2.  No, you cannot bring your friend that you are seeing but it’s sort of ambiguous and long distance, but he will be in town the weekend of the wedding.  I didn’t not invite my friends so that your “friend” could come.

3.  Your mom will tell your brother, recently dumped by his girlfriend, that there will be lots of single girls at the wedding, even though you can’t think of any that aren’t related to him.

4.  Hot. Glue. Everywhere.

5.  Since this is my list, you will take 2 or 3 months to alter your dress yourself.

6.  Your cats will whine and scratch the carpet while working on #5.

7.  Your grandmother will be happy to not be invited to the bridal shower, because she didn’t want to go anyway.

8.  Your mom will insist you don’t need to invite someone, then right after the invitations go out ask you to please send them one.

9.  None of the out of town people will show up.

10.  Due to #9, that hotel block you reserved won’t have any rooms booked in it.

11.  You will be really glad when instead of 3 weeks left, the wedding is over and you are on a beach.

For Fourth of July weekend, Jeff and I cleaned up the patio in our new house (!!!) and pulled weeds around the rose bushes.  The weeds were taller than the roses and it literally looked like a jungle on our little strip of dirt.  After four hours of  work (you may be unimpressed but the patio is only 250 square feet at most), the patio was clean, the rose bushes were weeded, and our door mat was actually in front of the door (instead of covered with leaves in the middle of the patio). 

I’ve taken quite a few pictures of our new place, which I should post–if I make another post sometime in the next six months or so.  That’s really pushing it for me but I’ll try to make it happen.

The other highlight of this weekend was when some stranger HIT MY CAR while it was PARKED (I guess it was in their way, huh?).  No note, just a nice dent and paint scraped off my bumper, and me left to pay my large deductible when I get it fixed.  For the most part I am much less upset about it then I would normally expect myself to be, but it annoys me to no end that someone would do this and not own up to it.  If they were uninsured–which may be the case as so many are in Phoenix–I wouldn’t have pursued anything, as my own insurance will cover it, but I would have appreciated an apology at the very least.  The upside is that I will get to rent a car while it’s in the shop (downside is that this costs more money), but it will probably be new and smell nice and it’s fun to drive a car that’s not yours.  At least I can pretend to be an optimist in this situation.

The other big news (and it is BIG) is that Jeff and I are getting married in October!  We’ve been engaged since January but since I haven’t posted since before then, I never mentioned it.  I have no extremely cute engagement story–we talked about getting married, decided to do it, and went shopping for a ring so I could pick it out myself.  He did, however, still “ask” me even though he already knew my answer.  We were watching House and he asked me on a commercial break.  It was cute, and the ring is beautiful.

Finally, and yes, there is more, Jeff will be doing his residency in Psychiatry here in Phoenix! Which means we don’t have to move and my family is happy! He’s actually already started and has been working for a few weeks.  He is extremely busy all day while he is there, but he seems to really like it so far and always has a lot to talk about when he gets home from work.

I have been extremely lucky in my experience with Jeff, him being in medical school and now (for a few weeks) being in residency.  Jeff has always been honest about how he feels and I’ve always known that he cared about me.  Meeting him in his fourth year of school was also lucky–it is just not as demanding as the first three years, and we had plenty of time to be together.  Now that he is in psychiatry I feel relieved.  His lifestyle in residency won’t be too bad.  For the most part, he gets home at the same time (or earlier) than me, and he will only be on call once a week.  So our lifestyle (which consists of us sitting on the couch watching TV, or sitting at our computers on the internet) won’t be affected very much.  I guess I just wanted to say this for the people who have found this site because they are also dating medical students.  My experience has been extremely tame and I have not had to sacrifice very much.  Jeff makes me feel like a priority and I don’t feel like I come second to his career.  If he had gone into a different specialty I probably wouldn’t feel the same way–surgery, for example.  He’d be working a lot more and I’d probably feel neglected.  That doesn’t mean that those relationships can’t work, but the experience would be a lot more difficult than mine has been.  There’s no one-size-fits-all rulebook for dating medical students/residents/doctors that is different from everybody else.  It might be difficult, it might not be.  It might work out, it might not.  Hope for the best, but prepare for the worst.  That’s the best chance anybody has in a relationship.

This year I decided, ambitiously, to make most of my Christmas gifts, or at least put some personal touch to them.  So I’ve been working feverishly to get everything done before going to Michigan to meet BF’s parents.  Here’s my progress (without pictures for now, but I will post some):

For my mom and BF’s mom: kitchen towels with a patchwork border sewn onto one end (these turned out extremely cute)

For my mom and dad: bath and body sets that I made myself (from kits, not from scratch)

For my brother and BF: t-shirts using freezer paper stenciling (and I completely stole the designs, but as it’s for personal use I assume this is ok?)

For BF: a digital photo frame made from an old laptop, with 12.1″ screen, wifi picture transfer, 800×600 resolution, and VNC access to make updates

For my mom: several fabric shopping bags, sewn by me

I bought a few other things for BF’s parents, and I still want to bake when we get back from Michigan.  That may be too much, but I sort of have to do it–I have done absolutely no other shopping for a backup.  It’s been fun; I hope everyone likes what I did.

My friend from work suggested that I might be disappointed in what I get from other people this year because it likely won’t involve as much time and thought as my gifts have. I know that my gifts won’t be equally handmade, but I didn’t do it with the expectation I would receive the same thing back.  That kind of statement just ticks me off.  I didn’t do it for myself, that was sort of the point.  I wanted to get away from the thoughtlessness that gift-buying can sometimes encourage (in my family, we just tell everyone exactly what to buy, or we get gift cards. yawn).  I have nothing against shopping, necessarily, but my family doesn’t need anything, and I wanted to do something slightly different this year, rather than be pressured to spend a certain amount of money.

Next week, we go to Michigan (for one week) to hang out in the freezing cold with BF’s parents.  I hope this goes well, but assuming I don’t act like a huge baby/bitch/high maintenance GF/liar/etc, I should be ok.  Right?

I’ve been busy, believe me.  But otherwise happy, content, and left with no time to blog because I never ever just sit down at my computer.

Latest news: I’m thinking about going to medical school.  I’m also thinking that I might be completely insane, because otherwise how could I possibly consider such a thing?

Other latest news: BF doesn’t want to do internal medicine, but psych, so all plans are thrown off.  Luckily, despite late apps, he has gotten 5 psych interviews.  If he is happy, I am happy.  Hopefully I won’t have to make that same statement in Bakersfield, CA, but I’ll make do with what life gives me.

This is really shoddily written and was a 5-minute ode to how much I suck.  I suppose I could really only do that by writing poorly.

The only thing I really care about right now is the election, and the more I read about politics, the more cynical and jaded I become. I live in a conservative state, I am not a conservative, my parents are typical Americans who know nothing about politics but pretend like they do, and I’m afraid that Obama won’t win because of bigotry and desperation on the part of some members of the Republican party. Yes, I believe they will cheat to win if they can get away with it. It happened in 2000, it could happen again.

Politics are not even an acceptable thing to discuss in my house. Drugs, sex, religion: those are ok. Politics? My mom leaves the room. Then my dad asks me, “do you think Obama is Muslim?” and tells me the VP doesn’t really do anything so experience isn’t necessary. Ssttvcyjvewtinghhbgh.

I am voting for the elitist. The smart one. McCain isn’t all bad, but the things that made him good (bipartisanship, rationalism) he had to sell out to get his party’s base. I’m ok with moderate, not with radical. I believe, despite his left field views, that Obama will fight for the good of the country and not just hold to a party line. Plus he’s smart. Please America, vote for smart.

I hope Obama will win, but I’m not very optimistic. I am prepared for the worst.

So, here is my iPhone, and yes, it looks exactly like everyone else’s:

Apparently, 2 is my lucky number.

Dylan has obviously been sick. He threw up Friday. I was not there, as I was housesitting, but it was still there for me to find when I got home Saturday. No, my roommate did not clean it up. Yes, she saw it. By the time I found it, it was nice and crusty. I really appreciated her courtesy in leaving this for me.

The second time, Dylan threw up right in front of me. I felt bad. I cleaned it up right away.

I think he peed on the carpet because he was sick. He’s never done that before, and I didn’t see anymore wet spots on the floor this morning when I got home, so I am hoping he is over whatever this thing was.

My neighbors obviously think I have moved out after my week of housesitting, because they keep parking in my spot. It happened twice this weekend, and if they do it again they’ll get towed. I cannot deal with this bullshit. Common courtesy dictates that if it’s not YOUR spot, it belongs to someone else, so don’t park in it. This is clearly far too complex for my inept neighbors, however.

I can’t write coherently but that’s my point: courtesy for others makes that person’s life easier, and yours no more difficult. Lack of it makes me grumpy.

Yesterday, BF came over and brought me some lovely flowers.  I gave him a cutesy little card with little kids on it.  Then we went to dinner at Chili’s.

Please excuse my bad photography. My iPhone was the only camera I had available.

We haven’t been eating out a whole lot–besides the sushi to celebrate his passing the boards–because a) he has no money that is not loans and b) I am trying to save in case The Worst happens and I lose my job.  Losing my job may not be likely but I’m not exactly a star employee so I do worry from time to time.

My real motive for writing this right. this. second. has nothing to do with BF (even though I love him, this much). Wednesday, when I was leaving work, I saw a guy from the office across the patio (I work in an office building, but it’s not a large one, and my company takes up the whole “wing” we are in) walk towards me.  He stopped.  He asked me to get lunch with him.

Me: “Uhhhh…..I have a boyfriend.”  Awkward moment, awkward uhhhh, awkward silence.

Him: “Ok. Do you still want to have lunch?”

Me: “Uhhhh…….Ok.”

Him: “Tomorrow?”

Me: “Ok.”

Him: “Noon?”

Me: “Ok.”

I was so flustered that I kept saying ok to everything he asked.  I assumed that he meant it like a date and once I got that into my head I just lost the ability to communicate.  Then, in my still-frazzled state, I called BF and told him what happened, insisting that I was not interested in this guy, and that I really, really loved him (I insist too much, or something).  BF was, luckily, unfazed by all of this, and told me not to go.  I felt bad that I had told the guy yes, and told BF that maybe it would just be a friendly lunch thing and I should go, but would he trust me?  Of course, BF said yes (we’ve never had any trust issues, but my ex would have gone off the deep end about something like this).  And then I felt horrible for even suggesting such a thing.

Yesterday, I couldn’t do anything all morning because I was so nervous, embarassed, and guilty about the whole thing.  Nervous because what if we DID go to lunch?  What would I say?  How would I explain my responses the day before?  Guilty because I kept referring to this lunch as “going out” and if it was just a friendly lunch thing, as I had suggested, then I probably would not be using that phrase and so I should not go.

At noon, I went outside with the full intent of telling him that I could not go with him for ethical reasons, with hopes that I would not lose my ability to speak once again.  He wasn’t out there.  I walked back into my office and had a cup of water to try to stall for a few minutes.  I went back outside.  Still not there.  This time, I went to my car and left….standing him up.

I felt bad about it but I would have felt much worse actually going, and I was so worked up over the whole thing that I couldn’t force myself to stand out there and wait for him, only to explain that I couldn’t go.  I just couldn’t bring myself to have that conversation.  Too awkward.

He wasn’t really hot or anything, so I have no idea why I got so worked up.  Maybe it just doesn’t take much because boys never ask me out.  Either way, I did right by BF and I feel much, much better today.

Last weekend, in short, my fraternity went on a camping trip. I wanted to go. They told me “no alumni, active bonding, blah blah blah.”

I was president of the chapter last year. I know everyone. I miss them. I was pissed that they could not make an exception for me. (I am a narcissist.)

I have decided, as a result, that it’s time for me to grow up. I am 23. I am not in college anymore. I want to spend my time with BF, and a few select friends that are worth the time. I don’t really have the desire to go out drinking like I did when I was single, which is what many of my old friends do. Bottom line is, I am cleaning house.

My friends last year weren’t bad friends, but I am just done with the fraternity thing. I thought it was a lifelong bond, but I feel disillusioned and I think my time would be better spent forging friendships with the people I first met in college. 5 years later, my roommate and floormates from that year are still the most genuine, fun, and nice people I know. To hell with the rest. (Except BF and his friends, of course.)

On a side note, the iPhone thing is completely impractical for anything other than short blurbs. It just takes too long to get my thoughts onto the page. I will still use it for some updates, but not all. It’s just too much work and my mind is about 100 miles ahead of the one finger used to type in letters. Try doing that on your keyboard. It’s a pain in the ads.*

Today is BF and I’s sixth month anniversary! No big plans but I’ll let you know how it goes.

*iPhone text correction never gets the cursing right.

Today was completely insane.  I’m not going to make some big political commentary but wow, just…wow.  Today sucked for a lot of people.

As much as I understand who is losing in this credit fiasco (everyone), and even though the news said all night that we need a bailout to save the economy, I am just not in support of it.  Call me a dumb American, but I don’t want to pay to bail out the banks that made risky and bad loans.  Even if the whole economy suffers.  Even if I suffer.  I don’t think we, as a country, will learn any lessons by getting bailed out by government.  Let the market go down.  Let people, the banks, the country, pay for it all.  Bring it on.

Maybe if we have to suffer a little, we will make some smart decisions and the economy can grow again from a strong foundation.

(Not a big political commentary, but a small one. I couldn’t help myself.)