We have arrived in Kansas City for the weekend wedding festivities.  This town is ugly and drab.  It is also way more freezing, even though we traveled quite far south.

We had some shit-tastic Wendy’s for lunch.  I have not eaten actual fast food in a very long time, and today I was reminded of why.  If eating on the road, I will pick up a Nature Valley granola bar at a gas station, wait until I arrive at my destination, or hit up a deeelicious Subway, Jimmy John’s, etc.

I miss the bestie.  A nap is much needed, but not going to happen.  Did you know that in the book Where the Wild Things Are, horses were originally used instead of monsters?  Lame.  I don’t like horses.  Or really any animals.  Or children or elderly people or most of my peers.  I’m kind of an elitist bitch.

You can probably figure out from the title that this post will be heavy on the sauce… kind of like the two places I’ve found that I dripped BBQ sauce on my shirt at dinner…

Bestie picked me up in the middle of the road after class and we made our way to HAIGHT’S HAWKEYE MEAT MARKET *sounds of angels singing.  Luckily we had called ahead so knew that the apple brats were fresh in the case today, as opposed to frozen like we’ve bought them before.  We walked in and the guy was like “Ahh so you were the one who called earlier.”  Duh, sir.  I think it’s a safe bet to say you don’t have that many phone calls per day and certainly not ones asking “Do you have apple brats today??!?!”

And do you know what else they had??  A new kind of barbecue sauce we’ve never had.  Yes, in case you wondering, Haight’s will toats-mcgoats be catering my wedding reception.  This particular brand was called SuckleBusters Original BBQ and as Bestie pointed out, you know it’s gotta be good when it has a seal that says “No Bad Stuff” on it.  Quality.  He and I both agree that this one has broken our top five.  Now, we shall rank them for you:

Best friend’s top 3 favorite sauces

1. Stubb’s http://www.stubbsbbq.com/

2. Big Daddy’s http://www.bigdaddybarbeque.com/

3. SuckleBuster’s http://www.sucklebusters.com/

My top favorites

1. Big Daddy’s

2. Sweet Baby Ray’s http://www.sweetbabyrays.com/

Bestie likes his with more spice, I like mine sweeter.  Stubb’s is awesome if you like spicy (but not too hot) kick, SuckleBuster’s as well provided a nice spice in constrast to the sweetness of the apple brat.

In other news, I got to pet a sugar glider today.  Two members of 713 got new comforter sets for their beds– really classin’ the place up AND the light in the living room works again.  My stye has gotten worse and there is a small mountain of a blemish on my chin because apparently my skin thinks I am a 14-year-old boy.  It is essentially the weekend– bring on more barbecue!  And six hours in a car with my family…

Hate: the dishwasher.  Dear dishwasher, you are supposed to clean the dishes.  Not leave weird pieces of food congealed on said dishes.  I tried to unload you today, but physically had to remove myself from the situation lest I kick you and something bad happens (i.e. I have to do my dishes by hand pff).  <– that is one of the many numeous reasons I will never have children.  I will either a.) punt kick them in moments of frustration or b.) walk off in order to calm myself from said frustration only to come back and find they’re gone.  I feel this is generally frowned upon, especially in large public places.

Love: paper towels (apparently another hate: the environment?)

Hate: I quit my job (the one I adore) yesterday due to me only working weekends and needing basically every weekend from now til study abroad off.  While I am deeply saddened, they said they’d probably take me back upon my return.  And yes, most of the “hate” about this one is the void free sandwiches will be leaving in my life.

Love: Pumpkin Spice lotion from Bath & Body Works. 

Hate: there were MUSHROOMS in my bag of frozen stir-fry veggies yesterday.  G.R.O.S.S.  Luckily I was able to pick out the vile poison before I choked to death and died.

Love: how FREAKIN AWESOMELY CLEAN our kitchen is.  Way to go, Roomie!!  Paired with my room which I cleaned yesterday, my living situation is for the first time in a while, actually liveable!

Hate: my left knee hurts.  Pretty much only when I go up or down stairs which is, you know, the majority of my day.  Also, I’m getting a stye in my eye.  Not like I’m going to a wedding this weekend where I’ll be a bunch of photos… oh wait a minute, yes, yes I am.

Love: bestie and I are going to find Halloween costumes at Goodwill tomorrow and have apple brats from Haight’s Hawkeye Meat Market.   I’ve missed him and that house of hooligans after a week of separation– how I long to live there one day (and by “one day” I mean next year– whaddya think, Pops??)

Hate: the ladies in my office apparently think that because it comes in limited edition Halloween colors, they need to buy ALL OF THE CANDY IN THE STORE and bring it to work.  If you haven’t realized by now, self-control isn’t one of my strong suits.  Thankfully I only work a few hours a day or I wouldn’t be able to fit through the door by Christmas.

In conclusion: the first half of my week is over.  It’s not all downhill from here, but whether I bomb my presentation tomorrow or if I only have one source for my article due Thursday or if I just stay in bed til Friday morning (that’s my pick, but hey, apparently my grades are dependent on “going to class”) I WILL be chowin’ on BBQ in KC come Friday night.  Be jealous.

Roomie & I are watching the game– I’m feeling oddly optimistic about it, so we’ll probably lose.

Yesterday I ran my first 5K.  To clarify, when I went to said race, I had no idea I’d be running it.  That would explain why I was wearing jeans.  A group of friends had decided we were going to walk it, supporting kids with club foot and our campus PR firm who did the advertising for it.  Once we started though (we all started jogging as to not get trampled by the hardcore racers) I just kept going, not wanting to walk in the cold for almost an hour.  The jeans became kind of uncomfy at about the halfway point, and I did walk up a hill for maybe 1/4 of a mile. 

I finished in 34 minutes which I’m pretty happy with, all things considered.  I was definitely the only person who had my cell phone in my pocket, so towards the end, I called up Bestie while running, and was all “Guess what I’m doing?!  Running a 5K in jeans!”  He was quite bewildered.  The most intense physical activity he’s ever seen me do is go up the stairs when someone is using the downstairs bathroom.  Ohh that’s not true– one time I chased one of his roommates around the perimeter of his house barefoot and tried to tackle him.

My back of all things is the most sore– I figured my knees would kill– I had deplorable form.  While running, I was thinking about how I could never, never, never run a marathon.  KUDOS to the people who do, but I have no desire to run for 26.2 miles.  WHY would you?!  It’s all about the mental thing, and to be honest, I’m not that mentally tough.  A girl from my high school just completed the Chicago Marathon and qualified for Boston.  She has now said she is “addicted to marathons.”  I would rather be addicted to meth.  (<– that was kind of a joke.  Kind of.)

You know how Cheez-Its have holes in the middle?  Perfect to put a string through.  Screw candy necklaces– I will now be making millions off of my Cheez-It necklace idea.

Happy anniversary to Slash & Perla <– luckiest woman alive…

Let’s not talk about the kid and the balloon and his parents who clearly need a psychotic evaluation.  Let’s instead look at some other happenings around the country today and ask ourselves WHY little Falcon and his Wife Swapping famewhore mom and dad were the largest story of the day when an interracial couple was denied a marriage license in Louisiana (it is still 2009, right?  I didn’t get the whole regressing 50 years/ pre Civil Rights era memo…)

I am a journalism major.  I hate journalism.  I am realizing this a bit too late, however, and am close enough to just getting the degree that I’ll never change my major.  The past two years I have met some awesome super interesting people in the field who absolutely love what they do.  These people have more passion for the truth and reporting and sensational story-writing than I’ve probably ever had for anything yet in my 20 years.  That’s not me, though– I’m not naturally inquisitive, I find the media at times to be absolutely repulsive– I’m even becoming jaded on the PR aspect due to me realizing it’s all about money.  I KNOW– it’s America, capitalism, what else did I think it was about??  Maybe I’m just being a Debbie Downer, but I can’t imagine myself enjoying a life where I wake up to go to work every day to promote a company and/or product with the sole image of increasing sales/saving face.  Even non-profits, the field I’ve been leaning towards, are about donations, donations, donations.  I’m not good at asking for money– I think it’s tacky and I don’t handle rejection well.

As I’ve mentioned, my dream job is to bake for people.  Obviously the proper channels to actually pursuing this would be to take some business classes and get really good at baking.  It’ll happen one day,  but now is not the time.  I know I shouldn’t give up on the whole writing thing– as much as I hate journalism, I still hold out hope.  The smell of the New York Times  makes me really excited, and I am able to get satisfcation out of writing a kick-ass lede or getting a really great interview.  Maybe I hate it because college is the first place I wasn’t spoon-fed compliments just for making an effort.  I’ve pretty much accepted that either route I go, mega millionaire dollar signs are probably not in my future (which kinda blows since my only official life goal is to have enough money and no kids so I can fly to Vegas whenever I want…)

Also, how great is Taco Bell?!  The bestie and I went this evening– I’ve only been a handful of times in my life– and I am continually surprised by the dirt-cheap prices yet amazing food.  Blackjack taco box? I never knew that I needed two tacos, a burrito, and crispy CinnaSticks with a soda as big as my thigh all at one time!  (For the record, neither of us ordered this, but we saw it and were both in awe and excited for having found ground zero of America’s obesity epidemic…)

We also watched an episode of Gone Too Far, DJ AM’s documentary about helping addicts (which is ummm EXACTLY the same as Intervention only with a C-list celebrity instead of actual credibility.)  Does anyone else think that show has lost any sort of effectiveness it may have had on the addicts/audience due to the hypocrisy of the situation?!  Right before, MTV had just aired the documentary about Steve-O’s drug addicted past, so as one of my friends pointed out, the channel has basically become a giant how-to on getting high.