Monday, August 30, 2004

Weekend Update + Monday!

Hello you! As usual, I didn't have a very exciting weekend, but I'm going to write about it anyways!

Friday after work, I went to the Elder Pratt's house to mow the lawn. It didn't seem to take that long, but I think it's because Mr. Lee is getting better and he had done a little bit before I got there. You know, I never thought I'd say this, but when he's better, I'm going to miss cutting their lawn! I wasn't feeling very well, so I pretty much just went home. Vanilla James was there because Steve was helping him install his stereo, so I hung out with them in between laundry and such. Steve took me to get dinner after that, and then blessed sleep!

Saturday I had to work. I was supposed to be there from 9-5, but we were SOOOOOOOOOO slow that I ended up leaving at 1:00. Steve and I had lunch together and then I went shopping. I was supposed to be looking for christmas gifts, but I was still feeling so bad that I couldn't concentrate on what I was doing. I finally just went home. Steve and the Fellas + Shannon went to dinner, and I had to miss it. : ( When he came home, he put on his new Knight Rider first season DVD (no kidding there. Oy). Maybe it's just me, but if I got in a car that said "Hello, Kelly." I'd probably not stay in the car for very long. I'd feel strains of "2001" playing in my head. "What are you doing, Dave? I cannot allow you to do that, Dave."

Sunday was just rough. I woke up still not feeling well, so I didn't go to church or my family's house. I hated that, because I had been looking forward to going out there. I didn't know if Steve was going to be able to go out there with me, and I was so out of it that I was afraid to drive. Allergies suck.

Today was the fisrt day of school, and it was the first day of my MWF class. It's at 8:00 in the morning, but I think that's going to be okay. There is mucho parking by the building, and it's only a 55 minute class, so it's no biggie. We have to begin reading "Huck Finn". I hope it's good. The teacher wasn't anything like I thought he'd be. He kind of reminded me of Steve in a way. He's a big guy, kind of messy. He seemed really nervous today, but he admitted he was. I think that he's going to be pretty cool.

Friday, August 27, 2004

I Smell a Rat....

Actually, it was a dead rat. We had an unfortunate little visitor here at work yesterday that apparently crawled behind the toilet to die. We kept smelling the horrible funk on one side of the trailer, but we had no idea what it was. We finally called custodial or maintenance and they found a decomposing rat in the bathroom. Ugh, it was so gross. I don't mean to be disgusting, but if a little rat can literally drive people out of a building, can you imagine if it had been a person dead back there? Yuck. The trailer still stinks today, but we've got some open windows and air fresheners. Hopefully the smell will go away soon!

Yesterday I got to be spontaneous! Steve had gone to Nashville to visit with a friend, and they had dinner at a new restaurant at the Opry Mills Mall, called Aquarium Cafe. Steve wanted me to see it, and we invited Josh and Anthony to go with us, and we took off after work to drive to Nashville to eat there. It's a restaurant with HUGE salt water aquariums in it full of all of these awesome fish, eels, and sharks. Apparently they had something like 6300 tropical fish when the place opened, but because the sharks keep eating them, they are down to about 2300. They have to add new ones every week or month so that there will be something other than the shark in there. The food was actually really good, but the service sucked. I honestly believe our waiter was new, but still. It was all I could do to keep Josh from completely going off on a manager, and thankfully he didn't. I seriously hate being around when people do that. It's embarrassing. It was completely deserved, but I didn't want to be there to see it. We also got to run through the mall near closing time, and then we drove home. I actually drove home from Tennessee! I've never done that before! Steve had to get us through some road construction and all, but after we got back to the interstate, I drove the rest of the way. I hate 18 wheelers, by the way.

Tonight I will be mowing the other Pratt's yard, and tomorrow will be an all day work day.

Monday school starts, and I'm not ready! I have three classes: Printmaking with Screenprinting; Graphic Design II; and Survey of American Lit. I can't believe that I haven't gotten all of my basics out of the way yet, but after this lit class, I only have my math, and then I can focus solely on my major and minor. I'm never going to get out of school. This is very frustrating!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thursday, August 26, 2004

Speaking of the Amish...

Does anyone else watch the show "Amish in the City"? I usually HATEHATEHATE reality shows, but this one is kind of interesting. They've taken 5 Amish young adults on Rumspringa and put them in a "Real World" type situation. It's kind of funny, because you can see that they are completely out of their element on some things, but then you see one of the Amish girls getting her belly button pierced. I wonder how many of them will go back to the Amish and how many of them will leave. I'm under the impression that if they leave, they can never-ever go back. Are they shunned? Who knows. You should watch, if for no other reason than to hear their accents. : )

Monday, August 23, 2004

I'm feeling philosophical this morning.

I wonder what made me who I am? I mean, what things happened to me to make me feel and think the way I do? I realize that you are constantly being influenced by the things that happen in your life, and I can see where some specific things may have effected me, but there are some things that I don't have a clue about. It would be nice if you could have a book for your life and if you have a question about something, you could just look it up in the index and find out: 'OK, fear of African Snow Giraffes. Page 32. *flip,flip,flip,flip* OH! Saw movie when I was five where African Giraffes attacked a bus load of tourists. Huh, weird.' Ah, who knows.

Weekend Update!

Friday night we had a Teacher's Appreciation supper at church, and since I'm on the hostess committe I went in to help cook. I love working with those ladies in the kitchen! We have so much fun joking around. I felt kind of bad that more people didn't show up, but it was fun anyways. I also scored some left over chicken fingers, so that was good too! : )

Saturday I had to work, and then we went to Rhonda and Lee's house to work on the yard. It hadn't grown too much since there wasn't much rain, but I cut the front yard and the sides. We went to dinner with them at Casa Blanca (excellent Mexican food, by the way) and we went window shopping. Steve and I went to Target after we left because I had a major chocolate milk jones.

Sunday was church, of course, and then to my parent's for lunch. We also had a reception for our new Youth Pastor, Paul Whittfield, and his family. I'm excited that they are there now. They seem like really nice people, and we really needed someone there for our youth. Steve taught them for a while, but I couldn't do it. I completely suck at teaching anything, much less something as important as the bible. I used to teach children at church, but they stopped listening to me. I like to work behind the scenes much better. I also have tons of people asking me to join the choir, but I wish they would stop. I'm actually flattered that they think I can sing well enough, but I just don't want to be in the choir for several reasons, none of which anyone will listen too. SIGH. Oh yeah, and I'm also now the Church Historian, so I'll be archiving and recording everthing that goes on! How fun is that?!

Well, that's about it! Yeah, I don't lead a very exciting life... I think I say that every week! : )

Saturday, August 21, 2004

Has anyone else ever noticed that there is a specific moment that the molecular structure of the gum you are chewing suddenly, without warning, breaks down?

I have reached this moment, and I do not like it.

Plah!!!!!

Friday, August 20, 2004

I'm about to bad mouth a religion. If you have a weak stomach, please look away. If you are standing near me, walk a few feet away so that the lightning that hits me doesn't get you too.

This morning I was reading about a little girl who has a digestive disorder that makes it impossible for her to eat anything with wheat in it. Her family is catholic, and it was coming up to her first communion, which is a huge deal. Her mother went to the church and told the preist about her daughters disorder and asked if anything could be done about the communion wafer, which is made of wheat. The preist said no, because tradition says that the wafer must contain at least a small amount of non leavened wheat. Okay, fine, so the mom goes to a different church that allows rice wafers and took communion. The little girl had on her little white dress, and in her pictures, she looks so happy. Now, they find out that the church will not recognize her first communion because her wafer was made of rice instead of wheat.

Are you kidding me?!

The little girl could die from eating wheat or at least be in horrible pain from even a little bit in her system and you're telling me that the largest and one of the oldest oragnized religions is not going to allow her to be confirmed in their church because of what her communion wafer is made of? Oh, this burns me up. I can not believe that this could possible make the slightest amount of difference at all. The little girl wants to confirm her faith, which in my opinion is the seewtest and most pure thing a child can ever do, and the freaking flour used to make the communion wafer is going to keep it from being officially recognized? That's like telling a child in my church that they aren't saved because there was chlorine in the water that they were baptized in. That is completely unacceptable. How dare anyone do something so unfair, and hurtful. This is the most narrow minded, stupid thing I've ever had the misfortune to read about, and yet there are some freaking old guys in Italy that are deciding whether or not it can be recognized. Uh uh, no way. If I'm not mistaken, communion is a symbolic gesture, and in the Catholic church they belive in transubstatiation, or the actual change of the eucharist into the body of Christ. I mean, to me that means that it is the belief in something that makes it real, not what it's made out of. If it actually becomes the body of Christ, it could be a chicken McNugget and it could still be used if the right faith is in play. This just shows me why so many people are turning away from church these days. If a panel of old catholic guys can tell me whether or not I'm confirmed in their church or not, simply on the basis of flour, then I don't want to have anything to do with it.

I'm glad I'm baptist. We don't care what kind of flour it would be as long as we could eat it!

Wednesday, August 18, 2004

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

Nothing is much better than a Java Chip Frappachino. Especially one you know you shouldn't be drinking due to the high caloric content.


I'm not in a very good state of mind this morning, so forgive me my complaining.

Before I begin, though, I need a little prayer if you don't mind. I'd rather not explain why, so if we could just call it an unspoken request, I'd appreciate it.

My yogurt exploded on me this morning. Let me repeat that. My YOGURT exploded on me. You might be asking how that could happen, but I assure you I don't have any idea. Not only did I have yogurt on me, but when I tried to scrape the little foil thing off so that I could throw it away, the stuff landed on my desk instead of in the container. I'm boycotting yogurt for a few days.

There is a lady that works with me who has had a bad cough for about six months, I would guess. It's kind of a plegmy-underwater cough. Very pleasant. She swears it's the pollen and her allergies. I personally think it's her pack a day or more smoking habit. Call me crazy.

An incident in my office yesterday leads me to vent on a rather special kind of annoyance. The people who actively look for people to feel sorry for them. You know what I'm talking about. The people who talk about how bad their life is, or how unfair things are for them, or who talk about wanting to commit suicide. Most people jump right in and give them all the attention that they want. Now that I've seen the pattern, I don't say anything. It's just too predictable. You probably think I'm being horrible, but it's very obvious to me that they may feel a little down in the dumps, but that life isn't that bad for them. They just want attention, plain and simple. Trust me, when you try to give these people even the slighest bit of constructive advice on how to make things better, they don't listen. All they want is for you to focus on them and feed their demons. I'm not going to do it anymore. I can tell when people are really upset and when they are just being drama queens, so I'll just wait until they really have problems to try and help. One of the worst things in the world is to get all concerned about someone and realize that they just wanted attention.

Tuesday, August 17, 2004

Exploding Knitting Needle

I wonder if this was a terrorist attack. I mean, she could have been knitting an Afghan...

Monday, August 16, 2004

You know you're getting old when doing something childish but funny, just starts seeming to be, well, just too childish. Sigh.

WEEKEND RECAP!

So, a whole lot of stuff went on this weekend. I bet you're just foaming at the mouth to hear about it too... heeheehee.

Friday was work, of course, and afterwards Steve and I went to his parent's house to mow the lawn and have dinner with them. We also stayed to watch Monk with them and it was so funny. You know, even though I love that show, and Tony Shaloub is a completely awesome actor, it makes me feel bad to laugh at a man with OCD. Call me crazy! My favorite part of the show? "Why are you making that face?" "We're in rough terrain. This is my rough terrain face." You really just have to know me and Steve to know why that is funny.

On Saturday, Steve, his parents, Grandma and I went to the Chattanooga aquarium and it was so fun! There were way too many people there to really get all the enjoyment out of it, but I love going to aquariums, so that was fine. The otters, my favorite, were asleep, but they were still cute. I found a snow globe with otters in it for my collection, so I was happy. After that we went to the IMAX theater and saw "NASCAR the Redneck Experience" oops, I mean, "NASCAR, the IMAX Experience". I'm not kidding here, I saw rednecks in IMAX. I never thought that day would come. Actually, the movie was pretty good. I have a whole new respect for the whole racing thing now that I know what is involved. However, not one minute of the movie made me want to go to a race. I actually committed a huge faux pas during the movie. They were showing a part where we were seeing the NASCAR announcer, who's name I think is Dale Waltrip or something like that, was doing his first race and his brother was winning and he was all excited, and then all of a sudden his face changed and he looked like he was going to cry and he said "Is Dale OK?", and I laughed. It just seemed like such a strange transition from elated to sad that I thought was so funny. I had no idea that I was watching a part of a race where Dale Earnhardt had been killed because they didn't show the car hit the wall. I felt so bad! I wouldn't have ever laughed if I had know what I was watching. I tried to clear my throat so that anyone who may have heard me would think that I had been coughing, but I don't know if it worked. It made me feel even worse when I realized that the people next to me were crying during that part. I'm so uncouth. I would never have laughed at someone being killed, especially someone people thought so much of. Ugg. After we left the theater, we went home and Steve and I fell asleep. It was a fun and interesting day!

Sunday was church, of course, and I sang in the morning service. I sang Steve's favorite hymn "It Is Well With My Soul." I love that song, and I love to sing it even more. It's just so powerful and it gives me chills. Everyone seems to enjoy it, but I'm afraid I sing it too often. Oh well, I went ahead and made a spreadsheet to keep up with what I sing so that I don't sing it too close to the last time I did it. I was going to sing "How Great Thou Art" but I haven't gotten the ending down right yet. Maybe next time. We also went to my parent's house for lunch and to evening service.

Tune in next monday for another WEEKEND RECAP! If you want to, I mean! : )

Thursday, August 12, 2004

STARS FELL ON ALABAMA

But guess who STILL didn't get to see them? If you guessed me, you are correct! As everyone knows, there was supposed to be a meteor shower (something I've always wanted to see) last night. It was supposed to be most visible from 2:00am to dawn. I woke up around 4:00am and walked outside, and it was completely overcast and raining. The last couple of times there were meteor showers, it was raining here. : ( Oh well, maybe I will be able to see one another time.

STUPID CLOUDS!!!!!!!!!!!

Wednesday, August 11, 2004

Hello. My name is Kelly Pratt, and I'm addicted to Buffalo Rock Ginger Ale.

HELLO KELLY!

I'm not kidding! When Steve first bought me a bottle of Buffalo Rock ginger ale some months (if not years) ago, I didn't like it. It tasted kind of like a flat or watered down Coke. Although I normally love ginger ale, I never went out of my way to try and find this particular kind of ginger ale again. However, a couple of weeks ago we went on a Publix run and he picked up a box of it, and I've literally been hooked on it ever since. I don't know what it is about it, but I will be sitting here at work thinking about it, and no matter what I drink, it isn't satisfying until I can get home and get that stinkin' yellow and brown can. I even got up and went to the grocery store this morning so I could get some to take to work. I've been drinking one today, and I sat back to analyse the possible causes of my addiction, and I've decided that it's because it tingles when you drink it and it makes my stomach and throat warm. I know that sounds insane, but it's true. Of course, I'll probably find out a few weeks down the line that I'm having some kind of allergic reaction to it, but I'm going to enjoy it as long as I can!!! I'm guessing that it's just stronger than regular ginger ale, but it's like heroin with me now!!!!!! Well, I suppose I can place my relief in the fact that it ISN'T heroin, or they probably wouldn't let me have it at work. : )

To learn more about Buffalo Rock Ginger Ale, please go to your local library or you can conduct research on their website at www.buffalorock.com
When Weddings Attack

Good greif, and I thought that the worst thing that could happen at a wedding was to be left at the alter...


Tuesday, August 10, 2004

I'm so angry.

I hate to be lied to. I hate to be lied to so much, and I don't care about what.

This morning I got a call from someone who lied to me, and I don't even know them, but apparently I'm just supposed to bend over backwards to make everything fine for these people who don't even have the decency to tell me the truth in the first place. Oh, and not only that, but apparently I also screwed up by not doing what these people wanted right away and making them have to call back more than once.

I HATE to be lied to.

Monday, August 09, 2004

Weekend Recap!

Who wants to hear about my weekend? You do? Well, here we go!

Friday marked my last day as the graphic department's intern. *sniff* I'm actually going to miss everyone up there a lot, although I don't think they believed me when I told them. Anyways, I did a voice over for the AC video that will be on the new Space Camp website, and that was fun. I didn't sound bad at all, except for the fact that I can't say the word "stars" without sounding really southern. We also had sushi, which was interesting, and Snicker Bar ice cream, which was fabulous. I'd never had sushi before, but Steve loves it, so I was determined to try it. I didn't like the seaweed wrappy thing, but everything else was fine. I was having to gut each peice before I ate it. That would be a great diet for me. Just wrap everything I eat in one of those seaweed things, and I'd leave it alone! : ) After I left work, I mowed Rhonda and Lee's yard, and Steve and I went to see Spiderman 2. I really enjoyed it, but the end made me mad. If you haven't seen the movie yet, just skip this part: I know that we are supposed to be glad that Mary Jane and Peter Parker finally get together, but she LEFT THE GUY AT THE ALTER!!!! You just don't do that. She knew she didn't want to marry him in the first place, so why embarrass him like that?! Geez. Anyways, that made me mad, and I don't care if we are supposed to be glad that they finally hooked up! I don't particularly feel sympathetic to people who treat other people like that. Granted, it was just a movie, though. : ) Actually, I found out later that he turns into a bad guy in the comics, so that made it easier to bear.

Saturday I had to work, but after that Shannon, Josh and I went to the mall to see Latonya's little boy in the "Back to School" fashion show. He was so cute. They also had the high school girls there modeling, and dang, I've never felt quite so short and dumpy as I did standing next to them. To make us feel better, Josh took us to the Godiva stand, which was right by the stage, and we ate chocolate in front of the models. I don't know about them, but it made ME feel better. Then we all got together later that evening and went to dinner and to Barnes and Noble. I don't know what it is about bookstores, but I can spend forever just walking around looking at stuff. Shannon and Greg stayed at the house later to watch "Hidalgo" which was surprisingly good, and then we watched a Chris Rock stand up show. Kenny and I talked about Chris Rock the other day, and I still stand by my opinion that he isn't that funny. In fact, after watching that show, I think he's less funny than I did before. : P

Sunday, of course, was church and we also went to my parent's house for lunch. Aunt Peggy, Uncle Ken, Janice and Danny came over and it was so nice to see them again. I don't know when the last time I saw Danny or Uncle Ken was, but I don't think I'd seen Janice and Peggy since last christmas, or maybe the christmas before that. It was a lot of fun. After church that night we had dinner with a bunch of people from church and then we went to see "The Village". I kind of felt a little gyped after it was over, but the more I've been thinking about it, the more brilliant it was. I love M. Night Shama-however you spell it. He's my most favorite movie director/writer ever!!!!

Well, that was it. very exciting! : )

Saturday, August 07, 2004

E! Online News - "Bunny" Billboard Blown Away

I hate to sound like a prude, but where did out sense of modesty go? I'm not saying that I'd like to move back into the pre-sexual revolution days where everything that might even remotely questionable was banned or burned, but it seems like nowadays that very few people have any sense of decency anymore. I can't believe that I'm here preaching about this, since I'm a huge supporter of free speech, but sometimes you just have to step back and say "wait a minute, this is just too much!" In the story above, we have a fairly obvious breach in what I would consider acceptable advertising. I don't know about you, but if I were to be walking or driving down the street and saw what this billboard had on it, I'd probably run into something. You'll actually have to read the story to know what I'm talking about, because I know my mom reads this and I don't want to say it myself, but it's just ridiculous. To quote from the article, the director and star of the movie says this about the billboard: " "The billboard was designed for sophisticated people, who'd understand the aesthetic, the fact that there's subtext and complexity." Pardon me, but that's a load. There was nothing sophisticated about that picture. There was also nothing aesthetic or complex about it either. That dude is just trying to justify being a pervert. Some people can call it art or whatever, but let's call a spade a spade, it was as close to porn as one could get to outside of the internet! HOwever, to be fair about the situation, I'm really surprised that the board was taken down. That's at least good news.
People have this idea that everything in perfectly okay to do these days. They can say and do anything they want, no matter how disgusting or offensive, and no one should say anything. Does anyone have any idea how this is affecting children these days? Our society seems to believe that the kids growing up today are so desensitizing, but in reality, they are as impressionable as they always have been. Just because they can "ho-hum" sex and violence, doesn't mean it isn't affecting them. I mean think about it, we've got prepubescent girls dressing like street walkers, with their parents permission, and we have little boys talking about things knowledgeably that they shouldn't know about for years. You can't even see the Children's Choice Awards without seeing cleavage. It scares me to death what the world will be ike when these kids grow up. If God even lets us get that far. I mean think about it, there was another place written about where people just indulged in everything they wanted without worry. God leveled that place with fire and stuff. I can't help but feeling that we aren't that far behind.

Tuesday, August 03, 2004

My lunch was vile. I'm not kidding. I got one of those Lean Cusine chicken alfredo meals and it was gross. You know, there are only a few kinds of those dang frozen dinners that I like, but NO, I have to expirement and try new stuff. I mean, you can't just have some convenient chicken and noodles or rice, it has to be smothered in some kind of sauce that was probably created in a lab somewhere. It always sounds great, but once you realize that there is more sauce than anything else, it's totally not worth it. Now I'm eating a bag of M&Ms for lunch. Very nutritious. : )

I hope your chicken noodles were better than mine. Woofta.

Monday, August 02, 2004

index

Go here! This page belongs to my friend Jason Hatfield, the guy who I've been working with in the graphics department. It's basically his resume, but you can see the kind of stuff he does.

See, I told you he was talented!!!

Sunday, August 01, 2004

Sex Toys Still Selling In The Valley

Huh? I don't mean to sound like a freak or anything, but why would they ban something like this? I mean, it's not like you can buy these kind of things off of a big display at Wal-Mart. At least I don't think so...
Do you ever wish
That you could be someone else?
I do that sometimes.


Wow, a haiku...
MAN OF CONSTANT SORROW (Well, not really a man, and not so much sorrow either)

How's this for irony? I've been having problems with my Blog since thursday evening. I've tried to post, but the status section says that "There Are Errors". Of course, when I try to click on the "detail" button, I get nothing. My computer blocks the pop-up window that gives me the info, and when I use the bypass of the pop-up killer, it still won't work. Well, I finally -FINALLY- found out that I didn't have enough webspace for everything I've got on my website, so I go in and clean out a ton of things and rearrange some stuff and the Blog from thursday, the Prozac ones, finally published! I was glad, because I was going to be able to make the entry I had been trying to put in since it screwed up. Well, yesterday, Steve had one of his "I need to build stuff and rearrange my computer" moments and he moved our network hub (or whatever let's me have internet access in the office) and now I don't have internet on my computer AND I don't remember what seemed so important to post! For the love of Pete... Now, I'm using Steve's computer in the man room. I'm sure he loves this.

Another irritating thing, is that I bought the first Mac software that I've ever purchased because part of the suite was a program I just found on Jason's computer at work called "GarageBand". It allows you to write you're own music and mix it. Well, I bought it, got it home, tried to install it and didn't realize (frankly because I didn't read the box close enough) that to install GarageBand, you have to have a DVD drive, and I don't have that on my laptop. Who knew that you would need both a CD drive and a DVD drive to install the same piece of software! Macs are confusing!!!!! SIGH. So when I get my internet access back so I can update my drivers and such, I will be able to install everything BUT what I bought the stinkin software for in the first place. Steve says there is a small chance that there may be a way to install it through the network or whatever, so here's to hoping! : )

On a lighter note, I am starting to understand how to use a few things in Photoshop that I didn't know I could do! See, I had a Photoshop project on Friday in Graphics and I couldn't concentrate on it. Part of the reason was that I was tired and had a headache, and the other part was that Jason was looking over my shoulder and he makes me nervous. I mean, he isn't scary or anything, but he's so freaking talented that I feel bad trying to do anything while he's watching because I know he could do it so much better. Don't worry, it's a self imposed shame, he didn't say anything. It's just intimidating!!! Anyways, I was fooling around with it last night and realized that it wasn't as hard as I thought, so I was able to make at least two versions of what I was supposed to do, so hopefully I will be able to send that to Roderick sometime this week.

Speaking of Graphics, this is my last week as an intern! I'm going to miss everyone up there so much! We always have fun, and I've learned a lot about politics while being up there. It's all very biased, but at least I'm getting it from both sides! : ) I haven't had much to do up there lately, but I've still enjoyed it. Oh well, I will also enjoy getting a couple of whole paychecks too!