I know I very rarely post on livejournal anymore. Usually, I read my friends list every couple of days, but I lost touch with it over the Christmas break when I was home for a couple weeks. I came to livejournal today to begin catching up. Now, I don't really care about friending and de-friending on livejournal and myspace the way some people do. But I do feel sad when someone that I was really great and close friends with at some point in my life de-friends me. I have lj friends that are no longer even users of livejournal, but I met them here or used to talk to them here all the time, so I keep them as happy memories. I just feel that even if I am not close friends with someone anymore, I enjoy keeping up on how their life is going and reading up on them from time to time. I will always care about them becasue of our history, even if we don't talk to each other much now. I guess it's not like that for everyone.

Let's see..news. Nothing too new has happened in my everyday life. I'm still working at Columbia in the Dean's Office. We got a new Dean in August and she's awesome. A good friend broke up with her long-time girlfriend, which was sad, but now I get to see my friend a lot more and she is happier, so that's great. I have been trying to go out with my friends more and maintain friendships, but I feel so old now. When I go out three nights in a row and drink each night, I'm exhausted and just want to sit on my couch in my apartment. Haha. But I do love the laughs and the fun times I'm having.

My friends and I have started going to the Orbit Room at California and Diversey every couple of weeks. Logan Square lacks a lot of good places to get a drink and eat, so I was pleased to see this place open up. If you haven't been there yet, you should go. They have really great food, and the waitress is super cute and very friendly. And it's never overly crowded.

My biggest news is that I have been wedding planning like a fiend. Yes, I'm engaged! Craig asked me to marry him December 9. I have the most gorgeous ring. We're getting married in Franklin, Tennessee, on November 1, 2008. I get to have a Halloween-themed rehearsal dinner! I am so excited. Wedding planning is expensive and exhausting! Although, I finally get to put all my martha-stewart-reading crafty skills to use on a big event.

Hi there livejournal friends. I'm sorry it has been so long since I last wrote. I still read all of your entries though, believe it or not. Things are okay in my world. They could be better, but I've accepted that sometimes you have to go through an unlucky period in life. The only thing you can do is survive it. Anyway...I have ulterior motives for posting this evening, and I'll get on with it.

I have two extra Lollapalooza tickets that I'd like to get rid of. I'd like to get what I paid for them ($330), but at this point since you're all my friends and the festival is four days away, I am willing to accept less. Anyone interested?

So I moved in with Craig from Craigslist at the beginning of this month in a beautiful greystone in logan square. We get along together quite well, although sometimes I miss my alone time. That's just my quirkiness though. Our cats, Stumpy and Winters, still do not get along that well. We have to keep them separated in different ends of the house most of the time. It will be nice one day to live in a cat-unified household. We're hoping to have a housewarming party sometime in August, so you all should keep your eyes peeled in the coming weeks for an invite.

David Halberstam died yesterday in a car crash. Kurt Vonnegut died April 11. Two amazing writers dead unexpectedly within two weeks of each other. It's so sad. Halbertstam led quite an amazing life - I can't imagine winning a Pulitzer at 30 years old. I read his work The Fifties in college. It was assigned reading by the professor that became my mentor in undergrad. I loved that book. It made me excited about American History. I started reading Howard Zinn's works sometime after that. At least he's still around.

Anyway, all these people dying has made me sadder than usual. My mom is feeling alright, but her prognosis could be better. When she called me tonight she told me that her car is broken, engine cracked broken. She will have to get rid of it. Both of us get sad whenever we think about getting rid of our cars because my Dad bought them for us. We don't want to get rid of our cars because we're afraid of losing the memories. She has to though, and so she's sad tonight. I told her that it's supposed to be this way, otherwise we'd just keep these cars and move them from place to place until we die. I can envision her white oldsmobile in the front yard of our house with weeds all grown up around it.

P.S. The stupid girl won on the Pussycat Dolls show. I hate that I waste my time watching these crappy reality tv shows, but I hate it even more when the girl that is so awful that she should be wiped from the face of the Earth wins.

So what was it, like two entries ago that I posted about my first date with Craig? Well, here we are now celebrating six months together. I know it doesn't seem like that long, but our relationship has moved so quickly and we just fit so well that it seems longer and more substantial to us. It's nice to be able to celebrate each other and celebrate the best relationship that either of us has ever had. We are celebrating all weekend long because our first date was on the 31st, and there is no 31st in September. It's really nice. We're going out to dinner tonight and then I'm planning tomorrow's activities and he's planning Sunday's.

In other news, I sliced the top of my left index finger open yesterday. Oh boy was that fun. I'm amazed that I can still type with it if I bandage it well enough. Sometimes I'm just too crafty for my own good.

So I know a lot of you asked me if I was even using this thing anymore, and at times I wonder if it's a good thing for me. But I've been on lj way longer than this crappy feeling has been with me, so yeah.

Let's start with yesterday. A Blue Line train ran off the track at 5:09pm and then trash and rubber under the train caught fire, causing the tunnel to fill with smoke and ash. People had to walk out on a narrow ledge lining the tunnel and leave the subway through an emergency exit. I wasn't on the train, and I don't know anyone that was, thankfully. I was caught in the aftermath though. I tried to get on the train at about 5:10pm at the Jackson stop. After boarding the train I started to read my book and the conductor announced that we would "be stopped momentarily due to an equipment problem ahead." Then I looked out the window and heard someone explaining/yelling the situation and saw a mass exodus of people from the train platform. Everyone I was with remained calmly in the car, but I knew something was up, so I left and asked a nice man what they had announced. He told me that there was a fire and the trains wouldn't be moving anytime soon. I went above ground in the rain and tried to hail a cab. At rush hour it's so difficult to find an empty cab. So I got one (after 15 minutes) but a handicapped woman had been waiting near me, so I gave the cab to her...and I got no wave or nod or thank you or anything. Makes you not want to be so kind to the rest of humanity. I hailed another one after a while and while confirming that he could take my credit card he asked me where I was going, I told him Logan and Kedzie and he told me his machine didn't work for cards, throwing me out of his cab (liar). I waited for another 20 minutes and caught a cab and when I told him where to go he scoffed and then said he was off his shift in 30 minutes, so he couldn't go there (bullshit). So I said "Okay, well, refusing to give me a ride is against the law, sir. What's your cab number? 1603? Alright, thanks." And so I wrote the number down and then reported it late last night. I called Craig to come pick me up but he was in a really long meeting that he couldn't get out of right away. Finally after I calmed down I thought to take the Brown Line to Diversey and then take the bus home. I could've done that earlier, but I wasn't thinking straight. I ended up getting home at 7:30pm, stressed, tired, wet, and hungry. My day wasn't nearly as bad as the people on the train that caused the problem, but it was still upsetting.
I hate that even though it's against the law when their "not for hire" sign is unlit, cab drivers think they can refuse to take you places. It's because that guy wanted to get all of the short downtown rush hour fares instead of taking me way Northwest and then having to come back. The drivers think they're safe because people will fail to report them. I wish more people would report them...I heard that if they get three violations they get an $800 fine. They just don't care, and it sucks.

And yes, the Craig I mentioned from the paragraph above is the guy that I talked about in my previous post of April 1st regarding our first date. I've been with him for three and a half months now and it's great. We're very much alike and really know how to make each other happy. It's pretty amazing. We've looked at some condos together and talked about fine china...it's kind of nuts. But as my friend Jill said, when you know, you just know.

My summer calendar has been kind of nuts and it's about to get even crazier. In the coming weeks here's what is going on:
7/19 Cirque du Soleil
7/21 White Sox
7/28 Dashboard Confessional
7/29-30 Pitchfork Music Festival
8/4-6 Lollapalooza
8/18 Rainer Maria

And I'm sure there's more that I haven't noted. I saw Tilly and the Wall last month, where I saw treefort for the first time in a while! But it was a little too loud to hear properly and she couldn't sit with us, so that was sad. I went to see Dillinger 4 and The Methadones last week which was fun. I saw quite a few people I knew there, which is always nice.

jwithington came into town last month and again this past Monday, so I went out to Delilah's with him. This Monday was dangerous. I only spent $2 the whole night, but I had at least 6, possibly 7 beers. It was just like old times. I told Jim that he is the link that brings us all back together and makes it easier for us all to joke around again. Plus, Matt brought his sister Julia who was visiting from London, and she was totally awesome! I want her to be my new best friend..it's too bad she lives so far away. She knew all the critical comments I was going to make before I made them, she had this cute half accent, and she complimented my ring. I got pretty drunk (it hit me more once I was home) and finally went to bed at about 2:30am. Ah, Delilah's. Oh, and Tim indirectly knows Almost Kramer from punk rock nights. Weird!

I haven't been out a lot lately because I moved to a new, much larger, much nicer apartment on June 15th. It's been almost a month and I'm still only about halfway unpacked. I'm hoping to be done by the end of the month, though. Then Danelle could stay with me, yay! But the unpacking/new apartment has led to a great deal of stress for me lately. I mean, I'm dating this amazing guy that loves me enough to want to hang out with me every second of every day. So I want to do that, but I need time for me and time to unpack as well. And it's me, by myself, in this huge apartment that isn't that clean, with all of my stuff. So I have to clean a ton, then lay contact paper down on every shelf, cut to fit, and then finally think about putting something on the shelf. I know, I'm a whiner, but when you have a full time job and your boyfriend wants the majority of your weekend time, it's just difficult. Ugh. It will be done though.

Another thing: my hair is no longer red in front. I was getting tired of it. It's now all a slightly darker shade of brown that Rachel recommended to me and I love it. I bought some teal hair dye a while ago and plan to put that in at some point, but it's kind of nice to have normal-ish hair for a bit. I'm growing out the bangs too.

I need a couch, an unpacking fairy, a winning lotto ticket, a fancy art job, a kick in my ass to start my thesis, and a few new awesome friends in the Chicagoland area.

Okay, for serious, this may have been my best date ever. It just went so well. I was really nervous beforehand, cause this guy is awesome. But as I was waiting for him he called, and said he was sort of lost. The sincerity and cuteness in his voice was just too much. I think my nervousness died down a lot after that.

He's cute. He's short (5'5"). Maybe one day I'll hem his pants like I did Adam Sebastian's. That feels dirty, even though it's not. Haha. He asks me questions. He's funny. He tells stories and is really interesting to listen to. He talks about his cat (a lot). His cat even has a myspace, for reals.

And you know how I have that theory that couples that work well together look alike? Well well. We may have a winner.

So yeah, what a great night. I just feel really comfortable around him. I'm getting my whole complex again though...about how I've gotten dumb and I'm not smart enough for the guys I'm interested in. Hopefully my complex won't get in the way--even though this boy is probably the smartest one yet.

I'm really happy, and yet I barely know him. Excited for possibilities.

Poll #687959 Oh, for the love of color
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All

Which color bangs do you like better on me?

Care to explain your choice?

For reference:

I hear: Bettie Serveert

For the 2nd year in a row I have missed the cheap pre-sale tickets. And this year, they even sent an email out at the exact time, so I have not excuse!! Damn work! I got there at the end of the sale because I was allowed to add tickets to my cart, but then it told me they were unavailable!! Damnit!!! Grrr.

I hope it's not killer hot this year like it was last year. I won't be able to stand it with twice as many people, twice as many stages, and the same atrocious heat. eh. Any ideas on how much regular price tickets are going to go for? March 16th sale, here I come.

I've been listening to Tilly and the Wall lately on repeat. They're good. My only complaint is that the album is short. Quite short. It doesn't even last my whole ride to work in the morning, which is only about 30 minutes. C'mon people, 3 minutes per song, or more than 10 songs. Is it really that hard?

I'm going to see Mirrormask at the Music Box Theatre tomorrow night with a few folks. I am super excited that it's come back to Chicago, even if I do have to stay up late to see it!

My job is killing me. I like to have things wrapped up at the end of the day, and that is just not possible. There is always too much to do.

Coming soon: A poll about my hair. Oooh, I know you're salivating just thinking about it.

I feel: blah
I hear: Tilly and the Wall

I had a really good time tonight. I'm pretty damn happy about that.

And I saw a preview (sort of kind of) for The Da Vinci Code tonight. I came home and watched the official first trailer. It looks amazing. Much better than the book, most likely. The visuals seem really great--Ron Howard is pretty wonderful though.

And just to warn you, if you have three martinis before watching this trailer, Tom Hanks (with long hair) may look like Jim Belushi to you. Hey, it was far away and I was tipsy, okay? Haha.

Ugh. I am so bothered right now. These people, these friends, are the best thing that happened to me in the 2nd half of 2005, probably in the whole year. And now I can't even be around these people, for various reasons, especially in instances where I feel like I should be there? I guess if I can't be there, then I'm not really missed, but all the same, it's very sad.

This week was ridiculous. I thought my life had been drama-filled, crazy, busy, and stressful before now, but it was only a taste. Something to prepare me for what was to happen this week. I was worrying about my own life, my thesis, where I'm going to move, my job situation, etc. My job was less than spectacular this week, with a high stress level and many headaches. Then the real fun started: my relationship woes, of a friend nature and of a more-than-friend nature.

Have you ever been broken up with over MySpace? Now that's hilarious. It wasn't so bad, because it was so funny. And we were perfect friends again within hours.

Valentine's Day is coming up. I made some amazing v-day cards that have taken me quite a while to craft. They will be arriving in mailboxes on Monday and Tuesday, so many of you should be on the lookout. I really like them. I'll have to post a picture of them later.

I got "Flat Stanley" in the mail from my neice last week, and I have yet to write the story about what he did while he spent time with me. (In case you don't know, Flat Stanley is a little paper guy that travels the world and people write stories about where he's been and send the stories back to a child's school for the classroom to use as a learning experience) I took pictures of Flat Stanley downtown last Friday in front of all the downtown buildings and took him with me to the MCA and all that. I'm excited to start writing.

I bought her something today, to cheer her up. But it's moot.

Other things are good, but when some relationships are not good, it makes everything feel sad in their shadows.

I feel: sad
I hear: tegan & sara: where does the good go?