The Fault in Our Stars

Let's face the facts. There are 2 comedians in my life that can do no wrong. Mindy Kaling and Tina Fey. I've read both of their books. Correction....I've listened to their audio books, which they narrate. Brilliant. In Tina Fey's book Bossypants she talks about the rules of improv. As someone who did theatre all in junior high, i know exactly what she's talking about.

1. Always say yes. #bestruleever. 
2. There are no mistakes, only opportunities. 

Now someone who does not do theatre or has a boring life, should take note of these rules. Why? because they make life more interesting. You want to go to Puerto Rico this weekend? No = Oh, okay.#nofun #nofriends You want to go to Puerto Rico this weekend? Yes = party time. See? Flawless logic. Of course, this rule has it's limits to excude the bad immoral sneaky people things in life. ie. No prostitution, stealing, breaking the law (some exclusions do apply), killing people, etcetera. It's fun and it keeps life interesting when you are open to new opportunities.

You know those old tv's with the bunny ears that were small screens in a HUGE box from the old days? You know, the ones that should be in museums for people to look at and laugh at as they think about current technology? Yeah, that's the kind of  tv my family has my whole life, since probably the 80's. It is pretty ghetto-licous. But with parents who grew up with nothing, they just see a working television and no reason to spend money to buy another working television. Now, to present time, the tv remote has been lost, so my dad missed watching Dr. Who. This of course is more unthinkable and ridiculous than having a super old tv, so my dad immediately requested that my brother go help them pick out a new tv. Now this new tv is all hi-tech and HD. It has netflix and my dad decided to get Hulu Plus so he can watch current tv shows too. He's so funny.

Now, the weekend of the new TV (3/15-6) , I slept over at home because I had a long week and wanted to escape. Due to my long week, I was feeling ready for a good long cry, which is ideal when you are planning on setting aside time to read a very sad book. That's right, I do enjoy a good emotionally traumatic book every once in a while. I read The Fault In Our Stars. Don't be alarmed by any spoilers, because you know it's going to be sad based on the summary, so please, calm down. As I was reading this book, I was cry. It was a constant of tears streaming down my face while I sat on the couch downstairs in the living room. My mom walked by and of course interrupted my intense emotional connection with fictional characters to ask me if I was ok. I responded "Of course!" and she interrupted again saying "are you sure?".  Please note the difficulty that exists when there is a very pivotal part in a book and then your mom interrupts because she's concerned that you are sitting by yourself in tears. Please. Later she came by and said sometimes along the lines of  "you dont have to keep reading it if you dont want to" and I said "why would you say that? I love this book!" and she said "it doesn't look like it". Don't questions a girl crying over a book! It was a great book. I loved it. It touched my heart and I will forever remember it. (I was introduced to my love of heart wrenching books when I read The Book Thief....on an airplane, and ended up bawling my eyes out next to a stranger, and trying my hardest to maintain some composure and not freak out my anonymous neighbor. #amazingbooksenvokeextremereactions)

(3/17) So does ditching your family to hang out with family take away from how bad it is to ditch your family? The other week, I was talking to my Aunt Sharron and she invited me over for dinner, and my mom said it was fine and added something along the lines of she's no longer friends with Aunt Sharron for stealing me away. I dunno. But I went and it was funny because Aunt Sharron meant to call my mom the next day and invite the rest of the family over, but she forgot. lol. So I went and ate dinner with them and it was fun. One of Aunt Sharron's old mission companions (from Argentina) was there, and Uncle David's mom was there. So we had a fun time after dinner talking in Spanish as I realize how bad my Spanish skills have become. Whoops. It was  lot of fun and I really enjoy this side of my family.

Now for the Charles quote of the week: I'm not diabetic, im just really angry!

So for work, my boss has asked me to update my resume to include things that I have been working on for the past 10 months. It was stressful. The bonus to working on your resume at work is that the management can look at your resume with you and give you some good advice about what they would be looking for in a resume. It was pretty funny because the plant manager was like "you need to put that your an excel expert!" lol. I'm really not that great. but it make me laugh. He thinks I'm so great that he gave me what he calls a "mission impossible" which lead me to having to read computer coding in Microsoft Visual Basic. I honestly never thought I would have to look at computer code again after my freshman year of university. It was gross. I gave up after two days. They really weren't expecting me to figure it out, but they were hoping. Nope. Leave that German engineering to the Germans (it was a program written by one of our German facilities)

So I've been meaning to do Pottermore for a while. I signed up when I was in New Zealand with Saryah due to her intense peer pressure. But when my big sister sent me a link about what each house would read in real life, I realized, I need to finally be sorted. So I did. It took longer than expected to get to the chapter where I could get my wand and be sorted. It turns out I'm a Ravenclaw. Woot. (I was secretly hoping I would be a Slytherin and terrified I might be a closet Hufflepuff #hpdrama) It was a happy day.

On Wed night (3/20) after golf, I was called out. I got another calling, and was talking to one of the stake counselors. He was pretty funny, and it turns out I live close to him, so he asked if I had taken a walk around the lake my hotel. I said I have seen it and have been meaning to talk a walk around it, but I become a vegetable as soon as I get to my room after work. He called me a lazy bum, and I laughed at he truthful remark. Therefore, the next day, after picking up some books from the library, I went and read outside by the lake and enjoyed the sunshine during my lunch break.

Now speaking of books. One important thing you have to know is I am a recovering addict. I'm addicted to reading. Sometimes I fall off the wagon and cannot stop. That is what happened that week. I read 7 books in 6 days, and didn't sleep much. A book to me is like a pringles can to everyone. Once you pop the fun won't stop, aka, i cannot stop. I just get tooo curious that I have to know how it ends. It's bad. I'm working on it. Acknowledging you have a problem is the first step to recovery. Right? I have to practice putting down a book in the middle of it. It is hard, but I try.

This fact may have contributed to Saryah coming over and us not doing anything...together. She came over and found me on goodreads. Then instead of encouraging me to do something, she joined me and we looked at book lists of books we could read in the future. Eventually we determined we needed food, and I made speghetti. It was great. Then we watched The Hunger Games before bedtime, when she went to bed, and I stayed up reading a little later. The next day (3/23)  was PANCAKE DAY! at Stevie and Sonja's. It was fun. We ate lots of pancakes. Everyone had a party. Afterwards, Saryah and I went to Half-Priced Books. Yeah. Problem, remember? Then we were so tired, that we went back to my place and sat on the couch together and read our books. She left, and I continued to read. It was a very relaxing day.

Speaking of Saryah, she is moving far away. So sad. She has asked me to drive up with her to her new residence to keep her company on the long drive. May I just note the life parallel of how we roadtripped the North Island of New Zealand together May 2012, and we are roadtripping the Southwest together in April 2013. Adorable we are. The only problem is I will have to fly back, so I had to start looking at one way tickets back to Htown. I pressed a wrong button at one point and accidentally searched for a round trip ticket to find that the cheapest round-trip ticket would save me $70 and get me home on a direct flight rather than a connection flight. #savyshopper #likeaboss

Now for some angst. I was talking to a girl the other day and she's about a year or two older than me. In our conversation she said a couple of times the key phrases of  "when I grew up" and "in my generation" as in...we are from different generations. She referenced the fact she grew up without cell phones and had to use payphones. Ummm, yes, so did I. I was on my best behaviour and smiled the entire time, but in my head I felt very patronized. It was one of the most ridiculous things ever. #bahhumbug

My last story of the week comes from me working from home on my laptop one night, while listening to music on my personal laptop and thinking, why can't i connect the two laptop screens? (I have two screens at work) It is hard to go from working on two screens to one small laptop screen. #workangst

my life is a romcom....minus the rom

My life is insane. No really. I sometimes just sit and think, I am so weird/awkard/ridiculous. But, hey, that's my life. Just a list of things that happened recently that made me laugh.

I was looking at possible places to spend my birthday. This popped up on the screen: "Due to United States travel restrictions, we are unable to display travel itineraries that include Cuba.". BOO!!!

That awkward moment that you are trying to change lanes at a stop light and the little old lady next to you makes eye contact and shakes her head no. 

I was chatting with Lindsay about a boy coming over to my place and said: I feel like people think I'm cooler as soon as they find out I live in a hotel. I want people to like me for me, not for my hotel. #firstworldproblems

I told a joke to my work mentor that I already told to my boss, Michael, and my mentor thought it was super funny. Last month, Michael told me he wanted to have a graduation get-together for me and the other new-hires for our one-year mark. I told him we should do it at our facility in Brazil and have a team building sandcastle competition on the beach. My mentor thought it was very funny and said "You are very good at thinking outside of the box". #professionalpride #gtforever

Jarrett making an acronym in anticipation for our Groundhog's Day adventure in Punxsutawney, PA. #GHD2K13

Family dinner discussing a date I went on: 

     Mom "Did he try to kiss you?"

     Me: "No"

     James: "It's because he didn't want to"

     Me: "No, he probably did"

     Saryah: "No. He didn't"

and it someone turned into a debate where I was arguing that I could kiss any slutty guy if I wanted to, but I choose not to. #bestfamilyever

I have a new bff. He's my brother's best friend's wife's brother, Seth, who I always thought was younger than me until a month ago when I realized he was 30. lol. I told him he was my new go-to guy because he lives so close to me. I've always wanted a cousin bff. Just like, through this marriage, Saryah finally gets a cousin her age (Seth's youngest sister) who we're friends with. Way to marry into a cool family Stevie. Best idea EVER!

My grandma has decided to throw herself a birthday party....on my birthday, after weeks of me trying to determine what I wanted to do for my big celebration #speechless

I still don't have a name plaque for my cube....so I printed and cut one out for myself. It looks legit #proactive

At work we were practicing with a fake fire extinguisher and a virtually simulated fire, and the funny Brazilian lady had her turn and started singing the line from Alicia Keyes' new song "This girl is on Fire" #mylifeattheoffice

I even have the sassy co-worker bff character in my romcom life. This role is taken by my new work bestie, Charles, who denies that we're besties. I tell him about my boy problems and he gives me advice

Example 1:
     Me: So, I'm thinking of just going up to him and telling him I would like to get to know him better.
     Charles: Yes! If girls just did that, the world would be a better place
Example 2: 
     Me: I'm so mad he didn't text me back last night!
     Charles: That's because he was with his wife and kids.
     Me: He does not have a wife and kids.
     Charles: That's what he wants you to think. 

I had a really bad day the other day. In order to make myself feel better, I listened to My Favourtie Things from The Sound of Music on repeat. She's right, when I simply remember my favourite things, then I don't feel so bad. :) #iwishmylifewasamusical

Me thinking: I wish I had a dvd player for the tv in my room. I want to watch the Sound of Music from my comfy bed instead of the couch. #firstworldproblems

I sometimes forget/forgo sleep in order to read a book #bookaddict

I have been lazy all week and have been wearing my glasses. But it's sunny and I do not have clip ons. So I wear my big hipster sunglasses over my normal glasses and no one is the wiser. #twoglassesarebetterthanone

I've decided: if there was an actress that had to be me in my life movie, it would have to be Mindy Kaling. I feel like she is the only ones who would be able to capture my essence. (plus, erica agrees)