Laundry

Ahhh the art of doing laundry in an apartment. Its a complex tango filled with timed movements and intricate steps. First there is the cursory inspection to see if the machines are available....you even have to take into consideration the clothes in the dryers. Next there is the mad dash to gather clothes, detergent, fabric softener, and yes the very elusive quarter. You find yourself facing the washing machine with a mound of clothes knowing that you must now exhibit your abilities in the fine talent of separation....dark, white, delicate, sheets...what dry clean only?!? NOOOOO!!! How dare you intrude on our intimate paring of soap and dirty clothes! Now's the time for the passionate pouring of the Tide and Downy followed by the deep dipping of the clothes to be later spun into a torrent of soapy water and what is soon to be clean springlike smelling fabric.

Yet we all know about the trips and missed steps that dampen the laundry experience...the folly of bleach, the errant sock, the damn red panty mixed with white t-shirts....delicacy must be encouraged at all times. Then there are always the uncertain moments when you are faced with the decision...should I take this person's now dry clothes out of the dryer and place it on the table or wait 10 to 15 minutes. Its a difficult question and one must consider the outcome...will some one exact revenge on my beautiful pile of nice heavenly smelling laundry? There is also the risk that someone might take your clothes and leave you feeling empty and hollow when your favorite bra goes missing and a pair of panties have disappeared. But when you are done and the mountain of clothes complete you are satisfied knowing that it is all fresh. And eventhough the harrowing experience has left you spent and tired you know that you'll have to dance this dance at least one more time...the next time you run out of clean underware.

Mystery man in the red shirt

My red shirt boy was at the gym today. He is so extremely cute and his body is sooooooooooo nice. I think I'm in love...of course I have this awful habit of getting a crush on a person from afar and then when I finally meet them....they totally let me down (I hate it when people can't carry on an intellegent conversation!). OMG he is so cute and I look so gross that I could never approach him and be like "Hey! How's it going?" and not die from mortification. I wish I had balls of steel!

ARRRGG!! Shiver me timbers!

I have completed reading Kate's book. I now want to move to Zanzibar and be ravished by a slave-trading but really deep down sensitive and caring pirate. Does anyone know how to get this goal accomplished? I would be very grateful. Thank you.

A cold panic...

I had to go to this spaghetti supper for the little girl I babysit. Her mom had a meeting to attend and the little girl's girl scout troop was producing this affair. I got in there and all it was was a sea of children and parents. I got a glimpse of my future and I was terrified. All I kept thinking about was "is this all I have to look forward to?" I can't explain it but I found myself in a dead panic. I couldn't breathe and all I wanted to do was run. It just looked so horrifying...so monotonous....so incredibly boring. Do I have to look like those moms? Do I have talk about the same things? Do I have to sit there and only discuss my children and their achievements? If that is all my life is going to be, please bash my head against a wall. I cannot..let me repeat, CANNOT have my life turn out like those people in that room!!!!!! I know I know...I'll change my tune when I'm ready but right now that type of life seems so foreign and miserable to me that I can't understand ever wanting it.....suburbia - my hell!

Move over Florence Nightingale...there's a new chippie in town!!

Poor Italy! She kicked her knee out of joint. She was in so much pain yesterday that she was in tears and could barely walk.

She had left a message on my voice mail to ask if I would call her. Italy's always scoffed at physical discomfort that the distress in her voice led me to think someone had died not that she was injured. Hastily I returned her call and she informed me in a pained voice that she couldn't walk and needed to go to the urgent care at UT. Couple of hours later I got a call to come and pick her up. I got to play nurse for an hour while we got her prescription and food and I got her home. I think thats the most helpful I've ever been when a friend has been sick or hurt....I'm not very good with the whole nursing the sick since I'm rarely sick and hurt. I have a hard time being sympathetic and want to tell people "Buck up! The pain won't last!" Its a downfall..yes I know... Anyway here is a shout out to Italy and her bravery for her injured knee and I it feels better soon (I'm sure the vicodin will help with a lot of that!).

Side note: Its kinda scary how easily one can obtain someone else's prescription. I went in there and asked for it and they asked for my id which I explained I had left in the car with the injured person. She looked at me and said please sign the little slip and I paid and walked away with a full prescription of vicodin. I'm a bit concerned but it definitely made things easier last night.

Warning!!!!

To all out there...my apartment complex tows! I have driven out now 2 nights in a row to pick up friends' cars at J&J Towing (which when I learn how to fly a fighter jet, I will bomb). Kate, however, was a trooper and when we offered to scrap our plans for the evening and go pick up her car... she simply laughed and said that there was nothing she could do anyway so she might as well get some free drinks downtown until her car reached the towing company's place. What a champ!!!!

Photo Opt

There might be incriminating photos of me out there. I hope I never decide to run for public office.

A brief rundown

1 Scotchman, 1 burned cheese fondue disaster, 1 happy hour, 2 towings, 1 make-out session in the middle of the bar, and 3 days later its finally Sunday and maybe it will be relaxing. I'll further elaborate at a later point.

Hello.....God???!!???

So no crazy lady phone call this week so far.....tomorrow is my day off. Do you think she might call again?

An embarassment remembered

Isn't it wonderful when you are in the middle of a crowded place and all of a sudden you remember something funny or embarassing that you had totally forgotten about? It happened to me today while I was at the gym. I remembered that when I was out downtown for St. Pat's day while we were at a bar, I thought I saw this guy named John that I hadn't seen forever across the room. So naturally I smiled and kinda laughed like hey imagine running into you here. However...yes there is always a however in situations like these, the more the alcohol glaze wore off the less and less this guy looked like John (meanwhile I've been staring and smiling at this dude for a couple of minutes wondering why he's smiling back but hasn't made his way over to talk to me) and the more I began to realize that no this wasn't John....yes dear friends I had been making myself look like a complete idiot for some random guy who once I really got a good look at him looked nothing like my friend. I felt so moronic. I hid in shame behind Emily's back....its funny now. Anyway, I'm at the gym today and I start laughing about it so I look like some crazy person laughing at nothing there. Whats worse is that I get the giggles and I can't stop laughing. So there I am on the eliptical machine smiling like a goof..thinking I need to stop smiling cause I look retarded which then only makes me laugh harder. Its a vicious vicious cycle. Oh well...

For the Irish in us all...

I've been told that I need to update my blog page. I guess I have been lacking in that department. I've been busy with work and I went home to Dallas over the weekend...so there really hasn't been much to talk about especially since a bunch of people are out of town for spring break. I did end up going downtown on St. Patrick's Day...here is a little account for all of you who are interested.

Wednesday: So I'm bummed because no one is in town so I've decided to just have a total chill week and ignore that it is St. Patrick's day. No one at work seemed to really care or want to do anything...they aren't a big party crowd. So imagine my excitement when I get back from the gym and I have a missed call from Miss Emily about going out with the UT Rugby team for St. Patty's day. Woohooo is all I had to say! So we head downtown, forgetting that not only is it a drinker's holiday but also SXSW. There were people all over the place...it was cra-a-zy. We meet the boys at Daiquiri Factory (yes I know, very unIrish) Then its a haze as to all the bars we went to. I believe there was the Firehouse, Library, Aquarium, the Drink, Coppertank and Fuel. There were probably more but i can't remember. We had a ton of fun and slowly began to lose our Rugby guys. Finally we ditched them because one of them was being way too territorial over Emily....but it was ok that we lost them because at the Aquarium where we ended the night, we ran into some very cute Frat boys who tried to invite us back to the house....maybe we would have gone had I not had to work at 8am Thursday morning. They left with promises to call (yeah right!) and we stayed and hung out with Robert at the Aquarium till 2:30. I ended up sequestering a cowboy hat from him and I was satisfied with the evening. Went home and went to bed thoroughly dreading the next morning.

Thursday: It was horrible. I was so hungover and it ended up being one of our busiest days all week. I didn't get to eat lunch until almost 3pm. Then I had to stay until 7pm. It totally sucked. What was worse was that I was dead set on going to the gym and actually drove all the way out there only to realize that I hadn't put my gym bag in the car that morning. Yes I felt like a moron. So I just went home and ended up sleeping. On a positive note though, I did get my plane ticket to visit Renee in Florida and I got the ok from work too! I'm so incredibly excited about it.

Today/Friday: I think that my hangover was delayed a day because this morning I felt worse than I did Thursday morning. I had the worse headache in the world and still do! I woke up to my phone ringing and this woman asking for me. She asked if I knew a guy named Greg somebody or another and I was like "yeah it sounds familiar but I don't know". She was like well people keep on calling my house asking for a Stephanie Howard and I was wondering if maybe you were at one point living with my husband or something. OMG I was so taken back and confused especially since I just woke up. She then proceeded to tell me about her life and her lying cheating husband who picks up prostitutes and comes home diseased. She even told me how she once had to clean crabs off of her "old man". I assured her that I'm not messing around with anyone and I've never had that phone number and I have no idea why people would be calling asking for me there. It was such a mess. I told her that I would try and look into it for her. I just wanted the crazy woman off the phone so that I could go back to sleep. Finally with much assurance on my part that I'm not messing around with her husband or have any knowledge of him, I'm allowed to go back to sleep. I wake up 2 hrs. later with someone calling and asking for a "Greg"...when I sleepily reply "you have the wrong number"...they hang up just as I realize its the crazy woman again. I, of course, was now up and very awake and getting really freaked out....and so my Friday continues. I hope she doesn't call again.

Martha, since you now know my address and phone number and name, if you happen to come across my blogger too, take note of this: You are a crazy delusional bitch who needs to leave a man if he's seen whores and skanks and coming home with STD's. I am not the person you want. Stephanie is a common name and Howard is a very common name too so more than likely there is another one somewhere in Austin. I just have the undesirable luck of being listed in the phone book. Please stop calling me and kick that trash of a husband to the curb. Thanks.

Where have all the IceBats gone?....?

Seems like our moment with the "pro" hockey team has faded and the C&A sluts have taken over (let me make note that just b/c you go to C&A's a lot does not make you a C&A slut!)....ahhh maybe it was for the best. I'm not so good with the discussion of sports. Interesting day yesterday. Let me recap:

Morning: boring but work situation all taken care of. Learned that the coveted lablemaker has been in the building for a week but hidden upstairs in the maintenance room (who hates me in the building...they know it was my highlight!).

Lunch: spent most of the late morning/early afternoon installing said labelmaker

Afternoon: Started my trekk into the world of office organization with the label maker. Learned that a highschool chum's father passed away on Monday and the day kinda spiraled downhill from there.

Evening: Almost blew chunks at the trainer session (ps my ass really hurts right now....don't ever let anyone talk you into doing split lunges). From that point on I sort of lost control of my emotions and had a small but very thorough meltdown. Thank god for great friends and their shoulders I can cry on and ears with which they can listen to me bitch.

Night: Pulled myself together and made it to C&A's. Felt a little out of place there more than usual for some odd reason. We ran into the IceBats again but these weren't neccessarily the nice guys. It was a very international/multi-cultural night. I meant New Zealanders, Dutch from the Netherlands (I felt like a moron when I was like.."Is it Netherlandish"?), Austrailians, and the ever present Kanuck..oops I mean Canadian. Oh yeah and a guy from Latvia (I don't think I spelled that right). I got into a political discussion with the Dutchman. I'm not a fan of drinking and discussing politics. I hope this isn't a common occurance. Left went home and totally passed out till next morning...ahh sleep I love you so!

Weekend Recap

Friday night: Totally Chill
Saturday (day): Worked my ass off from 7am - 5pm followed by an evening of babysitting. I gave so many tours to so many people that I would forget right in the middle of what I was saying and totally zone out.

Saturday (night): Went downtown as usual. Had a blast and slumed it in a couple of 18 & up bars. Signed some guy's ass (don't you wish you could have your ass signed too by me?!?). Much more hilarity ensued. We danced our hiney's off and yada yada yada. Steve came over and chilled..I kept falling asleep while he was talking...I'm a poor drunk.

Sunday (day): I didn't anything Sunday. I did buy a bunch of geraniums and played gardener with all my potted plants. It looks so pretty now around my door with the pretty flowers. I hope no one messes with them. I will be so pissed off if they do.

Sunday (night): Our plan was to chill downtown at the Blind Pig..listen to some karaoke and drink a couple of beers...totally chill. Well there was no karaoke but a cover band who played some good songs (I love Roxanne...maybe its the harlot in me.). The only cute guys in the place were sitting right behind us in the booth. I was telling Flaminia how I thought one of them was kinda cute and kept on glacing over to them. Funny thing is that as time went by...more and more of them kept showing up and hanging out at the table. Flaminia got up to get us another drink and I caught the eye of one of the boys and started a very superficial conversation.. (ex:

Me: Hey
Guy: Hey
Me: Nice music to chill to
Guy: Yeah its pretty cool
Me: I've never been here before on a Sunday
Guy: Oh yeah? Well this is my second time to come here
Me: Cool
Guy: Yeah.

And it goes on for another minute or two in that same way. Meanwhile Flaminia meets other cute guys in the group and strikes up a convo with them. She lures them over to our table with her feminine arts and now our table is no longer a guyless group. We chat and drink with the guys a bit and find out that majority of them are from Canada. I talked for a bit with a frenchie from Montreal (gorgeous accent!). We also found out that we've just met a huge bulk of the players for the IceBats. (Yea! US!) This includes the very limber and jaw dropping goalie. It was fun. One cutie kept on telling me how cute I was...very flattering. We gave our numbers out (just in case). At 2am they invited us over to their place but we decided it was good time to end the great evening. Flaminia decides it would be funny to go and bother BW and so we head over there. He and his roommie sleep through our raid...we grab condoms and candy and jet. As I'm heading over to drop Flaminia off...hockey boys call me and we decide that ehh what the hell? We head way down south drink a couple of beers with them and then jet. The guys were total gentlemen and didn't make any grossly forward moves....unless they just didn't find us attractive. Well actually the guy I initially started talking to started getting a little touchy feely at the end but that was cool with me. We head home and get into bed at 5am with plans to meet up with the guys Monday night.

Monday: Did the shopping thang. More plants! I'm going spring plant crazy! Babysat...conned the little girl into us having a girl evening and painting nails so that I could touch up mine! Guys called...bailed on going out....but ok cause I was tired. Crap happening at work (a fellow co-worker is causing trouble for all the new people...bitch). Went and saw "Love Actually"...cried and laughed and cried some more. Great movie! Got home late again....oops

Today (morning): Beautiful morning filled with sunshine and birdies! Work situation ok now. Hockey boy called at 4am but I missed it cause I was dead to the world. (he better not have been calling for a booty call!) They said that they might come to C&A's for beers but I'm not holding my breath. Not like they'll be here for much longer anyway. They go back to Canada next week when the season is over. Anyway, my day is good so far....the label maker came in (see earlier blog).

Update

So 3 hrs and 1 huge tour later and I'm still bored! I'm falling asleep at the desk. This day just won't end. I wish I had something to read. Please put me out of my misery! oh for the love of god!!! I spent an hour putting return labels on envelopes.....yes you envy my life....

So Bored!

Alll byyy myyyseeelllfff....don't wanna be allll byyyy myyyyseeellllfff! (Singing in my head). I've been sitting in a totally empty office with nothing to do for the past hour. Where is everyone? I have no boss and no co-worker and I have no clue as to when they'll be in. I shouldn't have had to wake up so early to sit here and stare at a computer screen. Soooo Booorrrrreeeddd!!!!!

Yea me!!

So today I got a great review! I get $100 bonus for being such a wonderful leasing agent and knowing my shit! It definitely made my day which once again I showed up for an hour late (oops!) I really need to go to bed earlier so that I'll wake up when my alarm goes off. No one seemed to really care though so hopefully its not a big deal. There is some talk to start assigning certain days as a particular type of dress at work. I'm balking at the proposition big time! I hate being limited on what I can choose to wear in the morning. I did that for 5 yrs at a private school. I am not going to do it again and besides I think I know what "business casual" entails!

On a weird note...I think the gym manager is hitting on me. I'm not sure but he seems just a little too chummy with me and not so much with anyone else. Hopefully I'm imagining it cause he's kinda older and I think he has a live in girlfriend which makes it even weirder.

PS I hate religious discussions. Never discuss religion unless you want to end up hating someone or thinking that they are an idiot.

mmmm....Sushi

I just want to say that I love sushi! Such a fun and yummy item of food. I wish I could afford to eat it everyday!

Maybe the trainer knows what he's doing

So yesterday totally rocked. I felt awesome and totally sexy last night...something I haven't felt in a long time! Maybe it was the cool/sexy shoes I had on or maybe because I felt like the personal trainer is finally doing his job. Went and had PF Changs last night for Erin's b-day. Awkward random group of people. I felt uncomfortable the entire time making me not enjoy my mongolian beef...ps where are all the people who like spicy food holed up in this world? I totally backed out of going to a club with her and her friends but I just didn't think I could take it...the stress of such different groups of people makes me so nervous.

I (giggle giggle) got looks at C&A's last night and was propositioned by a guy....first time I was ever asked "if I would do a black guy"! Funny stuff. I kept flirting with this guy with a floral shirt...very cute in an all-american type of way till he smiled and had gaps in his teeth. I still thought he was cute until I heard himand his friends yaking it up in jerk-like fashion...very unattractive. So many gorgeous guys to stare at C&A's that sometimes I think I'm in testosterone heaven! Kate and I were abandoned half way through the night by our friends for Downtown. I can't help it if I have to work in the morning...which I woke up late and showed up 20min late to once again. I'm super excited about my training session again today although it scares me too b/c I don't like looking like a weak stupid idiot which I tend to do when I go to these things. Oh well. Anyway the insomnia is returning and its not fun cause I'm really tired.

I thought today would be an great day but so far it hasn't started out that way. I woke up late and ended up at work really late. I checked my email only to find out that 1. I have no money what-so-ever in my account and 2. I think my email has a trojan horse virus! or at least that is what the UT email people have emailed me saying. Fun stuff. Solutions that I've created so far for my dire situation...1. scam my parents into giving me $300 telling them that I found a plane ticket for Florida that I need ASAP (they're paying for me to see Renee for her graduation) (my sister better not blab to my 'rents either!) and 2. don't use my computer at home until I get a new one which once again my parents promised me for my graduation. Hmmm how come all my solutions still hang around financial dependence upon my parents? This is not good. I think I need to revise my plan of action.

Anyway I'm sitting here at work dreading/wanting to go today to my training/torture session, thinking a whole lot about eating sushi on Thursday, and living in total despair b/c I have to work all day Saturday starting at 8am and then babysit till 11pm...then there is the random thought about how much I hate my apartment and want to move but can't without the risk of financial ruin...even more than what I have now! Today is the day of negative thought....no wonder I can't sleep.

A little dirty dancing never hurt anyone!

Yesterday I saw Dirty Dancing Havana Nights. The acting was horrible but the dancing was awesome. I want to go to Cuba now and learn the Havana beat! There needed to be less talking and more dancing! I really really really want to go to Miguel's now and salsa till I drop! I wish I could go some place exotic and really experience the culture...not the tourist culture! I wish I was exotic....unfortunately I'm all-american. I spent the rest of my evening switching between knitting and watching tv. Knitting Rocks!

Today I had a whole list of things to accomplish but I only got half done instead. I went to my apartment management company to see about getting out of my lease. I ended up getting really angry and upset with this idiot woman. I told her all the instances of theft and lack of security and she kept on telling me that there was no point in moving because it could happen anywhere. While that I understand, what I was trying to explain to her was that I wanted to reduce my risks....while the location that I'm at right now is a high risk area for having things stolen. She still didn't get my point. Finally, we ended the "discussion" with her telling me that I could get out of my contract with a 85% reletting fee and if they don't find anyone to take it then they can charge me rent till my lease ends. My other option is to put my problems in writing and give it to the manager to consider. I think I'll take option 2 please!! It just totally sucks! I knew it wouldn't be easy but I don't really want to deal with this right now and my parents aren't going to help me one bit...got to love non-confrontational parents!

Afterwards I need solice at the grocery store. I bought way more food than I'll ever consume. Later I had an appointment with the devil....ooops I mean my personal trainer. I think it is his mission to kill me or at least come very close to it. It was absolutely disgusting...I was sweating buckets that I left a huge puddle behind on the machine. He was like you might want to get a towel and wipe that up!....yuck! I hate sweating. I told him I was going to get him back for all the torture he's been putting me through. I don't know yet what I will do but I'm willing to take suggestions. Other than that I've been cleaning like a mad woman all evening long. My apartment is virtually spotless. I'm so tired I don't want to go to work tomorrow :(