abcdefg81’s Neighborhood

Were your holiday cards store bought, handmade, online, TBD or MIA?

Store bought. Sad to say that Christmas snuck up on me this year, so I wasn't prepared to do anything creative!

I think this may have to be my last Vox post. I'm already on LJ and I blog on myspace....so it's hard to maintain anything else. But we'll see what happens!

Things have been so crazy. In the last month I was dumped (but it happed to be the same day I was going to break up with him. he just beat me to it), had to have surgery to remove some pre-cancerous cells, and my mom had a biopsy to remove a possible breast tumor. Luckily we're all healthy and okay now. Still, geez, that's emotionally a lot for one month. So I'm tired. I'm gonna go procrastinate working a little more.

Wow, it's been a while.

Back when I wrote the last post, I couldn't imagine being happier than I was.

Now I find myself chanting in my head "Smile so people don't know you're dying inside."

Okay, so maybe I'm going overboard. It just feels that way.

The doctors discovered I have pre-cancerous cells hiding out in my cervix. Yay, I wait 26 years to have sex and pretty soon break my new toy. On the 27th, they'll be going in and scooping out the infected tissue, and hopefully that will be the end of that. Sounds like it'll be painful, but that's why they invented vicodin.

Last Saturday my boyfriend came over to break up. That's exactly how he put it. The good thing was that all morning, I had been thinking the same thing. We weren't making each other happy anymore all the time. I would resent not talking to him very often, which probably made me a not-so-fun-person to hang out with when we did, which would make him not want to hang out.....and over and over, spiraling into oblivion.

I was okay on Tuesday. And most of Wed. But Thursday would have been our 7 month anniversary. Maybe that's tiny in the realm of most people, but since I hadn't never dated anyone longer than 3 weeks, that was a big deal to me.

I know the pain will fade in time, and I look forward to talking to him again in 6 months (that's the rule, 6 months of no contact immediately after the breakup).

So yeah.

That's where I am.

What do you have, what do you need and what do you want?
Submitted by Miss Scotch.

I have.....an amazing boyfriend, awesome friends, and a brand-new Tony Little Gazelle machine sitting in my living room.

I need....time to do laundry, time to make my chair slipcovers, and stuffing for the new throw pillows I want to make. (see I am a crafty gal)

I want...to see my amazing boyfriend and be swept up in his arms, but that'll have to wait at least a day. 20 miles is a seriously long distance when your loved one is on the other end. Sometimes I wish I lived close enough that I could just stop by and see him after work for a bit, and technically we can. It's a 30 minute drive if traffic allows it, but still. A 5-10 min drive would be so much better. Or maybe it would mean we'd see each other too often and fizzle out this great thing we have. I don't know if the longing makes it so much more intense when we do see each other again, but it makes the leaving sad.

oh, and i also really want to visit Sephora at the South Coast Plaza, but thought that sounded a bit shallow. ;)

Okay, so not really about the song part. Last Friday I had a couple of my girlfriends over for a game night. "Pizza and Champagne!" was the request, so I attempted to comply. It was the first time they would see my new place (which is somewhere between phases two and three, depending if I have wood floors when I get home tonight), so I wanted to make it special. I ordered the pizza online so it would arrive when I did, pre-chilled the champagne the night before, and pulled out all the games I could remember to bring from my parents' house.

But it couldn't have been that easy, right?

As I was driving home, I noticed I was way low on gas, so I stopped at a station a block away from my condo. It was still early. As I was filling up, my cell phone rang. "Hi, this is *** from Papa Johns. I'm in your lobby." My answer was something resembling "shit shit shit shit shit. I'll be right there."

On my way to the parking garage, I noticed that the parking lot in the middle of my street was roped off in preparation for church the next morning (yes, my balcony is smack across from a church. there must be some sort of sin for the things I have done -or plan to do- in such close vicinity to a place of worship.). So I had to call the girls and warn them that parking may be harder than I had told them. Ehhhh, it's Long Beach. The fact that I have parking outside at all is an amazing bonus.

Then we kinda forgot about traffic. One of my friends had to come from South Orange County. Places I assume are depicted in shows like The OC or Laguna Beach or The Real Housewives. You know, scary places. My friend is so not that type, so it's cool. Kinda like she's infiltrating the system.

But eventually the three of us were gathered in my new living room, chowing down on pizza. Then I pop (okay, that's a lie, Anne popped) the champagne....and I learn that it's a red sparkling wine. I'd never had red champagne, and I was thinking well, pizza has red sauce...so...it's cool? The girls were like "Whatever. It's booze." (that's another lie, one of the girls doesn't drink. Geez, I gotta stop lying to you people.)

Then we popped on Goonies and played Trivial Pursuit. And had a blast. So it was all worth it.

How old were you when you had your very first boyfriend/girlfriend? Do you still know them now? 
Submitted by KIM. 

Hahahahaha.

Umm... 27.

Yep, 27, it was right after my birthday. And yes, I still know him. I'm still with him. I LOVE him. Whoa. There was a long patch of my life where I believed I was deluding myself by thinking someone would say they loved me and mean it. I always imagined it as a lofty dream. And now I'm lucky enough to have a man who says it, means it, and omg it's freaky. I was listening to the new Mandy Moore cd the other day, and there are songs about heartbreak and moving on and learning from loss. And it struck me that, wow, I'm not pining over anyone, not tending to any wounds, not thinking "damn" about some guy in the back of my head.

And that shocked me. Still does.

What movie cliché would you most like to live out in real life? 
Submitted by Wes.  

Oooh, as an expert on both movies and clichés, good question. Maybe jumping out into the line of fire, guns blasting, as a building explodes behind me. Some crazy girl-power scene reminiscent of Tomb Raider. If you had asked me this 6 months ago, I would have said something out of a chick flick. However, I've been extremely lucky in that I've already lived out most of those situations that make you go "awwwww", either with guys I've dated, guys I was friends with, or my current beau. At my friend Kristin's wedding last April, my isle-walking partner dipped me on the dance floor, which, yes, is just as hot as it seems. Hahaha, too bad he was just a friend.

Wait, there's that John Cusack movie (or actually a few of them) where he's standing outside a girl's balcony, being adorable, holding the radio. I'm a sucker for public displays of affection. Ever seen Scream 2? When Jerry O' Connell gets up on the tables in the dining hall and starts singing to Neve Campbell? Aww, yeah. One day...

In other news, I'm moving in 3 weeks! I found a place to rent!!! Details coming soon.

What other names did your parents consider for you?

That's way too easy. Blossom Marie Martinez. I've embraced it in the last year or so.

In other news, I think my poor little guinea pig is dying at home...and I'm stuck at work. God, I hate being a grown up sometimes.

What time is your alarm clock set for?  Do you use the snooze button?

6:30am. And I hate the snooze button. I think I've used it twice in my entire life. Most of the time, when I wake up a couple minutes early and then go back to sleep, I'm even MORE tired when my alarm blasts. It's the same with the snooze. One time I was visiting my friend in Chicago and his alarm went off a half hour before he had to get up, he would just keep hitting the snooze button until it was time. Well, because of limited sleeping arrangements, I was in his room one morning and after he snoozed twice I threatened to rip his arm off if he hit it again. I'm a pretty light sleeper. Just ask my boyfriend, who has 4 alarms to wake him up. When he forgets to turn them off on the weekend, he just sleeps right through 'em, but I have to jump up and shut them off.

What are your top 10 most-played songs currently?

Well, when I really like a song, I play it obsessively over and over until I get sick of it, so I don't have 10. But here's what I've been playing on eternal repeat lately:

1. "Leave Me Alone (I'm Lonely)" by P!nk  (soooo funny!)

2. "Hey There Delilah" by Plain White T's  (the sweetest love song I've heard in a long time!)

3. "Happy Ending" by MIKA (really sad but beautiful arrangement)

That's really about it. Otherwise, I've been listening to musical theatre songs to prepare for my workshop (that just started last night). The show Dirty Rotten Scoundrels has some fantastic songs that are really funny. Plus, I'm trying to listen to Spring Awakening more, since it just won the Tony...but it's not totally compelling me yet. Maybe I need a few more tries...

What modern book do you think will be read in high school by the next generation of kids? 
Submitted by Tom.

Oooh, good question. I'd hope it would be something multi-layered that will bring about meaningful philosophical discussions. Or perhaps something that sparks social controversy. The DaVinci Code comes to mind, but having gone to Catholic school, I just can't see that happening. Plus, it's buzz has peaked and pretty much died. The only other book with enough worldwide impact that I can think of right now is Harry Potter.

But if I was making the curriculum, I'd have to throw in stuff like Douglas Adams and Dr. Seuss to instill the idea that funny stuff is often deep too.