KRE

LOCATION: My dad's house, in the kitchen.

SCENE: My sister Raelyn has finished babysitting some kids, and there is some play-doh on the counters. Raelyn and my brother Ethan are playing with some of it before putting it away. Raelyn is cutting up some chunks of brown play-doh.

Dad enters the kitchen.

DAD: What is all of that?
RAELYN: Oh, nothing. Fudge.
DAD: Ooh fudge, don't mind if I do, mwahahaha!

Dad puts chunk of play-doh in mouth.

DAD: AAUUUUGGHHHFFFFFUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU--

*cue laugh track*

I was telling Scott recently that even though I won't be here over the holidays, it would be nice to have a small Christmas tree in my dorm for the time that I am here, to make my room feel cozy and get me in the holiday spirit as the semester winds down.

Today, I received a surprise package in the mail. Behold!



He bought me my very own tree, plus lights! My room is about a billion times more cheerful. :D

Last night around 8:30 I got a weird desire to move all of my furniture around. Once the idea gets into my head to do such a thing, I can't relax until I do it. At 10 pm the rearrangement was complete. Previously, my bed had been lengthwise under a multi-panel window, which inconveniently also has the room's heater underneath it. This meant that my bed was always very hot, or extremely cold.

The new arrangement is kinda weird, but I actually like it. My bed is in a better spot, as is the tv, and now the sounds of garbage trucks outside aren't quite as ear destroying as before (though still quite bad).

I am so glad this week is a short one. It's not so good in the sense that I won't get as many work hours, but it is good in the sense I can have a breather.

Unfortunately I wasn't able to swing going to South Carolina this weekend, so have made plans to go down in a few weeks instead over a weekend. Now I just need to figure out what to do for the actual holiday!

One of my classmates from Russian Language and Russian Literature has H1N1. My mind isn't blown, as she's been missing a lot of classes over the past week or two, so I knew she must have something quite bad. She just sent me an email asking for notes and stuff, as she's developed pneumonia as well. Poor girl. :/

I haven't been asked out on a date by anyone in quite a long time, and I assume that this has something to do with the fact that I have rings on my fingers now, and that I don't go out as much. I think since the wedding, I also have lost some of my social prowess because I had a very awkward interaction today.

LOCATION: Fortress Comics and Games
ACTORS: Two employees, one customer, me (wearing my R2-D2 shirt, probably the catalyst for the whole thing).
SCENARIO: I am browsing through comics and thinking of Christmas ideas. Guy who does not work there approaches me and begins chatting.

Him: I see you like Star Wars?
Me: Oh, yeah, I've recently rekindled my love for it.
Him: Have you been here before?
Me: No, but I have some coworkers who come here for 40K stuff, so I thought I would have a look.
Him: Where do you work?
Me: The IT help desk on campus, I do computer consulting.
Him: Oh, so you're a smart nerd!
Me: Hmm, I would like to imagine so, I guess.
Him: What are you doing tonight?

OK. So at that point, I was browsing through several Warren Ellis comics, and not entirely paying attention, and I missed the completely OBVIOUS implication in that statement and just carried on the conversation like so:

Me: Oh probably playing some xbox, I just got borderlands from a friend the other day.
Him: Oh a gamer too, how do you like borderlands?
Me: It's pretty fun, I enjoy it.
Him: So, are you hungry?

OH. I UNDERSTAND NOW.

Me: Oh, uhh..
Him: I'd like to take you out.

At this point, I glance up from what I was looking at and see the people who work there watching with somewhat horrified looks on their faces, probably afraid that a potential customer might be driven out due to being uncomfortable.

Me: I, uh, I'm sorry...
Him: You don't want to?
Me: I'm sorry, I'm married..

He then just sat there, and I became so uncomfortable with him just sitting by me not saying anything that I just left. If I was on my game I probably would have caught on right away and not let it carry on for so long, and by the end of the conversation I felt so bad and unsure about how to make it less awkward that I just left.

It's flattering to be approached and asked out, it's nice to have that happen and in general it does make me feel good even though I don't want to further it at all, but I was totally not expecting it or ready for it and ugh I feel guilty like maybe I was leading him on or something I DIDN'T MEAN TO. :(

The dining room in my dorm was inexplicably turned into a night club last night. I'm talking dance floor, people dressed up, a dj playing loud hip-hop, fancy lighting, strange hors d'oeuvres..

I just went down in my PJs because I wanted a late night snack. They had something very bizarre thing on which I require your opinion. On toothpicks, they had chunks of banana wrapped in bacon.

I actually tried one, it wasn't bad, but I still require an explanation. :|

I left my toothbrush and toothpaste in the bathroom about an hour ago on accident. I went back to retrieve it, and my toothpaste had already been stolen. Balls.

I should specify that this is important because I am allergic to most kinds of toothpaste and need to use special varieties and I have to go and find some now. So sad. :(

Today at work my task is to reinstall Windows XP in Hebrew on someone's machine. Good thing I could do an XP install blindfolded, because I can't read any of this!

I got a present in the mail today from Scott. It's a stuffed burgundy dog made from corduroy. It's very soft and adorable and I have named him Louis.

I'm pretty sure I need these to survive.



Everything on my Christmas wishlist is coming from etsy.

I was talking about children's shows with one of my coworkers this morning, and this is the conversation we had:

Him: I liked that one show about the people on the island, and there was a big yellow frogman or something.
Me: Oh yeah, I remember that...What was it...Gullah Gullah Island? Is that it?
Him: Yeah, that's the one! Binyah-Binyah!

While reminiscing, we looked it up on wikipedia and I learned that the name of the show refers to the ethnicity/heritage of the family on the show. I guess as a small kid, I obviously had never encountered the word "Gullah" outside of the context of the name of the show, and had no idea it was anything but a nonsensical phrase. Looking at it now, I definitely do know the word Gullah, but because I encountered it in a different way as a kid I never made the connection between the word Gullah as an ethnicity thing and as the name of a kid's show. Quite surreal to now figure it out!

I think it is time to rediscover this show. I wonder how many people are seeding Gullah Gullah Island in this world...

The (arguably*) French film Vodka Lemon is probably my top movie of the decade. I can never decide if it makes me want to laugh or cry or both. Depends on my mood really. It's brilliant, and if you don't want to take my word for it, it has extremely glowing reviews.




*According to wikipedia: "In spite of all the awards won by the film, the producers of the film did not succeed in qualifying the movie as a French one because the actors were not speaking enough French words in the dialogues. The French cinematic authorities counted out the words spoken in the film finding out that there were 41 French words lacking. The failure to qualify as a French movie pushed the producing company Dulciné Films to file for bankruptcy."

Donated my hair to locks of love last night. I feel pretty good about it, and I don't look as much of a doofus as I expected. :)




Now I just need to get over this stupid cold that's hit me. I hate being sick. :(

I'm not going to play the family politics game.

My dad cut off contact with his brothers (difficult, seeing as how he works with one of them), as they promised to come to my wedding and didn't show, thanks to my grandma stirring up some drama of some kind and making excuses for why no one should go. I invited the people I was closest to in the family (ie, those I have seen within the past 10 years), and aside from my grandma, all had said they were happy to be at the wedding. Of course, not a single one turned up.

The people not invited to the wedding caused a huge dramafest. These are people who have never put any effort into communicating with me or seeing how I'm doing, but suddenly now that they have facebook and it takes practically zero effort to put up some facade of caring, they expect I'm going to treat them like royalty simply because we're blood related. Forget the fact they've not seen me in over ten years!

NEWSFLASH: A POKE ON FACEBOOK AFTER 10 YEARS IS NOT A SUBSTITUTE FOR ACTUAL INTERACTION

Fuck them. If they don't like the way I live my life, they can stay out of it.

I'm chopping off my hair on Friday. I'm donating it to cancer patients.

I am sure I will look silly because I will have to go quite short in order to donate the minimum required amount, but if someone needs it more than me, take it. It will certainly be a test of my confidence, at least. :)


ALSO JOE

I saw a guy at work today, wearing a cape.

I call him

cape guy

I just ordered this shirt off teefury:



I'm a nerd. Scott has an AT-AT one, so as we have just discussed, our next date will consist of dining on roasted ewoks and drinking wine from the helmets of stormtroopers.

Late last night I went to drop my car off in a parking garage near where I work, so that when I leave work today I can take it straight to the old apartment complex where I've been leaving it all year (shh don't tell).

I parked the car in the basement level, made sure it was all locked up and stuff, and went to take the elevator because I was exhausted. There was a weird sound I could hear behind the elevator doors that began getting louder as the elevator got closer. The closer it got, I realized it was weird music. The elevator doors opened with a *ding*, and in the elevator there was a small black radio sitting on the floor. The music became a bit garbled by fuzzy noise, as I guess it didn't have great reception in the concrete basement. The noise echoed throughout the dark, empty garage. I stared at it for a few minutes, then decided I may as well use the elevator anyway.

When I got out of the elevator, the radio was still going quite loudly, and I looked around, didn't see a soul anywhere, and I couldn't hear anything but the radio itself.

Most likely explanation is that someone from maintenance was listening to it while working and left it either on accident or when on a break or something. Still, it reminded me of that radio in Silent Hill that makes noise when monsters are close by. ;_;

Just wrote an essay for tomorrow, called "Grotesque and Absurd Elements in the Short Stories of Nikolai Gogol." It's due tomorrow so I'm glad I finished it, but I also was supposed to finish around 300 pages of War and Peace for the same class and uhhh, not quite there yet (more like page 60).

;____;

My diet is really having a positive effect. I know it isn't enough to be noticeable to anyone else yet, as I've only just recently started this new regime, but for me there is a very noticeable difference. My clothes aren't snug, and there's actually even a gap starting to form in my jeans! I'm eating well and frequently, but the change has been very drastic from my normal eating habits. I'm even starting to alternate cardio and pilates to give that extra oomph that I require to get into shape.

I know the change won't continue at a fast rate, but seeing a visible difference when I look in the mirror is incredibly encouraging.

I'm going to watch Blue's Clues on netflix instant streaming.