"Ch-ch-ch-Changin'!"

David Bowie, I think...

Last night, I was rudely awakened by pounding on what sounded like my door. We've had the same domestic violence couple living next door for the past year or two and usually what sounds like our door is usually theirs. Oddly enough, it WAS our door and it was being pushed and beat and rubbed on by an unknown dude. He said nothing but he was definitely becoming one with our door until he passed out on the back patio. "WTF?!" My sister and I both whisper at each other. I call 911.

The cop is really nice to the guy even though it takes a good 15 minutes to wake him up. Yes, he slept through the gigantic flashlight pounded on the wooden deck and periodic shouted serenades of "HEY POLICE! WHAT'S YOUR NAME?" The guy was shnockered... however you spell it. Trashed, NASTY drunk as I've never actually seen in person. After some halfway lucid conversation between the two, we learn our perp's name is Matt and he's from SANphrupheoh. "Whale's Vagina, you say?" The cop smirks. Matt counters with a very drunken headbutt to our door and a "huh?" We giggle with our ears pressed against our door, not unlike our friend, Matt.

The cop asks for his ID and 23yo Matt soon becomes drunken, underage Josh who redecorated out doormat with what appeared to be semi-digested chicken wings. The cop recoils in horror. The stench is pretty bad even through our closed door. Matty Josh groans and retches some more and slurs that the "chick" that lives here got him trashed and he lives in our apartment number. Right. Who's the cop going to believe, two groggy, pj'ed chicks, who have obviously not been out drinking or you? We still have no idea how he thinks he lives here or why he would be able to get in without a key.

We wait while EMS discusses our location for the next 20 minutes. I don't blame them, though. The cop came in through our front patio and out the back, stepping over sleeping beauty. Our complex is uh... complex.

Mr. EMS is not so nice to Matty Josh. He makes a lot of fun of him. I will admit it was funny but Mr. EMS was sort of an asshole, but having been woken up at 2:30 am to a half-dead, disgusting dude knocking on my door, I'm giving Mr. EMS some credit. Matty Jo Josh Jim Bob is WAY past drunk as we learn from the BAC detector thingie. If we wouldn't have called 911, he might have been dead in the morning.

Now, we've lived in the same condo for 8+ years now and this has NEVER happened to this extent. Some people think our apartment is our neighbors but it's usually at a reasonable hour and not usually so entertaining. The way I see it on my funny scale: Embarassed coherant people <>

Having non-violent, half-dead guys showing up at my door for the first time in 9 years (or 12 if you count the other 3 when I lived nearby) could be an omen that perhaps my luck is changing. Hot damn I didn't even have to go downtown for this kind of after party, it comes to me!

"He is everything you want. He is everything you need...

He is everything inside of you that you wish you could be. He says all the right things at exactly the right time..." ~ Vertical Horizon, Everything You Want




Seriously, this is ridiculous. I don't deserve a blog and I apologize.

Blogging used to happen from work at lunchtime and even more so when the second job was obtained -but- the IT Department put their foot down. Two jobs means I'm working almost all of the time during the week. 8 am to 10 pm. And it's amazing how much more sleep one requires when you work all of the time. Still, paying debt off while being able to still enjoy what little free time you have is amazingly cathartic.

The vehicle has been giving me a lot of worry as of late. But instead of sitting in a waiting room reading Car and Driver and plunking down hundreds of dollars, there's been a little grease under my fingernails. That's right, I've gotten under the hood and removed and cleaned some parts and it's really empowering. Although, that could be the pervy construction workers across the street sending cat calls my way. Uhhhh nah. It's playing mechanic; Totally.

I've been doing a lot of thinking. Thinking about where I've been, where I'm going, what makes me happy, etc. It's almost like that pesky Quarter Life Crisis is knocking on my door (a la SNL Land Shark) only this time, I am better equipped to handle it. (Or kick it in the balls, whatevs!)

Going back to school has crossed my mind. I'm really not sure whether or not it's feasible but that's a highly supported choice. The other is finding a new job. While I love what I do, it doesn't pay much and the options for moving up within the organization have been squelched within the past 6 months. I could go back to working for the university and hopefully they might pay my way through school... or go private sector and explore my opportunities there. But no matter what, the conquoring of debt comes first.

You know those times in movies when someone realizes "This is my life!"? I sort of feel that way a lot recently. There is a reason for all of the commotion and upheaval and improvement going on all around me: Cincy. He's finally decided that being with me is where he wants to be. I will admit to knowing something was there all along, though I did fight it quite a bit; I won't count my chickens but things are really good. I'm walking on fluffy, Marscapone, clouds after 5 months of non-chalant dating long-distance... this is so not me and yet, it feels more me than before. 15 days until we can see each other again! It seems like an eternity but as soon as we're together, it just picks up right where we left off and continues.


Blog, I'm sorry but you come in dead last on the list-- but it doesn't mean we're through, rather I'm temporarily busy improving other areas of my lifeand I will get to you when I can. I promise.

On the Austin Bachelor

During the past 3.5 years that I've been single and living in Austin, I've become well aquainted with a behavior that is labeled "The Peter Pan Syndrome."

Basically, it's an epidemic that is spreading to bachelors near you... They just want to date and date and date and date and can't settle down. They can't sit still long enough to get to know any girl and God forbid she not put out within a week.

Of course, it works as a good weed-out for some women who can pick up on the most subtle of symptoms and run in the opposite direction. But those women aren't trapped in a house with cameras and snarky girls lurking in every cranny.

Apparently, the most recent bachelor also suffers from this affliction called the Peter Pan Syndrome. It's almost funny because I called it at the beginning while watching with my sister but was hoping it would end otherwise.

My sister snorted in disgust, "So why did he even buy the ring?"

"I don't know..." I held my left hand out to examine an invisible engagement ring,"Maybe he liked the way it looked on his own hand?"

"I wish you could be here with me...

...I would show you off like a trophy." ~ Camera Obscura, Country Mile


"You know in that movie My Big Fat Greek Wedding? How the main character wants to work in a tourist agency and she has to get her father to suggest the idea so he'll agree to it? Well, it's like that."

"Oh? Is it because of the circumstances?"

"Yeah. If I tell them we're seeing each other, they will be more critical. They always are more critical of girls I bring home that they know I'm seeing but if they suggest that you're a nice girl... they will automatically like you."


"So, maybe not Austin for New Years?"

"Check into your time off at work."

I'm sorry!

My apologies to my greatly ignored blog. It was never my intension to abandon you for so long.

Having two jobs puts a great damper on the free time one has. And a large portion of that free time is spent sleeping.

Let's hope a new day job is in the works for Scarlett.

"Isn't this the best part of breaking up...

finding someone else you can't get enough of... someone that wants to be with you too." ~ Liz Phair, Why Can't I?





I promised myself no more long distance relationships. I've tried it once before on a well-established relationship and it imploded 2 years later. Lately, I've been thinking a lot about what happened 3 years ago. I didn't do much more than accept that it was over and cry a lot for the first 3 months or so; And then there was the era of late nights, late-twenties debauchery, and dating and dating and some more dating.


I'm still enjoying my singledom. Only this Cincinnati transplant is really making me rethink the rules that I have set in my past. Not that I'm compromising anything incredibly deeply rooted but he's made me think about my past in ways that I wasn't sure I should, yet it sparked a few weeks worth of thought and ultimately this entry.


Which brings me back to the LDR. That one had been established on rickety 2X4's that I alone reinforced. Which is why the bad taste developed for the LDR when that wasn't the source of the problems. Distance just exacerbated what flaws were already in place. In a way, the LDR was the best thing to ever happen to that relationship. At least for me that is the case.

But I still can't say that I'm open to it. It's scary. It opens one up to a vulnerability that spans 1000 miles or so. I've never started a relationship long-distance, only ended one. We're still getting to know each other past friendship as if each phone call is a date in a coffee shop and each visit is a month's worth of dates. And that is where we stand.

But to think all it took was one seemingly un-related question from him to launch this thought process.

"And the phone is a fine invention...

It allows me to talk endlessly to you." ~ Jenny Lewis and the Watson Twins




Okay, so I haven't been completely honest... I'm probably not "unboyfriendable." Though, sometimes it feels like a huge 2x4 of it has hit me in the head, knocking me unconscious and, well, "unboyfriendable." I have my moments of insanity driven emotion. If I didn't, I wouldn't be female.

And then there's the fiercely independent person, the one I was born to be. The one that freaks her mom out by doing all sorts of things alone and being very much okay with it all. I mean, why not? I don't have issues meeting friends out downtown instead of meeting up somewhere first. I have now been to a movie alone and actually enjoyed the experience. And I've taken myself out for sit-down dinners several times, though I must admit, a great majority of those were work/travel induced. But I like being alone too is my point.

This is WHY I am boyfriendable. I can leave a guy alone and do my own thing. I don't freak out when he wants to go out with the guys; I can go shopping alone so that he doesn't have to endure the crapfest that is jean shopping; I enjoy the heck out of my own life enough that I don't spill out, over, and engulf his. Not that my life is a party... I mean, you've seen the state of affairs if you've kept up at all.

But it's also exciting.

Today, I spoke with a former interest who works in the same field, only it pays better and there's more chance for advancement. And he found me a possible job. All I had to do was make contact. I winced, I admit. He and I had a spotty past. I don't think either of us took each other seriously. But yeah, we all have been young and stupid, even in the recent past. And so the next chapter in my professional life might encompass exactly what it is that I want to do with my life with the added bonus that it is in the private sector.

Work has gone topsy-turvy on everyone. It is about as familiar as it was when I was about 3 months into this career path. I can't even say what it is that is happening but it's less sad and more hilariously funny. I wonder what else can change the next time I flash my badge at the security guard. What does this day of the week involve? It just may keep me entertained enough until things change for me in the professional arena.

And then there's Cincinnati. Not the city, rather a boy. A boy called Cincinnati. Or at least, that is how my friends know him; a fact I recently divulged in a fit of laughter. He retorted, "Well, you ARE known as 'Austin' in my circle, so..." And so it is. Austin and Cincinnati, two hill-topped cities that have "clicked" for some time. There are factors that make this difficult and slow... but who knows? The future can hold a great many things.

See? Excitement!

I "squee" with anticipation, which is, of course, the onomatopoeia of excitement.

“Cause I’ve been in a deep rut and it’s been killing me….

We’re gonna take the long-cut. We’ll get there eventually” ~ Uncle Tupelo




Sorry about the break. I just really needed it to try and straigten things out. It appears I got a clean slate instead.



In the past 2 almost 3 months, to say things have changed is an understatement. It’s as if my life was an Etch-A-Sketch painstakingly plotted when suddenly someone comes along and shakes it like a Polaroid picture. What was once my life is now a strange conglomerate of random lines and snarls in a bright red, plastic frame.



1. Work sucks. Plain and simple. The promotion applied for back in March was given to someone from a different department who doesn’t even plan on sticking around long because he took a rather significant pay cut. It felt like a slap to the face. So the job hunt continues. I’m not sure where I’ll end up or what I’ll be doing, even. This is incredibly hard for me to take since I LOVE everything about this job save my paycheck. No one can give me a good answer as to why we aren’t paid more. If your responsibilities grow, so should the pay… am I right?




2. My financial situation sucketh worse. To be fair, it has for some time and yes, I should have taken care of things earlier but I screwed up. Now, I have two jobs to make ends meet and things are a little better. Still, what I really need is a NEW JOB! One with the potential for growth because sitting around and being someone else’s pawn for 5-10 years before I get promoted to where I should be is not going to cut it.




3. Limey and I are no longer an item. We will be friends in time because he’s really a great guy and he still thinks the world of me. Unfortunately, at this time, we’re just not a good match for each other and we need that time apart to kindle the friendship. When it’s not right, it’s not. Yeah, it hurts. So I am working my butt off at both of my jobs to try not to think about it… only, I don’t want to be working my butt off for no reward.




In a lot of ways it feels like I’ve been plucked up and placed into someone’s entertainment and it’s not the kind of performance I’m used to. My life is the telenovela of lives right now and I don’t like it one bit. This girl is not up to the task of ‘Besos y Lagrimas’ so whoever’s causing this crazy stir- cut it out! I get it! Things need to change and I have to be the one to do it. Just give me some time. It’s hard to look for a new job and new relationship possibilities while climbing out of the self-imposed ‘pit of despair.’ I'm trying...



And everyone is asking, "Do we know you?!"