i'm f'in funny...

Went to Pioneer with the girls the other night. Angela recapped her Memorial Day camping trip.

Angela: I got hopped up on McDonald's Iced Coffee, so I was crazy the whole ride. And Danny brought his Michael Meyers Halloween mask.

Me: What did you do with it?

Angela: I put it on at the stop lights, rolled down the window and stared at people.

Me: You nut. What did they do?

Angela: Most of them laughed, but a few rolled their eyes.

Me: Lame.

Angela: Yeah, I know. I was like, "What? I'm fuckin' funny, dammit!"

So I took a picture of Angela, showing me what she looks like when she yells, "I'm fuckin' funny, dammit." But without the Michael Meyers mask.

chicken salad in a tomato

Hill Top Restaurant at Foster and California really takes this shit seriously...

if i were in kansas...

...I might not be there anymore.

Yes...that's an actual picture of an actual tornado, actually taken by me and my actual (usually sub-par, but in this case actually wonderful) camera.

That is also Jeff's arm, and Jeff's car door.

Surprisingly enough, we were parking for a wedding reception, and the tornado was passing the banquet hall just a few miles away...heading toward my house.

As we drove to the reception hall, we realized that we were actually driving INTO THE PATH of the tornado. Thankfully, it wasn't the direct path, but at the point of realization we only had two options:

1.) Keep driving (we were almost there!)
or
2.) Take shelter at the Industrial Strip---a strip club famous for its Friction Dances. (Apparently, if you get one of these Friction Dances, you also get a complimentary t-shirt that lets the whole room know that you paid for a Friction Dance at the Industrial Strip and all you got was this stupid t-shirt---and a major boner. What? I saw some guy at the bar sporting his t-shirt...)

We decided to keep driving.

We did make it safely to the reception, albeit a few minutes late. (Did I mention that in addition to the tornado, I also got a flat tire while shopping for a dress to wear to the reception and then as we got in the car to go to the reception, that new dress broke?)

Needless to say, the reception was fun and the tornado didn't cause any major damage in our area.

I've heard that rain on your wedding day means you'll be rich.

I wonder what a tornado on your wedding day means?

i am sooooo not a murderer

So today the power went out at work. There were some guys in hard hats outside the building, so I'm assuming that it was their doing.

Unfortunately, I was recording some audio in a room with no windows at the time of the outage. And wouldn't you figure, I was learning how to use the program and the equipment. Of course, the power cut out at the exact same time I hit a button.

There I was, in a soundproof box, in complete darkness, thinking that I had just caused the power failure myself.

When I opened the booth door, I made my way (very slowly...) to the door, to hear my friends downstairs discussing the power failure. Phew. It wasn't me. Which was fortunate. What was unfortunate was that half of my audio was lost. Crap.

To pass the time, and to introduce us newbies to the rest of the team, we played a few rounds of Murderer. I was a freaking Townsperson EVERY TIME. However, I was unfairly accused a fair number of times. It was hilarious.

During the final round, it was down to me, Arnie, and Bob. I accused Bob because I was right next to Arnie and he never made a peep the entire time during the "murders." But I DID hear noise from Bob's area.

Bob, went next and after hearing my accusation, immediately pointed the finger at me.

It was all up to Arnie.

Now, I don't blame him, because well, I'm sure not knowing much about me there wasn't a whole lot of trust. I also didn't have any good defense besides, "It was totally Bob!"

In the end, Arnie chose me. And Bob had successfully massacred our "town" of 16 people.

Then the power came on and we all went back to work.

My first week at JV was awesome.

take one for the team

So today was my first JV softball game.

It was super fun, although I was full of super suck. Which is fine. I gave it my all.

Actually, as I tried to field a grounder to the outfield (I was right center), I ended up sliding, rolling over my left shoulder and pulling God knows what.

I'm a bit sore, however, I'm fine. All I know is that one of my teammates informed me that my attempt at a save looked really cool.

Which was all part of the initial plan.

And even though I won in that respect...the Yahooligans spanked us...something like 439743897 to 6.

We'll get 'em next time...

vanilla chai with sugar and cream?

So, today was my first day at JV.

Awesome.

I met so many cool people, and the other new girl and I both got a round of applause after completing our first days on the job. In fact, as I drove home on Lake Shore Drive, I actually started to miss work.

Whoa.

That's never happened before. But I did. I can't wait to see what tomorrow has in store. It's a really great feeling to think that a.) I am working with an incredible group of people and b.) I am going to be doing work that I feel passionate about.

What's funny is that, prior to finding the job posting, I had no idea that a job like this even existed.

After I got back into Indiana, my eyes were hanging. All of the excitement from the past few weeks had finally caught up with me. Problem was, my day was far from over. So at 6:00pm, I decided to drive through Dunkin' Donuts for a small vanilla coffee with sugar and cream. I needed the caffeine boost to get me out to Griffith and keep me alert and cheering during Max's little league practice.

Me: "Hi. Can I please have a small vanilla coffee with cream and sugar?"
Muffled Dunkin Donuts Person: "Um. We only have medium?" (Yes, it was posed as a question.)
Me: "Oh that's fine."
Muffled Dunkin Donuts Person: "Cream and sugar still?" (As if the size of the cup played a role in my need for sweetener and half 'n half...)
Me: "Yes. Thank you."
Muffled Dunkin Donuts Person: "Okay. Please pull around."

After a few minutes, she came to the window, took my money, and handed me my drink. I could have sworn I'd heard her say, "Here's your vanilla chai," but I just thought she forgot herself.

Coffee. Chai. They sound nothing alike, but I suppose if she sounds muffled to me through the speaker, I must sound pretty muffled as well.

I drove off, anxiously anticipating that first rejuvenating sip.

It was freaking chai.

But...guess what?

The chai was actually much better than the coffee. The chai was CHOCK FULL OF DELICIOSITY. The chai was exactly what I needed. But I'm pretty sure I've never had hot vanilla chai before.

As a matter of fact, I didn't even know that Dunkin Donuts served chai.

As I enjoyed every single foamy, vanilla-filled, freaking delicious sip, I came to this simple conclusion:

Sometimes what we want or expect isn't what's best for us. Sometimes you stumble upon things completely by accident and in turn find exactly what you never knew you were looking for. And it's better than you could have ever imagined.

So here's to vanilla chai and my new career with JV. Two things that I never expected, but were just what I needed.

in less than 12 hours

That's right. In less than twelve hours I'll be pulling into the JV parking lot for my first day of work.

I can't wait. This has been the longest two weeks in my life. I'll let you know how it goes. Although, confidentiality won't let me go into detail-detail, but I'll let you know the general idea.

I still can't believe that I've come this far. The magnitude of this situation is unbelievable...in a good way.

And I will always be grateful.

Always.