yay i guess?

so i managed to eat half a bowl of soup. i'm supposed to be working on an ASL project, but i just dont have any energy. it's taken about 15 mins to write this too. i tried to take a nap, but i'm not sleepy. i hate that. i'm too tired too do anything, but i'm not at all sleepy. so mostly i've just been staring at the tv and only sorta following it. the fact that i've seen all these episodes so many times helps. the kitties are all being very cuddly too, which is nice. they're very good about that. whenever me or matthew is sick at least one of them will be with us.

blech.

my tadpoles are all getting big. they're all actively swimming around too. there doesn't seem to be very many though. maybe a dozen? eh. i'll be really excited if i get one frog out of this. i am disappointed that i haven't gotten any more eggs though.

this is one of manuel's sons. they were very shy.

weird.

I just realized that I didn't once mention the fact that I was totally sick yesterday in my blog. ugh. I'm feeling better today though, so that's good. And I'm proud that I still managed to go to SJVC and Woody's. Granted, I felt okish in the morning, and then only kind sick in the early afternoon (when I was at Woody's), but yeah. I didn't eat anything yesterday and spent pretty much the whole afternoon/evening in the bathroom or sleeping. Not fun. I lost 3 pounds though. Yay! lol. So now I'm drinking some water and debating whether or not I want to try to eat anything. I was still pretty nauseous when I woke up this morning, but I didn't throw up, so that's good! I still pretty much feel like crap though. I think that's just cuz I'm dehydrated and probably hungry. blech. I hate being sick.

At least I wasn't as sick as this poor monkey in Peru!

Poor little monkey.

It's probably dead by now.

discover the power in YOU!

So I met with SJVC (and on a completely unrelated note I need to stop starting all my sentences with "so," I'm sure it's very annoying, my apologies everyone) today to talk about surgical tech. Last time I talked to them I wouldn't be getting hardly any financial aid, so that's why I didn't go then, but this time I would. I'd still have to pay about $5,000 out of pocket, but that would be in 36 monthly payments of like $180, which is doable. I'm still not quite sure that that's what I want to do, but the program doesn't start until October, so I'd have plenty of time to think about it. We'll see. Next "year" (the year is about 8 months) I'd get a lot more aid because I made a lot less in 2008 than in 2007, because, well, as we all know, I am unemployed.

Hopefully not for too long though! I had an interview at Woody's and the guy seemed to really like me. When I left he told me that I'd hear from him in 3-5 days, um, I mean, you know, if the other managers agree that you'd be right for this place. I'm keeping my fingers crossed for that.

I also am scheduled to go the EMT academy orientation at Hall again. This time I won't forget my driving record. *bangs head on desk* That was like, one of the stupidest mistakes I've made. ugh.

Bakersfield is too small. The woman I talked to at SJVC is the mother of 2 guys who I worked with at OG, and one of them has a girlfriend who works at Woody's. Good times.

I think I'm gonna go look at my tadpoles some more.

It's Abby! And Aiden!

my teacher is the coolest!

Dude. My ASL teacher has dart frogs. Awesome. We were talking about pets in class and she said that she had 4 poison dart frogs. OMG!! I about squealed like a little girl. That's just so exciting! So then we were talking about them after class. One of hers just died, which was sad. After about 10 mins I realized that there were a bunch of other people wanting to talk to her about class related stuff, so I left. But yeah! My teacher rocks.

oh no! the bear is really a tiger!

Yo.

I'm babysitting again tomorrow. Lacey wanted me to babysit on Tuesday too, but I can't. I feel bad, but I really need to spend my days looking for a job. I never knew unemployment would be so busy! So yeah. Lacey said she'd make sure that I only need to be there in the morning, which is cool, cuz that way I can still go around to restaurants and stuff. There's also a jewelry store that I'm going to apply at, even though I don't think I'll get it. And even if I did, I'd have to buy a whole new wardrobe because, well, to sell jewelry I'd kinda need to look nice. And I'd have to wear makeup and do my hair.

Matthew said that maybe it's not the best job for me.

Ass.

Anywho.

So we've been hanging out with Matthew's family all weekend. On Thursday Rachel came over to give us some of her old furniture, which was cool. Then Sat we had his birthday dinner. Then today we went to a picnic. It's been fun. We took home leftovers from Sat's dinner, and then took them to the picnic, so that was kinda awesome. Rachel thought it was funny. :) She made a yummy salad with tomatoes, celery, onions, red peppers and cucumbers. Good stuff.

I have a big scratch on my belly from Fuzzy and it hurts.

Mean Fuzzy.

oooo....

note to self- caffeine, new contacts, and a 12 story elevator do NOT mix well. i could barely fill out the application because it was moving. everything was moving. ugh.

Hmmm... maybe

So, I'm trying not to get too hopeful, but the Petroleum Club is hiring servers right now... I'm going to go in in an hour or so. I even plucked my eyebrows. I figure fine dining places will want me to look professional, so no big bushy unibrow. :)

In other news, HAPPY BIRTHDAY MATTHEW!!! yay! He's 25. Unfortunatly, I have no money, so I couldn't really get him a present. I did pick up some caffeine free Dr. Pepper though; since he can't have caffeine he's really been missing his soda, so yeah. That should make him happy. His sister is coming over today to give us some of her old furniture, and he even said that I can use one piece to put a tank on!! I'm very excited about that.

hmm.... Do I have anything else to say? I woke up all early today (9:30) and I've been cleaning the living room. I spent an hour on it and it still looks the same, even though I took out a big bag of trash, and a smaller bag of recyclables. It wont look better until we vacuum.

Oh! Matthew sold his car. $200. It's not running, so he can't really charge a lot for it, but I was thinking he'd get a little more than that for it. I know he's pretty bummed about it. He really liked that car, and while $200 is nice, it doesn't go very far towards buying a new car.

Anywho. I think I need to eat something. I drank some coffee and put in my contacts, and the combination of those two is really making my head spin. (umm, that probably doesn't make sense, let me explain. The coffee makes my head spin because it's caffeine on an empty stomach, and the contacts because, well, putting in contacts after wearing glasses for so long is weird. Even though the prescriptions are the same, the distance to your eyes isn't, so it can make everything swim a little)

Yup. Off to breakfast! Or, lunch! Whatever! Off to the first meal of the day at 1:20! :)

Conversations with a sleeping boyfriend

12:00am
Me: Hey I'm going over to Chris and Lacey's to babysit.

Matthew: Ok.

Me: Umm, are you awake?

Matthew: Yes!

Me: Ok, so you're not going to think I was kidnapped if you wake up and I'm not here?

Matthew: No!

Me: Good. So where am I going?

Matthew: You were kidnapped by Chris and Lacey!

Me: Good enough. Bye!

3:30am Matthew calls, "where are you?"



Last night, 1amish, Matthew is sick

Matthew: *moaning*

Me: Hey, are you ok?

Matthew: It hurts!

Me: What hurts?

Matthew: My baby!

Me: *laughing* Your baby hurts?

Matthew: Yes! My baby hurts!

Me: Ok... well how about I kiss it better? *kisses his belly* Is that better?

Matthew:Yes, thank you!


Good times. He told me not put this on here, but, well, it's really funny, and I'd just tell you guys anyway, so yeah. :)

I babysat Alex again yesterday. I don't think I'm a very good babysitter. He fell off the couch and has a big bump on his head, and he fell into one of his toys and bit his tongue. I swear I was watching him! Anyway. So then Lacey was making dinner and we invited Matthew to come over and we had a quick little birthday dinner, complete with cake! It was very yummy. Lacey made really good rice. Yay!!

So my tadpoles are getting big, which is good. That means that they're eating. Although... to be honest... I think they're mostly eating each other. Every so often, I'll see an almost dead one and then a few hours later the very much alive one that was hanging out with him is suddenly really fat and he's nowhere to be seen. I figure it's ok though, survival of the fittest and all. Besides, tadpoles are full of all sorts of healthy stuff for other tadpoles.

Anywho, they've been cutting down trees in our apartment complex, and for some reason we haven't had any hot water, but it's back, so I'm gonna go shower. Yay for hot water!! That's the whole reason I came home from Peru, I needed hot water for my showers!

Damn you Pyrex!

So me and Matthew were cooking last night, he was making hamburgers and I was making scalloped potatoes and cutting veggies for the burgers when there was a big crash from the oven and a bunch of smoke and the kitties were all scared and ran away. It was quite dramatic. The stupid pyrex dish freaking exploded! Lame. I don't think it was cracked or anything. So then I tried to make some pasta roni, but it didnt work! I don't know how, I don't know why, but the sauce would not thicken. It stayed at water consistency. So we ended up not having any side dishes. It was a frustrating night.

I suppose I should clean the oven at some point....

Not now though. Now I'm blogging.

Hm, crap, now I have to think of more stuff to say.... umm....

Here's Ian on top of Tehachapi Mountain! Yay!!

woah!

Dude, check out my live feed thingie, people from all over are coming here! nifty. Sorry all you random people, I know, my blog is boring. Lo siento!

Nothing New to Report

But I'm gonna report it anyway! Because that is what blogs are all about. :) Yay!!

So I went to the DMV to figure out my registration, but they told me that I don't do that there, and then pointed at a number on the paper and told me to call that number. Unfortunately, that number was for low income people to get assistance with insurance. Umm... ok. So then I read the paper and it said to mail in my proof of insurance and required documents with enclosed envelope. And then didnt tell me what the required documents are. It did say that I need to contact my insurance company because they are required to send the info to the DMV (ha! I told you so Matthew!!! he tried to say that they didn't have to do that). So, um, Mom or Dad? Can you call the insurance company?

In other non news, I got my springtails today and set up a tank for the froglets that I may or may not get. I couldn't actually see any springtails in the container, but they can be tricky like that. A lot of times the actual bugs will arrive dead, and they decompose super quickly, so you wont see any, but give it a couple weeks and the eggs that were also in there will hatch. Hopefully. Otherwise my frogs that I may or may not get are gonna starve, because springtails are really the only thing they can eat. Someone online suggested half starved fruit flies, but, um, if they're all starved then they don't offer any actual nutrition, and really, they wouldn't be that much smaller, so I don't believe them. And of course, I follow the golden rule of getting information online. If only one person says to do it one way and everyone else says to do it another way, I'm going with the majority.

I started working on the Starry Night puzzle that I have. I've got the easy part all done, and now I'm slowly working on the hard part. Of course, that puzzle is insanely hard anyway, so the "easy" part still took me like 8 hours, and it's less than a quarter of the puzzle. At least I figured out a way to store it so the cats wont mess with it. I covered it with a blanket and then put stuff on the top to keep it in place. It seems to work, although everytime I take off the blanket, the cats are all curious and try to jump on it, then when I chase them away they get all scared and mess it up. Stupid cats. Well, ok, really it's mostly Fuzzy who's doing this. Sasha is curious, but hasn't jumped on it yet, Bentley really couldn't care less, and Cassie tries to jump up, but when I yell at her she runs away before doing any damage.

I called Macaroni Grill today and set up an interview/test for Monday. Yay!

Umm.... That's pretty much it. Yup.

Here's me in Peru!

so funny story...

Alright so a couple weeks ago Dad looks at my tires and decides that I need new ones, but it was kinda late so we couldn't get them then. So we were going to do it the next weekend, but they forgot, and instead we went shopping (I got a cute tank top and new socks, yay!!!). So then we're like, ok. I'll go up on Tuesday and we'll get them right after they get out of school. Matthew couldn't go with me because he was at work. So I'm driving up, going the back way like I always do (it only takes a few minutes longer and it's a nice drive, especially now when it's green and there's flowers). I'm happily singing along to that evil Hannah Montana song and all of the sudden my car is really loud, slowing down, and pulling to the left. I'm like, you've got to be kidding me! So I pull over, and sure enough, that tire is no more. So fine, I'll be ok, I'll call Matthew or AAA and it'll all be grand. Oh, no cell service. Ok then, I theoretically know how to change a tire, lets see here... So I get out everything, and am very relieved to see that I have a good spare and all the tools I need and I get going. I get the car up on the jack and have loosened two bolts and I'm feeling pretty good and proud of myself cuz I'm totally changing a tire in the middle of nowhere by myself. Go me! Then a truck pulls up and the two guys ask me if I need any help and I'm like "you know, I think I've got it, thanks though!" so they leave. And I start to loosen a third bolt. And then car falls off the jack. Ok, fine, I'll put it up again. So I try to, and it falls again. Apparently the dirt that I"m on isn't hard enough. Fine. I move my car forward a few feet to a really hard part. I get it up and try to loosen the bolt. It falls. By now my arms are really sore from lifting the car 3 times and I'm getting frustrated. Then some guy and his wife pull up on their Harley and ask if I need help. "Um.. apparently I do, thanks!" So we find a pallet, break it up, and use some wood to put the jack on so it doesn't fall. And then I change the tire, yay!!! I got up to Tehachapi ok and of course, had a message from Dad wondering where I was, so I call him and we laugh and we go to the tire store and they laugh and now I have tires, yay! Apparently I need new brake pads though. ugh. It never ends!!

So yup, that's my funny story. I was on my way to get new tires when I got a flat, and then I almost changed it by myself. I kept the piece of wood as a just in case.

Anyway, I need to go check the mail. I ordered some springtails (tiny white bugs that live in soil, if you have any potted plants or a garden I promise, you have at the very least several hundred, and more likely several thousand) because they're the only things my baby frogs will be able to eat. And they're really good to have in tanks anyway because they eat mold and frog poop, so they help keep everything clean. I'm pretty sure my frogs have eaten all the springtails in my tanks right now, so yeah. I'm planning on seperating the one culture I ordered into a 3 or 4, and then when they're big enough dump into my frog tanks. Well, except for the one that I'll be using to feed my froglets. :)

yup

So about half of the eggs have hatched and are now tadpoles. Apparently I should have left them in the tank longer and let them hatch out in there, and because I didn't I'll have a much lower success rate, but that's ok. This is all a learning experience for me, and since there's not a lot of information out there on breeding these guys (and virtually none of the species I have) it's a lot of experimenting. Apparently when the tads are ready for water they'll be a darker color. I do have at least 3 that are turning dark though, and these are easily the strongest of the bunch, so I'm hopeful that they'll survive, and of course, there's still the half that's not in the water yet. They've all grown a bunch too. I can even see their little dark eyes! :) So fun!

Today I have to go up to Tehachapi so Dad can buy me new tires, yay!!!

Anyway, I guess CPK is hiring, so I'm going to fill out another application. It's been about a month since I filled one out, and you know how they are, no one ever looks at old applications. Yup yup. Oh! I need to call Macaroni Grill too, they told me to call them if I hadn't heard from them by Monday. hmm.. but I cant come in today... I'll call them tomorrow. :)

tadpoles!

So in the two hours from when I took those pictures and posted them several tadpoles hatched, so I moved them into their tadpole container and I know have at least 5 tadpoles swimming around. yay!!!

frog eggs, almost tadpoles

Alright, so here's my eggs. Keep in mind that these guys are only 3 days old, they develop super quickly. Also, sorry about the blurriness, my camera lens really isn't meant for taking pictures from 4 inches away, and I had to focus manually, which I'm not used to doing. And of course, the biggest of those leaves is about 1/3 of an inch. These things are seriously tiny. Neat though aren't they!!

testing

Ok, let's see if this works. The two frogs are the blushing mantellas, the kind that are breeding, and the other pic is of one of my tanks with pretty bromiliads in it.

So far, so good!

Well my eggs are starting to turn into little miny tadpoles. And those of you who haven't seen them can't imagine how teensy tiny they are, it's crazy. When they morph into frogs they'll be too small to even eat fruit flies (think gnats). Their tadpole tank is all ready to go, today I'm going to go buy a big rubbermaid container for the frogs. It's so exciting!! :)

In other news, Matthew spent all day yesterday at a bbq that I wasn't invited to because he wanted to spend some time away from me. Really nice, I know. He went over there at about 11:30, they started cooking at 12, and I expected that he'd be home at around 4 or something, but nope. Not even 5. Or 6. Or 8. He finally called at about 9 telling me that he wanted to go to a movie, so I should find one for around 10. I found one at 10:20 and he came home at like 9:45. I'm kinda annoyed at him. So now he's trying to be extra nice. He made me waffles yesterday morning, and then at like 1:30 am he made me a sandwich cuz I said that I was hungry. Now we're going on a picnic and he's making food for that. It's all very sweet and nice, but I'm still kinda annoyed. meh. I wonder if we have to go to his sister's house again.... They said last week that they were reinstated weekly family night... hmm. I'll have to ask about that.

And, no, I still don't have a job. ugh.

YAY!!!!

Yay!!! The most exciting thing happened today! (no, I don't have a job. while that would be very good, i don't think "exciting" is the right word to use) I was checking up on all my frog tanks, misting them down because, as you have read, I'm putting them through a rainy season to induce breeding, and it worked!! There's a nice big clutch of eggs in my blushing's tank!! They even look fertile! So I went to Petsmart to buy some stuff to set up a tadpole rearing container, and then Lacey came to Petsmart too so that was fun. I probably wont get any actual frogs out of this, because mantellas are very tricky, but still. I guess having a 50% mortality rate when they're tadpoles is completely normal, and because this is their first clutch there's probably going to be a very high rate of SLS (spindly leg syndrome, where the front legs are underdeveloped and weak, or not developed at all, sometimes a frog with this will live for awhile, but then slowly starve to death because it can't get food, so it's best to euthanize and SLS tadpoles/frogs), which is too bad, because I'll be very sad to have to kill my poor little babies, but still. It will be a great learning experience for all, and it's very cool knowing that I at least know enough to be able to get my frogs to breed. And hey, if I can manage to get some frogs out of this I can sell them for about $35 each. And contrary to what Matthew says, yes, I will be able to sell them because other people want these frogs too, not just me.

Ahem.

So yeah, that's what I did today. Well, that and study. And go to Walmart with Matthew. It's very sad. I've decided that I just don't have enough money to keep buying the kitties Eukanuba, so we bought them cheap food today. It was like $15 less, and that adds up! But then Matthew felt bad so he bought a box of canned food and I gave them some today. Our kitties are too picky. They wont eat the fish one, and I know they don't like anything with lamb in it either. Silly kitties.

So what's up with you guys?

yay!!

Yay for Abby!! At least one of us has a cool job!! :)

froggies!

so I've been drying out my tanks for the past couple of weeks. Partly on purpose, and partly due ot laziness, but whatever, it works. And then for the past 3 days I've been feeding and misting a LOT and it's totally working. My blushing mantellas (the ones that I have 6 of and were in my room) are going nuts. They're calling constantly and it's so much fun to watch. I just spent 10 minutes watching as one male was calling and 2 girls were following him around, but eventually he picked one and they jumped under all the plants. During all this another one was climbing up the wall, showing off the pretty blue spots on it's belly, and another one was hanging out in an opposite corner staring down Bentley. It's quite the soap opera.

The only tricky thing is that mantellas, unlike darts, don't lay eggs under a coco hut or in a film canister, instead they lay in balls of sphagnum moss. That tank is covered in it, and then covered in plants. I have no idea how I'll find them. And, of course, this is the only tank that doesn't have any ponds or broms that hold a bunch of water, so if they did lay eggs that I couldn't find there'd be nowhere for the tadpoles to go and then they'd die and I'd feel really bad. I want baby frogs dammit!!!

I need a new tank for my snake too. He's over 30 inches and really needs a bigger tank, but I don't have money! Or room! What I do have is two smaller, empty tanks. Perfect for baby frogs that may or may not be coming, but not so much help with the snake. I wonder if anyone would trade me... two small tanks for one big one! That'd be awesome....

Matthew is silly

So I went and applied for a few more jobs today. Matthew had to work earlier than usual because there's some people gone (on vacation/fired), and he was feeling sick so he came home way earlier than usual. When he got home and I wasn't here he was all worried that I was sick too and in the hospital, or, oh no! What if I went to check the mail and got kidnapped??? So he called me and I hit ignore because I was filling out an application at Macaroni Grill and then he got really worried. I guess he went to go see if my car was there and when he saw that it wasn't he felt a little better, but was still all worried so when I called him he was like "where are you????" It was cute.

But I still don't have a job.

I might have sold a car though!! As I was pulling up one of the people in a spot near ours came over and asked if the Acura is for sale. I told him it was and got his number so Matthew can call him. It's not running, but still. If he wants to use it for racing or something (the only reason I can think of to buy an old Acura when you have a new Honda already) then he'd pretty much be replacing everything anyway, so maybe that wont be a huge deal. I know Matthew doesn't really want to sell it, because when it does run it's really fun to drive, but we don't need 3 cars right now, especially since they don't work particularly well.

I ran into some people from Olive Garden who were also applying for jobs, which was kinda funny. I guess another server who I'm friends with's dad is a manager at Chili's, so they told me to make sure to put her as a reference, which I should do anyway cuz she loved me. They were done with interviews for the day though, so I'll have to go back on Monday. But I'm hopeful. They were really nice at Macaroni Grill and actually hiring, and since I now have a great reference for Chili's I should get one of them, right???

meh.

oh well

So apparently the interview didn't go so well. My combined score of the test and oral interview (with the oral given 70% weight) was only 54%, which does not qualify. ugh. So I applied for a couple other jobs today. And then cleaned the bathroom (mostly). And then looked at rescue shiba inus who need homes and got very sad that I can't get a dog. There was a perfect one!! He's still a little underweight, but he gets along great with cats, is already fixed, and knows basic commands. He even has cute floppy ears, which I know isn't exactly breed standard, but dammit! He was cute! I'm sure he'll find a good home with someone who has an actual house though, or at least an apartment that allows dogs. Then I started reading the Jon Katz book that Mom gave me, and yeah. Border Collies are great dogs, really pretty, really smart, but not for me. Not even a well behaved one.

I really need a job.