Repeat

Campus looks the same. My apartment smells the same. It's a comforting familiar smell.

I'm back at school, and it feels good.

And the best thing? I don't start classes until Wednesday because campus is closed tomorrow and classes on Tuesday start at 4. I do not have any classes at or after 4, so I have no classes until Wednesday. It's nice. (:

And now I will patiently wait for Once Upon a Time to come on while scanning the internet for the best and worst dresses from the Golden Globes.

So far, Jordan and I hate Lea Michele's, Naya Rivera's, Kelly Osborne's. And I think Dianna Agron's dress is.... interesting.

Charlie and Kath: Bad Mood

After a long day of classes and work, Charlie climbed the stairs to his apartment hoping that his gorgeous girlfriend would be there to greet him with a paint-stained t-shirt on, hair a mess, and some kind of ridiculous story from the day. He just wanted to relax on the sofa and cuddle with his girl while they fought over what to watch on TV.

But instead, he found Kath sitting on the couch, eyes a blaze, flipping through the channels like a madwoman. She didn’t even look at him when he walked through the door.

“Hey babe,” he said, heading to the fridge. It was empty.

“You know what I hate?” Kath said, irritated.

“When people call you ‘babe’?” Charlie asked slowly. It was a smart-ass comment, as he called her “babe” all the time.

“When my mother calls me up out of the blue to announce that she’ll be coming over this weekend. And then I have to wake up super early on Saturday to clean up this place just so she can be comfortable. And she doesn’t even ask me if she can come over. She just announces it like she’s the freaking Queen of Sheba. Is that fair?”

“No?” Charlie was sincerely confused. Kath and her mom were close. Where was this coming from?

Kath was still flipping through the channels. Charlie just rested himself up against the bar counter. He thought it best to stay out of crazy’s way.

“God, who invented those Snuggies? They’re so stupid you know, just put on a freaking sweater! And those Forever Lazy things they’re even worse! It’s just like wearing footie pajamas! And what’s with that State Farm commercial where the woman thinks her husband is cheating on her? It’s supposed to be funny, right? Well it’s stupid! People are ridiculous! Not everyone cheats on their spouse. I’m so sick of seeing movies and TV shows where people are unfaithful. There are plenty of people in this world you don’t sneak around and whatnot. And what is with all this Taylor Swift “Wonderstruck” perfume commercial crap? I swear if I hear that song one more time I will throw the TV out the window! Uh, God, it’s on again! I want to die!”

“Why are you in such a happy mood this evening?” Charlie asked.

“I don’t know,” Kath said forcefully before she turned the TV off and threw the remote on the couch next to her in a huff.

“Hey, what’d you get on your English midterm?”

“C.”

“That’s why.”

Charlie and Kath: Jealous

There was something on the fridge that Charlie hadn’t noticed before. In the middle of dinner he’d looked up and saw a postcard with a picture of the Parthenon that in big bold letters read “Greetings from GREECE”.

“Do we know someone in Greece?” He asked Katherine who was finished with her Chinese takeout (her favorite) and was graciously flipping through an old Utrecht catalog. She pretended like she hadn’t heard him, but she did because her eyebrow twitched involuntarily which signaled that she’d almost answered, but then better thought it not to. “Hello,” Charlie said again. “Earth to Katherine.” He poked her with his fork. And Kath, being the girl she was, grabbed it and jerked it out of his hand.

“There are better ways to get my attention,” she said very motherly and set the fork down gently beside her. Her radiant auburn hair slid past its holding place behind her ears and covered her face. Almost as a defense mechanism.

“Why are you avoiding my question?” Charlie asked.

“It adds an era of mystery to me, don’t you think?” She closed the catalog and propped her elbow up on the table while using her hand to rest her chin on. She smiled a half smile. But Charlie wasn’t amused. He just stared back, frowning.

“No,” Kath finally said, getting up and rinsing her plate in the sink. “We do not know anyone in Greece. I know someone. And old friend from high school. Do you remember Archer?”

Archer. Archer. That named sounded familiar to Charlie, and not because it was one of his favorite shows. But he wasn’t putting a face with the name, other than the cartoon character. “No,” he replied. “Should I?”

“Nope,” Kath said quickly, picking up the catalog from the table and throwing it in the trash.

“Wait, you said that a little too quickly. Who is this guy?” Charlie asked, and just as he finished the words he remembered that Archer was the guy Kath dated after they’d broken up the first time, their senior year of high school. It had almost ruined prom for them, until they got back together three weeks before the dance (not that Charlie really cared about prom, but it meant a lot to Kath). “Archer? Archer your ex boyfriend, Archer?” Kath was moving quickly into the bedroom but Charlie followed her.

“Yes,” Kath said turning to face him. She had her eyebrows up and her hands on her hips. This was her “I’m ready to take on anything” stance and Charlie knew it. “I hoped you wouldn’t notice, but since you notice everything, I was sure I’d have to tell you eventually. And yes, it is from Archer. But you don’t need to go getting all jealous like you usually do. He was just being nice by sending a postcard. He knows that I’ve always wanted to visit Greece. It was very thoughtful.”

Charlie didn’t like the way she said “thoughtful”. It was slow and drawn-out and hard. Like she was challenging him to say otherwise. “Yes,” Charlie said. “But we don’t need to hang it on the fridge.” Charlie immediately went to the kitchen to take it down, but Kath was quick and she ran there before him and snatched it before he could.

“Then where will we put it?” Kath said. “I was sure you wouldn’t want it on the bedroom mirror, so the fridge was the best place for it.”

“The bedroom? Why would you even bring this up right now?”

“Why are you being so difficult?” Kath’s nostrils were flaring. She couldn’t stand when Charlie got jealous about other guys. And that was his biggest flaw, that he was sometimes too jealous. But with a girl like Kath, how could he not be? She was beautiful, a little crazy, but sweet. He saw the way guys looked at her when they went out. He had a right to be a little jealous every now and then. But it drove Kath crazy. She would always bring up the fact that she was an adult and she made her own choices and he had nothing to worry about. But he did anyway.

“I’m not being difficult. Maybe if you’d come out and told me about the postcard before you let it blindside me then I wouldn’t be as angry.” His voice was raising a little higher than usual.

“Oh you would still be as angry!” Kath yelled. “You’re always so jealous when it comes to me and I just don’t understand why! So what if an ex boyfriend wants to send me something nice? It doesn’t mean anything other than a nice present from a friend!” She threw the postcard on the ground, not because she was mad at it, but just to be dramatic. Charlie was used to it.

Charlie bent down and picked up the card. On the back was the note from Archer. He scanned it and it wasn’t even remotely flirty. Just a simple “Greece is great! Hope one day you can experience it. Archer.” Charlie sighed because he knew that he’d been beat. He looked up at Kath who was standing with an un-amused expression on her face. Her arms were crossed in front of her and she wasn’t blinking until he apologized. They’d played this game many, many times.

“I’m sorry,” he said, sticking the postcard back on the fridge. “I know there’s nothing going on with you and any other guy. I just get overprotective of you when I have to share you with others.”

Katherine’s face softened. She smiled and ripped a piece of paper off of the notepad sitting on the counter. Then she took a pen and quickly drew a heart on the paper. Then inside she wrote “Kath’s heart” and she gave the paper to him before she kissed his cheek. “I’m all yours babe,” she said. “And there’s nothing you can do to change that.”

And with that, she sashayed into the bedroom.

Charlie and Kath: Dog Sitting

Today is my dog, Gunner's first birthday! YAY! (And he's a German Shepherd) so in honor of his day of birth, I give you..... "Dog Sitting"

--

Paisley sat in the corner on her large red pillow with her head down and her ears up. She looked back and forth from Charlie to Kath as she lay there peacefully. She was a seven year old German Shepherd that Charlie had recently agreed to babysit for a friend while they went out of town.

Kath sat on the couch very stiffly and even though she said she was alright, Charlie couldn’t help but notice how rigid she was, glancing from the TV over to the dog. Not to mention the fact that Kath was completely freaked out when Charlie even brought the dog into the apartment.

“What is that?!” she’d yelled almost jumping onto the counter.

“It’s a dog, Kath,” Charlie said, taking Paisley off her leash.

“I know that, but what is it doing here? Oh God, Charlie, you didn’t buy that thing did you?” Paisley was now sniffing Kath’s leg and Kath was making a feeble attempt to shoo her with a kitchen towel.

“No, we’re dog sitting for a friend for the weekend,” Charlie wondered why Kath was acting this way. She’d always been okay with dogs. Her mom had two dachshunds, and all of her friends had dogs. But the more Charlie thought about it, he realized all of her friends had small dogs. Paisley was a 90 pound German Shepherd. The police dog. The terrifying beast. But then he looked at Paisley with her big brown eyes and almost smiling mouth. She was gentle and sweet. Surely all Kath needed was time with her. “Come on,” Charlie said, taking Kath’s hand. “Paisley is a nice dog. She’s not gonna hurt you.”

“Oh yeah,” Kath said as Charlie pushed her into the living room. She kept an eye on Paisley as she walked with Paisley just trotting behind. “I’ve heard the story of Jezebel. That dog’ll eat me in my sleep.”

“No, she’s not. Come on.” Charlie sat Kath down on the couch and called Paisley over. But then Kath freaked out. She shot up off the couch which got Paisley excited who then started barking and jumping around. This freaked Kath out even more and she ran into the bedroom, shutting the door behind her.

After much needed encouragement and reassurance that Paisley was settled down and laying on her bed, Charlie finally coerced Kath out of the bedroom and had her sit back on the couch.

Now, Kath tried to show that she was into the TV show, but Charlie knew she wasn’t. She kept glancing at Paisley and then away. Whenever the dog moved, Kath flinched. Charlie really couldn’t understand why someone would be afraid of a dog named Paisley, but Kath wasn’t like anyone else. She was her own person, and if she was afraid of dogs, it would be up to her to change her mind. All Charlie could do was watch.

After about ten minutes of waiting, Charlie suggested that he should start dinner and headed to the kitchen. Every once in a while he glanced in the living room and saw Kath and Paisley in their same positions. He just shook his head and smiled.

When dinner was almost ready he took one last glance and there was Paisley sitting in front of Kath, on the floor while Kath had pulled both legs up onto the couch and was holding out a pillow as a shield. Paisley sniffed the pillow and then sniffed Kath’s hand that was holding it. Kath froze; eyes wide. She stared as the dog gently sniffed her. Charlie would have intervened, but it was all too hilarious to watch.

Paisley licked Kath’s hand and then Kath made this disgusted look on her face. It was actually a mixture between surprised and disgusted.

Then, like clockwork, Paisley laid her head on Kath’s left foot and exhaled sharply through her nose like she was sighing. Kath’s tensed shoulders dropped a bit.

“Charlie!” she whispered as loudly as she could. “She – she put her put her head on my foot!” With her hushed tones and slight excitement she almost sounded like a little kid. Charlie chuckled.

“Yeah, Kath,” he said staring out over the bar counter. “It means she likes you.”

Kath stared at Charlie for a moment with a blank expression. But Charlie could see the wheels turning in her head. Slowly but surely she put down the pillow beside her and softly stroked Paisley’s head.

The next morning, when Charlie woke, all over the kitchen table were sketches of Paisley in different positions. In one she was licking Kath’s hand. In another she was laying next to the sofa, and in another she was sitting up, with her head cocked to the side.

And on the fridge was a handwritten note,

“Taking Paisley for a walk. Eggos in the freezer. I’ll have two and she’ll have one. – Love K.”

Charlie and Kath: Pillow Talk

He was just about asleep when Kath rolled over and whispered, “If you could be anyone in the world, who would you be?” It wasn’t unusual for her to ask questions like this late at night. She was a night owl by nature, turned morning pro (not person per se, because she really wasn’t a morning person. She just mastered the ability to wake up early) by Charlie’s constant persuasion for the past year.

“I don’t know,” he said rolling over and trying to go back to sleep.

But Kath wasn’t stopping anytime soon, and he should have known that. Instead of taking his answer and rolling over, she sat up, and rested her arms on his back and said, “Come on, tell me.”

Charlie took a deep sigh and thought for a moment, while Kath waited patiently. “Well,” he turned over so that she was resting on his chest and he wrapped one arm around her. “I guess I’d wanna be Calvin Coolidge”

“What?” Kath giggled, “Why him?”

“I don’t know. Because he was cool as all get out. And he was president, I mean, who doesn’t want to be president? And he was chill.

“Oh he was?” Kath mocked fake enthusiasm.

“Yes, he was.” Charlie tickled her side and she smacked him lightly.

“That’s cool, I guess.” She said. “I would wanna be Peter Pan.”

“You’d wanna be a dude? Is there something you’re not telling me?”

“No,” Katherine laughed. Charlie loved her laugh. Especially when it was genuine, real, and raw. “I’d want to be like Peter Pan.”

“And why’s that?” Charlie had to hold back a chuckle.

“Because he lives in Neverland, which is so cool. They have pirates and mermaids and Indians. And he gets to stay young forever! And he gets to have fights with all the pirates and swim with the mermaids. She sighed thinking about it, like it was the most wonderful thing in the world. Which the Kath, it might as well have been. “And he can fly,” she added.

“Oh yeah, can’t forget that.” Charlie buried his nose in her cheek and then gave her a kiss. “I think it would get boring to live forever though,” he said.

Kath thought for a moment. “Nope,” she smiled. “I’d always find something to do.” Then she turned to him, raising an eyebrow. “Don’t you think?”

Charlie smiled, “You? I’m sure of it.”

He must have said something right, because in the next moment she leaned in and kissed him.

--

Special thank you to Jeffy for the Calvin Coolidge idea. :P

Charlie and Kath: "Un-inspired"

I've chosen to forever claim this blog as my eternal creative outlet. I mean, isn't that what it's supposed to be?

Okay, well, remember the blog post I wrote yesterday or the other day, I get my days all confused? Well, I've chosen to write off of that post. So viola! I've got Charlie and Kath for you!

--

Charlie tried to focus on his project, but it was difficult with Kath pacing the floor in front of the empty canvas.

"Could you sit down?" he asked impatiently.

"No," Kath said, exasperated. "I need inspiration. I need something."

"Well your need for inspiration is interfering with my work. Just put a color on the canvas and it'll come to you. It always does."

"I'm just not feeling it right now." She put her palette down and took off her smock. "You know what might help." She sat down next to him on the couch and leaned in like a little kid might when they want something.
He threw his notepad on the coffee table, he wouldn't be able to work as long as Katherine was being herself. "What?" he looked over to see his beautiful girlfriend smiling at him. Deep auburn hair a mess and pulled back into a lopsided ponytail, she had a crazy look in her eyes that warned him it was going to either cost him a lot of money or possibly be so over the top that it would beat all of her other crazy ideas.

"What if we got all dressed up in really fancy clothes and then went to a really fancy restaurant and ordered expensive food that we can't afford and then maybe that'll give me some inspiration." She smiled and nodded trying to persuade him to go along. Even though he knew she wanted to go to the new fancy Italian restaurant that he definitely couldn't afford on his salary, he couldn't resist her nose wrinkle that she did when she giggled at her own idea and the way her lips pursed when she tried not to smile because she knew he would cave eventually.

"Alright," Charlie said after a few seconds. Better to cave now than later. Katherine smiled and wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed his cheek.

"Thank you! Thank you!" she cried, jumping off the couch and running to the bedroom. "I'll lay out your clothes!"

After a few minutes the door opened and out popped Kath wearing a red forties flapper dress, red lipstick and a red feather in her hair to match. Her black heels made her two inches taller and she stopped in the door frame and tilted her head to the side. "What do you think?"

Charlie smiled. He was rarely speechless, but this was one of those moments. He stood up and walked over, grabbing Kath's waist and pulling her toward him. He kissed her neck and then worked his way up to her mouth.

"Guess you like it," Kath said. She pushed him away and ran back in the room. "Now come see what I put out for you!" Charlie followed her into the bedroom and to his dismay, on the bed lay a black zoot suit with matching fedora hat, a red feather, and a red shirt that matched Kath's dress.

"You're kidding right?" he asked.

Kath crossed her arms and frowned. "Come on," she said not amused. "You agreed, you have to wear it, or we play the game."

Charlie contemplated... wear the outfit and be mortally embarrassed in front of everyone at the restaurant or play the game, at which Kath would most certainly win.

The GAME was a way to settle arguments or broken promises. They picked a subject like diseases, animals, cars, etc and then start from A and go through the alphabet and name as many as they can. The first person to hesitate or who is unable to come up with something loses - and has to be at the other's beck and call for a day. And after two years with Kath, after two years of playing the game, Charlie had only ever won, once - and that was because Kath was sick. It wasn't really even fair he'd won.

"Okay." Charlie said. "Let's go out."

Kath smiled, clearly knowing she would have won anyway.

Ten minutes later, reluctantly, Charlie stood in front of the mirror in full outfit staring glumly at his reflection as Katherine applied her eye make up in the mirror. It was a rare occasion that she ever even wore make up. He thought it made her look like a clown, but it went with the costumes.

And then ten minutes after that they headed out the door with Kath skipping to the car and Charlie dismally lacking behind.

--

Sorry for the awkward text difference and slight highlight. I posted this on Deviant Art earlier and had to copy and paste it from there.

I am alive, I promise.

I'm terrible at this blog thing aren't I?

I've entitled this.... actually, I haven't. This poem/short story/prose piece/whatever this is has no name....

--

Broken-hearted, Charlie sat at the computer trying to find the words to describe her. She was lively, wild, and carefree – but no more. Everything he loved about her was gone. Everything he wished would never happen, happened. And in his head the vision of who she was stood in front of him, but he couldn’t put her into words. To write her out was to put her beauty in a cage. And she was a free spirit. She would never be caged. But things were different now.

“Katherine - otherwise known as "Kath". Age 20. Her favorite thing to do was dance to “We Are Young” by Fun in the kitchen when it was snowing out. She loved going on picnics in the summer. She picked the most obscure places – the middle of a crowded dock at the beach, the bed of a stranger’s truck, the roof of her house. She couldn’t eat popsicles unless she was wearing socks, and her ponytail always ended up on the side of her head instead of the back. She liked to lay on the couch with her feet up over the side. He bit her lip when she was nervous and twirled her hair when she was thinking hard about something. She blurted out the punch line of every joke she knew because she was too excited to hold it in until the end. And on Sundays she stayed in bed until two in the afternoon. “

Charlie re-read the words he’d written and frowned. It wasn’t the normal obituary, and surely it was to stand out among the rest. But then again, Katherine stood out too.

Winter Break So Far

You know how my last post was a wish list? Yeahhhhh, about that.

So far I have only slept until 12 every day.. easy peasy lemon squeezy. And I've made cookies, and sung a lot. I have not made a YouTube video and probably won't. I have avoided the dentist, but not the doctor. Apparently, I did too much heavy lifting when I helped my Papa with some yard work and moving things around and sprained my (enter long muscle name here) in my back and COULD BARELY MOVE FOR TWO DAYS. It's much better now though. I've been taking my anti-inflammatory medicine and muscle relaxers, sweet, sweet, muscle relaxers that are a gift from God. Pahaha, actually, I only had to take them two times. I'm still a little stiff when I've been sitting down for a while, and getting out of bed in the morning is tough... and not just because my bed is so comfortable (although it is a huge contributing factor!)

I had a plan to learn Someone Like You by Adele on the guitar while I was home, but between just the pure craziness of Christmas and my online class (yucky Physics) I haven't had time.

Any freetime that I have though, goes straight to drawing. I haven't been able to stop.

Here's some of the things I've drawn this week. I don't have a working scanner, so don't make fun of my taking a picture of a picture. :P

Yes, I did draw these free-handed... no tracing whatsoever. However, I didn't come up with these on my own. I looked at pictures from Deviantart.com.

I have no idea who I got this idea from. I did alter this one from the original a little bit.

I love mermaids, okay? Sue me. I also don't know who I got this idea from.

This is Virginia. And she is from the mind of Burge-bug from deviantart. I've been following her for a while now and she's a phenomenal artist! I love all of her drawings! She's also the person who got me inspired to read The Hunger Games and now I'm obsessed with it! Go visit her deviantart account or tumblr. She's fantastic!

This is also from the mind of Burdge-bug. This is supposed to be Elizabeth Bennet from Pride and Prejudice. Mr. Darcy was supposed to be in the picture as well, but I decided not to draw him. One step at a time folks, one step at a time.

And this one, I'm pretty proud of! I have no idea who's original picture this is. I just found it on tumblr and decided to draw it. I'm trying to learn and practice shading techniques and as you can see, this had a lot. I'm pretty okay with how it turned out.

Well, thanks for looking at all of my art! (: Have a wonderful day.

PS. TOMORROW (well today...) IS CHRISTMAS EVE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Winter Break Wish-List

Well, friends, the end is drawing near. Tomorrow is my last day of classes as a first semester junior and in the year 2011. (Actually, that's a lie because I will be taking a class over winter intersession.) But the end of 2011 is coming. How weird is that? I distinctly remember freshman move-in day down to what I wore, and what I did. But then again, how could we not forget the horrendous New Lancer Days?

Anyway, I've mentally packed everything that needs to go home with me this weekend, so that next weekend won't be so bad when I have to take my whole life home. (*Mental note to sell back my textbooks next week.) It's the physical packing part that will be rough for me. Looks like I'll need to drive back to the apt. after lunch instead of getting on the road right away. It's okay though. Won't take me long. It's just clothes.... then again, maybe it will.

Over winter break I aspire to do the following things:

*Sleep until 12pm every day.

*Take pictures of anything.

* Thoroughly explore the wonders of Maymont Park (with my camera of course).

*Make Christmas cookies

*MAKE someone a Christmas present instead of buying one (snow globes from pinterest, anyone?)

*Make/eat green bean casserole (I've been craving it ever since Thanksgiving)

*Make a YouTube video (so that Ellen will see me and ask me to come on her show)

*Sing.

*Avoid the dentist like the plague..... but I'm overdue for a visit. :(

Yeah, it's gonna be great.

Karma, it's a female dog.

So let's talk about my Thanksgiving. It's actually quite hilarious at some points.

I woke up this morning to my mother telling me that we weren't all getting together at my aunt's house like we'd originally planned because Papa Rowe was in the hospital and they'd been in the emergency room all night. So that kind of sucked and I don't know how he's doing, but I think someone mentioned he was okay now, so that's good.

SOOOOOOOOOO, instead of going and having a nice family dinner we went to Shoney's by my Nana & Papa's house at 1 for lunch. Well, number one, I hate Shoney's. Number two, this is not how I'd like to spend my Thanksgiving, but there was nothing I could do about it so I didn't protest.

So we're sitting in Shoney's and we've just finished lunch when a police officer comes barreling in the restaurant and he's going around asking for someone. Well, he comes to our side and says something. And I swore I heard him say "Jones" (my grandparents' last name). But he went somewhere else. And we're all in a fuss because no one knows who he's looking for until he comes back and says, "Jones"? And it turns out he was looking for my Papa and he asks him to step outside for a minute.

Well, my mom goes out there with them while Nana, AJ, and I sit at the table metaphorically in the dark about all this. And rumors are flying around by wait staff and customers that someone hit our car.

Then mom comes back and apparently someone swerved into the parking spot next to their car, hit their front driver's side hub cap, took out their whole front bumper (which includes a grill) that was laying on the ground right next to their car. And when the bumper flew off it hit the back of the car parked in front of them.

And of course, the driver drove off and so we talked with the police officer (who coincidentally went to college with my mom) and got everything sorted out we drove home.... Wellllll, on the way out of the parking lot I saw the police officer park at the bank next to Shoney's and then, I saw him drive over to another section of the parking lot and get out, checking a car. And I pointed it out to my mom and thought what if that was the person who hit us?

Sure enough, a half hour later at Nana & Papa's, they get a call from the officer saying he checked out that car, ran a scan, and went back into Shoney's. And do you know where she was sitting? AT THE TABLE NEXT TO US. The woman who hit my Papa's car was SITTING AT THE TABLE RIGHT BESIDE US.... And clearly EVERYONE in that banquet room knew very well what was going on. And then in hindsight, I did see her sneaking glances over at us while we talked about it. And I also may have said some very rude things about the driver and frankly, I'm glad she was there to hear it. I don't take any of it back.

So everything got sorted out, she's going to court and whatnot. And the thing that tickles me most is that she thought she'd gotten away with it. How hilarious.

And then Gabey Baby came over Nana's and I got to see him. And then mom and I came home (AJ went to dad's) and I made oreo truffles and finished Mockingjay, the third book in The Hunger Games series. I bawled like a baby, and now I'm going to enjoy my marathon of The Big Bang Theory. (:

Happy Thanksgiving, everybody!