Bad Kitty

So my beloved Tigers played in the Sun Bowl. They were winning by 10 with less than 6 minutes to go... and they choked. Fucking chokers. Oh well.... it's the life of a Missouri fan for you.

On a bright note: Rachael let me buy her old Ipod off her for $40. Yay! I have a working Ipod again. Life is good.

Also I got a raise. Well I'll get a raise in April. Either way, more money. And I'll still get my regular raise in August. How cool is that?

Speaking of money, it looks like I'll be moving in with my cousin Jessica's friend Cat. She owns a three bedroom townhouse and needs a roommate to help pay the rent. She's only charging me $300 a month. Score!

To summarize:
Tigers Suck
New (to me) ipod is awesome
Raises are awesome
Paying only $300 a month for rent is amazingly awesome

For New Year's Eve it looks like I'll be going out with Jessica and her friends. She's DDing and offered for me to come along. I really wanted to go out but all my ponies are out of town so I happily accepted her offer.

Speaking of partying... I'm going to solo party tonight. Bought me some beer and am going to drink it while playing FFXII...or FFIII for my DS... which by the way is amazing. The graphics are awesome. Couldn't believe a DS could pull that off.

Alright peeps. Later.

Smelling colors

Sorry about the delay in posting. I didn't even wish my loving audience of say...10 people tops... Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays and all that.

My Christmas went as follows:
Realized Friday night I had yet to purchase the only Christmas gift I had to buy. All the adults on my mom's side of the family drew names so we could minimize holiday expenditures. So I had to buy two CDs for my cousin Jessica. Luckily she told me exactly what she wanted so I just headed over to the nearest record store, purchased and left.
Saturday I went with my dad to the tire shop to get new wheels for my Corolla. My 30,000 checkup revealed I needed new ones and I had no money. My parents were nice enough to pick up the tab. Not even a loan. Whew.
Dad and I ate lunch at Chilis while they worked on the car. It was a good time. We talked sports and had a beer. A very male lunch.
On the way home, I popped in to say hi to my best friend's family. He wasn't quite in town. Well he was but he was busy. Either way shot the shit with my second family and then made my way to my humble abode a few hours later.
I was supposed to go out with the Flutist Saturday. She called and said she just got off work and had Xmas shopping to do. She said we could meet for dinner but warned me she was in a shitty mood so might not be the best of company. I told her if she's in a bad mood she certainly doesn't have to entertain some random dude (being me). She made sure I was ok with that idea. I reminded her it was my idea and she should just take care of herself tonight. There are always other nights to go out.
Sunday I got a panicked call from my mother in the morning. Apparently the giant TV my mom bought dad for Xmas could not be delivered by Xmas eve. They wanted to give her a different TV and a $100 gift card for her inconvenience. I told her BS. Told her to get over there and get a ton of free shit and do not let them give you another TV. She did and ended up getting the TV at cost, free delivery and a $200 gift card. Not bad return. We took Dad over to the electronics store to see his present since he wasn't getting it that night or on Xmas. He was pleased. Dad never gets cool presents for Xmas so it was a big change.
I stayed at the parentals and played my brother's 360. I decided to stay the night. It would be easier than having to drive back home that night and drive back in the morning for Christmas.
Christmas morning was cool. My haul included both seasons 1 and 2 of Battlestar Galactica, a Shins CD, Clerks II, V for Vendetta, Final Fantasy III for the DS, a Barnes & Noble gift card, a Fruit Fucker T-shirt and some money. Not bad. Not bad at all. No Wii but I can't complain :)
Jeff got a Wii though... fucker.
Since then it's been basically all work no play. ::sigh:: Money has been tight but things are looking up. Let's hope 2007 won't be nearly as weird as 2006. I certainly don't plan on going to Japan, getting engaged, having my said fiance leave me and start dating all over again.

Here we go again

The Grand Taking All My Ex's Crap To Her New Home Trek of 2006 is over. It all began with me driving my ass over to my friend's apartment. They took me to the airport, where I picked up my fine automobile: a Kia Serrento. I drove this silver chariot back to my apartment.
I had approximately 40 minutes to pack the car and get the hell out of dodge. Right away I knew there would be a space problem. A chair that seems little in a living room is HUGE in a smallish SUV. So little chair has to stay home. The dresser was the next biggest item and it fit ok. But it also made it impossible to then pack the filing cabinet. So I had to empty the contents. The rest went inside the car fairly easily. Off I go! Woo!

Thanks to the new love in my life, Sarah Vowell, the first six hours just flew by. I had bought her book, The Partly Cloudy Patriot, in audio form for the ride up. If it wasn't illegal to stalk people or if it wasn't generally viewed as an activity of the insane, I would totally stalk Sarah Vowell.
For those of you wondering to yourself, "Who the FUCK is Sarah Vowell?" Well....
here
or here
or here
(specifically listen to the music episode found on the Our Favorite Shows link)

Anywho the rest of the trip... boring. I made fantastic time though. A little less than 12 hours. Pulled into the Ex's new apartment. Unloaded all the crap. Set up a shelf for her. Got the hell out. No hug, no kiss, no hand shake. I barely looked at her. She fawned and giggled and was extremely complimentary. I made sure to leave as soon as possible.

Then I hung out with my family for the rest of the weekend. My cousin's daughter Amanda was adorable. She's four and she is such a fricking ham. It made me giggle. I gave her piggy back rides, shared war stories about little brothers (hers is almost 2, "He can't help it. He's a baby," she said.), and she used me as a pillow cause she didn't want to use her big girl bed for a nap. And besides, "I'm just sleepy. Not nappy."
Kids. So damn cute. And totally germ factories. I caught a cold from Matt the little brother. It's not a big deal. I'll nyquil and VapoRub myself tonight and hopefully it will get me better as soon as possible.

I also hung out with my aunts and uncles and grandparents. My grandparents are getting on in years and I want to make sure I spend as much time as possible with them. We talked about work and how to advance in the world and about football and how two teams we really didn't care about were really playing a great game. Right before I left, we hit a Mexican place for dinner. I think pretty much any time I've visited the area we've gone to this place. It's ok. Not quite sure why everyone is so ecstatic. It's a thing.

Then it was off to the airport and back home. My friends picked me up and got me back to my car. I got back to the apartment where my cat was waiting to meow it me mercilessly for leaving her alone for a weekend. She's nuts. The cat.

That's it. That was the grand weekend. I have an appointment with my over-the-counter medication.

On the Road Again

Turns out the Teacher didn't mean to stand me up. Really does look like a case of miscommunication. We're going to try to hook up later when I get back.
Get back? From where? you might ask.
Well I'm hauling the rest of the ex's stuff to her new locale. I have a bunch of family up where she is now so I'm using the annoying trip as an excuse to visit with them, most of whom will not be down my way for vacation.
Ex is paying for the rental and the flight home which makes it a bit more palatable.
Either way... hauling is what I will be doing. 13 hours with nothing but me, my favorite CDs and the road.

Sit down.... Stood up.

So this is what it's like to be stood up. I'm actually more confused than upset. The teacher seemed psyched about dinner. And I gave her my cell if there was some reason she couldn't/didn't want to make it. Hmmm.... very curious.

Welll whatever. I'll just eat at home and play more FFXII. I was tired of all this "activity" anyway.

Round Three: Beg for Pain!

Last night with the Flutist was great. We just did dinner and a movie but I felt really comfortable with her the whole time. She's really cute and it was fun to talk to her. She had work not long before the date so she wasn't glammed up or anything but she still looked great. Granted she thought she didn't but isn't that what women think most times? Did I mention she wears glasses? ::pants::

Today Jeff and I checked out the townhouse owned by one of my co-workers. It was a great looking place. Quality neighborhood, a little small but the bedrooms were of a good size. I hope Katie will approve when Jeff tells her about it. As long as the rent is under $1400 I'll be really happy. $1400 would probably be ok but it would suck until May. And I really want to have money again.

Shortly it will be time for the third date this weekend. The Teacher and I will be going to a brew pub at 7. So far things have improved with each date. If things continue in this fashion I'll be very pleasantly surprised. I gotta say though... pretty tired in general.

Same as it ever was

Last night was a pretty busy night. Finished work. Headed over to a now former co-worker's going away party. Had a beer. Sounds like the dude's going to land on his feet, which is always good to hear. Took off and headed home.
I ate dinner and chilled out basically till 9. Then texted girl#3 to see where she was at. The plan was to meet her and her friends and have a few brews in celebration of her semester being over.
So I headed over to the bar.
Her friends were pretty decent people. Girl#3 was kind and I don't think I embarrassed myself or pissed off her buddies in any way. She had work in the morning and this was clearly a non-date/I still want you in the game kind of event. So around midnight we went our separate ways.
Went home. Went to sleep.
So busy but relatively uneventful.
Today I've played FFXII most of the day. Pretty soon I have to get ready for my date with the Flutist at 7:30.

Today is my birthday!

Happy birthday to me! Today is my birthday. I'm going to have a good time. I'm glad it's my birthday. Happy birthday to meeeee!

Done. Sorry.
Two new ponies in the dating stable , officially. First up is the Flutist. We we're going out on Saturday. Next is the Teacher. We'll be going out Sunday.. well likely. I still need to work out the details with Teacher.

Time to eat breakfast. And shower. And dress. and go to work. boooo.

Presents! Cake! Booze! Woo! Birthday!

Mass Hysteria

Jeff and I checked out some places to rent this weekend. Found some good places to check out more indepth. So it looks like Jeff, Katie and I will be living together soon.
As I was falling asleep last night, I realized how big a deal this was going to be to Outlaw.
She's already a pretty neurotic cat. Outlaw is scared of everything that doesn't smell, look or sound like me. That's only a slight exaggeration.
How the heck is she going to deal with a big black lab puppy? Jeff's dog is cute and a good dog but I have no idea how the dog will react to Outlaw. And I know Outlaw's going to have a rough time adjusting to the dog.
My plan is to give Outlaw till May to get used to the dog. After all the time, if she's still spending all of her time being utterly terrified, then I'll have to move out. I could ask Jeff to have Macey (his dog) stay at my parents house. But that's mean to Jeff to make him move his dog again just cause my cat is insane.

Girl#3 is still being weird. Not a lot of communication and what not. No big. She's probably just not that into me. In the meantime, I'm talking to two other girls. No dates yet. Getting past that is he/she a psycho or not stage. One is a teacher and one is still in school getting her degree. They'll get official blog nickname designations once a date happens.

I'm kinda cranky about my friends lately. No one calls. I have to initiate all contact all the time. Even then, people don't call me back. It's fine when I'm with them but I dunno...
Considering I'm a pretty good friend, it's annoying that I feel like I'm rarely thought of to be included when my friends go out. (Nerd circle excluded from this, well usually)

It's frustrating.

Ghosts with voices

At last the weekend has arrived. Yesterday, Jeff and a friend of his from work came downtown to pick up tuxes for their company Christmas party. Not just any tuxes. They ended up renting the tuxes from Dumb and Dumber . Either way, Jeff asked if I wanted to get some drinks when I got off work. So I walked over to Chase Field and met them at the TGI Fridays inside the stadium.
It was disconcerting to be in there when it wasn't baseball season and there was no one in there essentially.
Drank some Kiltlifter and ate a quick dinner. Then I had to go cause I was meeting Rachael from work at the movies to go see Casino Royale. She had already seen it but she was being nice. We were talking at work about our weekends and I was whining about how my weekends are usually pretty boring. While I love my friends, for some reason I'm not on their lists for someone to do something with. I call, they don't call back until it's too late. And they don't call me. Usually.
Anywho yeah so I was whining and Rachael said she'd go with me to the movies on Friday so I could at least said I did something other than play video games and play with the cat this weekend.
It was really kind of her. That and the movie fricking ruled. See Bond isn't supposed to be some tony playboy. He's supposed to be a spy, a hired gun, a cloak and dagger man. Bond is a darker creature, a hard brutal figure. A sociopath. I loved it. Best Bond movie I've seen in a long time. I actually enjoyed it as a standalone movie.
Dude I'm hungry. Nothing to eat in the house though. Which means I'll have to go out. Which means I'll have to put on something remotely presentable. And go outside.... blech... I'm way too lazy.