WORK

Has been incredibly busy and stressful.  I'm supposed to get an hour lunch, but lately I've been eating at my desk instead to cram to finish some more stuff. Our marketing team of three people is putting together a 400 page catalog on a 3 month schedule without a manager. AAHHH. I feel like I have a million things to complete before we begin laying out the catalog next week, but I'm no where near completion on them yet.

Letterposie

Uh, I think the domain name or expired or something?  I'm not entirely sure, though I haven't even checked into it yet.  GoDaddy.com is who I registered the domain and hosting through, and usually they're awesome with communicating with me, but I didn't recieve anything from them with regard to that, so I'm not sure what's going on exactly.  I'll guess I'll look into it when I have time, sometime this century.

Wedding

April flew by and holy cow it's only three months away and holy cow I have shit-zero done. Location? Nope! Dress alterations? Nope!  I talked to my sister the other day too and she talked my ear off about the wedding - about centerpieces! and color themes! and a "special moment" with the groom before the ceremony!

I'm so thankful that she is willing to help, but hold on!  My list of "shit to arrange" was much shorter!  Location, alterations, cake, boquet, tux, dude to marry us, DONE.  No placecards, no centerpieces, no color themes, no special moments, no table linens.  My idea was this: ceremony on the beach or pond or whatever, go back to my apartment or rental cottage and sit on the couch and eat some cake and play guitar hero. Seriously. Is that totally unromantic?  I don't need all that stuff, I just need my friends and family there to witness Kyle and me finally tying the knot. 

FFXI

What? Did you read that title correctly?  Are you SURE? Cause I thought it said FFXI.  And FFXI being a title is totally not possible because I thought I had banished that game TO MY PERSONAL 7TH CIRCLE OF HELL. 

Well, turns out I had a dream about it a couple of weeks ago.  Without telling Kyle or Ehk about my dream, they had both mentioned wanting to play it again. On the same day! Without even talking to each other about it either! So I KNEW it was destiny.

We managed to get our accounts back last week and have been leveling up subjobs and wowowowoowowowow is level sync the most amazing feature ever.  Leveling subjobs has actually been enjoyable since we can just level together, no matter what level the person is.  Awesome. 

Content wise, FFXI kind of seems that it's on its last legs, but there's a lot of content that we haven't done yet, so we'll enjoy exploring that.  Hey, it's new to us, right?  I don't think we'll get the Crystalline Prophecy since it basically seems like a microtransaction thing (pay 10 bucks and get this body piece).  We did pick up WoTG though, so I've been spending my time level Scholar with Kyle's samurai, Ehk's White Mage and SAM, and Keagan's BLU.

 Kyle is away in Chicago for six days for training, which means I've been all alone for the week.  It's been kind of weird, as I've never been totally alone for this amount of time.  It's nice having Mercury around, at least.  I do really miss Kyle though - sounds so silly, since he's only been gone since Monday, but I haven't been without him for so long that his absence is making me feel really off balance.  It's really dissapointing to come home and not find him there - I mean, he is the reason that I fly out of the office as soon as the clock hits 5. His car is still in the side lot, so I always seem to forget for a moment that he's away and get excited for a brief second, until I remember that he's in Chicago.

LE SIGH. I know - all of that makes me sound like such a helpless female. SO BE IT.

DOUBT and SLUMDOG

I watched Doubt last night and really, really loved it.  It seems like a very carefully crafted movie.  The way the story was told reflected the story itself and the underlying themes. Meryl Streep was amazing and her character was pure awesome.  There just seem to be so many different ways you can interpret many details in the film and kept me up thinking about it last night. 

In contrast, I watched Slumdog Millionaire tonight, and while it seems to be an interesting story, it seemed almost thrown together. Maybe I'm missing something?  It won a ton of Oscars for a reason, right?  I just that it was ok. :(  What am I missing?

Well, the original plan was to play Prince of Persia, but Kyle is using the controller to play Last Remnant, so I've moved onto plan B.

American McGee's Alice flew into my radar a bit before Kyle and I started dating (probably a year or so after it was released in 2000 - I know, just realize the only games I played at the time had Mario in them). I expressed some interest in it, but didn't really know what the game was like at all - only that it was some twisted, dark version of Alice in Wonderland, which sounded pretty interesting to me.

So given that I'm working my way now through a very lengthy game list, I decided to give this a whirl.  I'm only a couple hours in, but so far I think the concept for the game is pretty interesting and the overall theme is really cool.  It's a platformer, which I don't have a ton of experience with, so I often find myself teetering on the edge of death - which has lead me to saving the game after every single monster I kill.  Not even joking.

We'll see if I decide to stick with it.  In other news, GRRRR at coworkers and GRRRR at not having a boss.

I finished Mass Effect Sunday night.  It's a great game and I had a lot of fun completing it.  I did most of the side missions, and in the end clocked around 30 hours.

Main Story - This was fantastic, obviously.  I loved how interactive it was and that your choices could change the course of the game.  I also enjoyed the different relationships you could cultivate and discovering the back stories of all of the different characters. It did take me a while to get into the sci-fi setting as I can't even recall ever playing a Sci-fi game before, but the detailed descriptions of planets, aliens, space ships, and more made it really easy to immerse myself and understand the setting. Also, my character was a badass.  She was an awesome, strong female lead.

Combat  - I wasn't sure how the combat was going to be, but it's really well done and very challenging. I played as a Sentinel/Medic.  This is not a game that you can plow your way through - you can pause in the middle of combat very easily and look at the situation and figure out your next move. This is probably why I enjoyed the combat so much - sometimes I have to take a break from a game if the fighting is too intense, but being able to carefully plan out what I wanted to do next really kept me from getting nervous while fighting.  Really fun.

Side Missions - These were kind of interesting little side stories, but sometimes it felt I was just trying to plow through them to get them checked off my list. I wish there was a little more to them, as they can't really compare at all to the main story line.

Graphics - This isn't the lastest and greatest graphically since it's a year or two old, but I thought some of the enviornments (especially Ilos) were gorgeous and the facial expressions on the characters blew me away. This added so much depth to the story and breathed life into these characters. On the various planents, I thought the skies were always well done, but the terrain on the planets seemed to really be lacking, especially compared to some of planents with main story involvement.

Negative - The only negatives for me really were that the side missions felt kind of empty and the inventory system.  You can only equip characters with items if they're in your current squad, or you have to run down to the bottom of your ship and go through all the different characters to see which equipment is an upgrade for who.  This gets old really fast.  There's also an item limit, and it gets annoying running through your equipment after each mission to figure out what to equip, who to equip it to, and what to sell.

Overall, great game, and looking forward to the second one.

Star Ocean

Kyle only had the last end game dungeon to run in order to complete the end game.  This dungeon is 20 floors and has no save points, and contains the best items and hardest boss in the game.  He set aside Sunday to work through it.  He started playing it around 11:30 and there he sat on the same position on the couch until 4:30. Just as he thought he was getting close to the top floor, we had a power surge and everything in the house reset. And how many times have we had a power surge before?  Never.  Awesome.

So now I think Kyle is done with Star Ocean.  Maybe he'll get the urge to finish that last dungeon someday, but I don't think it will be any time soon. :(

---

So now I'm figuring out which game to play next.  I think I'll play the newest Prince of Persia for something light and fun and goooooo from there.

 FIRED

Not me, thankfully, but my boss was fired last week. There hasn't been any clear explanation given as to why she was fired - she wasn't given one.  There were rumors going around a week or so before, but knowing that she didn't really help to improve the image she gave the president I guess.  

See, she found out the week before that her husband out of the blue wanted a divorce, and then found out that he was having an affair with his coworker.  She was screaming profanities at him on the phone during work (she doesn't have a private office, it's shared with the rest of the Marketing Department (which consists of 2 designers and 1 marketing assistant/PR person) along with spending a lot of her time checking his phone records at work.  

I mean, she's was very understandably upset (as I would be) and I know it must be hard to control your emotions when you have something like that happening in your personal life, but it seems like she didn't try to control herself at work with that regard and I know our President really doesn't like bringing personal problems or issues into work.

I was sad to see her go though - she's a really nice person and a big reason why I accepted the job.  So the three of us have been fending ourselves for the past week, trying to figure out what projects were going on and what we have to finish.  Right now we're working on the large task of putting together a 300 page catalog in a couple of months without a manager to guide everything. We have daily meetings in the morning and worked out a clear time line, which helped.  If we can't pull this project off though, we're probably all out of a job, so we'll see how it goes.

It gets a little frustrating trying to get work done because people are always coming into the office asking for little things, so it's impossible to just zone into one particular project.  I think once we get deep into working on this big catalog project, we're just going to shut the door so that me and the other designer won't be interrupted.

MIRROR'S EDGE

I beat Mirror's Edge last week, over a couple of nights during the week.  I didn't realize how much I enjoyed it until I beat the game and felt a pang of sadness from not being able to play the game anymore.  It was really frustrating at times (I required Kyle's guidance on a couple of parts), but I really enjoyed pretty much everything in the game.

Any parts where I encountered enemies though sometimes proved to be too intense for me and I would have to take a break to calm down (I know, but I don't really play any single player FPS so I'm not used to taking on a bunch of enemies alone in a first person view). 

MASS EFFECT

I purchased Mass Effect through Steam over the weekend and got started with that.  I really like how strong the female version of Shepard is - I was afraid she was going to be wishy washy like the majority of video game female leads. There's tons of extra story background to read, side quests, and planets to explore, so that's all been really fun so far.

Maybe I just suck, but I've found the combat to be challenging as well (I'm playing as a Sentinel too, which is pretty much a support class, so maybe that's part of it too).  I remember exploring this one planet and I kept dying to this one particular portion of enemies.  I quit the game for a couple hours, thinking I had perhaps stumbled on an area that I wasn't supposed to be at yet in the game or something.  But when I returned, after a couple more attempts I finally killed them and found out that it was all actually part of the story line.

When it comes to arranging my squad, equipment, mods, and talent points, I don't really know WTF I'm doing. I'm just hoping I don't screw up too bad and just guessing with everything.

STAR OCEAN

Kyle is over 80 hours in now.  He got the max level of 255 on all the characters and has completed the first dungeon and a lot of the arena.  I think all he has left now is the second dungeon and the bunny racing.  He might have to save the second dungeon for the weekend though, since there are no save points in it.

WORK

Work has been going well. The company I work for produces safety signage (you know: DANGER: Don't touch this or you will DIE; or CAUTION: Wet floor - those types of things) and they had a couple of people out for various reasons, so all of their orders were backed up.  So for the past two weeks, I've been helping the production department with orders.  It's a bit brain numbing, but hopefully this week I'll actually get to design some stuff for my department.

The only thing I don't like is that there seems to be some weird stigma about leaving right at 5 PM. I'm paid a flat annual salary, so I'm not compensated for overtime or staying late or anything, even if I do need to stay past 5 and finish up a project (yes, that sucks, but in this economy I took what I could get).  People like to linger around after 5 - the other designer in the department always stays way after 5 (usually 6 or 7), which I don't understand.  People kind of look at you funny if you bolt out the door right at 5. 

I asked my boss about this and she agreed with me.  She said, "Yeah, people are always looking to see who leaves first, but I have absolutely no problem being the first one out that door."  I'm glad she doesn't have an issue with leaving when I'm actually supposed to leave.  I like the people at work and everything, but when it's 5, I want to go home.  No way I'm staying longer if I don't need to.

WEEKEND

This Saturday Kyle and I were lazy and just stayed home all day, which was nice as we haven't been able to do that for a couple of weeks.

Today, we took Mercury to the dog park.  This time we went to a different one in a park in an area called Barrington, which is a swanky neighborhood in Rhode Island.  The park was a lot bigger than the one we normally go to and had quite a few more dogs, so Mercury was able to run around and play a lot.

We normally see a lot of pitbulls and pitbull mixes at our usual dog park, but here there were mostly purebreds.  We talked to a nice couple with a Welsh Corgi, saw a Great Dane that only wanted to chill out by her owners, Beagles, a Bloodhound, a chocolate Lab, an Irish Wolfhound, some German Sherperds, and more that I can't remember.  It was kind of cool to see all the different breeds.

Mercury seems to have somehow caught some tapeworms, so we went to the pet store to pick up some dewormer.  In the parking lot we saw this cute cute cute Newfoundland puppy - so fluffy!  He was really well behaved too.  So cute!

GAMES

We (meaning Kyle, I pretty much watched most of the time) "finished" Star Ocean 4.  It was good, there's a lot of depth to the game.  Kyle is going back now and doing all of the endgame stuff.  The story was ok - there weren't any major plot twists that you couldn't figure out way ahead of time, but I liked most of the characters.  Minus Sarah.

Right now I'm playing Mirror's Edge while Kyle is doing all the rest of the Star Oceans stuff. Mirror's Edge is pretty fun, though frustrating at times.  It's hard because they don't give you all the rules to begin with, so you don't know exactly what you can and cannot do. 

I was a little hesitant to try the game since the reviews I read were mixed, but I really enjoy the visual style and the challenging puzzles. 

I haven't gotten much of a chance to play my DS at work, but when I do I try to work my way though some Mario Kart, which I haven't touched at all really.

Saturday

Kyle and I took Mercury to the dog park on Friday afternoon, since it was a bit warmer - well, so we thought.  We're not used to how the temperature changes when you're close to the water, and the dog park is right next to the bay, so it was quite a bit colder and windier when we got there.

Mercury had a lot of fun though.  He had the most energy I've seen him have, and ran and played pretty constantly (normally he has spurts of energy and will just chill out for 10 minutes or so after) with the other dogs for almost an hour.  A couple of fights broke out between some other dogs, which is the first time I've seen any dog fight happen there.

It's interesting how you get to learn the dog's names, but never the owner's.  And when it comes to small chit chat, it's always about the dogs.

We took a short nap when we got back, and woke up to Mercury barking at us.  I figured he just wanted dinner, so I gave him his food and went back to bed to cuddle with Kyle.  Then I heard the sound of water being streamed onto the floor... Mercury peed all over the floor in the dining room. :(  I don't understand where this came from, seeing as he only has to go out to the bathroom twice a day usually, and he was out a lot more that day at the dog park and peed until he was dry there.  This is the second time he's done this since we got him.  The first time was an accident, as we were too slow to get him out in time, but the this time I don't understand.  I just hope this isn't a habit he is forming.

After I cleaned up the mess, Kyle took me out to dinner later that evening so we could celebrate - and, well, we haven't been out to dinner together since we moved here. We went to a restaurant called Cafe Romanzo, that we only knew about because Kyle had a coupon for (which we found out later did not apply on Saturdays).  I was a little bit wary that it would be kind of a cheap place, since it had "cafe" in the name, but it was actually really nice.  All of the lighting came from candles, so it was very romantic and intimate.  The food was delicious - we had some fried mozzarella for an appetizer, and for the main dish, I had lobster roll ravioli in a super yummy sauce and Kyle had some chicken covered in parmesean with some nice asparagus.

It was a really lovely dinner and I enjoyed going on a date with Kyle. I hope we make an effort to try to go out for dinner a bit more - maybe once a month or so.  There are a lot of great restaurants around here.  I can't wait until summer when all the seafood places by the beaches open up for business.

Sunday

I would have liked to relax a bit more (as I'm sure Kyle would have liked), but we had to go grocery shopping since we figured I wouldn't be able to do it during the week because of my new job.  We headed to Target too - I can't remember what originally for, I think to pick up some more socks for both of us - but ended up getting a couple of random things that we kind of needed, like shower caddy, a new soap dispenser, water bottles to bring to work, and a new bath mat.

I didn't really think much of the bath mat, but I keep walking over it and I've completely forgotten how nice carpet can feel since I've been walking on hardwood floors for the past 5 months. Wow! It's so nice! It really makes me want to get a rug now for the living room.  I'm sure Mercury would like it.

I also canceled my WoW account today, for a couple of reasons.  1. The game has hit a lull for me, where none of the content is new for me. 2. My time will be much more limited now, and I'd rather use that free time to be doing other things.  Perhaps I'll resubscribe when the new patch comes out, but we'll have to see.  I have a ton of unfinished games that I should start over and finish.


Work

We're getting a big snowstorm here (8 to 12 inches).  I was supposed to start today, but the HR lady called me up and told me to just come in on Tuesday, since people will probably be late to or missing from work on Monday because of the snow.  I thought that was nice and considerate.  I'm excited to start work, but a little nervous that I'll be rusty or below expectations.  We'll see.

I also have a mandatory 1 hour lunch break, which I'm not sure what I'm going to do with.  It was nice when I worked at the Cincinnati Recreation Commission because I worked downtown, so I could just go outside to the courtyard with the fountain and eat my lunch while reading a book.  But my new job doesn't really have any nice sit down space that I could go to when it warmed up.  I'm thinking about breaking out my DS and getting a couple of games for it and trying that out.  I don't know though - it never takes me an hour to eat lunch - never even a half hour, so I'm really unsure what to do with that sort of extra time.

Other stuff

I've set a tenative date for the wedding in early August.  After discussing it some with Kyle, we both agreed that it should be simple and small and it's not something that both of us should really have to stress over or spend a lot of money on. I'm hoping to look at locations in a couple of weeks and I need to get a move on with my dress alterations probably, since there's quite a bit that needs to be done.

I've made a small list in my head of things that I need to arrange for the ceremony, and have cut anything that I think will stress me out at this point - when I'm stressed, I'm unhappy, which makes Kyle stressed and unhappy, so there's no point in doing anything that will upset us in preparation for such a happy occassion.

Also, I'm not sure what to do with letterposie.com, now that I don't need it as a portfolio site (unless I don't pass the probation period for work - knock on wood). I stopped using the blog because of the constant spam I was getting in the comments and the fact that I didn't understand how to change the wordpress layout to my liking since I didn't understand all the wp tags and code. Should I turn it back into a blog?  Would anyone read it? Does it matter if anyone reads it?  Maybe I could try to take more pictures again? I don't know.

 Well, today was an interesting day with a lot of ups and downs.

Kyle's job security

Firstly, Kyle was told yesterday that they were going to lay off 50-60 people at the hospital he works at - you know the economy is in the shitter when hospitals have to cut people and pay.  He kept his job, but he did have to take his pay cut (it wasn't too big though - his department was the least hit). 

student loans

Secondly, I'm in the process of untangling the mess of student loans I have.  I have almost triple the amount I originally believed I have at this point.  It's really difficult not to get emotional about it when I'm on the phone, talking to people from my school and the lenders.  One person says this, another says that, the website says one thing, the statement I recieved in the mail says another.  At this point, I'm just trying to take it one step at a time.  

At first, I didn't even know where to begin to understand where all this money went (because I am certainly not 10,000 dollars richer, so I didn't get it) and was just too panicked to even really think about it.  Today, I finally felt in control and was able to contact the appropriate people without nearly bursting into tears. I'll be getting statements from my school, my bank, and my lenders, so hopefully once I have all of those documents in front of my face, I'll be able to see where the gaps are.  With any luck, I'll be able to clear away some of these loans, if I can prove that the school did not recieve the money and I did not recieve the money.

So when I woke up this morning, it was probably the first time since we moved here that I felt really, really unsure about our financial situation. I didn't know if Kyle would return home with a job and I had a massive amount of debt looming in front of me. Kyle was pretty sure that he would keep his job, since his department saves the hospital a lot of money, but wasn't completely sure since he was the new guy.

jjjjoooooobbbbb

But, something good did happen today! 

About four weeks ago I had an interview at a company that makes signage for a position as a graphic designer.  It went really well, and I was called back for a second interview with the president of the company.  I had trouble gauging how that interview went - I was so nervous and he didn't really ask me any of those typical interview questions.  That was on a Wednesday, and they told me they would let me know by the end of the week what their decision was.

Well, Friday rolled around and I hadn't heard anything.  I received an e-mail on Monday saying that, again, they would let me know by the end of the week.  Once again, I didn't receive an answer.  Despite that, I hadn't really given up hope as they had been good with keeping in contact with me and keeping me in the loop, so I couldn't imagine that they would hire someone else without informing me that I had not gotten the position.

That Friday (or maybe it was Monday?), Kyle saw a newly listed ad from this same company, for the same position I had interviewed for.  At the bottom the salary was listed at 9.50 and hour, which was a lot less than I had stated on my salary requirements. I was livid! How could they lead me on like that for weeks if I was asking for more money than their budget would allow?  I mean, that's the whole point of the salary requirements thing, right?  So you don't waste your time with someone that is asking for too much. I had even negotiated down from my original salary requirement quite a bit.  I felt cheated of all the time I had spent just thinking about it.

I still had a tiny sliver of hope though, and I received an e-mail on Tuesday saying that they would let me know by the end of the week for sure, and that it was between me and one other candidate.  

I had been checking my e-mail constantly all day.  Almost all of our communication had been done through e-mail at this point, so I figured that I would probably be told about the job via e-mail as well.  I was talking to my mother when I heard I had another incoming call, but decided to ignore it since 1. generally I find it rude to just ask the person you're currently talking to call you back because someone else is calling and 2. she was upset, as she recieved the autopsy report on my uncle and it contained some disturbing information, so I just didn't want to leave her on the other end of the phone, crying.

I checked my voice mails shortly after, and got recieved one from the HR person at the company, saying they wanted me to call them back.  At that point, I figured that I had gotten the job - I mean, if someone didn't get the position, you'd rather just tell them on a voice mail, right?

SO, to wrap it up, I called her back and she offered me the job!  The salary is less than what I had wanted originally and it's a lot less than Kyle makes, but with my field being so competitive and designers not being in demand because of the economy, I almost will take anything at at this point.  I mean, I've been searching for 5 months now, applying to anything and everything that sounds remotely like graphic design, with only three interviews in my pocket (and I don't have a poor resume really, I have a lot of experience compared to some people). I have a good vibe about the company and I think I'll enjoy the work I'll be doing.  Also, it's nothing that completely new and foreign to me - I feel pretty capable that I can get the job done.  I'm just really happy I was able to find a job doing something that I like doing.

It's very exciting, because now that we'll have two incomes, we'll be able to start putting away money for a house and I can actually afford to have a decent wedding. AND I CAN BUY NEW BEDDING. AND A PANINI PRESS. AND NEW BLINDS. AND A ZUNE. The lame thing is that I work from 8 to 5, with a half hour commute, and Kyle works from 8 to 4 with a 5 minute commute.  And poor Mercury will be home all by himself all day - all though, I don't think he'll mind too much. He sleeps most of the day when I home anyway, so I think it will just take him a while to even notice that I'm gone.

 I've been in a tv/movie watching mode lately.

Religulous - Great.  Amusing commentary on the absurdity of organized religion. It's hard to believe that such people exsist in the world.

Rachel Getting Married - Reminded me a lot of my family, though I'm sure it reminds everyone of their family. Some of the details seemed unrealistic, but overall I enjoyed it.

When Harry Met Sally - Why have I not watched this movie earlier?  I really enjoyed all the characters in this film.

Knocked Up - Meh. I didn't really find it that funny.  Kyle just liked the guy with the beard.

About a Boy - Again, meh. Interesting twist on a typical "romantic comedy", but I didn't find it too funny or touching.

Donnie Darko - Weird, yet cool.  The whole primary universe/tangent universe thing was weird, but made for an interesting movie.  I wish the website was still up, that supposedly had a bunch of other extra tidbits on it.

The Godfather Part I and Part II - Awesome.  Not "this movie changed the way I think about movies" awesome, but still awesome. 

Arrested Development - Just finished Season 1 and whydidn'tIwatchthisearlier? SO FUCKING FUNNY.  Just the characters and complete randomness crack me up.  I LOVE the character of Lucielle Bluth, every word that comes out of her mouth is comedy gold.

Big Love - I just started watching this, so it's hard to judge at this point.  It seems interesting so far.

Kyle and I had a nice evening.  He found these cupons for some free subs at Quizno's, so we picked up some sandwiches there and also bought Star Ocean.  There's a lot of depth and a nice level of complexity to the battle system and character leveling.  We're only three hours in (out of 3 discs, so that's probably like 60 hours+), but I'm enjoying it so far.  I also like that the lead female character isn't a total wimp or a healer type, but can actually dish out some decent damage.

Some of the art direction seems a little confused, with any important "good" characters having a more anime look, and the rest of the characters looking more "realistic." Also, one of the font choices is really, really bad. Letters like T, I, L, M are way thinner than letters like O, U, S - and letters like S, E, and L are very very rounded, while letters like M and T are completely geometric, with no curves whatsoever.  Thankfully, this font is only used for menu headers or at the start of battles, so I don't have to glare at it too much.

Oh, to live a thousand miles away from my family.  How sweet it is.  It seems I can only have a normal relationship with my father, as my mother likes to blame me for her financial troubles and my sister likes to blame me for her failure in school.

I don't really feel like recalling all of the drama, but I think my mom and my sister resent me or are jealous of me for moving away.  I do not understand why they feel the need to involve me in the drama. Yes, I am part of that family, but I live 17 hours away.  I don't really need to be involved in the bullshit.  I do not understand why my mother will call me up just to complain about my father, my sister, my grandma, her life, the dogs, anything and everything, how life is so terrible. I. Do. Not. Want. To. Hear. It.  That's probably wrong - I should be willing to lend a willing ear, be a GREAT LISTENER, but I'm tired of listening to negativity.

Since I've moved, I've been the most emotionally stable I've ever been in my entire life.  No family drama! No stress from school!  Just me, just wonderful Kyle, just lazy Mercury. 

Every single day here is so calm and laid back.  We do exactly what we want to do, when we want to do it.  Want to play video games for a few hours? Sure! We won't get yelled at for not doing another activity.  Want to sleep from 6 to 10pm?  No problem!  No one will barge into the room and start screaming about other things we should be doing rather than sleeping.  It's relaxing. It's healthy.

The only way drama does enter my life right now is through the phone. And thankfully, I can just choose to ignore it or hang up on it. Perhaps that's wrong, by my sanity demands it. I am devouring all the peace and calm I can, after not having it for the past 22 years.  After moving out, I've realize how fucking insane my family is, and I hope the family that Kyle and I create will be nothing like it.

That didn't all really flow together in a coherent manner, but whatevs.