Tattoos!

lt;np, sorry. I'll try to be better this year. I just wanted to share the news that I got a new tattoo! Two tattoos! Three total now.

This is the first one I got, back in 2008. It's a sun with a raven in the center. It's my high school graduation present, and a constant reminder to me that I have goals and ambitions and I am perfectly capable of achieving them. And ravens are awesome, and have a lot of good qualities that I should strive for.

This is the second one, but only by technicality. The artist just wanted to knock this one out before starting the second one for the day. It says Aure Entuluva - Day Shall Come Again. It's written in one of Tolkien's Elvish languages, Qenya. I got it as a reminder that no matter what is going on in my life, it's going to get better, and it probably isn't really all that bad to begin with. I have ways of improving my life if things are really unpleasant. If I'm not trying that hard to change it, it's probably not that bad.

I may or may not have broken not one, but two self-imposed tattoo rules. 1) Wait at least a year so you know that you for sure want it. 2) Nothing below the knee, past the shoulders. But, like my tattoo artist said, "rules are meant to be broken." Plus, I have a Elvish tattoo, which I think is awesome. #nerdz4lyfe

This is my third tattoo. I've been planning on getting this one since the day after I got my first one. It's a grizzly bear. Grizzly bears are great. I got it to remind myself of my own expectations of my behavior. I should be reasonably loyal, protective, resourceful, calm, and sometimes a little lazy. Ferocious or affectionate if the situation calls for it. And it doesn't matter that much if I smell bad, because I can catch fish with one paw! (The last one may not apply to my situation, but it's still awesome!)

Pros and Cons of Living Alone

I live with my cat. No one else, just the two of us. I love it. However, there are some drawbacks.

Pro: You don't have to clean. Your mess is your mess. You clean it up when it's convenient. If your favorite pan is dirty, you have no one to blame but yourself. You can leave your dirty clothes laying all over the house (because we all strip naked in our kitchens from time to time, right?)

Con: You don't have to clean. The freedom to not pick up after yourself is a cruel, cruel trap. It takes a lot more motivation to clean when your place is trashed.  Also, you can't have company over without apologizing.

Pro: You have a lot more privacy. Remember that thing I said about stripping naked in the kitchen from time to time? You can't do that with a roommate (at least a platonic one, unless you're really really close). Heck, you can exercise naked. You can even talk on the phone about anyone without worrying that your roommate is overhearing and repeating later.

Con: It's harder to have a social life. If you don't leave your house, you aren't going to see anyone that day. And unless your friends lives across the street/down the hall, you have to plan a lot more. No more spontaneous dinners out, or a spur of the moment decision to go to for a walk with them. It takes some effort to coordinate things. Despite how Friends made things look, no one leaves their apartment unlocked while they're not home. Nor will your broke friends constantly hang out in the same coffee shop every day. That shit's expensive.

Pro: You can definitely be inconsiderate. Unless you have neighbors in the same building, you can play music, watch TV, exercise, dance, cook, etc at all hours of the day. Get up at 6 and feel like turning up the metal and doing jumping jacks? You can. Want to make curry at midnight while watching your favorite Bollywood movie? If you can stay awake til 4am, go for it. Who is going to tell you "no"? No one. Because you live by yourself, and as long as there is food in the bowl and no crap in the litter box, your cat won't care what shenanigans you get up to.

Con: You don't have to stick to a normal person routine. While watching Shahrukh Khan make a puppydog face a woman half his age while singing and dancing at 3 am may be really fun, it is definitely not a normal thing to do. Being asleep at 3 am is a normal thing to do. Granted, having a roommate can keep you awake sometimes ("Is she still on the phone? It is 3 am!"), turning off the noise and light so they can get up for work in the morning will also help you get up for work in the morning.

Pro: You don't have to compromise. Yeah, it may be there turn to call the landlord about a repair, but you really want it done now. That picture of that turtle may creep you out, but your beloved yet ugly painting of a tree is across the room from it. Yes, you do most of the cooking, but their food deserves a cabinet too. You think he just needs to put on a hoodie, but having the heat at 55 in January in Minnesota isn't something most people are used to, you guess. Reasonable, but really?

Con: There's no pressure to get stuff done. Yeah, the hot water isn't hot enough, but I can live with that. I should probably hang up the painting of a tree, but it's just me, and I don't really need it up. Yeah, I should probably clean the bathroom, but I'm ok with cat hair on the floor.

Overall, I'm bossy and inconsiderate and anti-social and bachelorish (yeah, it's a word now) enough where I prefer to live alone. Despite the fact that I am terrible at cleaning, exercise mostly nude, play my music at odd hours, and have trouble going to bed sometimes, I think it suits me better than having roommates.

Craigslist

To be completely honest, Craigslist is pretty janky.

However, I've had really great luck with it lately. Sold a bed within an hour of posting it, and bought a nice table for $15 and picked it up the next day after I emailed her.

I suppose, much like many things in life, you have to use it carefully.

Walking in the city after dark by yourself (Hey, I know I shouldn't, but I live alone in the city and I don't have a car. This is Minnesota, it get dark at 4pm in the winter. It is literally impossible to not walk alone after dark) is another example. Be smart about it. Act confident. Be polite. Keep to yourself. If there's a group nearby, you can keep close to them so creepers think you're with them.

I must be getting more street-savvy, right?

Life Update

So, I kind of forgot to blog for a while. My apologies. I haven't even been super busy, but life happens.

Things I've been doing:
1) Beat Pokemon White.
~Snivy was my starter for this one, and he was pretty great, but Seismitoad has to be my favorite pokemon in this entire generation. Unfortunately, my beloved cat has chewed my DS charger in half, so I am still waiting for my new one to arrive from Hong Kong. I got part way through replaying Black, but it has to wait because I finally ran out of battery.

2) Went to California.
~My friend Katie and I went to California to our friends wedding. We went to the beach, Chinatown, Little Tokyo, museums, and Jeannette's bachelorette party was in Disney Land! The wedding was beautiful and they are so cute!

3) Got a promotion at work.
~I've been trying to find a new job that pays more, but instead the Lead Teller position opened up at work. So now I am living within my means! Yay! And have more to do at work.

4) Exercising.
~While I've dropped from 4-5 workouts a week to 2-3, I've still been working out pretty regularly. I've even been biking more often, and I don't really enjoy riding my bike, but it's a good workout and gets me places faster than walking.

5) Listening to music
~I've been renting CDs from the library, and listening to the radio more often so I can hear more music and finally listen to all those albums that have been on my list forever.

6) Volunteering
~My new years resolution of 4 hours of volunteer service a month has been mostly working (except I only had 2 hours in July, but most have had 6-8, so it evens out). I have discovered that volunteering gets you free stuff and free admission and something to do during the event. I have a ton of t-shirts, have gotten out of at least $30 in cover charges/admission fees, free meals, free drinks and other random swag. And of course, volunteering gives me a warm fuzzy feeling inside. And I feel like I'm doing something worthwhile instead of just bumming around and spending money.

7) Having a social life
~Sort of? I have been succeeding at my 1 social event per week minimum, but I was hoping it would snowball by now. I am terrible at initiating contact, and setting plans. And I like hanging out with friends, but laying on the couch usually trumps getting up and doing something. I need to get better at making obligations for myself so I get my butt off the couch.

8) Being single
~Still single, still not dating, still enjoying it!

Faire du Camping

I love camping. Mom and I went to Lake Itasca State Park, where the headwaters to the Mississippi are located. It was a good time, even though we were down by a family member (brother, who was being a dutiful son to our dad and stepmom).

One thing I love about camping is the fire. Even when we don't need to heat anything over the fire, or roast any marshmallows, there is something comforting and traditional about a campfire. Make one first thing in the morning, even when it's plenty warm, to sip your coffee by. Or use to cook your hashbrowns, eggs and beans in the morning. At night, make it to eat dinner by, and to prepare the dessert. Smores, every evening. Who cares if you're full or are sick of marshmallows? You're camping. Smores are a must! A campfire is a good start and end to the day, and usually a good middle to the day.

I also love all the exercise. Even when you just hang around the campsite all day, you still need to walk to the bathroom, to the water pump, etc. Unless you're in an RV or something, camping means roughing it. You need to lug water, you need to stand up and stretch because your butt hurts from sitting on uncomfortable wooden benches and sleeping on rocky ground. Plus, there's hiking, bike rides, kayaking, canoeing, swimming, and climbing. We went for a sixteen mile bike ride. My butt still hurts!

The wildlife is also fun. From a big, lazy raccoon looking for handouts from all the campsites to a grouse who needs to look where he's flying before he takes off, we saw quite a few cool animals. Even the multitude of tent caterpillars (including several on our tent, coincidentally), and the many adorable chipmunks and squirrels entertain me to no end. I'd love to have seen more animals, as the park also has moose, wolves and bears, but being in the middle of the campgrounds, the only animals we're likely to see are the ones who want something from people. The grouse however, seemed just surprised as we were to see us in the middle of his flight path.

Camping is a great escape. It's a literal happy place. Even with rain, and forgotten items, and unexpected events, it's hard to not have a good time while you're camping.

States I've visited

I have only a few states left to go in the US, and most of them are in the Bible Belt.
Red means I've driven through it. Amber means I've slept there at least once, but don't really know it very well. Blue means I've been there multiple times or spent extended time there. Green means I've lived there, or have been there a lot.

You can make your own map at: http://www.defocus.net/visitedstates/generate.html

First Sunburn of the Year

My face is pink! I love the feeling of being sunburned. It's just warm and cozy.

I got my sunburn by apartment hunting. I unfortunately have to move because rent went up, and my roommate moved away. And I don't really want to live with anyone else, so I should probably get a 1 bedroom or studio so someone can take the larger space who needs it.

So, I hoofed it around some areas in uptown and eat street and phillips to see if there are any rentals around there. I have a couple I need to follow up with, because they looked promising. I don't really want to live in Phillips, but it's more convenient than Uptown, and I get less angry about the privilege in our country.

For some reason, every time I'm in uptown, I just get upset that white privilege exists, and that wealth is so concentrated with one class of people. I know it's not the fault of the people who live in Uptown, but people jogging with their dog past the lakes, or pushing their children in fancy strollers past their beautiful gardens just makes me sad. Especially when I then go to Phillips, where people are taking the bus to work on a Saturday afternoon, and asking strangers to help pay their bus fare, and the sidewalks and road surface quality is noticeably worse than in Uptown.

So, I probably shouldn't live in Uptown. Plus the bus ride would be 40 minutes instead of 15 from Phillips. Even though Uptown is prettier and safer. Plus, Uptown is expensive and tempting! So many amazing restaurants and coffee shops. In Phillips, there are good bakeries and coffee shops and stuff, but most of the restaurants aren't so veggie friendly, so I will spend less.