Books vs. Real Life

I was looking through a few of my favorite blogs and it got me thinking. Most of the blogs I like are Jane Austen related and one of them asked readers why they enjoyed Jane Austen so much. I began to imagine myself as Elizabeth Bennet or Marianne Dashwood being courted by different men and then finding their true loves and living happily ever after. Then reality would strike and I would remember their living situations and the situations of all women (don't even get me started on BLACK women) in 19th Century England.

So instead of looking at why I love Jane Austen's stories, I thought about why I love all the stories that I love.

1. Every story is a love story.
2. Every girl has that awesome best friend.
3. It's obvious who the gentlemen are and who the pigs are.
4. The good guys win and the bad guys get what they deserve.
5. Kisses are always passionate, gazes are always long and embraces are always tight.
6. There is always a "fairy godmother" type person.
7. Even the plain girls find love.
8. The guy who tells the girl that she isn't good enough for him doesn't find anyone better.
9. Memorable adventures are being had.
10. When people die, they aren't really gone.
11. There's always at least one parent who is on the hero(ine)'s side.
12. The stereotypically beautiful ones don't always win.
13. Someone has learned a lesson
14. Someone taught someone a lesson
15. Self discovery
16. Wrongs are righted
17. It's good to be witty
18. Everyone plays and important role.
19. There's always at least one genuinely "pure and innocent" character
20. Everyone's speech is grammatically correct.

There are tons more reasons why I love the books that I read and the main one of them all is that there is always one character whose life I can live for a few hours here and there.

Major Fail, or is it?

My birthday is next week and I am nowhere near reaching my goal. I haven't given up, per se, I'm just taking my time and... oh who am I kidding, I'm procrastinating and I take pleasure in it. I like it when people look at me in that "what the hell are you waiting for?" manner. Why, you ask? Well, it is simple. I would rather have people have no faith in me and prove them wrong than have people believe in me and disappoint them.

On a related note, my boss told me of an opportunity where I could have a better position and better pay if I were to get my CDA (child development associate). Since I already have my bachelor's degree and am the smartest person there, it would make the day care look even better and I would get what I deserve.

The reason why I have the crappy position that I have now is because I don't have any education in education, Early childhood education to be exact. Even though I've gone to numerous trainings on how to make observations and mastering the PA Keys learning standards, I still have to take classes. So my boss told me that in order to get the CDA, I just have to take 3 courses and I wouldn't have to pay for them if I applied for a scholarship through TEACH. Sounds good, right? Well, here's the catch. After I take these classes and get this "degree" I would HAVE to stay at the day care for another year. If I were to leave in any time less than a year, I would have repay EVERY CENT of the scholarship money. This is where I have reservations. It is bad enough that I've worked there for 2 years but if I want to get my CDA for free I would have to stay there for another year and a half. (The semester doesn't start till the fall, so that explains the extra half year.)

I talked to my sister about this and she said that I should get it, but I should pay for it myself so I won't be tied to the day care. I wouldn't mind this idea if my current pay was better, however it is not so...

And the whole point of me getting the CDA (my personal reasoning, not my boss's) is so that I can get paid better at the day care. Which means that if I want to enjoy te higher pay I would have to stay there anyway. I am going to tell you right now, I am not going to leave that day care just to go to another one. Pshh! It's bad enough that I have to work at one at all.

On to things that I really want to do in life. I started two short stories and they seem promising. I'm drawing my sister as a cancer-curing super hero. I showed her a rough draft and she wants me to draw her cuter. Choir is going alright but they are trying to be all social and stuff, which isn't cool. The best artists are reclusive and borderline hermit-ish. I'm weird and socially awkward, please don't throw me to the public, unless it has something to do with me showing off my gifts.

I'm not all that socially awkward; I'm pretty funny. I just sing a lot, so be prepared.

update

Ok, so I totally failed in my personal challenge thingy-majiger. I like food too much.

I had a pretty good weekend with my parents. They didn't annoy me as much as they usually do, but it was too beautiful outside for them to be arses. We did some gardening and my aunt and uncle came over for hot wings, pizza and Celine Dion. She really knows how to bring a family together. My dad is set on getting a pool in the backyard, so that is in the works right now.

We are planning a bbq for my b-day/4th of July/mom's b-day and I only have about 3 or 4 people that I want to come. I don't really want anything special for my birthday except for a tiara. lol!

I'm watching the MTV movie awards right now and it is ridiculous. I had no idea that they could day "dick" on tv and the whole business with Sasha Baron Cohen and his ass in Eminem's face was just awkward. More awkward than Kristen Stewart dropping her award or the whole Ben Stiller thing.

It was a good weekend, but I didn't do laundry, boo me.

Kohls/Driving/CiCi's

Hi Everyone

My weekend was pretty interesting. I went to my aunt Renee's birthday party on Saturday and I was about to go there without a gift for her. I realized that would have been a terrible faux-pas so I went to Kohls and got her a gold earring and necklace set that was really pretty. I saw a lot of stuff that I liked for her, but I thought that gold would look better on her because of her dark skin. Well anyway, price was an issue because I just gave my parents rent money so I'm kinda skint where money is concerned. When I picked out the earring and necklace set, I thought, "hmm, $18 is not so bad. Then I get up to the register ready to shell out 18 bucks and the dude said "That'll be $2.97"

Really? 2 dollars and 97 cents?

The guy says,"yeah, it's a clearance item."

I almost shouted to the heavens. "I love Kohls!!"

Now, I'm driving on PA33N to get to East Stroudsburg where my aunt and uncle live and I wouldn't say that I got lost, because I was in total control of where I was going. Though I will admit that I wasn't paying attention to the sign that said "keep left to stay on PA33N". I ended up on 209N and I was watching 33N get farther and farther left from me. I yelled a very loud "Sugar Honey Ice Tea". Then I calmed myself down and said, "alright, use your brain, just find somewhere to make a U turn and fix it." Don't you love it when your brain can just tell itself to hush up and calm down? Somewhere down 209, there was a stop light which means... INTERSECTION!!!

So I turned left, found somewhere to make a U turn and went back the other way. Now I'm on 209 south and i had to get back onto 33S and find a way to go back north. I DID NOT WANT TO TAKE AN EXIT because I didn't want to get lost. I was praying, Lord give me a legal U turn place. The Lord said, "No, just take an exit." So I did, and guess what, the exit to me to a perpendicular sort of intersection where I could only go left or right, not straight. If I went right I would go into whatever town it was. (I forget the name) If I went left I could get back to (wait for it) 33North!!!!! We have a winner!

Went left and back en route to my aunt's place. I got there and they live in a gated community so I had to get out and register and follow my uncle to the house because it was just very curvy and wind-y, so I was lucky to have him find me and show me how to get to the place to register.

The party was nice and I got to see my cousin's and their cousins on the other side of the family. It was a rainy night but I really didn't want to sleep over so my cousins Reginald and Julio came back with me to sleep at my house. Their dad came the next day to pick them up and I had the rest of Sunday to myself.

Today was back to work and lameness, but my coworker and I decided to go to CiCi's pizza buffet for dinner with her daughter and her mother. It was a crazy experience. I had no idea that there were so many peppy people. I guess they all work at Cici's. As soon as I walked in there, the girl at the register shouted in my face "HI WELCOME TO CICI'S" and then all of the employees shouted, "HI WELCOME TO CICI'S"

I was scared for my life.

The pizza was good, the dessert was good, my pink lemonade was good the salad was good and when I walked out, they all shouted again, "THANK YOU FOR COMING!". When thinking about it, it is a good idea to be greeted enthusiastically, but when dining, do you really want to hear all of that shouting? It's not like there are a few people near the entrance/exit that greet the patrons, EVERYONE who works there greets the patrons. So I could be sitting having a conversation with someone and one of the workers would be cleaning the table next to us and then randomly burst out with a greeting. It's annoying. I am SO going there again!!!

alrighty! good nighty!

Tweet Tweet

So I fell off of the wagon over the weekend and had some Haitian food with the family because Sunday was Mothers Day. Although I had a bit of an off weekend, I am still determined to do this. I probably won't make my 20lb goal for my birthday, but I'm praying.

I'm on Twitter, as you might have noticed, and I'm a little obsessed. I'm following about 70 people and I'm being followed by 35 people (so far). I mostly twitter about what I'm watching or if I'm about to run an errand. I like thinking that someone out there cares. Someone out there is thinking, "what is Regine doing right at this moment?" Well now they have an answer. Yeah, Right! A girl can dream though, can't she? Well, if you stumble upon this blog and decide to read this, then my twitter name is LaBelleRiviere. Please follow me. If you want.

Start of a new "project"

So, as I mentioned before, I'm starting this new fitness thing for the Summer. although, technically May and most of June aren't part of the Summer, I figured why wait. And considering the weather lately, it might as well be Summer. Well I was going to start on Friday but, why go to the gym on the last weekday of the week even though it was the 1st of May? But then I felt bad about not starting when I should have so I did a little bit of stuff today.

Yesterday, I went to Wal-Mart with my reusable bags from Giant (turned inside-out so the scary Wal-Mart zombies won't hurt me) and bought my usual stuff, but instead of buying a bag of chips, I bought those ranch flavored rice cakes and I bought (don't hate me) diet pills. *shhhhh* They've worked for me before so I decided to give it another go, plus they are specially designed for women. (you know the ones I'm talking about)

Anyway, I am really looking forward to my little Summer "project" with this whole get fit business. I really hope I reach my goal. But I'm still taking it step-by-step. Hopefully, by my birthday I'll lose at least 20lbs. Wish me luck.
Oh, and don't think that this is some misguided attempt to fit society's norm of what is beautiful. I just want to be healthy, especially since I don't have health insurance, I have to do whatever I can to prevent any fat-related sickness. You know, high blood pressure/ cholesterol, diabetes, chub rub.

Well, I was going to wash my hair but there was no hot water. MAJOR FAIL! Now my fro is pulled back in a ponytail and it is gross. Don't judge.

MEME

DIRECTIONS:

- Go to Google image search.
- Type in your answer to each question.
- Choose a picture from the first page.
- Use this website (http://bighugelabs.com/flickr/mosaic.php) to make your collage.

QUESTIONS:

1. What is your name?
2. What is your favorite food?
3. What is your hometown?
4. What is your favorite color?
5. What is your favorite movie?
6. What is your favorite drink?
7. What is your dream vacation?
8. What is your favorite dessert?
9. What is one word to describe yourself?
10. How are you feeling right now?
11. What do you love most in the world?
12. What do you want to be when you grow up?
A cool meme that I found on my BEDA buddy's blog.

Last day of BEDA

It is the last day of the BEDA project and I have nothing cool to talk about. Doesn't that suck? Ooh, I know. I'll talk about the funniest thing that happened at work today.

So K just changed a baby names Schyler (pronounced Skyler)who had a poopy diaper and it left a not very friendly odor in the classroom. A parent comes in to pick up his kid and R comes walking in behind him and walks into the changing area and proceeds to say, "Ew, it smells like Shyler over here." (making fun of the spelling of the baby's name). The dad that walked in starts to laugh and says "oh I know what you mean, sometimes my kid shylers all up his back and it's a huge mess." We all look at him funny and then burst out laughing. R tells the dad that Shyler is one of the babies, not a euphemism for "shit". I, of course, could not control my laughter and all the teachers plus the dad were laughing like crazy because my laugh is so infectious.

A little bit later, K goes into her daughter's classroom and comes back with a plastic bag containing her daughter's underwear in it. K said, "my daughter told me that she was using the potty and forgot to take off her underwear." Again, dying of laughter. Another teacher, T goes on to say, "I've done that before." and R and I ask in unison, "Recently?" T says, "No, when I was a kid and sometimes when I'm half asleep." R, K and I look at each other and continue to laugh for the rest of the afternoon.


Well, it was a good April, so thank you to Maureen Johnson, my BEDA buddies and the need to write. I had a lot of fun with this and I can't wait till my next "adventure".

Promises, Promises; stop abusing air quotes

So I told myself that I am going to be serious about this getting fit thing and I am going to turn it into a project like BEDA. I have yet to think up a cool name for it but I am trying to make it a summer thing. Starting May 1, I am going to work out 5 days a week for about 2 hours a session. Rain or shine, headache or cramps, I WILL be working out. I love to eat so it will be hard for me to control my food, but I WILL TRY.
I have a gym membership and my P90X videos that will help me along with my newly strengthened will. My cousin, Julio, is on my back about doing the videos and he is ripped (not because of the videos, he was always ripped) so I am feeling the pressure. Courtnee refuses to return my Hip Hop Abs dvd so I don't have all of my "equipment" but I have a start.

Goal #1 for the summer is to lose 30lbs, (no 20lbs, let's be realistic) by my birthday. So hopefully, on June 20 of this year, I will be 30 (20) lbs lighter.

Goal #2 for this summer is to get myself UNDER 200lbs because, let's be honest, what self-respecting woman wants to be over 200lbs? I've been over 200 since I was 17 years old and when I was 21, I was 260. I'm lower than that now, but I need to be significantly lower to the point where it would be impossible for me to touch it again even if I was pregnant with triplets.

Goal #3 for this summer is to get a new bathing suit, maybe even a two-piece because the one I have now has been in my possession since I was 14 so that would be almost 11 years.

I have other goals for the summer but they have nothing to do with my fitness promise so I will talk about them some other time.

Now, to something that rose today at work and has been troubling me for a while. There are a couple of people that I work with who have no idea how to use air quotations. Sometimes they use it for a sentence that contains no irony, no euphemism or anything of the like, and I mean the entire sentence. Someone said: I'm going home to "wait for the window guys so they can fix the windows." That is exactly how she said it with the quotation marks in the places where she put them. Can anyone tell me what in that sentence needed air quotes? Now I would understand if she said: My husband and I are going to be home alone "waiting for the window guys." Then we would proceed to tease her about her sex life. But in the previous case, she really meant that she was going to be home waiting for the window guys to fix her windows.

Did she NOT see that episode of Friends where Ross was showing Joey how to properly use air quotes?

I forget how my boss misused them but she irritates me anyway because she puts an R at the end of the word criteria.

Oh and when using the air quotes, they don't just move the index and middle fingers, they move the fingers and the hands and make it look like they have frisky rabbits attached to their wrists.

Liar Liar Pants on Fire

I am such a liar! Seriously. Sometimes it is a good thing and sometimes it is a bad thing for me. When it comes to exercise, I would tell myself that when I was done with the lap I was on, I would stop, but then I would be done with the lap and I would tell myself that I would finish the minute and then the minute would end and I would be halfway through a lap again and so on. Lying to myself so that I can lose weight is good.

Lying to myself so that I can stay lazy is bad. Sometimes I would tell myself that I would be proactive and deal with my work issue and my other issues. I know that I need a better paying job, but I tell myself that no one is hiring anyway so why bother. I tell myself that I can't afford to go to grad school and no one will help me. I tell myself that all the good guys are taken so why bother go out and try to meet anyone.

I'm just a big liar. I only seem to be lying to myself or about myself to the important people. I'm so worried about disappointing them and I make up little white lies to convince them that I'm doing what I should be doing and to sort of motivate me to get the ball rolling. I figure, well I told someone that I am doing such and such so I should probably do it. Nope, I don't do it anyway.

What is wrong with me? Why am I so discouraged? I know that things that I should be doing so why am I not doing them? Maybe it is because I am doing them alone. I noticed that if I had a gym partner, then I would actually be able to go. I managed to get through the whole month of April and blog every day. I may have been blogging alone, but I didn't feel alone because there were a ton of other people who were doing it too, so I felt like a part of a community.

I guess it is true what they say, "No man is an island". I can't do things by myself, especially life changing things. Now I am going to have to learn because I have no one here and I work with a bunch of underachievers. No one I know that is around me wants to better themselves so I HAVE to do it alone.

The things I want to do within the next two years:
I want to take the GRE and get into Grad school
I want to get under 170lbs
I want to have a KICK ASS 25th birthday
I want to publish a short story in a literary magazine
I want to be in a promising long-term relationship with a wonderful man
I want to go on a real vacation
I want to sing on a stage
I want to write a book

Ok, I think I'm done for today.

Normal

Looks like my life is super boring right now. I'm not dating anyone, I have no prospects. My job is boring and I have no prospects with that either. I am totally being cheated of my talents and I am to lazy to do anything about it. Well, I'm not sure if it's laziness or low self-esteem or I'm using the economy as an excuse.

Have you ever seen a really cool job and thought that you would love to do that? "I'd like to sing on stage, I'd like to write a book, I want to be a painter, I could do this, I could do that." But then you don't do anything to go about any of them. I bought these two GRE study guides thinking that I would study and then eventually apply to grad school, but then I got side-tracked or discouraged or both.

I don't even know what I want to study because of what is going on now, I can't afford to go to school and if I was able to, I would have to study something that would get me a good job and make me financially stable. It's the whole survival mentality that my parents bestowed upon me. They came from Haiti and did whatever they could to make a life for themselves here in the United States. They may have had personal dreams, but I think they gave their dreams away for security and stability. Now instead of telling their kids (me and my siblings) to go for our dreams, they are telling us to do what we have to do to live comfortably NOW, and worry about dreams later. I don't want to do that, but that is what I have been doing.

Now I am so confused. Some say, live your dreams because life is short, and others say to make yourself stable now and live your dream later. Who is right? I feel like I'm stagnant in a fast paced world and no one is trying to help me. Well, I need help so will someone help me?

Sunday

What did I do today?
I got up at 8, took a shower and watched the first three episodes of Pride and Prejudice, the BBC version that I bought yesterday. Then I went to church early for "rehearsal" and then sang in church. We went to Walmart for some groceries and came back home to watch the rest of P&P. It was so friggin hot that I fell asleep throughout most of it and missed the Wet Shirt Scene, so when I woke up and ate dinner, I went back to the scene and replayed it. So wonderful!!!

YUM, Colin Firth!

Now I am watching the rest of Little Dorrit which seems to be the most interesting part of the whole series, though I may be mistaken since I might have missed a couple of episodes.

Saturday

Right now I am sitting in the living room with my parents and my little brother and they are watching an African movie. The stories are interesting but the acting and the sound quality are so awful that I can't bare to pay attention.

I saw Obsessed yesterday and it was a complete waste. Beyonce can't do action type stuff cause she talks too much, well her character does. Honestly, how do you get the energy to talk trash while you are fighting someone?

Anyway, I rented 4 movies yesterday. Mansfield Park with Frances O'Connor, The Reader with my girl Kate Winslet, Vicky Christina Barcelona with Scarlett Johanssen and Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist with that kid from Juno. I saw Mansfield Park and The Reader this morning and I was pleased. For me, you can never go wrong with anything Jane Austen related. That is why I went to the mall with my mom today and got the BBC version of Pride and Prejudice along with the guidebook and production photos. Worth It!!!

Now I can't wait to watch it and replay the wet shirt scene. Colin Firth is so sexy and I love how they remade that scene in Lost in Austen. Now if I could find a dvd set of that I would be happy, ooh and of '07 Jane Eyre with Toby Stevens and Ruth Wilson. Sometimes I wish I were british so that I could be in some of those productions, even as someone in the background, though I don't know how that would be since I'm AfAm.

Since they made a Bollywood version of Pride and Prejudice, I wonder how it would come out with an all African American cast. Hopefully something closer to a Tyler Perry movie than to a Wayans Brothers related production (no offense, they are talented, but...) Anyway, that would be interesting to see.

What else did I buy today? I bought a pair of black theater type mary jane shoes and the third book in the Gemma Doyle saga. I haven't finished the first book yet cause I am so busy and tired all of the time, but I really like it so far. Oh, and when I was at the movies last night, I saw this poster for the book series and I was like "Oh snap!! Those are the books I'm reading." Courtnee looked at me like I was crazy.
It's not my fault that I get excited about books and she gets excited for Beyonce. Maybe one day when Beyonce writes a 300 some page novel about a girl and her sisters all trying to find suitable matches in the 19th Century then I'll get excited for her too.

It's the weekend...

...And I am so happy that it is. Yesterday was a pretty low day so today I indulged in one of my pleasures, singing. I sang my heart out today and I didn't care who heard me. At work, in the car, at home, I was a singing machine. Rock, Opera, Pop, Broadway. It felt good to let it out. That is how I let my anger out. Anger, frustration, tiredness, everything.

After work, I went to a place that starts with a W and ends with a T and rhymes with Paul Blart (mall cop, hehe)and bought myself some paint brushes so hopefully something good will come of that. I can feel the creative juices flowing and if I lock myself in my room long enough something will happen.

I am about to hang out with my friend Courtnee right now. WE are going to see Obsessed with Beyonce and Ali Larter. I didn't really want to see it but Court did and whatever I have to do to hang with my friend.

Later.

A little depressing

My brain runs faster and deeper than anyone can imagine. I think about things in the past and in the future. People that have hurt me years and years ago and what I would do if I saw them again. My grandmother is not well and she is up there is age; my parents are busy thinking about either losing their jobs or dying so now I keep getting these images in my head of receiving a phone call telling me that someone has died.

I'm watching Grey's Anatomy right now and Catherine Heigle's character, Dr. Izzy Stevens, has cancer. She is a young, beautiful and lively young woman and all of a sudden she gets sick. She's finally in a "good" relationship, she's successful and she has everything going for her and there is a chance that she will lose everything. I live alone and if something happened to me, the "friends" that I have nearby wouldn't really notice and the ones that would aren't around.

Sometimes it makes me wonder what the whole point is. We are put on this Earth to eventually leave it. Why have us here at all? Why bother?

These are the things that go on in my head every minute of everyday. This is why I try so hard to find joy in the smallest things or in things that others may find silly. That is why I enjoy food and music and art and John, Hank and Maureen. I may never sing on Broadway or meet Maureen and the Greens, but at least I'll be able to keep myself sane until it's my time to go.

Times are hard and I can't go out like I used to when I was in college and be able to wake up at 5 in the morning and work. Gosh, I'm so tired. I'll be back tomorrow.

I think this week has been a pretty lame blog week. Something good better happen soon.

So tired, John's eyes

All I wanted to do today was sleep. As soon as soon as I got to work, I wanted to take a nap. I'm sitting in the rocking chair feeding a baby and I almost fall asleep. I didn't even get to go to the gym because I was so tired.

Was my point clear? I was really really tired, if you didn't catch that. So I came home, I watched a couple of movies online and I fell asleep through one, while lying on the couch.

Something very interesting happened this morning, I was watching John Green's latest video and I found myself getting lost in his eyes. (is that weird?) I don't know if it was because of the way he has his eyes wide open when he talks to the camera or if it was because of the lovely eye color. It doesn't help that he does all of these random close ups where it's like "BAM, LOOK INTO MY EYES!". It also doesn't help that he is so gosh darn cute.

I'm the type of person who must look into someone's eyes while talking to them and even though John wasn't in my presence, I felt compelled to look into his eyes anyway. (though I did stray for a little and noticed that he needed some chapstick. Sorry, John, I notice the most random things. You probably won't read this anyway.)

Ugh, ok, Pride and Prejudice is playing on Oxygen and it is my duty as a young lady to watch.

Enjoy your evening.

Happy Anniversary Charlie!

It's my best friend, Charlie's, 2nd wedding anniversary today and I wanted to give her a huge shout out!! She doesn't read this but I wanted to do it anyway.

So what did I do today?
In no particular order (because I don't want to think about the actual sequence of events of the day and because I was actually going to just skip today and go to sleep.)

I went to work. I said happy ann. to Charlie. I said Happy Belated b-day to Kim, my other best friend (the three of us call ourselves the power puff girls. details on that some other time). I went to the gym for an hour. I watched the last couple of episodes of Tru Blood. I watched the an episode of Ugly Betty that I missed. I went to choir practice. I took out the garbage. I watched the biggest loser.

Anyway, I'm super tired for some reason. Looks like this is a major fail when blogging is concerned. Sorry BEDA Buddies, I'll try harder tomorrow.

A cool discovery and work

While perusing through the blogs I follow, I happened upon an article about Pride and Prejudice being turned into a Marvel comic book. Here is the link for those of you who are interested. And here is a look at the Blog I was checking out. it's is called Jane Austen Today.

Alright, so my day today was interesting. I couldn't sleep last night because of my stomach, it must have been a culmination of anxiety and spicy food that did my belly in like last week. Last week I had anxiety about driving to Canada with my mom and last night I had anxiety about going back to work. Last week I had sushi with soy sauce and wasabi and last night I had spicy chicken wings and some spicy Haitian food.

So I got to work this morning like usual and I did the usual routine stuff: Bleach water, paper towels, turn on the lights. And the usual people started coming in with their kids. Some of them noticed that I was back, some didn't even know that I was gone. I was glad to see that the people that I am usually around were happy to see me back, not only because the day care was a nightmare without me, but because they genuinely missed me. One parent was so happy for me that I was able to get away for a little while because she noticed that I wasn't as cheerful as I usually am. And normally that is just fake cheerfulness. I didn't even have the energy to fake it.

People were happy to see me, they asked about my trip, they put in the effort to look concerned when I told them about my grandmother who isn't well and is losing her mind, but takes it all in stride and good humor.

I was going to go to the gym today but it was raining really hard and I kinda didn't want to go. I'm lazy like that and I had more episodes of Tru Blood to watch, though I had to pause it so that I can watch my favorite tv nerd Chuck. Zachary Levi is so cute!!!

HOME!!!

Yay, I'm home now! I drove in this morning and it took me about an hour to get to Easton from Newark. I actually like driving long distances now. It is a little relaxing, though it would be better if I didn't have someone in my ear telling me what to do.

So I got in and I went straight to my couch. I hooked up my laptop and started watching episodes of Tru Blood. It is a pretty interesting show about Vampires trying to be active citizens in the south. While I was waiting for the episodes to load, I was watching the "Where are they now" marathon on The tv guide network. It was pretty interesting, though it was all somehow related to Saved By the Bell.

I don't really have much to talk about today. I was just trying to enjoy my last day of freedom before I have to go to work in the morning. I almost forgot to do the blog today.

I went grocery shopping for the week and Beau (my car) is taking a break from being poked and prodded and used. Anyway, I'm tired and I should probably sleep now. Leave it to me to wait until the last minute to write.

Back in the States

Well I am back in the United States, if you couldn't tell by the title. Last night, Jo, Val and I went to Sky Spa and it was an interesting experience. It was a Hot/Cold kind of thing where we get into our bathing suits and go into a sauna. It was hot as hell and I could hardly breathe, but somehow I was relaxed. After the sauna was a steam room where it was as hot as the sauna but it was really foggy in the room. Then we dipped ourselves in the ice-cold pool for about 2 seconds and then went to the nice hot tub that was pool sized. That was the best part and I could have been in there all day. Oh, and the hot tub and ice-cold pool were on the roof so technically we were in our bathing suits outside.

So we did a couple of rounds of that and then we went into the really nice and quiet room that showedrandom peaceful things on the television like rain drops on a flower petal and the clouds moving over the fields. We read our books/fell asleep and then we went back for another round of Hot, Hot, Cold, Hot. It was a really great experience and I would not mind doing it again.

We got back to Jo's apartment and ate our KFC or PFK as it is called in Quebec. (Can you believe they don't serve the chicken with biscuits? My cousins looked at me like I was crazy. Val actually asked me what a biscuit was.)We watched This Christmas starring Delroy Lindo, Chris Brown (boo!), Idris Elba and Regina King. The movie was cute and silly, but I wouldn't go out of my way to see it again.

Well, Mom wanted to leave at 7 in the morning and I was not having that. I could hardly sleep last night; all I could think about was Oprah and Ashton Kutcher. Note: Never eat fried chicken right before you go to sleep.
So I got out of bed at 6:45 and I slowly got my things together, packed up my computer and tried to put some order in my hair because all of that heat and humidity mucked it up.

Tomorrow morning, I am going to drive back to Easton and hang out alone for my final day of vacation.