When did Pandora start displaying ads from Match.com on the right-hand side of the screen? How annoying. Especially when you’re a happily married woman. That’s just a recipe for trouble if your husband happens to walk by, sees the blissful expression on your face, and thinks it has to do with the guys on the screen.
No, honey, really, it’s Amy Lee’s voice that’s doing it for me!
Actually, I don’t know if that explanation would get me in any less trouble, heh.
Anyway. For someone who likes her life to be uneventful, there have been a lot of “events” around here. As promised, Tuesday was hellish. We were on the phones all day; queue times were crazy. Our work served pizza for lunch to help make the day more bearable. That would have been awesome, if I were not on a diet. While I do allow myself a “cheat day” once a week, Tuesday was not that day, and I was not wasting my cheat day for pizza at work. So I had to grit my teeth, take phone calls, and smell pizza I couldn’t have.
To make the day worse, it ended a text from Jim while I was rebooting my computer for something like the third time that day. I glanced at my phone. You’ll need to get a ride home. I’ve been in an accident. I’m okay.
Sigh. I got a ride home from Angela, which was fun, as I haven’t gotten to talk to her in a while. We pulled up in the parking lot and checked out the damage of my car.
My poor car. My cute, little car. Yeah. It’s not so cute right now. The passenger front below the headlight and along the right side over the tire are gone. Now the windshield wiper fluid tank and a tangle of wires around it and the headlight show for all the world to see. You know those sci-fi shows where there’s an android, all nice and human-looking, and the android inevitably gets injured so pieces of flesh go missing, so you see part human face, part scary robot face underneath? Yeah, my car reminds me of that. It’s kinda creepy, if I think about it too much.
Luckily, though, everyone’s okay. Most the damage was taken by our car. The other guy only got a broken finger, and Jim wasn’t hurt at all. With the exception of having to pay my deductible, insurance is paying for everything else. Jim, of course, feels terrible about the whole thing, but hey, when you drive around as much as he does, it’s bound to happen.
Also? This is what insurance is for. I’ve had my own car since I was 18 years old and have never filed a claim. As far as I’m concerned, this is kind of like the pay off for paying through the nose all these years. Kind of a crappy pay off, admittedly. But still.
Oddly enough, while you would think I would be freaking out about money, I’ve decided that Jim and I should go out to dinner and a movie tonight. There’s nothing like a good, old-fashioned car accident to make you realize that life is short and that you spend too many days doing nothing, saving money for “someday,” when that elusive “someday” may never come. And it’s true: Jim and I rarely go out. Oh, we talk about it. We’ll be like, “Let’s go crazy! Let’s go out! Let’s cut loose and party!” And then we’ll go to Walmart and sulk around the aisles, knowing full well that we’re not going to buy a damned thing.
Tonight, though, it’s gonna be Mexican food and a movie! And it’s gonna be awesome. I’m glad I didn’t give my cheat day up on Tuesday for that stupid pizza. Even now, I’m pretty much skipping lunch to make sure I have plenty of calories to work with for dinner. And let me tell you, I am starving. The fact that I’m daydreaming about what I’ll order tonight is probably not helping.
I just gotta hang in there for three more hours. In just a little under three hours, Jim and I will be celebrating life with a plate of nachos.
Okay, for real? I’m going to find something else to do. Something that will keep my mind off food. Ugh, dieting. Wish me luck!
Eating very little during the day just so I can eat a couple slices of homemade bread fresh out of my bread machine and still stay under my calorie count = WORTH IT.
Okay, Internet. I had meant to post sooner, but I hopped on Facebook earlier tonight and caught up with my old friend Bobby from waaaay back in the day, when we were all on Andrews Air Force Base together, and we did divorce gossiping (holy crap, the drama!) and current relationship glowing (we’re both much happier now), and, as a consequence, you get less time.
“But, Spring!” I can (pretend to) hear you say. “It’s Friday night! It’s not even 9:30! You have ALL NIGHT to talk to us!”
Well, kids, that would be true, but some of us are going in for overtime in the morning. What? You don’t know about this overtime thing of which I speak? Get a job. Jerks.
So, yeah, I need to shower, prep the coffee, go to bed. So I’m gonna get all sloppy with bullet points:
I think some people might be making a bigger deal out of our wedding than Jim and I are, but there’s only so many times we can say, “Guys, seriously, it’s just a barbecue.” But, hey, if they all want to get dressed up and get their clothes all messy when they eat, that’s their prerogative. I plan on getting in jeans at some point myself.
The co-worker that sits in front of me suggested Jim and I go to a place called The Royal Dumpe. We wouldn’t be able to do it on the first half of the honeymoon because it’s only Friday and Saturday nights, and we probably won’t be in St. Louis until late Saturday night or Sunday. But maybe during the last half of the honeymoon. St. Louis isn’t that far. I’m thinking I wanna go.
My last two days have SUCKED. Yesterday sucked so bad, I bought myself a new-old CD: Evanescence’s The Open Door. And I rarely buy “fun” stuff. By the way, I say “new-old” because I actually had it before, but after all the moves, it got scratched up and lost. I forgot how much I loved this CD.
My diet is going swimmingly. Yesterday, after the day from hell, I decided to spoil myself with a Cheese Spud from McAlister’s, topped with sour cream. Admittedly, I didn’t have many calories during the day, so I think it all worked out. At any rate, I didn’t gain any weight; in fact, the scale looks like it’s trying to inch down. Yay for that.
We’re moving desks yet again at work. This will be my third move since October. Unlike everyone else, though, I kinda like moving.
Despite my nightmares about taxes, Jim did our taxes (I LOVE YOU EVEN MORE NOW, JIM) and I do not owe money. In fact, we’re getting AWESOME refunds. Yay!
My niece found out today that she’s having a baby girl.
Wow, that was boring. I think I’ll go to bed now. Might as well, it’s not like this night is getting any more exciting.
I figured I should post now because 1) I feel like posting, and 2) Jim is still asleep. I have an easier time concentrating if Jim isn’t around while I’m writing.
A couple of things. One, I’ve been having some off-the-wall dreams. Yesterday, I slept until 11:30 (!) and had a dream about killer bubbles. Trust me, it was way more eerie in the dream. Upon waking, though, I was like HA. Funny. Then last night, I had a dream that Jim and I were too broke to go on our honeymoon because I had found out that I owed the government a bunch of money after doing my taxes.
Okay, that dream was brought on by the fact that over the weekend, I was pushing off doing my taxes because I kept thinking, “Well, I shouldn’t owe money” (I’ve never owed money) “but WHAT IF?”
Luckily, I’ve already paid for some of the honeymoon stuff up-front, so HA. No matter what the taxes come up as, it’s already done. Yup, the first week of May, we have a room booked at the hotel of our choice and tickets for two awesome-looking shows in Branson. At first, I was ehhh about the idea of going to Branson for our honeymoon, but now I’m stoked. Yeah, I said it. STOKED. We wanted something that wasn’t too far away and not too expensive. We nixed anything anything that involved going outside of the United States (too expensive), Florida (too expensive, too far, too typical, and we’ve both been there), and any place which would involve driving through areas where we would feel obliged to visit with family members. I love my family, but seriously? No visiting any family on our honeymoon. That’s our rule. The honeymoon is all about US.
Also, I should mention, no Internet, so you all will get a break from me the first week of May. Now, I have brought up the subject of possibly bringing the laptop with for writing, since we both find writing enjoyable on its own, and it’s not like we’ll be tempted because (for some reason unknown to me) our laptop’s wireless capabilities quit working a while ago. Jim’s balking at the idea. He’s really for no computer at all. But I think we need other downtime things to do when we’re not reading, swimming, or having lots of loud, rambunctious, newly-wedded sex.
Hey. You were thinking it. And you know we’re gonna be doing it. Why deny, friends, why deny…
Anyway, like I was saying: Jim and I are getting excited about going to Branson. The hotel we got was our top pick (smoking room, indoor swimming pool), the shows we’re going to see look great, and I’ve already discovered there’s something called the Victorian Village I want to check out while I’m there. And I’ve already decided I’m blowing my diet while we’re there because I am not dieting on my honeymoon. If I have to start over when I come back, then so be it.
Oh, I forgot to mention that–I’m on a diet. Started last week. Not nearly as bad as I thought I would be, which should clue me in as to how much of my eating was mostly just stress eating and not eating because I was hungry. And Jim’s been good. See, at first, it was hard because Jim would request that I get my (new) favorite chocolate stuff (marshmallow 3 Musketeers), knowing full well that it was my favorite, and while I can easily avoid most foods, that is hard for me to resist. Anyway, I had to have a little chat with my man. His view: “You’re really not that big. I don’t see why you can’t eat this.” My view: “You are blinded by love. The scales say I AM that big.”
Seriously, for a skinny guy, Jim has a very skewed vision of weight. I have gained forty pounds since I moved to Carbondale in 2003. Forty pounds is a lot of weight, especially considering that I’m barely five feet tall. But Jim just doesn’t seem to see it. He hasn’t noticed that twenty of those pounds came along after he and I started dating, either. In fact, he’s always complimenting me on my body.
(Aside: I sent Jim this picture via text on Friday night while he was at game, and he texted me back that I was the prettiest girl in the world. If I were the type of person who said squee, I would do it then. But I’m not, so I won’t, and don’t you do it either–I want to punch all squeers in the face.)
Back to my point. This skewed vision he has of weight, it’s not just me. He doesn’t really seem to think people are fat until they reach something like the 400 pound mark. Unsurprisingly, Jim isn’t much into thin women, lol.
Anyway, I reminded Jim that 1) I’m well on my way to becoming diabetic–look at my health thus far–and 2) he had an uncle who died because of obesity. I hope I’m not saying too much here by admitting this (I’ll edit this post if Jim does mind), but Jim blames his uncle’s wife for it. His uncle was constantly trying to lose weight, and she’d mess up his diet by giving him cakes. One could say that his uncle always had a choice in the matter, but still? Shitty thing for his wife to do.
Anyway, when I reminded Jim of that story, things changed fast. Jim went out and bought soups for all my meals (that is in part because of my tooth extraction), but he made sure they were all both vegetarian and low-calorie. When we stopped by McDonald’s earlier this week, he didn’t even ask what I wanted to drink; he made sure I had water. And, again, because of my tooth extraction, he asked for them to put it in a coffee cup, since I can’t drink from straws right now.
As a result? I’ve already lost 6 pounds!
Okay. So, there are other things, things more interesting than my diet, which I know is of no interest to anyone but myself…once upon a time, I had mentioned possibly going to Gen Con. Jim hasn’t mentioned it at all, so I’m not sure we’re going. My thought is that we’re not because we’re doing our best to knock out the credit card debt. Our goal is to have it gone by next year. Once it’s gone, Jim is going to quit his job and just go to school full-time. Poor guy–taking 5 classes and working 4 days a week while co-running a game with Karac is wiping him out.
And on that note…our Werewolf game is postponed indefinitely. It was supposed to run on Saturdays, but both Jim and Karac keep getting scheduled to work on Saturdays. That, and Jim usually needs to catch up on homework then. It’s really too bad because I think I’m really going to like it, but hell, I like just having Jim to myself on Saturdays, too. (Although, Phil, if you’re reading this, you’re always welcome to come over. Just don’t mind the mess.) But my guess is that we’ll pick it back up during the summer.
That’s okay. I can wait. Because right now, I have this to read:
A Game of Thrones
That’s right, A Game of Thrones. Oh my god, guys, a fantasy writer that knows how to write. I will neither hide nor deny it: I am a writing snob. Before you go thinking that I have no right to be a writing snob, I have to point out that my blog-writing is vastly different than my fiction-writing. And while there are lots of good fantasy stuff out there, most of those writers are good story-tellers, which is not the same as knowing what to do with the language. There is a difference.
By the way, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with just telling a damn good story. In fact, I think our society needs it. But I personally love it when I have a writer that knows how to use foreshadowing, alliteration, imagery, all that good stuff that does more than tell a story, it plays with the reader’s imagination…SIGH. Love it.
Anyway, George R. R. Martin knows what he’s doing. I’m impressed. We just bought the first book a couple weeks ago, and Jim’s has already started on the THIRD book. Have you seen the size of these books? Jim is single-handedly the fastest reader I’ve ever known, surpassing even my mother, who, I have to say, it pretty damned fast when she wants to be.
So, yeah. Read them. I’m really excited for the HBO premier in April because (gasp!) I think I actually have HBO! (I’m not sure. I don’t really watch much TV, so I’m not sure what all I have, but I’m pretty sure Jim said we have HBO.) On that note, I’m going to leave you with a trailer to get you all excited:
Okay, I really don’t have any 5 o’clock news. I just love that I’ve already been to the store, done dishes, cleaned up a bit, and it’s only now five o’clock! As I’ve mentioned before, my new position means I can pretty much work whatever hours I want, as long as it’s within the hours that the building’s open and we get our 8 hours in at the end of the day. Which means that I’ve been going straight to work as soon as I drop Jim off for work. Yay for that.
So, I thought I’d post. It’s been a bit, enough that Jim was disappointed the other day when he checked my blog for updates and found that there wasn’t any. Well, that would be because, again, work. Between working more nearly 11 hour workdays and my new (admittedly self-imposed) schedule, I have almost no alone time to post. So I’m sucking it up and posting now, with Jim here.
Okay, so Jim’s in the kitchen making me dinner. (You know, where a man belongs. BWAHAHAHAHA.)
Like I said, nothing new, except that Jim and I are in the middle of watching Riverworld. I bought it for him as a reward. For something. Never you mind–the point is that Jim made an interesting observation when Sam Clemens and his crew showed up on the screen.
“Let’s see,” he said, “we’ve got here a perky, female engineer…a prostitute that has an Asian feel about her…and a likable square-jawed leader. Gee, what does that sound like?”
The answer:
Firefly
Seriously, Jim and I have decided that as much as we love Joss Whedon’s stuff, he sure does like to “borrow” ideas. Which, you know, not wrong–writers do it all the time. But I never knew until I met Jim how similar Buffy and Angel are to Jim’s beloved Highlander series. Proof? How about an immortal man who is cursed by–get this–gypsies so he cannot get married without something awful happening? Jim could name you all sorts of other similarities.
Regardless, so far, Riverworld is pretty good. It is, however, a very long movie that really needed to be a series. Jim told me that it was actually a mini-series on the SyFy channel. (By the way, I hate the new spelling of the SyFy channel. I thought the purpose of being geeky was to show off how damn smart you were. SHEESH.) Anyway, I guess for the DVDs, they smooshed everything together into one big, long movie. They shouldn’t have. There’s a LOT going on in it, squashed into too little time, so you don’t get to…to…savor it. Yeah, I said it. SAVOR. I just used a food word for a movie.
Did I mention Jim’s cooking dinner and I can smell it and I’m so hungry? Also, I’ve been dieting. That doesn’t help. I lost something like three pounds in two days, which makes me very happy, but also, it makes me want to EAT A FREAKIN’ CAKE.
Nevermind. I can’t talk about Riverworld anymore. All I can think about is cake. The moment is gone.
If there ever was a moment for a dramatic collapse and heaving sobs, this would be it. Let me eat cake.
