Goals

I have goals. I am actually striving to meet those goals. Yay me!

1. Kick the Coke habit. As in caffinated soft drink. So far, I've been a day and a half with no Coke. You have no idea how amazing this is. I kept trying to rationalize to a coworker this morning *why* it was okay for me to have one Coke today. Instead I shall have sweet tea at lunch. Yay me and the control! Now if I can stop yawning.

2. Do something smart with the finances. Well, I've been wishy-washy for a while on how to pay off the credit card debt. I've been stupid and lazy, and I've got to nip it in the bud. Two things are going to happen in regards to that. First I'm going to take all the money I'm paid for working for my mom on Saturdays and put in savings. That way, once I've got a bit saved up, I'll use it to pay off a good chunk right then. Two months of working should net me about $400. Second, I'll see about getting a loan from the bank to pay them off immediately. The APR is killing me. That's what sucks about first credit cards. You have to take what you can get with the APR, since they're not willing to give them out when you have no credit history. So, start saving money from mom's store, and see about getting a loan that has a lower interest rate. That interest rate is the key.

3. Lose five pounds. My pooch is being irritating. I have this little pooch, plus a slightly thickened waist, and it's irritating. My clothes don't fit right. *sigh* Part of my solution is the cutting out of soft drinks. Which is going okay right now. I'm trying to eat a tad better, and I'm exercising more, which should help in some respects. It's just that five pesky pounds. They're irritating and need to just *go*.

4. Clean the apartment. It's a wreck. I get started straightening it up, then I get distracted. So stuff piles up again. And then I have to start over. I never get to the hardcore cleaning, where I'm on my knees with a sponge and cleaning stuff scrubbing the floor. I desperately need to do that. And wash the walls. And do a thorough cleaning on a couple of dressers. So each night, one thing has to be done. Going to make a list, and each night one thing comes off. Maybe over time I can get it all done if I go in stages.

Lalala!

Panthers kicked Tampa Bay's ass yesterday! Yay! Just because I root for the Panthers. I actually even watch when they're playing well.

***

Happy Birthday valentinemichel!

*does a sexy, happy birthday dance, just for Val*

"Shake your booty...uh uh...Shake your booty!"

Come on, get bootylicious! It's your birthday! Shake whatcha mama gave ya!

***

The busy, busy weekend included working at my mom's store, a wedding, a family reunion, and a church function. The first three all took place on Saturday. Can we say tired?

Things I learned during all of those functions.

1. My church makes me naseous. This bothers me. A person shouldn't feel this way in their church. But the church itself, when I go inside, gives me this nauseous feeling. I feel trapped when I'm there. It's some manifestation of deeper feelings of being trapped in my hometown. But my parents recently switched churches. Now I'm there on Sunday by myself, and I just don't feel great.

2. I have no fear of parents of the kids I teach at church. *g* My mother was very cautious about making anyone mad, because these folks can get mad. Other adults are afraid of making kids' parents mad. Me? Don't so much care. Two of them like to race to the Sunday School class. Shoving past old people and almost knocking them down. I raked them over the coals on Sunday. They almost knocked over the woman beside me. So no more racing. Heck, I'll make them walk with me to class if they can't walk right. If the parents get mad and pull their kids from my class, they have issues beyond how to behave in church.

3. I have a great-aunt whose maiden name is Gilmore. Hee! In a roundabout way, I'm a Gilmore!

4. Weddings for people you don't know well are boring. Weddings in which there are people you actively dislike, also boring. Hence the fact of no guilt for skipping the reception.

5. If Miss Annoying comes back into the store next Saturday, I may strangle her. Annoying witch. She's been in every Saturday since I started at the store. That's four Saturdays in a row. Every time she makes demands and whines and is generally irritating to me and every other customer (and my mom, but mom didn't work this past Saturday). If she comes in again when it's just me, I may tell her that I have better things to do. Hey, other customers have needs.

6. It is pointless to go to my grandmother's old church on Homecoming Sunday without my dad. No one knows who I am. I just sit there quietly, on wooden pews, for 2 hours. Hell, my cousin Mark had more people talk to him than to me, and he's damn near impossible to get to talk.

***

Craig, I adore you. Let me count the ways.

( Regarding Big Casting News At Kryptonsite )

Also, the L&C portion of the site...love it! Brings back so many wonderful memories of the show (even if I did skip out on Season 4). And getting inside scoop that I never knew before, well, that made the reminiscing all the better. Fabulous job!

***

I know this is going to sound really pathetic, but the cute Asian guy isn't going to work out. Three reasons. First, he showed me a recent picture in which he was wearing a fanny pack. I know, it seems little, but my response was anything but. Second, he has a son, which is more than I can personally handle at this stage in my life. I've always had a problem with dating guys with children, just because of the emotional toll it would take on the kid if it didn't work out. And I recognize that I am at an inherently selfish stage in my life. I'm very much about me. It wouldn't be fair to the kid since I know that my time to spend with anyone is limited, and I'll be getting the hell out of Dodge once school is over and done with. Third, I'm cool with someone being smart. I sort of insist on it. But reiterating over and over again that you have 5 degrees and have an IQ of 190 eventually turns me off.

Wanna know what's really bad though? The fanny pack was the clincher. I'm so shallow.

***

Will post about something later that's been annoying me to no end. chiri_chan and paperbkryter will commiserate the most on this one. I'll be friends-locking that entry and putting behind cut tags. Just some grousing and thinking I need to put out to people, because it's been a difficult thing to deal with, but most here at home are too involved in it already. They're not distant enough to provide some insight.

Shall stand and face the hounds of hell...

Mama, I'm askeered. misswindy has a story that frightens me something fierce.

***

I'm craving a Coke so badly right now. I can practically taste it. Must. Drink. Water. But man, a Coke would be so good. Yesterday was so much easier. At least I knew I'd have to get up off my lazy ass and actually go to the store and get one. Right now I know there's one in the fridge.

But hey, it's been...since 1:00 Saturday. That was my last Coke (a 20 oz.). So that's...2 days and 49 minutes. Yay me!

(no subject)

( In which I go on a rant about friendships. )

***

And a quick note for all of you who live North of North Carolina (and some of you in SC too) on the East Coast.

Brace yourselves for Isabel. Especially those of you in Virginia. If you've never been through a hurricane, they're nasty. Merely thinking that because you're inland you won't be hurt is bull. Folks, Hurricane Hugo came ashore in Charleston, SC, in 1989. It then swept through the center of North Carolina. It was the second costliest hurricane on record (Andrew being the only hurricane worse - and we all know how bad *that* was).

We had tornados go through our front yard during Hugo. We were without power for several days. And this was considering that I live in the dead center of the state. For Hurricane Fran, we lost power for four days. That had extensive flooding.

I already have my contingency plan in place. Me and the dog are heading to mom's house if for any reason Isabel doesn't turn North like it's supposed to. This thing is a category 4. Hugo was also a 4. The eye on it is massive. Those caught on the eastern side of the eye will be in worse shape than those of us on the western side. So just be prepared. Water, flashlights, blankets. Don't underestimate these things.