"We are blogging, one and all"

Katie, the last time one of us blogged was September 9th.
yeah, that's because i failed to blog back to you.
So many things have happened since then. We should tell our readers all about what has been happening in our separate lives, even though we have not really separated our lives.
we have failed to separate our lives.
Katie, what will happen when you really move?
i don't know, it seems like i moved, but i didn't. i just have no home.
Can i write "I just have no home"?
yeah, that'll be sad.

everyone already knows all the news we have to tell, but we are still going to blog about it.
Katie, has anything life altering happened to you since Sept. 9th?
well, there was sept. 10th.
Ah, anything magical happen on that day?
yes. magical.
Great.
maybe if people don't know, we should make them guess what it was.
That never goes over very well. all of our mysteries are not really mysteries. Everyone who reads this already knows everything about us.
should we make it multiple choice, then?
All right, let's try that:
Which of these happened to Katie on September 10th, 2008?
a. I learned about being a honey farmer
b.(We should have made a, b) I visited the birthplace of America (what? Well, Alexandria claims to be the birthplace of America because some farmer back in the day found a stone that had viking writing on it from 1412 or something like that, 1312, ancient 92, whatever).
c.I got engaged
d. My boyfriend got engaged (yes, but that didn't happen to you. but it affect me.)
e.And the next day I went bass fishing (The question was "Which of these happened to Katie on September 10th, 2008?" Now our plan of having the right answer be "all of the above" is foiled. i was just giving you a time line of all that happened while we were apart. We were apart. : ( and soon we will be apart, again. and i also learned that when you are cutting the fish open, you smack it on the head with the end of the knife, so it stops wiggling.)
f. all of the above

What did you do while we were apart? Do you want to tell about that?
I suppose I should. Not so much happened because you returned shortly after you left, and I blogged to you part of the time you were away.
Rub that in my face, how i am an infurior blogger.
I cannot spell inferiour
i-n-f-e-r-i-o-r
Rub that in my face, why don't ya.

Any parting words?
we are done already?
Well, the last thing you said was "um" and then you stared off into space for a while.
i was expecting you to banter about something that would cause me to banter.
No, instead I shall include a picture of our empty apartment that is no longer our home:

katie, the royals lost, and you are in minnesota where they are, but i am not, and that means we are apart. forevermore.

Well, Katie, I don't know how to tell you, but we've broken up. The day came, and neither one of us knew. I'm pretty sure you missed it completely since you've gone off to Minnesota with all of your belongings. But you are there, far away, just as we knew it would happen, and I am here, in my very own basement room at the place that used to be known as Juliet and Jeremy's but will now be known as Juliet and Jeremy's. Oh, yeah, and Amanda's.
It is a bit shocking--I did not intend to move the same day you left, but Juliet said, "Let's move you." And I said, "ok." (I'm very hard to convince, you see.)
Since my bed is now here, in my very own basement room, and no longer in our joint bedroom at Haverford West (yours is still there, alone, and very lonely, I might add. As well as being lonesome), we didn't even realize it was our last night in our apartment. I feel cheated. I feel denied. I feel jipped. And it must be remedied. I think we need to have a party. For a party is the only place where spirits can be revived, wrongs can be rightened, and drink treats can be enjoyed to their fullest. A date for this revelry, you ask? That could be a problem, considering, you are gone, and plan to be gone for quite some time. But I do have some musts for this gathering, and they are as such:

1. It must be in our apartment. (So, before the 1st of October).
2. It must include many people with whom we've shared this past year of our lives with and who have supported the Compounded, even in its irresponsible and repeated absences.
3. We will both sleep at the apartment for one final time.
4. Drink treats.
5. Spatulas. (You know what I mean, and if any of you don't, well, you'll soon know.)
6. I'm out of things to list, but I'm not quite done listing.
7. My mattress smells like smoke from our apartment, and it's never coming out. I blame all smokers everywhere. I do not hate you, but I do blame you, and for that, you should all feel very, very responsible--directly responsible--solely responsible.
8. Who makes a list of eight things? No one. That would be ridiculous
9. Now, nine, that's getting somewhere. That's like saying, I don't need ten items. I'm content. I'm satisfied. I need nothing more.
10. Yet, ten is so complete. It ends many things, like counting to ten, and a train with ten cars, and ten lists of ten things.
11. Eleven? Idiots.

During the royals game. . .

Katie, we should blog.
amanda, no one has read our last blog.
Yes, they have.
i don't feel like blogging unless people comment.
They do not trust us with their hearts because we have failed them. The more we blog, the more they will comment.
false.
No, you will see. It will be true. If not, then we will strike out the best way we know how--though, I don't know what that is.
swinging.
What?
you said how will we strike out. I answered swinging. How can you not understand that?
Not strike out as in baseball, though I can see how you would be confused by that, but as in forcing those who read our blog to comment by threatening dangerous repercussions if they don't.
yeah but where do you think the term strike out comes from? It still pertains.
I don't see how. . . all right, I'll accept it for the sake of preventing a fight since we have so little time left together. Readers, if you do not comment, we shall strike out at you swinging. And we mean that.
oh ok now i see what you mean by strike out. you mean a violent physical attack. ok, yeah. i know how you are. don't worry readers. I will not strike out at you
But you are the one who wanted them to comment. You didn't want to blog if they aren't going to leave feedback. How in the freaking world are we supposed to get them to comment if we don't threaten their very lives?
I think I am spotting a theme/problem here. We need more focus on the positive side of things. It would make us feel great if people read and enjoyed our blog, but i refuse to have negative consequences if that doesn't happen.
I know how to solve this, we shall ask our second guest blogger to decide whether we should threaten our readers or not.
Hello readers of the compounded.
You are useless. You typed one sentence in five minutes. We denounce you has a guest blogger.
true. you pale in comparison to our mystery guest blogger of our trip to Minnesota.
I will not stand for this negativity. If positive roommate blogging entertainment cannot take on this blog then I shall have to start my own roommate blog. I denounce the compounded!
*Gasp*
Wow someone is a little extra sensitive. I was just trying to stick up for my roommate, but I guess I should know better.
This has gone too far.
I don't have time for this. I'm going to help my roommate win the woman of his dreams. You'll be able to read about their soon to be developing relationship on our superior roommate blog (www.beergarden.blogspot.com if it hasn't been taken yet).
Don't try to steal our readers!
Oh, fine, you can have them, well, have them part of the time. But be warned, they might not comment, and you will feel sad and lonely. Be careful in the world of blogging, you may find yourself swinging threats at your readers and insulting guest bloggers and not know how you have come to travel such a dark and desperate path.


€€

Fog o' Dusk

This is our first live action blog (though it is not actually live, but we would like it to be), so you should all be very happy about it. It is also the reuniting of us from our solo blogs.

Iowa is false because gas is so cheap.

Why is that false, Katie?

I don't know.

There is so much reunitionism here that there is another person here with us (note: In line with the Credit where Credit is Due Honor Code, our mystery guest did in fact coin the term "Reunitionism").

That sounds like a religion. I'm a reunitionist.

Who could this person be?

A mystery.

Before we get into that, we must lay down some ground rules. First, we are on our way to Minnesota. That is why this is a kind of live action blog. The action is our trip and the live is that we are typing on the way.

Secondly, there will be a mystery for you to solve.

Third rule, there will be no comma splices.

I'm not even sure I know what a comma splice is.

Hush, mystery guest. We have to introduce you first.

Didn't you kind of introduce me when you announced a mystery guest?

Not officially. All right, are we done with the rules?

Um, well, I guess so.

We just entered Story County, and I thought it was Story Country.

We should interrupt with a story, since it is a live action blog.

Oh, and now this story from the life of our mystery guest.

Oh, what story should I tell?

About your foot injury.

Which one? All two of them? Shall I start chronologically or start with the most recent?

Least to most traumatic.

How many stories do you have?

Two.

Plus, a possible broken pinky toe.

I can't even tell if I broke it.

That can be part of the mystery. That's the nature of the foot, that you can't even tell if your toes are broken.

Katie, you talk so much more when we have a third person.

That is because I'm usually just home from work, and you just sit there and talk to yourself. And then pass the computer to me. We blog in silence.

Perhaps you should have guest bloggers more often.

We don't blog in silence.

I know, but sometimes in moments we do. You type and then I type and then we laugh at what each other said.

We are two miles from Ames.

So close. You should tell them about Taco Time.

We need some facts. Do you have facts?

It is apparently delicious. Perhaps we should go to Taco Time and gather facts, and a burrito.

Is it time for your second dinner?

You have second dinners?

I do when I stop at Taco Time.

You don't even know if Taco Time is good.

I do know it is good. It's been recommended.

He's trusting of his sources.

You just gave a clue of something about our mystery guest.

We shall pause. Good bye.

Taco Time Trash. That is what we have. We successfully found and visited Taco Time in Ames, Iowa, as was recommended to our mystery guest by a coworker. (note: The food was not trash at Taco Time, just the wrappings from our food were trash. Clarification. There we go.)

Tell them how delicious it is. We think there is one in Kuwait. I looked it up online, and we think there is one there.

That is crazy. I didn't know it was that popular.

It is so popular.

Are there only two Taco Times?

It seems like it would be a chain.

Nope, just Kuwait and Ames.

Thank you for taking us to Taco Time, Katie.

Did you want me to blog your thankfulness?

Yes.

Maybe on the way back we can go to The Flying Burrito. Which is similar to Chipotle.

How do you spell burrito?

B-u-r-r-i-t-o.

Don't you have spell check?

Yes, but I'm just asking.

It is so much more fun to pretend to have our own Spelling Bee.

Story City!

We need another story, or the first story.

We need the story of the damaged foot!

I don't know which one to tell.

Ready, pick one, go:

I don't know how to response to this situation.

This is what blogging is all about.

You have to be cool and quick under pressure.

“Under pressure. . . ”

So, I work at Quik Trip--

Another clue!

So, sometimes when I work at the warehouse north of the river, I break down pallets--

Pallets?

Wooden skids.

I'm sorry but I don't think clarifies anything.

It does if you know the lingo.

So, these pallets include rusty nails, and I'm breaking down a pallet, and a rusty nail stabs my foot. And it hurt and bled.

Did you scream?

Kind of like a little girl.

Katie's Corner (on the driver's side of the car):

Well, every time I change lanes, a ginormous green blinker comes on.

How do you spell ginormous?

Sorry, ginormous is an overstatement. It's about the ratio of large print to regular print.

We are 187 miles from Minneapolis.

Now I have to find the 8 and 7 on the computer.

They are right by each other.

It is dark!

Is it too hard?

Upcoming Events:

Saturday, July 26^th of 2008--

Katie and Steve will be attending a wedding.

Amanda and the mystery guest will be doing some exciting things around Minneapolis that are adventurous.

Any final words?

Final words sound so threatening.

It's not like your last meal.

I would like to speak again.

You may, you may.

results request

hello my dear roommate.

well, you may have thought this day would never come. But in fact it is now here. This is the day that I write my first solo blog. You may be shocked to find out that you are sitting right next to me as I blog this. But then again who knows. You might turn around and talk to me before I finish this in which case you will see what I am doing. Actually I can see what you are doing since I am sitting behind you and you are looking at information for your new online schooling. By the way when is that going to start? I wish you the best of luck. Sometimes class can be fun! (there might even be prizes, who knows). Okay probably no prizes, and I will not promise you any because we all know how I am about coming through with prizes I have offered. I don't quite understand what you like about taking a class without getting to see any people, but you love it so congratulations.
Now on a very important subject. There have been many rumors and accusations flying around about our future living situation. Well all of those rumors and accusations are true. soon we will no longer live together. I will not go into my feelings on this matter, for I don't want to dampen any good mood any reader might happen to be in while reading this. I will keep all discussion purely focused on the blog. I am trying to predict the change this may have on our blogging habits. I am afraid to say that it might make it worse. But then again the good news is that we could not possibly blog any less than we do now and still call ourselves bloggers. even though i am pretty sure i have never called you a blogger before, you never know when I may decide to start. But maybe, since I will never see you anymore, our entire friendship will be reduced to writing. I don't know how far mental picture texts can go. For now though I will choose to live in denial. I will blog only on the rarest of occasion, because I will always see you so often.
now that we have settled that I would like to talk about upcoming events. We are about to set out for a nice road trip. We will be leaving Friday after work and returning on Sunday. There will be so much fun and adventure I can't even begin to describe it all here. So I won't even bother trying. Just be ready to hold on to your hat. If you don't have a hat, you better get one.
There is just one last issue to address. What's the deal about promising ice cream if people don't like the blog? it just seems a little backwards to me. Ice cream seems more fun than that. that is all, good bye.
(by the way if you wonder about the title, it is what I most commonly use as a subject for work emails, and I just sort of typed it and then left it).

A letter:

Dear Katie,
Many will be confused as to why I am addressing you in a letter form and not directly with my characteristic green font. Well, I will tell them, for there is no need to tell you because you already know.
In a few short months, Katie and I will no longer be roommates. This is sad news. We are spilling tears from our eyes right now, and have nothing to wipe them away with because the flow is too strong to stop with anything but the most absorbent of tissue, and alas, we have none. Actually, I have no idea if rivers are pouring from Katie's eye sockets or if she is out of super bibulous (this is a word, and is probably being used incorrectly, but come on, bibulous!) Kleenex to dry those floods, because she is not here. Nor am I particularly driven to tears at this exact moment. I mean, if I were to stop to dwell on the misery that awaits me in parting with Katie as my roommate, the tears would indeed spill over onto my pajamas and soak me more than playing in the rain. And if Katie was here, and she also started thinking about how terribly sad it is going to be when we part roommate ways, then there would be a downpour from her tear ducts as well. So, in short, we could possibly be crying gusts out of our faces, yet we are not, because we are parted right now and are both thinking about other things. But there is a strong likely hood that if we were together, we'd be sobbing. I'd say a 1 in 7 chance. Or 2 in 16.

Katie and I have discussed what should become of this, our blog. Should we kill it? Granted, we have almost done just that in the past few months. Not because we have no heart for our readers and wish to deny their every hope and dream of having a blog everyday, but simply because we are lazy and Katie hates her job so much it robs her of the will to blog, and I have sympathy pains for her; therefore I cannot even remotely be expected to cheer her up enough for us to blog together, not even a measly two posts a week.
Even in light of this almost death of The Compounded, we decided no, we do not want to kill it. Not at all.
But, how, we asked, can a blog encircling the world of two roommates be expected to survive if the two are no longer roommates? It was this question that led us to our answer:
We shall . . . solo post.
Quiet down! Do not be outraged! Calm yourself! There is no need for hysterics! All shall be well! Life will not be flipped inside out and no longer make sense because of this. Order and chaos will battle for a time, but in the end, harmony will prevail. The Compounded will survive, and become more vibrant than it has ever been before. Take a moment, put aside your doubt and desire to curl up and die, and look at the possibilities:

1. Did we not once say that if one of us died, there would be more posts? Well, if it helps, think of this as though one of us is dead. I believe that association will put your mind at ease.

2. Also, if perhaps, there is a day that Katie feels horrible about her job, or I am feeling particularly pained for her, then there will then be the possibility of at least one person being able to pluck up enough motivation to blog without having to cheer the other half to do so.

3.You will love it.

4.Anyone who has major complaints may have some ice cream on us. (Not on us. Not really. I feel the need to clarify considering some of our most loyal readers tend to take things a tad too literally--Jeremy. We will purchase ice cream for you to eat to heal your woes, but it will be in a bowl, not on us. That is messy.)

5.Finally, Katie, I have a proposition: Though we will no longer be actual roommates, perhaps we can still refer to one another as such in this blog. I feel that connection will aid in everyone's healing in this time of change and out pouring of tears.

I think this ends my first (technically, second) solo post. I do feel a bit lonely without Katie at my side, even asleep near my side, in the other room, as sometimes it happens. I look over at her bed, and it is empty. Is this how it will feel in just three months? So lonesome without her? True, I don't think I will have an extra bed in my room then, but I will forever look over at the blank wall, though it might have some art on it at that time and not be so blank, and long for my dear friend and roommate. Katie-bug, I'm going to miss you.

Sincerely,
Amanda

I couldn't stop myself from adding 'sincerely' at the end after that last paragraph. But seriously, and I do mean it:

From,
Amanda


Also: we will be blogging together still before we move out, do not worry about that. And from time to time when we are separated. The end, for real.

Love,
Amanda

June, an assessment

We have much to say on this, the last day of June. We will not ignore the many voices calling for our heads, the protests of dismay, or the demand for retribution. We are here to address those who would throw us into a pit of flames and never look back even if they also dropped in their very expensive sun glasses they had just purchased that morning. We will admit it. We have failed. But before you so cruelly dice us into dice size pieces, may we interject that in another way, we have also not failed.

Let us review. . .

Katie, what is the most important goal you achieved?
I got a hair cut. That was the most life altering thing that I did.
And it looks fabulous. It seems that you accomplished about 9 of your 10 goals this month. That is 90%. How does that make you feel?
Maybe I should have some higher goals.
I did not fair so well, I fear. Let me count. . . I cannot say that I can take claim to actually cleaning my side of the room, even though it is clean, considering Juliet and Jeremy did that in preparation for Asian Lawn Party the Second. So, I only succeeded at 66%. You clearly bested me in goal achieving.

Now, as we all know, we had joint goals to try to master. Katie, how did we do in that department?
Well, as our readers will remind us, we did fail on perhaps our most important goal: blogging twice a week. If we could just change that little word 'week' to month, we could have accomplished that.
Why don't we change that? There we go, changed. Now, how did we do . . .
Did we have a an Asian Lawn Party?
Yes.
Did we have it on June 28th?
Yes.
Did we have the opportunity to change it?
Yes.
Did we plan our meals?
Um. . . not as much. . .not at all.
Did we learn where to recycle our cans?
No, we didn't even really do anything about that.
Did we finish our story in our blog?
Nope.
Did we give out more Triumph Points?
Well, no one really stepped up to the plate, to be fair.
Did we love the Royals no matter what?
Yes, in our hearts we did.
And did we blog twice a month?
Twice. . .yes.
How would you rate our success?
Well, sometimes when you set a goal, you find out that is it not that important, so it is okay if you don't achieve it.
So, taking that into consideration, how did we do?
It was pretty failing, to be honest.

Now that we are done with goal making, goal failing, and goal achieving, let's look ahead. What can our readers not expect this next month?
Well, they can expect me to still not go see Iron Man, they can expect me to not get another hair cut in the month of July, they can expect me to not throw my bike over the balcony.
I never asked you to do that.
You didn't say what were we asked to not do.
Oh, I see. I will not ask you to do that this month.

Well, everyone, that is all for tonight. We hope you have had a lovely month of June and that you achieved as much as we did or didn't, depending on which way you look at it.

The goals of two roommates for the month of €June

Amanda will clean out her car. Soon.
Amanda will clean her side of the room that is slowly taking over the whole room.
Amanda will run a 5k in 30 min.
Amanda and Timothy will finished their draft of Mr. Elephant Throws a Party.
Amanda will go see Iron Man.
Amanda will think of a name for her future dog.

Katie will look into different ways to spend her 40 hour work week.
Katie will work on screen printing. (if you want a screen printed shirt, we will make you one)
Katie will take a class at JCCC.
Katie will take a sign language class, or one on learning to read braille.
Katie will bike to work, bike to the gym, and then bike home.
Katie will go to the gym 3 days a week.
Katie will swim with her new goggles.
Katie will figure out her life.
Katie will avoid going to see Iron Man.
Katie will find a new hair style she likes, and get her hair cut.

Katie and Amanda will blog twice a month.
Amanda and Katie will have an Asian Lawn Party.
Katie and Amanda will have an Asian Lawn Party on June 28th.
Amanda and Katie may change the date of their Asian Lawn Party.
Katie and Amanda will plan their meals for dinner, like Chicken Sandwich Night, or good ol' Taco Salad Night.
Amanda and Katie will learn where to recycle their aluminum cans in their neighborhood.
Katie and Amanda will finish their story on their blog, and it will end happily.
Amanda and Katie will give out more Triumph Points.
Katie and Amanda will love the Royals even when they lose for twelve straight games when they should be winning because their pitchers are pitching beautifully or their batters are scoring a lot of runs, but they just can't pull it together and fail instead.

the royals are losing and a lunch box

amanda is nervous. to be honest, i am a little too.
That is a good opening, Katie. Rather suspenseful. I believe we may have caught our readers' attention right off the bat.
well, i would hope so. I mean, now people might want to know what we are nervous about. would it be a good idea to tell them?
nah.

We would like to apologize for being so long in returning to blogging. If we have checked the records correctly, this has been the longest we have been away from you all. Forgive us. We have forgotten the faces of our fathers, indeed.
callaspo.

If anyone was counting, I do believe that Bank Midwest won the Second Roommate Battle. I mean, I haven't done any counting. But it sounds right to me.
that is true. what did we promise to the winner? although as far as i have experienced promises might not be followed through on. speaking of which, i do believe every new triumph hopeful has failed. true or false?
Well, on the first account, I don't believe there was anything for the winner. Though, I haven't checked, but let's just agree on that, since someone (Brett) didn't follow through with the last one, and no one received a prize. But next time, there is going to be quite the prize to fight for, perhaps so great an award that two roommates may have to do some voting (or at least bribe other people to vote for them). As for the second topic you brought up. . .
well this is awkward.
Sorry, but it is shameful to be a part of a group that had such high aspirations. I personally will not be receiving a triumph point because I have gone to zero Royals games this month.
well you could still do something about that. but you might not want to so i will allow you to do whatever you feel like doing. I would now like to change the subject and say that this very day i received a wonderful prize from work.
Oh. I know. Is it fabulous?
oh, my yes. you would not even believe how fabulous it is. and even green, and has the possibility of tastiness.
Um, I know what it is, Katie, and sorry, but you cannot eat it.
but something tasty could be found inside of it.
Ah. Yes. I am okay with that. If I didn't know what it was I would ask if it was a refrigerator.
well its not, but in another way it is, don't you agree?
And with that wonderful quote, it is time for The Office.

We are still a teeny nervous. True?
true.

Baseball, baseball, something else, baseball.

Announcements:
*Katie's day at work was actually pretty good.
*Amanda's day at work was also pretty good, but isn't over yet. She will be going back. But it is with Jack and Kyle, so she doesn't mind at all.
*Katie just celebrated her one year anniversary at CRL and received a card signed by everyone. Tomorrow they will have a group picture in honor of her year dedication to the company.
*Amanda got into the Online English Degree program at the University of Illinois at Springfield. She is happy. She is ecstatic. She loves this news with a crazy amount of overjoyedness.
*The Royals are smashing the Yankees--though this news will be worthless if they lose.

Random Thoughts (that are not actually random but really about baseball):
-We have just seen the new HD screen at Kauffman Stadium.
It is rather huge and a bit much.
I will second that.
There will be no more cute little baseballs when someone gets a walk. I am sad for this. They were almost doing a jig.
-After going to three Twins games this past weekend, Katie has decided that she likes outdoor baseball better than indoor baseball.
Baseball is about the experience, and the experience changes when it is outdoors rather than indoors.
Also, if there is a fly ball and you lose it inside the Metrodome, you cannot turn your head frantically looking for it, or you will never find it. You must choose a point on the roof, and stare there, waiting for the movement of the ball to catch your eye. This is what you must do if there is a fly ball.

Now (Jeremy) we shall change the subject from baseball to something else, forgive us our little indulgences.

Events:
-The writers and the networks have remembered the faces of their fathers, and so Thursday, this very Thursday, in fact, The Office is returning! We will be watching it here, at our house, at 8pm. It will be an Office Reunion. Come and join us.
-A reminder: We are going to the Royals game THIS Friday. Anyone who wants to join us, let us know by Thursday, for we are going to buy our tickets early. Details will be discussed with those who love us enough to join us.
And, we're back to baseball. Oops.

A Review:
We shall now be reviewing the movie Leatherheads. In the tradition of never reviewing a movie that we have both seen, Amanda went to the movies with Juliet, Jeremy, Martha, and Nick without Katie, who was away in Minnesota this weekend.
Katie, what is your opinion of Leatherheads?
Well, I'm worried that it might be the same as that one movie John Krasinski was in. . . License to Wed: a crappy movie I might go see because Jim is in it.
Yes, Katie, you are close to the truth with your thoughts. Leatherheads was a bit of a disappointment. About the time I realized it wasn't really about football, it became about football. The middle was good, and had some funny parts, but the other five hours of film seemed a bit long. I will say, Jim was a dashing distraction.
Also, the VIP room at The Legends is ridiculous, and should be avoided (except for the very cushy arm rests on the chairs) unless you wish to spend lots of unnecessary money on not so great food.
Overall, Leatherheads + VIP at The Legends = waste of money.
But, it also did equal a good time with friends, and for that, I would go back and do it all over again. Though, I might order some candy. Candy is tasty.

That is all for today. Katie is asleep on the couch beside me, taking a mid-evening nap. The Royals are winning. The Yankees are losing. Everything is good in the world.
This time, we really are done talking about baseball. That is, until next time.

Keep voting, we feel we are not done battling this one out. Though, in the end, we may decide that this may never be over officially. Votes are now worth two, as of 4-8-08 at 6:20 pm.

Coming Sometime in the Far Off Future: An end to the story.

The Royals won.

Two weeks isn't very long, but in another way, it is very long.

Vacuums are false.
Late Christmas presents are true.
Royals baseball is true.
Regular sized items at Wendy's are false (though, they have mediums).
Ocean's 11 is true.
Ocean's 12 is false.
Study's are true.
The Office on April 10th is true.

Announcements:
-This month, we are celebrating our 6 month anniversary of living at Haverford West. That means, 6 months of smoke smelling clothes, 6 months of holding our breath while going into the cigarette stenched bathroom, and 6 months of hoping for a nice day outside so we can open the balcony door to air the place out.
And what a blessed time it has been. We hope to have many more similar days together.
-Royals Baseball starts Monday, the 31st, which is quite possibly today for many people reading this. The game starts at 12:05. We wish everyone who loves the Royals a very blissful and winningful day. For everyone else, :p

Triumph Updates:
We have some terrible news: there have been no Triumph points awarded since December 25, 2007 (upon Christmas day!?)
True, some people are striving for them now, but since upping the bar, we have found that there has been a severe lack of new certificates on our wall of glory. This saddens us. Therefore, we shall be doing something very exciting to fix that problem. Just not today.
For now,
-Brett, keep going to class.
-Timothy, if you make it to 120 blogs this year, you may still have your Triumph.
-Jeremy and Katie will start their crossword challenge on April 1st.
-Amanda's ready to go to lots of Royals games. The first being April 11th. Everyone is welcome to come. It is buck night, so that is good.


Roommate Battle Round 2:
Bank Midwest vs. Commerce Bank

Amanda's view: Bank Midwest. Never Commerce. Commerce is taking over the world. We must fight for our freedom. Fie on Commerce! *fist in the air* Arg, Commerce Bank!

Katie's View: I think Commerce Bank is better. It's really convenient, and really, in a bank, what else do you need?

Now, we realize many of you perhaps have not heard of either of these banks (though you'd have to be a blind, handicap person on a motorcycle to not notice the dozens of Commerce branches around the area), but feel free to take a side anyway. These battles are not for helping solve problems, they are for stirring up controversy and causing turmoil between friends. Go on, give your vote, even if you're not sure you know which is best. And w€$hen in doubt, vote for your favorite roommate.
$

Coming Soon: The rest of the terribly sad and depressing story that has a happy ending, photos of a change in scenery, and Taco Salad Night, the Party.

Governor's Children

katie's corner:
brilliant. some ideas are, some are not. i believe it is our place to point out and define what qualifies as brilliant, as well as judge and mock those ideas that do not. as an example, amanda had the idea to have taco salad for dinner tonight. my opinion? brilliant. other people had the idea of having corned beef and cabbage. my opinion? not brilliant. another person had the idea of putting a hood on the back of a sweatshirt. this is brilliant on many levels. not only does this keep your head warm on a cold, windy, or rainy day, it also makes you pretty dang stylish. but perhaps best of all, in the case when you are at work slouching in your chair and drifting to somewhere in that magical land between falling asleep and forcing yourself to stay awake and do your job, you might be wishing you had a pillow to rest your head on. if you are wearing a regular sweatshirt you may be sad. but if on the other hand, you are hip to the brilliance of the hood on the shirt, you will find that your pillow is built right in and all your worries will be gone. so, i say again, the bringing together of the shirt and the hood=brilliant.


A side note:


Royals Baseball shall be commencing soon. This is the poster we made, which we shall use to track the many, many wins and few$€ losses for this season. Boys in blue, may you remember the faces of your fathers, and know that 100 wins would be a good way to do just that.









Rules of Roommate Battles:
1. The final say of each $$battle shall be decided by the Committee to Control and Regulate Voting in the Blogging Comments Area (this means Amanda and Katie).
2. Multiple votes are allowed, and encouraged.
3. One vote per comment will be counted towards the final tally.
4. If you have received a triumph point at any time before or during the alloted voting time, your submissions will count as two votes (this was not in effect last battle).
5. If you vote during 3 am and 5 am, your vote shall be considered a "Platinum Vote". These will be counted as one vote, but you will feel more important.
6. If you like Splenda over Sugar, your votes shall equal 7x the amount of your comments.
7. That is false.
8. Oh, fine

Coming Soon: Roommate Battle, the Second.

Now a bedtime story:
Let me start by saying that this story will not end with someone lying to someone else because they love them thinking that they are saving them. It will not end with the deaths of many loved ones along a weary and treacherous path. And it will most assuredly not end with the death of James McAvoy. It will however begin with the promise of hope in a time of death.

Everyone was dead. Eli sat cross legged on the rocking chair in his mother's bedroom. No tears fell from his eyes, and not a single sniffle came from his nose. Yet, he was sad. He was lost in his memories of those he had known in days which now seemed long ago. He closed his eyes and saw his sister holding hands with her husband walking up the dirt road towards the farm. His mother was in the kitchen cooking stew and corn bread, and his father was on his tractor in the barn, trying to park it while yelling at the chickens to get out of the way. That was yesterday. Today, they were all gone.
The new governor, who had killed and stolen the lands from the old governor three months before, had ordered their deaths. They had not sworn their allegiance to him, as the law now required of every individual who was older than 24. The governor's men had left Eli alive, for he was not yet of age. That day was still two years off.
It would be easy to sit here and not get up. To sit and mourn their deaths. To sit without a thought of what would become of himself. But he knew there would be others who were left alive and alone after this raid. The few he knew were too young and too foolish to protect themselves, and the countryside didn't need anymore unnecessary deaths. He would have to find them and help them survive. This was to be his purpose now: gather the children left behind, and keep them safe.

And the loser is. . .

News Update:
-Kansas is a state. (True in fact, it is a state, despite the confusion this may cause.) If someone calls into your work asking what state you are located in , and you say Kansas, and they then say "Yes, but what state is that?", and you say Kansas, and they ask again what state you are in, and you say Kansas, and they ask what state would that be, and you say Kansas, just know that you have been correct every time.


Roommate Battle-
We have now tallied the votes, and we shall tell you what the outcome is in just a second, because we really haven't tallied anything yet, and we need to go do that. Hold on. . now we have counted the votes, and the winner of Roommate Battle: Splenda vs. Sugar is:
Sugar with 26 votes
while Splenda only got 13.
Katie, do you want to say anything about your victory?
Just that I would like to thank my supporters for knowing the truth and speaking it.
Would you like to say anything about the rumors that Brett is going to buy you a Splenda drink even though you've won the battle?
Just let him remember that half the power of his Triumph Point is in my hands.
I would like to thank those who tried to boost Splenda to a victory, even though we lost. Long days and pleasant nights.

On TV:
-In case you are missing it, the history channel (55 to those of us in Shawnee, Kansas [the state]), is airing a very enlightening documentary called High Hitler, which argues that "drug dependence may have played a role in Adolf Hitler's decisions". We have now changed the channel.
-Tomorrow night the new Top Chef starts. We will not be watching it because we will be helping Martha pack their belongings from their old home, so that she and Nick can take their stuff with them to their new home.

Coming soon: A story for you to read, nice weather (72 tomorrow), a tour of our home that includes our favorite spots and features, and Royals baseball.

Also, if you've never posted a comment, because you didn't want to make an account, we've set it up so you can now comment without one. Sorry, we thought it was like that already.

You have until 5pm.

The voting will be over at 5 pm, Tuesday, March 11.

come on, splenda, we are losing! obviously, its the nature of your way. it is not a drink treat if it is not a treat! but i do like diet pop. that's the truth of it. they are drink treats to me. well there are no rules against stupidity. katie, how can you blog so angrily against me? easily.

It's a Battlefield Brothers,!

hooray for weekends!!!!!!!!!! okay that was slightly excessive with the exclamation points, but really sometimes you just have to let loose and celebrate. and what better time than when you have just arrived home from work and do not have to return for two full days? seriously name something more worth while to celebrate with an overuse of the exclamation point.
on a lighter note we are less than a month from opening day!!!!!!! okay, so maybe its not so hard to find a good use for the exclamation point but hey, i think thats okay. spring is right around the corner and soon it will be warmer and lighter and less snowier and all sorts of wonderful things will be abounding. also i learned today from our apartment news letter that honey can be used as the center of a golf ball. now whether this is true or false i do not know, but it sounds fun.

I must admit that my favorite overuse of punctuation is the comma. I like to add it wherever I feel the need to pause, or take a breath if I were reading out loud, . Commas, to me, are more like reading directions than actually being of any real use. So, dear readers, pause, take a breath, and have a lovely weekend, and possibly, think of punctuation in your own life, and how it affects your going-abouts.

And now a new segment of The Compounded:
Roommate Battle--
(While reading this part, to get into the spirit of fighting, raise your fist in the air, and imagine us doing the same, aiming them at each other; we are remembering the faces of our fathers (I also like a few semi-colons splattered here and there, even if used incorrectly)).
Battle 1: Splenda vs. Sugar--
Katie's view: I would rather have no drink treat, than a drink treat with splenda.
Amanda's view: I would rather have lots of drink treats with splenda, because they are less points.
But they are not so tasty.
But, yes they are.
Please cast your vote in the comments area. We shall tally them (which shouldn't take long), and announce the winner next blog. Brett has to buy the winner her favorite drink treat for his punishment (it's a win, win, win, see. We are in a generous mood, so he gets off easy. And may we make a suggestion, if he is feeling equally generous, he can buy the loser a drink treat, too).

The euro key's power over our blog is beginning to expand. 288280128€€. <--This appeared completely on it's own when Amanda tried pushing the back arrow. It's a message, yet we do not know the meaning. Perhaps it's a warning. A warning from who? We don't know. We are concerned.

это все

In the great tradition of our blog movie reviews, we shall now give a review of a movie that only half of us have seen. Alas, we have both seen Atonement so we cannot give our review because that would break the great tradition of our blog. The movie we are about to discuss is called Penelope.
I will go first as I have not seen the movie and I will be able to give more honest thoughts if I am not tainted by the one who has experienced it.
Here it is: something happens, James McAvoy, the end.
I second Katie's review.
That is the end of this review.

We need to tell you all something that is terribly wrong with the world€.
Not so much the entire world, just the realm of existence between us two, as roommates.
True, true.
The fact is that we never see each other.
That is pretty much the entirety of the problem, and since there are no solutions that could be the end of what is wrong with the world today.

Now, we move on, another problem we are facing, which many others are also facing, unlike our previous problem, is tax season. We, both of us, must file our taxes and have never done so without the help of our fathers.
Actually, I've never even helped my father.
Me neither.
Yeah, so, we are pretty much screwed.
No more about that. Next. . .

We would also like to assure you that we are not dead. If we start blogging more regularly, then that is a sign that one of us has died. So, cheer up, we are all here, still among the living. Be happy for today, and that is all we have to say about that.

We would like to give thanks to Nicholas Suddarth for his very helpful and knowledgeable answer to our previous question based on vehicular ipod usage.
We have no further questions on this matter. (We forgive Jill for texting while driving.)

Triumph Update:
-Brett has been doing well going to class every Monday night, but soon he will not do so well, we hear, and that day is sometime between now and the end of the semester. He feels it necessary to skip class to attend his father's marathon running event in Boston. Which we feel is a very honorable reason for not attending class. But Brett has yet to submit a formal written request for this absence, and for this reason, we have decided to allow his skippage, but with a punishment attached to it. What will that punishment be? We are now accepting suggestions. Please, feel free to leave comments about what will happen to Brett.

That is all.

I've heard yes and no.

Today, we would like to discuss a comment made about an article in the Kansas City Star discussing the Royals (go here to read the article). We think this baseball fan brings up a very interesting and controversial subject: "is it illegal to drive with an iPod? I've heard yes and no." We would love to hear your comments on this hot topic in baseball.

News Update:
-Katie is looking for a bike at a bike store. (Although, I was scouting out a good bike route, and I found a really good route to get there, except right before 81st and Quivira there is no more sidewalk anymore. Then, I guess I could just cut onto the street and turn left at the stop light, and take a left across the street into the parking lot. Which, I guess is not a big deal, but how fast do you bike on average? I was thinking I could just ride on the sidewalk all the way there. So, now I don't know).
-Steve's hair cutter was in Slovakia, and not in Minnesota.
-The package Katie sent to Josh (her brother, though, you should know this) in the mail was returned to her without being delivered to him. Apparently, in Florida, if you are not on the lease, you may not receive mail. We do not know if this is true. We have our suspicions and Katie is rather annoyed that this happened. I'm so annoyed that this happened.

Past Event:
We did not go to City Market on Saturday because we did not feel like it. We felt like sleeping.

And now to address a bigger issue we have been avoiding: What what will happen to the blog if Katie or Amanda dies?
If we will the blog to each other, even in death it can continue.
Katie, will you will the blog to me?
I will.
I will it to you as well.
We should make vows in case that happens: I vow to always blog on Tuesdays and Thursdays 'till death should take me.
We don't even blog that much and we are both still alive.
But death would spur us on to be better people.
So, what you are saying is that if our readers want more to read, they should hope for one of our deaths?
Exactly.

Coming soon: A new bedtime story by Amanda Johnson and Katherine Schnose, a review of Atonement, and tips on how to not both buy kitchen cleaner and sponges at the store without the other roommate knowing on almost the same day so you now have 2 bottles of kitchen cleaner and twelve sponges and no cottage cheese because that wasn't on the list on the fridge.

To the blog

Katie, what would like you like to say to the blog?
To the blog?
I mean, to the readers. €Martha says, "To the blog, to the pain." Thank you, Martha.

While we are thanking people, we would like to thank all the people who made suggestions for Katie's career. Especially, the ones who think she'd be good at teaching deaf kids to run and Helen Keller to jump rope (jobcombobulator sounds promising).
Katie, are you now considering all of these options?
Yes.

Triumph Updates:
Things are going well in the triumph point department.
Ongoing Triumphs-
-We hope Brett went to class tonight.
-Amanda has yet to begin going to Royals games, but Royals games have yet to begin for Amanda to go to, so, as far that point goes, we shall just have to wait.
-One question for Timothy, though, would 6 months of 5 days a week blog entries actually be 120 posts, instead of 80? That would make him almost 1/3 of the way through, now, which is deserving of a round of applause and the announcement of "credit where credit is due". So, if you please, wherever you are, take a moment, and give out some credit.
New Triumph-
-Katie and Jeremy are going to compete to see who can finish a crossword puzzle book first. They each have their own copy and will begin near the first of March.

Upcoming events(s):
-It is time for warmer weather.
-We will be going to City Market on Saturday, February 23 , if we feel like it. And depending on the weather. You should come, too.

Investigative Journalism:
We have found a light bulb attached to a string in our utility closet. (It is a sight to behold--my, oh, my.) This would have been helpful on that long ago morning when the power went out while someone was using her hair dryer and space heater at the same time, and needed to find the switch in a very dark utility closet to turn the lights back on in the bathroom and a bedroom.

A word about Becoming Jane:
Don't.
My review about it will be the same as your review of The Squid and the Whale.

And now, a thought of the day from Katie (different from Katie's Corner in the way that right now Amanda is typing what Katie is saying, as opposed to Amanda giving up control and letting Katie have a turn for a minute):
Maybe, when it comes springtime, I will get a bike, and bike to work. But, I don't know, can you bike on the sidewalk, or do you have to bike on the road?
I think on the road.
I thought if I could go on the sidewalk, I could find a quicker, short cut way to work.
I do not know the legal laws of bicycling.
'Cause I could be outside and it would be nice weather, and I could save some gas. I also do not know if my work has a bike rack. I'm just weighing the pros and cons of biking, here. It would take me considerable more time than driving. Though, if I was on the road, I could go as fast as a car.
You are a very fast biker.
Though, I've never biked in the street before.
I think this is a good idea overall. I give it a rating of 'good idea' on a scale of 1-5. Please, feel free to rate Katie's Biking Idea in the posting area. We are eager to see if she has support in this endeavor.
Although, my ideal way to bike to work would be on a motorcycle.
You can't have eaten your cake and wish you still had it, too.

The Sperm and The Whale

Katie had the worst day of her life.
not quite that bad
Well, it was pretty bad. Now, she is laying on the couch with her eyes closed. Oh, now she is talking, and seeming better. That is a good sign. Whew.
The good news about my day is that I thought I was going to have to be there late, but I didn't.

Please help us define "transmission" as referring to Katie's work. A lady felt very strongly about it today, saying they had sent one to Katie's work. Ah, perhaps it has something to do with "transmitting", Katie thinks.

Question: What is a good new job for Katie? Please leave ideas in the comments. She would like:
1. Something perhaps outside at times
2. Something with projects
3. Something with a desk at times and without one as well
4.Oh, and something without stupid people on the phone. No phone.

That is all about that.

News Update:
Katie has found her phone headphones that she lost so long ago about month ago. She purchased new ones since then, but hates them, so hoorah for finding the old ones.

And now our real thoughts on The Sperm and the Whale.
Actually, it's The Squid and the Whale, but we can hear your thoughts on The Sperm and The Whale as well.
Okay, Katie, what are your thoughts, since I haven't seen the movie?
I thought it was an interesting movie. I don't have much experience with divorce, so I didn't relate to the situation very well. But anyone, and a lot people, probably would.
Did you like the action sequences?
Very riveting.
How about the special effects?
Oh, they were okay.
And what about the character development?
Well, I think the only one who really changes is the oldest son.
How does he change?
He kind of has his opinion about everything, and towards the end, he steps back and sees the situation more clearly.
How did the movie make you feel?
Kind of, a little sad, a little depressed, a little like "oh, that was interesting", a little like hmm.
And in the future, I shall someday watch this movie, if I feel like it.
And that folks is the review of The Squid and The Whale.


And now about Bunicula. Well, Katie hadn't even heard of such a thing, so I had to fill her in and I hardly know a thing as well. It's a bunny who is a vampire. He likes to suck the juices out of vegetables and leaves tiny, cute bunny-vampiric holes in celery and carrots for people to find and be curious about. . . Adam, what the heck made you think of Bunicula? We feel Denmark is messing with your wits. In the future, we should have reading time of this particular tale for all to know and learn of such things.

(We would like to commend Adam for reading our blog, even in Denmark).


And now to quote Katie quoting James 1:1 in the NASB "James Bond, a servant of God. . ."

You might think we forgot to mention one idea from the posts, the one I am referring to is Juliet's thoughts on the best yells from Robin Hood--A clue. No, we did not. We shall be reviewing the tapes, and you will soon know our thoughts. But yes, "This is an ambush!" is high on the list. Could you please specify if the calls must come from Robin Hood himself, or from the show in general. Thank you.

And now we are going to try an experiment. . . We call it "Interview of Brett-A Test".

Ending

We would like to begin today with a suggestion for those of you who comment on our blog (and those of you who don't but should).
But, before we begin with that, we shall begin with this. We would like to give credit where credit is due to Jake for eating the cake with the black frosting. For those of us who witnessed this, it was great, and for those who didn't, you missed out.
That is the end of the interruption to the beginning of today's post. Back to the suggestion: When you make a comment, you might think of something you would like to read about in our blog. If you make a good suggestion we will consider it and discuss our thoughts, feelings, and even future actions on your subject. If you don't make a good suggestion, we will of course publicly humiliate you for all the world to see. So, if you feel so bold, get to writing.


And now, the rest of the story:
That evening, after a good long run on the treadmill, Katie went into the bathroom to take a late in the day shower. A moment not too long after this, Amanda walked into the apartment. As you may remember, our two main characters last left each other in not the best of terms. They had quarreled that morning; nothing had yet been resolved, and Amanda felt a bit hesitant to talk to Katie, not knowing if she'd still be angry with her. Hearing the shower running, Amanda thought, Hmm, Katie must be in the shower. If Katie had heard Amanda's thoughts€, she might have said, rather sarcastically,"You're the smartest!" and their tiff may have been further deepened. Thankfully, Katie didn't know how to read minds, so Amanda was allowed to keep her thoughts, obvious as they may be, to herself.

Kicking her shoes off, Amanda turned on an episode of Robin Hood of the BBC, and started making some taco salad, knowing the combination would be a sure fire way to win over her roommate, and hopefully put to rest the early morning's harsh words.

Deep in the heart of the bathroom, Katie suddenly screamed. Amanda, greatly concerned, ran to the bathroom door to find out what had caused Katie's shriek. Knocking loudly, Amanda yelled, "Katie?! Are you okay?"

Katie's voice came through the thin bathroom door, "I just read on the white board in here that the giraffe vomited. That's disgusting."

"Oh. I thought you had died or perhaps been hurt. But, you're fine, though?"

"Yes. But can a giraffe vomit? I mean, look at their necks. They'd have to puke it all the way up their throat, and out their mouth. That'd have to be some strong reflexive throat muscles."

Amanda smiled. It seemed that Katie wasn't hurt and, from the light hearted tone Katie was taking, that their friendship was on the mend. "Good point. By the way, I'm making. . . " Amanda was about to say "By the way, I'm making taco salad for us to eat for dinner while we watch an Episode of BBC Robin Hood," but before she could finish, Katie let out another, only more shriekier and much louder than before, cry of alarm.

"Katie?!" Amanda gripped the door knob to the bathroom.

"AAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH!" came Katie's reply, along with the sound of spraying water. Seeing there was nothing she could do for her friend from the hallway, Amanda burst into the tiny bathroom. What she saw startled her beyond what any story of an animal with an extremely long neck upchucking could do.

The faucet was on full blast, so high powered that the water in the sink shot up and into Katie's face. Katie, in her lovely, blue fleece robe that her mother had given her for Christmas, was unable to see to move away from the bursting water, and because of this, was slowly being drowned in her own bathroom.

Amanda, not aware that the faucet seethed with murderous intentions, reached towards the nozzles to turn off the water, but as she did so, the faucet increased the pressure coming through its mouth (for that is what the spout is to a faucet--its mouth), and hit Amanda in the face, full force, as well as the bathroom door, slamming it shut, keeping both girls from escaping.

The two roommates struggled to shield their faces from the pounding water coming at them from their bathroom sink (more accurately, their bathroom faucet) without any success.

Feeling it was winning the battle rather easily, and enjoying this feeling of victory, the faucet smiled to itself (which it was able to do while spurting water all over the two roommates, for a faucet never closes its mouth, not even to chew--rude, yes indeed, but true--because a faucet has no nasal passages, and cannot breathe if it doesn't keep its mouth open). The faucet thought darkly, Now, I will be able to have peace and quiet, without blow dryers, power outages, and yelling voices in the morning. I have defeated the two who have invaded my place of dwelling, and I shall live on as the most intelligent. . ." The faucet, who was in the middle of thinking, "as the most intelligent, bilingual water faucet of them all," felt its mouth suddenly clogged, and the water, which had been spewing forth in such strong gusts, unable to come forth any more.

Amanda and Katie, their eyes still blinded by the onslaught of water that had been aimed at their faces, squinted at each other.

"Kate, was that you who stopped the water?" Amanda pulled the collar of her shirt up to wipe her dripping eyes, which did little to dry anything, considering it was as completely drenched as the rest of her.

"No. What the heck happened? I was in here, getting ready to blow dry my hair, when, without any warning, I got a face full of water, and I couldn't see or breathe."

"I don't know," Amanda bent over the sink, and eyed the faucet carefully. "But look," she said pointing at something hanging out of the faucet.

Katie leaned closer to the sink, and saw what Amanda had first noticed. The cord to the hair dryer that she'd been about to use, but had not yet plugged in, was folded over and stuck inside the faucet's mouth.

"How in the crap did that happen?" Katie asked, as she grabbed both the cold and hot water taps and turned them all the way off. "There's no way the cord could have made it's way in there while that water was blasting at us. The pressure was so freaking strong."

Nodding in agreement, Amanda reached under the sink and turned off the water valve, afraid of what would happen if the blow dryer slipped out of its current place of water-stoppage. "I don't know how, but thank goodness it did, or who knows what would have happened. I think I'll go call maintenance. You'd better not stay in here, just in case, until someone comes to fix it. How about some taco salad and Robin Hood?" Both roommates left the bathroom together, thinking how blessed they were that by some fluke, their lives had been saved by an electric hair dryer.

But, unbeknown to them, that "fluke" of a hair dryer had been sitting on the counter, next to the bathroom sink all day listening to the faucet murmur its plans to kill both girls that evening. Not being the violent type, and also having had time to grow fond of the girls (since the day the electricity had gone out and rendered Katie's old hair dryer useless, and they'd both started sharing Amanda's), this royal blue hair dryer had decided$€€€it's duty was to protect the unsuspecting duo from being killed by The Killer (as the faucet was known in Mid-World), and had kept it's guard up all day and into the evening, ready to do what was needed to prevent any harm from being done to the two girls. As the hair dryer hung with it's cord in the faucet's dead mouth (for the faucet had suffocated to death, having no way to breath with it's mouth completely stuffed, and no nasal passage for air to flow through), it thought sadly, but proudly, how the two roommates would never know how it'd saved their lives.

As Amanda and Katie watched "Who Shot the Sheriff?", while eating a bowl full of lettuce and taco meat with salsa and sour cream with cheddar cheese, the apartment's emergency maintenance man changed the water fixture in their bathroom sink. The new faucet slid gently into place, as the old one lay on the floor, unmoving. Coming out of the bathroom, the maintenance guy brought out the fixture pieces, including the dead faucet. "Well, I got this one off, and put in the new one. Don't know why it acted all funny. I think the knobs were lose or something. Your water pressure is fine now, and I don't think you have anything more to worry about. Anyhow, sorry 'bout this mess. For your trouble, we'll get the ozone machine back here for you to keep, so the cigarette smell in the bathroom will be taken care of for good. It's the least we can do after this mayhem. " He walked towards the door, and then stopped, and added, "Oh, I couldn't get your hair dyer out of the spout. I had to cut the cord. We'll pay for a new one of those. It was stuck in there really good. You must have pushed hard to get it in there. Real genius move. Don't know what else would have worked quite so well." He laid the hair dryer and the sliced cord on the brown corduroy ottoman in the living room and left.

Amanda and Katie looked at the hair dryer for a moment, both wondering again how in the world it had gotten stuffed into the spigot (which is another name for faucet, but not a very nice one).

"Want to go to Costco and get another hair dryer tomorrow night?" Katie asked Amanda, as she started on a cottage cheese cup.

"Sure. I want to see if they have a green one."

"Cool. I liked the black one I had awhile back. I think I'll see if they have one like it."

Amanda smiled sadly, and turned back to the TV, "You know, I almost feel guilty getting another hair dryer, though. It's kind of like this one saved our lives."

Katie tilted her head to the side for a moment, considering what Amanda said, "Yeah, you're right. You know what, I wonder if someone could fix this one. I mean, that might sound silly, but what do you think?"

"Yeah, let's ask our dads or someone. I'm sure it can be done. And it's not silly. I think it's quite fitting."

Two days later, the two roommates were able to mend their blue hair dryer that had indeed saved their lives, but it never quite worked the same way as before the incident with the murderous faucet. So, they had gone to Costco and bought a black one and a green one for everyday use. The roommates never threw away the royal blue hair dryer, though. It sat on the side of the sink, waiting for another day, when it might be needed again to save their lives.

The End of Was there a Journey, After All? by Amanda Johnson and Katherine Schnose.

Well, good and faithful readers, I hope you enjoyed that tale. Katie seemed to be enjoying it while I typed it, but soon fell asleep. I'm not sure if that is a sign of the lack of interestingness in the story, but alas, I have no way of knowing now that she's gone to bed. But she gave me her blessing to post--so, no solo posting going on tonight! Have a red Valentine's Day. Goodnight all.

(One last comment: On my way to bed after writing this, I was frightened by the darkened bathroom as I passed it by. For a brief moment, I wondered why, and then remembered what I had just been doing, and thought, wow, I've gone and scared myself. Well done to bravery. I'll admit it, my bedroom door is closed tightly now. You can never be too careful when there are killer faucets about.)