"There's no basement in the Alamo" or Adventures with aubergines

It's finally, finally Friday!! The week of nothing but data entry is finally over! It was a grueling week, I won't lie. I worked just over ten hours overtime total, which equals about $370 dollars after taxes- better than a kick in the teeth, if nothing else.

But wow, did it mess up my system. I started hallucinating today- you know it's pretty bad when you see a jaguar prowling about your office. He sniffed my coat hanging up on the back of the door, then settled under the chairs and disappeared. And, as I correctly wrote to Ron this past Sunday, I got sick. Not the laying face-down on my bed in misery sick, like last time, but enough that I can feel it- it was like someone flipped a switch, almost.

My parents are in San Antonio and Beeville this weekend for the Goliad reenactment- hopefully Dad will be able to drum up a lot of interest in his book, and that his talk/speech goes well too. They were going to stop by the old house, where Katherine and I went to school, and a few other places while they were there.

I cooked my first eggplant today- I think I might have cooked it a few minutes too long, but it still tastes fine- and made much more than I thought it would.

Actually talked to W. today- he had a fun weekend in Mammoth, and also found out he's seeing someone too. Her name isn't Any, but it's close enough to still tease him about.

And I'm to call him tomorrow too- it's the big "T" day- Tattoo day. My nerves are starting to work up. I should have gone to the gym today, but came back instead to get a bunch of the things I normally do on Saturday done- got my sheets and some odds and ends washed, the place dusted, my laundry all put away, the ironing done, and a bunch of other small chores like that.

I ordered my bento box this morning- I'm looking forward to using it! It'll take a week or so to get here, so I will have to patient- luckily nothing new for me.

Well, I need to get things ready for tomorrow- lots of errands to run before I leave.

Signing away my first-born...

Well, it's official- I will be attending California Western come August- I sent my deposit check off today. And, oddly enough, I'm feeling fine- no qualms, no nerves, no nothing. The real test will be how I feel tomorrow!

And I finally revealed the tattoo design to my Mom- took a little explaining, but I think she's given it a cautious approval.

The HR project is never-ending..I'm going to make it another early day, so come 6:30 I should be behind my desk, working away.

And that's all the news that's fit to print

Oh sweetheart, you don't need law school. Law school is for people who are boring and ugly and serious. And you, Button, are none of those things.

So, the start of the new week- it's been a busy weekend, and work might actually be a welcome change (though given what's on my plate, I highly doubt it.)

Round two was this weekend- I flew into San Diego very early Friday morning- my flight left at 6:50, and I got in around 8:30 or so. My tour at Thomas Jefferson was at 11, and my parents and cousin H. went down with me. As much as I hate to say it, it was a disappointment. For starters, the facility itself was just rundown and could come nowhere near to CalWestern- true, they are building a new campus site, but I won't be there when it's ready to be occupied. The programs too were nowhere near as strong as at CalWestern- the intern program was just an extension of career services, and both job placement rate and bar pass rate weren't near as good either. It was apparent in the de-brief we all had later (geez, my background's apparent there!) that we all had the same feelings. So, either tomorrow or Tuesday morning I will be mailing off my acceptance form and deposit to CalWestern- I'm going to law school!

The rest of the visit was nice- went to Target on Friday, where I purchased a yoga mat and iron supplement, and then on Saturday to the farmers market and then later on Costco, where I got the "Anne of Green Gables" tv miniseries- too good to pass up!

The trip back today went well, and I got all of my errands run too. I still need to unpack, but it won't take too long to do that- all I have is my toiletries and about two t-shirts and a pair of jeans- packed very light for this trip!

It'll be back to the usual this week- nothing exciting or interesting planned- just trying to get through that HR project from hell.

"You don't know what you're talking about"

So, I thought I would give this a shot, and see if it works- imbedding videos from youtube. Two of my favourite scenes from "No Country for Old Men," and the inspiration for my tattoo- yes, I plan on getting the words of a psychopathic killer inked into my skin- but the concept behind it is what interests me.

Anyway, enough blather, here is goes:

(Edit: it worked!!!)

"Now is not a time. What time do you close?"

Wow, it's been a while since I last posted- it's been a busy past few weeks, I will say that- and the next few weeks look to be just as busy. 

Work is going as well as to be expected- I'm no longer an admin assistant, but am not quite to the docket department yet. I'm in a holding pattern of sorts, working on a giant HR project, which consists entirely of entering data into PeopleSoft- I'm pretty much a mindless zombie by the end of the day. The upshot is that I have an actual office, with walls and a door- that's been nice. I keep it closed most of the time, so if I want to, I can put my head down for a few minutes.

The trip to San Diego went well, at least Round One- Round Two is this weekend. Got in on Thursday evening, and Friday ran errands with my Mom and in the evening went to Blue Point Grill in the Gaslamp for a belated birthday dinner- extremely good! Had the warm spinach salad and the linguine with clams. 

Saturday was the CalWestern open house. I was very impressed- I can definitely see myself there. Both the international program and the internship program are very strong, and everyone seemed very genuine. Plus, they ran the program like clockwork. 

This weekend is Round Two- Thomas Jefferson. I'm not all thrilled about going, but as my parents are paying for my plane ticket, I can't complain, or protest. 

And it's only just over a week until my appointment for my tattoo. Part of me is excited, part of me is thinking "what am I thinking," and the rest of me is just staying out of the argument. I've been looking at different fonts, but I think I'll stick with the courier new- I like it the best. The only part I'm not looking  forward to is having to explain it to everyone- the reference is a little obscure- okay, really obscure. 

I'll update after this weekend, with all of the news of Round Two. Until then

"Evelyn Waugh was a man"

The time change is finally catching up to me- I was fine this morning, even though I did find it disconcerting that the sun wasn't up at 7:30, like it normally is. I'll have to get used to walking to work in the dark again. 

Yesterday's trip to the gym is making itself felt- my knee is sore and puffy again (but at least not throbbing!), so I definitely overdid it. I just have a very hard time setting limits, and then actually sticking to them- if I feel fine, then I go for it- like yesterday, I was only supposed to run 3.5 at the most, and went on and did 4.5- bad idea, apparently. 

I called A. last night and we had a nice long conversation- almost 2 hours! She's doing well, which makes me happy. And she sounds pretty good on her ukulele, and she's only been playing a month or so. I never thought of the ukulele as a serious instrument, but it is. She's going to try and come up on the 29th, to come with me for my appointment to get inked. Having some moral support would be a nice thing- I don't normally have a problem with needles or blood, but you never know how you'll react in a situation. 

This coming week at work should be interesting- U. will be back in the office, and I need to ask her about my replacement, and all of that. If she really is starting the 17th, I'll need to do a major push to get all of the invoices laying on my desk processed, and clean everything out to move to either to 38 or 40- I'm not sure where they're sticking me. 

I should probably try to get a hold of W. sometime either today or tomorrow, to see if he can make it down to SD or not this weekend- he's terribly hard to get a hold of, and it's a minor miracle if you either actually do get a hold or him, or if he replies to an e-mail/phone message- he admits himself that he's horrible about getting back to people. Surprising, given how busy of a social calendar he has. 

Well, the bathroom needs to be cleaned, so I had better get to it.

"Exercise gives you endorphins, endorphins make you happy, and happy people just don't kill their husbands."

Ah, endorphins are a wonderful thing- coming down off of an endorphin high, that's another matter entirely. You go from feeling wonderful to feeling like crap in about 0.8 seconds. But while it lasts, everything is good. 

Work was rather uneventful this week- U. was in our Chicago office, so I was free to do as I pleased- not that I don't do it anyways, but it was nice not to have to worry about having anyone peeking over my shoulder. Of course, everyone in the office surfs the web- my cube-mate and I make quite a pair- she's getting married in about 4 weeks, so have been to all sorts of wedding sites, while I'm looking up information on tattoos and avidly read the imdb.com boards. 

It does look like they found a replacement for my desk, so I might actually make it to the docket department before I leave- next Monday, the 17th, is the target start date. I'm looking forward to working with CJ again, and putting into effect my changed hours- still working the same amount, but pushing everything back an hour- getting out at 3:3o will be very nice!

And last weekend I went and made my appointment to get inked- the 29th, so in just a few weeks. I've broached the subject with my Mom when they were here visiting, so now I just need to let her know I'm going through with it- given her reaction to my sister's, I think a little forewarning will go a long way. 

I'm hoping W. will be able to make it down this coming week, while I'm in SD- I'd like to talk about it with him. His sister will be- it'll be nice to see her too, but she's definitely not someone to talk about that kind of thing with. I'm still a little sore with her regarding the whole weight thing, and the resulting e-mail (diatribe would be more exact) from my Grandmother about it, telling me when, how, and what I should be eating. Thanks H., thanks a lot. 

I squealed like a girl this afternoon when I got my shipment notice from Amazon.com regarding my copy of "No Country For Old Men." It looks like it should arrive just in time for my trip down to SD- I can't wait to watch it on the flat screen. I know my little tv won't be able to do it justice. 

Well, I need to go and start getting ready for tomorrow- my intent was to try to get in bed early, so the time change wouldn't be such a big deal, but I highly doubt it will happen. 

"I was drugged!" or "You need 4 inches of bod and a great birthday"

26- that's seems really strange to me- and much older than 25 ever sounded. But here I am, a brand new 26. And it's actually been a pretty decent birthday, apart from this morning, when I slept three hours past my alarm- but I was only about 25 minutes late to work, so everything turned out okay. 

I had a good day at work (ie one that I really didn't have to do anything at all), and had a very tasty dinner at an Italian restaurant across from City Light books, then came back here, chatted with my elusive cousin W., and then opened presents, and talked with my parents. 

And that's about it. 

Oh, and I picked my "theme" songs for this year- "Here it Goes Again," by Ok Go, and then "Til the End of Time" by DeVotchka.  Both good songs, though for some reason the DeVotchka always reminds me of W.- I have no idea why, but it does. 

So, all in all, it was a good birthday- much better than last years! 

A new week, and a new month

Not a whole lot has happened since I last posted- I meant to post something last week, but work and life in general kind of caught up with me. 

The big news is I finally have a new computer! A nice, shiny new MacBook- as my friend RP said, I've made the leap over to the dark side (he's been a loyal Mac user for years.) I bought it Wednesday, and picked it up today after the data transfer. The only problems I've had so far is getting re-connected with the internet- I spent an hour on the phone with the Yahoo tech people, and we finally got it all figured out. Turns out it was all my fault, and once we figured out the big glitch, it took all of 15 minutes. 

Though I have to say, it was almost nice not being connected last night. I didn't feel obligated to check my e-mail or facebook page, or the news, or any of the 101 things that always seem so important at the time. 

And tomorrow is my birthday- 26! It was bothering me a few weeks ago, but I've hardly thought about it at all in the past few days. It'll feel like just a normal day, since I am going to work (but I will not close tomorrow, no matter how desperate they are!), but am going out to eat later, and then back here for presents and the little tiny cake I bought myself today- triple Belgian chocolate, so you really can't go wrong. 

Apart from getting my computer, the only other big thing I did was to go and make an appointment to get my tattoo- the last week of March. I went up to see the place and talk with the artist today- the parlour is in the Haight area, so it was fun to look around after I made my appointment. The bus ride was pleasant too- the line goes through some nice old neighborhoods- if I had a motorized vehicle of some sort, I'd be very tempted to move out that way- but, as I am dependent on the bus and my own two legs, living downtown is more practical. 

I am curious to see how the interview went last Friday- they interviewed someone for my position, and I am wondering if she made the cut or not- the typing test has been fairly effective in knocking out most people. I am anxious to start up in the docket department- I mean, my transfer was announced almost a month ago, and so far, nothing. 

Well, it's getting late, and I still have things to do before I head towards the shower. At least today is Sunday, which means I'll have nice clean sheets and blankets to snuggle into- there are probably only a few things better in the world than nice clean warms sheets and blankets!