Aren’t they precious?

Also, this entry was brought to you entirely by my iPhone…I even edited the photos using the PS Mobile app.

I don’t mean a few ants, I mean the whole plant + planter appeared to be moving slightly.

I couldn’t decide whether I wanted to cry, vomit, or pass out, so I called Corner on the phone and was like WTF SHOULD I DO? CAN LEAH’S PLANT TAKE ONE FOR THE TEAM OR IS IT AN IMPORTANT PLANT? He suggested sticking the plant in the sink and drowning the ants, but there was NO WAY I was touching that thing in order to move it from the windowsill to the kitchen sink. I totally had the heebie-jeebies and was envisioning several worst case scenarios, one of which involved the ants invading my dreadlocks and being stuck there forever….I’m still itchy just thinking about it!

I had the genius idea to try to vacuum up the ants. Brilliant, right? Until I knocked over the plant with the vacuum hose and the ants spilled out ALL OVER the kitchen floor. Luckily Nigel saw no need to investigate because I was near hysterics at this point and the last thing I needed was my dog sniffing around a bunch of bugs and potting soil while I finally gave in and liberally applied Raid to everything in the near vicinity and swept the entire plant and all of the offending ants straight into the garbage can. Now I owe Leah a new plant, but GOOD GOD that was a lot of ants!

And yes, it is possible to get this worked up over ants when your boyfriend is gone for 5 weeks, both of your cars broke the day he left, your dog was running a temperature at the vet earlier on in the day and you were told to keep an eye on him and all you can think about is if the dog is sick then you can’t go to your conference in Texas later on in the week, etc. So don’t judge me.

On the plus side, Megan, Veronica, and Emma came down for the weekend and we had an enjoyable time. Dinner at the Crown & Anchor, rum shrubs, Band Hero, breakfast at Trailside Cafe, Carmel Beach, and a Michigan State victory over Michigan. MSU has not lost to UofM in football or basketball in 855 days. It feels good.

• Kathy
• KC

Emma and Veronica are visiting Megan in San Jose for their spring break, and I think the 3 of them are coming down to Monterey at some point this weekend. Debauchery shall ensue. (I know you guys refer to it as slop, but really, debauchery sounds so much more refined.) At any rate, it will be a lot of fun and help kill some time while Corner is gone. Then late next week I’m off to SXSW! So pumped. I made a reservation yesterday for Nigel to stay at a doggy bed breakfast while I am gone. It sounds kind of ridiculous, but it’s this lady out in Carmel Valley with 10 acres of fenced land and she boards dogs for a very reasonable rate. I heard good things about her from 2 of my coworkers so Nigel should be in good hands.

Work has been kind of crazy as of late. I’m trying to hunker down and really dig into this virtual campus tour I’m supposed to be building, but other things keep coming up. I rethemed our blogging community and it still needs some tweaks (but a big THANK YOU to Magic Seth for helping me fix the Recent Site Wide Posts widget!). I’ve also been building out the Knowledge Base blog and helping Rebecca get the stories campaign off the ground. I will be helping Lynn with some more TEDxMonterey stuff, specifically the program (which is going to be designed on special paper that will grow flowers if you plant and water it…pretty cool).

Also, this has been post #2 brought to you by my iPhone. Except the hyperlinks, which I had to do later because I can’t for the life of me figure out how to do it on my phone.

So Corner left on Monday for a 5-week work training in Maryland. Totally lame, but I don’t make the rules. I’ve said many times that I would have quit his job inside of 6 months. I guess I’m not really a work-for-the-government kinda girl.

This week was definitely the week for receiving lots of cool stuff in the mail. Mom and Kathy sent me a copy of “Sparty’s Journey Through the Great Lakes State,” which is completely awesome and now has a permanent home on my coffee table.

I also received a large box of pastries from Quality Dairy courtesy of my lovely MSU Professional Writing friend Lindsay. They were all out of paczkis, which makes me sad, but I appreciate the sentiment!

Aaaaand to end the week on a fabulous note, my large order from Victoria’s Secret arrived on Friday! I now have 2 new sweatshirts and 2 new pairs of sweatpants from the PINK Collegiate Collection.

I have been trying to keep myself entertained without the boyfriend. This means lots of video games, particularly The Sims 3. I don’t usually watch TV shows (especially since we don’t have cable), but I am completely obsessed with The Big Bang Theory. Can we talk about how Howard Wolowitz/Simon Helberg is totally my type?

And now I’m off to play Tomb Raider Chronicles and complete Day Zero goal #68.

If I’m chosen, I will get to travel the world with a team of cool people and interview body modification artists around the globe. I applied for the writer role, so I would likely get to blog the entire trip.

This would be a fantastic opportunity to combine my professional skills with my personal interests! I would love to have the chance to represent Michigan State, MSU’s Professional Writing program, and the Monterey Institute. Not to mention I think I’d make a great addition to the team.

Also, for my drum corps friends, there is a big mention of my travel experience with the GLASSMEN. And Heather, I may have used a photo of you doing your laundry…I didn’t have one of me! ;)

Please head on over to BME’s ModBlog and cast your vote for my video. Take a look at the other videos, too…there are some ridiculously cool finalists!

Corner left yesterday for a 5-week work training in Maryland. Nigel has taken over his spot in the bed.

So Nigel was sniffing around the front yard and I see something large and shiny glinting by the light of the streetlights over in the driveway near my car. It was some sort of small BMX-style bike. Weird, but I didn’t think it was incredibly unusual since my neighbor has a lot of friends arrive on foot to his house and I figured maybe someone had dumped their bike in our yard either a) by mistake or b) for safekeeping. About this time I noticed that Nigel had wandered off towards the side yard. I watched as he suddenly stiffened and became very alert. Then he started barking. Not like a OH I’M SO HAPPY YOU’RE HOME bark but a SOMETHING WEIRD IS GOING ON HERE bark. And he didn’t go any further into the side yard. At this point I was thinking there was some sort of animal back there and maybe it was bigger than Nigel and that’s why didn’t approach it…but just in case, I stuck my head back in the front door and asked Corner to come check out the side of the house because the dog was barking at something and acting a little weird.

So Corner came outside, giant Maglite flashlight in hand (we’re talking this thing is over a foot long and HEAVY and I’m pretty sure you could clobber someone over the head with it if you needed to). I went back inside and continued sorting the laundry and checking my email because at this point I was thinking a very large raccoon had taken up residence in our yard or something. Then I heard 2 voices outside: Corner’s voice and someone else’s.

Corner walked back inside and headed for the kitchen. “This kid got beat up at the bus stop and was hiding in our yard,” he said.

“What? A kid? Like how old?” I asked.

“And by kid I mean he’s like my age or older.”

Corner went back outside with a glass of water for the guy and learned that he had been waiting for the bus at the bus stop next to our house (there is a city bus stop right on the other side of our short picket fence). Some other guys supposedly beat him up and took all his money. Corner said he looked pretty worse for the wear and was clutching his side like maybe his ribs were broken or something. Corner kept asking if he needed to make a phone call so someone could come pick him up, but the guy insisted he had no one to call. It probably didn’t help that Corner and I know zero Spanish and this guy did not have a very firm grasp of English.

Corner finally said that he was going to call the police, and the guy was suddenly very eager to leave. He gave his empty water glass back to Corner and hightailed it out of our front yard. thanking him. Corner stopped him to ask if the bike next to my car belonged to him and he said it did not. Yet when Corner looked outside shortly after the guy left, the bike was gone. Hhhmmm.

Anyway, Corner did call the cops and file a police report of some kind but basically I’m a little weirded out by the whole situation and now we are getting renters insurance and a floodlight for the side of the house.

I’m just glad Nigel didn’t run up to the guy and start giving him kisses.

Total word count: 19,365. It’s 106 pages in Storyist, and a damn good start. I’m glad I finished as much as I did.

Perhaps I’ll win next year.

I’ve read about NaNoWriMo for the past 7 or so years now. LiveJournal always promotes it and every year I’ve seen the announcements and thought, “I should do that.” Well, now I’m finally doing it. I think I will be able to win as long as I set aside time each day to write about 2,000 words.

Yup, I’m probably crazy.

So what have I been doing to get ready? Mostly prepping my computer and working on a rough outline. Looks like Storyist is my weapon of choice.

The best part (for me, anyway) is that the winners receive a free proof copy courtesy of CreateSpace. You mean in December I can get a real, physical copy of the book I just wrote? Too cool.

So what’s my book about? Well, it’s probably best classified in the teen lit genre and is going to be written as a series of letters from the protagonist to various individuals in her life. Based on my own experiences? You bet. Completely factual? Probably not. But who doesn’t love a good coming-of-age piece?

One of my day zero goals was to “start writing my novel” — looks like I might finish it, too?!