Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Adventures in Wonderland: Found in a Random Binder Somewhere:

Adventures in Wonderland: Found in a Random Binder Somewhere:: "Twelve Thoughts for Today 1) Life is a sexually transmitted disease. 2) Health is merely the slowest possible rate at which one can die. 3)..."

Found in a Random Binder Somewhere:

Twelve Thoughts for Today

1) Life is a sexually transmitted disease.

2)  Health is merely the slowest possible rate at which one can die.

3)  Men have two emotions:  Hungry and Horny.  If you see him without an erection, make him a sandwich.

4)  Give a person a fish and you feed them for a day:  teach a person to use the Internet and they won't bother you for weeks.

5)  Some people are like Slinkies.  Not really good for anything, but you still can't help but smile when you see one tumble down the stairs.

6) Health nuts are going to feel stupid someday, lying in hospitals dying of nothing.

7)  Whenever I feel blue, I start breathing again.

8)  All of us could take a lesson from the weather.  It pays no attention to criticism.  

9)  Why does a slight tax increase cost you two hundred dollars and a substantial tax cut saves you thirty cents?

10)  In the 60's people took acid to make the world weird.  Now the world is weird and people take Prozac  to make it normal.

11)  Politics is supposed to be the second oldest profession.  I have come to realize that it bears a very close resemblance to the first.

12)  You read about all these terrorists.  Most of them come here legally, but they hung around on these expired visas, some for as long as 10-15 years.  Now, compare that to Blockbuster; you are two days late with a video and those people are all over you.  I think we should put Blockbuster in charge of immigration :)

Saturday, October 9, 2010

I am thankful for ME :)

So, I have been left all alone for this thanksgiving and I am oh so grateful.  It's not that I don't like my family, in fact I am rather fond of them.  It's just that there is someone that I rarely get to spend time with that I love and I miss terribly.  That person is ME.  Since the Muk Muk was born I have spent a grand total of 20 minutes with ME in our home.  20 minutes in almost a year.  That is no where near enough time to form a stable relationship.  The last time Me and I got to spend any time together was when I traveled to Surrey to visit my Tanya back in May.  I read a whole, rather large, book on that trip and came home feeling refreshed and ready for the return to life.  But, unfortunately life runs me down sometimes and I need a break, and I am not one of those people to shy away and say "I don't deserve it".  I work hard.  I definitely deserve a good "break" now and again.  

Dust spent a LOT of weekends this summer "away" (gone from morning till night) playing baseball, so he felt I deserved a break.  Friday he packed up the Muk Muk and took her to visit Gramma & Grampa H for thanksgiving and was gracious enough to tell me that I wasn't invited (oh, and he even remembered to buy a turkey so that he could have leftovers when he got back).  So even though he sounds kind of like an ass here, he's definitely not.  He knows me better than I know myself, and he knows I need this time for me.  He even gave me something that I enjoy doing to do (that would be the turkey, cooking and me are also very good friends). 

So, now I've spent the last 24 hours catching up on sleep, playing with my puppies (who I think also miss ME), conversing with my Penguin, watching hockey, reading books, taking bubble baths, roasting turkey, and drinking coffee, the "good" kind.  As you can see, I am not taking this time lightly, I am doing some serious relaxing here.  There is no BS house-cleaning, or errands, or crap like that.  I am being ME, I am loving every second, and I am definitely trying not to waste any time "missing" anyone.

But, despite my best efforts, I do miss the baby snores through the monitor at night, and the big boy snores in the bed beside me.  I got up last night to pee and was confused that there was no diaper to change, or sleepy baby to cuddle.  This morning I could leave my brightly colored coffee cup on the coffee table with no worries that it would get thrown on the floor and broken (FYI I have an emotional attachment to each and every one of my coffee mugs).  I also didn't HAVE to watch Sesame Street first thing this morning (I did anyways, I like Cookie Monster).  After I had a shower, I put on a nice clean pair of PJ's and they have stayed nice and clean all day, there is no drool, food crumbs or snot stuck to them (not my drool, food crumbs, or snot...  Missy B's). 

Mimzy dog is good and keeps "checking" on the baby that isn't here.  She wanders into Muk Muk's room and looks in the crib every couple of hours, and then whines cause there's no one there.  Ninja is sucking up as much love as he can get as he has no competition, and Panda is really just the same.  Penguin on the other hand, is a total HAM!  He's been talking more than normal, and has learned some very bad words (*Thank-you very much Mr. Hyatt*).  He's been molting so he's super itchy, which means I get extra snuggles from him (mostly because I pick at his feathers for him, but extra snuggles are extra snuggles).  ME is doing well.  Same old ME.  ME still likes the same things and pretty much hasn't changed much since the last time we got to spend any time together.  So, if you'll excuse us there is a fresh, ice cold beer waiting, and we need to go and cheer for LA (if you don't know me, I'm not an LA fan, I'm just a Canuck hater).

Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Sleep... Or lack there of.

I had these wonderful intentions of going to bed early last night and for once I actually followed through.  I was in bed and asleep by 9:30!  But, of course, it was the worst sleep that I think I have ever had and coming from me (the master of horrible sleep) that really says something.  Dustin is like a sleep ninja.  He just goes to bed and says "time for sleep" and his entire body just shuts down and off to dreamland he goes for the night.  Once asleep he rarely wakes up until his alarm clock goes off for the first time.  After 9 years I'm still trying to figure out what his trick is.  He tells me he "just goes to sleep".  Yeah must be nice.

I've had trouble sleeping since I can remember.  It's not that my mind wanders, though I do get bored and start thinking about stuff.  It's not that I don't tire myself out during the day.  It's not that I am not tired when I go to bed.  It's not that I don't have a bed time routine, as I do work so I have to stay on somewhat of a schedule.  And once I am asleep I have no trouble staying asleep.  It's the actual getting to sleep part that I have problems with.  

I have tried everything: doctors, sleeping pills, magic teas, lavender baths, etc.  Nothing seems to work, unless you call making me even more tired and cranky working.  I was always told that a human bean needs 8 hours of sleep to function normally.  So I must not be functioning properly if I was only getting 3-5 hours?  Doctors were mildly concerned about my lack of sleep, as like I said, you need 8 hours to function properly, so there must be something wrong with me.  I had blood test after blood test, answered many many questions and there was nothing wrong with me.  I was doing everything right, but most importantly, I wasn't overly tired all the time.  Lots of times I actually feel more rested after 4 hours of sleep than I do when I actually got 8 hours.

Eventually I just gave up fighting my inability to get to sleep.  I have embraced it, come to terms with it, and even worked with it.  Instead of getting mad that I can't get to sleep, I started using that time for more useful things.  I think this worked out slightly in my favor because now, when I have to get up in the middle of the night with the Muk Muk, it isn't that big of a deal.  I am fully functional on 3 solid hours of sleep, though many days in a row of this makes me a little tired-cranky.  I have also started to make sure that I stay in bed for as long as I can to "rest".  Even though I'm not actually sleeping, I still lay in bed which lets my body rest up for the next day.  This might sound a little weird, but it's been working for me for the last 3-4 years.  I let my mind wander, I work out the worlds problems, I plan my week, and all the while my body is resting and rejuvenating itself.  This leaves me feeling like I got more rest than I actually did as opposed to when I would get up and pace the house and get angry that I was missing precious, valuable, platinum sleep (it also let's me organize my life at the mental level).

Despite my history of "bad" sleep habits, last night was terrible.  I actually got a fair amount of sleep and this morning I am so TIRED!  After three cups of coffee I feel like I was hit by a bus and am still squished on the pavement trying to get up.  My head is foggy, my body is still asleep, and my eyes keep drooping.  This better quit soon, because I have to go to work today and use my brain to make some money :)  Stupid, stupid me thinking going to bed early and getting lots of sleep would work out in my favor.

Monday, October 4, 2010

The Collection

As I have mentioned before we just recently finished re-arranging our home so that the Muk Muk would have a larger pasture to safely roam.  In the process of re-arranging, my bookshelf needed to be moved.  Anyone who has seen my bookshelf or has helped move it in the past pretty much ran away when I mentioned that we might need some help with it's migration from our bedroom to our living room.  

Years ago I asked my dad to build me an entertainment unit.  So, my dad, Dustin and I sat down and designed it so that all of our stuff fit perfectly.  Room for our stereo, TV, video game systems, spare parts, DVD's and CD's.  It worked awesome.  That is until the advent of giant flat screen TV's.  When we bought our big TV the intention was that our old TV would migrate (along with the entertainment unit to our room).  This was all fine and dandy until we bought our hobbit house and we would no longer be able to fit my bookshelves and the entertainment unit all in one room.  There was no way my books were moving out so I came up with the brilliant idea to use the shelves and space on the entertainment unit for my books, get rid of our old electronics and bribe Dustin with new stuff for the living room :)  It worked.  Old equipment sold/given away, brand new surround sound for the living room, and a fancy new home for my beloved books and there they lived until we decided that the shelf needed to migrate to the living room.

Needless to say, my books needed to come off of their giant shelf before the shelf itself could even be budged.  So I spent some time pulling the books off of the shelf and arranging them neatly in order on our bed.  This is the first time I have EVER seen my books all spread out.  I took pictures :)



Andy was nice enough to come and help us move the giant shelf (*thanks*) to it's new home in our living room and then I had to embark on the task of moving all the books from the bed to the shelf in the living room all the while keeping them in my OCD order.  This job could have been easier and would have been done in about 20 minutes if I had allowed Dustin to help me, but he doesn't understand why things need to go where they belong, so I argued to do it myself.  Obviously, I had to finish my task before bed time (as the books were napping on our bed) so it turned out to be a good thing that I had kept them in order in their transfer from the shelf to the bed (otherwise I think it is a strong possibility that I would still be arranging them now).  Anyways, here's the horrid bookshelf that sends everyone running whenever I need it moved.

Lord Hunger Fly

So, I embarked on The Hunger Games.  Interesting plot, moved quickly, slightly predictable though.  My personal thought was that the author did too much bending to her will.  Every time the plot was getting "tough" (as in it was getting hard to go in the direction she wanted it to) Suzanne Collins just made something "magical" happen that would shift the plot back into the right direction.  The overall plot was really good, and I like the dystopian future that she had set up and I will read the following two books in the series just to read more about it.  I'm a rather large fan of the dystopian future books.  Anthem by Ayn Rand = Best book ever.  Also high up on the list are Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood, Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury and 1984 by Mr. Orwell.

Anyways, as I was making my way through The Hunger Games, I kept having remote flashbacks to another book about children killing each other.  I read Lord of the Flies in two of my English classes, so I've heard my fair share of lecturing on it, but alas I am getting old and I felt a re-read was in order as all I could really remember about reading it was how sorry I had felt for Piggy.  Poor poor Piggy.  So right after finishing The Hunger Games (as I had to wait for Amazon.com to process and ship my order for the next book in the series - Catching Fire) I dusted off my old copy of Lord of the Flies and once again got lost on that island with Ralph, Jack, Piggy, Sam n' Eric.  No one will ever have to remind me to never to get on a plane full of boys from a British private school.

I must say that I was surprised my remote flashbacks were fairly accurate.  Re-reading Lord of the Flies let me see some more similarities as well and I think it would be an interesting thesis topic for someone going in a literary direction.  I'm sure Suzanne Collins has read Lord of the Flies at some point in her life, but maybe not and I do wonder if those similarities were created on purpose or subconsciously.  Maybe I can google it or something....  *googles*...  And upon my googling adventures I have come across several people/blogs/sites/etc. that have drawn similar conclusions to mine: there are definite parallels between these two books, and according to these two I need to watch Battle Royale

Monday, September 20, 2010

Fuzzy Pants for Hobbits.

It's been pretty dreary outside lately making it hard to motivate myself to do much of anything.  I have vowed to this year get all of our fall clean up done before the new year is rung in.  But alas, I am now going to use the weather as an excuse for my lack of motivation to clean out the camper, get the lawn mowed and clear off the deck.  It has just started POURING outside and rain walks are the best!  After the Muk Muk was born and I was through recovering from surgery Muk Muk and I went for a walk every day, rain, snow, wind, hail, sun, you name it we were out walking around our neighborhood.  Not so much anymore since I've gone back to work, but we still try to go as much as possible.  Both of us LOVE walk time, but the best walks are always the ones in the rain.  Everyone else is holed up in their nice warm, dry homes and we are out laughing and running through puddles :) and the evil old man who lives up the road is never outside when it's raining.  AND our house has a pretty good view, overlooks the lake and mountains and trees.  So when the rain lets up we get some pretty wicked awesome rainbows too :)  Best part of a rainy day.

Dustin and I have recently almost completed the rearrangement of the inside of our home so that the Muk Muk can roam freely without getting killed (literally, we did not have a safe house at all!). We have a LOT of stuff, so this was no simple remodel. Before we even had a baby our house was full right to the brim with stuff that we use on an almost daily basis, so fitting in a crib and finding new homes for all of our things was quite the task then and we didn't have the safety factor to worry about. Oh and I may have forgotten to mention that the actual size of our house would be more suited for a family of hobbits. Perhaps if our stuff was hobbitsized we wouldn't have had to pack up boxes of stuff to store until the Muk Muk is older and able to understand that throwing knives aren't toys. 

I am running out of days to reach my goal and after re-arranging the inside of our home I have completely run out of motivational energy to get the outside stuff finished up.  So today should be the day that I tackle at least part of the outside clean-up to do list.  But it's raining.  So perhaps my highlights today should include a walk in the rain followed by a hot shower and fuzzy pants. 

The yardwork can wait for yet another day...

Monday, September 6, 2010

Birthday Weekend Carport Camping

Saturday was my favorite person's birthday and even though we tried super hard to celebrate, it seemed like everything we tried was a complete and utter failure.  Every year he is lucky enough to have his birthday fall somewhere on the September long weekend, which has resulted in that entire weekend being dedicated to the birth of Dustin (everyone else just gets one day, but he figures he deserves 4 and to avoid any further conflict I just let him have them).  Me being the pre-planner that I am found an awesome present two MONTHS ago and ordered it, and we planned an epic camping trip 3 WEEKS ago.  But do you think his present got here before Friday? You think we had a marvelous time camping for the weekend?  Hells no.  

We spent Friday in Vernon shopping and going for lunch baby  free (Thanks so much Monica) and then we packed up, drove out and were pumped to find a campground that didn't have a "full" sign.  Needless to say they didn't have any actual sites left, just room for tents.  We did have a tent with us, but two adults, three dogs and a baby in a tent in September?  No way.  So we had driven for over an hour just to turn around and drive home again, completely defeated.  But wait the camping excitement wasn't quite over yet, before we even hit the highway our truck kinda broke.  And by kinda broke, I mean a rather large piece half fell off (picture below).



After using a hammer and a chisel to literally smash this huge piece off we finally made our merry way home.  Baby headed to bed right away, lucky us this was the one and only trip that she literally screamed the whole way home, so she was pretty worn out.  Perhaps she knew that we were trying to go camping and she really wanted to go and was upset that we were on our way home.  After grabbing a beer from the cooler and before we started unpacking, I said "Fuck this, we're camping.  Who cares if we're in our carport?"  We pulled the chairs out of the trailer, grabbed the baby monitor from in the house, unloaded the cooler, BBQ'd up some hot dogs and eventually crawled into the trailer bed (with the three dogs).  I'm sure our neighbors thought it was a little weird to see us sitting around in our carport eating hot dogs at 11 o'clock at night, but making the best of a bad situation was such much fun :)

We stuck pretty close to home for the rest of the weekend.  It wasn't the weekend that we had planned for Dustin's birthday, but I think he had a good time.  He keeps saying he did anyways and he did manage to bank several hours in video games.  I think that the little bit of adventure that we did have was bad enough that neither one of us wanted to have any more :)  Needless to say, Happy Birthday Dustin!  I'm glad you were born this weekend many, many moons ago :)

Thursday, September 2, 2010

Reading is not a sport.

A few years ago I was talking to a friend of mine about how much I like to read and they began "the competition".  Every time I say I like to read, the person that I tell (whether I know them or not) usually has the same reply "I like to read too, I read more than you.  Have you read this, how bout this, how bout this?  No.  See, told you I was a better reader than you".  Do you have any idea how many books there are?  Just because I haven't read all of the same ones that you have doesn't mean I am a "bad" reader.  A guy I went to college with actually argued with me for well over an hour when I told him that there was no way his prof (who worked full-time and had a family) comprehensively read 10 full length books a day (or it might have been week, either way).  Perhaps he was a speed reader, but even then the key word here is "comprehensively".  Reading is not a competition people.  Reading is a hobby.  Reading is something that you do to sit and relax.  Nobody reads to be the best at it or to be able to say that they've read the most books.  In fact I like reading because it is one of the few things that doesn't involve any competition (despite those who try so hard to make it one).

I have read a lot of books.  I know that there are lots of other people who read and who read a lot too and I am sure that they read more than me.  My problem lies with those who will argue that they are such a "good" readers because they read soooooo many books and then they go out of their way to tell me that they are a much better reader than I am, and then I find out that they only read books written for 13 year olds.  Come on people...  Twilight???  An adult reading teen fiction is like a monkey peeling a banana, it's an mediocre task to get to what you want. Now don't get me wrong, I read my fair share of teen fiction, in fact I've read a lot of it.  Harry Potter, Vampire Diaries, Percy Jackson, Bartimaeus, Eragon, and of course the coveted Twilight.  I've got quite the collection :)  I'm not saying that there is anything wrong with reading these books, I'm just saying I don't think the definition of a "good reader" is someone who strictly reads books that are several decades below where their reading level should be.  I may have read Harry Potter, but I have also read War and Peace (I like to think that the two compliment each other nicely, Napoleon's march on Moscow - Voldemort's march on Hogwarts) and Moby Dick (fighting the white whale - fighting the evil wizard *haha*).  My personal definition of a "good" reader is someone who reads a wide range of books (at all levels), understands them, learns from them, and most of all enjoys them.

//:end.vent

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

Returning to Normal...

Woo Hoo!!!  5 and a half weeks of recovery later and I am officially allowed to return to "normal" physical levels.  Though "normal" will be a toned down version of where I was before I had to have surgery, "normal" is much better than "taking it easy".  I am officially allowed to return to the softball field, still no tackle football or cage fighting, but running bases is finally OK!  Long walks and short runs are also back in the mix which is good for me, Missy B and my puppies.  It's still a long cry from the hour long sweat marathons I was doing 3-4 days a week, but at least it's something.  I just hope I am not too out of shape after almost 8 weeks of laziness (3 weeks pre-op, and 5 weeks post-op).  It will be a few more weeks (2.5 to be exact) before I will be back to full capacity, that is if I remember to keep it toned down a little.  I have a slight tendency to overdo it if I'm feeling alright while I'm doing it (this resulted in some problems after my c-section).  Though I do feel that I have learned my lesson and I have a strong dislike for being "laid up".

I must say, I effing HATE recovery.  It's not so much the pain, or the actual surgery itself, it's the last few weeks when I'm feeling fine and knowing that I still shouldn't be pushing myself too hard.  I just never know where too hard is before it's too late.  I have been taking it really slow, like turtle pace slow.  Muk Muk and I did a few easy laps around our neighborhood the other night.  These laps can be a pretty good work out if you speed walk/jog pushing a 25 lb baby in a stroller, which is what we used to do, Muk Muk likes to go fast :).  Last night I played a game of softball making sure I was aware of how my body was feeling throughout the whole game.  I was more worried about stretching and tearing something than I was about getting hit by the ball.  Today I'm feeling fine, not sore in the slightest which is a really good sign.  Over the next two weeks I'll be able to build up to the renewal of my gym membership which I will only be doing on a month to month basis as last time I only got 2 months use out a four month membership grrrr...  Ectopic pregnancy was timed perfectly to screw me out of half my membership and those corrupt gym owners don't cut you any slack at all.

The only good thing about having surgery was the immediate drop of 5 pounds, literally over-night.  After they suctioned out all the blood that had built up in my belly and removed the "problem", the swelling went down almost immediately and I was glad to say I was 5 pounds lighter.  I had been pissed off at those 5 pounds for over a month already as they were the last 5 to a total of 50!  Yeppers, I lost 50 pounds.  I had gained a lot of weight with my pregnancy, 3 months of no exercise (as per doctors orders) followed by 6 months of bedrest will do that to someone who just wants to eat and eat.  I had gained 40 lbs to be exact.  

After I had Haven I was completely disgusted with myself and I did everything I possibly could to not turn into one of those "fat moms".  You know the ones.  They were "normal" sized until they had a baby and then five years later when their kid is starting school they still look like they are pregnant and all they do is blame their kid for making them fat.  After five years, it's not your child's fault any more lady!  I thought it would be impossible for me to get rid of that much weight little alone get back into the physical shape that I was in before I had Haven, but here I am.  Despite some minor setbacks, I am in even better shape than I was before I had the Muk Muk and I'm lighter too!  I just hope the last 8 weeks haven't ruined 8 months of hard work on my part, though I'm sure getting back on the fitness band wagon will be easier this time as I actually miss it.

Friday, August 27, 2010

Toe Socks and New Book Days

Toe socks!  Keep each individual toe snuggly and warm :)  I'm not sure if it's funny or weird or pathetic but finding a pair of toe socks tucked away in the back of my sock drawer just made my whole day.  Now each one of my toes is being loved by its own little toe blanket.  Yep, I think I'm going for weird on this one.  I don't care though, it's always the little things that make me happy.  Post-its in fun shapes and colors, rainbow sharpies, coloring books, giant crayons, pink shoes, you get the picture.  I relish in little things that make me smile and I try to surround myself with as many as I possibly can.  The only thing better than relaxing on the couch, reading a good book, drinking a cup of coffee, is relaxing on the couch, reading a good book, and drinking a cup of coffee wearing a pair of toe socks :) 

Yesterday was "New Book Day", a day I don't get to celebrate as often as I would like.  "New Book Day" is the day one book gets finished and I get to go through the process of picking the next epic adventure to embark on.  And yes, I actually do celebrate it every time I finish a book and pick a new one.  If you don't want to believe me, you can ask Dustin how many times he's heard "Guess what!  It's NEW BOOK DAY!!!".  My saying this is often followed by loving comments about my nerdular nerdience (made-up words that he read in a Penny Arcade comic years ago that have now evolved into a  term  used to refer to my love of books and  science). 

Sometimes the process of picking out a new book to read is long and thoughtful and sometimes it's quick and dirty.  This time there was little to no effort at all.  Yesterday I had finished reading a text book on folklore, which was actually more interesting than it sounds.  It followed how stories are passed from generation to generation from one place to another and how they change from culture to culture.  Needless to say, after reading that one I wanted to read something a little lighter and with an actual plot.  So anyways, as I was putting away "Studies in Folklore" I looked at my bookshelf and just sitting there, not even in line yet was "The Hunger Games".  This series of books has been sitting on my "To Read" list for a little while now (OK it's been since the release of "The Hunger Games" two years ago but who's counting).  I had brought this copy home shortly after my surgery when Dustin not only told me to buy it, but also that he wanted to read it.  As this does not happen very often, I jumped on it like a ninja and bought the book before he could change his mind.  The combination of its convenient location on my bookshelf and the hype surrounding the recent release of "Mockingjay" sparked my interest at an optimal time.

So my "New Book Day" choice was one of the easier decisions that I've had to make lately, hopefully it turns out to be a good one, unlike that "Twilight" one a few years ago (comments from Tracy and Christine to follow).  Oh and  don't forget each one of my toes is nestled into it's own snuggie.  It's a wonderful day!

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

OCD and the "Pre-Work" Shirt

Yet again my wonderful morning has started with a nice hot shower, nice clean clothes and then a nice big coffee stain on my effing shirt (and yes Dustin has already teased me about it)!  Grrrr...  I was thinking that I should maybe invest in some coffee bibs and then after watching the Jersey Shore I came up with the "pre-work" shirt, something I started doing my first day back to work.  Having a baby means your clothes don't stay clean long whether it's from slobber kisses or spaghetti hugs.  And given my tendency to spill coffee everywhere I have adopted the "pre-work" shirt, which is really just a shirt that I change out of just before dropping the Muk Muk off to play for the day (similar to the "pre-club" tank tops that the guys on the shore wear).

Yesterday my boss sent out a work wide e-mail joke about employees wasting time, he even marked it as an urgent read.  Not too sure if it was funny or ironic, but I laughed pretty hard.  I should have saved it to post here as well, but I pushed delete as soon as I finished reading it.  I like a nice clean inbox, no e-clutter.  I'm happiest when all of my stuff is nice and organized and where it should be and labeled and all lined up nice and pretty.  I have wondered if I have OCD or if I am just really organized.  I took an online quiz thing once.  The total was out of 36 and anything over 25 was supposed to mean that you have OCD.  I scored a 28, which, given that it was an online test, to me is pretty borderline (30 might be a better indicator).  I do wash my hands a LOT, but I don't bathe in Lysol or anything weird like that (and I commonly sport coffee stains on my clothes).  I find myself checking multiple times that the door is locked, but I don't feel the need to flick the lights on and off three times every time I leave a room.  I get anxious if things aren't done right and I have troubles delegating to others because I'm worried that things won't be done to my standards, but I do still delegate.  Regardless of whether or not I have OCD it doesn't really impact me in a negative way, in fact I find it quite helpful.  How many people can honestly say that they have 40 gigs of perfectly organized music on their computer?  

Anyways, I digress.  I have now spilled coffee on pants as well as my shirt.  The only problem with the "pre-work" shirt is that it doesn't help with all the coffee that I spill on myself once I get to work.

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Coffee to mouth and other impossible feats

Every time I tell someone that I don't like potato chips, chocolate bars or ice cream, they look at me like I just sprouted a third eye in the middle of my forehead.  I have always heard about people's guilty pleasures when it comes to food, but mine aren't so guilty.  I LOVE berries and fruits of all kinds.  So much, in fact, that one time I ate a whole flat of strawberries to myself in
Penguin sharing my morning coffee
just over 24 hours, needless to say I am no longer allowed to buy by the flat.  I could live on sushi.  Those delicious little rice/seaweed cakes are so...  delicious :)  But, coffee, sweet sweet java java, is probablymy biggest "guilty pleasure" in terms of being not-so-good for me.  I love the java.  All kinds.  It's usually a 2 pot a day habit in my house and I'm the only one here all day long.  Those months that I was pregnant and I wasn't allowed to have any coffee were absolute hell. 

Dustin always teases me because I am physically incapable of drinking coffee without spilling it on myself.  When we were in college, every morning, I would fill up my travel mug before heading out the door for the 10 minute walk from our apartment to the campus. And then every morning, even though the cup had a lid on it, I would arrive at my first class with a great big coffee stain down my front.  In the winter this was OK, because I wasn't going to wear my jacket inside anyways but in the summer I got teased an aweful lot, not only from Dustin buy my peers as well.  I can pour acid out of a 4 gallon glass jug into a 15 mL test tube without losing a drop, but get coffee from a travel mug to my mouth without spilling it on myself?  No way.  Where is the logic in that?  Needless to say, my love of coffee vastly outweighs my need for a shirt that looks clean every day.

In college I always got stuck with 8 am classes, so when I got to school everything was just waking up.  Coffee kiosks were just opening, and students were catching a few last minutes of sleep in the hallways before classes started.  The walk to campus was refreshing and when combined with a steaming hot cup of coffee was just the wake-up that my body needed before trying to focus on differential calculus (why they are allowed to even have calculus classes scheduled that early is beyond me).  So, today I started my morning off right and relived some of that moment, I woke up early, poured nice big hot cup of coffee, and took my dog for an early morning walk :) 

Epic Return :)

Today is the day.  My epic return to the workforce has finally arrived :)  After a year hiatus I am anxious to return to the world of computers, chemistry, and accounting.  I'm a little nervous because even though I've been back to visit several times, I'm not sure what will have changed and what will have remained the same.  I know there have been a few position moves, some leavers and some new people, and I know one part of my job was put on hold until I could pick it up again and another part has been done by someone else for the past year, but I have no idea how the changes will affect me and how my return will affect others. As with my meeting last week to discuss my return I'm probably just over-analyzing the situation again.  It's not like my job position has changed or anything.

I work for a company that makes rubber flooring out of recycled tires, so yep on the side of nature :) and my job there was created special for me.  I amalgamate with their chemist, system administrator and accountant to keep everything running smoothly.  My background in chemistry lets me do some testing, research, and LOTS of documentation of processes, products and applications.  My background in accounting puts me in a position where I get to deal with money, invoices and banking and my above average computer skills are useful in working with their ERP system which is a great big computer program that has all of the stuff that an office needs to run (sales, accounting, production, etc).  So my job is a little bit of a mish-mash.

Last week I sat down with my CEO and my controller and we came up with a list of projects that I will be focusing on, as I will only be returning part-time to start with.  One of these projects is going to be to develop a new quality control process and design all the testing that goes along with it :)  I'm super pumped to be using my brain for something other than working out how much food/diapers to pack for a day trip to Vernon. 

So, today is the day!  My epic return has finally arrived and it is time to once again become a functioning member of society.

Monday, August 16, 2010

Technlological dependency

We finally found a free weekend this summer and went on our first camping trip of the year.  Yes, I know it's already the middle of August, but summertime is very busy for us and we don't get many free weekends.  So Thursday and Friday were spent cleaning and packing up our super-cool Estavilla with all of the camping essentials (food, games, bedding, and beer) and then Friday afternoon we were off.
 
After our three day commune with nature, I have come to realize that we are waaaaay too technologically dependent at home.  I would like to atone this to the chaos of summer, but really, come on!  It takes more time to program important dates and appointments into my cell phone than it does to grab the pen and scribble it down on a calendar.  There has always been something "on" in our house (unless of course we aren't home).  During the day I've got music on and in the evening Dustin has the TV on, not to mention the computers.  Lights not so bad, all of the other electronics give us enough light to see by when it's dark out.  We are terrible!  My biggest dependency stems from my hatred of summer, I hate being hot and for some ungodly reason I was convinced to move SOUTH!  Three months of the year I get cold and snow, that's it!  Three months where it's icy and you can see your breath and I LOVE it.  The rest of the year it's rainy, windy, and hotter than hell.  My biggest technological dependancy -> AIR CONDITIONING.  Best thing ever invented :)  

So why the eff would I want to go camping out in the heat???  Two reasons.  First, escaping from all of the technology is the most refreshing feeling ever.  No cell phones, no computers, no TV, no plug-ins at all.  I actually really prefer the "rustic" life.  I think writing on paper is way funner than typing on a keyboard, and I'd way rather be reading a book than surfing the internet.  Unfortunately the "real world" that I live in thrives on e-mail and web-sites.  Second, my love of water far outweighs my hatred for the heat, especially when you can swim outside in a freezing lake! 

In the end, Our weekend was a compete success.  Our site was in the shade and still very close to the lake, the glass cutting 1 am swim was a success (even though a few had some troubles making it till 1am, you know who you are), we almost completed our list of games to play (we didn't quite make it to bocce, but we did play spongebob volleyball), and lastly I think everyone had a LOT of fun :)  

Oh, and I didn't miss my e-mail or facebook updates one bit!

Saturday, August 7, 2010

Expressions of happyness :)

So, it's Saturday night and I'm sitting at home...  Alone.  And despite what anyone might think, I LOVE it.  Baby is out for the night and I'm free to do whatever I want (granted it doesn't involve too many sudden loud noises, though consistent loud ones are OK).  I'm happy to say, I'm enjoying a cold one, I've got 3 furry pals snuggling as close as to me as they can physically get, and my book is waiting for me.  I've also been informed that Mr. Awesome will be doing the early wake up with my Muk Muk (Muk Muk is the term that we affectionately refer to our baby as), so I also get to sleep in tomorrow.  Perhaps my one cold one will turn into two or three or four :) 

So, yep perfect night, nice and quiet, cold beer, good book, nobody needing me for anything :)  This is my happy place, a place I am regretful to say I don't get to spend much time in.  Usually it involves a bubble bath as well, but given my recent health issues (see recent blog post here), I'm not supposed to over do the bubble bath part so I skipped it tonight.  I must say the not being able to have bubble baths was/is my biggest piss-off during the whole having a baby and recovering from surgery time and the whole not having a baby and recovering from surgery time.  I usually spend a LOT of time in the bath.  I LOVE it!  Our giant tub was even the selling feature of our house for me.  Dustin and the real estate agent were checking out bedrooms and I was trying on the tub (yep, they came into the bathroom and I was sprawled out IN the bathtub trying it on for size...  It fit perfect btw).  

Needless to say my today has been near perfect.  We ate a giant breakfast, drank coffee, played cards and then we packed up and headed to Vernon.  We found sweet ass baby clothes for low, low prices, I bought some new tops for my epic return to work (YAY!  Not only am I excited to go back to work, but my pre-baby clothes are a little too big), I enjoyed a venti, double cupped, caramel macchiato with an extra espresso shot, and then stuffed my face with sushi for lunch <3  EXCELLENT DAY!  So now I'm off to top off the excellentness, with some more of my favorite things, cold beer, furry pals and my book :)

Thursday, August 5, 2010

Preserving the tradition of Saturday morning cartoons.

Once upon a long, long time ago I used to religiously spend every single Saturday morning up at the crack of dawn because that was when all of the good cartoons were on.  Once a week Transformers, He-Man, Gummi Bears, Care Bears, Wuzzles, My Little Ponies, She-Ra, and Rainbow Brite were my very best friends and I was always rather upset if I missed one of my favorites, keeping in mind that this was long before the invention of the Digital Video Disk and the era where one could just walk out and buy whole seasons of their favorite television show (hell, the remote control was barely invented).  Over the years I have noticed a decline in the content of Saturday morning cartoons and years ago I made it my mission to try to preserve that small, but very important, part of my childhood in case the impossible happened and I had a child of my own (it was also an excuse to re-watch my favorites in the privacy of my home).  So now, in our house, Saturday morning has migrated it's way to Sunday, and for several years Dustin and I have spent many, many of those mornings eating waffles and watching episodes of She-Ra, The Transformers and Fraggle Rock, all in the comfort of our PJ's.

I have been continually amazed at the deeper essence contained in the cartoons of my youth.  When Optimus Prime was first aired on TV, I was too young to understand the full context of a phrase like "Every sentient being has the right to freedom", instead I just thought that it was really cool that cars could turn into robots and shoot laser guns.  Re-watching many of the Saturday morning shows of my youth has given me a deeper understanding as to where some of my own morals may have stemmed from.  My beliefs in things like sharing, playing fair, treating others how I would like to be treated, and faith that good will always prevail, are continually visited throughout the wonderful lands of Cybertron, Eternia/Etheria, and Care-a-Lot.  I have also found that there was a LOT more going on in those shows then I could have ever comprehended.  My understanding was always that the bad guys did something bad and the good guys came in and stopped them.  I didn't understand the planet raping of the Decepticons, or the tyranny of the Horde, I just understood that they were bad and Optimus Prime or She-Ra would come in and kick some ass and it was always awesome :)

Needless to say, I spent a large part of my childhood pretending so very hard that the stick I had found outside was really a magic sword that would turn me into the Princess of Power.  I had My Little Ponies and prided myself on knowing ALL of their names and I knew all of the Care Bears and their cousins.  Though I can't quite remember them all now, I do know the good Transformers from the bad and I know that He-Man lives in Eternia and is constantly fighting with Skeletor and She-Ra lives in Etheria and is combating the evil forces of Hordak.  In fact I can rattle off the introductions to both of these quite well, as I spent many hours holding that stick up high and shouting "For the honor of GREYSKULL!!!" and then nothing would ever really happen, but in my mind mists would swirl and sparks would fly and then I would get a magical flying unicorn pegasus.  Best Days Ever.

Friday, July 30, 2010

Post-Its: Invented by Arthur Fry and Spencer Silver

I have a love/hate relationship with mornings.  I hate waking up, but I LOVE the morning time. It's all quiet and dim, and everything is still sleeping.  It's very, very calm and it gives me time to bond with myself. I know it sounds really strange but I like to spend time with me. It helps me figure things out.  Clear my head.  Plan my future (even if it is just for the day). Mornings are the best time for listing (another one of my secret habits that I prefer to hide from people).  I have lists and post-its for everything. Grocery lists, To Do lists, lists of books I've read, notes of important things that have happened, etc.   Anyone who has ever just stopped by my house unannounced has probably seen the post-its on the walls and the lists on the counter.  The best part of any day is the morning. A cup of coffee, a pen, some paper, and a couple of those wonderful stickies invented by Arthur and Spencer.
Acutal image taken from our bathroom :)
I don't enjoy the waking up process, in fact, I flat out hate it, but I have successfully found a way to make it tolerable, and it has since become one of my favorite times of the day (I told you it was a love/hate relationship).   Missy B wakes up as soon as Dustin pulls out of the drive way and she quite contently watches Sesame Street (please don't disrespect my parenting skills, it's an educational show and pretty much the only TV she watches, aside from hockey) giving me a whole hour to transform from sleeping troll to human being. My zombie self makes coffee, takes the dogs out to pee, checks e-mail, makes lists for the day, and learns what the letter of the day is.   By the time the Street is over, I am completely functional and often even cheerful and able to enjoy the rest of the morning.

Dustin has spent years making fun of my post-its and lists, even though he quite often asks me to make lists for him, or reminder post-its.  This makes me smile. Post-its just make the world a better place :)  They are colorful, come in different sizes and shapes, and they stick to just about anything, not only that, but they remind you of important things that you may have otherwise forgotten (Dustin take out the garbage).

Tuesday, July 27, 2010

Coffee with the Wicked Witch of the West

My coffee preference of choice is a grande double cupped caramel macchiato, often with an extra shot of espresso, from Starbucks.  Yeah I know, it sounds like a douche bag drink and I know they cost almost $5, but I LOVE them.  I’ve even managed to burn through not one but two of my own espresso machines.  That’s right; I convinced one of the workers at my favorite Starbucks to teach me how to make my very own caramel macchiatos and yes they are just as yummy. *drool*

When I accompanied Dustin on his business trip to Portland, Oregon we went to the zoo and the most magical place that I had ever been to: Powell’s City of Books.  A massive new and used bookstore that occupies an entire city block and has over 68,000 square feet of
bookness, complete with a rare book room (which unfortunately was closed during our visit, but we still got to peak through the windows) :)  Best place EVER! I could have probably spent our entire trip in that one store and still not have made it through to my satisfaction.  Rare, out of print, first editions, signed by author, hardcover, paperback, nicely bound, you name it, it was there.  I even found myself getting a little overwhelmed when we came across the signed by Christopher Paolini Eragon; Eldest first editions (which I might add were in my price range unlike the Harry Potter set of the same caliber, which I fondled for a good 10 minutes) and I still kick myself every day for not buying them (mine aren’t signed and they definitely aren’t first editions), but I guess that’s what I get for being cheap.

Check out time from our hotel was 11 am and Dustin wasn’t finished work for the day until 4 o’clock. I spent those wonderful 5 hours sitting in the Starbucks around the corner from our hotel with $20 and the book that I was reading at the time.  It was my first run through of Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory Maguire, which has since made it very close to the top of my list of favorites.  Since being published in 1995, Wicked has been successfully preformed as a Broadway musical, which I would quite enjoy being able to see one day, and Mr. Maguire has successfully followed this book up with two additional books, Son of a Witch and A Lion Among Men, which dive even deeper into the wonderful land of Oz.  Wicked is by far the book I suggest the most to other people as it has a little bit of everything in it, politics, drama, romance, murder, mystery, talking goats, magic, and an untraditional point of view on a classic.  Needless to say, even though I still kick myself for not buying those signed, first editions, I did quite enjoy having several of my favorite coffees with Elphaba and her story.

Sunday, July 25, 2010

Why it is always important to invest a few attribute points in healing.

Despite my best efforts to pretend that nothing is out of the ordinary, my husband and my horoscope have convinced me that I should post this to get it off my chest:
 
Three weeks ago I started to get some abdominal cramps and I passed them off as just your average icky PMSing BS. Two weeks went by, and they came and went and came and went before Mr. Awesome finally convinced me to go and see a doctor (yep, that’s my stubbornness kicking in, two weeks of 2-3 bouts of agonizing cramps every day and still refusing to go to the doctor). So last Sunday I drove myself down to the walk-in clinic (this was the easiest day to do this, they weren’t busy, and Dust could stay home with baby). There I was hit with not one but two pieces of “shocking” news. First of all, I had been religiously taking "the pill" and despite my setting an alarm to make sure that it was taken every day at the same time, the little bugger failed. Yep, one of those 2% failures. I was pregnant. Not exactly horrible news, but a bit of a shock nonetheless. We had just had the “talk” about whether or not Haven was going to have a little brother or sister and we had decided that she was enough. I had a rough pregnancy with her, and we weren’t sure that my body could handle having a second child. So holy shit I was pregnant again. Then came the second piece of news: the cramping was most likely because the pregnancy wasn’t going very well and that my body was miscarrying or, though the chances were very low (less than 2%), the embryo had decided that my fallopian tube was the place to be (otherwise known as an ectopic pregnancy), in which case it was extremely dangerous for me because the tube could rupture and I could bleed out internally. Whoa… Pregnant and most likely losing the baby before I even knew it was in there, a rather large pill to swallow in less than a minute.

So after a brief crying session and some instructions from the doctor to get some blood tests done and schedule an ultrasound in Vernon, I headed home to break the news to Dustin. I think he was more freaked out than I was. First blood test done, ultrasound scheduled, appointment with my regular doctor made. And the waiting game begins. Always waiting. Thursday we packed up baby and headed to Vernon for the ultrasound which would verify that the pregnancy was in the uterus and whether or not it was “viable”. And here we go with more bad news. The pregnancy wasn’t in my uterus, again I was among less than 2% and the pregnancy was in my tube.  So again I broke some more bad news to Dustin, and both of us had a little bit of a freak out and after a quick stop at Starbucks, we headed back to Salmon Arm with strict instructions on what to watch for and when to rush to the emergency room, in case my tube ruptured and I started bleeding on the inside. I went in to see my regular doctor as soon as we pulled back into Salmon Arm and after talking to a specialist they had decided to wait until the results from a blood test came in to see how my pregnancy hormone levels were. If my pregnancy hormone levels were dropping then it was quite possible that the ectopic pregnancy was miscarrying on it’s own and I would be in the clear, if they were rising then we would have to discuss other options which were either inducing a miscarriage with methyltrexate (a drug commonly used for the treatment of cancer) or laparoscopic surgery to remove the pregnancy from my tube (which is virtually non-invasive). So, home we went to wait some more.

At about 9:30 pm, I got up to pee and had to tell Dustin yet again some more bad news. We had to go to the hospital, like right now. After a brief discussion with the on-call doctor I was given a wonderful shot of morphine and I was shipped to Vernon in an ambulance, yep the sirens were blaring and lights were flashing. And again my poor, poor Dustin was silently freaking out. By the time I got to the hospital in Vernon the cramping had almost completely stopped, but they were going to hold me overnight anyways.

In the morning the doctors ran some more blood tests and my hormone levels had decreased a little bit (not a lot, but just a little bit), so we discussed the 3 options that I had. Option 1 was to wait and see if my pregnancy hormone levels continued to go down and hope that the ectopic pregnancy was in the process of terminating itself. Option 2 was I could take the methyltrexate to ensure that the pregnancy was terminated and then just wait for it to “pass”. Option 3 was to just go in and cut the pregnancy out of my tube and be done with it. Having already discussed my options with Dustin before sending him home with Haven the night before (having a science degree and the ability to use Google are two extremely handy tools) I opted for the surgery. I had been cramping for almost 3 weeks now and the methyltrexate was no guarantee that the pregnancy would actually pass through the tube. So though it seems a little harsh, especially since by this time I was feeling completely fine, my reaction was to just cut the friggin’ thing out and then I wouldn’t have to worry about it any more. I was put on the surgery list for the day and there I was left to wait some more.

By about 2:30 that afternoon I was bored out of my mind and I phoned Dustin and told him to come and visit me. Lucky I did. Dustin and Haven got to my hospital room at 4:30 and at 4:44 they came to roll me off to surgery. We got the rundown from the surgeon and anesthesiologist we said our “I love yous” and off I went. From there I don’t remember much, other than I was quite enjoying the dream I was having. Two hours later I woke up with a scratchy throat (from the tube they had to shove down there to help me breathe) and the doctor told me, her exact words being, “Holy, you have quite the pain threshold. You had a belly full of blood and it wasn’t bothering you a bit.” I smile at this. Nothing like having a doctor amazed at your pain tolerance :) So, it was a good thing that I had opted for the surgery. The worst that could have happened had happened once again. My fallopian tube had burst and I had been bleeding, a LOT, on the inside. They removed the pregnancy and my left fallopian tube, suctioned out all the blood, stitched me back up and I got to go home three hours later. I haven’t even thought about what would have happened if I had decided on Option 1 or 2, as there is a good chance I could have bled out and nobody would have even known until it was too late, especially since I wasn't feeling any pain. There was even a moment right before they came to take me for the surgery that Dustin and I talked about changing from Option 3 to Option 1 just so we could all go home.

Needless to say, it’s been a long week. I’m home now, my chances of having another child are substantially decreased, I only have one fallopian tube, and I’m in a fair bit of pain, but I am oh so happy to be alive :)

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

For the honor of Greyskull!

Anyone who knows us will not hesitate to claim that my husband and I are two of the biggest kids on the planet. We have spent endless hours of free time logged into the wonderful worlds of Guild Wars, Starcraft, and Diablo. We have made decisions based on the winner of the next round of Mario Kart and our Friday nights were never ever complete without the epic Marci & Cody vs. Everyone Halo game (which my team always won, with absolutely no help from me). Over the years we have collected little pieces of our childhood and display them proudly for all to see. Our living room is decorated with the traditional framed pictures of the Transformers and the Powerpuff Girls. Our bedroom contains a collection of original Transformers and an excellent copy of The Complete Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm, our bathroom is covered in fun fishes, and our daughter has inherited a wonderful array of Rainbow Brite, Popples, and Care Bears (she’s not allowed to actually play with them, but they sure make her room look cute). My husband still gets into “playground” fights, though over the years the playground has transformed into the bar and I still find the simple pleasures in a big box of crayons and a coloring book.

We have been best friends for
over 9 years and neither one of us would trade the other for anything. I have succeeded in finding the one person on the planet that I would willingly, no questions asked, do anything for and in return I have the comfort in knowing that he feels the exact same way. We have had many good times and a few bad, we’ve had terrific gains and have suffered terrible losses, but we have always had and always will have each other. This is the radio-active epoxy that has made us what we are today. We are and always will be the most solid super-awesome ultra punk ass demolition supreme pair on the planet.

3 years ago Dustin and I decided to celebrate our super-awesomeness the way that we thought would be best… We threw a super-awesome party complete with camping, karaoke, 3 am swimming, horseshoe tournament, late night poker game, and I think there was a marriage ceremony thrown in there somewhere too. So, even though I prefer to celebrate our actual anniversary in April, here’s to the anniversary of the day that we celebrated our super-awesomeness with friends, family, and savage ducks.

Dustin:
I promise to wait at least an hour before talking to you in the morning. I promise to always wait for the last paragraph of the chapter. I promise to offer you the last bit no matter how much I want it. I promise to give you space when you need it and to hold you when you are embarrassed to ask. I promise to never grow up on the inside while we grow old on the outside.

Marci:
I promise to maintain patience, to always wait for a save point, and to listen when you want to be heard. To give you your time and space, and to never invade your cube. I love you and am glad that you heard my heart song, even if it is just a boom and a doot doo doo. You complete me and I promise that forever and always, all my base are belong to you.





Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Hello, my name is Inigo Montoya.

Hrrrrmmmm....

What to say in an introductory blog... Hello my name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die. Muhahahaha. Obviously I spent waaaaayyyy too long working in that video store :) and I loved almost every second of it. Not everyone gets to go to work every day and shoot the shit about movies and video games, two of my most favorite of favorite things (right next to raindrops on roses and whiskers on kittens). Though the job I took to replace the video store works my brain/intellect way more, I still miss the busy Friday nights of up-selling popcorn bundles to every single person in line. My absolute favorite was when we were raising funds for sick kids in hospitals. Nothing like laying the guilt on the the late night drunks coming in :) "Would you like to donate to the sick children so that they don't die? I'll give you this sticker if you do." Corrupt sounding but it's all for a good cause, and it worked.

My most recent job position has been that of "Mommy", which I refuse to talk about in any length in this blog, as I am trying to treat this as my escape from the wonders of Mommyville (as Christine calls it). Though I love my daughter to death, and I'm oh so happy that she's here and healthy and in my life, I still need time to be me. Because I'm Super Awesome (and not arrogant in the slightest).

One of my biggest passions in life (actually if you ask my Super Awesome hubby, he'd probably say it's my biggest passion) is books, so you'll most probably catch me talking, sorry blogging, about them a whole lot. I LOVE the way that they create images out of words, tell stories, are passed from generation to generation, and the way that they smell. Yep, that’s right, I’m a book sniffer :) Right now I’m reading a book about how stories are passed down through generations and how parallels can be seen across Greek, Roman, Biblical, and Native American mythology (amongst others). Sometimes I find myself wondering why I never spent my time in university studying literature, and then I remind myself that I like to interpret things the way that I see them, and not the way that someone else dictates (thank-you Mr. Ebeson and your color coded pens for forever ruining English Lit. class for me).

//:end.introductoryblog