Yes, my journal is friends-only. This is not to say I don't want you to read it, I just want to know who is reading it. On that note, feel free to leave a comment, and I'd be happy to add you!

So I have been told that I really ought to chronicle my adventures. Here it goes:

Rachel ended up going on vacation with her family to San Diego after Christmas, and one of the places they went on said vacation was Mexico. Now, living in Seattle, she didn't stop to consider that the chocolate sitting in her purse next to her phone would ever possibly melt. Which of course it did. All over the phone, and in particular the phone's speaker, causing the annoying problem of the speaker not being able to produce sound louder than a faint whisper, even when holding it up to your ear and it being on the loudest volume setting for ringing.

The phone in question was a Samsung D807, a very beautiful phone, and accordingly, the hardest thing to take apart in the world. Because of course, no warranty covers chocolate damage (or rather, I couldn't talk her into the one that would, because how in the world would she ever melt chocolate on her phone).

A brief outline of the steps required to disassemble the phone:

take off the battery cover, take out the battery, and take out the sim card

remove the four screws attaching the back cover to the phone

remove the back cover by pulling up at the sides to release the catches

unscrew the two screws attaching the motherboard to the back plate

unscrew the six screws underneath the motherboard attaching the back plate to the slider piece attached to the front plate

remove the two screw hole cover on the top of the front plate

remove the six screws attaching the cover of the front plate to the front plate

to access the speaker, pop up the black piece at the top of the front plate to which the speaker is attached

finally, use a Q-tip and rubbing alcohol to dissolve the chocolate on/in the speaker sponge.

Now this is all well and good, except for three major hangups:

1. The motherboard has a cable attached to the front plate, sautered at both ends. So if you have the phone this fully disassembled, you have the motherboard, back plate, cover of the front plate, and front plate hanging off of this cable (which is only a few inches long).

2. At each of these steps, I was having to remove chocolate using Q-tips and toothpicks from all the nicks and crannies of the phone.

3. In removing the six screws under the motherboard, one of the screws was in incredibly tight, and I didn't have quite the right size of screwdriver, so I managed to strip the screw head. Which means I had to use a Dremmel to cut a new slot into the head. Remember, the motherboard is hanging like two inches away while I'm doing this.

But in the end, even with the the two times I thought I broke it, the random banging around of the motherboard, the pieces hanging on that pesky cable at odd angles, and the random poking around for cleaning, after putting it all back together it works as good as new! Insert total amazement from whatever_art here.

And then after all that, Rachel decides she wants to get a Blackberry anyways. Anyone wanna buy a phone?

Too often life is a struggle.
Making it through my day,
Trying simply to pass each hour as it comes.
And while my life can occupy me,
with each passing of but a few hours
I find my thoughts returning to you.

Sometimes my thoughts can sustain me,
others I find it impossible to bear.
How long must I wait before I again
can hold you in my hands, let you fill me,
with all the warmth that you bring.

People say you're not good for me,
with your delicate sweetness
coupled with your hard and brittle shell.
But I know you deeper than that
how inside you're just as soft
as when you first came to be.

So long have I known you,
though not as I do now.
You have changed over the years to me
what I used to love brings weariness,
and I appreciate you in ways I never thought I would,
but still the old feeling you bring remains.

Now when I am empty, I so desire to feel
your rich sweetness between my lips;
so creamy and smooth over all the roughness.
How I find you in my life in so many different ways
and yet all of them satisfy me like none other.

I want the world to hear what you mean to me,
how much I love you.
Some may laugh, others scorn,
but you have filled me in your own special way.
So now I confess my love for you:
My sweet buttered toast.

I've been putting it off for a long time, but I can wait no longer...

I must have a Math Is Delicious shirt! And while I'm at it, I'm going to get that Music+Science=Sexy shirt that I've been wanting. Now, the only question that remains is do I get the Bearmonter t-shirt or hoodie?

While I'm at it, I've been tagged by miss_mephisto to provide ( six random facts about myself )

I've come to a decision about what I want with regards to my new lady friend, after a weekend's worth of thought and talking it over with a few of my friends. Now all I have to do is wait for her to figure out what she wants, and hopefully those two sets have a non-empty intersection.

Mum is coming over for dinner tonight; I'm making Shrimp Pilaf, Artichokes, and baking cookies. Hopefully she enjoys it!

If you had me alone, locked up in your house for twenty-four hours and I had to do whatever you wanted me to, what would you have me do? All comments will be permanently screened because it's a secret. Then repost this in your LJ. You might be surprised with the responses you get.

And while I've got you all so captivated, here are a couple of surveys I found interesting:

( Preferences, choices, and attributes )
( Random questions for a random world )

"That's it"

"I can't handle this anymore"

"And here I thought this relationship was going somewhere"

"But you know, I'm through with you"

"I spend all this time and energy"

"Trying to give you attention"

"Dropping hints"

"Writing you angsty emo poetry"

"Just to be rejected"

"I just can't handle it anymore"

"I'm sorry"

"I don't think this is going to work"

"As much as I love you... I just can't be with you"

"It's not you, it's me"

"Really, I promise"

"And all those times I told you I never wanted to hurt you, I meant it"

"All those times I told you we'd always be together, I believed it"

"All those times I used my tongue to make sure you had a clean place to sit at the ballpark, it was because I really was that devoted to you"

"But I guess I was wrong"

"I guess I'll never get to grow old while watching little Moxy and Fruvous playing in the street"

"I guess I'll never be able to tell you how beautiful you look when you have your dentures out"

"Or to freak out for a month after you forgot to take your pill, only to find relief when you have your next period"

"I'm sorry. I really thought we would work. Maybe someday we will"

"But I think we need to see other people"

"At least for a little while"

"A few months, at the very least"

"Although I suppose maybe we'll know sooner, but at least a month"

"On the other hand, there are plenty of other people out there, so we should know within a week if we're meant to be together"

"Thinking about all the people I know, really I should only have to talk to a few of them. So really only a day"

"Then there's that conversation I had with one of my friends earlier, where I was telling her how perfect you are for me. So I guess only a couple hours to talk to her"

"Oh but how I could I be so stupid. I've known all along that you were the one for me"

"I'm sorry I've been so stupid! Please take me back!"

My journal is friends-only. No, I don't have a pretty banner yet to blaze in glory across my page when someone who's not my friend reads it. For this, I apologize. I will get one up, as soon as I can figure out what I want to be. Until then, this will have to suffice. I really want ya'll to read my journal. So just leave a comment, and I'll add you.