It's not exactly a secret in my amorphous blob of a social circle that my internal compass isn't quite aligned properly... if, in fact, I have one at all.
Just last week, I went literally down the street like half a mile to get my oil changed but got disoriented turning around in the parking lot, went the wrong way and ended up on all sorts of back roads and eventually began to approach my apartment from the complete opposite direction...
It's a gift, what can I say?
On the one side, I find a lot of cool stuff that way. Once, I got lost in Indianola going to the balloon festival and ended up ON a farm (really, ON a farm) with cute kitties running around. That same trip I ended up on a gravel road and there was a tiny baby deer complete with white spots curled up in the grass. Adorable, right?
I've also stumbled upon major shopping malls, restaurants, concert venues, and more than one massive body of water. And the cool thing is I'm always able to find my way home again. Granted, I may need to fill up with gas along the way and I'm sure I've added at least 1,000 unnecessary miles on my car because of these little, ah, excursions, but it's rewarding to make it back home all on my own.
On the down side, if I have somewhere important to be and some sort of appointment to keep, getting lost isn't quite so fun. And, more to the point, most days I don't have the time to aimlessly drive around.
So for my birthday my parents bought me a Tom-Tom. Side note: apparently now is the time to invest in GPS thing for your car. Prices are dropping thanks to fancy new doohickeys on them there do-it-all-for-you phones.
When I opened it, they teased me and said the navigation voice was Snoop Dogg. They were kidding, but apparently on one special model of GPS, he really DOES do the navigation voice. I can just hear him now...
"Yo, homie. Take a left."
Heck, if Snoop Dogg can navigate, I wonder who else can do it? I think Spock would be awesome.
"Driver, that turn was illogical."
Samuel L. Jackson, perhaps?
"Take a mother-f***in' right at the mother-f***in' light."
Yoda, even.
"Reached your destination, you have."
Captain Picard:
"To boldly drive where you've never driven before..."
Dug, from UP
"I love you, master. Turn le.. SQUIRREL!"
Dori
"You've selected P. Sherman 42 Wallaby Way, Sydney. Is that correct?"
"No"
"Hi, I'm Dori.."
Alright, I'll stop there. Sadly, none of those were options, but I did pick a nice lady named Susan, who has so far been successful in directing my parents from the house to the Denver Center of the Performing Arts with striking accuracy.
We'll see how she does in Des Moines.
Thursday, December 24, 2009
Tales from the Liquor Store
Last Wednesday was my 21st birthday and despite the fact that it fell smack dab in the middle of finals week and that I'm not much of a drinker at all, I decided I couldn't let the momentous occasion pass without having SOME alcohol, right? It seems like a rite of passage sort of thing.
Anyway, I took (and likely failed) my finance final (which I was having serious difficulty caring about) that evening at like 5 and stopped at the grocery store on my way back to the apartment.
From simply being around heavy drinkers (and living with more than a couple), I knew that you could do one of those mix-and-match six-pack dealies with like Smirnoff Ice and Mike's Hard Lemonade and things like that. So I decide that's what I would do.
I felt awkward in the store because I didn't want to look suspicious like I might be underage or anything and I didn't want it to look like it was my first time buying booze, either.
Luckily, it was a bit crowded. Albeit, the crowd consisted of some fairly shadester folks who breathed heavily through the gaps in their teeth.
I found my little mix-and-match thing fairly quickly and filled it with things I was familiar with (again, Mike's and Smirnoff Ice... though I had never tried Mike's) and headed for the check-out, ID in hand.
Naturally, the cashier dude asked me for my license and I handed it over, not making eye contact because I didn't want this big whole to-do because it was my birthday...
But nothing escaped this guy. He gave my ID back without saying anything and then, rather loudly, said "IT'S YOUR BIRTHDAY! YOU NEED MORE THAN THIS! IT'S YOUR BIRTHDAY!" Which caused the classy people in the liquor store to join in with "OH, WOW! IT'S YOUR BIRTHDAY!? HEY, IT'S HER BIRTHDAY!"
There had to be a dozen people there. Some of whom began to treat me to their "When I turned 21..." stories. Others tried to push me in the direction of the hard liquor.
I wanted the floor to open up and swallow me, but the best I could do was blush like the cute boy in math class just brushed my arm and get the heck out of there with my wimpy fruity beer.
Thanks for not making a scene, liquor store guy. I appreciate it.
Anyway, I took (and likely failed) my finance final (which I was having serious difficulty caring about) that evening at like 5 and stopped at the grocery store on my way back to the apartment.
From simply being around heavy drinkers (and living with more than a couple), I knew that you could do one of those mix-and-match six-pack dealies with like Smirnoff Ice and Mike's Hard Lemonade and things like that. So I decide that's what I would do.
I felt awkward in the store because I didn't want to look suspicious like I might be underage or anything and I didn't want it to look like it was my first time buying booze, either.
Luckily, it was a bit crowded. Albeit, the crowd consisted of some fairly shadester folks who breathed heavily through the gaps in their teeth.
I found my little mix-and-match thing fairly quickly and filled it with things I was familiar with (again, Mike's and Smirnoff Ice... though I had never tried Mike's) and headed for the check-out, ID in hand.
Naturally, the cashier dude asked me for my license and I handed it over, not making eye contact because I didn't want this big whole to-do because it was my birthday...
But nothing escaped this guy. He gave my ID back without saying anything and then, rather loudly, said "IT'S YOUR BIRTHDAY! YOU NEED MORE THAN THIS! IT'S YOUR BIRTHDAY!" Which caused the classy people in the liquor store to join in with "OH, WOW! IT'S YOUR BIRTHDAY!? HEY, IT'S HER BIRTHDAY!"
There had to be a dozen people there. Some of whom began to treat me to their "When I turned 21..." stories. Others tried to push me in the direction of the hard liquor.
I wanted the floor to open up and swallow me, but the best I could do was blush like the cute boy in math class just brushed my arm and get the heck out of there with my wimpy fruity beer.
Thanks for not making a scene, liquor store guy. I appreciate it.
Friday, December 11, 2009
Launch!
Last night we launched 515 Magazine, our senior magazine capstone project. We went down to Gateway Market during happy hour and had our staff t-shirts on and all that and we got to distribute magazines.
A bunch of people came out including staff, friends, people featured in the magazine and random people who weren't there for us but wanted to check out our hard work anyway.
It was a pretty good time; the staff enjoyed some well-earned and much-needed praise and alcohol... except for those who are STILL too young for that sort of thing, of course.
Anyway, we're all really proud of it. It looks really awesome and It's so cool to see people walking around reading them. Check out pics from the launch party.
A bunch of people came out including staff, friends, people featured in the magazine and random people who weren't there for us but wanted to check out our hard work anyway.
It was a pretty good time; the staff enjoyed some well-earned and much-needed praise and alcohol... except for those who are STILL too young for that sort of thing, of course.
Anyway, we're all really proud of it. It looks really awesome and It's so cool to see people walking around reading them. Check out pics from the launch party.
Wednesday, December 9, 2009
Snow Day!
I blame myself for the current blizzard because I've been hoping and hoping and hoping for snow. Mother Nature delivered in a really big way, I guess.
Yesterday was terrible for driving. I probably would have gotten to school faster if I was driving a combine. Commuting to campus was never a problem until this weather started. Bleh. It took me 45 minutes to about 4 miles. And it took me more than 30 to get home... on the freeway... going 30mph or less the whole way.
I'm not complaining about going slowly. I'd rather take some extra time getting where I'm going than end up sprawled in the middle of the pavement with paramedics asking what they should do with my organs.
Other drivers don't share that sentiment. They like to blow past you as they slip and slide going 60+. Those guys are winners.
My car just doesn't seem to handle the weather well. Braking and turning are a little too much for it to handle.
But it's ok because today is a SNOW DAY! Campus is shut down, along with most of the surrounding area. We've gotten like 14 inches so far, with a few more expected to fall tonight. We have wind gusts up to like 60mph. It's a winter wonderland! And I get to stay inside in my jammies and get caught up on work and watch Christmas movies with my roommate.
You're never too old to appreciate a snow day!
Yesterday was terrible for driving. I probably would have gotten to school faster if I was driving a combine. Commuting to campus was never a problem until this weather started. Bleh. It took me 45 minutes to about 4 miles. And it took me more than 30 to get home... on the freeway... going 30mph or less the whole way.
I'm not complaining about going slowly. I'd rather take some extra time getting where I'm going than end up sprawled in the middle of the pavement with paramedics asking what they should do with my organs.
Other drivers don't share that sentiment. They like to blow past you as they slip and slide going 60+. Those guys are winners.
My car just doesn't seem to handle the weather well. Braking and turning are a little too much for it to handle.
But it's ok because today is a SNOW DAY! Campus is shut down, along with most of the surrounding area. We've gotten like 14 inches so far, with a few more expected to fall tonight. We have wind gusts up to like 60mph. It's a winter wonderland! And I get to stay inside in my jammies and get caught up on work and watch Christmas movies with my roommate.
You're never too old to appreciate a snow day!
Saturday, December 5, 2009
Robotics
Today I went to the Science Center of Iowa to volunteer. I love volunteering there because you get to play with all sorts of really awesome things. Granted, it's all mostly geared toward younger kids, but if you don't like playing in a kiddie pool full of soapy water and blow bubbles big enough to stand in, then I think that's really quite sad.
Anyway, today I went and I was supposed to be the happy door greeter person for a few hours but instead got roped into helping at the Lego League competition. All of these groups from the metro area came (complete with awesome team t-shirts) and entered their lego robots in competition.
The really cool thing about it was that they were all like 13 and younger. I was watching part of the judging and there was this kid who was maybe 9 talking all sorts of programming jargon. Waaaaay over my head. But it was adorable all the same.
The competition was sponsored by ISU and a friend of mine from their APO chapter ended up volunteering through another group he's involved in, so it was cool to talk to him for a little while.
That's one of the coolest things about volunteering, I think, stumbling on something totally awesome you never knew existed.
Anyway, today I went and I was supposed to be the happy door greeter person for a few hours but instead got roped into helping at the Lego League competition. All of these groups from the metro area came (complete with awesome team t-shirts) and entered their lego robots in competition.
The really cool thing about it was that they were all like 13 and younger. I was watching part of the judging and there was this kid who was maybe 9 talking all sorts of programming jargon. Waaaaay over my head. But it was adorable all the same.
The competition was sponsored by ISU and a friend of mine from their APO chapter ended up volunteering through another group he's involved in, so it was cool to talk to him for a little while.
That's one of the coolest things about volunteering, I think, stumbling on something totally awesome you never knew existed.
Thursday, December 3, 2009
An unexpected surprise..
I was sitting in my entomology lab this afternoon, playing with microscopes and gazing, amazed, into the incredible faces of all sorts of creepy crawlies that surround us every day when I realized just how incredible and intricate and fascinating bugs really are. They have all sorts of sophisticated biological and physiological functions that help them to just SURVIVE. And in such a tiny body. It doesn't even seem possible, but it is and that's just AWESOME.
If you told me freshman year that I'd graduate from Drake with a degree in magazine journalism and English and have an environmental science class top my list of best classes, I would have raised an eyebrow.
But here I am anyway wishing, for the first time since coming to Drake, that a class didn't have to end. It's remarkable, really.
I've never had a class where I walked away after every session feeling like I learned something cool. EVERY SESSION. I love learning so I love that feeling. It's awesome. I didn't get that all the time in journalism. Probably because I've had so much of it for so long, but still. Challenging a different part of my brain was, well, wonderful. It was a much-needed break and change of pace from what I've been doing.
And we got to go outside on Thursdays! Granted, this semester it seemed that any time you didn't know what day it was you could look outside and, if it was raining, know that it was Thursday. So we didn't go out EVERY Thursday. But when we did, it was beyond awesome. We all piled into a big van and went on field trips to awesome places I never ever knew about and caught stuff. I love going outside. I wish more classes were outside classes.
The professor didn't hurt, either. Keith Summerville is definitely at the top of the "If they teach it, take it" list. The whole list will be published here, I assure you, in May. He's seriously the best. THE best. There have been some good professors and some great professors but he's really top shelf.
I think the thing that struck me is that he, an environmental science professor, took an interest in me as a student and a person even though I have NO background in his field. Not that that's grounds to shun me or whatever, but I've never really had a professor outside of my major care like that... ever.
And, obviously, he cares about all his other students, too. He advises most of them and is always, well, ADVISING them. He points them and leads them and guides them and helps as much as he possibly can. It's fantastic.
It's been an awesome experience, though completely unexpected. But loved it and I'll be sad when it's over... which will be much too soon.
If you told me freshman year that I'd graduate from Drake with a degree in magazine journalism and English and have an environmental science class top my list of best classes, I would have raised an eyebrow.
But here I am anyway wishing, for the first time since coming to Drake, that a class didn't have to end. It's remarkable, really.
I've never had a class where I walked away after every session feeling like I learned something cool. EVERY SESSION. I love learning so I love that feeling. It's awesome. I didn't get that all the time in journalism. Probably because I've had so much of it for so long, but still. Challenging a different part of my brain was, well, wonderful. It was a much-needed break and change of pace from what I've been doing.
And we got to go outside on Thursdays! Granted, this semester it seemed that any time you didn't know what day it was you could look outside and, if it was raining, know that it was Thursday. So we didn't go out EVERY Thursday. But when we did, it was beyond awesome. We all piled into a big van and went on field trips to awesome places I never ever knew about and caught stuff. I love going outside. I wish more classes were outside classes.
The professor didn't hurt, either. Keith Summerville is definitely at the top of the "If they teach it, take it" list. The whole list will be published here, I assure you, in May. He's seriously the best. THE best. There have been some good professors and some great professors but he's really top shelf.
I think the thing that struck me is that he, an environmental science professor, took an interest in me as a student and a person even though I have NO background in his field. Not that that's grounds to shun me or whatever, but I've never really had a professor outside of my major care like that... ever.
And, obviously, he cares about all his other students, too. He advises most of them and is always, well, ADVISING them. He points them and leads them and guides them and helps as much as he possibly can. It's fantastic.
It's been an awesome experience, though completely unexpected. But loved it and I'll be sad when it's over... which will be much too soon.
Saturday, November 21, 2009
Christmas Festivities
Every year Jordan Creek Town Center has this big to-do when they light this massive Christmas tree on their lake/pond/moderately-sized body of water. It's a lot of fun because the radio station comes out and there's live music and tasty cookies and probably hot chocolate somewhere and FIREWORKS. And SANTA comes and then everybody floods into the mall to be warm.
I've been three years in a row now and always have a lot of fun. This year they were passing out bags of, get this, magical reindeer feed. I got more excited about this than I should have, I think. It was mostly dried corn and nuts and things of that nature with GLITTER mixed in (thus making it magical... everybody knows magical things are sparkly).
Naturally, I thought surely if I was being given this reindeer feed, there would be reindeer to, you know, feed. Sadly, Rudolph and the gang never made an appearance so I suppose it was just a souvenir.
Anyway, I went with some friends from APO and we met up with some APO friends from the Iowa State chapter and it was a really good time. After the fireworks we went inside to go see Santa and get our picture taken with him.
I got to spend a few minutes with the big guy and he asked me what I wanted for Christmas. I told him gainful employment with benefits immediately following Memorial Day would be nice. And for my roommie her GRE scores (she's been good this year).
Here we are... eleven 20+ year old college kids sitting with Santa. And you know what else is awesome? I got a Build-A-Bear Workshop coupon. Yeah, it was a good day.
I've been three years in a row now and always have a lot of fun. This year they were passing out bags of, get this, magical reindeer feed. I got more excited about this than I should have, I think. It was mostly dried corn and nuts and things of that nature with GLITTER mixed in (thus making it magical... everybody knows magical things are sparkly).
Naturally, I thought surely if I was being given this reindeer feed, there would be reindeer to, you know, feed. Sadly, Rudolph and the gang never made an appearance so I suppose it was just a souvenir.
Anyway, I went with some friends from APO and we met up with some APO friends from the Iowa State chapter and it was a really good time. After the fireworks we went inside to go see Santa and get our picture taken with him.
I got to spend a few minutes with the big guy and he asked me what I wanted for Christmas. I told him gainful employment with benefits immediately following Memorial Day would be nice. And for my roommie her GRE scores (she's been good this year).
Here we are... eleven 20+ year old college kids sitting with Santa. And you know what else is awesome? I got a Build-A-Bear Workshop coupon. Yeah, it was a good day.
I have just one thing to say
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH
HHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Car Trouble
I'm told bad things come in threes. If that's the case, I'm already up to two and should just spend the rest of my life in bed hiding from big, bad number three.
Admittedly, this stuff isn't all THAT bad.
First I was involved in a minor car accident in the parking garage at Meredith. I was going through the garage and stopped my tiny car behind this silver Chevy monstrosity, which was in turn stopped because a red Honda was trying to pull into a space. Well, she had to back up to get into it and HE had to back up to make room for her and had no idea I was there. Well, one thing lead to another and my beautiful baby car got her first boo-boo. Check out the pics at the bottom.
Damage was minimal and his car didn't have any to speak of. But now I get to deal with insurance companies and that's just all sorts of fun. Not. It's nothing close to fun. My side of the story doesn't match with his side of the story and now we have this whole thing going on... oy, it's a hassle.
Then tonight I was driving home from school late and I was like a block and a half from my apartment. I was at this funky intersection with a railroad track. Now, the magical line you're supposed to stop at when the light turns red is well behind the railroad tracks. Well, I passed the line, THEN the light turned red, but I was still driving most of the way through the intersection...
Yeah, anyway, I got pulled over and, surprisingly didn't panic at all. I've never EVER been pulled over before (nor been in a car accident while driving) so I thought I'd be all crazy and trying to cry my way out of it or something. Nope. I was just calm and cooperative and after spending a good ten minutes with my license, the cop just gave me a warning. Maybe he noticed my spotless record.
I suppose neither of those things are earth-shatteringly terrible; it's just weird that both of those things were firsts for me, had to deal with my car, and happened within a week of each other.
Anyway, I promised pictures and pictures you shall have.
Admittedly, this stuff isn't all THAT bad.
First I was involved in a minor car accident in the parking garage at Meredith. I was going through the garage and stopped my tiny car behind this silver Chevy monstrosity, which was in turn stopped because a red Honda was trying to pull into a space. Well, she had to back up to get into it and HE had to back up to make room for her and had no idea I was there. Well, one thing lead to another and my beautiful baby car got her first boo-boo. Check out the pics at the bottom.
Damage was minimal and his car didn't have any to speak of. But now I get to deal with insurance companies and that's just all sorts of fun. Not. It's nothing close to fun. My side of the story doesn't match with his side of the story and now we have this whole thing going on... oy, it's a hassle.
Then tonight I was driving home from school late and I was like a block and a half from my apartment. I was at this funky intersection with a railroad track. Now, the magical line you're supposed to stop at when the light turns red is well behind the railroad tracks. Well, I passed the line, THEN the light turned red, but I was still driving most of the way through the intersection...
Yeah, anyway, I got pulled over and, surprisingly didn't panic at all. I've never EVER been pulled over before (nor been in a car accident while driving) so I thought I'd be all crazy and trying to cry my way out of it or something. Nope. I was just calm and cooperative and after spending a good ten minutes with my license, the cop just gave me a warning. Maybe he noticed my spotless record.
I suppose neither of those things are earth-shatteringly terrible; it's just weird that both of those things were firsts for me, had to deal with my car, and happened within a week of each other.
Anyway, I promised pictures and pictures you shall have.
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
515
Ok, so... last time we left off I was not warming up too much to my capstone project. I was feeling burned out and unmotivated. I had hit a variety of brick walls with the stories I was working on and I was just not enjoying myself.
The good news is that I got over it and have been plugging along rather happily for the last several weeks. The even better news is that the whole thing goes to PRINT.
ON MONDAY.
Holy heck! I can't believe it. We somehow, magically, slapped together a magazine in less than three months. And it looks really good, too. We have pin-up tonight (when lots of people come and put stickies on our layouts and tell us what should change) and then we work really, really, really hard to make changes over the weekend and then by Monday it's out of our hands.
EEEEP!
I'm really proud of my hard work and can't wait to see the finish product. Though, I admit, I'm kind of sick of looking at it for the time being.
No pics or anything, but you should definitely check out our website here.
The good news is that I got over it and have been plugging along rather happily for the last several weeks. The even better news is that the whole thing goes to PRINT.
ON MONDAY.
Holy heck! I can't believe it. We somehow, magically, slapped together a magazine in less than three months. And it looks really good, too. We have pin-up tonight (when lots of people come and put stickies on our layouts and tell us what should change) and then we work really, really, really hard to make changes over the weekend and then by Monday it's out of our hands.
EEEEP!
I'm really proud of my hard work and can't wait to see the finish product. Though, I admit, I'm kind of sick of looking at it for the time being.
No pics or anything, but you should definitely check out our website here.
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Apple Patch and Pumpink Orchard
A couple of weeks ago, my roomie, my weekend roomie (her boyfriend) and I went to Center Grove Apple Orchard for some wonderful fall fun. It was a really good time. They had loads of apple trees, a pumpkin patch, a hay ride, a corn maze, a PETTING ZOO (OMG! ANIMALS!), food, games and a cornbox, which is a sandbox Iowa-style.
Check out the pics!
Roomie and bf
Roomies
Sexy tractor
Iowa-style sandbox! Full of corn!
Corny!
Standing in the corn!
Check out the pics!
Roomie and bf
Roomies
Sexy tractor
Iowa-style sandbox! Full of corn!
Corny!
Standing in the corn!
Monday, November 9, 2009
The accident
This past weekend was APO's regional conference in Duluth, MN. It's a whopping six hour drive, but we decided it was worth it.
We were on our way back and just outside of St. Paul late Sunday morning when traffic came to an immediate halt going both directions. We had no idea what was going on. There was a truck going north that had pulled over with its hazards on. And we saw a guy run through the median to a car going south. There was another car pulled over with the driver talking on his cell phone and looking really distressed.
Everybody was at a stand-still.
We were stopped for a few minutes before people started getting out of their cars to check it out. I went with a friend to go see what was happening. I only got to see broken glass and car parts before another guy told us we'd be better off not looking because it was a gruesome scene.
Luckily we listened.
We were maybe 100 feet from the accident. A father and his 4-year-old boy were dead. A car traveling north lost control, flew through the median ditch, and hit a car going south, with the father and son.
The driver of the car that lost control was 19 and he wasn't wearing a seat belt. Neither was his passenger. They were launched from the car and had to be airlifted to the hospital.
The accident is tragic, but being so close to it was so unnerving. It still is. If I didn't have to run into the hotel one last time before we left, if our driver actually drove the speed limit, if we waited to get gas... if any little thing changed, it could have been us.
Nothing separated our car from that fate except mere feet and a handful of seconds.
It's dumbfounding to think about and I'm not sure how to feel about it, either. On one hand, I'm obviously very thankful and lucky to be ok. On the other hand, I can't help but wonder why it wasn't us. What's that called? Survivor's guilt? I mean, that boy was 4. He never got the chance to do much of anything before he was taken away.
Why am I still here?
It's sad and it's weird and the more information that comes out about it, the more complicated my feelings become. I've never been so close to death before. I'm not sure I like it, to be honest.
Read about the accident here: http://www.startribune.com/local/west/69599407.html?elr=KArks:DCiUHc3E7_V_nDaycUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aULPQL7PQLanchO7DiUr
We were on our way back and just outside of St. Paul late Sunday morning when traffic came to an immediate halt going both directions. We had no idea what was going on. There was a truck going north that had pulled over with its hazards on. And we saw a guy run through the median to a car going south. There was another car pulled over with the driver talking on his cell phone and looking really distressed.
Everybody was at a stand-still.
We were stopped for a few minutes before people started getting out of their cars to check it out. I went with a friend to go see what was happening. I only got to see broken glass and car parts before another guy told us we'd be better off not looking because it was a gruesome scene.
Luckily we listened.
We were maybe 100 feet from the accident. A father and his 4-year-old boy were dead. A car traveling north lost control, flew through the median ditch, and hit a car going south, with the father and son.
The driver of the car that lost control was 19 and he wasn't wearing a seat belt. Neither was his passenger. They were launched from the car and had to be airlifted to the hospital.
The accident is tragic, but being so close to it was so unnerving. It still is. If I didn't have to run into the hotel one last time before we left, if our driver actually drove the speed limit, if we waited to get gas... if any little thing changed, it could have been us.
Nothing separated our car from that fate except mere feet and a handful of seconds.
It's dumbfounding to think about and I'm not sure how to feel about it, either. On one hand, I'm obviously very thankful and lucky to be ok. On the other hand, I can't help but wonder why it wasn't us. What's that called? Survivor's guilt? I mean, that boy was 4. He never got the chance to do much of anything before he was taken away.
Why am I still here?
It's sad and it's weird and the more information that comes out about it, the more complicated my feelings become. I've never been so close to death before. I'm not sure I like it, to be honest.
Read about the accident here: http://www.startribune.com/local/west/69599407.html?elr=KArks:DCiUHc3E7_V_nDaycUiD3aPc:_Yyc:aULPQL7PQLanchO7DiUr
Thursday, November 5, 2009
Reality
Ok, so... all in one crazy week I registered for my last semester of classes, ordered my cap and gown, AND filed my graduation application. That's not like a little dose of reality... that's like a big, fat, sweaty reality body slam.
But it's ok. I'm not panicking. Really, I'm not. Something has clicked in my head in the past couple of weeks and I just know in my mind that it'll all be OK. I can't tell you what I'll be doing in May, but it'll be ok, whatever it is.
Right now I'm really excited about graduation. I loved watching my friends last year graduate and I'm excited to be the one turning my tassel in May. I'm also thankful I'm graduating from a small school (by that I mean the Journalism school with something like only 40 grads) so I don't have to stand and watch hundreds of people graduate.
It should be great.
And as far as next semester's classes go, I'm only taking 4, which is beyond awesome. There will be more time to work... whee... how exciting. The weird thing is I can't take anymore journalism classes so I'll be graduating with a degree in journalism after not having any j-classes for a full semester.
It's all good, though. It's all good.
But it's ok. I'm not panicking. Really, I'm not. Something has clicked in my head in the past couple of weeks and I just know in my mind that it'll all be OK. I can't tell you what I'll be doing in May, but it'll be ok, whatever it is.
Right now I'm really excited about graduation. I loved watching my friends last year graduate and I'm excited to be the one turning my tassel in May. I'm also thankful I'm graduating from a small school (by that I mean the Journalism school with something like only 40 grads) so I don't have to stand and watch hundreds of people graduate.
It should be great.
And as far as next semester's classes go, I'm only taking 4, which is beyond awesome. There will be more time to work... whee... how exciting. The weird thing is I can't take anymore journalism classes so I'll be graduating with a degree in journalism after not having any j-classes for a full semester.
It's all good, though. It's all good.
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
We didn't start the fire
Ok, so... I have an embarrassing story to tell.
Last month APO went to the gorgeous Saylorville Lake for our chapter retreat. We were going to have a bonfire and make s'mores and have fun and all that good stuff.
Personally, few things in the world make me happier than a bonfire. I love the smell. I love being outside. I love getting dirt on my shoes. I love eating melty marshmallows on sticks... I love it all.
So I was pretty jazzed about this. Before I left my apartment, I went to the wooded area near my parking lot to get twigs and stuff for kindling. It hadn't rained in a while so everything was pretty dry and I was all excited.
I brought matches, too, just so you know that's not where the story is going.
Anyway, we get to the fire pit and I'm going to start this fire.
First of all, it should be said that all fire starting experience I've had has been in Colorado where if you breathe warmly on a pine needle it will ignite. We have had lightly smoldering cigarette butts that have started the entire state on fire. That's how dry things are.
In Iowa, there's a little something-something called humidity that, even though you can't always cut it with a knife like you can in July and August, is kind of always there anyway which makes the supposedly dry wood not all that dry.
So imagine my shock when we lit match after match after match and our lovely twigs weren't catching hardly at all. And when they did, the burned out pretty much immediately.
That's not to mention the fact that in Colorado, it isn't hard to find firewood. I'm pretty sure I remember walking around and just picking up branches and bigger pieces of wood along those lines and using it in the fire.
They don't do things like that at Saylorville and we, in fact, had to buy firewood from a massive trailer-looking thing that turned out to be a vending machine.
45 minutes and most of our supply of paper plates later, with no lighter fluid (I was far too confident in my ability to start a fire to use lighter fluid), we had a small but growing fire started.
And hour later, almost everybody got bored and left. So there you have it. But I was still proud of myself. And embarrassed. :P
Last month APO went to the gorgeous Saylorville Lake for our chapter retreat. We were going to have a bonfire and make s'mores and have fun and all that good stuff.
Personally, few things in the world make me happier than a bonfire. I love the smell. I love being outside. I love getting dirt on my shoes. I love eating melty marshmallows on sticks... I love it all.
So I was pretty jazzed about this. Before I left my apartment, I went to the wooded area near my parking lot to get twigs and stuff for kindling. It hadn't rained in a while so everything was pretty dry and I was all excited.
I brought matches, too, just so you know that's not where the story is going.
Anyway, we get to the fire pit and I'm going to start this fire.
First of all, it should be said that all fire starting experience I've had has been in Colorado where if you breathe warmly on a pine needle it will ignite. We have had lightly smoldering cigarette butts that have started the entire state on fire. That's how dry things are.
In Iowa, there's a little something-something called humidity that, even though you can't always cut it with a knife like you can in July and August, is kind of always there anyway which makes the supposedly dry wood not all that dry.
So imagine my shock when we lit match after match after match and our lovely twigs weren't catching hardly at all. And when they did, the burned out pretty much immediately.
That's not to mention the fact that in Colorado, it isn't hard to find firewood. I'm pretty sure I remember walking around and just picking up branches and bigger pieces of wood along those lines and using it in the fire.
They don't do things like that at Saylorville and we, in fact, had to buy firewood from a massive trailer-looking thing that turned out to be a vending machine.
45 minutes and most of our supply of paper plates later, with no lighter fluid (I was far too confident in my ability to start a fire to use lighter fluid), we had a small but growing fire started.
And hour later, almost everybody got bored and left. So there you have it. But I was still proud of myself. And embarrassed. :P
Sunday, October 25, 2009
Some splanin' to do
Last week one of my English professors emailed me asking to give one of her first-year advisees some, well, advice. She was considering picking up a magazine major in addition to her English major and wasn't quite sure.
I emailed her and told her about the professors and the classes and why I decided to be a magazine major in the first place.
And the most amazing thing happened. I got excited again. I got excited because I was explaining to this student, a girl I have never met before, why she should be a magazine major. Why it's fun. Why it's worth it. What she'll get out of doing this.
It just reminded me of the time when I was excited about it, too. When hunting down sources for something was an exciting challenge, not an irritating chore. Interviews were cool. I loved saying I was with the media. I loved writing and reading and writing some more. It was all exactly what I wanted to do.
And I realized by talking to this stranger that it is still exactly what I want to do. I'm still having these weird problems with apathy, but I know now it's not because I don't WANT this. I do. I'm just trapped in this weird place where I'm tired of school but I'm terrified of it ending because I have NO IDEA what is on the other side. I know I'll be ok, but I still don't know what even that means.
But the good thing that came out of doubting myself this way was that it forced me to think about what else I want to do and I came up with some really cool options. I would love to do educational programming somewhere like the zoo. Or special event planning (like Race for the Cure or Night Eyes or other huge community fundraiser types of things like that). Or volunteer coordination for a non-profit.
I'm interested in all sorts of things and, yes, I absolutely would love to write for a magazine that's applicable to a topic I'm interested in, but there are so many other options. Maybe I wanted myself to not love journalism anymore because things are so grim right now in the industry. Maybe I wanted myself to move on to something else so I could be happy with what I'm doing after I graduate. It's really hard to say.
But at the end of the day I am in love with journalism, but with a lot of other things, too. And that's only good news because it means I have options. A lot of them. Because maybe I won't be journalism-ing soon after graduation, but I can still be doing something I love. I just have to find a job that qualifies.
I know it seems I'm terribly hot and cold these days about school, but I think that's nothing but realistic. Things are sometimes so great and so clear to us but then there are these obstacles and we get confused and lost but we have no choice but to forge ahead because we can either push through it ourselves or have time drag us through kicking and screaming. Some days I'm armed with boots and a machete and other days I have road rash on my butt.
I emailed her and told her about the professors and the classes and why I decided to be a magazine major in the first place.
And the most amazing thing happened. I got excited again. I got excited because I was explaining to this student, a girl I have never met before, why she should be a magazine major. Why it's fun. Why it's worth it. What she'll get out of doing this.
It just reminded me of the time when I was excited about it, too. When hunting down sources for something was an exciting challenge, not an irritating chore. Interviews were cool. I loved saying I was with the media. I loved writing and reading and writing some more. It was all exactly what I wanted to do.
And I realized by talking to this stranger that it is still exactly what I want to do. I'm still having these weird problems with apathy, but I know now it's not because I don't WANT this. I do. I'm just trapped in this weird place where I'm tired of school but I'm terrified of it ending because I have NO IDEA what is on the other side. I know I'll be ok, but I still don't know what even that means.
But the good thing that came out of doubting myself this way was that it forced me to think about what else I want to do and I came up with some really cool options. I would love to do educational programming somewhere like the zoo. Or special event planning (like Race for the Cure or Night Eyes or other huge community fundraiser types of things like that). Or volunteer coordination for a non-profit.
I'm interested in all sorts of things and, yes, I absolutely would love to write for a magazine that's applicable to a topic I'm interested in, but there are so many other options. Maybe I wanted myself to not love journalism anymore because things are so grim right now in the industry. Maybe I wanted myself to move on to something else so I could be happy with what I'm doing after I graduate. It's really hard to say.
But at the end of the day I am in love with journalism, but with a lot of other things, too. And that's only good news because it means I have options. A lot of them. Because maybe I won't be journalism-ing soon after graduation, but I can still be doing something I love. I just have to find a job that qualifies.
I know it seems I'm terribly hot and cold these days about school, but I think that's nothing but realistic. Things are sometimes so great and so clear to us but then there are these obstacles and we get confused and lost but we have no choice but to forge ahead because we can either push through it ourselves or have time drag us through kicking and screaming. Some days I'm armed with boots and a machete and other days I have road rash on my butt.
Sunday, October 11, 2009
The Bug
I've caught what's going around. Not H1N1 or the seasonal flu or the fall cold (as opposed to the winter cold and the summer cold and the spring cold) or pretty much anything else that comes with chesty coughs and stuffy noses.
My symptoms are as follows:
Sluggishness, loss of interest, finding constant distraction, day dreaming, severe procrastination and lack of sleep.
In high school we called it Senior-itis. Now I just call it apathy.
The closer I get to the end the less I care about pretty much everything. The good news is that I'm not alone... it seems to be a bit of a trend among seniors. Still, that doesn't make it better.
I just don't know why I don't care anymore. Do I not care because I'm just burned out after 15.5 years of school? Do I not care because I'm bored? Do I not care because magazine journalism isn't something I want anymore?
I suppose that last one doesn't matter so much because I'm not about to change my major or anything. Besides, I wouldn't know what to change it to. But it's such a horrible feeling and I don't know what to do about it. How do I motivate myself? I don't know the answer.
It's confusing and weird and I pretty much hate it. I'm not even enjoying my magazine capstone project all that much. I know it's a big deal and I know that this is my last journalism class at Drake and that most of my academic effort should probably be poured into this class, but...
My symptoms are as follows:
Sluggishness, loss of interest, finding constant distraction, day dreaming, severe procrastination and lack of sleep.
In high school we called it Senior-itis. Now I just call it apathy.
The closer I get to the end the less I care about pretty much everything. The good news is that I'm not alone... it seems to be a bit of a trend among seniors. Still, that doesn't make it better.
I just don't know why I don't care anymore. Do I not care because I'm just burned out after 15.5 years of school? Do I not care because I'm bored? Do I not care because magazine journalism isn't something I want anymore?
I suppose that last one doesn't matter so much because I'm not about to change my major or anything. Besides, I wouldn't know what to change it to. But it's such a horrible feeling and I don't know what to do about it. How do I motivate myself? I don't know the answer.
It's confusing and weird and I pretty much hate it. I'm not even enjoying my magazine capstone project all that much. I know it's a big deal and I know that this is my last journalism class at Drake and that most of my academic effort should probably be poured into this class, but...
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Professor Peruvian
I am a big, big, big fan of animals. I'm a complete sucker for most of them. Maybe notsomuch for snakes and other things that are the embodiment of evil.
Over the summer I got really, REALLY lonely and came VERY close to adopting a kitty from Petsmart but was thwarted when I found out you have to be 21 to do it. It was a good thing that I couldn't because I do want to wait until I'm settled for a longer period of time than just the next few months to make that kind of a commitment. And in the end it would be a lot of money... adoption fee, start-up stuff, vet bills, $150 pet deposit for my apartment, an additional $30 for rent... it adds up quickly.
I did the fish thing for a while and last summer it worked out REALLY well. Those guys lasted for a good long time. But since then all the fish I've had have been dead within a few weeks. I went through too many fish this summer.
I was still pretty desperate for some sort of animal companionship, but I was done with fish and couldn't afford a cat. So I came up with a happy compromise.
A guinea pig.
It's not small and creepy like a hamster; it's not going to die in two weeks like a fish; it's not a massive financial commitment like a cat or dog. It's a cuddly cage pet and the perfect solution.
My grandma was in town this weekend and she was nice enough to spring for the piggy and I bought his cage and set-up things and my roommate bought him some extra fun stuff. So far we're both thrilled. He's still adjusting so he's a bit nervous still, but he's very friendly when we hold him and makes adorable little squealy noises.
We named him Professor Peruvian. Someone (my grandma, I think) tossed out the name Professor which kind of stuck, and then we added Peruvian because guinea pigs are native of Peru. Though, we should probably call him Professor PeesALot since he likes to take a leak in my roommate's lap.
Over the summer I got really, REALLY lonely and came VERY close to adopting a kitty from Petsmart but was thwarted when I found out you have to be 21 to do it. It was a good thing that I couldn't because I do want to wait until I'm settled for a longer period of time than just the next few months to make that kind of a commitment. And in the end it would be a lot of money... adoption fee, start-up stuff, vet bills, $150 pet deposit for my apartment, an additional $30 for rent... it adds up quickly.
I did the fish thing for a while and last summer it worked out REALLY well. Those guys lasted for a good long time. But since then all the fish I've had have been dead within a few weeks. I went through too many fish this summer.
I was still pretty desperate for some sort of animal companionship, but I was done with fish and couldn't afford a cat. So I came up with a happy compromise.
A guinea pig.
It's not small and creepy like a hamster; it's not going to die in two weeks like a fish; it's not a massive financial commitment like a cat or dog. It's a cuddly cage pet and the perfect solution.
My grandma was in town this weekend and she was nice enough to spring for the piggy and I bought his cage and set-up things and my roommate bought him some extra fun stuff. So far we're both thrilled. He's still adjusting so he's a bit nervous still, but he's very friendly when we hold him and makes adorable little squealy noises.
We named him Professor Peruvian. Someone (my grandma, I think) tossed out the name Professor which kind of stuck, and then we added Peruvian because guinea pigs are native of Peru. Though, we should probably call him Professor PeesALot since he likes to take a leak in my roommate's lap.
Friday, September 25, 2009
Pelican Festival
I have more mascot experience than I care to admit. My first job was at Chick-Fil-A back home in Colorado and one night I had to dress up as the CFA cow and do the chicken dance during half-time at the Colorado Nuggets basketball game.
Then, if you're a frequent reader (and you're probably not unless you're my parents, my friend Ryan, my boss, or the mysterious person at Meredith who has been hitting a lot lately... shout out to you all) you'll recall my Curious George experience. in 2007 I had to dress up as Curious George at the Blank Park Zoo during their Halloween event and that was all sorts of interesting.
A few weeks ago was the Pelican Festival at Jester Park Lodge. Evidently, pelican migration starts in late summer and early fall and hundreds and thousands of pelicans come to rest at the massive Saylorville Lake. So people come and gather and watch pelicans and learn some stuff.
I volunteered to help through my internship at the DNR. So I got there and was told that they needed me to be the pelican greeter, Scoop. Scoop, as it turns out, is this massive pelican costume that's just all sorts of ridiculous. Thankfully, by this point in my mascot career, I'm experienced enough and didn't need help getting into the costume.
So I dressed up as a massive pelican and I'm walking the best way I know how with toddlers on my ankles. Meanwhile other toddlers were shrieking at the sight of me.
Although, one very cool thing happened. A little boy pointed right at me and said "bird!" And his parents started freaking out because that was his first word. It was pretty special to share that moment.
And, because I evidently have no problem further making public my already public humiliation, I'm putting in a picture.
Then, if you're a frequent reader (and you're probably not unless you're my parents, my friend Ryan, my boss, or the mysterious person at Meredith who has been hitting a lot lately... shout out to you all) you'll recall my Curious George experience. in 2007 I had to dress up as Curious George at the Blank Park Zoo during their Halloween event and that was all sorts of interesting.
A few weeks ago was the Pelican Festival at Jester Park Lodge. Evidently, pelican migration starts in late summer and early fall and hundreds and thousands of pelicans come to rest at the massive Saylorville Lake. So people come and gather and watch pelicans and learn some stuff.
I volunteered to help through my internship at the DNR. So I got there and was told that they needed me to be the pelican greeter, Scoop. Scoop, as it turns out, is this massive pelican costume that's just all sorts of ridiculous. Thankfully, by this point in my mascot career, I'm experienced enough and didn't need help getting into the costume.
So I dressed up as a massive pelican and I'm walking the best way I know how with toddlers on my ankles. Meanwhile other toddlers were shrieking at the sight of me.
Although, one very cool thing happened. A little boy pointed right at me and said "bird!" And his parents started freaking out because that was his first word. It was pretty special to share that moment.
And, because I evidently have no problem further making public my already public humiliation, I'm putting in a picture.
1/3 over
I realized recently that this semester is already 1/3 over. Granted that means I have about 5 weeks under my belt, but when you're feeling like things have just gotten started, thinking of it like that is really kind of shocking.
But things have just been so slow lately. I keep telling myself not to complain, but I can't help it. For instance, my magazine capstone... we're still making important decisions and only yesterday got actual writing assignments. But the book has to be to the printer BEFORE Thanksgiving break. Holy heck.
So I'm sure it'll all hit the fan here pretty soon and I won't be able to keep up with hardly anything. It's the calm before the storm, I suppose.
This week I also had my first entomology exam and that was weird. I don't remember the last time I ever really had an exam. Considering that I haven't had any sort of biology class since literally freshman year of high school and therefore am at a considerable disadvantage compared to the other students who are grounded quite well in the basics of things like biodiversity, morphology and evolution, I think it went fairly well. I can tell I generally know the info, but there were definitely some holes in my explanation of things. That doesn't change the fact that I love the class and the professor is one of the greatest I've ever had. Seriously. Keith Summerville. If he teaches it, take it.
In a couple of weeks the classes for next semester will be posted already and my roommate and I are both extremely excited. Generally I feel like we're both not terribly thrilled with classes this semester and getting to pick out new ones is really exciting. It's particularly exciting for me because I only have to pick 4 of them (yay for a 12-credit semester!) and it'll be my LAST. TIME. PICKING. Holy heck. It's crazy.
But things have just been so slow lately. I keep telling myself not to complain, but I can't help it. For instance, my magazine capstone... we're still making important decisions and only yesterday got actual writing assignments. But the book has to be to the printer BEFORE Thanksgiving break. Holy heck.
So I'm sure it'll all hit the fan here pretty soon and I won't be able to keep up with hardly anything. It's the calm before the storm, I suppose.
This week I also had my first entomology exam and that was weird. I don't remember the last time I ever really had an exam. Considering that I haven't had any sort of biology class since literally freshman year of high school and therefore am at a considerable disadvantage compared to the other students who are grounded quite well in the basics of things like biodiversity, morphology and evolution, I think it went fairly well. I can tell I generally know the info, but there were definitely some holes in my explanation of things. That doesn't change the fact that I love the class and the professor is one of the greatest I've ever had. Seriously. Keith Summerville. If he teaches it, take it.
In a couple of weeks the classes for next semester will be posted already and my roommate and I are both extremely excited. Generally I feel like we're both not terribly thrilled with classes this semester and getting to pick out new ones is really exciting. It's particularly exciting for me because I only have to pick 4 of them (yay for a 12-credit semester!) and it'll be my LAST. TIME. PICKING. Holy heck. It's crazy.
Wednesday, September 2, 2009
Senior Year
So it begins. Senior year. I'm mostly excited, although I admit things are going kind of slowly, which I'm not really used to. Not as far as school goes, anyway. But I should enjoy it while I can because I'm sure soon enough I'll barely be able to keep my head above water. Not that that's a bad thing. I enjoy that sort of challenge. So here's the class break down:
1. J122 Magazine Capstone. This is it. My last journalism class at Drake. And probably ever. Kind of boggles my mind, really. Each magazine class does their capstone project, which is an issue of 515 magazine. They do everything from start to finish. Content, design, advertising, web presence, editing... you name it. We recently had to interview for staff positions and I should hear about which position I've been offered tomorrow. The class is taught by Lori Blachford who is all kinds of amazing. I'd take anything if she taught it. She's knowledgeable and funny and generally just a great person to have in class.
2. Personal Finance. Eh. It's not as bad as it could be so far, which is good. And it's all important info to have. Budgeting and financial goals and all this business. Although, it may be presumptuous of me to assume I'll have an income to manage after graduation. Lol. But it's ok. And the professor's name is Daffodil, so what could go wrong?
3. Creative Non-fiction. I seem to be in that class with largely non-English major underclassmen. In fact, most of them seem to be pre-pharm. So that's different. Not bad, though. I enjoy creative writing and the stuff we've had to read so far is really engaging. Actually, probably some of the best I've read in college.
4. American Lit. It's an upper-level so this class has a lot of English majors and honor students and whatnot. The stuff we have to read is also fairly easy to move through, comparatively speaking. And I've had this professor before last semester and my first semester as a freshman for my FYS class. So we go way back. He's brilliant and funny, though I'm not sure he always means to be.
5. Entomology. A non-required science class. Amazing, right? Entomology is the study of insects and even though I'm the only non-science major in the class (lots of environmental science, pharm and pre-pharm, biology and chemistry), I seem to be keeping up fairly well. I'd like to take this opportunity to thank Mr. Weber, my seventh grade science teacher, for teaching me what a phylum is. We get to go collect bugs and then identify them and all sorts of cool stuff. It's good to get a break from writing and challenge a different part of my brain.
Considering it's senior year, I'm not feeling anxious like I was expecting to. I'm not worried about finding a job after graduation. I'm smart and bold, I've gained a lot of valuable experience in not a lot of time, and I'm good at my job. And I've largely come to terms with the fact that it's not likely that I'll be working in publishing after I graduate. But that doesn't mean I won't be working. I'm good at the alphabet so I can file like nobody's business. And if that's what I have to do to pay my rent for a while before I can sneak in to the magazine business somewhere, then alrighty. There's no shame in it.
1. J122 Magazine Capstone. This is it. My last journalism class at Drake. And probably ever. Kind of boggles my mind, really. Each magazine class does their capstone project, which is an issue of 515 magazine. They do everything from start to finish. Content, design, advertising, web presence, editing... you name it. We recently had to interview for staff positions and I should hear about which position I've been offered tomorrow. The class is taught by Lori Blachford who is all kinds of amazing. I'd take anything if she taught it. She's knowledgeable and funny and generally just a great person to have in class.
2. Personal Finance. Eh. It's not as bad as it could be so far, which is good. And it's all important info to have. Budgeting and financial goals and all this business. Although, it may be presumptuous of me to assume I'll have an income to manage after graduation. Lol. But it's ok. And the professor's name is Daffodil, so what could go wrong?
3. Creative Non-fiction. I seem to be in that class with largely non-English major underclassmen. In fact, most of them seem to be pre-pharm. So that's different. Not bad, though. I enjoy creative writing and the stuff we've had to read so far is really engaging. Actually, probably some of the best I've read in college.
4. American Lit. It's an upper-level so this class has a lot of English majors and honor students and whatnot. The stuff we have to read is also fairly easy to move through, comparatively speaking. And I've had this professor before last semester and my first semester as a freshman for my FYS class. So we go way back. He's brilliant and funny, though I'm not sure he always means to be.
5. Entomology. A non-required science class. Amazing, right? Entomology is the study of insects and even though I'm the only non-science major in the class (lots of environmental science, pharm and pre-pharm, biology and chemistry), I seem to be keeping up fairly well. I'd like to take this opportunity to thank Mr. Weber, my seventh grade science teacher, for teaching me what a phylum is. We get to go collect bugs and then identify them and all sorts of cool stuff. It's good to get a break from writing and challenge a different part of my brain.
Considering it's senior year, I'm not feeling anxious like I was expecting to. I'm not worried about finding a job after graduation. I'm smart and bold, I've gained a lot of valuable experience in not a lot of time, and I'm good at my job. And I've largely come to terms with the fact that it's not likely that I'll be working in publishing after I graduate. But that doesn't mean I won't be working. I'm good at the alphabet so I can file like nobody's business. And if that's what I have to do to pay my rent for a while before I can sneak in to the magazine business somewhere, then alrighty. There's no shame in it.
Monday, August 17, 2009
Iowa State Fair
This weekend I hit up the Iowa State Fair and I enjoyed myself and all, but I'm sad to say I didn't have nearly as much fun as I had last year. Of course, last year everything was new and terribly exciting and I wanted to do it all and see it all and take pictures of EVERYTHING.
Notsomuch this year. I got to the fairgrounds around 8:30 and by 2 I was pretty much done. I don't know if it was the weather (kind of a steamy, overcast sort of day that tricks you into thinking it might be cool outside) or the crowds, but I just felt fair-ed out.
I couldn't go home, though because I was volunteering for Drake from 4-6 (which is a lot of fun) so I had to kill two hours. I sat and watched the talent show where I swear I heard about 30 10-15 year-olds singing Miley Cyrus' "The Climb" (oddly the younger ones seemed better).
I hit all the fair highlights like the 4-H building (I love what those 4-H kids do), the VI building, the Ag building, and the barns with all the animals. Last year I spent two or three hours in the barns alone, but this year it just seemed like there were so many people there. Maybe my excitement blinded me to the crowds last year, but this year I just couldn't deal with it. And don't even get me started on strollers! Oy! I swear, I'm not taking my kids anywhere until they're 10.
It's hard to deal with so many people EVERYWHERE you go. I tried going 100 different places to take a break from the crowd, but there's NO reprieve. Anywhere.
It's not that I didn't enjoy being at the fair. After all, after a summer of living in solitary confinement, it was good to be out in public and feel part of a group again... but it was kind of a lot of public to deal with at once.
I went to the fair again on Sunday, this time to volunteer at the DNR building (for 6 hours!!!) and I found that much more enjoyable, somehow. I was running the cash register at the DNR store and talked to SO many people. It was nice to actually interact with people and talk to them instead of simply being with crazy crowds out on the grounds. I met a lot of really nice people who had some really cool stories and a lot of them told me how much they love the DNR magazine, which has inspired them to go out and do or see something. It was really cool to hear about it.
I suppose it's a good thing I liked my 6-hour DNR shift so much... I have two more next weekend. Yay, I think.
Notsomuch this year. I got to the fairgrounds around 8:30 and by 2 I was pretty much done. I don't know if it was the weather (kind of a steamy, overcast sort of day that tricks you into thinking it might be cool outside) or the crowds, but I just felt fair-ed out.
I couldn't go home, though because I was volunteering for Drake from 4-6 (which is a lot of fun) so I had to kill two hours. I sat and watched the talent show where I swear I heard about 30 10-15 year-olds singing Miley Cyrus' "The Climb" (oddly the younger ones seemed better).
I hit all the fair highlights like the 4-H building (I love what those 4-H kids do), the VI building, the Ag building, and the barns with all the animals. Last year I spent two or three hours in the barns alone, but this year it just seemed like there were so many people there. Maybe my excitement blinded me to the crowds last year, but this year I just couldn't deal with it. And don't even get me started on strollers! Oy! I swear, I'm not taking my kids anywhere until they're 10.
It's hard to deal with so many people EVERYWHERE you go. I tried going 100 different places to take a break from the crowd, but there's NO reprieve. Anywhere.
It's not that I didn't enjoy being at the fair. After all, after a summer of living in solitary confinement, it was good to be out in public and feel part of a group again... but it was kind of a lot of public to deal with at once.
I went to the fair again on Sunday, this time to volunteer at the DNR building (for 6 hours!!!) and I found that much more enjoyable, somehow. I was running the cash register at the DNR store and talked to SO many people. It was nice to actually interact with people and talk to them instead of simply being with crazy crowds out on the grounds. I met a lot of really nice people who had some really cool stories and a lot of them told me how much they love the DNR magazine, which has inspired them to go out and do or see something. It was really cool to hear about it.
I suppose it's a good thing I liked my 6-hour DNR shift so much... I have two more next weekend. Yay, I think.
Friday, August 14, 2009
Iowa Outdoors
This summer I have an internship at Iowa Outdoors Magazine, which is a publication from the Department of Natural Resources. It's a great magazine with cool stories and amazing photos. And readership is 150,000. It's really cool.
It earned some cool points this past issue because it featured the journalistic stylings of, well, me! I had four different articles in the new Sept/Oct issue and I'm really REALLY excited about it. I've never been published in a magazine before. Not a print one, anyway. And being published in print is just a waaaaayyyy cooler feeling. Online is good, but there's nothing like looking at a stack of magazines you know you're in.
And they aren't groundbreaking works of staggering genius or anything, but they're a start and, even better, they're mine :)
It earned some cool points this past issue because it featured the journalistic stylings of, well, me! I had four different articles in the new Sept/Oct issue and I'm really REALLY excited about it. I've never been published in a magazine before. Not a print one, anyway. And being published in print is just a waaaaayyyy cooler feeling. Online is good, but there's nothing like looking at a stack of magazines you know you're in.
And they aren't groundbreaking works of staggering genius or anything, but they're a start and, even better, they're mine :)
Monday, August 10, 2009
The storm
I've probably mentioned once or twice that I am not a fan of storms. Last summer there were some insane thunderstorms that I spent a lot of sleepless nights panicking about. This summer seemed much less active as far as severe weather goes. I don't know if it's a slow year for storms, or this is more average for a typical Iowa summer... I only have one summer to compare it to and that's when half the state was under water.
Anyway, we had a killer storm yesterday evening that shook me to the core pretty badly. It was weird because I looked out the window at the ominous clouds and I was like "oh, gosh, looks like it might storm." And as soon as I finished the thought, all hell broke loose.
My big thing is that I can't handle these huge storms alone. I just seriously can't. Last summer there was a tornado or a funnel cloud that missed the city by what felt like inches, but I didn't panick nearly as much because I was an RA and had to take control of an emergency situation. It's weird how that happens. Ordinarily I would be curled up in my bathtub with a picture of my family conviced I was going to die. But my brain kind of skipped that step and went into "take control" mode. I didn't mind it, of course.
But this summer I have no residents and I find that when it's just me alone in my top-of-the-building apartment, I really tend to freak out. Oddly, as far as I know, there were no threats of tornadoes with this storm, but it was still one of the scaries thunderstorms I've ever seen. I looked out the window and at one point I couldn't see anything at all because the rain was so hard, visibility was zero. And when I could see, it didn't look like rain was falling at all, rather being blown around in massive, horizontal sheets. I could see it blow off the roofs of other buildings and fall half way to the ground before it shot straight back up into the air again. All the debris in the tri-state area seemed like it landed in the pool. Branches were falling left and right, lightning was right on top of us. I stood at my bedroom window and put my hands on the glass and could feel the window flex in the wind.
There's always one man I can turn to during times like these. Channel 8's John McLaughlin. He's the best and I love him. Except that my cable tends to freeze or something during really terrible storms. It doesn't go out, exactly. Either the picture freezes or I get a black screen saying "this channel will be available momentarily" for a couple of hours. I have yet to determine if this affects my internet because my computer can pick up wireless signals from my neighbors... so if someone has functioning internet that isn't password-protected, I can still be online. But the problem is the signal is usually fairly weak so weather sites with a lot of interactive, moving maps take much too long to load.
So... yeah... it was all rather traumatic. But, as with most storms, it left as quickly as it came and an hour later there was hardly any evidence that it was there... oh, except for the damage to my apartment which includes a roof that leaks in four places (opposed to only two earlier this summer), a chunk of ceiling that fell onto my living room floor, my bedroom window that was cracked from a stray piece of hail and another window that clearly leaks (hence the puddle of water on the sill and carpet under it).
Yay.
Anyway, we had a killer storm yesterday evening that shook me to the core pretty badly. It was weird because I looked out the window at the ominous clouds and I was like "oh, gosh, looks like it might storm." And as soon as I finished the thought, all hell broke loose.
My big thing is that I can't handle these huge storms alone. I just seriously can't. Last summer there was a tornado or a funnel cloud that missed the city by what felt like inches, but I didn't panick nearly as much because I was an RA and had to take control of an emergency situation. It's weird how that happens. Ordinarily I would be curled up in my bathtub with a picture of my family conviced I was going to die. But my brain kind of skipped that step and went into "take control" mode. I didn't mind it, of course.
But this summer I have no residents and I find that when it's just me alone in my top-of-the-building apartment, I really tend to freak out. Oddly, as far as I know, there were no threats of tornadoes with this storm, but it was still one of the scaries thunderstorms I've ever seen. I looked out the window and at one point I couldn't see anything at all because the rain was so hard, visibility was zero. And when I could see, it didn't look like rain was falling at all, rather being blown around in massive, horizontal sheets. I could see it blow off the roofs of other buildings and fall half way to the ground before it shot straight back up into the air again. All the debris in the tri-state area seemed like it landed in the pool. Branches were falling left and right, lightning was right on top of us. I stood at my bedroom window and put my hands on the glass and could feel the window flex in the wind.
There's always one man I can turn to during times like these. Channel 8's John McLaughlin. He's the best and I love him. Except that my cable tends to freeze or something during really terrible storms. It doesn't go out, exactly. Either the picture freezes or I get a black screen saying "this channel will be available momentarily" for a couple of hours. I have yet to determine if this affects my internet because my computer can pick up wireless signals from my neighbors... so if someone has functioning internet that isn't password-protected, I can still be online. But the problem is the signal is usually fairly weak so weather sites with a lot of interactive, moving maps take much too long to load.
So... yeah... it was all rather traumatic. But, as with most storms, it left as quickly as it came and an hour later there was hardly any evidence that it was there... oh, except for the damage to my apartment which includes a roof that leaks in four places (opposed to only two earlier this summer), a chunk of ceiling that fell onto my living room floor, my bedroom window that was cracked from a stray piece of hail and another window that clearly leaks (hence the puddle of water on the sill and carpet under it).
Yay.
Sunday, August 9, 2009
Things that cannot kill you
I have some extremely good news. Today ends my very last pointless, boring, isolated weekend that ultimately amounts to little besides a trip to Walmart and church. The next two weekends will be eaten up by excessive volunteer hours at the Iowa State Fair and then I'll be thrown head-first into senior year. Oh, yes. Two glorious weeks from tomorrow I start my second-to-last semester at school and it will be so, SO welcome. I'll find myself busy and distracted with homework and APO and, OMG, the job hunt.
As I'm sure I've made clear several times, this summer was not a good one. Wow, it feels really good to talk about it in the past tense. But, as with most things that suck, I learned quite a lot.
For example, here's a list of things that cannot actually kill you (though sometimes you almost wish they did).
1. Being alone. Apparently things like breathing and heartbeats aren't dependent on the presence of other people. It's just that both of those things are infinitely more worthwhile when there ARE other people. Just to ask a friend how their day at work was and hear stories about the crazies they had to deal with. Or someone to tell a really dumb joke to. Or someone to say "It's ok, tomorrow will be better" and mean it. I mean, that stuff probably happens to you so frequently and you don't even think about it. But once that's gone, it's all you can think about. Alas, as horrible as that feeling is, you can't actually die from it.
2. Boredom. I quote Pam: "From time to time, Jim dies from boredom." If you watch The Office, you know that Jim is, in fact, not dead at all. He's still alive and kicking and being adorable with Pam. And while I am being much less adorable, and with nobody in particular, I am at least doing the alive and kicking part. Actually, I think boredom causes the opposite of death. When you're bored, time seems to drag on forever... so... maybe being bored makes you immortal. If that's the case, I have an eternity to fill...
3. Social rejection. I should probably come up with a different name for it, but that's the best I could do. My social situation was a dismal one this summer simply because I was excessively bored and everybody else was excessively busy. That meant that every time I extended an invitation, I was shot down time and time again. And sometimes it was hard not to take it personally... chalk that up to loss of perspective or becoming desperate to be with another human being for more than thirty seconds at a time and being horribly disappointed when I couldn't. I don't know, but it was rough. I guess I'm still here, though.
4. A broken heart. Dramatic, I know. But don't be fooled, it's not just the stupid boy in English class that doesn't know you exist that's capable of breaking hearts. Just remember that even though someone dear to you caused you pain, doesn't mean you should stop caring about people. You just have to continue to love in all capacities. That being said, you should also be confident enough to tell them, tactfully, they hurt you or let you down. All I know is that my headstone won't read "died from broken heart."
5. Horrible noises coming from the reverberating plink of raindrops falling loudly into bowls and jars and any other container with a fair amount of depth to catch ridiculous amounts of rain. Yeah, you can't die from that. Yes, sleepless nights lying awake with bloodshot eyes listening to the irritating yet consistent stream of water dropping into your apartment. But not death.
I know they say what doesn't kill you only makes you stronger. If that's the case, you may call me Hercules.
As I'm sure I've made clear several times, this summer was not a good one. Wow, it feels really good to talk about it in the past tense. But, as with most things that suck, I learned quite a lot.
For example, here's a list of things that cannot actually kill you (though sometimes you almost wish they did).
1. Being alone. Apparently things like breathing and heartbeats aren't dependent on the presence of other people. It's just that both of those things are infinitely more worthwhile when there ARE other people. Just to ask a friend how their day at work was and hear stories about the crazies they had to deal with. Or someone to tell a really dumb joke to. Or someone to say "It's ok, tomorrow will be better" and mean it. I mean, that stuff probably happens to you so frequently and you don't even think about it. But once that's gone, it's all you can think about. Alas, as horrible as that feeling is, you can't actually die from it.
2. Boredom. I quote Pam: "From time to time, Jim dies from boredom." If you watch The Office, you know that Jim is, in fact, not dead at all. He's still alive and kicking and being adorable with Pam. And while I am being much less adorable, and with nobody in particular, I am at least doing the alive and kicking part. Actually, I think boredom causes the opposite of death. When you're bored, time seems to drag on forever... so... maybe being bored makes you immortal. If that's the case, I have an eternity to fill...
3. Social rejection. I should probably come up with a different name for it, but that's the best I could do. My social situation was a dismal one this summer simply because I was excessively bored and everybody else was excessively busy. That meant that every time I extended an invitation, I was shot down time and time again. And sometimes it was hard not to take it personally... chalk that up to loss of perspective or becoming desperate to be with another human being for more than thirty seconds at a time and being horribly disappointed when I couldn't. I don't know, but it was rough. I guess I'm still here, though.
4. A broken heart. Dramatic, I know. But don't be fooled, it's not just the stupid boy in English class that doesn't know you exist that's capable of breaking hearts. Just remember that even though someone dear to you caused you pain, doesn't mean you should stop caring about people. You just have to continue to love in all capacities. That being said, you should also be confident enough to tell them, tactfully, they hurt you or let you down. All I know is that my headstone won't read "died from broken heart."
5. Horrible noises coming from the reverberating plink of raindrops falling loudly into bowls and jars and any other container with a fair amount of depth to catch ridiculous amounts of rain. Yeah, you can't die from that. Yes, sleepless nights lying awake with bloodshot eyes listening to the irritating yet consistent stream of water dropping into your apartment. But not death.
I know they say what doesn't kill you only makes you stronger. If that's the case, you may call me Hercules.
Friday, July 24, 2009
My other mission
This week was RAGBRAI--The Register's (as in the Des Moines Register, the newspaper) Annual Great Bicycle Ride Across Iowa. It's basically a week-long ride across the state that comes it at just under 500 miles. Thousands and THOUSANDS of people participate. Some do the entire week, some just hop in for a day or two.
I've been following it online here and it seems REALLY cool and like a lot of fun. Hard work, but fun at the same time.
I was on my way home from Omaha last weekend going east on the highway and couldn't help but notice the MASSIVE amount of traffic going west. It was all buses and trailers and vans and Winnebegos with bikes. Everybody was migrating to the start of the RAGBRAI route. It was incredible to see.
After witnessing this pilgrimage and following everybody online for the past week, I've decided that I'm going to ride RAGBRAI 2014. I'm giving myself 5 years to train up and find a bike and some buddies (who, if they won't ride with me, will at least do the driving part and meet me at each stop along the way). I can do it.
It's only 500 miles, right?
And, besides, think of how much Iowa I'll get to see. Based on the pictures, there's nothing better.
Training starts tomorrow.
I've been following it online here and it seems REALLY cool and like a lot of fun. Hard work, but fun at the same time.
I was on my way home from Omaha last weekend going east on the highway and couldn't help but notice the MASSIVE amount of traffic going west. It was all buses and trailers and vans and Winnebegos with bikes. Everybody was migrating to the start of the RAGBRAI route. It was incredible to see.
After witnessing this pilgrimage and following everybody online for the past week, I've decided that I'm going to ride RAGBRAI 2014. I'm giving myself 5 years to train up and find a bike and some buddies (who, if they won't ride with me, will at least do the driving part and meet me at each stop along the way). I can do it.
It's only 500 miles, right?
And, besides, think of how much Iowa I'll get to see. Based on the pictures, there's nothing better.
Training starts tomorrow.
Monday, July 20, 2009
On a mission
A while ago I stumbled onto a friend's "43 things" list. I can't remember for the life of me what was on it, but it planted the list seed in my head. 43things.com is, I think, some sort of social networking site where users can create a list of their hopes/dreams/goals they want or plan to accomplish in their near or not-so-near future. Now, the last thing I need is another account on another so-called "social networking" site, so I decided to just make my own list in a no-password-required word document and post it here as a public declaration of my aspirations.
I did mine slightly differently. I made my goals Iowa-specific. And I'm giving myself 10 years to do it all. Ten years from this day, I will have done every one of these 43 things. I promise.
43 things
1. Win a contest at the Iowa State Fair
2. Ride on a tractor in a parade
3. Drive a combine
4. Sleep under the stars
5. Step foot in all 99 counties
6. See the field of dreams
7. Have my picture taken at the covered bridges of Madison county
8. Eat an apple right off the tree
9. Catch a fish
10. Go on a hike looking for mushrooms
11. Ride the double-decker Ferris wheel at the Iowa State Fair
12. Watch the sunrise over rural Iowa
13. See a prairie chicken
14. See a bald eagle
15. Buy a house
16. Take a random road trip
17. Go to six different farmers markets
18. Go to the top of the Principal building
19. Meet Chet Culver
20. Go to Pella for Tulip Time
21. Visit the Iowa Arboretum
22. See a wild turtle
23. Go see the I-Cubs
24. Stand in a corn field when the corn is taller than me
25. Ride the heritage carousel
26. Ride in a hot air balloon in Indianola
27. Go to the sweet corn festival in Adel and eat some sweet corn
28. Eat an aebleskiver
29. Visit Riverside, Iowa—future birthplace of Captain Kirk
30. Have a photo published in an Iowa magazine
31. Go to the kaleidoscope factory in Pomeroy
32. Go to the Coca-Cola Celebration in Atlantic
33. Touch the Mississippi River
34. See the Dallas County Courthouse
35. Plant (or help plant) a butterfly garden
36. Go to Reiman Gardens
37. Visit the Big Treehouse in Marshalltown
38. Go to a dairy farm and milk a cow
39. Be an extra in a film shot in Iowa
40. Fly a kite at Clear Lake (or, really, just go to Clear Lake)
41. See Mannheim Steamroller in concert
42. Play mini-golf in the skywalks
43. Sing Karaoke sober, but tell people I was drunk so I have an excuse for my terrible singing
I did mine slightly differently. I made my goals Iowa-specific. And I'm giving myself 10 years to do it all. Ten years from this day, I will have done every one of these 43 things. I promise.
43 things
1. Win a contest at the Iowa State Fair
2. Ride on a tractor in a parade
3. Drive a combine
4. Sleep under the stars
5. Step foot in all 99 counties
6. See the field of dreams
7. Have my picture taken at the covered bridges of Madison county
8. Eat an apple right off the tree
9. Catch a fish
10. Go on a hike looking for mushrooms
11. Ride the double-decker Ferris wheel at the Iowa State Fair
12. Watch the sunrise over rural Iowa
13. See a prairie chicken
14. See a bald eagle
15. Buy a house
16. Take a random road trip
17. Go to six different farmers markets
18. Go to the top of the Principal building
19. Meet Chet Culver
20. Go to Pella for Tulip Time
21. Visit the Iowa Arboretum
22. See a wild turtle
23. Go see the I-Cubs
24. Stand in a corn field when the corn is taller than me
25. Ride the heritage carousel
26. Ride in a hot air balloon in Indianola
27. Go to the sweet corn festival in Adel and eat some sweet corn
28. Eat an aebleskiver
29. Visit Riverside, Iowa—future birthplace of Captain Kirk
30. Have a photo published in an Iowa magazine
31. Go to the kaleidoscope factory in Pomeroy
32. Go to the Coca-Cola Celebration in Atlantic
33. Touch the Mississippi River
34. See the Dallas County Courthouse
35. Plant (or help plant) a butterfly garden
36. Go to Reiman Gardens
37. Visit the Big Treehouse in Marshalltown
38. Go to a dairy farm and milk a cow
39. Be an extra in a film shot in Iowa
40. Fly a kite at Clear Lake (or, really, just go to Clear Lake)
41. See Mannheim Steamroller in concert
42. Play mini-golf in the skywalks
43. Sing Karaoke sober, but tell people I was drunk so I have an excuse for my terrible singing
Monday, July 6, 2009
4th of July
We haven't had pics in a while, so here we go! These were taken Thursday night at the DSM Yankee Doodle Pops concert.
Car Trouble
I woke up this morning at 6:30, as usual. I showered and dressed and ate, as usual. I packed up all my things, as usual. Then I went downstairs to the parking lot to my car. But the car wouldn't unlock with my little clicker. I thought that was rather odd. So I opened my door the old-fashioned way (with the key.. weird, I know). Then I put my key in the ignition... and nothing happened.
NOTHING HAPPENED.
When you buy a brand-new car, you don't expect to experience the heart-sinking feeling of something being seriously wrong with your car for several years. But it's only been one year and my heart was swimming around my ankles.
My battery was dead because my dome light was on all weekend and I needed a jump.
So, after panicking and calling home, I called the magical roadside assistance number on my car window. They sent out the Rescue Rangers (insert fanfare here) to jump start my car. Except it didn't work. It didn't work the first time. Or the second time. Or the third. After about 20 minutes, the jump-start guy decided that, in addition to having a dead battery, there was also something wrong with the starter.
Back to the magical roadside assistance people.
They decided to send out a tow truck to tow me to the dealer (which is luckily very, very close to my apartment). They told me he'd be out in about an hour.
Well, an hour came and went. And then an hour and a half. And then two hours. And then two and a half hours. Finally, the tow truck came. But while I was waiting, I decided to lay in the grass. So I'm there in the grass and I feel something crawling on me. I go to flick it away and accidentally put my hand on it, and it stings me. It was a bee. And it got me right in the collarbone area.
After digging a bee butt out of my chest, the tow truck guy and I pushed my car onto the truck and we brought it to the dealership. Kinda. At first we went to the wrong dealership. We went to the Honda dealership and my car is a Hyundai.
Now I'm at the proper dealership and my car is spending the day at the spa. Apparently when they hit 5,000 they need a little R&R. Like twenty minutes after I got here, the mechanic technician guy came and told me they were able to jump-start my car pretty much instantly. He also raised his eyebrow at me when he saw my oil change sticker which might have been, erm, slightly out of date.
It's been quite an adventure. Yay for growing up, right?
No.
NOTHING HAPPENED.
When you buy a brand-new car, you don't expect to experience the heart-sinking feeling of something being seriously wrong with your car for several years. But it's only been one year and my heart was swimming around my ankles.
My battery was dead because my dome light was on all weekend and I needed a jump.
So, after panicking and calling home, I called the magical roadside assistance number on my car window. They sent out the Rescue Rangers (insert fanfare here) to jump start my car. Except it didn't work. It didn't work the first time. Or the second time. Or the third. After about 20 minutes, the jump-start guy decided that, in addition to having a dead battery, there was also something wrong with the starter.
Back to the magical roadside assistance people.
They decided to send out a tow truck to tow me to the dealer (which is luckily very, very close to my apartment). They told me he'd be out in about an hour.
Well, an hour came and went. And then an hour and a half. And then two hours. And then two and a half hours. Finally, the tow truck came. But while I was waiting, I decided to lay in the grass. So I'm there in the grass and I feel something crawling on me. I go to flick it away and accidentally put my hand on it, and it stings me. It was a bee. And it got me right in the collarbone area.
After digging a bee butt out of my chest, the tow truck guy and I pushed my car onto the truck and we brought it to the dealership. Kinda. At first we went to the wrong dealership. We went to the Honda dealership and my car is a Hyundai.
Now I'm at the proper dealership and my car is spending the day at the spa. Apparently when they hit 5,000 they need a little R&R. Like twenty minutes after I got here, the mechanic technician guy came and told me they were able to jump-start my car pretty much instantly. He also raised his eyebrow at me when he saw my oil change sticker which might have been, erm, slightly out of date.
It's been quite an adventure. Yay for growing up, right?
No.
Thursday, July 2, 2009
The Last Summer
Last month I didn't blog. And I'll tell you why. I spent about 80% of my time depressed out of my mind, 10% feeling sorry for myself for being depressed, 5% pestering the crap out of people who were too busy to spend time with me, and the other 5% feeling guilty about it.
Wait... ok, yeah. That adds up. Right? Yeah. So, obviously, there was no time to blog.
Sounds like a very good use of time, right? Not exactly.
Why was I depressed? Ever since I started at Drake, I imagined how this summer would be. My last summer. I would be living in an apartment off campus. I'd have a car. I'd be interning at Meredith. I'd be coming home and making myself dinner and doing my dishes afterwards in my kitchen sink.
You know what? I have ALL of those things. And, yet, I was miserable. I was just unhappy. And on top of being unhappy, I also freaked out about being unhappy. If having so much of what I always thought I wanted turned out to suck so much, what did that mean, exactly? Suddenly, I felt like I didn't know what I wanted anymore and with graduation approaching my doorstep, that made me really nervous.
Add all of that to the fact that moving away from campus was unexpectedly difficult. Last semester I couldn't wait to move off. I love Drake, but after three years, I guess I was just tired of looking at it all the time. It's great, but I needed a change of scenery. So I moved away. And I got a change of scenery. You know what else I got? An overwhelming sense of loneliness and isolation. Granted, it's summer and there aren't too many people around campus anyway, but I still felt cut off from it. I felt like I couldn't survive with out. Like I had been institutionalized or something and couldn't live on the outside.
It was HARD.
But then I remembered... didn't I kind of go through this last summer, too? Last summer I was an RA in Ross Hall and living on my own in a pseudo-apartment. I had hardly any residents (and the ones I did have didn't need me for anything) and I felt rather alone and I got depressed then, too. But as alone as I felt then, I wasn't truly alone. I had two other RAs I saw a few times a week and I talked to my friend Ryan online all the time. So I was by myself, but not really alone.
You know what happened? They all graduated and now they have lives. Busy lives full of life things. Which is great. They should have lives and jobs. In the meantime, though that was hard for me to get used to. I felt like they got to do stuff and be busy and move far away, and I was just still here feeling completely isolated.
It's not like I stayed in my apartment all the time, though. I went out. I did stuff. But it seemed like every offer I made to every friend on the short list of people I have who are local was returned with the four-letter b-word.
Busy.
So I went out anyway. And that was good, but not great. At least I wasn't at home in my apartment eating copious amounts of cake and watching guilty-pleasure, self-loathing movies like Bridget Jones' Diary. That's something, right?
I was proud of myself for doing so, but I just could get over feeling so depressed and frustrated with my complete lack of social situation. It's not like I needed to be with someone constantly, but every couple of weeks or so would be nice. It was weird and I never thought it'd be like this. And then I got scared that it would be like this for a long, long time even after I graduate.
But then one day I woke up completely exhausted. As it turns out, being depressed constantly kind of takes a lot out of you. And to be honest, I was tired of it. So I kind of just decided that I didn't want to be depressed anymore. I said to myself "you're not allowed to be depressed today." The weird thing was, it kinda worked. I wasn't puking rainbows or anything, but I wasn't wallowing in self-pity, either. I suppose I just realized that I had done everything in my power to fix my lack of social life and it wasn't working. People have other things going on and there's nothing I can do about it, so it's really quite pointless to mope about it. So I stopped. I realized that the summer--my last summer--was already half over and I blew half of it being stupid and I was done with all that. I still have some time left to make the summer amazing, and that's just what I'll do. Sometimes you just have to suck it up and take control of your own happiness and not leave it up to other people.
Wait... ok, yeah. That adds up. Right? Yeah. So, obviously, there was no time to blog.
Sounds like a very good use of time, right? Not exactly.
Why was I depressed? Ever since I started at Drake, I imagined how this summer would be. My last summer. I would be living in an apartment off campus. I'd have a car. I'd be interning at Meredith. I'd be coming home and making myself dinner and doing my dishes afterwards in my kitchen sink.
You know what? I have ALL of those things. And, yet, I was miserable. I was just unhappy. And on top of being unhappy, I also freaked out about being unhappy. If having so much of what I always thought I wanted turned out to suck so much, what did that mean, exactly? Suddenly, I felt like I didn't know what I wanted anymore and with graduation approaching my doorstep, that made me really nervous.
Add all of that to the fact that moving away from campus was unexpectedly difficult. Last semester I couldn't wait to move off. I love Drake, but after three years, I guess I was just tired of looking at it all the time. It's great, but I needed a change of scenery. So I moved away. And I got a change of scenery. You know what else I got? An overwhelming sense of loneliness and isolation. Granted, it's summer and there aren't too many people around campus anyway, but I still felt cut off from it. I felt like I couldn't survive with out. Like I had been institutionalized or something and couldn't live on the outside.
It was HARD.
But then I remembered... didn't I kind of go through this last summer, too? Last summer I was an RA in Ross Hall and living on my own in a pseudo-apartment. I had hardly any residents (and the ones I did have didn't need me for anything) and I felt rather alone and I got depressed then, too. But as alone as I felt then, I wasn't truly alone. I had two other RAs I saw a few times a week and I talked to my friend Ryan online all the time. So I was by myself, but not really alone.
You know what happened? They all graduated and now they have lives. Busy lives full of life things. Which is great. They should have lives and jobs. In the meantime, though that was hard for me to get used to. I felt like they got to do stuff and be busy and move far away, and I was just still here feeling completely isolated.
It's not like I stayed in my apartment all the time, though. I went out. I did stuff. But it seemed like every offer I made to every friend on the short list of people I have who are local was returned with the four-letter b-word.
Busy.
So I went out anyway. And that was good, but not great. At least I wasn't at home in my apartment eating copious amounts of cake and watching guilty-pleasure, self-loathing movies like Bridget Jones' Diary. That's something, right?
I was proud of myself for doing so, but I just could get over feeling so depressed and frustrated with my complete lack of social situation. It's not like I needed to be with someone constantly, but every couple of weeks or so would be nice. It was weird and I never thought it'd be like this. And then I got scared that it would be like this for a long, long time even after I graduate.
But then one day I woke up completely exhausted. As it turns out, being depressed constantly kind of takes a lot out of you. And to be honest, I was tired of it. So I kind of just decided that I didn't want to be depressed anymore. I said to myself "you're not allowed to be depressed today." The weird thing was, it kinda worked. I wasn't puking rainbows or anything, but I wasn't wallowing in self-pity, either. I suppose I just realized that I had done everything in my power to fix my lack of social life and it wasn't working. People have other things going on and there's nothing I can do about it, so it's really quite pointless to mope about it. So I stopped. I realized that the summer--my last summer--was already half over and I blew half of it being stupid and I was done with all that. I still have some time left to make the summer amazing, and that's just what I'll do. Sometimes you just have to suck it up and take control of your own happiness and not leave it up to other people.
Magazines
The other day I was at work and got an assignment from one of the editors I work for. I had to copy edit the next issue of Lasting Moments, the magazine put out by the Creative Memories scrapbooking company. It had something really cute on the cover—some adorable, fall-looking page featuring a baby dressed as a pumpkin.
“Aw, that’s cute,” I said as the editor walked away.
“Yeah, well, don’t get too attached. That’s our last issue,” she told me.
It was really sad news, actually. Granted, I’ve only been vaguely aware of this publication for the past few years and certainly never read it or looked through it unless Mom had a copy laying around the office (which she might have, now that I think about it). But it was still depressing.
Magazines are interesting things, I think. They’re very personal and hard to let go of. Putting aside that this is what I’ve chosen to do for the rest of my life, I think a lot of people have a hard time thinning the stash of magazines. I can do what I want with a newspaper and plop it right into the recycle bin after I fish out the funnies without giving it a second thought.
But magazines are much different. I know I’m not alone when I say I want to hold on to them. There’s something about the way they look and feel and smell. They’re shiny and colorful and nice. It seems sad and wasteful to just throw it out. Newspapers (which are great, so buy a subscription) look disposable. I think that’s part of the difference.
I read somewhere once (in a magazine, perhaps?) that the average subscriber holds on to their magazines for over a year… or something along those lines. Why? Probably because we’re all partially packrats. But I think we also get attached to them.
Will it sound weird if I say they’re kind of like friends? Maybe, but I don’t care. Mostly because it’s my blog and I’ll say what I want. They are kind of like friends. They’re what connect us to a larger community full of people with our same interests. That’s important, don’t you think? How often have we been interested in something but not had a single person to talk to about it? But that’s not the case with magazines. There are magazines EVERYWHERE about ANYTHING. It’s like the internet. You can always find SOMETHING.
A while ago I was kind of bummed about the whole magazine course of study. I began thinking about the economy and the contracting industry and realized that when times are tough, magazines are a lot of times one of the first things to go when it’s time to make cut-backs. I convinced myself it was some stupid, unnecessary indulgence that just encourages people to buy more things they don’t need.
I think every job has a service element to it. As in providing some sort of service to society as a whole. But I couldn’t find that angle for my job. One of my closest friends is a pharmacist and the service he provides to the community is just huge (and completely underappreciated, if I may say so). It’s really impressive—and that’s just on the level that I understand. I’m sure there’s even more I have no idea about. By the way, if you don’t think pharmacists provide anything useful for the community, spend three days at Drake and you’ll change your mind.
I digress. The point is that I wanted to feel like I was providing something to people, too. I'm not teaching children and shaping the future, I'm not saving lives, I'm not behind the pharmacy counter, I'm not picking up your garbage, I'm not finding more efficient fuel solutions. I'm not doing any of those things. I'm not even doing anything CLOSE to any of those things.
But maybe I'm helping create communities of like-minded individuals. Maybe, in some weird sort of way, I'm helping people find some sense of belonging. Or, at least, one day I will when I'm actually working. I still maintain that magazines are kind of like friends. They're monthly, paper friends who bring us news and ideas from people we've never met, but are connected to regardless.
I like to be connected to people. I need to be connected to people. Don't you?
So, Lasting Moments (ironically) is about to end. And the readership will dissolve and their little mail community with it. And, yeah, I think that's a pretty sad thing to think about.
“Aw, that’s cute,” I said as the editor walked away.
“Yeah, well, don’t get too attached. That’s our last issue,” she told me.
It was really sad news, actually. Granted, I’ve only been vaguely aware of this publication for the past few years and certainly never read it or looked through it unless Mom had a copy laying around the office (which she might have, now that I think about it). But it was still depressing.
Magazines are interesting things, I think. They’re very personal and hard to let go of. Putting aside that this is what I’ve chosen to do for the rest of my life, I think a lot of people have a hard time thinning the stash of magazines. I can do what I want with a newspaper and plop it right into the recycle bin after I fish out the funnies without giving it a second thought.
But magazines are much different. I know I’m not alone when I say I want to hold on to them. There’s something about the way they look and feel and smell. They’re shiny and colorful and nice. It seems sad and wasteful to just throw it out. Newspapers (which are great, so buy a subscription) look disposable. I think that’s part of the difference.
I read somewhere once (in a magazine, perhaps?) that the average subscriber holds on to their magazines for over a year… or something along those lines. Why? Probably because we’re all partially packrats. But I think we also get attached to them.
Will it sound weird if I say they’re kind of like friends? Maybe, but I don’t care. Mostly because it’s my blog and I’ll say what I want. They are kind of like friends. They’re what connect us to a larger community full of people with our same interests. That’s important, don’t you think? How often have we been interested in something but not had a single person to talk to about it? But that’s not the case with magazines. There are magazines EVERYWHERE about ANYTHING. It’s like the internet. You can always find SOMETHING.
A while ago I was kind of bummed about the whole magazine course of study. I began thinking about the economy and the contracting industry and realized that when times are tough, magazines are a lot of times one of the first things to go when it’s time to make cut-backs. I convinced myself it was some stupid, unnecessary indulgence that just encourages people to buy more things they don’t need.
I think every job has a service element to it. As in providing some sort of service to society as a whole. But I couldn’t find that angle for my job. One of my closest friends is a pharmacist and the service he provides to the community is just huge (and completely underappreciated, if I may say so). It’s really impressive—and that’s just on the level that I understand. I’m sure there’s even more I have no idea about. By the way, if you don’t think pharmacists provide anything useful for the community, spend three days at Drake and you’ll change your mind.
I digress. The point is that I wanted to feel like I was providing something to people, too. I'm not teaching children and shaping the future, I'm not saving lives, I'm not behind the pharmacy counter, I'm not picking up your garbage, I'm not finding more efficient fuel solutions. I'm not doing any of those things. I'm not even doing anything CLOSE to any of those things.
But maybe I'm helping create communities of like-minded individuals. Maybe, in some weird sort of way, I'm helping people find some sense of belonging. Or, at least, one day I will when I'm actually working. I still maintain that magazines are kind of like friends. They're monthly, paper friends who bring us news and ideas from people we've never met, but are connected to regardless.
I like to be connected to people. I need to be connected to people. Don't you?
So, Lasting Moments (ironically) is about to end. And the readership will dissolve and their little mail community with it. And, yeah, I think that's a pretty sad thing to think about.
Sunday, May 31, 2009
First week on the job
So I started both my Iowa Outdoors Magazine internship this week and my Meredith internship. I like them both a lot so far. I have to say I like the Iowa Outdoors one more just because the magazine is awesome and I'm really interested in the topic - outdoorsy types of stuff like plants and animals and hiking trails and things. At Meredith I work for MIM - Meredith Integrated Marketing - which basically does a bunch of custom publications for a variety of clients like Carnival Cruise Lines, State Farm, Pepsi, Jeep, and so on. I like it because it's magazines and advertising kind of rolled into one and I've had an interest in advertising lately.
This week at IOM, I did a lot of copy editing. Which I don't mind at all. I really love copy editing. We're working on the September/October issue right now, which will be out in late August. It's cool because I'll be around to see the production of this issue from start to finish. Anyway, whenever stories come in, I get to copy edit them. It's awesome. I even got to write a couple of things this week. I got to write a short story about the proper way to mulch and I worked on a feature we have called "But Why?" where little kids submit questions about nature and we research the answer. I researched the answer to "where do bugs go in the winter?" I really enjoy doing stuff like that, I find. I like the research part because I'm learning a lot about something I'm interested in and I get to write about it. It's very cool. Sadly, this internship doesn't pay.
At Meredith I've been doing a lot of research, mostly. My boss is giving a presentation about Meredith and social media, so she had me spend all day on Twitter looking at tweets from Meredith publications like Ladies Home Journal, Parents, Fitness, and so on. That was kind of cool. Right now I'm working on something for State Farm. I was given a story outline of all the stories that will be in the new issue of "Good Neighbor" magazine, and I'm researching information for the writers to use when they actually write the stories.
It's cool to be working for both a small magazine and a big publishing company at the same time. I'm definitely experiencing both ends of the spectrum, which is nice. Variety is a good thing.
I work both these jobs Monday through Friday. I do mornings at IOM and afternoons at Meredith and that's working out nicely. Between the two I have a pretty standard 8-5 workday. I listen to the traffic report on my way to work and worry about things like rush hour and all that...
Wouldn't you know it? I'm a working stiff now.
This week at IOM, I did a lot of copy editing. Which I don't mind at all. I really love copy editing. We're working on the September/October issue right now, which will be out in late August. It's cool because I'll be around to see the production of this issue from start to finish. Anyway, whenever stories come in, I get to copy edit them. It's awesome. I even got to write a couple of things this week. I got to write a short story about the proper way to mulch and I worked on a feature we have called "But Why?" where little kids submit questions about nature and we research the answer. I researched the answer to "where do bugs go in the winter?" I really enjoy doing stuff like that, I find. I like the research part because I'm learning a lot about something I'm interested in and I get to write about it. It's very cool. Sadly, this internship doesn't pay.
At Meredith I've been doing a lot of research, mostly. My boss is giving a presentation about Meredith and social media, so she had me spend all day on Twitter looking at tweets from Meredith publications like Ladies Home Journal, Parents, Fitness, and so on. That was kind of cool. Right now I'm working on something for State Farm. I was given a story outline of all the stories that will be in the new issue of "Good Neighbor" magazine, and I'm researching information for the writers to use when they actually write the stories.
It's cool to be working for both a small magazine and a big publishing company at the same time. I'm definitely experiencing both ends of the spectrum, which is nice. Variety is a good thing.
I work both these jobs Monday through Friday. I do mornings at IOM and afternoons at Meredith and that's working out nicely. Between the two I have a pretty standard 8-5 workday. I listen to the traffic report on my way to work and worry about things like rush hour and all that...
Wouldn't you know it? I'm a working stiff now.
Monday, May 25, 2009
Old Habits
Yesterday I was driving home from the hardware store. Without even realizing it (obviously), I passed right by my new apartment complex, drove all the way to campus, pulled into the Drake West Village lot, pulled out my keys, and freaked out because I thought I lost my entrance fob. I panicked and searched my purse, my pockets, and my car looking for it. Ten minutes later, I realized I was also missing my apartment key and my mailbox key.
Thinking that this can obviously not be a coincidence, I slowly came to the realization that I don't live at Drake West Village anymore. I then proceeded to drive ten minutes back in the direction I came from to go home... as in the place I live now... feeling like an idiot the entire way.
And now I decided to share it with the internet. Good plan.
Thinking that this can obviously not be a coincidence, I slowly came to the realization that I don't live at Drake West Village anymore. I then proceeded to drive ten minutes back in the direction I came from to go home... as in the place I live now... feeling like an idiot the entire way.
And now I decided to share it with the internet. Good plan.
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Year in review
So, junior year is over (ah!!! I'm a senior now!) which means it's time for my annual Year in Review blog post. Generally speaking, I hate it when people toot their own horn, but I pretty much can't help it. I'm proud of myself.
Let's hit the highlights, shall we?
I ended this semester with a 3.8 GPA
I scored three internships for the summer - one at Iowa Outdoors Magazine, one at Meredith, and one with an organization called A Course in Miracles which involves a lot of facebooking
I was elected president of APO
I earned the Drake Service Award at the annual Leaders and Luminaries ceremony
I completed over 150 hours of community service
I was awarded the Distinguished Service Key for APO along with the Leadership and Service awards
I was the photo editor of the Times Delphic
I leased an apartment
I threw a holiday party for little kids and their families
I wrote for Drake Mag Online
SO, yeah... I'm pretty pleased with how junior year went. I'm looking forward to senior year. It'll be weird, though - being a senior, I mean. There's something oddly comforting about knowing that there are people above you. Like being a sophomore and a junior is nice because you just float around in the middle. And now I'm a senior. CRAZY!
Let's hit the highlights, shall we?
I ended this semester with a 3.8 GPA
I scored three internships for the summer - one at Iowa Outdoors Magazine, one at Meredith, and one with an organization called A Course in Miracles which involves a lot of facebooking
I was elected president of APO
I earned the Drake Service Award at the annual Leaders and Luminaries ceremony
I completed over 150 hours of community service
I was awarded the Distinguished Service Key for APO along with the Leadership and Service awards
I was the photo editor of the Times Delphic
I leased an apartment
I threw a holiday party for little kids and their families
I wrote for Drake Mag Online
SO, yeah... I'm pretty pleased with how junior year went. I'm looking forward to senior year. It'll be weird, though - being a senior, I mean. There's something oddly comforting about knowing that there are people above you. Like being a sophomore and a junior is nice because you just float around in the middle. And now I'm a senior. CRAZY!
Apartment update..
So, I've been living full-time in my apartment for about a week now. I started sleeping in my bed and everything. I've been spending the night here for about three weeks and I was sleeping on the couch most of that time.
The apartment is good. It is, I promise. I'm having a little bit of a rough time at the moment because I haven't started work yet and there isn't anybody around really. So I've been literally by myself for the past week. For a day or two it was nice, but it got really old really fast and now I'm just bored and lonely.
But soon work will start and all that will change... yay, I think.
Anyway, back to the apartment. I've decided to share with you a list of things to consider when apartment hunting. These are things, of course, I thought of AFTER signing the lease and moving in. It's not a bad apartment; I've just learned a lot so far.
1. It might be worth asking if the apartment you're touring has had any major recent maintenance issues. For instance, a leaking roof. My apartment has a leaky roof and I'd bet you a million dollars it had a leaky roof a month ago, too. They told us that when we moved in. "Here are you keys, and by the way you have a leaky roof but we've fixed it. You still might want to put a bucket down or something." We had SO much rain over the next two weeks. And, yes, we put a bucket down. And, yes, the roof did leak. And, yes, I did report it. And, yes, they fixed it. Twice. So far (literally six repairs later) the roof seems to be holding up. But it's still a source of concern.
2. Do you feel like a giant in your bathroom? I recently discovered that yes, I do in fact feel like a giant in my bathroom. The toilet is WAY low to the ground, I need the gymnastic ability of Shawn Johnson to wash my hair in the shower because the shower head is low, and I'm pretty sure the sink doesn't even come up to my waist. Yeah, think about it.
3. Appliances. If they look like Fred and Wilma could have used them, that's not necessarily a bad thing. I mean, as long as they're kept well appliances can last a long time. However, if your oven is so old that it doesn't come with features like a clock, timer, a fancy mechanism to let you know when it's preheated, and emits a strange natural gas smell when you turn it on despite the fact it's electric.... well, those are all things to consider. We also have a big pool of water in the bottom of our refrigerator and have NO IDEA why.
4. Central Air. Roomie and I were going back and forth between this apartment and another one we found that's very VERY similar. This one has central air. That one does not. At first I didn't think it'd be that big of a deal. Surprise, it kind of is. Iowa = central air. Remember that.
5. Management. I honestly think that the complex manager sold this place for us. She was REALLY nice and REALLY helpful and answered all of my dumb "I'm new to this whole apartment thing" types of questions. Roomie and I were not so fond of the other management people at the other place. The fact is you'll have to deal with management staff a lot and it's best to find people you're comfortable talking to and aren't intimidated by.
6. Which way do your windows face? All I'm sayin' is that in the evening, when I'm most likely to be hanging out watching TV, I get the nice, BRIGHT evening sun right into my living room windows. I fell asleep on the couch the other day and have the sunburn to prove it.
7. Kitchen. Can you dance in the kitchen? Wait... maybe that's only important to me. Moving on...
8. Cabinets. I have odd cabinets. I can't fit a box of cereal in them. They're oddly shaped or something. The cabinets, I mean. Not the cereal boxes. Do they have adjustable shelves? I would kill for adjustable shelves. Look for it.
9. Balcony. If you want a balcony DON'T COMPROMISE! I compromised and, again, I like the new place, but the balcony thing still gets to me sometimes.
10. Noise factor. I was standing in my kitchen talking to my roommate who was playing in the bathroom and she couldn't hear me. Whoa. Kind of awesome. DWV's walls are made of cardboard. Really CHEAP cardboard. Someone could sneeze on the fifth floor and I'd hear them.
11. Slanted walls. I walked into our new apartment and I saw that some of its walls are slanted. Like instead of being at 90 degrees and parallel with the floor, they're like at 70 degrees and slope upward. I thought this was cool and interesting and I instantly fell in love with it. Reality? It's a novelty. The excitement wore off rapidly when I realized that my room has two slanted walls, and one wall that's entirely a closet. What does this mean? I means I only have one wall on which it's easy to hang things. And I'm a big fan of hanging things.
12. Water pressure. Yeah, um, you might want to turn on the faucet or something when you check out a potential new place. Otherwise you're in for a year of soapy hair.
Live and learn, eh?
The apartment is good. It is, I promise. I'm having a little bit of a rough time at the moment because I haven't started work yet and there isn't anybody around really. So I've been literally by myself for the past week. For a day or two it was nice, but it got really old really fast and now I'm just bored and lonely.
But soon work will start and all that will change... yay, I think.
Anyway, back to the apartment. I've decided to share with you a list of things to consider when apartment hunting. These are things, of course, I thought of AFTER signing the lease and moving in. It's not a bad apartment; I've just learned a lot so far.
1. It might be worth asking if the apartment you're touring has had any major recent maintenance issues. For instance, a leaking roof. My apartment has a leaky roof and I'd bet you a million dollars it had a leaky roof a month ago, too. They told us that when we moved in. "Here are you keys, and by the way you have a leaky roof but we've fixed it. You still might want to put a bucket down or something." We had SO much rain over the next two weeks. And, yes, we put a bucket down. And, yes, the roof did leak. And, yes, I did report it. And, yes, they fixed it. Twice. So far (literally six repairs later) the roof seems to be holding up. But it's still a source of concern.
2. Do you feel like a giant in your bathroom? I recently discovered that yes, I do in fact feel like a giant in my bathroom. The toilet is WAY low to the ground, I need the gymnastic ability of Shawn Johnson to wash my hair in the shower because the shower head is low, and I'm pretty sure the sink doesn't even come up to my waist. Yeah, think about it.
3. Appliances. If they look like Fred and Wilma could have used them, that's not necessarily a bad thing. I mean, as long as they're kept well appliances can last a long time. However, if your oven is so old that it doesn't come with features like a clock, timer, a fancy mechanism to let you know when it's preheated, and emits a strange natural gas smell when you turn it on despite the fact it's electric.... well, those are all things to consider. We also have a big pool of water in the bottom of our refrigerator and have NO IDEA why.
4. Central Air. Roomie and I were going back and forth between this apartment and another one we found that's very VERY similar. This one has central air. That one does not. At first I didn't think it'd be that big of a deal. Surprise, it kind of is. Iowa = central air. Remember that.
5. Management. I honestly think that the complex manager sold this place for us. She was REALLY nice and REALLY helpful and answered all of my dumb "I'm new to this whole apartment thing" types of questions. Roomie and I were not so fond of the other management people at the other place. The fact is you'll have to deal with management staff a lot and it's best to find people you're comfortable talking to and aren't intimidated by.
6. Which way do your windows face? All I'm sayin' is that in the evening, when I'm most likely to be hanging out watching TV, I get the nice, BRIGHT evening sun right into my living room windows. I fell asleep on the couch the other day and have the sunburn to prove it.
7. Kitchen. Can you dance in the kitchen? Wait... maybe that's only important to me. Moving on...
8. Cabinets. I have odd cabinets. I can't fit a box of cereal in them. They're oddly shaped or something. The cabinets, I mean. Not the cereal boxes. Do they have adjustable shelves? I would kill for adjustable shelves. Look for it.
9. Balcony. If you want a balcony DON'T COMPROMISE! I compromised and, again, I like the new place, but the balcony thing still gets to me sometimes.
10. Noise factor. I was standing in my kitchen talking to my roommate who was playing in the bathroom and she couldn't hear me. Whoa. Kind of awesome. DWV's walls are made of cardboard. Really CHEAP cardboard. Someone could sneeze on the fifth floor and I'd hear them.
11. Slanted walls. I walked into our new apartment and I saw that some of its walls are slanted. Like instead of being at 90 degrees and parallel with the floor, they're like at 70 degrees and slope upward. I thought this was cool and interesting and I instantly fell in love with it. Reality? It's a novelty. The excitement wore off rapidly when I realized that my room has two slanted walls, and one wall that's entirely a closet. What does this mean? I means I only have one wall on which it's easy to hang things. And I'm a big fan of hanging things.
12. Water pressure. Yeah, um, you might want to turn on the faucet or something when you check out a potential new place. Otherwise you're in for a year of soapy hair.
Live and learn, eh?
Graduation
Last weekend was graduation. I had never seen a Drake graduation before. Freshman year I bolted well before graduation and last year I was an RA and shutting down the dorm I lived in and couldn't go. So I was excited. Especially because I knew so many people graduating. I tend to get attached to the class ahead of me. Which sucks, by the way.
Anyway, i was excited to see everybody graduate. Drake has several different ceremonies. There's one for law school, one for pharmacy, one for undergrads, one for doctorate people... yeah, kind of a lot.
The first ceremony I went to was the pharmacy hooding ceremony. I don't really know why they're called "hoods." They aren't hoods. They're like... sashes or something that go on their graduation robes. It's hard to explain. I'll post a picture.
Here's what it is from the back. The inside, I think, has your school colors so Drake's are olive green and fuzzy on the outside, and blue and white and silky on the inside.
Ok, so the tan thing around his neck is the front of his hood. Depending on what you get your degree in, your hood is a different color. The pharmacy hoods are actually olive green.
So that's what a hood is. You're already more informed than I was a couple of months ago. And that's what the entire ceremony was. All 130+ pharmacy students receiving their fancy green hoods. The next day, they had the doctoral graduation ceremony where they actually received their degrees.
I also went to the undergraduate ceremony. As you can imagine, there are kind of... a lot of them. A heck of a lot more than 130. There were like 700 of them.
I have never seen anything so efficient in my life. They got all 700+ undergrads on and off the stage in two hours. My graduation ceremony in high school took that long and we graduated less than 400. I was SO impressed.
Drake graduation happens in the Knapp Center which is great for those who are prone to sunburning and hate sunscreen like me. But kind of sucky for those who love to take pictures... like me. It took me at least until the M's to figure out the right settings on my camera. But it all worked out. I got some nice pictures of a few friends graduating.
I kind of love graduations. I particularly love the processional and recessional. I love graduation music. It's just so awesome and there are the tympanis and all sorts of cool things. It's very exciting. I love it. But as much as I enjoyed myself, I couldn't help but freak out kind of a little bit. Firstly, of course, because I have some friends who are leaving. And also because that means I'm, like, a senior now.
How the HECK did that happen?
see? hoods.
Anyway, i was excited to see everybody graduate. Drake has several different ceremonies. There's one for law school, one for pharmacy, one for undergrads, one for doctorate people... yeah, kind of a lot.
The first ceremony I went to was the pharmacy hooding ceremony. I don't really know why they're called "hoods." They aren't hoods. They're like... sashes or something that go on their graduation robes. It's hard to explain. I'll post a picture.
Here's what it is from the back. The inside, I think, has your school colors so Drake's are olive green and fuzzy on the outside, and blue and white and silky on the inside.
Ok, so the tan thing around his neck is the front of his hood. Depending on what you get your degree in, your hood is a different color. The pharmacy hoods are actually olive green.
So that's what a hood is. You're already more informed than I was a couple of months ago. And that's what the entire ceremony was. All 130+ pharmacy students receiving their fancy green hoods. The next day, they had the doctoral graduation ceremony where they actually received their degrees.
I also went to the undergraduate ceremony. As you can imagine, there are kind of... a lot of them. A heck of a lot more than 130. There were like 700 of them.
I have never seen anything so efficient in my life. They got all 700+ undergrads on and off the stage in two hours. My graduation ceremony in high school took that long and we graduated less than 400. I was SO impressed.
Drake graduation happens in the Knapp Center which is great for those who are prone to sunburning and hate sunscreen like me. But kind of sucky for those who love to take pictures... like me. It took me at least until the M's to figure out the right settings on my camera. But it all worked out. I got some nice pictures of a few friends graduating.
I kind of love graduations. I particularly love the processional and recessional. I love graduation music. It's just so awesome and there are the tympanis and all sorts of cool things. It's very exciting. I love it. But as much as I enjoyed myself, I couldn't help but freak out kind of a little bit. Firstly, of course, because I have some friends who are leaving. And also because that means I'm, like, a senior now.
How the HECK did that happen?
see? hoods.
Saturday, April 18, 2009
STREET PAINTING!
Yesterday was STREET PAINTING! Last year it was cancelled. The street still got painted, but it wasn't the same because everybody just went to paint their square on their own time and there wasn't huge madness like there usually is. Street painting was supposed to be today but rain was in the forecast (and it did actually rain) so they moved it up to Friday.
I worked really hard designing and drawing APO's square and I'm really excited because it's AWESOME!!!
This year there was major construction over by the painted street. Everything was pretty much ripped up and redone. The street was relaid, but it was just a street. I'm glad it's painted again because the painted street is a big part of what makes Drake unique and I missed it.
PICS OF OUR AWESOME SQUARE!
I worked really hard designing and drawing APO's square and I'm really excited because it's AWESOME!!!
This year there was major construction over by the painted street. Everything was pretty much ripped up and redone. The street was relaid, but it was just a street. I'm glad it's painted again because the painted street is a big part of what makes Drake unique and I missed it.
PICS OF OUR AWESOME SQUARE!
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
MeaganSavage.net
So, here we are.
For one of my classes this semester we had to build a professional website for ourselves. Mine is pretty basic still. I'm still learning the ins and outs and all that jazz. For instance, I currently have no contact information on my site. That could be a problem. It has an intro page and a photo gallery and some of my writing samples posted so far.
It's pretty cool, I think. I'll keep updating it.
In the meantime, check it out
For one of my classes this semester we had to build a professional website for ourselves. Mine is pretty basic still. I'm still learning the ins and outs and all that jazz. For instance, I currently have no contact information on my site. That could be a problem. It has an intro page and a photo gallery and some of my writing samples posted so far.
It's pretty cool, I think. I'll keep updating it.
In the meantime, check it out
Sunday, April 12, 2009
Bill Bryson
Each semester, Drake brings someone awesome for the Bucksbaum Lecture. We've had people like Jane Goodall, Ben and Jerry, and Bob Costas. Next semester we'll have Maya Angelou. This semester we had BILL BRYSON!
Bill Bryson is one of my all-time favorite authors. He has written a bunch of funny travel books and his latest, "The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid," is a memoir about growing up in Des Moines in the 1950s.
I was kind of nervous about seeing him for real. I was afraid he'd be some sort of bitter old man who is sick of making speeches and talking to students, but I was pleasantly surprised. He was so... Bill Bryson-y. He has a half-British accent which comes from his 3ish decades in England.
Basically, it was amazing. He was one of the best speakers I've ever had the pleasure of listening to.
What's even better is that he stuck around after the speech to sign copies of his books. I don't know how he did it; my hand would have fallen off.
Check out the pics I took!!!
I love him. He's amazing
Receiving his honorary doctorate
Bill Bryson is one of my all-time favorite authors. He has written a bunch of funny travel books and his latest, "The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid," is a memoir about growing up in Des Moines in the 1950s.
I was kind of nervous about seeing him for real. I was afraid he'd be some sort of bitter old man who is sick of making speeches and talking to students, but I was pleasantly surprised. He was so... Bill Bryson-y. He has a half-British accent which comes from his 3ish decades in England.
Basically, it was amazing. He was one of the best speakers I've ever had the pleasure of listening to.
What's even better is that he stuck around after the speech to sign copies of his books. I don't know how he did it; my hand would have fallen off.
Check out the pics I took!!!
I love him. He's amazing
Receiving his honorary doctorate
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
