Nom nom Salt

I love it when my iPod just takes off and rocks the shuffle. More than 5 awesome songs in a row? It's a miracle!

Er, I guess I should say 5+ songs that I actually wanna listen to at the moment. Cuz obviously everything on my iPod is fan-freaking-tastic. Ooh! Random tangent (starting off with tangents, well we're a bit confident today....) it's such a good thing boyfriend is a super-techy genius. I have a little bitty 8GB iPod nano from like, '07 (given to me by well, /ahem my ex-ex-boyfriend) (I'm terrible--I know) (it doesn't really help things that I'm typing this entry on the laptop current boyfriend courteously "lent" me for my internship in cali, does it...) [ah! we're at like, 10 awesome songs now. This is too legit for me to handle...]

omg where was I??

Right. iPod.

Boyfriend is a genius and knows how to transfer music from the iPod onto the computer in one massive file load. It may or may not be an immensely simple procedure, but to me it's like magic. The POINT is, I can have all that music on this laptop to take over to Cali but continue buying new stuff and putting it on the iPod, cuz now there will be actual room in my little bitty 8 gig. Wooooh!!

There's 0.31 gigs left. Don't judge me.

Oh. Oh, oh, oh. Before I forget and before I realize it's totally not as important as I believe it is, if you like music at all and are totally sick and tired of 'Amazing Grace' and all it's clones please give it one more last shot and listen to this version. I about crashed my car on the highway when I first heard it.

I feel all fancy. Sitting in our leather recliner, blogging, with the trees blowing dancing shadows across the blinds backlit by the streetlamp. It's like I'm a writer or something.

But I'm just a funky 20 year old with an addiction to thoughts and how they transfer from brain to paper.

Just watched 'Salt' with my family. Woah.

Clarification: woah to the fact that I just watched a movie with my family. That hasn't happened in....well, way too long. I'm like Ryan Reynolds in 'The Proposal' when Gammie fakes dying in the helicopter to get him to "try harder" to be part of the family. I get that same plea probably too many times. Without the dramatic fake dying.

It helps that boyfriend works nights. Go figure.

I'm terrible and going to hell. Acceptance is a beautiful thing.

So Salt!

It's kind of good. I guess.

Nice to have a super-spy-mega-fantastic-awesome WOMAN as the lead in these action flicks. Not so much a fan of Jolie but I'll deal.

The 'twist' was typical. Betrayed right-hand loyal American man turns into evil Russian mutant spy?? WUT? /gasp unheard of!

They did, however do a fairly decent job of stretching out two hours of continuous action/chasing/guns/explosions into an appealing flow and balance of admirable cinematography and soul catching pathos.

Speaking of pathos, cue shooting the cute husband with an adorable accent and infatuation with arachnids. At point blank. Without mercy.

Curse you, raging woman hormones!!

So now I guess Jason Bourne has to watch his back before Salt/Chenkov stabs him in the neck with the vodka bottle they were just drinking from....or steals all his random-shanking-utinsels record out from under him.

I did enjoy it. Decent movie.

And I'm really glad they resolved the puppy issue peacefully and with much happiness. I was very worried.

Sneaky, Sneaky Stealing

10 Things I Wish I Could Say to 10 Different People:

1- I have no more secrets to keep from you. None.

2- Srsly. Grow up. You can choose to be happy, y'know...

3- bahahaha! I'm sorry but I cannot see you doing what you're doing. It's just silly.

4- You kind of ruined me. But I'm better now. No thanks to you.

5- Ever stop to think that maybe this is how I am?? No? ok well buzz off then.

6- If you degrade yourself one more time I'm gonna choke you in the most loving way possible. Why won't you realize how amazing you are?!

7- You can't be considered a musician when you only use the instrument to get attention. That makes you a parasite.

8- I still love you. I still want every happiness for you. I just changed.

9- I'm sorry I haven't been as good to you as you deserve.

10- I'm so immensely proud of you I can't even tell you.

9 Things About Myself:

1- I don't mind bands that sound super similar to the point of practically plagiarism. If I like that particular sound, why would I not want more??

2- I have a dark, naughty streak that creates lots more issues than some who know me would think.

3- I'm a pathological people-pleaser as well as a show-off. It's a bad combination.

4- I love dressing up in costumes and silly outfits. Let's me act as ridiculous as I want and people don't judge me as harshly. Because then I'm just the crazy lady in ugly clothes.

5- Sometimes I feel inadequate as a harpist. The instrument is so stinking gorgeous and elegant and I'm just....not.

6- My friends are as important to me as anything could be but I'm terrible at showing it.

7- I'm also terrible at admitting when I want something and doing what I can to get it. Even if it's new clothes because I'm wearing the same things from high school and now all my shirts have been eaten through and through by moths...

8- It'll take dangerous amounts of blood and possibly passing out to get me to the hospital from an injury. I won't go unless I'm about to die, because otherwise it's not worth it.

9- I won't be a professional pianist because I'm insufferably selfish. I love the piano and I don't want other people ruining it for me. It's the one thing I do for myself.

8 Ways to Win my Heart:

1- Make me truly laugh. I laugh a lot, but if I can't help laughing around you then you're off to a good start....:)

2- Silly conversations. If you require me to be able to formulate articulate opinions on major discussion topics like politics and religion and NASA then...I'm shutting down already.

3- Sit through my music. If you sit on the bench with me and I can still mess around on the piano, you probably have more of my heart than you know.

4- Let me complain but understand that it's only a conversation starter.

5- Don't judge me.

6- Have lots of books. Just do it. Or at least have read lots of books.

7- Be persistent. Push me when needs be.

8- Show me as much dedication as I will inevitably give to you.

7 Things That Cross my Mind a Lot:

1- Christmas x]

2- Food

3- Kisses

4- Music; audio and visual

5- Words; awkward streams of thoughts and poetic romanticism

6- Careers; school and opportunities I hope come to be

7- Inside jokes

6 Things I Do Before I Fall Asleep:

1- Check Facebook

2- Check Gmail

3- Check Pinterest

4- Check Blogger Dashboard

5- Smooth out blankets and fluff pillows (except 'fluff' is a really really nice term for what I actually do...)

6- Imagine what I want to fulfill in my life and create the scene in my head

5 People Who Mean a Lot:

1- Jesus and Heavenly Father. I'm not being cliche (I mean, I am but...), I live because of God and my Savior.

2- Mark Thomas Douglass. Our friends call me the "miracle worker" for the changes he's gone through but the real honest truth is he completed me. He's the friend I never found in myself.

3- Allora McHardy. I never expected (I mean never) her friendship but it's something I intend on keeping around for a looooong time.

4- Parents. I mean, duh, they never give up on me and bug me to the end of the world but that's just how much they love me. I don't deserve that.

5- Mr. J. His teaching and direction in high school are what have shaped my dreams into the miraculous reality they are becoming. I can never thank him enough for that.

4 Things I'm Wearing:

1- Blue camo bandana. Perfect for keeping hair back while packing :)

2- Deep purple tank top. $3 at Rue 21!! Score!

3- Plaid boys boxers...I still need to sew up the pee-hole.

4- Big, happy smile.

3 Songs I Often Listen To:

(These are legit because I checked the number of plays on my iPod)

1- Here (In Your Arms) ~ HelloGoodbye

2- Meteor Shower ~ Owl City

3- Diary of Jane [Acoustic] ~ Breaking Benjamin

2 Things I Want To Do Before I Die:

1-Backpack across Ireland.

2- Spelunking.

(There's so many other things on my Bucket List you don't even know. I'll post it sometime)

1 Confession:

I'm pretty darn proud of who I am sometimes.

Rejects Unite

I do believe I've discovered my least favorite thing in the world...(besides things that really are actually tragic and dumb and not worth liking).

Packing.

Except I do like it.

But I hate it.

Urg.

I'm going through every box I've ever thrown my crap in and sorting it into 'Trash' (one huge garbage bag that has spontaneously multiplied into, like, three), 'DI' (another huge garbage bag that grew an identical twin with unidentical insides...because that would be just silly) and then repackaging the rest of it.

Which has now become the worst mess any of my rooms have ever known. Which, believe you me, is saying something.

I've officially determined as of late that I have an unusually high level of testosterone and an unfortunately low level of estrogen that causes me to have awkwardly distinct male tendencies.

I burp, I eat anything, I can easily translate thoughts back and forth between 'female' and 'male' language, and I am the messiest human to ever grace this beautiful planet. Although, not like, 'Hoarders' level of messy. That's just detrimental to sanity (also caused by a lack of sanity so I suppose that would make lots of sense...).

But I am a pack-rat with low organizational skills.

So now my room is this maze of black trash bags, unidentifiably full or empty cardboard boxes that of course are the immovable kind when they come in contact with my toes and lots of random junk lying around the floor. I'm basically habitating myself in a mine field of history.

Luckily, I do have boyfriend who comes over and makes sure when I'm pull out that math worksheet from third grade that somehow I kept and preserved magically all these years and begin holding it and smiling at it like it's a priceless heirloom from a long lost and forgotten grandma he says to me,

"Hope? Throw it away....now."

And then it goes in the trash bag. Because it's math. And that's where math goes.

Here's where the problem comes in...(the other problem besides the fact that my obituary is gonna star a cardboard box full of photo albums and high school yearbooks). I keep finding these things that pop up in my superbly inefficient future-vision as things I could and should keep to use in my not-so-distant future house/home for once I'm married.

For instance, I happened to keep some framed pictures from my childhood room. A couple are just some flower portraits and three are Winnie the Pooh themed. They're cute and fun and I figure they'll look nice in a nursery. So I joke to boyfriend sitting on the couch,

"Haha! I guess we'll be good on decorations!"

Because not only do I have quite a few framed pictures/paintings but I also have lots of home decor artifacts like those blocks of wood that have cute words and things painted on them. And fake flower things. Stuff like that.

But instead of grinning at my little joke he gets this panicky look in his eyes and smiles super thinly like I just told him I planned on making lemon grass protein shakes from breakfast, lunch and dinner every day once we get married.

(Like I've mentioned before, I don't really actually know what lemon grass is so that little almost-metaphor thing probably isn't applicable...but whatever).

I tried to ask him what his problem was but the tight lips wouldn't budge. So I pulled a sneaky girl trick. I got 'angry', which I was a tad bit that he would just refuse to tell me what was bothering him so we could discuss it and fix it. I gave up prodding him about it and continued to pack in complete silence.

He caved in. Obviously.

Apparently he'd been paying too much attention to the fact that I have like, an overload of tigger merchandise and then coupled with the Winnie the Pooh pictures he had this vision of our future house looking like a kindergartener ate every symbol of childhood and puked it back up in their crayon drawer.

Regardless of the fact that he's a dumby face for being so stubbornly resistant to innocence I was mostly perturbed at him for withholding how he felt about it. I told him we have to be able to communicate or life won't exactly work very well and, of course, he admitted how I was right.

(Um...duh.)

Not to mention his worry was completely unnecessary considering I've never even watched a real episode or whatever it is of Winnie the Pooh. I barely watched Sesame Street as a kid. I'm not a TV child. I'm a cardboard box in the backyard child. I do have a slight obsession with Tigger because he's so happy and bouncy and 'The Tigger Movie' basically makes my inner child so content it could poop rainbows. Though I must admit I have never experienced pooping rainbows so I cannot vouch for the amounts of content feelings it would produce....

Anyway. I had to assure him that I wouldn't turn our house into a Winnie the Pooh museum or an antique store replica because apparently he thought that's what I wanted.

Simply because I have a few stuffed Tigger toys, a Tigger magnet, a coloring book page of Tigger and a Tigger mug (most of which I have been given as gifts because I remind people of the character) and then the pictures I joked about hanging in our house someday.

FOR THE NURSERY.

Mkay?

So, uh, chill and think about who you're talking about for a sec, honey, okay? Do you know me at all?

Yes? Alright, then stop being dumb.

And he did.

Eventually.

It was just silly.

I don't have a bed.

Sad Hope is sad.

(For your understanding, I don't have a bed because the maze is more like an obstacle course and overflowed from the floor to my mattress...../cry)

I could just move it, yes. But I reiterate; junk all over the floor. I just got reacquainted with my carpet. I feel bad suppressing it into subdued nonexistence already. I may just sleep on the couch. Which I do have one in my room. I have a surprising amount of furniture in my room. It just kind of accumulated over time. My room became the reject sanctuary. No one wanted the broken shelf so I took it in and just put all the heavy books on the side that had adequate studs under it and monitored the weight balance.

No one wanted the ugly couch so...well, I gave it lots of oddly patterned pillow friends so it's ugliness is counteracted by the awkwardness of mismatched prints.

No one wanted the water-stained kidney-shaped desk so I angled it against my bedframe and put my wide-bottomed lamp base over the watermark.

No one wanted the table all covered in a sticky honey mess so I just stuck a red plastic cup upside down over the goo with the rim barely sunk into the edge so it would basically glue into place.

We all get along just fine.

There's also the mirror that did go with the obnoxiously low vanity set but...mirrors are difficult in my A-line ceilinged room. So it basically showcases my knees and feet.

I think what I'm getting at is I'm going to miss living in this room and hope that I can possibly maybe keep most of the furniture that currently occupies my life.

I'm much more excited to move to Disneyland, though. I can deal without my imaginary furniture friends for a few months.

(Not so sure I can deal without hugs from boyfriend and scrapbook sessions with best-friend and my dark beautiful piano-lover....but I will live!)

(Hopefully)

Vitamin D Overdose

Can you get bleached from the sun? If not, I totally managed it yesterday. I've developed these funky albino freckles and they really intrigue me...to the point where I'm staring at my arms held out in front of me as I greet people at work. Which, naturally, makes them uncomfortable and I can't really blame them.

But hey, look at where you're shopping people. If you don't see something totally off the wall then you aren't really looking.

So! Besides possibly having cancer, it's been a relatively boring week....

Except for thursday-friday where I went on an adventure I didn't even really understand until I was expected to pack for it.

What I mean by that is my best friend from high school finally made it back to AZ since she moved to stinky texas and we were gonna go spend the day at saguaro lake ranch...or so I thought. Apparently, the idea was that we'd go kayaking thursday afternoon/evening, spend the night and chill friday morning for all the fun that is to be had in the deserty wilderness.

Ohhhh, right okay so I should like, bring clothes and hygiene stuff. HUH. Silly. That was a fun realization. baha.

Anyway, did you know that on the Verde River (where everyone does the Salt River Tubing...even though it's NOT the salt river o.O) there's a spot where it can almost be considered a Level 1 rapids? The scale being 1-5 with 5 being the worst. So basically it's nothing.

BUT! You try taking a picture while maneuvering through said almost Level 1:

Talent, I know right? That picture right there means I'm risking my own life for your guys' entertainment...except all it really means is I'm using one hand to awkwardly grip my unipaddle (it looks like Darth Maul's lightsaber but with, y'know, paddles at the end), not hit the trees and rocks poking up around the waves and hold the camera steady. It's a miracle I didn't crash. Honestly.

I realized driving out to the ranch, I have a problem on my hands.

I did it. I fell for arizona. I fell, and I fell hard. I grew up in utah and loved the greeny-green GREEN that there is there. Moved here to the dry, hard brown and resented it for...a long time. But um, darn it if AZ didn't worm her way into my heart. So I guess I'm lesbian for arizona. I dunno. Grey's Anatomy or something.

happy awkward feet there in the back. For the record, I do not have chest hair, that is just a biological phenomenon fuzzing around my chest/armpit at the bottom of the pic there. So in addition to possibly having albino freckle cancer I just may go blind for submitting my eyeballs (and tongue for that matter) to the elements unknown.

Ok. The water's a tad cold and I'm a tad wimpy. Whatever.

What's that? Too beautiful for words? I know. Yes.

Speaking of too beautiful for words...as it so happens, a slough of marines miraculously showed up the same days we were there. Oh happy day. Also for the record! I did not take this picture. We were using the ranch manager's camera (we're kinda tight, ye-yeah) and her almost 12 year old son snagged the camera to stalk the army people. Little did he know he was doing me and best friend a huge favor. Haha!

I'm kind of legit. Nbd.

Speaking of legit, I did have a picture in here of myself trying to stand up and paddle....but here's what came of that little attempt:

I'm sort of unbalanced and clumsy when the ground is stable. Stick me on a plastic boat that's floating down a moving river and suddenly up is down and sideways meets my face.

I can also manage to stick myself in the worst possible place for a picture. That pillar does indeed have the word "Hope" spray painted on it, though my stupid fat head is in the way so you can't really read it. But it does.

I promise.

Girls are mermaids...some boys are mermaids, too.

It was loads of fun. Great to catch up and have oodles of giggling and silliness ensue. Even if I got cancer, diseases and scratches on my arm that look like a badger was pissed at me for no reason though I cannot, for the life of me, remember how I got them.

It must've been a traumatic experience and I blocked the badger out.

Which is funny because then that means I'm psychic and predicted my own demise in trying to draw a panda the other day and failing to the point that it looks a whole heckuva lot like a badger (ask boyfriend). Call me Professor Trelawny.

Best part about this little adventure was I didn't even have to miss work. I only had to endure endless jokes about how I looked like a lobster from 5-10 friday evening.

People would walk in, see me and go, "You got a little bit of sun, there..." like I didn't already know my shoulders, chest, neck and nose were scorched.

Plus, a cart pusher decided it was in his best interest to come up and poke my arm like some unidentified gelatinous lump on a beach and ask [jokingly], "Did you get sunburned?"

"Yes. Today stupid. Don't touch me."

Besides the 'stupid' part that's basically what I said. His face was priceless.

Moral of the story? Wear sunscreen and get as much fun as you can in life, while still managing to complete your responsibilities. The success of multi-tasking will make you happy, I promise :)

If it fails....well then you're screwed and destined to be a miserly old bag who hates cupcakes and laughing children.

And you have my utmost sympathy.

Picture Overload

Okay, people!! It's the moment you've all been waiting for (I just know it). Get ready to feel special.

"Boyfriend", as he has heretofore been known, will now have a face and a name for your cute little memory banks :)

Drumroll, please?

Ta-daaah!!

Whoops. Sorry, guess he wasn't ready.

TA-DAAAAAH!

Yay, Birthday Boy :)

So that's my boyfriend, Mark. He's kind of awesome and I sorta maybe just a tad love him.

A little. It's prolly a fluke in my system, we dunno yet. His birthday was on monday (as you may or may not have surmised from my previous post) (which I am now just remembering I never mentioned that his birthday was on monday) (so if you got that...good job. Have a cup of awesome), and so I slightly monopolized his entire day.

My apologies, JT.

We ate breakfast at Filiberto's and shared a patron [insert little dash mark thingy above the 'o' there] burrito since it's as close as you can get to a breakfast burrito.

And thus my lovely nose ornament...

(it's pictures like these that give me small blurbs of faith in my photogenicosity...that should totally be a word.)

After breakfast, I had to ruin the element of surprise and ask Mark to help me find a Goodwill because I didn't do my research and had no idea where the closest one was since they keep closing and relocating. Stinkin' thrift stores.

The idea was to have a certain, specified budget going into the store and find the worst possible outfit for the other person that they would be required to wear the rest of the day. We didn't really set a budget. I bought 4 items for $11.96 and he got 3 for like, $20 something-or-other. Plus the socks at Walgreens (where we changed, cuz Goodwill didn't really appreciate that idea). Cuz he got me shoes...which you will see later.

I almost got him this shirt. But then I found even better stuff...

I sincerely love those pants. He doesn't wear pajama pants, but he should now. He also pointed out that apparently my choice in clothes was themed on "luck" because you can't really see it but that shirt has Buddha raising his arms like he's excited and it says, "Rub my Belly....for Good Luck" or something like that. Plus the shamrock pants.

Maybe he's just lucky or something ;)

First of all; shoes. Annoying. Again, can't see it (cuz boyfriend doesn't understand framing) but they're square-toed boots. No likey. Not to mention I was wearing flip flops so when I asked, "Am I gonna need socks?" he's like, "Oh. right. yeah."

/facepalm

Silly head.

Second of all; skirt. Um, holy short. It's cottony and old so it didn't really touch my skin much so, basically, it felt like I was waltzin' around without any pants on. Most uncomfortable thing of my life. So I put my shorts back on underneath. Because I respect myself and my comfort.

Thirdly; ...well, nuthin'. I basically make that outfit look goooood [channeling Will Smith, here]

Ok. So THEN, we went to the Superstition Springs Mall where I had previously created some stinkin' nifty-if-i-do-say-so-myself Bingo cards-->

They're legit. And I won. Huzzah. It was really fun, and actually took a decent amount of time. I was worried that it would be like, "Walk into the mall BAM! wooh bingo......now what?"

But it wasn't.

It was more like, "Hey, this is fun! We look really dumb! hahahaha!"

"Holy cow these are really good bingo squares..."

"Geez you did a good job making these so they weren't easy..."

"Um, does that one count? Barely? ok good...."

"Alright fine, yeah. You win."

I still consider it a success. Plus that picture is fantastic. See those glasses? I know. Fantastic, right?

So! Then neither of us was hungry, still, from that "breakfast" burrito and we picked up Cheesecake Factory cheesecake (woah, no wai) and went back to his house for the "cake and presents" portion of birthdays.

For the story about his present please scroll up to that linked word and read my previous post...or just find the post some other more conventional way. I'm not telling it again.

Yay happy face :) He was really happy. Not to mention the fact that there are some stories in there he hasn't even read yet. It just might be one of the best gifts I've ever managed to give. Plus, I related the tale of my quest for the book and that made him appreciate it all the more. Cuz that's the kind of guy he is. Appreciating my efforts and taking them into account and loving it.

It's great.

cheesecake. cookie dough. whipped cream. chocolate. Tell me you aren't seduced right now.

Chocolate Raspberry Souffle. He's got a taste for the finer, richer things in life....accentuated by the shamrock pj's

bahaha

I'm such an awesome girlfriend.

Engaging Acts of Engagement

First of all.

I am NOT, (hear that people?) N-O-T engaged yet.

The grapevine seems to've become very interested with my life recently. I've had people at work come to tease and poke fun at me because I was "late"....there was that one time waaaay back when but they're not even talking about that. Apparently people are talking about me being a slacker. So, sorry, but no. I've been to-the-minute pristine about punctuality since then. As long as my managers aren't thinking that, I'm good.

But. More on track, I had an old high school friend that I kinda sorta see sometimes come into walmart the other day. I caught him as he was leaving and we got to talking. His eyes flicked between my face and left hand and he got this perplexed look on his face as he said, "A--are you engaged?? Someone had told me you were...?"

I laughed and told him I wasn't yet.

But this person had been almost positive I was.

Not like, "Oh, I hear that Hope girl is getting pretty serious. Maybe there'll be a ring soon."

Like, "Hope's getting married next month cuz she's ENGAGED."

Holy moly, people! Ya let leak a small little hint that there's someone you wanna spend the rest of your life with and suddenly you feel like there's a tabloid somewhere you've never heard of that has your story in it.

I promise. When I get engaged, there will be a FB post about it, relationship status change and a gross amount of pictures.

On a related note, my sister recently got hired for a nanny job in Las Vegas. She left on the 11th and so the saturday before that we went to Applebee's for a celebratory family meal. All 6 of us filed in and scooted into one of those nifty corner booths. I ended up next to my dad on one end of the table. For those who know my dad, they also know this is the most dangerous spot to be in. Know of the "Third Degree"? He's the master of it, in perfectly unformal settings. But he'll also forget everything you say as you say it so next time you're in the same room...you'll go through it all over again. It's great xP

His first question lived up to every awkward expectation I'd had when we walked into the restaurant:

"So do you love this guy?" His tactfully innocent looking eyes boring holes into my soul. It doesn't sound like a conversation starter, it sounds like an accusation.

Translation: "So are you choosing this guy over us your family; me, your father?"

Me: "I-- ahem...yes? Yes, I do." Got over my initial panic at having to talk to my father about loving a boy and wanting to marry said boy and managed to answer sounding mostly positive at the end of the sentence.

Father: "Do you tell him?"

Me: [erm, what diff does it make to you...?] "Yeah. I do."

Father: "Ohhh no..."

Like that made it official that I'd lost it, or something! I laughed at that.

The entire meal consisted of him asking every obtrusive question he could think of and accidentally insulting me countless times with my mom eyeing us suspiciously and jealously across the table. Naturally, the family caught on to the conversation and each put out their bet on when it would happen or how I'd find some "hunky california dude" and leave boyfriend in the dust (which, btw, made me subtly knock on the wood underneath the table).

So um...awkwardness. I has it.

In other super-awesometastic news!!

Except sssshhhhh, this is that secrety-secret stuff I almost talked about last time but now I just have to share it with someone...

I finally found the crux to the entire birthday scheme I've been coming up with for boyfriend for about oh, 2 weeks now. I've been searching and searching and calling and driving and almost crying in frustration because I couldn't find it.

Funny how something so small and simple could be so troublesome and difficult (isn't that how it always is though?).

Story time! :D

So boyfriend and I were at Border's awhile ago. Somewhere to beat the heat and we both likes books. Browsing through the science fiction/fantasy section and pointing out all the series we're gonna make each other read, I found that little beauty whilst he was perusing the Isaac Asimov shelves. I thought it was pretty, I like the gold leafing and stuff so I pick it up and hold it out to him. He looks up and, I must admit, I don't think I've ever seen him so excited about something. Honestly. I had to not laugh in surprise at the coveting gawking that was covering his face.

You know how on Facebook you can put stuff into your info section, like quotes? His is filled with maybe 30 quotes all from Douglas Adams. It's ridiculous.

So it was obvious he wanted this book. I hinted that his birthday was coming up soon so he wouldn't come back and buy it himself.

I came back a few days later and guess what! They have no more and are actually already back ordering 2 copies.

-.- srsly?

So I go to Barnes and Noble another couple days later...they don't even have it in their system. Back to the same Borders, go I! Cuz if they have it they can tell me what sister stores have it with their fancy computer gadget, right?

NO!

Cuz guess what, it's not here in the computer anymore, so basically you iz skrewed.

Well boo.

I'd about given up hope but today I called a Walden Books on bell road which is like saying, "I'm going to drive to the stupid warehouse where they keep all the books of wanting and pull a MI007 or something and get. this. stupid. book. myself."

But they has one copy left.

...

/cry xD

I'm pretty sure the dude on the phone thought I was some sort of hippie book fanatic the way I was thanking him and saying I'd come get it "right now!!". He took down my name and put it on hold.

I look at my mom with this broad grin on my face and can't understand why her eyes are all wide and like, "o.o ummm, Hope....?"

And then I remember.

My car is with my sister in Vegas.

My dad has his truck.

The spare car is at the dealer getting fixeded up.

My mom is taking the last car to go see her sister way out in the middle of nowhere so she has to leave.

I can't ride my bike to Bell Road.

So I call the dude back and the conversation goes like this;

Me: "So um, hi, I just called about a book and I said I was gonna come pick it up now....can you possibly hold it till 3?" (cuz that's when my mom can go get it for me)

Dude: [laughing] "I can hold it till closing time tomorrow."

Me: "Beautiful! Thank you so much."

Dude: [still laughing] "Sure thing."

I'm not even kidding you, I could hear his voice shaking in that "I'm trying really hard not to laugh at your silliness right now" way.

But I didn't care.

I got the book.

And it's only $16.99. As opposed to the $30 plus shipping and handling ($4) online. Which I also tried, btw. Amazon was like, "Ha! Never mind, none of these links work because none of the bookstore pages have it anymore."

So now, the only thing that can ruin Monday is if I'm scheduled to work that day. Because I normally have Monday's off but I've had a random Thursday and a random Wednesday so um, if you feel like praying for something slightly almost maybe blasphemic, pray that I don't have work on Monday. That would be muchly appreciated.

But there will be pictures and wonderful-ness if it all happens.

So.

Yay life :)

"What was that one you taught me last year? boo-yah? BOO-YAH!!"

Yes, Malfoy. Boo-freaking-Yah x]

Quickies are nice sometimes...

Yeah, whatever, I'm not married, I'm not allowed to make such innuendos...

Sue me.

I am currently sifting through the crap-pile sink-hole that is my room in order to scrape together some semblance of order due to the dwindling amount of weeks before I move to california for 4 months...that was a lot of above-average words right there, d'you see that? I sound intelligent. Of course, pointing that out makes it kind of mute. But stuff; there's lots of it. I found a fortune cookie fortune slip that reads-- "You thrive on adventure. Try something new."

Except it's in all caps so it's like confucius is screaming from his grave,

"DO SOMETHING AWESOME YOU FOOOOOOL!!"

Incidentally, I also found a bunch of El Pollo Loco coupons that expire the end of this month; having never eaten at this chicken crazy place, I'll take it as a sign. I learned my lesson from Anastasia. Don't look a gift-sign in the....mouth. Meh. Just go with it.

But besides a new test in fine dining, I really need to switch up this recurring routine that is now my life. Wally World is less than entertaining and coming home to the previously mentioned crap-pile-sink-hole is making me a little sluggish about life.

Don't get me wrong, I love my life. I go through and have to stop myself from staying on my knees all night thanking God for all the truly amazing and probably undeserved blessings I've been given...

I just do thrive on adventure. And my piano. It's like a little mini black and white adventure for my ADD fingers.

So, all in all, I need an adventure. and soon. Not a life-changing, universe-shifting adventure like Disneyland. Just something fun to do that breaks away from my everyday mundane activities.

Which is where boyfriend's birthday comes into play but sssshhhh! It's a surprise :)

(Which is silly because A- he doesn't read this blog. B- none of you are gonna say anything to him and C- . . . surprises are silly. But I loves them)

OH! Dang it this was supposed to be a quickie...well, I guess I'll have to save the Applebee's family outing where all of a sudden everybody knows Hope is practically engaged and we're all gonna freak out about it...

6 months in advance.

Boo.

And the grape-vine. We'll talk about that too :)

Lastly, for your convenience:

<3

Pity Monster

You probably don't know this but one of the most scary and nerve-wracking moments in your life will be when Jacki calls you on the phone, acquires the information that you are at home with nothing to do and says, "Stay right there!!" and hangs up.

Because now there's no telling WHAT is going to happen.

But it was all ok. Nobody died.

Jacki is one of those rare examples of a human that makes me realize how much harder I could try to be a good person. She's awesome. In every sense of the word. She also gave me the courage to fart in front of other people and not try to hold it in until I explode of gaseous-ness...I don't abuse the right, I promise.

And now, it's already time for some ranting. Remember "[Stock]er" kid? The one that basically kept tabs on all my doings in Wally world? Well, yesterday he decided I was his shrink and would listen to how stressed he is about everything in life...

Here's the deal; I am an excellent listener. I won't cut you off, I'll hear every word you say and I might even throw in an uplifting word or two when you're done. But only if your complaining is warranted. If you are spilling that your mom is in the hospital and your dog just got ran over while the haboob that just swept through your neighborhood spewed grainy, infinitesimal particles of sand into your car so now it's like the arabian desert every time you open the door...go ahead. Talk away. Cry on my shoulder if you have to.

But if you can't find one good thing to say about life I have nothing to say to you. There's always, and I mean always, something good to find about any given day. This kid went on about how he can come into work 7 days a week and is just fine but talking with his brother makes him stressed beyond belief. That he needs to get a new place to live.

Ok...so do it.

But God "effing" hates him (please do not use that vile word and God's name in the same sentence. That just makes it too hard to try and like you) and won't let him keep a good mood for more than "an hour".

First of all, exaggeration much?! Secondly, it's not God's fault you won't smile through the hardships. He gave you a wonderful smile, I seen it maybe once. It's your job to use it.

And then it got ridiculous and he talked about how he only has one simple dream in life; "to raise a kid". Which is, um, admirable but to say the least I would not want this kid to be the father of my children. After revealing that piece of information he went on to say that he "doesn't ask for much" and wouldn't mind if he couldn't play his video games all day (as if that's to prove he doesn't ask for much...o.O) and he just wants to be content. "I've never been content".

Well, doofus, that sounds like a personal problem. What, you want God to pour happiness serum straight into your brain? Turn on the happy switch at the center of your body? It doesn't work like that! You have to be happy. Happiness isn't a right. We have the right to happiness but you don't get it like it's some sort of complimentary feature in your making. You aren't entitled to be given happiness.

It takes work. Lots of work. And effort. Do you know how long and hard I have worked to be as happy as I am now? And you dare desecrate that by moaning about video games and living with a troublesome relative? I don't know what's going on in your life and I am sure that it is difficult to deal with, but that's what you got to do.

Deal with it.

Come what may and love it.

...actually, I don't particularly agree with that sentiment. I'll take what comes, sure, but I'm not going to "love" my mid-life crisis. We aren't going to be buddies. I'll find everything else in my life there is to "love" and leave my crisis in the "deal with" pile.

But anyway. I wanted to strangle that whiny, poo-poo pity party child yesterday and give him a good what-for but as I said, I didn't know what was going on and don't really have place to be doling out judgements...

I'm just saying he could work harder to smile. Hour long good moods? That's just ridiculous and ignorant. They have pills for that.

In other news, I learned a new word this week: "haboob". Coincidentally, this is what happens when you're an idiot and try to take a picture of said haboob...

Riiiiight. Flash + many tiny particles does not = quality picture. Mm. Stoopid.

It's been a long week and I'm ready to leave for California...not ready to leave boyfriend but I'm definitely ready to come back to boyfriend :)

Now that I'm ready for.

Please, people, please find the reasons to smile. They are so many and you don't want to squander them. I promise.

If you'd like a perfect example, go here ;)

THE END

Blogging isn't a Far Cry from "Blabbing"...

Blogging? What ees thees 'blahgging' of wheech oo speek?

SO I figured it's about time to put another post out there before somebody special decides it's time for me to die...because I haven't blogged...

Harsh, I know. But she loves me.

And so know, because I'm updating just to update...there's not really going to be much of a point to all this. I'll think of something, I promise (whoop, there's a promise. Breaking #1 rule of blogging. We're headed downhill already).

My bum is SUPER numb right now. You ever get that? Where it feels like you had your dear ol' gluteus maximus pumped full of plastic? I've been sitting on the floor basically since I got home from work at 8:30 (it's 11:09 right now. Also not the best time for me to be blogging when I've been harangued by walmart special people all week and am now supremely tired...a feat for which I congratulate myself because as a "people greeter" I should not be tired. I'm just a wimp is all...).

Ooh, but I came home, ate a green popsicle cuz um, it's kinda hot outside (118 degrees in the garden center people. I wanna see you do it and not blog about it later). Then my momma cut my hair cuz she's awesome like that and I don't exactly like paying crazy loads of money for somebody to snip some hairs on my head (no worries those who know me, I only have bangs now, that's all). And then? I went to my room and did some crafts and watched some hulu and pinned some pinterest and well, wasted a whole bunch of lovely time.

Twas superb.

And guess what?

I haven't seen boyfriend for 3 days. It's saturday and the last time I saw him was...was...dang it,I don't even remember. But that's the point. Haven't seen him in 3 days and I'm [mostly] ok with it. I'm getting better! The love-puke bug has worked it's way through me and I'm proud to say I'm on track to normal...however normal I was before...meh.

No guarantees for tomorrow morning, though. Sorry. His face just kinda makes my body react in ways only puppies should be allowed to react....except I don't pee all over the floor. That's just gross.

So my bum's numb, my brain's fried and I make fantastic birthday cards. That's all I'm sayin'.

I do have a problem, however, and that would be my job. Because see, um, Wally-world is like Disneyland but a lot more affordable. And I'm that ADHD squirrel with a tendency to magnetically attract to shiny things (shiny being a relative term and meaning "interesting to a low IQ person"....aka everything). And wally-world? Has ev-er-y-thing. Every night I'm tempted to get some of those eye blinders for horses so I don't wander the aisles till I hafta clock back in again. Because now I can afford that stuff. But I really can't. I can buy it but I can't 'afford' it. Which is dumb. The crafts aisle just makes me wanna cry.

On top of that, I've been sincerely trying lately to be ugly for these dumb boy coworkers but it's just never good (erm, bad?) enough. They keep comin' on like I'm projecting love-me sex hormones right at their faces. The other night? One was pulling along a pallet jack with, what else, a bunch of pallets on top. Like 5 or 6. I'm on my way to clock out for lunch or something and we pass, say hi, it's almost cool and then he goes,
"Hey Hope, can I squish you with these?"
....wait....

You want to 'squish' me? With a bunch of wooden pallets...I needed a WTF?! stamp to pound on his forehead.

I said no, naturally, and he went on grinning like we were having a nice, pleasant tea party and continued to let me in on his fetish with "squishing people".

I dunno. It's wally-world. We're all a tad crazy.

Thankfully, boyfriend enjoys these stories. He is the jealous type, but the healthy jealous type where it only becomes a problem if I'm reacting to the third-party attention in a positive way. This is definitely not a positive reaction. His exact words in reply to that particular scenario were: "Yeah, it's nice," (in response to me saying the attempts at flirting make great stories for later) "reminds me how grateful I am to have you. Not have to look stupid coming up with something like that so you'll remember me."

Except there were cute little type-o's and text-speak...

But on a side-note, I'm not vain or conceited or full of pretty little bubbles of how awesome I am. I am well aware that not every guy wants me, or under the impression that every guy should want me. I'm so sincerely glad they don't. It's hard to relate these happenings without sounding like I'm that snotty, primped and polished brat at the parties and you just wanna pop 'er a good one straight on the nose. But you grin thinly and scoot away as quick as possible because she's not worth the time or the effort...plus she has connections. She'd make life miserable. More miserable...

I'M NOT HER.

Bleh.

That's all.

Guys like me and they show it in funny ways. That's all that I'm drivin' at...really...if ya think about it.

Golly, I've rambled enough. Thank you for your time, glad to be of service and try not to eat too much cake. Hard to enjoy the aftertaste when your tummy wants to give you the real aftertaste.

Happy networking to you! :)