Coffeebration

I picked up my phone to call my mom to ask her to look for my bathroom rugs so she can bring them on Sunday if she finds them. I glanced down at my floor and saw about ten thousand ants! When the weather got warmer I noticed some ants around the floorboards by my bed. It freaked me out because I was afraid that they were going to crawl on me in my sleep. So I sprayed almost an entire can of aerosol glass cleaner down there. I thought I had solved the problem becasue I didn’t see anymore ants. I think that they were hiding somewhere, rebuilding their army … just waiting for the right moment to attack. Aaaah! I ran to my vacuum cleaner and vaccumed fiercely until I didn’t see them anymore. I hope that they did not survive the vacuum, I really hope they don’t start crawling out of it! I am SOOO glad that I am moving. Everytime I move, I notice that the same thing happens. The week before I move, more disgusting things happen to make me want to move even faster. Almost every day something else happens to piss me off and make me thing “what the hell would I do if I wasn’t moving soon?” Its pretty funny. Anyways … I’m getting cable internet and cable TV this Thursday! Yay! But my TV HAS to be there on Thursday. I am getting digital cable because the cable + internet combo is 49.95 for the first three months. After that I definitely have to downgrade to something else because they said my bill is going to go up to $90 a month. That is stupid. Todd is helping me move some stuff over Wednesday, so I guess I’ll take my TV, DVD player, and my VCR because the lady said that they would hook it all up for free. That is good because digital cable boxes confuse me and I’m sure I’d never figure out how to hook up my DVD player and VCR. The big move is on Sunday and so far I have 6 helpers including myself. I’m pretty excited. Well I have to go because I am imagining that ants are crawling up my legs and I am going to throw everything in my room away and throw boiling water all over the floor. Have a great day!

Yay! I got the keys to my new apartment today, so its officially mine now! I want to go over and hang out there right now but its raining and disgusting so I’m going to wait until tomorrow. Instead, I am going over to Todd’s to help him clean his new house and stuff. We are also going to eat some good food somewhere. This means that he had better help me too when I move!

I smell like a toasty garlic pizza right now … ewww. I am also wearing good clothes because I just got back from Walt’s funeral which I had to go to directly from work. I did not want to go up and say my peace, but I did anyways. It did not look like him, well it did … it was just really weird. The last funeral that I went to was my grandfather’s. He was sick for a long time and we knew it was coming. When I went up to see him, I guess that I felt that it was normal because he had been sick, and when he was sick, he wasn’t the grandfather that I had known my entire life. I guess I had prepared myself to see him like that at the funeral. But Walt was lively, funny, and completely himself right up to the last time I saw him … about 10 hours before he died. Seeing him laying in a casket, it was like I expected him to sit up and be alive again. Weird, I know. I’m not good at explaining the strange things in this world, so I am going to stop now. Later all.

It is hot today, and I could sure go for an ice cold beer. Mmmm …. I don’t have any beer though. Oh well. So here’s what is going on boys and girls. I’m going to Walt’s funeral tomorrow after work. That means I am going to have to spend a good part of the night hunting for something suitable to wear. Not fun. Kali is bringing the keys to my soon to be apartment to me tomorrow. I signed the lease and paid the rent on Monday by the way. Woo hoo! My Uhaul is reserved for May 16th and I’m ready to rumble. On a side note, I was also informed of a mandatory work meeting the same day at 3:30. Not sure how that is going to work out but I won’t complain about that right now because I got a raise today. Yeah! Now I’m officially going to be rich (not). Seriously I need a new job, but if I keep getting raises I might just stay there forever (again … not).
I’m trying to get all geared up for summer, and my goal is to look hot in a bikini, but I don’t think that will ever happen unless I workout. I’ve lost a ton of weight in the past year. During my panic attack/anxiety stage I found solace in large bags of potato chips, pierogies, spaghetti, pasta-roni, and many cans of pepsi. That stuff is no longer in my diet … I just need to kick the hot-cheetos fetish I have now. But they are sooooo tasty! Jaime offered me a free pair of khakis the other day except that they were a size 4. I looked at them and was like, um yeah these won’t fit. However, she insisted I try them … and they (almost) fit. I was still surprised though. My big problem is my hips and my stomach. My butt is all about a size 4, but my hips are definitely all about a size 6. This also causes me to have a sagging butt problem with almost all of the pants I try to wear. My hips and butt are not proportional to each other and because of my hips I end up wearing pants that are too big in other areas (as mentioned already, my butt). Enough about my bum now. Time to go do something else, like eat a lot of food! Bye now, have a great day!

It is a good thing that I did not show up at work today with sombrero’s in celebration of Cinco De Mayo. By the way, this is my favorite holiday in the world … just kidding, haha. One of my co-workers died this morning. It was really shocking and sad. Especially since I had just worked with him last night. We all stood around and drank a beer after the night was over … and Walt talked about how he was going to win the Powerball today and move to Fiji. He was like “I’ll call Al up and be like, well Al … sorry I’m not coming in to work today … I won the powerball and I’m moving to Fiji.” Well he was right about not coming to work today … but he sure didn’t win the Powerball and move to Fiji. Is Fiji really a place? I guess it doesn’t really matter. It is really ironic I guess, but isn’t everything? Its so sad too. Its all I can think about. One day someone is standing there talking about his future, the next he is dead from a massive heart-attack at the age of 39. Wow … its just so weird. I guess that is all I have to say. I feel really sad today. I can’t believe I’ll never hear his voice again. Noone that I knew really well has every unexpectedly died. I don’t know.

I broke a mirror today. Not like a little compact mirror, I mean a huge full-length mirror! Maybe its good luck if you break a big mirror. I haven’t had any bad luck so far, so we’ll see. Last night I got this crazy idea that I was going to trim my hair myself. I am sick of spending $20 for a hair-trimming that needs done once a month. I needed two mirrors so I could see the back of my head so I sat in front of my closet door mirror and I propped my other full length mirror against my computer chair. Cut Cut Cut. It went ok. I just trimmed it. My scissors weren’t very sharp though so it was kind of like I was just hacking off pieces of my hair. When I woke up this morning I wanted to check my email to see if the cigarette whores emailed me back. Another story: I purchased two cartons of cigarettes online for like $40 and they never came. I was emailing them to find out what the deal was. Anyways, out of habit I just sort of grabbed my computer chair, forgetting about the mirror. It went crash right on top of my computer tower and shards of glass flew everywhere. I went “aaaahhhh!!!” and I covered my eyes for about 30 seconds, sitting completely still, hoping that I had just imagined it. I didn’t imagine it so I just ignored it and proceeded to check my email. The cigarette whores did email me back and they said that my purchase was returned to them because of an error on their part and they would either resend them or refund my debit card. Also they said they would send me a free carton of cigarettes for my inconvenience. I chose to have the refund and the free carton. The cigarettes come from Russia and Todd bought some regular Marlboro Reds Russian style from a friend and he says they are fine. But he heard that the menthol ones aren’t very menthol-y, so I will try them out first. Damn Russians!! Hahahaha. So that was actually really cool news — free stuff! No bad mirror news. And in other news, it was beautiful today and I went out and got myself a hefty sunburn! Yay! Time to watch soap operas then go to work. Have a nice day!

Ok, I’m sorrrrry that I haven’t updated, but hey! — it is my journal, my website, and I have no binding contract to do anything with it! Sometimes I sit down here and I start writing, but there is sooo much I want to write. I have thousands of drafts saved … I just never finish them. I am usually ranting about something but when I go back and read it later I decide that I was just a little insane at that point. I guess I should just publish everything. I’m sure that everyone would be really thrilled to hear about how I hate the laundromat and think that there should be a limit on the amount of children allowed inside at once (or a limit on the amount of children that ghetto mama’s are actually allowed to conceive). How many times do you think I have complained about the same things over and over and over? I think there is only like 6 things I have to complain about: roommates, living situation, laundromat, how much riding the bus sucks, how much it sucks to live in the ghetto, and how much I hate hair.

In order to resolve the above situation, I am going to have to find new things to hate. Any suggestions?

Anyways, today’s topic is going to be all about what has been going on in the last month + some days since I have updated.

So … last time I updated was after a trip to FC for some good ol’ fun with the family and the cats. I don’t think anything else happened in March. Sorry. Let’s see …. Easter. Oh Easter was fun. My mom told my grandma that she was going to visit me on Easter at my apartment (of course a lie to get out of having to hang out with her mother on Easter). P.S. My mother is cruel. Anyways, so like a week before Easter my grandma calls and is like so where are you guys going on Easter? I’m like, huh … your house? My mom failed to call me and tell me the fake plan, so I kind of screwed it up. Oh well, her problem for lying. So on Easter I went to FC and I went out to eat with my parents and brother to this restuarant called 1844. The meal was over $100 for 4 of us, and there was only like 6 things to choose from on the menu. I got prime rib. I asked for it to be well-done. It was pink. I tried to pretend to enjoy it. It was kinda nasty. Afterwards I visited my grandma and she gave me some gifts.
Ok, now its the day after Easter and I’m back on the Big Blue boat (aka castle on Stanton Ave aka my house). Dude apparently is not paying bills. Our cable was shut off on Monday. Phone never stops ringing. Equitable Gas put a shut-off notice on our front door. They put one there every day. There was three of them on the door this morning. Yeah, so I don’t know what is up but I can’t live in a house with no cable and no gas! Luckily I still have internet and electricity. FYI, I don’t pay any bills here … my landlord is responsible for paying gas, electric, cable, internet, phone … etc. Oh God, I wish he would just quit paying the phone bill. The phone never stops ringing. Today I turned the volume off on the answering machine. I wish I could shut the ringer on the phone off too. Its driving me freaking nuts.
Anyways, as luck would have it my friend knew someone who needed someone to take over her lease. Same price, my own place, very cute and completely furnished! Even has a microwave! So … I’m moving … AGAIN!!! I talked to my landlord the other day and told him I was moving. I felt bad, but things around here aren’t normal (like they used to be) and I don’t want to find myself seriously needing a place in a few months. I could have stuck it out a while longer, but I really can’t pass up the deal on this apartment. If I wait I might not be able to find anything this cheap and nice.
So here are the stats on my new apartment (lets not jinx me … I haven’t signed the lease yet!) It is pretty much a done deal, I just have to wait for the girl to call me and go sign the lease. Anyways, like I said Land of Oaks, one bedroom, furnished, $400/mo, includes gas & electric. Sounds good to me.

PROS: Closer to more transportation, laundry across street, furnished, many stores in walking distance, lots of people around so I don’t have to fear my life if I go out at night, bars close by, two blocks from Wendy’s yay!, more privacy, cute, big, all mine!

CONS: Parking sucks, crowded area, basement apartment, no bathtub, will be subject to ambulance and police sirens, people upstairs apparently have loud parties occassionally.

That is all I can think of. But the pros definitely outweigh the cons. I’m sick of living in the ghetto. Highland Park is not the place for a white girl like me. Ooh I called myself a white girl. Well if its ok for black people to constantly say that they are black, then its ok for me to say I’m white!

Hey I think its time to watch TV on one of my 3 fuzzy channels. I have to hook up my makeshift clothes hanger antenna again because it fell down.

BYE!

Life is exciting. I need something to look forward to. It seems like everyone is making plans for something exciting. Some are getting married, some are going on vacation, and others are buying houses or visiting long lost friends. I’m looking forward to going grocery shopping tomorrow and buying a heat-sink fan somewhere. I’m looking forward to nicer weather and getting in better shape this spring. I’m boring.
Todd and I went to see 50 First Dates at the Waterfront on Friday. I really enjoyed it. Very funny! Go see it. I also went home to FC after work on Saturday to hang out. I visited with my family and my cats and then I visited my grandma to cheer her up. She’s sad because my uncle went to jail and she thinks she is a failure as a mother or something like that.
I also got suckered into fixing the damn computer again. This computer was actually my first computer that I bought for myself when I first went to college, but it ended up becoming my brothers computer and now it breaks a lot. This time was pretty bad though. The power-supply died. It got fixed, but then the hard-drive would only work if you layed the computer down on its side. I replaced the hard-drive but after more strange noises and an inspection by Todd I was told that the fan on the heat-sink is also broken. I think it just broke though because it wasn’t making that noise earlier today! I wanted to fix it for myself … just because I like the computer (we have a special bond) but my dad wants it for something. My brother already ordered a new snazzy computer, so I don’t know why he wants to deprive me of this awesome computer that wasn’t even considered top of the line in 1999 when I bought it with my hard earned money. But I also have my family’s old computer from 1998 (the HP Pavilion WalMart special). Its mine now.
I’m at a loss for anything else to say. Here are some pictures I took in FC this weekend. Enjoy.

Joe (my bro) and I posing happily in the pink kitchen.

Nine (my kitty) is very happy to be hanging out with me! He is just afraid of the camera (and my brother sucks at taking pictures).

This is my mother, in deep crossword puzzle concentration. She’d kill me if she knew I posted this pic … good thing you don’t know how to turn on the computer mom!

I got my hair chopped off today. Literally … chopped by an angry hair-stylist who kept stating that she needed to sharpen her scissors while fighting with a co-worker. Why do I always get the crazy hair-people!! Anyways … here is a picture of it. Whoo!

My dad told me that it is imperative that I find some type of medical insurance just in case I get run over by a bus. It’s not really funny, because it could happen. Not likely, but still possible. Anyways, I do think it is important to have some type of insurance just in case. I don’t have any life-threatening problems that I know of, but if I break my leg I could end up owing the hospital like thousands of dollars.
I think its really stupid that medical expenses are so high. Last year I had an anxiety attack and I called 911 around 5am. I seriously couldn’t breathe and I thought that I was having a heart attack. The ambulance service charged like $500 to drive 1.5 miles. Then I sat in a cubicle for about 2 hours and the doctors saw me for about 15 minutes at the most. There were no tests done, no blood taken, and no machines hooked up to me. I think the cost was still $300. So $800 for nothing. Luckily my health insurance covered all of it that time. Now that I have no health insurance I guess I’ll just suffocate and die next time I can’t breathe.
So my dad insisted that I apply for medical coverage through the county assistance program (aka welfare) so I applied. I applied online and never sent any of the stuff that I was supposed to send. Then I got a letter in the mail that said I had an appointment for an interview. OK. It was this morning at 9:00. Blah. I went. There were a lot of gross people and it really smelled there. I had to bring stupid stuff like pay-stubs, bills, bank-statements, a copy of my lease, and a rent-receipt. Well, yesterday I realized I had none of the above. I pay all of my bills online, my bank-statement is online, and I don’t have a lease. So I just printed all of my online statements, and asked Ron to write something for me. I came home from work last night and he left me this really nice letter about what a good tenant I was. Geez, made me blush a little, but I don’t think the welfare office was looking for a letter of recommendation! At least I know who to go to when I need one.
The welfare lady told me that I don’t qualify for medical coverage because I make too much money. Apparently I have to make less than $2500 in one quarter of a year. Seriously, I make no money at all. But the lady sure made it look like I was rich! However, I do qualify for like $50 a month in food-stamps. Well I didn’t even apply for food-stamps. I’m not going to starve, like I’m not that poor. She told me that my application was already processed and I already have a card so I might as well use it. It’s like they are trying to make people take stuff from them. I would think that they would try to discourage people from taking advantage of public welfare and go out and get a life. Oh well. Guess I will just go get some food with my food-stamps and maybe on my way home I’ll get hit by a BUS. Now wouldn’t that be my luck.

It has been a nice weekend and I am very happy for that. Unfortunately I spent most of that time at work. Really, its just in my head … that the day is over at 3:00. That is what time I am done with work. I walk outside, feel the fresh air, the sunshine beating down, and I feel happy. I walk home, walk into my house, and come into my bedroom. Its usually about 3:30 and I think to myself “well, the day is over.” In reality there is still a few hours of sunshine left that I could definitely take advantage of. I guess I just feel like a beautiful day is wasted if it doesn’t start by 1PM. Right now it is already 2PM but I’ve already been outside today. And its beautiful. I’m going to finish my grilled cheese sandwich and tomato soup and head out to Highland Park. Later tonight Todd and I might go to Mt. Washington to watch the sunset. Speaking of … I need to find out what time the sun is going to do the setting. Well KDKA says the sun sets at 6:10PM, guess I was way off. I thought it was like 7:30. Well I must be dumb because I clearly remember it being dark around 6:45 last night. Oh well. Hope everyone has a nice day!
Oh yeah, and Happy Leap Day … see ya in 2008!!