Frodo and His PTSD

Well...so my blog really doesn't have much to do with the title, but we were watching Return of the King last night at my mom's, and when Frodo decides to leave with Bilbo and the elves (oh yeah, spoiler), she suggested that maybe he has post traumatic stress disorder. Poor Frodo.

**Warning: this next paragraph may contain TMI, so if you are feeling squeamish, you should probably skip it.**

On Sunday morning, I woke up and went about business as usual. After I took a shower though, my right ear clogged itself up, and to make a long story short, I haven't been able to hear out of it until this morning (even after many obsessive applications of Debrox). I decided I should go to the doctor, and luckily snuck in at 8:00 this morning. The nurse used a gun-like tool to spray the excess wax out of my ear and said, "Oh, it looks like we got a tootsie roll." What?! As you may have guessed, this means I had a huge buildup (which makes me uncomfortable to admit, but it's true and I don't know why). However, Tootsie Rolls are one of my favorite candies ever and now I won't be able to eat one without thinking of that. Great. The good news is that I can hear perfectly again.

In other news, my car is not working correctly. We took it to Checker and used their amazing (free!) electric diagnostic thing, bought a camshaft positioning sensor (yeah, I know), Chester put it in...and it's still not working right. I bought a Chilton's and tried to figure some things out on my own, but it looks like I'm going to have to bite the bullet and take it in. Lucky I made my surprise deposit from my piggy bank last week, eh?

We saw X-Men 3 on Saturday night, which greatly impressed me. Not all of it was good, but then again, a lot of it was. I really like Magneto. I always enjoy watching him and Mystique interact, and this movie was no different. I wish Angel had a bigger role. That's all I'll say because I'm sure plenty of people haven't seen it, and I already spoiled Return of the King. Although I will offer one piece of advice: do not be tricked by the credits. Stay until they are done, because I did not and now I regret it.

That's it, folks!

Happy Findings

I emptied out my piggy bank (the beautiful clay one with the cork nose that my uncle gave me for helping him do a pottery show in Sisseton, even though I tripped and broke a bunch of his stuff) today, where I collect my loose change and any paper money I have at the end of the week. I cashed it in at the bank, and it totaled roughly $80, which I promptly deposited into my savings. After a stop at the natural food store (because cookies, chocolate and pumpkin bread--a.k.a., the only food we bought there--are healthier when you buy them naturally), I got home and peeked into the slot in my piggy bank, and lo and behold! There was $21 more that I missed the last time. It's a good feeling when $21 extra gives you a whole new lease on life.

Fargo-go

My weekend trip to Fargo was, all in all, quite successful. I headed up there on Saturday and picked up my brother first, after seeing his Ultimate Bachelor Pad (meaning there was little to no decoration--just two air mattresses, a TV, a computer, various gaming consoles and a comfortable few chairs) and we headed over to my friend Troy's, who just got an apartment in downtown Fargo. It was funny--he had all these potted plants, and after I pointed them out (I do enjoy a good houseplant), he showed me that many of them were actually a part of his indoor garden. One of these unfortunate plants included a tiny lettuce plant that was in a planter with three lettuce skeletons. I was amused.

Troy, David (my brother) and I ate at Mexican Village (which they do NOT have in the Cities, much to my shock and chagrin) and then met up with my old roommate and co-bridesmaid at the adult bookstore to get the bride some silly gifts.

The actual party was pretty tame--we went out to eat at Johnny Carino's (which has the best chocolate cake I've had in my life, and sadly, is also not in the Cities), played a racy ring toss game and Truth or Dare (which was redundant because we know almost all there is to know about each other already), made some non-alcoholic daquiris (Heather, the bride, doesn't drink) and watched Just Like Heaven.

The next day, I went to Perkins with Troy (again) and my friend Traci. After that, I picked up David and we met Liz at Godfather's. It was really nice to see her--I think out of my Fargo friends, I miss her most of all.

Being in Fargo and driving around by NDSU with the weather so nice and having that feeling of being on my own really made me feel homesick for living there. I'm actually toying with the idea of moving back to finish my bachelor's degree, partly because I'm going to have to leave the Cities anyway for vet school and NDSU has a good pre-veterinary program (which is why I went there in the first place). Chester and I have talked about it some, but I'm not sure how it will play out. I don't want to move there thinking it will be the same with my friends, so I'll have to consider other pros and cons. Just something to think about, I guess.

Bored Big Dog

I played DDR for an hour last night (and am improving in leaps and bounds, if I do say so myself, which leads me to look for any opportunity to showcase my new moves, including in non-DDR situations). As is customary, Chester always looks for something else to do. Last night he opted to watch the news upstairs, and Jack was apparently torn as to who he wanted to bug. When I finished and went to talk to Chester up the stairs, I was met with Jack looking forlornly down the stairs, his ball waiting next to him.

I Win!

This rocks, check it out!!!

I never win these sorts of things, not to mention the fact that I love The Office (even though I'm not sure what Xbox has to do with that) so I'm pretty psyched. I guess once in a while it pays to have non-friend Friends. Later!

(I won some cool stuff from "Pam's" page because I'm nerdy and always checking my myspace, in case you didn't get what's happening.)

The Guys

Since I'm low on blogging gas, I'm just going to post a picture of my two favorite fellows minding their own business (and thankfully not mine).

Snagglicious

Can you believe the dentist asked me if I wanted to do something about my lovely, character-giving snaggle tooth?

Older and Wiser

I have experienced several rites of passage, I feel, into adulthood. I had a few stupid months that were filled with more alcohol than I will probably consume altogether for the rest of my life (isn't this one of those rites?). I have a real, salaried job. I've moved away from home, and in fact live with my boyfriend and we have pets. Surely taking on the responsibility for the lives of others is something an adult does. However, I have not yet had my wisdom teeth out...on June 15th, this will all change.

The all-knowing Wikipedia says, "They are called 'wisdom teeth' because they appear so late--much later than the other teeth, at an age where people are supposedly wiser than as a child." I personally think that they are called wisdom teeth because you are wise to have them removed before they start to cause major decay to the teeth around them (damn you, pestilent wisdoms and your wild hair to grow sideways!).

Strangely enough, I am looking forward to this experience. For one thing, I have never even had a filling (although my increased consumption of pop and candy and decreased nightly brushing, especially in my "Fargo Years," has changed that a bit). This experience will give me license to groan knowledgably and appropriately whenever anyone discusses painful dental visits. For another, it was a good excuse to take the day after off of work so I can, to quote the dental assistant that advised me today, "watch movies and do nothing." Plus I'll probably get babied a little and I'll be able to eat chocolate malts (yes, plural) and no one will be able to look askance. I think in this situation, a positive outlook is best.

My Weekend

The movie we saw on Friday night, Camp Out, was great. I personally think it should be something that should be distributed to churches everywhere, as homosexuality simply isn't something that people choose. End of story. There are a few issues that I feel strongly about, and discrimination against people based on their sexuality (which has nothing to do with anyone else anyway) is one of them. Actually, I think seeing those kids and how devoted they are to their religion (despite the unpleasantness the religion has caused them because theyre gay) impressed me more than any other demonstration of Christianity I have ever seen. If you ever get the opportunity to see it, do.

Other than that, this weekend was wildly uneventful. We went to Friends With Money on Saturday night, which was a bit disappointing. But since I worked out earlier in the day, I got to have some excellent chocolate, so it wasn't all bad.

Yesterday I got good practice being crabby. I think when I get too many things (i.e., laundry, cleaning the rat cage, working out) on my plate, I get crabby and don't want to do any. So it took me probably two hours to do the dishes because I kept leaving and doing other things (i.e., checking myspace). I didn't feel better again until after I played some DDR and showered at about 5:00.

Whew. Boring entry today.