Maybe I'm Too Nice

I was brought up with some really solid manners. I wait to be acknowledged before speaking. I don't interrupt. At dinner, I wait until everyone has food before eating mine. I offer people food and drink if they are in my home. (Jess always sasses at me for being too hostess-y.) I knock first. I say "please," and "thank you," and "excuse me." I cover my mouth when I cough and my nose when I sneeze. I go out of my way to help. I'll inconvenience myself before I inconvenience others. I'm, as a general rule, actively nice to people.

This is all well and good... but the downside is that I have a really hard time standing up for myself. I also have a hard time filing complaints because I want to believe that everyone means well. Plus, I really hate it when people are upset with me.

Anyway, the whole point of all this... I filed a complaint against my upstairs neighbors last night, and I felt like the biggest jerk ever. They're nice enough people... but they're so noisy =[ I had talked to them before about being considerate about the volume of their music and, you know, not playing Rock Band until the wee hours of the morning. I can hear EVERYTHING, and I can't sleep through it. It sucks. So after I chatted with them, things were fine for about two weeks... and now it's started back up again. I mean, last night, throbbing bass lines kept me up until well past 1:00 am. So... I called the apartment complex and whined. Now I think my neighbors are going to hate my guts... even though I guess it doesn't matter?

*sigh*

I've felt like a horrible person all morning, and I just have to keep reminding myself that I have the right to sleep in my own apartment... and that they should be considerate that other people live in such close quarters. But I still feel bad.

And then that makes me angry at myself because I know how silly it is for me to feel bad! Mrar.

Some Stuff

Jess and I have been addicted to this song by Scissor Sisters. So catchy!

Also, we officially have a new President! I think the thing that grabs me most about him is that he doesn't actually make many promises. He outlines the things he *wants* to do, and then says he won't be able to do them unless everyone makes an effort to realize those things. And it's true! In our system of checks and balances, the President doesn't actually wield that much power - he's an influential figurehead.

Also, Aretha Franklin totally told someone to shut up during her song ^.^

My Subconscious is Weird.

Last night, I dreamed that some friends and I were on an island for a vacation. We were trying to get to the airport to go home before a hurricane hit, but all sorts of things kept us from getting there. It took us a long time to pack, first of all... and then we were stopped by the island's police before we got to the airport. They told us we couldn't leave and were going to arrest us (I don't know what for, though) - so we made a break for it, leaving our bags. As we were running through the airport parking lot towards the terminal, the hurricane hit. It was so bad that we had to find shelter in this weird abandoned building near the airport. Once inside, we were beset by velociraptors. I remember being really irritated that they were the Jurassic Park size instead of actual size velociraptors and was hollering about that for a while as we were trying to fend them off.

Yeah.

Fortune Cookies

At the end of any meal at a Chinese restaurant, you are given a little crunchy cookie that likes to think it knows your fates. Most times these cookies are strangely vague and they seem a little off, but recently, Amanda and I have discovered a ritual that has seemed to please the fortune cookie gods. When we receive our cookies, we do not even attempt to open them until we are absolutely done with our meal, and after that, we don't choose our cookies, but rather, we let our cookies choose us. We take the cookies, toss them up into the air, and then catch whichever cookie flies closest to us. After catching the cookie that has claimed it knows our fate, we unwrap it and remove the fortune. WE DO NOT LOOK AT THE FORTUNE. Instead, we hide the fortune from our eyes, we eat the cookie (the entire cookie) and we do not even think about looking at the fortune until we are absolutely done chewing. When the cookie has passed from our mouths to our tummies, then, and only then, is when we decipher our fortune (which has amazing accuracy towards our lives at this point). Note: Sometimes a fortune has what is called a "cryptic message." This message is actually the word or short phrase that they teach you in Chinese. It gives a little direction for your fortune.

I am a vegetarian. I also love Asian food. This works well for me, but this has also caused me to collect SEVERAL fortune cookie fortunes. I have just found a secret stash of them as I was searching for a wallet for my chaotic mess that I call my purse, and seeing as how I also have a second collection of fortunes hidden within the depths of the purse, I figured I'd share these fortunes with the world. So, from here on out and until I run out of them, when I update, at the end of my update I will leave a little fortune cookie fortune and sometimes a little cryptic message for everyone to see.

Today's fortune: A nice cake is waiting for you.

New Year, First Blog.

We've all just said goodbye 2008. Last year was quite an interesting one. I started it out while working at Austin's big cable company as a sales girl and making quite a decent amount of money. I was in a pretty heavy relationship and planning on moving out of the state to go back to school. I lived with Amanda and my two cats in an apartment in Austin and I could have counted the number of people I would have considered my friend on only one hand. I spent just about every night at home doing not very much.

I ended the year with a new the new job I landed after a few months vacation of doing nothing. I'm a barista at a local coffee shop in downtown Austin. I'm no longer in a relationship and I'm just about to start my second semester of school which is also in downtown Austin. I live in a small town about 30 minutes outside of Austin with my mother and her boyfriend and my two cats, her two cats, and their two dogs (count them up and that's six animals which are all primarily indoor-only). I've learned how to dance, made more friends than I've ever had before in my life, lost only one, and I spend most of my nights dancing and then couch surfing at friends' houses in the city.

It's now 2009 and looking back at all of the major changes that have happened in my life, I'm pretty excited and nervous about what might happen in this next year. I already plan on moving back into Austin and rooming with Amanda again, but doing that will push me into being very poor and very dependant on others which is something that I am not used to. I'm still very much looking forward to it. I need to be able to sleep in my own bed for more than two or three nights out of the week. I miss my pets. I miss having my own place and I'm tired of bouncing from couch to couch.

Hello, everyone. My name is Jessica. I'm new to the blog scene, but I also work on Salt the Holly (a.k.a. the best comic there ever was) and so I figure everyone should get a little peek at my life as well as Amanda's. I hope to be around quite a bit in 2009.

2009 - A Very Good Start

Welcome to 2009 - here's hoping it will be a great year with lots of positive events! So far, so good. ^.^

At midnight, I was at Robert's place with some good friends and good champagne. It was a great way to ring in the new year.

Yesterday, I went to the Fed for Blues and Swing - got to see some of the wonderful dance folks there, had a wonderful time, felt very confident in my dance abilities. I am still absolutely a beginner, but I really feel as though I'm improving.

This morning, I stopped at a coffee shop and got my drink from a VERY attractive fellow ^.^ And tonight, more blues at Kick Butt Coffee! Woooooooo!