okay,  i’m ashamed of myself.  i said, i’ll write weekely.  promise.  it’s my resolution.  and one week in, i have failed.  i have FAILED you, reader.

i hope you will forgive me.  i am weak.

anyway, things are back into full swing at work.  busy busy busy.  but not today–not for me at least.  i woke up feeling a little less than awesome.  actually, yesterday i got off work, immediately passed out on my couch, woke up to devour some oreos and ritz toasted chips which i kept down for approximately 1 hour.  it was unfortunate.  i watched some bad television, and then fell back asleep, only to awake to a splitting headache and a shakey tummy.

the answer?  take the day off.

so here i am.  middle of the week, middle of the day, not quite sure what to do with myself now that the tylenol has kicked in.  i still feel a little dizzy, but overall, the results are 80% better.  this is good.

*edit*
ok, after taking a shower and attempting to stand for 20 minutes, i have reduced my improvement to 40%.  yayyy.
*edit*

so the other day i decided to do something i didn’t think i would do.  i went to wal-mart with a specific task in mind.  just one thing i wanted to come home with (and if you knew my wal-mart, you would know why you would only want to go there if you absolutely had to).  but this time, i went with just one thing on my list.  a book.  a silly fiction book.  i have no clue what convinced me one sunday morning to purchase a 500 page book on vampires, but something struck me and i suddenly felt compelled.

so i drove to wal-mart and picked up the last copy of “twilight”.  it was ratty, it looked like 12 different people had read it while splayed out in various positions on the aisle floor. turning each page, folding the cover, giving it a little more than general wear and tear.  i didn’t hesitate as i purchased the more-than-slightly-used book. of course, though, i only wanted it for the content, and all the pages seemed to be present.

so, 2 days later, i am 300 pages in to this silly book.  what?  300 pages??  2 days??  that’s not even counting today as i slept through all of today.

for whatever reason, this book has turned millions of teenagers, young adults, and others into excessive page turners.  i normally don’t read fiction.  and i certainly don’t study up on vampires.  so why this book?

i’m not sure.  perhaps hearing the girls at work chatter about it non-stop, maybe watching my 17 year-old cousin tear through the 4 books, maybe seeing it highlighted on tv and the internet.  i dunno.  but i have joined the revolution.

i am a reader of twilight.

i’m not addicted, no, but i can’t help but to want to finish.  the writing is easy to read, creates a clear picture in your mind.  it’s about young, forbidden love, which seems to capture the attention of many.  i’ll take it.  it’s much more exciting than reading about search engine optimization (though the information probably won’t serve me as well)

but it’s a good vacation away from the books i normally read.  i like it.  and i never thought i would.

-jessica

Call me a safe bet. I’m betting I’m not.

brand new ~ the boy who blocked his own shot

That’s what I’m experiencing right now.

Today has been quite the uneventful day here at work. 90% of the company (or what’s left of the company) is on vacation. The few that are here are off milling about in their respective areas.

So the only answer? Drown myself in pixie stix. It’s a fantastic replacement for lunch, and leaves me feeling jittery and creepy.

Creepy, jittery girl.

It’s my parents fault, really, for providing me with this bag of sugary goodness as a stocking stuffer. Alternatively they also stuffed in a toothbrush and a bag of those 1-time-use floss sticks. I dig the sticks, but the toothbrush lacks those squishy colorful fingers that claim to massage my gums. I do enjoy a good gum massage, and thus, the fingerless brush is less than desirable.

What else did I receive you may ask? Well, I have to say, I did quite well this year. I learned the secret to really getting what you want, and it is more simple than I ever could have imagined.

Ask for it. But don’t just ASK for it. SPELL IT OUT. Here is my list…here are the links. You may purchase them here with your credit card. Free shipping if you act now!

Be specific and be happy.

Ahh yes, though, you’ll still end up with the occasional random gift. Sometimes these can work out beautifully…sometimes you’ll find yourself in the refund/return line at Kohl’s for 2 hours.

Because of my line item Christmas list, I didn’t get a lot of random gifts this year. Though I did give a couple. I gifted Silly Putty, knit slippers (cute, I must admit), multiple packs of chewing gum, candy, candles, and other things just to fill the space. I even bought some of those little metal tubes with the foul-smelling liquid plastic bubbles for my sister. You know you would have enjoyed that present.

I didn’t put up a tree this year. Somehow the time got away from me. I started working with a designer to put together our company holiday card in October. OCTOBER! I started working with vendors to send our holiday gifts in November. I started shopping for my family in early December. And yet somehow, despite my obvious introduction to Christmas at an incredibly early date, I managed to put off, and put off, and put off my silly tree.

You would never even know it was Christmas by looking in my apartment.

Part of that sentence is sad. Because I do so love the holidays, but part of it is fantastic because I now do not have to worry about disassembling a winter wonderland that once was my living room. Last year my tree stayed erect until March. The year before it was April. It became the Easter tree.

So, now I have evaded that issue altogether. All I had to give in return was the lack of the holiday spirit in my humble abode. I ‘spose I can deal with that.

However, in order to make amends for my lack of holiday glee, I chose to adorn myself in Christmas colored apparel during my visit home. Yes, with my red hair, and my red and green holiday ensembles, I was a regular Kris Cringle groupie.

And you know? It felt good. Just spreadin’ the cheer.
Or something like that.
I have some resolutions, by the way.

I usually don’t make resolutions, nor do I keep them when I do. I am making one that might interest you though, reader. I intend to update this silly blog once a week in 2009.
Can I promise you captivating and exciting content each week? No. Probably not. But can I make you feel more exciting simply by the sad truth that I often lead a dull, uneventful existence? Why, surely.

So come back. Read about my life. Leave a comment if you so choose.
If you should somehow find me interesting, tell a friend.
However, please do not be creepy and steal my photos, songs, stories, videos and recreate my likeness on a gaming website. That is not okay.

I mean that in the nicest way, of course.

Creeper.

Have a wonderful New Year. 2008 was a step up from 2007, so I have even higher hopes for the 2009!

-jessica
OH yeah….I never eat the blue pixie stix. I have a pile on my desk if you want them.

“Oh Pancho, Oh! Vixen, Oh! Pedro, Oh! Blitzen,”
Ole! Ole! Ole! cha cha cha.
Mamacita, donde esta Santa Claus?
Oh! Where is Santa Claus?
It’s Christmas Eve.

Guster ~ Donde Esta Santa Claus?

and it’s finally starting to feel like fall.

oh and i moved to st louis

so i’ve seen this commercial multiple times, and it always bothers me.

there is an elephant. with a British accent. married to a centipede.

there are a lot of issues with this match. no, i’m not doubting the ability of 2 creatures, though very different, falling in love, marrying, building a home.

however, the physical implications here simply make it impossible. PLUS, I think the commercial suggests that the 2 have somehow come together to bring a giraffe into existence(their son–perhaps he is adopted.)

i know, i know, i’m reading too far into this, but come on, couldn’t they have at least chosen a sizable animal to marry the elephant? something a bit more feasible?

just saying.

in another airwick commercial, a raccoon is happily married to a mole. whaever works, i ’spose.
-jessica

I’m nowhere and you’re everything

i hate fuzzy ambiguity.

well, to some extent it is necessary, but too much of it is a terrible thing.

i feel so very overwhelmed by my current housing situation. suddenly, and without much warning, i am forced to find a new option.

i find myself scouring facebook marketplace and craigslist trying to find a person or apartment that seems to fit me–but none does.

sure there are apartments that seem nice, and people that seem nice, but i’m having a lot of trouble finding a person whose goals and wants are closely aligned with my own. even more difficult is finding a person who has those things, and also wants to live in the same area that i do.

i don’t think that i’m being excessive or out of line, though. i’m just looking for something different that they are.

i suppose i want to live near downtown. i don’t need to live there. i don’t need to be able to walk to work, but i would like to be near it. i don’t want to drive 30 minutes to work each day.

i want to feel safe. i want to be able to walk to my car by myself at night.

i want a decent looking place. i want a slightly updated kitchen, because i know that if my kitchen is stuffed full of old dirty appliance, i’ll avoid it like the plague. and then i’ll find myself shoving ranch doritos and cheese sauce into my mouth on my bed while watching tbs re-runs. not good for anyone, really.

i want a decent sized bathroom. i like being able to turn around in there. i’m not sure why. i also would like my shower to be clean. i want to get clean in a clean space.

i’d like it to be in an area that is close to things. perhaps a grocery store. a restaurant. a local pub. whatever. i just don’t want to be in the middle of nowhere.

okay. that’s all that is really necessary. everything else is push and pull to get the right price/location/person.

is this too much?

is this too boring? yes. it is. here are some pictures from mexico to de-borify this post. enjoy.

our resort–the Royal Solaris

enjoying the pool

senor frogs

the beach!

okay, that will be all for now. g’day.

-jessica

Hold my hand
My fingers are cold.
Don’t say a word
Just hold me close.

schuyler fisk ~ be still

so i’ve lived in belleville at the same apartment for a year and a few months.  for the most part we haven’t had a lot of issues, for awhile our dishwasher wouldn’t drain…they fixed that..it doesn’t really clean dishes that well, but at least it drains.

it’s a nice place, big enough, clean, but a few months ago, this spot showed up in the hallway.  just a small spot of water.  at first i though maybe megan spilled something and forgot to clean it up.  whatever.  so it goes away, and a few days later it returned.  and i though, hmm, that’s weird.  and it went away again.  and then it came back, only bigger.

at this point we called the landlord and told her about the mysterious spot.  it’s in the middle of the carpet.  there is nothing leaking around it.  there is no leak spot on the ceiling–sort of baffling.

a month goes by, and nothing happens, except for that the spot continues to grow, and grow, and grow.  it’s right outside my bedroom, so i have to consciously avoid it in order to not step it in.  stepping in it is awful gross.

megan and i both called again, and i asked the landlord if someone had been out to see it.  apparently a guy had come by after our original call and done nothing….

so they came by the other day when i was home sick from work, the guy just looked it it.  touched the carpet, and left.  and now days later, it’s still getting bigger.

the worst part is that it’s started to get moldy.

i’m kind of worried about this spot as it is taking over my hallway, and with as wet as it is up here, i can’t imagine that the people below us aren’t affected.

i’m baffled.  and pretty sure it’s not a good thing.  but we won’t be living here much longer.

-jessica

Help me I’m just not quite myself
Look around there’s no one else there

the strokes ~ heart in a cage

so up until this point, i haven’t been involved in any automobile mishaps or wrecks. at least not my own…once i had a flat tire, and there was a rattling noise..but otherwise a clean record. however, this is no longer true.

on friday i was driving along, minding my own business on a 2 lane road near downtown st louis, just trying to get a hot dog or perhaps a chicken wrap from dairy queen, when all of the sudden the taurus (fitting) in the next lane decide it would like to be in my lane too. this would have been acceptable except that i was currently utilizing that lane.

so before i knew it there was a vehicle coming at me from the side. my first reaction–slam on the breaks, okay, good, fine. second reaction, turn the car away. this would have been fine, except that in soulard the median’s are quite large and very much solid. not exactly conducive to a comfortable exit from disaster. perhaps i should have let the car hit me. this seems to be the advice i have been receiving from insurance.

my front left tire rammed up against the median and exploded. but not only that, it jammed up against the curb hard enough to efffff up some other important parts, so a tire change wasn’t good enough. she’s out. locked up in a midas for at least a few days. oh and there is a dent. i was worried about the small door dings. now i have quite a large dent and area of paint scrape-age.

the best part? the taurus stopped about 100 feet up, looked back, and drove away. yes. they drove away. i cried for a few seconds, then climbed out my passenger side on a busy street. luckily a nice passbyer saw the event and stopped. he helped me put on a donut and get out of the street.

because i was so close to work, 2 of the girls were able to come to my rescue very quickly and stayed by my side until the police came, and then took me back to work, but not until they bought me some dairy queen.

work was followed by a beer with a bunch of folks from the office.
a necessary component to an awful day, it seems.

i have some very good friends, and a lot of people that care enough about me to listen, and drive me around, and make me feel better. i’m glad to know i can count on the people around me when i’m down and out, because i was certainly down this weekend. perhaps i still am.

i’m also glad to know that some strangers will stop and do a good deed while others will eff up your car and drive away with no remorse.

lucky for me, larry, a guy i work with is out of town this week, and has lent me his truck (yes truck!) to get to and from work. this is a huge lifesaver. i was completely worried about the commute and how i could make that happen without a vehicle.

when i get married and my husband and i are picking a car insurance, it will most definitely include a car rental component to the accident insurance. yes. we will get a nice car from enterprise or something–it will pick us up. or maybe i’ll just not get in any more wrecks.

speaking of trucks–there was one bright part of my weekend. my boss had some free monster truck challenge tickets last week that he was giving out. i took a few on the offchance that i could find someone willing to attend such an event with me.

without much hesitation my little sister, her fiance, 2 of her friends, and my cousin and i ended up with thousands of other excited monster truck fans at gateway on saturday night.

i have never attended a monster truck rally before–but, hey, first time for everything. it was actually more fun that i would have ever imagined. large trucks flying through the air, crushing things…how can you go wrong? unfortunately, none of them flipped over or caught on fire. they did put on a good show though.

additionally, there were motorcycles flying 80 feet through the air, doing flips and tricks. oh, and a stretch monster truck with lights and smoke.

as i said–how can you go wrong with all of these components. we each picked a truck to be “ours” and got into the competition. mine was awful and lost right away. just in case you ever do this, a little advice, the best ones are the ones that actually have a truck on top of the giant tires. for whatever reason, sticking the neon green body of a car onto 4 10 foot tall tires, doesn’t result in a winning monster “truck”. i should have considered this before picking–i was just distracted by it’s bright colors.

we even spotted several mullets–which always makes for a good night. i couldn’t possibly be down when witnessing all of these things in one action packed evening.

t minus 12 days.

-jessica

There’s no need to complicate
Our time is short
This is our fate, I’m yours

jason mraz ~ i’m yours

Let me know what you think :)