It's amazing how quickly time passes by. I've probably wrote this before, but my main trouble with life right now is that there just isn't enough time. I can't even believe summer is already almost over. I have been doing a pretty good job of making the most of the sunshine while it lasts though. I moved with my cousin, Shannon, to an apartment in Uptown that is walking distance to Lake Calhoun. I've walked there a couple times now, but wish I had more time to enjoy just sitting around the lake. I started playing on a volleyball league every Sunday night at a sports bar near my parents place. I have been playing a lot of volleyball at Lake George too, and doing a lot of swimming and boating there. I've also been doing a lot of fishing. Since I've been keeping busy with a lot of outdoor activities, I haven't spent much time on my computer this summer. It should be interesting to see if that changes once winter comes around, though the new friends I have been making through all these activities seem to be into winter sports as well. Odds are that I'll be ice fishing for the first time this winter.
I need to get a new job. Badly. That mission has been taking up most of the downtime that I have from my outdoor endeavors. I'm caught in the same struggle of failing to get jobs related to my degree due to my lack of psychology experience, while becoming so bitter about it that I debate whether or not I even want psychology experience. Hopefully, I'll at least get a job closer to where I live and with co-workers who are less bizarre. That's another story though, which will have to wait until another random break from job searching, kayaking, and who knows what other adventures I come upon.
I've got an interview for that psych job tomorrow at 1 pm! I am excited and nervous, but I will post more about how it goes later. Right now I just have to write about how happy I am that citygirlamandab made me this new icon! It's so awesome. It has Michael Nesmith from The Monkees, which is how I got my username, nezbabe. He is my favorite Monkee. :-D Then, he is enjoying a delicious pretzel, which is my favorite snack. And, it even goes with the color scheme of my journal. Oh, the nerdy excitement! :)
Well, I finally did it. I'm on facebook now. I tried to avoid it for a long time. I had a negative view of facebook, mainly because I could never get on a computer at SCSU because so many people were checking their facebooks. I have a good excuse for finally starting a facebook though. After moving 300 miles away from home, anything to keep me in touch with family and friends (and keep me occupied) is a good thing. I actually like it so far. There seem to be a lot of applications you can play around with to customize your profile. It'll be interesting to see if I can meet anyone around Green Bay through facebook. The Green Bay "networks" have a lot of people, but it doesn't seem like the networks are very active. I at least hope to find some Project Runway fans residing in Wisconsin.
I moved to Green Bay, Wisconsin this weekend. I'm disappointed that the last time I posted on my livejournal was during my move to Stillwater. I guess it's just that a move seems like something important to write about. Several times I've started entries only to quit before the second sentence, deciding that the topic in mind wasn't important enough. Today is citygirlamandab's birthday, and she wanted me to bring this lj back from the dead, so I'll try to keep it more active with my random thoughts.
Although there is quite a lot of unpacking/organizing left to do, Mike and I really like our new apartment in Green Bay. It's in a nice new building, has an open kitchen (which I've wanted for quite sometime), cathedral ceilings, and 2 bathrooms (total bonus). The Green Bay area seems pretty nice so far. One major plus is that all of the restaurants have been really good so far. And by "good", I definitely do not mean healthy. I believe that Culver's (with it's "Butterburgers") first opened in Wisconsin, but I didn't realize that butter burgers must be a general Wisconsin thing until I came out here. Mike and I had burgers at Kroll's that were dripping with butter. That may sound gross to some people, but it was very tasty. I really like going out to eat, but I'll have to watch myself in this town for the sake of my arteries.
On Sunday, drewskit helped us move the last few heavy pieces of furniture, then we went to a Packer bar during the football game. It was pretty packed...and loud. People were hollering after each play, even if it didn't turn out well ("Good effort!"). During each touch down, a waitress walked all around the bar giving out free shots, and I won a t-shirt before we left. We're definitely going to go out again for the next Packer game.
Now, I just need to get a job. I've been saying that for a long time. I guess my progress on that front will be worth writing about.
I'm moving! That's about as much excitement as I can muster right now, for every muscle in my body is aching from hauling furniture and boxes down 3 flights of stairs. Mike and I are moving to a townhouse in Stillwater. For the most part, I am excited. We'll be living closer to family, friends, Minneapolis/Saint Paul (since I feel I should erase "the Cities" from my vocabulary), or at least we will not be driving through no man's land (ex. Saint Cloud to Becker) to reach any of those destinations. Another positive factor is that I like the Stillwater area. My family sort of had a tradition of going to downtown Stillwater every summer or fall, so I have good memories of the town. Our townhouse itself is a very exciting factor! We're on an end unit, so we only share the kitchen wall with a neighbor. There is no one above us, and finally, there is nobody living below us. I don't have to worry about anyone getting the brooms while I dance around the townhouse. I could go on about all the little things, like how I can finally do window treatments, but its sad how much they excite me.
My negative thoughts about moving are mainly due to the pain in the ass that is the physical act of moving. I've had fantasies about throwing everything off the balcony window, devising some sort of rope and pulley system, or just having a huge bonfire. I've thrown away or given away so much (the shoppers at Goodwill are going to have a field day), but we're still only half way done. In the meantime, there is so much to organize at the new place, and I want to have it look presentable soon so that we can start having people over. I still have a project that I need to finish up for the SCSU Women's Center. And I have people asking me about what I'm going to be doing...in terms of finding a job. I'm tweaking. For the past couple weeks, I've been wanting to create to-do lists to help me stay focused and productive, but there is so much to be done that a list seems pointless. To Do: EVERYTHING!
Things should be better after today. My parents are coming up with their van and trailer to help us move most, if not all, of the big pieces of furniture. I have got to start packing in the much dreaded kitchen, where most of the boxes will be heavy and fragile, a combination that does not work well with me. I can't wait to be settled in to the new place!
There is so much that goes on in my life that I wish I would write about. Unfortunately, I am most apt to write anger-fueled rants about things that I wouldn't even really care to read about should I ever look back at previous entries for a trip down memory lane. I have discovered that it is very therapuetic for me to write about the little things that piss me off, but I'd really like to start writing more about the good stuff that happens too!
For instance, last weekend bigpieps and I went to visit my sister, Amanda, at Winona State University. It was a great trip. Winona is such a beautiful area...and I probably would have never visited it if my sister hadn't decided to go there. My brother, T.J., and cousin, Wayne, met up with us and we drove up to what I think was Garvin Heights Park to enjoy the view of the town and the Mississippi. Then, we went to the gymnasium at the Winona State campus to see Cake. I thought that they'd mostly play songs from their recent album, but was amazed by how many of their more popular songs they played. They opened with Daria, did How Do You Afford Your Rock N' Roll Lifestyle?, Frank Sinatra, Sheep Go to Heaven, The Distance, Mexico, Never There, I Will Survive, Short Skirt/Long Jacket, Love You Madly, Wheels...and quite a few more...but I can't remember which one they closed with. We all enjoyed the show though.
Afterward, we ended up going to Zaza's, a beer and pizza joint across the street from the Winona Campus (which I wouldn't recommend, unless you're drunk) with my sister. Then we went to Stingers, the rowdiest bar that I have ever been to. There was probably only 50 people there, but everyone had something to yell about. The bartenders were pounding down drinks faster than anyone. A few times I saw the bartenders finish off the drinks that they accidentally knocked over in their lack of coordination (though...maybe it wasn't an accident). Several times, I witnessed the guy who was supposedly checking IDs playfully wrestling with random customers in the middle of the bar. It was only a quarter after one when the staff started yelling at everyone to "Get the fuck out of the bar!" One guy was even on a bullhorn. It was awesome though, because we recognized one of the bartenders, so we got to stay for awhile after they kicked everyone else out...and we got free drinks all night. I actually graduated from crappy Coon Rapids High School with our bartender friend, but back that he was a major asshole. He was the first to admit to this when we started talking to him. Granted, he was drunk, but that evening gave me hope that there is life after high school.
Now I've got to stop avoiding my homework. It is so wild to think that graduation is less than 2 weeks away! That will have to be a topic of a later journal entry though.
There's some dingleberry at my apartment who keeps parking their Pontiac Firebird at a crooked angle, often making it so that nobody can park at the spot to it's right. This has been going on for quite awhile now, so when I saw the Firebird's rear wheel jutting into the spot I was about to pull into yesterday, I decided to try to send the dingleberry a message. I parked my car within an inch of theirs, so close that I had to exit through my passenger-side door. I giggled as I walked up to the apartment, hoping that they'd have a passenger with them the next time they used their car. It's so dumb but funny that I even thought of doing that. I just get so irritated by rude behavior though, especially when it would only take a matter of seconds for the dingleberry to park the car within the lines!
I walked out to my car at a quarter to eight this morning. As I neared my car, the Firebird started up. It did not seem chilly enough to warrant the use of an automatic starter...and it was also peculiar that it started up right as I was by my car. I'm pretty sure it was a coincidence, but it was strange, nonetheless.
When I drove home tonight, the Firebird was parked even more crooked than before, so that nobody could fit in the adjacent space. I decided to leave the dingleberry a more direct message this time. I grabbed a sheet of notebook paper and wrote something along lines of: "Please only park in 1 space. Thank you!", and stuck it under their windshield wiper. I wouldn't be acting like such a lame-o if it was just a seldom occurrence, but it's become irritating now, especially because there have been problems with lack of parking at our apartment in the past. I won't really get to find out what happens tomorrow because Mike and I will be going to Winona State to visit my sister and see Cake! :-D Odds are that my note will get rained on though, and this goofy little subplot in my life will continue.
I was excited about going to the Final Five Hockey Tournament at the Xcel Energy Center with Mike this weekend. Unfortunately, some people in the crowd made it an unpleasant experience. Of course, Saint Cloud State losing both of their games did not help the situation, but I was far more disturbed by what happened off the ice.
It is also unfortunate that all of these negative experiences were caused by some fans of just one team: the University of Minnesota Golden Gophers. I do not want to be ragging on certain fans. As a matter of fact, most of the Gopher fans that I interacted with over the weekend were very friendly and fun to talk with. I even gave some of them high-fives after the Gophers scored, because I was happy for theirexcitement.
The trouble started when, after SCSU lost to North Dakota, a University of Minnesota fan felt it necessary to yell, "I've got third place tickets for you!" with a huge grin on his face as we were walking around the arena. This was before his team had even played to determine whether or not they too would be in the third place game.
Then, there was a group of obnoxious guys (section 113, rows 1 and 2) who waved dollar bills at the UND cheerleaders and were hollering for the attention ("Take off your shirt!") of random "hot blond" women they spotted in the crowd (even those across the ice). They thought it was hilarious to stand up and chant "Husky Women!" to our cheerleaders, even when we weren't playing their team. It was at this point that I snapped. I had not witnessed any other team's cheerleaders being subjected to cat calls, let alone an organized chant from post-college/middle-aged "men". Although I wish I would have had a better response, I stood up right away and chanted, "Kiss your boyfriend!" Mike joined in, and the group of idiots stopped their chant, but one of them yelled something to Mike about "fucking" his "sister". Mike said something along the lines of "No, it's your mom." Then, out of nowhere, a middle-aged woman yelled at Mike and I because she was "trying to watch the game with her kids". Never mind the fact that a hockey game in downtown Saint Paul on Saint Patrick's Day is not exactly a G-rated environment, there are so many things that bother me about this moment that it is difficult for me to write about. Apparently, this woman saw nothing wrong with her fellow maroon-and-gold clad fans (supposedly grown men) harassing our cheerleaders, cursing, and making incest jokes in front of her young sons. The appropriate place to vent her anger was strictly toward Mike and I. I responded, "Don't yell at us lady. Why don't you yell at the guys down there?" I still feel guilty about this, because the last thing I wanted to be doing was talking back to someones mom when most of us were just trying to watch a hockey game.
I was upset about what had happened, and looked forward to getting away for awhile before the second game started. We drove to a Buffalo Wild Wing's restaurant about 10 miles away from downtown Saint Paul where, of all the coincidences, I was greeted with a boisterous "Husky Women!" chant from the same group of idiots. I was trying not to let any tears well up, and rolled my eyes as two other Gopher fans asked what the final score was on the Huskies' game. But then one of them said, "No, we really want to know. We didn't stay for the end of it", and I could sense in their expressions that they felt my pain. That sounds silly, but it was a bit of a relief for me at the time, as well as a reminder that it is a minority of the fans who are jerks. I still was not happy about going back to see the final game.
And, of course, as we walked through the arena, three college-age Gopher fans clapped and shouted "Wooo! Third place!" I shouted back, "Winners!" and gave them a big thumbs-up. I got to my seat and heard one or two of the idiots chant "Husky Women". I spent most of the first period of the Uof M vs. UND game with my eyes closed, fighting back tears. I decided to go get a beer and try to settle down. I was midway up the aisle when I heard a bloodcurdling cry of "Saint Cloud Sucks!" I turned to see that it came from a single, grey-bearded man who looked old enough to be my father, possibly my grandfather. Once again, I gave him a thumbs-up and told him he was a winner, but I pretty much lost it when I reached the end of the aisle. I could not believe that a 50-something year-old man stood up and shouted at me as I passed by. What possesses these fans to pick on an individual college student who is just trying to enjoy the game? I could understand if it was a group of SCSU fans cheering against the Gophers, or if we were even playing against the Gophers, but this was not the case. And, once again, I hate to be just talking about some Gopher fans, but I received no taunts or heckles from any other fans...even UND and Wisconsin, who beat SCSU! Even as we were leaving the final game, a Gopher fan yelled, "Woo! Third place!" from his car, possibly driving by too fast to hear Mike correct him, that SCSU was actually fourth place.
I'm not exactly sure how to conclude my story. I realize that I need to learn how to better deal with the few rotten fans, "not let them get to me". But a lot of the things that happened this weekend are something that a person should not have to deal with. I wish that I could pass a message along to all of the decent fans, regardless of what colors they are wearing. I do not think that there is anything wrong with telling a friend, relative, or fellow fan to cut it out when they are being inappropriate. At the very least, there is the option of refusing to laugh or join them. I would guess that even within the group of idiots this weekend, there were a few of them who did not feel 100% right about their friend's actions, but just sort of laughed and went along with it. Maybe I'm wrong, and the rude fans just travel in packs, and I just need to ignore them. However, maybe there is a problem with just accepting rude fan behavior as a unchangeable facet of the game.
Although it is depressing to think of how many phone calls I've made in the quest for the Nintendo Wii, I would like to say a small thank you to the people behind the product's development. No matter how many times I've heard it, I can't help but chuckle a little everytime an employee tells me, "We don't have any Wiis."
Tonight, I suggested playing a "Deal or No Deal" drinking game. One drink every time the word "deal" is said, and two drinks every time "banker" or "Howie" is said. I found out that it's a good game if you want to get drunk in a hurry. I'm just glad I didn't suggest using the word "case" as part of the game...I would have been out by the end of the episode. Anyway, the reason I'm even writing about this is because I was drinking Rum and Diet Pepsi. I just want to vent about how disgusting Pepsi tastes. I feel sick. I know that it's from the Pepsi. I might have to move to Atlanta..or at least somewhere south...where I can live in harmony with my Diet Coke. That is all.
Mike and I are still on the hunt for a Nintendo Wii. We've made hundreds of phone calls and have tried using free Wii tracker websites with no luck. For some reason, Sears likes to lie about having Wiis in stock. Perhaps it's a scheme to get people to go to their crappy website. I had no idea that the Wii would be so difficult to come by, else I would've camped outside one of the distributors back in November when they first came out. I think that filterban bringing up his Nintendo Wii on New Year's Eve only made matters worse, as Mike and I got to experience the awesomeness of the gaming system first hand. Oh well, someday...someday.
And, for my fellow Kevin Federline fans, I predict that this will be the best Super Bowl commercial this year:
There are many things that I should be writing about in this long overdue entry...but this isn't one of them: both Julie Sweetin (the actress who played Stephanie Tanner on "Full House") and Alyssa Milano will be speaking at SCSU this semester. You'd think that whoever is in charge of this at SCSU would aim for variety, and just book one of them. But, then again, Julie Sweetin will be talking about her struggles with addiction (to what..I'm not sure..crack, meth, cock?), while Alyssa Milano will be talking about photography and AIDS or something. Sweet.
Words cannot describe how happy I am right now! I practically tap-danced all the way to my car after finishing my last final. I wanted to break into song like in all the wonderfully cheesy musicals.
As a terrible segue here...Mike and I saw White Christmas with his parents at the Ordway last Friday night. It was a good time. We went to Cossetta's before hand, where I had an eight dollar glass of wine. Mike treated me to my first vodka collins before the show started, and then to my second during intermission (I'm trying to make note of the different drinks I try). I was more than prepared when the entire audience was prompted to sing along with "White Christmas" toward the end of the show. Good times.
Has anyone else ever checked out pandora.com? It's free internet radio that lets you choose the artists played, but also adds "similar" artists. I've been using it a lot lately and it's kind of cool.
Now I'm off to annoy people with my good cheer! *happy dance, happy dance*
Please let me survive the next 2 days. One final and 2 quizzes today, then one last final tomorrow morning...and then I'm done. I had planned on alcohol-related celebration tomorrow, but I have a feeling I'll be too sick for that. I'm in pain.
EDIT:One final down, one more final (and 2 quizzes) to go. The final was open-book/notes, but I don't feel very good about how it went. I was able to quickly answer most of the questions, but there were far too many that required too much thought for the amount of sleep I've had. I ending up throwing in the towel on quite a few questions because my head hurts so much. Then, I ended up finishing just in time to run out to the street and watch my bus pass by. That's a half hour of sleep I really could've used before taking these quizzes today. I don't think my head and throat have ever hurt so much in my life.
Good luck with your finals everyone! And to those of you who are finished, hope you're enjoying your break (jerk bags)! :)
More journal articles should be available for free online. That'd really help me out as I search for sources for my psychology papers. It's hard for me to believe that anyone would actually pay $35 for 1 pdf of an 8 page article.
This is a message from my Psychology of Creativity (online) professor:
"We will be moving to activites that involve the sending and receiving of images (drawings, photographs, etc.). I have never given these types of assignments on d2l before and do not know how best to do it. One of my faculty colleagues said that putting images on PowerPoint slides was the best way. Any other suggestions? I am assuming that most students will either have, or have access to, Microsoft programs. Fewer students will have access to, or have time to learn, programs like Photoshop and Illustrator. Quick to master, easy to use, and readily accessible...these are the criteria."
Any ideas? With my current knowledge, I will just opt for using PowerPoint because it is easy and accessible for everyone. I think my teacher is looking for a program that would allow us to be more artistic with photo editing and/or drawing though (but not as complex as Photoshop or Illustrator). Maybe my class will end up using MS Paint. :-P
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