I have been so hung up in my own bullshit I was completely unaware of the fact that Technicon is this weekend until John Franklin was kind enough to remind me. Soooooo.... Anyone who is coming into town for that I work today (Friday) from 12-6 or something like that, tomorrow (Saturday) I work a split which means 12 to whenever it slows down (possibly around 4) then I go back at 6 and work till whenever it slows down again (Usually around 10:30). So if you want to catch me the best way to do so is show up at my work. If there is some sort of dinner going on let me know. Assuming I can go, of course. I'm off on Sunday!

I'm officially single now. Its kind of shocking and horrifying.
The short version is I've bee dissatisfied for a while and considering leaving but then Chris did something that I couldn't forgive.
But the world is everything that is the case.

So I went home with my friend Katie this weekend. Shes a girl I work with and we've hit it off like crazy. We left Blacksburg with Claire (her cute puppy, my surrogate dog that I play with and spoil) and made it to Lindenberg (Between Richmond and North Caroline, I think) without any complications. We dropped Claire off at Katie's parents house and went to a bar called Spinners that shares a building with a hotel and a kitchen door with a Dennys. It was really dead but Katie knew the bar tender. Our tab was $6 but we left a $10 tip. I had one tom collins then the guys there bought us three shots of jack. The first was fine but after the second I was a little iffy. The second shot was bought by this guy who apparently wanted to take a shot with us but we took ours before he got his so he got us another and at that point we kinda had to take it with him. That third one tipped me over the edge. I smiled and laughed and didn't look sick then announced that I had to run across the hall to the bathroom for a pee. Then proceeded to do half of that and just throw up in the bathroom. Came back in feeling much better and one of the guys got me another tom collins. We sat around and talked and laughed and got kicked out. The two guys that were hitting on us walked us to our car like gentlemen and made sure we got on our way. I was drunker than I've been in over a year. We drove around for a bit too drunk to go back to Katie's parents. I couldn't sleep so I lay in bed and wrote myself drunken notes and, this part is important, sent text messages to people because I had no service so they failed to send and that drunk it seemed funny. The next morning Katie had to be at church by 11am so she went without me. She went to drive her dad's car but it wouldn't start so she took the truck and got halfway down the driveway before it crapped out and she had to walk back and find her lost keys. Then we had a big lunch with her parents when she got back. By the time we got on the road the storm was moving in. We knew the going was going to be crappy but no one told us BLIZZARD. It took us two hours to get to Farmville where it was so bad we couldn't go any further. Went to four hotels and found no rooms available. We went on and found a place with a vacancy but as Katie went to reserve it the power went out. So we went on and made it to Appomattox and found a room. The power flickered a few times throughout the night. Every time it came back on the TV would turn on really loud and wake up Katie. I slept right through it. During the night I called my work and explained that I would not be making it to my noon shift. We made it back to Radford around 2pm and before Katie could leave the parking lot of my apartment our boss called her and guilted me into going in with Katie at 5 and closing.
I feel like I've been beaten with a stick.

Today, after months of waiting, received my very first rejection letter from a literary magazine. Le sigh.

The Game

I don't understand
Why do I care
To have lost the contest
I won't admit I was in
I showed my cards
Lay them all on the table
But no one knew I had bet
I wasn't sure
As I played my hand
What I was doing
What I wanted to win
And now I have lost
I wanted that prize
Like sweet Cabernet
I could feel it
I had it
The taste on my tongue
And then it was gone
The priceless prize
I need it, I want it
Water to a thirsty man
A drop is torture
A sip is a treat
A glass is a gift from God
Now I am beached
Afraid and alone
Hopeless and begging
One drop, one more.

So Friday night I closed at work. I called Chris at like 11 to pick me up and his response was basically "call Patrick, I'm drunk." The level of trouble he's in is still being decided and he know it. My phone was dead so I couldn't even call Patrick if I wanted. So I used the work phone to call Katie and Nate. Neither answered and finally at 11:30 I left work with no idea what to do. So I did what any logical person would do. I decided to show up on their doorstep with beer and cigarettes and bribe to sleep on their couch.
I went into 7-11 and made a b-line to the beer case at 11:45. And there's Adam Hamilton. We traded pleasantries and he gave me a look when I started loading my arms up with Joose. So I wound up at their place with 4 Joose, a 24oz Mikes, and both of their cigarettes. Nathan threatened to make me sleep on the porch if I brought him the wrong cigarettes.
So then Nathan, Katie, Bill (a friend), and I proceeded to get off our asses fucked up. I drank the 24oz Mikes and part of Joose that Nate, Katie, and I split. I'm still trying to piece the night together. I know where I was and approximately what I was doing at almost all times but what I said and why is still a mystery. What anyone else said is even more of a mystery. At about 6-7am we all decided it was time to go to bed cause Bill disappeared at some point to return home and also cause we all three had to work at 11am. I couldn't sleep very well on the couch, woke up ever half hour until about 10 when I just got up in order to get dressed and let the puppy outside to piddle.
Nathan had drank two Jooses (Jeese) and then his third of the one we shared. He woke up and proceeded to start throwing up and called in sick to work.
I was still wasted as all hell when I got to work at 11 and stayed till like 4 when I got to leave for two hours and come back at 6 till 9. Then Chris surprised me with "Oh, fyi, I'm at work so I'll pick you up at midnight." So I went to Torgason and napped.
I'm hung over now. It took me until now to sober up enough to feel like shit.
Fortunately Chris isn't arguing whatever punishments I come up with.

Ann Coulter:
If we took away women's right to vote, we'd never have to worry about another Democrat president. It's kind of a pipe dream, it's a personal fantasy of mine, but I don't think it's going to happen. And it is a good way of making the point that women are voting so stupidly, at least single women.

I was curious who exactly this psycho was when I heard her mentioned offhandedly in some interview. Now I wish I didn't.

She also thinks Christians are "perfected jews". This offends me for a few reasons. For one, since when are Christians perfect?

Ok. I've been playing Persona 4 long enough now that I think I should ( review it. )

This Christmas was actually kind of nice.
I lost the last dredges of my childhood by receiving a vacuum from Chris' mom. And even worse I still hold it as the best gift of the season.
Ben gave me a plant which is making me so incredibly paranoid its not even funny. I've been watering it with fish tank water cause my roommates told me to and the only light its gotten is from the ceiling lamp in the kitchen. But you win some you lose some.
Chris' aunt gave me a weird little khaki colored fuzzy zip up with a hood. I'm not quite sure what that translates to...
Chris got a nifty little battery powered travel razor that I promptly stole and stuck in my purse and he just seems relieved that someone is going to use it.
Aislinn gave me a really cool book called Jesus Freaks thats a true crime look at some crazy cult that started in the 70s. Its hard to read which makes me feel a little better about the hours spent reading about serial killers in graphic detail since graphic child molestation gives me the wiggins.
Chris' sister gave me a pretty necklace that promptly broke ten seconds after my unwrapping it so I hid it in my purse for the rest of the time she was around and I'll fix it later. I do like it. Burgundy lace choker with a heavy metal heart pendant.
Richie got Chris and I both 1 year of Xbox Live gold. Very cool.
Sean gave me a pink shirt that says "Strangers have the best candy". Motive behind this I still don't know but I like the randomness of it. Reminds me of the shirt I got last year with bunnies that says "Vegetarians have more fun". Sometimes you need a little randomness.
And Chris got me The History Boys on DVD. Like I asked for. I think he might regret it since I've watched it around five times in the last couple days and have been quoting it every time the opportunity presents itself. And sometimes when it doesn't. Oh, and two Little Mermaid ornaments.
And Patrick got a Wii. He didn't get us anything (mostly cause hes an immature little prick who thinks the world revolves around him). But we've gotten back at him. Chris plays the Wii more than he does and I've been sneaking all his candy when he isn't looking.
Aisha gave me a new nutcracker (much to Richie's dismay, apparently he hates them) and a pearl necklace that's sturdy enough for me to wear all the time with matching earrings.
Man its nice to have a vacuum. We're all really excited about it. Except Patrick who is getting really sick of Richie and I shooing him around and demanding he pick up things so we can vacuum.
I beat everyone in the "best gift" contest getting Chris a new mp3 player. His has been a couple exits past working the entire time I've known him. I think he's a little pissed at me for pulling that on him. Nothing is as much of a fuck you as completely eclipsing everyone. Apparently he thought he was getting a thumb drive. Turns out my careful act of complete disinterest every time he so much as looked at anything mp3 related for the last month kept him blissfully ignorant. The only problem is its ten times better than mine now.

( And now for some WoW stuff. )

Was Poland taken by surprise?

So when are we getting together for non-denominational gift giving day? I'm off Sunday and I don't know when Chris is off cause he just left the room after I asked without telling me.

The Dante's Inferno Test has banished you to the Seventh Level of Hell!
Here is how you matched up against all the levels:

Level	Score
Purgatory (Repenting Believers)	Very Low
Level 1 - Limbo (Virtuous Non-Believers)	Very Low
Level 2 (Lustful)	Very High
Level 3 (Gluttonous)	Moderate
Level 4 (Prodigal and Avaricious)	Low
Level 5 (Wrathful and Gloomy)	Very High
Level 6 - The City of Dis (Heretics)	Very High
Level 7 (Violent)	Extreme
Level 8- the Malebolge (Fraudulent, Malicious, Panderers)	Very High
Level 9 - Cocytus (Treacherous)	Very High

Take the Dante Inferno Hell Test

So my mother has this new replacement family and seems almost rabid in her desperation for me to spend time with them. Its embarrassing. And to make matters even worse one of the is apparently a huge japanaphile and my mother keeps popping out with "You'll get along so well" and "She's just like you" and I'm sitting here going Oh my God. Is that really how she sees me? How insulting. I'm mortified to think that there is someone in the world who thinks of me like that. Couple years ago maybe but definitely grown out of that. Good lord, woman, I'm a WoW nerd and I make fun of those people.

So last night Richie (my roommate for those not keeping up) left his phone at the apartment. People kept calling looking for Richie and I was answering to say "Richie left his phone, call back later if its important." Or telling them to call Chris who was with him if it was a close friend. Well I fucked up and answered when Erin called. I didn't know who it was but apparently it was some girl. She hung up on me and then started texting "who was that girl who answered your phone?" I tried to call back and explain but she wouldn't answer. So I called Chris to get Richie but he was too drunk and I wound up listening to him scream incoherently about... smurf porn? I'm not sure. Finally I got Erin on the phone and explained that I was in fact sleeping with Chris, not Richie and apologized profusely. It was about a half hour psychosis. And I found myself sitting and thinking "At least it'll make a good livejournal entry."

On a different note I finally got my computer working. Three reformats and two days and I'm finally reinstalling Wow.

So here's the story.
Last night before work Chris and I got in yet another stupid fight which resulted in my being called irrational (When will people learn that calling someone "irrational" when they're angry results in nothing but pain) which, of course, pissed me off even more and the whole exchange cumulated in my slamming my laptop closed, yelling and Chris and Patrick, and going to work so pissed off it was a conscious effort not to hit customers. And big surprise I broke my laptop. I came back to it after the slamming and a very short distance toss onto a lap pillow to discover it had blue screened. I reset the piece of shit to find some how physical damage had resulted in corrupt windows files. How does that even make sense.
This morning I woke up at about 7 to the sinking realization of just how many irreplaceable files I have on my computer. Pictures and mp3s and, most important of all, text files. Nothing says "I love you more than I love myself" much like a deadly serious whisper of "If I lose my stories because of you I will skin you in your sleep."