A random, precious find

Back in 2006, I was sitting at home because there was a ton of snow on the ground. I was bored out of my mind and put this little video together. So just a second ago I was sitting at my desk and Til Kingdom Come by Coldplay came on my Pandora. Immediately I remembered this video, and I thought I would post it for you guys to see. It’s not the best by any means, but I still love watching it and remembering all of those awesome times I had with my friends and family.

Oh, and the reason you get to watch this via Myspace is because of how smart I am. Right after I made the video, my computer crashed. Did I back anything up? No. I didn’t. But I had uploaded it to Myspace… now, almost three years later, I have NO IDEA how to get it off of there and back onto my newer computer. Suggestions? Please enlighten me since I have no skillz.

Good Times

A few rants and other things.

Here lately I have been recieving a freaking ton of emails about being single. I’m not talking about little happy go lucky emails. It’s like someone has gone and signed me up on every online dating site they can possibly think up and now? All of a sudden? There is this guy who is 28 who lives 6 miles away and he is interested in me. And then there are those other guys from those other sites who (I am betting money don’t even exitst) have a gajillion things in common with me. Well that’s fantastic PerfectChemistrySinglesYahoo!.com. BUT I AM NOT INTERESTED RIGHT NOW.
I am taking a sabbatical. Leave me alone for sabbaticals are holy. And also? Even if I did want to date right now, I wouldn’t want to date someone who has every.little.thing in common with me. If I wanted someone like me, I would go over to that one place where they cloned a sheep and I would tell them to clone me. Now.

And whoever passed out my email, if I find out who you are, you better hope I don’t have your email address. I’ll do much more than sign you up for online dating sites and information. You’ll be getting some nasty gross gang banging horses crap coming into your inbox! I don’t know if that exists, but it’s the internet. Everything exists in the internet.

Also. I was just sitting here watching Wheel of Fortune (IT’S SHOE POLISH, PEOPLE!) and this commercial came on. The dude goes something like this:
“Do people around you think that being single is a negative thing? Do you get tired of being alone? Aren’t there good things about being single? YES! You have the opportunity to focus on yourself and God without any distractions! That’s why (insert church name that rhymes with smicktory here) has come up with a Singles Worship Night!”
Ok.
So.
I am a Believer. I love my relationship with God. I know that I am extremely blessed and I would not be at this awesome point in my life if it weren’t for His goodness. For His love. I am in awe of His grace. I know that I constantly screw up, and I am constantly falling flat on my face. But with that I realize that without Him, I would be nothing. I would be screwing up all the time and falling flat on my face, only to be too weak to get myself back up again. This is how I choose to live my life. I don’t believe it is my place to push these beliefs on other people. I don’t think that I am right and you are wrong if you disagree. I refuse to thump people in the head with a Bible. But I do believe that it is my job to love people. It is my job to keep my heart open and soft so that I am capable of being compassionate. And that job is my favorite thing about life. The fact that we were created to love and to be loved. Pretty sure it doesn’t get much better than that.

Now. With that said, I hope that what I am about to say does not make me look like an absolute horrible person. It’s just something I don’t understand…. so if you understand it, please enlighten me. Why do you think this is necessary??
IF being single is a time where you can focus on just you and God (which I agree with. Being single can be a HUGE blessing!), WHY IN THE WORLD would you want to go worship solely with other single people? No couples allowed! Does that not come across as someone looking to remedy the loneliness in their life? That’s ok! If you are lonely and you are ready to date, then go date! Go find someone to build a relationship with! But please, don’t go around saying “I LOVE BEING SINGLE! I WOULDN’T CHANGE IT FOR THE WHOLE WIDE WORLD!” only to turn around and use a worship service as a crutch. Because if you are, then I will bet that at some point, while you are singing and lifting your hands in worship, that instead of worshiping God like you claim to be doing, you are actually wondering if the hot guy behind you thinks you have a cute butt.
That’s what I don’t get. Don’t lie about the fact that you hate being single. Just admit it. I have learned in my own life that when I walk around with pride and the “whatever I don’t need that anyway” attitude, God smacks me in the face. I don’t want to be smacked in the face. I would rather just be honest and cry to Him about it.
But that’s just me.
And right now, I am happy to be single (except for when I have to carry tons of groceries into my apartment alone, and then I don’t like it so much).

So there’s that.

And this!! An awesome music video I found!! YAY! (Guaranteed to make you dance)

Now, if you’ll excuse me. I am going to go make mac n cheese and fishsticks. This is something I can get away with only because I am single.

I don’t have to make my own food today!

Right this very second I am sitting at my uncle’s house in Houston and it is Thanksgiving. For some reason, I can’t wrap my mind around it enough to remember that everything (except Garden Ridge) is closed. My first words this morning:

Shawn, I need coffee. Where’s the nearest Starbucks?
In the kitchen. Coffee that isn’t seven bucks
I want white chocolate mocha though
Amanda, it’s Thanksgiving.
OH!! CRAP!!

So today, I will be thankful for the following things:
1. Coffee (“After I took my first sip this morning, I thanked Jesus. Shawn made fun of me and told me that Jesus came and made that coffee especially for me.)
2. Butt bones. If it weren’t for my butt bone, I’m pretty sure that after driving from Tulsa to Houston without stopping, head would have been full of crap.
3. Indy, my mom’s dog. We brought her with us and I forced her to sleep in the bed with me. Why? First off, I missed my own dog. Second off, I was freeeeeezing. So her big poofy fur kept me warm.
4. People who don’t talk in the mornings. I still haven’t met one. But if you’re out there and you’re a man, first off: Will you marry me?? And second off: I am very thankful for you and your morning crankiness.
5. People who don’t randomly brake while driving on the highway.
6. People who can ride in the same car as me without freaking out and telling me to SLOW DOWN!! YOU DRIVE LIKE YOUR DAD!
7. Grace Potter and the Nocturnals. Without two of their cd’s on repeat for the whole trip, I would have gone insane. And a special thanks to Katy Perry. Because without her song on the radio while I was driving through Downtown Houston, I would have been concentrating on the road instead of screaming “YOU’RE HOT THEN YOUR COLD! YOU’RE YES THEN YOU’RE NO! YOU’RE IN THEN YOU’RE OUT! YOU’RE UP THEN YOU’RE DOWN!” And my mom would have been yelling at me instead of laughing at how horrible I sing.
8. White tank tops. I forgot mine at home and I needed them for every. single. shirt. I brought. I am thankful that I have them, but I’m pissed off that I almost had to show my bra to the City of Houston today.
9. With that, I am thankful for the old lady who was training the new chick on the cash register at Wal Mart last night. Old Lady reminded me of a former co-worker and that brought back precious memories. “HIT THE CLEAAARRR BUTTON!!! HIIITTT ITTT AGAAAIIINNN!!”. All she needed to do was call the poor chick a moron, and my night would have been complete. Ugh. I felt sorry for her.
10. My family. I love them. And if it weren’t for them I would be sitting in Tulsa eating a turkey and cheese sandwich and teaching Joey lame new tricks.

You probably don’t want to ride in a car with me in the near future unless you’re ok with repeating songs.

Please excuse me while I suffer through another writer’s block. In the meantime, please enjoy three songs that I have had on repeat for the past two weeks:

Use Somebody – Kings of Leon

Lost – Coldplay (featuring Jay-Z)

House of Cards – Radiohead

Nothing too new, but they’re all excellent for this week I am having. Now, if you’ll excuse me, it’s 9:48pm. That means it is exactly 12 minutes past my bedtime (you have to read the comments to understand… or not understand… That urbanwallflower over there cracks me up!)

The office is officially back to normal

Today Cassi, Michele, and Gillam all gathered in my office to corner me and threaten to kick my butt (again). This is a normal thing for them. Do I ever go in their offices and threaten their lives? NO. I DON’T. Why they think it’s ok to do this to me is something I will never figure out.
Today they were disagreeing with me about girls asking guys out on dates. I said that I had never done it because I am a girl. Consider me old fashioned, but I think the guy should be the one to pursue. Especially the first date. Now, if we have gone out a couple times, I have absolutely no problem saying “hey, wanna go grab some dinner?” No problem. None at all. But the first date? No. And maybe my thinking really is wrong. Maybe I need to realize that it is almost 2009 and that is a rule from 1954. I don’t know. Feel free to share your opinions, because I will listen. But this is the conversation we had:

Gillam: I don’t understand why you don’t just say “hey, let’s get some coffee”.
Me: Because. I don’t think I should. I think that if he’s interested and I show that I am interested, HE should make the first move. (Now that I write that, I can see how unfair it is. This ISN’T 1954)
Michele: Woman, if a TWELVE year old GIRL can call a boy and tell him to come over so they can get it on while her parents are out of town, because that’s what some twelve year olds do these days; I think YOU can ask someone out to COFFEE.
Me: Point taken. But STILL. Whatever. You’re dumb.

So, what is your perspective on this? I want to know what you people are thinking. George thinks that when a girl asks a guy out (and I quote) “it makes the guy think SHE WANT IIIIIIIIIIIIT”.

Tell me. What do you people think?!?

Acehole

Back in August when I first moved into my new apartment, there was a tragedy in my small little family. My cat Sam, who had been mine since I was 8 years old, had passed away. I don’t think I have ever cried that much in my life. At one point I called my mom to ask her when I would stop crying and she told me to go take a hot bath. So I did. And the whole time I was sitting in the bathtub, I was a big mess of tears and I kept getting soap in my eyes because I was trying to wipe them away.
When he died, I swore I wouldn’t get another cat for a long time. I wanted to recuperate. Sam being gone not only meant I didn’t have a big ole gray and white ball of fur to cuddle with anymore, but it he was the last bit of my childhood still left in this chapter of my life. Two years earlier we had to put down my German Shepherd, Kita. My family adopted her when I was 12.
A few days went by and my apartment was too quiet. One time I woke up from a nap and I thought I was petting my cat. Turns out, I was petting the blanket.
So a week later, after searching for the perfect kitten, I found Ace. Acehole. Ace of Base. Ace Cider Beer. Ace Hardware. He was 6 weeks old and the lady handed him over to me in a Starbucks parking lot. Right this very second he is prancing around my apartment carrying a candy wrapper and acting like he just caught a bald eagle.
This was him at 7 weeks. He was still terrified of my rott, Joey and I’m pretty sure that’s why he looks like he just witnessed a brutal murder scene.

Three months later, that scared little kitten up there? Yeah. He’s a terrorist. He looks at you all cute and pouty but the next thing you know, dude’s attached to your ankles. And if you are innocently walking from one room to the next, you better believe Acehole has found a hiding spot just so he can jump out and scare the living crap out of you.

The other night I had a dream that I was babysitting a bunch of kids that I knew in Philly. We were all on a playground, and I don’t know what my deal was but I just kept screaming at them to SIT DOWN! SHUT UP! DON’T YOU FREAKING MOOOOVE! I asked for one of the little girls to get up and come get a drink and she just looked up at me with these huge pouty puppy dog eyes. She wouldn’t talk or move. So naturally, I got mad. I was seriously a very mean person in this dream. So I walk over to her and all of a sudden I see this red snake crawling all over her. Turns out the snake had bit her and she was paralyzed. Freaky, right??

So last night I am sitting in my living room putting my music collection in alphabetical order. Right as I look down, this striped thing comes flying out from underneath the shelves I keep my cd’s on and grabs my hand. I am pretty sure I had a mini heart attack because my first thought was SNAKE!! I jumped about 20 feet in the air, threw my cd’s on the ground and as I jumped up, I realized it was Ace Hardware’s freaking paw. He had reached out to grab my hands as I was trying to put cd’s on the shelves.
This picture, which in my opinion shows off his oneriness, was just taken last weekend. Almost three full months after the first one.

See that beer belly??

Sam was an absolute awesome cat. Ace will never replace him and if I could go back in time, kidnap the kitten Sam, and come back to 2008 just so I could have them both, I would do it in a second. But now I have Ace and Joey, not Sam and Kita.
And right now? I love my (semi) grown up life.

How do you cross your t’s?

I did this because I was bored, but surprisingly, this thing is very accurate. It’s actually kinda scary how right on this was. So yeah, if you’re bored, go check it out maybe? I don’t know. I can’t make decisions.

http://www.handwritingwizard.com

Welcome Amanda, here is your handwriting analysis.

Amanda has difficulty making decisions. Her mind changes constantly. She lives in an emotional tug of war. Amanda could be described like a thermometer. Today warm and friendly, yet tomorrow she may be distant and cold, not wanting to be close to anyone.

Some research indicates that people with a severe variety in the slant of their handwriting have an inability to tolerate sugar and are suffering the side-effects of too much sugar in their diet. If moods swings are a reoccurring issue, investigate the diet.

If Amanda encounters a situation she cannot handle she frequently pulls into herself. She feels her emotions are secure if she is withdrawn. When she has solved the problem she can be very outgoing and again need other people’s companionship. Some see Amanda as very moody, but it it would be more accurate to say she has two complete personalities that she chooses depending on the circumstance. This type of person is often hard to understand because no one knows what personality she is exhibiting today. She may not be bothered by something one minute, then the next minute become upset at the same thing. It is very difficult to pin down Amanda’s emotional expressiveness.

People that write their letters in an average height and average size are moderate in their ability to interact socially. According to the data input, Amanda doesn’t write too large or too small, indicating a balanced ability to be social and interact with others.

Amanda will demand respect and will expect others to treat her with honor and dignity. Amanda believes in her ideas and will expect other people to also respect them. She has a lot of pride.

Amanda will be candid and direct when expressing her opinion. She will tell them what she thinks if they ask for it, whether they like it or not. So, if they don’t really want her opinion, don’t ask for it!

Diplomacy is one of Amanda’s best attributes. She has the ability to say what others want to hear. She can have tact with others. She has the ability to state things in such a way as to not offend someone else. Amanda can disagree without being disagreeable.

In reference to Amanda’s mental abilities, she has a very investigating and creating mind. She investigates projects rapidly because she is curious about many things. She gets involved in many projects that seem good at the beginning, but she soon must slow down and look at all the angles. She probably gets too many things going at once. When Amanda slows down, then she becomes more creative than before. Since it takes time to be creative, she must slow down to do it. She then decides what projects she has time to finish. Thus she finishes at a slower pace than when she started the project.

She has the best of two kinds of minds. One is the quick investigating mind. The other is the creative mind. Her mind thinks quick and rapidly in the investigative mode. She can learn quicker, investigate more, and think faster. Amanda can then switch into her low gear. When she is in the slower mode, she can be creative, remember longer and stack facts in a logical manner. She is more logical this way and can climb mental mountains with a much better grip.

Amanda is a practical person whose goals are planned, practical, and down to earth. This is typical of people with normal healthy self-esteem. She needs to visualize the end of a project before she starts. she finds joy in anticipation and planning. Notice that I said she plans everything she is going to do, that doesn’t necessarily mean things go as planned. Amanda basically feels good about herself. She has a positive self-esteem which contributes to her success. She feels she has the ability to achieve anything she sets her mind to. However, she sets her goals using practicality– not too “out of reach”. She has enough self-confidence to leave a bad situation, yet, she will not take great risks, as they relate to her goals. A good esteem is one key to a happy life. Although there is room for improvement in the confidence catagery, her self-perception is better than average.

Amanda is sarcastic. This is a defense mechanism designed to protect her ego when she feels hurt. She pokes people harder than she gets poked. These sarcastic remarks can be very funny. They can also be harsh, bitter, and caustic at the same time.

Amanda is selective when picking friends. She does not trust everyone. She has a select group of people that are truly close to her, usually two or three. She is careful when choosing her inner circle of friends.

Squeeze me like a key lime

I have a whole list of people who, if I had a venue in Tulsa, I would book with no hesitation. One of those bands would absolutely be Grace Potter and the Nocturnals.
Also, you know how growing up, your parents or your grandparents would always sit you down and say Honey, you can be anything you want to be when you grow up. And then your imagination would take you off and you would be like an astronaut or a brain surgeon or a mechanic? Yeah, well I always wanted to be a teacher. Then I wanted to retire from that to be a zoologist. And while I was doing that, I wanted to work at Sea World and train Shamoo for a living. And then I would fly to New York City and be one of those crazy business ladies who bosses people around and yells on her cell phone and wears something like this with black Christian Louboutins and then she has her driver take her to her penthouse in Manhattan so that she can relax in her bubble bath while she lets her feet hang out of the tub because she is still wearing her heels and then her hot chef would bring her dinner while she replied to a gillion emails each night. And then I would retire from all of that madness and I would persue a music career… even though I can’t sing. I mean, I can sing, but it’s not good. So I would have to find a way to either A.) have surgery on my voice to make it sound better. And since I would already have my medical degree, that would be easy. B.) find a way to use a machine to manipulate my voice without the whole Milli Vanilli thing happening, which since I also had my degree in… Space? Astronautical Science?… I would also be able to invent something like that pretty easily or C.) just learn how to play a guitar, sit on my couch, and pretend to have a kick ass band who gets to play at kick ass music festivals.
Eventually, I chose option C and I am now currently holding a job where I have to dress up and those awesome heels? I love them, but they hurt the HELL out of my feet. Also? I don’t pay that much money for them…. those Louboutins are like a month and a half of rent, are you freaking kidding me??

Here is the band that I am incredibly jealous of singing Night Rolls On:

And, my favorite of theirs so far – Treat Me Right:

I’m not in love with the modern world

Hey guess what. I get to see Wolf Parade on Wednesday!!!!! This will be concert number two for me, and that makes me happy. I saw them at ACL the first year I ever went and they were absolutely freaking incredible. So I think that the fact that they will be playing at The Cains for this go-round will be even more amazing. There won’t be NEAR as many people. It won’t be NEAR as hot. The sun won’t be in my eyes. Dang, I’m excited.

So if you have never seen or heard of them, behold the glory of Wolf Parade. And if you are in Tulsa Wed. night, I suggest you fork over the nineteen bones and go rock out with these crazy Canadians.

And finally, the song that sold me in the very beginning (also, I hate chickens. So that makes the video that much better):

YOU’RE WELCOME.

I’m a hustler baby

I think I am going to start doing something on here a little different. I’ve been coming across a lot of stuff lately that I LOVE, but instead of using twitter, I am going to post little random links on here.
Today I came across a few things I really like and this is one of them. Seriously. If I had a spot for a board like that in my apartment, I would do everything in my power to get that thing here.

The Art of Munk One