Finally...

Been FOREVER since I've blogged, but before moving out to CA I was working 7 days a week and as many hours as possible.


My first semester in grad school was awesome. Learned a ton and got to know some of the people in my program...which I may describe some of them. Then I got to have one of the longest breaks I can remember having and went back to Kansas to spend a lot of time with family and friends.

School: studying, class, interacting with new people. And finding out that there are some who obviously slipped through the cracks into the program and maybe should not have (mostly due to their total lack of social skills)...I won't use their real names, like Christina (crap, I used it)...everyone, just look away and pretend you didn't see that. I meant to change her name to Xtina, to be somewhat mysterious and to make you think she has blond hair, not red, is a famous singer, not an annoying overly talkative know-it-all. She is a very smart person, but has no self-awareness or ability to interact with others.

One thing Xtina said at our orientation is that she is someone who professors don't like because she will go out of her way to try and prove them wrong and argue with them. I was sitting across from her when she said this and she looked at me and laughed like I was going to laugh with her. I sat and looked at her stone-faced and then shoved a cupcake in my mouth. I was obviously more interested in the food at orientation than listening to Xtina talk about herself.

Xtina and another guy, who I'll refer to as Goober, always like talking back and forth during Stats class. Now, Goober, he showed up to campus one time after one of his workouts and drove in making at a show that he had not yet put his shirt on. What he failed to realize was that I didn't take a picture of him as admiration of his body but more to enter his tiny nipples into the Guinness Book of World Records.

Now, Xtina and Goober like talking in class and being obnoxious about how much they know and doing their best to make others think they are less than worthy. As a typically quieter and focused student, they will be soooo surprised when I present them both with a gift certificate to a nearby hotel where they can go and consummate their love for each other. It's a gift that I'll most likely present to them in front of class prior to the start of lecture.

For those people who have never been to Fresno, it's not a bad place to live and has a small town feel to it. I appreciate it because, while some people here say Fresno is about 10-15 years behind the rest of CA, people are really laid back and down-to-earth. They are courteous and polite and you can actually have a conversation at the grocery store with a stranger. But I don't take their candy.

Moose.............................um, this little guy makes friends as easily as breathing oxygen. Everyone in my complex who has met him loves him and he's always so sweet to greet them. Even little kids love him, but sometimes Moose forgets that if he jumps up to give kisses he can knock the kids down. Fortunately, the parents have only laughed and said that Moose is sweet. Moose is particularly fond of my neighbor, Doug, who I also refer to as Mater. Also, our neighbors across the way, Pride and his wife Saray, are very fond of Moose--especially Pride. He and Saray always make time to give attention to Moose no matter what.

I have another neighbor who is in the military and he drives a mustang to work...that thing revs like nobody's business and I always know when he's going work. Sometimes he takes his motorcycle to work and it's cool to see him in his uniform speeding away. He and his wife have a cute little boy, too.......I think one of the kids that Moose has tackled.

The ladies in the rental office...they suck at communicating with each other. But they are all nice. Maria wears reading glasses and whenever I go in there she likes to tilt her head down and look at me over the top of them. I kinda wanna just tell her to take them off and not do that. Michelle, she always seems to be struggling to get all the information and seems nervous. When my apartment flooded along with 2-3 others, they were both working really hard to get everything under control.

That's just a tiny bit about life in Fresno...we'll see what this next semester has to offer.

What I think is funny...

Most people know that my humor is fairly elementary and I took this quiz one time that described me as an idiot savant.

It pretty much said I was really smart but that I found some of the most simple things absolutely hilarious. Anyone who has ever worked with or lived with me knows that I am very easily amused. And am also known to carry things a little too far to the point where it turns into something disgusting.

Various things that have made me laugh:

1) This is a clip from the movie "The Proposal"-- Betty White and Sandra Bullock are my heroes.

2) There are those occasions when I am out with friends and if we are, let's say, in a grocery store, I will say something like, "Hey, Ginger, I will give you a dollar if you dance like this all the way down the cereal aisle." If they happen to take that challenge, then I'll quickly yell, "Hey, shoppers, look at the weirdo dancing down the cereal aisle? Isn't that just ridiculous? I wouldn't come over here if I were you!"

3) I will sometimes hide around the corner at the studio where I work and just as a one of the other trainers may be coming by, I'll quickly but in a calm voice say, "Hey, Jill, what's new?" Scares the crap out of her and then I'll try not to laugh while saying, "Oh, did I scare you?" 

4) I have always loved the Hoda Kotb and Kathy Lee Gifford skits on Saturday Night Live. I also miss Tina Fey and Amy Poehler on SNL's Weekend Update. 

5) I love it when my sisters imitate things that their sons/my nephwes do; this always leads to my oldest sister and I talking in a midget voice that only adds to the humor of imitating the boys. It drives my other sister crazy. Love my nephews. And my sisters.

6) My dad, who's Brazilian, has a tendency to say things the wrong way and his accent makes it even funnier. For instance, when he bought my mom a new car they came home from the dealership. His summary of his experience with the car salesman: Man, dose guys, dey get you sink, line, and hooker!" My sisters and my brother and I all kinda just look at each other and shrug. Huh, guess the guy threw in a hooker as part of the deal. 

7) Moose, due to only have 1 eye, and his tendency to misjudge the distance of the couch at times. He will take a good running start, jump to get on the couch, but because he can't quite calculate the actual distance he will face plant and fly backwards. Without missing a beat, he springs up, and jumps on the couch. Success!!

8) Watching my sister, Olivia, playing the boxing game on the Wii. All sorts of spastic and involuntary movements come out of this typically prim and proper woman.

9) My brother reciting movie lines.

10) And this is my favorite holiday recipe, I make it every year.

Real-World X-mas Recipe

Ingredients:

1 cup of water
1 tsp baking soda
1 cup of sugar
1 tsp salt
1 cup of brown sugar
lemon juice
4 large eggs
some nuts
1 bottle Vodka
2 cups of dried fruit 

Sample the vodka to check quality. Take a large bowl, check the vodka again. To be sure it is of the highest quality, pour one level cup and drink. Repeat . Turn on the electric mixer. Beat one cup of butter in a large fluffy bowl. Add one teaspoon of sugar. Beat again. At this point it's best to make sure the vodka is shtill OK. Try another cup .... just in case. Turn off the mixerer. Break 2 leggs and add to the bowl and chuck in the cup of dried fruit. Pick fruit off floor. Mix on the turner. If the fried druit gets stuck in the beaterers pry it loose with a drewscriver. Sample the vodka to check for tonsisticity. Next, sift two cups of salt. Or something. Who giveshz a ...t. Check the vodka. Still teast OK? Now shift the lemon juice and strain your nuts. Add one table. Add a spgoon of supar, or somefink. Whatever you can find. Greash the oven. Turn on the cake tin 360 degrees and try not to fall over. Don't forget to beat off the turner. Finally, drop the bowl on the floor spillling contenst, finish the vodka, swip in the mess, and trip over the cat.

CHERRY MISTMAS! 

This list is just a small bit of the things I find funny. Moose is currently making a list of things he finds funny, too. He keeps looking at me and laughing and quickly scribbles in his Big Chief notepad. I'm suspicious.

Great story!

http://www.usatoday.com/yourlife/pets/dogs/2010-12-14-pettalk15_ST_N.htm?csp=34news&utm_source=twitterfeed&utm_medium=twitter&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+UsatodaycomHealth-TopStories+%28News+-+Health+-+Top+Stories%29&utm_content=Twitter

Jill's birthday

So Jill decided to turn another year older.


We acted like it was going to be the last celebration any of us would ever have.

The night started when Ginger, who had just that morning broken her toe, decided to at least come hang out with us before we headed out. She didn't feel as though she'd be able to stay out since her foot was throbbing and she was unable to wear decent shoes.

She came over after school (she's a teacher) and wanted to go to the liquor store to get Jill a good bottle of wine for her birthday.

Ginger also bought herself a huge bottle of white wine.

I got a 6-pack of beer...Landshark.

We went back to my place and just hung and talked and laughed. I finished getting ready and Moose was being his usual self, just all up in Ginger's face and invading her personal space.

Moose is never short on attention

It was a couple of hours before Jill and the rest of the group showed up, and Ginger and I weren't really paying attention to how much we drank. We were just having a good time. It was all out of naivete and innocence. We knew not what we did.

Jill showed up with her sisters and then Allison followed shortly thereafter.

We kept drinking. The girls made their mixed drinks and we all sort of just hung out for a while.

No one knew that Jill and her sisters, Kristi and Lanelle, were going to dress alike: dresses, black tights, and boots. I wore my typical jeans, boots, and shirt. Ginger, who was the loveliest of all, wore her teacher's outfit: gray slack, blouse and cardigan. Allison had managed to shop for something new and trendy--no surprise there. We were a multiculturally-fashioned group.

All I know is that this was my thought in getting ready: It's frickin' raining. We're going to a biker bar. I'm 32. I could care less. I just can't wait to eat when we get home.

The other girls thoughts:

Ginger: My damn toe hurts and I can't wear my new cute teacher shoes. I'll just keep drinking my keg o' wine.

Allison: This is one of the cutest outfits I've worn in a while!! I can't wait to see how cute I look when I'm dancing on the bar...

Jill: I hope I can pull down these tights easily when I have to poop.

Kristi: I should pump breast milk before we go out. And probably try to poop.

Lanelle: I bet my sisters are thinking about pooping right now.

Moose: I could just poop with all this excitement and attention I'm getting right now!

After some time Ginger announces she's going to go out with us. My assessment was that she'd had enough wine that her toe was numb and she was also having so much fun that she didn't want it to end.

We went to the biker bar. After some dancing on the bar and a good laugh at the spectacle in the ass-less chaps and fishnet hose, and watching Kristi perform a drunken basketball shuffle/trip-and-fall all the way across the floor of the bar, this was our thoughts:

V: Why did I just take that disgusting shot of what tasted like stale cherry Pucker?

Ginger: I'm the hottest, broken-toed, cardigan-wearing teacher here.

Allison: I look goooooooooood!

Jill: I think I'm gonna River Dance now for all to see my glory.

Kristi: That was the best basketball shuffle I've ever done in my life.

Lanelle: I'm disowning my sisters in court tomorrow.

Moose: Those bitches need to get home and let me outta this kennel, otherwise I'm poopin' in their shoes.

The next morning, Ginger, Allison, and I all woke up in my bed. Moose was snuggled in somewhere with us happy as can be...

I walked downstairs to fine Kristi balled up on the air mattress. Lanelle was buried in my oversized chair, and Jill was pleasantly nude on the couch delicately covered up in a fleece blanket.

Moose, upon seeing Jill, cried and pointed, "Hey!! Look, we're BOTH naked. Isn't that awesome?!"

Our thoughts:

V: It's 6:30am, I need to clean something.

Ginger: Damn, my toe hurts.

Allison: I hope I still look cute.

Jill: Good thing I'm naked, I gotta poop.

Kristi: I feel like poop.

Lanelle: I'm an only child.

Moose: This was so fun, I might poop!

Good thing Jill's birthday only comes around once a year, it's always a long recovery.

Moose on Jersey Shore

I have no shame in admitting that I like "Jersey Shore". Does it seem silly that they just picked a group of random kids to put up in a beach house and film them partying and creating their own drama? Of course. But man, it's that kinda stuff that drives network ratings as well as appeals to so many Americans. Everyone wants to be all up in everyone else's business. So why not get a group of cuties, give them alcohol, add hormones, and then broadcast it all on the air.

I would bet that most people would say Snooki is by far the most entertaining character of them all. She carries that poof like no one else and I think someone should create a Twitter Account called Snookis_Poof; there would be so much of the inside scoop of Snooki's life, that we'd all be in on what really goes down when the cameras are off.

We'd have a fun "Situation" there, I think.

And to add to even more of that fun, I think Moose and Snookis_Poof would become the best of friends. Moose has no shame in displaying his life and every single aspect, so why not add a whole new level to the world of Jersey Shore??

Now, if Angelina decides to return, I'd bet money that once again she leaves because she's a conniving "dirty little hamster" who loves to stir the pot in the house. Not to mention, she lies through her teeth and can never take responsibility for her actions. But just as @tbeanmom pointed out on Tweetdeck the other day, she does have an offer to make a porn spoof of the show. @tbeanmom is TOTALLY on the up and up with what goes down on Jersey Shore. Not to mention, she's the amateur publicist for @TeamDJPaulyD...what devotion. I love it.

Moose is shaking his head at the thought of Angelina in a porn. I think he's over there in his kennel praying that it doesn't happen. He'd hate to have to take out his left eye, too, after having the retina seared from such a scary sexual travesty.

But Moose and Snooki? Yeah, that's about as awesome as it'd get on that show...the partying, the gossip, the slipper-wearing good times. And when Angelina pulls another one of her stunts, it's no second thought for Moose to just prance on over, take a dump in her shoes, and fart in her purse.

Moose would always have Snooki's back--she seems to have a good heart, a ton of energy, and he'd certainly be able to keep up. And what doesn't add to the energy of a bunch of Jersey kids, who tan, party, and live out their drama? A one-eyed wiener who doesn't listen, does whatever he wants, denies any boundaries, and acts like he owns the world.

Plus, he has 6-pack abs, tight glutes, and the same kinda smolder as The Situation. He's not down with the GTL, though--just the G. He doesn't need the T, he's already got a shiny soft coat that the perfect red color for a wiener. The L part? Dude runs around naked all day, who wouldn't love THAT life?