The Home Syndrome

If any of you are faithful readers to yeahsureright.blogspot.com, you will know that my sister, Betty Lou, blogged about an incident involving a kitchen area and me being a horrible little Mer and Bogarting the toy and acting really, really, bratty not wanting anyone else to touch it. To me, this makes perfect sense. It was my present, after all. Looking back, however, I'm sure my behavior was less than reputable. I make amends now: I am sorry for acting a fool during my birthday party a.k.a. "THE KITCHEN AREA INCIDENT." This brings me to my post for today. Betty Lou also says in her post that seeing me living on my own and in a committed relationship with someone I actually really love is surprising. She says I must have mellowed, except for when I visit Colorado, I just revert back to my old habits: Sore loser, embittered, etc. Admittedly, I will always be a sore loser (no one like to lose), but anyone who knows me in my real life here in the city knows that I am far from angry, mean, or bitter. It's something about "going home again" that makes everyone revert back to their childhood personality. I don't know what it is about being around their parents and siblings, but it happens to everyone. Case in point, Mom. When I visited CO in July, we all (as a family) went to Missouri (or Misery) to visit's AM's (Amazing Mom's) parents. True to this theory, as soon as AM was placed in the presence of her younger sister, she immediately became a teenager again. It just goes to show you, you can be married, have three adult children complete with dogs and a house and the whole bit, but get in front of the people you grew up with, you become a kid again. Whoever said youth is wasted on the young just haven't been visiting their siblings enough.
I have found that in front of my family, I do change, and not in a good way. I have this whole other life in SF, and I am really mellow, calm, and nice. I'm centered and happy. People like me, I'm good at my job, I have friends who care about me. I have AG, who I love more than anything in the world, and who would do anything for me (I'd do anything for her too). But get me in front of my family, I am moody, impatient, and generally annoyed. After about 4 days (1 if there are board games involved), I have had enough and all that great grown-up progress is tossed out the window and I am back in high school. This makes me look really bad, and is basically 20 steps back in my life-long journey of proving to my parents that I am not a screw-up and that I am capable of being on my own and being an adult. I don't know what I am trying to prove, but eventually my CO self will permanently become my SF self (my true self). Maybe after AG and I get married and have a little Mer of our own. Only time will tell. ;)

My Birthday

Ever since I was a little Mer, I have always loved my birthday. In my head, it is a national holiday and should be treated as such. When you are small, you pretty much get one day, two if you're lucky to celebrate it. By 2, I mean the actual day and the party day. When you get older, however, everything changes to your advantage. Because you don't see your friends all the time like when you are in elementary school , there is a greater opportunity to stretch the celebration of your birth to a month or more. Last year, for example, I had FIVE birthday cakes. Each time your birthday rolls around, small circles of your frinds want to celebrate it with you, but never at the same time. The circle of birthday begins thusly: Girlfriend gives you presents or does something special for you. Family calls you and sends presents. Then close friends host a dinner or take you out in celebration. Then work gives you a present and there is cake. As the days past your actual birthday roll around, satellite friends come out of the woodwork and tell you what a bad friend they have been, and that they owe you a drink or a meal, or coffee (depending what kind of friend you are [the drinking or eating or coffee kind]), and that can lead to upwards of 3-4 extra celebrations.
This is seriously one of the best parts of my journey to that place we call "adulthood." For all you who are wondering what I am doing this year, I'll tell you. AG and I are hosting 2-4 friends for dinner. We're talking full tilt dinner: Fancy drink (The Flirtini), appetizers, dinner, and dessert. I'm excited and have 2 people definitely coming already. We're trying to keep it really small because it's a nice dinner, so the guest list includes my friends Katherine and her partner Darcy, and I'm going to invite my friend Danica with the invitation to bring a date of her choosing. The party actually serves several purposes. I have never met Darcy, AG has never met Katherine, Darcy, or Danica, and we've never gotten together as a group. Also, none of my extraneous roomies will be in town, so I don't have to worry about CP (Crazy Pants) crashing my party, stealing the alcohol, and embarrassing me in front of my normal friends. This is going to be super fun!

Target and Cookies

AG has been friends with Melissa for over 20 years. I cannot even fathom that kind of longevity with someone I have known since high school, especially because people change drastically once high school ends. Melissa and AG are very different people. Sometimes it's hard to believe they are friends at all, but they are. That being said, Melissa came up to visit this weekend and we went to Target. Since I have been car-less for the past month, it has been a bit of a challenge shopping for some of the larger items I need (like cat food and litter [it's really heavy, and hard to carry if you have other stuff]), so when Melissa arrived on Friday afternoon, I asked her if she would please take us to Target. I bribed her with Starbucks to sweeten the deal, and she agreed. AG and I were able to load up on almost everything we had been needing but had not been able to carry (40 lbs. of cat litter, 30 lbs. of cat food, 1 giant storage bin) and stuff like that. That morning I had clipped coupons so we saved even more money above Target's already awesome pricing. As I have said in earlier posts, The SF does not have Wal-Mart so we do the best we can with Target. I also talked to The Youngest (Future Mama) while shopping. She said she and Future Grandma were going to this baby stuff expo and that being pregnant sucks, but I refuse to believe that. I, for one, cannot wait to have a baby.
She asked me when the next time I am going home with be, and I said the second week of July, like always. Side note for my readers: I go back to Colorado twice a year. Once in July, once in December. Mom has a week off in July, that's why I go then. And December goes without saying. If it were up to them, I'd go back once a month. Anyway, got stuff from Target, went home, played with my daughters (the cats) and pretty much did nothing for the rest of Saturday. Sunday rolls around, Melissa leaves, AG and I hang out reading, playing with the cats and watching TV. Afternoon rolls around and I prepare to go to the synagogue for cookie basket making. However, when I arrive, I am severely disappointed. The doors were locked and no one was going in or out! I wait around for about 15 minutes and then go home. I was upset. AG was there to comfort me and she made me dinner. Now I have to find a recipe involving apricot preserves so I can use the jar I bought for cookie making. On a brighter note, my birthday is approaching and I am inviting a few friends over for a small dinner party. I was thinking I could use the preserves recipe at that. More on that later today...

Bloody Wednesday

Since I work at UCSF, there is also a giant medical center right up the street from my building. This happens to be the centennial of the nursing school so they are having different lectures and things like that this year until the actual party day. They are also having a blood drive. Their slogan is "100 Pints in 100 Days." This is going on until the first week of May. So I have done my good deed for the day and donated a pint of blood for the cause plus 4 little vials for whatever they want to do with them. I'm hoping it's something that defies the laws of nature and will somehow assist my sister, Betty Lou, in taking over the world (her evil plan to take over [and therefore save] the world). Hopefully when she reads this, she will get the joke. It's a sister thing, I assure you, you don't want to know. It's eternally nerdy, just like us.
NERD PRIDE. Considering smart people are ostracized and taken advantage of in middle and high school, Betty Lou and I have now taken pride in our nerdiness and are happy to be smart girls. It is no longer a source of shame to be good at everything and smart to boot. I once asked our mom if she would rather be pretty or smart and could only be one, what would she choose? She shocked the crap out of me and said PRETTY! I would choose to be smart for the following reason: Beauty is fleeting, intelligence is forever. Come on now!! Then I asked AG and she said smart (of course!) and this is why I love her. I did not reveal Mom's answer until later. I was still shocked. More later....

Crazy Patients

I work in the Pros department at UCSF. We are a specialized field of dentistry dealing with crowns, bridges, dentures, and implant crowns. Because we are so highly specialized, the types of patient we get here tend to be on the more "interesting" side. Translation: By the time you NEED a prosthodontist, your mouth is in pretty bad shape. Also, we get a lot of crazy people. This brings me to today's story. A patient called in complaining that his doctor is incompetant and he wants to change to someone else. I asked him if he would tell me the name of his doctor so I could gather background of the situation. He REFUSED to tell me the name of his doctor! He also refused to tell me his name. I explained to him that in order to fix the situation and make everyone involved happy, I would need this important info. He refused. Beth, my lovely and talented supervisor heard me repeatedly ask him for the information and then told me to put him on hold. She told me to tell him that I was done talking to him because this conversation was going nowhere and he was being uncooperative. This is why I love Pros: I am allowed to say things like that to patients and it is totally okay because they are being unreasonable. Where else in the world can anyone do that? NOWHERE!! Heehaaahee!! Evil laughter! All that being said, I love the other 99.998% of people that walk through my doors as patients and they love us in return. Cheers!

For Cookie

Much happened over the last few day in the land of Merlicious. Middle of last week AG got a call with some sad news. One of her besy friends from home (Merced, CA) died on Valentine's Day. She had complications with Pneumonia. It gets worse: She was only 38, leaves behind a new husband (they were married 9 months), and a teenage daughter. It gets even sadder than that! She was raised by her grandmother who died when SHE was a teenager too! The irony is crazy sad and incredibly horrible. The good news is that the husband is adopting the daughter and they'll be okay, but still.

Of course, we went to the funeral. I rented a car for the first time and we left Friday morning (the viewing was that evening) and we got there around 5:00. Cookie was cremated and there was a huge display board with memories on it from all the people that loved her. Did you know that most people that are cremated don't have those weird urn things? The holders for the remains come with a variety of options. Cookie was in a mahogany box with an 8x10 picture of her on it.

We stayed with AG's brother Todd and his girlfriend Jenny. They just built a house in Chowchilla just outside Merced and it is fantastic. First of all, it's literally on a golf course. Second of all, each bedroom has it's own bathroom. Third, they are the most welcoming people in the world with the only rule being "make yourself at home," we had some serious fun. And they have a new kitten! He's very, very cute. That brings us to Saturday. The memorial service was mid-morning. There were over 300 people there and there wasn't a dry eye in the house. This woman was well loved by everyone she ever knew. She was always smiling and AG said she never had an unkind word to say about anyone, ever. She was always there with a hug and a listening ear. No matter what, she was always there for you. I never got the chance to meet her, but I wish I had. The world is truly missing someone special now.

However, this is about celebrating life! Sunday rolled around and we left Chowchilla around 1. Got home around 4 (avoiding the toll road takes a little longer, but it's free). Also, we went to Wal-Mart on the way home. We don't really have Wal-Mart in the SF and I don't have a car anymore, so we took advantage of the situation. We got: shampoo, 24-rolls of toilet paper, and laundry detergent for less than $12!! Woo-hoo and yay!! That is almost unheard of where I come from. Then we were on our merry way and got home in time for the Oscar pre-show. So we made some cookies, popped a couple of beers and settled in for a night with Oscar! Ellen was hilarious as always and nothing special happened after that. Well, nothing I want to talk about here. I love AG so very much. She makes me happy, and is always there for me no matter what. Even when I am down in the doldrums and being a total Bitchy McBitch, she loves me anyway and helps me get through it. Happy Mer!

I'm Back

For some reason, I couldn't get into this account for a long time. Anyway, as usual, much has happened. Long story short: Evil roomie totaled most beloved car, Merlicious decides not to kill her and become better person for it and is now losing weight even faster because she (I) has to walk everywhere. Truth be known, I like it. Work is the same. Amazing girlfriend continues to be amazing. We got the cats back from her mom and they missed us terribly. AG (Amazing Girlfriend) helped rearrange my room and now it looks really cool. We are using my new bed-in a-bag and I have these cool hanging lights now that match my new bed stuff. Talked to mom yesterday and she says they might fly me back to the homeland of Colorado for lil' sis' college graduation in May. We'll see. I seem to be going back there a lot this year. More on that later, but now I have to go. Cheers!