I just want to give a brief thank you to everyone who sent their well-wishes over the last few days. I was at Ben's parents' house and the internet was on the fritz. If I can get back and respond to the comments individually I will, but in the mean time, know that I'm grateful and appreciative of all your love and support.

I'm on the mend, which is nice. Still a little swollen, and I've got a crazy line of bruising on my arm along the vein from where the IV went in. Still hurts to sneeze, but it no longer hurts to laugh (or I figured out how to laugh so it doesn't hurt... I'm not sure) so that's a plus.

Also, I'm back at home instead of at Ben's parents' house, which is wonderful for my boredom (there are things I can do here!) but it was nice to get to spend time with them. Still, I have filing and sewing and mild cleaning and light packing that I can (nee must, considering we move in 15 days) do, so that's good. Ben told me not to overwork myself, so I'm trying not to.

We'll see how it goes.

My biggest sadness of the whole "appendicitis" event (now that I know I'm going to be fine, of course): I was too out of it to watch last Friday's episode of SGA, first or second showing. Ben, who doesn't care one way or the other, got to watch the second showing while I was still in my morphine-and-anesthetic-induced fug, but not me. *pouts* Ah well.

Well, I just got back from the hospital, where I spent about 22 hours between yesterday and today. It turns out I had appendicitis (which is really random). I was admitted to the ER by 11:30 am, in surgery for a laproscopic appendectomy by 7:30 pm, and out of the recovery room by 10:00 pm. They discharged me at 9:00 am this morning.

( The whole story )

Hope everyone else is having a great weekend.

When I first heard about "Mad Men" I wanted to see it. It sounded like a fascinating show. I was watching Two Weeks Notice on AMC while I cleaned the apartment this evening, and I kept seeing previews for the "First Season Marathon" of the show, and it turns out that the actress who played "Yo-Saff-Bridge" on Firefly is one of the main characters. I love her because a) she's a great actress, and b) she's a real-shaped woman. Even slimmed down as she is in Mad Men, she's still got curves to DIE FOR. It's pretty freaking awesome. So now I definitely want to see the show.

If Ben and I want to get married before we leave Michigan, it's going to have to happy next Spring. That's startlingly close. Just saying. Wow.

Dear lord, there's so much to do.

I am officially engaged. *giddy*

( Details. )

If you haven't already witnessed the awesomness that is "Dr. Horrible's Sing-A-Long Blog," by all means, check it out.

Mutant Enemy Productions. (Buffy, Angel, and Firefly fans know what that means.) Starring Neil Patrick Harris, Nathan Fillion, and Felicia Day. Tolja you wanted to check it out. ^_^

Your result for The Attachment Style Test...

The Cuddleslut

22% Anxiety Over Abandonment and 9% Avoidance Of Intimacy

Take The Attachment Style Test at HelloQuizzy

Me, identify with Kaylee? Nooo, really? *laughs*

Thursday: Found out that I had all of $1.88 in my checking account (no, really) and therefore couldn't go on my planned trip to Ohio to see friends an family. Bummer. BUT, my friends, Abby and Joe, (who are completely awesome) offered to come up and see us, so that was good.

Friday: Working, but it's time and a half and only four hours. Not bad. Friends arrived in the evening and fun and revelry began. We made food, and hung out. Good times.

Fireworks were good with a few moments of spectacular. Things I would change: the horrible cover band that played before (and the Elvis impersonator, dear lord), and the crap-tacular songs they played during the actual show. Two of them made sense, but two of them were awful. I would have voted for nothing at all.

Saturday: Farmer's market in the morning, breakfast and Dodgeball, which Abby had never seen. Then it was off to the beach (first time in five years of living here, and it's only 45 minutes away... go me). The beach was good although the water was cold, given the mild summer we've had. Abby and I went in while they boys procured brats. We made sandcastles and hung out in the sun.

Evening was spent watching Hellboy and enjoying fine beers and spirits. Not an unpleasant day, all told, despite the sunburns earned at the shore.

Sunday: Ben made breakfast (nummy as always) and we had to show them V for Vendetta, which is one of my favorite movies of all time. Then we helped them gather their stuff and sent them on their way.

Naps were had (and pleasant wake up calls), I finally opened my copy of Pride and Prejudice and now it's time for sleeping. Cleaning can happen tomorrow.

Good weekend, in the end, but I'm sad that I didn't get to see my dad or my sister. We're going for Labor Day, so that'll be good. I can't wait.

Awesome.

I guess we weren't the only ones who had the idea, right, Kat? *laughs*

Check these women out. They're pretty hot, and those are just the samples. I almost want to get the whole calendar to see what the whole lot of them look like.

1) Look at the list and bold those you have read.
2) Italicize those you intend to read. (Following glorgana's lead, I starred those I intend to read so much I own the books.)
3) Underline the books you LOVE.
4) Strike out the books you have no intention of ever reading, or were forced to read at school and hated.

Why can I never remember the latin for someone who loves words? It's rather ironic, I feel. Linguaphile almost gets you there, but it's more languages, I think. Clearly not bibliophile, as that's books. *frowns*

Anyway, moving on. Have you guys seen this site? [Wordle.net] lets you put in any text you want and then it makes... well, pictures might be too strong of a word, but neat images in any case.

Example:



Why yes, I did go to Wikipedia and type in the first word I could think of ('Bats' apparently), copy the whole article and past it into Wordle. Why do you ask?

And, just to up your silly-dosage for the evening: Ben snuck up behind me while I was working on the Wordle image above and said, very loud, in my ear, "Bats! And microbats!". I think I nearly jumped out of my chair and I still can't stop giggling. Clearly, I need sleep.

So, in a feat of technological genius (okay, maybe just a few steps above technological ineptitude, but still) I figured out why microphones weren't registering on my computer (I was missing an executable file and had then had to select microphone as the method of input I wanted) and spent the rest of the afternoon playing around with recording my own voice and various fun noises I found around the apartment.

Of course, being the SGA nerd that I am, I also made a first attempt at podfic. Since I didn't have permission to do turn anyone else's fic into podfic, I used my own to practice on. I think it turned out fairly well.

So, without further ado, [A Place Called Home by ferret_kitty]. And now you know what I sound like, too, which is fun. I'd love to hear any critiques you might have, or suggestions on how to do it better next time. And if anyone decides that they want their fic turned into podfic, I'd be happy to consider it (assuming I have time and all that good stuff). I hope you enjoy. (And do let me know if the file expires. Thanks!)

I don't know how or why, but someone uploaded the Season premier three weeks early and I couldn't resist. And it was AWESOME.

( Completely and totally awesome. )

Today was the day I work for nine hours, three in the morning and six in the afternoon/evening. Not too bad, normally, except that it's very draining to go from one job to the next, especially on a Saturday when work is usually SSSSSLLLLLLOOOOW.

The tailor shop did not disappoint in slowness. I think we had maybe five people walk in the entire day. But, Kay and I were both in good moods today, so it was nice, even if we weren't too busy. I only hate the slow days because it usually involves coming up with something to do to fill the time. I'd much rather just have stuff to do. *sighs*

Ben picked me up (I had walked and it was threatening rain) and we went home and watched the first episode of the Highlander series (There can be only one!), which is more 80s tastic than I had ever imagined. But it looks interesting.

Then work at the fabric store, where things are STILL in a complete disarray because they're redoing our carpeting (Yay, fumes!) and all of our fabric is jumbled up with no discernible organization or logic. Still, it's fun to try to find things, kind of like a big puzzle, and I was working with the three other young people today, which made the first three hours go really quickly. I was also working with my favorite manager, who informed me that I can still take the fifth of July off, even if I can't get someone to cover for me, because we get one vacation a year where we don't have to work our assigned Saturday. *dance!* But work was still LOOOOOOOONG because there was no one at the store. We spent most of the time standing around and talking because after the first two hours there wasn't even anything to put away, and we can't clean or straighten because there would be no point.

BUT. But but but, Ben and I decided this afternoon when we were eating lunch that we were going to go see Get Smart this evening after I got out of work. It was what got me through the evening. I get off work at 9 pm, the movie started at 9:15, and I made it with five minutes to spare. Win!

Get Smart is hilarious. When I told my co-workers that I was going to see it, my announcement was met with a lukewarm response, which surprised me because I've been looking forward to this movie since I saw the first hilarious preview. I was informed that the reviews were so-so on it, which also surprised me, but I told everyone I'd let them know how it was. And? It was awesome. *grins* I didn't stop smiling the entire movie, and there were several points were I nearly hurt myself laughing.

You have to have an appreciation for slapstick and physical comedy, as well as an appreciation for the absurd, but it was too funny. And, while the preview did have many humorous parts in it, unlike some movies, there were many, many more humorous parts in the actual movie. *giggles* So yeah, if you don't have some aversion to Steve Carrell, or to lowbrow humor, I highly recommend it.

I often find myself reading a book or an article in a magazine, and trying to figure out ways to create a dialogue between myself and the author or editor of the article.

Usually I'm disagreeing with some point that they've brought up, and want to point out to them why it is that I think they're wrong. It never occurs to me that they might be considered my superiors, or that they wouldn't be interested in what I want to say to them. The only snag I can see is that I don't know the best method of communication. Email? Letter? Video on Youtube? What?

I wonder if this is a product of the internet 2.0, where we can comment on videos created, or blog posts by writers, actors, or whomever else puts their thoughts out into the great world wide web. We have easy access to companies information through their websites, and while communication with these various entities used to require a letter that would take weeks if not months to get a response (if at all), now we can fire off an email or a comment and the response is often there the next day.

Or maybe it's a product of my education, where I learned to question what was on offer and ask the tough questions, even if the theory was my professors. Maybe it's a combination of both.

Does anyone else feel the need to strike up a conversation with entities technically much further up the social ladder? Or is it just me and my curious foibles?

( More specifically... )

I am attempting to compile a database of my friends contact information and birthdays. One of these days I will be on top of my shit and then you all might just get Christmas cards and birthday cards. I always want to send them, and think of sending them, but then I ... don't. Either because I can't remember the exact date (in the case of birthdays, despite having it written down in TWELVE PLACES) or I'm not sure the address I have is correct. Hell, sometimes I'm not sure that the email addresses I have for some of you are correct.

So, if you'd be so kind (and you'd like to hear from me over the course of the coming years), I'd love to get the following information from you:

Current Address:
Home #:
Cell #:
Primary email address:
Birth date:

I will, of course, screen the comments, so your secrets are safe with me.

Thanks!

Today, much to our surprise, Ben and I realized that we both had the day off. I know, amazing, right?

Well, I had a few things that I had to do, but we made impromptu plans to spend the evening together. And it was good.

In the morning I went to my sensei's house to further hash out details of our house-/pet-sitting that we'll be doing next year. I'm very excited.

After that, I grabbed some lunch and went to an "intermediate" microsoft office class. Or so I thought. Turns out it was just Excel, which I know more about than any other part of the suite, with the exception of Word, and they were going over some of the more basic functions. "Intermediate," my ass. Not only that, but all of the other women in the class were clearly uncomfortable with the technology, and would have been much happier in a lower level class. *sighs* They had trouble formatting for god's sake. *sighs* So, yeah, it was ... fun. I did learn a couple things I didn't know, so it wasn't entirely a waste of time and money, and I got the woman to show me how to do the few things I didn't know how to do with Mail Merge (pretty straight forward, I know, but I was missing a few small, key steps) and so I was much happier.

What really made me laugh (which is better than grinding my teeth, I'm sure) is when, half-way through the class, I was up and helping to explain the process to the other women in the class, because the teacher was busy with helping someone else. *shakes head* Oh well. Oh, and the other great bit (and the part that tells me we REALLY need to step up our education in this country) is that the woman had to explain basic Order of Operations to the class. Multiply, Divide, Add, Subtract. I wanted to bang my head on the desk. Clearly I should have signed up for the advanced class. Ah well, live and learn.

But after the class I went home and Ben and I vegged for a bit, then went to a local Brewpub for dinner (great beer there, and I got the Ahi tuna steak, which was so good.) and then to see Iron Man again because, really, it's worth seeing twice in theatres. Gotta love the draw of the big screen. ^_^

So, all told, a wonderful evening. Great to have a night off with my sweetie.

I just chatted, albeit briefly, with one of my oldest and dearest friends from high school. I still consider her my best friend, despite the fact that we haven't actually spoken to each other in ... months, probably. I really need to work on staying in better phone contact with those whom I consider important to me.

I should also call my father, whom I haven't spoken to in weeks it seems. I bought him (and mailed him) a Father's Day Card and it struck me as I was writing in it that I'm not as close to my dad as I once was and that is tragic. We're still close, but one of the downsides about moving away from home is that you lose track to a certain extent of the small, but important and meaningful, things that happen to those you care about. And I always seem to be the one doing the moving away.

My friend, Heather, also told me that one of our good friends, Tiffany, from high school is getting married. Heather is, of course, the maid of honor (as well she should be). I know that Tiffany has a lot of sisters who are probably going to be in her wedding party, if she's having a large wedding party, but the thing I'm most sad about is that I'm not going to be there to be a part of the planning of it. I would have LOVED to go wedding dress shopping with them, which they were doing today. One of the things I wish I had more of here in Michigan is female friends. I'm sure that the wedding will beautiful and I look forward to the bachelorette party and getting to see them all again when I go to the wedding, but I wish I could be there for the planning of it, and the excitement beforehand.

I just... sometimes wish that I hadn't charged so quickly ahead in my life and moved so quickly away from the known into the unknown. My old friends are growing and changing into such fun and interesting people and I'm missing it and that's sad.

Ah well, no use regretting the things that cannot be changed.

Bit of news 1: Power returned to our house on Monday evening around 6:30. Shortly after we returned home with ice and coolers in order to save the contents of our fridge and freezer, of course. Ah, irony. Fortunately during the outage Ben's parents were good enough to put us up. Family, gotta love 'em. (And sometimes you even want to. *grins*)

Bit of news 2: I found someone to sublet my apartment!! Hooray for craigslist, which is (mostly) awesome, but also for word of mouth, which is great.

And article: My friend Julia posted [this article] in her livejournal and I thought, even though some of you have seen it before, through her, those of you who haven't should check it out.

Feminism that I can get behind (and a rallying cry for democrats):

"...sometimes the best woman for the job is actually a man -- if it's the right man.

It is time to turn the page on myopic gender-based Feminism and concede that while patriarchy is real, so is female greed, dishonesty and corruptibility. It's time to empower the feminisms embodied by millions of women and men who care about everyone, including, but not limited to, women."

Hi everyone. Yes, I am still alive, aren't you all happy to know that? I fell off the face of the earth for a while (as far as lj is concerned) because of a whirlwind of visitors.

Over Memorial Day weekend, my good friends Abby and Joe came to visit. We had a lovely time with them, as always, exploring the local liquor mart (which is fantastic) and just hanging out and having fun.

The Thursday after Memorial Day, my mom flew into town for a week, and I took that week off work. We did a lot of sewing, a lot of movie watching, and a lot of house cleaning (my mom mom loves to organize and who am I to argue when my house is clean!. We basically had six uninterrupted days to hang out, with very few outside interruptions. It was wonderful. We also made me a dressform, which was fun. It worked really well, until we tried to fill it with foam. I'm still not sure if that was the best plan, but it didn't not work, so I guess we're okay.

And Friday after my mom left, Christine stopped by on her way up to Mackinaw Island. We got to see each other for about five seconds before we both collapsed into bed, and had plans to do something breakfast like before she left, but I overslept so it wasn't an option. Sad, but maybe we'll be able to see each other on her way back through. *hopes*

On Friday there were crazy storms in Kalamazoo, which was alternately fun and scary. Only scary because one of the tornado sightings was near-ish my house and I was at work and couldn't check on things. One of the neat things about where I work is that three-quarters of our store is big, huge windows that face to the South and West. So around 5:00 on Friday we looked up and the sky to the West was almost black. Since tornado sirens had been going off, we decided that this was not good. For the next twenty minutes we all watched, fascinated, as the storm rolled into town. The leading edge was moving so fast we could track it as it passed over us, and for a few minutes before the torrential rains hit, I could see the rain falling from the clouds across the airport next door. It was nuts. Then KRACK-BOOM, and we were deluged with rain and hail. It only lasted about half-an-hour, but it was intense.

Other than that, I've got today off, but it's Ben's brother's graduation Open House this evening, so still things to do. Also really should do a load of laundry. Nothing too exciting otherwise. Just life being life.

ETA: Oh oh oh, I went last night to see Kung Fu Panda with Ben and it was awesome. The previews sucked, but that's to be expected. At least there were no singing Chihuahuas. But the movie was just as funny and silly and great as I'd hoped.

My friends are visiting and they showed me [this page].

It's ... terrifying. The little animals move when you put the mouse over them (creepy!) and the descriptions of his "friends" are... just check it out.