Visions From Loli

Loli:  I’m headed to Kazy’s to pick up some rice.  Any requests?

Clay: BJ

Loli:  Good idea!  I bet I won’t even have to pay for the rice if I did that!

Clay:  Dammit.

Okay, so quick post here just to vent a little.

First, let me start off by repositioning myself from the fetal position so that I may bow down before any and all IT Help Desk Professions…each and everyone of you are GODS!

This morning I set out to return a book to Amazon.  Lalalala, going to the Amazon site, logging in…Lalalala, clicking “return purchase”….Lalalala, “why are you returning”…”Don’t need it”….Lalalala, “click here to print return label” SSSCREECHHHH! Shit! My printer isn’t hooked up!  Oh, well, I’ll just plug it in real quick.  Lalala, getting cable…Shit! It went wireless through our Naz, so I have to set that up too.  Oh, well, Lalala, getting cable….Shit! Can’t find the damn cable.  Oh well, I’ll just hook it up directly to my computer, I can just sit it on the floor next to my computer, afterall, I just need to print one thing.  Lalala, connecting power cord…Lalala, connecting usb cord….Shit! Why isn’t my mouse working? It’s okay, I’ll just try another usb port…Lalala…Shit! Still not working! Let me try another port…Shit! How about another? Shit, Shit, Shit!  (Thinking of calling Clay for advice, but knowing what I will hear is: “Have you tried turning it off and then back on again?”>Classic Roy<)   Now I know I should just reboot, but I’m wondering if I’ll loose the ability to print this label.  What if I only get one chance?  There’s gotta be a way to move around using my keyboard…Arrow keys? Let’s try arrow keys…Lalala, Damn, Shit, Damn! Why isn’t my GD keyboard working? >deep breath<It’s okay, we’ll try another usb port…Lalala… GD, Damn, Shit, Frak! Hit my GD head on the desk…it’s okay, no blood…Lalala…Shit, WTF is going on! Why isn’t my MF’in mouse and keyboard working?     Fuck it! Reboot…lala…What the Hell is going on here?  Why isn’t my monitor working now?  How the fuck does this happen?  Reboot again..la-effin-la…AARRGGHH! Still no monitor, mouse or keyboard?! SHIT, FUCK, FUCKITY, FUCK! I just want to print one GD thing for fuck’s sake! Let me try just unplugging the power cord from my computer…La-effin-la…

Lalala! We have monitor, we have mouse, we have keyboard! Lalala!  Now will Amazon let me print this label?  Going to Amazon, Lalala…Signing in, Lalala…Yesss! “Reprint label”, Lalala….What do you mean you need the drivers for my printer? WTF! I’ve always used this  GD, M-Effin, ass-licking, Fucking printer! Why the fuck do you need the GD drivers? Where did the other drivers you were using before go?  Did they just GD disappear into thin air?  “Insert disc” I’ll fucking “Insert disc”  I know the perfect fucking place to “Insert the GD disc”…FUCK, FUCKITY, FUCK!!!!! It’s okay, I’ll just go to the HP website and download the drivers, they’ll be the most up to date anyway….la-effin-la,la…

Okay, so bottom line is, I printed the return label.  Clay is cringing and wiping his brown knowing that he just totally lucked out “getting” to be at work while I struggled my way through this…He’s the only one that know’s that what I wrote above is way milder than what really went on……Right, Sweetie?

Lalalala

So Russell and I are taking Spanish 101 at Eastfield College. I thought it would be good for me. I’d be learning another language that will come in handy and I will be occupying my time constructively. I was pretty excited about it. Everyone in my office either speaks Spanish or understands it. So, I’m thinking that it should help me out.

Well, our teacher is Señora Solis. I don’t mean to be harsh, but man, she is severely lacking in the area of personality. Class starts at 7:05 pm and she is unlocking the door at 7:04 pm. No pleasantries. Hell, we are 10 weeks in and out of 20 students, she only knows the names of maybe 4 people and I am not one of them. She got Russell’s name right off of the bat, but I think that’s only because he is so Fabulous! It’s like we are in a race. We have about 25 vocabulary words every other week that we go over and I promise you, we whizz through them in 2 minutes. She speaks no english. I’ve heard of immersion, but this is ridiculous…I mean, it’s beginning Spanish! We spend about 1 hour and 20 mins in class on Monday’s and Wednesday’s, then the rest is online. That’s right, at 8:20 – sharp, she is packed up and ready to leave. Talk about a sweet gig! I thought I had it good with my 4 day work week!

Well, I think I am doing pretty good so far. We have a test every other Wednesday on our current chapter. That is really stressful for me. We test on Wednesday and have to wait until the following Monday to find out how we did on the test! Aargh! Still, I’m doing okay on the tests. My first test was barely passing…72. My next was 94 then 84 and this past week…I don’t have a good feeling about it. You know what is killing me? Sentence structure. I can conjugate like crazy, but ask me to tell you about my family in spanish, well I think I could more easily lay you a golden egg. It’s really almost laughable. If you really stop to think about it, remembering the fact that my instructor spits out her lectures in spanish at warp speed, how am I supposed to practice composing sentences outside of class when there is no easy way of knowing if what I’m writing is correct? I have finally found a website, www.spanishdict.com and it will translate my sentences for me…still so time consuming. Pampered, am I? Listen to me, like learning another language is supposed to be easy or something!

I just need to study more. I have to have an environment that is freakishly quiet…no distractions at all. I usually lock myself in my room and do a marathon study session for like, 3-4 hours. The bad thing is, I only do that maybe twice a week. For some that would be plenty. But for me, well, it just doesn’t cut it. I need prolly a good 4 study sessions like that. In fact, I should be studying right now, instead of writing this…

Frak

Okay…you’ll prolly wanna sit down for this one.  I think I’m over playing WoW.  I know, right?  As much as I’ve enjoyed playing the game, I just can’t seem to get into it.  I thought maybe a break from it would help.  Well, it did.  It helped me see that I was spending wayyyy too much time playing that game.  When I think back on the countless hours that I wasted, time that I will never get back, well, I’m a bit embarrassed.  Sure, I had fun and really did enjoy myself, still.  Those that know me, know that I was a truly dedicated player.  Totally committed to getting my toon properly geared, enchanted and repped.  I constantly researched and kept up with anything and everything that had to do with my toon, Alagaesia.  Heck, I was even a raid leader.  The thing about playing WoW, when you get to the end-game, raiding is all you do.  As new content was introduced, that meant even more research and grinding…just so you could experience and survive in the higher-end instances.  Well, needless to say, if ever you were to fall behind and your gear quit measuring up to excellent, well, this is going to sound really stupid, but…There’s a whole lot of stress and pressure!  I know it’s only a game, everything is virtual, but in a guild, well, even though the game itself is virtual, the guild members are real people and we all depend on each other…virtually….There are constantly members checking your stats, crunching the numbers of your gear and enchants…and if it’s not up to par or heaven forbid you have the wrong enchant or wrong gem socketed, well, you’ll hear about it, by golly!

I’m gonna stop now.  I just read back through this and I can see that to someone on the outside of the game, I’m just talking like a crazy person.  Bottom line is that WoW wasn’t fun for me anymore and the fun was the whole reason I was playing the game.  So now I’m not.

I did play the beta for Aion, which came out in September.  I really liked it, so I got the game and started playing it.  Truly a cool game, much like WoW, but with a much more spectacular look to it.  Believe it or not, I’m not playing it anymore.  Sure I think about it, but, like WoW, it takes a whole lotta time to level up and even though that is fun, I can’t seem to get past the number of hours it will take to get to where I want to be.  I mean, with WoW, I put in the hours and I got there and then was all…meh.  Besides to level properly, you really need to be part of a guild, which means committment and responsibility, just like WoW.  That’s the one thing that I don’t want again.  Maybe if I found an RPG that I liked.  I think I’m gonna shy away from the MMORG’s for a while.

Okay, this particular Nerd-Session is at an end.

The day finally came.  The day that Spencer has been looking forward to for oh, so long.  The day that he packed up and left his adolescent, high school days behind him and join the ranks of “Higher Education”.

I have spent the last few months making lists and researching the internet to make sure that Spencer had everything that he needed for his dorm life at UNT.  Spencer, all the while seemingly uninterested in the entire process.  His whole focus for college was to get the heck away from parents.  No one telling him what time to be home, asking him where he was going and who he was going to be with….No whacky Mom doting over him like a 5 year old.  HE would decide if he needed a shower or needed to brush his teeth.  HE would decide when he clothes smelled bad enough to finally wash.  Can’t say that I blame him.  I mean, we all have been there.

Man, I had planned it so that Spencer would be totally organized at college.  For those of you that know me, you know that I am a pretty organized person.  For those of you that know Spen, you know that he is NOT.  Spen in many ways is just like me, but the organizational gene, well, he missed out on that one.  I have to admit that I can be completely neurotic about somethings and completely lackadaisical about others.  Now Trey, he’s got my organizational gene.  Never had to get on to him about a messy room.  He’d always have everything  just so.  His shoes all lined up in a nice row, laces tucked, his bed always made with the comforter nice and even and pillows lined up.  Spencer?  Well you’d have to kick stuff out of your way just to make your way into his room.  Anyway, my point here is that I had plans of organizing Spen’s stuff in his dorm so he never had to worry about finding stuff.  Everything would have it’s place.  Apparently, that is the LAST thing Spencer wanted.  In my plans, I thought he should have kits for everything.  A medicine kit, just in case he had a tummy ache , head ache or a cold.  A sewing kit in case he needed to sew on a button or needed a safety pin ( I had taught him the way of the needle and thread when he was like 8 yrs old). A first aid kit with band aids and neosporin. A kit with all of his school supplies….Well, I did manage to get together the sewing, first aid and school supply kits but he gave me all kinds of flack for the medicine one.   All I was trying to do was to make sure that he had everything that he would need…Think ahead…be a good Mommy.

So, it’s Saturday and I’ve got Spencer helping me pack up his stuff.  I’ve got my list that I’ve marked through once already.  Things that I had gotten were marked.  As they are packed they get another mark.  Nothing gets a second mark until it’s packed.  That way I know that it’s actually packed when I go through my list.  I know, completely wacko…but it’s my system and it works for me.  This whole time Spencer is acting totally whipped.  I think he would have been just fine throwing everything into big trash bags and taking it that way.  I had a box with all of his bedding, another with all of his desk supplies, one with his electronics and another for his toiletries.  I left the packing of all of his clothes up to him into a suitcase.

Several years ago, Clay had given Spencer a green drawstring bag.  Clay had used it in college to tote around his clothes.  Spencer has kept that and it was actually one of the things he made sure that he had as he went off to college.  That meant so much to Clay.  You know the saying “It’s the little things in life”?  Well, for Clay, Spencer making sure he had that green bag was one of those “little things”.  In case you don’t know this already, Clay went to UNT and is in 7th heaven that Spencer is going there now.  Words can’t explain how much it means to him.  Clay has really been an awesome father to Spencer.  Clay is always saying that he’s not his real dad and that when it comes down to it, he’s just this guy that married his mom.    I actually believe that Clay has a way better relationship with Spencer than his own dad does.   Spencer has always been able to count on Clay and that is not the case with his dad.  One thing that I have always been a stickler about is keeping your word.  I never make a promise that I cannot keep.  I instilled that with Clay and his dealings with the boys.  We never said we would do something and then not follow through with it.  I mean NEVER.  If they ever asked something of me or Clay and I knew we couldn’t bring it to fruition, we would say “no”.

Well it’s moving day.  We head to UNT truck loaded.  Man is it a mad house when we get to his dorm – Kerr Hall.  One set of elevators for the whole dorm and everyone trying to get up at the same time.  While standing in the long line waiting for our turn with all of our stuff to ride up to the 6th floor, I looked around at all of the other people just moving in like us.  Spencer thought that I had gone over-board with what I got for him?  Ha!  Man, you should have seen all the stuff that some people had!  Rugs, curtains, chairs, tables, trunks, big ol’ TV’s , book cases…I was thinking that maybe I had done Spen a disservice by not getting him enough, until I finally made it up to his dorm room…It was really pretty nice.  Wood floors, built in desks, shelves and cabinets.  They each had a little 3 drawer dresser and in their closets, there were drawers as well.  Don’t get me wrong, it was small, but the space was utilized well.  The two beds were set up high.  Apparently, they are adjustable.  There’s a little bathroom with a toilet and a shower that is shared with the room next door.  The sink is in their prospective rooms.  I was all ready to tear in and put everything away and organize it all, but he kinda seemed like he wanted to, so I backed off.  We took him to lunch and then dropped him off at his dorm to start his college life.  His classes don’t start for 3 days, so he has some time to get acclimated.

I’m in the process of dealing with this new phase of my life.  It’s hard to describe how I’m feeling.  It may be sadness, but it’s weird, I don’t really know why I would feel sad, I mean, Spencer’s going to college!  We made that happen for him.  I’m so incredibly happy for him.  I guess maybe it is because I feel like my day’s of being a “Mommy” are over.  He’s my youngest child and he’s moving on into his adult life.  He’s not going to need me anymore.  I love being a mommy.  I always have.  I’m damn good at it, if I may say so myself.  I have dedicated my life to these boys and now, it’s like I have to switch gears.  The tough part I guess is that it’s hard to just switch being a mommy off.  I know that he’s only 45 minutes away.  That truly has nothing to do with it.  I think the whole “going off to college” is just symbolic more than anything.  I’m always going to be his Mother.  He’s still going to need me, but he’s not going to N*E*E*D me.  Oh, I don’t know!  I just need a little time to transition mentally.

The great thing in all this and the thing that I am so grateful for is I have Clay.  He’s always here for me and he’s being super supportive and understanding as I fall to pieces.  It’s time for me and Clay.  Like I said, I have dedicated my life to the boys and now that they are off on their own, it’s time to dedicate myself to Clay and focus on some of our dreams for eachother.  We’ve talked for years about what we would do…now it’s here.

Wow!  This is so exciting!  Clay and Loli time!

Clay’s “Wolf Pack Weekend” in San Antonio is drawing to a close. As I type, they are on their way home, I’m sure taking every back road and obeying all the speed limit signs as to prolong the inevitable end of their “Man-Time”. This trip has become an annual testosterone fest. The participants are:
My Clay, his brother Shawn, their cousin Kyle and everyone’s best friend, Terry. This year there was a theme of sorts to the trip. If you haven’t guessed by the title of my entry…The Wolf Pack Weekend. Those that have seen the movie “Hangover” will understand the “Wolf Pack” reference. The guys just absolutely L*O*V*E that movie and have collectively seen it about 15 times since it opened. (I think Terry actually saw it 12 times). I, myself have seen it twice. I have to admit it is hilarious. Since the movie has come out, all I hear are movie quotes and references. Clay sits over on his laptop IM-ing back and forth with Terry, just giggling like a couple of toddlers. They even watched the movie twice while they were down there. Their main goal of going down there was to go to Cowboy’s Training Camp.
I think it’s cute…..Those 4 words could quite possibly put a damper on this “Man-Loving-Wolf-Pack” phenomenon…Anytime a chick thinks something a guy does is “cute”, well, as far as they are concerned, they’ve just lost a testicle. I think that word directly affects a man’s masculinity.
Seriously, I think it’s great. Nothing but good can come from a guys weekend like this. It’s just healthy. Everyone needs to be able to get away and blow off some steam.  Sure, the guys could go hog wild and do some crazy stuff.  They very well may have…

The “Bro-Code” is strong with this bunch.   “What happens in San Antonio, stays in San Antonio”.  They are just making memories and I’m all about making memories.  I think for me, at least, “What I don’t know, won’t hurt me”.   Clay looks forward to this trip all year long. He is completely giddy the whole week leading up to the trip. I bet they’ve already started making plans for next year.

Alrighty.   So Loli had the weekend to herself….what did she do?  Did she run amuck in Dallas, drinking every Mai Tai she could get her liquor-thirsty hands on?  Did she “Party Like It’s 1999″?  Did she grope and terrorize hot male strippers?  Ah….No.  Of course not!  Not Loli!  As always, so very, very tame.  I started off by making sure the guys had some nice snackies for their trip in the form of my world famous Oatmeal Raisin Cookies…Had to hang at the office for a while, then I cleaned the house, did the laundry, went to the grocery store and made homemade Chicken Pot Pie for Spencer.  I did manage to get the the gym to work out.  I spent Friday evening playing in the 5th beta for the game Aion
(due out 9/22/09).  The game is awesome and I can’t wait for it to be released. Then, while dinking on the ‘puter late that night, I happened across my AT&T account and noticed that I was eligible for a phone upgrade!  I thought it wouldn’t be until  December and I’ve been itching for an IPhone!  I’ve dreamed and longed for an IPhone….My time had finally come!  I got on skype with Russell (my bestest friend) and we thrilled over my impending purchase…I ordered all of my accessories online from Cell Phone Shop.  (BTW, I paid $15. for a car charger, wall charger and a silicone case…that includes shipping)   I then scoured the ITunes App Store to find my “Must Have” Apps and downloaded them, ready to install on my shiny new IPhone.  Well, Saturday morning, after hitting the gym, I headed to the AT&T store and purchased my much coveted IPhone.  I think I actually heard angels singing when he handed me my IPhone.  I admit that I am a gadget fiend.  I love all things tech especially if they are new and shiny!  Well, I spent the better part of the day just fine tuning my IPhone.  One thing that was missing that I really wanted was to be able to categorize my contacts.  Well, I found an awesome App that does everything I need:  ABCts Lite and it’s free.  What do I love more than new and shiny?  FREE!

Okay, I got off-topic there for a bit, sorry.  Russell came over Saturday night and  we made the most amazing dinner!  He made a wonderful Filet Mignon and made a fantastic red wine and mushroom reduction for it as well.  He also made some new potatoes and I threw together some skewered, grilled shrimp and steamed broccoli.  The meal was absolutely exquisite! NOM*NOM*NOM.  Russell and I finished off the night by playing 5 hours of Lara Croft, Tomb Raider on his PS3.  Today, I was supposed to go to my Papa’s in Granbury but had tummy issues.  Let’s just say that  me and “Mr. Potty” have been spending quality time together today.  A 2 hour drive was not going to be in the cards for me…not today at least.  I’ve spent today at my desk with my IPhone and my ‘puter.  I got the contacts on my IPhone just like I wanted and since, I’ve been working on an XHTML and HTML Essentials training course online.  I really wish that I had someone that would sit down with me and give me some one-on-one training.  We are right back to the whole new and shiny thing again…I just wanna be able to work a little bit more efficiently and add more polish to my website.

Well, I guess that’s it for now.  Time to get mentally prepared for work tomorrow….

It’s hard to believe, but Clay and I will be married for 12 years on July 27th. HAPPY ANNIVERSARY, SWEETIE! Looking back I have to honestly say, it’s been a good 12 years.

Clay is an awesome guy, really. I know, you’re thinking ” Aw, she has to say that”. But really, I don’t HAVE to say anything at all. Clay has stood by me through thick and thin. I mean a whole lotta thick, too. I think most guys would have bailed on me long, long ago. I do love me a whole bunch of Clay in fact, you know what? I actually LIKE this guy o’ mine. Crazy, eh? He’s good looking, funny and like brilliantly smart…too much gushing? Sorry. I love that when I think about growing old, Clay is always there. I can’t imagine living my life without him…I love that!

Well this weekend we are in Austin for the weekend, celebrating this 12 year milestone of ours. It’s Saturday night and I’m sitting out on the balcony overlooking the pool in our beautiful suite at the Omni Hotel. Clay and I just had the best day together. We started out with a light breakfast in our room then set out taking in the sights of Austin. Lunched at Kerby Lane, where I indulged on their famous Gingerbread Pancakes and I must say, they are the best pancakes that I have or prolly ever will have in my entire life. (of course I will be attempting to perfect them myself at home) Next we headed to the Alamo Drafthouse to take in a movie – 500 days of Summer. Pretty good movie. It made for great discussion and debate between Clay and I. Came back to the hotel to get cleaned up and relax a bit then we ventured out one last time for a nice dinner. We dined at Kyoto, downtown and I give it a hearty “two thumbs up”. Had a great, quiet meal. The food and the service (thanks to Dalon, our server) was impeccable. It really was perfect, exactly what I wanted. Back to the hotel for a nice swim and some time in the hot tub and here I am, enjoying the evening breeze on the patio. I hate that we have to go home tomorrow. I wish we could have just one more day! Oh well…

You need to sit down. No, really you need to sit down for this one. Okay, ready? Whew, okay, here goes…Clay and I are going out of town for the weekend! There, I said it. I know, right? Totally unbelievable! We like, Never go anywhere or do anything! We’ve been too wrapped up in kiddo-doings that we just overlooked the AWESOME that is getting the hell outta Dallas!
Well, it’s our 12th Wedding Anniversary and we decided to take a little “adult time out” and kick back in Austin. We will be staying at the lovely Omni Hotel in downtown Austin for two glorious nights starting this Friday. Clay has taken a half day off on Friday, so we should arrive in Austin just in time for check-in. Where we will drop our luggage off and maybe, just maybe indulge in a little elevator tag and maybe we might just moon downtown Austin from our room window. Just kidding…we don’t need to drop off our luggage first!
I’m just kidding around. We may not do any of that! I’m looking forward to some peace and quiet. I love staying in hotels! You get there, it’s clean and fresh, you mess something up, you leave and come back and someone has cleaned it up…Fresh towels, bed turned down…And room service…truly a gift from the gods! Does it get any better than picking up a phone and telling someone what you want to eat while sitting in your underwear, THEN, having that requested meal delivered to your room, where you can eat in…you’ve got it…Your Underwear!
Of course we will be leaving Spencer, our sweet, innocent 18.75 year old in charge of the house for the whole weekend…I wonder what he’ll do to occupy his time…maybe a puzzle. Maybe he’ll weed the garden. Or, maybe he’ll dust the baseboards. Ya, right! I’ve just heard so many horror stories about parties being held while parents are out…I’ve seen the movies, heck I’ve even actually been a participant in those parties a time or two back in my day. I think our only saving grace is the fact that Spen IS a good boy and that Uncle Shawn (Garland Police Detective) lives about a mile away and would love nothing better than to bust the party thrown by our angel. Clay has been known to walk in on Shawn’s girls’ shindigs a time or two.
I’m just so excited about spending the weekend with Clay in Austin. I’m going to relish every minute…

Okay, so you need to watch this video from the Jimmy Fallon Show (which is greatness, BTW) and then the following IM segment will make sense.

Clay:  Watch this

Me:  That was “Funnicus Maximus”!

Clay:  HomoEroticus

Me:  That was a “Good Wonnicus”

Clay:  Oh no…

Me:  Oh “Yessicus”!

Me:  I am so making myself a wand today!

Clay:

Me:  Well, I have to go and “Bake-ACake-icus” now.

TeeHee-icus

Okay, so I’m driving to work this morning and ahead of me in the next lane is one of those jacked up mini monster trucks…I immediately wonder what he’s compensating for. I look in my rear view mirror and I see yet another jacked up truck…to me, it looked like it may have a few more bells and whistles on his truck than the one ahead of me. I giggled just a bit to myself as I wondered if the two truck owners were taking mental inventory of the others’ truck. In the “LaLa-LoliLand” in my mind I knew that they were. The truck behind me was jacked up just a bit higher than the one in front of me and his tires were even bigger…you know what that means…NOTHING! I sped up just a bit to see if the two would acknowledge each other when they got next to the other, you know how motorcycles, bus drivers and cops do. Nope. They both just stared straight ahead. This situation occupied my mind the whole way to work as, in my LaLa-Loliland, I tried to decipher just how teeny-tiny their penises really are. I came to the conclusion that those are some wee little pee-pees.
TeeHee