...because that's so what smart people do in the winter, right? Yeah, so I chopped off my hair. Okay, Jen chopped it off, but still...

[this isn't really a long story, I just felt like starting a new paragraph to be dramatic and to waste space] it all started a few weeks ago when some split-ended, nappy-looking hair caught my attention. It was so far away from my eyes, sitting on my lap, more specifically, that I hardly realized it was my own. Well that was it: I needed a trim. Off to Jen's I go to make the split ends turn straight-edged and paintbrush soft. Once this mission was accomplished and I was on my merry little way, I became obsessed with the softness, constantly fondling my beautiful new locks. I couldn't sleep, I didn't eat - all I wanted was to play with my hair in it's newfound healthiness...but that wasn't enough. I became addicted to the haircut rush and NEEDED more...more, More, MORE I tell you!!! A week had gone by which was a week far too long before I loyally ventured back to my beloved hairstylist and described my illness, badly needing another fix. She filled my prescription with about a 3 month dose and threw in some xanax, I mean layers, for added funkiness and ease of manageability(sp?) Minus a hearty foot of hair later, I have lived to tell the E! True Hollywood Story...er, Kat's Lame, Sick of Long, Snarly Hair Sacramento Story.

Um, yeah. The real, not-so-cool-and-dramatic story is that my hair was so long it got caught in the toilet seat and was looking nasty anyway, so I had Jen trim a few inches...then I realized how long hair would be a giant pain in the ass for work and was still pissed off about the bathroom incident, so I went back to Jen a few days ago and she took 10 more inches off and added some cute layers. It lays between my armpit and shoulder.

coming soon, the story of Logan's addiction to hand sanitizer...

uuuuummm...time for a little vote

I can't decide on the layout for my blog, so I'm going to keep switching it for a while and wait for y'all to speak up. There's the basic black with the eye on top, which I had first and keep switching back to, then I made it light blue with daisies on top, then I made it green with a funkadelic welcome sign on top, and now I think I switched it to orange with a trippy thing on top. Any preferences? Keep playing around with it? Not like anyone reads this, but it gives me something to do.

P.S. - You can respond to this post by clicking "make a comment" instead of writing in the tagboard if you wish.

The day we've all been waiting for: I have a job. Naturally, it's in the buisness of my biggest employment enemy: RETAIL. Eeeeww...but, it's completely redeemable because I get a 33% discount on books. I work in the cafe at Borders, strangely enough with my boyfriend. It all started one day with me looking through the paper for jobs when Logan got back and was looking for a job while I was doing odd and end temp jobs. I found a jobfair for Borders that we both planned to go to, but I got called in that very morning for a temp job starting that afternoon (for ?? amount of time) so I couldn't fill out the hours on my application and didn't turn it in. Logan did, they called him back, and he got hired on in the cafe to open a brand spankin' new store in Natomas (just NW of Sac). My temp assignment naturally ended like a few days after and I was pissed, so I filled out a Borders application online while Logan was working 14 hour days moving, opening, shelving boxes of books. [insert helping mom and dad move to Elk Grove in here while jobless, which was actually pretty convenient for things that needed to get done] He casually mentions one morning that they needed people in the cafe, he recommended me, and oh, by the way, they're going to call you today....and you've worked in a cafe before, Kat. They called and though I wasn't quite prepared, I didn't much need to be. I went in for the interview with nothing (they printed the app from online) and before they could call any other references, they wanted to know if I could start 8am the next day. Sweet, so Tuesday to Friday of this week I was working 8:30am to 10pm with Logan setting up a new store and training to work in a cafe. The store called out some mock rushes to the cafe and it was pretty cool how once I got on bar, EVERYONE started screwing up and panicking. Mass chaos with only 4 people regularly working in the cafe (one of the girls couldn't hang even more than me and got reassigned). I have no problem admitting I'm awful at making the foofy, uber-sweet drinks, but everyone has to learn some time and that time is now for me...the stress of the rushes actually encouraged me to learn my shit rather than panic and quit before I start. Plus, I work in a BOOKSTORE that has a cafe, so hopefully most people will want books and dvds and journals and stumbling upon a cafe, may or may not be in the mood for a beverage. Hopefully. I think there's a Starbucks in the stripmall just down the road for the morning java addicts, plus Borders doesn't open until 9. All in all, I think it will be a more relaxed environment and I get store, not just cafe, discounts.

As if 1/3 discount on books wasn't cool enough (I think it will go down to 25% for the full-timers, but that will take a few weeks to go into effect), this soft opening weekend is employee appreciation time er something and we get 40% off on already great opening bargain deals! Logan is getting a stack of books as tall as me and, well, I live with him and get to read them! So yeah, retail sucks but has it's perks...plus, we get paid more to work cafe...plus, we aren't a Starbucks...yet (we'll start selling Seattle's Best some time next Feb or Mar and have to adhere to the buck's dresscode and the like). We'll see how this all works out. Logan and I both work cafe and though I(we) told our manager that we live together, somehow everyone in the store knows we're dating. We're both chill and play off each other well (Logan is surprisingly helpful and patient when teaching me cafe shtuff) and I think we've both proved that this past week as we're on the schedule for this upcomng week working together a few days with just us at cafe. Oh yeah, we open today (Saturday the 16th).

Time for another cup of coffee and a book. More later.

and I was like "whoa!" and they were all "whoooaaa..."

We finally saw the Fandango add and let me tell you, it lived up to it's reputation! It wouldn't have been nearly as cool if we didn't have brown paper bag puppets of what I think actually mirror Tom and Dawn (a girl puppet with light blue hair of shoe laces, and a boy puppet with black permanent marker drawn-on hair). Now you'll commonly hear Logan and I singing to each other with faux Indian accents, dancing around the house and laughing hysterically...it's kinda sad, really...

So I'm in the computer room of the new house writing from my computer. Sweet. The internet is hooked up here as well as at the old house, however the cable's been lost in transit, at least for the past few days. We computer geek Butler's have our priorities straight...or maybe mom needs to have constant access to mapquest so she doesn't get lost driving all 10 minutes between the houses. Whatever the case, I get to geek out and pretend I'm putting things away in the kitchen.

Other than moving to Elk Grove and my recent enlightenment to the advertising stylings of Fandango, not much is new. Really, it isn't. My life is so boring that I'm constantly in other countries in my dreams (last night I drove Jen around and took her to a grocery store in France (then she cracked the eggs in the grocery basket because she just wanted to buy the yolks and whites sans the shells, but that's another story)).

Hope all is well with everyone. I need a full time job. Yes, I am a long-haired stank-ass hippy. Bite me.

Anyone with questions regarding what happens to their bodies when donated to medical science should check out the book Stiff by Mary Roach. A humorous yet informative and somewhat icky read.

Anyway, I've been up to nothing, save complaining about how cold it is. After seeing snow in Prague for the first time in, what, 8 years, you'd think I'd be better at handling the cold. Quite the contrary, surprisingly. I've been rocking a hoodie when it's below 85, and that's pretty sad. My blood switched right back into CA mode and I think it somehow got a worse craving for an island, if that's possible. I'm not meant for cold weather. AT ALL...cold being anything below 80, as we've pretty much already covered.

Weather aside, things are great. I've been doing stupid temp assignments here and there but I think next week I'll look more seriously into something else full time. Logan's been working away this week making coffee and next week, he will be helping set up a bookstore before it's grand opening and his entrance as a barista in their cafe. Good times - he enjoys making coffee and gets discounts on books, which, for anyone who's met the geek, KNOWS he's never to be seen without literature at hand, not to mention scanning your bookshelf for a) books he wants to borrow and b) potential converation topics about the books on your shelves.

I digress anything but smoothly - The folks are finally moving to Elk Grove, which is the area they've been wanting to live since they got to this state. There is gradual packing process going on because we have 2 houses for the next month and can take our time sorting through (ie mom getting on a roll and pitching everything in sight) our stuff. Being that my life fits in my backpack, all I really need to do is go to Target for a bin for the books that have accumulated since I got back, which, naturally, are plenty. I guess I'm my mother's daughter because I have no qualms about bagging anything I haven't used/worn in the past 12 months. I hate crap and I hate clutter. Candles and fresh flowers are about the only things I can handle sitting on counters. Never ever ever give me antiquey things or crappy decorative pieces or they'll likely go to waste...unless they're really cool, which, if you're really cool and you'd decorate your house with it, I'll probably dig it to. Where am I going with all this anyway? I think I've had too much coffee and now I'm off on tangents. This isn't an uncommon occurance. Off On tangents? OFF ON? Does that even make sense?

Time to leave the keyboard alone.

Not like anyone reads this, but for anybody who cares, I'm safely back in the land of sun: The Golden State. The itchy elbows, cracked lips, and bad hair days have welcomed me to this extremely dry, hot weather that I surprisingly get along with very well...first thing I did, naturally, was lay out in the dangerous sun to get just enough color so as not to reflect light like a pool of water. This was easily accomplished in the 100 plus weather that first week, but as everyone says on their plane ride back to snow after their Thanksgiving vacation in the Hawaiian Islands: "I think my tan is fading..." Eh, there are worse thing.

I know this is absopositivelutely what you've all been waiting for: PICTURES!!!! I finally got around to making a picture page but the darn thing put the albums in alphabetical order rather than chronological...I may have to change that. Anyway, there aren't that many overall considering how long we were gone, but there are definately some great memories up there. We started off and ended up in Prague, so we took a can of czech tuna around europe with us and took some cheesy tourist pictures with the can in them rather than us. Why? Um, though we're incredibly gorgeous, Logan and I aren't much for having our pictures taken (yeah, I know, an absolute shocker for anyone who knows me). Our friend tuna is very photogenic so we held him up to smile to the flashes. The tuna around the world album will be forever growing, just so y'all know.

I'm in Sacramento I think for a while now. I got back to the states, had an awesome week in Minneapolis with my brother (even got out to Iowa to see the family, thanks to Dawn), came to CA and drove between Sacramento and San Francisco for a week for various reasons, then went camping in Calaveras county for the weekend and came back to what I thought to be a new steady job and worked for 3 days. The job sucked, I tried to get transferred but there was nothing else to go to (yet), and I had just enough gas money from working to go to Eugene for the wedding of 2 of my great friends/old roommates. I was introduced to Logan through them and had a wonderful summer so it was incredible to see all my old friends. It was like a big family reunion sleepover camping party at the Oregon country fair grounds. FRIGGIN GORGEOUS. Everything was lush and fragrant and beyond beautiful. The wedding was one of the coolest I've ever been to, and the after party consisted of a bunch of good friends running around the fair grounds in the dark giggling like school girls riding on the back of a golf cart until wee hours of the morning. It was more fun than I've had in a while, and I just can't mention enough how wonderful it was to see all those cool people, especially the 2 incredible individuals I had the privilege of living with getting married.

So last weekend was a great end to play time and today the job hunt continues but in a much more serious manner. I need money. I need something to take up my time. Being broke and bored sucks - I can live with only one of them. Hope all is well in the world. I'm bored. I miss Nick.

I shake out my pillowcase, change into my pajamas, and just after I put my shoe back in the closet, I spot my nemesis on the side of my headboard. Maybe super worn in Converse shoes don't have a 90 degree angle at the bottom of them like they did when you bought them, but they DO have very flat, no-grip soles...muahahaHAHAHAHAHAH!!! I have spider guts along the side of my headboard and can sleep easy tonight, though I'm really hoping his wife isn't the one under my covers who is now plotting revenge....

Ohmygodohmygodohmygodohmygod what do I do??? I saw a spider. I woke my dad up to kill the spider in the corner of my room right up by the ceiling, which he did, and all was disco. 5 minutes later the damn thing is up in the corner between the wall and the ceiling, this time a little closer to my window. I realize that I'm tall enough to stand on my bed and kill it if I can find a shoe that will wedge into the 90 degree angle of the corner...some Converse should do the trick, right? Wrong - I knock the thing down onto the bed I'M STILL STANDING ON, dive for the floor, and see the creepy 8 legged monster crawling all over my sheets before disappearing down the side of my bed that's facing the wall. Shit. I can't very well lean over and watch where it goes or he may crawl back up and try to eat me, obviously.

I give the bastard about 10 seconds while I regroup and figure out how to find him. My lamp! Beautiful - it has 2 light bulbs that I can turn on and use as a flashlight. I start shaking my covers and tapping the bed to see if Mr. Potential Death makes himself known...I don't see him anywhere on my pale sheets and blankets which is good, my bed is my turf, but bad. Mostly bad. He isn't on the wall. Can't see him on the bedframe...no sign of him on the carpet or anywhere underneath the bed. This is where I give it a rest and run to, strangely enough, my blog.

My only guess is that he's under my sheets and going to devour me in my sleep. I've made peace with that and will sleep somehwere else at least tonight, but I'll be damned if he gets my tempurpedic pillow. Time to swat the pillow, shake out the case, turn the pillowcase inside out and shake it, then replace it and relocate.

Why do spiders have to be so eerie? Seriously, can't they just have 6 legs and be insects instead? They're ugly, nobody likes them, and they could never pass for anything but creepy. And they eat those who they could probably make friends with, those bastards. I hate every last one of them. They can be small and harmless (and fast as the dickens), or they can be enormous and poisonous to humans and they equally spark the same reaction in so many arachnophobes.

YUCK! I have a spider in my bed and it's too late to strip it and change my sheets to find it. Every part of me itches and everything I see out of the corner of my eyes is a quickly moving little creepy crawly. Oh well, I suppose it's worse in countries where you live on a straw mat in a hut made of mud and banana tree leaves, right? That still isn't helping me fall asleep tonight though :(

Gotta make this quick - I'm flying to Minnesota and get to see my oldest brother for the first time in over a year!! I land Thursday evening (July 22nd) around 7:30pm, which is funny because I leave Europe about half 12 that same day....gotta love time differences. Seems both Dawn and I will be jetlagged....but I really love flying.

Many more updates, though I can't guarantee them soon.

My mom is the best mom in the world.

I actually have a cool family that I love and that loves me, which means more to me than anything fleeting in my life. Thank you. I love you all.

Many people come to Prague and don't want to leave...many guests who have stayed at my flat, as well as the various travellers at Logan's hostel have a lovely time in this town and resoundingly repeat that they have been so charmed by the sights and nightlife that they have trouble moving on to a new town. I like Prague. I love Prague. I rented a flat and live in Prague. And now I'm stuck here.

One can have a job, pay for food and/or rent, and live quite easily in this city, especially in the tourist season, however it's damn near impossible to save up enough for a plane ticket to any other continent. If I've learned anything from travelling, it's that you always need an extra backup amount of money, enough for a plane ticket and lodging while you wait for your flight. I had this, and then I was stupid and decided to pay first and last month's rent on a flat to live here. I'm thanking myself for screwing myself right now. Really, I am.

On a lighter note, my housemate had the night off work and when she got called in, said she was on a hot date, though her, me, and Logan went out to dinner and drinks. While pub-hopping, she ran into her boss and was busy stuffing her foot in her mouth while Logan and I made friends....Logan eventually went to try to rescue on her from her boss and I, happily sitting by myself with a beer, got hit on. Nothing unusual, as I'm absolutely drop dead gorgeous, but when we finally make our way out of the bar, Tamzin was telling us that the dude Logan and I were talking to (the guy who was disappointed that I had a boyfriend) was a movie star. Who, I'm still not sure - some guy named Rufus Sewell who's in Dark City, Bless the Child, some other bad movies, and is the villian in the upcoming Zorro 2, which I think they're filming part of in Prague. Cool. Jeannie got perved on by Stiffler, I got macked on by Rufus.

Actually, knowing, or at least hoping, that I'll be out of here some time in the near future, we've (we being me, Logan, and our flatmate Tamzin) been having a lot of fun on our days off. Logan finally got paid a few weeks ago so we still have enough to go out and enjoy ourselves here and there.