A Midsummer Night's Hallucination

Ugh. Insomnia...

I once promised an ode to Prince of Persia in iambic pentameter. Well, forgive the wait, but iambic pentameter can be a bitch. I have an entirely new respect for Shakespeare.

Dagger in my hand? Nay! Dagger buried
in the heart of my belov'd! Brave and just
mine own transgressions are what did end her.
Would that I had not touch'd this loathsome blade!
Rather, I wish it remain'd in India
Within dusty ruins guarded by spell
That one bold princess might once more open
Her two dark and lust'rous eyes unto me!

That was the first time I've written anything in iambic pentameter. Your thoughts?

Progress.

So, I've actually kind of hated living in Cheyenne. I mean, yeah, it's worth it to get Brian through school. But I had to switch jobs, so I'm not dealing with the assholes I'm used to any more. I get an entirely new set of assholes to learn about!
It's a bigger city, so I can go shopping... Until about 6 p.m., because businesses in Cheyenne apparently have better things to do than stay open and SELL STUFF!
Everybody here drives, parks, and even walks like an idiot. They're not being aggressive, they just don't notice the little lines that you shouldn't cross over, and they don't know that red means stop.
There are people with cigarettes and chewing tobacco EVERYWHERE. I guess it's to be expected, but it still really bothers me that I can't walk through the Wally World parking lot to get to work without coughing up a lung.
Also, all my friends are still in Laramie. Yeah, I know one or two people here, but that's not really enough.

But we are making progress! Brian is kicking butt and taking names in school. I am so very proud of that man. =)
I have been working on starting a Go Club at a neat local cafe. It's still very small ~cough~Just me!~cough~ but I'm putting up more ads around town.
And now I've met a Shakespeare group! Apparently, they've been having trouble finding enough cast members for the ever-popular Midsummer Night's Dream. So when a group member dropped off a script she asked me if I wanted to be Hippolyta. Queen of the Amazons? Hells, yes! I've missed theatre, since my most recent activity in it was the class I took in Fall of '06, so I'm jumping at this opportunity! Mayhap I will finally expand my wee circle of friends!

Egads! I just got weirder!

I have added yet another quirk to my laundry list of oddities. Now that I work as an optician, I have an eye-wear fetish.

I happened upon this revelation when I stumbled onto this picture-

Zachary Quinto plays Spock in the new Star Trek movie, and Sylar on Heroes. He is pictured to the right in big honkin' glasses. Nice big zyl frames, and, if I had to guess the prescription, I would say he's either plano or just a little near-sighted. And, the more I stare at those glasses, the more I think myopia makes me hawt. Oooh, talk astigmatism to me, baby. Yeah, just like that...

On a less disturbing note, check out his eyebrows. For the role of Spock, about three-quarters of ZQ's brows were sacrificed to the razor god. You can kind of see how slender they are behind the glasses. Clever disguise, no?

Blasphemy!

Erin has a confession to make-

She had a double standard for a little bit. I try not to let a bad experience bias me against something or someone, and I criticize others for doing it, but I let it happen.

Y'see, a few years ago, I dated this... person/creature/carbon-based THING. His name started with a "C," ended in a "d," and had "ha" in the middle. This... dating, I suppose you could call it, ended on a sour note when he replaced me with something that had smaller tits than his own, and could barely be identified as female. (Yes, I'm still bitter. Shut up.) The relationship was troubled, to say the least, even before it ended. There was lots of drinking, infidelity, verbal abuse, and crying, with his stalking for the next couple years to wash the whole thing down. This is what I qualify as a bad experience.

It's also my only experience with Star Trek up to this point.

This guy was an old school Trekkie. The way he described it was what first caught my attention. He confessed his obsession, I wounded him with my Olympic-gold-medal eyeroll, and he defended his adoration for the series. In the future, the aliens we may meet, and the race we may become, will still be... human, for lack of a better word. It's about the bar fights and the warm fuzzy group hugs, the epic screw-ups and the landslide victories, and everything in between.

So, I relented. I grew especially fond of the movie Undiscovered Country, The Next Generation (Patrick Stewart and Brent Spiner are fantastic actors!) and Voyager. (Yes, it's pretty much the match.com of the Star Trek franchise. I liked the captain. And #7. Bite me.) Needless to say, once the relationship was over I wanted nothing to do with Star Trek. Star Trek was associated with the worst of all evils, in my mind. And yet, I couldn't help but think of those moments that made me laugh or even smile just a tiny bit. I had been changed- whether or not the person who'd done the changing was a bastard was irrelevent.

Point of the ramble-
Two years later, I watch the Star Trek movie, and I come to a long overdue conclusion- I am really fond of this idea. I'm really fond of all these world's I've been to and the people I've met. Just as I won't let a bad memory keep me from moving forward, I won't let a bad experience keep me from enjoying something. So, this is me admitting it-

I like Star Trek. I've liked it for a few years now.
Still hate Chad.
But I really like Star Trek.

Bomb nom nom!

So, I just want to start off by saying FUCK FLOOR-MASTERS! FUCK THEM ALL TO HELL! ... Okay, I feel better now.

For those of you who didn't pick up on that thinly veiled reference, I've been playing a lot of Zelda lately. I replayed Twilight Princess in record time, restarted Ocarina of Time, and then acquired Windwaker. Once you get past the cel shading, Windwaker is actually a really great game. Several of the game play elements are pretty different from other installments- like being able to steal from enemies, or control secondary characters- but the puzzles are ingenious and the boss fights are a blast. Also, there are statues with gaping mouths that you throw bombs into! Open wide, beeyotch!

I also have a new job! I now work in the Wal-mart Vision Center! I bet some of you are thinking, "Oooh! Whoopdee doo!" Really, though, the Vision Center is so much more satisfying, and less stressful by far than the service desk. It also offers the opportunity to take the certification exam to become a licensed optician. Opticians are kind of like dental assistants- they get things ready for the doctor. Opticians run lab equipment and perform several tests for patients, order and adjust eyeglasses, and do repairs. I get to wear professional dress instead of my worn-to-pieces khakis and polos. I also got hooked up with glasses and contacts, so Brian doesn't have to read road signs for me any longer. It makes me feel smart when I can explain the benefits of polycarbonate lenses as opposed to high index. I know the second leading cause of blindness in our country and what triggers the condition. I can straighten frames and insert lenses, replace nose pads, and extricate broken screws.

Oh, and I went through the training course (complete with three-inch workbook and online comprehension tests) and all my on-the-job training in sixteen days. Woot for me!

Last, but not least, Watchmen was AMAZING. That was the best transition of any novel or comic to a movie that I have ever seen. All hail Zack Snyder and his respect for source material! All hail some of the most amazing actors in the verse! And, to cheapen the moment, all hail thigh-high black boots!

Married in a hurry! reprise and Sinus infections make the best gifts!

So, Friday the Thirteenth lived up to its expectations. These are the episodes of bad luck that I know of, there may have been more-

There was a snow storm. I spent the morning cooking salmon for my vegetarian(ish) mother-in-law. The friend who was doing my hair was two hours late getting to Cheyenne. Before coming to my house, he and my maid-of-honor/witness went to Walgreen's to grab some pantyhose, where his car died. A couple of hours later, they got to my house, where my hair and the ribbons braided in it decided not to cooperate.

When it was time to go, nobody knew directions to the Masonic Temple. On the way, my middle brother got rear-ended by somebody who apparently doesn't drive in snow too often, and had a hole punched in his oil pan. (He handled it admirably, though, and escaped unscathed!) When everybody got the temple, we were all so disorganized that really none of the stuff I had brought for the reception was brought downstairs and set up.

When it was time for me to prettify, I realized that I'd left some of my makeup in some of the bags that had stuff for the reception. I made do with the makeup we had on hand, and got ready. I told the judge that nobody was giving me away, but I was so nervous that I had my youngest brother walk me up at the very last minute. Brian visibly swooned when he saw me, which I actually think is really cute.

When we got to the reception, I realized that I'd also forgotten Brian's laptop, so we didn't have any music. While my mother was making a toast, she leveled a glare at my step-father that could have frozen the blood in a lesser person's veins. There was an awful lot of confusion as to who was doing what, but we still made it though.

We were worried we wouldn't be able to make it to Fort Collins for the honeymoon, since the interstate was closed for a bit, but it opened back up before the reception ended. We still had to run back to our apartment to grab overnight stuff, and we actually did forget to refrigerate some of our delicious food! On the drive down to Fo Co, the horrible weather lasted until the Wyoming/Colorado border, which surprised me very little.

Upon our arrival at the hotel, we couldn't find parking closer than a block away, so I took a short walk in my tennis shoes and my wedding dress. Brian had ordered this lovely little Romance package, that came complete with truffles and rose petals and breakfast in bed in the morning. It was all very lovely, except for the part where it got set up in someone else's room! (Isn't that just a hilarious mental image, though? A single guy walks into his room and finds rose petals and chocolate everywhere!) After relocation to a larger suite to make up for the mix-up, Brian and I had some quality kinky dungeon time, after which we both passed the hell out. Later that night, to put the metaphorical cherry on top, I woke up congested and coughing with the mother of all sore throats.

I'm fairly certain I never put 'sinus infection' on any gift registry. More importantly, I'm kind of proud that I didn't turn into Bridezilla (RAWR!) and flop down crying about how I wanted everything to be perfect. In fact, despite all the accidents and misadventures and fluid cursing, I would do it all again.

They say a picture's worth a thousand words. What does this one tell you?

Would-have-been BFF?

So, I hated school. I realize that I am, by no means, unique in that fact, but hear me out. I was the person that the entire school though was a freak and generally wished death upon. The girls in the volleyball team spit in my sandwich on one occasion. (Of course, I didn't find out until after lunch.) I got hit in the head with a ten-pound weight. There was one girl who punched me and then skipped town for the next three days. The next time I saw her mother's car, it had a bumper sticker that said "My kid beat up your honor student."

I'd generally come to terms with all this crap, and was moving on, until yesterday. I met with a girl who I'd known in school to work on make-up for the wedding. She's a Mary Kay salesperson, not to mention very lovely in her own right, and she's always been sweet to me. In fact, I can't remember her saying anything mean to or about anybody, in the nine years I went to school with her. The minute she heard about my wedding she called me to give her congratulations. It made me feel so warm and fuzzy to hear the genuine warmth in her voice.

So, I ended up coming over to her house and going over makeup with her, and we began to talk about high school. I never realized until that moment how horrible it might have been for someone else. Turns out, I wasn't the only one that was harassed and miserable. Girls that I could have sworn she'd been friends with had been treating her like dirt. Care to know why?

Jealousy. Envy. The green monster.


This girl is slender and willowy, with shining auburn hair, large eyes framed by long lashes, and a dazzling smile. She's a smart cookie, and a darn talented athlete as well. She plays a good clarinet and sings a steady alto. I was jealous of her for years, in fact. But to hear that other girls took their jealousy so far as to physically and verbally abuse her makes me sick. I had pretty much forgotten how selfish I thought these people were, and how much I couldn't stand them. Now I remember, much more vividly, how much I wanted bad things to happen to them.

And this girl, who suffered their slings and arrows with a smile all those years, is now happily married. She is gorgeous, inside and out, she has a sweet husband who takes care of her, and she has the happy life she has long deserved.

She is a model for who I want to become. Happy, taking care of myself, my husband, and my home, and not letting stupidity and jealousy bar my way.

I think I'd like to be better friends with her, too.

The Eagle and the Apple

Beat Assassin's Creed last night.


During one of the scenes where I was grappling with twenty or so pissed off Templars, I composed a haiku.

God's soldiers falling
Drops of blood spread on the streets
Red like autumn leaves

Next is an ode to Prince of Persia in iambic pentameter.

Married in a hurry!

So, three weeks ago, my youngest brother called me on one of my days off. He joined the SeaBees* this summer, so it's been some time since we've seen each other. He went off to boot camp in Chicago between June and September, and then spent several months in California doing some advanced training. Now he's stationed in Virginia.

This is what he said.
"So... I'm getting deployed next year, and I won't be able to take any leave after mid-February. You and Brian wanna get married while I'm up there?"

This is what I said.
"Sure!"

Little did I know what I was promising. I didn't know how much was involved in planning a wedding. You have to figure out the venue for the ceremony and the reception, what food is going to be served at the reception, who's coming, how everything will be decorated, music, gifts and registries, the list goes on. You have to reserve places, people, and times, making appointments for consultations, do all the legal paperwork, etc.

My only regret is, what with us being poor students right now, my wedding will not be as large as I would prefer. In a few years we'll be having a nice big vow renewal, where I can invite everyone I want. For now, though, we're sticking to twenty people. That's already more than enough planning, anyway!

Funny thing is... It's all going to be worth it. I feel so happy, so certain of my place in the world and the promise of future prosperity.


I still, however, fear that I will suffer a bad hair day.

*SeaBees- A division of the Navy devoted to the construction and maintenance of buildings and vehicles. Their motto is "Construimus, Batuimus" – translated into English as "We Build, We Fight." and they are classified as special warfare. Founded during World War II, the SeaBees contributed heavily to the landing on Normandy Beach, and have been kicking ass ever since.

Her blog is dusty from neglect...

IT'S NOT MY FAULT!!!

...

Okay, yeah, it really is. I admit, I got to replaying a few games... And rereading a few books... And I got lazy... Well, more lazy than usual.

Hah, that's a good (belated) New Year's Resolution! Not to be as lazy! And not to have any more resolutions.

Erm, in case you've not been informed, Herr Doktor and I kinna moved the wedding up a bit. A lot. My brother called not two weeks ago and informed me that he's getting deployed, and he'd love to be at the wedding if we could have it in time. We decided to give it a shot.

Friday, February 13th of 2009, we shall be married!

My shoes had better get here in time. >.<

More blabber later. For now, the bed calls to me.