honky tonk budonky donk

So I think it was Tuesday night that after work we all went out to Rollies... I'm not sure how else to describe it but a honky tonk bar. It's like one that's straight out of the heart of cowboy country Texas... with the mechanical bull to ride and the huge dance floor, country music blaring, and as many peanuts you could ever hope or dream for and you can throw the all on the floor (which by the way polishes the floor, if you didn't know). Anyways, it was a good time, it was Casey's birthday, one of the guys who I work with, so we celebrated that. I also learned some new dance moves, which I'm sure my dad would be proud of. Learned the 1/2 step, which I was not good at, and also the 2 step and 3 step. 3 step was by far the easiest for me to get down, but the 2 wasn't bad I guess...

I like it there. The owner is always there and if you've been there before, he'll know you... it's a really fun atmosphere. This cowboy hick country thing will probably end up growing on me, cuz that's who I work with. Everyone is pretty much a hick and loves to fish and hunt and listen to country music. At night the country music is blared from every work station... sometimes I even think it's loud, which is definately saying something.

Also, over 75% of the guys I work with are veterans... most of whom have done at least one tour in Iraq. And around 50% of them were discharged due to they were shot or got blown up in a car bomb in Iraq... I think it's a privilage to work beside them, I hold veterans in the highest respect. One thing no one really knows about me is that being in the military was my dream growing up. For as long as I can remember I've wanted to go into the militar and go fight in a war, on the front lines, where the action is... I never really told anyone that though, I don't even think my parents, because I knew that in order to go to war I'd have to go through basic training which I wouldn't be able to do with my lack of being able to breathe. They probably wouldn't have accepted me anyways because of the breathing thing... I think that's one of the reasons why I hold them in such high respect... I wish I could be there. I think I still would go over there if I had the capability to.

Anyways, as each day goes on, I enjoy working at DPMS more and more.

"I work at DPMS Panther Arms, I make guns" (long pause) "Are you a terrorist?"

So being as I've had a new job for over a week now, I figured I can write about it. Probably the coolest thing about the job is I get to say, "I work at Panther Arms... I make guns." Now these aren't just any old guns we make, we make assult rifles. There are primarily two main things we do in the factory: 1. Make rifles and 2. Package pistol kits. Apparently a lot of guys think its cool to make their own gun, so we make different kits that you can buy to put the gun together yourself.

I work in the parts section. One thing we do is put those part kits together - that's probably the majority of what we do, we are able to make around 700 per day if we have all the parts to make them. We also are the ones who have all the parts and keep everything organized and such, so when build up (the section that physically makes the whole rifles we sell) needs their parts, they come to us. Then there is also shipping and receiving, and their job is self explanitory. So there are three main sections to the warehouse.

It's an extremely monotanous job, but isn't that bad. I learned how to do the job in the first 10 minutes of working there, however it does change up a little bit sometimes. So that aspect of the job kind of sucks that I am doing the exact same thing, two different processes, one that takes about 45 seconds, and the other about a minute... But I can listen to my ipod, so that makes it more bareable.

I work the 1-10pm shift, which I am starting to like. At first I hated it because it takes over your whole day, so you don't really get a morning or night, and that still sucks, but I enjoy who I work with. And my shift is broken up a bit, too which is nice. When I come in, it's crazy hectic, as there are three shifts worth of people there (7-330 and 9-5). So at 330, most of the people who work around parts leave, because the other parts shift overlaps with ours. So it's nice when it dies down and there are fewer people. Then at 5 is when the party starts... all the management leaves at 5, so after that it's a much more relaxed environment. They leave and a flip switches, it's great.

It's an extremely fun environment to work in. I work with all guys except one other girl, and they know how to have fun. They are sarcastic, they know how to prank, and have a good time. Also, everyone listens to music. Most people have an ipod at least some of the time, specially for the first part of the shift, but then there are always radios on too. Every station has their own radio, usually to all different stations, and let me tell you, everyone sings! These are not the people who would make it on American Idol, either. It's great... the music is constantly blaring and everyone is singing.

So, I guess the first week or so has gone well. The guys invited me out last night after work and officially initiated me into their group, persay. It was a great time.

strange & beautiful: random adventures

So this weekend I went home to hang out with Matt. On Saturday we did normal hang-out things like sat around and talked, played some ultimate frisbee (where i learned for ceratin that the meds from mayo are doing nothing to benefit my well-being), ate at his favorite acapulco, and then were on our way to red-box where we were going to rent a movie. It's at this time that Matt says something to the effect of, "I wonder how late the bar olympics goes" Now, Hannah was going to come home with me and hang out with us, but stayed in Upsala to hang out with her sis who was in town... and the bar olympics just so happened to be going on as well. Matt then mentions that Hannah had said something to the effect that cuz she couldn't come home with me, that we should go to her... As we were sitting in the car outside the red-box place, we had a short discussion that ended in us driving up to Upsala. At this point in the night it was about 9pm. The pursuasion was the fact that Matt said I always go on adventures with other people, but never him. So Saturday night, we went on an adventure.

On the way up, we went 94, on the way home we went 10. I've always wondered which one is faster. 94 is longer milage-wise, but faster speed. They were definately the EXACT same time. Both within 5 minutes of each other, 1.5 hours. Both ways. Exactly. It amazed me.

So we got up there around 11 only to find no Hannah. The whole, lets just surprise her, didn't work out so well, ha. So we head on over to the Ripplingers, obviously, the only logical thing to do... Krystal and Shawn were watching a movie -- well, they tried to, but we stopped that for quite some time. So we hung out there for awhile until we found Hannah. So we let them finish their movie and we went to get Hannah. First we went to the bar, which wasn't too hoppin, cuz apparently the bar olympics happen during the day... who would have thunk? We hung out there for a couple hours just having a good time... had some pretty good concoctions, I must say. Most of the shots I'd never had before, and were pretty... well, fruity. But overall pretty good, and free, which is always a bonus.

The next stop was back to her house where we filled the kitchen and ourselves with some glittery stuff that was supposed to be for her mom for mothers day I think... but we had fun getting everyone full of it. I'm not sure what else we did. Just sat around and hung out. Laughed a lot. Tickled Matt. He's way ticklish... Hannah liked that trick I showed her, ha. Overall, just had a great time. Haven't laughed that hard in awhile... there's nothing like spending a night with two of your best friends.

Then we drove home, ha. That was fun... at 4 in the morning. Matt talked the whole way there... then on the way home... nothing. What a jerk, ha. He doesn't talk when he's tired. This was a bad thing. On top of being tired, I'm not sure what was up with my brain, but it was making me hallucinate real bad. First, we almost drove into a house, that was in the middle of the road, but it was okay, because we were just driving through the front door... then there was a toad that was ginormous, and we almost drove up on its face, but it disappeared before we got to it. There were some pillars in the middle of the road, too. A few other things as well... like a large farm tractor of some kind that was driving across the road right in front of us... that was the one that looked the most real... I had my foot on the brake ready to slam on the brakes hard when Matt asked why I was braking... cuz apparently, there was no tractor. So even though he was tired, He was still alert enough to let me know my hallucinagens were just that, and not real. But, it's not like I was falling asleep... I was alert... it was weird.

All that being said, we had one amazing night. It makes me smile thinking about it.

a movie review, of sorts

The Butterfly Effect

When the movie first came out, Heath saw it. I didn't. He said the movie was dumb and I shouldn't see it. Now, he's both a hard movie critic and an older brother, so I'm not sure if he told me it was dumb because he really didn't like it, or because it had "adult" content in it that he thought I shouldn't be watching. Probably both, it wasn't a movie that he would like. Either way, I didn't end up seeing it until tonight.
I'm actually not here to review the movie, that's why the 'of sorts' was tagged on to the title. I usually like Ashton Kutcher as an actor, so it helped that he was in it... specially because him and my cousin are pretty much home boys.
Anyways, if I took one thing away from the movie, it was that what we say and what we do have significance on the rest of our lives. We, unlike in the movie, will probably not ever realize the impact that certain situations and decisions have on the rest of our lives. But the fact is, every choice that is made, every word that is spoke, every action that is committed, has the opportunity to change both our and those around us's future -- for the good, or for the bad.
I guess with that in perspective, I might be a little bit more careful about what I say and do. I'd like to think that I already try to be conscienous of my words and actions, but the movie just made me more aware, at least for tonight.

.not.too.often.

So I have been excited for thunder storms to come. On Wednesday, I was blessed with a wonderfully violent thunderstorm that lasted for all of five minutes. Though the duration of the storm was small, the intensity was not. Within the short storm, the thunder roared and the ground shook. The rain poured, and the lightening struck.
Oh, did the lightening strike. It came all the way down from the beautifully black sky to touch the rain drenched ground. This particular lightening bolt was possibly the largest ever seen... and it's my guess that the bolt appeared so big because we (me and the rest of the people standing in the Westwood parking lot) had never seen a lightening bolt that up close and personal.
Minutes later sirens were coming from all over. First came the first responders in their vehicles, followed shortly by the police, fire department, and paramedics. People running from everywhere to get to the backyard of a house right across the street from Westwood. At this point all of us are standing out in the parking lot just watching all of this commosion, not entirely sure what to think of it. We could see what was going on. CPR was started... and it kept going... and going... (now, I had just passed my EMT national test on Monday, and one thing you know is that when CPR is initiated, usually the person doesn't make it - specially if the person doesn't come back right away). But then they stopped. Did the guy's heart start beating again? Or did they declare him? They put him on the stretcher and transported. He had made it... at least thus far.
So remember that lightening bolt that had touched down? Remember why it was so big? (cuz it was so close). Yeah... that's right. How often do you witness someone getting hit by a bolt of lightening?

.not.too.often.

u.turn.

i guess it's possible for a crappy day to turn into a pretty alright day.
not that the prior events of the day somehow turned out to be not-so-bad.
but that the events at the end of the crappy day,
made the crappy day seem not-so-crappy.
if you're catchin' my drift.

if you put together:
friends
walmart
energy drinks
chocolate w/ peanut butter
toy guns that shoot little balls
52 pieces of chalk
slinkies
and pain killers

you get one amazing night.
throw in a skaliky plaza that is screaming to be covered in all those 52 pieces of chalk, and it only gets better...

worst. birthday. ever.

woke up.
early.
sick.
feel gross.
pain.
stuffy nose.
headache.
prepare for presentation.
give presentation.
listen to hours of presentations.
go the doctor.
be in more pain.
leave my necklace at doctor.
i liked that necklace, dangit.
go to mexican village with 2 cool friends.
that part was fun.
go back to school.
take the biggest final of my life.
it was like 4 hours long.
finally done.
now it's late.
and i'm tired.
pain.
lots of pain.
headache.