Your Brain's Pattern

You have a dreamy mind, full of fancy and fantasy. You have the ability to stay forever entertained with your thoughts. People may say you're hard to read, but that's because you're so internally focused. But when you do share what you're thinking, people are impressed with your imagination.

What Pattern Is Your Brain?

I just thought this would make a good post for the end of 2005. Many people have been wondering about my brain patterns (including myself). I had another nightmare last night. So I got up and played Midtown Madness (a racing game that takes place in the middle of cities--hence the title) on Xbox. Though disturbed by the dream, I was able to win a race I'd never before won. I must be getting better at channeling my energies...

Had lunch with Val today--it was a lot of fun. We just got together and started talking about random things. Don't I do this all the time? Anyway, I spent most of the morning before lunch cracking pecans for some cookies Granny and I are going to make tonight (one of our daredevilish adventures planned for this evening). This so-called "simple living" I'm practicing is about to get ridiculous. And what is so simple about it anyway? I think it's a lot more work to crack the pecans, pick them out, and chop them BEFORE even getting around to baking the cookies-- than just laying down a couple bucks and buying some pecan sandies from the store. And this scarf I keep talking about... I'm knitting it out of this weird, funky, furry-type yarn crap. It looks like roadkill right now. It has looked like roadkill for two weeks now. Maybe it will start looking like a scarf sometime. It's the most difficult substance in the world to knit, too. You know, I really should be taking it easy over break, not challenging myself. That's about all for today, folks. Well, Jasper is fussing because he's hungry and lonely. I better attend to him. However, I won't be able to feed him any tonight, so if anybody gets on here tonight, be sure to feed him a couple fish. Hope everyone has a great new year--stay safe!

Jasper the Penguin

Jasper the Penguin is officially Da Man. He can do eat as many fish as you care to feed him, do tricks, and even fall off a small iceberg. If you get a chance to play with him, he loves making friends. I just adopted him today and already he insists that I play with him at least every two hours. Way to go, Jasper... it's no wonder I never get anything done.

I took a few more quizzes today, but was too ashamed of my results to post them. Anyway, I cheated more today than I did yesterday, so today's results weren't very accurate. I worked a few hours today and went to Pizza Hut for lunch--awesome. I spent most of this evening playing, yes, Silent Hill 4, and Midtown Madness. I don't really know why I keep playing Silent Hill, because I think it is giving me nightmares. Or maybe it's the freaky music I listen to. Or just the natural rhythms of my brain.

Tomorrow I'm supposed to meet one of my friends at Subway, then I'm going to spend New Year's Eve partying down with my grandma. We're going to make a valiant attempt at baking pecan cookies. I'm also going to bring some games and we might watch a scary movie: Because of Winn-Dixie. Yes, friends and neighbors, it's going to be wild. Granny always stays up until 11:00 anyway, so it shouldn't be hard for her to ring in the new year in style. It might be a different story with me. I don't know, but all this hard-core domino-playing and cookie-baking might wear me out before 9:00. I might write a short update in the morning, but Granny doesn't have the internet, so I won't be able to tomorrow night (because I know none of you have anything better to do on New Year's Eve than to sit around reading my blog). Until then, Happy New Year's Eve Eve, everyone!

Addicted to These Quizzes

Veggie Pizza

Upscale and trendy. You're the most likely to go for a gourmet pizza. You have impeccable taste in everything. You truly enjoy the finer things in life.

What's Your Pizza Personality?

I did a lot today... besides taking quizzes. Although, I probably spent more time taking quizzes than anything else. I also did some fascinating, thrilling, death-defying stunts, including going to the bank and laundromat. I also saw one of my grandmas today. Together we started an incredible feat: making beaded bell Christmas ornaments for next year. I would write more, but I'm off to tackle my next larger-than-life project: knitting a scarf. Adios, amigos!

You Are 70% Boyish and 30% Girlish

You are pretty evenly split down the middle - a total eunuch. Okay, kidding about the eunuch part. But you do get along with both sexes. You reject traditional gender roles. However, you don't actively fight them. You're just you. You don't try to be what people expect you to be.

How Boyish or Girlish Are You?

Arty Kid

Whether you were a drama freak or an emo poet, you definitely were expressive and unique. You're probably a little less weird these days - but even more talented!

Who Were You In High School?

You Christmas Stocking Will Be Filled with Money

You've either been really really good this year... Or Santa is trying to pay you off!

What Will Be In Your Christmas Stocking?

I spent today recovering from yesterday and I'm feeling much better now. Throat is still a little sore, but no biggie. I spent most of the morning trying to bake a hot fudge cake from scratch. It was a success. I didn't much care for it though. Been cleaning my room--now that I'm on break I really don't have a good excuse for the condition of my room. Plus if I don't hurry up and at least make an attempt, my mother will get ahold of it, and I pity the person whose room has been gone-over by my mother.

It was kind of cool going through all the old crap I should have thrown away years ago. Ran across my old 8th grade dance picture and stuff I just can't part with from back in the days when I had my old 6th grade boyfriend. I must have been obsessed because today I happened upon one of his spelling tests. Word #11 to describe Sunshine in '96, p-s-y-c-h-o...

Yeah I am a nut for nostalgia, I'll admit it up front. But hey, the way I see it, I won't remember anything otherwise. Anyway, I spent most of the rest of my evening finishing a kid's book I borrowed from my grandma. Great book if you're a nostalgia nut like yours truly. Kinda sappy, but I won't write a review on it. The guy's name is Richard Peck and his two stories are fictional accounts of Chicago kids spending time in Depression-era small-town Illinois. Quite a change from my usual evening of several hours of Silent Hill 4.

There's not a whole lot of news today, which is a good thing. It occurred to me that I'd make a horrible feminist. Here I am going to college to earn a degree in a half-hearted attempt at independence. But what do I do on break? Traditional women's stuff: baking, cleaning, reading, knitting... it's people like me that set movements back 20 years. I'm only a quasi-feminist--I like the idea of staying at home and spending somebody else's money... just a thought for you all to consider tonight while you're lying awake in your beds.

Not Much Going on Today...

I think I have a touch of stomach flu or something... I woke up at 4:00 this morning and had to vomit (beautiful story, I know) and I haven't felt well all day. We hit a deer over a month ago and today we finally were able to take the car in to get fixed (nothing major but the deer got the grille and it looks like the car is screaming). Anyway, being the sweet daughter that I am, I offered to drive the other car (I like to call it the getaway car) when Dad dropped off the Deermobile. The getaway car is the Mousemobile. Mom wanted to borrow my car to use today and I got stuck all day with Mousemobile. Constantly nervous that a mouse would jump out and crawl up my pant leg, causing me to wreck and be cremated causing a slow, painful death, I wasn't very fond of the situation.

Nevertheless, in an attempt to please Mother, I took Mousemobile, thus saving her the potential excitement.

Met Lisa for a snack at the DQ--first meal I'd eaten today--and I felt alright then. Came home and baked some pretty good French bread. Freedom bread if you prefer. Now I don't feel so hot again. Actually I do feel hot, and that's the problem. So anyway, I drove to and from DQ in Mousemobile with no problems. Ah, the joys of rural life.

Flaming Furball...

So we just got back from a shopping trip that I expected would take 2 hours, 3 tops. It ended up being 5. And I'm starving. We have refried beans open in the fridge and Mom wanted me to use up leftovers, so I am cooking rice and going to make a burrito. As I was boiling the water for the rice, our old cat decided to get on the stove because it is warm (duh) and this house is an icebox. It all happened in slow motion. "Nooooo!" I saw myself scream. Yep, the cat caught her tail on fire and proceded to jump back down onto the floor. I could see the entire house catching on fire, all because I had to use up food already opened in the fridge. Luckily, no fur got in my rice. And nothing else caught on fire. Well, the cat is okay, but about 1/4 of her tail is gone now. As for my rice, I still have 15 minutes or so. Who knows what other cooking mishaps could occur in this next 15 minutes. It's never a dull moment when more cats than people live in a house smaller than most trailers.

Merry Christmas

Whew! What a day! Mom made cinnamon rolls today (not from scratch, but I'll forgive her this time) and then I was on some sort of sugar high (between those and the hot chocolate) until church when I got this terrible post-sugar hangover. Kudos to anyone who has never experienced the post-high blood sugar hangover--you have been very sheltered. The service was nice, teaching the true meaning of Christmas, which is so often lost. I got lots of nice gifts, mostly practical, like a scarf and gloves, a PJ set, and a carrying case for my laptop. But I also got some literary stuff like the new Writer's Market (I'm gonna give a shout-out to Amanda to thank her for introducing me to this wonderful necessity for anyone with this slightest hidden desire to publish), a subscription to Writer's Digest magazine, yet another Borders gift card (this is my 3rd this year, but they'll be put to good use), and a book edited by Becky Bradway (an Illinois girl). Then there were the "just for fun" things: a Hershey's cookbook (Lord help us, I predict another sugar hangover in the near future...), a crocheted doily from my Granny, and a Glenn Miller CD. Yes, that's GLENN Miller, the big band guy. Laugh if you want, friends (if anyone's even reading this), but I have a dreadful addiction to big band music, especially the late, great, Glenn Miller.

Now I know this seems like a lot of gifts, but these came from like five people or something.

We had a nice little soup supper in my grandma's garage. Few of you have ever witnessed or experienced a Cather family get-together of any sort. And any of you poor souls who HAVE participated in said get-togethers I'm sure would never admit to it. But I digress. So my uncle, divorced for I'd say around 18 years, just got a girlfriend, and she's the sweetest thing, but she's so shy it's not funny. In fact, I think our family intimidates her, but God bless her, she's a brave woman.

Anyone who knows my aunt, Vickie, will agree that she's not what most people consider normal. And she can't help it, I mean, she has Autism. So anyway, I didn't hear what went wrong because I am pretty deaf, but Vickie started screaming about something and for a minute I thought my uncle's girl was going to faint in her soup. She came through okay. If I were her, I'd run and never look back. She must really think a lot of him to keep coming back to these get-togethers.

There was only one other major social faux pas tonight, and that was our fault. My mom bought Vickie (yeah the same aunt) a "Rootin' Tootin' Reindeer" that passes gas while singing Christmas carols (there's really no polite way to say it). Mom had no idea about the farting reindeer until Vickie pushed the button and the vile thing started its sinning... er, singing. The family was horrified at first, but then they all loosened up and admitted that it was funny. There were a few wrapping paper fights also, for old time's sake, and we all had a holly jolly time.

If anybody else had an eventful Christmas, I'd like to hear about it. If anyone is beginning Chanukah with similar experiences, I'm all ears. Until then, I hope you all enjoy whatever holiday you're celebrating this year. Stay safe and keep it real.

Happy Belated Christmas Eve Eve

Okay, so I usually wish everyone a happy Christmas Eve Eve on December 23rd, but I forgot yesterday. It was an official holiday when I worked at Amoco. Well, my great friend RC is over here right now. We exchanged gifts and took lots of stupid pictures and now she's attempting to watch Madagascar at my house. I have a headache. I'm gonna go eat now. Catch you all later.

Abandon All Hope Ye Who Enter Here...

My friends seem to think that I have some insanely insightful things to tell the world, so at urgent requests, I have created my own blog. May God have mercy on your poor souls.