We've been having a fly problem. It started yesterday. I made Aaron go after them all with a magazine--I pointed them out, and he would go after them. It was like having a mercenary. A lot of the flies like to convene on the back door, because it's sort of like a huge window, and I guess they are attracted to the light. We spent so much time hovered by the backdoor with a rolled up magazine spearing at the cracks between the blinds that last night, Dwight started standing by the back door thumping at flies with his nose. So today, we got one of those tennis racket-shaped bug zappers, and it's been quite satisfying massacreing those dirt worshipping heathens. (We've also been watching Deadwood.)

Hmm...if you've been wondering, I have felt a great lack of creativity lately, and no flow in my writing. So I've been blogging less. Too much tv watching, I guess. And by TV I mean HBO miniseries that we get on DVD from Blockbuster. We've gone through Big Love and Entourage, and now we're working on Deadwood. I think Deadwood is my favorite by far, but each created it's own little obsession for a while.

The marriage license got here yesterday! So now we can go through the tedious process of figuring out how to change my name on all of the random paperwork that exists in my life. I guess the first step is driver's license and social security card. Also passport for our trip to Taiwan in December. But what about credit cards, bank accounts and school? I have a bad feeling that I'm going to need to be thorough or something's going to happen like getting my med degree in my maiden name and by that time, no one will believe it's me. But wherever possible, I'm going to try to get them to include Tseng as my middle name. It's not quite fair, I think, that white girls' changing their names for marriage is not quite as drastic as all this--at least their last name keeps their race. Oh, unless they marry an Asian guy or Nigerian guy or something...

On the subject of marriage, we got a bed! It was very exciting going to Ikea and dropping a whole wad of money and getting all the different components of a bed--frame, mattress, and we even got a mattress topper! We decided to go mod and get everything white. So now we have a white bed frame, white sheets, etc. Also, we got a really cool gift card to West Elm (somebody tried to buy us some class...lol) and we got a white coffee table to go upstairs and hold a TV. Since we have two now, we put one upstairs. But it's only for video games and DVD watching.
Eek! I love my new room.

Other things: I might try to get a job tutoring a few hours a week, the kitten found a (I think) good new home, and Aaron is almost entirely moved out from his previous residence.

With the wedding coming up and all, I've been trying to not scar or bruise myself anywhere that will be visible with the dress that I am wearing. This is more difficult than I thought it would be, and I have had a lot of near misses. We have to go swimming only after dark because I tan so easily, and just two nights ago at Blockbuster I whacked myself on the forehead with the car door, and it swelled up with a little cut. But it's barely noticeable...really.

I had some really wierd dreams also two nights ago, one was about getting ready to die, and another was that my jaw popped one too many times and I had to get half of my jaw removed. Both of the dreams had the overall theme of saying goodbye--one to my life, and one to my face. It was wierd.

The other day I went with Aaron to get his oil changed and while we were waiting, we walked down the street to a record store and I discovered The Cribs. I am listening to them right now, and they are very good.

What else...I went to Shiseido and got some makeup, and me and Aaron have been prematurely wearing our wedding rings wherever we go.

Dwight is doing well, over the weekend he must've eaten something bad, so he was throwing up and diarrhea-ing all over the place, but he's better now. I ended up just throwing out the futon pad because it was just too gross and we'll be getting a new couch soon anyways.

Also, we found a kitten, for whom we are trying to find a good home. If you are interested, here is the Craigslist post:
http://dallas.craigslist.org/pet/356592964.html

Segue. Awry. Words that I spoke without knowing how to spell them and read without knowing how to pronounce them. In my head, I pronounced them "aw-ree" and "seeg". And I thought when I spoke it that segway was spelled that way.
I call them word doppelgangers. Do you have any?

The wedding's coming up soon, and I realized long ago that I want to be married, not get married. I just want to get it over with so I can get on with my life. Grrr... What doesn't make it any better is people seem to think girls revel in this stuff--"oh, what tiara shall I wear? How exciting!"
At least Aaron is slogging through it with me. If I have to make one more miniscule decision that means absolutely nothing I will hurt myself. Mentally.

Have just finished reading The Time Traveler's Wife, which was good, but sad. Very odd, it changed my perception of reality while I read it. But not to mislead you, it wasn't that great, more like a Nicholas Sparks novel + H.G. Wells or something. (It's the Nicholas Sparks part that sucks.)

Oh, here's something funny and embarassing: I took some clothes to Buffalo Exchange and they refused to take any of it. It's like being told, "nope, sorry, you just don't dress cool enough for us."
Granted, they were like 7 year old clothes bc I can't stand to get rid of anything till they're absolutely useless.

I think 4 more invitations to go? I have made so many midnight trips to the post office these past two weeks.
Also, going to Austin for a day this weekend to look at bridesmaid dresses with my sister and Elissa. I can't decide whether to go with Aaron and thus, bring Dwight to Barton Creek (which has always been quite a dream of mine, bringing my dog to Barton Creek to play with all the other dogs) or just to drive myself.
The thing is, Dwight is afraid of bicycles and water. Hmm...now that I put it that way, why would i bring him to BC?

I made a 90 on my Human Behavior Final. That might be one of three classes I don't have to take over next year. Urg.

I've been trying to find some odd jobs lately. There are a few purchases that I can't quite justify using "real" money on, so I'm trying to scrounge up some money on the side, which doesn't seem to count as much, so I can make those purchases. For example, at Edgefest, when I wasn't swooning over Brandon Flowers, my eyes were trained to the ground, looking for those $20 bills on the ground that Rachel assures me exist. I figured, where better than a rock concert full of drunk, rich yuppies who think they are hardcore?? But alas, no luck.
I have also signed up (with a fake email account) to one of those survey taking websites. Trust me, those don't work unless you are willing to sell your identity.
Finally, there is this News Blogging site that I found on Craigslist that seems fairly legit. I sent them a writing sample just now, and judging from the quality (or lack thereof) of the rest of the articles I've seen on the site, I'll soon be writing for the website. But at an average of 25 cents an article, I will have to write quite a few articles before I can do anything with the money I make. But I don't mind, because I just got to sit here and write something, and it made me feel like a useful human being again. And...every little bit counts.
Oh and Aaron sent in a writing sample too. He wrote on 28 Weeks Later and I wrote on the "California Healthy Pets Act." If you haven't heard of it, look it up. It sucks.

I got some apple flavored bubble bath today. It smells delicious.
(And this was an approved purchase...imagine how frivolous my not-approved purchases must be!)

Pics added on Flickr, finally.

Wedding invites printed and sealed...just collecting addresses now.

I've procrastinated writing bc there's a lot of things I want to mention but didn't feel like I had the energy to describe them as well as they deserved. I still don't but if I wait any longer, it will feel wierd to blog about them.

So, in order from most recent to least recent:

--We sent Dwight to the SPCA to get neutered today. I was a little worried about sending him to a shelter to get neutered (I kept getting flashbacks of that scene in dirty dancing when Patrick Swayze's ex girlfriend gets an abortion from a traveling doctor who uses a dirty knife...), but we are all out of funds due to his other vet visits. Anyways, it turned out fine, and the people there were way nicer than most of the vets I've been to. He's back now sleeping in his crate.

--The Killers were amazing in concert. Brandon Flowers is 20% matador, 20% magician. I am totally in love, one of those infatuations that makes me never want to actually meet him in person, bc there's no way he would ever live up to the image. And I think he knows that, and uses it to his advantage, because in concert, he says very little in the way of normal conversational things that lead singers typically say...like, "Dallas, you are awesome!!" Which, is not only lame, but wholly untrue.
In any case, seeing the killers in concert was everything I'd hoped it would be, and more. Aaron had to let me stand on his toes the whole time, though, bc I was too short to see. I sometimes wonder if he thinks fondly back to the days when he didn't have to do things like that, and could just enjoy concerts without worrying whether someone else can see what's going on.
The rest of Edgefest was just mediocre. Muse just wasn't good enough to distract me from all the crowd surfers threatening to kick me in the head. We also saw the Kaiser Chiefs who Aaron liked, but I didn't especially. And we had to sit through Blue October in order to get a good spot for Muse. I saw a boy who looked hardcore playing an imaginary tambourine to them, and it made me laugh.

--Boston! I rode the subway a lot, a few times by myself, which was cool. I noticed that girls in Boston tend to wear long coats, carry large bags, and use a lot of lip gloss. I think the large bags are to hold entertainment for the subway rides, and the long coats and lip gloss are because of the cold.
Rachel's house will forever be engrained as my mental image of the quintessential Boston house--wood floors, brick, and slightly old-ish with strange linoleum in the kitchen. I was sorta freaked out at night, bc it seemed sorta creepy in the living room, but I got over it, and also quite enjoyed sharing a bed with Rachel!!
Also Rachel and her roomates have an incredibly comfortable chair that they got free from Craigslist that I am totally jealous of.
As for the convention, I did a lot of studying there, lost and found my computer charger, presented mediocrely (knowing me and my public speaking, it's the best that I could do), and had dinner with some of the other Vampire/Stephen King presenters. I was unsure about the dinner thing, but I ended up enjoying it, and met some nice people--only of whom was an incredibly beautiful scottish girl that was quite intimidating at first but turned out to be nice. I also learned that people from Glasgow are called Glaswegians. I think.
On my last day there, me and Rachel took the train to Salem to see the witch museum and drink coffee and shop a lot. There was a bookstore there that was amazing--stacks of books everywhere, so much so that to check out, you had to slide your book and money through a five-inch opening between stacks of books on the counter, and they would slide your change back through the opening. It was called the Derby Square Book Store, but it's going out of business soon, in a couple of months. There's more about it that makes it amazing, but I will have to wait to write about it later, so as to do it justice.
In any case, I flew home on Easter morning, which was fun bc I got empty rows all to myself both flights back.

I have been trying to set up a Blockbuster online account, but I keep getting an error message! What will I do with all my free time if I do not have a steady supply of rental movies?? Ha, just kidding. But I have been craving to watch Shiloh. Which is ridiculous, I know, but I can't help it.
By the way, Bridge to Terabithia was nowhere as ridiculous as its chronicles-of-narnia preview made it out to be. It actually followed the book quite closely and was pretty good, despite it being a bit heavy on the goody-two-shoes-ish morals.
And Zoey Deschanel (sp?) was in it, which always is a plus.
I also am quite in love with the bond girl from the new bond movie. But I don't think most people would agree, as she is a bit awkward looking sometimes, but that's what I like about her.

Here is a great video of a very cute hamster.

Incidentally, I am feeling quite guilty about not spending enough time with the gerbils.

I leave for Boston on Tuesday! Apparently, it is about 40 degrees there now. Stephen King/Gothic nerds, here I come!!! I am excited about hanging out with people who share interests with me again. And of course, hanging with Rachel!!!!!!!!! who I haven't seen since the summer.

Oh, here is the link to the conference program. I am area chair for my presentation time! Which probably just means I get to announce the others before their presentations, but it sounds pretty cool, right?