I know you'll beg to differ...

But seriously. He is the cutest dog EVER.

WOW.

Yes, beautiful ring, I love it. No, it's not mine, so stop jumping to conclusions. It's just an image from the website of a girl that I went to high school with, Amy Martin. I saw a status update regarding photography from her the other night on facebook and decided to click through, and I found her website and am amazed at the talent and skills she has. I felt like emailing her and saying "I'm not even engaged, but I want you to photograph my wedding. And if I never get married, I might just put on a white dress and have you come take pretty pictures anyway."

I know famous and/or talented people come from every walk of life, all the way down to little ole' Bedford County, Virginia, but I was just floored after seeing her site - I mean really, how is it even possible for someone to go to where I went to high school - with the world's crappiest darkroom run by a teacher who knew next to nothing about photography other than what was in the pamphlet on "how to put together a shitty yearbook" - and manage to get to that level? Well, yes, I know - talent plus hard work and many years of blood, sweat and tears multiplied by even harder work. I know that, but still, it makes me a little happy inside to see a good person from back home doing well.

If you read this, Amy, fantastic work, and please update your blog as often as possible so I can stalk the heck out of it. Oh yeah...and I apologize for stealing your picture there, but I linked it to your site, if you want it removed, I'll do so immediately.

my goal for this economy

Since my financial goals from my 101 will probably never happen until people start hiring or buying art, I've whittled it down to one.

Just once. Just once. I'd like to be able to walk into Anthropologie again and buy something I love. I hate to be Debbie Downer again - really, I'm thankful I can at least pay the rent (for now), and I still have semi-marketable skills and a good resume (at least Melissa tells me so!) and I don't have a mortgage hanging over my head, so I know I'm better off than 90% of the underemployed workforce out there - but since I can use this blog to vent, I will. I know it's superficial and all that, but I really MISS shopping at stores that weren't Target or the Goodwill. Hell, I miss shopping at Target without guilt over a $20 pair of pants.

That's all, go about your daily business. I feel better.

Any Giant-handed constitutional scholar will tell you...

By far one of the best things The Daily Show has ever done.


I also find it awesome that a company has taken to selling t-shirts that say "Marine Corps Recruiting Station, Berkeley, California: Pissing off more hippies by 9 am than you do all day". That's just pure poetry.

Underemployment at its finest.

An update on my job situation for those of you who are concerned...

I got to work Friday morning and got some bad news: my boss came and told me that they couldn't put me on their plan without me being full-time, and no one was authorizing the team to take anyone on full-time, and that they didn't know about an extension after March 1. I thought I could handle it, and I sent my boss an email saying that I understood their predicament - the client really just can't afford to do anything else right now - but that I was activating my resume at my temp agency because I had no other option. My boss then came over and said that the COO had authorized my staying for another 3 months - til June 1. At that point, I realized that I just couldn't afford to stay at it anyway at my current pay - it's just too low. And I cried. This time, she saw me. I felt bad, but really, it's like getting dumped. You didn't do anything wrong, and while you shouldn't take it personally, it's worrisome to say the least. She IM'ed me and asked me if I was okay, and I said yes, I just was worried as the job market is pretty bleak, especially for people like me. She came back and said that she might be able to negotiate me a raise for that time, and I had to give her a figure by the end of the day as to what would make me happy for now to stay. I had to think about it, and came back with a figure that she said might be do-able, but didn't know. And I haven't heard anything about it since. AHHHH!!!!!

OK seriously, I asked for a raise that isn't even all that much. Without getting too graphic, here's my situation. At the end of the month, after paying rent, bills, gasoline, parking and groceries, I have $120 a month for "other stuff". That's without ONE beer out with friends. Without ANY dry-cleaning. Without any savings. And most importantly, without health insurance. As of March, I have none, which is the entire reason we had the conversation in the first place. To me, asking for a bit more to cover the costs of my insurance shouldn't be all that unreasonable, but I guess it is in this economy. It just sucks - I went from having a job in the morning to not having a job in a week mid-morning, to having a job for three more months with a possible but iffy raise in the afternoon. It feels like I'm in some breakup/make-up relationship that's just out of control.

So I'm job-searching, because I really have no other option. And man, does it look bleaker than I thought. I'd love to stay in supply chain management (it's better than what I've done thus far), and since the art world is basically at a literal standstill (I don't think Monet could sell a painting right now - seriously, I can't even afford supplies, so I'm at a loss right now as to what to do in that department. I've just stopped), I've got to find some sort of corporate work. So I sent out about 20 resumes. So far? One out-of-office response. Let's hope the rest of the week turns around.

Seriously, I

What a weekend!

I hope everyone had a great Valentine's Day, because I sure did! First of all, I had a great time all week while he and I did a whole lot of nothing. Since he works from home, he'd take me to work in the morning, work at my house, then he'd drive downtown to meet me for lunch. Thanks to a good suggestion from the Holbrooks, we had a rather nice inexpensive lunch at Tic-Toc Diner two days in a row. The other days, Dan and Colonel Mustard brought lunch from home and the three of us ate outside on the benches.

On Saturday, we got up early and drove to Asheville, North Carolina for a little day trip excursion for Valentine's Day. The surprise? We went horseback-riding outside a little mountain town called Marshall. It was a little cold and foggy, but it was absolutely beautiful. If you've ever wanted to do something like it, I would highly recommend Sandy Bottom Trail Rides, the people were so nice and the area was so beautiful.

When we arrived, we were quickly assigned horses. Dan got a HUGE workhorse (seriously, it used to be an Amish horse, and easily held all 6'5" of Dan), and I got an older, but really energetic white horse named Cotton. Cotton and I got along really well, so long as I let him drink his water pretty often and stuck directly behind our guide. Our guide was an older gentleman (I forgot his name) who seemed to live in the area his whole life. There was one other couple on our ride, as well as another member of the team...Roscoe, the dog. Dan and I both noted how much Colonel Mustard would have liked to go on a trail ride, although I'm sure he wouldn't know why he couldn't ride on the horse with one of us.

We rode all over the 550-acre property with our guide, and though it was a bit foggy, we could still see for what seemed like miles...

About halfway through, the guide had us hitch up our horses to a little area at the edge of the woods and then gave us a bit of a surprise. Normally, the 2-hour ride that we were on doesn't include this, but he showed us the gem mine that was on the property. It looks like a cave, and really isn't even that big, but Tiffany & Co had the mining rights to it for years and it was one of the largest garnet producing sites in the US. We were careful as we walked in (our guide's warning was "it's slipperier in there than snot on a doorknob") and we met two gem-hunters who were chipping away at the rock with some tools. I don't have a picture of her husband, but this was the woman we met, and her dog, Sabrina. Every weekend, they go gem-hunting at some place or another on the East Coast. Seems like a fun little hobby they've got.


They showed us what to look for, and in less than ten minutes, we found HUGE garnets ourselves. They're still in the rock, and you have to get a rock polisher/tumbler to get them out, but I took home several pieces that have garnets in them the size of quarters. Tiffany & Co had the rights to this mine for almost 200 years, and they left somewhere around 1940. We liked the cave, however, even without the garnets we found.
We got going to get back to the barn, and our guide pulled us over to let the horses drink some water. I realized then why Cotton had to be the number 2 horse, following our guide. Seems he has a crush on our guide's horse. I guess the guide's horse likes tall blondes just like me, because she liked to play with him at the well.
We meandered our way back over the mountain, admiring the view along the way. Roscoe kept a good lookout for us, and stopped a few times to tease the cows that were along the route. I have a bunch more pictures from the day, I'll see if I can get them up on Picasa.
We got back to the barn and dismounted, at which point Dan and I looked at each other and realized the same thing - we were HUNGRY. We decided to check out the city of Asheville, and we were surprised that we could walk right in and get a table - it was only 5:30, but it was Valentine's Day - reservations should have been impossible! We ate at a place called Early Girl Eatery, which was one of the best meals I've had in years. I had amazing lamb, and Dan had trout - both were fantastic, and both were CHEAP - with a slice of homemade cherry-chocolate stack cake for dessert and a glass of wine apiece, I seriously doubt the entire check was more than $50 including tip. I highly recommend the restaurant if you're ever in the Asheville area, everything is homemade and made from local, sustainable crops and meats. Some of the stuff they're doing is really neat, they're part of a local initiative that teaches tobacco farmers how to transition to organic, sustainable crops, which I really liked the idea of. The staff was great, our waitress even wrapped up the bone from my lamb to take home to Colonel Mustard.

After dinner, we trucked it back to Charlotte to get over to Meghan and Matt's house, where we had a couple drinks and chatted so they could finally meet Dan. Luckily everyone seemed to like each other, Dan commented that he really liked them when we left, and right when I got home, Meghan sent me an email saying they liked Dan as well. Maybe couples who meet in cheesy tourist bars just tend to flock together ;)

Finally we came home and went to bed after a thousand hugs and kisses for Colonel Mustard, as well as his bone from my dinner. Let's just say he REALLY enjoyed that one. He took it outside, hid it, then when we called him inside, he dug it back up and took it inside. Guess he wanted to save it for later, but he's like his mamma - delayed gratification is a better in theory than in practice.

Dan left this morning, he'll be in Rome and London for the next two weeks - I know, poor Dan. I was really sad to drop him off at the airport, we were both commenting on how fun it was to hang out all week. I'll see him in two weeks (I'll be going up to DC this time), but I already miss him. Colonel Mustard came with us to the airport and he whined and stuck his head out the window when we pulled away. He doesn't like it when the two of us are separated, and he really likes his buddy keeping him company while I'm at work. I feel the same way, Colonel.

THIS is why I moved back South.

This weather we've been having. Fantastic. It's been almost 70 every day, and I've been able to wear a skirt with no pantyhose to work for two days in a row now. Love it!

The bf has been in town since Friday (hence no post) and will be leaving this coming Sunday. He was going to stay a bit longer, but...horrors...he's got to go to London for work. We've had a lot of fun though - we went out with some friends of mine from home on Friday night and hit the dive bar, then we went to White Water Center on Saturday afternoon with Colonel Mustard. Other than that, we've really just been laying around the house, doing absolutely nothing. He DID inspire me to start working out, however, or at least went with me to join the YMCA. For those of you who have thought of the Y as a big sweaty disgusting place with old people walking around naked in the locker room...wow, this place is anything but that. Charlotte apparently does well at the YMCA. With it being $30 a month, no joining fee and having the ability to quit any time, it's certainly better than the crappy gyms I joined in Atlanta and Boston.

I don't have much more to report other than that - but I thought I'd post something from the weekend. I took the camera to the WWC and took some pictures of the athletes doing their thing, more just to play with the camera than anything else.

Since I've sounded like a big old crankypants lately...

I need to list the things that I AM thankful for right now.

1. The house is clean. Suddenly I've become a clean freak lately. I won't fight it.
2. My boyfriend comes to visit for at LEAST 12 days tomorrow. I haven't seen him in three weeks, I think this is the longest we've gone since we started dating in September.
3. I splurged and bought a cafe curtain to hang in my front door window. When we first got here, my cousin masking-taped a blue flannel sheep-printed pillowcase to the window for privacy. My boyfriend said that it looked like we were trying to hide the fact that we were cooking meth in the house. I finally couldn't stand to look at it anymore, and now the room looks 1,000 times better with an actual curtain.
4. I finally put the blue silk duvet that I bought three years ago to good use.
5. I am two more movies into watching all the best picture winners. Deer Hunter was scary and depressing, Platoon was all right. Hopefully no more war movies for a while - next up is Unforgiven. I love Clint Eastwood, so I hope I'll like it.
6. I rediscovered my love of a good old-fashioned heating pad. Not sick or sore, just love it.
7. My dog has been so good this week. He has wanted to just snuggle and hasn't barked at the neighbors as much.
8. My dad is shipping the old antique Zapruder-looking camera I bought at the Goodwill to me. I'm excited about it, even if it ends up being a knick-knack on the table.
9. I lined up my Valentine's present for the bf. I haven't ever had a Valentine's day other than maybe freshman or sophomore year of college, and I really wanted to get him something since he did so well with my Christmas present and my birthday present (I will post this when he gets here, because I need him to get it going). I am really really excited about what I'm giving him for Valentine's Day, and I'm really hoping I can line up the biggest part of it.
10. My friend Chris is coming to visit this weekend. He's finally going to meet the bf, which is nice because I think they'll get along and both of them are so much fun.

Okay that's about all the niceties you'll get out of me for a bit. Back to my cranky pants.

-Molly Pants.

There's no crying at WORK!

Well, it had to happen at some point. I cried at work today. I didn't do anything wrong, and only one person saw me (my colleague who I actually instant messaged in the cube next door to borrow some tissues!), but it still stinks to realize that there's tears welling up and you really can't stop it.

When I got to work this morning, my boss asked me if I had checked in with my temp agency about whether or not they offer any health insurance to their workers. When layoffs had happened earlier this month, my boss asked me candidly if I would consider extending my tenure as a temp. I said I'd like to, but what I was really concerned about was health insurance. I'm scheduled to lose COBRA coverage in March, and I am certainly not at the point in my life where I should even consider going uninsured. As an individual health plan won't really work for me (they exclude pre-existing conditions for one year, and they will not cover prescriptions that I take), I will have to be with an employer-based plan. I told her I had not heard back, so I called my rep and asked her if she could help me out. For a brief, shining moment, I was a bit excited, because my rep told me that she had gone on the plan they offered from COBRA when she started temping, and that it was pretty good. She sent me the enrollment forms and information, and I began to look it over.

And it was even worse than an individual plan. Seriously, in my recollection of insurance, a lot of their exclusions seemed downright illegal. Not to mention there was a $5,000 cap every year on total hospital costs, with a $15,000 limit overall, including prescriptions and doctor's visits. While I don't anticipate going over that, it shocked me - what if I get pregnant? Do I hold the baby in until the policy period renews? Do I opt for less prenatal care or less post-delivery care - because there's NO way that a baby can be delivered for less than $5,000 total unless possibly there's not ONE single complication? What if - even more of a knock on wood - I got hit by a car, or got cancer? I know $15,000 seems like a lot of money, but I assure you, it's not once you start talking doctor and hospital visits. Not to mention this plan had a $1,000 deductible, so what exactly WOULD I be paying for? I looked up their stance on specialists and discovered that not only would one need a referral to see one, there was only ONE Ear-Nose-Throat doctor in the entire Charlotte Metro area under their network. ONE. When I clicked on his name, there it was: "currently not accepting new patients". So even if any ear, nose or throat infection were covered (which it wouldn't be, since I've been labelled as "chronic" and therefore have a pre-existing condition), I couldn't get into see a doctor for it for at least six months. And thanks to the $5,000 cap, if I (god forBID) had to have surgery for it, I'd be paying cash. My last surgery? Sum total was $45,000. Pricey, but if I hadn't have had it, I would have lost the hearing in my left ear. Thank GOD insurance paid it.

Another option has always been to attempt to get this place to hire me and just place me on their much better insurance plan. My boss and her boss have been working to try to push this through, but with layoffs and our only client suffering huge layoffs and plummeting stock prices themselves, even getting me in as a temp was somewhat of a "keep it under the radar" thing. So getting me on their benefits may not even work in the first place.

So I started crying. Partly because I'm scared that I won't have a job OR health care in a month or two, and partly because I just didn't know what to do. Then I talked to a friend (she happened to call at that moment) who said "oh wow...I'm SO lucky. I mean, I've NEVER had to worry about health insurance. My dad always put me on his plan and then I got married, and MY husband's benefits are AWESOME." Well, eff you very much then. (No, she doesn't know this blog exists) Not that I don't envy her level of insurance, but really, telling me how fantastic hers was didn't even help in the "maybe you should try this..." sense.

I finally went out to lunch with my boss and kind of leveled with her. I asked her what exactly the hold-up was in the decision of whether or not to hire me. Was it money? Was it that the office didn't think it took this many people to keep the department running? Was it that they were unsure of my performance? Was it that they were afraid that I would just take off once they had paid the finders' fee to the temp agency? Or something else? I told her that I wanted to stay, but at some point, I was starting to see where it would be entirely more cost-effective to hire me full-time and pay an upfront fee for me than to pay an ongoing hourly premium for me by going through the agency. She agreed with me, and said that it had nothing to do with my performance, and that they need me to help with the workload, because there's no way of functioning without another worker. She did say that they had been burned by a few temps before and it was a concern that I'd leave, but that it didn't seem to be too much in my character and that I was far different from 99% of the temps they've worked with. The biggest problem lays simply with the fact that they have to convince two companies who are rapidly losing money in this economy - my company and our only client - that they need another worker, and specifically THIS worker: me. While she couldn't promise anything, it was a nice reassurance that I wasn't getting led around, so I guess that's all I can hope for.

As for the insurance, I guess we're still in the same situation. I may have to live with really crappy insurance for a short or a long period of time, one in which I'll actually have to pay a rather large sum of money for every month. I guess I just have to pray I don't get sick or pray for someone (be it them or another firm) to give me a full-time offer to get me out of this economy or get me out of the crappy insurance.

And now my sinus headache hurts again. Figures.

Woes of a Temp

I'm still temping, and still feeling an increasing pull. I got to work at 8 this morning. Not easy since I'm used to the 9 am start in the corporate world. I worked much earlier than this many times during my previous positions, but it was always for a specific reason - I had to get my billed time up to par or I had a specific project that would take me a long time, so I knew that the earlier I got there, the earlier I could finish and go home for the night. This is a little different.

Put it this way - what is backlogged right now feels like it will NEVER get done. It's basically a million years worth of paperwork that needs to be brought into the 21st century and organized into the system that we have in place already. Some of this never got done in the first place, and some of it was casually tossed aside by previous people who just didn't care. Personally, and I know some of you will laugh at me when I say this - I need to know that when I need to find something at work, I can find it. If it entails knowing how to navigate a voluminous shared drive, that's fine, I'll learn the system. I can handle that. But this is...sometimes just insurmountable. What should only take me a minute to find ends up taking much longer, if it's findable. In this paperless world, it's easier to go back to the hard files. Which also have a backlog. Of at least a million pieces of paper.

I finally started to take it upon myself to organize things as I go along. Creating folders, grouping files in the folders, and establishing a system that anyone would be able to keep up with, even if I or anyone else in the place got hit by a bus tomorrow. I actually like this part of the job - I'm challenged, I know exactly where to begin, I am free to run with it and set it up in a way that I can understand it, and every time I spend five minutes organizing one little part of that system, someone sends me an email thanking me profusely for it. I don't know if they're overworked and can't find the time to do that sort of thing themselves, if they can't see the forest for the trees, or if they've just been working within the current system so long that they can't imagine it getting any better, but it's nice to be praised for something that you don't even consider to be that difficult.

Right now, however, is where I feel the anxiety just bubbling up. I'm getting more and more of the things that are in the day-to-day aspect of the job - responding to immediate requests, getting things done on current items, and looking ahead to anticipate future items - and now I see where getting things organized could be tossed aside forever. I looked up tonight and realized it was 5:30, and since I'm not getting paid for overtime here (or at least I'm not going to get a job if I'm billing for it), I had to stop. I considered staying and billing the day at 8 hours anyway so that I could wade through more of the mountain of paperwork that I have to check and see if it's scanned, efiled or filed.

For about five seconds. Then I realized that I didn't eat lunch today. I quit and went home. Anxiety starts tomorrow at 7:50 am.

25 more, in the spirit of the facebook phenomenon

Like many of us, I've become addicted to reading the "25 things about me" things on Facebook. Call me self-centered, but I'm constantly coming up with new ones. Since I won't subject all of facebook to reading new ones, and because, well, if you're reading this, you have some sort of fascination with my life, here's a few I've been thinking of:

1. I was diagnosed with ADHD as an adult. My mom is a teacher of ADHD kids and thinks I'm not, but 95% of my really really good friends (Mark H is the lone holdout) agree with the two doctors' and one psychiatrist's diagnosis. I'm not hyperactive in the sense of the word that you may think, but since undergoing therapy - including medication and psychiatric analysis at different times - for it, I've realized what it entails: I sometimes have no internal monologue, I make rash decisions at the drop of a hat, and I get so overwhelmed by the thought of multi-tasking, I opt to do nothing because I'm scared I'll do it wrong and get in trouble. Without going too much into detail, it runs - deeply - on both sides of my family. This was all really hard to accept, especially the reality that I've always had trouble making and keeping friends because of it. Despite the fact that everyone on earth seems to want drugs that are prescribed to people on occasion for it, I wouldn't wish it on anyone. I'd rather have a normal brain.
2. Because of the above, I've decided that if I ever have an immense amount of money to fund something, I'd like to do something that helps kids who are in need of psychiatric services, be it for learning disorders, depression, emotional disturbances, grief/divorce/family counseling, whatever. I think there's so many kids out there who are - to put it in a nutshell - lonely, and they don't necessarily feel okay talking to their parents, teachers or friends about it. Put it this way - if you teeter on the edge of whether or not your kid needs to see someone, I'd recommend just dropping them off to talk to a therapist for a couple of sessions. If it's there, it will come out and you can deal with it and get a happy kid. If it's not, no harm done.
3. When I was 4, my 2-year-old brother and I were playing by the creek behind our house and he fell through the ice. My dad ran over, took him out, put his jacket around him and ran up the hill screaming for my mom to start a bath. I never told my mom until I was in my late 20's that I had actually told my brother to do it. It was only like THIS year before I was like "oh my god...he could have died...wow, that's not really funny, Molly..." I was 4, okay?
4. I really want to take a solo trip somewhere foreign.
5. As is evidenced by #4, I love my alone time. I don't let it take a backseat to everything else, and I like that. I am at a loss sometimes to explain why I can't make it to things, though.
6. I never ever felt the maternal pull to want to have kids until this past year. I knew I would favor having kids rather than not, but I'll admit, I still have this nagging fear that if I got a kid, I'd look at it and think "okay I changed my mind. Can I take it back? I have the receipt..." On that note, if my boyfriend is reading this...no, I'm not thinking like THAT. In due time.
7. I have about seven people on my list that I'd like to apologize to for things I've done or said...things going back to like the 2nd grade. If given the opportunity, I'd do it in a heartbeat, but I don't want to cause any further pain by bringing up bad memories that they may have not wanted to get out. Maybe their revenge against me will be knowing that I feel bad about it years later. If you know of someone that I owe a serious apology to that I have lost contact with, feel free to tell me that they would benefit from it.
8. I have been in way too many accidents to count, though only one or two while I was actually driving. My mom got t-boned when I was 13, Cara's sister Kelly flipped her pathfinder when I was 21, and one other has happened. I'm now terrified of seeing airbags deploy because of it.
9. After years of reading loss runs in insurance, I think of liability wherever I go. I imagine every way a product could injure someone. I'm sure I'd be a great tort lawyer. I am also now terrified of construction sites and trains.
10. I have lost only once in my life at Trivial Pursuit, to my boyfriend's parents. I'm still counting on a rematch with an edition that was actually made in my lifetime.
11. I'm incredibly competitive, but when I decide that I don't care, it drops like a hot potato.
12. I was born in less than 30 minutes of labor from when my mother hit the door to the hospital. My dad wasn't even there, he was in either the Dahlia or the T-room in Lynchburg as my mom thought that the second baby would be a longer labor. I have no idea how she did it, but my mom gave birth to all of us with NO drugs except a demerol for the oldest and pitocin for the youngest.
13. If I had college to do all over again, I'd have stuck with the art major, taken an extra year, and not been in such a rush to get out into the "real world." The real world isn't as much fun as it looks - and most definitely not as fun as Athens.
14. I can take critique very well in my artwork. I really like taking those ideas and making them into new works. Showering of compliments, however, are a different story. I know people disagree with me, but I feel like anyone can draw and paint as good or better than I can with patience and discipline.
15. Every painting and drawing I finish has no intrinsic value to me. If I could afford to do so, I'd give them away. This is why I had to get representation in Philly.
16. It drives me bonkers when my friends ditch me in favor of a guy they've only recently started dating. I basically cut a friend out of my life a couple of years ago for doing that repeatedly (literally, for like 10 years in and out of about 20 relationships) and while I missed her occasionally after deleting her number, I never regretted it. If you've been together for a while, I understand, but really...if you've known the guy for all of a month, do yourself a favor and have that independent girl in you that he loves stick around for a while. Keep your own life.
17. Likewise, it drives me equally bonkers when a girl says that she has no female friends because women are catty and jealous. It's usually code for the fact that SHE is catty and jealous. I don't know how I'd navigate this world without my female friends - something that I attribute to the sorority. It taught me that no matter what, unless he's your husband, there are some things that a man really can not help you with amongst your friends.
18. I love getting the EXACT right gift for someone. The one that you really can't get anyone else, the one that will make them think of that giver every time they see it. It's tough, none of those "gifts for him" lists online are helpful because of this.
19. I have a HUGE head. People don't believe me, and then I find a huge guy in the room and try on his hat. It's usually too small. I'm a 7 1/2.
20. If you ever hear of someone getting arrested for actually trying to LIVE in an anthropologie store, it's probably me. I frickin' love that place. When I have no money, I throw the catalog away without even opening it because I'm too tempted.
21. If I could do it for the rest of my life, I'd pursue degree after degree. Other than art, school is the only thing I've ever really been good at.
22. For a long time, I held the record for the highest SAT score in the sorority. Or at least that's what Ashley P told me. I think I was dethroned by senior year.
23. If I hadn't had gone to Georgia, I would have probably majored in architecture simply because I could draw and I loved Ayn Rand's The Fountainhead. They didn't offer it as a major at UGA.
24. If I had no creative talent at all, I'd want to be a professional book reviewer. Although that would take writing creative talent. Screw that, I could never be in a profession for my career that didn't require creative ability. I'd get fired.
25. Speaking of, I have been fired twice in my life, both from waitressing jobs. Once because I stopped dating my boss at a restaurant I was working at. It's okay, I deserved it. The second time was because I got a poor score on a mystery shopper report. THIS one I still feel slighted for - it was across the street from Fenway Park, during game 6 of the pennant against the Yankees. It was physically impossible to wait on those tables adequately during that level of a rush. My report even said that I was a great server, but they couldn't give me scores for things that weren't possible. So I got fired. My boyfriend at the time ran one of their sister restaurants (further embarrassing) and had told me never to sign anything if I wanted a reference. So when the boss put the paper in front of me, I smiled, said "no thanks" and walked out. He tried to chase me down for it, and I refused. It was truly a sign from God, though - my acceptance letters to graduate school arrived that day in the mail.

Now you really know too much about your pal Molly.

My head, in a vise.

That's what it felt like. I had a mild headache on Saturday, got to bed really early after baby-sitting Owen and Caroline, and woke up with a bit worse of a headache. Sometimes, I've found that this means that I need to wash my sheets - dust and whatever allergens might be on them. I had just washed them a couple of days before, so I was a little surprised, but whatever. I washed them. Then, around 1:30, when I was walking to switch the sheets to my dryer, it hit. Seriously, it felt like someone punched me in the head. Know how in the cartoons, when someone bumps their head, they see birdies circling around? That was exactly how it felt.

I went to bed around 5:30. Worse when I laid down. Took Tylenol. Nothing. Took Sinus meds. Nothing. Finally took a painkiller left over from surgery. WOW. That did something. Thank you, Lortab.

This morning, after quite a tossing and turning (from being woken up by pain, repeatedly), I got up and insisted on going to work. For crying out loud, I've been to work when I had PNEUMONIA - I can handle a headache, right? I made it an hour. I realized at 9 am that I couldn't even see the words on my computer screen less than a foot away. I called my doctor, who miraculously could see me in less than an hour. I shouldn't have even driven, but that's how desperate I was to get this thing cured.

Diagnosis: same damn thing I had back in October. He gave me SIX prescriptions, a flu shot (in case it was a strain that hadn't been prevented by the live strain - in the nasal spray that I already had - I got the real shot this time) and referred me to an Ear Nose Throat doctor. I'm a little bit scared, I loved my old ENT surgeon, and he really helped me out in my horrible under-insured status. He gave me free samples, he shot the proverbial sheet with me outside the office (we lived near each other) and he told me hysterical stories about what he saw every day looking up a scope at people's boogers. And he was a fantastic surgeon. Judging from my before-and-after CAT scan, I've had doctors tell me before that my old surgeon, without a doubt, saved my hearing in my left ear, if not both - not to mention I feel incredibly better...95% of the time.

So yeah, I don't want a new ENT. I also don't want him to tell me I need new surgery. I. AM. NOT. GETTING. SURGERY. P.E.R.I.O.D. I cant' even imagine getting it again. I spent nine hours getting the crap beaten out of me last October, it took me a month and a half to recover, and I still remember the horrible recovery. If it's like childbirth, I shall not attempt more than one.

So I came home today and made myself a little sick feast:

Yes, that's six bottles in there somewhere (I count 5, but trust me, I got 6), mac and cheese, Coke Zero, and Danish Butter Cookies. I love those damn things.

Well, that's it - I'm glad that I went to the doctor - I waited two weeks last time, waited two days this time. I feel better. I also watched Slumdog Millionaire this weekend - fantastic movie, I'm betting on it for Oscar time!

PS- Speaking of Oscars, does anyone want to play Fantasy Fashion for it? Or maybe a pick-the-winners pool?

You've come a long way, baby.

For a laugh at how far we've come, check out the introduction of the Apple Macintosh just 25 short years ago.

Sometimes I wonder what my life was like without my MacBook Pro, and then I see something like this.