I've been meaning to do a little recap of the year, as best I can remember. Just because.
January: A beginning of my love for Latin during Mass, and the beginnings of some feelings of unrest.
February: Nothing too interesting, other than the Olympics and knitting...and knitting.
March: The break of my worst travel experiences yet, the inevitably very much regretted decision, and general disappointment in everything but mostly myself.
April: Mom visiting for a weekend, a whole year without JPII, and the best Holy Week I've ever experienced.
May: An ending that luckily wasn't, ultimately, an end, and graduations galore.
June: Jobs and more jobs.
July: The start of an internship I loved, the switch from one retail job to another, and a lovely camping trip.
August: One last fun family day before Peter went off to boot camp, the beginnings of the ultimate realization, a new school, and the knowledge that nothing compares to ND.
September: Steve's wedding and the first ND football game!, a celebrity death that affected me more than I ever would have thought, and successfully reaching the age of legality.
October: A final decision, Peter graduated from boot camp, and of course, my first bout with pink eye.
November: A lovely weekend at ND, and another lovely Saturday watching ND at Air Force.
December: Re-discovering the amazingness of Celtic Woman, one of the most proud moments of my college career thus far, finding out one of the best things that's happened to me for awhile, and of course, the lovely lots of snow (even if they bookended Christmas, instead of happening on Christmas).
Wow that took awhile. And $10 says I messed up at least one of the links, but who's really going to click on them all anyway? What an interesting year it's been, and very interesting to look at posts made a year or six months or even just a few months ago. Hm.
Well, that's it for 2006 I suppose.
Sunday, December 31, 2006
End of the Year Meme
It's Sunday, and New Year's Eve; what else am I gonna do?
1. What did you do in 2006 that you’d never done before?
Stepped off the path? Made a decision?
2. Did you keep your new years’ resolutions, and will you make more for next year?
Probably didn't keep last year's (don't really remember any, other than the givens that everyone says), and I kind of have already made a few that I hope to do better with this coming year.
3. Did anyone close to you give birth?
Not really.
4. Did anyone close to you die?
No, thankfully.
5. What countries did you visit?
Heck, I barely visited any other states. Oh, I guess technically I visited New Hampshire and Oklahoma.
6. What would you like to have in 2007 that you lacked in 2006?
hahaha...ok I won't say what I'm thinking. Instead I'll say...a niece. hehe. Or another nephew. Either way.
7. What date from 2006 will remain etched upon your memory, and why?
Oh man...there's a few. One of the last days of August, when I was sitting in class at UCCS and realized just how wrong it all felt; Oct 26 when I saw my Army brother for the first time since he left for boot camp; Nov 4 when I made it back to ND for a game (and Julie's 21st!); Dec 18, when I found out I'll be back on campus next year. Etc. There's probably some dates from earlier in the year, but the first half of the year seems just so far away from now.
8. What was your biggest achievement of the year?
Hm...getting clarity?
9. What was your biggest failure?
Possibly that fateful decision I made back in March, which set up a semester's worth of heartache. Possibly not a failure because possibly it was necessary. I just wish I hadn't done it.
10. Did you suffer illness or injury?
Nothing major that I remember until the end of October when I got more sick than I've been in awhile, with some pink eye thrown on there just for fun.
11. What was the best thing you bought?
Possibly the Lord of the Rings and Chronicles of Narnia books I bought in March. Or maybe my new digital camera which has, thus far, been quite good to me.
12. Whose behavior merited celebration?
Hm. My sister's pretty much a trooper with a lot of crap she's had going on. And I guess my little brother's decision to volunteer and join the army is pretty laudable.
13. Whose behavior made you appalled and depressed?
Not sure if there's anyone whose behavior made me depressed, but lots of people in general (think society) can make me appalled by their behavior.
14. Where did most of your money go?
No clue. My dad (tied into tuition and loans and such I pay for), my credit card (generally spent on lots of little things--not huge impulse purchases, I promise), a few trips that I guess were well worth it, and...more than I'd like to admit...purchases of things at my place of work, namely some leather and suede coats, a purse, and some gloves. Although not all were for me.
15. What did you get really, really, really excited about?
Uh, dude, Notre Dame football! And Notre Dame. (Again, I suppose this is mostly a second-half of the year recap thing, as I've changed quite a bit since the first half...Although ND football always made me excited.)
16. What song will always remind you of 2006?
hm...Probably some country songs, as I started listening to country in summer of 06, and before that I didn't listen to a whole lot of new stuff.
17. Compared to this time last year, are you:
happier or sadder?
Probably quite a bit happier. Which is quite lovely.
thinner or fatter?
Ok, I have no real conclusive proof of this, as we own a grand total of zero scales in this house, but I think I'm at least a bit thinner.
richer or poorer?
No clue, really. I might perhaps have slightly more money in my bank account, but I really don't know. Not significantly changed either way I guess.
18. What do you wish you’d done more of?
Realizing how good I had it at ND, and more being at ND.
19. What do you wish you’d done less of?
Thinking, and analyzing, and being stupid, and complaining, and spending money, and above all, less being at home. Not that home is bad, but...yeah. You all know what I'm talking about.
20. How will you be spending Christmas?
Well, I spent Christmas with my family--Christmas Eve Mass at 10:30 pm, eating some foods afterwards (and giving myself a nice little cut on my finger that still bothers me and for which I am still wearing a bandaid), then getting up in the morning and spending good family time together. Good times.
21. Did you fall in love in 2006?
Well...with ND, all over again...
22. How many one-night stands?
18. Minus 18. ha.
23. What was your favorite TV program?
Actually managed to like less TV this year. For awhile it was LOST, but that's off the air for awhile and who knows if I'll get back into it. I do sometimes enjoy Without a Trace, but usually what I watched most consisted of syndicated reruns. And Conan. Oh, Conan.
24. Do you dislike anyone now that you didn’t dislike this time last year?
Well, it's possible that I met someone at UCCS that I didn't know last year and who I now don't like so much. But I didn't really get to know anyone there either, so I shouldn't really say I dislike any of them. Even if there are certain teachers I was less than fond of all semester...
25. What was the best book you read?
Well, before getting Harry Potter for Christmas, I was reading this book I found recently that I had bought at Hooked on Books, but as that one turned out to be a rather crappy waste of my time in the end, I'm just going to say Harry Potter, even though I haven't quite finished the first one yet. The Hobbit was a pretty darn good book too, I guess I read that this year. Or at least finished it this year. A while ago though.
26. What was your greatest musical discovery?
Celtic Woman, even though I think I did know about them a year ago. Or perhaps the awesomeness of James Taylor, or The Police, or Rascal Flatts. Or once again re-learning the greatness of classical music in general. Oh, classicals. How you are awesome.
27. What did you want and get?
Clarity. Wonderful, amazing, peaceful clarity!
28. What did you want and not get?
...no comment, again...hehe...um...Well, so far, a room in Cavanaugh. Or any number of DVDs or CDs that I keep wanting to buy but don't. :-P
29. What was your favorite film of this year?
The Pursuit of Happyness was pretty great (even if Mom thinks people shouldn't see it because it's too depressing for 90% of the movie)...Stranger than Fiction was good...Chronicles of Narnia is awesome...don't really know.
30. What did you do on your birthday, and how old were you?
I went to Texas Roadhouse with my parents, got a margarita, and then a few days later had a bit of a celebration with my whole family (minus little bro), although I wasn't feeling too celebratory as it happened to be the same day of a certain quite painful ND game, played against that stupid team from the north that calls itself Michigan. Oh, and I turned the big 2-1.
31. What one thing would have made your year immeasurably more satisfying?
Clarity back in March. Or February. Or, heck, even January. Or possibly the ability to make decisions, or to live with decisions.
32. How would you describe your personal fashion concept in 2006?
2006: The year of the skirt. And some slightly more fashionable shirts. As well as the year I finally bought a nice jacket.
33. What kept you sane?
Family, and God
34. Which celebrity/public figure did you fancy the most?
I've come to despise, or nearly so, a majority of celebrities/public figures. So...yeah I don't know that there's any I can think of, off the top of my head, that I "fancy." Unless perhaps the Pope, but that's a different kind of fancy. There may be someone else, but I don't know who. (Although I will admit to having a slight crush on Kyle Chandler, one that I had back when he was in Early Edition--an amazing show--and one that I just can't help. But it's purely superficial, as I know nothing about him. hehe.)
35. What political issue stirred you the most?
Well, the biggest one here this year was the stuff about keeping marriage between one man and one woman, and not giving homosexual couples special rights to stuff and whatnot. Luckily, the outcomes of those two things were some of a very few that turned out well in November.
36. Who did you miss?
First half the year: Family and such. Second half: ND people. Eh, what are ya gonna do?
37. Who was the best new person you met?
Huh...um...don't really know that I met a whole lot of new people...I did quite enjoy my history teacher though, I guess that's the closest thing I have. Oh dude, I'm an idiot, what about Brenda? She's pretty awesome, I must say, and I will be sad to leave her, if I won't be sad to leave Wilsons.
38. Tell us a valuable life lesson you learned in 2006?
How can I sum it into words? I suppose something along the lines of absence truly does make the heart grow fonder, as well as sometimes you have to lose (or get rid of) something to realize just how vital it is to you...something like that.
39. Quote a song lyric that sums up your year:
Ew. Um. Hm. Really no clue at the moment. Sorry.
I just looked at the Basilica's website for some reason, forget exactly why now, but did you know they changed it sometime in the last few months? It's quite pretty now. I like it. And wanna hear something funny? The second I saw that page, I got the sensation of smelling incense. Quite lovely. The Basilica always smells so nice. Mmm. Isn't it wonderful?
Devotions Meme
(Seen around various blogs, and thus I am stealing it.)
1. Favorite devotion or prayer to Jesus?
Sacred Heart of Jesus
2. Favorite Marian devotion or prayer?
Definitely the Rosary
3. Do you wear a scapular or medal?
I always wear my miraculous medal (which is attached to a medal of St. Joseph), as well as my Crucifix (they're both on the same chain). I'd like to get a scapular, though.
4. Do you have holy water in your home?
We do.
5. Do you offer up your sufferings?
Not nearly as much or as good as I should.
6. Do you observe First Fridays and First Saturdays?
No.
7. Do you go to Eucharistic Adoration? How frequently?
I do, probably at least a couple times a year, but I do wish I went more often.
8. Are you a Saturday evening Mass person or Sunday morning Mass person?
Definitely Sunday morning.
9. Do you say prayers at mealtime?
Usually.
10. Favorite Saint(s)?
Well, I always liked Elizabeth Ann Seton (enough even to choose her as my saint when I got confirmed), and St. Anthony is a life-saver sometimes (or at least a peace-of-mind-saver), and of course Mary, and St. Anne, and St. Helena, and Thomas Aquinas, and oh so many.
11. Can you recite the Apostles Creed by heart?
More or less.
12. Do you usually say short prayers (aspirations) during the course of the day?
Well, I definitely talk to God a lot, if that counts.
13. Where is your favorite place to pray?
Mmm the Basilica of the Sacred Heart. (Hey, interesting, the Sacred Heart's my favorite devotion, and it's the name of my favorite church/place. Just realized that...)
14. Bonus Question: When you pass by a automobile accident or other serious mishap, do you say a quick prayer for the folks involved?
I try to.
Saturday, December 30, 2006
Just a few
Ok, so I want to get music by the following people: James Taylor, the guy who sings Sweet Caroline whose name is very much escaping me right now, and I am apparently too lazy to look up, and the Police. And then in a month I will of course need to get the new Celtic Woman CD, as well as the new Norah Jones CD, and for that matter I have yet to buy the new Josh Groban CD and that's been out almost two months.
And yet, I probably won't get any of these for awhile. Just because I hate spending money. Even on something I really want, like a few of those CDs if not all. Neil Diamond. That's who sings it. (Figured I couldn't say I really want that CD if I can't even think of his name, so I looked it up.) Ah well.
This whole waiting to see what dorm I'll be in thing is very much like the summer before freshman year. Trying not to hold out hope for any particular dorm, for fear my hopes would be dashed, only this time it's much harder as I have pre-set opinions and such about different dorms, whereas before freshman year I purposely didn't look much into any of the dorms so I wouldn't put one ahead of the others. Now, obviously, I'd much prefer to be in Cavanaugh as it'd make things easier, as well as reducing the need for much change or getting used to things on my part. A different dorm means different people, different rules, different ways of doing things. And yet, there's a part of me that almost wants that. Just to see. Just to know. But in any case, it doesn't matter much what I'd prefer at this point, because I'm just thrilled to be on campus at all. And even if I get stuck in a West Quad dorm, or a Mod Quad one, I'll be ok with it for two reasons (at least): I'll be on campus, which is what I want above all, and the number one reason I'll be ok with it is that, no matter what, I left it all up to God and thus, hopefully, whatever happens is God's will, and will be the best choice for me--even better than one I picked myself. (As if that's hard to top.) It really is quite nice leaving things up to God, putting it all in his hands, and letting it all fall into place as he decides. No chance of me mucking things up that way. Quite lovely.
New Years Eve is quickly approaching. Every year, I want to have fun on New Years Eve. But here's the thing. I don't want to go out. I'm not even sure how much I want to have people come here, if people didn't already have plans. In years past I've had at least a few friends come hang out over here, and it's fun of course, but I don't know. But at the same time, I don't want to be a "loser" who stays in all night with her mom and dad. Now, let me qualify that statement. I personally don't really have a problem with doing that, aside from the occasional feelings of being a 3rd wheel or whatnot (but I'm generally past that--I just wonder if my parents sometimes get sick of me. But they don't have to put up with me much anymore, in a couple weeks). Would be nicer if one of my siblings were there too, but I'm sure Cathy will be staying in with Bobby and Jason, Tom will of course be up in...Longmont? Lafayette? I keep forgetting exactly where it is. Right by Louisville. Near Denver and Boulder. Yeah. anyway. And I'm sure Peter will be out somewhere with some friend. I don't know. Oh well. One of these years, I'll have a good, fun, up-to-expectations New Years Eve. Maybe.
I got a call on my cell tonight from work, saying that tomorrow the mall wasn't going to open until 10, instead of the as-planned 8am. Even though this means a possible two hours less of pay, I'm pretty happy because I wasn't relishing the thought of going to work at 8am. I think there's a chance I might stay until later than the scheduled 1pm because of this, which I would be ok with. But who knows. All I know is it's 10 am now, even though the snow seemed to have done not much of anything today, in the Springs at least. It's been much windier today than yesterday, but much less new snow. I guess we're still supposed to get 3-8 inches by Sunday morning, but I don't really think that'll happen. We'll see I guess. Either way, I'm enjoying this as much as possible (although I'd enjoy it a lot more if I had someone to go play in the snow with me), because snow like this just doesn't happen much here in Colorado Springs, despite what non-Coloradans think. But I do feel lucky, because I have a feeling the next few months here will be snow-filled as well, at least more than normal, and probably ND won't be very snowy (as in the two winters I've spent there, I have yet to experience, really, what I had heard so much about regarding the winter weather up there), but I won't be able to feel to disappointed about missing out on it because I got these wonderful snows. Snows that were quite unexpected. I mean, two weeks ago I didn't think I'd see any snow during Christmas break, and then all of a sudden there was talk of a blizzard, out of nowhere it seemed. And then a few days later, snow was on the forecast again for this week, and I was doubly thrilled. So anyway. I never do understand when people complain so much about the snow and cold that happens in winter. It's not like we live in Florida, people. I guess the fact that we have something like over 300 days of sun a year makes people think we do live in a more warm-weather climate, but it's just not true. We're in the mountains, and snow is a part of that. And it's so rare, I just can't stand to see people curse it and wish it away. I mean, heck, last week with the blizzard we had maybe two days (the day before and the day of the really bad stuff, and then maybe half of the next day) without sun. And that's it. What's wrong with a few clouds and snow here and there? Man, I need to go live in the tundra somewhere or something.
Ok I guess that's all I have. I think it's time for some more Harry Potter reading. And I'm not sure if I'm done my scarf or not. I think it's a good length, but I kind of want just to finish the whole skein of yarn, as what's left doesn't seem like it'd be very good for making anything. (And seeing as how it's probably a good 30 years old, I'm guessing it'd be hard to find anymore from the same dye lot. Or, heck, even the same brand! Man, it'd be nice to have a skein like that only cost me $1.36, as the price sticker still on the label says. Now it's like $4 or 5, and I'm not sure they're as big as this one either.) So I may just finish with all the yarn and have a rather long scarf. or I could always undo a bunch of it and maybe have enough for two shorter scarves. But I don't know if I would have enough. Oh well.
Hey. Two more days of 2006. Two more days to work on last year's resolutions! ha.
And yet, I probably won't get any of these for awhile. Just because I hate spending money. Even on something I really want, like a few of those CDs if not all. Neil Diamond. That's who sings it. (Figured I couldn't say I really want that CD if I can't even think of his name, so I looked it up.) Ah well.
This whole waiting to see what dorm I'll be in thing is very much like the summer before freshman year. Trying not to hold out hope for any particular dorm, for fear my hopes would be dashed, only this time it's much harder as I have pre-set opinions and such about different dorms, whereas before freshman year I purposely didn't look much into any of the dorms so I wouldn't put one ahead of the others. Now, obviously, I'd much prefer to be in Cavanaugh as it'd make things easier, as well as reducing the need for much change or getting used to things on my part. A different dorm means different people, different rules, different ways of doing things. And yet, there's a part of me that almost wants that. Just to see. Just to know. But in any case, it doesn't matter much what I'd prefer at this point, because I'm just thrilled to be on campus at all. And even if I get stuck in a West Quad dorm, or a Mod Quad one, I'll be ok with it for two reasons (at least): I'll be on campus, which is what I want above all, and the number one reason I'll be ok with it is that, no matter what, I left it all up to God and thus, hopefully, whatever happens is God's will, and will be the best choice for me--even better than one I picked myself. (As if that's hard to top.) It really is quite nice leaving things up to God, putting it all in his hands, and letting it all fall into place as he decides. No chance of me mucking things up that way. Quite lovely.
New Years Eve is quickly approaching. Every year, I want to have fun on New Years Eve. But here's the thing. I don't want to go out. I'm not even sure how much I want to have people come here, if people didn't already have plans. In years past I've had at least a few friends come hang out over here, and it's fun of course, but I don't know. But at the same time, I don't want to be a "loser" who stays in all night with her mom and dad. Now, let me qualify that statement. I personally don't really have a problem with doing that, aside from the occasional feelings of being a 3rd wheel or whatnot (but I'm generally past that--I just wonder if my parents sometimes get sick of me. But they don't have to put up with me much anymore, in a couple weeks). Would be nicer if one of my siblings were there too, but I'm sure Cathy will be staying in with Bobby and Jason, Tom will of course be up in...Longmont? Lafayette? I keep forgetting exactly where it is. Right by Louisville. Near Denver and Boulder. Yeah. anyway. And I'm sure Peter will be out somewhere with some friend. I don't know. Oh well. One of these years, I'll have a good, fun, up-to-expectations New Years Eve. Maybe.
I got a call on my cell tonight from work, saying that tomorrow the mall wasn't going to open until 10, instead of the as-planned 8am. Even though this means a possible two hours less of pay, I'm pretty happy because I wasn't relishing the thought of going to work at 8am. I think there's a chance I might stay until later than the scheduled 1pm because of this, which I would be ok with. But who knows. All I know is it's 10 am now, even though the snow seemed to have done not much of anything today, in the Springs at least. It's been much windier today than yesterday, but much less new snow. I guess we're still supposed to get 3-8 inches by Sunday morning, but I don't really think that'll happen. We'll see I guess. Either way, I'm enjoying this as much as possible (although I'd enjoy it a lot more if I had someone to go play in the snow with me), because snow like this just doesn't happen much here in Colorado Springs, despite what non-Coloradans think. But I do feel lucky, because I have a feeling the next few months here will be snow-filled as well, at least more than normal, and probably ND won't be very snowy (as in the two winters I've spent there, I have yet to experience, really, what I had heard so much about regarding the winter weather up there), but I won't be able to feel to disappointed about missing out on it because I got these wonderful snows. Snows that were quite unexpected. I mean, two weeks ago I didn't think I'd see any snow during Christmas break, and then all of a sudden there was talk of a blizzard, out of nowhere it seemed. And then a few days later, snow was on the forecast again for this week, and I was doubly thrilled. So anyway. I never do understand when people complain so much about the snow and cold that happens in winter. It's not like we live in Florida, people. I guess the fact that we have something like over 300 days of sun a year makes people think we do live in a more warm-weather climate, but it's just not true. We're in the mountains, and snow is a part of that. And it's so rare, I just can't stand to see people curse it and wish it away. I mean, heck, last week with the blizzard we had maybe two days (the day before and the day of the really bad stuff, and then maybe half of the next day) without sun. And that's it. What's wrong with a few clouds and snow here and there? Man, I need to go live in the tundra somewhere or something.
Ok I guess that's all I have. I think it's time for some more Harry Potter reading. And I'm not sure if I'm done my scarf or not. I think it's a good length, but I kind of want just to finish the whole skein of yarn, as what's left doesn't seem like it'd be very good for making anything. (And seeing as how it's probably a good 30 years old, I'm guessing it'd be hard to find anymore from the same dye lot. Or, heck, even the same brand! Man, it'd be nice to have a skein like that only cost me $1.36, as the price sticker still on the label says. Now it's like $4 or 5, and I'm not sure they're as big as this one either.) So I may just finish with all the yarn and have a rather long scarf. or I could always undo a bunch of it and maybe have enough for two shorter scarves. But I don't know if I would have enough. Oh well.
Hey. Two more days of 2006. Two more days to work on last year's resolutions! ha.
Friday, December 29, 2006
Lost World
I came across this article today, which I think I remember hearing about much earlier this year. And it made me think. It's kind of sad that there's so much explored that it's news to find a little piece of the world as-yet unblemished by the rest of us. It's sad to me to be in history class, hearing about the frontier of America being closed because it just wasn't new anymore, it was getting too full, too like the rest of the country. It's sad to know that there's so few places left where one can go and feel disconnected from the fast-paced society we live in, because even if one goes out into the country somewhere (if there's true country still to be found), I'm sure that that person can count on hearing some evidence of the world we live in, whether it be a highway, or a plane overhead, or perhaps loud music or a movie coming from someone's car. (I experienced that last one this summer, when, while camping up in Rocky Mountain National Park, the people in the campsite right next to us pulled into their spot, set up their tent or whatever, and promptly sat outside and proceeded to watch Wedding Crashers on some portable TV they had brought with them. All while I was trying to enjoy the quiet, the dark, the stars, the night.) Anyway. Reading that article makes me sad both for me and the rest of us who can never really, truly experience a life untouched by modern society, as well as for that new world that was found for I have no doubt that their idyllic unchanged world now cannot stay like that for long. Because of who humans are, we want to explore and understand and learn anything about everything, until nothing is new anymore and we must find or create something else to explore. For better or worse, that's the way we are.
At least there's one highlight to all this. No matter what we do to the world around us, there is a place that can never be tarnished by anything we try to throw at it, a place that we will never be able to understand or explore fully, because of what it is. That place, of course, is heaven--the place that is better than even the most wonderful, quiet, country home that I can conjure up in my head. No matter where we are here on earth, we can all (hopefully) look forward to that day we'll be in the place we'll never ever even imagine leaving once we get there.
At least there's one highlight to all this. No matter what we do to the world around us, there is a place that can never be tarnished by anything we try to throw at it, a place that we will never be able to understand or explore fully, because of what it is. That place, of course, is heaven--the place that is better than even the most wonderful, quiet, country home that I can conjure up in my head. No matter where we are here on earth, we can all (hopefully) look forward to that day we'll be in the place we'll never ever even imagine leaving once we get there.
Thursday night Roundup
First: I just read a thing that said Hussein will be executed sometime this weekend. Weird. I mean, I guess if ever someone deserved to die, it'd be him, but I still don't think the whole killing for killing works well with me. But it's weird that this guy who has controlled so much for so long, and dominated so much time and energy, will be gone soon. Weird.
On to less depressing and serious topics. I just read this thing by some guy on cnn.com who listed his top ten movies of 2006. I really can't take his list seriously because of at least two of them on there: Borat and Talladega Nights. Now, I didn't see Borat, but I don't see how that could be one of the best 10 movies of the year. And Talladega Nights? Ok, perhaps it wasn't terrible, but top 10? Nuh-uh. Eh whatever. They're all subjective anyway.
It snowed today. Ha. Understatement a bit. Snow was supposed to start this afternoon sometime, but had started before 10am this morning. There was probably a good inch already by the time I left for my eye appointment at 11. Maybe more. Not sure. But yeah. So I drove to the appointment, which was interesting (especially trying to turn right off of my street, when I failed to be able to stop at the stop sign and luckily could just go because there was no one coming--and even luckier that there was no one coming either direction, as I managed to slide almost to the other side of the road before my car was turning much and before I got back into control a little bit. So that was fun). The bigger roads weren't as bad, just very dirty slushy. And driving was slow, of course. Visibility wasn't great either. After the appointment (which went wonderfully, no change in prescription, will be getting more contacts soon, and they even adjusted my glasses so that they actually fit my face better now! yay!), I drove to work even though it was only like noon and I didn't have to be there until 1, and it's like a 3 mile drive or something like that. Took a good 15 minutes though, as it took at least 5 minutes to get from one intersection to the next at one point. And I'm really not sure why, either, since it was still only slushy at that point on Academy. but anyway. Got to the mall, parked, etc. Decided just to go in and maybe I could walk around or something after I put my stuff in the store. Discovered, while walking and continually getting hit on the back of my leg by something, that one end of the belt thing that goes around my brown sweater jacket I have (which I didn't tie this morning) must have not made it all the way into my car when I got in after the eye doctor, and now was quite gross-slushy on the last inch or two. Oh well. Washed it off a little (as well as the back of my pants where it had hit on the slushy walk from my car to the mall--in clogs, no less, definitely not the shoes for a very snowy day) when I got in. Then I went to JCPenney to see if maybe they had any other good khaki possibilities (they didn't), and briefly walked into American Eagle (another bust--did you know that it is ridiculously hard to find tall khakis that aren't hideous? Or even that are!). Then I just gave up, didn't feel like being in the mall anymore, and went and sat in the back of Wilson's and read Harry Potter until my shift. And it was lovely.
Most definitley didn't want to be at work, though, especially knowing what was going on outside, even though I knew it probably wasn't bad enough for the stupid mall to decide to close. Finally at close to 3:30, Michael sent Kim out to go ask a security guard who was just passing what the status of stuff was. She eventually came back with the report that they weren't closing, but if we felt we had to for safety reasons, we most certainly could. So eventually Michael decided that's what we should do, because he didn't feel like driving home in conditions like he did last Wednesday, when it took him like two hours to make a drive that normally takes 15 minutes or so. So we left a little before 4. Once I got on Academy, I couldn't believe that there were people who were voluntarily driving in that stuff. (I took Academy the whole way instead of my usual Briargate Blvd to Union to Academy, as last week Union ended up being closed at some point, and I didn't relish the idea of driving on that hilly, curvy road with the conditions being what they were--and I just heard that there's lots of stranded cars on Union now, so I probably made the right choice, even if they weren't stranded until well after the time I was home.) Like, to go to the mall, for example. It was crazy. I hoped that it would be a little better once I got off of the little road that goes around the mall parking lot, but Academy didn't really offer a respite. I think it might have had a little to do with my tires or something, but I don't know. It was only really kinda bad when I had to start going again after having to stop for a light or something. And then when I started my wheels would take awhile to catch on, and I kept having to turn my wheel crazy fast this way and that to keep from sliding into the other lane or the median (good thing I started and stayed in the left lane and didn't have to worry about cars on both sides of me), and then eventually my wheels would start going correctly and I'd be pretty much ok until the next time I had to stop. I stayed a safe distance away from the cars in front of me (in part because most of them probably didn't have such a hard time getting started from the stops), and allowed plenty of time to stop, and didn't go fast. I was very safe. And then by the time I was getting close to my house, ish, things really started getting interesting. Firstly, both my rearview mirrors (on the sides) got snow covered during the drive, and while I could somewhat clean off the one on my side when I stopped or whatnot, and did that twice, but I couldn't do anything about the other one. And to make matters even more fun, at some point snow that had been on the top of my car slid down to cover the back window, and my stupid back defroster likes to turn off by itself when it decides it's done, and for the life of me I couldn't get it to stay on long enough to melt off much of that snow. So I basically couldn't see out of the back of my car either. made for a fun last few miles before I got home. Oh yeah, and then my windshield wipers eventually got so snow-caked that as I was pretty close to my house, it kind of started just spreading the wetness on my windshield instead of wiping it very effectively.
It was a fun drive.
Took me close to an hour to get home. Not terrible, but it wasn't terribly fun either. Far too many people out. And it was especially fun when this car that was in front of me was going to turn left onto a side street, which I sometimes do off of Academy but wasn't going to today because I definitely didn't want to go on side streets any more than necessary, but he was the only car in front of me at that point, and the left turn is a specific turn lane. So I couldn't tell where the median was, where the normal lane was, and where the turn lane was, and I ended up following this guy until it was a bit too late to go back to the regular lane, especially as I couldn't tell where the cars behind me were in relation to me because of the aforementioned covered rearview mirrors and back window. So I had to turn. Which caused the ride to be a little longer, because when I got to the other place where I'd turn from the backroad onto a slightly bigger one, first of all I couldn't get a space between cars to turn left safely, and then when I tried my car wasn't going to go, so I just backed up and ended up just turning right, and eventually made it. And actually, the closer to home I got, the less slippery it seemed as it wasn't slush that had iced up, it was just snow, which seemed to give me a bit more traction. Visibility was sucky the whole way, both because of the snow and because of fog (man, I love fog! hehe), and especially once I had turned onto Oro Blanco and such. But I made it home ok. It wasn't fun though.
Oh, and for the record, I've never had this much of a problem when driving in the snow--either the conditions or my car. But I've also never really driven during a storm like this, either. And definitely never an hour-long drive. So I definitely don't blame the car. (Although this experience is making me think a car with heated rearview mirrors might be awesome. Of course, this kind of weather probably won't happen again for years, as this never happens. Two blizzards in a week? Two blizzards in a year never happens here.) My poor, old, falling apart car. Did I mention the blinkers stopped blinking a few days ago? Now both sides it's just a steady light. Which, I suppose, is better than not blinking at all, right?
It was so lovely being home by 5. Although, I couldn't believe it was already that late when I got home, because it had been before 4 when we closed up and such, and I just kind of lost an hour in transit, during which I didn't really notice the passage of time as my mind was otherwise occupied. But yeah. I was going to go crazy if I had to stay all 8 hours today, I think. I was already getting restless after just being there like two hours. So I was thrilled to leave early. Plus, since I had gotten in to work, I still got paid for my whole shift. Which I was also rather thrilled about.
Good times. Luckily I got nowhere to be tomorrow, so I can stay in, read the lovely Harry Potter (dude, it's awesome), and perhaps finish knitting this scarf I'm working on (on which I kind of halted production for awhile as last week I noticed an imperfection, a spot I had messed up, and it was a good 30 rows or something I had to undo to get to it. And I most definitely was not about to let it stay and not fix it, because that would just make me go crazy, and I'd never be able to wear it without thinking of it. And I'm planning on keeping this one. So I just finally today got to that spot and fixed it--I hope--and then also tonight redid everything I had unraveled to get to that spot. All while watching the first half of the 3rd Lord of the Rings. Good stuff), and finish watching LOTR. Sounds like a lovely day to me. Oh, and I'll be enjoying watching the snow as well, of course. It is quite beautiful, just better appreciated from inside a house rather than inside a car. Unless, perhaps, you're sitting inside your car in your driveway and watching it for some odd reason. Mmm snowy days enjoyed inside by the fire. Lovely. And especially because I think I pulled a muscle today. Noticed the back of my right leg hurting, the back of the thigh, as I went to clock in for work. Must have happened when I was walking outside at some point and slipped or something, and it just took awhile for the pain to come. But now the back of that leg is sore, and oddly my right arm as well. Weird. But it makes me laugh, because that's what I do when I'm sore or in pain. Most times. Not always.
Well, the desire to read more Harry Potter and/or continue knitting is calling. Yay!
On to less depressing and serious topics. I just read this thing by some guy on cnn.com who listed his top ten movies of 2006. I really can't take his list seriously because of at least two of them on there: Borat and Talladega Nights. Now, I didn't see Borat, but I don't see how that could be one of the best 10 movies of the year. And Talladega Nights? Ok, perhaps it wasn't terrible, but top 10? Nuh-uh. Eh whatever. They're all subjective anyway.
It snowed today. Ha. Understatement a bit. Snow was supposed to start this afternoon sometime, but had started before 10am this morning. There was probably a good inch already by the time I left for my eye appointment at 11. Maybe more. Not sure. But yeah. So I drove to the appointment, which was interesting (especially trying to turn right off of my street, when I failed to be able to stop at the stop sign and luckily could just go because there was no one coming--and even luckier that there was no one coming either direction, as I managed to slide almost to the other side of the road before my car was turning much and before I got back into control a little bit. So that was fun). The bigger roads weren't as bad, just very dirty slushy. And driving was slow, of course. Visibility wasn't great either. After the appointment (which went wonderfully, no change in prescription, will be getting more contacts soon, and they even adjusted my glasses so that they actually fit my face better now! yay!), I drove to work even though it was only like noon and I didn't have to be there until 1, and it's like a 3 mile drive or something like that. Took a good 15 minutes though, as it took at least 5 minutes to get from one intersection to the next at one point. And I'm really not sure why, either, since it was still only slushy at that point on Academy. but anyway. Got to the mall, parked, etc. Decided just to go in and maybe I could walk around or something after I put my stuff in the store. Discovered, while walking and continually getting hit on the back of my leg by something, that one end of the belt thing that goes around my brown sweater jacket I have (which I didn't tie this morning) must have not made it all the way into my car when I got in after the eye doctor, and now was quite gross-slushy on the last inch or two. Oh well. Washed it off a little (as well as the back of my pants where it had hit on the slushy walk from my car to the mall--in clogs, no less, definitely not the shoes for a very snowy day) when I got in. Then I went to JCPenney to see if maybe they had any other good khaki possibilities (they didn't), and briefly walked into American Eagle (another bust--did you know that it is ridiculously hard to find tall khakis that aren't hideous? Or even that are!). Then I just gave up, didn't feel like being in the mall anymore, and went and sat in the back of Wilson's and read Harry Potter until my shift. And it was lovely.
Most definitley didn't want to be at work, though, especially knowing what was going on outside, even though I knew it probably wasn't bad enough for the stupid mall to decide to close. Finally at close to 3:30, Michael sent Kim out to go ask a security guard who was just passing what the status of stuff was. She eventually came back with the report that they weren't closing, but if we felt we had to for safety reasons, we most certainly could. So eventually Michael decided that's what we should do, because he didn't feel like driving home in conditions like he did last Wednesday, when it took him like two hours to make a drive that normally takes 15 minutes or so. So we left a little before 4. Once I got on Academy, I couldn't believe that there were people who were voluntarily driving in that stuff. (I took Academy the whole way instead of my usual Briargate Blvd to Union to Academy, as last week Union ended up being closed at some point, and I didn't relish the idea of driving on that hilly, curvy road with the conditions being what they were--and I just heard that there's lots of stranded cars on Union now, so I probably made the right choice, even if they weren't stranded until well after the time I was home.) Like, to go to the mall, for example. It was crazy. I hoped that it would be a little better once I got off of the little road that goes around the mall parking lot, but Academy didn't really offer a respite. I think it might have had a little to do with my tires or something, but I don't know. It was only really kinda bad when I had to start going again after having to stop for a light or something. And then when I started my wheels would take awhile to catch on, and I kept having to turn my wheel crazy fast this way and that to keep from sliding into the other lane or the median (good thing I started and stayed in the left lane and didn't have to worry about cars on both sides of me), and then eventually my wheels would start going correctly and I'd be pretty much ok until the next time I had to stop. I stayed a safe distance away from the cars in front of me (in part because most of them probably didn't have such a hard time getting started from the stops), and allowed plenty of time to stop, and didn't go fast. I was very safe. And then by the time I was getting close to my house, ish, things really started getting interesting. Firstly, both my rearview mirrors (on the sides) got snow covered during the drive, and while I could somewhat clean off the one on my side when I stopped or whatnot, and did that twice, but I couldn't do anything about the other one. And to make matters even more fun, at some point snow that had been on the top of my car slid down to cover the back window, and my stupid back defroster likes to turn off by itself when it decides it's done, and for the life of me I couldn't get it to stay on long enough to melt off much of that snow. So I basically couldn't see out of the back of my car either. made for a fun last few miles before I got home. Oh yeah, and then my windshield wipers eventually got so snow-caked that as I was pretty close to my house, it kind of started just spreading the wetness on my windshield instead of wiping it very effectively.
It was a fun drive.
Took me close to an hour to get home. Not terrible, but it wasn't terribly fun either. Far too many people out. And it was especially fun when this car that was in front of me was going to turn left onto a side street, which I sometimes do off of Academy but wasn't going to today because I definitely didn't want to go on side streets any more than necessary, but he was the only car in front of me at that point, and the left turn is a specific turn lane. So I couldn't tell where the median was, where the normal lane was, and where the turn lane was, and I ended up following this guy until it was a bit too late to go back to the regular lane, especially as I couldn't tell where the cars behind me were in relation to me because of the aforementioned covered rearview mirrors and back window. So I had to turn. Which caused the ride to be a little longer, because when I got to the other place where I'd turn from the backroad onto a slightly bigger one, first of all I couldn't get a space between cars to turn left safely, and then when I tried my car wasn't going to go, so I just backed up and ended up just turning right, and eventually made it. And actually, the closer to home I got, the less slippery it seemed as it wasn't slush that had iced up, it was just snow, which seemed to give me a bit more traction. Visibility was sucky the whole way, both because of the snow and because of fog (man, I love fog! hehe), and especially once I had turned onto Oro Blanco and such. But I made it home ok. It wasn't fun though.
Oh, and for the record, I've never had this much of a problem when driving in the snow--either the conditions or my car. But I've also never really driven during a storm like this, either. And definitely never an hour-long drive. So I definitely don't blame the car. (Although this experience is making me think a car with heated rearview mirrors might be awesome. Of course, this kind of weather probably won't happen again for years, as this never happens. Two blizzards in a week? Two blizzards in a year never happens here.) My poor, old, falling apart car. Did I mention the blinkers stopped blinking a few days ago? Now both sides it's just a steady light. Which, I suppose, is better than not blinking at all, right?
It was so lovely being home by 5. Although, I couldn't believe it was already that late when I got home, because it had been before 4 when we closed up and such, and I just kind of lost an hour in transit, during which I didn't really notice the passage of time as my mind was otherwise occupied. But yeah. I was going to go crazy if I had to stay all 8 hours today, I think. I was already getting restless after just being there like two hours. So I was thrilled to leave early. Plus, since I had gotten in to work, I still got paid for my whole shift. Which I was also rather thrilled about.
Good times. Luckily I got nowhere to be tomorrow, so I can stay in, read the lovely Harry Potter (dude, it's awesome), and perhaps finish knitting this scarf I'm working on (on which I kind of halted production for awhile as last week I noticed an imperfection, a spot I had messed up, and it was a good 30 rows or something I had to undo to get to it. And I most definitely was not about to let it stay and not fix it, because that would just make me go crazy, and I'd never be able to wear it without thinking of it. And I'm planning on keeping this one. So I just finally today got to that spot and fixed it--I hope--and then also tonight redid everything I had unraveled to get to that spot. All while watching the first half of the 3rd Lord of the Rings. Good stuff), and finish watching LOTR. Sounds like a lovely day to me. Oh, and I'll be enjoying watching the snow as well, of course. It is quite beautiful, just better appreciated from inside a house rather than inside a car. Unless, perhaps, you're sitting inside your car in your driveway and watching it for some odd reason. Mmm snowy days enjoyed inside by the fire. Lovely. And especially because I think I pulled a muscle today. Noticed the back of my right leg hurting, the back of the thigh, as I went to clock in for work. Must have happened when I was walking outside at some point and slipped or something, and it just took awhile for the pain to come. But now the back of that leg is sore, and oddly my right arm as well. Weird. But it makes me laugh, because that's what I do when I'm sore or in pain. Most times. Not always.
Well, the desire to read more Harry Potter and/or continue knitting is calling. Yay!
Thursday, December 28, 2006
One resolution
I just thought of something I'd like to do for a New Year's resolution. Did you know that we are actually still required to abstain from something on Fridays, like meat? (We being Catholics, I mean.) Everyone knows about Fridays during Lent, but we're supposed to do it on normal non-Lent Fridays as well.
Canon 1251
Catholic Encyclopedia: Abstinence
Fast and Abstinence
I didn't know this until this year (kind of like the genuflecting during that part of the Nicene Creed during the Feast of the Annunciation and Christmas--amazing what you can learn from reading a faithful, orthodox Catholic message board, eh?). So my goal for 2007 is to introduce some sort of penitential thing on Fridays. Probably the meat thing, as that seems fairly simple. I might could try something like weekly confession, but that might be a bit much. Not to say I couldn't use it, but I don't know. Monthly seems better. And as I don't do that right now either (it's gone from a maybe once or twice a year thing to now a 4 or 5 times a year thing), I might try to work on that next year. I'm sure I could benefit from monthly confession.
Anyway. That's two things I'd like to work on for 2007.
Canon 1251
Abstinence from meat, or another food according to the prescriptions of the Conference of Bishops, is to be observed on all Fridays throughout the year unless they are solemnities; abstinence and fast are to be observed on Ash Wednesday and the Friday of the Passion and Death of Our Lord Jesus Christ.
Friday AbstinenceCatholic Encyclopedia: Abstinence
Fast and Abstinence
I didn't know this until this year (kind of like the genuflecting during that part of the Nicene Creed during the Feast of the Annunciation and Christmas--amazing what you can learn from reading a faithful, orthodox Catholic message board, eh?). So my goal for 2007 is to introduce some sort of penitential thing on Fridays. Probably the meat thing, as that seems fairly simple. I might could try something like weekly confession, but that might be a bit much. Not to say I couldn't use it, but I don't know. Monthly seems better. And as I don't do that right now either (it's gone from a maybe once or twice a year thing to now a 4 or 5 times a year thing), I might try to work on that next year. I'm sure I could benefit from monthly confession.
Anyway. That's two things I'd like to work on for 2007.
Stuff
Ugh I don't even know why I try to fit that stupid retainer on my teeth anymore. It never fails just to piss me off, and doesn't get me anywhere. It's just pointless. Despite what Foy seemed to think last time I went, I can't just stick it in my mouth, bite down for a few hours, and have it suddenly "pop into place." Unless it'll somehow magically get a bit bigger, it's just not going to happen. It doesn't fit, plain and simple. The back teeth, on both sides I've decided, don't fit into the back of the retainer. They just don't. And I don't see how sitting here trying to bite down on it for hours will somehow make my teeth suddenly fit into an area that they just don't fit. And so every time I try it, it just pisses me off (and often makes me gag at least a few times). It's so frustrating. And it just frustrates me. Much like work. Which is completely unrelated, but I just thought of it because I have to work 8 hours tomorrow and I plain and simply don't want to. But back to the retainer thing. It's so frustrating. I can't even express it enough. According to Foy, I can just wear this last one as a retainer, it's just not quite as good I guess, as the retainer is more stiff and thus I would assume will hold up better and help keep my teeth in place better over the years. So I don't know. I guess I'm just going to have to do that, because I simply cannot see how the retainer will ever fit. Which very much frustrates me, because it's like I'm stopping before everything's completely finished. I mean, this one I'm wearing is pretty much the same as the retainer, but the retainer is more stiff like I said, but yeah. I think this one must have stretched out as I've been wearing it for a ridiculously long time. I mean, they're supposed to be the same. But from looking at the two, it looks like the retainer has slightly higher walls on the back teeth, and it just looks a little narrower than the one I'm currently wearing. Maybe it's my imagination, but they're certainly not exactly the same or I wouldn't have this much trouble. Did I mention that it's frustrating? Especially when I get into those stupid appointments and feel like an idiot for not being able to get this stupid piece of plastic that's theoretically the same size as the one I'm wearing fit on my stupid (but nice, I will admit that,) teeth. Sigh.
Ok, so I've seen this floating around recently, but only just now watched it. It's Danny Bonaduce basically going off on some dude I've never heard of who's trying to get him to agree that the whole war in Iraq and such is BS and a lie and blah blah blah, all that stuff liberals like to argue. It's pretty funny. If you have about three minutes, go watch it. Made me laugh a bit.
Well, unfortunately I do have to go to work tomorrow, so I should go to bed fairly soon. I won't, but I should. I want to read some more Harry Potter first too. And I have an eye appointment at 11:15. And it's apparently going to snow tomorrow into Friday, but I tend to think people might be overplaying this one just because of last week and how hard it hit, so they're overhyping this so it might not seem as bad or something. So I bet it just won't be very bad at all, and we'll get like two inches or something. Not the 10-16 they're currently predicting for the Springs. But who knows. Perhaps tomorrow night on my way home I might be lucky enough to get stuck, if the roads have gotten bad by then. Roads that have still not quite recovered fully from last week's blizzard. Good times. Would be awesome if it was pretty bad toward the afternoon hours, and then maybe the mall would close early again. Although I somehow doubt that'll happen. You never know though. Just four more days...four more days. Perhaps five, if I decide to work next Tuesday, which I might just for the money.
Ok. Harry Potter time. Yay! (Even if the book is all water-logged and crinkley and such from the water damage. Stupid USPS.)
Ok, so I've seen this floating around recently, but only just now watched it. It's Danny Bonaduce basically going off on some dude I've never heard of who's trying to get him to agree that the whole war in Iraq and such is BS and a lie and blah blah blah, all that stuff liberals like to argue. It's pretty funny. If you have about three minutes, go watch it. Made me laugh a bit.
Well, unfortunately I do have to go to work tomorrow, so I should go to bed fairly soon. I won't, but I should. I want to read some more Harry Potter first too. And I have an eye appointment at 11:15. And it's apparently going to snow tomorrow into Friday, but I tend to think people might be overplaying this one just because of last week and how hard it hit, so they're overhyping this so it might not seem as bad or something. So I bet it just won't be very bad at all, and we'll get like two inches or something. Not the 10-16 they're currently predicting for the Springs. But who knows. Perhaps tomorrow night on my way home I might be lucky enough to get stuck, if the roads have gotten bad by then. Roads that have still not quite recovered fully from last week's blizzard. Good times. Would be awesome if it was pretty bad toward the afternoon hours, and then maybe the mall would close early again. Although I somehow doubt that'll happen. You never know though. Just four more days...four more days. Perhaps five, if I decide to work next Tuesday, which I might just for the money.
Ok. Harry Potter time. Yay! (Even if the book is all water-logged and crinkley and such from the water damage. Stupid USPS.)
Wednesday, December 27, 2006
Here's hoping
Well, I just got back from the post office. After standing in line for probably close to half an hour, although maybe not really that long, the guy was very nice but told me that I need to get the original mailing receipt from the sender to get any compensation for the damage. As well as a receipt showing the total value. So I'm just hoping she still has both, but particularly the mailing receipt. I just send her an email asking her about it, so we'll see. Ah well. It wasn't totally unexpected, as that's what the website said. Although I don't really understand it, as the customer copy that she'll have is the same as what I have on the package. As far as I know anyway. Oh well. Hopefully it'll still work out. Stupid USPS.
Update!
Remember that post I made last week, with the title of "Snow Pictures"? Well, I finally got the pictures to upload! So go check them out. There's some from that night (Wednesday night, the worst of the two days), and then some from the next morning and day. Good times.
Tuesday, December 26, 2006
Good news
Today Dad went over to Cathy's, where much of our Christmas trash was taken as our trash people didn't come last week (they normally come Thursdays, we got a call that said because of the snow and whatnot they'd be a day behind, but then they never ended up coming). So our trash can is currently pretty much full. Anyway, one of the bags of Christmas trash that was taken had the bag from the post office that my Harry Potter books were in, so Dad went to see if he could find it. Well, he did, thankfully. So I was just going to take it to the post office, along with the books, and hope that they'd be nice to me. I picked it up tonight, and happened to see a thing on the back--a printed thing that says "your item has been damaged" etc. I was quite happy to see that. They better not give me a hard time--I have proof right there that they damaged it, and that it was an express thing--which they say on their website qualifies for filing a complaint or something. So I'm planning on going down there tomorrow and attempting to get something for my troubles. Despite the lack of an original receipt. So that made me pretty happy.
Know what else made me happy? At Christmas Eve Mass, we sang O Come, All Ye Faithful at one point, a song I quite enjoy. I especially enjoy it in Latin, but didn't expect it--but then after the three verses we had in English, the fourth was the Latin version of the first verse! Of course, literally translated it's a bit different, but lovely. It was funny--there are two words in that Latin verse with G's in them, and as I've been used to pronouncing classical Latin as opposed to church Latin, I was pronouncing those as hard Gs instead of soft. Well the first one anyway, and then I remembered and I think I did the second one right. But anyway. The whole thing just made me so happy. The Latin-sung versions of O Come O Come Emmanuel and O Come All Ye Faithful are two of my favorite Christmas songs. Seriously. They just sound so lovely and wonderful.
I'm so excited to get a class ring. I hope I still can, and I hope I don't have to wait a long time after ordering it.
Did you know that on Christmas and the feast of the Annunciation we're supposed to genuflect during the Nicene Creed, the part where on every other Sunday, etc, we're supposed to bow? ("By the power of the holy spirit, he was born of the Virgin Mary, and became man"--the Incarnation.) I had only found this out a few months ago, as in my church you're lucky if there's maybe a dozen who actually bow during normal Mass. I wanted to genuflect when we were there on Sunday night, but talk about sticking out like a sore thumb. Of course, we were in the next to last row practically, but still. Maybe one of these days I'll not feel like I'm sticking out when I do things like not holding hands at the Our Father, or receiving on the tongue (actually I really don't give that a second thought anymore, as I've been doing it for over a year now and am quite comfortable with it, and most people probably don't notice anyway. And I always receive from the priest (usually) so it's not awkward like it is sometimes with EMHCs. Anyhoo. Have I mentioned how excited I am to go back to the Basilica? (Although, sometimes it's almost harder to receive from a priest there, because of how big it is and sometimes they don't have a lot of priests doing communion and such, and yeah.) Cannot wait. I may begin going to the 10:30 Sunday Mass instead of the 11:45 one I normally go to when I'm at school. Who knows.
It's funny. Or not. But normally, the thought of going back to school in a few weeks might cause some feelings of apprehension in me. The thought of leaving here and whatnot. And while I do know I'll miss my family, and my pets (what will Colt lay on when I'm gone???), and all that jazz, but for the most part I'm just so excited to get back. And I know that it's even more so because I will be on campus, no matter where it is. I'd have a lot more apprehension if I was off campus somewhere. But anyway. I'm excited, and that makes me really happy.
Know what's weird? If Holy Days of Obligation fall on Mondays (with a few exceptions, of course, obviously Christmas being one of them), you're not required to go on Monday. They wrap it into the Mass for the Sunday previous, I guess. I don't really understand that, beyond people don't want to go to Mass twice in two days and so the USCCB or something decided to make it easy on people and do it like that. I guess I could look it up somewhere, but I don't want to right now. All I know is I think it's weird. (The reason I'm thinking of this now is that normally New Year's Day is an HDO, but this year it's not as it falls on a Monday. I think I still want to try to go, though. Like I would ever really not want to go to Mass on any given day.)
I got this pair of earrings from Brenda at work the other day. They're dangly ones, of course, and they're pink stones with a few red ones mixed in. Which is funny, because just that day I had been thinking I didn't have any pink earrings. And they happened to match the shirt I was wearing Christmas Eve quite perfectly. Now, the not so great thing: The metal is gold colored. I'm much more of a silver jewelry person, generally, and thus don't have nearly as many gold necklaces. So I was looking for a jewelry box I have, that I know contains at least one or two gold necklaces I own. For a good two hours, I turned my room upside down, as well as looking other places, but could not find the box. I have no idea where it is, and I'm worried I lost it in transit at one of the three out of town trips I've taken this semester. I don't remember the last time I saw it, as I tend not to change the jewelry I wear very often, except for special occasions mostly, but yeah. I have no idea. It's really troubling. I mean, I don't think I had any favorite pieces in there or anything, but I did love the jewelry box, and I'm sure I had at least a few nostalgic things in there. I really really hope I find it. No idea where I'd find it, but it's gotta be somewhere, right? I'll be so sad if I can't. But back to the original topic, I decided today to look in the store where Brenda bought me those earrings to see if they had a necklace to match. Didn't look that hard, but I didn't see anything right away. But yeah. I don't know what the point of writing this all is.
I need to get some sleep soon, I think. Thankfully I have nothing to do tomorrow, except for Katie's, and I think we're going to see the Pursuit of Happyness tomorrow night. And I'm going to get down to the post office at some point tomorrow too. I'm looking forward to no responsibilities for the morrow, though.
Apparently Gerald Ford died tonight/today sometime. They broke in to Law and Order at about 9:50 with a "special report," but only had basics and whatnot. I wonder if tomorrow will be anything like the day after Reagan died, TV-wise. I somehow doubt it. Man, I was really sad when Reagan died for some reason. It's weird how some deaths like that hit me hard, but a lot of them I couldn't really care less about. Ok, maybe that's not true and that's a little mean to say, but there's so many people who die that it's just hard to put a whole lot of emotion into them all. But every once in awhile, for who knows what reason, one will break through the wall and make me feel. But I don't think this will be one. I mean, I doubt most, if anyone, would put Ford anywhere near Reagan, and yeah. Yes, it's sad, but he was 93. It's not like he was really young, or this was really unexpected or anything. Anyway. But there it is. A former president of the United States, the 38th, died, and respect should be paid.
And now off to bed soon.
Know what else made me happy? At Christmas Eve Mass, we sang O Come, All Ye Faithful at one point, a song I quite enjoy. I especially enjoy it in Latin, but didn't expect it--but then after the three verses we had in English, the fourth was the Latin version of the first verse! Of course, literally translated it's a bit different, but lovely. It was funny--there are two words in that Latin verse with G's in them, and as I've been used to pronouncing classical Latin as opposed to church Latin, I was pronouncing those as hard Gs instead of soft. Well the first one anyway, and then I remembered and I think I did the second one right. But anyway. The whole thing just made me so happy. The Latin-sung versions of O Come O Come Emmanuel and O Come All Ye Faithful are two of my favorite Christmas songs. Seriously. They just sound so lovely and wonderful.
I'm so excited to get a class ring. I hope I still can, and I hope I don't have to wait a long time after ordering it.
Did you know that on Christmas and the feast of the Annunciation we're supposed to genuflect during the Nicene Creed, the part where on every other Sunday, etc, we're supposed to bow? ("By the power of the holy spirit, he was born of the Virgin Mary, and became man"--the Incarnation.) I had only found this out a few months ago, as in my church you're lucky if there's maybe a dozen who actually bow during normal Mass. I wanted to genuflect when we were there on Sunday night, but talk about sticking out like a sore thumb. Of course, we were in the next to last row practically, but still. Maybe one of these days I'll not feel like I'm sticking out when I do things like not holding hands at the Our Father, or receiving on the tongue (actually I really don't give that a second thought anymore, as I've been doing it for over a year now and am quite comfortable with it, and most people probably don't notice anyway. And I always receive from the priest (usually) so it's not awkward like it is sometimes with EMHCs. Anyhoo. Have I mentioned how excited I am to go back to the Basilica? (Although, sometimes it's almost harder to receive from a priest there, because of how big it is and sometimes they don't have a lot of priests doing communion and such, and yeah.) Cannot wait. I may begin going to the 10:30 Sunday Mass instead of the 11:45 one I normally go to when I'm at school. Who knows.
It's funny. Or not. But normally, the thought of going back to school in a few weeks might cause some feelings of apprehension in me. The thought of leaving here and whatnot. And while I do know I'll miss my family, and my pets (what will Colt lay on when I'm gone???), and all that jazz, but for the most part I'm just so excited to get back. And I know that it's even more so because I will be on campus, no matter where it is. I'd have a lot more apprehension if I was off campus somewhere. But anyway. I'm excited, and that makes me really happy.
Know what's weird? If Holy Days of Obligation fall on Mondays (with a few exceptions, of course, obviously Christmas being one of them), you're not required to go on Monday. They wrap it into the Mass for the Sunday previous, I guess. I don't really understand that, beyond people don't want to go to Mass twice in two days and so the USCCB or something decided to make it easy on people and do it like that. I guess I could look it up somewhere, but I don't want to right now. All I know is I think it's weird. (The reason I'm thinking of this now is that normally New Year's Day is an HDO, but this year it's not as it falls on a Monday. I think I still want to try to go, though. Like I would ever really not want to go to Mass on any given day.)
I got this pair of earrings from Brenda at work the other day. They're dangly ones, of course, and they're pink stones with a few red ones mixed in. Which is funny, because just that day I had been thinking I didn't have any pink earrings. And they happened to match the shirt I was wearing Christmas Eve quite perfectly. Now, the not so great thing: The metal is gold colored. I'm much more of a silver jewelry person, generally, and thus don't have nearly as many gold necklaces. So I was looking for a jewelry box I have, that I know contains at least one or two gold necklaces I own. For a good two hours, I turned my room upside down, as well as looking other places, but could not find the box. I have no idea where it is, and I'm worried I lost it in transit at one of the three out of town trips I've taken this semester. I don't remember the last time I saw it, as I tend not to change the jewelry I wear very often, except for special occasions mostly, but yeah. I have no idea. It's really troubling. I mean, I don't think I had any favorite pieces in there or anything, but I did love the jewelry box, and I'm sure I had at least a few nostalgic things in there. I really really hope I find it. No idea where I'd find it, but it's gotta be somewhere, right? I'll be so sad if I can't. But back to the original topic, I decided today to look in the store where Brenda bought me those earrings to see if they had a necklace to match. Didn't look that hard, but I didn't see anything right away. But yeah. I don't know what the point of writing this all is.
I need to get some sleep soon, I think. Thankfully I have nothing to do tomorrow, except for Katie's, and I think we're going to see the Pursuit of Happyness tomorrow night. And I'm going to get down to the post office at some point tomorrow too. I'm looking forward to no responsibilities for the morrow, though.
Apparently Gerald Ford died tonight/today sometime. They broke in to Law and Order at about 9:50 with a "special report," but only had basics and whatnot. I wonder if tomorrow will be anything like the day after Reagan died, TV-wise. I somehow doubt it. Man, I was really sad when Reagan died for some reason. It's weird how some deaths like that hit me hard, but a lot of them I couldn't really care less about. Ok, maybe that's not true and that's a little mean to say, but there's so many people who die that it's just hard to put a whole lot of emotion into them all. But every once in awhile, for who knows what reason, one will break through the wall and make me feel. But I don't think this will be one. I mean, I doubt most, if anyone, would put Ford anywhere near Reagan, and yeah. Yes, it's sad, but he was 93. It's not like he was really young, or this was really unexpected or anything. Anyway. But there it is. A former president of the United States, the 38th, died, and respect should be paid.
And now off to bed soon.
Tired
Tired of work (yet still wanting more money), tired of customers, tired of people, tired of the mall, tired of lack of sleep (my fault or not), tired of having a dirty car that used to be white. I'm just tired right now.
Sigh. So glad I have tomorrow off. I plan on sleeping in and doing nothing all day long. Twill be wondermous.
Sigh. So glad I have tomorrow off. I plan on sleeping in and doing nothing all day long. Twill be wondermous.
So, I have to be at work in 8 hours. Not I have to wake up in 8 hours, but I have to be there actually 7 hours and 50 minutes from right now. Isn't that fun? So that means I should wake up in less than 7 hours at the latest. Which is terribly exciting, of course. At least I only have to work until noon, and at least...um I forgot what else might be good about it. I may stop by a store in the mall before I leave (namely, Claires, possibly to exchange a thing of 6 pairs of earrings I got today), depending on how crazy things are. And also depending on that, I may or may not go to Barnes and Noble before heading home as well, to see if there's anything they can do for me. (Working at Wilsons, and hating returns, I feel bad returning anything--although it's exchanging, not returning, and if it's true that they just send stuff like that back, then I guess I don't feel that badly about it.) But if things seem crazy, I might just wait a day or two. I don't know if tomorrow's a day a lot of people have off, but if it's not, then I would hope noonish wouldn't be too bad. But I don't know. I'm also hoping work won't be crazy, as I'll be too exhausted to be able to deal with it very well I think. I can't handle lots of people being in the store at one time, especially when I'm exhausted. I have to be there at 6 to do price changes and crap, we open at 8 and it's just me and Michael until 10, I believe, when Cassy comes in. And then I leave at 12. So I guess I'll just have to wait and see.
I think I was going to say something else, but I don't remember what...hm. Oh yeah. It may have been something along the lines of Bing is such a cool name. (As in Bing Crosby. Whose real name is apparently Harry.) I want to name my kid Bing. haha. Ok not really.
Guess it's off to bed for me, folks.
I think I was going to say something else, but I don't remember what...hm. Oh yeah. It may have been something along the lines of Bing is such a cool name. (As in Bing Crosby. Whose real name is apparently Harry.) I want to name my kid Bing. haha. Ok not really.
Guess it's off to bed for me, folks.
Monday, December 25, 2006
Christmas
Today's been a pretty good day so far. Woke up around 8:30, went downstairs, we opened presents and such, and I'm am quite satisfied with my stash for the most part, so that's good. (Including and especially this awesome book that my parents got me, "Common Phrases and where they came from" or something along those lines. It's very awesome. And she told me about this other book she saw there, Woe is I, and after reading a bit about it on Amazon, I'm seriously considering buying it. Hehe. Good times.) Then we ate some breakfast and such, and after a little while I dozed off on the couch (well, actually it was sitting on the floor, leaning against the couch, with my head laying on the seat part of the couch). Woke up a bit later (I have no idea how long I was there), and decided to go up to bed to sleep for a little longer. set my alarm for like an hour later, but then turned it off when it went off and slept for a bit more than an hour after that. Got up, took a shower and such, went downstairs and didn't do a whole lot else after that. Some knitting and such. Good times.
Now, I do have one complaint today. I absolutely loathe the USPS. I know, they give us mail and crap, whatever. They suck. I got a special delivery package today (before I was even awake), my present from the secret santa we do with the cousins on Dad's side, and it's pretty nice of them to deliver today, although because of my feelings on having to work holidays, I definitely don't fault anyone taking today off. Now, the present is awesome. It's the first three of the Harry Potter books, so I'm quite excited. But they were wet! My cousin had wrapped them each separately, in wrapping paper obviously, and then they were tied together with a ribbon, and put in a plastic bag. And then on top of that was a plastic bag thing from the USPS, with the address label and such on it. So somehow, recently, somewhere in transit, they got wet. And they're paperback, so it kind of screwed them up a little. I mean, they're still readable of course, but the covers are just messed up looking. And there's general water damage. Now, apparently if I bring in the packaging, as well as the original receipt thing, I can apply for like a damage thing or something, since it was an express package. Two problems with this though: I noticed this after I had thrown out the packaging and such, and I obviously don't have the receipt. I could probably get it from my cousin, but that's assuming she still has it. And it's just a pain. I hate the post office. Of course, I don't really know if it's their fault, but I do seem to remember the post office bag it was in being open before I opened it. So I'm blaming them, because we all know that there's no love lost between me and the post office. I refuse to trust them, or to like them, and given a choice I'll always pick UPS over the USPS.
So there.
I'm going to try and bring them to Barnes and Noble, because according to Tom they don't care and they just send them back anyway. So I'll try that. Otherwise, I guess I'll just have to deal with it. Kinda sucks, but I guess that's life with the USPS.
Now, I do have one complaint today. I absolutely loathe the USPS. I know, they give us mail and crap, whatever. They suck. I got a special delivery package today (before I was even awake), my present from the secret santa we do with the cousins on Dad's side, and it's pretty nice of them to deliver today, although because of my feelings on having to work holidays, I definitely don't fault anyone taking today off. Now, the present is awesome. It's the first three of the Harry Potter books, so I'm quite excited. But they were wet! My cousin had wrapped them each separately, in wrapping paper obviously, and then they were tied together with a ribbon, and put in a plastic bag. And then on top of that was a plastic bag thing from the USPS, with the address label and such on it. So somehow, recently, somewhere in transit, they got wet. And they're paperback, so it kind of screwed them up a little. I mean, they're still readable of course, but the covers are just messed up looking. And there's general water damage. Now, apparently if I bring in the packaging, as well as the original receipt thing, I can apply for like a damage thing or something, since it was an express package. Two problems with this though: I noticed this after I had thrown out the packaging and such, and I obviously don't have the receipt. I could probably get it from my cousin, but that's assuming she still has it. And it's just a pain. I hate the post office. Of course, I don't really know if it's their fault, but I do seem to remember the post office bag it was in being open before I opened it. So I'm blaming them, because we all know that there's no love lost between me and the post office. I refuse to trust them, or to like them, and given a choice I'll always pick UPS over the USPS.
So there.
I'm going to try and bring them to Barnes and Noble, because according to Tom they don't care and they just send them back anyway. So I'll try that. Otherwise, I guess I'll just have to deal with it. Kinda sucks, but I guess that's life with the USPS.
Merry Christmas!
Hope you all have a great Christmas! (And I hope I do too!) Kinda can't believe it's already Christmas, yet again, but that's the way things go. Hooray, Jesus is born!
Sunday, December 24, 2006
Dreams
One of my life dreams is to receive Communion from the Pope. Wouldn't that be amazing? I think it would be, anyway. But even to be at a Mass said by the Pope would be pretty awesome too. I wonder how you get to be one of the people who receives from the Pope's line. I guess it might depend on when you get there or something. Not sure. Either way. I hope to be able to go to Rome some day and experience at least the Mass part.
Good job, Starbucks people
So, I went to Starbucks tonight, right? On one of their chalkboards, they had this thing, you can like buy a pound (or something) of coffee, and they'll send it overseas to the soldiers. Or something like that. Only, they had misspelled "soldiers." It was spelled "soilders" and it made me laugh a little bit. Inwardly of course. But you'd think they'd notice that, and perhaps want to change it. Maybe I should have told someone, but I didn't think of that once I got up to the counter. Oh well.
Saturday, December 23, 2006
Seriously.
Ok. Who doesn't want Captain Von Trapp? Especially when being played by (a 1960s) Christopher Plummer.
Best movie ever. (Julie Andrews is pretty freaking awesome too, by the by. In a different way, of course. hehe.)
Best movie ever. (Julie Andrews is pretty freaking awesome too, by the by. In a different way, of course. hehe.)
Great days always follow crappy ones, right?
Today just sucked. Very little about it didn't suck. And very little about it lived up to any expectations I had previous to today. Started with Blackie throwing up (or hairballing) on my bed. Third time that's happened in the last few months. And it was between the time I woke up and the time I got back into my room after my shower. Very very irritating. The bright side is it makes me wash my sheets, which I have a bad habit of not doing very often. (For a germophobe, there are certain things many others might find gross that don't bother me at all. Which I find interesting.) And then, of course work sucked (although it was nice getting there at 8:30 and not having to deal with any traffic--not a single car in front of me driving through the parking lot). It was busy, and thus a little stressful, but really not too bad--poor Brenda though, she started feeling sick yesterday and is even worse today, and she thinks she has the flu or something. So now I'm quite worried I'm going to get it. Oh well. Sad story though, work was probably the best part of my day. How's that for a great day, huh? Afterward I was supposed to go shopping with my sister, but that ended up getting postponed like an hour and a half and it was all just crappy and such, and then by the time we met up at the mall we had like an hour and a half because I had to go to the 5:30 Mass thanks to working 7-12 tomorrow morning (although that was my choice, as it was either that or work until close at 6 and I definitely didn't want to do that), so argh. And Mass was, well, it was Mass I guess. One good thing about the Advent changes they've made the past four weeks is the inclusion of incense at the beginning of Mass, during or after the candle lighting. I do love incense. But beyond that, it was Mass. Which is nice, but...well we all know what I'm thinking about that. Plus I was exhausted and had a very hard time keeping my eyes open for a little while. Which always bothers me when that happens, anywhere.
And after Mass, the one thing I was really looking forward to today was Sound of Music, which last time I had checked, I thought started at 7pm. It was 7 when we got home, I turned it on, and it was already a good bit into the movie. It must have started at 6. I was quite disappointed. (EDIT: TVguide.com says it started at 7. Maybe it was already like five minutes in, and I thought it was more. Oh well.) But then I decided to go to Blockbuster, so after I got my car from the church parking lot (as I had accidentally locked my keys inside my car, I think for the first time ever--luckily Peter and I had met Mom and Dad at church so we could go home with them), I went to Blockbuster, got Sound of Music, and then went to Starbucks as I wanted to go at least once more before Christmas to get their Christmas flavor. Specifically gingerbread latte. I wanted to go at the mall today, but the line was long. And then I got home and everyone had eaten without me, so I decided to be pissy again, because it was just one more thing. Cathy was mad at me for being mad, like she was mad at me for being mad at her earlier in the day, but I just wasn't in a good mood today. I'm allowed to be mad once in awhile. Plus I think I'm a bit emotionally sensitive today, if you know what I mean.
I don't know, I just felt very...unimportant today. Like a second thought, or not a thought at all. I hate that. Sometimes it's just like, why am I even here? Why do I try to hold on to things? Why do I look forward to things? Why do I attempt to keep things traditional or habit? Why do I try? Why do I expect to matter much to anyone? I don't know. I'm just not in a mood to be understanding or kind right now. I kind of just want to cry.
At least Starbucks and Sound of Music always make me happy. And I do think this might be the first time, or one of a very few times, that I've seen Sound of Music on a real video, as opposed just to on TV.
Here's hoping the next few days are better by leaps and bounds. Despite the ever-constant presence of work. Stupid, stupid work. I know I need money and all, but seriously. It's starting to make me go crazy a little bit. I cannot wait to be done. And yet, sadly, I still have to go for another two weeks. Stupid 12 hours after New Years. Argh.
Well, before I find something else to complain about, I'll end this.
And after Mass, the one thing I was really looking forward to today was Sound of Music, which last time I had checked, I thought started at 7pm. It was 7 when we got home, I turned it on, and it was already a good bit into the movie. It must have started at 6. I was quite disappointed. (EDIT: TVguide.com says it started at 7. Maybe it was already like five minutes in, and I thought it was more. Oh well.) But then I decided to go to Blockbuster, so after I got my car from the church parking lot (as I had accidentally locked my keys inside my car, I think for the first time ever--luckily Peter and I had met Mom and Dad at church so we could go home with them), I went to Blockbuster, got Sound of Music, and then went to Starbucks as I wanted to go at least once more before Christmas to get their Christmas flavor. Specifically gingerbread latte. I wanted to go at the mall today, but the line was long. And then I got home and everyone had eaten without me, so I decided to be pissy again, because it was just one more thing. Cathy was mad at me for being mad, like she was mad at me for being mad at her earlier in the day, but I just wasn't in a good mood today. I'm allowed to be mad once in awhile. Plus I think I'm a bit emotionally sensitive today, if you know what I mean.
I don't know, I just felt very...unimportant today. Like a second thought, or not a thought at all. I hate that. Sometimes it's just like, why am I even here? Why do I try to hold on to things? Why do I look forward to things? Why do I attempt to keep things traditional or habit? Why do I try? Why do I expect to matter much to anyone? I don't know. I'm just not in a mood to be understanding or kind right now. I kind of just want to cry.
At least Starbucks and Sound of Music always make me happy. And I do think this might be the first time, or one of a very few times, that I've seen Sound of Music on a real video, as opposed just to on TV.
Here's hoping the next few days are better by leaps and bounds. Despite the ever-constant presence of work. Stupid, stupid work. I know I need money and all, but seriously. It's starting to make me go crazy a little bit. I cannot wait to be done. And yet, sadly, I still have to go for another two weeks. Stupid 12 hours after New Years. Argh.
Well, before I find something else to complain about, I'll end this.
Crowded malls and emtpy Village Inns
So, funny story. I thought it would be a good idea to leave a little early today, given the fact that the roads still aren't exactly up to snuff, and quite a number still don't have the amount of lanes they generally do thanks to big snowbanks blocking a lane here and there. Not to mention still-abandoned (and now quite buried, thanks to the snowplows) cars. Anyway. So I was driving along, had gotten on Academy, turned onto Union, and had just passed Woodmen, and I was doing great. At that point I was on track to get to work at least 20 minutes early, since the drive up to then really hadn't been any slower than a normal day. And then halfway up the hill between Woodmen and Briargate Blvd, the traffic began. The left lane was filled to about the halfway point between the two lights, and everyone was waiting to turn left onto Briargate. After maybe three or four cycles, I finally got to turn. I wasn't frustrated or anything by that point since I had plenty of time and like less than a mile to go. Drove down Briargate, and then hit more traffic. Lots of cars. But that didn't take too long, to get from there to the road surrounding the mall parking lot And then I got stopped. Thanks to that snow, one of the two lanes on the side of the road I was on was blocked, so that made traffic go even slower. And there were lots of cars. And people were trying to get into and out of the parking lot. And it was crazy. I figured I might as well just cut my losses, go park in one of the overflow lots instead of driving around trying to find a spots, and walk a bit farther than normal. So I did that. And then I had to walk along the side of the road (a part of the plan I hadn't thought over very well, as I should have gone this different direction when walking as it would have put me in the parking lot and out of the road faster. Oh well. As it was I did get a little slush splashed onto my freshly washed (just last night) khakis. But I shall survive. twas just annoying. Oh, and seeing empty spots as I was walking sure didn't help either. And after all that, I ended up being like five minutes late to work. ugh. I gotta say, traffic at Citadel seems to flow much better than Chapel Hills. Or maybe I just picked the crappiest way to go. I don't know. Either way, it was a long cold walk back to my car after work tonight. But I survived, and all is grand.
I haven't laughed, like really really laughed really hard, in quite awhile. I realized this tonight, and it makes me a little sad. Perhaps sometime this weekend, I shall get the opportunity. My family's usually good for that. Even if the laughing does come from them making fun of one of the "remember when Susie did that" stories. Hehe. Always fun, right? I love my family.
I walked around the mall a bit tonight during my break, and on my way back I passed a guy wearing a green Fisher sweatshirt. As in, Fisher Hall at ND. It was cool. It's one of those sweatshirts you wouldn't really get or recognize unless you go there. Like my Cavanaugh one. It just made me smile though.
I went to Village Inn with Lauren after work. Twas quite fun. She's fun. I hadn't seen her since she left for school in August, so it was fun. I enjoyed it immensely. Sadly the other two (Kristina and Kaleena) couldn't make it. But the four of us will be reunited at least once this Christmas break, or else. Man, we better. I'll be quite sad otherwise.
Hm. Well I have to be at work at 8:30 tomorrow morning. Isn't that grand? And I get to stay until 2 now, instead of 1. Even better. (I am slightly sad that I won't have 30 hours this week, thanks to yesterday, but oh well.) After I get off, me and Cathy are going to meet at the Citadel and go shopping for a few hours, and then I have to go to the 5:30 Mass as it's the only Sunday-obligation fulfilling Mass I can make this weekend. Since I have to work 7am-12pm Sunday morning. Which is lovely, no? I do wish I could go twice on Sunday. That'd be fun. I don't really like going Saturday night. Alas.
Man I'm going to be tired next week. Last night I didn't get much sleep, thanks to staying up until after 4 because I wanted to wait up for Peter, who didn't get in until 3:30 this morning (oh yeah, Peter came home for Christmas! Flew from Alabama to Dallas on Wednesday, and then obviously his Dallas to CS flight was cancelled, so he got put definitely on a flight on Christmas, and then could do standby until then, but yesterday he and a guy from his company who also lives here decided to rent a car which they got for quite cheap thanks to a chance meeting on Wednesday, and then they drove here yesterday. And it took much longer than it normally would have, thanks to the snowy roads and such, and a 2 hour wait after getting stuck behind an accident. But he made it home, finally, this morning). Woke up earlier than I normally would have this morning, for whatever reason, and have been tired all day. And I'm not going to get enough sleep tonight, as it's almost 1am, and I have to wake up at probably 7 or so. Is that right? Yeah, 7 should be good. Let's see if I can actually make myself do it though. And then tomorrow night...if I can get to bed at a decent hour (ha, yeah), but then I have to be at work at 7 so I doubt there's any reasonable scenario in which I'd get enough sleep tomorrow night. And then I never sleep much Christmas Eve, just because. Not because I'm all excited like I was when I was a little kid, just because...I don't. Wrapping presents and such. Yeah. And then the day after Christmas I have to be at work at 6. Ick.
Well, guess I should go get in whatever sleep I can tonight. Goodbye, my lovelies.
I haven't laughed, like really really laughed really hard, in quite awhile. I realized this tonight, and it makes me a little sad. Perhaps sometime this weekend, I shall get the opportunity. My family's usually good for that. Even if the laughing does come from them making fun of one of the "remember when Susie did that" stories. Hehe. Always fun, right? I love my family.
I walked around the mall a bit tonight during my break, and on my way back I passed a guy wearing a green Fisher sweatshirt. As in, Fisher Hall at ND. It was cool. It's one of those sweatshirts you wouldn't really get or recognize unless you go there. Like my Cavanaugh one. It just made me smile though.
I went to Village Inn with Lauren after work. Twas quite fun. She's fun. I hadn't seen her since she left for school in August, so it was fun. I enjoyed it immensely. Sadly the other two (Kristina and Kaleena) couldn't make it. But the four of us will be reunited at least once this Christmas break, or else. Man, we better. I'll be quite sad otherwise.
Hm. Well I have to be at work at 8:30 tomorrow morning. Isn't that grand? And I get to stay until 2 now, instead of 1. Even better. (I am slightly sad that I won't have 30 hours this week, thanks to yesterday, but oh well.) After I get off, me and Cathy are going to meet at the Citadel and go shopping for a few hours, and then I have to go to the 5:30 Mass as it's the only Sunday-obligation fulfilling Mass I can make this weekend. Since I have to work 7am-12pm Sunday morning. Which is lovely, no? I do wish I could go twice on Sunday. That'd be fun. I don't really like going Saturday night. Alas.
Man I'm going to be tired next week. Last night I didn't get much sleep, thanks to staying up until after 4 because I wanted to wait up for Peter, who didn't get in until 3:30 this morning (oh yeah, Peter came home for Christmas! Flew from Alabama to Dallas on Wednesday, and then obviously his Dallas to CS flight was cancelled, so he got put definitely on a flight on Christmas, and then could do standby until then, but yesterday he and a guy from his company who also lives here decided to rent a car which they got for quite cheap thanks to a chance meeting on Wednesday, and then they drove here yesterday. And it took much longer than it normally would have, thanks to the snowy roads and such, and a 2 hour wait after getting stuck behind an accident. But he made it home, finally, this morning). Woke up earlier than I normally would have this morning, for whatever reason, and have been tired all day. And I'm not going to get enough sleep tonight, as it's almost 1am, and I have to wake up at probably 7 or so. Is that right? Yeah, 7 should be good. Let's see if I can actually make myself do it though. And then tomorrow night...if I can get to bed at a decent hour (ha, yeah), but then I have to be at work at 7 so I doubt there's any reasonable scenario in which I'd get enough sleep tomorrow night. And then I never sleep much Christmas Eve, just because. Not because I'm all excited like I was when I was a little kid, just because...I don't. Wrapping presents and such. Yeah. And then the day after Christmas I have to be at work at 6. Ick.
Well, guess I should go get in whatever sleep I can tonight. Goodbye, my lovelies.
Friday, December 22, 2006
Ick
I just checked my schedule for today, when I'm supposed to be at work, because I couldn't remember if it was 4 or 4:30. Well, good thing I looked, because it's actually 3:30. Ain't that lovely? Sigh. Six hours just seems so much more...doable than seven. Even if it's really only 6.5. If I have to be there seven hours I'd much rather skip out on lunch (as I probably won't eat anyway), and just get paid for that extra half hour. Not like he'll go over on payroll or anything, since there's a day and a half that no one got paid for, at all. It just feels like such a waste of time, aimlessly wandering around the mall for half an hour. (And my desire for going shopping at the Citadel just to go doesn't count, as it's being there voluntarily, and being there for the sake of being there--not because I have to be there, or anything like that, and plus wandering around for a few hours is much nicer than wandering around for half an hour. You can't really do anything in half an hour, but you can find plenty to do with a few hours.) The few things I have still to get I can't get at the mall anyway, as far as I know. But I have a feeling I might will be able to use a break come time for it, as I have a feeling it'll be ridiculous today. I can only hope that no one wants to buy leather, because I just can't handle the busy-ness. Not at all. Makes my stress level go through the roof, especially when you get those people who are impatient and get pissed just because they have to wait in line, and then you're not quick as a flash ringing them up. Jerks. Working in retail sure makes you appreciate everyone else who works in retail. Not that I've ever really been jerky to sales people, as far as I know, because I always prefer it when people are amiable to one another. I dislike it when I get a pissed off salesperson just as much as I dislike having to help a pissed off customer. Perhaps even more so with the customer, though, because they have no reason to be pissy with us. Salespeople get stressed, and have to deal with said customers, so I can much more understand their frustration. But customers have no right to get pissed just because we don't have the exact briefcase they're looking for, or just because we don't have another medium of that style in the back because this one has a little wrinkle or a teeny tiny dot of discoloration that no one would likely ever notice. Argh.
Can you tell how much I'm looking forward to going into work today? Whoo boy let me tell you. But I guess I should get going soon, as I had wanted to stop at the library on the way--that might not happen, though. Depends on the roads and my progress and such, I suppose. Argh. I don't want to go to work. Ever again. And I never did get a chance to tell Michael that I definitely can't work on Jan. 3, because when I called the day after he called me, they had already closed, and then we haven't been open since then until today, and I hadn't been thinking about it until just now, so I might as well just wait until I get in there. Although I think he was only working until 1:30 today...guess I'll just have to leave him a note. I have a feeling he already made the schedule, and made it with me working that day, and I have a feeling he might be pissed at me, but I also have a feeling that I don't care and that I gave my two weeks a week ago so that I wouldn't have to work anymore after next week but then I felt bad so I agreed to work an extra 12 hours the next week which I'm realy wishing I hadn't agreed to, so screw him if he's going to be mad at me for not wanting to work during my school's BCS bowl game.
And that's that.
Can you tell how much I'm looking forward to going into work today? Whoo boy let me tell you. But I guess I should get going soon, as I had wanted to stop at the library on the way--that might not happen, though. Depends on the roads and my progress and such, I suppose. Argh. I don't want to go to work. Ever again. And I never did get a chance to tell Michael that I definitely can't work on Jan. 3, because when I called the day after he called me, they had already closed, and then we haven't been open since then until today, and I hadn't been thinking about it until just now, so I might as well just wait until I get in there. Although I think he was only working until 1:30 today...guess I'll just have to leave him a note. I have a feeling he already made the schedule, and made it with me working that day, and I have a feeling he might be pissed at me, but I also have a feeling that I don't care and that I gave my two weeks a week ago so that I wouldn't have to work anymore after next week but then I felt bad so I agreed to work an extra 12 hours the next week which I'm realy wishing I hadn't agreed to, so screw him if he's going to be mad at me for not wanting to work during my school's BCS bowl game.
And that's that.
Thursday, December 21, 2006
Snow Thursday
Well, I was in limbo most of the day because first we were opening at 10, and then it was going to be 2pm. I kept checking all day to see if they had decided just to cancel altogether, but alas, no luck. So at 1pm my manager called me as he said he would, and told me that the mall management was going just to stay closed all day, but then people were showing up at the mall or something so they decided to open at 2. I was slightly annoyed at those people, but I had no choice, so yeah. And then like twenty, twenty-five minutes later he called me back and said that he had told the district manager of Wilsons that me and the other sales associate, who was coming in later in the day, either couldn't make it out of our houses or our parents didn't want us to go or something like that (which is partially true, and I wasn't entirely convinced I'd be able to make it to work without getting stuck somewhere on the way--if I could even get out onto my street), and she told him to call the mall and see if there would be a fine for not opening today, but they said there wouldn't be, so we just didn't go in. And how wonderful it is. So I spent the afternoon knitting.
Dad had brought some knitting stuff home this summer that had been stashed away in Grandpop's house, a few needles and quite a few things of yarn (although mostly rather bright colors, so I'm not sure if I'd use them for a real project, but maybe), and I haven't really had any reason to look into it much. But today I finished the projects I had been working on, and didn't have any new yarn or anything new to do, so I decided to pull it out and check it out. And now I'm trying this scarf pattern that I had attempted with my last project but kept messing up. It's going wonderfully now, though. If you're interested, it's this one. Mary Poppins' scarf! I very much like it. So that's exciting. But yeah. Anyone want me to knit them anything? A pillow? A throw? An afghan? A scarf? A shawl? perhaps a hat? Maybe one of these days I'll figure out how to do mittens and socks. Anyhoo.
I discovered today that this black button up sweater I bought from Kohls back in September is quite warm. I was standing outside for a few minutes today, taking some pictures (so fun) while my parents shoveled the driveway (yes I'm a horrible person), and all I was wearing was my jeans, my boots, a long sleeve t-shirt (my Christmas one, with the little dog with the Santa hat!), and the black sweater. My hands were quite cold as they were exposed, but the rest of me was perfectly fine. Particularly my shirt-covered area. It was a little windy, and obviously rather cold (probably in the 20s somewhere, so not really terribly cold), but yeah. So I'm happy about that. I like this sweater.
I don't know what happened about those pictures. I'm quite sad. Hopefully I can figure it out soon.
Dad had brought some knitting stuff home this summer that had been stashed away in Grandpop's house, a few needles and quite a few things of yarn (although mostly rather bright colors, so I'm not sure if I'd use them for a real project, but maybe), and I haven't really had any reason to look into it much. But today I finished the projects I had been working on, and didn't have any new yarn or anything new to do, so I decided to pull it out and check it out. And now I'm trying this scarf pattern that I had attempted with my last project but kept messing up. It's going wonderfully now, though. If you're interested, it's this one. Mary Poppins' scarf! I very much like it. So that's exciting. But yeah. Anyone want me to knit them anything? A pillow? A throw? An afghan? A scarf? A shawl? perhaps a hat? Maybe one of these days I'll figure out how to do mittens and socks. Anyhoo.
I discovered today that this black button up sweater I bought from Kohls back in September is quite warm. I was standing outside for a few minutes today, taking some pictures (so fun) while my parents shoveled the driveway (yes I'm a horrible person), and all I was wearing was my jeans, my boots, a long sleeve t-shirt (my Christmas one, with the little dog with the Santa hat!), and the black sweater. My hands were quite cold as they were exposed, but the rest of me was perfectly fine. Particularly my shirt-covered area. It was a little windy, and obviously rather cold (probably in the 20s somewhere, so not really terribly cold), but yeah. So I'm happy about that. I like this sweater.
I don't know what happened about those pictures. I'm quite sad. Hopefully I can figure it out soon.
Update
Well, the snow continues to fall. Today it's falling a bit more calmly than yesterday, thanks to a much reduced amount and power of wind. Got a call at 7am this morning (oddly enough, like two seconds after my alarm started going off, so I was already out of bed and almost to my phone anyway) and it was Michael saying that we weren't opening until 10. So I set my alarm appropriately, and went back to sleep for a little while. Got out of bed and took a shower and stuff, wondering if we were still opening at 10 (especially as I continued to hear more and more closures and such, I couldn't imagine that we'd still have to go in at 10). When I got out of the shower, I turned on my laptop and checked the chapel hills mall page, and it said they were opening at 2. I checked one more page of updated closures and delays (updates every few minutes or something), and that said 2pm as well. So instead of my stupid work clothes, I put on my comfy clothes. Mmm. Michael called me a little later and told me, and also said he'd give me a call around 1 or so as mall management apparently isn't sure yet if they'll even open at 2. So here's hoping they don't let their pursuit of money come before everything else, and they stay closed. Twould be awesome.
So that's the status as of now. Airports still closed and stuff, I-25 still closed between N. Academy and the south side of Denver as well as, apparently, the south side of Pueblo to the New Mexico border. And lots of highways and such going east from here to like the Kansas and Nebraska borders and such. (Which means if you're stuck here because of a flight cancellation, you're pretty much STUCK here. For today at least.)
Good times. (Unless, of course, you are stuck. Or somewhere else wanting to get here. Because that does suck, and I will admit that.)
So that's the status as of now. Airports still closed and stuff, I-25 still closed between N. Academy and the south side of Denver as well as, apparently, the south side of Pueblo to the New Mexico border. And lots of highways and such going east from here to like the Kansas and Nebraska borders and such. (Which means if you're stuck here because of a flight cancellation, you're pretty much STUCK here. For today at least.)
Good times. (Unless, of course, you are stuck. Or somewhere else wanting to get here. Because that does suck, and I will admit that.)
Snow pictures!!!
Backyard
That's our garden off to the right of this above one
Our Christmas tree, with the Advent candle thing Dad made showing through the window
Snow and some of our Christmas lights (plus the Advent wreath--the 4th candle obviously wasn't lit yet)
Some of the snow drifts in front of our porch/garage
Drift that formed around the van
Our pretty house, all snow-covered and lit up
My car (and our trash can), getting snowed in
Our porch with the Christmas tree in the window
Snow on the porch--can't tell where it ends and the step is
View of the porch/yard from the doorway
Our pretty Christmas wreath, all covered in snow
View from the living room window (w/tree reflection and all)
Fence in our front yard the next day (notice that the sun was out--a day after one of the worst blizzards we've had in awhile, and the sun can't even stay away a full 2 days)
Drift by the corner of the porch
Fire hydrant in our front yard
Little baby trees almost covered by the snow in our front yard
Snow on our sidewalk
After a bit of shoveling
Hood of my car, snow almost covering the bumper and such
My car, all snowed in, after Dad cleaned it off in case I had to go to work
Our porch (and rocking chair)
Porch swing and table
View from the doorway the morning after (and there's a step somewhere in all that snow, where that pole is)
Backyard the morning after, with snow drifts going halfway up the fence
Car that got stuck in the snow the morning after, right outside our house
Yay snow!
That's our garden off to the right of this above one
Our Christmas tree, with the Advent candle thing Dad made showing through the window
Snow and some of our Christmas lights (plus the Advent wreath--the 4th candle obviously wasn't lit yet)
Some of the snow drifts in front of our porch/garage
Drift that formed around the van
Our pretty house, all snow-covered and lit up
My car (and our trash can), getting snowed in
Our porch with the Christmas tree in the window
Snow on the porch--can't tell where it ends and the step is
View of the porch/yard from the doorway
Our pretty Christmas wreath, all covered in snow
View from the living room window (w/tree reflection and all)
Fence in our front yard the next day (notice that the sun was out--a day after one of the worst blizzards we've had in awhile, and the sun can't even stay away a full 2 days)
Drift by the corner of the porch
Fire hydrant in our front yard
Little baby trees almost covered by the snow in our front yard
Snow on our sidewalk
After a bit of shoveling
Hood of my car, snow almost covering the bumper and such
My car, all snowed in, after Dad cleaned it off in case I had to go to work
Our porch (and rocking chair)
Porch swing and table
View from the doorway the morning after (and there's a step somewhere in all that snow, where that pole is)
Backyard the morning after, with snow drifts going halfway up the fence
Car that got stuck in the snow the morning after, right outside our houseYay snow!
Wednesday, December 20, 2006
Hmm
Assuming the mall decides to open at 8am tomorrow, as they are currently slated to do, Dad says that I'll probably have to leave an hour early just to get there on time. I have to be there at 8:30. So that kind of sucks. And I seriously doubt they'll be kind enough (and smart enough) to delay, at the very least, the opening of the mall. I mean, gotta get that money at all costs, right? But seriously, no one's gonna be shopping at 8am tomorrow morning. Especially not if it continues to be anywhere near this right now. Lots of roads around town are closed, at least parts of them, and various intersections and whatnot. Cars are stranded all over the place. Heck, Mom left early from work today (left around noonish, I think), and got stuck twice on the way home. And a third time trying to get up our driveway. There was that much snow. And it's all slippery underneath the snow too. So, yeah. I mean, as it is right now I'm not even sure how I'd get to work, since part of the road I take there is currently closed, as are other parts of other ways I might go. So who knows. I'm just hoping the storm keeps up enough that they'll delay or just not open again tomorrow or something. Who knows.
Yep...
| You Are a Bright Christmas Tree |
 For you, the holidays are all about fun and seasonal favorites. You are into all things Christmas, even if they're a little tacky. |
Oh boy!
Ok, so coming out in January is the new Celtic Woman CD, as I've mentioned before. And there's also...man I know there's something else coming out in January. What the heck is it? Not Josh Groban, and what other artists am I very excited about? Hmmm...but either way, I just found out that there's another album coming out (the same day as the Celtic Woman CD!) in January. Norah Jones! I've been checking periodically on her website to see, since it's been awhile since her last one, but I hadn't checked recently. Then I got an email in an inbox I've only recently been checking much, from Itunes (not sure why I'm on their email list, but whatever). It said something about Norah Jones. So I clicked the email, which I never do for them, and indeed, there's her new CD to pre-order! So I went to her website and there's a new song you can listen to and stuff, and it's very exciting. Yeah I just have no idea what the other thing was. It's going to bug me though, you can be sure of that. Either way, yay!
Well, the snow came
When I headed to bed last night, and as I was attempting sleep, the wind was getting stronger and stronger. Meaning the front was definitely coming, and along with it, snow. It was weird--there was this scraping noise thing that I would hear last night with every major gust of wind (of which there were a few--I would not wanted to have been outside last night. Very windy), and I had no idea what it was. Sounded like something maybe on the roof, scraping across. One of my almost-asleep thoughts was that maybe the rain gutter was being torn off the house. That, or the shingles were coming off. I didn't really think either was the case, but hey, you never know. I guess Dad heard it too, and he said he checked it out and didn't see anything. But yeah. Maybe it really was Santa Claus, on a practice run, like Dad said. hehe. So now, there's snow. I can't really tell how much, and I can't really tell if the snow is continuing to fall. That lovely wind again, blowing everything around. For example, in the middle part of our back yard, there's kind of just a dusting. But then around the back edge, and around the garden and such, there's at least a few inches piled up. And our porch is completely covered, as is the porch swing. That doesn't usually happen, thanks to the lovely invention of rooves above porches. But with wind, especially as strong as it is now, all bets are off. On our porch, right outside of the door, we have a little step and then the rest of the porch, and Dad said that you can't tell where the step is/ends because of the snow. Kinda funny. So I guess I'm happy. Edit: It's not the difference between the step and the rest of the porch, it's the difference between the porch itself and the rest of the walkway a step below it that you can't see. Which is cooler, I think.
I must admit, though, I was looking forward to possibly going shopping this afternoon with Cathy. I'm guessing that probably won't happen now, sadly. I still have presents to get, and Christmas day is fast approaching. No good. Although, I guess I'm mostly just down to one. That's good. But still. I have yet to step one foot in the Citadel Mall this Christmas season, and that's something I do every year. Tomorrow I work until 3:30, so I guess maybe we could go then, and Friday I don't work until 4 (or is it 4:30?), so maybe before then. And Saturday I work only until 1:30 so that's a possibility to. But I refuse to complain about the snow, as it would make me a hypocrite or something, seeing as how much I wanted it. hehe. It's really funny--when Kebbie goes outside, as she's done twice in the last hour (doesn't she know it's cold and snowy out there? Maybe she likes it), she'll come back in absolutely covered--even after only being out a minute or two. And her face is all covered too, except these two little black patches around her cute little eyes. She's so cute. And then I get the towel to wipe her off, and for some reason she doesn't like that. The last time she went into the dining room and hid under the table for like thirty seconds before I got her to come out so I could wipe her off. Weird girl.
The news guys just said that they're going to be closing I-25 both directions from Denver to Colorado Springs. I'm pretty sure that doesn't happen very often...
There is one decidedly not good thing that will more than likely result from this snowstorm. But that's to be discussed at a later date. And edit again: Apparently the decidedly not good thing that might happen is actually for sure not going to happen. Today at least. So that's kind of crappy. I guess that's what I get though.
I must admit, though, I was looking forward to possibly going shopping this afternoon with Cathy. I'm guessing that probably won't happen now, sadly. I still have presents to get, and Christmas day is fast approaching. No good. Although, I guess I'm mostly just down to one. That's good. But still. I have yet to step one foot in the Citadel Mall this Christmas season, and that's something I do every year. Tomorrow I work until 3:30, so I guess maybe we could go then, and Friday I don't work until 4 (or is it 4:30?), so maybe before then. And Saturday I work only until 1:30 so that's a possibility to. But I refuse to complain about the snow, as it would make me a hypocrite or something, seeing as how much I wanted it. hehe. It's really funny--when Kebbie goes outside, as she's done twice in the last hour (doesn't she know it's cold and snowy out there? Maybe she likes it), she'll come back in absolutely covered--even after only being out a minute or two. And her face is all covered too, except these two little black patches around her cute little eyes. She's so cute. And then I get the towel to wipe her off, and for some reason she doesn't like that. The last time she went into the dining room and hid under the table for like thirty seconds before I got her to come out so I could wipe her off. Weird girl.
The news guys just said that they're going to be closing I-25 both directions from Denver to Colorado Springs. I'm pretty sure that doesn't happen very often...
There is one decidedly not good thing that will more than likely result from this snowstorm. But that's to be discussed at a later date. And edit again: Apparently the decidedly not good thing that might happen is actually for sure not going to happen. Today at least. So that's kind of crappy. I guess that's what I get though.
Tuesday, December 19, 2006
The other day, while writing in my blog (I think), I thought of an amazing New Years resolution. I was really excited about it. But I don't think I mentioned it in whatever post it was I was writing at the time, and now I have no idea what it was. How sad.
Argh. Michael just called me, and I answered, not immediately recognizing the Wilson's number, as I have a different one programmed into my phone (we have two lines at work). Anyway, he asked me if I could do one 7 hour day and two 4 hour days the week that I don't want to be working (as in, not next week but the week after), but which I stupidly agreed to do an extra 12 hours. Which I very much wish I hadn't done. And which I very much wish I had the backbone to tell him that I just can't do it, as I have more to do than I originally was thinking (which is true--I can't wait until the last minute to pack up my stuff as I'm having to send a lot of it through UPS, which means I have to have it packed and ready to go like 5 days before I actually leave). And now he wants me to do three more hours on top of that. And here's the worst part (and yet the part that makes it easiest to say I can't)--he wants me to do a 1-9 shift on Wednesday the 3rd. When he said that date, I knew I had something that day, and I told him I'd get back to him, and then I realized a little while later--that's the day of the bowl game. There is absolutely no way that I am working extra for him and missing that game. No way no how. I really just want to say screw you about the whole thing, but I have too much guilt to do that. But it is quite annoying. I mean, the point of giving two weeks is so that he can find someone else. And yet I have a feeling he's making me work that next week just so he doesn't have to look for someone right away, even though we continue to get people applying. Argh. I'm irritated.
However, there is good news on the horizon, news of the very greatest sort. Yesterday I got an email. An amazing, magical, wonderful email. When I finally got home after work, a quick stop at UCCS, and Katie's, I had one new email in my ND inbox. (You know, the one that's been ridiculously full since maybe a month into freshman year.) It was from the ResLife guy who emailed me a few weeks ago, letting me know that I was #9 or whatever on the waitlist. The title of the email was something like "Housing Update" and I almost dreaded opening it, knowing what I would find inside. I opened it, and saw that it was to all of us still on the list. And it had a few sentences, the most important of which was something along the lines of "we are pleased to inform you that you will all have spots on campus for the spring semester!" Against all odds, against all hope, and despite my pessimistic view of the situation, God found me a room on campus! Yeah, I know it's not perfect or anything, but I'm absolutely overjoyed. I don't yet know where I'll be placed (all the email said was that he won't be making specific assignments until the first week of January, and then he'll email each of us to let us know), but I don't really care. I mean, I know there's at least a few dorms I'd rather not be (especially McGlinn and Welsh Fam, as they're out in the boonies, and maybe not PE or PW either), but for the most part I really don't care. It's just awesome, and I'm thrilled. Beyond thrilled. Although there is still the little voice in the back of my head that likes to bother me in times of joy, right now saying "well maybe they made a mistake somehow, and they'll end up taking it away or something," but I'm trying my best to ignore it. Everything just feels so right all of a sudden. With that one email, this whole semester has really been put behind me as I don't have to kick myself like I was. I mean, I do still think, "How fun it would have been had I stayed, and Caitlin and Bethany and Katherine and I could have gotten last year's quad back and it would have been a grand old time, especially if Julie hung out there all the time too." But that didn't happen, and now I'll take what I can get. And it's wonderful. I just...everything feels like it's coming into place, and things are great. Not perfect, but what is? I'm excited. (Even though being excited about things always causes a slight amount of worry as well, since I do tend to think in worst-case scenarios sometimes, annoying as it is.) I can't thank God enough for this right now.
So, I've decided that chocolate covered pretzels pretty much just rock. Seriously. Mm Mm Delicious.
I'll have to be cleaning my room soon. And I am this close to committing myself to throwing out lots of the absolute junk I have stashed in practically every nook and cranny in there. Because really, it is just junk, and I need to get that through my head. Things like (and don't laugh, I can't help that I'm the worst kind of packrat) those stupid letters colleges send you so you'll take an interest in them and request more information. I didn't save all of them, no, but I did save a few. Or possibly more than a few. Either way though. And then I saved some stuff like applications of colleges I was more interested in, but didn't actually apply to. Or even some that I did apply to but still saved their stuff. And then there's the acceptance packages I got from those I applied to. (And obviously got in to, as I got into every one I applied to.) With the possible exception of the last category, what reason on earth would I have to save the other stuff? Obviously the colleges weren't interesting enough for me actually to apply, so why would I keep their stuff? It makes no sense, and it just clutters up my whole room. Seriously, if I threw out that stuff it'd make the room seem so much more decluttered. There's still plenty of other crap in there to clutter it up, but yeah. I really should just buckle down and do it. I'm never gonna look at that stuff again, so why the heck am I keeping it? Ah, one of life's unanswerable questions. I do have a sneaking and increasingly strong suspicion that my life would feel so much less cluttered and complicated and messy if my room was likewise less cluttered and complicated and messy. I think I've actually heard that before, that if you keep your living area more organized, you'll feel more organized in the rest of your life. Makes sense. I really should give in to those suspicions and try it out one of these days, don't you think? I only hope that I am able to detatch myself from so many material things and be able to keep things at a bare minimum when I go back to school. At the very least, the cost of shipping will, I'm sure, help me at least attempt to keep things to an "only what's necessary" amount. Because, if nothing else, I am and probably always will be a cheapy cheaperson. Usually.
So last week, Brenda found out I don't have a "dream car" like her something or other BMW, and so she decided to pick one for me. She said that mine should be a Volkswagen Passat. I think it was a Passat. Anyway, today I looked it up, and it does look nice. But I'm not a car person, and I don't really need a dream car. All I need is a good car, that runs well, possibly looks nice (as mine doesn't at all right now, thanks to its white exterior and the fact that last week or...two weeks ago it was snowy and then melty and mushy and muddy, and now I have a nice layer of brown covering the bottom half of my car. I can count on one hand the number of times I've taken my car to the car wash. And I've had it for...four years now. Ish.), and preferably doesn't cost an arm and a leg. But I will admit, it is a little fun to think about what I'd get if money were no object.
Last night all we heard about was this winter storm coming in, supposedly today. [Quick side note: every time I say "supposedly" I want to say "supposebly." If you're a Friends fan, you understand.] Last night, they even put up a crawl advising people of the coming snow (depending on the area of the state, anywhere from like 3-10inches, and I think even more than that in the mountains). So, when I woke up this morning I'll admit to expecting at least a few inches on the ground. Instead, there was nothing. Perhaps a dusting, but nothing lasting. It was cloudy though. All day, they kept saying "Oh, the snow is coming, later this afternoon" and then "tonight" and now it's "tomorrow". Apparently the low pressure system that is causing this snow hung out in...somewhere south and west of here longer than expected. But now they promise it's coming, and tomorrow we could get 5-10 inches in the city. I'll believe it when I see it. But it was foggy tonight when Dad and I went out to Walmart for a few things, and that did make me quite happy. Fog is wonderful. As I told him, a close second to snow. For cold days anyway. Second to rain when it's warmer. But yeah. At least it was cloudy and cold today, so that did make me happy. None of those crappy 50 and 60 degree days like we had last week.
I hope not to have any plans for this Saturday night, because one of the greatest movies ever will be on TV. (And it's a movie I really should buy for myself, but have yet to do so.) Sound of Music! I'm very excited. I mean, seriously, what's not to like about that movie? It pretty much just rocks in every way possible. Did you know that, apparently, she was quite a holy and devoted woman? I mean, in the movie we know she's a woman "who will never be a nun," but beyond that there's not much in the way of her personal faith life. But apparently in the books she wrote about her life, it's much more obvious. I'm thinking one of these days perhaps those should go on my "to be read" list. Which is growing far more quickly than I'm making any success in crossing books off of it.
Oh yeah, I also discovered (or remembered) something else that I find quite scrumptious. Toasteds Onion crackers from Keebler. I'm not an onion fan, but man these crackers rock.
I wish it were possible to knit and read a book at the same time. Alas, I have yet to find a way to do this successfully.
Life is good, people. God is good. And even as much as it worries me to say, I'm so happy, deep down, right now. It is, after all, Christmas time!
Reasons I shouldn't go to Walmart: When I inevitably see the women's clothing section, and particularly the George brand stuff, I can always find a cute shirt for under $10 that I really want. Tonight was no different. Unfortunately. I didn't buy anything, but there is a shirt that I really really really really really want to buy.
Argh. Michael just called me, and I answered, not immediately recognizing the Wilson's number, as I have a different one programmed into my phone (we have two lines at work). Anyway, he asked me if I could do one 7 hour day and two 4 hour days the week that I don't want to be working (as in, not next week but the week after), but which I stupidly agreed to do an extra 12 hours. Which I very much wish I hadn't done. And which I very much wish I had the backbone to tell him that I just can't do it, as I have more to do than I originally was thinking (which is true--I can't wait until the last minute to pack up my stuff as I'm having to send a lot of it through UPS, which means I have to have it packed and ready to go like 5 days before I actually leave). And now he wants me to do three more hours on top of that. And here's the worst part (and yet the part that makes it easiest to say I can't)--he wants me to do a 1-9 shift on Wednesday the 3rd. When he said that date, I knew I had something that day, and I told him I'd get back to him, and then I realized a little while later--that's the day of the bowl game. There is absolutely no way that I am working extra for him and missing that game. No way no how. I really just want to say screw you about the whole thing, but I have too much guilt to do that. But it is quite annoying. I mean, the point of giving two weeks is so that he can find someone else. And yet I have a feeling he's making me work that next week just so he doesn't have to look for someone right away, even though we continue to get people applying. Argh. I'm irritated.
However, there is good news on the horizon, news of the very greatest sort. Yesterday I got an email. An amazing, magical, wonderful email. When I finally got home after work, a quick stop at UCCS, and Katie's, I had one new email in my ND inbox. (You know, the one that's been ridiculously full since maybe a month into freshman year.) It was from the ResLife guy who emailed me a few weeks ago, letting me know that I was #9 or whatever on the waitlist. The title of the email was something like "Housing Update" and I almost dreaded opening it, knowing what I would find inside. I opened it, and saw that it was to all of us still on the list. And it had a few sentences, the most important of which was something along the lines of "we are pleased to inform you that you will all have spots on campus for the spring semester!" Against all odds, against all hope, and despite my pessimistic view of the situation, God found me a room on campus! Yeah, I know it's not perfect or anything, but I'm absolutely overjoyed. I don't yet know where I'll be placed (all the email said was that he won't be making specific assignments until the first week of January, and then he'll email each of us to let us know), but I don't really care. I mean, I know there's at least a few dorms I'd rather not be (especially McGlinn and Welsh Fam, as they're out in the boonies, and maybe not PE or PW either), but for the most part I really don't care. It's just awesome, and I'm thrilled. Beyond thrilled. Although there is still the little voice in the back of my head that likes to bother me in times of joy, right now saying "well maybe they made a mistake somehow, and they'll end up taking it away or something," but I'm trying my best to ignore it. Everything just feels so right all of a sudden. With that one email, this whole semester has really been put behind me as I don't have to kick myself like I was. I mean, I do still think, "How fun it would have been had I stayed, and Caitlin and Bethany and Katherine and I could have gotten last year's quad back and it would have been a grand old time, especially if Julie hung out there all the time too." But that didn't happen, and now I'll take what I can get. And it's wonderful. I just...everything feels like it's coming into place, and things are great. Not perfect, but what is? I'm excited. (Even though being excited about things always causes a slight amount of worry as well, since I do tend to think in worst-case scenarios sometimes, annoying as it is.) I can't thank God enough for this right now.
So, I've decided that chocolate covered pretzels pretty much just rock. Seriously. Mm Mm Delicious.
I'll have to be cleaning my room soon. And I am this close to committing myself to throwing out lots of the absolute junk I have stashed in practically every nook and cranny in there. Because really, it is just junk, and I need to get that through my head. Things like (and don't laugh, I can't help that I'm the worst kind of packrat) those stupid letters colleges send you so you'll take an interest in them and request more information. I didn't save all of them, no, but I did save a few. Or possibly more than a few. Either way though. And then I saved some stuff like applications of colleges I was more interested in, but didn't actually apply to. Or even some that I did apply to but still saved their stuff. And then there's the acceptance packages I got from those I applied to. (And obviously got in to, as I got into every one I applied to.) With the possible exception of the last category, what reason on earth would I have to save the other stuff? Obviously the colleges weren't interesting enough for me actually to apply, so why would I keep their stuff? It makes no sense, and it just clutters up my whole room. Seriously, if I threw out that stuff it'd make the room seem so much more decluttered. There's still plenty of other crap in there to clutter it up, but yeah. I really should just buckle down and do it. I'm never gonna look at that stuff again, so why the heck am I keeping it? Ah, one of life's unanswerable questions. I do have a sneaking and increasingly strong suspicion that my life would feel so much less cluttered and complicated and messy if my room was likewise less cluttered and complicated and messy. I think I've actually heard that before, that if you keep your living area more organized, you'll feel more organized in the rest of your life. Makes sense. I really should give in to those suspicions and try it out one of these days, don't you think? I only hope that I am able to detatch myself from so many material things and be able to keep things at a bare minimum when I go back to school. At the very least, the cost of shipping will, I'm sure, help me at least attempt to keep things to an "only what's necessary" amount. Because, if nothing else, I am and probably always will be a cheapy cheaperson. Usually.
So last week, Brenda found out I don't have a "dream car" like her something or other BMW, and so she decided to pick one for me. She said that mine should be a Volkswagen Passat. I think it was a Passat. Anyway, today I looked it up, and it does look nice. But I'm not a car person, and I don't really need a dream car. All I need is a good car, that runs well, possibly looks nice (as mine doesn't at all right now, thanks to its white exterior and the fact that last week or...two weeks ago it was snowy and then melty and mushy and muddy, and now I have a nice layer of brown covering the bottom half of my car. I can count on one hand the number of times I've taken my car to the car wash. And I've had it for...four years now. Ish.), and preferably doesn't cost an arm and a leg. But I will admit, it is a little fun to think about what I'd get if money were no object.
Last night all we heard about was this winter storm coming in, supposedly today. [Quick side note: every time I say "supposedly" I want to say "supposebly." If you're a Friends fan, you understand.] Last night, they even put up a crawl advising people of the coming snow (depending on the area of the state, anywhere from like 3-10inches, and I think even more than that in the mountains). So, when I woke up this morning I'll admit to expecting at least a few inches on the ground. Instead, there was nothing. Perhaps a dusting, but nothing lasting. It was cloudy though. All day, they kept saying "Oh, the snow is coming, later this afternoon" and then "tonight" and now it's "tomorrow". Apparently the low pressure system that is causing this snow hung out in...somewhere south and west of here longer than expected. But now they promise it's coming, and tomorrow we could get 5-10 inches in the city. I'll believe it when I see it. But it was foggy tonight when Dad and I went out to Walmart for a few things, and that did make me quite happy. Fog is wonderful. As I told him, a close second to snow. For cold days anyway. Second to rain when it's warmer. But yeah. At least it was cloudy and cold today, so that did make me happy. None of those crappy 50 and 60 degree days like we had last week.
I hope not to have any plans for this Saturday night, because one of the greatest movies ever will be on TV. (And it's a movie I really should buy for myself, but have yet to do so.) Sound of Music! I'm very excited. I mean, seriously, what's not to like about that movie? It pretty much just rocks in every way possible. Did you know that, apparently, she was quite a holy and devoted woman? I mean, in the movie we know she's a woman "who will never be a nun," but beyond that there's not much in the way of her personal faith life. But apparently in the books she wrote about her life, it's much more obvious. I'm thinking one of these days perhaps those should go on my "to be read" list. Which is growing far more quickly than I'm making any success in crossing books off of it.
Oh yeah, I also discovered (or remembered) something else that I find quite scrumptious. Toasteds Onion crackers from Keebler. I'm not an onion fan, but man these crackers rock.
I wish it were possible to knit and read a book at the same time. Alas, I have yet to find a way to do this successfully.
Life is good, people. God is good. And even as much as it worries me to say, I'm so happy, deep down, right now. It is, after all, Christmas time!
Reasons I shouldn't go to Walmart: When I inevitably see the women's clothing section, and particularly the George brand stuff, I can always find a cute shirt for under $10 that I really want. Tonight was no different. Unfortunately. I didn't buy anything, but there is a shirt that I really really really really really want to buy.
Undeserving
Today was an interesting day. Firstly, work was ridiculous. I went to bed late last night, partly because I couldn't sleep and partly because I'm me, and then had to turn around and get up in time to get to work at 8:30. (Surprisingly, I left later than I ever have--close to only ten minutes before I had to be there, when I normally try to leave between 20-30 minutes before I have to be there--and yet I still managed to make it only about three minutes late. Of course, it's three minutes late on our computer clocks at work, but those are close to five minutes slow. But still, it was surprising how quickly I got there.) The morning was pretty easy and not too bad, other than the extreme feelings of exhaustion both Brenda and I were feeling (we both closed last night, and obviously both opened today). I went to lunch, which consisted mostly of me walking around the mall (bad idea, considering how tired I was and how much my feet and legs wanted me to sit down to give them a break) looking for possible gifts for people for whom I still need to buy. After that, the rest of the day was a blur. Well, it wasn't really that bad until about 2:30 or so. All day we had had more returns than usual (and it's not even after Christmas yet--great...), and then we got in shipment which wasn't too bad either, only four boxes of merchandise. But yeah, sometime during the afternoon, everyone and their mom decided to come into the store. Including a few annoying women who wanted to do returns. One was returning a briefcase thing she had gotten in May--MAY, as in 7 months ago--sans tags or receipts. We "require" tags, receipts, and a purchase within the last 90 days for a return, yet don't seem to hold to those things too often...Anyway, we could only give her store credit, but since there were no tags, we had no idea how much to give her. So Brenda, who has to do the returns as managers are the only ones allowed to do them or whatnot, had to call like the corporate office or something, and they had to look around for awhile to find the style number we needed for the bag. It was stupid. Why we spent so much time on this woman is beyond me. It was seriously like half an hour that we were trying to figure this out. Well, Brenda was. And I was trying to keep up with the steady flow of people that had started during all this. And then a little later this other woman came in needing a return as well, but she didn't have the credit card it was bought on and thus we could only give her store credit, which she wasn't happy about. So she eventually went and found another coat that I guess she wanted to be more expensive, so that she could just pay us the difference, but it ended up being less so she finally just agreed to get the difference we owed her on store credit. But man. So irritating. And she was like getting mad at us because we weren't bending our rules for her. Ugh. I was getting just so mad at people in general at this point, and there were tons of them in our teeny tiny store which just accentuates it all, and at one point some more people came in and I almost had to bite my tongue not to say to them, "Please don't come in here" or something perhaps a little harsher. But geeze. It was ridiculous. And I felt bad that Brenda was spending so much time on returns and not getting sales toward her sales goal, so I gave her a few of mine. Otherwise, I actually might have gotten my goal for today, surprisingly because it was over $2200. For one day. 6.5 hours. I did get pretty close, though, which is cool. But yeah. I ended up staying about twenty minutes late because the next sales associate wasn't in until 4, and I was supposed to be off at 3:30, but it was still a little busy at that point. But anyway. Crazy. My feet and legs were killing me by the time I got done, and I just wanted to lay down in my car and go to sleep for like twenty hours.
Instead I went to UCCS, dropped off those library books, attempted to get my history paper--but it wasn't there, none of them were, so I'm thinking she probably just took them all home or something after the end of last week maybe. I don't know. I might email her and see if I can get it sometime. I do want to see it, see the final grade and whatnot. But yeah. Then I went to Katies after that, and was planning on just sitting in my car or something until more of my family showed up, but Dad had just gotten there too so we went in together and enjoyed the Christmas food spread she has out every year the week before Christmas--little sandwiches and such, cookies, M&Ms, etc. Good stuff. And tonight I went to see The Pursuit of Happyness with some high school friends, which was lovely. The movie did not disappoint. And--get this people--I cried. In a movie theater. A fairly crowded one at that. And at more than one scene. Dude, it's just...it's such a good movie. And everything you've heard about Will Smith's son in the movie, is true. Great acting by that little kid. And of course by Will Smith. But that's to be expected as he rocks. But yeah. Go see it. And if you're like my mom, if you see it, I think you might cry through the whole thing. But there's nothing wrong with crying.
Anyway. I've been thinking about it (from reading stuff on ndnation about admissions to ND, as high school seniors got their EA envelopes today-ish), and man, sometimes I wonder how I ever did manage to get into Notre Dame. Especially in early admission. From all accounts I've heard, it's tougher to get in EA than regular, and yet the guy who I talked with a bit the summer I visited and whatnot advised me to do EA when I told him my credentials, so to speak. Obviously worked out well for me, but yeah. My SATs definitely weren't impressive, for ND at least. My ACTs were more so, but still. My extracurriculars weren't stellar or anything either. I just...wonder. But no matter by what amazing twist of fate that I managed to get in, I will be forever glad and grateful. (This past semester notwithstanding.) Even though I certainly didn't deserve it. (But then another side to this is those who didn't get in, who believe with all their hearts they should have been shoe-ins. Involved alumni parents, student siblings, tons of extracurriculars, good SATs, etc. Obviously it sucks for them, and it's always hard to tell what admissions are going to do. But those who are legacies, who expect to get in simply by way of the fact that their mom, dad, uncle, cousin, brother, dog, house plant went to ND as well, are kind of annoying too. Just because they happened to be born into a family where parents are graduates of the school doesn't mean they should automatically get in. One of those people not getting in makes one more space for someone like me, with absolutely no previous ties to the school, to get the opportunity. Eh I don't know. It's all weird.)
It's amazing how sometimes God can manage to show you, by a simple little thing, that he is forever merciful, taking chances on people who don't deserve it, and positively answering prayers--even those of a sinful, selfish, unworthy, and far too unappreciative 21 year old girl. I guess miracles aren't just for saints. And thank God for that, because where would the rest of us be without even those teeny every day miracles we don't even notice?
I've felt very contemplative lately. Just...calmer. I don't know. Outwardly it's probably no different. But yeah, I'm not sure. And last night I heard (for the first time, somehow) about those climbers on Mt. Hood that had been missing for a week or something, and then they found two snow caves near the summit, and found a body in one that turned out to be one of the men who made a call to his family a week before, saying he was staying there and the other two were going for help, because apparently he was injured (now, after positively identifying the body, it's something about an injury to his arm that they found). And they think it's possible that the other two fell off a certain very steep side, that drops like 2,500 feet or something. It's just all so very sad and disturbing, in a way. I mean, I can't imagine how scary that whole situation would be--both for the men, and for their families who must just wait and watch, and hope and pray. It's definitely further proof that nature will do what it wants, regardless of who's in the way. Personally, I can't understand the logic of climbing a big mountain close to the beginning of winter, when snow is almost a given. But people do it. And they do things like climb Mt Everest too, which I also personally find a bit foolish. However, that doesn't really make it any less sad. It's really sad. Especially the guy in the snow cave. He must have just frozen to death, or starved to death. Either way, I wouldn't wish that on anyone. If the other two did fall to their deaths, sounds horrible to say but at least it's probably a much quicker death. Ok, sorry I'm being so morbid. It's just a sad sad situation.
I guess I don't have much more to say tonight. Or else I'm so tired I'm becoming incoherent, even to myself.
Instead I went to UCCS, dropped off those library books, attempted to get my history paper--but it wasn't there, none of them were, so I'm thinking she probably just took them all home or something after the end of last week maybe. I don't know. I might email her and see if I can get it sometime. I do want to see it, see the final grade and whatnot. But yeah. Then I went to Katies after that, and was planning on just sitting in my car or something until more of my family showed up, but Dad had just gotten there too so we went in together and enjoyed the Christmas food spread she has out every year the week before Christmas--little sandwiches and such, cookies, M&Ms, etc. Good stuff. And tonight I went to see The Pursuit of Happyness with some high school friends, which was lovely. The movie did not disappoint. And--get this people--I cried. In a movie theater. A fairly crowded one at that. And at more than one scene. Dude, it's just...it's such a good movie. And everything you've heard about Will Smith's son in the movie, is true. Great acting by that little kid. And of course by Will Smith. But that's to be expected as he rocks. But yeah. Go see it. And if you're like my mom, if you see it, I think you might cry through the whole thing. But there's nothing wrong with crying.
Anyway. I've been thinking about it (from reading stuff on ndnation about admissions to ND, as high school seniors got their EA envelopes today-ish), and man, sometimes I wonder how I ever did manage to get into Notre Dame. Especially in early admission. From all accounts I've heard, it's tougher to get in EA than regular, and yet the guy who I talked with a bit the summer I visited and whatnot advised me to do EA when I told him my credentials, so to speak. Obviously worked out well for me, but yeah. My SATs definitely weren't impressive, for ND at least. My ACTs were more so, but still. My extracurriculars weren't stellar or anything either. I just...wonder. But no matter by what amazing twist of fate that I managed to get in, I will be forever glad and grateful. (This past semester notwithstanding.) Even though I certainly didn't deserve it. (But then another side to this is those who didn't get in, who believe with all their hearts they should have been shoe-ins. Involved alumni parents, student siblings, tons of extracurriculars, good SATs, etc. Obviously it sucks for them, and it's always hard to tell what admissions are going to do. But those who are legacies, who expect to get in simply by way of the fact that their mom, dad, uncle, cousin, brother, dog, house plant went to ND as well, are kind of annoying too. Just because they happened to be born into a family where parents are graduates of the school doesn't mean they should automatically get in. One of those people not getting in makes one more space for someone like me, with absolutely no previous ties to the school, to get the opportunity. Eh I don't know. It's all weird.)
It's amazing how sometimes God can manage to show you, by a simple little thing, that he is forever merciful, taking chances on people who don't deserve it, and positively answering prayers--even those of a sinful, selfish, unworthy, and far too unappreciative 21 year old girl. I guess miracles aren't just for saints. And thank God for that, because where would the rest of us be without even those teeny every day miracles we don't even notice?
I've felt very contemplative lately. Just...calmer. I don't know. Outwardly it's probably no different. But yeah, I'm not sure. And last night I heard (for the first time, somehow) about those climbers on Mt. Hood that had been missing for a week or something, and then they found two snow caves near the summit, and found a body in one that turned out to be one of the men who made a call to his family a week before, saying he was staying there and the other two were going for help, because apparently he was injured (now, after positively identifying the body, it's something about an injury to his arm that they found). And they think it's possible that the other two fell off a certain very steep side, that drops like 2,500 feet or something. It's just all so very sad and disturbing, in a way. I mean, I can't imagine how scary that whole situation would be--both for the men, and for their families who must just wait and watch, and hope and pray. It's definitely further proof that nature will do what it wants, regardless of who's in the way. Personally, I can't understand the logic of climbing a big mountain close to the beginning of winter, when snow is almost a given. But people do it. And they do things like climb Mt Everest too, which I also personally find a bit foolish. However, that doesn't really make it any less sad. It's really sad. Especially the guy in the snow cave. He must have just frozen to death, or starved to death. Either way, I wouldn't wish that on anyone. If the other two did fall to their deaths, sounds horrible to say but at least it's probably a much quicker death. Ok, sorry I'm being so morbid. It's just a sad sad situation.
I guess I don't have much more to say tonight. Or else I'm so tired I'm becoming incoherent, even to myself.
Monday, December 18, 2006
Tomorrow's going to be a long day...gotta be at work at 8:30. AM. And then I get off at 3:30, which seems like a very long time in between the two. And getting up in time to be there at 8:30 will I'm sure make me tired all day long, as I have trouble making myself go to bed at reasonable hours like...ever. And I keep thinking maybe I can leave with enough time to stop by Starbucks on my way, but it never quite works out like I want it to. Sigh. If only there were a Starbucks in the mall. Oh whell. At least after 3:30 tomorrow I don't have to work again until 8:30 am on Thursday. That's good.
Keep hearing from more and more people and places that The Pursuit of Happyness is a great movie, and all should go see it. I so very much want to see it! Maybe this week. Can't wait.
I just watched the trailer for the 5th Harry Potter (known as OOTP in some circles--Order of the Phoenix), and man I'm excited to see it. I so very much need to read those books. Hey, so if I get Christmas money (and I know I will), should I feel guilty for spending it on something fun, say, the set of Harry Potter books in paperback, which I can get for about $50 or something like that? I feel like I should save every penny I earn (yet, I don't quite), but if it's a Christmas gift, I'm allowed to spend it on something I want, right? And not save it for something like tuition or school books? But anyway. Fun times. Good trailer. Looking forward to the movie (but sad I won't get to see it with my favorite obsessed-with-Harry-Potter person, Bethany. Unless I somehow manage to be in Pittsburgh on July 13...).
So, apparently babies conceived through IVF are overall less healthy than babies conceived naturally. Just goes to show that the Catholic Church isn't just trying to oppress people and keep them from being happy; it's actually concerned for those who might be created through this procedure. Not to mention those who are created and then die because of the low success rate, or those who are selectively killed because too many were created at once...
All righty, well...guess I should go do something else. Tomorrow I'm hopefully (finally) gonna go to campus and return those library books, and hopefully pick up my history paper...and I'm assuming I won't get a ticket, seeing as how my permit is no longer good but also that school's not in session and thus the students who go around giving tickets aren't there...
Anyhoo...yep.
Keep hearing from more and more people and places that The Pursuit of Happyness is a great movie, and all should go see it. I so very much want to see it! Maybe this week. Can't wait.
I just watched the trailer for the 5th Harry Potter (known as OOTP in some circles--Order of the Phoenix), and man I'm excited to see it. I so very much need to read those books. Hey, so if I get Christmas money (and I know I will), should I feel guilty for spending it on something fun, say, the set of Harry Potter books in paperback, which I can get for about $50 or something like that? I feel like I should save every penny I earn (yet, I don't quite), but if it's a Christmas gift, I'm allowed to spend it on something I want, right? And not save it for something like tuition or school books? But anyway. Fun times. Good trailer. Looking forward to the movie (but sad I won't get to see it with my favorite obsessed-with-Harry-Potter person, Bethany. Unless I somehow manage to be in Pittsburgh on July 13...).
So, apparently babies conceived through IVF are overall less healthy than babies conceived naturally. Just goes to show that the Catholic Church isn't just trying to oppress people and keep them from being happy; it's actually concerned for those who might be created through this procedure. Not to mention those who are created and then die because of the low success rate, or those who are selectively killed because too many were created at once...
All righty, well...guess I should go do something else. Tomorrow I'm hopefully (finally) gonna go to campus and return those library books, and hopefully pick up my history paper...and I'm assuming I won't get a ticket, seeing as how my permit is no longer good but also that school's not in session and thus the students who go around giving tickets aren't there...
Anyhoo...yep.
Sunday, December 17, 2006
Memories of Books
Today, I keep getting these urges to read books I loved when I was a kid. First it started with wanting to read the Boxcar Children books. Out of nowhere, I had this thought. And then I just came across something that made me think of the books about The Littles, of which I read a few. Quite enjoyable. And then I thought about the Bobbsey Twins books. Those were fun. And the Mandie books, which I absolutely loved and devoured every one that I could. In a reading sense, of course. Books don't taste very good. Man, those were some good times. Oh, and then there were the Happy Hollister books, which are older and which I got from my aunt. Those were good too. Interesting, it seems that a lot of books I read when I was younger were like "mystery" books, where the kids would solve whatever the mystery du jour was. And yet, I'm so not into mystery books now. Possibly because I don't ever even attempt them, so I might like them and just don't know it, or possibly because adult mystery books are just so much more dark and such than kids mystery books. Now that I think about it, I think my first official chapter book that I read, or that I owned perhaps, was a mystery book. Something about a missing faberge egg at a museum or something. Interesting. But man, I did love those Mandie books. I had forgotten about them until just now. Those things rocked. Haha I just discovered that there's a "college years" book from that series. It's been so long since I've read any of them, and I'm sure I never read all of them although I don't know when the last of the original series was written, but it might be fun to check that out sometime...Man, how I used to love to read. Quite my favorite thing to do. Fun times.
Off campus
You know, the thing that concerns me the most about having to live off campus is, well a few things I guess. Firstly, I think, is the fact that I'm worried it'll end up ostracizing me from my friends, simply because of the logistics. I could theoretically just hang out in their rooms all the time, and just go back to my apartment or whatever when I need to sleep and such, but I don't know how much they'd appreciate that. And it's not like I can just come over for a quick thing if I'm trekking from my apartment to Cavanaugh or something. It's a lot easier if I'm on campus to do that. Not to mention the fact that I don't relish the idea of having to walk all the way to wherever I'm going to live, late at night by myself. I am afraid of the dark, after all. Haha. Sigh. I don't know. And I miss the dining hall. I don't want to have to make my own food. I can get a meal plan with like 8 meals or something and some flex points, and I'd definitely do that if I'm off campus, but...man I just want to be in a dorm. Oh well. What happens, happens, and I'll just have to make the best out of it.
Saturday, December 16, 2006
I think I might knit myself a shawl. I found some patterns online that look promising. We shall see...Now that I'm more comfortable with some other stitches besides simply knit or purl, I can do so much more! Yay! Are shawls too old lady-ish? Hm.
I'm really...let's say concerned. No news on the housing front, which to me means bad things. Namely, the fact that I don't know where I'm going to live, made more complicated by the fact that I won't have a car which kind of limits where I can logically get a room. Still holding on to that modicum of hope that I'll somehow, miraculously, get a room on campus. Sigh. Anyone want to pray? I mean, I can always go the Rudy-route if nothing else seems to work out, or perhaps I could just live in the basement of Lafortune (or Cavanaugh, for that matter). Or the box dumpster outside of Lafun.
Apparently it might snow sometime in the next week. That's exciting. It'd be even more exciting if it snows 9 days from now--and continues for a good 24 hours. ha, snow 24 hours straight in Colorado? Yeah, good luck with that Susie.
I got a paycheck today. It's over $200! But the exciting thing is my next paycheck, in two weeks, is about $450 before taxes! That's very exciting for this penniless girl. Even if it is the result of two weeks of over 30 hours of work.
We put up the Christmas tree last night/tonight/tomorrow. Ok, I guess I shouldn't say "we" as I helped not at all. The other day, we got the platform for the train and such put in the living room (which required moving around some furniture--which I did help with a little bit), and last night Dad put the tree into the tree stand, and tonight when I got home from work he had already put on a lot of the lights. And then tonight he got the train on the track and made sure it worked and all (it does!) and we now have even more Christmas decorations than ever before since we got a lot of stuff from Grandpop's house. Including the train. And also including a beautiful nativity set. So that's pretty cool. But it's lovely being able to catch whiffs of the Christmas tree every now and again, even sitting in the family room when the tree's in the living room. Love it.
So for the past week or less, I've noticed this tightness thing on the back of my head, on the left side, a little above the hairline. It's annoying.
I really want to see The Pursuit of Happyness. (Did I say that yesterday? Well, it's true if I did.) I've only heard good things. Looks to be a good one.
Know what's bizarre? Having the exact taste of a real pumpkin pie in the form of a Dairy Queen ice cream Blizzard. It's really weird. But I got to try it today because they were handing out little cups of samples of them at the food court. Twas interesting.
Hm. I just found this website with a list of celebrities who died in 2006, or I guess it's "notable deaths," not just celebrities, and one of the people who died this year was the last remaining survivor of the Titanic who remembered its sinking. Interesting. Sad.
Colt snores. Ever so lightly, but when all's quiet, I can hear that little tiny wheeze. It's so cute.
Oh my gosh. This trailer for Sound of Music (which is on TV next Saturday night, and I can't wait!) is HILARIOUS. Every once in awhile I find something that really makes me laugh, and this is it for this week I guess. haha. funny stuff. I especially like the end.
I got a craving to go to the beach the other day. Odd, because I'm not much of a beach person. But who doesn't like that smell, and at least walking at the water's edge with your feet getting wet? Squishing your toes in the sand, feeling the water suck the sand out from under your feet...Good times.
I am such a selfish person. It's more than annoying.
Sleep calls...
I'm really...let's say concerned. No news on the housing front, which to me means bad things. Namely, the fact that I don't know where I'm going to live, made more complicated by the fact that I won't have a car which kind of limits where I can logically get a room. Still holding on to that modicum of hope that I'll somehow, miraculously, get a room on campus. Sigh. Anyone want to pray? I mean, I can always go the Rudy-route if nothing else seems to work out, or perhaps I could just live in the basement of Lafortune (or Cavanaugh, for that matter). Or the box dumpster outside of Lafun.
Apparently it might snow sometime in the next week. That's exciting. It'd be even more exciting if it snows 9 days from now--and continues for a good 24 hours. ha, snow 24 hours straight in Colorado? Yeah, good luck with that Susie.
I got a paycheck today. It's over $200! But the exciting thing is my next paycheck, in two weeks, is about $450 before taxes! That's very exciting for this penniless girl. Even if it is the result of two weeks of over 30 hours of work.
We put up the Christmas tree last night/tonight/tomorrow. Ok, I guess I shouldn't say "we" as I helped not at all. The other day, we got the platform for the train and such put in the living room (which required moving around some furniture--which I did help with a little bit), and last night Dad put the tree into the tree stand, and tonight when I got home from work he had already put on a lot of the lights. And then tonight he got the train on the track and made sure it worked and all (it does!) and we now have even more Christmas decorations than ever before since we got a lot of stuff from Grandpop's house. Including the train. And also including a beautiful nativity set. So that's pretty cool. But it's lovely being able to catch whiffs of the Christmas tree every now and again, even sitting in the family room when the tree's in the living room. Love it.
So for the past week or less, I've noticed this tightness thing on the back of my head, on the left side, a little above the hairline. It's annoying.
I really want to see The Pursuit of Happyness. (Did I say that yesterday? Well, it's true if I did.) I've only heard good things. Looks to be a good one.
Know what's bizarre? Having the exact taste of a real pumpkin pie in the form of a Dairy Queen ice cream Blizzard. It's really weird. But I got to try it today because they were handing out little cups of samples of them at the food court. Twas interesting.
Hm. I just found this website with a list of celebrities who died in 2006, or I guess it's "notable deaths," not just celebrities, and one of the people who died this year was the last remaining survivor of the Titanic who remembered its sinking. Interesting. Sad.
Colt snores. Ever so lightly, but when all's quiet, I can hear that little tiny wheeze. It's so cute.
Oh my gosh. This trailer for Sound of Music (which is on TV next Saturday night, and I can't wait!) is HILARIOUS. Every once in awhile I find something that really makes me laugh, and this is it for this week I guess. haha. funny stuff. I especially like the end.
I got a craving to go to the beach the other day. Odd, because I'm not much of a beach person. But who doesn't like that smell, and at least walking at the water's edge with your feet getting wet? Squishing your toes in the sand, feeling the water suck the sand out from under your feet...Good times.
I am such a selfish person. It's more than annoying.
Sleep calls...
Friday, December 15, 2006
Hehe
So know how yesterday's was my 300th post? I was thinking about it today, and how it was probably almost exactly four months so I went back and checked, and indeed my first post was August 14th. So technically that's four months before today, but still, close enough. (And then there were two or three random posts from April or something, which I'm kind of ignoring, even though they do factor into the 300 posts number. But anyway.)
I put in my two weeks today. Or, attempted to anyway. He didn't seem thrilled when I told him, "You know the last week you have scheduled so far? [The week of/after Christmas.] I need that to be the last week I'm scheduled." He told me to write it down, I guess to formalize it, and he just seemed less than thrilled about it. (Or perhaps I was just sensitive to it because I felt guilty for some reason.) So then he asked me if I could do like twelve hours or so the week after (so like the week starting with New Years Eve). I so don't want to, but I feel so guilty about it all. Argh. And that pisses me off. I want at least two weeks where I can just be, and relax. It's frustrating. I mean, 12 hours really isn't much, but the fact that I'll still have to work that week will mess with my mindset. It's irritating. I kind of want just to tell Michael that "something came up" and I can't work that last week. Stupid job. Stupid stupidness.
I want to know about housing! I have absolutely no idea what the heck I'm going to do. No idea.
I found out something interesting today. Potentially exciting, but also potentially completely unimportant.
Ugh I have to work from 10-6:30 tomorrow. From about 3 until I left at 5:30 today, it was slooooooooooow. And from 4-5:30, there were three of us. Standing there. Doing nothing. But on the bright side, I bought two pairs of slipper socks at Kmart on my break. And they're exciting.
I need to go to bed.
| You Are a Tree |
 You love every part of the holidays, down to the candy canes and stockings. And you're goofy enough to put a Christmas tree ornament on your tree! |
I put in my two weeks today. Or, attempted to anyway. He didn't seem thrilled when I told him, "You know the last week you have scheduled so far? [The week of/after Christmas.] I need that to be the last week I'm scheduled." He told me to write it down, I guess to formalize it, and he just seemed less than thrilled about it. (Or perhaps I was just sensitive to it because I felt guilty for some reason.) So then he asked me if I could do like twelve hours or so the week after (so like the week starting with New Years Eve). I so don't want to, but I feel so guilty about it all. Argh. And that pisses me off. I want at least two weeks where I can just be, and relax. It's frustrating. I mean, 12 hours really isn't much, but the fact that I'll still have to work that week will mess with my mindset. It's irritating. I kind of want just to tell Michael that "something came up" and I can't work that last week. Stupid job. Stupid stupidness.
I want to know about housing! I have absolutely no idea what the heck I'm going to do. No idea.
I found out something interesting today. Potentially exciting, but also potentially completely unimportant.
Ugh I have to work from 10-6:30 tomorrow. From about 3 until I left at 5:30 today, it was slooooooooooow. And from 4-5:30, there were three of us. Standing there. Doing nothing. But on the bright side, I bought two pairs of slipper socks at Kmart on my break. And they're exciting.
I need to go to bed.
Thursday, December 14, 2006
Big news, y'all
This is my 300th post on blogger. Which means that, in about four months, I managed to write 300 posts. Approximately 2.5 per day. Interesting. Of course, certain days (such as my 21 post filled birthday) skew the whole thing, but yeah. Anyway. Just thought I'd alert the masses.
Conan O'Brien just mentioned Yukon Cornelius on his show during the monologue. That makes me happy. (Oh, and apparently it turns out that Yukon is not searching for either silver or gold, but actually peppermint. I've watched that movie lots of times, and have never noticed that. Of course, it does say that that is revealed at the end of the "original," so maybe what I've always seen isn't the "original." Either way though. Haha and he calls the abominable snowman a "Bumble" because he can't pronounce "abominable." That's fun. Man I have to watch that movie again soon.)
So I just had a pretty major and heated argument tonight. Unfortunately, it was one that I was incapable of winning, because it was with my computer. The stupid thing wouldn't respond to my power cord, and I got very frustrated with it (or possibly with the power cord), but since I couldn't really do anything to the power cord besides throw it to the ground fruitlessly, I decided to take it out on my computer. I was so tempted just to smash the thing down on the ground, but I'm not that crazy. I just kind of shook it or whatever, but it was enough to make the darn thing mad enough at me to stop talking to me. In other words, it stopped responding to anything--the keypad thing, even doing the control alt delete thing. So I just turned it off and walked away for a little while, then went back to it. I didn't really want to get online or anything, I just hated the thought of not being able to. So I turned it back on, but the power cord still wasn't doing anything and the battery was a minute or less probably away from running out completely. So I unplugged the power cord from the extension cord it was plugged into, and plugged it directly into the wall outlet (and this was after disconnecting and reconnecting the two parts of the power cord from each other, and the power cord from the extension cord, and the extension cord from the wall). That seemed to do the trick, finally. So now, being slightly more lucid, I'm wondering if the problem has been that extension cord. (In which case I'd feel a bit like an idiot, but hey, what else is new?) I guess I'll just have to wait awhile and see if the same things start happening with the power cord plugged in directly to the wall.
Wow what a boring thing that was.
Know what's funny? Next week, or starting Friday I guess, we're open 8am-10pm every day until Christmas Eve, when we're open 7am-6pm. Or maybe it's 8-6. But anyway. So, while I got lucky this week and don't have to do any closing shifts, other than this past Sunday, next week I'm not so lucky. I'm closing on Sunday (yes, by choice since I originally was closing Wednesday) and then...Thursday or Friday. Now, we're also having to open next week (we being sales associates), when normally we don't have to be in until late morning or early afternoon. I guess Michael has more hours next week, and people are thinking that shoppers will actually go and buy leather next week (ha, good luck with that). So here's the fun part. Sunday night I close. And if I'm lucky, I'll have to stay until midnight as we're going to have to be switching the store around. (And obviously, that lucky thing is sarcastic.) And then the next morning, I get to come in at 8:30am! Yay! The same thing happens the next time I close, which I think is Friday night. Saturday morning I have to come in at 8 or 8:30, I forget which. So that's pretty awesome, no? Sigh. I'm putting in my two weeks tomorrow, in case anyone was curious. Hopefully I don't get crap for it. Eh, what's he gonna do? So yeah. Oh well. I am kind of excited, I'll admit, about two weeks each with about 32 hours. Well, I'm excited about the money part of it.
Speaking of work (kind of), I'm trying to figure out if I'll be able to wake up in time to leave here about half an hour earlier than I would otherwise, in order to stop by school to drop off those books I have and to see if my history paper is graded. And possibly to get Starbucks on the way. There's a drive through Starbucks that's right on my way to work...although now that I think about it, it's technically not on the way if I'm coming from school...anyway though. I realized today, though, that I've only gone to Starbucks once since their holiday flavors have been out (really, only once since August), and I want to go again before their holiday flavors go away. Mmm gingerbread latte...and peppermint hot chocolate...mmmmm. But yeah. I don't know. This morning I barely made it out of bed in time to take a shower and whatnot. I haven't been very good with my alarm...s...lately. Like, I'll wake up when my phone alarm goes off, and get out of bed to pick it up, hit snooze, and then lay back in bed with it somewhere near my head so that I can easily hit snooze the next time it goes off...and the time after that...etc. And my alarm clock alarm, which is currently just music, doesn't really do much to make me want to get out of bed either. My problem is that I set the alarms earlier than they need to be, so I know that I can just hit snooze a few times. If I set it to when I absolutely needed to get up, I don't think I'd have that problem. So perhaps I should try that out...
Someone should buy me an assorted variety of petits fours from Hickory Farms or Swiss Colony or something. I would be your friend forever if you did.
Horror movies are stupid. I want to see The Pursuit of Happyness. Will Smith rocks, and the previews for it look so good. I also do kind of want to see The Holiday, despite some less than wonderful aspects of it. I think I'm going to see it once the foursome is back together, whenever that happens. (That would be Kaleena, Lauren, Kristina, and I, by the way. Last time I saw Kaleena and Kristina together, over Thanksgiving break, we decided we were going to see it together. Whether or not that'll still happen is up for grabs, but hopefully.) Know what I realized today? Perhaps part of the reason that I balk at spending $5 or more on a meal at a restaurant or fast food place or whatever is because that's almost an hour's worth of work for me. People who make more money won't necessarily see it that way. And it just hit me that going to a movie is an hour (technically more) of work for me. Sad. Oh well.
So the "Christmas" CD we have at work sucks. Know why? Because there's only a few normal Christmas songs, a lot of weird random ones, and a lot of remakes that are not only crappy remakes but like upbeat "dance remix" type remakes. The "trendy, hip" type music that lots of stores play, which I personally dislike. So it sucks being stuck listening to it all day long. But there's a few really weird choices of songs on that CD. I'd say the oddest, or at least one of them, is Madonna's "Holiday." I am sorry, but there is no way that that can be considered a Christmas song. Geez. Everytime I hear it, I just want to go and smash that whole CD to pieces. I'd much rather listen to the normal Christmas music that's on inside the mall. Sometimes whoever opens forgets to turn it on, and those days are nice. But anyway. I just can't believe they'd put Madonna's Holiday on a Christmas CD. I mean, I can't take that song seriously anyway, ever since seeing the Wedding Singer, but yeah. Not Christmas music at all.
I'm in love with my new moisturizer. I'm pretty sure I've used it before, but it's pretty awesome. Although I'm slightly concerned...I just looked in my purse for the small bottle I bought (along with two pump bottles) to carry along wherever, and it's not in there. I think it fell out in my car today though, driving from work to Katie's when everyone stopped on my side of the road because an ambulance was coming the other direction...and this is a road that has a divider between the two sides (which means that you don't have to stop if the ambulance is on the other side of the road, as far as I understand it). Anyway, because everyone on my side decided to stop for this ambulance, I almost ended up rear-ending the guy in front of me. So my purse kind of almost went flying, as it was sitting on the passenger side seat when I had to hit the breaks, and it was open. So hopefully that's where the moisturizer is. I'll be sad if it's not. But at the same time, it only cost me like a buck or so, so I guess it won't break the bank to buy a new one. But anyway, back to that, after only using it two days now, my hands look so much nicer than they have. I don't know if it's just because it happened to coincide with the ebb and flow of the dryness of my hands or whatnot, or if it's actually made a difference. I'm just going to say it's the latter, because I want to. It's good stuff, whatever the reason.
You know, I feel kind of anti-social or like people are going to think I'm bitchy or something when I don't hold hands at the Our Father. And yet, despite this, I feel so much better when I don't. I've really never liked doing it, especially when it required me to hold hands with some stranger across the aisle or whatnot, and so I like not doing it now. And even though I'm one of a very few, if there are any others, I'm glad I do it. Or, I guess, don't do it.
After a couple hours with this new plug-in arrangement, no problems or flashy-ness or anything like that. Problem solved, perhaps.
Ok so I've been thinking about something. Until October, I worked with someone who grew up in an apparently strict conservative Baptist household, and apparently her brother recently got a girl pregnant. The person I worked with was upset with her parents, because apparently all they did was tell him not to have sex--but they didn't tell him what to do if he did have sex. (In other words, use condoms or whatever.) And, now, I understand her point, but I just can't make it compute well in my head. I just don't get the insistance by so many people to teach kids what to do "in case" they can't control themselves. Like, on the one hand I understand it, but on the other hand...it's giving them an escape clause. Kind of like saying "Well, don't do this, but everyone really knows that you won't be able to help yourselves--wink wink--so here's what to do when (not if) you find yourself in that situation." I don't know.
Still no word yet on housing. I'm thinking I'm not going to get on campus. Which means, I guess, that I'm going to have to find and rent a room sight-unseen, somehow. Kind of troublesome, but that's what I get. Still praying that I'll get on campus, because I just think it'll be more convenient in almost all respects. But, what happens will happen.
Know what makes me laugh? When people find it necessary to slow down--to below the speed limit--just because there is one of those things that tell you how fast you're going as you pass. Not a cop car, not someone clocking, but a simple sign telling you how fast you're going. It's not going to give you a ticket if you're going over. (And neither would a cop if you're only going like five over, yet people still find it necessary to slow down to five below--or even less--when there's a cop around.)
Know what? I've probably had maybe one whole cup of coffee (but perhaps closer to just a half a cup) in the past week or two. I just don't drink it much anymore. Partially because, if I have coffee in the morning, I tend to need to eat something first or else I get the urge to throw up (and occasionally actually have). And even when I do drink it, it seems that almost always I can't even finish a cup. I think my stomach just doesn't want to tolerate coffee much anymore. Now, lattes (regarding my Starbucks comment) are different. Lots less coffee in those, I guess, so it doesn't bother me as much. I like my coffee though. :-(
Oh my gosh, you know what's so sad? Peter Boyle died today. Or yesterday. But yeah. It's really sad. (He played Frank Barone on Everybody Loves Raymond, as well as Frankenstein in Young Frankenstein, and other stuff as well. Oh, and how could I forget While You Were Sleeping? He was so funny in that!) I don't know. Apparently he's had some problems and such, heart disease and some form of cancer, but still, it's really sad. I guess it's because a lot of older actors who die are people I haven't really seen much in recent years or whatever, people who had fallen away from the limelight and whatnot. But I watch Everybody Loves Raymond fairly often (or did until recently), and it's just...sad. But I guess we all have to go sometime.
Well, I guess there's not much else to say.
Conan O'Brien just mentioned Yukon Cornelius on his show during the monologue. That makes me happy. (Oh, and apparently it turns out that Yukon is not searching for either silver or gold, but actually peppermint. I've watched that movie lots of times, and have never noticed that. Of course, it does say that that is revealed at the end of the "original," so maybe what I've always seen isn't the "original." Either way though. Haha and he calls the abominable snowman a "Bumble" because he can't pronounce "abominable." That's fun. Man I have to watch that movie again soon.)
So I just had a pretty major and heated argument tonight. Unfortunately, it was one that I was incapable of winning, because it was with my computer. The stupid thing wouldn't respond to my power cord, and I got very frustrated with it (or possibly with the power cord), but since I couldn't really do anything to the power cord besides throw it to the ground fruitlessly, I decided to take it out on my computer. I was so tempted just to smash the thing down on the ground, but I'm not that crazy. I just kind of shook it or whatever, but it was enough to make the darn thing mad enough at me to stop talking to me. In other words, it stopped responding to anything--the keypad thing, even doing the control alt delete thing. So I just turned it off and walked away for a little while, then went back to it. I didn't really want to get online or anything, I just hated the thought of not being able to. So I turned it back on, but the power cord still wasn't doing anything and the battery was a minute or less probably away from running out completely. So I unplugged the power cord from the extension cord it was plugged into, and plugged it directly into the wall outlet (and this was after disconnecting and reconnecting the two parts of the power cord from each other, and the power cord from the extension cord, and the extension cord from the wall). That seemed to do the trick, finally. So now, being slightly more lucid, I'm wondering if the problem has been that extension cord. (In which case I'd feel a bit like an idiot, but hey, what else is new?) I guess I'll just have to wait awhile and see if the same things start happening with the power cord plugged in directly to the wall.
Wow what a boring thing that was.
Know what's funny? Next week, or starting Friday I guess, we're open 8am-10pm every day until Christmas Eve, when we're open 7am-6pm. Or maybe it's 8-6. But anyway. So, while I got lucky this week and don't have to do any closing shifts, other than this past Sunday, next week I'm not so lucky. I'm closing on Sunday (yes, by choice since I originally was closing Wednesday) and then...Thursday or Friday. Now, we're also having to open next week (we being sales associates), when normally we don't have to be in until late morning or early afternoon. I guess Michael has more hours next week, and people are thinking that shoppers will actually go and buy leather next week (ha, good luck with that). So here's the fun part. Sunday night I close. And if I'm lucky, I'll have to stay until midnight as we're going to have to be switching the store around. (And obviously, that lucky thing is sarcastic.) And then the next morning, I get to come in at 8:30am! Yay! The same thing happens the next time I close, which I think is Friday night. Saturday morning I have to come in at 8 or 8:30, I forget which. So that's pretty awesome, no? Sigh. I'm putting in my two weeks tomorrow, in case anyone was curious. Hopefully I don't get crap for it. Eh, what's he gonna do? So yeah. Oh well. I am kind of excited, I'll admit, about two weeks each with about 32 hours. Well, I'm excited about the money part of it.
Speaking of work (kind of), I'm trying to figure out if I'll be able to wake up in time to leave here about half an hour earlier than I would otherwise, in order to stop by school to drop off those books I have and to see if my history paper is graded. And possibly to get Starbucks on the way. There's a drive through Starbucks that's right on my way to work...although now that I think about it, it's technically not on the way if I'm coming from school...anyway though. I realized today, though, that I've only gone to Starbucks once since their holiday flavors have been out (really, only once since August), and I want to go again before their holiday flavors go away. Mmm gingerbread latte...and peppermint hot chocolate...mmmmm. But yeah. I don't know. This morning I barely made it out of bed in time to take a shower and whatnot. I haven't been very good with my alarm...s...lately. Like, I'll wake up when my phone alarm goes off, and get out of bed to pick it up, hit snooze, and then lay back in bed with it somewhere near my head so that I can easily hit snooze the next time it goes off...and the time after that...etc. And my alarm clock alarm, which is currently just music, doesn't really do much to make me want to get out of bed either. My problem is that I set the alarms earlier than they need to be, so I know that I can just hit snooze a few times. If I set it to when I absolutely needed to get up, I don't think I'd have that problem. So perhaps I should try that out...
Someone should buy me an assorted variety of petits fours from Hickory Farms or Swiss Colony or something. I would be your friend forever if you did.
Horror movies are stupid. I want to see The Pursuit of Happyness. Will Smith rocks, and the previews for it look so good. I also do kind of want to see The Holiday, despite some less than wonderful aspects of it. I think I'm going to see it once the foursome is back together, whenever that happens. (That would be Kaleena, Lauren, Kristina, and I, by the way. Last time I saw Kaleena and Kristina together, over Thanksgiving break, we decided we were going to see it together. Whether or not that'll still happen is up for grabs, but hopefully.) Know what I realized today? Perhaps part of the reason that I balk at spending $5 or more on a meal at a restaurant or fast food place or whatever is because that's almost an hour's worth of work for me. People who make more money won't necessarily see it that way. And it just hit me that going to a movie is an hour (technically more) of work for me. Sad. Oh well.
So the "Christmas" CD we have at work sucks. Know why? Because there's only a few normal Christmas songs, a lot of weird random ones, and a lot of remakes that are not only crappy remakes but like upbeat "dance remix" type remakes. The "trendy, hip" type music that lots of stores play, which I personally dislike. So it sucks being stuck listening to it all day long. But there's a few really weird choices of songs on that CD. I'd say the oddest, or at least one of them, is Madonna's "Holiday." I am sorry, but there is no way that that can be considered a Christmas song. Geez. Everytime I hear it, I just want to go and smash that whole CD to pieces. I'd much rather listen to the normal Christmas music that's on inside the mall. Sometimes whoever opens forgets to turn it on, and those days are nice. But anyway. I just can't believe they'd put Madonna's Holiday on a Christmas CD. I mean, I can't take that song seriously anyway, ever since seeing the Wedding Singer, but yeah. Not Christmas music at all.
I'm in love with my new moisturizer. I'm pretty sure I've used it before, but it's pretty awesome. Although I'm slightly concerned...I just looked in my purse for the small bottle I bought (along with two pump bottles) to carry along wherever, and it's not in there. I think it fell out in my car today though, driving from work to Katie's when everyone stopped on my side of the road because an ambulance was coming the other direction...and this is a road that has a divider between the two sides (which means that you don't have to stop if the ambulance is on the other side of the road, as far as I understand it). Anyway, because everyone on my side decided to stop for this ambulance, I almost ended up rear-ending the guy in front of me. So my purse kind of almost went flying, as it was sitting on the passenger side seat when I had to hit the breaks, and it was open. So hopefully that's where the moisturizer is. I'll be sad if it's not. But at the same time, it only cost me like a buck or so, so I guess it won't break the bank to buy a new one. But anyway, back to that, after only using it two days now, my hands look so much nicer than they have. I don't know if it's just because it happened to coincide with the ebb and flow of the dryness of my hands or whatnot, or if it's actually made a difference. I'm just going to say it's the latter, because I want to. It's good stuff, whatever the reason.
You know, I feel kind of anti-social or like people are going to think I'm bitchy or something when I don't hold hands at the Our Father. And yet, despite this, I feel so much better when I don't. I've really never liked doing it, especially when it required me to hold hands with some stranger across the aisle or whatnot, and so I like not doing it now. And even though I'm one of a very few, if there are any others, I'm glad I do it. Or, I guess, don't do it.
After a couple hours with this new plug-in arrangement, no problems or flashy-ness or anything like that. Problem solved, perhaps.
Ok so I've been thinking about something. Until October, I worked with someone who grew up in an apparently strict conservative Baptist household, and apparently her brother recently got a girl pregnant. The person I worked with was upset with her parents, because apparently all they did was tell him not to have sex--but they didn't tell him what to do if he did have sex. (In other words, use condoms or whatever.) And, now, I understand her point, but I just can't make it compute well in my head. I just don't get the insistance by so many people to teach kids what to do "in case" they can't control themselves. Like, on the one hand I understand it, but on the other hand...it's giving them an escape clause. Kind of like saying "Well, don't do this, but everyone really knows that you won't be able to help yourselves--wink wink--so here's what to do when (not if) you find yourself in that situation." I don't know.
Still no word yet on housing. I'm thinking I'm not going to get on campus. Which means, I guess, that I'm going to have to find and rent a room sight-unseen, somehow. Kind of troublesome, but that's what I get. Still praying that I'll get on campus, because I just think it'll be more convenient in almost all respects. But, what happens will happen.
Know what makes me laugh? When people find it necessary to slow down--to below the speed limit--just because there is one of those things that tell you how fast you're going as you pass. Not a cop car, not someone clocking, but a simple sign telling you how fast you're going. It's not going to give you a ticket if you're going over. (And neither would a cop if you're only going like five over, yet people still find it necessary to slow down to five below--or even less--when there's a cop around.)
Know what? I've probably had maybe one whole cup of coffee (but perhaps closer to just a half a cup) in the past week or two. I just don't drink it much anymore. Partially because, if I have coffee in the morning, I tend to need to eat something first or else I get the urge to throw up (and occasionally actually have). And even when I do drink it, it seems that almost always I can't even finish a cup. I think my stomach just doesn't want to tolerate coffee much anymore. Now, lattes (regarding my Starbucks comment) are different. Lots less coffee in those, I guess, so it doesn't bother me as much. I like my coffee though. :-(
Oh my gosh, you know what's so sad? Peter Boyle died today. Or yesterday. But yeah. It's really sad. (He played Frank Barone on Everybody Loves Raymond, as well as Frankenstein in Young Frankenstein, and other stuff as well. Oh, and how could I forget While You Were Sleeping? He was so funny in that!) I don't know. Apparently he's had some problems and such, heart disease and some form of cancer, but still, it's really sad. I guess it's because a lot of older actors who die are people I haven't really seen much in recent years or whatever, people who had fallen away from the limelight and whatnot. But I watch Everybody Loves Raymond fairly often (or did until recently), and it's just...sad. But I guess we all have to go sometime.
Well, I guess there's not much else to say.
Wednesday, December 13, 2006
Well darnit
I had this probably long post written that I forgot to hit "publish", and then I hit the button on my computer to make it go to standby as I always do at night (doing this effectively has the computer off, but I still have up whatever windows I was looking at or whatnot). For some reason, my computer decided to restart itself instead of going to standby, and I realized I had forgotten to finish the post right as the restart happened, as soon as I noticed it wasn't doing its normal standby thing. So that kinda sucks. But then, who really wants to read my ramblings anyway? I don't even remember what I talked about. I know there was something about how the temps are in the 50s this week, and how weird it was to hear a weatherman describe one upcoming day as being chilly or cold or something when it's still going to be in the 40s (not very chilly in my opinion), and how I have yet to break out the winter coat. And then there was something about my occasional OCD messing with my ability to knit tonight, which may be because the pattern is more difficult than others I've done, and I much prefer it when I can do it almost mindlessly and not have to think about each specific stitch or anything. And I want to get a cable needle so I can start doing cool cable patterns eventually.
And I mentioned the fact that I took my last final today (my only real final), and it went ok, except I didn't read the instructions very well and ended up making more work for myself. We had to translate a story from Latin to English, and she had underlined maybe 10 or 15 words in the story, of which we were apparently supposed to choose 5 and then depending on what type of word it was, describe each one (different case forms of it, or different gender forms of it, or different parts of it). I missed the "pick 5" part and didn't realize that until I had done most of them, albeit not well on a few. So yeah. Oh well. Was going to return some books I got at the school library, and had put them in a plastic bag to take with me to my final and then take them back after, but when I left my house, I grabbed a plastic bag next to the one with the books, one that had moisturizer I bought yesterday. So now I have to go back to campus sometime this week to return those books. And check to see if my history paper is graded yet. And perhaps my philo paper.
I think those were the most interesting things I wrote about. What a boring life I lead. Oh no I remember one/two other things!!! Ok first, How the Grinch Stole Christmas was on tonight, for its 40th anniversary, and so they played the cartoon and then did a half hour behind the scenes/making of type deal. And Dad and I discovered something (actually before they got to it in the second half of the hour, but then they discussed it there as well)--the guy who sings "You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch" (who, by the way, wasn't credited in the movie--an oversight by whoever did the credits) was the same guy who voiced Tony the Tiger. We thought that was pretty cool. And then after that was over I put in Home Alone, and you know the part where the older brother is first talking about their creepy neighbor guy, and he asks them if they've ever heard of some slayer guy? Well, the name he says is "South Bend Shovel Slayer." I'd never noticed that before, and it was kinda cool. Well, I mean, not really I guess since it is a slayer, but it's a movie and not real so it is. haha. Yeah.
Tonight I discovered something. I should go with my instincts more often. There's a present I want to get someone, and I thought of it probably around Thanksgiving or so, at least a good two weeks ago, but I wanted to ask someone's opinion first and just never remembered to do it until tonight. Well, now the thing I want to get probably won't be get-able in time for Christmas. So I dunno. The person whose opinion I wanted said that it was a great excellent idea for this person. So...we'll see.
Hm well I guess that's good enough. I think that was most of it anyway. Eh. Whatever. (I am slightly concerned about my computer's kookiness of late, or at least today--earlier tonight, the battery was low and the power cord had been plugged in, but then the computer stopped responding to the power cord or something and I couldn't get it to work, and then without warning the computer screen went blank and then acted like it was on standby mode, but then when I tried to turn it on again it just stopped being anything, but then the power cord started being recognized again and I could turn on my computer again--but it had basically restart itself. It was weird. Sometimes when the battery runs out, the computer just goes into hibernation and I don't lose anything/it's not like it restarts. But sometimes it does basically restart. It's very odd. I hope nothing real is wrong with my computer. I would probably go a little crazy. Man I really need to back up all my stuff on here, specifically pictures and music. Really really really. Christmas break project, I think.)
And I mentioned the fact that I took my last final today (my only real final), and it went ok, except I didn't read the instructions very well and ended up making more work for myself. We had to translate a story from Latin to English, and she had underlined maybe 10 or 15 words in the story, of which we were apparently supposed to choose 5 and then depending on what type of word it was, describe each one (different case forms of it, or different gender forms of it, or different parts of it). I missed the "pick 5" part and didn't realize that until I had done most of them, albeit not well on a few. So yeah. Oh well. Was going to return some books I got at the school library, and had put them in a plastic bag to take with me to my final and then take them back after, but when I left my house, I grabbed a plastic bag next to the one with the books, one that had moisturizer I bought yesterday. So now I have to go back to campus sometime this week to return those books. And check to see if my history paper is graded yet. And perhaps my philo paper.
I think those were the most interesting things I wrote about. What a boring life I lead. Oh no I remember one/two other things!!! Ok first, How the Grinch Stole Christmas was on tonight, for its 40th anniversary, and so they played the cartoon and then did a half hour behind the scenes/making of type deal. And Dad and I discovered something (actually before they got to it in the second half of the hour, but then they discussed it there as well)--the guy who sings "You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch" (who, by the way, wasn't credited in the movie--an oversight by whoever did the credits) was the same guy who voiced Tony the Tiger. We thought that was pretty cool. And then after that was over I put in Home Alone, and you know the part where the older brother is first talking about their creepy neighbor guy, and he asks them if they've ever heard of some slayer guy? Well, the name he says is "South Bend Shovel Slayer." I'd never noticed that before, and it was kinda cool. Well, I mean, not really I guess since it is a slayer, but it's a movie and not real so it is. haha. Yeah.
Tonight I discovered something. I should go with my instincts more often. There's a present I want to get someone, and I thought of it probably around Thanksgiving or so, at least a good two weeks ago, but I wanted to ask someone's opinion first and just never remembered to do it until tonight. Well, now the thing I want to get probably won't be get-able in time for Christmas. So I dunno. The person whose opinion I wanted said that it was a great excellent idea for this person. So...we'll see.
Hm well I guess that's good enough. I think that was most of it anyway. Eh. Whatever. (I am slightly concerned about my computer's kookiness of late, or at least today--earlier tonight, the battery was low and the power cord had been plugged in, but then the computer stopped responding to the power cord or something and I couldn't get it to work, and then without warning the computer screen went blank and then acted like it was on standby mode, but then when I tried to turn it on again it just stopped being anything, but then the power cord started being recognized again and I could turn on my computer again--but it had basically restart itself. It was weird. Sometimes when the battery runs out, the computer just goes into hibernation and I don't lose anything/it's not like it restarts. But sometimes it does basically restart. It's very odd. I hope nothing real is wrong with my computer. I would probably go a little crazy. Man I really need to back up all my stuff on here, specifically pictures and music. Really really really. Christmas break project, I think.)
Tuesday, December 12, 2006
Yay Grammar!!!
Your Language Arts Grade: 100%
Way to go! You know not to trust the MS Grammar Check and you know "no" from "know." Now, go forth and spread the good word (or at least, the proper use of apostrophes).
Are You Gooder at Grammar?
Make a Quiz
Know one of the reasons I greatly enjoy the nd football message board I frequent? (Aside from the obvious, of course.) All the posters are quite intent on keeping it free of internet-speak (ugh, all those stupid abbreviations and whatnot, and the "how r u doing" stuff that takes me forever to figure out exactly what it means...), and many point out common grammar mistakes when people make them. Ok on second glance that sounds kind of mean, but it always makes me laugh when people will respond to the title of a post containing a grammar mistake (usually a misuse of apostrophe, a "whose" mixed up with "who's", or a their/there/they're mistake) with another post where the title will kind of sarcastically play on the mistake. Ok that didn't make any sense. But anyway, it makes me laugh, and it's so nice where a bunch of people specifically work to make sure people at least attempt to be grammatically correct. Me likeses grammar. (Correct grammar, of course.)
I must have missed one. :-(
Your Christmas lights are glowing 98%.
Awesome! Your Christmas tree lights up the whole room! You are a true lover of all things Christmas, and a joy for those around you!
Christmas Trivia
Make Your Own Quiz
I know which one I missed, too. (I went back and changed it, and then I was at 100%. But I won't cheat and put that result on here, as I did look it up to see. But the one I missed I was pretty sure I had put the wrong answer to begin with. Had I thought it through better I probably would have gotten it. Oh well though.) S'all good. I like Christmas. :-)
Monday, December 11, 2006
Yet another random conglomeration of Susie thoughts
Know what word I really like? Laud, or laudable, or any variant of those. Perhaps because one of my favorite church songs ("All Glory, Laud, and Honor") contains that word, or perhaps because it's directly from a wonderful Latin verb (laudare--sorry, can't quite do a macron with this keyboard). Either way, and for whatever reason, I quite enjoy it. And I felt like sharing.
The stupid stupid Chapel Hills mall (no matter how much I may want to, I can't even blame this on the Wilsons Leather company itself) has started their stupid stupid holiday hours. We've been doing staying later on weekends, and opening an hour earlier during the weekdays, since after Thanksgiving, but starting this week, we're open 8am-10pm every day. Thus, last night I was at the mall until 10. And from 6, maybe 7 or a little later, the mall was effectively dead. Earlier in the day, when people had asked how late we were open, we would tell them 10pm, and they'd be very surprised and say, "Really? That late? Dillards closes at 8." (The department stores get to pick their own hours and aren't subject to the "hail to the almighty dollar at whatever cost, even if it costs more money to stay open the extra hours than we'll be making during that time" that the rest of us minions who work in the mall are.) It definitely cost us more to stay open last night than we took in. I mean, when I got there at 4 yesterday, there was over $2000 in so far. Brenda and Kim both had over $1000. I got there at 4, Michael got there at 5:30, and by the time we closed last night, him and I had made, together, much less than half of what Brenda and Kim made together earlier in the day. Now, this can be partially attributed to the fact that we've decided I'm bad luck, and business slows down the minute I walk in the door, but still. Seriously, who thinks to go to the mall at 8 or 9 on a Sunday night? Probably very few, as most malls aren't stupid enough to be open then. Ridiculous. Citadel doesn't even have those hours. It was depressing driving home, seeing everything closed--even gas stations, realizing that most of them had probably closed long before we did. Ah well.
Know what's even more fun than staying until 10pm on a Sunday? Staying until midnight on a Sunday. Which is what I'll be doing next week. Apparently the company has decided it's important to do another VMU change, which means we have to switch stuff around in the store, which is just a waste of time as it confuses us and confuses people who were in "last week and was looking at this jacket, but it was over here and now it's not." And since we're open 8-10, we either have to do it before we open (I was almost going to have to come in at 5am next Sunday, since Cassy--who's scheduled for the opening shift--isn't 18 yet and thus by law can't come in before 7, apparently, but then Michael decided just to have us do it after we close. Which still sucks. Not sure which one's worse) or after we close. As Michael has elected for the latter (not that he's going to be doing it), we may get lucky and be dead again like we were last night and thus not have to stay that much longer after close. But who knows. If they make it a big change, it'll obviously take longer. Ridiculous. That I can definitely pin on the stupid company. Oh well. I guess I can always just look at it as an extra two hours for next week, unless Michael cuts two hours somewhere else on my schedule. Who knows.
Ok enough about work. Although I haven't done much else the past few days so I have very little to talk about. Unless I complain about my much-too-progressive-for-my-liking church. Man, you have no idea how much I wish we had a Holy Ghost church in Colorado Springs. Or that I could make myself go up there every week. I only went once, but I seriously fell in love with it. Ah well. Oh my gosh. I just went to their website, and looked at their Christmas Mass schedule. Firstly, they have a real literal Midnight Mass (our "midnight" Mass is at 10:30), and the music is the Coronation Mass by Mozart. Apparently doors open at 11, and they're singing carols at 11:30pm. (I would assume they're more of the traditional Catholic, or at least Christian, themed carols and less of the "Jingle Bells," "Deck the Halls," and "Santa Claus is Comin' to Town" variety. But I'll admit, I could easily be wrong about this.) Man. How awesome would that be? Dang now I really want to go to that. Not sure how I could make it work though. Why, oh why is it so far away? (Yeah, Denver's not really that far away, but still. It's not exactly just down the street either. Unless by "street" you mean "I-25.") Darn me and my love for traditional Catholic Masses. Oooh St Mary's in Littleton is having some sort of a Christmas concert on the 15th. "Festive Christmas carols performed in 18th century costumes." Dude that'd be sweet! Unfortunately, I have to work until 6:30 this Friday, so it'd be tough to make it by 7:30. Alas. Man. Oh well.
Anne of Green Gables (and the Sequel) just plain rocks. Ok, I know they don't exactly follow the books, especially as they get farther along (and the third one they made in 2000, like ten years plus after the sequel was made, just blows the whole storyline of the books), but I haven't read the books. (horror of horrors, I know. I really should.) But man, I could watch those two all the time. I probably watch them a good two or three times a year, typically in 20 minute spurts (before bed, that type of thing). They just make me so very happy. Of course, the VHS tapes that they're on are quite old, and I think I'm wearing them out. One of these days I'll get the DVDs. I've been meaning to for a year or two now. Oh well.
(I think I end a lot of thoughts and paragraphs with "oh well." Let's see. This post: 2 of 5 are "oh well"s, and one is "ah well", and one is "who knows"--another favorite of mine. Weird.)
Know what's funny? I have a final tomorrow, and I have studied not at all. But that's because it's Latin and I am having a hard time getting myself to spend time studying for a final for a class in which I have over 100%. I would have to forget completely every single thing I've learned this semester to do badly enough to get a B, I think. I suppose it's possible, but in order for me to forget that much, I would probably have forgotten that I had a final in the first place, or maybe who I was, or something along those lines. Plus, my teacher likes me (I'm sure mostly because I do well on tests and stuff, and I'm sure not because of my likeable personality--I don't have much of a personality at all in my classes). So anyway. I guess I'll study tomorrow before the final, and then curse myself during the final for not studying more, but in the end it matters not. Because this class won't matter at all, even if I can get credit for two classes I took this semester, since I'm taking Latin I again next semester. Anyway. (That's another common ending to my paragraphs, isn't it? Man am I boring.)
Every once in awhile, my firefox randomly seems to change the font of the webpages I go to. Perhaps not all webpages, but a large number. And my email and stuff. It's weird. The first day or two after it randomly changes, it might bug me a bit, but then I get used to it and forget until it randomly changes again. Who knows. (It just did that a few minutes ago, in case you were wondering.)
I read this blurb thing today about how Kirstie Alley makes guys she dates wait six months before she'll have sex with them. The thing I read about it actually used the phrase "chastity vow" as if waiting a WHOLE SIX MONTHS might as well be six hundred years. And it even quoted her as saying something about how she takes sex seriously. Yeah. I think people need to look up the definition of chastity ("abstention from unlawful sexual intercourse; abstention from all sexual intercourse; purity in conduct and intention"), and the definition of taking sex seriously. Geez. And the other weird thing is the fact that she has this "chastity vow" of six whole months is actually news in Hollywood. I guess in a society where it's become odd if you don't have sex with the first week of dating someone, or certainly within the first month, six months might as well be a lifetime commitment. Sad.
So there's this Christmas song I really like. Well, actually, I don't like the song that much really, but I love this one particular version. It's Jingle Bells, by the A-Strings. It's a very country-hoe-down type version, and I love it. Unfortunately, the one CD that it's on is a Christmas compilation of songs I'm not particularly fond of and/or artists I've never heard of and don't enjoy (when I listen to the samples on like amazon or whatever). BUT. I did a google search the other day to see if I could download just that one song or something, and I can on walmart.com for 88cents! I think I might just download it. I've never done that before, though, so I don't even really know how it works. Luckily I think it said it goes to windows media, so I don't have to worry about doing it through itunes (which I technically have but don't use). Perhaps I will download it one of these days.
Less than 2 weeks til Christmas now. And soon, friends will be returning from school, and a grand time will be had by all. Hopefully. Or at least a few fun-filled nights spent at Village Inn.
The stupid stupid Chapel Hills mall (no matter how much I may want to, I can't even blame this on the Wilsons Leather company itself) has started their stupid stupid holiday hours. We've been doing staying later on weekends, and opening an hour earlier during the weekdays, since after Thanksgiving, but starting this week, we're open 8am-10pm every day. Thus, last night I was at the mall until 10. And from 6, maybe 7 or a little later, the mall was effectively dead. Earlier in the day, when people had asked how late we were open, we would tell them 10pm, and they'd be very surprised and say, "Really? That late? Dillards closes at 8." (The department stores get to pick their own hours and aren't subject to the "hail to the almighty dollar at whatever cost, even if it costs more money to stay open the extra hours than we'll be making during that time" that the rest of us minions who work in the mall are.) It definitely cost us more to stay open last night than we took in. I mean, when I got there at 4 yesterday, there was over $2000 in so far. Brenda and Kim both had over $1000. I got there at 4, Michael got there at 5:30, and by the time we closed last night, him and I had made, together, much less than half of what Brenda and Kim made together earlier in the day. Now, this can be partially attributed to the fact that we've decided I'm bad luck, and business slows down the minute I walk in the door, but still. Seriously, who thinks to go to the mall at 8 or 9 on a Sunday night? Probably very few, as most malls aren't stupid enough to be open then. Ridiculous. Citadel doesn't even have those hours. It was depressing driving home, seeing everything closed--even gas stations, realizing that most of them had probably closed long before we did. Ah well.
Know what's even more fun than staying until 10pm on a Sunday? Staying until midnight on a Sunday. Which is what I'll be doing next week. Apparently the company has decided it's important to do another VMU change, which means we have to switch stuff around in the store, which is just a waste of time as it confuses us and confuses people who were in "last week and was looking at this jacket, but it was over here and now it's not." And since we're open 8-10, we either have to do it before we open (I was almost going to have to come in at 5am next Sunday, since Cassy--who's scheduled for the opening shift--isn't 18 yet and thus by law can't come in before 7, apparently, but then Michael decided just to have us do it after we close. Which still sucks. Not sure which one's worse) or after we close. As Michael has elected for the latter (not that he's going to be doing it), we may get lucky and be dead again like we were last night and thus not have to stay that much longer after close. But who knows. If they make it a big change, it'll obviously take longer. Ridiculous. That I can definitely pin on the stupid company. Oh well. I guess I can always just look at it as an extra two hours for next week, unless Michael cuts two hours somewhere else on my schedule. Who knows.
Ok enough about work. Although I haven't done much else the past few days so I have very little to talk about. Unless I complain about my much-too-progressive-for-my-liking church. Man, you have no idea how much I wish we had a Holy Ghost church in Colorado Springs. Or that I could make myself go up there every week. I only went once, but I seriously fell in love with it. Ah well. Oh my gosh. I just went to their website, and looked at their Christmas Mass schedule. Firstly, they have a real literal Midnight Mass (our "midnight" Mass is at 10:30), and the music is the Coronation Mass by Mozart. Apparently doors open at 11, and they're singing carols at 11:30pm. (I would assume they're more of the traditional Catholic, or at least Christian, themed carols and less of the "Jingle Bells," "Deck the Halls," and "Santa Claus is Comin' to Town" variety. But I'll admit, I could easily be wrong about this.) Man. How awesome would that be? Dang now I really want to go to that. Not sure how I could make it work though. Why, oh why is it so far away? (Yeah, Denver's not really that far away, but still. It's not exactly just down the street either. Unless by "street" you mean "I-25.") Darn me and my love for traditional Catholic Masses. Oooh St Mary's in Littleton is having some sort of a Christmas concert on the 15th. "Festive Christmas carols performed in 18th century costumes." Dude that'd be sweet! Unfortunately, I have to work until 6:30 this Friday, so it'd be tough to make it by 7:30. Alas. Man. Oh well.
Anne of Green Gables (and the Sequel) just plain rocks. Ok, I know they don't exactly follow the books, especially as they get farther along (and the third one they made in 2000, like ten years plus after the sequel was made, just blows the whole storyline of the books), but I haven't read the books. (horror of horrors, I know. I really should.) But man, I could watch those two all the time. I probably watch them a good two or three times a year, typically in 20 minute spurts (before bed, that type of thing). They just make me so very happy. Of course, the VHS tapes that they're on are quite old, and I think I'm wearing them out. One of these days I'll get the DVDs. I've been meaning to for a year or two now. Oh well.
(I think I end a lot of thoughts and paragraphs with "oh well." Let's see. This post: 2 of 5 are "oh well"s, and one is "ah well", and one is "who knows"--another favorite of mine. Weird.)
Know what's funny? I have a final tomorrow, and I have studied not at all. But that's because it's Latin and I am having a hard time getting myself to spend time studying for a final for a class in which I have over 100%. I would have to forget completely every single thing I've learned this semester to do badly enough to get a B, I think. I suppose it's possible, but in order for me to forget that much, I would probably have forgotten that I had a final in the first place, or maybe who I was, or something along those lines. Plus, my teacher likes me (I'm sure mostly because I do well on tests and stuff, and I'm sure not because of my likeable personality--I don't have much of a personality at all in my classes). So anyway. I guess I'll study tomorrow before the final, and then curse myself during the final for not studying more, but in the end it matters not. Because this class won't matter at all, even if I can get credit for two classes I took this semester, since I'm taking Latin I again next semester. Anyway. (That's another common ending to my paragraphs, isn't it? Man am I boring.)
Every once in awhile, my firefox randomly seems to change the font of the webpages I go to. Perhaps not all webpages, but a large number. And my email and stuff. It's weird. The first day or two after it randomly changes, it might bug me a bit, but then I get used to it and forget until it randomly changes again. Who knows. (It just did that a few minutes ago, in case you were wondering.)
I read this blurb thing today about how Kirstie Alley makes guys she dates wait six months before she'll have sex with them. The thing I read about it actually used the phrase "chastity vow" as if waiting a WHOLE SIX MONTHS might as well be six hundred years. And it even quoted her as saying something about how she takes sex seriously. Yeah. I think people need to look up the definition of chastity ("abstention from unlawful sexual intercourse; abstention from all sexual intercourse; purity in conduct and intention"), and the definition of taking sex seriously. Geez. And the other weird thing is the fact that she has this "chastity vow" of six whole months is actually news in Hollywood. I guess in a society where it's become odd if you don't have sex with the first week of dating someone, or certainly within the first month, six months might as well be a lifetime commitment. Sad.
So there's this Christmas song I really like. Well, actually, I don't like the song that much really, but I love this one particular version. It's Jingle Bells, by the A-Strings. It's a very country-hoe-down type version, and I love it. Unfortunately, the one CD that it's on is a Christmas compilation of songs I'm not particularly fond of and/or artists I've never heard of and don't enjoy (when I listen to the samples on like amazon or whatever). BUT. I did a google search the other day to see if I could download just that one song or something, and I can on walmart.com for 88cents! I think I might just download it. I've never done that before, though, so I don't even really know how it works. Luckily I think it said it goes to windows media, so I don't have to worry about doing it through itunes (which I technically have but don't use). Perhaps I will download it one of these days.
Less than 2 weeks til Christmas now. And soon, friends will be returning from school, and a grand time will be had by all. Hopefully. Or at least a few fun-filled nights spent at Village Inn.
Oh man
Bad idea=reading a bunch of posts in a Colorado Springs livejournal community that centers around ordering pizza, especially when hungry.
Man. I could eat Papa Johns/Louies pizza all day every day for at least a week, maybe a month. And I'd be happy as a clam. Fat, and probably reallllly unhealthy, but happy as a clam. Dang I'm hungry. And we have no good food in this house. Oh, Mom went food shopping while I was at work, perhaps she got some good yummy food. I must go check.
Man. I could eat Papa Johns/Louies pizza all day every day for at least a week, maybe a month. And I'd be happy as a clam. Fat, and probably reallllly unhealthy, but happy as a clam. Dang I'm hungry. And we have no good food in this house. Oh, Mom went food shopping while I was at work, perhaps she got some good yummy food. I must go check.
Sunday, December 10, 2006
Awww
(By the way, I guess I'm not going to manage getting my 300th post here on New Years, as that would only be six more after this one. And let's face it, I can barely do a week with only six posts, let alone 21 more days.)
This is a nice article about Charlie Brown Christmas, which apparently almost didn't air.
I'm so glad it did.
This is a nice article about Charlie Brown Christmas, which apparently almost didn't air.
I'm so glad it did.
So, the song "Mad World" by Tears for Fears is one I seem to hear on like every TV drama I watch. It's interesting. Ok I just googled it (after googling a line to see what it was called), and apparently the version I know is probably a cover by Gary Jules and Michael Andrews. Neither of whom I've heard of. But apparently it was for Donnie Darko (a movie I am not fond of), and their version was a 2003 Christmas number one single in the UK. Those crazy Brits, what kind of a Christmas song is that? Psh. Try "Christmas is All Around Us" by...um...that dude in Love Actually whose fake name is escaping me (the guy who plays him is Bill Nighy or something like that). Billy Mack. Anyway though. It's apparently been used in episodes of CSI, Cold Case, Smallville, Judging Amy, Third Watch, and ER, and "several episodes in the fall 2006 season of Without a Trace." Which is what I was watching tonight when I heard it. So I would guess I've probably heard it on CSI, ER, and at least one of the episodes of Without a Trace (but probably more, as I do watch it occasionally). Anyway. I'm sure this has been fascinating to you all. But I for one am happy that I was able to find, and rather quickly, a list of TV shows it's been in. Sometimes the Internet rocks. (And sometimes it doesn't.) In this case it was Wikipedia, which--much as it is maligned by many--does seem to be fairly useful for at least getting some basic information on things.
I'm wondering if I need to get a new power cord for my laptop or something. It seems to be very sensitive and disconnects really easily. It's not really a problem, just more of an inconvenience. Although I'm sure it wouldn't be as much of one if it were just on a desk or something, and not on my lap, so I'll probably end up just leaving it. Besides, I don't know if that's just something that's normal anyway, as it might just be. But today it is doing this weird flashy thing every once in awhile where it's like the computer isn't sure if it's hooked up to the power cord or not (because when it is, the screen is brighter, so it'll flash bright and not until I push it in again to steady it or whatever). Oh well.
I watched While You Were Sleeping today. That's always a fun movie. The characters are so funny, like the family and whatnot. Good times.
Oh, completely unrelated to anything (but then I guess that's what my posts always are...), I meant to post this a couple days ago. In Thursday's Latin class, my teacher wanted to show us a clip from Monty Python's Life of Brian, a part where a guy paints on a wall in Rome or somewhere "Romans Go Home" but then some guy catches him and corrects his Latin, as he wrote it in Latin, and makes him paint it 100 times before morning or something. Pretty funny for what it was. But that's not what I wanted to share. While looking for the scene in which this happened, my teacher went to the scene selection thing and picked the one she thought it was. Well, turns out it's a scene that starts out with a naked guy, and a few seconds later, a nice full-frontal. (I say nice in a...is it sarcastic?...way.) We were like, ooookay. I've never seen that movie, so needless to say I was quite caught off guard (and don't worry, my prudish self turned away as soon as I saw that it was quite a full frontal. hehe). but it was kind of humorous, especially considering my teacher (who I really do enjoy, she's a fun German woman, probably in her mid 50s or 60s, and yeah. She and my history teacher are two reasons I would ever consider staying at UCCS. Both are quite enjoyable).
Kind of side note--two things actually. I wasn't sure if "prudish" was spelled with two d's or just one, so i went to dictionary.com (a site I frequent often, as I must make sure things are spelled correctly, dontcha know) to look it up, and then I was thinking, man I wonder if I can add them to my list of search engines on my toolbar. Tom showed me a couple weeks ago how to add imdb, and I had forgotten about it until like today, and it's nice. Sure, it's not that hard to go to the site and then do a search, but it's even easier this way. But alas, the only thing dictionary.com has is a toolbar, which could be nice, but it says you have to use internet explorer. No thanks. So then I went to the "more engines" option under the ones I already have, to see if they have a dictionary one, and they do, for Merriam-Webster. So I added it. (Dude! They have a weather.com one too! sweeeet.) And then I discovered the other thing. According to them, the true definition of a prude is originally for women, those who "show or affect extreme modesty." Guess guys can't be prudes. (Of course, in all reality, I doubt many guys would be prudes anyway. You know, love of "carnal pleasures" and all that. Ok I'm kinda kidding, I know all guys aren't like that. But it does seem that a lot more girls get called prudes than guys. Could just be the people I know, too. Who knows. More importantly, who cares? It's getting to be too late and I'm rambling. What else is new.
Know what would be amazing? (Especially given the current 10 day projected forecast around here.) Getting snow on or around Christmas. Never fails here in Colorado--snow (or at least very very cold) on Halloween, ridiculously, annoyingly sunny and mild on Christmas. Well, I say it's time for a change. Let's hope the weather is with me...(yeah, good luck Susie.) Hey, what's life without a few unrealistic dreams, huh?
I'm wondering if I need to get a new power cord for my laptop or something. It seems to be very sensitive and disconnects really easily. It's not really a problem, just more of an inconvenience. Although I'm sure it wouldn't be as much of one if it were just on a desk or something, and not on my lap, so I'll probably end up just leaving it. Besides, I don't know if that's just something that's normal anyway, as it might just be. But today it is doing this weird flashy thing every once in awhile where it's like the computer isn't sure if it's hooked up to the power cord or not (because when it is, the screen is brighter, so it'll flash bright and not until I push it in again to steady it or whatever). Oh well.
I watched While You Were Sleeping today. That's always a fun movie. The characters are so funny, like the family and whatnot. Good times.
Oh, completely unrelated to anything (but then I guess that's what my posts always are...), I meant to post this a couple days ago. In Thursday's Latin class, my teacher wanted to show us a clip from Monty Python's Life of Brian, a part where a guy paints on a wall in Rome or somewhere "Romans Go Home" but then some guy catches him and corrects his Latin, as he wrote it in Latin, and makes him paint it 100 times before morning or something. Pretty funny for what it was. But that's not what I wanted to share. While looking for the scene in which this happened, my teacher went to the scene selection thing and picked the one she thought it was. Well, turns out it's a scene that starts out with a naked guy, and a few seconds later, a nice full-frontal. (I say nice in a...is it sarcastic?...way.) We were like, ooookay. I've never seen that movie, so needless to say I was quite caught off guard (and don't worry, my prudish self turned away as soon as I saw that it was quite a full frontal. hehe). but it was kind of humorous, especially considering my teacher (who I really do enjoy, she's a fun German woman, probably in her mid 50s or 60s, and yeah. She and my history teacher are two reasons I would ever consider staying at UCCS. Both are quite enjoyable).
Kind of side note--two things actually. I wasn't sure if "prudish" was spelled with two d's or just one, so i went to dictionary.com (a site I frequent often, as I must make sure things are spelled correctly, dontcha know) to look it up, and then I was thinking, man I wonder if I can add them to my list of search engines on my toolbar. Tom showed me a couple weeks ago how to add imdb, and I had forgotten about it until like today, and it's nice. Sure, it's not that hard to go to the site and then do a search, but it's even easier this way. But alas, the only thing dictionary.com has is a toolbar, which could be nice, but it says you have to use internet explorer. No thanks. So then I went to the "more engines" option under the ones I already have, to see if they have a dictionary one, and they do, for Merriam-Webster. So I added it. (Dude! They have a weather.com one too! sweeeet.) And then I discovered the other thing. According to them, the true definition of a prude is originally for women, those who "show or affect extreme modesty." Guess guys can't be prudes. (Of course, in all reality, I doubt many guys would be prudes anyway. You know, love of "carnal pleasures" and all that. Ok I'm kinda kidding, I know all guys aren't like that. But it does seem that a lot more girls get called prudes than guys. Could just be the people I know, too. Who knows. More importantly, who cares? It's getting to be too late and I'm rambling. What else is new.
Know what would be amazing? (Especially given the current 10 day projected forecast around here.) Getting snow on or around Christmas. Never fails here in Colorado--snow (or at least very very cold) on Halloween, ridiculously, annoyingly sunny and mild on Christmas. Well, I say it's time for a change. Let's hope the weather is with me...(yeah, good luck Susie.) Hey, what's life without a few unrealistic dreams, huh?
Saturday, December 09, 2006
Yesterday I guessed that, unless I got some gas in my car ASAP today, it would run out while I was driving somewhere. I've been putting off getting gas (the other day I put in about $6 worth because I wanted to see if I could get it cheaper, but I didn't want to run out in the meantime. I'm so cheap) because I wanted to go to the place I normally go, where it's typically a good 3-5 cents cheaper than other places. However, I haven't made it over there between getting those few gallons and now. So last night when I was driving home, I was accelerating on Academy when my car stopped responding for a few seconds, like it's done before. So at first I almost freaked out, thinking it was going to stop then and there, but then it started responding again. Basically it was my car's way of telling me "Better fill me up soon or I'll make you regret it!" It does that when I'm getting close to the end of the tank. So today I was going to Michaels, which is basically just down the hill, and I was like "eh screw it, I'm just going to get gas there and be done with it" because there's a gas station in the same shopping center as Michaels. It's $2.15, but I decided spending an extra dollar or two wouldn't kill me. Good thing, too, because as I turned left into the shopping center, my car started doing that sputtering thing again. Luckily the gas station is the first thing on the right, right after the turn into the center, so I was fine. And it all worked out. And I've decided just not to let my gage go much past the quarter tank left line. Much less stress for Susie.
People often disappoint me. Is it because I expect too much from them, or because no one's dependable anymore? Either way, it's frustrating. Even if it's through no real fault of their own. man I'm a horrible person.
I just saw my computer on a commercial for "fewer periods." Ugh. I can't believe women actually buy into that stuff. Haven't people heard all the ways your body gets messed up if you try to suppress what it's naturally supposed to do? Especially with hormones.
I am an uber-negative person. I don't like it, but I'm not entirely sure how to change it. I think I'm going to try, though.
So...here's something fun. Jason is the cutest little boy ever. The other day he was over here, and I was trying to show him how to do somersaults a couple weeks ago (he laughed and liked it when I did one), and so the other day Dad was taking him, getting him to bend down, and then kind of flipping him over, and Jason would laugh, get up, and make Dad do it again. Eventually would bend over himself, waiting for Dad to complete the flip. He's so funny. And whenever we tell him to do something he doesn't want to do, he makes this noise in the back of his throat that he's heard like Cathy and Bobby do when they're annoyed or whatever, and actually lots of people do it I think. But it's just so funny to hear him do that. Hehe. Makes me laugh every time. He's such a fun little boy.
People often disappoint me. Is it because I expect too much from them, or because no one's dependable anymore? Either way, it's frustrating. Even if it's through no real fault of their own. man I'm a horrible person.
I just saw my computer on a commercial for "fewer periods." Ugh. I can't believe women actually buy into that stuff. Haven't people heard all the ways your body gets messed up if you try to suppress what it's naturally supposed to do? Especially with hormones.
I am an uber-negative person. I don't like it, but I'm not entirely sure how to change it. I think I'm going to try, though.
So...here's something fun. Jason is the cutest little boy ever. The other day he was over here, and I was trying to show him how to do somersaults a couple weeks ago (he laughed and liked it when I did one), and so the other day Dad was taking him, getting him to bend down, and then kind of flipping him over, and Jason would laugh, get up, and make Dad do it again. Eventually would bend over himself, waiting for Dad to complete the flip. He's so funny. And whenever we tell him to do something he doesn't want to do, he makes this noise in the back of his throat that he's heard like Cathy and Bobby do when they're annoyed or whatever, and actually lots of people do it I think. But it's just so funny to hear him do that. Hehe. Makes me laugh every time. He's such a fun little boy.
This one has more questions!
Ok, so I did one of these a few days ago, but this one has some different questions (and some of the same). Hey, it's not like I really have anything better [that I want] to do.
1. Wrapping paper or gift bags?
Opening wrapped presents is better. And wrapping them is fun too.
2. Real tree or artificial?
Real. Always.
3. When do you put up the tree?
When we get around to it. We've had the tree for almost two weeks, and have yet to get it up. Hopefully within the next week though. Although I think in years past, it was after I got home from school, which would theoretically be like next weekend...hm.
4. How do you decorate your Christmas tree?
With ornaments and lights and garland and such. This year we'll have a little Christmas village (complete with train) under the tree.
5. When do you take the tree down?
After Epiphany some time. I don't think we had taken it down yet when I went back to school last year...
6. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate?
Like I said before, putting them together sounds delish.
7. Favorite gift received as a child?
Hm...Probably the first Ann Rinaldi book my grandparents got me, which (I think) was the one they even got signed by her.
8. Favorite holiday memory as a child?
That time I asked for, and eventually got, a Red Ryder BB gun. Oh wait...Maybe it was the time I got picked to direct the Christmas play and then everyone got mad at me for picking out a real tree instead of an aluminum one...oh yeah. Hm.
9. Do you have a nativity scene?
We do, yes.
10. Hardest person to buy for?
I have a hard time buying for anyone. But possibly my dad. Or my brother-in-law.
11. Easiest person to buy for?
This year my nephew might be, since you can get a toddler almost anything and he'll like it for a little while at least. Although I still don't know what I'm getting him...Mom's typically pretty easy too, even though I have a suspicion that she always hates what I get her but because she's my mom she pretends to love it.
12. Worst Christmas gift you ever received?
I don't really know, but the weirdest one (and yet the most fun to tell people about) would have to be the nose flute my memere got me years ago. Man that thing rocks. I wish I knew where it was now...in a trunk somewhere I think...
13. Mail or email Christmas cards?
Mail is so much better. For pretty much any card. (Unless maybe it's just a random thinking about you one or something.)
14. Favorite Christmas Movie?
It's a Wonderful Life
15. When do you start shopping for Christmas?
Christmas Eve. Haha just kidding. Technically this year, it was in like September, but that was kind of just a random purchase to put aside. Realistically it's more like December sometime.
16. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present?
Hm...I don't think so.
17. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas?
Food. Mmmmm. Ooooh I know! The petit fours we get from Hickory Farms that my grandpop sends us. I hope he sends them this year again. Those things are SO GOOD.
18. What is your favorite holiday dish (excluding dessert)?
Turkey with razzleberry gravy. (Which apparently is a real thing. Or at least razzleberry dressing is.)
19. Clear lights or colored on the tree?
Colored, hands down.
20. Favorite Christmas song?
O Holy Night. The Celtic Woman version has vaulted to the top of my favorite versions of that song. Don't think it's passed Josh Groban, but it's up there.
21. Travel at Christmas or stay home?
I like staying home, but it would be nice to be able to see extended family at Christmas, like we've done a few times since moving out here. More stressful, but yeah.
22. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer?
Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner, Blitzen, and of course...Rudolph.
23. Angel on the tree top or a star?
Angel
24. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning?
It's kind of fun to open one on Christmas Eve, but typically morning. (It's more fun to do the Christmas Eve thing when you're a kid and thus have more presents to pick out of. At least, that's the way it was when I was younger.)
25. Most annoying thing about this time of year?
Colorado weather being all 40s and sunny. Psh. Oh, and the stupid people at the mall and such.
26. Does Santa wrap presents or just place them under the tree?
Presents from Santa are always wrapped. Now, the way we heard it in my family was that he gave the presents to my parents to wrap/label. hehe.
27. Do you hang mistletoe?
I think we've only ever had this really fake doesn't-even-look-real "mistletoe". Which we do hang up, I think.
28. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa?
Not a clue.
29. Snow...Love it or Dread it?
Love love LOVE!!!
30. Can you ice skate? Have you ever fallen on the ice?
Haven't skated in well over ten years, probably, and I'm sure the few times before that when I did skate, I fell. Don't thing it's logical that I didn't.
31. What's the most important thing about the holidays for you?
Family and such.
32. What is your favorite holiday tradition?
We don't really have a lot, but I do enjoy going to Mass on Christmas Eve night with the family, and occasionally driving around looking at Christmas lights. One year we did this thing where we only used candles the night of Christmas Eve (I think), and that was pretty fun.
33. Which do you prefer giving or receiving?
I suppose I'll say giving, provided I don't suck at finding the right gift (which is pretty hit or miss for me. Not sure why I have trouble with that).
34. Candy Canes---Yuck or Yum?
Yum. Especially fruit-flavored ones.
35. Favorite Christmas "cartoon" to watch?
Charlie Brown Christmas (see below...)
36. Do you know the real meaning of Christmas?
Of course. Here it is.
1. Wrapping paper or gift bags?
Opening wrapped presents is better. And wrapping them is fun too.
2. Real tree or artificial?
Real. Always.
3. When do you put up the tree?
When we get around to it. We've had the tree for almost two weeks, and have yet to get it up. Hopefully within the next week though. Although I think in years past, it was after I got home from school, which would theoretically be like next weekend...hm.
4. How do you decorate your Christmas tree?
With ornaments and lights and garland and such. This year we'll have a little Christmas village (complete with train) under the tree.
5. When do you take the tree down?
After Epiphany some time. I don't think we had taken it down yet when I went back to school last year...
6. Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate?
Like I said before, putting them together sounds delish.
7. Favorite gift received as a child?
Hm...Probably the first Ann Rinaldi book my grandparents got me, which (I think) was the one they even got signed by her.
8. Favorite holiday memory as a child?
That time I asked for, and eventually got, a Red Ryder BB gun. Oh wait...Maybe it was the time I got picked to direct the Christmas play and then everyone got mad at me for picking out a real tree instead of an aluminum one...oh yeah. Hm.
9. Do you have a nativity scene?
We do, yes.
10. Hardest person to buy for?
I have a hard time buying for anyone. But possibly my dad. Or my brother-in-law.
11. Easiest person to buy for?
This year my nephew might be, since you can get a toddler almost anything and he'll like it for a little while at least. Although I still don't know what I'm getting him...Mom's typically pretty easy too, even though I have a suspicion that she always hates what I get her but because she's my mom she pretends to love it.
12. Worst Christmas gift you ever received?
I don't really know, but the weirdest one (and yet the most fun to tell people about) would have to be the nose flute my memere got me years ago. Man that thing rocks. I wish I knew where it was now...in a trunk somewhere I think...
13. Mail or email Christmas cards?
Mail is so much better. For pretty much any card. (Unless maybe it's just a random thinking about you one or something.)
14. Favorite Christmas Movie?
It's a Wonderful Life
15. When do you start shopping for Christmas?
Christmas Eve. Haha just kidding. Technically this year, it was in like September, but that was kind of just a random purchase to put aside. Realistically it's more like December sometime.
16. Have you ever recycled a Christmas present?
Hm...I don't think so.
17. Favorite thing to eat at Christmas?
Food. Mmmmm. Ooooh I know! The petit fours we get from Hickory Farms that my grandpop sends us. I hope he sends them this year again. Those things are SO GOOD.
18. What is your favorite holiday dish (excluding dessert)?
Turkey with razzleberry gravy. (Which apparently is a real thing. Or at least razzleberry dressing is.)
19. Clear lights or colored on the tree?
Colored, hands down.
20. Favorite Christmas song?
O Holy Night. The Celtic Woman version has vaulted to the top of my favorite versions of that song. Don't think it's passed Josh Groban, but it's up there.
21. Travel at Christmas or stay home?
I like staying home, but it would be nice to be able to see extended family at Christmas, like we've done a few times since moving out here. More stressful, but yeah.
22. Can you name all of Santa's reindeer?
Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner, Blitzen, and of course...Rudolph.
23. Angel on the tree top or a star?
Angel
24. Open the presents Christmas Eve or morning?
It's kind of fun to open one on Christmas Eve, but typically morning. (It's more fun to do the Christmas Eve thing when you're a kid and thus have more presents to pick out of. At least, that's the way it was when I was younger.)
25. Most annoying thing about this time of year?
Colorado weather being all 40s and sunny. Psh. Oh, and the stupid people at the mall and such.
26. Does Santa wrap presents or just place them under the tree?
Presents from Santa are always wrapped. Now, the way we heard it in my family was that he gave the presents to my parents to wrap/label. hehe.
27. Do you hang mistletoe?
I think we've only ever had this really fake doesn't-even-look-real "mistletoe". Which we do hang up, I think.
28. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa?
Not a clue.
29. Snow...Love it or Dread it?
Love love LOVE!!!
30. Can you ice skate? Have you ever fallen on the ice?
Haven't skated in well over ten years, probably, and I'm sure the few times before that when I did skate, I fell. Don't thing it's logical that I didn't.
31. What's the most important thing about the holidays for you?
Family and such.
32. What is your favorite holiday tradition?
We don't really have a lot, but I do enjoy going to Mass on Christmas Eve night with the family, and occasionally driving around looking at Christmas lights. One year we did this thing where we only used candles the night of Christmas Eve (I think), and that was pretty fun.
33. Which do you prefer giving or receiving?
I suppose I'll say giving, provided I don't suck at finding the right gift (which is pretty hit or miss for me. Not sure why I have trouble with that).
34. Candy Canes---Yuck or Yum?
Yum. Especially fruit-flavored ones.
35. Favorite Christmas "cartoon" to watch?
Charlie Brown Christmas (see below...)
36. Do you know the real meaning of Christmas?
Of course. Here it is.
Boo too Firefox
Man, I had this probably way too long post written up and I was almost done, and then I tried to play a music clip of something and all my Firefox pages went to "Not Responding." So I had to close them all. Sigh. And I lost my post, obviously. So I guess here's the gist (jist? i should know this one):
I want a donut so very badly. I'm glad we don't have any, or even really any sweet junk food. So bad, but tastes SO GOOD.
Heard from housing. If 7 more girls cancel their spring on campus housing, I'm in. So here's hoping, but not expecting.
Went to Mass, twas quite crowded which required me to drive around a few minutes (people in the parking lot found some innovative spaces, resulting in barely a single curb left un parked in front of), ended up parking in the library overflow parking lot which contains parking meters, so luckily I had a quarter and two dimes, and there was a guy who had just come out of the library to refill his meter, and he gave me a dime when I asked (because apparently someone had put some money in his or something), so I had enough for about an hour. which would be just right, I figured. Was five minutes late at that point, walked over quickly to the cathedral, thought I was going to have to stand the whole time but some guy in the last row got up at one point, after the Gospel I think, and said I could sit in his seat which was nice of him. Bishop said the Mass which I was hoping and expecting. Lovely music, even though I think it was only a cantor and pianist. During offertory, she sang Ave Maria (the version Celtic Woman has in their first CD, and which is quite lovely), and it sounded beautiful. And yeah. Nice, regular, traditional songs. Lovely.
After Mass (had 7 minutes left on my parking meter, even! Mom parked on the side of the street right outside the cathedral, at a meter, but only had enough to get her like 35 minutes which was about 20 less than she needed, but she still didn't get a ticket! Guess God was looking out for a wonderful woman just going to Mass. :-P) I went home for a bit, then went to school to turn in my history paper (yay! I'm done three out of four classes now!), then headed to work. Which was less than lovely. Yesterday our manager in training up and quit for a job with better pay and benefits and whatnot, apparently, and so now here we are, two weeks til Christmas, down a manager. Not cool. I can't blame him for taking the job (seriously, I can't imagine being a manager of a Wilsons Leather as a career), but I can blame him for not giving any notice whatsoever, especially considering the time of year. I don't know if the job required him to start right away or something, but man. So now I'm working 32.5 hours next week, and as of right now, 30 hours the week after that. Next week's isn't too bad because they're all (with the exception of having to do 4-10:30 Sunday night) day, like 10 or 11 or 12 until like 5 or 6 or so. Normal hours. Nice hours. And next week alone will give me enough hours to get my paycheck well over $200. Maybe not well over, but over. And I haven't had that in quite a few many weeks. A lot. So yeah. But then the week after that, which in all honesty I doubt will stay as is, because we're not very good at keeping a schedule that's more than a week or so in advance, that week is kind of sucky. I have a few closing days (which is 10pm every day), and the days that aren't closing are opening (which is 8am). Opening is better than closing, but still. Ah well. The whole thing was just frustrating me though, and then Michael started making the schedule for the week of Christmas, and asked me if I want to work open or close on Christmas Eve, and then he said "Oh wait, you have to close because Kim's going home that day" (she lives in Pueblo or thereabouts I think). And I got a tad pissed at him because last week or so I was talking to him about it, and he said I could have the opening shift on Christmas Eve (not that I really want either, but I realize it's not really an option. Hence--I HATE RETAIL). So I was mad at him tonight that he went back on that. He ended up not finishing that schedule, I think, so I don't know. The weird thing was, he hadn't scheduled Cassy at all that day. He said that "probably" everyone would have to work Christmas Eve, and that she specifically would get the closing shift because she had the whole week of Thanksgiving (including Black Friday) off, and yet he wasn't scheduling her for that day tonight. So I don't know. The whole thing just sucks. And I was annoyed. And I also felt bad for feeling annoyed because no one else is very happy about this situation, especially him and Brenda because for now the next two weeks he's working like 55ish hours, and she's having to work 45ish. But I don't know.
I have three weeks left there, at most. I'm seriously considering giving my two weeks notice soon, and maybe being able to be done before Christmas instead of a couple of days before New Years, as is my more parent-friendly option (I don't think either would be totally thrilled if I quit a week early. But at least, if I do, it's only a week and not a month or whatever). I don't know though. I'm just worried that the probable few days my family will be able to be together around Christmas, I'll have to work (well, except for Christmas itself, of course). Most people get the days around Christmas off. I don't know. sigh. Oh well. I'll figure it out.
At least I had a nice dinner with Mom tonight. She met me at the food court at the mall, and we had Chick-Fil-A. Good stuff, always. Good Mom, too. hehe. Oh, and I saw Annie, who I worked with at Dillards last summer. She and a friend came into Wilsons, and it was fun. She gave me a hard time for not calling her since I've been back from school, which I deserve. I suck at keeping in touch with people, and especially when it requires a phone. You all know me and phones don't get along too well. Ah well. It was good to see her, and I'll be giving her a call, definitely. She's lots of fun.
I've listened to my Celtic Woman Christmas CD no less than at least four times straight through since I got it last night. It's quite lovely. Quite quite.
People were so frustrating today. I was frustrated about the whole thing, but people in general didn't make it any better. First, twice while driving today--once on the way home from church and once on the way to work after stopping by school--I almost hit people who put their blinkers on to get into my lane right as I was about to start passing them, and then still decided to move over even though it required me to slam on my brakes. Even though both times there was no one right behind me, and they easily could have gotten into my lane after I passed. The first time wasn't nearly as irritating as the second, but the second one not only almost got hit by me because she was an idiot, she also then proceeded to go up the hill slowly, making my frustration levels rise, and she even like did that little hand wave thing that you do to people who are kind enough to let you in. I honked my horn at her. I wasn't one of the people you wave at in that scenario, and that just made me mad too for some reason. I thought to myself, "Don't wave at me like you didn't just completely cut me off." Argh. So very frustrating. Lots of crappy driving today by people. Some days, it's just like someone let all the people out who don't know how to drive. And then at work people were frustrating. What is with people who come into a leather store, say "I'm looking for a coat," and then wait for you to show them exactly what they want, without giving you any indication as to what kind they're looking for. I mean, seriously. Or the people who call and ask how much the coats we have are. Or the people who walk into the store while talking on a cell phone. That's just plain rude. If you're on a phone, at least stand outside the store and finish the conversation before entering the store. Seriously. Or the people who come in, try on all sorts of jackets, and then haphazardly, if at all, put them back on the hangers--and occasionally manage to get them back onto the racks. But still unzipped/unbuttoned. Pains. This guy came in today, he was just looking around for awhile, then he asked me how tall I am because he was looking for a coat for his mom, who is apparently six inches shorter than me, and he wanted something that was like mid-thigh on her. So I had to go around and like hold coats up to me to see how long they would be on me, and then try to adjust for those six inches or whatever, and it was just annoying. Of course, perhaps I should have worked a little harder on that one because he didn't seem to flinch at dropping $200 for a coat for his mom--that's the kind of guy I should look for. He must have some good money. Hehe. Ok I'm just kidding. Anyway, moral of the story is, people frustrate me sometimes. Ok, a lot of the time. I'm so very short on patience much more than I should be. I know it's not good, but...eh, it's me.
Well, I suppose that's enough. I guess that was the "gist" and then some. oh well. I hope tomorrow's fun--possibly going shopping with my sister (I hate the mall now because I work there, but I don't work at the Citadel and we always go to the Citadel at Christmas so I have to go at least once because we all know I'm a traditions girl, and I gotta stick to the few semi-traditions that I have), and hopefully knocking out one or two of those Christmas movies that are on my list to watch. Hehe. Fun times.
I want a donut so very badly. I'm glad we don't have any, or even really any sweet junk food. So bad, but tastes SO GOOD.
Heard from housing. If 7 more girls cancel their spring on campus housing, I'm in. So here's hoping, but not expecting.
Went to Mass, twas quite crowded which required me to drive around a few minutes (people in the parking lot found some innovative spaces, resulting in barely a single curb left un parked in front of), ended up parking in the library overflow parking lot which contains parking meters, so luckily I had a quarter and two dimes, and there was a guy who had just come out of the library to refill his meter, and he gave me a dime when I asked (because apparently someone had put some money in his or something), so I had enough for about an hour. which would be just right, I figured. Was five minutes late at that point, walked over quickly to the cathedral, thought I was going to have to stand the whole time but some guy in the last row got up at one point, after the Gospel I think, and said I could sit in his seat which was nice of him. Bishop said the Mass which I was hoping and expecting. Lovely music, even though I think it was only a cantor and pianist. During offertory, she sang Ave Maria (the version Celtic Woman has in their first CD, and which is quite lovely), and it sounded beautiful. And yeah. Nice, regular, traditional songs. Lovely.
After Mass (had 7 minutes left on my parking meter, even! Mom parked on the side of the street right outside the cathedral, at a meter, but only had enough to get her like 35 minutes which was about 20 less than she needed, but she still didn't get a ticket! Guess God was looking out for a wonderful woman just going to Mass. :-P) I went home for a bit, then went to school to turn in my history paper (yay! I'm done three out of four classes now!), then headed to work. Which was less than lovely. Yesterday our manager in training up and quit for a job with better pay and benefits and whatnot, apparently, and so now here we are, two weeks til Christmas, down a manager. Not cool. I can't blame him for taking the job (seriously, I can't imagine being a manager of a Wilsons Leather as a career), but I can blame him for not giving any notice whatsoever, especially considering the time of year. I don't know if the job required him to start right away or something, but man. So now I'm working 32.5 hours next week, and as of right now, 30 hours the week after that. Next week's isn't too bad because they're all (with the exception of having to do 4-10:30 Sunday night) day, like 10 or 11 or 12 until like 5 or 6 or so. Normal hours. Nice hours. And next week alone will give me enough hours to get my paycheck well over $200. Maybe not well over, but over. And I haven't had that in quite a few many weeks. A lot. So yeah. But then the week after that, which in all honesty I doubt will stay as is, because we're not very good at keeping a schedule that's more than a week or so in advance, that week is kind of sucky. I have a few closing days (which is 10pm every day), and the days that aren't closing are opening (which is 8am). Opening is better than closing, but still. Ah well. The whole thing was just frustrating me though, and then Michael started making the schedule for the week of Christmas, and asked me if I want to work open or close on Christmas Eve, and then he said "Oh wait, you have to close because Kim's going home that day" (she lives in Pueblo or thereabouts I think). And I got a tad pissed at him because last week or so I was talking to him about it, and he said I could have the opening shift on Christmas Eve (not that I really want either, but I realize it's not really an option. Hence--I HATE RETAIL). So I was mad at him tonight that he went back on that. He ended up not finishing that schedule, I think, so I don't know. The weird thing was, he hadn't scheduled Cassy at all that day. He said that "probably" everyone would have to work Christmas Eve, and that she specifically would get the closing shift because she had the whole week of Thanksgiving (including Black Friday) off, and yet he wasn't scheduling her for that day tonight. So I don't know. The whole thing just sucks. And I was annoyed. And I also felt bad for feeling annoyed because no one else is very happy about this situation, especially him and Brenda because for now the next two weeks he's working like 55ish hours, and she's having to work 45ish. But I don't know.
I have three weeks left there, at most. I'm seriously considering giving my two weeks notice soon, and maybe being able to be done before Christmas instead of a couple of days before New Years, as is my more parent-friendly option (I don't think either would be totally thrilled if I quit a week early. But at least, if I do, it's only a week and not a month or whatever). I don't know though. I'm just worried that the probable few days my family will be able to be together around Christmas, I'll have to work (well, except for Christmas itself, of course). Most people get the days around Christmas off. I don't know. sigh. Oh well. I'll figure it out.
At least I had a nice dinner with Mom tonight. She met me at the food court at the mall, and we had Chick-Fil-A. Good stuff, always. Good Mom, too. hehe. Oh, and I saw Annie, who I worked with at Dillards last summer. She and a friend came into Wilsons, and it was fun. She gave me a hard time for not calling her since I've been back from school, which I deserve. I suck at keeping in touch with people, and especially when it requires a phone. You all know me and phones don't get along too well. Ah well. It was good to see her, and I'll be giving her a call, definitely. She's lots of fun.
I've listened to my Celtic Woman Christmas CD no less than at least four times straight through since I got it last night. It's quite lovely. Quite quite.
People were so frustrating today. I was frustrated about the whole thing, but people in general didn't make it any better. First, twice while driving today--once on the way home from church and once on the way to work after stopping by school--I almost hit people who put their blinkers on to get into my lane right as I was about to start passing them, and then still decided to move over even though it required me to slam on my brakes. Even though both times there was no one right behind me, and they easily could have gotten into my lane after I passed. The first time wasn't nearly as irritating as the second, but the second one not only almost got hit by me because she was an idiot, she also then proceeded to go up the hill slowly, making my frustration levels rise, and she even like did that little hand wave thing that you do to people who are kind enough to let you in. I honked my horn at her. I wasn't one of the people you wave at in that scenario, and that just made me mad too for some reason. I thought to myself, "Don't wave at me like you didn't just completely cut me off." Argh. So very frustrating. Lots of crappy driving today by people. Some days, it's just like someone let all the people out who don't know how to drive. And then at work people were frustrating. What is with people who come into a leather store, say "I'm looking for a coat," and then wait for you to show them exactly what they want, without giving you any indication as to what kind they're looking for. I mean, seriously. Or the people who call and ask how much the coats we have are. Or the people who walk into the store while talking on a cell phone. That's just plain rude. If you're on a phone, at least stand outside the store and finish the conversation before entering the store. Seriously. Or the people who come in, try on all sorts of jackets, and then haphazardly, if at all, put them back on the hangers--and occasionally manage to get them back onto the racks. But still unzipped/unbuttoned. Pains. This guy came in today, he was just looking around for awhile, then he asked me how tall I am because he was looking for a coat for his mom, who is apparently six inches shorter than me, and he wanted something that was like mid-thigh on her. So I had to go around and like hold coats up to me to see how long they would be on me, and then try to adjust for those six inches or whatever, and it was just annoying. Of course, perhaps I should have worked a little harder on that one because he didn't seem to flinch at dropping $200 for a coat for his mom--that's the kind of guy I should look for. He must have some good money. Hehe. Ok I'm just kidding. Anyway, moral of the story is, people frustrate me sometimes. Ok, a lot of the time. I'm so very short on patience much more than I should be. I know it's not good, but...eh, it's me.
Well, I suppose that's enough. I guess that was the "gist" and then some. oh well. I hope tomorrow's fun--possibly going shopping with my sister (I hate the mall now because I work there, but I don't work at the Citadel and we always go to the Citadel at Christmas so I have to go at least once because we all know I'm a traditions girl, and I gotta stick to the few semi-traditions that I have), and hopefully knocking out one or two of those Christmas movies that are on my list to watch. Hehe. Fun times.
Friday, December 08, 2006
This is why I hate updating things
So, I got a message from Windows Media tonight saying that their new version is available and would I like to download it. I should have gone with my gut reaction and said no, but instead I said yes. Went to download it, etc, had to restart my computer and whatnot, and now...I can't play lots of the music on there. I have no idea what is going on, but it's saying there's some error and...I just don't know much about computers so I have no idea what to do. I'm so frustrated. I wish I hadn't installed it. The other one worked just fine, and I just listened to something a couple nights ago that now I can't. I hope I didn't just screw myself out of all my music, because that would not make for a happy Susie. Seriously, this is ridiculous. I get a message that takes me to this page when I try to play most of my music. Not all of it, which is weird (I don't really understand why some songs work and some don't), but some of it. And I don't really know what most of the stuff on that "help" page means either, or how to check that stuff or whatnot. Argh. I'm pissed off now. And I was in such a good mood just a little while ago. See, I should have gone to bed earlier, then none of this would have happened.
Update: Figured out how to de-install it. Tried to play stuff in the 10 version, and it all seems a-ok. Guess I just won't be switching over to the "cool new" version. But I'm ok with that. And, completely unrelated but it makes me happy, in the last ten minutes or so I've seen one of my absolute favorite Christmas commercials twice! One that I barely saw last year! It's the Hershey Kiss one, where they're all lines up in a triangle, and they "play" "We Wish you a Merry Christmas" like they're bells. I love that commercial, and it's been playing for years, and it makes me so happy.
So I'm back to good again.
Stupid Windows Media Player. I dislike you right now, especially if you make me lose all my music, most of which I can't get back without buying the CDs again. Argh.
Update: Figured out how to de-install it. Tried to play stuff in the 10 version, and it all seems a-ok. Guess I just won't be switching over to the "cool new" version. But I'm ok with that. And, completely unrelated but it makes me happy, in the last ten minutes or so I've seen one of my absolute favorite Christmas commercials twice! One that I barely saw last year! It's the Hershey Kiss one, where they're all lines up in a triangle, and they "play" "We Wish you a Merry Christmas" like they're bells. I love that commercial, and it's been playing for years, and it makes me so happy.
So I'm back to good again.
Stupid Windows Media Player. I dislike you right now, especially if you make me lose all my music, most of which I can't get back without buying the CDs again. Argh.
The little things
Reading the Observer over lunch or dinner at South.
Walking past the Dome and remembering where it is I am.
Hearing the bells calling me to Mass every day.
Wasting time sitting in the hall talking about nothing with friends.
The wind tunnel that is South Quad.
Late night runs to Sbarros and Lafun.
Hearing the band practicing all the way across campus.
The salt residue they put down when it snows that gets on pants and makes the bottoms look weird...ok maybe not so much that one.
Long occasional treks to the bookstore.
Staying up way later than planned simply talking to roommates.
Being around mostly people just my age, dumb as we may be sometimes.
Just...BEING there. Just being THERE.
Cannot wait to get back. Can't wait.
Walking past the Dome and remembering where it is I am.
Hearing the bells calling me to Mass every day.
Wasting time sitting in the hall talking about nothing with friends.
The wind tunnel that is South Quad.
Late night runs to Sbarros and Lafun.
Hearing the band practicing all the way across campus.
The salt residue they put down when it snows that gets on pants and makes the bottoms look weird...ok maybe not so much that one.
Long occasional treks to the bookstore.
Staying up way later than planned simply talking to roommates.
Being around mostly people just my age, dumb as we may be sometimes.
Just...BEING there. Just being THERE.
Cannot wait to get back. Can't wait.
Sappy
I love Kebbie so very very much. She was just licking out the bottom of a disposable pie container thing (you know, the top folds over and closes over the bottom, like a take-home box from a restaurant, only round and clear), and after getting frustrated with it continually moving away from her as she licked it, she finally thought to put her paw on the cover side so that it would stay stationary, and she could still finish licking it out. I've seen her do this with other things too, but it's always so funny to me. I love it. She's so cute. She had a good squirrel day today. They must have liked the cold weather (psh, the weather guy said "it was a cold one today" even though the high was 37 degrees. That is not terribly cold, in my opinion. It's not even freezing. ND was like 20 today. Where's that weather here? Stupid Colorado weather). They were out a lot, and she even got to chase one. I mean, not really, but she at least got to pretend out there. She's so precious. I love her so very very much. When she sleeps, a lot of the time she snores, and fairly loudly too--and oddly enough, she makes more noise when she's exhaling than inhaling. Isn't that opposite what most snores are? She's so cute. man. And her fluffiness. Hehe. Man I love her.
Thursday, December 07, 2006
A few (positive) things
One: Yesterday, I got an interesting message on my phone. (I didn't answer it because I was sitting in bed with books all around me and my computer on my lap, and my cell phone was buried somewhere in the books and blankets and stuff and I couldn't find it in time to answer. not that this really matters at all, but it made me laugh at the time trying to find it.) It was from Ross, where you might remember I worked for about three weeks or so this past June/July. Apparently, I had a paycheck there that I didn't know about and thus obviously did not pick up. This came as a huge surprise to me because I seriously thought I had gotten all of my paychecks from there after I left. So yeah. Weird. Anyway, I told Mom about it today and she told me to go tonight, so I did. I wasn't expecting a large amount of money or anything, but whatever it was would be an extra amount I didn't think I had. Turns out, it's about $41. So hey, I'm $40 richer now!
Two: I guess technically it's more like $30 because of this one. Before I went to Ross, I went to Best Buy as it was on the way. Know why? To get the Celtic Woman Christmas CD! Of course, I spent about 20 minutes at least trying to find it, and not a single worker asked me if I needed help. Which was slightly annoying, especially since I couldn't even find someone to go up and ask. Eventually I managed to find a special Christmas section, which I had been looking for (but obviously not hard enough). And the CD was there, lovely enough. But I'm still wondering where the rest of their Celtic Woman CDs are. They have to have at least the other one. Well, I guess technically they don't. But they should. One weird thing though, as I was combing the sections looking for any sign of their CDs, I passed a "Reggae" section, and I noticed three Andre Rieu CDs there. Now, I haven't really listened to a whole lot of his stuff, but I would never think that he's Reggae. If it had just been one CD, I would have just assumed someone picked it up and then decided against it or something and then just put it wherever they were. But there were three. So I don't know. I looked in the "Easy Listening" section for his stuff too, and it wasn't there. That's where like Il Divo and Josh Groban and such are, so that's where I would think he was, unless he was in classical which I didn't check. (But I did check classical for Celtic Woman, and nothing.) Anyway. That's my long winded story about buying a CD. Good for me. ha.
Still haven't heard from housing, but I'm starting to get used to the idea that I'll have to find somewhere off campus. It'll be made more difficult by the fact that I won't have a car up there, at least not until after spring break at the earliest, but oh well. I'll just have to make it work, whatever happens. (And I'm not giving up hope that I'll still be on campus, just steeling myself for the very likely possibility that I won't be.)
One more good thing. I was driving to Latin today, when I started to get the little fuzzy thing in my vision that happens occasionally before I get a migraine. It was really small at first, so I was hoping I was just imagining it, but then as I got to campus and then in class and stuff it was getting bigger. I was just hoping it wouldn't turn into a major migrane before I got home. Eventually it got bigger and bigger and then went away (it was almost like...I don't know, something that's far away in your line of vision and then as you get closer to it it gets bigger, until eventually you pass it. It was weird). And then I did start to get a headache, but it didn't get too bad, and I took excedrin as soon as I got home and now it's all but gone. I'm still feeling physically migrane-y, like weak and stuff, but not bad. So that's good.
John Carlson didn't win the tight end of the year award. That's crap. He had better numbers than any of the other guys nominated, and in less games too (since he was injured early on in the Air Force game). And stupid Troy Smith won the Davey O'Brien award, which is another QB of the year type award. He's already all but won the Heisman, why can't they give at least one to Brady, who everyone knows is really the better QB? Oh well. He'll get more money in the NFL at least. Samardjiza didn't win the Wide Receiver award either, but I don't think he was really the frontrunner for it, so that's not terribly a surprise. Ok sorry, that stuff obviously isn't good in my opinion, but I just thought of it so I added it. Oh well.
Update: Quinn did end up winning the Maxwell award, which goes to the most outstanding player or something like that (although there's two that say that's what they are, and one went to Troy Smith. But anyway). I saw the clip of it, and he's such a good speaker and everything. Such a good representative of the university. It's very exciting. I'm glad he at least got that. (And the Johnny Unitas award last week or whenever, which goes to the most outstanding senior QB or something along those lines. Beat Troy Smith out of that QB award at least.)
Oh, and while I'm on the topic of Irish sports, tonight our men's basketball team (which last year kept losing every single game it seemed by like one or two points, right at the end of the game--very disappointing), who before tonight was 7-1, surprisingly, upset the #5 (4?) team, Alabama. Pretty convincingly too--99 to 85. I'm not a huge basketball fan, but I will admit getting into the games when I went to them. It's exciting that we won though. Mom told me I have to go to the 6 home games we'll have left when I get back to school next semester. We'll see.
Two: I guess technically it's more like $30 because of this one. Before I went to Ross, I went to Best Buy as it was on the way. Know why? To get the Celtic Woman Christmas CD! Of course, I spent about 20 minutes at least trying to find it, and not a single worker asked me if I needed help. Which was slightly annoying, especially since I couldn't even find someone to go up and ask. Eventually I managed to find a special Christmas section, which I had been looking for (but obviously not hard enough). And the CD was there, lovely enough. But I'm still wondering where the rest of their Celtic Woman CDs are. They have to have at least the other one. Well, I guess technically they don't. But they should. One weird thing though, as I was combing the sections looking for any sign of their CDs, I passed a "Reggae" section, and I noticed three Andre Rieu CDs there. Now, I haven't really listened to a whole lot of his stuff, but I would never think that he's Reggae. If it had just been one CD, I would have just assumed someone picked it up and then decided against it or something and then just put it wherever they were. But there were three. So I don't know. I looked in the "Easy Listening" section for his stuff too, and it wasn't there. That's where like Il Divo and Josh Groban and such are, so that's where I would think he was, unless he was in classical which I didn't check. (But I did check classical for Celtic Woman, and nothing.) Anyway. That's my long winded story about buying a CD. Good for me. ha.
Still haven't heard from housing, but I'm starting to get used to the idea that I'll have to find somewhere off campus. It'll be made more difficult by the fact that I won't have a car up there, at least not until after spring break at the earliest, but oh well. I'll just have to make it work, whatever happens. (And I'm not giving up hope that I'll still be on campus, just steeling myself for the very likely possibility that I won't be.)
One more good thing. I was driving to Latin today, when I started to get the little fuzzy thing in my vision that happens occasionally before I get a migraine. It was really small at first, so I was hoping I was just imagining it, but then as I got to campus and then in class and stuff it was getting bigger. I was just hoping it wouldn't turn into a major migrane before I got home. Eventually it got bigger and bigger and then went away (it was almost like...I don't know, something that's far away in your line of vision and then as you get closer to it it gets bigger, until eventually you pass it. It was weird). And then I did start to get a headache, but it didn't get too bad, and I took excedrin as soon as I got home and now it's all but gone. I'm still feeling physically migrane-y, like weak and stuff, but not bad. So that's good.
John Carlson didn't win the tight end of the year award. That's crap. He had better numbers than any of the other guys nominated, and in less games too (since he was injured early on in the Air Force game). And stupid Troy Smith won the Davey O'Brien award, which is another QB of the year type award. He's already all but won the Heisman, why can't they give at least one to Brady, who everyone knows is really the better QB? Oh well. He'll get more money in the NFL at least. Samardjiza didn't win the Wide Receiver award either, but I don't think he was really the frontrunner for it, so that's not terribly a surprise. Ok sorry, that stuff obviously isn't good in my opinion, but I just thought of it so I added it. Oh well.
Update: Quinn did end up winning the Maxwell award, which goes to the most outstanding player or something like that (although there's two that say that's what they are, and one went to Troy Smith. But anyway). I saw the clip of it, and he's such a good speaker and everything. Such a good representative of the university. It's very exciting. I'm glad he at least got that. (And the Johnny Unitas award last week or whenever, which goes to the most outstanding senior QB or something along those lines. Beat Troy Smith out of that QB award at least.)
Oh, and while I'm on the topic of Irish sports, tonight our men's basketball team (which last year kept losing every single game it seemed by like one or two points, right at the end of the game--very disappointing), who before tonight was 7-1, surprisingly, upset the #5 (4?) team, Alabama. Pretty convincingly too--99 to 85. I'm not a huge basketball fan, but I will admit getting into the games when I went to them. It's exciting that we won though. Mom told me I have to go to the 6 home games we'll have left when I get back to school next semester. We'll see.
Relief...and stuff
I can't imagine how much better I feel right now than I did 24, or 12, or even 3 hours ago. The main reasons being I'm mostly done with everything school-related for this semester, with the exception of perhaps a few revisions on my history paper, translating two stories from Latin into English for tomorrow, and then of course the Latin final on Tuesday. But man, that's nothing now. Tis loverly. I'm so excited about that history thing. Just made my day. And I'm so glad to be done, finally, with philo. Stupid class. And I'm home from work, which wasn't fun today. I was just so exhausted, and it was so slow, and at one point I had to take a bunch of broken-down boxes out to the compactor, and that was just such an irritating ordeal. Getting them all onto the little trolley thing, and then having to take them all off when it wouldn't fit through the door, and then having them all fall off when I was trying to go through the door to get outside. and ugh. Oh well. I survived, and now I can hopefully get some good sleep tonight. So excited to go to sleep.
Bad thing about today: That Christmas CD I burned the other day? I finally managed to make it to the end of the CD, specifically the last two songs (both of which are versions of O Holy Night--Mannheim Steamroller's and Josh Groban's), but sadly both were marred by some sort of static over the music, which would get louder as the music got louder, and softer where the music was softer. It's quite disappointing, as I happen to love those versions and that song very very much. Oh well. Life goes on.
My internal calendar is ridiculously screwed up. I think that lately you could tell me that it's any day, even if it's not even close, and I'll believe you. For awhile I was thinking today was Friday. And then I was thinking tomorrow's Friday. And then I just have no idea.
Next week sometime, I think I might just have a Christmas dessert baking marathon. Or something. I'm excited.
But now I must sleep. Mmmmm sleeeeeep...
Bad thing about today: That Christmas CD I burned the other day? I finally managed to make it to the end of the CD, specifically the last two songs (both of which are versions of O Holy Night--Mannheim Steamroller's and Josh Groban's), but sadly both were marred by some sort of static over the music, which would get louder as the music got louder, and softer where the music was softer. It's quite disappointing, as I happen to love those versions and that song very very much. Oh well. Life goes on.
My internal calendar is ridiculously screwed up. I think that lately you could tell me that it's any day, even if it's not even close, and I'll believe you. For awhile I was thinking today was Friday. And then I was thinking tomorrow's Friday. And then I just have no idea.
Next week sometime, I think I might just have a Christmas dessert baking marathon. Or something. I'm excited.
But now I must sleep. Mmmmm sleeeeeep...
Wednesday, December 06, 2006
Wow! I AM good at something!
I had my meeting with my history prof this afternoon. I was slightly apprehensive about the whole thing, because I'm like that, but I got in there, handed her the copy she had already seen and commented on, as well as the new one I finished today. She went through page by page, comparing the notes she had made with the changes I made, and would occasionally let out comments like "Yes," or "good," or "excellent," etc. When she finished, she looked at me and said, "Do you just want to call it a semester," or in other words did I just want to turn that one in as the final. And then she said, "No, I'm going to take that back. I'm going to give it back to you to look over one more time, but aside from needing to put in that one footnote, I don't see any problems." And she told me she was very impressed and whatnot. So I'm a little bit excited about that. At least I'm feeling validated in one class. Well, I guess Latin too. But that's not as exciting. Anyway. I just thought I'd share. So tonight I think I'm just going to add the footnote, maybe give it a cursory glance (but probably not), and call it a day. Turn it in tomorrow, and then just have Latin to worry about. I'm excited. That was a good class.
Procrastinating: Because we all have to excel at something
1. Egg nog or hot chocolate? Well that's hard, I mean it's a cold drink compared to a hot one. So my answer: Put the two together. Oh, yeah.
2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree? He gives them to parents to wrap.
3. Colored lights on tree/house or white? White looks classier, but I'm not classy so I'll go with colored every time.
4. Do you hang mistletoe? I don't think so.
5. When do you put your decorations up? Various times during the month of December.
6. What is your favorite holiday dish (excluding dessert)? Can't really think of any "holiday dishes" off the top of my head, so I'll just go with turkey cooked on the grill. We eat it at Thanksgiving at least, and that's a holiday...
7. Favorite holiday memory as a child: Hm. I'll say...opening the box of lots of fun presents we each got from my grandparents every year. Those were some fun presents.
8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa? I honestly have absolutely no idea. I'm sure I believed in him at some point, but I cannot for the life of me remember that moment when I found out The Truth. ha. Guess it's good that it didn't traumatize me or something.
9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? Occasionally we open one each, but I don't think we do that every year.
10. How do you decorate your Christmas tree? Very randomly and haphazardly, with lights on there first, including bubble lights, and some garland, and lots of ornaments stuck wherever there's room. Again, it's not classy, but it's fun, and full of memories.
11. Snow! Love it or dread it? Me? Dread snow? That'll be a cold day in hell. Which would be fun! hehe. I just wish it stuck around longer here in Colorado, instead of melting all away in the next day or two. But hey, I'll take what I can get.
12. Can you ice skate? I'm probably capable of it, however, I haven't gone in years and years and years. And thus I have no idea.
13. Do you remember your favorite gift? Hm. Well, I've gotten good use out of the knitting needle set I got last year, but I think getting my first Ann Rinaldi book back when I was probably around 10 or 12 or something was pretty great, as it opened me up to a whole new type of book.
14. What’s the most important thing about the holidays for you? Family time.
15. What is your favorite holiday dessert? Well, I'm quite fond of the petit fours we get from my Grandpop, from Hickory Farms, and I also like these German Black Cookies (or something like that) that my aunt makes every year, and they're quite delish. And today I happened to stumble upon a whole list of holiday desserts that sound mouth-wateringly wonderful, which I might have to try my hand at making sometime between now and Christmas.
16. What is your favorite holiday tradition? going to Christmas Mass at night on Christmas Eve, I think.
17. What tops your tree? An angel.
18. Which do you prefer, giving or receiving? I'm gonna be totally honest here. I'm getting to the point where I'm not entirel fond of either. I suck at getting gifts for people, and while receiving gifts is nice, sometimes it just seems like a waste for some reason. And then I feel guilty if I don't use it as much as I think I should. I don't know.
19. What is your favorite Christmas song? O Holy Night is up there, along with some versions of Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas, and for some reason I really like God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen and It Came Upon a Midnight Clear. Oh, and O Come All Ye Faithful, especially when sung in Latin. Man I just love Christmas music!
20. Candy canes: Yes, but preferably fruit-flavored.
21. Favorite Christmas movie? Definitely It's a Wonderful Life. Followed closely by a few others, but that's definitely the favorite.
22. What do you leave for Santa? Not sure if we leave anything anymore. Used to be we would leave sugar cookies that we had made and frosted (that was always fun to do), and of course milk, and always some carrot sticks and celery for the reindeer. And all would have bites taken out of them in the morning.
2. Does Santa wrap presents or just sit them under the tree? He gives them to parents to wrap.
3. Colored lights on tree/house or white? White looks classier, but I'm not classy so I'll go with colored every time.
4. Do you hang mistletoe? I don't think so.
5. When do you put your decorations up? Various times during the month of December.
6. What is your favorite holiday dish (excluding dessert)? Can't really think of any "holiday dishes" off the top of my head, so I'll just go with turkey cooked on the grill. We eat it at Thanksgiving at least, and that's a holiday...
7. Favorite holiday memory as a child: Hm. I'll say...opening the box of lots of fun presents we each got from my grandparents every year. Those were some fun presents.
8. When and how did you learn the truth about Santa? I honestly have absolutely no idea. I'm sure I believed in him at some point, but I cannot for the life of me remember that moment when I found out The Truth. ha. Guess it's good that it didn't traumatize me or something.
9. Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? Occasionally we open one each, but I don't think we do that every year.
10. How do you decorate your Christmas tree? Very randomly and haphazardly, with lights on there first, including bubble lights, and some garland, and lots of ornaments stuck wherever there's room. Again, it's not classy, but it's fun, and full of memories.
11. Snow! Love it or dread it? Me? Dread snow? That'll be a cold day in hell. Which would be fun! hehe. I just wish it stuck around longer here in Colorado, instead of melting all away in the next day or two. But hey, I'll take what I can get.
12. Can you ice skate? I'm probably capable of it, however, I haven't gone in years and years and years. And thus I have no idea.
13. Do you remember your favorite gift? Hm. Well, I've gotten good use out of the knitting needle set I got last year, but I think getting my first Ann Rinaldi book back when I was probably around 10 or 12 or something was pretty great, as it opened me up to a whole new type of book.
14. What’s the most important thing about the holidays for you? Family time.
15. What is your favorite holiday dessert? Well, I'm quite fond of the petit fours we get from my Grandpop, from Hickory Farms, and I also like these German Black Cookies (or something like that) that my aunt makes every year, and they're quite delish. And today I happened to stumble upon a whole list of holiday desserts that sound mouth-wateringly wonderful, which I might have to try my hand at making sometime between now and Christmas.
16. What is your favorite holiday tradition? going to Christmas Mass at night on Christmas Eve, I think.
17. What tops your tree? An angel.
18. Which do you prefer, giving or receiving? I'm gonna be totally honest here. I'm getting to the point where I'm not entirel fond of either. I suck at getting gifts for people, and while receiving gifts is nice, sometimes it just seems like a waste for some reason. And then I feel guilty if I don't use it as much as I think I should. I don't know.
19. What is your favorite Christmas song? O Holy Night is up there, along with some versions of Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas, and for some reason I really like God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen and It Came Upon a Midnight Clear. Oh, and O Come All Ye Faithful, especially when sung in Latin. Man I just love Christmas music!
20. Candy canes: Yes, but preferably fruit-flavored.
21. Favorite Christmas movie? Definitely It's a Wonderful Life. Followed closely by a few others, but that's definitely the favorite.
22. What do you leave for Santa? Not sure if we leave anything anymore. Used to be we would leave sugar cookies that we had made and frosted (that was always fun to do), and of course milk, and always some carrot sticks and celery for the reindeer. And all would have bites taken out of them in the morning.
1994
There's two things in my life that were made in 1994. (Ok, if we're being picky here I guess technically neither were "made" in 1994, but whatever.) Those two things would be my car, and Kebbie. At least, I think my car is a '94. We'll just pretend it is. The point is, both are getting old, and I'm not ready to admit that about either of them. Lately when driving my car, something just seems off about it. Could very well just be my imagination, I don't really know. But it is getting old for a car. Sadly. I like that car. I have a feeling I'll be parting with it sometime in the near future. (And if I do end up taking a car up to school after spring break, as is the tentative plan right now, it won't be that one.)
And then there's Kebbie. A week or two ago, someone asked how old she is, and when I thought about it and realized she's going to be 13 in March, I couldn't believe it. That's definitely getting up there for a dog. She's definitely not as young as she used to be. Hasn't jumped over the fence in a few years, I think. No more climbing trees. If she runs around chasing a squirrel or the fox or a cat too long or too hard, she gets old and limpy. We have to give her chondroiten (no idea how to spell it) every day-ish, not to mention her "happy pill" that she gets with her food in the morning. She has arthritis, and those help keep it from getting debilitating. But one of these days, it'll stop working very well. And then...I don't know. All I know is, I hope she still has a couple more good years in her. I'm definitely not ready to say goodbye to her any time soon.
Man I'm so depressing lately, aren't I? Sorry. Perhaps I'll get better in a day or two, once some stress is alleviated.
And then there's Kebbie. A week or two ago, someone asked how old she is, and when I thought about it and realized she's going to be 13 in March, I couldn't believe it. That's definitely getting up there for a dog. She's definitely not as young as she used to be. Hasn't jumped over the fence in a few years, I think. No more climbing trees. If she runs around chasing a squirrel or the fox or a cat too long or too hard, she gets old and limpy. We have to give her chondroiten (no idea how to spell it) every day-ish, not to mention her "happy pill" that she gets with her food in the morning. She has arthritis, and those help keep it from getting debilitating. But one of these days, it'll stop working very well. And then...I don't know. All I know is, I hope she still has a couple more good years in her. I'm definitely not ready to say goodbye to her any time soon.
Man I'm so depressing lately, aren't I? Sorry. Perhaps I'll get better in a day or two, once some stress is alleviated.
Tuesday, December 05, 2006
Cheapy Cheaperson
So, this past Saturday night the whole family (minus our Army boy) went out to Old Chicago's for dinner to celebrate Mom's birthday. There were seven of us, six of whom can carry on conversation and sit still through a whole meal, and one who is a rambunctious 21 month old boy. Anyway. Old C's apparently has some dinner deal thing now, where you can choose a side from like three or four choices, and then a dinner from maybe 8 or 10 choices, and a dessert from two choices. For 10.99 or something like that. Five of the six of us chose to get that. Guess who the odd one out was? That's right, Miss I-Think-Spending-Seven-Dollars-On-A-Meal-is-Too-Expensive, yours truly. Not only did I initially see that deal, and then the price tag, but I also wasn't exactly excited about the dinner choices. However, I did very much want some pepperoni rolls, which was one of the appetizer choices. Anyway. Later on in the meal, I said something about feeling bad getting that because of how much it was. Tom responded by saying that I need to be broken of my cheapness by marrying a rich guy.
I must say, I quite agree with him. I'm sick of feeling like I can't even spend a dollar on a drink somewhere. I can't even imagine how nice it'd be to go to a restaurant and order what I want, regardless of the price. (Heck, maybe even throw a few alcoholic beverages in there, as I feel bad ordering those anywhere because of how much they are. And they don't even give you free refills!) But don't worry, I don't have any real illusions that I'm going to find some rich guy to marry. I barely even believe there's a guy out there tall enough for me, and I would think finding a tall guy is easier than a rich guy.
Ok I don't really know why I felt the need to post this. Procrastinating much, Susie?
I must say, I quite agree with him. I'm sick of feeling like I can't even spend a dollar on a drink somewhere. I can't even imagine how nice it'd be to go to a restaurant and order what I want, regardless of the price. (Heck, maybe even throw a few alcoholic beverages in there, as I feel bad ordering those anywhere because of how much they are. And they don't even give you free refills!) But don't worry, I don't have any real illusions that I'm going to find some rich guy to marry. I barely even believe there's a guy out there tall enough for me, and I would think finding a tall guy is easier than a rich guy.
Ok I don't really know why I felt the need to post this. Procrastinating much, Susie?
Seriously getting to the point where I am so very tempted just not to write this stupid philo paper. I've revised much of what needs to be revised with the history paper, so now I mostly just have the philo to do for tomorrow. But I so very much just do not care, especially considering chances are that class won't make a lick of difference in the rest of my life going forward. I'll do it, of course, because I wouldn't be me otherwise, but I just don't want to. Especially as I am finding it hard to concentrate on anything right now, in my current state of emotions.
I just gotta say. I hope I don't regret anything else in my life as much as I regret this whole semester. Because boy do I. Especially as it's looking like I won't be able to get back on campus, and as I'm just missing all of it and wishing desperately, achingly that I was there right now. I gotta tell you, it sucks. If I could have one minute of my life to do over, it'd be that minute I decided for sure not to come back this semester. I wish I could take that Susie and slap some sense into her. Someone invent a time machine already, ok?
I just gotta say. I hope I don't regret anything else in my life as much as I regret this whole semester. Because boy do I. Especially as it's looking like I won't be able to get back on campus, and as I'm just missing all of it and wishing desperately, achingly that I was there right now. I gotta tell you, it sucks. If I could have one minute of my life to do over, it'd be that minute I decided for sure not to come back this semester. I wish I could take that Susie and slap some sense into her. Someone invent a time machine already, ok?
Depressing
I don't think it's looking good for the whole housing situation. Which, in a word, sucks. I'm seriously just...I don't know.
Bad Susie
I'm wasting time right now. Time I don't really have to waste. Uh-oh. I might only get a 97% on my Latin test today!!!
Seriously though, I got English done (and managed like 6 hours of sleep too!), and now I'm DONE with English. Probably forever. ha. Lovely. So now I have to finish studying and crap for Latin, then go to Latin and hopefully get out a little early and whatnot, and then I get to write one essay and revise another. yay. ick.
All I want to do is knit. Alas, it's hard to knit and type at the same time. And it's hard to knit and work on a Latin workbook at the same time as well. Sadly.
Seriously though, I got English done (and managed like 6 hours of sleep too!), and now I'm DONE with English. Probably forever. ha. Lovely. So now I have to finish studying and crap for Latin, then go to Latin and hopefully get out a little early and whatnot, and then I get to write one essay and revise another. yay. ick.
All I want to do is knit. Alas, it's hard to knit and type at the same time. And it's hard to knit and work on a Latin workbook at the same time as well. Sadly.
Gag me
Have you ever gagged while attempting to yawn? It's not entirely fun.
I hate my gag reflex. Coughing, brushing my teeth, holding a spoon or a straw or even a toothpick in my mouth, now even yawning. What's next, talking?
I hate my gag reflex. Coughing, brushing my teeth, holding a spoon or a straw or even a toothpick in my mouth, now even yawning. What's next, talking?
I never did remember that thing from last night...
Marge: People do crazy things in ads. Like eat at Arby's.
There's always a line in each Simpsons episode I watch that just makes me laugh. Even LOL, if you will. haha. I never use that phrase, but I just felt like it.
I can't believe this, but I don't think I mentioned the BCS bowl selections yesterday at all. Weird. Anyway, we're going to the Sugar Bowl in Nawlins, as many had suspected for awhile. USC's loss just cemented it, as there had been talk of us possibly going to the Rose Bowl if USC went to the NC, but obviously that wasn't happening after that loss on Saturday. We are, unfortunately (possibly), playing LSU. I say unfortunately because they're a very good team. And they have a very good defense. Therefore, they could give us some trouble when we're on offense, and if their offense does well, they could easily give our defense a tough time. However, don't write us off yet. Obviously there's a reason we actually play the games, instead of just automatically handing the win to the team everyone thinks will win. (Case in point: USC vs UCLA, 12/2/06.) Hopefully we can make it a good, competitive game. Our last chance to see Brady and the boys before the seniors leave us (sniff, sniff), and the last time to see Brady until he dons the Oakland or Detroit jersey and plays Sundays next year. (Crazy never-gonna-happen wish: Bears make some major trades in order to get first pick or whatever, and get Brady. Their QB had a rating of 22.8 last night. After a few plays or drives or something, he actually had a negative QB rating--along with like less than 20 or maybe even 10 yards, and two interceptions. They've still managed to stay 10-2, but they'd be great with a good quarterback. Like Brady. hehe. But yeah, I know, pipe dream.)
Driving home from work tonight was beyond bizarre. After a few minutes, I realized that I could still see the mountains fairly well--and this was at like 9:20. More than three, close to four, hours after the sun had gone down. But things were really well-lit. And then I realized that the moon looked quite full, which must be why. But it was just weird. Everything seemed off, and yeah. But the mountains do look really cool. Especially with the snow on them. It's weird though, it looks like it's more like an hour or so after the sun went down--where there's still a few little bits of light from the sun trying to make it over the mountains. Anyway, I quite enjoyed looking at it. But alas, it's cold, so I didn't stay outside too long after I got home.
I noticed something funny on the sleeve for the Hot Pocket I ate tonight. It said something along the lines of:
"Our hot pockets have:
-At least 7 essential vitamins and minerals.
-Are good sources of calcium, protein, and fiber."
It's not that hard to move that "have" to the next line and make the whole thing work better. Not to mention making sense. ha. oh well.
So tomorrow's (hopefully) not going to be as bad as I'm expecting. Firstly, even if I get to bed kind of late tonight (which is most likely a definite), I don't have to be at school until 1:40 to turn in my paper. So I can sleep in some there. And then I can come back home, study up for the Latin test (do the workbook stuff and whatnot), and then go to Latin at 4:30. Get home probably around 6ish, and then for the next...well let's say from 7pm-12pm the next day, I can potentially work on my philo paper (and revising the history paper). I'd say that's doable. ha. oh man. Can't wait until Wednesday night. Wait, I take that back, I have to work Wednesday night. Can't wait until Thursday morning, when I can sleep in--wonderful sleep--until 4 if I really want to. And then after that, and besides working and whatnot, all that stands between me and Christmas break is one Latin class, a final revision of that history paper, and one Latin final. Which I'm pretty sure I'd have to bomb completely not to end up with an A in that class. And, now that I think about it, of all four of my classes this semester, Latin would be the class where the grade matters the least for me. This is referencing the possibility of getting one or two of these classes to count for credit at ND. but, see, I'm taking Latin 101 again next semester, so no matter what I won't be getting this Latin class to count. And therefore it doesn't matter at all. And yet, I want to do well in it more than the others, with the possible exception of history. Intersting. But yeah. Even though both the history paper and the Latin final are both the same day, I'm not nearly as concerned about that day as I am Wednesday. Although when I get to that day I'm sure I will be worried about it. Especially as the final gets closer, because I'll be freaking out that I don't know anything and won't remember anything. Which is honestly just plain silly. I may not get a 100% on the final, but I'm sure I'll do well enough.
Exciting news: Best Buy has the Celtic Woman Christmas CD! $10 according to their website. Not sure if there's a difference in price between the website and the store, but yeah. I do still have a dollar something on a gift card to Best Buy. I think tomorrow, or maybe more likely Wednesday or Thursday, I'll trek down there and buy it. Very exciting.
Must go work more now. At least I already have some of it done, which makes it less horrible a project now. If that makes any sense. Oh well. It does to me.
Exciting news:
There's always a line in each Simpsons episode I watch that just makes me laugh. Even LOL, if you will. haha. I never use that phrase, but I just felt like it.
I can't believe this, but I don't think I mentioned the BCS bowl selections yesterday at all. Weird. Anyway, we're going to the Sugar Bowl in Nawlins, as many had suspected for awhile. USC's loss just cemented it, as there had been talk of us possibly going to the Rose Bowl if USC went to the NC, but obviously that wasn't happening after that loss on Saturday. We are, unfortunately (possibly), playing LSU. I say unfortunately because they're a very good team. And they have a very good defense. Therefore, they could give us some trouble when we're on offense, and if their offense does well, they could easily give our defense a tough time. However, don't write us off yet. Obviously there's a reason we actually play the games, instead of just automatically handing the win to the team everyone thinks will win. (Case in point: USC vs UCLA, 12/2/06.) Hopefully we can make it a good, competitive game. Our last chance to see Brady and the boys before the seniors leave us (sniff, sniff), and the last time to see Brady until he dons the Oakland or Detroit jersey and plays Sundays next year. (Crazy never-gonna-happen wish: Bears make some major trades in order to get first pick or whatever, and get Brady. Their QB had a rating of 22.8 last night. After a few plays or drives or something, he actually had a negative QB rating--along with like less than 20 or maybe even 10 yards, and two interceptions. They've still managed to stay 10-2, but they'd be great with a good quarterback. Like Brady. hehe. But yeah, I know, pipe dream.)
Driving home from work tonight was beyond bizarre. After a few minutes, I realized that I could still see the mountains fairly well--and this was at like 9:20. More than three, close to four, hours after the sun had gone down. But things were really well-lit. And then I realized that the moon looked quite full, which must be why. But it was just weird. Everything seemed off, and yeah. But the mountains do look really cool. Especially with the snow on them. It's weird though, it looks like it's more like an hour or so after the sun went down--where there's still a few little bits of light from the sun trying to make it over the mountains. Anyway, I quite enjoyed looking at it. But alas, it's cold, so I didn't stay outside too long after I got home.
I noticed something funny on the sleeve for the Hot Pocket I ate tonight. It said something along the lines of:
"Our hot pockets have:
-At least 7 essential vitamins and minerals.
-Are good sources of calcium, protein, and fiber."
It's not that hard to move that "have" to the next line and make the whole thing work better. Not to mention making sense. ha. oh well.
So tomorrow's (hopefully) not going to be as bad as I'm expecting. Firstly, even if I get to bed kind of late tonight (which is most likely a definite), I don't have to be at school until 1:40 to turn in my paper. So I can sleep in some there. And then I can come back home, study up for the Latin test (do the workbook stuff and whatnot), and then go to Latin at 4:30. Get home probably around 6ish, and then for the next...well let's say from 7pm-12pm the next day, I can potentially work on my philo paper (and revising the history paper). I'd say that's doable. ha. oh man. Can't wait until Wednesday night. Wait, I take that back, I have to work Wednesday night. Can't wait until Thursday morning, when I can sleep in--wonderful sleep--until 4 if I really want to. And then after that, and besides working and whatnot, all that stands between me and Christmas break is one Latin class, a final revision of that history paper, and one Latin final. Which I'm pretty sure I'd have to bomb completely not to end up with an A in that class. And, now that I think about it, of all four of my classes this semester, Latin would be the class where the grade matters the least for me. This is referencing the possibility of getting one or two of these classes to count for credit at ND. but, see, I'm taking Latin 101 again next semester, so no matter what I won't be getting this Latin class to count. And therefore it doesn't matter at all. And yet, I want to do well in it more than the others, with the possible exception of history. Intersting. But yeah. Even though both the history paper and the Latin final are both the same day, I'm not nearly as concerned about that day as I am Wednesday. Although when I get to that day I'm sure I will be worried about it. Especially as the final gets closer, because I'll be freaking out that I don't know anything and won't remember anything. Which is honestly just plain silly. I may not get a 100% on the final, but I'm sure I'll do well enough.
Exciting news: Best Buy has the Celtic Woman Christmas CD! $10 according to their website. Not sure if there's a difference in price between the website and the store, but yeah. I do still have a dollar something on a gift card to Best Buy. I think tomorrow, or maybe more likely Wednesday or Thursday, I'll trek down there and buy it. Very exciting.
Must go work more now. At least I already have some of it done, which makes it less horrible a project now. If that makes any sense. Oh well. It does to me.
Exciting news:
Monday, December 04, 2006
Sweetest job ever
Man, I want to be Rick Steves. I mean, seriously, how awesome would that job be? Getting paid to go travel around Europe and the rest of the world? So saweet. I want that job.
Oh, and if I couldn't be born in the 1700s, or the 1800s, or even anytime before the 1950s, I should have been born in an Austrian or a Swiss Alps village. Totally.
Oh, and if I couldn't be born in the 1700s, or the 1800s, or even anytime before the 1950s, I should have been born in an Austrian or a Swiss Alps village. Totally.
I shouldn't still be awake
I figure if I stay up later tonight and get more of this essay done, I won't have to stay up quite as late tomorrow night finishing it, or maybe I'll still stay up late but I'll get more work done on the essay due Wednesday, and I won't have to stay up as last Tuesday night. Or I'll still end up staying up ridiculously late both nights, and then get a lovely sleep-in day on Thursday (as my only class is Latin, at 4:30. Glorious).
Crud. I had a reason for this post, aside from what I just wrote. It's totally gone. How disappointing. Ummmm.....yeah, definitely gone. I hate that. I'm thinking...I'm thinking...I'm thinking...nothing's coming.
Well there is one thing, but it's not the main reason. But two weeks ago and this week at church I tithed. I mean, in the past I might have put in a few bucks each week if I had cash, but I've been horrible about tithing. So, even though I'm feeling uber-pinched for money lately, I just made myself do it a couple weeks ago--just write a check and put it in. 10% of the paycheck I had just gotten. Actually, it was more than 10%, but as I've been remiss of late, it wasn't even close to what I should have been doing. Anyway though. Today I did 10% of the one I got Friday. And even though I do feel strapped for cash in a big big way, it's something I should have been doing all along, and I know that God will help provide me with whatever money I really need. (Which does mean not spending on stupid, frivolous things. And I really try not to, I do, even though I probably don't succeed very often.) So anyway. I guess no one really needs to know about this, but whatever.
Man this is really bothering me. What the heck was I going to say? Argh.
I did my laundry tonight. Clean laundry is good. Now let's see if I can actually manage to get it into my wardrobe/hung up this time, instead of leaving it in the laundry basket for two weeks (and getting frustrated when I can't find anything and have to dig through the ridiculously large pile five times before finding the shirt I want. Which is, of course, wrinkled. But I've never let that stop me before).
Hey. Someone tell me what I was going to write.
I think that Mannheim Steamroller's Fresh Aire Christmas will always be one of the quintessential Christmas collections for me. I remember listening to the tape every night around Christmas years ago while trying to fall asleep. In the years before I had any music of my own, I listened to it a lot. It and then the Christmas records we have, such as Nat King Cole (very much another quintessential one) and some other Christmas record...Mitch Miller? I don't know. There's a few though that we would listen to a lot around Christmas. But yeah, Mannheim Steamroller is awesome.
Let's see....I thought of whatever it was while I was looking over the notes my prof made on my history rough draft, yet another scan of them isn't producing the same thoughts, it seems. Whatever it was is simply gone, I think. How irritating though. Well, I don't think it's coming back.
Oh well.
Crud. I had a reason for this post, aside from what I just wrote. It's totally gone. How disappointing. Ummmm.....yeah, definitely gone. I hate that. I'm thinking...I'm thinking...I'm thinking...nothing's coming.
Well there is one thing, but it's not the main reason. But two weeks ago and this week at church I tithed. I mean, in the past I might have put in a few bucks each week if I had cash, but I've been horrible about tithing. So, even though I'm feeling uber-pinched for money lately, I just made myself do it a couple weeks ago--just write a check and put it in. 10% of the paycheck I had just gotten. Actually, it was more than 10%, but as I've been remiss of late, it wasn't even close to what I should have been doing. Anyway though. Today I did 10% of the one I got Friday. And even though I do feel strapped for cash in a big big way, it's something I should have been doing all along, and I know that God will help provide me with whatever money I really need. (Which does mean not spending on stupid, frivolous things. And I really try not to, I do, even though I probably don't succeed very often.) So anyway. I guess no one really needs to know about this, but whatever.
Man this is really bothering me. What the heck was I going to say? Argh.
I did my laundry tonight. Clean laundry is good. Now let's see if I can actually manage to get it into my wardrobe/hung up this time, instead of leaving it in the laundry basket for two weeks (and getting frustrated when I can't find anything and have to dig through the ridiculously large pile five times before finding the shirt I want. Which is, of course, wrinkled. But I've never let that stop me before).
Hey. Someone tell me what I was going to write.
I think that Mannheim Steamroller's Fresh Aire Christmas will always be one of the quintessential Christmas collections for me. I remember listening to the tape every night around Christmas years ago while trying to fall asleep. In the years before I had any music of my own, I listened to it a lot. It and then the Christmas records we have, such as Nat King Cole (very much another quintessential one) and some other Christmas record...Mitch Miller? I don't know. There's a few though that we would listen to a lot around Christmas. But yeah, Mannheim Steamroller is awesome.
Let's see....I thought of whatever it was while I was looking over the notes my prof made on my history rough draft, yet another scan of them isn't producing the same thoughts, it seems. Whatever it was is simply gone, I think. How irritating though. Well, I don't think it's coming back.
Oh well.
Celtic Woman
I don't remember if I mentioned last night watching a PBS concert thing of Celtic Woman. I think I did. But anyway, it's on again tonight (you know how PBS is, they play a select few things like twenty billion times. Which I'm ok with, because a lot of times it's stuff I like. Like Celtic Woman. And Andre Rieu. I love him). Apparently, this is a new concert for their new CD which comes out January 30, I just found out. I'm terribly excited about this. I absolutely love Celtic Woman. If you haven't listened to them, you most definitely should. They have a Christmas album out right now which I am seriously considering ordering from Amazon, as it's only $8! And it's got great songs on it. And they're awesome. This concert thing also has Hayley Westenra, and I don't know if she's on the CD or not (I doubt it, sadly), but she's awesome too. I think I'd love a CD of hers. Man. Good stuff. Know what else I discovered tonight? All the women seem to have their own albums. I really want to get one in particular--Chloe's, as I really love her voice. Although, one of them plays the violin (ridiculously well, I'm so jealous), so that might be a fun one to have too. I'm just so excited right now. Last time I checked--admittedly, it's been awhile--there was just their first CD, and the DVD of their concert, out. And now there's all this stuff, and now I wish...I don't know. I want it ALL!!! (Which, I'll admit, is stupid because I definitely don't listen to CDs enough. So why should I buy new ones? I do listen to them though, sometimes, just not as much as I'd probably like. Not sure why.) But anyway. They're coming to South Bend in April, as they did...I think it was about a year ago. Yeah, it was October 2005. I might have gone, but it was the 16th I think, because it was the first Sunday of fall break and so I'd be home by then. But this time it's April 12, which isn't a break (unless it's over Easter break. I'm not sure when Easter is this year). I think Celtic Woman is one show I'd really want to go see live. I don't even want to see Josh Groban that badly anymore. I don't know, I just am not a huge fan of live music I think. Well, some anyway. Norah Jones (the one concert I've ever been to, not counting things like the symphony) was really good live. But I don't know, I haven't been impressed when I hear Josh Groban singing live for some reason. But I think Celtic Woman would be really good. Chances I'll go are slim to nil, of course, but it's a fun thought anyway. For now, I might just buy that Christmas CD. I mean, come on, 8 bucks. Even I can barely feel bad about that. (Of course, I'll be tempted to get something else to make it $25 so I can get free shipping, but I'm sure I can refrain from that.) Man, I want the DVD of this concert too. I'm sure I'll never get it though. Hey, I could just tape it one of these many times it's on. Hm...Anyway.
Ok. guess I'll get back to this stupid paper. Hey, quick question--if a teacher, when "pushed into a corner" to give a page number "requirement", says 7-8 pages, do you think turning in a 6 or so page paper would be a bad thing? I guess I'll probably just end up rambling enough so that I can get it to 7 pages. Really not that difficult truthfully.
Ok. guess I'll get back to this stupid paper. Hey, quick question--if a teacher, when "pushed into a corner" to give a page number "requirement", says 7-8 pages, do you think turning in a 6 or so page paper would be a bad thing? I guess I'll probably just end up rambling enough so that I can get it to 7 pages. Really not that difficult truthfully.
Sunday, December 03, 2006
Eeesh
I don't have that much left to do, school wise. But unfortunately, almost everything I do still have is due this coming Tuesday or Wednesday. That includes: an English paper, a Latin test (which requires the workbook sections for each of the three chapters the test is covering), another draft of my history paper, and a philo 8-10 pager. Then I get a pretty good break until the next Tuesday, at which point I have to turn in the final copy of the history paper as well as take my one and only final, Latin. I'm trying to get some good stuff done on my English paper tonight, but I don't know how well it'll turn out.
But I guess I better get to it.
But I guess I better get to it.
One more thing, then I must sleep
I was watching this Celtic Woman thing on PBS tonight, a new one with Hayley Westenra (or at least new to me, as I've never seen it--unlike their other one I've seen on PBS, which has been on quite a few times in the last year or so), and after it came this thing with Trans-Siberian Orchestra. It's like a concert of their Christmas music, but it's some sort of story as well. Which I'm not paying attention to, I'm just "watching" it for the songs. Anyway, this version of O Holy Night that I've heard on the radio a lot the past few years is on it. I didn't know it was Trans-Siberian Orchestra, but that's not what surprised me. What really surprised me is that it's apparently a guy singing the song. I've always thought it was a woman with sort of a manly-ish voice. But not a man. Kinda made me laugh. Either way, it can't hold a candle to Josh Groban's version, so I don't really like it either way.
Speaking of that, apparently I can only get polyphonic ringtones on my cell phone. Which kind of sucks, because I very much dislike how polyphonic ones sound. So I guess I won't be spending money on a ringtone for now anyway. It's sad, because I really wanted to get Kenny G's Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas. Alas. That's what I get for just having the free phone (aka, pretty much crappiest one available-ish. Which is normally fine, as I'm not a big cell phone person for anything other than calls, and it works fine for that. But maybe by next Christmas I'll have a new one, one that can get the good ringtones that are actually the songs I want, and not just some cruddy polyphonic version).
Speaking of that, apparently I can only get polyphonic ringtones on my cell phone. Which kind of sucks, because I very much dislike how polyphonic ones sound. So I guess I won't be spending money on a ringtone for now anyway. It's sad, because I really wanted to get Kenny G's Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas. Alas. That's what I get for just having the free phone (aka, pretty much crappiest one available-ish. Which is normally fine, as I'm not a big cell phone person for anything other than calls, and it works fine for that. But maybe by next Christmas I'll have a new one, one that can get the good ringtones that are actually the songs I want, and not just some cruddy polyphonic version).
Yahoo!!!
In case you hadn't heard, USC lost today. And the people rejoiced. (Warning: About to get very mean-spirited in here.) The look on Carroll's face at the end of that game was priceless. Man. How I wish it had been us putting that look there, but at least the team that did it is a team we beat earlier in the season (and one which no one gave us credit for because we "almost lost." Yeah, well at least we didn't lose!), and they're unranked to boot! And now USC gets no shot at the NC, which is as it should be. Ahhh. Twas lovely. Of course, it was frustrating to see UCLA keep USC to one TD (and a safety that happened as a result of a hold by UCLA in UCLA's endzone when UCLA had the ball), when we could barely keep them from scoring every drive they had the ball. Oh well. 'Sall good.
And for your amusement, check out this thread at NDNation, which is just so funny. (Sorry, I sometimes like to make fun of cheerleaders, and especially when they're USC cheerleaders.) I remember seeing the one from last year's NC, and it was a source of great amusement then, and then to have it happen this year just makes it so much better. I mean, seriously, what were those girls thinking? (I'm assuming they're different ones.) How do you not know who just scored, and forget that it's not your team and then cheer when the other team scores? Oh man. Funny stuff.
Oh, and, ha, apparently some fans on a USC message board are saying that UCLA's coach (or whoever) messed with the turf to make it harder for USC. In case you aren't aware, there was this whole big "controversy" brought up by some USC people recently because last year everyone was talking about how Charlie let the grass in ND stadium grow longer for the USC game to slow down the USC players or something, and as a result one of their guys got injured attempting to return a kickoff (or punt, forget which). This guy was down near the endzone, had to make a quick turn to try and catch the ball, and just went down kind of randomly. And so a few weeks before the USC-ND game this year, it was brought up, and Pete Carroll was saying how they were going to make sure the turf at the Coliseum was nice and short or something, I don't really know. Anyway, it got a chuckle from me when their QB slipped during the ND game and looked a little less than 100% after that--and we didn't touch him. Their whole blaming it all on our grass was ridiculous. And here they go doing it again. What the heck, with the excuses and all? You lost, just admit it. Man. USC are not good losers. I remember last year after the NC, Leinart said something really jerky, like giving Texas no credit at all for beating them. It's called being a gracious loser.
Sorry. I'm not a huge USC fan, in case you weren't aware. It's all coming out tonight.
K I'm done now. Just had to get one post in about the lovely loss of USC. And I'm sure that now karma's gonna come back to bite me or something, and I don't know, we'll lose to USC for years to come. (Ok, I don't believe that. Maybe this coming year, but who knows.) But they won on an illegal play in last year's game, so I don't feel very bad gloating that they lost today. Even if it wasn't to us. (And how I wish it was so, but life's not always what we want, is it?)
And for your amusement, check out this thread at NDNation, which is just so funny. (Sorry, I sometimes like to make fun of cheerleaders, and especially when they're USC cheerleaders.) I remember seeing the one from last year's NC, and it was a source of great amusement then, and then to have it happen this year just makes it so much better. I mean, seriously, what were those girls thinking? (I'm assuming they're different ones.) How do you not know who just scored, and forget that it's not your team and then cheer when the other team scores? Oh man. Funny stuff.
Oh, and, ha, apparently some fans on a USC message board are saying that UCLA's coach (or whoever) messed with the turf to make it harder for USC. In case you aren't aware, there was this whole big "controversy" brought up by some USC people recently because last year everyone was talking about how Charlie let the grass in ND stadium grow longer for the USC game to slow down the USC players or something, and as a result one of their guys got injured attempting to return a kickoff (or punt, forget which). This guy was down near the endzone, had to make a quick turn to try and catch the ball, and just went down kind of randomly. And so a few weeks before the USC-ND game this year, it was brought up, and Pete Carroll was saying how they were going to make sure the turf at the Coliseum was nice and short or something, I don't really know. Anyway, it got a chuckle from me when their QB slipped during the ND game and looked a little less than 100% after that--and we didn't touch him. Their whole blaming it all on our grass was ridiculous. And here they go doing it again. What the heck, with the excuses and all? You lost, just admit it. Man. USC are not good losers. I remember last year after the NC, Leinart said something really jerky, like giving Texas no credit at all for beating them. It's called being a gracious loser.
Sorry. I'm not a huge USC fan, in case you weren't aware. It's all coming out tonight.
K I'm done now. Just had to get one post in about the lovely loss of USC. And I'm sure that now karma's gonna come back to bite me or something, and I don't know, we'll lose to USC for years to come. (Ok, I don't believe that. Maybe this coming year, but who knows.) But they won on an illegal play in last year's game, so I don't feel very bad gloating that they lost today. Even if it wasn't to us. (And how I wish it was so, but life's not always what we want, is it?)
Advent!
Tomorrow starts Advent. Advent is fun. However, there's one aspect of it (and, really, it's one of the biggest aspects of it in terms of being exposed to Advent stuff) that I am most certainly not looking forward to. And that would be the way my church does the whole Advent wreath thing, and the lighting of the candles and whatnot. In years past, they decided to go with the more Protestant-ized version of "we are all the Advent wreath (let us hug each other and celebrate what a community we are, yay!)" and thus, there's a string of garland going along the whole sanctuary near the ceiling, and then the four candles are placed in (roughly, since the church is shaped like a semi-circle thing) the four corners. And thus half the time you can't even see the candle being lit, depending on where you're sitting, and half the time you have to twist around in your seat to watch it being lit, and man is it annoying. Made even more so by the fact that we have to sing this very very annoying kind of version of O Come O Come Emmanuel. It consists of these words: "Come, come, Emmanuel, come Emmanuel." (and then part of the choir or something sings some other words that even though they've been doing this for at least a good five years, I have yet really to figure out.) And we sing it like twenty times each Mass (of the four weeks, of course). I really hope that maybe this year they've gotten things back to normal, like just having a wreath at the front of the church where everyone can see it, and going back to the staple O Come O Come Emmanuel (I'm sure I'm misremembering, but I almost doubt whether we actually sing the real version at all during Advent. Which is dumb).
Ok sorry. I just wish...I wish things were different. I wish Holy Apostles had at least one Mass that was actually traditional. But it is what it is, and until (or unless) I make the break from it, I guess I just have to put up with it. (And for the record, I know that it's the Mass no matter what else is in it, and that's what matters--and that's true. But there's nothing wrong with wishing that we had the option of a traditional Mass, is there?)
Ok sorry. I just wish...I wish things were different. I wish Holy Apostles had at least one Mass that was actually traditional. But it is what it is, and until (or unless) I make the break from it, I guess I just have to put up with it. (And for the record, I know that it's the Mass no matter what else is in it, and that's what matters--and that's true. But there's nothing wrong with wishing that we had the option of a traditional Mass, is there?)
Saturday, December 02, 2006
Yeah Ice Age!
Ok, so has anyone seen the commercial for the Ice Age 2 DVD that they play during football games (I think probably just during football games) where it's that squirrel dude carrying his acorn or whatever, trying to get to land, jumping off of ice blocks or something, away from some sort of fish trying to eat him possibly. (Sorry, I haven't really watched it that closely, just heard it.) Anyway, it was just on, and they have like an "announcer" saying "It's [whatever his name is] at the 20, the 15, he could...go...all...the...way!" as the squirrel dude gets away from the water and such. And then, once he makes it, you can hear in the background some music--well next time you see that commercial, listen closely--it's the ND fight song! haha. how awesome. That kind of just made my day a little bit. Not entirely, but somewhat. hehe.
Random Saturday thoughts
Happy birthday Mom! You're the greatest!!!
I think I need to see Band of Brothers. I always hear how great it is, and I really want to see it. So maybe I'll see it within like five years or something. ha.
We got a lot more snow last night/today than I expected. Which of course makes me quite happy. I think it might be tapering off now, sadly, but hey I'll take what I can get. We got a good three or four inches, I think, on top of what was still here from Wednesday. I like snow.
Today I burned a CD my RA made the whole section freshman year. It has a lot of good songs on it, songs that I don't typically hear on the radio and stuff. And since there was some room left on the CD after I put those songs on it, I decided to put a few more of my favorites from other Christmas CDs, which then required me to take off a few of the songs I didn't like as much on the first CD, but yeah. So it's exciting. A Christmas CD with tons of my favorite Christmas songs. Not all of them (like, there's no Nat King Cole songs on there, but I have the whole CD of his stuff and I love all of them, and then there's like Kenny G who I also greatly enjoy and have his CDs), but yeah. Very exciting. The original mixed CD (which was one of my few Christmas CDs that got lost along with the rest of my CDs back in freshman year--stupid USPS) holds fond memories for me, as I remember listening to it late into the night as I worked on my last philo paper first semester freshman year, and despite the fact that it was nearing 5am or so, I was in good spirits because of a few of those songs--particularly, surprisingly, one by Garth Brooks. (I didn't waste much time in college getting to the whole procrastinate and have to pull an all nighter thing. Although, my typical "all nighters" usually do involve me getting an hour or two in the early morning, after finishing whatever paper and before my first class.) Good times.
Brady Quinn won the Johnny Unitas Award, which goes to the best senior QB in the nation. Screw Troy Smith (who is also a senior, by the way). We all know who the better person--and even QB--is. Stupid Heisman. No one even knows what it means anymore. Psh.
I love the Irish. Which reminds me, we got a good recruit yesterday who'll be starting in January (early entry, high school seniors with enough credits can come in January, a semester before they would otherwise, and thus they can do spring practice with the team and such). he's a running back, and apparently quite fast. So that's good for us. Good recruits are key right now for our team, as after this senior class leaves, we have very little depth. Not that we really had much this season, but yeah. 8 guys will be seniors next year. 8. (Not including seniors this year who are elligible to and do stay for their 5th year, which a few might do.) That's beyond crappy.
Anyway. Hey, it's Saturday and there's no Irish game on today, so I'm allowed to talk about something football-related, ok?
I guess that's all for now, folks.
I think I need to see Band of Brothers. I always hear how great it is, and I really want to see it. So maybe I'll see it within like five years or something. ha.
We got a lot more snow last night/today than I expected. Which of course makes me quite happy. I think it might be tapering off now, sadly, but hey I'll take what I can get. We got a good three or four inches, I think, on top of what was still here from Wednesday. I like snow.
Today I burned a CD my RA made the whole section freshman year. It has a lot of good songs on it, songs that I don't typically hear on the radio and stuff. And since there was some room left on the CD after I put those songs on it, I decided to put a few more of my favorites from other Christmas CDs, which then required me to take off a few of the songs I didn't like as much on the first CD, but yeah. So it's exciting. A Christmas CD with tons of my favorite Christmas songs. Not all of them (like, there's no Nat King Cole songs on there, but I have the whole CD of his stuff and I love all of them, and then there's like Kenny G who I also greatly enjoy and have his CDs), but yeah. Very exciting. The original mixed CD (which was one of my few Christmas CDs that got lost along with the rest of my CDs back in freshman year--stupid USPS) holds fond memories for me, as I remember listening to it late into the night as I worked on my last philo paper first semester freshman year, and despite the fact that it was nearing 5am or so, I was in good spirits because of a few of those songs--particularly, surprisingly, one by Garth Brooks. (I didn't waste much time in college getting to the whole procrastinate and have to pull an all nighter thing. Although, my typical "all nighters" usually do involve me getting an hour or two in the early morning, after finishing whatever paper and before my first class.) Good times.
Brady Quinn won the Johnny Unitas Award, which goes to the best senior QB in the nation. Screw Troy Smith (who is also a senior, by the way). We all know who the better person--and even QB--is. Stupid Heisman. No one even knows what it means anymore. Psh.
I love the Irish. Which reminds me, we got a good recruit yesterday who'll be starting in January (early entry, high school seniors with enough credits can come in January, a semester before they would otherwise, and thus they can do spring practice with the team and such). he's a running back, and apparently quite fast. So that's good for us. Good recruits are key right now for our team, as after this senior class leaves, we have very little depth. Not that we really had much this season, but yeah. 8 guys will be seniors next year. 8. (Not including seniors this year who are elligible to and do stay for their 5th year, which a few might do.) That's beyond crappy.
Anyway. Hey, it's Saturday and there's no Irish game on today, so I'm allowed to talk about something football-related, ok?
I guess that's all for now, folks.
December? Already?
Dudes, did you know that it's December? As in, there's only 30 days left in the year, and then we're on to 2007. Which sounds so much more appealing as a year number than 2006. Don't ask me why. I think sometimes I prefer odd numbers. And yet, sometimes I don't...hm. Weird. (Kind of like how sometimes I think I really like the voice and sound and style of Christian music, and sometimes I absolutely dislike it a lot. Which doesn't make any sense. But neither do I.) But yeah. December. Crazy. But in a good way. I like December. Especially when it snows.
Everyone's away messages today, those at school I mean, seemed to be referencing the "crappy" weather. And I, while sitting here in sickeningly sunny Colorado Springs, couldn't help but wish that I had that weather. Ok, truth be told, I couldn't help but wish that I was there. Which then led me to go to the ND website and go to those live webcams they have (there's one looking at the Dome/Basilica, and north quad, and south quad, and Stonehenge, and Debartolo quad, and in a few computer clusters, and maybe a few others), and the second I clicked on the first one--the one with the Dome--I just desperately wanted to be there so so badly. It was so lovely, made even more so by the fact that it was cloudy--something about that just made it seem so much more, I don't know, homey or something like that. Every once in awhile, I have a day or two where I just want to beat myself up for this semester. It sucks. But at least I know what I want, for once.
So, newsflash. I stress out about things way too much. There's currently a...let's just call it a "writing assignment" I must complete ASAP. It's something that really shouldn't be that difficult, but me being who I am, I'm making it difficult. One of those "Nothing I say is good enough, or appropriate enough, or just...right enough." And as a result I'm having no success in actually getting it done. It's not like a school thing, which I could easily enough just BS and immediately stop caring about it as soon as I turn it in. It's more important than that. And it's totally messing with my head in a very frustrating way. I hate feeling so inadequate. And yet I do so very much. Why I always feel that nothing I do is good enough is beyond me, but that's the way it is. Sigh.
Ha wow. People just continue to try and come up with the most ridiculous lawsuits. I just read an article about a woman who's suing Kraft because their guacamole isn't "avocado-y" enough. I mean seriously. Sue them because of that? Who would even think to do that? Geez. It's just...I don't even know what to say. Are there really people like this in the country? It's like you can sue for anything now. Stupid.
I'll be getting my hair cut soon. By soon, I mean in like a month or something. But I'm considering going shorter than I normally (or ever) have. Does anyone have any suggestions? I just don't know what would look good with like my face structure and whatnot. Hm...
Sometimes, I can't figure out how on earth people put up with me. My parents must be saints.
All righty, so next Friday (the 8th) is a holy day of obligation. (Which, for the record, is a phrase I hate using, the whole "obligation" thing making it seem like a chore or something, and it shouldn't be. But I digress.) I'm working 5:30-10:30 that night, when normally I would go to a holy day Mass at night. Although, the last time we had one I also had to work and thus my parents and I for some reason decided to go ridiculously early in the morning. (And then there was All Saint's Day, and I didn't go to Mass because I happened to feel like crap in addition to having pink eye...still feel a little guilty though.) Anyway. Michael tonight suggested I ask Cassy to switch with me, as she's closing Saturday night. So I could do that, or I could possibly just go to St. Mary's at the noon Mass. I don't know. We'll see.
Is there anything quite as beautiful or wonderful as a blanket of freshly falling snow late on a cold December night? I really don't think so. (Ok, maybe that's not true, but it's definitely up there.) In case you can't tell, I just checked outside and it is indeed snowing. And it's lovely. Quite lovely. So I will go to bed happy tonight.
Everyone's away messages today, those at school I mean, seemed to be referencing the "crappy" weather. And I, while sitting here in sickeningly sunny Colorado Springs, couldn't help but wish that I had that weather. Ok, truth be told, I couldn't help but wish that I was there. Which then led me to go to the ND website and go to those live webcams they have (there's one looking at the Dome/Basilica, and north quad, and south quad, and Stonehenge, and Debartolo quad, and in a few computer clusters, and maybe a few others), and the second I clicked on the first one--the one with the Dome--I just desperately wanted to be there so so badly. It was so lovely, made even more so by the fact that it was cloudy--something about that just made it seem so much more, I don't know, homey or something like that. Every once in awhile, I have a day or two where I just want to beat myself up for this semester. It sucks. But at least I know what I want, for once.
So, newsflash. I stress out about things way too much. There's currently a...let's just call it a "writing assignment" I must complete ASAP. It's something that really shouldn't be that difficult, but me being who I am, I'm making it difficult. One of those "Nothing I say is good enough, or appropriate enough, or just...right enough." And as a result I'm having no success in actually getting it done. It's not like a school thing, which I could easily enough just BS and immediately stop caring about it as soon as I turn it in. It's more important than that. And it's totally messing with my head in a very frustrating way. I hate feeling so inadequate. And yet I do so very much. Why I always feel that nothing I do is good enough is beyond me, but that's the way it is. Sigh.
Ha wow. People just continue to try and come up with the most ridiculous lawsuits. I just read an article about a woman who's suing Kraft because their guacamole isn't "avocado-y" enough. I mean seriously. Sue them because of that? Who would even think to do that? Geez. It's just...I don't even know what to say. Are there really people like this in the country? It's like you can sue for anything now. Stupid.
I'll be getting my hair cut soon. By soon, I mean in like a month or something. But I'm considering going shorter than I normally (or ever) have. Does anyone have any suggestions? I just don't know what would look good with like my face structure and whatnot. Hm...
Sometimes, I can't figure out how on earth people put up with me. My parents must be saints.
All righty, so next Friday (the 8th) is a holy day of obligation. (Which, for the record, is a phrase I hate using, the whole "obligation" thing making it seem like a chore or something, and it shouldn't be. But I digress.) I'm working 5:30-10:30 that night, when normally I would go to a holy day Mass at night. Although, the last time we had one I also had to work and thus my parents and I for some reason decided to go ridiculously early in the morning. (And then there was All Saint's Day, and I didn't go to Mass because I happened to feel like crap in addition to having pink eye...still feel a little guilty though.) Anyway. Michael tonight suggested I ask Cassy to switch with me, as she's closing Saturday night. So I could do that, or I could possibly just go to St. Mary's at the noon Mass. I don't know. We'll see.
Is there anything quite as beautiful or wonderful as a blanket of freshly falling snow late on a cold December night? I really don't think so. (Ok, maybe that's not true, but it's definitely up there.) In case you can't tell, I just checked outside and it is indeed snowing. And it's lovely. Quite lovely. So I will go to bed happy tonight.
Friday, December 01, 2006
Saint of the Year
So there's this thing I heard about, over at the blog A Catholic Life, and all you have to do is go over there, leave a comment, and you'll get a saint picked for you to be your patron saint, so to speak, for 2007. Sounds pretty cool to me, so I thought I'd put it up here in case any of (the very few of) you who read this want to participate as well.
Color me not impressed
So, we watched the rest of Gone with the Wind tonight. Now, perhaps I'm holding on to feelings that I've blindly felt for many years regarding this movie--namely, that I just had no desire to see it because I didn't think it'd be that good--but I wasn't terribly impressed by it. I don't know. I mean, it wasn't a bad movie obviously (it is a classic, after all), but I don't know. Scarlett's rather annoying (and yeah, I know, that's her character, and that's what the movie is, etc), and everyone dies and stuff, and I don't know. I guess I just prefer the movies that end happily, or perhaps with a rousing song number. haha. So maybe that's not true, but I don't know. Just not overly impressed. But that's the way things go sometimes.
Gar stress sucks. We just bought my tickets, roundtrip going to ND in January and coming back to CS in March for spring break. Pain. And then we also filled out the ND loan application thing, also an annoying pain. And we're trying to figure out JPW stuff (made so much more stressful because I didn't even hear about the ticket thing until the email we got this week, saying "Ticket applications are due no later than Dec. 4" which made me go, crap). And it's just stressful. We thought we could fax it, but apparently you can't, so we're going to have to mail it tomorrow and just hope it gets there Monday, or else we have to pay a $10 late fee (and possibly get crappier seats for the dinners and such). Anyway. It's just all even more things making me realize how much easier this all would have been (or even non-existant) had I just stayed at ND this semester. I've been cursing myself more and more for that stupid decision lately. Especially as I get more and more nervous about the room situation. It's just all tons of stress and crap that I really wish I didn't have to deal with. And of course about 75% of it centers around that lovely thing we all know as money. Stupid stupid necessary money. And it sucks. And there's a lot of guilt in there too. Much of which is related to the money thing.
Bleh.
It's amazing how much little purchases can accumulate. Sucks.
Another waste of an appointment at Foy's today. Went, he "showed" me how I should be attempting to get my retainer in my mouth, shortly thereafter I realized that I can't logically see how my retainer is anything but slightly smaller than the regular invisalign I've been wearing for months now. Hence the retainer not fitting. Oh well.
I'm about to fall asleep on the couch. Bedtime.
Gar stress sucks. We just bought my tickets, roundtrip going to ND in January and coming back to CS in March for spring break. Pain. And then we also filled out the ND loan application thing, also an annoying pain. And we're trying to figure out JPW stuff (made so much more stressful because I didn't even hear about the ticket thing until the email we got this week, saying "Ticket applications are due no later than Dec. 4" which made me go, crap). And it's just stressful. We thought we could fax it, but apparently you can't, so we're going to have to mail it tomorrow and just hope it gets there Monday, or else we have to pay a $10 late fee (and possibly get crappier seats for the dinners and such). Anyway. It's just all even more things making me realize how much easier this all would have been (or even non-existant) had I just stayed at ND this semester. I've been cursing myself more and more for that stupid decision lately. Especially as I get more and more nervous about the room situation. It's just all tons of stress and crap that I really wish I didn't have to deal with. And of course about 75% of it centers around that lovely thing we all know as money. Stupid stupid necessary money. And it sucks. And there's a lot of guilt in there too. Much of which is related to the money thing.
Bleh.
It's amazing how much little purchases can accumulate. Sucks.
Another waste of an appointment at Foy's today. Went, he "showed" me how I should be attempting to get my retainer in my mouth, shortly thereafter I realized that I can't logically see how my retainer is anything but slightly smaller than the regular invisalign I've been wearing for months now. Hence the retainer not fitting. Oh well.
I'm about to fall asleep on the couch. Bedtime.
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