Day 149: Milk.

Milk.  A common staple in most households.  One of my favorite things to consume when I'm hungry.

I love milk.  So what in the world does milk have to do with my fail blog?

I bought the wrong freakin' milk.  I didn't even realize this fact until the next day when I went to open the carton.  Now, I'm not brand specific (other than only buying organic milk), but I AM specific in the fact that I only buy skim milk.  I've bought skim milk dozens of times without a problem.  But last night, I bought freakin' 2% milk.

Now, I know that there are much more worse things in the world than me buying the wrong percent fat content of milk.  But this is a big deal to me for reasons I don't feel like talking about.  But anyways, I decided just to drink it for the next couple of days and leave it in the fridge where I'm housesitting.

Normally I would take the milk with me back home, but I figure this can be a homecoming gift when the house owners return.  I did drink the last of their 2% milk, so it's only fair.  Right?

Day 148: Sleep Alludes Me

Yep, that describes me 100% when I don't get enough sleep.  And last night/this morning I definitely did NOT sleep well.

Result:  See above.  I even tried two different times to take a nap, but it was to no avail.  That's not to say that I was in a crappy mood ALL day, but it certainly does make being in a cheerful mood more challenging than usual. 

-Yawn-

Day 147: (Veggie) Sushi

For a week now, I had been planning on going to my favorite sushi place, Kuroshio, with some of my close girlfriends.

Result:  I didn't go.  I battled back and forth about it all day.  Should I go?  Shouldn't I go?  When it comes to doing things with people, I'm afraid that if I skip out or miss one social event, I'll miss something life-changing; or that one event will cause my friends not to like me as much.  It's realy hard to explain.  So when I don't feel like doing something social, I usually make myself do it anyways.  And almost 100% of the time I have fun, but sometimes I just want to cut myself some slack.  So today, I didn't beat myself up for skipping out on sushi :-)  I know that I will see my friends another day, and despite my negative thoughts, I know that this one event would NOT have been super duper life-altering.

Day 146: Letter Writing

I have been a fan of writing letters to friends (or whomever) for years.  However, for the last couple of years or so, I have gotten to be very lackadaisical with my letter writing.  For literally months now, I have been telling myself to write my friend KC.  And yet I keep putting it off.  Why??  Because I'm very much afraid of writing a bad letter.  How is it even possible to write a bad letter?  Well, to me, it is very possible.  I'm also afraid of writing emails and replying to comments made on my online journal.

I'm afraid that I will have nothing interesting to say, or that I won't be able to think of a good reply, or that my reply will be nothing compared to the original letter or email or comment.  I know that may sound silly or stupid, but it's the truth.  I'm deathly afraid of being a boring or not insightful person.  And so that keeps me from replying to emails or letters or what have you in a timely manner. 

I guess the only way to break this fear is by just doing it instead of procrastinating about it.

I will write my friend.  Some day.

Day 145: Bad Habits

Sigh.  This isn't an easy post for me to make, but I figure if I REALLY want to change my bad habit, I shouldn't be so "hush hush" about it all of the time. 

I'm a chronic scab picker.  I have been since the 4th grade.  I've never cared much about this habit until recently.  My boyfriend wishes that I would stop because it's really not a good thing to do.  And I know this.  But I enjoy it. 

Anyways, I was doing really well with it for about a week, but I gave up (for now) after that.  I have really sensitive skin, and for the past several months, my legs have REALLY been getting itchy rashes; obviously, I haven't figured out why yet.  So it's just really discouraging to cut down on my bad habit when it's impossible for me not to scratch my skin.

Some day I will *maybe* conquer this bad habit.  But not today.

Day 144: Trivia

Tonight, I played trivia with friends at a Mexican restaurant in Atlanta.

Result:  I can honestly say that I didn't contribute whatsoever to the trivia game.  I didn't know any of the answers to the questions.  And sure, I could beat myself up for that.  But that's why I surround myself with people smarter than me--I can be on a trivia team, contribute nothing whatsoever, and yet my team still came in 3rd place :-)  I blame it on the fact that there are never any philosophy or psychology related questions in trivia.

Day 143: HOW Much Did You Say You Slept??

I'm the first one to admit that I love to sleep.  I rarely get less than 7 or 8 hours of sleep, even during a week when a paper is due or I have a test to take.  I might go one or two nights with less than 7 hours of sleep, but that's it. 

However, I did NOT anticipate getting as much sleep as I did today:  16 HOURS!!! I fell asleep at 10pm, woke at 130am, went back to sleep, and got up at 2pm.  I felt out of it for pretty much the rest of the day.

And the next day?  I slept 12 hours.

Oops.

Day 142: 1000 Ways to Die

Today I decided to continue with my attempt to overcome my phobia of blood by watching an episode of a show called "1000 Ways to Die."  SURELY this show will be gruesome and will give me a way to systematically lower my anxiety relating to seeing blood on tv.

Result:  Sigh.  The episode that I watched was kind of gruesome, but only at one point--when a guy was run over by a tractor trailer, and his body was literally cut in two.  That was gross, but it wasn't gross enough to make me want to stop watching the episode.

But it does turn out that the show is a great way to become aware of numerous ways you can die.  And if viewed enough times, I have a feeling that watching this show too much could make a person never want to leave home.  Then again, accidents happen at home as well.  Turns out that nowhere is safe when it comes to death.

Day 140: A "Bloody" Book

I have one phobia in life:  blood.  I don't mean my own blood.  Or a fear of seeing blood in real life.  I have a huge fear of seeing blood on tv.  Of hearing people talk about blood or surgeries or anything that is remotely similar to those things.  I have been thinking a lot lately about possibly reducing this fear of mine through systematic desensitization, a process that involves reducing the anxiety due to the phobia in a gradual way.  So I thought I'll buy this e-book (heck, it was only 99 cents) and start that way.  I mean, surely this book is gruesome, since the author is known to write gorey and bloody novels.

Result:  This book was not even remotely gross or gruesome or blood-curdling.  I was rather disappointed.  It's odd that I was peeved that I didn't read anything blood-related, since I usually avoid that sort of thing like the plague.

Day 141: Alcohol

Tonight, my boyfriend bought a beer I had never heard before.  I hate beer.  But I decided to try it anyways.  He also had some cognac, so I tried some of that too.

Result:  Ew.  And double ew.  I'm glad I don't like most types of alcohol, though :-)

Day 137: ???

I cannot remember what I failed at on this day.  It was only 3 days ago.  And I cannot remember.

Sigh.  If I eventually remember, I will post it with this post.  Maybe.

Day 139: Traffic Jam

To make a long story short, I got caught on I-285 in a major traffic jam.  I was stuck there for at least half an hour. 

Result:  I was cranky and pissed and hot.  And I only had 3 lines left on my gas level.  And I was in the very left lane, so I couldn't just get off the interstate and get gas.  Plus that would have only put me more behind on the interstate and caught with the jam. 

Eventually the traffic jam stopped, and I was able to coast along.  I stopped at a Starbucks to kill time until a 5pm appointment, and I was super cranky there.

I totally failed at not getting stressed out and not getting pissed off.  But I did let myself be in a cranky mood, and that was kind of fun :-)

Day 138: Trivia

Today, I was deciding to play trivia with friends.  I always have fun, but I was in a cranky mood, and I didn't feel like commuting an hour each way.  And what if I don't have fun?  So I could either go to trivia or go home and be mopey all night.

Result:  I decided to go play trivia with friends.  And of course I had fun!  I'm so ridiculous sometimes.

Day 136: Hair Clips

Today, my friend Jen decided to make hair clips for her 9 month old daughter.  She said that I could help her make some, so we went to Michaels and got some supplies.

Result:  I was scared to death.  Honestly.  I was scared that mine would come out really crappy.  And of course that would mean that I'm totally uncreative and have no talent whatsoever.

The clips in the picture above are the ones that I made.  So, once again, I worried for nothing :-)  It was a lot of fun, and I plan on making more.

Day 135: Mini Golf

Today my boyfriend and I decided to play mini golf.  It was a nice day out, and neither of us had played mini golf in a long time.  We decided that the winner would get to choose where to eat for dinner, and the loser would have to pay for dinner. 

Result:  He kicked my butt!  Even though I lost, I still had fun.  We went to On the Border for dinner, and I paid.  Aren't I a good girlfriend? :-)

Day 134: IHOP

Today, my boyfriend and I decided to have lunch at IHOP.  Why not?  What could possibly go wrong at IHOP?

Result:  It was 10 minutes before we got our drinks.  And even then, the waitress forgot my boyfriend's water and gave me a mocha hot coffee instead of an iced coffee.  We had to ask another waiter to get my boyfriend silverware so that he could stir his coffee.  And he had to get sugar from another table.  And it was close to 40 minutes before we got our food.  And I had to ask the waitress for silverware.  It was quite an experience.  I was talking to another table about our service, and the woman behind us even said that she had terrible service from our waitress.

You know it's bad when another waiter gets the manager FOR YOU, and you don't even ask the guy to get the manager for you!  We ended up getting our breakfast for free and a $5 coupon off of our next visit, so that was cool.  And she did get our food right, which was good.  Carey ended up tipping the other waiter $5, because he did help us out and was nice.  It was definitely a quite interesting experience.

Day 133: SCI Event

Tonight was the end of the year event for my school's skeptic/secular student group.  Only five people (including me) RSVP'ed yes.  So I spent all day debating back and forth about whether or not to go.  It's not that I didn't want to go, but I was housesitting about 20 minutes South of the location (Kayson's Grill), and I didn't want to get stuck in rush hour traffic on the interstate.  And I also worried that no one would show up, or only 3 people would show up, or something like that.  But my friend texted me saying let's go anyways, and so I did.

Result:  There were only 5 of us, but it was fun!  I'm going to be the President of the club for the next year (yay!), and I really didn't want to start off by not even showing up for the event when I will pretty much be officially considered President.  So I'm glad I went :-)  And I didn't even get stuck in rush hour traffic!  I did get stuck in accident traffic, but that's beside the point.

Day 132: The Godfather. Finally.

Today, I finally, after 30 years of existence, watched The Godfather (I and II) with my boyfriend. 

Result:  Throughout most of the movies, I had no idea what was going on.  Who betrayed whom, why they killed so and so, is it the present time or the past, are they in Italy or New York, etc.  I failed pretty miserably at understanding what was going on.  And I was barely able to stay awake during the 2nd one.  But hey, I got through it, and I can't say that I disliked them.  They were pretty interesting.  But I think a subsequent viewing would help me understand the movies better.

Day 131: Lunch? Who Needs Lunch?

Today I kind of had a lunch date with a friend of mine. 

Result:  I had to cancel having lunch with my friend.  Why?  Because, by 1130am, I still hadn't gone to sleep.  Because I stayed up all night watching Veronica Mars episodes.

I only have 10 more episodes left, thank goodness.

Day 130: Sleeping is for Sissies

So, I'm kind of obsessed with the show Veronica Mars.  When I say obsessed, I mean that I feel an extremely strong compulsion to watch every episode as quickly as possible so that I can get through the series and then get back to real life. 

Today, I kind of stayed up late watching episodes.  Like, I went to sleep at 3:30pm late.  Meaning I was up for, oh, about 30 hours straight. 

Like I said, sleep is for sissies!

Day 129: Exercise

I have a weekly goal to do P90X 3 times a week, and that is roughly 3 hours of exercise a week.

In actuality, I do it more like 2 times a week.  Because these workouts are challenging and DIFFICULT.  I know I could do "easier" workouts, but . . . I'm pretty much an all or nothing person.  Every week I tell myself that I will definitely do 3 hours of exercise this week.  But I always end up with some excuse.  I know that I should just exercise first thing when I wake up, but . . . I'm afraid that I'm too tired to do it in the morning.  I don't know how to solve this :-P

Day 128: Mother's Day

Today was Mother's Day.  One of the gifts that I gave my mom was a coupon for me to do a chore of her choice, and I made the coupon expire the next day at 4pm so that she couldn't just pick a day at random and tel me to do it right then. 

Result:  My mom definitely liked the coupon, as I knew she would.  She also had me vacuum the upstairs, which I knew she would choose because it definitely needed it.  So I vacuumed most of the upstairs, but I didn't finish.  So I failed to finish vacuuming the upstairs in one day, but hey, at least I got half of it done.  And what a good-looking half it was.

Day 127: A Trip to the Spa

Today, my girlfriends and I threw a Bachelorette party for our friend.  Instead of the usual bar hopping or strip joint type of evening, we spent the day at the spa.  Our friend loves to get manicures and pedicures, and we knew that she would like a day at the spa. 

I had never been to a spa, and the only types of services I've had before are manicures and pedicures.  The services at this spa were pretty expensive, so I decided just to get a half hour facial.  I had never had one before, and I was worried because I have really sensitive skin, so I get rashes or break out easily.  But I decided to give it a shot.

While at the spa, I decided to also get a scalp massage.  It was only $15, and two of my friends said that it was amazing.  So I decided to get that as well. 

Result:  The facial and scalp massage were amazing!!!! It was really relaxing, and the products used for my facial were hypoallergenic and okay for sensitive skin.  The scalp massage was really relaxing, and it was totally worth it!

I was worried that I wouldn't like the services because I didn't know what to expect.  But not only were the services great, but we all had a lot of fun spending the day at the spa.  It was a great day with good friends :-)

Day 126: Return of the Killer Dog and Scared Companion

Today was my return visit to the house where last week I took care of a super angry chihuahua and super scared italian greyhound.  Maybe today would prove to be better than last time...?

Result:  The italian greyhound hid so well that I couldn't find him, and the chihuahua still hated my guts.  But hey, he still ate the treat I gave him, so he couldn't completely hate my guts.  Right?  If this dog was a much bigger dog, I would never ever take care of it again.  But since the dog is small, I don't mind taking care of it again if the owners want me to some time in the future.

Day 125: Margarita Anyone?

Today was Cinco de Mayo, so my friend and I decided to go to Taco Mac in an attempt to have semi-Mexican food at a venue not as populated as other Mexican restaurants on this evening.  Apparently margaritas are considered Mexican fare, so I decided to get a strawberry peach margarita.  Now, the last time I drank a margarita, my friend (the same one I was at Taco Mac) had to drive my car because that one margarita made me unable to drive.  But I took my chances and got one anyways.

Result:  The margarita wasn't strong, so I handled it just fine :-)  And I was able to drive home just fine.  I failed to get buzzed, but I was more than happy with that.

Day 124: Guacamole? Ew...?

Everyone I know likes guacamole.  As for me, I have never had a guacamole dip that I actually liked.  Probably because I don't really like avacodo in general.  Not much at all, really.

Well, I went out to eat at a Mexican restaurant with a couple of friends, and they ordered table side guacamole, where they make it right at your table.  I had never had table side guacamole, so I thought, "Hey, I'll try it.  If I don't like it, it'll just prove the fact that I don't like guacamole."

Result:  I tried the guacamole.  And I actually LIKED it.  I couldn't believe it!  I think I liked it because it also had tomatoes and some sort of sauce.  So thus ends the belief that I hate guacamole.  I can't say I will ever ever order it, but on the off chance I ever go to this particular Mexican restaurant again, I'll at least know that I like their particular guacamole.

Day 123: Alarm Clock Woes

So.  As I stated in my previous entry, I had a paper due this morning at 9:30am.  I didn't finish it, so I set my alarm for 6:15am so I could go to school and finish it there and then turn it there.  I still had two pages to write, and I like to edit my papers before turning them in.

Result:  I use my iPhone as my alarm.  Well, I forgot to turn the volume up on the alarm before going to sleep.  Which I never forget to do.  Except for this one morning.  When my final exam paper was due.  So I didn't even hear the alarm because it was pretty much inaudible. 

Luckily I woke up at 730am somehow.  THANK GOODNESS because I'm not a morning person, so thank goodness I woke up early enough to still have time to get to school, finish the paper, and turn it in by 9:30.

I finished it at 9:15, printed it, and turned it in at about 9:28.  I got it done, and it was just a little over 5 pages (the minimum requirement).  But I can't say it's one of the best papers I've written. 

I just hope I get an A in the class.  Please just let me get an A in the class...

Day 122: Philosophy Paper Woes

One of my final exams for the semester was to write a paper for my existentialism class.  The topic was to pick two philosophers (either Sartre, Beauvoir, and/or Fanon) and write about their takes on freedom and responsibility.  I thought, this'll be no problem.

Result:  I did a lot of research for it, as I usually do when I write papers.  I spend little time on writing the actual paper.  Well, I spent a majority of the week watching every episode of Battlestar Galactica; I knew that I would not be able to really focus on studying for finals if I knew I hadn't watched every episode.  So I watched every episode.  But I didn't finish that until late Sunday night, and this paper was due Tuesday morning at 9:30.

I stayed up until about 2am working on writing the paper (which I didn't actually start to do until about 1030pm or so).  It was to be 5-7 pages, and I only got to the top of page 4 before I decided to call it a night and wake up early in the morning to finish it.  I hate writing papers last minute, but I couldn't stay up any longer.  Being tired sucks, especially when you have a paper due soon.

Day 121: Super Scared Italian Greyhound

So.  The owners of the super angry chihuahua also have another dog:  a super scared Italian greyhound.  This dog has severe anxiety around people he doesn't know.  Again, I thought, "All dogs love me.  This dog will love me within minutes."

Result:  By the end of the 3rd visit, this dog was still super scared of me.  He would hide in a corner or go upstairs and hide somewhere.  I felt so bad for him, and he was so cute.  I wanted to pet him, but he was just too scared.

I have to take care of these dogs one more time this week.  We'll see what happens.

Day 120: An Angry Chihuahua

Dogs love me.  So when a new petsitting client told me that she had a chihuahua that does not like strangers, I thought to myself, "That may be so, but all dogs love me.  This chihuahua will love me in no time."  Hell, my parents have a chihuahua whom I freaking love and spoil.

Result:  By my 3rd petsitting trip, this dog still did not like me.  He would bark at me nonstop.  By the 3rd visit, I was able to throw him some treats, but he wouldn't let me pet him or anything like that.  Hey, what can I say, I'm not Cesar Millan.

Day 119: Cigars

My boyfriend loves to smoke cigars.  He rarely smokes them in front of me (isn't he such a gentleman?) because I don't smoke, but tonight he decided to smoke a cigar while I was at his house.  For some reason, I decided to try it.  I haven't smoked in over a decade (and even then I only smoked twice), but I've never smoked a cigar.  I figured, Why not?

Result:  Ick.

Day 118: Updating This Blog

So.  The goal of this year long project is to fail at or attempt to fail at something every day.

Result:  I'm doing well on the failing or attempting to fail.  What I'm NOT doing well at is updating this thing regularly.  I have been letting the updates build up to where now I have to update 8 days in a row.  Now that my semester is over, I'm hoping that I will get better at this.  Because after so many days, it's tough to remember what you failed at on a certain day.

And somehow I made the type setting on this web page super small, and I don't know how to fix it.  Sigh.

Day 117: Hair Dyeing

I dye my own hair.  It's MUCH cheaper than getting it done somewhere, and it only lasts for so long before you have to do it again.  After not dyeing/retouching my hair for a while, I finally dyed my hair.

Result:  My hair was literally soaked with dye, and yet there's still light brown patches in some places.  And the box says very light blonde, but my hair isn't very light blonde.  But hey, it still beats not paying $60+ to get it done somewhere else.