A list

Top Ten Things I do When I am Bored:

Take a nap
Get on facebook
Do homework
Clean
Read a book
Listen to a book on tape
Indoor Rock Climbing
Blog
Watch TV
Go to Walmart

Top Ten Goals for this year

Get a passport
Get out of state (preferrably the country...)
Get a summer internship
Learn the harp
Get a 3.5 gpa
Keep my bonsai alive
Get a regular work out schedule
Save money for an automatic starter
Save money to have saved!
Unknown...but it will be good.

Inauguration day at a private school.

7:00 a.m. I woke up this morning when it was still dark outside and flipped on the TV to find out what coat I would need to wear to class before I got into the shower.  I noticed my morning news was not on and remembered it was inauguration day.  I was awed but the number of people on my screen waiting for then President Elect Obama to be sworn into office.  I can't believe I forgot.

7:30 a.m. Look at tv while drinking my morning shake and eating banana and find out Cheney has thrown out his back moving boxes and is in a wheel chair, poor guy.  Think it's rather funny when CBS commentator calls him a tough old bird.  Quite possibly the most exciting thing I had seen on the tv screen this morning

8:00 a.m. Fiction class starts off with the importance of watching this inauguration, almost the whole class is already sporting Obama t-shirts, sweatshirts, and socks.  Continues to cover Hemmingway's short story Hills like White Elephants and get into detailed conversation about back alley abortion.

10:00 a.m.  Philosophy professor asks why we are all taking the class, tells us about a text that was just ordered and not on our book list, hands out syllabi, informs us that we cannot miss class or our grades will be deducted, tells us all to go watch inauguration.

10:30 a.m.  Head to bookstore to pick up anthology for fiction class and run into three friends!  One starts trying to figure out the average cost of a meal on a meal plan and asks me how much it is.  My response: "I'm an English major, you do the math."  We all head to the campus center.

10:40 a.m.  Everyone stops in front of TV in campus Grille.  I look at my watch and realize I have just enough time to mail out books and head back to my apartment before the good stuff starts.  

10:50 a.m. Eating a slice of cold pizza, I watch the final moments before the swearing in.  I chuckle at Katie Couric saying Joe Biden was President for about five minutes before Obama was sworn in.  

11:05 a.m.  Obama takes oath and messes up a bit.  I think it makes him human, the reporters try to make up for it by saying it doesn't matter what he says it's just great that it is him saying it.  I continue to watch former President Bush leave the white house and notice they leave exactly like the Reagan's did, ten minutes later they show the Reagan's leaving the White House and comment how similar the departures were.  I watch the coverage and commentaries until 12:30.

12:30 p.m. Head to Linguistics.  

12:45 p.m. Professor of Linguistics comes in, hands out syllabi, I realize she is a pacer and this is going to be an interesting semester looking back and forth across the front of the room.  A few comments are made by my fellow students that make me realize all those kids in high schools across the nation that are annoying, outspoken, and just plain weird that everyone can't wait to get away from must flock to my school.  Prof. says we are not to miss handing in assignments unless we are in the hospital or miss class unless someone has died.  We leave because Prof. wants to go watch CNN online.

1:10 p.m.  I sit in Grille entering syllabi information into my planner, see my old SA who just got back from Africa, agree to do lunch, go to rock climbing class.

2:15 p.m. Rock Climbing instructor comes in, "how bout that president?  Let's get started."  Straight forward and to the point, I like this guy.  We climb up a large ladder to throw our ropes over, put on harnesses, learn to belay, start climbing and belaying.  When I am belaying for a girl I think is my size (who took ten minutes to learn to tie the knot and couldn't get her clip unscrewed), she gets about ten feet up and says she is falling like twelve times before she actually falls.  I think I am ready for it but, not knowing that this girl has about forty-fifty pounds on me, I go flying up into the air, the instructor catches me while I am still somewhat holding her from falling, at least with the rope, and am dangling for a minute while I wiggle my way back to the ground to let her down.  Instructor tells her not to jump off the wall next time if she is "falling."

4:00 p.m. I am tired, everyone outside is still chanting for Obama.  I am proud he is the President, I think he will do an amazing job, I respect him and admire him and his family, love his honesty, but do not chant.  He can't hear me and he is already the president, I have no one to convince and I walk back to my room.

Now: I am amazed that I got out of approximately three hours of class time for the inauguration when my professors stressed how important class time was.  I am thankful that in a private school, so concerned about education, national news is still important

My Best and worst of 2008

A lot of things went down in 2008 that left an impact on me personnally and on the whole world. The US presidential election, the Olympics, and general world drama in the world has been pretty significant. Completing my first year of college and starting my second, my dad's death, my ruinion with family that is finally holding strong, and learning a lot about myself through loss and perserverance has made 2008 stand out as a year that will be remembered.
I have decided to post some of the things that I came across in 2008 that can make my best and worst list, significant or not.
(Not everything started/was released in 2008 but I experienced it in 2008 for the first time which puts in on my '08 list)

Best Book: Running With Scizzors--Augusten Burroughs
Worst Book: New Moon--Stephanie Meyers (No Stampede Please)

Best Movie: Wanted
Worst Movie: Twilight

Best way to pass time in the car: Books on Tape
Worst way to pass time in the car: German lessons on tape

Best Purchase: Full Size Heated Blanket
Worst Purchase: Conditioner that twisted my hair into knots

Best Vacation: Colorado Family Trip
Worst Vacation: California Funeral Trip

Best Class: Craft of Poetry
Worst Class: German

Best Holiday: Birthday spent in CO shopping!
Worst Holiday: Halloween spent at Dad's funeral (Irony anyone?)

Best discovery of myself: I would really like to teach for a couple years before grad school
Worst discovery of myself: I can't put things on the backburner as well as I thought I could

Best Political Moment of 2008: Barack Obama's Election
Worst Political Moment of 2008: John McCain's choice of Sarah Palin as running mate

Best Gadget: Sony Camera
Worst Gadget: My Crashing Laptop

Best TV Show: Jon and Kate Plus Eight
Worst TV Show: South Park

Best Sitcom: Gary Unmarried
Worst Sitcom: Two and A Half Men (used to be great but this last season has been different...not in a good way)

Most Exciting Moment: Rafting the Arkasas River in CO
Least Exciting Moment: People telling me how noticable it was that the dentist accidentally shortened one of my front teeth


Over all 2008 was a decent year. It was tough, but I definitely learned a lot. Thanks so much to my friends and family for supporting and cheering for me as I do all of you.

Lots of Love

Oh Life

In an effort to spend my holiday gift cards before they burn holes in my pockets, I went to Best Buy, the Mall, and Target today. At the mall, I saw three parents of my high school classmates whom I chose to avoid to get out of the awkward "what's your major? where do you go to school?" questions and to not have to ask about my classmates who I didn't care what they were doing in high school much less now. Then at Best Buy I saw a group of people I recognized but could only remember the name of one of them. Nothing says unexpected high school reunion like "Hey....you." Next, in the same store, I saw another group of people I knew at some point in my life but could not remember if I recognized them from high school or college. I avoided this group altogether.

Target came next. Here, I saw a girl I new from elementary, Jr high, and high school and of course knew who she was, but then, out of no where comes the "you" group again. I quickly said goodbye and booked it out of the area. Down three aisles and I see more classmates' parents and have to dodge them as well. I have no clue why so many people from my hometown were in the city today. I don't see that many people that often when I am in my home town.

Weird

An update on the rest of my life...as always has ups and downs like a fishing boat in a hurricane. One friend being melodramatic and one friend nit-picking as much as possible at my life. One friend changed for the worse since I last saw him, one friend is finally getting to move on from an ugly old job! I got a new pair of Ugg boots today and they are fantastic. We also got a new microwave and coffee maker which may be dull to some but it makes the house pop. Way to start the new year!

Politically Correct

As a disclaimer, I try to be as conscious as possible of other people's feelings and am pretty open-minded and race and nationality really means very little to me when it comes to people alllllll being people.

Yesterday, at work, I was helping a customer when I heard my co-worker say (repeatedly) in frustration "I don't understand what you want!" When I finished with my customer, I walked over to see what the issue was. This customer was wanting time for his prepaid phone. Time, with this company, is sold by days, in thirty, fifteen, or seven day cards. The gentleman had forty dollars on the counter and obviously wanted time for his phone but my co-worker could not convey that it is either 41 dollars for fifteen day premium cards (which includes texting and long distance) or 45 dollars for a thirty day card (which is just for talktime). My boss kept telling him "we need someone to come in to speak for you." (apparently not remembering that translator and interpreter work with pretty much everyone) I quickly realized that this gentleman spoke only Spanish as he kept repeating "No comprendo!" Now, I try to resort to using my broken Spanish only in dire need seeing as how whenever I speak one word of Spanish they start trying to hold a conversation with me and I have no clue what is going on. I figured this was a situation where I could try and help, so I walked over and asked him "Trienta Dias? or 15 (idk how to spell it in Spanish, but I said it in Spanish, obviously) dias?" The gentleman then turned to me and said "No comprendo." Me, being frustrated at this point as well, said, "No you can't tell me you don't speak English OR Spanish!"
We eventually figured out he wanted the thirty day card and I that he only spoke Spanish, but I guess he never learned to count.....


This got me thinking about another beef I have with people about being politically correct: If you can call me white and that's okay, there is no reason I shouldn't be able to call another race brown or black or whatever. I am no more WHITE than they are whatever color they are stereotyped. I think that is the fairest way to describe people because no one has ever referred to me as Italian German Portuguese Native American American, so there is no reason anyone else should be called African American unless they just moved here from Africa. Plus, "Asians" are rarely called "Asian American" or Latinos "Latino American"

And I am sorry but no one can ever "reclaim" the N word. It is a bad word and is derogatory and always will be. By trying to make it a common word people are insulting those who endured it as a derogatory term and, more importantly, the lines between safe and unsafe are blurred. Those who do not use the word are more likely to respect people than those who do use it. There is no differentiation between those who are using it with friends or those who are using it to be cruel. I'm sorry, but as a female, the C word will never be okay whether I tried to "reclaim it" or not. And if I did try to reclaim it, I couldn't just limit it to women being able to use the word, I would have to allow men to use it too and I would never be able to tell if they meant it in a "good way" or bad way. It's the same thing with the N word.


Thats my rant....if anyone has anything to say about it, let me know, I am always up to have my views challenged and sometimes changed/corrected.

Finals Update!

Personal Essay officially worst paper ever written by english major!

Thanks to Teacher Aunt for proofing and suffering through it!

Legal cheat sheets still to write for research class.

16.5 hours to freedom...

Finals Week!

You know it is hell week/finals week when college town Walmart is out of ramen noodles, twizzlers (thank God Walmart carries Redvines which I happen to love way more than twizzlers anyway), ice cream, and mountain dew. Apparently, since I noticed the absence of all these things, I am a typical college student...good news or not I don't really know.

Also, this is post # 30 for me...exciting, I know. And the only reason I noticed this is because I should be studying... and I am wondering, why, after 30 posts, has no one asked what the one thing I would never change is? No one has to ask...I just think it would be the first thing I would do if I were reading this blog instead of writing it.

Only approximately 37 hours and 15 minutes left until a month vacation!