Coffeebration

I’m mad right now because I got my hair cut this afternoon and the girl there cut my hair way too short!! And I got duped into buying expensive shampoo because I have silicone build-up on my hair from using Pantene and Herbal Essences. So not only did they take away my girl hair, they told me I can’t use my favorite shampoo anymore. Well at least the new shampoo smells good. And my new haircut is supposed to grow out very nicely. Maybe someday I’ll be able to do the sexy girl hair wave thing.

And now for your entertainment …..

Monthly highlights of 2005:
January: I cut my finger on a glass and got stitches for the first time ever!
February: I got computer speakers for Valentines Day, how romantic Ha Ha
March: Ants took over my apartment, seriously
April: I went to a Green Day concert
May: I decided to go for walks in Schenley Park
June: I was obsessed with Natalee Holloway and Fox News
July: I went on vacation to St. Pete Beach in Florida!
August: I got deathly ill and was still obsessed with Fox News
September: Todd met an ugly girl on the internet, we broke up for good, and I quit smoking
October: I had a few emotional breakdowns, but I didn’t smoke
November: I went to a Penguins game for the first time ever & I kissed a cute boy named Brian
December: I became the owner the best boy pillow … and I enjoyed a long Christmas vacation

I guess this was a slow year. I’m usually busy moving at least once, having no money, finding jobs, or having some kind of insane anxiety attacks. This year really has been quiet!! But I did go on vacation to the beach for the first time EVER, and I met a cute boy who actually likes me … and I got stitches (I don’t get any exciting injuries often). And I QUIT SMOKING! I couldn’t ask for more! Not that there wasn’t some turmoil and unhappy moments because there were plenty. I have some weird feeling that 2006 is going to be a year I’ll never forget, and I do have pretty good intuition.

And if you want a sneak preview of January … I definitely know that one of the highlights will be my kiss on New Years because I’ve never been kissed on New Years before. It is really nice to feel like I’m worth being around.

Christmas is over. I spent a lot of money on gifts. I’ll make up for it by not eating or buying anything for the next few months. I think it should work out well … I need to lose some pounds. I got some wonderful gifts for Christmas. I received a lot of comfortable pants to sleep in / go outside in. I love cutesy pajama pants, but I also like to wear my comfortable clothes to actual places and not look like I’m wearing pajamas. Perhaps that is rather unsexy of me, but I like to be comfortable. My grandma bought me plenty of nice new crisp sweaters that I can wear to keep myself warm … and are nice enough to wear to work. My mother made me a beautiful glittery scarf out of yarn and she also bought me a magic scarf just in case I didn’t like hers. My grandma gave me bracelets and a pretty emerald ring. I also got a new purse and a personalized throw blanket for my couch. My mom bought me a My Little Pony collectible figurine since I guess I like My Little Ponies. I guess I do now!! I got real diamond earrings (wooh!) and trouser socks for work. And some awesome stuff from Victoria’s Secret.

Christmas wasn’t too eventful this year. There was lots of alcohol and drinking – not by me, but everyone was merry. My uncle was especially drunk on Christmas Eve so there was some entertainment. On the topic of alcohol … my mom and I went into the big Liquor store at Waterworks in Fox Chapel to buy some drinking stuff for Christmas Day. On the way in I beeped when I went through the shoplifting detector. Nobody said anything. However, on the way out I was asked to come back in the store. I had to go through without my purse … then without my coat, and I still beeped!! The one guy was like “well we’ll have to frisk her”. God, I hope he was just joking … I was about to cry. Then they just let me go. Why do I have to beep?? I had nothing on but my regular khaki pants and a navy blue sweater. I was wearing no earrings, bracelets, or rings …. nothing! My dad’s theory is that I was abducted by aliens and now there is a shoplifting magnetic strip inside of me somewhere. Aghh!!! I am going crazy about this problem. It is really embarrassing. At least I was just with my mom and she knows I’m not a thief.

Anyways, I’ve got a lot to do. I have to check-in with my stupid job and do some things … I’ve got to buy some groceries, try to make a pie, and do probably 10 loads of laundry. I hate the laundromat, it is far away. I also want to go to the mall and use my gift-card while stuff is still on sale. I want to buy some fancy bed sheets. Not that I sleep in my bed or anything, but I might start sleeping in it again sometime soon.

Today I’m off to FC to deliver my Christmas presents and hopefully get some too! I’ve already received two really cool presents, unfortunately both were from work … haha. My boss gave me a $100 gift-card to Macy’s. I felt compelled to hug her …. afterall it was quite a big present. What can I say … people love me, haha. I also received a nice picture frame from our Chanukah gift-exchange party.

I guess I’m kind of glad that I’m not running around with a husband or kids, having to visit multiple families, feeling rushed, stressed, and tired. Maybe I’m not really a grown-up yet, because it seems like most of them don’t really like Christmas. I don’t think Christmas is that hard, its great for me. It is a time to be with the people you love. I have a mom, a dad, and a brother. Luckily my parents are married … I won’t say happily, but they live under the same roof so that is good. My dad’s parents have both passed away, but my mom’s parents are both alive. They live about five minutes from my parents, so thats easy. My mom has one brother and he has no kids. My dad has two brothers and a sister and they all have two kids each. I don’t think we are hanging out with that side of the family this year. That is fine by me.

I am off of work until January 3!!! Woo! Although I love hanging out with my family, I’ll die if I stay there that long. It isn’t like the days of being in college where I would move home for a month after my finals. I loved it. Every year I race to get my finals done … and I’d have all of my stuff packed so once I finished that last final, I could run back to my dorm / apartment and go home! I’d usually be off from mid-December through mid-January. I LOVED going home. But I don’t even have a bedroom at my parents house anymore. I had to give them my old coffeemaker, and it just doesn’t make that great of coffee. I pace around feeling bored.

I’ll probably be back here by the 27th or 28th, so I can continue to relax on my own in the comfort of my little box. I was thinking about making a new design for coffeebration. I thought maybe I’d cook some good food one of the days, watch some good movies, listen to music, go use that gift-card I got from work, and maybe find someone to keep me warm 😛

Anyways ….. Merry Christmas!!!

I absolutely have to finish my Christmas shopping tomorrow. I have like 3-4 things left I have to buy and I know what I’m buying so I’m going to be quick and just do it. I’ll pray that the rest of my stuff gets delivered to FC before Christmas and that my mom doesn’t figure out what all of the packages are before I can get my hands on them to wrap them. I just talked to her on the phone and she already knows that one of them is a VHS tape because she was shaking it and it rattled! And somehow she knows it is for her. And it is, she’s just too sneaky for her own good. It is some old Hallmark Hall of Fame movie she just had to have, and it doesn’t exist on DVD so I bought it for like $1 online, haha. She must stay away from the presents.

This month is going by so fast. This week was pretty good except for today. Work was just horrible and I’m not even going to talk about it. I’ve let it go. I’ve got other wonderful things to think about. I took a vacation day on Weds. and it was probably the best middle of the week vacation day ever. Brian and I went out to eat at Olive Garden, went to the mall, and went to see King Kong. That was a great movie! I didn’t expect it to be my kind of thing really, but I loved almost every minute of it. I could have done without the giant sized cockroaches and centipede type things … but you all probably know why that would freak me out! By the end of the night I was exhausted but it was a wonderful time.

And in other exciting news, I think I’m moving for real this time. I’m like 75% sure I’m doing it … probably in the beginning of March unless things fall through. I’d be giving up the benefits of living in Oakland, but I’d be getting a lot more out of it. For instance, I can have a cat. There is a bathtub and a bedroom with a window … and air conditioning in my room in the summer (I’ll have to buy an AC but no big deal) … and there is a washer and dryer in the house! The rent is still like $100 cheaper even after utilities than it is here and I’d have someone to split the cable/internet with … so really I’ll save even more. And maybe I will cook more, since I am pretty darn good at it when I want to be. And I’d be living with a friend instead of by myself in this box. And it would be great to have someone there to like talk to and hang out with sometimes. And having a kitty would be just wonderful … I’ve wanted to adopt one for so long. My own little baby kitty … beware that when I do get one, he will most likely become the main focus of this website. Because I’m annoying like that. And it would always be good to have someone around who gives a shit about me the next time my life falls apart and I want to die. I don’t plan on that happening, but you never know, bad things happen … and it isn’t any good when you are all alone. I know from experience. And I’ve just got to get out of this apartment. I will have lived here for two years in May. I’ve never lived anywhere for two years since I left home. Don’t get me wrong … I’d love to settle down eventually and live somewhere permanently, but until I find someone to do that with, I see no reason not to give this a try. And I really need to get away from the centipedes. I’m having recurring nightmares. I just feel so restricted by having to sign a one year lease. I have no lease where I am now … so if someone were to call me up tomorrow and invite me to live on an island in Madagascar for the rest of eternity, I could just pack up and go. Hell, it took me almost two years of prepaid cell phone plans before I finally gave in an signed a contract. And I’m still pissed about that every day. I hate cell phones, but I’ll save that rant for another time.

I’m going to FC for Christmas. I don’t know how long I can bear it there. Not that I have anything to do in Pittsburgh, but I’m on vacation from December 22 – January 3 and anything is better than being at work. Maybe I’ll redesign coffeebration or become a ballerina. Or maybe I’ll just do absolutely nothing and watch Cheers marathons I have on tape. That would be wonderful.

Refresh the page and check out all the hard work I did to make this site festive. Hahaha …. hey, at least I did something! 😛

I thought you’d all like to know this. I beep when I go through the “you stole stuff” detectors at every single pharmacy in Oakland. Whether I’m coming or going … doesn’t matter, I beep when I walk in and out of CVS on Forbes, Eckerd on Forbes, and also at Rite-Aid. At first I thought it was the metal ring on my purse, but it is not. I must have eaten one of those metal strips and now the detectors think I’m a store item. When I go to Rite-Aid in the evening after I’ve been home, I often just grab my keys, my wallet, and my cell phone and go without my purse. I still beep. I don’t understand. Other people could go in there with a duffel bag of magnetic strips and they wouldn’t beep. Students go in there with backpacks that jingle with metal.

So one day like a week ago I asked our security guard at work to point his mail wand at me. Yeah, he has this wand that detects metal in the mail, and he has to inspect all of our mail that comes in before it is distributed into the mail slots. He did not detect any hidden metal inside of me anywhere. This has been happening now for at least a month. Different coats, different purses, no coat, no purse … doesn’t matter, I still beep! HELP ME PLEASE. I’m tired of feeling like an ass every time I leave a store! Arghh!!

I’m eating oodles of noodles again tonight. This is like the 4th day in a row I’ve eaten it for dinner. I’m going to turn into a noodle pretty soon. But its soooo cold and the soup is warm and salty … and I forgot I actually don’t hate it. Damnit.

That is all really. I had to sit here and let heat blow on my head as I thawed from being outside. I had no towels or socks so I had to go to the laundromat. It sucked. It is 21 degrees outside. BRRRRRRR!

Work wasn’t cancelled today but it should have been. I am getting a cold and it sucks. This is the most boring Friday night of my life. I can’t even sleep off my misery because the cold medicine I have makes me wacky and energetic. I cleaned my bathroom and did a sinkful of dishes in the past hour. I drank lots of OJ today and ate three of those big chewable vitamin C’s. And then I did the unthinkable. I indulged in my enemy of foods, the nastiest thing I could think of … I ate ramen noodles. Of course I drained out the murky starch water and replaced it with fresh tap water, added a bit of oil so it would coat my throat, and I ate it. Ughh … well at least I didn’t add croutons like someone I know, ewww! I’m sitting here with my heat up to like 100 because I’m so cold, so I hope my furnace doesn’t explode. Of course I’m listening to Wheatus but it isn’t making me feel much better. I want to drink coffee but if I mix it with the wacky medicine I’ll probably have some type of uncool spasm and start hyperventilating. I wish I had some diet pepsi. I’m trying so hard not be be whiny. I have nobody to whine to anyways, and nobody really cares. Maybe I’ll just go jump into a garbage can and roll down a hill. That would be fun.

Aren’t my post titles always so unique and appealing? Hahaha, I’m so creative that sometimes I just astonish myself. At work today, everyone was going crazy with talk of snow. What the hell is wrong with people though? Every single time it snows, the forecast always ends up being exaggerated. I’m not going to believe it this time until I see it. Anyways, the following email goes out around 1pm ….

subject: let it snow
since we are having a snow advisory for this evening, we want to make sure you use your best judgment when deciding to come to work tomorrow. what does that mean? it means roads may be better/worse in some areas of the city and outlying communities. you may have to adjust your travel times (earlier or later) to coincide with salting/ploughing. if you cannot make it to work, please leave me a message.

you should also check voice mail. if we would have to close the building, a message to that effect would be left for everyone.

if you have any questions, let me know.

As I’m reading this I am thinking, huh … work can be cancelled? That is crazy …. I worked there all of last winter since I started in August and work never got cancelled. Why didn’t I know this? It is like being in school all over again. I get to check my voicemail in the morning and find out if work is cancelled! But unfortunately I have absolutely no excuse to not show up at work unless I get snowed into my apartment (unless work is closed of course). I’ll leave a message that says “sorry, I can’t get my front door open, so I won’t be coming to work today.” That would be a funny excuse though.

I can’t wait for my Christmas vacation … today I sent appointment reminders to my co-workers so they could post a little reminder on their calendars that I’d be on vacation. I’m probably annoying, but I don’t care. Christmas, Christmas, Christmas is coming. And I had completely forgotten that I had a personal day to take before the end of the year. I’m not sure exactly what a personal day is, but I will just assume it is the same as vacation except I’m doing weird secret things. Because if you have a doctor’s appt, or your kid is sick, or someone dies … that is excused, and you don’t have to take a sick day, a personal day, or a vacation day … so what do you use a personal day for? Anways, I’m taking my personal day on Wednesday and my agenda for my personal day is already planned. It is going to begin on Tuesday evening when I will be watching the Pens game with Brian. And then on Wednesday we are going to eat food, go to the mall, and go see King Kong. It will be the best personal day in the history of the world probably.

I found my watch today that I had assumed was lost for at least the past six months now. It is my beautiful Anne Klein silver watch that falls off all the time due to a shitty clasp. Anyways, I found it in the bottom of my coffee mug / pen holder on my desk at work. I use two large colorful coffee mugs as my utensil holders on my desk. I feel that it gives flair to my coffee-natured personality. Besides, coffee mugs are much more exciting than like actual writing utensil holders. Those are just silly. And I secretly think I knew my watch was there all along, but I just wasn’t sure and I just never felt like checking. Yeah, its a pretty deep mug.

I just made a brand new pot of fresh tasty coffee and I plan on drinking at least one cup of it. I shouldn’t do the pm coffee thing, but I’m going to anyways. Bye!!

Life is good, just so you know. I’m sure you miss the daily updates and those not so rare days when you’d get blessed with two, maybe even three updates in one day! Writing badly, complaining, rambling, and contemplating life are things I think I tend to do more frequently when life isn’t good. Anyways, the only thing that really sticks out in my mind in the “not so happy department” is my job, and even my job isn’t horrible. And I don’t have time to waste thinking or writing about work. It takes up enough of my time. I just wish it was less important and controlling … and I wish I relied less on it. Kind of like how I really really didn’t want to go to work today because I definitely had other more exciting things I wanted to do … like sleep or something. But living in a box and eating bread crumbs isn’t my idea of fun in the long-run … so I went to work.

In other boring and uninteresting news, I was checking out apartment listings yesterday on Craigslist and found some nice sounding apartments that were in my price-range in the areas of Squirrel Hill and Shadyside. Those two places seem more appealing than my current area of residence. I think I have to set the bar a bit higher this time though. I must live somewhere that allows cats. It must have laundry on-site or very close. I absolutely must have a bathtub, and not some crusty moldy disgusting one. I miss bubble baths. Not that I’m officially planning to move, but when I do decide I’ll just do it. And that is that.

On Monday evening I went downtown to Kaufmann’s after work. I wanted to buy some new clothes for work and I don’t really know where I got the idea to go to Kaufmann’s. I don’t think I’ve ever shopped there before but I might have been there once a long time ago. And the more I think about how I ended up there, the more I think it must have been that dazzling window display that lured me in. About two weeks ago I was standing across from Kaufmann’s waiting for a bus and I just fell in love with the window displays. I guess they just stuck in my head. I’m glad I was tempted to shop there because it is a wonderful store. It is really big and it has tons of stuff, and it isn’t the mall … since I’m not a huge fan of the mall most of the time. Anyways, it was like my own shopping palace … because NOBODY shops there. It was deserted and wonderful! And best of all, there is a “warm and cozy” section, a pajama section the size of a small WalMart, and tons and tons of fuzzy slippers! (Not that I bought any of that stuff, haha).

Last night, I accurately predicted the outcome of three hockey games. And I even predicted the final score of one of them. I need to get myself that fancy hockey channel so I can sit around and predict hockey games all night. Maybe it could be my new career. Well, just in case its not, I better buy some lottery tickets. One way or another, I’ll be rich and free of responsibility soon.

Oh … and my Chinese medicine friend at work who takes my pulse daily mentioned to me today that my equilibrium has been increasingly better in the past few weeks. He said he noticies a definite difference and that I seem a lot less stressed and healthier …. of course you have to believe this crap for it to have any bearing on you, but anyways … I found it to be interesting and maybe I believe it just a little. I do feel good though, so maybe he has a little something afterall. Or maybe I feel good because I just daydream all day now instead of getting stressed out and doing work. Haha, whatever it is, I like it.

Anyways …. get warm and be merry. Looks like we might get lots of snow tomorrow! I dont mind, as long as it doesn’t turn to brown gooey sludge all over the place. But I am sure it will.

Last night was Courtney’s 25th birthday. Woo. We took a bus to the South Side and hung out at the Tiki Lounge all night. I have never been there before. I had an interesting time. I drank some beer. I was a little drunk. We caught the last bus back to Oakland …. Kelly fell in the snow and injured herself. I slept in my bed. Yes, it was a strange night indeed.

Here are two pictures. I absolutely refuse to post any other ones because they all came out horrible and it saddens me to inform everyone that these are perhaps the last two pictures ever to be taken with my beloved camera. I had to slam the camera off of the table several times last night just to get it to work. Then for hours it refused to do anything. I finally was able to make it function today so I quicky grabbed my pictures off of it because my only other card reader is my printer and I have no idea how to use it. Anyways, you all should know Courtney. I also went to high school with the other girls.

Kelly and Maria



Courtney, Linsey and Me