...or should I say longest week to date?

And actually, it started last week.
I worked Monday & Tuesday, was off Wednesday but it doesn't, as it is a day full of classes, and worked Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. (I hadn't had a day off in over a week...)

...I started coughing that Thursday.
It got worse over the next several days.
To the point that I ditched class on Monday to get some sleep. (Sleep always helped.)
I got lunch with a friend on Monday. A friend whom I hadn't seen since high school.

After lunch, I went to the vet to meet my parents.
We put down our oldest kitty, Peanutbutter.
Jake stayed with me, during, and helped bury him after.

That night...everything slid downhill even farther.
I went from hot to cold, the coughing wouldn't stop, and I felt generally icky.
I called my doctor immediately, but had to leave a voicemail, on which I said I needed the next available appointment.

Next morning, that phone call woke me up, and I went in.
They were backed up, as usual, and I had to wait extra long.
My doctor told me I had the flu and needed to rest.
She wanted me out til Monday, but I knew my boss would freak out for the busy weekend.
So I slept off and on from Tuesday afternoon until Friday morning. I slept on average ten hours a night, was awake for four to six hours, then slept for four to six hours before waking up again. Lots of cough syrup, lots of water, lots of gatorade, lots of Soup at Hand, lots of hand sanitizer, and lots of sleep. I didn't put on real clothes until my doctor appointment on Friday, when he told me I was clear to be back in public, but I need to continue getting rest. (Not gonna happen, since I don't get a day off until Wednesday, which, as I said, doesn't really count, as I have freaking class all damn day.) At least I don't seem to be getting pneumonia....

Jake came to see me while I was sick. =)
He bought a bunch of masks just so he could.
(He can't help but take care of me. It's adorable!)
Anyway...

Last night at work killed me. It was definitely one day too early.
Tonight kicked my ass.
Not only was I recovering from this last week, it was busy.
And the freaking shelf in the office BROKE and fell on me. Boxes and all. (This shelf was probably twelve feet off the ground, holding all the paperwork in boxes from when we opened.)
Oh yeah, and it broke the one below it, too, so all of that shelf's contents also fell on me.
And it broke the printer.
And my elderly cashier may be bruised from it, as she was in there with me, and took the brunt of the shelf's weight onto herself...

So yeah.
Blah.

This has been the longest week of my life yet.
And it's not even over yet.
I'm just in the middle of hell...

Been home since Tuesday with the flu.
Icky stuff.

My doc's note says "excuse through 10/30" which means I don't go back to work until Saturday, or school til Monday, right?

My boss isn't going to like that.
Whatever.

I'm not 100% yet.
Only -maybe- 80%. If I'm lucky.

I have a second appointment tomorrow to make sure I'm better and don't need longer.

Blah....



In good news, Jake has already gotten paid for his new gig.
At least a retainer fee. =)
Whatever.

Time for bed!! Eyes not wanting to stay open...

Jake has been hired by another game designer to create some sprites for his game, and will be making five times his profits.
Let me explain (please excuse me my head is fuzzy and my eyes want to close) Jake made a total of $60 for all the animation sequences in Decadence. He will be making $1 per <[[iframe]].. of animation on this one. If there are three main characters, and there are 100 frames of animation for each character, that's $300. (And that's not including the bosses or the monsters.)

Ok...head is not letting me focus anymore.

One of my longest friends got engaged today.
I'm so happy for her. =)
It's been a long time coming, and we all knew it was going to happen; it was just a matter of when.
I'm kinda surprised that he didn't wait until Halloween, though; that's their 4th anniversary.
Oh well; catch her off guard, when she least expects it...isn't that the whole point?

And I'm getting lunch tomorrow after class with a friend I haven't seen since, literally, high school. That's always awesome.

But, tomorrow, we are going to put down one of our kitties.
Peanutbutter, the oldest kitty we have, is the one we're putting down.
Poor thing. There's no point in him eating anything anymore; it goes right through him.
He's just fur and bones.
...it's more like he's existing than living.

And while all of that is true, I feel like it isn't the right thing.
I wish animals could speak to us so we could know what they're feeling. Or how they're feeling.
With Frank, the last animal we put down, a dog, he was old and arthritic and could barely move; perhaps we waited too long. Either way he still tried to bite me when the vet put the needle in him. (Sorry buddy; dad didn't have the balls to be here when it happened, so he left his then-twenty year old daughter to be alone here with you.)

I have an awesome, huge update on behalf of my love.

Well, not really on his behalf, but rather because of him.

I mentioned a while ago -probably a long while ago, this has been a long time coming- that he has been working on some sprites and animations for a guy he met in an online forum. Well, the final sheet has been sent off, BETA tests are occurring, feedback is being issued, fan art (!!)  is being rendered based on his designs, and he's found something he really, really enjoys doing.
There are a few other things going on, like some playing around with the background tiles (as a favor and based on Jake's own suggestions) and some final from-the-test-players suggestions that need animated, but other than that, things are looking up.

You can keep up with it here.

I'm so proud of him.
And I'm so happy for him.

=)

He really wants to find a full time job doing this, and I've suggested to him (not for the first time) to go to Aims and check into their video game design certificate. I hope he does. =0)
Open his art degree possibilities even farther; broaden his prospective horizons a bit.

Well, gotta run for now.
Mac and cheese is all cooked!!

I have been meaning to do an actual, soulful blog for a while instead of these random "So this has been my life for the last two weeks in 500 words or less" blogs that I've been leaving here.

Unfortunately, now that I am feeling inspired, my work has changed schedules on me.
Or at least they have for this week...

I am working tomorrow, the first time I've worked a Sunday since August.
And that sucks because I have bukus of Sociology to complete. Well, really, it's just a test and a summary of a research article...
But, there is the rough draft of my 8 page Western Civ paper that's due on Thursday, for which I haven't cracked open a book in over a week because of my essay test in the same class last week....

Ah, midterm month! =)

Oh well.
As much as I complain about it, this is what I missed about school.
Well, part of what I missed.

I really need to talk to my boss about going to part time.
This full time BS just isn't cutting it.

And maybe, just maybe, then my boyfriend will actually take it upon himself to be actively pursuing other work, as we won't have the same cash flow coming in....
Hmm...double duty in one request!

Ha! Like it'll happen.

Worth a shot.

Ok.
Gotta go.
There's my life in 500 words or less. =)

(Check my twitter for my life in 140 characters or less.)

Yep.
It's nearly October.

Starting tomorrow, I will start reading a horror book. One of those cheap, paperbacks that really get you turning pages.

That also means that Jake and I start playing freaky games (last year it was Fatal Frame 2; this year, we don't know yet) and watch 'scary' movies. I'm actively updating our Netflix queue right now in another window, and right now I'm rating Horror Movies, so the site can suggest more.

I think, so far, we have Poltergeist and The Shining on our list of "for sure" movies for this year. And, like last year, we are accepting suggestions, so if you have any, let me know!

I don't know how much time we're actually going to have to read/play/watch anything, but I'm sure something will come up.

In other October news....
Sadly, I will be unable to attend Randa's wedding over Halloween weekend this year.
(I have literally $30 to my name right now...and I'm not kidding.)

Midterms are coming up. Joy.

I got a 100 on my first Lit test!! Yay!!

I have a research article due next Wednesday, a rough draft due on an 8-pg paper for next Thursday (for which I have no thesis, TYVM), a norm violation paper due at the end of the month, and two more 5 page papers due in November. Yay for paper-writing!! No wonder I'm gaining weight and drinking!!
And please excuse my delayed, shortened, and infrequent visits to MySpace and to your sites. When I say I'm busy, I literally mean just that. I'm not blowing you off to go play a video game.

Oh and there are tons of anniversaries and birthdays coming.
The start of holiday season is really October, and no one seems to ever believe me!!

Alright, y'all, well, I gots to be going now.
Lots of papers to write.

Scenes from "Juno" have been playing in my mind today, hence the title.

Overall, I'm enjoying my classes.
I knew I would.
I just hope I get grades like I got over the summer!

I have yet to send Jake's birthday present back to the store (I got the wrong size).
I'm excited for his bday this upcoming weekend though. =)
My boss was awesome enough to give me both Sunday and Monday off, so we can do our celebrating whenever.
And my second cousin, Samantha, turns two (2!!) on Sunday. My grandma wants me to go shoot some photos of her.
I'm hoping to get some good ones in the morning, after a bath, before she's had a chance to get too dirty and mischievous.

The cold is fighting to go away.
I am coughing and coughing. My throat has been unbearably sore.
Today I was dizzy and light-headed for a bit.
And there's always the icky blecgh feeling that's still nagging me.
Blah.
Oh well.

With the smoke from the Station Fire going away, hopefully, the coughing will go away, as will a few other things, and I'll be able to tell what's actually cold symptoms and what's just being annoyed by the smoke.

Well, that's all I got for now.
Jake's playing HALO, I have some reading to do, and we're collectively going to go eat some Cinnamon Toast Crunch here in a minute. Yumm...

Be watching my Flickr for some updates.
They're coming. =)

I survived the first day of my full-time courseload. Woohoo!

Parking was a nightmare on the Westside of campus this morning. OMG. I had to park clear by the freaking Welding Tech building just to get into Westview. (And yes, I realize most of you have no freaking clue what I'm talking about.)

And the financial aid process...OMFG.
I got to campus like 45 minutes before my first class started to get my award check, get my books, and be on my way. Nope, no dice.
After waiting in line for 15 or so minutes, they don't have it.
Well, the line I'd have to stand in had moved like maybe two people since I'd been waiting at all, and there were about 15 people in line, so I decided I'd just come back after my classes were over, as I didn't have to be to work until 3, and my classes got out at 12.

Go to my first class.
A literature class.
...for which I had no book.
(Can you say, "irony"?)
(Ha, I am a living freaking literature glossary term!)
The teacher reminds me of what I think I'd be like as a teacher, which is a good thing, I think.
She also kinda reminds me of the kind of woman who sits at home and reads all the time, finding periods for brief romances, highlighting the peaks of love and the valleys of breakups with books. There's nothing wrong with that, at all.
(She even admitted to reading the Twilight saga as a way to get through her last breakup.)

Then I hop over to my math class, which had changed rooms.
...that class, may not work out so well.
I'm not ok with so much freaking group involvement when it comes to math.
I'm all for asking for help from your peers and classmates when you need it, but why are threaded discussions necessary? Why do we have to talk about our assignments and whatnot at the table? Totally confused.
I'm thinking about dropping it and replacing it with Sociology.
...especially since, according to tablemate Nick, the bookstore is out of copies of the math book.

...which brings me back to my original rant.
Financial aid.
I go back to General Services and get in the seemingly-stationary line.
I'm there for forty minutes, at least.
With young boys behind me trying to get everyone ahead of them to leave the line because they have class in 20 minutes. They tried everything. And eventually gave up.
The only hold up was that I forgot to accept the grants.
(Yep; GRANTS. I'm not paying for college out of my own pocket, when it's over a freaking grand, and I'm not taking out another loan to pay for school.)
...but, my money won't be available until Wednesday.
God only knows how many copies of the damn books will be available then!

Which is another reason I want to drop math.
Seriously, if they're out of books, how the hell am I supposed to get a copy? Online? Ok, how does my financial aid (GRANTS) pay for that?

Yeapers.
That's what I'm dealing with.

Well, I gots to be going to bed now.
Maybe another blog tomorrow.

Gah.

I'm craving new landscapes.

Seriously.

I miss the metropolitan 'scape of LA.
I miss London.
I want to travel and see new places, too.
The catacombs in Paris. The vineyards of Italy. The ruins in Greece. The idyll of the French countryside. Upstate New York in the fall. The sun rising over the beach in Florida. The narrow pebble-floored streets in Italy framed by tall buildings .

Everything is always better when I'm in a hotel room.
Weird, huh?

I take super-long showers and sleep like a baby.
I keep everything organized.

....I need a vacation.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Jake has been under the weather for two days. Poor thing.
We think it's a summer cold.
Or a really bad allergy hit.

I slept for 9 hours last night and still feel exhausted. Ick.
And my head is already pounding.
(Could I be getting sick too?)

I usually prep myself for a week before school; take my vitamins, make sure to get enough sleep, etc.
Totally not happening right now.

I'm excited and nervous about school starting in two days.

Also, after this coming Sunday, I won't be working another Sunday until October! Woot! That means I can go to the Green House in FoCo for Sunday Nite Special and not have to worry about getting there too late.
...which also makes it more tempting to rent out G.Mark's studio on a few Sunday afternoons to get some shoots done.
Do some shoots in Loveland then hop on over to FoCo....
Yeppers. Sounds like a plan.

Well, I'm off to go crazy at work again.
Be watching my Twitter to find out how my night's going.

Ugh.
Work. Three more consecutive days after today then a day off.

I found out today that one of my friends is pregnant. OMG. Shock to us all. She's scared shitless, and understandably.
I will support her no matter what she decides.

Another friend lost her cat today. She's had him as long as I've known her (for 15 years) and she's devastated. Understandably.

School starts next Monday.
My first full-time schedule at an institute of higher learning since 2004.
My first full-time student plus full-time work schedule ever.
I'm nervous. Understandably.

I might be shooting a wedding in April.
That'd be awesome. Understandably.

I bought the Twilight soundtrack today, and it will be a while before those songs are out of my head.

My head is crazy-full of images and projects, and I don't know how much more my creative finger can take before it gets too itchy.
Thank God my photography class starts next Wednesday!

Needless to say, my emotions are all over the map.

Largest Cupcake Ever.

Well, at least to date. =)

(Thought it was funny, considering my blog from the other day.)

I'm watching Whale Wars right now.

Ultimately I am pissed.
I have mixed feelings about it.
The Sea Shepherds probably aren't going about this in a smart way, and the Japanese "researchers" are only supposed to use non-lethal methods.

I mean come on, if you were really only doing research, why would you hide your deck from view with water cannons and black tarps? Why would you need to kill that many whales a day? (So far, they are up to three, harpooned and transferred, for this episode and they are in hot pursuit of another.)

grr...
I'm not crazy-hippie enough to go down there and join them, but I definitely agree with what they stand for.

The latest entry on Flickr's Blog is how to make cheeseburger cupcakes, and it's such a cute idea! I can't wait to make them for my kids. =)
(Of course, that requires me to have children first, which has a whole mess of steps in front of it.)

Well, honestly, I could make them for Jacob.
He likes sweet things and cheeseburgers, so...

Here's what they look like:

 


I have also had the idea for forever and a day to use cupcakes at a wedding.
Most weddings have the main cake -you know, that tiered thing with a plastic bride and groom on top- and a second cake.
Wouldn't it be fun to have cupcakes (read: single servings of cakes) as the second cake?
I've seen some examples that have nothing but cupcakes, but that eliminates the fun of cutting the cake. It still allows for the smooshing of frosting into each other's faces, but not the cutting.

Or, it would be awesome to have them at the bridal shower.
Just look at this by RATUkek, and tell me it isn't frikkin awesome!!

 

There's also the adorable (and endless possibilities available for) baby shower cupcakes!! (These by Bath Baby Cakes.)

 


I do so love them.
They're small and adorable.
I even had them at my birthday party last year.

When I was younger, I was in 4-H.
Not for very long, but I was.
And I took an edible cake decorating class. (All the decorations had to be edible.)
I loved it.

I have been smelling cakes bake for the last several days, as made obvious by my Tweet.
It's made me want to bake.

Unfortunately, on the days I work, I don't have energy enough after work to bake.
And I don't like to leave stuff half done before work.
Even if I wake up at 10, and start baking right away, I would still only feel half done.
And, of course, it doesn't help that the kitchen renovation has finally started.
Half the cupboards are out. And the side that the oven is on is the side we are going to work on next.

I have been meaning to buy the cupcake book, Hello, Cupcake! forever and a day (it was even one of my mom's craft book club featured books a few months ago) but haven't yet.
Perhaps soon.
The recipes all look so yummy.

Check out this one made by manyfires, one of the people I follow on Flickr.

 

Doesn't that look AWESOME??

It helps, too, that cupcakes are a huge part of birthdays.
And they're huge in scrapbooking.
And in childhood.
So they are in my life all over the place.
(There is so much at work, and in craft books, and in embellishments.)
Ho hum.

Oh well.
The next time I'll have a chance to properly "bake" (including decoration) any cupcakes is probably when I am out of my parents house.

I have just noticed a lot of cupcaking going on around Flickr (and, as mentioned two paragraphs ago, all over) and I think it's great that they're trending. =)
One of my favorite things is trending. Yay!

And if you come to cupcaking because of this trend, or because, like me, it's been a part of your life since childhood and you love it, welcome to it!
(And, of course, you can just be a fan of eating them and not making them. That's cool too.)