Whatever Gets You Through Today

I have been failing rather spectacularly at keeping my blog resolution...so in the spirit of optimism and general not-giving-up...ness...here is a meme-type thing appropriated from a friend's facebook:

Rules: Once you've been tagged, you are supposed to write a note with 25 random things, facts, habits or goals about you.  At the end, choose 25 people to be tagged.  You have to tag the person who tagged you.  If I tagged you, it's because I want to know more about you.

(A note here - since this originally came from facebook, 25 people is nothing there. But I don't even follow 25 blogs, so I'm going to open this up to whomever is interested, quite possibly no one.  And please don't feel required to tag me back - wouldn't that just result in a never-ending cycle of 25 facts, tagging, being tagged, 25 facts, etc?)

1. I am very probably moving to the St. Louis area within the next month or so.

2. This does not bother me as much as it once did.

3. In 5th grade, I wanted to play the saxophone like Lisa Simpson.  My parents argued that sticks were cheaper, so I played the drums instead.

4. I have been a vegetarian at two points in my life.  Sometimes when I have a mouthful of meat, my brain will say 'this is flesh' and I'll feel incredibly grossed out.

5. I love love loooooove country music.  I am the only one in my family who does.

6. My boyfriend is joining the Navy.  I have never been more proud/terrified in my life.

7. I hate when people bite their silverware.

8. I was not directly affected by the events of 9/11, but to this day I cannot see any footage of it without crying.

9. I prefer Cherry Coke to regular.

10. I would love to teach children about the environment.

11. If I had to be homeless, I would want to live in Hawaii.  Their homeless people live on the beach.

12. I would love to get a book published, but I fear I haven't anything interesting to say.  At least not enough to fill a book.

13. I have read Bill Bryson's A Walk In The Woods probably 10 times or more.

14. The only book I may have read more frequently is Where the Red Fern Grows.

15. In kindergarten, I wanted to be a construction worker on the moon.

16. I believe that wish helped me get into Cornell.  I referenced it in an application essay.

17. I have never broken a bone.  I have fractured my skull, and sprained my wrist, ankle and thumb.

18. I enjoy giving blood.

19. I once had a cell phone embedded into a dirt road by a minivan.

20. I plan to expand on my tattoo once I get the money. (sorry, Mom)

21. I have been to France twice.

22. If I could travel anywhere in the world, it would either be Ireland or Australia.

23. I am a youth group leader at a Catholic church.

24. If Obama had lost the election, I would be living in Canada right now.

25. I can't listen to Ted Leo and the Pharmacists' "Me and Mia" without dancing.

The New Year

Well folks, here it is - 2009.

And while I may still be the quasi-only-working-part-time Unemployed Cornellian, I have a very good feeling about this year, and not just because of inauguration day.

As such, here are my New Year's Resolutions:

-  get a full-time job before my birthday (day after Valentine's, for those who don't know)

- learn to drive a stick

- take Jack to obedience school (he's well-behaved on the whole, but we need him to listen enough to not knock over visitors)

- learn yoga

- exercise at least 5 times a week (combination of running, yoga, and hopefully eventually a gym membership at the Troy Community Centre)

- learn how to knit

- cook more, and try new dishes

- blog more! (...ok, you ought to have seen that one coming)

Happy New Year everyone!

There's A Class For This

Famous People I Have Met*

- Bob Saget

- DeForest Kelley

- Sylvester McCoy

- Mo Rocca

- Mary Lynn Rajskub

- Dustin Diamond

- Bill Nye the Science Guy

*spoken to/took a picture with/stalked by/got an autograph from/was hit on by

Famous People I Have Seen

- Margaret Cho

- Mitch Albom

- John Cleese

- Chris Carrabba

- Jon Stewart

- Brent Spiner (yes, seriously)

- Justin Berfield

- Janet Reno

There might be more - there are probably more - so I'll add to the list as I remember them.  It's just a list I'd thought of compiling the other day, just for fun.  And yes, I know, not all of you necessarily consider all of these people to be 'famous'.  But hey, I've never exactly lived in an area (southeast MI, central NY, suburban Chicago) where celebrities flock, so I'll take what I can get.

And yes Frank, I know, I'm not as cool as you cause I haven't met Jim Gaffigan yet.  But I will.  So there.

We Were Sad But Now We're Rebuilding

OK, I know, I know...keeping up with my blog = EPIC FAIL

I'm sorry.

But it seems like every Joe Sixpack and Jane Winebox is putting in their two cents about the election, so I thought I'd do the same. (On a side note, Joe & Jane kind of remind me of those joke book titles that I heard as a kid, in Boys' Life and Highlights...You Can Be A Millionaire by Rob A. Bank, How To Skydive by Hugo First...I'm A Real American by Joe Siskpak. But I digress.)

I had always been an Obama supporter, though for the most part I didn't have anything against McCain. Until Sarah Palin showed up on the scene. (On another side note, while I thoroughly enjoyed Tina Fey's impersonations, I'm very much relieved that we won't need her to do it again.)



The night before the election, I was so keyed up that I had trouble falling asleep. When I did, I dreamt that McCain won the election in an upset, and there was footage on CNN of Sarah Palin laughing maniacally. I woke up, panicked, and shook Ben awake.

"Hey!"

"ajaklrng...."

"HEY!"

"...what?"

"What day is it?"

"um, Tuesday...."

"OK, wait...is Tuesday just starting or has it ended?"

"What?"

"Who won the election?"

"...what?"

"Who won the election??"

"It's 4 in the morning...the polls aren't even open yet...."

"Oh, ok. Sorry. Go back to sleep."


I awoke for the second time a few hours later, ready for the day to start. But since I had to wait for the polls to start closing before I could get any results, I spent most of the day job hunting on the computer. At 4, Ben and I left for the Obama Campaign for Change centre in Birmingham (MI, that is) to help canvass the neighbourhood. We spent the better part of 3 hours knocking on doors - with a quick break for dinner at Olga's - following up with supporters to see if they had voted yet. Quite a few people weren't home, and if Ben hadn't been with me, and if it hadn't been in Birmingham, I would have been very nervous with the sudden onset of darkness and utter lack of streetlights. But the evening passed uneventfully (though we did see roughly 258905 cats wandering the streets, and I briefly toyed with the idea of switching lawn signs and giving a McCain supporter an Obama sign, giving the Obama supporter one of each) and we went back home to wait for some incoming results. We started watching ABC (because I loooooove George Stephanopoulous - and I apologize if I butchered the spelling) and became increasingly excited as Obama's numbers grew. At 10 we switched over to Comedy Central for their special with Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert. It was funny, though somewhat disappointing as they were giving results we had already heard on ABC (I ended up going to abc.com and obsessively refreshing the page). Then Jon Stewart said those unforgettable words:

"As of 11:00 PM, Eastern Standard Time, the next President of the United States will be Barack Obama."

I started jumping up and down and hugged Ben. Jack, thinking it was a game, tried to squeeze in between us and then started chasing his tail in a bizzarre victory dance.

The rest of the night will live forever in my memory. I gave Jack a celebratory cooky that I had bought from a dog bakery at Great Lakes Crossing Mall, talked on the phone with Spenser during McCain's concession speech (which, I must say...I feel sorry for him. I know, I know, he's a Republican, he supported the war, blah blah blah...I still feel sorry for him and wish him the best. Sarah Palin can go kiss a moose.), and then listened with rapt attention to Obama's victory speech and wished so much that we were in Grant Park. Obama gives me a sense of hope and optimism that has been rare for me since I have been out of a full-time job. I know he has a long uphill climb in front of him, but I believe he can draw America together so we can help eachother get out of this mess we've been swamped in.
And I know one thing's for sure - come January 20th, I have *every* intention of being in Washington DC.

my mom made me do this

holy hell, this still works!

Well, for any of you who still check this, I have somewhat returned to the Land of the Gainfully Employed - I am working 2 part-time jobs at Somerset Collection in Troy. I have an orientation meeting at Hollister tomorrow morning. My job title there is 'model', but basically it's a standard sales associate; you just have to be attractive to do it. The uggos stay in the stockroom. My other job starts Thursday, working at the Limited. I don't know what my discount is with Hollister, but I get 40% off at the Limited. =)


I'll try to be better about updating this more often, though I can pretty well guarantee that it won't be on a daily basis.

Wrapped Up In Books

As promised, here is the meme Rachel tagged me in a few days ago....


Rules -
Pick up the nearest book.
Turn to page 123.
Find the 5th sentence.
Copy down the next three sentences.
Pass it along.


So my lines are from You Suck by Christopher Moore. My dad suggested it yesterday, and gave me a copy for my trip, but I haven't started it yet.

"I'm not intimidated - because I know that her boobs are fake. And it's so obvious that they hunt the nosferatu that it's not even funny. Inside, I was like: 'Ha, suck my spiky rubber strap-on, vampyr hunter!'"


.......


........


........




What has my dad just given me??
o_O



Oh, and I guess as far as 'passing it along' goes, I will open it to all interested parties, since I'm not sure who may have done this one before. If you haven't, do it! It only takes a few moments, and as my entry indicates, the results can be pretty entertaining....

The Sound of Settling

Dearest blogbuds,

Rumours of my death have been greatly exaggerated. For as much as I'd like to attribute my absence to landing a job, alas, this is not so. But I have been applying like mad, so it's only a matter of time...right??


I am back in Michigan on a semi-permanent basis (excluding a visit to family this weekend, and of course I would move back to Illinois if I got hired there!) with my parents. I have not spent considerable time here since before graduating high school - I spent my college summers working at a Boy Scout camp about 50 miles north - and it is a somewhat surreal experience. I keep expecting to see familiar faces in the area, though in fact most of my graduating class has left for greener pastures.

This morning my dad and I went for a walk around town. It was quite pleasant (though not nearly as much as yesterday's walk, since it was much more humid today). Part of our wanderings included a stroll down a bike path that follows a creek running through town. I remember wading in it with Frank and Spenser, picking up freshwater clams and prising them open to look for pearls (I did, once, find two pearl-ish growths embedded in the inner wall of a shell), nervously chasing crayfish, and watching the seemingly overnight influx of Japanese water snails, which we took home and put in a fish tank. We saw a great blue heron on both days of our walk, watching us imperviously from the middle of the creek. Though I admit, ever since I saw these pictures (first 3), I've been somewhat creeped out by them.


I promise to make more regular appearances, though as I mentioned before, I'll be travelling for most of the weekend, leaving tomorrow, so if nothing else, expect a long update Monday or Tuesday! I also promise to get to Rachel's meme, and I'll be spending some time catching up on everyone's blogs. Thanks for waiting! =)