Ramble

I'm supposed to be doing laundry right now, but I'd rather sit in my living room and watch Buffy The Vampire Slayer while working on homework. I'm currently taking English 102 for the billionth time. My credits from all the previous times I've taken it won't transfer to UIC, so I get the pleasure of doing all of this over again. At least I know what I'm doing.

In other news, I found and ordered Marty's birthday present today. I also found and purchased a gift for Von - just because I think she'll love it. Let's see, what else is going on...

Got a haircut yesterday. I think this is my most favorite haircut of all time. Jackie at Shampoo Salon on Chicago Ave. is the best. Full disclosure: she's also my sister-in-law.

I've also been gardening. I have a container veggie/herb garden on our front patio. I love it, but it's been attracting gnats because of all the rain we've been getting. My tomato plants are growing out of control, so I hope to have lots and lots of tomatoes soon!

Family Matters

I am blessed to have many cousins on both sides of my family that are truly amazing. The cousins on my dad's side, I don't get to see nearly enough. They live in the far northwest suburbs. Sometimes it feels like hey might as well live in another state. I miss them.

My cousins on my mom's side all live pretty close. It's the fact that our parents don't get along that separates us all. As the oldest, I'm trying to get us all past that. Just because my mom's generation has problems with each other, doesn't mean the cousins can't be close. It's just hard to bypass all the drama to build real relationships. It's a work in progress.

Another problem with this is I have been working every day, every weekend lately. Pretty hard to connect with people when you can't make weekend plans. I think I'll have to start not getting sleep on the weekends roll again. I don't want to, but it'll be worth it.

Wedding Aftermath

Now that my wedding is over, I don't quite know what to do with all this free time. I still haven't completely unpacked or put away all our gifts or written any thank you notes, so I guess I could start there. I just don't wanna. I've also been working full-time this week at what's supposed to be my part-time job, so all the time I would have had to work on these things, I've been resting after a long hot shift at work. I'm so tired, all I want to do is complain. Le sigh.

My favorite wedding picture-so far-is below. I have yet to receive any pictures from the official wedding photographers, so more to come!

I Yearn For Simpler Times

You're The Moon is a Harsh Mistress!

by Robert Heinlein

A freethinker, you are willing to go well outside the bounds of
societal expectations in expressing what you believe. You yearn for simpler times
out on the frontier when men were men and could take multiple wives or do whatever
they wanted to without fear of the law. This recollection may be idealized and even
nonsensical, but it doesn't keep you from advocating revolution against rules,
wherever they may exist. While you really like the movie "2001: A Space Odyssey,"
you always thought HAL should have been the hero. Your favorite Canadian coin is
the Loonie.


Take the Book Quiz II
at the Blue Pyramid.

I Think I'm Back

I've been doing some research into how to maximize my tips at my waitressing gig. In doing so, I ran across this gem. Most of the advice is pretty reasonable. However, I also do pretty much everything the author suggests already. Sometimes, I'd bet even most of the time, the tip doesn't much reflect on the service you've given so long as the service was decent. I absolutely do not agree with the following:

Reason: Most of the time, bad tips are given because people do not like the service they have received. If you get a bad tip, you should ask yourself the following:

• Was the service slow?
• Did I say something to upset someone at the table?
• Did I ignore a request?
• Did I flash an excess body part?

Every shift I work, I have an example of giving the same exact service to one table as the next and I'll get tipped 10% from the one table and 25% from the other. I've been trying to think of what else I could possibly do to never get a 10% tip, but I'm on the verge of concluding there's just nothing to be done. I give the best service I can, and the rest is up to the customer. Some people are just cheap. I'm not going to take it personally. I'm certainly not going to worry about whether or not I flashed an excess body part. I mean, come on. Really? In my brightly-colored polo and khaki pants, I'm not too concerned about flashing body parts anyway.

Can now be found

I've moved my blogging to a new place.  

http://shapeswithoutsubstance.com

Hope to see you there.  :)

Let's get Rowd(y)

My Uncle Rowd is currently in the hospital, and the prognosis is not that great. I can do nothing but hope he comes through it like the fighter he's always been.

What is likely my earliest memory involves going to a van rally with my dad, Uncle Rowd, and his wife Ginny. According to my mother, I was three. I vividly remember Rowd picking my dad and I up in his modified and tricked out van and waving goodbye to my mom and little brother. I also remember walking down a path looking at cattails, sitting around a fire in a big prairie type lot surrounded by vans and other fires, and being afraid to sleep outside, so my dad and I slept in the van. I spent alot of time with Rowd and Ginny before they split up (I think I was eight years old when that happened). They didn't have any kids at the time, and my parents pawned my brother and I off every chance they got it seemed. Which I was totally fine with at the time and still am. If it weren't for all the awesome things my aunts and uncles did with me when I was a kid, I wouldn't be the person I am today. Some other random memories/interesting things I remember about Rowd:

• He never really seemed to be afraid of anything. He would always be the designated fireworks lighter. He'd nonchalantly light a fuck-ton of bottlerockets and then slowly saunter away as if nothing they could do would hurt him.
• He is a fabulous country line dancer (from what I hear).
• He's always reminded me of a mix between Dennis Hopper and Robert DeNiro, just smaller and quieter.
• His car was booted once, and he got arrested for trying to remove it. My mom had to go get him out of the district lockup.
• He lived in what became a VERY bad neighborhood in the city. Someone broke into his house once, and he tried to shoot the burglar with a shotgun.
  
• He's had alot of careers in his 58 years of life. He's currently an IDOT worker on the highway. I can't begin to explain how perfect that job has got to be for him. Every time I'm on the highway and see a yellow IDOT tow truck, I look to see if it's him.
  
• The longest conversation I've ever had with him involved fuel efficiency standards on cars/trucks and fuel prices in this country.
• His name is Charles (after his father), but I've always known him as Rowd. It wasn't until I was a teenager that I realized Rowd (for rowdy) wasn't his actual name.
  
• He still has a bullet in his back from one of his tours of duty in Vietnam.
• He used to take us kids on motorcycle rides during family barbecues. He'd do wheelies and ride up on the sidewalk with me on the back. It was terrifyingly awesome.
  

I've always been very glad to have him as an uncle, and I hope to have many more years of him telling funny stories at the few family parties my dad's family has every year.