break

i went out to the barn last night for the first time in a couple of weeks. i was showing off my camera to the other lady there and she took my picture with one of the horses. it was so cold out. i'd gone out to the king william barn earlier in the day and took pics of the horses out there. i'm glad to be helping again. i also finally got around to bringing my pets to the vets. kitt's annual exam was half a year overdue. and budd's eggs were months overdue. they ended up costing four hundred dollars. budd still has two eggs and they're going to get back to me about what we should do about it. kitt got her senior labs done and i'll hear back soon if anything more needs to be done with her. so they may end up costing even more. good thing i'm getting holiday pay tonight working new year's eve. i had a second christmas this week going shopping with all the gift cards i got for christmas. i got us a much needed vacuum cleaner from kohls. a massage mat for our chair from wal mart. and an indoor/outdoor digital thermometer from home depot. there were such great sales after christmas too. i got some stuff up to half off. dad's retirement party is this weekend. he's worked so hard to support five kids for almost forty years. he deserves the big break.

settled

this past week has been pretty crazy. it started out pretty terrible last weekend. we got about a foot of snow. and i had to work through all of it. i closed friday night and had six inches on my car already even closing an hour early. i was the only one able to get there saturday. gareth had to drive me. it continued snowing all day. i was only there from noon until five and i was busy the entire time. so mad at everyone risking their safety to go out and get a movie. i almost didn't go in sunday when everything iced over. but i was told i had to by my manager who's boss told him someone had to. he actually went out that night to close so that made me a little less angry about the whole situation. but all in all it was pretty terrible. and my family's plans for my bday on sunday were cancelled because of all the snow too. we finally celebrated on christmas day. i was too late to see anyone on christmas eve after working that morning. i'd ended up working seven days in a row before getting christmas off. i was pretty happy about that. it was a really nice day with everyone. i posted some videos of everyone opening the presents i got them. and pics after. i love my new camera. i had today off and spent the day cleaning up the apartment and doing some catch up shopping. finally feel like i'm all settled after all the madness. can't wait for gareth to come home tomorrow. i always miss him when he's gone.

bday

i had a pretty good bday yesterday. even though it started out at the doctors. my ears had started hurting at work the day before so i figured the nurses were right. the doctor said i had some fluid in them but that it wasn't a full blown infection. she said to take sudafed gave me something for the dizziness. but on the prescription it says it may cause dizziness and drowsiness. so that won't really help at work. or in general if it really makes me dizzy. they did some labs on my bloodwork though so i know there's not anything else seriously wrong with me. i also got my cholesterol checked. it's been a few years and growing up i always had really high cholesterol from my mom. seeing both my parents have heart issues over the years i know i really should be doing something about it. after the doctors i finished my christmas shopping. that one sentence took about five hours. while we were shopping though gareth bought me a magic bullet food processor. and a car wash. he'd already gotten me the national geographic series on disc. every issue ever made. it looks pretty cool. and it was very thoughtful of him. we went by petsmart yesterday and there was a rat that looked just like pete there. i really wanted to get him. gareth put his foot down though and said it was a bad idea. he's probably right. i don't really want to replace him. i just really miss him. my family called me from florida to wish me a happy bday. mom wanted them to sing but that's just what mom does every year. leaves me a voicemail of her singing happy bday. gareth took me to maggianos last night. i got the eggplant parmesan and he got the giant lasagna. i brought home chocolate cake. and most of the lasagna. it was nice. i'd say i had a happy bday. thanks everyone.

dizzy

i'm just finishing up editing photos for albums for christmas. i started last week and really didn't think it would take this long. i'm excited to get them printed and put them in order. that's my favorite part. i still haven't found presents for half my family. i have today off though so i'll be out shopping until i drop. and that may be literally. i've been experiencing vertigo lately. this is going on three days now. it's happened before but always went away pretty quickly. there are a few nurses who come through bbuster that i always get diagnoses from when i have something wrong. the inner ear was the unanimous culprit. they all said i should go to the doctors if it continues much longer. so i may be spending my bday on thursday at the doctors. that's the other day i got off this week. i need to email my family and tell them i didn't get off sunday to celebrate with them. after i made a big deal about wanting to celebrate apart from christmas. and it turns out i'll probably be working christmas eve and christmas. the manager and i both worked on thanksgiving thinking that then the other two shift leaders would take a shift on christmas and christmas eve. apparently that was just a thought though because neither of them can work either. i just hope i get my original request of christmas eve night and christmas day morning off. mom will cry if i don't. and i just might too. my grandma was in the hospital this past weekend. she'd fallen and broke a vertebrae. i called and wasn't sure she knew who i was at first. but once she said she'd started reading the book i sent her i was pretty sure she knew it was me. she said she hadn't had any visitors and seemed happy i'd called. poor grandma. gareth and i saw some movies this weekend. he reviewed invictus and really liked it. i went to see the princess and the frog with him and we both really enjoyed that. glad disney's got their animation studio up and going again. my family will have to thank them for me. they're at disney world this week.

accidents

my car got towed this morning. they've been doing leaf cleanup on our streets and i thought it was over but apparently today was the last day. i'm waiting for gareth to get ready to go so we can pick it up. that's sixty dollars less to spend on christmas presents this year. gareth's offered to pay for half. i'd been budgeting to actually get nice presents for everyone this year so that'll help. it's been a pretty hectic week. our store flooded for the third time this week. the first time i've opened though. i did everything i thought i was supposed to but when i called the manager to let him know what was going on he told me to pull out the shop vac from the back and start cleaning it up myself. i was not happy about this. he hadn't done that the two times before. and i was very unhappy when someone else got there and said i shouldn't be touching anything that was wet because it was close to an electric outlet and i could get shocked. more things are adding up on the negative side with him lately. i just read on here about a friend who had an accident driving this past weekend when it snowed. that's the day gareth and i drove back home to decorate. it was a good time but pretty scary driving my car in the snow for the first time. i'm glad i didn't have the same thing happen to me. we had a cat follow gareth home last night. i took some food and warm milk out for him. he was so sweet. i wished i could bring him in from the cold. i hope he had a nice warm home of his own.

lucky

i really thought i was opening today. luckily when i was writing down my schedule last night for next week i noticed that i'm actually closing. i'd been waiting to watch the hangover with gareth tonight. oh well. we both have tomorrow off but i've already made plans to go home and help with the christmas decorations. not even sure gareth will be able to accompany me. he's been sick all week. some days he feels better. some days he feels worse. i just hope i don't catch it from him this time. my wrist got better. i don't really know what was wrong with it. i was going to make an appointment on monday morning when suddenly it just popped back into place. glad i didn't have to deal with all that. i went out to the new barn for the first time this week. there's only two horses there and there were three of us. so they both got lots of attention after being out in the rain all day. i talked to someone there about taking riding lessons. that would be good for me. i watched a really good french documentary last night. called the gleaners and i. about people who scavenge fields after harvest as well as people in the city who go dumpster diving. opened my eyes a little. there's a guy who's sometimes on the corner of bbuster's shopping center. if i have any leftovers after work i give them to him. but it makes me sad to see.

hard

pete died last night. i thought he was looking better this past week after getting a refill on his meds but the day before yesterday he stopped eating and started looking pretty bad. gareth and i arrived home from work at the same time in the pouring rain. i was glad i wasn't alone when i discovered him. at least he had a very peaceful look on his face. lying on the floor of his tank with his hands almost in prayer position on the side of his face. at least he's not suffering anymore. i thought that was the hardest part watching him in pain. but i was pretty torn up last night. i'm bringing his body back home today to bury in the yard with all my past pets. that was a lousy way to end thanksgiving day. dinner at my sister's house was pretty great though. i brought a non-tofu tofurkey (no meat or soy... not entirely sure what it was made of) and made vegetarian stuffing for the first time. it had been years since i'd had stuffing and it was awesome. my mom's cousin made lots of veggie dishes too and they were wonderful (sweet potatoes with cranberries... green beans with pine nuts...mmm). i brought home lots of leftovers. including half a pecan pie from my parents. my favorite. i saw the most ironic site on the driveway to their house. a flock of turkeys. put a pretty big smile on my face. so it turns out that sore wrist i've had might be carpal tunnel. my mom had it and ended up needing surgery a few years back. it's gotten worse over the past week. working definitly makes it worse. it might even be the cause of it. i'd been wrapping up my wrist all week but on wednesday i was there by myself all morning with a non-stop line of customers and i couldn't work fast enough with a wrap on. so by today it's hurting pretty bad. i got a wrist guard last night like mom suggested but it really seemed to make things worse. i guess a doctor is my next step here. so many ups and downs in life. it's hard to hang on on this roller coaster.

balance

i'm trying not to be entirely negative about our new manager but i have a few complaints. first he completly changed my schedule this week and didn't tell me at all. he ended up having to change it again on monday once he found out we had inventory this week. that's my second complaint. the store has been an absolutely horrible mess partly due to inventory this week. on the positive side. first he got most of the rest of the christmas makeover done while i was gone. i don't think i could put up another holiday themed thing at our store. i did get the little christmas tree on the left for my home though. second i did get off the morning of thanksgiving. we're having our dinner at two so i'll at least get a few hours with my family. gareth has to work a double so he has christmas off. i don't know what's going to happen on christmas but another morning off would be good for me. the third positive thing was that i got to take pictures of the horses on one of the days i had off this week. gareth had to see the new twilight movie this week. another midnight viewing i did not attend. we've been busy playing the new super mario brothers on wii. the only game i actually enjoy playing. haven't gotten too far but that means more to play later. not today though. it's time to go to work. with a sore wrist. that's three.

off

so the sun finally decided to show itself yesterday for the first time all week. the last day i had of my week off. the rain had cancelled my photo taking plans. but that gave me time to finish my florida album. i went out to louisa to catch up on my sunshine yesterday. got some good pictures. found out my sister got another dog. pete's still holding on here. my parents came and visited everyone here over the weekend. my niece made it to states cheerleading and they were at vcu so they stopped by to say hi. we were having a movie marathon that day. we watched all of the lord of the rings movies. it took about fourteen hours. they were good and i'm glad i finally saw them but i'm also glad i won't have to do that again. gareth went to see the 2012 midnight opening on friday. i thought it might be too intense to see on the big screen. instead i got to watch three of my five free rentals this week. my sister's keeper, angels and demons and the it's always sunny in philadelphia christmas special. none were spectacular. but all in all it was an alright week. better than having to work. i go back tonight and find out how the new manager's been doing on his first week. i hope he's been doing well and i can keep unstressed a little while longer. here's to hoping.

antics

i just got back from the vets. pete's foot swelled up and i finally decided to take him in. turns out he has pneumonia. i thought he was just in bad shape from his foot. i feel so bad for not taking him in earlier. i got antibiotics to try and heal both things but it may be too late. i cried when i heard the assistant briefing the vet on the situation and say "it's looking pretty bad." the vet had a rat growing up that lived four years. i hope pete recovers and still has many years to come. i took budd outside yesterday for the first time since it started getting cold this season. it was nice and sunny out and she seemed to enjoy romping around the yard. i put her in the dry tank we set up for laying eggs after and she'd been in there all night. she started scratching at the walls this morning so now she's back in her aquarium. we'll cross our fingers for more eggs now. that routine seemed to work before. you'd think one of my pets wouldn't be high maintenance right now but kitt's joined in the antics. she had a peeing spree the other day. the first one at this place. both gareth and i were in the "pet's room" the other day. me working on my computer and him waiting for his to come (he just bought a macbook). we watched kitt go in and out of her litter box about a dozen times in the hour or so we were sitting there. noted that it was strange and maybe she wasn't feeling well. then i went to the bathroom and kitt followed. she squatted right in front of me and started peeing. i yelled and threw her out. we thought maybe she just didn't like us being in "her" room so we left but i found a few more spots throughout the day where she'd gone. i haven't seen any since though so hopefully that was a one time thing. i'm back in the room on my computers now though. she seems to be at peace drinking some water. or maybe she's reloading. gareth's old computer died on him (hence the huge upgrade) and i lucked out getting his old flatscreen monitor for my photo editing desktop. i think i'll spend the day working on my florida pictures until i have to go to work. the only day i go in this week. we actually got a manager and i finally got the rest of my paid time off. woohoo. i went out this past weekend and helped set up the new barn in short pump. i took some pictures. hopefully i'll be taking a lot of horses this week.

excited

i ended up going out last week just as the lady was leaving. she'd gone out early since it was getting dark earlier and hadn't informed me in time. at least i got to hang out with the horses and give them some carrots before driving the half hour plus home. i went out tonight on time and got to help for the first time. it was kind of intimidating. i guess i hadn't informed them that i hadn't been around horses in some time. so when they started telling me things to do like i knew how to do them i was a bit worried. but i was able to step up and do what needed to be done. there's a new barn opening up near short pump soon so i'll probably start going out there. should be a bit closer for me. i'm excited. i've started taking more pictures this week. i hadn't used my little camera in some time. they want me to go out to all the barns and take pics of all the horses for the rescue. i have been informed of a new manager finally coming next week so i should finally be getting some of that paid time off i've been expecting. of course this comes after this week's rediculous christmas makeover. i shouldn't be so surprised but it actually took a month for us to get a new manager. blah. we're going to see the midnight opening of men who stare at goats tonight. should be good. hope i can stay awake until then.

investing

i was sick for about a week there. was feeling better going back to work but it proved to be too much for me and i was feeling pretty crummy after working five days in a row including one double shift. but now i have three days off in a row. this is my second one of those. all i have now is the cough but that finally seems to be going away. i went out to the rehab barn for the horse rescue this past weekend too and took some pics of a volunteer for the aarp. i think they're going to use the first pic for publication. i'm going back out tonight to help clean horses and stalls. i'm glad this actually happened. looking back i seem to get a lot of ideas of things to do but don't always go through with them. so i'm happy this did. gareth and i tracked down the soundtrack to where the wild things are and i've been listening to it non-stop as i do with the few cds i listen to. it helps put me in my own imaginary world. my rat pete has been getting old lately. i've thought he was going to die soon for the past few weeks. his bumblefoot came back and he wasn't eating or drinking for a little while there. i was too sick and busy myself to give him the kind of care he needed but now i'm fully attending his needs and he seems to be doing better. he's still two years old though so i know he won't be around a whole lot longer. as long as i can make him comfortable until then i'll be doing my part. budd still hasn't laid the last three eggs. i don't know what to do about that. pets are so investing. of time and worry and money and attention. it's a good thing i love them. it's hard to imagine the horses that are rescued from people who failed to do all of those things. i'm glad i can help.

sick

despite all the good food i ended up getting sick this week. and i had to open on the first full blown day. i felt awful. i really don't know how i made it through. but i was lucky to have the next two days off to recover. this is the second of those days and i'm feeling better but still not healthy. i'm hoping another day of rest and meds will have me on my feet for the working weekend ahead. i had a good day last sunday going home. my dad and i went to see where the wild things are. he liked it too. then we went out to chilis. it was an adventure to get there as we were both surprised to see that the mall was under construction. there's always something under construction back home. i finally finished my alaska album. now i have florida to do. i've enjoyed these past few days spent at home. although uncomfortable i was able to lie in bed and i've almost finished my book. call of the wild. not the jack london one but another about a man who went to alaska to live in the wild. it's pretty good and helped wisk me away into another world. i always enjoy those.

imaginary

so suddenly it's fall. feels more like winter. we've turned on the heat for the first time here and i pulled out my coat the other day. i like the cold weather. at least a little of it. i'm sure i'll be glad when spring arrives again. i've been on a cooking spree lately. made sweet potato and squash soup the other day. and lentil spinach walnut salad last night. i've been feeling a little under the weather this week but i think the good food's helped me not to get completly sick. gareth's been pretty sick these past few days. and he was up late last night seeing where the wild things are. i went with him for the midnight opening. it was sold out. and well worth it. i really enjoyed how beautiful the imaginary world they created was. we still don't have a manager. another manager came by this week and showed me how to do some more things around the store. the district manager said she'd let me know what was going to happen next week. i asked if i was going to be staying at the store and said that i preferred to do that. but that i'd looked forward to that raise we'd talked about awhile ago. she said she thought i'd be staying there and that any raises weren't going to happen until the first of next year. so i guess i'm staying and i'll find out who comes soon.

running

our manager left a week ago. he'd put in his two weeks notice before i left for my trip so they had three weeks to figure out how to cover his absence. and i still don't know what's happening with that. i've been pretty much running things in the store. and trying not to go into overtime. it's been exhausting but i kind of like being in charge of getting things done around there. i'm in the middle of making peanut butter and jelly cookies. they smell and will hopefully taste delicious. at least they're coming off the cookie sheet unlike the last bench i attempted. gareth didn't see any movies this weekend. last week's was zombieland. another one too bloody for me to see on the big screen. i'm excited about next week's new movie. where the wild things are. i'm going with my family to see it. on my only day off next week. i hope they figure out who's going to be in change soon. hopefully it will be a situation where i can ask for that raise. i think i deserve it. i miss vacation. hopefully i'll get another one soon.

cool

the rest of the trip went well. there were lots of birds at the beach. and we got a nice sunset. we also went fishing on his dad's boat two nights in a row. the first night we were out for about five hours and they only caught about a dozen fish. the second we were only out about an hour but they caught about two dozen. no sharks though. they were dissapointed but i was alright with that. i'm both scared of and scared for them. we also went and played mini golf at night. it was much too hot to do anything but swim during the day. so it was quite a shock to come home the other evening and find it was sweater wether in virginia. i'm alright with that though. i'm working all weekend now. but i still have some paid time off so i'm hoping to take a few days off the end of the month and head to the mountains. that's my kind of vacation. i've also been looking into joining the local ymca. my favorite banker just joined and said she loves it. i need something to do when gareth's not around to get myself out of the house. and with my income it would only be twenty two dollars a month. i think it's worth it especially with winter coming. i won't be taking my turtle for walks anymore. not like that's much exercise. she laid another egg while we were gone. only three more to go.

away

it's been a good trip so far. we went to a nature preserve yesterday. there wasn't much wildlife but lots plants in the mangroves. we went to the largest book store after. i got an old book about tracking animals. we've seen some movies this week. gareth had already reviewed district nine. he thought i'd like it but it really wasn't enjoyable for me. everyone else liked it thugh. we saw surrogates friday morning. it was prett decent. those aren't movies i'd normally see in theaters anyways. we actually went to a blockbuster last night. they wanted to see jaws but i convinced them to get something else that wouldn't scare me so much. so we got sunshine. which turned out to be pretty scary anyways. we should be heading to the beach later today. hopefully it won't be too sunny out. i got a bit too much sun yesterday. and a bit too much rain the other night. we went to busch gardens' howl-o-scream. erin and i had just gotten on the scrambler that no one else wanted to ride and it started pouring. we were soaked the rest of the night. but it was a lot of fun. we went in some haunted houses. i was the only one screaming. it doesn't take much to scare me. but gareth will hold my hand. i've had a good time just getting away.

positive

i'm in florida. my first full day. it's beautiful out. but hot. i'm glad to see the sun though. we'd looked at the weather report before we came and it showed storms into next week. gareth's dad said some storms have been passing in the afternoon but yesterday's didn't even get us wet. we spent a few hours in the pool when we got here. playing monkey in the middle. it was a lot of fun. i didn't realize how much sun i was getting. it's just a little tan today but i was hurting last night. i had a really bad headache. i'm not positive it was the sun. i've been having them pretty often lately. just thought it was stress back home. but they've crept in on my vacation now. hopefully they won't stay. i'm the first guest up this morning. i'm glad i brought my computer. i'm hoping to get started at least on my alaska article. i finally got the green travel guide gareth ordered before we left. apparently my trip wasn't very environmentally friendly. but i can do things now that can help. including telling others how theirs can be. we didn't end up having a big family get together before i left. but gareth and i made the trip back home friday anyways for a dinner and a visit with my aunt. i like her insight in life. i think she's searching like me for something more than what meets the eye. but she has a very positive outlook on things. something i sometimes need to be reminded to have.

ok

i didn't get the job at wachovia. i don't know why. they just sent an email saying i didn't. oh well. it was dissapointing but at least i got some job hunting experience. and i have good news at my store now. the lazy manager's finally leaving. and they're thinking of getting gareth's manager to manage our store as well as the one they're already managing. doesn't sound like a good idea but that means they'd need to keep me on as an assistant at our store. and even though i've been doing more than my share lately now it will be official so i could ask for the raise that was promised to me a month ago if i was just going to go to a busier store. sounds good to me. for now. i won't know what's really going on until i come back from vacation the end of the month. we're going to florida to visit gareth's dad with his brother and his brother's girlfriend for a week. i'm excited. they just bought a new house and it's right on the water... and has a screened in pool. it'll be nice to get some summer in just as fall's coming. budd laid another egg this morning. she was in her dry tank for a few days but wanted back in the water. so she's been in there for a few days and just popped one out this morning. four more to go. we're having another family get-together tomorrow. my aunt's from ny is in town so we're all getting together for a bbq at my parents' house. it seems like we get together a lot but i've barely been home this summer. so that should be nice. and everything's ok.

steps

yesterday was a good day. i had my second interview with wachovia and i think it went quite well. i also went to my first horse rescue meeting and will hopefully be starting with them soon. that happy bubble was burst by my first customer this morning telling me to shut my mouth. between that and me almost going into overtime again this week because my manager's too lazy to do his job i'm quite ready to leave. at least i've finally taken the first steps in doing that. i had some strange news this week. budd my turtle laid an egg. budd that i've thought was a male all these years. i took her to the vets and they took an x-ray. she still has five eggs in her. they're not fertilized but they need to come out. so i've concocted a dry tank from pet store dirt and grass. hopefully she'll be comfortable enough to lay them on her own. she seems pretty content in there : ]

i still can't believe budd's a she. crazy stuff. we went to see a pretty good movie earlier this week. nine. gareth saw whiteout earlier today. said it wasn't so great but someone's already commented on it being a good review. i'm glad to see others are taking notice : ]

soon

my interview went well. i have another one this week. but i'm not sure the job's going to work out. they said they don't think they can give me as many hours or as much money as i'm getting now. so i'll have to see the actual numbers before i make my decision. but it didn't sound that great. i thought that going to the beach would make me feel better about my job situation but i was stuck in a slump most of the time i was there. the weather kind of followed my mood too. it was windy and cold most of the time. it was nice seeing my dad and brother and his girlfriend though. and we made due with at least a lack of rain on those days. i should have my pictures up shortly. gareth couldn't come with me to the beach. he had a meeting with rva. they paid him well for the rest of the summer movies he'd done. and said they wanted him to continue doing any big movies that were released. so that's good news. he then went back home to fairfax to see friends and family and reviewed gamer. i came home from the beach and immediately started looking for jobs. applied at yahoo jobs for a dentist appointment assistant. capital one for... something. and virginia.gov for an office coordinator. made me feel a little better. i have a meeting with userl (united states equine rescue league) this week too. hopefully i can start helping them soon. i got to see my family again last night. we had three bdays in the extended smith family this week. so we all got together at cheesecake factory to celebrate. i was happy because we didn't have to go far to see everyone this time. gareth came so that was nice.

better

the rest of this month has been much better. dad got orders to take off work for a few weeks and said he's enjoying his first taste of retirement. he's gone to va beach this weekend through next. i'll be joining him for a day next week. before i go i have an interview with wichovia. i'm nervous. i haven't had an interview in... five years? hopefully i'll do just fine. before i heard back from the bank i had an offer from my new district manager to change stores and get a raise. i said i'd take it but i'm hoping i don't have to if this works out. i have today and tomorrow off. my first actual weekend on the weekend in a very long time. but gareth works this morning and tomorrow night. i opened yesterday and we went to see taking wood stock last night. besides a completely nude scene by emile hirsch, getting to see dimitri martin's large nose on the big screen and an awesome tripping scene it didn't thrill me much. we might go see ponyo tonight. i was glad to miss out on his viewing of halloween II this weekend. that and inglourious basterds were much too bloody for my taste. i think these were the last of the summer movies for gareth to review. i hope they still want him to do reviews for them. or that he can find somewhere else to do them. i think he's done really well with them. especially being his first time. he's got a passion and a talent to go with it. i hope he has more ambition or maybe just luck than i've had with those things. but even if he doesn't i know we'll be just fine. we're happy and honest hard workers and i know we'll make it through whatever comes our way.

scary

my dad had a heart attack. he's ok now but it's pretty terrifying getting the phone call that a loved one is in the hospital. especially after what my mom's been through. he left work not feeling well on thursday and stopped at an urgent care while driving home. he ended up at mary washington but they didn't know what was going on until friday morning. that's when i got the message that i should be there. i was on my way out the door to work so i called my half asleep manager and told him i wouldn't be in. gareth drove me there. he'd been up all night watching and reviewing district nine. it's nice having so many siblings in my family. especially when there's something wrong. most of us were there. my sister in seattle was there via text. we all waited a few hours for him to come out of the cath lab to learn whether he needed surgery or not. he had two blockages but they weren't as closed as moms so they were able to put stints in. we were so relieved to find out he didn't need surgery. we saw him shortly after. he was on morphine and hungry but in good spirits. we headed back to r'mond and i went in and closed so my manager didn't have to work a double. so that was all scary but had just about the best possible outcome. i have today off and i'm going to head home and either visit him there or at the hospital if he's still there. besides all that my week's been pretty uneventful. i applied at wachovia and was asked to complete an online questionnaire. they indicated that i passed and said a representative would be in contact with me shortly. it's been over a week. gareth almost quit this week. he was promoted two months ago to a shift lead. he's been leading shifts ever since but his pay raise hadn't gone through. they kept promising "it'll be on the next check" and saying he'd get a backpay check as well. he told his manager that if it wasn't on the one this week that he quit. unfortunately it was. we both need to get out of there. but it's hard to find something else working full time with everything else going on. we'll figure it out though. i saw sunshine cleaning last night. it's really good. and it has the saddest scene with an old woman who's husband has just passed. try and watch it without crying. i started welling up when i saw a preview with that scene in it afterwards. sometimes life is pretty sad. luckily it was just scary this time for me.

busy

i've been opening every day this week. and they've cut our hours again so they've all been shifts by myself. with a ton to do. i'm glad that's over with. at least for a day. i've had my nights to myself since gareth's been gone. i got my alaska album all in order. ended up having to redo most of it. i'm still nowhere near done but at least what i have so far looks good now. our cable went out the other day. looks like we don't get free tv anymore. i've discovered gareth's adventures of pete and pete though and been watching some movies. the only one i'd recommend is the union and only to a certain audience. guess i don't have much to write about... i started writing that the other day and didn't end up posting it. it's been a busy week or so since. i just got finished working seven days straight. two of them being double shifts. only one of which i was scheduled for. bbuster's bugging me. while i was at the bank for them yesterday though the tellers ended up saying they were hiring and that i should apply. i'm going to look into that. i also talked to a regular customer about the va equine rescue league that he's a part of. apparently they're looking for someone to go around and take pictures of the horses. i'd love to be around horses again and be of some serveice with my camera. we'll see where all that leads. i had a picture of mine used for a website recently. it's on the right. not the greatest picture but kinda neat. i had my car worked on for the first time the other day. just an oil change but they said i needed new breaks. for like two hunded dollars. my brother in law was nice enough to do them for me for free yesterday. and my sister was nice enough to make me dinner. i got to see everyone at my mom's brunch the other weekend. that was nice. i was late as usual. got mom a travel pillow like the one she kept stealing from me on our trip. gareth and i saw funny people last weekend. it was really good. we're going to see gi joe tonight. not really looking forward to it but he agreed to seeing five hundred days of summer today too so i can't complain. too much.

time

theses are the pictures i just submitted to this year's national wildlife federation magazine photo contest. i took them all in alaska. i don't have the highest hopes of winning but i figured i had some really nice shots again this year so why not try. we finally have our own internet so it's nice not having to constantly connect and lose what i was working on. my webshots album is still giving me problems though. it wouldn't let me look at all the ones i ended up reuploading. and now i still can't see half of those. and it won't let me rearrange them so they're in the correct order. grrr. i hope to eventually have those problems worked out so i can move onto the next segment of my trip. there's so many more pictures i have to put up. as you can see from the collage. then there's the story i want to eventually get to work on. i found a great green travel book i want to get. it gives tips on how to travel environmentally friendly. that's what i want my article to say with specifics on how to do it in alaska and the great sights i saw on my trip. it's just been a busy summer so far. haven't had a chance to look for another job lately either but got some good news at the bbuster. our district manager left and we got the one gareth had at his store. any district manager's job is to get on us about sales and whatnot but at least she's not a complete jerk about it like our last one was. so that makes me happy for now. gareth and i had a good day off together yesterday. we went to maymont and walked around the whole park. it was a sunny but not too hot day and it was pretty packed but still fun. afterwards we went by my store and picked up the watchmen. then we ordered a pizza and went to pick it up. and when we got there i managed to leave the keys in the car with it on and lock us out. wow. i'd never done all that before. it took aaa over an hour to come and let us back in. just an inconvenience though. nothing horrible happened and we got back to our place a little later and enjoyed the pizza and movie. we have another day off together tomorrow. then he leaves for five days to go to north carolina for a music festival. i'll miss him like he missed me when i was gone but i'm sure he'll be having a good time away like i was this time : ]

searching

we saw the new harry potter last night. it was actually quite good. gareth's review hasn't been posted yet but i always get a sneak peek since he writes it on my computer. the theater was packed with people in capes with lightning bolts on their foreheads. the girls sitting next to us had even brought sticks resembling wands. it was all quite fun. it had been a tough beginning of the week so i was glad to escape into some fantasy. while i was in louisa at my brother's we found some kittens living in the woods. they were covered in ticks and living in logs. so we captured them and i took them back to r'mond with me. i took them to the spca first thing in the morning. they wouldn't take them saying they had so many kittens there right now that they're offering them buy one get one free this month. so i had to take them to animal control. when they took them out they looked pretty bad. one was barely moving. they had to put that one down right away. the other they said they'd get the vet to look at it. i called back the next day and they said they'd had to put the other one down too. they were infested with maggotts. i felt so horrible about it. i'm awaiting a call from them now about a rabies test. i'd been bit by one of them and i'm hoping they weren't rabid on top of it all. what a sad story. it did inspire me to look into volunteering at the shelter though. but they don't have orientation again until september. i hope i do it then. dad's right. i should be working with animals. it's probably time to start up my job search again.

started

the internet goes in and out here. we finally signed up for our own yesterday but it won't be up for another week. things are mostly settled now. we've both been working full time this week. gareth actually gets a friday and saturday off this weekend. he always works weekends so i'm sure he's excited. but i'll be closing tonight and opening tomorrow. i'm off sunday though and i hope to head out to louisa for the first time since i got back from my trip. i ran into matt this week. really he ran into me. he and bobbie parked behind me at target and found me in the soap section. he jumped around the corner and scared the crap out of me. not literally. but then he laughed so hard he may have crapped himself. it was a good one. speaking of gasses... we got our oven working. gareth spent about an hour trying to light our pilot light. then i lit it in about a minute. poor guy. he didn't want me to get hurt. but i think i hurt his ego. at least i have banana bread now. we went to see bruno last night. it was hilarious at times but all around outrageous. as his movies tend to be. i'm watching a discovery show about all the mass extinctions in history. the movie knowing came out last week. with nicholas cage. it's about the next one. it was really good. but frightening.

finished

i'm at my new place. there's internet here too. i'm really digging this apartment. except i went to make banana bread tonight and after it was all mixed up i realized the oven doesn't work. blah. hopefully it's an easy fix. one to bother with another day. kitt's sleeping next to me on the bed. she hid under the covers the first day but she's been out exploring lately. i think she'll like it here. i almost don't want to document yesterday. it was a difficult day to say the least. gareth's friend had bailed on him the night before when they were supposed to be using the uhaul to move. so our former roommate ended up staying up with him all night moving everything here. just the two of them. it took until the middle of the day. then they had classes and work. and i was left with cleaning the whole house by myself. i can't complain too much since they did move most of my stuff. but it was an exhausting experience. it didn't look pristine but for the most part it actually looked better than when we'd moved in. so after all that the roommate and i spent the night doing yardwork. the landlord had mentioned that the yard was looking pretty rough and would cost a "few hundred dollars" to fix if we didn't do it ourselves. so we did. gareth missed all this but while he was at work his legs seized up and he could barely walk. poor guy. i'm glad that's all over with. i got to spend today unpacking boxes. i'm really excited about putting everything in its place and making it our home. that's the best part.

prepared

my stolen internet here hasn't been available again until today. so i've been on my webshots album working on some stuff this morning. i'm pretty dissapointed how they're looking on this computer though. they look great on my desktop where i edit. but are looking grainy and just bad on here now. oh well. can't worry about it much for now. we're supposed to be getting our keys to the new place today. we've already packed up some stuff and repaired all the little holes and scratches in our room. we can't move a lot of our stuff until we get a uhaul van monday. but i'll feel a little better if we don't wait to move everything then. i brought some stuff home yesterday. we won't have room for my many boxes of photos at the new place. and brought some stuff back here. i couldn't find my pots anywhere. but i must have sold them last year or something because it looks like they were never here. i got a great kitchen set from dad though. got to get rid of some of my old kinda crappy stuff. i've got a car load of stuff right now ready to take to goodwill. and probably another car load by the time i'm through. i probably could have had another yard sale. but they're so much work. i just don't think i could have handled that this year. i do like minimizing when i move though. and at least goodwill will reap the benefits. i hope my landlord calls...

inspired

i painted this yesterday evening on our porch as the day got cool. it's alaska. haven't been inspired to paint in a long time. i was going to post this from my super nifty new iphone but it doesn't want to let me put pictures on here. we don't have internet or cable for the next week. i've managed to steal someone else's for the time being. but luckily gareth got our phones yesterday so i don't have to do that for long. i also managed to leave my phone in seattle the last day of our trip so it worked out quite well for us to have the new phones now. alaska was amazing. i absolutely loved it up there. i'll be posting my pictures hopefully soon. poor gareth got bombarded the second he came home with a few hundred pictures. he commented on how i had a big smile or a goofy looking face in every picture with me in it. said he could tell what a great time i had. i really did. we saw some awesome sights and i met some pretty cool people. it was great seeing my sister at the end of the trip as well. she has great insight into life and it's always nice talking to her about it. she said i should move to the west coast. i agree. tried to talk gareth into it last night but he's pretty overwhelmed with the upcoming move across town for now. i am too. i have a few days off this week but i'm working a ton next weekend. hopefully i'll have the beginning of next week to move before we're out the end of the month. i'm looking forward to getting into our new place but it's always a lot of work when you have to move. especially on a deadline. it'll be worth it though : ]

summertime

i had a pretty easy start to the week. worked few hours the days i was scheduled and actually had two days off in a row. we went to kings dominion on one of those days. it was sunny but not too excruciatingly hot. and it was in the middle of the week when they close at six still so in four hours we were able to ride just about every roller coaster without any lines. including the new dominator.and the ferris wheel. which was new to us.
we stopped by the congo grill but it was closed so we didn't get to say hello to kayla at her new job. on my next day off i dragged gareth out shopping with me and i found this great new luggage. it's like a duffle bag but it's got wheels. fits my tripod and hopefully everything else i need to take. we also went to olive garden with the gift card my mom got gareth for graduation. it was delicious as usual. and he finished the entire lasagana as usual. i had a bit of a scare with my phone this week. it got wet at kings dominion and wasn't working for a few days. it started working last night. before that i was scrambling around trying to figure out which phone service to sign up for. but i'm safe for another month. our family plan ends the end of june and i have to sign up for my own for the first time. or get on gareth's. but that'll be another hill in a month. right now i'm working too much to think about anything else. i worked a ten plus hour shift closing last night and i'm working ten plus hour double shifts today through wednesday to get all my hours in before i leave. but i got an extra day off before i leave so hopefully i'll be able to recuperate before heading out on our big adventure. i finally sent my guyana story out to foster parrots and they sounded grateful. said they'd put it up on their website. i'll post when i see it.

almost

i keep thinking this is the last week of may. i just want june to come quicker. i am all prepared for alaska now. just got my camera cleaned this week. figured it was worth fifty bucks to be spot free for all those landscape shots. gareth's been reviewing more movies at rva magazine online. he hated the new terminator but enjoyed the new night at the museum. it's been a pretty easy start to the summer for him. there have been computer problems preventing him from his promotion. lucky guy. he was pretty unlucky earlier this week though when we found that kitt had peed on the lower book shelf containing only his books. he had to throw away a bunch of them. it was dried so we don't know when she did it. but i put her nose in it and banned her to the bathroom for a few days. she's been out a day or so now and we haven't found anything else. i'm concerned about what's going to happen at the new place. the bathroom's too small for her kitty litter let alone her home. and there's only so much we can keep out of the room we put her in. oh well. a hill to climb in another month. besides that it's been a good week. i watched the new season of weeds on dvd. it doesn't come out for another week. but it's definitly a good one to check out. i applied for a few more jobs not found on craigslist. i'm really hoping to get a call back from the university of richmond. a girl i work with works there and recommended me for the job so i hope that helps.

proud

this has been an exciting weekend. gareth's family was all here.
we had some nice meals and went to see star trek for our second and third times. it's really that good. it was nice to have a day off too. especially after getting threatened from my manager who got threatened via text from the training manager who was told from my district manager that i needed to lose the attitude or else i was going to lose my job. again. i believe it to be constructive criticism but apparently when you ask "why" instead of "how high" when he tells you to jump it's seen as insubordination. and that was my thanks for all the work i did preparing for the visit. i ended up being the one there for the visit. and working another double shift preparing for the inventory. all those things went quite well thanks to all my hard work. and that's the thanks i got. frustration. i can't wait to leave this place. to do something that actually means something. gareth got another review published in rva. it was on angels and demons. he didn't like it very much but wrote a really good review as to why. he's not going to get into prescreenings but he'll get reimbursed for his tickets at the end of the month. so it's kind of like getting paid. he'd be seeing most of them anyways. he's going to be moving up at bbuster this summer. he's not as annoyed with them as me. yet. i do feel hopeful about our future. i just get frustrated along the way.

trekking

last night i was looking at all the places i've sent my resume to. looks like about thirty. and i've only gotten a handful of responses. and of those only two weren't spam. and of those only one actually sounds promising. and it's for a movie company. haha. i can't get away from film. that may be a good thing though. gareth got his first movie review published this weekend. i'm super proud of him. http://rvamag.com/articles/full/3045/star-trek. rva is going to look into getting him into prescreenings at a local theater. and we're going to look into seeing star trek tonight. i didn't go to the midnight opening with him. but his review sold me on it. i'm happy to have the day off today. i just finished watering my plants. everything's coming up quite nicely. except for the bulbs mom got me. and the strawberry seedlings. i hope those come up soon. everything else is nice and green. today is supposed to be the big visit by the regional director at bbuster. he was supposed to come two other times and never did. but today "he's really coming." so i spent twenty hours in the past two days getting the store ready. while working two of those shifts with the most annoying employee. she was sick and just made everything worse. i really hope i find a new job soon. but today i'm going shopping with the money i make from all those hours spent in annoyance. and that makes me happy.

stories

so i only heard back from one of the job posts. and it was spam about working at home to make money. sigh. i've applied to a few more. an office assistant, a bank teller and a preschool assistant teacher. i think i have a pretty broad range of skills and experiences for these different positions. i know they're not exactly what i want to do in life but i've actually been getting to that lately and it seems like it's going to take a while to get there. i worked on the guyana story this weekend. rewrote the beginning to capture the reader's attention as recommended. "I got down on all fours and crawled the last few inches to peer over the cliff and down the 741 foot drop that led to the bottom of Kaieteur Falls, the largest single-drop waterfall in the world. It was an impressive way to start our adventure in the rain forest. We’d arrived just hours earlier to begin our ecotourism trip in Guyana and were already blown away by its beauty." i still need to write a sidebar on my brother's sanctuary to add a local appeal to it. but then i'll be ready to start sending it out to publications. i got a few books on freelance writing and photography. and on alaska. i've begun my research for the trip. my idea for the story is a bridge in the gap of generations between my parents my niece and me. how my parents passed an appreciation of the earth and environment through travelling down to me and how it is my responsibility to pass it on to the next generation. does that sound interesting to anyone? my professor said i need a new angle on going to alaska. i figured that's pretty specific to our trip. we'll see where it goes. i ended up working friday night so my manager didn't have to work a double. and in exchange he was supposed to work last night for me so i didn't have to work a double. he ended up going back home to charlottesville to his parents' house to do laundry yesterday and asked if i could stay later because he was running late. that turned into him not being able to work at all. i stayed late and someone had to fill in closing who couldn't even run register. i can't believe he pulled that. it's the first flaky thing he's done though so i'll let it slide. this one time. it was just really rude of him to do.

end

it's the end of april. i've accomplished a lot this month. cars, computers, an apartment, my passport and almost staying sane through it all. this is the first evening i've had to myself in awhile. i've worked another straight week. tomorrow's my next to last class. i haven't had the time to work on my story. i'm going to try to this weekend. it was supposed to be my brother's sanctuary's yardsale at the local high school but it got cancelled due to forecasted storms. i hope he's able to reschedule. i know a lot of people had contributed things for it. he's got a great group out there. i feel bad i'm on the fringe now but i try and do what i can when i can. i'm going to be missing his annual get-together the middle of the month for gareth's graduation. i can't miss that. he's been just as busy as me lately. he went out tonight to see the midnight opening of the new x-men. i stayed home and searched on craigslist for a job. sent my resume out to a few receptionist postings. found a photography position. they all seem to be scams but i sent it to them anyways. i also found one for working on a horse farm. i told them i knew it was a long shot but that i'd love working there. we'll see if i hear back from anyone this time. i hope i do. things aren't looking too good at the bbuster.

blooming

i just sold my car. for eleven hundred. it'd been over a week and i was getting frustrated with the spam emails, no show apointments and "i'll give you seven hundred for it." but today a guy and a girl showed up and test drove it... straight to the bank. literally. i sat in the car while they went in and got the money. went to the dmv with them and turned in my old tags. called and cancelled my insurance on it. and left a message with the city since my property tax for it is due in another week. whew. glad that's over with. i think mom's blooming violets had some influence on our family's financial situations. i heard my sister just closed on her first house. congrats. i guess the warm weather is doing what we'd all hoped it would : ]

earth

happy earth day. it's a gorgeous one too. supposed to rain later but we'll be sitting inside watching disney's earth by then. we got the tickets early so they're planting trees for us. i will be planting today as well. they had a bunch of garden stuff in the dollar section of target this week and i couldn't help myself. i have no idea where they'll fit at our new place but hopefully i'll find the room. i have another project outside too. a table i found for free needed some work. so i borrowed a sanding block from dad and went to it. without knowing that you're supposed to go with the grain of the wood. so i'll be painting it now to cover up the horrible scratches i made. i'm resourceful if nothing else. i got my passport on monday. it was almost two hundred dollars. it should be here in a few weeks. i also ordered the last few things i needed for alaska. a padded tripod bag and wildlife field guide. i'm so excited. my dad just bought the rv of his dreams this week too. it's all the way up in pennsylvania though so in owing him from the trip to baltimore i'm taking him to the airport in a couple weeks. i can't wait for my first adventure in it. yellowstone perhaps? ok onto outside to celebrate this beautiful day.

games

another way for my brother to get donations. http://club.live.com/Pages/Home/HomePage.aspx. play a game and donate your winnings to project perry : ]

happy

it's been a busy week but i've gotten a lot done. i cleaned up my old car yesterday and posted it on craigslist tonight. http://richmond.craigslist.org/cto/1127554357.html. and we found an apartment. a one and a half bedroom in a building with about a dozen other units. it has laundry facilities in the basement and the smallest dishwasher i've ever seen. it should be under eight hundred with utilities. we saw it today and got our applications and deposit check in tonight. when i went to drop it off the lady said a person they showed it to yesterday called right after i did and said they wanted it. so we got it just in time. we're getting it the last weekend of june. so we'll have time to move our stuff out of this place before the lease ends here but not be paying double rent. so i'm happy. this is my first day off work in a week. so the pets will finally get cleaned out tonight. just a few days overdue. i'm going home sunday to get my birth certificate so i can get my passport in next week. turns out i can use just the birth certificate to get on the cruise. but it'll be good to get the passport made too. my teacher finally read my guyana story and loved it. she gave me some pointers and said after i work on it more she can help me get it published. so all this hard work has been worth it. it usually is.

adulthood

i could not sleep this morning. i'm waiting for it to get a little lighter out so i can thoroughly search for my passport again before officially declaring it lost. it's going to be such a pain to replace. and alaska's in less than two months. so it's seriously cutting it close. i've been so stressed out lately. getting the car was a huge load off my shoulders. but now i need to sell my old one. i finally got the right hard drive for my laptop and with a little assistance got it all working again. woohoo. i went to that photography focus group meeting last night. it was pretty neat. i was definitly the youngest person there. but that's just more experience to learn from. you have to attend three meetings then be voted in. i'm interested in doing that though. there were a few people there i had met through previous photo events. i think this might really help me get some direction with my photography. i got to go home for easter dinner on sunday. that was really nice. mom's baskets were pretty creative this year. i got a flower pot with some bulbs to plant and other thoughtful goodies. i'm going to wait until i'm in my new place to plant them. we have more apartment appointments set for friday. it's the only day i have off this week. i tried switching shifts with my manager to get today or tomorrow off to get stuff done and work on sunday but he said he had stuff to get done too. like his taxes. i'm glad i'm not a procrastinator. at least not to that extent. i really hope i get my passport in time. i would be absolutely devistated if i didn't get to go. i really want to see where the wild things are. that trailer made me cry yesterday when i saw it. sometimes i just want to be a kid again.

youth

http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi3413574425/

lucky

so i got a car. this car. it's a toyota echo. and it's like toy car tiny.
they're supposed to be great on gas. i test drove it thursday with gareth and i loved it. so dad came down yesterday and we got the guy selling it to go to the dmv with us and make sure everything went smoothly. it did. and i'm very happy. we went bowling for gareth's bday last night. his friends all came and we played a few games then everyone headed to our place. i was the first to drop off and hit the hay. but i've had a busy week. and now i work all weekend. i'm going to start the apartment search again on monday. the place we went to look at this week had already been taken the day before we went. and nobody had told us. oh well. while at the bank getting the cash for the car yesterday i found a fortune cookie insert on the ground that said "your luck will change today." : ]

crazy

this week's just been a crazy one. i went to patient first the other night after work. my hand was hurting really bad and was starting to look discolored. the doctor said it was a sign of infection. so i got a tetanus shot and put on antibiotics. it seems to be doing fine now. yesterday was gareth's bday. i gave him his present first thing. a movie trivia game called "pass the popcorn." we spent all morning and later that night playing it. he's really good at it. and i'm not entirely bad. he also got little bat-shaped ninja star-looking things from our roommate and they spent some time outside throwing them into a target. we went out to eat at his favorite place. super king buffet. it's a sushi all you can eat restaurant. i found some edible things amongst the raw fish, frog legs and baby octopuses. all and all it was a good day. today we've both got off but he has to take his computer literacy tests in order to graduate then we're going to look at an apartment. i'll let you know what we find when we find it.

reality

so i talked both my dad and brother into going all the way up past baltimore yesterday to look at that car. i called the guy from richmond. i called the guy from fredericksburg. i called the guy when we crossed into maryland. and i called the guy when we got to his place. only to have him say when we got there that he'd be there later. and that the car wasn't there. it was at a garage. so we waited around for an hour. and when i called and he said he'd still be some time we left. it was rediculous. and he was acting like i hadn't told him when we were coming. so half a day was waisted driving yesterday for absolutely nothing. my dream car could have been just twenty minutes away. but it wasn't worth waiting around until dark in a shady apartment complex for some guy to show up. oh well. it was a nice drive when there wasn't any traffic. we all talked about past cars everyone's had. and my brother got an internship he starts this week. a paying one. lucky him. i'd given up on the job search lately and replaced it with car and apartment searches. i'm hoping i find something in all my searching. still haven't heard back about the house. it's frustrating thinking of having these jobs or cars or apartments then when you try and get them the thought quickly evaporates into reality. not to criticize. i'm just commenting.

anxious

i am a mixture of feelings today. upset about my pets. i'm sitting here with a chunk missing out of my hand from budd biting me for the first time. and kitt's been banished to the bathroom for peeing on my raincoat. this is the first time she's gone outside her litter box at this place. but i'm excited about the prospect of a new car and house. i've found them both on craigslist. now i have to wait and see if someone will go with me all the way to baltimore to check out this car. http://baltimore.craigslist.org/cto/1106483552.html. and wait for an email back to see when this place is available. http://richmond.craigslist.org/apa/1107846504.html. so now i wait with my palm pulsing and kitt pawing at the door.

collage

i went to the lewis ginter botanical garden with my class yesterday. it was cloudy out but made for perfect picture taking. that was a good introduction to my day. it didn't end so well though. i ended up working at the store i was at for training last year. it was rainy and horribly busy but everyone's cutting hours so we were short staffed and there were lots of problems like there always were at that store. i'm there again tonight. looks like it's supposed to rain again. blah.

goodsearch

my brother's sanctuary gets donations when you search or purchase things online through http://www.goodsearch.com/ under project perry (louisa va). just thought i'd pass on something good : ]

pretty

i stumbled upon these on etsy this morning. aren't they awesome?

nice

happy first of spring. it's actually nice out now. but still a little chilly. it was a beautiful day on wednesday though and gareth and i went for a nice super long walk. i should have learned by now not to take my camera bag with everything in it when we go on these walks. it gets heavier and heavier each time. but it makes it so i can get all these great shots. actually i think i got all these with the same lens.







i got the estimate for the damage done to my car earlier this week before calling my insurance. they said it would be over nine hundred dollars. then i went back to the same place today to just get pictures to send to the other person's insurance and they ended up doing a whole new estimate at two thirds the original quote. i still need to talk to my insurance but i think that's shady of them to do that. i was pretty upset until i saw today that my taxes were accepted and i got a really big refund. so i'm still well on my way to getting a new car.

rainy

i wish all this rain would go away. but i guess we're getting early april showers. maybe that'll make for early may flowers. things have already started to bloom. i hope they don't get killed in another freeze. i saw a robin out back yesterday. got a decent shot of him. i was pretty sad to see this month's va wildlife magazine's annual photo contest. i didn't make it in at all. and i thought i had some really nice shots this year. i went last friday to the first friday art walk downtown. my professor and a past professor had an exhibit at one of the galleries. it was called "shoot the james." there were some great shots there. and some not so great ones. i think i have some great stuff that should be recognized. but i don't know how to get that recognization. i talked with some people at the show. a lot are a part of the focus group for photographers in richmond. i'm going to try and attend their meeting next month. i do feel like i'm trying to get into this scene. maybe someday i'll succeed. i had a really good day yesterday going to louisa for owen's bday. all the family was there. and some crazy kids running around. it was a pokemon party. i told owen gareth would be jealous but i brought him home a box full of goodies. he's had spring break all this week. it was well deserved with all the papers and exams he had last week. i went out early yesterday and got my car looked at. when i got the three hundred dollar axel and boot replaced last week they said my breaks and roters needed to be replaced for another three hundred. so i got the parts myself for less than a hundred and scott was planning on replacing them for free for me. but he said they didn't even need to be replaced yet. then while i was at matt's place a lady backed her truck hitch into my bumper leaving a big hole. my family says i have a target on me or my car. probably me since these things always seem to happen to whatever car i have. i started discussing the prospect of getting a new car. still haven't decided exactly how i'm going to go about that. but i know it needs to be done. it's been nice having these past two days off. it's like i have a normal job where i get weekends off. except that now i have work.

hope

i came up with the idea for the photo essay for my final project. "It seems to me that this has been a rougher winter than usual. Not just the weather, but this past week’s snow storm was an unexpected reminder that we’re not quite through it yet. Talking with friends and family, everyone seems to be really reliant on spring coming around and making things better. Emerging out of the cold and seeing life emerge all around us is always a hopeful sign and I really think people need to see that right now: Hope. People I know have lost their jobs or, myself included, are worried about losing them in the near future. The world is changing all around us as it always does, but we as humans are so reluctant to change. Unlike nature that endures changes constantly. I think that’s why we like to see the seasons change so much. It reminds us of a need for change and makes us see that life can endure it. I would like to photograph this phenomenon." i started taking pictures for it this week in the snow.