Special K and Coffee
I don't really know why you'd be here. I mean, I know I'm the single most interesting person, but don't you people have lives? Really, it's quite sad.
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Thursday, September 30, 2004
Or not
I don't like politics. I used to think I did, but that turned out to be just a silly teenage girl who liked a guy who liked politics. However, being the good and patriotic U.S. citizen that I am, I will force myself to sit through the presidential debate tonight in order to make a possibly more informed decision come November. But hear this: I am not in the least bit happy about CSI not being on.
So then your car is running on pity?
My poor car did something today that it's never done before. It died. Twice. And was hard to restart. However, I think this may be related to something else it has done and also did today. Every couple of weeks it seems, it decides to throw a fit when I'm trying to accelerate. I think it doing that right when I started driving it for the first time today was the reason behind it just up and dying twice. And I'm pretty sure it's some sort of engine/fuel line problem. Based on suggestions and questions from the car-savvy men in my life and my inexperience, my guess is the fuel injectors (at least), but my hope would be the fuel filter. And I still wonder what that noise is it keeps making....I'd be happy if that's caused by the same thing and it's all really easy and cheap to fix. So after today I have decided 1) I really want my dad to drive it for a little while soon because I'm the only one who's experienced the "quirks", and 2) I should probably take it to someone professional and have them figure out the problem and give me a horrifying estimate that will cause me much grief and thinking about what to do from here.
Good news, though, I am not delivering phonebooks. I do, however, start a full-time job tomorrow morning at 7. More about all that tomorrow, though. It's time for CSI. :-)
Wednesday, September 29, 2004
Every day should be this good
I heard from Midwest Industries this morning. As I expected, they have no further interest in me for the position I applied for. However, it was not all bad news. Jeff (that's the other guy's name and he's the HR Manager) told me that they will likely be moving someone up from within the company, and with that being the case, he and John discussed my qualifications for the position that person would be leaving. I believe it had to do with advertising. He said he couldn't make any promises, but they would be keeping me in mind and possibly contacting me about that later on. I am, again, not getting my hopes up, but it was nice to hear.
Apparently I love the delivering. Actually, that's what most of the very temporary employment around here is. I have a meeting tomorrow at 1pm to learn more about delivering the Yellow Book phone directories around town. I'm guessing this will pay more than All American Turf Beauty, at least I hope it does. :-)
I also called some restaurants today, not in Ames. Most of them, not surprisingly, are not hiring and especially not full-time. Some, however, are sending me applications or told me to stop in a fill one out anyway or took my name and number to keep me in mind for if something opens. It never hurts to try. And it was really fun with some of the places where I'd give my name and I'd get a response of, "oh, are you related to...?" Yes, yes, I am. Nice people, those ones. Some, however, were a bit more crabby and sounded like they'd smoked a carton too many cigarettes today. ;-)
It is all of 69 degrees outside. How amazing is that? I love this time of year. I parked farther away from the library than necessary just so that I could walk farther in this beautiful weather (and not have to feed a meter). It's just such a happy day out and I have a good feeling about all the uncertainties in my life right now--not that that probably means anything, but I feel good about it and I like the days I feel that way (I usually get more done, too :-)). I think it's Erin. Talking to her always makes me feel better because she gets me. And on an Erin note, with 18 mintues of time left on this computer, I'm going to give up those 18 minutes to drink some coffee and read the paper before getting ready to scrub down a cinderblock wall in the basement at church. [Aside for Beth-Annie: you know that scary room? The one where the florescent lightbulbs are kept. I get to paint that. And did you know it has a window? It's not quite as scary anymore. ;-)]
Tuesday, September 28, 2004
Hey, for $42, they can call me whatever they want.
I got my first check today from All American Turf Beauty. It was for a whole lot more than I expected and was made out to "Carlene Watzel." I pointed this problem out to the teller at First National and she told me it should be fine and to sign it like normal, so that's what I did.
Carlene Watzel. I kinda like it. Mandy said it sounds like I'm from the South. Finally talked to that girl on the phone today and I still have no idea what half of the things that were going on in that house were, but it sure sounded fun. Except for the gas leak. I hope that got fixed quickly. I also talked to my Erin tonight. I miss her so much and it was almost like I was sitting on her bed with a cup of coffee in my hands again. Almost, but not quite. She and Andrew will probably be somewhere in Minnesota after they get married and I sure hope it's near the Iowa border. :-) And now I'm waiting to hear back from Meg about possibly seeing her this weekend. I really hope so because it's been too long and I think she needs to get out of Mt. Pleasant for something other than work. :-)
Monday, September 27, 2004
How many ladders does it take to change a lightbulb?
The Lord works in mysterious ways all right. I just sent off my resume for a job in St. Louis, MO.
Sunday, September 26, 2004
"You're twentysomething and in the prime of your life. You are current, capable, cosmopolitan--and completely confused."
I don't know about "cosmopolitan" to describe me, or necessarily "current" but the rest rings so true that I can't wait to start reading this book. It's called Twentysomething: Surviving and Thriving in the Real World and it's by Margaret Feinberg. The library is looking into buying it for me.
So in the mean time, here's what I will be reading instead:
Ride the River by Louis L'Amour
Wolves at Our Door: The Extraordinary Story of the Couple Who Lived With Wolves by Jim and Jamie Dutcher
Firefighters: Their Lives in Their Own Words by Dennis Smith
And I still need to finish Fire of Heaven by Bill Myers.
I also have a lot of books on XHTML, DHTML, CSS, and Java/Javascript, but those are more for playing with. :-)
I really missed reading for pure enjoyment in college. I tried to fit it in sometimes, but it usually got forgotten (which is why I'm still making my way through the Fire of Heaven Trilogy :-)). And I've started becoming an impulse borrower at the library...so far I have yet to be disappointed and it's a lot cheaper (most times, that is ;-)) than being an impulse buyer. :-)
Friday, September 24, 2004
I think I'd shoot myself if we lived in a world where everyone was the same
A couple of nights ago a good friend of mine told me that, if it were her, she would go wherever her dream job was. I've heard that from a lot of people and more power to them. I see absolutely nothing wrong with that if you have a dream job in mind, but the flaw in that thinking comes when you don't know exactly what you'd like to do (or you're missing very important ingredients for the one thing you do know you'd like to do and there's nothing you can really do about it). I fall into that category and that's ok, but I think it can make things more difficult to figure out. So I've focused mostly on places I think I'd like to live and am truly open to just about any job I could get. The two real jobs I've had in my life were almost identical and the one-month stint with ISU Dining two years ago was a refreshing change, so I'm definitely up for trying something new and different. The part of me that just got a college degree is keeping me looking at jobs related to that degree, which is fine and, if I ever got one of those jobs, a more financially secure route to take. But the part of me that just wants a change is about to start calling restaurants and shops inquiring about possible job openings that may not be advertised anywhere that I can find online. And in the midst of this, I'm dealing with some people looking at me like I'm on crack, some people completely understanding, and some people pushing me toward a job at my church that I used to think I would jump at. I know their intentions are all good and I feel crazy for not wanting it, but no matter how hard I try, it's just not there. Stepping out on my own is what I need. Amazing things happened in Greenville because of that and staying in Ames and especially at church is not stepping out on my own.
My friend Dana has this book that she's reading that I wish I could remember the title of because I want to read it. It's a Christian book about being in your 20s and completely unsure of what to do next. I'm going to track it down if I can (or borrow it from her if she's done :-)) and I'll tell you what I find out from it.
In other "Isn't My Life Fun" news.....I caught another bass last night at Ada Hayden and had a nice little chat with a grandpa and his grandson. Got a rejection letter from the Pocahontas County Economic Development Commission, typed on a very bad typewriter. I have more flyers to deliver--at my request because I'm crazy and have this need to finish the entire assigned area. And I got summoned to jury duty beginning November 2nd, if I'm still around.
Monday, September 20, 2004
It's not worth the pay, but worth doing once in life
Several weeks ago I saw a classified ad in the Ames Tribune that said "WALKERS WANTED." It intrigued me, so I called and ended up agreeing to deliver 500 flyers to houses in our area for a measly $0.05 per flyer. When I got the flyers they told me I could probably deliver to some other neighborhoods in town if I wanted after I finished with this area. At the time I thought I would possibly take them up on that. After the time I've spent doing this so far, however, I have come to the conclusion that it's not worth the pay. It might possibly be if it were at least doubled, but not for the $25-30 I'll be getting out of this.
For the Amesians (or former Amesians) who read my blog, here is where I walked today: down Ontario [not delivering yet] and up Minnesota to Kingman Rd. [where I had to catch just a few houses I missed last Thursday], then back down Kingman and Minnesota. [Now starts all the delivering] All the circles off Ontario to the north, plus the few houses actually on Ontario, then back down Ontario along the south side while also catching all the streets that run between Ontario and Ross Road [heading south on the east side, then back north on the west, then west another block on Ontario and repeat], then down Garfield to Ross Road, then down Ross to Hyland, then back up Ross to Garfield. I stopped delivering at that point and focused solely on getting home because I wasn't sure my legs were going to take me even that far and I certainly couldn't keep tacking on the walking up peoples' walks or driveways and all that. I truly stopped for a break only once and it was toward the end and involved a lot of water from the drinking fountain and sitting down and putting my legs up for a bit on one of the picnic tables at Emma McCarthy Lee Park. I'm taking water with me tomorrow.
I've learned some interesting things, though... first of all, I discovered where our [now retired] family doctor and his wife live. Some people actually lock their storm doors and some don't even have storm doors...I find that so odd. There are some houses back in Kingman Heights that look like they should be in soap operas, with gates and gardens with fountains and brick paths that you have to walk through to get to the front door. Veenker Golf Course is adjacent to Kingman Heights and there's a path to it from there. I just never realized it was that close before, and today I even saw a guy drive his own golf cart down the road to go play golf. Must be nice to have money, wish I knew what it was like. :-) There are some really awesome houses (not necessarily big, but interesting) all over this area of town that I wouldn't mind owning at all--especially along Ross Road. Someone privately owns part of the woods back there--I want privately owned woods! There are some cool duplexes/condos (not sure which they'd be considered) back behind a regular house on the north side of Ontario near Hyland. The playground equipment Molly and I would sometimes sit and talk on at Emma McCarthy Lee is gone. There's an ally in the middle of one of the blocks down there! I didn't think there were any allys (allies?) in town except in the downtown/historic district area. Dogs are apparently about as fond of me as I am of them.* I have never been so barked at in my life. And finally, if, when I eventually have my own residence (like, much later in life), I see a college-age girl delivering flyers around the neighborhood, I think I might just offer her a little break and something cold to drink just because I've been there now. One woman did see me coming and actually came to the door to take the flyer instead of just letting me stick it in the door. Let me tell you, it's a very strange feeling to deliver a flyer to a house that has the door open because it's nice outside. It feels almost like an invasion of privacy, but that's not quite right...it's just weird.
Oh, and I experienced the coolest thing today! Minnesota goes over the railroad tracks that run half a block north of our house. As I started walking down Minnesota toward Kingman Heights, I could hear that a train was coming. I wasn't too worried about missing all of it because I know how long trains on those tracks always are (it's been a long time since I've counted fewer than 100 cars, for those who wouldn't know specifically what I'm talking about :-)), but I picked up my pace anyway. When I got onto the bridge, I stood directly over the train rushing underneath me and I could see an endless string of cars to the west and the east. I always wonder what's in the cars that are passing me by and, from my vantage point directly above this particular train, I could tell: absolutely nothing. They were empty! Every last one of them. Now, just the train rushing by beneath me was cool enough, but the coolest thing was that there was an engine on the very end of the train. I don't know how many of you actually know all that much about train engines--I myself know much less than I would actually like to, but I happen to know that there is a reader who may best be able to appreciate this (without actually experiencing it first-hand) who has parked for lunch in a place where he could look at a certain parked engine (can't remember which anymore) and has compared the dual exhaust on his truck to the sound of an idling train engine--so I will try to explain what made the engine so much cooler than the rest of the train. I guess it was simply just the powerful sound an engine has plus a big blast of warm air. Like I said, I don't know how many of you can fully understand that, but it was awesome!
*I have come far when it comes to dogs. The fear has become more of simply a dislike and, truly, if a dog leaves me alone, I'm fine with him. I've even come so far as to realize that I would probably be ok with my future husband wanting a dog--depending on the dog (i.e. no little yappers :-P) and under conditions. ;-) From this I could launch into another post about some things that have been on my mind, but this is already quite long and it's getting pretty late. :-)
Friday, September 17, 2004
The Friday Timeline...I'd do it again :-)
6:30 - woke up....talked myself into getting out of bed and getting dressed
7:45 - left for the Kum & Go on the corner of Lincoln Way and North/South Dakota to get coffee because I was too lazy to find and grind non-decaf beans in this house.
8:03 - got home, drank coffee, wrote out things I wanted to remember
8:50 - prayed....calmed myself
9:02 - phone rang....talked to John and that other guy for about half an hour, feeling mostly relaxed about it
9:27 - closed my portfolio, laid my head down on it, and breathed
9:40 - talked to 'rents briefly about the interview before they headed off to work
9:50 - daily routine of checking job boards, blogs, and email
10:06 - wrote previous post, but saved it for later out of suspense ;-)
10:45 - realized I had a CD overdue at the library
11:00 - got ready to go to work, the library, and Wal-Mart
11:45 - worked
1:00 - went to the library and parked on a side street behind a very familiar car with a University of Northern Iowa parking pass
1:30 - read moM's longer poem about yesterday
1:45 - read Bill's post about premarital counseling and just about died laughing right in the library computer lab because I can see him looking like a deer caught in headlights
2:00 - chatted with my dear friend Tracy (owner of aforementioned car :-)) at the circulation desk, who I have seen more in the past month alone than in the past two years
2:15 - went to Wal-Mart to redeem a buy one get one free Pepsi cap because they have the cheapest 20-oz bottles in town to the best of my knowledge
2:25 - sat in my car in the Wal-Mart parking lot debating what to do next as my windshield started gathering sprinkles
2:30 - turned off U.S. Highway 69 into Ada Hayden Park (aka Halletts' Quarry, Beth ;-)) just in time to see two simultaneous bolts of lightning to the northwest
2:35 - sat myself down on the boat dock and started casting my line...saw a fishy chase my lure, but seemed to be more out of curiosity, then I realized I could see a whole bunch of fishies swimming all around the dock...mostly laughing at me, I think
3:00 - was about ready to head home for the rest of the afternoon when I felt a big jerk on my pole as I was reeling my lure in and I thought I'd caught it on something, but then it started moving--stronger than any of the fish I'd ever caught before, so I started reeling in faster and to my surprise I had caught about a 10" smallmouth bass! I wasn't sure my poor little pole would be able to bring him in, but I managed to get it done. He was my only bite of the day, but then I wasn't out very long.
3:15 - packed up and headed home through the rain on my favorite back country roads north of Ames
4:00 - read for fun--I missed that in college :-)
6:00 - supper and Friends
7:00 - Gilmore Girls because I couldn't take anything else that was on
8:00 - Reba :-)
[The rest was pretty boring, except we did get a somewhat nice thunderstorm through around 7 or 7:30 and the sky looked really cool. :-)]
"Um, you're not an engineer."
My mother can be so encouraging sometimes. No, seriously, she can, but it's hit and miss. Last night was a miss but at least she's usually supportive if nothing else. Afterall, I did get an interview without that engineering background, didn't I? That definitely counts for something.
So feelings after this morning's chat with John and [can't remember the other guy's name :-)]....I think it went pretty well even with the fact that I'm not good at thinking on my feet in situations like that (Exhibit A: Susan's and my debate, which we won--miraculously, but after which Prof. Ross can be quoted as saying, "Karleen, what happened?" Yep, clumsy me.). I'm great at writing because it gives me time to collect my thoughts and rearrange or reword them if needed. I did like the phone aspect of it for that reason: I had some things written down and that did help. Be all that as it may, I will be shocked speechless if I make it to round two, which is an in-person interview. I should know either way in no less than a week, probably a little longer.
Thursday, September 16, 2004
How to eat your food without touching it
That's how moM and I ate lunch today because we forgot to bring something with us to the lake to wash our hands of worm guts. (That's still what I see when I close my eyes, too, and I can still feel 'em squirmin' in my hand. I may have interesting dreams tonight. ;-)) It was a gorgeous day for fishing and I have a beautiful farmer's tan/burn to show for it, complete with a white stripe around my left wrist from my watch. I also am proud to say that I caught 10 fish. Between the two of us, we caught 23 fish using 24 nightcrawlers (lures weren't workin' today) and that's a pretty good ratio if you ask us. :-) Although, they did eat more of the worms off our hooks than got caught on the hooks...they're sneaky little rascals at McFarland Park. I vote for doing it again sometime--afterall, a fishing license is too expensive to use only once and who would want to anyway? :-D Thanks for a great day, Sue. [And we definitely need to disc golf again, too :-)]
In other news, briefly, I have a job interview tomorrow morning. A real one, not a stop in unannounced in a t-shirt and jeans one. However, I will likely still be in my pajamas because it's a phone interview. And I'm more nervous about this one than I was about the one at BVU because I was completely qualified (and then some) for that job. This time, however, I am underqualified and they know that. And it's going to be multiple guys I've never had any contact with because the HR director set up my interview or their secretary or whoever she was. I know I can do the job, but it doesn't change the fact that I don't have the minimum training the job posting said was "required" and I know they know that and I know they know I said I'd take classes, but it still has me a teensy bit freaked. Pray for me would ya? Especially around 9:00 tomorrow morning....I gotta go get myself prepared (I much preferred the 2hr drive and sitting by the lake I got before my BVU interview...kept me calm :-)). I'll let ya'll know how it goes.
Saturday, September 11, 2004
Musings and Memories
After work a couple of days ago I decided to just sit in the backyard of Memorial for a little while because it was beautiful weather and I didn't want to go home yet. My mind instantly started remembering silly little things about that yard from my lifetime...the old fireplace we used to play on...the VBS picnics...Phil shooting off bottle rockets to try to scare away the crows...laying on a blanket falling asleep while attempting to read for class...playing frisbee with Phil in my barefeet on the freshly mowed lawn...being thrown in the snow after Bible study by Phil and Dave while some guy I didn't know very well yet took a very dark picture.... and I thought of all the great moments from my sophomore year...more frisbee on central campus....hours of not studying at church....pool at the union and Phil's obligatory video games he knew I'd watch him play....Worms--oh my goodness, Worms, how I miss you so....poking Nate through Business Law....playing hangman on my calculator with Nate during Intro Psych and right after in Macro Economics all the way across campus....Levi trying to scare me with his impersonation of a raptor while I'd be studying at the desk in the lounge....a spontaneous trip to Omaha for hanging out with a good high school friend disguised by ISU/Nebraska basketball games....the Independence Bowl crazy trip to Louisiana.....the PFR concert crazy trip to Minnesota and back to sing with PHS the next morning....movies and more movies with Phil and Sharon and Jessica and Levi and....so much fun and just goofing off randomly. Now, I did have just as much fun and random goofing off at Greenville, but it was much calmer and less active overall--taking Phil out of the equation always is. ;-) And I would never say that I regret going to Greenville because I don't in the least. Extremely good things and friends have come out of those two years. But sometimes I just wonder how things might be different if I hadn't. And I know there's no use or point in wondering about it, but it sneaks up on me every once in a while and I've certainly had a lot of thinking time and changes lately to prompt it.
On just such a topic, I'm bored and tired of this. I have sent out at least a dozen resumes with three, soon to be four, negative responses and only one interview. One place I know for sure isn't hiring right now because I called, but she told me to send my resume anyway and she would keep it on file. Another place had already hired someone, but wasn't sure if they'd stay, so told me to send my resume anyway. I check classifieds and job boards at least once a day and usually multiple times a day even though I know that most of them are only updated once a day, if that. This is one reason I'm really hoping that I can get that job at the soil lab (which I still haven't heard back on) so that I feel like I'm doing something productive, except for the fact that I fear my car is slowly dying on me and there's not much I can do about it, so I hope the driving to Nevada each day wouldn't make it go downhill much more rapidly.
I am very ready to move on and get on with my life. I'm tired of my life being packed away in boxes. Almost my entire wardrobe, my CDs, my books, my movies, my pictures, my everything has been packed away in boxes since May 23rd and I don't know when I'll get to see it all again, but I have a feeling it will be a very emotional time for me with how crazy it's making me right now that it's sitting around in stupid boxes not being used until I finally find a job and finally get an apartment. [Get ready for what writing too many papers in college can do to a person. ;-)] And then there's my life, which is driving me more crazy than my stuff. My life is, if you will, packed away in boxes, too, just waiting for whenever it gets to be used. Things I wanna do, places I wanna go, people I wanna see, chances I wanna take...all waiting until I have the resources (be that money or people or whatever) to do these things and at times I feel like it's all just wasting away and I'll never get there, but I know that it just takes time. And I'm usually a very patient person, but my patience is just about shot where all this is concerned. I can't even afford to go out and buy myself fishing gear so that I can finally use that dumb fishing license I perhaps foolishly spent the money on at the beginning of the summer when I thought the summer was going to go differently. Unless of course moM would like to go fishing sometime (and has the gear, of course ;-)) as she hinted to in the comments a few weeks back. If not, I'll just keep sittin' on the dock of the bay dreamin' my life away...I'm good at that. :-D
Crazy shared thought of the day (most likely glamorified by Luke's [and perhaps Reba McEntire and maybe a little Jeanne Noack and my mom]): Waitressing in a small diner-type place in a small town...I'm not kidding, I've been looking into it. I think it'd be fun. I also think it'd be fun to be Luke, except for the whole being a guy thing. ;-)
I have no idea if any of that made any sense at all. :-)
Tuesday, September 07, 2004
Three questions I was asked today during a job interview
1) Do you have a problem with washing dishes?
I instantly thought of the quote from Gilmore Girls about Lorelai that I liked to use at school when I would be doing dishes because it is often true of me: "She likes washing dishes, too. She's multi-faceted abnormal." Beth learned this about me when they lived in Schilletter (I'm never sure I'm spelling that correctly, and that looks very wrong) Village and didn't have a dishwasher, except in the form of me whenever I would visit. The dishroom was also my favorite place to work during the few weeks I worked for ISUDining in August 2002. All that said, I basically just responded that I definitely had no problem washing dishes. She said one of the previous people she's hired (or was going to hire) told her she didn't like putting her hands in water.
2) How do you feel about early mornings?
I responded to this with a question and a big smile: "Exactly how early would 'early' be?" Then she told me 6 or 7 in the morning. I told her that I love early in the morning, as long as I have coffee, and she said they're never without out coffee there and her husband doesn't let her leave for work without coffee because "he wouldn't do that to the other people on the road."
3) Do you have a problem with getting dirty?
Response for this one: "No, not at all. I changed my own oil and filter in my car last night." Then she told me she just had to ask because one woman she hired once told her during the 10 o'clock break on the first day, "I didn't realize I would get so dirty," and quit. [Aside about the oil change: really fun, but it took me a while this morning to realize why I'm sore in such strange places today. ;-)]
So you're probably all wondering about this mystery job that I easily interviewed for walking in off the street in jeans and a t-shirt with a very non-applicable resume. The MVTL Soil Laboratory in Nevada is looking for some temporary full-time lab technicians (aka helpers :-)) with no experience necessary. And I need money. More than Memorial (which I will also still do), bless its little heart, is getting me. So I drove to Nevada after calling this morning to inquire a little more about the job which had been listed in the Tribune. I filled out an application and talked a while with the manager. She's very talkative and easy-going, which is always a plus in my book, and was very understanding of my situation. I was up-front about it all: I told her that I'm just looking for something temporary while I look for a permanent job and may occasionally want to take a day off for an interview and may not even be able to stay with her until December. She said that as long as she had enough warning, she could roll with just about anything and hopes that I can find what I'm looking for but not until December for her sake. It wasn't a definite thing to get this job, but she said she'd let me know either way by Friday and it really sounded rather promising when I left. And I think it sounds fun. Really makes me, again, rethink that whole geology thing, though.
------
Word of the Day
Lambasting.
*sigh* What would I do without you, Eric? The voice of reason in the wilderness. You're awesome. :-D
Monday, September 06, 2004
Tornados don't freak me out as much as they probably should
I drove to Dana's apartment last night while we were under a tornado warning. I knew full well that the warning had been issued. I also had been watching detailed radar on TV to make sure I wouldn't actually be in danger. The sirens never went off here in Ames because the radar-indicated possible tornados were south and east of town. It was fun and I did have to talk myself out of a little storm chasing, actually, but Dana and I had a really good night and really good conversation. I needed it. :-)
And now that the cold front has gone through, it is gorgeous weather out for Labor Day so I'm determined to spend some good time outside (and get paid for it!). Get out and have some fun!!
Sunday, September 05, 2004
Happiness
So I've had just about the suckiest week known to man. Today, however, is my mom's birthday (for which, of course, I forgot to buy a card, and I have no idea what might be going on because I'm never told anything in this house), and my dear old roommate Dana and I are getting together for a girls' night. What will that involve, you ask? Movies. Popcorn. Wine coolers. Relaxing. And definitely no boys. :-D
Cheers! :-)
Friday, September 03, 2004
Word of the day
Fianceed.
Shannon, you rock. :-D
Thursday, September 02, 2004
"What d'ya mean by 'wacky'?"
I've had a strange night....strange day, in fact. Something's happening with me and I'm just not sure exactly what. I don't know, maybe it's cabin fever or something. I'm really sick of not having a real job and the repair bill for my car really stung today. Sure, there are things in Ames I could try for, but it's difficult to express how much I need to not be here and I feel like working one of those places knowing that I wouldn't even slow down in my job search away from Ames seems unfair to them and to people here who would like that job and would like to stay in Ames. I have been strangely open and blunt about some things tonight with a couple different people and I'm on the fence about some others (things, not people :-)). Interesting realizations are coming to me in many areas of life and they are by no means painless, nor do they make situations and life easier for me, but I know it's good. I just kind of wish tomorrow weren't Friday. And I know you all wish I weren't speaking in a foreign language, but there are some people who deserve a one-on-one conversation and a private, personal chance to make judgements before I open it up to the whole world's scrutiny. I'm not sure when it'll all happen, but I think I've decided that it will. I just need the right words and a whole lot of courage and prayer.
Wednesday, September 01, 2004
Dreams imitating life or life imitating dreams?
I cannot remember a single good dream from last night and the only dream I can remember anymore was one where my dad crashed my car, which is really strange because I'm not sure he's ever had an accident in his life.
I was in a good mood when I went to bed last night--feeling beaten down by the job search, but otherwise happy and with plans to send off a cover letter and resume this morning and get all sorts of other things done. So I get up and shower this morning and end up with not a lot of time before the noon dispatch of mail in which I wanted to get said cover letter and resume because time is not to be wasted where those things are concerned. I still had to print off my letter, which I had written last night. No big deal, my printer's all set up, ready to go, I have plenty of paper and I can drive myself downtown and still make it. I'm gathering up my keys, purse, and chapstick as the letter prints and I grab it when it finishes only to find that halfway through printing, my ink started to run out. I do not have a fix for this short of running to Wal-Mart and spending money I don't have. I have an extra color cartridge, but not black. There went my chance to get it in the mail this morning. So I ran to Wal-Mart, spent that money, came back here and printed off a good copy of the letter, then headed right back out to the post office. Who knows, maybe I was lucky and they were running an hour behind schedule.
So I'm super stressed about all that and my patience is so thin for all this stupid job searching crap anyway and to top it all off my car started acting up. I pray it's nothing serious because I don't even have the money for this car right now (and it was a STEAL), let alone having to find something else or an expensive repair. So I'm hoping that sitting by its lonesome for a few hours will have done it some good and I'll talk to my dad about it tonight. Wouldn't it be just my luck for this to be that supposed transmission problem finally rearing its ugly head? That'd be hilarious.
Well, it would have been a beautiful day to sit out at the pool....preferrably with some nice cold drink. But since Carr Pool wasn't open because school's started again, I didn't have anyone to go with, and I'm sure they don't allow (let alone sell!) those cold drinks, I decided to try a cure that has so often worked over the past couple of years: Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, Grace Kelly, Celeste Holm, and Louis Armstrong....and I feel much better now and ready to take on whatever the evening throws at me, which should just be work and singing unless old dyny decides to throw a hissy-fit again. :-)
OK, some fun: What movie did I watch this afternoon? (Beth is not allowed to answer, although I'm not sure how much she's seen it...it's one of the few movies the Greenville Public Library has.) And bonus points for anyone who can tell me without looking it up. :-)
And finally, some congrats: Elizabeth, for grad school in Philadelphia....looking forward to the wedding! Mandy and Tyler.....looking forward to that wedding, too!! I may make a Shawnee camping trip out of it. :-D And my sister Sarah for getting into the highest jazz vocal group at SWCC and singing at Carnegie Hall in New York this coming spring. :-) And to everyone who started classes today....you don't know how lucky you are, but no, I will not do your homework for you. :-)
