Updates...

So Ben arrived here safely, as you probably already know, but no guarantees he's going to leave the same way. When he arrived and I tried to put him to work, he quickly vetoed most of the tasks I asked him to do and requested my credit card. Mom and Dad, I blame YOU for his insubordination.

DAY 1:
When I was getting ready for work, Ben was also up, bright and chipper! (I'm cursing the east coast time change right now). As I was getting ready he, in no particular order, tried to put a fanny pack on me and insist I wear it all day and act totally normal, took off his shirt and flexed behind me in the mirror while I was putting on make up, let me know that my toothpaste is not ADA approved and kicked me and yelled 'THIS IS SPARTA!!!'

After his leisurely morning of drinking coffee at a coffee shop, surfing the web (probably for porn) and other such hard labor he decided to grace me with his presence and into Google for lunch.



Look how hard he's working! In the massage chair behind me while I was at my desk, slaving away.

When I got home from work, I was running around, trying to pack and get things ready to go. Ben watched TV, occasionally looking up to admonish me for not paying attention to him, and for packing too much. He also informed me that the one task I had asked him to do, which he said he would do (going through the fridge and throwing out old condiments) he had not done since the condiments 'all still looked good.' I gently explained that this was not the point and since I am leaving in a week, it is doubtful I will be involved in any sort of dare that requires me to ingest a full refrigerator door of condiments.

Day 2:
I wake up and can already hear that Ben is up in the living room. I'm really looking forward to when he adjusts to West Coast time. I get in the shower to start to get ready. When I get out, I see that my bedroom door is wide open. I know it was definitely closed before. Ben is sitting on the couch, trying to look like an angel. I am in sheer terror. I go to look at my phone and notice it has been removed from its charger and is nowhere to be found. I go out to the living room to ask Ben what he did with my phone, to which I only get the response, 'Warmer, warmer, oh, colder, you're so cold right now, you're in Antarctica...'. Eventually I find my phone shoved in a rolled up carpet. Ben says 'Great! You found it. Now you can go find your laptop.' He insists this is all an April Fools joke, but I really see it as him taking and hiding my shit.

I am only half kidding about killing him, since I do love my baby brother very much. Of course, we're only 1.5 days in, and I'm only half kidding so we'll see where the rest of the week takes us.

Anyway, the rest of my morning was pretty hectic at work, but on the bright side, my team gave me a gift certificate and a little plant as going away gifts. The little flower was wilting when I got it but I watered it and put it by the window and look at it now!



Unfortunately I can't take it to Australia cause of customs, but isn't it pretty? :)