Kateopia

Itchy Feet.

Mon, 15 Apr 2013 22:17:23 -0500

As in, my feet are itching to go somewhere.

I’m generally happy with my life. My boyfriend’s pretty awesome (aside from the fact that he shaved his beard into a goatee last night. Something about it being “too hot.” I then reminded him of Duck Dynasty), I have a full time job that I actually like, there are cute dogs in my life… I’m good.

But I have this slight character flaw…

I really like to move. For no apparent reason. I’m really good at FINDING reasons, but I never actually start out with one. See, I like to see things, experience things, and explore new places. And you just don’t have the same experience by merely visiting.

It’s time to go.

Imagine Dragons: Demons“Don’t want to let you down,...

Mon, 15 Apr 2013 22:13:08 -0500

Imagine Dragons: Demons

“Don’t want to let you down, but I am hell bound.”

extraordinarilyavg: Marina Abramović, Rhythm 0, 1974 “This...

Sun, 14 Apr 2013 21:36:03 -0500

extraordinarilyavg:

Marina Abramović, Rhythm 0, 1974

“This piece was primarily a trust exercise, in which she told viewers she would not move for six hours no matter what they did to her. She placed 72 objects one could use in pleasing or destructive ways, ranging from flowers and a feather boa to a knife and a loaded pistol, on a table near her and invited the viewers to use them on her however they wanted.

Initially, Abramović said, viewers were peaceful and timid, but it escalated to violence quickly. “The experience I learned was that … if you leave decision to the public, you can be killed… I felt really violated: they cut my clothes, stuck rose thorns in my stomach, one person aimed the gun at my head, and another took it away. It created an aggressive atmosphere. After exactly 6 hours, as planned, I stood up and started walking toward the public. Everyone ran away, escaping an actual confrontation.”

This piece revealed something terrible about humanity, similar to what Philip Zimbardo’s Stanford Prison Experiment or Stanley Milgram’s Obedience Experiment, both of which also proved how readily people will harm one another under unusual circumstances.”

This performance showed just how easy it is to dehumanize a person who doesn’t fight back, and is particularly powerful because it defies what we think we know about ourselves. I’m certain the no one reading this believes the people around him/her capable of doing such things to another human being, but this performance proves otherwise.”

we live in a society where the brave are few, the bold are many but the moral are extinct. Where were the protectors, the saviors, the advocates for this woman. Someone (more than the pistol remover) should have stood up for her, clothed her, aided her— society is scary and cruel, it would have been nice to know someone had a heart…. it would be interesting to replicate this nation wide, but i guess no one is as bold as her to be so vulnerable.

Things I Can't Say on Facebook (1).

Sun, 14 Apr 2013 21:29:30 -0500

I don’t like to start arguments I don’t. But sometimes people post things, I the repressed impulse to respond is just too strong. So here we are.

Someone posted this on Facebook today:

Comparing a human fetus to those of endangered species is not the way to go. The other species listed are already in serious danger from predators. Abortion doesn’t effect the ecosystem and won’t bring about a serious change in it. It’s a personal choice. You have no idea why someone might make that choice, and it is not your place to judge them. Shut the hell up.

Promoted!

Mon, 03 Dec 2012 21:47:13 -0600

I got a promotion, sort of. I’m taking an interim position at the museum I’ve been working at for a whopping 2 months. I’m encouraged to apply for the actual position and try to make it permanent, but for now, I’m the “Interim” Facilities Manager.

I’m pretty stoked- my pay is almost doubled, it looks much better on a resume, it’s actually a “big kid” job… and the general reaction has been, “Wow, congratulations!”

Until I told my dad.

The first- and only- words out of his mouth?

“What are the odds of it becoming permanent?”

Ah, parental encouragement.

Video

Fri, 30 Nov 2012 21:36:44 -0600

(Discussing The Bloggess and her cat, Ferris Mewler) Me: She has a cat named Ferris Mewler! I bet...

Mon, 26 Nov 2012 00:05:57 -0600

(Discussing The Bloggess and her cat, Ferris Mewler)

Me: She has a cat named Ferris Mewler! I bet SHE would appreciate Quilly Joel.

(Side note: boyfriend and I have been arguing over names for a hedgehog we don’t have yet. I want to name it Quilly Joel.)

Boyfriend: QUILTON JOHN.

Me: QUILLY JOEL! Think of the costumes I have to make if we name it Quilton John. We have to name it Quilly Joel- I’LL SAVE SO MUCH TIME.

Boyfriend: …

(Road) Trippin'

Tue, 20 Nov 2012 18:45:17 -0600

Boyfriend and I took a road trip. To Salt Lake City. In November.

Yes, we may be insane.

We were heading to the wedding of one of my best friends… which happened to be on boyfriend’s birthday. In an attempt to make up for it, I got a little creative with his birthday gift…

I made him a Choose Your Own Adventure book. I broke it down into days, and each day had lists of different cities we could visit (the options changed some with where we ended up at the end of each day as well), and each city had a page with some things to do around town (things that could realistically be done within a couple of hours- after all, the direct route to Salt Lake City is a 26 hour drive… and that’s not the way we went). I spent months working on the book, and it was worth it! It was fun to see what he picked, and everything I had was a surprise to him.

We started day one by heading toward San Antonio to take a tour of Natural Bridge Caverns. Our long winded tour guide who used phrases like, “the geologists say- this is what we’re supposed to tell you,” put us behind schedule by about an hour (not an exaggeration. The group behind us- that left 40 minutes after we did- had to stop and wait for her to finish talking) and made us wonder if she disagreed or if other people had gotten offended.

From there, we went to Fort Stockton, where we could see the lights on the border wall (it was too dark to see the actual wall)! We stopped briefly to see what is supposedly the World’s Largest Roadrunner, Paisano Pete. It might be more impressive if it were an actual roadrunner instead of just a statue.

We wanted to make it to Roswell our first night, but only got to Carlsbad. Still, making it out of Texas in a day is kind of impressive.

We would have liked to see Carlsbad Caverns, but were a little jaded from our cavern tour the day before, and wanted to see other things- AND had to make it to Moab, Utah! We went straight to Roswell and wandered through the UFO Museum, then headed to Albuquerque (where the sun is always shining and the air smells like warm root beer!) and managed to get to Unser Racing Museum a mere hour before they closed.

We left Albuquerque at sunset (which is, incidentally, quite lovely) and ventured forth to Moab.

The next morning, we took a little time (though not as much as we would’ve liked) to explore Arches National Park. I highly recommend it, even though my phone fell out of my pocket and got beat up by 20 feet of rock (but it survived!).

We stayed longer than we intended, and ended up passing through the mountains just as it was starting to snow. Salt Lake City was blanketed in white by the time we arrived.

The next morning was the wedding AND boyfriend’s (26th!) birthday. I’m not going to go into detail about how he needed clothes for the wedding and we walked a couple in miles through the snow to find a store, I’m just going to post this photo.

In case you’re wondering, YES, that is a ninja turtle beanie.

We survived that fiasco and managed to find the wedding (eventually…) so that I, as a bridesmaid, could be in all of 3 photos.

We relaxed the rest of the day, until it was time to go set up at the reception.

I took exactly zero photos at the reception, although I do have pictures of pretty much every other part of the trip. Oh well.

After sliding on the ice attempting to get back to our hotel, and a near panic attack on my part, we decided to forgo our plans to head to Colorado the next day, and instead headed south toward Arizona.

We went through a couple different parts of Zion National Park (which was FREE because it was Veteran’s Day Weekend), and ended up just across the Arizona border. The next morning, we headed for the Grand Canyon (which was also free for Veteran’s Day! Yay!). Unfortunately, I wasn’t feeling well and we didn’t stay long. I slept for most of our drive through Flagstaff and Coconino National Forest, and when I woke up we were pulling off the highway because boyfriend had seen a sign for a Meteor Crater.

Yeah. A Meteor Crater. I guess after the Grand Canyon, he just wanted to see more holes in the ground.

We made it to Albuquerque (again! We liked it the first time and wanted to go back) that night, and the next morning got up to visit the National Museum of Nuclear Science and History. It was easily our favorite indoor place during the trip, and while still being pieced together, it has a lot of cool stuff! The indoor section of the museum has a lot of war memorabilia (like casings matching the ones used for the Fat Man and Little Boy bombs dropped on Japan, actual pieces of the Berlin Wall, and supplies from fallout shelters), and the outdoor section contains various aircraft which I can’t name but boyfriend probably can.

The museum is a Smithsonian affiliate, so it’s pretty much guaranteed to be awesome, although incomplete.

From Albuquerque, we went to Stillwater, Oklahoma, where boyfriend went to school! It’s the only city I didn’t plan anything for, because after hearing him talk about it, I decided it was best to just go where he wanted. We spent the night in Stillwater, then went to Oklahoma City the next morning to see the Oklahoma City Memorial before heading home.

I just realized I’ve put NOTHING on here about my awesome new job. It probably has something...

Mon, 29 Oct 2012 14:09:11 -0500

I just realized I’ve put NOTHING on here about my awesome new job.

It probably has something to do with the fact that I’ve been working said job, plus my other job, for a grand total of about 60 hours a week.

At job #1, the one I do at 3am- yes, THREE A.M.- there’s a new guy. His name is William Turner. I’ll just let you draw your own conclusions about the kind of jokes I’ve been making.

Job #2 is awesome. I work at a small fine arts museum by day, and 90% of my job involves sitting in the gallery, playing on an ipad, and staring at some really freakin’ awesome works of art.

We do school tours at the museum, at least 2 days a week. That’s about 300 third graders. Our docents graciously help us out on those days by speaking to the kids about various works. Each is assigned to a station, and talks about one particular piece to about 12 different groups of kids.

This past week, one of the docents was talking about a Madonna that we have on display. It’s a sculpture, made somewhat like a doll-a cloth dress, stuffed to make it stand up, clay face and hands. Our docent that day told each of the groups it was called a Madonna, and asked if they knew what that meant. Without fail, a child in each group raised their hand and said, “A lady with snakes in her hair!”

I guess they’ve talked about Medusa.

I'm slowly getting weirder.

Mon, 24 Sep 2012 20:05:06 -0500

About a month before we started dating, my boyfriend’s pet hedgehog died. I JUST. MISSED IT.
Anyway.
I love hedgehogs, and have wanted one since getting to play with my friends hedgehog in high school.
We’ve been discussing what to name a hedgehog, and I think I finally have the answer: Quilly Joel.

Realization.

Sun, 23 Sep 2012 19:00:17 -0500

I am right handed.
Right handed people use the left side of the brain more often.
Therefore, I am not in my right mind.

My entire life has just been explained.

Yes.

Wed, 19 Sep 2012 20:30:49 -0500

Yes.

A brief break from "the list"

Sun, 09 Sep 2012 13:04:36 -0500

…to document a recipe I want to remember.

I made shepherd’s pie. And it was magical. It doesn’t even matter that I used shortcuts like instant mashed potatoes and frozen veggies- it was awesome. SO. Without further ado (mostly so I remember what I made):

1(ish) pound ground beef (we got 1.08lb, and it was pretty lean at 93/7)
1 bag frozen veggies (we had a corn/carrot/pea mix on hand)
4ish cups prepared potatoes (instant! they were the entire reason I made this- we had free samples from something or other)
1 can golden mushroom soup

-Prepare potatoes; set aside.
- Brown ground beef (I seasoned it with garlic and seasoned salt); drain; add soup.
- In baking dish (the one I used was 8x8), layer beef/soup mixture, veggies and potatoes. Sprinkle paprika on top. Bake 30 minutes at 350 degrees.

#15: Animal

Tue, 04 Sep 2012 13:01:46 -0500

If I were an animal… hmmm…

Considering what an awesome doggy life my dog has, I think I’d want to be a dog. She eats when she wants, plays when she wants, does absolutely no work, and sleeps most of the day. Plus, she’s the favorite child.

#14: Strengths

Tue, 04 Sep 2012 12:59:50 -0500

1. I’d like to think I’m pretty creative. I made a unicorn apron and a shark purse, and re-covered some old shoes, and made a necklace out of a Christmas ornament.

2. Um…

3. Umm…

4. Ummm…

5. Ummmm…

#13: Weaknesses

Tue, 04 Sep 2012 12:56:00 -0500

1. Disorganization.
I’m a slob. It’s bad. I’m trying to improve.

2. Follow through.
Years of plans I didn’t follow through with…

3. Inconsistency.
I have high highs and low lows and really good days and really bad days and no two are ever the same. Sometimes I do things really well and sometimes I decide I don’t care.

4. Communication outside of sarcasm.
Seriously. I only speak sarcasm.

5. Eating habits.
Generally, I don’t eat enough.

#12: A day in the life

Tue, 04 Sep 2012 12:49:18 -0500

Monday-Friday, my alarm goes off at 2am. I force myself out of bed by 2:30, get ready for work, and have a granola bar and 1/2 a Dr Pepper on the way. The rest of the DP goes in the fridge at work for my break. Then I do planograms, stack and unpack boxes, and deal with some seriously terrible coworkers. I go home, cook myself breakfast, eat, sew while catching up whatever is on my hulu queue, then I nap for anywhere from 1-6 hours, depending on the day. Usually the boy is off work by then, so I go hang out with him, and I’m in bed between 8-10pm so I can wake up at 2am again.

I’m boring.

#11: Pet Peeves

Tue, 04 Sep 2012 12:43:55 -0500

I’m having a hard time coming up with 10, so here’s 3:

1. Jokes about disabilities. They’re not funny.

2. Slow drivers. There is no excuse for driving under the speed limit.

3. An inability to use ones brain. Apparently common sense is not that common.

#10: Embarrassing moment

Mon, 20 Aug 2012 15:23:32 -0500

Nope.

Not because I don’t want to answer it, but because I’m really not sure. With social anxiety disorder, I’m constantly embarrassed by little things.

#9: Influential People

Mon, 20 Aug 2012 15:22:30 -0500

I’m supposed to make a list of 10 people who’ve influenced me… but I’m having a difficult time with it. I’ll come back to it later.