if you liked it than you shoulda put a ring on it...because marriage is the ultimate result of all meaningful relationships

Perry and I have been dating for over three years.
We've lived together a year.
We recently adopted a dog.
Perry just graduated from university and got a job.
So, when is the wedding? That seems to be what the people closest to me and Perry are asking.  Parents, siblings, even co-workers.

I don't mind the idea of marriage, but a wedding seems terrifying to me. A large party where I'm the center of attention? It sounds like a nightmare. I'm not being sarcastic here.  And to be completely honest, marriage doesn't mean too much to me. I'm not religious. I don't plan on having children. All I want to do is live with the person I love and you don't need to be married for that; there's no real social stigma to it anymore. I guess there are tax breaks for being married, but I guess I'm too young or too ignorant to care about that.

But ultimately I think I will end up getting married and for a fairly lame reason: saying "my husband" has a lot more meaning to others than "my boyfriend". Like if you haven't written it down, if it's not a legally binding contract, it's not serious and you're not really committed. Peer pressure: it never ends.

small town angst

I think I've already mentioned that the high school Perry will be teaching at starting this August is the same one that we both went to as teenagers. The town has grown a bit since I lived there. I think the population finally hit over 3,000 last year. It was much smaller when I lived there. It was a one stoplight town. Now I think there are four.


We were driving to aforementioned small town last week so Perry could fill out some job type paperwork when I laughed and told him that my number one goal my senior year of high school was to blow our small town after graduation and never look back. And now look at us: I drive up there at least once a week to see my family, and he will be working there.

Actually, I was so sure that I would never go back to that town, that I took pictures during my final weeks in high school so I would have something to remember the place by.

Yeah, what a terrible place to grow up. So, I was an angsty teenager; that's nothing extraordinary. Looking back now, I know it wasn't really the town that was so terrible, I just had that gnawing, anxious feeling of wanting to be independent and begin my "adult" life, and starting fresh in a different place with different people seemed like the best way to do it.

I actually moved around a bit in Texas during my college years and I did enjoy the feeling of transferring jobs (four times) or moving (six times) or starting at a different school (three times). That feeling of beginning somewhere new with a clean slate and leaving anything old and bad behind was refreshing. It wasn't that long ago, but it kind of amazes me that I felt that way since I've always thought of myself as a very cautious person who is a bit afraid of change.

my week off

Well, I suppose the biggest news of this week was that Perry got a real teaching job. He'll be teaching physics in the same high school he went to as a kid, which I imagine will be a bit surreal. We were pretty excited when he got the job offer, because we both assumed that he'd have to do at least another semester as a teacher's assistant/substitute teacher until he could land a proper full time teaching position. Hopefully this will mean he'll be able to afford a new vehicle soon. One with air conditioning. One that isn't 30 years old. Seriously. I don't think I've ever shown Perry's truck before. Behold:

The biggest perk is that it's paid for. It's been paid for for quite a while. I don't know how much the insurance is on it, but come on. It can't be much. But maybe I mock his old truck too much. It does get him where he needs to be just fine. Unless it's a drive through, and then the engine dies because it can't idle for longer than two minutes.

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Tis the season for berries: blueberries, raspberries, strawberries. I've eaten a ridiculous amount of blueberries in the past week. I made scones the other day and normally I bake them with blueberries in the batter, but this time I wanted to try them plain, with some berries and cream on the side. It wasn't bad, but I don't think I'll do it again. They do look a lot prettier this way though.

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One of Perry's friends gave us access to his HBO Go account so we spent almost four days binging on the new seasons of Girls and Game of Thrones. Girls is starting to bother me a bit. It's hard to like any of the characters and I find myself annoyed by them most of the time. And there was one episode that was so bizarre and didn't fit in with the rest the season so much that the only way I can explain it was that it was a dream.



I'm still thoroughly enjoying Game of Thrones though.

Hopefully by the time the fourth season comes out, I'll be ahead in the books.
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Perry and I went to my parent's house for father's day. My brother and I went halfsies on my dad's gift this year. We got him a "table lighter", which is like a regular cigar lighter, only with five jets. It looks a bit ridiculous. Kind of like the handle of a light saber. For dinner we had barbecue ribs, potato casserole, brussels sprouts, and cheesecake for dessert. While the dinner was cooking, we played croquet outside. Since it was father's day we let him win. Either that or he actually won because who in the world even plays croquet anymore.

I guess I should have put on some bug repellent before we started playing because I have roughly 20 bug bites on my legs now. And not pretty star shapes like in my previous post, but angry red welts. I considered posting a picture of my legs, but I figured that two back to back posts with bug bite pictures was a bit much, so instead here's a picture of my Crepe Myrtle that started blooming a few days ago.

This is a big deal because I've had this Crepe Myrtle for three years and this is the first time it's bloomed. Last year it pretended it was going to bloom and had numerous buds, but they withered away a few days later. Anyway, it is much prettier than my legs look right now.
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 In music news, the new Queens of the Stone Age album came out and I really like it. They are going to be touring in the area in October and Perry and I are definitely going.

Nine Inch Nails recently announced that they're putting out a new album and going on tour. I would be excited, but the single they put out is bad. Very bad. But it is just a single. I think I'll wait for the album to come out to be really sad.

I finally got around to buying the new Born Ruffians album. It's catchy, sing-along good. And this one is my favorite to sing along to.

ho hum

I haven't written in a while because there's nothing going on at the moment except for the mundane. But I suppose there's no reason not to celebrate the everyday. So here's what's been happening lately:
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I don't have cable, but apparently something shocking has happened on Game of Thrones. I'm only halfway through the second book so I feel like it's dangerous to browse imgur and the like right now for fear of spoilers. People seem unhappy and I have no idea why.

And I'm trying my best to keep my ignorance.

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Here in north Texas, we're in a good place temperature wise. The days have been topping out at 90 degrees, so it's hot enough to do outdoorsy, beachy things without feeling like you're going to melt. This will all change in a month or less. There are some days in the summer I won't even go outside until after sunset. I'll walk outside to do something, get the feeling like I just stuck my head in an oven, and walk right back inside. But, we're not at that point yet, so I'm enjoying all the positives of warmer weather while I can. It's nice not having to wake up at 3 a.m. and put on my coat and scarf and gloves and wrap a blanket over my legs on the drive to work.

And flip flops. I missed wearing flip flops. Actually, I think I missed driving barefoot. I don't like driving in flip flops so I just slip them off when I get in the car.

Warmer weather also means bitey bugs are making a comeback. I already have a few marks on my feet. My lower back was itching like crazy and when I took a look at it in the mirror I saw this:

Come on. Isn't that bug bite in the perfect shape of a star? Just ignore the blobby mess underneath it. That's just my birthmark tramp stamp. Is it weird to share a picture of a bug bite on the internet? Probably, but I told you nothing much was happening in my life lately.
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I think it was way back in March that little white flags showed up in our alley way, followed by large green pipes. Like so:

I figured this was going to mean bad things. If the city wanted to do a construction project in the alley, that was just fine for everyone on the block but me. My house faces the alley way instead of the proper road, and the only way you can get into my driveway is via the alley. Since the alley is in the back of everyone else's yard, it's a mostly forgotten, overgrown area. I like to walk Reggie down there when I'm feeling too lazy for a real walk. Well, after months of looking at these pretty green pipes, the city finally decided to put them in the ground. It actually wasn't that bad. I couldn't get into the driveway for about five days, but the workers gave me plenty of notice so I could get my car out of the driveway so I wouldn't be trapped.

After about a week of of bulldozers and such, this is what the alley looks like from the same perspective as the previous picture.

I kind of miss the wild field look it had before, but it is an actual drivable alley now. I think they're almost done with all of the work. I'm hoping they clean up a bit; there's an uprooted tree and some limbs they took down that are still lying around. Ultimately, it wasn't as bad as a thought it was going to be.

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I'm still cooking once on my days off of work. The past few months, I've been cooking nothing but casseroles. They're easy and I get a lot of work lunch leftovers out of them. I'm wondering why my parents didn't do more casseroles when we were growing up. They had five kids and casseroles are a great make ahead type of meal. Instead we would have hamburger helper when they were short on time. Booh!

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School is almost out for the summer so Perry won't have any more jobs as a substitute teacher for a while. He hasn't found a full time teaching job yet, but he did get a job as a teacher's aide that he will start in August. It's a fourth of what a teacher would get paid, but it's still in his field and better than subbing.