Day 182

Nights in the desert certainly cool off quite nice. Last night, I slept with my window open and I was just fine. I didn't even bother to turn on my ceiling fan. I don't really like sleeping under the ceiling fan because I wake up with an extremely crusty nose and my skin feels really dry.

I figured out camel spiders are the same as sun spiders. I have never seen one alive and up close (thank goodness) and I hope I never will. I was just curious about them because it dawned on me they were probably the same species.

Sun spiders live in the desert. I'm surprised I've never seen one in the Antelope Valley.

I have a lot of work to do this week. I need to get some sleep. Hopefully I will be able to get enough of my homework done so I can go see a movie.

Day 181

I completely forgot to blog about the Lord's Army knocking at my door yesterday. They are very consistent and persistent and whatever other words can be used to describe their desire to preach the gospel.

I just finished the worst paper of my academic career. It's pretty bad. I don't care either. I've sat at my computer far too long. I do think I may take some time off work in August. I just need a week away from the job.

Now is relax time.

I saw a documentary on National Geographic about a little girl born with 8 limbs! It was very interesting. She had two sets of arms and legs. The extra set of arms and legs belonged to a parasitic twin. When they removed the parasitic twin from her body, you'd think they removed an entire child. Everything was there except a head.

I also saw something about Amish Teens and the period in the teens life called Rumspringa. It was really good. I always thought the Amish were super strict but they aren't. They actually allow their teens to decide whether or not to continue with the lifestyle and the church.

Day 180

I spent the day working on my paper. I got more than half-way done so tomorrow I will be pretty much doing last minute touch ups. I don't think the paper is good but it will get me a grade. It's better to get a low grade rather than no grade at all.

Nothing more to report on my front. Until tomorrow.

Day 179

What's in a name? I always wonder how people come up with the names for their children, especially black folk.

For example, my cousin's daughter just had a baby not too long ago. The baby's name? Well, let's just say it's a name that will almost guarantee a permanent place in the unemployment line.

In one of my classes, there was a discussion about names and one person said the company they worked for didn't hire an individual because of his name! So it still happens.

The good thing about becoming an adult is, you can change your name. However, it sucks to have to go through life with a crappy name.

Day 178

How much money are you willing to lose to help someone in your family earn a commission?

My mom wants to have her sister help with locating property to purchase. My aunt is slow as heck. I personally would rather just give my aunt $300 and go with a different realtor than possibly lose out on a great investment opportunity. I'm getting ill just thinking about it.

Anyway, I told my mom to consider looking for another realtor to work with because her sister isn't going to be able to help her look for property the whole time my mom is there. I'd actually prefer my mom get with another realtor from the start.

I must be cold blooded but I never once considered looking at property with my aunt. She's so slow!!! One more person I wish I had a remote control for so I could JOGGLE through the day if I had to spend time with her.

Unfricken real. Well, it looks like I'll just keep saving my money until another huge recession hits.

Day 177

I've reached blogger burnout. I have nothing to say. I can't believe I'm speechless.

Well, I'm not completely speechless but if I don't have anything nice to say, I'm going to do the world a favor and not say anything.

I'm too nice today. I need to be a little mean-er.

There was something I was going to write about but now I think I'm going to pass and write about it another day.

Day 176

I can't wait to be done with school. There are so many things I want to do. The class I'm taking now is kicking my @ss. But I have five more classes after this one and them I'm done. I can do it. Five more classes. That's 30 weeks, 33 if I count the weeks left in the class I'm currently taking.

The Terra Cotta Warriors are going to be at some museum in Orange County. I really want to go and see them because that's the closest I'll be able to get to China for a while.

Why is it when people send me email, it's never worth reading? I hate spam emails.

Day 175

"I'm glad you plan to pull your weight now that the storm has passed. If you were having issues, you should have posted to the learning team forum you were having issues and moved on to try to solve the next problem. Posting a wrong answer is better than not posting anything because at least I'd know you were trying rather than sitting on the couch drinking a beer and watching tv.

I was extremely irritated because all you seem to post to the forum is "Shavonne you're doing a great job." That's was nice but I didn't care. I was more interested in your progress with the problem set.

As far as getting through the problems....my method is, if I couldn't figure it out in 2 hours, I moved on the next question. If I had not gone on to try the other questions after failing to figure out the Chapter 4 problems, I wouldn't have been able to get the answers I got for the other questions. The answers are probably wrong but I least I gave it my best shot."

That's some dialogue I just had with one of my teammates. Can you tell how annoyed I am. You've heard of people with no common sense, right? Well he's one of them.

He got stuck on a problem in Chapter 3 and instead of moving on and working another problem, he just decided, he couldn't do any others. So, I spent my weekend, working on Chapters 1 through 11 for a total of 23 questions. Yeah! And the problems are most likely wrong. Ha! Well, the assignment is going to be turned in on time, but I don't think the answers are correct.

I'm tired. I haven't bathed since yesterday, my left ankle hurts, my right wrist hurts, my eyes hurt, everything hurts.

I think I'm going through menopause. I'm only 22ish so I don't know how that is. This maybe too much info, but my Aunt Flo used to visit every 28 days, now she comes every 20 to 21.

Day 174

I hate being a tattle tale but I felt the need to squeal.

I normally just suck it up and drive on but this is something I couldn't let go.

I'd go into detail, but when I think about it, the subject is rather boring.

I've already forgotten about it.

My weekend was spent working on statistic problems, which wasn't all that bad after someone showed me how to use data analysis in Excel. I wish I had known about it last week. The problem sets I had to complete would have been done sooner.

I can't wait to be done with this class. My next class should be much easier because it's about money. I ♡ money.

I have to get up early to go grocery shopping tomorrow. I want to get back in time to format my homework and do some research for my paper due next Monday.

Day 173

My mom told me about how people can buy houses in Michigan for as little as $1,000. It seems like a good deal; however, I have to wonder how much of a dump the houses are in. Also, would I have to put money into the houses to make them livable?

Anyone who has been to Detroit will know what I'm talking about. I've seen houses that should be condemned and yet there were people living in them. Then there are the houses that should be torn down but the city just let them sit there for years.

There's that saying, if it's too good to be true, then it probably is.

I get Monday off from work. I think I'm going to see a movie tomorrow night or I'll catch the first show on Monday.

Day 172

I'm losing my patience with people. I need to take a break. I think I will spend all day working on my school work. I'm going to get up early and work on it before it gets hot. That way I can spend the rest of the day relaxing.

I noticed my mom is into watching shows that show people at their worst. She love Jerry Springer and Women Behind Bars and Snapped. I don't get what she sees in these shows.

Someone told me they get some pleasure in knowing there are people worse off. I don't get pleasure in things like that. I wouldn't want anyone to be worse off than myself. Most of the people worse of than myself make really bad life choices.

Speaking of people making bad life choices, I heard on the news that a group of teenage made a packed to get pregnant. I feel so sorry for the babies that will be brought into the world by these young and very stupid girls. These girls aren't even thinking about the responsibilities of having a child.

I'm against babies having babies. Plus, my philosophy is if you can't feed them, don't breed them. Besides, girls should be filling their brains with knowledge so that when they do have children as women, the baby doesn't come out smarter than mommy.

Day 171

For the first time, I really don't have much to write about. I got my performance evaluation at work.

That's all I'm gonna say.

I've been thinking about Operation Dreamboat Body. I need to work on toning my bod, especially my mid area. I've got a bicycle tire. I want to get rid of it before it turns into big rig tire.

I hate cooking.

Totally random thoughts today. Did you pick up on that?

Oh, I have a three-day weekend coming up. Monday is my day off. I'm going to go see The Happening. But I'm mostly going to work on my school work. Ha!

It's very HOT in the desert. I thought it was going to cool down a little but I was wrong. I wish I had a picture of how hot and dry the desert is but I don't carry my camera with me anymore.

Day 170

I got my Buffy comics in the mail. They are beautiful! Apparently, Joss has been producing these comics since the Buffy the Vampire Slayer movie. According to one of the volumes of the comic I purchased over the weekend, Joss wrote Buffy comics which take place before Buffy arrived in Sunnydale. Figures. I've only see the movie once or twice. It was terrible and Kristy Swanson was an awful Buffy. Thank goodness for the show.

About the comic... Apparently Dawn had sex and got turned into a Giant! Ha! I wonder what kind of sexually transmitted disease that translates into. Gonorrhea? Gonorrhea and giant both start with the letter G. In season three of the show, Buffy had sex with Angel and he turned all evil on her like most guys do when they lose respect for women who put out. So, Dawn's sexual escapade turned her into a giant.

Very interesting. I'm going to make it an early night. There's no reason to stress myself over school. I only have one life to live and right now I want to read my comics.

Day 169

I was going through some of my old files looking for another version of my resume when I came across my January Novel Writing Month (JANOWRIMO) files from 2006. I had started writing about how a woman who's home is burglarized. The burglar took her laptop computer, which contained personal files. The burglar became obsessed with her after reading her electronic journal.

The story started out about her but ended up being mostly about the burglar. The burglar became really dark and he started to scare me so I stopped writing. I got about 5,000 words into the story and couldn't go on because the burglar scared me so much. I may decide to reread the files to see if I can make some sense of it. I don't think it would make a good screenplay. There would be too many voice overs or sequences involving reading or typing at a computer. (I'm already falling asleep picturing the movie in my head.)

I would like to try National Novel Writing Month (NANOWRIMO) or JANOWRIMO in the future. Or I can just pick a month to write 50,000 words. I don't know if what I write will make any sense but if I can blog once a day then I can certainly go the extra step and write 1,700 words a day.

Day 168

I'm livid. One member of the team was a no show/nonparticipant. If he had dropped the class, it would have been nice to know. I had to step in and write his section of the paper. Lucky for me, his section was much easier than my own.

I have to do my homework on my computer from downstairs because my computer gets too hot.

I can't wait until Fall. Curse those who wished for warmer weather. I hate heat.

I can't wait to get my Buffy the Vampire Slayer comics.

I'm probably not going to write much this week because I don't have anything new to report. Thumb Twiddle is still thumb twiddle, the desert is either hot and dry or cold and dry, and gas prices keep going up. Oh, I also discovered that people who talk slow get on my nerves. Not the person but the slow talking. I don't like it at all. I wish I had a remote control with a FAST FORWARD or JOGGLE button that way I could move through a conversation at normal pace.

"People like to feed you because you love food and you make eating fun. Even a simple apple sounds like the most delicious food that was ever created just by the sounds of eenjoyment you make in eating it."-Dear Carey

I make apples sound like the most delish food. That's just about the sweetest thing someone's ever said about me. I'm touched. I'm so glad people notice how much I love food. However, I think the guy who bought me ribs, but claimed he made them himself, was looking for a girlfriend. He's too old and I never thought I would say that. I used to think I could date someone who's almost dead but I think I'm going to change my mind.

Day 167

I called my dad today to wish him a Happy Father's Day. I enjoyed his gift. There's nothing like cash or an American Express gift card.

He kept trying to convince me to take a break from my studies. My philosophy is to get it out of the way. I can take a break when I'm done. I only have 8 months left. Besides, if I take a break, I won't want to go back.

I don't have much to blog about. The only thing I've done this weekend is homework and a paper. I did manage to spend $300 dollars on books. I figured I won't be watching tv much this summer plus I can write one of the books off on my taxes because of school. I can't wait to get my books.

Day 166

I discovered something totally amazing.

I noticed Joss Whedon, the creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, hasn't been very active with producing. I went to amazon to see if they had updated Buffy the Vampire Slayer dvds because I hate the menus on my set of dvds. I want a PLAY ALL feature that will allow me to watch all the episodes on a disc without having to navigate through the menus between episodes. Is that too much to ask?

Anyway. Joss has been busy producing what known as Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Season 8 as a comic! Ha! I think for the first time in my life, I will become a comic book reader. I bought volumes one and two and I'm so excited. I want to watch less tv and read more. I wish I lived closer to the Margaret Herrick Library because I would check a some scripts for reading. I'm definitely going to check out that library when I finish school. I haven't been there in years.

The Christian Crusaders came by the house again. They come by every other Saturday. I thought about getting one of those "No Solicitors" signs but I don't think soldiers from the Lord's Army consider themselves solicitors.

Sometimes I wish I was an engineer because I would design some king of mechanism for the front door to spray people wearing khakis or ties and holding Holy Bibles with skunk juice.

Day 165

About my lunch on Thursday. The guy who make me lunch is older than my mother! Or at least he looks it. I don't understand why he ever thought I would have been interested in him.

My mom's boyfriend lives in Memphis, and he says that men in that area of the country usually date much younger women. Okay, that's nice, but I'm a California girl.

So now you get a little more detail about the lunch that I had.

My mom lost her wallet. She completely freaked out and stressed me out as well. I tried to help her but she wouldn't calm down enough for me to help her go over her last 24 hours. The last time she saw her wallet was Thursday afternoon.

It's probably in the house somewhere but she just can't see it because she refuses to wear her glasses. I don't know what her wallet looks like so I spent a good two hours walking around the house helping her look for her wallet.

She finally calmed down enough to call her credit card companies to report her cards missing. I don't know why she has all those credit cards on her.

Day 164

I had planned on hitting the sack by 930pm but got distracted by my participation requirements for my class. I feel a heated discussion going on. I can't wait to see how it turns out.

I had an interesting lunch. I don't know why people (men) like to cook for me but they do. Someone at work offered to cook me a meal and of course, I didn't turn it down. However, I was unprepared for him joining me for this meal. Usually when someone brings something in for me to eat, the meal is dropped of at my desk and I am left to enjoy it by myself. But not today. I didn't like my lunch. The food was good but I would have enjoyed it more if I were eating it by myself.

I don't like food that has strings attached to it.

My heart is the size of a chickpea and is as cold as the surface temperature on Pluto.

I'd write more but I really need to get to bed. Maybe I'll expand on this over the weekend.

Day 163

I decided a few months ago to completely remove dairy from my diet. I noticed even with Lactaid, if I drank too much of the lactose free milk, I would experience crapulous bowels.

Well, I don't have much to blog about. If I had a dollar for every time I wrote that I'd have a nice little savings.

There's someone at work who is going to make me lunch tomorrow. I hope it's good. I hope he doesn't think this will get him my phone number. Or my email address.

Okay now I really have to finish my two statistics problems for tonight. I will blog about how the food tastes tomorrow.

Hey, why do people feel the need to feed me?

Day 162

I remember statistics being rather easy but I'm having a difficult time figuring out the equations. I'm given the equations but I'm not given what the definitions of the equations. How am I supposed to know what values to plug in if I don't know what s or t or n are?

It's been 10 years since I've taken a statistics class and I can't quite remember everything. My retention of any subject is unbelievably bad. I'm always double checking myself for everything.

I'm going to tell my dad that I won't be going to Florida for the family 'reunion' as I don't feel like traveling until I'm completely done with school. It would be nice to get away but I don't want to buy a plane ticket just so that I can sit in my uncle's house and study for school. Talk about a waste of money especially since I do it just fine at home without the expense of a plane ticket. I only have six more classes. They can all wait unless the unfortunate happens...

I can't think about that. I can only think about finishing school. I just paid my tuition for seven classes and I feel broke. It really hurt to spend all that money but it would hurt more if I stayed with my current employer for two more years. The good news is I will have saved that money back up by this time next year.

Day 161

The uneventful days are becoming too plentiful. I got a lot done but yet I didn't. I did two loads of laundry and I washed my hair and I finished the assignment that was due.

My back stopped hurting. I'm happy about that. Elevating my feet above my head helped a lot for some reason.

It's getting too hot outside and in the house.

I spoke with my dad and he wants me to go to Florida for a family get together. I really don't want to go. I have school and I don't like not having access to the stuff that makes going to school easier, like my very own bed, big screen tv with surround sound, an unlimited supply of food, and nobody to bother me while I compose my academic masterpieces. Oh, I got another A. So far that makes five A's and two -A's.

I just finished watching the fourth season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer. I love this show. It is my favorite show of all time. I don't know what it is about the show, but I always feel better after watching it.

I wish I have it in me to blog about the things I don't blog about and I'm not talking about Thumb Twiddle either.

Day 160

There are only two times of the year that I really enjoy: spring and fall.
Springtime brings the flowers and warm weather. Fall, depending on where you live, brings the pretty reds, oranges, and golds from the change in color of the leaves. I don't get to see the colors of Fall in California, especially in the desert.

I'm beginning to realize how much I hate summer. I used to like summer, but that was back when I was in grade school and we'd get three months off during the summer. Summer now means working, and sweating, and bad hair days. Urgh!
I feel so bummed about summer.

I've been watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer and in the first episode of the fourth season, Giles dates a woman who appears to have Sisterlocks!!! I'm going to admit, I've never seen Sisterlocks in person, so they could have very well been small locks. But I'm going to insist they were Sisterlocks because they were really small and bouncy and had the appearance that they were soft.



Sisterlocksmd left a comment on my blogger blog explaining how Sisterlocks feel.

I know someone who has traditional locks and I touched her hair...it scared me to death! It was sooo hard...hard like a brillo pad mixed with concrete...not cute! - Sisterlocksmd

Ha! I got a good laugh out of that comment.

Day 159

I woke up today with a terrible backache. So I went back to sleep. I woke up with a terrible hate the world feeling so I went back to sleep. When I woke up for the fourth time, I felt much better. I decided to surf the net and go shopping.

I hate spending money.

I can't wait until this time next year.

I think I'm going to call it a short post for tonight. I just don't feel like blogging.

Day 158

My back has been hurting for the past couple of days. It doesn't help that the chair I use at Thumb Twiddle is a piece of crap. I hope it isn't scoliosis. I'm hoping it just the Valley Fever kicking it up a couple of notches.

I don't have much to write about tonight. I'm really tired. I spent most of my day Thumb Twiddling. Love that stuff. At least this weekend I will have some extra time to work on my resume. I also need to set up my voicemail since my cell phone number will be on my resume.

Someone's dog died a few days ago. The dog was so cute. It was a little Chihuahua. I was looking forward to making fun of this person and his dog until I found out the dog died.

I thought about buying the dog a pink dress with matching footies, like what Paris Hilton dresses her Tinkerbell in. And I was going to get the owner a man purse so he could carry the little dog around. But now it will never happen. I'm bummed, too.

Day 157

I had to read my previous post because I knew there was something I wanted to write about but I couldn't remember what. I hate that. I hate not remembering things. Do I have Alzheimer's or something?

I discovered, and I don't know why I hadn't sooner, that I can increase the font size in TextEdit. What a relief! The font was so small I could barely see what I was typing.

The Internet has been extremely slow lately. I had to shut my wireless LAN down and start it back up.

I really don't feel like blogging. Ah! My blog finally loaded.

Holy smokes! Why did I blog about being horny yesterday?! That's way too much information. Nobody needs to read that.

I keep staring at a pic of my old co-worker's dog. I can't help but think of ways to make fun of the fact that he has a Chihuahua, named Daisy. She's the cutest little thing.

Well, I best be getting to my homework. I have a ton of participating to do before the week is over. I'd complain but what's the point? My instructor for this class is from India. Need I say more? I just remember the average American probably wouldn't get or would probably grossly misinterpret that. Basically, they believe in school. The more homework you have, the better. This class will not be easy.

Day 156

Meat is to a vegan what substance is to my blog. I've mentioned before how my blog is completely vegan. Or at least I think I've mentioned how my blog is vegan. I probably mentioned it somewhere but can't think of when. There's really no substance whatsoever to the things I blog about. My blog completely lacks meat.

I'm not afraid to publish to the world that I may be a complete idiot. I don't disclose very many details about my life other than my hair, how much I hate school, how much I hate Thumb Twiddle, or how annoyed I get when the Christian Coalition bangs at my door on a Saturday. I wish I could tell you some interesting tidbits of the places I go but I don't go anywhere and when I do go somewhere I deem them uninteresting when they probably would be interesting to you.

So that's it. My blog is boring because I'm boring. OMG! I don't want to be boring.

Why do I get horny when I'm tired? Why do I get horny just when the sun comes up? There's something about that blue hue of a room that turns me on.

Why am I blogging about when I get horny?

See, these are the things that make my blog vegan. No substance. Just random thoughts. Always about what I'm thinking and never about what I'm doing.

OMG! I totally met a guy who smells so good. You are going to have to leave a comment or email me (if you have my email address) if you want to know about the image that popped in my head when I got a whiff of his scent. A-MA-ZING.

I heard on the radio Obama got enough votes to get him the Democratic nomination. I will write about that more later. I have homework to do.

Day 155

MacRumors was so on it when they predicted the free iPod (nano or touch) with a purchase of an Apple computer. I have my eye on the iPod touch. I can't wait buy my new computer now.

I will have a lot of time on my hands this weekend because all I have for this week is a lot of reading for which I a quarter finished with and a concepts worksheet. I'm going to try to finish my concepts worksheet tonight so that I can focus on submitting my resume. I would be nice to start the new year with a new job. It would be even better to have a new job by the end of summer.

Do you ever google yourself? I do occasionally just to peek at the females who share my name.

I searched myself using Google's blog search. I, of course, came across a number of blogs by yours truly. In my search, I also discovered a Shavonne with red hair (I cannot describe to you how envious I am), another Shavonne who's a producer for the Biography Channel (again, how envious am I and how cool is that?) and a very young Shavonne of Asian descent. I was completely shocked about the latter. But I suppose Shavonne is such a beautiful name, anyone would want to name their daughter Shavonne (except me as there can be only one Shavonne in any household of mine).

The Lord is gracious. Or at least that's the Hebrew meaning of Shavonne. Well, I best be getting my homework done. I'm feeling a little sick though. I think I might just hit the sack early. I need to get my beauty rest if I'm to be the fairest Shavonne of them all.

Day 154

I almost bought a really cute tankini (tank top bikini) but decided against it because I don't have time to go to the beach and I don't have the body for a bikini of any type.

What I really want is a cute dress but every time I log into RueLaLa.com to browse whatever boutique is open, I end up missing out on all the really cute dresses. All the cute stuff sells within the first couple of hours of the boutique opening and I usually don't get a chance to shop until the evening.

I've decided to go on a pay for all my classes this month rather than wait. I did the math and I can save $1,600 if I pay for everything now. I could do so many other things with that money I save.

I can't wait to pay my taxes for 2008. I should get an even fatter tax return. Please Uncle Sam, love me next year like you loved me this year.

I got orders from the Army. I have to go to some mandatory 'muster' where they do their last boring drawn-out speech on all the BS benefits I'd receive by staying Army like depression, body aches, premature aging, and possible IED afflictions. Let me not forget how raw my @ss would get from the many times I'd have to possibly take it up the pooper because some @sshole feels the need to make me feel like shit because he's a worthless human being. Yeah, those are the benefits I'm talking about. The ones that convinced me how my military career is so over.

I wish someone who's never served would try to tell how unpatriotic I am for not reenlisting. I triple whammy double dare them.

Day 153

I have a dilemma. I think I wrote about this but my tuition is going up for classes beginning on or after 1 July. I can prepay for all my classes at the current rate or I can continue to pay for them as I start them but that means I will pay more for the classes.

I'm going to have to look at my finances. I know I can pay for all of my classes now because I have the money, but I don't know if I have the money to pay for all my classes and max out my Roth IRA contribution for 2008 and
pay for my new computer. I think I will be able to contribute to my Roth IRA for 2008 as long as I do it before I get my taxes done for 2008.

Decisions, decisions. I thought about paying for the rest of my classes except for the last two. I can pay for the last two next year and claim them for my taxes for 2009. The only problem is if I wait, I'll be paying over $4,000 for those two classes. Right now, I get a military discount on my classes but after August of this year, I will no longer get that discount.

About my computer. I don't really need a new computer other than I'm tired of reading off of a 15-inch monitor. I also don't have anymore hard drive space on my laptop and I don't want to wear out my poor laptop. It's held up great for the 3 years I've had it. I've been doing really good at deleting files off my computer when I complete a class but between pictures and music, eventually I will run out of room. Plus, when I'm done with school, I'm going to want to pick up on photography and video blogging. That is of course, after I finish submitting my application for that writing fellowship I've had my eye on for the last 6 months.

According to MacRumors, Apple will be doing the education promo starting 3 June. Last year, if you bought a computer, you got a free iPod nano. This is another reason why I want to buy a new computer before I graduate because I get an education discount and an iPod nano. If I wait until after I finish school, I don't get the discount on the computer or the software I want to buy for the computer. That's over $2,000 in savings on a new computer and software!

I won't be doing any traveling abroad until after I find a new job. I'm not exactly in a hurry to find a new job because I would rather wait until next year unless the new job pays significantly more money and is closer to home.

How much money do I want to save? Let's see....