Who knew doing stuff took such an effort? (And Fill-in-the-Blank Friday!)

This has been a ridiculously busy week.  I don't really know how that happened when I a) don't have a job, and b) am flaky as fuck and never respond to my friends when they graciously ask me to do stuff.  What's this, I have to make an effort to be social?  Well shit...

Seriously though, for the first time in perhaps 7 months, I was responsive to people and had things to do.  Which could be why I was perpetually exhausted this week.  I don't know your guys' sleeping habits, but I never sleep past 7 hours.  Never.  I don't know why, but my body will wake me up at the 7 hour mark on the dot.  This is on the assumption I can get 7 hours of sleep anyway, most of the time it averages 5 hours or so. I have issues sleeping past 10:30--problematic when you're a ridiculous night owl.

Toothless!

Anyway.  Notable things Ashley did this week:

• Attended Brother's Girlfriend's Asian American Club Graduation Ceremony (meaning the Asian American club had a special grad ceremony for all their graduating members--which includes bro's gf).  I felt very old, despite being the youngest.  Also? I was not prepared to be around that many Asian people again. If I wanted that, I'd return to my alma mater.
• Got a hair cut.  Seems insignificant, but  it went from my waist to 2 inches past my shoulders.  It's like an entire lifestyle change, dudes.  So many movements I used to do (ie, leaning to the right when I got in my car so I wouldn't catch my hair in the door, dipping my head forward when I sit so I wouldn't sit on my hair, etc) are unnecessary now, and I feel like I'm learning to walk all over again.  But bright side, a small fortune may be saved on shampoo/condition expenses!
• Went to 5 different libraries in 2 days. I don't know what is wrong with me.
• Saw "How To Train Your Dragon" (thanks to Sarah for the late birthday present!), and holy bejeezus it was soooooo cute!  I mean, it was a really good movie anyway, but the dragons and even the Viking people (namely Hiccup) were so freakin' CUTE!  And I want a Toothless!  Seriously, if you haven't seen it, please stop reading this (well...) and scoot your cutie booty over to the nearest theatre pronto.
• Worked out three days.  Trust me when I say that does not happen.  Ever.  I don't think I pushed myself hard enough, but it's a gradual thing to even get into exercising at all.  Baby steps, but...steps.  I have also learned after 30 minutes of Zumba that there are some ways my hips just cannot move.  I thought they could, I always figured they could be taught, they could learn, and sometimes there's even a glimpse of hope...but my hips have, in fact, lied.

Not mentioned are the errands, multiple trips to Panera, and household cleaning done this week as well.  This weekend gets to be packed, what with an annual craft fair my mom and I go to being in town and then Mother's Day on Sunday.  All of my mom's immediate family will be going to a Mother's Day brunch at a fancy schmancy restaurant in Coronado (one of my favourite places in the world!), which should be...interesting.  I look forward to spending time with my family, at least.

Before I end with this week's Fill-in-the-Blank Friday, I hope everyone has a fabulous weekend!  And a very happy Mother's Day to all mom's, or to all my reader's moms.

1. My favourite book growing up was "Little Women" by Louisa May Alcott.  It's cheesy, it's classic, it's every little literature girl's love.  But I'm such a Josephine March, the book is engraved into my soul.

2. The funniest book I ever read is "I Am America: And So Can You!" by Stephen Colbert.  Does that count as a book?  If not, of course I laugh at David Sedaris books, and I quite enjoy Jen Lancaster.  The most recent book I laughed at was "The Book of Joe"--Jonathon Tropper is amazing.

3. The one book that has truly changed my life is "Franny and Zooey" by JD Salinger. "I'm sick of not having the courage to be an absolute nobody."

4. If you're looking for a real "tear jerker" you should probably read "A Walk To Remember" by Nicholas Sparks.  I know, I know, it's dumb and we've all seen the movie and I have made it quite clear how much his writing annoys me. But I couldn't help but bawl while I was reading this.  And maybe it was just me, but I may have lost my shit shed a few tears while reading "The Time Traveler's Wife."  It's one of my favourites now, but...whoo. It just cut me deep, man.

5. If I could meet any author living or dead I would want to meet William Shakespeare or Jane Austen.

6. The next books on my "to read" list are "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies", "The Historian", "Love in the Time of Cholera", "Signora da Vinci", "Emma", "The Feast of Love", and "The Ruby in the Smoke".  Those are the ones sitting on my nightstand, anyway--all from the library.

7. If I was snowed into a remote cabin in the woods and could only choose three books to bring with me, I'd bring "Pride and Prejudice", "Franny and Zooey", and the His Dark Materials series (I know that kind of cheats, but that's just the way I roll).

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Tales from the Toyota Dealership

My car is in dire need of a tune-up, so I have found myself at the local dealership this early morning.  I say "early," but my appointment was at 9:30am, which really isn't that early in the grand scheme of the working world.  It is, however, early to me--most especially when I was awake until close to 4am having Dr. Mario/Tetris tournaments on the Super Nintendo against my brother (that's real, kids).

Sitting in the waiting lounge of a Toyota dealership is really strange; it's like the amalgamation of middle America.  There are so many people of varying life, it's endlessly entertaining.  And for that, I am garnering several stares since I keep looking around and watching everyone.

For instance, I am one of two people who have brought a book to read (I have 3 and a magazine, if we want to be honest about it, but that's a whole other issue).  All the others are staring around and just watching everyone else, only to surreptitiously glance away when eyes accidentally trip over one another.  Why didn't anyone else realize that they would have an hour and a half of free time?  Why didn't they take the complimentary shuttle service to somewhere else where they would be entertained?  And most importantly, why don't you grab one of the 18 available magazines provided on the tables for us?

Then, there's one guy pacing around the room.  He's just...walking.  Around and around and around.  On occasion, he slips outside and walks around the front dealership lot, but then he makes his way back to the service area and keeps on walking, cup of hazelnut coffee steaming away in his hands.  Most importantly, though, is that he is a dead doppelganger for Will Ferrell, and that is highly distracting.  In an awkwardly funny way, since I just want him to burst out in a cheerleader uniform with a small Cheri Oteri next to him.

Then there is a cheery older woman here, smiling at everyone with the cutest high ponytail.  She's very chirpy, and I find that I really like it.  Most noticeable is the man sitting ramrod straight in a chair, in a complete pin-striped 3-piece suit.  It is pressed and crisp and he has a sleek briefcase sitting delicately in his lap.  He is clean-shaven, and even though I'm too far away to tell, I am betting you he is wearing the nicest cologne.  There is also the inevitable woman on her cell phone, speaking as though she is the only other person in the room.  In case you're wondering, her granddaughter did really well on her science test--maybe one day she'll even be a doctor!  Wouldn't that be wonderful?  Of course, she did excellent her spelling test, too, so she may have a future in teaching or English.  She's just so smart.

I was quite caught up in one couple that was sitting on the couch across from me.  Actually, the husband was sitting on the couch; the wife was sitting in one of the armchairs against the wall to my right (his left).  I thought it was odd they weren't sitting next to each other, and the woman was visibly angry.  Complete with the furrowed brow, the deep frown, the angry eyes.  Her husband had an entire folder filled with Toyota price sheets that you get every time you come in for a tune-up, so I had to wonder if she was irritated with the price.  He was definitely comparing all of the sheets, going through and cross referencing.  He said something to her, in which she simply grunted in reply (let me tell you, there is something incredibly strange about watching a woman grunt at a man.) and didn't say anything back.  It got to the point where she was so curt with him that I was convinced they were having marital problems.  Someone that hostile with the person she supposedly loves most in the world has to be having some pretty severe problems.

And then another man in a suit walked by me--this one, however, had his coat unbuttoned, there were wrinkles on the back like it had spent the night tossed over a chair, and, to be honest, the suit was about two sizes too big.  The man was scruffy, and his computer bag was beat up and well-loved and definitely something I had seen at a Staples 7 years ago.  I saw Crisp Suit Man (CSM) flag Wrinkled Suit Man (WSM) over, in which they introduced themselves.  Suddenly, a woman in all black with a Toyota pin comes striding up to Husband and Disgruntled Wife and says, "We are ready, shall we go upstairs to the offices?"  They stood up and shook hands with CWM and WSM--who are, as I've overhead, from a law office.  Suddenly all those back files of Toyota papers and money comments have turned into something extremely different...

No wonder the wife is disgruntled.  That's a lawsuit right there.

Yep, I have definitely just written 8 paragraphs about people in a Toyota dealership.  If you read all that, hooray!  If not, I do not blame you.  And theoretically you wouldn't be reading this, so...blahbitybooonyou!

I think I'm done commenting.  I'm going to get back to reading What the Dog Saw (who else loves them some Malcolm Gladwell?).  And for the record, Will Ferrell Doppelganger took the shuttle; chirpy woman is looking distinctly less chirpy and a lot more bored; the granddaughter is also much smarter than her grandson but he is doing well with math so maybe he'll be a future accountant!; the other book woman has since switched to a magazine; and everyone is still really, really bored.

I sincerely hope you all have had better mornings!

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A few thoughts to round out the weekend.

- Today was very peaceful.  The Carlsbad Village Street Faire (which is apparently the largest single-day vendor fair in the nation) was going on, in which myself and one of my best friends decided to drive out to.  Seriously, it is MASSIVE.  You see how long the fair goes, and you think, "Wow, that is long"...and then you realize there are offshoot streets from it every block.  And then you realize there are offshoot streets from the offshoot streets, all of which have vendors.  It was crowded and a bit hectic, but it was still very...nice.  There's really no other word for it.  Beautiful weather, entertaining people, interesting surroundings...it was just nice.

-  A Ritz cracker package took me so long to open just now that my train of thought was absolutely lost, and whatever was planned for the second bullet point is gone with the wind. Darn.

- Outings have successfully been had the entire week despite the hive.  It is a distinct accomplishment that walking outside has happened.

-Dilemma. My twitter is locked so who sees my tweets can be controlled by me.  Acceptance is given to anyone who requests it, but it is nice to know who exactly can see them all--and, if need be, take that option away.  Reason being my exact location is sometimes tweeted.  This blog does not expressly display the name of my suburb--it simply says San Diego, and on occasion my general area is referenced.  But my choice to not employ the same "security" on Twitter is because tweet conversations with real life friends reference places around my home.  Simply stated, Twitter is personal; my blog is public.  The problem is that several jobs hiring in my field request access to applicant's Twitter accounts since they involve Social Media--meaning mine will have to go public.  Something artfully avoided since my entrance into the Twitter World in 2008.  Before it is suggested, two Twitter accounts will not happen; it is a hard enough time managing two forays into the social media world, there is zero chance success will be had managing multiple accounts. The obvious solution would be to stop tweeting exact locations, but it's unfair that my responses to friends will have to be restricted. So many facets of my life are protected, it would be nice to keep one open.

-  Watching Kobe Bryant in press conferences keeps increasing my dislike of him.  His expression and attitude are completely irksome.

- A "secret experiment" is being done this entire week by me. But really it's more of a "secret challenge" just to see if it can be done...and it is fudging hard.  Said experiment/challenge is taking place here on the blog and on my Twitter (how many times can "Twitter" be said in one blog post?!*); the latter having been started Friday early morning, and the former having started with this post!  This is a very strange bullet mark, as none of you really have no idea what is being spoken of, but that's ok...more fun for me!

- Utterly exhausted after 4 hours of sleep last night and the events of today.  Hope everyone had a fantastic weekend!

*Apparently "Twitter" can be said 8 times.  Well, 9.

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