Odds and Ends

Just a few pics to see:

my dad takin' it easy in the back seat on our way around the mountain

me sneaking a pic of my mom driving

Mr. Appleseed at the orchid

a beautiful mural inside the House Mountain Inn near Lexington, VA

some weird house we came across finding our way back down the mountain

me helping the snowmen take down the robot at the town's recycling place

yep, this is where my parents live

this is what's going on in my apartment currently

and here is a shot of my front door, complete with directional signs

the challenge picture I drew!

The most popular question of 2013

Guess what my most popular question of the year was?

Go ahead, I'll wait....
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Ok, I'll tell you: "How do you like your new place?"

As you know, I moved out of my friend's house in April into my very own, all alone, by myself apartment, which I liked at first, but later loathed more than my mothers dinner of liver and onions. If you missed it, you should read my last blog about my last days in that apartment.

So, just before Thanksgiving, with the help of a few friends that live close, I moved into a new apartment in the same complex. It still squeaks, but in just two places in the living room and not nearly as much, as loud or as annoying as the other place. I think this is because my new upstairs neighbor is a single lady who seems more considerate of people living beneath her floor. I do hear her walking around on occasion, but she doesn't stomp and she doesn't wrestle hippos and she doesn't listen to her shows and movies at ridiculous volumes. Even when she has people over, I'm still not annoyed!

When the power went out due to the ice storm in early December, I went up to ask the chick above me about the electricity and she said "yep, out here too, but I built a fire so if you get too cold come on up."
She came to my door one day to say she was going out of town for Christmas and I said "Me too! Have a good trip." She looked at me sort of puzzled at first, but I think it was mostly because I had a turkey on my head.

I introduced myself to my other two new neighbors one at at time. One upstairs neighbor, who has a little son, I met while I was laying on the sidewalk taking pictures of my suitcases (an assignment for that Digital Photography class). She looked at me and smiled when I rolled over and said, "Oh, hi! I'm Vicki, your new weird neighbor."
The guys that live across the sidewalk from me don't speak English, only Spanish. They are hardly home, but no complaints about them when they are home.


The lady that lived here before me had a dog that I think never went outside to relieve himself. My living room still has a faint smell of dog pee that I catch a whiff of every now and then, and wet dog smell still lingers in my bedroom. I figure that will take a while to get rid of. One of my new neighbors suggested spraying ammonia on the carpet. I haven't done that yet, I just got some incense to permeate the carpet for now. Also, my refrigerator smelled like a huge rotten onion, which made my ice stink. I mean, who wants to drink rum and coke with stinky onion ice? I cleaned it out with hot water and baking soda and then unplugged it while I was gone for Christmas. No more stinky ice!

Anywho, no feelings of wanting to stab anyone in the face, so that's a good thing, right?

No Squeaky Floors? Day 2

I went to bed in peace last night about 11:30.
"Ahhh" I thought as I spent the next half hour or so drifting off to sleep.
(Yes it takes me that long to fall asleep no matter if I just ran a marathon that day or lay on the couch watching reruns of M*A*S*H all day. I don't know why, it just is.)
Anyway, about 2:30 in the morning my upstairs assholes decided it was time to go to bed. I know this because I was awaken from a dead sleep when they both ran into the bedroom "playing chase" me while giggling and screaming around the bed, sqeaking the floor with each footstep. This lasted about 10 minutes or so, off and on.
Of course it took me another half hour or so to fall back asleep. This is why I always look so awful in my videos since they are shot first thing when I am out of bed. Also, I'm starting not to give a crap about how I look. I mean, who do I have to impress anyway? Guys don't seem to like me and girls could give a crap.
Now my upstairs neighbors are up and sounds like they are moving their furniture back into place. The floor still squeaks on the other side of the living room. WTF?
So, I still have squeaky floors and we will see how long it takes me to loose my mind over this section of the apartment.

here is the previous day in case you missed some of the drama:http://bohemiangirl72.blogspot.com/2013/08/is-that-light-at-end-of-tunnel-or-joker.html

Is that a light at the end of the tunnel or a joker with a lightsaber?

No Squeak Floor?  Day 1:

I slept with earplugs in last night and woke up with sore ear holes this morning and a headache (which is usual for me about 2-3 times a week since April). As soon as I unstopped my ears, I could hear the squeaking. It continued on for an entire non-stop 30 minutes. I lost my mind and ran upstairs (still with sleep in my eyes, knotty hair and my pajamas on) and knocked on my neighbors door, yelling "I know you're in there, I can hear the floors squeaking! Can't you just calm down for a while, I've got a huge fucking headache!" When I got to the bottom of the stairs, the door opened and a little brunette head poked out saying "We're not doing anything in here and I'd appreciate it if you wouldn't tell us you have a fucking headache." Then he peeked his curly-headed blue-eyed self out the door and said, "I don't know what you expect us to do, we're just walking around and standing..." I was so mad I was shaking, so I said, "Then stop doing that! You don't understand this goddamn noise I have to listen to every day. I can't stand it anymore!" I think they tried to offer me some aspirin, but I just scoffed and said, "No." and walked away.
I took some ibuprofen and started making a ham and broccoli quiche. About 10 minutes after that, I heard an enormous amount of banging, hammering and sawing happening upstairs. I thought "Holy shit. The manager was telling the truth, they REALLY are fixing the floor." A few minutes after that, one of the contractor guys came down to tell me what was going on and I just said, "Praise Jesus!"
Here is the video I shot this morning:

see the video here: http://youtu.be/ErEw6hRsh-o

So, now I'm back from craft day at my friend, Marci's, and all is so quiet here! I know they are home because the floor in the kitchen floor still squeaks softly, which is tolerable, especially since they are hardly ever in their kitchen. Now all I hear is some noise coming from either a computer or their tv.

I'm going to try to go to bed and see how that works.
UPDATE!! SEE DAY 2: http://bohemiangirl72.blogspot.com/2013/08/no-squeaky-floors-day-2.html

Introducing THE MOST ANNOYING SOUND IN THE WORLD

As some of you know, I have been dealing with my upstairs neighbors since the day I moved in. Their floor - my ceiling- squeaks so loudly and constantly, I feel like I'm being tortured. I would rather have nails shoved into my face than listen to this constant squeaking noise.

In the first few weeks, I would go upstairs and say "Hey, I would like it if you would stop making the floor squeak, I'm doing such and such and need some peace and quiet for a while. Thanks" But that did not work. So, I started losing my mind slowly and yelling at the ceiling "Jesus fucking Christ! Shut the fuck up!!" But that doesn't work either. One day when I was passing a kidney stone, I just needed some quiet since I had such an enormous headache from the pain pills the doctor gave me. I was banging on the wall to get their attention because that's literally all I could do since every time I moved I got sick. All those assholes did was bang back.

I still scream at the ceiling every night and I know they can hear me. The other night I lost my fucking mind! I screamed at the ceiling until my throat hurt then slammed the door to my apartment so hard when I left, everything on the wall fell off. I believe everything my neighbors had on their wall also fell off because the evil blue-eyed guy upstairs opened his door and started to say something to me, but apparently thought better of it when he saw the crazy look on my face and just quietly closed his door.
I went to my friend, Marci's apartment to cool off. Her apartment is great: it doesn't squeak, even when her neighbor, David, is home.

We went and sat by the pool for a while. I realized then that I used to think a buzzing alarm clock and screaming children were the most annoying sounds in the world, but I was wrong.
I have complained to the managers office several times and they say a contractor is supposed to be out to redo the subfloor. I don't believe them. This would involve a lot of work and money. But we will see how it goes.

For now, please endure these few seconds of video. It is not nearly as loud as what I have to listen to, but you will get the point. I also found another video on YouTube about a neighbors squeaky floors while uploading my own, which I've also included for your listening pleasure.

P.S. If I ever do go to jail, it will be for stabbing my neighbor in the face because I just can't take it anymore!

http://youtu.be/ccg9CMNA3Us

http://youtu.be/m7L5XwIA_zc

Let's celebrate my 100th post!! WooHoo!!

It's true. This post makes number 100.

When I started my blog I didn't think there would be that much to talk about. I have a pretty bland life and I didn't think my friends and family a far would be that interested in keeping up with me once I left Amarillo to pursue art school. But on average, about 25 people read my blog when I post. I even met a nice lady in Illinois. I just wish I knew how to get more people to read it.

Well, here is the scoop on today, in case you missed it via Facebook post:

So, I'm in the shower this morning when I hear a severe beeping noise and of course, the first thing I think is "What the fuck is that?" then I realize it's the smoke detector. I jumped out of the shower and literally am running around my apartment naked and wet looking for something on fire or trying to smell smoke, because let's face it, who knows what the damn neighbors are up to, right? Nothing was going on so I disconnected the stupid thing so I could finish my shower in peace. Ugh.
After, I went to the office to tell the manager my story of woe and she got a good laugh. At least I have a new battery.

 Also, I'm learning more about Photoshop, my old nemesis. Mostly because my teacher is really good and patient. I've completed my second assignment and there are so many things I want to do in my projects, but I don't know how yet and that's where I get frustrated.
Here is my last assignment. A picture of my niece is framed on the back wall. She asked "Why didn't you put a moustache on me?" Ah nuts! I forgot and I already turned it in...next time!

my photo collage project, we had to have at least 50 things...
I made it to 54! yay me!

and good riddance!

So last week I thought I had passed some kidney stones and thought I had a UTI and I went to the doctor. No UTI but yes I did have evidence of kidney stones...apparently they had not all passed - not until Friday afternoon, halfway through one of my classes. I started feeling an intense pain in my side so I took some ibuprofens. The pain continued but I was ok to finish my class assignment, then at 5 I wasn't feeling any pain, but my kidney felt swollen and all day I felt like I had to pee really bad, but never did.
Well, around 7:00 I'm chillin' on my couch, doodling and watching t.v. when another wave of pain hit, this time really really bad. The same pain I felt 4 years ago almost to the day when my friends here in Dallas had to take me to the emergency room. Of course, I don't have the money to go to the emergency room now, so I took 200 mg of the Tramadol my doctor had given me last week but didn't feel the need to take before.
I don't know what happened in the following hour because I couldn't hear anything but my own screams and cries into my pillow as I wriggled around in the worst pain I've ever felt in my life (for the second time). Slowly the pills started to take affect and I was able to lay down. My head felt dizzy and I felt sleepy and I was hot. I lay in bed until about 11pm, then I got up and turned on (brace yourselves) the air-conditioner and was really able to pee a good long pee. If the stone came out at that point, I don't know, I didn't look in the toilet. Hopefully that little bastard is on it's way to the sewer.
Now, Saturday, I woke up thinking all was going to be sunshine and daisies. I was wrong. The Tramadol worked well at taking away my pain, but I also got all the side affects: constipation (still dealing with), dizziness, nausea, vomiting and headache. I knew this would all take some time to go away, but I hate feeling like shit. To make matters worse, my upstairs neighbors were home, as usual because they have no life - at all - and of course were making the floor squeak as badly as possible. I banged on the wall several times, resulting in throwing up almost each time, and all those assholes did was bang back. I really needed the strength or some huge gorilla guy to go up there and say "look dickheads, Vicki is absurdly sick today, so calm the fuck down." My headache was thick and pounding and just getting worse and I was out of ibuprofen so I sent out a mass text to people who I knew were close and knew where I lived. My friend Jerrad came over with a lifetime supply of the pills and also did my dishes for me. So thank him for that! About 20 minutes later, Evelyn showed up with another lifetime supply of the pills and some chocolates. She stayed and made me some broth and made me eat some saltines, so I appreciate that. I had wanted to eat some broth before, but I couldn't get to the kitchen to make it myself, so I thank her for that.
I was peeing regularly the rest of the day and Sunday I woke feeling better, just sore. So I hope that's it for at least another 4 years.

I know what type of kidney stones I have: Oxalate. Too much of this mineral in some people who don't consume enough water will keep these crystals forming and keep the kidney stone pain coming every so often.

I have this list of foods to avoid and I hate it:

beans, beer, beets, berries (strawberries especially), chocolate, coffee, cranberries, dark green vegetables like spinach, nuts, oranges, rhubarb, sodas, sweet potatoes, tea and tofo.
ALL MY FAVORITE THINGS!! WTF, MAN??

So, what does that leave me to eat? Eggs and broccoli? Fuck broccoli and fuck kidney stones.
I hate you!

what my pee says about me...I don't have any idea what any of this means

Just a tourist in my own town for the day

I saw a guy riding a motorized skateboard on Tuesday. He held a controller that was hard-wired to a small motor. He looked a little out of place buzzing across the intersection of Royal Lane and Central Expressway. I wondered if this is something we might get used to or maybe I've just been reading too much sci-fi lately?

I didn't get a picture of the guy I saw, but the board
looked like this.

What else did I do on Tuesday? Well, it's my last week off from school and I wanted to still do SOMETHING. I started out at The Pearl Cup on Henderson for coffee and a ham and swiss quiche, which were both delicious. As I sat reading my Isaac Asimov novel, The Naked Sun, I enjoyed the hip sort of vibe this place puts out. A few people were on their laptops, two girls were playing cards and talking, and some guys were on the patio deep in a discussion I thought too heavy for 10a.m. 

After I emptied my cup, I started back to my car to go off to Half Price Books but got side-tracked by a new favorite store: We Are 1976. The circus posters caught my eye, because I love the circus. This store is a place where mostly local art and arts and crafts are sold. It's neat and groovy. Later in the day, after the bookstore, I went to a sports store, even though I don't "do" sports. I wanted to see if there was something I could get into. There wasn't. But I did meet a guy named Chris and maybe I'll see him again one day. I also saw the movie Now You See Me and it was pretty cool, especially since I love magic shows. I don't even try to guess how it's done, I just enjoy the show.

I tooled around at White Rock Lake again. I had not been there since last year when I moved here. Being at the lake makes me miss the East coast. The smell of brackish water is as close to the ocean smell as I can get way out here in Central Texas. I watch guys fishing and it reminds me of time with my mom and Uncle Joe. I love the damp breeze in my hair, against my face.

a nice view on the trail

structures in someones yard along the shoreline

a little birdie catches fish

The last thing I did on Tuesday was head out to Barcadia, my new favorite place because there is free skeeball on Tuesdays.

the hotdog man at Barcadia

 Not much was going on and I didn't meet anyone new, so I headed home early around 10 p.m. Probably a good thing, because at 1:30 in the morning I had horrifying pain in my back and side. I thought I was dying and I got scared because I live alone. Then I realized I had felt this pain before, five years ago. Kidney stones. "I'm not dying," I thought. As the doctor told me before, there's not much I can do but let it pass, so I took a handful of Ibuprofen and a Tylenol and tried to breathe through the pain as best I could lying on my bathroom floor. I felt a little sick, but didn't throw up and when I finally was able to get back to my bed, I put on my heating pad. Wednesday I was supposed to play disc golf again with my friend Jerrad, but still felt sick and felt like I had a bladder infection, so I ended up laying on my couch instead, drinking water and cranberry juice. Thursday I lay around, too. I just felt tired and I didn't get invited to any barbecues anyway. Friday morning, about 6 a.m. a milder version of the Wednesday morning pain hit me again. I was supposed to go to work at 11, but I decided I should go see a doctor instead. I went to the Urgent Care place near my school and got a prescription for antibiotics.

I ended up going to work anyway, an hour late, and was uncomfortable most of the time because I had the urge to pee a lot, but I got through it. I've only taken a few of my pills so far, but I'm feeling better already and it only cost me $200 since I don't have insurance.

So, in my quest to find something exciting to do on my summer break, this is my summation:

took the train downtown to explore and did cartwheels in front of City Hall, hosted a craft day/lunch at my tiny apartment, housesat for my friends while they went to Hawaii - cleaned up a bunch of cat puke and wild turd fest the cats had while I was away, worked, watched movies, lost my "lover" friend to a younger girl, watched movies, argued with my upstairs neighbors, drove to Shiner, Tx and drank a bunch of free beer, learned how to play disc golf, played skeeball and passed a kidney stone.

Yes. I am a wild one.

Vapid is the new Average

My friends that I used to live with in Plano have gone on a 10-day trip to Hawaii and asked me to feed their cats. I don't mind because since my washing machine is still broken, I can wash my underwear at their house.

I'm still trying to get the hang of living alone. Most of the time I feel lonely because I'm used to people being around and that makes me feel like I have friends. Now that I come home to an empty apartment, I feel like I don't have anything to look forward to since nobody will be home. I would complain that nobody calls to say "Hey, we're going to do such and such, wanna go?" but it's not true. My friend Nick called the other day to say a bunch of them were going to the Science Museum downtown and did I want to go with. I did want to go (who doesn't love science?!), but I had to work all day. Stupid work, always interrupting my leisure activities!
I guess I just wish someone called every day to go out. Since that doesn't happen, it makes me feel like my life is boring, that I'm boring and no wonder I don't get asked on dates or have someone to "play" with. I try not to cry and be depressed, but sometimes these stupid hormones won't let me. I was feeling like this yesterday when I decided I wanted barbecue. I went to Bone Daddy's. It's like Hooters, only with steak and ribs instead of hot wings and burgers. I sat at the bar to order since I was alone. One guy looked over and did that "hey" nod. After a few sips of my Blue Moon beer, an older guy on my right who was wearing a green Hawaiian shirt  came over and said, "You look like you could use a friend. Can I buy you a beer?" Ugh, I thought,  because I wanted that cute guy across the bar to come over, but said, "Oh, no thanks, I've got one." He smiled, said okay and quietly returned to his plate of nachos.  I munched on my steak sandwich and started thinking how much guts it takes anyone to walk over to a stranger and start a conversation. And I was needing a friend. Don't worry, I didn't take him up on his offer, but when I was about to leave, I told him thanks for coming over since I was feeling bad the last few days and that I appreciated his gesture. He looked happy and introduced himself as Sid and said that if I decide to come back that I should pull up a stool and the beer would be on him. I might say "hi" if I go back and he's there, but I'm always weary of certain guys intentions.

As some of you know, I love to play boardgames. Since I don't have anyone to play with, I do what my cousin, Guy, my sister and I used to do when we were little and played kick ball with just the three of us: we had "ghost players".

I set up The Game of Life yesterday. (I did not bother inserting those stupid little buildings, they are useless anyway. I may use them in a craft of some sort.) I picked out some cars and put in the people. I have taken the liberty of writing in a few of my own rules:

getting married: Vicki's rules are that you
don't have to get married if you don't want
and you don't have to marry someone of
the opposite sex if you don't want!

I like this rule because it's true! The game itself has made some modern changes such as the college debt. It used to be $40,000 now it's $100,000. This is actually pretty close to the debt I'll be in when I graduate! But, the rules still say to stop and get married. I say "NO!" Lots of people have babies and aren't married these days and anyway, when I played this game with my mom a few years ago and stopped to get married, I said, "I going to marry a girl" and promptly put another pink peg in my car. My mother didn't even blink, she just said, "Okay" and took her turn.

Now, if any of you want to play The Game of Life with me, just call or text or come over. I could cook for you too!

can you cook chicken?

Hello!

Here is another video blog for my friend, Elizabeth. This was done in the morning, no makeup, so please excuse the bags under my little eyes. They are courtesy of my noisy upstairs neighbors (assholes).

Enjoy!

"No! I'm gonna use shitty vinegar!" - you can't tell me
how to live my life!

the paragraph it takes to tell you how to cook chicken!

"do not ask for this in Virginia - those country folks have no
clue" This stems from when I tried to cook this for my
mother last year. We combed three markets and at each
one I asked for plantains and got the same head-scratching
blank stare: "Wut's a plan-tain?"

a cartoon me! my friend Danny drew this
for my birthday present. I LOVE it!

Who needs a roommate...not this girl!

So the other day, my friend, who I used to live with, texted me and asked "how is single living?"
 I think I forgot to answer her because I was enroute to deliver some suitcases I had borrowed. She has a two year-old and is going to nursing school, so I don't hold it against her if she doesn't read my blog every time I post one. She obviously didn't know about the brown bananas.
Well, I will answer the question now. I'm eating all my food, now that I've come to terms with the fact that it's ALL MINE and I don't have to share with anyone else. When I walk out into the living room and see socks on the floor, at first I think "Who the hell left these...." then I remember and think, "oh, yeah, those are my socks." I remember my mother telling me that when I was first born and she was home with me all day, she kept thinking she was babysitting. "When are these people gonna come pick up this kid?" She told me she had to get it in her brain that I was her kid and I wasn't going anywhere. Since I've never lived by myself before, some days I come home and sit on the couch to watch t.v. and think, "When's my roommate getting home?" and then I remember, "Oh yeah, there is no roommate to worry about."

Here are some signs I found that make me yell "praise allah" because I don't have a roommate and glad I never had roommates like these!

if I had this roommate, I'd stab him in the face

the 80's totally rock!

So I invited a few friends over for movies. Since these guys are are all under 25, I decided to educate them on the 80's since their parents didn't. We watched "Goonies" of course!

"Sloth love Chunk!"
 "bootie traps! that's what I said"
 Most of them had seen that movie, and why wouldn't they? It's awesome.

Then I slipped in "Weird Science"
(one of the dvd's I scored with at the Thrift store the other day!)

Man! If you've not seen this movie or not seen it in a while, I highly recommend it. You could probably stream it on Netflix. To their surprise, they witnessed a very young Robert Downey Jr. - aka Iron Man! Plus, Kelly LeBrock, who wouldn't dig that? They all talked about 80's hair and my friend Nick loved the look so much he took this pic in my bathroom after I tried to tease his hair up. Since we didn't have the proper hairspray - AquaNet - it didn't stay up too long. I told him he looked like a rockstar!

my friend Nick taking a pic of his "rockstar" hair
I was wondering why he was in my bathroom so long!

my first video blog!

My friend Elizabeth asked if I could make a video blog. I suspect it's because she has an allergic reaction when she reads. So, here it is, a video blog introducing my apartment. The sound is bad because the only video camera I have is on my Casio photo camera. I may do more video blogs, depending!

The bananas are brown

Some people have asked me how I like living by myself. Let me tell you this: I am still trying to understand that EVERYTHING in this apartment is mine and only mine. Usually when I buy food, I eat it, of course, but I am used to leaving some for someone else. Bananas for example. I bought 4 bananas the other day and the last one is turning brown because I haven't eaten it yet. Me. I haven't eaten it. I am still getting used to the fact that I don't have to share that banana with anyone. I have never NOT had to share my food.
I still use the bathroom with the door closed. I'm just used to it, I like it, it's comforting to be in the bathroom by myself. I still sleep with my bedroom door closed. I'm used to that, too. I like it.

I have most everything unpacked except my pictures and nic-nacs. I still can't find my knives. I also don't have this plastic bag holder my mother made me out of a leg of a pair of jeans. My friend Jarred gave me a knife and I gladly used it to cut up my cantaloupe. Now I have my bedroom set up. I figured since I never use my tent, why not set it up and put my mattress in there! It fits with plenty of room for my alarm clock and other things. It's fun.

Ok, I'm off to eat that last banana.

my bed. just because I have my own apartment, doesn't mean I have to be ALL grown up!

drawings on my ghetto mirror. I invite all visitors to doodle!

eh, it's a kitchen with a cheesecake on the counter