Breadsticks and Bothersome Waitresses

First let me say that Easy read yesterday's post about the cute redhead from the Whiffenpoofs and he is indeed judging me. Whatever, he doesn't know my life.

Moving on to today's topic. I went to dinner at Olive Garden with a friend of mine the other day that was very interesting for several reasons.

1. She's the younger sister of the Ex.
Even though he and I haven't spoken to in over 2 years, I have remained friends with some of his family members. I'm like a big sister to her, so we went out to dinner to catch up in person instead of always over the phone.

She and I haven't discussed the Ex in years because he never comes up. I don't care to ask and she doesn't offer any info. She did mention him though. She told me how she had been mad at him for literally years since he and I first broke up in 2008.

She said they had talked about how he regretted letting me go, but how he figured I would never take him back. I wasn't trying to hear that "one who got away" mess. I told her she didn't need to be upset any longer at her brother because I was very happy. And even though she and I were never going to be real sisters, I would always be there for her, just like I've been since the day we met.

She also gave me a heads up that he was moving back to Chicago next year and she was considering becoming roommates with him. That will be interesting because he and I are not going to be friends. I guess I'll just see her everywhere but at her own house, ha ha.



quite the understatement actually



2. Our waitress at Olive Garden was the oddest waitressing waitress I've had possibly ever.

When you think of a bad waitress, you think of being ignored, forced to suffer through a long lull between each meal portion, and possibly having your food spilled on you or an incorrect bill.

That's the opposite of what happened to us. You might think the opposite of those above horrors is a perfect waitress.

But it's not! It's a crazy attentive waitress. I mean CRAZY attentive. That woman must've come by our table to ask if we were okay 40 times in the hour we were there. I am not exaggerating. She was there literally every 1.5 minutes.

Each time she came, she tried to move us on to the next portion of our meals. She would take our food order before our drinks were up. So we had our soup and salad while we had our drinks. That seems like a great idea, but it was just the start of a disturbing trend.

When she brought our soup and salad, she took our food menu. Then she brought us our food before we were done and tried to take our soup and salad. We told her to just leave both.

Five minutes later, she took our dessert order. We were confused why she was ordering it then, but she said she wasn't going to put it right in. 2 table visits later (3 minutes), she brings our dessert.

So we're sitting there with a table full of food, becoming irritated that she's basically shoving us out the door. The manager comes by to see how we're doing and marvels that we chose to have all our food at once. We tell him that's not at all what happened.

Then she comes back to the table to apologize but that she thought we wanted our dessert before we finished our dinner. And our appetizers. She got this look.

 

And then, she began trying to clear our plates. We wouldn't let her take anything until we had finished. And of course, then she took 10 minutes to bring our check. I paid the bill and we high-tailed it out of there.

 

I've been to that Olive Garden soo many times over the years, but that was just weird.

3. The weather coming back was like something out of a horror movie.
It was pouring down raining when we left the restaurant. Seriously, there were comically large raindrops. And it was bright sunshine and at least 80 degrees.

When I dropped Melody off back home, the sky was scary looking, but the rain had stopped.

As I drove back home, there were huge lightning bolts that looked like they were 100 feet from the expressway. And right when I exited the expressway, hail started falling. I

There were huge chunks of hail blowing sideways in very strong wind. Then the rain started back up with the comically large raindrops. All while it was still over 80 degrees. But the sun had gone away. While it should still be bright outside, it was suddenly dark as night.

I've never been so glad to get home. That was science fiction movie weather. I blame it on Indiana. Every time myself or a friend goes to Indiana, something freaky or horrible happens. It's a proven (I'm making this up) fact.

So Sad, Not A Bee

I sent out my application to be a Weddingbee. And I was rejected. It was one of the nicest rejection e-mails I've ever received.

I did, however, remind me of the "thanks but no thanks" e-mails I was receiving daily back when I was still searching for a job. But I bounced back rather quickly.

I forwarded the e-mail to Easy because he is also invested in me becoming a Bee. This is mostly because he's super supportive of my need to blog.

And now I am devising a way to make myself seem like an even more attractive blogger so when I re-apply, they will have to have me.

They seem to be accepting Bees with wedding that are still this year, but they accept applications for weddings up to 8 months away. I'm just hoping they will pick me next time.

Pretty Pretty Please!! Uploaded with ImageShack.us

But in the time before I can apply again (three more weeks now), you all will be inundated with what I'm taking care of in the wedding planning process.

I'm trying to think of non-wedding things to blog about, but I'm not as worried. I have to have more wedding happy content so they let me be a Bee. Send happy hive-tastic thoughts my way people!

Moving Into My First Nest

Easy and I, along with 10 of our friends, moved our stuff into our lovely third floor Hyde Park apartment Saturday. I'm just not getting around to blogging about it because I was in mourning for my lamps.

I have grown attached to my lamps. They were lovely and really fit who I am. If you are at all into decorating, you'll understand why I was so sad. Not one single lamp made it without being broken. Out of 5 lamps. Five lamp!!

But it's okay. Well, it's not. Careless people. Easy's friends, not mine by the way. But those lamps made it from Florida to Chicago to Champaign to Rockford to Alsip. But they couldn't make it from 127th & Cicero to Hyde Park. Sigh.

I will just have fun picking out new lamps.

We were amazingly efficient in moving. We allotted several hours to make it happen, and only needed about half that time. I'm very impressed with our people. Plus, most of the people helping us move were wedding party people, so it was one of the first wedding party "events" we've had.

We bought everyone Giordano's Pizza and Harold's Chicken as a thank you for moving. Seriously, you must buy food for your friends who help you move. But waiting until the people leave who broke all your beloved lamps before you actually place the order wouldn't hurt.

My parents came later and hung out for a bit. They brought champagne, riesling, and Coronas. Great housewarming gifts I think.

One of Easy's exes who he's still friends with (don't even get me started on the fact that she still wants him) also stopped by. She brought us gifts too. The cookie jar she brought is my favorite.

I've always wanted a cookie jar. It just seems so home-y. I can't wait to get everything unpacked and bake those chocolate and peanut butter chip cookies Easy loves and load up our jar.

Even though I was in pain for two days after the move, it was totally worth it to do it ourselves. Now, if/when we go to NYC, we're definitely getting professional movers. I just have to pare down my stuff so there's less to take.

I don't know what that means for our wedding registry, but I will figure it out.

Meeting My Future In-Laws And Being Late To Work

Since my family had an early Father's Day, I was free to spend time with my fiance. I was worried about his family getting sick of me being around all the time and having no time with him without me there too.

Easy assured me that they weren't sick of me. Also, there were family members he was going to hang out with that I hadn't met yet. He felt it was essential that I accompany him to the family BBQ so that I could meet as many of them at once as possible.

I put on a cute dress and natural looking (but still super flattering) makeup and off we went. He drove to my house and I drove the BBQ so I could head to work after dinner.

When I arrived, his family was all hugs and greetings. He did have a girlfriend of 5 years who only went away last year, so I was a bit worried about their reception (but I didn't tell him that). Turns out I was worried for nothing. They were so sweet and kind.

One of his aunts is the one who's opinion is strong and important to Easy. He came up to me after we had been there a half hour or so and informed me that she loved me. I was excited because I had liked her too. Some people just give off a good vibe, you know? I'm glad she liked my vibe like I liked her.

Easy has a much larger family that he spends time around regularly than I do. I'm looking forward to getting to know them better over time. And I'm feeling much better about having to invite all 109 of them to our wedding.

I ate some lovely Latin food, and then headed to work. Did I mention half of his family is Hispanic (Honduran by blood plus Mexican by marriage)? So there were elements that only seem to come in abundance from certain ethnicities (shout out to Greeks, Hispanics, and Caribbean Islanders!): music, great food, lots of laughter, never-ending amounts of children running around. It was fantastic.

When I finally left for work, I had just enough time to get to work. When I was just 5 miles away (around 7 min), there was a train. The world's longest train. Seriously. Someone from Guinness World Records should have been there to witness the occasion. I sat there for a very long time, called into work to let them know I'd be late, and then began people watching.

All the motocyclists were de-biking and meeting each other and making new friends. People were not only putting their cars in park, but turning the engines off. A couple people fell asleep and started snoring. These people had time to reach deep sleep and probably begin dreaming.

After the 200+ car train finally passed, I sped down the road, going 60 in a 30 mph zone. I didn't want to be too late to work. I made up those 5 miles in under 5 minutes. Don't judge me, I hate being late to work for something that's not my fault.

I love having eventful days and it seems every day is like that these days. Yay!

I Hate My Computer

Today is the first time I turned on my computer and it actually loaded up. Apparently it's issues come and go. They come and go and come and go. Now they're gone. I'm sure they'll be back soon. I can't wait until I can get my Macbook and not have to deal with this shit anymore.


Speaking of my ability to make new purchases, I still haven't heard from the amazing job I was hoping I'd get. I haven't lost hope yet. They called last week with a question about the contact information for one of my references. He was out of the office, so I gave them his cell phone number. That was one week ago. I can only hope there is still good news to come and I will hear from them soon.


I got my GRE scores in the mail finally. The scores are good but the percentages I was disappointed about. I did do well on the writing and I feel like I did well enough to get into graduate school. I'm pretty convinced I'll go for a master's in public health or health administration. I may still decide to take it again just to remove any doubt, but we'll see.


This is random and not really an update, but I feel really happy right now. I'm quite satisfied with my relationship with my family. I've been spending more time with my cousins and aunt and uncle and that was one of my goals if you remember back when I was doing a weekly update of how I was doing on my goals.

Also, my friends are great and awesome and all that. I have hope for the immediate improvement of my career situation.

I honestly haven't spent as much time on my hobbies as I would like, but I'm kind of taking an unofficial break until I sort out things with my schedule for work (fingers crossed!)

And of course, my love life is amazing. Couldn't be better. Easy is absolutely amazing. The best man I've ever known. I'm so lucky to have him in my life. Even if he did get drunk over the weekend and ruin the surprise he had planned for proposing this summer. I may or may not tell that story in a future post. But yeah, he's the best person I've ever dated. But enough gushing.


If my computer acts like it has sense more than two days in a row, I'll be posting tomorrow and putting up posts on my other blogs to without e-mail. Looking forward to catching up on reading every one's blogs too.

Computer Issues and Other Issues

Before, I was quite sure that I was over PCs and ready to move on to the Mac and Apple products I have previously described as evil. To me, they are now the lesser of two evils. I wasn't able to use my computer the last couple of days because my computer wouldn't load. I had to post from my Blackberry. Anyone who lives in the wild 100s in Chicago who uses Sprint will tell you that was no easy task.


I wasn't able to spell check or anything. But I have returned to a point on my computer, somewhere in the past where it could actually boot up. I don't know where that point was, nothing seems to be missing... yet. But I hope to avoid such issues when I get a MacBook. That day will be here before the end of the year, hopefully. That explains why I didn't put up a post about Dancing With The Stars today.


Also, I was sick. I hate getting sick and I keep getting sick. I'm blaming my parents house and the fact that it's always cold here. Chicago is still in the 40s. WTF! It's the end of April, I don't understand. And while all the technology I know and love is either reliably or surprisingly, F-ing up, my Kindle decided to get in on the fun.


True to form, my warranty has passed and now the fun begins. There's some sort of electromagnetic disturbance on the screen. I'm hoping I can take it into Best Buy and they can fix it. If not, I'll have to depend on Amazon to fix it without demanding I purchase a new one. From what I've read on the website, resetting the screen is a relatively easy fix that shouldn't even require my warranty, but we shall see.


The point to the ranty post? Back up your shit! I have an external hard drive that I protect like it is offspring. On it, I have every vital everything for both my laptop and my Kindle. So it would take a crazy miracle and my laptop, Kindle, external hard drive, and BlackBerry would all have to fail at once for me to lose everything. If there was a fire, I wouldn't grab everything. Just the external hard drive.


There's one more point, get your own place where you control the temperature. I swear if I'm gone from this house for more than a week, I come back and immediately get sick. Chicago is literally making me sick. I can't wait until my life is on to the next phase. And despite the rage I'm sure this post conveys, I'm actually in a great mood. No one I wanted to stay got kicked off DWTS, and I finally figured out the perfect drug combo to make getting sick bearable if it's going to keep happening.

My Mom Double Booked Me!

I've been meaning to tell this story for a while. It actually happened like two-three weeks ago, right when I got back from St. Louis and my mother and I had plans with my mom for Saturday afternoon. We were going to have a girls' day out. I assumed that meant good food, perhaps a movie, and also a new blouse or dress or something for the both of us. But that's not at all what happened!


She had also made plans with my father. They are contemplating moving/renovating. While their sorting out all their options, they are at least making some moves. They went to go look at model houses as a way to explore the option of having a house built.


I ask my father where my mother is early Saturday afternoon and he tells me she'll be home soon and they'll be on their way. I'm like, "where are y'all going. We have plans." And he's like, "I don't know what plans you think you have, but we have plans." We quickly realize my mother double booked us!


I knew their plans trumped ours, so I quickly inserted myself into their plans. Going to look at model homes sounded like fun to me. When my mother came home, I fussed a bit at her while she chuckled and exchanged looks with my father. I thought it wasn't funny at all and demanded we reschedule our girls day out. We did just that and then the three of us headed out to see some homes.

We had fun looking at homes, comparing what each of us thought were important factors in a home. My father, ever the practical one, was concerned about homes with two many stairs since where ever they move will likely be their home into a very old age, if not their final home. This was reasonable, but didn't get us away from the charm of the vaulted ceiling created by a second floor balcony overlooking the family room.


Even though my mom double booked us, we still had fun all hanging out together. And my mom totally made it up to me the next time just she and I went out. This is why I love hanging out with my parents. Something interesting always happens and there's always a twist. By the way, if you're looking for a home you can build from the ground up and don't mind a commute, start in New Lennox and Frankfurt, IL

The GRE Is Approaching Fast

I'm a good test taker, so I figured I wouldn't need a whole bunch of time to prep for the GRE. I took a practice test and wasn't too freaked out, so I went ahead and registered for the test. But now that it's next Wednesday, it seems so soon.

I'm not exactly freaking out, but I do wish I had more time. It feels like a lot of things are happening. When I spent the last year sort of floating out there not knowing which direction was the best to go, now things are feeling two steps under overwhelming. They're just whelming I guess.

But I am looking forward to having that step done. The types of grad programs I'm interested in do take MCAT scores, but mine are so freaking old, I have to take the GRE. I am just glad I'll have this step done next week.

I'll walk out of the testing center with a good score (hopefully!) and one less thing to worry about next year when it's time to apply for grad school. Easy feels very strongly that New York is where he wants to go get his Master's Degree. I feel very strongly that I will be there with him.

It's time to dream. Imagine if in Fall 2012, He's getting a Master's in Jazz Studies from Julliard (did I spell that right?) and I'm getting a Master's in Public Health from NYU. Who knows if we'd even get into those schools or could even afford them, but it's nice to dream. Nothing is set in concrete yet, but it's nice to dream. And the dreaming is a nice escape from the reality of preparing a job interview on Friday and the GRE next Wednesday. Yikes!

The First Step Towards Some Form Of Income

I've decided that being a stripper just isn't for me. I would always feel self-conscious about my small frame. So I had to decide something else to make money. I decided I would try and see if I could scare up some paid business online doing tutoring.


I already tutor for free at my church. But it would be a good livelihood if I could get paid to do it too. It's really driving me crazy that I have no income to speak of. I took some steps and that makes me happy. I have found several companies online that match families and tutors. I hope to hear something back in the next couple of days, but if I don't, I will be back on the grind looking for another option.


I wonder if there is some way for me to set up my own thing, but I don't have the resources to do the necessary advertising to attract clients. But I can dream about the possibilities. I'm a great tutor. I see real results. It would be nice to have that job option until all the applications I've been filling out for research positions net something other than thanks-but-no-thanks e-mails.


Here's hoping I don't have to learn to pole dance. I'm too clumsy for that shit.

Weirdness In My Blog

I deleted almost everything from my blog's side panels. I don't know what I recently added that made it not load, but I have fixed the problem so that it does load now. I just have to figure out how many add-ons I can have and still have my blog the way we like it. Thanks to the people who pointed out that it wasn't just my computer having trouble loading it. Hopefully the technical difficulties are over.

Weekly Goals: I'm Over This Too

I posted last night about being over my desire to try and make something new each day. I've been over it for a while, I just made it official. I think it's also time to hang up this weekly goals idea. I loved trying to focus more on my hobbies. It gave me a sense of purpose while I was out floating in the job-less school-less abyss.


I'm still there for the most part. But for some reason, having a definite idea of taking the GRE this month and prepping for it leaves me not feeling like I need that specific list of things I want to do. I still want to do those things, but I don't like that looming deadline of quantities I must accomplish.


I want to continue to be proactive about my goals and hobbies, I just don't want to blog about it in that weekly checklist any more.

Creating Things - I'm Over It

It's too hard to try and make something every day. Perhaps if I had more resources (money, materials), stability (not going back and forth to St. Louis all the time), or willpower (doing it even when I don't feel like it). But I don't.


Noticing that March is well underway and I only have 19 days of creating, I have fallen a bit short of my goal. The posts I did do got a lot of traffic and that was nice. But I just don't feel like it anymore. I'd rather dedicate the time I'd spend making a craft or typing out the recipe for meal on studying for the GRE. And next month, there will be some other reason. I'm just over it.


Also, my camera broke. Not much I can do about that. But now a really nice new digital camera is on my wish list for some future gift. Maybe a birthday or Christmas. I can live without a camera for that long I think. Most pictures I take anyway are on my Blackberry, they're just not a quality I'd want to post on the web.


As long as no major events happen this year, I should be fine. Maybe I'll try again with creating things when I get a new camera, a source of income, and a more focused inspiration.

American Idol, Top 24

The guys went first on Tuesday night. Here is my reaction:

How is it possible to mix Santa Claus and Seth Rogan and get sexy? Ask Casey Abrams. And Jacob, he brought tears to my eyes. I chalk that up as much to him singing Luther Vandross as his actual skills. Stefano, Brett, Clint, Scotty, and Jovany also made me fall in love all over again. I gotta say, I expected better from Jordan.


The girls went second on Wednesday night. Here is my reaction:

Those who I thought should have done better: TaTynisa, Thia, Julie
Those who rocked my world: Naima, Kendra, Karen (especially that part in Spanish), Ashthon, Haley, Lauren Alaina,

The people not mentioned I basically didn't bother to mention on purpose. But this isn't about my reactions, it's just saying who I voted for so far. I'll prolly post about this and Dancing with the stars all season. Deal with it.


Can I just say that I was super excited about voting online for American Idol this season. But my dream was not to come true. Why? Because you have to have or sign up for a Facebook account to vote online. Stupid idea. Stupid going-to-the-highest-bidder Fox. I get it. They have some crap partnership with Facebook that leads to higher promotion and participation for both.


So I had to vote by calling in. That whole process just bothered me. Last season, I was fine with calling in several times for each contestant based on how much time I wanted to spend calling in for each one. This time, I was over it. Even though the contestants are so much better this time, I was over it. So here's who I voted for with just one phone call each:

Pia, Lauren Alaina, Thia, Haley, Julie, Ashthon, Lauren Turner, Kendra, and Naima for the girls.
Clint, Jovany, Jordan, Tim, Brett, Robbie, Scottie, Stefano, Jacob, and Casey for the guys.
I did however vote for Jacob three times. He was just amazing!

A Nasty Computer Virus

I was trying to catch up on all my back episodes of How I Met Your Mother. The summer after college, my obsession with seeing every episode of every season of a show started. It's the fault of Sex and the City. And my obsession has been centered on How I Met Your Mother for the last couple of days.

And so I've been watching. I've figured out ways to game megavideo.com so they don't make me wait for 30 min after every 72 minutes of viewing. But along the way, I also managed to pick up a nasty computer virus. I think I know what did it. Some random episode in Season 2 didn't have a megavideo link. So I tried another link that I'd never heard of before.

This link opened up about three windows on my computer. After sending an angry glance towards my adware blocker tab, I closed the windows and didn't give it another thought. That was Wednesday night. Sometime Thursday evening, I noticed something was off with computer. It started with a virus scan from a virus scanning program I had no memory of installing.

30 minutes later, I had already stopped the scan, and I did so because it looked off. The scan window looked suspiciously friendly. Seriously, it looked like an Easter card. And then these windows started popping up to tell me that some program.exe or another couldn't start because of a virus. They had the [x] in the upper right hand corner, but the button didn't work. But even though I stopped the scan, I was noticing other hinky things.

I pulled up my task manager to try and close the virus and I couldn't do it. The program didn't show up on my task list or process list. Now I was freaking out and worried that there was a horrible virus on my computer. Then I decided to let the virus scan run to see what the issue was. BIG MISTAKE.

At least 15 different issues popped up and different screens and different processes. This program told me that my computer was basically fucked and my only solution was to upgrade to the full program and debug my computer. That's when I noticed the bottom of the window that said it was a trial version of the program.

While other windows are coming up telling me that I have all these different processes that won't work. Then it hit me, I never downloaded this virus scanner. I never downloaded this virus scan. So I turned off my computer and thanked God I had an alternative to figure out a solution.

I googled the title of the program on my BlackBerry and my Kindle and the third item down had the word "scam" in it. I went to Yahoo answers to find out how to fix the problem. The solution was to download another program that was a malware remover. I googled that program and again the word "scam" popped up. But luckily, this time, it was talking about the scam this program could fix. And the download was free.

So I loaded my computer back up, saw that this virus scam thing had eaten my internet and the first change I had to make, fixing my internet options and proxy server, wasn't able to be fixed. I re-loaded the computer in safe mode and fixed that issue.

I downloaded the program, ran the scan, and suddenly, everything was all better. I re-started the computer in regular mode and crossed my fingers. As soon as it loaded back up, everything was better again and I started writing this blog post.

The moral of the story? 1. Have multiple ways to access the internet. Thank God for my Blackberry and my Kindle.   2. Don't assume your memory is faulty. That's why God made Google.   3. Everything that they charge you for, there is probably a way to get the free download version of it too.   4. Don't click random links, stick with megavideo.com!

And Since We're On The Subject Of My Life In Chicago

I forgot about the stuff I don't want to do. The stuff that counts as a priority, but only because it's a responsibility. The responsibilities that I have mixed feelings about are the worst. This was brought to my attention early Thursday morning.

My mother stopped by my room before she headed to work. She wanted to ask me a favor. I was to go to my grandmother's house and get her grocery list and go shopping for her. She wanted me to do it in a couple hours.

On the surface, there is nothing at all wrong with this request. Let me point out that this is the grandmother who is currently making my student loan payments until I get a job. I should be bending over backwards doing whatever this woman wants, trying to make her life easier. But it's not that simple.

My grandmother is a crazy person. When she sends you grocery shopping, it's with coupons, three different lists for four different stores, and specific requests like the number of ounces the meat you purchase should be. And then when you get back there's always something you've done wrong, like bought "oatmeal", but the wrong kind. They have unlimited types of oatmeal, but her list only says "oatmeal". You'd think she would specify since she does that for so many items. Let's just say I'm sensitive about an oatmeal debacle from a couple summers ago.

But still, lots of old people are difficult, right? That doesn't mean she shouldn't get the help she needs to get groceries. Which brings me to the second problem. My grandmother doesn't need help getting groceries. She has an up-to-date driver's licence, a working car, an independent streak, and a desire to never ask for help from anybody. So why does she ask others to shop for her?

She had surgery on her ankle over two years ago. Walking around the city during the winter scares her because she knows how badly things can go if she falls. When this rationale still applied in June, I realized she was full of crap and had just gotten used to other doing for her when she didn't feel like doing it herself. "But she's a little old lady," you say. Wrong!

My grandmother is very young. My mother was my age when she had me. My grandmother was my age minus 11 years when she had my mother. The point is, granny barely qualifies for the senior discount at movies and restaurants. She is not infirm, nor is she handicapped in any way.

The other reason I'm so obviously irritated is that my mother was supposed to have done the shopping last weekend, but do to a communication error, it didn't get done. She could do it this weekend, but "it's supposed to snow." I religiously check the weather, it's going to snow, but it will be no SNOWmaggedon.

My mother also has extra stuff to do this weekend, but she does have free time. She suggested if we wait til the weekend, we could just go together. That isn't an issue exactly, I am just frustrated with her trying to game me. It's not going to snow so bad that the stores will be hard to get to. It's Thursday, what is the rush with going today as opposed to tomorrow? And why in the world does it have to be early?

I really truly don't mind doing things for my family. I just hate feeling taken advantage of. And I truly loathe doing things for people that they can do for themselves. For example, you will not be able to find a six year old who has gotten me to tie their shoes. Totally unrelated I know, but the point stands!

Applying For Jobs Is Suddenly A Dizzying Matter

So, I spend hours of many of my days applying for jobs. I try not to talk about it too much because the shit is depressing. It's been almost a year, and still nothing. But I keep persevering because I can't live off my parents forever. My old ass needs a source of income.

But things have changed now. I'm not just applying for jobs in Chicago with dreams of moving to Hyde Park or Lincoln Park or Wicker Park. I'm applying for jobs in St. Louis with dreams of moving to downtown St. Louis, or U-City or Clayton.

So now the question is, which dream do I follow more carefully? How do I split up my time applying for jobs? If St. Louis is really the tentative plan, why am I still applying for jobs in Chicago?

These are questions that racked my brain earlier today as I was pulling up links to websites for jobs in both Chicago and St. Louis. I started thinking about the possibilities of job interviews for really great jobs that sounded like exactly what I would want to spend my time doing.


But it's different now. With the tentative plan of moving to St. Louis, imagining interviewing for jobs in Chicago only seems like I'm postponing my plans with Easy. I know if I got a job here and lived here until next year when it was time to plan for grad school, it wouldn't be the end of the world. Easy and I would be okay, the long distance wouldn't kill us.


But then I think of how much I would love to find a great job and a great apartment in Clayton. Clayton really is the top of my list for areas I'd like to live in now. Even if Easy and I don't live together in St. Louis, and I have a job there, Clayton is the area I'd pick.


But then I think of all the time I spend with my family here. The life I've built for myself here in Chicago since coming back from med school is nice. I spend so much time working with the kids and teenagers of my church. It's not like they can't survive without me, but I had plans. My pastor and I were going to work together on putting together a medical clinic that serves my community. That dream is either going to have to wait or move to a different person.


There's just so much to think about. And there is a part of me that doesn't want to have to choose. So I guess I'm just not going to choose. I'm going to let the employers decide. Today, I applied for a slightly higher number of St. Louis jobs than Chicago jobs. Because right now, I'd rather be headed there than stuck here.


With the exception of a few people who have found career success (or something like it), most people I know in my age range start to feel like Chicago isn't really the land of opportunity. They feel stifled here like they can't really spread their wings. That feeling has been growing inside me for a while. I'm sure it wouldn't feel so bad if I wasn't living with my parents though. But now I truly understand why so many people want to fly the coop and try their luck elsewhere.


But I'm still applying for jobs in Chicago, especially since my going to St. Louis (something I said I'd never do by the way) isn't set in stone yet. I'm just applying for more jobs in St. Louis. I will go where the work is. If someone chooses to interview me, that's where I'll be. I can't wait to unload my storage unit. And I don't care if I'm taking my stuff across state lines. I just want to be employed.

More About Being Sick

The sickness that I mentioned had the possibility of ruining my entire Valentine's Day celebration?

Well, here's the whole story. On Thursday evening, I was feeling a bit sore throat-y. I didn't think much of it because I didn't have any other symptoms.

Friday it got worse, but I drove home, went to bowling league, not much to tell there. Except, before bed, my mother and I were downstairs in our freezing ass house discussing something for over an hour.

By the time I went to bed, my back was spasming from all the shivering. So I went to bed with a headache, a backache, and a sore throat.

Saturday morning, I woke up feeling all kinds of horrible. I literally couldn't talk my throat hurt so bad. I start drinking water to try and loosen up the pipes.

Then I called Easy to tell him that our plans might be de-railed. I told him I felt like my symptoms were coming from different sources and I would drug myself and let him know. The drugs helped and our v-day celebration was on.

Of course, while we were out I felt ever worse as the day wore on. So I called an audible and we ended the night early. We had non-v-day plans for the next day so I made a note to bring back-up meds for the next day. I wanted a shelf-life of longer than 4-6 hours.

Sunday, I feel even worse when I get up. I must've looked even worse than I felt because my parents were super concerned.

They hadn't heard me come in the night before (prolly cause I came in so early, they hadn't started listening for the door yet) and I looked miserable.

They were questioning if Easy did something and if he needed to be immediately murdered for even considering making me look like that.

I let them know I looked that way because I didn't feel good and that the previous night had been good. I drugged myself some more and brought back up pills.

Easy came to get me and took me to church with him. I met a close friend of his, who had a headache and who took my extra Tylenol. To be fair, he asked a general question to the crowd and I offered them.

But without my Tylenol, things took a turn. The sore throat wasn't the problem, it was the back pain that hadn't gone away.

But we got through the day. I ended with a much better mutual opinion of this close friend than the last one I met.

On Sunday night, Easy and I discussed how much we were gonna miss each other when he went back to St. Louis.

Then it occurred to us that he didn't have to go back without me. After all, it's not like I had to be at work the next day.

He knew I was feeling pretty awful and so he told me if I came back with him to St. Louis, he'd take care of me.

He did no such thing, but it was a learning experience for the two of us.

Easy has never taken care of a sick person. Why then he thought it was a good idea to offer his services to me? I dunno. But he always has good intentions when things go awry. I suppose that's better than outright neglect or malice. I don't suppose. I know it's better.

That is something learned after the sickness passed. Monday was horrible. I hadn't eaten for over 24 hours, there was no medicine in Easy's house. He kept asking me what I needed and I'd just stare at him.

For someone who turns into a baby himself when he's sick, I don't know why he expected me to have a full conversation about all my needs.

But I dragged myself out of bed and made food and then went to Walgreens. And he learned that I act just like he does when he is sick, and so I don't need a whole bunch, just tea, soup, medicine, and backrubs.

And now he's sick. And I feel so bad for getting him sick that I'm staying in St. Louis to nurse him back to health.

I think I've been doing a pretty good job of making sure he eats good food, has plenty of backrubs, tea, hot cocoa, throat lozenges, even sex.

Easy is the only person in the world who would still want sex when he can barely talk and doesn't have the energy to sit up and drink an entire cup of tea. Well, the only one I've ever dated.

Also, I spoke to Top on the phone the other day and she spoke of how much happier I sound when I'm here versus when I'm in Chicago. She encouraged me not to rush back to Chicago. So I didn't.

The First Thing Obama Has Done That Has Seriously Disappointed Me

I don't talk about politics too much on this blog. But I just felt like talking about this right now. So I'm going to.

The whole situation with Egypt has been an eye opener. I realize that when the people who run our country make decisions regarding our allies and enemies, a lot of it comes from self-interest.

But I can't imagine what would make them choose between that self-interest and ideas we hold up as the most important.

When it comes to supporting President Mubarak or not, they choose to support him? Are they fucking kidding?

Him and that other asshole, Vice President Suleiman, have made it perfectly clear they don't feel Egypt is ready for true democracy.

The organized protests would say different.

Those assholes say that an orderly, cautious path to democracy is best. They'd rather keep the poor even poorer. They'd rather let all those college graduates remain unemployed (a problem near and dear to my own heart). They'd rather keep all the money they get in their own pockets. They'd rather keep a police state in spite of proven abilities to maintain peace from the protesters.

And how does the Obama administration respond? By talking about Israel. I know their right to exist is important and all that. Whatever.

I just didn't realize their right to exist was more important than others' rights to democracy, freedom, and representation.

Egypt has a peace treaty with Israel. Great. If they become a democracy, will that peace treaty really end? Even if it does, it that a good enough reason to support keeping and autocracy in Egypt?

Obama is on the wrong side of history. By not supporting the people of Egypt, he is sowing seeds of mistrust and discontent. Right now their saying "up with Egypt." I wonder how long it will be before that starts to include, "down with America."

This is one of those times I'm ashamed of what my country stands for. Democracy is the reason we've ruined so many lives in Iraq and Afghanistan. But apparently we don't actually mean that shit all the time. At least not when it could possibly maybe just a little bit affect the Israelis.

I don't want to turn back the clock on the progress they've made. But why does progress for one country have to mean oppression for another?

I think it doesn't. There are plenty of smart and reasonable diplomats floating around the Middle East and North Africa. They can't keep peace treaties for Israel even with a democratic Egypt?

Bullshit. I call bullshit.

Back From Oblivion

I've been MIA. I have no better explanation than I just didn't feel like blogging.

It happens. Not to all people, but to some.

But now I'm back. I'll be back on Creating Things tomorrow. I'm just going to pick up where I left off. I am at day seventeen I believe.

What have I been up to in the time I was missing?

Romantic Life

Things with Easy and I are going great. Better than ever. Somehow, it still feels like we're in the middle of our honeymoon phase. I don't know how long it's supposed to last, but it's still lasting.

We are still learning things about each other, which is always interesting. Compromise is the name of the game when it comes to us.

We are talking about the future. Our future plans for ourselves don't exactly lead in the same direction, so we're seeing about making the paths line up a bit more.

Family Life

Things are pretty good with my family. My parents and I always get along great. I'm sure they will be happier when both their grown-ass children are gainfully employed and living not in their house. I'm working on it.

My brother and I still have a non-existent relationship. Eh, whatever.

My cousins and I still aren't that close, but I'm working on it. It's hard to come up with a group effort to act like a family when you weren't raised with that idea, but I'm thinking it will become easier once we are all adults.

Friends Life

My friends are still my awesome friends.

Having so many close friends in stable, serious relationships is a new thing for me. But I think as the months pass, we're getting better at maintaining our friendships in this new world where all our free time isn't our own.

I'm just thankful that I like all the significant others of my friends.

And my friends are all also making big strides in their career choices. Great for them. The biggest change (in terms of its effects on me) comes from  

We had plans to move in together once she graduated this spring. But now she's staying there for another year to get a graduate degree. It's really a great choice for her. She gets to skip GRE crap and application processes and long grad programs.

But it really changes the short-term plan I had for my life. This has to do with what I was talking about Easy earlier trying to make our paths line up better. But I'll talk more about that in a later post.

Career Life

I had intentions to apply to grad school to start this fall. I've been talking to Easy and Top and Lion about how I really don't want to start grad school just yet. But in the absence of a job, it seemed like the best choice.

I have to get ready to do things like sign up for the GRE etc in the next few weeks. But for what Easy and I have been discussing, it makes those decisions all the more important.

But I am still applying for jobs and hope something comes up soon so I'm not just floating out in a unemployment abyss.

Hobbies Life

There's not much new to report here. I'm still bowling in my league (and improving every week). I'm still wishing I would spend more time reading/writing, working on gardening, playing the piano, etc.

I have finally figured out my hobbies roadblock. I guess I feel like it's wrong somehow to be spending so much time doing things that are just for me when I'm not contributing anything to my future.

If I spend hours in a day applying for jobs and getting nowhere, I feel like I shouldn't spend my evenings relaxing. What would I need downtime for? I haven't done anything that needs relaxing from.

But I'm working on not having that mindset because it's a bit self-destructive. I need to have something I can count on, even if it's not having a job to get up and go to each morning.

So yeah, that's the basic recap. It's good to be back blogosphere.

Creating Things Day Twelve - Putting Together A Bed, Part One

I think I've referred to the unfortunate Bachelor Pad-ness of Easy's apartment in St. Louis.

Well, one important thing he was missing was a bed. I should say is a bed.

This is just a preliminary post. Putting the bed together will be a two part post.

Right when we got to St. Louis last night, Easy and I drove to Value City Furniture. We found a bed, like it, and he purchased it.

They weren't able to deliver the bed (plus delivery was $100) until next week, so I said screw that plan.

I suggested we get a U-Haul and just bring the bed to his place ourselves.

He seemed confused about whether or not I'd be able to help move a bed.

I informed him I'd moved my queen size bed several times, even a couple all by myself, and he need not worry.

So we got the U-Haul after he was done with work for the day. We picked up the bed and brought it here.

There were quite a number of pieces to this bed, as you can see in the picture.

We got everything upstairs and I started putting the pieces together.

I was glad the bed put together the exact same way mine did so it wouldn't take long to get it together.

I wasn't glad the Easy had absolutely no bed-putting-together skills. I guess it happens.

A man who spends that much time working on his music is bound to lack other skills besides cooking.

After we got the basics of the frame together, we had to screw in the wooden planks that would add support to the frame and make it sturdier.

This is where things went awry. The planks don't fit.

They are long enough, but they are too tall. You can't tell by the picture, but I could tell when I tried to screw them in place.

That wood is not supposed to  be bent. It would warp over time or maybe even break.

This could lead to instability of the bed and shorten the life of the bed.

Side note about the screws, actually screwdrivers.

For this to be a dude house, they have one screwdriver!!!

It's actually a screwdriver set. You know, the one screw-y piece that had little bits you can fit in and out depending on the size of whatever needs to be screwed?

I just don't understand that though. I'm quite the girly chick, but I have somewhere between 5 and 8 screwdrivers.

Maybe it comes from years of living alone and having to fix things myself, but damn, I expected better from a bachelor pad.

If you don't have essentials like butter and flour (yes, I'm referring to last night's cookies), you should at least have screwdrivers.

I bet living here is like a lesson in MacGuyver-style survival, lol.

Moving back to the bed.

Easy's roommate came to help. Nothing he did served as a source of help, but he was there, trying to help.

After the guys (neither of whom have ever put a bed like that together before) came to the conclusion I had already drawn, I agreed to their decision.

We took the bed down, and I'm going to call the store tomorrow to see about them fixing those planks.

My guess is that they gave us the wrong planks. They are just a very wrong height.

Hopefully that won't be a fight, but tomorrow will soon be here and then I'll know.

And so tonight, we will be sleeping on a mattress. The mattress in this picture.

It is a pretty comfortable mattress though. You can see it's a pillow-top, which is soooo much better than an air mattress, couch, or floor.