i'm a loser, baby

i should've realized today would be a weird day. i had to force myself out of bed to get ready for work. i made a delicious smoothie of juice, peaches and strawberries. mmmm mmm good. then i left for work and took this other road that i don't normally take (4th street south in moorhead) and i was making a right turn into the RIGHT lane and this woman was making a left turn from across the street and honked at me as if i had almost caused her to crash! she was in the wrong! i put up two fingers as if to indicate, "there are two lanes, you should turn into the correct one" and now that i think about it, i wonder if she thought i was giving her the peace sign. i was not. she didnt pass me and flip me off so i'm pretty sure she realized her error.

so then i get to work and this is when i should've known something was up. the guy who called my name at biolife to take my vitals and make sure i'm still living was the guy who gave me the hematoma so many months ago. i have honestly not run into him again at biolife until today - i have seen him, but he's never poked me, so i secretly thought biolife was keeping him away from me. i wonder if he remembers what he did to me. oh, wait. i did bump into him when i was at a bar once - i was staring at him because i couldnt figure out where i knew him from. i thought he was from boston and then after a few hours realized he was hematoma-boy. i quit staring. anyway, he takes my vitals and points out that i have a bruise on my right arm, where they normally stick me for the plasma. i didnt even notice it, it was so small. so he gets a nurse and she tells me i have to use my left arm. uh-oh. i've only used it once and it gave me a 5-inch bruise that lasted for 3 weeks. and the guy who was forcing me to use the other arm was the guy who could look in my notes and see that the other arm does not work. i was not looking forward to this. so i told the phlebotomist about the issues with my left arm and this was the girl from a few weeks ago who was nervous about putting a needle in my vein because she was new to the job. so she says she'll get someone who has more experience since i have a funny vein. she comes back with a "master plasma technician." i asked him if he had to pass a test to become a master and if he had a black belt. he told me he studied with monks so he could be called "master." i like this guy. so he prods and pushes and makes little dots on my arm and fiddles with the machine and goes back and forth looking for a vein. then he tries sticking the needle in. i couldnt really feel anything and i dont like to look, so i didnt know what was going on but he was taking a really long time. then he stopped, but didnt hook the cord up to the machine so i was really confused. he turned the pressure down, which was good because the whole 5 minutes he was poking and proding, i had a blood pressure cuff on my arm and had to make a fist so i couldnt feel my arm anymore. he went to get another person who came over and he explained, "it's in there, but it's squeaky. it keeps squishing by like when you try to pick up soap." lovely. i thanked him for the technical terms and the girl started going at it (my vein, that is). she had a pretty good grip on my arm and told me to tell her when it hurt too much. which made me realize it should be hurting. which it didn't yet, but just felt uncomfortable. then all of a sudden, pain. so i said, "ok, yeah, that hurts." and she said, "i know." and the guy handed her a towel. i looked down to see blood EVERYWHERE. it hurt because the vein popped. she said to the guy, "i got it in there, but the vein blew." so they let me go home without giving an ounce of plasma and now i have become one of the "non-takes" that they put up on the board each day. i was hoping i wouldn't become one, but i guess since i even showed up i get my $45. that's nice. they also have this raffle / drawing for prizes during the summer and i got to put my name in that (since its my 2nd donation of the week). i felt a little guilty about doing that since i didnt give any plasma, but then i got over it and dropped my name in for a flat-screen tv. but i still kind of feel like i cheated. i totally feel like a loser now with squishy, blowing veins. crappy.

and that makes me feel a little left out. of everything.

1) i don't really have a job. or a direction. or a desire to do anything specific. i kind of want to do everything and nothing at the same time. i stopped by the hospital on the way back home to say hi to my mom and first, some woman cruised through the parking garage not looking and almost hit me. i honked and her husband pointed me out to her and she didnt even care! she was in a huge suburban and driving totally dangerously. anyway, i hate going into the hospital because i get this "well, she'll be working soon" or "we hope she won't be unemployed much longer" or "she's had enough vacation for all of us for a year" and all i can do is smile politely while others try to explain my story. i wish people quit asking. its too much to explain. which leads me to

2) i don't think i fit into very many molds. and sometimes it would be nice to be able to explain your life in one nice sentence. anytime someone asks me what i do or where i live i kind of pause and give a half-smile like, "really? you want to know? what if i dont have anything to say? or what i'm about to tell you would take more than 2 minutes to explain" and then i say something that either sounds a) like i'm an idiot b) i am a loser or c) i'm an idiot loser

3) i read articles like this people have certain ideas about you - who you should be based on one thing or another. for example, according to this article, i should be getting ready to pop out some babies. those who know me well know that this is the furthest thing from my mind. i'm more concerned about whether or not i should buy lobe protectors so i can wear big earrings than i am about having kids. (i DID buy the lobe protectors. i'll let you know how they work)

4) i dont have a girl crush. and after reading this article, i really. want. a. girl. crush. the best compliment anyone ever paid to me was this guy ben i went to high school with. we were on the bus coming back from some activity or another and he turned around in his chair and said, "danielle, i have a non-sexual crush on you. i just think you're really cool." and i loved it! it was such a true sentiment and since then, i have told a few people i have non-sexual crushes on them. i think its great. but for now i have none. and that sucks. oh and to make me feel more left out, i dont know half the people in the article!

bleh.

so hopefully today will have a better ending. i am heading up to grand forks with my cousin to see her mom for a quick bite. i think my cousin is using me, in a good way, of course, because she said she would stop by to visit her friend and her friend wanted her to stay over, but she didnt want to, so now she has an excuse not to since i'm with her. i think i'll bring a book. oh, thats what i need. i need to read a book about a person who is a bigger loser than me and maybe that will make me feel better. any suggestions?

jul twitter archive

1. HELL YEAH! just got my very own version of settlers of catan in the mail - woo hoo! game night chez moi soon...1:21 PM Jul 31st from web
2. random musings on why fargo and nd are so great http://bit.ly/cPRUX7:43 PM Jul 30th from web
3. i need an apartment in columbus ohio. can anyone help? i'm looking for a monthly rental for 4 months...11:08 AM Jul 28th from web
4. 22 on the 22nd! happy birthday little brother, @erdynorth. http://bit.ly/d61iW9:15 AM Jul 22nd from web
5. 106 deg F in sacramento right now. i think i might be a wicked witch - i'm about to melt. thanks for telling me this way, mother nature.5:36 PM Jul 19th from web
6. Almost didn't go at the last minute but am now on completely packed plane to california for the week. At least i have a window seat. Woo ...8:07 PM Jul 17th from txt
7. wondering how marauder golf tourney in bismarck is going today... any update @erdynorth or @parithed?8:37 AM Jul 17th from web
8. wondering if my little brother and his girl are coming to dinner tonight... since he won't respond to my IMs...2:49 PM Jul 13th from web
9. At work. Brought DVD player but no movie. Stoopid. Gonna be a long seventy minutes at work. Sigh.9:58 AM Jul 10th from Twitterrific
10. Watching the hbo movie recount for the first time. Two words about Florida 2000: SHIT SHOW.3:16 PM Jul 9th from Twitterrific
11. i'm quite bored. i should apply for some jobs or something... or maybe @erdynorth will play stratego with me..5:14 PM Jul 4th from web
12. holy crap! i won an iphone gc. thanks #squarespace - you're awesome!! (eat that @erdysouth and @erdynorth) :)4:16 PM Jul 1st from web
13. did you remember to rock the vote yesterday? http://bit.ly/15m3Gn7:29 AM Jul 1st from web

i was dreaming when i wrote this...

i've always said that my goal in life is to never own a car unless its a brand new beamer or mercedes (but i really dont know anything about cars, i've heard that germans make good cars or something) and i can afford to have it parked for me and just call someone to bring me my car. that is until today when i saw public enemies in theaters. i have a new goal: own one of those old cars where the doors open the opposite ways like this:
i think that car is AWESOME. and i would totally wear a flapper dress every time i called the car boy to bring me my car.

so yeah. public enemies. decent flick. always love johnny and christian (we're all on a first name basis). oh AND the movie has TWO - count them: one, two - connections to fargo. first, at some point in the movie, you hear the national radio talking about how congress wants to pass laws that if you commit crimes across state lines, it becomes a federal crime and you can get punished more harshly they start to say, "in other news in fargo, north dakota..." it was cool. everyone in the theater sat up a bit straighter. the other reference is that the girl john dillinger was with (johnny depp's character) when he died is from fargo - they did an article about her in the local newspaper. so that was cool. i am always impressed when a fargoan is on the fringe of illegal activities.

so yeah, fargo has been in the news a bit, actually... i've had this one post saved FOREVER talking about all the references i keep hearing about fargo. so i think i will put some of the links here so i can get rid of some draft posts.

this first story i started to write is obviously from jan or feb and i wanted to bring up how nice this community is:

you know you live in a "nice" community when the lead story on the local news is the cold and the fact that businesses close doors so that they can take snow off the roof. my brothers friend's story of making a video in contention to run in the superbowl even made the local news and he was interviewed on at least 2 radio stations. can you imagine that happening in bos or ny?

• "Death map" which shows that north dakota has a low propensity for death (...?) except around the border with south dakota which i think is because that is an american indian reservation and they, unfortunately, have a high level of suicides.
• Fargo is the 7th best city in the nation for women according to women's health. woo hoo! i think whitnee gave me that link - thanks babe.
• Letter to the editor about how great north dakotans are (from a non-north dakotan)

here is another article about fargo being in the news a lot (that i started and never finished) and about roxana saberi - i've just pasted the post that i started, but note that she is no longer in jail and is actually back state-side. she has done a lot of press and whatnot since returning and we are glad that she is safe and sound (i'm just keeping all the links in since i kept pasting them back a while ago):

north dakota has been in the news a lot the past few months. i’ve saved an anderson cooper (ac 360) podcast from february 25 where he talks about one of the only positive economies in the country - right here in fargo. north dakota is one of 4 states with a budget surplus last year (if that’s still the case after the flood is another story...). it’s great because on the local tv, every hour there is a commercial with area businessmen about how fargo and the red river valley are doing well and then a little music and “invest in your valley.” which is a good idea. if there was some sort of fargo or north dakota etf, i would definitely buy it. i should look into buying stocks of fargo-based companies. hmmm... so we were on anderson cooper for the healthy economy around here. this was, of course, before the flood, which is another reason we have been in the news. but before that, ndsu based here in fargo, was in the march madness competition. we lost the first game, but we made some news along the way. now there are talks of one of the players from ndsu playing in the nba. then, of course, was the flood, which i documented at the beginning back in march and will finish sometime soon (soon being relative).

• Article about ND being one of only states with positive employment gains
• Article about Fargo being one of best places for jobs
  

finally, we’re making news again but not in a happy way. our most famous fargoan has been in the news quite a bit: roxana sabieri, north dakota-raised from an iranian father and japanese mother, was crowned miss north dakota in 1997. i was in high school at the time and actually remember her - she wasn’t the tall blonde that people would normally expect to represent north dakota (all those scandinavians around here). she is a journalist and was living in iran the past few years, apparently writing a book. a few months ago, she called her parents here in fargo to tell them she had been arrested in iran for buying wine. they didn’t believe her and didn’t hear from her for a few weeks. it turns out, she has since been tried and found guilty of espionage, which is completely ridiculous. i write about her now to raise awareness of her plight - she has started a hunger strike in jail in tehran to protest her arrest. secretary of state hilary clinton has taken on her cause and is pressuring the iranian government to let her go. this past week, she celebrated her 32nd birthday in jail. i have put links to articles about her in this post so that people don’t forget about her.

• http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8000522.stm
• http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/04/19/roxana-saberi-is-no-spy-s_n_188749.html
• http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/04/19/roxana-saberi-iran-presid_n_188725.html
• http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/04/20/roxana-saberis-parents-vi_0_n_188866.html
• http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/04/21/roxana-saberis-sentence-m_n_189376.html
• http://www.huffingtonpost.com/gotham-chopra/you-can-help-roxanne-sabe_b_189296.html
• http://jezebel.com/5248832/roxana-saberi-to-be-released
• http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/05/23/film-cowritten-by-roxana-_n_207093.html
• http://jezebel.com/5271871/roxana-saberi-thanks-secretary-clinton-for-securing-her-release
• http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/05/28/roxana-saberi-interview-o_n_208675.html
• http://gawker.com/5272094/roxana-saberis-100-days-of-solitude
• http://jezebel.com/5272930/roxana-saberi-i-was-never-a-spy-i-am-not-a-spy-and-i-will-never-be-a-spy
• http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/06/21/roxana-saberi-speaks-at-m_n_218616.html

and the final "north dakota" news that i had saved is about senator dorgan "predicting" the financial collapse back in the 80s. the whole financial mess and health care issues are really starting to bum me out, btw. bleh to all that.

i'm also slightly annoyed because i'm worried about the future of men. this article makes it seem like guys are getting wimpier. what will they be like in 12-15 years when i want to be a cougar? what does that say about my future prospects of boy toys? it's very disheartening. maybe i'll have to move back to the midwest and go after some good north dakotan boys...

blue moon

ok. slightly annoyed right now. i spent the second half of my day incredibly bored and was looking forward to casting my eyes upon the gorgeous maksim chemerovsky (sp hopefully wrong) in the superstars (which isn't that great of a show, but maks is so hot, it makes the show enjoyable) this evening, and i turn on the channel and what is it? stupid bachelorette. or something. i don't know. i've never seen any of these shows. oh wait. i saw one episode in france - it was the french version and it was EXACTLY the same (from what i had seen in previews or maybe i have seen an episode or two - either way it wasn't worth remembering) except in french. so there was one guy in the french version that i saw, we'll call him pierre and i caught an episode where he took six girls to the champagne region of france (where i used to live - AWESOME) and had "a date." they went into a champagne cave and blindfolded pierre. each girl got to pick a fruit and then had to serve it to the bachelor with a sip of champagne. at the end, the bachelor picked which fruit he thought went best with champagne and whoever picked that fruit won an individual date with him. i was so bothered by this concept because 1) the fruit had nothing to do with girl and it was all completely random. the last girl to pick a fruit was left with that fruit - if she won or not, she didn't PICK that fruit. 2) only so many fruits go with champagne and i bet the guy was actually picking based on what fruit he liked. ok. i'm already bored with this story. the point: the bachelor is stupid. even in french. or especially in french. either one. it's stupid.

so back to today, stupid bachelorette is on and apparently it was on last night, too? i have no idea whats going on. superstars is not. and there is nothing on the dvr to watch. so i kept watching part of the show in case they preempted stupid bachelorette or it finished and then superstars was on. but now I'M EFFING WATCHING THE BACHELORETTE. and i can't stop!! this is what is making me annoyed. i just dont buy the idea that you fall in love with someone in a month and want to get engaged with him or her and that he or she is not bothered with you hooking up with 20 other people at the same time. and all of that in front of cameras. i just dont buy it. BUT it is slightly captivating tv if you want to turn your brain into mush, which i was perfectly happy to do tonight. and now there is some other show on - the rose or something. after the rose. and i'm caught watching it.
wait - i must interject here: this guys name is KIPTYN??? i'm so sorry.
the other thing that bothers me is that i'm watching it live which means commercials. normally i never watch commercials. ugh.

i need to have more non-boring days. like yesterday was pretty cool, although it ended up completely different than how i thought it would. i was going to get up and go for a long bike ride after i had chai with my mom at the hospital. i get there and turns out that i have to take grandma to the dentist. AGAIN. or as they say in canada, A GAIN. this is the third time in the past month that we have had to fix her dentures. after that, she wanted to get a milkshake and get groceries. grocery shopping with gma is always an interesting event - i can practically feel my veins clogging with fat. here is a sample grocery list: a bismarck (jelly-filled donut), white buns, a piece of fried chicken, mashed potatoes from the deli, bananas, dried bananas, jell-o with fruit, 3 gallons of milk, 2 bags of potato chips and 2 cans of dip (one bean dip and one french onion), diet coke, caramel ice cream, kraft cheese slices, and lots of butter. this is what she gets EACH. WEEK. but she's 77 years old and she won't change.

anyway, i dropped her off and headed home. blah blah blah after a few hours i went for a bike ride but called my good friend, JaBootaay, on the way. it was hard to hear him because my phone roams out here and i was riding a bike so it was windy, so i stopped at one of a few bus benches in fargo and decided to sit there. we talked for like 45 minutes and it was funny. i was on a street corner (elm and 19th for those of you who know - right across from the VA) with traffic only going two ways (as opposed to four ways) because of construction. After a bit of me sitting there, this car pulls up to the stop sign right in front of me and the guy, pretty cute, rolls up and is smiling out the window at me. i didn't really pay attention, i was just talking to JaBootaay. He does a double stop - stopped then rolled a bit and stopped again - all the while watching me. he takes the left, turning away from me, and pulls into the first driveway to turn around. i didn't know what to think. "JaBootaay, some guy is staring at me! i wonder why." he asked, "well, what are you doing?" "nothing, just sitting here." and then i realized. i was sitting on a bus bench (with no bus service), wearing a bike helmet and ipod with the ipod headphones not in my ear, hanging off of the bike helmet, my right leg strapped with a flourescent band and on a phone. right as JaBootaay said it, i realized it was true, "he might think you're a special person and need help!" i am almost positive that is exactly what he thought. so i got up and walked away trying as hard as i could to look normal. he didn't come by again. we decided i should probably get my bike ride on, so i took off. i rode up north around north oaks and found myself at cardinal meunch (the seminary in town). they have a big parking lot to ride around so i did a bit of riding feeling bad for the soon-to-be priests. then i decided to test myself and rode the open field next to the river to get to the golf course. i figured i'd look for my dad's car to see if he was golfing there. i didn't see it, but did see my brothers car, which i was surprised to see. i texted him to see what hole he was on and since he was on the last, i decided to stay and surprise him, but he was impatient and wanted to know why i cared what hole he was on. i told him i was there and he invited me to have a beer with him and his friends. so i stayed and ordered a blue moon, you saw me standing alone. without a dream in my heart, without a love of my own. it was cool hanging out with charpie and joe, and my brother, of course.

when i was leaving, my brother homie drove next to me to tell me how fast i was going - 15 mph on my bike! booyakasha! and he was super sweet before he drove off, "make sure you text me when you get home so i know you're safe." so cute! no more boring days. please.

superstar!

i've not been posting as often as i would like (4-5 times a week is a goal, much down from 1-2 times a day when i was in germany last fall), so i thought for today i would just post a few articles i have been reading and comment on them. i do have some juicy stories in the pipeline, so be sure to keep coming back.

first and foremost, i pretty much love kevin spacey, so this was awesome. and i mean truly love. i would love to love kevin spacey. when i was in college, someone got me a k-pax poster (bad, bad, movie) and put it up in the common room of my apartment and drew a big red heart of kevin spacey's face. its in the background of some pictures i have. funny, but more to the point, i wish i knew who was on latenight when. i would make a point to check it out or at least dvr it, but i don't have a good system of knowing. plus i should really cut back my tv time. any tips on how to do that?

one thing i will not be cutting back is movies. i love movies. i wish i could think of some way for me to make money off of movies. i don't really have a skill set that would fly in hollywood, at least not that i can think of - which just proves that i am not all that creative. bummer. i think i would like to be a location scout for movies - merging my love for film, travel, and finance (knowing how much it would cost in different areas). but i dont really know how to break into that and i think i'm too lazy to try to figure it out. so my love for movies and reminiscing about childhood made this article really fun to read. i would also like to see cabbage patch kids and polly pocket. what about that green plastic box that was used to teach things? it was like conjunction junction, but not. i can't remember...

and finally for today: bad habits. do you have one? what is it? i'm sure i do. like i like repetitive noises and patterns. so i often tap my foot or my pen and apparently it bothers some people. i was in the board room at my old company giving a little talk on a client and i kept moving my chair from left to right. and not out of nerves - i wasn't nervous at all - but because the constant movement is comforting to me. my coworker sitting next to me grabbed my chair and held it so i wouldn't move. and so i stopped for a bit and then went back to it. i tried to give him the "it's ok, i like to move" look, but i am sure he thought i was nervous. like even right now, i am tapping my foot for no reason. oh! but the other reason why i liked this article - it referenced molly shannon as mary katharine gallagher and her arm pit smell - which i LOVE. i think its hilarious. when home during college, i went to see superstar with my high school friend, emily. the movie was hilarious and later i was like, "that was awesome!" and went out and bought the movie. i watched it after and it wasn't as good. i think part of how much you like a movie has to do with who you see it. but anyway, i was telling the story about this to some people while i was in france last may. i was explaining molly shannon's character and how she would walk away and then turn around quickly and say "superstar!" and then revert back to being awkward while we were tasting wine in the south of france. i would do the walk and then say superstar and liam and elaine thought it was funny and were laughing hysterically, but then other people were just staring at me like i was weird or something. i'm not weird! i'm a superstar!



oh! and one last thing...this wedding video is awesomer than... well everything.



except i have to say that when i first watched it, i thought it said "jim and kevin's big day" so i was expecting a gay wedding, but it wasn't. this was almost as good.

22 on the 22nd!!

(i thought this was a funny cake because its so bad)

it's really easy to come up with posts when it's apparently BIRTHDAY MONTH!

so yes, today is the birthday of my littlest brother, player. it is his golden birthday - 22 on the 22nd and i'd like to take a moment to wish him a happy birthday. my older little brother, homie, sent out this tweet this morning (thanks for waking me up, btw, i'm 2 hours behind you in california, ass hole, so your text at 6am was not appreciated):

ErdySouth: 22 years ago today was one of the best days of my life! I remember it vividly... Happy Birthday @ErdyNorth!!!

i'm sure erdysouth (homie) doesn't remember it because he was like 3 at the time. i actually DO remember it and have gotten over it since then. i was 6 when the littlest erdmann (now actually the biggest) was born. it was in the summer, so i didn't have school. i was really excited because mom had told me she had the day off and was going to spend it with me (and i guess the brother). i woke up excited that morning only to go down to the living room and find a babysitter asleep on the couch. i couldnt' understand what was happening. where was my mom? why wasn't she going to spend all day with me (and the brother)? the sitter woke and explained they were at the hospital having the baby. i was pissed. or as pissed as a six year old can be. [clarification, for international readers: "pissed" in the "upset" standpoint, not the "drunk" standpoint. i was not a child alcoholic, although i DID have my first beer shortly after. more on that some other time.] so for most of this fateful day, 22 years ago, i was upset. and then we got to meet the cute little baby who would later become a true player in life. actually, his first nickname that i gave him was "terd" but i didn't know what it meant. it just sound like a name for a baby. i remember after a few months of him being around, my mom told me i couldn't call him that anymore. i was changing his diapper and said, "ok, terd, i guess i can't call you that anymore. mommy said it's bad." i don't think i got the irony at the time. maybe i should go back to it. happy birthday, terd.

oh! and did i tell you that i pretty much named my brother? i was a bit boy-crazy back in the day (pretty much aged 4-24) and at that time, my crush was a boy named derek from day care. we used to play dukes of hazard. i was daisy and i would go hide behind the church and derek and his friend, jared, would play bo and luke and come save me. so i told my mom the baby should be named "derek." she settled for eric. all thanks to me! derek would later play a role in my life - in 3rd grade, when doing the memory portion of the standardized tests, "derek" was a "gold coin." i totally rocked that test because i could remember that. i used to be so smart. sigh...

anyway, back to my little brother. he's off working in the middle of nowhere today. hope he has a great golden birthday!!

(player and me at jimmy buffet last summer)

left half

i'm in san francisco currently doing a bit of job hunting, and i wanted to send a happy birthday shout out to cousin sara since i can't see her in person.

happy birthday, left half!

can't think of a cool title

whew what a day. apologies for being absent: i've been rather busy getting ready for tonight. my parents are at the airport right now picking up my seldom-seen aunt and uncle from syracuse, new york. this weekend is the all school high school reunion for minot bishop ryan, the catholic school in my hometown of north dakota. so my dad's brother and his wife, both minot ryan alums, are flying in tonight to drive with my parents to the reunion. what does this mean? yes, i get to see family i rarely see, which is a treat itself, but also... home alone! so exciting. i love it. win-win situation.

so, we've spent the past few days spring cleaning, painting, organizing, etc. well, there's that and my little brother, player, was in town this past weekend for the 4th of july. we hung out a bit - went to a few movies and whatnot. time flies when you're having fun.

what else? oh yes! i won an iphone. isn't that fun?? squarespace was giving away one iphone a day for 30 days and i was a lucky winner! that was last thursday and that was super fun. here is the proof. my brother, homie, didn't believe me, but it's true! after i found out that i won, i sent a tweet saying, "holy crap! i won an iphone gc. thanks #squarespace - you're awesome!! (eat that @erdysouth and @erdynorth) :)" and apparently there are some twitter accounts that just automatically retweet things or something...? anyway, so my brother @erdysouth checks his tweets and sees these other two tweets from people he doesn't know who wrote the exact same thing as me. he saw theirs first and then mine, so when he saw mine, he thought some hacker had gotten into my account and taken over. he called to tell me what an idiot i was. and i was like, "no! i really won!" both my brothers were uber jealous. whenever squarespace sends me the stuff, i'll give you the skinny on what they do.

well, i see the 'rents and family just arrived so i should go... more updates to follow...

would i lie to you?

this evening i ate enough protein to last me a week. and not the good kind of protein. i went for a bike ride and i don't know why, but for some reason, bugs were in full force EVERYWHERE in town. it was crazy. i couldn't smile otherwise i'd have a mouth full of flying things. ugh. this is why i like living on busy streets in big cities. reduces the bug factor.

oooo... this is not good. i'm watching charlie's angels which is exciting - i love this show. its unfortunate that its back on tv because farrah fawcett died (rip), but it brings back memories. in high school, my friends and i were in speech and debate and we would take pictures at all of the tournaments in charlies angels poses. those are some of my favorite pictures. i even had a big poster of the three original angels in my bedroom. i think that poster is still around here somewhere... my senior year of high school, charlies angels was on tv at 5am every day. i would get home from school and all of my activities and my job (i worked at a law firm) and instead of doing homework, i would go to bed (by 8 or 9) and get up every day at 3 or 4 in the morning to finish my homework. then i would watch charlies angels. it was great being the only person awake. i loved it. to this day, my favorite part of the day is the morning when no one is around. when i lived in paris, i would get up early on saturdays and sundays and walk along the streets - no one was ever around. it was my favorite part of living there. anyway, what is not good about charlies angels? they just came back from a commercial break and had a close up of a females behind and a bad case of vpl. i'm so discouraged by the quality of this! if i had a war to wage, it would be against vpl. it's just unnecessary and bad form.

so its fun that charlies angels is on tv - i recorded all the episodes and am slowly rewatching them at night. i wonder why they keep saying farrah is "americas original angel." from what i know, there were 3 at the beginning. and i like farrah a lot, but i actually like cheryl ladd as an angel more. but my favorite angel is jaclyn smith with cheryl as a close second. who's your favorite?

today was a bit difficult for me - at least, at work. everything was going fine, and all of a sudden there was a flutter at the injection site. i told one of the phlebotomists and she explained that the machine was trying to take my blood faster than my body wanted to give it. and since there was pressure on the vein, the vein was collapsing. ?!$#@!! a collapsed vein does NOT sound good. so they slowed the machine down, and then this other woman came over and was like, "i have a trick to get it to work better without slowing the machine down." what was her trick? jiggling the tubes. i kid you not. so she makes the machine go faster and sure as shit (is that an expression?), after a bit, the fluttering came back and a lot of pressure in the middle of my arm. they didn't seem too worried and i finally finished, but only after a bit of information gathering on my part. two of the women were talking to each other last week about how one day they had no "no goes" so they all got cash bonuses. i was evesdropping and so i asked what a "no go" was and they said it was when they dont have 100 mL, they cant accept the donation. i wonder how i feel about that... it seems they may put people through pain just to get a bit of a donation. in any case, i was able to finish and went on my merry way.

in other exciting news! i LOVE the north dakota voting system. nd is the only state in which the residents don't have to register to vote. so today was a special election and since i still haven't gotten a north dakota license (i'm still on my california ID - i've lived in massachusetts for something like 6 or 7 years and never had a Mass ID) i thought that i wouldn't be able to vote. i brought my passport and proof of my address and went with my mom to the polling place. we walked in and i asked if i could vote even without an ND ID and she asked if i had lived here for 30 days. i said yes and she said no problem. i went up to the next table and gave my passport. she found me in the system from when i voted right when i turned 18 and gave me the ballot. it had one thing on it - a vote to increase sales tax to raise money for flood protection. i was gonna take a picture of the ballot, but they wouldn’t let me, so here it is from the website:
isn’t it so cute?? so yes, i voted to increase sales tax. it passed easily - i think something like 90% voted in favor of it. now the big decision is what kind of flood protection - a big dike or a diversion or something else? i’m for a diversion. i’ll explain why at some other point. so that was my fun day. did you go out and vote?