Bon Appetite!

So this is the dinner that Wes and I made his parents tonight.

It's kind of difficult to tell what it is from the picture (because there is NO lighting in the kitchen what-so-ever) so I shall get into some detail!

It was shrimp, mussels and salmon cooked in a wine (Baringer Pinot Grigio), butter, Old Bay and hot sauce broth served over linguine.  The cooking broth was thickened slightly with a little heavy cream and the mussels that I had cooked yesterday and chopped up were added back into it.  The linguine was place ever so brilliantly (by Wes) onto the large platter above, the seafood plucked out of the broth and strategically placed on top of the linguine (again, by Wes), the sauce poured over top the entire plate (with some left reserved) and the whole thing served family style.  

The mussels that are visible in the picture I had saved from cooking ahead of time yesterday and cooked today, left in their shells and used as garnish.  Tails were left on the shrimp, again, as garnish.

The reserved sauce was used to pour over each diners plate after they had served themselves from the platter.  It wasn't a creamy, thick sauce but rather a thin, light sauce... which I much prefer in the hot weather.

It was delicious, but I now know how I could've made it better...  Maybe I'll try it again when the weather gets cold and make the thicker, creamier sauce for it... and I'll try not to forget to buy the shallots...

It was liked overall but not as much as my dry chicken cordon bleu from last week. Oy...

*Of course the rest of the wine had to be consumed with the meal.  It only makes sense to drink the wine you cooked with  :)

My new pet peeve.

I'd been at work less than 20 minutes last night before I almost jumped across the counter to strangle someone.

I sell a few cigarettes to a lot of different kinds of people.  Example:

Old men: Pall Mall or Marlboro soft pack

Old ladies: Virginia Slims or Capri's, both of which come in 100's and 120's

Young Females: Usually Camels, sometimes Marlboro. Either in some form of menthol

Suits and 'working class': Marlboro lights, menthol, or menthol light

Black people, people that want to be black and toothless people: Newports

Young boys buying cigarettes for the first time: Camel silvers or golds

Hicks, fans of NASCAR and really, really old men and ladies: USA 100's in full flavor, light, or menthol

People that have to buy their cigs with loose coins: USA's.  $3.30 a pack!!

That's more or less the trend that I've noticed, with a few exceptions here and there of course.  Anywho, this one fella came in with a lady and she bought him a pack of cigarettes (not that he wasn't old enough, she probably just owed him).  And I can't even remember what the hell they bought because as soon as I set that pack down, that douche fag guy picks them up and starts packing them on the counter as I'm getting change out of my drawer.

He gave it a good 4 or 5 pounds, I gave the look of death out of the corner of my eye, he didn't notice but stopped.

*sigh of relief*    I continue getting change.

Half a second later, that son of a bitch flips the pack around, and starts banging it on the counter again.

I literally throw my hands in the air and yelled, "Can you PLEASE NOT DO THAT!!!"

The lady laughs and says, "Oh! You must not be a smoker!!!"

And I say, with as much politness as I can muster, "I am, that's not the point.  I find that extremely obnoxious and unnecessary."

She returns with, "Oh, well then... you must not pack your cigarettes."

Again, "No, I do.  Just not on a countertop in a place of business because it's very, very  annoying."

I am a smoker.  Not necessarily proud of it, but I enjoy it none-the-less.  I understand that a lot of other people can't tolerate smoking.  When I myself am not smoking, I don't particularly enjoy being around it.  People that can't go 10 minutes without a fag in their mouth annoy me.  Either way, I try to be as polite a smoker as one can be.  I don't smoke around people that don't like it, I stand downwind if possible, I always wash my hands after I smoke (especially at work) and occasionally my face, I am usually chewing gum or drinking water to get the smell of my breathe and I don't pack my cigarettes until I am in my car or in my house because it is annoying as fuck.

This couple assuming that I didn't smoke because the sound of him packing his cigarettes on the countertop in front of my register annoyed me to an extreme is just ignorant.  It doesn't matter if I'm a smoker or not; what you're doing is highly obnoxious to everyone, not just non-smokers.

That incident really irritates me for some reason.  I'm sorry this blog is nothing but one giant complaint about something so trivial.  It just really annoyed me.  Like, WHOA really.

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I found this image to offer visual aid to the way I freaked out at this couple (maybe slightly exaggerated):

Aw, guinea pig!

Guinea Pig feeding time.

This is Abe.  Wes named him after his Abraham Lincoln-esque beard.  Abe (piggy) doesn't have a beard, but it was a cool name and funny reason.  

Abe talks to me a lot when I'm home alone.  It's nice to have company sometimes, even if it is just a giant hamster. 

Abe is also an attention whore and loves it when visitors come over because they give him unconditional love and attention.  He knows how to work a crowd.

Donnez-moi une bouteille du vin rouge, s'il vous-plait!

Even though it's been more than two years since my trip to Paris, France, I'm just now putting up all my pictures.

I think, in 2006, MySpace would only let each user have up to 20 pictures on their account.  Seeing as I took more than 20 pictures, I only put up a couple upon my return to the US.  And even those are shitty quality because that was also when you had to keep pictures below a certain kb or they'd be too big to load.

Since neither of those obstacles stand in my way now, I'm putting up all my Paris 2006 pictures and a few that I've taken from other that were on the trip as well.  Keep in mind also, that I was a kid of 19 at the time... I can't believe how young I look in these pictures!!!

Here's the link to my MySpace album thinger:

Here's my Profile.

Here are my Albums.

Also, my album of tattoo's and what not is there also.  Check that out too!!  I hope you enjoy!!!!

The loves of my life.

I'm not generally a materialistic person, but there are a few material things that I could not live without:

- My computer.  I don't watch a lot of TV, but I am an internet junkie.  Although I am an enormous fan of my IBM Thinkpad, I think I'm getting a Mac Notebook next.  My sister has one and I love it.

- My blankey.  I've had that rag since I came out of the womb.  I still sleep with it.

- My car.  I've gone through my fair share of them (I destroyed #1 and #2, sold #3, still driving #4) and have loved each of them.  I'm gonna stick with the VW for as long as possible because it's cheap and I love the leather seats (sorry animal's rights activists).  The only problem I have with the VW is that she's automatic... I'm more a stick-kinda-gal.  Oh well.  My car means freedom and independence. 

- My kayak (Wilderness Systems Pungo 100).  It could almost be considered an 'impulse purchase,' but I'm so glad I have it.  I have old lady knee's so running (which is what I think destroyed them in the first place), roller blading, biking and sports in general are not so good.  The kayak gives me an excellent upper body and cardio workout.  

- And last but not least, my saddle (similar to the Stubben pictured below, but not exactly the same).  I don't ride much anymore but my saddle is my promise to myself that I will someday own a horse.  If I could choose any hobby and I didn't have to worry about paying for it, riding would be mine.  Unfortunately, horses are expensive and my family is not wealthy.  I don't wanna pay for lesson's because I already know how to ride.  And as far as I know, there is no establishment where you can go, jump on a horse and be pointed in the direction of an open field or a wooded path (yay jumps!!!) and be out on your own.  The biggest problem with going to places like Haycock Stables is that there is no familiarity between you and the horse.  People and horses can have personality clashes just like people to people can.

So, there you have it.  Those are, more or less, the 5 most important materialistic things in my life.  I have meaningful jewelry of course, but that is a given because I'm female, so I feel that it's not necessary to include it.  

Also, I think I'm finally done blogging for the day.  Two semi-longs ones is asking a lot for someone to read.  At least I put pictures in this one!!!!

I put ketchup on my ketchup

Julie pulled through last night and was the coolest grandmother ever.

She brought me cookies (I'm a slave to them) and a "I Put Ketchup on My Ketchup" T-shirt.  Because I have an unhealthy affinity towards ketchup.

It was really good to see a couple of my classmates.  I get really bummed and my brain gets really mushy during the summer when I don't get to see my fellow foodies, who, I am convinced, are among the most interesting and ambitious groups of students within the college.  We all love everything food: food industry, food engineering, processing, manipulating, making/brewing, eating, drinking, foreign, unique, groundbreaking, preservation, microbio, etc.  When I don't get to see and interact with these people everyday, I become lost and often feel ridiculous for being a food nerd.  That's why seeing Dan and Julie gets me all giddy with excitement!

We drank, we talked, we laughed.  Dan told Wes and I, sparing a lot of the gory details I think, about his two months on the kill-floor of a USDA slaughter house.  First they inspect the head and all the lymph nodes within in.  Then they cut out the tongue and hang the head, tongue, and tail on respective hooks to be processed further.  After the head, he moved 'up' to heart, lungs and liver.  Lungs and heart are inspected to make sure there are abnormalities.  Then the lymph nodes and bile ducts (for parasites) on the liver are inspected, followed by a superficial inspection of the outside of the liver (Dan said he inspected livers for an unnecessary-four-hours one day).  From there, the carcass (clean of hair, skin and intestines) gets cut in half by guys with saws, the spinal cord is removed, the 'meat' superficially inspected one-last time, and stamped with a pass for fail.  I forgot to ask, but I believe they check all the lymph nodes of the animal to make sure that they aren't enlarged.  When you go to the doctors and they feel the side of neck right below the jaw bone and ears, they are checking for enlarged lymph nodes that suggest in increase in white blood cell count with is usually an effect of being ill.  So they are, I think, checking all the lymph nodes of the cattle to make sure that that particular animal hadn't been ill before slaughter, in which case, I assume, the carcass is no good.  Unfortunately for Dan, the whole experienced was unorganized and not set-up well and he decided he'd learn everything he could within 8 weeks.  Fortunately for me, that means he's back at the Porter House on Thursday nights.  EEEEEEE!!!

I came to the realization yesterday (not to change the subject or anything!) that since I've gotten rid of my Scion xA and lost my iPod (worse than losing a friend), I haven't been listening to music.  I still hear it, but I don't listen to it.  My Volkswagen, although I do love it, does not have either an auxiliary jack nor a tape deck, which means even if I hadn't lost my iPod, my music listening would have severely suffered... losing my iPod only increased my non-listening time exponentially.  I'm not like Wesley who needs to find a new band every other week to listen through non-stop until it becomes old and then move on.  I enjoy discovering or being steered towards bands, but my favorite bands are the ones that I've been listening to since late middle school, early high school.  Even though I am a different person now than I was then, these are the bands that I will never grow tired of.  I tend to revert back to them when I haven't been listening to anything new and good.  The unfortunate thing about music these days is that everyone is sooooo snobby about what they listen too and are so closed minded to everything else, that it is impossible to have discussions about music anymore... they always turn into arguments, or one person trying to defend what they listen to because the other person has poo-pooed it. 

Music is like wine:  there are experts on it, but the only way to know what you like and what tastes/sounds good to you is to try it for yourself and make your own judgement after you have done so.  Anywho, here they are... the few but potent that I always return to:

Incubus

     - A band that has been around for a looooong time that has found that perfect balance between songs that are radio-friendly but that share the same album as the heavy, vulgar, non-commercial tunes.  They are forever advancing and growing in their sound.  I have seen them play twice and both times were AH-MAY-ZING

Opeth

     - A swedish melodic metal band introduced to me by my high school boyfriend, Greg.  On a level of skill, technicality and the ability to transition from acoustic to heavy brilliantly, there is no better band.  Inspired by 70's and progressive music but sticks to their metal roots.  Delivers both songs that invite you head-bang and melodies that rip your heart out.  Also have been around for a long time.  I've seen them perform twice and yes, I have the Opeth "O" tattoo.

Ben Folds 

     - My parents letting me quit my piano lessons when I was 6 is the only thing I regret.  I wish I'd kept with it.  I picked it up again in my senior year of high school and self-taught some of it, but going to college shat on that ambition.  Thus, I have Mr. Folds.  A hipper, less gay, more angry Elton John.  I adore Ben because he's weird looking, awkward and hasn't always had it easy but can make the best of all those situations.  I like Ben Folds Five, but I feel that he was being  held back by has 'band-mates.'  Saw him at Millersville University a couple of years back... plan on seeing him in Philly in September.

Anathema

     -  Introduced to me from my end-of-high-school/beginning-of-college boyfriend, Steve.  Just the number of albums and songs that this band has available is slightly intimidating, any song from any album that you click on will be good.  Some of them are great, none of them are bad.  Another band that has made leaps and bounds in their sound over the past decade or more.  They have become so refined and effortless, I'm not sure they're still considered metal.  This band puts out songs that I can put on repeat for hours and not get bored of.

Alkaline Trio

     -  Introduced to me by my tenth grade crush, Matt.  Low on my list of skill and technicality, high on my list of entertainment value.  Short, fast, often dirty sounding songs that make the hidden punk in me happy.

Jason Becker

     -  Another musician that I got from Steve.  This man was not only brilliant when it came to music (he's labeled as "neo-classical metal guitarist"), but his story is tragic.  He hadn't yet reached the zenith of his career when he was diagnosed with Lou Gehrig's Disease and was not able to play guitar by the end of year.  He was 20 years old at the time (1990) and was given three years to live.  He's still alive today and is completely paralyzed.  He can move only his eyes.  He speaks with eye movements and records music using a program in which eye movements are notes, signs, etc.  He is a brilliant man.

There is more I wanted to add to this list, but I'm going kayaking right now because I've been neglecting my boat.  I'm putting the list on hold for now.

Sometimes old people are cool

All night, every night at work I can think of brilliant things to blog about... and then I sit down in front of my computer... and can't remember a single one of them.  It figures, of course.

No work tonight or tomorrow.  Since I don't normally have Thursday's off and Dan is back at the Porter House (YAY!), Wesley and I are going up there and meeting up with Julie and her husband.  Julie is our (me and Dan's) classmate and quite possible the coolest grandmother anyone could ever imagine.

- She has an eye-patch and convinceds anyone under the age of 7 that she's a very rare Lady Pirate.

- She owns the cookie business, Sugar Bakers.  Her cookies are primarily for sale on-line, but can be purchased at the County Theater in Dtown.  I've had the pleasure of test-tasting almost every batch of new cookies that she's developed for her ever growing business (being in the food industry does not do well for the waistline).  I actually just got some in the mail (maple pecan and key lime!!!).  Buy them.  They're delicious.

- She did shots with me while visiting Dan one Thursday night.

- She swears.  A lot.

I wish my grandmother's had been that cool.  Not so much though.

Nature is Fascinating

Being at WaWa all night may not be ideal, but the awesome thunder and lightning storm taking place is well worth being here. Rage on!

The breakfast of champions

This is the Britney Spears diet that gets me through the night. DELISH.

Also, I am extremely pleased with my decision to wear capris and folded down high-top chucks.  

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The Dark Knight Pwns.

Friday wasn't as exciting as I'd willed it to be, but it still wasn't half bad..

I got to see Dark Knight which was the most anticipated event of my Friday.  No lie.  Not only did I want to see it to hopelessly will Heath Ledger back to life, but because Christian Bale was awesome, amazing, fantastic in the first Batman movie.  

He's never payed any role and left me disappointed, but I believe that he will, as of today, forever be known for his roles in American Psycho as Patrick Bateman and as Bruce Wane in the Batman... movies.  There are his lesser-known: The Prestige, Harsh Times, Equilibrium, The Machinist, Captain Corelli's Mandolin, Pocahontas and Newsies!  (complete list: here)

Heath Ledger as the Joker... is a complete and entire blog of it's own... in a word: disturbing.

If you haven't already... go see it!!!!!

Oh, and I did not get to go to wine tasting on Friday night... that's why I found it disappointing :(

"Where's my mind?"*

This is a picture of Wesley and myself at Jeff's 'party.'  I say " 'party' " because it consisted of 99% McDonalds workers and 1% non-McDonalds workers.  So... it was more like a McDonalds reunion... even though it had probably been, at most, eight hours since they've all seen at least one other McDonalds worker that was there and technically does not fall under the 'reunion' category.  Either way, Wesley and Kyle won at beer pong because they are effective in acting gay towards each other and distracting the other team.  The other team was not so happy (McDonalds co-workers, go figure!) and called Wes and Kyle cheaters.  They were just sore-loser-homophobes if you ask me.

*From The Pixies cover song done famously by The Sex Panthers.

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Um... another picture... because I can't get over the nose piercing.  I adore it.  and Enjoy looking at it.  Sorry.  And yes, that is my totally dorky WaWa 'cinnamon' colored work shirt.

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Is it Friday yet?

Blah...

Nothing really worth writing about has happened in the past couple of days... just the usual living.

Working, sleeping, dicking around until I go back into work.  I still have yet to discover a place that serves alcohol at 7:30 in the morning to go out for after-work-drinks with Gene.  Ah well.

We did go to Cabela's on Sunday with Andrew.  He had a gift card and was initially going to buy hiking boots.  When the exact pair that he had found online weren't there, he opted for a firearm instead.  I wonder if Monique has found about it yet...

It was a neat place though: full of hicks and dead animals.  A restaurant to re-energize you after 5 hours of outdoorsman shopping (no lie, we were there for 5 hours).  A place that sold fudge and other confectionary and culinary delights.  Kayaks and boat motors.  Hairy camouflage get-ups, fishing poles, camping gear... basically any outdoor activity you can think of (other than sports, of course (No, hunting is not a 'sport.')) had an area of the store designated to selling it's accessories and necessities.  

I argue that hunting is not a 'sport' because there is no equal ground between hunter and prey.  The hunter uses camo, scent, height and crazy firearms (tricked out bows and highly technical guns) in order to shoot the animal.  If it were a 'sport,' the animal would have crazy, upgraded weapons too.

Anywho, Cabela's was it's own entity; a small city.

Tonight Wes, Nate and myself are going to be judges in a beer competition thinger I guess.  I've had my share of beer, both good and bad, but I am not ready to handle the pressure of judging others that know infinitely more about their hobby than do I.  The only advantage I have is maybe a little culinary and flavoring knowledge.  Even that though... they need to know in order to make a varied-from-the-box beer.  We shall see.  Hopefully it goes well.

Dark Knight wif da boi and then a wine/cheese/makeup/jewelry party tomorrow night at Cardinal Winery!!!! WEEE!

Maybe it's just a drunk thing...

But when I drink, I have the desire to be thin.  Not the size 4-ish that I am right now... but super thin, abnormally thin, bone thin.  

My senior year of high school I was that way.  I'm 21, female, and 135lbs right now.  Three years ago I weighed around 120lbs.  Sickly, disgustingly thin for my height and 'bone structure.'  I had no boobs, no ass, and the sternum bone, sickly hip-bone thing going on.  But the strange part about it?  I got so much attention from guys it was ridiculous.  

I've always gotten attention from guys because I have boobs (a curse, more than anything) but when I was that thin, the compliments and stares never stopped.  This was even before I had tattoo's and peircings and felt comfortable being me in my own skin.  

So often I want to return to my tiny, almost skeletal size... but fucking food is my future.  I am obsessed with food to the point that I had to major in it!  People with eating disorders don't hate food... they love with an intense passion!!  It's and odd concept to grasp for anyone that hasn't had any sort of eating disorder... but bulimia and anorexia aren't because the people hate food, it's because they are obsessed with it, and their personalities; the ability to control at least one, if not every, aspect of their lives.

To control what you put into your body, is to control your life.  It's sick and twisted and it drives me crazy, but it's how we (people with or that have had eating disorders) think.  "If you can control this one aspect of your life, you have control over everything."

I wish I could be that thin without all the starvation and running and needing complimented.

I don't think anyone ever fully recovers from their eating disorders.  I have such a warped and twisted image of myself that I feel that I need to cover myself in tattoo's and piercings to hide the 'fat' and 'flub' that I have.  If I'm covered in beautiful art, then no one will notice that I'm overwieght.  Or, according to this site, that I'm exactly the weight I should be.

Sensicle 'stuff' doesn't matter.  Only thinness and reaching the 'ideal woman's body' in today's society.

This is just a further away view.  yayayayayayayayayayay.

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Much less painful than lip piercings!

I also got a new stud for my lip because I conveniently lost the ball to mine right before we left to get my nose done.  Piercing was $30, I left a $10 tip.  New stud was $20 but it's a different design than my other one: the ball and the back screw off... so I believe it is in 3 pieces. YAY!!!

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The nose knows.

Quite possibly enjoying the best dinner ever: Waffles with peanut butter and syrup and Bombay Dry Gin mixed with Diet Coke Lime.  Yes, it is 'only' 8:30 in the morning... but I'm just getting home from work and this is my nightcap... so to speak.  Oh, and as for the peanut butter and syrup combo, I'm a huuuuuge fan of the salty-sweet combo.  Genius.

I actually prefer Bombay Sapphire Gin because it's so herbal and smooth.  It could quite possibly be my favorite liquor.  Not as versatile as vodka or rum, but soooo delicious.  Wes bought me this gin because he owed me money's.  What a swell guy :)

I work with a fella that apprentices at Fyre Body Art (the same place that Wes, Sean and Kyle got their tattoo's).  He's a piercer though, not a tattooist... unfortunately.  Anywho, we got on the subject of piercings (and how fabulous they are) and he mentioned that today they were having a nose piercing special: $30.  Now, I know what you're thinking; if it's gonna cost $30 then it's shady and your nose is gonna get infected and pull a Michael Jackson on you!!!  Normally I wouldn't opt for the $30 piercing over a $60 piercing, but the reason that they're so cheap today is because of the accidental surplus of nose screws. They are trying to get rid of them.  By placing them into people's noses.  Obviously!

I know the quality of the tattooing and piercing is exceptional at Fyre and that is why I have no qualms about paying a mere $30 for someone to stab me in the face with an extremely sharp object and shove a metal twist into the open wound.  And, if my nose does fall off, it'll be bad advertising for Fyre.  So hopefully they won't screw it up to keep their reputation.  

My co-worker/Piercing apprentice Shawn wants to get  both his nostrils done today.  I told him I was going first, gosh darn!

I haven't completely decided on whether or not I'm getting it done... but I'm pretty sure it'll happen.  With Wes' approval of course!  If I do get it done (which will probably happen), I'll have a pic up less than 5 mins after the deed!!! hehehehehe! 

'Working' tonight, but there is going to be construction work going on for most of my shift... so I guess I'm just moving product around and out of the workers ways??  I dunno how tonight is going to work.  I'll have Gene there.  He'll make it worthwhile to be there.  We're gonna get paid to watch the other guys work.  It's gonna be sweet.

No more happy face!

Wes, Paul and myself went to the driving range today.

I can't hit golf balls very well because I'm more accustomed to swinging a bat than a golf club.

I had a few decent (and that's streching it!) hits. But didn't care to be up there too long.

So, instead, Paul gave me a sharpie and three balls to draw faces on. "Arts and crafts time" Wesley called it :(

Anywho, I drew a cranky Wesley face, a happy face, and an angry face.

Wesley hit the happy face and angry face (rather poorly I might add). Paul launched the cranky Wesley face to the opposite end of the field.

Well done Paul!!!

While the world slept...

Ben had convinced me (it wasn't really that I needed convincing) to drive to the Dtown WaWa with the promise of a cup of coffee... not that I really needed coffee or should have been drinking it at that hour... but hey! I had nothing else ta do.

So Zach and I meet at the WaWa around 2:45, dick around with Andrew and Ben for a bit, then decide that a Diner is the way to go. We headed down 611, and who did we see while sitting at a red light at 3:10 in the morning?!? Well, none other than the infamous Keegan Orr! He was in the neighbouring lane, heading back to school. I invited him to the Diner with us, but he had to get some sleep before work. Understandable.

Zach had eggs and pancakes. I had a Gyro (pronounced Euro) salad and an order of onion rings (because Zach insisted that eating at a diner at that hour requires that you order shitty food) of which I ate two.

We chatted, as friends tend to do. About work and other nonsense.

Wesley left Black Rebel Motorcycle Club in my car, so I listened to that on the ride home. Got in around 4:30, dicked around on the computer, read some, slept a few hours, got up, wrote this silly blog and am thinking about going back to bed. Work tonight til 7a tomorrow, then back in at 3p tomorrow afternoon... tres sucks.

Why yes! Another list!

I added yet another list...

Jeffrey, being as accute and intelligent as he can be, told me tonight how to browse others blogs. So... being nosey and curious... I've been here, browsing the blogging community for far too long. I came across a lot of bizaare blogs, a few lame blogs, a ton of photography blogs and a few that were really quite interesting.

Two of the one's on the 'list' (I will try to continuously add to it to make more of a list and less like a whim) are actually photography sites. The one is in French and the pictures are very beautiful, the other one seemed interesting at first glance so I threw it on the list (ok, fine... a whim). The third one, 'Ty,' is a blog about the training of TB's for jumping, cross country, and dressage (most of the pictures are of jumping, but it said somewhere that they trained in 'all three disciplines'... so I assume that's what they meant).

Anywho... there are some interesting sites out there and I'd like to be able to re-visit them... so use the list if you like to browse!

10 Books to Read Before You Die... sorta...

I found this headline on a homepage of sorts somewhere, I don't even recall, and I got excited because usually lists like these are insightful and give me a ideas of what I'd like to read.

This one though... Not so much.

I've listed the books in the order that the list gave them, top to bottom, one through ten respectively.

I have not read Gone With the Wind, all of the Lord of the Rings books, The Stand, Angels and Demons, Atlas Shrugged nor the Bible.

I have read some of the Lord of the Rings, all Harry Potters (multiple times!), The Da Vinci Code, To Kill a Mockingbird and The Catcher in the Rye.

I agree with some of the books that are on that list. The ones that I do not, however, are the two Dan Brown novels, Demons... and Da Vinci.... While they are very good reads (from what I have read), I just feel that there are more important books out there to read. Hullo! My favorites, Swiss Family Robinson, Gullivers Travels, Silus Marner!!! The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Les Miserables, Chronicles of Narnia!!! There are soooo many better books to put on this list!

There is one other thing that I would like to address: the Bible.

While I hate religion and think it is silly and trivial and nothing good actually comes from it (other than a false sense of comfort), the fact that the Bible has been around for centuries and read by millions of millions of people means that there are going to be hundreds of thousands of references made to it through all other literature. The Bible as literature, I'm more eager to accept; the Bible as a life-guide, I find absurd.

I doubt I'll keep that list up long. It kinda pisses me off.

Good Ole Pappy

I need to get me one of them motorbikes.

Wes and I went out with Andrew and Matt last night... and, as always, it was so much fun!!! We ended up at Lake Nocka-who, the boys each tried each others motorbikes, we sat around and chatted a while, then Wes, Andrew and I ended up at Andrew's house for a feast of pancakes, french toast and sausage patties. It was a delicious breakfast before heading into work.

Best part of last night (get ready!) some guy came in, we chatted, he left, I ran out to my car real quick... and saw that this guy was on a Segway! He let me ride it!!!! EEEEEEEE!!! I shoulda had him take a pic of me on it with my phone... but I told him to come back so that I could ride it again hahaha. So now, Wes, I expect one for Christmas. Thank you in advance for complying with my request :D

Other than that... the usuall crazies. I think Bear's name should be changed to Pappy. He laughs the way you would imagine someone called Pappy would laugh like.

Anywho... reading then bed. Tonight off!!!!

Lexus Sucks

Every time I start I post, I fail to finish it. I'm gonna try my best to finish this one though.

Whenever I see one of my regular characters coming into the store, I have the urge to label them.

For instance: there is a kindly but witty fella that comes in around 4:30 or so, everyday, and buys some sort of tasteykake and two packs of Salem Ultra Light 100's. Therefore, he is Salem-Ultra-Light-100-Guy. His uniform says his name is Bob, but that's far less interesting and far more general.

There's: Italian-Hoagie-at-One-in-the-Morning-Guy. He calls the WaWa from his job, asks Gene to get his hoagie ready (PLU 1. Always.) and comes and picks it up on his way home.

Confused-Rotten-Tooth-Guy who travels with Soggy-Brown-Paper-Bag-Guy. Confused-Rotten-Tooth-Guy (CRTG) has some of the gnarliest teeth I've had the pleasure of seeing. Yellow, brown, crowned, and some rotted to the point that they're not really teeth, but long, thin spikes protruding from his gums. He and SBPBG always pay separately, but always buy each other things and owe each other money (thus the "confused" part), and hold up my line while they figure out what's going on. Then SBPBG asks for a plastic bag to put his soggy brown paper bags into.

Let's see... There's Hyper-Little-Asian-Guy. He always comes in at 2am or 3am and just talks and talks and talks, but never says anything. He likes to tell me what his favorite soup from the previous week was.

There's:
+I'm-Buying-This-This-and-This-Guy. He sets everything on the counter then proceeds to tell me exactly what is there for me to ring up.
+White-Trash-Guy. Scruffy, tall, disgustingly thin, broken glasses, dirty trucker hat, and some sort of Budweiser or Coors shirt that is also filthy.
+Sixteen-Ounce-Coffee-and-Cinnamon-Twist-Guy. Self explanatory.
+The-Nice-Couple. Older man and woman, come in around 4am, get a newspaper, two 20oz coffees and two 16oz coffees (which she prepares while he reads the headlines) and the total always comes to $6.27.
+Why-aren't-You-Smiling-Guy. If I look even remotely unhappy, he asks me why I'm not smiling. He has a crush on me.
+Officer-that-Loves-the-Name-Emily. He tells me so every day.

But then, you have the people that need only one, common nickname to describe them perfectly. First is Lurch. He's six and a half feet tall, huge round belly, always has white scum around his mouth, and talks exactly like Lurch from the Adams Family. Very... slooooowly... and... very... dumbly... Gene has told me that his guy actually used to be normal, and an ass-hole, particularly to the handicapped, but one day had a stroke... and became Lurch. Yooooouuuu Rang????

And last, but not least, is Bear. I have no idea what this guys back story is, but he is quite possibly one of the filthiest people I've met at WaWa. He's older and there is definitely something wrong with him mentally. He always wears T-shirts with the sleeves cut-off and down the front of them is an enormous, slimy, vomit-inducing collection of snot and spit. His head is always down and he never looks at the person he's 'talking' to. Sometimes he's not talking to anyone at all, just mumbling and laughing. He came in last night, made a coffee, and walked out. I had no desire to go after him for the $1.33. Gene didn't either.

There are more characters, of course, but to name them all would take a fair amount of time and reading them all would just become tedious. I adore most of my regulars, but there are the jerks, ass-holes, grumps, miserable, uninterested, type that treat me like shit because I'm working a register at WaWa. The kind that respond to a, "Hi! How are you this morning!?" with the classic, "Gimme two packs of Marlboro's and matches." One of these days I'm gonna snap and yell, "CAN'T YOU EVEN SAY 'GOOD, THANKS' BEFORE YOU DEMAND YOUR GODDAMN CIGARETTES!?!?!?" to every single one of them.

The kids that think they're clever in using a friends I.D. to buy cigs are a pleasure too.
And the people that look at me as if I just snatched their new-born child when I say, "No, you can not use the restroom." They go ask Gene to undermine me, Gene says, "Did she say no? Then no." They're a hoot as well.

I think I just enjoy observing people and placing them into categories based upon the most superficial of characteristics. I'm a convenience store cashier. I could be there just to make an easy buck to buy my next fix for all they know. Yet, most of the people are very kindly towards me and I take that to heart. I will say though, that perhaps the most ill-mannered group are the guys that work at Thompson Lexus. You guys are fucking pricks and snobs, treating us like we're the dirt under your loafers. I hope you all get blown up at work today.

While I was busy waging wars on myself, you were trying to stop the fight

I loathe moving. I like new places, but this is not a new place. It's an old place with less than exciting memories.

Living with people who are completely content with sitting at home, watching the tube and doing little else is frustrating. Living with people that share no common interest's with you is frustrating. Living with people that don't know what it's like to juggle work, school, friends, hobbies, etc. is frustrating. Overall, living here is frustrating.

Wesley was so fantastic this weekend (it's true babe) about getting a truck and a storage unit, staying up late Thursday night to pack as much stuff as possible into the front room of our house to be easily loaded on the truck which he had to get up super early on his day-off to go get, unpacking while I slept because work has me all screwed up and being understanding of me getting upset on and off throughout the entire move. I was pretty much useless about the whole thing, and for that, Wes, I do apologize.

I don't like asking peers for help, I don't ever ask my parents for help and it irritates the piss out of me to ask others' parents for help. Ugh. How embarrassing.

And how many times have we gotten the lecture, How to Save for Your Future: A Road Map to Financial Success by Mr. and Mrs. Landis... There are often more ways than one to accomplish something, I believe this is no exception. Just because a certain method worked for them does not mean that it is the method that I would so choose for myself, but I can't necessarily speak for Wes.

I don't see Wes and I as frivolous spenders. His mother felt the need to bring up the fact that I bought a kayak last summer and there won't be any of that kind of unnecessary money spending this time around. Mind you, I was making salary of about $38,000/year for 6 months last year ($16,000 for the time I was there). I think my kayak cost less than one week worth of work there. Wes' father, on the other hand, just bought a $900 bicycle and is a big fan of my kayak, so I doubt he share her views on that. Either way, I don't like being told how to spend the money that I earn from someone in there 50's that still makes hourly wage. Sure, a kayak may not be a necessity, but it sure as hell is fun!!!!

Anywho, I'll keep the complaining to a minimum because nothing 'bad' has happened yet... and I can't exhaust the priviledge to complain at least once in a while.

While unpacking today, I discovered two books that I didn't realize we had (er, that Wes had I suppose). One is Politically Correct and the other is something about travel, I can't recall the title. I haven't looked very far into Politically Correct yes but I'm sure the stories are from what the title suggests. I do plan on reading it. yayayayayayay! I'm almost done with The Chronicle's of Narnia and am excited to have something to begin immediately upon finishing it.

And so it begins...

Moving today... in about half an hour probably.

Not a happy camper right now. Work sucked (how many people go arrested last night??? I lost count). And I think my alcohol consumption is going to increase logarithmically after today.

thank you

I've come to realize that not only is my boyfriend my best drinking partner, best dancing parter and best sexual partner, he's my best friend. Think about that title, best friend, and to whom you apply it to. Why are they your 'best friend?' That exact reason is why Wes is by best friend, lover, and everything in between.

If I'm being completely ridiculous and absurb, Wesley will tell me so. If Wesley is upset and pissed off at whomever, Wesley will tell me so. I know everything that goes on in Wes' life, and he, likewise. But we still have separate lives: mines at night-time and his, during the day. I kayak, he does not. We brew beer together, but it is ultimately his passion. I just happen to have the background to better advise him. He has the sales/business background to deal with shitty landlords.

someday, we'll be unstoppable.

I'm Gonna Break Yer Dick Off*

Got home from work and sent the Wesley off to work. Finished my mid-quality cinnamon bun from WaWa. Not ready to go to sleep just yet.

While Wesley has done a fantastic job of getting the moving truck and storage unit ready for the move this Friday, it's the actual moving part that I am dreading. I hate moving. I don't mind physical activity and that's not my reason for disliking moving. I just do not like putting my stuff in boxes and bags and whatever else, hauling it across the county, and then unloading it. I guess I'm worried I'm going to leave something behind. Oh yeah, and that whole giving-up-all-my-freedoms thing.

I don't mind Sellersville, it's closer to Wes' friends, but it is twice as far from mine. I don't see my good friends as regularly as Wes does (although I'm not sure why this is), so I suppose it makes sense to be closer to his. Well... I guess his good friends are my good friends. So I'm moving closer to some of my good friends and way far away from some of my other good friends.

I like my house. And my freedom. And the responsibility. I don't wanna move :'(

I'm going to be a suicide concern as of Saturday morning.

Also, I've decided that I blog not because I'm trying to be profound or highly interesting or because I'm in need of attention. I do it because I enjoy writing and sharing stories. With the exception of my posts about The God Delusion, I tend to be pretty lighthearted and 'journaly' with my posts. If no one reads them, I don't care. If no one comments, I don't care. I know I'm liked without the superficial bull-shit.

Maybe time to read and think about sleep. No work tonight. Might be going to The Sumney with my Wesley for one last hurrah before we leave the area. I will miss seeing cute Mike the bartender. And half priced drinks for ladies on Wednesday. Boo...


*couldn't think of a better title, so I dedicate this to you, Wes. bahahahaha

Wish I had a brew in hand...

But I don't want to drink Wesley's good stuff. Maybe I'll splurge one of these days and buy myself a case of Hoegaarden to have for when I get home from work and have sent Wes off for the day. And Hoegaarden bottles are frickin' SWEET! They would make fantastic homebrew bottles. You know it's true Wesley!!!

Some chick attempted to buy cigs tonight. I asked for her I.D., she handed it over, I took one look at the picture and said,

"This doesn't look like you."
"Oh," she says, "I broke my nose."
Uh huh...
I ask, "When's your birthday?"
"Oh! Uh... I guess I won't get the cigarettes."

June 24th, 1990. C'mon now. If you going to use someone else's I.D., as least memorize the important information: DOB, eye color, height, address, etc. I found out after the matter that I could've held the license and called the cops. Now that I know... I just might. I really enjoy ruining dis-honest peoples days.

Apparently some dudes were doing meth in the bathroom right before I had gotten there for my shift. That just blows my mind. We aren't supposed to let the public use that restroom in the first place, which I'm sure they're aware of because you have to walk through the back of the store to get there. Secondly, two people walking into a bathroom simultaneously and then being in there an extended period of time only brings two scenarios to mind: sex or drugs. I'm not sure whether they were m/m, m/f, or f/f but I know people have been caught in there with drugs before. I've yet to hear of someone getting caught in there having sex.

Oh! Working with Shawn Sunday night and Gene last night/this morning, I've begun to plan my next tattoo. Shawn is a piercing apprentice at Fyre... and has some wicked ink. He's got speak no evil, see no evil, hear no evil, touch no evil, and one other one (that I can't remember) monkey's on his chest, a spider, web, and butterfly on his right forearm, and, on his back, some kind of corpse thing coming out of a coffin with wings on it that go up onto his shoulders. SA-WEET! I'm not sure what Gene has but he's got one or two and has told me his plans for the next. Shawn definately has more ink in his tat's (his back on is huge!), but I think in regards to actual tattoo's, I'm the leader of the store (5!).


Anywho, so my idea (and I would need my artist to figure out how to make it work) is a Japanese style tree (pictured left) and have it on the left side of my back, possibley stretching across and up, and somehow have my koi and the water/lotus flower worked into it. The perspective would be a little wierd and that would be the difficult part. The picture is from SuicideGirls.com in their album, the girl 'named' Maia (the girls are listed alphabetically by stage name).

This style and color are just amazing and I would love to sport something like that and it would tie in with my koi quite well I imagine!

yayayayayayayayayayayayayay tattooooooooo's!

I should try and go to bed now... nights!