Okay, Nadia Mars. Find me.

I've subconciously begun looking at one bedroom apartments in the LA area. Its not like I could actually afford to move out, but its nice to dream.

Anywho, I am beyond bored at the moment as I sit in my grandparents' kitchen, but I am hestitant to leave because I have infected the rest of the household and feel dutybound to nurse them back to health as they did me.

I want to start on that diet blog, but I really need to figure out a way to make a lot of money quickly since this Europe trip is only two months away. I've basically come to terms with the fact that I will only be eating ramen and such for the next couple of months, but I'm okay with that.

Here is my estimation of debts that need to be paid prior to this trip:

Credit Cards (if monthly charge remains the same) = $270
Rent = $900
Utilities = $500-650 (this is a total guesstimation)
Gas = $100 (I'm seriously considering walking to work henceforth, which will also help my weightloss goal)
Currently unpaid debts to others = $124 (this is not including what I owe Emily for hostels, travel, etc.)
Food = $300 (hopefully this will be possible)

Total expenses = $2344

I will make an estimated $3600 from my current job between now and March 8th.

Total money left over = $1256

The amount of money that I want to save/put towards the trip is $3,000

I need to figure out a way to make $1744 in the next two months from somewhere other than my current employment.

Now, Kellie and I discussed selling our plasma (yes blood, ew!), but even if I do the maximum donations per week for the next 9 weeks, that will still only garner me $540, which leaves me with $1204 I still need to make somehow. I'd sell my eggs but it seems to be a long/complicated process. Maybe when I get back.

For now, I'm gonna start looking into local places of employment (would you like fries with that?) but this whole recession crap is probably gonna make this difficult. What I really need is to win some giant lump sum of $$$$.

The even more difficult aspect of this is that I don't need the $3000 on March 8th but before hand in order to buy all the stuff we need for travelling (i.e. railpasses, hostel stays, etc.). I really only plan on bringing enough for food and entry to museums and such. My souvenirs are going to be entirely of the photographic variety (and maybe a hot boytoy to bring home with me).

So 2010 is going to begin with several complications, but at least I won't have to worry about school nonsense. Woot!

Off to a bad start

So the weightloss thing is progressing-ish. I'm a little frustrated because I was planning on starting my blog from day 1. Unfortunately I was hit by some sort of super virus that decided to make me comatose for two days.

On Sunday night I was feeling bleh and was having a hard time focusing on things. Then Monday morning I came in late for work cause I just could not get up on time. About halfway through my shift I started to get dizzy and decided that after I finished my C-table I would just leave, which is what I did. My parents had invited me over for dinner that night so I threw some clothes and my phone charger in my trunk and drove out to Sylmar. On the drive over I just started to feel progressively worse and by the time I got there any mention of food just made me nauseous. My dad gave me some Pepto and I basically crashed on the couch with a bucket conveniently placed next to me. After throwing up a little I took some Nyquil and belatedly remembered to call work. Sorry about bugging you Kellie, but I needed someone to be aware I wasn't coming in on Tuesday before I completely passed out.

I ended up sleeping from like 7pm on Monday until noon on Tuesday. I managed to eat a bowl of cereal, a taco, and a piece of pizza yesterday without throwing it back up, but I still spent the majority of the day asleep on the couch. Apparently Emily came over to the house several times while I was knocked out. Today I feel better, but still feel a little weak. I think I'm dehydrated, so I've been guzzling the water bottles.

The upside to all these shenanigans is that I've lost 6lbs since our initial weigh in. So I guess my first diet was illness and it seems to be effective. Unfortunately its not very glamorous or enjoyable.

Also this was an extremely poorly written blog, apologies about the oversimplified syntax and all. Its still a little hard for me to focus on things.

Looking forward

It is official, I will be "across the pond" from March 8th to the 29th.

We land in London and fo shiz will be in Dublin on St. Paddy's. Other than that, the itinerary is still in the works though we do know we want to go to Scotland, Italy, France, and Spain.

I CAN'T WAIT!!!!

And my sister Arwen is gonna take us to REI sometime this week to get our backpacks. Also, she's probably gonna pay for our rail passes. Sweet!

Today also marks the first day of our weightloss contest (get ready Nadia!). I started out great with my two double cheeseburgers at lunch and my bowl of mashed potatoes for dinner. When we weighed in I found out that Arwen weighs (what I thought was) my goal weight. Nothing against her, but after seeing what it looks like I might have to shoot for an even lower one.

I think I'm gonna blog about my weight loss endeavors (though I didn't "apply" for that one job), but not here. I might make a whole new blog just for that, but its gonna be super secret and the only person that will be able to find it is Nadia Mars. We'll see.

More to come, but my fingers are cold and I need to stop writing so I can put them under the blanket again.

Ta!

because I have no life

I love this picture. SO CUTE!!!

I just got a 40% off coupon in my email for DVD box sets. I totally could've returned my dad's present and repurchased it after payday for the same amount. I could've had $60 to roll with this week. Balls.

So I've been surfing craigslist looking for ways in which to make $$$ and there is one listing that needs people who are dieting or going to start dieting to blog about it and all things related. THIS IS TOTALLY ME...well in a week or so when we start our competition. I am very much thinking of applying for this. Especially since I can do it on my own time. AND it will force me to actually diet and look for ways to achieve my goal.

the haps

Another strange dream in which me and a male celebrity are coworkers. This time it was the amazing Nathan Fillion. This was more understandable since I saw that adorable picture online earlier in the day.

Anyhizzle, I am finished with college. Last final was taken last night and I'm fairly certain it will result in a passing grade. Graduation ceremony is Wednesday, May 19th at 6:30pm. You may join if you so wish. There will most definitely be a party, but it remains to be seen when the date of that is.

In anticipation of getting paid tomorrow I am going to eat an actual meal tonight and have asked Nadiapots to accompany me since we hardly ever hang outside of work anymore. It has been difficult having no $$$ but on the upside, my grilled-cheese sandwich diet has resulted in me losing 7 lbs. Woot woot! That much closer to my new wardrobe.

Hohohodown tomorrow night! Be there or be ultimate lame sauce.

This is only one of seven ads they made, but the little girl's comments crack me up.

Christmas wish list

All I want for christmas from you is this:

A small album/collection of photos of you making funny/ugly/awesome faces.


For example:

I did absolutely nothing today except turn in my walking journal and go to the bank. Then I came home, ate and slept from 1:20 to 5:45pm. Then I ate some more.

Its nice to have an actual day off sometimes.

WELCOME HOME KTP!!!

So due to unforeseen financial difficulties on my parent's part (i.e. they found out they'll need to pay the entire $500 dwp bill for my grandparents + the $300 it took to fix my grandma's car two days ago), I will need to return half of the presents I bought yesterday in order to pay one of their bills and still be able to eat, drive, etc. until payday next friday.

After my initial "that blows" I've come to be okay with it. I can always buy them again. In fact, I was slightly tempted to return it all except the boxset I got my dad is a way better deal at 40% off and I need my little cousin's bday present for Tuesday. Unfortunately, these two things are also the most expensive items, but c'est la vie.

Just so you know, its highly likely that if you get a present from me it will be made by my two little hands.

I had a dream the other night in which Jamie Bamber (was gonna do the towel pic, but decided to show some variety) and I were running some sort of summer camp. It was weird how normal our conversations were. Oh and one of the little kids at the camp was Kellie's daughter. Definitely Kellie's daughter, very precocious.

Anyway, it was just such an odd dream and when I woke up and recalled it later in the day it left me a sort of "hmm" feeling.

Went to the gathering (it was a bonfire) and had an excellent time. All the peeps there were very interesting and welcoming.

Also I found out that my final next wednesday is gonna be open book & notes. Unfortunately we only know the general themes that we have to choose from and not necessarily what kind of question we're answering. so I have to prepare in a vague sort of way.

This week is strangely boy week for me.

Went to a bar with classmates last night and ended up giving this guy my phone number (first time--eek!). We'll see if he uses it :(

Tonight after class I'm going to a gathering that this guy from my summer school class invited me to. I debated for a long time about going cause I will literally only know him. Plus apparently his friends are super quick-witted and I have little faith in my wit. Especially in social situations with new people. I could still back out, but we'll see. If it gets too awkward I'll just bone out cause I have to be up by 6am anyway.

*sigh* today I basically undid all my efforts at saving money. I spent about $130 at Borders today getting prezzies with my discount. It coulda been worse but I decided against getting a couple of things at the last minute-->including the Star Trek DVD with the hopes that Santa will leave that in my stocking along with the Vikings.

I should probably start listening to the class discussion...

In case you missed it

Awesomeness

Plans

It is Christmastime and I am happy.

Also, I've made a few life decisions that hopefully will work out well.

1. I've decided not to apply to Grad school this year because of a few reasons: I haven't taken the GRE yet and some of them require this--and its not something I want to rush into, your portfolio is like 90% of what they're judging and I don't think mine is up to par--I've been splitting my focus what with school/work/etc., and I really don't want to rush back into school because I'm still a little iffy on what I want from my life and not confident in making that financial commitment.
2. I need to get a second job. This may seem like a stupid idea in lieu of the portfolio biz, but the fact is I need more money. I've been cutting back spending recently and its sort of working (i.e. I actually have $$ in my bank account), but its not helping eliminate my credit card debt and its not really allowing me to save a whole lot. Starting in July I'm gonna be paying back my student loans and ideally I'd like to have my credit card debt taken care of.
3. Its time to lose weight. My immediate family is having a friendly competition in order for us all to get a little healthier. Whoever loses the most weight (in terms of %--biggest loser status) by the end of April 2010 will get a new wardrobe (a few outfits) compliments of the rest of us. I intend to win.
4. I'm going to write a book. Who knows if it will get published, I'm just going to write it. I won't describe it here (cause I don't trust the interwebs) but it is an awesome idea and you will love it. Just ask me for deets if you're curious.

I guess its kinda like new year's resolutions but I never actually follow through with those so hopefully these will work out. CROSS YOUR FINGERS!

Come April, I will look like this:

Quote of the day

"Dominic, if you don't settle down in the next ten seconds, I'm gonna text Santa."

So my sister is coming home tonight from a 2 week long vacation. I've spent approximately one week of that time by myself at my house.

It was really nice.

I find that I kind of like living alone after living with other people my whole life (most of whom were family). I'm sure there would be some days that I'd want someone to talk to about my day, but I like not having to worry about what kind of mood someone else is in when I get home, or if they cleaned up after themselves, etc. I think it might be fun to live alone for like 6 months as a test run. We'll see. My future is hazy, especially with that darn 2012 approaching.

I feel like my life is that cliche scene in a bad romantic comedy

So apparently at the ripe old age of 23 I've reached that point in life where if I mention a guy's name every woman in my family has to ask if he is single/we are dating.

Wtf?

My love life = pathetic.

More accurately, my love life = non-existent.

A few people have said to me that they're going to find someone to hook me up with. But, frankly, the only people who have said this are people whose friends I really never ever want to meet. Ever.

Anywho, vacation did me well. I have been in quite the chipper mood since and work has been waaaaay less stressful/annoying. The only weird thing is our new GM. He doesn't speak. Terin and I were having a conversation about how annoyingly passive he is. I don't bother saying Hi to him because frankly I couldn't care less if he knows I exist. As long as he is aware that I will never be wearing an earpiece, I am fine. Similarly, I have no inclination whatsoever to introduce myself to/befriend the twenty-something newbies we hired. I hardly ever interact with other people and when I do, its intentional on my part. So, sorry new hires, but you're just not worth my time. Especially since none of you are attractive looking males upon which I can gaze in delight. Fugly the lot of you.

Moving on.

I am currently sitting in the school library composing this post instead of composing a 10 page paper on Feminism & The Scarlet Letter. I'm sitting in the library because my fraking interwebs won't work at home (argh!!!!) and I'm blogging because I have a latent desire to sabatoge my academic success in order to avoid entering "the real world". However, this may be slightly unsuccessful in itself because "the real world" basically means getting a job and this bitch has been consistently employed since the 5th grade.

I have exactly one and a half pages written on the scandalous Hester Prynne and her role as a feminist icon. Well, at this point, there's not actually too much on her cause I started out with the reference to Anne Hutchinson in the opening chapter. *yawn* I hate this book.

In other news, that blasted 7th check plus in my writing class eluded me once again. The deal is that if we get 7 check pluses (plus'? pleese? pli? whatevs) out of our 10 written assignments, then our grade gets that extra little boost at the end of the semester. I'm not particularly worried about my overall grade, but in this class at least I want to excel. Because I was absent more than I thought I was forced to turn in two exercises the Thursday before last in order to fulfill the 10 requirement. I also needed to get a check plus on both in order to meet the 7. I got them back today and 1 has a check plus. The other has a check and then this scribble next to it where HE CROSSED OUT THE PLUS!!!! What the hell?! I totally had a plus and he took it away! Unfair.

Also, I got to class and found out that on one of those days I was absent they changed the schedule and apparently I was supposed to have been the peer reviewer for one of today's stories. Fun! Not. I had no idea. I couldn't even wing it because I wasn't there last Tuesday (I was in Colorado) and when she emailed her story to the class there was no attachment. Balls. So I told my teacher I would turn one in on Thursday and he said I'd get extra credit for it (cause I actually already did my required review a month ago and this was gonna be extra anyway). So hopefully this will make up for that phantom plus.

In other news: My friend Jennie is pregnant!

That is all.

Sort of another thing I didn't see

So in addition to my ongoing list of things I didn't see/do in NY, my mom actually saw this and I am jealous.

Apparently while she was waiting for me and Emily at Times Square she saw two real gay guys get in a tiff about something one of them may or may not have said. Then I guess the four other gay guys in their group joined in by taking sides. I just really want to hear what a gay New Yorker sounds like cause according to my mom it only made the whole thing more hilarious. Gah! I want to witness a gay New York brawl!

Anyhoo, I could probably go on forever about the things I still want to do, so this shall be my last. Promise...hopefully.