Home sweet home

There's something so ironic about the title of this post. I have the flu. It's the tail end of the flu; I was able to go to school today for about three hours before I gave up the ghost and headed home for a nap, so I'm getting better. But, sadly, this means today was the first day I'd left my apartment in almost five days. I've sat in my apartment (or slept, rather) for five days straights. This wreaks havoc when you are exactly one week into the semester and already really behind. And yesterday, my roommate sent me an email saying she wanted to move out. No nicieties, just that she wanted to move out. Great. She'll find a roommate. I get to live with a stranger. We used to be good friends. Close friends who told each other everything. But now, now, she sends me an EMAIL saying she wants to move out. Like I'm not even good enough for a phone call. That's great. It's hard when someone you are close to turns their backs on you. I can't describe how much it hurts me. I still care about her deeply and I'm very worried about her and her behavior. I'm worried about how much she must anguish over this. But I'm also very concerned about what this means about me. Of course I am. Because I'm all about me. But, really. There are two problems at issue. One, am I really that unreasonable? I've never had a problem living with someone before. Maybe this request that her boyfriend not spend EVERY SECOND OF EVERY DAY HERE is unreasonable. Second, am I the worst judge of character ever? This is a person I cried to, cried with, laughed with, ate ice cream late at night with, grocery shopped with, hiked with, walked with, ate with, spent countless hours with...and yet it appears as if our relationship is worthless. Or at least fairly unimportant to her. And that means I seriously misjudged what kind of person she was. Where does this leave me? A sick person, coughing so hard so often that my stomach hurts, showing a person my apartment. You figure out if that's reasonable or not.

Draco and Severus

The new fish are Draco and Severus. Can you tell I'm pretty excited about the new Harry Potter coming out this summer?! Last night my roommate and I had another blowout. Oh, it's getting pretty tense around here. She and her boyfriend stomped off for elsewhere since "he wasn't comfortable staying here anymore." Bummer. It's not that I don't want her to be happy. If her boyfriend makes her happy, that's great! But she needs to be happy with him NOT IN OUR APARTMENT. That's all I'm saying. Today was the first day of class. I had my TA class. We had an awful classroom and some of the kids had to STAND. There weren't enough chairs. *heavy sigh* Undergrads at this institution have it rough.

Two New Fishes!!!

Today Biker Boy and I went fish shopping. So sorry, Joe, but I cleaned out your tank and replaced you with two fancy-tailed guppies. Apparently these are hardy fish that should be able to survive the freezing cold temps in our apartment. These fish currently have no names. I need to get to know them a bit before naming them. They are both boys. One is kind of dark with a lovely purplish tail and one is yellow with an orangey tail. Both are quite handsome fish. Biker Boy has told me that "cute" and "adorable" are words that should not be applied to males over the age of five. So I am working on that. Apparently, handsome, attractive, good-looking, sexy, and hot are more appropriate words. Good to know. Still, when I called Biker Boy cute today I meant it. Biker Boy's CHRISTMAS PRESENT finally came in the mail today. Yeah, I know. Two weeks into January. So I got the little brown slip from the post office and RACED over there only to be told I couldn't pick it up until tomorrow. Of course not. Because my boyfriend could not possibly WANT his present THREE WEEKS late. *sigh* Poor Biker Boy, all Christmas presentless. Poor, poor, poor kid. I don't usually discuss the weather here. Because, frankly, I live in Minnesota; I deserve whatever I get. But it's fucking cold here. Wind chills that are so cold you should not have to leave your house under any circumstances, even to meet your really cool Anthropolist Friend for lunch. However, it didn't stop me. I went and met Anthropolist Friend for lunch in the cold. Really. I really did. And then went fish shopping. And to the video store. ALL IN THE COLD. Yeah, Minnesota, take that. I can take your double digit below zero-ness. I'd like to thank my parents and sister who purchased me that impervious to cold Land's End coat, long underwear, hooded black sweater, hat, gloves, and spiffy winter boots for Christmas for making all that possible. Love ya!! On the bus yesterday, I took the 18 and then transferred to the 16. That's inconsequential to you, but you should know this VERY IMPORTANT INFORMATION because on both BUSSES (BOTH!!) some guy sat down next to me and SPIT. ON THE FLOOR. OF THE BUS. Ewwwww. I asked some of the fellows in the computer lab at school and they told me that this was wrong. And gross. AndI agree. Spitting someplace where the spit must stay and be looked at is wrong. I mean, spitting in public is gross anyway, but this was just too much for me. Spitting is wrong. So the point of this entry. There isn't one. Welcome Fish #1 and Fish #2. I hope ya'all get names soon. Christmas presents that come in January are still okay. It's cold here, but I can hack it due to warm clothes received for Christmas. Spitting is gross. Take from that what you will because there's no moral or end of story!!

Hello New England!!

I really just excerpted this out of an email I sent to my Bestest Friend. So some of it might not make a lot of sense.

Ummm...I so want to play the karaoke game (a game for XBox on karaoke). I am seriously considering flying into Columbus this weekend just so I can play it. Or not really seriously, but how do they come up with this stuff? I think the best thing would be to know how bad you have to be to get booed off. I have no need to be the "best" and get the "highest score." How do you get the LOWEST score? That's an achievement I would be proud to put on my resume.

So this weekend has more stories in it than all of Christmas break. I'm not sure if that's a statement on Christmas break or on this weekend, but whatever.

Sooooo...it all started Thursday night. I stayed at Biker Boy's so that one of his friend's could come pick us up bright and early on Friday. And so BB is not a morning person. Some have said he's a bit surly in the morning. Surly Biker Boy. And they are so not kidding.

We get the airport and check in and must go to the B terminal. Now, let me explain the B terminal of the Minneapolis-St. Paul airport to you. Maybe I have already. It's soooooo far away. You take a tram to the end of the line and then walk on some moving sidewalks and then down an escalator and then some more moving sidewalks. Then you break for a rest because you're exhausted and have successfully walked to Canada. Then you walk and walk for another five hours and the B terminal mysteriously arises!! You're in Alaska, but it's the B terminal of the MInneapolis-St. Paul airport!!

We're flying the same shitty airline I flew over Thanksgiving. Their main hub is in Milwaukee. Fucking Milwaukee. Of course that's where our layover is. Fucking Milwaukee. Did I mention there's no entertainment in B terminal? I feel like I made these same complaints over Thanksgiving. Not a single vendor in B terminal, not a single tv tuned to CNN (America's Most Trust News Channel), not a single thing for someone who is as flighty as me to do. So I torment my surly boyfriend. He has brought a huge, giant, 700-page book to read. He opens it and I lament my lack of entertainment. He is unsympathetic. "You're smart. Use your brain. Be entertained." Huh. I'm smart? I was unaware.

But, don't worry. It's okay because soon Stella arrives. Stella's a cute little girl; I'd say she's about three or four. She's with her daddy. Or 'Addy cuz that's what she calls him and I think that's fucking adorable. She's going to 'waukee to visit her grandma and grandpa who have a new kitten. 'Addy is on his cell phone and says, "there was a problem when Ducky and Bunny had to go through security, but we made it through." Stella is excited about going on the plane and keeps yelling, "May I go on the plane now?!" Yelling. I'm laughing. Surly Biker Boy is glaring.

Surly Biker Boy decides he needs to go to the bathroom. And then they start boarding the plane. And the whole plane is loaded and BB isn't back yet. Hee. We held up the entire plane.

I'm going to skip over the flying part because BB is not a happy plane person and I am going to pretend that any flying over this trip never really happened. I did get a chance to read Eats, Shoots and Leaves, though, and laughed and laughed and laughed. This laughing did not help improve relations with Surly Morning, Hates Plane Travel Biker Boy, but it amused me.

Anyway, we survive fucking Milwaukee and get to Hartford. All's well (our luggage was actually on the luggage carousel before we got there!!). We wander around, trying to figure out the strangest airport in the world. Where's the car rental place? Where or where could it be? Heee. We finally catch a shuttle to Enterprise where we are given a Chevy Alero. What's a Chevy Alero? I don't know. I'd never seen one before. It's tiny and cute and ours was blue. I immediately look over at Biker Boy (who is no longer surly and who is so excited to be off planes, he's smiling again) and grin. He's going to have to drive a girl car. Hee. I jump in to drive and immediately name her Alice. Unsurly Biker Boy says, "she's a girl?" And I say, "it's light blue and really tiny." He nods. Alice it is.

Biker Boy had printed off directions from mapquest on how to get to our hotel from the airport. It was seamless. Did you notice how all of that went smoothly? It's a pattern. This whole trip went smoothly. No travel problems at all. Amazing.

Check into the hotel. Big bed.

Biker Boy has had half a donut all day. We ask the front desk for some places to eat. Alas, Biker
Boy must have gluten-free food. This is not an easy task. We end up at a dive where we order omelets. They sucked. I ate mine like I hadn't eated in weeks. Biker Boy eats about three and a half bites. Suddenly I become obssessed with BB's caloric intake. "YOU NEED TO EAT." "LAY OFF, MOM."

We get back to the hotel where we watch football bloopers on ESPN classsic. Erock calls and we set off for our first New England adventure. I let BB drive. Hee. We drove and drove and we met Erock and her man at Friendly's in Wochester, MA (this is pronounced Wusster - seriously, it's like the 'ch' just doesn't exist - huh?). We ate. BB actually ate a fair amount and I was happy to note that. Again, "lay off, mom" was heard. BB endeared himself to Erock and her man by making a Family Guy reference that had everyone at the table laughing and laughing.

Then I drove back to the hotel. Big bed. Asleep.

This could go on and on and I realize it's pretty long already. The wedding was lovely. The bride was beautiful and the groom was well-coiffed. See, the groom is known for constantly running his finger through his hair in spurts of concentration and pulling at his hair. I had never seen him with his hair so incredibly well done. Shocking. It was a really beautiful Catholic church with scary pictures of Jesus on the cross all over the place and they had the reception at a place called St. Clement's Castle and if you google it, you'll see it's fucking gorgeous. Alas, it rained all day. So we never got to go on the grounds. But we did get to dance and Biker Boy does well with white boy dancing. And we had the best food ever. I've never had such good food at a wedding. Filet mignon. Did I mention that I had NO IDEA that the two folks getting married came from MONEY? There was a bus that drove us to the church and the castle and back to the hotel, so when we got back we just went to Wendy's and then we went to bed. The big bed.

We woke up and returned the car and got to the airport and had to sit in terminal for a bit. This terminal also had no entertainment. But I was able to get food, so I was content. Blah, blah, fly to 'waukee and we get there and realize that neither of us had made plans on how we were going to get home from the airport. We grab our cell phones and start calling everyone we know. Alas, no one is answering their cell phones. We get no ride. We end up taking the train to a bus (the famous 21!!) and then we get to Biker Boy's. I run into his place to get my car keys and then hotfoot it away from there as fast as I can. I mean, spending the better part of four days with a person can be exhausting.

And that's that. I ate at yet another fast food restaraunt. I came in to my apartment, glared at my roommate and her boyfriend, and unpacked.

It's Been A While

I went away for a bit to visit family. Some of the less boring stories follow. I was home for about two days and hadn't quite adjusted to the having to watch my mouth thing. And on the coffee table there was this item. It was kind of rocket shaped and about the size of my index finger. I picked it up, saw it was nose spray, and replaced it. Pa says, "what are you doing?" I say, "I thought it was a dildo." Ummmm...that's not a phrase one should say to your FATHER. He says, "it's a bit small for a dildo." I had absolutely no response to this and ran out of the room as fast as I could. You should not say things like that to your FATHER. My sister and I met Ma and Pa for dinner somewhere and as we were walking in, my dad asks us what a puppy coat is. We stare at him. Like the fur on Gizmo? Or a coat you put on a Yorkshire Terrier? What? Seems that had heard a story on the news about a suspect in a murder investigation. It was a black male, with tennis shoes and a red puppy coat. Sis and I laughed and laughed. Red PUFFY coat. A puppy coat is a puffy coat. Hee hee. My parents have a plastic nativity scene in front of their house. On a really warm day, I was helping my mom put these damn figures in the shed. The Mary figure had a lot of water in it and as it dripped all over me, I said, "Jesus, Mary" and my mom laughed and laughed. Nick and Shannon's baby is freaking adorable. She's so cute and she is really friendly and just about leaped into my arms. I'm getting pretty good at the changing the diaper thing. Carrie and Ron's kids are cute, too. One is 4 and a half and one is almost two. They fucking rule. We played a lot. Gizmo is doing well. I think that Midnight is sick, though. He has these weird seizure things and scares the living daylights out of me. He has a vet appointment tomorrow to figure out what's wrong with him. Biker Boy and I are heading to Connecticut for a wedding on Friday. I'm looking forward to it. Our hotel room has a KING bed in it. Oh, think of the fun of that!!