I decided on (and got) a new lappie. After all the questions and having my friends shop around for laptop badassery, I decided on a fatty fat humongo Dell. Figured I only need it for music and pictures, so I can utilize iTunes and Picasa, so I don’t need to carry it around. 14″ lappies are expensive, so 15″ and up it was…

Currently in the process of installing used applications and deleting duplicate files with this bad boy. Next will be updating my iPod and playlist, in hopes that online tutorials will be correct in keeping my song ratings. Please, oh please.

—–

I got my raise.

FINALLY.

I know.

My supervisor had to work her ass off with proposal after proposal and a final 8-page review of the Legal team to get the review process approved by the boss. Yes. That’s right. The review process. The boss wouldn’t even accept the reviews themselves for the longest time. After that, raises were finally approved and given, it’s been about a year since the sup started. Part of me wants to know what others got, the rest of me knows I’ll be pissed to find out what certain people received.

And then there’s the sad news:

People have been leaving and getting fired… and another one is leaving us. Our Charlie   He got an awesome job that will further his experience, and while the ones who know are super happy for him… we’re also super bummed. Another one of our favorites is going   He put in his notice last week. I think it’s time for me to start looking. The environment is changing rapidly and I’m not sure if I’ll like it anymore in a few months. It’s already getting more and more sour each day.

In the mean time, I’ve got my big balances on 0% cards and am going to be chipping away bashing the shit out of the higher APR’s while putting aside a bit each month for my final tax payment. Movin’ along…

Yes. I cut out teeth, taped them on my laptop, and made a desktop in Paint of a mouth for these photos.

My birthday weekend was one of the best I can remember. The actual day was a little muddled, but knowing I was going to have a day in San Francisco I managed to convince my brain to keep calm and mellow. The Boys were even impressed with my calmness while driving. Me? Calm? DRIVING? I know, right?

Sunday I got my nails Shellac’d for the first time. I LOVE it. I’ve done the dishes three times, scrubbed the floors, and done two rounds of collating at work and they STILL look amazing. And yes, you read that right… I scrubbed the floors. After three years in this apartment, I FINALLY “mopped” the kitchen floor. I’m disgusting. I know. But not nearly as disgusting as those (3) Swiffer wetpads were.

Dinner was fabulous. Amity, known her since 7th grade, flew in with Russell from LA. Bonnie, known since kindergarten, drove from Campbell area. Bao, known since the summer between 5th and 6th grade, drove up from Oakland area. Carol, known since kindergarten as well, also showed up, as did Bobbo, Chris and Keenan. TSG was supposed to show, but he had to bail last minute. It really was spectacular. And holy shit. I’m 30.

I got some pretty sweet goodies for my birthday, and I continued the sweetness by getting myself some stuff. In the next two weeks I will be getting: my shiny new Claddagh, my new glasses frames (listed as $254 at the eye place, I found them online for $119. At newegg.com. Yeah. newegg. How random is that?), my passport, a paper trimmer, and a plastic sporf w/hard case. I already got myself some more lip balm (I know, issues), new bath scrubbie, epilator and two new shower gels.

The spot on my leg has been getting more agitated. It seems to have moved a bit, and there are other not as sensitive, but active areas popping up. MRI/XRAY/specialist all say that it’s fine, though… so I don’t know what’s up. But thinking about positions in yoga has been not-so-exciting, so I haven’t gone in ages… I went for the first time in two weeks last Monday and it was pretty brutal. I think I should definitely go tomorrow. Talking with Galina and Katie, I convinced them to try out a 10 for $10, so we’ll be going nearly everyday next week. Well, not Tuesday. I have an appointment with Sara to trim my hair  (Decided to wait three more months for the Big Cut and just trim it for now. Cancelled my appt with Elly this Sunday to go visit the Dadster.)

I’m still wearing my Coachella wrist band. (I took off the RFID strip.)

P.S. My toes. They are happy making to me.

Pre-Trip

• Woke @ 11:30am
• Rice Rocket to Indio
• Up until 4:30am

Day 1

• Up at 2:30pm
• Food: Banana pancakes, coffee cake, pancetta
• Putting on of the wrist bands
• Food: Churro
• Music:
• Jimmy Cliff
• Madeon*
• Pulp
• Mazzy Star
• M83
• Food: Noodles
• Music:
• Swedish House Mafia
• Amon Tobin
• Back at 2:30am
• Up until 5:30am

Day 2

• Up at 2pm
• Heat rash
• Food: Veggie stew and corn bread
• Music: Noel Gallagher’s High Flying Birds
• Food: Ate something
• Music:
• The Shins*
• Feist
• Food: Burrito
• Music:
• David Guetta
• Bon Iver
• SBTRKT
• Radiohead
• Back at 12am
• Sleep around 2:30am

Day 3

• Up at 1pm
• Food: Pulled pork sammies and chips
• Music: Santigold
• Sunburn
• Food: Date shake
• Music:
• Wild Flag
• araabMUZIK
• Food:
• Lemonade
• Noodles
• Music:
• Gotye*
• Justice
• Girl Talk
• Florence + the Machine*
• 22-yr-old kid (“You’re too pretty to be 30″)
• tall bitch
• Dr. Dre & Snoop Dogg (we left before 2Pac)
• AVICII
• Lost phone

Post-Trip

• Up at 11:30am
• Throat pain
• Leave at noon
• Visit Zippy/Batboy
• OG status
• Home at 11:30pm
• Neti-pot

*favorite

Went to Staples to get supplies, and I got $87 of stuff…. for $27. AND I have $10 in rebates to turn in. I’m a fricken BAWS. Baaahhhhhz.

Went to Chevron and used THE worst squeegee. Ever. It was more a smeareree.

Now I’m on the bed, listening to pretty boys sing on YouTube and putting corrective stickers on brochures jacking up my back (it is not advisable to sit on a tempur bed for long periods of time) and chatting with ca about cute boys. Yay for cute boys.

——

Quote:

Me: Your hair. It’s so dark.

Gavin: Your eyes. They’re so…

…

…

Slanted.

]]> http://fruhd.com/blog/?feed=rss2&p=465 0 http://fruhd.com/blog/?p=456 http://fruhd.com/blog/?p=456#comments Tue, 10 Apr 2012 06:51:43 +0000 betty http://fruhd.com/blog/?p=456 Whirlwind starts!

Month started and there’s no looking back… well, I can look, but there’s only going forward from here

One thing’s for sure, though, I am SO glad I was born in America… it took me 45 minutes to lace my crocs. Yeah. Can you imagine how hungry my family would be if I were a shop worker? I’d be there squatting on the floor around the bin of shoes with laces and the little kids would be there with their pile of 476 shoes behind them, and I’d be there on shoe number three. In my defense, these are the most beautifully laced freshly washed crocs around. Mm hm.

SO. Enough jibber jabber. Running out of time for tonight:

• I applied for a Federal job. Paralegal Specialist. There is little chance I qualify, but what’s the hurt, right? Apply I did. There was a five day window for application, and I actually managed to motivate myself to do it. And… not only that… I FINALLY wrote my write up to request a raise. Yes. I did it. About fucking time, right? Yeah. Only took me four months (after the six month probation.) Ha. I submitted it Thursday… we’ll see what happens. There is drama afoot on the legal front… *dramatic music*
• I took my pic for my new license last week. I should be getting that crazy piece of plastic in twenty days.
• I put on my calendar to renew my passport next Saturday.
• Tommy and the High Pilots will be back in Sacramento May  7! Yay! Jie says she’ll come with. Yay!

This week is SO short… was trying to make up some time here and there since I’ll be out Thurs, Fri and Mon, but barely made it on time today, can only stay until 5p tomorrow, and then that leaves just another hour of possible make-up on Wednesday. So no yoga this week since we leave Thursday morning. I have a bunch of admin work for CACCC to do since they have a presentation on Saturday, meaning I need to order supplies, assemble packets, laminate, make copies, and send documents over to the downtown office by Wednesday. So tomorrow after work, I work. Wednesday is cleaning and packing. Frantic cleaning and packing. Then… ROAD TRIP!

The weather has taken a turn for the windy and rainy, so looks like instead of cargo capris I’ll be wearing skinny emo jeans and sweatshirts. Good thing I have my crocs all laced up and ready to go! Hooray for rubber shoes!

Been reading The Hunger Games. Totally sucked in. In the middle of the second book. Need to go see the movie now. OK, I don’t NEED to. I do, however, NEED to see Ted. Yes. I do. So I was up until Sunday morning at 6am reading, and so after dropping ma off at the train station I came home, putzed around on the internet then totally passed out and didn’t eat. I weighed in this morning at 102.3 lb. Daaaaamn. Four pounds down in a week. Haha. My pants kept dropping today and I had to hike them up constantly. I went to eat dinner today at BJ’s tonight, though, so I’m sure three of those pounds are back.

OK, time to attempt and go to sleep to attempt to wake early and attempt to make up time for work. Money money money…

P.S. I dream in color. In my dreams, I am unable to scream, run, type, or dial phone numbers.

Time to start getting things done.

• Past week was having severe lower back pains again to the point of nausea. Went to yoga yesterday for the first time in a full week and afterwards my back pain was nearly non-existent. Pretty awesome. Felt OK today, should probably have used some heat last night. Will try very muchly to make it to class again tomorrow.
• I went to get my passport today at the post office. Got there at 6pm, since I remember seeing that the branch closed at 7pm, and they were closed. Apparently they close at 6pm now. And then I saw the sign “Passport Application Hours: 10:00am – 3:00pm” Really? Be more inconvenient. Thanks.
• Went to the jewelry store where I got my earrings and looked into purchasing another. Turns out my earrings weren’t 1/8 carat, they were more like 1/16. I looked at their selection of claddaghs and found a pretty white gold one I liked and ordered it. It should be in in two weeks.
• My new obsession is the returned obsession of Joseph Gordon-Levitt. Movies came up while I was leaving work and I blurted out “he’s my favorite.” Well. Guess he’s my favorite. I didn’t even realize that. I decided I will attempt to make it so that I can meet him one day in person.
• I rummaged through my hobo baggies for Coachella and found that none of my baggies are really hobo enough to work. Sad face. I sewed up a tattered strap to my ALAG baggie and will use that.

• My  clothes: 2 pairs of jeans, my ugly capris, wife beaters, long sleeved favorite tees, crocs and flip flops.  Marines cap for sun protection. Frumpy uggers to the max! I should totally find my Keroppi fanny pack…
• Mom is home this weekend, so I’m working.

• Jie got Monkey’s remains back from the vet. I took “her” home with me. She’s sitting on my night stand. I have a strange attachment to these things. I was the same with Phizzy’s remains.

I need to do my write up. Holy shit how did it become 9:41pm? Uuuuugh. Another evening come and gone. Time to feed the bunners.

P.S.

February:

• Donate to friends’ fundraisers (check x3: Jenni, Katie, DiDi Chris) check
• Get teeth taken care of  check
• Schedule eye appt oops
• Get straggler bulk supplies from Costco check

March:

• Start saving for Taxes check
• Get new glasses/frames oops
• Pay for residual dental work I had no cavities  All dental was covered aside from the $10 copay

So… yeah. Taxes. I calculate how much I’ll owe with each paycheck, but apparently my calculations are wrong. I Asian fail. I had it down that I’d owe around $2,500. I entered my data in to TurboTax and it came out to owing $4,700 Federal. Ouch. I got a referral to a great tax lady, and she got it down to $3,660. Still ouch, but less burn. Ugh. So much for saving money

It’s been a long week. Another girl left from work (this time on her own accord, she got a job at the Sheriff’s office), and a new hire starts Monday. I still need to ask for my raise. June is coming faster than I thought it would.

Drama in the form of drunk calls. It should be fine. In time.

I continue to shock people with my age. They all think I’m between 19-24 years old. Ha. It’s my turn for the 30. Next month, bitches. Ugh. Sort of had a little crisis period last month. Freaking out about how I’m idle. But I guess not really. I’m working on myself. Slowly, but surely. And while I’m not married with the house and kid(s), at least I didn’t have them before and have had a giant set back and lost one or more, right? Right. I’m doing OK. Right? Right. OK.

Attorney at work continues to be amazed at how strange I am. Not sure how to take it, so I’ll just take it that I’m… special. Yes. It’s a good thing to not be a sheep. Even though they’re pretty damned cute and fluffy. Well, from afar. Up close they have those terrifying up and down eyes that pull you into the depths of hell… but from afar, they’re fluffy and bleat and are oh-so-cute. But yeah. DON’T want to be a sheep. So I’m not. And I’m good.

I really need to eat something. I haven’t really yet, today.

I haven’t been able to go to yoga all week. I was going to go today, but then was soooo tired all day so opted out of it and didn’t remember to eat again. So here I am, hungers and sans exercise.

I have had this spot on my leg (right above my left ankle) that when I poke at it my foot goes numb. It’s been five or six months, so Jie was like “eh yeah…. you should get that checked out.” The Dr. thinks it’s a cyst, so she was going to refer me to orthopedics to remove it, but then he was all “nah, that’s podiatry. Get an x-ray and send her there.” The next week I got to podiatry and the xray showed nothing abnormal, so I got an MRI and will get a follow up, probably in a week or two. At the end of the visit he poked me with needles. I’m not quite sure why he did that, but the bright red marks all along my foot scared the willies out of me when I was showering last night. I didn’t realize there were even marks made. Stupid marks.

Next month next month NEXT MONTH! It’s going to be crazy. I can’t believe it’s so soon:

• 1-7 One week of “normal,” might have the weekend off again
• 8-14 Three days, then COACHELLA!
• 15- 21 A few days of “normal,” then another weekend off
• 22-on Normal week, then it’s my weekend. I get older, and experience the awesomest food in Sacramento. Maybe evar. “The Kitchen.” I don’t know yet exactly who all will be there, but I know that Am and Russell are flying in from SoCal. Jie is seriously spoiling me. I guess in turn my friends are getting the fruits of the spoilage (that doesn’t sound right…) and they are in turn getting equally spoiled with the goodness. They are SO lucky to know me. Seriously. Awesome sissy by association?!
• May 6 I have an appointment with Elly. I’m thinking to chop it off again. Rave reviews from the females, but not-so-awesome from the males… but… I’m so totally not doing this to appeal more to the males. I’m doing it for me. Dude. Mid-mid-life crisis here. I need some pretty-happy-lovely-girly-spunk in my life. And so I shall.

OK, time to eat. I’m getting far too loopy to even be coherent.

P.S. 

Today was a rough one. Little Monkey Buns had been getting worse… she started the signs of kidney failure at least five years ago (she’s about 8 this year?), but a couple weeks ago she started eating dramatically less. She’s a teeny one, so that was really big… a week ago she stopped eating completely, only drinking a bit each day. We knew the end was near. I worried for Jie and dreaded the phone call… Jie dreaded going home to a dead Monkey, then dreaded leaving because she was worried Monkey would die while she was out.

I had about two straight weeks of 12-hour days of work. I’d go to Neuheisel, then come home and do CACCC. There’s been ridiculous work for CACCC. I still have a lot to do… but this weekend was my weekend off. Finally. Yesterday? Best Friday. Ever. OK, not EVER, but it was pretty damned great: I came home from work, checked my mail which had my NEW PLATES!, installed the plates on vroom, started the back-up of my lappie, then passed out on the bed around 9pm. I didn’t wake up until around 6am. I turned off the lights, brushed my teeth, then crawled back in bed.

Jie called at noon thirty… it was time to bring little Monkey to the vet. She wasn’t holding herself up anymore. I got there and she was shivering in the corner. Apparently she had fallen over on her side this “morning” when Jie saw her… Jie put her on a towel and Monkey started seizing. It was horrific to watch. We didn’t know what to do. Pick her up? Leave her? Hold her? Jie wrapped her up and held her, but she resisted so Jie put her back down and let her lie on her side. She stopped seizing, but was still grabbing on to the towel and gasping. We prayed a little and Jie pet Monkey and her breathing calmed. We were so worried she was going to die right then and there… But she didn’t. She kept holding on.

Monkey hasn’t wanted to be on anything fluffy, so figured she wanted the stability of a hard surface. Jie pulled out this little box and it was perfectly Monkey-sized. We laid down a towel and quickly placed Monkey in it. She didn’t struggle and laid her head on the side. She looked OK. Got in the car and drove. Jie says Monkey started trying to do her car howl, but was too weak, so just stayed still, breathing. The sun was out and it was warm, so Monkey got to see what was going on and have the sun on her.

We got to the vet and they already had a room ready. The vet came out the side door and led us in so we didn’t have to go in front of the doggies in the waiting room. They “borrowed” Monkey to put an IV in her little paw, then brought her back out in a blankie. She didn’t struggle this time and laid down on the fluffy surface they had set up. Jie and I pet her and held her little paws as the vet injected the anesthetic, which was supposed to have Monkey sleep. Her eyes were still open, but the vet insisted she was already asleep. She then injected The Shot. Monkey’s little chest stopped raising, the vet stethoscoped her, and said “she’s gone. She’s lucky to have had you.”

The vet warned us, that after she was gone, Monkey would have involuntary twitches. She said it would be unsettling if we didn’t know ahead of time, so she let us know before hand. I had no idea it would be THAT unsettling…

The vet left us with Monkey and after maybe a minute (less? more?) Monkey’s chest heaved upward and “she” wheezed. Jie gasped and then whispered “oh yeah, involuntary twitches…” She did it three or four more times in the next five to ten minutes. It was very, very unsettling. Twitches is one thing. Full on breaths? Totally another.

We weren’t supposed to talk or touch her since she had gone, and she was supposed to remain for seven hours after her death, but we couldn’t help it… her little fuzzy paw… her little fuzzy body… we pet her and prayed a little more, Jie tied a blessed string around her neck to be cremated with, and we said our final bye byes and left.

So little Monkey is gone, with hopes that she has safe travels and a better life. Miss you, Monkobuns… you silly little turd kitty.

Why was I in Elk Grove? Well, I had to turn in the pink slip to my Hyundai Sonata to the dealers at Elk Grove Mazda because on Sunday Jie and I went and BOUGHT A CAR! Yeah. What? I know. I got a car. A new one. 2011 Mazda3. Zoom zoom! I’m seriously digging it. I got a tremendous deal on it, too, and all for 0% APR with $0 down. Jie was going to put a fatty down on it for me so payments would be lower, but instead she’s loaning the money towards debt so I can cancel out my higher APR card and just focus on my loans, other card, and car; all 6.5% and lower. Yay

I wrote a review on my experience on google reviews, and Jie had one too. I totally wrote a fatty one for Roseville (horrid experience…), but it seems to have magically disappeared.

It’s been hard to shake my mood. I’ve wanted to punch other-admin in the face a few times, but I just gave The Look, bit my tongue (OK, and lashed back once or twice), and went on with my day and five minutes later I was in my giddy I-got-a-car phase. I wonder how long this high will last.

Plague is being spread around the office. The legal side had a 24-48 hour bug deal, but the collector side has a demon flu that lasts a week or more. People are dropping like flies and there are gaps all over the place where people have to go home or stay home. Eug.

Been getting through boxes, slowly but surely. Soon I’ll be moving on to storage and bringing those boxes back in the home to clear out for good. Maybe one day I’ll be able to get rid of storage all together :O   Still trying to decide what I’m going to do with all the space when the boxes are out. The hall still looks weird without all the crap piled there. It sure feels good, though, to toss all that stuff, and then look at it later on and see the clarity. It’s so lame that I have the urge to keep all this shit, but the stuff causes clutter in the mind as well and makes me depressed.

I really need to get on writing my “why I deserve a raise” proposal/paper/expository/thesis thing, especially now that I have car payments, the remainder of my cards and my siss to pay back. Not sure what I’m going to do when June comes around… I enjoy what I do and the people I work with, but June means I’ve had two years legal experience and I should qualify for a lot more positions that START at $15-$20 an hour, with benefits, real Paralegal work, and the real Paralegal title. I dunno. Lots to think about. Many things happening right now. Busy busy.

—–

Yoga Teacher Matt: “Yes. That is what we yoga teachers dream about. A whole class, all in hand stands. And having an entire meal, of just nuts and seeds.”