My Summer
It's not been a good season for me for writing in my LJ. A lot has happened, and yet so little. I feel like I could write volumes (I don't do that already?) and yet at the same time also cover everything in a few sentences. I suppose what I'll do is just start writing and see how it goes.
First of all, I have been LOVING my summer vacation, but also HATING it. Strange how that happens. I enjoy the sleeping in, the no responsibility factor as to lesson plans, grading, drama club, extra curricular activities, etc. However, since no other occupation takes time off during the summer, I have NO ONE to hang out with and go out and do fun things with. So, the majority of my days are spent at home, on my butt on my new furniture watching Netflix (God bless instant streaming) or playing video games. And while I do enjoy doing both of these, when that's all I do, it gets old. Honestly, I'm having a good day if I've actually taken the time to shower. Most people who say that have kids. How pathetic am I?
One of the pros of this is that my dear friend John Fisher has gotten me addicted to Lost. I remember hearing about Lost without really knowing what it was about. John made me sit down and watch the first couple of episodes, and I was gone from there on out. I marathoned the first four seasons (once again, thank goodness for Netflix and it's instant streaming), but now I'm watching it a little slower, since John had only seen the first four seasons, and we're watching the fifth one whenever we can get together to do it. Fortunately, the show is over, so I won't be left (im)patiently waiting for the next episode or the next season. However, season 6 isn't going to be released until August.
Life as a home owner has had some events. I painted the upstairs bathroom in the same yellow as the bedrooms, but with a purple accent wall. The purple is...not lavender, maybe more of a lilac. It's beautiful and bright and I love it and I really didn't need to buy a gallon of it. A quart would have been plenty, but oh well I guess I have plenty of it should the need arise. I also ended up needing to buy a washer and dryer as the guy who was letting me borrow his ended up needing them back. I found a pair that I liked on craigslist for a decent price and bought those. It was my first experience with craigslist and it wasn't that bad, honestly. I pretty much got what I wanted -front loaders (an early style of front loaders, but still front loaders)-at a very reasonable price.
Also, Brad finally got my sprinkler system repaired and in working order. Now, I finally have grass starting to grow back in my backyard. It won't be fully restored for my friend's birthday party that's being held here, but it'll be better than no grass at all. Of course, having actual grass growing necessitated also owning a lawn mower and trimmer, so I then had to buy one of those. Luckily, I found a great deal on some new electric ones via Walmart that I can go pick up today. Guess that means I'm going to have to shower and get a move on once I get this entry written and published!
One last bit of homeowner business that I don't think I've mentioned before is that I bought a dining set and have loved having it. It's a small table and four chairs, pub style, but I love it. Once again, Ashley furniture came through for me.
Since I'm a big fan of the original animated series Avatar: The Last Airbender on Nickelodeon, I have to mention that I did go see the live action film atrocity...I mean adaptation...no I meant atrocity, and you can probably tell how I feel about it. It was a disaster. I say that as a fan, but also as an avid movie goer. This is a movie (like Eragon and G.I.Joe) that not only didn't pass muster for me as a fan of the show, but didn't pass muster as a basic movie. Even if I'd never heard of The Last Airbender or had never seen the show, I think I would have still seen the movie as a horribly made film. It had horrible story telling, crappy characterizations, the plot didn't exactly make sense. It was just all around badly done. Maybe in ten years someone will try again and actually do a good job.
There isn't much more to update on Devin. I got a letter from his last month saying he's doing great and loving the mission. There haven't been a lot of e-mails. There've been PLENTY of dreams, good vibe kinds of dreams, though some more along the awkward route as well. I seem to be having a hard time staying motivated this summer to write his letters, which shouldn't be hard as I have so much time on my hands. I've still managed to keep my one letter a week quota that he and I agreed on, but more often than not I write them at the very end of the week and even let it spill into the next week, delaying the next letter. I'm trying to do better, but I think I'll have better luck once school starts again and I have some semblance of a regular schedule.
As for Jared, well, I saw him ONCE in the two weeks that he was back in Arizona before heading off to Afghanistan for his deployment. I didn't even know he was back into town until the day I saw him. He was at church one Sunday and I made no special effort to seek him out or avoid him. He came up to me after the first hour was over and acted as if we'd never had the conversation about what a horrible friend he was being and I didn't let the conversation go on for too long. That was the most we said to each other, and I squelched an effort by him to try to come and hang out with me and one of our mutual friends. I haven't seen him since-he left for Afghanistan a couple of days after that-but he messaged me on Facebook a few days ago, though the conversation didn't go far. I suppose I still have some ill feelings over the fact that he never apologized for his actions, or, more importantly, how he made me feel, and he acted like nothing was wrong when he came and spoke to me that Sunday.
On a happier note, Gerry and I went tubing down the Salt River, yesterday, and it was so fun. Just sitting in a tube for 4 hours and letting the current take us wherever. We tried to be really good with the sunscreen (spf 70), so I only have a patchy sunburn and it really doesn't hurt. I also got stung by a wasp. It sneak attacked me. Fortunately, I'm not allergic so it was only a minor irritation, but I've never been stung before, and I never did anything to that old wasp. I didn't even know it was there until it stung me! Still, it was a fantastic day. After leaving the river, Gerry and I went to the G Spot for some gelato and then to Tim's pool party and barbeque. It was a great day and I ended it with more Lost with John!
Since my friend and colleague Beth just started as a Pampered Chef consultant, I booked a party that I had last Wednesday. I didn't have a ton of people show up, but I had a few, and it was still great fun. The food was DELICIOUS! And I ordered way too much stuff for myself, but I just couldn't help myself! Afterwards, Beth and I went and saw Eclipse, which wasn't horrible. I admit to loving the Twilight books, but not being a fan of the movies. I go see each one in the theatres once out of loyalty, but I won't watch them again, and I'll never buy them. As awesome as Taylor Lautner is, he can't undo the horribleness that is Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson. ICK!
I think that's all the major stuff. I've really gotta go shower and get to Walmart, and also write Devin's letter for this week!
First of all, I have been LOVING my summer vacation, but also HATING it. Strange how that happens. I enjoy the sleeping in, the no responsibility factor as to lesson plans, grading, drama club, extra curricular activities, etc. However, since no other occupation takes time off during the summer, I have NO ONE to hang out with and go out and do fun things with. So, the majority of my days are spent at home, on my butt on my new furniture watching Netflix (God bless instant streaming) or playing video games. And while I do enjoy doing both of these, when that's all I do, it gets old. Honestly, I'm having a good day if I've actually taken the time to shower. Most people who say that have kids. How pathetic am I?
One of the pros of this is that my dear friend John Fisher has gotten me addicted to Lost. I remember hearing about Lost without really knowing what it was about. John made me sit down and watch the first couple of episodes, and I was gone from there on out. I marathoned the first four seasons (once again, thank goodness for Netflix and it's instant streaming), but now I'm watching it a little slower, since John had only seen the first four seasons, and we're watching the fifth one whenever we can get together to do it. Fortunately, the show is over, so I won't be left (im)patiently waiting for the next episode or the next season. However, season 6 isn't going to be released until August.
Life as a home owner has had some events. I painted the upstairs bathroom in the same yellow as the bedrooms, but with a purple accent wall. The purple is...not lavender, maybe more of a lilac. It's beautiful and bright and I love it and I really didn't need to buy a gallon of it. A quart would have been plenty, but oh well I guess I have plenty of it should the need arise. I also ended up needing to buy a washer and dryer as the guy who was letting me borrow his ended up needing them back. I found a pair that I liked on craigslist for a decent price and bought those. It was my first experience with craigslist and it wasn't that bad, honestly. I pretty much got what I wanted -front loaders (an early style of front loaders, but still front loaders)-at a very reasonable price.
Also, Brad finally got my sprinkler system repaired and in working order. Now, I finally have grass starting to grow back in my backyard. It won't be fully restored for my friend's birthday party that's being held here, but it'll be better than no grass at all. Of course, having actual grass growing necessitated also owning a lawn mower and trimmer, so I then had to buy one of those. Luckily, I found a great deal on some new electric ones via Walmart that I can go pick up today. Guess that means I'm going to have to shower and get a move on once I get this entry written and published!
One last bit of homeowner business that I don't think I've mentioned before is that I bought a dining set and have loved having it. It's a small table and four chairs, pub style, but I love it. Once again, Ashley furniture came through for me.
Since I'm a big fan of the original animated series Avatar: The Last Airbender on Nickelodeon, I have to mention that I did go see the live action film atrocity...I mean adaptation...no I meant atrocity, and you can probably tell how I feel about it. It was a disaster. I say that as a fan, but also as an avid movie goer. This is a movie (like Eragon and G.I.Joe) that not only didn't pass muster for me as a fan of the show, but didn't pass muster as a basic movie. Even if I'd never heard of The Last Airbender or had never seen the show, I think I would have still seen the movie as a horribly made film. It had horrible story telling, crappy characterizations, the plot didn't exactly make sense. It was just all around badly done. Maybe in ten years someone will try again and actually do a good job.
There isn't much more to update on Devin. I got a letter from his last month saying he's doing great and loving the mission. There haven't been a lot of e-mails. There've been PLENTY of dreams, good vibe kinds of dreams, though some more along the awkward route as well. I seem to be having a hard time staying motivated this summer to write his letters, which shouldn't be hard as I have so much time on my hands. I've still managed to keep my one letter a week quota that he and I agreed on, but more often than not I write them at the very end of the week and even let it spill into the next week, delaying the next letter. I'm trying to do better, but I think I'll have better luck once school starts again and I have some semblance of a regular schedule.
As for Jared, well, I saw him ONCE in the two weeks that he was back in Arizona before heading off to Afghanistan for his deployment. I didn't even know he was back into town until the day I saw him. He was at church one Sunday and I made no special effort to seek him out or avoid him. He came up to me after the first hour was over and acted as if we'd never had the conversation about what a horrible friend he was being and I didn't let the conversation go on for too long. That was the most we said to each other, and I squelched an effort by him to try to come and hang out with me and one of our mutual friends. I haven't seen him since-he left for Afghanistan a couple of days after that-but he messaged me on Facebook a few days ago, though the conversation didn't go far. I suppose I still have some ill feelings over the fact that he never apologized for his actions, or, more importantly, how he made me feel, and he acted like nothing was wrong when he came and spoke to me that Sunday.
On a happier note, Gerry and I went tubing down the Salt River, yesterday, and it was so fun. Just sitting in a tube for 4 hours and letting the current take us wherever. We tried to be really good with the sunscreen (spf 70), so I only have a patchy sunburn and it really doesn't hurt. I also got stung by a wasp. It sneak attacked me. Fortunately, I'm not allergic so it was only a minor irritation, but I've never been stung before, and I never did anything to that old wasp. I didn't even know it was there until it stung me! Still, it was a fantastic day. After leaving the river, Gerry and I went to the G Spot for some gelato and then to Tim's pool party and barbeque. It was a great day and I ended it with more Lost with John!
Since my friend and colleague Beth just started as a Pampered Chef consultant, I booked a party that I had last Wednesday. I didn't have a ton of people show up, but I had a few, and it was still great fun. The food was DELICIOUS! And I ordered way too much stuff for myself, but I just couldn't help myself! Afterwards, Beth and I went and saw Eclipse, which wasn't horrible. I admit to loving the Twilight books, but not being a fan of the movies. I go see each one in the theatres once out of loyalty, but I won't watch them again, and I'll never buy them. As awesome as Taylor Lautner is, he can't undo the horribleness that is Kristen Stewart and Robert Pattinson. ICK!
I think that's all the major stuff. I've really gotta go shower and get to Walmart, and also write Devin's letter for this week!