Hi! I feel like I've been in hibernation. I haven't posted in a long time. There is a LOT of news.

I moved out of Justin's house back in September. It was really nice living on my own. I had a cute little two bedroom apartment (that most people were afraid to visit cuz it was right by the prison).

Then in November I started seeing someone. His name is Ken. He's super sweet.

In February we decided to move in together. So I moved once again.

The day before we moved (my birthday), Ken proposed. So now I have a fiance. And a pretty ring. And a wedding to plan. I think it's going to be in September. This year...

Pictures to come soon!

(paraphrased conversation, during an evening of drinking)

Justin: Come over here, Christy! We're going to play a game.
Christy: I'm not playing. I'm going to go to sleep.
Justin: You have to play with us! Come over here.
Christy: I'm really tired. I'm not playing.
Justin: So you come over here to sleep? You can do that at home.
Christy: I could go home, but you two should be honored at my presence.
Justin: So we should be happy that you're here and not playing a game with us?
Christy: Yes.
Justin: What are the benefits of having you here sleeping?
Andrea: We can WATCH her while she is sleeping!
Christy: No, you can't. You should just be honored to have my presence.
Andrea: OR! We can see how peaceful and comfortable she is and we could JOIN her!
Justin: That's a great idea, Noodle.
(Justin gets up and goes over to where Christy is trying to sleep. Justin then lies on top of Christy)
Andrea: Christy, I'm sorry!
Christy: Justin, nooOOO! Go play with Andrea!
Justin: Andrea, come over here!
(Andrea gets up and joins Justin on top of Christy)
Justin, Christy, Andrea: Ouch! My ribs! Move your knee, that hurts! (etc.)

A LONG while back, I was spending the evening in Jessica's new summer apartment with Jessica, Jenny, and their friends Sarah and Tami. We had been drinking, and then the topic of conversation got very serious. Tami wanted to know everyone's thoughts on children, and how many everyone wanted to have. She asked Jessica, and then Jenny and Sarah. When my turn came, I'm not sure what I had been thinking. Hell, I wasn't thinking. I think the seriousness of the conversation was a bit too much for me at that particular moment. Anywho, when Tami turned to me and asked, "What about you, Andrea? How many children do you want to have?" I turned to her with a straight face and said, very seriously, "I want to have 30 babies. I want to be a baby making machine..." And then I continued to tell her about how I wanted to have them all very quickly - either five a year over a six year period, or six a year over a five year period, and I told her all about the help I would be hiring and all the work that would go into having 30 babies and how much fun it would be, etc. When I saw this, it brought me back to that summer night in East Lansing. Memories...

Two Saturdays ago I woke up to find some bruises on my arms. The worst of the bruises was in the shape of a hand-print really high on my arm. I'm sure you're thinking to yourself, "What kind of horrible person is Andrea dating??!" Or you could be thinking, "Why does someone want to hurt Andrea??!"

Well, your thoughts are wrong. Friday night I got a massage from Justin. Granted, there had been a lot of alcohol involved in the evening, so Justin didn't realize how rough he was being and apparently I didn't feel any pain because of said alcohol consumption. Anyways, the result of the massage was me looking like an abused girlfriend, and I am neither being abused nor am I anyones girlfriend.

Later in the day that Saturday (after seeing the horror-struck look on Justin's face when I showed him what had happened) Justin and I took a trip to the library. I was wearing a short-sleeve shirt, and Justin got many, many dirty looks from the other library patrons. We got in the car to leave, and I got a lecture on wearing short-sleeved shirts. Sorry Justin! It was super hot that day...

After leaving the library we went to Keva Juice. Upon walking in the door, I knew things were going to be bad immediately. There were three to five cops in full gear hanging out drinking their very own Keva Juice. I pulled my arm as close to my body as possible trying to hide the bruises, as I did NOT want to have the "how did you get those bruises?" conversation with them. I'm sure they've heard it before - "he didn't mean to hurt me - he was giving me a MASSAGE!!!" Or better yet, "I ASKED for the massage!!!" There would have been absolutely nothing good to come out of that conversation with the police officers.

After we left, I told Justin about how I was trying to hide the bruises to avoid any type of conversation about them with the police, and his response was, "THAT'S why they were staring at me the ENTIRE time we were in there!" Yet again, sorry Justin!

What were the lessons learned from all of this?
1. Don't let Justin give me a massage while he's been drinking.
2. Don't let Justin give me a massage while I've been drinking.
3. Don't wear short-sleeved shirts or tank tops after getting a massage from Justin.
4. Cops hang out at Keva Juice.
5. I bruise REALLY easily.

"Avoidance is the best way to deal with bad situations..."

"I think someone showed me a picture of a foot last night, and two of the toes were fused together."
(Hysterical laughter, followed by strange looks)
"Those were my toes."

"Don't try to pimp me out while laying in bed with me!"

I'm feeling very girly today. Not sure why, but I am. I've been thinking of all the girly stuff I need to get done, such as get my bridesmaid dress altered for my brother's wedding. This is how the dress is supposed to look. It's so big on me that if I lift my arms it will fall to the floor if I'm not careful. It's so big on me that if I grew another set of boobs I still wouldn't be able to fill it out. I don't have small boobs by any means, but this dress is making me feel like I do. I wonder if I should find a place for alterations now - it might take extra time to get it finished as there is SO much that needs to be done to it before I can wear it without it falling off... I honestly think they made these dresses for strippers, or people that are addicted to plastic surgery. There is no woman out there that will fit into these dresses unless they have had a LOT of work done.

My last day of work was Thursday. That means that I spent Friday doing my taxes. I know, it doesn't sound like fun, but it took me all of ten minutes to finish. I had already done most of it a few months ago. I just needed to add a couple more things and push the send button.

If there's anyone out there that is in need of a good book to read, I've got one for you. Everyone should read The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho. It's wonderful.

On the same note, I just bought Little Miss Sunshine the other day. That was wonderful too. I don't think there's a movie out there with a better ending.

That is what we asked ourselves while drunkenly passing by...

I only have three days left at my current job. I'm SO excited. I will be starting a new job next Monday. It will be awesome to be done with the crazy of my current job...

A lot has been going on lately. To sum up, Cabaret was awesome on Saturday, and Krista would like to be known as Betty from now on.

Three more days and I'm DONE!!!!! Yea new job!

Some people have a tendency to lose things, such as keys, articles of clothing, or important documents. For me, the item I tend to lose the most often it my car.

Yes, you read correctly. That was not a type-o. I tend to lose my car.

When I was in college and living at 930 Packard (aka the crack house to those that didn't live there), one day I was feeling lazy and decided to drive myself to class instead of walk. This was a bad decision on my part, cuz it takes just as long in Ann Arbor to find a parking spot as it does to walk to class. After parking almost as far from campus as I live, I walk to class. When class is over, I have plans with a friend of mine that lives next door to 930 Packard. While fixing up some food in her kitchen, my friend turns to me and says, "Hey Andrea, where's your car?" To which I reply, "It's parked behind the house...," while giving her a look like she's crazy. She says, "No, it's not," while giving me the same crazy look I gave her. Then I look out the back window in her kitchen and realize she is right. My car is gone.

At this point, I still don't remember driving my car to class. I immediately leave her house and walk (more of a panicked run) back to my house, and start asking my roommates if they've seen my car. I'm quite frazzled, and the roommates don't know what to make of my running around and asking them absurd questions, like, "Did someone borrow my car and I forgot? Did someone have an emergency and need to take my car? Does anyone know where my car is? I DON'T REMEMBER!"

After about five minutes of frazzled Andrea, it suddenly hits me all at once. I drove my car to class. I'm going to need a ride to my car to go pick it up. I tell my roommates that I remember where the car is, and run out of the house just as quickly as I ran in. All of this happened one day during my "strange week," which is a totally and completely different blog subject.

Anywho, to get back to the point, this happened to me again last weekend. Christy and I went to meet up with Lori at Boomtown to see the Midnight Riders play (see pictures in previous entry), and when we left the bar we couldn't find my car. We went to the row where we thought I parked. No car. I walked over one row. Still no car. Christy starts walking towards a closer row, and there the car was. It was like the car was trying to trick us, or was playing hide-and-seek or something. The only thought going through my mind when my car was missing was, "Who would want to steal a FOCUS??!"

At the end of our little lost car scare, Christy was surprised at how calm I was during our search. That was when she got to hear about how I lose my car quite regularly. Now it's your turn, and my stories are done.

Homestar Runner may have gone home to Misty, and Toby may have gone home to Justin's parents, but the Shore Neglected Animal Sanctuary lives on.

Justin left early this morning to go to Arkansas for work, and will then be traveling to Florida to visit with Rachel once his work in Arkansas is finished. This means that Andrea will be watching Audrey for a week.

This doesn't sound like much, but daily injections are not pleasant to give. Audrey requires injections every morning. I don't like mornings as it is, but having to track down a crabby cat every morning before I go to work and give her an injection is not fun.

I really shouldn't be complaining. I no longer have to attend to a crabby hamster, and there isn't any more dog crap on the floor (Toby liked to poo inside the house, even if he had just gone outside). There's no more injections to give to a dog that doesn't want to eat. There's no more rotten-teeth breath to smell (Toby had a breath odor problem too).

However, the Shore Neglected Animal Sanctuary is still up and running, at least for the time being.

On Saturday night, Christy and I met up with Lori at Boomtown to watch The Midnight Riders perform. In an effort to prove to Justin that Lori came out with us (she rarely goes out), we asked Billy (the lead singer of the Midnight Riders) to pose for pictures with us. Here's the pictures. Notice the placement of Christy's hand in the second one... Also note that Billy's girlfriend was taking the pictures.

I've been sitting around the house today watching tv. While flipping through the channels, I came across MythBusters. While I've seen the show before, the thought of working for them had never occurred to me until today. That show is awesome, and I feel like I've been training to be a part of something like that all my life.

Here are the reasons why I feel I'm qualified to work for them.

1. High School. I took every science related AP class thanks to MSC (the Math/Science/Computer program offered by the Livonia School District). I feel that AP Physics alone qualifies me to be a MythBuster with all the projects we built. I'm still proud of the mouse trap cars we built. I should build another one.

2. College. I may not have received a degree in Engineering, but I did take classes in just about every different Engineering major offered.

3. My spare time. In the last few months, whenever there is something wrong with anything around the house, I take it apart and fix it. I don't care what it is or how complicated it looks, I take it apart and get it to work again. Examples would be my computer and Justin's little rc fighting robots whose arms are out of commission.

Unfortunately, I did some research on working for them, and found this, which basically states that they only hire from the local talent pool in San Fransisco. Boo. They should make an exception for me, or hire me on the condition that I pay for my move (cuz I totally would).

If you haven't read my last post, you should do so now.

Today was a monumental day. It marked the day that Misty came to get her hamster. There is one less animal in the Shore Neglected Animal Sanctuary. However, there has been one addition - Justin.

I still can't believe the look of shock on Misty's face when I went to show her how you can now pick up Homestar Runner without getting bitten. She and Arlo both dropped their jaws in wonder when I reached my hand into Homestar's cage and didn't get bitten.

After we said goodbye to Arlo, Misty, and Homestar Runner, Justin barricaded himself in his room. No, not literally, but he immediately went in there after they left and didn't come out for hours. When he finally did emerge, he asked me if I had any medication for nausea. That's not a good sign.

So now, on top of my cat, Justin's diabetic cat, and Justin's parent's diabetic dog, I now have Justin to care for. He has barricaded himself in his bedroom once again, and is back in his bed.

I don't understand why when Justin gets sick the world comes to an end, but when I get sick, I'm not really sick, but depressed in Justin's mind... Boys are so weird.

Today is my second day of no Justin in a row. This is a common occurrence at the house, as Justin generally travels every week for work for at least a few days. Usually it's just me and the cats, and they're horrible company as they can't stand to be in the same room with one another. Today I find myself with the two cats plus an extra dog and a hamster.

Early last week Justin decided that he wanted to adopt Misty's hamster on a trial basis. After the first half day of having the hamster at the house, Justin took off for work. I forgot to mention that Misty's hamster, who is lovingly named Homestar Runner by Misty after this cartoon, was completely feral when he came into our care. This means that he was a screamer. If you haven't been around a screaming hamster, please by no means should you search one out. It sucks.

So, Justin's nowhere to be found, and I have two grumpy cats that can't stand each other AND a hamster that screams for company. What fun. I spend the early part of the week getting Homestar Runner acclimated to letting people pick him up. This involves wearing thick gloves and watching him poop all over the floor. By the time Justin comes home I have rehabilitated the feral hamster. While I'm very proud of my accomplishment, I'm not so happy that I have the additional animal to care for while Justin is away. When Justin comes home, he decides that Homestar Runner is no longer going to be his, but rather will be mine. I didn't sign up for this.

Now we fast forward to yesterday. I get a text message from Justin in the early evening stating that I should leave the back door to the house unlocked so that Justin's parents can get into the house to drop off Toby. Toby is their dog. While Toby is incredibly cute and all, there is already one diabetic animal in the house (Audrey) that I care for while Justin is out of town. Now, after Justin has volunteered to watch his parents dog and left the state for work, I am caring for my cat, Justin's diabetic cat that needs an injection every morning, a rehabilitated but still crabby hamster, and a diabetic dog that needs injections twice a day.

I am officially the director of the Shore Neglected Animal Sanctuary. Justin better not volunteer to let the goats and chickens stay with us anytime soon... :)

As requested by Jennifer, here's my new blog.

A while back, Estrella posted this on myspace. It made me cry, I was laughing so hard. I know most people don't understand my sense of humor and won't find this funny. For those of you that do, you will love it. Jennifer, you will love it above all others.

Charlie!



It's been quite a long time since my last post, so I'll try to sum up all the highlights of what's been going on with me lately.

For Christmas, among other things, I got a new battery for my computer from my parents. A few days before the battery arrived I completely dismantled my computer and soldered the power supply thingy so that the power wouldn't short out anymore. Yes, I do know how scary it is that I don't know what to call computer components but I will still dismantle my computer to fix it. I freaked out my parents when I tried to do it at their house, and I freaked out Justin when there were bits of computer all over the living room at his house. Anyways, all is working at full capacity, and it's like I have a new computer instead of just a new battery. I feel very accomplished, and for a short time was considering going back to school (that quickly passed, though).

Among other gifts I received from them, Justin got me a handheld electric sudoku game and a 5x5 rubik's cube, and Christy got me a couple of sudoku / kakuro books. It was the Christmas of keeping Andrea occupied. I've been thoroughly enjoying all of them.

For Justin, Christy and I were going to go in on a gift together. Originally we were going to get him a massage (it was on his 'gift list'), but then about a week before Christmas I was looking for a gift for my father and came across this. I asked Justin's opinion on it, and he LOVED it. I didn't end up getting it for my dad, but after Justin's reaction Christy and I decided to get it for him. I went to Radio Shack to pick it up, and they didn't have it at the Radio Shack by the house. I asked them to call around to the other Radio Shacks for me, and there weren't any left in the Reno/Sparks area. That's when I called Ryan, Justin's former roommate and Radio Shack employee.

A few days later, Ryan called me from work. He totally and completely came through for Christy and I. Fast forward to Christmas Eve. Ryan and Krissy (his fiance) stop by with the gift. Justin had absolutely no idea what was going on, and was quite surprised at my sneakiness.

Here's the best part of the story. On Christmas day, we took all our gifts over to Justin's parents house to open them. Justin was so excited about the gift, he opened it and started using it immediately. Within twenty minutes of Justin's blissful playing (big grin and all) and multiple crashes, Justin crashed it one too many times and broke it beyond repair, with a missing leg and a broken propeller. He thinks he's going to be able to replace it, but there's still a shortage of them in the Reno/Sparks/Fallon area. I wish him luck in is replacement endeavor.



Let's move on to my little brother. He had been acting like a total asshole for the longest time. I had called him to ask him about Costco card pricing over a year ago, and he told me not to worry about pricing cuz he could get me a card for free. Every time I spoke to him from then on, he would forget about it. I understand that he's a busy guy, so I wasn't making too much of a big deal out of it. Then my trip to Michigan came along. About a week before I was supposed to fly into Chicago I called my brother to ask him to pick me up from the airport as he lives near Chicago. He flat out turned me down cuz he didn't want to be bothered. This pissed me off. I let him know just how asshole-like he was acting. Justin and Krista were at the house while I was talking to my brother, and they were totally supporting me cuz they just couldn't fathom the idea of someone they knew coming into town, let alone their sister, and telling them that they couldn't pick them up from the airport cuz they didn't want to be bothered.

A few days later I spoke with my mother on the phone, and she was mad at me because apparently my brother promptly called my mother after I yelled at him for being an asshole and told her that I demanded that he pick me up from the airport without asking him 'nicely,' and my friends were yelling in the background at him too. He totally twisted the story around to make me look like a bitch. I couldn't believe what an asshole he was turning into. Then when I was in town (after he DID pick me up from the airport) and I asked him about my Costco card again, he told me that my 'demanding' it from him was what was keeping him from getting it for me. He totally forgot that I never ASKED him to get it for me, he VOLUNTEERED to get it for me. If I had known it was going to be such a hassle I would have just gone out and bought it myself.

After I got back to Reno, I called my brother and asked him if I should go buy myself a card cuz I wanted to go to Costco for Christmas shopping. He told me no, that he would take care of it. The next day he told me I could go to Costco and pick up my card. I started to feel a little better about him at that point, but I was still annoyed that it took that much work to get him to do something he volunteered to do for me.

About a week or two later, I got a package in the mail. It was from my brother - my Christmas gift. I called him and asked if he wanted me to open it then or wait until Christmas. He said I should open it then cuz I would be able to use it. It was the Charlie Brown Christmas tree, complete with the one red ornament that makes it sag. It was one of the most thoughtful gifts I had ever gotten. He told me that I should put it out now so that people knew that I understand the true meaning of Christmas. He totally redeemed himself from his asshole standing. I'm very proud of him.

This is the last night of my trip to Michigan. I'm headed out tomorrow morning - my flight leaves at 8:30. I can't believe how quickly this trip went. Let's do a quick summary of the more interesting points of the trip.

Let's start with my flight out of Reno. We took off. There was horrible, horrible turbulence - the plane felt like it was going to fall out of the sky. We were in the air about 10 to 15 minutes, and suddenly the landing gear came down again. We ended up back in Reno. Apparently the emergency landing had nothing to do with the turbulence, though - someone had a medical emergency. An ambulance met us on the ground. I was quite happy I was flying into Chicago - the only flight that wouldn't be able to go through was the one to Detroit.

LAX. If you've never been there before, please take my advice - never, ever, if you can possibly help it, go to LAX. I had a 2 hour layover there, and I definitely needed every minute of it to find my next flight and go through security again (yes, every terminal there has a new security checkpoint). Yuck.

Then to Chicago I go. My brother picked me up at the airport. For those of you who know about that drama, that was quite a feat. I spend the morning at his apartment sleeping until about 11:30, when we leave for downtown. We meet up with Mom at the hotel. Dinner is at Lowrey's Prime Rib later that evening. It was absolutely wonderful - Highly recommended. Then the younger girls and Adam head over to the bar. After ordering drinks, we start playing a drinking game where we write down our favorite shots on little pieces of paper and you have to pick one and do it. We decide our mothers should join us. Mom and Aunt Barb join us for shots (yeah mom and aunt barb!). The other two won't drink with us. Boo.

The next day we do some shopping and head home after checking out Adam's apartment again. We stop at Alex's place and take him and his girlfriend out to dinner to Burger in Paradise. Very strange restaurant, and extremely strange waitress. Then back to Livonia we go.

Tuesday I decide to go shopping. I get two new cell phones. I know you're all thinking who (besides Justin, who can justify every active phone he has) would need more than one cell phone? I didn't want to give up my Michigan number, but I kinda needed a Nevada number. Hence the need for two.

Wednesday was crazy. After lunch with the parents, I decide to take apart my computer and fix it. I have bits and pieces of computer all over the kitchen table, and then Rachel calls. She's headed over. About 40 minutes later she arrives, and there are still bits and pieces of computer all over the kitchen table. We head out to dinner (La Shish - Arabic food. yum!). We come back, and Georgia and Jamie get there less than 10 minutes later. Still bits and pieces of computer all over the place. I have to fix it before I can leave, and I still have to shower. After a Georgia makeover in the bathroom we head out to Novi. We meet up with Yolan and her friends at Gus O'Connor's. Then we head over to the Post. Somehow before we leave, I (who at this point is feeling like the oldest person to ever enter the Post) end up dancing with some strange boy who insists on screaming at the end and beginning of each song. I have a feeling he may have been a friend of Adam's - Jackie told me a few days later that their friends were all there that night.

Thursday - Thanksgiving. We have dad's side of the family over. There's SO much food - everyone who came brought at least one dish, if not more. It's your average Thanksgiving with the family, although there was no ravioli. I'm glad I was there for it.

Friday. Another crazy day. I end up eating lunch with Rachel and Jackie at the tea room my mother works at. My dad and brothers all made up excuses not to go. Poo on them. Then Jackie and I head over to a bridal shop to look at bridesmaid dresses. She decides on one - it's gorgeous, but I'm going to have to lose a LOT of weight to look anywhere near decent in it...

Later that evening I head out to Clarkston to visit with Jenny, Scott, Raoul, and his wife Beatrice. We end up at the club house of Scott's parent's house for dinner, and then back to their house in the theater room later. It was like reliving the days of 930 Packard, complete with Thursday Night Sex Talk. The only difference was that I didn't have a corner to crawl into the fetal position in and whimper while they were interrogating me. We heard from Dan who didn't come in from DC. Then Jenny and I stayed up until about 2:30 talking. I definitely enjoyed the evening.

Finally there was Saturday. We had dinner with my mom's side of the family. I got to see the babies - they're definitely not babies anymore. Toddler is a better classification now. Yet another successful Thanksgiving dinner I'm glad I was able to participate in. After the dinner, I end up with Rachel and Georgia again. We go out to look at the Wayne county Christmas lights on Hines Drive. They were much better than I thought they'd be.

Now I'm sitting here writing this blog. I've got to leave tomorrow morning - this trip went by so quickly!

Sunday afternoon was a day of raking leaves. Raking leaves at Justin's house is a never ending job. He had the yard completely cleared the weekend before, and somehow every leaf in the neighborhood ended up in Justin's front yard this weekend.

The process of raking leaves at Justin's house starts by finding a working stereo. There must be music playing loud enough for us to hear during the process. It makes raking go by much faster, and also makes a pretty interesting show for the neighbors and passers-by in the school yard behind the house.

At lunch time, we heard 'Fergilicious' on the radio. We decided to test out our own versions of Fergilicious. Justin-icious was one, along with Andrea-icious and Dra-icious. None of them stuck as well as Noodle-icious, though. It was perfect.

If you were wondering to yourself what the proper definition of noodlicious, it would be anything Noodle (meaning me) would like or enjoy. For example, I was looking through the Kohl's flyer in the Sunday paper (which is already Noodlicious cuz Kohl's is the bomb), and I found the CUTEST turtleneck. I really REALLY want it. It was Noodlicious. Not enough of an example for you? If you need another one (or two), here goes: orange is my favorite color. Orange is Noodlicious. Mojitos are awesome in my opinion. Also Noodlicious.

Now, don't get confused. Say one day I'm hanging out with you (yes, you - whoever you are reading my blog). We're eating lunch and you just LOVE your meal. You would NOT be allowed to lean over to me and tell me about how Noodlicious it is. It is not for YOU to decide what is Noodlicious. That's all up to the Noodle, and as Justin christened me that, the Noodle is ME. While it may be something I enjoy, I would have to be the one to make that decision. You could suggest it, but it wouldn't be so until I give it the Noodlicious approval.

Another distinction that needs to be made is that even if something is deemed Noodlicious one day, the next day the Noodliciousness may have worn off. For example, let's take into consideration driving. It is an extremely rare day for me to say that I have enjoyed driving anywhere. Maybe one day I have the absolute best driving experience of my life. That day would be considered Noodlicious. However, just about every other time I get behind the wheel and have to drive, it will absolutely not be Noodlicious. Another example: Say one day I decide to eat something, say a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. I haven't had one in a LONG time, so it was absolutely delicious, and deemed Noodlicious. However, the next day I try to repeat my previous days experience. This time it doesn't work out so well. No longer Noodlicious.

This may be too much for some, but I'm sure I'll be able to teach all who wish to learn about all there is out there that can be Noodlicious. If you made it this far in this blog, kudos to you - I don't think most would have read this much.

I want to post to my journal, but I don't know what topic I should cover. It's not that I don't have things to talk about, though - there's too much to write down. I can't commit to one subject. I decided to say, "screw it," and just write about whatever I feel like writing about.

Halloween Party

I'll start with the halloween party. I had a blast. It was SO much fun. I met new people and had lots of fun. Check out the pictures at justin's web site. I was a postal worker as a tribute to hot mailman and mailman cam. I somehow ended up with Krista's handcuffs (she was a police officer) and have the scars to prove it (damn metal allergy!). FYI, a metal allergy doesn't go along well with passing out in handcuffs. The night before the halloween party was a bit more entertaining, though. I got hyper. More hyper than I've been in years. I was putting on dance performances for everyone at the house. Krista got the first one, cuz she was depressed. She told me I had too much to drink, but I told her that the half-finished beer on the table was all I had to drink all day. She didn't believe me. Then Christy got her show. Then Krista and I did shots (tequila and whiskey, respectively), and then I did the Krista can't leave cuz I'm dancing over her while Justin was holding her down dance. It was a wonderful night, but no one wanted to dance WITH me. They just wanted to watch the show. Poo on them. Boo. The hyperness lasted throughout the next day, so the people at the party got to see it as well. But they got the drunken version - definitely more entertaining.

Illness

The day after the party I was SO hung over. I drank WAY too much at the party. Then work sucked on Monday because of the holiday (to those of you that don't live in Nevada, Nevada Day is the best holiday I've ever experienced - you should really push your respective states to have a state holiday for your respective state). Just before I was supposed to come home I got sick. It wasn't a gradual thing, it hit me all at once while helping a member. Coughing, sneezing, runny nose, all of it all at once. Yucky. The stupid cold lasted all week. I ended up not working for the second half of Wednesday and all of Thursday.

Then on Friday I got a lecture on being depressed from Justin. Which leads me to...

Depression

I AM NOT DEPRESSED. I cannot stress this enough. I don't understand how when a boy gets sick, he expects to be taken care of, but when a boy sees someone else sick he thinks they're depressed. Poo on boys (and yes, I did use the term boy on purpose). The lecture then made me think, though - what do I do to make people think I'm depressed, besides being sick (which is NOT a reason why someone is depressed).

While I can't pinpoint what I do to make people think I'm depressed, I did stumble onto the fact that I feel stuck, or lost. I'm sure people can see that, but I don't know what to do to fix it. I was fully prepared to get married four years ago and have more of a family (Scot and Ben were definitely already family). Now that they're not a part of my life, I don't know what to do. I need a hobby, or something to focus my time on. Maybe I should volunteer somewhere. I don't know. I wish someone would give me guidance, but at the same time I know it's something I need to figure out on my own. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Last Sunday

Then last Sunday happened. I'm not sure exactly how it happened, but it did. Krista invited Justin and I over for dinner. Before we left the house Justin was pretty close to being smashed. Then we got there. I dropped Justin off at the door and searched for parking. I found a spot, and hit the little divider thingy with my car cuz I didn't see it. Then I got out of my car and TRIPPED OVER THE STUPID DIVIDER THINGY. I managed to land on hands and knees, and somehow skinned my right knee through my jeans. It still hurts like a bitch. That was the start of the evening. As the evening went on, Justin broke Krista's vertical blinds, took the entire roll of toilet paper off of the roll and replaced it on the roller, broke one of Krista's decorative glasses, and somehow got his hands on her vacuum. This was when it was beyond time to go. It was very difficult to get him to leave the apartment without a travel mug full of wine. It was a wonderful dinner, but a very strange evening overall. I'm still confused by all of what happened. I think I'm going to have to consider the evening Justin's equivalent to the Andrea show I put on the weekend before... :)

When you wake up in the morning and realise your car won't start as you are leaving to go to work, it's not going to be the greatest day. That was my morning.

Thankfully Krista was there to save the day - she drove me both to AND from work. She's the best.

THEN, I get home and have to deal with the bad battery in my car. I start doing research on where I can go to get my battery changed. This takes a while as I haven't any clue as to where to take it. Then I call AAA to jump start my car.

While on the phone with them, the customer service lady asks me if I would like to have her call the battery replacement service to come and change my battery for me. I didn't know they had a battery replacement service. I told her that would be wonderful.

The battery replacement guy came to the house, changed my battery, and left all within a half-hour. It was perfect, and I didn't have to leave the house and worry about my battery dying while trying to find a place to get it changed.

All in all, I must say that AAAs battery replacement service is wonderful. I would recommend it to everyone.

For those of you who are interested, I just wanted to let you all know that I will be in town the week of Thanksgiving. Mom wants me home. I will be travelling to Chicago the weekend before, spending the week at my parent's house, and returning Sunday. I will see all you Michiganders then!