The Travel Bug

I recently met up with a girl who seemed to have been everywhere. She'd been travelling all over, having been granted excellent opportunities like an internship that had her going from army base to army base working with children. Just talking with her gave me The Itch again. The need to be somewhere else, doing something else.

Don't get me wrong. I love it here. I love living with Cal and I love this city. But I always want so much more!

I'm sure I've written/talked/vlogged about this before, but Cal and I are planning this massive trip to Europe. Like, a month or two in Europe. We're planning on going in the December/January time frame, either 2013 or 2014 or 2015. Specific, I know.

We're trying to figure out WHERE exactly we want to go, because a month or two of solid traveling won't put us anywhere near covering the whole of Europe unless we wanted to just ride through each country and wave at the landmarks as we passed. So if anyone has any suggestions as to the BEST PLACES EVER to go, please let us know.

So far, our top priorities are these:

1. Norway. Will probably stick to Oslo/Trondheim. (Would also love to get up to Svalbard.)
     -->See Northern Lights.
     -->Touch a glacier.

2.Scottish Highlands. Want to see more castles and sink myself in some Scottish mythology.

3. Paris. But only for a few days. I feel like Paris is a "go-to" city. You probably shouldn't do a tour of Europe without going to Paris, you know? But neither of us are incredibly interested, save for eating some good food and taking pictures with the Eiffel Tower. Of course, that could all change.

4. Italy. Will probably land in Rome, stay for as long as it takes to cover everything, then head up to Florence for a bit, then Venice. (There's more we want to do in Italy, but we're trying to prioritize!) I've already been to Venice but Cal hasn't, and I didn't see as much as I wanted to! Loved it there.

5. Germany, Austria, Netherlands. Okay, so my number one goal is to go to Neuschwenstein Castle--that is, THE ideal fairy tale castle. Since we're going in winter, I bet it's going to be gorgeous. But there's plenty of history in this area too, and I'd love to soak it all in. Plus, Cal's grandfather came over from the Netherlands, so it will be fun for him to visit. These three will probably be our main event, and we'll be spending the most time here.

There are plenty of other places I want to go, too. Spain, Gibraltar, Belgium, Prague, Ireland... and maybe we will have time for some of these things, but we're trying to keep it small now, and when we start planning our day-to-day itinerary we might be able to fit a few more things in. I'll just be over here, day dreaming. It's been good for us to have a goal like this, as it encourages us to save money. But still. I want to be there NOW.

If anyone has any must-see attractions in any of our top 5, or think a favorite place should be added to that top 5, please leave a comment! We're starting a preliminary checklist and would love to do some things other people have tried.

Things learned!

First of all, skin update: I've been using my stupid chemically stuff the derm gave me for a few days, and (surprise) no improvement. I was crazy oily-looking today though (sweating a lot, it was HOT!). Decided to scrub my face with Epsom salt (basically, put some Epsom salt in palm, wet it in the shower, scrub). I left it for a minute but it burned a bit so I rinsed it off. Now my face feels brilliantly soft and like, perfect. Not dry, not oily, perfect. Hasn't really brought down any of the pimples on my face, but whatevs.

ANYWAY. Today, people started packing. Yes, packing. They're leaving by the 26th! That's now FOUR DAYS away. I hope they leave early. Actually, I hope that when we get back from Ada's party tomorrow, they're just gone. Gone. Never have to deal with them again. (They deleted us from Facebook, so I blocked both of them so I don't even ever have to kind of think about them again.) Things have escalated rather quickly, I can't remember if I wrote about it, but I'll have a massive story to tell next week when we talk.

The landlord also came over, and we are getting all of our bond back (which is cray surprising, given that Certain Individuals have practically punched holes through the floor by putting his chair down too hard all the time).

And even better, rent has gone DOWN. This is unheard of. It's cray. It's now $380 per week, which is only $95/person per week. It's nuts. We'll never have this good of a deal on a house again.

So this is good news, right, but I've been down in the dumps today because I'm just so stressed out by the Certain Individuals and the situation they're creating, worthy, I found today, of Taylor Swift's "Story of Us" (which, if you are unfamiliar, "looks a lot like a tragedy now"). I haven't been this stressed out since first year (well, maybe I take that back, end of Junior year might have given that a run for its money, but it was much more brief than this current lengthy horribleness).

Other than secluding myself in my room today, I have been making a huge amount of enquiries regarding certain things which I need to talk to someone about before writing about it here. But can I just say, if someone SAYS "contact me by e-mail" WHY would you then proceed to contact them by phone (especially the messages that said "I've sent you an e-mail...") What.

Anyway. Anyway. I'm gonna post a video soon, a mash-up of random clips I took over the past few weeks, because something new needs to go up there!

!!!

THEY'RE LEAVING BEFORE THE 26TH! THEY'RE LEAVING BEFORE THE 26TH!! THAT IS FIVE DAYS OR POSSIBLY LESS!!

WORDS CAN'T EVEN.

Fruit Face Update + General Skin Woes

While Hanging Out in Google, Emily One brought up the fact that I've been rubbing fruit on my face. I haven't been doing it as regularly as I ought to, so I thought I would start a little update thing here and it might encourage me to keep track of what actually works/doesn't work in regard to my skin care. So here goes.

First off, I wanted to say that before going to school, I had practically no acne whatsoever. A bit on my chin and forehead, but that was legit it. So I just wanted to throw that out there and also ask if anyone else noticed a remarkable turn for the worse after starting school. Acne spread to cheeks, back, and chest for me about a month into first year. I thought I could blame the food, but being off it for so long, I'm not sure that flies.

Anyway, I put off dermatology appointments for ages, and eventually went last August, so I've been on the same routine for a year now (because no matter how I tell him it's not making any difference, he doesn't believe me). Though, SINCE going to him I HAVE had miraculous one-week time frames where my skin has been almost flawless (interestingly enough, always lining up with when I see him). Two such times I remember are right before graduation, and right before Christmas break.

Which kind of calls into question my other "this must be why I'm breaking out" reason: stress. I thought for sure stress was a major factor, but trying to finish things like my history thesis before Christmas break (along with other final projects) was quite a stressful thing. And while Senior Week might have been a didn't-have-to-do-anything blast, the prospect of graduation (synonymous with Separation) was pretty gosh-darned stressful too.

So if it's not necessarily food (I don't have The Healthiest diet, but I'm getting in so many more fruits and vegetables than I ever did at Moody--plus I've been taking Cod Liver Oil as a Vitamin A supplement for the past six weeks), stress, oil buildup or whatever topical problem, or hormonal even (on "the best thing" for that too), WHAT THE HECK IS IT? And why has it gotten SO BAD in the last few weeks, and why was it sparkling a week before that? What the heck?

Anyway, as for the FRUIT: I really need to do this more. I was doing quite well, actually, for a while there, but I need to switch my schedule around a bit to take the time to wash fruit off my face in the morning or something, which is when I'm typically eating it (also at lunch, but not really wanting to wash it off at work!).

On Saturday, before talking to you guys, I did a banana mask. This consisted of half a banana, a tablespoon of honey, a small handful of oats, and a squeeze of lemon juice. Mush it all together and rub it on your face, leave for fifteen minutes and rinse off with lukewarm water.

Results: my face felt fantastic for two days, and I noticed some difference. Possibly caused smaller pores which contributed to the look, or something? Plus I did have a few of those big red bumps that definitely died down almost immediately after using it. And the lemon juice in there is meant to lighten acne scars, which is also a huge problem for me because I look at my face and I'm like "I am SO broken out" but really a lot of it is old scars that make my face blotchy because I'm so pale. Anyway, that was quite nice, I felt loads more confident about my appearance after that.

But after two days, it was like my face just exploded. They don't recommend masks like that for daily use, so it's like, what. What do you even do.

ANYWAY. Figured I'd update on this since it's something I've been obsessing over and will probably continue to obsess over when I'm like 103 and still have acne. (bit bitter right now, can you tell?)

What is friendship?

This isn't really an attempt to be deep and philosophical, more just casual wondering--casual wondering about how friendship might not be defined some of the same general principles for everyone. This rather provoking thought has been borne out of some recent conflict which perhaps we can talk about at our next shindig.

For me, it seems that friendship is created out of mutual respect between two people. Doesn't that seem like it would be the very baseline? Mutual respect. That means if I have a friend, I respect you, and you respect me.

Respect things like personality, habits, history, choices.

And when things AREN'T respected -- say, I respect you, but you DON'T respect me, I would say that's when things start falling apart. Wouldn't you? I mean, there are millions of other factors, too. But for me, respect is the main one. And surely, SURELY a person can see that they aren't respecting another person. When that person is getting upset. Or perhaps when a person is requesting a compromise and you aren't giving it to them, leaning instead toward your own selfish desires.

Sometimes I get a bit paranoid that I don't have friends here. It's sort of like high school all over again, where I wasn't especially close to anyone (shown by the fact that I fell out with all of them the second I went to college.) So sometimes, low blows picking on such a thing DO bother me.

What if I am incapable of making/keeping friends? What if there's some part of me that just pushes people away?

Part of that is that I know I can be a tough person to be around sometimes. I keep everything bottled up inside--every frustration, bit of stress, irritation--and unleash it upon people I like. Because around people I don't like, I don't feel comfortable doing such a thing. And around people I do like, I DO feel comfortable showing more emotion. With the result that I can be moody and snappish and appear to be quite angry WITH a person when really I'm quite angry at a lot of other things.

So, then, what if I DO push people away?

But when I start thinking of that, I also start thinking about that college and all those people I met. And still talk to. Who still want to talk to me. Who never judged (not really), who never questioned my choices, who never made a face at the thought of walking up a mountain in a tutu. People who share too many inside jokes, who have too much fun laughing together, who come up with the most random stuff to do and don't think twice about doing it, who have been there through smiles and tears...

And when I think about that, HA I say to all those who would deal low blows.

HA.

You have NO idea who stands behind me, and if you did, you'd be running.

They're armed with glitter and duct tape. So help you if you cross them.

The Comeback

This morning, Cal and I woke up around 7. As we do, since we're old and our weekdays sort of flow into our weekends nowadays, and we just get up at the same time every day. Because we're old.

Anyway, we had a few things to do today: clean floors (since no one else ever does it), do some dishes, a couple loads of laundry, and bring in a table from outside which had been painting and was drying overnight.

The point is, being the considerate housemates we are, we waited almost four hours to do any of these things. Around 11 we brought in the table. The only noise we were making was a bit of conversation in our normal voices (that is, not shouting like Some People's Normal Volume). So we get the table in, and out stumble Certain People (again, around 11!) blinking blearily and looking grumpy, asking what we were doing.

"We just brought the table in," Cal said.

"Yeah. We heard that," Certain Someone said. (In an extremely condescending tone.)

Now, let me stop there and say that yes, 11 might be a bit early for some people. I slept in 'til 11 on many occasions while in school. (Heck, I slept in 'til 3 once after a NaNo get-together.) But at 11, I really don't think it should be an Expectation that everyone is completely quiet. Quite frankly, I doubt it was our conversation that did the waking and more the sun casting its bright and beautiful rays upon some self-centered little cheeks.

I might sound a bit harsh, but this is pent-up frustration about all those times I was woken up at, say, midnight--a perfectly reasonable time to be asleep, I should think, given Cal needs to wake up before 6 and I get up at 7--or that Certain Party that caused my respect for Certain People to spiral down, down, down to the bottom of the great blue sea, sea, sea. And yet when such instances happen, WE were obviously in the wrong for being in bed to early. But when we wake THEM up, WE are also obviously in the wrong for making too much noise. Great logic, that, right? Like I said, self-centered cheeks.

But this, my friends, is hardly the point of this blog post at all.

This evening, I was reading a book. Thor was crying outside. It is past his dinner time. No, he's not supposed to be outside after his dinner time. However, he had not eaten yet. So Certain Someone comes along and opens the door for him, saying in a rather confused tone, "Oh, Thor, you're outside?" And I was all sitting on the couch with the door in my sight, sort of rolling my eyes. Then Certain Someone has the audacity to walk STRAIGHT INTO OUR ROOM without asking, to look at the window Thor climbs out of, which was open. And at this point I'm raging because of all the rage that has built up over the last few months, combined with the lack of respect for my personal space and personal things, and I'm just like SERIOUSLY?

And THEN she comes out, looking around (obviously for Cal, as They don't ever discuss anything with me, only with him, like I don't exist) and finally said, "Um, is your window open?"

"Yeah," I said, suppressing eye-rolling urge--hadn't you just invaded my bubble to check? "It's fine."

"Oh. Um, is Thor meant to be outside?"

No, you idiot, that's why he's outside and I'm sitting here all not bothered, I wanted to say. Instead, I said, "He's fine."

"Oh, so, shouldn't you close your window?"

Rage building. Rage building a lot. "No, it's fine."

"Because Thor was outside, I just let him in."

"Yes," I said through gritted teeth. "I HEARD THAT."

And you could just TELL my tone was at its deadliest, because she looked rather taken aback, but the comeback just went STRAIGHT over her head. Like a bird. Like a plane. Like superman.

And then I took great pleasure in the fact that they missed their bus. (Two weeks. Two weeks. Two weeks.)

What would you name a press?

I mentioned in my last post how I think I'd like to start a publishing company (well, small press--publishing company sounds far too grand!). I've been looking into it more over the past few days, and while it looks like it's going to be a TON of work (obviously) and a TON of money to start up, I'm still really keen on the idea. I don't think I'll be able to properly start for a few years, planning things in my downtime has come as a fun sort of relief from boredom.

(Again, if anyone's interested in joining, there will be basically no money in it at all, but could totally use help. Particularly if you're good with the designing of covers, because that's something in which I have zero experience.)

The point is, I might be totally crazy, this might be a passing phase that will vanish in a week or two, but right now I desperately want a name for this wispy idea in my head. I can't seem to come up with anything that sounds quite right.

As I said before, this would be a press for sort of more traditional-type girl-power fantasy (think Pierce). The kind of fantasy I love and the kind of fantasy I'm not seeing so much on shelves, as it's being covered in vampires and apocalypses (which isn't necessarily bad, but I miss going to the shelves and finding a billion things I like!)

When thinking about names, Griffin immediately popped into my head of course--but besides feeling a bit like I shouldn't use it for magazine-type reasons, just "Griffin Press" sounded a bit boring to me. Then I was like, "Phoenix Press?" "Sphinx Press?" "Castle Press?"

It was all so... solid, or something. You know? I want something more whimsical and dreamy that captures the idea of what the press is about. My creative juices don't seem to be flowing, just as they get all blocked up when it comes to titling things (you know, I could create a whole job out of that too--Book Titling. Sign up now!). I was hoping some of you might have some ideas of what to name such a creation as this New Idea Of Emily's. If you come up with any cool ideas that you don't mind me using, please let me know!

P.S. It's also difficult to come up with names that aren't already things. I was tossing ideas around and thought "Ink Pot Publishing" sounded kind of cool, but a quick google search told me that was already a thing. I'm gonna have to think outside the box for this one.

Revelation

I had a Revelation. A rather spectacular one, I might add.

As I was floundering around last night, trying to find the meaning of life (that is, wondering what the heck I was going to do with mine long-term), I tried to think of what would make me happiest in the long run. What do I really enjoy doing?

The answer to that question is obviously, "write." However, I'm not going to make any money doing that (statistically) so I need to find something to occupy my time. The answer to "occupy time" would be to "get a real job." Could do office work or something, but that's just so many hours of the week dedicated to something that I'm not passionate about, with no guarantee that I'd be writing anyway (if the last few months are any indication).

So. What else do I like doing? The answer to that is reading. Also, editing. Thus: publishing company. But if you see a few posts below where I mention how I don't want to work for a place that seems to be in it for the money more than anything else, and how I don't want to move to a giant city where publishing takes place, well, you'll see that's not exactly the route for me.

So if I can't do writing, and I can't do publishing, WHAT would I do?

I've always thought it would be ideal to work from home and be my own boss. I've thought this since childhood. You know, with my "don't tell me what to do" complex, it gets a little hard being in someone's employ. I could work from home, take vacations when I wanted to, hang out with my kids until they go to school. It seems like the best thing ever, really. But what would my business even BE? You see all these people who can do crafts or like... I don't know. I don't even know.

But then -- here it is -- what if I started my OWN little press? One dedicated to the preservation of more "traditional" (read: Piercey) fantasy for young adults? Meaning, no feeding this vampire-sodden market with all those whiny female "heroines." I obviously wouldn't publish MYSELF, that seems a bit sus to me, but I could totally work with some OTHER people. If you know what I mean.

I don't know, I still have to look into it, obviously. I've read a total of like, two articles on how one might go about doing this. It would take lots of money, so I'd still need a "day job." But with something like this, surely I'd be more dedicated to the cause. With other people depending on me, I wouldn't just say, "Oh, you know, I can do that later." And then never do it.

I would need things, obviously. Like contacts. And a cover design person. And stuff. I don't even know what I'd call it. But I'm going to seriously look into this, guys, even if I don't follow through. I'll be planning things during nap time today. It just seems like it'd be GOOD, you know? Something I can be proud of and happy doing.

WHO WANTS TO HELP?

I want a grown-up house.

A complimentary Ikea catalogue was delivered to our house about a week ago, and it made me realize a very important thing: I want a grown up house. Desperately.

Like, with a bathroom that has matching shower curtains, rugs, and towels. And a bedroom with matching furniture. And a kitchen with matching pots, bowls, and cutlery. And a fancy washing machine that has more buttons than I know what to do with. And like, dark mahogany wood book cases complimenting my leather furniture. Or something.

A house with three bedrooms: ours, a spare, and one I can start decorating as a nursery (browsing Pinterest too much lately).

I want a house that I don't have to share, except with friends I invite over.

And I want to have a library. A massive library with all of my books, plus all of the books I want to read, plus the awesome editions of books I love (full hardcover British versions of HP, plus that version of the His Dark Materials books that spell "His Dark Materials" on the spines when all three are sitting together.)

And that, my friends, is my thought for the day.

YAYAYYAYAYAY!

Part of me feels like I should feel bad for being this unbelievably ecstatic about not having to deal with crap anymore--but then the more sane part of me takes over, and I burst into unstoppable squeeing noises at a pitch only dogs can hear. (Scientifically tested and everything.)

They're moving. They're moving, they're moving, they're moving!

And we didn't even have to start up a conflict about it. Cal was actually a little upset because they hadn't discussed it with us before finding somewhere else, but this way we don't have them and we DO have the house.

This house isn't nearly as great as it could be. There's not a lot of counter space, the counters that ARE there have this awful lip on them that makes it impossible to get rid of crumbs. The floors don't seem to clean properly, the oven doesn't work very well (leaving cookies raw on top and burnt on the bottom), the bathroom is teeny tiny... BUT it's such an awesome location for getting to my work--all I have to do is cross the road, hop on a bus 15 minutes before 9, and get there with minutes to spare. It's also conveniently located to shops via transport and whatnot, so I'm really glad we get to stay here for another few months.

Our current lease runs until mid October, but the new owner would like us to stay until January when he plans to start renovating. (The house is in desperate need of renovation--I bet he makes a killing when he resells it!) My job is also probably ending in January as Alex has been given a place at the local daycare centre, and his parents would like him to be a bit more socialized, understandably.

Anyway, the housing market in January is much better for renting than it is now, as there's lots of changeover during the summer holidays. There aren't many houses up right now that look particularly good for their price and location. Hopefully in January that will change--we'll be looking for something with a bigger kitchen and preferably two bathrooms.

The only thing we need now is new housemates.

I mean, we could be getting a place to ourselves. It is financially possible right now. But when you figure you can get a really tiny apartment for $300 a week, having to share walls and floors and ceilings with other people vs something like this four bedroom house which is $420 a week, it just seems better to do it this way. More space, ideal because Thor can run around outside, and we're saving more money than we would be otherwise. With four people here, as a couple we're only paying $210 a week--pretty good deal.

We're looking on Gumtree, a sort of Craigslist deal, and haven't had any results yet, but we hope to. (Actually, what I hope is to get some of YOU over here to live with me. Not even joking. If you want details contact me. So easy to get a visa.)

But the point is, guys. Guys. This house, right now, is actually going to feel like MY house. Like, a house that I can live in. With Cal. My house. Which I can then welcome others graciously into.

Our plan is this: hopefully get people in before the end of October (if any of you are serious about coming over, though, we'll obviously hold a place for you!). Between People A leaving and People B arriving, we're going to do a massive clean/reorganizing of the house in order to get it to the way I like it. That is, NOT a ton of random crap all on top of the cupboards, furniture where furniture should go, cupboard reorganization.

I would do all of this now as a lot of it is Cal's stuff, but I don't know what is Cal's and what isn't. The reason it's largely unorganized is because he got a ton of things from his sister when she moved away and didn't have me around to tell him where to put them. (I'm kind of awful.) After that, I think I'll feel much more like this is my space. And goshdarnit, I will be having a place at the kitchen table.

I'm a bit worried about our ad as I stressed that we were rather tidy people, but by that I only mean we'd appreciate if someone spills something on the counter to wipe it up after, and not leave random papers and computers and bits and pieces all over the dining table so that there isn't even a place to eat, you know, things that SEEM like common sense when living with people. Apparently not. Like, if it was people I like to live with I wouldn't MIND moving things around because I would feel COMFORTABLE about it because if I'd left something around I wouldn't mind if someone else moved my stuff -- but in this current situation, I don't feel comfortable with that, and I think that's what's bugging me.

Anyway. Anyway. Back to celebrating. Potentially only 25 days left.

Recipes!

I thought I would write this down as I'm thinking about it--and preparing next week's meal plan.

First off, I HATE THINKING ABOUT FOOD.

Secondly, when we only really have one real day to shop (okay, two, but when we have the option to do absolutely nothing on Sunday we take it!) it's kind of necessary to think about a whole week's worth of dinners beforehand. I mean, with shops closing quite early here too, and both of us relying on public transport to get places, it's just not very convenient to pop out for a minute to grab something we might be missing.

So here I sit, hurting my brain trying to think of things to eat.

We're getting a bit bored of our usual fare. We've found recipes we both like that are easy and pretty fast to cook, two very important things when all we want to do when we get home is sit around doing nothing. Anyway, we've been having the same things over and over again, which is all I ever really had at home and school, but it's sort of like... blah. Part of the problem is that some stuff that I do like -- say, tacos -- I don't particularly like here. I like a particular seasoning packet thing that isn't available here. I might ask my mom to send some in the next care package, actually... but I haven't seen a single Mexican-style cheese here either! I guess this is what happens when you live so far from Mexico.

Speaking of, crushed red pepper isn't a thing here either. There's crushed chili pepper, but it tastes different. I'm dying.

Trying to find new recipes is hard, because half of me is like, well, what if I don't like it? Sometimes more importantly, what if I can't find the proper ingredients here? (I find it a little strange that recipe sites are SO completely American-saturated. I guess maybe it shouldn't come as such a big surprise.)

Urgh, and then as I stare at recipe sites I'm like, "This sounds exactly like this thing that's on the list right now." It doesn't seem different. Why is food so hard? Is this why Moody was so horrible all the time? Can't think of anything new, here's some pasta.

I mean, I do like pasta, and it's so so so easy... asked Cal if we could put it on the menu multiple times this week. He said yes. So grateful.

I guess the point of this blog post is to ask, do any of YOU have any tried and true recipes you like? I'm open to hearing about anything (if I don't like something in it, I guarantee Cal will eat it anyway!). Leave your suggestions for your favorite meals and we might incorporate them into our weekly plans.

Fun Fact: our fridge freezes things on its very lowest (er, highest? Whatever's warmer) setting (probably because we never have a TON of stuff in there--we're only two people and things can go bad so fast!), so we can only have things like salad the night after we go shopping, or we'll be chomping on frozen lettuce. And if we let it defrost first, it goes all wilty and soggy and gross. :(

P.S. My nutella addiction is seriously becoming a problem. And on these recipe sites I frequent, all I ever really want to make are the desserts. PROBLEM.

Just around the river bend...

You guys, I think something is wrong with me. In the "probably should see someone about this" way. I legitimately cannot concentrate on anything right now. Not the (extremely well written, very enjoyable) book that I'm reading, not Facebook, not anything. Why?

Because a TV has been set up on the dining table and someone has been gaming on it for the past, I don't know, four hours. Silently, mind. Headphones. Considerate. But I cannot concentrate knowing that there is a presence lurking some ten feet outside this door. Knowing that if I open the door, I will be greeted by the crushing glare of a TV screen and a headphoned silhouette that kind of looks like a shadowy alien.

Something is WRONG with me.

I mean, I think part of it is knowing that the dishes aren't done, either. We have a rotating dishes schedule, and it's alien's turn. Half the dishes are done, but not all. Obviously killing zombies or goblins or whatever was more important than finishing up dishes. I still don't get this. I mean, surely playing a zombie game would be more enjoyable knowing that you didn't have any dishes left to do when you're done?

The point is, the kitchen is RIGHT THERE and any dish-doing severely interferes with my sleeping patterns. I think part of my problem is that I foresee this: dishes done at midnight, an hour into my peaceful slumber, waking me up and then I'll have to take a sleeping pill because it will be like I took a nap and I won't be able to get back to sleep for ages and I'll become dependent on sleeping pills and it'll be like first year all over again and--

But also, the change. The sudden change. Why is there a TV on the kitchen table? I mean, really? There is no logical explanation. The TV lived a very good life in a secluded bedroom where it has been for ages and ages and ages, so why the sudden move? Did rent go up in the bedroom and it had to relocate? Did it get sick of the dust bunnies and try to run away to better accommodation, only to get stuck in the sticky mess of the table cloth and pinned down once again by the avid gamer?

I just don't understand. It would be like me moving my library of books to the kitchen table and saying, they're going to stay here this evening. All that effort to move the books. I mean, even then I would have the excuse of potentially reorganizing said library and needing a place to put them while I sort them. That would be fine. But there is nothing going on with this TV that required a move. The same thing is happening to it as was happening in its own room.

And now it's there. I bet I see the glow from under the door. I bet it lights up the entire room while I'm trying to sleep.

WHY IS THIS HAPPENING?

I think I've gone around the river bend, down the waterfall, through the tunnel and ALL THE WAY to grandma's house.

This area does not need a second TV is the thing. There is already one there. Why isn't that one being used? I mean, that one's more annoying as it's even closer than The Intruder and I think comes without the possibility of headphones and oh god you guys I just heard clicking. Clickclickclickclickclick. Constant tapping. Like an owl at the window, only without the potential of carrying a Hogwarts letter. Which means instead of being exciting, it's actually one of the most annoying things I could hear right now. Like the slow drip drip of water torture. The old kind, not this fancy boarding deal...

Only I don't want to go say GO AWAY because what argument do I have other than that I'm probably having something like a psychotic breakdown? This doesn't actually matter in the grand scheme of things. Unless The Intruder thinks it can take root on the kitchen table and I have to stare at the wirey back of it EVERY SINGLE MORNING for practically the REST OF MY LIFE while I'm eating my whole-grain breakfast cereals . Then it'll be like crunch, crunch, ohgodTheIntruderisstillhere, crunch, why, crunch, cry. And then when I get back from work it'll be like, "Why, HELLO there, I'm a black abyss of DOOM unless I'm showing some annoying rainbow colored shooter game."

I just don't really want to discourage this behavior because it's some of the most respectful that I've seen so far, you know, with the no-noise, it's just... what is the gosh darned POINT of doing this? If I could see any logic, any reason behind such a move I think I would be okay.

AND THE DISHES AREN'T DONE.

Breathe. Breathe. Breathe. Breathe.

I'm not gonna make it.