Adetastic!

10:50am: Dear world,

Yes, Michael Jackson is dead. Yes, it's sad and tragic and all, and he was too young, and his daughter gave a charming speech. But let's face it. Death happens. It happens to all of us eventually, young or old, famous or obscure. It's really not as big of a deal as people seem to think it is. And despite his incredible talent, fame, and ordeals, he was nothing more than a creature of the earth that bit the dust. So celebrate the man (or... whatever) that he was, keep rocking out to his music, and GET OVER IT ALREADY. The funeral is over. You've had your closure. Face it, the vast majority of you never met the guy and didn't really know him at all. His work will live on, and that's what's important. Besides, he's free from suffering now. So enough already. Enough of the constant news, when far more important and newsworthy things are going on in the world. Enough of the weepy blog postings and pointless "he was a sick pedophile" vs. "no he wasn't" flame wars. ENOUGH! You've had your time to grieve and celebrate. Now get back to your real life. Calm down, dry your tears, and move on. Make dinner, do the laundry, feed the dog, and go see a movie with your friends. A year from now, this won't matter any more. And don't worry. I'm sure Michael Jackson is rocking out with Elvis Presley, John Lennon, and all the other musical prodigies that have left this mortal plain. He moved on. Now you can too.

- Ade

In other news, OMG HARRY POTTER MOVIE SOON YAY! Except that this is the book where Ron starts dating that codependent, manipulative, clingy, batshit crazy girl. I spent the majority of the book wanting to falcon punch Lavender and grab Ron by the collar, give him a good shaking, and say "WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU, IDIOT?" Oh well. Nevertheless, I'm excited, even though I know how it ends and will probably be depressed for several hours after seeing it.

8:21am: I think my faith in humanity was restored a little yesterday when three lanes of traffic stopped to let a squirrel cross the road.

I also went to a Sustainable Monroeville meeting yesterday. They just started up earlier this year, and people were talking about things like beekeeping and a new LEED certified building at The Cedars (which is practically in my backyard). I also learned that they're reusing 75% of the materials from The Palace Inn, so that's why the massive pile of rubble is still there. I'm going to start a blog for the group, and I might also do a Facebook group. So if any of you Pittsburgh area folks are interested, it's open to everyone, not just Monroevers.

5:22pm: So, I have a new houseguest. My former housemate Carolyn (who I hadn't seen in like 5 years) asked me on Facebook if I could look after a cat for a while, since her neighbor moved and abandoned it. (Grrrr, what an idiot. Abandoning animals is just wrong.) I'm pretty sure it's a neutered male, and it seems pretty healthy. (I'll take it to the vet in a few days, just to make sure.) He's very friendly and cuddly, definitely a lap cat. He's a dark gray tabby. Yarmulke was cautiously curious, and Bouncer let me know she was NOT happy about having a strange cat in the house. She likes to think she's the Alpha Cat. I'm keeping the cat confined to one room until I get him to the vet. If he's healthy, I'll gradually introduce him to the girls. (Bouncer isn't a cat-hater, she's just feisty. She gets along with Yarmulke well, so she might just have to get used to him.) I don't know if I'll keep him or not (apparently Animal Friends has a waiting list), but we'll see what happens.

6:40pm: Writer's Block: Dog Day Afternoon


Stay inside playing video games. I melt into a lethargic puddle in the sun. And then I turn red and start to peel.

Anyway, I just picked two yellow squash. My thumb gets slightly less brown every year.

Things I've learned about gardening this year:

- Don't use the cheap dirt for growing things. At least get the cheap kind that specifically says it's for flowers and veggies.
- When buying berry bushes, the bigger ones are more likely to survive.
- Prepare your space before buying plants, because you'll get too lazy to prepare it later, and plants do much better in the ground than in pots (that is, if you're like me and neglect your plants for several days).
- Don't plant seeds too early.
- Don't start basil from seed, it usually doesn't work well. (Nick confirmed this, and he's the one who likes plants.)
- Plants that seem to do well even if you neglect them: rhubarb, parsley, oregano, yellow squash, garlic, tomatoes, chives, and nasturtiums
- Plants that do so-so: cilantro, spinach, swiss chard, peppers, and pumpkins (I planted some from seed, but they didn't grow... oh well, maybe next year)
- They make organic Miracle Gro now, and it seems to work ok.

There's a nest with three baby birds in my front hedges. My dad discovered it while trimming the hedges, and I like to go take a peek (without getting too close or touching them, of course).

6:32pm: Whew. Finally back on the interwebs after several days of withdrawal (pathetic, I know). Here's what I've been up to:

Friday evening was the Dar Williams (and other bands) concert. It was pretty awesome, but I thought it should have been longer (that's what she said). Half the songs she played were from her new album, and I had to sing along with some of them. I also got to see a bunch of people, including Jen, Thom, and Nick and had Indian food afterwards. (By the way, Jen, the song was "the Ocean," from the album "Mortal City.")

I went to Vermont with my mom on Saturday. We bought new beds for Wilden (the Vermont house) and hung out with Kelly a lot. We got to see her house and meet most of her animals. We went to a miniature donkey farm, which was amazing. They had a ton of babies, and they were so friendly and adorable and soft and snuggly, and I kind of wanted to kidnap some of them. But Fat Hen (a local organic grocery store) closed down, so BOOOOOO. It had been doing well, but the investors decided to back out or something. But a bunch of people are getting together and forming a co-op, so that's good. We got stuck at the Philly airport on the way back.

When I came home, I thought my cats would be excited to see me, since last time I left for 4 days, they were all over me when I returned. But when I came home, they ran straight to my suitcase (they love sleeping on it and were spooning on it the morning I left) and started sniffing it all over (they probably wondered why I removed most of their fur from it, even though it's still pretty covered). Gee, thanks guys. I missed you too. But today they were more interested in hanging out with me than investigating "their" suitcase.

Last night, I had this dream that I went to some sort of weird strip club with Ben, Nick, and Derek. They were going to show some GLBT movie, and I was standing at the bar for a while, wondering what to order (I got an Alabama Slammer - yum!). There was something involving looking in different windows, and some guy in a Pedobear suit was in one of the rooms. They were also filming a children's TV show (yes, in the strip club, though there was a different backdrop), and I was cracking all sorts of jokes on camera.

8:51pm: Poor MJ. He led a crazy life. Like a flame that burns brightly for a while, then starts flickering like crazy and suddenly snuffs out, leaving a charred wick and thin trail of smoke. I'm not surprised, but still... he was talented, and I remember the good old days when he was young, sane, black, and attractive. Well, he probably accidentally killed himself from overdoing it on the rehearsing (he was middle-aged, after all). But at least that's better than, say, cancer. Or auto-erotic asphyxiation.

Anyway. So, anyone else going to the free Dar Williams concert tomorrow? There will be other musicians and stuff, but! Dar! Who I've never seen in concert before! Yay! I'm excited. Squee!

11:06pm: I had a day off today, and it was disturbingly productive. I got more stuff done today than I typically do in a week. And yet, I still spent half of it on the computer. I got a new air conditioner and a new car windshield, and my dad and I planned the replacement retaining wall for the back yard. Oh yeah, and yesterday, I actually managed to do a bit of cleaning in the basement, which is impressive, because those of you who have been to my house know that I'm a slob. (I'm a lot better now than I was 2 years ago, but I still have a long way to go.)

[The following paragraph just proves I need friends who are real, local people, or something.]
So I was just playing the Sims again, and clearly the Sim storyline doesn't match up with the one in my head. So Annie and Andy are supposed to eventually have a daughter, but when I made their characters in the game, they ended up having 3 boys (Ganesh, Orion, and Loki), and then I gave up because they turn into old people in a couple days. But the weirdest thing just happened. Andy's good friend and former boss was over at their house. The game always makes people age up at a certain time. So this old lady just died in the kitchen at the same time Ganesh turned from a toddler to a child. The poor parents were simultaneously cheering and sobbing, and the Grim Reaper was floating around. I wish I had taken a video of it, but I had no idea the old lady was going to die that day. It was kind of hilarious. Suppose you had to be there.

*crickets*

...Right. I have no life.

9:15am: I made hotel reservations for Confluence. So if you're looking for a room this year, I have room for a couple people. It's a non-smoking room with two queen-sized beds. Also, the room will be co-ed. If nobody responds in the next week or two, I'll start spamming the Alpha groups.

10:26pm: I got The Sims 3 a couple days ago. I like it in general, but some of the new features are disappointing. I made 2 families so far, with my story characters (I love making my characters into Sims).

Pros:
- Instead of assigning levels to things like neatness, laziness, activeness, etc., you get to pick 5 character traits. For example, my character Annie is childish, vegetarian, and insane, among other things. So she likes playing with kid toys, doesn't eat meat, and does weird things like talking to herself and wearing a bathing suit or formal clothes to bed. Andy is artistic and a loner, so he spends a lot of time painting and prefers being alone (going to work has a negative effect on his happiness, because he hates being in crowds). Maggie is a bookworm and computer whiz, so she spends lots of time reading and playing video games. She can also hack and "solve the unsolvable" for extra money (I'm not sure if she can get arrested for hacking or not). You can also make your characters neurotic (they get upset if they can't obsessively "check" everything and feel great when they do), good kissers, kleptomaniacs, etc. These are a lot of fun to play with, obviously.
- Every adult has a lifetime goal, such as being a CEO, rock star, professional author, master gardener, etc.
- There are some fun new skills like gardening and fishing.
- There are more interesting locations in town, and you can go to the museum, theater, library, etc.
- You can vary the weight/muscle aspects more, so you have a more realistic variety of people.
- As with the other versions, gay marriage is still perfectly normal. Of course, I tend to make about 1/3 of my sims gay, but maybe that's just me...
- They carry cell phones, which is much handier/realistic.

Cons:
- You can only play with one household at a time per game. If you want to start a new family, they can be in the same "town," but it's somewhat different, and they can't interact with any other families you make. Also, when you split up a household (like when kids grow up and move out), you have to choose between kicking out the moving people or abandoning the remaining family and focusing on the new household. This is the biggest disappointment for me, because one of my favorite things about the Sims games is making communities with several different families. I like making my story characters neighbors, and they become friends, their kids marry each other, etc. I really wish I could still do this.
- Time doesn't speed up as fast as it used to. So if you have a single person or your family members have similar schedules, you spend more time waiting for them to wake up or come home from work/school.
- When you create a new family, regular adults can't claim young adults as children.
- I wish there was a bigger variety of hair/clothing styles.
- You can't have pets (except fish). I bet they'll put pets in future expansions, though. Must have cats!
- You also can't vary height. I don't think you've ever been able to do that, but I wish I could. But maybe that's just me, being a tiny little munchkin. Come to think of it, they don't have disabled people either. I was talking to people today about how it would be interesting if you could make sims autistic, but autism has a really diverse spectrum, so there's no real set trait for that. Then again, if you put some of the more "interesting" traits together, the person might act somewhat autistic.

I guess I'd recommend this game, if the single household thing doesn't bother you too much. I like it about as much as I like The Sims 2, but I wish I could mesh their best aspects together somehow. I also need to find/download a filter that blocks the nudity censor, because it always bothers me. I may post some screenshots soon (if only to show what my characters look like).

10:58am: Writer's Block: Local Favorite


When Andy was here a few days ago, we took the "Zack and Miri Make a Porno" tour of Monroeville. We went to Ralph's Army Surplus (I bought an "ARMY" t-shirt, and I'm going to write "Dumbledore's" across the top), and in the parking lot, I said, "Just think, Seth Rogen shoved his hands down his pants 10 feet from here!" We drove past the mall, and we discovered that the "coffee shop" is now a Chinese restaurant (we wanted to eat there, but it's closed for renovations). I need to do some research and figure out the other locations in the movie (I don't think their apartment was actually in Monroeville - it looks like the houses in some of the nearby towns).

Why yes, I'm very proud of Monroeville for its rich porno/zombie heritage, thankyouverymuch.

I also make everyone eat at Zaiaka. Because it's awesome.

2:14pm: Writer's Block: Set the Scene


For some reason, I seem to feel at ease in places that make a lot of people uneasy, yet I feel uneasy in places that are familiar to a lot of people. Garages, motels, caves, basements, and forests? No problem. When I'm venturing into a creepy old basement or attic with other people, I'm usually the one that goes first, because I'm not scared, and I won't spaz out if there are giant spiders everywhere.

But I really don't like being in cities or shopping malls for very long. The biggest thing for me is that I don't like crowds and strangers. Big groups of people make me anxious, and I will go out of my way to avoid brushing up against anyone. It also freaks me out when strangers approach me, especially if they're trying to sell me something or begging for money. When you add the sensory overload of all the lights and sounds, it all just pounds on my brain, and I sort of revert to "autopilot," where I can function on a basic level but can't think straight and usually avoid talking. If I'm with people at that point, they see me staring off into space and being really quiet, so they ask if I'm ok. But once I leave that environment, I usually snap out of it (eating also helps, because it distracts me and focuses my senses elsewhere). I can take cities and malls in small doses, but there's a certain threshold. If I'm in an uncomfortable place for more then half an hour or so, I totally zone out.

10:41pm: Ok, this Love Hina dating game is hilarious. The girls are 10 times more insane than usual and always getting drunk/high. You can also fight them, but you will probably get kicked in the crotch a lot (just like the manga/anime!). I couldn't stop laughing at the ridiculous dialogue. You must play it! (I got Shinobu the first time, because I'm a pedophile, even though Kaolla Su is my favorite.)

I just tried a sip of mead for the first time. Not bad, actually. We went to the liquor store for Andy's rite of passage 21st birthday trip, and the guy didn't even card him. That was disappointing. Sheesh.

10:07am: Writer's Block: Last Meal


Oddly enough, I want a cheeseburger. But not a crappy fast food burger. I want a hand-shaped patty of ground beef, cooked on a grill, with a thick slice of sharp cheddar cheese (none of that processed American crap), pickles, and tomatoes, on a toasted sesame seed bun. I haven't had a good cheeseburger in years, but if I eat beef, I'll get a wicked stomachache (which won't matter if I'm just going to die after I eat). I also want pizza and ice cream.

I pre-registered for Pennsic. Yay! Must remember to poke Andy if he hasn't done it yet. Only less than two months! I also need to pre-reg for Confluence and make hotel reservations, but I have like a month. Oh yeah, anyone want to room with me this year? Pleeeeeeease?

I find it amusing that I still have high school dreams 8 years after graduating. Last night was the typical "first day of school, and I supposedly have the same locker, but I can't remember where it was or the combination, and I have a vague idea of which class I'm supposed to go to, but I'm not sure where I put my schedule" dream. I was apparently taking a drama class that had something to do with teenagers, but I couldn't find the damn classroom and worried I was going to be late.

6:07pm: Writer's Block: Talking Ducks


Kankuro's puppets in "Naruto." Those things are just creepy. The way they twitch and clatter and glare with their lidless eyes and fly apart and turn to daggers and kill people and stuff... eesh. They give me the heebie-jeebies. On the other hand, I don't find Kankuro himself intimidating at all. Then again, he wears purple makeup and a kitty-ear hoodie.

8:04pm: Writer's Block: Get It to Go


Mmm, pizza. I love it. My favorites are veggie pizza with garlic and margarita pizza.

Inside my head, there is an epic battle between an 80-year-old woman and a 10-year-old boy.

Today's battle...

Whippersnapper: OMG THE ICE CREAM TRUCK JUST WENT BY LET'S GO GET SOMETHING HURRY UP OH BOY IS IT SUMMER ALREADY WHY DON'T I GET LIKE 3 MONTHS OFF OMG
Little Old Lady: First of all, you haven't eaten dinner yet. Second of all, you have a crapload of ice cream sandwiches, popsicles, and ice cream in the freezer, not to mention gelato. Third, you're in your socks. You also had ice cream for dinner 3 days ago.
WS: I DON'T CARE IT'S THE ICE CREAM TRUCK
LOL: Calm down. In two minutes, you're going to forget about it and get distracted with something.
WS: BUT ICE CREAM
LOL: Shut up and make your dinner.
WS: YOU'RE SO MEAN I HATE YOU I HOPE YOU DIE ALONE AND GET EATEN BY YOUR MILLIONS OF CATS
LOL: Don't you dare talk to yourself in that tone of voice!
*commence wrestling match, where Little Old Lady gives Whippersnapper a good old fashioned whoopin', while the cats stare at Ade and wonder how the heck they got stuck with such a weirdo*

...Ok, I had my dinner. I DEMAND ICE CREAM. *raids the freezer*

11:29am: Weekend schtuff:

- I think I might have found my first white hair. It was about an inch long, at the top of my head. My hair tends to vary between shades of medium golden-ish and medium brown, but this one was pretty white. It was also the same thickness/texture as my own hair, so it couldn't have been from Yarmulke. (I'm usually covered in her hair, because she's a real snuggler, and I'm not allowed to wear black unless it has a significant amount of white hair on it. Also, her fur is really fine and thin about 3/4 of the way and then thicker at the tips.) I didn't see any others, so I'm not sure if that was just a random "freak" hair or if it's the first of many.

- I went to the high school graduation on Friday. I actually knew like 10 people that were graduating (I definitely babysat at least 2 of them), but I hadn't seen some of them since they were little kids. I felt oooooooooold. But the ceremony had a couple great speeches, someone played bagpipes (I was jealous), and they sang "No Day But Today" from Rent. Boy, I can't believe it's been 8 years since I too escaped the sinister talons of Franklin.

- Daragh's graduation party was a lot of fun. Colin and I made bean dip, and it was awesome (although it's really hard to go wrong with bean dip). We played a lot of Pictionary and Super Smash Brothers.

- I now have power of attorney for my dad, so 30 years from now, he can live in the shed in my back yard, and I'll leave bowls of cat food and water for him. Muhahahahaaaaa.

6:44pm: Writer's Block: Significant Choices


Unless you're married, friends always come before significant others. (Otherwise, you're a douche.) Significant others come and go, but friends stay with you. They're more important.

3:29pm: Writer's Block: Grimm Question

I liked The Little Mermaid. The Disney version, anyway... the original is kinda depressing. In some ways, I felt like Ariel, not really belonging in the world where she was born and longing to be with people she "fit" with.

I also liked Rapunzel, because I'm obsessed with hair.


It would look like an old castle, but it would be much smaller. (I'd have no idea what to do with a huge freakin' castle to myself.) It would be in a meadow with lots of woods nearby and a lake out back. There would be a garage on one side and a small parking lot (for staff and visitors) on the other side. The front would have a big flowerbed with a crapload of bulbs and other nifty flowers (tulips, irises, poppies, crocuses, lantana, daisies, etc.) The backyard would be split into two fenced areas - one would be a veggie garden/orchard, and the other would be an open yard with a couple doghouses, a table and chairs, a grill, a hot tub, a fish pond, etc. There would be a stable down the street with some horses. Yes, and a stable boy.

The inside would be painted in bright colors, and the kitchen would have one of those double ovens. I'd have a few staff members - a butler (either an elderly British man or someone resembling Tim Curry in "Clue"), a maid, an animal caretaker, and my personal manservant (an 18-year-old gay boy with curly hair, glasses, and a loincloth) to bring me drinks. The house would have a lot of animals. 2 or 3 dogs (probably a sheepdog and golden retriever, at least), a few dozen cats, and maybe a couple giant fish tanks and terrariums with tropical fish, turtles, lizards, etc. There would be a few extra bedrooms and stuff. The roof would also be easily accessed.

Hmmm... maybe I could just take over the Playboy Mansion. They have all sorts of animals and staff members and cool stuff all over the place. I want one of those awesome cat trees like Bridget has.

10:52am: Why do people refer to yellow as "gold?" Yellow is a primary color. Gold is metallic and kind of yellowish tan. They are not the same.

I'm wearing black and yellow sandals, and someone commented that I'm wearing Steelers/Penguins sandals because they're "black and gold." I disagree, because a) I dislike most mainstream sports (and even more than that, I hate the mass idiocy of sports fanatics), and b) it's not gold at all, it's freakin' YELLOW.

Silly people, trying to fancy up yellow.

9:39am: In my dream last night, I was in a dining room, surrounded by ghosts. I don't remember whose house it was, because the layout looked unfamiliar. But I was sitting at the table, the only visible person in the room. But I knew there were ghosts in the room with me, and they were my ancestors. I don't remember why they were there, but I guess they were trying to communicate with me. I think the majority of them had died before I was born, and I don't know if they were all on my mom's side, but I knew a lot of them were. I closed my eyes and tried to tune in to the energy in the room and find out which ghosts were there, but I was having trouble. I knew they were there, but I couldn't communicate with them. So I leaned back, wondering if they would "catch" me, and I felt like I was floating on a cloud (or just my pillow).

I went into the kitchen, and apparently my great-grandmother Kiki was there (she also died before I was born), only she had taken the form of a friend I haven't seen in a few years. I started talking to her, and then all these old people came through the kitchen (presumably the other ghosts) and left, all talking to each other. I wanted to tell them to come back so I could talk to them and find out who they were, but they had gone. Then I looked over by the stove and freaked out, because I thought I saw the shadow of a hand on the wall and wondered if someone was behind me. But on closer inspection, it was a cup of kitchen utensils, so I started laughing and talking to Kiki about it.

Then this big, fluffy, scraggly-looking tabby cat walked in another door (there were like 4 doorways in this kitchen) and walked into the doorway of what was apparently a bathroom or something. It lay down, and I saw that it was bleeding a little. I knew it was one of my ancestors in the form of a cat, and it would have been beautiful if someone had groomed it, healed it, and cleaned it. I reached down to pet it, and it left a tuft of slightly bloody fur in my hand. Two people who may or may not have been ghosts walked in the doorway, and I asked what kind of cat it was. They said it was a Maine Coon (I figured it was), and I told them I've been obsessed with Maine Coons for a couple years now and really want one (though the bloody ghost cat wasn't for me).

I walked back into the dining room, and a bunch of people were sitting around the table. It must have been a mixture of living and dead, because my parents were there, and so were Nana and Pop Pop (both looking alive and healthier, the way they were maybe 10 years ago). I told them that a group of people had tried to communicate with me. Pop Pop said I should be wary of those people, and he wasn't sure it was a good idea to be around them. I wanted to say, "But they're the ghosts of my ancestors. And now you're one of them, because you're dead too." But then the dream ended.

*whispers* I see dead people!

9:45pm: Wow. Banana peels make great cat toys.

Also, I just realized today that I've been playing Pokemon for about 10 years now. Holy crap, that makes me feel old...

6:59pm: Writer's Block: Venting
Hee hee hee... I got the girls one of those kitty condos for their birthdays (it's one of those columns with two little caves in it), and they're having a great time crawling all over it and "ambushing" each other from inside the caves.

8:16am: Writer's Block: Significant Change


I would never change myself for anyone. Sure, other people have encouraged me to improve certain aspects (such as being less passive, getting some form of exercise, and being less of a slob), but I only change when I want to and am ready for it.

That's probably the biggest reason I hate "Grease" (aside from not liking most of the characters). The girl doesn't get the guy until she changes who she is. That's a horrible message.

Other people will come and go. You are the only person who'll be there for yourself constantly, for the rest of your life. Stay true to yourself. Plus, if someone doesn't like you until you change, they don't really like you for who you are, and they're not worth it.

9:33am: Writer's Block: Places to Lay Your Head


1. My first house was on Latimer Drive, in East Lyme, Connecticut. I lived there for the first 4-ish years of my life. I remember the stairs going down to the basement, because in the first dream I remember, these bulbous purple and green aliens came in through the door to the garage, and one sat in the yellow chair.

2. We moved to a bigger house on Morris Lane, and it had a big yard. We lived there until I was 7.

3. When we moved to Florida, we lived in a condo for a few months while my parents were house-hunting. I learned to ride a bike there.

4. We lived on Woodlake Road for 2 years. That house was only one story, but it had a pool. There were geckos all over the place, and I liked to catch them (and the frogs in a nearby pond).

5. We moved to Pennsylvania when I was 9 and lived in that hotel in Monroeville for a few weeks (that one by Lowe's that hasn't been open for years, and I guess they're turning it into another hospital).

6. I lived at the Carriage Circle house the longest. My mom still lives there, and she's been renovating the crap out of it over the last couple years (it looks pretty awesome now, except my room doesn't look like my room any more - it's almost completely devoid of life and personality).

7. My freshman year at Allegheny, I lived on the top floor of Walker. My roommate Carrie was almost the polar opposite of me (either they paid no attention to what I wrote on that roommate preference form, or they did that on purpose), but we got along most of the time. I spent the vast majority of my time sitting at the computer in that room.

8. The first semester of my sophomore year, I lived on the top floor of Brooks, in a room on the corner. I had a double to myself, because the girl who was supposed to be my roommate got a single at the last minute, and nobody told me (or my RA, for that matter). That floor is haunted, and some pretty creepy stuff happened that semester. Also, I developed an intense dislike for sororities and their habits of screaming cheers and clogging the hallway when I just wanted to get to the bathroom.

9. Then Anita graduated, and the housing people told me there was a single available (I guess they wanted to put transfer students in the double), so I pounced on it. I liked living there better. Plus, the washing machines were down the hall instead of 4 floors below me.

10. I lived at the writers' house my junior and senior years. First I lived in one of the doubles (with Sara the first semester, then by myself), then I had the purple single. They tore that house down a year or two after I graduated. Sad panda.

11. After graduation, I lived in an apartment in Meadville. I was going to live there by myself, but then Nick said he wanted to stay in the area too, so he lived with me. It was a decent apartment, but living with him was a bad idea.

12. Oh, the crappy house on Beatty Road... that was a mistake. I liked the Deauville Park apartment better, but this house was a few hundred bucks cheaper. For a reason. It was tiny and rat-infested. But I learned my lesson.

13. When I was younger, it was my dream to buy a house and be independent and have a bajillion animals. So a little over a year ago, I made my dream come true and bought my first house. It's been an interesting year (mainly because most of the appliances are probably older than me, and a couple have quit working entirely), but I'm glad I bought it. Being a homeowner is awesome. Aaaaaaand, I can have as many cats as I want! Well, right now, I only have two, but I'm still fixated on getting a Maine Coon...

Other places worth mentioning: the cabin in Vermont (I've gone there every summer since I was a baby), Calvary Camp, the dorms at CMU when I did the pre-college art program, the Alpha dorms (awww, I miss Alpha), etc.

So yeah, I'm used to packing everything and moving all the time. Hopefully I can stay put for a while.

3:35pm: Writer's Block: There Can Be Only One

Monogamy is one of those rare anomalies in the animal kingdom. In most species animals are just like, "hey, you're pretty," or "you build an awesome nest," or "I'm in heeeeeeeeeat, gahhhhhhh," and they make babies and carry on. A few species are monogamous and mate for life, but most aren't. Humans have pretty much the same instincts. Some tend to be "wired" for monogamy, others aren't. The big difference between humans and other animals is that humans are obsessed with rules. There are millions of written and unwritten rules on how humans are supposed to behave, and they all vary depending on culture, religion, who raised you, etc. Many of the rules make sense from a survival standpoint, but a lot of them are just mind-bogglingly ridiculous. I mean, people fuss over stupid trivial rules all the time, like where to put the salad fork or what time the kids should go to bed. It's hard to tell if a person is wired one way or another, because most cultures have rules that basically say, "you must find a mate, and you must marry this mate and make babies, and if you even THINK about finding another mate, you're a horrible person and the flames of hell will tickle your soul and booga booga booga!"

Now, I can understand the benefits of monogamy from a baby-making standpoint. If you're attached to one person, you know which guy is the father of your baby (although humans have reaped the benefits of scientific rules, and DNA tests can also prove this), and if the guy is a decent sort, he'll stick around and help care for the baby. (If the guy doesn't stick around, you fail at finding a decent mate. Try to find someone who isn't a douche next time, ok?) It's also good for preventing most cases of STDs, because STDs generally result from careless acts. (If you sleep around and/or don't use protection, you're just asking for trouble.) I can also understand that if two people who are "wired" for monogamy get together and are compatible and satisfied with each other, things can work out great.

But I disagree with the societal rule that you "have" to be monogamous. I understand that there are a billion complications with interpersonal relationships or whatever, but that's because humans have their silly social rules and have some sort of need to make everything as complicated as possible. (Seriously, does it really matter if you wear green socks with a red tie? Did anyone ever die from putting their elbows on the table? Does God really kill a kitten every time you masturbate?) Humans also generally suck at interpersonal relationships. They fight over stupid things like chores and money and whether to get Chinese or Mexican food. Fighting over mates is just another thing animals do, whether they're monogamous or not. Humans just make their fights more complicated.

I say screw society (not literally - that would be very painful, and you'll get every disease ever). Do what's right for you. Want to pair up and make babies and live happily ever after? Go right ahead. Want to pursue two guys/girls at once? Go right ahead, but make sure they're aware of it and ok with it. Want to throw caution to the wind and boink everyone you can? Uh... now you're pushing it. Slow down there, Tiger. There's one good rule everyone should follow when pursuing any sort of romantic/sexual contact: DON'T BE AN IDIOT.