quietly.

He looked back at the parchment, placed the quill upon it once more, wrote I must not tell lies, and felt the searing pain on the back of his hand for a second time; once again, the words had been cut into his skin, once again they healed over seconds later.

And on it went. Again and again Harry wrote the words on the parchment in what he soon came to realize was not ink, but his own blood. And again and again the words were cut into the back of his hand, healed, and then reappeared the next time he set quill to parchment.

Darkness fell outside Umbridge's window. Harry did not ask when he would be allowed to stop. He did not even check his watch. He knew she was watching him for signs of weakness and he was not going to show any, not even if he had to sit here all night, cutting open his own hand with this quill....

9 days and counting!

2005-07-06T11:59:00.000-07:00

hallelujah, we're into the single digits! that's right, only 9 miniscule days until harry potter and the half-blood prince is released! i'm still not sure what my plans are for that night. i'll probably end up at hastings bookstore with everyone else. at one point niki wanted to dress up as hermione and said i should go as ginny weasley, but i dunno. perhaps i'll just wear one of my HP shirts and be done with it. when order of the phoenix came out, loren, seth and i went to hastings and the 2 lines were from the front of the store and wrapped around each other all the way to the back and then up to the front again. we decided not to stay, but loren grabbed one of the books and was reading from it like it was the bible: "and hermione said unto ron, 'ronald, not everyone has the emotional range of a teaspoon.'" good times, good times. i ended up leaving and going at 9am to pick up the book. i think i wanna stand in line this time. i have an affinity for release party lines now, and let's face it, what else do i have to do?

my life isn't all that exciting right now, but i haven't been bored yet, which is surprising. i had a good fourth of july. my friends came over and we BBQed out by the pool and shot off a bunch of fireworks. it's nice to live in a state where fireworks are actually legal (not that that stopped me when i was growing up...).

i have twelve days until my trip to new york. i'm very excited because my friend andrew emailed me and said he'll be there for a few days! i haven't seen him in ages and we were really close friends back in undergrad. he now lives in pittsburgh and is going to carnegie mellon for his doctorate in computer science. yeah, he makes way more money than i do, but he's super intelligent and a hard worker so he deserves it. it looks like we're all gonna crash at jason and jon's place. apparently it's pretty damn big. they even have a backyard which i'm sure we'll make use of. i think we're planning on getting a keg of something and having a backyard BBQ one night. other plans include a joint birthday party for sarah and mary, a pirate vs. ninja party, a trek down to the brooklyn waterfront with beer to chill out for awhile, vengeance for me, and sleeping. as my friend jamie put it, "with the amount of drinking we will be doing, it's inevitable that there will be sleeping...and let's not forget the sleeping together!." ah, friendcest is best. ;-)

good lord, i downloaded tizzletalk!

2005-07-04T12:31:00.000-07:00

tizzletalk is this weird translator thing for your instant messenger. you type your text in normally and it translates it into phrases from ebonics, nelly, jessica simpson, dubya, rednecks, engrish, etc. it's quite amusing, to say the least. here's some examples (i'm translating this text).

(Ebonics) tizzletalk be this weird translata thin fo' yo' instant messenger. y'alls type yo' text in normally an' it translates it into phrases from ebonics, son, nelly, dog, jessica simpson, son, dubya, dog, rednecks, son, engrish, son, etc. it's quite amusin, dog, to say tha least. here's some examples (i be translatin this text).

(Dubya) ti-tizzletalk ... is this weird tr-translator thin' for your ... instant me-messenger. you type your text in no-normally and it tr-translates it into phrases from ebonics -- I mean --nelly -- I think --jessica simpson -- I mean --dubya, rednecks, engrish, etc. it's quite amusin', to say the least... and tell Rumsfeld I'll up his budget if he can score me another line of Colombian pure, he he. here's some ex-examples (i'm tr-translating this text).Yee haw!

(Jessica Simpson) tizzletalk is like, ya know, this far out translator thin' for your instant messenger. you type your text in normally and... oh my god... it translates it into phrases from ebonics, oh, like nelly, like, wow jessica simpson, oh, like dubya, like rednecks, fer shure engrish, like etc...uhhh, what did i say? it's quite amusin', oh, like to say thuh least. here's some examples (i'm translatin' like, ya know, this text). Gag me with a SPOOOOON!

I think you get the point.

Tizzletalk.com

ah, summer

2005-07-01T19:49:00.000-07:00

i got a quadruple paycheck yesterday that has to last me until august 30th. for some reason the school fiscal year ends june 30th so they pay off everyone's contracts then. yeah, we're all on contracts. i re-signed mine in may thank goodness. anyway, the shitty thing is they take out insurance for august 30th too, so it's less money than usual. and of course i'm going on an expensive trip to new york in a couple weeks so i need all the cash i can get. oh well, i'll just try to live frugally (hah!).

only 2 more weeks until harry potter and the half-blood prince comes out!!! i'm getting very excited. and who do i think the HBP is? i'm relatively convinced it's professor lupin, but if it isn't him then i think it'll be a new character. i do think lupin will have a much bigger role in this book regardless, now that sirius is gone. plus harry doesn't trust/look up to dumbledore as much anymore, so lupin is the closest father figure he has. anyway, i'm rereading all the previous 5 books before the 6th comes out on the 16th. i'm currently on chamber of secrets which is probably my least favorite, but apparently has plot features that will be important to book 6. hmm... maybe it's all those references to werewolves? (*coughLUPINcough*)

florida pics

2005-06-27T13:16:00.000-07:00

i finally got around to sizing these and uploading them. click mr. crabby for various photos from ft. lauderdale.

and you thought the drama was over!

2005-06-26T12:51:00.000-07:00

actually this isn't all that bad, just slightly amusing. last night i went out to a bar to see my friend ron's band play. it was ron's last night in town before he moves to carlsbad (the poor schmuck). anyway the ex-boy's band was opening for ron's band, and i debated going but decided i couldn't let things like that determine my actions and went anyway. after ex-boy's band was finished, he stopped by and hugged me and spoke cheerfully to me, smiling a lot. i thought to myself "oh good, no drama, no hard feelings, this is good." i stayed and watched ron's band and afterwards went up to ron to give him a hug and say goodbye. the ex-boy came up to me and hugged me again and kissed my forehead and told me i should come to his show next weekend. i smiled and said maybe as he continued to hug me. i think he hugged me 4 or 5 times before i left the bar. then i get home, and at approximately 3am i get a text from you know who. here it is: "thanks for coming. hope you come next week. the offer is still opened if you want to come to hobbs with me tomorrow i come back on friday." *sigh* as andrea put it, "he forgot you dumped him again."

men of the world, hearken to my words: when tell someone i am breaking up with them, i mean it. this means a) i will NOT have random drunken hookups with you and b) i will NOT go on long trips with you and c) i do NOT appreciate drunken text messages at 3am hoping that i'll change my mind.

sheesh!

back to life as usual.

2005-06-24T11:31:00.000-07:00

and by life i should say lack thereof. but hey, it's summer, i don't have a job but still get paid until august, and i can wake up at any hour i choose. today i woke up at 9 and laid in bed until 11:30. isn't that special?

i'm slowing relieving my writer's block. usually it doesn't last this long but i think i put too much pressure on myself to be productive this summer instead of sitting around on my ass. i should have just enjoyed sitting on my ass and not worried about not writing.

nothing exciting is going on. i should write more about my woes with the opposite sex more often, because i had numerous people IM/email me about it. unfortunately there's nothing to update in my love life as of right now. trisha b.'s younger brother is in carlsbad all summer (blech) and that bartender dude who heather gave my number never called. perhaps he was waiting for the weekend? i truly doubt it. so now i'm back to square one, destined to be singled again for months. it's too bad that the one person interested in me didn't give me that zing that i'm looking for. the zing factor--it sucks. i want the zing!

oh dear.

2005-06-22T18:57:00.000-07:00

last night: chocolate, a forty of bud light, 25 hot wings shared with trisha, and some good bitching about who my perfect man would be (a cross between elijah wood and ewan mcgregor with a big dose of dorkiness thrown in for good measure).

then at 2:45, a few minutes after i called it a night, i get this text from the now ex-boy:

"no matter what i wanted to thank you for your warmth and compassion. and yes i am still thinking of you. i am home alone and wishing you were in bed with."

heh. translation: guilt trip, guilt trip, come sleep with me.

i rolled over and went back to bed.

go me.

well, i did it.

2005-06-21T18:54:00.000-07:00

i bit the bullet and called him. this is after he texted me and said he wanted me to go to hobbs with him for the next few days. i just had to get it over with. and i think he hung up on me too. i didn't do it in person because he was going to the bar and invited me along so i called him and told him i couldn't do this anymore and he didn't say much. i apologized a couple times and he didn't say anything really and then he said "well, i guess i'll talk to you later" and i said well i don't know if you'd still want me to go to the bar...and then i heard silence. so i'm not sure if he hung up on me or just hung up after he said talk to you later. oh well. i'm glad it's over and i feel like a big weight has been lifted off my chest. i just didn't want to lead him on and he was so much more interested in me than i was in him. so i'm single again. woohoo i guess.

mine eyes are killing me

2005-06-21T13:42:00.000-07:00

true to my newfound slacker style, i had a 12 hour Buffython yesterday with my friends trisha, seth and loren. yes, you read that right: 12 hours of nonstop buffy the vampire slayer, season 2. i'm a relatively new buffy fan, and other than seeing a few random shows here and there and knowing the general plotline thanks to my numerous buffy-addicted friends, i have never sat down to watch the series in order. i finished season one a few weeks ago and yesterday i finished season two. rock on with my slacker self.

but hey, watching buffy and killing brain cells is far more enticing than sitting around thinking about what a mess i made of this so-called relationship. the weird thing is, i don't feel guilty. i don't feel like i did anything uber wrong. and i've been nothing but honest about how i'm not sure about dating this guy. yet somehow this guy gets to me, makes me feel like i should be head over heels in love with him, but i'm not. he even tried pulling the "i love you" phrase the other night. i am absolutely not ready to hear that, and definitely don't believe for an instant that he truly loves me. he doesn't even know me. so yesterday i got some texts from him after checking my phone because he texted trisha AND seth about me. he's weird like that....he worries so much and it's just weird. i should have broken up with him the other night, but i told him the next morning that i don't know if i can do this. and i know i can't. i'm just not that into him, as that stupid book says. to me, the cons far outweigh the pros.

ain't life grand?

2005-06-20T11:49:00.000-07:00

so last night i go to the club with trisha and have a few drinks. we were upstairs when my so-called boy texts her and tells her he is also at the club. kelly's internal dialogue: "oh shit, oh shit." so i just get drunk and then go over to trisha's. she calls him and tells him to come over. he apologizes to me and then tells me he's being transferred to hobbs, NM. so what do i do? instead of just crying and breaking up with him like any sensible person would do, i take him home. to my place. kelly's internal dialogue: "idiot, idiot, idiot!" he is so into me, and i'm just not that interested in having a long distance relationship. he kept talking about how he'd drive down for the weekend, see me, his kids and his band and everything would be hunky dory. well, life doesn't work that way. so now i have to tell him i can't do this, and i'm not looking forward to it.

i need to stop dating people. see what happens? sheesh!

Song of the day: "No Surprises"--Radiohead

i am officially a sap.

2005-06-19T09:59:00.000-07:00

i cried at justin and trisha's wedding. i never thought i'd cry at a wedding, but i did. justin just looked so incredibly happy to be marrying trisha, and trisha looked so incredibly beautiful. the ceremony was nice and short for a catholic wedding, and everything was beautiful--the flowers, the bridesmaids, the groomsmen, the reception. we had a good time drinking and dancing, and i got to flirt with trisha's younger brother who i've always thought was cute. he used to have a girlfriend but i guess he broke up with her. score! ;) i don't know if he'd be interested but at least it's worth a try.

heather and niki also gave my phone number to one of the bartenders there--without my permission, i might add! i thought he was cute, but i didn't have the nerve to talk to him, especially after he winked at me. i think they're both just living vicariously through me since they're both in long term relationships and i'm single.

yes, i'm still single. friday night was awful. my so-called boy was supposed to go to the bachelor party and then head over to a bar to see a band. i found out he wasn't at the bachelor party so i called him. turns out he blew off the party for a bar. he then tells me i should come to the bar, so after convincing trisha r. to come with me and after getting cash from the atm, i pay my way into the bar and find him dancing at the front of the stage. so i go up to say hello to him, and he barely even looks at me before he turns around and starts dancing again. i stood there for a awhile, feeling like an idiot, before trisha said she was too hot and needed to sit down. so we sit at the edge of the dance floor. a few songs pass, and he still hadn't come to talk to me. he finally starts heading off to get a beer or pee or something and hugs me. i jokingly ask him if he's too busy staring at his friend's boobs to talk to me (his friend had taken off her shirt and was dancing in a bra). he doesn't say anything and walks away. i look for him, wanting to know what is going on, but i can't find him. i sit back down and a couple minutes later notice he is at the front of the stage again dancing. at that point i finally say something to trisha. i didn't want to overreact about the situation, but when i ask her about it she agrees that he is acting very strangely. i decide to go home, so after a song is over i tell him that i'm going home. he says "well, i'm here to see the band." and i say "well, i came to see you." he doesn't say anything, just looks at me with disappointed eyes, and so i leave. i go home and get rip-roaring drunk and cry about it (sap alert!) with trisha and loren. he then calls trisha and tells her there's a lot of shit going on and he's freaking out. that takes the cake for me, because i had the goddamn balls to tell him i was freaking out a couple weeks ago and we talked about it and resolved it and everything was ok, or so i thought. and yet he can't tell me he's freaking out? i just feel like if both of us are so nervous about this relationship and it's only the beginning, then why continue? neither of us are 100% behind it, so i think it's better to just throw in the towel. i want to feel comfortable with my boyfriend, and so far i haven't felt that way. i tried hard to rationalize it, but maybe this is a sign. sometimes things just don't work out.

but hey, i'm young and cute, right?

right?

oh yeah, i have a blog!

2005-06-15T12:22:00.000-07:00

well, uh, sorry about that long intermission. i had the end of the school year to deal with, and then a bunch of partying, and then a nice long week and a half vacation in ft. lauderdale to take up all my time. blogging just wasn't on my mind.

so let's see, what has happened since may 19th?

-i am kinda dating someone. he's a lot older than me but seems really nice and has been nothing but a gentleman towards me since day one. he even picked me up from the airport and had presents for me. presents! life is good.

-ft. lauderdale was frickin' awesome. pictures will be up as soon as i get my ass in gear and resize them. i can now say i have survived a tropical storm (Arlene) and have revived my dad after he passed out from heat exhaustion. i also snorkled and boogie-boarded, both of which were loads of fun once i got over the fear of stepping on squishy/sharp/potentially lethal things on the ocean floor and/or being drowned by massive waves.

-summer vacation is upon me, and i have no job-related duties until august 4th. fuck summer jobs! i will be spending my summer drinking margaritas, sitting by the pool, and attempting to write this book i've been meaning to write for the past 8 months. oh, and i have a trip to new york in about a month which should rock my world.

well, i'm sitting here thinking to myself "meh, i don't feel like typing any more drivel about myself" so i guess this is it for now. hopefully i'll find some motivation in the next week or two. hopefully...

the aftermath

2005-05-19T14:51:00.000-07:00

so somehow i am still alive and kicking after a week's worth of work with no sleep. the star wars line party was definitely entertaining, and i wish there was some more cool movies coming out so i could stand in line again. who'd have thought that standing in line could be so....fun?

anyway, back to regular life again. i was supposed to have a date tomorrow with the guy i went out with last week, but he hasn't called in the last couple of days so it's not looking too promising. i find it interesting that i'm not too crushed by that. he and i seem to have a lot in common on the surface, but i get this nagging feeling that we're not that great of a match. but who knows? i'll find a decent guy sometime...i'm not worried.

updates on family shite:

-my mom is doing better; her cyst is slowly shrinking and it looks like she won't need surgery.

-my grandmother is also doing better. she was relased from the hospital and put on some sort of heart medication and an aspirin regimen. the nexy day she was doing heavy housework--damn her! she'll never sit down to rest long enough for anything. but she seems fine so i guess it won't hurt her too much.

-my uncle had to have outpatient surgery on his arm where the little tube thingy goes in for his dialysis. it took 3 hours but turned out ok, which is definitely a good thing. overall he seems to be doing ok.

-my entire family made it through the shitty days of may 15-17 without any major catastrophes. both my mom and my sister took off monday and tuesday so that they could focus on being there for each other. my sister went to the cemetary by herself on the day of anna's death. she wanted to be there during the time it happened. from what i've heard about her and from the few times we've spoken, becky seems to be coping extremely well. let's just hope it's not an act covering up her true emotions.

i think that's about it for now. nothing too exciting going on in my life, and everything seems to be going well. i feel like i should be posting more star wars photos at this point but alas, there are no more. harry potter line party, anyone? ;-)

wow.

2005-05-19T10:20:00.000-07:00

Episode III rocked my world. The fighting sequences were awesome, and the story was really great. Parts of it left me speechless. I think it did a good job of explaining Anakin's story, but what really moved me was Obi Wan's story. As I've said before, Obi Wan is my favorite character, and what he has to go through during this film just absolutely broke my heart. And of course Ewan McGregor did an excellent job portraying him (though I might be a little biased since Ewan is one of my favorite actors). Anyway, if you are reading this get off your ass and go see them film while it is still in theaters. You won't be disappointed.

I won't give any spoilers away until after most of my friends have seen the film. So for now, here are some more pics from the line party. I've had 7 hours sleep in the last 72 hours because of this line party, but it was worth it. Click my badass self with a Vader helmet for more pics.

impressive.....most impressive

2005-05-16T18:16:00.000-07:00

so last night i didn't sleep and spent my time at a star wars line party drinking beer, playing with lightsabers, and talking about how obi wan is my favorite character. we had a blast standing in line for tickets, and we get to stand in line again on wednesday for the actual midnight showing. click on the badass lightsaber duel above for a shitload of pics from last night.

wake me up when may ends part III

2005-05-11T21:28:00.000-07:00

Just when you thought it couldn't get any worse.....

1. My mom has an ovarian cyst that may require surgery.

2. My grandmother went into the hospital this morning complaining of chest pains, shortness of breath and a numb left arm. She is being held overnight and will be going through stress tests tomorrow if she has enough strength.

I'm waiting for hellfire to fall from the sky, or lightning to strike me dead, or something equally befitting the shittiness of occurances that have happened so far to my family this month and this time last year.

In lighter news, I have a date on Friday. *gasp, surprise and alarm!* I'll write an update with more information after it's over. Keep your fingers crossed!

goblet of fire teaser poster

2005-05-06T20:02:00.000-07:00

i like it.

ah, new york memories

2005-05-05T21:23:00.000-07:00

i was digging through my journals tonight and found a bunch of quotes from a december 2000 trip to new york city. my mom, my sister and i had a great time while we were there, freezing our asses off at the john lennon memorial, shopping at macy's, being badgered by weird men on the subways. anyway, these might not make sense to anyone else, but i'm posting them anyway:

"You could say something silly like horsepoop."--Becky

"Does he have a lump in his pants?"--Mom

"She's as smart as a button, but she has no common sense."--Becky (describing Kelly)

"Oh look! I have the Nobel Prize Winner on my pants!"--Kelly (on Becky's comment)

"You bitch-ass ho."--guy on subway

"I always wondered why you can't wash suede, 'cause cows stand out in the rain."--Mom

"That's a Three Hundred Dollar Fifty fine!"--Mom

"Sheeit, man. I ain't got no tail, I can't get no women, I ain't got no home. Don't look at me like that cause I ain't got no tail, you crazy bitch-ass ho! Now, you can give me fruit, money; hell, you can even give me yo' tail!"--Becky and Kelly, describing the Tailless Squirrel's Subway Adventure

wake me up when may ends Part II

2005-05-04T18:01:00.000-07:00

i just got off the phone with my dad.

we talked for 40 minutes.

i don't think we've ever talked for that long.

we talked a lot about my mom and my sister. my sister finally admitted the other day that she feels more confortable talking to me via text messages than on the phone. when we're in person, it's not a big deal. she gets me up out of bed to shop, etc. but long distance, she is much better text messaging me. my dad and i were discussing this, and both thought it was better for me to acknowledge her preferences and text her rather than trying to talk to her.

what was even more interesting was my dad's insight into his own reactions to his grief. he told me he has noticed a "mid-life crisis" the past couple of years in his behavior. "no joy at work, no joy at home, nothing has been making me happy except my trips to a new environment in florida every few months." i've never heard my dad be so honest with me. i think it was partially because i was honest with him about my guilt for being so far away from everyone in my family during such a rough time. he says of course i shouldn't feel guilty, but of course i do. i just feel like i will never fully understand what it is like to have been there with anna--when things were going right for the family. becky annouced she was pregnant in january when i had already returned to new mexico. by may, anna had been born and died. i didn't come home until may 17th, the day of anna's death. i missed the whole thing! dad says he didn't have such a hard time with anna's death mainly because he wasn't a mother or grandmother. he said his only experience with her was the two days that she was alive, and all the drama that happened then. my experience was the drama by phone, the aftermath, and my life after that, which has been going so amazingly well. my life is great right now, nothing is really bothering me at all, and i think that's where i feel the guilt. i was able to move on, basically untouched by anna. the rest of my family will never be the same.

my dad is worried about our trip to ft. lauderdale in early june. anna died may 17th and becky refuses to go on vacation with the family in ft. lauderdale 2 weeks later. my mom seems to think abe will come over to the house while they're gone. dad worries that becky will hurt/kill herself during that time. i worry not for becky, but for everyone. i have been blessed with distance--i will survive. by will becky? will my mom? will my dad? it's not fair that my life should be so easy while theirs is so hard. i wish i could take away some of their pain--carry it as my burden so that they might have it easier. if only life worked that way--assuming someone's debts as your own. fuck what has happened to my family! i don't know how god could ever condone what s/he has done to them. it's just not fair (and before i get the jesus freaks saying "well, life's not fair, get over it" i just wanna say BAH! BAHHHHHH! and ARGH! and *sigh*).

wake me up when may ends

2005-05-02T08:49:00.000-07:00

so this is the worst month of the year for my family. it started out innocently enough last year with a great trip for my parents, sister, her boyfriend and our grandma down to ft. lauderdale. i still have a postcard on my fridge from them, all happy and having the time of their lives, and it's signed "Love, Mom, Dad, Grandma, Becky, Abe and ?" Two weeks later my sister's baby was dead.

i dunno what it's going to be like this year. one year anniversaries of senseless deaths are sure to be hard to bear. plus i dunno what to do about mother's day. becky IS a mother--a mother of a dead baby. do i honor her motherhood and get her something, or would that be too traumatic for her? i don't want to ignore the fact that she is a mother, something i've never gone through and can't even imagine what it's like. she has so much to teach me about strength and perserverance. *sigh* if it's this difficult for me, i can't even begin to fathom what it must be like for her, or for my parents.

i got my title for this post from green day's "wake me up when september ends":

Summer has come and passed
The innocent can never last
Wake me up when September ends
Like my father's come to pass
Seven years has gone so fast
Wake me up when September ends

Here comes the rain again
Falling from the stars
Drenched in my pain again
Becoming who we are

As my memory rests
But never forgets what I lost

Wake me up when September ends.

Change September to May, and father to niece, and there you go.

IEP should stand for Increasingly Evil Plan

2005-04-28T16:52:00.000-07:00

This has been the week from IEP (Individual Education Plan) hell. From Monday-Tuesday I had an IEP that lasted for 9.5 hours. That's a personal record for my employment so far. Yesterday I had another IEP that had an 8 page behavior intervention plan. Needless to say, the kid involved has some violent tendencies and he's only 4 years old. Then tomorrow I have another IEP at 8am with the father who likes to make all our lives a living hell, and actually prides himself on being able to say hurtful things to us. It takes all of my professional training not to slap him, and I'm not the only one who feels this way. And he does it on purpose. I am definitely not looking forward to tomorrow's meeting, and will definitely be drinking a beer afterwards.

On Monday I went to Walmart with Trisha and we each bought an exercise ball (which I'm sitting on right now) and a water bottle that came with a free pedomater. Since then we have gone on a walk everday and have averaged about 1.5 miles per walk. So far I've felt really good about walking, and it's nice to walk with someone because it's more fun--you can have a conversation and the time goes by much faster. I also like using the pedometer because it gives me an incentive to walk farther and track my progress. I am hoping that walking everyday will help me lose some inches around my hips and belly. I've already lost about 3 pounds from changing my diet to include more fruits and veggies, so with walking I should be on track to becoming more healthy. We'll see how long it lasts, but so far so good.

housewarming madness

2005-04-24T12:26:00.000-07:00

so last night i made a set of awesome appetizers and had a mini housewarming for niki, seth, trisha r, loren and his friend matt. we stuffed ourselves with good food and drank vodka gimlets and miller high life. life was good.

after some drunken dancing we decided to go steppin' to our other friends' house. it was trisha w's birthday and heather had brought her a minnie mouse pinata for her bashing-with-a-stick pleasure. well, seth and loren got the genius idea to add a little "spark" to the pinata hitting.......

click on flaming minnie for more pics of the hilarity that was last night's revelries.

the toupee of doom

2005-04-20T11:36:00.000-07:00

yesterday, during a mindnumbingly boring training i had to sit through all day, i had the privilege (or horror) of sitting behind a man who had the worst toupee i've ever witnessed. the man himself had typical male pattern baldness and dark brown hair. however, for some ungodly reason he had chosen his hairpiece to be brown with red and gold highlights. the piece itself looked like a child had gotten ahold of some safety scissors and chopped off a dark-haired Barbie's locks, scalped her, and then took a gluestick and attached it crookedly to the man's head. the majority of the "hairs" were short and uneven. however, in a desperate attempt to be "cool" or look "younger," the man had chosen to leave a fringe of bangs approximately 2-3 inches long and arranged like feathers across his forehead. and in the back (oh, god!) his baldness was longer than the hairpiece, so in a repulsive attempt to cover the bald spot the man had kept another set of 3 inch hairs, plastered frighteningly to his real hair. bits of the longer hair had fallen out and were resting on his shoulders. i tried very hard not to stare, but like all horrific car accidents and grossly deformed humans, it was impossible to look away.

OWNED!

2005-04-18T12:51:00.000-07:00

i don't know how i did it, but i just made minath titish even funnier.

this conversation was about my AIM icon, and I was trying to say I should make an AIM icon that says "i love minath titish." once again, my typos are too damn funny:

Andrea: not like you have anything else to do
Kelly: hehe
Andrea: besides sneer furrily
Kelly: hehe
Kelly: that still makes me laugh
Kelly: i need to make one that says I LOBE MINATH TITISH
Andrea: LOBE!!!
Andrea: OH MY GOD!
Andrea: LOBE!!!
Andrea: KELLY!
Andrea: you've tobbed MINATH TITISH!
Andrea: topped!!!
Andrea: IT GOT FUNNIER!!!
Kelly: HAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAH
Kelly: i loled
Andrea: just when it wasn't possible
Kelly: then
Kelly: i TOBBED it?
Andrea: me too
Andrea: :-)
Andrea: hahahahhahahahah
Andrea: you so have to blog that
Kelly: I’m crying
Andrea: day 3583583558
Kelly: hahah blogging
Kelly: topped
Kelly: owned!

a'movin' and a'shakin'

2005-04-12T19:42:00.000-07:00

i am writing this from my brand-spankin-new condo. i think it's hilarious that this place is called a condo. it's just an apartment. but oh well! anywayssss, it's cleaned up all nice and everything seems to be in working order. today i moved most of my boxed stuff. tomorrow my friends trisha and seth are gonna help me move my furniture and washer and dryer. that should be loads of fun. then all i have to move are my clothes, food and various odds and ends that somehow escaped being packed.

anyone who wants to help me move my furniture tomorrow around 3-ish is more than welcome to help. i'll even buy you beer. i love the barter system!

i'm packt like sardines in a crushd tin box

2005-04-11T14:17:00.000-07:00

props to anyone who can name that band (it isn't hard now, is it?).

so i finally got my packin' going on and somehow boxed up everything but my kitchen stuff in 2 days. i should start my own moving business. i am slightly disturbed by the amount of paper that i hoarde like a packrat for no apparent reason. i think it multiplies while i'm asleep or something. this afternoon i'm tackling the kitchen, which is always a blast [/sarcasm]. then tomorrow i get my keys and i'll probably start taking over random boxes etc. on wednesday trisha is going to help me move my furniture--yay for friends with trucks! i'm buying her alcohol for her troubles. in fact, i will buy alcohol for anyone who helps me move on wednesday.

does anyone else feel robbed about the charges the utility companies charge you for simply switching over your utilities? i mean come on, it doesn't cost $26.50 to turn on my electric at another place. but alas, there's not really much i can do about it, so i just gotta pay it. fuckers.

i just realized this isn't a very happy post, so i think i'm gonna quit while i'm behind and go eat some chocolate. chocolate makes everything better.

i got the summer job!

2005-04-08T14:34:00.000-07:00

woohoo! i am very excited. looks like i'll be working a lot this summer, which means i'll have lots of money! score!

i went and looked at my apartment today and took a bunch of photos of it. it's still being painted and cleaned, but it looks nice. i am excited about moving in. i am NOT excited about packing. someone needs to come light a fire under my ass so i'll actually start packing instead of just sitting here thinking about it.

gandalf found a home!

2005-04-08T02:06:00.000-07:00

yay! i put up some awesome fliers (with the help of my friend andrea) and gandalf finally found a home! a friend of a person i work with was looking for a kitty to be friends with the cat she already had, and gandalf was perfect! i am very excited that i was able to find a home for him.

now patrick owes me $5. ;-) actually, i'd be happy if patty would let me borrow his cds.

How a Pope is Chosen

2005-04-05T20:01:00.000-07:00

Jon Stewart: The system for electing a new pope has been called the oldest political process in the world. Can you help the audience understand it please?

Stephen Colbert: Well, Jon, next week the College of Cardinals will assemble in the Sistine Chapel. What exactly goes on there is shrouded in mystery. To help you understand, let's say that this is the church. And this part right here is the steeple. Now if at this point, you were to open the doors, what you might see is all the people. In this case the cardinals, the princes of the church. Now, they wiggle around for a while until they choose a new pope. The process can be extremely slow. In fact, some have likened this process to that of an itsy bitsy spider who crawls up the Vatican water spout while the world watches.

brilliant.

well, i finally broke down and got one

2005-04-04T17:46:00.000-07:00

yes, i now own an iPod mini. in pink. yes, in pink. i've been ripping all my cds to my comp so i can start putting music on it. i just discovered that i am missing a huge chunk of my cds, but i think they might be over at kelly, patrick and josh's house (i hope). it's not like i have that much music to being with. i think i'll just borrow all my friends' cds and rip them. so, in the long run, this will save me money. don't you love my reasoning?

anyway, patty if you read this, i need to borrow like all of your cds, since you have better taste in music than i do (or at least buy way more music than i do).

i am exhausted.

2005-04-01T18:51:00.000-08:00

i had one of those weeks where i was going going going constantly. i even had work to take home every night except tonight (thank goodness). anyway, i am certainly glad this week is over. my 90 minute presentation on teaching social skills to developmentally delayed and autistic preschoolers went really well. the teachers were very excited about the material and strategies i presented, and some even told me they were going to start implementing it in class on monday. that usually never happens, so it's validating to hear they liked my presenation that much. my interview with the city rec program went well too. i was slightly shocked that i was interviewed by a committee for a job that pays something like $7.25/hour. they asked me lots of supervisory questions, but i answered them pretty well i guess. i also had to take a written test. they were quite impressed with my work experience, so that is definitely a plus. i felt like i put my best foot forward, so now it's up to the powers that be to decide whether i get it or not. like i said before, i won't be crushed if they don't hire me, but it would be fun to have something to do to pass the time this summer.

i guess i should update this

2005-03-29T11:37:00.000-08:00

i would have updated earlier, but honestly, there is nothing exciting going on in my life. my spring break was filled with reading crappy books that seth's mom gave me, chatting online with old college buddies, and sleeping. i only drank on the two saturdays of break. i cleaned my house one day. i did dishes. i wrote a bit. that is really about it. boring, huh? it was actually nice to have nothing to do for awhile, but i have a feeling if i had to do that for more than a couple weeks i'd be tearing my hair out. that is why i am hoping that i will get this summer job at the rec program. i have an interview on friday, but i'm not sure they'll hire me given that i will be out of town june 4-12 in ft. lauderdale and july 19-26 in new york. i'm not too worried about it though. my school job pays me year round--the only reason i'd get a summer job is to pass the time.

so i've had a lot of time on my hands

2005-03-22T17:41:00.000-08:00

aren't you glad i spent it wisely?

today is world water day

2005-03-22T10:31:00.000-08:00

World Water Day

everybody shower together to conserve water!

spring breakdown

2005-03-21T17:39:00.000-08:00

so i have done nothing in the past 3 days except get drunk, party and lay around the house. it's been great. i may not make a lot of money at my job, but damn i love the hours and the numerous breaks throughout the school year--not the mention the nearly 3 months of time off in the summer! woohoo!

saturday night we finally had our semi formal. i rocked a long black dress with 4 inch rhinestone heels that killed my feet until i switched to my black canvas flip flops. oh yeah, it was hot. somehow i pinned my hair up all kickass, but if i ever have to do it again i'll have no idea where to begin.

the food we made was frickin' awesome. for some reason seth, niki and trisha wanted to have an asian themed party, so we made thai eggrolls, chinese pork eggrolls, green chile wontons, sushi, and i marinated some chicken with asian spices. everything tasted great--even the sushi. it was the first time for me to roll sushi and i had a lot of fun making it. and my chicken turned out really good as well.

seth, niki and trisha all bought those disposable cameras (which i love by the way) and i convinced them to get the photo cd when they develop them, so hopefully i will be able to upload some photos of the party sometime soon. it will be interesting to see how i look toward the end of the night. i drank a shitload of sangria, lava cinnamon schnapps and vodka jello shots. life was good.

i think i just coined a new phrase

2005-03-18T18:37:00.000-08:00

freudian typo: when one makes a "freudian slip" whilst typing.

my freudian typo today:

Andrea: and 'limber
Kelly: oooh
Kelly: limber
Kelly: he doesnt look very limpber now
Kelly: limp hahahaha
Andrea: hang on.
Andrea: HAHAHAHHAHAHAHAH
Andrea: ok
Andrea: im better now
Kelly: omg
Kelly: that was such a freudian typo

Edit: i just defined it at urban dictionary. rock.

it's a sad, sad day for our environment

2005-03-16T11:28:00.000-08:00

Senate Votes to Allow Arctic Oil Drilling

The funny thing is, I caught part of Bush's press conference earlier today, and he was bullshitting about how we need to move forward and find new energy sources so that we don't have to rely on oil. What a fucking hypocrite.

*angry*

apparently i rock at my job

2005-03-15T17:59:00.000-08:00

so i get this note on my desk from one of only two behavior specialists in the district: "kelly, i heard you did some great things with a student out at desert hills, can i come observe you in the classroom?" confused, i go to my colleague and LISW supervisor, marsha, and tell her about the note. marsha says "yes, the word is out. apparently the district is extremely pleased at what you've accomplished in such a short amount of time. they really like your approach to working with students and supporting teachers in the classroom instead of pulling them out of the environment." i sat there flabbergasted for awhile. i mean, i knew i was doing a decent job, but apparently i am actually doing a kickass one. marsha continued and told me that the district is wanting to have all social workers move towards my model of service (!) and thus that is why the behavior specialist wanted to see what i was doing in the classroom. the funny thing is, circumstances beyond my control were the reason i had to stay in the classroom instead of pulling my kiddos out. i just had to work with what was given to me, and i guess i did something amazing with it. i feel pretty validated right now, though still a bit surprised that i rock as a social worker. apparently i chose the right career path...

I heart Photoshop!

2005-03-14T20:29:00.000-08:00

look mommy, i made this all by myself! *so proud, so very proud*

happy birthday toooo meeee

2005-03-13T11:39:00.000-08:00

i'm officially 26 now. i hate it when people ask "do you feel older now?" to me, age is just a number. i know a lot of people who are younger than me who are very mature, despite their age. conversely, i also know numerous people older than me who act like they're still in high school. i remember when i was 20 i dated this guy who was five years older than me, but he acted like a 17 year old. needless to say, the relationship didn't last long.

anyway, i didn't do too much last night for my birthday. i had a headache and stomachache starting out. i think my birth control pills are fucking my hormones up and making me sick. but to be positive at least i won't be doubled over in pain once a month anymore. getting back on topic, i went over to justin's for awhile. they had all been drinking since the afternoon so i felt out of place. plus i never feel like i can be myself there anymore. so i ended up going out with heather and jeremy to watch jeremy's band play in butt-fuck new mexico, also known as radium springs. it's about 15 miles north of cruces. i had a decent time, and the band found out it was my birthday and played a dave matthews song for me--'jimi thing' from under the table and dreaming.

heather and i sat off at a table to the side because we didn't feel like dealing with the sorority chicks showing off on the dance floor. however, we didn't go unnoticed. about an hour after we sat down, this guy comes ambling up to our table and proceeds to sit as close to me as physically possible without sitting on top of me. i scoot my ass over and he leans on me, so i glance at heather. later we corroborated that we were both thinking the exact same thing: the guy wasn't bad looking, but once he opens his mouth he better have something intelligent to say or he was out of there. well, he sat there staring at us for a couple of minutes, and finally slurred a question about the reason we were sitting alone. he reeked of beer. we shrugged him off, but later he came back and tried to hit on me in particular. [rant]why--WHY--can't decent, intelligent, normal guys like me? why must i always attract the self-loving (or -loathing, depending on the mood), the drunks, the potheads? is it too much to ask for a guy who isn't just out for a piece of ass? now don't get me wrong, i like ass just as much as the next girl, but it would be nice sometime to meet someone who appreciates me for me, and not just for my booty. [/rant]

my parents gave me money for my birthday, and i'm getting a digital camera with it. welcome to the 21st century, kelly. it'll come in handy during my ft. lauderdale and new york trips this summer.

so today i'm just gonna do a shitload of nothing. seth is supposed to call me later so maybe i'll hang out over there. if not,hell, it's my birthday and i can be lazy if i want to.

bad kelly

2005-03-12T11:01:00.000-08:00

bad kelly ate bacon last night. i've been trying to go back to being veggie for the last week or so. but alas, last night i had homemade macaroni and cheese that was made with cream, spinach, cheese, onions and bacon. and damn it was good. i have a feeling i won't be as strict with myself as when i was vegetarian before. for all those years i didn't even eat gelatin. but i think it'll be healthier for me to eat veggie again--less fat, more vegetables can't be wrong. and maybe i'll stay skinny then.

trisha was the one who made the glorious mac and cheese. we made that, and i got a veggie pizza, and we went to hastings and got a couple of movies and then proceeded to get drunk and watch jimmy fallon in taxi. it was a stupid movie, but we still laughed anyway. i was drinking young's double chocolate stout and it was pretty good. i'm sure the amount of calories in one pint of it equaled my entire caloric intake for the day, but who cares? this is my birthday weekend, i can have fun if i want.

tomorrow i'll be 26. in some ways that makes me feel old--you know, being in the mid to late 20's just seems older for some reason. but at the same time i still feel young and irresponsible. i look back to my parents at my age, and they already had a 4 year old and a 1 year old to take care of. and me? well, i have cats. i mean, i guess in some ways i'm responsible and independent since i have lived away from my parents for 7 years now, have a bachelor's and master's degree, and also moved 1200 miles away to a place where i essentially knew no one and somehow survived. but, i guess i just feel like i'm stuck in a rut. there's no one down here for me to date, so at the rate i'm going it'll be years before i can even think about settling down and having a family. i'm still not 100% sure i want to have children at this time, but i'd like to keep my options open. i also don't know where i want to live in the next few years. i'll probably stick around here for a couple years...but then what? where do i go? i'm a wanderer, a nomad without a true home except within myself. i guess i'll just wait and see where the wind blows me.

miscellaneous news

2005-03-08T21:44:00.000-08:00

i just realized i haven't posted much about myself recently. i kinda got into a pattern of posting random funny things that i came across and that i'm sure no one finds funny except for me. so here's what i've been up to recently:

-work is work is work. it's IEP season (individual education plan). IEPs either take a half hour when the parents and teachers and ancilliary staff agree on everything, or they can go for hours into more hours where you just want to scream. i will be having a screaming IEP next friday, the day before spring break. needless to say i'll probably get drunk that night.
besides IEPs, nothing too exciting is happening. i get to go on a field trip to the el paso zoo on thursday. my job amuses me because i can go from horrible meetings or paperwork to playing in the sandbox all in one day. i am always glad when my day is filled with more sandbox time than meeting time.

-my sister has been having chest pains for 2 days straight now. actually, she's been having chest pains off and on for about 6 months. no one can figure out what is wrong. she's been to 3 doctors and two of them think it's probably stress. i say no wonder--i mean she lost her baby may 17th, she lost her job a couple weeks later, she lost her boyfriend to anger-blame-land a couple weeks after that--who wouldn't be stressed? have you ever met someone who you wish you could take all their pain away for them? i'd do it in a heartbeat for her. i remember when anna died she asked me "when is god going to be nice to me?" i say now "god, what the fuck is wrong with you? let her be happy for christ's sake."

-my cell phone finally bit the dust today. it's been threatening to for awhile now. it's never really worked right since the Swimming Pool Fiasco of 2004. for one thing, i never had keytones. i also couldn't turn off my phone unless i pressed the power key 6 or 7 times. but recently it had just been turning off on its own, regardless of whether it was just sitting there or whether i was trying to text someone. then today, no more turny on. so i went and got a new phone, which isn't amazing but is a step up from what i had. i didn't want all the fancy shit like a camera or anything.

-i've been spending a lot of time with seth and niki and trisha. i think they are some of the best friends i've made in new mexico. i really feel like i can be myself around them at all times. i can be as dorky as hell and it doesn't matter to them. i can sing off-key, i can dance horribly, i can say something idiotic but it's all good. it's just nice to feel accepted for who i am and to feel comfortable around others. plus, all three know a lot of my history--the shit with josh, my life before new mexico, my struggles with depression--and they are nonjudgmental. it's great to finally meet people who can do for me what i've done for others, namely listen and support. ooh, i sounded pompous there, didn't i? i didn't mean it like that--it's just that a lot of people come to me for advice and i always try to listen and help. now i've found some friends down here with whom i feel comfortable discussing my dirty laundry.

phew! that's half a novel right there! i can't think of anything else off the top of my head, so i guess that's all folks.

minimum wage is a farce.

2005-03-08T21:18:00.000-08:00

Senate Defeats Minimum Wage Increase

you know, i lobbied for a minimum wage increase a few years ago when i was younger and not so jaded as i am now. i think the best idea i had, but never came to fruition(which i am sure others have had as well, or have even done) was to have each senator work for minimum wage for one month, without access to any of his/her own assets. some lucky ones may get access to a car, some must take public transportation or, hell, walk. all must live in apartments or homes that one who is working for minimum wage could afford (which isn't much of course) and must also budget for food, clothing, healthcare (ha!) etc. without help from accountants or Quicken or any other such tools. the senator would also have to take into account his/her family's needs. i especially wanted to have each senator be a single parent, maybe working 2 jobs, trying to find child care, etc. of course, the experiences would probably be skewed due to the (most likely) higher average intelligence or educational level of the senators as compared to those working for minimum wage, not to mention the supposed lack of physical abuse, drug abuse, or mental illness that is common in lower-income families. however, i still think it might be quite the eye-opener for some senators--though i highly doubt any would actually volunteer to be a part of such a thing. anyway, my point is please call or email your senator and try to get them to realize the hardships that those working for minimum wage experience every day. it hasn't been raised since 1996 people! that's insane!

HBP cover released!

2005-03-08T10:00:00.000-08:00

check it out

looks like harry and dumbledore are looking into dumbledore's pensieve.

annnnnnd.....DD doesn't have a wand! wandless magic, anyone?

we have lupin doing wandless magic cupping flames in his hand, harry using the lumos spell with his wand feet away from him, dumbledore in the movie stopping harry from falling without a wand....and now this. i'm sure there are other examples but i can't think of any more off the top of my head.

speaking of dumbledore stopping harry...."he like, stopped you with his mind or something".....go check out Prisoner of Azkaban in 15 Minutes. i love the running porn theme throughout it.

what i want to see happen at the washu NYC reunion 2005

2005-03-07T12:08:00.000-08:00

helen needs to blow something

mary and i have to do our classic pose

this looks like fun

somebody needs to get some ass

it'd be nice to have a hot tub

pissing on SUVs

beastiality (are we gonna talk about the worst kinds of porn again?)

breakfast shots

or maybe car bombs for breakfast (don't forget your bib!)

...and drinking, lots of drinking

if the oliphaunt is a'rockin'

2005-03-07T08:35:00.000-08:00

in 1 week i will have the new photoshop on this computer. watch out world....

drunken dialing

2005-03-06T00:26:00.000-08:00

tonight everyone came over to my place and drank and played board games and card games. it was weird, because i've never had that many people at my house at one time before. i'm just not the party person--i always go over to other people's places to hang out. in fact, i was surprised that anyone would want to hang out at my place to begin with. i mean, it's not that big, plus i don't have a lot of furniture, plus i have annoying cats, and i don't have a great sound system to blast music from (and i don't own much music either). however, it seemed like everyone had a great time, so i guess that's good. we started out playing 'golf' and 'asshole,' which any person who drank in college should know about. then we played mad gab and catch phrase, which were a lot of fun.

however, i can't wait until i move into my new place. it's just nicer than here, and it has a pool that will definitely come in handy once summer begins. i'm really anxious to get out of this place. i'm tired of all the crappy wiring and cold walls. not to mention the fact that it's raining again and i'm nervous...again....

but, i leave you with this most lovely picture, because it made me smile (thanks andrea)

you must be this tall to ride a hobbit

i bring you: PIP FOO

2005-03-05T11:20:00.000-08:00

my new glasses

2005-03-04T10:09:00.003-08:00

i am a big dorkfish.

the cod squad

2005-03-02T16:42:00.000-08:00

my thoughts exactly.

not much going on here. i went to the doctor yesterday to have blood drawn because there's a chance i may have hypothyroidism, but i'm not too worried. i should find out the test results in the next couple of days.

besides that, it's just work and boredom. i have a 2 day training tomorrow and friday. i don't even remember what it's about--i've had so many trainings recently i can't keep them all straight. this week has gone by really fast, and i hope the next two weeks do as well, because then i'll be on spring break. yay for school jobs. oh, and my birthday is coming up next weekend. i'm gonna be ollllld.

will the badgers ever end?

2005-02-28T19:08:00.000-08:00

i don't think so.

presents....PRESENTS!

visual effects: movie magic

2005-02-27T18:54:00.000-08:00

andrea and i were discussing the visual effects oscar--the dude who won said he was glad there wasn't a 4th LOTR this year:

Andrea: yeah , 2 visual effects shots in fotr, 855 shots in tt, 53853885835 shots in rotk, 5t833585388528378257852975895785578253 shots in the hobbit
Andrea: hello special effects
Kelly: hahahahah
Kelly: actually the hobbit shouldn’t have as many
Kelly: only the dragon
Andrea: the actors won't even have to be there
Andrea: :-)
Kelly: hahaha
Kelly: lots of dwarves in the hobbit
Andrea: ooh i wonder if they could do my computerized self having sex with compurizerized legolas
Kelly: hahahhahaahahahahhaa
Kelly: ON AN OLIPHAUNT!
Andrea: ooohhhh
Andrea: in the little cabana on it
Kelly: HHAHAHAHAAH
Andrea: 'if the oliphaunt is a rockin, dont' come a attackin'
Kelly: omgferiwuty92y9hkfjdhks
Andrea: 'wanna slide down its trunk?'
Andrea: hmm how do you pronounce that?
Kelly: its pronounced i'm laughing too hard to type
Andrea: i might need a crib sheet
Andrea: oh
Andrea: :-)
Kelly: i loled

speaking of funny shit--it's Day 11, and "i love minath titish" is still funny. word.

great game, cecil!

2005-02-27T13:12:00.000-08:00

yesterday was a very fun day. seth and loren and ron and niki and trisha and i went biking on campus for a couple of hours. i don't own a bike so i rode loren's BMX and it was awesome. i even learned how to ride down stairs--yes, i know it's not all that cool, but at least i learned something new. and i didn't even fall.

afterwards we were all tired and hungry so we went to bennigans and then bought the board game 'balderdash' and played all night. i can't remember the last time i laughed so hard. sometimes we would try to write serious answers, but most of the time they were totally ridiculous. by the end of the night, we were all taking various facts or previous answers and putting them all together, regardless of what the question asked. the answers usually included a half-blind, sexually abused goat by the name of 'ol' blindy,' a travelling marmoset, a pile of hot magma that cannot be stopped or detained in the state of california, a retarded boy named Cecil who plays baseball and is "skilled in the art of timber," Frank Silver, writer of "Yes, We Have No Bananas" and jock strap connosieur, and the afterlife experiences of Floppy the Goldfish after being flushed down the toilet (he was eaten by Cecil--"great game, floppy!"). And everyone, including the goat and Loren, was "the cow." my stomach muscles still hurt today from laughing so much.

possibly my favorite badger toon yet

2005-02-25T11:48:00.000-08:00

badgers do Euro 2004

ever have one of those road trips that never ends?

2005-02-24T19:08:00.000-08:00

i just had one of those. it finally ended last night, which is good because i was ready to shoot somebody. i was up in roswell (ros-hell) for a seminar on social stories which ended up being quite good and well worth the trip up there. however, the trip back was a nightmare. normally it takes right around 3 hours to drive back to cruces from roswell. last night it took us 6.5 fucking hours. now 6.5 hours of fucking--sore but satisfied. 6.5 fucking hours with someone who is slowly driving you insane--i'd rather have each of my teeth wrenched out of my mouth without anesthetic. it started out innocently enough. we made decent time to ruidoso, although my coworker was ceaslessly yapping about random shit and kept slowing down and swerving on the road because she wasn't paying attention to what she was doing. i'd say it took us about 20 minutes longer than it should have to get to ruidoso. now ruidoso is 2 hours and about 100-120 miles from las cruces. it's up in the mountains and really pretty for the most part. this evening, however, i really just wanted to stop, eat, and get home as quickly as possible because i was dead tired. however, my corworker insisted that we stop for gas at this podunk old gas station. i tried to reason with her that we had only spent 1/4 of a tank of gas getting to roswell and back to ruidoso, and that since we had to leave the company car full of gas when we returned, it would be prudent to just fill up once we got to las cruces. of course she didn't listen and proceeded to fill up the tank at this old gas station that didn't have the 'pay at the pump' feature. i had suggested going to a newer station, but she declined. i remained in the car as she went in with one of the 2 company gas cards we were given for the trip. it was slowly getting cold as the sun sunk below the peaks of the surrounding mountains. i waited a good 20 minutes, thinking she had gone to use the restroom. she finally returned and i breathed a sigh of relief until she opened the door and told me that the credit card had been declined and that she needed to call the emergency numbers for the school transportation department. i offered to pay for the gas, which was only something like $10, but she refused to listen. FORTY FIVE MINUTES LATER, after a useless phone call to the department where they said there was nothing they could do and that they couldnt authorize us to use our own money and guarantee that we'd be reimbursed, the clerk finally said he'd just use the old paper credit card process. ok, so now we had just spent 1 hour and 5 minutes in ruidoso doing absolutely fucking nothing and getting nowhere. as we get in the car, my coworker cheerfully says "next time i guess we'll to go a pay at the pump one!" and laughed. argh. so then she decided she wanted to eat at the inn of the mountain gods, which is slightly outside of ruidoso and along the way home. i thought sure, i was hungry and hopefully it'd be fast service. she gets lost going up there and then has to turn around not once, but 3 times as she kept missing the clearly marked turnoff that i kept pointing out to her. we finally get to our destination only to find out that it was closed for renovations. she decides instead of heading to alamogordo 50 miles towards home and eating there, that it would be better to head further away from las cruces, back to ruidoso to eat dinner. she takes a winding back road and we finally reach ruidoso. we find a place to eat and order our food. she kept talking about spending the night in ruidoso but i was adamant that we get home because i had my work evaluation at 8 this morning and missing that would be a bad idea. so we eat our food and leave. i didn't breathe a sigh of relief as we left ruidoso because i was afraid if i did so, our car would break down or we'd get a speeding ticket or something would happen and we'd never, ever leave. however, we made it out safely and as she swerved and talked, i allowed myself to hope against hope that we might make it home alive. we only had 2 hours to go. honestly....120 miles max=2 hours. well, not to crazy speed up swerve offroad then slow down and crawl along median driver. i wish i could have driven, but i hadn't been put on the order so i wasn't able to. if i had driven, it would have taken 1.5 hours to get home. instead it took 3. three hours of mindless chatter. my coworker has the annoying habit of going "here we go here we go here we go yahyahyah here we go" when turning corners. she also likes to hum to herself off-key. she also tells stories with so many side remarks about things that don't have any connection to the story that it drives you mad. i also had to listen to a 30 minute discussion on how good it feels to breast feed. yes, i timed it. we almost ran into a bunch of orange cones once because she swerved so forcefully, but we made it through. finally, after 3 hours, we made it back to las cruces. we then had to stop and get gasoline because the car had to be filled before we left it in the lot. that done, we headed to the lot, switched out everything into my car, and i drove her home. when she was finally to her door, i took a deep breath and drove away. i realized i had been clenching my jaw for the last 5 hours or so and i was knackered. it's really tiring to be cheerful and friendly when you just feel like screaming. anyway, once i made it home i dragged my luggage inside, quickly changed into pajamas, and fell exhausted into bed.

next time, i'm driving.

i'm moving.

2005-02-21T20:12:00.000-08:00

yup, i'm getting my ass out of this leaky old bomb shelter and moving down the road. i decided i had had enough of living in cinder block houses, so i'm moving into a stucco apartment (well, they say they're condos, but they're just nice apartments). it's pretty nice and not any more expensive than what i'm paying now. plus i don't have to pay water or gas--just electric. it's pretty roomy with decent storage and washer/dryer connections and a fireplace and a wet bar and a patio and good fixtures. and the complex has a pool. and it's literally right next door to where seth, niki and trisha live, which means i won't have to sober up anymore before driving home--instead i can just stumble a half block to my own place. seth was excited about me moving there because he wants to sit by the pool and drink margaritas all summer. i am definitely down for that.

i'm going to NYC!

2005-02-19T09:43:00.000-08:00

july 19-26! woohoo!

I got a ticket through american for only $227. yeah, that sounds like a lot, but anything under $300 from el paso's shitty airport is a great deal. i'm so excited!

some of that time will be spent hanging out with andrea in jersey. by then she's hoping to have a new job and new crib in bayonne. then from thursday through sunday or so i'll be hanging out in brooklyn (BK!) with my friends mary, jason, jon, sarah, evan and whoever else decides to show up. mary lives in manhattan and jason and jon (aka harry pot) live in BK. i'm also trying to get the lords of the rhymes to play a show during that time. mary says she's down to see them if they play. plus we're gonna go to central park and some other places while we're there. not to mention the crazy parties we'll have. i think NYC might even be better than the Dallas reunion from '04.....which means maybe i'll get some bootay.....woohoo!

i'm a musical learner--imagine that.

2005-02-17T10:18:00.000-08:00

this is just a silly quiz i took here. here's my results:

Musical/Rhythmic

100%

Verbal/Linguistic

96%

Intrapersonal

82%

Visual/Spatial

79%

Bodily/Kinesthetic

54%

Interpersonal

50%

Logical/Mathematical

46%

The Rogers Indicator of Multiple Intelligences
created with QuizFarm.com

sometimes my typos are too damn funny.

2005-02-16T20:08:00.000-08:00

Andrea: I’m watching Return of the King: EE
Andrea: oops there goes minas tirith
Kelly: hahahaha
Andrea: i havne't heard "dom?", "yes billy?" "i love minas tirith"
Andrea: ooh gandalf beat denethor
Andrea: that was cool
Kelly: wait
Kelly: no "i love minath titish?"
Andrea: hang on i have to die now
Andrea: HAHAHHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHAHA
Andrea: titish!
Andrea: hahahahhahahahahha
Kelly: ooh sorry typoHAAHAHAHAHAHAHHAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Andrea: hahahhahaha
Andrea: yes
Andrea: if you look at it
Andrea: from the top..
Andrea: it is shaped like one
Kelly: i just noticed!
Kelly: AHAHAHHAHAHAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Kelly: andrea?
Andrea: yes?
Kelly: i love minath titish
Andrea: oh shut it
Kelly: hhaahahhaahha
Andrea: i'm lol'ing

labor day 2004

2005-02-14T18:52:00.000-08:00

here are some pics from my last get-together with my wash u buddies last summer. we were in dallas, and had no money because we had spent it all on travel, hence the miniature golf and cowboy hat fun. i have decided that redheads look awful cowboy hats...all redheads, not just me. yeah. that's it.

valentine's day is for pussies.

2005-02-14T14:20:00.000-08:00

did i just say that?

*shrug* actually, the one thing valentine's day is good for is reminding me that i have been without a significant other for years now. joy.

at least candy will be 50% off tomorrow and i can drown my bitterness in bittersweet chocolate.

actually, i had fun at the valentine's day party in one of my preschool classes. the kids made those little boxes covered in construction paper hearts to hold their valentines, and then they all ate cheese and fruit and other snacks. the teacher and i danced to the macarena song and the kids would crack up every time we wiggled our butts during the "heyyyyy macarena!" bit. and i got all kinds of hugs and kisses from them. little kiddos make me happy even when i'm trying to be bitter about being single.

i got a great card from andrea. it shows a lady looking at a marble sculpture of two lovers entwined in a kiss, and on the inside it says "valentine's day can make you feel like everybody is getting some but you." i sent her a picture of orlando bloom with the caption "i thought you would like some eye candy for valentine's day." hey, at least we poor, pathetic single chicks can laugh about v-day.

ringringringringringringring BANANAPHONE!

2005-02-13T18:15:00.000-08:00

these things never cease to crack my shit up

the original banana phone--cellular, modular, interactive-odular!

the badgers strike back: with banana phones

i fixed my laptop!

2005-02-12T18:21:00.000-08:00

yay!!!

the c:\windows\system32\config directory was corrupt. don't ask me how that happened because i have no idea. oh well, hopefully it's fixed for good now. yay for CHKDSK!

the seminar in albuquerque was awful yet strangly and disturbingly amusing. it was supposed to be about direct strategies and techniques for dealing with difficult families and behaviorally challenged children. instead, we had a presenter from connecticut who was about as disjointed and scatterbrained as a person could be. he has a phd in "family studies," whatever the hell that is. anyway, he couldn't keep track of what he was saying--he would start a thought and then get sidetracked on something else and forget to go back to his original thought. he gave a lot of anecdotal stories about his experiences but never gave any concrete techniques for deaking with the populations he was supposed to be covering. plus, his material was totally elementary for licensed professionals--he was discussing things that most counselors/social workers/SLPs/psychologists cover in their bachelor programs. then at lunch time my coworker marsha and i went to the bathroom, and when we stepped outside the presenter was wandering around, came up to us and said "are you guys going to lunch? can i ride with you?" and proceeded to follow us outside. we were apprehensive, especially since we both wanted to discuss how stupid the seminar had been so far, but we let him come with us. as we were walking into a restaurant an old hispanic man passed us and said hello and the presenter guy (jon was his name) said to marsha and me "DO YOU GUYS KNOW ANY SPANISH???" with as loud of a voice as one could have without screaming. we said we knew a bit, but not much and he was thrilled. then he says "IT'S SO COOL DOWN HERE! I'VE NEVER SEEN SO MANY SPANISH PEOPLE IN ONE PLACE! AND I WAS DRIVING ON THE HIGHWAY AND THERE WERE NO HOUSES! I CAN'T BELIEVE THERE WERE NO HOUSES!!!!!!" now, anyone with a degree in any of the fields i've mentioned--plus marriage and family therapy, which his bachelor's degree is in--knows that one is not supposed to call hispanic people spanish. he kept saying it over and over again and people were staring because his voice was so loud. at first i thought he was trying to be silly or see how we'd react, but he seriously was sincere. it was one of the oddest experiences of my life. we then took him back to the seminar, and on the way back he asked about new mexico's social programs. he could not believe how few programs we have, or how poor the state of new mexico is. he was very aggressively attacking us for not having more birth to 3 programs for children. we tried to explain that new mexico doesn't get a lot of money, but he just didn't understand. i have never seen a person in my field who was so insensitive to other populations. and he has totally changed my perspective about people with phd's. i always assumed that those who actually have a phd usually have been educated enough that they know what they are talking about and can convey that to others. but this guy just did not fit that description at all. the whole ordeal was surreal.

i fucking love gizoogle

2005-02-09T20:32:00.000-08:00

translated from gizoogle

so mah crib is S-T-to-tha-izzill wet inside, n mah inside phone pimpin' is all wet as wizzle from tha gallons (literally) of playa that leaked from mah roof this past weekend . Hollaz to the East Side. coz tha phone lines is wet, tizzle have a lot of static on tizzy n thus tha modem is ho-slappin' a hard time connect'n n i aint been able ta git online at home in days. n you all kizzle me--im ballin' ta tha internet, so ive been lost witout it droppin hits. ive fretted 'bout this fo' a couple of days wit no real solution, but tizzy it hit me. outside there is killa line in tha phone box where you can check ta makes sure yo phone line is hatin' before call'n fo' repair W-to-tha-izzork . Fo'-fo' desert eagle to your motherfuckin' dome. i took mah 100 foot phone cord n ran it through mah window outside ta tha box until mah inside wir'n dries fo all my homies in the pen. sometizzles i amaze me (especially since miznost of tha time i have 'bout enough common sense ta fill a teaspoon).

i am so bloody brilliant

2005-02-09T19:46:00.000-08:00

so my house is still wet inside, and my inside phone wiring is all wet as well from the gallons (literally) of water that leaked from my roof this past weekend. because the phone lines are wet, they have a lot of static on them and thus the modem is having a hard time connecting and i haven't been able to get online at home in days. and you all know me--i'm addicting to the internet, so i've been lost without it. i've fretted about this for a couple of days with no real solution, but then it hit me. outside there is another line in the phone box where you can check to make sure your phone line is working before calling for repair work. i took my 100 foot phone cord and ran it through my window outside to the box until my inside wiring dries. sometimes i amaze myself (especially since most of the time i have about enough common sense to fill a teaspoon).

anyway, nothing much going on in my life. had a good time drinking at the bar for fat tuesday yesterday. stayed out too late and was sleepy all day today. my knees are healing nicely, and i can bend them now without agonizing pain. my computer is still down, but my dad is sending me the cd for win xp so hopefully by this weekend i'll have my laptop again. and i did my taxes on saturday and am getting a shitload of money from both the federal and state returns. new york city, here i come!

this has not been my week.

2005-02-05T13:27:00.000-08:00

1. my computer crashed. i must now work on my ancient desktop while attempting to repair the laptop.

2. i totally biffed it in a parking lot and now have 2 scraped up knees and a huge chunk out of my right ring finger. it hurts like bloody hell.

3. my roof. is leaking. AGAIN.

on the bright side, i did finally get my work laptop. plus, all of the shit that's happened isn't life threatening. of course now that i've said that i'll probably get some nasty infection and die a painful death.

i'm joking.

\WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SYSTEM=ARRGGHH!!!!!

2005-02-04T11:00:00.000-08:00

ok so i come home for lunch, minding my own business, and decide to check my email on my laptop. now, this is my personal laptop, not my work one. it's a dell latitude, used to be my dad's for work but he got a new one so he gave it to me. just recently was wiped clean and had windows xp installed. works like a charm--or did. like i said, i was minding my own business, heard the windows startup music, but when i looked over i have a dos screen with "Windows could not start because the following file is missing or corrupt: \WINDOWS\SYSTEM32\CONFIG\SYSTEM You can attempt to repair this file by starting Windows Setup using the original Setup CD-ROM. Select 'r' at the first screen to start repair." I sat there, flabbergasted for awhile. I mean, I had just used this computer 12 hours earlier! *sigh* anyway, so i tried it again, fiddled around, no dice. so then i decided to get on my cranky old desktop to get online and search for the error. i found out it is apparently pretty common and quite annoying. there are two ways to fix it, an easy way where you press f8 and boot from the last known good configuration--of course it didn't work for me, couldn't be that easy--and the harder way, which is to get the damn cd and go from there. but, of course, the windows xp cd we used to install it on my laptop is up in st. louis! GODFUCKINGDAMNIT. so i'm gonna call my dad when i get off work and see what we can do about sending it down here. now i have no idea how to repair computer files, so if this takes any computer knowledge i am totally SOL. i'm about ready to say fuckit and buy a new computer. i haven't bought one in years anyway. *sigh*

does the "I Got A New Laptop" dance

2005-02-03T16:13:00.000-08:00

yes, after 4 months of hard copies, TSS labs and wired internet access, i have finally been given my new laptop for work. it's a frickin' heavy HP with wireless internet an a bunch of other goodies that i don't feel like going into. i'm just glad it works. it's going to make my job a whole lot easier.

speaking of work, i was playing on the playground with some kids today, and one of them stops me about 6 feet from where he was standing, looks seriously into my eyes, and does neo's "come hither" gesture from the matrix. i just about pissed my pants with laughter. the other teachers also saw it, and the rest of the recess time we kept making him do it. he loved performing for us. perhaps we have a little actor on our hands.

this week has just flown by. i think it's because i've been very busy at work. i've had all sorts of meetings, some interesting, some that bore me to tears. i have 2 more meetings tomorrow. joy. i'm definitely ready for the weekend.

i'm just too damn popular

2005-01-31T17:31:00.000-08:00

i've been invited to 2 different college reunions this year. one is in march in las vegas, with some of the people i graduated with in 2001 from wash u. this will be their 2nd vegas reunion, but so far it's looking like not many people will be able to go. apparently last time they had a blast, and gambled way too much money, which makes me think it would be a wise choice for me to think long and hard before making plans for this one. but it would be awesome to see everyone. some of these people i haven't seen since graduation day. others i just saw last month. go figure.

the second reunion is with my younger college friends who graduated from wash u a year or two after i did. a few of us met up last september and it was the most fun i'd had in a really long time. the plan is to meet up in new york sometime this summer. i am more inclined to go to this reunion for a couple of reasons: first, i already promised i would go, and second, i wouldn't have to pay for a hotel room. i have 3 friends living in NYC itself, plus andrea who lives in jersey.

either way, it looks like this year will be full of craziness and good times. i love getting together with my wash u friends because we have all these silly traditions and quotes that make our get-togethers just that much more fun. i have some good friends down here and am starting to make some good memories, but i have yet to top the fall 2000-spring 2002 era for overall absurdity and hilarity.

what was really said at the council of elrond

2005-01-30T21:55:00.000-08:00

these links had me laughing out loud, though if you know me well, you know i'm easily amused....but anyway, for your enjoyment:

that would be so friggin'AWESOME!

what about a catapult?

OWNED! FUCKING OWNED!

it's elijah wood's 24th birthday

2005-01-28T20:34:00.000-08:00

he needs a hug.

i'd give him one. oh yeah i would.

on the road again....

2005-01-28T13:59:00.000-08:00

apparently i'm going to albuquerque february 11th for another convention. the title of it is "therapeutic approaches to family and behavioral challenges in early childhood intervention." whew. anyway, it's all paid for, plus it gives me another 6 CEU's, so i'm all for it. plus it's not in roswell ;-)

also, i just found out yesterday that one of my coworkers needs to supervise someone so that she can keep her level 3 licensure. i need to be supervised so that i can get my LISW. it's a win-win situation that will mean an extra $10,000 per year once we're through in 2 years. i say hell yeah.

my roof is finally fixed on the outside. my landlord is coming in on monday or tuesday to fix the inside bubble that formed when all the water congregated in one area. it will be nice to have a normal ceiling again.

zelda update: unfortunately, due to being gone for christmas and seth taking back his gamecube, i have not played zelda for over a month! however, seth saved my game for me and i've been told i can play it over at his place. i'm still finding triforce maps right now.

in other gaming news, niki bought mario party 6 and we played it the other night. i absolutely suck at mario party but it is so fun! and i actually won a game the other night--of course, we all started out with 9 stars, but hey, at least i gained stars and didn't lose any! anyway, it's a lot of fun to play and we're thinking about making a drinking game about it, though i dunno if i could drink through 50 rounds of MP6 and still be able to use the controller....

PS happy birthday elijah wood! *sigh* he's so beautiful...

i love fonts!

2005-01-24T18:27:00.000-08:00

i just discovered a new love of messing around with fonts. i'm trying to make a cool looking invitation for my friends' semi formal party that is coming up pretty soon, and i realized i did not have a script type font in my font folder so i went online to find one. there are so many free fonts to be had....it's like a new box of chocolates waiting to be unwrapped! yes!

ok, that was a bit too much.

but it was fun looking at different fonts and their names (i particularly liked "burping up salisbury steak" and "ale and wenches"). i also got a harry potter font that rocks my nerdy little world. life is good.

in other news...well, there's not really any other news. life goes on as usual. i found shoes and earrings to go with my semi formal dress. i also bought these absolutely huge tacky sunglasses from target. i look like a 60's pop star in them. they are pretty damn cool--though i'm not quite sure if other people would think so. oh well, i like them.

work is work is work. my laptop STILL is not ready for me. it's been 4 months now--how hard can it be to set it up? sheesh! i have to be evaluated in february, but i'm mnot really nervous. i work very closely with my supervisor every week, so if she had had any problems with me before now, she'd have said something already. i had to go to a meeting this morning which was mostly boring but i learned that there is a bill in NM right now (#83 i think) that is proposing a 3 tiered pay system for social workers, psychs, diags, SLP's, etc. who work with students in public schools to be compensated comparably to teachers. if it gets passed, in about a year my salary will jump up about $6000. can't beat that!

january 24th sucks....or fucks, depending on the math

2005-01-23T18:11:00.000-08:00

joe posted this article about how january 24th is the worst day of the year.

andrea and i had a discussion about it earlier--here's what she came up with (yes i know the math is wrong, but i like her results!)

Kelly: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/4187183.stm
Andrea: my parents 35th anniv is tomorrow
Andrea: hahahahahah
Kelly: hahahhahaaha
Andrea: The formula for the day of misery reads 1/8W+(D-d) 3/8xTQ MxNA.
Kelly: yeah i know!
Kelly: wtf
Andrea: it's like PV=NRT
Kelly: PR-VRT
Andrea: ooh ooh let me do
Andrea: hahahahahhahahahahahha
Kelly: :-)
Andrea: hahahhahahah
Andrea: i never thought of that
Kelly: obviously i need to get laid
Andrea: ok let me figure this thing out
Andrea: is weather in f or C?
Andrea: or kelvin?
Kelly: i dunno what they mean about weather
Kelly: snow? rain? lack of sunlight?
Andrea: damn englishmen
Kelly: yeah it was just weird
Andrea: ok 1/8 (fucking cold) + (0-
Andrea: is money due meaning due to me or due to debt?
Kelly: im thinking its debt-your paycheck
Andrea: ok 1/8 (fucking cold) + (0-2200) * 3/8* (31*0)*(normal*goingtonysucks)
Kelly: hahahahahahahaahha
Andrea: that comes down to 1/8(fucking cold) cuz 0 cancels it out
Andrea: yay no debt
Andrea: so is that not as cold or colder?
Andrea: which comes out to jan 24
Andrea: Jan 24=1/8 (fucking cold)
Andrea: 8 January 24ths = fucking cold
Andrea: ooh ooh
Andrea: 8 january 24ths divided by cold = fucking!
Andrea: woo hoo!
Kelly: AHAHAHAHAAHAHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

my new signature

2005-01-22T11:45:00.000-08:00

how cool is that!? my idea, andrea's photoshopping skillz

anyone up for some tig?

2005-01-21T19:58:00.000-08:00

out of all the extended edition commentaries of LOTR, this sequence is one of the most memorable for me, so i thought i'd share it with you:

ELIJAH: All those days of playing Cup...
DOM: Oooh yes, Cup!
SEAN: Cup was a fantastic game.
BILLY: Cup, by the way, is where you take a paper cup ---
SEAN: Dixie cup.
BILLY: A... Dixie cup, if you're American...
DOM: Or a paper cup, if you speak English.
BILLY: And you keep it up by passing it to each other. It was quite boring, but if you're waiting for a helicopter for four days, it's the main way that you pass the day.
DOM: I would just like to say that it's an original Dominic Monaghan game, available online at my website, and you can use different cups, but if you want, you can log on to my website and get an official Cup cup.
BILLY: Dominic Monaghan's Crazy Games dot com
DOM: And another game called Nudge, Billy's a huge fan of that. So, if anyone wants to get involved with game-making...
ELIJAH: Speaking of game-making, what was the name of the fake game that y'all tried to get me into?
BILLY, DOM, SEAN: Oh, Tig! Tag? Tig! Tig! *laughter*
ELIJAH: Oh my God...
BILLY: Tig was when we were filming Weathertop, and myself and Dom just started tigging each other, you know just touching each other, going "Tig! Tig!" Just for like, no reason. And then, Sean came over, and he started doing it as well. And then we'd say, "Tigtig, tigtag" like, for no reason. And then Elijah came over and said, "What are you guys doing?" We said, "Oh, we're playing a game called Tig." He says, "Well how do you play?" And we spent like the next two hours making up rules...
ELIJAH: And trying to teach me, and of course, I was getting everything wrong...
SEAN: He couldn't follow the game, and the three of us were forever frustrated that he wasn't following these new rules that we continued to make up...
DOM: So we, the three of us, were constantly getting it right, and every time Elijah tried a new way of tigging, we'd say, "No, Elijah, you can't tig on a tog, you can't tag on a tig, you have to do an elephant impression if you're gonna tig Billy... If Billy's gonna tig you back, you have to get on your knees and take your trousers down..."
BILLY: How many times, Elijah, you can't double-tig a tag! *laughter*
DOM: And for like three weeks, he was saying how much he enjoyed playing Tig
SEAN: And he wanted to get the rule book!
BILLY: And remember we forgot to say it was a wind-up! So a year later he says, "Why do we never play Tig?" *laughter*
ELIJAH: And then they finally let the cat out of the bag. My whole world came shattering down on me when they told me that that was a lie. For a whole year, I believed it was a real game, and then they told me."
DOM: Sorry, Elijah.
ELIJAH: And then, what else was not true? That's what I was asking.
SEAN: It undermines the integrity of the entire relationship.
DOM: That's what I think.

{during the weathertop scene}
BILLY: You have to remember, between these shots, we were teaching Elijah how to play Tig.
ELIJAH: That's right, keep that at the back of your mind. The lie!

what they were really saying...

2005-01-20T19:27:00.000-08:00

accidental naps

2005-01-20T13:05:00.000-08:00

yesterday i took a 3.5 hour accidental nap, meaning i missed going to the gym and did not wake up until 7pm, just in time for 'lost.' i don't know why i've been so tired lately, but this definitely wasn't my first accidental nap in the past couple of weeks. i feel kinda run down. mental note: take more vitamins.

'lost' was decent last night. it was the first new show i'd seen since charlie was hung (hanged? i can never remember). i forget that i have a TV sometimes. i don't necessarily think that's a bad thing though.

i will be going to roswell, nm in february for a conference on social stories through the SWAN network (southwest autism network). it will be my first overnight conference in the working world. too bad it has to be in roswell ;-) anyway, i get $105 per diem for food and hotel, plus the conference is paid for, which is great because it counts as continuing education units for my social work license. i need 15 credits by july. i think i already have something like 10 or 12, so after this conference i should be finished, and i won't have spent a dime on those damn CEU's.

i just met with a teacher yesterday who has an autistic kid in her class who has multiple needs and whose father comes from the depths of HELL. i don't think i have ever met a more arrogant, pompous, grandiose, chauvinistic man in my entire life. he exaggerates so much that none of us really knows what he does for a living. according to him and depending on what day of the week it is, he has multiple degrees, is a professor at NMSU, is filthy rich, and is a computer genius. he emotionally and verbally abuses his wife, who reported to us that his claim that he can pay for $50,000 of ABA training for his kid (applied behavior analysis) is totally unfounded, and his "plan" to pay for it was to mate his female dog and sell the puppies. now what dog produces $50,000 worth of puppies is beyond me. add all this to the fact that he hates women and totally dismisses anything a women says whether she has more experience and education than him in the area or not. he tried to say that special education law requires a school to have ABA for his kid, when the law specifically states that it is up to the school to decide which methodology is right for a certain student. he stares at the teacher and her EA through the door of the classroom while they work, criticizing them for any miniscule amount of time that they might spend any attention on any other kid but his own (like the other kids don't need attention!!!). overall, i am NOT looking forward to working with this parent. he already doesn't like me just because i'm a social worker (the S-word, as i like to call it) plus i'm young and a woman. three strikes already. it will definitely be a lesson in professionalism, anger management and patience.

a day off

2005-01-17T18:57:00.000-08:00

ah, to do nothing important all day. it's a nice feeling.

i ran to the mall today for a couple of things. first, i had to find a semi formal dress for seth, niki and niki's sister trisha's apartment-warming party that they're going to have sometime in the near future. i found a full length, black slim dress with kind of a cowl neck and a tie in the back. it's elegant yet simple. i think it'll look good on me with my hair up.

i also went into express to buy my sister a gift certificate for her birthday (sorry becky if you're reading this, but i highly doubt that). anyway, as i was walking out i ran into my exroommates, who are sisters. we did a bit of idle chatting, and then the younger one goes "so how is your sister's baby?" i don't know how to explain what it's like to be in a situation like that. i have to be truthful and say she died, yet at the same time i wish i could just lie to get out of an awkward situation. as soon as you say someone died, the person you're talking to has to apologize and then you have to say it's ok and go into the explanation of how they died, etc, etc. it's just trying. i mean, she had no idea, i don't blame her. it's just hard because it brings up a bunch of things i'd rather repress (yes, i know, not healthy, but we all do it).

then i went to the lovely walmart to buy some groceries and birthday cards for my sister and dad. while i was waiting in line about 6 sorority chicks cut in front of me and this other girl so that they could be with their friend. it just annoys me that sorority chicks have this superior attitude, like others are 'below' them and that because they are so attractive/cute/chipper/giggly/flirty they can get away with shit like that. of course, i still let them get away with it, so i guess it's my own fault. i guess i'd rather rant about it here than do anything about it. plus, 1 against 7 ain't fair.

i'm a member of a couple forums, and one of them posted a question of 10 things you'd like to do before you die. i thought i'd post them here as well:

1. find my soulmate (or at least someone to share this life with)
2. travel to Africa and do some sort of counseling or teaching work
3. go back to Ireland and stay for more than a few days (damn my poverty at the time) and discover my past roots
4. travel to Australia and New Zealand (I have always wanted to go, and almost studied abroad in australia instead of england in 2000. the LOTR movies just made me want to go that much more)
5. travel to scotland and discover my other past roots (mom's side is irish, dad's side scottish)
6. write a (good) book and get it published
7. get a doctorate in something, possibly psychiatry
8. learn to paint well (i paint, but it's not very good)
9. own my own house, preferably somewhere with land
10. help my parents have a happy and fulfilling retirement

You know you're from St. Louis when...

2005-01-16T18:45:00.000-08:00

You love toasted ravioli with Budweiser beer. [only if the TR is from Imo's or made by my dad]
"Vacation" is a choice between Silver Dollar City and Lake of the Ozarks. [the lake, of course!]
You can find Pestalozzi Street by aroma alone. [:-)]
You can get anywhere in 20 minutes, except on highway 40. [fuck highway 40 and all its potholes!]
You can debate for 30 minutes whether Missouri Baking or Marge Amighetti makes the best Italian bread. [mmm amighetti's....]
You know what "Party Cove" is, and where the "lake" is. [pshaw!]
You still can't believe the Arena is gone. [*cries a little tear*]
Your first question to a new person is, "Where did you go to High School?" [so true]
Your non-St. Louisan friends always ask if you're aware there is no "r" in "wash." [so very true]
You know in your heart that Mizzou can beat Nebraska in football. [of course!]
You think the four major food groups are Beef, Pork, Budweiser and Imo's. [heh]
You know there are really only three salad dressings: Imo's, Zia's and Rich and Charlie's.[definitely]
You'll pay for your kid to go to college unless they want to go to KU. [and maybe not U of I either...]
You would rather have a root canal without anesthetic than drive on Manchester on a Saturday afternoon. [fo' sho']
You know that a "White Castle" is the name of BOTH a fast food chain AND a fast food sandwich. [and they're only good with the horseradish mustard]
It just doesn't seem like a wedding without mostaciolli. AND YOU PRONOUNCE IT 'MUSKACHOLLI'[yes!]. The balance of the menu is ham, boiled roast beef, string beans with ham and of course pitchers of Busch Bavarian (class weddings have Bud) [yes, especially string beans with ham]
You know, within a three-mile radius, where another St. Louisan grew up as soon as they open their mouth. [most likely]
You know what a Pork Steak is...and what kind of sauce to put on it! [barbeque, of course!]
Everyone in your family has floated the Meramec River at least once. [only by meremac caverns...]
A hoosier is someone that lives just south of Chouteau, not a person from Indiana. [i used to live ON chouteau!]
You have made fun of Mike Shanahan and tried to imitate him ordering another cold, frosty Busch Bavarian Beer. [ha!]
You have listened to Mike's broadcast on KMOX, while watching the game on TV and wonder what game he is watching. A tear forms in your eye as someone mentions their favorite Jack Buck story. [:-(]
You've said, "It's not the heat, it's the humidity." [double heh]
Your favorite summer treat is handed to you upside-down [mmm ted drewes!]
You bleed Blue between September and May [fuck yeah i do, AND i STILL call the savvis center the keil center]

i wanna be at ORC!

2005-01-15T13:52:00.000-08:00

the One Ring Celebration is happening this weekend in pasadena, CA. all four hobbits are there, as well as john rhys-davies, bruce hopkins, and some others i can't think of off the top of my head. i was reading about the first night over at TORn and i am so jealous of everyone who got to go! *sigh* i hate being poor. sounds like everyone is having a great time.

things that irk me

2005-01-14T09:40:00.000-08:00

1. having yet another cold. i have been sick off and on since september. it's getting old.

2. sleazy middle-aged men staring at me at the gym. i hate the little smile they give you, like "oh yeah, you keep working out and i'll stare at your ass." it's creepy!

3. cold weather. i hardly ever use my heat because i'm poor, so getting out of bed on cold mornings is a challenge. plus i have poor circulation, so my hands and feet are like ice all winter.

4. windy weather. all that dust the other day made my asthma kick up again. oh joy.

5. having to go to meetings that have nothing to do with what i do on a daily basis. this has happened twice this week, and i have another meeting this afternoon. i will be bored to tears by the end of it, i'm sure.

[end bitch session]

in other news, i am happy that i don't have to work on monday! we just barely got back to work and i already have a holiday. it makes putting up with boring meetings all that much easier.

nothing exciting is going on in my life right now. i'm in a routine: work, go home, go to gym, sit on computer or read, and hang out with friends on the weekend. but i'm pretty content right now, so it's all good. i like my boring life...

computer illiteracy

2005-01-12T16:32:00.000-08:00

today at work we had to go to a training for a new program that we will begin using on february 7th for all our IEP goals and student data related to those goals. i was in a room with about 20 other people. i would say about 12 or 13 of them were highly computer illiterate. now by this i mean they were asking questions like "how do i open internet explorer?" and "why does my page not look like hers (when they were on 2 different websites)?" i don't know how the trainer puts up with those types of questions. he was shocked when he asked if anyone knew how to clear the history and i demonstrated. it must be a frustrating job. now my mom says that i shouldn't be so hard on middle-aged people because they did not grow up with computers, which i understand, but some of these people were only a few years older than me. it must be very difficult to do my sort of job when one doesn't know how to use a computer.

in other news, i got out of the shower this afternoon and zoe was crying at the door to the bathroom as usual. i get dressed and open the door and she rushes in to do bathroom patrol. when i walk into my room, i notice how cold it is. i decide to go get a banana to eat, and i walk into the kitchen and the back door is wide open with cold air rushing in. i lock zoe the escape artist in the bathroom and go outside. sadie immediately runs back inside. i look around and find gandalf UP IN THE TREE. luckily he wasn't too high up and i was able to get him back down and inside. i'm still wondering how the door got open in the first place. it's been pretty darn windy, but that would have been some wind if it opened a door. oh well, nothing is missing and no harm done.

thoughts and musings

2005-01-10T19:05:00.000-08:00

i have been doing a lot of reading lately. over christmas break i read the da vinci code and angels and demons, both of which are by dan brown. i found angels and demons, about the illuminati, a bit too far-fetched, but i liked da vinci code, even though i'm not a big fan of brown's style of writing. da vinci code was thought-provoking enough for me to break out my history of art book (yeah, i had to take it for my photography minor) and look up the last supper, madonna of the rocks, and the mona lisa. i also found it helpful that i have been to both london and paris and spent the better part of a day at the louvre, seeing as a good chunk of the book is set in those places. it makes me wonder how many people have gone to visit the louvre because they have read the book, and what they do when they get there. i'll say no more just in case someone hasn't read the book yet.

i've also been re-reading the harry potter series, basically because i got very excited when j.k. rowling announced that book 6 will be released july 16th!! i stumbled upon a great site called MuggleNet, which not only has up-to-date news, but also hosts a variety of editorials with theories based on the books. now, I had done some thinking on the books in passing, but I had never really sat down long enough to ponder what might happen in books 6 and 7. the people on this site do just that. of course, a lot of attention has been placed on the so-called "Lost Prophecy" that Dumbledore tells Harry about at the end of Order of the Phoenix. "The One with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches... Born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies.... and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not... and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives... The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies..."

obviously the shocker in all that is "either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives." some on Mugglenet and other websites have even suggested that Harry is already dead, but not "properly dead", as JKR would put it. anyway, I've enjoyed reading some of the theories as to what might happen and how the characters other than Harry will be involved. one question that's been nagging me for awhile involves Harry's mother Lily. when Harry hears his mother and father's dying words the night Voldemort tried to kill him (from the dementors), the Dark Lord says to Lily "stand aside girl." Lily then begs for Harry's life, "No not Harry! Take me instead!" or something quite similar. now, good ol' Voldy had no problem killing poor James Potter--why would he tell Lily to "stand aside?" after all, Lily was muggle-born, and we all know how much Voldy, the heir of Slytherin, hates muggles. plus, it's been proven time and again in the books that Voldemort has no problem killing those who get in his way (Cedric Diggory or Frank Bryce, anyone?). so why would Voldemort initially spare Lily's life? I think I am going to do some research into the topic, and if I find anything interesting, I'll post it. if anyone has any ideas, let me know.

by GOD, i saw stars!

2005-01-09T13:10:00.000-08:00

this has got to be my favorite scene from the ROTK:EE appendices. this is the story of how viggo mortensen and billy boyd "helped" sean astin with the scene in which he gets married to rosie cotton and has to kiss her (if you wanna see it with screenshots, go here):

VIGGO: You know, it was going okay but it didn't seem like Sean was getting what he wanted, you know... nobody was totally happy, so they kept doing it and I thought 'Hmm'. So I ran over to Billy's trailer and woke him up

BILLY: So me and Viggo get in behind the camera so that when they turn around and they're looking, at least they're looking at someone they know and they can kind of... you know, imagine they're at a wedding. Their wedding. And their friends are there.

VIGGO: We provided some... you know... umm.. off-camera help to him

BILLY: And then, in one of the takes, they turn around and I'm like 'Yay' *claps*...

BILLY: ...and Viggo GRABS me and kisses me hard on the mouth.

BILLY: I mean like I've never been kissed from man nor woman. And... by GOD. I saw stars.

BILLY: And I think I fell in love, for a split second, and then...

BILLY: ...I felt a bit sick.

INTERVIEWER: You didn't know about this?

DOM: *laughing and trying to talk* No!

BILLY: I think... I'm not saying... I think I felt tongue

SEAN: You... I think you opened your mouth! I wasn't watching-

VIGGO: No, he did

DOM: I... I can't believe that. Dirty buggers.

VIGGO: Seemed to work! They next take they said 'Okay, we got it', you know? So...

BILLY: And I don't know if that helped their reaction, but... I couldn't look at Viggo for a couple of days. I felt dirty.

VIGGO: I'd been... secretly wanting to do that with Billy. Which is a whole other.... [very long pause] Maybe we shouldn't talk about that.

BILLY: He's quite an affectionate man.

BILLY: I've kissed most of the boys
SEAN: You have?
BILLY: Yeah... I don't mind. I'll kiss anybody.

DOM: I tell you what, Billy Boyd gets himself about. I know for a fact that he's kissed *pauses to count* five? ... members of the fellowship.

DOM: MALE members of the fellowship. Not like Liv Tyler, Cate Blanchett and then a couple of, you know, drunken moments. Five. Men.

BILLY: Let's go kiss again

potter potter potter potter potter potter potter potter...

2005-01-07T19:17:00.001-08:00

i found these on a harry potter site. apparently someone made this little flash cartoon about badgers, mushrooms and snakes and then someone decided to do a harry potter version. it's strangely addicting....

happy belated new year!

2005-01-06T09:29:00.000-08:00

well, i'm back in las cruces now, after a very rainy last few days in good ol' st. louie. i really didn't want to go back to work today. i honestly liked sitting on my ass doing nothing for two and a half weeks. i read 4 books, watched a shitload of the food network and the first season of star trek, and went shopping with my mom and sister. but alas, i must work in order to eat, so now it's back to being responsible.

the cats were quite happy to see me. everything is fine with them, but my roof leaked during the time i was gone and there's a big bubble of paint on my living room ceiling where water collected. it looks like some freaky face pushing through the plaster. seth was kind enough to watch the house for me and put a bucket under the leak. my roof has never leaked before so i wonder if there were heavy rains or something while i was gone. anyway, i need to freshen up the house a bit (aka clean the litter boxes) and then i'm gonna talk to my landlord about getting it fixed. hopefully it won't take too long to do.

apparently my friend heather was talking to trisha around new year's and trisha was like "we're gonna be such great friends!" and heather said "you know who you should be friends with is kelly" and trisha said "she's like my sister" and heather said "well that's the point. kelly felt comfortable enough around you to be honest with you, and then you got all mad and aren't talking to her." apparently the light turned on in trisha's head and she's going to talk to me or something. now, that's all fine and dandy, but i'm waiting for an apology. i felt like i took the high road here while she did not. she hung up the phone on me, cussed at me, threw my clothes on my doorstep, and then told me when friends "let her down she gets rid of them." after hearing all of this, i sincerely apologized to her for hurting her feelings and told her that wasn't my intention, that i really valued our friendship, and that i wanted to make things better in any way i could, and that if she needed anything from me to just tell me. she said she needed space, i gave her space. i decided to be civil and friendly toward her and on 2 separate occasions she completely ignored me and then proceeded to talk loudly about her bridal party while conspicuously leaving me out of the lineup. i just feel like she went out of her way to hurt me in any way she could, all while i continued to apologize and be friendly toward her. she really hurt my feelings and i feel like i deserve an apology. of course, as my mom said yesterday, we always think we're right and everyone else is wrong. but after i realized i had hurt her feelings, i felt remorseful and apologized and asked what i could do to make things better. i feel it's totally within my rights to expect the same respect and consideration from her. i have a feeling that she's not the type to apologize easily though, so we'll see.

i'm going out tonight!

2004-12-29T13:16:00.000-08:00

ah, finally some excitement! i'm going to st. louis tonight for my friend drake's birthday party. i think he's turning 23 (he's a youngun'). he is currently going to washington university med school, where his research totally blows my mind and his tuition does the same. AND the best part is my friend mary is in town for work and i'm going to the radisson in clayton to pick her up! her exact words to me were "i have 2 queen beds, you can stay over! bring your swimsuit because there is a hot tub and i have some wine!" mary and i used to have this habit of passing out in bed together and used to joke about it constantly, but this time i can have my own bed! and drake wants to go bowling and then go to this bar called halo, which back in the day wasn't too bad of a place to go. there was usually a dj but the music wasn't too loud to have a conversation. plus it's right next to the pageant which is this cool venue that used to have lots of bands playing there. once i smashed the crap out of my pinky finger behind the pageant when our friend sarah was pushing me while i sat on a metal gate. the gate slammed into the brick wall--or to be more despriptive, the gate slammed my finger into the brick wall. ah, memories. i wonder what it's like now (the loop area including halo and the pageant, not my finger--it's still fucked up to this day). it's kind of shocking that i haven't been over there in about 2 years. tonight should be interesting...