What's next? Torches and Pitchforks?

So, I'm having a little run-in with the on campus housing. Either they are doing their darndest to get me out of this building or they are...not organized. That's the kindest way I can put it.

Last weekend we got a notice that the window guys were going to come and check our windows. So I moved furniture away from the windows and even put a sticky note on the one that I knew didn't work. Monday I got home from my internship around 1pm and saw five window trucks parked on the sidewalk by my building. When I got up to my apartment the front door was standing open, and all my blinds were up. In your brain, what is the answer to that equation? In mine, the answer was "window guys are working on my windows." So I left the door open and left for class. Well, when I got home at 7:30pm my front door was still open. The window trucks were long-gone. I didn't want to cause a big hassle, but I did want to address the issue, so I wrote an email to housing explaining the situation, and asked them to please remind the window guys to close the apartment doors when they were done. I got an email back a few days later, saying how sorry they were, etc.

Then this weekend I get a call from my RA (yes, I'm twenty-seven and I have an RA) telling me that I need to either move out of my apartment into another female apartment in the building, or get another girl to move in with me, because I am currently alone in the apartment. Now, normally I wouldn't put up a fuss. I'm generally the type of person that lets people walk all over me--but, mind you, I am fully aware of the fact that they are walking all over me, and I am allowing them to do it, usually because whatever they are walking all over me about isn't that big a deal for me. In this case however frustration for me reigns supreme. I have been in this apartment alone for two and a half months now. If they wanted me to move, shouldn't they have asked me to do so before this semester began? Do they not realize that I am an extremely busy person, who barely has time to check whether or not her clothes match properly, let alone move in the middle of a semester? And, I'm going to be moving out in three months anyways, because when my contract is done, I'm out. Also, why is it my responsibility to get a girl to move in with me? Isn't that the housing office's problem, not mine? I read the housing contract and there's nothing stating that they can just move me from one apartment to another at their whim and fancy. Anyhow, after some bolstering from my family, telling me that I am not just being bratty and that I do actually have just cause to be frustrated, I told my RA that I'd like to talk to the housing manager before I do anything about moving. I guess he noticed my frustration level last night when I talked to him, because he told me he'd already told his boss to expect a visit from me.

So then I went back to my apartment to do some sewing and watch SeaQuest and try to forget about the whole thing for a little while. Well, I get up and go to wash my hands and...there's no water. In my whole apartment. My first instinctual thought was "they are trying to get me to move out by shutting off my water?!?" Then I gathered my senses and went to knock on my neighbors door. Their water was off too, and so were the other people across the hall. If the housing office was maniacal enough to try and get me to move out by shutting off my water, I seriously doubt they would've punished the whole building for my disobedience. I called my friend Alise who lives downstairs, and she did the smart thing. She called on-call maintenance. Apparently there is a water line that needs to be fixed, and it's going to take a few hours. All I'm saying is, we better darn well have water tomorrow morning.

Little do they know, I'm two steps ahead of them. I have two gallons of emergency water in my car. Sure, it's frozen. But with those two gallons I can wait out their hostile takeover of my apartment for at least a few days.

By the way, have you ever gotten your fluids in your car filled in Southern California and then drove back up to somewhere cold--somewhere like, I don't know, Logan Utah perhaps--and then realized that you forgot to tell the fluid-filler-uppers that you need the windshield wiper fluid that can withstand the freezing temperatures? Yup. Welcome to my world. My windshield wiper fluid container is currently a big block of ice. Then again, considering the fact that the container is all cracked on the top and falling apart, I'm thinking it might actually be an improvement...

Blissful Nothingness

My vacation so far has been full of blissful nothingness. Sure, there's the occasional project--making Christmas dinner, laying new tile, trying to get my car smog-checked and registered--but in general I've had a week and three days of nothing particularly important or pressing, and I've adored every minute of it. I'm making great progress on my Christmas Advent Calendar; something that I've had for two years now and haven't been able to finish, mostly because I only find myself wanting to work on it during Christmas time. And by the way, it's harder than it looks. You have to put each little character together by hand, sequins and all. I also made two hot pads for my Mom. They look sort of like something I would've given her when I was eleven or so. She loved them. I think my brain is trying to recoup a little. Don't worry, though. I'm not forgetting everything that I learned this last semester. I even got a DSM-IV for Christmas. I asked for it. If that's not dorky, I don't know what is. I haven't started diagnosing myself. I figure that I should wait until the end of February or so, when my stress level has returned to normal. I've also been pretty spoiled with the weather--it was 72 degrees today. I don't understand why people wouldn't want it to be 72 degrees over their Christmas holidays. Of course, I grew up with this being my Christmas weather, so...to each his own. I'll be back buried under the tundra that is Logan Utah soon enough.

Let me tell you the best way to be surprised for Christmas. I just discovered it this year. Make yourself a wish list on Amazon.com. Every year my family makes Christmas lists. Everyone is expected to tell us what they want. Then we go and get one of the things on the list for them. We Nelsons love surprises, but we also like to get things that we actually want. This last year I made up a Wish List for myself on Amazon, so that I could remember things that I wanted to get for myself when I had extra money (haha). So when we made up our Christmas lists, I just decided to direct my family members to my Amazon wish list. Then I added a few sundry things that I wanted as well that weren't on my Amazon list, and there was my Christmas list. I really didn't expect my family to look at the Amazon list for things to get me. So, I was really surprised when I opened my gifts on Christmas day and got two movies that were on my Amazon list from my older sister (Space Camp and Don't Tell Mom the Babysitter's Dead--classic) and the first season of SeaQuest from my little sister with a tag attached to it that read "For your Sanity." As a side note, have you ever seen SeaQuest? I was ADDICTED to it growing up. Even when it got weird with the aliens and stuff, it was still somewhat interesting. But the first season is the best. And now I have something that I can turn to in those moments of desperation during school when I wonder what I could possibly have been thinking of when I decided to go back to school.

Anyhow, if you want to be surprised with things that you actually want, but forget that you wanted them, make yourself an Amazon wish list. It's amazing.

I'm watching the Kennedy Center Honors. It's pretty great. I love Morgan Freeman and Barbra Streisand. The other four being honored I don't really know, but I love to watch shows like these because I feel like it introduces me to a world that I wasn't aware of before. Like this Twyla Tharp, who's a choreographer that has done amazing things in dance. She reminds me of my old roommate Carly, who could make any dance incredible and moving--the kind of person that makes you wish your nervous system and soul could communicate as well as theirs so that you could create something that beautiful with your own body. I still remember the year that Sense and Sensibility won an Academy Award--I was almost fifteen, and utterly shocked because I hadn't heard about the movie when it came out, so it was the first exposure I'd had to the Jane Austen adaptation. Watching shows like this helps me feel cultured, as Becky would say. So I guess my vacation hasn't been totally useless.
Woot.

The End.

If there was ever a good day to visit the DMV...

Did you know that the best day to visit the DMV is on Christmas Eve? I went there to get a disabled parking pass for my Mom (she's in a wheel chair, by the way. Put "Charcots" on your list of diseases to avoid developing; unless you want to get a temporary disabled parking pass), and the wait was only about 15-20 minutes. So if you ever have anything that you need to do at the DMV, plan on doing it on Christmas Eve. It is so great to go in and see only one person standing in line in front of you; only 5 numbers away from the number that you pulled.

Geminids

2008 Meteor Showers and Viewing Tips

The next meteor shower is the Geminids in the evening of December 13, 2008. A gibbous Moon will overpower all but the brightest meteors...

Don't you just love meteor showers?

(Stupid Gibbous Moon. I'm still going to try and watch it, though. You might try it too. It's fun =])

Chalk me up for one more entry in November

Well, it's not easy sending your baby brother off to South Africa, but I managed to do it last Tuesday. It's kind of weird having Dave gone. On Thanksgiving morning we were about to eat breakfast (waffles! Thanks, Dad) and I almost said to my sister, "Go get Dave," but I caught myself. Good thing too, because Mom probably would've started crying.

Aside from shipping Dave off, making Thanksgiving dinner Monday and not burning anything, NOT making Thanksgiving dinner on Thursday (I would like to thank Johnny R's, my Grandpa's favorite restaurant, for being open Thanksgiving day), and general family time, I think my favorite part was taking my nephew on walks. I basically kidnapped him from my sister three times to take him on little walks. I learned that he likes to watch cars whiz by. They don't get that very much in Woodland Hills. He also reacted to the dogs barking, which I attribute to his thinking it was his dog, Maggie. We also took a little walk to the library, and learned how to count. I'm pretty sure he's a genius by now.

Okay, so I saw the saddest thing yesterday. I was driving across an intersection and I saw a hearse driving towards me, but without any kind of a procession following it or anything. Now, keep in mind that I'm sure that this hearse was probably just going to fill up it's gas tank. Incidentally, this is really hard for me to imagine. I mean, have you ever seen a hearse filling up its gas tank? If you did see a hearse filling up it's gas tank, would you think twice about pulling into that station? I think it would just feel weird filling up your gas tank next to a hearse. Even if the hearse was empty. Babbling. The point is, there was no procession following the hearse, and I thought about how sad that would be, to be driven to your grave without anybody following your hearse to bid you farewell. So keep your friends and love your family, because if they outlive you they'll be the ones that will hop into their cars, turn their lights on, and follow that hearse to the very end of the road. And someday you'll see them again, and you'll say "Hey, thanks for following my hearse." Okay, maybe not those exact words. Maybe something more like "Thanks for being the most amazing friend ever, and for always being there for me."

I love you guys!