my cousin has his own article on wikipedia.
weird.
25 October 2007
23 October 2007
ladies and gentlemen, my sister:
spacegirl: did I tell you that I decided to go with Minnie Mouse for the RUF hayride?
spacegirl: go as Minnie Mouse
spacegirl: not with Minnie Mouse
spacegirl: I don't know Minnie Mouse
spacegirl: yes, I remember now that I did tell you that
eirelady: you need to get more sleep
spacegirl: no, i took a nap today
spacegirl: I just need to not be dumb
spacegirl: there's a difference
spacegirl: go as Minnie Mouse
spacegirl: not with Minnie Mouse
spacegirl: I don't know Minnie Mouse
spacegirl: yes, I remember now that I did tell you that
eirelady: you need to get more sleep
spacegirl: no, i took a nap today
spacegirl: I just need to not be dumb
spacegirl: there's a difference
22 October 2007
big brother is watching
so i got a letter from my IRA people today, which had my new address on it. i never gave them my new address. but somehow they know it.
should this worry me somewhat?
should this worry me somewhat?
nothing better to do
so i'm sitting at work with nothing to do. fairly normal occurrence, really. see, i have one of those positions where what i do is vital to the operation of the company but they can never predict when it is, exactly, that they are going to need me to do it. and if they need it done and i'm not here, there is a problem. so i spend a lot of time sitting around. like now.
i went to gcc for homecoming a few weekends ago, and it was awesome. it was refreshing to drive in a big city that isn't laid out like a gigantic checkerboard. i had forgotten how much i absolutely love pittsburgh - the old neighborhoods, the crazy streets, the bridges, the restaurants, the rivers. the city truly has it's own unique culture. so often cities end up just being loosely connected confederations of separate cultural elements that just happen to be located in the same general area. but not pittsburgh. it is a city of people unified around steelers football, bad weather, refusal to use the verb to be, iron city beer, and a shared history of turn of the century opulence combined with blue-collar labor in the steel mills. the city has not only managed to transcend typical ethnic and cultural separations without losing the individual elements that make those different groups interesting, but it has taken the best of those elements and interwoven them into the shared culture of the city itself. and it is so rare to find a group of people who have so much pride in their city. you don't have people from all over the country living there for jobs. they are born and bred in the steel city, and they are proud of it. i love that about the city. when you are there, you can just feel the culture of the city surrounding you. it's like you can breathe it in. i would probably move there if it wasn't so cold in the winter.
i had a fantastic time at homecoming. i'm so glad i went. it was the first time i'd seen most of my friends since we graduated. i spent friday night on a band bus and at a high school football game (this is what happens when all of your friends are music ed majors). i was at the college all day saturday. it was funny being back, because it definitely did not feel like i've been gone over a year. i talked to one of my professors for awhile, and he was very encouraging about my grad school venture including where i'm looking at applying, which was really great. i was able to catch up with a few of the kids who are still there. i realized that i only had two or three friends left there, which was strange. i didn't go into pew, but somehow i think it hasn't changed much. i spent saturday night and sunday morning hanging out with people in pittsburgh, and, consequently, driving around like a bat out of hell because i was trying to follow kevin all over the city. and he drives like a loon. i think i ran at least two stoplights, and jess and i saw our lives flash before our eyes when i had to cut across two lanes of traffic and immediately merge onto the highway because kevin decided at the very last second that he didn't really want to take the exit after all. sunday morning, dustin and i named ourselves Official Planners and Exalted Czars of the Music Major Cruise. i think it's actually going to happen, which is awesome.
i went to gcc for homecoming a few weekends ago, and it was awesome. it was refreshing to drive in a big city that isn't laid out like a gigantic checkerboard. i had forgotten how much i absolutely love pittsburgh - the old neighborhoods, the crazy streets, the bridges, the restaurants, the rivers. the city truly has it's own unique culture. so often cities end up just being loosely connected confederations of separate cultural elements that just happen to be located in the same general area. but not pittsburgh. it is a city of people unified around steelers football, bad weather, refusal to use the verb to be, iron city beer, and a shared history of turn of the century opulence combined with blue-collar labor in the steel mills. the city has not only managed to transcend typical ethnic and cultural separations without losing the individual elements that make those different groups interesting, but it has taken the best of those elements and interwoven them into the shared culture of the city itself. and it is so rare to find a group of people who have so much pride in their city. you don't have people from all over the country living there for jobs. they are born and bred in the steel city, and they are proud of it. i love that about the city. when you are there, you can just feel the culture of the city surrounding you. it's like you can breathe it in. i would probably move there if it wasn't so cold in the winter.
i had a fantastic time at homecoming. i'm so glad i went. it was the first time i'd seen most of my friends since we graduated. i spent friday night on a band bus and at a high school football game (this is what happens when all of your friends are music ed majors). i was at the college all day saturday. it was funny being back, because it definitely did not feel like i've been gone over a year. i talked to one of my professors for awhile, and he was very encouraging about my grad school venture including where i'm looking at applying, which was really great. i was able to catch up with a few of the kids who are still there. i realized that i only had two or three friends left there, which was strange. i didn't go into pew, but somehow i think it hasn't changed much. i spent saturday night and sunday morning hanging out with people in pittsburgh, and, consequently, driving around like a bat out of hell because i was trying to follow kevin all over the city. and he drives like a loon. i think i ran at least two stoplights, and jess and i saw our lives flash before our eyes when i had to cut across two lanes of traffic and immediately merge onto the highway because kevin decided at the very last second that he didn't really want to take the exit after all. sunday morning, dustin and i named ourselves Official Planners and Exalted Czars of the Music Major Cruise. i think it's actually going to happen, which is awesome.
another flying leap into adulthood
my best friend from high school just had a baby. i realize that this isn't that unusual. i mean, she's almost 24 and has been married for three and a half years. but still, it's wild. for some reason, it's not as freaky when it's the people i went to college with. i mean, they were adults when i met them. but this is the person with whom i shopped for homecoming dresses, giggled over cute boys, hung out at the mall, studied for 11th grade history, and obsessed over the prom. she knew me when i was in my extremely awkward 15-year-old with no fashion sense phase. she was there when i was recovering from the wisdom teeth removal fiasco. i was there when she had student directing-induced panic attacks on the bean bag chair in her parents' basement. we used to drive around our neighborhood for hours in her mom's minivan simply because we had driver's licenses. she helped me hem dresses, i helped her fold programs. we lived in the theatre department together. we sat in the hallway between classes together. we endured PE, IB, long rehearsals, long meetings, crazy parents, crazy friends, dumb boys, stupid rules, no parking spaces, cafeteria food, football season, summer jobs, summer crushes, crowded hallways, stuck lockers, stuck-up people, dairy queen runs, broken sound boards, set strikes, and too much homework together.
in short, we survived high school together.
and now she's had a baby. and it's crazy. but crazy in a totally awesome way. how can we possibly be this old?
congrats meredith, cameron, and baby sam.
in short, we survived high school together.
and now she's had a baby. and it's crazy. but crazy in a totally awesome way. how can we possibly be this old?
congrats meredith, cameron, and baby sam.
20 October 2007
19 October 2007
IRAs and mutual funds
according to my insurance company, i'm going to be living in a box on the street corner when i turn sixty-two if i don't start investing in something immediately.
problem: thinking about iras and mutual funds gives me a headache.
especially since i already have one account, a 457(k), which is a lot like a 401(k) except it's for teachers, which means that i can't actually add any more money to the account, but i don't want to get rid of it in case i ever go back into teaching (not that what i want to do with it is of any consequence, because i can't get in touch with the company or my broker about changing it to an ira - or about changing my address, for that matter) so i've got this mysterious $800 floating around somewhere and i have no idea when, or if, i'll ever see it again. i'm hoping that it will have magically turned into about $500,000 by the time i'm ready to retire and i'll get this wonderful letter in the mail when i'm sixty-five telling me about all this money that i have. but probably not.
gaahh. i don't want to deal with this.
problem: thinking about iras and mutual funds gives me a headache.
especially since i already have one account, a 457(k), which is a lot like a 401(k) except it's for teachers, which means that i can't actually add any more money to the account, but i don't want to get rid of it in case i ever go back into teaching (not that what i want to do with it is of any consequence, because i can't get in touch with the company or my broker about changing it to an ira - or about changing my address, for that matter) so i've got this mysterious $800 floating around somewhere and i have no idea when, or if, i'll ever see it again. i'm hoping that it will have magically turned into about $500,000 by the time i'm ready to retire and i'll get this wonderful letter in the mail when i'm sixty-five telling me about all this money that i have. but probably not.
gaahh. i don't want to deal with this.
17 October 2007
12 October 2007
the black death
i've spent the last week with the bubonic plague. or the ebola virus. well, at the very least i sound like i have tuberculosis. on the way back from homecoming, i felt the looming advance of sickness coming on, and monday morning it came crashing around me like anvils in a looney tunes cartoon. so i've spent the past five days with a sore throat, congested sinuses, headache, coughing, and an inability to breathe without consciously thinking about it. (which is great fun, let me tell you.) plus, i felt like i'd been hit by a truck. this whole lovely experience was compounded by the fact that i am currently in Year #4 of the Sinus Infection From Hell.
but i'm better now. for the most part. i did come to one important realization: i do not make a good sick person.
some people, when they are sick, are pleasant to be around. they are quiet, they don't complain, they just go sleep a lot. i don't. i whine and complain and moan and am, at times, a major pain in the butt. plus i tend to look like something that just escaped from the twilight zone. i called my
mom one morning and opened the conversation with, "i'm calling to whine and feel sorry for myself." i also have moments of extreme anger, such as at 4:30 in the morning when i'm standing in the bathroom ready to scream because i haven't been able to fall asleep yet because my head feels like it's going to explode and everytime i lie down i feel like i'm suffocating.
so, yeah, basically, i'm just a big baby when it comes to being sick. heaven help me if there's ever something seriously wrong with me.
but i'm better now. for the most part. i did come to one important realization: i do not make a good sick person.
some people, when they are sick, are pleasant to be around. they are quiet, they don't complain, they just go sleep a lot. i don't. i whine and complain and moan and am, at times, a major pain in the butt. plus i tend to look like something that just escaped from the twilight zone. i called my
mom one morning and opened the conversation with, "i'm calling to whine and feel sorry for myself." i also have moments of extreme anger, such as at 4:30 in the morning when i'm standing in the bathroom ready to scream because i haven't been able to fall asleep yet because my head feels like it's going to explode and everytime i lie down i feel like i'm suffocating.
so, yeah, basically, i'm just a big baby when it comes to being sick. heaven help me if there's ever something seriously wrong with me.
04 October 2007
return of the jedi
so i guess it's been awhile. oops. the ironic thing is that my lack of writing has nothing to do with how busy my schedule may be (it isn't), or that i haven't had anything to write about (i do), i just don't think about it. this is something i should probably work on.
anyway, let's see, things that have been going on with me (in no particular order):
- home. i have reached the next stage of adulthood. for the first time in my life, i am more at home where i live than i am at my parent's house. it was a really weird realization to come to. i stayed at my parents' for the weekend a week or so ago, and even though i enjoyed spending time with them, by the end of the weekend i could not wait to get back to my apartment. i love it here. i didn't realize how wonderful it would be to live life without anyone asking where you were going, what time you were going to be home, why you are eating the tuna straight out of the can, how long it's been since you made up your bed, etc, etc.
- job. the job is going well, considering the fact that we've spent the last month with virtually nothing to do while we wait for the government to get around to actually writing our contract. if you want to see inefficiency in action, spend some time at a federal defense contracting office. and it provides a good real world example of where the government flings all of the tax dollars sent to it every year. it's enough to make you vow to spend the rest of your life in the south american jungle with the drug lords. other than waiting on the government, the job has mainly consisted of database entry and database entry. i'm told that things will get much more exciting next week, once the contract is signed. at least, it'll be as exciting as technical writing can get.
- future. i have bit the bullet and decided to go to grad school next year. the problem with this decision is that i haven't yet decided: a) where i am going to go, or b) what i am going to study. this could be an issue. and every time i go to talk to the people at one school, they keep adding more and more options, so i don't know how i'm ever going to figure it out. see, School A has an amazing program, but requires tons of student loans and is a huge commute through lots of traffic. School B is a little less amazing, but is affordable, will allow me to work full time, and doesn't involve trying to drive on massachusetts avenue in the middle of rush hour. (the other option would be riding the metro through scary parts of town by myself in the middle of the night.) then there's the majors. i either want an MA in Public History (think museums, archives, etc) or a MS of Library Science with an Archival Sciences concentration. and i can't for the life of me figure out which one. further complicating matters is the fact that neither School A or School B offer an MSLS, which brings up School C. do we see why i'm a little overwhelmed?
- studying. for the GRE. which is officially an obnoxious test. not quite as obnoxious as the praxis, but still pretty bad. (side note: i don't see why they can't take my praxis scores in lieu of the GRE. i mean, they measure my history knowledge, or lack thereof, waaaayyy better than the GRE ever would.) if i do end up going to School B or C, the only hope i have of being able to afford it is to absolutely blow the top of the GRE so they will give me a fellowship. so that's my goal.
- attempting to get out of the apartment. i have come to the realization that my life consists of two things: work and tv. often at the same time. i either go to work all day and come home and watch tv all night or i work from home and watch tv all day. this is not good. so i've finally started taking active steps to find something, anything, to do and to help me make friends. so i've signed up to volunteer at the crisis pregnancy center, i've joined a band (see note below), i've found a studio to take dance classes, and i'm getting information about local community theatres. hopefully this will give me some sense of purpose that doesn't involve seeing how many episodes one can watch of law and order in a single day. (side note again: anyone noticed how, no matter what time of day, one of the various breeds of law and order is always on?)
- the band. i have joined a band. but not just any band. oh no. i have joined a pipe and drum band. yes, bagpipes. i'm playing in a bagpipe band. go ahead and laugh, it's ok, i've been doing it for a month. because it's hilarious. but also awesome, because i get to wear a kilt and a knife in my sock and i'm playing the tenor drum, which means i finally get to be a drummer. my sister told me that this makes me an official dork. which is probably true, but i don't care because i love pipe music and scottish things in general.
so this is pretty much everything going on in my life. i continue to go to the gym, and continue to be surrounded by the middle aged divorced guys, so i guess my initial observation about the apartment complex was accurate.
anyway, let's see, things that have been going on with me (in no particular order):
- home. i have reached the next stage of adulthood. for the first time in my life, i am more at home where i live than i am at my parent's house. it was a really weird realization to come to. i stayed at my parents' for the weekend a week or so ago, and even though i enjoyed spending time with them, by the end of the weekend i could not wait to get back to my apartment. i love it here. i didn't realize how wonderful it would be to live life without anyone asking where you were going, what time you were going to be home, why you are eating the tuna straight out of the can, how long it's been since you made up your bed, etc, etc.
- job. the job is going well, considering the fact that we've spent the last month with virtually nothing to do while we wait for the government to get around to actually writing our contract. if you want to see inefficiency in action, spend some time at a federal defense contracting office. and it provides a good real world example of where the government flings all of the tax dollars sent to it every year. it's enough to make you vow to spend the rest of your life in the south american jungle with the drug lords. other than waiting on the government, the job has mainly consisted of database entry and database entry. i'm told that things will get much more exciting next week, once the contract is signed. at least, it'll be as exciting as technical writing can get.
- future. i have bit the bullet and decided to go to grad school next year. the problem with this decision is that i haven't yet decided: a) where i am going to go, or b) what i am going to study. this could be an issue. and every time i go to talk to the people at one school, they keep adding more and more options, so i don't know how i'm ever going to figure it out. see, School A has an amazing program, but requires tons of student loans and is a huge commute through lots of traffic. School B is a little less amazing, but is affordable, will allow me to work full time, and doesn't involve trying to drive on massachusetts avenue in the middle of rush hour. (the other option would be riding the metro through scary parts of town by myself in the middle of the night.) then there's the majors. i either want an MA in Public History (think museums, archives, etc) or a MS of Library Science with an Archival Sciences concentration. and i can't for the life of me figure out which one. further complicating matters is the fact that neither School A or School B offer an MSLS, which brings up School C. do we see why i'm a little overwhelmed?
- studying. for the GRE. which is officially an obnoxious test. not quite as obnoxious as the praxis, but still pretty bad. (side note: i don't see why they can't take my praxis scores in lieu of the GRE. i mean, they measure my history knowledge, or lack thereof, waaaayyy better than the GRE ever would.) if i do end up going to School B or C, the only hope i have of being able to afford it is to absolutely blow the top of the GRE so they will give me a fellowship. so that's my goal.
- attempting to get out of the apartment. i have come to the realization that my life consists of two things: work and tv. often at the same time. i either go to work all day and come home and watch tv all night or i work from home and watch tv all day. this is not good. so i've finally started taking active steps to find something, anything, to do and to help me make friends. so i've signed up to volunteer at the crisis pregnancy center, i've joined a band (see note below), i've found a studio to take dance classes, and i'm getting information about local community theatres. hopefully this will give me some sense of purpose that doesn't involve seeing how many episodes one can watch of law and order in a single day. (side note again: anyone noticed how, no matter what time of day, one of the various breeds of law and order is always on?)
- the band. i have joined a band. but not just any band. oh no. i have joined a pipe and drum band. yes, bagpipes. i'm playing in a bagpipe band. go ahead and laugh, it's ok, i've been doing it for a month. because it's hilarious. but also awesome, because i get to wear a kilt and a knife in my sock and i'm playing the tenor drum, which means i finally get to be a drummer. my sister told me that this makes me an official dork. which is probably true, but i don't care because i love pipe music and scottish things in general.
so this is pretty much everything going on in my life. i continue to go to the gym, and continue to be surrounded by the middle aged divorced guys, so i guess my initial observation about the apartment complex was accurate.
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