The Diary of a Nerdy Girl

Well the birthday, she be over with. It was pretty low key this year, mainly consisting of laziness, shopping, dinner out, and a spa trip. It's a shame that every day can't be like that, but c'est le vie I suppose. My mom brought over cake, some gifts and a balloon. Which was practically the best gift of all. Both of the cats lost their fool mind watching the floating thing that thwarted their best swatting attempts! Shame but I don't have any video of their antics. For the safety of the balloon, it's kept in the closet when I'm not there to protect it. Later there was shopping at JC Penny. The store must now be added to the ever growing list of stores my wallet isn't safe in. Damnit! Why are all the good stores banned?

Even still later I went to Viva to get pampered like whoa. I spent some time in the sauna, which reminded me of climbing into my car in the middle of summer. After that there was a facial, which involved more steam. Naturally the lady had a litany of products she recommended to help me deal with my zit woes. ¬_¬ You don't say? And they're as expensive as all get out? What a shocker. As I lay there, enduring the extractions portion of the procedure, I couldn't help thinking what our ancestors might remark on such luxuries. Then it occurred to me that the ancient Romans paid people to pluck out their underarm hair, and I figured all our cosmetic frivolities came out in the wash.

The final and most anticipated portion of the spa-ing was the massage at the end. Let me tell you gentle reader, I carry all of my stress in my shoulders & neck. I can't handle deep tissue massage, but I pretty much need it. The knots in my shoulders are huge and I should probably sign up to have someone use a meat tenderizer on them for an hour instead of the standard Swedish stuff. It's almost a game now, "how-shocked-can-I-make-the-masseur?" I even start off by telling them that my shoulders are extraordinarily tight, and most of them give me the "yeah ok" pat answer. Then once I'm on the table I hear the best exclamations of "My God how do you live?" It's almost as rewarding as having them rub the tightness away.

The only problem is having to remember how to drive a car so shortly after having my proverbial gaskets blown. I oozed my way back into my clothes, oozed my way back into my car, oozed my way home and into the shower. Thankfully without any motorized vehicle incidents. After the shower, Boyfriend took me to dinner and gave me really great presents. I passed the hell out on the sofa watching stuff I'd dvr-ed. My pile of birthday swag on the coffee table in front of me (where I could admire it). Strangely, I don't remember getting up and actually going to bed last night. Maybe my cats put the party girl into bed last night? So now I have cake, tube socks, and the Big Bang Theory on DVD....WOOT! I think it's safe to say that this year blows the doors off last year ^_^

( I'm not addicted...I can quit anytime I want! )

Curse you Barnes & Nobel, Gap, Amazon, Joanne's, J-list, and all you others who incessantly send coupons to my inbox. Are you trying to cause a nervous breakdown? Are you trying to drive me into the poor house? I'm not made of money, and neither is my will made of iron!

Which brings me to my mailbox. Apparently even my physical post box isn't safe from you sirens! Somehow Pyramid Collection, Victorian Trading Company, & Toscano got a hold of my address. I've been inundated with catalogs full of delightful, how-I-want-to-own-thee things! *meeble*

Why *sob* why do you do this to me? What did I ever do to you?

um.... *hiccup* when's the next issue coming out?

Every morning, my cats like to watch me scramble out the door with varying expressions on their faces. Elphaba's is generally mild interest and scoping out where she wants to take her first morning nap. Gus on the other hand usually pulls the same face each day. He usually looks so confused. As though he's asking "Where the hell are you going?" Like the same routine doesn't happen day in and out! I mean come on, I'm a creature of habit & it's not like he hasn't seen me do this for a year now.



If I wasn't on such a tight get-out-the-door-schedule most mornings I would probably go back just to kiss his little dim face. I mean seriously? Isn't that one of the most endearing things you've ever seen?

I go on about Gus not being that smart, but I have to be honest. He's a lot more clever than I usually give him credit for. Except when he pulls these faces or has trouble jumping up on the counters. He might have some neurological impairment which causes him to not get enough power behind his jumps. That does not stop him from going everywhere he shouldn't or getting into everything he possibly can! So, while might be a complete idiot, at least he's my idiot and pretty amusing to boot.

Every Monday I go through weekend withdrawal. It's ridiculous considering that (1) I don't particularly live it up on the weekends and (2) I'll be back to being a couch potato in less than eight hours. Even so, I'm still missing my lazy. This weekend wasn't really any different in that I did as little as possible.

Friday I had a mid-day appointment with Dr Pez. All I can say is thank goodness I see her infrequently because getting there and back, especially on a Friday was a nightmare. On a good day with no traffic, I can zoom there in half an hour. Friday mid-day, crossing the river south, yeah...I made it with only a minute to spare. Work wanted to know if I could make it back, but honestly, I spent the next hour or so crawling back up the interstate. Since I was near boyfriend's work, and it was closing in on dinner time, I stopped by for a bite. He looks so good in dress clothes. It's a shame there's never any call for him to dress up when we hang out.

Much of the weekend was spent playing video games. ... I regret nothing! A quick jaunt to the store also happened, since I needed to refill my prescription. But the most interesting thing far and away was going to see Guild of Steel. It's difficult to describe, but awesome to see.

It's like Final Fantasy X meets WoW meets The Guild meets SNL. Yeah, try to wrap your head around that for a moment. As soon as we sat down I knew it was gonna be a good show. How did I know this? Because they were playing the FFX soundtrack as background music. Yeah...I know this stuff. *smallshameface* Plus, when they "fought" everyone lined up and took turns doling out the pain. The winner had victory poses and did little dances after each fight. To someone like me, who loved FFX rather shamelessly, I couldn't stop laughing. It was also like Wow, in that these were all different guild members. They could IM each other individually. There was loads of Guild dramu and it was sooo funny. They had a basic script that the players kept to, but 95% of it was improvised on the spot. Unfortunately we went on the final night, so I can't go again. However, it's the second time this show has played here, so hopefully it'll come back soon. *fingercrossedtight* I think the most interesting part was that this theater was adult beverage inclusive. One dude walked in with two packs of Samuel Adams. At the end of the show one of the cast members extolled the audience to stick around for the later show, and to get drunk before returning. Sounds like a happenin' crowd.

Seriously though, if you ever hear of something like that in your area...gooooo! It'll be awesome. I promise.

Things have been way rough lately...as I'm sure you've gathered if you read with any regularity. However, I can't begin to say how great it is to have my kitties greet me as soon as I come home. I love love love my hairy four legged kids. I love them so much I've decided to shower you hapless folks with pictures of their cuteness. Cute I say!

( Pictures! Let me show them to you )



I find that I kinda fail at kitty vidiography. Less than half a second after this one cut off I had a purring cat in my face. Gus apparently is in love with the camera. Like head bumping in love. So, we pick up where our heros left off



So yes, those are my babies. Aren't they adorable. Oh, and while I'm at it I feel the people on my friends list should be aware of! I found a web site that has been a veritable life saver in the midst of this poo storm of a week. Hyperbole & a Half is made of pure uncut undiluted EPIC! You should check out her site...she's famous. I knew this girl was a kindred spirit when I saw this picture.


Why yes that is a self-portrait of the authoress (Allie Brosh) wearing a hockey mask! She's that hardcore, YO! Seriously I'm gonna make a 10X13 of this and hang it from my office door! I laughed so hard I cried and cried. My cats thought I was possessed, oh how they love me so. So there you go- pictures and goodness and moar pictures. ^_^

Well, there's a quandry for ya. Recently trailers for The Last Air Bender have been appearing on Xbox Live and TV. The boyfriend has been mentioning that he thinks "[he'd] like to go see it." Now, being an active lurker round the internets that I am, I've heard the squawking and screaming from true Avatar fans. I'm not sure I wanna get anywhere near that mess of dramu. So, I told him I'd go see the movie but on condition. He's forever saying that he's interested in anime; only, the most anime I've ever seen him watch voluntarily is Halo Legends. I told him that I'd go see the movie if he agreed to watch the anime. I felt it was a fair trade, since I've heard nothing but good things about the series. And it's a way for him to make good on those "I'm a nerd too" things he's always claiming.

Now this leaves me with a small problem. Namely, where am I supposed to find Avatar disks to rent? I don't trust Blockbuster to carry them in stock, especially not my store. And I'm not waiting around for Cartoon Network to cycle back to the beginning of the series. Furthermore Neko Neko Anime rental store is always a crap shoot, and that's when they're open or actually in business. So, I've been considering renting from an online store. In the hope that their selection would be...ya know actually good.

I'm curious if any of you guys have any cautionary tales to share. Places that are great, places to avoid, that sort of thing. I'd really like to go this route, as I'm not keen to spend loads of money buying stuff, only to learn it's rubbish. Especially since I actually do have a list of series I would like to try out. And I don't wanna have to go through the awkwardness of trying to bum them off my friends.

So yesterday I went to see the Earth Day movie "Oceans" with my mom. Shaddup, I like hanging out with her! I figured what the heck, I went to see Earth last year. Why not? I have to say it was pretty good! For starters it was narrated by Pierce Brosnan, so it was already doing well in my opinion. Shoot, I'd pay that man to read the phone book to me! But the movie was also very good too, don't get me wrong.

They covered a lot of different species as quickly as they could. I even saw some stuff I'd never heard of before. Like the blanket octopus. Yeah, I'd never seen one before. And though I'm not a huge octo-fan, I have to say it's awesome looking. I also didn't know that sperm wales sleep upside down. True facts, they sleep upside down! I was even rewarded with getting to see some under appreciated specimens. As the movie started I turned to my mother and whispered, "I hope they have cuttle fish" and lo..they did! There they were, putting on their psychedelic light display as they tried to immobilize the camera. And at one point you could see where one of them actually made a grab for it with its tongue.

Unfortunately it had all the usual stuff too. Like the sea lions who got eaten by the Great Whites and the Orcas!! They also showed newly hatched sea turtles getting snatched up by beach birds. At one point I even caught myself saying "go babies...go" out loud. Whoops, color me embarrassed. It also wouldn't be an "awareness" movie if they didn't show at least something about the polar ice caps melting, and the pollution (both trash & chemical) that gets dumped into the ocean. It's all about teaching our kids not to make our same mistakes I suppose.

I actively encourage everyone to go see this movie. Before this weekend is over if at all possible. Namely because if you do Disney will make a donation to coral reef protection for every ticket bought. Just like last year, they planted one tree for every ticket sold during opening week. I hope my tree (which I decided to name Bob) is getting on well, wherever they planted him. Next year it looks like the movie will be about big cats. Lions and Cheetahs to be exact. Mom is saying it looks too sad for her to accompany me, but I have to tell you internets, I'm not going to that sob fest alone. Especially if Disney continues it's donation to tickets sold ratio that they've been doing. Shoot, if it saves wild kitties, I'd go see it a baker's dozen times and just stock up on the tissues!

And hopefully Pierce Brosnan will narrate that one too or maybe Ewan McGregor!

Guys I've got a problem. It's becoming glaringly apparent to me that I'm not going to be able to keep Gus. He and Elphaba keep fighting. Which affects how often she has bladder infection flare ups. Which means I have to wander around the house picking up everything that I don't want piddled on. Chair cushions, towels, rugs, ect. It's all gotta come up off the floor to prevent her from using them as a bathroom. I had my suspicions that he was the cause, and it seems I'm right. >_<

The thing is, now that I've got him into my home and my heart....I'm not sure I can just dump him at a shelter. He's a year old highly active boy. How am I supposed to just turn him in and go about my merry without feeling like a horrible woman? But between the pair of them, my apartment is turning into something of a padded cell. Sticky paper covers my entertainment stand, all the cushions have been put into hiding, I'm constantly watching her to see if she's squatting over something. I can't leave things on the counters anymore, because he'll push them onto the floor!

I love these animals you guys but I feel like I'm on the verge of tears. I can't find any of my friends or family who is willing to take Gus in. I trust them. What I don't trust is someone who'd answer a Craigs List ad. I don't know that person. How am I supposed to know if they'll take care of him? That's something a shelter has the time and resources to screen for. But so many shelters are already crowded or humanely euthanize, which is something I won't let happen to Gus. He doesn't need the needle, he needs things I can't give him! Like space to roam and a friend who isn't a delicate neurotic girl.

What am I going to do? Because it's becoming obvious that the set up right now isn't working. Gus doesn't appear to be happy, Elphaba certainly isn't happy, and I'm anxious. I'm this close to crying over the whole situation and I don't know what to do. If you know of any no kill shelters around Austin/Round Rock...please, let me know their name and phone number. I should at least look into finding a new place for him to go.

God I feel like a horrible person! ;_;