Comments

It's been brought to my attention that I can limit comments on my blog to those registered with some sort of ID (though I don't claim to understand exactly what kind of ID...it's called "Open ID"). Since most public forums (and almost all private ones, like mine) require that users identify themselves, I'm going to follow that example. I didn't choose the "Google accounts" option, as I know that not everyone has or uses a Google account. Instead, it's the OpenID, which I believe accommodates AIM screen names and other similar usernames. This isn't a jab at anyone, nor is it an attempt to dissuade people from commenting. It's just my attempt to limit those commenting on my blog to serious people who take personal credit for their opinions, as I have.

List of the Goings On

I was reading Zahra's blog this morning, and she made a list because she was lazy. I am equally lazy right now, so I shall copy her.

1. My sister was supposed to go to Corpus Christi for orchestra. But it's the weekend of my recital. And she would miss a holy day, which no one knew until now. So she said she is coming to my recital instead, which makes me happy :) Plus, she has 2 doctors & a physical therapist saying she can't play because she hurt her shoulder. That doesn't make me happy :(

2. I'm still really upset about Perfume Girl making me ill. Just in case someone was wondering. I'm feeling somewhat better, but I'm staying home from church today because smelling exhaust or anything will make me relapse.

3. Benjamin took his acoustic guitar & an amp & some other music stuff to church today. The living room looks empty now.

4. Yesterday, Benjamin stole my laptop & took it to the store. He insisted that I needed more memory, and I insisted that I didn't. I now have more memory.

5. I learned last night that I can open files on my laptop that are really on the external hard drive plugged into the desktop. I'm told I can only do this at home, though.

6. Benjamin & I are reading "The 5 Love Languages" each night before we go to sleep. First, we read the first 3 chapters, which were annoying. The author seemed to be saying this:
"You got married because you thought you loved each other. But you didn't. You were really just 'in love' and after you've been married for a couple of years, you'll no longer be 'in love'. And you won't love each other either, cause you never really did. You just thought you did. Oh, and by the way, I know this sounds harsh, but I know you better than you do, cause I write books with the cool raised-letter covers."
We also read the 1st "love language" which is "Words of Affirmation." That chapter was less pessimistic.

7. We have a Victoria's Secret bag sitting on the coffee table that's been there for about a month. Benjamin needs to send it back. I wonder how long until one of us realizes it's there & send it back.

8. Chloe has been nicer lately. Yesterday Benjamin clipped her front claws with fingernail clippers. They're no longer sharp. When he was putting her in her kennel for bed, I heard cat-crying. He came in and said that he thinks she's mad that she can't scratch him anymore.

9. I packed Benjamin a lunch this morning for him to have between Men's Club and church. So the sandwich wouldn't get soggy, I put the bread in 1 bag and the lettuce, turkey & cheese in another bag. Then I put the mustard in a tupperware and the pickles & tomato in another container, with salt & pepper on the tomato. I also gave him a banana & some doritos (which I opened from the bottom of the bag right in front of him, muah-ha-ha!) and coke. And a napkin & a plastic knife. I packed all of this in my super-cute pink ice chest. He looks very manly.

10. Last night we went to Wal-Mart for dinner stuffs. I wanted straws and popsicle molder things. We looked everywhere & couldn't find either. Then a lady told Benjamin where to find straws, and they were out. She was shelving, so she & Benjamin started going through the boxes to find straws, but they were bendy straws so I said I'd just wait. I don't like bendy straws cause they get air in them in make you burp.

Countdowns
Recital: 20 days
Anniversary: 121 days
Graduation: 131 days

I am slowly...

(Original post at www.abforever.blogspot.com)

I just remembered this annoying song that I used to know:

I am slowly going crazy - 1 2 3 4 5 6 switch
Crazy going slowly am I - 6 5 4 3 2 1 switch

And then you repeat. I'm not sure why I remembered that.

Mom had hip surgery again on November 14. It was supposed to be the last one to remove more bone, and then she'd have her first hip replacement in December and the second next year. However, she developed a staph infection in her bone while at her rehab hospital. After running a fever, she was taken to the emergency room at another hospital, and had to have an unplanned surgery. The infection is still there, though, and she's on really strong antibiotics for several weeks, administered through a catheter in her arm and chest (so as not to destroy her blood vessels with a normal IV).

I finished my finals, and I must say I'm unhappy with how the semester went. I'm going to slap the "experience" label on it though, and remind myself that I was working a lot and trying to focus on my marriage this semester. I've had a good GPA all along, so one sorta-bad semester shouldn't hurt me too badly.

Actually, today I was off work. Now that school is done, I'll have 2 days a week where I can relax & run errands. Hopefully I can get stuff straightened up around here, too. We really need to do that =/

So now I'm just waiting for Benjamin to get home, so we can go spend another crapload on new tires, and then get my car inspected. I hate maintenance stuff.

ATTENTION!

This blog has quit working...I'm not sure why.

New blog URL: www.dontsweat2.blogspot.com

Happy blogging!

Poo

Good News: Dad & Papa got the belts changed on my car

Bad News: AC belt broke because the air compressor locked up

Worse News: now I need a new air compressor

Joy.

I'm never driving again

My Very Broken Down Car :(

I seem to have nothing but bad luck when I combine cars, long trips, and oh yeah...me.

Take, for instance, yesterday's little incident. I left my house at 8am to go to Huntsville for church. Huntsville is well on the way to DFW, and I had made a joke about just keeping on going north...boy am I glad I didn't! I left at about 1pm to go home, and 20 minutes into my trip...

...something on the passenger side started squealing, and at first I thought it was something weird with my music. However, it continued once I turned off the music, eliminating that possibility. It got really loud, but instead of completely freaking out (the default Adriane option) I calmly switched lanes & maneuvered to the shoulder. This took a total of about 7 seconds. By that time, I smelled smoke, and by the time I got the car turned off a couple of seconds later (yes, I was in super-high-speed-fix-it-mode) I could see the smoke billowing from under the hood. This is what we call not a good thing.

So in tears I called Dad, who said he was on his way. So he ended up skipping church. It was about 96* in the shade (where I moved after about 30 minutes), and Dad got there a little over an hour after the initial problem. It turns out my AC belt broke. Dad is changing that and the Something Else belt today, and I should be good as new. We called AAA and a tow truck brought it back to my house.

But! I being the fantastic photo weirdo that I am, just had to get a picture of the ordeal...for future humor's sake. So I climbed over the guard rail (yes, in my skirt & church shoes...I'm Wonder Woman ya know) and waded around in the bug-infested grass. It was just grasshoppers, I told myself, and though I don't like grasshoppers, this must be part of the breaking-down experience. When I came back to Dad & the tow truck man, Dad asked if I had gotten into fire ants. Of course I said no...THAT's when they started biting. My feet were covered in the things. And they bit me. A lot. Not nice.

As crappy as the day became, and the fact that it took me 4 hours to get home when it should have taken just 1, it could have been so much worse. Dad says these are things that just happen every once in a while, and that I couldn't really have done anything to prevent it. Basically, this would have happened at this approximate time regardless of what I was doing.

BUT! I wasn't on my way to Dallas/Ft Worth as I'd originally planned. If I were, I'd have been in Centerville then, and my rescue would have been longer coming. And I'd have had to turn around.

AND! It didn't happen the night before, when Juliane & I were on our way back from Teen Bible Study in the dark. That would have been closer to home, but more dangerous. I don't really need to drag my sister into a stranded situation.

PLUS! There are lots of places along I-45 whose shoulder width is about zero. I happened to break down in a place where the shoulder was the width of an entire lane, and there was grass next to it.

So given the fact that this was going to happen, I think a lot of things "just happened" to work out well. In other words, I was protected even though I wasn't necessarily happy about the situation. It's funny how little things can give you just a little more faith when you least expect it.

Xanga is Down?!?!?!

What kind of world IS this, where I can't go, on a whim, to Zahra's xanga & learn about her life, the life I've recently left behind to journey southward, the life to which I shall once again return?!!?

WAIT!!! I just actually read the message that comes up when I attempt to locate Zahra's xanga...xanga.com is moving?!?!?!?!!?!

Behold the message:

Xanga will be down today from 7am - 2pm EST, what in the world does EST mean to me when I live in CST? as we move our servers to a new network facility (we ran out of room in our old one). You ran out of room?? We're loading a few hundred servers onto a truck, driving them across the Hudson River, and reassembling them in New Jersey. somehow I doubt that's what you're doing...but ok, I'll humor you. We'll get the site up and running again as soon as we can.
Thanks for your patience, I don't have patience, but thanks for the positive implication.
The Xanga Team Time for team pictures!

[emphasis added throughout...you can tell my thoughts from theirs by the obnoxious reddish hue of my rantings :)]

Haaaaail No!

(Get the pun?!)

Thursday afternoon, I went to pick my sister up from school. As I was leaving, I thought to myself, "wow, how I dread getting out in this miserable yet harmless rain." Boy was I wrong - Miserable, maybe. Harmless, hardly.

Said rain proceeded to become a terrifying thunder storm. You know how the amount of time after a lightning strike that the thunder is heard correlates to the distance? Well, what about when you actually hear the thunder at the same time that you are jolted by its terrifying appearance right in front of you on Spring Cypress. Yes, this makes for a less-than-pleasant trip.

Not to mention the humongous hail that continues to pelt you for about 45 minutes while you wait in the car-pool line. And the 6 inches of rain. And the spouting man holes. And the fact that when you call your dad & your roommate to tell them that you're in the process of dying, you can't even hear them. And the Winter Wonderland that takes over the parking lot due to the seemingly total hail-coverage. And realizing that the reason you haven't moved an inch in 10 minutes is that the 3 cars in front of you have PARKED, blocking your movement. And getting OUT of the car and running through the 6 inches of water to go inside to find your sister, but losing a flip-flop on the way & having to turn around to get it. And once you finally get her & get out of the line, going through 8 inches of water that come up very very far, making you really glad that you have 16" tires, and screaming for the people in front of you to keep going so that you don't stall or whatever that word is. And having to turn around before you get to Champion Forest because apparently that street is too flooded for those soccer moms in SUV's to wade through. And realizing that you have hail damage. And confirming that you are, indeed, the unluckiest person ever, and that everyone is out to get you, and that misery seeks you out. Ok, so maybe that's not true, but sometimes you feel like it...

My "check engine" light came on yesterday. I took it to a place that has a computer that you hook up to it and it gives you some kind of code. I asked the guy at the counter, and he gave me a weird look & said, "I don't do it myself." I assume that he sensed my incompetence, because even after I said, "Just tell me what to do & I'll do it" he did it anyway. Cylinder misfire. Or something. Who knows...

On a more serious note, the lady in the bed next to Mom passed away yesterday. We had become friendly with her mom. The lady was about Mom's age, and had been fighting cancer for a long time. It was really saddening because, even though I didn't know her & people often die in hospitals, I've never been there when someone has died. Dad & I were there but had to leave the ICU because there was a "code blue" (very bad). We were there while the family was making decisions and everything. And even though I wasn't in the room, I was still...there.

Anyway, I think that's all I wanted to say. Goodnight, everyone. Sleep well.

Stealing a car

So, Saturday evening Cameron, Dad & I went to Sugarland to look at a car. I ended up loving it, and we bought it today. The previous owner took very good care of it...everything's great except for the miles, but as it's been properly maintained, it'll be ok. I spent the afternoon cleaning up crap that only weirdos like me would give a thought to. Overall, 'twas a productive day.

Apparently, though, you're supposed to actually read the manual. Dad & I were leaving the hospital tonight (you know, where patients were druggedly sleeping in their beds) and I made the unfathomable mistake of turning on the headlights before turning on the car. BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP and on and on for about 3 minutes. I completely jumped. Dad had to hang up the phone so as to help in this moment of burglary crisis. I won't go into detail...suffice it to say that it was really loud. Little old ladies drove by, gave a look and a laugh, and continued on their merry way. I have, however, learned my lesson...never turn on the headlights first. Check.

Hi, my name is Laura, and I'm a name-tag loser.

Yeah, so I seem to have "misplaced" my name tag for the Pub, so someone told me to wear another one. I thought they were kidding. They weren't. So, today I was Laura. Jennifer has been Sam the past few days because her name tag is behind the carbonation bottle.

One of the managers brought a new employee to the front & introduced us to him.
Caleb: This is Adriane
Me: I'm not Laura
Caleb: She's not Laura. This is Jennifer, not Sam
Jennifer: I'm not Sam

Today was a fun day of work...but I'm totally beat. I think I might cross-stitch for a while. Or read. Or go to sleep. Yes, one of those.

Also, I want to put a link to Zahra's xanga on here, because she often updates when I don't, or has other things to say about our adventures. But, I don't know how to change the links on the side of this page, so I'll just make it super big. Here:
Zahra's Xanga!!!

Childish Sparring

Somehow, the pecking order must be understood in my family.

As a continuation of the previous post...
LiKE DUH: but YOU, missy, must get a myspace. and comment MEEEE k? k.
LiKE DUH: OKAYYYY? :]
addicat123: ok i will
LiKE DUH: yay. okay. make one. now. :]
addicat123: AFTER you've commented on my blog successfully for 3 days
LiKE DUH: NO NOW
LiKE DUH: and then i WILL comment successfully for three days on your blog
addicat123: no, cause you have to comment for all the days on my blog
LiKE DUH: then i wont comment. unless you make one. now
LiKE DUH: then i'll comment.
addicat123:im older than you
addicat123: and you're short
LiKE DUH: pshhh
addicat123:pishaw!
LiKE DUH: seriously. now.
addicat123:seriously don't boss me around
LiKE DUH: seriously. i'm not scared of you.
addicat123: and seriously do what i say im your boss
LiKE DUH: kdfjsldkf i'm not commenting until you make one. THEN i promise to comment
LiKE DUH: IF you comment me on myspace, that is.
addicat123:you're not in a position to give me ultimatums, missy
LiKE DUH: i think i am. [[[[[[[:
addicat123: poo on your shoe
LiKE DUH: DO IT
LiKE DUH: i win i win i win
addicat123: fine we'll both do it now
LiKE DUH: okay. READY. SET. GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
addicat123: promise?
LiKE DUH: if you promise
addicat123: promise
LiKE DUH: promise

And that's how it's done.

Me? A Computer Brain? Nah...

rabidwire1922: I have something I want you to listen to
addicat123: i have something i want you to listen to
rabidwire1922: try to convert it to an mp3 then email it to me
addicat123: do i look like the kind of person who would know how to "convert" anything, much less an intangable music file??
rabidwire1922: it could happen
rabidwire1922: email it to me
addicat123: before or after this miraculous "conversion" that is supposed to take place?
rabidwire1922: before