Catching Up

There are a lot of blog entries I've been kicking around and planning in my head lately, and then I never get around to writing them.  So here are the title and condensed versions, just for the sake of record keeping.

Benji
I don't know if I ever mentioned it but I did get Benji's ashes back, and they're sitting on one of my bookcases next to a framed photo of him.  It's his little memorial corner.  I miss him so much but it's getting easier.  I know he's always with me, anyway, and it's comforting.

Max
March 16th was Max's Adoptionversary or Gotcha Day or whatever you want to call it.  He's been my dog for a whole year now.  I was going to write a full entry about it but I just don't feel up to it.  Max has definitely had his pain in the ass moments since I adopted him but I definitely love him.  He's a good little dog and he's made tremendous progress in the past year.  He's much healthier and happier than he used to be, and I'm glad to have helped him to that point.

Work
Work was insane last week.  Two people on vacation, my boss in transit from AZ to FL for most of the week, and some less than fantastic experiences with a couple of co-workers made for an unpleasant 36 hours.  Last month (just after Benji died) I was asked to take over DME prior auth. for the sleep department, and it has kept me insanely busy.  I love it.  Before last week I was just at the edge of being overwhelmed with work, and that's generally when the point where I function best.  Last week I was genuinely overwhelmed and I'm looking forward to my normal workload this coming week.

Fitness/Diet
I've been doing better in this area lately.  I did cancel my gym membership, because I'm just not using it, and there's really no point in paying the $40 a month for it.  I'm still working out at home and that's actually going pretty well.  I just need to be more consistent instead of hit and miss.

Literally The Bitchiest Thing Anyone Has Ever Said To Me
This actually happened almost 2 months ago and I wasn't sure if I wanted to write about it . . . but I think it deserves a mention.  It was one of my late stay days in February (for my super fun special mail project) and for whatever reason, I got to chatting with a co-worker.  She said something about my honey missing me since I was staying late, and I laughed and said I was single.  And then I joked about how I'm hopelessly single, and she said that she was too.  But I know for a fact that she has a live in boyfriend so why she said that was beyond me.  I said, "No you're not."  And then she laughed, with this little condescending chuckle, and said, "You're right.  I'm not."  I was literally speechless and more or less just walked away after that.  Seriously, so bitchy.  So incredibly unnecessarily bitchy.  And really kind of disrespectful . . . if my longtime live in S.O. randomly told people he or she was single I'd be livid.  I just don't get it.  This particular co-worker also once invited me to a Zumba class when she saw me eating a brownie at work last Halloween, so she definitely has a track record for this kind of stuff, but still.

Dancing With the Stars
DWTS started last Monday.  I'm super excited for this season.  Plus both my mom and my sister are watching too and that makes it more fun.  They both mentioned something during the premiere about it being unfair that two of the contestants are gold medal winning ice dancers and kind of have an advantage . . . to which I pointed out that Derek Hough has literally won the contest with a professional dancer.  Seriously.  Definitely a facepalm moment.

Hollie
Is the newest member of my little family, and I will write more about her later.

DWTS Update

So tonight was elimination night (the third cut, but only the second real elimination) and I thought I'd update my prediction thing.  So far I've been wrong about the first two eliminations (but not too far off).  I'm not changing anything in my predictions really, just . . . elaborating I guess.

My predictions:

Week 1:  Lisa & Gleb
          Wynonna & Tony
Week 2:  Victor & Lindsey
           Lisa & Gleb
Week 3:  D.L. & Cheryl
          D.L. & Cheryl
Week 4:  Wynona & Tony
          Victor & Lindsey
Week 5:  Ingo & Kym
Week 6:  Sean & Peta
Week 7:  Andy & Sharna
Week 8:  Jacoby & Karina
Week 9:  Aly & Mark
Week 10:  Kellie & Derek
WIN:  Zendaya & Val

Basically, the highlighting shows the couples I think are going to go within that time frame.  Does that make sense?  I think the orange ones will be the first four to go, even if I have the order a little wrong.  Then the middle three will go, then the last three, and I'm still betting on Zendaya and Val for the win.  They're just highlighted because it looked stupid otherwise.

Edit 4/23: I was right about the first 4 to leave!  I don't necessarily know that that's very impressive but . . . considering how many upsets there are in this show generally, I thought I'd mention it.  (Remember Bristol Palin's season?  When she should have gone home like second and made it to the freaking finals?)  Anyway.

I'm Going to Talk About "Dancing With the Stars" Now

So DWTS premiered last Monday.  I was pretty stoked about it.  Because I need more things in my life that make me sound like an old woman, right?

But anyway.

There was no elimination after the first round, so the first elimination was last night.  And holy cow was I depressed when there ended up not actually being an elimination when Dorothy Hamill announced she was withdrawing from the competition due to an injury.  Mostly I'm disappointed because she was paired with Tristan MacManus who is just about the sexiest thing I've ever seen with an awesome Irish accent, and I wanted him to stay around longer this season.  I was excited because he got an ice skater, and they tend to do well in the competition, but no.  He was eliminated first last season too . . . lame.  Not gonna lie, this makes me a teeny bit less invested in the rest of the season but oh well.

Other than that it's just the same . . . Derek and Mark have ringers, Tony's basically screwed (I think the producers were like oh, you finally won a season? well fuck you), the judges are still 66.3% nutjob, and so on.  But still fun to watch.

Here are my predictions for the rest of the competition.  I was way wrong with most of my predictions last season so we'll see how I do this time around.  (Sigh . . . I wish I had a life).  I'm not even counting week one since it was what it was.

Week 1:  Lisa & Gleb
Week 2:  Victor & Lindsey
Week 3:  D.L. & Cheryl
Week 4:  Wynona & Tony
Week 5:  Ingo & Kym
Week 6:  Sean & Peta
Week 7:  Andy & Sharna
Week 8:  Jacoby & Karina
Week 9:  Aly & Mark
Week 10:  Kellie & Derek
WIN:  Zendaya & Val

I know the first two are both new pros, but that seems to be how it generally goes when there are newbies.  They just don't have very big fan bases, and at this point in the show, I think a lot of people vote for their fave pros as well as their fave celebrities.  I don't know how big these two celebrities' fan bases are though, so that might be enough to pull them through.  And Sharna's a new pro as well but she's been a troupe member for awhile so she's a little familiar to the audience.

D.L. and Cheryl I think could go farther, because she's a long standing favorite pro dancer with a good sized fan base.

I kept switching Ingo/Sean/Andy around those three spots.  I think those three couples will be the kind of middle of the pack to go but it could be in any order, I think.

Yes, I'm predicting a Chmerkovsky for the win.  Maybe that's just wishful thinking on my part but I definitely think Val has a shot this season.  He really endeared himself to the audience last season (seriously, him and Kelly, so freaking cute together), plus he's just generally more likeable than his brother.  And even though Zendaya's very young and probably doesn't have a huge fan base--especially among the DWTS audience demographic--something about her is really endearing, and she's a good dancer.  I think she'll grow on voters as the season progresses.

Anyway.  I promise I do think about real things that matter during the day too, like work and stuff.  But DWTS is most definitely my guilty pleasure and someday, I'll look back at this and be amused at myself.

Blah With A Side Of Strange Thoughts

I've been feeling blah lately.  I think a good chunk of it is being unemployed.  I've filled out about 5 applications this week and sent my resume to one place so hopefully something will come along soon.  I just hate it.  I feel like a loser and that, in turn, makes me not want to do anything except check Facebook, blog stalk, and watch DWTS clips on YouTube.  Then, only doing those things with my day makes me feel even more like a loser so . . . vicious cycle.

Speaking of cycles, my sleep schedule is beyond screwed up right now.  It started a few nights ago when I got hit with a bad night of insomnia.  Like didn't go to bed til 6 AM bad.  I've tried to get it back on track by taking a sleeping pill to go to bed early, but that didn't even work.  Which is strange because usually sleeping pills knock me out.  I think it's because of the bed situation.  I'm still sleeping on the floor and it pretty much sucks.  It wasn't so bad at first but now . . . not so much.  I go in Jerbs' bed when she leaves for work, but since that's early morning, I basically have to sleep til early evening to feel rested, y'know?  Jenny offers to trade beds with me on other nights and a couple times I've accepted, but I think I have a mental block about it--like I think I feel guilty sleeping in her bed while she sleeps on the floor.  Hopefully I'll find a cheap bed soon.  Of course then there's an issue of transportation since you can't really bring a mattress and box spring on the bus . . . guess I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.  Another issue is that I can't seem to get rested with a normal amount of sleep . . . I used to be good on 6 hours, 8 at the most . . . now I seem to need at least ten to be even remotely ready to move.  (This could be a bed thing, again, because honestly I've never had a decent bed up here in Flag . . . so that could be it).

I also have a habit of worrying about things back home that's been kicking up lately.  When either of my parents calls me and is having a bad day it's all I can think about for awhile . . . just me, I guess, because I've always done that.  And ultimately, I know that things could be a lot worse.

So basically I took this past week off.  I didn't do any laundry or clean the house or really much of anything.  Just some job apps and I started working on a short story.  That's about it.  I would really like to kick my ass into gear this coming week and at least accomplish something--like getting the house clean and working out.

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I love Dancing With the Stars--which I've mentioned on here before--but when Corey and I moved to Kingman, we didn't get cable.  Corey didn't really see the point of it and since he was the one paying for all of that kind of stuff, I didn't fight him on it.  Eventually we got NetFlix but never cable.  So I missed two seasons of DWTS.  Well, most of 2 seasons, since every now and then I'd catch an episode at my mom's.  So I've been watching dances from the seasons I missed online. 

I was watching a clip of the season before last's group dances, and there were some parts that were vaguely familiar.  Then I noticed that the original air date was Halloween 2011.  And it hit me that it had been on at my mom's house last Halloween, and that I'd been watching it in between handing out candy with Corey.  And I just . . . I remembered that night.  With him.

If it had happened a month ago, I'd have cried.  Or at least felt nostalgic and lonely and like something was missing from my life.  And I'd have wondered if I should call Corey and blah blah blah.  But I really didn't feel that.  (In fact, I watched the dancers and thought, damn, that Irish one is hot).

DWTS Predictions

Yes, I'm a big enough dork to post this here.  Mostly because I want to see if I'm right.  (It's like a March Madness bracket only much sadder).

Eliminations:

• Week One: Pamela Anderson & Tristan McManus
• Week Two: Kelly Monaco & Val Chmerkovskiy
• Week Three: Melissa Rycroft & Tony Dovolani
• Week Three: Bristol Palin & Mark Ballas
• Week Four: Drew Lachey & Anna Trebunskaya
• Week Five: Joey Fatone & Kym Johnson
• Week Six: Sabrina Bryan & Louis Van Amstel
• Week Seven: Kirstie Alley & Maks Chmerkovskiy
• Week Eight: Emmitt Smith & Cheryl Burke
• Week Nine: Helio Castrovenes & Chelsie Hightower
• Week Ten: Gillese Marini & Peta Murgatroyed
• Week Eleven: Apolo Ohno & Karina Smirnoff
• Winners: Shawn Johnson & Derek Hough

--Louis Van Amstel is my favorite pro dancer--I just love him--so I'd love it if he and Sabrina Bryan made it to the finals, but I doubt it'll happen.

--I'm iffy about where I put Bristol Palin.  She's really not a very good dancer and I think the only reason she made the finals when she competed is because people vote for her on behalf of her (horrid) mother and her (also horrid) Tea Party political leanings.  So I'm hoping she goes early (based mostly on her dancing ability), but I have a feeling the home votes will save her over and over again.

--I personally can't stand Derek Hough but he has a huge fan base (I just think he seems like a cocky bastard but whatev).  He has a huge fan base, and he's a great dancer, and he's a phenomenal choreographer, without question.  Pairing him with Shawn Johnson, whose gymnastics training gives her an edge, just kind of creates an unstoppable team.  Plus everyone thinks he's adorable, and Shawn Johnson actually IS adorable, so I feel like they're this season's golden couple.  I also predict that they'll get high scores from Carrie Ann even if they don't deserve them, because she's already picked them as her favorite for this season.

DWTS All Stars

I have to confess that I have a minor obsession with Dancing With the Stars.  It's a total guilty pleasure and I missed most of the last two seasons because Corey and I didn't have cable.  (At one point, Corey was pretty into DWTS as well . . . when we were first dating and he didn't have a TV, he'd always come over on Monday nights and we'd flip between Monday Night Football and DWTS . . . much to the annoyance of Jerbs, who doesn't care for football or dancing).

Anyway, Jerbs and I have cable.  Tonight the All Stars season premiered and it was awesome!  I'm pretty excited that I get to watch it.

I think Pamela Anderson is going to be the first elimination tomorrow night.  So we'll see if I'm right!

Tuesday Edit: I was right!