No Driving with Momma

I've been forbidden to teach Katee to drive. She kicked me out yesterday. So Charlie's taking over the driving lessons.

But really it's not her, it's me. I think she's wounded that I'm stompin' on the floor of the passenger seat side trying to find the brake. She did drive up Thrill Hill (Creswell Drive) yesterday. Did great! However that didn't keep my heart from flickering like a strand of cheap Christmas lights from the dollar store.

work!

Last night was my first night at work, and I had to close. Woohoo.

By the end of the night I was, like, limping. Gonna have to get used to walking around for 8 hours. BUT it's okay because I like getting moneys. :D

Look, I'm sorry about not updating much lately, but it's the holidays, you know? I am so exhausted, haha. I finished all my finals and so now I'm just awaiting the final grades, which hopefully don't suck.

Anyway, just a little update, to anyone who cares. :)

shine on.

So today might have been the best day ever.

A few days ago I put in an application at Blockbuster. Then about 24 hours later, the manager called and asked me to come in for an interview today at 3 pm. So at about 1:45, when I was trying to dry my hair and watching Friends, someone knocked on the door. It was my friend Lydia and a mutual friend Sam. We talked for a little bit, and Lydia let me in on a piece of interesting information.

Apparently, Mike's [ex boyfriend] roommate kicked him out because of Mike was being himself. As in, the world's biggest asshole. They got into an argument of some sort, and the roommate said something to piss Mike off. So the roommate goes up to Mike and attempts to smooth things over and was like, "Hey man, are we cool?" Because, you know, they were roommates and that's an uncomfortable situation. But Mike, who is unable to just let shit go, brought up what the roommate said in what I can imagine as a nasty, bratty tone of voice, and the roommate handed Mike his rent check and told him to get the hell out. So now he's back living with his mom.

Also, I think he lost his job at Exxon. You know, sometimes when I think about that boy it just makes me sad. I'm not really sure why he's so angry. Maybe he's bipolar and manic all the time. I don't know. I just know that when we were together I saw past all of his faults and I know he can be a wonderful person, but he can be so mean and uncaring.

Anyway, so that news kind of amused me. They left and I went off to my interview. And I use the term interview loosely because I talk to the manager for like 10 minutes. Our conversation went something like this:

Manager: Now, you don't seem to have much work experience.
Me: No, but I did a lot of volunteer work for a horseback riding place for kids with special needs.
Manager: Hmm. Did you ever do fund raisers or anything involving sales for them? Because we're a pretty small branch and have to do a lot of sales stuff to stay in business.
Me: Well, not really, but I'm very experienced in selling Girl Scout cookies.
Manager: [laughs] That's sales. Okay well, I like what I've heard, so why don't you come in on Saturday at about 2 and fill out some paperwork and we'll do a little training.
Me: . . .Okay!
Manager: Oh yeah, and khakis.
Me: What? [I thought he said "Kathy" and was not sure if he'd called me that by accident because this happens often]
Manager: You'll need a pair of khakis.
Me: OH! That's fine!

And that is the story of how I got a job at Blockbuster in the span of about 10 minutes. I'm also fairly cute and bouncy so that might've had something to do with it. I went home and climbed into bed because it is so very, very cold outside, and I called Sara back (she'd called during the interview) and will maybe possibly be doing something with her tomorrow night. Then Meru called to see how the interview went and we squealed quite a bit for a few minutes until she her break was over.

Man, I totally live for days like this. (Katee)

[Edit: Sara called while I was in the interview, but it didn't actually ring. Just in case people are concerned about these things. I know when to turn my phone on silent.]

Bifocals and Children's Books

Tuesday the eye doctor told me I needed bifocals (moment of silence for this next step in getting older). Katee also needed new glasses so I did not splurge on the no-line bifocals because I'm cheap even though my vanity really outweighs my cheapness but my brokeness outweighs my vanity (... rock, paper, scissors...).

That same day I went to Betty's Books and bought six children's books: Junie B. Jones, The Boxcar Children and Encyclopedia Brown.

I took Junie B. Jones and the Stupid Smelly Bus to work. I've never thought about putting a cover on any book I've ever read but as I got out of the van I thought "maybe I should've covered these in brown paper..."

On the other hand, you gotta love a book that's only 69 pages long and contains paragraphs like "The bus made a big roar. Then a big puff of black smelly smoke came out of the back end of it. It's called bus breath, I think."

My new glasses with their little lines in the lenses will be ready next week. They are, however, encased in a stylish black and pink plastic frame, almost as swell as my first pair of cat's eye frames with their little sparkly rhinestones. (Kathryn)

almost done.

So Mom decided it would be a good idea to have like 78 blogs or something and is trying to get the hang of managing them all, so that's why she's been neglecting this one a little. I, on the other hand, have been getting ready for finals which are next week. I am so very, very relieved about this semester being over. Next semester I'll be off to LSUS. Wee. That is, if I can ever get a hold of my advisor. I've e-mailed her and haven't gotten a response, so I'm going to try calling her, and then if that doesn't work I'll just go up there myself. I don't get why professors advise us. It's hard enough for them to keep up with all their classes. I find that they're all generally pretty absentminded. They should just have people whose only job is to advise. That'd be a pretty sweet gig.

Oh well. Now, if you'll excuse me, tomorrow is my last class of learning something new in math, so I need to be rested up for that. I've been taking Xanax for sleep because my doctor is a pain in the ass and wrote the wrong amount for Ambien, and if I don't go to sleep soon I'll be a zombie tomorrow. Only without the whole eating brains thing. Ew. (Katee)

watch out for the penguins!

The War on Penguins

OMG YOU LEAVE THE PENGUINS OUT OF THIS, MICHAEL MEDVED.

Wtf @ everyone being pissed about a movie teaching children to not pollute the planet.

Also, "darkest, most disturbing feature length animated film ever offered by a major studio"? Did we watch the same movie? Because I saw it twice and I totally remember everybody in the theatre cheering and clapping and dancing when it ended both times. Dark and disturbing it was most certainly not.

Look, okay, I know that you religious nuts are all excited about the end of the world or whatever and think that since Jesus is coming back anyway, you're all going to heaven so what's the point of keeping the planet clean, right? I'll tell you the damn point: Remember that verse from Genesis that talks about God creating the Earth? I don't think she/he would appreciate you lowly mortals destroying this creation. The other point is that there are, believe it or not, other people of different beliefs on the planet, too, who would LIKE TO KEEP IT IN WORKING ORDER, THANK YOU.

Now that that's out of the way, I think if you want to see a truly disturbing animated movie, you need to go watch Bambi ASAP because good GOD there must be a lot of people in therapy over seeing a baby deer watch his MOTHER get shot by HUNTERS who want to eat her. But I guess if that came out today, you people who say that it's liberal propaganda trying to stop people eating meat.

YOU LEAVE THE BABY DEER AND PENGUINS OUT OF THIS. They did nothing to deserve your scorn except want to keep their habitat free of Twinkie wrappers and Coke cans! You people have gone too far this time, striking at children's movies. When will you find something productive to do with your time? D: (Katee)

Where We Been

Holidays and starting yet another blog kept us busy this week.

Red River Blog Jam awaits you.

Plus we shopped a little bit.



About the photo: Shot it this morning while driving to the stores and surrounded by fog.

(Kathryn)

^_^

Happy Turkey Day!

Eat lots and lots of food, don't be afraid of the calories, people! It's the American way! ^_^

Deck the Ice

Big party last night at artspace. It was the opening show for Deck the Halls. Some of my bottle trees and photos were selected to be in the show.

All of us (Charlie, Katee and myself) attended but in separate cars. Katee and Meru flitted through the exhibit and then skedaddled to see Happy Feet. Charlie remained only a tad longer. I almost stayed til the end taking pictures of artists and their art.

On the way back I drove by Shreveport's Festival Plaza so I could see how the prep was going on the outdoor ice rink. I caught the Zamboni in action resurfacing the ice. It opens today and will be open non stop for the next 50 days.

ugh school needs to be ovvveerrr now.

Sooooo I've got a math test at 1:00 p.m., and then an adolescent psych test that's due on Friday, and I'm so very, very ready for this semester to be over. Thanksgiving Break is next week which means a full week to sit around and do pretty much nothing in the way of school. I do have a driving test I need to study for. When we come back from break, I think there are maybe two weeks until finals and I only need to go up to school for one, and then I will have to ability to do nothing omg. Hopefully BPCC will stop being the biggest whore in the world and send my damn transcripts to LSUS, so I'll be able to meet with an advisor and register for classes so that I can see exactly how many classes I'll be having to do over again. I'm gonna be in school forever wtf.

Oh well, it happens. Now that I have to ability (thanks to kick ass medication and the best therapist in the world) to go to school full time, I think maybe things will go a whole lot faster. And thanks to the discovery of Internet courses, school is not nearly as stressful as it used to be. Wee.

Tonight is the Journey/Def Lepperd concert! Yay! Meru and I are gonna be HOT tonight and people will stare at us all like, "WOW THEY'RE PRETTY!" And we will be, my friends. We'll be the hottest chicks there. I suspect will be some of the youngest chicks there, too, so possibly that will have something to do with our ability to wear sexy things and get away with it. :D Sigh okay, I'm gonna go over some math notes and do the review on the computer. ^_^

Off Grid

i'd like to live off the grid. buy a yurt. stick it on some dirt.

but the thing is my house will be paid off in three years. and there's all this crap i'd have to pack. i'd probably have to give up the computer and use an old manual typewriter.

and it could get stinky. i have outhouse experience through my mother's side of the family.

so. instead. i made a pot of black beans.

and sewed a winter cap out of the sleeve of a cotton sweater that was headed for Goodwill. let me make this clear -- i don't shop at Goodwill because i can't afford their high falutin' prices. i buy from church rummage sales.

i have wooden pallets that i'm turning into compost piles so i can make beds. perhaps plant a fig tree. although i don't know if i like figs. i like chocolate. maybe i'll plant some cocoa beans.

i did always want to live in a commune but i was born too late to be a part of that 60's scene so now i just don't shave my legs. although. i do shave my face because i don't want some long hangy whisker to be waving at folks. (Kathryn)

Who's Writing This Thing?

Crazy in Shreveport is about one family with three people in it (we won't talk about the four dogs and the four cats). The daughter and dad have bipolar disorder.

Who puts up these posts? Mostly the daughter and the mom.

How do you know whose post it is (because we were goobers when setting this up and didn't make it a team blog)? Katee, the daughter, usually has longer entries and her titles are normally not capitalized. Kathryn, the mom, usually attaches a photo to her posts, which are pretty short and she uses lots of capital letters in her titles. (Kathryn)

About the photo: Some of my work was selected to be in the Deck the Halls show at artspace. This is one of the digital prints I'll be offering. Big party this Friday night. And then you can shop your heart out November 18th-January 6th. Sneaked a peak at some of the art -- there's lots of cool stuff to acquire.

oh god.

Well, of course it gets all hot and humid outside and a storm front thinks it's an awesome idea to move in and make things terrifying.

I don't like storms.

If you've already heard this story, move along. I wasn't scared of storms until the seventh grade. It was Easter Sunday, I'd gotten my basket full of chocolate-y goodness, and noticed that it was quite cloudy outside. And then the thunder started, and the lightning came around, and the wind picked up. Since it was April, and there's pretty much no such thing as spring around here, it was hot outside. As you can imagine, wind+rain+hot weather=omgwtfscary.

I was sent to the bathtub to wait out the very, very scary winds, and took along Posh (our poodle RIP), and all of my Britney Spears and NSYNC CDs and posters, which were very important things to keep with me, you see. I attempted to bring along Sparkles, but she wasn't having it, and chose to wait out the storm running around the house and scratching people who got too close. Eventually things quieted down and I felt it was safe to venture out of the bathroom. My parents, who are crazy, were standing out on the porch because it is obviously a good idea to stand outside during 70 mph winds. Duh.

I went back inside to call a friend to see if she'd escaped certain death, and she had. While chatting about something completely irrelevent, I'm sure, I heard a loud cracking noise, a scream, and a gigantic THUD! This did not sound good. I hung up with my friend, ran outside, and discovered my mother crying and also a forest had suddenly sprouted in our yard. Luckily, the GIANT HOMICIDAL TREE OF DESTRUCTION was on city property, and I observed the city workers clearing it out as I was leaving for school, trying not to get tree-ick all over my white Oxford shirt and plaid skirt I was forced to wear everyday. Lol @ Catholic schools actually having those.

I wasn't really all that freaked out by the tree falling. It hadn't fallen during the storm, either. There was about a 15 minute period after the straightline winds had disappeared and the tree fell, but I'm still pretty terrified of wind. And there wasn't a tornado where we are, but I know there were a few tornadoes in the area, so I suppose I relate tornadoes with the storm that made me terrified of storms in general.

Damn straightline winds.

The storm seems to have blown over for now, actually, and the freak lightning cloud of doom that I witnessed has gone off to the East, so maybe that's all the terror we'll get for the night. Hopefully. It seems to have cooled off a lot, too. I was outside smoking and attempting to read The Princess Diaries and started shivering. Such a good book. I'd like to read the entire series because I would like to be a princess, and since Prince William has gone and gotten engaged or something, I think reading about it is as close as I'm gonna get.

Unless, of course, some relative I don't know comes to inform me that I'm the sole heir to the throne in some little-known, very wealthy country that has very few tornadoes and lots of snow. That would be pretty peachy in my opinion.

quick update.

This week has been pretty great.

Britney divorced Kevin, the Democrats took back everything ever in the history of government, and I understand math. Kick ass. I attempted to get my learner's permit today, but I failed the goddamn test by one question. Seriously, I don't fail things. This bothers the hell out of me. I may make Ds on things, but by God I don't fail things. I'm a Ravenclaw; failing is not allowed. D:

In other news, I'm exhausted. Stranger Than Fiction is coming out tomorrow. This is important because Emma Thompson (who is the best person ever), Will Ferrell (lulz funny), and Dustin Hoffmann (do I even have to explain why this is a good thing?) are all in it, and it's about novel-writing. Sweet Jesus, did the producers/writers/etc of this movie spy on me and decide to make a movie just for meeeee? Because that's pretty great if they did.

And because I feel like being random: Many people ask me what my goal in life is. And by "many" I mean "none," but bear with me, people. My goal in life is to be on The Daily Show so that I can A) giggle at Jon Stewart being completely awesome/sexy/funny/etc and B) get to answer a random ass question on the Seat of Heat. This means I have to get famous, and we all know I will, because I have fantastical mind powers and seductive beauty.

:D

Total Meltdown

We did okay for the 11 days I was off for vacation but then on Tuesday afternoon there was a big meltdown explosion.

Katee and Charlie were headed to the DMV to get her learner's permit (I know, I know most kids get their licenses when they are 16 or 17 but she's had some major anxiety problems). She comes back in to find her birth certificate -- she needs it now! Okay I know I've got it I just have to find it.

I tell her she has a state issued ID she won't need the document. She doesn't listen. Big fight. Ugly noises. Neighbor passes by and hears (I cringe, I'm still cringing). Charlie comes in. Fight gets bigger. We're all yelling. I'm spewing liquid B-12 everywhere. I find the certificate. Finally we calm down. She doesn't want to go because she's upset. He's upset because he's waited all day for her. Someone gets the bright idea that it's election day and maybe the place is closed. We check the DMV website. It's closed.

Soooo.

Instead we go to the poll to vote and then stand in the cosmetics aisle of the drug store to find a hot pink nail polish that will match Katee's car so Charlie can do some touch up on flaking areas. I wish someone would touch up my flaky bits.

!!!!!!

Britney Spears is supposedly divorcing K-Fed.

Excuse me while I EXPLODE IN JOY OMG.

WE GOT HER BACK HXC BRITNEY 4LYFE!!!!

Vacation

I've been on vacation for 11 sweet days. I could use another week to get caught up on all the house cleaning I started. It was a tender bliss just to hang out at my house for all those nights. Now chin up and back to work in the bowels of a riverboat that never cruises anywhere. (Kathryn)

writer's block.

I am trying so very hard to get my creativity back. I haven't actually written anything that's not a blog entry in months. I don't do poetry well at all, so I can't just write a few verses down and be content with it. I absolutely cannot wait for this semester to be done with so that I can do Christmas-y things, and also write about love and such. Lately I've been feeling like my writing is just not as good as it used to be, and I think I've figured out why.

When I started writing, like really getting into it, I was very much into the flowery descriptions and incredibly detailed dialogue. Everything I wrote was quite melancholy and. . .well, "glittery" is the word that springs to mind. I suppose the reason I never finished anything was because I spent so much time figuring out the prettiest word to describe things. Whenever I read White Oleander by Janet Fitch, I always feel the need to make beautiful descriptions. I can do it rather well, but thinking about everything takes up too much time. Now when I write I try not to make things too complicated. If a metaphor that's beautiful and unique actually occurs to me without too much difficulty, I'll use it, but I really try to keep things from going on and on and on.

Maybe I'll write something about Christmas. Honestly, I have no ideas right now as I've been so busy with math. Numbers constantly floating around in my brain is not conducive to creativity for me, so it's just been hard to think of anything. Sigh. I'm going to try to sleep now, but everyone in my house seems to be coughing loudly, so possibly this won't happen for a while. Really, my mother sounds like a goddamned dragon. :( She needs to get some cough drops ASAP.

:(

Reese Witherspoon and Ryan Phillipe's seperation is making me sad. I hope they get back together because they were my favorite Hollywood couple ever. D:

harry potter related things.

Daniel Radcliffe is starring in a play called Equus. He's playing the part of Alan Strang, a young man who blinds six horses with a metal spike because he's batshit insane, obv. In one scene Dan will be required to ride a horse naked across the stage and, uh, have an orgasm. Or at least pretend to. When I first read about this maybe 6 months ago, I kind of wanted to blind myself with a metal spike, just to try to get those word to NOT be embedded in my brain because, you know, WHY IS HARRY POTTER ORGASMING ON A HORSE WHO DOES THAT. But then I saw the promo poster for Equus and it freaked me the hell out.

Ohhhh, Dan. WHY?

MY CHILDHOOD.

Also, please go watch Potter Puppet Pals in Wizard Angst. I promise it's a bucket of lolz. My favorite line is, "My parents are dead, my life sucks, I can't hold down a girlfriend, and I'm surrounded by fucking goblins and shit all the time. I mean, WHAT THE FUCK?"

Looolz.

In other news, I have nothing to do tomorrow and it's exciting. Well, I actually have to bake my dad a cake because it's his birthday, but other than that I have no school work to do. It's fantastic. :D I'm gonna sit around and read and listen to music and shit. Maybe even watch a movie. I've pretty much been doing shit nonstop for like three weeks, so the whole thing where I don't have to stress about getting something done is awesome. Yep, anyway, I'm out.