I, somehow, have a “look” that makes people think that they know me. Unfortunately it’s never attractive single men who “think” they know me; it’s usually some random person who says, “Oh I thought you were my cousin’s Sue’s daughter” or something like that. I don’t think I look like anyone, except for the girl my ex-husband dated before me, but whatever.
So tonight I was at church and there’s always this semi-awkward meet-and-greet period where you’re supposed to say hello to the people seated around you. Except it’s a big chapel and in the winter (and on a football Sunday) attendance is down, so you have to get up and walk around to meet people. And it always seems to go on for like a minute longer than I’d like and I end up standing there feeling awkward. Tonight I was wandering and this guy in a black suit and black shirt with black hair shook my hand and introduced himself as Tony. I told him my name and he repeated it, staring intently at me. I was momentarily flattered until I saw him do that to the next person he met LOL. Turns out that Tony is one of the student pastors (he looked to be about 5 years older than me but I guess “adult learner pastor” doesn’t have the same ring to it).
At first I was thinking, hmmm, Tony’s kinda cute. Before Communion, I saw that he was going to be on my side of the church (Communion is by intinction). Score. I also saw that he was holding the Chalice and stood, initially, before the guy holding the bread. Uh-huh. Anyway, when I got up to him — I never know what to do, say “thank you?” when the person says, “The body of Christ” … I mean, what’s a proper response? And it’s even weirder to say “thank you” when the person with the juice says, “The blood of Christ, shed for you.” ANYWAY, I looked at Tony, up close, and realized he looks just like my ex-husband! It’s like my ex-husband’s head was on this man’s body! I was totally freaked out and in fact did not say “thank you” or anything at all after dipping my piece of bread into the cup. THEN I had to shake this crazy Tony-Josh person’s hand when I left the chapel at the end of the service!
So while I initially thought that Tony would be someone cute to check out at church (so sue me, whatever), no no no no NO says Miss Monique! It’s bad enough when a guy reminds me of Josh. But to actually look like him??? Gah. Apparently God was sending me a message there, and that message, loud and clear, says STAY AWAY FROM TONY!
When I was a wee blogger, I relied on blogger.com to set up more blog. Eventually I put on my big girl panties and decided to strike out on my own. There was only one problem: I. Was. Clueless. Fortunately, I worked with a guy at that time who knew a ton about this stuff and he told me what to look for in a web host. I have a super duper great hosting company now. But what if you don’t have any recommendations or don’t know what to look for in a web host? After all, it’s important to find a company that is reliable and also offers good customer service, like answering dumbass questions such as “why won’t my header show up?” Not that I asked that question yesterday or anything. 
http://www.webhostingchoice.com is a great resource for hosting plans … you can input your search criteria and even sort by items that are like Greek to me.
More importantly, there’s a “learning center” section on http://www.webhostingchoice.com that deals with basics of web hosting and also provides information about scams. As I was discussing yesterday with Miss Sodapop, I know just enough about this stuff to be dangerous … and in actuality I probably know a lot less than I think I do! So read up on hosting plans and make an informed decision!
My next class in my MBA program starts on Wednesday. I just logged in to see what I’m in for. OMG. No social life is what I am in for, that’s fo’ sho’. I had two classes last term, mini-classes if you will. They were introductory courses, 1.5 credits each. Yes I complained and whined but really they were fairly easy. I think they were designed more to ease the adult learner back into the routine of school more than anything. This next course? Fuck me running. A team assignment THE FIRST WEEK! Reading after reading. Oh dear God. I have a feeling I may not be dating again until this program ends in August 2009 which, really, may not be such a bad thing. 
Aside from checking in on my class, I have done virtually nothing today. I woke up with a headache which means pretty much a wasted day for me. I took a couple of Excedrin Migraine this morning and tried to go back to sleep to no avail, although I did eventually fall asleep this afternoon. Ugh.
I’m going into work tomorrow but I’ll probably leave by 3 so I can drive to Louisville to spend New Year’s Eve with Miss Sodapop and her girls. Wheeeeee!
I set off today in search of Joann Fabrics. Allegedly there is one on the southside. I never found the damn place. And all I allegedly had to do was get on one road and fucking stay there. What I did find were several places that I used to go to with an ex-boyfriend (Mark, those of you from way back). I hadn’t been over to that part of town in two years, basically since we broke up. He’s married now and lives somewhere around there, but I don’t know where. I was so angry with him when we broke up — oh, how I was angry! — but eh, that’s all gone now. In the beginning, we were just enthralled with each other … but we both pretty much knew we were doomed, because we were both jackasses and attention whores. His pouting at the bowling alley when I kicked his ass is legendary … the couple in the next lane even mocked him. LOL Hmmm that’s kind of a pattern. I usually win in bowling and putt-putt when on dates. Maybe I should watch myself. Yeah, right!!!!!
Since I couldn’t find Joann’s, I ended up at Archiver’s, a scrapbook store. I signed up for this ATC swap on swapbot.com (if you don’t know what an ATC is, like I didn’t, here’s a good site). I was there forevah and picked up a few pieces of paper, some valentine’s chipboard pieces, some valentine’s brads and a few other things. I put one ATC together and I think I’m going to get some rub-on lettering and it will be done. Not bad for my first attempt. I’ll post picks when I’m done.
I bought Dance Dance Revolution for my Wii and let me just say, I am weetarded. OMFG. After nearly an hour of “playing,” I started to get the hang of it … but it is going to be a LONG time before I move out of “beginner” mode!
I finally got around to getting my new library card today. The central library was closed when I moved here and reopened a few weeks ago. A new library was built and it’s beautiful. My heart started beating faster when I stepped inside … the entrance I came in is the old library, where the fiction section is. Oh. My. GAWD. Somanybooks! It’s so large I actually got lost … I didn’t realize I was in the fiction section when I entered and had to ask for directions. I did manage to find my way around nonfiction however. It’s so totally what a big city library should be. I’ve been in libraries in Boston and New York, and while this one is smaller, of course, it reminded me of those buildings. I will definitely be studying there; computer hookups are all over the place plus …. plus plus plus there is a coffee bar! Servings Starbucks! Ah, Miss Monique has found a new trolling ground for men.
So anyway, I found a few books, used one of the dozens of self-checkouts (ahh, so many!) and went on my merry way until … buzzzzzz went the security alarm. I thought it was odd that the checkout printed out individual receipts for the books. Apparently the alarm goes off unless the receipt is in the pocket in the back of the book! WTF? The guard — one of FIVE at my entrance alone — laughed at me when I said, “There are POCKETS in the books?” I mean, I thought that shit stopped 15 years ago. But no, I learned my lesson.
I was in my Cpanel last night and was trying to figure out why I only had a few megs of memory left. I started poking around an saw that one of my mail accounts was taking up 93 MG of space! It’s my main account for the account and there were more than 18,000 messages! Holy shit. Needless to say it took me a little bit to clear all of those up. But voila! More space for my blogginess.
I realized this week that I have a series addiction: I can’t stop playing Bricks Breaking over on Crackbook. OMG. I don’t know how many hundreds of games I played. It’s ridiculous.
I am back home, parked on my couch, as usual. It’s always an adjustment to get used to the solitude of my apartment after being around my parents and brother for several days. I had a very nice visit, though. I probably won’t see them now until April, which is a long way off.
I bought another domain today. I think that brings my total to five lol. I’ll let y’all know when the site is ready. It will be about a monthlong project I’m starting.
I signed up for Blog 365. My name is Monique on that site if you want to be my friend.
That’s kinda my theme right now. What do I want more of? Life! I want adventures, I want blog fodder, I want to spread my wings and learn to fly! Okay, maybe nothing quite that dramatic but really, I want to, at the end of 2008, be able to look back at all that I accomplished during the year. To that end, here are some of my plans for 2008:
- The perennial favorite, lose weight. But not just lose weight to lose weight. I want to be more energetic. I want to be healthier. I want to climb the six flights of stairs up to my apartment, if need be, without panting and feeling like I am going to die at flight 4 1/2. I want to feel smokin’ hot in my jeans. I want to be giggly and giddy and free in a way that I can only when I am confident.
- I am going to create — and stick to — a liveable budget. No more guessing where all my money went. No more panicky feelings those last few days before payday. I want to save money and live life, but more importantly, live within my means. Goodbye, impulse shopping!
- I am going to get an A in each of my classes this year. I am not paying a fuckton of money to get anything less. And I am going to have a kick-ass graduation party in 2009.
- I am going to commit to my spirituality and accept the fact that I need some sort of weekly structured religious observance in my life in order to maintain a balanced state of mind.
You may notice that all of my plans relate to me. That’s because the theme of 2007, Be Good to Monique, is being carried over to 2008. Wheeee! I encourage you to have your own “Be good” year. It’s amazing what you can get done when you’re being nice to yourself.
Merry Christmas! It was a quiet day at Chez Monique’s Parents. We didn’t exchange presents until this afternoon, when my brother got up. I received a Starbucks card from him, an Elvis doll my mom made (my brother got Mr. T), a keychain thingie and a calendar that features a picture of my mom’s friend’s cats. And of course money. Wheeeeee! Alas there were no golf shoes under the tree for me. I could have used those playing golf on my Wii!
I was looking online and there’s a Weight Watchers meeting Thursday at 6 p.m. I’m going. I’ve gained back all the weight I lost. Le sigh. Time to get back on the wagon!
I have been so domestic today, I want to explode … and it’s not even 1 p.m.! Who knows what else I will be up to today! In 4 hours, I have cross-stitched, made a lemon meringue pie, made sweet rolls, gone to Michaels …. ummm I think that’s it. Certainly more home-y stuff than I normally do in a month!
I ended up getting my brother a gift card for Christmas which I know is the easy way out. But really, what the hell do you buy a 26-year-old man? I normally like to buy actual presents but with him, it’s just too tough. He does drive a pick-up truck so I suppose I could have ordered a truck bed liner, but it’s easier just to slap down $25 at Barnes and Noble lol.
I have been making an effort to pray/meditate daily and I feel like it’s really made a difference in my demeanor. Like when I was on that flight the other day with the screaming infant five feet from me, I felt sorry for the mom, who was traveling alone with the baby, and just wanted the little girl to be comfortable and not scared. Today my mom and I were in the car and this old jokey Christmas song came on, the one where people are bitching about 12 different things about Christmas. I mean, Christmas comes every year, why not just prepare for it? Gah. Stuff like that drives me crazy.
My brother is a collector of ex-girlfriends. I swear, they won’t leave him alone. Tonight at 11:45, one randomly showed up. She’s been snuggling up to him for the past 90 minutes or so. He’s not giving me any signals to leave so I’m staying put for a while lol. We’re watching Rocky IV.
