:: 2006 27 June :: 7.11 am

I am going to be tired for the rest of my life.



I now have two jobs and I'm going to see if I can squeeze in a third. Training went to 10 last night. We have training again on Wednesday then again next week on Monday and Wednesday.

I usually go to bed at 10:30.

We're going to see Superman tonight at 10 and I'm just so tired.

I'm all alone at the office again today.

Good thing I don't have to work until noon on Wednesdays or I'd collapse.




I love you all.

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:: 2006 24 June :: 7.06 am

I forgot how close 6 in the morning was to 7. They're neighbors, for heaven's sake.

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:: 2006 23 June :: 2.18 pm

The British crack me up.

"If someone is sulking or being particularly miserable you would say they are being stroppy or that they have a strop on. I heard an old man on the train tell his wife to stop being a stroppy cow."

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:: 2006 21 June :: 9.06 am

It's raining.

Actually, it's thunderstorming.

I have to work later and I don't really feel like driving in this but I have to.

I start my second job on Monday. Well, that's when I start training. I don't know if I can get over my stupid pride for long enough to deal with the fact that I need this job.

I hate driving in the rain.

I love you all.

P.S. I hope you're doing well.

P.P.S. My sister and I watched a movie called The Heiress yesterday. I loved it. It's one of my favorite movies now.

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:: 2006 20 June :: 6.53 pm

Got the job.

Loves.

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:: 2006 20 June :: 9.20 am

But now we must pack up every piece of the life we used to love.
Leave me alone.

For you know this isn't the first time.




In fact this is twice in a row that the angels have slipped through our landslide and filled up our garden with snow.




And I don't wish to taste of your insides or to call out your name through my phone for the glory boys at your bedside will love you as long as you're something to own.

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:: 2006 19 June :: 9.09 am

I went to see Wicked yesterday. It was good.

We went to this nice Mediterranean restaurant. The food was delicious.

I have an interview today. Wish me luck. I don't even know if I want the job but I need it.

I think that's it.

Call me.

I love you.

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:: 2006 17 June :: 9.01 am

Jessica's sister made a xanga in memory of her. I wish I'd known the visit was Thursday. I would have gone.

I don't know why her death upsets me so much. I barely knew her.

I think it's the fact that I did know her. The fact that she graduated last year with us. It's the fact that one year ago, we were all happy that we were done with high school. And one year since then, we're all safe and sound, most of us are done with our first year at college.

Except her.

I wonder what she was thinking at that last second. Was it just "oh shit" or was she sad?

I can't think about the fact that thousands of people are going to drive past that intersection and not know. And not care that they don't know.

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:: 2006 13 June :: 3.55 pm

Jessica Klinesteker died in a car accident on Sunday. We graduated with her.
Did anyone else hear about this?

I took Hannah to her voice lesson today and Duiven mentioned it. I didn't recognize the name but I looked her up in the yearbook and immediately recognized her.

I knew her. Not best friends obviously, or even friends but I knew her at least.

Goodness.




CANNON TOWNSHIP -- An 18-year-old Grand Rapids Community College student was killed Sunday when police said she ran a stop sign at Myers Lake Avenue and Nine Mile Road NE.

Kent County Sheriff's Department said Jessica Klinesteker, of Rockford, was driving west on Nine Mile Road just before 1 p.m. when she failed to stop at the sign.

The driver of a car traveling south on Myers Lake Avenue, Kerri Southwick, 35, of Rockford, could not avoid the collision, police said.

Both cars ended up in a ditch.

Klinesteker, a 2005 graduate of Rockford High School, was pronounced dead at the scene.

Southwick was not injured, but her mother, Mari Anne Parker, 57, was transported to Spectrum Butterworth Campus to be treated for neck pain.

Police blocked the road several hours during their investigation of the accident.

Kent County Sheriff's Deputy Keith Kazelskis said police don't know why Klinesteker drove through the intersection.

"There were no skid marks," Kazelskis said. "She never slowed."

Relatives told police she was on her way to a graduation party when she apparently missed her turn and continued through the intersection.

Klinesteker's family was too distraught to talk Sunday. An uncle who didn't give his name said, "We love her very much, and we miss her."

Rockford High School Assistant Principal Steve Lewis said, "The Rockford High School community is certainly feeling the loss. We've had numerous accidents over the years and it certainly doesn't get any easier."

Norma Kuzma, who lives near the intersection said the area used to be rural. Suburban sprawl, including a new subdivision nearby, has brought traffic -- and accidents.

Higher traffic and speeds make for a dangerous intersection, she said.

"It was just waiting to happen," Kuzma said.

Kuzma's grandson, Cody Kiatkowski, 10, said he had just gone out to play basketball Sunday afternoon when he heard the crash about 100 yards from the house.

"It was very loud. I ran inside and told my grandma to call 911," he said.

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:: 2006 13 June :: 2.06 pm

My sister started playing FFVIII again. Which means I'm hooked, again.

So I'll have to add that to my list of games to beat this summer. I still haven't beaten it, after all these years.

It's still my favorite.



Games to beat this summer:
Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (again)
Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask
Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker
Final Fantasy VIII
Paper Mario (the first and second ones)



I think that's it.




I love you all.

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:: 2006 12 June :: 11.29 am

Two years ago today, I took the ACT for what would turn out to be the first of three tries. The night before, I stayed up late talking to Nick about pretty much nothing. We somehow got around to talking about how we both still liked each other and maybe we should try again.

So we did.

Two years ago today, I was at Ben's house with both him and Nicholas, playing video games and lying around like we always did at Ben's house.

Anyway, today marks two years of being with Nicholas and I'd love to reminisce but Nick wants to jump on the bed with me.

I love you all.

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:: 2006 3 June :: 11.27 am

Kurt Vonnegut was on BCC World News' World Book Club (The Word) on NPR at 2:30 this morning.

He was hilarious.

You can listen to it here.

You should check it out. He talks about Slaughterhouse 5.

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:: 2006 31 May :: 1.29 pm

My boss has skin cancer. She says it's the good kind. So does the internet.

So hopefully it'll be okay. I hope so. She deserves better than being screwed over repeatedly.

I love you all.

P.S. France looks hopeless. I'd love to talk more about it but I just feel like crying. I want to go home and play KH2 and cry. I'm at work, waiting to go make copies.

P.P.S. I'm bored with my hair already. I want it longer again.

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:: 2006 28 May :: 10.26 am

Read more..

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:: 2006 25 May :: 1.36 pm

Unless I get $421.26 by Wednesday, I cannot go to France.

Any hugs would be appreciated.

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:: 2006 20 May :: 11.08 am

I'm doomed.
I heard this on BBC World News last night/this morning:

"New research suggests that a diet high in dairy products can greatly increase a woman's chances of having twins.

A study in the Journal of Reproductive Medicine showed milk drinkers were five times more likely to have twins than women who ate no animal products.

The numbers of twins in the world has increased significantly in the past 30 years, in some countries by over 50%.

Scientists have suggested fertility treatments and women delaying pregnancy can help explain the rise.

But this new research indicates that diet can also play an important part.

Ovaries stimulated

In the study, the twinning rates of women who ate a diet including milk were compared with women who followed a vegan, or no animal products diet.

It is believed that a protein found in the livers of animals may be the cause. Called Insulin-like Growth Factor or IGF, it is found in cow's milk and other animal products.

In women it makes the ovaries more sensitive and increases the number of eggs produced. Higher levels of IGF improve the survival chances of an embryo in the early stages of development.

The effect is likely to be greater in countries such as the United States that allow growth hormones to be fed to cattle.

The researcher behind this study says that women thinking of getting pregnant might consider alternatives to meat and dairy products to reduce their chances of having twins, as multiple births are more prone to complications."

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:: 2006 17 May :: 6.04 pm

I hear that our zoo is going to have a stingray exhibit starting on Saturday in which you can pet the stingrays and stuff.

The kite festival is on Saturday in Grand Haven and I hear that they will have glow-in-the-dark kites at night. I would love to do that also.

So those are my plans for the weekend. If you want in on any of them, feel free to call.

I love you all.

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:: 2006 17 May :: 8.56 am

My car is fixed!

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:: 2006 15 May :: 12.05 pm

Dad says we're going to get my car fixed today. I hope we actually do. I miss my car.

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:: 2006 14 May :: 10.29 am

"German 'Robin Hoods' give poor a taste of the high life
ALLAN HALL IN BERLIN

A GANG of anarchist Robin Hood-style thieves, who dress as superheroes and steal expensive food from exclusive restaurants and delicatessens to give to the poor, are being hunted by police in the German city of Hamburg.

The gang members seemingly take delight in injecting humour into their raids, which rely on sheer numbers and the confusion caused by their presence. After they plundered Kobe beef fillets, champagne and smoked salmon from a gourmet store on the exclusive Elbastrasse, they presented the cashier with a bouquet of flowers before making their getaway.

The latest robbery is part of a pattern over the past several months, suggesting that the thieves deliberately set out to highlight what they perceive as the inequality inherent in German society.

However, the authorities do not agree. Bodo Franz, a police spokesman, said: 'They get off feeling they are just like Robin Hood. There are about 30 in the group. But whatever their motives, they are thieves, plain and simple.'

Carsten Sievers, the manager of a luxury supermarket in the wealthy Blankenese area of Hamburg, recently watched the robbers run off with trolleys full of expensive foodstuffs, including Kobe beef which, at more than £100 a pound, is always on their illicit shopping list.

In another recent swoop, the gang emptied a groaning buffet table in a top restaurant into sacks, while one of their number held up a sign saying. 'The fat years are over' - the title of a hit film currently doing the rounds in Germany.

In internet statements, the gang have made a point of saying their booty is distributed to Hartz IV recipients - the poorest of Germany's long-term unemployed. The benefit is named after the disgraced Volkswagen personnel director Peter Hartz who, before he lost his job with the car-maker in a prostitutes-and-bribes scandal, devised the new means-testing which is loathed and derided by society's most economically challenged.

When the gang robbed the gourmet store in April - triggering a massive police investigation that cost £20,000 in taxpayers' money without an arrest being made - they left a note behind saying: 'Without the abilities of the superheroes to help them, it would be impossible for ordinary people to survive in the city of the millionaires.'

Police say they are concentrating their investigation on a loose collective of anarchists and malcontents called 'Hamburg in Vain', to which they believe the superheroes belong. But they admit there is a certain panache and skill about their robberies.

The gang are also behind black market cinema tickets which they distribute free to the poor, and they have printed leaflets telling passengers how to dodge ticket inspectors on the city's underground and buses.

Mr Franz said: 'They try to make crime fun but are politically motivated.'"

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