For the last four months I've been working 2nd shift as part of my training program at work. I've been working a lot of overtime with 12 hour shifts and weekends. Seriously, a lot.
Life has consisted largely of working, sleeping, and sneaking in gym visits. I should be back on first shift in a couple of weeks, though.
Last month I didn't turn on my tv once.
Apparently my dvd player decided to give up the ghost during that time, so I have to watch my new tv show addiction, Bones, on my wee laptop screen until I decide what to replace it with (I'm thinking I might as well upgrade to a blu ray...once I get over the sticker shock).
Speaking of my tv show addictions...Dexter married his sister?

I have my first iPod, which I use to listen to The Killers, Coldplay, and other bands you like. I'm not sure why I didn't have one before. It's awesome.

Over the last 9 months I've lost about 20 pounds, which I had gained over the previous year and a half. I think I've hit a bit of a plateau as of late, but I'm pretty proud that I've been keeping up with my regular gym visits. I definitely feel a lot healthier and stronger...and feistier. Also, I'm about 50 times more likely to spontaneously start dancing in front my my full-length mirror (which is kind of saying something).

Tyler recently moved to Florida to work for his dream company - Lockheed Martin. Yes, the Lockheed Martin.
He'll work 9 hour days and gets every other Friday off. They give him a gym allowance (my HR manager still hasn't agreed with my great plan to build a huge gym right on plant property...ha). He makes 10k more than his old job and might get a security clearance (!!!!). It's 80 degrees there and the streets are lined with palm trees (it' 30-40 degree here). In short, he's got the world at his feet and I couldn't possibly be happier for him.
We've been dating three years as of mid-December. Wo-ah.

Tags: consumerism, health/medical, movies/plays/television, tyler
Current Location: MO
The Bottomline: accomplished
Background Noise ♫: Katy Perry - If You Can Afford Me

I melted Josh and Laura's toaster. When I say melted I don't mean it heated up a bit and the sleek form got droopy, I mean rivers of plastic ran down while flames licked it's body. I mean the apartment was filled with black smoke and all the fire alarms were blaring (on a side note, I really don't think we need one every 5 feet). Fortunately I have a humongous stock pot, which I employed to damn near flood the kitchen with fire-extinguishing water (and make everything else soggy).
We have a cool new toaster oven now.

I got season 3 of House on DVD last week. <3<3<3

Tyler goes to Daylight Donuts most Sunday mornings and I join him around 75% of the time. Good times, good donuts, really bad toupee.
On my way back to my apartment around 10:30am I got a flat tire. Tyler and Zack came to the rescue like the heroes of old. Needless to say, it was hot and sweaty and extremely unpleasant to be doing manual labor.
When I got to my spare (no small task considering how full my trunk was), we found that the tread was completely shredded and scary looking. Awesome.
When they got the tire off, the tear in the side of the tire was a bit too large to risk fix-a-flat to get to Wal-Mart. Sweet.
Neither Tyler's nor Zack's spare would fit my car, although I kind of think it was way above and beyond of them to offer. We ended up just taking the dingity dangity tire to Wal-Mart and went to Popeye's Chicken with some fine folks while we waited (while un-showered, sweaty and slightly covered in car grease - yikes!).
Around 2:30 the (amazingly, incredibly awesome) guys finally got my car squared away. I drove the rest of the way down the street to my lovely shower while listening to Petty's Free Falling. It took the edge off.

I missed sannask's birthday lunch in the midst of this drama. I haven't gotten to see her since her wedding and was really looking forward to it!. Boo.

Tags: awesomeness, birthdays, car stuff, friends, movies/plays/television, roommate/apartment, tyler
The Bottomline: yes.
Background Noise ♫: Chumbawamba - Tubthumping

Cleaning room. Oh my goodness, am I cleaning my room.
I've mostly finished the dragging heavy objects around the room stage and full force in the organization and trashing useless stuff stage. I never did get fully moved in when I got here in November, it turns out I have huge amounts of stuff and once I got it all in, I didn't have room to unpack and arrange it. My dresser was sitting unusable in my closet for months because I just couldn't fit it in the room with all the boxes and stuff. Somehow I've managed to change that...I'm not really sure how. I've spent a young fortune (very young ~$40...but, heck, now money's going to be tight) on organizational supplies like hooks and fancy multi-hangers and shoe racks...and a brand new cushy pillow because I've never owned a never-been-used-only-mine pillow and it was on sale.
I was reading a forum thread about insurmountable messes and someone gave the advice to just clean for 15 minutes a day. Suddenly it clicked, because 15 minute time increments seem doable where just "clean my room" seemed impossibly and unending. Of course, once I started I spent more than 15 minutes at a time...
I keep finding random stuff...apparently I have gone out to buy band aids and ibuprofen three times because I thought I didn't have any.

Sometimes my feet twitch randomly. I first noticed the night after I was struck by lightening...it could have happened before, but I just didn't pay attention. I've been noticing it more ever since I saw Dr. House diagnose a kid with some HORRIBLY BRAIN DYING DEATH DISEASE based on a casually observed involuntary foot twitch.

Google Talk interchange of the night -
Laura: what was the name of that one car that they moved to a mexican market but didn't change the name of
Alex: nova
Laura: : D
yay!
Alex: No Va...doesn't go
Laura: I like to think that some guy was retireing and letting that slip was his way of sticking it to the man

Busy weekend ahead, I even get Friday off work for it. It's a shame I'm going to completely miss the APO weekend, but the universe has conspired to keep me busy. I'm pretty geeked about Weird Al on Friday...I mean, I grew up on that stuff (also, he looks younger now than he did when I was first introduced...the evil powers of 80's style glasses). I'm very excited for Daniel's wedding on Saturday - yah love! Aaaaaaand I get to attend Sanna's bridal shower on Sunday. I've got a lot to look forward to!

Linksies -
Creative book promotion.
An Alarm clock that is very dedicated to its work.
Modern bird feeder.
I want to serve something out of these bowls.
Apparently I'm really attracted to bird motifs. Jug and Mug.
No, seriously. I never knew I liked birds so much.

p.s., Should you do the Transformers and Live Free or Die Hard things? Yes. Oh, yes.

Tags: interesting links, movies/plays/television, roommate/apartment, wedding related
Background Noise ♫: Fleetwood Mac - Tusk

I went to visit my dad after class today. We watched youtube Penn & Teller Bullsh*t episodes and contemplated the recent school shooting. I enjoy listening to my dad talk politics and world events.
I ate dinner with Jenni and had a gross Rum drink that I didn't finish (I'm sure it's fine for people who like copious amounts of rum, but I don't and I had asked for a vodka drink...), yummy sushi and green tea ice cream. Then we went to work out. Booze before workouts? Yes we totally went there.
I undid so much of the work I did last year, but I'm looking forward to moving forward again. I hate cardio, I like weight training, I love the way I feel when I'm done.

Also, a couple weeks ago I hydro-planed on Melmar (going around 15-20 miles an hour...) and almost ran head on into a tree. I tried to break a little as I approached the curve, but the road and tires would have none of it and I pretty much couldn't do anything. Somehow, I managed to slide in between a street sign and a parked car and jumped the curb onto the grass to stop inches from a very large tree. I've been overly cautious in the ran ever since. Boo.

I want to go camping. That would be great.

Tags: family, friends, movies/plays/television, scary
The Bottomline: zen
Background Noise ♫: Gogol Bordello - Start Wearing Purple

This morning dad, Natalia and I went biking on the 3 mile trail next to the mall then grabbed some lunch at Panera.
Dad and saw Monster House and I really enjoyed it. It was surprisingly scary. Steve Buscemi's voice made me happy.
I'm definitely looking forward to some of the upcoming movies like Zoom (I enjoyed both Galaxy Quest and Sky High, and that's probably a good indicator).

After the movie we hit another bike trail next to Dickson St. and rode all the way to the National Cemetery. On the way back we stopped at Common Grounds for some frozen delights and baked brie (the brown sugar really added a lot!).
Back at dad's we watched Big Trouble (which I had never seen and was a lot of fun), ate dinner with Natalia (boiled cabbage and cheese with meat on the side...one of our favorite "bonding" meals), and ended the night with True Lies.

Mom and Steve are back in town and I'm going to get an espresso maker (sent from Steve's mom) and a check for my bridesmaid dress and shoes (from my lovely grandma) when I see them tomorrow. Yesterday I got to hang out a lot with Jenni...because she's awesome. We had ice cream and talked about her wedding (less than a fortnight now, folks).

Basically, what I'm trying to say here is, it was a dandy day.
Life always seems better when I get out of the house.

There are still a few things getting me down, but - darn it - I just had a good day and some chocolate cake and I'm positively not going to risk putting myself full-force in that kind of mood by venting right now.

Tags: awesomeness, family, friends, movies/plays/television

Most of you know by now that the Grand Canyon wasn't in the cards, but I did have decent spring break at home.
I got to visit dad some more and he's doing tons better now. He had the procedure done where they stopped and restarted his heart with a defibrillator and it seems to beating normally again.
I also got to hang out with mom and Steve and saw Nanny McPhee. It was cute (coughColinFirthcough) and I liked it.
There was quality time with the lovely nikloo and springle throughout the week. We watch V is for Vendetta (loved it!) and much Grey's Anatomy.
And of course I worked on APO stuff, with Tri-Sectionals coming up and an advisors' meeting.
I worked some more on Jenni and Kevin's wedding website.
On the last weekend I went camping with Jenni and Kevin at Kyle's Landing near the Buffalo River. The campsite was gorgeous and we went hiking on some equally lovely trails (and got briefly lost! yes!). It was freezing cold, but cold-blooded little Alex managed to stay the warmest at night (I was wearing two pairs of panty hose and two socks and jeans and four shirts). In the morning it was too cold for the butane stove to work properly, so Kevin made us breakfast at a painfully slow rate (best damn bacon ever, though). There are some sparse pictures on facebook. I think we're going to go back later when it's more green...seriously, the trail was awesome. Yah!
I got drunk dialed a couple times by a pair of super guys (and Angela once) and it made my night each time. Unfortunately, there was not service when I went camping, so I never got the chance to return the favor.

Anyone who talked to me last week knows...I'm really excited about my new exercise regime. I went everyday from Sunday to Thursday (HPER was closed on Friday and Saturday). I went the two weeks prior to that and this week, too. I can't visually tell the difference yet, of course, but my stamina and strength continue to improve and I seem to be losing a wee bit of weight. I signed up for a "Women on Weights" program which provides me with 8 personal training sessions for a total price of $20 (a great deal and it ensures that I have to keep working out). I'm very excited and feel healthier already.

All in all, I had a pretty decent week. Maybe it wasn't filled with thrills and chaos, but it sure was relaxing. Lots of good introspection, too...I feel like I'm changing, improving in a lot of ways (although, it's probably not outwardly visual).

This week has been a different story. Three big ole tests, big homework sets, regular homework, quizzes, a lab report, Tri-flippin'-Sectionals, lakes of fire, etc...

Tags: awesomeness, family, friends, movies/plays/television, self-actualization, travel, tyler
The Bottomline: busy
Background Noise ♫: india.arie

Thursday:
School, Tri-Secs prep, Exec, Wallyball. I am quite pitiful at wallyball. I, in fact, don't even know how to play volleyball. I take no pride in this, believe me. Nicole said she would take me out to the park sometime and help me practice hitting the damn ball. I'm excited. I wish I had some sort of cardio machine at home...I don't particularly care to go to HPER to workout.

Friday:
After a day stuffed with school and Tri-Secs, I worked the first shift at the gymnastic concession stand for APO. My shift ended just in time for me to catch the entire meet with Jenni and Nicole. The Gymbacks won. It was very pretty to watch and reaffirmed my desire to lose 15-20 lbs.
Afterward we went to Jenni's/Kevin's and watched Grey's Anatomy and chatted and giggled until the wee hours. It was a much welcomed evening...except for the part where Nicole got pulled over on the way home. Can you believe she's had 4 warnings and no tickets?

Saturday:
Slept in. Spent most of the day doing laundry, homework and wasting time on the internet. Went out that night with Krissy and Jenni and Krissy's friends Susan, Daniel, and Kevin (all different from other people I know of those names) to Common Grounds. CG is apparently crazy expensive. I had three drinks...two of which were red-tinted vodka masquerading as a jello shot and an apple martini. The ladies had a round of BJ's, which we didn't realize were almost $5 a shot. Damn.
It was a good time and the conversation flowed between the topics of school, sex (duh), religion, and deep-ish life stuff. Jenni and Krissy are both great and everybody was fun. There are pictures on facebook.

( quizzie )

There is quite a bit to be said for positive thinking, putting things in perspective, and speaking the hell up. Sometimes it feels easier to play the martyr or self-pity or feign powerlessness, but in the end is your quality of life really improved? Wallowing = no good, man.
I've just had deep conversation with alcohol present.

It's been a good week. It's been really super nice seeing people I haven't gotten to hang out with in a while. I am full of happy emotions...and sleepiness. G'night Y'all!

Tags: apo/service, friends, movies/plays/television, quizzes/memes, self-actualization, soapbox
The Bottomline: I'm a girl!
Background Noise ♫: Like a Prayer

I watched Jerry McGuire with Peggy Sue last night. I'm going to give it a 60% chick flick rating (after consulting with others) because of the high sports element and male bonding.
Note to Tom Cruise: You're just kind of unstable, aren't you?

More girly movie night hijinks shall ensue tonight! Place: my messy apartment. Time: um...at some point after our tri-secs meeting. Invited: the pretty ladies! Style: spur of the moment!

Perfection is not obtainable here. Unrealistically pushing yourself to achieve perfection is depressing and won't end well. So the moral of the story is: go ahead and try to be better, but don't be obsessed with being better...and remember to worry about yourself first before poking other people. The goal is found in moderation. That's your grail.
Where did that come from? The world may never know.

And now a quote game: "she can't escape their watchful eyes...or the floating head of l. ron. hubbard." It was said by the lovely nikloo, guess the context!!

Tags: movies/plays/television, quotes, shenanigans, soapbox
The Bottomline: content

I have a stuffy nose. For some reason, it kind of bugs me knowing that my breathing is going to be louder than usual when I'm asleep. It's something that started bugging me after a specific girly sleep over in high school where we were talking about hearing each other. It bugs me even when I know full well that there's no one around to hear me when I'm sleeping (but practice makes perfect, eh?).


( Click here to see! )

I'm going to be honest...I'm not 100% sure what the mind map means.

Also, Rent at Friday Night Live this week! I'm in.

Tags: health/medical, livejournal, movies/plays/television, quizzes/memes
The Bottomline: estrogen, please

Just so everyone knows, I'm over the initial "I'm all alone!" I always get when people leave. No worries. Happy shiny Alex.
My DVD player is still very broken, however. And I just received The Producers from Nicole...who doesn't love Gene Wilder and Zero Mostel?

I am giggly and bubbly over something new. Someone new, maybe.
Details are currently restricted to people I know and hang out with. But the general consensus is that it's a two thumbs up kind of deal.
I've had more than a few people comment that it's good to have the old Alex back. I agree.

One Christmas Party down, one tonight (one other one I'm skipping tonight).

Tags: movies/plays/television, tyler