One two...

Today I am pretending to be a runner. I have my runner t-shirt (left over from my sorority days when we sponsored a fund-raising 5k) and spandexy shorts (bought when in Hawaii and about to embark on ATV tour that would surely ruin my nice shorts). I look like I'm serious about running. Couldn't be farther from the truth..

I have two quick things to say. Maybe three. First, I'm starting to believe that I love living in the city for reasons that few if any of my twenty-something brethren share. I don't love the night-life or the trendy stores. I don't love showing off my "business woman" wardrobe and pointy shoes (because I find that whole thing a little silly). I guess I just like the atmosphere, the options of things to do in walking/public transport distance, the beautiful architecture. I'm telling you, I skipped my twenties and jumped straight to 30.

I know some of you get bored by my cat talk, which I haven't engaged in for a long, long time. But I'm FINALLY having some luck with my "people hating" cat. For all these months she's been so afraid of me and anyone else that I couldn't touch her. Gradually I've been able to touch her back, but only when she's on the move (sitting/laying she still runs for her life when i approach). Anyway, yesterday I touched her head! And she didn't run. It was so exciting. Plus, this afternoon she rubbed against my leg. This is huge! I guess it doesn't seem all that great to you guys, but I'm finally getting somewhere.

Last, has anyone else noticed that it seems like the "blogosphere" is populated mostly by women? Every man who blogs seems to have numerous women commenting/flirting with him (or really, any man who seems to hold a tiny bit of intelligence and has gotten their blog out there). It seems a little unfair. Where are all the intelligent men who can string a sentence together and why aren't they blogging?

How do you do it...

My friday random ten (even if I wouldn't have wanted to do this, my sister threw some fat, hairy hints that I should...):

1. Stellar - Incubus
2. You Might Die Trying - DMB
3. Hold On - Sarah McLachlan
4. Fa Fa - Guster
5. The Way You Want It - Keane
6. Undone - the sweater song - Weezer
7. Agent Orange - Tori Amos
8. In the Backseat - Arcade Fire
9. Unwell - Matchbox Twenty
10. Love for Me - Guster

Ok...so Matchbox twenty? I'm not the biggest fan and I have this one song from a compilation. And wasn't Fa Fa on last weeks? I guess that's what happens when you only have 467 songs. But Love for Me is one of my favorite Guster songs, so that's fun. Does anyone out there listen to Foo Fighters? What should I download? I'm not sure I'm the biggest fan, but I'm planning to go to Foo/Weezer. Oh, and every time I have to write Weezer, I think weezy and almost write it. I don't know why...

About the color book, I need email addresses for EVERYONE taking part (Scott, did you have some colleagues involved?). I need to contact you all more than once, but first just to outline my thoughts and what our first step is (buy your book, pick your color theme). Plus, I need addresses where this will be able to reach you for the next 6 months or more. I think if I have an email list for everyone, someone could change addresses and we'd still be fine to change the way the book moves across the eastern half of this country.

Have a happy weekend...

All in all...

I don't have anything to say today, except that after listening to the Killers album I really like it. You know how sometimes a voice can be really sexy? I find his voice totally induces sexy, dirty thoughts. I can't explain it. No one's voice has done that to me in a long time. Although I have this fond memory of a computer help man...my computer used to crash all the time at school and one time I had sex-god voice on the other end. Oh bliss...

Apple jelly does not have much taste and was a disappointment in the "spice up the life" category.

On the other hand, the picture idea seems to be a hit. Although after much horrible self-conscious re-clicking I've realized that the ATV picture makes me look awfully pillowy/marshmallow like. It's an illusion (although the basoombas are pillowy) created by wind due to my awesome speed. More like it was due to the fact that it was windy and my shirt was too big. So I've decided to go with a more comical ATV picture and then I'll move on to greener pastures. Although in the future there will be more ATV trip pics.

Hey, all you color book people, email me. And if you don't know my email then....I don't know, tell me. We know someone in common, so ask that person. We've gotta get this thing rolling....

Lolla-DMB-ooza..

So, I'm in a much better mood. I found out there are ZERO authority figures at the office for the rest of the week so it's going to be a party. Or just a little more lee-way to slack off. What the hell is lee-way anyway?

First, DMB was fun. Our seats were amazing. I am short (everyone out there is like, yeah no shit) so seating can make or break a concert. And our seats were basically the best you can get for a short person (the first stadium row - in other words, the "pit" was right in front of us, but we were a step up). I know, i know, DMB shows do not have a pit. But how else do you explain that? Set-list, eh, could have been better (in a dream world where the last 3 CD's never came out). But still a fun show.

Now, Lollapalooza had the makings of being a spectacular festival experience. Except it was 115 degrees. There was no way to truly and completely enjoy it. But I think my sis and I did our best. We stayed in the shade away from the stages and therefore only heard snatches of most of the shows. We finally went out to the field when the sun went down and saw the Killers. Which impressed me. I don't have/know the CD (I was given a copy after the concert) but enjoyed it anyway. We watched half of Death Cab (which was really my main reason for going to the show) but we were so exhausted we packed it in halfway through. It is my greatest hope and dream that Lolla permanently chooses Chicago. I'd pee my pants in joy.

I've decided to spice up my summer by randomly switching things up in my life. First, is some gratuitous picture changing up in that corner there. You'll never know when it will change or what the picture is. OOoooh, spicy.

And now my dears, I'm off. I am really going to spice up my day tomorrow by using apple jelly on my daily PBJ. And to make it even riskier and more interesting, I don't even know if i LIKE apple jelly. HA, I'm dangerous.

Living without electricity...

Ok all, I am not having a good day. I will talk about Lolla some other time, but let's stick to one thing: The suckage that is today.

I have very limited time on the internet due to the laptop battery being small and my not having any electricity. None, not a single piece of electricity to be found in this entire building or on this half of the block.

I read an article in the trib that said ComEd only had isolated problems. Ok, so if there are very few problems, why is it taking 20 hours to fix it? Last night they told me I'd have power by 2:30 am. I called them back at 3:30 am to find out that they JUST dispatched a crew out to figure out the problem. That it would be fixed 4 hours at the most from that time. I called more than 4 hours later to find that the problem should be resolved around 3pm. 6 hours from the time of that third call. What are the chances the power will be fixed by then? I'm beginning to lose hope.

You don't even realize how everything in your life depends on the plugs in the wall. It's pitch black in the building (because it's old) and there is absolutely no air circulation. My sister was like, oh just turn a fan on (we were discussing my lack of a/c) and I was like...uh, fan requires electricity. Candles and flashlights is about the extent of it. Oh and cold water. I got maybe 4 hours of sleep last night and realized I'd never make it through work.

As this day goes by with nothing for me to do but read, I have too much time to think. I'm not happy at my job. But realistically, I cannot quit. What would I do? How would I pay my bills?

I feel like I can't catch a break lately. There are 3 buildings in all of Lincoln Park with no electricity. And one of them is mine.

This stolen post...

Ok, to be honest, the first song that came on just now to name my blog after...I don't know it. Anyway, I thought I would pilfer my sister's Friday random ten. I listened to at least four songs before I decided to do this, but I am starting from right now.

1. Neighborhood #1 (Tunnels) - The Arcade Fire
2. Sparks - Coldplay
3. Perfect Situation - Weezer
4. The Brilliant Dance - Dashboard Confessional
5. Fa Fa - Guster
6. The New Year - Death Cab for Cutie
7. Spies - Coldplay
8. Stellar - Incubus
9. Low - Coldplay
10. We Laugh Indoors - Death Cab

Ok, that's actually a really unusual random ten. Tori Amos takes up the most room on my mini and it didn't have a single song of hers. I also don't think Coldplay is all that prevalent, I mean I guess I have 4 Coldplay CD's. To be honest, I'm quite ashamed at my lack of DMB on my mini. I have one CD on there. I'm going to remedy that someday...if I could find all my old CD's.

Anyway, the talk with my underwriter went OK. I honestly don't think she really got anything out of it. But I feel better. I wasn't apologized to, although she did state that her intention was not to hurt my feelings merely to get her point across. I told her I understood her point and that I didn't feel her approach was all that great. It all comes down to the fact that she thinks that if I make mistakes at my technical assistant'ing I'm not up to the standards of being an underwriter. Whatever, it comes down to the fact that the assisting is tedious and boring and yes, I glaze over and sometimes forget things. Not so for underwriting. Thank you for the comment support you three...

I'm just excited that this weekend/concerts should override my unhappiness with my job at the moment.

Learn, you'll learn, you'll learn....

So I had a bad day today and I cannot believe the song that came on to put as my title. It's really weird because it fits my feelings EXACTLY. Scary really...

Basically it went down like this: I made a mistake (and relatively speaking it was a small mistake) and it was something that needed to be pointed out to me. I wish I could explain the mistake but honestly, it wouldn't make much sense. It amounts to me forgetting one step of my technical assistant job, which happens to everyone occasionally (because nobody is perfect). Anyway, I got ripped a new one by my underwriter for said mistake. I was told I would never be an underwriter if I made mistakes (because she's obviously perfect) and sorry didn't cut it.

OK, I have like 800 reactions to this. Yes, I did make a mistake and yes, I did need to be told. Obviously as someone in training its important I learn from these mistakes. The problem comes in with the way this mistake was criticized. I should have been told of my mistake and why it's important not to make that mistake in the future etc. etc. Basically my trainer should have trained rather than berated. And second, this mistake had NOTHING to do with my training as an underwriter. It was something that she needed for her process, but I didn't make a fatal judgment error or charge someone too little, I just missed a small step. As the underwriter, yes, she should have caught the slip-up and did..so now I will know to always do this thing. But right now, I'm doing two jobs at once and one little mistake is really a good record.

A huge part of me wants to go whine to the VP. Obviously this teaching thing is not my underwriter's cup of tea. It is really, really unreasonable to expect perfection from me at this point in my career (considering that the point I'm at is basically step one). But that is just not in me, I feel like it would be somehow weak to complain about this. But I think I have resolved to discuss this with the underwriter tomorrow and tell her how I feel. So if I don't have a job tomorrow, you'll all know why.

God it feels good to get that out. I needed to talk all day about that, but I can't email or call because those are "monitorable." That's not a word is it?

Unrelated: For some reason any boy becomes sexier when he's carrying around a copy of HP and the Half Blood Prince. If it's important enough for him to buy a hard back copy so early in the game, he clearly enjoys reading. And that's hot.

Lights come on...

So one of the things I love to do is view art. I don't think I view it as an artist would or a scholar, but more a fan. And sometimes it does go over my head. For example one of the things I remember from London was more of a shock video than art; it was in Tate Modern. It was a naked man just beating the shit out of himself. And not in a "sexual" way, I mean he was literally punching himself in the face. Is that art? I don't know.

Yesterday I went to MCA to see a fluorescent light exhibit. Some of it was really interesting and fun to see - but really only a little portion. I tend to judge art by how much it intrigues me and if it makes me feel something. A lot of art does tend to be sad and crazy, but every so often there is something that makes you feel happy. One of the rooms at MCA was like that. Just a happy, fluorescent place. Free on Tuesdays. Go see.

I have a new favorite show, its called Miami Ink and its all about a tattoo shop in Miami. I don't so much enjoy watching the people go through the process, but some of these tattoos...if you don't think a tattoo is art than you have a very small view of art. It's like fashion. That's art. I remember my dad always used to say that if you're going to get a tattoo you might as well get it on your forehead. I think that was his way of pounding the idea of permanence into our heads. And yes, some people do need that lesson (like the girl on tonight's show who had a huge religious tattoo that she now regrets and wants changed because she's turned atheist). I know there are a lot of ugly and tasteless tattoos out there, but there is also loads of ugly art (look around your office building tomorrow) and ugly fashion, but no one argues that it is art.

I'm rambling...to bed I think...

Sleeping on empty dreams...

Happy anniversary to me! 1 year at my job. Seems like it went in a blink of an eye. But maybe not a good blink. It was a blink where you're trying to get some eye gunk out. Hey, at least it's not the kind of blink where something sharp and painful is in your eye...I'm happier than that at my job! Was that a little crazy? Maybe....

So I met up with my childhood friend today (and we're talking real childhood here, like 5 years old childhood). You know how you have an idea of what something is going to be like and then it isn't like that and its not worse or better, just different? That's how it was. It's hard to imagine what people are like when you have so many tiny tidbits of knowledge. It's easy to infer, but virtually impossible to infer correctly. Anyway, it was sort of refreshing.

On another note, I think I shock myself sometimes with my desire to do such old lady activities such as sit, read, cross-stitch etc. I feel like I don't fit in anywhere in my age group. I have maybe one friend who is sort of like me, but even she has more desire to go to a bar more than once a year. I'm starting to think that maybe I'll be better off when I'm 30 and everyone else is mellow.

Only 6.5 years to go...oh shit, not even 6.5.

well.

I don't quite know what to say. I just finished Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. Unexpected heart-wrenching ending, humorous teenage love woes in the middle and loads of back-plot leading to the 7th book...I'm going to stick with GOF as my favorite, although it was good.

Ugh. I'm tired from all the reading.

Chewing, chewing, chewing....

This weekend has started out wonderfully and I think it's only going to continue in that vein.

Tim Burton + Johnny Depp = pure cinema gold. I haven't read Charlie and the Chocolate Factory in some time, but I know this version held much truer to the story than the Gene Wilder version. The loss of the "musical" scenes (especially that damn scene where Charlie's mom sings over a vat of clothes) was really no loss at all. The oompa loompas still sang their dittys, in a much more comical (not so serious) manner. Oh man, it was so good. Go see it. I found myself thinking on my long walk home (I walked home from Navy Pier, it was far) that I would love to look inside Tim Burton's head. It must be fascinating the way that man thinks...I'm not one to be effusive about movies. But this one...it was brilliant.

I also spent some time Friday at the zoo and at the lakefront (obviously the long walk home from Navy Pier afforded me views of LOTS of lakefront). The lakefront/beaches are so beautiful, and surprisingly peaceful even though Lake Shore Drive is literally on top of you. For about 20 minutes I seriously thought I was going to take up running. As I approached the apartment I realized that I was obviously taken in by the scenery because I hate running/sweating/physical exertion.

I got home from my journey and decided I had to have Indian food, sorry A and S, I ordered without you. It was a thoroughly satisfying day. And today can only improve on it. I'm going home to buy Harry Potter, get a pedicure and spend all day with some of my old friends (one of whom does have a blog over there on my sidebar but has clearly forgotten about it. She actually has a very interesting life right now and I'm not sure why she hasn't written. Katy, write damn you!).

I'm beginning to think of this weekend as my "back to childhood" weekend. The zoo, Willy Wonka, HP...seeing my two best friends from 5th grade....

And I'll sit and wonder...

I have two things to say today. First, on one of my favorite sites I found out that Harry Potter distorts christianity in the soul. Um, Pope-y...don't you have better things to do than bad mouth Harry Potter? It's a simple book about good and evil and I have every confidence that good will win, so isn't that a good lesson, not soul distortion? Good thing I don't have christianity in my soul...

Second is the matter of a simple bowl of candy. I work in a small office, there's about 25 of us. Most days only 20. When you walk in the office you are greeted by the receptionist's desk which has a little bowl of candy (most often it has mints and starburst). The bathroom is shared with the rest of the floor - in order to get to the girl's loo you must pass the receptionist. Many a person comes back from the bathroom with a handful of candy (to be honest, my underwriter is the worst). I have a slight problem with the handful thing because the receptionist pays for this candy. Yes, this is correct, she is nice enough to put candy on that desk. And I'm sure she is the lowest paid in the office. I take candy, but I also buy bags of candy to contribute every so often. I guess it just seems that there are a lot of people out there who clearly do not think of others. I am the only one who contributes candy besides the receptionist. And I generally regard myself as a pretty selfish person, so come on people, get your act together.

Too excited about seeing Charlie and the Chocolate Factory tomorrow. Brilliant review in the trib. Also up: HP reading marathon...I plan to read the whole thing before I go to work Monday morning. Oh, by the way, those of you who call me at work, I have an all day meeting Monday and will be unavailable.

Give me myself again...

I had this brilliant idea to name all my posts from a lyric of whatever random song pops up on my ITUNES when I shuffle. Maybe not brilliant but fun...so I think i'll try it for a bit. And if you can somehow name the song, I'll buy you a drink. Or a cookie.

I feel like I'm stagnating. Mostly at work, but sometimes at home too. I have a lot of fun things planned for the next two weeks or so, but I still feel kind of stuck in my life. I'm trying to come up with a plan for getting around this feeling or wiping it out altogether, if you have any ideas, please share.

I'm going to rant because today another underwriter at work really reinforced my feeling of stagnation. My underwriter has this issue: she is seriously possessive of her "items of business." Which is really making it hard for her to hand them over to me to work on/learn from. And today another underwriter asked why I didn't just take one of his items and quote it (it had been in my possession and I gave it back to him to quote it) - I told him I didn't want to step on his toes. And he kind of just looked at me like, what? And then proceeded to tell me I should take whatever I wanted of his because it isn't as if we are working on an individual basis. In other words, it doesn't matter how much business he does personally, just how much the whole company does. Team work....which my underwriter has never heard of. Honestly, I'm afraid to take anything to do because she'll give me a lecture about my attitude (over-stepping my bounds, not my place etc). It's the worst sort of trap. I look like I'm not motivated to take any work because I feel like if I do I'll get bitched out. It's too frustrating. I feel like screaming.

I was talking about competition with my mom and sister and I don't really have that whole competitive thing as much as some. I guess I don't feel the need to prove myself better than others. Sometimes, yes, I can get embroiled in an argument. And yes, I admit it, sometimes I argue when I don't even agree with what I'm saying. But that doesn't really have to do with winning, but with the argument itself. I don't know, I try very, very hard to justify my underwriter's actions, oh she's competitive, oh she wants to prove herself so she'll be a vice president some day (fyi: not going to happen). But it all comes down to the fact that she shouldn't make her trainee feel the way I do. Period.

Sick day...

So call me crazy, but I was very bored all day today. I didn't feel good so it's not like I was going to go out gallivanting, but there just wasn't anything here that "struck my fancy." I do think I was better off here though. I would have been so miserable at work. Tomorrow I think I'll be mostly recovered.

No more sick days for a while would be great!

Harry Potter in a few days...

July fades into August...

I know its only the very beginning of July, but it is going to be August before I know it.

I ended up getting very sick yesterday. I don't know what happened, I sneezed for 8 hours straight (which rubs the nose raw) and laid on the couch in misery. I woke up today achy, tired with a headache but I don't have a single tiny dribble of snot in my nose. What the hell??

This weekend was supposed to be fun, but we ended up cancelling and now my sister can't be around until August. And I thought, damn that's so far away. But it really isn't. Every weekend in July is full now, so really, that's it, time for August.

Sorry if I'm boring, but its been an "off" weekend. Next weekend should be MUCH better. I think I'm going to go see a matinee of Willy Wonka on Friday. Does anyone out there have half a day and wants to come? It's playing at the IMAX theater at Navy Pier. That's right, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory on IMAX. I'm buying my ticket on Monday night so if you want to come I HAVE to know before then. 3:45 show.

Sniffle, snork...

That's the sound of my nose right now. It's one of those horrible ticklish, runny feelings. I took an allergy pill and I don't think its doing anything which makes me worry, I do not want to be sick.

I was walking down the street an hour or so ago and this girl said something exceedingly stupid to her friend (or boyfriend since he smiled at her like, wow you're so pretty) and I thought, damn I'm glad I'm intelligent. And the next second I thought oooh, I can't wait for Harry Potter; I think i'll have a Harry Potter movie marathon tonight. Which sort of made me question the intelligence thought, because my obsession with HP may not win people over to the "Katie is smart" side of the argument.

In other news, my apartment is cool! I have two air conditioners running and I am extremely happy.

Question 1...

Can you explain how senseless death and bombings prove any point at all? I just can't wrap my mind around it, why do some feel like killing people is the way to make a point?

I love London. I lived there for three months and loved it. If it wasn't an 8 hour plane flight and a 6 hour time change away, I could imagine myself living in London. I was looking at all these high tech interactive maps of where the bombings took place and it seems like a tourist/businessman aimed plot. I can't imagine how scary it would be to be in the underground and have a bomb go off. Even if I wasn't right there, I'm sure it got dark and smoky and scary and loud. It horrifies me. My college friend J was saying how removed from it she felt. In some ways I do too. Comparing it to 9/11, to be honest, I feel mostly the same. My reaction is a little like denial. Why do people do this?

The one thing I keep fixing on from London is Budgens. My grocery store. I can remember every inch of that little store. Ah Budgens.

Wobbly bits.....

The hottest guy was on my L today. Ok, to the rest of the world, he was probably just OK, but he was right up my alley. I thought there was some eye flirting going on but bam, wedding ring. He probably thought I was some scary gawker. Oops. But he was hot. Nothing like a wedding ring to make the whole thing go south...

I haven't posted anything about work in a while because it's been OK. But today...well, my underwriter may not be the smartest or most grounded person out there. Long story short, we were discussing farm equipment. Here's her idea of how people farm: "farmers use labor for that kind of stuff" (think: men stooped over with a bag of seeds and a hoe). I said, you know, I think most everything is machines these days, they plant all the seeds with big machines. And she argued with me. Honestly, all those straight rows of corn did not get hand planted. I'm sorry, but that is la la land. I couldn't even argue with her about it because then I'd get a talk about my attitude.

In my dream last night, the hairiest man in the world was following me down the street. His chest was just a mat of blondish hair. Then, he pulls down his pants, and proceeds to lay down on the ground and slip and slide towards me (on his belly you dirty, dirty people). When he gets at my feet, it turns out he has no legs. Needless to say, I am tired because my dreams were messed up last night. Too much information? Well, I had to share, it's still creeping me out. Shiver.

Leave all the lights on...

Just read a story that an earthquake or two (quite serious ones) are bound to hit the Midwest sometime. The best part is: when and where are unknown. So it could not be in our lifetime or I could be jiggling on floor 27 at work tomorrow. How? New Madrid fault. Learn about it kids.

I saw 4 people with broken bones today. And three of them were feet. Do people break their ankles and feet a lot in the summer? Because I can't remember seeing ONE on the L and today I see three.

As I was riding to work I was listening to Dave Matthews Band. Like my sister said, Live 8 coverage kind of sucked ass. But I did get to see Dreamgirl live and it looks like the new CD is going to play well live. It made me excited to see Dave again.Which is the most important thing. Anyway, I started wondering about how many DMB concerts I've been to...and I think I'm just going to go ahead and count July 23 as 20. Here's my process: I've been going for about 8 years now. Every summer. Most summers twice. One summer I think I had a record of 4....maybe 5 counting a winter show for the year. It just seems I must be at 20. Isn't that crazy? And now a rant:

Dear teeny-boppers and college chippys,

You have ruined the lawn. I remember when sitting on the lawn at a Dave concert was like a lazy afternoon picnic. You had your dancing hippies (who of course were smoking up), your normal people (me and the sis) and the oldsters (think: your parents). Now you have people pissing, falling down the hill, drunk, high, screaming, talking on the phone, and being horrible concert goers in general. To me, it's all about the music. I think I could go to a concert with a random and be fine. Because you don't have to talk. Sing and dance and be happy. I hate you, lawn ruiners. Can't go to a Dave concert anymore unless I sit in the seats.

And PS, that stupid shit "Hey" thing during the Warehouse intro is the WORST WAY to ruin a really great song. Way to go.

Katie

To be honest, didn't do much this weekend. In the most truthful of terms I was sort of a hermit. But i enjoyed my hermitude very much. I got all of my Hawaii laundry done (a lot!) and had one expensive trip to the grocery store to restock (see, not totally a hermit). Other than that I sat on the couch and watched loads of crappy TV and movies. Oh, I did go to the Taste, so see, not so bad.

I always feel a little weird when I spend a weekend doing nothing. Like people are going to somehow look at me and sneer. I guess we never get over that thing from our teenage years where we don't want to be the "loser" that stayed in. If anyone is past that it should be me (considering I did an awful lot of staying in even back then). Anyway, no pity, no sneers, it was definitely by choice I did nothing. Everyday I thought of all the things I could be doing as I sat on the couch.....nothing motivated me to leave it.

And now I have to go to work tomorrow. It's the week of appointments. Ok, I only have 2, but 2 in a 3 and a half day work week is a lot. Up tomorrow: a visit with my "financial advisor." I kid you not.

Pigs...

I'm a little ashamed to admit this, but I just watched the first two episodes of Real World: Austin. In my defense, nothing else was on. Anyway, I wanted to proclaim my utter disgust at two of the men and one of the women on that show. To me, there is something to be said about a woman who can be sexy without being slutty. There is something unique and amazing about girls who can exude sex appeal without being slutty, skanky or half-naked. This Melinda girl is the exact opposite of that and the two "frat" boys on the show leer at her in the most degrading way. I would rather be celibate for the rest of my life than be looked at like that. They are pigs for staring at her, exchanging high fives when she's half-naked, and making a bet on who can hook up fastest. But she is a disappointment too, almost worse than them, because she is the kind of girl that empowers that sort of behavior. Flashing your cootchie to your new roommate is not endearing, darling. Ugh, way to put me off of dating Real World.

And just as a side note, I have achieved the temperature of 73 in my bedroom, I am inwardly CHEERING. Sleep tonight is going to be bliss.

Aw shit...

Bush is going to appoint an asshole.