KirstenL4W

I got a few answers, but there are still some quotes that no one got on my Guess That Quote post.  Since I figure you’re all guessed out, and distracted with news of my upcoming wedding, here are the rest of the answers:

1. I heard that Hell is when all your dreams come true.  This one is from Ruby in Paradise - an excellent movie - Ashley Judd’s first, but unfortunately it’s not available on DVD unless you have a Region 2 DVD player.

2. If I feel you’ve changed, I’ll tell you.  I’m honest.  Unlike some people, I tell it like it is.  With all the Aussies that read my blog, I’m surprised no one got this.  It’s from Muriel’s Wedding.

6. I’m so rich, I wish I had a dime for every dime I had.  This is an oldie - it’s from Arthur, in which Dudley Moore plays a hysterically drunk, wealthy man.

8. Listen up, you little spazoids!  I know where you live and I’ve seen where you sleep.  I swear to everything holy that your mothers will cry when they see what I’ve done to you!  Tommy Boy!  I love this movie; it seems to get funnier every time I see it.

10.  We’ve come for your daughter, Chuck.  This one’s from Beetlejuice.  I remember this line so well because my friend Belching Biker Babe nearly made me drown from laughter when she uttered this line as I was diving into the pool.

12.  If word got around that I had been liberated for half a million dollars, I could never show my face in polite society again.  Diamonds have no value except that which is placed upon them.  Everyone girl who loves Ewan MacGregor and his delightful accent should see this movie - A Life Less Ordinary.

14.  Dear Lord, we ask that you bless this food to the nourishment of our bodies.  And we ask forgiveness, Lord, for the fornication that Mr. Sprock and me committed this morning on this very table.  Where the Heart Is, which is one of my favorite chick flicks.

Way to go everyone who participated.  I’ve also had fun reading the quotes and answers that everyone else has put on their blogs.  It’s funny how something like this can give you a major case of brain block, isn’t it?

Alyndabear has a meme of sorts on her blog about movies. Since I got one right, I thought I’d post it here.

• Pick 15 of your favorite movies
• Go to IMDB and find a quote from each movie
• Post them here for everyone to guess (One guess per person please - don’t be trying to steal the spotlight!)
• Strike it out when someone guesses correctly in the comments, and put in who guessed it and the movie.
• No Googling, IMDB or otherwise searching online or I will hunt you down and bitchslap you!!!!

1. I heard that Hell is when all your dreams come true.
2. If I feel you’ve changed, I’ll tell you. I’m honest. Unlike some people, I tell it like it is.
3. You made a woman meow? When Harry Met Sally. Yay Puppie!
4. Only one thing in the world could have dragged me away from the soft glow of electric sex gleaming in the window. A Chrismas Story. Way to go Amy!
5. I like to smile. Smiling’s my favorite. Elf. Amy again!
6. I’m so rich, I wish I had a dime for every dime I had.
7. Chickens! You guys have chickens! Are they extra crispy or original recipe? Son in Law. Oh No Amy!
8. Listen up, you little spazoids! I know where you live and I’ve seen where you sleep. I swear to everything holy that your mothers will cry when they see what I’ve done to you!
9. Everybody’s born knowing all the Beatles lyrics instinctively. They’re passed into the fetus subconsciously along with all the amniotic stuff. Fact, they should be called “The Fetals”. Sliding Doors. Hooray Robyn!
10. We’ve come for your daughter, Chuck.
11. No, no. Psychopaths kill for no reason. I kill for *money*. It’s a *job*. That didn’t come out right. Grosse Pointe Blank.  Yay Robyn!
12. If word got around that I had been liberated for half a million dollars, I could never show my face in polite society again. Diamonds have no value except that which is placed upon them.
13. I looked into it more deeply and I found that apparently what happened is that he was laid off five years ago and no one ever told him about it; but through some kind of glitch in the payroll department, he still gets a paycheck. Office Space. Did you all know that Amy just had an adorable little baby?
14. Dear Lord, we ask that you bless this food to the nourishment of our bodies. And we ask forgiveness, Lord, for the fornication that Mr. Sprock and me committed this morning on this very table.
15. “My water just broke!” “But we’re on a dam!” Fools Rush In. Yay for Alyndabear!

Yes, please.

Boyfriend and I have been trying to save some money by not eating out as much. However, when the weekend rolls around we are usually out of the proper foods to make a meal and in no mood to go grocery shopping, so we end up eating out. Saturday night we opted for LoneStar Steakhouse. We’ve been there before, and I used to eat there a lot when I worked for Mad Scientist, and have never had a bad experience. Until now.

We ordered our drinks, the usual diet sodas. After more than a few minutes went by, we still had no sodas and I was starting to get the feeling that this was the wrong choice in food joints. A few seconds after I mentioned this to Boyfriend, the manager on duty came by and said they were having trouble with the CO₂ line on the diet soda and offered us something else to drink. We made our selections, and were also offered a free appetizer for our wait and inconvenience. Since we already ordered one, it was taken off our bill.

The server came around to take our dinner orders. Boyfriend placed his order, and I placed mine. I was ordering the Sweet Bourbon Salmon - a dish I had ordered many times before and have had good luck with. When I told the server what I wanted, she informed me that they cook it medium, and asked if that was ok. Excuse me? I told her that I wanted it cooked the way salmon is supposed to be cooked - all the way through. There are no degrees of done-ness with salmon - just raw, done, and leather. It should be cooked until it is opaque and flakes easily with a fork. After a few minutes of me making it perfectly clear that I wanted my fish COOKED and Boyfriend telling me to calm down, the server went to put our orders in. When our dinner arrived at the table, they asked me to cut into it to make sure it was the way I wanted it. It was not. My salmon was still translucent and a very different color on the inside. It finally came back a few minutes later, cooked properly and the manager on duty apologizing profusely and offering to take it off the bill. In the end, we only ended up paying for Boyfriend’s dinner and drink (I drank water). We also agreed that we would not be visiting LoneStar again for a long, long time if ever.

Now, I know that there are some fish varieties that do have degrees of done-ness. Sushi is one thing I refuse to eat. I don’t eat raw fish, and I don’t eat cold fish. Ahi tuna is another one that I’ve seen served rare - seared on the outside and raw in the middle. Again, not something I’ll eat. Until Saturday evening, I’ve never heard of salmon being cooked any other way than all the way. I have salmon quiet frequently at home and when eating out, and have never had it offered to me any other way than DONE. I did end up going to LoneStar’s website and letting them know how appalled I was at the restaurant offering undercooked seafood. I’ll probably get some coupons in the mail.

After the dinner debacle, Boyfriend and I went home to watch a movie. We ended up watching Dogma - one that I’ve never seen before but Boyfriend has. It was quite funny, but there was a lot to it. I’ll probably have to watch it a bunch more times to get a lot more of the jokes. Boyfriend says that being subjected to Catholic school as a kid helped him understand it more, and thinks that Catholics (current and former) will have a better understanding of the movie than Protestants and non-Christians. I myself am Lutheran but didn’t have a formal religious education growing up, but that’s a story for another time. In any case, a funny movie, some ice cream, and the company of Boyfriend at home were all that was needed to turn a bad outing into a good evening.

Has anyone seen this movie? Boyfriend and I bought it the other night and decided to watch it. It was rude, crude, and the main character managed to offend every single person he came across. No one was safe from his offensive ignorance - women, men, children, gays, straights, Jews, Christians, Americans, other nationalities, the rodeo, southern hospitality - like I said, everyone he came across. It was a fish out of water story taken to the extreme, with hilarious results. Yes, that’s right. It was hilarious. If you can see this as a movie for pure entertainment value and have the ability to laugh at how ridiculous his stereotypes are, then you will enjoy this movie. It is pure comedic genius, and I highly recommend it to anyone who can take a joke. Boyfriend and I almost puked we were laughing so hard.

Google Reader it is. Thanks for the advice, everyone. I already have the Google toolbar, so this makes it easy, and all the blogs I love to read are there. It’s made my blog reading so much quicker now that I don’t have to go to my own blog and click on all the links in my blogroll. There are only 3 blogs (indicated in my blogroll by a *) that don’t have feeds (Mist1, I’m talking to you!) so I still need to remember to come here and actually read them the old-fashioned way.

I’m still contemplating a complete move over to Google, including my main email address. That will take a bit more time to think over, because I’ve had my current email for about 8 years now, so old habits die hard. Like I said, still looking into that.

Last night Boyfriend and a bunch of our friends went to see The Rocky Horror Picture Show. I’ve seen the movie, but never seen it live, so it was quite the experience. It wasn’t at all what I expected, either. The crowd was way rowdier than I thought they’d be, and since the venue doesn’t allow the audience to bring in props, they sell their own weenie-bag of props for $1. The bag included a piece of newspaper, a few sheets of toilet paper, 3 playing cards, a party hat and noisemaker. No toast, no rice, no squirtguns, none of the good stuff.

The rest of this week has been fairly uneventful. The remodel continues in my department at work, though my cube is done and I have settled in. The heat continues to wear me down, even though I don’t spend much time in it. Twice this week I’ve come home from work and taken very long naps. That totally screws up my routine, so I can’t do that anymore. Ah, and yes, I’m sure you want an update on the whole leaky sink issue. The sink is fixed and doesn’t leak, even though the ill-fitting drain assembly looks like shit. The cabinet, on the other hand - well, the cabinet directly under the sink was “fixed” by maintenance laying down a new layer of thin parquet to cover up the damage. It’s still warped, and the mold is still there, just covered up. Absolutely no attention was taken with the cabinet directly next to the sink that was also affected, so this is still unusable. We’re gonna go talk to them to see what they want to do about this. Should I mention that we’ve both been feeling a bit stuffy and congested the past few days?

So that’s about that for now. Today we’ll try to see the new Harry Potter movie with some friends. I’m not that huge a Potter fan, I’ve never read a single one of the books, but I’ve seen the movies thus far, thanks to my wonderful Boyfriend. So that’s the goal for today: Harry Potter, don’t forget to eat due to our lazy asses around the house this afternoon or our busy schedules later, and try to get to bed at a halfway decent hour so we don’t start the week in a major sleep deprived state.

Ok, so I wasn’t tagged, but sometimes I have an insatiable urge to do these things. So here goes: (thanks, Gouda)

1. The last movie you saw in a theatre, and current-release movie you still want to see. Last movie in a theater: Little Miss Sunshine. Go see it, it was hysterical and sweet. I never laughed so hard. This is one that I eagerly await the DVD release of. Current movie still to see: Last Kiss. I loved Garden State, and the soundtrack, so I really want to see what Zach Braff has put together for us this time.

2. The last movie you rented/purchased for home viewing. Rented? I can’t remember, it’s been so long. Shopgirl maybe? Purchased, that would be Pushing Tin. It was in the cheapo bin at War-Mart, and I’ve never sat down and watched the whole thing. I do like to go to the airport when I have free time; there’s a parking lot on Sunset Rd that gives you a really good view of the 7/25 runways, plus you can tune your radio to listen to tower communications. Since Las Vegas is a busy airport, it’s pretty fun.

3. A movie that made you laugh out loud. Little Miss Sunshine, again. Also Tommy Boy, Office Space, Napoleon Dynamite, Benchwarmers, and other similar stupid movies.

4. A movie that made you cry. I cry a lot at movies. But let’s see, favorite movies to turn on the waterworks? Simon Birch, Beaches, The Man in the Moon - and those are just from my collection.

5. A movie that was a darling of the critics, but you didn’t think lived up to the hype. That would have to be Sideways. I turned it off halfway through. I just couldn’t get into it. Usually I like critically acclaimed movies.

6. A movie that you thought was better than the critics. Honestly, I can’t think of one right now. My head is spinning and blank at the same time with movie titles going through it, but I can’t think of any in particular that I liked that were panned.

7. Favorite animated movie. Cinderella, the original Disney version. It’s a classic.

8. Favorite Disney Villain. Favorite villain? I’m always focused on the prince!

9. Favorite movie musical. The Sound of Music. The hills are alive…

10. Favorite movies of all-time (up to five). Ok, five then. Ruby in Paradise, Muriel’s Wedding, When Harry Met Sally, A Christmas Story, and, well, I can’t think of a fifth one right now.

Now, who to tag with this one? Everyone!!!!! Ha ha ha, I am so mean!

I love the Short Circuit movies. Watching Johnny Five on his zealous quest for input is hysterical. I’ve actually been to the World’s Biggest Bookstore featured in the second movie. It’s in Toronto, not New York, and it is pretty big. It has all the charm of a supermarket. Anyhoo, I am constantly searching out new stuff for my blog and of course looking for new blogs to read and keep me entertained. I made a few changes to my sidebar today. First, in the interest of neatness, I moved Macoosh’s link to the top of my blogs section. Since it’s different from the regular text links, I just think it looks better if it’s not in the middle. Also, in my Stuff I’ve Mentioned section, I moved the clock out above it. I put the two bolded links at the top, to make them even easier to find. And since AJ asked me for a little technical help on a couple of her links, I thought the best way to figure it out was to play around with it on my blog. I got her issue figured out, and since her new links are so different and stand out so well, I put them together at the bottom of the links section. While I was at it, I also stole a cute little thing from her sidebar to use in mine - it’s below the calendar.

In one of my emails to her today, I had to be funny and rework a quote from a movie into one of my own. I’ve also put that at the bottom of my sidebar. I love that my sidebar keeps getting longer and longer. I’m also trying my hardest not to have a bunch of irrelevant crap on it like some blogs do (no one that I know, though). And my biggest accomplishment, I think, is that the sidebar is next to the actual posts, not way far down at the bottom of the page. Knowing a thing or 2 about the size of stuff helps, because if you put something too wide in your posts, then it pushes the sidebar down like that. It drives me nuts when I have to scroll waaaaay down to see someone’s sidebar.

I stayed at work nearly an hour late tonite because I was cleaning out some file cabinets that were basically the equivalent of junk drawers. Now it’s so neat everyone will be afraid to touch it, which is the way I like it. It won’t get messed up again.

I do have a huge list of things I want to get done around the house this weekend, plus other computer-related pursuits like cleaning up and re-organizing my bookmarks. And of course I have a huge list of websites I want to check out and see if they’re any good. We’ll see how much of that I actually get done. Right now, I’m just gonna sit in front of the tube.

I finally went to see Little Miss Sunshine tonight. Thanks, Macoosh, for the recommendation. It was excellent - the kind of excellent that has one scanning the new DVD releases so as to buy it the minute it goes on sale. Here’s the trailer:

A terrific ensemble cast, and Steve Carell has never been better. I can’t say enough good things about this movie, so you should just all go out and see it, unless you have something against smart, independent films. But I don’t, and I thought this was hilarious - funnier than Tommy Boy. Funnier than Elf. Even funnier than The Forty Year Old Virgin. Those movies played up the comedy for the specific reason of labelling the movie a comedy. This movie had such a sense of realism to it and excellent character development, and that touch of reality is what made it so much funnier. Just go see it.

Now for the TV part. I don’t usually like to invite heated discussions by bringing up controversial topics because frankly, I have my opinions, you have yours, let’s just leave it at that. But documentary filmmaker Morgan Spurlock of SuperSize Me fame has a tv series on F/X called 30 Days, where he tries to, at the very least, get people to open their minds up about opposing viewpoints by immersing them in some type of foriegn culture for 30 days. I do realize that with any documentary, there are editorial liberties taken, but this show is very thought provoking and does its best to show both sides of the issue at hand fairly. If you get a chance to watch it, I highly recommend it.

Now, I want to know WTF is up with my broadband connection. My tv is working just fine, but my internet has been a bit wonky the past few days. I’ll be surfing online and all of a sudden my connection goes out. My modem looks just fine, all the lights are one, but I have to reset it and sometimes restart my computer. It’s really freaking annoying, but I’m hesitant to call the cable company because the modem reset works for at least a few hours, so the not-so-brilliant people at tech support won’t be able to get to the root of the problem. It’s just really annoying.

Well, it’s after 9 now and I still have to eat some dinner. I also thought of a use for the little pineapple snack cups that I bought a while back and haven’t touched. I’m gonna make Pina Coladas! I bought some pineapple sherbet and coconut rum, and I’ll crank up my little single cup blender and makes me a frozen drink. I don’t drink a lot and don’t know what’s in a real pina colada, but this will do the trick just fine. Cheers!

Man I wish my mom had a wrist rest for her keyboard like I do. But she learned to type normally whereas I learned on a computer, so she doesn’t need one.

Anyway, let’s see. Yesterday I took Bubba to the movies to see Talladega Nights at Chunky’s. It’s a cinema pub, and they have pretty good food. We couldn’t decide what to eat so we ended up with the appetizer sampler platter, aka the Clueless Platter, Episode 2. All their menu items are named after movies and actors. The movie itself was pretty good, but other Will Ferrell movies are better, IMO. Bubba enjoyed it. After the movie we stopped in at my dad’s garage, since it’s right across the street from Chunky’s, and hung out for a little bit. Bubba didn’t want to go to football practice, because since his mom and me are both in town he wants a total vacation from life. So it ended up that he will go to practice on Tuesday instead, but that meant that my dad had to tell the wicked stepmonster that the plans have changed, so a minor war broke out over that. But we got more time with Bubba, so that’s cool. After we left the garage we went to my Gram’s house. Her birthday is coming up in a few weeks, and I had a present for her that I wanted to give her. We spent a couple hours there before heading off to dinner - my stepdad wanted to have the whole family go out to dinner. I had plans with Belching Biker Babe, but since I’ve known her for just about 20 years now (OMG!!!! I’m getting old!) he said it was cool that she came along. So all of us piled into the Olive Garden for a nice family dinner.

After dinner I wanted to stop into the bookstore, but Messy J wanted to come home with me so I took her to the bookstore. I let her look around the kid’s section at her leisure and she finally selected a Disney Princess sticker book and stickers, and it all comes in its own handy carrying case. Not as educational as I would have liked, but she liked it. I just got a magazine because it was getting late and I didn’t want to bore her silly while I looked at grown-up books. Then it was home, tv, bed, blah blah blah.

I’m not sure what’s in store for today, I might just do a little shopping or something. Definitely gotta fit Newbury Comics in there somehow. Tonite I’m going to my friend’s house to catch up and meet her family (her new family - I already know her parents, sisters and a few others). Tomorrow begins the running around of dropping off borrowed cars and saying goodbye.

Time to get in the shower now and head out for the day.

So, where was I? Oh yes. Had dinner last night with Aunt Bird and Uncle N Period. Mom made some kick-ass ribs that were so tender a straw was needed to eat them. I also presented Aunt Bird with her present. It was a talking parrot keychain, but it says really rude things. “Polly wants a fucking cracker! Polly wants a fucking cracker! Give Polly a fucking cracker NOW!!!!” It was hilarious. Her birds don’t talk, but if they hear that keychain that’s probably going to be what they say. Aunt Bird’s mother will come over and one of the birds will greet her with, “Show us your tits!” She’ll be appalled, while Uncle N Period is in the other room laughing like a teenage boy. Anyway, it was a lovely evening and we all watched some television and staggered off to bed. I slept pretty well, too, which was a refreshing change of pace.

This morning I got up, had some juice, sat around talking to my aunt and uncle while my little bro Boo was running around. Then went up to take a shower, which was also refreshing since I didn’t shower yesterday (took the red eye flight and never got a chance to cleanse). Aunt Bird and Uncle N. left while I was in the shower, so Mom and I took Boo to get a haircut. I also needed a haircut and of course had to put in an appearance with one of my bestest friends, Belching Biker Babe. She cut Boo’s hair even though he kept moving his head and was really fussy because he was hungry, then she cut my hair and made a big announcement every time she found a grey one. Yes, I’m in my 30’s. It’s inevitable that my hairs will one by one turn grey and no, I’m not going to dye my hair. Once you start, you can’t stop, so I’m not gonna start. I have better things to spend my money on. Anyhoo, since Belching Biker Babe was working we made plans for Monday and Mom, Boo and I went off to have lunch. Boo was ready for a nap so he was really fussy, but it was 2:00 and I didn’t even have breakfast, so I was pretty starving. We had a decent meal and came back to the house, then I took off for the mall while Mom put Boo down for a nap. I had some presents to buy.

Since I know that Bubba and Messy J don’t read my blog, I’ll spill about what I bought. Messy J was a bit easier, since she just got a Builder Bear (aka Build-a-Bear) for her birthday. She wanted the red wig, since she wants Peppermint to have the same color hair as her, and I also got her a new outfit and shoes. I also have a few other things for Messy J that I’ve been saving up over the past few months, so she’ll get those tomorrow too.

Bubba is a bit harder to shop for since he’s hitting that all-important age: 13. That means he’s a fussy teenager who only likes to play video games and hang with his friends. Well, Aunty don’t play that. I prefer something a bit educational, or at least something the rest of the family can enjoy. I know he loves Napoleon Dynamite, so I got him some ND lip balm, and the $1 gift I found the other day was the ND talking keychain. I’m pretty sure he already has the movie, since he knows it by heart, so I got another movie I know he likes: Benchwarmers. He’s never actually told me he likes this movie, but since it’s his theme on his AIM, I figured it’s safe to say he’ll enjoy this gift. I’m also taking him to the movies on Monday to see Talladega Nights, which I think we’ll both enjoy.

Tomorrow my mom his hosting a birthday party for both Bubba and Messy J, with special appearances by Aunty and Mom. Yes, my sister just flew into town this evening. She’s preggers, so she used this to her advantage to get priority boarding. Her belly isn’t quite that big yet, since she still has about 4 months to go, but my goodness, my tiny twig of a sister has got herself some amazing B00Bs! Too bad they’ll turn back into deflated balloons after the baby is born and she stops nursing.

When Mom and I went to pick up Sis at the airport, we decided to play a little joke on Mom. Sis and I went potty and when we were heading back to baggage claim, I got the idea to call Mom on her cell and freak her out. This was even funnier because the airport here isn’t that large. I called her and kept asking her where the heck she was, trying to make it sound like I was all panicky because she was lost. The whole time I could see her because I wasn’t that far away, hiding behind the information booth. The lady at the info booth was cracking up watching this. Mom was asking me if I could see the lady with the Mickey ears, and I was like, “What Mickey ears? Mom, did you get on a plane again? We’re not going anywhere, we are here to pick Sis up!” It was hilarious.

Anyway, tomorrow is the cookout, then afterwards my cousin and I are supposed to go out. I can’t wait to see his vagina gut. See, he’s a stunt motorcycle rider and he had a bit of an accident - something about 80mph, bike on top of him and road rash. He ended up with a wound that the doctors couldn’t or wouldn’t close and the nurse had to come to his house twice a day to clean it. I’ve seen pictures of it. All I can say is GROSS. At least he didn’t hit his head.

I’m not posting my spending right now, but I’m kinda keeping track. I’ll try and post an update when I get home and I’m entering stuff into Quicken. In the meantime, I’ll try and keep track of it all, at least the cash part.

Time to get going now. I should probably go see what stupid movie my nephew picked out to watch. Later, y’all.

First of all, you’re probably wondering why the heck I moved here in the first place. Well, if you’ve ever been to Vegas, the thought of moving here has probably crossed your mind. Either that or you know someone who’s moved here and loves it. There are over 5000 people per month who move here. Not everyone stays, but still, the growth here is unbelievable.

As for me moving, you could say it was my life’s dream to move far away. When I was in elementary school in my not-so-small town, occasionally we’d get a new student - someone who moved there from far away. And once in awhile one of my classmates would move away. I always wanted to be that person, if for no other reason than the anonymity. Remember what I said about everyone knowing my name? Well, here’s part of why my family is so well known in town: my dear grandmother worked for the school system, and was the secretary of my elementary school. Oh yeah. I could NOT get away from it.

Now don’t get me wrong. It’s not like I have some deep dark secrets that my family can’t know about. I’m not a troublemaker for whom the family name keeps getting in the way (that would be my sister). I’m a pleaser, teacher’s pet, whatever you want to call it. Basically, I was a good kid, always trying to make all the adults around me proud. But I wanted to know what it’s like to live somewhere else. Not just to live somewhere else, but to move, to go through that process, to be the new kid in school. Kind of a weird life’s dream, eh?

In high school, I got a bit of a chance. My parents are divorced, and my mom lived about 20 minutes away. Halfway through high school, I went to live with my mom, so I had to change schools. That satisfied the itch for awhile, but get this - 3 other people in my graduating class were from my hometown. I wasn’t a complete unknown. Oh well.

Now on to college. I was aiming for a particular school over 1000 miles away, mainly because it had a campus in the UK and the study abroad was an option, and I really wanted to go. But of course my dad, who was paying for school (and btw, never really taught me to work hard and make and save my own money), was not keen on the idea of me going far away to school. So I ended up going to school in the next town. It was ok, but I still would have preferred to go away to school.

After college, with my associate degree in liberal arts in hand, I was well prepared for a career in - um, what? No clue. So life became a series of retail jobs until I couldn’t take it anymore. I signed up with a temp agency and got into administrative work. I don’t care for that either, but the hours are so much better and if you find a good place to work, like I have, then the job can actually be fun.

I also spent a lot of time not doing much else - I’d take drives to listen to music and clear my head, and I watch movies and TV a lot. I found a movie at the video store that really brought back my feelings of wanting to move. It’s an independent flick called Ruby in Paradise. Perhaps you’ve heard of it. I rented it so many times that I realized it would be less expensive to buy it, so I did. I still have that video, but I must burn it to DVD. It’s not out on DVD, and I really wish it would be. Anyway, it’s about a young woman striking out on her own. No real climax to it - it moves kinda slow as independent moves are known to do. But it struck a really deep chord with me.

I started fantasizing about moving away. I made plans, what to bring with me, how to pack, etc. I had this romantic idea about bringing only what I could fit in my car, which at the time was a 1988 Toyota Celica. Quite tiny, so my options were limited. The only thing I couldn’t figure out was where to go. I had a few ideas in mind, but none seemed practical. I also had too many ideas floating in my mind to be able to pick one. Also, this is before the internet was widely in use so being able to research any of the potential destinations was not easy. In the end, I decided to wait until I could figure out where to go, and also to figure out exactly why I was going. I felt too much like I was running away, and I didn’t want to get into a pattern of always moving away somewhere.

So over the years I worked the above mentioned retail and office jobs. Then something happened which meant I had to get out of my parent’s house (I had spent my adult life living with either my mother or my father, depending on which suited me). Now I was scared poopless because I had never lived on my own before, and I didn’t think I could afford to do it. An apartment was out of the questions, there was no way I could pay over $800/mo for rent, which was the going rate at the time. Also out of the question was a roommate. At 25, I really really really wanted to live by myself and have complete control over my domain. So after a bit of searching and some pep talks from those close to me, I found what would be my home for the next 3 1/2 years. It wasn’t much, it was a cheap condo that wasn’t in the best kept complex, but I could afford it all by myself. I liked my little home, but after a few years I started getting that feeling again.

After a few incidents at work that ended up getting me recommended to the Employee Assistance Program (as in, see a counselor please, you have issues), I did just that - went to a counselor. After I gave him a quick rundown of my life, he said that he saw a strong theme of me feeling trapped. Well that really got the wheels spinning.

Here’s what I was looking for: Definitely no family nearby, needed my own turf. Lower cost of living, more job opportunities. A city or metropolitan area with lots of options. And after the especially harsh winter we had, I couldn’t get the temp INSIDE over 60F. So I stopped looking at Milwaukee (my first choice) and looked south. Southeast, sure it’s cheap but it’s also humid and with lots of humidity comes much larger bugs. No thanks. How about the Southwest? Phoenix, Tucson, Las Vegas. Did some research and settled on Vegas, the world’s largest shrine to vices and tackiness. So here I am.

There’s a lot more that goes into these decisions, as anyone who’s planned a move like this will know. But that’s the basics of it. Later I’ll tell you why this place isn’t right for me.