...and laugh at how confused and terrified I was during this time period. But right now, it pretty much sucks.
By the way, let me just throw it out there that I didn't get that job in San Antonio. Yay. Not meant to be, other opportunities will show up, blah, blah, blah. I get tired of telling myself crap like that.
So now is about the time I need to start getting down to business about my future. If I plan on going to grad school next year, I need to start planning NOW. But the thing is, I still don't know what I want to do. My dream program is half a country away and each semester costs about what I make in a year right now. I don't really know if getting that degree is worth it. I don't have any real idea what I could do with that type of degree. Not to mention I'd be so far in the hole financially, I wouldn't know a way out if it threw me a rope and yelled, "Hey, I'm the way out!"
I seemed to have subconsciously decided I'm not moving out of Texas. I've tried, and I just can't picture myself doing it. I need to learn to except the terrified, family-loving, little homesick-crybaby I am. The thought of only seeing my family once, maybe twice a year drives me crazy. Due to Texas colleges generally sucking at what I want to study, this severely limits me.
So, do I:
1. Settle for some sub-par classics or history masters degree from a place like Tech or A&M (oh, the horror!)? If I'm ever going to do something with classics, I need to do it now. The longer I wait to get back into school, the less-likely I am to get accepted into any program. Same with archaeology. Only the problem is, all archaeology programs in Texas, outside of UT, seem to focus on boring New World archaeology, like the Mayans and Native Americans. I might as well decide to get a masters in Chinese, for all I know about the Mayans.
2. Attempt to find some program in museology or heritage management? I've found a heritage management program at Tech, but it really sucks compared to the dream program at Boston. And currently working in the museum world, I kinda hate it. I know there's pettiness and bureaucracy with every job, but everyone here is so stinkin' snooty! Do I really want to get sucked into that kind of world? But this seems the most realistic to me, the option most likely to get me a job supporting myself.
3. Do I try and do some sort of teacher's certification? Try and teach Latin in high school? Or, God forbid, middle school? Just stop right there, I'm going to pretend like this point doesn't even exist.
3 (revised). How about a job in one of the fall-back choices I've always set aside: travel agent or genealogist? These don't require any school beyond what I have, other than some community college-like courses and certification programs. But I did find a degree program that seemed pretty interesting: a MS in Hospitality Management concurrently with a MBA. This one seems appealing to me because it covers tourism and hospitality (one of my hobbies: I LOVE to travel and plan trips), and it also seems to provide a lot (a MS and MBA in addition to my BA). I think it would be fun to take Accounting again, but I feel like a lot of the courses are centered around restaurant and hotel management, and less tourism and travel agenty things. But it's at the University of Houston. Which is in Texas. And pretty affordable, compared to the rest of the schools I looked at. And it'll give me an MBA. But it's studying how to provide exceptional customer service, and I'm sick and tired of dealing with the general public already...
....
....
But anyways, how would I explain to the admissions panel that, "Oh by the way, I got accepted to the UT School of Business but I dropped out because it was really boring and I hated it?" Could I even get accepted into the business school there?
Why can't a decision come easy? I feel like I've been praying and agonizing and worrying about this for about 2 years now, and nothing has opened up. No opportunity has come my way, no decision has seemed comfortable or exciting or at least possible. God doesn't seem to have given me an answer yet. At least, not a big, flashing-sign type of answer.
I'm tired of not knowing what to do. I'm tired of feeling like I need to do anything to begin with.
This is really starting to get to me.
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
Thursday, July 29, 2010
Amy... What you wanna do?
So here I am on the laziest of Wednesday evenings I've had in a long time. Work was pretty boring and I've been in a state of mental shutdown nearly the entire day. I've spent much of my free time this evening zoning out in front of reality TV (I really can't explain my addiction to SYTYCD) and laughing hysterically at Psych.
Having nothing else to watch but Star Trek: Enterprise re-runs (and really, I'm not THAT bored), I decided to change my health benefits for next year. I needed to be somewhat productive... That took a lot less time than I expected and I was left with time to waste. I'm not tired at all, too mentally-stooped to read anything, so what do I do? That's right, facebook. And lo and behold, through facebook, I'm reminded of my sisters' blogs, which remind me, "Oh yeah, I have one of those. And I haven't written anything in over two weeks..."
So in that two-paragraph lead-in, you have literally been through my thought train from the last several hours or so. Welcome to my thrilling life!
In all actuality, my life has been pretty damn crazy the last few weeks. Sometime shortly after my last post, an opportunity fell into my lap that has change my thinking about the future. CRAZY, I KNOW. And it has me excited and terrified and nervous and curious and a little bit giddy, all at the same time.
Maybe I should preface this tale with a bit of explaining about my previous thoughts on life and change. You know, for those of you who don't know me. Which I'm sure is no one because only my mother and sisters read this. And my dad, secretly (I KNOW YOU'RE READING THIS SECRETLY, DAD).
So I feel, constantly, like there are two aspects of my personality that are in conflict. God, I love to try/see/do/learn new things! Often times I get overwhelmed with the complexity of this world that God has created and it will simply kill me if I can't see and experience the majesty of it all! Humankind simply fascinates me, on a pedestrian level. I'm not much of a theorizer on a grander scale, but I like learning about people at their basics. How they interact with the world and others on a daily basis. How they live, work, travel, learn, communicate, have fun, express themselves, experience emotions and deal with them. I don't care so much about Man, but about man. I love to travel, to learn new languages, read new things, experience new cultures. I want to go and travel and do and be busy all the time! I want to be independent and not be afraid to step out on these new adventures by myself. But damn if I'm not a lazy, shy, homebody whose family and friends are so unbelievably kickass that I don't want to be apart from them ever. I love my comfort zone and my familiar surroundings so much. I feel like my brain is hardwired for complacency, for repetitive, organized, dependable actions that are safe.
I've done new things before, I've tried my hand and explored a good bit, but I've always been lucky enough to have a compatriot. Someone I knew well was always along for the ride with me. I blame this on my upbringing. Having a twin makes life seem a little more secure. Knowing there was always someone there you knew, that first day of school or Sunday school, at VBS and daycare. All those places where you were terrified to be by yourself as a little kid, yeah, I was never alone. My parents were smart and split my brother and I up in school classes; otherwise, I think I'd probably be living on his couch. In a weird way, my brother is like my safety net. But that's neither here nor there. The point I'm trying to get at is that I want to go and do and see and explore, but I'm a coward who can't step out of their comfort zone!
I think this internal conflict is at the core of my problems with my future. For the longest time, I've had this idea that I'll go back to school. In a weird way, I see it as a fall-back, safe option. But when I think about it, it's actually not. I'm not going to be able to go back to Texas for school. My well-established, intelligent friends are not going to be there with me. I'm not going to be able to attend a school within easy driving distance of my family. At least, not for what I want. I'm going to have to go out of state, most likely. While it sounds like fun to go to school out of state, I'm not thinking about it rationally. Most programs I would look into would be for a PhD program. At the very least, I'd be gone for 2 years, and for other programs, it would take anywhere from 6-9 years! It's really hard for me to plan out that far in my life. Who the hell knows where I'll be emotionally and spiritually during that time? I can't even imagine myself as a 30 year old; it's bizarre! How could I possibly know what 30 year old me is going to want for her life when 23 year old me has no idea? How do I make that decision? I think I've settled on school because I love learning so much and nothing opens the opportunity for learning and exploration more than school. I want to go back to get back to what I love, which is LEARNING. I need to find a way to make a career out of LEARNING.
But the plan for going back to grad school was not supposed to start until early this fall, probably within another month or two. I was going to get down to business, take the GRE, brush up on my languages and history, start applications and requesting letters and getting together writing samples. I was not going to think about any of it until about Labor Day. I was going to live in the moment. Enjoy the rest of my "real world" time with nothing to worry about other than bill due dates and what I'm going to bring for lunch tomorrow to work. I wouldn't even have to think about the truly scary parts of leaving the state until this time NEXT year. What can I say, I'm a Texas girl, and I've had family here since the 1870's. It'd be hard to pick up roots, especially by myself. But I figured I could by happy with my complacent life for the next year, not worrying about change.
And then an opportunity of a lifetime fell into my lap. A paid position at a museum in Texas working with what I love. But wait, you say, don't you already have a paid position at a museum in Texas? Yes, yes I do. But it's not doing what I love. I'm a glorified security guard. If I get lucky, I'll get to answer one question a week about antiquities. Maybe someone will ask why it says BCE instead of BC (seriously Texans, not everyone in the world wants to use Jesus' supposed birth year as the defining marker of history). Or someone will ask me why there are fig leaves over the genitals of some plaster casts. Or if the gold coins are actually made out of gold. Or some kid will ask me if that Athena is the same Athena from the Percy Jackson stories... But rarely do those people want to actually LEARN about the pieces. Why they were made, how they were made, what people wanted to do with them, how REVOLUTIONARY they were and how relevant they still are. They just want to make penis or paedophilia jokes and then go and complain about how their dog could paint the modern and contemporary art in the next room. I wish I got the opportunity to share a little bit about the context, the insight, the culture behind all this.
But anyways... a friend informed me that the SAMA had posted a position for Curatorial Assisant in the Ancient Mediterranean Art Department. I'd essentially be the curator's assistant (how did I figure that one out?) but I'd get a chance to explore the research and presentation side of museum work. And SAMA has one of the largest collections of antiquities in the Southern US. BMA has a rather small antiquities section that gets absolutely NO respect, even from the curators and higher up staff. The only curatorial work done on the antiquities here was by a group of grad students in the CLASSICS department. It'd be so nice to get to work with someone so very knowledgeable, not only about the artifacts, but also about how to present them to the public so that they are relevant and meaningful and fascinating! And I've stalled out in my current position at BMA. The only way I could advance anymore is if higher staff leaves, and I'm not too sure I'd want that anyways. I don't really have any chance of getting out of security and into something else at BMA, especially since there is no respect or general interest in the antiquities here.
So then the question became, should I apply for this job? It seems like a resounding YES, but there are some stipulations, some things I've left unsaid. The position is only part time, about 20-25 hrs/wk, estimated about $12/hr, and I have no idea about benefits, likely none. I'd be going from a cushy benefits eligible job, a guaranteed 40 hrs/wk with paid overtime and vacations at $14.5/hr to essentially an intern level job. Is that really such a smart thing to even think about in this economy? And even though the cost of living is cheaper in SA than ATX, there really is no way I could live on that intern salary alone, because of student loans and a car payment (HOLY BUCKETS I HATE THAT CAR! http://amykatelyn.blogspot.com/2010/03/i-hate-tom-meaning-my-car.html). I'd have to get a second job... and in what? This would likely mean I'd have to work about 30 hours a week at another job to support myself. And there's the whole matter of having to move and relocate. My lease in my apartment isn't up until Sept. 24th. I can't even begin to guess where to look for safe, affordable places to live there. And then I'd be living by myself. Which is fine in and of itself, but I'd be farther away from my family than ever before. Granted it'd only be about 2 hours from my parents, and my safety net of a brother would be about 40 minutes away, but I'd have no friends in town. I don't know anyone that lives in San Antonio proper. And it's been a long time since I've had to make friends and it's always come pretty slowly to me, so I know I'd get lonely there.
And then there's the whole fact that I would be in an entirely new workplace. I'm pretty damn good at my current job, I feel really knowledge and confident in my abilities and expectations here. I like where everything stands. My immediate bosses are GREAT and my coworkers are pretty awesome for the most part, especially on days when I don't supervise. The work environment is laid back, I have no deadlines, ever, I spend a good part of the day in my own head, getting to think things over, I get physical activity everyday, and I've developed a friendship with several of my coworkers.
But I'm never going to get another chance like this. To find a paid position at all, working with a collection of antiquities, in a more academic function, at a museum in Central Texas? This is likely never going to happen to me again. I'd be stupid to pass it up. I can't in good conscious turn down this opportunity.
So, after much turmoil, and some poking and prodding from coworkers, I applied. I updated my resume, I matched every single one of the requirements they listed (except I'm not that proficient with Adobe Photoshop... It's been about 5 years since I've work with that). All three people I asked to be references got back to me quickly with a definitive YES. The cover letter practically wrote itself. But I didn't hear anything from the curator for a while after I applied. I was kinda hoping that it was already closed so that my decision would essentially be made for me. But then they asked me for an interview. And not only that, they were willing to rearrange the interview around my current work schedule. It makes me excited that they not only want to talk to me about the position, but they're working with me to make sure they do! But I don't want to get my hopes up. This is not a guarantee, and I'm sure they've had some amazingly more qualified/talented people than me apply. But there's a problem in that every job I've ever interviewed for, I've gotten. So this sneaky, devilish part of my brain keeps telling me I've got this one in the bag, and the bigger, more rational part tells it to "SHUT THE Front door!"
And so I've started the task of preparing myself for the interview. I'm planning what to wear, I've been brushing up on some of my art historical and antiquities background, and I'm researching the museum and collection itself. The interview is Monday at 3:00pm and I feel nervous on my way to confident.
But this whole week and a half/two weeks has been a whirlwind. I've been hit by the extremes of opinions from both sides. My coworkers being so excited and telling me, "Screw the consequences or snags, just go for it!" (Except my boss, who keeps asking me to pull the knife out of his back.) My family telling me, "What about the money and moving and second job, and maybe this isn't the right thing or the right timing!" And my feelings about it are squarely in the middle. It's times like these that make me thankful for having older sisters who can empathize and sympathize. Thanks again, Melaina! (Sorry Dana, I figured you might not have the sympathetic experience for this one. You've always seemed to know exactly what you want and how you're going to do it.)
Everything feels doable. Nothing about this position has seemed insurmountable to me yet. There are things I'd need to think about, to plan out, but I've got hope and excitement about every aspect of this. The more I think about it, the more it feels right to me. I don't feel like I'm searching for something that isn't there, that isn't going to happen. I didn't actively seek this out, it fell into my lap, and the best things in life usually happen that way (Tricksy Jesus!). Things keep progressing and evolving with this, working themselves out with little stress or frustration on my part. When I pray about it, I gain a sense of serenity, a sort of "trust and follow" type of feeling.
So basically, to sum up this post.
- Sorry I haven't blogged in a while.
- I applied for a job and it's scary but fun.
- I have an interview at 3:00pm on Monday.
- Please pray for me.
amy
PS - Don't know if you noticed, but I'm trying to work on my cursing. It's progressing...slowly.
Having nothing else to watch but Star Trek: Enterprise re-runs (and really, I'm not THAT bored), I decided to change my health benefits for next year. I needed to be somewhat productive... That took a lot less time than I expected and I was left with time to waste. I'm not tired at all, too mentally-stooped to read anything, so what do I do? That's right, facebook. And lo and behold, through facebook, I'm reminded of my sisters' blogs, which remind me, "Oh yeah, I have one of those. And I haven't written anything in over two weeks..."
So in that two-paragraph lead-in, you have literally been through my thought train from the last several hours or so. Welcome to my thrilling life!
In all actuality, my life has been pretty damn crazy the last few weeks. Sometime shortly after my last post, an opportunity fell into my lap that has change my thinking about the future. CRAZY, I KNOW. And it has me excited and terrified and nervous and curious and a little bit giddy, all at the same time.
Maybe I should preface this tale with a bit of explaining about my previous thoughts on life and change. You know, for those of you who don't know me. Which I'm sure is no one because only my mother and sisters read this. And my dad, secretly (I KNOW YOU'RE READING THIS SECRETLY, DAD).
So I feel, constantly, like there are two aspects of my personality that are in conflict. God, I love to try/see/do/learn new things! Often times I get overwhelmed with the complexity of this world that God has created and it will simply kill me if I can't see and experience the majesty of it all! Humankind simply fascinates me, on a pedestrian level. I'm not much of a theorizer on a grander scale, but I like learning about people at their basics. How they interact with the world and others on a daily basis. How they live, work, travel, learn, communicate, have fun, express themselves, experience emotions and deal with them. I don't care so much about Man, but about man. I love to travel, to learn new languages, read new things, experience new cultures. I want to go and travel and do and be busy all the time! I want to be independent and not be afraid to step out on these new adventures by myself. But damn if I'm not a lazy, shy, homebody whose family and friends are so unbelievably kickass that I don't want to be apart from them ever. I love my comfort zone and my familiar surroundings so much. I feel like my brain is hardwired for complacency, for repetitive, organized, dependable actions that are safe.
I've done new things before, I've tried my hand and explored a good bit, but I've always been lucky enough to have a compatriot. Someone I knew well was always along for the ride with me. I blame this on my upbringing. Having a twin makes life seem a little more secure. Knowing there was always someone there you knew, that first day of school or Sunday school, at VBS and daycare. All those places where you were terrified to be by yourself as a little kid, yeah, I was never alone. My parents were smart and split my brother and I up in school classes; otherwise, I think I'd probably be living on his couch. In a weird way, my brother is like my safety net. But that's neither here nor there. The point I'm trying to get at is that I want to go and do and see and explore, but I'm a coward who can't step out of their comfort zone!
I think this internal conflict is at the core of my problems with my future. For the longest time, I've had this idea that I'll go back to school. In a weird way, I see it as a fall-back, safe option. But when I think about it, it's actually not. I'm not going to be able to go back to Texas for school. My well-established, intelligent friends are not going to be there with me. I'm not going to be able to attend a school within easy driving distance of my family. At least, not for what I want. I'm going to have to go out of state, most likely. While it sounds like fun to go to school out of state, I'm not thinking about it rationally. Most programs I would look into would be for a PhD program. At the very least, I'd be gone for 2 years, and for other programs, it would take anywhere from 6-9 years! It's really hard for me to plan out that far in my life. Who the hell knows where I'll be emotionally and spiritually during that time? I can't even imagine myself as a 30 year old; it's bizarre! How could I possibly know what 30 year old me is going to want for her life when 23 year old me has no idea? How do I make that decision? I think I've settled on school because I love learning so much and nothing opens the opportunity for learning and exploration more than school. I want to go back to get back to what I love, which is LEARNING. I need to find a way to make a career out of LEARNING.
But the plan for going back to grad school was not supposed to start until early this fall, probably within another month or two. I was going to get down to business, take the GRE, brush up on my languages and history, start applications and requesting letters and getting together writing samples. I was not going to think about any of it until about Labor Day. I was going to live in the moment. Enjoy the rest of my "real world" time with nothing to worry about other than bill due dates and what I'm going to bring for lunch tomorrow to work. I wouldn't even have to think about the truly scary parts of leaving the state until this time NEXT year. What can I say, I'm a Texas girl, and I've had family here since the 1870's. It'd be hard to pick up roots, especially by myself. But I figured I could by happy with my complacent life for the next year, not worrying about change.
And then an opportunity of a lifetime fell into my lap. A paid position at a museum in Texas working with what I love. But wait, you say, don't you already have a paid position at a museum in Texas? Yes, yes I do. But it's not doing what I love. I'm a glorified security guard. If I get lucky, I'll get to answer one question a week about antiquities. Maybe someone will ask why it says BCE instead of BC (seriously Texans, not everyone in the world wants to use Jesus' supposed birth year as the defining marker of history). Or someone will ask me why there are fig leaves over the genitals of some plaster casts. Or if the gold coins are actually made out of gold. Or some kid will ask me if that Athena is the same Athena from the Percy Jackson stories... But rarely do those people want to actually LEARN about the pieces. Why they were made, how they were made, what people wanted to do with them, how REVOLUTIONARY they were and how relevant they still are. They just want to make penis or paedophilia jokes and then go and complain about how their dog could paint the modern and contemporary art in the next room. I wish I got the opportunity to share a little bit about the context, the insight, the culture behind all this.
But anyways... a friend informed me that the SAMA had posted a position for Curatorial Assisant in the Ancient Mediterranean Art Department. I'd essentially be the curator's assistant (how did I figure that one out?) but I'd get a chance to explore the research and presentation side of museum work. And SAMA has one of the largest collections of antiquities in the Southern US. BMA has a rather small antiquities section that gets absolutely NO respect, even from the curators and higher up staff. The only curatorial work done on the antiquities here was by a group of grad students in the CLASSICS department. It'd be so nice to get to work with someone so very knowledgeable, not only about the artifacts, but also about how to present them to the public so that they are relevant and meaningful and fascinating! And I've stalled out in my current position at BMA. The only way I could advance anymore is if higher staff leaves, and I'm not too sure I'd want that anyways. I don't really have any chance of getting out of security and into something else at BMA, especially since there is no respect or general interest in the antiquities here.
So then the question became, should I apply for this job? It seems like a resounding YES, but there are some stipulations, some things I've left unsaid. The position is only part time, about 20-25 hrs/wk, estimated about $12/hr, and I have no idea about benefits, likely none. I'd be going from a cushy benefits eligible job, a guaranteed 40 hrs/wk with paid overtime and vacations at $14.5/hr to essentially an intern level job. Is that really such a smart thing to even think about in this economy? And even though the cost of living is cheaper in SA than ATX, there really is no way I could live on that intern salary alone, because of student loans and a car payment (HOLY BUCKETS I HATE THAT CAR! http://amykatelyn.blogspot.com/2010/03/i-hate-tom-meaning-my-car.html). I'd have to get a second job... and in what? This would likely mean I'd have to work about 30 hours a week at another job to support myself. And there's the whole matter of having to move and relocate. My lease in my apartment isn't up until Sept. 24th. I can't even begin to guess where to look for safe, affordable places to live there. And then I'd be living by myself. Which is fine in and of itself, but I'd be farther away from my family than ever before. Granted it'd only be about 2 hours from my parents, and my safety net of a brother would be about 40 minutes away, but I'd have no friends in town. I don't know anyone that lives in San Antonio proper. And it's been a long time since I've had to make friends and it's always come pretty slowly to me, so I know I'd get lonely there.
And then there's the whole fact that I would be in an entirely new workplace. I'm pretty damn good at my current job, I feel really knowledge and confident in my abilities and expectations here. I like where everything stands. My immediate bosses are GREAT and my coworkers are pretty awesome for the most part, especially on days when I don't supervise. The work environment is laid back, I have no deadlines, ever, I spend a good part of the day in my own head, getting to think things over, I get physical activity everyday, and I've developed a friendship with several of my coworkers.
But I'm never going to get another chance like this. To find a paid position at all, working with a collection of antiquities, in a more academic function, at a museum in Central Texas? This is likely never going to happen to me again. I'd be stupid to pass it up. I can't in good conscious turn down this opportunity.
So, after much turmoil, and some poking and prodding from coworkers, I applied. I updated my resume, I matched every single one of the requirements they listed (except I'm not that proficient with Adobe Photoshop... It's been about 5 years since I've work with that). All three people I asked to be references got back to me quickly with a definitive YES. The cover letter practically wrote itself. But I didn't hear anything from the curator for a while after I applied. I was kinda hoping that it was already closed so that my decision would essentially be made for me. But then they asked me for an interview. And not only that, they were willing to rearrange the interview around my current work schedule. It makes me excited that they not only want to talk to me about the position, but they're working with me to make sure they do! But I don't want to get my hopes up. This is not a guarantee, and I'm sure they've had some amazingly more qualified/talented people than me apply. But there's a problem in that every job I've ever interviewed for, I've gotten. So this sneaky, devilish part of my brain keeps telling me I've got this one in the bag, and the bigger, more rational part tells it to "SHUT THE Front door!"
And so I've started the task of preparing myself for the interview. I'm planning what to wear, I've been brushing up on some of my art historical and antiquities background, and I'm researching the museum and collection itself. The interview is Monday at 3:00pm and I feel nervous on my way to confident.
But this whole week and a half/two weeks has been a whirlwind. I've been hit by the extremes of opinions from both sides. My coworkers being so excited and telling me, "Screw the consequences or snags, just go for it!" (Except my boss, who keeps asking me to pull the knife out of his back.) My family telling me, "What about the money and moving and second job, and maybe this isn't the right thing or the right timing!" And my feelings about it are squarely in the middle. It's times like these that make me thankful for having older sisters who can empathize and sympathize. Thanks again, Melaina! (Sorry Dana, I figured you might not have the sympathetic experience for this one. You've always seemed to know exactly what you want and how you're going to do it.)
Everything feels doable. Nothing about this position has seemed insurmountable to me yet. There are things I'd need to think about, to plan out, but I've got hope and excitement about every aspect of this. The more I think about it, the more it feels right to me. I don't feel like I'm searching for something that isn't there, that isn't going to happen. I didn't actively seek this out, it fell into my lap, and the best things in life usually happen that way (Tricksy Jesus!). Things keep progressing and evolving with this, working themselves out with little stress or frustration on my part. When I pray about it, I gain a sense of serenity, a sort of "trust and follow" type of feeling.
So basically, to sum up this post.
- Sorry I haven't blogged in a while.
- I applied for a job and it's scary but fun.
- I have an interview at 3:00pm on Monday.
- Please pray for me.
amy
PS - Don't know if you noticed, but I'm trying to work on my cursing. It's progressing...slowly.
Monday, July 12, 2010
So, obviously, things are now better.
Life has picked back up to normal. Things are going well now and I'm choosing not to dwell on the past few weeks, just move on.
A few things that I've been thinking about/looking forward to:
TV! I still love it! Even if it is the crappy summer season!
- SYTYCD: I never used to care about dance at all until I started watching this show a few years ago. Now I love it. I don't have the remotest bit of talent for it, but it's quite beautiful to watch. This season has been AWESOME to have the all-stars back. I love Mark and Twitch, always have. But anytime they dance with someone, I can't help but watch them. And I'm loving Anya and Pasha, too, but they were before my SYTYCD-time. Oh and Neil and Dominic, too. But mainly Mark and Twitch. And Kathryn, because I think she and Legacy are SO CUTE. Did you see how he was crying after her performance with Billy? I don't think he was crying for Billy... As far as current dancers, I'm really sad Alex is gone. There is no question he would've won it. He was amazing, versatile, and was starting to develop that connection with the audience. Did anyone else think it was weird how much Kent freaked out over him leaving and how Alex called out Kent alone by name? Also, Ashley is growing on me. I downloaded the song from her dance because it was so beautiful. I think her dance was the best one from last week. I also liked Kent and Lauren's pair dance, it was sweet.
- The LXD: Also dance related, this one is going to be epic! It just came out with the first two episodes last week on Hulu.com and it's amazing. There are about 10 episodes this season, they are releasing one a week for the rest of the summer. They've already got season 2 filmed and are working on season 3. The show is about superheroes who use dance kinda like Jedi's use the force. The first season just gives glimpses of each main character's background story, and it has more you can explore about each character online. Season 2 is going to introduce the story/showdown with the bad guys. The cinematography, the settings, the scene-framing, the music, everything is AMAZING. I love this show so much, plus it's got unbelievable dancers and so much potential! I can't wait for season 2! They are apparently using different themes for each episode, like western, film noir, etc.
http://www.hulu.com/the-lxd
- This week White Collar and my favorite show ever, PSYCH!, come back. Also, a new show on USA I'm really excited about premieres, called Covert Affairs. If you want a light, easy-to-process, sexy, suspense show, watch White Collar. If you want variety, drama, pop-culture references, and SO MUCH HUMOR, watch Psych. I'll let you know what I think of Covert Affairs, but it's produced by the Bourne people, so I have high hopes!
Movies!
- I can't remember what I've seen since I last posted. The only new thing I can remember is Knight and Day. It was cute enough. The chemistry between Cruise and Diaz wasn't believable at all. I didn't want to punch Diaz in the face though, and I usually do when watching her movies. It was a cute enough movie with only some stupid points.
- OH, TWILIGHT. I kinda forgot about it. How bad a fan am I? I'm kinda getting over my vampire-love phase. I was never really into vampires in the first place. Now that Eclipse is out, which is my favorite, I've almost lost all interest. I've only seen Eclipse once, and the other two I saw multiple times in theaters... It's starting to lose its magic. I think it's also because I am so ANTI-JACOB and that whole story-line, that any promotion of his character or inclusion of him in the plot makes me angry. I don't even want to think about the imprinting thing in the next book. That's going to be uber-creepy.
- I still need to see The Karate Kid, The Last Airbender, and I can't wait for Inception!
Family Weekend, Yay!
- My whole family is getting together this weekend and I have Saturday off to join them!
- I'm fairly certain our whole weekend will be hanging around the house playing with Charlie and talking horribly about that bitch. She has it coming.
Grad School
- So I found the perfect school and department and program! Yay! But it costs $39,000 alone in tuition every year! NOOOOOOOOOOO! Damnit, why does this happen!
- The program is and MA in Heritage Management from the Archaeology Department at Boston University. It looks amazing. I hope there's some way it can work out. I'll probably be emailing the chair of the department to get some more information this week.
- GRE will be coming up soon. I haven't set a date to take it yet, but likely in a couple of months.
New Phone!
- Less than a month until we are eligible for upgrades at Sprint. I can not wait. I think I'm going to rip my current phone in two when I get my new one.
- As for a new phone, I REALLY REALLY want an HTC Evo 4G. I don't really care if the battery life isn't that great, the rest of the phone is awesome!
Ok, that's all I can really think of right now.
A few things that I've been thinking about/looking forward to:
TV! I still love it! Even if it is the crappy summer season!
- SYTYCD: I never used to care about dance at all until I started watching this show a few years ago. Now I love it. I don't have the remotest bit of talent for it, but it's quite beautiful to watch. This season has been AWESOME to have the all-stars back. I love Mark and Twitch, always have. But anytime they dance with someone, I can't help but watch them. And I'm loving Anya and Pasha, too, but they were before my SYTYCD-time. Oh and Neil and Dominic, too. But mainly Mark and Twitch. And Kathryn, because I think she and Legacy are SO CUTE. Did you see how he was crying after her performance with Billy? I don't think he was crying for Billy... As far as current dancers, I'm really sad Alex is gone. There is no question he would've won it. He was amazing, versatile, and was starting to develop that connection with the audience. Did anyone else think it was weird how much Kent freaked out over him leaving and how Alex called out Kent alone by name? Also, Ashley is growing on me. I downloaded the song from her dance because it was so beautiful. I think her dance was the best one from last week. I also liked Kent and Lauren's pair dance, it was sweet.
- The LXD: Also dance related, this one is going to be epic! It just came out with the first two episodes last week on Hulu.com and it's amazing. There are about 10 episodes this season, they are releasing one a week for the rest of the summer. They've already got season 2 filmed and are working on season 3. The show is about superheroes who use dance kinda like Jedi's use the force. The first season just gives glimpses of each main character's background story, and it has more you can explore about each character online. Season 2 is going to introduce the story/showdown with the bad guys. The cinematography, the settings, the scene-framing, the music, everything is AMAZING. I love this show so much, plus it's got unbelievable dancers and so much potential! I can't wait for season 2! They are apparently using different themes for each episode, like western, film noir, etc.
http://www.hulu.com/the-lxd
- This week White Collar and my favorite show ever, PSYCH!, come back. Also, a new show on USA I'm really excited about premieres, called Covert Affairs. If you want a light, easy-to-process, sexy, suspense show, watch White Collar. If you want variety, drama, pop-culture references, and SO MUCH HUMOR, watch Psych. I'll let you know what I think of Covert Affairs, but it's produced by the Bourne people, so I have high hopes!
Movies!
- I can't remember what I've seen since I last posted. The only new thing I can remember is Knight and Day. It was cute enough. The chemistry between Cruise and Diaz wasn't believable at all. I didn't want to punch Diaz in the face though, and I usually do when watching her movies. It was a cute enough movie with only some stupid points.
- OH, TWILIGHT. I kinda forgot about it. How bad a fan am I? I'm kinda getting over my vampire-love phase. I was never really into vampires in the first place. Now that Eclipse is out, which is my favorite, I've almost lost all interest. I've only seen Eclipse once, and the other two I saw multiple times in theaters... It's starting to lose its magic. I think it's also because I am so ANTI-JACOB and that whole story-line, that any promotion of his character or inclusion of him in the plot makes me angry. I don't even want to think about the imprinting thing in the next book. That's going to be uber-creepy.
- I still need to see The Karate Kid, The Last Airbender, and I can't wait for Inception!
Family Weekend, Yay!
- My whole family is getting together this weekend and I have Saturday off to join them!
- I'm fairly certain our whole weekend will be hanging around the house playing with Charlie and talking horribly about that bitch. She has it coming.
Grad School
- So I found the perfect school and department and program! Yay! But it costs $39,000 alone in tuition every year! NOOOOOOOOOOO! Damnit, why does this happen!
- The program is and MA in Heritage Management from the Archaeology Department at Boston University. It looks amazing. I hope there's some way it can work out. I'll probably be emailing the chair of the department to get some more information this week.
- GRE will be coming up soon. I haven't set a date to take it yet, but likely in a couple of months.
New Phone!
- Less than a month until we are eligible for upgrades at Sprint. I can not wait. I think I'm going to rip my current phone in two when I get my new one.
- As for a new phone, I REALLY REALLY want an HTC Evo 4G. I don't really care if the battery life isn't that great, the rest of the phone is awesome!
Ok, that's all I can really think of right now.
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
Things haven't been good lately...
Which is why I'm not blogging. I don't feel the need to type up my internal angsty monologue and display it to the world.
Never fear. When my life gets back on its usual optimistic, happy, or at least content - track, I'll be back to blogging.
Never fear. When my life gets back on its usual optimistic, happy, or at least content - track, I'll be back to blogging.
Sunday, June 13, 2010
Well, it's been a while, blog...
So I guess I should update. Since it's been over a month since my last post, and since that month has included so very many awesome things, this post is gonna be long. So here we go!
On the day of my birthday, I went to work like normal. It was nice. My coworkers gave me a card and my boss bought donuts for everyone and Diet Dr. Pepper for me! Then after work I went to Trudy's with some coworkers and had two margaritas! Yay! I got one for free because Trudy's is awesome. My coworker drove me home and I sat around for about an hour or two, then I went to meet Mary and saw Iron Man 2. It was great! I really like Robert Downey Jr.
That Friday, we went downtown for my birthday. We went to Baby A's first and then went downtown to Pete's. We had a great time at Pete's! The piano men played Journey for me and then told me I had nice legs! A little odd... Afterwards, we walked back to our car in the pouring rain. A homeless man stopped us on the way and gave me a rose and started singing to me. Mary paid him a few dollars to go away, but I got a nice rose! Weird crap like this always seems to happen on my birthday.
Kate's boyfriend was at a friend's house party and she really wanted to stop by, so we went over there. It was ridiculously crowded and disgusting and I was only able to tolerate it for about 15-20 minutes. We then came back to my apartment and I was up til 3:30AM packing for Disney World!
Went to work on Saturday and then stopped by the work kickball game afterwards. It was Nicole's last day before she went to Italy, so I wanted to say bye. I then drove straight home to Georgetown. The rest of the family arrived and we went over the plan for the week. The next morning Kristin came over and we carpooled to the airport. The flight to Disney was GREAT! It was the smoothest take-off and landing I've ever experienced! Charlie-man did great too. He slept through a lot of the flight and never cried.
Disney was amazing. So much to do and see, and so much time to spend with my awesome family!
*WARNING: tons of exclamation points ahead*
Particular highlights were:
Hollywood Studios
- Fantasmic on the first night. Using water as a projection screen was awesome! It made me cry! All my cynicism about Disney World left right then and I had a blast the rest of the time!
- Riding Tower of Terror 6 times! I LOVE THAT RIDE! It's awesome! And Rock and Roller Coaster!
- All the shows, particularly the car stunt show and the Indiana Jones show! It was amazing!
- Our staged family photo on Tower of Terror ride.
- And the lady who was so upset on our behalf about the people who cut in front of us in the Toy Story ride.
Magic Kingdom
- All the mountains, particularly Space Mountain and how utterly, unexplainably terrified I was!
- Lunch at the Plaza and how generous they were to us! They gave us probably $200 worth of hats and balloons for FREE for all the things we were celebrating!
- Peter Pan Flights, and Pirates of the Caribbean, spinning insanely fast on the teacups, Small World, seeing Alice and the White Rabbit and many other characters, how terrified I was of the Stitch Ride (can't imagine it as the Alien ride!), THAT CANDY STORE OMG, pineapple soft-serve, PhilharMagic, Haunted Mansion, Hall of Presidents, Carousel of Progress (There's a GREAT BIG BEAUTIFUL TOMORROW, shining at the end of every day!)
- The SpectroMagic parade, and Wishes. I cried again!
- Losing my camera after the Jungle Cruise and finding it at lost and found! Amazing!
Epcot
- The first glimpse of the ball! My first ride ever in Disney World was inside the ball! And it was a nerd ride! And I was almost quoting along with the history lesson without ever having heard it, which means DISNEY DID THEIR RESEARCH!
- Did I mention Disney did their research? The World Lagoon was awesome! I loved the decorations, the restaurants, the buildings, everything! And the Illuminations show with the fireworks and lasers in the Lagoon was amazing!
- Mission Space was awesome! Too bad most of my family was too chicken to do it a second time. I could always count on Shane and Jason, though! And Dad steppin' on that kids shoe-lace, haha! And Soarin' was great too!
- Getting stuck on the Test Track ride right before you're supposed to "crash". It really freaked me out. Of all the times for the ride to stop, I really didn't want it to happen right before you go barreling out of a tunnel at 60 mph toward a wall that's supposed to slide aside just in time.
Animal Kingdom
- Everest was GREAT! Riding in the front car was awesome, especially because it flips directions and you get the "back car" feeling when you go inside the mountain.
- The Bugs Life show was terrifying! But the Tree of Life was amazing!
- The Kilimanjaro Safari was great, as well as the Nemo Musical (In this BIG BLUE WORLD...)
- Charlie REALLY hated this park. :)
- The Dinosaur ride and THAT PICTURE! I've never seen such pure terror on everyone's faces before!
Other
- The hotels were amazing! So spacious and richly decorated! The bar at the first one was great as well! And I loved the animals at the Animal Kingdom Lodge!
- Putt Putt was great, even if the fountain didn't work!
- Downtown Disney and Earl of Sandwich and those candied apples, and MY BALLOON!
All in all, it was an amazing trip and I can't wait for the next family trip! Washington, DC, 2012!
Coming back to work after that was a bummer. Life is never fun after a vacation. I miss my family. I've had dinner with Shane, and went to see Robin Hood (meh) with Mom and Dad. We're trying to organize a family get together for July, so we'll see how that goes!
But I did have something to look forward to! CASSIE IS BACK IN TEXAS! At least for a few months. I went down to Montgomery to hang out with her family and Mary one weekend. We drove down Saturday night and they were waiting up for us with glasses of wine, and it was great just to sit with my best friends and their family and just talk! The next day we got up and went shopping and I spent too much money but got some awesome make-up and an amazing dress that I had to return (because I simply would never wear it). We came back and I got to read some of Cassie's writing, which is AMAZING. I'm so impressed by her talent! She's writing some romance/suspense with main characters based off us. I was reading part of my story out to the group and it was creepy how accurately she portrayed me! I would say some piece of dialog how I would normally say it, and then the next line would explain how the character was supposed to have said it, and it was EXACTLY THE SAME! She's got the humor and dialog of the story down pat, and the characters and plot are intriguing, and the pacing of the story was great! I can't wait to see what else she does with it! We then went to the drive-in and saw a double-feature with Shrek Forever After (not a Shrek fan) and Prince of Persia (meh, again). The next day, we got up and planned our trip to VEGAS! I'm so excited! I've been to every state in that area except Nevada, and now I get to go to Vegas! We booked our flight and hotel and everything is set! We're going August 12-16th and we're staying at The Signature at MGM Grand. There's a Pete's Dueling Piano Bar there now, which we ARE going to visit. I got us CHEAP tickets to see "Ka" by Cirque Du Soleil. And then Cassie's parents and their family friends are renewing their vows in a Wedding Chapel there, so I'll get to experience that part of Vegas, too! I'M SO EXCITED, I CAN'T STAND IT!
Anyways, this week at work was pretty easy. I opened and closed by myself for the first time on Saturday, and everything went so smoothly, thank God! With my luck, I really needed God's help! And then today I worked overtime (spending money for VEGAS) and then went to see The A Team with Mary! It was a great movie! I love me some Liam Neeson, and Bradley Cooper isn't too bad himself. But it was a fantastic action movie with awesome effects and HOLY CRAP moments, and SO much comedy, I was laughing out loud so much! It was great!
Hopefully the rest of this week will be just as easy as last week. I'm working more overtime on Thursday, it's my brother-in-laws birthday (HAPPY EARLY BIRTHDAY, JASON!) and Father's Day is this weekend. I think I'll probably go home to Gtown for Sunday at least.
I'm usually not a fan of summer. I hate the heat and the sun and generally get really bored. But this summer might be the most epic of my life. Okay, maybe 2nd-most epic. I did spend part of one summer in Greece after all....
amy
Here are some Disney pics for you!
I want to go back. But I can't wait for the rest of this summer!
On the day of my birthday, I went to work like normal. It was nice. My coworkers gave me a card and my boss bought donuts for everyone and Diet Dr. Pepper for me! Then after work I went to Trudy's with some coworkers and had two margaritas! Yay! I got one for free because Trudy's is awesome. My coworker drove me home and I sat around for about an hour or two, then I went to meet Mary and saw Iron Man 2. It was great! I really like Robert Downey Jr.
That Friday, we went downtown for my birthday. We went to Baby A's first and then went downtown to Pete's. We had a great time at Pete's! The piano men played Journey for me and then told me I had nice legs! A little odd... Afterwards, we walked back to our car in the pouring rain. A homeless man stopped us on the way and gave me a rose and started singing to me. Mary paid him a few dollars to go away, but I got a nice rose! Weird crap like this always seems to happen on my birthday.
Kate's boyfriend was at a friend's house party and she really wanted to stop by, so we went over there. It was ridiculously crowded and disgusting and I was only able to tolerate it for about 15-20 minutes. We then came back to my apartment and I was up til 3:30AM packing for Disney World!
Went to work on Saturday and then stopped by the work kickball game afterwards. It was Nicole's last day before she went to Italy, so I wanted to say bye. I then drove straight home to Georgetown. The rest of the family arrived and we went over the plan for the week. The next morning Kristin came over and we carpooled to the airport. The flight to Disney was GREAT! It was the smoothest take-off and landing I've ever experienced! Charlie-man did great too. He slept through a lot of the flight and never cried.
Disney was amazing. So much to do and see, and so much time to spend with my awesome family!
*WARNING: tons of exclamation points ahead*
Particular highlights were:
Hollywood Studios
- Fantasmic on the first night. Using water as a projection screen was awesome! It made me cry! All my cynicism about Disney World left right then and I had a blast the rest of the time!
- Riding Tower of Terror 6 times! I LOVE THAT RIDE! It's awesome! And Rock and Roller Coaster!
- All the shows, particularly the car stunt show and the Indiana Jones show! It was amazing!
- Our staged family photo on Tower of Terror ride.
- And the lady who was so upset on our behalf about the people who cut in front of us in the Toy Story ride.
Magic Kingdom
- All the mountains, particularly Space Mountain and how utterly, unexplainably terrified I was!
- Lunch at the Plaza and how generous they were to us! They gave us probably $200 worth of hats and balloons for FREE for all the things we were celebrating!
- Peter Pan Flights, and Pirates of the Caribbean, spinning insanely fast on the teacups, Small World, seeing Alice and the White Rabbit and many other characters, how terrified I was of the Stitch Ride (can't imagine it as the Alien ride!), THAT CANDY STORE OMG, pineapple soft-serve, PhilharMagic, Haunted Mansion, Hall of Presidents, Carousel of Progress (There's a GREAT BIG BEAUTIFUL TOMORROW, shining at the end of every day!)
- The SpectroMagic parade, and Wishes. I cried again!
- Losing my camera after the Jungle Cruise and finding it at lost and found! Amazing!
Epcot
- The first glimpse of the ball! My first ride ever in Disney World was inside the ball! And it was a nerd ride! And I was almost quoting along with the history lesson without ever having heard it, which means DISNEY DID THEIR RESEARCH!
- Did I mention Disney did their research? The World Lagoon was awesome! I loved the decorations, the restaurants, the buildings, everything! And the Illuminations show with the fireworks and lasers in the Lagoon was amazing!
- Mission Space was awesome! Too bad most of my family was too chicken to do it a second time. I could always count on Shane and Jason, though! And Dad steppin' on that kids shoe-lace, haha! And Soarin' was great too!
- Getting stuck on the Test Track ride right before you're supposed to "crash". It really freaked me out. Of all the times for the ride to stop, I really didn't want it to happen right before you go barreling out of a tunnel at 60 mph toward a wall that's supposed to slide aside just in time.
Animal Kingdom
- Everest was GREAT! Riding in the front car was awesome, especially because it flips directions and you get the "back car" feeling when you go inside the mountain.
- The Bugs Life show was terrifying! But the Tree of Life was amazing!
- The Kilimanjaro Safari was great, as well as the Nemo Musical (In this BIG BLUE WORLD...)
- Charlie REALLY hated this park. :)
- The Dinosaur ride and THAT PICTURE! I've never seen such pure terror on everyone's faces before!
Other
- The hotels were amazing! So spacious and richly decorated! The bar at the first one was great as well! And I loved the animals at the Animal Kingdom Lodge!
- Putt Putt was great, even if the fountain didn't work!
- Downtown Disney and Earl of Sandwich and those candied apples, and MY BALLOON!
All in all, it was an amazing trip and I can't wait for the next family trip! Washington, DC, 2012!
Coming back to work after that was a bummer. Life is never fun after a vacation. I miss my family. I've had dinner with Shane, and went to see Robin Hood (meh) with Mom and Dad. We're trying to organize a family get together for July, so we'll see how that goes!
But I did have something to look forward to! CASSIE IS BACK IN TEXAS! At least for a few months. I went down to Montgomery to hang out with her family and Mary one weekend. We drove down Saturday night and they were waiting up for us with glasses of wine, and it was great just to sit with my best friends and their family and just talk! The next day we got up and went shopping and I spent too much money but got some awesome make-up and an amazing dress that I had to return (because I simply would never wear it). We came back and I got to read some of Cassie's writing, which is AMAZING. I'm so impressed by her talent! She's writing some romance/suspense with main characters based off us. I was reading part of my story out to the group and it was creepy how accurately she portrayed me! I would say some piece of dialog how I would normally say it, and then the next line would explain how the character was supposed to have said it, and it was EXACTLY THE SAME! She's got the humor and dialog of the story down pat, and the characters and plot are intriguing, and the pacing of the story was great! I can't wait to see what else she does with it! We then went to the drive-in and saw a double-feature with Shrek Forever After (not a Shrek fan) and Prince of Persia (meh, again). The next day, we got up and planned our trip to VEGAS! I'm so excited! I've been to every state in that area except Nevada, and now I get to go to Vegas! We booked our flight and hotel and everything is set! We're going August 12-16th and we're staying at The Signature at MGM Grand. There's a Pete's Dueling Piano Bar there now, which we ARE going to visit. I got us CHEAP tickets to see "Ka" by Cirque Du Soleil. And then Cassie's parents and their family friends are renewing their vows in a Wedding Chapel there, so I'll get to experience that part of Vegas, too! I'M SO EXCITED, I CAN'T STAND IT!
Anyways, this week at work was pretty easy. I opened and closed by myself for the first time on Saturday, and everything went so smoothly, thank God! With my luck, I really needed God's help! And then today I worked overtime (spending money for VEGAS) and then went to see The A Team with Mary! It was a great movie! I love me some Liam Neeson, and Bradley Cooper isn't too bad himself. But it was a fantastic action movie with awesome effects and HOLY CRAP moments, and SO much comedy, I was laughing out loud so much! It was great!
Hopefully the rest of this week will be just as easy as last week. I'm working more overtime on Thursday, it's my brother-in-laws birthday (HAPPY EARLY BIRTHDAY, JASON!) and Father's Day is this weekend. I think I'll probably go home to Gtown for Sunday at least.
I'm usually not a fan of summer. I hate the heat and the sun and generally get really bored. But this summer might be the most epic of my life. Okay, maybe 2nd-most epic. I did spend part of one summer in Greece after all....
amy
Here are some Disney pics for you!
I want to go back. But I can't wait for the rest of this summer!
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Spring Cleaning!
So, tomorrow is my birthday. YAY! I don't have too solid of plans, maybe drinks or dinner after work with some coworkers. Mary and I will be seeing Iron Man 2 at 10:00pm though! I'm super excited! I've been wanting to see it since it came out, but haven't had the time.
Thursday, I'm going to finish cleaning out my life. Yesterday I started a massive cleaning overhaul of my apartment. I cleaned out and reorganized my closet. I have two trash bags full of clothes and bags, but I couldn't bear to part with any shoes. I did all my laundry, including towels, robes, and sheets. I cleaned my room, reorganized my drawers, dusted (including the fan and baseboards), and vacuumed. I also cleaned out my bathroom and bleached just about every square inch of it. Tonight I swept and mopped my bathroom and kitchen floors, and after I write this, I'm going to go clean out my cabinets and fridge. I really need to scrub the countertops and stove, and I'll wash the silverware trays and utensil crocks. I also need to wipe down my microwave, toaster oven, crock pot, and clean those little dishes under the heating elements on the stove as well. This is turning into my to-do list! I probably won't get all that done tonight. I also need to clean up my living room, reorganize my desk, move my bookshelf, hang picture frames, and dust and vacuum. And then I need to clean out my car...
It feels so nice to have a "clean template" to start from. I'm always less stressed when everything is clean and orderly. I guess that makes me Type A, bordering on OCD. But since we're leaving Sunday morning for Disney, I'm driving home Saturday night. And I don't want to come back from vacation stressed about cleaning up or getting things in order. When I come back, I want my apartment to be spotless, bills paid, all laundry done (except for Disney clothes). Now if only I could come back to a stocked fridge...
But I've got to get all the cleaning done Thursday, because Friday night is Pete's! Haven't been to Pete's in awhile, so I'm kinda excited! It's also been a bit since I went downtown, especially on a weekend night. I just don't want to be embarrassed...
All in all, this looks like it will be a great week before Disney. AND THEN I GET TO GO TO DISNEY WORLD!
PS - As an addendum to my previous post, Hulu has decided to keep all episodes of Stargate:SG-1 up until January 2011. Yay! I don't have to race through them and then eat up all my Netflix queue! It's good because in the three weeks that I've been trying to finish five seasons, I've only made it through 2.5. Now I've got several more months!
Thursday, I'm going to finish cleaning out my life. Yesterday I started a massive cleaning overhaul of my apartment. I cleaned out and reorganized my closet. I have two trash bags full of clothes and bags, but I couldn't bear to part with any shoes. I did all my laundry, including towels, robes, and sheets. I cleaned my room, reorganized my drawers, dusted (including the fan and baseboards), and vacuumed. I also cleaned out my bathroom and bleached just about every square inch of it. Tonight I swept and mopped my bathroom and kitchen floors, and after I write this, I'm going to go clean out my cabinets and fridge. I really need to scrub the countertops and stove, and I'll wash the silverware trays and utensil crocks. I also need to wipe down my microwave, toaster oven, crock pot, and clean those little dishes under the heating elements on the stove as well. This is turning into my to-do list! I probably won't get all that done tonight. I also need to clean up my living room, reorganize my desk, move my bookshelf, hang picture frames, and dust and vacuum. And then I need to clean out my car...
It feels so nice to have a "clean template" to start from. I'm always less stressed when everything is clean and orderly. I guess that makes me Type A, bordering on OCD. But since we're leaving Sunday morning for Disney, I'm driving home Saturday night. And I don't want to come back from vacation stressed about cleaning up or getting things in order. When I come back, I want my apartment to be spotless, bills paid, all laundry done (except for Disney clothes). Now if only I could come back to a stocked fridge...
But I've got to get all the cleaning done Thursday, because Friday night is Pete's! Haven't been to Pete's in awhile, so I'm kinda excited! It's also been a bit since I went downtown, especially on a weekend night. I just don't want to be embarrassed...
All in all, this looks like it will be a great week before Disney. AND THEN I GET TO GO TO DISNEY WORLD!
PS - As an addendum to my previous post, Hulu has decided to keep all episodes of Stargate:SG-1 up until January 2011. Yay! I don't have to race through them and then eat up all my Netflix queue! It's good because in the three weeks that I've been trying to finish five seasons, I've only made it through 2.5. Now I've got several more months!
Friday, April 30, 2010
Mmmm....TV....
Do you know how hard it is to try and finish 5 seasons of a show within 3 weeks? It's really stinkin' hard. But I want to watch all of Stargate: SG-1 for free on Hulu, and they're taking them down on May 15th! I'm one week in and I've already watched 1.5 seasons.
Also, there are the 8 or so other currently running TV shows I watch that are getting in the way. But I'm not addicted. I swear I'm not addicted...
Also, there are the 8 or so other currently running TV shows I watch that are getting in the way. But I'm not addicted. I swear I'm not addicted...
Friday, April 23, 2010
See, this is why I don't have a blog.
I'm horrible at it. I seriously forgot I even had a blog for a while.
What have I done, or not done, since the 12th? Well, let's see...
I've been watching Glee. I kinda really like Jesse St. James. A lot. Screw Finn, he looks like a 12 year old.
I went to dinner at Hickory Grill on Congress with Mary and Kate. It was quite delicious. We also decided we like actually hanging out more often, so we're gonna do that on Sundays now.
I've worked quite a bit.
I "played" kickball with my coworkers. There were two teams: The Seebach Cantatas, captained by one Mr. Chris Seebach, and Milli's Vanillis, captained by Ms. Milli Apelgren. I was on the Milli's Vanillis and we got slaughtered, 14-1. We're blaming it on the rain, and the mud, and the drunkeness and apathy probably played a part as well. Then Crown and Anchor, where they have delicious Woodchuck Pear Ale. Yum.
Then I went home to Gtown. Hung out with all members of the family except Trey at various points, not all together. Got to play with Charlie a lot! He is just too cute, and growing so much! I love him!
Then I got sick with a severe allergy reaction on Monday the 19th. Lots of congestion and coughing and sinus pressure and headaches and tiredness and even small fevers. I'm still fighting it off, but it seems to be almost completely gone, just a lingering cough.
This week I attended classes and was certified by the American Red Cross in Standard First Aid for all ages, CPR for Infant/Child/Adult, and AED for Child/Adult. The class was really helpful and only two days long, so it was worth it for the amount of information I received. Plus, I was required to by work and they paid for it! So definitely worth it. Now at work I have to do reviews of it every three months. Soon we'll start training on building evacuations, and then I'll be able to work events completely by myself!
I've been cooking a bit more, but not a lot, since I was super busy the week before and have been sick and sleeping a lot this week. Everything I've tried has been delicious, including corn-meal-coated&fried fish, breaded chicken, and broiled steak. And all of these were generally experiments with spices! So it makes me feel good that they turned out great!
Sunday, Desire closes. I'm not too sad to see it go. All the noises from the various video installations were grating on my nerves. I keep hearing continuous loops of mariachi bands, strings, yodeling, Emmylou Harris, the sound of rubber twisting and cracking, soft piano music, a monotonous reading of India Song, and moaning from the porno. Yep, definitely won't miss this. Bring on Matisse as Printmaker! That one should be nice and quiet. But I think it's being paired with New Works for the Collection, which might include some contemporary art, which would likely involve video and sound... Le sigh.
Monday I get a haircut at 2:00PM. I'm going to Urban Betty, which is one of the best rated salons in Austin. If you schedule an appointment with their newest stylist as a student, it's only $30. And my UTID still says student! I still like my hair long, but I'm so sick of it, it's become so impossible to manage it. I think I'm just going to go in there, tell her I don't want it shorter than my jaw, don't want straight-across bangs, and nothing asymmetrical, and then just let her have at it. We'll see how it goes!
Ok, I'm getting tired of this.
What have I done, or not done, since the 12th? Well, let's see...
I've been watching Glee. I kinda really like Jesse St. James. A lot. Screw Finn, he looks like a 12 year old.
I went to dinner at Hickory Grill on Congress with Mary and Kate. It was quite delicious. We also decided we like actually hanging out more often, so we're gonna do that on Sundays now.
I've worked quite a bit.
I "played" kickball with my coworkers. There were two teams: The Seebach Cantatas, captained by one Mr. Chris Seebach, and Milli's Vanillis, captained by Ms. Milli Apelgren. I was on the Milli's Vanillis and we got slaughtered, 14-1. We're blaming it on the rain, and the mud, and the drunkeness and apathy probably played a part as well. Then Crown and Anchor, where they have delicious Woodchuck Pear Ale. Yum.
Then I went home to Gtown. Hung out with all members of the family except Trey at various points, not all together. Got to play with Charlie a lot! He is just too cute, and growing so much! I love him!
Then I got sick with a severe allergy reaction on Monday the 19th. Lots of congestion and coughing and sinus pressure and headaches and tiredness and even small fevers. I'm still fighting it off, but it seems to be almost completely gone, just a lingering cough.
This week I attended classes and was certified by the American Red Cross in Standard First Aid for all ages, CPR for Infant/Child/Adult, and AED for Child/Adult. The class was really helpful and only two days long, so it was worth it for the amount of information I received. Plus, I was required to by work and they paid for it! So definitely worth it. Now at work I have to do reviews of it every three months. Soon we'll start training on building evacuations, and then I'll be able to work events completely by myself!
I've been cooking a bit more, but not a lot, since I was super busy the week before and have been sick and sleeping a lot this week. Everything I've tried has been delicious, including corn-meal-coated&fried fish, breaded chicken, and broiled steak. And all of these were generally experiments with spices! So it makes me feel good that they turned out great!
Sunday, Desire closes. I'm not too sad to see it go. All the noises from the various video installations were grating on my nerves. I keep hearing continuous loops of mariachi bands, strings, yodeling, Emmylou Harris, the sound of rubber twisting and cracking, soft piano music, a monotonous reading of India Song, and moaning from the porno. Yep, definitely won't miss this. Bring on Matisse as Printmaker! That one should be nice and quiet. But I think it's being paired with New Works for the Collection, which might include some contemporary art, which would likely involve video and sound... Le sigh.
Monday I get a haircut at 2:00PM. I'm going to Urban Betty, which is one of the best rated salons in Austin. If you schedule an appointment with their newest stylist as a student, it's only $30. And my UTID still says student! I still like my hair long, but I'm so sick of it, it's become so impossible to manage it. I think I'm just going to go in there, tell her I don't want it shorter than my jaw, don't want straight-across bangs, and nothing asymmetrical, and then just let her have at it. We'll see how it goes!
Ok, I'm getting tired of this.
Monday, April 12, 2010
Cooking!
So, here's the update on my latest experiment. I've taken up cooking the last week and have prepared 3 separate dishes. I didn't want to try too much my first week. All recipes I got from allrecipes.com.
And yes, I'm eating a salad with every meal.
Next up on my attempt at cooking is a crockpot meal. This one will be interesting. I've never used a crockpot before, but it's supposed to be really easy. We'll see how it goes!
Also, if you've got any recipes you want to share, I'd appreciate them!
Saturday, April 10, 2010
Some days
Some days it's so easy to get caught up in the everyday, mundane actions of life. It's so easy and nice to worry about laundry and cooking dinner and paying bills and work.
Other days, big-picture things in life make me nervous, excited, and upset, all at the same time. I miss my family. I miss my siblings and how simple life is when we're all together. I miss my nephew like crazy. I laugh and cry at all the videos and pictures my sister posts, but I feel like I'm missing out on how much he is growing. I miss all the crazy, hyper, neurotic, and grumpy dogs of our family. Yes, every single one. I miss my parents and how comfortable everything is when they are around. How loved I feel being in their presence.
I miss my friends. I miss being able to get the group together much easier. I miss how easy the conversation flowed between all of us. I miss the inside jokes, the belting to Journey, the making up lyrics for Blinded by the Light by Manfred Mann, the camera sneak attacks, the Dr. Horrible quoting, the planning of our next great trip together, the O's Cafe in the Classics Lounge, the midnight movie premiers, hell, even the study sessions for tests, all of it. Just the general understanding and acceptance of each other's character and temperament. All other friendships since then have felt more like acquaintances. Everything feels more forced, awkward.
I miss school. I miss the deadlines for things. I don't miss the sense of impending doom before midterms. I miss the feeling of relief afterwards. I miss sitting in the hallways of Wagner, studying. I miss the feeling of connection in the Classics department, of mingling with and learning from some of the brightest people I've ever known. I miss learning new things everyday. I miss the freedom for exploration that school provides, the ability to try new things, learn a new language, discover a new culture, just for the hell of it. I know I can still do those things, but it's not what my life is about anymore. Trust me, it makes a difference.
Being an adult, out of my own, it's nice. Being independent, self-sufficient, it's something I highly value. But being out on my own has taught me that I don't like to be out on my own. I like to be connected, to be a part of something. I work best, feel most comforted, when I have a task to collaborate on, someone to report to, deadlines to meet. This feeling gives me a pretty clear idea that I want to go back to school. But I'm afraid to limit myself. I want to try so many things, I don't want to spend so much time and money to concentrate on one specific area. But the kicker of it all is that I'm not some brilliant genius that can be great at a lot of different things. So I'm wasting time and money to pursue all these interests that I'm not going to be great at and will probably abandon after awhile.
If I go back to school, do I go to grad school? And if so, for what? Archaeology? History? What do I do with that? Do I get a second bachelors? Is that possible? In what? How about just a Masters? And again, in what? Could I get a graduate degree in something outside of classics, or do I have to start from scratch? If I do go to school again, where? In state, out of state, out of the country? What about jobs that don't require more schooling? What about certification programs, in genealogy, travel agency? Both of those seem really exciting to me.
I seem to make up my mind about one thing and then I start questioning another idea. It's enough to drive me bonkers! I feel pressured, as if I'm wasting the good years of my life because I can't decide what to do. I feel like if I don't make a decision, I'm going to get stuck in the everyday. But then, inevitably, the weekend ends, and I go back to the mundane everyday life, stop thinking about the future for a few more days, and waste even more time.
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
I apologize...
I've been rather busy for the last week or so, and any down time has been spent with the Nook, so I've been kinda crappy about posting.
I'm starting a new phase in my life. It's the "Amy tries to cook, and still fails miserably, but tries even harder next time, damnit" phase. I kinda want to enjoy food again. So I've gone to the store and bought everything I think I could possibly need to cook. I wish you could buy talent. I'll attempt to keep you updated. I'm starting tomorrow with a simple fish-dish. I'll let ya know.
Sunday was Easter. My brother and I went home for the weekend. I dragged my family to Clash of the Titans. I've seen it three times already. You all should go see it too! Shane enjoyed it; I'm not sure the parents cared. Then we went to church Sunday morning. In true Dickenson fashion, we sat in the back and made fun of the singers. No CCS this time, though. After that I dragged my family to the Texas Spring football game. Apparently this Easter family get together was all about me and what I wanted to do!
About the Spring Game... I'm excited and apprehensive about next year. There are really too many variables. But it seems like there is lots of talent, as usual, and once again, a disappointment about how the season ended to drive them on. All the question marks and doubts about this coming season feel a lot like the 2008 season, and that didn't turn out so bad. Except for the whole being beaten out for a chance at the Nat'l. Title by our arch-rivals by 0.0128 points... All I know for sure is, Gilbert is gonna be awesome. And I might just miss Shipley more than I miss Colt, if that's possible. I just hope things click this year. We at least need another 10-win season! It's the expectation, the bare-minimum allowed, which makes me proud to be a Texas fan!
As far as genealogy research goes, it's still chugging along. I found a bit on my dad's side (FINALLY), but I can't get us out of the states. I've traced it back to my gggggreat-grandpa (father's, father's, mother's, father's, father's, father's father), b. 1797 in GA, who was a Baptist Minister. So my family has been Baptist going on 9 generations. Pretty crazy! And we're 5th-generation Texans through that line and have been in the Wise County area since the late 1870's!
Also found one source that says my ggggggggggggreat-granpa (that's 12, if you're counting), Richard Baker died in Fleet Prison in Kent, England, in 1645/6. I believe that was a debtor's prison. So there's that...
I've really got nothing else at the moment. Other than bills and such boring things.
So, until something interesting happens...Adieu!
Monday, March 29, 2010
Monday, March 22, 2010
Weekend at Home
So this past weekend, I decided it had been too long since I'd seen my parents, so I went home for the weekend. And it was just as awesome as expected. There's nothing more comforting than spending time in your family home, especially when your family is there! And your dog, Blue!
But anyways, I got home Saturday night. We went to Firehouse Subs for dinner, and then to Walmart, where we proceeded to buy nothing but junk food and New Moon on DVD. Then we went home and were about to watch the movie, when Dad asked that we wait for him so he could shower. My dad actually wanted us to wait so he could see the movie. I'm not quite sure he enjoyed it though... Next day we went to see Avatar and then laid around watching TV. It was awesome.
Usually, when I leave after being home for a while, I get a severe case of home-sickness. But something about this trip was different. Don't get me wrong, Mom (I know you're reading this), I really did regret having to leave you guys and go back to the real world. But it wasn't quite as profound a feeling of loss as it usually is. I think I'm getting the hang of this living-alone business and it's making me feel more assured. I feel more independent and in control of my emotions, which is quite liberating. Feelings like this help me have optimism about my future, about going to grad-school, about even living outside of Texas.
So I no longer seem to miss my family home. But I always have and always will miss my family. Particularly this little guy.
Monday, March 15, 2010
My latest obsession
So, since the three of you that read this watch/like SYTYCD, I'm sure you all might remember a group called the Legion of Extraordinary Dancers performed last season. Lil C was a member. If not, here's a clip:
Well, it turns out Legacy, who was my favorite contestant from season 6, is also a member! But naturally, he didn't get to dance with them on the show.
This group was started by Jon Chu, who directed Step Up 2. He thought dancing was awesome and a great way to tell stories, so he got together a group of really awesome street dancers. And their launching an online show that will mix dance, superhero-esqe stories, and movie-quality cinematography. They're supported and sponsored by Paramount, Agility Studios, and Puma. It looks awesome! Here's a trailer:
You may have noticed in the trailer a familiar face. It's Harry Shum Jr., the "Other Asian" from Glee! He's a performer and choreographer with the LXD.
So, yeah, this is supposedly coming out sometime this year and I'm super excited! It looks awesome! And lots of media/news sources are freaking out over it too, mainly saying how ground-breaking it could be for both dance and online shows.
So I won't bore you with anymore about it, but if you are interested, here are some more clips:
The LXD (with other SYTYCD stars) on the Oscars
LXD Teaser Trailer with introduction by Jon Chu
LXD's performance at YouTubeLive (Legacy is in this one)
The LXD on Ellen DeGeneres Show
LXD at the TED performance (Really long, but informative, and the only time I've liked Krump)
So, Jon Chu and another guy named Adam from Step Up 2 had a dance group that was the forerunner for LXD, called Adam Chu Dance Crew, or ACDC. Many of their members are LXD members, like Legacy, but they had some others, like the Jabbawockez (sp?). The challenged Miley Cyrus to an online dance battle, and here's some of their stuff:
ACDC responding to Miley Cyrus' group
ACDC at the Teen Choice Awards. Stop watching at 2:30 if you don't want to see Miley Cyrus.
ACDC at the Step Up 2 release party
ACDC Republican vs. Democrat Dance Off
And because it makes me laugh:
Friday, March 12, 2010
Out of Sync
Ever have those days/weeks were everything seems out of whack? Your sleep schedule gets off, you're not hungry at meal times and starving at other inopportune times? Where you feel clumsy and uncoordinated, at least, more than you usually are? Where social interactions tend to be awkward, you make silly mistakes at work, and all errands and chores seem to be done so inefficiently? Also tend to impulse buy, or not think through money decisions very well during this time?
That's how this week feels for me. I usually am able to "reset" over the weekend. But I have to work on Sunday, so I'll only have Monday to myself. And that's just one day to get in good sleep, get my eating schedule back on track, and complete all those errands that I half-assed during the week.
Oh, and taxes. Must do taxes...
Also, can I go back here? Pretty please?
That's how this week feels for me. I usually am able to "reset" over the weekend. But I have to work on Sunday, so I'll only have Monday to myself. And that's just one day to get in good sleep, get my eating schedule back on track, and complete all those errands that I half-assed during the week.
Oh, and taxes. Must do taxes...
Also, can I go back here? Pretty please?
Friday, March 5, 2010
Well, at least I got half a day off work...
All that anxiety and build up about going to court? The freaking out about evidence, and testifying, and getting time off work, hell, even what I was going to wear? Yep, all useless.
I spent three dollars at a parking meter four blocks away and I'm in high-heels. I make it all the way to the courthouse, go through security, make it up to the court room, sit and wait on the judge. Then I find out that Mr. Caballero-Galan settled out of court. And no one bothered to let me know. I even checked the website about an hour before I was supposed to be there and it still said "Set for Court".
The prosecutor gave me some little talk about how thankful they are for civilian witnesses because otherwise they couldn't win cases like this one. I would be thankful for any sort of notification that I'm no longer needed.
But they already had my shift covered, so I got the rest of the day off work! I spent it sleeping, naturally.
I spent three dollars at a parking meter four blocks away and I'm in high-heels. I make it all the way to the courthouse, go through security, make it up to the court room, sit and wait on the judge. Then I find out that Mr. Caballero-Galan settled out of court. And no one bothered to let me know. I even checked the website about an hour before I was supposed to be there and it still said "Set for Court".
The prosecutor gave me some little talk about how thankful they are for civilian witnesses because otherwise they couldn't win cases like this one. I would be thankful for any sort of notification that I'm no longer needed.
But they already had my shift covered, so I got the rest of the day off work! I spent it sleeping, naturally.
Monday, March 1, 2010
I Hate Tom... Meaning My Car
I should've know. Right when we were buying my car, I get a call that my former boss died. Shouldn't it be some sort of omen that someone you know very well DIES when you buy your car?
My car is named Tom after my former boss, who as mentioned above, died on the very day I bought my car. A nice memoriam in my own way, or a stupid curse on my car.
Tom was great for a few weeks. Not really what I had in mind for my first car, but still, very nice. It didn't even take three weeks for the first "accident". While parked outside my sister's apartment, someone decided to ram their car into my driver-side door. Caused over $1000 of damage. Luckily, the girl left a note and paid for the repairs out of her pocket. All was well for a while.
Little things started messing up on my car as well. The handle to the hatch-back door broke. The windshield fluid dispenser lost pressure. Fan belts started cracking.
Then summer of 2008, I was rear-ended in rush hour traffic by a driver towing cars to Mexico. Naturally, being from Mexico, he didn't have insurance. Naturally, my car had scratches and a light ripped out, his truck had absolutely NOTHING wrong with it. The cops came and wrote him a ticket, but told me I was outta luck and shouldn't expect anything from him. So my dad bought a new light and installed it himself, and I left the scratches all over my bumper.
Then my hatch handle broke, again. Luckily we were still under warranty, so we could get that fixed without paying. Then there was debris in the road on I-35 one day and I ran over an 18-wheeler tire-tread at about 50 MPH. Messed up something in my wheel. I continued to drive on it that way, but it got to be ridiculously loud anytime I drove my car.
Then my car got towed while at a friend's apartment for a late movie. When I finally get out to the tow yard around 1AM, my debit card is rejected because someone had stolen the number earlier in the day. Two days after that I get a ticket for going 5 MPH over on the highway. That was also Nov. 1, 2008, which if you know me and my passion for Longhorn football, was possibly the worst day of the year.
I resolved the debit card stuff, took defensive driving, and got the ticket erased. I had my car back, but there were still scratches on the bumper from the rear-ending and a messed up front wheel from running over the tire-tread. Then my car was hit just a bit in the school parking lots one day. A hand-sized ding in the driver's side door. At this point I didn't even care.
And then, of all things, a bicyclist runs into my parked car. If only I could be making this up. They left a note, but no contact information, the irresponsible pathetic little bastard. It said,
(Capitalization, spelling, and punctuation are author's own.)
Yes, I kept the note. I like to read it when I'm feeling whiny. Anyways, this cyclist put a body-sized dent in my rear passenger door, left scratches down the back half of the car, pulled framing off of the window, and busted out a side window. My dad, being awesome, took my car to the shop and got the window replaced and we finally got the wheel problem from earlier fixed. Another $800 or so into fixing my car.
And then the gas tank cover on my car broke. That same day, my hatch handle broke, yet again.
And then... God, I'm saying that a lot.
A couple weeks ago, my car failed inspection because I needed two new tires. Of course there are only about two models of cars in the world that need my type of tires, so they're rare. After the third tire store and about $450, I had two new tires, and my car passed inspection.
To top it all off, last week I got a letter in the mail that they want me to be a State's witness in a case against a one Mr. Caballero-Galan, aka the Mexican driver who rear-ended me a year-and-a-half ago. Apparently he's hired a lawyer to contest the tickets he received for the wreck and not having insurance. I guess he thinks I won't show and he'll win the case and not have to pay. Guess again, a-hole.
So now, I'm going to court over my car. I've had this car for only 4 years, I'm still making payments on it. I don't feel like I should be getting this much trouble from it! It's a small car! Not that big of a target! How do people keep hitting it?! I honestly would not be surprised if I walked out from work one day and half of my car was missing. It's sad that I almost wish for that scenario because I feel like it would be a fresh start. I intend to finish the payments on my car and drive this one into the ground. I only hope that Tom can at least hold out until he's paid-in-full.
My car is named Tom after my former boss, who as mentioned above, died on the very day I bought my car. A nice memoriam in my own way, or a stupid curse on my car.
Tom was great for a few weeks. Not really what I had in mind for my first car, but still, very nice. It didn't even take three weeks for the first "accident". While parked outside my sister's apartment, someone decided to ram their car into my driver-side door. Caused over $1000 of damage. Luckily, the girl left a note and paid for the repairs out of her pocket. All was well for a while.
Little things started messing up on my car as well. The handle to the hatch-back door broke. The windshield fluid dispenser lost pressure. Fan belts started cracking.
Then summer of 2008, I was rear-ended in rush hour traffic by a driver towing cars to Mexico. Naturally, being from Mexico, he didn't have insurance. Naturally, my car had scratches and a light ripped out, his truck had absolutely NOTHING wrong with it. The cops came and wrote him a ticket, but told me I was outta luck and shouldn't expect anything from him. So my dad bought a new light and installed it himself, and I left the scratches all over my bumper.
Then my hatch handle broke, again. Luckily we were still under warranty, so we could get that fixed without paying. Then there was debris in the road on I-35 one day and I ran over an 18-wheeler tire-tread at about 50 MPH. Messed up something in my wheel. I continued to drive on it that way, but it got to be ridiculously loud anytime I drove my car.
Then my car got towed while at a friend's apartment for a late movie. When I finally get out to the tow yard around 1AM, my debit card is rejected because someone had stolen the number earlier in the day. Two days after that I get a ticket for going 5 MPH over on the highway. That was also Nov. 1, 2008, which if you know me and my passion for Longhorn football, was possibly the worst day of the year.
I resolved the debit card stuff, took defensive driving, and got the ticket erased. I had my car back, but there were still scratches on the bumper from the rear-ending and a messed up front wheel from running over the tire-tread. Then my car was hit just a bit in the school parking lots one day. A hand-sized ding in the driver's side door. At this point I didn't even care.
And then, of all things, a bicyclist runs into my parked car. If only I could be making this up. They left a note, but no contact information, the irresponsible pathetic little bastard. It said,
PLEASE Forgive me
I wreked on my BIKe
When The Bike lane Ended
ABruptly.
Out oF work can't AFFord
TO MAKe Recompense.
(Capitalization, spelling, and punctuation are author's own.)
Yes, I kept the note. I like to read it when I'm feeling whiny. Anyways, this cyclist put a body-sized dent in my rear passenger door, left scratches down the back half of the car, pulled framing off of the window, and busted out a side window. My dad, being awesome, took my car to the shop and got the window replaced and we finally got the wheel problem from earlier fixed. Another $800 or so into fixing my car.
And then the gas tank cover on my car broke. That same day, my hatch handle broke, yet again.
And then... God, I'm saying that a lot.
A couple weeks ago, my car failed inspection because I needed two new tires. Of course there are only about two models of cars in the world that need my type of tires, so they're rare. After the third tire store and about $450, I had two new tires, and my car passed inspection.
To top it all off, last week I got a letter in the mail that they want me to be a State's witness in a case against a one Mr. Caballero-Galan, aka the Mexican driver who rear-ended me a year-and-a-half ago. Apparently he's hired a lawyer to contest the tickets he received for the wreck and not having insurance. I guess he thinks I won't show and he'll win the case and not have to pay. Guess again, a-hole.
So now, I'm going to court over my car. I've had this car for only 4 years, I'm still making payments on it. I don't feel like I should be getting this much trouble from it! It's a small car! Not that big of a target! How do people keep hitting it?! I honestly would not be surprised if I walked out from work one day and half of my car was missing. It's sad that I almost wish for that scenario because I feel like it would be a fresh start. I intend to finish the payments on my car and drive this one into the ground. I only hope that Tom can at least hold out until he's paid-in-full.
Friday, February 26, 2010
Genealogy
Fair warning, I was a history major and I enjoy researching genealogies and I'm about to completely nerd out on you.
So something that's bothered me for a while is my family's complete lack of knowledge on where we came from, on both sides. I mean, I have the names of great-great grandparents and such, and I have a family reunion book from my mom's side that goes back about 6 generations, but it's not much. For one thing both sides of my family have been in Texas for at least 4 or so generations, and the 6 or so back that I have found are all still located in the Southern United States, namely Mississippi, Alabama, the Carolinas, Tennessee, Florida, and such.
And now, since I'm no longer a student of anything but life, my inner researcher/investigator has needed a project. This is always something that has intrigued me and bothered me, so at Christmas, I picked up as much information as I could from my parents and my sister, Melaina, who had done some research for a college project. It's all pretty great, but since I didn't have any sources listed (Melaina, where is your works cited page?!) I decided to start from scratch. Luckily, Melaina did her research well, and everything she had, back about 5 generations, was correct.
So after checking out all that stuff through google searches of obituaries, cemetaries, census data, and any marriage/birth/death records available, I was kinda stuck. I started trying to search the Dickenson name, and I found a bunch of them located in Wise County (we STILL have family living there...) but I couldn't find much. My great-great-grandpa is Thomas H. Dickenson, but I haven't found anything yet about his parents or where they came from. His wife, named Texanna, I don't believe was born in Texas, but moved here with her parents, William and Jane Molloy (Irish surname) who were both supposedly born in SC. I can't find any more information on them.
So I moved on to my mom's side. Since I had that family reunion book, I have a lot more information, even if it only goes back about 6 generations. However, I had a "breakthrough" a couple of days ago. I started researching my maternal grandmother's ancestors and found a veritable trove of information. I started searching my mother's mothers mother's family (great-grandma) and found so much. All of my sources come from the internet, namely free genealogy forums where people essentially list as much information as they know about their families or can find in family documents or Bibles.
The majority of the information I found was on both sides of my great-grandmother's paternal grandmother's family. Through all this, which I won't bore you with, I found two instances of the first family members in America.
As far back as I can tell, there was a John Ederiche born in Middlesex County, England around 1500. There are also wills filed in Middlesex County by people named Ederiche (or variations) all the way back to 1395. Through time the name changed from Ederiche to Etheridge to Ethridge. My greatX10-grandpa (great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandpa) was named Thomas Etheridge and was born in Dec of 1604 in Tottenham Parish, Middlesex County, England. He immigrated to Norfolk, Virginia around 1640 and received 200 acres of land (sorry the source link I have for this is broken and I can't find the page again). He likely brought with him his wife and two oldest sons, as you received 50 acres of land for every person you paid to get here. Thomas' fourth son is Marmaduke Etheridge, born in Norfolk around 1647. Marmaduke had John, who had Willis, who had William, who had another Marmaduke, who had another John, who had Margaret, who married and had Thomas Mark White, who had Ruth White, who married and had Mary Hunter, who married and had Melinda Gunnels, who married and had me! So, in a surprise of all surprises, my family is English.....
While it was fun to find all this out, I wanted to see if we came from anywhere other than England, and I found something! Remember Margaret from the list up there? Well her mother was Anna Maranda Davidson, whose mother was Elizabeth Kuykendall. Elizabeth's father was Jonathan Kuykendall, whose father was James Kuykendall, whose father was Matheus Van Kuykendall, whose father was Luur Jacobsen Van Kuykendaal, whose father was Jacob Luursen Van Kuykendaal, whose father was Luur Something-or-Other. This Luur was assumed to be born around 1590 in Wageningen, Netherlands! His two sons, including Jacob Luursen, arrived in America in 1646 as workers on a ship for the Dutch West India Company. Jacob Luursen adopted the toponym "Van Kuykendaal" and fathered nearly all the various Kuykendall/Kirkendoll/Coykendall's in America. Anyways, he settled around Fort Orange, New Netherlands, which is now Albany, NY. (http://freepages.folklore.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~sturnbo/files/kuykendall/kuyg02.htm#14684)
So, dear siblings, you can now say you're at least 1/4096th Dutch, 1/4096th English, and 12th generation Americans! And Mom, if you're reading this, that would be 1/2048th Dutch and English, and 11th generation American.
So something that's bothered me for a while is my family's complete lack of knowledge on where we came from, on both sides. I mean, I have the names of great-great grandparents and such, and I have a family reunion book from my mom's side that goes back about 6 generations, but it's not much. For one thing both sides of my family have been in Texas for at least 4 or so generations, and the 6 or so back that I have found are all still located in the Southern United States, namely Mississippi, Alabama, the Carolinas, Tennessee, Florida, and such.
And now, since I'm no longer a student of anything but life, my inner researcher/investigator has needed a project. This is always something that has intrigued me and bothered me, so at Christmas, I picked up as much information as I could from my parents and my sister, Melaina, who had done some research for a college project. It's all pretty great, but since I didn't have any sources listed (Melaina, where is your works cited page?!) I decided to start from scratch. Luckily, Melaina did her research well, and everything she had, back about 5 generations, was correct.
So after checking out all that stuff through google searches of obituaries, cemetaries, census data, and any marriage/birth/death records available, I was kinda stuck. I started trying to search the Dickenson name, and I found a bunch of them located in Wise County (we STILL have family living there...) but I couldn't find much. My great-great-grandpa is Thomas H. Dickenson, but I haven't found anything yet about his parents or where they came from. His wife, named Texanna, I don't believe was born in Texas, but moved here with her parents, William and Jane Molloy (Irish surname) who were both supposedly born in SC. I can't find any more information on them.
So I moved on to my mom's side. Since I had that family reunion book, I have a lot more information, even if it only goes back about 6 generations. However, I had a "breakthrough" a couple of days ago. I started researching my maternal grandmother's ancestors and found a veritable trove of information. I started searching my mother's mothers mother's family (great-grandma) and found so much. All of my sources come from the internet, namely free genealogy forums where people essentially list as much information as they know about their families or can find in family documents or Bibles.
The majority of the information I found was on both sides of my great-grandmother's paternal grandmother's family. Through all this, which I won't bore you with, I found two instances of the first family members in America.
As far back as I can tell, there was a John Ederiche born in Middlesex County, England around 1500. There are also wills filed in Middlesex County by people named Ederiche (or variations) all the way back to 1395. Through time the name changed from Ederiche to Etheridge to Ethridge. My greatX10-grandpa (great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandpa) was named Thomas Etheridge and was born in Dec of 1604 in Tottenham Parish, Middlesex County, England. He immigrated to Norfolk, Virginia around 1640 and received 200 acres of land (sorry the source link I have for this is broken and I can't find the page again). He likely brought with him his wife and two oldest sons, as you received 50 acres of land for every person you paid to get here. Thomas' fourth son is Marmaduke Etheridge, born in Norfolk around 1647. Marmaduke had John, who had Willis, who had William, who had another Marmaduke, who had another John, who had Margaret, who married and had Thomas Mark White, who had Ruth White, who married and had Mary Hunter, who married and had Melinda Gunnels, who married and had me! So, in a surprise of all surprises, my family is English.....
While it was fun to find all this out, I wanted to see if we came from anywhere other than England, and I found something! Remember Margaret from the list up there? Well her mother was Anna Maranda Davidson, whose mother was Elizabeth Kuykendall. Elizabeth's father was Jonathan Kuykendall, whose father was James Kuykendall, whose father was Matheus Van Kuykendall, whose father was Luur Jacobsen Van Kuykendaal, whose father was Jacob Luursen Van Kuykendaal, whose father was Luur Something-or-Other. This Luur was assumed to be born around 1590 in Wageningen, Netherlands! His two sons, including Jacob Luursen, arrived in America in 1646 as workers on a ship for the Dutch West India Company. Jacob Luursen adopted the toponym "Van Kuykendaal" and fathered nearly all the various Kuykendall/Kirkendoll/Coykendall's in America. Anyways, he settled around Fort Orange, New Netherlands, which is now Albany, NY. (http://freepages.folklore.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~sturnbo/files/kuykendall/kuyg02.htm#14684)
So, dear siblings, you can now say you're at least 1/4096th Dutch, 1/4096th English, and 12th generation Americans! And Mom, if you're reading this, that would be 1/2048th Dutch and English, and 11th generation American.
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
In true blogging fashion...
I'm going to start my blog with something I found today. Something I didn't even write, but was sitting in front of my doorstep when I got home.
Today after I got up with Tom Rye and Stone, I first realized my eyes are green. They're unreal in their coloration and despite their bloodshot background they still gleamed. Something I always failed to see which seems so odd to me with such an eye for obscurities.
Hell, I'm living near a poet.
And because I want to, here's a photo from my life's travels.
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