:: Venting Insanity ::

:: Tuesday, June 01, 2004 ::

calverton
So, the same thing I got on the news for last year happened again this year. I wasn't sure if it was going to happen this year. Because of all the bad news surrounding Masonic organizations lately, it's quickly becoming a more impossible task to bring Suwassett back to life.

But, we did go, and we still had a good time. It was good to see Deidre again and talk with her. Honestly, I've missed hanging around her.

I miss a lot of things with Rainbow. I just wish the people around here that are involved weren't being such pains in the ass about stuff. Grand Family is this weekend. Charsie suggested I stop by, since it isn't that far from home. Of course, I did make a commitment to SIFE that I would work the booth at the Sea Fair for a while.

I'll have to see how my day pans out. I might do Rainbow in the morning with Calverton and then Grand Family, and then SIFE and the Sea Fair in the afternoon. Since Grand Family's in Riverhead, it would make sense to stop there in the morning after Calverton instead of going all the way down to Patchogue and then all the way back up to Riverhead again.

holiday weekend
So, Sunday saw us at Nana and Auntie Lyn's place. I brought my laptop with me so I could show them the pictures from Kansas City. I'll be uploading those and the Regionals when I actually think about it...

Anyway, Dad grilled some hotdogs and hamburgers for us for dinner... and we had all sorts of salads and stuff. Food was good.

Auntie Lyn was watching the Indy 500 all day. It had been rain delayed for a bit, and then there were a lot of crashes throughout. As I watched it go on, I was kind of hoping Kanaan would win (doesn't he look a bit like Vin Diesel?), but he came in second.

And there was the typical tension that happens every time the group of us gets together. {{sigh}}

interesting thoughts
After Calverton, Dad and I stopped at Aunt Nancy's to drop some stuff off for them. Nancy mentioned that Grandma is going out to California later this summer and was thinking of taking Kelly and Betsy. The only problem is... Betsy is suddenly not allowed to go. So, Nancy suggested I go.

Now, I was never extremely close with Grandma and Dad's side of the family. The only people I really got along with were Nancy, Tommy, and my cousins, and that was because we were closer in age, I guess. Then again, I never really did grandmother/granddaughter type things with Grandma like I did with Nana.

Then again, now that Nana seems to have this thing about reverting me to six years old all the time, and that I can enjoy more mature activities, I think Grandma's pretty cool with taking me places. The problem with that is that I still don't feel like she likes me very much, a feeling that's rooted back in the way she would always just leave me with Tommy and Nancy all the time instead of spending time with me when I was over there. I played with the neighbor's kids more than I spent time with my grandparents.

So, the idea of me spending a week in California with her and Richard doesn't exactly sit too well with me. Richard's not bad... I wouldn't go out of my way to spend a heck of a lot of time with him, but we get along and talk more than I talk with Grandma.

I guess, in a way, I feel slighted. I see how Grandma is with the rest of my cousins, and I'm a bit jealous that I never got that when I was a kid... when it was important for me to get that kind of attention. It's almost like I was the unwanted grandchild on that side.

Of course, the smothering attention I get from the other side way overcompensates for that in some strange manner. It was fun when I was kid, but now I feel pressured when I'm there. If only I could take some of the attention I get from my mom's side of the family and filter it through my dad's side, there would be a happy balance, and I wouldn't be so damn confused and upset whenever I'm at a family function.

good news!
Estelle and Johnny got a new place recently. Her father finally served them with an official 72 hour notice, so they were forced to go as soon as they could. Her mom got them a truck and helped them move in. They were extremely lucky in getting the place they got, and it seems like a really nice place from what she says.

I'm going over tonight to hang out for a bit.

Anyway, I really think that was the final straw between Estelle and her dad. It all started with the Christening and quickly escalated from there. He's really batting a thousand with both his daughters now, forcing Ally to move in with Shelly and switch to Pat-Med when she doesn't want to and could easily stay in Longwood by moving in with her mom instead... and then doing this to Estelle. I really hope he doesn't expect them to take care of him when he's old... because I don't think they will.

Or, at least, they will... but extremely reluctantly.

internship fun
So, WordPress seems to be the way to go for this website I'm setting up for them. I worked with the NetAdmin, Paul, today on getting the PHP and MySQL installed on their server. Hopefully, Paul will have the directory up and ready to go for me to upload the files and start testing it soon. I had hoped it would be up by the end of the day, but Sgt Kreigh said probably not. So, I headed home early with the hope they'll call me in again later this week. Just not Friday... I need to work Friday.

Now, I need to do some serious WordPress research. I'm used to Blogger, but this WordPress seems really nice. I've been considering switching my blog over to something new for a while now, and this might be my eventual switch-to system.

I finally got to talk to Investigator Magi (Majee? not quite sure there...) about the background check and security interview. We'll be getting my badge and everything set up at that point, I suppose. He asked me to bring in a bunch of stuff for him. I can't wait to get the badge... it'll make things so much easier for when I come in.

There's also this other guy there that keeps calling me Jennifer. ^^;; Of course, I can't really point fingers because I've met so many people there that I don't remember their names either. Heh... I'm trying, though.

snapple "real fact" #333
Long Island is the largest island in the Continental U.S.