The Veronicas Love Utah

Ok so I know I'm a dork, but I'm subscribed to The Veronicas page on facebook, so I get all these updates and video links. Today's was some interview they did--most of it is about living in LA and who inspires them and what not, but in the last minute or so they talk about the concert they did last year in Salt Lake and how it was one of their best concerts ever--and naturally I was excited because my sister Kaj and I were SO there...we are the ones who knew all the songs. That's right, they love us.

Anyway, I know Kaj will probably be the only one to watch it but here's the video:

Updates and Pet Peeves

Hello people. Yesterday I was at lunch w/a few of my close friends, and one of them commented about how I don't really update my blog that much (that's right, you know who you are... ;-)), so I thought I'd better write something haha. So here are my updates/thoughts this morning:

Work: I'm now back to my favorite 5:30pm-2:00am schedule. I'm not being sarcastic, I love this shift. I have all day to get stuff done, and then when I go to work it's only busy for half of my shift and then I basically get to enjoy 3 to 4 hours of peace and quiet. So nice.

Home: It's really hot and our swamp cooler is no Rocky Balboa if you know what I mean. We've taken to sleeping on top of the covers with a fan blasting directly into our faces. So that's slightly annoying. But on a happy note, the hummingbirds are back and have been frequenting our feeder, which is always fun to watch. The cats especially love it. :-)

Babies: Still don't have any. But I have a new doctor (since my other one died, if you recall...) who is very aggressive and I appreciate that. I take a lot of pills with some really funky side effects, but I won't complain about that because it's a pretty small price to pay. I will say though, no menopausal woman has anything on these hot flashes. WOAH (too much info??). And then there's the whole vision thing--my night vision has gone all crazy and if there's not enough light I tend to see double, which can be slightly freaky. But again, not complaining, and hopefully I will see some results one of these days. That would be nice.

Movies: We saw Star Trek this past weekend, which I originally didn't really want to see. But after reading the reviews, I changed my mind. It was actually really good, even if you haven't had much exposure to the TV show. So I'd recommend it.

And lastly, my Pet Peeve of the day: I think it's lame when you post a bunch of pictures on your facebook of you and your significant other grinning at the camera...and NOTHING ELSE. Sure, put a few pictures up of you guys being happy and in love, but we don't need to see 100 of them (literally). That is only something I'm willing to look at when people are actually engaged, and if said pictures are in actuality their engagement pics. No wannabe photos please.

Until next time...see ya.

Murderous Mayhem

Do you ever have one of those nights where you're extremely tired but not sleepy? That seems to be me at the moment. Although it's rapidly turning into a serious case of night-drunkeness. Yes.
DISCLAIMER: I am having a random night, so I apologize if any of this is disconnected or doesn't make sense. We'll see how this goes. Right-o.
So...Saturday we had the privilege of being invited to an amazingly entertaining murder mystery dinner, set in the 1930s. And did you know that if you procrastinate getting a costume until the last minute, you will have to buy the first thing you find at DI to match the fabulous hat you had your eye on at the costume store? I can tell you this is true. Also if anyone would like some fake cigarettes I will gladly provide them to you. They puff, but apparently only when nobody's watching.
ANYWAY, I would like to say that my friend Peter is a genius when it comes to writing murder mysteries. That's right friends, this wasn't out of some box you'd buy at the same place people go to play Dungeons and Dragons, this is 100% original. A couple years ago he wrote one w/a Batman theme, and it wasn't just a dinner--it was a dinner, a sleepover, AND a breakfast...and there was a wake complete w/a coffin. Yes. So this one he wrote was set in the 1930s, and we were all Hollywood figures involved in a movie starring Mae East, who was unfortunately was murdered by someone at the party. I was Anise Rogers, an AMAZING choreographer (I know, it's hilarious b/c I totally can't dance and don't have anything even remotely close to a dancer's body...haha) and Jacob was Edward Courier, screenwriter (yeah yeah, that one fits).
Ok so I'd like to interject here that I was nervous about actually PLAYING the game, because for the Batman one Jacob and I were the moderators--meaning we were there to answer questions and stage the events to keep the plot rolling. Plus I got to videotape a lot of it, which is always fun.
Once we all arrived, we were each given an envelope to give us more information on who we were and the information we knew--plus a set of objectives to be accomplished by the end of the evening. So I opened mine and I'm reading through it and then I realize that I'm one of the murderers (yes, there were actually 2 of us...the other one being Jimmy, the film editor)...DUN DUN DUN. I was so excited, seriously. So yeah, after we'd all read up on ourselves, we were set loose to try to meet our objectives. Mainly we all just walked around in groups of 2 or 3 and tried to get information out of each other...and Jimmy and I did our best to cover up our crime and place the blame on others. We had some dinner (with the most amazing blueberry bread pudding ever--go Peter, go) and then the real craziness started. Some of us (myself included) were buying drugs, some were running underground sex clubs (um, you know this is just pretend, right?), and there were affairs and cheating and lies and it was such good fun. Which doesn't sound like good fun when I put it that way, but I'm going to go ahead and blame that on the whole night drunk thing. Yup.
So, being that we were murderers, Jimmy and I had the wonderful opportunity to each "kill" one of the other characters in the last hour of the game. I picked Edward (who was Jacob), because I had just sold him Mae's will and I needed to get it back before it changed hands (when you kill someone you get all their stuff, which was also nice b/c Edward had made a lot of money selling drugs so I ended up being rich too). He was not pleased when he found out I killed him haha. But a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do. Jimmy picked Eden (who was my friend Cajsa) because we wanted to frame her boyfriend Rhett, who was actually a closet homosexual. Hey, he had a good motive.
And after all that--I'm happy to report that we were able to successfully meet our objectives and nobody figured out who did it. Well, there were some suspicions it was Jimmy (and a couple people snagged his envelope and read that he was the murderer, but I don't count them since they didn't figure it out by themselves) but nobody figured it was me too. Yes, I'm quite proud of myself.
Ok kids. It's 3:15am and I am definitely sleepy now. I probably left stuff out, which I hate to do because it deserves a better description. Sorry. Enjoy the pictures haha.


We are so hot. My coat totally makes me look fat but I don't even care, it was awesome.

What are we doing? I don't even know. But this is me, Peter, and Cajsa. We're crazy, apparently.

Jacob right after I killed him and took all his money. Poor guy...

And here's...some of us.

Just When I Thought I'd Heard it All...

...I had tonight's customer. Not that I want my blog to be a bitchfest, and really I planned my next post to be about the fabulous murder mystery party we attended on Saturday night (thrown by my brilliant friend Peter), but I have some things to get off my chest. I should probably wait until tomorrow since it's 3am, but whatever.

So I've now been a customer service supervisor at work for over 6 months now. At this point, I've heard a LOT. I joke that my soul is dead...I'm pretty damn calloused, and while I still get yelled at on mostly a daily basis, it rarely phases me or even upsets me any more. I guess that's my bad for thinking I'd heard it all. Because tonight...wow, I've never had anyone speak to me the way this guy did.

To keep a long story (relatively) short, the guy was pissed b/c he thought our sales rep had taken advantage of his parents. Yes, he's not even a freaking customer, his parents are. We do get these calls from time to time, with children trying to stick up for their parents...who apparently shouldn't be held responsible for their actions even though they're adults. His parents had been given a standard deal as far as our systems go--their contract length was the standard 5 years and they were even given the discount price. But this guy apparently has a system of his own, where his contract is supposedly much shorter and the montly rate half of what we charge. His demand was to either cancel their account or lower their rate, neither of which we do after the contract is signed (this is why you should read contracts before you sign them!). I'd like to point out that it's not like his parents called, were told they can't cancel and he called in response to that. We haven't heard from his parents. There is no indication they're unhappy w/their system.

But the thing that made this call different from the other escalated calls I take--well, there are several things actually. I've been told "You don't care," I've been told "I can't understand how you sleep at night"--but this guy literally told me I'm a horrible person, and that I'm dead inside. He told me I have no conscience. He asked if I'm religious, and when I told him I wasn't going to answer that, he told me that God thinks I'm a bad person. He told me I must hate my parents and grandparents. He told me he hoped that after we got off the phone that I had a really good cry because if I didn't, I'd know that I have no soul. Basically he verbally assaulted me for 20 minutes. Every time I tried to say something, he cut me off. And when I managed to get something out, he twisted my words and tried to (unsuccessfully) use them against me. Until finally, I kinda lost it with him. I told him I know I'm a good person, that I definitely have a conscience, and just because I wasn't telling him what he wanted to hear was NOT justification for disrespecting me like that. He asked if I'd be upset if my parents were "conned" into signing up for the rip off that is our system, I said I'd be upset if my parents signed a legal document without reading it first, and that it is not my problem or the company's problem if his parents signed it before reading it. He asked if I agreed with the policies of the company, I said whether or not I agreed with them is irrelevant because they are printed on the contract in black and white and if his parents didn't like them, they shouldn't have signed it. And as he continued to interrupt me to remind me what a horrible person I am, I told him I was sick of him putting words in my mouth and treating me like crap and if he didn't stop right that moment I was hanging up on him.

And then...he pulled this "I'm a Christian, I'm going to pray for your soul because you're a bad person" shit. Tell me people, what is Christian about spending a good chunk of your evening trying to break someone down and make them feel horrible...for something they didn't even have any part of?? Last time I checked, that was not the method Jesus used, EVER. The hypocrisy KILLS me, it really does. So I guess that people are gonna say what they're gonna say. But I'd like to point out that God is not a weapon. And that is what I told this guy. He said he wasn't using Him as one. YEAH RIGHT.

Anyway...well, I don't really have a good conclusion for this. I guess I really did need to vent. So thanks for listening, I guess.

Happy Birthday to Me

So I decided for my birthday this year that we were going to Vegas, which we did. And it was good times, as usual. :-)

Here's a shot of the lovely hotel we stayed at...last time I stayed at the Excalibur was let's see...high school.

And here is our favorite aspect of the room--very large flatscreen TV. Awesome.

We always go to the gardens at the Bellagio. The theme this time was very zen-like, oh and they had a butterfly house.

For me, watching the fountain show at the Bellagio while eating gelato is an absolute must.

Awwwww, we're so cute....