MyOwnPrivateVertigo on DailyBooth

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Waiting for a friend to call so we can 'hang out.' I will be meeting a friend of hers. Sigh. I don't do well with a group of over... one person.

REGARDLESS, I have 'The Muppets' loading on my computer right now which will be ready when I get home tonight. Chris and I will start watching movies every Friday from here on out. Woot!

Also also, Chris says that my persian-bear Teddy is Voldemort because she has "no nose" and is always trying to kill my lizard, conveniently named Harry. Tee hee. :3

Whelp, I suppose I shall mosey on downstairs now and wait by the phone... *does not and has never owned a cell-phone which makes things annoyingly awkward sometimes... Of course, it's a fantastic way to get out of going places with people because you can always just say "Aw, shucks I wasn't home when you called. Sorry I missed you!" *

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April 27th, 2012

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So, I went out and got myself a haircut today. I hate getting haircuts, because I can't handle a stranger being that close to me. And then there's the awkward small-talk and yada yada yada.

But, yes... I am pleased with my new 'do,' and can hide the short bangs if I want to by parting my hair to the other side *rambles*.

I also went to a pet groomer and got Wendigo's nails clipped. I'm always afraid to do them myself, as he is too comfortable with me and doesn't stay still.

Erm erm erm, besides that... not a lot has been going on. My aunt visited me one day, I drove to the west side of Cleveland to visit a friend another day (and had my car splashed on by waves from Lake Erie!), and I researched some colleges. So far I have my eyes set on one... there are others, but this one has everything I want/need.

Well, I'm going to eat some soy ribs now and wait for Chris to get online...

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April 26th, 2012

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I've missed wearing obnoxious red lipstick so very much...

Today was nice, despite not being able to talk to Chris since he's visiting his sister. I basically spent the day with my mom. We cleaned the house for a bit, got nomz, went to a clothing store I loathe, went to the mall which I also loathe (but I wanted to check out the renovations), and rented some films.

Thank goodness 'The Vow' hasn't come out yet (my mom was looking forward to that piece of work). We rented 'Bridesmaids,' 'War Horse,' and 'In the Land of Blood and Honey.'

While I wasn't blown away by miss Jolie's directorial debut, I felt rather humbled that a film about my parent's homeland (the former Yugoslavia) and the struggles so many endured were finally brought to the big screen. It seems like most people have forgotten or don't even know about the ethnic cleansing that occurred in the not-so-distant '90s.

Although I found the 'love' story in the film to be unconvincing, I do think this film (difficult to watch at times) is worth a watch primarily for its subject matter. Definitely makes me thankful that my family was able to move to the states before the bloodshed and the hate happened...

EDIT: Apparently there is another film about the war called 'As If I Am Not There.' Added to my watch list.

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April 22nd, 2012

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I looked too serious in my booth from yesterday, so here's my "I just had my favorite pie!" face. :3

Today was fairly low-key, besides in the afternoon when I went to the doctor's office for a drug/nicotine test and physical. My hair results should come back in 5-7 days, while everything else I passed (hearing test, nicotine test, physical, and eye exam). Apparently I'm very healthy, even though I thought I'd fail the eye test (pesky contacts have been bothering me) and hearing test (silly cold that has made my hearing wonky).

I hope *kinda* that I'll be able to start work in no time!

Later I convinced ze parental figures to take me to a restaurant called Bakers Square, where I had my pie. I'm still rather full, which is funny because I haven't eaten much all day. I mean, I 'did' lose around 15lbs being abroad... maybe my stomach shrunk?

Anywho, I shall now wait for @dechtu to get on Skype. Until then... I'ma go on Tumblr. n__n

EDIT: Aaaah! This is terribly blurry. Oh, how I wish my lens would start focusing automatically again... le sigh.

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April 20th, 2012

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Here I am... tired, and no-longer-in-New Zealand-ville.

Coming back home, back into my bedroom... it feels like Thailand and New Zealand were just a dream. I was telling a friend stories about elephants and volcanoes and whatnot, and it all felt surreal. Did it all really happen?

I saw a friend of mine today and she was her same old self... I should have expected her to not have changed over these past few months, but still. Meh. Oh, and I drove today! I was rather nervous pulling out of my driveway but then bam, nervousness left and I had that "It's just like riding a bike" feeling. I guess once you learn, you never forget.

Also, I made sure to cuddle my cats an awful lot (not my lizard, though... I just happily look at his plump/healthy self from time to time n_n). My older cat Teddy remembered me right when I got home last night, but Wendigo had to get used to me (which is funny because I thought Teddy was becoming a bit senile). Luckily all I had to do was mosey around the house gawking at things, shower, and... yeah, that's all. He was a purring machine in no time. :3

Umm umm umm... oh, and I miss Chris. A lot. Did I tell you that I miss Chris? We've been speaking plenty on Skype but still... I miss him very very much.

Er... I feel like I have so much to say and this blurb is not eloquently describing what I truly want to say, but I have to hit the hay soon as I have some testing (drug/substance abuse test, physical, etc) I need to take care of in the morning. Joy. Night all. :)

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April 20th, 2012

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This is kinda a late booth... BUT... the other day... I VISITED THE SHIRE.

The hobbit-holes used to be rather bland looking without doors and were just white. But because of the filming of 'The Hobbit,' the hobbit-holes were spruced up to look like they did years ago. What's even better is that the holes will not be destroyed... the cute gardens and whatnot will be kept until, well... until people stop paying for the Hobbiton tour. The insides, however, were empty. All of those scenes were shot in Wellington.

GAH, it was so amazing. I even saw Samwise Gamgee's home! Bilbo's house was very cool to see in real-life as well, but Sam's house was the highlight of the tour for me. *Note: The hobbit hole above is no hobbit's particular home. I just thought the photo turned out a lot more whimsical than the others. Me in front of Sam's home will be in ze comments.*

I even got to stand underneath the party tree. I may or may not have grabbed a piece of bark off of it *shifty eyes.* Oh, and I also got to see The Green Dragon in the distance... although for some reason tours are not allowed inside of the pub. OH OH OH, we even saw the field where Sam says, "If I take one more step, it'll be the farthest away from home I've ever been." n_n n_n n_n

Bah, I could go on and on... it was such a great day.

EDIT: This computer won't let me do picture comments. >.<

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April 14th, 2012

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I, Stefwise the Brave, conquered Mt. Doom yesterday!

Being a volcano, it was incredibly hard to climb Mt. Ngauruhoe... all 2,291 meters of it. It wasn't terribly rocky, but sandy almost. You would try taking five steps up worth, but would only succeed in taking about two steps up worth. Also, you had to use your hands a lot and actually climb up while grabbing the rocks that were available. My hands and fingers were literally swollen at the end of the day.

All in all, through the exhaustion and the blisters and the pain... it was definitely worth it. The views were amazing, and seeing the crater at the center of Mt. Doom was just... gah, there are no words to describe it.

The perfect last hike in New Zealand, I'd say. :)

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April 10th, 2012

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I've ran out of DB-poses... so here I am biting my fingernail although I really shouldn't be due to what might be underneath it...

We made some 'Preparation 500' today (I have no idea how else to put it) which involved holistic methods of treating soil (for crops) using cow manure. IN OTHER WORDS, we collected a bunch of cow-crap the other day and today stuffed it all inside of 390-ish old cow horns. The horns were then placed face down in a roughly 8'x8'x2' grave-like pit and then covered with the dirt we dug out of it also a few days ago. The horns will be dug-up next spring, and the dirt will be much lovelier than it is now.

It's really interesting how much biodynamic farmers get into this sort of thing. They follow the astrological chart and everything (the moon is now in Virgo, which I guess is a great). Other ways of treating dirt is placing some in a stag's bladder and hanging it from a tree to soak up sun-rays during the summer. You can also do it in the scalp and intestines, but I'm not sure if those are hung from trees as well. We used some of this dirt in our heaps of compost today.

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April 7th, 2012

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*Unsure face*.

So... something big happened the other day. It has now been confirmed that yes, this will be my last month abroad (at least until hopefully later this year). The parental figures purchased my ticket home *Stef doesn't have enough money mumble mumble and will pay them back mumble*, making my departure date April 18.

I would have stayed until the very end of April (like originally planned) but I have a job *most likely* waiting for me when I get back home, so I kinda need to be back asap. Le sigh.

I won't get all sappy and "I can't believe it's all ending..." so I'll just quickly change the subject and add that last night Chris found our first hedgie *hedgehog* on the north island! We caught him in a box and kept him/her with us in the wool-shed for a good hour. n_n

And now, I shall munch on some fresh-from-the-garden stevia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stevia and head back to the wool-shed... and eat some more... and read... and... *rambles*

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April 2nd, 2012

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*This happened yesterday... today we did boring things like crack open hazelnuts*.

You might be thinking, "What the hell did Stef get herself into now?" Well... yesterday I assisted in shearing sheep! Well, not complete shearing. You see, only the area around their butts had to be sheared. They were getting infections from maggots... well... *there is no way of sugar-coating this* eating their flesh. A guy named Felix did the whole thing... his girlfriend mostly assisted with dragging the sheep out from the pen they were put in overnight (this pen is located basically inside our kitchen/living-room/bedroom).

Luckily, not all of the sheep were infected. But the ones that were had to be sprayed with an organic tea-tree liquid to make the maggots fall off. These sheep were then separated from the rest... as were the sheep with horns and... err... manly bits.

While I mostly swept, I 'did' manage to drag 3 sheep out of their pen. Here is what Felix taught me:

1. Walk over the sheep of choice and stand above him/her like you will ride him/her.
2. Lean your left (or right) knee against the sheep.
3. Grab the head of the sheep with your right hand (if you're using your left leg) and turn it so that their face is against their side. They are rather flexible animals, so you don't have to worry about breaking their neck.
4. Start to walk backwards and make the sheep lose its balance.
5. Once you've maneuvered the sheep onto its back, grab its wrists (front two hooves, whatever) and drag it out to be sheared next.

I felt bad while choosing what sheep to drag out next (almost like a grim reaper). They were afraid of me entering their pen, and the sound coming from the shearing machine terrified them. They were constantly squirming while Felix held them... I was exhausted from holding only 3, I don't know how he managed to shear 200+. All in all twas a very interesting experience.