the usual

Nothing really new to report here. There hasn't been much for excitement lately. TJ found out he got into Marquette, and I'm still in grad school purgatory. Woo freaking hoo. I'm excited for him, but really not liking the lack of hearing from any of the ones I applied to. At this point, I'm getting used to the idea that I'm probably not getting in this year either, and that I'll either be starting hygiene school, or looking for a real job starting this summer. I figure it's better to be skeptical and then pleasantly surprised if something does come around, instead of optimistic and constantly being let down.
Other than that and mom's drama, which includes her being "careful" as accelerating the amount of dates per week they go on (last week it was 6, compared to their 1 before the article hit). My aunts want her to end things, I don't really care at this point. She's clingy and needy, and needs a man in order to feel whole. At least that's what I'm gathering out of all of this. Last night she whined to me that she "misses him," even though she just saw him 2 nights before that, and is going on another date with him today/tonight. She really doesn't get my sympathy. Call me bitter, I don't care. I miss mine and all she can do is be careless and whine about hers like 1 day in between dates is too long to wait. I actually flipped her off last week when she said that.
On the bright side, I do get to see TJ in a week and a half. He's coming here while on his spring break, and I'm so excited I can't wait. I think we've got our church picked out, just need to do a little more research in that department and we'll have that all set. Ok I'm done updating with no new news, have a good day.

...who you gonna call? GHOSTBUSTERS!!!

I just spent a weekend back at Luther hanging out with some friends and I really really want to go back. I had so much fun, it sucks returning to the real world, especially when it involves my family. Apparently, mom's new boyfriend is plastered all over the front page of the newspaper in town here. Yeah. It's an article about something that happened forever ago, and appropriate action had already been taken for it, so it isn't any big deal, but Eric Lundquist of Eau Claire, WI decided to smear my mom's boyfriend's name all over the news anyway. That was a lovely piece of drama to come home to. It even made the evening news on 2 channels here. This town has nothing better to do, and no better news to report than to deface someone's character over something that wasn't as bad as they're making it sound. For the love of pete, this is dumb.

So different story: I finally got to bed last night and was sitting down with a book at about midnight, and suddenly, the rotating music box that hasn't been touched in months starts spinning and playing slowly on its own. I repeat, it hasn't been touched in months. The only way this thing is supposed to work is if you hand-twist the figurine around on its base. I was pretty creeped out, and after it stopped, I called TJ right away to calm me down a bit. It was eerie, just spinning slowly and making out-of-tune dinging noises. It was seriously something out of a horror flick to me. When my pulse finally stopped racing, I stared the figurine and waited for it to go off again. 10 min later and nothing, so I went to sleep. At 2:30, the thing started up again, it sounded louder to me, and was spinning faster this time, same off-key dinging to the music box's tune which I don't even recognize. It played for a longer period of time this time too. Insert freaking-out me here. I grabbed my cell phone and pillow and high-tailed it up to my mom's room. This time I wasn't sticking around, that's just too creepy-weird for me to continue sleeping next to. I explained to mom why I was retreating to her room, and she confirmed that she had also heard it and wondered what was going on. This morning after waking up, I went back down to see if maybe someone had played with it over the weekend, but it had about a good quarter-inch of dust on it. What was even more odd, was the fact that there was no dust ring underneath where I had just picked it up. It was about a noticable distance off to the side from where I had just lifted it. Whatever psycho thing this is, I don't like it. I exiled the thing into the den and hopefully things will come back from the Unsolved Mysteries episode last night and not happen anymore. Yesterday went so weird, all I can do is laugh anymore.

One drink maximum

I just got this in an email and have to post it:


Due to company policy, there will be ONLY ONE DRINK per person at the next company picnic:

WTF

I'm starting to think God forgot that I exist.
I made the mistake of moving home to live with my mother. Two nights ago, the woman who usually goes to bed around 9:30, especially when I want to hang out with her, went out on a date with the new man. I reiterate from my previous entry, I like the new guy. It's mom I have a problem with. Two nights ago, my "can't stay awake late enough to watch a whole ER episode with my daughter" mother was out until 2 in the morning without so much as a phone call or heads up in any form of the matter. It was a snowy/icy night and she was 3 towns away on that date. Among other things, before she finally strolled in, I thought she was dead in a ditch somewhere. This is also the woman who wouldn't let me live it down if I got in 15 min past my 10:30 curfew (in high school), and made me call and narrate how my night will go if I was to be out later than anticipated. She also continues to make me tell her how late I'll be out now that I'm home again, or whenever TJ and I are both here. Umm, can we say hypocrite? She apparently doesn't think she owes me the same respect and makes it seem like it would be dumb of her to return the favor.
I told her after that one, that she can gain my trust and forgiveness back by redeeming herself the next date and giving me a heads up on how late she'll be. Last night she had a shining opportunity. Did she? Oh no, that would be too much to ask. Before she left last night, she said "Oh, I'll be home early, he's leaving for Colorado tomorrow morning at 7, so it'll be a short night." So apparently, to my 9:30pm bedtime mom, 12:30am means early. I told her, yeah in comparison to your last marathon date it's early, but in "mom time" that usually means 8pm or something like that. I didn't expect her at 8, but I figured she'd be home before I went to bed at 11 (I was sick and couldn't stay up any longer). No phone call, nothing this time. I refused to let myself worry about her and concluded that she's really not worth it anymore. Christ, woman, at least think of me as a roommate who cares about you, especially since I'm your daughter! I admit I have some adjustments to make in getting used to her late dating schedule now, but she can at least help me out a little and not leave me at home worrying and guessing. She yelled at me today "I'm NOT YOUR DAUGHTER!" to which I yelled back "Well apparently you forgot that I AM, and that you're acting like a teenager who's too cool to call your caring family!" And that leaves me at now. I'm forced to live with this, while the one person who I love and can't wait to get to live with is 300 miles away. I hate my life.

A day in the life

Well now it's back to real life and a big, new school where I don't recognize a single face. I actually kinda like the anonymity in my classes, it makes me feel less pressure. Back at LC, I believe a good 3/4 of the school continues on to grad schools of some caliber or another, so you're in constant competition with those in your small class around you. Everyone knows everyone, or at least recognizes the face, so when you ask a stupid question in class, you feel, or at least I felt, constantly judged and compared to everyone else. It's to the point now that if I don't get into dental school, I'll feel like a failure, because everyone else I know who applied to their various school got in.
I've started back at work at the good ol' OG. I forgot how good that place smelled. There isn't a work day that goes by where I don't have a huge craving for alfredo dipping sauce with some breadsticks by the end of my shift. No, I'm not gaining weight working there. I'm actually hoping it'll help me finish off that last 10 lbs of college "freshman 15" weight. I wore a pedometer to work 2 nights ago, and figured out that on a slow night of a 6 hour shift, I walk about 7 1/4 miles. Tonight should be even more considering it's Friday and we're open later, it's typically a busy one.
Between work and school, I don't really have time for much anymore. I'm feeling lonely once I come home now though. Most of my friends have moved away, and the ones that are around are busy with other things, so it's pretty much just me and mom now. Oh wait, now it's pretty much just me, because mom is dating again. Don't worry, I actually like this one. Mom's being dumb about it again though. She's acting like she's never ever been on a date before, and even took 45 min last night staring at herself in the mirror with 1 outfit on that she's gonna wear to a breakfast with the guy this morning. Who spends 45 minutes staring at themselves? I told her she was being overly anal about it. While engrossed in herself, she kept asking me "does this look okay?" After the fifteenth time I said yes with her not believing me, I left the room and told her I'm not giving her my opinion anymore when she's asking for it but doesn't listen to it. Ugh, 40-something year old teenagers!