you guys, today was a supremely frustrating day. BOO.

First, for the last few days, my power has been wonky. I notice it the night before last when the furnace, the stove, and the fridge were not working. Someone came to fix it yesterday and when he left everything was working. Two hours later, I'm pretty sure the furnace stopped again (because last night was the coldest i've been since i got here), and by the time I woke up, everything that was not working the day before was working, but everything else was down. This includes most of the lights and ALL BUT ONE of the outlets. I had to get ready in the dark and walk to work with wet hair. When I got home today, NOTHING was working. The same man came back and realized the problem was in the meter box behind the house- a problem for a power-company employee. One came (very quickly, actually, I was kind of impressed) and confirmed that one of the two main breakers into the house was broken. He then proceeded to tell me that he could not fix it, we would have to call an electrician to fix it, THEN the power company again to come reconnect the power after the electrician worked on it. So who knows when that's going to happen. He rigged it so right now everything but the stove/oven is working which is good enough but I'm still stressed about it. All my food that's been chilled and defrosted multiple times!

Second, I came home in a hurry today because I knew the maintenance man would be coming by at 4:30. I undressed in a hurry, but in the process of taking off my awesomely beautiful new J. Crew boots, the zipper snagged on my tights. My $20 spanx tights that I just bought. Try as I might I could not dislodge it, or even move the zipper at all in either direction. The only solution was to tear the tights off the zipper. My expensive tights. They now have a huge hole in the right shin area. Bummed. Out.

Third, my computer is broken. Mostly it's fine, but the hole where the plug goes- the little jack in there is loose. The computer will only charge if I hold the cord in very weird positions. This is especially a problem as it takes a lot of my time to stand there holding the cord so it will charge, and this is even harder to do WITH NO POWER. I've had to send frantic "I can't turn in this assignment on time" or "I'll be missing class bc my comp is dead" emails to my professors. Not the best impression. I AM A MESS.

Fix my life please.

Is it normal for adult siblings to still hurt each other (emotionally, not physically...though I'm not sure the poking and play-wrestling will ever stop)? I feel like I should be past that stage- the stage of giving or receiving hurt, but every once in a while something happens that makes me question entire relationships. It just doesn't seem reasonable to me that two adults should be able to be so petty, defensive, judgmental, or quick to anger. I am as guilty of all of these things as either of my brothers, and I wish that weren't true. Of any of us. Of course, those aren't the only causes, there's also the fact that, even coming from the same background, we can all see the world so fundamentally differently. If the pain given or taken arose from a difference in principles or values, that would be more understandable. But when it is the result of assumptions, accusations, and a basic failure to listen, it seems so much worse.

I guess the basic question here is really this- why does life hurt so much sometimes?

But really, tell me- doyou still have situations like this with your siblings? Or am I abnormal? Maybe I just take things too seriously.

How to prepare for a job interview

How do you prepare for a telephone interview? I don't know about you, but I:

1. Washed my hair. Because they can see what it looks like.

2. Took a useless trip out to "run errands" but in reality only ended up dropping one letter at the post office. It felt more productive to get out of the house than just to sit around biting my nails all morning, ok?

3. Did some stress baking. I made a batch of pizzelles (waffle-like italian cookies). Like the picture, but mine were flavored with orange oil and zest. I'm planning on making some chocolate-almond ones tomorrow before my other interview.



4. Put on makeup. Because they can see what it looks like.

5. Brushed my teeth. THREE TIMES. Because they can smell my breath.

6. Got a comfortable chair that allowed me to sit upright, rather than my regular lounge chair or exercise ball. It felt more professional.

7. Placed said chair in front of my french doors that look out on the forest and opened the blinds. I figured that would be more peaceful to look at than my messy bedroom.

8. Printed off the job announcement and wrote some questions to ask.

9. Also wrote my strengths and weaknesses. Not because I'm obsessed with myself, but because I've been asked in every interview I've had in the last few years to talk about them. I'm always stumped by that one, so I figured I would go into this one prepared. (Guess what they didn't ask me about this time?)

10. Sat in my chair, looking out my windows, phone and papers in lap and pen in hand...waiting.

Trying to find a job is STRESSING ME OUT.

I haven't left the house in three days because of the snow.

Glee hasn't been on tv for A WHOLE MONTH.

I thought classes started tomorrow, and if it weren't for my department's student affairs coordinator, I would have no idea that they actually start today. THAT was almost a disaster. Once, at BYU, I actually did miss the first day of a class because I couldn't find the HRCB on the map (stupid, right?). I was mad.

Did I ever write about Black Swan? Because all of the above things are not good, but they're not exactly ruining my life. Do you know what did ruin my life? BLACK SWAN. If you are even thinking about watching it, DO NOT. Don't get more curious because I said that and go see it anyways. I am telling you, if you want your life to continue happy and carefree as it has hopefully been to this point, by all that is holy, DO NOT watch that movie. I thought to myself "Ooh, psychological thriller...ballet...what could possibly go wrong? This sounds basically amazing." Little did I know what awaited me was basically a few explicitly, agressively, and violently sexual encounters woven together by things like...oh, Winona Ryder stabbing herself repeatedly in the face with a metal nail file...and...a daughter beating up her mother and breaking her hand by slamming her fingers in a door- over and over and over again...and....lots of terrible bloody self-mutilation. Toned down, this could have been a great movie about one girl's descent into madness (although she really started the movie in madness so maybe descent isn't the correct word...). As it is, it's a two-hour shock-fest, where the shocks are indeed shocking, but have tenuous relevance to the story itself. Blurg.

A couple of months ago, in going through theshelves of the Hunter Museum's library, I found a copy of selections from "Alice in Wonderland" with original illustrations by Salvador Dali. I knew it was something special and valuable because of the way it was packaged- or not packaged because the original box was missing, but basically a series of folios in book cloth folders. I was curious about it so I asked Frances (the 80-some-odd year old librarian) about it and she said "oh yeah, that's not even all of it- during the construction part of it got moldy in storage, so I just got rid of the box and some of the sections". That shocked me because limited edition books of that type are worth a pretty penny new, and this is at least 40 years old. Anyways, I was just sitting here watching Antiques Roadshow and got curious, did some searching, and found out that a complete version of that same book is worth at least $8000. And part of ours was tossed. Because of mold. GAH FRANCES!!! The best I can do is strongly urge them to get a new box for it. Oh it just makes me sick to my stomach. It did at the time and it still does now.

Mold can be treated. Blurg.