"There Once was a boy..."

I have written a story that I feel is probably the best thing I've written. Thing is, it's only two pages long, and it's nothing like anything else I've written; it's a childrens story. Well, sort of. At least I can imagine reading this to my children some day, hopefully many years from now. : )
I have written a story about Tony; the idea of it just happened upon me one day while at Target. I just knew that for his birthday/X-mas present, I wanted to write him a story in the form of a children's book, and I wanted it to start with "There once was a boy..."
So in the past couple of weeks, I worked on this in bits and pieces; I did more thinking about it than writing really. One night I finished it and typed it up on word and just felt really good about it.
I think I will be submitting this for my writing workshop for my creative writing class, but before I do that, I would REALLY appreciate feedback from anyone who visits this site. Please read over it and tell me what you like and what you think I could improve on. Or maybe something needs explained further? More detail? Feel free to copy and paste this into word, put some feedback on it, and then e-mail it to me at neiniel@yahoo.com Actually, I encourage EVERYONE to do this.

Thank you!

(Oh...and I know I use too many "more" 's at the end of the story. I need suggestions.)



"There once was a boy who lived in a land of plenty. His childhood days were sunny and warm and full of many tings to do.
But as the boy grew older, his days became darker. Nights were an inky black which even the strongest light could not penetrate. Paths that crossed distant hills and far off lands, once seen by day, were now obscured by thick clouds that drug themselves across a forlorn sky, blocking out the warming rays of the sun.
Demons came to visit the boy and instead of shutting them out, he invited them in. He was a vulnerable boy at this time in his life. With obscured paths on the horizon, he felt lost.
Days became darker and they meddled into one another. The boy put off everything. No longer did he still gaze out on the fogging hills to try and catch glimpses of what he had once been able to see.. He let time slip slowly by and without a thought. Others looked on, family and friends. But with his hood pulled up, he seeemed untouchable to everyone.
Then one day, the boy chanced a glance out the window; the world had grown far darker since he last remembered. He saw his reflection in the window and pulled down his hood, revealing his face. How much he had grown, how much he had never realized. He touched his face and his fears were confirmed: it really was himself that he saw staring back.
Suddenly an anger arose within the boy, anger with himself for letting his world get so dark, for allowing life to just pass him by. He cast out his demons and shut the door on them.
The next morning, he left.
He traveled day and night, for they seemed to be just a continum of one another. It seemed day never ended and night never began.
He traveled with his hood pulled tight. He felt utterly alone and at times hopeless. But he trudged on with the feeling that this was the right thing to do. Upon sleep he dreamed of lands he had once glimpsed as a child and he awoke each morning with renewed vigour and set out to seek such places.
One day the boy came upon a very tall hill with sides that stretched out for miles. In the far distance of the sky, he could see its tones becoming lighter, even if only minutely, foreshadowing a hope of lands he dreamed of.
He set out without hesitation and began to climb, and when he finally reached the top, he fell down on his knees and gaped at the beauty he saw before him.
Miles and miles on he could see. In the far-off distance, he could see lands of deep green and skies of pearl blue. Down the hill he began to descend.
With each passing day the sky turned a shade lighter. No longer was it an inky black, but instead a grand blue, and then an amber orange. Every day gave promise of much more.
Paths were more clear and there were more and more that he came upon. The grass was fuller and the flowers ever so vibrantly colored.
But yet the boy knew that this was still yet the beginning. There were many paths to take, more hills to climb. He knew he’d happen upon gullies and brambles. But fear this, he did not. For whatever gully or bramble he came across, he knew there’d be brighter sunshine and even more paths to follow. He kept his eyes locked on the distant horizon in front of him and took each step with an unwavering heart.
And now there is a boy, who is turning into a man; he’s crossing roads he once could not see, and never chancing a look back at the things that used to be."

Expensive Feet

So Tony and I hopped on the light-rail yesterday for the first time. I must say, I really did enjoy the light rail. I like being in a city that has a unique form of transportaion, kind of like a subway, only the light-rail was much smoother than the subs in New York. Tony and I both agreed yesterday that they should extend the light-rails to connect all parts of the cities together. It's just a nice way to travel, save for the fact that they aren't that big and get crowded easily.
We got to the mall of america around 6:30 and began looking around for shoe stores. We went to Journey's and didn't really find anything there that I liked and we also checked out Steve Madden. There were these shoes there that we both liked, but they were from the spring and so the biggest size they had in them was a 6 1/2 and I needed a 7. We found this Puma shoe store and headed into there. There were a few shoes in there that I really liked; Tony kept pulling down shoes and was asking if I liked them or not. The guy working there was talking to us about the various types of shoes they had and about all the different ones he owned. We were at the men's shoes and he pointed out a pink puma shoe and said, "You've got to be a confident man to wear that." Then he admitted that he had one and said, "I love pink." Tony and I later laughed about this for just last week we were at Marshall's looking at men's shirts and laughing at the pink polos, saying, "Who would ever wear this?"
Well, I guess we've met him.
The last place we went to was Nordstrom's and there were some great diesel shoes there. I tried on a couple pairs and found a gray and burgandy pair that I really liked, and ended up buying. While I was trying on shoes, Tony asked where the men's shoes were. We headed over to the men's section and he started looking at diesel shoes. "I'm just going to try some on." He said.
So he tried them on and liked them...and then he bought them. Hehe, we went shoe shopping for ME and then Tony ends up buying the same brand as I.

So I just spend $94 on shoes, and Tony just spent $90. As we went to bed last night, Tony just started to laugh. "I just bought a pair of diesel shoes today."

Nothin' Much

School

School has started back up again. I've already got an Abnormal Psychology test on Wednesday, and I have no idea how it'll go. The Professor doesn't give you notes for what will be on the test, instead he just tells you to study the text. So I've spent hours reading and taking notes from the text. Hope it goes well.
Because of school it'll be almost a week until I see Tony again. He has two tests on Tuesday and he's using the time that he doesn't work to study. Last semester we spent a lot of our free time together and watched as one another failed our classes due to lack of motivation. (We didn't literally fail.) So we've learned from our mistakes and see that we need to have school come first, or as Tony told me yesterday, "I just really want to make sure I do well, or else it'll just be a waste of my money." For me, it'll be a waste of my parents money.

Big Spender

I got my first credit card the other day, it's a Citi Bank card that gives me 5% cash back on most of my purchases. Nice. I've already accumulated 24 cents. Oh yeah... But hey, I can use it at grocery stores and gas stations and get a little money back that I never would have with using checks, so it IS a nice thing.
I keep telling myself and others that I will not be one of those people who gets caught up in the card and just ends up buying tons of shit and doesn't pay for it. I've assured my mother I'll only buy things that I'm buying already and ALWAYS pay it off at the end of the month.
On Wednesday, Tony and I plan to hop on the light-rail (which should be exciting as we're both light-rail virgins) and go down to the mall of america. Good idea for someone with a credit card right? I'm going to be buying 70-80 dollar shoes while I'm there. Not because of the card, I've been planning on doing this for awhile. I need new shoes really bad. The pumas I have are about 4-5 years old; there's no padding left and my feet kill after standing around for 8 hours at Target and on the left shoe, the side is being pushed out because I walk on the insides of my feet. I want to get some diesal shoes. I might get another pair of pumas. Who knows. The other day, Tony and I looked at Gola shoes and I really liked how they looked, but they were about $80, and I just need to have some more options.

Critter Sitter

Emily's gone for the weekend so I am the official "Critter Sitter." She and her bf went to New York City to visit her cousin who just had a baby. It's kind of nice to have the house alone, but also not. With Tony swamped with studies and no one else to hang out, it feels like my first semester here when I didn't know anyone. Oh well. I think this calls for hanging out with Ian late at night at the parking garage. Such fun!

No Giggling

I had my first pot cookie last night.

I felt nothing, and declined the offer of a second one.

Various Occurences

Compliment

A lady came through my lane today and said to me, "I like your style."
I was wearing my khaki's, of course, with my hot pink belt, and my zip-up red and white top with my London Underground shirt showing through. And then I've got on my sparkly vintage necklace, my hoop earrings and then my hair is bleached with pink streaks and I had a...hair band in my hair. Ok, not a hair band...but the things that are popular now...tie it around your head??? Whatever.
Anyways, so this compliment took me by surprise. I've got compliments before about my necklace, belt and hair, but never has someone commented on just everything.
"Well that's a compliment." I said to her.
"It should be from me, I used to be a famous make-up artist." She told me. "I still do Prince's make-up."
Wow, interesting.

"That's Hot"

The other night Tony and I were biking in Uptown towards my place late at night and we passed these two older guys who were sitting outside and talking. I didn't hear what they said, but suddenly Tony starts laughing and I look over at him to see what he's laughing at. I guess one of the guys had commented, "A blonde on a bike, now that's hot."

Fat

Tony and I were on 2nd street on the way to my place and we hadn't come across Broadway yet. It was late at night and we passed by this guy walking on the sidewalk and Tony called out to him as he pointed to me, "Hey, isn't she fat?"
The guys goes, "From what I can see, she looks fine."

"Treat Her Right!"

Tony and I were biking on Nicollet late one night and we passed by these three drunk older women. One yelled "Hi!" at us and then another yelled, "You treat her right!"
Heehee...

My First Anniversary

I am such a happy girl...

And now to the next topic: As of today, I have been in Minneapolis for one year now. Time to reflect eh? A couple of years ago I was in Minneapolis for Ian and Em's wedding. As my mother and I left the city, I remember thinking, "If I don't go to school up here, I'll probably never live here." For awhile I had felt torn between coming up to Minneapolis or going to the University of Iowa. But this last visit to the city had a strong effect on me and I made my decision to move up here. My senior year I applied for Inver Grove Community College, took my assement tests, and then happened upon MCTC while I was up one weekend with Ian and Em. I transferred my test scores and was accepted. I got onto craigslist.com (thanks Ian) and found my roommate Emily and on the 17th of August of 2004, my mom left me up here. Ooh, I remember that was such a weird feeling to just have my mom say goodbye and walk away, leaving me to stand alone on my new driveway and knowing that I'd be up here alone. A feeling of utter lonliness. Something I DO NOT want to ever feel again.
Moving up here was a big thing for me. I wanted to get out of Iowa; not because I hated the place (I love it), but because I knew I needed more. State Center just couldn't give me what I needed, nor did any other place in Iowa I felt. I wanted diversity and I wanted to be alone and in a place where I knew not what to do. Heh, and it felt good to be one of the few people who left the safety blanket of Iowa. I remember the first walk I took; I said "hi" to a couple people and they just gave me funny looks. It was weird not to know and be friendly with everyone I saw. I soon found that I couldn't go on a walk by myself without being hooted or whistled at at least a few times.
My first semester was really hard for me. It hurt to be away from my friends, but mostly it was Jay. I hated being away from him, but looking back I realize that I had a really unhealthy relationship with him. Towards the end, he'd get angry with me for stupid things and then he'd yell at me and not want to talk. Of course, I'm a talker and this just upset to the extreme. My first semester I just felt down and distraught a lot.

Thank God he dumped me.

Other than that, I had started my job as a cashier, which was a challenge for me. I'm shy and get embarrassed easily and it was hard at first to just deal with so many people face to face. But I feel it's been good for me. School went really well my first semester; I got a gpa of 3.76 Kick ass.
Second semester wasn't as good with grades for I took too many classes and I was working more. I didn't have time for the little things that I loved doing like reading and writing. But luckily, I met Tony, who had just moved up here from San Francisco (originally from Pittsburgh.) Together we got on our bikes and became true Minneapolis bikers; we'd bike the city and just look for new places to explore. We'd get up early in the morning and have breakfast at the little cafe's in Uptown. Oh, and our friendship is ever growing.

I've experienced some rather strange things. I had a very weird admirer(sp?) that went by the name of J.D. He was in my speech class, as was Tony, and he just became infatuated with me. I made the mistake of haning out ALL night with him and though I never let him hold my hand when he tried and told him I didn't want a bf, he still thought I liked him. He pursued me, but soon after, he just disapeared. He called once and left a weird message to say that he had been stopped by the cops on the way to my house to give me a flower and had been taken in for something little that happened a year ago and was having to go to a clinic. But now I have no idea what has happened to him.
I've seen two car chases while up there; was almost part of one once. So exciting! I saw cops wrestling a guy down on the street once when biking home from work. So great! And just the other night I saw a man running towards a woman as she swung a bat and tried to hit him while onlookers said, "Leave her the fuck alone." As the guy walked off he shouted back at the woman, "It don't matter, I already called the cops and told them you're stealing the bikes, you thievin' Indians!"
Oh, I love the city.

And to think that I almost left. I thought of going back to Iowa to be with Jay. Again, thank God he fucking dumped me.

I look forward to more bizarre admirers, car chases, and maybe a shootout???

Oh Minneapolis...

What Are The Chances?

I ended up not going into work today and called in sick. I had been drinking last night with Tony, my roommate, her boyfiriend and her ex bf. I hadn't had much to drink, two beers and one vodka and sprite drink that wasn't even strong. I didn't really eat anything for supper though, so I'm sure that helped. Tony and I didn't get to bed until 5 a.m. and I awoke at 6 feeling like ass. My head was pounding and my stomach felt nasty and I ended up dry-heaving in the toilet. (Lovely eh?)
So I called in sick and this gstl named Audrey picked up. I told her I was sick to my stomach and not coming in and she said, "Ok."
Later on I'm feeling better, as that's what happens with hangovers, and I went to see Tony during his lunch break at work. We're sitting at this table on the outside perimeter of Lunds and this car drives by. A man is driving, but I see Audrey's sister, and Audrey with her baby in the back seat! I'm struck with horror. "That's the lady I told I was sick today." I said placidly to Tony.
I was confused as to what to do. I didn't want to run inside the store and run the risk of seeing her in the store, but I knew I couldn't stay out there. "What do I do?" I asked Tony.
I pretended to rummage through my bag as her sister and the man walked by. She was staying in the car with the baby for a bit and I hoped she might stay out there the whole time. Tony and I headed into the Caribou Coffee place connected to Lunds. A little while later, we saw Audrey walk into the store with her baby. Tony's break was nearing its end so he took my keys, unlocked my bike and brought it to me. (They had parked their car right in front of my bike...) So I got on my bike and rode quickly out of there.

The hell? What were the chances that we'd just happen to be there at exactly the same time??

Iowan Antics

I'm down in Iowa right now, at the Gutenkunst Public Library actually. I came down Sunday night with Tony and he stayed until Wednesday morning.
On Sunday, Jay had his going away party. (He's going to be attending the University of Iowa.) We didn't get into State Center until 2 a.m. but were told that the party was still going on and so we headed out to Jay's place. I was interested to see how it would be for Jay to meet Tony for I have told him different things about Tony and I and whatnot. What I didn't know though was that Jay considered Tony and I to be a couple. When we got there, I could see that Jay and Rachel were outside talking and so Tony and I headed towards them. Jay was SO drunk, but granted, it was 2 am and they had started drinking around 9 or so. Jay held open his arms for me to come and hug him. I felt a little weird hugging him for I don't tend to get close to people. Though I used to be really close to him, I feel ackward about it now. But I hugged him to be nice and he clung to me and said, "I've missed you so much!"
"It's alright Jay...." I said.
Tony and Jay met and shook hands and then Tony and I headed into the "shed" where the party was. There weren't too many people there, but there were people from my class that I hadn't seen in almost a year. A lot of people were complimenting me on my hair, which is always a nice thing.
As Tony and I walked into the shed, I had turned around and told Rachel to come with us, but then I noticed that Jay started to cry. I later found out that Jay had been talking to Rachel and Jacob about me prior to my arrival. Rachel told me of how he was upset already about the fact that he was leaving, but he was also nervous about how to react to Tony and I. I guess he was getting upset at the thought that another guy may have me and...this is funny...at some point Rachel mentioned that Tony and I needed to drop off Leeloo first and Jay goes, "...Leeloo...!!!!" And then he just started bawling! Heehee....oh, Leeloo reminds him of us.
The party didn't end well. The girl that was taking Jay home was getting pissy and telling him to stop the party as pretty much everyone else had already left. We were outside and Jay asked for a hug, and I backed off, and then Jay got pissed! "Ok, everyone go home!" He yelled as he stormed off into the shed. He was throwing a huge fit! One thing that I DO NOT miss about our relationship. As we're walking back to our cars, Jay yells out, "Rachel's cool, but everyone else can kiss my ass!"

I'm sure Tony was thinking, "Nice to meet you too Jay."

Fountain Swimming

Fireworks

Tony came back from Boston on Saturday and so immediately we hung out. Of course.
That night I went with him and his uncle to go see the fireworks. First we went to this apartment building by the Mississippi where one of his uncle's friends was hosting a party. The apartment was one of those million dollar places; all of the furniture was modern and there were expensive rugs here and there and paintings all over the walls. I felt so out of my element!
For the fireworks, we headed down to the Stone Arch Bridge and took a place towards the middle and waited for the fireworks to start. There was this group of a couple of older mom's with two young teenage girls and this one mom was just insane. She kept hooting and hollering when the fireworks were going off and she was making the two younger girls stand up to get their picture taken in front of the fireworks.
I must say, the fireworks were very enjoyable; just 20 minutes of eye stimulation. And I'm used to the fireworks that State Center has after our town celebration in June. Take all of State Center's fireworks and fire them off all at once, and you won't even have the finale that I saw that night.
We headed back to the apartment to "chat it up" with some people before we left. When we entered the building and made our way to the elevator, who left the elevator but none other than the Mayor of Minneapolis. Not that it had much impact on me, I had no clue it was him until Tony's uncle made a comment.

Fountain Swimming

Yesterday Tony and I biked all over Northeast and Uptown. The weather was hot and so we figured out how to cool ourselves down.
We were biking to my place and were going through Loring Park when Tony turned towards the fountain in that park. He threw down his bike, took off his shirt, and just dove into the fountain. I followed suit soon after him, though I did not shed my clothing. : )
Tony found a cd while in the fountain and there were two cds inside. So now I've got a Tori Amos cd and The Soviets.
After that fountain, we continued on the way to my place and before leaving downtown, we spotted another fountain in front of a building and decided to check it out. There were a couple of homeless guys there washing their shirts but we dove in anyways; they got quite a kick out of it.

I think this will be a new hobby for us.

Drunk, Bored...New People

"Bye Bye Love"

Last Saturday I drove Tony, his brother, and their uncle to the airport and said my good-byes to them and they flew off to Boston. So this week I've been hanging out with people I usually don't hang out with and have just been trying to keep myself busy.

Brock

I talked a bit of Brock in an earlier post; he's the guy who went through my lane at Target and gave me his number. I hadn't called him in a few weeks and almost felt that it had been too long to call him back, but I did call him on Sunday and we decided to meet up on Tuesday as I worked that night. Well, Brock called me Sunday night and wanted to hang out and so we met up around midnight.
Brock's 24 and is from a town of 600 people in southern Minnesota. We biked around a little bit and then headed back to my place where we sat on the couch and talked until 3 am. Brock's an interesting guy; he's really into art of all kinds, which is something I really enjoy, and find especially attractive in the opposite sex. That's not to say I was attracted to Brock, I wasn't. He has one thing about him that I find to be a bit annoying, and it's that he has love for everyone, until he's given a reason not to. I don't mean to sound all cynical and whatnot, but it just sounds corny when he talks about it and there's just something about the whole thing that I find annoying. I think he's also a little too good for me to, not that I go for the "bad" boys or whatever. But he just has high morals and values, but I just enjoy people that have had a little more experience and have learned from past, and sometimes huge, mistakes. He's not very social and doesn't have too many friends, hence the reason he gave me his number. I'm not the most social person and enjoy guys who tend to be more social than I. He's goofy, but just not the right sort of goofy for me. I don't know, I didn't always feel my most comfortable around him and couldn't just fully be myself. He's still a cool guy though and I'm always looking for friends.

Drunk Night

I got drunk Tuesday night, but I didn't think it'd be happening. Brock came over and I invited my friend Dane over and he brought a couple of his friends. Emily came home and her ex came over and we were all drinking. I didn't plan to get drunk, but I had one beer and I could already feel that, and I made myself a vodka and sprite drink. Then Emily and I did a shot of whiskey together and I had another vodka and sprite drink after that. Oh, I'm such a dumbass when I'm drunk. I just kept laughing about everything that night and kept saying the stupidest shit.
Though Dane told me the next night, "I love you when you're drunk, you're just so happy about everything!" Yes...that's me being a dumbass.
Ross came over later that night and he was already drunk from an earlier get together. He came over and just started messing around with me and being an ass, for he knows how I am about being touched by anyone. He was picking me up and spinning me around on his shoulder in the kitchen. Annoying.
Brock ended up staying the night; he was about to leave on his bike but I could hear him coughing and maybe even puking below the little "porch" and I asked, "Uhh, you want to stay here tonight."
"Yeah, that might be a good idea." He answered.
I offered him my bed and said I'd take the loveseat for he's a foot taller than I am and the love seat is horribly small. But he mumbled something about there being my pheramones in my bed, and so he took the loveseat.
Whatever.

White-Haired Iowan

Iowa

Tony and I headed down to Iowa Monday night around 10, after Tony got off of work. I was going down to Iowa to pick up my Taurus which had been down there getting a new transmission and planned to only be down there for a day and so I asked Tony if he would like to accompany me. We headed down that night and didn't get into State Center until around 2:30. After Tony and I lugged our shit in, I made him follow me outside and took him out to one of our open pastures.
Living in the city, it's hard to get a very good and open view of the night sky, and especially hard to be able to just even see stars and whatnot. So I brought him out there to see the stars and milky night sky above us. "Wow," was all Tony could say. : )
The next day Tony and I were going to drive down to Caseys, the main gas station in Iowa...they're everwhere, but then we found that I had locked the keys in my dad's blazer. So, we walked downt to Caseys and got some donuts. Ooh, Casey's donuts make me so happy. We didn't have much to do that day for the blazer was all locked and I had found out that my car wasn't ready yet. As we sat in the kitchen watching tv, I said to Tony, "It feels like when I was 15 and wasn't able to go anywhere."
We headed over to my friend Jacob's house. When he answered the door he screamed and said, "It's you! I can't believe it!"
We hung out with him for awhile and just talked of t his and that. Tony was itching to go somewhere and before I had mentioned something about going to Marshalltown to go grocery shopping, and Tony goes, "Why don't we just take the bus to Marshalltown?"
Jacob and I looked at eachother and just started laughing. "What bus?!"
City boy...it just seemed common sense to him that we'd have some sort of public transportation like that. "Why don't we just call up a taxi?" Jacob and I joked. "Oh wait, there aren't any of those here."
The blazer was fianlly unlocked and we were able to head up to my mother's place for supper. Tony wanted to drive, saying that he enjoyed driving through the countryside. The way up to my mom's is a really pretty drive. It's a bunch of open fields of corn and soybeans and the whole way there there are just gentle rolling hills. "It's beautiful." Tony said at one point.
I was so happy to hear him say this. I love Iowa and think it's beautiful and so it meant a lot to bring Tony with me. I just wanted him to be able to see what I see in Iowa, and this he did.
Tony seemed to really enjoy my mom, and I think she really liked him too. Mom made us a supper of buffalo burgers, squash, biscuits, and fries. After supper she gave Tony a tour of the farm and of the buffalo and various other animals. Tony kept drilling my mom with questions about the buffalo and slaughtering and then about horses. Before I left, Mom asked to get a picture of Tony and I, and then she hugged him before we left. That's something she never did with Jay. I think she really liked Tony.
Next time I go home to Iowa, I think Tony will be coming with me for a couple days. I'm hoping that there will be some sort of party going on where he can interact with other small town people around our age. I just want him to see the kind of small town minds they have and just let him experience the life of a small town youth.
Should be interesting.

Bleached

On Monday I headed over to Ian and Em's place and Em bleached my hair. For awhile now I've just felt the craving to change my hair. I've been getting so bored with it, and finally I did something. I decided to have it all bleached for it's something I always thought about, but never did. And platinum hair is pretty. After Em bleahced my hair, it was a light yellow color and so she put in the toner to make my hair white. Toner is this purplish color and it's supposed to stay in hair for maybe 15 minutes. It took 15 min for it to turn her hair white. She put it in fast and it was on the bottom layers of my hair for like 5 minutes and on the top layers for only a couple before she rinsed it out, and my hair turned purple! A very light purple, but it still looked like a mistake. Em was shocked at how fast my hair had taken the toner and said that she had never seen that before. So we had to do a couple of bleach washings to get the purple out. After that, she put pink streaks into my bangs and after around 5 hours, we were all done.
I love my hair, I just love how it looks. I'm so happy that it's finally different!

"Intruiging" Propositions

I have a profile on the hi5 site. I didn't join it for any real reason; I got an invite in an e-mail once and thought, "What the hell." So I joined and put up a profile and whatnot and I keep getting e-mails from guys who say shit like, "You look like fun" or "You're hot." But...in the past few days, I've gotten a couple of very interesting propostions.
I'll post the e-mails:
The first is from a 33-year-old guy named Chris:
"Hey there, I would love to talk more and get to know each other, maybe hang out too if you would like that. I would also like to talk to you about the possibility of doing some nature modeling. I liked the picture you have on here and you have alot of natural beauty to you. What i mean by nature modeling is wearing things like a sundress, shorts and tank top, etc.. and using streams, waterfalls, etc.. as the setting for the shoot. I do alot of nature stuff already, but I am looking to include people in it too. I think you would be wonderful for it. But either way I would like to get to know you more. Have a great night and sweet dreams. Sincerely, Your new friend, Chris "

Nature modeling eh? Now, who out there can see me basking in the sunshine in front of a waterfall in a sundress? Yeah...

And then I got this one today from a guy who's on there as "Nas":
"how you doing? I know u don't want to meet any guy right now, but I would like to ask something because u had pervious relationship with a man. I and my girl don't know anything about relationship. I feel like we are not good in lot of things such as, taking care of each other, having sexy even though I think I'm so good in sex coz my two ex-girlfriends told me that, and other things. So, I would like to ask if you want to share our relationship with us and be part of our life, and we can do whatever you want as a one family sharing everything together...................... do u have a messenger or even phone # that's we can talk faster.......................halla back "

...
Well Nas, I enjoy how you read that I don't want to get involved in a relationship right now, but yet you still figured out that I'd "love" to be in a three-way relationship. I mean, it does sound "very" tempting and I'll be giving it a lot of "thought."
Ok, it's bad enough he asks me to be a part of the relationship, but then to say we'd be "one family?" That's creepy. I mean, I want to go into psychology and give people advice on relationships and whatnot...I just don't want to have sex with them.

Oldest Vet In Minneapolis

Emily and I took Leeloo to the vet today. Emily had warned me of how the lady was old and slow and might nag me at times for little things but I wasn't too sure quite what to expect. When we first got there, I couldn't get the door open - I had turned the knob the wrong way... - and there was this button for a buzzer on the door and I thought that maybe I needed to push that so that I could be let in. So then I pushed it and then Emily told to try turning the knob the other way. As I enter, I hear the lady yelling, "Just open the door! Jeez, I can't take it anymore!"
That first meeting was a bit intimidating but she turned out to be quite nice, and you could tell that she just loved what she did. She got her degree in 1961 and she was talking about how when she was younger, all she wanted was to start her career and she remarked on how guys were like, "A career? How about you have my kids." But she didn't concern herself with men and never married nor had kids, and she just set right off in her career. Lovely.
Leeloo is not good around people she doesn't know. When I'm at home sitting on the couch or lounging around elsewhere, she'll come up to me purring and she'll lay with me. When others are around, she'll hiss at and attack anyone, including me. Leeloo was no different with the Vet and she was a bit upset with this. "Someone was rough with this kitten growing up." She talked of how you can't play too rough with kittens or else they'll turn out like this. I don't believe that Leeloo would have been too different if she hadn't been played with roughly. When she was young and I would just pet her, she'd try to bite me. It's just her temperment, and I rarely played with her that rough.
Leeloo had to get her shots and since she wouldn't cooperate by just being held, she had to be put into the "Squeeze Cage." It was this white cage and there was a wall in it that moved that would pin her against the side so that she couldn't move. Heehee, it was funny, but also kind of saddening to see her squirm and yowl as she was stuck with the needle.

Now I just need to get her spayed. The vet explained the process to me: "You'll bring her in in your cat carrier and leave her with me. I think my dad and I invented this, but we never patented it, but I'll put her in this aquarium which I'll let gas into so that she'll fall asleep."
$90 spay. Good eh?

"This Shirt Only For Black People?"

I had a pretty funny occurance today. I was working at Target and I had this old couple come through my lane. They didn't seem to be all there in their old age, a bit senile if you will. (I'm not trying to be funny either.) The woman threw this black shirt onto the conveyer belt and said, "Ok, I have a question. Is this shirt only for black people?"
The shirt was black and said "AC/DC Back In Black." I looked at her for a second and wondered if it was just some poor joke she had made but she just looked back at me seriously.
"Oh no." I said. "It's an older band."
"A band? I don't know them. I'll take it." She said.
I told Tony this story earlier and made a joke about there being clothing for just black people, and clothing for just white people.
"For Us By Us." Tony said. "Fubu."
Ok, I guess I'm black apparrel retarded.

Boys

I need some more friends, rather than just always being with Tony. There's a boy named Aaron who I know from okcupid.com. We've only talked on the site and had met once by chance at Target. He came through my lane last night and bought a bike and I talked to him for a wee bit and gave him my number. I'm hoping he actually does call me, I've been a bit annoying to him with telling him we should hang out but then never actually making official dates to hang out. We seem to have the same sense of humor and he did splendidly in joking around with me last night.
There's also a boy named Dane who I might be hanging out with tonight. He's a 17-year-old cashier who works at Target and we exchanged numbers a little while ago. He seems like a cool guy and we have similar tastes in music and such. I just hope he doesn't try hitting on me though, for when I had made some comment about me being single one time he made sure to say that he too was also single.
So if I hang out with him tonight, I'm sneaking vodka by his parents.
Oh..please don't make a move on me.

Bored

I'm SO bored with my hair. Em - Ian's wife - said she'd bleach my hair for me. I've wanted it bleached for a long time but have just never done it. I feel a need for a change and hey, it's only hair and I'm young and why not try out something different? I'm thinking that I also want to have little streaks of pink put into the top layer and possibly some black streaks under the pink.
I need something different.

Annoying

I got honked at today by a guy while I was jogging. I flipped him off. It's starting to get annoying. Just because I'm a girl with the right curves does not mean that you can treat me like a sex object. Blah, I get guys hanging out the window looking at me.

Leeloo

Leeloo is going to the vet this Saturday to get her shots and just a little check-up. I have a fear that she may be pregnant, for when she was at home while I went to Seattle, she figured out how to open the sliding screen doors and got out a couple of times. And, she was also in heat at the time. Lovely eh?
I'm wondering how the visit with the vet will go. Emily goes to her and I guess this woman is the first woman to graduate from the Vet's program at the University here. So she's older and takes a long time...but she's cheap. (That always sounds so "prostitutish" when I say it.) The check-up is only costing $25 and the spay should only be around $90. Nice eh? Heh, the first time I called to schedule an appointment, she got my name and number and said she'd call me back because she was with someone at the moment. She never called back. So then I called a couple days later and the first time I called, she said she was upstairs and wanted me to call her back in 10-15 minutes when she'd be downstairs. Where's her receptionist?

Zim

I went over to my friend Ryan's place last night. He's a cashier at Target and I've hung out with him only a couple times in the past. We watched his dvd on Invador Zim last night, which was entertaining. I loved that show when it was on Nickelodeon.
Ryan used to have a crush on me, but I don't know if he does anymore. While on the couch, he seemed to want to get closer and/or put his arm around me; I was hugging the corner of the couch. I made myself a drink while I was there, a psuedo vodka and tonic - I used off brand sprite. I added a little more vodka than usual and was a little buzzed when I biked home at 1:3o in the morning. It was fun though.

A Finger and a Number

A Finger

Hmm...I'm thinking that some perv's could find my title a bit dirty??

Anyways, it's not meant to be dirty in any sort of way.

I must say, I feel rather good as I just let out some anger. As a biker, motorists piss me off. It's 2 am and I was biking home from Tony's and was on the last stretch home on my street. I was nearing a stop light and was on the side of the street, where bikes ARE allowed to be and I heard a car coming up behind me. Again, I was at the side of the street...not swerving around or anything. I was being a good little biker, but this fuck bitch still decided to honk at me. And she did so while she was behind me, which made me jump a bit. That pissed me off. I headed on through the stop light while she waited and as I was pissed, I decided to do something that would feel good. I took my good ol' time and biked right in the middle of the road. I just waited for her to come up behind me...and she did, right before my house. She laid on the horn but I still kept up my snail pace, then turned around and flipped her off. Ooh, it felt good. Now, I realize that I didn't really do anything spectacular, but you must keep in mind that this is coming from someone who usually just stays quiet and doesn't do anything when angered.

A Number

Yesterday at Target, an amazing thing happened: I got a guys number. This guy came through my lane and he bought a couple of dvd's; one was of a show on Adult Swim - can't think of the title - and I don't remember the other.... He was wearing a backpack and I assumed he was biking so I asked, "You biking?" He said he was and I made the comment that I bike everywhere. He told of how he recently got into a car crash and had to bike everywhere. Nothing too spectacular happened, I just noticed that he kind of looked at me as he was leaving, as though he wanted to say something. But he left.
A little later on, I looked over towards the entrance and I noticed him coming back in. I had a quick thought of him coming back and giving me his number, for it's something you always see in movies and such, but it has never actually happened to me. Out of the corner of my eye though, I saw him round the corner and come over to the lanes, and he walked straight to mine. He handed me a little blue scrap of paper. "My name's Brock, call me if you want to bike and get some coffee sometime."
Heehee, I've never had something like that happen to me before; never before has a guy just thrown his number at me like that. It's so flattering!
And then tomorrow, or today rather, I'm meeting up with a guy from okcupid.com.

Too bad I don't really want to date anyone. Damn it, guys always go for me when I'm not looking to date.

Biking It

As I kept saying I was going to do, I bought a new bike the other day. Tony and I headed into Penn Cycle where he got his for they had really good priced bikes and Nick, the guy who helped Tony find a bike, was super helpful and nice. I ended up with a 15" Giant Cypress. Ahh, I love having a bike with gears and brakes that actually work.

Biking home from Target today was "joyous." It was just raining non-stop. I had stopped by rainbow to look for soybeans and when I came out, it was just pouring. Iwaited for like a half-hour in the little area where they keep carts as I waited for the rain to stop. It was pretty entertaining to watch people sprint from the store to their cars, it was like they were on a battle-field or something. There was this one chick who was wearing a really short skirt who went running down the parking lot with her shopping cart. The wind was blowing up the back of her skirt and it's safe to say she was probably wearing a g-string. It was funny. If I had a penis, I might think it something other than funny.

Now...to speak of something related...anyone think it weird that while on the trip to Seattle with Erik I kept finding myself just wanting to say in front of him, "You know Erik, I'm a lesbian." Not that I am...I definitely like guys, but I just so want to say that to him sometimes with some of the shit he says.

I seriously hope Jacob turns out gay. I'm not even being remotely sarcastic. He's afraid of bugs and always crosses his legs.
Seriously, it'll do some good for the family.

How Many Kids You Had?

Wow...I can't believe what just happened. I walked over to Sentyrz, the grocery store right by my place, and there was this older black guy in the parking lot. As I walked by, he smiled at me and asked me to come talk to him. I just laughed and ignored him. When I left the store, he was still outside and began to walk along with me. "Damn, you walk fast girl, how old are you?" I told him I was 19 and then he introduced himself to me and shook my hand. "Can I get your number Liz?"
"Nah, I got a bf." I lied, knowing that if I said I was single I'd just never be able to get him away from me. So I stop in front of my house and this guy is just looking me up and down. "Liz, you got such a tight body...I've never seen such a body on a white girl."
I just giggled through all of this, for I have heard similar comments from Tony.
"You ever dated a black guy?" He asked.
"No." I responded.
"It's a whole 'nother experience, it's like adventureland."
He also asked me how many kids I had. It's not like he asked if I have had kids at all, he just assumed I had had some. I told him, "I'm only 19, I haven't had any."
"Now Liz, I just gotta be up front with you, you got some great titties. Turn around and let me see that ass, you like wearing thongs?"
I began to think it was getting a bit out of hand and so I told him I had to go. As I turned and walked he yelled out at me, "Where'd you get that million dolla' walk?"
As I walked up the stairs he called out, "Hey come back, I think I came on a bit strong."

Nicolet Island Venturings

The other night, Tony showed me a part of Minneapolis that I had not realized was there; a little island in the Mississippi called Nicolet Island. The island is very close to where I live and whenever I bike into downtown, I always pass over it. I just never noticed it was an island I was passing over. We biked down to St. Anthony Main late the other night and rode along the cobblestone streets for a bit. We got onto the heritage trail and took a little stroll on the bridge; we stopped to gaze at the view of the lighted city and looked down at the Mississippi passing below us. After this, Tony led me down to the bridge that crosses over to Nicolet Island and we biked around this little hotel restaurant called Nicolet Island Inn. He talked of how he had eaten there in an earlier visit to the city and said, "We should have breakfast there sometime." We biked along the winding trail that led around the perimeter of the island and remarked on the old Victorian houses in the area. On the way home as we were passing over this little bridge, a train came and went under the bridge. We climbed over the side of the bridge and stood on this little edge right over the passing train. Tony talked of how we HAVE to someday jump onto a slow-moving train and ride it for awhile.
We'll see how that goes.

Today will be my fifth day in a row working at Target. I know, boo-fucking-hoo. Some people work 7 days a week and some people work like 30 hour shifts...like Greg. : ) I shouldn't complain, but I will.

Leeloo lost her collar while she was home. She figured out how to open to the sliding screen doors at my dad's place and escaped one night, but she ended up spending the night in a tree as one of the cats scared her up there. She was not fixed while she was home; I'll be getting her shots and either I'll find a REALLY cheap place up here to get her spayed, or I'll have it done next time I go to Iowa.

The transmission in my Taurus is shot. It's in Iowa right now awaiting a new one and I've got the blazer. Blah. Yes people, hate me because I'm spoiled. I've never had it rough. As I told Tony, you're going to hate me when you come home with me and see how much I've got.

I'm buying a new bike. Mom's bike is really taking a crap on me and so Tony and I headed into Penn Cycle yesterday to look for a bike. The bike that I wanted is 15" tall and is too high for me, so they have one coming in on Friday that they're going to have me look at. Joy!

Sittin' on The Dock of a Lake

I got back to Iowa on Thursday and stayed home for a few days. I met back up with Jay, and I must say that that was quite the experience. We hung out Saturday afternoon and evening and were VERY open about what's been going on with us lately, especially in terms of our dating lives and whatnot. So, I found out that he's seeing some girl who lives and bartends in Des Moines, he shaves his armpits now, he works as an exotic dancer in a Des Moines club, and he HAS to have his white shirts be WHITE or he won't wear them.
I went to the Rose Festival parade on Saturday; every year State Center has their town celebration called Rose Festival. It's the time when all the carny's rush over to State Center to add a little skank to the town. So, I went to the parade and met up with Jay and also with my mom and Erik. I REALLY wanted some candy but as I'm older, I wasn't really getting candy thrown at me, so I would sit there and clap my hands and go "candy candy!", to all of the passing floats, cars, tractors, etc... People started to finally throw candy in my direction but I had some competition; I had my nephew Jacob on the left and a group of little kids on the right and I was literally out there on my hands and knees - I do not joke - as I grabbed candy.

I am not ashamed.

I came back up to the cities on Saturday. As I was unpacking, I heard the back door open and shut and thought that it was Emily. I looked up as I heard the approaching footsteps, and I saw that it was actually Tony standing there with a big smile on his face. Ah, this rush of just pure happiness just ran through my body, I've never had anything like it. He walked into my room and I stood up and we just hugged for the longest time. Needless to say, Tony and I spent our evening together. A lot of it was spent at my house, but later on we headed into Uptown and sat out upon the dock on Lake Calhoun. That night Tony and I had a big talk and have decided to not move in with one another. We both talked of how just everyone has warned against it and we discussed our own worries with the situation. We just both feel that living with one another would create pressures and stress that could hurt our friendship. And we're both very interested in one another, but we aren't taking that step to date yet...so we feel it better to not have it so that we're always coming home to one another.

So my life has started up again. I'm back at Target for 5 days in a row. Suck. I've been doing some cleaning and tonight I'll be making some lasagna for Tony; I must thank Greg for giving me the idea of how to make a really good lasagna. Tony and I are hanging out again like usual, though we haven't done as much biking yet.
But...I have a feeling that will change.

Lovely Seattle

I took a break from hanging out with Erik and Sue and the two boys today. A much needed break. Greg worked a 30-hour shift and wasn't to get home until around noon. Erik and Sue left around 10 or so and took the boys down to the aquarium and to an I-Max theatre. I didn't feel like spending money on such things, so I waited for Greg to get home. We had lunch at Pho Cyclo and I had Pho with cow tendon and stomach in it. Yummy! Then we headed over to China Town and I picked up some really weird folder things that have weird Japanese cartoons on the covers. One is of this cartoon grocery store and in every piece of fruit, in the toilet paper, and in all the food are these little kittens. A bit creepy, but funny. I also bought a couple of really cool plates that were made in Japan. Just something to add onto my collection of "grown-up" stuff.

Tomorrow it looks like we will be going kayaking which I'm excited about. It's one of the main things that I wanted to do while here.

Sunday we will be leaving, which sucks ass. But alas, I am not the driver, I was only along for the ride.

Minneapolis to Seattle, And All Inbetween

So I won't be talking about EVERYTHING...but I'll try to get in what I feel is "important." Now....important stuff? Well, I guess there isn't really anything too important that happened.

Last Thursday I spent my day with Tony; we just biked back and forth between NE and Uptown, ate lunch at Punch, looked at an expensive bike for Tony, and rode along The Green Way. In the evening, Tony and I laid out on this dock on Lake Calhoun and watched as the sky darkened above us. Heehee, while on the dock I was getting a bit chilly and I had pulled my knees up to my chest and had my arms wrapped around my legs. Out of nowhere, Tony grabbed me, pushing his hands against my arms so that I couldn't free myself and he pushed me onto my back and started to roll me back and forth on the dock. He was just cracking up as he did so, and I was laughing as I yelled at him to stop. And then Tony started to slap me in the face, but it became too much for him and he finally let me go, and we just laid on the dock and laughed for minutes. Heehee, that ass.

Friday morning I got up and said my good-byes to Tony and headed home and that night around 6, I met up with my brother Erik, his wife Sue and my two nephews Jacob (7) and Nicholas (17 months) and we headed out for Wall, South Dakota. Since we had the two "young 'uns" with us, the plan was to see the sights during the day and then drive at night. This accounted for not ever getting to the motel until 2 am, while I desperately tried to seek sleep while I sat inbetween the two boys. While do I always get the shaft? On my right I had Jacob who always asked me to play "go fish" with him. I like keeping to myself anyways in cars, but when I did play with him, it turned into a game where I'd win off the first hand for he never shuffled the cards. And then I had Nicholas on my left who just got fussier and fussier as the trip went on, and I'd have him screaming in my ear at 1 am. There were so many times that I just felt like running up a tree and shaking it with all my might.

It's not just the boys who were annoying, I found that Sue is a bit unlikable. When she's around family, or at least my family, she's all smiles and corny jokes. Fake. When she's in the car, it's a different story. She gets stressed out easily and is strict with Jacob. She rolls her eyes a lot and just never seems to really be enjoying herself. It's annoying.

On Tuesday, we finally got into Seattle. Thank God. It feels good to be out of the car and in the lovely city of Seattle. Last year when I was out here, I was really torn between wanting to move to Minneapolis and wanting to move out to Seattle. But I chose Minneapolis (obviously). And hey, if I hadn't, then I wouldn't have met Tony. But there is still so much in Seattle that I see that I like. It's so big and I love the way that the city is all cut off and displaced by the lakes and ocean, and I love the way the houses on the hills look above the ocean and lakes. I enjoy the way the streets curve and slant severely.

It's just a nice place.

*Update*

I just got back from taking an hour walk. I was wearing shorts and a tank top and I was walking by this tobacco store where two guys were standing outside by the sidewalk at a pay phone. One of the older guys just started beaming when he saw me walking by. He said "hello" to me and I replied with a "hello." He then asked, "How are you doing."
"Good." I said.
"You look good today." He said next.
Jesus Christ.

And then earlier, I had stopped to cross the street in the middle of a block and this guy in a car that had no stop signs just stopped and waved for me to cross.

Worn Out

I've been active too much. On Sunday, I jogged 40 minutes in the morning, biked to Target (15 minutes) and just before I got there, the tube in my front tire popped. So...I had to walk home from Target, which took 45 minutes. Heh, I was having such an awful time. I've never changed a tire before and had only seen it done once and I was just pissed off at what had happened. On the way home, the only happiness I experienced was when I purposely ran over an ant with my flat front wheel and killed it. Also on the way home, I stubbed my toe...and it bled. Changing my tire took about 45 minutes; between calling my friend Jay to get the jist of how to do it, to running up and down the stairs to get tools, and to just plain figuring out how to do it. But in the end, it was done successfully. Immediately after that I got on my bike and biked from Northeast into Uptown (SW), about 3-4 miles (?) and met up with Tony on his lunch break at Lunds. Then I biked back home. Sat around for a few hours, and then biked back into Uptown at 11 when Tony got off of work. We headed to his place real quick, and then came back to mine. Yesterday I biked to Target and back with no tube popping. Then I biked into Uptown after I got off work and Tony and I biked to Northeast to get coffee and then biked back to Uptown for supper at Old Chicago, and then I biked back home by myself for the night. My bodies exhausted; I laugh at the idea of going for my daily jog.

Hi!

I was walking to the store right by my house this morning to pick up some orange juice. I'm walking across the parking lot when I hear a male voice call out from a short distance, "Hello!" I look to my left and I see these three older men sitting outside the store, most probably workers, and they're all waving at me. So I waved back. But hey, it's pretty funny how they were just all waving at me.

Leeloo Likes Big Black Cats

My cat Leeloo is in heat. Well, she was for the past couple o' days, and it was VERY annoying. She just kept meowing and making all weird sorts of noises as she rolled around on the ground. She'd stick her ass in the air, inviting anyone in, as her hind paws danced and her tail shook. The other morning when Tony and I had breakfast, we sat out on the stairs. Whenever I leave the house, Leeloo usually jumps up in the kitchen windown to watch me go and that morning I said, "She'll probably jump up there and stick her ass at it." Within a few moments, Leeloo jumped up into the window and displayed her ass for us. That's when she got shut in the bathroom.

A Genius Among Morons

A couple days ago Tony and I met up with my brother Ian and his friends Ryan and Joe the Gravedigger at Cafe Latte in St. Paul. It was nice to finally meet back up with Ian again as I haven't seen him in a while. We had a pretty good time that night; Cafe Latte is a nice place and the cheesecake was lovely. It was amusing to hear Joe put down pretty much everything and talk about how he'd go nowhere in Minneapolis and then talk about how he's looking for a job anywhere, he'd even work as a cashier. Yes, you ARE too good for Minneapolis. (I know that's not what he meant.) Tony enjoyed the meet-up. As we walked back to my car, Tony was still cracking up at some of Ian's jokes. "He's so animated." Tony said as he continued to laugh.

And just so you know Ian, Tony wants to jam with you sometime.

Last night Tony and I went to this little "party" in Uptown where Emily's bf Matt and his band were playing a little show in an apartment basement. The "act" that went before them used computer generated beats while another guy blew through this long tube...and this they called music. Later on Tony said, "That group that went before the band, they sucked! That is not music." Matt's band wasn't too bad, I did like the music, but all of the amps were turned up so high that you couldn't hear the singer. When they were done playing, we headed up to the drummers apartment and hung out there awhile. I curled up into the corner of the couch and just kind of observed what was going on, which was amusing. Tony had grabbed this little acoustic guitar out of a corner and was playing it. The singer of Matt's band, David, was drunk and stoned and he was sitting on the floor next to Tony and as Tony played, he started to sing along. Only, he didn't actually sing anything, he just went "Ahhhh, Ohhhh..." He was a bit out of it. At another time, Tony and I were hanging out on this landing in front of the door with a few other guys as they had some "deep" drunken discussions. They got onto the subject of dejavu (sp?) and this one guy was saying, "Now, dejavu is different for everyone, and for me...I have these dreams that tell me the future, and when it does finally happen, I have dejavu."
All in all, it was just pretty entertaining to be sitting in a room with all these goofy-faced pot heads looking around dumbly with a big dopey smile. Yeah...I'm glad I've never tried.

When Tony and I got back to his place, he said to me, "Didn't you feel like the most intelligent person there?"

Late Night Biking

Nothing too new has been going on really. It's strange, when school was going on, I always had something that I could do, but now that it's over, I find that I really have nothing to do unless I have to work. But I have not been sitting up here bored. If I'm not working and Tony's not working, we're usually spending every second with one another. As the weather has finally gotten nicer, we've been biking everywhere. We've been biking around the lakes in Uptown and up and down Lyndale and Hennepin pissing off all kinds of people as we weave in and out of traffic. Our 2 am bike rides through downtown are always amusing. The other night I almost got ran into by this drunk guy crossing the street, and then about a block later I was almost hit by a van. : )

At the moment, Tony is looking for a place to rent in uptown and just asked me if I'd like to find a place with him to share the rent. It'd be nice to live in Uptown, for I love that area and I think I'd really enjoy living with Tony. I like living with Emily, but I crave to have a place that feels more like me. Granted, in moving up here, I really didn't have anything, in terms of furniture and such, so I'm grateful that Emily did. But still, I'd like to have my own furniture, my own rugs, my own shower curtain, and my own decorations. And Tony is good at meeting people, and like me, he's also new up here and without many friends. Unlike Emily who has always been up here and has her own group of friends. With Tony, I've been out more and seeing more, and I just know I'd meet more people with him. I'd feel bad leaving Emily though. I think she is kind of counting on me to stay with her for awhile as it was slightly hard for her to find a roommate in the first place, and besides, it's kind of hectic just to try and find someone to take a place anyways.

Who knows, we'll see what happens.

12 Hour Nap

Tony

I spent the night over at Tony's again last night. I headed over to his place after I got off work, which was around 7. He played a little guitar for me when I first got there and then we ended up just falling asleep a little later on. We probably fell asleep around 8, and we just stayed asleep, and didn't get up until 7 this morning. Yeah, we're such bums.
Friday night I worked til close at Target and wasn't planning on seeing Tony that night as I had to work the next day at 11. Tony was hanging out with his friend John and Tony had left some beer at my house the night before and wanted to come pick it up. So when I got home from work, Tony and John came over and I was expecting them to hang out for a bit when John says, "Hey, I'm just going to head out", and he left. So I got stuck with a buzzed Tony. I didn't really mind, I like having Tony around. But we couldn't really hang out tomorrow morning as I had to go to work. "That was a sly move." I told Tony. "Just having John drop you off here."
"No, I really thought he was going to stay." Tony replied. "But I did want to see you."

So Tony knows that I have feelings for him; he knows that I really would like to have him as a bf, but with that I have always known that it would most likely not happen. For one thing, Tony told me he didn't want a gf at this time, and also, he said that he wouldn't want to run the risk of ruining our friendship by taking that next step. But last night as we were sitting on the couch, we started talking about....I don't quite remember exactly, but it had something to do with me having feelings for him. Anyways, Tony made this comment that really shocked me. "Liz, you think that I don't feel the same way as you do?" He asked.
"What? With me having feelings for you?"
Tony admitted to me that night that he does have feelings for me that have only gotten stronger as time has gone on and wouldn't mind me as a gf. But as I've heard before, he also said, "I just won't do it though."
Tony's really worried about ruining our friendship, as he has told me before that he has never talked to past gf's after breaking up with them.

Oh well, if it's meant to happen, it'll happen. For now, he's just a really great friend.

Target

I've been picking up some hours at Target lately. I just really need some money, especially since I'm going out to Seattle. Work hasn't been going too badly lately. It's nice now that I've worked there awhile. Now whenever someone new is hired, I don't feel quite so shy or anything and so I'm making more friends that way.

Not all is good at Target though...Target recently hired a new GSTL (head cashier/team lead) and her name is Faustina. Ugh, I don't like her. The first day that I worked with her, I was carrying around my water bottle and another cashier had a cup of water. We were both standing around waiting to get assigned lanes and she just looked at us with guilty eyes and said, "I wish you weren't carrying around drinks." Instead of saying that we were breaking some rule, which we weren't, she was trying to make us feel bad about it. Ever since I started at Target, I always saw cashiers bring out pop with them to the lanes. Though I never asked if it was alright if I did, the GSTL's always saw cashiers with pop, but they never said anything about it. All of a sudden, Faustina comes along and it's BAD. So then guess what happens...a couple hours later another GSTL, Monica, came around to each lane and told each cashier about the new Rule: You cannot have pop at the lane. Water is fine and you can only drink it when you are not with a "guest."
Now, I realize that it's really nothing to make a huge fuss out of, but seriously Faustina, cashiering sucks and you should know this. Oh, it's "real fun" to stand around for 8 hours and go through 200 people who aren't all happy to see you. It's nice to have a little break and take a sip of pop every now and then.

Blah, people suck.

Peroxide

School

I am ever so close to being done with classes. I have a final today at 2 and then my last one is tomorrow at 11 am. Ahh, it'll be so nice just to get it done with. I must say, I am not at all happy with how I did this semester. I'm probably getting only one A and I really don't want to think about what I might be getting in my other classes, though I'm almost positive I didn't fail anything. I feel that I might end up taking some of my classes over, if I get a C in them at least. I just want to do my best and not have anything mediocre on my transcripts.

Summer Plans

I'm really looking forward to summer, not only is it a break, but it sounds like some good stuff will be happening. For one thing, I'm staying up in Minneapolis this summer. I've never lived the "City Summer Life" and now that I have a really good friend, Tony, I have someone to actually go out and explore the city with. We plan on doing a lot of biking, evening dining, and maybe even some dancing. It shall be fun.

I'll probably also be going to Seattle. I say probably because Target hasn't verified my "Days Off Request" slip yet. But if I do go, which I should be, I'll be taking two weeks out of June to do that. I'll be going out there with my brother Erik and his wife Sue and my two nephews. It'll be a lovely long car ride, and I'm not being even remotely sarcastic. I love long car rides, I like to sit back, stare out the window and just think. And it's great time to be able to write in my journal and work on some stories that I've started. And don't forget all the scenery. Bad thing about this trip though, I'm poor as fuck and Erik will be stopping at a lot of tourists spots it sounds like. Well, I think I might be spending a lot of time in the car. I really don't mind though, I don't need to pay money to go see some man-made Mt. Rushmore or anything of the like. Besides, it'll be nice to just lounge around outside. And then when we get to Seattle, Jacob will be having his 8th (?) birthday and Erik said they plan on going to a theme park. Well, count me out. I don't really think it fun to spend 40 bucks to go to a theme park where I'll have to go on "sissy" rides as we'll have an 8-year-old and two babies with us. Besides, if I do want to go on a "big" ride, I'll have to wait in line forever. So, I think I'm just going to let myself loose in Seattle, explore it a little on my own and find a nice park or bench by the ocean to lounge around at. Sounds like a jolly good time to me.

Hair

I'm getting so bored with my hair. I want to chop it off, but I've never had it long and it's taken me such a long time to grow it out from the 2 inches that it used to be. Different hair color? I put peroxide in my hair today, I'd love to have platinum hair and bleach it, but I don't want to deal with the damage and the roots growing back. I'd like to dye my hair another color, but I LOVE being my natural blonde. I'd like to have blue, purple, and pink highlights, but I don't want to pay a proffessional and don't know who else could do it. Blah.

This 'N Dat

Stress Free

The past few days had been a bit stressful for me. I had a couple of projects; a poster/presentation for my social psychology class and a Group Panel Discussion for my speech class. I hadn't really put much time into doing these projects until the last minute and was just feeling very stressed out about it. But luckily the shit went down on Monday and Tuesday; it's just all done with and all I have left now are finals, which I'm not really too worried about. Not that I feel I'll do well on them, I definitely don't feel that good about them, but it's just not quite as stressful.

Tony

Tony and I have been hanging out a lot lately. When I came home from Iowa the last time, I ended up coming home a lot earlier than usual for Tony had called me on Saturday and made the comment, "You know Liz, I really do miss you." So I came back early on Sunday and picked him up. As we were sitting in my car after I arrived home, he said to me, "Liz, don't go back to Iowa this summer." I must say, Tony has become one of my best friends, he's just a really great person to have around. I clicked with him automatically and we've just become really close. The other night he made the comment, "You're one of the only people that I just don't get sick of hanging out with." Quite the compliment eh?
Tony's been pretty stressed out too. Like me, he kind of put shit off in terms of school work and is suffering now. As we've both been stressed, we've seeked each other's company to just kind of step back from it all and relax. We hang out all night and do breakfast in the morning. We sit in his house and he plays guitar for me and we just talk about whatever comes to mind. Both of us are just anticipating how good the summer will be as there will be no more stresses with school and we'll be able to just hang out and have a good ol' time in Minneapolis.

Other Shit?

Nothing really. I have made my decision to stay in Minneapolis this summer. I kind of knew all along that that's what my ultimate decision would be, but I didn't want to make any official announcement just in case. Last time I was home my mother said to me, "I'll think you'll be happier if you stay in Minneapolis this summer." I mean, I would like to go home, but if I do that, I will definitely miss Tony. And besides, I've never lived in a city in the summer and there will be so much to do.

I need to see Hitchikers Guide to the Galaxy; I finished my re-read of it.

Life Ceases to be Dull in Minneapolis

It was around 8:15 tonight and I decided to head into Target on my bike to do some spontaneous shopping. I'm on my way, biking down Hennepin with nasty dark clouds covering the sky when it started to sprinkle. I was a bit worried that it might just start pouring and so I turned off of Broadway and started to head home. So I'm at this four-way stop sign and there is this white truck to my right. I think nothing of it as I turn left when suddenly the driver yells "Hey!"
At first I thought it might be just the usual jerk who thinks it classy to honk at me and say shit like, "Can I get your number, I'll call ya." But when I looked at the driver, I noticed that it was Alex, the guy I've talked of before in previous posts, the older guy who is one of my "regular" guests at Target. Knowing that this would inevitably turn out interesting, I stopped at the side of the road and waited for him to pull up. We started talking about the weather and about where we both lived; I found out that he was visiting his mother who actually lives very close to me. At one point he asked me if I had been to any clubs up here. "Oh, I just went to one during Halloween." I said. "I don't really have anyone to go to them with though."
"So you got anything going on tonight?" He asked.
"Just doing some projects for school and I might call up one of my friends that I haven't hung out with in awhile." I told him.
Eventually, Alex asked if I'd want to hang out with him tonight, but I "reluctantly" told him that I was probably going to be hanging out with one of my friends.

So...then he asked if I wanted to exchange numbers....and I obliged. I mean, I'm always up for this kind of stuff that's very "of the moment" and I do love having such stories to tell. I mean, Alex seems like a really nice guy, but as he's older, I just have some slight suspicions as to what his motives may be. Alex asked if I liked zoo's and was saying we should go to the como zoo or something, just somewhere where we could walk around and talk.
As we were getting ready to part I said with a smirk, "So...question."
"Yeah, anything." He replied.
"How old are you?" I asked.
I had been curious about this for I knew he was probably in his mid-30's to 40's and also I wondered if he planned on maybe going to a bar with me or something of the like. He asked me to guess and I said, "30's." He then told me that he was 34. So then he tried to guess my age and said that as he knew I was in school, he knew it'd be around 19-23. I told him I was newly 19 and he said that he would probably have guessed older than that.

Oh man...and just last night J.D. (a guy from my speech class) expressed his "love" for me. These boys! (And man...)

No Skull Injuries or Leg Injuries?! No, Nothing.

Since moving up here and biking to and from school in downtown Minneapolis, I was a bit curious as to how long it would take me to get hit by a car. Well, I now have my answer.

I knew that if I were to be hit, it would most likely be on my way home and by a car that was turning left. When I'm headed home, I'm going east on Hennepin and I've got cars zooming right by me on my right going the same way as I am. There have been a few times where I was almost hit by a couple cars, and even a bus, when they were in the process of turning left; they were getting ready to turn and waiting for traffic to pass by in the opposite direction and they wouldn't see me coming up behind them and would almost hit me. But as I saw what they were doing, I was able to successfully avoid it. I wasn't as lucky today. But that's because I just didn't see it coming.
It was raining off and on today and had started up again as my last class finished. I was annoyed at the rain for I had to wait for it to slow down. I had ridden home in the rain before and I really do hate it, and besides, I had new pants on that I didn't want to get dirty because I wanted to wear them to see Tony that evening. I was about to walk to the bus stop and take the bus home when the rain let up, and so I hopped on my bike and started heading east on Hennepin. I had my hood up as it was still sprinkling a little and was a bit chilly. So in other words, my vision was obscurred on my sides; I could really only see what was right in front of me. I was about four blocks away from the bridge into downtown and was nearing a set of lights when suddenly this black car shot in front of me and started to turn left. Now...this boggles me...I mean, this car had been behind me, had passed me, and then had still proceeded to turn left. How could the person not have seen me? Anyways...so I saw what was coming, I knew what was going to happen. I don't freak out in situations like this, I just prepare myself. Since it was raining, I knew my brakes were just frankly useless for they don't really work when they're wet; the tire just slides along them. So I put on my brakes and started to veer left so as not to hit the car full on. I hit the back side of the car and that along with steering my bike left, my bike fell out under me and I slid along the street on my right leg. I remember watching the car, wondering whether the person would be an asshole and just go on, or if they'd stop. The person stopped. I got up and the first thing I did was look down at my pants and was annoyed that they had gotten dirty. Other than that, I just kind of laughed inside thinking, "I just fucking got hit by a car." (Well...sort of, I guess I hit it actually.) So then the light turns green and I look to see that I'm surrounded by cars. I mean, I just got hit, you saw it...just wait a little fucking bit! I heard a male voice behind me, "You ok?!" Some guy in a car had rolled down his window. I just smiled and said "I'm ok." The lady who had driven the car ran up to me with her hands on her horror-stricken face and she said, "Oh my god! Are you ok?" I just waved her off as I got back onto my bike. "Yeah, I'm alright." I said. She kept asking though, "You have any skull injuries, leg injuries?"
"No, I'm good." I said and I got onto my bike and just went on my way, smiling and laughing the whole way home."

I was a bit shaken up right after it happened, but most of all I thought it was funny. And besides, I didn't even get hurt by it. Right after it happened, I pulled my cell out and called Tony while biking. When he answered, I said, "Guess just what fucking happened to me?"

Oh wow, I got hit by a car.

Weekend Review

I went home to Iowa this past weekend, and alas, it wasn't quite as eventful as it usually is. On Friday I hung out with Jay for a few hours before he had to go to class. It was actually quite nice; it was just like how it used to be when we were good friends before we started dating. We were just talking about nonsense shit and I didn't even feel weird talking about all the boys that I had met in the past months and we even talked about his little drunk venture when he had sex with that chick I had mentioned in a previous post.
Instead of going out Friday night I decided to stay home. Thing is, I never just stay at home when I return to Iowa; I'm always going out. But this night I decided that I'd stay home, watch Conan and go to bed at midnight...just like the ol' times. : ) That evening while sitting around watching tv, and also while laying in bed, five different guys called me. Ross, Steve, JD ( a guy in my speech class), Brock, and Brandon - a kind of friend from State Center. I ignored every call, except for JD's, just because we just started talking and so I thought it rather rude to ignore him. Steve left a voice mail saying, "I thought we were supposed to fucking hang out this weekend. I don't know if you're mad at me or something. But anyways, call me back!" I just laughed as I heard that.
On Saturday I didn't do too much either. That night I headed into Ames to party with Rachel, but there was no real partying to be had. I just had a couple of pink lemonade with vodka drinks and got a little buzzed. Steve was there and we were talking and getting along and whatnot. Later on we headed into Steve's friend Ryan's room and Steve and I were sitting on this really small couch. I was trying to sit at the very end of the couch as to not get too close to Steve, so as not to give him the wrong idea. But he had his arm spread out over the top of the couch and a few times I felt his fingers caress my shoulder. This bothered me, but I let his pass for he never made any further move and he didn't persist in doing so for long. But after about the 4th time I pulled my shoulder down and said, "Steve, stop it!" He made some comment and threw a slight fit. And now as I saw today, he thinks I'm mad at him. No, I'm not fucking mad, just annoyed that he made that comment. I just didn't want Steve to touch me.
On Sunday, I took it easy and just lounged around at home for awhile. I took a walk with Rachel and her dog and we had a lovely conversation about relationships and such. And then I jogged and took a shower and got ready to go home.

And now I'm in Minneapolis. : )

Midnight Travel

It's 11:30 pm and I just biked home from work. I'm going to finish packing shit into my car and then I'll be headed off for Iowa.

A guaranteed good time.

I have stories to tell about boys and stupid things. It'll have to wait til I'm at a comp again though I guess. Blah...

IOWA!

Well Hello Alex, We Meet Again...

I saw Alex again last night at Target. For those of you who have forgotten who Alex is or just don't know, you can look back and familiarize yourself. (The post is titled "Creepity Creep.")

I was working stray last night at Target...in other words they set me free from the confines of my cash register and I was hooked up with a walkie and sent out with a cart to put stuff away that people had decided they didn't want. I headed back to the food area and suddenly I ended up in an aisle right next to Alex. Now, the only times we had ever talked had been the few times at Target, but yesterday when we saw one another, it was like we were great friends who hadn't seen one another in awhile. (True though, we hadn't seen one another in a while.) Alex asked, "How's it been since your break-up with your bf?"
I told him about how life was really good right now; I talked about how I had done a bit of dating and had met a lot of new friends. We talked about the weather and about me biking to work, we talked about my car and about how the transmission in it is dying. We talked about the summer and I told him about how I might just stay up in Minneapolis and experience summer up here.
At one point, Alex introduced himself to me again.
The conversation with him was really nice. He seemed happy to know that I was feeling better about things and such. Though I noticed, all the talking we did was mostly about me...hmm...I've got a potential stalker! (Yes....)
We probably talked for nearly 10 minutes and then he said he should let me go before I get yelled out. I told him to "come through my lane sometime" to which he replied "I'd love to."

Oh, I was such a giggle-fuck after this encounter!

Recent Going-Ons

Abel called me yet again the other day. And AGAIN he asked if I had "thought about it." I reiterated (sp?) that I was not looking for anyone, that I just did not want a relationship at this time. He still won't accept that and insisted, "I'll wait." So I asked Abel, "What if I end up with someone else?"
"I'll still wait."
He just doesn't get it. I also told him that he should find someone else. "I have." He said.
"Who is it?" I asked.
"You."
Argh!

I have developed a crush on a guy at work. It's not a big crush though, and nothing I'm taking too seriously as I've learned from my past few and recent experiences : do not take things too seriously. It's weird that I even like him. This guy works on the sales floor and I think it was pretty recently that he started cause I never really saw him around and he doesn't work all that often. I never really noticed him before; we had never talked as we don't really work around one another and I just viewed him as another Target worker. (Target Team Member! :) ) One night he came through my line; he was buying a microwave dinner for his break. I was just going to get him through and not really bring up conversation but then suddenly he did. Granted, it was work stuff, but still; he took that chance to talk. "You closing tonight?" He asked?
"Yep, fun stuff." I said in a horribly sarcastic tone. He went on to talk about how far the sales floor had got with their zoning and saying that it shouldn't be too bad that night. I then said to him, "Cool, well at least we get to participate in it together." I was being sarcastically sweet...if you can comprehend that. :) Later that night when I saw him while we were closing, we both looked at one another, our faces erupted in non-fake smiles and we said hi to each other. There was a crush.
The other night I biked to Target and I'm wearing but only short shorts and a tank top. I'm walking around where the cosmetics, dish soap and greeting cards are and I spot him as I walk by an aisle. I just walked right past and it would have been very obvious if I were to have just stopped and said hi. Secretly I'd hoped that somehow we'd be in the same aisle or something and then I could say hi. I was about to proceed to the check outs but knew I'd be disapointed with myself if I did only that. So, I headed back around the store, looking like I was looking for something and then came back around the aisle where I had spotted him. Well, no use not being obvious. He was in the middle of the aisle and I stopped and turned back and then came towards him. Yeah, "not" obvious. I just said, "Hey, how's it going?"
He seemed happy to see me. We started talking and I made sure to mention that I had biked to Target. The other night I saw him biking home so I felt this might spark his interest. We talked a little about music, about work, and other miscelaneous things. At one point I was looking away and when I looked back, I could see him looking me up and down, just checking me out. That was enjoyable. :)
So yeah, that's my crush, his name is Clay. I have no idea how old he is. I'm guessing around 24 but I could be wrong. He's super tall, has to be around 6'2. It's strange how we just started talking. I mean, we never talked or anything before and then BOOM!, we're talking.

Life is weird.

Quacked Up

You just have to read this!