Matter o' Perspective

Today I took care of a few boys that I have been babysitting/nannying for about six years. Broc (7 and 1/2) and Wyatt (5) are nothing but boyish mischief at their best. I feel old when I realize that I have been a big part of their lives since before Wyatt was a mere twinkle in his parents' eyes.

Anyway, this day we started with quite an adventure. Wyatt is a new owner of a darling hamster named Shubba (a word he made up while singing). Within the first few moments of being introduced to the lovely Shubba - she bit the Wy-guy on the finger which caused him to fling her a few feet across the room. After quickly returning the critter to her cage - I returned to find the boy with his finger completely covered in blood (thank God I am not squeemish) and him crying quite loudly. Fifteen minutes, half an episode of Spongebob, numerous tears, five bloody tissues, and three band-aids later - we finally managed to stop the bleeding.

Let's just say that after that ordeal - the rest of the day was cake.

Speaking of pets, my family has aquired another fuzzy friend. Due to the closely timed departures of both our beloved guinea pig and cat, we felt a gap in our smaller fuzzy cuddle department. Thusly - my sister and mother ventured to adoption day at a local petstore and procured a lovely kitty who has been unofficial dubbed "Jazzoo Sassafras" by respective members of my immediate kinfolk.

Pictures will, no doubt, be provided soon.

Memorial

RIP: Harri Pig. 2001-ish to December 25, 2008.
You and your fashion statements will be missed.

I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas

Only two more semesters to go until I have my undergraduate degree in Accounting. Then three more intense semesters and I will have my masters in Accountancy. Then one huge test later and I will have my CPA. It seems so simple when I type it out in three sentences, but those three sentences are the next two years of my life. Weird.

However I have survived through yet another round of finals. Quite miraculously, in fact. My brain still feels like someone has taken an ice cream scoop to it and left several good divots. This has been reflecting in my day to day life. I've been very distracted and forgetful. After taking three comprehensive finals back to back on one day - I tried to unlock the door to that Man of Mine's apartment with my car door opener. I stood there for a good thirty seconds not comprehending why the nice little "unlock" button was not functioning. Embarrassing.

Speaking of that Man of Mine - we had our two year yesterday. I am very blessed by him.

I watched "It's A Wonderful Life" today with my mom. I am so ready for Christmas!

What Are You Doing Here?

Last night I had the inevitable "i-can't-believe-you-are-in-the-audience-watching-me-look-like-an-idiot" awkward moment last night. It was my current Intermediate Account II teacher, at an away show, in a restaurant that I don't think I'll ever be able to afford. I walked in the room with my two fellow performers and then - BAM - there he was right at the front table.

It was strange and awkward for several reasons. The most prevalent two reasons being:

• I had just seen him ten hours before in class and asked him about the proper titles of certain accounts.
  
• Teachers aren't supposed to exist outside of the class room - much less outside of the school.

Oh well. I suppose it was bound to happen someday. I survived it and have had time to think about all of the people that would have been even more awkward to have in the audience. Here is an abbreviated list:

1. Hitler.
2. Any ex ever.
3. A stalker.
   
4. Simon Cowell
   
5. Sasquatch
   

Any Way You Want It

Truth be told I am slightly disappointed with our society.

This isn't going to be a long drawn out lecture of moral or politics, but instead a brief observation, so don't freak out on me.

Today I rode my bike to school as per usual. Around mile 2.5 there is a shopping center where I jump on the sidewalk to avoid a particularly busy intersection. It appeared that the shopping center had run their sprinklers that night because the side walk was wet. Being the genius that I am - I didn't think that it would be too slick since the concrete was only damp looking and not soaked. However the 20 degree weather disagreed with me and the sidewalk turned out to be incredibly slippery!

Needless to say I wiped out massively and now have a bruise the size of Brazil on my thigh. Luckily I am such a helmet-wearing nazi because I knocked my head pretty well, too. The fall twisted my seat (which I adjusted back), popped off my bike chain, left me with a good head ache for the rest of the day, and robbed me of any dignity I may have had left.

Here is where my frustration with society comes into play. Once it happened I joked with myself that I should sue the shopping center for being so stupid as to run the sprinklers in December. It was then that it dawned on me that someone very actually could take that path, wipe out, break something, and sue them because they didn't have enough foresight to take necessary precautions. It is the whole "warning-label-on-a-cup-of-coffee-from-McDonalds" mentality. We want everything to be all about us, but we are unwilling to take any sort of personal responsibility for our actions.

Grow up, America.

Time of the Seasons

Today is the first day in three that I won't be in the car for three hours. I suppose that is what happens when you live three hours from home and your home is three hours from Grandma's. It's a good thing that I don't mind road trips, but being in the car again for three hours tomorrow really doesn't sound appealing.

Now that Thanksgiving is over though, it is time to think about all the crazy wonderfulness that is Christmas. I love this season. There is a warmth to people even when it is so crazy cold outside. Not to mention 24/7 Christmas music! Nothing excites me more than a good rousing carol. That is probably why I good chunk of my iTunes is solely of the yuletide genre (Yes. I am that person who listens to Christmas music all year long).

It is just such a great time to reflect on the wonders of God and his love for us.

I love this season.

Pipe Dreams

There are a lot of things I really like about this colder time of year.

I love bundling up in warm blankets with a hot cup of water with lemon and honey in my comfy ghetto chair. I love the warm, bulky sweaters. I love seeing snow swirling outside of my window. I love wearing my red gloves, my Superman beanie, and my wool scarf from Scotland (thanks Lizzie). I love how awake I feel when I ride my bike or walk outside in the brisk air. I love wearing tights and leggings. I love that red is in season so it is everywhere. I love eating a steaming bowl of home made chicken noodle soup. I love turning down the thermostat at night and climbing under a mountain of covers and pulling them over my head until morning. I love the sound of the Salvation Army bells outside of the grocery store.

But there is absolutely nothing that I hate more in the world than going to the bathroom and having the toilet seat being as cold as ice.

I absolutely hate that.

Maybe Sharper Image or something has a heated toilet seat.

So Long Old Friend

My childhood cat died a few days back. It wasn't unexpected (she was 17 and fairly sick) but that doesn't mean that it sucks any less. Perhaps what makes it harder is that I haven't been home all fall and I've missed my kitty. Now when I am about to go home for Thanksgiving and anticipating some serious kitty-cuddle-time, that isn't going to happen.

Another thing is that now all my childhood pets are gone. My dog died about four years ago and now my cat. I suppose it works out all right since we named them as sort of a pair. The dog's name was Caber and the cat's name was Toss(ie) as in the game of Caber Toss (My family is painfully Scottish). Now they are both gone.

I'd like to say that I was a big girl about this - but I really wasn't.
I volunteered to cut the onions at work so that I would have an excuse to cry on the clock.

Seasoned or Waffle fries?

It has been an eventful past few days.

I have had the privilege of helping open a brand new Backyard Burger store. This included a few weeks of in-store training at an already open location and then three days of intensive corporate training at our actual location. We opened our doors on Monday and, I won't lie, it was stressful. Tensions were really running high between corporate trainers being there still making sure that we didn't screw up, the owner making sure everything was done up to his standards, and just the other craziness that accompanies the opening of a new store.

I put in a nine hour shift that day and no matter how rewarding it was to be on the ground floor of this operation - my feet still killed. Tomorrow I am going in for a short (seven hour) shift starting at eight - so I'd better get to bed. The food industry is demanding.

Anomaly

There are a lot of things in this world that I just don't understand. One of those things is a phenomenon I like to call "shorts-and-sandals-dude". This is the guy that, no matter how freaking cold it is outside, is always wearing shorts and sandals.

It has been consistently below 60 degrees now for about a week, most days under 50, and still I see these shorts and sandals dudes. I see them at work, I see them on campus, I see them in the store... Seriously! Has someone not told them that it isn't summer anymore?

I can't wrap my mind around why anyone would do that.

Then again - it typically needs to get to be about 90 degrees outside before I put on shorts.

Ah well. The "shorts-and-sandals-dude" isn't as bad as "shorts-with-shoes-and-tube-socks-pulled-up-to-his-knees-man".

Oy.

What's My Age Again?

I am very passionate about bike safety.

Blame it on watching too much Rescue 911 as a kid (they never die, but they always almost die) but I am. I insist on wearing a helmet at all times while I am riding my bike even when I am biking across campus (typically I've just biked 5 miles from my apartment). This brings some people to say that I am overly cautious, but their arguments against wearing a helmet are always less convincing than the ones to wear a helmet.

The main protests to my health conscious habit is that it "looks stupid" and that "no one else does it". Now mind you - this argument is coming mainly from people with college educations who are well spoken and, typically, quite reasonable. If they were of any other standard I would, perhaps, not be as put off by this. However, this rebuttal to my helmet-wearing is remarkably lame.

Telling someone that they "look stupid" or that "no one else does" as justifiable reason to stop doing something, last time I checked, that logic went out in 5th grade. It seriously disturbs me that my peers honestly allow themselves to be so controlled by appearances that they put that before their safety.

It's Hip to be a Square

I have realized lately what a complete and total nerd I am.

Perhaps I have been in a blissful state of denial even though the evidence was obvious, but I can't ignore it any longer. As I was picking out my classes for next semester I looked at what was available and what I needed to take in the future and I was overwhelmed. Forensic Accounting? Strategic Management and Planning? Government and Non-Profit Accounting? If my mom reads this she will be half asleep just reading the names of the courses, and I don't blame her. Nothing about those classes sounds exciting - yet I am kind of excited to take them.

Another nail in the coffin of nerd-dom is that one of my favorite board game is "Star Wars Trivial Pursuit". Blame it on the fact that people have called me Princess Leia for years or that my boy friend has a strange affinity for Han Solo (appropriate, right?) but there is just something about being a Star Wars fan that seals your fate as a die-hard nerd.

Did I mention that I own six out of the seven available series of Smallville and that those are the only DVDs in my apartment right now?

I guess it could be worse, though.
I could be a Treky.

Trick-or-Treat!

We didn't celebrate Halloween in my house growing up.

We celebrated All-Saints Day.

On Halloween night we would go down in our basement with another family or two that didn't celebrate Halloween. We would learn about the pagan druids carving out turnips and putting a candle inside - which is how we got Jack-o-Lanterns. They would swing the turnip around while wearing disfiguring costumes to ward off evil spirits - which is why we dress up. Instead of going trick-or-treating my mom would buy each of us our favorite bag of candy.

It wasn't until freshman year of college that I ever had the opportunity to dress up for a "Halloween party". It was awkward. I didn't enjoy it. After years of waiting to go to a Halloween party and dress up - I was substantially disappointed. I suppose I expected it to be something special, something more, something better than just your typical costume party, but it wasn't. It was just a bunch of people in stupid looking clothes talking about the same stupid things and doing the same routine things.

It isn't that I am bitter against Halloween. I've gone to other Halloween events since then, but they all were fairly similar experiences. I'm not trying to be a downer, but I just find little inspiration from this holiday and find it hard to understand why it is anyone's favorite.

Bring on Thanksgiving and Christmas!

Sign of the Times

It is here.

It has officially come.

It is fall because I had to wear gloves and a scarf when I rode my bike to school today.

Hello sweaters and bowls of delicious warm soup! Hmmmm I love autumn.

Never Never Land

I've been feeling particularly grown-up-ish lately.

Between disputing utilities bills with the utility company, comparing graduate schools, and job searching I have very much felt like a big bad adult. I haven't minded it much, but it is an odd feeling. There is something to be said for being a "grown-up" person, but there is a bittersweetness to leaving your childhood for good.

Perhaps the fact that I went back home for fall break this weekend that I have the sensation of limbo. While I pay for everything on my own, when I go home I still feel very much a child. In many ways I suppose I would equate my experience with a child playing dress-up in her mother's clothes. It doesn't fit quite yet, but it will someday.

Welcome to "adult adolescence".

Details in the Fabric

I'm not going to lie - it has been a strange week.

When I say strange I don't mean it in a bad way. I mean it much more in a kind of when you look back at it, there were/are a lot of thing that don't happen routinely that happened. I put in my two weeks notice at the tea room and also started training at Back Yard Burger. Those are two things that don't normally happen in my week, but more substantially I have been dealing with the strange concept of aging and dying a lot more than normal it seems.

I reconnected with a friend from swing dancing back in high school on facebook the other day only to find that she has been fighting blood/bone marrow cancer for the past year and has been hospital bound for a good chunk of the past year. She is my age. Two of my best friends from childhood got engaged. They are younger than I. That man of mine's grandmother was put in intensive care today for dehydration and fever. My only remaining grandparent had surgery this week and is recovering.

These are not things that happen in a routine. These things are abnormalities, glitches in the matrix, yet they happen so frequently that perhaps my routine is the glitch. Maybe the things I am viewing as extraordinary are really the things that are quite ordinary indeed. Or perhaps I need to rethink even my routine as extraordinary and special since, honestly, it all could be over so quickly.

It is just that sometimes, I really hope that the grandparents that never got to see me grow up to who I am now would be proud of me. I also really hope that they would like that man of mine. Is that silly of me?

update: Matt's grandma passed away this morning (Sunday) around 11:45. Prayers would be appreciated.

I don't feel like typing 5000 words.

So in the past week or so since I plopped down and enjoyed a good blogg-ing - there have been some changes of note in my small apartment-dwelling-life.

But firstly, much delayed hair pictures:

This is my hair right after I cut the fake part of my braids off so that it was only my natural length.


This is me in full lion-style! RAWR! Five hours of un-braiding while watching an unprecedented amount of Smallville. Now it is hard to not look good when your hair is so big! Now this is me now. So boring with normal hair. Well. Normal texture anyway. The red is not so much the real.

Now since I have updated the world on the ever changing coif of me I thought that I would make a sort of "baby" announcement. As of Saturday I became the proud mommy of a little baby hamster. Her name is Hercules and she is adorable!


There are going to be several adventure and stories about this lovely creature I am sure. Oh I am sure. However, now I am fairly certain that it is time for Hercules and I to have cuddle-and-have-ball-rolling-around-the-apartment time. Oh it our favorite time of day!

A Simple Matter of Context

A lot has been happening in my small world. My Schlotzsky's is closing on Friday for good.It is rather sad, but I have been putting in a crazy amount of resumes and applications to basically any place that is hiring. One of those will pan out. I just know it.

Speaking of work - while I am riding my bike to Schlotzsky's (which won't be for much longer) there are signs that people put in their yards which say: "Drive 25 - keep kids alive!". Now I know that what they mean by this is that if you drive slower you are less likely to have an accident and kill a child. However, to me at least, it looks like they are saying: "Hey! It is okay to hit kids as long as you are going 25 MPH!".

Ah the facets of the English language....

Small Packages

I'm short.

Not painfully short, but below average. On a good day I stand at a whopping 5 feet 3 and 1/2 inches (that half is very important to me). This makes for certain difficulties on the day to day that I never seem to notice until I see someone who is taller than I am do it with relative ease.

For example: I can't reach the top shelf of anything without a chair or stool. At work I have to have people get take-home containers for me because I just can't reach them. Putting ice in the pop machine is an absolute chore which involves a chair and then still lifting the bucket of ice up to head level.

At grocery stores I have to ask people to get stuff for me from the top shelf if I want something up there.

Also when I am unloading the dishwasher and having to put away things on the top shelf I have to climb onto the counter top to do this.

When I go to a show that doesn't have stadium seating I have to either be in the front few row or I literally can't see because of people sitting in front of me.

If your car/truck/whatever has lifts - you better be prepared to lift me into it.

Oh well.

It really isn't so bad. I can pull off high heels without looking like an Amazonian freak. That's a plus. Right?

Regardless of anything else in this post - Smallville season eight premieres tomorrow! I am so ready...!

Charlotte's Web

There has been this gi-mundo orb spider that has made its house right by my front light outside of my apartment. The first time I noticed him in the shadows he scared the living day lights out of me. His body was about the size of a quarter and all fuzzy and weird looking.

This spider freaked me out.

He's been there for about a week and after the initial scare I have found that I have come to enjoy his company. I have called him Larry. It's been nice to see him there in his little corner waiting for me to come back home and then leave again. Kind of like a pet - but lower matainence.


Tonight Larry was gone.
It made me a lot more sad than I thought it would.

Caring Notions

I check my mail every single day even though I don't have to.

It is a little bit of a walk from my apartment, but I like to check it every day. Not because I feel like I should get mail everyday (I don't). Most of the mail I do get are is bills and junk mail which would make you think that I wouldn't want to get the mail. Actually - sometimes it does. However, I check it without fail.

Here is why: Besides getting to use my cute little mailbox key - I don't want the mail man to find that I didn't pick up my mail from the day before. I don't want the mail man to feel like I am slighting him and not valuing his valuable service by not even honoring his efforts by taking his offering even though I am 99% sure that the mail man could care less.

Today I realized this. It kind of makes sense considering that I was the kid who rotated the dishes so that one that had just been used wouldn't be used before one that hadn't had its turn yet so as not to hurt the dish's feelings.

Come to think of it - I still do that.

Passing Questions

I have been going to Missouri State University for a year now. Before that I went to Johnson County Community College for four years (Junior year of high school through Sophomore year of college). In both places I have come across a strange phenomenon.

The recognition of people I don't know at all.

It is so strange. I will walk through the same buildings or down the same sidewalks on campus and see the same people again and again, semester after semester. Inwardly I feel like I should at least greet them, but why? I have never formally, or even informally, met them. Do they even recognize me and my constantly changing coif? Is it just that I have an uncanny way of recognizing people like my mom? And if they do recognize me - do they feel the same compulsion to greet me like I want to greet them? Am I missing out on some meaningful friendship that I could be having simply because I am restrained by my own fear of embarrassment and rejection?

Really. It isn't as dramatic as all that. I'm just curious if they recognize me, too. That's all.

Mish-mosh, Pish-posh

I have been in my apartment for over a week now. It is rather nice and cozy, though there needs to more art on the walls. It needs to feel a bit more "lived in". That will come with time, I suppose.

In other news that is similar but different, my roommate is never here when I am here and rarely spends the night. It makes for some loneliness at times, but freeing independence at other points. Also - rent is due tomorrow (Happy Labor Dabor) so I hope I can get in contact with her long enough to get her half of it.

In other news that is no where near apartment related: I am taking out my braids tomorrow. I am finishing season five of Smallville and taking out my braids. It is an end of another hair era my friends. I am quite interested to see how my hair will turn out this time.

Don't worry. Pictures will be coming.

Viewing Pursuits

Besides my quest of watching all of the Smallville episodes in chronological order - I have also been watching all of the Friends episodes in order with my boyfriend. Now the Friends endeavor has lasted a year so far and we are just over half way through with the series. We trade off who has the DVDs at their respective houses and this has lead to several interesting conversations, such as:

"Do you have Friends?" he would ask me while on the phone.
Or
"Do you have Friends at your house?"

Now out of context this seems as though he thinks I have no friends and has lead to me having hurt feelings for a few seconds before realizing that he is talking about our DVDs.
Really.
It is rather funny.

... though it does seems lame when typed out like this.

The Ultimate

Oof. Moving is such a huge thing.

You really don't realize how much stuff you (don't) have until you start packing it all.

I signed my lease today though - so I suppose I can't really decide to not to move down. That would just be silly.

Ying-Yang

I have been applying for student loans all week. It is a humbling experience. For the first three years of my education I was able to pay for my tuition, book, and other such things with just my own sweat and blood. Now, in my senior year, I am being reduced to taking money from someone at an interest rate that I don't appreciate. It's not that these lenders are loan sharks, but seriously - 8.25%? Where do they get off?

In other news I balanced my feelings of ineptitude by utilizing my hard business executive skills to get my school to stop being such dumb-heads about my scholarships. For some reason they weren't applying them to my tuition and sent me a bill due tomorrow for 15 hundred dollars which was supposed to be covered by my scholarships. I don't keep a 3.82 GPA because it is fun and easy. Long story short - I am not paying that bill. Take that Missouri State.

Anyway. School starts in less than two weeks. Where has this summer gone?

Simple Joys

I think one of my favorite things in the whole wide world is opening up a brand new jar of peanut butter. There is just nothing quite like dipping a knife or a spoon into the untainted, creamy surface of caramel colored goodness.

Mmm yes. Please. Thanks. I'll have another.

Sing us as Song - You're the Piano Man

I have terrible taste in music.

Well. Maybe that is a tad bit extreme. However I was looking at my party shuffle on my iTunes and there are so many songs that rock so hard, but also so many songs that should make me hang my head in shame. I can't help it that I like bands like Metallica and 'Nsync.

Maybe it is just that unlike so many people who say that "they listen to everything" - I actually do. A little Miles Davis, a little Raffi, some Cake, some Tchaikovsky, a dash of Queen, some Dolly Parton, a dollop of Eminem... is an amount of music even able to be measured as a dollop?

Oh well. I listen to what I enjoy at the moment so don't judge if I am listening to Celine Dion and then Dream Theater.

It is really hard to justify the fact that I have over five Fergie songs, though.

Matches are not Toys

Tonight I am going to see Journey to the Center of the Earth with that man of mine, his sister, and a Friend Boy of mine. Now as excited as I am to see said film (not) I am much more excited to see how other events play out this evening. Sister and Friend Boy are, in theory, going on a blind date set up by me.

This is a little unnerving for me because I feel responsible for whether or not this whole event is a blast or a bust. I've never played match maker like this before so, hopefully, they don't hate each other. I'm not necessarily trying to help them find their future spouses (their only 18 and 19 years old for crying out loud. They shouldn't even be dating. What am I thinking?) but it would be nice if they had a good time and at least wanted to hang out again.

Oh well. At least I made Cherry Jell-O for us to eat. Nothing can go wrong when Jell-O is served in individual fancy glasses, right?

Update: The Jell-O glasses seemed to work. Though it doesn't seem like it was instant undying love between Friend Boy and sister it was a good time to be had by all. Huzzah!

Confirmation of Geek-dom

I cried watching Smallville last night. Granted I was exhausted and my hormones definitely are a little on the PMS-y side, but a cheesy superhero TV show shouldn't reduce me to headache inducing tears.

I suppose the fact that I was laughing the whole time I was crying says a lot about the kind of person I am.

Micro Evolution, The Process of

This is my dog Buckley and he is exceptional. Now I know that all dog owners are supposed to say that their dog is something special and wonderful, but Buckley really is. He will let you pick him up from his hind legs and he much give a grunt, but that is about it. Then when you put him down he'll give you a look of: "Why in the world did you feel the need to do that?"

Buckley possesses a near human character. I attribute this development to what I call his "Knob of Knowledge". On the top of Buckley's skull he has a protrusion which makes a lovely lump (highlighted by the red arrow). I am more than certain that this bump has given him just enough cranial capacity to surpass most other dogs in terms of sensitivity and human emotions.

Yes. The Knob of Knowledge makes Professor William F. Buckley You'resuchagoodboy (his full name) pure bred American dog (mutt) superior to most of his canine counterparts.

You know. Sometimes even I can't tell when I am joking.

Why so serious?

To continue with the superhero theme of my posting lately, I saw The Dark Night today as a birthday present from that man in my life (and of course he came, too). I am not going to part from what most people are saying in that it was a-freaking-mazing. As my friend Ben would put it - this film scored a Very Yes. However, I am going to say that I felt like a good part of soul had been sucked out by the end of it. The final product was similar to my emotional reaction after seeing Children of Men (I'm all about catharsis, but this is just ridiculous).

Christian Bale looked good without a shirt (as expected), Michael Caine wins awards for possibly being the coolest person on the face of the planet, and I liked Maggie Gyllenhaal just fine as a replacement for Katie Holmes.

Now my obligatory Heath Ledger comment. Yes. He was fantastic. Yes. I think he deserves some sort of award for his performance (not just because he's dead, but because he kicked some serious bat-butt). However - I think that his makeup artist deserves just as many awards because, seriously, his makeup was flawless. Actually - it was full of flaws, but that is what makes it so hard to achieve. That perfect balance between purposefully smeared and looks like it has actually worn off is hard to achieve. Whoever you are - you have my utmost respect.

Oh. And the random Cillian Murphy moment... what was that?

It's a bird! It's a plane! ...

So I have achieved new levels of geek status. On Saturday I became the proud owner of the first four seasons of Smallville. As if this wasn't enough to secure my geek-dom, I bought them for about 40% of their retail price off of a deal I found on Craigslist (not just for creepers anymore).

Now. I know that Smallville isn't exactly the best of television, but I absolutely love this show. I love the characters. I love the cheesy special effects (a car blows up or crashes nearly every episode). I love the fact that everyone in the cast is unreasonably beautiful.

I'm sure that some psychologists would tie my undying love of this show to my childhood obsession with Superman (hey. even I might tie it to that) but regardless of why I love this show despite its many shortcomings, I do. I like knowing that the bad guy always loses. I like that it is set in Kansas. I like that the people, despite being ridiculously good looking, have problems and issues in their lives.

I just love this show.

So don't call me for awhile. I intend to hide myself away with my obsession until I am ready to go buy season five.

Survey says...!

On a scale from one to one hundred (using the average scoring method of one equaling infinitesimal and one hundred being epic) how tragic would it be if the following happened to you:

1.) Your computer crashed and you lost all of your files.
2.) You were in a car accident. Your car is totalled, but you are completely fine.
3.) You had a dream in which you were obsessed with the Jonas Brothers.

Take your time. Think it over. I know what my answers would be.

Little blessings

So nannying two little boys this summer has meant a lot of time at the neighborhood pool. One afternoon while the four year old, Wyatt, was eating his snack of Teddy Grahams he had a profound revelation.

He looked at me and said: "Aren't we so lucky to have fingers?"

Then promptly returned to his munching.

I, for one, am very thankful for my fingers.

Retrospective

Today is the first day of summer.

Today is also a Saturday.

Besides the whole have-to-wake-up-and-go-to-work thing today - it kind of brings back some childhood nostalgia.

Mmm. I want a lemonade slushie and to swim all day long.

A Request

Dear Friendly Neighborhood Police Officers,

First off - thank you for your hard work and risking your life to keep me safe. I appreciate the every day convenience that this is. So, thanks.

Secondly, I have a small request. I know that my place of residence is at the bottom of a very long, steep hill and that there are several people who speed down it. I am also aware that it is your job to pull those people over and hold them to the laws set forth by our jurisdiction. However, late at night when you pull people over onto my street, would you mind turning off your flashing lights? They are like a Technicolor strobe in my bedroom whenever it is dark and not conducive to sleep in the slightest.

I hate to be so needy, but a girl has to get her beauty sleep.

Regards,
Sleepless from South KC

Counting Crows - Round Here (Yahoo Nissan Live)

This is one of my favorite songs in the world and this is probably my favorite version. I once heard Adam, the lead singer say in an interview: "We did a five minute studio version of this song - and we've never done that version since."

I love how every live version is slightly different.

I don't know what it is about it, but this song blows my mind.

Secret to Success

My parents recently celebrated their 29th wedding anniversary. In a society where the divorce rate is over fifty percent, I'd say that is pretty sensational. I asked my mom about why she thought that her marriage is still going strong while so many others fall apart. She told me this:

"I think it is because so many people don't understand that when you are married - it is never all about you."

Not being married I can't say that I know that this is true, but it seems to make pretty good sense to me.

What's in a name?

On my drive home the other night I saw something that struck me as quite amusing. I don't want to say that I was in a "ghetto" part of down because that word is overused, and quite frankly, not quite true in this situation. I'd say semi-ghetto, but that goes back to the overuse thing. The description "dilapidated" paints the picture nicely - I think.

Anyway. Driving home through said dilapidated area and happen to pass by a Home Depot. It being night time and dark the letters were all illuminated except for the "me" of Home. Thus the store read brightly "Ho Depot".

I laughed.

I wished I had my camera.

We Were Only Freshmen

I hate high school graduations. Every year I come to realize this more and more.They are just so tedious and overblown (ll "Pomp and Circumstance" if you will). It isn't that I don't appreciate the work that these kids put into their schooling, or that I don't realize the significance of their accomplishment - but the whole graduation ceremony is just something I fail to comprehend.

I assign my distaste to a few different possibilities. One being that I was home schooled and thus miss the whole significance of doing something in a class of more than one person. The second is that I just don't find the graduation from high school to be that monumental of an achievement.

As for being home schooled I never felt deprived of friendships or socialization. I did several activities with other home school and public/private school children and adults of all ages. This included: girl scouts, gym class, volleyball, Bible club (AWANA), spending lots of time with my grandma and her friends at her retirement center, theatre, choir, hand bells... I even went to a couple proms. Under socialized home schooler I was not. I even had the opportunity to walk at "home school graduation", but refused. It just had no appeal to me which brings me to the second point.

What is so great about graduating from high school? Completing twelve years of compulsory schooling just to sit in a hot and uncomfortable cap and gown for hours? Sure. It is a good photo op to show your grand kids, but how many people actually want to sit through all of that? Two hours to hear one name called is not my idea of a celebration.

Now hear my heart on this when I say that I go to graduations without feeling like I am being put upon or oppressed. I am honored when people invite me to their graduation because it is something that is special to them (and there is often free food afterwards but that is a completely secondary motivator) even if I can't understand for the life of me WHY it is so important to them.

I am so glad graduation season is over.

Amber is the Color of Your Energy

Ooof.
Summer vacation.

Essentially I have a week of summer where I am not working and I am in it, but even though I am not putting hours on the clock I am definitely putting hours in around the house. I'm back up here in KC and it is good to be home, but I am finding that in the 9 months of school much has gone unattended. Thus I have spent the past few days of my home stay/vacation cleaning like... something that cleans quite a bit. Yes. That is exactly how I've been cleaning. Mainly it is going through old clothes, throwing things away, putting things in bags to sell or give away... essentially spring cleaning.

On a more interesting note (not that it would be hard to find something more interesting than me talking about cleaning) Prince Caspian is an excellent movie. I highly recommend it. This is coming from someone who could take or leave The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. If you liked LWW, no offense is meant, it was good - but not nearly as captivating as Prince. Go see it. It is one of those movies that is good to see on the big screen just for the visual richness of it.

In other news: I made ice cream cup cakes yesterday. They are awesome. Pictures may be a-coming....

Shake your money maker

Twelve finals and several thousands of dollars later - I have officially finished my junior year of college learning. That is kind of surreal. I'm a senior. Granted I have three semesters more until my under-grad and then at least one year of masters work ahead of me - but it somehow seems so final to say: "I'm a senior.". Yeah. Just another step into the adultness of it all.

Whatever.

I've been talking to a few different accountants over the past week about certain aspects of the profession and asking if what I am learning is really useful. They actually say it is. I'm glad that I picked a major where the course work is actually applicable to the profession instead of one of those majors where you spend years learning things that won't be used out side of the classroom.This isn't saying that I will learn everything about accounting from a textbook, but it is nice to know that if I am going to pay five hundred dollars a semester on books that I am actually going to get a return on that.

That last sentence really made me sound like a business major. What can I say? It is all about the dollars.

Yo! Gabba Gabba Party In My Tummy

This is a legitimate and popular show on Nickelodeon. This is what is teaching our children. This show also features Biz's Beat of the Day which demonstrates basic beat boxing. If I had this show when I was a kid I would be significantly cooler than I am now.

A Rise to a Challenge

Ah mix tapes. I remember making them of favorite songs on the radio and giving them to friends, but mainly I remember keeping them and listening until they literally wore out. Well friends - here is a mix tape that won't wear out from over use. Yes. A digital mix tape.

In response to Pete's challenge, I have created my very own compilation of tasty musical treats. For my mix tape I went with a theme and decided to go with music I already had. This collection is of what would be dubbed emo songs. This is because everyone has had a bad day and/or a bad breakup. That's what this music is all about - even if it has a more heavy emphasis on the later of the two qualifications.

Luckily you can listen to these tunes without having to assume the full emo persona including tight pants, too small band tee-shirts (it is better if no one knows the band), eye liner for both genders, black hair dye, straightened and badly fringed hair cut. No. You can simply lock yourself in your room, curl up in a little ball in your lonely bed, and drown in the sadness. Well. That might be a little dramatic - but that is what emo is all about.

Anystyle, I enjoyed putting together this play list and hope that you find at least something you like or at least find amusing.

Brought to you courtesy of muxtape.com: Songs for Your Inner-Emo

Circle of Life?

I have had my fair share of blogs, and in fact, still have my fair share of blogs. Though most of them are seldom, if never, updated I still have them. There are a few that are active simply because I have a circle of friends that use that certain blogging site and I have a blog simply to comment on theirs. One of these days it will be that everyone knows enough programming to buy their own domain, write their own scripts, and we won't have to hassle with all of this multi-blog nonsense.

Traditionally the start of a new blog or journal for me symbolizes the beginning of a new part of my life. I had my good old paper and pencil through grade school, xanger through middle school, open diary through high school, and livejournal through late high school and early college. Now I am here on blogspot in my late college years looking forward to young professionalism Who can blame me for the transition anyway? blogspot is just so cute and sexy, who wouldn't want one? Monogamous blog/blogger relationships are so rare anyway. Who actually only has one forever?

Regressing slightly, seriously, did I just call a web page sexy? Oh no. That is almost as bad as laughing at accounting jokes because I actually understand them.

I started prepping for final studying - I have a fifteen page study guide for one class. I'm not even in graduate school. Does that happen?