three mondays

man, this has been a rough week! when i got back from visiting the folks for thanksgiving i was welcomed back home with sickness!!! lucky me! i had (and continue to a lesser extent) a really bad cough, sore throat, and sinus issues. i went to work monday, but felt miserable, so i planned ahead and told then i wouldnt be in tuesday. i was feeling better, but by the end of the day i couldnt get through a whole sentence without hacking out a lung! i admitted defeat and called in again for thursday. i didnt care how i felt friday, i was going in no matter what! it still lingers, but at least i am feeling better. ive still got a cough here, and a sniff there; but all in all i feel like i am doing better.
it did feel really wierd the days i went in though, it always felt like it was monday! i had a whole week of work, but not a single day back to back. strange. on friday i was getting really confused filling in sheets because i kept thinking it was monday!

waiting for the wii

last weekend rex and jeffry lee came down again to play video games with me. rex was hoping to get a ps3, but soon gave up when he realized that the line up had started two days before they came down thursday. so instead we shifted our focus on to the system that i wanted to get: the wii. friday we went and saw a movie, then when out to eat for dinner. i happened to call meijers and ask them what their plan was for handling the line up for the wii. they said that they would not let the line form more than 24 hours ahead of time. so we decided that we would stop by around midnight friday and see what was going on. we got there and found out they only had eight systems! so we waited for the announcement of where the line would be forming. after a couple problems they called out that the line was forming at the media counter. i hapened to be close to that area so i made a dash for it. i was lucky enough to make it into the fifth spot! this was quite exciting and all, but the the realization soon sunk in- we were going to be waiting there for 24 hours!!! we were guarnteed a wii, but we just had to make it through the wait. they were quite lenient with the waiting rules. we could get up, go to the bathroom, or grab a bite to eat and still have our spot. everyone was actually quite nice. i think this is rather accurate.
the people in line soon grew to become a psudo- community. rex and jeffry lee were there with me almost the whole time (which is just rediculously awesome of them). we spent time reading, playing ds, listening to mp3 players, but mostly just talking and hanging out. after about the first 10 hours we started to get a bit loopy. (an actual conversation at around 10am: i decided i was going to start up a new career as a cobbler, rex was going to look into the viability of becoming a door-to-door vacuum salesman, and jeffry lee was thinking about the prospects of assassin for hire). we got quite annoyed by some of the people around us too, they were very loud and opinionated and never shut up through out the whole 24 hours. so, we decided to make up nicknames for them so we could vent our anger and talk about them when out them knowing. i still want to punch t.c. and timmy straight in the face. linix was annoying, and splatoo was just funny looking. oh well, we never have to see them again.
as the time drew nearer and nearer, the excitement level jumped. around 10:30 saturday night there were alot of new people trying to join the line. by 12:00 there were probably about 50 people in line. little did they know that meijer only had 8 of them. hee hee hee...
we got it home and had a blast! my thoughts on the actual system are here.

the visit

finally! its been quite a while since i posted, but its not my fault, i promise! i tried to log on a couple times this week, but blogger has been down and i was unable to post anything. well, looks like its back up, so ive got a lot of catching up to do...

last weekend was a blast- jeffry lee, rex, and aaron all came down. jeffry lee and rex came down on friday. right away when they arrived we headed out to see 'the prestige', which was really cool (more here). when we got back we hung out and watched some of the random shows i have on my tivo. it was good to just chill and laugh together. on saturday we slept in late and pretty much just had a nice lazy day. when i finally woke up jeffry lee was watching some of the old episodes of 'how i met your mother'. there have been some really funny episodes lately, so it was cool to rewatch them again. eventually rex decided to plug in his ps2 and play his rachet and clank game. its a pretty funny one, so it was cool to just sit and laugh along with the crazy character stuff. last into the day aaron showed up. we didnt have much in mind to do, so we didnt do much...
we decided on a special 'vs.' night. we were looking to watch some crappy movies, and we figured it would be fun to watch freddy vs. jason, and then alien vs. predator. neither was great, but alien vs. predator was at least entertaining. i cant exactly say the same for the other one...
sunday morning aaron went on his way, while the other guys ended up sticking around till about 6. rex played his game some more, and jeffry lee and i watched, talked, etc. all the while. right before they left we watched the latest episode of heroes, and i think it made a new fan out of jeffry lee.
we had a really great time, but i must admit, when i got to school monday morning i didnt feel refreshed from the weekend at all! having fun sure can be exhausting...

the weekend

saturday ended up being a lot of fun (except for the getting up on time thing...) i was up and out of the house around 8:30. i headed up to michigan. it was a nice drive, it gave me time to listen to some of my new music a bit more. the latest brian vander ark is really growing on me. also i listened to the new andrew osenga stuff, which i just cannot get enough of! i got there a few minutes early, but soon after rex and jeffry lee were kind enough to meet up with me. we headed over to my moms new work place.
she didnt know i was coming, but it worked out perfectly! when we walked into the big work area she was with the rest of the family in the office up front. we were able to sneek in and surprise her. she was helping me little niece, she looked up and saw me and was totally blown away! it was funny, she actually started crying! after the hugs and stuff we were able to dig into the excellent grub they had for the open house. of course, they had to have the open house food standard: meatballs! (which are a personal favorite, so i was quite happy...) soon after aaron joined us (free lunch, can you blame him?) we hung out for about an hour and a half, then the guys had to get going. i headed out soon after. the trip home was a bit harder. i started to get really sleepy, so i poped in a little dane cook. that usually keeps me awake!
one of the coolest things about the day was just an appreciation of my friends. those guys came all the way out to my moms work just to hang out for a little while. how cool is that? i just felt really blessed that the guys are willing to give up a couple hours just to hang out. for rex and jeffry lee it was about a 40 minute drive just to hang out in the work area at my moms job. maybe im making something out of nothing, but i just totally appreciated them that day.

mom's big day

ive decided im going home this weekend. kind of strange, considering i was just home for five days this past weekend. but i have a good reason.
over the course of my life i have had many achievements to celebrate- graduations, being hired for a new job, etc. and through all those times my mom has been right there supporting me. but as i think about it, there have been very few achievements that mom has been able to celebrate. i dont mean that in a mean way, she is a very sucessful woman, she co-owns a business, she is still happily married to dad, she is strong and supportive of all her kids, and she is a super fun grandma to jills kids. on saturday she is having an open house for her shop. about a year ago her and the other co-owner decided it was time to stop renting their building, and instead build their own. so they did. they moved into it a couple weeks ago, and now get the chance to proudly show it off to the world.
i told her that i wouldnt be coming, having come down this past weekend and all. but the more i starting thinking about it, the more i realized that this is a truly special event for her. this is an achievement that she is truly proud of, how could i miss out on that?!? so, saturday morning i will be getting up bright and early, driving two hours to celebrate with her, and then driving two hours back home right after. its going to be a pain, but i guess thats what will make the event that much more meaningfull.

smells like teen spirit

ive always heard that the sense of smell is the strongest sense attached to memories. like, if you smell something it will trigger your memory quicker than a sight or a taste will. ive always kind of dismissed that because it sounds crazy, but a few days ago i became a believer!
i was walking out to my car and i caught a whiff of who-knows-what, but the instant i smelled it my mind went a million miles an hour and for some reason it reminded me of those nasty orange circus peanuts candies. i havent had one of thise in at least fifteen years! but immidiately my mind raced to a fond memory of going with my dad, uncle, and cousin to the gander mountain store when i was about 11. i distinctly remember walking through there and checking out all the random sportsmans stuff. jeff (my cousin) and i each grabbed a pair of binoculars and ran to seperate ends of the store and would try to mouth messages to each other and see if we could see each other that far away. my dad and uncle loved that place, they were busy checking out all the hunting stuff. after about the first hour there i got bored and jeff and i found a small row of snacks. we convinced our dads to buy us some. jeff got a big bag of jelly bellys and i got a pouch of circus peanuts. we enjoyed the treats as dad and uncle ted finished up there shopping.
wow. that was so wierd- up until i caught a whiff of that smell, i dont think ive thought of that memory in a dozen or more years, and it all came back as vivid as if it had happened last week!

a visit home

shoot, i go and buy a new computer and now have the chance to post more often, and i havent in almost a week! i blame the busy week, actually.
this was a very unusual week- we had our teacher convention in grand rapids thursday and friday. that meant we only had school monday, tuesday, and a short day wednesday (which is totally rad, by the way) so i had been a bit busy with all that. yesterday and today i have been busy with convention stuff, or hanging out with other teachers and friends, so i havent had too much time to spend in front of my computer.
everyone else is busy right now, so i figured now is the time to catch back up!
wednesday night matt, rachel, and i drove up to grand rapids and met my parents for dinner. rachel had met them briefly before, but matt hadnt. it was really cool. i have a great relationship with my parents, so i actually enjoy hanging out with them and introducing them to my friends. they were there normal cool selves, so matt and rachel felt really comfortable. we just ate and talked about how the year has been going so far. not much, but it was fun. afterward we dropped of rachel (she stayed in a downtown hotel) and then headed to my parents place (where matt and i stayed). we watched the ballgame and continued talking with my parents. eventually it was time for bed so we hit the hay.
thursday night i wanted to hang out with the guys and have matt meet them. so, matt and i headed to ruby tuesdays and jeffry lee and rex joined us soon after. we ate and talked and acted pretty stupid (what else are friends for, huh?). when we finished up we headed out to the poolhall. there, aaron and his fiancee jessica joined us. we played doubles and singles and the whole time i totally sucked! matt kept telling us all night before we got there that he really sucked, but once we started it was soon revealed how much of a hustler he really is! (ok, maybe not a hustler, but he was making some amazing shots!) at one point even i was able to pull out a decent shot or two, but rex certainly dominated the night. needless to say, a good time was had by all.
this afternoon matt and rachel headed back down to the ol' indiana homestead. im sticking around for a couple more days yet.

I'M BACK!!!

after a far-to-long absence, i have returned!!! i finally caved and saved enough money to buy myself a brand new shiny laptop computer! (the one in the picture isnt exactly what i got, but its as close a picture as i could find) needless to say, i am quite excited about this new purchase. its been alot of fun messing around with this thing the past couple days, but its very obvious ive been out of the technological circle for a while because this thing can be confusing at times...
i still havent gotten the internet at my house yet, but i dont think i will. i will just be spending alot of time at the local coffee shops mooching off their free wi fi.
anyway, i am very excited to reenter the world of blogging. i have missed it more than i thought i would!

my excuse

i havent been able to post on here for a while and it sucks. ive really gotten used to putting my thoughts on here over the past year, but now i am unable to.
heres the deal: the only computer i have access to on a regular basis (at work) now has a blocker so i cant go to this site anymore.
argh.
im thinking i may actually have to cave in and replace my six year old imac and actually buy a new computer. maybe. we'll see if i actually cave in...

friday

i was thinking about going home today because i thought everyone would be busy, but then i got a call from aaron asking if i wanted to hang out tonight. so i decided to wait until tomorrow.
i headed back out to sandy pines for dinner to see my parents once more before i go home. when i got there they were about to start making the food, i had some time so i headed over to my sisters place to say hi to the kids. they are having some friends out there this weekend and they were all about to eat too, so i mostly just got to hold my niece so my sister could get everything ready. after about five minutes they were ready, so i said my goodbyes and head back to the folks. we ate burgers and chatted; it was nice. i told them my sad plight about the mp3 player, and they understood. after a funny 'stash' match between mom and dad and many laughs, i headed out.
i first stopped at best buy to return the mp3 player and get the money (i figure i will use this as the start of my saving for the nintendo wii) i went to the house and met up with aaron and steve. we spent a good hour trying to figure out what we should do tonight, during which rex called to find out the result- which turned into a very funny argument and an equally silly abrupt hang-up (on my part). we decided to watch a few episodes of animaniacs (which i had just bought on dvd). the show holds up surprisingly well considering its from 1993. one observation aaron made what that it was alot more 'a.d.d.' then we remembered, but thats what kept it fun!
soon after we met up with rex and jeffry lee at fridays. we hung out there for a few hours and had some fun discussions. i tell you what, i sure do like hanging out with those guys...

ill be heading home tomorrow afternoon, so i guess this ends the day-by-day account of the fun and excitement of this vacation back home. i dont usually like to use this blog as a journal like this, but i think i will really enjoy reading over these posts later and remembering the fun! i hope they havent been too boring to read...

thursday

i gave rex a call and met up with him for dinner tonight. he was downtown doing homework (no surprise there) so we met at logans. he was feeling really good because he had spend some time enjoying the late afternoon with some of his engineering buddies... we had a good meal and good conversation, it was nice because it was the first time i got to see him since ive been home. that guy has been way too busy on his class projects! oh well, only one more week then hes a free man (well, except for that whole job thing). around nine we met up with jeffry lee at the theater. we then proceeded to see 'lady in the water' (review forthcoming). when the credits were done we noticed a strange thing in the theater: there was a door at the top of the stadium seating with an exit sign above it. being rather adventuresum guys that we are, we decided to take it. we opened the door and found our selves on the second floor! how strange, the theater has a second floor! we lerked around for a bit trying to think of naughty things we could do up there, but then an employee walked by and killed any chance of our tomfoolery. so we headed to the stairs and went out to the cars. we stood around in the parking lot for a while talking about the movie and what ever else we wanted. eventually rex headed out (you know, work at 7:00am and all). but jeffry lee and i were not quite finished for the night. so we headed over to steak and shake and hung out for another hour or two. its kind of funny what kind of freaks and geeks youll find there at two in the morning...

wednesday

today was the big day: my birthday! i met up with my parents, sister, and brother-in-law for dinner. i got to choose the place to eat, so i picked ruby tuesdays. i havent been there in a long time and i really love their salads. jill and tim were pretty happy because they got to leave the kids at home with a babysitter- finally some peace and quite for them! at dinner my parents gave me my birthday gift: an mp3 player! i was quite excited, ive been wanting one for a while now. but heres the problem: i dont own a computer it will work on. i have an old imac from 2000, and the mp3 player only works on windows xp. a bit of a bother. my parents said i could bring it back and find one that would work. then i realize the full extent of my problem: sure, an ipod works on macs, but my mac is so old it runs on os9, and all ipods are only compatable with os10. lucky me. i guess i could keep this one and just load it up with songs when i come home to visit (even my computer at work doesnt have windows xp, so my parents laptop would be my only option). but that seems stupid. then i thought 'well, maybe i should get a new computer'. yeh, right, like ive got the money for that. and if i did id want the internet at home, which would be even more expensive. i dont know, maybe ill just bring it back and plan on getting one later.

after dinner i met up with aaron. we hung out for a while and caught up on life. we wondered around target and meijers looking for season 1 of animaniacs, but wound up empty handed. soon after dusty called and wondered if we wanted to go out for the night. he had just finished taking the bar exam (he graduated from law school in may) and needed a little release. i was up for it, but aaron figured he should get a good night sleep for work the next day (i cant blame him, it was already 10:30 by then). so dusty, cary and i head out to what used to be lennys mexican grill. on the way we were all on our cell phones inviting anyone else we could think of to make the night even more fun. we were able to actually round up seven or eight people. so we talked and sang (it was karaoke night) the night away. certainly a fun way to spend a birthday!

tuesday

tuesday night i made plans to hang out with nathan & ang, and steve & cary and have burgers on the grill. i hadnt seen any of them in quite a while, so i was looking forward to catching up with all of them. nathan and i have been friends for a very long time, weve been friends and gone to school together from elementary school all the way through college. ang became friends with us on about day two of freshman year, and by about day 6 we all knew that they were going to get married. and they did. after dordt nate went to calvin seminary and has now been preaching up in canada for the past three years. they dont get a chance to come down very often, so it was really great to see them again. steve and i became friends freshman year of college, and we became friends of cary about 2 days later. by about day 6 it was obvious that they were going to get married. and they did. after dordt steve went to pharmacy school in sioux falls, and last year moved to west minneapolis. it was really great to see them as well.
but heres the thing: they have kids. nates got two, steves got one. this fact totally changes everything. it was fun to see them again, but it was just so different. i am in a totally different world than they are at this point. just as we would start talking about something we would be interupted by one of the children screaming or getting into trouble. i know this is totally normal for couples with children, but ive never seen my friends in that light. another one of those times when i am forced to accept the fact that we are all growing old.

monday

after being awoken by my sisters phone calls, i got ready and headed over to see her and the kids. i picked up burger king for everyone on my way (jacksons favorite- mostly for the kids meal toys...). i hung out over there for a while and played with the kids.
we went down to the play room and i asked jackson what he wanted to play with 'i wanna play legos!' now this i can appreciate! i played with legos all the time growing up, i loved to build cars and stuff, but my favorite was always building spaceships. the most coveted piece of legos in our house were anything that we could make into strange wings (oh, and the ones with bendy joints). i was curious as to what kind of stuff he liked to make with legos so i asked him 'what should we make?' out of the clear blue i get this response: 'a cactus'. what?!? this three and a half year old is given limitless possibilities of what to make, and he wants to make a cactus?!? maybe this kid is stranger than i thought...

that night i headed downtown grand rapids to meet up with sara and adam. we went to a pretty cool bar that had a super comfy sofa and lounge chair in the corner, so we took advantage. it had been quite a while since i have been able to talk with those two together, so we spent the evening catching up and discussing how we had each gotten to where we are. but, as usual with adam, it degressed into a 'remember when...' nastalgia-fest (which i totally love, so i didnt mind at all). finally we called it quits and i headed home for the day.

a special day

happy birthday to me!!!

sunday

sunday morning came up quick on me. i had to pick up my gramma in the morning at her house and bring her out to sandy pines (if you dont know what sandy pines is, its kind of hard to explain. its a camp ground, but its more like a resort. most of the trailors dont move, and the main mode of transportation is golf carts. sounds wierd, but when i was younger it was the coolest thing ever!) so we could have lunch with my parents at their place. on the way there we were driving through the town of dorr and my gramma, out of the blue, starts pointing out building and telling stories about them. i had no idea, but she grew up around there! we were driving and she would say 'see that house? thats the house i was born in, right in the bedroom there!' what?!? that just struck me as so strange, first of all because i didnt know that, and second because she wasnt born in a hospital. we kept driving, 'see that cemetary? thats where my parents are burried' wow! how cool! it kind of makes me want to go to the cemetary and find out where they are. i must say, i got a pretty interesting history lesson on the way to lunch.

later that day i headed back out to sandy pines with aaron and jeffry lee. we tooled around the place on the golf cart and saw a trailor that had recently burned down. cool. then we had hot dogs on the grill with my parents. it was really cool for me because my parents never really spend any time with my friends. they have become close with many of my sisters friends, and my dad will actually go golfing sometimes with her friends (actually, i guess that is kind of wierd, huh?) but they have never really been able to spend time with my friends. it was the first time they had met jeff and it had been a year or two since they had seen aaron, so we had a bit to talk about and stuff.
it was really fun. i dont just mean it was enjoyable, i mean it was a joyful, fulfilling, loving kind of fun.

after we got back we hung out at my parents house. zaagman came over and we headed to the backyard. it was really cool, we pulled out a few of my nephews toys and started playing. we played trackball and velcro ball (im sure youve seen those- its like baseball, but the mitts are flat and have velcro on the fronts). it felt like we were just kids having fun and playing in the backyard. it felt like i was ten years old again. i loved it!

around 10:30 aaron went home because it was getting late and he had to work, but the rest of us headed over to adams. we spent the rest of the night joking around, remebering the 'good old days', watching his new childrens tv show, and listening to really bad songs submitted to a record company. it was as silly and strange as it sounds.

saturday

saturday i headed to my parents house (after sleeping in far too long...). i actually didnt go to my parents house today because i didnt get there until much much later.
i met up with jeffry lee at the mall. we chilled, ate dinner, then rummaged through the local k b toys store. i always like to go into toy stores and check out what 'those crazy kids' are into these days. (actually, i want to see if theres anything cool that i might want to get). unfortunately their transformers supply was severely lacking. so we moved on. after a brief stop in barnes and noble and gamestop, we headed over to the theater. we went to see clerks 2, which i thought was much funnier than i would care to admit (i feel guilty about it. and a little dirty.)
after that we headed over to jeffry lees house. i had never been there before, and as it turns out, he lives way out in bfe. after the seven hour journey, we arrived at his place and chilled for the night. there was much talking and laughing, mostly at the movie we decided to watch- bloodrayne. it was so bad you dont even want to know...
it was a good old time, and i eventually rolled into my parents place around 4:30am. if today is any indication, its going to be a rad week!

the long trip home

i headed back up to the ol' grand rapids for my one long visit. i try and make an extended visit at least once during the summer, it gives me a chance to catch up with as many people as i can. usually i only hang out with three or four friends when i come up, but during this trip its time to check in on all the old pals i can.
i usually have a lot of fun while im up here, so i think i will try and keep this thing updated a bit better than i have been lately, so i can actually have an accounting of all the fun stuff i typically forget about in a week or two!

a strange craving

the other night i had a craving. this is wierd for me, i cant remember a time that ive ever had a really strong craving for something to eat or drink, but it hit me hard. i felt like i was a pregant woman or something. it was just wierd.
i finally gave in. at about 11:50pm i quickly drove to the grocery store before it closed at 12 and bought a gallon of chocolate milk. when i got to the register the clerk gave me a strange look and said 'so, just the chocolate milk then?'
'yup.'

wedding crashers

this past weekend i went with my buddy rex to minnesota for the wedding of an old college friend. last weekend rex invited me to go along with him. he had actually been invited, i was just coming along with him to do the crashing!
we left thursday in his car and immediately got caught up in crappy chicago traffic. one hour and 10 miles later, the actual road trip began. its been a while since i have been on a road trip with someone else, so it was a nice change of pace for me. we had a great time on the road, we caught up on life, told funny stories, mocked others poor driving skills, and sang along loudly to the music. the only down side was the lack of air conditioning. ugh. we finally got there and got a hotel, enjoyed a good dinner, then chilled at the hotel.
friday we got up and went to go and get chris and amanda a wedding gift (nothing like waiting till the last minute, huh?), got ready for the wedding, then headed over. due to a timing error, which was no ones fault (chris), we got there about an hour early, so we just chilled for a while. eventually other people started coming, so we felt bettter. the wedding was outside at a golf resort. the weather was beautiful, the ceremony was even better, and the whole thing was really fun. afterward we went inside the club house and had the reception. it was alot of fun, a chance to catch up with old college friends who i havent seen in five years, and never actually thought id see ever again! so it was really cool got talk to them and see what they are up to all these years later.
rex and i were having so much fun talking with everyone and dancing (which he is considerably better at than i) that we ended up closing the place down! we helped pack up the gifts and stuff, and then one of the girls got the idea that we should so get some ice cream. in theory this is a great idea, the problem is that its 12:30 in the morning. the only place thats open is the grocery store, so we end up standing out front of cub foods eating ice cream out of the containers with plastic spoons. truly a site to see.
saturday we were invited over to hollys for a grill out before we headed back home. we had a great time talking, laughing, remembering, and renewing all the bonds we have together. good food and a great time.