Today, I accomplished two things which I'd been putting off as being a hassle - I got a checking account and also my food handler's permit! Ah, good job Amber!

I also did something nice for someone else (I got becca some Kleenex), managed not to cry when I was informed that I work too slowly to open the store in the mornings so I now have a different shift, took a satisfying shower, remembered to drink a lot of water and eat enough food to keep from getting irritated at people, deliberately went to the library and read, and made three little boys laugh. Of course, these things weren't really on my "List of Things to Accomplish Today," but I did them. Now I look at the things that are left for me to accomplish:

Clean and vacuum room
Do laundry

Look at that! Only two measly little things! And I got so much done today already! Way to go, me!

I do very well under praise, even if the praise sometimes has to come from myself.

I was trying to get a bee out the window today, but the bee kept falling between the window panes. One of the boys said "close the window and that'll get the bee out!" and I said something like, "no, that would probably just crush the bee and you'd have bee guts everywhere." Immediately I was surrounded by a chorus of "Cool!!!"s and "Do it! Do it!" s. They were chanting the words "bee guts" and doubling over in convulsions of laughter for the next fifteen minutes. They're definitely little boys.

The other day when my bike broke down on my way to work and I had to walk it all that way, I noticed a license plate folded in half by the side of the road. I didn't pick it up then, but every time I ride by I notice it. Today, I picked it up. It's mine now. If it is yours, please describe it to me and I will let you have it. For now, though, I'll keep it until I feel like not keeping it anymore. The look on becca's face when I pulled it out of my backpack was priceless.

Let's see...what else interesting happened? Nothing really, I guess. I got my first cash ever out of an ATM machine. That was thrilling, actually. I then spent it all, which was pretty much what I had intended to do. Now I don't have any money but that's okay. I survived the last three weeks without money - what's two more? And really I have all my needs taken care of. So I need to live without chocolate. So what. The craving has passed for now, actually. That's nice.

I don't know if I've ever talked about my peculiar relationship to chocolate. In general, chocolate is not my most favorite thing in the world. Almost anytime you ask me, I'd prefer Cheetos or sour gummy worms or mint gum or Ranch Doritos or a piece of Tilamook sharp cheddar cheese with a triscuit. But every once in a while I get a serious craving for CHOCOLATE. Not the taste, exactly, but something else. I eat it, and then I feel happy. It's like a drug, except if I were addicted to it as a drug I'd want it all the time, and I don't.

If you've ever read about those studies where chocolate was shown to fulfill some particular hormonic deficiency in women, I'm pretty sure those are all accurate in some way. There's a reason that chocolate is generally known as the way to woo women.

Normally, if I were in somebody's house or office, I wouldn't think to take the mini candies on display in a glass bowl on the coffee table unless they were offered to me (exception made with good friends or relatives). If I have a chocolate craving and no money, however, I will lose my shyness and straight out ask for a piece of chocolate if I see it. I did this once in my English professor's office. The next day I came back in and he said, "feel free to take a piece of chocolate" and I said "no thanks, I don't need any today."

What I really should do is stock up so that I won't wake up in the middle of the night with a craving and end up raiding the pantry and eating chocolate frosting by the spoonful and hot chocolate to wash it down.

(I really need to buy Raedeana new chocolate frosting and also new lemon juice, since I broke into her supply.)

I just rememebered that I do, in fact, have money. I used my own money to get my food handler's permit, not the money my mom gave me! So i still have that. And I really do need to try to get my work to reimburse me for that. If they do, I'll pay back Mom with that.

I can think of two bank-related acronyms that, when used as they commonly are with a certain other word, are redundant. ATM machine = Automatic Teller Machine Machine. PIN number = Personal Identification Number Number. (Of course, a PIN can be related to library cards, school numbers, cell phone voicemail passcodes, or almost anything else.) Can you think of anymore?

I can't really think of much else to say. Bye!