Wall-E

So Sunday my dad, my fiance and I all sat down and watched Wall-E. I am a HUGE fan of movies like this. I have a growing collection of Disney movies. I feel that it's hard to be down when you are watching a Disney movie (ok, except Old Yeller). Now I know this isn't Disney per say. It's Pixar but I'm not sure if it's Disney Pixar. Anyway, my point is I was terribly disappointed. This movie was not a kid's movie at all I don't think. To me, it have a poorly disguised hidden agenda. I mean, I really don't even think they tried to hide it. Now don't get me wrong, I'm all for movies having a meaning but this one I think was a bit much for the kids. Maybe it was geared for the adults, who knows.
So first off let me just say, if you haven't seen the movie and want to, these may be spoilers. It starts off showing a robot cleaning up massive piles of garbage. We soon learn it's earth and that everyone on earth has been taken to another planet due to the amounts of garbage on ours. The robots are there to clean it up for us. Then stuff happens and all of the sudden were are on the other planet where they put the people from earth. WOW!!! These people are nothing but fat, unobservant consumerists who do whatever they are told without question. I'll say it again. WOW. I continue to watch and then dad and I were discussing Axiom which is the "government" of the spaceship they are on. We are thinking big brother maybe? Then I had to laugh. They have a computer that tries to overrule the ship's captain. It has a glowing red eye that told the captain "I'm sorry, I can't allow you to do that". That was just a bad rip off if you ask me. Maybe it was meant to be a funny parody of 2001 A Space Odyssey.
In the end earth become habitable again and all is well. It just really bothers me that a movie "made for children" has such a political agenda. Rant off.

Holy Cow, I'm ENGAGED!!

So all of you already know I'm engaged. I'm still in shock about it I think. I'll look down and see this ring and think, "oh wow! Keith really wants to be with me forever!!" It really is an exciting feeling. I've got so many thoughts running through my head. Do I hyphenate my name? Do I become Anikka Michelle LaFontaine-Gillispie? Holy crap is that a long name. Do I become Anikka Michelle Gillispie or Anikka LaFontaine Gillispie? I really want to keep LaFontaine. Dad and I are the last ones. Unless dad knocks someone up, then the name dies with us. Then we have do decide on where to get married. We had decided to do a small wedding in Gatlinburg with just our parents. I LOVED this idea. Well, he talked to his mom and he has a lot of older relatives that really want to see him get married. So now we are talking about doing a wedding here. I did a small list of people that I had to invite. My list alone was about 50 people. His list will be even bigger. He has a big family. Mine is small but I have a lot of you that I consider family so that's why my list is so big. So I told him about having 50 people. He freaked. He said he would get so freaked out in front of that many people. Hmm, so the fun of a wedding begins....

On the bright side, MY RING IS SO WONDERFUL!!!

Ok so back to business. I think if we do get married here it will be at his family friend's house in Georgetown. He's got a big amount of land so we could do the wedding and the reception there. We had agreed to do the reception there anyway, so I guess we could just get married there too.

My fear is that this is going to turn into a big ordeal. I don't want a big ordeal. I just want to say my "I do's" and start spending forever with him!

I am so happy, so excited, and so scared all at the same time. This is so exciting and I'm so happy to have all of you to share it with. :)

Boys and their toys

This weekend dad came into town to pick up his new motorcycle. God was he excited. It was like he was waiting on Santa. He called me Friday night and said he was on his way in and he couldn't wait. I went after work to sign his paper work for him. When he got here he had all of his information waiting on him. Wow was he in heaven.

Sat. I had a hair appointment so I left Keith and dad to go pick up the bike. I called them when I was done and they were still over at Harley. They had forgotten to add his new grips so he had been waiting on those. I drove over there all nervous like a mother almost. When I got there he was signing the rest of his paper work so he could get on the road! He put on his helmet and his leather jacket and sat on the bike. My stomach just sank. All I could think about was well, we are pretty close to a hospital. If he breaks an arm or leg, at least he is here and I can take care of him. So he says " should I drive around the parking lot first?" Keith looks at him and says "it's been over 30 years, I think that's a great idea" He starts the bike and gets comfortable. He slowly takes off and starts to wobble a bit. I had to turn around. He took off around the building and after a minute he returned. I felt better. Keith, his dad Darry, and my dad took off for Georgetown for a nice ride. I stayed home and cleaned for the party I was having later. I can't tell you how nervous I was the whole time they were gone. I was really hoping my phone wouldn't ring. I knew if I didn't get any calls, everything was ok.

When they got home all dad could do was smile. He had so much fun. They went on a ride yesterday too. I haven't seen him this happy in a long time.

Memories

Last night Keith and I went to his parents house in Stamping Ground for dinner. It was a beautiful day so we took the prowler. On the way home it was beautiful. In the 70's and it was a clear night. Driving home made me just have amazing memories of when dad and I would road trip. We use to do it all the time. He has a family friend in WV that we would go visit. I would always get to be DJ and he would always drive. Dad and I have the same taste in music so it was never a problem. When I was little he would give me his cassette tape case and say "pick something" and we would drive to wherever singing and laughing. As I got older things were changing but the one thing that always stayed the same was road trips with dad. He never got tired of driving and we would always sing. When I got older though we started having more and more conversations. Really revealing ones which I think has brought us closer over the years. Funny stories too that would make us both laugh so hard we were crying.
It's been a while since we've road tripped together. I think the last time was probably a couple years ago. I miss that time of my life where the open road was in front of you, knowing a wonderful adventure awaits. I guess now I'm on my own open road, waiting for my adventure to show itsself.

YARRRRRRRR!

Happy Talk Like a Pirate Day!!!

Velvet Water and Wii stuff

Ok, so I suck at blogging. But I have FANTASTIC reasons. :) First, school. I have been busy with my Native American Literature class. Second, I've been busy with Keith. Seems like we are always doing something. :) Anyway, I wanted to write this to praise a few things. I went to see a friend's band Sat. They are called Velvet Water and they are amazing. They play bluegrass, funk, classic rock, whatever. They were wonderful! They have so much fun when they play that it made the show that much better. I would love it if you all checked them out sometime. www.velvetwaterband.com. They are also on myspace but I"m not sure what their name is there. I'm sure it's velvet water something. I thought of you Anna because they played Wagon Wheel by Old Crow Medicine Show. You would have loved it.
Second I want to praise the Wii Fit and Mario Kart. I got both of these Sunday and wow are they addictive and fun! Wii Fit I think will be loads of fun. I have no balance according to my wii, but that's ok the games are fun. Mario Kart is addictive. Keith and I played yesterday and couldn't stop! It's fantastic! The game comes with one steering wheel but we got a second so we could race each other. It's so funny because both of us are competitive when it comes to games. I suck at racing games though so for now, he as me beat.
That's all for now. Just wanted to write a quick note to let everyone know what's been going on.

What has happened to us?

So yesterday I'm driving to the store and I take a cut through over by Raintree apts. and I notice a guy laying on the ground with his head by the road. I knew it didn't look right so I got on the phone and called 911 as I tried to find someone to turn into to go run and check on him. I parked in their parking lot and ran up to him. As I did, there were two ladies in their car blocking the road with their window cracked asking the man if he's ok. As I go up to him I can see that there is blood just pouring from his head. They had to have seen this. What surprised me though was that they didn't get out of the car. They just sat there asking him if he was ok. I told them to leave. Another man came by and said he called 911 and got out to stand with me. By this time I'm on the ground next to the man getting him to talk to me to stay awake. He was in his 50's and had on clean clothes so I know he wasn't homeless. He was very confused and didn't seem to know that he was hurt until I told him. The cops finally show up and they lift his head to put something on the massive wound he had. I noticed that the blood at gotten very think and it made me realize something. He had to have been laying there for awhile.
The thought of people driving past this man seeing him laying there and probably thinking "someone else can do it" is just sad to me. When did we get to the point where we no long help out a stranger? Have we become that scared of a society that we can't help someone who is obvious need?? It makes me sick to think that poor man was laying there all alone and no one would stop to help him. I keep thinking about how I almost didn't take that road and went on down a bit to Richmond Rd. I know that nice man in the black SUV would have helped (thankfully). But what if he would have went a different way also? It would have been those ladies who wouldn't even get out of their car to check on him. To me, that's just unacceptable.
I guess the whole point of this is to remind you all that we are all people. If you see someone in need of help, no matter what kind of help it is, PLEASE HELP THEM. Even if it is a little help, it's better than none.

Aquarium

This past Sat. Keith and I joined his friends Kenneth and Kim with their son Mark. We arrived right at 9:30 and we started. It was crowded when we first got in so we kind of hung back and let some of the bigger groups go ahead. We saw some pretty awesome things that day. Some beautiful fish, some super cute otters, some scary looking sharks and some ugly frogs. It was a great day and I'm so glad we went! Here are a few pics of the day.

We saw playful otters

fun starfish

Shark Bellies
The rare "Keith and Nikki"

Really awesome Jellyfish

Food and a Harley

My weekend was awesome. I just have to share it. :) Friday night my co worker Christy came over for a much needed break. As most of you know she's had some hardship in her life so she came over to play cards and get her mind off of things.

Sat. Keith and I woke up early and went to the farmer's market. Woo hoo do I love it there!!! I got some beautiful flowers that just put a HUGE smile on my face. I got some local honey for the allergies, corn on the cob, green beans, strawberries and blueberries. It was a good farmers market trip. After that we went to Georgetown to go on a Harley charity ride. Now remember boys and girls, this was my first ever ride on the back of a bike. Let me just say I was so ready to do it but so scared. We met his dad and we got on the bikes and road from right past the boys farm to Versailles. We met all the other Harley people under some shelter thingy in a park. There were about 40-50 bikes all together. So we waited for the rain to blow over and off we went. We went from Versailles to Stamping Ground via Frankfort. We took all back roads. This was all great until we got to Owenton (I think that's right). The back roads were so curvy that I really thought I was gonna die. There were times that I thought "OMG I"m gonna fall off." "Well, at least I have a helmet on and my head will be ok." "I wonder how bad the road rash will be if I fall off of here while we are going 60?" "Thank god I have a life insurance policy." All these thoughts were racing through my head. I do love the straight roads but I was not at all prepared for the curvy ones.
After our ride we went back to his house and started cooking. We made dinner for his mom, dad, uncle Mike and uncle G. Keith put ribs and hot dogs on the grill. I made green beans with loads of bacon, and corn on the cob. His mom made her awesome banana pudding. After that we all sat around and played cards. It was an amazing weekend!!

The lake

So this past weekend I went to Laurel Lake. It was amazing. Let me first start by saying I'm an idiot and forgot 2 important things. First, I didn't bring a camera. I'm so bummed about that too because I saw many beautiful things. Second, I forgot good shoes.
We left Thursday night to head down there. We got there and got the boat and loaded our stuff up and found a place to camp. This is where I realized flip flops are not so good. We camped off the lake so what we did was pull the boat up to the edge, tie it off and climb the rocky side to get to our camp site. All very great and whatnot but again, flip flops were not the ideal footwear. The next day we got up and visited Keith's cousins Keith and Sheryl on their house boat. This thing is fantastic. 3 bedrooms, 2 baths and a great kitchen area. I'm pretty sure I could live on this thing comfortably. After that we decided it was going to be a gross day so we went into town. We went to this cute little place called "Dog Patch Trading Post". Had a great time looking around until I made the biggest mess EVER. I was looking at lotions and decided to open it and smell it. Upon doing so, I managed to spill ALL OF IT on the ground, on my feet, and on my clothes. Luckily the nice lady behind the counter just laughed until she was crying. She thanked me and said that was the best laugh she's had in a long time. I'm so glad she was so great about it. Let me just tell you, that lotion was damn near impossible to clean up off the floor. So after that we decided we wanted to go to TN for fireworks. Man was that place awesome. They had some great looking things. Lots of expensive ones too but my inner child was screaming with joy. For as long as I can remember I've loved fireworks. So after that we went back to the lake and Keith cooked us dinner on the camp stove and we went to bed.
Sat. morning we woke up and Keith made us breakfast. As we were standing there, I heard this noise in the woods. We started looking and it was otters!! They ran right by us caring a fish in their mouth. It was the cutest thing ever!! After our fun breakfast we went to pick up his parents and sister. It wasn't that great of a day so we decided to go to the flea market. WOW was that place HUGE! Not only that but I got to see a fantastic display of mullets too!
Sunday was perfect weather. We all went out on the boat and went to a little cove. We got on rafts and tied ourselves to the boat and just relaxed. With the waves rocking you back and forth, you could sleep for days out there. So after a few hours of laying in the sun relaxing, it was time to go home. The interstate was crazy so we took back roads the whole way. It was nice. I'm very much looking forward to this trip again soon!

A few things bothering me.

1. This stupid teen pregnancy pact in Mass. First off if it's true that they did make a pact, I fear for the future of this country. Why out of all the reasons of having a child would you pick, "so we can raise them together"?? That's the most idiotic thing I've ever heard. Secondly, it's really pissing me off that everyone is blaming movies for this. They are saying Juno and Knocked Up "glamorized" pregnancy. I'm not sure about Knocked Up. I've only seen it once and I really don't remember it that well. I do know that Juno did not glamorize it. It shows a teen who goes through a tough, difficult decision. It drives me crazy when something bad happens and everyone is so quick to blame music, games, and movies. What happened to personal responsibility? Why can't a parent just admit that maybe they were too busy or not caring enough to notice that their teen is building bombs, buying guns, doing drugs or sneaking out to have sex? I know teens lie and say they are doing one thing when they are really doing another. All it takes is an active interest in your kid's life. Just talk to them. Find out what's going on in their life. If they seem like they have problems and they won't talk to you, take them to someone they will talk to. I'm so tired of parents placing blame on everything else when really they should be looking at themselves. I know I'm not a parent and I know that I really have zero experience on the subject. But I do observe a lot.
Anyway, as far as this pregnancy pact thing goes, I think that maybe abstinence is not the right way to go when teaching kids about sex. I understand why people want it taught, I really do. I know if I had a kid it would kill me to know that she was having sex. But I am also understanding in the fact that it happens. Teens are hormone filled creatures and that's what they wanna do. I get that. So given that, why not teach SAFE sex and give the kids some options. You don't have to hand out condoms and birth control pills at school but any kid should have access to that information if they need/want it. Again, I'm not a parent so maybe I'm wrong and who knows, maybe when I have a kid my views will change. But it seems to me this whole "don't have sex" thing just isn't working. I mean 17 girls in 1 school? That just seems like a high number. I remember a girl or 3 at my high school being pregnant, but 17?? That's just insane. I'm done with this one. It makes my brain hurt...

2. Oil prices. Now I'm not knowledgeable at all on this subject so forgive me but it's still driving me crazy. I don't understand why oil prices are going up. Well, I think it's pure greed but I'm sure there is some more to it than that. It amazes me that even when oil prices fall, gas prices will still go up. That one blows my mind too. I fear for the economy because of this. I've never taken and Econ class so I don't understand most of it. What I really don't get is the whole "speculation" thing. Who are these speculators and why are they doing this?? I hear on NPR that oil prices go up because of the "speculators". Ok that's fine so why don't they just stop!! I don't like having to pay 50 bucks to fill up Loretta. It's just not right. I live on my own so I don't have to worry about supporting anyone but me. I feel so sorry for families right now. I can't imagine the pinch it's caused some people. I know it's not been fun for me. I think between the gas prices and the food prices, our country is in for a bad next few years. I have a feeling that gas prices aren't really going to fall much. I'm sure it will fall maybe 10 cents or so, but I think we are going to be in the upper 3 dollar range from here on out. We have a much too greedy government/big business to drop it any lower than that. Now again, I don't know the first thing about all of this oil crap but I'm a firm believer that greed is behind it. That and those damn "speculators".

That's it for now. Sorry for it being so long, but it's just all been on my mind and I needed to get it out.

Short, but to the point.

I really really really miss Dottie.

5 Weird things about me!

1. The obvious - No cheese. Now people, I do try. I'll try all kinds. I even did it for Keith's friend this past weekend so he would try some calamari. I'm not sure what kind it was. Were were at Olive Garden and it was white and grated on top of their food. I'm guessing it was Parmesan-doesn't matter. The point is that I didn't like it. It was gross and smelled like dirty feet. I do like smoked gouda. Not boat loads of it, but I can eat a piece or two here and there.

2. Feet. I really hate feet. I don't know what it is about them but they just really freak me out. I don't like for people to touch me with their feet at all and I really don't like for people to touch mine unless it's for a pedicure. I don't care how pretty you think your feet are, they aren't. Sorry, that's just how I feel. Nothing personal, it's just one of those things.

3. I've never been on an airplane before. I'm not really scared to fly, I've just never been presented the chance. I really enjoy traveling by car on back roads. I think I would really miss that if I were to fly. I'm sure someday I will travel by plane.

4. I never got a set of my incisor teeth in. I think I had them as a baby, but never got them as an adult thus causing the gaps in my teeth. Even more odd, My aunt Melanie, and Cousin Maggie were the same way. Bobby also, but he was only missing one.

5. I have an abnormal love of VH1's countdowns. I don't know why. I've seen them all like a brazillion times but still I watch them like it's the first time. I watch the top 100 songs of the 80's, 90's and I totally get sucked into the I love the 80's and 90's. I'll even watch the stupid top 100 hair bands and all that crap. I don't know what it is about their count downs but god do I love them. Do they make a support group for that???

Friends

Sometimes I sit and think about the friends I have. I have a lot of different ones and I am so grateful. I have people that I talk to online daily, but I don't see often. I have people that talk to not so often, but I know that no matter what, I count on them. Then I have the people that I talk to constantly and I know they to will be there for me no matter what.
I think sometimes we take our friends for granted. Sometimes we think that it's our place to make their lives better or make decisions for them. It's not. All we can do as friends is sit back, listen and be a backbone for them. I like to look at a friendship as extended family. I would like to think that I can call any of my friends at any given time and say "hey, I'm in a bind" or "hey, I'm upset, I need you right now" and they are they for me. I would also like to think that they could do the same for me. Just like family would.
I also like to think that any secrets you have between you and your friends you should take to your grave. You should never ever tell secrets that are in trusted to you. You should never ever sleep with you girlfriend's bf or ex bf for that matter. Again, you just need to treat them like family.
I have a lot of guy friends too. I am not trying to leave you all out. I just don't myself sleeping with your ex's or currents. :) I do still stand by the being there for you and the keeping secrets part. I don't know, I guess the whole point in this blog is that I promise to each of you that I will try to be a better friend. I do try to there for you all whenever you need an ear. I would like to think that I have always been there. I will do my best to always be there for you in the future. I love each of you so very much. I haven't known you all for too long, but I do know that I care for you all like family. I promise to you that whatever you tell me, I will hold it near and dear to me and not share with anyone if you tell me not to. I promise that if you ever need anything, I will do all I can to help you with it.

To my girlfriends

This is to my girlfriends, a thanks for being my friend.

To Dottie: Thanks for talking to me daily and making me laugh non stop and everything. I 1 less than3 you honey. You have such a lovely spirit that I just can't get enough of.

To Steph: Yep, you really are my wife. We have so much fun when we are together. I know that no matter what sort of mood we are in, we can always have fun. I love you and I treasure the times we've spent together. I can't thank you enough for coming out with me Sat. to the ball. I couldn't have asked for a better date. :)

To Anna Marie: You have shown me what a perfect mother is. I hope that someday if/when I decide to make that step, I can be half the mother you are. Sophie is such an amazing little girl and it's all because of the love you and Roy show her. Dottie said it best in her blog. The two of you take the time to be parents, and it shows. You rock!

To Anne: I love emailing you dailing and chit chatting about life. Talking about my new house (yay!), your trip to Colorado, and of course, boys. ;) I love you.

To Leigh: I love laughing with you and the lunches we USE to have. Did you see what I did there?? I'm trying to make you realize we haven't done it in a while. ;) I love the way that we would have like 15 conversations in our half hour to 45 min. lunches. You always crack me up!

I was thinking about how each and everyone of you are so wonder and mean the world to me. I don't know what I would do without you all.

The house

I got the house!!! I'm so amazingly excited I can't stand it! I close at the end of this month. I have been on cloud 9 since yesterday!

To all the women out there

This is just a little note to all the women out there. I know it's starting to get nice outside and the urge to wear flip flops and sandals is hitting hard. Please, for the love of toast, make your feet pretty. I know we are coming out of winter and most of us don't have out "summer feet" yet. But if you don't, spare us all and don't wear flip flops. I bring this up only because I was in class the other day and a girl came in wearing flip flops. And I probably wouldn't have even noticed but she had a tattoo that cover almost the entire top portion of her foot-so I looked. There they were, all cracked, dried and unpainted. Her feet were gross. Ladies, people look at your feet in flip flops. Please keep them pretty. :)

To Bobby

I've been thinking about you a lot. I've had you on my mind every day since June 15th. Here lately though I just keep thinking about where you would be right now. I keep thinking about what Maggie's doing which makes me wonder what you would be doing. You would have finished your first season as a Marshall football player. You would have looked so good in that green and white. I'm sure you would have been up here watching P Pat playing basketball.Not anymore due to his stress fracture, but you would have been proud of him. He has been doing really well. I watch him all the time and think of you. I know you would have been up at EKU with Maggie. She struggled 1st semester. I know a lot of it had to do with you being gone. But I also think a lot of it had to do with her being so shy. She wanted you to help her. She wanted you to get her into a groove. You would be so proud of her though. She's playing tennis and going out and being social. She's doing good. Mack is getting ready to turn 16. I'm sure you would be helping him with his driving. Although, the two of you would be sharing a car I'm sure. :) As for John, he's such a little version of you. I'm sure the two of you would be playing football together in the yard or in the park. He's got your sense of humor, your love for people.
I keep thinking about the day that you left us. I got to see you in the hospital. I told you that day how much I loved you and how much I needed you. I wasn't kidding about that. At 18, you were such an amazing man. You touched so many people in so many ways. I never knew to what extent until the week of your car wreck. I got to meet a lot of your friends. Some of which I hadn't seen since you all were younger. I can't get over what an amazing group of people you surrounded yourself with. All of which call and talk to Maggie all the time. They treat her like they are her brothers and sisters. She is in good hands.
I know this is really selfish of me but I do still want you here. I want you to be able to come hang out with me like Maggie does. I want you to come play poker with my friends like you did that one time after your football camp. I want to be able to get to know you better now. I missed out on so much of your life because I was in such a hurry to move away. I know that you and I had a special bond. When you were a baby, I always took care of you. Heather always took Maggie because she was more quiet. You were never bad, you were just more energetic. You always wanted to entertain, play and run around. I loved babysitting you. I loved watching you grow up. I loved your personality.
Next month marks a year from the last time I saw you alive. Dad let you take the prowler out for a drive. You and I went. We talked and you drove and we laughed the whole time. I will never forget that because you were so excited. You had wanted to drive that car since you were 15 I think. And on a whim dad said yes. The day you passed he was so happy he let you do that. I told him how much it meant to you.
You will always be in my heart and on my mind. I love you so much and miss you like crazy Bobby.

NAFTA Superhighway

This is going to become a big issue so I thought I would share this with you. This is a Massive highway that is being built from Mexico to Canada. The main concern for me is security. With as much fear as we say we have over "terrorism", why do something like this? Our government feels the need to tap our phones and read all of our emails, why be so lax in security on things like this? We will be relying on other contries to do security checks on all cargo that comes into our country. How safe does that sound? One of the articles that I read also said that other countries would own parts of the tolls. I read Spain would own part of the toll in Kansas. How is that fair? Not to mention the jobs that it will take. I heard about this yesterday from dad. I know he's mentioned this before, but I didn't really listen until yesterday. He is in fear of losing his job because of this. Because of this superhighway, they can outsource the trucking jobs to cheaper drivers from other countries. This is such a shame. What's really sad is that the government denied this highway for quite sometime. Only now are they starting to kind of admit to it. I'm not sure where Obama and Clinton stand on this issue, but I would love to know. If anyone does know, drop me a line. Anyway, here are a couple of websites so you can read about it.

me

http://www.naftasuperhighway.info/
http://www.thenation.com/doc/20070827/hayes
http://www.infowars.com/articles/nwo/nafta_superhighway_coming_through.htm

Brightland

When I got outside at night to smoke or just hang out when it's nice out, if I look to the left it's always brighter over there. Now I know that this is because of the mall or something, but in mind, I've decided this is Brightland. In Brightland, it never snows or rains. It's 75 and sunny all the time. There are rainbows and puppy dogs running around constantly. There's lots of green, lush grass and flowers as far as the eye can see. In Brightland you don't have to work. There's no cost of living. All you have to do is be happy and enjoy life. I will one day become ruler of Brightland. When I do, you all will have a house there waiting. :)

Frustrations

As you all know I've been going through a little battle with pain. I've tried many treatments and meds to take care of this. I have found one medicine that works great. It's called Topamax. It's actually an antiseizure medicine. It works well with nerve pain, which is what I have. I love the fact that I don't have to take pain pills anymore. It's freaking awesome. I've been on pain pills for 3 years. I was so happy to find something that I could take that really took my pain away.
Unfortunately this medicine has been coming with some yucky side effects. I can't wake up at all on this medicine. It gives me the worst medicine hang over ever. I also get some really yucky tingly fingers and toes. Oh and no appetite whatsoever. Which in turn makes me feel all slugish and weak. I do make myself eat. But the feeling tired all the time is starting to get to me. I don't it every once and awhile, but all the time, it gets to me. I'm hoping all of this will go away after I adjust to my new dose.
I hate how this whole situation has been such a battle for me. I know that I am lucky. I know that there are people in the world that have it was worse of than me. They have so many things wrong that my problem really isn't that bad. But some days, it really is for me. There are some days that yeah, my pain still is bad and I don't want to get off the couch. I hurt and it sucks. If surgery wasn't so risky I would do it again.
I do try not to let this get to me. Some days are good, some days are bad. I guess today is just a down day because I woke up late with tingly hands.

Biometrics

Now I'm in no way a tin foil hat wearing kind of girl. There are a few times though that I read an article such as this and wonder. Are they really doing this to catch terrorists? I know that there are terrorists in the world and I know that some in fact do not like us. But I'm also not exactly trusting of our government. They've been known to lie a time or two. So when I read that they are compiling a HUGE database of face shapes, iris recognition and what have you, it freaks me out a little. I feel like a national database like this is a step in the direction of a country that I do not wish to live in. I do not want to be a part of a country where the government monitors every move 24/7. I just don't think that's what this country was founded on.
It reminds me of a book that my dad's friend wrote "Mark of the Beast". He's always said that our country is going to come down to national "ID" cards and monitoring. I can't help but to think of the Visa check card commercials where "Life Takes Visa". They show it being so much easier to use your check card instead of cash or an actual check. First of all, BS. It's not that quick. You have to tell it debt or credit. Then you have to put in your pin, then decide if you want cash back, accept the amount and then you are done. With cash, you hand it to them and you are done. I've often wondered if that was due to the fact that credit/debt card purchases can be tracked. Now I know it sounds like I have a tin foil hat on, but I promise, I don't.
I wonder sometimes if we will even realize when all of our freedoms are taken from us. Right now it seems like we just sit back and take it. We just keep saying "oh it's not that bad, it's for the good of the country". And I know that there are some of you out there that think if you aren't doing anything bad you have nothing to worry about. But that's just not true. I worry about losing my freedom. Isn't that enough?
Here's the article I'm talking about. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/12/21/AR2007122102544.html?sub=AR

Ryan Seacrest Does NOT equal Super Bowl

Ok people Super Bowl 42 is next weekend. I saw a commercial that said Ryan Seacrest is doing the pregame red carpet. I have several issues with this statement. First of all, when I think football I do not think Ryan Seacrest. He needs to stay over on E! where he belongs, away from my beloved football. Second of all, Super Bowl pregame should be about talking about each of the teams and what injuries they have or how they've been playing all season and who they think is gonna win. THERE IS NO RED CARPET FOR SUPER BOWL!!! What are they going to do go up to Tom Brady and say "wow Tom you look fabulous tonight, who are you wearing?" Are you kidding me?? Super Bowl is about FOOTBALL people, not about a stupid red carpet. I can't believe they are doing this. It hurts my feelings. Maybe it's because of the writer's strike and poor little Seacrest has had nothing to do because of no awards shows. But come on, no one will be showing up to this game in a designer gown. If they do, they deserve to be shot. I don't know who's silly idea this is, but they need to be kicked in the knee.

Decision time

I have been trying to figure out who I'm going to support the for the upcoming election. Frankly, the thought of it makes me sick. I'm tired of being lied to. They all say they are going to make a difference. They never do. I've decided that this year, health care is going to be one of the most important issues to me.
At the end of this past year my company jacked up my cost for medical insurance to almost $100 more a month. That is a HUGE increase. I am not the wealthiest of people so I was pretty freaked out. I mean, 40 would have sucked, but I could have managed. 100??? Are you kidding me?? So I racked my brain trying to figure out what I was going to do. As most of you know I have ongoing medical problems that require me to go to the dr. at least once a month. Insurance is something that I have to have. I had 3 options on my health care plan. 2 of the 3 would require me to pay full price for meds using an account or paying until I hit a 2500 minimum. This option didn't work for me because I have some very expensive meds. Option 3 was to pay the higher premium with the cheaper drugs and cheap co-pays. It was my only option. So I racked my brain trying to figure out how to afford it. My only option was to not put so much into my 401k every month and put that towards my insurance. I couldn't believe I was making the decision on my future and my health. The option of finding another job is one that was brought up to me also, but it took me 6 months to find this one. Job hunting was going to be a last resort.
My sister bought me "Sicko" by Michael Moore as a joke to lighten up my bad mood about this situation. I'm not at all a Michael Moore fan but I watched it over Christmas. I couldn't believe it. Now, I'm not that kind of person to take everything he says at face value. I do however agree with him that our health care is ran by pharmaceutical companies and Health care providers. I am a huge fan of the idea of Universal Health care. I don't think it will ever happen in our country though due to greedy people like Pharmaceutical companies and Health care providers. It's a shame too, it seems that it works for so many other countries. Why can't it work for us? When did we become such a greedy country that the people no longer mattered? It makes me so sad to think about it. I suggest you all watching this movie. Again, don't take it all as the honest to goodness truth, but there is some truth in there.
I've been looking into candidates and their issues on insurance. Not sure who I'm pulling for yet, but at least I know what's important to me.

Amazing

So a friend of mine forwarded me this article this morning. After reading it I couldn't help but to wonder what our future holds. Scientists took a dead heart and seeded it with live heart cells and after a few days it started beating. I've read this article like 3 times just because this amazes me. We could save so many lives and the rejection rate should be so much lower. If you are intrested, take a read. http://www.scienceblog.com/cms/researchers-create-beating-heart-lab-15218.html

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Cookies

Every year it's the same thing. Someone wants me to me to buy something to support their kids crap. Well, my coworker brings in a girl scout cookie form this morning. Now, I have to say, I can be good and say no to a lot of things. I haven't had Ben and Jerry's in my freezer for months now. I can't say no to girl scout cookies. No matter how hard I try I just keep telling myself, "one box won't hurt". But then how on EARTH am I suppose to decide between all of those and pick just one??? It's just not going to happen. I LOVE the caramel delights. To me, they are like crack. I just can't stop eating them. I will hunt those girls down at grocery stores to buy just one more box. Thin Mints are just the same, but they have to be frozen. I also love the shortbread because I dip them in hot chocolate. MMM, they are amazing. And then I see this new kind called "Thank yous" or some crap like that. Shortbread with the bottoms dipped in chocolate. Sounds like a winner to me! So yeah, this year I ordered 4 boxes. I hate those stupid girl scouts and their crack disguised and cookies...

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Blogging

I spend so much time sitting and reading other peoples' blogs that I thought "hey, why not me?"
So here it is. My very own blog. Next thing you know you all are gonna talk me into this myspace business...sheesh.

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