Super Happy Fun Summer Time

That title was all a lie, just to let you know. I do that sometimes. You know, the whole sarcasm thing.

I know it's been a while since a real post, so I'll go over the whole summer and hope I don't skip any pulse-pounding details. In May I headed back from college to Cincinnati, still fighting that stubborn cough that had been hanging around during finals week. I immediately started applying for work, but no one seemed to love me enough, what with my vivacious and bubbly personality. After I lost my voice almost completely I went to a clinic, and tested positive for mono. Hoorah mono. And before you accuse, I was not kissing anyone with mono! So I held off on some food service applications until I got my voice back and stopped hacking up both lungs simultaneously. I caved and applied to some fast food places, and whaddayaknow I got a call from good ole Makudonarudo (as I have previously stated). Started work there full time, despite being told it would be a two day a week job, but that's cool because I have nothing better to do with my life than make parfaits for cranky people who like to harrass me and have selective amnesia that THE STRAWS ARE IN THE BAG.

In the meantime, my mom's brother was building a room in the basement for me (being paid, of course). He's a contractor and business has been slow lately. We also know that we can trust him, so that was also a plus. The reason for the room is that my old one was beyond blandness had could barely fit my book collection, let alone my junk from college (my college books were hiding out in the closet, since there was zero shelf space). The closet was so poorly set up that I resorted to just putting my clean clothes on the floor because getting to the closet was such a chore and extremely dangerous. He finished up at the beginning of July.

Around that time, I lost my voice to the point where all I could do was whisper; much worse than at the beginning of May. I went back to the doctor, got another blood test that showed my mono was back, because it hated me. I took two weeks off of work. The lovely thing about this is that my mono allowed me to work on the paint for my room, so I was in by my birthday (while I was still out with mono). Once everything's put away, I'll slap some pics up on the Facebook (which means you'll never see my room, since nothing has ever been put away). Mono also allowed me to go see my favorite band of all time, Skillet. I had horrid seats because I bought them last minute, and I couldn't sing along or shout when prompted. Failtrain. Anyway, I went back to work two weeks ago and have resumed my parfait-making duties.

Another fantastic thing that happened was I wiped my hard drive (purposefully) and I thought I was doing it the same way I did two years ago. No, I succeeded in uninstalling all the drivers, and having a driver disc for the Latitude D620 instead of the 820. I suffered a week of fighting with it and I think I've got it running ok, and Gettysburg can fix the rest.

One other thing. My PS2 died. It was very sad and frustrating. It disc errored when I tried to play MGS and then didn't believe that the disc was even in the drive for PS2 games. I took the thing apart, accidentally cut the cable that makes the on/off buttons work, ordered a new one, fixed that, cleaned the laser, and put it back together, only to have it still not read discs. One day after work I drove out to a Play n Trade and got quite lost and made various u-turns. Once I got there, still in my Makudonarudo garb, the guy told me they didn't have anyone who could fix phat PS2s, which was lovely. He directed me to another game store, which I called from my car, but they do not order replacement lasers anymore. Frustrated, tired, hot, and sick of the PS2, I went back into the Play N Trade, bought a used phat PS2 and then drove back to Mason, where I let GameStop deal with it. I probably could have found a way to repair it, but by that point I just wanted the stupid thing to work. So now I have a working phat PS2 that is currently in the process of updating Final Fantasy XI.

The End

I hope you enjoyed this rendition of "Jen's Life This Summer." If you would like to purchase a transcript of this broadcast, move your mouse to the beginning, hold it down and, without unclicking, move the pointer to the last word and release. Then press the Ctrl and C keys simultaneously. Open up Word, press the Ctrl and V keys simultaneously, and finally press the Ctrl and S keys simultaneously.

----------------
Now playing: Squaresoft - Guardando Nel Buio
via FoxyTunes

HI TO EVERYBODY

Sorry that it has taken quite a while to get going with the family blog. I think that it is a wonderful idea. Hope by now,Jen, that you are enjoying your new bedroom and bath. It must have been fun watching Lance build it. Do hope you are feeling better. Mono is a stinker of a thing to have. Mom and Laura have certainly done lots of painting. That's hard work too. I will be anxious to see it before you head back to school. We've been having fun at Vermilion with the boat. Lots of new people are docking near us and they are very friendly and fun to talk to. We planned a picnic for 20 out there at a lovely condo on the waters edge and took groups out for boat rides. Everyone had fun and so did we. Towards the end of June we went to Minneapolis and were so pleased that Uncle Dave looks much better and feels stronger.Can't think of much else. Love you all.

Noni and Popi

Norwich

So, I'm not sure who is actually reading the blog, but I'll post anyway. Like Mom (Aunt Tavane) said, I went to Norwich for graduation. It was great to see so many people in a short amount of time. I headed out Wednesday night (June 24th) and spend the night at Dan and Ann's with Shay to keep me company. Then the next morning finished the drive to Norwich. I stayed with my boyfriend Brian's family. I got to have good pizza! I can't find a pizza I like here in Cincinnati - it all seems thick crust like Pizza Hut style. I went to two graduation parties and saw SO many people. My best friend, Joy, is staying with her dad in Bingamton for the summer, so Monday night I went and spent the night there, and therefore got an hour head start on the drive home. That drive seemed to take FOREVER. But there were no problems other than a lot of construction on I86 in NY. It was so nice to see all the people I hadn't seen.

And here's my new bed. I sketched it out. Uncle Lance cut it out. I painted the base. Mom and I covered the headboard with fabric. It turned out pretty spiffy, if I do say so myself

quick update

Well, Jen's room is finally done. We are trying to get things organized so she can move down there. Unfortunately, her mono symptoms have come back and she is quite tired. We neglected to tell everyone that she was diagnosed in late May with mono. She was doing very well but last week, her throat started hurting again. She has been easily tired out since then. She also has an appointment today to see about having her wisdom teeth extracted. Not sure how this is all going to work out.
Laura went out to Norwich for graduation at the end of June. She did the whole trip by herself. Thanks to Dan & Ann for letting her stay at their house (while they were away) so she wouldn't have to do the trip all in one day.
Steve is ever busy at work and doing things here to make our house a home.
I've been busy getting Jen's room ready. Taking a small break today. Probably move some of her things down but not too much. My arms still hurt. Laura and I also started painting the kitchen but had to put that on hold while we worked on Jen's room. Probably start that back up next week. I think after that, I might take a break from painting.
Hope to hear from others soon.
Tavane