Annual Crap Hits the Fan Day

Once or twice a year, a time comes along when my dad and I have to have a big fight about something. The most common Fighting Subjects are (A. my grades (B. anything school-related and (C. my grades. But this year, my grades weren't so bad, so the subject of the fight yesterday had to be the not so commonly fought about (D. money. For my open house last month, I got roughly $700. Now, a month later, I have about $80. Sure, I suppose I spent that a little fast, but I feel that I bought things I've been needing for quite a while with that money (hilarious fluffy pink steering wheel cover and adorable stuffed mermaid not included). Plus, that money was kind of mine to spend, right? Not the way Dad sees it. Apparently, I should have saved all my cash so I could pay for my own books when the school year starts in the fall. Of course, I could have done that, but seeing as Dad's always payed for my books, how would I have known to save my money to buy my own this year? So, a good part of yesterday evening was spent with Dad engaging in his yelling routine, and me in my habitual crying.
When that was done, Dad decided to interregate me about my brother, Zach, and his girlfriend, Christina, and what they do day and night. *Rolls eyes* The high points of this argument were when I pointed out that I'm not my brother's keeper, Dad insisted that I should know where they are and what they're doing at all times, and I talked Dad out of kicking Zach out of the house by suggesting that Dad make sure Christina has gone home before Dad goes to bed. The overall argument ended with Dad insisting that I get a job immediately to get back the money I blew. So, starting tomorrow, I'll be out job hunting, once again. *Throws a small, contained tantrum*
Last week, Dad, Zach, Christina and I all decided that next Tuesday, we should head over to Cedar Point. The reason for this is, Zach insists that he can't make it to Vegas this August, like we've been planning all year because Vegas Vacation time conflicts with Christina's Birthday time. Of course, I could still go to Vegas with Dad (he almost has to go because the Vegas trip this year happens to also be a business trip for him), and it would be just the two of us, but what am I going to do while Dad's in meetings? And what if he wants to do some gambling, as he always does? It's not exactly safe to wander around Las Vegas by myself, methinks. And so, I'm out of the Vegas trip I look forward to all year long. Hopefully, we'll still be able to do this Cedar Point thing Tuesday.
Okay, I believe I'm done whining for the moment. It's just making me more irritable, and I'm supposed to be an optimist, for God's sake! I think I'll fill out a nice, happy survey... one I'll steal from Ashley. *Nods decidedly*

What do you eat late at night?: Life cereal almost overflowing with Silk vanilla soy milk or peanut butter and jelly dunked in a mug of Silk vanilla soy milk. I'm a bit of an oddball, I suppose...
Your completely irrational fear?: Bugs. I have nightmares about them, I get uncontrollable shivers when I'm around them, I can't sleep in my bed if I've spotted one anywhere near the vacinity of my room. And it doesn't matter what kind of bug it is, I freaked out over a roley-poley that I spotted trying to roley-pole its scary arse underneath the couch today. I realize I could squash it, but I'd probably have a heart attack if I came within two feet of it.
What do you carry with you at all times?: Lemme check my purse... Okay, I always carry my wallet, sunglasses, cell phone, a mini-Kleenex package, dental floss, gum, my sparkly pink makeup bag, my sparkly pink mini-fan, and a picture of my mom and I.
What do you miss most about being little? Hanging out with just Zach all the time. I don't remember the time it was just me and him, but I really, really miss those days. We used to hang out in the back yard playing Calvin Ball (the game from Calvin and Hobbes) and then we'd come in and play Matchboxes on Atari and eat peanut butter & jelly sandwiches dunked in milk. *Sighs in a reminiscent manner*

What was the last song you were listening to? "Family Tree" by Darryl Worley. Hee, I just love that song with the little kids laughing at the beginning and end and the whole thing about the "hand me down clothes... and hand me down shoes, we got the big bellied momma, here we go again blues." Adorable!
If I were a __, I'd be -
sin: Obsession... what with all the obsessing I do, you know.
scent: Pumpkin, since I'm always eating stuffed pumpkin shells... I'm bound to smell like a pumpkin!
body part: A stomach. Woo hoo, all the food comes straight to me!
Well! That brightened my mood up considerably! Hurray, hurray!
--Holly :-D

Hired and Fired

Highlights of the past few weeks of Holly's life:

*My brief employment at Ziggy's Ice Cream
*Having my open house at church
*The purchase of the new Harry Potter book
*Attending Sarah's open house
*Grandma Z.'s 3-way bypass

*Glances nervously at date of last diary update* Holy guacamole, has it really been that long? Well, I s'pose I'd best get 'round to updating then, hadn't I? Let's see, where shall I begin? I guess I'll start with Ziggy's...
I'd been wanting to work at an ice cream place for quite a while, so when my aunt Barb got me an interview with a friend of hers who just happens to be the owner of Ziggy's Ice Cream, I jumped at the chance. I got the job immediately, and started working, but only for a couple of hours a day, while I was in training. I practiced swirling soft serve ice cream into cones (they all tilted unsteadily to the side), mixed up various kids of flurries (I always seemed to punch a hole in the bottom of the cup), and got zapped horribly on the blended fruit machine. Customers yelled at me, my co-workers snapped at me, and I went home crying more than once. I can't say that I wasn't surprised when my boss called me and told me I was just too slow for that kind of job. And so, I am, once again, unemployed. *Sigh*
Two Saturdays ago was my open house, which turned out peachily, thanks to my awesome mom and grandparents. We had lots of fun decorating the church with colorful Japenese lanterns, picture-laden poster boards, and Mom's beautiful giant paper flowers (I "entertained" my mom by continually singing "Paaaaaper flowers!", a lovely part of Evanescence's song, "Imaginary"). I created my only real decorative contribution: a concoction of pastel jelly beans in champagne glasses. *Beams proudly* I stole that idea from a magazine! *Nods happily* The open house that followed the decorating party was quite wonderful as well, as I played my Open House Mix CDs and greeted lots of folks, some of whom I never thought I'd see in the same room together *COUGHmyparentsCOUGH*.
In honor of the release of the new book, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, I purchased a new outfit, including a blue tank top that Harry and Hermione have been ironed onto. I sat up all night reading the last few chapters of the Goblet of Fire so the ending would be fresh in my mind the next day. As an open house present, Mom had reserved me a copy of the book, so at 7:30 the next morning, I drove my poor tired Mom to Target to get the book. When I spotted it on an end cap, I squealed and ran to the cash register where a Daria-type rang up my book, eyeing my Harry/Hermione shirt and huge grin with obvious distaste. The book was wonderful, although I admit to hysterical crying toward the end... and that's after peeking ahead!
My grandma Z. went into the hospital for a 3-way-bypass this past Friday. My dad, grandpa, aunt Barb, and cousin Lindsay were all with her right before she went into surgery, so I think that put her mind at ease about it, a bit. As soon as they'd wheeled Grandma away, Lindsay broke into sobs, just like she does every New Year's Eve when Grandma and Grandpa leave for their winter Florida trip. We stayed in the Family Waiting Area where a loud, huge, annoying family took up nearly the whole room before a nurse came in to tell us that Grandma was going to be okay. And she should be home tomorrow! Hoo-ray!
--Holly :-D

The Deck is Mean

Time: 1:03 A.M.
Hair: Down and wet
I'm Wearing: White Amy Grant shirt, blue & red B.U.M. shorts and patriotic red, white & blue flip flops.
I Last Ate: Strawberry ice cream @ Big Boy.
Holly's Song Pick of the Day: "Sk8er Boi"--Avril Lavigne
________________________________________________________

Ouch. I hurt everywhere. I spent the night at my mom's yesterday, and today I went to Target with her for patriotic nail polish and b-day presents for Carrie.

Mom took me to Dad's house after that. My brother and my dad were in the back yard, staining the deck. Of course, they wanted me to pitch in, so I did. And I must say this: It... was... TEDIOUS! My back hurts, my neck hurts, my butt hurts, my knees hurt. I just hurt.

And in case you were wondering, yes, I do seem to enjoy whining about it. It was so hot out there! Owwwwww, my face is sunburned. Dang. And now Zach doesn't want to go to Cedar Point on the 4th for some insane reason. So now we might not even be going and AAAAAARGH!

At least I got Avril Lavigne's CD. It's so catchy and wondermous. But I still hurt, so OWWWWW! Okay, I'll go now...


--Holly Rachael :-D

I had a really sucky day

Actually, yesterday was one of those rare, really bad days. Bad doesn't even describe it. Yesterday absolutely sucked.

Mike is always late picking me up from school. I think he's been on time a total of... once. Yesterday was a record for him, though. He was an hour and a half late picking me up from school! I couldn't believe it, the *janitor* left before I did!

And we don't have a house in Bay City yet, so my family (except for Mike) was in Flint. I tried to call my mom on the pay phone, but it wouldn't call numbers that far out of the area code. So I sat there for about half an hour, ready to cry when I realized my dad had given me a phone card to call him with!

After calling my mom and telling her about my dilemma, I sat on an outdoor bench. Finally, a blue Blazer (all my family members have Buick LeSabres) pulled up at my school, and out steps Mike and a hockey player, Matt Barth. I was so mad. Get this, Matt Barth apologized for picking me up late, but Mike didn't! He was like, "Holly, I was on the phone with a very important person! Even if I had remembered to pick you up, I couldn't have done it." UUUUUGH!

When we got to the hockey arena, I realized I FORGOT MY INTERVIEW QUESTIONS!!!!!! Crap! So, I explained that to Mike, and he got all bent out of shape. He started freaking out about it!

After we left the hockey arena, I told Mike I was starving. So he goes, "Okay, I'll get you something after we make a couple of stops." He said he was going to run into this printing place where they were supposed to put logos and names on his hockey jerseys. This little "stop" lasted two hours, and he didn't leave the keys with me... oh, plus he left the window down. After about an hour, it started raining. Freezing cold rain was coming in the window, hitting my face and arms. Mike didn't apologize about that either.

When he got back in the car, I said, "Are we going back to Flint now?" and he looked at me like I was nuts and said, "I've got a lot of important stuff to do before the day is over!" I was *SO* hungry by now, so he stopped by Burger King, and I got a large fry. Then went to the hockey arena again, and for some stupid reason, I said I'd wait in the car while he "ran in" again, so I could eat my fries. Good Lord, he didn't come out of that hockey arena until I'd *digested* my fries.

*FINALLY*... we went back to Flint. I turned on the radio to try and chill a little... but then Mike goes, "How are we going to know if something important is going on in the news?! We're not 'cause you've got it on the rock station!" and then he flipped it to some sports news station.

Uuuuuuuuuuuugh. I was so ready to cry when I got home. Hopefully, I'll never have a day *that* bad again. Ick. Later.

--Holly Rachael :-

Hockey Hotties!

Welp, yesterday Mike and Kurt picked me up from school, and we headed over to the hockey rink. The first guy I interviewed was the really hot guy I mentioned before, Matt Shannon. And good *Lord*, was he ever gorgeous! I interviewed him for about half an hour. I sneakily squeezed an extra question into the Hockey Player Profile questions-- "Are you single or not?" He told me, "I'm *definitely not* single." Crap.

Next up, Cory Dzikowski. Wow. He was really, *REALLY* hot! But he likes rap music. He told me his favorite band was "THA DOGG POUND!" Whoever that is. But at least he was single!

Then I interviewed Adam Smallman, who wants to be called "Moose" for some odd reason. This kid has one lazy eye, and he took an hour with the interview. He grew up on a farm, and his parents had him working on crops or something instead of going to high school. And believe me, it was obvious. Heh, and guess what *his* position in hockey is? "I beat people up," he says. "I'm just here to beat people up." I later asked Mike, and he confirmed it-- "Yup. Moose just beats people up."

Matt Wilkens came in next. This guy was really polite, and not too bad looking, but he is the most concieted person I've ever met! There's a question on the interview-- "How many girls have you dated?" Mike told me later on that when Matt went back out into the hall, he said, "Guys, she asked how many girls I've dated. I said ten and quickly went on to the next question before she could say, 'You mean in the past week?'" This guy says he has about three dates a day. *Rolls eyes*.

The hottest guy, by far, was Brandon Ottenbacher. Whoa. He's 17 (woo hoo!), is Catholic, is from Michigan (alright!), and he's an artist! His future goals are to be situated and comfortable with a wife and kids. Awwwwww!

But I'd have to say my favorite guy of the bunch was Jeff Crouse. He was really cute, and pretty much the only guy whose favorite food wasn't steak. He's 20 years old, his favorite school subject was lunch break, and he loves Rosie O'Donnel! Just like me! He wants to be a golf course designer, says he loves girls with green eyes, and his worst injury ever was a broken heart! And his worst sickness is "home sickness!" How cute is that?! And for the "Boxers or breifs" question, he said, "Nothing!" Holy guacamoli! Heheh.

So, yesterday, needless to say, was really, really fun! I can't wait to tell Zach and Sarah about it. I might see them today because Mom's going to call them to see if they'll pick me up from school. We're going to stay at the hotel WITH THE HOCKEY PLAYERS TONGIHT! WOOOO HOO!

Well, talk to ya'll later!

--Holly Rachael ;-D

"Ow! My eye! I'm not supposed to get pudding in it!"--Lenny

Duuuuuuuuuuude! I have the coolest job on EARTH!

Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God! Wow, I sound like Sarah... Anyway, check this out! Yesterday, I went to Windsor, Canada with Mom, Mike, Grandma and Grandpa Shoup to pick up three of Mike's hockey players from the train station. THEY ARE SOOOOOOO HOT! HOLY GUACAMOLI! I mean, I don't know if it's legal to be that hot!

Well, after ranting and raving about them with my mom and grandparents for about an hour after we got home, Mike got home and said, "Holly, I think I might have a job for you. How would you like to interview each one of our hockey players, and take their pictures so we can make a book of them?"

HOOOLY CRAP!!!!!! I'm gonna interview really, really, really, really hot hockey players! All of them! And I get to spend half an hour with each one of them! The one I like best so far is Matt Shannon. What a HOTTIE! He's 20 years old, but that's only 3 years older than me, right?!

Good Lord, I'm so excited about this! I slept about three hours last night, I was so happy! I can't *wait* to do these interviews. I'm at school right now, in 4th hour (computers, obviously), and right after school, Mike's driving me to the hockey rink where I WILL INTERVIEW REALLY HOT GUYS AND TAKE THEIR PICTURES! Oh, I'm soooooo thrilled about this!

Man! Alright! Well... I'm gonna go to lunch in a second and brag to every living thing I see about this. "Hello there, bumble bee! I get to interview hockey players! OW! Well, you don't have to get violent about it!"

--Holly Rachael :-D

No More Mott

Well, I've been kicked out of my high school, Mott Middle College for lack of attendance. Since my dad feels like constantly screaming at me about it, I've decided to spent almost all of my time at my mom's house, or my grandma's house.

My soon-to-be step-dad, Mike, called around and go me into this school, Peril. So I'm going to start there this summer.

Speaking of Mike, he and Mom have decided to get married September 1st in the court yard of Farnumwood Presbyterian Church. It's going to be at night time, and I think the wedding'll be really cool 'cause we're going to hang all kinds of white Christmas-type lights and garden lamps all around. Nifty, eh?

I'm going job-hunting with Sarah today because naturally, if I'm not at school, I have to be working. Alrighty then, TTYL.

--Holly

I'm Inspired! I Must Start a Business!

My mom taped Once and Again for me, and I watched it last night. I was *so* good! Lily's sister has this book store, and she was going to have a "matchmaking night." She took pictures of a bunch of single people who loved books, and hung their pictures on the wall, along with their favorite book and why it was their favorite. Lily's sister is single herself, though, and when she saw all the couples getting hook up, she felt sad that *she* wasn't hooked up with someone. That hit a bit close to home... I hooked Sarah and Zach up, and now I'm sad when they kiss. But check it out! If I started my own matchmaking service, I'd be in the business of romance... my favorite thing in the whole world! And I don't think I'd be as lonely watching couples hook up that I don't know!

Last night, I went to work on my matchmaking idea, but I'm going to write a story about fictional people starting a matchmaking service first. The matchmaking service these people run is called "Inevitably United" and I made a big poster for it. Maybe I'll scan it and put it on my web site later. These people I made up, Shane, Miriam, and Kayle hook people up through this service according to their favorite TV shows. Shane's into shows like Norm and Drew Carey, Miriam's into show's like Daria and The Simpsons (like me, hee hee), and Kayle's into soaps like One Life to Live and General Hospital.

I also had another idea. I've been designing prom and wedding dresses since I was about four years old (I've been a hopeless romantic my whole life), and recently, people have been telling me that my drawings are actually good! I thought if I could start my own prom dress designing business, and call it "Prominade," that was rule! Hopefully, I can find a way to start these businesses. I have no idea where to go to ask someone how I would do this! Maybe my school counciler would know, or something. Welp, talk to ya later!

--"Holy" Holly Zintel ():-)