A year ago...

I still believed that when the word "love" was used, it meant love -- not some other twisted form of emotion
I was still willing to put my pride, myself, my heart and emotions out there, wear them proudly on my sleeve, and not consider the consequences
I was reckless enough to think that if I wanted it badly enough, it would happen
I was hopeful and optimistic, yet sadly pessimistic at the same time. A conflict of everything all over the place
I was giddy and walking on air...when I should have realized it was just that, air.
I had a little taste of heaven, though the aftermath only turned out to be food poisoning
I was a lot more naive than I should have been.
Thank you 12 months.

Oh and as an afterthought, I've been blogging for 5 years now, as of a few days ago. Wow. Maybe I should just let it go and close this thing down.

A comedy of errors....

Or more like a tragedy...such has been my life over the past week.
Stupid car troubles. Started out with some douche bag backing into me at HEB and running off....I didn't see it happen, but when I got out of the store there was a definite dent and paint scratch on my baby. Pissed off is the mildest way to put how I was feeling.
So there was freak out number one. I do have good warranty on the vehicle, but I don't know if it'll be able to be fixed completely without paying an arm and a leg for it. Argh.
Next on my list of "happenings" was Saturday...ended up working a few hours, as we're behind at the office. I was driving my friend home from work when I STUPIDLY ran over a freakin screwdriver that was happily placed in the middle of the road. I didn't even see it until it was too late. D. told me that I'd better check the tires, and sure enough I had a puncture to the back tire. I got home before it went flat, but that put me car-less over the weekend.
My awesome roomie put the spare on for me in the wee hours of the morning, but I still needed to go in today and replace the tire. EXPENSIVE!!! There goes my money I was saving for the Blue October concert this month. Weep.
So, they say troubles come in threes..which means I'm paranoid about what the third will be. Or maybe I'll catch a break. Here's to hoping.
Goddamn car.
Thank you for listening to my rant.

Scary Pictures :)

So we threw a little pre-Halloween bash at our place earlier on in the week, as most of my and my roomie's friends were set to work on Halloween night. Costumes were encouraged, the house was "spookified", the cameras were out in full force, as were the drinks and candy. I decided to be highly original (right) and come as a devil in red. A simple costume, but it worked, I think. Here are a couple of shots from the revelry...
I promise to tell you about the interesting ahem Halloween night I had downtown in my next post.....
Hope you had a safe and fun Halloween night. :D BOO!!!

I miss my mommy...

I seem to be breaking records here with how many times one can come down with the stupid flu. I've even had a shot for it but am down with relapse #3...(perhaps the shot had something to do with it?...just sayin) I haven't had an actual fever for ages, so this time around dealing with fevers and such has not been fun. And oh the dilemma of still wanting to go into work while sick so I don't have to make up too many hours, but at the same time not wanting to sicken my whole office with this damn thing.
I got sent home noon-ish today, as it was rather obvious I was not well enough to be up and about working. I ended up sleeping 3 hours straight, which is very unlike me. But at least the fever broke and I should be up and about tomorrow, bright and early as usual.
Hot soup and a few PM painkillers did a great number on me. I hope you're all well and happy.
Happy pre-Halloween

A wedding

Friday afternoon found me happily hanging out with an old friend that I hadn't seen in almost 10 years. C and I were buddies way back in the good ol' days of Japan. One of his friends was getting married in Austin and his gf was out of the country, so he called me up and it worked out for me to go as his "date" to the wedding.
We headed up to North Austin last night and attended a pre-wedding party in one of the prettiest places I've seen in ages, right on Lake Travis. BEAUTIFUL house, classy people, a lot of fun.
This morning we attended the ceremony in a gorgeous venue in the country. It was perfect weather, you couldn't have asked for a better day. The ceremony was sweet, sweet enough to even soften a cynic like me (for a few minutes...lol) Love was in the air and it showed on the faces of the bride and groom. Aww.
Afterwards it was a delicious brunch buffet with an open bar. My type of fun. Yay.
I'm EXHAUSTED now and am not moving off of the couch for the rest of the evening. Hello bottle of wine and sleep.

This is a post

I've really lost the blogging desire for some reason. It's almost a chore now to post. Possibly because my creative juices are all dried up, so my posts basically consist of a rundown of what I've been up to. I'm sorry I've become so boring, but what can I do.
My week was eventful, in that I had to sit through 2 days of orientation as a "new employee"...lol. But that being over with I got right back into the groove at the office and worked as usual, only difference being that I'm an actual employee now. YAY!
I had the lovely experience of getting a flu shot on Thursday and getting vaccinations for mumps on Friday. I'm all needled out. I have a small paranoia of needles, so that was no fun.
Besides that, I just got back from work and am trying to decide whether to clean this mess I call my room or just take off and go to the gym. Can't decide.
I hope you had a great week and a lovely weekend. Kisses. Be well.

Weekend.

Could not have come sooner. Looks like what I've been suffering from for the last weeks might be a strain of the swine flu. Ugh. I was thinking about working tomorrow, but honestly, I just need to get better, so no. I'm going to be lazy for two days and try to recuperate.
I'm "official" at work come Monday, which means I have to go to two days of hospital orientation (apparently a snooze fest...lol). Kinda silly, as I've been there for almost a year, so it's not like I'm going to learn anything I don't already know...but man, I feel like a kid at Christmas with this whole job thing. I could not be luckier. Benefits and health insurance are high on my list of things to be thankful for.
Today has been weirdly chilly, I wore a jacket this afternoon... it's starting to feel like autumn, which is nice after the grueling summer we had. Roomie and I are already scheming about delicious Thanksgiving delights. Yay.
Well, I'm off to a B'day dinner for a friend...at a Japanese restaurant!
Have a good weekend. You deserve it.

Hello my lovelies, I'm still here. Alive and kicking...coughing like there's no tomorrow, remnants of damn flu, but getting better slowly but surely.
Worked today to make up hours missed due to being out sick. Sucked, as it's a rainy Saturday. All I wanted to do was curl up with a blanket, book and hot drink and enjoy the gloomy weather. Not to be. Ugh.
ACL is going on right now and I would have given an organ to have been able to see Kings of Leon play. Oh well. Austin is teeming with hordes of people from all over the country, here to watch the bands. Traffic is a bitch and finding parking downtown is ridiculous. Ugh. Next year I will do my utmost to get tickets, as it's supposed to be one hell of a weekend of music.
Snow Patrol is playing at Stubbs next week, so I'm gonna try to go to that, as it's affordable and in a small venue. Yay.
Nothing of great interest that I can note on this blog is going on at the moment, so I'll not bore you with trivialities.
I bid you adieu. Happy Autumn.

Give me a quiet mind

I've been a sick soul for the past week or so, relapsing from the flu and all sorts of nasty things. For some reason I start thinking a lot more when I get under the weather. With current results from "thinking" being that I'm teary eyed when I hear "A Quiet Mind"...I'm not sure I should wholeheartedly embrace this slightly more emo side of me. Hopefully I'll be better and back to my usual cynical self soon.
Life, in the way of my professional life, couldn't be better. Permanent position at the hospital, very close friends/work buddies...things are looking up. And they could all come crashing down in a minute. What a lovely thought.
Please, give me a quiet mind and I promise I will love you.

My Current Playlist....

Just to do something different, here's a few of what I'm currently loving...
If you haven't heard these songs, you are missing out!!

Blame it on the Girls -- Mika
Swim -- Jack's Mannequin
I'm not a Robot -- Marina and the Diamonds
Ignorance -- Paramore
Panic Switch -- Silversun Pickups
The Horror of our Love -- Ludo
Love Drunk -- Boys Like Girls
First Train Home -- Imogen Heap
Anywhere But Here -- Safetysuit
I Get Off -- Halestorm
Love Me Dead -- Ludo

I'm pretty eclectic in my taste, but these are all winners in my book :)...go and listen and tell me what you think.

Pics from NOLA

Because I never post pics of myself anymore, I will now inundate you with random snaps of me in New Orleans the other weekend.

Back to the basics...

After much deliberation, I have finally decided that I will go by my birth given name and put Niki to rest (I will miss you). It's up to you, of course, if you want to call me by my "nickname" or by Rebecca (Becca or Becks please!!!)...but I'm trying to simplify things and go by one name now. So passport name it is. Still getting used to it.

Hullo again...

Had an incredibly fun long weekend in New Orleans...involving lots and lots of "hurricanes" and "hand grenades"...rain, walking, good food, good company...even squeezed in a little bit of karaoke. Yay!
That city is amazing and I hope I can go back again one day.
Back to work today...did a 10 hour stint at the office and am officially beat now. Filled out forms to start the process of moving from a temp position to a permanent one there, so that was a happy moment for me.
I just finished a pint of ice cream (naughty me) and am ready for an early bed. Night world. I will post some pics of the NO trip as soon as I get the energy to upload them. xx

Gyming it...

I just had a personal trainer royally whip my ass. I'm going to feel this tomorrow. I walked into my gym this afternoon, after forcing myself to go for a "mild work out" and I got offered a free personal training session. Never one to pass up an offer for something free like that, I said yes on the spot.
It was great, but man...for example, she had me do the plank position and when she saw it was easy for me made me do it on one foot. Ok. Not so easy. Ouch. I walked away from my hour session sweating, out of breath and with very shaky muscles. Not a bad thing at all, but certainly not my daily run-of-the-mill gym time. Heh.
But I'm happy, as overall I've been pretty lax with mixing up my workouts. I've gotten into a groove and I think my muscles are used to what I usually do. So change is good. I'm seriously considering signing up for their discounted offer for personal training. I wish it were a little cheaper tho...argh.
And on that note, I bid you goodnight. I'm off to get ready for tomorrow and praying I'm not sore everywhere when I wake up.

Weekend

Worked this Saturday, as I needed to make up some extra hours because (drum roll please) I am taking Friday off next week so that I can spend a full weekend in New Orleans!! I'm pretty excited as it's a place I have ALWAYS wanted to visit. Plus I have a 3 day weekend for the first time since I started working, so I plan on letting my hair down and having a blast.
Hung out Fri and Sat with my buddies from work. We had the best time. They are so interesting and have so many stories to tell of their experiences. Plus, I think they find me interesting as well, as growing up overseas makes me a bit of an anomaly to them, so they're constantly grilling me on what it was like in Japan and the differences in culture. Occasionally they make me speak Japanese to them too, which cracks me up.
Girls night out tonight...we're going to PARTAY :)...
Miss my friendlies. xx be happy

My definition of fun recently:
Online medical dictionaries. It's fascinating to know what exactly I'm working with everyday. Am I boring or what?
In other news, my director called me into her office the other day to tell me that she's worked out the budgets so that I can be hired on fulltime. This should happen within the next month/months or so. Happy day for me. I think I've found my niche.