Oh Buffalo...

I haven’t posted in awhile because I haven’t had any good stories… until this morning that is. Last Monday was a crap day, so in preparation of another potentially equally bad day I stopped at Starbucks for a coffee. I walked back out to my car, coffee in hand and singing in my head. I just put my hand on my car door handle when I heard a “Yo… YO!” What the… I look up and I HUGE black guy was sauntering towards me. Oh crap Im going to day (I say this because he was wearing a sleeveless cutout shirt, had tattoos everywhere , a solid 6+ feet tall with arms the size of my thigh and… I guess I did some racial profiling) Im just like “ummm hi..??” Below is the conversation... basically word for word. I sincerely hope that you all can tell what I said vs what he said so I don’t have to make a note of it… (disclaimer: sorry for the language)

“You from New York???””

“Yes…. But not the city” (again I was sterotyping)

“Where from then?”

“South of Buffalo… it’s a small town”

“Damn no way! Im from Buffalo! This is crazy!”

“Ohh… cool. Do you know of Jamestown?”

“SSSHHHIIITTT Sure do! My sister lives there! Right down by that community college. On E 2^nd St. Do you know where that is??”

“Yup… sure do. *Insert awkward pause. Ummmm… there are some good wings down there on 2nd”  (I had nothing else nice to say)

“Yeah by that baseball place. Damn good wings. And pizza. This shit be crazy. Small world right?”

“yes it is. Well I better head to work. Nice meeting you”

“Oh yeah yeah. You too. Most def. Shit… that be crazy” (and he waved and sauntered on his way)

I got in my car and just laughed… why me. I really need to change my plates on Lucy. It was too early for a strange encounter. Way too early.

 

Some more observations about Texas from a Western New Yorker’s point of view:

1.       Nowhere in the state of Texas is there a bottle of Hermann J. Wiemer’s Riesling. Nor is there a bottle of Dr. Konstantin Frank’s wine. Seriously? These Texans need to drink Finger Lake wine.  The good stuff.

2.       Everyone has a garage and… they don’t use it. (when I say everyone I mean EVERYONE except for 1 sane person in this town) I guess they don’t have snow… but still. It is odd to me. Lucy didn’t get a garage when I was home and I hated not being able to pull inside. I know there isn’t any snow down here, but there is SUN. Even in WNY the sun would bake Lucy, and its worse down here. Im baffled.

3.       I have seen a million and a half pickup trucks.. and no one wearing a cowboy hat. I am sad.

4.       I have eaten more Mexican food in 3 months then I have in my ENTIRE life. Im really not kidding at all. So much Mexican food. I am still craving a Buffalo Chicken pizza from Pizza Hut. I want to eat the entire Large pizza. (while watching the Great Gatsby)

5.       The movie theaters here are cool. (this should perhaps be limited to San Antonio as I have not seen a movie theater outside of the city). They let you put on your own butter flavoring on your popcorn AND they let you have unlimited refills on your pop. The machines are out in the lobby inbetween the theaters. Pretty cool.

6.       Texans complain about the heat as much as we complain about the snow.

7.       Im used to standing inside at work in the middle of June with pants and a sweatshirt and asking a co-worker “do you think its warm outside?” Down here that is just a stupid question (which I asked last week.)

 

I cant even explain how excited I am for the USA game tomorrow. I want them to win SO badly. Im nervous though… they only time they lost is when I didn’t wear my jersey, and tomorrow I cant wear my jersey to work. Oh dear :( I don’t know how I am going to do work for an hour either. No idea.

OK Im to tired to continue this tonight and I have other things to do. So… im going to stop. I have no other stories either. Tomorrow is flag football (blah) and Wednesday is softball… so Ill write when I can.

 

I miss you all.

Monday was Ridiculous and Tuesday Wasnt that Fun Either

Yesterday was ridiculous. Seriously. Nothing went right. Including the blog. My laptop has decided to cease performing its duties and just puts up the blue screen of death so I couldn’t write my blog last night. (not that I had a ton of time to do it anyways. But still. It was the straw on the camel’s back after the rest of the day)

It all started with pulling into Starbucks… It was then that I noticed that I didn’t have a wallet. Ok cool. But as I was digging to verify that I didn’t have the wallet I realized that I was also missing my water bottle, and my ipod. Score. This is going well. I did get to purchase coffee thanks to technology… I have the starbucks app so I just scanned my phone. Pretty awesome.

Work on Monday just plain old sucked. Just one of those days that the tasks are torture, one is in a stink pot of a mood, and the tasks are torture (I don’t know if I made it clear, but the tasks were torture) It didn’t help that in the afternoon (since I had forgotten my water bottle I had to use my cool world cup cup that Crystal had given me, but it didn’t have a lid) I dumped my full glass of water all over my desk. It really wasn’t that big of a deal, but it was just one more thing…. So I was grumpy. After work I knew I had to go grocery shopping so I could eat lunch on Tuesday… would have helped to have a wallet. So no grocery shopping after work for me. ARGH

So I just headed home, threw a burger down my throat, and went on my walk with the aunt. It was good! Not as hard as last time, except for right at the end. I love it because when we are done (its about an hour walk) we sit in the pool area for 30 mins to wait for swim practice to be over. The sweat literally pours out of my pores. Its gross, but also makes me feel like I worked out at the same time!

 As soon as I got home I grabbed my wallet and headed to HEB to grab some food for lunch. This redhead in Texas finally made a purchase that she should have made a month or two ago. I bought sunscreen. Not any old sunscreen…. I bought cool spray on (didnt know that was a thing), water proof (not resistant. BIG difference)  and wait for it…. Keep waiting…. Its 85 SPF. I was not aware that 85 existed. But I decided since I walk outside and burst into flames that I should get it. Bring it summer. Bring it.

It is now Wednesday… I have been writing this post over the last few days because I cant seem to find more than 4 minutes of free time at a time.  The cat hung out with me last night before bed. We are friends. Everyone is amazed it lets me pet her, but its really not that hard… you just have to be NICE to it. The poor thing gets tortured. She curled up with me and laid right on my laptop. I forgot how frustrating cats are in that regard. But she put her little head on my arm and draped her paw on my hand. I miss Fi-Fi. I want a kitten….

I woke up this morning in the same position that I remember falling asleep in and I couldn’t move. I was only half of wake so I slightly panicked, then I realized I really wasn’t paralyzed but was in fact perfectly fine. My limbs feel like lead today. Argh flag football kills me.

It was POURING on the way into work today. The kind of rain that everything is grey and you cant see in front of you. All you can see are the red running lights on the back of cars. Well…. NO ONE in the state turns their lights on in the rain?? What?? I looked it up today and “It’s not a state law in Texas, but local law enforcement suggests having headlights on when driving in the rain.” Suggests?? Really?? New York State is so much smarter than Texas. You can talk on your cell and drive down here too.  No texting thank goodness! But it is hard to see cars in the rain when they don’t have their lights on. Just pointing that out.

 This week has been rough so far. Argh. Busy Busy. Monday night was crazy, last night was football until 10:30 so I didn’t get to bed until 11:30, tonight is softball, tomorrow is a meeting/happy hour, and Friday cant come soon enough. Honestly all I want to do is sit and watch the Great Gatsby, then Les Mis, and eat an ENTIRE Buffalo Chicken Pizza from Pizza Hut while in my pjs and my hair on top of my head. I cant tell you how much I am craving that pizza. Its weird. Also its weird that I really want to watch the Great Gatsby. Oh and after I down the entire pizza, I would like a pint of Haagen-Dazs Tiramisu Gelato. I bought the tiny one for a dollar at HEB on Monday. It’s the closest I have been to Italy in a LONG time. It’s a little too sweet, but it is very good. Very gelato like.   

In a previous post, I mentioned that Crystal bought me a Texas flag (because they are EVERYWHERE) and I put it in a 7-Up bottle on my desk to be a “texan”. Well my parents read this thing apparently (shocker) and I received in the mail on Saturday… a New York State flag. Well played parents.. well played! Haha. According to mom it was tricky to find one (which helps to make my point!) But now I have a Texas flag and a NYS flag in my cube. (side note that I just thought of. No one says “texas state”. Do we say New York State because we have the city also? Idk maybe I am crazy) Dad wants me to tape up my flag so it waves over the sea of cubes… Not so sure I am that bold yet. :)

Ok now its Wednesday night.. I really cant seem to finish this post! I came home from work (late) and watched tv and decided I needed to walk or something. So I went on the treadmill for 30 mins (and 300 calories burned!) BUT I was really dumb. I was finally home alone and I haven’t had one of my signature dance parties in ages. So Im an idiot and started on WHILE I was walking on the treadmill. Lets just say Im extremely lucky to be alive… and so is my ipod. I dropped it while trying to save myself from flying off the treadmill (I was pulling a dance move) and my pod went FLYING off the treadmill and ripped my headphone out of my ears. Never again am I going to attempt a dance party on a treadmill. Lesson learned.

Im so tired and tomorrow is a LONG day. Ill try to write a post again soon. I miss you all.

Catching Up

The past weekend was busy. So busy. It was a lot of fun, just no time to chill really. Saturday morning I was up at the same time that I get up for work. On a Saturday. Gah. We were going to Kirsten’s swim meet and warmups were at 7 (didn’t have to be there for that) and it started at 8am. On a Saturday. Coffee was a necessity.  Not a want. A need. She swam well and destroyed the competition so it was fun to watch. Oh and in this summer rec swim thing… they start at 6 or something like that so these tiny little kids were swimming a length of the pool. Oh my goodness… adorable. They were tiny in their little cap and googles.

After the swim meet Jared and I went to the Matisse exhibit at the San Antonio Museum of Art. It was good. I have to remember that I have been terribly spoiled and every museum is not the Borghese, Louvre, or Met.  For a museum of its size, it was well done and had 4-5 rooms of his work. He isn’t my absolute favorite, but it was good to see some art. We checked out the rest of the museum after which has some good pieces. They have a Joshua Reynolds in their “european” collection (which I think consists of 4-5 paintings!) But a Joshua Reynolds was pretty impressive. It made me miss art. A lot.

The family had friends over for dinner so we hung out with them ate, and watched 3 ten year olds in the pool for a few hours. It was a busy non-stop day. I feel asleep in my clothes at 9:30 on top of my bed, and woke up the next morning.

Sunday I had to get up earlier that I did on Saturday because I was tagging along with the family to go to the swim meet. Warm ups were at 730 but it was a further drive so we had to leave at 7. Phew I was tired. The swim meet was a short one (it went til 1030 or so) so I was home for lunch, a shower, quick laundry (had to wash my USA jersey), took a nap and went to watch the USA game. It was another busy day! I came home right in time to go to bed and get up for work on Monday. Phew!

The game went something like this…. Me pacing and eating ice… me freaking out and jumping around… me sitting with my head in my hands groaning. What a heartbreaking game. Yes they are still in and should move on, but come on. WE WERE ADVANCING and blew it. The entire time that I am pacing and freaking out, Jared is SHOPPING online and not paying any attention to the game. Everytime I said “did you see that?!” he said “No.. I wasn’t looking” REALLY??? So I was dying alone.  All my other teams are out. England… Italy… have both broken my heart. USA is my last time standing which I NEVER saw coming. 2 weeks ago I would have said Italy would be my last team standing! Im shocked!

That was my weekend! Phew! I need a vacation!

I miss you all!

 

Randomness

“Some people believe football is a matter of life and death. I’m very disappointed with that attitude. I can assure you it is much, much more important than that.” -Bill Shankly, Liverpool manager
 

Ahhh the World Cup. The best month of sport that only occurs once every 4 years.  It is a beautiful thing and it always breaks my heart. England lost today. They are probably out now, even if Uruguay loses to Italy (they should) and England beats Costa Rica. So disappointing. Now I have to hope for the miracle of miracles… that the USA makes a decent run.  I wish this country was cooler and showed soccer on tv more often then once every 4 years.
 

Softball last night went much better. My team was chill and sane, I didn’t make an error (almost did but got saved by my outfield bud) and I am starting to hit better. Not good by any means, but better. I cant judge the ball to save my life out in the outfield. I ran in to catch a ball that soared over my head (by outfield bud caught it). It honestly looked like I have never played softball before in my life. Also the batting glove that I wear under my glove that I have had since the first day of varsity practice in March of 8^th grade ripped last night. Sigh. Its just a glove, but that thing has seen a lot of great moments (and 4-5 heartbreaking ones. 2 that I haven’t exactly gotten over 7-8 years later but that is neither here nor there).
 

My weeks seem to have themes lately. I am very happy to be over the ones that have been dedicated to various aliments! This week I have had a SERIOUS case of itchy feet. Not literally itchy feet thankfully. Every morning while I am taking the flyover from 281 to 410 I watch the planes take off from the airport (yeah I know… not the safest thing to do while going 65 miles per hour) I have spent many a free minute looking up flights to anywhere. Literally. I don’t know what has gotten into me!
 

You all know that the last two weeks or so haven’t been my best. Well today someone asked me a question that got me thinking. They asked me "well... where did you see yourself in 5 years, 5 years ago". Whoa... I have no idea. I was 20, living in a dorm with seriously the best roommate ever, enjoying hanging with friends, learning all I could at a liberal arts school, recovering from the most rewarding experiences of my life while discovering I was to embark on another one junior year. I dont think I had a 5 year plan then. I had some goals that when I think about, I havent reached any, but also have accomplished things that I hadnt seen coming. (that is what life is after all... isnt it?) It was depressing and strangely reassuring all at the same time.
 

Well it has been 2 months plus some days and it has officially begun… I am starting to miss things. Did not think that would happen. Here is a short list:
 

1. Cooper- hands down I miss him the most. Best listener ever. Never judges, never talks back

2. This is weird.. but the lake. I don’t know why. I want to go to the lake so badly.

3. Campfires (also weird. I am aware)

4. Tim Hortans- Oh my goodness do I miss Tim Hortans. All I want is a great cup of coffee for $1.25. Seriously Starbucks work on that. I also want an Ice Capp. Someone mail me one!

5. A legit sub. It could be Wegmans or the General. Either would suffice.

6. Back country roads that you can drive down in bare feet with the windows open and the music blaring. You can drive miles without seen another car
7. Walking in grass in barefeet. Real grass.
8. CHQ...Hahah Im just kidding. Although I do miss Laurie and Scott's witty banter. (I also miss couponing with Sam, chatting with Peter, and calling Ken when everything was crashing!)
9. NY Drivers. San Antonio ones are horrible

I wrote that all last night.. and now its Friday, Im at work in an empty office and all I want to do is watch the Italy v Costa Rica game. Englands hopes for advancing lies with Italy. And Costa Rice just scored... Im off to bite my nails and read the live blog (since I cant watch at work)

I miss you all




 

Debacles and the Quarter Life Crisis Continues...

My life is never boring. It has kept me on my toes lately. Tonsil stones, reactions, my eye freaking out, etc. My eye is back to normal. (mostly) But other thing have stepped in to make sure I don’t have a normal week. On Friday I looked so cute. (conceited I know) but I had my cute bright blue pencil skirt on. The one from Benneton on Oxford St that I never wore around the 14710, and paired with a cute white shirt I actually looked put together. Thankfully I wore it on a Friday because at 2ish I went to the bathroom and zipped my cute shirt in the zipper. I pull the zipper down to re-zip and… it came off the track. Completely. The entire head of the zipper is bent and the track isn’t going back in. So I have a pencil skirt with a nonfunctioning zipper. Ok. Awesome. Thankfully by shirt was uber long and if I left it untucked no one could see my cute undies. The zipper is slightly important a pencil shirt considering it KEEPS THE SHIRT UP. I snuck to my desk and pinged Crystal who is prepared for every life situation and had safety pins. Phew. What was really fun was that I had to make it back to bathroom, and even after I pinned it, I had leave my shirt untucked. Gah. So much for getting dressed. (Picture a white tank that is hits my waist in the front, but has a tail and swoops down to my hammies, untucked over a pencil skirt. Yup. Looked dumb)

Along the same lines… my dress that I wore to work today makes me look pregnant. Not just a cute bump, but like a solid 4 months. It has an awkward waistline… its not an empire waist, but its not at the hips either. Its in the middle and it makes me look like Im hiding something. Of course I have worn the dress 4 or 5 times now and just noticed today…

My name apparently means graceful. Haha. Every morning that I wear a dress/skirt to work, I fall out of my car. I literally scan the surrounding area before I get out. No matter what I do, my skirt is bunched up or blowing badly in the wind. I hurry to fix it which is when I usually hit my bag against my car and stumble in heels and have to catch myself. You think I would be better at exiting a vehicle in a dress. You would think…

I had flag football last night. At 9:30. Argh. We lost against a pretty good team and let me be completely honest… I didn’t care. All of the guys did. They start getting all intense. (at the end of game they decided we need to go back to getting there early to jog and go over things…. I forget that it is the nfl that we are playing in) I don’t know why I am so uncaring about the games. I am competitive. I like to win. Flag football I could care less. But the real fun happened before the game, before I even stepped on the field…

I parked my car and headed through the parking lot to the field. Shortly after locking my car everything went downhill. I was looking afar to the field and thinking “what color are we again? We are green right? Wait no.. that is softball.” While I am thinking this Im scanning the sidelines to see someone I know. I should probably mention that I am wearing my blue team shirt. All I had to do is LOOK DOWN. But no. I continue scanning. Then I see a crew of blue and think “Oh right. Duh we are blue” And right then, in the very instant that I think “blue” I am in extreme pain. Everyone know those concrete strips in parking lots that tell the driver “hey parking spot ending! Please release your foot from the gas and apply the brakes!”?? Well I kicked one because I wasn’t LOOKING DOWN. Oh my goodness it hurt. I was in public so I just bent over and did the silent scream. Im so good at that. I take a moment to examine the damage and notice that my nail is scrapped. Ok… that is a lot of pain for that, but whatever.

I played the game and kept feeling my toe throb. Weird. I need to rebuild my pain tolerance… this is pathetic. I woke up this morning and the bottom knuckle is purple. Ahh… so the pain wasn’t from the nail. It hurts to walk. I have to walk on the outside of my foot (which now hurts). It’s the same pain that I had with my other toes. That sharp, on fire pain. Sigh. (important tidbit that has been overlooked its my left foot, 2^nd toe.) It completely threw my outfit this morning. I was going to wear pants that require heels (because they are so long) but I could get my toe in the heel without dying. Tonight is softball…. Should be interesting.

Since P-Dogg wont come down and be my personal trainer, I had to figure something else out! Thankfully my family has moved into “my” house for 6 weeks or so. My aunt walks every night and whenever I am free I tag along. She doenst “walk” by the way. It’s a canter and when you are done with the 3.5 miles I am literally dripping with sweat. I love it. Having a buddy helps. So much!

I have softball again tonight…. I don’t want to go. Just because I kinda made a fool out of myself last time. I still firmly keep my stance on the entire crap rule, but I probably could have done it with a little more class… oops. And Im not throwing in to a cutoff when second base is 5 ft away from me… and Willie Mays seemed to do ok catching with his glove down. It just annoying that my team is so hardcore and they have no idea what they are talking about. Im so good at keeping my mouth shut too… gah. I have to keep my head on straight tonight and bat better. We shall see how fast I am with a broken toe too…

So this is a rewrite of the original post that I wrote last night. I shouldn’t blog when I am tired and have a throbbing toe. I still haven’t had the best week this week. Still struggling honestly. Sitting in a cube all day emailing people that they need to fix their crap, and then getting stupid emails back is hitting me. Im supposed to be doing research, looking at art and writing articles. I have been trying to not have a ¼ life crisis for two weeks now. I think that is some of my problem with the sports… I don’t care, and I have a temper (which I usually don’t have). Im still not where I really want to be at, and Im getting impatient. (Patience is not one of my virtues.)

That is all I have today!

I miss you all. (and I miss the lake for some reason)

Im in Love...

Im in Love.... with soccer. Love with a capital "L". This next month is the highlight of every 4 years (that is kinda sad now that I think about it...) But it is so true. Im obsessed and not ashamed of it. USA just beat Ghana. About time. We have a chance to get out of group play if Portugal keep ruining their chances (I am completely ok with their embarrassing lost. And Spain's) 

Besides soccer what's new with me?? Hmmm... I wrote a blog post last week and didn't post it because it was so depressing and pessimistic. I didnt want to subject you all to it. Here is a taste: "While everyone tells me that it doesn’t matter and I don’t have to do what I went to school for I want to punch them because I went to school for art history for a reason. I like it and want to do something with it. If I wanted to be practical and work a job because it paid me money I would have gone to school for economics or something “practical” like that. I didn’t go to school to work a job to pay the bills. But I kinda need to pay the bills so here I am in San Antonio not knowing what Im doing." Yup... thats all you need to read out of my rant. End of story... My job is tedious.

Thanks to Jared, I made a spreadsheet of my meager income. Lets just say that I am going to Brazil 2016 for the Women's Gold Medal Match. I have a worksheet planning out my saving. Im going to rock it and get Abby Wambach's autograph. Its happening. Every 4 years I am going to the gold medal match. Hands down.

I mowed the lawn on Saturday.

Did you see that?? I mowed the lawn. Thats it. No story! I didnt almost chop off a limb, or die via nasal obstruction, or die. Im so excited. WooHoo!

All of my aliments are gone... except for the corner of my eye. Its bleeding and red. It itches like you wouldnt believe and its spread to under my eye. Any ideas??

I have nothing to say... I have football this week (I let in another touchdown last week but we won) and Softball on Wednesday (I got in a fight with my own team about them making me walk. A guy walked with 2 outs, we were up 13-5 and 2 people on my team wanted me to take the base instead of batting. Didnt go well. Oh and I caught a ball with my glove down instead of up and I was told I caught it wrong. I said "Hello ever heard of Willie Mays and I caught it didnt I??" Basically I didnt make friends on my team last week)

Other than that Im watching the World Cup every second, and I am frustrated with my job. I seriously need some art exposure. Gah.

Ok thats it. This is incredibly boring ( I realize that) but I havent written in awhile. Im thinking about Laurie as CHQ starts soon... Good Luck!

I miss you all!

Bad to Worse. Side Effects are Real

Do you know what I learned this week?? An extremely important lesson... dont complain about something because it can always get worse. Tonsil stone... they are gross. The side effects of Amoxicillin when you are allergic is even worse. Yeah... Im allergic. Instead of a sore throat, I have angry little red bumps over half of my body that itch. My stomach, back, chest, and head have been constantly itching since Thursday. In addition a SECOND side effect appeared last night. Im not so sure that Im ok disclosing said ailment on the world wide web, but lets just say Im really itchy everywhere, extremely uncomfortable, and my stomach hates me from all of the drugs that are pumping through my veins. (there are currently 4)

Lets back it up to Thursday night when I called my parents and casually mentioned that I was itching and looking like I got stabbed with a pine tree everywhere (Im allergic. I alos break out in red, itchy dots when I go strawberry picking. I think its the hay and yet every year my mother drags me to slave in the hot sun and get all itchy. Im pretty sure thats abuse) Anyways I tell mom, who tells dad, who googles it. Apparently a rash from this stuff is normal... until it starts itching. Shouldnt disclosed all of that info to the parents because they get worried and tell me that I should drive to the clinic.

I ignored them. That is what 25 year olds are supposed to do. Ignore their parents. So I go to work and cant stop itching and notice that side effect 2 is appearing rapidly. Great. Maybe I should call the doctor? I stop at Walmart after to get drugs (legal over the counter ones) I decide to grab some Benadryl for my angry red welts and for the fact that Texas hates me and has big bugs that bite so it may come in handy to have a stash. Then I remember that I wanted Tylenol a week or so ago and didnt have any.. so by the reach the self checkout I have 4 kinds of meds. I was waiting for a siren to go off as Im scanning med after med. (it didnt btw!)

I get home and I really dont feel well so... I cave. I call the doctor. They say (and I quote) "Ok Anna, The doctor will call you right back in a few minutes). This was at 4:45. By 7:30 I hadnt heard anything. I took the pill at night when I was supposed to and headed to bed. This morning I get a call saying that since its a rash Im probably ok. Just keep taking it. Ummm... not just a rash. I have second side effect also. Ohhhh... well the doctor needs to know this and we will call you back. OMG. This time she called me back in 10 minutes. Basically she said that I should stop taking Amoxicillin pronto (she was distressed that I took it last night. Ummm YOU DIDNT CALL ME BACK!) and that I was given a really high dosage (500mg 3 times a day) and that they are prescribing a new drug and cutting the amount in half (250mg ONCE a day). Yeah... I dont have confidence in the doctor I saw last week. The new doctor gave me prescription  for the antibiotic and one to fight side effect #2. THANK GOODNESS.

CVS makes me miss Wegmans. Because I have spent far too much of my life in customer service, I am very aware of how I get treated (I also try to be the perfect customer). The girl at CVS was not good. I walk up to the counter and she says that she will be right with me. The other pharmacist says what? (she didnt see me and I think she thought that girl #1 was talking to her) Girl #1 says "Oh she just needs... something." with some attitude. Ok whatever no big deal. She is cashing me out and I have 3 to pick up. She looks at me and says (again I quote) "Wow. What is wrong with you! You have a lot to pick up". Ummm... what? I just say "haha where do I start" to avoid the question. Not sure she got the joke because she just STARED. I swear I heard crickets. So awkward. Not so sure she will be working there that long if she asks everyone whats wrong with them.

So very long story short... I miss my stones. I dont feel well, but I have so many meds in this house and pumping through my veins that I should be soon. 4 meds.. one for the stones, one for side effect two, the remnant of the amoxicillin I took last night, and remnants of the stuff I took last night for side effect 2. And I wonder why my stomach hurts....


Lets switch to random topics. The first being the Texas flag. I want you all to think about the things that the NYS flag is on. How often do you see Liberty and Justice on a field of blue?? (and come on. We couldnt be more creative than that? Liberty and Justice... that hasnt been done before. Kinda like the towns of NYS. Cuba, Rome, Greece, Jamestown, Syracuse, and Milan are just a few.) Anyways back to the original point that I havent seen the NYS flag since 4th grade when we learned about state history. I have seen the Texas state flag everyday since being here. Its weird.

This state gets more and more hostile. Stickers, mouse sized beetles, post-it sized spiders, scorpions (havent seen one yet but apparently the house Im in gets them. OMG), and today I spotted my first.... snake. Eww. Im not ok with Texas' insect/reptile population (except for those cute green lizards. Those are ok!)

I dont have any stories. I havent felt well enough to do anything stupid, so I dont have any dumb stories for you guys. Sorry!

I miss you all!

Bruised knees, Bruised Ego and a Fond Trip down Memory Lane

This morning was spider free. Thank goodness. I could not have handled that this morning! I smashed my alarm forever, not really because I couldn’t keep my eyes open (that was the reason at the beginning) but because I couldn’t move. Oh my goodness I am sore today. Sore and every single movement is an effort. I didn’t know that an hour and a half of softball could kill me. (more on my injuries in a bit!)

Last night was fun… intense for an intramural but fun. I was in left center field (there are 4 outfielders… I feel like Im back in the Busti league with a Rover) and I am not used to the batters destroying the ball like they did last night. It makes sense… guys playing slow pitch softball, but I didn’t realize it until I was out to the fence playing outfield. Our pitcher was no Larson so every other hit was out to us! I didn’t play well… at all. I grounded out twice (I informed the ump that the tie goes to the runner the first time because I most def tied) and had a single. It was the fielding that P-Dogg would have been disappointed in….

First error… completely misjudged. Completely. The ball went up and I thought it was right to me, it got lost in the lights, and bam it was over my head. But it was 20 yds over my head so Im not really sure that I could have done anything about it even if I would have moved right away. The second error was worse. Embarrassing. I was out to the fence and I could tell it was going to drop in so I book it forwards, take a dive, catch it and IT FALL OUT OF MY GLOVE. Oh my goodness no…. So Im sprawled on the ground watching the yellow sphere slowly roll away from me. Crap.

We get out of the inning and as Im jogging in I automatically think “crap I have to go to the back end of the dugout to avoid P-Dogg”. Then I started chuckling because obviously I didn’t have to worry about it. But then while everyone is being nice and saying “no worries it was a hard catch” and “eh no big deal you tried” I started to miss getting told the TRUTH. I missed the dreaded jog in where you get met by PDogg in a blue "P" visor and creepy sunglasses (you could never see her eyes) and as she threw up her hands she would say… “What was that? That was a routine catch Rusch. Maybe if you weren’t so nonchalant out there and weren’t out in the Gobi desert you would have caught it!” Haha I miss that. My team probably thinks Im crazy because I just sat on the bench chuckling. (Just so everyone knows PDogg actually told me I was in the Gobi desert once. I remember because I had to go home and google it to see where it was.) Good memories :)

My injuries are minor. Two bruised knees (from the failed dive), one scrapped leg from a ground ball stop, and for some reason my hand hurts so much from batting. The first finger knuckle/palm is really painful and I don’t know why. There is a twinge every time I move my finger (which makes typing fun). It is all fat and weird. Im not sure what I did. Oh and every muscle in my body is screaming. My quads were still tight from Saturday so that first run down the baseline was comical. I need to get back in shape!

Nothing else is really new. Oh I did choke on my antibiotic pill at work yesterday afternoon. Legit choking. I was attempting to be quiet about it. Our cube farm is silent (most of the time) so opening food and choking on pills are disrupting but in the attempt to be all hush hush, I think I was louder. I tried to play it cool… I like to think I succeeded, but not so sure that I did!

I took pictures of my cube forever ago… and now it was so long ago that its missing half of the stuff that is in it now so it looks bleak and depressing. Ill take a new one tomorrow when no one is in my row and is wondering what the heck Im doing!

I miss you all! (well idk about my sister who enjoys my misery a little bit to much!)

Endangered Toes and a Creepy Crawly

I love that you never notice that something is wrong with your outfit until you get to work. I pull into my usual parking spot, take out the keys from the ignition, slip off my flats to put on my heels, and I notice I have white stuff on my black pants. Did I notice when I got them out of the drawer? No. Did I notice when I put them on? No. Did I notice when I get to work and there is nothing that I can do about it? Yes. Seriously? (side note. I started writing this on Tuesday, and Im finishing the post on Wednesday. I got to work today and did not realize that my pants desperately need a belt. Im really doing well this week!)

Below is Yours Truly! I hate my face, but other than that its not bad. Allie looks awesome and intense.. I just look white and weird! We came in 9^th out of 29 teams so I don’t think that is bad! My quads are still protesting Saturday!

 

Mowing. I cannot wait for the blog that I say “I mowed the lawn today” and I move on. That will mean that my lawn mowing experience wasn’t near tragic (like this one) or complete torture. Alas that blog post is not today. I waited until 7:15 to mow the lawn because it was so HOT out. Just to clarify… it was STILL HOT out at 7:15, but I was ready to go with my motivation tank (this one was Train Insane or Remain the Same. Catchy I know…) The first red-flag about how the evening was going to go was the epic battle of the…. Gas can. Yeah. Pathetic right? It’s the most complicated gas can I have ever seen. On Dad’s all you have to do is open the cap, pick out the funnel thing, and pour the gas. Well I took off the cap, tipped the can and nothing happened. (Yes it had gasoline in it. Im not THAT dumb!)I notice that there is a nob that says “store” and one that says “pour”. Ohhh clever. Problem solved… nope. I can move said nob. Instead I rip off the entire nozzle accidently. ARGH. Eventually after roughly… 4 minutes I finally get gasoline to come out of the dumb can. Then I proceed to overfill the tank and gas goes all over me and my Croc. Awesome.

I finally start mowing. 5 minutes in and everything is great (well lets be real… as great as it can be push mowing). I had to close the gate so I could mow behind it, so I stand next to the mower with my hand on the handle to keep it running, reach over and pull the gate. The mower was too close to the gate for it to close, so I pull it back and I RAN OVER MY FOOT WITH THE BLADES GOING.  Oh my goodness I freaked out and ran away from the mower (which caused it to turn off which was what I was trying to avoid to begin with). My heart was pounding and my Croc has a scrape on the top. The dogs were staring at me while I pranced through the yard saying aloud “I almost chopped off my foot… I almost chopped off my foot”. Thank you foot guardian angel. Your services are appreciated.

I continue mowing thinking that I am really stupid for 1. Running over my foot and 2. Freaking out. I move to the other lawn and the weirdest thing happens… I inhale something up my nose. It was a piece of grass, or a huge pollen bit but whatever it was hurt. A lot. It seems trivial… I am aware that all of you are like “Whatever Anna. No big deal”. I cant describe the pain. It was like my head and sinuses were simultaneously exploding. Both eyes are streaming, my nose is like Niagara Falls and it feel like someone is smashing me in the face. I again have to let go of the mower (Im barely strong enough to start it so I try to keep it running) and I just drop to my knees and try to blow my nose. Argh it was so bad. Again the dogs witnessed everything and just stared at me. Good times.

Thankfully the rest of the mow went well. Annabeth ever pooed in the part of the lawn that I had already mowed, not the part that I was about to. We had to have a talk about that last time, but she listened and only pooed behind me. Hey… I take whatever wins that I can!

 

Quick side note on America… When I was abroad I noticed the size of the cars and most likely commented on it somewhere in my either my Rome or London blog. They are tiny, practical, easier on the wallet and environmentally friendly. In America for some reason we have to drive tanks, and its usually one person per tank. I drive to work in an armada of Armadas. Its crazy. Why does everyone need such huge cars? Everyone makes fun of how small my car is but I think everyone else is crazy. If you are a Suburbian with your 2.3 kids, you don’t need a car that seats 9 so don’t complain about the gas prices.  Have you all seen the Armada??! My car could literally sit inside of it. Literally. Its just another reason that the rest of the world makes fun of us for consumption. Ok end of my bias and random rant on car size.

Well now its Wednesday and Im finishing up the post I started yesterday. I was just going to post it, but I have a dumb story to tell from this morning…

My alarm goes off at 5:45 this morning because I was too lazy last night to shower and needed to this morning. I get up ON TIME and start my normal routine… Say hi to the dogs, feed them, let them out and back in to shower. I am half awake staring at my clothes when out of the corner of my eye I see movement… I look over and scurrying (such an accurate word) across my bedroom floor was a spider. Ok no big deal right? WRONG. When they say that everything is bigger in Texas they mean its INSECTS. There are huge gross beetle things that I am not ok with and apparently (as I found out this morning) MAMMOTH size spiders. Oh my goodness I freaked. Of course the spider thought the bathroom was a perfect spot to head to (because I needed to shower!) and it stopped between the doorway and the shower. Right in the middle. It just sat there and seemed to say “bring it Anna. Try to get past me."

I stand and stare at it in horror. Its so gross that I don’t want to look at it, but at the same time I cant stop. (and I want to watch its movements). I decide that I have to take action so I go grab a Solo cup and return armed and with nerves of steel (not really but it sounds better than reality) The stupid thing wasn’t there. OMG seriously? With my feet in my bedroom, I poke my head in the door. Nothing. I leap (yes leap) onto my cousin’s step stool and spot it. With my Solo cup in hand I give myself a pep talk. Approximately 5 minutes pass and just as Im ready the creepy thing takes two steps… up the wall. CRAP. The solo cup was out (I should probably clarify that I wasn’t planning on trapping and transporting this abomination of a spider. I was planning on putting the cup over it, a package of shower curtain rings (they were heavy!) and leaving it there so I could shower) So the grossest thing I have ever seen is on the wall by the shower. No way am I showering. I slowly open the shower curtain, grab shampoo etc, reach ABOVE the spider and snatch my towel and sprint out. A spider made me shower in the spare bathroom down the hall.

 

After my shower I am now running late. I creepy back into my room… no sighting. I poke my head in the bathroom and ITS NOT THERE. Its worst not knowing where it is. I leapt back on the stool, step on the top step and get ready while I am constantly scanning my surrounding. I should describe said spider… it was brown and furry. Yes furry. If it stood on a normal size Post-It its creepy furry legs would touch all of the edges. Yes it was that big and that is NOT an exaggeration. The body wasn’t huge, but the fact that it had thick furry legs was not ok.   I have goosebumps just typing about it. Actually Crystal and I googled it at work.. It was a wolf spider. This is EXCATLY what it looked like…

https://www.google.com/search?q=wolf+spider&tbm=isch&imgil=5LdUGIRo7B_Z2M%253A%253Bhttps%253A%252F%252Fencrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com%252Fimages%253Fq%253Dtbn%253AANd9GcQa1VbIsbvoEI1-rveK0bX0FaK-FurLlM-NUWfufCz2omyGpi8gqQ%253B1000%253B1056%253BSM3NAPBpl2LjxM%253Bhttp%25253A%25252F%25252Fen.wikipedia.org%25252Fwiki%25252FWolf_spider&source=iu&usg=__yXyfcyPDXMllFP5ZgXXat4exX1o%3D&sa=X&ei=7iePU5H0Bc61yASZ_ID4Dw&ved=0CKkBEP4dMAs&biw=1084&bih=459#facrc=_&imgdii=_&imgrc=5LdUGIRo7B_Z2M%253A%3BSM3NAPBpl2LjxM%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fupload.wikimedia.org%252Fwikipedia%252Fcommons%252F2%252F25%252FHogna_lenta_18.jpg%3Bhttp%253A%252F%252Fen.wikipedia.org%252Fwiki%252FWolf_spider%3B1000%3B1056

Ok now that I am all creepy crawly Im going to stop!

 

I miss you all!

Road Rage and Past Glory Days

Wow. I was in awe with the amount of messages and texts that I received after my last blog post! I had no idea how many people that I know have had tonsil stones. It makes me feel better that I am not so alone with crazy weird and gross ailments. Everyone told me to just scrape them out so I tried... According to Google, a bobby pin is the best. Just stick the looped end down your throat, scrape away, and voila!, they are gone. HAHAHAHA yeah... not so easy. After 4 takes I finally touched the stupid stone and immediately almost threw up. To me the word "stone" implies that it is a HARD object. The definition according to brillant (but crazy) Mr. Merriam Webster states that a stone is a "hard, solid, nonmetallic mineral matter of which rock is made". Apparently tonsil stones are not in fact stone... they are spongy. I hit it with the bobbypin and it was SPONGY. I literally gagged and almost lost the entire contents of my stomach. So... long story short: I didnt remove them. Friday I woke up and had stones on both sides of my tonsils and I felt worse than I had Thursday. (I think I mentioned this all in my post on Friday) Work was hard. I kept putting my head on the cold corner of my cube and gagging when I drank water. I lived though. Yesterday my throat still hurt, but I didnt have a fever or a crazy bad ear ache, and today I only have a stone on the left side of my tonsil. Where the other one went, I do NOT want to think about. Argh so gross. 

The Corporate Cup.... a wake up call that I need to get my act together and start to work on getting in some kind of shape. It was a fun event. There were something like 72 companies and 5,000 people there. We had a tent with food and it was fun to see people outside of work. My team was kinda intense but it was fine. It was my first legit battle with the Texas sun. I got there at 7:15 or so, and we left at 12:45 (that is 5.5 hours in the sun) I put sunscreen on twice and the only thing that has color is my face. I consider it a win. I'm not burnt at all! (minus my face) 

So I survived.. how was the race?? Well.. I lived through it. I had a BAD time. Im not even going to tell you all the time. We came in 3rd in our heat (and there are 4 heats) so we didnt place, but we didnt suck. So win right? Yesterday confirmed that I made the right choice and played softball instead of ran track. (not that I ever had any doubts!) The sun beats off the stupid thing, and I hate passing the baton. I wasnt a liability yesterday... but I didnt really help the cause. It reminded me though.. has anyone been to the school lately? Do I still hold the prestigious "Shuttle Run" record?? hahaha. I used to be fast, so the fact that I wasnt yesterday was kind of a bummer. 

In other randomness... The driving here is starting to be annoying. There is one thing that I am horrible at (ok probably more than one). Since this is actually civilization every road has at least two lanes (more on this in a minute) so when you have to turn left there are two turning lanes. Im absolutely horrible at turning left because you have to stay in your lane, but you have you to judge it by the hashed lines and someone is turning with you. I hate it. When I am on the inside lane I am better, because I just look at the double yellow line and I can figure it out and ignore the car next to me. When Im in the outside lane I have to go really slow and try to judge it from the curb. 

Two line streets.. that is the norm. I miss driving behind a old person from Florida or a PA license plate (we all know that they cant drive) and being mad that I cant pass. I am tired of one way streets. If you miss the driveway you have to go ALL the way to the turnaround, go back, take another turn around and try again. You are always surrounded by cars. I miss one lane streets. I miss back roads that dont have lines. I miss the 55 mile per hour speed limits that no one pays attention to. I miss dirt roads that cover your car in a film of dust. And last but not least.. I miss not having to shift every 2 feet. 

My biggest pet peeve are the drivers themselves. Whenever two lanes have to merge, instead of merging like normal people. they floor it to the end of the lane and cut everyone off. So the line that is in the right lane has to wait longer because of all the rude people cut in line! I want to go back to Britain. At least they know how to queue! 

Ok I think that is all for the day. i know that I owe a lot of you an email or facebook message. Ill try really hard to get caught up within the next few day!

Miss you all!