"Right."

In an effort to blog more often, I am now blogging when I don't have a ton to say. I hope you are happy, Kate. And Katie. And the et cetera.

Today my stepsister dropped her two daughters off so that she and her husband could take a mini vacation. The girls are 2 and a half and very nearly one. And therefore adorable. The older of the two was playing with one of those foam puzzles where there are cutouts of all kinds of different shapes in all different colors. And she would point to one and say "LLLELLLLO HEART!" (yellow is, by far, her favorite color.) Or another, and say "red circle!" And I'd say, what's this, Brooklyn?" "....purple?" "It's a hexagon! One, two, three, four, five, SIX! Six sides! Hexagon!" And she would say, "hexagon. right." Or, "What's this, Brooklyn?" "A OH!" "It's an oval! Very good!" "Oval. Right." "Do you know what this one is?" "A dime." "Diamond!" "Diamond. Right." Any time you correct her on anything, its "[whatever you said that she now realizes is correct]. Right."

...So that's been my day today. I was supposed to work this morning, but called in sick. I went in last night and was there for all of 15 minutes before I realized there was NO WAY I was going to make it through the shift. I went home and mom said I had been running a fever. I probably lost $100 by not going in, which sucks. Couldn't I have been sick for a lunch shift? Losing a night shift when I'm supposed to close is costly.

But Census is really doing me a lot of favors, which is sort of incredible. I'm not sure how much longer that gig is going to last, but while it does, I'm getting an absurd amount of money to do absurdly little. Since I'm not paying rent, I've been able to pay off my credit card more quickly than expected--so close to having it zeroed out!--and contribute to a fund I've been calling my down payment fund.

I have a pretty promising job prospect that will force me out of my mother's home, which is (kind of) a good thing, but will seriously slow down my current financial progress. It cannot be worse than what I did to my savings plan in D.C. though. Can. Not.

For those wondering, my savings plan for quite some time has been: home in 2013. That is to say: owning a home in 2013. So I was being pretty good about saving in college, then D.C. happened and an internship that was barely paid and a house that was barely livable and cost more than half of what I was making and on and on. So I'm back on track now, and once again: "Home in 2013. Right."

So today at work a couple came in who got married. Like today. As in, the wedding was at 1 and then they came in around 8 to eat. So all the servers gave money and the restaurant matched it and gave them a gift card and some cash and comped their meal. And bought a card and gave them about 10 white balloons with "Congrats!" and "Just married!" and hearts all over them.

And what is actually today, as it is well after midnight, is Kate and Thomas's one year anniversary. Thomas had been a part of our family for so long that the wedding was basically a giant party (open bar!), but with matching dresses and an officiant present. But still. They became official and whatnot. A year ago. Today. Isn't that crazy?

So what I'm saying is, wedding season!

Census 2010

None of these questions are on the actual Census. In fact, this year's Census form is one of the shortest ever. Only about 10 questions.

I do think it's interesting how much the Census changes with the times. The questions sort of show what the country is feeling, and is a sort of measure for how we reacted to the previous one. You probably noticed that they ask if you're Hispanic, and then in the next question ask about your race. Hispanic is not a race. In 2000, people were none too pleased that it was included as such on the form.

Another welcome change to the form this year is the relationship "unmarried partner" was added. Gay couples are particularly pleased, as in the last Census they had to list themselves as "friends."

But Census Takers can be really tough to deal with. THEY ASK SO MANY QUESTIONS.

C10 interaction of the day:

Enumerator hands me a completed binder, which contains all houses he was supposed to visit and the forms he filled out for each one, as well as maps to get to the streets in his assigned area.

Me: So you need a new binder?

Enumerator: ...Binder?

Me: Yeah, you know, with more cases in it?

Enumerator: ....Binder?

Me: Yeah, like this one?

Enumerator: Ohhhhh! You mean...do I need a new ROUTE?

Me: ...Binder?

Things I Forgot to Mention

K, LIKE. I didn't get to go to the PLAYERS this year, which is devastating, really. It's been two years. I WILL go back. I love that tournament so much. The course! The talent! The weather! The golf! It's just so high quality. Just so good. (I didn't even get to watch any of it, which makes it worse, and NO I DO NOT WANT TO TALK ABOUT IT.)

I am almost certainly going to go to the Memorial Tournament in Columbus at the beginning of next month, because I can't miss both. I just cannot. Also, great excuse to go see Jerod Smalley, NBC4 Sports Anchor and my former boss. All around great guy.

I hope Tiger does play it. Tournaments have a weird vibe when he's not there. I've never been to one he doesn't usually play, so maybe the ones he usually skips don't have that same sense of being at a loss. It's like that moment at the end of The Truman Show when people go, "...want to see what else is on?" As in, what do we do now?

I maaaaaaaay go to the tournament in Akron, the WGC/Bridgestone Invitational, because it's a great tournament and I've only been once. And my boyfriend-at-the-time convinced me (after much back and forth) to skip Sunday's round and go canoeing, which (predictably) ended in stitches. And a still-visible scar. Dumb.

I just got yelled at by a blogger I love for leaving a comment and yet not having posted in a month. I guess I needed to write and since I've been slacking, I decided to just spew what I've been thinking on her comment page. (UPDATE: my comment was actually left on her other blog, which is about food. Recommend.)

...I'm terrible. How has a month passed? Perhaps I put too much pressure on myself to write a lot. Some people get away with writing three sentences! And posting them! BY THEMSELVES! That seems ridiculous to me. But writing is my thing, so maybe that's a personal problem. Then again, maybe you people would prefer it if I only wrote three sentences at a time. Maybe not? Here goes my usual onslaught.

Census 2010 is a headache as ever, but a very well-paying headache, and one I think I'll be glad to have had once it's gone. The pay! AND I DO SO VERY LITTLE.

Working at a restaurant is, like. I have a friend there that gets annoyed that I'm frustrated with having to work there because he thinks I look down on servers. To be clear: I don't. But I hate my job. I feel like I'm not that good at it, and I take it personally when people leave me terrible tips. Which in NoKy happens. Kind of a lot. Even when I provide great service. And I'd rather be doing something that challenges me intellectually. Serving tables is difficult, but it's sort of mindless. And every day is the same. And I want something different.

The job market is improving, apparently, so maybe I'll get it. Soon. I can only hope. I also feel like I'm playing roulette with fate by not having insurance.

Whatever, I got to go to Derby!