http://www.myspace.com/longviewtheband - "Further" by these guys is just beautiful. *happy sob*

So via some research, I found that there actually IS a local store still selling swimwear out of season, a boutique called "Confidentially Yours" not far from my apartment. They specialize in lingerie and underwear, but have a back section with a small variety of mostly one-pieces. I was hoping to find a nice two-piece, but the only one I found that I liked had this bizarre bra-like attachment that made it look like I was wearing one under the suit, with the clips in back peeking out. Taaaaacky...:(

Then I tried on a simple one-piece, black with green stitching. It deals well with my belly, although it shows off a lot more chest than I'm used to. Eh, minimize the negative, maximize the positive, as they say. Frickin' thing was 72$, that that was after they took 30% off. *cringe* I have never ever paid that much for a suit before. :(

Got to hang out with the new girl, Nicole, at work last night. She is really personable; we hit it off right away. We have a surprising amount in common. We are both Psych majors, for instance. She's like a preppier version of me, lol. The conversation swiftly turned gossipy, which was a lot of fun. ^_^

She is very social. Said that she would have stayed and hung out for more of my shift, but had a half hour drive ahead of her to go visit the guy she's been seeing. Even so, saying that was nice of her. We were both invited to my other coworker Tom's Christmas party on the 20th. I told her I was looking forward to it, but had invited a friend (Miranda) along since I won't know very many people there. She said she was thinking about bringing a friend too. I'm hoping to go shopping sometime either today or tomorrow to get a cute new top for the occasion. Tom's uncle (who he lives with) has a hottub. I don't know if that will be in-use for this shindig, but I'll be bringing my swimsuit just in case. It's old and not terribly flattering, but it's all I've got and getting a new one is out unless I want to fork over an ungodly amount to order one online.

In other news, they announced at yesterday's staff meeting that starting the 4th, our houses and schedules will be fixed in place. Marissa is going to become my new main supervisor, with Teri remaining the final say for all three houses. I will be working five nights a week, and attending all of the Wednesday staff meetings from now on. I'm still strictly overnights, and will have Sunday and Monday nights off. Lori and Sarah M. were assigned to the other two houses, which is kind of a bummer. I'll still be seeing them at the meetings at least. Gavin was taken off of the Saturday outings, surprising everyone. Teri mentioned that the overnighters will have a few extra duties, including med audits. I was nervous about that until this morning when I asked Ashley about it. She said that it's not a difficult thing, just tedious. Basically you go through the Drawer and count every single client's pills and document it. Doesn't sound fun, but I think I can handle it.

And all this is, of course, assuming that the Prairie Center Plan falls through, and I have to stay at MHC indefinitely.

Megan's gift was a brand new scanner/printer/copier. I can finally post new art from home, huzzah! I went on a posting spree, which can be seen here: http://karigirl1984.deviantart.com/

Birthday partying was quite fun. It was great to see my friends! This was also my first birthday I've ever celebrated as a non-student. I went and got my hair cut and styled (curly) for the occasion. Ryan, Erin, and Brian met up at my place and from there we all went to Crazy Buffet. There we met up with Muchacho, Miranda, and Jon. After that we made a Schnucks run for supplies and then settled in at Jon's house to party. I had a couple drinks, enough to become pretty cheerful, but not full blown drunk. Then I went to work for the night. In the morning I went home to shower and change, then went back to Jon's to pick up where I left off with Brian and Miranda, while Katey and Erin went and saw the Frog Princess movie. The three of us went to IHOP for breakfast/lunch, which was delightful. Erin and Katey got back. We all hung out for a couple hours, and then just us girls went over to Katey to gossip, drink, and play my new game "Fact or Crap". Seriously fun times; made us all feel like a bunch of smarty pants, lol. I came in second, 50pts., right behind Katey, 56pts.

After finally finishing that game, we went to Lil Ceasars for some cheap pizzas. We brought them back to Jons to share with the boys. Connor has joined the party. They were drinking an absolutely awful concoction that I christened "The Purple People Eater".

Everyone went their separate ways around 6:00p. I went home and got ready to have dinner with Dad and Megan. They arrived around 6:30ish and we went to Olive Garden. We had a wonderful dinner and a very charismatic waiter. Derek came by several times to say hi and chat. I got sang to, but it wasn't nearly as embarrassing as these sort of things typically are, heh. I had a whole lot of leftovers; I'm just not used to eating in such large portions anymore.

They left and then I had the rest of the night to burn. Alas, I couldn't find anything else to do with my evening, so I ended up just going to bed early. Still, I had a hell of a birthday weekend. :)

Sometimes I think that I have a certain "weird quota" that needs to be fulfilled on a weekly basis.

Last night I was leaving to go to work. I went to lock up my apartment as usual. I turned the key and tried to pull it out, but it wouldn't budge. I tried unlocking then relocking...no change, still stuck. I wiggled it. I cussed at it. In exasperation I just PULLED, hard.

The entire locking column popped out like a cork, little pins falling out every which way.

Crap! Fortunately this happened when it was still in the locked position. Unfortunately, NO one was going to be able to get back in there, myself included, with nothing to work with but a hole in the door. My maintenance crew's hours were long since over, and I was already running a couple minutes late for work. Had to leave it and go.

So this morning I got a hold of Royce and Brinkmeyer and left them a message. They called me back and set me up with a locksmith. As I'm typing this, Mr. Locksmith is currently conducting open heart surgery on my front door.

*sigh* Otherwise, all is well. Erin got her car running and will be down here sometime this afternoon/evening to visit me and Katey. Ryan will be joining us after he gets out of church. As for what we will actually be doing, I haven't the foggiest. I assume dinner will be in there somewhere, possibly a drink or three. Frankly just talking and hanging out would make me happy, anything else is just icing.

I got two cards in the mail yesterday, one from Dad and one from Grandma. Best wishes and 100$ to help things along this month. It's sad that the first thing I thought of was "Oh I can put this toward retaking the GRE..." or get a much needed oil change, not fun, goof-off purchases.

Is anyone else excited about that movie coming out, "Avatar"? I am, though I wish they wouldn't hype it up so much. That is practically the kiss of death. I think it will be a very fun movie, but I highly doubt the light of God shines out of it's cinematic arse. Wouldn't it be nice if the reviews weren't released until the movie was exposed to the general public? People would have to decide for themselves to watch something, taking a risk that it might not be good. I hear so often "It looked interesting, but it got horrible reviews, so I didn't bother". Are your tastes perfectly in sync with Mr. Ebert's? I think we, as a general populace, are missing out big time when we let others decide for us what is worthwhile.

Time to dust this thing off and update it. Kari, version 2010, wants slightly different things than when The List was first conceived, somewhere in Jr. High, lol. Several of these issues have come up in the past, but not all of them.

My Ideal Significant Other:

Will be employed.
Will have a car.
Will have an apartment/house of his own; not living with Mom and Dad.
Will have his own group of friends.
Will have my level of education or better.
Will not be a Dad.
Will not be a divorcee.
Will not talk about his exes, if said exes qualify as "baggage".
Will not be a "homebody".
Will be straight.
Will not do drugs.
Is not an "angry drunk".
Does not smoke more than socially.
Is not terribly allergic to animals.
Is confident, not arrogant.
Will not attempt to "one-up" other people's stories.
Will have good personal hygiene.
Will know how to dress himself.
Is not "financially stupid".
Does not expect a girlfriend to wait on him hand and foot.
Will NEVER hit a woman.
Is a good kisser.
Is at least mildly handsome.

Thursday I told Matt that we should just be friends. It went really well. He wasn't unduly upset and even said I was "more than welcome" to come over and hang out whenever. So yay. :)

Seeing Lupe Sunday was, as predicted, both wonderful and emotional. We picked me out an adorable pair of glasses for me, which I will be picking up around the holidays. We got into our old giggly ways fairly quickly. I forgot how much I loved her squeaks!, lol. Later, in the food court, we discussed her issues with Cristo. *sigh* The poor gal has a long, rough road ahead of her. She asked for whatever help I could offer, so I'm hoping to scrape together some reading material on the issues they are dealing with from work tonight; copy them and put together a packet.

Later that day, back in Champaign, I hung out with Katey. She did a tarot reading for me and then I told her about a story idea I have. It's about a Hell Hound puppy named Samson. Katey totally wanted onboard, and it evolved into a rough plan for a graphic novel which I would illustrate and she would write. So now that's two graphic novel collaborations in the works...

Later that night, around 1:30a, I headed down to Tuscola to have the last Late Night Denny's Adventure of 2009 with Neal and Jae. Fun times, as usual. A fellow nerd sat kitty corner from us, and eventually got pulled into the conversation. :) I didn't much feel like going home to my boring lil apartment, so I followed them down to Charleston. I crashed on Neal's spare bed for all of two hours. Then we goofed off for a bit. He showed me what Left 4 Dead 2 looks like (friggn aweseome) and taught me how to throw knives at his dorm room tackboard. I had a really nice lunch at Subway with Ryan while Neal and Jae were at their classes. After that I hit up the Phys Sci building and the Sociology dept office for info on all the profs I want letters of rec from. I then hung out in the Cyber Lounge until Neal got done with class. More goofing off and playing with knives. Then dinner with him, Jae, and their friend Jimmy (who smelled kinda of bad). Ahhhh QQ Buffet, how I love thee...:)

On the way back home to Champaign I got a text from Matt Lucas saying that I was welcome to visit him in Springfield while I was in a traveling mood, but man I was pooped and low on funds, so I asked for a raincheck on that one.

Today I had "CPI" training from 9am-4p. Basically I learned the MHC approved techniques for deescalating crisis situations. It was taught by Jason, the head of the TIMES Center. Jason is quite funny/charismatic, and made for a fun class.

Work tonight, blah. Thinking of treating myself to a bubble bath prior.