I love the bandwagon.

* Today I spent the entire day designing a survey about sex. My job rocks.

* Speaking of, #12 started his day off right.

* I feel insulted about the cream cheese/cheesecake comment on Ashley's blog. It hurts me. To reiterate: cream cheese = cheesecake = dessert! It does not belong on wheat-y, onion-y, non-sweet bagels. So there.

* I asked the B-man to give me more money today. He's buying a house, so he can afford it.

* I am knitting a kehole scarf! It is mossy green and lovely.

* "Amber" was very funny at tennis last night... she was not afraid to charge the net.

* I will be an aunt in approximately 10 weeks (that was sooo fast!)

* I am oddly excited about going to the gym tonight, except that I would rather go to the poker tournament, but feel I should be responsible.

* Florida is suprisingly cold this week (I know I sound wimpy).

* A tennis insructor had an Oregon State sweatshirt on last night... v. odd - I almost forgot where I was. Almost.

* I did my exit interview yesterday. Student loans are very, very horrible once you have to think about them. Better be worth it.

* I am strangely addicted to celery + red pepper hummus right now. I seriously cannot get enough of it. Do you think I have some sort of nutritional deficiency?

* Amber got a new car this weekend. I want to buy it.

* I wish Ashley wouldn't have shared her recipe for cheesecake cups with me (second cheesecake reference). I used almond instead of vanilla and am hooked. HOOKED.

* I get to baby-sit for bass-man-Dan this weekend - he has very cute babies.

* Tomorrow is February. FEBRUARY! Soon my brother will be "in his 30's" (even more than he already is).

* I don't want to do this anymore. Maybe I will go home... Charmed is on, you know.

Feel my wrath, V-day, feel my wrath.

I'm seeing Valentine's Day from an unfamiliar perspective this year: from that of a single person. Stupid Valentine's Day. Stupid Hallmark. Stupid love. Okay, maybe not love. But you get the drift. And while I feel silly admitting this, I feel I must be honest - I had hoped that by this stupid, made-up holiday I would have found someone [male] to share it with (even casually) . Stupid dating. Stupid Valentine's Day.

It's funny though, because it really has always been my least favorite "holiday" (I also have issues with Mother's, Father's, and Grandparent's Day). While in my foolishly long relationship I couldn't have cared less about February 14th. I still find it incredibly foolish that the retail industry must tell our society when to buy gifts for our loved ones; but this year I'm giving in - I want a valentine! And no, yours doesn't count, Ashley. And so I find myself irritated while shopping for shampoo at Target - stupid Valentine's display. Stupid pink and red candy everywhere. And I wonder why I don't have a date... :)

I was given a fantastic compliment a couple of weeks back by my fantastic Australian friend. He is also perplexed as to why I am not being courted right and left (hahaha...). He thinks it may relate to the sense of confidence I exude, which is "intimidating". Hhhmmmm. I appear confident? I do not feel very confident. Confusing. And so, to all those eligible suitors - I am not [overly] confident! I promise!

Stupid Valentine's Day.

Stephanie A. Irving...

MHS!

It's true, I persevered with the writing and managed to finish (just) before the deadline - hooray for not paying another $2000. But really, what's another $2000 at this point? Almost is much fun is that I also submitted the paper to a journal last week. That's right - I may be published in the upcoming months. Who would have thought? Anyone who is super interested in vaccine risk communication in the United States is more than welcome to read it (I'm not expecting a lot of takers).

What's supposed to fill my time, now that I don't have to... feel guilty about not writing? Well, I've come up with several options. First - knitting! I've wanted to learn for over a year; the time is right and there are people to help me along, so weekly knitting sessions are in the works! Yay! I am going to pick out some patterns today! I value any suggestions from Mrs. Brooke, as she is the resident expert in this area. Second, more tennis! Hooray! Now that I have my super sweet new racquet, I'm ready! Finally, the gym that I have been paying for and not utilizing for the last few weeks is calling my name. I am actually very excited to start going again, and take that as a good sign - I'll be there tonight!

Sadly enough, I do not have anything else remotely blogworthy to report... last week was filled with writing, and the weekend was rather boring (though in a good, relaxing way). I spent much of the time watching Alias, as I bought myself the second season as a reward for completing my Masters degree... I'm pretty wild.

Anyway, I'm back in the blogging world - I'll try to do better tomorrow.

If someone hands you money...

Smile, and say thank you.

This used to be my favorite saying, as there was some funny story behind it, but now I can't remember the story and cannot for the life of me figure out why I found it so amusing. Can anyone help me out here? I am giving myself ten minutes to blog, and then must write, write, write. Along with Ash's, my motivation has left the building (it's been gone for months, but we all knew that). I was supposed to write this weekend, but instead cleaned, baked, and watched waaay too many episodes of Alias (season 1). And though it was a fantastic time, I continue to feel guilty about it. I'm not quite sure why I seem to be sabotaging myself, but I am. IT ENDS TODAY! I plan to write my little heart out all day and send a decent draft to Dan before I head home. I can do it!

On a slightly more fun note, I cut my hair last night. First time since July 2005! I'm crazy! It's actually relatively short (chin length) - she even had to use a razor in the back. I really like it though, and feel much more "adult-ish". The only think I'm having a difficult time with are the side-sweep bangs, which I haven't had since 7th grade and are quite irritating (but so cute!).

I think the most interesting, blog-worthy thing about this week is my bird-poo story. That's right: bird poo. After not leaving the house on my productive Monday (see above), I left for work Tuesday morning to find that my car was COVERED in bird poo. I have never seen so much bird poo. None of it was there Sunday night, but it was RIDICULOUS by Tuesday morning. I parked in my normal spot, but discovered that my car had been targeted by a vicious, poo-filled flock of birds. Actually, I was told Tuesday night that "the robins are in town", whatever that means. I realized, though, that "in town" actually meant "living in the tree above your car". It's really, really yucky (and rather amusing, in a gross way). My Aussie friend even took a picture of it - if you're lucky I'll post it.

Time's almost up - happy Friday eve.

I shouldn't be the only one who gets to know.

#12's girlfriend had very, very enjoyable sex last night. Twice.

I feel like I live in hell. Or am being punished.

On a happier note, it's the Friday preceding a 3-day weekend (filled with writing fun).

Sorry.

Work is getting in the way of the blog. I did manage to make a 15 page table and write a VERY rough couple of sections for the paper, though. I found out today that the essay has to be approved by the 26th (by my two readers, not just Boss-man-Dan) in order for me not to pay for next term (what's another $2000 at this point?)... anyone think that can happen? Just to make me think it possible, I was told that since I'm writing for publication, the length limits are very flexible, meaning I probably only have to write this one paper instead of two. No one outside of my Hopkins buddies may understand any of this, but it's good for me to "talk" it through - sorry again.

So anyway, I may not blog much - if you need to hear stories about my crazy neighbors, give me a call.

And finally, go gators :)

A story most blog-worthy.

Last night I discovered that I live in the ghetto. Who knew? As I was finishing up with dinner we experienced a power outage. Okay, I thought, I can handle this. Though I do not own a flashlight (oops), I do have a plethora of candles and keep a lighter handy for occasions such as this (and for all the crack smoking). So I lit several candles and finished my dinner (very romantic). About this time I start hearing huge banging sounds outside. Gunshots? I don't think so. Then comes the screams. Now I start to worry. I recall the story of the woman in New York who was killed while all the people watched from their windows and didn't do anything. What to do, what to do? Now I can make out that she is definitely close and screaming for help. I decided to investigate further. Once on my back patio I find that others are also coming to her rescue (good job, neighbors!) - phew, the pressure's off. Even #12 (yes, he returned last night) was out there - two points for him (he's still WAY in the hole). So we discover it's the woman who lives kitty-corner to me - I can see her sliding glass doors from mine - and she is HYSTERICAL. She is screaming for help, saying that she's locked in her house, can't get out, her baby is crying and she doesn't know what to do. Hhmmm, I think - has the baby never cried before? And the power is out, yes, but I'm pretty sure that doesn't interfere with the locking mechanisms on our front and back doors (not that I'm an expert, but they are just regular deadbolts). Anyway, she is SCREAMING for help, telling us to call the police or kick in her glass door. Yep, seriously. Probably not the best idea with a baby inside, I'm thinking to myself, but okay. So one of the good samaritans concedes and calls 911 (911!) while others are using flashlights to look at her door/lock and figure out why she can't get out. While they communicate through the glass she is asked for her address to give to the police... and she doesn't know it! Seriously? I know for a fact that this woman has lived in these apartments at least as long as I have. Wow. So someone comes up with the address for the cops, who I'm sure are also shaking their heads in bewilderment, and the guys with the flashlight tell her to walk to her front door while they hold the light and try to get out that way (since she CAN'T FIGURE OUT HOW TO UNLOCK HER BACK DOOR). After she moves the entryway closet out of the way and finds the front door she realizes that, what do you know, she can get out afterall. Wow. This was one of the craziest things I've ever seen. Who knew that my neighbors were so cool? So I walked back inside, shaking my head, and thought to myself, "this is going on the blog". You're welcome.

20 hours later...

I've returned to (ridiculously warm) Florida! Seriously, was it always this hot here? The warm clothes I bought for my Northwest adventure will be stored for the time being, as 80 degrees is too hot for sweaters, even for me (and y'all know how I feel about sweaters). Needless to say (but I will anyway), the gatos were SUPER excited to see me. Jack didn't know what to do with himself - he literally ran up and down the stairs. So, so cute. They followed me around all night and morning (purring), both sleeping on the bed with me and laying on the bathroom floor while I showered. Who says cats don't have personality? They need to meet these guys. And since I did ZERO work while I was gone (sorry, bossman), it's time to "hunker down" and write this paper. Wish me luck. On an aside, I had a super yucky dream about the b-man and mkate. yuck yuck yuck. It wasn't the ideal way to spend my first night home. On a bright note, #12 is still away, so no loud neighbor noise [yet]. I'll try to blog intermittently while slaving away on my long overdue project.

Happy New Year to all.