This Blog updates every Monday with what's going on in the day-to-day personal life of Lauren R. Tharp. For what's going on in Lauren's professional life, please visit her official website at littlezotz.com
I spent the majority of the week writing for clients (I even acquired a couple new ones!). Then, on the weekend I:
Played Pokemon Black (Tepig was my starter!) while Ray and Ramiro played Mortal Kombat 9. I turned Ray into a Mii on my 3DS:
Ray had to open his eyes super wide before the Mii Maker even realized he had eyes. The boys joked that my 3DS is "racist" toward Asians.
Pretty much, if I see you in person, you're going to get turned into a Mii.
Saturday morning and afternoon was filled with thunderstorms. Robert was chill, but Ringo hid under the bed. I went skating at the Moonlight Rollerway on Saturday night. It was very crowded, but there was still enough room to move around.
Then, yesterday, Ramiro and I watched the first Mortal Kombat movie. Or, as I like to call it, "the good one."
Robert was extremely interested in the movie. He likes TV in general, but he usually loses interest and goes back to playing with his toys (or sleeping) after a few minutes. Not this time! He made it to about the one hour mark before he finally looked away and took a nap.
Robert wants some of Kano's chicken...
Even while he was sleeping, Robert was making grunting noises and throwing little kitty punches. :3 And he woke up again for the ending.
It's almost 5:00pm and the mail still isn't here. Figures it'd be late on pay day. One of those unwritten rules of life, am I right?
By the way, be sure to tune into my Professional Blog this Wednesday (9/14) if you're a fan of 1940's noir! ;)
This is quite possibly going to be my longest entry in months. So strap in if you intend to read (and don't say I didn't warn you!). Don't worry though: I'll include lots of pictures. And some videos!
Here's what I did last week:
Monday & Tuesday
(July 25th & 26th)
I worked Monday-Friday, but on my off time, Ramiro and I watched a cute cartoon show on Netflix called Home Movies. I highly recommend it. The first season is a bit hard to watch due to the Squigglevision (I found myself thinking of it as a radio show and only looking up when one of the characters said "Look at that!"), but the remaining seasons were animated with Flash and are much easier on the eyes.
This was my favorite part in the whole show:
That song is also Ramiro's new ringtone.
Wednesday
(July 27th)
After I got off from work on Wednesday, Paris stopped by for a visit. She gave me a pen:
It's a black pen that has a cat's head on top. When you push down on the cat's head, the eyes light up and it meows. Guess who loves my new pen!
That's Robert--under utmost supervision--playing with my new pen. He LOVES that thing. He's woken me up at 6am two mornings in a row now because he was trying to steal it. I keep having to find new places to hide it. ~_~ I guess he thinks that because it looks like he does that it must belong to him. Maybe? I don't know how cats think...
Also, on Wednesday night, I bit into a particularly tough piece of meat and pain went shooting up through my face. I thought I had a piece of meat wedged up between my teeth, but when I went to floss it out, there was nothing there. Not to mention the floss went in a lot more easily than normal. I knew something was horribly wrong, but I fooled myself into believing that if I used enough hot salt water rinses and stayed off of that side that I'd be okay. Boy, was I wrong. But I'll get into that later.
Thursday
(July 28th)
Thursday was Ramiro's birthday! Woo! Sarahe (his sister) bought him this fancy cake:
Very pretty. And I hear it tasted good too. I haven't eaten any sugar (except from fruit) in 3 years now thanks to my Hypoglycemia, so I didn't get to try any for myself. I liked the polka dots though. :)
Ramiro had a very laid back birthday. Just the way he likes it. And with the help of Tylenol and soup, I was able to handle the pain in my tooth (even though Ramiro offered to take me to the dentist, I didn't want to on his birthday!!) and tough it out until...
Friday
(July 29th)
On Friday morning, I took a bite of cereal and screamed. The pain was immense! I was crying. That's when Ramiro put his foot down and said, "That's it. You're going to the dentist."
I called my dentist. Gone on Fridays. I called Ramiro's dentist. Gone on Fridays. Finally, I called Sarahe's dentist. He was willing to see me! Thank goodness. I was so grateful.
I hadn't been to the dentist since 1999. And I'd never had any problems with my teeth (except of the retainer/braces variety). This was my very first toothache! I've been through a lot of pain in my life, but this was definitely "up there" on the pain scale. It made me feel a bit closer to Ramiro in a way. He's had all sorts of problems with his teeth. (I was also really happy to have him "coach" me through this--having someone who really knows what you're going through is a big help).
Want to know what I did?? Okay, check this out... You know how your molars have four points to them? Here's what happened to mine:
I broke off the cusp on my second-to-last upper-left back molar! My tooth broke on that piece of meat! Can you believe that? How random.
The doc was able to build me a new cusp. That part of my tooth is now made out of a glass/quartz/resin composite. I have a fancy tooth!
The doc was also very impressed with my teeth. I had zero cavities (man, I hope I didn't just jinx myself by saying that...) and he said that other than that one tooth, the rest of my teeth looked really strong/good. Like I said: Random!
After I got out of the dentist's chair, I felt SO much better. I felt great!
Our friend Ray was supposed to come over that day after I got off from work. Ramiro offered to cancel with him, but I was like "Naaaaaaaaaaaah! I feel great! Let's do it!" So we had Ray come over as planned.
And then the painkillers wore off. ~_~
I felt really sore and somewhat nauseous. I ended up having to take a nap. (Sorry, Ray). I felt really cruddy. It's nice to have friends that you can take an "I feel so horrible right now" nap around and they understand. haha. Fortunately, I woke up again before he left and we all watched a movie and joked around together.
Saturday
(July 30th)
On Saturday morning, I gave Ramiro a cool haircut. And then we went out on a date. He looked very handsome:
That's him sitting across from me at Fuddruckers. I had a bit of trouble eating my meal (I always get a cheddar cheeseburger with no bun and sweet potato fries) 'cause I was still having trouble opening my mouth wide enough to get bites of food into it. My tooth is fine now, but my mouth/jaw is still sore from where they injected the painkillers! Despite the pain, my meal was delicious.
Then we went to see Harry Potter 7: Part 2 at the movie theater next door to the Fudds. Now, I hate to be one of "those" people, but... The book was better. I don't know. My friends on Facebook are probably going to get on my case about this ("Blasphemy!"), but I really didn't think that the final movie lived up to its hype. It felt lacking somehow. I expected to be bawling all over the place (like with the book!), but I was just kinda "eh."
My dad was there too (he's the one taking the picture), but he doesn't skate.
Here's a picture of me skating on one foot:
I was already starting to put my foot down when Dad snapped the picture, but I still look pretty baller, right? (Humor me. That's pretty much the only skating trick I can pull off).
Sunday
(July 31st - Harry Potter's birthday!)
I finished writing/editing my first e-book. Well, the first e-book with my name on it (I've ghostwritten a couple). That's right: I've been writing an e-book. That was my big "secret" project that I was hinting at in my past couple of posts. It's called The Newbie Writer's Guide and it's going to be released for sale on my website on August 17, 2011 (my one year anniversary of becoming a professional writer). You heard it here first! ;)
And that's what's been happening in the life of Lauren R. Tharp. Thanks for stopping by! See you next Monday!
I got a new laptop:Yes, I'm aware that my desktop wallpaper is awesome. (Ramiro and I recently got into watching Doctor Who -- 9th, 10th, and 11th Doctors).
Super 3D Glasses
My laptop from Steff finally broke down last week. It was around 6 years old and held together with rubberbands...It wasn't exactly a surprise. It ("Kurt") served its purpose though and it was a gift that ended up changing my life (if she hadn't given me that laptop, I might still be working at Del Taco!).
Fortunately, my laptop broke on the day after I received my first WTR paycheck in the mail! Good timing.
Unfortunately, when we went to Best Buy to buy my new computer, my bank card kept getting declined. As it turned out, Bank of America refused to believe it was me! "Why," you may ask? Because I'm super cheap and never spend that much money at once! Anyway, I was on the phone with BofA for a little over 2 hours and they STILL wouldn't let me use my card. "Lauren Tharp never spends this much money." Arrrrgh!! I was like "Well, I am TODAY!" haha. It was terrible. Eventually I sat down and thought about it and came up with the solution of "Well, if the problem is me spending too big of an amount at once...what if I buy the laptop in small 'Lauren appropriate' increments?" So, in the end, the cashier had to run my card through a BUNCH of times with baby $50 payments.
So, in the end, it all worked out. (Obviously! Look at my new laptop!!)
This is the first NEW computer I've ever owed! All of my previous computers were hand-me-downs that were already old when I received them. I'm super excited.
Then, on the weekend, Ray came over for a visit. He and Ramiro spent most of the time playing video games. Including L.A. Noire.
We were all pleasantly surprised when my friend Dan Roebuck turned up in the game! I won't give any spoilers, but suffice to say he's a bad guy and you're going to have to do a lot of running to catch him.
The boys were also very excited when they saw that this was posted on Netflix streaming:They insisted that we watch it. I was very...confused.
"Let's get sticky!"
I had never watched The Power Rangers before. I didn't watch much of any TV in the 1990s. It often makes it very hard for me to relate to my peers. So while the boys were having nostalgia flashbacks all over the floor, I was left going "huh?"
I'm told that scantily clad women didn't usually show up on the show
And since I wasn't viewing the movie through magic nostalgia goggles, there was a lot of "Wait...why are they doing that...?" on my end.
I'm told that the television show was "much better!" than the movie. *shrugs*
The bulk of my weekend was spent writing. Either for clients or for myself. For myself, I wrote a few more posts for my Pro Blog (gotta get another buffer going!) and drew up the accompanying illustrations. Here's one of my drawings (before I coloured it in):
Sneak preview!
That's all for now. It's almost time for me to "go" to work! :)
Check out what I got in the mail: Those are 3D glasses signed by Kyle Patrick of The Click Five. :) The Click Five, who you all know as my "favourite band," has a new album out right now called TCV... And while you can't get a tangible copy of it yet here in America (Booooooo! I can't get an MP3 autographed!), you can buy/download it from iTunes HERE. So why 3D glasses? Well, lead singer Kyle Patrick just came out with a Solo EP with an accompanying 3D music video!
The Click Five has been very good to me in the past:
(I have more Click Five stuff...those are just the ones I have pictures of on this computer)
I bought Greetings from Imrie House and Modern Minds and Pastimes on the days they dropped, I'm only 2 shirts away from fulfilling my "have a Click Five t-shirt for every day of the week" goal, I was part of the original Street Team, a charter member of Get Clicked (the International Click Five Fan Club), and I've been to every concert they've played in Southern California! I've talked about them specifically in these twocomics. And I'm often shown wearing a Click Five t-shirt in my regular comics (and in real life photos as well!--look more closely at pictures I've posted in the past...).
I'm very, very happy that The Click Five is doing so well right now! But I'm sad that they haven't come to California (or the West Coast in general) in years now. They're on tour right now and there isn't a single West Coast stop! I'm trying not to take it personally--I know it's probably not the band's fault (these things are usually handled by people "higher up")--but it's hard not to feel a little forsaken. Why no love for California, guys? :(
In other news, I also got my new California ID in the mail the other day. (I'm just getting all SORTS of cool things in the mail lately!).
Here's what my old one looked like:Terrible.
Here's my new one from last week: I think it's an improvement. Though I look like I'm just a floating head... Oh well. It reflects my longer hair and my 25 lb weight gain since my last ID. Also, a few of you have asked me how I managed to keep my glasses on for my ID card pic. If you tell the DMV that your glasses have non-reflective lenses, they let you keep them on! Easy as that.
Over the weekend, I played Costume Quest on Ramiro's PS3:
Arrested Development joke. Niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiice.
I finished the game in 6 hours and got ALL of the trophies. Unfortunately, there are no platinum trophies for downloadable games. Ah, well... I have a Costume Quest platinum trophy in my heart!
Also over the weekend, we had a visit from Ramiro's BFF, Ray:
An accurate depiction of Ray.
Ray ended up giving me this as a belated birthday gift:
You have no idea how cool it is! (Both literally and otherwise!). I ended up spending the remainder of my weekend writing upcoming entries for my Professional Blog and playing The Sims 2 and my computer wasn't even warm after! And I was on for HOURS!!! Amazing.
Other stuff: Work, groceries, e-mails, potential interviews, and hacking back my parents' bougainvillea again.
For the past few days, I've been spamming everyone I know with the Champions of Champions Elite stuff. I can't help it. I'm very excited about this job!
Anyway, those of you who have Friended me on Facebook know that I promised to make an entry about what I've been up to personally.
Saturday the 2nd, I went to the Montrose Oktoberfest and supported my dojo as they did their yearly demonstration. I was mostly there to help Master Dannon film the demo so that he could edit it and turn it into his YouTube debut. That hasn't happened yet, but here's a picture of him showing off his good balance that you can look at in the meantime:
The prices at the Oktoberfest were outrageous this year, they only blocked off half the street, and there wasn't a whole lot going on... It figures. It was Ramiro and Ray's first time ever going to it. That was pretty much a gauruntee that it was going to be lame. It seems to be one of those unwritten "laws" of life that whenever you want to show a friend something really cool (an event/show/game/band) and they say "It's my first time experiencing this," it ends up being really lame. :\ So, we didn't really get to do anything there (again, the prices!!!), but we did get to play Scott Pilgrim VS. The World: The Game on Ray's PS3. We played far into the night and got alllllllllllllllllllllllllllll the endings.
Sunday the 3rd, I was in the ER. Olive View again. I ended up cutting/puncturing my right thigh with a pair of scissors. I was doing something stupid. Anyway, a bunch of blood & fat came out and I had to get stitches. (I'm purposely not saying too many details because a few people I've told became physically ill just from hearing about it). I was walking around on crutches for a couple days because whenever I tried to put my full weight on my right leg (incredibly painful!!), the muscle would flex and I'd start bleeding all over again.
I popped a stitch on Monday (my first full day at my new job!) but we were warned that might happen and we had an "emergency kit" to patch me back up again. Since then, it oozed a little yesterday as I was getting off work, but it's healing nicely. Today, everything was as it should be. No blood. Substantially less pain. I'm going to be fine. Don't worry. <3
Annnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnd... Work is really really awesome. I absolutely love it.
I didn't make the videos. I just made the channel. Just a little something extra I ended up doing. Like I mentioned before, my actual job is as an in-house writer. Unfortunately, I can't tell you exactly what I do because I'm under contract not to. Hope you understand :3
Our kids (the cats: Robert, Ziggy, and Ringo) are all doing well. We fixed the cat door so they can come in and out as they please (it was broken before and they could only go out, but had to scream at us when they wanted back in). They've been staying in a lot in this SUDDENLY RAINY weather (it's hard to believe that it was 113 last week!!--what happened?!).
Oh, and today (Oct. 6) marks Ramiro and my third year of being a couple. :) <3
