THERE'S MORE TO LIFE THAN JUST TO LIVE.

Buh-bye, training wheels.

2009-06-03T01:21:00.001-07:00

I feel like a little kid who just got her first big-girl bike. One without training wheels. It still has the cool tassles on the handlebars and everything that she adored about the old bike, but it means that she’s growing up. It means progression.

Okay, enough analogies. I’ll cut to the chase. After ten months in training at work …

I’M A REAL DISPATCHER!

I’d been signed off on answering phones for quite a while, and have been on my own dispatching Bonney Lake police radio for a couple months, but I was still in training on Puyallup police radio. Big, bad Puyallup. But now I’m signed off, and I’m officially on my own in every aspect. Well, I’m on a six-month probation period, but still. No more trainers hovering and listening to everything I say. :)

Saturday night was the first night I worked Puyallup on my own, and I ended up having two shootings, TWELVE minutes apart. My heart was pounding, and adrenaline was rushing through me. It was insane. My coworkers all told me I did an awesome job, and several officers even complimented me on how well I did. I tell you what … there’s nothing better than an officer handing you an “atta-boy” about your dispatching skills. Especially when you’re still sort of a newbie and you’re just praying that they don’t think you suck. :)

So now I have a new permanent schedule for the rest of the year. Dayshift. Still don’t know how I feel about that. Ask me in a few weeks when I’m used to waking up at 4:30 in the morning. I’m just thankful to know my schedule more than a week in advance. Haha.

Besides, on dayshift we tend to get rediculous calls. Like yesterday. The Great Peacock Adventure. I’m not even kidding. We had a loose peacock on Meridian, the busiest street in Puyallup. So we had like four officers out there, shutting down traffic, trying to round up this freaking peacock. They couldn’t catch it, and then they lost it. And apparently, KK isn’t allowed to chase peacocks anymore because according to the Sergeant he “doesn’t have any peacock finesse”.

So anyways, that’s my exciting news for the night. The being-released-as-a-dispatcher part. Not the peacock part. Haha.

In other news, the fur monsters are doing well. They’re getting big, almost to the point that they aren’t kitten-sized anymore. They have an obsession with the potpourri in the living room, and that had better end quickly. Because I’m sick of picking up bits of potpourri from all over the house.

I’m in Yelm at my mom’s house right now. I was visiting her before she leaves tomorrow for a horse show in Walla Walla. Had lunch with my dad today, and tomorrow I’m helping him fix the Chevelle. More like watch while he fixes it. Haha. He has to replace something with the brakes before he lets me borrow it. I love driving that car. It’s a freaking beast. And it’s a guy magnet. Because no guy can resist a nice muscle car. At least, no guy that’s worth my time. :)

Anyways. I should probably get to bed. I’m still used to nightshift hours, and I need to break myself of that. Even if it means forcing myself to go to sleep. :)

Adam Lambert is MY American Idol. Bring on the glam.

2009-05-22T04:30:00.000-07:00

I’m still in shock. Adam Lambert lost American Idol. This is about as big of an upset as Mine That Bird winning the Kentucky Derby. Kris Allen was like the 50-1 longshot and by some miracle, he came out of flipping nowhere in the final turn and took the whole thing. And Adam was the heavy favorite that finished second and left us all stunned, wondering what the eff just happened.

I guess I should look at the bright side. Adam can do what he wants with his record. And he doesn’t have to perform that horrible coronation song on talk shows for the next three months. But still. I’m sad that he lost, and that his fans (myself included) couldn’t come through for him in the end.

However. One part of Wednesday night was amazing (well, more than one, but this was the best). I told Laura Tuesday how amazing it would be if Adam, since the voting was over and America no longer had control over him, came out during the results show in full-on “Crawl Thru Fire” gear - platform boots, man-corset, glitter out the wazoo. Just a big “eff you” to all the conservative people.

So I didn’t quite get all of that, but you can imagine my happiness when he came out in platform boots (!!!), eye glitter, funky angel wing shoulder pads and pants that had bedazzled handcuffs on the right leg. For a duet with KISS. Um, yes. That made my whole night. Watch above video for Adam all of his glittery, platformy glory.

It didn’t make up for the fact that he lost, but still. It was fan-freaking-tastic. Adam Lambert is MY American Idol.

"Gimme More" Number ... Five? I Think?

2009-04-27T15:15:00.000-07:00

It's been a long time. I know, and I'm sorry.

To make up for it, I present to you a brand-spankin'-new "Gimme More" list:

1. ADAM LAMBERT.

holiday trip 2 from Sebastian Iturrieta on Vimeo.

I don't care if Adam has been used on a past list. Hell, he may very well be on every single list until the end of American Idol. Because I adore him.

He is, in my opinion, the most talented competitor EVER on Idol. Vocally, he's incredible. He can sing anything. He could freaking sing "I'm A Little Teapot" and it would probably be a #1 hit. Joking aside, Adam is the real deal.

Even my mom loves him. When visiting her, I used to have to make her watch Idol with me. Pretty soon she would do it on her own, even change the channel to 13 for me. But now? Now she practically hyperventilates while Adam is singing. No joke. After he sang "Born To Be Wild", she literally was fanning herself because apparently Adam gets her all hot and bothered. And last week during the results show, I wasn't even at her house to watch with her. I got a random text message that said "Holy crap, he even dances better than everyone else!", referring to Adam's disco moves. It's adorable. It's a good thing that Adam is gay, or else my stepdad might have to worry. Oh, and speaking of gay, my mom says the words "what a waste" about Adam at least twice a week.

Anyways. Yes. Adam is pretty much the shit. He deserves to win American Idol. If he doesn't, I've already vowed not to watch the show ever again.

Although I said the same thing after Chris Daughtry was voted off. And look at me now.

2. SOUTHLAND.

It's hard for me to get into new TV shows. I'm the kind of person that will discover a show when it's in like it's 3rd season, then play catch-up. But as soon as I heard about Southland, I knew I had to watch it.

First of all, it's a cop show. And not some cheesy cop show. A real cop show. As someone in the law enforcement field, I love shows like this. This one is different from the rest, though. The way it was filmed is incredible. And I love the use of the bleeped-out cuss words, and the documentary feel.

Secondly, Ben McKenzie from The O.C. is in it. You can't go wrong with Ryan Atwood.

Honorable mention: Harper's Island. I didn't want to do two TV shows. But that is another awesome new one.

3. TINTED WINDOWS.

I'm not talking about actual darkened windows. I'm talking about the new supergroup fronted by lead singer Taylor Hanson. AKA my biggest crush when I was ten years old.

Oh, who am I kidding? I think I still have a crush on Taylor Hanson.

The band's debut CD came out last week, and it's incredible. My favorite songs:

- "Messing With My Head" (Above)
- "Kind of A Girl"
- "Dead Serious"
- "Take Me Back"

4. 17 AGAIN.

I love me some Zac Efron. But I thought this movie was going to be cheesy as hell. I mean, please. Exhibit A: High School Musical.

I was so wrong. I fricking loved it. And not in the OMG-the-acting-is-terrible-but-I'll-endure-it-because-it's-Zefron way, like with HSM. 17 Again was actually very good.

Zac was very good, and he's always very nice to stare at. But Thomas Lennon made that whole movie. I adore him. He's also Lieutenant Dangle on Reno 911!, and he is fricking hilarious.

5. SEATTLE MARINERS.

After losing over 100 games last year, I didn't have a whole lot of faith in this year's Mariners team. Even after the announcement that Ken Griffey, Jr. would be back in Seattle. But so far it seems they're off to a good start.

As of right now, they're 12-7 and are sitting on top of the American League West. Ichiro sat out the first two weeks of April on the DL, but in his first game back he hit a grand slam.

The Mariners have a fantastic team this season, and this may be their year.

Whoa. Hey, there, stranger.

2009-04-01T00:21:00.000-07:00

Holy sheet. It's been a long time. My apologies.

So much for keeping this thing updated.

A lot has been going on. But I don't feel like getting into a WHOLE lot of detail, so I'll give you the basics.

More Dad drama. He and Barb got back together for a millisecond. She moved back into his house. But then he realized that she's addicted to dancing and having a grand old time without him, so she's moving back out. I told him I thought he was an idiot for taking her back in the first place and that the whole thing pissed me off. I finally stood up to him and told him how much it affected me. I think I finally got through to him, and he apologized for everything and for ever hurting me and disappointing me. It wasn't that I was really mad at him for taking her back. I was more scared than anything, because everytime they've gotten back together, she has caused him to push me out of his life and I was afraid that it was going to happen again. So yeah, I told him that, among other things, and everything seems to be peachy now. We're going to a Mariners game on the 19th for my birthday.

Work is going really well. I got signed off on Bonney Lake police radio - I can work it on my own. I'm still in training on Puyallup police radio, though. Because it's so much busier. But hopefully I keep progressing and I get signed off on that soon, too! That's the last step in my training.

I'm starting to plan my birthday party - my birthday is on the 28th. My birthday last year kind of sucked, so I'm hoping this one makes up for it!

Not much else has been going on. It's pretty sad that the thing I look forward to most every week is American Idol. :) But really ... Adam Lambert is pretty much amazing.

Okay, that's pretty much it. I'll try to be better about updating. :)

Idol Predictions - Top 36/Group 3.

2009-03-04T11:11:00.000-08:00

I have to make this as quick as possible because I have to leave and go stake out my sister's wedding location for her since she lives a state over. But I still wanted to get my predictions in for this week.

MY PREDICTIONS FOR THE FINAL THREE FROM GROUP THREE:
1. Lil Rounds. She's been one of my favorite females since the start. She's also one of the judges' favorites - they made that very obvious last night. She'll definitely make it through.
2. Scott McIntyre. I must admit, until last night, I didn't think that Scott should have made it as far as he did. I thought he did poorly on his rendition of Daughtry's "Home" during Hollywood week, and I know this sounds horrible, but if Scott wasn't blind, I don't think he would be in the Top 36. HOWEVER. His performance last night was fantastic. Add that to his growing fan base, and he's definitely in the final 12.
3. Jorge Nunez. I adore Jorge. He has amazing vocals, and I love the Elton song that he sang last night. And I love the fact that he got emotional when all of the positive comments came his way. It shows that he's in the competition for all the right reasons. I'm all for Jorge. I hope he makes it in the Top 12.

POSSIBLE:
- Kristin McNamera. I liked her performance last night, but I know she can do better. She has stronger vocals than most of the females in the competition, and although I don't think she'll be in the top 3 from this group, I hope she comes back for the wild card.
- Felicia Barton. She had a couple rough spots during her performance, but overall she did really well. I don't think she'll make top 3, but maybe wildcard?

I'll go find video later. I have to jet. :)

Photobucket thingy.

2009-03-01T14:19:00.000-08:00

Directions:
1. Go to www.photobucket.com (don't sign in).
2. Type in your answer to the question in the "search" box.
3. Paste the first HTML code under each question.

What's your first name?

What is your relationship status?

What is your favorite color?

Who is your celebrity crush?

Who are you listening to right now?

Who is your favorite Disney character?

Name an alcoholic beverage.

What is your dream vacation?

What do you want to be when you grow up?

What do you love most in life?

One word to describe yourself.

Where were you born?

Where were you raised?

I live in?

Night or day?

Favorite Movies?

Favroite TV Shows?

Favorite dessert?

Favorite season?

Favorite kind of music?

Favorite Store?

Favorite Food?

Favorite place visited?

Place you most want to visit?

Idol Predictions - Top 36/Group 2.

2009-02-25T23:00:00.000-08:00

The first night of Idol was on Wednesday this week due to President Obama's State of the Union address, so even though this may appear a day late, I'm actually right on time.

Tonight was full of a lot of disappointments and a few surprises. I'm going to try and keep this as short and simple as possible.

MY PREDICITONS FOR THE FINAL THREE FROM GROUP TWO:
1. Adam Lambert. Hands down. And in no way am I being biased. He had the best performance of the night, he was in the "pimp spot" (the final spot of the night), and he has a ginormous fan base. He may have had a couple of rough patches in the song, but the rest of it was INCREDIBLE. He's been my favorite since day one, and he's definitely in.
2. Allison Iraheta. I like her, especially after tonight's performance. She's my new favorite girl in the competition, and she should make it through. She's very unique, and already a judge's favorite.
3. Matt Giraud. I'm going out on a limb here. I didn't hate his performace of "Viva La Vida" but I definitely didn't love it, either. He's been one of my favorites since he stole my heart with "Georgia On My Mind" during Hollywood week. I think he's built up a pretty good-sized fan base, and I believe people will remember his wonderful "Georgia" performance.

VERY POSSIBLE:
- Kris Allen. I'm putting him as a very close fourth. Which means that he will make the wildcard night. I wasn't a big fan of his performance tonight, but he can definitely sing, and OH MAN ... he is very nice to look at.

It's extremely likely (and maybe even expected) that Kris and Matt G. could be flipped. But I'm predicting not. Piano man for the bronze.

LESS LIKELY, BUT STILL POSSIBLE:
- Norman Gentle. This guy is crazy entertaining. Like, laugh-out-loud, what-is-he-going-to-do-next entertaining. He doesn't deserve to be in the top 12, because there are so many other singer that should have a spot, but this guy is popular. He has a crapload of fans, and people love him. There's a small chance he could make it. If he doesn't, I vote that he gets to go on the Idol tour! :) No matter what, this was flipping hilarious:

Even so, it may be entertaining, but it should NOT get him to the top 12.

Anyways, I leave you with the best performance of the night - Adam Lambert:

Oh, haha ... I must add this before I head to bed. I'm staying at my parents' house tonight and watched the show with my mom. Tonight was the first time my mom had really heard/seen Adam. After his performance when he's talking with Ryan, my mom pops off with this:

Mom: He's pretty cute, isn't he?
Me: Um, yes. He's freaking hot. Too bad he's gay.
Mom: What a waste.
Me: Tell me about it.
Mom: Is he wearing fingernail polish?
Me: Yes. It's part of his charm.
Mom: Oh.
Me: Are you still going to vote for him?
Mom: I don't vote.
Me: Good point. Will you at least still root for him?
*LONG PAUSE*
Mom: Yes.
Me: Good. Don't let the fact that his nails match mine get in the way. Now shhh. Watch for Norman's recap.

Please don't kill me.

2009-02-24T18:21:00.001-08:00

But it's been a week since I've written anything.

And this is just a pathetic filler attempt. :)

I'm miserable, and super sick.

I came home sick from work yesterday because I was puking my guts up. Thank goodness it was my Friday and I can be miserable on my days off, curled up in bed and not dealing with cranky people on the phone. Or cranky officers on the radio.

I'm not really hungry, but I should probably try to go eat something. I've only eaten like 10 points worth of food in the last 48 hours. :/

At least the scale should be happy with me at my weigh-in tomorrow night.

Idol Predictions - Top 36/Group 1

2009-02-17T23:53:00.001-08:00

I think I'm going to make this a weekly thing. If there's anyone reading this who wants to add your opinions, please feel free to leave a comment.

So the first group of the Top 36 has performed and I must say, I'm pretty disappointed. I didn't expect much out of the girls, and none of them really blew me away. But a couple of my favorite guys were in this group, and they didn't do as well as I had thought/hoped they would.

They didn't show Brent Keith at all during Hollywood, and I was hoping that he would have a great performance tonight since he needed to build up his fan base. But his choice to sing "Hicktown" by Jason Aldean was NOT a good one - he's going to go home.

Michael Sarver, the roughnecker, has been one of my favorites since the beginning. He kills on ballads, but he chose to sing "I Don't Wanna Be" by Gavin DeGraw. He didn't do horribly on it. But when nine out of twelve contestants are going home, and it's pretty much your last chance to prove yourself, it's all about picking a song that showcases your talent. However, he's popular and already has a big fan base. So he may still make it through to the finals tomorrow night and if he doesn't, he still has a good shot at the wildcard.

MY PREDICITONS FOR THE FINAL THREE FROM GROUP ONE:
1. Danny Gokey. He killed. Best by far. And his fan base is huge because of his backstory and likeability. He's this season's Elliott Yamin. He's definitely through.
2. Alexis Grace. She had the best performace out of the girls, in my opinion.
3. Anoop Desai. I like him, but I wasn't fond of his performance. But his fanbase is already huge. I think his likeability will get him into the finals.

POSSIBLES:
- Michael Sarver. Like I said, still not out for the count.
- Rickey Braddy. He had a great performance, but I don't know if his fan base is big enough yet to get him into the finals. In my opinion, he should be in the final three instead of Anoop. But I don't think he will be.
- Tatianna Del Toro. I shudder to even think of the idea of her making the finals. I find her so annoying, and her sudden personality change made me go "WTF?!" out loud. But, unfortunately, she does have a fan base. And VFTW is backing her. Dear God.

Alright, signing out. I leave you with the best performance of the night:

"1, 2, 3, DAMN!"

2009-02-15T20:32:00.000-08:00

A small wish of mine came true.

I wanted Jonas to do a skit on SNL.

And they did two. :]

Disregard the poor acting by all three Jonai. That's not the point.

The point is, they did TWO skits.

And they actually made fun of themselves. Which was awesome.

Oh, and they didn't suck during their performances. Haha. Actually, "Tonight" was pretty darn good. Which surprised the hell out of me.

And the Sharpie eyebrow line was fantastic. :]

Annnnnnd Joe looked fierce in that mesh tank top.

That is all.

Idol chatter.

2009-02-11T23:57:00.000-08:00

Tonight was the night on American Idol - the Top 36 was revealed. Or at least confirmed, since I'd known who made it for over a week now. Stupid spoiler list.

And since the list has been confirmed, I would like to make my official Top 12 predictions. So they are here, in writing. Er, typing.

Since they changed the format around this season, and I have no idea who all is qualified to be the wildcards, I'm just going to list the top six guys and top six girls.

Guys:

1. ADAM LAMBERT. Number one with a bullet. I think he'll go far this season. He's my absolute favorite, and he may very well win the whole shebang.

2. Michael Sarver. The rouchnecker. Love this guy. He's one heck of a singer.

3. Matt Giraud. The dualing piano player. I liked him more in Hollywood than in his original audition.

4. Brent Keith. This is wishful thinking. I adore him. But they didn't show him like, AT ALL in Hollywood, so I have no idea how he did.

5. Anoop Desai. How can you not like him?

6. Danny Gokey or Stephen Fowler. This one could go either way. I really like Danny, and he's been really consistant. And I loved Stephen's Stevie Wonder song the first Hollywood round, but his David Cook disaster last night was awful. But he's got the pipes.

Girls:

Let me first says that coming up with a list of my favorite girls was insanely difficult. None of them really impressed me a whole lot. The guys are definitely the strongest gender this season. I can't even think of commentary for most of them, so I won't add any. Haha. Oh, wow, I don't even know where to begin ...

1. Lil Rounds.
2. Jackie Tohn.
3. Kristin McNamera.
4. Megan Corkrey.
5. Ann Marie Boskovich.
6. ~~And probably Joanna Pacitti. The "plant". Haha.~~ Scratch that. I just found out that she was disqualified. Probably something to do with her 238472934 previous record deals or something. I'm too tired to think of another girl. I'll edit this tomorrow.

So there you have it. And like I said, I have no idea how exactly the wildcard thingy is going to work.

OTHER IDOL RANT:

I fricking hate Tatiana. I want the earth to open up and swallow her. She's possibly the most annoying person ever.

And Norman Gentle is my hero. For real. He's freaking amazing. I can't believe he made the Top 36, but I'm glad he did.

Bee-tee-dubs, this post was approved by Norman. And his sexy sweatbands.

What? An actual post about my life?

2009-02-11T23:27:00.000-08:00

I just realized how long it's been since I actually wrote an entry about how my life is going. I think the last time I check in, everything was pretty much shit and I was throwing myself the grandest of pity parties.

Thank God that's all changed.

Work is going amazingly well. I got signed off on phones after completely plataeuing for a while, and now I've been working radio for a couple of weeks. I started out on Bonney Lake radio, since that city is much smaller than Puyallup, and the police department is smaller - less radio traffic. But after only about a week on the BL radio, I've now moved onto Puyallup, and now I'm trading back and forth between the two. My trainer has said that she never imagined that I would be on Puyallup this fast, and she never thought she'd have to adjust my schedule this soon. I had been working 6am to 2pm, but the radio traffic was slower in first couple of hours. Now I've gotten to the point where I'm ready to tackle more radio traffic so I've been moved to a 10am to 6pm shift. Which is why you'll probably see more blog entries from me late at night ... gotta find something to do with my extra late hours. Haha. Anyways, yeah ... it's going really well, and my evaluations are great. It's such a turnaround from where I was at a month ago - I was really having a tough time. But all that's changed, baby. :)

My diet is also going really well. With my new schedule adjustment I couldn't make my Weight Watchers meeting tonight, so I'm going to go weigh in tomorrow. I'm really hoping for another five pounds this week, but I don't know if that's going to happen. Probably closer to four. But as long as I keep losing, I'll be happy.

It still sucks not being close to my friends and family, but they're all doing well. I have a three-day weekend coming up, and I'm going to spend one of my days off in Yelm with my family. And visit my pony. :)

I can't really think of anything else. Nothing too exciting. Time to go write up my Idol blog. :)

I think I'm the last person on the planet to fill this out.

2009-02-09T19:06:00.000-08:00

But I'm finally jumping on the bandwagon.

25 random facts about me:

1. I procrastinate. A lot. I will put everything off until the very last possible minute. That and chewing on my nail beds are my biggest vices.

2. I used to be able to sit on my hair, it was so long. I would be sitting on the floor, then lean forward to stand up, and darn near rip my hair out because I was sitting on it. Oh yeah, and I'm naturally blonde - a lot of people don't seem to know this or remember this since I've been a brunette for some time.

3. I'm a ringtone whore. I change mine all the time, and I have like 50 in my phone. Right now it's "Don't Trust Me" by 3Oh!3. And my text message ringtone is "The (Shipped) Gold Standard" by Fall Out Boy.

4. I used to hate my last name. Because it's so different. Schoolcraft. It's not exactly Smith or Jones, right? But now I like it - it sets me apart. However, I used to get teased in elementary school more for my first name than for my last name. Kids called me "Er-head" and said I had a boy's name. Haha, kids are cruel.

5. I have a lot of pet peeves, and most of them have to do with driving. People who drive two miles an hour under the speed limit. People who can't figure out roundabouts or drive in the snow. Turn signals that are either left on or are turned on at the last second. And, like Laura said, windshield wipers that are on too fast for conditions.

6. Technically, I'm an only child. But I have a stepbrother and stepsister who I consider to be like a real brother and sister to me. I also have three stepsisters on my dad's side who I do not consider part of my family.

7. During a trip to Mexico when I was fourteen, I got "Swimmer's Ear" and was deaf in my left ear for a month. And from time to time, I still have problems with that ear. Other highlights from that trip - Larissa breaking John's rib and the backseat of our rental car getting stolen because my mom stole some dude's parking spot.

8. I'm not obsessed with the Jonas Brothers, and I don't believe I ever was. And I don't like them as much as I used to. Don't get me wrong - I still like them and I'll still go see their concert movie on opening weekend and buy the soundtrack and everything. But lately they've just been kind of "eh" for me.

9. I go through cell phones like it's nobody's business. In the past two and a half years, I've had eleven phones. Some of them died tragic deaths, like drowning in the back of my old truck. And some of them simply got traded in for whatever new phone had just come out on the market. Right now I have the BlackBerry Storm, and I adore it.

10. 2004 was by far the worst year of my life. My nana had always been the family member I was closest to, and when she passed away, I was completely lost. From the time she was admitted to the hospital in January to her death in April, her funeral the day after my birthday all the way to the completion of the wrongful death lawsuit at the end of the year - the entire year was the worst time imaginable.

11. One of my favorite TV shows of all time is "Life As We Know It". It starred Sean Faris, was set in Seattle, and was pretty much centered around how much guys think about sex. For some reason, ABC canceled it after like 13 episodes. At least they released it on DVD. :)

12. When I was about seven, I wanted to be an Olympic gymnast. I would turn on the music in my Nana's living room, push all the furniture out of the way and practice my floor routines.

13. My best friend and I have NEVER had a fight. Not a single one. Not even over the littlest thing. And we've been best friends for almost nine years now. We met at horse camp my first year in 4-H and bonded when we found out we shared the same middle name - Leigh.

14. I really dislike fine-tip pens, and I'm not sure why. Just give me a medium- or bold-tip and I'll be a happy camper.

15. I'm actually a pretty good bowler. Not as good as I was when I was competing in high school, but I can still bowl in the 150s.

16. I can't cook. My idea of cooking is taking a frozen item out of the freezer, throwing it in the microwave, and pressing a button.

17. Whenever I'm at home, I'm pretty much always wearing my favorite slippers. Like right now. They look like cowboy boots, with faux-faux-ostrich on the toes. The rest is fuzzy, and they even have little boot-pull loop things. My mom brought them back from Texas for me when she went to the NASCAR race.

18. I rarely eat off my dishes. I use plastic plates and cups. I use the excuse that it's because I'm too lazy to do dishes, but it's mainly because my real dishes were expensive and I'm so clumsy, I'm scared to death I'm going to break them.

19. I love to write. And apparently, if I ever fail as a 911 dispatcher, I could always get a career writing the summaries on the backs of books. Haha.

20. I worship Kathy Griffin. I think she's hilarious. And I want to hang out with her for a day.

21. I'm a walking orthodontic ad. You name it, I suffered through it. Four years of braces, head gear, wire retainer, clear retainer, night guard, and a permanent retainer on my bottom teeth. Although my wire retainer was cool. It was purple. And had a picture of my first horse on it. :)

22. I have lots of scars, but no impressive stories. Back of my right hand - killer toaster oven. Left hand - Dusty's stall door. Knuckles - various curling irons and sidewalk injuries. And I have a big scar on my thigh, but I have no idea what it's from.

23. I'm a horrible impulse buyer. About 70% of the time, I'll buy something and by the time I leave the store, I already regret buying it. But do I ever take it back? No.

24. I used to collect Beanie Babies. I think I had like 150 at one point. My nana would take me to Tim's Pharmacy on the mornings that UPS delivered shipments of new Beanies and we'd get the newest ones. Yeah, it was that hardcore.

25. We used to have a 30-pound cat named Fatman. His name used to be Turbo, but once he started to get super chubby, we changed his name. Because Turbo just doesn't work for a cat the size of a small child. Fatman could hear you pull the Velveeta out of the fridge, and he'd come running. He also held a grudge against remote-controlled cars.

Soundtrack To Your Life.

2009-02-07T22:30:00.000-08:00

You know the drill.
iTunes on shuffle.

When You Wake Up: "Too Little Too Late" - JoJo.
Singing In The Shower: "Love Don't Live Here" - Lady Antebellum.
Brushing Your Teeth: "Break Away" - Tokio Hotel.
Your Parents: "I Swear" - John Michael Montgomery. Hahahaha.
Your Friends: "The Fortunate" - Cartel. Yeah, fortunate to be my friends. Hahaha.
Your Life In General: "Stealing Cinderella" - Chuck Wicks. Um. Okay?
Your Job: "Addicted" - Saving Abel. Bahahaha.
Your Love Life: "Baby Don't Get Hooked On Me" - Rascal Flatts version. Hmmm.
Your Past: "Next Go Round" - Nickelback. Hahahahaha.
Your Future: "For You I Will (Confidence)" - Teddy Geiger. Looove this song.
When Thinking Deep Thoughts: "I Will Be The Light" - Nick Jonas.
When Partying: "Fake It" - Seether. Lol.
Makes You Wanna Cry: "Lessons Learned" - Carrie Underwood.
While Driving: "Play My Music" - Jonas Brothers. That fits.
Your Secret Love: "I Wanna Be Bad" - Willa Ford. Hahahaha. Fitting?
Your Deepest Secret: "Goodbye" - Miley Cyrus.
After Learning A Lesson: "7 Minutes In Heaven" - Fall Out Boy. Haha.
Making Love: "Push" - Matchbox Twenty. That sounds horrible. Hahahaha.
Breaking Up: "Resolution" - Nick Lachey. Perfect much?
When You Feel Alone: "Living In Fast Forward" - Kenny Chesney.
Your Happy Dance: "Bet On It" - High School Musical 2.
Shaking Your Groove Thang: "Life On The Run" - Dierks Bentley.
Mental Breakdown: "Misery Business" - Paramore. That fits.
Fighting: "Move On" - Jonas Brothers. Hahaha.
A Good Day: "Time For Me To Fly" - Jonas Brothers. What's with all the Jonas?
A Bad Day: "Wrong Again" - Martina McBride. Whoa.
Winning The Lottery: "That's Cool" - Blue County.
Finding Money: "One Step At A Time" - Jordin Sparks.
When Your Happy: "Big Star" - Kenny Chesney.
When Your Sad: "Nothing Good 'Bout Goodbye" - Hinder.
Your Wedding Day: "What About Now?" - Daughtry. Haha.
High On Life: "While You Loved Me" - Rascal Flatts. That's not a "high on life" song. :/
Drinking: "I Write Sins Not Tragedies" - Panic At The Disco.
Anger: "Fearless" - Taylor Swift.
Decision Making: "Shine" - 7Sharp9.
Finding A New Job: "Stay" - Little Big Town. Hmmm.
Shopping: "Paralyzer" - Finger Eleven. Hahaha.
Payday: "Lost Without You" - Robin Thicke. Haha.
Breaking Someone's Heart: "Sleepin' On The Foldout" - Brad Paisley. Bahahahahaha!
Having Someone Break Your Heart: "Leavin" - Jesse McCartney. Okay, now this is just getting creepy.
Losing Your Best Friend: "If Tomorrow Never Comes" - Garth Brooks. OMG.
Losing A Family Member: "Wherever You Are" - 7Sharp9. :/
Your Final Thought: "I've Been Better" - Brad Paisley. WTF.
Your Funeral: "Zzzzzz" - The Cab. Holy shit.

Okay, that got really scary at the end.

:/

"Gimme More" - Number Four.

2009-02-06T20:35:00.000-08:00

Time for the 4th installment of my list of things that I pretty much can't get enough of. Enjoy. :)

1. ADAM LAMBERT.

My life is complete. American Idol is back, and I have found my favorite.

And he is amazing.

Even if he comes with eye makeup, emo hair and skinny jeans tucked into boots. Speaking of guys with skinny jeans and boots, where's my Kevin Jonas "WAT?" .gif when I need it? Haha.

Anyways, I'm also 95% positive that Adam's gay (maybe 100% after watching this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EBlmcak7cuA). Which is a shame because he is adorable beyond belief. But that's okay. I love him anyway.

Despite Simon's "theatrical" comments, Adam blew me away in his first audition. The guy has wicked talent. Haha ... "Wicked" ... get it? He was in the cast of "Wicked" ... okay, bad joke.

This week was the start of Hollywood round, and Adam was INCREDIBLE in the group portion. Make sure you watch the entire video, because they show two parts of his performace, and it's amazing.

And one thing I noticed is that from certain angles, he totally looks like Joe Jonas. In the second video above, from the times of 29 seconds left in the video to 12 seconds left (since the timing with Photobucket vids is all screwy), the resemblence is SCARY similar. And in some other videos, even their faces look alike. But that's about where the similarities end. Adam's voice is absolutely incredible. Joe's ... not so much. As much as I love me some Joe Jonas, I don't think he would even make it to Hollywood on American Idol.

But this isn't about Joej. This is about A-Lam, and how much ass he kicks.

So yes. Adam is my favorite. Adam Lambert FTW. End of story.

2. SUPERBOWL COMMERCIALS.

With one of my least favorite NFL teams joining up with a team that definitely wasn't on my top ten list of favorites, I must say that I tuned into the Superbowl for mainly the commercials. That being said, once the game got underway it turned into one of the most amazing games I've ever seen. Unfortunately the Steelers won, but there's nothing I can do about that.

In between the crazy plays and turnovers were some very funny commercials. My favorites were the Doritos crystal ball - I actually LOLed at that one, the Conan O'Brien Bud Light - because it had Conan, and he's awesome, and the Budweiser Clydesdale ancestor one - because it was adorable.

However. Nothing topped the Justin Timberlake Pepsi commercial from last year, with Andy Samberg in a blonde wig. In my opinion.

3. "HERE COMES GOODBYE" - RASCAL FLATTS' NEW SINGLE.

I adore this song.

Then again, Rascal Flatts can pretty much do no wrong in my book. But I really do LOVE this song. Gary has some of the most amazing vocals, and this song fits him perfectly.

And the song itself is awesome. It was written by Chris Sligh of American Idol fame, and I love the lyrics.

I cannot wait for RF's new CD. Two more months, baby. Two more months.

4. RERUNS OF "THE O.C."

This has always been one of my favorite shows, but lately I've been watching it like CRAZY. And I have no idea why.

I want my own Seth Cohen. Not Adam Brody. Seth Cohen. Geeky and sarcastic and funny. Yes, please. :]

Anyways, I don't care if it was canceled after four seasons. It's still one of the best shows ever. EVER.

Okay, only four this time because I can't think of any more. Sorry guys. :/

And hahahaha, I found it.

In honor of the lovely wardrobe choice Adam made in Hollywood, this post is approved by the very, um, stylish Kevin Jonas:

I'm sorry, Adam, bb. I had to.

"Quick! What's the number for 911?"

2009-02-06T20:29:00.000-08:00

So I've heard my fair share of funny calls at work in the past few months, but there was something in the air today. Haha.

And somehow one of my co-workers got to talk with all of them. Lucky her. ;)

The first one:

Girl: Can I get a ticket if one of my headlights isn't working?
Co-Worker: Yes, you have to have two headlights.
Girl: Well I have two headlights on my car.
Co-Worker: But they both have to be working.
Girl: ... Oh.

And then someone called and asked what the emergency number for dispatch was. Um, how about 911?

What a day.

And the official week one weight loss is ...

2009-02-04T19:14:00.000-08:00

... Drumroll, please ....

FIVE pounds!!!!

Exactly five pounds. 5.0.

I'm stoked!

Oh man, if I could keep going at this rate, my life would be complete.

We get our new eliptical trainer at work tomorrow. I'm going to put that thing to good use.

But for now I'm going to go reward myself with some Dreyer's Slow-Churned LIGHT ice cream. :]

Because I think I earned it.

My life has come down to this.

2009-02-02T00:17:00.001-08:00

I've come to realize that lately, the majority of life is currently spent doing the following things:

Watching old episodes of The OC on DVD. I've pretty much addicted to this show since it was on TV. Some days, I'll get a little wild and a little crazy, and I'll switch it up a little bit. Maybe throw in an old CSI episode or something. I like to live on the edge. ;)

Hanging out with my mom, mainly while she does horse stuff or talks about horse stuff. Or when she acts psycho, like when she busted out with her disco dancing today during the Superbowl, and also several hours later when she started singing Bonnie Raitt songs.

Listening to my dad talk about his failed marriage and the current status of his divorce. Daddy likes to talk a LOT, and he also tends to repeat himself constantly. But I love him anyway.

Talking to the crazy people who call 911. And the people who call 911 about the most rediculous things. Like to find out if the roads are icy.

Struggling to find things to take pictures of for the Project 365. Because it turns out, when you don't go out much and when your life isn't that interesting, you don't have many things to take a photo of. But hey, at least I've stuck to the project for a month.

That's really about it.

But you know what?

I don't care.

I love my life.

A new beginning ... again.

2009-01-28T22:11:00.001-08:00

Almost exactly one year ago, I made one of the best decisions of my life.

I decided to do something about my unhappiness with my weight and body, and I joined Weight Watchers. I paid close attention to the food I ate for the first time in my life, and it paid off. By June I had lost 25 pounds, and I was happier than I had been in a very long time.

But then after I got back from Texas in July, I started to go downhill. I allowed myself to start drinking regular soda again, but only every now and then, telling myself that a few wouldn't hurt. That turned into eating fast food again, then I quit going to Weight Watchers meetings and my poor eating habits came back.

Now, six months later, I'm three pounds heavier than I was last January. All of my hard work has disappeared down the drain, and I have nothing to show for it except wearing my "fat" pants again and hating the way I look. When I look in the mirror, I despise the overweight person that stares back at me. And when I look into my closet full of adorable clothes that I can't fit into anymore, it kills me. One glance at the Wii Fit sitting on a shelf in my living room, the same gadget that I've used only twice since buying it, and I vow that I will put that thing to good use and work out. But then I convince myself that I'm too tired or too busy, and the Wii Fit stays put on the shelf.

Every day I regret the poor health decisions I've made in the past few months, but I've kept going every day without doing anything to change it. I kept wishing I could go back to the way I looked six months ago. But then I would go and eat French fries, only to regret it soon after, and then the whole vicious cycle would begin again.

But that all is going to change. It HAS to change. I'm sick of having low self-esteem, and I'm sick of hating my figure. I lost the weight once, and I can certainly lose it again.

Tonight I went to my first Weight Watchers meeting in half a year. And it felt great. My mom is doing the program again, as well as her good friend Marylee. It'll be harder this time around, since I'm living on my own and am responsible for buying my own food and making sure that I stick with it. But I still have a support system in my mom. I know I can do this. I so want to do this.

But I'm going to do it differently this time around. I'm doing it better. Last time, I relied solely on changing my eating habits - I stepped on a treadmill once the whole time I was on the diet. This time, I'm making sure that exercise is very much incorperated into it. Not only do I have the Wii Fit, but I also have free reign of the gym in the rental office in my apartment complex. Plus, when the weather gets warmer, there's Bradley Lake practically next door, with it's pretty walking trail.

I'm also starting a new medication for my migraines, and it's a medication that also happens to double as a weight-loss medication. I wasn't expecting a diet pill when I went searching for a migraine med. But it's a nice perk.

Anyways, my fridge and freezer are now stocked full of healthy food and drinks, and I'm really excited about starting Weight Watchers again. I'm ready for change.

I can do this.

Snow, Sharpies and street signs. Oh my!

2009-01-27T16:37:00.000-08:00

Work is so entertaining sometimes.

Today was such a Monday (I know it's really Tuesday, but it was my Monday), and the silliest things were making us all laugh.

But I think this one takes the cake.

Officer over the radio: This is going to be a 3-car 2-car accident.
Me: How the hell do you have a 3-car 2-car accident? What the heck is 3-car 2-car?
Co-Worker: I have no idea what he's talking about.
Me: Did he mean like, 3 cars versus 2 cars?
Co-Worker: Maybe? And maybe that's his way of saying 5, because it's too big a number to say the real way. He has to add them up.
Officer: This is actually going to be 1 car versus a fire hydrant.
Me: What the heck? How do you go from "3-car 2-car" to five cars, then down to one car? And where did the fire hydrant come from?
Co-Worker: Subtraction, maybe? 3 - 2 = 1?

A few minutes later:

Officer: I'll be clear the accident. They've exchanged information.
Me: What the hell? Who exchanged information? The vehicle and the fire hydrant?
Co-Worker: Yeah. The fire hydrant whipped out a sharpie and said to the car "write your number on me".

Also, the woman who called me to say that her daughter "got in an altercation with a stop sign" (AKA she ran the thing over with her car) was pretty entertaining, too.

Seriously, everyone was getting in fights with inanimate objects today. And the inanimate object usually won. Except for the stop sign. May it rest in peace.

I love my job.

And the fact that no one can drive in the snow.

Boys Like Girls = Drunken single ladies.

2009-01-26T21:59:00.000-08:00

This video just made my entire day:

I assume that they were a little wasted, because Martin wrote this on his blog today:

the remnants of party marty woke up this morning stark naked except for a leather jacket.

Martin Johnson is pretty much my hero.

You heard it here, folks.

Hero status.

My mom kicked Kristy Lee Cook's ass.

2009-01-25T22:30:00.000-08:00

Yes, it's true. But I will get to that story in a bit.

First, Honor Society is honest-to-God stalking me. Not that I'm complaining. They can stalk me all they want.

But seriously ... first they creeped my Myspace pictures to find my pink guitar, then left me a comment about it.

Now they're creeping my YouTube videos.

I have several videos posted on YouTube of me doing covers of songs. One of the old songs I did was "This Bed Is An Ocean".

So I log on to YouTube today, only to find that I have a three-day-old comment from Honor Society on my old cover! This is what they said:

That was pretty great!! Keep singing - we'll watch out for your next song :)

Only I already have a cover of another one of their songs posted, but that's beside the point.

Honor Society is stalking me. And I love it. :]

And tonight I got a phone call from my mom. She went down to Oregon this weekend to ride her horse (which is currently in training with a world-level trainer that's worth the eight-hour drive). And today she took Kira to a schooling show, just to ride her and get used to the way that Larry has been riding her before the APHA show season starts.

So my mom was at this schooling show, and it turns out that Kristy Lee Cook was also competing. You know, the country singer from the last season of American Idol. Who I didn't like on the show, but changed my mind after I heard her first country single. Yeah, that Kristy.

Anyways, so Kristy was also competing, but only under a different name. I forget what name she used. My mom got to talking with her about horse stuff, and said that Kristy is SUPER nice. And Kristy adores my mom's horse, apparently.

So after my mom and Kristy became buddies (I swear, my mom can befriend anyone), she whooped her ass in all the classes. Haha. My mom said it's very obvious that Kristy does barrel racing.

Yeah ... that's my story for the day. Sorry it sounded more interesting. :]

I'm starving, and I'm going to go get some food. Even though it's almost 11pm. Don't hate.

Oh. Yet another weird MySpace guy:

I don't get it. Why can't I attract normal people? Why does it have to be all the freaks and old guys?!

Things I want to do before I die.

2009-01-23T00:25:00.000-08:00

The other day I was thinking about things that I wanted to do in my lifetime, and I started putting a list together. This is what I have so far, and in no way is it complete. But I'll keep thinking of things and do an updated list sometime in the future.

- Go to the top of the Space Needle.
- Learn to tolerate coffee.
- Get my picture taken with the Fremont Troll.
- Attend a Hanson concert.
- Watch the Seahawks win the Superbowl.
- Go to a NASCAR race. Preferably at Bristol.
- Not just meet the Jonas Brothers, but spend a day with them.
- Show at the APHA World Championship show.
- Get a wrist tattoo.
- Be 135lbs. Sometime in my life.
- Learn to play the guitar. The few notes I can play now don’t count.
- Sit in the Jerry Springer audience and chant “JERRY! JERRY!”
- Meet David Cook. And play Scrabble with him, even though he’d kick my ass.
- Be an extra in a movie.
- Fall in love and get married.
- Ice skate in NYC at Christmastime.
- Learn to wakeboard.
- Kick it with “Party Marty” and the rest of Boys Like Girls.
- Ride the “Extreme Scream” at the Puyallup Fair.
- Sing karaoke with Michael Bruno.
- Kiss a guy while standing on the Eiffel Tower.
- Attend a bullfight in Spain.
- Jump in freezing cold water, just for the fun of it.
- Try an “exotic” food - one that you would find on Fear Factor.
- Attend the Kentucky Derby. And wear a ginormous hat.
- Compete on a reality show.
- Ride in a limousine.
- Write a song. A whole song. Rewriting an Honor Society song to make it about fishing does not count.

Stupid, worthless alarm clock.

2009-01-21T21:16:00.000-08:00

Ugh.

I went to take a nap at 3:30 this afternoon and set my alarm for 5:30.

And my alarm didn't go off.

I woke up at 9pm.

Wasted my whole evening. Ugh.

So I'm probably going to be up until like 1:00am to make up for the lost time, and therefore will be super tired when I wake up tomorrow morning.

I should probably invest in a new alarm clock because right now I have to set both my actual alarm clock AND my cell phone alarm clock in case one doesn't go off. Because I've been late to work as the result of my alarm clock failing to go off.

Ugh.

And I just wasted more of my time watching a 9 minute video of Miley Cyrus talking about riding her bike. And her Iron Maiden shirt. I need to find something better to do.

I'm going to go get food.

And then watch American Idol.

And then maybe go throw my alarm clock against the wall. Ooooh, or maybe I'll do what Joe did in their "Killing Time" video and kill my alarm clock with a baseball bat. That sounds like fun. :]

Now where can I get my hands on a baseball bat?

P.S. - After days of thinking it over, I have come to the decision that I'm going to write the proper way and use all correct capitalization. Although I can guarantee you that there's going to be some days that I forget and don't capitalize anything. Oh well. It's the thought that counts, right?

"My Boat's In The Ocean".

2009-01-20T22:08:00.000-08:00

Natali and I had some extra time on our hands this afternoon and we were video-chatting, discussing Honor Society and their upcoming CD. My biggest worry, I told her, is that since the Jonas Brothers are co-writing and co-producing, the whole thing is going to be Jonafied. Honor Society is mature, and it shows in their lyrics - "See U in the Dark" is about nakedness, and "This Bed Is An Ocean" is basically about frolicking in bed. For the most part.

And the Jonas Brothers ... well ... they're the Jonas Brothers. They wear purity rings and sing about girls in outer space. And going to the year 3000. For goodness' sake, one of their songs says "kiss the past" when it's SO clearly meant to say "kiss my ass".

So that got us started on this whole I-wonder-what-Jonafied-Honor-Society-lyrics-would-sound-like deal, and we decided to start messing around with the lyrics of "This Bed Is An Ocean" and see if we could steer the idea as far away from sex as possible. And I must say, what we came up with could be a number one hit.

Here is our version of the song:

Afternoon, in a hungry mood,
Just took a refreshing jog.
Need to eat
A few calories,
Just a tiny bit of food .

Cuz I don't wanna be so hungry anymore.
Got my tackle box and
I’m not very far away from shore.
So I think I will go fishing.

I am boarding this here
Tiny boat.
Need an oar and maybe
A GPS,
And of course you by my side.

I want you to fish with me.
I want you to fish with me.
I want you to fish with me.
Cuz my boat’s in the ocean.

Evening comes,
I have caught some fish.
Just enough for me to eat.
The fishies in my tummy
Do not satisfy
I'm still hungry, it's killing me.

Cuz I think I can catch some more for me and you.
I go back in the water, but there
Looks like there's a shark in plain view.
And no longer am I hungry.

Sharkey swims up closer,
It’s over.
Cuz he takes a big bite out of
The boat’s side and
Now it’s sinking.

I want you to rescue me.
I want you to rescue me.
I want you to rescue me.
My boat’s under the ocean.

This was a bad idea.
On the horizon the sun dips down.
I really don’t want to drown
But I’m alone in the ocean.

I'm treading water.
I never thought it could be this cold.
I see nothing around me.
I can't believe I somehow managed to float.

Eventually I was picked
up by the
Coast Guard and I
Almost passed out
Cuz I was so scared.

I permanently wear arm floaties
And I never eat fish anymore.
The beach is out of the question
Cuz I really hate the ocean.

And here is the original song:

And the original lyrics:

Late at night I can't fall asleep
My body's twisting in the sheets
You're the girl I want
I see you in my dreams
I can't wait 'til I fall asleep

Cuz I don't wanna be without you anymore
You're sending mixed signals
I didn't think I was far from shore
Now I'm caught up in the moment

I'm thrown overboard
I'm drowning
Lost without a lifeline
It's high tide
And I am sinking

I want you to rescue me
I want you to rescue me
I want you to rescue me
Cuz this bed is an ocean

Morning comes creaping like a theif
Stealing all my dreams from me
The lady in my life
She's just a fantasy
I'm so lonely it's killing me

Cuz I don't wanna be without you anymore
You're sending mixed signals
I didn't think I was far from shore
Now I'm caught up in the moment

I'm thrown overboard
I'm drowning
Lost without a lifeline
It's high tide
And I am sinking

I want you to rescue me
I want you to rescue me
I want you to rescue me
Cuz this bed is an ocean

I want you to rescue me
I want you to rescue me
I want you to rescue me
Cuz this bed is an ocean

I'm treading water
I never thought it would get this deep
I see you above me
I can't believe it was you who pushed me over

I'm thrown overboard
I'm drowning
Lost without a lifeline
It's high tide
And I am sinking

I want you to rescue me
I want you to rescue me
I want you to rescue me
Cuz this bed is an ocean

It was fun, and I have to give ourselves a 10 for creativity. Not everyone can turn a song about sexual things into a song about fishing. AND the new version is also sung to the same music and everything. If I could get through singing it without laughing, I'd record it and put it on YouTube. But I usually lose it halfway through.

Anyways, enjoy. :]

Life lessons from "Hannah Montana".

2009-01-19T21:04:00.000-08:00

I stumbled across a song tonight that is the most inspirational song that I've heard in a long time. With the way that I've been feeling lately about life in general, I really needed a pick-me-up, but I never expected to get it from a song that's in the upcoming Hannah Montana movie.

But, alas, that's exactly where it came from. Miley Cyrus sang "The Climb" at the Presidential Inauguration concert deal tonight, and I immediately had to go look up the lyrics.

It's weird how a song, especially one from a kiddie movie, can put you in a better mood. But it did.

Because it nailed everything. Right. On. The. Head.

I can almost see it, that dream I’m dreaming, but
There’s a voice inside my head saying “You’ll never reach it”.
Every step I’m taking, every move I make feels,
Lost with no direction, my faith is shaking.
But I’ve gotta keep tryin’, gotta keep my head held high.

There’s always gonna be another mountain.
I’m always gonna want to make it move.
Always be an uphill battle.
Sometimes I’m gonna have to lose.
Ain’t about how fast I get there.
Ain’t about what’s waiting on the other side.
It’s the climb.

The struggles I’m facing, the chances I’m taking.
Sometimes might knock me down, but no, I’m not breaking.
And I may not know it, but these are the moments that
I’m gonna remember most, yeah.
Just gotta keep going and I,
I’ve got to be strong.
Just keep pushing on.

There’s always gonna be another mountain.
I’m always gonna want to make it move.
Always be an uphill battle.
Sometimes I’m gonna have to lose.
Ain’t about how fast I get there.
Ain’t about what’s waiting on the other side.
It’s the climb.

There’s always gonna be another mountain.
I’m always gonna want to make it move.
Always be an uphill battle.
Sometimes I’m gonna have to lose.
Ain’t about how fast I get there.
Ain’t about what’s waiting on the other side.
It’s the climb.
Yeahhhhhh.

Keep on movin, keep climbing.
Keep the faith, baby.
It’s all about, it’s all about the climb.
Keep the faith, keep your faith.

Thank you, Miss Montana.

"Un[exciting] Sunday Afternoon".

2009-01-19T14:08:00.000-08:00

Okay, so I changed the title of the Backstreet Boys' song to better fit this entry. Because that's pretty much what yesterday afternoon was - unexciting. Well, and today, to be honest.

Yesterday I went with my mom and John to the WSPHC year-end awards banquet. WSPHC = Washington State Paint Horse Club, the club that we belong to. Since my mom pretty much kicked ass this year showing, she also pretty much cleaned up at the awards banquet. She won High Point Novice Amateur, High Point Junior Horse, High Point Amateur Halter Mares, and Reserve High Point Open Halter Mares. Her award was this GORGEOUS custom bronze statue that's painted to look like her horse:

The banquet was held at the Little Creek Casino and Resort outside Shelton, so after the banquet was over we headed down to the casino. I had never gambled before, so that was an interesting experience. Thank God my mom and John were there, or else I wouldn't have been able to figure out what to do. Haha. I decided to only put $10 on a ticket, then found a 911 nickel game I wanted to play. You had to line up fire trucks and police cars and stuff. I figured it might be good luck, so my mom and I both sat down and played.

I officially suck at gambling. I have horrible luck. I was down to almost nothing, then won a few dollars back and decided to quit there. So I ended up losing $4.50. John wanted to play, so I got up and let him have my machine. Two spins later, he'd won like $25. WTF. That could have been mine. Oh well. My mom lost all of her money, so I didn't feel so bad. :] The cigarette smoke was AWFUL. I think I still smell like smoke. I was so gross. Oh yeah, and at the buffet table at the banquet, I sliced my finger open on the HANDLE of a knife. No joke. There was a sliver of metal sticking out on the handle, and I cut my thumb on it. Even more proof that I have bad luck.

After the banquet, I went back to my parents' house and spent some time with my horse. I wish I had the extra money to board her somewhere closer to my apartment, but I don't. So I don't get to see her much. Yesterday I took her out and practiced Showmanship with her for a while. The thing that I absolutely adore about Cici is no matter how long she's been sitting in a pasture, out of the show ring, she doesn't lose her Showmanship skill. I could honestly throw her into a Showmanship class right now, and she would do well. Well, minus the fact that she's filthy dirty and out of shape. But she's just as good at Showmanship as she was five years ago when I was showing her.

So I pulled her out of the stall and practiced with her for a while, then took some pictures with both Cici [despite the fact that she's covered in mud] and my mom. But not at the same time. :] Then my mom took a couple pictures of Cici and I. Here are some of the pictures:

My beautiful Mommy and me:

This was supposed to be a serious picture, Mom:

Cheeeeeeesin' it:

Like mother, like daughter:

She was digging for gold, and I was helping:

This is my "OMFG, you're so muddy" face:

Cici was so not into the photoshoot:

Cici is still not happy:

I always wanted one of these pictures. Maybe I'll bathe her next time:

Despite what people say, I still believe that I look nothing like my mom. I wish I did. I want her nose. Instead, I got a nose that looks more like Cici's. :/ And don't even tell me that our eyebrows are the same shape, or something like that. Because she had hers tattooed on. :]

So anyways, then I drove back home to Puyallup, and video-chatted with Natali for a while. Then I watched "My Best Friend's Girl". And today I haven't done much of anything. I need to do laundry, and I have to run to Walmart in a little while.

Such an exciting life I lead. :]

Oh, and martinsays.com is officially my favorite website ever. I really want to be Martin Johnson's biffle. Today's complete entry from martinsays.com:

January 19, 2009 - 3 hours ago
i’m not gonna wear underwear anymore.

<3

Edit: I've discovered that I have an important decision to make. I've noticed that in some of my blog entries, I use the correct capitalization of words. Like this one. Then in some, everything is lowercase. I am not happy with this infrequency. This must change. I will let you know at a later time what my decision is, because it will be a difficult one. :]

would you like some cheese with that WHINE?

2009-01-18T01:14:00.000-08:00

i'm bored out of my mind.

i took vicoden and couldn't leave the house since i couldn't drive.

so for the past several hours, i've been making my own ringtones. i know, such a glorious life i lead. haha. but the ringtones i buy from verizon are crap because i have to have them sent to my phone from the website, and somehow they get all distorted. so i decided to goof around and make my own ringtones, and the sound is crystal clear. so i replaced all my old ringtones that i'd spent money on with free ones. wonderful. and i made a ton more. so now i have like 50 ringtones. haha.

tomorrow (well ... this morning) i have to drive to yelm at 8am, then ride to shelton with my parents for my mom's WSPHC year-end awards banquet. i don't want to go, and i know my back is going to be killing me like it was all day today. but i missed my mom's other banquets, so i have to go to this one.

i had the best day at work in a very long time on friday. somehow i managed to do almost everything right. lately, i've been so stressed, and was starting to think that i was a big screw-up. seriously, it was horrible. there was one day last week that i was so frustrated with myself that i had to go to the bathroom three times and cry, just to let it all out. and it was because of stupid stuff. my trainer was getting hammered on the radio she was working, so she was stressed, and she was taking it out on me. when i first started, i breezed through everything. i was lightyears ahead of where i should have been, and everything was amazing. now, i've plateaued and i'm not getting anywhere, even though i've been trying really hard. it doesn't help that i've been bouncing around from trainer to trainer since my regular trainer had surgery, but that's no excuse. now i really have to bust my ass and keep everything together, because i do NOT want to fail. i don't fail at anything - i don't allow myself to. i can't fail at this. if i do, my whole life will fall apart.

two months ago, i was so happy with my life and the way things were going. things were great. now, not so much. i'm lonely, and i'm sick of all my friends and family living so far away. i'm always in pain, because of my stupid back. and i'm always tired, because i can only get about 4 hours of sleep maximum per night because of my back - i toss and turn in my sleep normally, but now it will tweak my back and i'll wake up in pain, then can't get back to sleep. i haven't had a guy in my life in ages, and just when i'm finally interested in someone, he's out of the picture. or at least it seems like it is. i don't know. i don't know how to fix things - and i'm not just talking about things with J, but everything else that's going wrong, too. it's not like i can say "my mistake, i want to move back to olympia". that's not an option. but don't get me wrong ... i love my apartment, and i love my job (and i do really like it - i'd just like it more if i didn't suck at it right now). i judt wish that both of them were in olympia, or somewhere closer to everyone else.

and i'm so frustrated with my weight. i worked my ass off for six months, sticking to a diet for the first time in my life. i rarely ever strayed from it until the world show in july. then it was like i just gave up. now, i've gained back every single one of the 25 pounds that i had lost. and then tacked on one more. i'm so sick of being fat, and i want to change. i did it once before, and i'm sure i can do it again, but it's going to be a billion times harder this time. i'm not living at home anymore, and i don't have my mom to buy my food for me. she's not there to tell me to put the unhealthy cereal back on the shelf at the store. my support system is gone, and i'm not sure that i have enough will power to do it on my own. i know i'm being a negative nancy, but i just know myself, and know that i probably won't stick to it if i'm the only person doing it.

okay, i think that's enough whining for one night. i need to try to get some sleep.

Concert whore.

2009-01-16T00:02:00.000-08:00

I always find myself forgetting who I've seen in concert, so I decided to make a list. I'm sure there are a few people that I missed, and if I remember them I will add them to the list. And I'm only going back a few years, because I honestly can't remember anyone from before 2004-ish. Haha.

PERFORMERS I'VE SEEN IN THE PAST FIVE YEARS:

Kenny Chesney - 4 times (2004, 2006, 2007 & 2008)
Boys Like Girls - 2 times (2008 x2)
Big & Rich - 2 times (2006 & 2007)
Rascal Flatts - 2 times (2004 & 2007)
Blake Lewis - 2 times (2007 x2)
Jonas Brothers (Late 2007)
Daughtry (2007)
Fall Out Boy (2008)
Metro Station (2008)
The Maine (2008)
Good Charlotte (2008)
Pink (2006)
Rihanna (2006)
All-American Rejects (2006)
Dierks Bentley (2006)
Brooks & Dunn (2007)
Sugarland (2007)
Gretchen Wilson (2006)
LeAnn Rimes (2008)
Sara Evans (2007)
Stephen Kellogg & the Sixers (2007)
Jon McLaughlin (2007)
Colbie Callait (2007)
Sean Kingston (2007)
OneRepublic (2007)
Timbaland (2007)
Keri Hilson (2007)
Teddy Geiger (2006)
Aly & AJ (2006)
Nick Lachey (2006)
Ashley Parker Angel (2006)
Pat Green (2007)
Blaine Larsen (2006)
Uncle Kracker (2004)
Chris Cagle (2008)
Terri Clark (2004?)
Darryl Worley (2004?)

"Gimme More" - numero tres.

2009-01-15T22:29:00.000-08:00

For the time being, I've decided to stop saying "week three" for this list, since I don't do it every week (like I should). Hopefully that will change. :]

1. CURRENT TV SHOWS.

The TV shows that are on right now are pretty much my favorites. Rarely do I have a show to watch almost every weeknight, but this time of the year, I do.

Gossip Girl, American Idol, CSI and Grey’s Anatomy.

Stuck up bitches and hot guys. Amazing singers and amazingly horrible auditions. Blood and guts, forensic-style. More blood and guts, plus hot doctors.

It doesn’t get much better than that.

Oh yeah, and I’m pretty much already in love with Jason Castro’s little brother on American Idol. Even though I despised Jason last season. But Michael is adorable.

It must be the pink hair and the Gavin DeGraw song. :]

2. HONOR SOCIETY.

Performing "Don't Close the Book" (with the Jonas Brothers):

If you’ve never heard of this band, then I consider you unlucky. They’re awesome.

I liked Honor Society before it was cool to like Honor Society. Before they began to sweep the nation. They are yet another thing that Natali got me into, and she and I have always said that they are the next big thing. And they are well on their way to becoming just that.

They’re like an older, more talented, more risqué Jonas Brothers, who they just happen to be opening for. While the guys of Honor Society are longtime friends of the Jonai (the drummer for Honor Society even used to be the Jonas Brothers’ drummer), their music is completely different. Their biggest song, “See U In the Dark”, is about sex and nakedness. Their sound is far from Disney boy-band. And unlike JB, the Honor Society gentleman can sing well live.

Don’t get me wrong - I adore the Jonas Brothers. Anyone who knows me knows that. But, in my opinion, Honor Society is even better than the Disney trio. You heard it here - HS is going to be HUUUUUGE. Mark my words.

AND I was lucky enough to get a comment from them on Myspace this week. They gain more fans each and every day, and they’re commenting less fans now. But I left them a comment about coming to Washington (where they’ve never done a show) and this is what they wrote back:

“we really REALLY want to get to WA for some shows...and I think there's a good chance of that happening, so stay tuned for info about our touring schedule!

your pink Stratocaster is hot. Nice :)”

Which means that Honor Society totally checked out my pictures! Because nowhere in my comment to them did I mention having a pink guitar, nor is there anything on my profile about it. In order to find out I have a pink guitar, you’d have to go to the second page of one of my photo albums. So that’s awesome that they took the time to actually look through my pictures. :]

Okay, teeniebopper moment over. Their first full-length album should drop this year. And I cannot wait. They’re going to “TAKEOVER”.

My heart’s in a battle
I’m not sure I can win.
I’m losing control of my love.
I should’ve been a stronger man,
Should’ve been your soldier.
But I chose to wave my white flag
And let her takeover now.

3. SUITE DREAMS.

I absolutely adore “chick lit” - the literature equivalent of chick flicks. Rachel Hawthorne is one of my favorite chick lit authors, and her newest book, Suite Dreams, does not disappoint. I read it in just a few hours, and couldn’t put it down.

The book is centered around Alyssa, a freshman at a college in Vermont. Her boyfriend, Rick, breaks up with her just before winter break and jets off to Australia to “couch surf” - instead of staying in a hotel for the vacay, he crashes on someone’s couch. Unbeknownst to Alyssa, Rick swapped couches with a hot Australian named Jude, and not only does Alyssa pepper-spray Jude when they first meet, but he also ends up having to sleep on her couch because Rick failed to tell anyone that he was coming.

It’s cheesy and predictable, but sometimes those are the best books. It was adorable and I loved it, just like I loved every other book that Rachel has written.

4. WEBCAMS.

I just got a webcam. And it’s amazing.

Natali and I finally have an easy way to talk. And I can upload videos to YouTube easier. Haha, just what I need - to make more YouTube videos.

That’s really all I have to say about that.

5. 365 PROJECT.

The one new year’s resolution that I have actually kept.

When I was writing my end-of-the-year blog, I realized that I couldn’t remember a lot of stuff that I did during the year. I had a difficult time remembering details, and I don’t want that to happen this year.

So I decided to do the 365 Project, which requires you to take one photo every day for an entire year. I believe that a photo really is worth a thousand words, and even though not every photo this year will be memorable, many of them will be. Plus, it requires me to carry my camera with me, so I can make sure that if a Kodak moment comes my way, I’ll be able to capture it.

Ash is doing the project with me, and she has already proven to be an amazing support system. I’ve never been able to keep a resolution for the whole year, and I’m determined to finish this project.

I know I can do this.

CLICK HERE TO SEE THE FULL ALBUM ON MYSPACE.

"what happens in vegas".

2009-01-09T21:49:00.000-08:00

is fricking fantastic.

i'd never seen that movie before, and i watched it tonight.

it's amazing. one of my new favorites.

ashton kutcher is the sex.

demi's a lucky bitch.

the end.

oh, side note: when i started this blog, i vowed to write in it constantly. every day if i could. but between the time i started it in july to the end of the year, i'd only made 26 entries. i failed.

i'm proud to say that in the first nine days of the new year, i've already made five entries.

in the words of brenda song, yay me!

okay, NOW it's the end.

ring the [fire] alarm. ugh.

2009-01-08T17:39:00.000-08:00

This has been the most uninteresting week. For real.

I've been in a training class for work - Telecommunicator I. Basic call receiving. It's a good class, very informative, but so boring. But there's nothing I can do about that.

Missy and I were carpooling together, having been denied hotel rooms when we asked a month ago because Puyallup is too close to Burien. But after spending three hours in traffic on both Monday and Tuesday, we asked Mark again to let us stay in a hotel and he agreed. So last night we stayed at the Clarion, and we'll be staying here again tonight.

Last night, Missy and I went to The Cheesecake Factory in Tukwila. I'd never been there before, but it was amazing. Justin met us there, and so did Missy's boyfriend, Sean, who is a cop in Seattle. It was an entertaining evening, with fantastic food and the BEST CHEESECAKE I'VE EVER HAD. Peanut butter cup fudge ripple. Seriously, it was like death on a plate. Death by sugar overdose. It was amazing.

Back at the hotel, Justin and I were hanging out when the freaking fire alarm went off. At MIDNIGHT. And it was pouring rain outside, and overall just a horrible experience. On the bright side, Justin is going to take me on a real date. Or so he says.

So right now I'm chilling at the hotel with Missy, watching "The Devil Wears Prada". I think we're going to The Cheesecake Factory again. Ugh, I'm effing hooked. And I so love this movie.

Tommorrow we have the T1 exam, and I'm starting to stress about it. I hate tests. I suck at tests. I'm sure I'll be up until the wee hours of the morning studying. Yay.

On the bright side, I have the weekend off. Hooray!

And 100-calorie strawberry yogurt Chex packs are LOVE. FYI.

OUCHHHH. plus more freaks.

2009-01-05T18:57:00.000-08:00

Time to rant again. It makes me feel better.

I'm currently laying in bed, with my laptop balanced on my stomach, stealing my neighbor's wireless internet, waiting for the vicoden to kick in.

My back hurts SO FUCKING BAD, you have no idea.

I still have no idea what I did to re-injure it. But I did. And it sucks.

So, backstory [no pun intended] - I injured my back five years ago when I fell off Cici during my last jumping class at the Thurston County Fair and did a header into the fence. The same accident that broke my wrist. And it's hurt ever since then, but only a dull, manageable pain.

About three and a half weeks ago, it started to hurt again. I'd sit all day at work and by the time i got home, I'd be in so much pain that I couldn't do anything except lie down. Even standing up hurt.

Last Sunday, while at work, the pain was so bad that it was making me sick, and I was throwing up. So I went to a doctor at a walk-in clinic since I don't have a regular doctor in Puyallup yet. He poked and prodded for a few minutes, told me it might be a pinched nerve and sent me home with a shitload of drugs and made me take two days off work to rest.

But now I've started to wake up in pain, and I'm having trouble sleeping - I'm getting like three hours of sleep per night. And the pain is starting to creep down my left leg, especially when I walk or lift my leg.

I still have no idea what's wrong. I'm seeing a spine specialist on the 23rd, and I'm praying to God that whatever it ends up being, it doesn't require surgery.

I hate this. So much. It's so frustrating.

I missed Christmas with my mom's side of the family because I was at the doctor's office.

And today was AWFUL - not only was I sitting in class all day, but it was a 90-minute drive each way. Which sucked balls. Even the five-minute trip to the dispatch center hurts. Three hours in a car was torture. And I have to do that for the next four days.

Kill me now? Thanks.

P.S. - Off-topic, but the creepy Myspace people are at it again. WHAT. THE. FUCKKKKKK. Why me?

redneck hugh hefner?

2009-01-03T17:59:00.000-08:00

i get messages from the creepiest people on myspace.

seriously, i think something about me attracts all the scary men.

what the fuck is wrong with me?

i mean, i know i'm not the best catch, but i don't deserve messages like this:

what. the. hell.

that scares me.

he's like 60.

i'm 21.

he's like the redneck wanna-be hugh hefner.

i also frequently get messages from army guys who want me to come "party" with them in their barracks.

that's not normal.

okay, rant over.

oh hello, 2009. you snuck up on me.

2009-01-03T01:07:00.000-08:00

THE BEST AND WORST OF 2008.

I meant to get this posted before the start of the new year, but it took too long to write. I apolgize in advance for how insanely long it is.

CLICK ON THE PICTURES TO ENLARGE.

NEW YEAR’S: New Year’s Eve 2007 didn’t start off very well – I ended up getting into a huge fight with my mom. I was hanging out at Kory’s house in Lakewood, and my mom made me drive all the way back to Yelm (about 40 minutes) to feed the horses. Then I had to drive all the way back to Lakewood to celebrate at midnight with Kory and his family, then I had to drive all the way back to Yelm. My mom had threatened to kick me out of their house, where I was living at the time, if I didn’t feed the horses. Stupid, really, but I had no choice. Kory was leaving for school in Utah on New Year’s day, so I wanted to spend as much time with him as possible. Eventually things calmed down between my mom and I, and I ended up having a really good New Year’s.

MY RESOLUTION: I decided that as my New Year’s resolution, I wanted to cut out Mountain Dew. That sooned turned into cutting out all regular soda (anyone who knows me knows that I was a soda addict, so limiting myself to diet pop was a pretty big step). By the middle of January, it had turned into a full-on diet. My mom and I joined Weight Watchers, and in six months we’d each lost about 25 pounds. It was a lot easier than I thought it would be, especially with Madre doing it too. I didn’t even work out while I was dieting – I stepped on a treadmill once. I can only imagine how much more I could have lost if I would have exercised more. But I eventually fell off the wagon, and I’ve gained all the weight back. It’s horrible – all that hard work for nothing. I feel like a failure. But I’m determined to try again. My cost of living adjustment will give me about $150 extra per month, and I’ve decided to put a chunk of that towards the Weight Watchers fee. I did it once … I can certainly do it again.

VALENTINE’S DAY: Yet another one spent by myself. I wasn’t in a single relationship this year. Sure, I dated, but it was never anything serious. I focused instead on work, and my family and friends. I’m hoping this year will be different. I’ve never had a successful relationship, and I would like to change that. However, I’m not going to go out looking for Prince Charming. He can find me. :]

MY TWIN, NATALI: Beginning in March, I really started focusing on my writing. I started posting some of my work online, and one of my readers happened to be a girl named Natali. She was also an extremely talented writer, and she also happened to like the Jonas Brothers and many other things that I liked as well, and we quickly became friends. Over the course of the last 9+ months, we’ve come to realize that we are pretty much twins, despite her being 18. Unfortunately, she lives just about as far away from me as possible, in West Palm Beach, Florida. What started out as us being fans of each other’s work turned into writing a joint story, then IMing each other constantly, then texting, then calling, and now we’re planning a trip to Disney World in November of next year. If she didn’t live in Florida, she would without a doubt be one of my very best friends in real life. But we’ll just have to settle for being internet besties, or “iBiffles” as we like to call it. :]

PUTT-PUTT ADVENTURES: In mid-April, Kory and his now-wife, Analee, came to Washington for a visit. They were only here for a couple of days, and I picked them up from the airport. While at lunch on the way back from Seatac, we were trying to come up with something fun to do that night. I was underage at the time, and there were no local clubs that had the age limit dropped down to 18 that night. I was working part-time at a black light miniature golf place, and a couple of days earlier, the owner had suggested that I had my birthday party there. He’d said that I could have the place after hours and everything. So while at lunch with Kory and Analee, I called him up and asked him if I could have the place that night after closing instead, and and he agreed. So I rounded up a bunch of my friends and we partied after closing. I plugged in my iPod and blasted music, and we all had a blast playing black light putt-putt, Guitar Hero, and arcade games.

MY BIRTHDAY: On April 28th, I turned the big 2-1. My birthday was on a Tuesday, and I had to work, so there was no partying at midnight. My actual birthday was pretty uneventful – I went and got my license renewed (and got the cool sideways “big-boy” license that you have when you’re over 21), went to work, drove to Yelm, and had a birthday dinner at Puerto Vallarta with family and close friends. Mom and John were there, as well as Christa and Ina, and Danae and Katelyn. The following Saturday, I had a party at the Loft in Tacoma. Since a lot of my friends are under 21, I had to choose a place that was 18 and over, which was fine. The downstairs part was kind of lame, but the dancing was fun. And the bar upstairs was really nice with private booths and flat screen TVs in each booth. I didn’t actually drink too much that night – a couple of Amaretto Sours (my favorite drink) and Andrea’s brother, Case, bought me a shot called Birthday Cake. Which tasted just like cake. Haha.

OLYMPIA APARTMENT: In early May, I packed up and moved to a two-bedroom apartment in Olympia with Andrea. It wasn’t the nicest place, but it was close to work and it was better than living with my parents. The only thing I didn’t like at the time was Andrea’s dog, Roo. Ugh. Dogs don’t belong in apartments. Especially when the owner is never home to take care of it. Whatever.

AMERICAN IDOL: The finale of American Idol aired in May, and my good friend Laura was home from college and watched the show with me. She was just as addicted to Idol as me, and even though she had been at school in Kentucky, we had constantly talked about the show week-to-week. She and I were both huge fans of rocker David Cook, and were obviously thrilled when he made it to the finale. So I drove out to Laura’s parents’ house and watched Cookie be named the new American Idol. It was so exciting to watch the contestant who had been your favorite since the auditions make it the whole way through the competition and WIN. I think I screamed like a twelve-year-old. :]

KENNY CHESNEY CONCERT: In June, Laura invited me to go with her to the Kenny Chesney concert in Ridgefield, near Vancouver. It was my fourth Kenny concert, and the second one that I had been to with Laura. Sadly, I don’t remember much about the show, and neither does Laura. I remember having to walk like two miles to get to the venue from the parking lot, and almost getting stuck in the mud. I remember standing in line at the souvenier booth for AGES just for a light-up necklace and a guitar-shaped bottle opener. Both LeAnn Rimes and Kenny Chesney put on an awesome show. And I remember stopping on the way home at like 1:00 in the morning for ice cream. Haha!

WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP SHOW: In late June, it was time to leave for the World Show in Texas. It was a ten-day trip, and it was a blast! Kati and I flew down, but it took us a whopping 23 ½ hours to get there. We were supposed to leave at 3:00pm, but our flight was delayed for 2 hours because the pilot and crew were missing. So we finally left at 5:00, which made us miss our connecting flight in Los Angeles. There were no other flights to Dallas until the following morning, so the airline put Kati and I in a hotel for the night. I remember walking down the block to a Taco Bell, only to find that they had a security guard inside the restaurant! That was a little odd. The next morning, we got to the airport about 2 ½ hours early only to discover that the airline had booked our 6am flight under the wrong flight number. So then we had to go stand in line and by the time we reached the counter, we had missed our flight. Luckily, they rebooked us for a 9am flight and we got to Dallas with no more problems. Until we ran into a cab driver who didn’t know where the Will Rogers Memorial Center was, and after we decided to find a driver who was familiar with Fort Worth, the first driver wouldn’t give us back our luggage. How lovely. Eventually we got our bags and got to the show grounds.

Before I move onto anything else, I have to write about the main reason why I was in Texas – my mom was competing at the APHA World Championship Show for the first time. It had always been her dream to show at the world level, and she finally decided that 2008 was her year. I never dreamed that she would do as well as she did. She ended up placing fifth in Hunt Seat Equitation, and was RESERVE WORLD CHAMPION in Novice Amatuer Showmanship. It was incredible. She did well in all of her other classes, too, and made it to the finals in 5 of her 8 events. In her final class of the show, Kira ended up stepping on my mom’s foot and breaking her toe, but not even that could bring my mom down from Cloud 9.

The rest of the trip was incredible. My mom usually only had about one or two classes a day, so there was a lot of downtime. Most of which I spent being dragged around the HUGE gift show by my mom. I spent WAY too much money on that trip, and I think most of it was at the gift show.

One of my mom’s close friends lives in Justin, a town about 20 minutes away from Fort Worth, and one day me, my mom, and my mom’s good friend Rachel (who shows with my mom but didn’t bring her horse to Worlds – she only came to watch and cheer my mom on) drove to Leslie’s house to spend some time in the pool. We relaxed all afternoon and then went out to dinner to a Mexican restaurant in a town called Trophy Club.

The Stockyards in downtown Fort Worth are fantastic! My mom, Rachel and I spent one afternoon walking around and shopping. We ate lunch at Riscky’s BBQ (the BEST barbeque I’ve ever had), watched the cattle drive, went through a crazy human maze, at fudge at Cowtown, rode a mechanical bull, drank Buffalo Butt beer at the Booger Red’s Saloon, and shopped until we literally almost dropped in the 100-degree weather. I can’t remember if it was the same day or not, but we also went to Billy Bob’s, the biggest honky tonk in the nation, and got our picture taken on the giant bull. I really wanted to go to Filthy McNasty’s Saloon, just because of the name, but we never got a chance to.

I don’t remember much about the fourth of July. I just know that Mom and I went to the Macaroni Grill with Rachel, which was a blast because we were writing inappropriate things on the table. I remember watching the fireworks that they shot off at the Botanic Garden right next to the show grounds. Other than that, I really don’t remember much.

Highlight of the trip: My mom’s Showmanship class, obviously.
Low point of the trip: Losing my Chanel sunglasses. :[

SHOWBOX CONCERT: A couple weeks after I got back from Texas, my friend Sara and I went to the Metro Station/Good Charlotte/Boys Like Girls concert at the Showbox Sodo in Seattle. It was about a billion degrees outside (okay, closer to about 98 degrees), and we had to stand in a line that stretched nearly three blocks for about an hour. While it sucked standing in line for so long, the girls behind us were super entertaining. From making fun of the girl with the shutter shades and shoelace headband to all of the Jonas-wannabes donning fake Ray Bans, the girls (who ended up being like 14 – I never would have guessed) kept us laughing until the moment we walked into the door.

We started out in the equivelent of about the 20th row (it was all General Admission standing room only) for the Maine. I’d never heard of the band before, but they put on an amazing show and now I’m hooked on them. By the time Metro Station came out, we were in about the 15th row. Then for Good Charlotte we squeezed up to about the 10th row. It was so hot in the club that security was spraying water out into the crowd and were pulling people out who were on the verge of fainting. So by the time Boys Like Girls came on, who I had been looking forward to the most, Sara and I were up to about the 3rd row. There were a couple of times that I felt really dizzy, but there was no way I was missing the band that was the reason I bought the tickets. I had never seen BLG in concert before, and they were incredible.

911 DISPATCHER: In late July, I left my job at the Olympia Police Department to take a new job as a 911 Dispatcher with the City of Puyallup. About a week before I left, my Sergeant found this very blog and an entry in which I had talked about how I thought one of the officers was hot, among other things. Definitely my most embarassing moment of the year. So while I would miss my job and the people I worked with, I was also very happy to leave. I LOVE my new job, and the people that I work with. Some days have been very stressful, but overall I’m very happy with where I am at. Plus, people call 911 for the silliest things, and I already have some very entertaining stories.

FAMILY DRAMA: One of the lowest points of the year was the drama caused by my dad’s marriage. I’ve never been a fan of my stepmom – she made my life hell when I was younger, causing me to go to therapy after I was diagnosed with depression at age 13. Needless to say, I was not sad when my dad told me earlier in the year that he and Barb were getting divorced. Unfortunately, that didn’t last long. They were back together before the summer. But in August, he had decided that he’d had enough and told me again that he was done with her. After months of Barb dragging the whole thing out and threatening my dad with expensive lawyer fees, she’s now in the process of moving out and is currently living with a 30-year-old Army guy. How lovely. My dad’s pretty broken up about the whole thing, which kills me. But I just want him to be happy, and I know that in order to be happy, he has to get rid of Barb completely and move on with his life.

HAIR TODAY, GONE TOMORROW: With the exception of the time one of my stylist friends chopped a ton of my hair off four days before my high school graduation, I’ve always had long hair. And even then, it was still several inches past my shoulders. I always considered my hair to be my best quality. But after I got my job as a dispatcher, I started to consider cutting my hair. My hairstyle made me look young, and I wanted something more professional and more mature. So in August, I called my mom while shopping at the mall and ran the idea of cutting my hair by her. She told me that she loved my long hair and that I shouldn’t cut it. As soon as the call ended, I walked to Gene Juarez and made an appointment. A couple hours later, I walked out of the salon with 14 inches of hair gone, donated to Locks of Love. However, when I got home, I discovered that I wasn’t really fond of the haircut I’d gotten. I didn’t mind the shortness, just the style was wrong. So a couple of days later I went to the Gene Juarez school where my friend Sam is a student, and one of her friends cut even more of my hair. Three more inches disappeared, but I LOVED the cut. It was a modern bob, stacked in the back. I definitely got the mature cut I was looking for!

"DO THE PUYALLUP": I’ve always loved the Washington State Fair (AKA the Puyallup Fair), the same one that I used to show my horse at every September, but now that I’m a dispatcher in the same city that it’s held in I really don’t care for it. Chaos erupted when the fair, which draws over a million people each year, came to town. From calls about the traffic on Meridian Street in front of the fairgrounds to calls about two gay guys doing it in some lady’s front yard a block away after closing, the fair caused me more stress than I had imagined. But I made it through the ordeal, and had a blast at the after-fair party with the other disptachers and cops at the Longhorn in Auburn.

However, I must say that when I’m NOT working, I still like the fair. I even went to the rodeo and Chris Cagle concert with my best friend, Christa, and we had a blast. We took photos in the photo booth, and ate at Marlow’s, which has the BEST French dips I’ve ever had.

Oh yeah, and you can’t forget about the scones. That was the one nice thing about working during the fair – the police officers would bring scones up to the dispatch center. :]

MOVIN’ ON UP TO PUYALLUP: The one downside to my new job in Puyallup was the commute. It would take me about 35 minutes to get to work, but when I fought the afternoon traffic next to the military base, it would sometimes take me an hour and a half to get home. So in late September, I packed up and moved to Puyallup. I had found a gorgeous apartment that was only about three minutes from work, and it even had it’s own garage! Working at a 911 center allowed me to look up all the 911 calls from the apartment complexes I was interested in, and I was able to rule out the ones that had lots of crime. Bradley Park Apartments was the complex I chose, and I loooove the place. I got a two bedroom, one bath apartment, and I painted the living room and my bedroom. When I lived in the Olympia apartment, most of the living room furniture had been Andrea’s so I wasn’t able to get creative with decorated. I love interior design, and I was really excited to decorate my new place, and I love how it turned out. It’s always nicer living in a place that you enjoy being in. :]

RE-FRIENDS: Kira used to be one of my best friends, since meeting in health class in eighth grade. We were walking partners at our high school graduation in 2005, and we moved into an apartment in Tumwater together in 2007. But we ended up fighting a lot, and we both moved out of the apartment. After moving out, we were still at each others throats for several weeks before we severred ties and stopped talking to each other. In late October of last year, nearly a year later, I was browsing through Myspace profiles and stumbled across hers. I was over the drama that had gone down the year before, and I’d grown up a lot in the time since the fight, so I sent her a message asking her how she was doing. I wasn’t even sure if she would respond, but she did, and we both ended up apologizing for the immature fight, and we put it behind us. We began to hang out again, and picked up as if the bump in our friendship had never happened. We even went to a Seahawks game together in early November. We may have had our differences before, but she’s still one of my best friends, and she’s one of those rare friends who I know will be in my life for a long time.

TWILIGHT: Natali has gotten me interested in a lot of things, and the Twilight book series was one of them. I was familiar with the book – I’d seen in in the bookstore, but had always passed on it because vampires and fantasy didn’t really interest me. But Natali swore up and down that I would fall in love with the book, so I decided to give it a shot. Boy, was she right – I couldn’t put the damn thing down. Pretty soon, I realized that everyone I knew was reading it – Christa borrowed my copy and got hooked, then passed it on to her mother. And over half of my co-workers were addicted to the saga, most of them reading it at work when the radio and calls were slow.

So you can imagine my excitement when the movie came out! I’d been counting down the days for two months, and bought tickets to the midnight showing on opening day three weeks in advance. Tanya and Char, two of the ladies from work who I’m closest with, had also been hooked on the books and went to the movie with me. We went to dinner at the Rock beforehand, and ended up getting to the theater at about 11:30, thinking that a half hour would be plenty of time to get good seats. Oh boy, were we ever wrong. We ended up having to sit in the very first row, which was horrible. And the girl who was sitting on the other side of Tanya was CRAZY. She was screaming in excitement the entire time, and I thought Tanya was going to choke her. The movie itself was … okay. It was awkward and cheesy and didn’t live up to the hype, but I still loved it. I ended up seeing it four times, which I’ve never done for any movie in a theater before.

JINGLE BELL BASH: In early December, Brittany and I went to Jingle Bell Bash, or JBB. She was supposed to go with me the year before to the same show, when I had front row tickets and the Jonas Brothers were headlining, but she ended up not being able to go. So I invited her this year, to make up for it. This year it was The Academy Is, Boys Like Girls, and Fall Out Boy. It was my second time seeing BLG in concert, and my first time seeing Fall Out Boy, one of my favorite bands. We went to eat at BJ’s in Tacoma before the show, which is my new favorite restaurant. Their drinks and fettucine alfredo are to-die-for. We accidentally stayed at BJ’s too long, and got to the concert late, completely missing The Academy Is. I didn’t really mind, though, since I don’t know most of their songs. But Boys Like Girls came on second, and they were amazing, as usual. Fall Out Boy put on a fantastic show as well. Our seats were nowhere near as good as the front row ones from the previous year, but that was fine.

WINTER WONDERLAND: Even though winter in Washington is cold, we don’t usually get much snow. And when we do, it’s usually some freak dusting in April or something and it always melts right away. I can’t even remember the last white Christmas we’ve had. But this year, about a week and a half before Christmas, a crazy storm came through and over the course of a few days dumped nearly a foot of snow. The temperatures stayed super cold, and the snow stuck around for almost two weeks! We had a white Christmas, and it finally melted away several days after that. I usually don’t like snow, but I didn’t mind it. It’s just all the crazy people who can’t figure out how to drive in the snow that scare me!

CHRISTMAS: Usually Christmas is a huge family affair, but this year it was very low-key. We spent some of Christmas Eve with John’s family at Uncle Ted’s house, then I jetted over to my dad’s to spend some time with him. We opened gifts (I gave him chocolate, “3:10 to Yuma”, a Louis Lamore book and a bowling gift card, and he gave me money) and then watched a couple of movies and had orange floats – like a root beer float, only with orange soda. It may sound gross, but it’s SO good.

Then on Christmas morning we opened presents at my mom’s house. My sister now lives in Idaho and couldn’t get enough time off work to come home, so my brother hooked up his laptop and we all did a video chat with Larissa for a while. You know you’re getting old when you get house stuff for Christmas – vacuum, George Foreman grill, tupperware – and you get excited about it. Haha! My mom also got me these kickass slippers that I had been wanting. They look like cowboy boots, with faux-faux-ostrich on the toe and leather tooling, and the tops are all furry. She had a pair of them that she’d bought in Texas in July that she was going to let me have, but one of the cats ate them. So she got me a pair when she went back to Texas in November for the NASCAR race, and I love them. I’m wearing them now, in fact.

Oh, and I consider myself lucky to be alive today. John and Russell got small-ish remote control helicopters for Christmas, and there were several times that I came close to being decapitated.

Overall, the year was one of the best ever. There were both good and bad times, but I grew up a lot and learned a lot of lessons. I hope that 2009 proves to be even better, and I can’t wait to see what the year has in store for me.

MY GOALS FOR 2009:
- Eat healthier and lose weight.
- Use the Wii Fit at least four times a week.
- PROJECT 365! (Visit my Myspace to take a look at the project: myspace.com/classygame)
- Learn how to cook.
- GO TO DISNEY WORLD!
- Learn to play my guitar.
- Write a song.
- Go to at least four concerts.
- Show Kira in Showmanship. (Kira the horse, not Kira the friend.)
- Go on a roadtrip with friends.
- BE HAPPY!

love/hate relationship.

2008-12-19T22:58:00.000-08:00

part of me adores christmas. all of the joy and gifts and family-ness.

but there is also a HUGE chunk of me that hates christmas with a passion.

it's fucking stressful.

christmas is like five days away.

i've bought one present. an amazing, special present for my mom that was handmade and supposedly shipped over a week ago, but still hasn't arrived. and now i'm freaking out that it may not get here in time.

i have NO idea what to get for my stepdad. my mom suggested car dollies. yeah, right. he may want them, but i'm not buying john little mini ramps to drive his car on.

the siblings are easy. gift cards are an amazing thing. larissa and booger, there is a 99.9% chance that you will never see this page. but if, for some crazy reason, you're creeping on my blog, i'm sorry i just ruined christmas.

daddy is easy. gift certificate for bowling at paradise. i gave him a gift certificate for westside lanes in olympia several years ago, and it's still chilling on his refrigerator. because we never go to olympia. but paradise is halfway between our houses and we were there just a couple of weeks ago, so i think it's safe to say that it will get used. bowling is our bond.

fuck barb and her kids. she's psycho, and she won't be my stepmom for much longer, so she's not getting anything from me. speaking of her, i need to pick up the crock pot she bought for me from my dad's house before she takes off with it when she finishes moving out. call me selfish, but i at least want something from her before she leaves. she owes me for all the shit she's put me through the last ten years. a crock pot doesn't make up for therapy and being on prozac at age 13, but it's better than nothing.

i also have to find a gift for tamara, who's name i drew in the gift exchange at work. wtf ... every single other coworker has pretty much taken up stock with starbucks, they drink it so much. a gift card would be an easy gift, but no ... i get the one person who doesn't "do" starbucks. eff my life. maybe she'll enjoy the lovely hot cocoa set i got on sale at stupid prices? i bought it for a backup present in case i forgot anyone in my family. but i suppose it would do.

okay, enough ranting. i hate being stressed.

thank god tomorrow is my friday.

but then i have to go christmas shopping after work. most likely by myself, since i live so far away from my friends that no one wants to brave the snow to come to puyallup and shop with me.

shit.

i hate christmas.

i'm stressing myself out thinking about it.

i need to go to bed. there's no stress when you're unconscious.

end-of-the-year awards.

2008-12-18T20:44:00.000-08:00

1) DRINKING BUDDY OF THE YEAR?
char.

2) LIFETIME SERVICE AWARD (longest friend) -
christa. it's been like eight years.

3) NEWCOMER AWARD - COOLEST NEWEST FRIEND?
anne.

4) HIGH POINT OF THE YEAR?
getting a new job and moving to puyallup.
or the world championship show in texas.

5) LOW POINT OF THE YEAR?
dealing with the daddy drama.

6) BAND FOR 2008?
jonas or boys like girls.

7) SONG FOR 2008?
ummmm. probably "burnin' up" - that was my summer anthem.

8) MOVIE FOR 2008?
there were quite a few good ones.
but i'm going to go with "stepbrothers".

9) BOOK FOR 2008?
TWILIGHT!

10) WHO DID YOU SPEND VALENTINES WITH?
no one.

11) ALL AROUND GREAT FRIEND TO HAVE
christa.

12) WHAT WERE YOU FOR HALLOWEEN?
nothing. i was sick. :[

13) RESTAURANT OF THE YEAR?
BJ's.

14) BEST KISS OF THE YEAR?
wouldn't you like to know? ;]

15) BEST DECISION MADE THIS YEAR?
to move to puyallup.

16) WHAT ARE YOUR PLANS FOR NEXT YEAR?
keep doing the same thing.
hopefully be successful.

17) MOST STUPID IDEA WHEN DRUNK?
i didn't really have a stupid idea.
because i didn't get drunk.

18) TV SHOW OF THE YEAR?
gossip girl.
or american idol.

19) MOST LOYAL FRIEND?
christa.

20) BIGGEST CHANGE OF THE YEAR?
moving to puyallup.

21) BIGGEST douchbag AWARD?
haha. her name starts with an "a".

22) NEW YEAR RESOLUTION?
lose weight.

"gimme more" week two.

2008-12-17T20:27:00.000-08:00

So I'm a little late with this, but oh well. It's a miracle that I'm doing it at all. Because I have a hard time with sticking to things once I start them.

1. MARTIN JOHNSON, lead singer of Boys Like Girls.

I fucking adore this guy. He's for sure on my top five list of people I want to meet. I'd kill to hang out with him for a day - he seems like a bag full of fun.

Natali got me hooked on Boys Like Girls (just like she's gotten me hooked on everything else ... just wait, crack is probably next), and now I freaking love them. I've seen them twice in concert ... once back in July and again two weeks ago. Not only is Martin insanely hot, but he's also talented beyond belief. His singing and songwriting skills ... oh man.

He's also entertaining as hell. Exhibit A: martinsays.com. Freaking hilarious. Also, I just bought the Boys Like Girls rockumentary DVD, and it's amazing. When Matin fell and busted his arm on some Seattle sidewalk when he was giving John a ride on his back ... classic.

2. Folie A Deux.

I was lucky enough to get Fall Out Boy's new CD a couple of weeks before it came out, and it's been playing nonstop since then. It's incredible. I thought their last album was awesome, but this one is ten times better. Their sound keeps changing, but in a good way.

The best tracks:
- Tiffany Blews. Current favorite song. ("Oh, baby you're a classic like a little black dress//But you'll be faded soon, stuck on a little hot mess")
- Headfirst Slide Into Cooperstown On A Bad Bet.
- America's Suitehearts.
- What A Catch, Donnie. The ending is amazing. Different people sing Fall Out Boy covers in the background. Panic At The Disco, The Academy Is, The Cab, etc.

3. BJ'S RESTAURANT AND BREWERY.

This new restaurant opened in Tacoma a couple of months ago, and it's amazing. I've been there like five times in the past three weeks. It's mine and Anne's "place". It's huge and gorgeous and they have an awesome bar. And the best fettucini alfredo I've ever had.

BJ's is amazing. That's really all there is to say.

4. "STEPBROTHERS".

Pretty much the most hilarious movie ever.

- "I'm going to take a pillowcase and fill it full of bars of soap and beat the shit out of you!"
- "Holy Fucking Santa Claus Shit!"
- "You have the voice of an angel. I mean, it's like Fergie meets Jesus."
- "I want to roll you up in a ball and stick you in my vagina. And whenever I feel a little tickle, I'll know it's just your hair."

Need I say more??

5. MY FAVORITE HIGHWAY.

So there's this awesome girl (Heygirlheyyyy, Ash!) who got me hooked on this band. I absolutely adore their music, but "Entertain the Pain" is by far my favorite song by them. Looooove it.

Plus, these guys are pretty entertaining. Yes, Dave, Joe's eyebrows ARE magical.

That's all she wrote, folks.

Since Christmas is a week away (HOLY SHIT!), I'll end this with a lovely performance (no, really, it's actually pretty good) of the Jonas Brothers singing "Girl Of My Dreams". Even though Joe is wearing a plaid jacket, I'd still sex the hell out of him. I think I have issues.

oh, the weather outside is frightful.

2008-12-14T21:10:00.000-08:00

it snowed!

normally i hate snow, but it's not so bad when you don't have to drive in it. i was brave enough to drive up the street tonight to go to walmart (literally, it's like two blocks away), and i obviously didn't die. so that's good. i did almost eat it in the parking lot, though. i'm not exactly the most graceful person.

i'm pretty much bored out of my mind. no one wants to drive because of the weather, and to be honest, i don't really either. so i'm stuck here at home by myself. not fun.

kira and i had a movie day earlier today. i'm so incredibly glad that she and i are friends again. our fight was the most rediculous, immature thing ever, and i'm so happy that we made up. she's one of my very best friends, and i love her to death. we're so much alike it's scary. she's my twin. plus, she's pretty much my one close friend that can drink. :] except i wish yelm was closer to puyallup. that way i could see her more often.

barb is actually moving out of my dad's house. i never thought i would see that happen. this is like the fourth time in the last two years that my dad has said that he's done with her, but every other time he would take her back. but it really seems like their relationship is over this time. she flipping went crazy. she won't even let my dad be at the house while she's moving her stuff out. like, literally the other day she kicked him out of the house for two hours because she didn't want to see him. it's so pathetic. i hate to see my dad hurting. and i know he's hurting, even though he does a good job at covering it. i just want the dad back that i had before this whole barb ordeal. i miss my old dad. i want to be my daddy's girl again.

still no exciting events on the boy front. i'm really beginning to think that something about me repels every single guy on the planet. i've been single for SO long ... almost three years. i'm ready for a relationship. i just can't seem to find a guy that's ready for someone like me. maybe it's because i'm too picky. but i'm not about to lower my standards and accept less than i want, less than i deserve.

where on earth has this year gone? it dawned on me today that in less than three weeks, it will be 2009. this year has gone by so fast, it's insane. but so much has happened. some good, some bad. i moved to olympia. went to the world championship show in texas. had a falling out with my roommate. got a new job. moved to a beautiful new place in puyallup. made some awesome new friends. and had a blast with my old friends, as always. it's been an amazing ride.

i'm so stoked for christmas. except for the fact that my mom is the only person that i've bought a gift for. but everyone else is pretty easy. i'm a huge fan of gift cards. i still don't know what the christmas plan is ... something small, i assume. larissa's not coming - she and alex are staying in idaho. i think russell is coming home from central, but i'm not sure. even so, i know it'll be a blast. christmas is my favorite holiday.

okay, i think that's enough rambling for tonight. i bought boys like girls' dvd, so i have that to watch. plus, i need to think of a few things for my "gimme more" list ... maybe i'll do that now.

and part of me really wants to make brandyn go outside and make a snowman with me when he gets home. we'll see if i'm successful.

"the jonas brothers murdered an elderly woman."

2008-12-04T00:59:00.000-08:00

i must admit, this is probably the funniest thing ever. i feel horrible for saying that, but just watch. i'm sure you'll agree.

admit it. you laughed.

because this is funny shit.

jimmy kimmel is my hero.

the end.

"gimme more". week one.

2008-12-02T01:41:00.000-08:00

So based on a similar idea that a couple of my friends had, I've decided to do a weekly "Gimme More" list. It's a list of things that I'm pretty much in love with at the moment. Hopefully this will remind me to update this blog more often. :)

1. "If U Seek Amy" by Britney Spears.

It's Britney, bitch. I was lucky enough to get BritBrit's new CD a couple of weeks early, and since the moment I first heard this song, I thought it was catchy. I instantly liked it. It wasn't until yesterday that I discovered the hidden message in it, thanks to TMZ. The way Britney sings the line "if you seek Amy" it sounds just like "F-U-C-K me". Which now makes the lyrics that made absolutely NO sense before, well ... make perfect sense. Oh, BritBrit, how I heart you and your dirty hidden messages.

2. Blackberry Storm.

I bought my new Crackberry about a week and a half ago, and I'm still waiting for it to ship. BUT I got to play with one in the Verizon store, and let me tell you ... this thing is amazing. Unlike my current LG Voyager, the screen actually really clicks. You can highlight things before you select them, and you can feel the screen click when you press down. It's hard to describe, but it's awesome. All I've ever owned is LG phones ... in the past three years, I've gone through SEVEN different models. Some of them were upgrades, and a couple were accidental deaths. Haha. But I really want to have a 3G phone since I'm an internet whore. Let me tell you ... I cannot WAIT to get this phone.

3. David Cook's new American Idol commercial.

That video gives me goosebumps galore. Everytime I watch it. It's incredible. It's hard to believe that less than a year ago, he was a complete nobody, and now he's the current American Idol and has an AMAZING album out. No joke, I've had his CD on repeat sinec it came out. I even bought more than one copy so I could get all of the bonus tracks. David Cook is just amazing. Plus, he freaking kicked ass on Ellen today. :)

4. Twilight - the movie.

This was probably the corniest, cheesiest, most awkward movie I have ever seen. A lot of the movie caused the audience to laugh, most of the time at things that I don't think were intended to be funny.

But regardless, I absolutely loved it. Parts of it were really good, and the song that is used in the baseball scene is the ringtone on my cell. The first time I saw it was the midnight showing on opening night, and we ended up sitting in the front row. There was a girl on the other side of one of my friends that I thought was going to get shanked. She kept screaming constantly, and I thought she was either going to A) piss herself or B) cum in her pants. It was rediculous. That first night was bad; we were so close to the screen it made us dizzy, plus we had to deal with the shrieking preteen. But the other times I saw it (yes, I admit, I saw it four times) it was better. Still corny and awkward, but better.

And you can bet that I'll buy it the day it comes out on DVD.

5. The Jonas Brothers interview on Jay Leno and performance of "BB Good" on Jimmy Kimmel.

I'll be the first to admit that the Jonas Brothers sucked royally during their halftime performance at the Seahawks/Cowboys game on Thanksgiving. I thought Nick was going to pass out; he couldn't sing half the words to "Burnin' Up" because he was breathing so hard. Maybe the 81239472934 cheerleaders that were on the stage with him got him all excited. But seriously ... the Jonai sucked almost as bad as my Seahawks did. A that was a lot.

JB has never been known for their outstanding vocal abilities during live shows. But their performace of "BB Good" on the Jimmy Kimmel show was awesome. Shocked the hell out of me. It was super, super good. Don't get me wrong, they aren't on the same level as David Cook, but I was pleasantly surprised by their performance.

And their interview on Leno ... hearing Nick and Joe talk about Kevin being sexy (lyke, omgzzz, they said the word "sexy"!) around the 3:00 mark was just about the funniest/most awkward thing ever. Well, second most awkward only to the fan-blowing Biology scene in Twilight. Plus, Joe's epic fail at stand-up comedy was pretty darn cute, too.

Also, it looks like Joseph has grown fond of the ugly pocket on his t-shirts. Because it appears that since the shirt on Kimmel didn't have one, he took the liberty of drawing it on with a sharpie. ;)

Alrighty, folks. That's all I've got for the first edition of "Gimme More".

This post has been approved by I-Wanna-Shank-A-Bitch-While-Wearing-Grandpa-Pants Nick Jonas:

This could also be I-Want-To-Kill-My-Purity-Ring-Because-I-See-Boobs-And-Not-Preteen-Boobs-But-Hot-Cheerleader-Boobs Nick Jonas. Take your pick.

my christmas list.

2008-11-28T23:26:00.000-08:00

So yesterday my mom told me that i need to come up with a Christmas list. Here goes.

- An Acura TL. White, please.
- Joe Jonas. If he's not available, then I'll take David Cook. Oh, heck, I'll take both Joe and David. Camilla and Kimberly can suck it.
- ~~Blackberry Storm.~~ It's on it's way. Yay!
- A John Carlson jersey. Because he's awesome.
- Vacuum cleaner.
- Airplane tickets to Florida. Heck, how about the whole Disneyworld package, too?
- Webcam.
- Seahawks tickets.
- iTunes gift card.
- ~~My two front teeth.~~ Got those already!
- Coach purse. One that's not fake.
- Season one of "House" on DVD.
- For the Jonas Brothers to NOT co-produce Honor Society's CD.
- George Foreman grill.
- "Apples to Apples" board game.
- "Stepbrothers" on DVD.
- A nose job. Maybe some lipo, too.
- Big & Rich's Super Galactic Fan Pack, Volume Two.
- Green Converse. Size ginormous.

"turkey for me, turkey for you."

2008-11-27T01:58:00.000-08:00

"...Let's eat the turkey in my big brown shoe." Oh, Adam Sandler, you created a classic with that song.

So it's 2am on Thanksgiving morning. And I can't sleep.

I haven't updated this in over a month, so I figured there's nothing better I could do with my time.

This year has gone by so fast. It's unbelieveable. It literally seems like just yesterday that I was celebrating New Year's Eve at Kory's house.

I've had a few rough patches this year ... roommate drama. My dad and Barb separating, then getting back together. And then separating again.

But for every bad thing or stressful thing that has happened, ten good things have come my way. I feel so lucky and blessed. I have an amazing job, an awesome apartment (with no psycho roomies!) and the best friends a girl could ever ask for.

The only thing I'm lacking in is the boyfriend department, but I guess I can't have everything. I'm content with how life is right now. I can't complain. I've been dealt a great hand.

I'm so incredibly thankful for everything I have, and for everything I've ever had. I used to take a lot of things in my life for granted. I know I was spoiled rotten, especially by my Nana. But I know she only did it because she loved me. I wish I hadn't taken my time with her for granted, because I didn't know that she would be taken from this world too soon. But I'm thankful for the seventeen years that she was in my life.

I'm thankful for my crazy mother, who I consider my best friend. I'm no longer jealous of her accomplishments - I'm just so incredibly proud of her. She's the best mom on the planet, and I love her to death. Even though she did pass on the impulse-buying gene to me. Although I've got to give her credit for her latest purchase ... a 40-foot horse trailer with a walk-in closet and a flat screen tv is pretty fricking awesome.

I'm thankful for my dad, and I'm glad that he's finally realizing that he doesn't have to put up with all of the shit that he's put up with for so long. I'm glad that he can stand up for himself and make his own decisions. I just want him to be happy, and I know he will be eventually. After almost losing him seven years ago, I'm just glad to have him in my life.

I'm thankful for every single thing I have, for everything I've ever worked for. I'm thankful that I've made the decisions I have.

I'm simply thankful for everything.

Happy Turkey Day. And may the Seahawks suck less today and beat the Cowboys. :]

i freaking love halloween.

2008-10-25T04:27:00.000-07:00

BEST. MOMENT. EVERRRR.

Cop #1 [to Dispatcher]: I'll be out with a green Teletubby smoking in front of the Liberty.
Dispatcher [to Cop]: Copy, out with a green Teletubby in front of the Liberty.
Cop #2 [to Dispatcher]: I can't beat the Teletubby thing, but I'm out of service.

About ten minutes pass. During this time, Cop #1 goes up to the green Teletubby and shakes his hand to tell him how awesome he is. Teletubby's drunk friends take a picture of their equally drunk, costumed friend in front of the patrol car. Cop #1 and I leave, and Cop #1 makes a comment in the call about how the Teletubby was smoking a cigarette and how "beautiful" the whole thing was.

Cop #1 [to Dispatcher]: Clear, MDC.
Dispatcher [to Cop]: Copy, clear the Teletubby.

guess what? it's gonna be me.

2008-10-22T07:06:00.000-07:00

i'm so incredibly bored. i got off work an hour ago, and instead of sleeping, i'm watching old *nsync videos. yes, i'm really that bored. "it's gonna be me" is pretty much the best video ever, btw.

i got off work an hour ago, after working since 10pm. so why am i not sleeping, you ask? ugh. the main reason is because i'm waiting for 7:30 to roll around so i can call the power company about the bill i received. a $40 electric bill wouldn't be so bad if there wasn't a $140 first-time customer deposit fee tacked on. wtf. i had the same energy company at my old apartment. the garbage company is jerking me around too - i've been waiting for a bill to arrive in the mail, and yesterday i got a notice that my account is past due and that i owe $97, and that it's going to collections if i don't pay up before the 29th. wtf, mate. i only moved in three weeks ago. so i'm thinking that the tenant before me had a past-due account. i swear, i have a bullseye on me this week as far as bills go.

on the other hand, everything else is going really well. work is great. we had a first-alarm fire this morning that was pretty crazy ... a second reason why i'm jacked up and so awake. a small vet hospital caught on fire and is pretty much a total loss - it was fully involved when we got the call. luckily, no people or animals were inside. i'm starting to like the graveyard shift, but i wish that the radio traffic and calls didn't come to a stand-still around 2am every night. well, minus the rollover accident last night and the fire this morning. every other night this week has been DEADDDDD. i've started working on the police radio this week, and tonight was my second night working it. i've only messed up on a couple of things - the first night, i goobered the time twice. but tonight i had no errors and my speed is really improving. i have experience on the other end of the radio from when i was a cadet, but i never realized the amount of work that the dispatchers were doing on the other end. even for a simple traffic stop, you have to make sure you hear the location and license plate correctly, typing in a flurry of codes at the same time, then repeat the location and time back to the officer. then you have to sift through all of the returns from the plate and attach different information to the call. it's crazy. but i'm getting better at it every night. the other two dispatchers even complimented me tonight, telling me how well i was doing, that i was a natural. it felt really good to hear that. :]

i put in for my first vacation for next year - as a dispatcher i have to work holidays and such, so we get a bank of holidays at the beginning of the year to apply toward a vacations. so my first vacation slot is april 24th to may 11th. that way i have my birthday off. i think, if things work out, i'm going to go on a cruise. i've never been before, and i've always wanted to. there's a 7-day cruise to the mexican riviera that i'd love to go on that leaves april 25th, which means that i'd celebrate my birthday on the ship on the 28th. which would be a freaking BLAST. i'm hoping christa can go with me ... going on a cruise with the bestie would be awesommmmme.

7:30's here ... gotta go have a nice chat with the power company. then it's off to bed. if i can sleep. if not, i'm cracking open "breaking dawn" ... i'm halfway through, and it's INCREDIBLE. i'll be sad when i'm done reading it, though. at least i have the movie to look forward to in a month! :]

okay, in the words of *nsync ... "bye bye bye!"

movin' on up.

2008-10-01T00:05:00.001-07:00

after nearly a week, i FINALLY finished setting my apartment up. and i love it. it's so me. i don't have too much time, but i wanted to post some pictures:

hotel california.

2008-09-18T18:06:00.000-07:00

oh man, i wish i was in california right now. but i AM at a hotel. taking a break from studying. this whole week i've been in burien/seatac for a dispatcher class, and tomorrow is the last day. complete with an exam. lovely.

i'm starving and i can't decide what to have for dinner. decisions, decisions.

one week until i move ... yay! i can't wait! not only is it going to be awesome living so close to work, i'm also excited to live by myself. i can't wait to decorate how i want to decorate, and to have a garage to park my car in. it's the little things i'm looking forward to the most. :]

okay, i've got to cut this short - there's more studying to be done.

ugh.

"nick's all good with the cougars" ...

2008-09-12T19:18:00.000-07:00

BAHAHAHAHAHA. joe posers rock. [especially when they're your friends! lol]

best. convo. in. history.

xoxo shameless (6:58:35 PM): OMGZZZZZZ! JOE I LOVE YOUUUUUU! MARRY ME?!?!?!?!?!?!
joefosho (7:01:05 PM): sure.
joefosho (7:01:09 PM): wedding in fiji?
xoxo shameless (7:01:15 PM): helllls yes.
joefosho (7:01:26 PM): oh shoot.
joefosho (7:01:27 PM): sorry.
xoxo shameless (7:01:28 PM): YAYYYYYY!
xoxo shameless (7:01:33 PM): wtf, joe.
xoxo shameless (7:01:37 PM): don't kid like that.
joefosho (7:01:48 PM): prior arrangements with this chick named taylor. we're getting married in tuscany.
xoxo shameless (7:01:54 PM): screw taylor.
xoxo shameless (7:02:07 PM): let's go live in utah. polygamy is hot there.
joefosho (7:02:34 PM): no. i'd rather do taylor for the rest of my life. she's everything in need. and more.
xoxo shameless (7:02:36 PM): see? win-win situation.
xoxo shameless (7:02:39 PM): wtf.
xoxo shameless (7:02:41 PM): i hate you joe.
joefosho (7:02:53 PM): i love you. who are you tho?
xoxo shameless (7:02:54 PM): you can take your purity ring and shove it up your ass.
joefosho (7:03:10 PM): that would be rather uncomfortable.
xoxo shameless (7:03:17 PM): that's the point.
xoxo shameless (7:03:28 PM): i'm russell brand, beeyotch.
joefosho (7:03:28 PM): nah. i'll keep it on my finger until taylor takes it off.
xoxo shameless (7:03:31 PM): bahaha.
joefosho (7:03:41 PM): oh no you don't, russel brand!
xoxo shameless (7:03:46 PM): is she gonna eat it off your hand like chelsea handler?
xoxo shameless (7:03:48 PM): that's hot.
joefosho (7:04:13 PM): no. she'll throw it across the room, then jump me and rip off my clothes. i don't mind.
xoxo shameless (7:04:37 PM): well shat. how does nick feel about older women?
xoxo shameless (7:04:42 PM): he's not a nark, is he?
xoxo shameless (7:04:46 PM): i don't want to go to jail.
joefosho (7:05:07 PM): nick's all good with the cougars.
xoxo shameless (7:05:25 PM): sweeeeeeet. hook me up with some of that, then.
joefosho (7:05:39 PM): it's a deal. double wedding?
xoxo shameless (7:05:43 PM): f'sho.
joefosho (7:06:06 PM): cool. i'll brb, taylor wants a make-out sesh.
xoxo shameless (7:06:08 PM): tell nick that somewhere in his vows he has to belt out "for you baby".
xoxo shameless (7:06:10 PM): wtf, joe.
xoxo shameless (7:06:20 PM): send nick my way now then.
xoxo shameless (7:06:27 PM): put him in the mail.
joefosho (7:06:30 PM): YOOO it's nick. takin' over joe's IM
xoxo shameless (7:06:32 PM): fed-ex his ass here.
xoxo shameless (7:06:39 PM): well helloooooo, honey.
joefosho (7:06:47 PM): hey babe. i hear you're older
xoxo shameless (7:06:55 PM): damn straight.
joefosho (7:06:55 PM): i'll do anything "for you, babyyy"
xoxo shameless (7:07:04 PM): ohhh man.
xoxo shameless (7:07:20 PM): nick, you drive me crazy with that just-post-puberty voice of yours.
joefosho (7:07:38 PM): thanks... i try to make it break as much as possible.... hence "sorry".
xoxo shameless (7:07:51 PM): and "can't have you" ...
xoxo shameless (7:07:56 PM): but you CAN have ME, beh beh.
joefosho (7:08:00 PM): ...and "a little bit longer."
xoxo shameless (7:08:01 PM): mhmmm.
joefosho (7:08:08 PM): oh i'll HAVE you... no purity ring necessary.
xoxo shameless (7:08:10 PM): ... and like, every other song.
joefosho (7:08:14 PM): basically.
xoxo shameless (7:08:23 PM): snaps ... i like you better than your brother already.
xoxo shameless (7:08:36 PM): you're easy-peasy, darlin'.
joefosho (7:08:46 PM): babe. i'm only easy for you.
joefosho (7:08:59 PM): joe's just tough to crack cuz he's all over that taylor chick,
xoxo shameless (7:09:09 PM): well, she's hot. it's understandable.
joefosho (7:09:27 PM): yeah. not gonna lie. she's gorgeous. but i donno if joe would let me get in on that action.
xoxo shameless (7:09:33 PM): wtf, nick.
xoxo shameless (7:09:39 PM): that's not very nice.
joefosho (7:09:46 PM): which is why i have you.
xoxo shameless (7:10:11 PM): pshh. and three years older is nothing. go big or go home ... six years your senior is just what you need.
joefosho (7:10:29 PM): you're right, baby, you're right. i'm all yours. who's taylor?
xoxo shameless (7:10:39 PM): exactly. love you, beh beh.
joefosho (7:10:49 PM): love you too.
joefosho (7:10:52 PM): oh shiz. joe's back.
joefosho (7:11:01 PM): YOOO DANJA IN DA HOUSEEE.
xoxo shameless (7:11:04 PM): CALL ME!
joefosho (7:11:05 PM): taylor was awesome =)
xoxo shameless (7:11:09 PM): oh snaps, i'm late.
xoxo shameless (7:11:18 PM): don't rub it in, joe.
xoxo shameless (7:11:21 PM): not nice.
joefosho (7:11:21 PM): i told him to call u... he said he would.
xoxo shameless (7:11:24 PM): sweeeet.
joefosho (7:11:31 PM): fine, but...
joefosho (7:11:35 PM): you know who i will rub?
joefosho (7:11:36 PM): taylor.
xoxo shameless (7:11:40 PM): ewww.
xoxo shameless (7:11:46 PM): tmi.
joefosho (7:11:57 PM): is the cougar jealous?
xoxo shameless (7:12:16 PM): fine. you go do that, and i'll go ... kiss my nick poster.
xoxo shameless (7:12:18 PM): take that!
joefosho (7:12:36 PM): don't cut ur lips on it tho... papercuts suck.
xoxo shameless (7:12:42 PM): trust me, i know.
xoxo shameless (7:12:43 PM): :/
xoxo shameless (7:12:54 PM): aight, paper-nick awaits.
joefosho (7:12:57 PM): my turn to say...
joefosho (7:12:58 PM): tmi.
xoxo shameless (7:12:59 PM): peace out, dangaaaaa.
joefosho (7:13:04 PM): PEACE, YO.
xoxo shameless (7:13:25 PM): <3

survey says ...

2008-09-11T19:31:00.000-07:00

1. ONE OF YOUR SCARS, HOW DID YOU GET IT? Back of my hand. Killer toaster oven. Or the new one on my ear. My straightener tried to eat it. My ear, that is.

2. WHAT IS ON THE WALLS IN YOUR ROOM? A bunch of posters. Movie ones ['Smokin Aces', 'The Holiday'], JB ones. A bunch of pictures.

3. DO YOU SNORE, GRIND YOUR TEETH, OR TALK IN YOUR SLEEP? None of the above.

4. WHAT TYPE OF MUSIC DO YOU LISTEN TO? Anything. Mainly rock and country.

5. DO YOU KNOW WHAT TIME YOU WERE BORN? 5:16pm.

6. WHAT DO YOU WANT MORE THAN ANYTHING RIGHT NOW? To move. I want to be in my new place.

7. WHAT DO YOU MISS? Certain people.

8. WHAT IS YOUR MOST PRIZED POSSESSION(S)? My two state championship ribbons. Proof that hard work really does pay off.

9. HOW TALL ARE YOU? 5'7".

10. DO YOU GET CLAUSTROPHOBIC? Not really.

11. DO YOU GET SCARED IN THE DARK? A little bit.

12. THE LAST PERSON TO MAKE YOU CRY? I can't remember the last time I cried.

13. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE COLOGNE FOR A GUY? Agua di Gio by Georgio Armani. Yummm.

14. WHAT KIND OF HAIR/EYE COLOR DO YOU LIKE ON THE OPPOSITE SEX? Dark hair, blue or green eyes.

15. WHERE CAN YOU SEE YOURSELF BEING PROPOSED TO? No idea.

16. COFFEE OR ENERGY DRINK? Energy drink.

17. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE PIZZA TOPPING? Pepperoni and olives.

18. IF YOU CAN EAT ANYTHING RIGHT NOW, WHAT WOULD IT BE? Macaroni and cheese. Sounds so good.

20. HAVE YOU EVER EATEN A GOLDFISH? The cracker kind. Haha.

21. WHAT WAS THE FIRST MEANINGFUL GIFT YOU'VE EVER RECIEVED? I don't know.

22. DO YOU LIKE ANYBODY? Not really.

23. ARE YOU DOUBLE JOINTED? Nope.

24. FAVORITE CLOTHING BRAND? Ummm. I don't know. Ed Hardy, maybe.

25. FAVORITE BAND? Honor Societyyyy. <3

26. DO YOU HAVE A PET RIGHT NOW? Two horses. Cici and Callie.

27. WHAT KIND IS IT? Horse. Haha.

28. WOULD YOU FALL IN LOVE KNOWING THAT THE PERSON IS LEAVING? I don't think that's something that can really be controlled.

29. WHAT IS THE BEST WAY TO TELL SOMEONE HOW MUCH THEY MEAN TO YOU? Just straight up tell them. Don't beat around the bush.

30. SAY A NUMBER FROM ONE TO A HUNDRED: Nine.

31. BLONDES OR BRUNETTES? Brunette. :]

32. WHAT IS THE ONE NUMBER YOU CALL MOST OFTEN? Mommy.

33. WHAT ANNOYS YOU MOST? Bad drivers.

34. HAVE YOU BEEN OUT OF THE USA? Yes. Mexico and Canada.

35. YOUR WEAKNESSES? Dessert.

36. MET ANYONE FAMOUS? Bret Boone. Hahahaha.

37. FIRST JOB? Waystation Ranch.

38. EVER DONE A PRANK CALL? In like middle school.

39. FAVORITE DISNEY MOVIE? Ummmm. The Little Mermaid. Nooo, it's NOT Camp Rock. Haha.

40. WHAT ARE YOU WEARING ON YOUR FEET? Chucks.

41. WHAT WERE YOU DOING BEFORE FILLING THIS OUT? A whole lot of nothing.

42. WHAT DO YOU GET COMPLIMENTED ABOUT MOST? Eyes. Lately hair.

43. HAVE YOU EVER HAD BRACES? Yes. I'm a walking orthodontic ad. Four years of braces, three types of retainers, one permanent, a night guard, head gear ... yeah.

44. WHAT DO YOU WANT FOR YOUR BIRTHDAY? A motorcycle with a sidecar. No ... I have no idea.

45. HOW MANY KIDS DO YOU WANT? Two.

46. WERE YOU NAMED AFTER ANYONE? Nope. However, I'm convinced that if I had been a boy, I would still have the same exact name. Only it would be Aaron Lee instead of Erin Leigh.

47. DO YOU WISH ON STARS? Sometimes.

48. DAVID COOK OR DAVID ARCHULETA? Oh man, Cookie for sure. <3

49. WHAT KIND OF SHAMPOO DO YOU USE? Pantene.

50. DO YOU LIKE YOUR HANDWRITING? Sometimes.

51. WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE LUNCH MEAT? Honey ham.

52. ANY BAD HABITS? Bite my nails.

53 WHAT CD ARE YOU MOST EMBARRASSED TO HAVE ON YOUR SHELF? Ummm. Probably the High School Musical soundtrack. Haha.

54. IF YOU WERE ANOTHER PERSON, WOULD YOU BE FRIENDS WITH YOU? Hells yeah. I'm awesome. :]

55. FAVORITE FOOTBALL TEAM? Seahawks. Duh.

56. DO LOOKS MATTER? To an extent.

57. HOW DO YOU RELEASE ANGER? Listen to music and just chill.

58. WHERE IS YOUR SECOND HOME? Christa's. But I don't go over there a whole lot anymore.

59. FAVORITE ADAM SANDLER MOVIE? Happy Gilmore.

60. WHAT WAS YOUR FAVORITE TOY AS A CHILD? Ummm. Those Nano Pet things. Haha.

61. HOW MANY NUMBERS ARE IN YOUR CELL PHONE? A ton. Like, over 200.

62. WERE YOU A FAN OF BARNEY AS A KID? Yes. Loved him.

63. DO YOU USE SARCASM? No, never. Haha.

64. MASHED POTATOES OR MACARONI AND CHEESE? Mac and cheese, please.

65. WHAT DO YOU LOOK FOR IN A GUY/GIRL? Humor, trust, maturity. And he has to be cute, not hot. :]

66. WHAT ARE YOUR NICKNAMES? Schooly, Er-Head.

67. WHATS YOUR FAVORITE FLOWER? Stargazer lily.

68. WHATS YOUR FAVORITE TV SHOW? Gossip Girl, CSI, Grey's Anatomy.

69. WHAT WAS YOUR ACT SAT SCORE? Didn't take it.

70. WHAT'S YOUR FAVORITE ICE CREAM FLAVOR? Gold Medal Ribbon from Baskin Robbins.

71. DO YOU HAVE ALL YOUR FINGERS AND TOES? Yup.

72. WHEN WAS THE LAST TIME YOU WORKED OUT? Couple months ago. I need to start again.

73. DID YOU NOTICE THAT THERE WAS NO #64? There was too. Potatoe/Macaroni battle. Liar.

74. WHATS THE FASTEST YOU HAVE GONE IN A CAR? Like 120 with Adam. Scared the shit out of me.

75. DO YOU WANT EVERYONE TO ANSWER THESE QUESTIONS? Naw.

76. WHAT ARE YOU LISTENING TO? "With Me" by Sum 41. Looove it.

77. LAST THING YOU DRANK? Lemonade.

78. LAST PERSON YOU TALKED TO ON THE PHONE? Dorene.

79. THE FIRST THING YOU NOTICE IN THE OPPOSITE/SAME SEX? Eyes, smile, hair. Not necessarily in that order.

80. FAVORITE THOUGHT PROVOKING SONG? Um. I don't know.

81. FAVORITE THING TO HATE? I don't really hate anything.

82. FAVORITE MONTH OF THE YEAR? October.

83. FAVORITE ZODIAC SIGN? WTF.

85. WHAT IS YOUR HAIR COLOR? Brown with blonde highlights.

86. EYE COLOR? Hazel.

89. FAVORITE FAST FOOD RESTURANT? Taco Bell.

90. YOU LIKE SUSHI? Gross.

91. LAST THING YOU WATCHED? CSI.

92. FAVORITE DAY OF THE YEAR? Um. No idea.

93. PLAY ANY MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS? Guitar, a little. I suck.

94. REPUBLICAN OR DEMOCRAT? A little of both, I suppose.

95. KISSES OR HUGS? Both.

96. RELATIONSHIPS OR ONE NIGHT STANDS? Relationship, for sure.

97. WHAT WAS THE LAST THING YOU BOUGHT? A TV stand for my bedroom.

98. WHAT KIND OF CAR DO YOU HAVE? Scion tC.

99. WHAT BOOK ARE YOU READING? New Moon.

100. DESCRIBE YOUR LOVE LIFE: Non-existant.

video girl syndrome.

2008-09-07T00:55:00.000-07:00

i was extremely bored. which is pretty obvious since i made a video about what was in my purse. i must admit, parts of this are kind of funny.

randomosity.

2008-09-01T18:58:00.000-07:00

1) gossip girl season premiere starts in one hour and two minutes. THANK GOD.
2) playing madden on the wii makes your shoulder hurt. and your ankle, if you do your endzone dance too crazy.
3) don't clamp your hair straightener down on your ear. it hurts very badly. and the blister is really gross. ew.
4) orangecicle dream cupcakes from indulge in downtown puyallup are the best ever. they should be their own food group. the "omfg, these are so good but have so many calories they could kill me" group.
5) i still suck at the "honor roll". legit failure.
6) tomorrow night i am stalking kasey kahne. yes, stalking. if i get arrested, please be a dear and bail me out of jail.
7) friday is dress-up-like-a-redneck-and-find-a-hot-cowboy day. mhmmm. rodeo time, bay-bay.

ALSO, TODAY WOULD HAVE BEEN NANA'S BIRTHDAY. REST IN PEACE, NANA ... I MISS YOU MORE EVERYDAY.

life isn't suffocating, air isn't overrated.

2008-08-31T21:50:00.000-07:00

i officially suck at keeping this updated. i was good at it for a while, but now i'm horrible. whatevs. i bet no one reads this but me, anyway.

work is going great. i've been getting nothing but praise from dorene, my trainer. and i was told that she doesn't hand out undeserved compliments, so that makes me feel really good. she forgot that i've only been with her for technically a little over two weeks ... she thought i was at about the six week mark. she told me that i'm at the six-week level ... that it's crazy how quickly i'm picking things up. that made me feel really good. :] she's the nicest woman ever, and she's pretty much my mother-figure at work. i had a horrible migraine yesterday and went home halfway through my shift. she called me last night and left me a voicemail because she was concerned ... "hey pumpkin, i just wanted to see how you were doing and i hope you're feeling better..." she's amazing. :]

madre is kicking ass on the paint circuit. she's way ahead of where she was last year, which means that she's probably going to get a shitload of awards at the end of the year. i'm so proud of her. :] she somehow talked john into letting her buy a new horse trailer, and she's getting a GORGEOUS three-horse logan with eleven foot living quarters. the hotel fees were just getting rediculous - if she hadn't been able to stay in her friend's motorhome at the last show, her hotel room would have cost her $1500.00. fricking insane. so now she'll be able to stay in the horse trailer.

i'm moving to puyallup sooner than i had thought. the lease on my current apartment isn't up until november, but i'm so sick of the commute - because of traffic, it took me almost an hour and a half to get home on friday. screw that. i found some awesome apartments that are literally three minutes from work. it's a gated community, and each apartment has it's own garage, which is awesome. i found a two bedroom, one bath apartment that's available on september 25th and if someone doesn't claim it in the next couple days, i'm going to take it. i don't really need a two bedroom place, but when it's 150 square feet bigger than the one bedroom and is only $60 more ... i can't pass that up. it's expensive - about $1000 a month - but that's okay. it's virtually crime-free (thank god i have the ability to look that up at work) and has a really good reputation in the community. so i'm just going to live in puyallup and still pay the last two month's rent on my place in olympia. ahhhhh, i'm so excited! i can't wait to live by myself, so close to work. :]

alright, i've got to get going. food is calling my name. and so is burn cream ... i tried to straighten my ear this morning instead of my hair. i clamped down on my ear, and have a giant blister. it hurts like a bitch, and it's really gross looking. yuck. anyways, paaayce.

by the way, here's what my hair ended up looking like when i chopped even more off:

i effing love it. :]

i suck at the honor roll.

2008-08-25T20:03:00.000-07:00

this is my pathetic attempt at the "honor roll" ... which would be honor society's dance to their song "see u in the dark".

i'm pretty much as horrible at choreographed dancing as joe jonas is in camp rock ...

... which is really, really bad.

and every care you used to have just seems to float away.

2008-08-09T23:48:00.001-07:00

i used to think that my long hair was who i am. that it made me. that it was the only good part about me.

now, all of a sudden, i don't give a shit.

i wanted a change. because change is good. right?

hair before:

and hair after:

this past week, i got the idea to chop all of my hair off and donate it to locks of love. i've had long hair for most of my life. except for one brief moment following graduation, and even then it was past my shoulders. so i've never really had short hair.

i'm not completely happy with the results, though. i like the shortness, just not the crappy job that the stylist at gene juarez did on it. the underneath layer is blunt and choppy, and just doesn't look very good.

but then i was messing around with it and tied only the longest layer in a ponytail and got this:

and i really actually like it. so i think in the next couple of days, i'm going to have my normal stylist cut it a little shorter into a modern bob.

hopefully she doesn't screw it up too. :/

i don't wanna fall asleep because i don't know if i'll get up.

2008-08-04T01:36:00.000-07:00

so much for writing almost everyday. it's been nearly a week since my last post, and that was only a few pictures from texas.

but right now it's 1:37 in the morning, and i'm really not tired. i slept all afternoon because i had a headache so bad that it was making me nauceous. so right now i'm pretty much wide awake.

i started my new job this week, and it's going well. it's been pretty slow ... i haven't really even begun my training. wednesday, my first day, i had to take an online course on anatomy and psysiology and then the assistant manager gave me 89 addresses in puyallup and i had to find them all on a map. then on thursday and friday, i had to take the map with me and physically go find all 89 addresses and write down what landmark was at each. they were mainly schools and apartment complexes ... places where 911 calls frequently come from, i'm assuming. so for two days, i basically got paid $20 an hour to drive around the city. i'm glad i was able to do that, because i kind of actually know my way around now.

this week, i'm attending an emergency medical dispatcher (emd) class in kent, which is why i had to take the A&P course. so i'll be in class tuesday through friday, 8:30am to 5:00pm. since the commute would be about an hour each way because of traffic, the city offered to put me in a hotel for three nights. so that's pretty awesome. they're paying for all of my food, too. then on the 13th, i have to attend an "emotional survival" class - basically i'll learn how to deal with stressed out callers and how to not get too involved and too wrapped up in it.

i'm still not 100% sure what my schedule will be while i'm in training, but i'm pretty sure it's going to be 2:00am to 10:00am. which kind of stinks. but that's the one downfall to this career - you have to be ready to work any shift on any day. after my training is complete in several months, i could be working any schedule. but i have a feeling it's going to be graveyard.

yesterday christa and i went to the county fair to watch the championship day events. i hadn't been there more than twenty minutes before i was scooped up and asked to help out. so for most of the day, i was stuck in the arena doing ring steward duty ... telling the kids where to line up and telling the announcer what gaits to tell the kids to do over the PA system. it wasn't bad until it started getting hot, and now i have a funky sunburn on my neck and throat. haha.

then that night, i rode rides with the leavitts - drew, danae, katelyn, colton, benj and tyson - and richard and jennifer. i had a blast, although my stomach wasn't very happy with me when i went on the starship 3000 or whatever it's called. the spinny one. it's amazing how as a kid, i could go on every single ride and none of them would phase me - the starship ride used to be my favorite ride of all time and i would BEG my dad to let me go on it time after time after time. now, i can't do spinny rides. i get sick to my stomach. i can still do the upside-down rides, but if there's any kind of drop, it messes with my stomach. so after the starship experience, i let my stomach settle and bumper-car'd it up for a while. then i went back to the other rides. i deemed benj my official ride partner, and he rode the zipper with me like three times in a row.

i think the most fun we had last night was when we went on the giant slide. they had just lubricated it, and holy crap ... we freaking flew. i raced drew down it one time, though, and on the last little hump part, i went airborne. i came down really hard on the raised part in between each groove, and now my back and ass are pretty sore. but it was worth it. we also went on the kiddy coaster - the dragon one. man, that was funny. we got some pretty weird looks from people ... there were more adults on it than kids. but it was fun ... we had our arms up the whole time and were laughing like crazy. overall, the night was a blast. i love that family to death - they're more like my own family than just family friends.

alright, i think it's time to try and go to sleep. i have to clean my room tomorrow and do laundry. plus i have to go shopping and get clothes for class this week, plus i have to pack.

photos from the world show.

2008-07-28T00:14:00.000-07:00

the photographer from the world championship show finally put the proofs up on his website, so here are some of the action shots from the show:

hunt seat equitation:

madre receiving her ribbon - fifth in the world:

horsemanship:

horsemanship:

inger in trail:

madre doing trail:

showmanship:

showmanship:

and last but not least, madre and kira after they were named reserve world champions in showmanship:

i can't help myself.

2008-07-25T22:58:00.000-07:00

i'm officially insane.

i went shopping tonight and came home with $400 worth of makeup from MAC.

wtf.

i really need to work on my self-control.

and what's really depressing is that the lady forgot to get me mascara and eyeliner. which are two of the things that i actually did need. not $28.00 makeup brushes.

ugh.

slfkjsldfksf.

"LOL" moment of the day.

2008-07-25T22:36:00.000-07:00

so i go to the store to buy two issues of the new rolling stone, and i hand them to the lady at the counter, and this is what goes down:

cashier: are you aware that you have two copies?
me: yes. i'm going to take the cover off one and put joe's hot body on my wall.
cashier: oh, that's nice. i thought they were for your daughter or something at first.
me: *laughs* do i look like i'm old enough to have a kid?
cashier: well, you don't look twelve. isn't that usually how old jonas brothers fans are?
me: *stops laughing*

silly lady. there are ancient JB fans, too.

and joe really does look insanely hot on the cover [center]:

mhmmm. ;]

it's gonna suck when the camera stops rolling.

2008-07-24T00:33:00.000-07:00

this is what happens when andrea and i get bored.

i think this video pretty much speaks for itself, but i'll explain it anyways. my roommate, andrea, and i had just finished watching "camp rock", and we spent about fifteen minutes reeacting parts of it ... like joe's head turn and the cheesy "that's the song!" line. we finally decided to break out the video camera. roo howls when i mention ryan reynolds' sexy abdomen, i do a version of the "we rock" dance (which doesn't begin to compare to the dances we were doing before we started filming), and andrea and i make fun of the way nick jonas sings "red dress" in "burnin' up".

it's too late to apologize ...

2008-07-23T11:59:00.001-07:00

to anyone who read this and was offended, i'm so incredibly sorry. it was only intended to be a private blog for myself and a couple of friends, but it got way out of hand. things were exaggerated, and people were dragged into this that shouldn't have been.

i'm sorry. i didn't mean to hurt anyone.

- E.

small talk on IM, just one-word sentences ...

2008-07-22T19:33:00.001-07:00

this is the best IM convo in the history of mankind. niki might shank me for putting this on here, but i don't care. it was too funny not to share. i apologize in advance for all of the swearing.

Niki (7:23:38 PM): i'm on oceanup.
Erin (7:23:46 PM): anything good?
Niki (7:23:48 PM): and this girl is like, "Joe sweated on me. I petted his leg"
Niki (7:23:52 PM): wtf. she doesn't deserve to be a fan.
Erin (7:23:53 PM): HAHAHAHAHA!
Niki (7:24:07 PM): HOLY MOTHER FUCKING HELL
Niki (7:24:16 PM): fuckkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkkk
Erin (7:24:16 PM): she needs to focus more in english class, that's what she needs to do.
Erin (7:24:20 PM): WHAT?????????
Niki (7:24:26 PM): fuck. joseph.
Niki (7:24:27 PM): oh.
Niki (7:24:28 PM): my
Niki (7:24:29 PM): god.
Niki (7:24:29 PM): shit.
Erin (7:24:30 PM): oh god.
Erin (7:24:34 PM): fuck.
Erin (7:24:35 PM): link?
Niki (7:24:46 PM): holy shit.
ATTENTION (7:24:48 PM): Transfer complete: holy mother fucking hell.jpg.
Erin (7:25:02 PM): oh shit.
Erin (7:25:04 PM): hellooooo.
Erin (7:25:06 PM): god.
Niki (7:25:10 PM): fuck.
Erin (7:25:10 PM): i think i just died a little.
Niki (7:25:16 PM): i think i need new underwear
Erin (7:25:24 PM): ditto!
Erin (7:25:26 PM): whew!
Niki (7:25:27 PM): shit.
Erin (7:25:29 PM): wow.
Niki (7:25:34 PM): oh my od.
Niki (7:25:35 PM): *god.
Erin (7:25:37 PM): treasure mother effing trailllllll.
Niki (7:25:48 PM): holy shit.
Niki (7:25:51 PM): i can't stop swearing.
Erin (7:26:01 PM): hello, turret's.
Erin (7:26:07 PM): or however the hell you spell it.
Niki (7:26:23 PM): yeah sure.
Niki (7:26:24 PM): holy shit.
Erin (7:26:41 PM): woww.
Erin (7:26:49 PM): i'm in love.
Erin (7:26:51 PM): <3
Niki (7:27:02 PM): holy
Niki (7:27:03 PM): fucking.
Niki (7:27:08 PM): i can't breathhhee
Erin (7:27:38 PM): i think i drooled a little bit.
Niki (7:27:54 PM): i slapped my mouth so hard my teeth hurt
Erin (7:28:16 PM): HAHAHAHAHA.
Niki (7:28:30 PM): i think that's my new sig.
Erin (7:28:38 PM): do itttttt.
Niki (7:28:54 PM): i can't stop staring.
Niki (7:29:38 PM): i can't think straight.
Erin (7:29:58 PM): hahahaha.
Erin (7:30:04 PM): breathe, niki, breathe.
Niki (7:30:08 PM): trying.
Niki (7:30:19 PM): you have no idea what this man does to me. legit. just his NAME gives me chills.

we were freaking out all because of this photo:

yeah, we acted like teenies. shut the hell up.

:]

don't wanna fall asleep.

2008-07-21T22:10:00.000-07:00

a whole lot of nothing happened today. and right now i'm just searching for anything to do because i don't feel like going to bed.

today i worked. nothing big happening in the police cadet world.

then i came home and wrote. that's one thing that no one knows about me - that i write stories for JBF. the only people who know are the people online who read them. it's probably a secret that i'll take with me to the grave. but in all honesty, i LOVE to write. it's a nice distraction from everything else in my life.

and then i had dinner with christa, who i hadn't seen in like a week. which was too darn long.

yeah, such an exciting life i lead. :P

wouldn't it be nice if [i] stopped whining?

2008-07-20T01:23:00.000-07:00

i spent today in hell.

i did traffic control for six hours straight. waving my arms around in the air the whole time.

it was like ninety degrees out, and i had a bulletproof vest and wool pants on.

i'm somewhat-sunburned (thank god for officer wilson, who brought me sunscreen), and i'm going to have the ugliest farmer's tan in history.

i think i sweated about five pounds off. not really. man, i wish.

i got yelled at, cussed at, flipped off, and almost got run over once.

my shoulders are already killing me.

UGH.

"LOL" moment of the day.

2008-07-18T15:19:00.001-07:00

sergeant hutchings: school zone, or cross walk, or whatever your name is. come in here.
me: *walks into his office* yeah sarge?
hutch: say "10-4, 1009".
me: what? why?
hutch: just say it.
me: 10-4, 1009.
hutch: you're going to make a great dispatcher. 1136.
me: 1136?
hutch: you need to practice saying the time whenever you stop talking. that's all dispatchers do. 1137.
me: try saying "irish wristwatch" fast.
hutch: is that some kind of code word?
me: no, just try saying it. it's hard.
*hutch tries, but it comes out sounding like "irish wishwash"*
hutch: damn, that is hard. 1139.

it's a rollarcoaster ride we're on.

2008-07-16T21:07:00.000-07:00

to anyone who asks how i'm doing, i tell them i'm the best i've been in a very long time. that's partially true. some things are great - i'm living in a great apartment with one of my friends, i start my new job as a 911 dispatcher in two weeks. but what i don't tell people is that a piece of me is still crumbling. that self-esteem and parental issues are still tearing me apart.

it's really difficult for me to open up to people and tell them how i feel. that's one reason why i started this blog - to give me a place to talk about my problems, so i don't have to keep them bottled up inside me.

my dad and my stepmom are on the verge of causing me to go insane. i've never liked barb. she's given me a billion reasons to hate her. my dad isn't the same person that he was when i was little, and it's because of her. she changed him. he has no backbone, and he doesn't know how to think for himself. she's so incredibly jealous of every female on the planet, and she accuses my dad of cheating on her when he would never in a million years do such a thing. she ripped my father away from me, and i went from being daddy's little girl to barely knowing who my changed father was. at fourteen years old i was depressed, medicated, in therapy, and fighting to keep my grades up in school.

a couple of months ago, barb and my dad got into a fight, and she punched him in the face. then she proceeded to practically shred him to pieces. THEN she told him that if he laid a hand on her, she'd call the cops. barb ended up moving out of the house, and i began to see my dad more often than i'd seen him in ten years. he admitted that she'd pretty much gone crazy, and that all he wanted to do was "sign the divorce papers and never have to see her ever again".

so imagine my surprise a few days ago when i'm driving back to my apartment from yelm, and my dad's truck passes me on the highway with none other than BARB in the passenger seat. my dad called me a few minutes later and told me that she had moved back into the house, and that they were "working things out".

i love my dad to death. all i want is for him to be happy. if he was happy with barb, then i wouldn't have a problem with them being together. but i KNOW he's not happy with her. he's always miserable and complaining to me about the most recent stupid thing she did or accusation she made. for god's sake, my dad spent thanksgiving alone two years ago because barb accused him of sleeping with a woman simply because my dad knew her first name. i KNOW that things aren't going to be different this time. she's not magically going to change. i just wish my dad wasn't so naive.

thank god i have a good relationship with my mom. she's pretty much like one of my best friends. when we're not living together, that is. too much mother-daughter time can go along way, and when we lived under the same roof, we practically had to do everything we could not to kill each other. but for about the last year or so, we've been great. i think i just had to grow up a little.

surprisingly, when my mom and i were in texas for the world show, we didn't fight. at all. it was amazing. usually at horse shows she's nervous, and i'm PMSing or something, and we bicker. but at worlds, we didn't fight once. i think the only times she got mad at me was when she had to be at the barn at 5:30am to ride her horse and i wanted to sleep in and drive rachel's rental car to the show grounds later on. i usually lost and ended up napping in a chair in front of the stalls. i think my mom was on cloud nine so much during that trip that she was too happy to get mad at me for anything.

maybe i should call it cloud ten. gosh, she did so incredibly well. i'll be honest. i never, ever thought that she would do that well at a world championship show. i mean, yeah, she was doing really well at the local shows, and she won practically everything there was to win last year. but come on ... the world championships? she was showing against rich bitches that rode horses that cost nearly $100,000. yes, that many zeroes. and they wore outfits that cost several thousand dollars to make. they rode in rhinestone accented saddles that cost over ten grand. it's insane. my mom's stuff is nice, but i never expected her to march into that arena with her $18,000 horse and $500 showmanship outfit and walk out as the reserve world champion. even now, two weeks later, it's still hard to believe that she did that well. and it wasn't as if it was a fluke or anything - she did well in her other classes, too. she made the finals in five events, and was fifth in the world in hunt seat equitation. but i just can't believe that my mom finished second in the world in showmanship.

i'm a bit jealous, i'll admit it. but i think regret tromps jealousy. more and more, i've found myself wishing that i'd never given up showing. i hate being at shows and not being able to actually show. i mean, i love helping my mom out and cheering her on, but i'd kill to be back in the show ring. i'm really kicking myself now because i quit showing while cici was still healthy and dusty was still alive. the only reason i stopped was because at the time, i was burned out. by the time i realized how much i wanted to show again, cici was diagnosed with a bone disease and dusty colicked and died unexpectedly.

so here i am, just jonesing to show again, and i have a horse that i can't keep sound. i don't know what to do. cici's navicular disease is so advanced, and it set on so quickly. i can't sell her. i love her too freaking much, and besides ... no one wants a lame horse. i can have her nerve-blocked. the vet can basically cut the nerves in her foot, so she'll be sound simply because she can't feel anything. but it's an expensive surgery, and it will only last about a year or two before she goes lame permanently. i know i'll have it done, but i want to wait until i know that i'll be able to show for a year or so. the last thing i want is to nerve her and then find out that i'm going to miss most of the shows due to work or something.

i don't want to be jealous of my mom. i really don't. but i can't help it. showmanship is mine and cici's best event. cici is honestly the greatest showmanship horse i've ever seen. we killed in that event. back-to-back state championships in 4-H and a state championship in high school competition. i'd kill to be able to take her to worlds to see how far we could go. this sounds horrible, but i KNOW i'm better at showmanship than my mom. i beat her whenever i showed against her at the regional shows, and although kira is almost as good as cici, i'm a better showman than my mom is. my movements are more sharp, more crisp. everyone always told me that i could win a world championship with cici. i'd kill to have the chance to try.

okay, i think it's time to shoo away the green-eyed monster that has invaded my mind and go to bed.

besides, it's time to end the novel that this post has turned into.

baby, we're just getting started.

2008-07-15T21:37:00.001-07:00

it's pretty much been forever and a day since i last kept a blog. but so many things in my life are changing, and i think it's time for a fresh start. so i've decided to once again write down my thoughts.

there will be days that i'll most likely have nothing to say and i'll end up just writing down the most random and useless thoughts. and there will be days where i'll need to rant and rave, and everything single emotion that's going through my head will end up on this page.

so brace yourself. it's going to be a bumpy ride.