All good things must come to an end

Today was Luke's final day. :( So sad. We woke up and got Luke packed. Then we headed to Waffle House for his final meal. And gee, it was so hard finding one. It's not like there's one on every corner or something. The breakfast was delicious naturally. It was also very fattening. Naturally. Traffic was crazy. I am so tired of damn construction traffic. I haven't spent twenty minutes waiting to merge in months. I would have taken a shortcut, but I didn't think it would be that bad. It was 11 am for crying out loud. I hate Georgia traffic. And I'm pretty sure Luke hates it, too. I did get Luke to the airport exactly one hour before his flight. he called me later though and told me that Airtran overbooked the flight and he missed it. Seriously, what the hell is wrong with Airtran? I hate them. But they're the cheapest so I'll probably still use them. Damn me and my lack of money. The good news is that Luke told me that he got a direct flight back to Rochester. The bad news is that it wasn't until 9:00 that night so he was stuck. I would have gone to the airport to keep him company, but I had a final to study for. Plus, I had to go to the shelter for a few hours. I felt so bad for him. :( I was really sad to see him go anyway. It was great hanging out with him again. I think I'm going to try to get out there for a weekend when it gets warmer and we can hang out outside more.

This morning, I did get a call from my shelter director and she formally offered me the part-time job at the shelter. Woo-hoo! I'm so excited. It's a great opportunity. I'll probably start this weekend. It just depends on when I can get there to fill out paperwork. My grandmother said that her prayers got me the job. I respectfully disagree. I think my experience and qualifications got me the job. God had nothing to do with it. Jesus. I hate it when religious people pull that crap. Oy. I didn't really say anything negative to my grandmother though. I just said I disagreed and we quickly changed the subject. I think I'm going to take a page from Luke's book and stop beating a dead horse, so to speak. There's really no point in debating with close-minded people (i.e. my family) about things that they are never going to change their minds about. It's really pointless.

So I took my Ethics final tonight. I was really worried about it going in, but I did a great job. I got a 95. Woo-hoo! I was upset because I got a point taken off for spelling. I'm not mad at the professor for taking points off for that. I'm just mad at myself for making a stupid mistake because I was rushing. I guess I'll learn from it though, right? My final grade in the class is a 97, so I'm extremely happy. My professor had a lot of good things to say to me. He said that I was a "superlative student." I told him I was considering a doctoral program and he said I should do it. He warned me that it would be hard, but said that I had the brains for it and that it would require of me what I am capable of. I just don't think I am going to tell my family about it. I can only imagine their reactions. I'll tell them about it if I apply to one and if I get in. Until then, I'm not going to worry about it.

Now it's late and I am watching all the programs that I missed while Luke was here. Ahhh. . . good times, good times.

One Fish, Two Fish, Green Fish, Blue Fish

Luke: "You have to put these quotes in your blog. When I self-quote, it's like masturbating in public."

Another fabulous day with the Luke-meister. Luke actually woke up before me today, which was weird. He must have had a nightmare about the movie. Poor baby. I offered to cuddle with him, but he would have none of that. Hehe. This morning, I went outside to get something out of my car and I came back with a dog. It was a very cute dog (my dad called it ugly) and we had no idea who it belonged to. My dad said it was the neighbor's. Luke said we should just eat it (poor dog, I hope he didn't hear that). This did lead to Luke critizing me for not knowing my neighbors had a dog. Seriously, I've only had neighbors for 6 months! Man, maybe I'll hang out with them from now on and ignore Luke. That'll show him! Hehe.

We hung around a little bit (meaning Luke was screwing around on his computer) and then headed off to lunch. I have to say that at this point in the day, Luke was irritating me. How hard is it to remind someone when they have their sunglasses on before they go inside? I gave him one job. I swear, it was all I could do to not take him to the airport right then and there. :) We ate at this BBQ place called Spiced Right. It was a very southern and simple atmosphere. The pork was delicious as were the homemade french fries. It was probably the best barbecue I've had in a long time.

Then we headed off to the world's largest aquarium. I'm sure that those of you who live in other states are so jealous. :) You have to make reservations for this thing at least a week in advance and I had made ours two weeks ago. Since I have a season pass, I get in for free. Woo-hoo! The aquarium was great and very fun. There was a lot of fish and whales and sharks, etc. We got to touch some sting rays. They were very slimy. But I tried not to judge them too much for that. After the aquarium, Luke and I went to the dollar movies and saw "Wolf Creek." I had never seen the advertisements for that movie, but the poster suggested it was a horror movie so we were game. I mean, it's not as if we haven't seen enough scary movies this trip, right? The movie was very suspenseful and a little gory. There was a lot of blood. Can you believe that there were some parents who brought their three-year-old daughter to the movie? Unbelievable. Only in Georgia.

Then we went to eat at a Thai restaurant. It was very good. I asked for them to make it as spicy as they could and that might have been a mistake. I think I FINALLY found something that was too spicy for me to eat. It is time to hang my head in shame. I am so disgusted with myself. Oh well. I needed ice cream after that. We went to Target to pick up blank CD's and DVD's for Luke and me. Luke was on his phone the entire time. Seriously dude, take a BREAK. So rude. Hehe. Then we went to Sonic. We had hot fudge cake sundaes. Mmmm, mmmm good. Now we're just hanging out and getting ready for Luke's departure tomorrow. :( I'm eating a midnight snack of leftover turkish meatballs, hummus, and pita bread. I have way too many leftovers from this weekend. Oy.

Luke just informed me of Alabama changing their state fruit to the peach. What the hell? Copycats trying to be like us. They will never be like us. Georgia is still the best damn peach state ever. Alabama is just a cheap imitation. Dammit. I wish I had known about this. I would have boycotted or protested or something. That just freakin ruined my night. I'll be dreaming of peaches tonight. . . that, and attacking Alabama representatives for daring to do such a thing. I hate Alabama more than I hate Texas. And that's a lot. Okay, now I have to go calm Luke down because smoke is coming out of his ears from a semi-religious episode of South Park. It's going to be hard when I'm all fired up now, too. And my smoke alarm appears to be broken so we're in serious trouble.

When Animals Attack!

Today was a marvelously fun day. And by marvelously fun, I mean. . . eh, it was only okay. We slept in and took a little time getting ready. Kim called us a few minutes before we left and said that she could go with us after all. I guess Dave was being a human being and said he would keep the babies. Woo-hoo! We picked her up at her place (after Luke burned me a copy of his awesome 2-disc copy of the Rent soundtrack) and then headed to Canton House. Seriously, that was some damn good Dim Sum. It wasn't as good as Golden Port, but I think it came pretty close. I think Kim liked it. I know Luke did.

After Golden Port, there was a looong drive to the safari we planned on. Somehow Luke and I missed the exit for one of the interstates. How the hell did that happen? I LIVE here, for crying out loud! It only set us back ten minutes though. It was a rainy, dreary day, but the safari was still open so we were all good. We decided to rent a van from the company to drive instead of using my car. Believe me when I say that was a good idea. It was hilarious because a good many animals were lying in wait for us at the gate. And it wasn't so much hilarious as it was scary. Kim and Luke were in front so they had windows as barriers. But in the back (where I was), there were no windows. . . only bars! We saw so many different animals. There were elk, antelope, ostriches, pigs, hogs, deer, ducks, zebras, horses and I can't even think of the other ones. We had bought animal food so we could feed them and it's a good thing. The animals came right to our window and stuck their faces in the windows and in between the bars. We weren't supposed to hand feed the ostriches or zebras, but everything else was pretty much fair gain. Kim and Luke got some great pictures. Some of the animals kept following us for food. It was funny because one pig was extremely determined (and very fast) and kept running alongside the van. It was great. Of course, we did have to push our way through the animals at times because they were blocking our path. Craziness. After we finished with that, there was a walk-thru area. We fed some llamas and black bears. We saw some beautiful birds, rhinos, tigers, monkeys, alligators, more hogs, and so much more. You get the idea. So many animals, so little time. That part was really interesting. Kim hit an alligator with a food pellet and a monkey grabbed at Luke. He had his penis out, so I think he was coming on to him. The monkey, not Luke. Even though it was drizzling throughout the entire trip, we still had fun. And it didn't start raining harder until we were about ready to leave.

Check out this video link of Kim and Luke teasing the poor ostriches. The southern chick in the background is my commentary.

After the wonderful safari, we went to eat at Pho 79. Oh my God, the pho was soooo good. Pho is a Vietnamese noodle soup, for those of you who don't know. I had a spicy rice noodle soup and it was delicious. We tried to pork spring rolls and chicken spring rolls as well and they were delicious. The owner was very nice and she was helpful in recommending stuff to us. She also took the time to explain a little bit about the name of the location to us. It probably helped that we were the only customers in the restaurant. She had recommended some kind of fruit shake to me and Kim. She really didn't want us to drink water. But I'm glad she recommended the shake. They were really good. I'm not really sure what kind of fruit was in it, but it was good so that's all that mattered. The pho was a great dish to have on a cold day like today.

After pho, we headed back to Kim's to watch Ring Two. Now that was a scary, freaky movie. I am now scared of water. Thank goodness it wasn't raining anymore when we left. Luke said he's going to need a cuddle buddy because the movie scared him. I'm thinking not since he ate all the fudge rounds in the car. Oh wait a minute. . . he just gave me one. Okay, maybe I'll forgive him. All I know is I might need a shower buddy because my fear of water is so great. I don't think Luke will be up for that one. :(

Driving Miss Daisy

This has been a busy, busy week filled with. . . stuff. And then some more stuff happened. Sounds memorable, huh? Luke is here so I am very happy. By very happy, I mean. . . eh, I'm content. I picked him up at the airport last night and we really haven't stopped driving yet. Luke took forever to baggage claim (where I was waiting) because he didn't take the stupid train. He decided to walk five miles. Oy. I took Luke to Cafe Istanbul for dinner. It was great food. . . when we finally found the place. We got a little lost (i.e. I got a little lost) and we had to ask someone for directions. Luke was worried I would get robbed, so he offered to do it. Isn't that sweet? The restaurant was great and Luke loved it, of course. There was supposed to be a belly dancer, but she wasn't there for some reason. Dammit. But we still got to sit on the floor and the hummus was top notch. When we got home, we watched my new Rent DVD. Awesome movie.

Today, we got up and watched some Golden Girls. I had some cereal and Luke had more of his stupid fudge rounds. Did he bother to offer me one? Ha. We then left to head back to Atlanta. Oh my God, traffic was awful. We got stuck in construction traffic. It took us forty-five minutes to go a mile. But eventually we reached our first destination of the day: Chick-fil-A. Woo-hoo! We had a fabulous lunch and then headed out to see Atlanta's own Cyclorama. Of course Luke kept slacking off on his one job: to remind me that I was wearing my sunglasses. I kept getting out of the car and realizing that I needed my regular sunglasses for inside. Damn Luke. The Cyclorama is the world's largest oil painting and it depicts this famous battle in Atlanta during the Civil War. It was pretty awesome and the painting was pretty damn big. It was very lifelike too. The Civil War museum was fairly interesting. The rest of the day was great. It was filled with us getting into the zoo for free, a lot more traffic, a movie (we went to see Final Destination 3, which I had already seen), and then Mexican food with my family. Mmm, mmm good.

After dinner, we were going to go to this comedy club, but we both decided to head back home instead. All the driving really wore me out. Little does Luke know that there will be a lot more of it tomorrow. Hahaha. I think he's having a great time. I know that it is good to hang out with him. We've been laughing nonstop and we have had a couple of semi-serious discussions. He's fabulous. And by fabulous, I mean. . . eh, he's okay.

Leaving on a jet plane. . .

I have my passport! Woo-hoo! That means I can now just leave the country on a whim if I need to. . . you never know when you may have to suddenly leave the country. Hehe. Now I can book my flight to the Bahamas. Kim hasn't gotten hers yet, but I'm sure she will soon.

I also found out this week that I got a 99 on my Ethics paper. I am very excited about that. He said that anyone who got in the range of 95 to 100 had a paper that was better than what he would expect from a graduate student. He said it was something he would expect out of someone in a doctoral program. I'm just glad that's done. Now I just have to get through my final (which is coincidentally the night that Luke is leaving). I'm sure I'll get a good grade on it, so I should get an A+ in the class. That'll make up for that damn B+ I got last semester. :)

I feel like something is going on between Kim and Dave. I just have this feeling. . . and of course she hasn't told me anything. But I'm not going to worry about it. It really is her choice to start anything with him again. I think I've started to realize that I can't be in control of everything. I feel like I need to be and I feel like it's on me to get someone to change. But that's not the case. It's up to that person as to whether he or she wants to change or not. All I can do is try to give my honest feedback and the tools they need to change. If they don't, then I can't be held responsible for it. This is a good thing to know for when I start counseling people. A lot of counselors feel frustrated when their clients don't change and take it upon themselves to do most of the work. But the client has to do the work. As long as I give my client the tools that he or she needs to change, then I have done my job. There's only so much I can do. It's really hard for a control freak such as myself to realize that.

Okay. . . I must really love California (and Cindy) to want to move out there. Do you have any idea how much work is involved with getting licensed to counsel in that state? Cindy did say that California was pretty much the hardest for anything. It has the hardest medical schools, the hardest bar exams, etc. I don't really mind all the work. It's just a pain. Since I am extremely organized, I am taking the measures to find out what needs to be done. A lot of people graduate, move to another state, and then find out they need additional courses to get licensed in that state. I am going to go ahead and get it taken care of now. There are a couple of classes that I can't take at my school simply because they aren't offered. But most of them are, so I'm going to take them now. I actually have to get licensed as a Marriage and Family therapist to get licensed out there. So I'll take those necessary courses to get the additional certification. They'll be interesting though, I'm sure. I love any psych class. I know, I'm just weird. At least I know that once I meet the requirements to get licensed in California, I can pretty much get licensed anywhere and I won't have to take any additional courses ever. I was checking the requirements for New York, Massachusetts, and Illinois. They do have more requirements than Georgia, but not as many as California.

I think I've rambled enough for today. I'm babysitting and the kids are actually being good. They're watching Barney and playing. Dammit, I hate that big purple dinosaur.

Barreling into this century. . . finally

I am now as technologically advanced as my grandmother. Woo-hoo! This past weekend, I decided to actually buy a DVR. DirectTV was having a deal on them anyway. They cost $100 and they are offering a $100 rebate. So I got it for free. I got the service hooked up today, so I am enjoying my new toy. There is one down side. The way that our cables work, we can't set it up so that we can record two programs at once. That kind of blows, but I still like everything else about it. I've been using so many of my tapes to record things while I'm at Kim's or school or at the shelter. It's nice that I won't have to spend money on tapes anymore. I figured that since my grandmother has a DVR, I should break down and get one. Me and about five million other people. It's about time.

This past Saturday, the big gala for my shelter went really well. It was extremely chaotic and I was on my feet running around for about eight hours. I didn't leave until nearly 1:00 in the morning. I had a lot of fun, though. I did bid on a couple of the items that were up for auction. And I won them, too. I got a $50 gift certificate to a very nice hair salon and I only paid $25. I also got a $500 gift certificate to Avon for $200. Woo-hoo! I'm not always focused on the money, but it was nice getting great deals on those things. And the money went towards a great cause.

That's really all for now. I didn't have much to say. I just wanted to brag about my DVR really. Happy Valentine's Day to everyone.

Did you miss me?

I know it's been a while since my last post. Forgive me. But something happened to my laptop in that the wireless connection suddenly stopped working. So I haven't had a lot of access to Internet at home. I have used it at Kim's place, but it's hard to find time to blog with two toddlers clinging on you all day. It's 7:50 am and they're asleep right now. Thank goodness. They never sleep this late. I'm hoping they stay asleep at least as long as it takes me to publish this post.

Not a lot has been going on. . . Seth and I went to see Brokeback Mountain last weekend. It was good, but sad. Seth just wanted to see it because Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal totally get it on. Who am I kidding? I wanted to see it too. :) And it was totally hot. It would have been even better if these five people sitting behind us (all adults, mind you) hadn't been talking the ENTIRE movie. I'm not kidding. It was a two hour movie and they were silent for about ten minutes of it. They had to discuss every plot point amongst themselves and one even said, "He's disturbed." because of the whole gay thing. If they felt that way about gay people, why on earth would you come see the damn thing? I was too chicken to actually be quiet. I did give them dirty looks and there was a girl sitting in the same row as them who told them to shut up. Didn't help.

I finally finished and turned in my Ethics paper. Yay! Thank you to Effin Nobody, who helped me to edit my paper. There were some others as well. It really helped me a lot. I'll probably get it back in another week, so we'll see how I did.

I had my job interview yesterday. I can never tell how I do at these things, so I have no idea if I'm getting the job. Hopefully, I will. I could really use it. I'll know about that next Tuesday or Wednesday.

My best friend from CA as called me several times this week. I miss Cindy (and L.A.) so much and I can tell that she misses me. She keeps begging me to hurry and finish school so that I can move out there. Last Saturday, she called me at 1:00 in the morning (my time) and we talked for two hours. She was upset and needed someone to talk to. I'm glad she called. Cindy's not the type who usually asks for help. But I think I made her feel better just by listening. And then we started laughing and reminiscing about old times. She called me Monday night as well. That night, we ended up talking for 3 1/2 hours. Good times, good times.

By the way. . . since my laptop is in the shop right now, I do not have access to people's blogs that I had saved in my Favorites. So if I go a while without reading or commenting on your blog, don't take it personally. That's why. If you comment on my blog, I'll be much more able to click on the link and catch up on your blog. Otherwise, I'll just have to wait till my computer gets out of the shop. They said it would take 6-8 weeks to get it back. Oy. At least they did give me a loaner laptop to use in the meantime. Woo-hoo!

It's after 8 and the kids are still sleeping. . . how lucky am I? I may go lie down again until they wake up. I'm not used to having this much freedom.

Old Tag

Luke tagged me on this several days back, but I have not done it yet. It's nice and simple. I just have to post the picture that is currently on my desktop. Here it is.



Things have been a little hectic for me in the past several days. I had a midterm last night and I've been working on my paper. Right now, I'm taking a break from my paper. I'm sick of thinking about it. I think it just needs a little more tweaking and it will be perfect. Well. . . maybe not perfect. But as close as perfect can get. I did get a 98 on my midterm last night. Woo-hoo! I think I may actually get an A+ in this class. That'll make up for that damn B+ I got last term. Yeah, I know how I sound. I'm just a perfectionist. I just hate B's. Classic older child syndrome strokes again. My professor did say he thought I should be in a doctoral program. He said that I seem like I know my stuff and a doctoral program would be tougher than a master's program. But that's what I need.

I filed my taxes yesterday. I'm getting a total of $2400 back! Yay! That will leave me with all the money I need for my upcoming trip and I'll still be able to save a lot. The hotels that Kim and I picked out for the Bahamas and San Francisco are giving us great deals. For the entire week, since we're splitting the hotel costs, we're going to spend a total of about $500 on hotels. I'm so excited. I need a break from this town. It'll be a great birthday.

Oh, and I have a job interview with the shelter director next Thursday. She said that right now, the full time position is being filled. However, she said that this person was probably only going to be there for a few months and after that, she would definitely consider me for the position. In the meantime, I'm applying for a part-time position. That's still something. If I get it, it would be good for me. And it'll give me time to prove to her that I can handle the job full-time. Since it's next week, that will give me plenty of time to figure out what the hell I'm going to wear. Seriously, I haven't had to dress professionally in seven months. I think New Year's Eve was the first time since June that I wore something other than blue jeans. It'll be weird.