Happy Halloween! I hope it's puuuuuurrfect!

This was a complete last minute decision. I laughed at myself when I finished doing my makeup.

And then my brother didn't have a costume. So of course I solved the problem:

Starbucks is my hero

I woke up this morning completely concert hung over and without any power. Guess who was back! The company that is fixing the power lines (That is what they're called, correct?). Three blocks over. So I woke up this morning at 10:30 (so my parents told me) with no power. And a dead phone.

One fish, two fish, red fish, blue fish...

As I sit here, with my open Word document, watching my laptop battery drain (my phone died hours ago. Sorry Tay, Jenny, Curtis and Maddie!) and waiting for the power and internet to come back on in my house, I listen to my dad and neighbors loudly discuss their Republican ways.

My sister and I being obnoxious.

Insert my embarrassing excited shrieking here.

I just won tickets to see Walk The Moon and Gold Fields in an exclusive performance.

Right after I promised myself that no more concerts until I got a job. BUT since I didn't pay for these tickets...

I GET TO SEE WALK THE MOON.

That is all.

I should stop watching horror movies.

Or just stop writing essays right before bed.

I got up last night at about 4am, and I walked into the bathroom to find a spider on the wall.

First thought that came to my mind was "Alright. If I don't kill the spider now, it's just going to eat me in my sleep." Obviously. Because that's what spiders do.

But whatever. I was half asleep and it seemed like infallible logic at the time.

So I killed the spider. But then I thought to myself "What if the spider was trying to become a mother? And all she wanted to do was make a nice home for herself and her future children in my bathroom?" And I realized that in my murderous quest to protect myself from being eaten, I destroyed the dream of a tiny, unsuspecting spider.

Moral of the story? Don't do essays before bed. They put you on a murderous path that leads to destruction for all.

Ready, set, WRITE.

I have my chinese food and my Starbucks coffee with add shots.

Now I have to write a 3 paged paper due in less than 5 hours.

Challenge accepted.

Restless.

As much as I love living in California, I don't like living in small towns. It makes me restless and fidgety.

Nothing going on upstairs.

I have nothing to say.

All that is going through my head right now is the incredibly long list of things I need to complete.

Instead I will continue to listen to Freelance Whales and read.

MMMMMMM.

Crème brulée Häagen-Dazs.

Mint Chip Häagen-Dazs.

Yes.

My sister just had a melt down.

My mom bribed me with ice cream to help my sister make an outline for homework.

My sister is 10 and she learns slower than some, so I have explain things differently to her. One thing to know, you can't overload her with information. While I need information all at once, then reiterated one at a time, for her, you have to take it one step at a time. Slowly.

She has absolutely no idea what an outline is, so I was taking it one step at a time. I was making her go through the book and make bullet points of all the important information that she needed. My mother decided to intervene once I sent her off.

Hence: the meltdown.

My mother decided to give her all the information at once and it stressed my sister out, so she started crying. Of course, this is my fault because I wasn't "helping".

I finally managed to get my mom to stop talking, and I explained in simple terms what an outline was.  Mom had read her this: "Subdivided topics by a system of numbers and letters, followed by a period". Well of course she was confused. She's 10.

I got mom out the door, I have my sister settled, writing down bullets points with important information, and now I'm going to go get us ice cream so we can eat that while we structure the points into an outline.

Ciao for now!

Transferring schools is HARD.

I have Taylor helping me look for the transferable credit requirements and we're both having trouble finding all the information. This is difficult. 

I'm planning to stay at my current college for the end of Spring 2013, and then hopefully transfer to a theatre arts school. Only problem is that it's impossible to find the class requirements to transfer. Urg merg.

Oh well. I shall continue to search and hopefully I'll find something soon.

In the meantime, I'm going to start looking for monologues.

Bucket List #31

You know those bands that you hear on their album and think that there is no way they can ever be that amazing live?

Freelance Whales is that amazing.

Why do we get dressed up for concerts?

Do we actually think that  the band members up on stage are going to be able to pick us out of a huge, screaming crowd and say "That's the one. I want to date that one."

Highly unlikely.

So why do we go through the stress of trying to make ourselves look the best we ever have?

Quick Update!

Since I did absolutely nothing today! No really. I can't remember what I did today. I just know I was wrapped up in my heating blanket all day because my mother likes it when the air conditioning causes snow in our house.

Does anyone actually enjoy writing essays?

Because I know I don't. Give me a topic, I can converse about it, but as soon as I'm told to sit and write a 3 paged paper on it, my mind completely blanks on all intelligent thought, and I get a continuous loop of what-can-I-possibly-do-to-put-off-writing-this-essay running through my head.

'Did you get a job yet?'

I really hate saying that my dad only talks to me about finding a job, but wow! My dad only talks to me about finding a job! Which is really hard in this economy and in this small town.

I'll admit, I haven't been looking as hard as I could be, but honestly? I don't want to be stuck in this town with a job.  I want to find a roommate more central city, find a job there, and earn my money that way. I don't want to have obligations keeping me in this town anymore than there already are.

It's not even midnight yet.

Today has been so terribly long. Not 'terribly' in a sense of it was terrible, just 'terribly' in a sense of why-am-I-not-asleep-yet-because-I-have-been-awake-for-way-too-many-hours.

Pumpkin Spice Muffin Tops

I woke up this morning, like every morning, with a pumpkin craving.  My first thought was pumpkin pancakes, but since I have yet to actually make pancakes and I know IHOP doesn't deliver, I decided against that.

Since my Starbucks (the one I am a loyal follower to) isn't getting their next pumpkin spice shipment until (hopefully) tomorrow, that was out of the question too.  Then I found the Inside BruCrew Life blog, and all their pumpkin recipes. Of which I have no ingredients (or time) for.

And then me and my stupid self realized something.  I have a Cookbook binder with a recipe for Pumpkin Spice Muffin Tops. And the 2 ingredients for that.  So I immediately set forth to make these treats.

Ingredients:

• Betty Crocker Spice Super Moist Cake mix
• 1/2 can (14.5 oz (out of the 29 oz can)) of Libby's 100% Pure Pumpkin

Put both ingredients into a bowl, blend it with a hand mixer, then drop by medium spoonfuls onto a greased/buttered baking sheet.  Place the baking sheet into a 350° preheated oven and let cook for 15-16 minutes.  Check to see if it's done by inserting a toothpick into the middle of a muffin top (if it comes out clean, they're done). Then put on a cooling rack to cool.

And Voilà!

And I have now happily filled my pumpkin craving.

My sister, her friend, and my brother.

Wow. I haven't laughed this hard in a while.

There is a possibility I go to Starbucks too often

My mom called me to ask what I wanted since they're still out of pumpkin spice, and this is what occurred.

A clap of thunder, a strike of lightening, and the rain begins to pour.

We have a storm today in Southern California, which is rare, so I got some video.  You can kind of hear thunder, but I managed to miss all the big claps of it.

'For Colored Girls'

I'm sitting in front of a local high school waiting for a friend to get out of class so we can go get coffee and catch up.

My thoughts, however, are completely and utterly focused on the film I just watched. The title of said film is 'For Colored Girls'.

It's based on the play "For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf" by Ntozake Shange. Which I desperately need to go out and buy.

The movie had me crying the entire way through. It was so heavy but so beautifully done and the acting was amazing.

And I would love to continue, but Franny just got in the car, so I must go. She says hi.

And off to Starbucks we go!

It was the best of times, it was the - no. It was definitely the best of times.

I was going through iPhoto, when I found some pictures I haven't looked at in a while.

I've decided to share my favorites with you lovely people.

Take over ze world? Oui!

Gee, Brain, what do you want to do tonight?

Same thing we do every night, Pinky - try to take over the world!

Okay. Maybe I don't quite want to follow in their quest to take over the world, but I definitely want to travel it!

And with that, I present Bucket List number 61: Go on a road trip to Canada. Of which will hopefully be completed next summer. Or that's the plan, at least.

Step 1: Get a job so I can save up money.

Broke college student + No job =/= Road trip to Canada

Step 2: ........figure everything else out as it comes up.

Solid plan, right?

WARNING: TEENAGE COMPLAINTS

Lonelyyyyyy, I am so lonely. I have nobodyyyyy, I'm all on my owwwwwwwwn

Just spent the last half hour crying, (some of that spent in the car on my way to soccer) and will likely spend the next 90 minutes trying not to.

I've been so tired lately. Just so tired. And I think I've figured out the root of that exhaustion.

I'm lonely.

My best friends are 8-12 hours away, one of them makes me feel like a burden whenever I try to talk to her and I'm just lonely. I just need a really big hug.

I need human contact. I relish the hand holding and the hugs and the leaning on each other when tired. I love it. I need it. I crave it.

And not having my best friends here with me hurt. I feel left behind. And I'm not putting this on them at all, that's just how I feel. They went off to college and they have these awesome new roommates and jobs so they have an income and they're busy with all that. But here I am. Same as always. Go to school, come home, get on the computer, sleep, repeat. I can't even get a job.

I can't even make friends because no one gets me. I'll make a joke, and I get the look. And I want my best friends back. And I feel horrible for that. I feel like a terrible person for even thinking that.

I'm just lonely. And I want a hug.

But instead, I get to go spend the next 90 minutes at soccer practice, acting like I'm okay and not hurting on the inside.

Edit at 8:03: On of the girls on my team, Ashlynn, is the best person in the world, and has a 6th sense of when I'm feeling horrible. The wonderful woman brought me a Pumpkin Spice Latte. And made me cry because she is so amazing and she just knows.

Bad start to a hopefully better day

Heres some things needed to know about me before I continue:

• I don't like Mondays
• I despise mornings
• My normal alarm clock plays music. So I can wake up happy.
• I have a heavy dependance on coffee (I would say caffeine, but I don't like soda or most tea)
• The main reason I love fall so much are pumpkin spice lattes at Starbucks
• I....extremely dislike my English and Woman's History classes
• And this past weekend I've been sleeping on the couch while my mom's cousin has been visiting

This morning was one of those mornings where I would give any excuse to stay in bed (on the couch) all day. Not only is it a Monday morning, I have English and Woman's History today and I hardly got any sleep at all because my dad decided to watch TV till late, and the kids are really loud when getting ready for school.

It took me 20 minutes to get up this morning and I had a rude awakening of a horrible phone alarm to which I barely restrained myself from chucking it at the wall. I proceeded to get in the shower, which took much longer than normal because I almost fell asleep in there. Something about warm water and me being half asleep, who knows.

As I was getting ready, I was reminded that Colleen (mom's cousin) is leaving today. Which is really depressing because although I only just met her on friday, she quickly became my favorite family member.  So the fact that she's leaving today and I don't know when I'll see her again saddens me.

All ready to go, I leave and go to pick up my morning coffee at Starbucks. When I step in front of the cash register to order, one of the baristas (I never learned her name, but I really need to because she's a sweetheart) tells me they're all out of pumpkin spice. I must have had a depressed and pained look on my face because she quickly apologizes and tells me that she hasn't seen an expression that sad yet today.  The one thing I was looking forward to today is not at all possible for me, since my area is out of pumpkin spice. I ended up ordering a Venti Extra-Hot Dirty Chai Latte, but it does nothing to ease the pain in my heart that a Triple Venti Extra-Hot Pumpkin Spice Latte, would have.

It must be the last omen. The last warning that I have to get back in bed and try to sleep the rest of the day away.

I can not do this, however, because I am a responsible adult who has 2 classes today and needs to find out what the midterms will be on.

I do need to find a job, however I think I will have to wait until a better day to go searching for one.

In the mean time, I will continue to sit outside my English class, wishing the day to get better, and wait for my instructor to arrive.

Edit at 12:30: The day got a split second better when I received my essay back and got an 82% on what is possibly the worst essay I have ever written.

A little taste of country...and a baby shower.

My mom's cousin is visiting us this weekend from Texas. From where my parents are also from. Suffice to say, southern accents have been running rampage this weekend. And when I'm around family, my accent gets real heavy.

Ignoring this piece of information for now and back tracking to shooting the coke cans this morning: Within the next hour, we had to leave to go to a baby shower (of which was boring and pointless and not really happy, but we'll get back to that later).  Said baby shower needed us to bring some form of snack, which we did. It took us 30 minutes, and I can happily say that I have perfected the art of making fruit balls.

The final product:

If there is anything in my life that I can be proud of, it would be this water melon baby.

The problem arose when we got to the house, though.  We needed to get there early because we were helping set up, only to find the hostess of the baby shower "sick with the flu". (We're all banking on hung over, but you didn't hear that from me.) So my mother got to take care of everything and act as hostess for the "sick".

Have you ever attended a get-together and it was obvious that it was a dud? It wasn't quite to that extent, but we played games. Not even the fun baby shower games (Like the melted chocolate in the diaper game), but games like baby bingo. And baby ad-libs. I have an example below. (My mother has horrible handwriting, so I've taken the liberty to put a text box over the writing.)

I will admit, I got a kick out of this and thought it hilarious.

HOWEVER, we left a little early so we could get to a BBQ with some of my dad's friends.  To which was very southern.

I had worn a dress with my cowboy boots today, and let me tell you, those were new boots. Which have yet to be stretched. And anyone who owns cowboy boots can tell you how much a pair of boots can hurt when not appropriately stretched.

The BBQ was at a friend's ranch, so of course everyone went horseback riding and roping. And there is nothing better than having country folk fix up a BBQ.  Brisket, tri-tip, beans, ribs, mashed potatoes, all of it.  And the dessert? Ice cream and pie, of course. They won a part of my heart when they brought out pumpkin pie.  Hard to eat everything when you're outside in the pitch black, though. The light had gone out earlier, so we were eating by the (practically nonexistent) moonlight.

Moral of the story, being a county woman is hard work. And it's even worse when preparing for a baby shower. My day is all country-ed out. My accent is heavy, my feet hurt from my boots, I smell like horse, and I'm all filled up on brisket, beans, and pumpkin pie.

But on the bright side, I have perfected fruit balls.

Seems to be a pretty good day to me!

Make a living off a sharpshooter? I think...not.

Last night, my dad was talking to my brother, Tanner, and his friend about 3:10 To Yuma and they eventually got on the topic of guns.  My dad took out his pellet gun to show the boys and made a promise that he would let them shoot in the backyard today.

So they woke up today anticipating shooting coke cans in the backyard. Which they did. For several hours. And eventually dragged me out to shoot with them, for which I am now muddy and in desperate need of a shower.

I got to find out that I have perfect aim when shooting a pellet gun. Who knows? I could continue to work on my aim with different types of guns and eventually work to making my living as a sharpshooter.

Or I can continue in my quest of earning my keep as an actor.

Either one.

Doesn't matter.

May the odds be ever in my favor.

As I sit here on the computer while the boys around me watch 3:10 To Yuma, I realize that I have no idea what I'm doing with my life.  I'm a student at a community college with average grades, a caffeine addiction, an excessively long Bucket List, and a huge dream to go into theatre.

Well. What am I going to do with that?

Study really hard until my GPA is perfect? Not likely.

Cut back on the coffee? Hah.

No. You know what I'm going to do? I'm going to work my (not so perky) tush off in my theatre classes, go to as many auditions as I can (hopefully getting call backs), and blog about my life.

All the while, working through my Bucket List, one number at a time.