Roommates

Awhile ago the bf and I had some relationship problems so I decided to move out until we got engaged... except it backfired because while I am technically moved out, I'm at his place 80% of the time ha ha. Mainly because it still feels like home... and that's where all the free food is!

But I did move in with some girls from work, which is going really well. Probably because none of us are home enough to annoy the crap out of each other, but I'm glad that our friendship is staying intact so far. Most roommate situations don't go that well, as I'm sure you know.

My first roommate was when I was 20 and couldn't take staying in my parents house any longer. I tried to because they wanted me to stay while I was going to college, since I had to pay for my classes. But when you're sister who is 3 years younger had a later curfew... it's time to leave.

So I moved in with a girl from work. The whole time I was there, I felt like I was in her house, not ours. I'd get a text message asking if I'd left a dvd on the coffee table, or my hair spray out on the bathroom counter. So I had to make sure I always left things how she wanted. One day I had some cereal so I text her to see if I could use some of her milk. No response so I assumed she wouldn't mind sharing, because I'd always told her to help herself to anything of mine. I got a text later telling me that I couldn't because it was her boyfriends. Too late. Got another text that night, asking me if I'd used the milk anyways. I explained what happened and offered to buy another gallon of milk for him to make up for it, and she made me do it! A whole gallon because I used some to put in my cereal bowl. Hmmm.

I know her boyfriend and he wouldn't have cared but she was really weird about the smallest things. It got to the point that I was spending much more time at my parents than the apt so I could avoid doing anything to piss her off. So after her boyfriend pretty much started living with us (and there was no door between our rooms) I decided to move out. She seemed genuinely hurt that I was leaving but I couldn't bring myself to tell her why. I'm super non-confrontational, especially back then.

Next roommate I wasn't too sure about at first, but then ended up being my best friend. We were both really sharing and social people. We weren't super clean people, but we picked up after ourselves, put the trash out when it was full, vacuumed every week or so, but weren't anal about having everything in it's place. So later on when one of her friends was having a hard time financially, she decided to let her move into her room with her. BIG mistake.

The girl would complain that she couldn't find a good job, but then would play Nintendo for 8 hours a day. I know because I'd start it up at the end of the day and it would say how long the play time had been. Then she started leaving stuff everywhere... candy wrappers, bowls half full of speghetti, smelly used socks, peanut m&m's on the couch. The worst thing though, was when my friend opened the microwave... and there was half of a raw chicken in a bowl sitting in there. We told her about it and she said she'd put it in there a few days ago and forgot about it. WTF?! The best part is that she said she'd clean it up, and... ONE WEEK LATER we threw it out ourselves because it was smelling up the apartment.

It pretty much went down hill from there.

So I'm pretty glad my new roommates are really relaxed about stuff and when we are together we get along well. They are some of my few friends that I've made here and I like hanging out with them. I've come to realize that there is some roommate etiquette when you live with other people.
1. Clean up after yourself.
2. Pay your bills and rent on time (in other words be responsible)
3. Don't expect people to share with you, if you don't share with them.
4. Be respectful of others. It's always better to ask if they mind if you do something, than assume they won't and have them hate you for it.

You'd think this would be common sense but I guess for some people it isn't.

Anyone else have any roommate horror stories? :)

Boxing

One thing I've been really missing lately is boxing. I used to be involved with it a lot, and I fought as an amateur a few times. The weird thing about it, is that I am not a very aggressive person. Outside of sparring, it takes a lot for me to get to the point where I'd ever want to hit someone, so far in fact that I never have ha ha.

(I wish this was me but sadly I'm not an shape like they are)

I've only been part of a fight once (here comes one of my great Idaho redneck stories), and I couldn't bring myself to hit the girl because she was too drunk. We were at a party at a friends house, my little sister and I, and her best friend. The BF I guess hung out with a guy awhile back (girls hold onto grudges like fat kids to cake) and his new girl at the time got extremely mad about it and decided she wanted to fight the BF while she was completely drunk. We were all stone cold sober at this point and this girl kept pursuing the BF all over the place, trying to get in her face and make her hit her. The BF, who normally is confrontational, kept backing off because this girl was ridiculously drunk.

So eventually punches started to be thrown by the girl, who probably never threw a punch in her life based on the way she was trying to hit the BF, and we just stood back and let out friend handle it. Well all the girls bitch friends started punching the BF in the back of the head so my little sister flew to her friends defense. Literally. She hurled herself around the BF and with one punch, sent the girl to the ground, where I held her down in a choke hold just until she calmed down then we let her back up. But even then when the girl was hitting the BF who I consider to be a little sister, I couldn't bring myself to really hurt her, just restrain her.

Which brings me to another point. If girls started doing boxing or martial arts more, there would be a lot less bitches in the world. I'm serious. If we could take out our anger and jealousies, whatever, on a punching bag instead of each other, life would be so much better. Which is why I really loved it. I would go to practice a couple times a week, and at the end of it I'd be so exhausted I couldn't help but like everybody. Being mad takes too much energy :)

Light at the end of the tunnel

I got a job at the Melting Pot! It's a high end fondue restaurant...

(How could you say no to this? Especially filled with chocolate!)

So I'm very excited because I'll actually start making a livable income now ha ha. And hopefully I can go back to DC to visit my brother. He is progressing REALLY well! He's gotten a lot of the mobility back in his 2 fingers and thumb, the swelling is going down, and he should be out of the hospital finally after a few days, once he gets a skin graph. 

I'm also hoping to go to Idaho for a friends wedding reception. He's one of those friends that was a good friend to me and my brother and sister (we're all 3 years apart so we had a lot of mutual friends). Even after he moved to go to college we stayed good friends. I think the best friends are the ones that realize that when you move away, it's ok that we don't talk a lot and you don't have to work to keep the friendship. We'll just hang up when we're back in the same place and pick up where we left off. He was one of those people, and I'm so excited he's getting married!

I have the next few days off so I'm hoping to get some swimming or hiking in maybe. The weather has been really nice, under 90 degrees which everyone here says isn't normal, it's usually above 100. I'm scared of the summer! Ha ha. I lived in a desert before, but not here where it easily gets to 115 degrees for the entire summer. I'm hoping my blood has thinned out since I've been here for 9 months now, but I doubt it has fully. AHHH I'm going to die!

Tacky

I can usually deal with customers complaining, but this one was especially good today. This conversation takes place after the customer and her husband order and are going to pay.


Me: I'm sorry ma'am, we don't accept Starbucks gift cards. Only Barnes & Noble gift cards.

I have this conversation SEVERAL times a day, every day I work. I'm patient because I understand it is confusing, but I don't like it when people treat me like it's my fault.

Woman: This is a Starbucks.

I'm pretty sure I know where I work and get my paychecks from, ma'am.

Me: Actually we are a Barnes & Noble Cafe, and Starbucks is the brand of coffee we serve... but we're not owned by them.

Woman: That's ridiculous. I can't believe you'd do that. Let's go to Starbucks.

As if the threat of her leaving might magically make us accept the gift cards. I can't. I would take your card if I could, but I can't. 

So she turns to go, and her husband thinks she's being slightly ridiculous, so he hands me his debit card to pay. And the woman continues to complain.

Woman: This is ridiculous, it makes this place so... tacky. It's tacky that you don't accept Starbucks gift cards.

No it doesn't, but the leopard print leggings you are wearing as pants, those definitely are tacky. I'm not really sure you realize this but, I'm not getting paid enough to put up with your crap and make your coffee. So I'm just going to make your coffee and let you go on with your obviously happy life.

Money

On the job hunt again. Kind of frustrating how hard it is to get a job here. I started a new job a few weeks back, and it lasted about 3 days (they tricked me). They said they were a marketing company that focused on face-to-face interactions with customers, a new alternative to traditional advertising, blah blah blah. It all sounded so nice and professional, until I actually went to train, and then it turns out that I would be a door-to-door salesman at businesses. NO THANK YOU. Not gonna do it, nope. I'm not walking around Phoenix, during the summer with 120 degree weather, having people yell at me and treat me like a dog because I'm "trying to sell something." And honestly the product I was selling was really good and would have saved them money, but they wouldn't even speak with me. That kind of a job is too depressing and degrading for me. And it didn't help that the only way the last guy I trained with sold anything, was if there were women working and he was shamelessly flirting with them. So I ran away from that job REALLY fast.

I'm breaking down and going to apply at some restaurants today. I know I said I'd never be a waitress again, BUT I need some money to pay off debt and save for a wedding, and this is pretty much my only option at this point. I'm applying at the Melting Pot, which has an average per person order of $45!!!! I know, you probably think I'm selling out for money, but if I can make as much as working my part time job for a week, in one night of waiting on tables, you bet your butt I'm selling out! At least for the time being. Fine dining restaurants are so much nicer because you don't get the rednecks and hillbillies (I'm slightly bitter) coming in. The worst were cowboys, when I used to work at a restaurant in Idaho, because they would scrape the cow crap off their boots under the table. Thanks. I really wanted to pick up cow shit today.

SO, wish me luck in finding a non-redneck friendly restaurant to work at ;)

Ha ha ha I loved this! These people have to be in JR High right? Please? Ha ha.

So yesterday was a pet peeve day at work. I'm really just starting to wonder why people think it's ok to interrupt other people when they're talking to someone else. I will be standing at the counter, actively talking to a customer, and as I'm speaking to them some crazed person will bolt up to the counter will an urgent "I need to know or the world is going to end" look in their eye and say "DO YOU HAVE ANY OF THE STIR STICK STRAWS!?!?" To which I would like to reply "No sir, do you have any manners?" But I don't because I'm getting paid to be nice to them, unfortunately. And sadly, they have to make do with the wooden stir sticks so I don't want to make their day any more difficult...

Ohhh yes, and I almost forgot. The cherry on top of the cake ha ha. One of my friends works in the kids section (you already know this is going to be nasty now, don't you) at Barnes & Noble, and when she was back there she found a Tinkerbell gift bag that she could tell had stuff in it. So she opened it to see what was in it and possibly return it to the lost and found. Bad idea. Someone had decided to change their kids dirty diaper in the kids section... instead of the bathroom which has a changing table and is 50 ft away. They fortunately decided to take the diaper, but left the dirty wet wipes there... in the Tinkerbell bag. Things like this really make people LOVE working with the public ha ha ha.

Look a likes

Have you ever had someone tell you that you look just like someone else? And when they show you that person they think you look like, they're very ugly? And socially retarded? It's kind of happened a lot to me and I am started to wonder if I'm uglier that I think I am, ha ha.

My dad used to tell me he always thought I'd grow up to be like this girl at our church who wore glasses (not the cute trendy kind, I'm talking about the straight up geeky kind with the tiny rims), had the body of a little boy, and the personality of a sock. Umm thank you? Ha ha I think he must have seen some qualities in her that I didn't (at least I hope so and that it wasn't a subtle hint on his part that nobody liked me). 

Different people have done this at different points in my life with other people too. And I realize I'm not the most attractive person in the world... but I'm at least decent looking. All the people I'm compared to are just straight up weird looking. And weird in general. I've mentioned before that I was homeschooled. BUT, I pride myself on having turned out normal. And by normal I mean you can't tell that I was homeschooled. The people I'm compared to...  have the social skills of a 3rd grader.

It's really starting to hurt my tiny ego ha ha.

D-bags

Have you ever noticed those people who take up 2 parking spots? Usually they have pretty nice cars and I understand them not wanting to get dinged or scratched. Hell if I had a $100,000+ car I wouldn't want it getting messed up either by a careless child flying out of a minivan, or someone who is so morbidly obese they can't help hitting other people's cars because they have to open their door completely to get out of their car. It just happens. So I can understand when people do it, if it's a really nice car, and they do it in a space far from the store so they don't inconvenience other people. But nothing says "douche bag" more than someone with a completely normal car doing it. I was walking into my job the other day and some asshole parked in 2 spots... with a completely stock '08 Mustang.... SERIOUSLY?! No special paint job, no body work or other modifications. Nothing. And they thought their car was worth parking in 2 spots for... it wasn't. I saw the owner walking up to it as I was walking in and oddly enough it was a SINGLE guy. Hmmm, maybe if you didn't think you were such hot shit because of a car you completely over-rate, you'd get a girl to actually hang out with you. Maybe.

So lately people have been mistaking my boyfriend for some kind of celebrity. He's had a couple people ask for his autograph and random people saying hi or waving at him. Which I thought was kind of funny... until someone started taking our picture in Ikea. Umm awkward?! We have no idea who people think he is either which is really weird. Someone asked him if he "that guy on the billboard" and that's pretty much our only clue ha ha. So he's going to ask the next person who they think he is so we can figure this out.

Beauty

Check out the above video, if you haven't already watched it. It's crazy how I'll look at the finished product and then wish I looked like that when in reality, no one looks like that. I think honest things like this are really important. I keep seeing things about girls with eating disorders, or body dysmorphic disorders, and I start to wonder how much the media really does play into this. I always here how "unrealistic" all of the Hollywood stuff was, but I think it's finally sinking in how much our view of beauty has been distorted. We're striving to be something that isn't physically possible.

I've never been a big fan of Britney Spears. Not even when I was younger. BUT, she recently release some untouched photos of herself.

I really have to commend her for doing this. Here's the sad thing too, she really has a rocking body, especially for having a couple kids. I HOPE I look that good after I have kids. But society doesn't consider that beautiful anymore because it's not perfect. I think a lot more people in the media spotlight should take it upon themselves as a responsibility to release stuff like this too. Show us that they are human too and imperfections are okay. Unfortunately we all can't look photoshop perfect.

Here's the thing about beauty too. I think the most beautiful people I have met, aren't the most attractive people I've even seen. What makes them truly beautiful are the things on the inside. Their beauty isn't something you see right away, but something that unfolds as you get to know their character. I want to be more like those girls, not the plastic barbies.

DC

I'm in Washington DC now with my brother at the hospital. It's harder than I thought it would be but it's so, so good to see him. Even if he is a grumpy bastard ha ha. I guess the day we got here was the hardest day for him so far. He's getting tired of being in pain, and incapacitated, and attached to tubes, and in the bed all day, ect. He showed me all the work they did. They took a graph from his back (skin, muscles, nerves) and wrapped it around his hand because he's basically missing most of his palm. Anyways, by the time he was done showing me all the staples in his back, and the massive piece of tissue attached to his hand, I almost passed out. I had already seen pictures so you think I would have been ok, but just seeing it all and seeing how he was in pain really effected me.

I think it's also a good way for him to come back from war. It's always a hard adjustment, but I think that since he's pretty much still cut off from society, and he's with his family, it will help him adjust more slowly which is good. Give him his time.

So today will be better. I've got some music for him, I'll probably read him some books I read. It's nice to be a whole family again. When a soldier is deployed you just never know it that will happen again, and it feels wonderful to be reunited again.