An Interview, An Old Friend, A Crazy Guy, and Purple Hair

Yesterday I had a job interview.  It was at 9 AM and because I suck at realizing I'm out of things, I dragged myself out of bed at 6 AM so I could catch the 6:30 bus and buy face wash.  (I cannot shower without face wash . . . I just can't.  It's an OCD thing).  Got back at 7:25, which gave me exactly 33 minutes to shower, blow dry, and get dressed, because I had to catch the 8:03 bus for the interview.  It wasn't fun, but I did it!  Had to run to the bus stop and got there basically as the bus did (if no one else had been waiting I'd have been screwed) but that's really nothing new.  The interview went well, but it was one where the guy mostly told me about the job instead of asking a lot of questions, which always makes me feel weird.  They need someone fast, though, which is in my favor because I'm not currently working.  The guy said he's interviewed a few other people and that he would make a decision within the next couple days.  I did my best and now all I can do is cross my fingers and hope and say a prayer or two . . . all of which I've done extensively today.  I desperately want this, because I am sick and tired of having to depend on Jerbs . . . it's not fair to her and I feel like crap.  I just want something that's MINE and hopefully this job will be it!

Jerbs came with me for moral support so after the interview I went to find her at Albertsons and couldn't.  I wandered to the Starbucks next door to see if she'd gone there, and as I was going in, one of my old co-workers from the clinic was walking out.  I was so happy to see him!  He's an MA at Concentra now (the company that bought the clinic) and he and I always had a great time working together.  He gave me a hug and we caught up for a few minutes, and it made my day.  It's been more than 3 years since I worked there but I still miss my old work family.

Once I found Jerbs we caught the bus back to the transfer station to catch another bus so we could go have breakfast.  And randomly, the weird goofy crazy driver who used to drive route 3 was driving.  We hadn't seen him in awhile so we sat up front to chat, and it was easily the most entertaining bus ride we'd had in a long time.  This driver is a young guy (one year older than us) who apparently lives with his parents and just bought a moped.  He's funny, though, and I like him.

After we got home and both took a nap, I colored Jerbs' hair purple.  She bought some temporary comb in dye today at WalMart on a whim, because she really wants a weird hair color but she's not allowed to at her job.  Since she's on vacation, she figured what the hell.  Pretty much just the top of her hair is purple, and I had fun putting it in.  She looks pretty cool!

Jerbs hair after the dying.

My hands after the dying.

Weigh In: 3 Months, No Pics

I meant to post this on the 7th but I never got around to it.  I also didn't get around to taking pictures.

But either way it's been 3 months since I got all determined to lose weight and even though I haven't been trying too hard lately, I figured I should do my little check in thing anyway.  (I'm not going to do weekly ones anymore, though, because . . . well, they're kinda pointless).

So anyway.  I weighed myself on the 7th and my weight was at 174, so I'm holding steady.  I'm glad for that.  A few weeks ago when we went to Best Buy to get my phone, my friend Theresa said that I look like I've lose weight, so that was nice.  It was a confidence boost and a bit of an incentive to get my ass back in gear.

So this past week I started.  On Monday (the 3rd) I really wanted to work out, but I really didn't feel like walking to the workout room.  So I sucked it up, put on my workout clothes, and went for a jog.

Yep.  Me.  A jog.  And y'know what?  I actually did it.  Like, I actually jogged.  For 4 minutes without stopping.  (Four minutes is the time it took to go once around our apartment complex).  I took it slow and didn't push myself, and after I'd gone around once, I stopped.  It was pretty awesome.  I did again on Tuesday night, but I haven't gone sense (too sore and too sick).  But I'm hoping to jog every night this week (Monday thru Friday) and eventually, I'd like to be able to go around the complex twice.

I'm guessing that the distance around our complex is about a quarter mile.  The way the complex parking lot is is a square that's uphill on both sides.  We sit basically in the middle of one of the hills, so I run up the rest of the hill, across the back of the complex, down the other side of the parking lot, across the front of the complex, and then halfway up the other side to our apartment.  Hopefully that makes a little sense.  (I hated our parking lot when we had a car and it was winter . . . trying to get into a lot that has two entrances that both go uphill in snow . . . frickin' nightmare).

Other than the jogging I also found my weights (3 pounds, just for some toning) and I've been doing a little bit with that.  Just some arm exercises, nothing fancy.  And I've been trying to do an ab workout here and there.

Food wise I'm still only doing so/so, but I have been drinking less Dr. Pepper.

So my next weigh in will be on January 7th, and my goals for the next month are to get in some good cardio at least 5 times a week, weights and abs at least 3 times a week, and work harder on the food stuff.  By my next weigh in I should have a digital scale (I think one of my family members is getting me one for Christmas) so I'm looking forward to that.  Although I wonder if the numbers might be off from what they have been since my current scale is so crappy.

Sentimental Sunday: Childhood Books

Since I talked about TV last week, I thought it would be appropriate to do books this week.

I loved books from a very early age, and I've always been a big reader.  That's one of the reasons I majored in English, and I know that my love of books and reading is why I want to be a writer.

Early Childhood

--Goodnight Moon.  This was my first favorite book, and I have very fond memories of both my parents reading it to me.  To me, it's a childhood staple.  I bought it for Austin before he was even born (as a baby shower gift) and the first time I met him, when he was just two days old, I insisted on reading it to him.  I didn't care that he was pretty much asleep through it, I just wanted that moment.  It was his first book and the first story he heard and since I'm his literary aunt, I wanted those to be from me.

--The Velveteen Rabbit.  This book was also a favorite of mine, and even though it's probably done some minor psychological damage (basically what Toy Story would do to kids today, I would think) I still love it.  To this day, if there's a stuffed animal alone on a shelf, I have to either buy it or at least put it with other stuffed animals so it's not lonely.

--Mother Goose Nursery Rhymes.  My great grandma gave me this book when I was little--the old school volume with the black and white checkered cover--and I loved it.

--The Berenstein Bears.  This one was later than the other three, and I remember checking them out from my school library.

Childhood

--Ghost stories.  Any kind of ghost stories.  I couldn't get enough of that kind of thing . . . which is weird because I'm actually kind of a sissy.  I had a ton of those old short story collections that they used to put out all the time.  The one I remember the most was called something like Railroad Ghosts and Highway Horrors, and it was all about . . . well, exactly what the title says.  Ghosts haunting roadsides and railroads and stuff.  It scared the crap out of me.

--Grimm's/Anderson' Fairy Tales.  I actually credit these book with being the reason I love literature.  My grandmother had both--the Grimm's was red, the Anderson's was green--and we used to read them together.  I loved hearing the original stories of the Disney movies I watched, and having read those early on, I can see their influences in modern literature, and that interests me.  After my grandma died I made sure I got those two books before anyone could accidentally donate them or something, and I still have them, all yellowed and stained and falling apart.  To me, they sort of symbolize everything I love about literature.

--Goosebumps.  Of course I loved Goosebumps.  I read these all the time, and I read them fast.  I could finish one in a day, even back then.  I think my favorite was something like the Phantom of the Auditorium--it was kind of inspired by Phantom of the Opera.  Not many of them actually scared me, but I remember that that one did, and the three of them with the ventriloquist dummies did too.  The mask ones (Night of the Living Mask?) scared me a little too.

--The Baby-sitters Club.  This was the other series I was really into.  I read them in order and when the hundredth book came out and the club disbanded I was heartbroken.  At least until they got back together at the end, but still.  I also read and loved the BSC mysteries and super editions, and the little spin off series: the California diaries and the bios.  I had a lot of BSC merchandise, too.  I stopped reading them when I got older than the characters (because they never age . . . which was incredibly irritating to me).

--Stone Words.  I don't remember much about this one but I do remember loving it.  It was a ghost story, natch.

--The Dollhouse Murders.  This was probably the stand alone book that scared me the most as a kid.  It's about a girl who goes to live with her aunt in the house her dad grew up in, and there's this dollhouse in the attic that's a replica of the house, and dolls that look like her grandparents and aunt and dad as kids.  It turns out that the grandparents were murdered and the dolls move around to re-enact it . . . it's so frickin' creepy! But also really good.  Fact: this book still scares me as an adult.  When I worked at the Kingman Hastings, I ordered it for myself one day when I was working in books.  After I got it I went home and read it in about an hour, and let me tell ya, it scared me!

--As a teenager I was really into Sweet Valley High and Sweet Valley University.  I probably read SVU more than SVH.  Last year I had the opportunity to re-read a couple of SVU books and I was amazed at how awful they were!  I couldn't stop laughing at them this time around but when I was 16 . . . damn, I loved those books!

Those are all the ones I can think of.  What did you read as a kid?

What Are We Up To?

I've been jogging.  (But more about that later).  I'm also feeling really bleh lately, not mentally but physically.  I'm sore all over (from the jogging and sleeping on the floor, I know, but it still sucks).  I also just feel weak a lot lately, and I've been having stomach issues.  Like I've had a lot of days recently where I'm really hungry but absolutely nothing sounds appetizing.  And my sleep schedule is still a disaster, and a messed up sleep schedule equals a messed up meds schedule.  I'm still taking everything I should, but the schedule needs to be a LOT more regular.  I'm working on it.  In good news, I won a $10 giftcard to JCPenney as part of their holiday buttons thingy.  I'm happy because I never win anything like that haha.

Jerbs is stoked because today was her last day of work before 12 days off.  She'd asked for this coming weekend off to go to a Mountain Goats concert and visit our friends, the Flicks, in Phoenix.  She had a bunch of vacation time that she needed to use up before the end of the year so she decided to do it now.  She is soooooo excited . . . today I watched her give money to 2 different charities at the mall, so yeah, she's pretty pleased.

Benji has been spending most of his time in his heating padded bed, and it's adorable.  He looks totally blissed out when he's in there.  He's stopped waking up and barking in the middle of the night too, so that's good.  (For awhile, every night around 3 AM he'd start barking for no reason . . . I think because he'd wake up to find himself alone and get scared, maybe?)  He actually ate some of his dog treats the other day; last time I tried to give him one he didn't eat it, and I assumed it was too hard for him, even thought it's a chewy treat.  But I guess not, so that was a relief.

Irene is just Irene.  She walks around like she owns the apartment and everything in it and that's just that.  She's been feisty with Ilya lately--they've had some pretty epic wrestling matches recently, and it's pretty entertaining.  She always seems to know when I'm watching something on TV, and she'll choose that moment to jump up on the TV stand and sit RIGHT in front of it.

Ilya is still scared of everything.  Some mornings when I'm in Jerbs' bed, she'll cuddle with me.  She crawls under the covers and everything, it's so sweet.  Other than that, she still likes to play with her gross little teddy bear and drown him in her water bowl, and almost once a day I step on it while it's wet.  It's disgusting but also kinda cute.

So that's what our odd little sorta family is up to at the moment!

That Dog

Last year, when Corey and I went to Chinle for Christmas, we took Benji with us.  Corey's parents are wonderful, and they noticed that Benji walks really stiffly because his hips bug him.  So to help him out they gave him an old heating pad of theirs.  Well, Benji spent the entire time we were there sleeping on the heating pad, and it really really helped him out.  By the time we left to go home Benji was walking better and was able to lay more stretched out--it made me so happy.  So Corey's parents gave us the heating pad.  Like I said, they're wonderful.  Benji spent the rest of last winter blissfully passed out on the heating pad.

Well, it's been getting cold at night, and I've noticed that lately Benji seems to have trouble settling down and getting comfortable to sleep.  Last night before I went to bed, I dug out the heating pad for him.

He was in his bed in the kitchen.  Benji doesn't like to be moved once he's comfortable so as carefully as I could, I lifted him up, put the heating pad in his bed, and put him back, hoping he'd feel the heat and just go back to sleep.  I went to bed.

Well, I woke up a few hours later, and of course, Benji was in his bed in the living room.  And his kitchen bed was nice and warm.  I swear, that dog . . . I love him to bits and pieces but sometimes he drives me nuts.  So I turned off the heating pad and went back to bed.

I woke up again when Jerbs was getting ready for work, and I decided to go check on Benji, and this time, he was asleep in his kitchen bed.  I snuck up and turned on the heating pad, and when I got up later, Benji was still in bed and looked like he hadn't moved.  He already looks like he's walking a little more comfortably.  And it's good to know that he'll keep warm at night.

Benji's always had an issue with staying warm at night because he's tiny and has absolutely no body fat.  When I lived alone with him he had his own blanket on my bed, and I'd cover him up with it when we went to bed, but he'd always crawl out from under it.  I think I've only ever seen him stay under covers 3 or 4 times in the years I've had him.  Silly dog.

I think his favorite thing ever was when Jerbs moved in with us.  At that point she and I were a couple so we shared a bed, and he used to sleep between us.  Pretty sure that was the highlight of Benji's life as far as warm sleep goes, haha.

Sentimental Sunday: Childhood TV

I'm one of those people who firmly believes that TV and books for kids were a lot better when I was little than they are now.  Especially TV, because really, you kinda can't beat 90's children's/YA shows.  Not that I watched a lot of TV, and my parents definitely didn't use it as a babysitter.  I think it's fun to look back on what used to be on TV when I was younger, so here are my favorites.

Early Childhood

--Eureka's Castle.  Loved it.
--David the Gnome.  This is probably my favorite of all of them.
--The Lil' Bits.  I remember begging my Uncle J to watch this with me when he came to visit us once.
--The Snoozles.  All through elementary school, junior high, and high school, I never met anyone else who remembered this show, and got a lot of crazy looks when I brought it up.  Then senior year Jerbs and I were talking and she mentioned it, and I was so excited.  To this day she's the only other person who remembers it that I've met.  Anyone else?
--Mya the Bee.
--Maple Town.  My other favorite.  I remember watching this one with my dad, but it's another one that no one else seems to remember.
--My Little Pony.  I know very few girls my age who didn't watch My Little Pony when we were kids.  I love that it's coming back now.  Austin is fascinated by MLP, and Jerbs watches the new episode every Saturday after she gets off work.

This was before the Disney Channel was a part of basic cable, so we didn't have it.  But every now and then they'd do a "preview weekend" and we'd have Disney for a couple days.  Whenever we did, we'd watch The Gummy Bears.  Great show, and I can still sing the theme song.

I have never in my life watched an episode of Sesame Street or Mr. Roger's Neighborhood.  Those just weren't ones that we watched at our house.


Older Childhood

--Full House.  This was an absolute must see did not miss an episode show.  Every Friday evening my aunt came over to watch it with me, my mom, and my sisters, and we made an evening of it.  As a kid I wanted to be just like DJ Tanner, haha.
--Doug.  Enough said.
--Hey Arnold!
--Aaah Real Monsters.  This was Jerbs' favorite.
--Are You Afraid of the Dark?  I was obsessed with this show, because I loved ghost stories as a kid.  My sister (Jenny) and I never missed an episode.  A couple years ago I downloaded the first season and Jerbs, Corey, and I watched it.  It was so much fun!  There are still a couple of episodes of that show that creep me out when I think about them.
--RoundHouse.  Very few other people watched this and it wasn't on very long.  It was kind of a musical variety/sketch show that was kind of replaced by All That once it went off the air.
--Clarissa Explains It All.  I've been told I look like Melissa Joan Hart . . . which I don't see.
--The Secret World of Alex Mack.  My mom was the biggest fan of this show in our house.
--Space Cases.  I'm pretty sure I'm one of about 3 people who actually liked and consistently watched this show, but holy cow, I loved it.
--Double Dare & Legends of the Hidden Temple.  The staple Nick game shows, in my opinion.
--The Tomorrow People.  This one was probably closer to teenage years for me.

You Call This December?

It's officially December.  And you would not really think that looking out the window here.

Normally by now we have snow.  And a decent amount of it.  And even if we don't have much snow it's freezing cold.

But we haven't had snow since that one random day in November.  And it hasn't been too cold except at night.  Looking at the ten day forecast there's nothing but sunny or partly cloudy days, and highs in the 60's.

It's SO weird.  I've been thinking a lot of summer lately and I think this is why--because it really doesn't feel like winter here.

Normally I'd find this lack of winteriness super depressing, but this year, I'm actually kind of glad, because I think the not so wintery weather is keeping me sane.

To me, winter means Christmas.  And Christmas, at the moment, is basically ruined for me, because of Corey.  And ever since we broke up I have dreaded winter and snow and Christmas and all of that.  And yes, Christmas is pretty much everywhere but at least I can ignore it.

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.

---------------

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).