In a Beautiful World

…to a new site!

As much as I love WordPress, I’ve been having some major issues lately.  I currently have 5,000 comments to sift through, or not, because Akismet (my spam comment blocker) refuses to install. And obviously I get a lot of spam comments…I’m not sure if any of those are real people lol. I’ve tried reinstalling basically everything and it still hates me, so. Back to Blogspot I go (for now). It’s easier to make themes for that anyway, ha.

http://reggaeandcalypso.blogspot.com/
http://reggaeandcalypso.blogspot.com/
http://reggaeandcalypso.blogspot.com/
http://reggaeandcalypso.blogspot.com/

We have them. Or at least one that will not go away/die/allow itself to be discovered by our dog designated for mouse hunting (in case you were wondering, the other dogs are designated for being fat, being scared, and being adorable). Anyway. We found one earlier this week out near the front porch, and we thought that might be the end of it. Or at least I did.

Nope! Last night and early this morning was the worst of it. Dylan got rid of a bunch of bedding (almost a nest? or something) we found in the room next to ours (separated by only a door), that my suitcases are currently in and that is usually occupied by preserves and an old fridge. Then we sprayed the area with Windex with bleach and thought that might deter it from coming back. Not so much. At about 5am we heard it back, gnawing at something in the ceiling. We’d determined already that that’s where they were coming from, since the pantry room is missing multiple ceiling tiles near where we found the bedding. (There are also these gross millipede-like things coming from there, but that’s another story.) Dylan decided to check it out at that point, and instead found the mouse…gnawing at a piece of wood just inside the door. It ran away just as he opened it and turned on the light, and he searched for a few more minutes inside but didn’t find it.

We managed to get to sleep for about two hours after that, and were awakened at 7:30am by something rustling in a plastic bag near the foot of the mattress (there’s no bed, so). Dylan turned on the light and found the thing snuggled up next to my computer…at least, until he took a single step forward, at which point it scurried to the corner of the mattress closest to my head. He ran off to fetch mouse-chasing dog, during which time I heard the mouse run back into the pantry room. Mouse-chasing dog sniffed all around the room, but didn’t find the mouse. After thanking her and sending her back to bed…I see a small pink nose sticking out beneath the door, sniffing all around.

Well shit. The dog’s already asleep at this point, so we just head out to the couches and start playing the video games we rented last night. And that’s where I am now, hence the awkward switch to present tense. I’ve been back in there only once in the last 3 hours since we left, to get my computer, and I didn’t see or hear anything strange. We’re going to buy a bunch of traps and poison today, so hopefully that’ll take care of the problem, at least temporarily. It sadly will not fix the missing ceiling tiles…or the millipede things (we were killing 1 or 2 every 5 minutes for a few hours last night). So I think we’re just going to move my stuff out of there and try to avoid the pantry as much as we can. Hopefully we’ll be able to sleep in our room tonight, and be awakened only by the snapping of a trap.

I’m currently at San Francisco International Airport waiting for my flight to board in about…an hour and a half, I guess. Had to get here ridiculously early because my grandparents are flying out an hour and a half before me, two gates away actually. So here I am with not much to do. Figured I’d blog since I haven’t in awhile!

I went to my sister’s high school graduation last night — can’t say it was anything special, especially since it’s the SIXTH high school graduation I’ve attended (4 for band/myself, for my friend in 2009, this one), but it was still nice to see my baby sister get her diploma. :p She’s getting so old, dammit! In a few weeks she’ll be 18…I can’t deal. Anyway, we got there at 5:00 to get seats, it rained on and off until 7:00, but for most of the ceremony (which began at 6:30) it was relatively dry. Afterward, my sister and I went to get frozen yogurt and then came home, where I had to say goodbye to her quite promptly, as she was headed to the all-night grad party her school hosts and I was headed to the airport at 3:00 in the morning. She might be coming to visit in August, so I’m excited about that.

Oh, right, the reason why I’m at the airport? Well the title is clear, haha, I’m going back to Iowa! Instead of flying into Cedar Rapids, though, I’m going to Des Moines (via Denver — 2 hour layover there) and spending two or so months with Dylan’s family. Our lease in Iowa City begins August 1, so that’s when we’ll head east again. For now I’m just excited to see him, it’s been three weeks!

I forget if I mentioned this previously, but I’m still working on a class I started in January — an upper level stats class online — and I have until July 15 to finish it, so I’ll be headed to Iowa City around late June or early July to take my final exam on campus. I’m also retaking French IV through University of Wisconsin since I failed it at UI, ha. I love the online format so far, it’s much more conducive to how I learn, plus the class I took wasn’t very well taught, so I’m glad to have this opportunity. I have until next May to finish that one, you get a year from the time you register to complete the class.

I think that’s all, other than general hanging out and school things, I don’t have a lot planned for the summer. I’m excited to be spending it away from California, although I’m not particularly sure how I’ll handle the humidity. Oh well, still too excited to care!

Actually, first, I’ll quickly update everyone. I’m in California and I’ve been here since Sunday, May 15. So right now I’m essentially at the halfway point between when I left Iowa and when I will be back on June 4. Hoorah!

So, this dream. There was this family, along with one other girl they knew, who, every Wednesday at 6pm, would throw up and then pass out. And this one girl in that family, who didn’t like baseball, decided to watch it with her family on Wednesdays after they were diagnosed so they could all be together every time it happened. :/ I was very keen on finding a cure after graduating college, I had hypotheses and leads and it was really odd. I woke up even more freaked out because I really felt like I’d had that dream before, even though I haven’t.

That’s all. I’ll update again before the week is out.

First, I’m sorry for not finishing my 30 day challenge — I ended up leaving the board that was running it, so I didn’t receive the last three prompts. Hopefully I’ll find another way to update regularly soon, or maybe even another 30 day challenge. :D

Second, some shameless plugs. Two message boards I am a part of are looking for new members! There’s the very active 8008z MB (you know you love the title) and the relatively less active Flaunty MB. Both communities are extremely fun places and I love being a part of them both!

Third, what’s going on in my life! How about we begin with some material shit? I purchased an iPad 2 the other day and it should arrive at my home in California next week. Why California? I’m headed back there on Sunday evening, until June 4. My sister graduates June 3 and then I’m headed back to the Des Moines area the following morning to spend the rest of the summer with the boyfriend. That aspect of my life is also going quite well — we’re hitting 7 months next week and are renting an apartment together for next school year. School?! (oh gosh, I love how this is just a constant train of thought paragraph) I completed my two final exams yesterday, they went alright. That’s really all. Next year I’m slated to take Japanese I, Sensation & Perception, Therapeutic Recreation, Biology of the Brain, and starting October I’m adding Relaxation Techniques. I’m also currently taking French IV (again) through University of Wisconsin, and I still have to finish my independent study statistics class by July 15. I’m excited I’ll be so busy this summer with those two classes, especially while I’m in California with not much else to do.

I do have some plans for when I’m in California, though, don’t get me wrong. In addition to seeing some old friends, I’ll be judging senior project presentations at my high school next Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday; I’m headed to the Redwood Empire high school track finals a week from tomorrow (I coached last year so it’ll be nice to come back); and of course I’ll be taking in some baseball games! I would love to make it to 2 or 3 Giants games, but I might also have to head to the Coliseum to root against the A’s…the Orioles AND the Yankees will be in town while I’m there, so I’d love to get to see those guys again. And of course, my sister graduates the evening of June 3.

I think that’s all! I hope this is an adequate update for whoever reads this, and I’ll try to write again soon!