several things to talk about in this post: my blog, taxes, computers, fish, and a secret mystery surprise.

let me just say right up front that you people suck. i got only three votes for my new blog title and each of them was for a different name:

• Annuminas - 'West-tower' or 'Tower of the West'
• Echad i Sedryn - 'Camp of the Faithful'
• Tirion - ...ok this one doesn't actually mean anything, it is just the name of a city in heaven.

so if i couldn't choose between them to begin with, how am i supposed to now? grrr... alas, the person i would normally ask help from in making a decision has already voted and is therefore no longer impartial, and the only other person left to ask (the only other person i know with the same tolkienian disposition as myself) is 3,000 miles away and thus unavailable to help as well. i guess i'll just have to make a decision myself...
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tax season is here again. joy of joys. [shudder] at least we're basically done with them now. it took me about three hours this morning (this is after my aunt, who is a CPA and does taxes professionally, spent who knows how long actually figuring everything up and getting it ready for me) filing taxes for beth and i with both the federal and state governments. state was actually MUCH easier than federal. to file federal taxes i basically had to re-do all the work my aunt did in preparing our forms to begin with. that sucked. with the state e-file, however, they had an option to just type everything into a .pdf version of the form. so since i already had a paper version, all i had to do was copy. that one, at least, was simple.
so, in conclusion: taxes = bad. being done with taxes = good.
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i don't want to tell you about this one actually... ask me yourself if you feel inclined :-)

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ooh..the fun part of the post! we have fish!

so the other day (actually almost a week ago now) we went to the pet store to get a mouse to feed indy. while we were there we decided to look at the fish and fish tanks and whatnot, having already decided it would be cool to get a betta to have on the coffee table or kitchen table or something. so we walk in with plans to pay $2.35 for a rodent and spend some time LOOKING at fish and their various accouterments... an hour later we leave the store with $285 worth of fish accouterments, and no rodent. i still don't understand how. oi. well several days later once the water was ready we got some actual fish. not many, just a few to get the nitrogen cycle going in the tank and we're gonna add more in a few days or weeks. it actually looks really nice and i'm glad we have it cuz i love to watch them swimming and the sound of the water (our filter is the kind that acts about like a waterfall. kinda like the one in Finding Nemo) is relaxing. the downside is that we now have pets i can't cuddle. and, a week later, i'm still not sure how it happened.

(as i know beth has informed you, she is now banned from Petco because of this)
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did you get it? :-)

The Million Dollar Question:

so i found a million dollar bill in the drawer of my coffee table (no, i don't know how it got there. not sure what Beth is doing to earn that kind of money...) and found this printed on the back:

~~The million-dollar question: Will you go to Heaven? Here's a quick test. Have you ever told a lie, stolen anything, or used God's name in vain? Jesus said, "Whoever looks at a woman to lust for her has already committed adultery with her in his heart." Have you looked with lust? Will you be guilty on Judgment Day? If you have done those things, God sees you as a lying, thieving, lasphemous, adulterer... The Bible warns.. you will end up in Hell...~~

ok, seriously folks... wtf? when, in the history of christianity, has a tract ACTUALLY WORKED?!!? the whole "Sinners in the Hand of an Angry God" motif went out years ago. and honestly i doubt it did much good then either. Jesus also said "if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off." tracts drive people away from christianity (seriously, after reading that up there, would YOU wanna go be cuddly with the person who gave it to you?), not help them. therefore, for a christian, giving out tracts is a sin too. so... CUT IT OUT!! it's just annoying. stop it. go home.

It's Been A While...

so... it's been quite a while since i posted on here last. sorry about that, in case anyone actually reads it. then again if they did, i'd probably have had people asking me why i don't post any more. and i haven't so you must not. that's ok though, i can deal.

anyway, the point of this entry... gonna change the name of my blog, since this name was simply the only thing i could think of when i made it. so if anyone out there actually reads this, any ideas?

well here are my ideas, let me know which one(s) you like. if you know what they mean, great. if not, just go by sound. :-)

Laurelindorenan
Akallabeth
Annuminas
Echad i Sedryn
Karningul
Tirion
Annuuniaun
Iaunnuumin


$10 says no one comments on this...

yes, ok, you commented. thank you. no, i won't pay you. OH, and by the way, you can ignore Laurelindorenan, i won't be naming it that...so don't vote for that.

http://www.blogger.com/img/gl.italic.gif

as expected, it has been forever since i last informed anyone on here of the goings-on
of my life. since i last updated, i have gotten married, gone on a honeymoon, moved
into a house, and gone back to work afterward. i only regret the last.
the wedding itself went off without a hitch, except that we canceled the dancing at the
 reception. after we cut the cake, half the people left within 10 minutes so we just
threw the bouquet, threw the garter, and left. oh i almost forgot... we almost didn't
get to go on our honeymoon because Dawn (Beth's maid of honor) decided she wanted to
drive away with Beth's purse in her car. luckily, though, we got a hold of her before
she got all the way back home and she was kind enough to bring it back. the day was
saved.
our honeymoon was fantastic, and FYI, if anyone is considering visiting Ravenwood
Castle, go for it. just so long as you like lots of good food and don't like lots of
people around bugging you all day long. just tell them i sent you. no, don't do that.
they won't remember me anyway.
the house looks great, stop by and visit us sometime. any time actually. just call or
something to get directions. if you don't have my phone number then stop stalking my
blog.
anyway, now i'm back at work and getting stressed already. figures, eh? and i am
apparently unemployable in my field of choice... do you know how scarce entry-level
computer jobs are? at least in my area. none whatsoever. at least not for me. a week
after refusing to hire me, a company in the area hired instead a girl two years
younger than me with no computer training at all. WTF??!!? have you ever had one of
those days when you just wanna stay at home? or one of those weeks? or months?
at least at home, i'm happy and feel fulfilled and feel like i have a purpose. at
work, though... that's another story entirely. i'm always either bored or stressed
or both; i feel like i'm surrounded by idiots (mainly the customer but a few of my
co-workers as well); i work as hard as i can and for my efforts just get heaped with
more responsibilities of cleaning up after the people who do nothing and i'm expected
to do it without anything extra – no raise, no promotion, nothing. don't i remember
there being a fairness clause when i agreed to this 'life' thing? or does being
wonderfully happy at home exclude me for some reason when i'm not AT home?
oh well... as i always say: (ok so i never say it and this is the first time i've
typed it...but that just doesn't sound as good) “there's more than one way to skin
a reekoo.”

it unscrews the other way

i've been quite lax about updating my blog. but yes, things have been going on. here's a short overview:

-work has added a new portion to the building and i had to move all the stoves to it
-work has started selling tractors and i had to learn everything about them
-work has decided to send me out on the road making me work nearly 10 hours a day
-my parents and local restaurants have been making it difficult to plan the rehearsal dinner
-had to finish up invitations and get them sent out.
-did you get yours? i hope i didn't forget anyone.
-got all flustered because the church decided we couldn't have the house
-got all flustered because everyplace else to rent was more money for less home
-got all confused and untrusting cuz the church said we could have the house again
-started moving stuff into the house
-been having to mediate between my parents and myself, beth, and her parents (those were only 2 sides)
-do you know how hard it is to mediate when you're on one of the sides?
-went to see Order of the Phoenix this past weekend
-couldn't have our last counseling session cuz pastor forgot
-zair has been keeping me up at night some times
-i've been very exhausted most days
-i'm broke
-seriously this was the past 2 weeks. the short version. and i probably forgot half the things that happened.

i'm getting really tired and annoyed about all this stuff again so i'm going to bed.
one upside to all this... starting saturday i get to take a short break from planning and all other responsibilities and read HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS!!!!! w00t!!!!!!

Wow. I'm really getting married. Really really.

so even though i've been thinking about marriage for quite a while now, and even known who i'm going to marry for about a year, it's just now beginning to hit me. yes i knew i'm marrying beth and yes i thought long about that decision to make sure i wanted it before i made it. i knew all along i was making a life-long decision in choosing my wife.
but it is only just recently starting to actually sink in. and wow, it's surprising and slightly unsettling. not that i'm questioning my decision or anything, but just that it is only beginning to really hit me the enormity of my choice. it's like rappelling, and stopping just over the edge to look down: you're having a ton of fun, but you can still get a touch of vertigo. lol.
it is amazing (no matter how many times i've said it to myself or to beth already) to truly, deeply, intimately realise that yes, i really do get to wake up every morning for the rest of my life (starting august 19th) to see her face. :-)
it's almost like losing a family member...except in reverse (cuz it's good, duh). but the same feeling of realisation applies: you can logically know that your brother (or sister, or mother, or uncle, or whomever) is dead, but it still takes you a while to truly KNOW it and understand it and even admit it. same kind of thing here (except, like i said, the emotions are good instead of bad) that yes i've thought about it, planned for it, longed for it. but only now am i truly beginning to understand what it means. and every time i realise something new, it makes me wish for that day to come even sooner. :-)
maybe that's how we should all view heaven, as well...

they put them there for a reason, you know...

i realised today that i must have missed a memo somewhere. honestly...how could there be this many people on the roads today who have no idea what a turn signal is when (at least i thought) there's a law requiring their use? are there really that many people out there who don't give a flying f... no, umm... a rat's ... wait... who have absolutely no respect for their fellow humans?
think about it... even if there WASN'T a law requiring them, how sadistic do you have to be NOT to use them? let me illustrate: "i'm traveling down the highway, at 15-20 mph over the speed limit. i'm not here to drive, but rather to play an extremely complex game of lane changing such that no other driver on the planet not specifically informed of said game, would ever be able to figure it out. i will drive within 6 inches of your car on all sides, i will cross 4 lanes of heavy traffic to cut into exit ramps after the exit lane has already left the highway and has a 3in. concrete curb between them, i will fully expect you to know and anticipate my moves in this game even though i know this is utterly impossible since i haven't informed you beforehand and therefore will honk my horn loudly and continuously when you do something i don't like until you fix this. throughout all of this, i refuse to use my turn signals or my brakes in any fashion. if i hit you it must be your fault anyway, so what does it matter?"
HAVE A LITTLE DECENCY! do you really think the people around you are telepathic? or just that they don't matter enough to be given any consideration? that's it. from now on if you don't use a turn signal, i won't move out of your way for anything. i won't let you merge, i will cut you off if you try to pass me, and i will purposely drive alongside another car to block the passing lane if there's more than one of you. maybe you'll learn to be considerate of other drivers. ...or at least crash and therefore stay off the road for a few weeks.