5 posts tagged “family”
Are you a morning person or a night owl?
Morning person, beyond a shadow of a doubt. I can stay up late, from time to time, but it's a real effort. Unless I've done that, though, mornings are one of the easiest things in the world for me. When I was in junior high and high school, I perfected the art of sleeping as absolutely late as I could (which was usually five-thirtyish, given how early school started back then) and then getting ready and being up and out the door in five to ten minutes. This involved taking showers the night before, but I figure that way you go to bed clean, which is good.
In college, I would do much the same, though I added enough allowance to get up and check my regular battery of sites before heading out the door. So if I had an 8:30 class, I'd want to be out the door at 8:20 or so. I could get up at 8 no problem and make it in time 99% of the time. So, yeah. The instant my alarm goes off and I open my eyes, I'm wide awake.
My mom is just about the exact opposite. To get out the door by 6am, she would get up at 4:30, make herself several cups of tea, shower, and finally drag herself out barely on time. I don't know if it was because of her being this way, or just genetics that I was lucky and am able to wake up as quickly as I have to. Even now, we leave at 8:30, but I get up at 7:30 to be able to get on here, write my morning entry, and generally give Evan enough time to do more or less the same. I could sleep in later but it wouldn't give me the time I like to check websites and whatnot.
In other subjects, the drive down yesterday was fairly uneventful, though it rained pretty much the whole way. In fact, it just started raining again. Here's hoping it'll stop by noon, ugh. The wedding is at one, and we need to be there by 12:30, so as long as we can get out the door without getting soaked, I'll be happy. Of course I'll have my camera on hand to take plenty of pictures, hee.
Last night I had a very odd dining experience. We went to this place called K&W Cafeteria, which was dinner like I'd never had it before. It was very much like going through the lunch line at school or something, and very awkward for me. I was utterly self-conscious and 'please' and 'thank-you'ing all the staff to death. Once you collected your foods, you got a receipt for your party then went into the dining area. You unloaded your various plates and bowls and etcetera onto the table, and took the trays to a preordained dropping point. It was very, very strange, but the food was actually pretty decent. There were a lot of older people there, but I guess I can understand why.
The guy that my mother-in-law is marrying is nice enough, though he's a bit of the demonstrative sort. They seem to enjoy each others' company, though, which is a step in the right direction, eh? The ceremony's not any big thing, but it will be in the church where I'd have had mine had we still lived here, and there's a lunch after at the country club, and dinner later tonight at some Italian restaurant. Wish me luck with all the various family that I have yet to meet--Evan owes me big time in payback after what some of mine put him through when they first met him!
I suppose that's about all for now. The rain's already lighter but not stopping as far as I can tell.
Ta~
Apologies to anyone out there who's actually listening, as it were.
Life lately has been pretty much the same routine we've come to expect, with very little sticking out and demanding to be made note of. Get up at 7:30, leave at 8:30, work until 5, stay at work until 7, come home, make dinner, go to bed and do it all over again. There's really no point in making a post every day that says that.
Last night I fell asleep with my head in Evan's lap as we watched Law & Order. Much to my chagrin, we've both become fans of the show, even in spite of the negative associations I have based on an ex who was in love with it as well. I had withdrawn from internet-ly things early because I had a headache, and once I got comfortable it seemed natural enough to fall asleep. At some point Evan went to bed, and eventually I woke up on the couch and dragged myself in there as well. This resulted in more sleep than I usually get, which is good, I guess. And the headache seems to finally have subsided.
I was dreaming that I was working in a restaurant when I woke up--basically, something I've sworn up and down I would never do. I'd then compromised that point by taking a non-waitstaff job at this place, but then my boss (who turned out to be my grandmother) decided I should be crosstrained. She was a very demanding customer, and I kind of failed miserably as I didn't know where anything was in the kitchen there. I know there was more to that dream but it's all too fuzzy now, and was already interrupted by my morning cat wakeup call.
I've got a short work week this time around, which is nice, save for the fact that I only had one day off between last week and this. But I only have two days after today, and Friday off. At some point in these next two days, Evan and I need to do laundry. Friday morning I pack while Evan puts in a half day at work. Then we load up the car, drop the cat off at my parents' house, and head to Evan's hometown, about four hours away from here. I think I've probably mentioned before that his mom's getting married.
Well, this is the weekend--also being the weekend of the five-year anniversary of our first meeting and when we started dating. That particular day is Saturday, the day of the wedding, and we'll be going out to dinner with the rest of the guests (more of his family that I've yet to meet and he hasn't seen in years, so fun), so I guess that's something. I had been planning for us to go to dinner at the local little Japanese restaurant that we've always gone to for special occasions like Valentine's Day and anniversaries (and also where he proposed--we haven't been back since then, actually), but we'll have to do it another time.
We've worked extra and saved up some money for this coming weekend, so I'm trying to figure out what I might get him as a little sort of gift, but I really don't know. It's entirely possible that I'll end up asking him, even though I hate doing that.
The other notable thing about last night was that I just felt really really good. All of my close friends and loved ones had at least fairly good days, and it made me feel happy. So that was nice.
I guess that's about all for now. I'd like to at least get in one or two more posts before I go, but the QotD prompts lately have been descending into levels of blah yet unseen, and other than that there's not always something I feel like writing about. So we'll see. If nothing else, pictures of this weekend will possibly be forthcoming after that whole shebang.
Until next time~
Wow. This is, I think, the longest I've gone without updating here. I'm sorry.
Life has been somewhat hectic of late, and I was out of town for the past two days. So one day quickly becomes two, and two becomes three, and then all of a sudden it's four days since anything's been written. I had a three-day weekend, and we all know how terrible I am at updating when I'm not forcing myself through my morning routine.
Saturday was good. Saturday we got our cable TV hooked up. Apparently there was a mistake over at the cable company and they thought we needed cable internet and already had the TV going, so they scheduled us to have one of their guys come hook it up. I was confused when they told me that we would have to wait for him for the TV, but I figured hey,they know what they're doing and maybe I forgot something. So at 7am on Saturday, I got up to clean house a bit and wait for him. He got here around 9ish, and I made Evan get up as well, so that in case he needed to check the connection in the living room, there wouldn't be a naked man in bed.
The guy was as utterly perplexed as we were that he had to come out for something so apparently simple, and so we hooked up the cable to the TV. The picture was really weak, so he went to his van and cut us some new coaxial cable, but that didn't seem to help either. Our apartment complex has a box outside that the cable guys access, too, so he went to go check that. It turns out that the cable/equipment in there was a little wonky, and that's why our picture was bad. So it ended up being a good thing that he came out, because otherwise our TV wouldn't have worked and we would have had to wait for someone to come out and look at it anyway. So hurrah for things going well when you think they've gone bad.
The rest of Saturday was spent watching the first WVU game of the season--at least, most of it. At some point I found out that there was a Project Runway (squee) marathon on Bravo, and when I was pretty sure we were going to win (we did, 42-10), I turned the channel over to that. PR is one of the shows that I've missed more than most, and I was glad to get caught up with this new season. I'm only a couple episodes behind now that I saw what was on Saturday, and I caught a couple of the earlier episodes that I'd missed yesterday when they did another marathon. I'm counting on Michael, the redheaded chick, and some random person to make it to the final three.
Saturday night I drank, mostly out of boredom. Five shots of vodka (Yes, I was that bored. It's the only alcohol we have in the house) got me nicely tipsy, and lasted for a couple of hours. Evan came home at some point after I'd had the fifth shot (he was out with friends that day), and I actually managed to not be obviously drunk. I'm not sure why I felt like that was the right route--it probably wasn't, in retrospect, but I think mostly my motivation was to see if I could keep him from noticing. I was a little wobbly/silly, but he didn't seem to take much note. I had a little headache on Sunday morning, but nothing a couple of Tylenol didn't take away.
Sunday and Monday we spent at my parents, which is nice enough, I guess. We had a really nice Thanksgiving-type dinner on Sunday night that was very yum, and I have a leftover pumpkin pie in my fridge, which is always good. We forgot to bring the Cool Whip, though. Oh, well. Nothing terribly exciting to say about being home--it's pretty much the same as always. Mooched some food, watched TV, played with Mom's new laptop, and really that's about it. It's weird to finally be allowed to sleep together now, but nice.
Yesterday Mom and I got up early and tried to go to this craft fair that they have nearby every Labor Day weekend, but it wasn't there when we were, so I think it must only be on Saturday and Sunday of the weekend. In lieu of that, we ended up visiting my aunt at our old house in my hometown. That was...blah. My family are those scary uber-conservatives that want to kill/bomb/destroy all Muslims, which pisses me off, but I know better than to open my mouth about it. I'm still disappointed in them.
When we came back here, Evan and I tried a new tactic against the giant pile of dishes we'd accumulated and left behind (heh), and then made a supply run for a few things we needed. I really wanted to get a pair of computer headphones with the little microphone and everything, but unfortunately the only two they had of the pair I wanted had already been opened (And put back on the shelf. Why?). So perhaps next time.
Last night was spent reuniting, if you will, with Tarsis, who got a little screwed over by the leftovers of Hurricane Ernesto. We had a big RP day planned on Saturday, but he'd lost power and didn't get back until I was already at my parents' house. Of course my brain conveniently decided to shut down before we'd really gotten much done, so we saved and will continue later--soon, I hope. Possibly tonight.
I'm working for the next five days, which is blah, but I'm happy to be back on the five-days schedule despite the fact that I know it makes me super-tired. I'll get used to it again, with time. I just hope I'll be able to keep up with everything else I do here, too.
Sorry for the "This is what I did" post, which I usually try to avoid, but a lot happened, and there were quite a few little comments I wanted to make, for one reason or the other. I hope that updates will be a bit closer together from here on out so that giant catch-up posts aren't as necessary.
Until next time~
What song or lyrics are stuck in your head at the moment? What album is it from?
Submitted by Lox Ly.
The song in my head at this particular moment is 'Two Hornpipes (Tortuga)' from Pirates of the Caribbean II: Dead Man's Chest. Why, I do not know, but it's a happy little rolling melody (Quite possibly called a 'reel,' but I'm not sure what part of my memory supplied that information. Wikipedia seems to differentiate, and now that I check, apparently 'hornpipe' is the kind of song it is, but it's closely related to a reel. So. Do I get former-music-major points for trying?) that they play in the pub in Tortuga that makes me inherently happy. I woke up with it in my head and since I like it, I haven't made an attempt to dislodge it yet.
The cat is yowling at me from the kitchen, which I can only take to assume that she wants me to clean her litter box, since she's already been fed and watered this morning. I really don't feel like cleaning it, but I fear the consequences of not. So.
Well, box wasn't that bad. It's entirely possible that she wanted the litter cleaned off the floor, given that one of my theories is that it isn't the dirty box so much as the litter on the floor that causes her to have an occasional brainfart and not go in the box.
But you really don't want to hear about the bathroom habits of my cat, do you? In penance, a cute picture:
Posting this actually has (gasp) relevance, as this weekend we will once again be coaxing the cat into her carrier by temptation of food--which is what was happening in this picture. We're going to go visit my parents on Sunday and stay until Monday afternoon--about 24 hours, which is long enough that I'd feel bad leaving the cat alone. The parents will appreciate her visit as well, since they kept her for a few years while I was in school and couldn't have a pet live with me.
And she'll appreciate not being stuck here all by herself and having to yowl loud enough that maybe the neighbor's cat (which we saw for the first time the other day as it stared at us through his blinds!) would hear her and talk back. Ahem.
I managed to score a three-day weekend over Labor Day; that wasn't intentional on the part of my manager, but given my recent work history, I told him I really appreciate it. Two of the three managers right now have been giving me really positive feedback lately, so that's encouraging. Last night our 'new guy' didn't show up (which effectively gives him the boot), and the other cashier person wasn't going to be able to show up until 6pm because of her classes. So I told my manager, D (new D, not the old D--still a guy though!), that if he would cover me for ten or fifteen minutes to take a break, I would try to stay until she got there. I ended up going over to the cafe and covering a lunch, since D wouldn't be able to do so if the other cashier didn't show up. I was dog tired by the end of the day, but I actually feel like it was worth it. And today's the last day, which I hope will be easy. I know I'm not staying late again without absolutely good reason, as until we lost our nightshift guy, I wasn't planning on staying yesterday, either, because I am tired.
Anyway, enough about work. RP is picking up, and tomorrow I'll probably be dedicating practically the entire day to it. At least, I already have a couple folks promised my attention. Hee.
I guess that's really about it from me for now. Until next time~
When you were younger, were there any game shows that you religiously watched and wanted to be a contestant on?
Hrm. I guess this one's almost a remotely interesting answer. While I didn't choose to watch the shows, at least at first, I did watch three with a fairly good regularity when I was a kid. Well, two during the school year and three in summer.
I went to my grandparents' house after school because my mom worked here in Morgantown and we lived twenty miles away. She didn't get done, always, anywhere close to when I got home from school, so instead of staying home by myself, up until high school I went to my grandparents'.
In the evenings, they had a routine. Local CBS station news at 6, CBS Evening News with Dan Rather at 6:30, then change the channel to NBC at watch Jeopardy/Wheel of Fortune at 7 and 7:30. It's quite possible that my innate fondness for trivia spawned from watching Jeopardy, while Wheel may well have enforced the spelling ability that I demonstrated in junior high and high school, taking me all the way to Nationals in my seventh grade year.
Wheel fell out of favor with them over the years, with my grandmother at least (we ended up watching it on mute, the way she became adjusted to watching most programs after I hit my teens or thereabouts), but I remember well popping a bag of popcorn for my grandfather and myself, putting some in a bowl for me and giving him the bag, and having it all with a big glass of milk. To this day that combination reminds me of just that scene--watching Alex Trebek quiz his hopefuls. I'd still kind of like to go on the show.
In the summers, my grandmother and I had another routine. At 11:00, on CBS, they showed The Price is Right. Looking back at the potential influence that the other two shows had on me, I can see that it's entirely possible that this show is the reason I'm such a passionate comparison-shopper, though that had never occurred to me before today. At any rate, not only would we watch The Price is Right, but we would both participate to the best of our abilities, advising the players whether they should Spin or Stay, if they should Bid or Pass. To this day I can still tell when Bob Barker is going to give away a car--before he shows it. There's something in his voice. Usually, she would bring me lunch in the living room, when she was able, before the second half of the show started. And, at the end, his constant reminder to have our pets spayed or neutered. My grandmother always commented on that, at first, but as we got older, she seemed to have a running contest with herself to get the television muted after the Showcase Showdown, but before he said it. I never really dreamed of going on this show, but it may have been because it was all so terribly grown-up.
I watched a number of other game shows in some summers, when we went camping in a town near Elkins, WV, and had a different cable company there. We got the Game Show Network back when it was still really good, and I remember watching shows that were probably over before my time, like Name That Tune, as well as more contemporary ones, like Supermarket Sweep. But those were only for a summer or two, while even today I wouldn't be surprised to walk into my grandparents' home at 7pm and see them flipping up to channel 12 (or 11, depending on which got the better picture), and settling down with Alex Trebek, Pat Sajak, and Vanna White.
