Make Your Own Mondays or When Lettuce Goes to Hell vol. 2

I probably shouldn't have bought myself lunch today, considering that I'm in a bad financial place right now, but Neko's gotta eat! Today's creation was inspired by Mother Italy - spinach, cannelloni beans, fresh tomatoes, kalamata olives and fresh Parmesan cheese with a light splash of port vinaigrette dressing to tie everything together. The beans and cheese provide the protein, the tomatoes and spinach provide the iron, vitamins and calcium, and the olives provide the zing! Damn, do I love olives! The combination of the extra salty olives and the unexpectedly salty Parm were only mildly offset by the delicately sweet dressing. I found the fresh tomatoes refreshing though. I don't normally have them.

I posted my very first items on Etsy today! I've had an account for a while now, but just finally got around to making things to sell. If only I could take better pictures, my items would look a bit more professional.



These are dish-washing travel kits. They only take me about a day traveling to and fro on the bus to finish! Keep your fingers crossed for me that they sell! I totally need the money for my trip this weekend!! My poor, broke ass!! I will have nothing to spend and my friends will think I'm a stupid loser who isn't any fun to hang out with. :(

I took a nice walk in the cemetery near my new apartment. It's really beautiful there! I love all the old statues and gigantic trees. During the summer, I think I'll try to walk there every night after dinner.



I had a frustrating weekend, but a productive one. Just thinking about it right now is giving me a headache though, so maybe I'll save the story for another time. Bleh.

Make Your Own Mondays or When Lettuce Goes to Hell

I've decided that Mondays should be "Make Your Own" salad day for lunch. I usually go to my mailbox on Monday and there's one of those salad bar places nearby. I like to try a custom salad each time, instead of going with one of their predetermined combinations. Naturally, there are very few of them that don't include meat of some kind. The meat-free options are terribly uninspired, considering how many ingredients they have on hand. Today's salad is spinach with jack cheese, roasted corn, avocado and black beans with a roasted red pepper dressing. There were supposed to be pumpkin seeds too, but the salad guy gave me sunflower seeds by mistake. As usual, the whole thing is smothered with dressing - not my preference at all. I mean, there's like a quarter inch of dressing pooling at the bottom of this dish! Next time, I'll have to remember to tell them not to be so heavy with the sauce. To wash the whole mess down with I've selected one of my favorite beverages - a sparkling grapefruit Izze.

Perhaps my decision to pamper myself with this lunch creation was brought about by the date today. Today is the anniversary of my brother's death (his death-day?) and I'm going to visit his grave after work. I'm dealing with it just fine, but taking it easy on myself anyway. After all, I will have to deal with my father later on. Last week, I started the first of many sessions with my new tattoo artist. I'm getting half sleeves in honor of my little bro. Wednesday, we did the outline and some shading on my left arm. It took three hours. I have three more hours under the needle before it will be finished. Then, we will move on to my right arm. They're going to look badass!! I've wanted sleeves forever!

Hell and Tacos

Tuesday nights mean beer bingo and dollar tacos at my new apartment's clubhouse. There's a bar there, which is pretty rockin' since I can get nice and sloshed and wander home on foot instead of worrying about getting a cab. My friend was going to come, but she slipped and hurt her knee, so she had to bail out on me. My roommate complained of not having enough "expendable income", so she didn't make it either. If I let lack of companionship stop me from doing anything, I'd never leave the house. Plus, this gives me the chance to try on different outfits and gauge their effectiveness on an audience (or at least that's what I tell myself).



Mmmmm...dollar taco...they make special bean tacos for me, since I'm a veggie. They're yummy! Of course, I could make better at home, but they're still tasty. I think I ate four of them last night. The first time I went to this thing, I swear that I ate three tacos and drank four beers and only payed about fifteen bucks. Not the case this time! I ate some tacos...drank some beer...did a couple of shots...maybe that's why I spent twice as much this time. It must have been the shots. And wouldn't you know it, since I didn't have any friends there to cheer for me, NOW is when I win at Bingo.



See! I've got all the numbers in an "X" formation! I won a bar shirt! Well...it's kind of a skanky, powder blue muscle shirt, but I won it. It's still a prize!! Of course, I would have preferred something a little more liquid - this is beer bingo after all. So, just when my luck was running high (and it nearly never is), I won again!!



BINGO!! See how all of the spots are blacked out on the lower card? Well, take a look at the other one - I was only one away from winning that one too! The prize this time was a cash prize, which would have been great had there not also been two winners besides myself. So, split three ways, I ended up with $8.50. Considering what I spent on the bill and what I kicked in to the ante for the money rounds, this obviously wasn't a money making deal on my part. Sigh. It felt good to win though.

So, I stumbled home and showered and went to bed. At about three in the morning, my phone rang. I think I must have heard it in my sleep because I remember it, but I also remember not being quite awake. Then, it rang again. Awake this time, and annoyed, I picked it up to see who was calling. Well, lo and behold, it was this guy I hooked up with right before I moved. And if he wasn't who he was, I would have turned off my phone and gone back to sleep. As it just so happens, he's very difficult to get ahold of and, as it also just so happens, he was probably the best sex I've ever had (which is really saying something, because I've been around the block a few times). Basically, this guy has me on a string, but I don't want him to know that. Well, he wanted me to drive to another town at three frickin' AM, just to sleep with him and drive back in time for work this morning. I told him that I like sleeping better and hung up.




(but only because he promised to see me tonight. I'm so weak.)

This Sock's Been Through Hell

Yes, all of my posts from now on are going to be about my socks (sarcasm). Today's been craptastic. I rolled out of bed with a shitty hangover - last night was beer bingo and dollar tacos. I don't know where most of my clothes are, so I tried to put on just whatever. The lacy camisole I tried to wear under my a-little-too-sheer-for-work shirt was waaaaay to small (did I mention I got fat?) and then I put on my white bra instead and threw a sweater over the whole affair. Well, once I got to work, I noticed that:

a.) the bra straps are glaringly apparent
b.) the bright pink Sharpy shows through where Sean of Tickle Me Pink signed my bra
c.) there was a hole in my right sock

and instead of having a versatile ensemble that I could change with the absurd climate, I have an ugly, uncomfortable getup that I'm trapped in because I can't take off the sweater for fear of showing the terribly inappropriate disaster underneath.

Plus, my pen ran out of ink, I have killer heartburn, my head STILL hurts, the damn register at the corner shop wouldn't accept my credit card and the checker was a dick about it. I wanna go home!!!

A Little Motorized Hellion For Ya

So, if you're bored with checking out my hot socks, check this adorable shit out:



It's going on my wish list.

Hellsox

These are my socks today. Why? Because I fucking [heart] Argyle. With those and my little knit skirt there, I should stay nice and warm. Why? Because it's still fucking freezing here. Well, it was this morning anyway and it's supposed to be 68 later on. Crazy-assed weather.

I've only been awake a handful of hours today and already I'm so annoyed I could puke. If you see me walking around with an, "I'm so annoyed I could puke" look on my face, you'll know why. You know, that expression that looks like I was rolling my eyes and they got stuck in the "up" position. This morning, it was finally cozy in my new bed/new apartment situation and of course I had to get up and come to work. Then, I get on the train and the only two people talking had to be talking really loud and just had to be having the most inane conversation ever. The college-aged guy with the spiky hair, the geek glasses and the obnoxious instrument case, but who is terribly uncute despite those three features, was talking about how he went to see Gwar and the lead singer cut off the head of a T-Rex. Then, he went on to talk about how when you're in a Greek place, you order lamb or some such boring, stupid dribble. The girl that was talking to him had one of those quite obviously fake laughs. One of those laughs that screams, "I am pretending that you're funny so I can get laid." And it went on like that for 30 minutes. THIRTY FUCKING MINUTES!!!!1!!!!

I wanted to grab them each by the back of the head and smash their faces together until they suffocate from trying to breathe through the bloody pulp that was once their mouth and nose. I wanted to scream at them to shut the fuck up. I wanted to tell them to just get a room and get it over with. Stupid damn kids.

After I exited the train, I was heading for the drug store and caught an exchange of words behind me. One lady seemed to think that the person on the other end of her cell phone was completely deaf. A lady near her said, "Just shout it out to the world, why don't you?" Cell phone lady had some kind of retort and the response was, "shut up". Naturally, I was all for the "shut up" woman. I wish people would open their mouths against rudeness more. I wish I'd actually said something to the irritating fuck-tards on the train. So many people get away with being discourteous and rude just because the rest of us don't pipe up about it. But, confrontation makes me nervous. Even hearing that brief snippet made me kinda jumpy, which totally contradicts the rage I feel inside on a daily basis.

Maybe I need to take a martial arts class or something; learn how to deal with confrontation. Oi. Maybe after I unpack my things and settle in.

Perpetual Hell

I am miserable. I know I'm always going on about how terrible life is, blah blah blah. In truth, things are going much better than they were a few years ago and a few years before that were even worse. Sometimes it's hard to see how miserable you are until you're out of a situation. I once dated a guy who liked throw me around the apartment. I thought I'd die without him. Well, I tried to commit suicide, the hospital made me take some pills, and I finally gained some perspective and cut the asshole loose. "Damn," I thought, "How could I have lived like that?" Well, I eventually met another, even worse asshole, but that's another story.

The story now is that I'm dissatisfied with life, or more what I'm doing with my own life. Some things are going to change soon, which may make existence more bearable. I'm moving in a few days - into an apartment with another girl. The whole change of surroundings and the effort it will take to move all of my crap and settle in will distract me for a bit. I'll be excited to have new things to explore and new people to hang out with. But, I know the novelty will wear off and I'll be back to where I am now.

You see, I've always had a problem with staying in one place for very long. Wanderlust - I has it. I've been working in the same neighborhood for the past 3 years. I've eaten at every restaurant and shopped in every shop within walking distance. I'm so incredibly sick of seeing the same damned things every damned day! I also never wanted to come back to this effing state. I was born here and moved away as fast as I possibly could. But, heinous circumstances sucked me back to this place. It's not the worst place to live in the world, but I still loathe it.

Next month, my mother is going on a trip to Greece with her friend. Fucking bitch. I've had a tour book for Greece, that I've gazed at fondly for years. My ancestry is actually Greek, hers is not. Now that I'm so down and out that I can barely move out of my parents' house, she decides it's a good time to jet off. Couldn't she have picked Siberia? Bitch. I'm so jealous, I almost wish they have a horrible time. Last night, I watched Y Tu Mama Tambien. It was all about taking off down the road in Mexico and going beach hopping (well, that's not what the point of the movie was, but...). I want a job where I can travel! I feel so trapped sometimes that I can't breathe! Seriously. I have panic attacks when I think about it too much. I feel trapped and running out of time.

So, how can I fix this?

Hell of a Good Intro

I know, I know. You haven't heard from me in nearly a month and when I do post? I post this:



But it kicks serious ass. I remember watching this show with my mom as a kid. See, I was morbid even at that age!