The Novel of My Life

angelmusic @ 2007-02-02T12:56:00

2007-02-02T20:58:32Z

Okay, I caved and got a myspace account. It's been tons of fun finding people I never thought I'd talk to again. If any of you also have a myspace account, you're welcome to add me as a friend at www.myspace.com/peprika16

angelmusic @ 2006-04-13T13:39:00

2006-04-13T20:47:36Z

I always get a little sad on April 13. It's the day a very beautiful person was born. I never knew him, but I knew a lot about his life and about how wonderful a person he was. This post is in loving memory of him.

For more information about who Jonathan was, go to www.jonathanbrandis.org

angelmusic @ 2006-02-16T12:21:00

2006-02-16T20:37:07Z

I am very much looking forward to this Saturday. I will be spending the day with someone I haven't seen in about 10 years. She is my godparent's niece and I haven't seen her in forever because of a feud. No, I was not involved in the feud. It was a feud between her parents and my godparents. And my parents thought that we should stop seeing them as well, out of respect to my godparents. It's all very silly and confusing and all happened a long time ago.
Anyway, I guess a cousin of theirs passed away a few years back, and they all saw each other at the funeral. My godmother gave her my contact info, and we've talked online a few times since. This Saturday she is coming over to my house and we're going to spend the whole day together catching each other up on the past ten years of our lives. And I'm going to show her my wedding video because most of her relatives were at my wedding, but she hasn't seen them in ten years either because of the family feud. She wants to see what everyone looks like now. Isn't it sad that I am closer to her extended family than she is?
So yeah, I thought I'd share, because it's the most exciting thing that's happened, or rather will happen, within the past few weeks. My life is so boring.

QUESTION OF THE DAY: If you were good friends with someone who was in a feud with a family member you were also somewhat friends with, would you stop seeing that family member out of respect for your friend?

angelmusic @ 2006-02-07T00:01:00

2006-02-07T08:06:20Z

I miss my cousins. I hate living so far away from them.

angelmusic @ 2005-12-30T12:26:00

2005-12-30T20:30:22Z

I am really happy! If you want to know why, you're gonna have to call me, e-mail me or ask me in person. And just to spare some of you from major suspense... no, I'm NOT pregnant.

Kelly Clarkson tickets are hard to win.

2005-12-16T23:39:48Z

I've been trying to win Kelly Clarkson tickets today. They've been giving them away on the radio for the past week or so, but I hadn't been trying to win before because I don't know of anyone who would want to go with me. But this morning I thought I should at least give it a try! Why not? So I was trying to be caller nine, but it was really hard because my phone at work doesn't have a redial button. So I went next door to my co-worker's office to ask if her phone had a redial button. She was on the phone and she said, "no, but I wish it did because I'm trying to win Kelly Clarkson tickets!"

So we agreed to go to the concert together if one of us wins, since she also didn't know anyone else who would want to go. Then we heard that some people from the radio station were having a barbecue in front of the Albertsons in Carmel, and they were giving away two pairs of Kelly Clarkson tickets. So we took our lunch break together and drove to Carmel to enter our names. When we put our entrance tickets in, there were only about seven others in the bucket. Combining that fact with the fact that you actually had to be present at the drawing to win the tickets and there weren't many people there, we thought we had a pretty good chance.

Well, a bunch of Alberstons' employees came out and entered the drawing at the last minute, and although none of them won, the fact that there were more tickets in the bucket lowered our chances of winning. Some ladies from Marina ended up winning the tickets. But we didn't go home empty handed. I got a T-shirt and my co-worker got a ticket to some local New Years Eve event.

You might think that our mission to get the tickets is over, but you're wrong. The radio station is still giving tickets away over the phone. And between my co-worker and myself, we just might win!

Wish me luck!

QUESTION OF THE DAY: Are any of you Kelly Clarkson fans?

angelmusic @ 2005-12-16T09:50:00

2005-12-16T17:53:04Z

Did anyone watch the season finale of The Apprentice last night? If so, what were your thoughts? Is anyone as outraged as I am?

It finally happened.

2005-12-02T21:30:51Z

I got my first ticket. I am so upset right now, I just need to write about it to get it out of my system. No, I did not get pulled over. I got a parking ticket. I'm sure to some of you, that isn't a big deal. People get parking tickets all the time. But it's a big deal to me. I've never gotten a ticket before in my life.
I had decided to go to Taco Bell for lunch, but Taco Bell is located in an area where parking is horrible. I finally found a spot on the street, but the truck in the spot in front of mine was too big for the spot and so it came over the line into my spot a bit. I guess when I parked behind the truck, I also parked over the line behind me. But it wasn't my fault! It was the truck driver's fault.
Anyway, I was in Taco Bell for all of 15 minutes, and when I came back to my car, I had a parking ticket waiting for me on my windshield. The officer that issued it must have watched me park or something. And now I have to pay them $25 for being parked over the line in a perfectly legal parking spot for 15 minutes. It's not the money that bothers me. It's the fact that my driving record is now tainted, after 8 years of perfection.

QUESTION OF THE DAY: How many tickets have you received?

The first rain of the fall is upon us.

2005-11-09T19:40:38Z

I woke up this morning to the sound of raindrops on the window. Now, while I love that sound at night, I hate it in the morning. It makes me want to stay in bed for the rest of the day, and that's just something I can't do. So I'm feeling gloomy today because I would have rather enjoyed the rain from my bed than from the 20 minute back-up on the highway on the way to work.
This past weekend was one of pleasing everyone else but myself. On Saturday I went bowling with Nick and his co-workers. I didn't want to go because I had only bowled once before in my life when I was 12 years old. I didn't feel like sucking at something in front of a bunch of people I didn't know. But Nick really wanted me to come, so I went. By the end of the night, I was awarded a prize for getting the lowest score. It was a Nike gym bag, which was better than the prize Nick got for best form. He got scented candles and gum. After we left, I made Nick stop at the store to get me pumpkin pie as a reward for humiliating myself in front of his co-workers.
On Sunday I had lunch with my parents. That's always slightly painful, but it wasn't too bad. In the evening I had dinner with Nick and his parents. Not as painful, but I still would have rather been relaxing at home. So basically I did not get to relax at all over the weekend, let alone get any cleaning done.
I hope you all had a better weekend than I did.

QUESTION OF THE DAY: Would you go to a company dinner and listen to a boring doctor speak about colon cancer for an hour and a half if you got a free meal and two hours of overtime out of it?

I haven't posted anything like this since college

2005-10-13T22:51:40Z

I don't know what's going on this week, but strange guys are popping up out of nowhere! No, not literally, although that would be funny. Okay, let me explain further.

It all started when I was online on Sunday afternoon. Someone IMed me asking for a picture. My profile says "happily married", so I hadn't gotten a random IM like that in a while. I asked him who he was and he said his name was Joe. I told him "I'm Stacy and I'm married." He said "oh, wow, do you want a cookie?" I asked him why he wanted a picture of me and he said, "Not anymore. Bye." Ookay. Strange.

Then on Monday I decided to go for a walk during my lunch break. So there I was, walking around, minding my own business when I heard someone behind me go "pssssst". I turned around very quickly to see if it was someone I knew. It wasn't. It was some guy in a metallic orange Jetta, and he was stopped at a light across the street. I quickly looked away and turned the corner. This guy must have made a U-turn or something because the next thing I knew, he had pulled over next to me and said, "hey there." I quickly looked away, thinking about what I should say to him. He thought I was ignoring him all together because he said "fine" and drove off. When I got back to the office and told my co-worker about it she said, "I'd ask you if he was cute, but the fact that he was driving a metallic orange Jetta answers my question."

Then on Tuesday, I swear some man who was in his forties was following me at the mall. Every turn I made, he made right behind me. I finally walked into a furniture store, just to get away from him. He stopped and looked into the store window. Coincidence? I don't know, what do you guys think? I was getting kinda scared because I had been walking toward the parking lot to get to my car, but I didn't want him to follow me out there. I laid low in the furniture store until he went away.

What is up with guys this week? This kinda stuff has not happened to me since college.

RPGs are controlling my life!!!

2005-10-10T16:11:21Z

Okay, not really. But they are taking up a lot of my time. Last time I posted I told you all that am playing Neville Longbottom in an RPG. Well, since then, I signed up to play Hermione Granger and I joined another RPG where I also play Neville Longbottom. So I have 4 live journal user names! 2 Nevilles, 1 Hermione and of course this one. It's so much fun!

The house is coming along nicely. We might be able to host our house-warming party in a few weeks! I'm so excited about that because not very many people have seen the house yet.

Nick and I bought Cinderella on DVD last night! I had been looking forward to that release forever! I love watching all the bonus features where they show the animators and the people who did the voices and deleted scenes and all that. It's so interesting.

QUESTION OF THE DAY: What is your favorite Disney movie and why?

angelmusic @ 2005-09-28T12:57:00

2005-09-28T20:05:13Z

Nothing interesting has been going on lately. Our furniture is all moved in and now it's all about unpacking everything, which is kinda boring. But I promised I'd keep my live journal up to date as much as possible, so I'm writing about the boringness. <--Is that even a word?

Other than that, not much is happening with me. I joined a Harry Potter RPG. I'm playing Neville Longbottom, but he's such a minor character that I'm thinking of applying for someone else as well. We'll see what happens.

Anyway, that's about it for me. I hope your lives are more interesting, and if so, that you write about it for bored people such as myself.

QUESTION OF THE DAY: If you could play any Harry Potter character in an RPG, who would you choose? If you don't know anything about Harry Potter... well then, you don't get a question of the day. So there. :-p

angelmusic @ 2005-09-24T10:39:00

2005-09-24T17:48:29Z

I saw something that amused me this morning as I was driving back from the mall. I found a place called "Sosi's Hair Salon!" I couldn't help but laugh because Andrea would sooner start a plumbing company that open her own hair salon! At least I think she would. For all I know, she could actually own the very salon I saw this morning. Nah, there's no way!

Moving into a house is hard work...

2005-09-20T23:12:40Z

but once we're settled in, it will be so nice!

So far, we've painted the living room, family room, downstairs bathroom, kitchen, master bedroom and study. We have two more rooms left. I have also started setting up the kitchen, but I'm sure I'll probably change it around a couple of times before I'm satisfied with it.

The refrigerator was delivered yesterday. Our new dining set should have been delivered today, as well as our garbage and recycling containers. I won't know for sure until I get home. Tomorrow is a big day! Nick and his friend Steve will be moving in all the furniture. Friday, our washer and dryer will hopefully be delivered. Only after Friday will it finally feel like a home!

We will be sleeping over at the in-laws' house tonight because we will get the U-Haul from Morgan Hill. I'm kind of bummed about that. I want to sleep in my own house! I've been sleeping in Morgan Hill all summer. I don't want to go back for a while! Besides, the tile guy will be at our house (to fix something that should have been done before we moved in) between 8 and 10am, and I'll have to be there for that anyway! I'm going to have to get up at like 6am! NOOOOOOOOO!

Yeah, tomorrow will be interesting.

QUESTION OF THE DAY: Anybody care to take bets on how many scratches I will have on my walls after the guys are done moving the furniture tomorrow?

angelmusic @ 2005-09-19T11:45:00

2005-09-19T19:03:35Z

The past four days have been so exhausting, I cringe at the thought of still having to move furniture and unpack. Since last Thursday, all I've been doing is running up and down stairs, applying painter's tape to the walls, covering the ground with plastic and painting until my entire body aches. But the house is looking good!

Andrea and Kim could tell you. They came over on Saturday to help paint. I think I exhausted them too. But we had fun painting funny green pictures on the master bedroom walls. Right now we have only two and a half rooms to paint, but I'd be happy if I never had to paint again. It's not so much the painting part as it is the preparation and clean up. Isn't that the way it always works?

Today has been my first day "off" from all the house stuff. In other words, it's my first day back at the office. Ahhh, sitting, writing, typing, making phone calls! It's so much more relaxing than moving into a new home!

I have lots more to tell you all about, but it will have to wait until tomorrow. I hope you all had a lovely weekend.

QUESTION OF THE DAY: What is your favorite type of chocolate?

I OWN A HOUSE, I OWN A HOUSE, I OWN A HOUSE!!!!!

2005-09-15T00:11:07Z

It's official! All the document finished processing today and I am now a home owner! My father-in-law is on the way to the sales office to get our keys as we speak! I'm going straight to the house after work! I want to see MY house now that it's finally mine! I'm so excited!

Needless to say, you won't be hearing from me the next few days. I'll be at MY house painting and putting up light fixtures and ceiling fans and not to mention moving. But I'll update you all on Monday. Until then...

QUESTION OF THE DAY: What color are the walls of your bedroom? If they're white, what color would you choose to paint it?

HA! HA! HA!

2005-09-13T20:35:31Z

After Nick gave our broker a piece of his mind, the broker is going to personally come to our offices so that we can sign the new documents without any delay. That means he will be driving from Capitola to Salinas and then to Monterey. It looks like someone is trying to kiss our buts to make up for his mistake! I love it!

And he personally called our developer's office and arranged to have us pick up our keys on Thursday, even though the documents won't be fully processed by then!

Things are finally starting to look up! I still don't regret raiding the liquor cabinet when I got home yesterday though. I know, it's not like me, but it helped me calm my nerves. Don't worry, it was just one shot of ouzo (Greek hard liquor). That's not so bad. Come on... stop looking at me like that!

I'm glad this all got resolved. Paint party still on!

You'd think a broker would know how to do his job.

2005-09-13T16:36:55Z

I hate our mortgage broker. I don't just dislike him or not care for him. I hate him. Why? Because he's done nothing but mess up...

since we first tried to contact him. Contacting him alone was hard. He's horrible at returning calls. He also always made us come to his office in Capitola to work out our mortgage decisions. Capitola is nowhere near any city that we live in, will live in, work in, or are otherwise associated with. We've always had to fax pay stubs and bank information to him twice because he always said that he didn't get them the first time. Nick has quoted him figures over the phone only to get an e-mail a couple days later asking for that figure again.

But the reason why I really detest this man is because he gave the title company the wrong information about our mortgage and when we went to sign the documents yesterday, we found out that our monthly payment was figured at $600 more per month than what our broker told us it would be. He gave the title company the wrong information!

Not only that, but he told Nick that once the documents were signed, they would be processed within two business days and then we could get our keys. We found out from the title company, that it will take a week to process. We won't get our keys until next week. This could have all been avoided if our broker had faxed them our information a lot sooner so that we could sign the documents sooner. He had all the information he needed and he just sat on it until the last possible second. And because of the mistake I mentioned in the above paragraph, this whole process is going to be delayed.

But the worst part of it all, is that the jerk is making almost $7,000 of off us and for what? For sitting on his behind and making us do everything twice and not getting the most important things done right the first time? I'll tell you one thing... we're going to be refinancing our house through someone else the second we can. The only reason why we did this through him in the first place was because the home developers selected him as their broker of choice. Basically, if we hadn't gone through him, we would have had to pay a larger down payment on the house and we couldn't afford to do that.

If anyone is planning on buying a house in the south bay or central coast area, send me an e-mail and I'll give you this guy's name so that you don't go anywhere near him.

QUESTION OF THE DAY: What would you do in this situation? Maybe you can give me some ideas on how to MAKE him fix this in a timely manner.

Good weekend!

2005-09-12T16:29:59Z

As our move-in date draws nearer, I have found that I'm being more and more productive each day! There is still so much left to do that I can't afford NOT to be productive. So basically, a lot of my weekend revolved around getting ready to move in.

I was supposed to get together with co-workers from my previous office on Saturday, but they both flaked on me. So instead I went to the home and garden show with my in-laws. It was so much fun and frustrating at the same time. I never knew just how much cool stuff you can do with your house, but it's frustrating not being able to afford it. I picked up a lot of information though, for the future, when we can afford to do nice stuff with our house. Maybe even stuff for the next house we buy.

On Sunday, I sat down with my in-laws and made many lists about what we'll be taking to the house and on what days. I don't think I've planned anything in such great detail since my wedding. But it's fun! Planning makes the whole thing seem more real.

Then in the evening, I went to Andrea's for dinner. We had fun playing games and having deep talks. I miss spending time with my friends. I hope they come visit me in Salinas.

Today, Nick and I will be signing all the house documents. Who knows how long that will take? But at that point, the house will be pretty much ours! Yay!

That's all I have to say for today. Oh, except I want to thank Andrea again for making me yet another icon! It's so pretty, isn't it?

QUESTION OF THE DAY: What book are you currently reading, or what was the last book you read?

New icon!

2005-09-09T23:02:14Z

Hey, look everyone! Andrea made me a new icon! She also improved my existing icon! Thanks Andrea! You're the best!

I'M BACK!!!!!!!

2005-09-09T17:22:10Z

Enough people have bugged me to death about the fact that I don't post in my journal anymore. So I've decided to start it up again, since apparently my life is so interesting that everyone wants to hear about it. :-)

My life right now basically revolves around my new house. The house is completely finished! But we can't move in or paint or anything until we close escrow, which is on September 14th. Until then, all we can do is wait. We're supposed to be signing all the documents within the next couple of days. I can't wait until that's over and done with.

Once we get the keys to the house on the 14th, we'll be painting most of the inside. I want lots of color in my house! And then... the big move! I'm so excited!!!

But in the meantime, when I'm not focusing on everything we have to do before we move, I'm doing a lot of reading. I started reading the Harry Potter books over the summer, and now that I've finished them all, I can't stop reading. Since "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" will be coming to theaters, I read that. I didn't like it much. I thought it was kind of boring. But since I had no other books to read, I decided to continue with the Chronicles of Narnia. I am currently reading "The Horse and his Boy" and I think it's much better. If the rest of the books are like this one, I just might read all the chronicles.

I'm also currently thinking about writing something of my own. I already have an idea and I've come up with some names and a few things about the plot, but it still needs a lot of work before I even begin writing it. I'll let you all know how that goes.

Anyway, that's all! That's my life right now, in a nutshell. I will definitely try to post more entries. I don't think I've posted anything in almost two years! Shame on me. But I'm back and hopefully for good!

QUESTION OF THE DAY: Throughout the past two years, have you missed my questions of the day?

angelmusic @ 2003-11-20T19:29:00

2003-11-21T04:16:24Z

I just found out that the teen star I was obsessed with in junior high committed suicide last week. I was completely infatuated with Jonathan Brandis when I was younger. I had over a hundred posters of him and watched a lot of his movies and read just about anything I could get my hands on that was about him.

My cousin called me this morning and told me that she found out from my other cousin who found out from the internet that he died. I am in total shock over this. And I've been depressed about it all day.

A lot of you are probably thinking that it's ridiculous to be so affected by this news since I didn't even know him personally. But I had invested so many of my younger years in having a crush on him that I feel like I knew him.

As I was driving home a few hours ago, I was listening to KLOVE and "I Can Only Imagine" by Mercy Me came on. That song is about what it will be like when we die and get to see God face to face. When that song came on, I lost it. I don't think Jonathan was a Christian. And even if he was, I'm questioning whether or not suicide pretty much terminated his salvation. I don't know why I have it in my head that if someone commits suicide, they automatically go to hell. I think I read it somewhere or learned it at school or something.

So to sum up... the celebrity I was obsessed with killed himself. I'm feeling depressed. I think he's in hell. I've had a very crappy day. Yup, that's pretty much it.

QUESTION OF THE DAY: Based solely on what I've told you in this entry, do you think Jonathan Brandis is in hell?

2nd QUESTION OF THE DAY: Does anyone know who Jonathan Brandis was?

What should I do?

2003-11-08T23:29:41Z

About a month ago, God revealed something to me that I haven't been able to forget since. At least I think God revealed something to me. I've been so out of tune with Him lately that I'm not sure. I can't really go into detail about what it was because it involves some personal things about a couple of people in my husband's family. I wish I could tell you all, but I can't. I do need your help though.

I'll start by telling how it all began. I was driving to work one morning, like I said, about a month ago. I was listening to K-LOVE (Christian music that rocks!) when a song came on that I had never heard before. The song reminded me of two people in my husband's family. I had not even been thinking about them at all, but they just popped into my head. Before I knew it, I was in tears. The words of the song hit me so hard, I almost couldn't take it. At that moment, I felt God reveal something to me about those two people.

Here is the problem. I really want to tell one of those people about my experience and about what God revealed to me. I think it would put this person at peace about something that happened in his/her life. But at the same time, I'm afraid this person might blame him/herself for why that thing happened. Right now he/she just wonders why it had to happen. If I tell him/her why it had to happen (which is what God revealed to me), that wonder might turn into blame, even though this person never did anything wrong.

I've asked God to help me decide whether or not to tell the person, but so far I've heard nothing from Him. Part of me thinks that God's silence is His way of telling me not to say anything. But at the same time, every time I hear that song, I cry just as much as I did the first time I heard it. And I think, why would God use a song to reveal something important to me and let that song affect me so much if I'm supposed to keep it all inside? What's His purpose of doing that?

I told Nick about the song the same day I heard it. He's not sure whether or not I should say anything either. What do you all think? I know it's hard to give input when you don't even know what God revealed to me or who this information involves, but I would appreciate any input you can possibly give me. This entire thing is just eating at me.

I guess this entry in its entirety is the question of the day.

Looking back on good times always makes me feel warm and fuzzy!

2003-10-12T07:20:08Z

I just spent the past two hours watching the videos of my three bridal showers and my bachelorette party. I can't believe it's been almost a year since I went through that whirlwind of plans and parties and gifts. Things are so much duller now. My life is in no way exciting. But then again, most people's lives are like that. Everything is routine and ordinary. The exciting things only come once in a while. Last year was the most exciting year of my life.

Nick can't stand to watch my bridal shower videos. He says it just sounds like hens cackling over stuff. But it's so much more than that. My showers weren't just about the food and the oohing and awing over my gifts. It was about being surrounded and fussed over by people who love me. There was so much love and excitement at all of my bridal showers, and my bachelorette party.

And now I barely ever get to see the people that were there. Oh, there are occasional visits and get-togethers. But they aren't part of my every day life like they used to be before I moved to Fremont. I miss everyone so much. At least I have the videos!

That's about all I wanted to say. It's nothing big, but after watching those videos it's just something that I felt like writing about.

A day of reflection.

2003-10-05T04:56:27Z

Today was an awesome day! That is, except for being woken up by a car alarm and finding a ton of ants in the kitchen this morning.

Nick and I went to Chili's for lunch and then I went over to Andrea's house. We spent at least six hours working on our scrapbooks. It was so much fun! I only got about five pages done, but they all turned out so good.

I also found out that Andrea's sister, Alisa, is a mad scrapbooking woman! She has a suitcase full of supplies, which she let us use because she's a sweetheart.

Um... yeah. That was my day. It was quite productive and I got to get all creative and aside from the fact we were sitting on the floor the whole time, which did not do wonders for my back, it was relaxing. Beat that run on sentence!

QUESTION OF THE DAY: Beat that run on sentence! Yeah, I know it's not a question, but challenges are fun too!