So, today my mom and I drove down to Bowling Green so I could show her the apartment, town, and BGSU. Along the way we stopped at Comstock Furniture and Banner Mattress to purchase my furniture and bed. Comstock Furniture was amazing! It is privately owned and the people there work without commission. The prices were much lower than I could find in MI, had free delivery, and were super friendly. Did I mention that they have no qualms about delivering to MI while everyone in MI refused to ship to OH? Yeah. Anywho, The Banner Mattress guy was really cool too and remembered me from talking over the phone once more than a month ago. Everything is getting unloaded at the apartment on the 5th of August. Depending on how everything fits I might buy one more piece of furniture (a bedside chest that I would use in the living room as a side table).

Anywho, the trip down was easy and only full of a tiny bit of tension since my mom took some of my money from the account and used it to buy stocks...so she had to sell some stocks to get some money back (and she knew that I was going to use it to buy furniture with....having talked to her about it for the last month). At any rate the drive back was pretty bad. There were two huge traffic jams. The first one had no apparent cause other than a possible back-up at 96 that was creating a huge funnel for the non-96 traffic. The other was right before our exit onto 46...it took us quite some time to move the 2 or 3 miles to get to our exit after the slow down began...the cause...an accident that took out two lanes with the narrowing of lanes occuring right after the 46 exit.

Bah. We took my mom's car for the trip since it is more comfortable on long drives.

Now I must head off to bed in 30 minutes because I have work at 7. At least AZA inspections will be done with.

I consider myself to be a strong person for the most part. But, there will always be two people that are going to make me want to punch them and go back to seeing the psychologist again (even though I felt it was a waste of time). Those two people are my sister and my mother. I hate my sister. I can't stand her. I have no reason for this; I just simply do. Maybe it is because of her superior attitude and consistent talking down towards me that does it, but I don't know. Now, my mom, she is a different story altogether. I don't hate her, but I hate a lot of things she believes and thinks. For example, my mom thinks she is better than a lot of people because of her upbringing and that comes out (even though she hides it pretty well most times). She also believes in a completely different philosophy because of this upbringing. For her, everyone should anticipate what she wants and do that thing. She also believes that we should do what she asks simply because she asks (whether or not she is perfectly capable of doing said thing on her own). An example: getting things off of shelves that would require her to grab the step stool that is a mere foot away from where she is standing. No, she has to call me over from whatever I am doing (even if it is homework or work related) and get said thing off of the shelf even when I myself have to grab said step stool and do it. This infuriates me to no end. I am a firm believer in not asking for help until you have tried everything yourself or you know what your limits are, and you can't do the thing requested. According to my mom, she can't possibly lift something heavy because she is female and old, and yet, she picks up Jasper on a regular basis who weighs in at over twenty pounds. Today we got in a fight over a picture. She wanted me to take a photo of a bedroom set in the basement. Whatever, I said I can do it. She wants me to send it to someone, I say fine, I will take the photo when you have their email address so that I can send it to them. NO, this doesn't work in her perfect world. I have to take the photo at her discretion (and be reminded of the object several times even though it is the only bedroom set in the basement along with the only thing that is yellow down there as well). Then, once it is taken I have to make it perfect for her so that she can send it. I tell her that she might as well learn how to use the digital camera so that she can do things like this by herself in the future, but NO! She can't do this! SHE CAN'T POSSIBLY LEARN HOW TO CONNECT A CAMERA TO A USB PORT ON THE COMPUTER BECAUSE SHE IS OLD! This is, of course, failing the fact that she can use email, cd-roms, sign up and use the Wall Street Journal online, do all of her stocks online..... I tell her no, she needs to learn how to use the darn camera because I won't be doing anything for her once August hits. She gets angry and wants to know why I can't do this for her, and I ask her why she can't just learn! I say if she "can't" learn, then why doesn't she just use one of the film cameras and take some photos and mail them in to the person? We are pretty much yelling now and I storm out of the house to "breathe" in the 90+ weather outside. I hate it! She has no excuses for things like this! Using a camera is something she can learn to do! She already knows how to take photos with it! "But I might break it!" ... "Then I'll buy a new one" ... apparantly this makes her really angry because she and dad bought this for me as a present without ever asking me what kind of camera I might like (they always do this too). They just go off and buy things that are not what I need/want and then wonder why I am ok with them being replaced. It wouldn't be so bad if it was a camera that I might have had some interest in, but they never asked. And dad, oh dad, he just goes out, doesn't do any research on digital cameras and how they function/work, and goes out and uses his "expertise" to make purchases for me. He means well, but it just infuriates me. If I did the same thing with him, he would demand the reciept and return it (but I can't do that because they don't get gift reciepts because I should be sooo thankful). Ok, you know what? How many times have I just requested that we go out together to make a purchase, or you just give me some money to help make the purchase?! EVERY FREAKING TIME! The same thing happened with the gps. I said I was going to buy a gps and that I wanted a Tom Tom (because it had been getting excellent reviews, it was easy to use, and it was easy to have other people use). Nope. They go out and buy a freaking Garmin that didn't have the options I wanted (that the Tom Tom did), and when you updated it, it ceased being accurate....like, it  now thinks my house is about two houses away (which is a big problem when it comes to making correct turns). But no, my parents obviously know best because they "do their research" and don't just go with "something name brand" without ever trying to use them or looking up people using them. GAH!

I think I am a little cooled off now...wait, nope. Mom just walked back in to bug me about the camera. Tears, anger, want to punch something.

Here is a little story about why I don't let myself get angry whenever possible. When I was in middle school, I almost threw my sister through a wall. I am not joking either. After that my dad told me that I am not allowed to lose my temper because of my anger issues (which he blames himself for, but I don't know why). He also told me that if I ever hurt mom, I will get kicked out of the house. Sounds slightly, oh, cheesy? But it made a huge impact on me as a kid, and he is right. I am violent, very violent. I have the capability to seriously hurt and kill people if I get angry enough (which is true of everybody, but it really struck home to me). Maybe that is why I am so mellow now, and try not to let anyone get to me. But seriously, I am not a cheery person if I am not around friends/in a good mood/get home from work.

Oh, sorry, you want to know why I drive friends to and from Detroit but won't simply do the camera thing for you? Maybe because they can't drive themselves whereas you can do the camera thing yourself? DID YOU NOT JUST LISTEN TO ANYTHING I JUST TOLD YOU?

That is the other thing, she doesn't listen. She doesn't listen and she gets very angry when we make suggestions that interrupt her perfect world. Yes, you snore very loudly...yes dad snores too, but no where nearly as bad as you do. Oh, you don't want this checked out even though it is causing people in the house to not be able to sleep? Oh, it is because you are old and your soft palatte is loose? Yeah, well they have a basic procedure to tighten that up and make your snoring managable again. Oh, you won't? Even though it would make everyone else a lot happier? Oh, you don't believe us about you having sleep apnea? Even though we sit there and worry that you won't start up breathing again? You refuse to go to the doctor about your memory loss and sleep apnea even though they are becoming big issues?

I am done, no more, it just hurts too much.

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In other news, Christine stopped by for a short bit to eat dinner and meet Jasper. I had an amazing time and hope that she did as well! We ate at Timbers and it was delicious as always (I hope Christine enjoyed her meal as much as I enjoyed mine!). Oh! Oh! We also went to the zoo for a short bit so I could show her around.

The last two days at work have been pretty bad. The humidity slows everyone down and makes working miserable (especially after lunch when the body has had a chance to cool down).

"Talked" to chaotic_state  and she has everything planned out. It is fan-freaking-tastic! If she allows it we will post about its gooey center before it is built, if not, you will find out after it is built....or maybe never! All I know is that I would have never thought to put some of those things in. Now we are simply waiting on the banking situation to finish up (and send me my debit card and check book). July will be interesting (and very painful with all of my money disappearing). In fact, I already know what my next major purchase will be (once I am out of grad school): a new tv!

I know she is as excited about it as I am (after all, she gets to test it out to her hearts content to make sure it is working properly...or at least until August classes start up).

Thank you to everyone who has been commenting on computer stuff. I have decided to go the custom built route through chaotic_state . She and I are pricing things out and going over components. So, if you have any further suggestions, please put them here. I think we are working off of the Alienware Area-51 X58 and the choices I had made (which won't show up on the link).

OK.
So, next month I need to order my new computer (and set up my tv/internet for the apartment). I still really want Alienware, but Amy is slamming me hard to get a Mac. I have nothing against Macs and love them, but power for price puts the Alienware ahead. Looking at the Mac website, it seems the closest to my Alienware set-up I can get is the iMac 24" (2.66 GHz or 2.93 GHz processor). Other friends keep pointing out that I would get a free ipod touch (after rebate...I still have to be able to pay for it - and have to pay taxes on it - first). Since I don't need/want an ipod touch, hate selling things online, and don't want to also lose money on the sale of said "free" and "profitable" item, I technically lose potential money. This makes me angry since I would rather just get a $200 discount or not pay taxes on the darn not needed ipod to begin with!

Sigh, it doesn't help that I have to sell my motorcycle so I can purchase my new computer and pay for my first 2 months of bills at my apartment (then the school starts putting money in my bank account). Speaking of which, I have to go put ads up for it. boo.

ok, pictures here. The zoo was great. Amy went on the high ropes course, zip line, and we all pet some stingrays (the others were wimps about feeding them, but I found it fun). Also, "slimy" animals simply feel very soft and smooth when underwater. Umm, we didn't end up feeding the budgies, but that is alright (I get pooped on enough at my job as it is). It was so cool. There were tons of frogs (I just couldn't get any good photos of them) and I love frogs (especially the dangerous ones). I would recommend the John Ball Zoo to anyone over Detroit and Toledo. Plus, they have Flamingos!