Zoe’s Journal

So anyway, after I wrote my last post, I paid some bills and started cleaning up my desk. There was an entire slew of papers to toss, so I decided to take out all of the trash, which has been kind of piling up in a haphazard way this weekend. There were also some boxes under our entry table that I decided to put in the LotR’s new shed, since that’s what it’s for! While I was at it, I took the paint buckets out of the laundry/cat room and got them ready to take out as well. [Akk. The LotR just freaked and went to bring all of the boxes back in again. The shed has a lock, damnit.]

Then I opened the door. It was freaking dark. Thank goodness for floodlights, right? Well, they only reached as far as the back wall. Beyond that was the alley where the trash cans are. It really dark. I decided to just do the shed things first, so I made about 6 trips back and forth with the boxes and one Really. Heavy. Paint bucket. But after that, the trash just stared at me. I shivered, then grabbed a flashlight. It was broken. So I found another, smaller, but at least it worked.

I took the keys to the back gate along with a bag of trash, and turned the lock. The gate swung open, faster than I would have thought. Vines rustled, and the open gate blocked all view. I broke a cold sweat, and thought of all the frightening alley stories I’d ever heard, then stepped out. The trash can wasn’t there! It was way down in front of another house on the other side of the alley! I carefully picked my way along, and finally reached the big, blue plastic bin. I thought how it was just the perfect size to house a body, or perhaps a vagrant. Picking up the lid, I threw my load in and slammed it shut. Whew. BARR RARR RARR RARR! A Dog! An angry dog! I whipped around with the flashlight. Ah, he’s fenced in. Whew. He stopped barking and I went back for another load.

The second trip was only marginally better than the first. At least this time I knew the trash bin was empty, with no body or vagrant lurking inside. I threw in my load and turned back again. A CRASH! The sound of something large barreling into a picket board fence! BARR RARR RARR RARR!!!! My insides squeaked and I ran back to the gate while some man yelled at the dog. I locked the gate and stepped gratefully into the floodlights.

Next time I take the trash out, it had better be broad daylight. I am still shaking. Trust me to make an adventure out of dumping trash, huh? Ha.

My paper, that is. My freaking long English research paper.

I had been working relaxedly [is that a word?] on it for the past couple of weeks, and still had over a page of my 4-page outline left to finish writing about. I had thought that my only homework this week was to submit a peer-review of an essay (the one I reviewed nearly gave me nausea from the sheer lack of coherence, the astounding number of grammatical errors, and lack of punctuation.), but when I logged into the school website, I reread the assignments. And there, down at the very bottom, “Submit a draft of your research paper in proper format or else your peer review won’t get any grade.” WHAT!? Here I was, looking forward to a relaxing Saturday!

Around 2:30 I finished handwriting it all [I have to handwrite stuff like that in order to get it out right], and then I did relax for a while. Then I typed it all up in proper MLA format and emailed it off to my instructor. Too late, I realized, I had left off the Works Cited page, which was another MS Word file. Oh well. It’s not like my draft is getting graded or anything.

You know what this means? Now I can CLEAN my desk!

And I’m really hungry, but don’t know what to eat.

muahahaha. **chuckles maniacally**

I spent so much money tonight. BUT! Most of it was on travel, and ALL of it was a good deal. Except maybe the … oh, you’ll see. For Seattle, I reserved our hotel rooms at the Red Lion on 5th Ave for three nights. It’s not the W, but it’s just as nice, and in the same area. And a lot cheaper! I also booked our flights - $99 a person for each flight! Not bad! I also checked on ticket prices to the Seattle Art Museum - they are having a special exhibition called ‘Japan Envisions the West‘ during the time that we’ll be in town. Only $15 each! Here’s a good part - I bought some tickets to the Seattle Symphony on the 13th. They are having a Mozart night, with pieces from ‘The Magic Flute’ and his popular ‘Requiem’. This is actually what started the shopping spree. I thought, ‘Gee, what am I going to WEAR to a symphony?!‘ Problem Solved, Sherlock.

I bought a dress from Macy’s:

As well a couple of tops from Dillards:

Then I decided to see if there was a necklace or bracelet to go with the dress. Well, I found a good bracelet for it:

And then I found two necklaces. Here is the more conservative - $48 at Dillards:

This one *rapturous sigh*… I don’t know what possessed me to buy it - but it’s so perfectly whimsical! I absolutely adore it. Not to mention, it was on sale for $50. Down from $145. Simple decision.

My daddy called today. He wanted to ask if I would burn him some CD’s with my music. Apparently, the cds I sent my sisters were ‘forbidden’ and they had to smuggle them to my dad’s apartment. Anyway, now he likes the stuff, and wants more. Mainly just instrumental things, and soundtracks. He’s getting so much more than that… just doesn’t know it yet!

I have eight cd’s all planned out for him. One is a little heavier - more experimental to see if he likes it. One is full of light, cheery music from Cirque du Soleil, one is more classical music, with some light trance. Another is a little heavier techno and trance, with some prog rock thrown onto the back end. One cd is entirely Depeche Mode, which I think he’ll like, and another is full of soundtrack music from Hayao Miyazaki films. The other two are soundtracks from Fellowship of the Ring, and Return of the King.

Damnit, I just lost my sharpie.

The LotR and I are thinking of taking a trip. I had already asked a few days off work for next month in anticipation of Ashley coming up to visit, but now it appears that she can’t make it. Rather than cancel my time off, we decided to take a fun, romantic trip somewhere special. I should mention that by next month, the LotR won’t be crunching on the game any longer. He’ll still be working on it, but the big deadline will be past and he can focus on some other things.

Originally, I wanted to go visit California. I’ve never been there, and of course, the glamour calls. I’d like to see it. But the LotR will be in San Fransisco this coming March for IGF (Independent Games Festival), and I will be flying up that Thursday for the awards ceremony, and we are going to drive back south along the coast, visiting several places. So, our option was to go to LA and San Diego and the zoo there. Which sounds like fun, right?! I thought so.

But we are thinking about going somewhere else. Someplace more ’special’. Seattle anyone?!?! That’s right, we’re thinking about going to visit Seattle. I researched the weather, and it doesn’t look like it rains an inordinate amount during October, and I also found a really nice hotel right in the heart of downtown - the W hotel (my coworkers and I stayed in a branch when we went to Dallas last month). The prices are pretty decent… the location is great… maybe?!?!

I’m getting kind of excited.

On another note, this afternoon was passing kind of slow…

But now anticipation brews, and I can hardly wait!