Andy

A few posts ago, and about 4 months ago, Ben and I brought home a new kitty whom I named Andy. The name was thought up when Ben and I had gone to see Toy Story 3 and I loved the idea of naming a baby girl Andy despite the gender.  Toy Story movies have always been classics, and the name stuck with me.  The lady, Karen, that we bought Andy from, explained to us that Andy (or Daisy they called her) was the only girl in the litter, and quite a pretty baby! she exasperatedly added.

We brought Andy home and introduced her to our other handsome furry forest cat, Poster. Poster did not take to Andy...in fact, Poster would not come into a room if Andy was in it. I took this picture from the couch one afternoon while Andy was napping in my lap, and Poster was watching and sulking in the other room. I was especially intrigued by the glowing eyes reflecting into the floor.

Eventually Poster and Andy became friends and were two peas in a pod, but it was time for Andy to be taking to the dreaded vet. I brought her there and set the carrier on the counter.  The girl at the counter questioned me several times on the name..."So this is a male..."

"No, it's a female"

"A female named Andy?"

Now becoming slightly offended, I reply, "Yes."

She looks at me, confused, "Andy...this is a female?"

Now annoyed, "Yes. I named my female kitten Andy."

"OK."

So she takes Andy away. I finally left practically crying because I'm such a baby seeing my child be scared (I don't have kids, my pets are my kids), and went to work. An hour later I receive a call from the vet's office. I answer nervously, contemplating something horrible, but instead she says, "When you came in this morning, you told us Andy was a girl correct?"

"Yes, why what happen to her?"

"Well...I don't know how to tell you this but your Andy is actually a little boy..."

"WHAT?"

"Yeah, he has testicles...so we are actually going to neuter him...but at least you don't have to change the name!!!"

I was floored.  I realize this may sound silly to some people, but it completely blew my mind to find out that our 'little girl' was actually a little boy. We'd been referring to him as 'Poster's little girlfriend' and 'our little girl' and laughing about how Poster will probably be humping her soon. We got a good laugh about that.

Well I am going to watch some Ghost Adventures and go to bed.

Goodnight friends:D

Hair-Over, Primus and Rothbury Fest

I'm a little blue lately because although I am losing weight, and feel physically better, I am still having an issue with my pale as a ghost skin and stupid fricken hair cut that stupid fricken lady down the street cut recently. I've never really had a set hairdresser at a specific salon. I usually go to whoever is available and conveniently located for me.  For as long as I remember, I had a lady named Vicki do my hair. She became somewhat of a friend to the family after so long, and I even threw up on her floor once when I was getting my hair done for my Aunt's wedding at the age of 6. I remember saying, "Hurry..." as I doubled over in threw up a half a gallon of orange juice onto her floor.  She still managed to french braid my hair though.  I threw up on my Aunt's wedding dress in the limo a few hours later. It was so ruffly you couldn't even tell. They are divorced now. Anyway, after highschool I became very good friends with my pink-haired, arch nemesis who had recently obtained her cosmetology license. She would do my hair frequently, testing new colors, giving me trims whenever needed, helping me pick out the perfect shades and developers, it was great. I had my own personal hair dresser.  She even put 10" extensions in my hair one time.  She was really good at what she did.  Except, for some reason I seem to attract friends who are gypsies and can't sit in one place for a long period of time.  They must move all over, make new friends, work different jobs, get bored, and start all over again. So one day she called me up and said her good-byes as she was suddenly packing up and moving to Michigan with a girl friend she met at a dance club.  That was it, she was gone.  After she moved away, I had another friend, Sammy who was a hairdresser.  She was really good too, except she would charge me the same amount at a ritzy salon which I thought was a little weird. I don't mean to sound like a penny pinching bitch, but I'm your friend, you can't give me a little bit of a discount? If I had my license, I'm pretty sure I would charge for coloring, but not for simple trims and what not, especially not $20 bucks.  Shortly after, Ben and I moved into our apartment, and we became friends with our downstairs neighbors.  Wouldn't ya know it, she was a hair dresser. So I started going downstairs every so often for $10 hair cuts.  Now we're in our house, and that couple had to move out of the apartment and into a parent's house due to the lovely job situation here in the depressed States so now I have no one.  I've talked to the downstairs girl a few times but she has a new baby and what not so our schedules are always conflicting.

I finally gave in and went to a place down the street from my work. I told her I just wanted a trim and wanted my 'helmet' as I call it, cleaned up to make it easier to style. So what does she do? Gives me a bowl cut.  Literally, she trimmed around the edges in a straight line and was like, "There ya go!", and did not even clean up the layers or anything.  Unfortunately, I could not really tell that there was a problem until a few days later when my hair started to 'settle' and refused to do anything. I need a complete hair-over.  I also would like to start tanning too.  I just hate being pale at all times. I've tried the bronzing lotions and spray tans and they never look natural.  I don't care how much they try to convince and sway you that it won't look 'orangey', fake or streaky, they always do.  Especially since the lotions and sprays do not show up until like 4 hours later. I made the mistake one time of putting it on before bed and woke up looking like some kind of Oompa Loompa Zebra creature.  

So October 2nd, Ben, our friend Cody, and my brother Brandon are going to Chicago to the Congress Theatre for Primus.  I'm pretty excited about it.  We saw Primus back in 2008 at Rothbury festival in Michigan.  Which, was by far, one of the coolest and visually stimulating festivals I have ever had the pleasure of attending, I might add.  I saw more colors walking through that forest then I've seen in my whole life. Especially at night when they had the forest lit with blacklights that was reflecting off glitter paper wrapped around the trees, it was truly amazing.  We had to walk through there to get to the 'secret' stage where Primus was playing. As we all filed out of the forest, he started playing "Here come the Bastards', which was a perfect pick for an opener.  It must have been an awesome sight from his point of view.

Unfortunately, since it was close to 100 during the day here and 50 at night, I was sporting a backless tanktop, a skirt and sandals from the daytime concerts.  All the stages are bunched together throughout the forest, and the tent was about a half a mile away from the stages.  Since we didn't have time to run back and grab a change of clothes, we didn't make it to the end of the show.  I couldn't take it anymore...I'm pretty sure my lips were blue and had I had lost feeling in all appendages at a certain point, so Ben and I, frozen, hiked back to the tent and put on some warm clothes and ventured out to the after hours parties happening throughout the grounds. They also had what was called an 'Interactive Monkey Sculpture' which kept us entertained until about 4 in the morning. They had bongo drums attached to the base of the sculpture, when you would hit them, that's when the strobe lights would go off that you see in the video.

I'm pretty sad that Rothbury is no more.  They keep promising a new festival but it's not going to happen. So I guess I feel privaledge that I got to attend the very first 2008 festival.

Well, I am going to start trying to figure out what to make for dinner. Good day all.

Random Rants and Stuff

I am really hating this day.  First I wake up this morning and my 'friend' has arrived for the month, which is always delighfully unpleasant.  I don't step one foot out the door before being hit with a pounding headache. These kind of headaches do not go away with painkillers...well mine don't anyway.  The only thing that makes these particular headaches go away is sleep. Sleeping is not something I can do at work.  I have to sit at work, on the phone and listen to med students squawk in my ear, demanding for things to be done with them when they haven't even done the proper requirements or sent in appropriate documents for that particular thing to be done.  It's exasperating.  They always claim that 'nobody told me that' or 'weren't aware of that', and it's always the students who have been in school for 2 or more years. How could you not know? How could you not know how much time you are given to study for your board exams? Come on people.

Other than that, I guess I'm glad my 'friend' wasn't here over the weekend.  We took my brothers to the Signature Room in Chicago for lunch, and it was great.  I was pretty dissapointed they didn't put us at one of the many open tables with a window view...so we were stuck staring at table after table of Chinese people.  I have nothing against Chinese people, but there were so many of them in Chicago on Saturday I questioned whether or not we had teleported into China at some point. It started to get weird...everwhere I looked, there were Chinese people.  The food was good. They had Mahi Mahi, some delicious cheesy potatoes, cheesy broccoli, mostacholi, and some other goodies.  They bought a basket of freshly baked bread and these giant tortilla chips on our table, which was good with the spicy vegetable beef soup they were offering. The only thing I guess I could complain about--just a tiny complaint--the waiters are a little too much.  I genuinely appreciate good service, but we'd take one sip out of our drinks and there would be arms shooting from all directions refilling the glass to the brim. One time, the waiter came by to refill my brother's water, but he ran out water half way through. In the blink of an eye, another waiter filled the missing 2 inches with water as he sashayed past like a ribbon dancer in a gentle breeze.  Most people would love that, but I guess we are used to stuffing our faces at Ruby Tuesdays and Red Lobsters and aren't used to that kind of treatment.

After the restaurant we took a wild cab ride over to Navy Pier and rode the ferris wheel. By far the biggest ferris wheel I've ever been on. I remember all of us exchanging nervous glances at certain points.  My youngest brother kept snapping pictures with his cell phone and I kept imagining it popping from his grip like a bar of a soap and smashing into someone's head down below. The air tempurature and wind speed also drops and picks up at the top, which doesn't help calm your nerves one bit.

Well the work day has come to another end, will hopefully try to write tomorrow.

Hugs, Me.

Signature Room and Halo 3

Hello fellow readers, whoever you are.

Has anyone ever been to the Signature Room at the 95th in Chicago? Ben surprised me yesterday afternoon by telling me he was taking me there for lunch on Saturday.  We are bringing my little brothers too, so that will be interesting.  My one brother Brandon, is a younger, male version of myself. We both play guitar, we both love the same bands, we're both easy going, and we both have a thing for Halo 3 on Xbox. We can hang out all day and laugh at toilet humor until we move on to video games and it would never get old. My youngest brother, Colin, is the exact opposite of me.  He is 14, an all-star baseball player, plays Gears of War on Xbox, and likes Lil' Wayne. Completely different. I have a younger sister as well, but she is in a league all her own.  She's a bit more temperamental then the rest of us. Her and Colin are more alike, me and Brandon are more alike, but Brandon and Amanda look more alike, and Colin and I look alike.  See how that worked out? I always thought that was interesting.

Anyway, the Signature Room at the 95th is on the 95th floor of the John Hancock building.  Ben and I went here for our one year anniversary and had a great time. If you look in the picture on the website (not the one above, that is not us), we actually sat 3 tables up from the left corner in front of the window.  It was a $150 meal for two of us, but fun and romantic as well.  I thought it to be quite rediculous the way they priced their menu items though.  I believe I got the stuffed marsala chicken, and I asked for a side of broccoli.  The broccoli was extra, $7 dollars extra to be exact. The entrees do not include sides.  The individual garden salads were $8. My Bud Light was $7, but they poured it into a champagne glass, so I guess that made up for it...(heh.) Overall though, the candle lit, romantic ambiance, the live grand piano music, the beautiful view overlooking Navy Pier, it was all worth it.  We're just going for their lunch buffet this weekend though.  They have a pretty strict dress code for dinner guests, but lunch is just casual.  They just ask that you don't wear beach wear...I'm interested to see what my brothers will come up with.  Brandon's usual attire is jeans and a Grateful Dead or Primus tee, and Colin is an avid fan of Abercrombie and American Eagle attire. Colin told me he had a pair of high-top Jordans he would wear though...hopefully that will suffice.

Real quick before I leave work (I've been trying to finish this post for 3 hours...DAMN PHONE)...I found a video I'd seen on G4 quite some time ago.  It's supposed to be a teaser for the Halo movie they are supposedly in the midst of making...awesome video. Check it out if you even know what Halo 3 is...

Halo 3

G'night all!

Success!

Just so everyone knows, my first ever rump roast turned out amazing.  I made mashed potatoes, and used the broth to make gravy...It was good.

Phish

Sorry for the lack of posting lately, I've been extremely busy at work. I'm not complaining though, the wicked witch is gone and I will gladly take over the job if it means she's leaving. I finally got somewhat caught up today and realized I'd deserted my blog.  I went to back to it and it felt like I was visiting an old abandon house. Poor blog.

So I went to Phish over the weeked. It was awesome. I forgot how much I hate sitting in the lawn at that place though. Alpine Valley is literally in a valley, so the lawn is a steep hill of agony that is scary whether your going up or down it.  People are constantly going up and down so it's very likely that some drunk asshole will give you a 'bow to the the face or chest and knock you backwards or forwards. It would be a very painful domino effect if that happened. I made sure to stay close to the handrails during the hikes because I could only imagine the worst if I were to fall. Last year we were in 26th row pavilion, so I guess I can't complain. Here are some pictures from the show:

Me and the man...very excited lol.

Green Man...obviously stuffs. Don't lie, it's the first thing you looked at.

Ben jocked in his new camera...

This is our friend Jason, who repeatedly jumped off the loft in our hotel room.

Lake Lawn Resort Balcony Pics

So yeah, it was an awesome trip.  There's plenty more pictures, but those were just a few of my favorites.

Sorry for the short lame post...work is almost over.

Have a good day and a pleasant tomorrow.

Six Flags, Gurnee, IL

I have secretly been a complete wreck about taking my redemption trip to Six Flags.  Last time I was there was summer of 2008, where I pussed out fairly quickly, and caused my boyfriend a hernia after he'd spent a hefty amount of money on me for that weekend.  He booked a room at a nice hotel, took me out to dinner, and bought the tickets, so I can understand. I got the silent treatment the remainder of the day.

I had/have been watching the show 'Bert the Conquerer' on Travel channel for some time now, and I adore it.  It couldn't have aired at a better time, because right around the time we planned this, this show came on. Bert was my inspiration to ride the dreaded ride I've been fearing for months.  To be clear, I don't completely hate rollercoasters...I hate extremely big drops that send your stomach into your mouth and rob you of your air supply while you're plummeting down a drop. I guess that's what some people love about them, but not me.

We got to the park yesterday about 10 am, I could see that asswipe coaster peering at me over the trees, just mocking me. The sudden urge to crap took over me.  We parked, and started on inside.  As we got into line for the Raging Bull, the extreme fear set in.  I can't even remember the last time I felt so scared and vulnerable. I was on the verge of sobbing.  My hands were sweating, my body was frozen...I kept saying, "I can't do this...I can't go on this..." I forced myself to sit, pulled down the harness, and off it went.  Ben and our friend Dan kept saying things like "We're almost to the top! Here it goes!" I yelled, "Please stop talking to me until this is over!"  We were at the top, I closed my eyes, and we fell.  The 208 foot fall only lasts a total of 4 seconds, but for that 4 seconds you cannot breathe, then it goes back up and around, and through a series of smaller drops, which you also can't breathe, then its over. As soon as it was over, I wiped my eyes, threw my arms up in the air and yelled, "BERT THE CONQUERER!"  It was over.  That stupid drop that I've been dreading for months for finally done with, and I was proud.

After that, the rest of the rides were a breeze.  Even on the Vertical Velocity I was laughing and having a great time and that's the ride that made me call it quits last time.  We rode 3 more after that, but then it got to the point where there was 90 minute wait times, so we went in the lazy river in the water park for a bit, before making a much needed stop at Joe's crab shack for some shrimp and crab legs, then home.

So I redeemed myself.  Now I'm confident that I will be able to go on anything I want in Orlando in March, which is part of the reason we went yesterday. Going to Orlando would be pretty lame if I didn't want to ride anything at Universal.

Until next time, cheers!