somewhat disinterested ramblings

i really don't have much to say today. but i'm trying to update. i get points for that, right?

i thought of a few more things to add to my list, but i (obviously) can't remember them all.

what i do remember:
-- go to the grand canyon (although i think this was implied in 'go to arizona' but i'll specify.)
-- see niagra falls.
-- stand in/behind a waterfall -- although NOT niagra falls, because i'm pretty sure that volume of water would squash me.
-- go to vegas. i'm not even sure i'll like it -- i've only been to a casino once, and i wasn't really a fan. it was too bright and noisy for me. i felt overwhelmed. so i'm sure vegas will be the biggest assault on my senses, ever. but i'd like to see it once.

in other news, jon might have to go on a camping trip in mid-october. hahah. he is an advisor for the post in ellington -- high school kids can be a part of the post and ride along with the ambulance and learn emt-things. they can't actually be certified until they're i think 18, but they can participate with some stuff and they do all sorts of training and drills, and ride along and help out. mostly as gophers -- go get the gauze, go get this, etc. and then as a post they do random things -- we went on a ski trip this past winter with them, as chaperones (ugh. talk about feeling old). and so i guess they decided in late july that they wanted to go camping, and so the best they could come up with is southern vermont columbus day weekend. which is clearly not the best idea ever, since that will be, well, cold. haha. i probably can't go, because i would have to take friday and monday off and i'm already taking that tuesday off.. i probably could, but i'd get a lot of bitching for it and i'd have no more vaca time. so that means it's a no-go for me. jon is trying to make it a no-go for him too, but right now, the only advisor signed on isn't allowed to drive any of the vehicles. so i say he should not sign up, and then they can't go at all, and they'll have to reschedule for when it's warmer, haha. cause seriously, who goes camping in southern vermont in mid-october?? although, as jon pointed out, it is new england, so it could be anywhere from 70 to 20 degrees outside, haha. i wouldn't mind going if it wasn't mid-october. eep. i like vermont, i like camping. but i'm still new to the camping game, i don't think i want to be exposed to a possible winter camping experience yet.

speaking of winter, though. it's almost fall, which means it's almost winter, which means it's almost skiing time!! i freaking can't wait. YAY! i guess i won't try to skip through fall, what with coming up we have: eric's birthday, my birthday (for which i am trying to get together a dinner with my mom & grandparents, woot!), dad's wedding, possible aerosmith concert, smashing pumpkins concert. those are pretty good things. then before you know it, we're in mid-october, which means jon's cousin's halloween party is soon. then thanksgiving and my mom's birthday, and then christmas. woot! and we'll know who's winning the primaries, since they're all going to be like next month anyway. yeesh.

i am not super political, and i am registered as an independent, because i can't pick a side. both sides have arguments i appreciate, so i figure i straddle the fence, which is fine with me. i had thought maybe i'll try to pick a candidate before the primaries this time, and switch to one or the other so i can vote in said primaries. i will admit i haven't been paying the closest attention, but working in the news business, i hear tidbits, and i did try to read summaries of any debates (since i missed every one of them so far, argh), and i have to say....no one really stands out for me. i'm not enthralled or completely backing anyone. i do feel, though, and maybe this is bad, but i feel that the democrats are kind of trying to lose the election. nothing personal against hillary (hilary?) or obama, but.. a woman and a black man? i'm not prejudiced against either, but a heckuva lot of the country still is. and i'm not saying that's right, i'm just saying i'm not sure the rednecks are ready for that. and with bush's popularity rating oh so high, the democrats sort of had this election lock stock & barrel, had they proposed a solid, non-offensive candidate. and again, let me make clear that i am not offended by either candidate. but i think any chance the democrats had of getting some loose republicans to swing on over to their tree is a little far-fetched now. i don't know much, but what i hear on the streets (not as in 'the hood' but as in 'public opinion') seems to be that hillary is a bit of a bull dog, scary, and not someone people want running our country. i personally can say that i'm not really sure i respect her, because her husband cheated on her, the entire world found out, and she stayed with him. i mean, i guess that's good marriage values. but what happened to girl power? why are all the feminists backing her after she was used and abused (metaphorically, of course) by her husband and she stayed with him? and what i hear about obama is that he's too inexperienced. to which i sardonically ask, how does one get experience to be the president short of, you know, being the president? (and to which you all equally sardonically respond, spend more time in politics than 10 minutes, you 12-year-old (obama).)

so. those are my meaningless thoughts on politics, because as aforementioned, i admit i don't pay a lot of attention to these things. i've been trying though lately. and these are just some observations. i'm sort of bracing myself for a long explanation of why i'm wrong from kate, who is staunchly democratic and usually very sound in her logic, so i will probably learn a lot from it, hahah. (anyone else with ideas is certainly welcome to share them, not just kate.)

cape cod

i'm really sorry i'm not better at this. i know it's been a long time since my last update, but in my defense, we've been super busy at work lately and i don't have the internet at home. and what with hating my job with an unwavering passion, i don't want to spend any more time here than i absolutely have to, so if we're done with work -- usually after i'm supposed to be gone anyway -- i am not going to stay here to update. which then leaves me with 'well i hope i'll have time tomorrow!' which never seems to happen. :-/

on an unrelated note, jon and i went to the cape this weekend with his cousin and her husband (coincidentally, jon's best friend) and her mom (slash jon's aunt). it's a little cottage in brewster that was built in like the 1800s or something -- i'm not really sure when, but it's very old, let's put it that way. it's quaint, you could definitely say. it's not luxury living, for sure, but it's all right for a weekend. no tv, no microwave, no air conditioning, outdoor shower, etc. that being said, the outdoor shower is actually quite nice, because it's a stone slab floor surrounded by wooden fencing, and they actually somehow managed to get good water pressure in it. and i'm tall enough to see peek over the top and catch a nice view of ocean. which is sweet, cause it's not everyday you get a direct view of the ocean while you're showering. it is right on the water, too, which is nice. well i guess technically it's up a small hill and you have to walk through like 3 seconds of woods and down like 15 stairs to get to the water. oh, the hardship!

it's weird to be on the cape not with my family and/or my grandparents. my grandparents have owned a place on the cape for... decades. and i've been going up there basically since i was born -- my mom used to spend her whole summers up there with her family when she was a kid/teen. consequently, my family used to go up every year at least once, if not more. so i've been going to the cape for about 23 years now, i'd say. and ironically enough, this place that i stayed at with jon's cousin (who use it through a friend from church) is like 10 minutes away from my grandparents' place. i figured this out last year when we went up and went to newbury comics (sweet freaking store) and it was right behind cooke's, my all-time favorite seafood restaurant that's about 5 minutes from my grandparents' house. and then this time, we drove from cooke's to wings, a sweet tourist-y type beach store with cape cod memorabilia, sweatshirts, tshirts, bathing suits, beach towels, etc, which actually brings us right past my grandparents' street. which is a little weird, a little surreal. to be there but not be going there. to be in town, on the cape, and have my mom and my grandmother (who until like last year spent her whole summers on the cape still) not be there. to be on a beach, but not my beach. (because it is, clearly, my beach.)

we got more accomplished that i wanted to this time than last year. newbury comics? check. cooke's? check. sea gull beach? check. wings? check. pirate's cove mini golf? CHECK! freaking sweetest mini golf place EVER. talk about attention to detail! there is a freaking hole ON A SHIP, in water. they made a small pond, then built a ship in it, then put a hole on it. this place got so busy that they built a second 18 holes behind the first. just to split the crowds. because it is so freaking amazing. they use REAL rocks instead of stupid painted styrofoam like they do in ct. seriously, this place puts ct mini golf places to SHAME. it is just so ridiculously detailed and completely amazing. it's an experience, there's no other way to put it. and that's how mini golf should be, damnit! they actually built a small cafe/store next door to their mini golf courses, and it is chock full of all sorts of pirate things.

jon bought this shirt:

hahha. freaking great. we also bought a sign that says 'keep out! pirates only' for our front door and a sign that says 'poop deck' for .. well .. take a guess. (we're classy!) so yeah. here is the link, and you should go look at the pictures, although i have to say, they TOTALLY don't do it justice. like, impossibly so. because it is such an amazing place. so. link. http://www.piratescove.net/location/9

so it was pretty cool to be on the cape again. weird, though, to be running around places i've known since i was a kid and not be there with my family. also weird to try to figure out where to go -- i've been, as i said, to these place since i was a kid, but not that often since i've been of driving age. so trying to figure out where to go can certainly be interesting at times. next year i think i want to try to find hyannis main street. and go to red rose beach. i'll take my personal landmarks a couple at a time, i guess, haha.

so aside from a monopoly incident (and when is there NOT an incident when monopoly is played?) and getting a bit lost on the way back (even though jon's best friend told us 'you can't mess it up.' ...wrong. we did.), it was a good trip, i'd say. we actually had quite a nice date night by accident, cause i wanted to go to cooke's (the best seafood, ever. i think i mentioned that, but it's worth mentioning again) but jon's cousin & aunt can't eat it. and jon doesn't like it, but he came and got chicken fingers, haha. but so we went there, and then we went to my beach so i could show him.. even though it was dark. :-/ better than nothing, i guess. and then we decided to go play mini golf (see aforementioned pirate's cove ravings), and so by the time we got home, it was like 11 at night. accidental date nights are swell, though, it was nice to see jon for a couple minutes. i only see him 8 days a month, and so often lately it's been running around to one thing or another. so it was nice to actually just hang out and have fun. i had almost forgotten how much fun he is! =P

but now it's back to the grind. stupid work. stupid new system. stupid coworkers. stupid...everything about this job! soon it will be the weekend, and then we are going to help my dad move his couch saturday morning and go to lunch, and then go to dinner with my mom and possibily his mom and brother, and then sunday we are moving the rest of my dad's stuff (he wanted the couch in before everyone showed up sunday) into his new house. and i still have no idea if i'm working monday or not yet. we're well organized, if you can tell.

i'm still rereading 'a breath of snow and ashes' -- i know, it's taking me forever! i really haven't been reading it all that much. it's making me pine for the rest of the books, although actually just for certain scenes. but i'll take the whole books. i actually really want to reread book 5 ('the fiery cross') cause i only read it like once before i loaned it to someone. so i am not as up on that book as i should be. plus, i have been thinking, book 6 isn't really my favorite. i think she spanned too much time in it, and it gets a bit boring at times. i'm hoping book 7 will have more action in it, less 'oh, four months passed. it snowed. then another six months passed. we harvested the hay. now it's summer again.' the book has its good parts, but a lot of it is the same -- 'they felt it coming.' 'they knew it was coming.' 'the time had come.' 'they could feel it in the air; something was coming.' ...no shit. we know. let's move toward it, shall we? so i'm at page 535 of 978, and i probably won't be done any time soon. i'm just not putting that much effort into it. but i am also, to be fair, trying to stretch it out a bit -- i am hoping against hope that there is a book 7 out there somewhere. book 6 was published in 2005, so hopefully book 7 is already printed. and the reason i'm stretching it out is because my birthday is sept. 20, and i am hoping i will get some money so i can go buy the book. it's possible it's not out yet and i'll just be sad, but then i can cheer myself up by buying other assorted books. i'm torn between trying to find out now and waiting until my birthday. i think i might look it up after i finish book 6 -- if i know now, i'll just try to speed through book 6 and then have to wait a month. and we all know how i do with patience.

well. luckily for me, it is now time to go on home. which, as aforementioned, means the end of this post, because i have no internet at home. that may be remedied soon -- jon's payments for his truck are ending, so we've been throwing around the idea of -- gasp! -- getting cable tv (WOOT to no more having only 3 fairly-to-very fuzzy channels!) and internet.
sort of overwhelming, if you think about it. we haven't had cable or internet since april. it seems like so much longer than it actually is, but when you've had both for all of your life, it's sort of a harsh reality. i mean, sure, i've lived, it's been fine. i'm doing all right. but i won't lie -- i like having the option of watching tv or looking something up online. i like having the luxury. i can live without it, but i don't necessarily want to.

either way, it's still time to go home.

all things scotland

i have been ridiculously obsessed with all things scottish lately. i have been missing it so badly! my first terrible decision was to watch a video my mom had found for me at some sale -- 'touring scotland' -- yeah, i was crying within minutes of starting it. oof. just made me miss it more than normal, which is already a lot! and now i've been wearing a necklace and earrings that i got in scotland and were given to me from scotland (respectively), and that just makes me think of it. and then i watched braveheart -- except the crappy vhs version which is two tapes so you have to get up and switch it in the middle, ahahha -- which was awesome. i forgot how good that movie is! how much it stirs my scottish blood, hah. ALSO, how mel gibson was NOT always a crazy looking old anti-semitic drunk man. he looks good in braveheart. and he played the part brilliantly. i am totally in love with him in this movie.. it's one of two that i ever really liked him in, the other being maverick. also a good movie. but anyway. braveheart reminded me of -- obscure book reference here, although i know most of you have read them, haha -- the outlander novels, because his william wallace reminded me a lot of jamie -- who, for those who don't know, is a character in said novels. quick synopsis: the books are set in the 1950s/60s until suddenly claire ends up transported back to 1750s/60s scotland, where she ends up meeting (and marrying) jamie. so then they're set around the battle of culloden, of which she obviously has forewarning since she knows what happened, being from the 'future' and all. and then eventually they move to america and are currently, in the last book, trying to survive the american revolutionary war. but they are still scottish and surrounded by scots. so. since the movie reminded me of the books, i am now rereading the last book (a breath of snow and ashes), although if it's actually the last book i don't know -- she may have put out another book by now. but i can't afford it if she has, so i am just going to wait until probably my birthday (sept. 20) to figure that out, because hopefully i can then go buy it with birthday money, woot!

so yeah. obsessed with all things scotland. missing it terribly. watching 'william wallace' run around the highlands made me cry, because they're so beautiful and haunting and lovely and .. i want to be there. i want to run around the highlands.

although there was one problem -- some of the movie was set in edinburgh, and they talked about the castle. now, i know that in the 12/1300s, the castle certainly didn't look like it does now, but they didn't even pretend, i don't think. unless the castle has been knocked down and completely rebuilt, which, i suppose, is possible, they didn't even try. cause what they showed looked nothing like any part of the castle that's there nowadays. not knowing my edinburgh castle history, i suppose it could have been completely redone, but that seems unlikely. although in random trivia, did you know the castle is built on an old volcano? and that people settled there as early as 800 ad? i thought that was pretty cool to know.

either way, i miss it so bad. jon came back from a red sox game in boston awhile ago and was talking about how he forgot how much he loved boston, just how everything felt right again when he was there. and that's how i feel about edinburgh/scotland. everything just felt right. i was happier than i'd been in a long time, and while i do love jon, i don't love my life (aka, my job, cause that's all i have since the hours i work make it impossible to see anyone and/or do anything), so i'd say i haven't been that happy since either. i know scotland wouldn't fix all my problems, but.. i just felt right there. if it wasn't so far away, i'd move there in a heartbeat. but i know i'd miss my family and friends. i've played the move away game, and it was fun because it wasn't permanent, you know? if i could just lasso scotland and bring it closer -- or maybe lasso the united states and move it closer, scotland is fine where it is -- i would totally move there. in a second. in less than a second. in a nanosecond.

for those of you who don't know, this is edinburgh castle:

and this is the skyscape:

so the castle is in there in the back right, and the short steeple on the left (not the super tall spiny one, the more left one) is about 10 seconds from where i lived. no exaggeration.

for good measure, this is buddy mulligans, one of our favorite pubs:

note biddy's there in the bottom corner (right-ish, with the green shade) and the castle up above it. it's quite a trip to stumble out of a bar drunk, look up, and see a castle. but one of my favorite trips. woot!

and this is a picture of the highlands, a la kate:

sigh. can i go home yet?

i forgot one..

yeah. i knew this would happen!

i guess i did actually sort of touch on it, cause i said go to australia and new zealand. but specifically, i want to scuba dive/snorkel at the great barrier reef.

..also on the list should be get my scuba diving license. i'm not really sure how much i'll love scuba diving, cause underwater stuff terrifies me. i have no idea why. but i'm thinking shallow-ish water, light, clear water, i should be okay. i just won't go in any creepy, dark places, haha.

again, i'm sure there's more, but. right now at least i am way too lazy to think about them.

work is still the boo. everyone's all sorts of cranky cause of the new software systems, and so i'm just listening to music all day. on the plus side, this prompted me to update my ipod with my fall out boy (infinity on high) cd and my the all-american rejects (move along) cd, and to just plain charge it. since we don't have internet, i don't really use my computer for a whole lot. so it's kind of a pain to turn it on just to charge my ipod, so i've been going without. but it's much nicer than cds cause a) i am not attached to my computer. with cds, i have to be headphone-d to my pc, which means the music has to stop when i need to get up, which is often. b) cds end way too quickly and so i have to listen to them repeatedly or bring like 10 to work. which gets annoying. and c) i have more variety with the ipod. shuffle is my friend! i can go from metallica to fall out boy to under the sea (heck yeah, the little mermaid!) to britney (yes, i know, i'm properly ashamed) to... you get the idea. it's a lovely mixture.

also lovely is the fact that i am done so i can get the flock outta here.
woot!

dun dun DUN

well. i may or may not have enough time to accomplish my list, but i'm going to give it a try.

i should note that these entries will be in no particular order. not of importance, of time to be done by, or even by alphabetical order. which might drive you (and me) crazy, but maybe i'll fix it up later. cause i'm sure i'll be adding to it, so what's the difference now? this is just my first draft.

-- learn gaelic. how freaking sweet would it be to go to the highlands of scotland and converse with people in gaelic? honestly.
-- go back to scotland. (duh)
-- visit greece; specifically, athens, sparta, the oracle at delphi, ... okay that list could go on a lot. i guess i should amend this to 'spend a lot of time in greece.'
-- go back to venice and go to murano; watch glass-blowing. buy blown glass. love it.
-- drink a pint of guinness in ireland. and a pint of smithwick's. and then an irish black & tan (smithwick's and guinness. so tasty!). and maybe some bailey's too. or whatever their local irish cream is.
-- go to egypt; see all the various ancient landmarks. the pyramids, cairo, the other places i can't think of right now. think 'the mummy,' but hopefully without undead creatures threatening my life. although it would spice up the trip, i suppose...
-- learn to ride a horse. and if i like it, buy a horse. a clydesdale. cause they're scottish! and pretty. and big! i want a black stallion with white poofs at his feet and white detailing (hahaha like a car? i dunno what it's called). of course, that's supposing i like riding horses. i've only ever been in the same place as them once, and they were super big and a little scary. and i'm told they sense fear. so i guess i need to overcome my fear of them as well. possibly even first, as in, before i learn to ride them.
-- learn to rock climb. and then go rock climbing. i'm afraid of heights so this should be interesting, but i think it would be too cool of a thing to not do just because of a stupid fear. so again, overcome fear of heights. possibly by rock climbing. there is a method to my madness, i swear.
-- climb a mountain that is not the most death-defying mountain ever. just maybe a good landmark. a climb that will challenge but not likely kill.
-- hike mount washington. i hate those bumper stickers that say 'this car climbed mount washington!' all that says to me is 'i'm a lazy ass and instead of hiking and enjoying the scenic outdoors and getting some exercise, i drove my fat ass up a mountain to cheat and see the view for no hard work in return!' (which is, you may note, considerably longer. maybe that's why it's not on a bumper sticker?)
-- go to australia and new zealand. honestly, i first wanted to go because that's where xena was filmed, and it's beautiful. then i wanted to go because of crocodile dundee. and then i wanted to go because a friend studied abroad there and loved it so much she went back for grad school. that kind of passion makes me curious to see what it's like, you know?
-- go to alaska. i've heard it's beautiful there. i'd like to go snowshoeing. skiing. etc. snow sports in general.
-- learn to fly a plane. my grandfather used to own a plane, and he's always told us stories about flying, and it's always made me want to do it.
-- learn to fly a helicopter. it just seems cool. and people who can afford helicopter rides are rich, so maybe if i was a pilot i'd be rich too? by proxy? haha.
-- go to arizona to visit my cousin. and to see it. i've heard it's pretty cool looking, so i guess after i get over my excitement of seeing my cousin, i'll start to look around. and play an rpg (role-playing game) with her so i can finally understand what they are and how they work.
-- ski in colorado. i mean really. is this not a skier's dream?
-- try snowboarding. i make no promises to like it or continue learning it, but i would like to try it once and see if i like it.
-- go skydiving. once. more, if i like it. i've always wished i could fly, and here's a genuine chance, no?
-- take a road trip cross-country. i'd kind of like to do it while i'm young, but if i have to settle for old/retired and in an rv, i can accept that. life doesn't end after retirement, damnit!
-- hike the appalachian trail. i dunno if i'll ever be financially stable enough to not work for a couple months while i do this, so this one's kind of a long shot, but i think it would be an awesome experience.
-- go to summer camp. okay, so i won't really have an opportunity to do that now that i'm not a kid, which will always make me sad, but maybe i can do it when i have a family.. have us all go to some family resort-ish-camp-ish place. like in dirty dancing, but for normal (not rich) people. it won't be quite the same, but i yearn a little for a camp experience.
-- learn to cook/bake. or at least master a few recipes. i can cook general food, and i make bangin faJitas, but i'd like to have a good repertoire of recipes. maybe not super complicated things, but, say, raspberry bars. i don't know how to make them now, and i'd like to know.
-- make the homemade kahlua my mom gave me a recipe for. sweet!
-- shoot a (hand)gun. and become proficient at it. i'm not in love with the fact that guns exist, but i am facing the facts that they DO exist. and if for some reason i ever need to defend myself and happen to find a gun to use -- all of which hopefully won't happen, but still -- i'd like to know how to use it. if it's me or them, i pick me.
-- ride a motorcycle. as a passenger. and not a stupid crotch rocket! and only with someone i trust, because motorcycles seem so very scary to me. so maybe on a back road, or even a parking lot. very slowly. i'd just like to see what it's like. and if i like it, drive a motorcycle. and if i really, really, really like it, own a motorcycle.
-- join a rugby team again.
-- and a soccer team.
-- go to indiana (or wherever she's living when i can afford this...) and visit audrey.
-- go to nj (or wherever she's living when i can afford this...) and visit vicky. and see her apartment!
-- i already said go back to scotland; implied in that was visit sarah & iain.
-- return to new hampshire often. i like it there. and that's where enslin and jeanette are!
-- okay, let's just say visit all of my friends that don't live close to me.
-- go to d.c. and see the holocaust museum. and go inside the damn washington monument! stupid thing was closed for construction when i was there. grr. and see d.c. sights. (and visit kate and carrie!)
-- go to a ranch in montana and ride horses. (yeah, i should accomplish my earlier goal of 'overcome fear of and then learn to ride horses' first.)
-- see the rocky mountains. possibly hike/climb them?
-- go on a safari in africa. so cool!
-- get back into photography; possibly sell photos. have a darkroom.

okay. i'd say that's good for now. i'm sure there's plenty more i'd like to accomplish in my life, but i think i've got a good starting base now.
<3

okay, okay, so i'm a jerk

...which means, yeah, no update just yet. i know what you're thinking -- well, monica, if you have the time to write that there will be no list today, don't you have the time to write your list?

well, no, reader. this list requires time for thought that i don't have at the moment. i'd really like to be able to sit back and think about my list. really come up with some stellar 'life goals.' cause when one makes such a list, one needs to make sure all things are on said list. i've given thought to printing out my 'life goals' in order to keep them and try to accomplish as many as possible, so i want to make sure that everything i can possibly think of is on this superb list. (i hope i'm not building this up too much, hahha) i'm a list person, and i heart having lists of things to cross off once i've finished them. it warms me a little inside every time i can (neatly) cross an item off a (neat, organized) list.

i do, however, have time for a quick post explaining the BOOOOOO-ishness of work lately. i mean, it's always pretty BOOO-inspiring, but we're currently switching over to new software systems, and it is just a giant mess. none of us know how to build a page anymore, so it's ridiculously confusing and frustrating. i've never quite experienced something like this, where you know how to do something in one system but you are switched to another system which is eerily similar but just different enough that you're totally lost. we used to use quark -- and we still are, for some pages, just to make it more confusing -- and we're switching to indesign. the two systems look almost exactly alike, except the ways to do everything are different. for instance, in quark, if you want to add runaround (buffer space around an object) onto something, you hit control T. if you want to do this in indesign, it is now called 'text wrap' and it is alt+cntrl+W. ..why? cause whoever made indesign decided to completely scrap quark shortcuts? i have no idea, really. i'm not sure which came first, all i know is whoever created each clearly hated the other, because everything is completely different. so far, i'm not such a huge fan of indesign, but i suspect this is solely because i have no idea what i'm doing so far. i don't like not being good at what i do, particularly since i am, modestness aside, quite accomplished in quark. i can build a page -- well -- very quickly, and now i am back to square one, learning the whole process. except it's even more annoying since if i was using quark, i'd know what to do, but now that we're in indesign, i've got no clue what magical combination of buttons to hit to, say, take a frame off a box, or make a box gray, or .. oof.

so. aside from it being frustrating for me for several reasons, one of which being that i simply don't like change (unless i instigate it -- yes, i know it's unfair, but that's another post, really), it's also frustrating to me because we have several people here who are not really proficient at technology in general, let alone switching over to new systems. and they're vocal people. so they are yelling and angry and frustrated and.. well. they are not shy in voicing their opinion that we were just fine with quark, thankyouverymuch. i secretly (or not so, i have also been somewhat vocal in not being thrilled about all this) agree, but i am hoping i appear to take a slightly less gutturally angry manner about it.

phooey. on top of all of this, they have actually been making me do loads of work lately. gone are the days when i had hours to beg for something to do.. i am pretty well busy from start to finish every day now. i don't even usually take a break. although i do take 5-minute breaks to read articles on people or tmz, so i guess it evens out.. but i consider those my smoke breaks, since i don't smoke.

speaking of time, though, i was waiting for page 7 to be read because all i need to do is upload some stories to the web and then i can go home, and now that that page has been read, i can upload it, so i'm going to get on that so i can go home and watch last comic standing. woot!!

i swear, my 'life goals' slash 'list of things to do before i die' slash 'things i want to accomplish' slash 'better name i haven't come up with yet' will come someday. tomorrow i might have time, but i am going to try building two pages in indesign tomorrow.. so depending on how well that goes, i may or may not have time to do so.
(eep.)

a teaser

well. it is uber late right now so i am going to go home, not write a blog entry, but i thought i'd send out a little note saying i've been thinking my next post is going to be.. things i want to accomplish. calling them 'life goals' sounds a little overambitious and/or more important than they actually are, but i'm anti the whole cliche "things to do before i die" list. unfortunately, that's basically what it is.. i haven't figured out what else i'm going to call it, but the other point of the update is that i probably won't get to my list until wednesday. i was pretty busy tonight, and i will probably be busy tomorrow, so wednesday is the first really feasible day for this list of mine. i will tell you, though, that i shared a few of my list items with kate already (we were gchatting), and she asked, 'oooh! can i be your life-goal buddy?' because my 'life goals' are so super stellar.

yeah, now you want to read, don't you?

what did i tell you

we need coffee in the morning..













..or we fall asleep. (yes, even the puppy. he's quite the caffeine hound.)













beached!













oh wait, he's okay.













chester boy!













brother's gf w/chester.




























juan w/chester.













me and daddy (self photography is clearly the best option)













brother shaves jon's mohawk.













take it down, take it all the way down..













the audience.













the supervisor.













perfection takes teamwork.













almost there.













annnnnd mohawk!!













sunset.













vanna white's got nothin on my baby.. (food circa 2000)













booze cruise.













baby boozed out?













brother & gf splashing each other on the front of the boat.













...cue brother and gf soaked.













.......cue end of pictures. this took me forever. stupid formatting!!

apologies

well it has been forever since i posted, and i apologize for that. i was on vacation starting friday the 20th through sunday the 29th of july, then that next week and yesterday i was super busy because i had to be first one person at work and then another as they both took time off. unfortunately, all that really id for me was allow me to have no extra time for blogging, cause i don't get compensated for doing anyone else's job, so there's no real benefit there for me. i got to make a couple covers, which is sort of exciting, cause it allows for a little creativity, so i guess that was good.

either way, it is done now and i am back to being me! yaaaay. although i think someone else wants help with his pages, so i may end up doing some of his stuff too. yeesh. as if this nonsense wasn't bad enough, we are switching from cni and quark to incopy/prestige and indesign. i have had two training sessions so far, one for incopy and one for indesign, and i am fairly confused on the indesign one. we went really fast and didn't even really cover all that much, so how we went fast i'm not sure, but we seemed to always be doing something that i was too far behind to get. i missed the first step a lot, like 'go up to file and find ...', and if you don't know where to begin, it's hard to follow the directions from there. blast. i am not really excited to be switching to indesign.. it's supposed to be better, but from what i've seen so far (which, to be fair, is not a lot), i think it seems like it's more work and more annoying. but i am sure that is probably just because i was "raised" on quark and it's all i know.. and i'm good at it. so switching to a new system and being thrown for a loop is sucky, i hate not being good.

aside from that, i dyed my hair sunday, and at first i hated it.. i am still not sure i love it, but it's growing on me (no pun intended, hahah). it was supposed to be a dark/deep red (think addison on grey's or grace on will & grace, or ::shudder:: lohan before she dyed her hair & went crazy druggie), but it just came out super dark. and purple. but it's lightening a little, and it's more red than purple in some lighting. i'm hoping it keeps lightening, because the dark just isn't good with my pale (slash translucent) skin. unfortunately, it's starting to grow on me, but i am seeing at least one area that didn't quite get as much dye as it should have, and i'm just hoping it's not as noticeable to other people as it is to me. i was contemplating redying my hair immediately (like, friday), but now i am thinking i might just leave it for a little while.. mid-september-ish should give my hair enough time to breathe a little, and then if it gets messed up, i can get it fixed at a salon before my dad's wedding in october. i'm supposed to go to my mom's tonight to see what she thinks of the color. it's getting a little more liveable for me now, although that one spot is going to irk me, and i am not buying a new bottle of dye solely for one stupid spot. but grr! so yeah. it is definitely the darkest my hair has ever been in my entire life, and i think that threw me for a loop, especially given it was soooo dark when it first finished. it was literally black when it was wet. think ink. i had ink-colored hair. and when it dried it was just a dark purple. but now it is more red, and i am liking it a bit better, although it's not what i was going for. which seems to happen often, i never get what i'm going for.. i think i'm going to have to go to a salon for that color red, and that sucks, because i am poor and i don't want to pay for it! booo!

so. nothing too interesting has happened lately besides vacation, which was swell. it was lovely to just relax and go swimming and jet skiing and kayaking and .. well, canoeing was not relaxing at all, it was terrifying. i did not remember canoeing being so tipsy and oh-God-we're-going-to-dump-over feeling. my dad helpfully pointed out that the last time i went, i was like 12, so i was considerably smaller, which is true. i hadn't taken the canoe out in years, taking instead the two-person kayak, which sits much closer to the water. also not helping are the broken seats on the canoe, cause you have to sit on those life-raft-seat-cushion-thingys (well, you don't have to, but the other option is uncomfortable), and the child-sized oars (exaggeration, yes, but they are small) that force you to bend over to really get into the water, especially if you're 6'4" (cough boyfriend cough). so we took that out once and that was the end of it, because i kept freaking out and trying to rebalance thinking we were tipping and jon was laughing every time i tried to not fall out, and i thought he was shaking it on purpose, so i was getting mad, but it turns out he wasn't, and then there was a steering issue cause, well, he kinda failed. you can't just paddle on one side the whole time. it doesn't work. and it doesn't matter if the other person paddles on the opposite side the entire time. unless you are perfectly in tune and have balancing strength and direction with your paddles, that will not work. so i'd switch to try to turn it, and he'd switch, and i'd be like ..uh, no. or i'd tell him to paddle on the other side. well, someone had to! he didn't really appreciate my directions, though, and eventually tried to make me paddle it by myself, from the front, which didn't really work either. yeesh. so from then on i took out the one-person kayak and had a much more stable, direct-route time. hahahah.
there was also a puppy who was adorable! my aunt got a little yellow lab puppy and he was just a little bundle of love and fun. he was pretty classic yellow lab -- never really in a rush, happy to play, thrilled to be loved, etc. very cute.
also cute was jon's mohawk! he decided he wanted a mohawk on vacation, so we had a big project sunday night in which my brother buzzed jon's head (down to the no-guard, which means the shortest length you can get without bic-ing it, basically, which was a...conversation we had. i said, take it down.. jon was a little afraid at first, but then we finally got him to do it) and i helped shape the mohawk, with my dad looking on and snapping pictures and his sister, his fiancee and his fiancee's sister all looking on and offering directions. they wanted us to take down the top to a shorter length, but i wanted a tall mohawk, so we left it up. my aunt helpfully supplied some "instant freeze" aussie hair styling spray and some spray gel, both of which we used, and we spiked the hawk, and it was freaking hot. i love mohawks, and i loved my boyfriend with one! unfortunately, it's gone.. he buzzed it last thursday night cause friday was supposed to be hot and he didn't want to wear a hat and he clearly couldn't have a mohawk at work. (can you imagine if an ambulance came to get you and your emt had a mohawk?) so now he's just all naked-head-ed, which was weird at first but i'm getting used to it. i think he can pull it off, but he doesn't like it. weirdly, i think it makes him look taller, haha. the hawk definitely did, cause it was 3ish inches of spiked hair on top of shaved sides and his freaking tall body. i liked it. we don't really have any decent pics of it spiked, just one he took on his cell, but i will try to upload some pics tomorrow. it's almost time to go home today, so that's a project for tomorrow.

well. i think that's a fairly decent update for now.. i owe more, i know, after two weeks of no updating, and i will certainly try for more tomorrow and the rest of the week. woot!