so long since i've blogged! sorry guys. well, first things first. i had a problem with my credit card (or so i thought) so i called the company to speak to a customer service representative. i told him my problem, then he told me why i was wrong. so i told him my problem again, and again, he told me i was wrong. i told him i didn't think i was being clear enough, and broke it down for him. again, he told me i was wrong. by this time, i was starting to choke up, because i knew i was right, why couldn't he see that? well, the sound of a small hiccuping sob really gets to a customer service representative's heart, apparently, because he got very cooperative and supportive. not only did he explain to me (again) why i was wrong (i understood the fourth time) but he felt so bad for making me cry that he dropped my interest rate to 6.9%! we chatted for quite a while after that. i'm going to cry on the phone more often...

subpost2:
ok, the party. the guys didn't show up until after 10 friday night. i already had 3 friends over by then, but no alcohol. the guys arrive with a huge cooler, but i asked them to wait outside for a few minutes so that i could make sure my ca wouldn't see them. apparently dave was antsy to drink, because he then asked "we got time to do a shot in the parking lot?" he, bill, and andrea took a giant shot of jd right behind my dorm for the world to see. the party pretty much progressed along those same lines. crazy stuff. the next day, we hung out, watched scary movie II, had an excellent dinner at cj's (which came back to haunt me later) and nick and i went to theta xi's bottle and a date. good stuff. we rounded out the evening back in my room, where dave, andrea, and bill finished all of the aforementioned bottle of jd. in less than an hour. needless to say, we had some drunk people on our hands. why did i not participate, you ask? #1, i'm a wuss, and #2, i had some severe gastro-intestinal problems, courtesy of cj maggies. oh yeah, never a dull moment....

so i'm laying on my futon right now, so sleepy and feeling the after affects of eating aladdin food for lunch. *stomach makes a strange bubbling sound* i'm not too sure about tonight. nick and i are supposed to have this party since a couple of his friends are coming here tonight from columbus. the liquor will flow, or so i'm told. the great part is, this is scheduled to happen in my room. i'm not 21 yet, so my room is classified as 'dry' and i could get into some trouble. i only have one neighbor, besides the bathroom, so hopefully we don't disturb her. *sigh* i hope this goes well

oh yeah, if you're reading this, and you're here at wesleyan, go ahead and stop by. it's aggie 211. consider this a formal invitation and save me from myself

well, the new layout is coming along. i haven't worked on it as much as i could have, but i do have classes, you know. homework truely sucks... but this semester is going much better for me than last semester. it could be that deceptive lull at the beginning of the semester though.... so anyway, the layout. i'm having trouble figuring out where i want to put everything. it just bugs me so much. i always get the urge to just find someone else's layout and rip it off, working hours on end to fit my own content into their little boxes... but i resist. (barely). it would be a lot easier to come up with a great layout if i 1). had some decent graphics software, and 2). knew how to make awesome graphics. plus, a little coding skill wouldn't hurt either. i think i should change the name of my page from plus.moutarde to cut.and.paste.... laters

ever notice how inner turmoil breeds motivation?
i've had a year full of very much of everything, causing me to ponder, evaluate, and review almost every aspect of my life. with that, new possiblities became available to me as old ones fell away. i think i have come to a decision that may change a lot of things for me, if things go to fruitation instead of petering out. it is one of those situations where if things don't work out, you've just put your whole self out on the line for scrutinization, but if it does go well, many good things and happy times will come your way. cross your fingers for the latter. time will tell...

AARRRGGGHHH!!! don't try to buy something at half.com. grrr. i ordered a book there, mostly because it was half the price i paid at the bookstore (ironically, given the name of the site) but i didn't know the shipping policy and stupidly, i didn't check the seller's rating. dumb, dumb, dumb! now, they tell me it could be until feb 21 before i receive my book (that's expected shipping time) and orders cannot be cancelled. so i'm stuck. and i have a copy i already bought from the bookstore, which cannot be returned after tomorrow. there's no way i can go on in my class until the end of february with no book - it is absolutely necessary. oh, the guy's rating: he apparently does a little credit fraud on the side off his book sales. i feel great now. thanks, half.com.

i am so incredibly miffed. i got up at 7:00 this morning to take a shower, went to breakfast, and hiked through several inches of snow all around campus to get to the GRE practice test i was supposed to take at 8:30. we all stayed there past 9 o'clock, when we finally found out that noone was coming, and it would be rescheduled. i got up at 7 am on a saturday for nothing!!! so now, i'm just sitting around in my dorm room, wondering what in the world i'm going to do today. no hope of sleep, i made sure i was awake and alert. *grumble* kaplan people, watch out...

i hate homework. i just wrote three essays for a my global minorities class tomorrow and it's only the second time we've had class. don't waste any time before you assign a ton of work dr. warner, we're just joking when we complain about it. *sarcasm* the only good thing about it is that i finally have a printer in my room now (thanks mom) so i don't have to rush around to get it done and printed to a network printer before midnight, then go out in the cold and dark and hike over to pick it up. i guess i'll survive writing three essays today. just don't let it happen again!

oh, so we had a meeting for my work study today. i had 8 hours on the schedule, which is TWICE what she gave me last semester (stingy pile of poo) but i had a conflict with the two hours she gave me on sunday night. she "worked it out" by just giving them away to another guy. i brought it to her attention that i had lost 2 hours a week in the deal, and she searched and got me one more hour. then she said, "will 7 hours be ok?" to which i replied with a pained expression, "it would really be good if i could have 8." she said, "well, 7 will just have to be ok then." oooh, i have a few choice words for her...

i never had much trouble with the food at alladin, our school dining hall, although many other students did. i was always fine -- until now. since i got back, each meal i eat there makes me bloat up and get as gassy as an old man. *humph* who would have thought i would develop an immunity to this crap?

today was the first day of classes. i only had 2, but they weren't too fun. i have 3 classes tomorrow to prepare for now. i have an 8 o'clock this semester (ick) and i don't know how well i'll handle that after not having one for so long. i'd better go to bed soon so i can wake up in time.

anyway, click my jatalk. humor me. i did something new, and i think you'll like it ;-)

i'm back in aggie and nick's car is fixed! i sure wish my dad had offered to help him earlier in the week. there was a sparkplug that they changed that never fired at all, as well as a broken one. *relief*

anyway, ames is going out of business and i got this awesome shelf there on clearance. it folds up. there's a problem though -- the top cracked when we put it on because the holes were drilled too close together. problem #2 -- ames is not accepting returns since they're going out of business. i think i'll call the company in the morning and see what they think.

it's good to be back in my own space...my own very large space :-)

well, i go back to school tomorrow and nick's car still isn't fixed. he and my dad are working on it right now. last night, my friends and i all went out to dinner at applebee's. hint: don't order the low-fat garlic chicken pasta. it's crappy. but dessert was good. it was great to see all my friends again. afterward, some of us went to our friend candice's new house and looked at bridal magazines (she's getting married in june) and watched a movie. i wish i'd had the courage to call everyone earlier. we could have been having fun this whole time instead of sitting around doing nothing.

oh! we tried to go to mattie's AGAIN thursday night! i even called first, and the recording said they were open until 9 daily, but no luck. i am seriously mad at that woman. we ended up in tiff's living room until her mom pushed us out. we went to food and friends, a restaurant downtown. it was 15 minutes before closing when we got there, so i don't think they were too happy. all we had was dessert -- apple dumplings! sooo good... i can't wait to go have another one!

there's so much to do before i go back to school i don't know where to start. guess i should pack.

finally -- snow!
at first, they were calling for somewhere between 4 and 12 inches through monday. slowly, the amount has dwindled to 1 to 3 inches. so anticlimatic, but snow all the same. my dad works for the department of highways, and today marks the first day of his two-week stint on night shift. he is not too happy, because he's already been informed that he has to be at work at 6 pm. 12 hour shift too.

nick's car is not doing too well. he's been having problems with it for a while, but now it's missing when he drives it and i'm starting to get scared. we don't have any money, and noone seems to know what's wrong with it. keep your fingers crossed for us.

Nick is coming today!!! I must prepare...

I want to make a new layout, but I have no graphics skills, so no such luck yet. I'll let you know if I come up with something.

well, yesterday was a fun-filled and exciting day. first, i went to walmart with the family and heard my name being called before i even got to the door. looking around dumbly like i always do, i spot JR Harris grinning my way. chit chat ensued. haven't seen him since graduation, which he pointed out to me. all good, on with the day. i get home from the BIGmart (that's for you tiff) and have a message on my machine from... tiff. so i went to meet her for coffee at 5:30. here i am, walking down the street to the coffee shop, looking in the window at the happy patrons, sipping their dessert coffee beverages, seeing the owner mattie standing at the counter, as if to take orders. i walk up to the door, not pausing, just bracing my arms to push. and i bounce right off, as everyone inside watches. apparently, she closed half an hour before i arrived (which was posted on the door i bumped into). closed at 5 on new year's eve. must have been some party she had to prepare for. so i stood there freezing on the street to wait for tiff. it was more than made up for by the guy who tried to get in to matties just as i had and bounced back hard. he was a little thick though, because he was dumb enough to try the door again!
after tiff and angela got there, we tried dairy queen, but they were closed too! it was like an episode of the twilight zone out there last night. our town is sad, sad. we ended up at TCBY at stopin and then took a lap around litJesus. check tiff's site for the full story on that one.