Not Really Me, but I'll Take It

this description might not be accurate... but i'm quite thrilled that i wasn't "typed" as mistral, papyrus, stencil, comic sans, or american typewriter (the other choices) which happen to be some of my LEAST favorite, almost pet peevish fonts. well, them and zapfino. stupid zapfino...

Hey Friends!

I'm aware that very few people probably read this anymore, because I stopped writing a couple months ago, but I imagine that just as I continuously check people's blogs even when they've stopped writing for a long time, there must be some faithful readers who'll venture back here to find out whats been going on in My Pseudo Adult Life, and for that, you shall be rewarded.

So here are the goings ons:


Kelly & Me at Jamba Juice; Living room in our new aparment; Chloe the Calico Kitty Cat

In June I moved less than a mile away to a new apartment in the same town i'd been living in, this time with Kelly, another friend from Taylor. We met when we went to Ireland together Sophomore year of college. When I moved to Chicago, we hung out quite a bit and we became much closer than we ever were at school. I was very happy about this. Eventually, she started looking for a new place to live, out of the city a bit, and since my living situation was temporary anyhow, we decided to take the next step in our relationship and move in together. So we found a place that we love and here we are. My awesome cat Chloe has also joined us. The three of us live very well together.


Buttons was our first visitor; BFF Kelly & Sim in P-burgh; Roomie Kelly & I went to Feist

Kelly and I have had a busy summer. With visitors, and trips here and there, and then your normal hanging out with friends and family... things got a little crazy for a while, but i think they are starting to maybe? slow down for a bit. or maybe not, with birthday season and my bff's baby's actual birth day comin' 'round the corner. And then its right into Christmas. The fun just never stops, folks.


Waterfall on Corey's B-day; Attitude face after a day at the Zoo; Pitchfork Music Festival

Its been almost 9 months since I started my job with the publisher and I still like it. I also really like some of the people that I work with. These people include but are not limited to those shown in the pictures. We manage to have some good times, me and these people. Afterall, there's always an adventure to be had. Nice Done Team.

All in all, i'm very happy with how things are going here in Chicago. A friend from school asked me just tonight how things were going for me in Chicago, and my response was simple: I have a job that I like, and i'm never lonely. Honestly, I can't ask for much more. Except for my cat, but oh yeah, I've got that too.

Adios Amigos, thanks for stoping by.

My Cat is Awesome

i'm not sure how i feel about this anymore.

so i'm taking a break.

indestructable

my poor phone, on many many occasions, has been dropped, or thrown to the ground. each time i freak that it'll be cracked or dead, but each time, it survives, unscathed. well... maybe not completely unscathed... its got quite a collection of scars.

last night i put it to the ultimate survival test - the toilet. i was getting ready for bed last night and leaned over the toilet and plop—into the toilet it went.

i retrieved it within seconds, drying the outside, then removing the battery to dry what i could of the innards. i didn't see much evidence of water penetration inside, but when i dried it and put the battery back in, the screens would illuminate, but did nothing else. i couldn't get it to turn on or do anything.

after i researched where and when i could get a new phone (and found out that the phone i want is on sale again right now!), i decided to let fate decide what would be come of my trusty bulky white phone while i let it sit for the night with the battery removed.

the moment of truth came this morning—i put the battery back in, and held the power button. welcome to t-mobile.
i love kat.
and then, the peacock feather.
dialing, audrey—ring, ring.
PHEW. once again, my little white phone has pulled through, yet again. although i do want that new phone... we'll see. i don't want to renew my contract with the worst cell phone service in the world until i see if i can actually get reception in my new apartmnet. if we get it. fingers crossed.

big big day

saturday was a big big day. kelly and i found an apartment! it was our first (besides the one bad bad cheap bad horrible apartment we saw friday night) day of seeing apartments and we ended up seeing about 4, i think, and then made our decision. we both just had a gut feeling about this one, and i think the two of us, and chloe, will be very happy there.

but the big big day doesn't stop there! oh no no no! then i went to sarah's house and played ROCK BAND. i must admit, i'm a tad addicted to guitar hero. i don't own it, but when its in my presence i cannot resist. which, by the way, made working on friday very difficult because we had it set up in my department for a birthday celebration. but not only is it fun to play guitar, its really fun to play drums as well! seriously... i think this game was made for me. now, i'm not amazing or anything... but it makes me so ridiculously happy. so ridiculously happy that i'm thinking of purchasing a system and the game for myself, or, waiting for my birthday and suggesting that if perchance and of my family and friends wanted to get me something... they could consider going together to make my guitar hero dreams come true. if they were wanting to perhaps give me a little something. am i a brat for just saying that? eh well. i'm an addict. we're irrational folk.

and that was my big big day.
pretty big, eh?

a few of my

favorite things—about working for a publisher: i got 17 new books yesterday. for free.

Lady of Quality - Georgette Heyer
The Spanish Bride - Georgette Heyer
The Joy of Reading - Charles Van Doren
Everything I learned in the White House by George W. Bush - A Parody
Naturally Healthy First Foods for Baby - Jacqueline Rubin
Finding Battlestar Galactica - Porter, Lavery, Robson
The Pemberley Chronicles: Book 2 - Rebecca Ann Collins
The Rum 1000 - Ray Foley
The Naked Roommate: Planner - Harlan Cohen
The Poem I Turned to (with audio CD) - Jason Shinder
Your Ultimate Personality Quiz - Dr. Dorothy McCoy
SEALed with a Kiss - Mary Margret Daughtridge

and others.
and all of this is in addition to the first two rounds of free books. i'm acquiring quite the little library, and i'm running out of shelf space! wait, strike that... i ran out a long time ago.

happy fifty seven day!

so my favorite number is 57. many of you many know this, and many others may think it rather odd to have a favorite number, but deal, i like the number, ok? i mean, look at it... its beautiful, the way they flow into each other, with the perfect blend of straight segments, angles, and curves. well today is may 7, or 5/7, hence fifty seven day! i knew last week that it was coming up, but forget when exactly it would be. but for some reason, i made a specialtreat - a delicious trifle treat of vanilla pudding, cool whip, and berries - to share with my friends at work today, on 5/7. and there you have it folks... i unknowingly celebrated my own made up holiday. i know this sounds crazy, but i think i have a real connection with the number 57.

ghost away | siberia

www.ghost-away.com

go there get your free download of my brother's new album,
and share it with all your friends.

promise me you'll give it a good listen;
none of that "background music" business.

a life highlight - don't judge.

i really like this obscure television show on the mojo channel called three sheets. the host, zane, is very much hilarious. they also have great sound effects. i love a good sound effect. anyhow, i happen to visit the iTunes store this morning before work (like i was running late enough already). i wanted to pick up the juno soundtrack because i couldn't get a couple of the songs out of my head and i was not about to go to work without those songs to listen to all day. while i was there, i happen to notice that in the free section, there were (drumroll...) not one, but two, yes two, episodes of three sheets! i immediately downloaded them both - belgium from season 1 and croatia from season 2. of course they didn't finish downloading before i put my computer to sleep for the day, but i made sure to finish them this evening. i shall watch them tomorrow while i research more apartmentos.

one thing i've learned

don't take a low paying job with a 26 mile commute in a city where living ain't cheap (especially in the places i really really want to live), and gas isn't getting any more affordable. it is severely limiting. and depressing.

in a perfect world, i would have a 5-10 mile commute (or take the train), to my fair-priced 1 bedroom apartment with a pool and workout facilities where my cat could spend the evenings out on the balcony. also in this perfect world, i would have several friends (or at least a couple) within walking distance. all of this would also be in walking distance of a cute "downtown are" with shops and restaurants, as well as the train, so that we could hop on it anytime we wanted to be downtown.

unfortunately what i want only exists in the suburbs, and i don't want to live in the suburbs.
suggestions?

the moniker that marks me

working for a publisher, i get to read lots of things. today i was working on a baby name book and got to read many of the names, as well as a good bit of the intro, and advice given on baby naming, which i find fascinating and entertaining. i read the entry for my own name, and i must say i find it to be rather surprising, the number of variations they list:

Ashley (English) From the meadow of ash trees
Ashlie, Ashlee, Ashleigh, Ashly, Ashleye, Ashlya, Ashala, Ashleay, Ash,
Ashby, Ashely, Ashla, Ashlan, Ashlea, Ashleah, Ashleen, Ashleena, Ashlen,
Ashli, Ashlin, Ashling, Ashlinn, Ashlyn, Ashlynn, Ashleene, Ashlynne,
Ashlyne, Ashlene, Ashtyn, Ashten, Ashtin, Ashtine, Ashtynne, Ashton

for most of my life thus far i was led to believe that my name simply meant "beautiful meadow" i didn't quite get it, but its a nice (as in picturesque scene, not as in meaningful or powerful) meaning, so i never argued. but it all makes sense now - that meadow, has ash trees. but wait, isn't that contradictory? a bit oxy-moronic if you will? if it has trees, would it not be more of a forest and less of a meadow?

number fifty

fifty posts on this blog, that is.

may i just say that i have had quite the weekend? i can't believe all that has happened and that i've done in the last four days, but its been great - mostly.

thursday: kat came, and so did laura, her friend, and karen for erik burgers and the office.

friday: kat and i went out for the evening, had dinner at chipotle, and then—disaster. her car was broken into and her GPS stolen. unbelievable—right? yeah, it wasn't so much fun. check out my flickr for pictures chronicling the event.

saturday: kat and i trekked to safelite to have her window repaired. we went for a walk and stopped for some treats at mcd's while we waited—sweet tea, cinnamon somethings, and hot fudge sundae. when we returned from safelite, we picked bridget up from the train, and met aud and karen at the apartment. we then went to taylor park for a pizza picnic and some frisbee. it felt good to be out and about and playing frisbee with friends. afterwards, we went to a little wildlife thing and saw a fox, raccoon, some birds, and a cayote. when we got back to my apartment, we played some dutch blitz, which i haven't done in SO long. i loved it. and i beat there little patuties. after dutch blitz, bridget and karen left and i had a small break for some peace and quiet before kelly came out from the city! we went out to pompei for dinner, then walked around downtown oak park before going to blockbuster and renting juno. we both loved it.

today: kelly and i woke up and had coffee and cream of wheat before going to target to buy her a tennis racket, after which we went to taylor park again to play tennis. it was fun, but we were both so out of shape that we didn't last very long. so we played some frisbee for a while. before long we had to head back to get ready to go out to wheaton for church. it was a good service, very refreshing, and a lot of questions i've had were answered. after church i dropped kelly off at the train and audrey and i did some cleaning, and watched kite runner. not quite the laugh that juno was, but its good.

the end.

not much here

i'm not sure what the heck i used to blog about millions of times a day back in the day, because i barely have anything to say these days. i guess my life is just not quite as sexciting. yeah, its probably that, but also mainly because i use more discretion in what i blog about. but also mainly because my life is not as exciting.

except for tonight. audrey and i finally went out to celebrate our six month! six months of rooming together. we went to fuego loco. it was pretty good. then we went for a walk through the park, and played on the playground. we took pictures. i'll see if i can get some later. but now we're sitting at home watching arrested development. with bob loblaw.

why? WHY?

flight of the conchords tickets were sold out by the time i could try to buy tickets, which was only 2 hours after they went on sale. apparently, they were a little more popular than i anticipated.

so i'm thinking about...

getting a ps2 so i can get guitar hero.
because i love it
and when i played over the weekend,
i remembered this
and for the first time in my life,
i found myself pricing video games and consoles online.
i think i could get both on amazon for a grand total of around 150 bones.
the only problem is, this might be a little counteractive to my quest to lead a more active lifestyle. eh...

o | m | g

fotc is coming to the chitown theater.
and i'm going.

hopefully.

thank you katrina for enlightening me on this.

lollapallooza

to go, or not to go. that is the question. it costs 190 bones, but thats for so many great bands. now if i can just find someone to commit to going with me. let me entice you with the lineup.

injured bad

about a year ago (maybe a little longer), i was being stupid and unsafe with some chisels while making a woodcut, and despite warnings that i was going to hurt myself, i ended up accidentally stabbing the tip of my own thumb. the result: 3 stitches in the tip of my thumb. it was not fun. in fact, i was reading in my journal about it last night, and it seems as if it was quite miserable for a time. it was extremely sensitive for months and months. i'd thought that the sensitivity had gone back to normal, until i accidently stabbed it with the blunt end of a pen today, while telling the story of how it all happened, and pain shot through the tip of my thumb, and remained, pulsating then, for close to 20 minutes. who would have thunk that it would still be that sensitive? not i, said the fool.

but also mainly because

last july a friend introduced me to what would soon become the new love of my life; a two-person parody band from new zealand called flight of the conchords. you might have heard of them. anyway, the first song i heard was "part-time model." it wouldn't say it was love at first listen/watch, but it didn't take long before i had a hard time getting enough of them. i soon found out that they were not just silly little videos, but that there was a show on HBO. unfortunately, i didn't have HBO or any friends with HBO, so i was only able to watch them on youtube, when people posted them afterward, but, about halfway through the seasons, the youtube videos of the show were banned! gasp! it was a terrible, terrible feeling, having something you love taken away, leaving you all alone, and helpless. i'm sure some of you can relate. but today my life changed. i was reunited with my love, and i feel alive again for the first time in months!