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a fish story (but not a whopper of a tale)
I have decided never to make promises on my blog, because whenever I do I feel a moral obligation to fulfill them. So, as promised, here’s my fishing story.
Besides this latest escapade, I haven’t been fishing in forever. The last time I went was when I was a wee little person and my family was camping. A guy was fishing with his son who was about my age, and they invited me to fish with them. I knew nothing about fishing, but I loved it. A few years before that, my neighbor was into fishing, and he used to give me his fishing rod and send me out into the yard and let me cast it as far as I could. The hook landed in the tree a lot, but he always got it down for me and let me keep playing. It’s worth mentioning that neither of these experiences caught me a fish or taught me how to bait a hook or anything like that, so basically I have zero experience with real world fishing.
Regardless, I went to a party a while back where the family lived on a lake and I felt like fishing. SO, I did. Kind of. I did watch carefully as to how I was supposed to put bait on the hook. The person telling me how to do it was very good at it - the hook went right through the top of the teeny fish mouth just like it was supposed to, very easily and no blood or guts or anything. It was not nearly as gross as I had thought it would be (for which I was glad - and I thought maybe I have the courage to use live bait after all). Anyway, so I got all set up, settled in, casted the line and instantly got it all tangled up. Once it was untangled, I plunked my hook into the water and sat there for a few minutes. It didn’t seem like very long before there was a tug on the line and I got excited, but by the time I got the line reeled in I realized whatever it was had eaten the bait right off the hook. SO, I got another little fish (which was an adventure in itself and it took me like five whole minutes trying to catch one from the bucket with my hand) and my dad was trying to help me put the hook in its mouth, but we did it wrong and the poor fish started gasping and bleeding and we couldn’t get the hook all the way through its head. It was quite traumatizing. Anyway my dad finally got it on the hook and I plopped the line back in the water. I had not been fishing 15 seconds before another fish came and ate the bait off the hook again. I got really mad at the fish, because they are not supposed to be smarter than me, even if I am a beginner. After that I took another six minutes or so to catch another fish out of the bucket and a few more minutes after that to put him on the hook (again unsuccessfully and the poor fish took a beating. It amazes me how slowly they die, I felt bad). By the time that one was finally on, I was ready to catch the dumb fish instead of the fish stealing my bait. After that though, perhaps sensing my confidence, the fish would not bite. No more fish came. None. Zip. Zero. A boat floated by and caught one very near me, but I didn’t catch any.
Still, I feel accomplished in the fact that I caught two live bait fish thingies with my bare hands, didn’t freak out when they were bleeding and dying right in front of me, and I only got the line tangled once. Also, the fish did actually come to me, whether I caught them or not, which makes me feel good. I also enjoyed just sitting on the dock and watching boaters and jet skiers and stuff go by. There were some people tubing, and someone had a tube that was like a couch! It had 3 people sitting on it and it looked way fun. Also I was reminded that everyone waves to everyone around water; why is that? It’s a weird boating and water sports complex or something. It actually also happens when camping, so maybe it is just some sort of generalized recreational complex?
remember me?
Hi. Remember me, the author of this neglected blog? lol. Yes, I’m still alive. A bunch has happened in my life since graduation, and I haven’t written about it all summer!!! So, let me catch you up a little (I know I promised graduation pics in my last post, but catching up is more important and quite frankly, other people’s pictures can be really boring so I’m doing this instead).
So, to start off I should tell you I am now in college full time. I am working towards an interior design degree, although I am not sure what will happen after I finish that in 2 years - I may go to another school or do another degree in art, I dunno. My classes right now are Interior Design I and Textiles, they are pretty interesting but one of my teachers kind of scares me and the other one seems like she should be in school with me instead of teaching my classes. Oh well. It’s the credit hours that count, right?
Secondly, my life is now supplemented by the fact that I have a job. I work at the craft store (how perfect, huh?) and it is going well. My managers are quite reasonable. Almost all the employees are female so I am making a lot of friends and acquaintances. In case you were wanting to know, we don’t sell rubber bands. Sorry. Walmart is across the street.
Another thing you might want to know is that we bought some bunnies. Two of them. They are so cute. We got them as babies in June but they aren’t very small anymore. I never knew bunnies could be so noisy until we had some living in our basement. I will have to take recent pictures, but there’s a picture above of them at just a few weeks old (when we took them home). The one on the left is Herbert Ninninger and on the right is Sundae - named for the rabbit on Curious George and the kind of ice cream that is yummy, respectively. Herbert earned the nickname “the Terdinator” on the way home when we bought him, but Sundae has taken over that title. Meanwhile, Herbert loves to eat cheerios.
In other news, Anna is finally walking. Liam has become a Blue Angels fanatic. And Sarah is entering that phase of life where she would like to have her own phone to talk to her best friend whenever she wants. Ahhh, youth.
I can’t think of anything else noteworthy at the moment, except I was thinking of turning this into a design blog.
…
Nah.
Thanks for reading! I will probably be busy right into next quarter, but I’ll try harder to blog more often. Have a cheesy day!
graduation
This picture is my favorite graduation picture. Forget the formal poses and the stiff class picture - I like candid shots way better. I will post a whole gallery of graduation day and open house pics later, but I’m short on time right now so you can just enjoy this one.
I will have an amazing fishing story soon too! the fishing was not amazing, but the story kinda is.
Alicia <3
my senior prom
Even though prom wasn’t that big a deal for me this year, I still wanted to post pictures and I feel like since prom happened before graduation, I need to blog about prom first no matter how significant graduation is. that is just my weirdo self talking, I know, but i’m just gonna go with it.
So as I said before, for prom I wore a dress that used to be my mom’s, it’s cute ivory lace (from JCPenney somewhere between 70’s and 80’s - crazy). My wonderful grandma (who bought the dress originally!) altered it a little to fit me better, and I added a black waist ribbon which cost me a couple bucks. I went out and bought black flats with little bows last fall to wear with this dress ($15 from Target) and I already had the earrings ($1 from Target). The gloves were an afterthought and I almost didn’t have them - I bought them the day of prom at possibly the only store nearby that had any left! I guess gloves get popular this time of year. I also had a matching black purse but the pictures with the purse looked kinda dorky so you’ll just have to take my word for it that it was cute with the dress. The gloves were $12, the purse was $15, and I bought eyeshadow for this last fall too which was like $6, and that rose in my hair was a couple dollars. In sum, I spent less than what alot of girls spend on just the dress, and looked way more unique. I consider that an accomplishment.
So enough about all that, let’s get to the pictures. (What’s funny about these pictures is that on the doorknob behind me there is a little lace heart that matches my dress, and we totally didn’t plan that.) You’ll have to click on each one if you want to see my head and then click on it again to see it bigger. I know it’s a pain, but I have trouble with the picture thing on here and I can never get it to do what I want, and this is the easiest way I know how at the moment.
Do I look like I’m from some awesome vintage era? Because that was kind of the goal, but I can’t tell since I have only ever lived in the nineties and the two thousandey years (how do you write that in numbers? 90’s and 00’s? seems odd).
Anyway, so I hope you enjoyed the pictures! Please no one stalk me now.
Alicia <3
long time no me
I haven’t blogged in a loooong time. Sorry. I have missed blogging, but so much stuff has been going on and I just haven’t been able to squeeze in all the posting I wanted. I missed a couple great bloggy holidays and several interesting daily events, which makes me sad. But, I have decided to let go of the past and keep moving forward… so here I am.
First of all, I am appalled at the lack of manners on craigslist. Despite this, I have been able to nab several great deals. yay. I bought my younger sister a turtle on there the other day. It’s really cute. Not live, but cute.
Secondly, I really have been wanting to find several great and vintage-y things lately. Perhaps y’all can help me out. One of the things I’m looking for is some pogs. I realize these sell on ebay and everything, but I don’t want to pay that much money for them. Shipping is outrageous, which is so dumb because they are made out of cardboard.
Another thing I’m looking for is some snoopy glasses. We used to have some, 3 of them to be exact, and one was a tiny little juice glass, one was a big tall glass, and one was a medium glass. Apparently my parents got them at the bread store forever ago for buying lots of bread, or something. (I wish stores did things like that nowadays.) Anyway, they were really cute and I remember loving them to death, but after a while all three had been shattered on the kitchen floor and we had to sweep them up and put them in the trash. Sigh. So, today I went looking for the beloved snoopy glasses online. I only found one out of the set, and that one was hard to find so I am a little discouraged about trying to find all three of them. Besides, the one that I found cost like $16 not including shipping, which seems like overkill to me simply because whether it is worth $16 or not, I feel weird paying for something we already had at a previous point in time. If you know what I mean. Anyway, I put a picture of the one that I found today, so that if you ever see another like it, you can send it to me [: (And just for clarification, the set I am looking for is not the McDonalds set, the Camp Snoopy set, the promotional presidential Snoopy set, the jelly jar set, the milk bottle collection set, or anything else you can find within the first 5 pages of Google results for “Snoopy glasses.”)
Besides all that, I have an ingrown toenail and have been hopping around like a pathetic wussy invalid all afternoon. To make up for it, I wish you and yours a very happy, NON-pathetic-wussy-invalid-because-of-ingrown-toenail day.
Alicia <3
wash hands after reading
My entire family has been taking turns being sick ever since Saturday. We have caught the weirdest bug ever. It seems that only a few hours of actually feeling sick come along with it. The rest of the tiime no one feels sincerely nauseous, but yet nothing edible sounds good even though we’re all hungry. Go figure. My sister came down with it Saturday and we didn’t know it then, she just wasn’t hungry that day. She was still not feeling 100% yesterday, but never felt truly sick to her stomach the entire time and only had diarrhea for one day - Sunday. My mom started getting stomachaches a couple days ago, but didn’t have to deal with nausea until yesterday morning, and it was way better by afternoon. It was my turn to feel queasy this morning, so I’ve eaten nothing since breakfast except Mylanta (which, btw, is a miracle drug - and probably tastes much better than vitameatavegamin), but I’ve had stomachaches since Sunday. My dad, little brother, and baby sister are all in here somewhere too, not sure where, but one small person got a fever and the other wouldn’t eat…
How is it that we can all have our own unique version of a virus and different phases last longer in each person? That is just retarded, IMHO. (sorry, I had to act like a teenager for a second.) I have a theory that we are mutating the virus and passing it back to each other over and over again. Mom says this is not likely. Yeah, right [:
Since I am sick, I have taken refuge at my computer (where else?) and I made some cute polyvore sets today. Sarah even made one (she is feeling much better today and was very hyper about hers). So if you are bored, go look at my polyvore and comment on how boring/unboring they are. I figured out how to put a little polyvore cube in the right sidebar so you can use that as a link too.
Anyway, cya later peeps.
Alicia <3
4 year old antics - I am so not making this up
Today while we were driving around all over the place running errands, my brother said from the backseat, “Mom, I have a scratch on my tummy.”
Mom was like, “okay…..?”
Liam then followed up with, “I have a scratch - itch! - on my tummy but I can’t itch it until you go home and I can get out of my carseat!”
We then suggested possible ways for him to scratch the itch while still buckled in his 5-point harness belt. There are not very many ways to do that, and his winter coat wasn’t helping. Mom decided to stop at McDonalds after a couple minutes so while she went inside, I walked around the van, unbuckled him and let him get to that horrid itch on his tummy. Once he felt much better, I put him back in the car and buckled him up again. When mom came out, she asked him whether the itch was better. He said, “Yes. Guess what mommy? I scratched the itch right off and it fell on the floor.”
Ahhh. Liam is so cute.
Alicia <3
blanding
On someone else’s blog today I found this quote: “If you’re using a promotional product for advertising and not taking full advantage of the creative possibilities, you’re blanding (etymology: bland + branding).” Hear, hear. We need more people who are against the blanding industry.
I have some nice examples of non-bland advertising below, mostly in the form of creative shopping bags. I know probably everyone on earth has seen these by now, but I like them anyway.
And, I also have a picture to illustrate taking advantage of the mundane in fields besides advertising -
If I had to have a satellite dish on my house, I would totally paint it too, although I am kinda doubting this picture is for real. I don’t care whether it is or not really, but the spirit is admirable. Also I don’t really know whether painting your satellite dish would hurt it any. I mean besides voiding the warranty. You might not want to try it, just in case.
Alicia <3
ahhh, voting day
First of all, look at the google search homepage for today if you haven’t already.
Back when Bush and Kerry were running, I did a unit study on the election to get some extra school credit. My family and another homeschool family made our own supporter t-shirts and watched Bush’s motorcade drive through town (we ended up in the local paper just for standing there and waving, which was a pretty good deal). Actually despite having done a unit study on it, I don’t remember much about the last presidential election. I didn’t understand politics (still don’t) and didn’t care to hear what the different candidates were planning to do once they got into office. I certainly didn’t watch the debates - they were very snore worthy in my opinion at that age. The only thing, in fact, that I had any understanding of or interest in was those national maps with states colored red and blue according to how they voted. Of course they showed up periodically on the news before the election as forecasting and were on practically 24/7 on voting day - I didn’t mind keeping current with those, but nothing else really left an impression on me. However, I DO remember that there wasn’t a ton of congestion at polling places on voting day… As usual, less than half the country turned out to exercise the right we fought so hard for years ago.
This year though, there are long lines at voting places. I’m not sure if it just so happens that my town is more busy this election and someone else’s town was busier last time, or if I simply don’t remember it being crowded, but I have a hunch that all the controversy between the two candidates has drawn some people out who didn’t give a hoot about Bush or Kerry four years ago. My mom also agreed that it seems alot of people have come out of the woodwork to vote this year. Maybe some people have gotten heated up enough about various issues that they are more willing to come out and cast a vote this time around.
Despite all that though, I’ve run into several people indirectly who don’t plan to vote at all because they don’t like either candidate. Honestly, I’ve run into few things in life where I have absolutely no inclinations towards either one of two options. Even if it’s two things I don’t like at all, surely one of them is hated more than the other. You know what I mean? At least vote for the lesser of two evils, as my mom has been saying. And if you’re undecided, I endorse “eeny meeny miny moe” as a great tool for making decisions (not usually in matters involving national leadership though, so you can ignore that tidbit of advice). Seriously though, if you are undecided and thus not voting at all, please RECONSIDER! Just vote with your party. If you don’t have a party, vote with it anyway (that’s what libertarians and everyone else are for). Americans before us fought for the right to vote because they recognized it as an important privilege back then. It still is one! This is especially true if you happen to be anything other than a wealthy caucasian male. We have this great opportunity to be heard by the government, so let’s use it. I am too young this year and so I can’t vote in a presidential election until I’m 21, but I plan on voting on local issues before then. I also plan on doing it with pride and gratitude because in a world where some countries are completely communist, we get to have an individual say in who rules and what happens in our homes, which quite frankly is just plain nice.
And if you already voted today, congratulations! You are now one of hundreds, perhaps thousands, wearing that sticker on your shirt that says, “I voted!” Wear it with pride. Flaunt it a little. And pray for God’s hand to wrap everything up according to His will.
Alicia <3
a review of my life as of late
I remembered that I never blogged about my thyroid stuff to let you guys know what is up… I was diagnosed with early Graves’ disease (hyperthyroidism) and am now on a thyroid suppressant. I’m sure it’s doing all sorts of lovely things for me but it makes me very sleepy during the day, especially after lunch, and my appetite is way up so i’m eating quite a bit. As of right now, I still weigh only 90 pounds (at 5′4″ or slightly taller) but hopefully all the stuffing of my face that i have been doing will pay off soon. At least I am not losing any more weight currently; i’m glad of that.
Other things you might want to know about my life include the fact that i read some very interesting literature today which shook me up quite a bit in how I think. It was Discourse of Method by Rene Descartes, and if you have not read it, grab some coffee to keep your brain flowing and dig in asap (it’s not insanely long either, so no excuses). The thoughts themselves weren’t that profound, at least not for me, but the message as a whole does really make you think hard. It also got a few laughs/gasps of agreement before I was finished, which is usually a definite sign of good literary material. For those who are not going to read it even though I said they should, it’s a guy proving the existence of the human soul and God through reasoning - plain logic. Until today, I honestly didn’t think that was possible, but apparently it is, and i was much astounded at the concept.
On a completely different note, the tiny owl salt and pepper shakers I bought a few weeks ago may actually be real silver, which just makes them even better. I washed them and they are shiny. I love shiny things.
On the topic of things that have happened VERY recently, I applied for a job today that was advertised on the internet, and it turned out to not exist at all, which was interesting.
I also read part of a book entitled What Color is Your Parachute? which promptly told me I would most likely not get a job by means of the internet.
…
Actually Parachute seems to be a very good book so far, despite foreseeing my doom in the job market. Anyone trying to get a job should read it. Not just first time job hunters either - I mean everyone trying to get a job. Unfortunately I’m nowhere near finished with it and it has to go back to the library tomorrow, along with my gloriously fat art history book which is also unfinished. Sigh. I can never read fast enough…
So, that’s what’s going on with me lately. (Oh, that and I’m wearing one of David’s old flannel shirts. Hi David!)
Alicia <3
P.S. No, I’m not crazy… I’m just more fun than your average citizen.
WALL·E is my friend
Yesterday i went with my cousin and younger sister to watch WALL·E at the dollar theater. I heart the dollar theater because usually i can afford a movie ticket (getting concessions there is a totally different story). Anyway, one of my friends went to see it quite a while ago and told me it was cute. The person telling me this happens to be male, so i thought if he dared use the word cute he must really mean it. This really only motivated me further to get myself to a theater before it went to dvd, although my friend probably recalls that i pretended my hopes were completely dashed when he told me -
(SPOILERS AHEAD!!! IF YOU HAVEN’T SEEN THE MOVIE STOP READING OR IT’LL BE RUINED! or if you don’t care, then whatever. Have a nice day.)
- it’s a robot love story.
NOOOOOOOOOO! not another romance, says I! I only put up with ONE romance movie consistently (that i can think of), and it’s aimed towards an older audience: the newer version of Pride and Prejudice. Only because it is marvelously gorgeous again and again, with virtually no annoying sexual content and characters who have respect for one another even when they’re in love! You don’t find that anymore in modern stuff. As for kid romance movies, I usually have a problem with them. They can make kids think love isn’t serious and whatever else. Anyway, so ends my rant.
Well, my friend happened to be right. Pixar is amazing and my new best friend. WALL·E is positively adorable. We are not big “movie people” at our house, and by that i mean we do not buy movies unless they are a necessity to life. (I love watching movies though, so we usually tape good ones when they are on HBO for future entertainment purposes.) Our “necessary” movies that we have collected so far are things like Finding Nemo, Cars, Monsters Inc., Pirates, the old Disney classics, etc. You know, the ones that are just plain good. And i’m here to tell you that for once in my life, i may actually have to go out and buy a movie, because WALL·E is just such a good, fun thing to watch. My brother can’t quite watch it due to good ol’ Pixar suspense and lots of explosions (yay!), but it is a great family film if the kids are a tiny bit older.
Tomorrow i will write more on WALL·E because i have plenty more thoughts about it, and some much more serious than the ones i presented today (they were more spastic than anything else). So, in conclusion, if you haven’t seen WALL·E you really should. Really. It’s like out of theaters now but you should still watch it when it comes out on dvd. And if you have already seen it, humor me for just a minute - how hard do you think it would be for WALL·E to say “Alicia” if he can’t pronounce “Eve?” Lol.
Alicia <3
birds of a feather
I am definitely not a bird lover. I tolerate small birds, like house sparrows, finches, whatever. In fact small ones can be rather cute. I like how sparrows in public places have the guts to hop close and try to steal your lunch, or whatever you happen to be carrying. Parakeets are even okay as far as other birds; i think they’re really pretty and they are usually in cages which helps. But it seems to me that the sheer ominosity (is that a word?) of the bigger birds such as ostriches seems to drown the impact of the number of small birds present in the world. I mean, no matter how many small and harmless ones exist, the big ones just look so menacing that it totally disregards how few they are. (Have you ever had an emu chase you? I have * shudder * and that’s probably why i have this problem with birds. Even seagulls look threatening up close, good grief.)
But there is one bird that i think is largely misunderstood and under appreciated, and that is the pigeon. Now before you leave my blog for good, consider my arguments. Pigeons are not aggressive. They make a pleasant cooing sound (at least some think it is pleasant). It is not their fault that they poop all over your car either. They can be rather funny at times, since they are supposed to act like small birds but are quite fat. They add alot of atmosphere and character to a city (at least I think so - when my family went to Chicago, i cannot tell you how much cooler the city was to me just because it had pigeons running around everywhere). Feeding them from your hand is also like the biggest world tourist thing ever, so they also provide entertainment for many crowds - not only for the ones feeding them, but also for those watching people feed them. Without pigeons, the song “Feed the Birds” in Mary Poppins would not have been made possible in front of the Notre Dame. Okay, maybe it is just a movie, but that is my favorite song from that film and it was also one of Walt Disney’s personal favorites, so pigeons are VERY important.
Plus, anyone who has been subjected to the PBS kids version of Curious George loves pigeons automatically, all thanks to Compass the homing pigeon who doesn’t really home. Compass is a representative for the true will of pigeons everywhere; and the true will of pigeons really has nothing to do with bothering us bipeds.
So, i say we should declare a national holiday: “Love a Pigeon Week.” It should be a week long because some people need six days to find a pigeon to love, and others need six days to work up the courage and tenacity to love one they already found. (Pastor Kevin is a step ahead right now - he just needs to find the pigeon that is so “annoyingly” cooing outside his office every day and give it a big hug so it will coo louder.)
So, there is my thought for the day. Not very profound, granted, but hopefully interesting nonetheless. Now go out and love a pigeon!
Alicia <3
a giant blurt of information
I realized the other night while lying in bed not sleeping that i hadn’t yet brought you up to date on my thyroid saga. So, here’s a summary:
The test went fine, they redid the uptake test and then did the scan. When i went into the scan room the suspicious sci-fi looking table was gone, and I had to lay in a weird curvy bed instead and hold still for a half hour (there was a radio build right into the machiney thing. I am not sure if that is standard issue or not but it was pretty cool). My nurse was much much nicer the second day than the nurse i got the first day, so i was happy about that. When the tests were over they gave me another patient’s results so we told them off, and they told me I get my results Monday (which was a while ago), and everyone lived happily ever after.
When i got results back they sad my thyroid is still there, it still fits in my neck and it has not shrunken to near invisibility (all good signs). Basically the tests just confirmed that i have hyperthyroidism, but it was good to know nothing else was wrong. i guess alot of people get thyroid nodules which have to be biopsied, and I don’t like the word nodule or the word biopsy so i’m glad i’m not one of them.
I have to see an endocrinologist on the 6th and hopefully she will give me drugs so i will start gaining some weight back. I went to buy some new-to-me jeans at the thrift store because mine all require a belt now, which brings me to my next subject - my latest bargain finds! unfortunately, i don’t have time to recap my shopping experiences at this moment, so i’ll fill y’all in tomorrow. (I know you can’t wait, but patience is a virtue after all.)
Alicia <3
so, i should really be in bed right now because tomorrow is horrendous Monday…
however, i missed my blog so i thought maybe i could post something quick. the question is, what?
… * crickets chirping *
i got nothin, sorry…
oh wait, yeah i got somethin. i have to decide whether to go to fall formal this year or not. even though homeschoolers are, well, homeschooled, they still have school dances… so like, i could go if i wanted. i went last year with a date and had a pretty good time. this year i am unsure whether i want to go or not - although if i do go, it will be solo. I am really not that big on “friends” doing formals together unless it’s a big group because i feel like it makes things awkward, and i don’t have a bf (praise the Lord). i do have a dress in my closet which is begging to be loved and i have such plans to tweak it into gorgeous formal wear sometime… but i just don’t know if i want to go to the dance or not. Maybe i am being antisocial and i should. Maybe it would be a waste if i went but didn’t want to be there. hmm. this is a great quandary. Do public school seniors ponder school dances this much?
well anyways, even if i don’t go to the dance i will makeover that dress anyhow, and post a pic. it may be forever… but i promise i will. i am really excited about that dress.
Alicia <3
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