Finally

Things have been a little crazy lately, but at least they've slowed down now. For the past few months, I've been incredibly stressed, waiting to see light at the end of the tunnel.

I got my last settlement in from my car accident. About five and a half months of going back and forth with asinine and incompetent adjusters, I finally got through it. The adverse insurance company was American Family Insurance, and I'm taking this time right now to say that I hope if any of you are in an accident, that you never have to deal with AmFam. They were awful. I've worked with AAA insurance for the past eight months or so, and only as an admin--those adjusters have worked, hands-on, with accidents for decades, and yet they still can't pull their heads out of their asses long enough to breathe some air and figure out that when a police report states fault, it's usually accurate. Honestly. Want to see what the ethics are of that insurance company? Check this out--it's chilling.

A little before that, I had tonsillitis for a couple of weeks. That was great fun, as I'm sure you can imagine. My dear friend Jaime took me to the hospital at eleven at night because I'd just looked at my tonsils and panicked at the sight of them. (NOTE: The picture off that last link is a bit gross. It is not a picture of my tonsils. It is, however, extremely accurate--that's about what mine looked like.) At the hospital, having waited, filled out paperwork, and waited some more, been directed into several waiting rooms, where we waited some more, I finally saw a doctor. Since my throat area had swollen so much, he didn't think I could swallow pills, so when he prescribed me Vicodin and Penicillin, the Vicodin was in a liquid form. I happen to like Vicodin. But let me just say this: EW. Just...EW. That has to be the most vile liquid I've ever had in my mouth. After taking a shamefully long time gagging it down, I expressly demanded my prescription to be filled in pill form.

After a couple of days, I was about back to normal, though my tonsils have just recently gone back to their regular size. I've been warned that it can come back, so I'm really hoping it never does--that usually results in the removal of the tonsils. Ick.

I've decided to go to college. My mother received disability when she left the Air Force, because of her past diagnosis with breast cancer, and due to medication that she'll be on indefinitely, as her dependent I will receive money for educational purposes.

Having decided that I need to take a couple of classes here and there just to keep myself SMRT (haha), I'm very excited. I'll be going to UCCS, where I've already been accepted, and I'll most likely enroll for the fall classes.

All the stressful things I've been dealing with for the past few months are finally over, and thank God--I can finally breathe.

~Erika

Overheard

I was standing in line at the Visitor Center on Peterson Air Force Base, waiting to get a decal for my car, when I heard these responses from the Visitor Center employees to a customer:

Employee 1: "...well-hung elks--"
Employee 2: "--and you can even wear shorts then!"

Yeah. It made just about that much sense to me too.

~Erika

Myspace

I have a Myspace account. Really, I only obtained my account for the purpose of keeping in contact with people I don't see often or who live in other states. However, I absolutely detest Myspace.

But, like, didn't you know? Like, anyone who's anyone has a Myspace account. (bubble gum being snapped) It's true, though. Almost everyone I know has a Myspace account, thus emphasizing it as the perfect way to keep in contact with people you've lost touch with.

Myspace is comparable to Starbucks. Not only, as my dearest hippie friend in Oregon would say, is it a huge corporate planetary takeover that will lead to mass destruction and the death of whales, kittens, and TREES, but it gives the average Myspacer (aged fourteen to sixteen) way too many options with which to wreak visual torment upon innocent viewers. (An interjection to Myspace Fever's popularity, even my hippie friend has an account.)

Have you seen these things? There's an option to put a background, complete with Flash plugins; any color and style font (which can also be completed with Flash); any graphics, video clips, slideshows, or audio files; and there is also an option to have a song play on your page any time someone accesses it.

Most unfortunately, most people seem to think it's just so cool to employ all these options on the same page. You know what else is cool? Retaining both my psychoneurological balance as well as my ability to engage my retinas.

As if that's not enough, there are also at least three advertisements on every page, which are just as visually active as most decorated pages.

Every contact you obtain is listed as "a friend." Thus, when someone adds you as "their friend," you get an email asking you if you'd like to "approve this person as your friend." Therefore, your collection of contacts is listed publicly, stating, "You have 2 friends." Can you see in your mind's eye a pre-adolescent kid in front of a computer, eyes welling up with tears, "MOM!! (shuddering intake of breath) Jessie won't let me be his friend! Jessie doesn't like me! No one likes me, do they?!" Good job, Myspace creators, you've just increased the average number of suicides per year.

I have already stated that Myspace is a great way to keep in touch with distanced friends, but honestly, can we please tone it down a little? Having cerebral aneurysms are not what I'd consider to be a pleasant way to network.

To see a couple examples of what I'm talking about, please look at this or this. These are not even close to the most painful or obnoxious ones I've seen. Did you go to the links? Did you? Are your eyes bleeding?

Thanks for reading my rant, guys!

~Erika

Pictures from My Trip!

Here are some pictures I took while I was with my parents in Idaho. They didn't all fit on one page, so if you scroll down and look to the right hand side under "Previous Posts," the picture labeled "A Church in Downtown Boise" is the last one. Or, you could just scroll down to my archives and click on the last archival. Whatever works.

~Erika

PS - This is my first time publishing pictures onto a blog! Or any other Internet thing! Yay! Are you not proud?

Trees II