I'm not usually a fan of remakes, but this is one I could totally get behind.
Anyway.
~ This whole being a grown-up in the snow thing? I'm not a fan. Slipping and sliding whilst driving, clearing the car windows, wondering if we should replace the tires on my car now or if they can make it through the winter . . . yeah. Not cool. I just want to make snow angels and snowmen, dangit!
~ I really want a garage. Or at least a carport. A tent maybe? Something to make it so I don't have to scrape the windows.
~ I really need to get some close-toed dress shoes. I say this every winter . . . and by every winter I mean EVERY winter since I graduated from high school. In that time I've purchased two pairs of dress shoes . . . both in the spring, both very cute, one a rocking pair of stilettos, one a super cute pair of strappy sandals. Something always comes up - either I don't have the money or I can't find any I like or I just keep forgetting when I'm shopping. Which makes sense considering I only wear dress shoes once a week for three hours and most of those three hours I'm inside. On the other hand, when there is three inches of fresh snow on the ground and you have to walk all around your car to clear it off . . . and then it snows another three inches while you're at church and you have to clear the car off again to leave . . . I really need to get some closed-toed dress shoes. And some cute boots without a heel.
~ My collection of Christmas ornaments began with my first Christmas. Which is awesome, because that means now I have a good-sized collection. In fact, it's really too big for our little 3 foot tree, it's kind of crowded on there. But there's not enough for a full size tree. Blargh. I'm totally going to have to hit up the after Christmas sales and hope there's some cute stuff. And then knock out a wall so we have room for a big tree.
~ The good news is we're looking at a winter where we keep the heat on a little higher and a little longer than last year . . . yay! On the other hand, we have still abandoned the living room in favor of the smaller and cheaper to heat 2nd bedroom/den/craft room/game room/guest room/office/everything-but-the-kitchen-sink room. I finally moved in on Monday. I'm already a little stir crazy. In the plus column, there is the TV and Wii in here with me now. In the negative column, we moved the extra bed out this year. So there's only a hotel reject armchair, which is comfortable enough, but there are only so many ways you can sit in it, and you can't stretch out. And the floor is hard, even with the mountain of blankets and pillows that's now sitting in the corner. We wanted to get banana chairs this summer shortly after we got the Wii - because banana chairs are awesome! And because we just need somewhere to sit. Turns out that only ONE place in this entire town carries banana chairs . . . and they only carry them during the holidays. What the what?!?! So we're hopefully going to be buying them soon. Maybe even this week. *crossing fingers*
~ LOVE the fact that the snow didn't hit until the week of Thanksgiving. Awe. Some. We got a nice, long, enjoyable fall, and snow just when I like it. In fact, I think a perfect world would be one where winter (and by extension snow) lasted precisely from the week of Thanksgiving to the last week of January. And then in February all the melting is done and it's just plain gone. Yep, that's my kinda winter.
~ Is it Christmas yet? I am dying to see what my parents think of their present from all of us. (suffice it to say, if everything goes exactly how I want it to, there will be video. And it will be awesome.) Also, we're really hoping Convergys will close down for Christmas again this year. Because working on Christmas? Been there, done that, not cool.
~ Last year Luke and I talked a bit about what sort of Christmas traditions we want to have. Among other things, we decided that every year we'll pull out the chocolate fountain Grandma B. gave us last year. So - can anyone tell me where to get a couple of pounds (I think, haven't looked at the instruction manual yet) of molten chocolate?
~ Apparently there is such a thing as flannel-lined jeans. They're sold at Cal Ranch, so I'm sure they're decidedly of the not-cute-flattering-jeans variety. That might cease to be an issue eventually.
P. ost S. cript So epically awesomely hysterical. I love it!! You'll never look at Indy the same way again, guaranteed . . .
First, a news update: Tuesday we were supposed to get hit by the mega-blizzard storm of the century, so school was halved and pretty much the whole state shut down. Luke and I had to have lunch at the newly opened Chik-Fil-A and it was crazy busy, much like when we ate at the newly opened In-N-Out Burger last month. But the peppermint chocolate chip milkshake made the crowds BEYOND worth it - YUM! Then we went home and prepared to hunker down and weather the Snowpocalypse.
Ummmmm . . . it snowed. A lot. It was pretty dang windy. Very little visibility. I would not have wanted to be out in that storm. But I was envisioning winds that knocked over the motorcycles in the parking lot, power outages, the first floor of the complex being snowed in and unable to get out of their apartments and Luke and me huddled under blankets for a couple of days until things got back to normal. Yeah, didn't happen. Color me kinda disappointed.
On the other hand, since Luke has to work today we had our little Thanksgiving dinner yesterday. And I am proud to announce I have successfully cooked two turkey in a row. Well, okay, two tiny little three-pound turkey breasts . . . but I'm counting it!! A few discoveries from yesterday: it is possible to cook stuffing, mashed potatoes, corn, gravy, and rolls all at the same time if you have two people and four hands available. Also, one box of stuffing is not enough to satisfy two stuffing fiends (learned that last year), but two boxes will leave leftovers. However, there is no amount of stuffing that qualifies as "enough" for two stuffing fiends. I imagine that cooking a Thanksgiving dinner for more than two is probably a lot more complicated. So I will definitely not be attempting that until we have a kitchen at least five times bigger than the one we have. Good thing pretty much any kitchen in the world fits that description, eh?
And now the moment you've all been waiting for . . .
Lacey's Top Ten Random, Odd, Obscure, or Perhaps Just Plain Weird Things She's Thankful For! (version 2.0 . . . 1.0 here if you want to compare random-osity)
1. Nepotism totally has to be #1 . . . since it made the list two years in a row, it's clearly a big deal.
3. Reconnecting. Did my mention my awesome old friend/roommate from Florida, Brandy came to visit for a few days last month? Well, she did. And it was awesome. Sooooooooo great to see people you haven't seen in ages! Yay for catching up with people!
4. Car problems that have generally been less frequent and less expensive than last year. (although there must be something about this time of year and our cars, because we're totally having issues again. at least they've been minor this time!!!)
5. Five months of no rent - I can almost forgive the fire for being on my birthday. :-P
6. Book club. Even though I still feel like the kid sister they let tag along (which is totally from my own inferiority complex, not anything even remotely related to anyone there!) it's kind of really fantabulous. I look forward to it every month.
7. Mythbusters. I've been streaming it on Netflix for the last couple of months whilst working on a Christmas project. I may be nearly through Collection 6 . . . but of course no self-respecting mature adult would admit to something like that, so I'll just leave it hazy. :-) But if anyone can hook me up with a chicken gun, you will be my hero FOR. EV. ER. On a slightly related note . . .
8. That feeling of accomplishment you get when you finish something. Like I said, I've been working on this great Christmas project for the last two months, and I finally finished it this week, which is great because I was starting to worry that I wouldn't finish in time. I'm not saying anymore here because you're not supposed to tell people what they're getting for Christmas (unless it's you telling me, lol), but if people are interested I'll post pictures after Christmas.
9. Slightly related again - having projects to do, especially for other people. I totally need to get some baby bibs to cross-stitch for a few people. In fact, I should probably just get a buttload and get ahead of myself since that's what I want to be my go-to baby shower gift from here on out . . . if possible, anyway.
10. Blog comments. It's utterly ridiculous, but I get the HUGEST self-esteem boost whenever I see I have another one. And don't even get me started on how I feel when a post hits double digits . . . :-) You guys rock!! I love you all!!
And there you have it. May your tryptophan comas be pleasant, and may you not be trampled to death if you go shopping tomorrow. Also, since I'm not feeling creative enough to top myself , allow me to just remind you that I can be so clever sometimes. :-) And I'm counting down the minutes until this applies again tomorrow.
P. ost S. cript Have you seen this?!?! SOOOOOOOOO awesome!!!! Betty White is so last year. ;-) Cookie Monster for President!! I'm voting for the Cookie Monster/Grover ticket in 2012!
I'm kinda psyched. Come February I will be sick of it, and probably complain about all the obnoxious snow quite often, but right now it's pretty much the best thing ever.
And . . . that is all.
(side note: I finally went ahead and made that glossary. Have fun!)
P. ost S. cript I'm sure you're all expecting something snow related, but Luke showed me this one this morning and, well, you can't go wrong with a pile of purring kittens. And holy crap, I'm still laughing over the halfway point! Too cute!!!!
So I'm not really one to blog in response to big news stories . . . as you may have noticed. But I kind of couldn't resist this week.
As you may have also noticed via my facebook status, I'm a little brokenhearted over this whole Prince William getting officially engaged thing. Which, yes, is kind of silly for a lot of reasons. Among them being the fact that he's been unofficially engaged for, what, ten years now? Dude, does anyone else see a ridiculous sitcom premise in that sentence? Seriously.
Anyway. Back in the day when I was just discovering that Holy Crap! Boys Are Cute! just happened to correspond with the time that Prince William was making the cover of Tiger Beat, like, every day. And when it came to cute boys . . . holy crap, that boy was cute!!! In fact, I think he was probably my first celebrity crush. And since my daydreams have always tended to be ridiculously over the top - well, I had some highly enjoyable silly little fantasies. We would meet skiing in the Alps (where my family suddenly acquired the money for me to go skiing in the Alps solo was always rather vague) and ultimately that lead to Prince William abdicating his throne to marry me. Which is kind of interesting, because I'm tolerably certain I didn't know the word "abdicate" at the time, although I was clearly familiar with the concept. Weird. And then I would spend much more time than would be healthy to admit envisioning the wedding, which would still be elaborately over the top even though His Royal Highness was marrying some random lowly American commoner.
Confession: it's probably pretty obvious, but I've always had this crazy obsession with princesses. And brides. I'm a sucker for any story about either . . . and yes, The Princess Bride ranks very highly on my list of best movies of all time. This whole "internet" thing? Has been pretty awesome because I'm always discovering stories about celebrity weddings or wedding planning - which, yes, I still read. I've been reading them since long before I thought I was going to be getting married shortly after high school, so why on earth should I stop now? Part of it is the look - the gorgeous dresses, the tiaras, the fact that it's pretty much impossible to not be pretty if you're either princess or bride. That part probably comes from hearing that I wasn't pretty a lot when I was growing up. Also - if I see a friend-of-a-friend on facebook with a wedding/bridal picture as their profile picture, I have to look at their profile in the hopes that they don't have privacy settings as strict as mine and I can look at their wedding pictures. Yep, wedding pictures of people I don't know. Because I love looking at any wedding pictures. Long story short, this summer was quite the jackpot.
But I also love the idea of being a princess. When I was younger all that meant was wearing the pretty dresses and having charming princes rescue you, but as I've gotten older I become more fascinated the more I learn about real princesses. I think that's one of the reasons I love historical European fiction - sure, these women are princesses and duchesses and whatever, but they're being used as political pawns . . . and then there are the ones who are strong enough to take control of their own destinies. I know, it sounds sooooooooo corny - but I love it. I'm an absolute sucker for it. Pulls me in every time. I've wanted to be a princess ever since forever. I'm pretty sure a big part of the reason I've always been in love with Han Solo (other than the fact that Harrison Ford is HOT!) is because I've wanted to be Leia ever since the first time I saw Star Wars when I was six. Naturally I auditioned to be a princess (well, the audition was for the sadly more generic "character performer," but Aurora was my ultimate dream/goal) while I was at Disney, but dead height does not get any deader than me. Let me tell you, that was depressing. (on the other hand, if I had gotten in, I wouldn't have met Luke . . . and we can all see where that thought is going . . . )
Part of my . . . wake-up call, I guess . . . to the reality of real-world princesses actually came about the same time I was falling in love with Prince William. It was 1997 (go ahead, search your memories . . . or wikipedia, lol) and I was just starting to actually pay attention to the news, even though I didn't understand most of what they were talking about. It seemed like Princess Diana was always in the news, first for all the charity work she was doing, and then of course . . . such a horrible car crash. It was really jarring for me - I'd sort of started looking to her as a role model, and then she was suddenly gone, and at the time I'd never been to a funeral or anything, so that was pretty much the most personal experience I'd had with death to that point. Crazily enough (timing wise) there was a back-to-school sleepover already planned as a YW activity that just happened to be on the right night. I was one of the very few who stayed up all night to watch her funeral. Which made an interesting contrast to my mom talking about watching her wedding all those years before. If I remember correctly she didn't watch it herself, but she was working at the United Way at the time, and the chapter in Puyallup was sponsored by the local Catholic church (or however that works) and all the nuns watched and talked about it for ages before and after. And I can't say I blame them . . . I mean, holy amazingly gorgeous dress, Batman!! Not to mention that she really was one of the most beautiful women ever. Yeah, suffice it to say my princess obsession was only increased that year.
I wouldn't say I've followed Prince William's life closely since then . . . but like I said, any story with "prince" or "princess" in the headline is definitely going to be clicked on. How's this for crazy - I even stumbled across a slide show of several princess' engagements rings . . . last week! And can I just say - Diana's/Kate's is BEAUTIFUL!!!!! I would love a replica . . . a totally fake replica, of course. I don't imagine that a diamond-surrounded EIGHTEEN FREAKING CARAT sapphire will be in our price range any time soon. And by any time soon I mean . . . ever. On the other hand, I can't imagine wearing something so massive. My ring is only a quarter of a carat, and it still amazes me sometimes how big it is! Not to mention all the times I've scraped Luke with it . . . completely unintentionally of course . . . but I swear one of these days it's going to draw blood.
I would be so intimidated to wear the real one if I were Kate Middleton though. Heck, I'm too intimidated to wear Luke's grandmother's ring. I'm honestly still overwhelmed by the fact that it's sitting in my jewelry box right now. It turned out Luke's dad had been saving it for Luke's fiancee for forever, so the day after we told his parents we were engaged he pulled it out and over-nighted it to Florida. Yeah, there are no words to say how glad I am that I didn't know about that until it was already there! But it was so unfathomable to me - giving a precious family heirloom to someone they'd never met. (Oh yeah, did I mention we'd been engaged for a month before we met each other's parents?) I couldn't help but be certain that as soon as they met me Luke's dad would want the ring back - not because his parents aren't awesome, because they are the greatest. Just because I have that much of an inferiority complex. But it's an absolutely lovely ring. I wear it sometimes, but we decided we're going to give it to our oldest daughter (assuming we have one, of course). I feel like she deserves it more than I do. Being, you know, actually related to its original owner and all.
So . . . yeah. I'm totally going to watch the royal wedding next year. And I'm totally glad that it'll probably be during the summer so there won't be any major repercussions from getting up super early . . . or, more likely, staying up all night to watch. However, for those of you who are now convinced that I'm absolutely nuts - never fear. I shall not be watching dressed like Marguerite from Ever After ( a picture of which I cannot find for the life of me . . . but obviously I'm referring to the wedding scene where she's wearing so much mourning-type clothing one would think she'd just been widowed). And I definitely will not be buying the commemorative plate.
P. ost S. cript If anyone could swerve my allegiance from Prince William, it would definitely be . . . PERRY THE PLATYPUS!!!!! Who's theme song I totally have as a ringtone. (Ashli . . . you should call me more often. It's your ringtone.)
So last week was the three year anniversary of mine and Luke's first date. We like to keep track of the little things. :-) And I actually intended to post this last week, but, well, life happens. Anyway.
Before everyone tunes out, no, this is not the story of our first date. Although we both agree that we really out to write down the details somewhere before we forget them, I'm not really one to get particularly mushy-gushy on the blog-o-sphere so . . . yeah. Not happening. However, today's story (brought to you by the letters L and L and the number 3) 1~ is slightly related. 2~ is (I think) an amusing enough diversion for a small chunk of time for those who don't know it, and 3~ will likely be a pleasantly traumatizing walk down memory lane for those who do know it. Traumatizingly pleasant perhaps? One of the two.
So. Luke and I met, as I'm pretty sure everyone knows by now, in Florida. Whilst working at Disney World. And it was grand. (No, really, it was . . . most days . . . ) Now it just so happened that by sheer coincidence that first date took place at an exceedingly frightening, nay, terrifying time of year. What was it, you ask? It was -
Super Soap Weekend
*insert freaky screechy music here*
At this point you, the reader, have had one of two reactions. 1) Cringing in terror and repressed memories. 2) Asking "what the crap is Super Soap Weekend?"
For group number 2: Super Soap Weekend (hereafter SSW) is . . . well, was one weekend every September when bunches of stars from ABC soap operas descended on Disney World (specifically, the Studios . . . where we worked) to meet the fans, sign some autographs, take pictures, and basically film a bunch of promos for WDW. There are Q&A sessions and motorcades and Mickey and Minnie have special costumes, and it's not all that unlike SWW (Star Wars Weekends . . . I really ought to just make that glossary already!)
Sounds harmless, right? And SWW are pretty harmless. Sure, it's safe to assume everyone you see is some level of Star Wars geek (and before you mock, just remember those are my people you're talking about!) but nobody's really expecting Mace Windu to go home with them. Well, except perhaps Linda Skywalker. But she is a crazy story for another day.
However, back to the main story. When it comes to SSW . . . well, this is where the crazies come out. And it is not pretty.
For starters, Disney has these things they call ECVs. It stands for something unendingly clever and explanatory that I've forgotten, but never fear, once Eric comments he'll cement his know-it-all status by ending the suspense for all of us. :-) (you know I love ya Eric, right?) Anyway, it's a massive, bulky, ugly motorized chair, much like the ones you see at Walmart. Bet you can see where this is going - think of the average person you see using them at Walmart. Yep. While there are plenty of people who use them at Disney because they need them - Grandma got one when she came to visit . . . I think she might have still been wearing that boot thing - the majority of the people who get them . . . how do I put this politely . . . oh, I know! Most of the people you see in ECVs mowing people down all throughout WDW epitomize the reason one of my roommates managers referred to them as "manatee movers." A term I came to love almost as much as touron, believe you me!
'Kay, so now you've got a picture in your head of who's riding in these things, now get this - each park is well supplied with their own stock of manatee movers. Pretty much the only time they might run out is around Christmas. But for SSW, all three of the other parks ship a good chunk (I've heard up to half) of their inventory to the Studios because otherwise there won't be enough. In fact, they might still run out! The horror! The horror!
And to say these are rabid soap fans does not begin to describe it. As one of my favorite trainers put it, these are women who've scarcely moved off their couch for decades because they've been glued to the TV watching these soaps. (well that explains why they're spilling over both sides of those things!) And yet, somehow they're convinced that when they come down here and finally meet their darling Quinn VanderSnodgrassEnHofferMan (because that's who it is . . . these shows are real life, and those people are not actors!) he is going to be just so taken with her that he will follow her home and be her willing love slave forever and ever and ever.
I know, you think I'm joking. I only wish I was. Fact: physical fights have broken out over spots in line to get a ticket to stand in another line - a "standby" line in which one may or may not get fifteen seconds of face time with soap star X, a pre-signed (i.e. pre-stamped) photo, and if you're really lucky a hastily taken picture of the lucky ticket holder and soap star X. Security has to be called for these women who are contemporaries of my mother and grandmothers!! How crazy is that?!?!
And the lines - oy! They start lining up at the front gate of the park at, like, 4:00 in the morning - and that's only because Disney won't let them camp out over night! Can I just say, that much devotion to a TELEVISION SHOW and, more importantly, that much disconnect from reality is, quite frankly, terrifying.
But to add to all that craziness, they actually shut down Backlot to use the area for autographs for the weekend. (they meaning the park execs, not the crazed, delusional fans. And, well, it's not like anybody goes on that ride anymore anyway.) And they make the Backlot cast do crowd control for the autograph lines. This would be the time of year that I was always most thankful that I was trained at the playground and LMA so I could wouldn't have to touch that job with a thirty-nine-and-a-half foot pole. Of course, that didn't always work. You see, at the playground they wear these horribly ugly yellow shirts. And since there's only a handful of people wearing them for the playground on any given day, whenever there's any sort of event going on, that's what the event people wear too. Which can only lead to trouble.
Here's the scene: November, 2006. My friend (Mike) and I have only been working at Disney for about two and a half months. I was lucky enough to be off, but Mike had to work . . . at the playground. In the yellow shirt. That everyone else is wearing that day. The people keeping you (yes, you!) away from your one true soul mate Quinn VanderSnodgrassEnHofferMan, or perhaps his evil twin. Or even more evil triplet. Anyway, as Mike tells it, this crazy lady was talking to him, when she suddenly puts two and two together - people wearing yellow shirts can walk right up to any of these stars they want. She needs a yellow shirt! So, naturally, she demands that Mike gives her his shirt. He laughs it off . . . one of those "heh, heh, you're crazy so I'm not going to make any sudden movements" type laughs and says no. She comes at him all, "give me your shirt!" He's backing up, still kind of thinking she's joking . . . until she has two buttons undone and is going for more. Yeah, she was totally going to physically take his shirt away in order to get close to all the soap stars. To this day I find this story ridiculously frightening . . . but I still crack up every time. That's just kind of how it is. People come into the break room saying "you will not believe what just happened out there!" And you listen to the story, and you're completely shocked and horrified and glad it wasn't you . . . and half an hour later everyone, including the storyteller, is cracking up and dramatically reenacting the whole scene every time someone new comes in. Good times.
Hands down best story, though - and this is another that still makes me laugh every time. My friend (Mary), in either '06 or '07 got the assignment of being an escort for Susan Lucci. Now for those who don't know (which, I hope, is everyone but Eric and Ian and Kayla) Susan Lucci is kind of a big deal. She's been on whatever show she's on since, like, before I was born. And apparently she's kind of a diva, at least during SSW. She has to ride with Mickey in the motorcade, and she has to have this spot for autographs, and blah, blah, blah, whatever. So anyway. Mary's in the bathroom, washing her hands. Chatting with some random CM (cast member . . . so doing that glossary) who's also working SSW. Just random stuff, what their assignments are, how it's going, whatever. Mary mentions she's with Susan Lucci. Other chick asks her how that's going. Among other things Mary says, "she's a lot more wrinkly in person than she looks like on TV." (I'm sure you can all see where this is going.) Toilet flushes. Door opens. And out comes . . . yep, Susan Lucci. Awkward!!! Mary says she felt kind of dumb, but she was laughing about it by a day or two later. Good times, kids, good times.
Of course, SSW 2008 was the last time they held it at WDW . . . I think they finally came to their sense about having all these crazy old ladies invading every year. So now it's held in a new city every year. I think. That was the plan, but it might have just died out or something. I really don't know. But coming full circle, our first date was the Saturday of SSW 2007. Needless to say we stayed far away from the Studios. Well, sort of. We went to Japan . . . in Epcot. And it was awesome.
The end.
P. ost S. cript Holy crap, people actually watch these shows? And think they're realistic? That is not a positive commentary on the state of humanity. That said . . . kinda funny . . . as in laughing-at-how-obviously-painful-to-spit-out-these-lines it is for the actors. :-)
So I misplaced my phone the other day. No big deal, I do it . . . well, not all the time . . . but often enough. Luke loses his more often, and I'm always calling it with mine to locate it, so whilst I was looking for mine I just thought, "well, I'll just call it . . . wait . . . blargh . . . " And before you ask, no, it was not in my hand. Or my pocket. And yes, I've done that too.
Ultimately I found it - and right where I left it too, who would have thought? :-) But while I was looking I felt so completely isolated. Not only could I not reach anyone by phone, even if I'd had one other than mine I wouldn't have known how to reach anyone. How did this happen?
I remember when I was little it was a really big deal for a little kid to know his or her phone number. And it was a major achievement when you could finally recite it. And since you had to push each individual number's button, if you called someone a lot you would probably memorize that number too.
I don't know anyone's numbers now. Well, that's not quite entirely true. I remember our phone number from when we lived in Idaho Falls . . . of course, we moved twelve years ago. My dad's had a cell phone since pretty much forever. He never had the Zack Morris phone, but he did have the next generation, which was still quite a brick. (side note: OH MY HOLY MUST HAVE!) I remember that number too. It changed at least ten years ago. But I still know it.
What other phone numbers could I call without my cell phone? I could call my parent's house. Of course, that phone hasn't been answered since around the time I graduated from college . . . possibly before that. I'm not even sure why they still have the land line. They only give that number to people they don't actually want to talk to these days.
The one bright spot is that dad's current cell number has been the same since I was in high school. And since I didn't get my cell until I was a junior in college, I do have that one down. So there is a grand total of one number that I could call if I really needed to get a hold of someone. Here's hoping I never find myself in a situation where I need to reach anyone else super quickly, right?
But now I'm curious. What do people do when they actually lose their phones? How do you tell people? (and by that I mean, obviously, people who aren't on facebook, lol) How do you recover all the numbers from your contact list (again, the ones of people not on facebook)? Back in the day phone books were, you know, separate from phones, but now when you lose one you've lost both. Ummmm . . . can we say craptacular?
And what about the little kids? Are they having to learn the individual numbers for mom/dad/nanny/babysitter/grandparents/older siblings/insert random caregiver child sees twice a year here? Talk about an accomplishment! Especially since none of these adults have to memorize any of those numbers - they just look for the name in their phones and push the little green button. Not fair!
I suppose this is the part where I should have some sort of witty conclusion or something. But . . . yeah. I gots nothin'. So this lovely little installment of What Goes on in Lacey's Head ends . . . wait for it . . . here. The end.
P. ost S. cript Great merciful crap, did you see this?!?! CRAZY!!!!!
We went to Yellowstone a lot when I was a kid. Like, all the time. Three or four times a summer, almost every year (although not in '88, of course). And if I remember correctly from my little bit of education in volcanology gleaned from those trips, geysers and volcanoes work more or less like this -
Lots of hot liquid under the surface of the earth. Gathers and gathers, and builds up pressure so there's more and more and more and more until finally . . . KA-BOOM!!!
-OR-
There's a little bit of a crack somewhere, a vent. And this lets steam out and eases the pressure underground and you don't have eruptions as often or as intense, if at all. This explains the difference between a big hole with steam pouring out that you'll see all over the place and the likes of Old Faithful and RiversideGeyser (that one's really cool to see erupt!).
Anyway. This is just a roundabout way for me to say that I am REALLY in the mood to just erupt and give everyone a nice little bit of shouldn't-watch-but-can't-look-away style entertainment . . . but that's just not an intelligent move right now. So instead I'm going to just vent a little bit, and if you find yourself intrigued you can rest assured that the whole story is going to come bursting out onto my blog as soon as it's more practical. Because . . . GAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
But anyway. Luke and I have found ourselves in a very . . . unpleasant situation. One that involves a power-tripping, hungry-for-more-power, control freak. Just that much might be tolerable, if said person was not also regularly proving themself incompetent. (yes, I know themself is not a word. I'm using it anyway to keep it vague.)
It started off very subtly, to the point that we wrote it off and I've been second guessing myself for the better part of this year. But now it's becoming too much, and we've decided we have to do something about it. There's no instant fix - in fact, it's going to take some time simply because of what the circumstances are. And I am dreading the process. Absolutely do not want to do it, even though it really has become necessary, and I rather resent the fact that it has become so.
Right now, I am really, really angry at the whole thing. I know I shouldn't be, I should be all zen and mellow or whatever and let it go, but . . . this is just so not right. I know I'll let go of the anger eventually, but I'm not deluding myself by thinking it'll anytime in the next decade. (okay, that's a bit of an exaggeration) And I'm pretty sure that if I can just blog-vent it all out once everything is over I'll even be able to get on with things without any bitterness. But when you're in the middle of things it's kind of hard to take the long-term view of them, you know? Suffice it to say I'm taking a lot of deep breaths in order to keep from screaming.
So . . . yeah. That's all I've got for ya today. Kind of a downer, and if anyone actually figures out what I'm talking about then you, my friend, have got to be psychic or something. And I offer you major props - but you already knew that, didn't you? ;-) I guarantee there will be a follow-up, but it will probably come long after everyone has forgotten all about what you read today. Don't worry, I'll warn you at the beginning. Because it will be a post likely of record-breaking length (for me at least) and chock full of negativity . . . here's hoping it all comes out in the blog!
And can I just say, where would people be if there weren't therapeutic things to do like writing or painting or whatever? I feel kinda sorry for non-creative people. I mean, even if what you create isn't very good at least you're channeling all that energy into something that's not destructive.
Also - if you're reading this, you don't have to worry. It's not you. I totally heart you all.
P. ost S. cript Sorry to be such a downer. I (literally) just got rickrolled by Pandora, which actually boosted my mood instantly. So here's my attempt at counterbalancing what you just read. I dare you to watch the whole thing without smiling.
I'm not usually a fan of remakes, but this is one I could totally get behind.
