Well...uh. I have no excuse. Sure while I was in Montana I could have put something up. Could have talked about the hike near Yellowstone, winning monopoly, Christmas, Jake bashing his head against the bird cage, recurring phone calls, my sister being pregnant, the nightmare of graveyard Vegas, or wrestling tournaments. But no, I was lazy and now everything's so backed up that I could never write about it all in one shot. And if I tried to over several more days, I'd miss out on what's happening now. So I guess I'll just have to say that my vacation was wonderful and I want to live in Montana forever. I miss my family like crazy and I hate the desert. I found I have a 4.0 GPA (all A's - can you believe it??) and school begins this next Monday. Waaaaa.
After two weeks of complete abstinence, I'm drawing again. After midnight, of course. I drew this hyena tonight and now it's nearly 3 a.m. Work has been treating me well and even helped me get out of a serious little pit of depression my first day back in Phoenix by distracting me and getting me back in the groove of things.
My phone is being very cooperative and that makes me happy because I love to make long-distance calls as often as possible. *pats phone affectionately*
Look for more tomorrow! HotD is back in full force, Huzzah!
Oh it was an exciting and thrilling day today I tell you what. I woke up and went back to sleep, woke up again and doodled around on my computer. I chatted a bit with Tari, ate some reheated ramen noodle left-overs (YUM), and then dashed out the door to work at the last moment. I got a bill and five or so credit card advertisements which I tore up angrilly (the credit card ads, not the bill). At work Fred got up on a chair and looked at the TV that hangs from the ceiling that shows the surveillance camera and made a big fuss about how hideous the dust was. He announced that it was so thick that he might just throw up and for me to run quick and get windex and paper towels. He went on about how nasty the dust was, and Carol said to ignore him. I guess Fred is the main reason Cousins is such a nice clean place. He can't stand anything dirty about his restaurant. He goes on miniature cleaning crusades when he's bored. He's done the ceiling fans, the little front windows just below the ceilings (enlisting the Shadow's height to help), and he's harped about the filth accumulated in the soda machine and the lack of circulation in the saltine bin. Every once in a while he'll call me aside with such seriousness that I think I'm gonna be fired, and then he'll ask me to compliment him on how well he has painted the walls or tell me to keep an eye out for customers snitching free chips, heh heh heh.
I worked until close as usual and talked to the Shadow about Lord of the Rings and hyenas and sung the one line I know of "Yellow" by Coldplay over and over again because the song was stuck in my head. I ordered two boxes of cookies from a girlscout and got paid for the commission I did for Becky.
I saw no feral cats outside, but now I know that the mother cat is not dead and there is one more kitten. Maybe one day I can corner it and save it. Maybe give it to the humane society or something. The little kitten that Becky took home and nursed back to health ran outside one day and was hit by a car. Unfortunate. Becky feels bad - especially since she put so much effort into saving her.
I came home and ate a turkey sandwich and waited for the Roach to get back from wrestling and tell me how he triumphed over the foe, crushing him mercilessly under heel. Unfortunately he returned just as I was leaving and I missed my chance. I hung my head and walked out the door with Stacey who drove me to the Coffee Plantation where I met Andrea - the gal Stacey says is going places with game programming. That's right, I'm establishing my connections. We discussed Stacey's animation idea that I plan on helping him with as much as I can, and Andrea threw in many helpful tips. The Coffee people booted us out at 11:00 because they were closing. So we went to a sports bar because "They have pizza puffs there to die for."
We sat in the smoking section because Andrea smokes and I said I could stand it. I think she inhaled four or five - but she was careful to politely blow her exhaust in an upward direction. Stacey shared his zucchini with me and I showed Andrea my pictures and idea for a very cool game. I like Andrea, even if she does smoke and repeat the occasional four letter word. At 12:30 we finally left and I went home smelling smokey.
And that's it.
*Listens to "Wish You Were Here"*
Well...I was a bum Saturday in almost every area. The most I did was take a shower, wash a few dishes, and make tea. I was going to watch a DVD the Shadow lent me, but then when I turned on the TV I started watching "Once Upon a Crime" and felt I had to finish it. I spent most the rest of the day writing a letter and forgot to do laundry. I fell asleep around 1 a.m. and dreamt of riding a roller coaster and petting a black dog with really floppy soft ears. I woke up to the phone Sunday morning, and found that I had less time to sleep in than I had previously thought. I ended up at a missions conference thing at church and heard stories from India, the Phillipines, and Rwanda. I always enjoy talking to people from other countries. They guy from the Phillipines said that everyone there had Malaria, and that there is no cure or vaccine, and that one of the family's boys died of it because he had anemia. I wondered if there was something that could be done about the Malaria, but since I'm not a microbiologist or physician, I had nothing to offer in that area.
After the conference and the church service, there was a luncheon. I took more than I could eat because it all looked so good and I thought I could eat it all. Sammi and Jess took me home and I went grocery shopping with Jeanie. We had fun and I fixed/broke/fixed the air in her car. She needs a new knob. I like shopping with Jeanie because she knows a lot about health and nutrition and we often end up splitting large items or buy one get one free items. Sometimes I'll read something off my list and she'll say "Hey, I have some of that at home and I don't want it. You can have it." So I got some macaroni and mousse and a dress from her today, and we also split a giant loaf of bread and milk.
When I got home I washed dishes and Jess called to tell me that Sammi hurt herself rollerblading and that they could not give me a ride. I called another gal to get a ride and left a message, but she never called back. I found the Roach online after a while. I felt guilty about missing my bible study and so we talked about some biblical issues for a few hours until my phone died twice. I can't think of a better way to have ended this fine day.
Look at the Stars - look how they shine fooooor you!
Yes, that's what it ought to be called now. I do apologize. I was not in a very coherent state last night, choosing instead to wrap myself up in a blanket and mope whilst sipping hot tea. The prospect of not having any evening at home for an entire semester was just too much. How could I ever write my novel, doodle for Highlight of the Day, chat with friends, or talk to the Roach? Thankfully, my exaggerated fears were groundless. I will have every other day at home, and that will do. I cannot live in a permanent state of vacation, so I must be happy with what I have. And what I have, I am crazy happy about. Yes, that's right. I have a lot to thank God for. I particularly thank Him for all these great friends I have and people who care for me and love me. Arizona would simply be hell with palm trees otherwise, heh heh heh.
Today I had creative writing and History of Vietnam - both with the same teacher. Both classes seem promising - but I especially look forward to my writing class. I am to keep a journal in it, so I will be doing a sort of double journal I suppose with this and that. He said to put anything interesting in it - thoughts, things I see and hear, newspaper clippings, doodles. I always feel like I'd like to record everything cool I see, but I never feel like I have time. Now that it's an assignment, I might be able to do it more easily. Tomorrow I will be drawing in figure drawing for the first time - with a model. I haven't thought about it because I don't want to. I think I may be a tad shocked. We'll see.
So Bing drove me home tonight and it caused much celebration. I made macaroni and cheese and then called the Roach and we had a laugh attack. It started from something small (and not even that humorous), but we just kept laughing, which made us laugh harder, which kept us sniggering and bursting out anew with more laughter. I gave myself a headache. It was great.
That is all.
See this? This is my BOOM stick! That's right...
I'm so tired. This will be short.
I grinned like a fool all the way to work because I have an overactive imagination and I got to eat a cookie because it was broken. I bought an Italian Special because I remembered that I liked it. I don't really like it now.
I also don't like the Chronic Sour Pickle, even though it was Monday that I saw him and not today. I just forgot to tell you about how evil he is (I think he intentionally tries to make everyone despise him). I asked him if he wanted everything on his sandwhich and he said, "I want to make it a combo." So I said, "Do you want lettuce, onions, tomato, mayo and salt?" and he said (in a derrogatory voice), "Well that's what COMES on it, isn't it??" and I nodded and put it all into the register and then later he said "And I don't want mayo." and it made me mad because that was the whole reason I asked twice before. And then I punched his card and held it out to him and he let me hold it out there for a while before telling me, "You can set that down there." (pointing at the counter). He wasn't going to take it from my hand, oh no. And then he left this huge mess as always. What a rotten tomato.
But that was Monday. Today was pretty good, except that I had to leave just when the Shadow got there. I felt kind of bad leaving him there, because no one there really seems to engage him in conversation except for me (and sometimes Paul, if he's in the mood), and that's just plain boring. It's been kinda nice chatting after work - I think I'm gonna miss it now that I'm not working nights. But now he's riding his bike instead of driving since he doesn't feel obligated to give me a ride home, and that saves gas.
I rode the bus to my bank and saw a fat man with too many teeth and a hole in the crotch of his jeans (I averted my eyes) talking on his cell phone and he kept closing his eyes every time he spoke. It was strange. I wondered what sort of upbringing would allow for such a character.
After I deposited money in my account I ran to catch the bus and it left me in its dust, spitting angry. I decided to hike as far as I could in the 20-30 minutes it would be until the next bus came. I thought I might check out prices on apartments since I plan on moving closer to the school in June. Before I could, however, I ran into Jimmy from school, driving a nice car. He offered me a ride to school and then offered to take me to an art store when he found I needed art supplies. I was happy to get many wonderful supplies like paint and bristol board, as well as most of my required supplies for figure drawing. On the drive back to college, I did my best to convince Jimmy that prostitution and nude dancing were not an optional means of employment in my book, no matter what sort of money it paid.
So then I went to class and drew a live model. It wasn't as bad as I thought it'd be. I was more interested in getting my drawing to look right and well-done, and the model was really nice and cheery. I don't know if I'll feel the same when it's a guy, but I'm doing my best not to think of that just yet.
I had an opportunity to talk to the Roach after class, and then I spent the rest of the night with Bing. We attended our 3D Studio Max class and I kept nodding off and singing "Wish You Were Here" by Pink Floyd in my head. I missed a good chunk of class and just wanted to sleep, but was afraid I'd miss something so I kept waking up (missed it all anyway). We were both famished afterwards and so we went to McDonalds, but it was closed, and so we went through the Jack-in-the-Box drive through and parked to eat and talk about web pages. Now I have a full tummy and it is very late, goodnight.
(okay, so it turned out longer than I thought...)
*Sings Pink Floyd*
"We're just two lost souls swimming in a fish bowl...year after year..."
Well, in case you've been wondering what the heck happened to Jo, the answer is actually quite simple. My computer's hard drive committed suicide. Yes my computer was dead for nearly the entire week and I was going nuts. Separation anxiety, you see (though probably not in the way you think). Now, though, my good friend Preston helped me to set it up so it's running again and even managed to salvage my old data from the old drive. I also made the delightful discovery of my packaging list (taped to the back of my "end table" that was formerly the Dell packaging box), which means I can finally claim my $100 reimbursement. Yay! Unexpected money!
So a lot has happened since my last entry, but mostly just school and work. I did have two very strange dreams though. The first was one where I was opening up the trailers of two Semis at a red light, looking for something. I pulled a box out of each. Then they started to pull away so I shoved one back and shut the door, then picked up the other box, but the truck was going too fast! So I ran after it holding the box shouting, "Hey Mister! Hey! Stop! Wait!" He didn't seem to hear me though. Suddenly a baboon stuck its head out of the window and I was surprised. A baboon was driving this giant truck??? I shouted, "BABOOOOOON!!!" and finally the truck stopped and a man looked down out the window at me and I thought he was a baboon too, at first, but it turned out that he only had the markings of a baboon and a pet baboon in the cab with him. He said that it was a good thing I stopped him because he needed every single package in that trailer to be delivered safe and sound.
The other dream I had was one similar to that lamb dream I had before. Only this time, instead of having to kill a lamb, I had to kill a puppy. It just had to be done (I don't know why). We were using this clear hard plastic box to break its legs - or at least, my sister was. I told her that that wasn't the way to do it - that it would take too long to die that way and it'd suffer. So I took the two sides of the box and put them on either side of its neck. Then it looked up at me with those eyes and I imagined how it would sound once I started to apply pressure and I couldn't do it. I couldn't go through with it...whew. What a horrible dream. Then I only wanted the puppy to live and I wanted no harm to ever befall it again and I clutched it close. Why do I have these bizarre dreams where I must kill innocent little animals? It's freaky. At least I didn't do it this time.
It's hard to admit it, but once my computer died, I actually noticed what a pig sty I live in and started to house clean. Now it's all pretty and nice and you can see the floor and the table (mostly). I baked a loaf of banana bread and am going to eat it in a few minutes. Maybe make some pudding too as I chat with my dear friend, the Roach. I am going to try to get back on the ball with this and role playing and homework and keeping my house clean now. Let's see how long this lasts, ha ha ha...
Well I went and did it. Bought my ticket. What ticket? You might ask. Well...perhaps I will tell you later. Let's just say it's a big leap of blind something and I'm glad I did it. I have one month of anticipation.
Time is not on my side. It makes me unhappy. At least I got my homework in and a bit of Roach conversation. We had our first bible study at school and no one showed up. I don't think we advertised it. Guess that would help.
These are doodles I've done on homework and church bulletins. I don't know why most of them are frowning or roaring or...committing suicide. I don't feel depressed. Products of boredom from my twisted mind, I suppose. Tragedy and drama, wooo.
*Listens to The Trial*
*sigh* I want ice cream...
