Today is such a Monday.

Weird things that happened to me today:

1. I saw this guy. (Okay, that one was really cool.)
   
2. I witnessed a car drive the wrong way on a one-way street.
   
3. The corner where I cross the street from the Conference Center, where I park, to the COB, where I work, was entirely blocked off for construction. I wasn't allowed to cross the street in either direction; I had to walk a block south to cross the street, then back north to the COB.
4. I was introduced to the new girl as "Kessa."
5. As I was on the phone with the Help Desk (whom I loathe) to try and get my user account and email and whatnot set up at work, it was brought to my attention that my Church membership number is invalid. The guy advised me to check with my ward clerk to make sure I had the right number on my recommend. Tianna got her ultra-cool source to hack into Membership instead; I had it right. The only logical explanation is that I have been excommunicated without my knowledge. The implications of all of this are still unclear.
6. The server I use at work decided that 4:30 pm would be a fantastic time to engage in some not-so-harmless selective implosion. Yes, you read that correctly. Selective implosion. An entire folder (with tons of subfolders and files in it), a couple of files out of another folder, and 1 file out of the lone surviving folder within that second folder. All gone. It's like the server is being eaten from the inside out--but only the juicy bits. We even waited until everybody had gone home and rebooted it; no luck. My stuff is just GONE.
   
7. I stopped at Borders on my way home because I was totally frazzled and I find bookstores soothing. Outside was a line of weirdos camping overnight for tickets to buy Stephanie Meyers' new book. I wouldn't even do that for Harry Potter! But maybe I'm just a stick-in-the-mud.
8. I just smoked up the kitchen making pizza rolls. I opened the oven door and fwoom--smoke. My eyes are even stinging. Nothing burning, though, so this is inexplicable. Fortunately, our smoke detector is on the other side of the house. (Who planned that?)
   

Seen on my way to work today...

Just awesome.

Cat Consequences

I love my cats. They're adorable and I heart them. But they have peed on my bed twice now, and this is not at all cool. Saturday evening, I went to go to bed (I was rather sick, so it was quite early), and found cat pee on my bed. Comforter, electric blanket, sheets, mattress cover...they got it all. I was so trashed, however, that I couldn't do anything about it. If I'd had the energy, I probably would have cried. You ever feel so lousy that you want nothing more than to just go to sleep, and anything that gets in your way is a catastrophe? That was me. Fortunately, Tianna is an angel sent from heaven. She took all my bedding off and got it in the laundry. I slept on one blanket and under another that night.

But none of that is the real reason for this post. An amazing thing happened to my comforter: it got melted! Not so amazing, you say; stuff happens in the dryer. What's amazing is that this happened in the washer. We can't figure it out. So bizarre.
As you can see, it's also rather torn up, so one theory is that it got caught on something (this part is obvious) and the friction against the drum is what melted it. All parties agree, however, that it is exceedingly strange.
Tianna to the rescue again! Since I am not about to go out and buy a new bedset at this point, she "helped" me sew it up. What actually happened is that I cut off the bad material, and she pinned and sewed it and made it work. I love that girl.
So yeah, it's a funny corner now. But it's whole again, and that's what really matters, isn't it?

Flowers of my Very Very Own!

Saturday afternoon, I accompanied Tianna to the nursery so she could buy seeds for her vegetable garden. While she bought seeds, I wandered the greenhouse. (Let's be honest. Flowers are beautiful and seeds are boring.) I decided that I needed flowers! We have tons of plants in our house, but zero flowers. So I bought two plants! One is a white Clara Begonia:
The other is a Snowfire Angel Earrings. It's so pretty!I really hope I can keep these alive. We figured they were ideal for me, since the begonia is classified "Easy" and the Angel Earrings like partial to full shade. (This means they can stay in my bedroom!)

Wish me luck in my flowering efforts!

Nicknames

My name is Jessica. This frequently gets shortened to "Jess" by my friends. I like this. (I hate "Jessie" and won't stand for it.) My dad calls me "Red" (for my hair) and my mom calls me "Ladybug" (for...I dunno why), but they're the only ones who use those appellations. Lately, I've acquired a new nickname: Kessa.

It's like this. Tianna ("T") has a nephew (actually, she has several), and he can't say either of our names properly. T is "Tanna" and I am "Kessa." I decided I really liked "Tanna" and started using it. She decided to start calling me "Kessa" as well.

This whole Kessa thing, though, has gotten quite out of hand. There's another Jessica at work, so we decided when I first started that I would use "JHJ" on forms and emails and whatnot to cut down on confusion. But T uses "Kessa" to others all the time, so it's been picked up by my coworkers. Including the one who does a lot of our computer support, so my login is Kessa. In more than one place, actually.

I remember the first time "Kessa" was used by somebody I wouldn't name a close, personal friend. I was at work, at a computer in a large, open area. Minding my own business, y'know? From far away, I hear a shout: "Kessa!" It took me a minute to realize that I was the one being addressed. Another minute of confusion ensued when I realized that it was coming from exactly the wrong direction for it to be Tianna calling me. I turned, and a coworker was talking to me! So weird. Since then, though, it's become pretty established, even at work.

Now, don't go thinkin' I don't like the nickname, 'cuz I do. It's just taken some time to get used to it being used by everybody.

Silly Tanna...

Also, Tianna just plugged in her headphones when her computer volume was way up. She started twitching and convulsing in what was, I have to say, a hilarious manner. It took her about 10 seconds to even reach for the headphones; I credit this to shock. All this is understandable; I could hear it, too! But it was also so amazing to see.

Crazy? Possibly. Yummy? Definitely.

Wednesday night was 31-cent-scoop night at Baskin Robbins. From 5 to 10 pm, they were selling scoops of ice cream for 31 cents, and Tianna, BJ, Michael, and I had all decided to go. We were not expecting, however, that it would be freezing cold outside! I went home from work early so that I could help Tianna weed the garden and get it ready for planting. BJ came over, too, and we were out there for quite a while. By the time we finished, our fingers were painfully frozen and my back muscles were sore from shivering. Not fifteen minutes after we got inside, Michael showed up, fresh from work. The three of us had decided that ice cream was not a high priority, as we were all popsicles ourselves. Michael, however, still really wanted to go. (Such a troublemaker; wouldn't let us just relax and thaw.) We all hemmed and hawed for at least an hour, until I decided I was un-frozen (certainly not warm) enough to go.

So Michael and I went. And when we got there, the line was only partially wrapped around the building! So we stood in line in the bitter cold for about half an hour before finally making it inside. Just before we got in, it started snowing. I couldn't believe it. It was snowing, and we were standing in line outside for ice cream. What was wrong with us? Fortunately, it was warm inside, if crowded. And eventually, we made it up to where we could order. I only got one scoop; Michael tried to convince me to get more, but I reminded him that I was freezing, and had been for hours. (I got pralines and cream, and it was delicious!) We headed back home to eat; there was nowhere to sit or stand but back outside, and there was no way I was going to stand in the snow and eat ice cream. All in all, it was a memorable experience.