Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in ruhz's LiveJournal:

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Wednesday, June 11th, 2003
2:31 pm	Viva Las Vegas!! Wake up bright and early. Thanks to our member status at Holiday Inn we enjoy a fabulous breakfast for free! If you're not a member it's $10 a person. Why would you NOT be a member? Come on! On the road. Colorado has curvy roads. Lots of mountains. Lisa found a lover at a Subway somewhere in Colorado. He even had her car, the same color and everything! I think it's destiny. Then to Utah. There is nothing in Utah. But you can drive fast and for that they are spared my disgust. Lisa's stepdad booked us a night in New York New York in Vegas for tonight for $70! Sweet! Then Lisa's dad gave us a few tips. Always bet the max on the slots, the payout is bigger. Thank you Lisa's dad. Hello Las Vegas! We check in, the hotel is superb. Nice, big, cool, there's a safe in the room for all the money we will be winning. I look out the window and see the rollercoaster. Nice. Walk around the strip deciding where to eat and just catching the sights. Check out Bellagio. Wow, that place is fancy. End up eating at Mandalay Bay. I had the best asparagus ever. Back to New York New York. We've decided to use the money we have left over but not all of it. We're spending $60. Total. $30 for her, $30 for me. Earnings will not be recycled but will be shared since this money is from the trip. We are playing quarter slots because we don't know how to play anything. We find some machines and sit down. It's fun having a huge cup of quarters. Don't ask me why, it just is. Lisa's winning a little bit, nothing big but it's something. I'm not winning anything. This sucks. I get up and am going to use the machine on the other side of her. Then I make a comment how someone will probably sit down at my old one and win big now. She agrees and says that the odds are probably better if I stick with that machine. I sit back down at it and within a few tries I win!! And not just little win, I mean WIN WIN. I won the max! $1000 baby!! I love Las Vegas! Lisa and I wait for the machine to finish counting my points to make sure that I really won that, it takes forever. We did win! Woo hoo! Call Habeab, Tiffany, and Lisa's parents. Finish what quarters we have left and take our receipts to be cashed in. $1000 in 100 dollar bills. I've never held that much money in my hand before. We go up to the room to put the money away. We're now super scared that it will get lost or stolen or something. We decide to go to Hard Rock to celebrate with a drink. Go back downstairs with a significant portion left in the hotel room. We're not taking chances. Take a cab (that's right, now we're rich!) to Hard Rock. I enjoy a Long Island Iced Tea and Lisa has her usual, a Cape Cod. Hang out for awhile and take a cab back to the hotel. Night night. I can't believe we can sleep after all that but maybe being rich makes you sleepy? The next morning Lisa takes me to the airport and I catch a flight back to Austin. She goes on to LA and stays for a few days for Honda. The End!! Wasn't that an awesome trip?? I think so! (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Tuesday, June 10th, 2003
11:16 pm	So it seems I was wrong about Oklahoma... there is someplace worse. Kansas. Why is Kansas worse than Oklahoma? There's even less there. We stopped in the last big city on the map, the last one with yellow around it. That was not so much of a town from what I saw as a few gas stations, a restaurant and a McDonald's. Since this was the last place we stopped for lunch. We'd been trying to avoid fast food and eat at local places so we went for the restaurant. There were a couple people sitting around talking, telling stories. It kind of reminded me of the coffee shop my grandpa goes to every morning. All the old farmers go and tell stories. So yeah, it was like that. The waitress sits us on the opposite side of the restaurant so that we're completely isolated. They were all giving us suspicious looks. While Lisa was in the bathroom the waitress comes over and asks what "The Vine" not The Vinesssssssssss is. I tell her it's a band. She asks, "Heavy metal?" I say no, they're rock, and then not knowing what else to say tell her they're from Australia. She then says, "You're in a rock band?" I tell her that no, I'm not a member of The Vines, Lisa and I are just working for their record label. She says ok and then goes over to the other people and announces that Lisa and I are in a heavy metal band. Yes. Exactly like I told her. All day I had been wanting ice cream so when we leave I ask Lisa if we can break the fast food rule and get ice cream cones from the McDonalds across the street. She complies and we go through the drive-thru. We give the kids working at the McDonald's some of our free goodies and then the guy gives us the largest ice cream cones I've ever seen. Seriously, how am I supposed to drive a van with this thing? It was enormous. I really don't know how to explain to you other than that we took pictures because they were so ridiculously big and Lisa rolled down the window and lopped about half of it off while we drove down the highway b/c it was melting on her too much. Colorado!!! stinks. At least the first few miles after you cross the state border. We think that is due to an RV park we saw. Seriously, it smelled like human feces. I ran to the back of the van looking desperately for the remaining 2 air fresheners we had bought about a week ago. Both went up along with the current not-so-old one. Mmmmm, coconut and feces. Tonight's destination is Denver. We arrive, check into a lovely Holiday Inn. Sign up for their free members program and go to bed. (Comment on this)
Monday, June 9th, 2003
11:12 pm	More driving, I don't think anything too eventful happened today. Stayed the night in fabulous St Louis again at the fabulous Wyndham and ate at the fabulous Tangerine. I think that was one of the best meals of my life. Partly because we were so starving, but they're really not kidding when they say they have the best mac and cheese. (Comment on this)
Sunday, June 8th, 2003
4:31 pm	Slept in a little since we only had to get to Pittsburgh. We thought we had figured out the timing right but arrived about 3 hours early. Jonathan was working until 9 so we parked the van and walked around the campus area. That would've been fine but it was a Sunday so everything closed by 7. We hung out in Panera for a little bit and got a drink. Then they closed so we went and were sitting outside the law library when I noticed it had gotten really cloudy and windy. I told Lisa I thought it was going to rain so we started to walk back to the van. Our only place to go. At this point we're probably 10 blocks from the van. We get no further than a block and there's a sudden deluge. And the wind! We're doubled up trying to walk into it and there's sand blowing in our eyes. Where the hell did sand come from?! Pittsburgh is inland. By the time we reach the van we're completely soaked. Try our best to dry off and change in the back of the van. It's handy that all the seats had been removed, allows for more movement and we read Filter and some other cool music magazine we got yesterday until 9. Walk over to Jonathan's, luckily the rain stopped right then, we go eat, and we sleep. (Comment on this)
Saturday, June 7th, 2003
4:06 pm	The name of the game is "Shit Happens" Woke up early to be at Giants stadium by 8. Michael calls as we're getting dressed telling us we need to get there as soon as possible b/c his van, the Radiohead one was towed and we are now the only van. We speed on over, find him and here's the story. A few days prior someone had notified us that the tags on our license plate were expired. Whoops. Not much we could do about it. We had told Michael so he could get on that and apparently the ones on his van were expired too. He had gone out with some of the people in the office last night and left the van parked where people "never get towed". He was supposed to be staying with his mom since she lives in Long Island but kept on being convinced to stay out later. Around 2, I think, he and someone else take a cab back to the van. Something is obstructing the road though so they can't get through. They look out the window to see what it is, it's the van being towed!! They go down to the place but the lady won't even let them in the van to find the paperwork. They go back to the office, verify that everything is in order, the new tags just aren't on the van yet, find some retired NYPD to come along. He talks to the lady but she doesn't care, won't release the vehicle. Finally Michael gets home and has about 30 minutes to sleep before he has to get to Giants stadium. So that's that. Our whole purpose is to be promoting Radiohead since their new album comes out on the 10th. All the Radiohead stuff is in the other van. We have some but not nearly enough for the amount of people there. Plus our van has no mention of Radiohead on it and apparently they don't really like our van. Lisa and I start wrapping it with Radiohead subway posters to make it temporarily more Radiohead. Of course it starts raining and tape doesn't stick to wet surfaces so we're trying to wipe the van dry really quickly and then slap on the poster but in a very nice looking way. It actually turned out really well, later on we found out some of the Capitol people drove by and were really impressed with how our van looked. Yay! We cranked the new album from the van for awhile along with some other bands, got people to walk around with Hail to the Thief picket signs(I can't believe they were so willing). Good thing we had those Borialis jackets b/c it rained non-stop all day long and was really cold. I'm not kidding, they were warning people to be safe because they were afraid people would get hypothermia. I don't think I've ever been so cold in June before. Now it's time for fun!! We don't have to do anything until Radiohead starts their encore so we go and see the bands. Inside we got food since we hadn't even had breakfast and it was now noon-ish. About two people behind me in line is this guy that looks a lot like Tyler from Midtown but he's got this funny mustache so I'm having a hard time deciding if it's him or not. Finally right before it's my turn to order I ask him and he says yeah and that he had seen the Midtown patch on my bag. He asks my name and we shake hands then it's time for both of us to order so I say it's nice meeting him, etc. Lisa and I go over to the side to eat and he comes over saying he wants to finish our conversation. What conversation? We had a conversation?!! I tell him about our trip and he says that Radiohead is one of his favorite bands so I give him some stuff that I have on me. He asks where we're sitting and it's right by him so he says that maybe he'll see me around and then leaves. Find some seats, they're further back than our actual ones but ours are close and in the rain so we opt for the back until Beck and Radiohead. We saw Beth Orton, Spiritualized, Underworld, Blur, Elliott Smith, Beastie Boys, and Radiohead. Elliott Smith unfortunately was not very good at all. He seemed really out of it. He couldn't find his capo forever and then realized he was sitting on it. I was sad because I'd heard that he was like that but every show I'd seen he was always really good, but at least I had just seen him about a month before in Austin and that was amazing. Beck was supposed to play but he slipped on the stage and had to be taken to the hospital. That was really disappointing b/c that's who I wanted to see the most. Underworld was awesome. I'm really not into that kind of music but they were really fun. Everyone was dancing and had we not been hiding in the dry covered area we totally would've. Blur was good, Beastie Boys were good, Radiohead was good. Did anyone ever see that show on Nickelodeon called Pete and Pete? The younger Pete was sitting right by us and smoking a little reefer, that was weird. I know he saw us looking at him and talking about Pete and Pete. During Radiohead's encore we went out to the van got things all organized and tried to set up to pretty much empty the van of all band promo stuff. I think it helped but that was just insane. I wonder if that's what it's like to be famous. Lisa was pressed up against the van, I could hardly move, people were pushing and hands were everywhere trying to get anything we had. Which is fine, that's what it's for, but people, calm down. We finally got to leave around 2 and I don't think I've ever felt so old in all my life. We were there from 8 am to 2 am, stood a lot, and I was cold pretty much all day. Hello bed. (Comment on this)
Friday, June 6th, 2003
3:56 pm	New York New York, what a wonderful town, the Bronx is up and the Battery's down Wake up when we wake up. That's nice considering we've been getting up 6:30-7-ish to get where we need to be everyday. Hang out in the room for a little bit, then we decide to drive into NYC and look around since Michael hasn't called us yet. I'd been to NYC twice before but Lisa had never been so I felt pretty confident that I knew it well enough to know basic areas to go and subway, etc. We drove the van in and while we were looking for somewhere to park Michael called, said he was at the Capitol office and for us to come over. Turns out we were just a few blocks away at the time so it was perfect. Everyone in the Capitol offices is young and they all look too cool for me but they're really nice. We met some of the interns there and chatted a bit. Ransacked their room full of band goodies. Basically just took more Liz Phair stuff, Lisa got a t-shirt or two, stocked up on things that we were already running low on. They also gave us Borialis jackets because it was supposed to get cold later on and we had left ours in the room. Michael recommended a good place to eat in Little Italy. Lisa had thought it was fictional. We took the subway down there and found the place. Da Nico. Fabulous. It was a little expensive, about $20 each but Michael had warned us about that and we had eaten really cheaply up until then so it wasn't a problem. Had a glass of wine to go with our meal. There was a guy outside playing the accordion. It was just the most perfect picturesque meal you could imagine. Then we walked down the street, I got some pastry thing and Lisa got cannoli and we walked around Little Italy and Chinatown. Then we went back to the hotel so we could get a good night's sleep before the big day. (Comment on this)
Thursday, June 5th, 2003
6:20 pm	We leave Pittsburgh bright and early and find a way out, not the way we had planned of course, but that's Pittsburgh for you. Stop at Denny's for breakfast because we hadn't eaten dinner the night before. The waitress was really nice and told us how to get to the Penna Turnpike. I love how people in Pennsylvania talk, it's so funny. They have absolutely no right to make fun of us for saying y'all if they're going to say "You's guys" and "Ya's". Pennsylvania's really pretty and they have hilarious road signs. Yes, Lisa and I grew to appreciate a good road sign. They have bossy signs that say "Remove Sunglasses" and curious signs that we never understood quite what they meant that say "Headlights on?". Does that mean they should be on or that you need to remember to turn them off? Then they have great billboards for their turnpike that all say "Peace, Love, & Penna Turnpike" on the bottom. A few examples of these are: Make love not 3 car pile-ups, and Happiness is not seeing your airbag. We drive to Newark, check into the lovely Airport Days Inn and go to our room. Glorious!!! We are checked in by 5:30 at the latest, we're used to midnight-ish at this point so this is great. While Lisa's taking I nap I decide to go down to the van to get a few things. The elevator stops before I get down to the lobby. Three frattish-looking guys get on, one of which gives me a really obvious once over. ~Shudder~ They start talking to me. I try my best with the one word answers but they don't get it. They say they have an extra ticket to a concert that night and do I want to come. I say no but have to ask what show it is, because that's just me. Stupid stupid me. Don't talk to strangers! It's something god-awful like Hatebreed or something. They ask if I'm there with my boyfriend. I say no because I'm stupid. (YES! YES! ALWAYS say yes!!) Finally the doors open and I bolt out of the elevator. The stupid guys don't seem to get it though b/c they keep talking. One of them asks if there are other girls with me and if they're as pretty as me. The one who gave me the look says that I look like Christina Ricci but prettier. Now, I know that there's no way he could know this about me, but really, I already disliked these guys enough at this point, he really didn't need that against him. For some reason I get this a lot and I don't think it's a complement at all. I think she looks like a bobble-head. She's got this huge head on top of a stick figure. Anyone who knows me knows that if you tell me I look like her I will snap you like a twig. I finally get away from them but unfortunately they see our van. I figure they are gone by the time I'm heading back up but they yell out their room number from their jacked up truck. Yeah right, like I'll be visiting that room. Also, I think they're the only people in new england with a truck, not to mention jacked up. Lisa wakes up, we decide to find a place to eat dinner so we head out. Immediately upon leaving there are two signs: George Washington Bridge and Lincoln Tunnel. Now I've only been to NYC twice and never driven there but somehow I know that both of those go to NYC. We do not want that. We want a place to eat in Newark. So then we see a sign that says Last New Jersey Exit. Ok, good. No. Not good. We end up in Hoboken. It's only 20 minutes from Newark if that. No one in Hoboken can tell us where we are or how to get back to Newark. What's wrong with these people. They also think we are "SO FAR AWAY!". Don't tell me about far. We left our hotel 20 minutes ago. It took us no more than one hour to cross their piddly little state. Anyway, we finally find our way back to the hotel. By the time we get back it's been about 2 hrs so we decide to just order pizza and watch tv. (Comment on this)
Wednesday, June 4th, 2003
6:02 pm	More driving. We went through Illinois in which there is a wonderful town called Effingham. There is a gigantic cross that you can see from very far away in Effingham. You don't believe me do you? I can hear you now, "it's probably not that big". I'll prove it. www.crossusa.org . There. See. Told ya so. Shortly after driving through Effingham, Lisa told me she had to go to the bathroom. I said "You should have effing peed in Effingham." Thus the effing jokes for the rest of the trip commenced. We also drove through Indiana, Ohio, and to Pittsburgh that day. But I believe we were still in Illinois when something funny happened. We stopped for gas as we often did and there was a McDonald's next to the gas station. There was someone at the drive-thru. The passenger had his window down (did I mention it was cold? we were both wearing jackets! in June!) and shouted across the two parking lots, "Can I have your autograph?". To which Lisa honestly yelled back across the two parking lots, "We're not famous." Fools. Later that day as we were driving through Indiana we get a call from Michael, Lisa's boss at Capitol. Bad news. Field Day Fest is cancelled. Completely and entirely cancelled. There will be no Radiohead, no Beck, no Elliott Smith, no fun, no tents, no New York, no Hamptons. You get the idea. Basically what happened from what I understand is that ClearChannel is a competitor of the promoters and took them to court to prevent the show happening along with the people of the Hamptons not wanting a bunch of kids bringing the rock. They need the rock. How wrong they are. I think I was on the brink of tears when Lisa told me. It also really sucked for the promoters b/c all the bands had already been paid and tickets were being refunded so they were millions if not billions in the hole. I had an inkling though because I heard what she was saying to Michael. We were crushed. So much for our awesome road trip. Since we were only a few hours away from Pittsburgh and were going to stay with Lisa's pen pal there we decided to keep driving, stay the night there as planned and head back to LA in the morning. Fortunately, Michael called back a few hours later to tell us that Field Day Fest was back on, although somewhat modified. Radiohead and Beastie Boys were still playing and others were confirming hourly. The new Field Day was to take place at Giants Stadium in Newark and would only be one day instead of two. Pittsburgh is a mess. We arrive and there are a million bright orange signs with the word "Detour" screaming at us. So many signs we can't read them all before passing them. Not one is for the highway we're supposed to take to Jonathan's place. We call him but he doesn't drive in Pittsburgh so he doesn't know, just says to look for some street names. It probably took an hour b/c Pittsburgh has a million highways stacked on top of each other with signs when it's too late to change lanes. After a point it just became funny because we had to turn around so many times. We'd see a sign for the direction we needed to go and then there wouldn't be any more to tell us the rest of the way. Then we just went and found Jonathan's and slept. (Comment on this)
Tuesday, June 3rd, 2003
6:01 pm	Driving was pretty uneventful. Oklahoma and Missouri aren't the most exciting places. Lots of people asked us if we were in Coldplay or whichever band was on the side of the van they were facing. No. We are not. We drove into St. Louis planning to stay at the Days Inn, we had reservations but from the outside it looked pretty scuzzy. Just down the street was a fabolous hotel called the Wyndham Mayfair. We parked the van and walked in. It was way nice, we probably won't be able to afford it. We approach the desk and tell the guy we're looking for a room and we'll take the cheapest thing they have, linen closet, whatever. He says that rooms start at $120 (way over our budget of $60-70/night) but since he's the manager he goes into the system and gets us the internet rate of $62. Sweet!! Thank you Donato Gonzalez. We go up to the room and it's beautiful. There's a living room with a tv in it, french doors open to the bedroom which has another tv and two queen beds, a small tv in the bathroom sink area, a telephone by the toilet. Lisa and I have decided to name all our children after Donato, boy or girl, it doesn't matter. Then we went to this vegetarian restaurant/bar a few blocks away called Tangerine. Lisa had seen something about it on the food network. It was really good. Then we went back and slept, nothing too exciting. By this time, the old people characteristics started up. We learned to live for going to bed early. Driving takes a lot out of you. (Comment on this)
Monday, June 2nd, 2003
6:00 pm	June 2- We haul ass all day. Ended up being in Albequerque for like 2 hours. Partly because we're idiots and partly because the waitstaff at Little Anita's are idiots, but the food was good. MMMM, sopapillas! Then we kept driving until we got to Chickasha, Oklahoma. Why Chickasha you ask? Because that is where Yaya lives and that translates to free place to stay, snacks and Yaya takes us out to breakfast at Braum's in the morning. The people at Braum's wanted to know if we were in a band. No. We are not. We gave them stickers and in return stole their plastic knives and jelly. Aunt Lori and my cousin Chelsea were also there and we loaded her up with cd's and stickers. She thought we were so cool, lots of pictures in front of the van were taken. Side note: after we got back from the trip my dad talked to Yaya and her neighbor came over a few days later not wanting to be nosy saying her kids had been bugging her for days to find out what the van was for. Chelsea kindly shared her goodies with them which made them very happy. (Comment on this)
Sunday, June 1st, 2003
8:14 pm	'ello Austin, we're the Vines (said in bad cockney british accent) Ok, so I know I'm not any member of the Vines. I also know that they are Australian and not British. But nobody in middle America seems to know that. It's been quite some time since my last journal entry and at least part of the reason has been that I have been driving a Ford Econoline 150 across the country and back for the past two weeks. Courtesy of Capitol Records this trip was completely paid for and I am quite happy to say that I even profited from it. How's that for a graduation present? Let me start at the beginning. Ehhh, nevermind, to be continued soon I promise. Ok, I'm back and I may not finish this all right now but I know some people have been waiting to hear about the trip so here goes. June 1- Lisa and I fly from Austin to LA. We arrive 10:30-ish in the morning. Take a cab to Sarah's (a girl who works for Capitol Records). She then drives us to the Capitol building where we first see the van. A Ford Econoline 150. The van is wrapped in Capitol bands. OK Go on the front, The Music on the back, Coldplay on the driver's side and The Vines on the passenger side, along with MTV2 on the front doors and roof. Sarah turns over the keys and we are on our way. Well, first we have a quick stop at In 'n Out for burgers. Then on to the gas station to fill up the van which was running on fumes. We had our first flirtation there!! A cute boy who was actually from Houston but living in LA was very interested in us, he even asked if we could hang out but unfortunately we had to get on the road. Oh yeah, and a biker told me he envied me. It took about an hour to get out of LA because of traffic and at that time we came up with two names which were used for the van throughout the trip. Clyde and Troj(think Trojan cut short). These came about because at times he got kind of frisky and seemed to gallop and was huge so therefore, big horse, Clydesdale--> Clyde--> Troj. Driving through small towns kids were way excited to see us. They thought we were with MTV. In one town after pulling out of the gas station we see two teenage guys crossing the street excitedly making the rock sign. We roll down the window and motion for them to come over. The light turned green right as they reached us so we threw cd samplers and a bunch of stickers out the window and tooted the horn at them as we took off so as not to annoy the people behind us. The rest of the day was pretty uneventful, just lots of driving. There are a million stars in Arizona at night and it's so beautiful, but not enough to make me want to live there. We pulled into the Days Inn in Holbrook around 12 and had to get up at 6 or so to make it to Oklahoma the next day. That time change heading east is a bitch. Current Mood: excited Current Music: Liz Phair- H.W.C. (Comment on this)
Friday, April 18th, 2003
5:10 pm	The job search continues I had an interview today with a guy from Primerica which is a subsidiary of Citigroup. It was in the Starbucks at the Barnes and Noble in the Arboretum since their office was closed today. It all sounded okay except that I would have to pay for my training and to take all these tests so that I can get licensed to sell these financial products and it's 100% commission. No salary. So I'm pretty sure I'm gonna pass on that seeing as part of the reason I need a job is that I HAVE NO MONEY. Why should I pay to get a job? Especially when it doesn't even guarantee that I'll make money. Then as I was walking back into the Barnes and Noble section there was this guy lurking in one of the aisles. I had noticed him in the Starbucks earlier. Apparently he had been waiting around to tell me about his "great business opportunity". It was really creepy. At first I thought he was hitting on me but then I realized he just wanted my money. The suit tricks them every time. I look like I have money, but I don't. Anyway he told me I "look pretty sharp" about 3 times and said something about utility bills, him moving from Colorado and needing good business women. It all sounded kind of shady. Did he move from Colorado b/c whatever he's doing is a scam and he had to leave the state? I think so. At any rate the job prospects are not looking good. I'm planning on taking some web design classes at ACC once I do get a job. I also need a computer for that though so once again... I NEED A JOB!!!! Somebody hire me, please. Current Mood: disappointed Current Music: Ryan Adams- Heartbreaker (Comment on this)
Sunday, April 6th, 2003
11:41 pm	By the way be proud of me that I'm branching out. Now there's proof that I don't just like guys that play guitar. (Comment on this)
11:26 pm	Wow. I am the worst person ever. So big change since oh, two days ago. Not dating the boy anymore. He's a nice guy and I enjoy hanging out with him and I hope we still do on occasion. But he's not someone I can be with. Why am I the worst person ever you ask? Because I have a little crush on his friend. NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO I'm not going to do anything about it. That would be wrong. Are the two occurrences related. Probably so. But I don't think either one is entirely responsible for the other. Current Mood: calm Current Music: Wilco- Jesus, Etc. (Comment on this)
Friday, April 4th, 2003
5:28 pm	Back by popular demand Ok, so maybe it's not popular demand because only 3 people have asked but when you take into account that they probably constitute 100% of my audience it's a practically a landslide. Quick update: I really don't even know the last time I posted since I didn't bother to look but I'm guessing I had not even met the boy yet. I met a boy. I thought he was funny and cute so I gave him my phone number. He called. We went out. We've been dating for a few weeks now. Wouldn't call him my boyfriend and I don't think he considers me his girlfriend. I'm not about to broach that subject as I already almost screwed things up early on so I'm staying away from that area. I'm not really sure what I think about him. I definitely have fun with him, he's a nice guy, I think his friends really like me. I'm supposed to have lunch with his roommate which is kinda weird but I kinda like it too. So that's where that stands. I've decided not to move to Boston. I went for Spring Break and have never wanted to be home so much in my life. I love Austin! I can't leave! Tuesday Lisa and I played a prank on our friends Tiffany and Sarah. Tiffany will be my roommate starting in August which should make things interesting as we seem to have started a prank war and we are on opposing sides. Lisa has a key to their apartment so we skipped International Business and switched all the stuff in their rooms. So Sarah's stuff was in Tiffany's room and vice versa. We also left clues leading them to their favorite flavors of Ben and Jerry's ice cream. Cookie Dough for Tiffany and Chubby Hubby for Sarah. So it really wasn't that bad. Last night they struck back. Tiffany had asked me the night before if I was going to Tejas Coffee which I thought was a little fishy because I've only gone once. But she convinced me to go so we could make Lisa talk to her lover. Surprise, surprise: Tiffany had "Hydrology homework" and couldn't come. Suspicion was again aroused but what could she do to me at Lisa's apartment. Not much. When we returned to Lisa's apartment it was filled with balloons. I mean filled. We're talking 25 black trash bags full, approx. 360 balloons. It took them several trips to get them all there. Some have confetti in them and there was silly string everywhere. They also left us lots of chocolate, mmmm. Then about 2 hours later we found out they'd also shoe polished my car. On the front it has the little bubble around my side saying Year Round April Fool, on the back it says Ask me why I'm an... April Fool! and on the sides it says Joke's on you and Luv, Tiff and Smed. Don't you worry. We already have a plan to get them back and we're upping the ante a little bit. These first pranks were pretty nice, leaving candy and such. Not so for the next one. It's not mean yet. But I have the feeling we're moving into that territory and I'm excited. I've never really done any of this stuff and it's a blast! So bring it on Tiff and Smed! Current Mood: happy Current Music: Wilco- Yankee Hotel Foxtrot (Comment on this)
Sunday, February 9th, 2003
1:03 pm	How do you say "date" in German? Because I think I might have one. There's this German guy in my International Business class who talks a lot. Pretty much because he knows the answer and nobody else ever does. It's kind of hard to miss him because of this. Lisa and I kind of joke about him and stuff b/c he talks so much in class. Well, he was at the Casino Night thing I went to. I was walking around with Jasmine and turned around and there he was. I immediately left the room to call Lisa and tell her because she was going to come but decided not to so I had to let her now she should have come. It was kind of a dressy thing so he wasn't in his usual sweatshirt and UT baseball hat. Lisa decided that I should introduce myself so we could become friends with him. Maria and Jasmine both wanted me to just walk up and introduce all three of us but I thought that might be a little overwhelming. At one point I saw him next to someone I know so I went over to talk to him and was standing between them so after a little while looked over and acted surprised and said that he was in my class. He said something to the effect that he'd met a lot of people b/c of that class and there was actually a girl from that class sitting in front of us so she turned around and introduced herself to me too. We started talking and ended up talking for about an hour or an hour and a half. He's really nice and we had a really good conversation, it was fun but felt very intelligent too which was nice b/c I don't really feel like I have those kind of conversations very often. So turns out his name is Enrico Riedel, which I don't think Enrico is a very common German name right? Sounds kind of Spanish-y. He's about 26 I think b/c he said he was 13-14 when the Berlin Wall fell (the class is in a big room so it's hard to see him but Lisa and I always assumed he was our age). He grew up in Communist Germany. He's an engineer and came back to school to get his MBA, always wanted to move to the US so that's why he's here. I was asking the typical questions you ask someone who's not from the US...how do you like it, what have you done, blah blah blah. I asked him if he'd been to the capitol yet b/c he seems interested in politics and gov't so I figured he'd enjoy it, and it's free so I suggested he go there and take the tour. He said something about maybe I can go with him and show him around. I didn't think anything of it, just thought, he's new to the country, probably doesn't have many friends, etc. But everyone else seems to think this is a date. That never occurred to me. But you know me, I'm pretty much oblivious, so now I'm thinking, the fact that everyone else thinks it's a date and I don't probably means it is. He's really nice, but I'm not really attracted to him. Luckily I threw in there that Maria is an intern at the capitol and maybe she could show us around so already I guess I kind of threw the date thing out without even knowing it. I like the idea in theory, in my imagination it'd be so cool to date a foreign exchange student but I don't really see it in reality. I kept wanting to tell him stories about Vanessa singing Auf der Autobahn standing on a table and the food chatroom talking to the guy about a "nice salat wit winegar", being the Wannabe German Club co-president in high school, and how Vanessa had taught me random phrases like "Hab ein gummiberschen abendt" and "Ich lieb dicht nicht du liebst micht nicht" but I thought I might scare him as I am apt to do so I decided I better not. The temptation was terrible, I kept having to fight it off. Then the gambling shut down and you trade your chips in for tickets and they started drawing for prizes. I only had 2 tickets b/c I didn't do very well but I won a $10 gift card for Blockbuster, so I actually came out ahead since it cost $5 to get in. I had to go up and claim my prize and I found Maria then and I stayed with her but when I was getting my coat he reappeared and said goodbye and see you in class, etc. So I think that's the whole story. What do you think? Is it a date? I'm already starting to go into my old panic mode which is bad, I thought I had gotten over that. I'd like to be friends with him, he seems really nice and fun but I don't want to be encouraging him if he has other things in mind. Hopefully I don't screw this up! Let me know what you think! Current Mood: bouncy Current Music: Auf der Autobahn- Willie Nelson, german style (Comment on this)
Thursday, February 6th, 2003
11:12 pm	Remember those little Japanese toy pianos? They were probably about 2 inches tall, 3 inches wide and really thin like a credit card, light pink or blue and they came with a little book of songs like Mary Had a Little Lamb or Hot Cross Buns. That was a good toy. (Comment on this)
4:54 pm	I hereby decree that every Thursday shall be known as Gelfling Day henceforth. If you don't understand don't worry about it. You're not supposed to. (Comment on this)
Friday, January 31st, 2003
1:37 pm	Party Down That's what OK Go wants to do with Lisa and me. S'right. Especially Dan. Dan the Man. D-A-N. Current Mood: cheerful Current Music: OK Go (duh) (Comment on this)
Thursday, January 23rd, 2003
5:10 pm	Time for a daily affirmation... I'm good enough, I'm smart enough, and dog gone it, people like me! Ok, now that that's done let's get down to business. I'm depressed. Nobody wants to hire me. I sent out 13 resumes yesterday and I got 6 rejections before 10 this morning. I feel like I'm never going to get a job and I'm going to be stuck doing some crappy sales job. UGH!!! I'm even thinking about applying to be the Weinermobile Spokesperson. You know how there's the big mobile hot dog that drives around and goes to festivals and stuff? That would be me in there. Current Mood: depressed Current Music: Dashboard Confessional (Comment on this)