pennywhistle

Yesterday xoraclex helped me finish cleaning out the old apartment, and I turned my keys in to the manager.

It was very freeing to be rid of that apartment. It felt very small and claustrophobic after the space and grandeur of living in my new townhouse.

The house is....well, it's a mess. Boxes in every single room of the house. My bedroom is completely covered in clothes that I dumped out of boxes while looking for one article of clothing. It took me 15 minutes this morning to find my safety pins. Now that the stress of getting the old place cleaned out is gone, I need to really throw myself into unpacking the new place and making it look nice. I'm falling into old habits that I swore I wouldn't do at this place, like dishes in the sink and clothes on the floor. Must get organized!


I'm done with my shift in AVD, and now I'm subbing downstairs at Circ for three hours. I need the money, but I wish I could just go home :-( I'm premenstrual and really feeling the hermitish vibes. Alas, I have a three-hour class once I get off at 5pm.

I feel guilt from skipping my classes yesterday :-(

Thank you all for the birthday wishes!! I appreciate them so much. I love birthdays, because it's all about me ^_~ I demand a parade thrown in my honor on that day, and yesterday came pretty darn close to it.

I woke up early and realized it was my birthday and squee'd. But it was too early, so I forced myself to go back to sleep for a few hours.

I finally got up and got dressed and headed out the door. Whereupon more squeeage ensued, because the always wonderful xoraclex had decorated my back stoop and my car!! She painted the back stoop rainbow colors and covered it with glitter, and she tied happy ribbons on my car. I was so happy! THANK YOU, CARLETTE!! ^_^

I drove over to the old apartment, and on the way there the manager called me and said the people below me were complaining of a drip from their bathroom ceiling. I gave her permission to send the maintanence guys in, but I told her I haven't used that shower in over a week (I'm showering at Carlette's right now, because I haven't scrubbed out the new bathtub and DAMMIT I just realized I forgot to get a new shower curtain liner when I was at Target today). I got to the old apartment and found that the toilet had been running for days. I'm sorry for the wasted water, but I'm glad the apartment complex has to pay for it. I told them in August there was a problem with the toilet, they half-heartedly "fixed" it, and actually made the problem worse. So screw their water bill.

I packed up the car and went to The Original Pancake House for breakfast. I'd never been there, but it was close to the old apartment and I wanted chocolate chip pancakes. I was pretty disappointed in the service and the food. :-\ Oh well. Now I know I wasn't missing anything all the times I drove past the place.

I came home, took a shower at Carlette's, and got dressed in the new dress and boots I'd gotten the day before. RAWR. I looked hawt. Damn, that is a sweet Penny you might say. I felt good.

I got to work and found treats on my desk! My mom had brought me a brownie from The Bonbonerie, which are only my favorite brownies EVAR, and my coworker A. had made me chocolate chip cookies! A. also got me a cute little kitten stationary set. She is so kind.

I had to sit through a four-hour training session on "Tactical Communications." It was pretty damn dull. And the guy running the training had an adverb phobia. He kept saying, "We need to treat the patrons good. We don't want to treat them bad." He said it approximately 10 times! It was driving me nuts.

I finally got to leave and drove out to Wright State to pick up ladyoceanstar. She was totally rocking her new glasses and haircut, and she looked fantabulous! I popped in the Spamalot! soundtrack and we sped down to Cincinnati where we met box_o_kittens for dinner at Applebee's. I'd really been wanting to try their new Apple Walnut Chicken Salad, but apparently I was craving pasta, because I ordered shrimp alfredo. We'd wanted dessert, but there just wasn't time. YOU KNOW how I freak about time.

We got downtown and walked the block and a half to the theatre. My feet were KILLING me by this point, because the boots have a higher heel than I'm used to. Oh, the ways we suffer for beauty. :-\

The show was, in a word, SO FUCKING AWESOME. I nearly fell out of my seat laughing at several points. It was pretty much just the movie with songs added and the plot changed slightly, but it was just frickin' great. It was so fun to see all the best lines being said right in front of you by a live actor. The guy who played Lancelot was just the best. Since that role was created by Hank Azaria, that actor had to play a ton of different roles: Lancelot, Tim the Enchanter, the French Taunter, the Knights Who Say Ni. He made each of them so different, but so true to the original. The guy who played Arthur was definitely channeling his inner Tim Curry. It was cool, so I could imagine how Tim would have done it, but I would have also liked to see him make the part his own. The Lady of the Lake was the biggest disappointment. She was trying too hard to affect the proper accent and she sung from the back of her throat. Which is how I sing, but I'm not on frickin' Broadway.

It was such a great night, and it was so nice to be able to snuggle and smooch with Lisa. Best present evar ^_~ She bought me a tee shirt, which was awesome. I still must...thank her... for all that she did for me for my birthday ^_~

Toby and I got back to the apartment late, and I crashed. It really was the second best birthday evar!! (Sorry, seeing Eddie Izzard front-row center and getting him to sign my video "Happy birthday" and getting to hug him will ALWAYS remain number 1 ^_~)

Thursday suraimu and xoraclex came over to help me with moving and painting. Rob helped move heavy stuff and run errands. Carlette helped PAINT and unpack!! And she drank mint water. Whatever.

There are now apartment pictures on the Flickr.


I live here!!


Last night was the fifth annual Penny's Benihana Birthday Dinner. I love going to Benihana for my birthday. I love BANANA TEMPURA. OMG. I had several of my good friends join me, including box_o_kittens, xoraclex, octavialuna, kerinda, suraimu, ta2dmrm8, lthrlvr71, their friend Sherri, and my cousin Jenny.

I decided the best course of action for going to an expensive dinner would be to forget my purse at home. WFT is wrong with me?! I'm so forgetful lately! Carlette came to my rescue and fronted me the money for my dinner. THANK YOU!!!!

The chef made everyone sing happy birthday to me, and later on the waitress did as well. So I got sung to twice, which was fine with me. They also made me a wacky balloon hat, and I got an official polaroid. They started doing poloroids of birthday parties in 2004, so now I have three of them ^_^

The food was mostly delicious. Because of the way they'd layed the plates out, there ended up being an extra "bonus" plate of food that we shared around, and yet did not get charged for. Awesome. There was some drama over me not getting my damned steamed rice though. I need my steamed rice! When it finally came, it was overcooked and chewy :-\ The banana tempura made up for it, though. The entire reason I go to Benihana over any other Japanese restaurant is the banana tempura. OMG IT IS HEAVEN. I only get it once a year on my birthday, and I look forward to it every year!

I got some KICKASS presents! Lisa gave me a hand-painted bowl with chopstick rests. It is BEAUTIFUL, and I love that she created it herself ^_^ Everyone else gave me thoughtful and extremely awesome presents, and I'm so grateful to them. Thank you!!!

After dinner a few of us decided to go to Graeters. I can't believe V had never had Graeters before! I think she's a convert now ^_^ Lisa and I skipped ice cream, because FULL OF TEMPURA, but everyone else shared tastes of theirs. We just sat and talked, and it was so nice to have so many of my friends together.

Birthday pictures are also on the Flickr.




I was developing a headache by the time we left the restaurant, and on the way home an hour and a half later it had developed into a screamer. I took some ibuprofen and got into bed and whimpered until I fell asleep. I hate screamers. I haven't had one in a long time, but they're just unbearable.

I feel better this morning, but there's still a headache lurking, waiting to pounce again. I need more ibuprofen. I'm at work until 5. TIME AND A HALF, YAY.

My birthday is actually on Tuesday. I have to work, and then I'm going to see Spamalot with box_o_kittens and ladyoceanstar!!