Well...

I feel a lot better now. Today being my day off work, I did some summery stuff. Like:

--went swimming at the city swimming pool
--got me a snowcone
--got sunburned
--ate some pizza
--watched Napoleon Dynamite for the hundredth time

Fun times.

Errk...

My belly hurts today. :-P

Interesting....

Your Brain is 60.00% Female, 40.00% Male

Your brain is a healthy mix of male and female You are both sensitive and savvy Rational and reasonable, you tend to keep level headed But you also tend to wear your heart on your sleeve

What Gender Is Your Brain?

Allergies!

Well, my nose is running like a faucet. I have been blowing it all morning so far. Also, my eyes are itching. I checked on NewsOK.com, and the weather page said that grass was high. Niiiiiiiice. I did take some Claritin this morning, so at least the allergies will end. Unfortunately, I learned that so-called non-drowsy allergy medications....well, aren't. So watch me fall asleep at approximately 11 a.m.

At 2:00, I will be helping out with a program on how to make duct tape crafts. Lots of fun. Last time, I made two purses, a cell-phone holder, and a wallet. I still use the wallet. As Kelley would say, I am fun and quirky that way.

(Hmmm...maybe this time I will make a woven purse. I saw one on the Web that I want to try.)

Last night I read Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenixagain. I didn't get to read it thoroughly last time. I am getting mentally prepared for the sixth book, which comes out in 17 days. I am looking forward to it.

Does anyone read this thing anymore? :-(

Hard Days

You ever have one of those hard days, where no one seems to care about your feelings, when you are made to feel worthless?

I did yesterday. Suffice it to say, I came about this close to walking out of my fast-food job yesterday.

Let me say this: If you are a manager, and you yell at your employees, call them names, use any permutation of the F-word to get them to do things...you deserve to sit in San Quintin for the rest of your life, in a cell between Charles Manson and O.J. Simpson, with no food or water, with William Hung giving you a lapdance in the nude.

That is all.

Tol the Victor Go the JuneBugs

Wow...very interesting weekend for a change.

Friday night I went to the movies with Brian, Misti, G and Wendy. We went to see Herbie: Fully Loaded. I thought the movie wouldn't be all that good, but it was actually pretty cute. Go figure. It's about a gal who gets Herbie as a graduation gift from her dad, a former racer. She races this famous racer with an undefeated record and a bad attitude; she and Herbie end up beating him. Well, this guy is determined to derail Herbie, so he challenges her again. One complicating factor is that her dad, scared that she may get hurt during racing, won't let her race. But she really wants to do so. I won't spoil the ending for you, but it's a cute movie.

Annnnnnyway, after that, we go over to Misti and G's house. I've decided that June-bugs are my least favorite kind of bugs. And, as Forest Gump would say, "That is all I have to say about that."

Meanwhile, my inside car door panel decided it wants to fall out. So it did. When I was getting back in my car, I slammmed it repeatedly, no doubt earning the wrath of all of Misti and G's neighbors. Misti, who was watching, was cracking up. Finally, she had to come outside to help me, and we were able to get it shut.

On Sunday I got to play Zelda again for the first time in ages. I think I forgot how to play that game. Dang. I need to take a refresher course. I think they have those on the Internet. At any rate, I had to quit because I was getting so frustrated.

Sunday night was Summer Tour night; then we went to see A Perfect Match. Another cute movie. Obviously a chick flick; nonetheless, very good.

Church Camp

At this time every year from the time I was in sixth through twelveth grade, I would look forward to going to church camp.

No, I did not go to Falls Creek (although that would be the epitome of awesome). From sixth through eighth grade, I went to Tiger Mountain; from ninth through twelveth, I went to Camp Bond in Tishomingo. Ahh, good times.

I remember:

1.) People tying other people's unmentionables (including mine...don't ask) to the flagpole and singing the Star Spangled Banner.
2.) At Camp Bond, the campers would gather around the flagpole every morning for devotional. We would sing the Youth Remix of "Head and Shoulders": "Head and Shoulders, Suave and Rave..."
3.) At both camps, getting caught with your elbows on the table is open invitation to be serenaded and forced to walk around the tables. (I had to do it several times.)
4.) At Bond, the boy's cabins would often yell cabin cheers at each other ("Uh, whatever!" "3-A!", etc.)
5.) At Bond, the Wednesday was spent swimming at Blue River. Or, in my case, standing on the sidelines being afraid of being bit by a copperhead. (Snakes scare me, for some reason.)

I'll share more memories later...now I must go meet my friends in the city. Bockhold out! :-)

A Truly Random Post

Well, last night was a long night. I worked both jobs, then came home and went to bed much later than I should have. I am waiting for a guy to come install a new bathroom sink, then I am gonna go upstairs and take a LONG nap.

Tonight I am going to go to the movies with Brian, Misti, and Wendy. I can't wait. I haven't gotten to hang out with those guys in ages. I miss my buddies!!

I am in the process of organizing my scrapbook stuff. I have TONS of stuff that needs to be put in pockets, folders, etc. Most everything I have now is just strewn out everywhere. Nice.

(Hmmmm....maybe I should start a new group email. That would be fun! Okay...maybe I won't.)

Another Long Day

This will be another Long Day for me, as I will be working at both jobs. This morning I will be helping with a teen program (four hours!)

I will try and type more later on today.

Wow...

Yesterday I took a trip to Asher again. I sometimes go deliver some books to the senior's center for people to check out. One of the ladies there knows my mom...she used to come in and play the piano. Now I can't play the piano to save my life, so I don't. But it was pretty cool that she knew her.

Anyway, on another subject, what is UP with restaurants not having menu items?! Last night I was craving Pizza Hut, so I go there, but they don't have personal pans! Grrr! They run out at least twice a week. You would think that if demand for an item is high, they would carry enough to provide for ALL their customers. I know at Sonic we OCCASIONALLY run out of stuff, but we usually are able to find it at another store. Sigh. Yup, it's frustrating all right.

You can get just so much
From a good thing
You can linger too long
In your dreams
Say goodbye to the
Oldies but goodies
'Cause the good ole days weren't
Always good
And tomorrow ain't as bad as it seems...

Ain't it wonderful to be alive
When the rock 'n' roll plays, yeah
When the memory stays, yeah
I'm keeping the faith
Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah
Keeping the faith
--Billy Joel

Things to Think About

Wow...it's already pretty late, but I can't seem to sleep!

Tonight I went with my parents to visit my grandparents and two of my uncles. We got to talking about all sorts of stuff. (Hi, Memphis!) I won't share all of it because some of it is of personal nature. I will say this: It gave me a lot to think about.

On a funny note, though, we talked about every dog that the family has ever owned. The conclusion that we came to is that dogs know a lot more than we give them credit for. For example:

1.) Dogs know the meaning of certain words (sit, heel, hamburger, etc.) When my parents use the word "hamburger" in context (hi, Kelley!), Molly's ears perk up.
2.) Dogs can learn how to spell. (W-A-L-K, for instance, with our dog. At the very least, she knows what the spelling means).

Et cetera.

We also talked about the upcoming family reunion in July. It will be the first road trip I have taken with my parents since 2001. (Someone remind me to take some Tylenol PM with me, so I can sleep on the way over to Missouri without repeatedly waking up.) There was some talk about a talent show. But my only talent is gyrating to Britney Spears tunes. Somehow, I doubt that's what the 65-year-old social director of the reunion had in mind for "meaningful talent."

Which makes for a very busy July, what with this, Matt and Steph's wedding, possibly Shaunna's wedding, and the Fourth of July. I'm having to take three weekends off in July for various events.

On another note, Misti starts her new job tomorrow. She got an amazing job working at our church. Good luck, girlie! Hope you enjoy it. :-)

Same-O Same-O

Same-o same-o today. I work today at 5 o'clock, then tomorrow at 10 a.m. If anyone wants to do anything tomorrow night, I am game.

Nothing else to post about, really. I am fighting off the effects of little sleep, caused by good old thunderstorms. It has stormed so much in June it's sad. I missed church on Sunday because of the weather, then we had storms on Monday afternoon, Wednesday evening and last night.

Missing People

Acck! I miss everyone! It sucks living an hour away from all of your friends. Well, most of them, anyway. The only people I talk to here are the people with whom I work. Sigh.

On that note, not much has happened recently. I had to work two late nights in a row. So naturally I am exhausted to the point of seeing double this morning. Really, I have little in common with my Sonic co-workers. Not that that's a bad thing, but I would like a Kindred Spirit there occasionally. Sigh.

At least tonight I can get a bit of sleep.

On another note, all of my TV shows are on hiatus for the summer. Sigh. I have heard about Hell's Kitchen, but I haven't watched it yet. I heard it was pretty good, though.

Impress Me!!!!

Brian Mays has informed me that, just the same way my braking skills have improved (I don't know what he's talking about!), so have his graphic design skills. Especially when it comes to him using those skills to....uhm, what's the word...embarrass the crap out of his friends.

Well, needless to say, I'm still alive after his attempt to make me look like a blazen OSU fan (and my apologies to those of my readers who are). So I challenge him to impress me....again.

I'm not scared. (Okay, maybe just a little bit.)

Jackson Verdict Reached

Surprise, surprise...

Oh, well. At least now the media can concentrate their attentions on that poor girl in Aruba. Please pray she turns up and that she's OK.

And why in the world can't I link articles from MSNBC? Blogger, are you acting up on me...AGAIN?!!

Cars

Ask me if my car battery died at Sonic this weekend.

Ask me if I had to ask total strangers for help, including several Sonic employees.

Ask me if I had to route traffic around the parking spot next to mine so that the guys who were kind enough to help me could park their truck next to mine to jump my car.

Ask me if I had to get my car battery replaced.

Yup, such is my luck with vehicles.

Music

Ha--I finally figured out how to get Yahoo Instant Messenger to work on my home computer, so I can listen to LaunchCast Radio. It's pretty cool...you can rate different songs, so you can, in effect, choose what you listen to.

Soo... not much happened today. I did some laundry, because a lot of my clothes were beginning to smell like Eau de Dirty Closet. Nice. I got it done, though, and now I am about to do some scrapbooking.

Video Games

Well, last night I got about 5 hours of sleep, courtesy of a thunderstorm that threatened to take out my hearing. One particular clap of thunder made me hide under my sheets for half an hour.

Last night was Brians Mays and Craven's birthday party. They had video games and stuff. I got to play Craven's Atari setup that he has had since probably before I was born. I played Q-Bert (badly) and Centipede (a little bit better than Q-Bert). I remember when my older brother had an Intellevision setup (I think that's what it was). One thing I remember about those old games is that the screen will change color and stuff every few seconds when it is on idle (kind of like a screensaver of sorts). It was pretty cool. My brother had Pac-Man and some racecar game, among others. One thing I remember about my brother's set up was that the controllers had little cards that you would change out with each game.

Anyway, back to last night. I also played Monkeyball, a game that Mays had told me about that he had acquired recently. It was awesome. I think I actually beat Brian, but I could be wrong. And of course, I played Dance Dance Revolution. Badly. I have no sense of rhythm. None.

Sorority Life

I had always wondered what it would be like inside a sorority.

When I was in college, I did not pledge, mainly because I didn’t have enough money to pay for dues. Getting a job was problematic because of my lack of vehicle at the time. (I did have a job working about 9 hours a week, but it didn’t pay very much.)

I had several acquaintances that were in a sorority. Mainly, they hung out exclusively with each other. Although they did hang out with us independents on occasion, they saw each other as their group of friends. It happens, though.

Sorority life, for me, seemed to be filled with a certain mystique. I wanted to know what the traditions were…if any of the rumors were true about them. But because I was unwilling to shell out $1200/year in dues, I was not privy to that information.

The other day, I came across the book Pledged. It is about a girl that did get inside sorority life. She interviewed four girls that were in a sorority. (Of course, she changed their names for privacy.) I checked it out from the library.

So far, it is very interesting. I haven’t gotten all the way through it yet. However, I am surprised at how much drug use and recreational sex goes on in sorority houses. The houses at UCO (where I attended school) had this image of pristinity about them. Or, at least, one or two of them did.

I was also surprised at the amount of "inner cliquishness” that goes on in houses. I guess I assumed that the sisters in a house were pretty much unified. But in the house that the author wrote about, there were several “groups within the group.”

I wasn’t surprised by the cost of the sororities. I know that a lot of the sisters in the house where my acquaintances were had several "special sisters" to whom they gave expensive gifts.

Overall, the book seems interesting so far. I can’t wait to read the book more thoroughly.

Scrapbooking

Today is the first of a series of Long Days this week. I am working both jobs today, tomorrow, and Friday. I'm sleepy thinking about it. So I won't.

I have been spending a bit of time the last couple of days scrapbooking. I came up with a couple of ideas that I tried on a page or two. I am always in the market for more, though. If anyone has any different ideas, please let me know. I am still pretty far behind, but I hope to be caught up soon. I want to start two new scrapbooks...one for family events and things of that nature, and one for The College Years. Those promise to be interesting. I have several boxes of greeting cards, newspaper clippings, etc. that could be used for that purpose.

Last night I did my first program at the library. It went pretty well...about 20 people showed up. I was impressed at the turn-out. We had a speaker come in and talk about tablescapes. That's the art of creating centerpieces for your dinner table, etc. I think everyone enjoyed it.

Seasons in the Sun

I was on my way back from Norman today, when I heard this song on the radio. I used to sing this song sometimes...the chorus anyway. However, I didn't pay attention to the rest of the lyrics. It's a pretty sad song, actually.

Westlife
Seasons In The Sun

Goodbye to you my trusted friend
We´ve known each other since we
Were nine or ten
Together we´ve climbed hills and trees
Learned of love and abc´s
Skinned our hearts and
Skinned our knees

Goodbye my friend it´s hard to die
When all the birds are singing
In the sky
Now that spring is in the air
Pretty girls are everywhere
Think of me and i´ll be there

we had joy we had fun we had
seasons in the sun
but the hills that we climbed were
just seasons out of time

goodbye papa please pray for me
i was the black sheep of the family
you tried to teach me right from wrong
too much wine and too much song
wonder how i got along

goodbye papa it´s hard to die
when all the birds are singing in the sky
now that the spring is in the air
little children everywhere
when you see them i´ll be there

we had joy we had fun we had
seasons in the sun
but the wine and the songs like the
seasons have all gone
we had joy we had fun we had
seasons in the sun
but the wine and the song like
the seasons have all gone

goodbye michelle my little one
you gave me love and helped
me find the sun
and every time that i was down
you would always come around
and get my feet back on
the ground

goodbye michelle it´s hard to die
when all the birds are singing in
the sky
now that the spring is in the air
with the flowers everywhere
i wish that we could both be there

we had joy we had fun we had
seasons in the sun
but the hills that we climbed were
just seasons out of time...

So...how was your day?

Flashback: Spring 1997

It's not every day that you have the chance to redo your senior prom.

I remember my senior prom. It was a dark and stormy night. It was a night...JUST LIKE TONIGHT.

Okay, not really. I went stag. As in, alone. I didn't come with a date. I didn't go with a group of friends. I came with a nice dress, an expensive hairdo, and high expectations.

I was disappointed.

Looking back, it wasn't that my friends were trying to make me feel like the second cookie. It just happened that way. I ended up dancing alone a lot of the time...or trying to break into dancing circles, but somehow ended up on the outside looking in.

I danced one dance...with a poor soul whom everyone was trying to set up with everyone else.

Flash forward: June 2005. Leigh Ann's prom party. She never had a senior prom, so we threw her a prom party.

I have many mental snapshots of last night: Kelley and Memphis snap dancing to "In The Jungle." Misti and Brian slow-dancing. Kelley signing "I Believe I Can Fly." Leigh Ann, Misti, Rich and I marching to "Walking on Sunshine." Myself chasing Mays down for squeaking that dang balloon one more time. Myself in a picture with all the girls, showing off my nasty leg. (Thanks guys. :-) ) Dancing with Doug. Rich scaring the amoeba-crap out of me on the street.

Basically I enjoyed myself a LOT more last night than I did at my senior prom. I wonder why. I mean, I had a LOT more freedom last night than I did at my senior prom. Plus, I know that the friends I have now will be friends for life.

Mays-Robinson Engagement Announced

Oklahoma City, OK (AP): Prominent web designer Brian Leon Mays, who is known to his legions of friends as the Flaming Monkey Teen Idol, has become engaged to Misti Robinson, his girlfriend of several months.

Robinson, also known as the Delicate and Fragile Rose Petal, is thrilled about her engagement.

The event took place at the residence of Kelley James and Erin Treadaway. Robinson arrived on the pretense of helping plan the birthday party of Leigh Ann Bailey. However, when she was asked to look at the newly renovated fountain in the backyard, she was surprised to see Mays on one knee with an engagement ring, surrounded by a romantic scene of roses and candles.

Several friends were on hand to help the happy couple celebrate their engagement.

Will Farrell stated, "Mother of Pearl!", but it was unknown whether he was reacting to the announcement or the fact that scalding coffee was running down his leg.

One reporter attempted to contact Paris Hilton to get her reaction on her own engagement being displaced by Mays and Robinson's engagement for being the Best Couple in The World. Hilton did not return his phone calls.


Congratulations guys! Love you both very much! :-)

move on, nothing to see here......

Long Day

Today is going to be one of my Long Days this week. I work at the library from 8:30 till 5:30, then Sonic from 6:30 till close (11:00). Sooo I am going to be exhausted when I get home tonight. I have another Long Day on Saturday. Which means I shall have to miss one of Shaunna's wedding showers. Sigh. Luckily, I will get to attend the other one, since it is on Sunday.

I haven't gotten to see Shaunna for a long time. I miss her. She moved to Texas about a year or so ago to start a new job. She met this cool guy, and now they are getting married. So yay for her. I am gonna try to go to Dallas for her wedding, if it works out with my work schedule and everything.

Not much else to share. Tomorrow is Leigh Ann's prom party...I am tres looking forward to that.

How to Win Friends and Influence People

Fundamental Techniques in Handling People
1.)Don't criticize, condemn or complain.
2.)Give honest and sincere appreciation.
3.)Arouse in the other person an eager want.

Six ways to make people like you
1.)Become genuinely interested in other people.
2.)Smile.
3.)Remember that a person's name is to that person the sweetest and most important sound in any language.
4.)Be a good listener. Encourage others to talk about themselves.
5.)Talk in terms of the other person's interests.
6.)Make the other person feel important - and do it sincerely.

Win people to your way of thinking
1.)The only way to get the best of an argument is to avoid it.
Show respect for the other person's opinions. Never say, "You're wrong."
2.)If you are wrong, admit it quickly and emphatically.
Begin in a friendly way.
3.)Get the other person saying "yes, yes" immediately.
4.)Let the other person do a great deal of the talking.
5.)Let the other person feel that the idea is his or hers.
6.)Try honestly to see things from the other person's point of view.
7.)Be sympathetic with the other person's ideas and desires.
8.)Appeal to the nobler motives.
9.)Dramatize your ideas.
10.)Throw down a challenge.

Be a Leader: How to Change People Without Giving Offense or Arousing Resentment
A leader's job often includes changing your people's attitudes and behavior. Some suggestions to accomplish this:
1.)Begin with praise and honest appreciation.
2.)Call attention to people's mistakes indirectly.
3.)Talk about your own mistakes before criticizing the other person.
4.)Ask questions instead of giving direct orders.
5.)Let the other person save face.
6.)Praise the slightest improvement and praise every improvement. Be "hearty in your approbation and lavish in your praise."
7.)Give the other person a fine reputation to live up to.
8.)Use encouragement. Make the fault seem easy to correct.
9.)Make the other person happy about doing the thing you suggest.

--Dale Carnegie