Mmmmmmneh. Yesterday was exhausting. Buck and I got up at 6 (well, I got up at five by mistake...) To go to Grand Rapids. We were about an hour late for out first appointment, which would have been only 30 minutes late had we not gone to the wrong place because of a misunderstanding of sorts. We went to the adress of the apartments, but apparently their leasing office is at a different apartment community that they also own. So we drove there, and drove past it by accident because of another small misunderstanding. It turned out well enough, though. We ended up with a two-fer, seeing two properties for the price (wait what price?) of one. The Burton Ridge and Eastland apartments. They were nice. Clean, quiet, well within our price range. And the Leasing agent, Holly; OMG. I think she takes E with a double shot of espresso. SO BUBBLY, OMG. She was pretty fun, and she was basically a huge selling point.

The second place we looked at, Beckwith, was also nice. I guess. When we got there, (LOL 90 minutes late) The lady just handed us a set of keys and was like "It's across the street there, number ten." Meanin we showed ourselves the property. Impersonal, maybe? Sheesh. We looked around anyway, though. It was the same size as Eastland/Burton Ridge, and about $30-50 more per month, with the same included utilities. Which wasn't really exciting us too much, along with the lack-a-daisy service. I mean, how can we get to that after being with Holly? But! Beckwith had some really good selling points (which of course we had to discover for ourselves): There was no pet fee, whereas with Eastland, there was a $300 non-refundable fee and an extra $30 a month for pets. Steep. And Beckwith came with two full baths, unlike Eastland, with the most we could get being 1.5 baths. And the amenities at Beckwith were pretty sweet. We get a storage unit and free parking. And we talked to a guy who lives there, and he had nothing but praise for the place and the area (and more that a little snubbing for another place nearby).

So. Beckwith seems to be the better place. Holly really sold us on her places, though. If Beckwith had been a little more involved, I'd probably feel better about liking it more than Holly's places. Well, I guess there will be more apartments to look at in the future, though, so another one may catch our eye.

Oh, and if we go with Beckwith, we will be living on a street called DEWBERRY. I'm not sure if this is a pro or a con.

Ahhh. WeBuck drove SO MUCH... Especially since we kept going the wrong way and had to turn around at like every place we were trying to get to. I don't know if we're bad with directions or just had bad directions. (DAMN YOU GOOGLE MAPS. there were at least two definite times it gave us the wrong directions.) We went to a Goodwill, and it was the weirdest place ever. It was a huge place, with bins in the middle full of clothes-like things and various bric-a-brac. Just a random free-for-all of gross stuff that nobody really wanted for ten cents a pound. I felt like we were at a farmer's market.

Buck- "Dude! These are clothes; not BANANAS. Clothes don't come by the pound!!"

Effort FAIL. Buck is pissed at the place. It took us forever to find, and then there was just nothing. But it's okay, we're going to the Salvation army today, so Nyeh.

And we ate at Old Country buffet before we left, because we had decided that's where we wanted to eat long before we even got to GR. I ate so much a lot, man. So much a lot. I'm not sure why; I was just like "I want this. I want this too. This too!!! OMG RIBS!"

And the rest, as they say, is history.





DEWBERRY.

Mom came over saturday, which I unexpectedly had off... I was sort of planning on inviting her over, but she ended up calling me first.

So she brought me socks and a Hello Kitty tote bag this time. And she talked at length about past relationships of hers, with my brother's father and my father and stepfather. She mentioned how people make a big fuss about how neither my brother or I have children, and how she's not all crazy I-gotta-get-me-a-man when she's gonna be 60 next month. I told her it's because, as a person, she is on the top of a mountain, and everyone else is hanging around below her and wants to know how she got up there. It's true, too. My mom is basically a success as a person, considering the options she could have taken in life. The whole conversation was just a little scarring (like all mom convos, amirite?) but overall? Pleasant.

So I was wrestling with the thought of telling her I was going to move to Grand Rapids. I do like I always do when I have news to break to anyone: I start weighing my options and make assumptions on how they will react, so I can prepare and adjust my responses accordingly. I wasn't quite prepared, though; because after I said "I was thinking about moving to Grand Rapids", it got a little bizarre...

Her- "What happened?"
Me- "What? Nothing."
Her- "Something happened."
Me- "No, nothing happened. That's just it: nothing good is happening. I hate my job and I hate this dead city."
Her- "Oh."

Aaaaand silence.

Aaaaand more silence.

This is her reaction: lean back on the couch and say nothing. Which is to say she's quite upset.

Her- (after five whole minutes have gone by...) "I don't know what to do with you and your brother." *shakes head*
Me- "Oh come on-"
Her- "Y'all just want to up and leave your dear old mom all alone."
Me- *sputters helplessly*
Her- -___-
Me- "Mom, do you seriously want me to stay in this rotting city, at a dead-end kitchen job for the rest of my life?"
Her- "No! I want you to spread your wings and see the world-"
(HA! I got her now) Me- "That's what I'm trying to do! I'm seeing the world!"

Victory: Me. I hate that I had to go about it that way (no I don't.), but hey. I'd already made up my mind to leave, and I wasn't about to let her guilt me into staying. (which I really doubt she'd do anyway.)

So like ShortStack said, we're going to GR saturday to look at some places in person. I've got my work cut out for me, because I'm like a whole cycle behind on my bills, which is absolutely rediculous for me. This means I have to pay everything this week. Like, everything at once. That's like $500, and my check is usually $650-$700. Oh, wait, I totally landed some exta hours this pay period for Halloween stuff, so maybe I'll see closer to $800? Oh, that would be just fantastic.

Saturday wasn't a total downer; BeksBacon came over, and we ate Chinese food and watched "Yes Man", another one of Jim Carrey's more underrated films, hence my subject title. (Well, maybe not totally because of the movie, question mark) Sunday and monday (and today) kind of flew by, as they tend to do when payday is at it's nearest.

Speaking of awsome things being near, the Leonoid Meteor Shower! I wonder if I'll be able to see it; the city is so friggin' bright. Light pollution. I tried to look last night, but no dice. Maybe I need to go out to the Lodge overpass (although that's much to close to Amy's place for my liking... I mean seriously! She doesn't call, despite saying we should be friends and saying she still thinks about me. What the fuck, man?! Am I just not even worth the effort? Huh?! Because I'm getting pretty damn tired of being the one to extend the olive branch. I'm about ready to smack her in the face with it instead.)

Whoa, where'd all that come from? Deary me! Look at my wrist, I must be going.

Well, I'd probably leave work and punch Adriana square in the face, moon the whole kitchen, and kick Ms. Leigh in the shins on my way out.

Assuming I slip past security and get out after that, I'd go stand on a tall building, like the parking structure, and just look over the city for a couple hours. Get my thoughts in order. Then, I would call everyone on my phone. And if they didn't answer, I'd leave them a message saying "AW BOO, YOU WHORE."

After my mind was set, I'd go buy up some food like pizza, fried chicken, brownies; anything rich and delicious. I'd snack away as I walked through downtown, looking at all the pretty lights. Sometime, I'd have to come here and leave the big bag of Meow Mix open where Pie can get to it, and leave the bath tub faucet dripping so she won't die before someone finds out what happened.

I'll bet my last stop would be Commonwealth and Alexandrine, where I could see Amy's apartment. I don't think I'd go up to the door though. It would make me sad, and afraid to face the end that was coming. But I'd just want to see if the light was on.

I don't think I'd be hungry for the last moment. But if for some reason I was, I'd have a SUPER Breakfast spread: waffles, fried eggs, strawberries, donuts... And I would also have ribs, ham, spaghetti, every kind of sushi I've never tried; and I would sit in a rediculously oversized armchair and be dressed in lush, regal attire. I would want to see the sky change over to morning from someplace warm as I wonder what the afterlife is like or if there IS one, and... go. I don't really care about my junk; someone would find Pie and divy up my crap.

Woke up in a mood this morning. I was like "omg it's someone's birthday- OH SNAP. It's Crystal's birthday..." So yeah. It's so sad that I hold on to stuff like this, but I started to remember all the things that happened that week and how horrible I felt. There was the whole Amy thing, then I was sent home from work the next day, got drunk that night (lol barely), had Crystal kick me out and stop talking to me the day after that, then my mom got mad at me and stopped talking to me for a while... that was the worst five days of my life.

So when my alarm went off this morning, and the radio station I listen to was all static and garble (which annoyingly happens every blue moon because I live downtown >:\ ), it really set the tone for today.

That tone being "SHIT today's gonna suck so just go back to bed."

You have GOT to be shitting me here.

I just spent seven hours at work yesterday, on my day off, trying to decorate a haunted house with next-to-nothing in useable props. Susan went out and bought a bunch of yard shit to put up. WE'RE INDOORS. I don't have any dirt to stick this stuff in! So I had to hang what wasn't to heavy from the ceiling. And I made a big gave to walk through. It's made of boxes and covered with plastic tablecloth. And it's held together with tape, staples, and gypsy tears. I hung spiderwebs and bones inside, threw in some screaming props that will shreik if you step on them, and taped that fucker together from nothing, BY MYSELF. My manager, Lisa, and Janae, Jenny, and Tonda hung black over all the windows and walls before they left for home. Jenny came in later and helped me with some ideas for the cave, and cut up a few boxes. They actually HELPED, albeit for not nearly enough time. After five, I was alone. I had to do everything myself, while keeping the nosy ass night crew out. So at NINE THIRTY, I left a note with trivia questions someone could type up, since the kitchen was long-since closed and I couldn't get in to do it myself. I left a few notes, saying what was where and such. This should have gone off without a hitch. No. Instead, they had been calling me all morning (which I didn't know, since I left my phone in my room so I could do laundry and fucking SLEEP since my period decided to show up as soon as I got there yesterday, no less than 5 days early) all like "OMG LIZ WHERE U AT WE HAFTA FINISH OMG YOU HAVE TO DO THIS"


Dude. What.

Why? Why do I have to do goddamn everything?! Why does it always fall to me to pull a pile of awesome out of my ass???! FOR FREE?! No one's paying me for this! Yesterday was my goddamn day off. Meaning I could have told them all to go suck a cock and leave me the fuck alone. But no, I had to help, because I knew that if I didn't there just wouldn't be anything at all. And this is about the kids. So. Now they are saying that they thought I was coming in early to run the goddamn thing. That just wasn't in the plans at all. No one said that. I was supposed to be working this morning anyway! How could I be running the thing if I was working the register?!

I am raging right now so fucking hard.

My landlady, Sandy, was fired a couple weeks ago. I was sad, because Sandy, while a major space cadet, was super-cool. She has a band called Velveteen Rabbit and they wear elaborate eveningwear. Their music is very nice and smooth, too.

Crazy Larry downstairs had me convinced that the new Manager would be a complete tightwad because they guy who owns the building, Doug, is an asshole (apparently; I've never met the guy, but he does sound mean for the way he went about firing Sandy.).

The new manager's name is Ron, and... He's kind of awesome. All he does is go around the building fixing and cleaning stuff. The first day he was here, he cleaned all the windows! I was walking down the stairs and the sun just... HIT me. I've been living here over a year now, and I've never seen those windows clean. When I went to pay my rent earlier this month, he told me "They pay me, quite handsomely I might add, to take care of this building! So that's what I'm going to do."

Today, I was doing laundry, and saw him come into the laundry room to wash what looked like white paint off his forearms. I mentioned that my lock had been twisting around and givving me problems, and he assured me he'd be by to fix it. Half hour later? My lock is fixed. The handful of times I've seen and talked to this guy, he's doing something to better our building: fixing things that have gone unrepaired, replacing lightbulbs on our rediculously high ceilings, cleaning out the junk room downstairs...

Yeah, this guy is awesome.

I was just noticing; it's already the ides of October... Where did the time go? And it's gotten so COLD out so quickly. Summer seems like months ago. Everything seems like it happened so very long ago. Almost like it happened to someone else. Weird?

Hm, whatever. Time is moving as it always does. It's individual perception that makes the real difference. My days seem so long probably because I sleep so much and still get up pretty early. My days get filled with everything from the marvelous to the mundane.

I don't mind getting up to go to work nearly as much as other people my age. I go to a crap-job and earn a nice chunk of greenbacks to turn the time I'm outside of the crap-job into something more pleasant. I think I'm doing a good job; I won't be sure until I'm many years older.

I partied SO HEARTY this weekend. Twenty-five though; it practically demands copius amounts of awesome, amirite?

So Friday. Had to work first thing in the morning. For my birthday BAWWWW A coworker, Serena got me a balloon with a cupcake on it, because I was wearing cupcake earrings. AMAZING LULz ensued. Another coworker, Lisa, gave me a card with $5 in it. Now, I'm not some 8-year-old kid having a birthday here; I'm 25.

Still, I fucking geeked out. A balloon? DUDE. A BALLOON. :DDDD OMGYAY! And five whole dollars? From one person? That's a free lunch! My other coworkers, while wishing me a happy birthday and encouraging various debauchery, were somehow puzzled that I was so absolutely thrilled with a balloon and five dollars. They are apparently too selfish to be able to appreciate a GIFT when they get one, let alone two. I will remember this when their birthdays roll around. >:l

So after work, i wanted to take a nap, beccause I was effing tired. But of course that didn't happen. What was I thinking? LOLOL, a nap. Honestly. Anyway, what ended up happening was me taking a shower, trying on no less than 8 (yes, 8) different outfits, and texting Beks about how Takima totally said she'd do my hair again BUT NEVER CALLED OR SHOWED UP WHAT THE FUCK. Beks came over so we could pick up our awesome cake, and Buck came over too! We got the cake and some girly booze, and proceeded to Beks' place for some good ol' pinata bashing!

Yes, we had a pinata.

It was just the three of us celebrating Beks' and my birthday, and it was such a crazy time. Got a niiiice buzz too. Lots of candy and cake and margarita and rum island... And I was finished. When I finally got home with all my swag, I couldn't even manage to put my pjs all the way on before I was OUT.

And then Saturday, I woke up at exactly eight am. Whut. Maybe I was excited, because Mom totally was taking me to GET A BRAND NEW LAPTOP FOR MY BDAYYYYY. It's awesome, you guys. An Acer Aspire. The two of us meandered for other things while at the Walmart, and we went to her house to put away her things and put in her new DVD/VCR. Then she came over here and had me trim her nails before she went home to crash. And as much as I would have loved to do the same, it was already after 1 and I was expecting company. Namely Alex and Mike for slumber party madness. Now, I'm no clean-freak. But when I'm having company, my eyes get a visitor-filter (no doubt inherited from dear Mum) and everything looks completely trashed and OMG I have to clean up right now. So... Yeah. Cleaned the bathroom, which took a really long time for some reason. Probably because I was so tired that I kept knocking shit over and having to backtrack and clean that up. I got all the trash together and found the spare towels. I also could no longer stand the excitement, so I set up the laptop. I named it Masterball, thanks to Liz's awesome suggestion.

It's important to mention here that I invited Liz to the shenanigans, but she assured me days ago that she would not be able to make it by any stretch, due to her sister visiting with her new neice and various grad assistant duties she could not possibly shake. AND we talked on the pphone for a bit before she excused herself to attend to said duties. I felt bad for Liz, working so hard.

Which is why it was so AMAZINGLY MIND BLOWING when Alex called to inform me of her arrival and I went to open the gate and IT WAS TOTALLY LIZ. DUDE. LIZROLLED!!! I was not even ready! I just lost my shit! Best suprise ever. Alex and Mike showed up later, and we basked in the glory of the Masterball before going to swoop the Buck. Buck is staying with me till tomorrow so she can work the early shift, since she is currently without transport. We all went to Five Guys birgers and fries for dinner, and had a great great greatgreatgreat time hanging out.

Alex, Mike, Beks and I went to the Holly RenFair sunday (and I GOT TO SEE CHRISTINE OMG ♥) and it was very cilly, and rained off and on. It was really fun, though! I'd never been to the official fair. And I got to see how SHIT SON expensive stuff is there. And it was the last day, so stuff was cheaper, and still too expensive. I got one of those head-wreaths with ribbons down the back. It's so pretty. I also got my legs nice and mud-splattered. OH! And before we left, Beks and I got in the long line for turkey drumsticks. She got one, and then I got one for Buck and one for myself. As the guy is wrapping my meat, I hear the cooks and the other clerk discussing the remaining amount of legs, or rather the lack thereof. That's right; I got the LAST TWO. There was a HUGE line behind me, and so I head over to the gang, but didn't stop walking while I murmured to them "OkayguyswegottagoIgotthelastdrumsticksMOVE." It was hilarious.

We all went our separate ways after fair, and I went to the Biggby coffee to wait for Buck to get out so I could walk with her. We came here, ate those giant turkey legs, and went to sleep.

What a great weekend...

I wish I could say I didn't miss her through all this, but whatever. I'll go have some cake.

There's been so much to say here, and I can't manage to say anything at all. Like, I visited Liz two weeks ago and nearly ate myself into a coma. My favorite manager at work got blamed for our lousy sales and thus was fired this past tuesday. I found out what my mom wants to get me for my birthday: a laptop. And speaking of my birthday, graigh_dochas and I are having a birthday party (hers is the day after mine) that weekend, and you're invited.

Yes, you.

Today I woke up around six am. And it had (almost) nothing to do with my noisy-ass upstairs neighbors who have been stomping (STOMPING) around for the last few days. I went to sleep a bit after nine, which isn't much earlier than any other night from the past few weeks when I stop to think about it. And although I was awake, I didn't get up. Just laid there and stared at the wall until five to nine, when I felt it was appropos to get up for real. I wrote out my bills and took a shower, then went to the mailbox. Once at the mailbox, I thought "Wellll, I need to hit the ATM." Then after the ATM I thought "Wellll, I need to stock up on bath soap." So I walked to CVS. On the way there I was texting Beks and thought "Welll, I wanna have lunch at Wasabi today," so the two of us set that up. And after all that, there was a rummage sale at the community center next door. I got this really nice (but really dusty) sturdy desk for my computer, and a HUGE new suitcase. Twelve bucks. I gave them twenty and said they could keep it if someone helped me get the thing up to my apartment.

And here I am. Which is where I'll be.


I hate my life.

UGH I HATE DOING LAUNDRYYYY NOOOOOO.... But it was either that or be pantsless for the weekend. Which I don't much mind, but something tells me Liz does. We're totally hanging out in Bowlin' Greens this weekend. It took FOREVER for this weekend to get here, too. Work is... ah. I don't even know. I'm going to not even speak on it, before it ruins my whole weekend.

Yesterday afternoon, there was a movie crew shooting for "Little Murder" outside my apartment. TYhere were like 8 HUGE trailer RVs, a bunch of canopies set up, and I'm pretty sure I saw a caterer setting up a big BBQ grill. They were still there when I went to bed around midnight, hanging lights and showing every intent of staying for a good while, but when I woke up this morning at a quarter to eight, THEY WERE GONE... Like, without a trace! If it weren't for a few tire tracks in the lot next door, you'd never know they were here...

Lee (Lee? Really?) tagged me in a meme and so now I TOTALLY TAGZ YOU: Christine, Meera, Angie, Bekah, Liz, Katie, Saki, Mary, Ted, and Laura ♥

- List 10 random facts about you that people may or may not know about.
- Tag 10 people to do the same.

1. I am the most consistantly inconsistant person you will ever meet; this I guarantee. I'm an adapter, meaning I'm a borderline flake. I haven't crossed the line because I'm also a natural asshole and that comes with some pride, so I won't just aquiesce to anything.

2. I started cellular_life. If you have a camera phone, JOIN IT. If not, WATCH IT. I need the attention.

3. I need lots of attention. I've spent most of my life alone for hours every day. So when I get around people, I try to soak up attention to get me through the dry spells :)

4. I don't write or draw like I should. I bet I could be fucking awesome if I just kept up with practicing...

5. Tim Burton and Quentin Tarantino can both take turns sucking my fat imaginary dick, because I don't give a shit about their movies. I'm not "NOT" a fan, but I'm not a "fangirl" of them, and it kind of pisses me off when people launch into their love of Nightmare Before Christmas/Inglorious Basterds etc etc.... Same goes for films by Hiyao Miyazaki, too. Ikari aji o miru.

6. I'm terrible at speaking Japanese, yet I try to do it anyway. I'm still better than my boss, who is half Japanese.

7. I love, LOVE underwear. Not panties; I'm talking the ones you wear everyday to work/the store/the couch. Mostly, I like collecting cute pairs of them. It's kind of nice going to work wearing my "Let's Get Down to BUSINESS" undies.

8. I also love nachos and tacos. And Burritos. Taco Bell, though a cheap imitation of Mexican food, is love. Buck recently turned me on to Qdoba, and OMIGOSH. It's so good. As far as food goes, I like pasta dishes and spicy stuff. I DON"T like things that taste sweet and spicy. I only like my sweets to taste sweet. Like cake. CAKE.

9. I LIKE MARGARITAS ♥

10. I wish I were a radio personality. I mean, doesn't that just fit me? "This is LIVE on Radio 96.4 with Smoothie! LET'S CRANK THIS SHIT UP TO 11!" Although, you probably can't say "shit" on the radio...