Completely Miserable

It has been an absolutely miserable day and it's not over yet.  You cannot fathom how disheartening it is for it to rain ALL DAY LONG until you have to walk everywhere in said rain with no benefit of a covered vehicle.  It has come rushing back how much I hated to do any grocery shopping when it rained because it meant that I would have to load the trunk with groceries and my purse might get wet.  LOL


It started this morning when I had an appointment with Hays Recruiting at 9:30am.  It wasn't raining on my walk over, but it was starting to mist when I had to walk back to the hotel at 10am.  My first inspection (it's what they call an apartment viewing) was at noon in Pyrmont.  I know I told everyone that Jim and I were going to live in the CBD, but I had my first inspection yesterday on Kent street in the CBD and it really scared me.  The apartment is renting for $800/wk and as soon as I walked in, it smelled bad.  Plus, the apartment was only 93 square meters (just over 1,000 square feet) - SMALL.  For that price, you still have to provide your own microwave, refrigerator and washing machine.  So I decided that we should probably look in a suburb of the CBD.  Thus, today I went to Pyrmont.  Our friends, Ben and Vin, live in Pyrmont.  The walk from my hotel to the first apartment in Pyrmont is an approximately 30-40 minute walk.  In the rain.  I was told that the address was 219 Bulwara Road.  First, I turned down Bulwara only to discover that a freeway off-ramp divided the road in two and I had to walk up a block to a cross walk to go back to the other side of Bulwara.  Then I'm searching for 219 Bulwara Road.  I found 211, but then the next building said 231.  Ummm?  Hello?  Where is 219?  Well, the building that said 211 was actually 211-219.  I guess you have to just know that.  So we go up to the apartment entrance on the second floor.  The apartment is actually a split level, which is nice.  Until you find out that the rooms are VERY small and there is only aircon in the living room.  The upstairs bedroom not only has no aircon, but the air is not moving at all.  The living space was nice.  The bathroom and kitchen finishes were very nice, but with no aircon... there's no way.  There was a parking space and a storage cage, but no pool or gym.  This place was $750/wk.  The agent's name is Ian.  He could tell that I was not happy with the place.  He asked me to meet him at 45 Bowman Street in Jacksons Landing at 2:30pm.  I agreed.


I spent the next hour and a half with Vin before leaving for the next inspection.  This next place was nice.  About a block from the harbor.  It was still raining, though.  Met with Ian and he gave me a private tour.  A bit more storage.  Kitchen open to a larger living space and a huge terrace that connects from the living room through to both bedrooms.  The bathrooms were a little bigger.  Downfall is that the laundry is in the second bathroom instead of standing alone.  This place has a parking space and a slightly larger storage cage in the basement.  There are also two swimming pools, two gyms and two tennis courts.  Ian told me that this place was originally going for $875/week, but that his agency had gotten them to agree to come down to $840/week and may even come down to $820/week if we agreed to sign a one-year lease and move in soon.  I need to talk to Jim about it, I suppose.


So it's 4:20pm now and I have one more inspection at 5:30pm.  This next place is in the CBD on Sussex street.  It's $800/week.  I guess we'll see.  I like how it looks in the pictures provided online, but I liked the pictures of the one on Kent street, too.  :)  It's shocking to me what you DON'T get for your money... in my opinion.  More later.

Cost of Living in Sydney

I know that I would be interested in this stuff, so here are the prices of some stuff we bought in the past couple of days:


$6.99 Compact Umbrella
$8.49 Dove lotion 400mL
$7.99 Makeup remover - facial wipes
$4.49 2pk Dove bar soap
$4.19 Dove roll-on deoderant (very small bottle) 50mL
$2.99 Listerine 250mL
$2.79 Coles brand Chewy Muesli bars 6ct
$2.99 Microwave Jasmine rice
$2.98 Doritos
$0.63 White Seedless Grapes 0.318kg
$2.79 Sauce for Chinese dish

Tired of counting calories? Try counting kilojoules instead.

You get a heck of a lot more kilojoules per day than calories, which makes you feel like you can eat more but not really.  According to Australia, the average woman should consume 9,000 kilojoules per day:


Nutrition Australia


A chewy granola bar with chocolate drizzled on it is worth 561kg, or 134 calories.  I opted for white seedless grapes.

Holy Cow! We really did it...

So we woke up at 9:30am on Thursday morning.  Our plan had been to be on the road to JFK at noon.  Thank goodness we had made the decision the night before NOT to go back to the house one last time to do laundry.  We would not have had time to do that and we would have then had to re-pack to redistribute all the dirty clothes in separate bags so as not to soil the clean ones.  So we got a bit of a late start and of course I was freaking out the whole time.  Jim kept telling me to calm down.  Not a good comment at the time.

We made it to the Milford Mazda dealer at about 11am to return the car.  I was told that it would take less than 10 minutes.  Well, it took longer than that, but not too much.  Jim was nice enough to let me walk down to the Dunkin Donuts (I know... I know... but there was no Starbucks nearby and I was dying for a coffee) and get a mocha.

By the time I got back, everything was done.  Now we just had to return the plates to the DMV.  Apparently that service is not included when you return a leased vehicle.  We were completely unaware that we would have to do this, but thankfully you can return plates to the DMV in Milford and there was no one there.  As in... no lines.  So we just dropped the plates, got a receipt and were back in the car in less than 10 minutes.  We were on the road in time!

There was a whole fiasco with the luggage.  The night before I had called Qantas to pay for each of us to have an extra piece of luggage.  They took our money just fine... $105AU each piece.  Then we arrived at JFK only to find out that American Airlines (who were flying us from JFK to LAX) rejected the idea that Qantas could charge us for extra baggage and they don't get their cut.  So then we had to pay American Airlines $150US for each piece as well.  Unbelievable!  But, of course, we had no choice.

Finally free of all that luggage, we went in search for food.  We got pizza and then went to wait for the flight.  We bought the tickets so late that our seats weren't together.  That coupled with the fact that American Airlines had cancelled another flight to LAX made it impossible for us to change the seat assignment.  So I was in a middle seat sort of toward the middle of the plane and Jim was in an aisle seat in the last row.  After a 6 1/2 hour flight and landing in LAX, we barely had two hours before hopping on the Qantas flight to Sydney.

We had the middle and window seat to Sydney.  Poor Jim.  He only likes the aisle, but there were simply no seats.  This flight was about 16 hours.  I must have slept at least 10 hours.  I watched two movies: Contagion and Dream House.  They were pretty good.  Other than that, I watched some TV episodes that they had.  The food was okay.  When we finally landed in Sydney, I was in desperate need of a shower.  LOL!  And it's HOT in Sydney.  Today it's supposed to be 27 degrees Celsius.  Assignment of the day - figure out the temperature.

So...  we've arrived in Sydney on Saturday, February 25, 2012 at 8:21am.  :)

Last Day with Pepper

Spent the afternoon with Pepper.  She finally came upstairs.  I tried to spend the morning with her, but she wouldn't come up from the basement.  So after lunch I went back to the house and she came up for treats.  Here's a few pics:

Party Time continued...

Laura sent me these pictures from Jimmy's 50th birthday party.  Thought I'd share.  Enjoy!

Laissez les bon temps rouler!

It's Mardi Gras, peeps!  What are you doing to celebrate?  I don't really have any plans... probably just going to live vicariously through friends and family.  Add a comment and tell me what you're up to.

Just Hangin' with the Fahys

I've been spending more time with Kristy and the kids over the past few days.  I'm going to really miss them.  Just thought I'd post some pics from a few nights ago.  We had Boston Market and ate at the grownups table!

Parker

Parker loved that balloon...

Can you see the mashed potatoes in his hair? LOL

Emma!!

It's PARTY time!

Got another slow start after getting to bed very, very late last night and I had two parties to attend today: one baby party and one grownup party.  Parker's birthday party started at 3pm.  His first birthday was actually February 16th, but the party was today.  Jim and I gave him an appropriately sized Kawasaki for his birthday:

I had to leave before Parker opened his presents, but obviously he and Emma had a great time!  (Sincere thanks to Kristy for sending the photos.)


Next I went to Jimmy Coppola's 50th birthday party at Vazzy's in Bridgeport at 6pm.  We all had a great time.  Danced all night long and participated in a congo line that went through the kitchen, into the main dining room, out the front door and back into the big party room.  We were told that our congo line was only the second one to ever go out of the party room.  I had a slew of really crappy pictures, but due to a bug in the iPhone, they only post sideways to my blog.  Just read all about it in a forum.  I wish I had known that I had to take all my pics landscape so that they would post right side up.  And apparently it makes no difference if I rotate them and then save as a new photo.  Still posts sideways.  Oh well.


The funny thing about both of these parties is that I met people with whom I could probably strike up an awesome friendship with.  I met Colleen at Kristy's house.  Now I had heard a lot about Colleen from Kristy over the past few months, but had never met her.  Great girl - very friendly and outgoing!  Then at Jimmy's 50th, I met Tom and Ann.  They live in Fairfield.  I danced all night with Anne.  Another great girl - loads of fun!  Didn't get back to the hotel until almost 11:30pm (again...)

My Whirlwind Life

Suddenly everything is moving at the speed of light.  I sure hope I can get everything done before we leave.  Jim will be in Taipei until we fly to Sydney.  That's probably a good thing.  Let me backtrack.


So I woke up Wednesday morning and made sure Jim boarded the 5:50am train from Milford to Grand Central Station, NYC.  Drove back home and jumped in the shower.  I knew that the movers would be at my door by 8am.  Wasn't sure if there was going to be a container to load because they spent the previous day regaling me with stories of containers not showing up, ships running aground and dumping people's belongings into the ocean for the pirates to loot, etc, etc, etc.  So by the time they showed up I had already finished two loads of laundry.  We still didn't even know if all our stuff would fit.  Fun.


They knocked on the door just as my coffee finished brewing.  Morning salutations were exchanged and I noticed that they had a container.  Yippee!!  I knew that there was nothing I could do, so I sat down to start my daily blog only to realize that my U-verse account was deactivated.  Oh, joy.  Couldn't entertain my droves of fans (tongue in cheek) all day.  I spent the entire day (8am-1pm) standing in my driveway watching the container get packed VERY professionally.  And guess what?  IT ALL FIT!  Now, there was some creative packing going on, but I don't care.  When it was all said and done, it all fit.


Once the crew ate lunch and left, it was time for me to start loading the car with all our luggage (three bags each).  I drove to the hotel, checked in and proceeded to unpack all the luggage.  Thank goodness they let you use a trolley.  However, I got up to the room and the card didn't work.  I tried sliding in frontways, backwards, fast, slow... you name it, I tried it.  It didn't work.  I had to haul the trolley all the way back downstairs and they had to reprogram the card.  The receptionist came with me to make sure it worked.  I must have looked completely worn out.  Plus, the computer bag had slid off the stack of stuff while I waited.  LOL


After everything was unloaded, I drove back to the house so that the neighbors could go through our cupboards and take anything they wanted.  We had a good laugh at how cheap the shopping was.  I said, "Yeah, not often do you get to go shopping for opened products!"  I also told them about the story of our baking powder.  Now I'll share with you.  Apparently, Jim and I have moved this container of Clabber Girl baking powder since 1992.  I kid you not.  The bottom of the can says that it expired in 1992.  I don't remember when we discovered it, but I definitely recall the huge laugh we got out of that.  Picture it - Jim laughing hysterically.  Can't picture it?  That's one of the great things about being married to Jim.  I get to see a side of him that most people never will.  :)


So then it was off to Kristy's to spend some time with her and the kids.  I'm really gonna miss them.  I never thought I would ever find the kind of friendship that we have.  She's like a sister to me.  It's been really lovely to get to know her and to see her kids start to grow up.  I'm going to miss that.  SKYPE!


I left at 8:40pm to go pick up Jim at the Ansonia train station.  He got to see the hotel room.  Of course, we both discovered together how horrible the bed is.  Does ANYONE enjoy staying in hotel rooms?  The beds are always horrible.  We stayed at a freakin HILTON in Bangor a couple of weeks ago.  It was newly built within the last 2-3 years.  The guy at the front desk was so excited about their dual-control beds.  You can make each side of the bed firmer or softer by turning the dial and then pressing a button or something.  Jim and I were intrigued.  Would we finally find the hotel bed nirvana we've always dreamed about?  We both LOVE soft beds.  Well, we turned our dials and pushed buttons and waited for it.  And we waited for it. And kept waiting.  I told him that I didn't think it was going to get any better.  Don't get me wrong... the bed wasn't that bad as far as hotel beds go, but it wasn't soft enough.  That's for sure.


Speaking of hotel rooms, we just found out tonight where Arup is putting us up for our first month in Sydney.  Here's the link:  The Mantra 2 Bond Street.  We're going to be in an Executive Suite.  Very snazzy.  I'm getting excited.  I've discovered that Arup posted a job listing for an Accounts Payable Assistant and I applied for it.  Wouldn't it be cool if Jim and I worked for the same company?


Well, I guess I'll start to close for the night.  It's been a long day (again) and I really need to check my Cafe and then get some shut eye on my piece of wood.  :)  Later, gators!

Chinese Food

I ordered in Chinese for lunch for me and the crew.  That was a couple of hours ago.  Why do people say that half an hour after eating Chinese you are hungry again?  I'm not hungry yet.  I mean, I could eat a Frosty, but then I'd be even colder than I am now.  The thermostat is turned down to 57 degrees.  These poor guys are hot.  I don't blame them.  If I were working this hard, I'd be warm too.  I keep asking if I can help with anything, but they keep saying no.  I think I'm going to just stop asking.  I know that it's a liability issue...

So chime in on that Chinese thing.  I could google it, but that wouldn't be any fun.  I wouldn't get any responses.  :)

Moving Day #1

The movers showed up at 8:05am.  I was really hoping for 9am, but I was denied my wish.  Three guys.  I'm terrible at remembering names, so I have no idea.  Don't ask.  I walked them around the whole house explaining what was going with us, what could wait til the end if there was not enough room.  They looked at me like I was crazy, "What size container are you filling???"  And it feels like we've sold 3/4 of our belongings.  I can't believe that they still think we have too much stuff.  We're just going to have to wait and see when they start packing the container tomorrow.  I asked if I could do anything to help.  Nope.  Just sit here and watch or play on the computer or my phone or whatever.  Can't watch TV.  They're already disconnected.  Jim asked me last night if I wanted to disconnect the WiFi.  Thank goodness I said no.  There's only so many times I can read the Reader's Digest.  I've already had two cups of coffee.  Any more and you might as well turn me into a coffee bean.  I "broke the law" and took all the magnets off the refrigerator...

It's actually pretty interesting to watch them pack up the stuff.  Because their company is liable for damages, they wrap EVERYTHING.  If Jim and I were packing our own stuff, it would never be this thorough.  LOL

They just asked if I minded if they mixed the kitchen stuff with the dining room stuff.  Hey, if it gets more stuff in the container, go for it.  I feel like I'm just rambling and I'd really like for you to return and read more of the blog, so I'll quit for now.  Sure could go for an egg and cheese wrap.  Mmmmm...

I'm Exhausted

I've been going nonstop since about 8:30am.  I was up at 4:45am to bring Jim to the train station, but came back home and slept for another hour or so.  Since then I've been to a charity drop off, Starbucks, the transfer station, Stop & Shop, Walmart, Walgreens, the UPS store, my lawyer's office, Bed Bath & Beyond, the Milford transfer station district, Popeye's (it's in Milford way behind the mall!), Gamestop, home to meet with Paula to pick up her new sofas and to start packing and washing about 4 loads of laundry (so far).  I'm pretty beat.  Gotta pick up Jim in Milford at 9:15pm. The moving company will be here between 8-9am tomorrow morning.  Hopefully I'll be ready.

Getting on with it

Yesterday was my last day at Eder Brothers. Kinda a sad day, but moving forward. I'll never forget all the friends I made there, but I've done this before. I know that if it was meant to be, then that's it. It was a pretty good day. Lunch was brought in from Duffy's Tavern in West Haven. Kate and Kathy brought me to Duffy's Tavern for lunch one day years ago. I had bangers and mash (it's an Irish pub). 


Anyhoo... Dottie brought in lemon chicken, beef pot roast, mashed potatoes, ziti, some veggie, rolls and salad. The cake came from Stop & Shop. Awesome cake! Whodda thunk that Stop & Shop would have the most awesome cake ever? Marble cake with whipped cream icing. Mmmmm...


Bill and Joe (our accountants) brought me a dozen long-stemmed red roses. Smelled heavenly. I also got gifts from Dorothy and Dottie & Lynn. Thanks, guys! I couldn't believe how much stuff I still had at my desk. Unbelievable how settled in you get. I got hugs from most everyone except Michael and Neal. Dammit! I thought I would break Neal before I left, but he's a wily little sucker. :)


I'll miss them all.


Then it was time for my Mexican fiesta with my bestie, Kristy. We were planning on Longhorn Steakhouse, but with an hour wait, we decided to go next door to Chili's. We had no worries... no one does in Mexico. :)  We ordered margaritas at the bar while we waited for a table. It was nice to go out just the two of us. We both can't remember the last time we were able to do that. Probably before she had Emma! Well, except for our very brief day in New York. But that doesn't count.


Now today we are making final rounds about the house deciding on which picture frames are coming, which are going to charity. Weird not being able to pack up our own house, but it's something I'm starting to appreciate. I sort of remember packing the previous apartments and hating it. LOL

Guess Who's ...

MOVING TO SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA!!!


We finally got our tickets! I almost can't believe it. Yes, Jim and I are moving to Sydney on February 23rd! Mark your calendars... we are heading down under!!!


More later...  too excited to keep typing.  :)

Showin' My Zumba Love

It's no secret.  I heart Zumba.  I just want to take this time to thank Maria and Lauren at the Derby Veteran's Community Center for all the time and effort they put into creating totally rockin' routines for us girls every six weeks.  I'm going to miss all of you guys.  Maria, Lauren, Christine, Lisa, Denise and especially Elaine.  Although I've had to miss classes for medical reasons, I've never been happy about it.  It's the awesome routines and camaraderie with all of you that have made Zumba so very special to me.  Thank you and much love to you all.  XOXOXO

On Top of Spaghetti

On top of spaghetti,
All covered with cheese,
I lost my poor meatball,
When somebody sneezed.

It rolled off the table,
And on to the floor,
And then my poor meatball,
Rolled out of the door.

It rolled in the garden,
And under a bush,
And then my poor meatball,
Was nothing but mush.

The mush was as tasty
As tasty could be,
And then the next summer,
It grew into a tree.

The tree was all covered,
All covered with moss,
And on it grew meatballs,
And tomato sauce.

So if you eat spaghetti,
All covered with cheese,
Hold on to your meatball,
Whenever you sneeze.

Is This Real?

I'm going to be living in Sydney, Australia by the end of February 2012.  That statement feels so surreal to me. My last day at Eder Brothers is Friday, February 10th.  It just doesn't seem real.  I've still got all my stuff spread all over my temporary desk.  I guess I should start bringing it home.  The moving company will be here on Tuesday and Wednesday to pack up and ship all my stuff.  Since we can't pack anything ourselves, it still doesn't seem real.  I'm still scheduling things to record on my DVR.  LOL!

When I stop to think about it, my heart gives a little flutter.  What's it going to be like to live there?  Will I fit in? Will people like me?  Will I find a job I love (I don't think ANYTHING could top Eder Brothers)?  Will I see Jim more or will it be more of the same?  What's it going to be like to NOT have a car?  I'm excited.  I'm nervous.  I still don't believe it's happening.

Bangor and Back

So this past weekend was our trip to Bangor, ME.  Jim's sister bought our 2002 Buick Rendezvous.  Little did she know that she would also inherit a bunch of other stuff from us.  We also brought our armoire, a bunch of board games, holiday decorations, etc.  The kids were excited.  It was like Christmas in February!

So we packed up the car early Saturday and took off at about 8am.  Separate cars.  My worst nightmare.  I'm one of those people who can easily fall asleep at the wheel.  Something about being in a car just knocks me right out like a light!  Needless to say, I didn't, but it was touch and go there a few times.  Our first stop for a fuel-up was just inside Maine.  The little blue sign indicated that gas was available.  We pulled off.  Took the first exit off a roundabout and quickly left civilization.  I don't know where the gas was, but we weren't able to find it.  Turned around, went back through the roundabout and got back on the highway.  Again, we took an exit that suggested gas was available.  We drove into some little town.  Only saw one other car.  I'm not kidding.  After about 10 minutes of driving around (pretty much) aimlessly, we happened upon a 7-11 with a gas station.  Wow.

So we got back on the highway and drove until Jim saw a Friendly's.  I agreed that Friendly's would be good for lunch, so we exited.  We pretty much had to guess where to turn to get to the Walmart, which Jim saw next to the "Friendly's."  We found the Walmart, but then realized that what he thought was Friendly's was actually Texas Roadhouse.  So we ate there.  Jim had a pulled pork sandwich and I had a country fried steak with mashed potatoes.  I couldn't believe the size of the steak.  It came on its own plate with the potatoes in a dish on the side.  Really?  For lunch??  I LOL'd and proceeded to eat about 10 bites.  :)

Got back on the road and finally arrived at the Eastman household at about 3pm.  Not bad.

The kids were all excited.  They had been waiting all day for us to arrive.  I don't know who they were expecting, but they got us.  :)  The Buick was unloaded, we all played catch-up, everyone filled up on pizza and then it was off to the hotel.  We were so tired... we were almost asleep before our heads hit the pillows!

Went back to Jennifer & Marc's house for breakfast and a quick goodbye before driving back to Ansonia.  This time we ate at Cracker Barrel on the way home at about 1:30 in the afternoon.  Didn't have any trouble finding a gas station this time because it was right next door to the CB.  Convenient.  That's how we like it.

Once we got home, we had to do a little bit of shopping for the coming week's lunches, but we were home in time for the Super Bowl.  I really didn't care who won since my Saints were out of the running, but it was a good game.  And Madonna was awesome.  I was a little surprised when she stumbled a bit, but who are we kidding?  I probably couldn't even stand up in those shoes she had on.  All hail the Queen!  She's effen awesome!

2012 Super Bowl Halftime Show featuring Madonna!

Then we went to bed by 9pm.  Had to find out that the Giants bested the Patriots the next morning.

New Best Friend :)

Troy is buying our house. We've been trying to find a home for Pepper and Coco since November with no luck. I called the Humane Society because I figured we would have to return them since I had no other option. Boy, were they rude on the phone. I surely did not want to return them to that place. Troy had mentioned that he would consider adopting Pepper and Coco, so I decided to give him a call.


Long story short... he's agreed to adopt them! I'm so happy. Troy is such a nice guy. Now I have a new friend for life!

Life's Not Fair :(

My sister's daughter was in the hospital for a week recently. They found a small cyst on her right kidney, but thought that they could just keep an eye on it through ultrasound. Now they've found that she has reflux in her bladder. Instead of urine leaving through the bladder, it is going back up into her kidneys. The "solution" is to put her on antibiotics every day for two years hoping to keep her from getting any more urinary tract infections. If in the next two years she DOES get a urinary tract infection, they will have to perform surgery. Have I mentioned that she's not even two years old yet?

Rude People Suck

Yeah. Great bumper sticker. But when you actually encounter one of these people, it just sucks the life out of you. I'm from the South. We're pretty much congenial to a fault. So imagine my culture shock when I moved to the East coast. We've lived here over 10 years now and it still never ceases to amaze me. Case in point... I'm  working on a project at the office that would be somewhat enjoyable anywhere else in the free world. I'm attempting to call customers to get owner/manager name(s) and email address. First call - no problems. The customer was very easygoing and the call was over in less than two minutes. Second call - on the phone for at least five minutes trying to explain why we might need this information all in one place and then getting told off for not using some process of osmosis to determine the answers. I hang up imagining how miserable this person must be in general. Then I move on.

First. Blog. Ever.

I've been told on several occasions that I'm "creative."  I hope that's true or else you're going to be very bored. I'm sure everyone is wondering where the title of this blog originated... other than, the obvious, my creative brain.  LOL

That's the short answer.  The longer answer is that I'm an open person.  Jim (the husband) would say that I'm too open.  I don't think that I blab about private things to people I don't know, but once I get to know you - all bets are off!

Here's where things get squirmy.  The whole reason I've decided to start this blog is to keep my family and friends in the loop.  They can come here to see what I'm up to.  Know how things are going without having to pick up the phone or whatever.  You see, my husband and I are embarking on the adventure of a lifetime... soon.  At least that's what he's been hinting at.  I know what it is.  He knows what it is.  Our family knows what it is.  Some of our friends know what it is.  But he would rather that I not broadcast it to the world.  YET.

Must be pretty frustrating to have reached this part of the post and realize that you're gonna have to come back for more information.  Sorry.  That's the breaks.

So, what do you think?  Am I a creative writer?  Should I take up novel-writing in my new adventure?  Yeah.  I didn't think so.  But I'm hoping that by keeping up with this blog, I'll get better.  I'm hoping to learn to be witty.  To make people LOL.  I think that I manage it in daily life, but my writing is stiffer.  I'll work on it.  Promise.