Woohoo, great bout last night. My team won 133 to 69, and even though the score was so spread, it was still an exciting bout to watch. I helped set up, ushered, and sold merch. Afterward I went out with a couple other Fresh Meat for tacos and margaritas, entertained some fans who wanted our autographs (ha!), and then headed over to the bar where the after party was being held. I hung out and danced for a bit before trekking back home to Monterey. Fun night!

I have the day off today, it's the last Sunday the library is closed, before we reopen on Sundays again. Yeah, it lasted a whole two weeks.

I need to get my ass in the shower and then head over to yoga. This afternoon I have a massage scheduled. Mmmmmm. And then I better clean my apartment and walk the dog. My new fridge arrived yesterday and it looks quite sexy compared to the ancient rusty one I used to have. Woohoo.

This isn't the best pic, and you can't even really see my tutu! (it's black), but it's the only one I have at the moment to share:

Work has been torturous lately.

One of our patrons wrote the Mayor and City Council and said the library "resembled the waiting room of a busy international airport when many flights are delayed. There were people everywhere, including some leaning against the walls and many sitting on the floor."

When I'm on the ref desk I barely get a chance to breath anymore these days. Can we say burnout?

ETA-
Just got an email that the City Council decided to give us extra cash to reopen on Sundays. This is good and bad. It'll balance out some of the busy-ness, BUT we're still going to be short-staffed, even with a little bit of money to pay for subs.

I was invited to a surprising assortment of 4th of July bbq's this year, but decided just to stay home and be a bum instead. It worked out though, because Jenna had the same idea, and we decided to do dinner ourselves. We made gauc, deviled eggs, potato salad, cupcakes, margaritas, a burger for her, and fake chicken sandwiches for me. We also popped on The Curious Case of Benjamin Button which is baaaaaaaaaaaaaaad, but kept us mildly entertained. Monterey didn't do fireworks this year, so I missed out on those, but that's okay by me.

Today is the first Sunday my library is going to be closed due to budget cuts, so I have the day off, and will start my new Monday thru Friday schedule tomorrow.

The damn cats and dog are driving me nuts this morning, I don't know what's gotten into them. The cats fed Bug a candle last night, so I awoke to wax all over my floor. Flash is working on his ninja skills and dashing around the apartment all crazy-like. Bug's trying to chase him. The cats are using the bathtub as a fort, which upsets Bug because he can't jump high enough to get in there with him. And Sprout's been digging around in the kitchen cabinets, etc, probably looking for more things to feed to the dog. Evil animals!

ack. I think I've fallen off the LJing wagon. I still read my friendspage once a day or every other day, but especially since getting back from my trip, it never occurs to me to post.

On days that I have derby practice, my days are pretty much shot. I go to work all day, get about an hour at home, then run off to practice and don't get home until 10:15 or so - at which time I'm usually ready to crash in bed almost immediately.

My derby skills are progressing, but it's still frustrating to be in the beginner stage, when most everybody else kicks ass. I made a breakthrough at practice last night though, and one of these days I should FINALLY get a set of outdoor wheels. So assuming I can get myself outside in my non-work, non-practice time, I can get a little more skating experience in.

Otherwise life is very unexciting. I can't believe it's almost July already!!!

Ha! Long time, no post. I'm back from Chile as of yesterday, and as soon as I got back I took off running. Not quite all the way caught up yet, but I'm getting there. The trip was fabulous. I'll try to write more about it later!

Went back to work today, and got a ton of stuff done. Going to derby tonight, but I'm not going to skate because my body just isn't up to it yet.

The pictures I did take during my trip before my camera decided to break on day TWO! will be up on Flickr as soon as I can. I never use the card reader on my laptop and when I tried to use it tonight, it wouldn't read my card. My camera is too broken to download the pics from. So until I find a working card reader that's attached to the internet or my old camera arrives in the mail (it'd been at my mom's) and lets me download the pics through its USB, no trip pics.

I'm almost all ready to go! This last week has been crazy though. And the number of things I put off til the last minute at work was complete stupidity. I was supposed to have today off, but I ended up going into work and spending like 5 hours there though. I guess the benefit was that it kept me busy and away from sitting in my apartment freaking out about if I have everything I need for the trip for fewer hours.

So here's the gameplan. Tomorrow I spend the afternoon at work, and then drive up to Santa Cruz with Bug. There's a shindig at Bradley and Jackie's and then I'll eventually catch a ride to the San Jose airport where I'll chill for the night. My flight leaves San Jose on Sunday at 6am, and I fly to Atlanta. I have like a 8 hour layover, yuck, and then I hop on the plane to Santiago, Chile where I'll arrive around 7:30am. I'll go meet up with Josie, and then we'll spend one day in Santiago before flying to Easter Island where we'll spend a week. On Tuesday the 17th we go back to Santiago and well be running around that portion of Chile. My flight home takes off the night of the 21st, and two layovers later, I'll arrive in San Jose around noon. Then I gotta catch an airport shuttle back home. And thus I should reappear Monday, the 22nd, in the evening!

It's fall in Chile, but I think it'll actually be warmer in Santiago during the day than it is in Monterey, though it gets about 10 degrees colder at night. And Easter Island will be even warmer, with temps around 70 degrees all day, every day! (In Monterey we've been doing low 60s during the day, and low 50s at night.)

Bug's spending a week with Bradley and Jackie, and then the rest of the time with my coworker Catrina. Jenna's watching the kitties for me.

If I find myself at internet cafes I'll be sure to check my email and give updates whenever possible, but I do not plan on going out of my way for internet access. I'm not an addict and I'll prove it! (the laptop isn't coming along either)

I'm nervous just because I always get anxious before trips and this is one of the biggest I've ever gone on, but I'm trying to stay zen. I'm sure I'll have tons of fun and there will be a million pictures when I get back.

Everybody better stay out of trouble while I'm gone!

What is your current obsession?
roller derby (duh)

What is your current favorite memory?
summer days and nights and Denver, running the neighborhood with the other neighborhood kids being somewhat of a hooligan, and sneaking change from my parents coin jar to hit up the "health food store" for hagan daz bars

Starbucks or Peet's?
omg, Peet's. i used to be all about starbucks for years, but then they put in a peets near my work and it totally kicks starbucks ass on all fronts. their drinks are WAY better. (though it'd only be my 3rd favorite local coffeeshop if you compare it to indy ones)

What's for dinner?
well it's already in my belly, but i caved and went to Peppers for dinner. i'm addicted to their chips and salsa, margaritas, and vegi fajitas. i go like once a week. it's baaaaaad

What would you eat for your last meal?
hrmmmmm, well maybe exactly what i listed above if i could get it from Peppers

What's the last thing you bought?
dinner. previous to that was shipping for a derby hemet i had to send back for a size exchange

What are you listening to right now?
pandora.com, which is basically all i listen to these days. i'm lazy

What is your favorite ice-cream flavour?
rocky road. or any other chocolate ice cream that has nuts and chunks of other shit like chocolate in it

What do you think of the person who tagged you?
n/a

What was your favorite toy growing up?
a little stuff doll called "baby doll" - original, no?

If you could go anywhere in the world for the next hour, where would you go?
bah, i hate questions like this! i guess i'd have to pick somewhere i'd never get to go otherwise. like the tallest mountains in the andes or the middle of the amazon rainforest, etc

Which language do you want to learn?
spanish, just because it would be damn useful. nevermind the fact i already took classes for 8 years and barely know anything

What's your favorite quote (for now)?
ummmm, "not all who wander are lost". i used to have it as a bumper sticker on my old car, and suddenly the last few days i think i've seen it on two other cars

What is your favorite colour?
greeeeeeeeen

What is your favorite piece of clothing in your own wardrobe?
this brown Anthropologie cardigan that pretty much looks like crap b/c i've worn it so much

What is your dream job?
a mix of part time librarian. part time little artsy/books/coffee shop proprietress. part time stay at home mom/artist. ha! liked i'd ever be able manage all that!

What is your worst habit?
buying numerous lattes

If you had £100 now, what would you spend it on?
i'd probably put it towards my trip. otherwise the next non-trip related thing i need is outdoor wheels for my skates

Do you admire any one's style?
yeah, only half the freaking internet.

Describe your personal style?
casual, earthy, different. i've really been trying to expand my clothes color palette lately though. lots more pinks, yellows, reds, etc

What are you going to do after this?
well the margaritas have made me sleepy, but i really need to work on picking up my apartment and packing

What are your favourite movies?
amelie, monster's inc, finding nemo, gattica, almost famous

What is your favourite fruit?
cherries

What inspires you?
people who already are what i want to be

Your favorite book?
the time traveler's wife

Do you collect something?
antique/vintage children's books, vintage enamel kitchenware, antique cameras, mp3s, cats ; )

What are you most proud of?
finishing school, moving across the country alone, and getting a kickass job

What do you like most about yourself?
my independence

What is your go-to nail polish color?
clean for my fingernails because when it immediately starts chipping, it's harder to tell. dark red for the toesies

Made it to yoga today. I set my alarm hoping I'd get up earlier because I wanted to try a spin class for the first time, but I decided I much rather wanted to sleep.

Work was work, and I was only there for five hours. 2.5 hours were spent on the reference desk. 1 hour was spent sorting through a huge donation that came in this afternoon. In the time that was left over, I got nothing majorly useful done. Arrrrg.

My dad shockingly emailed me tonight saying he'd send money. I had jokingly suggested that he could sponsor "his very own derby girl" and listed out the amounts of money I had spent on gear and fees so far, and he offered to cover it! (sister - don't kill me! i know he never wants to give you money. sorry!!!!)

Anyway, that money won't get me out of the hole but it will definitely help. With my trip to Chile, Roller Derby, and previous/pending car repairs, among other things, my finances are looking extremely depressing. Greatfully this due to my own decisions and not like I lost my job or something. THANK GOODNESS.

At this time next Sunday I should be on an airplane on my way to Chile. Eeeek.

Yay for a lazy and productive weekend.

Things done: Finished the last 3 dvds for True Blood season one. Returned some online purchases at Old Navy and picked up a few things, most of which were about $4 thanks to their 50% of everything in the clearance section. Picked up more kitty litter - I am trying to stock up on pet stuff for while I am gone. Right now I probably have 350lbs of pet supplies in the trunk of my car, probably not the best idea for gas millage, meh. Did my laundry. Vacuumed. Did my dishes for the first time in a week. Cleaned the cat box. Cut the cats' claws and brushed some of the mats out of Shadow's fur. Picked up the last of the stuff I need for the prize baskets I'm making at work. Walked the dog. Derby practice. Two days later spent 3 hours at the roller rink with another derby girl, and an ex-derby girl. Picked up plates, cups, and utensils for my metal class' end of semester potluck on Monday. Grabbed some groceries for myself. Burrito takeout Friday night. Baskin Robbins frozen coffee drink tonight. Slept way too many hours. Typed up some instructions for the people watching my animals while I'm gone. Purchased some Chilean Pesos over the internet. Ordered some "generic" rechargeable camera batteries - we're talking $5 each versus $50 each for Canon brand ones, so at that price, why not try it? Also ordered an ipod charger that works on AA batteries - yay for music for my numerous hours of travel! Contacted my credit card company about lowering my APR, which they did, by email even! So easy!!! Ran past the bank. Emailed my dad obviously hinting I wanted some money (something I haven't done in 3 years). Cleaned my closet and got all my clothes hung up again (I'd been too lazy to put my laundry away for ages so everything was tossed on top the hangers and on the hooks of my cloest door, etc. Set up bill pay for bills due while I'm out of town. Packed up a gift for someone. Called my mom. Caught up on my internet reading. Contemplated my busy schedule.

Lalalalalalala, busy! Eeeeeek!

The schedule for the upcoming week appears as such:
Sunday....morning off from work. will attempt to make myself go to the gym. work from 1-5
Monday....work. last metals class/potluck
Tuesday....work. derby
Wednesday....work
Thursday....work. derby
Friday....last minute errands plus other travel stuff and total freakout
Saturday....morning free. work 12-5. drive up to Santa Cruz with Bug. Bradley and Jax drop me off at the airport
Sunday....flight at 6:15am. arrive in Atlanta. 8 hour layover -- WHAT THE FUCK?!?!?! WHY DID THEY HAVE TO CHANGE MY FLIGHTS!!!!!!! flight at 10pm
Monday....arrive in Santiago at 7:35am

I'm doing well with general-life preparedness for the trip I think, but I have SO much I have to do at work this week. I want to cry just thinking about it. Sigh.

1) I just finished episode seven of True Blood, and currently think it SUCKS, though I can't stop watching it b/c I want to know what happens. But seriously HBO, wtf?!? I haven't read the books, so I can't compare it to them, but basically the show is ridiculous.

2) Still loving derby! I'm getting better at not falling, but still struggle to keep up and not want to die. I've started building my derby wardrobe. Basically what everybody wears is tights/footless tights/thin leggings with short shorts or underwear on top. Tank top, sports bra, and some crazy knee socks and you're set. Oh, I should take pictures of myself, you'd laugh.

3) Had contemplated going to the Makers Faire this weekend. This is the third year I've been dying to go and actually could possibly go. The first two years I was traveling so I swore to myself, next year! Anyways, due to the fact I'm skipping the country in about a week and have no money I decided I should just skip it again this year. aaaaarg, so disappointing though!

4) So no big plans for the weekend. I need to get all my shit together for the trip and make a list of things I need to take care of before I go. I should hit up the gym and/or go to open skate at the local rink. I desperately need clean my apartment. Gotta finish True Blood. Otherwise I better relax and hang out with the animals who will soon hate me for abandoning them. : \