so i spent the summer working for obama in hopes that i can convince him to hire me.
backup plan: show up at a staff meeting and say "um yeah my check didnt get deposited this week, can we do something about that?"
but no it was like starbucks 345-12 and then obama 130-9 or later and then sleep. EXHAUSTING to say the least. but i loved it and really think i might wanna be an organizer. which is what obama was BTW. but i also kicked fucking ass. everyone thinks i am awesome except crazy cat guy and he already hated me. but i got called out to be an example on calls and stuff. cuz im awesome. so that was really cool. and i def got recommended for a job, but no call yet :( i actually had to drunkenly update my resume. i do not suggest that.
so now im trying to get obama or some other dem to hire me bc starbucks is completely and totally awful.
i need to go back to the gym cuz i am now like REALLYF UCKING FAT. so get ready for that.
patrice gimme your japan address and we'll write letters.
also amanda sorry i was really busy getting obama elected which is why i didnt write you :( but you can thank me when you have health insurance.
OH I GET MY HEALTH INSURANCE BACK MNDAY! YEAH MY EVIL EMPLOYER KICKED ME OFF BUT I GET IT BACK SO I CAN GO TO THE DENTIST YUP WOOT WOOT.
ok that is all. love you guys tons and i miss you
Team work!
Friday, August 12, 2011
Thursday, August 11, 2011
In Japan
Hey guys, what happened? Why doesn't anyone write here anymore?
I'm in Matsusaka right now. First had an orientation in Tokyo for a few days and it's been a week already since I moved into my apartment. Been setting up bank accounts, cell phone, insurance, getting apartment set up to0. Been meeting lots of the other JETs that are in my prefecture, but there is only like 5 other JETs in Matsusaka. Haven't really met up with them though.
At the second orientation earlier this week I got to ride in an earthquake simulation machine. It was pretty scary. One of the guys videoed it so there is the video. I'm the one on the left in the back, kinda hard to see me, but that was a magnitude 7 on the japanese scale which is around a 7+ on the american scale.
Its super hottt!!!! I feel like a sweaty mess everyday. Right now the kids are on summer break, so I've haven't started teaching yet. Been to tons of orientations and presentations though. Its kinda lonely at times living by myself. I really need to learn how to cook instead of buying already prepared food or eating out.
Anyway, I'll update again with some pictures of my apartment in my next entry.
I'm in Matsusaka right now. First had an orientation in Tokyo for a few days and it's been a week already since I moved into my apartment. Been setting up bank accounts, cell phone, insurance, getting apartment set up to0. Been meeting lots of the other JETs that are in my prefecture, but there is only like 5 other JETs in Matsusaka. Haven't really met up with them though.
At the second orientation earlier this week I got to ride in an earthquake simulation machine. It was pretty scary. One of the guys videoed it so there is the video. I'm the one on the left in the back, kinda hard to see me, but that was a magnitude 7 on the japanese scale which is around a 7+ on the american scale.
Its super hottt!!!! I feel like a sweaty mess everyday. Right now the kids are on summer break, so I've haven't started teaching yet. Been to tons of orientations and presentations though. Its kinda lonely at times living by myself. I really need to learn how to cook instead of buying already prepared food or eating out.
Anyway, I'll update again with some pictures of my apartment in my next entry.
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Unemployed forthe next 2 weeks......
So...yesterday was the last day at Borders. Borders might have a buyer, so its up in the air for the company. Gladd I'm leaving before all that shit goes down. And they are starting to do inventory (literally have to count and make notes of every single piece of item in the store).
Kinda sad bout leaving but yet really exited for Japan. It was rough at the beginning, but I think it was good for me. Just gonna practice for the recital and packing and stuff.
My coworkers, well ex-coworkers now and kept telling me that I have to find a hottt Japanese boyfriend. haha!!!!! I'm excited!
Kinda makes me sad that we don't write in here as often anymore, but I guess everyone is getting busy. Hope all is well.
Kinda sad bout leaving but yet really exited for Japan. It was rough at the beginning, but I think it was good for me. Just gonna practice for the recital and packing and stuff.
My coworkers, well ex-coworkers now and kept telling me that I have to find a hottt Japanese boyfriend. haha!!!!! I'm excited!
Kinda makes me sad that we don't write in here as often anymore, but I guess everyone is getting busy. Hope all is well.
Monday, June 20, 2011
I'm starting to feel that weird anxiousness you get before traveling (or the one I get before traveling...though I doubt I'm that unique in that respect.) I've got literally only one more full day in Tarnow before heading out. Unfortunately, I teach 3:30 pm to 8:30 pm and then leave Wednesday before 5 am. (My train leaves for Krakow around 5 am, then I have a train at 7:20 from Krakow to Berlin, then from Berlin to Hamburg.)
I feel like I am constantly cleaning recently. Had to reorganize and clean the entire kitchen, which was a wreck because I live with a male. Still gotta clean the stupid bathrooms as well as my room. UGH it'll be so much better next year when I live on my own with Jeff...household tasks will actually be SHARED. I refused to clean up after my flatmate, so the place was a mess, but whatever. I'm not his 1950's mother. I swear to god, why would any woman want to be with a man who doesn't think it's important to clean up after himself? But that's enough complaining for now ;)
My first real vacation in Europe starts on Thursday. Super freakin' excited, except I'm too tired from all this stupid cleaning to really show it. Downside...it's supposed to rain a lot :( Boo.
Also, I'm recently feeling nostalgic about everything, but especially DePauw. Maybe it was cause it was just over a year ago that we all graduated. *sigh*
Thursday, June 16, 2011
MIA for 2 months
So, the last time I wrote an entry was in April. Seems I have been neglecting this blog when I was one of us who was really pushing is to use this in the first place.
I found out my placement yesterday: Matsusaka-shi (city) in Mie-ken (prefecture). Pretty much in the middle of Honshu (biggest main island of Japan). At first I was thinking shit this looks like it's in the boonies since there is only like one rail line to that area, but its actually not as bad as I thought it would be. Further south of the prefecture is really in the boonies. The city's population is about 170,000, so not too small, and it's in the center of the prefecture. Osaka and Nara are about an hour to the west and Nagoya is about an hour to the east. This is totally way far away from Fukushima and where the earthquake and tsunami were. Lots of wilderness and mountains for me to explore and its right by an huge bay/ocean. I'm actually quite some distance away from Ingrid and Charlie, but I'll make it out to visit them.
Oh and the best part, the town I'm in is famous for their beef. Matsusaka-gyu. Japan has like the best beef ever, its called Wa-gyu, sooo good. They like give the cows beer and massages so they aren't stressed out and stuff, and the meat is super juicy/fatty, delicious-ness. There are 3 top types of wa-gyu, and this town is one of the top 3! I'm pretty excited for the beef, but its kind of expensive.
Lets see what else....Waikele Borders closed down so half of their staff came over, including their GM and 2 other managers. We finally have a full staff, but it is still busy and crazy. Since that other one closed down we are getting lots of their customers and just more business in general. But, last week Borders announced another list of 51 stores (including my store and 2 other ones on oahu) that will be shut down by the bankruptcy people if they do not negotiate their leases. So....that sucks. We might be closing, or possibly staying open. They want a decision by the 21st of June, but Borders is trying to push it back to July because they may be a buyer who will buy out Borders stores. Too bad, my store makes the most money of all the Borders stores on Oahu too.
Been working out a lot and practicing a lot. I'm pretty disciplined. Depending on what time I work, I usually wake up early and practice for an hour, go to work, then go to the gym after work. Fitting it all in. I should fit studying Japanese into this somehow too.
Ok, that was pretty much it I think. I'm going to a wedding next week. This is like the first wedding that I'm going to as an adult......kinda crazy.
I'm pretty excited for Japan. Thinking about packing is stressing me out though.
I found out my placement yesterday: Matsusaka-shi (city) in Mie-ken (prefecture). Pretty much in the middle of Honshu (biggest main island of Japan). At first I was thinking shit this looks like it's in the boonies since there is only like one rail line to that area, but its actually not as bad as I thought it would be. Further south of the prefecture is really in the boonies. The city's population is about 170,000, so not too small, and it's in the center of the prefecture. Osaka and Nara are about an hour to the west and Nagoya is about an hour to the east. This is totally way far away from Fukushima and where the earthquake and tsunami were. Lots of wilderness and mountains for me to explore and its right by an huge bay/ocean. I'm actually quite some distance away from Ingrid and Charlie, but I'll make it out to visit them.
Oh and the best part, the town I'm in is famous for their beef. Matsusaka-gyu. Japan has like the best beef ever, its called Wa-gyu, sooo good. They like give the cows beer and massages so they aren't stressed out and stuff, and the meat is super juicy/fatty, delicious-ness. There are 3 top types of wa-gyu, and this town is one of the top 3! I'm pretty excited for the beef, but its kind of expensive.
Lets see what else....Waikele Borders closed down so half of their staff came over, including their GM and 2 other managers. We finally have a full staff, but it is still busy and crazy. Since that other one closed down we are getting lots of their customers and just more business in general. But, last week Borders announced another list of 51 stores (including my store and 2 other ones on oahu) that will be shut down by the bankruptcy people if they do not negotiate their leases. So....that sucks. We might be closing, or possibly staying open. They want a decision by the 21st of June, but Borders is trying to push it back to July because they may be a buyer who will buy out Borders stores. Too bad, my store makes the most money of all the Borders stores on Oahu too.
Been working out a lot and practicing a lot. I'm pretty disciplined. Depending on what time I work, I usually wake up early and practice for an hour, go to work, then go to the gym after work. Fitting it all in. I should fit studying Japanese into this somehow too.
Ok, that was pretty much it I think. I'm going to a wedding next week. This is like the first wedding that I'm going to as an adult......kinda crazy.
I'm pretty excited for Japan. Thinking about packing is stressing me out though.
Monday, May 30, 2011
whoa!
seems like a lot happened this month!
So happy that your kiddies recital went well Rachel! I wish I coulda been there to see them play! Kelly, sounds like you got your 5-year plan set. I don't even know where I'm gonna be in 5 years.
I moved in with Ryan like a month and a half ago. So far it's awesome. I don't have a crazy landlord that asks me to do favors all the time and gives me lectures. (btw she made me wash the walls of my old room because "it reeked of smoke". Weird, because I don't smoke and I never let Ryan smoke there, and, oh yeah, it DID NOT smell like smoke at all.) So happy I don't live there anymore.
My new roommates are supercool. All of them are artists (as in visual) except for one chick who does theater. It's nice, there's usually music and painting going on in the loft at all times. My roommate Cris is working on this project with crayons right now. He melts them all down with this super hot gun and they all end up looking super trippy. I'll post a pic of one.
One thing that does suck though is that there is no a/c. And it's crazy hot right now. The loft is an old brick building (I think it processed lumber back in the day) and it heats up really fast. Oh, and now that its warm outside all the crazies are out. So it's not really the safest place for chicks to walk around in at night. Like an hour ago I wanted to get some ice cream from the nearest grocery store, but it was already dark outside so Ryan wouldn't let me go because he thought I would get raped and killed or whatever. And there are prostitutes (kurwa), really. Saw a truck driver pick one up the other day. Basically, the part of Jersey City I live in is like post-apocalyptic. Like if Judgement Day really happened, my part of Jersey City would have stayed the same.
Um, other things...I went full-time at whole foods for like a week, but now I'm back to part-time because I am GETTING PAID ($22/hr) as a per diem assistant producer at WNYC. I'll be working there two days a week in June and hopefully more throughout the rest of the summer! I bought a viola recently! I haven't had one in like a year so that's really exciting for me. I got it from shar and it's way better than my last one! I'm thinking about joining a community orchestra in the fall after I get my chops up.
AND, I think Ryan and I might come to Indiana in August! It's seriously being considered so I'll let you guys know more as I do.
That's it I think, Ciao!
So happy that your kiddies recital went well Rachel! I wish I coulda been there to see them play! Kelly, sounds like you got your 5-year plan set. I don't even know where I'm gonna be in 5 years.
I moved in with Ryan like a month and a half ago. So far it's awesome. I don't have a crazy landlord that asks me to do favors all the time and gives me lectures. (btw she made me wash the walls of my old room because "it reeked of smoke". Weird, because I don't smoke and I never let Ryan smoke there, and, oh yeah, it DID NOT smell like smoke at all.) So happy I don't live there anymore.
My new roommates are supercool. All of them are artists (as in visual) except for one chick who does theater. It's nice, there's usually music and painting going on in the loft at all times. My roommate Cris is working on this project with crayons right now. He melts them all down with this super hot gun and they all end up looking super trippy. I'll post a pic of one.
One thing that does suck though is that there is no a/c. And it's crazy hot right now. The loft is an old brick building (I think it processed lumber back in the day) and it heats up really fast. Oh, and now that its warm outside all the crazies are out. So it's not really the safest place for chicks to walk around in at night. Like an hour ago I wanted to get some ice cream from the nearest grocery store, but it was already dark outside so Ryan wouldn't let me go because he thought I would get raped and killed or whatever. And there are prostitutes (kurwa), really. Saw a truck driver pick one up the other day. Basically, the part of Jersey City I live in is like post-apocalyptic. Like if Judgement Day really happened, my part of Jersey City would have stayed the same.
Um, other things...I went full-time at whole foods for like a week, but now I'm back to part-time because I am GETTING PAID ($22/hr) as a per diem assistant producer at WNYC. I'll be working there two days a week in June and hopefully more throughout the rest of the summer! I bought a viola recently! I haven't had one in like a year so that's really exciting for me. I got it from shar and it's way better than my last one! I'm thinking about joining a community orchestra in the fall after I get my chops up.
AND, I think Ryan and I might come to Indiana in August! It's seriously being considered so I'll let you guys know more as I do.
That's it I think, Ciao!
Saturday, May 28, 2011
I am bout to give my dog away!!!! (not really)
not really...but No FUCKING JOKE she is driving me NUTS right now. i love her and i don't regret getting her, but it's moments like this that make we wonder if actually do ever wanna have "adorable" little babies of my own. SHE IS SO ANNOYING sometimes. like right now, instead of realizing that i have this monumentally important blog to post, she thinks that she can just fucking jump ALL over me while biting me *ouch* to get my attention. i mean, maybe i'm just a bad puppy mommy, but really i think she's just a puppy. she's only 6 months old, so she's similar to a 3 year old kid or something. she's starting to realize what no means but then chooses to ignore it cause she knows she is cute. ALSJFOIEWFALKSD. i really do love her. don't call animal control or anything lol.
rachel, congrats on your awesome recital! even though i know i said that to you today in the gchat. i'm so glad you were so proud! you deserve it.
so anyway, i'm blogging. rachel's blog inspired me to blog, but also i don't wanna practice. why? BECAUSE IT'S SUMMER. AND I AM STILL IN SCHOOL DESPITE THE FACT THAT IT'S SUMMER. quarters suck! i have one more week of classes this upcoming week and i'm skipping out on finals to drive to blue lake on june 3. luckily, i don't have any finals. but i have a 10 page research paper due (the only paper i'll ever have to write at ccm..lol) and a take home theory test next week, so that'll be crazy. plus, patrick is visiting, PLUS, steven maijala is visiting on wed/thurs because he's taking the dayton phil audition (which is like 45 min from here). so it'll be crazy to write/take a final/keep from going psycho cause of the dog/entertain two people/pack for blue lake. but hey what's life for if it's not fucking crazy.
oh and now she's doing the thing where she runs around in circles and then pees wherever she wants. crazy ass animal. i really think she might be retarded. she passed the retarded dog test except then the next day she rolled around in some other dog's shit. i just put her in her crate and i think she knows i'm mad at her.
ugh.
patrick is working at blue lake with me this summer. i am really excited cause we'll be in the same place and i'll see him quite a bit more than i did when he didn't work. plus i'll have the puppy up there (god save me) but i think she will be a little more well-behaved because it'll be in the woods and she'll have big spaces to run around, unlike my tiny-ass ghetto cincy apartment. which i can't WAIT to leave.
patrick and i think we're going to move to michigan after i graduate next spring/SUMMER cause quarters go on forEVER. we were gonna live in indy but we changed our minds. rach, don't worry ,it's still doable to visit each other every so often. plus i imagine we'll frequent indiana cause that's where our fam is. i think we're gonna go to ann arbor. i might look for a job at like SHAR since that's where their headquarters are. i think we might both work for a year and then patrick is gonna go back to school to finish up his degree and i might work to get either a second master's at U of M in music ed to get my teaching license, or, if i feel up to it and can get into the school, get my DMA at U of M. CCM is a great program, but there are several things that i don't like about it and I'm not a huge fan of cincy. I've always loved MI and plus, I'll be closer to camp! Always a plus, for me, the camp junkie.
wedding planning is going smoothly, i already have my dress and everything! i'll be taking a hiatus from thinking about ANY wedding stuff while i'm at camp, and then churn it into gear when i am done with that. next school year might kill me--i have to plan a wedding, play two solo recitals, and do my oral exams at the and of the year to graduate. ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
ok that's about all i can think of for now. i miss you all so much and seeing everyone's grad pictures from dpu made me miss you all even more. love you guys. I'll post my camp address on fb if any of you want to be my pen pal this summer!
rachel, congrats on your awesome recital! even though i know i said that to you today in the gchat. i'm so glad you were so proud! you deserve it.
so anyway, i'm blogging. rachel's blog inspired me to blog, but also i don't wanna practice. why? BECAUSE IT'S SUMMER. AND I AM STILL IN SCHOOL DESPITE THE FACT THAT IT'S SUMMER. quarters suck! i have one more week of classes this upcoming week and i'm skipping out on finals to drive to blue lake on june 3. luckily, i don't have any finals. but i have a 10 page research paper due (the only paper i'll ever have to write at ccm..lol) and a take home theory test next week, so that'll be crazy. plus, patrick is visiting, PLUS, steven maijala is visiting on wed/thurs because he's taking the dayton phil audition (which is like 45 min from here). so it'll be crazy to write/take a final/keep from going psycho cause of the dog/entertain two people/pack for blue lake. but hey what's life for if it's not fucking crazy.
oh and now she's doing the thing where she runs around in circles and then pees wherever she wants. crazy ass animal. i really think she might be retarded. she passed the retarded dog test except then the next day she rolled around in some other dog's shit. i just put her in her crate and i think she knows i'm mad at her.
ugh.
patrick is working at blue lake with me this summer. i am really excited cause we'll be in the same place and i'll see him quite a bit more than i did when he didn't work. plus i'll have the puppy up there (god save me) but i think she will be a little more well-behaved because it'll be in the woods and she'll have big spaces to run around, unlike my tiny-ass ghetto cincy apartment. which i can't WAIT to leave.
patrick and i think we're going to move to michigan after i graduate next spring/SUMMER cause quarters go on forEVER. we were gonna live in indy but we changed our minds. rach, don't worry ,it's still doable to visit each other every so often. plus i imagine we'll frequent indiana cause that's where our fam is. i think we're gonna go to ann arbor. i might look for a job at like SHAR since that's where their headquarters are. i think we might both work for a year and then patrick is gonna go back to school to finish up his degree and i might work to get either a second master's at U of M in music ed to get my teaching license, or, if i feel up to it and can get into the school, get my DMA at U of M. CCM is a great program, but there are several things that i don't like about it and I'm not a huge fan of cincy. I've always loved MI and plus, I'll be closer to camp! Always a plus, for me, the camp junkie.
wedding planning is going smoothly, i already have my dress and everything! i'll be taking a hiatus from thinking about ANY wedding stuff while i'm at camp, and then churn it into gear when i am done with that. next school year might kill me--i have to plan a wedding, play two solo recitals, and do my oral exams at the and of the year to graduate. ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh
ok that's about all i can think of for now. i miss you all so much and seeing everyone's grad pictures from dpu made me miss you all even more. love you guys. I'll post my camp address on fb if any of you want to be my pen pal this summer!
Thursday, May 26, 2011
RECITAL and other things
ok so my kids' had the recital tonight. THEY WERE AWESOME. so good. so good. and i am super fucking proud. like walking around with a giant smile, etc.
i was also SO NERVOUS OMG. i think i was more nervous than i was for my senior recital. i really do. cuz then i had the party to think about. that was a fun party :)
i meant to take pictures. but i was so worked up. that i did not.
my students are the best
plus i think they like me. idk, i can kind of tell a lil more when im chatting w/the parents and whatnot. Plus I have three students saying they are going to take lessons over the summer. so yay. and i am trying to push three of them into the ius summer string camp. 1 is like "yeah!" and 1 is like "ugh viola" and 1 is like "ooh when?" so that's cool.
you guys shoulda gone to this recital. it was SO AWESOME i am not sure if i was clear but it was pretty freaking fantastic. and i baked cookies. and my chocolate chip ones (just like poison cookies btw - same recipe just me making steada mom) went so fast! i didn't get one :( but i have leftover cheeseball and butterscotch and pecan cookies. :)
so what else? oh so i was like high off my awesome night right? well came home with my parents (who came to cheer me on - sweet) and we listen to a new voicemail. from some fucking arm doctor who my work STILL HAS NOT PAID and then i got mad and i think i have to sue. which sucks. but this happened with my boss's boss this week
tony heineke "hi rachel how are you?"
"i'm bad. i'm getting collection calls from the bills YOU ALL still have not paid"
"what? it's not my fault"
"well whose fault is it? who picked gallager and basset (their insurance company)?"
"calm down"
"it has been four months tony"
"well don't attack me"
"i'm not attacking you, you asked how i am. and i am upset because i am getting calls from collection agencies. that's how i am"
then he walks away visibly upset. my coworkers are like STUNNED and silent. he comes back
"ok start over this is the first i've heard of this"
"no it's not. you asked how i was right when the renovation started and i said "bad my medical bills still haven't been paid" so you have heard about this before"
"ok. well what is going on?"
"well most of my bills have been paid, but the lab bills and the er doc bill still hasn't. i have mailed them and faxed them to my contact at gallager basset and she says she is paying it but now i'm getting calls because she hasn't"
"you have to understand it is a really big company"
"EXACTLY. it is a really big company so they should be able to deal with a few medical bills in a timely fashion"
"well it hasn't been that long"
"YES IT HAS if i am getting calls from collections agencies"
"well tell me about it ask me for help maybe we can make resolution" (sometimes i don't think he understands english)
"ok here is her name and number" he took it, called her, came back and asked for YET ANOTHER copy of the bills. i left them in his office door yesterday. i got a call tonight. WHAT THE FUCK JUST DO IT MOTHERFUCKERS WHY MUST YOU RUIN MY DAY AND MY CREDIT
so that sucks. seriously you guys DO NOT get hurt at work (although it isn't like i planned it) because i really don't think hms host is special in its suckiness.
oh and apparently the thing i'm doing with ofa is SUPER FANCIPANTS. I'm a summer organizer and i was on a conference call for it the other night and i put NO effort into getting this, steve completely hooked me up i think, i didn't even have an interview. and i learned on the call 1. that everyone else had an interview 2. that they only accepted 20 something applicants out of 100 plus. WHO KNEW.
ok now that i have written a novel i am going to eat leftover cheeseball
i was also SO NERVOUS OMG. i think i was more nervous than i was for my senior recital. i really do. cuz then i had the party to think about. that was a fun party :)
i meant to take pictures. but i was so worked up. that i did not.
my students are the best
plus i think they like me. idk, i can kind of tell a lil more when im chatting w/the parents and whatnot. Plus I have three students saying they are going to take lessons over the summer. so yay. and i am trying to push three of them into the ius summer string camp. 1 is like "yeah!" and 1 is like "ugh viola" and 1 is like "ooh when?" so that's cool.
you guys shoulda gone to this recital. it was SO AWESOME i am not sure if i was clear but it was pretty freaking fantastic. and i baked cookies. and my chocolate chip ones (just like poison cookies btw - same recipe just me making steada mom) went so fast! i didn't get one :( but i have leftover cheeseball and butterscotch and pecan cookies. :)
so what else? oh so i was like high off my awesome night right? well came home with my parents (who came to cheer me on - sweet) and we listen to a new voicemail. from some fucking arm doctor who my work STILL HAS NOT PAID and then i got mad and i think i have to sue. which sucks. but this happened with my boss's boss this week
tony heineke "hi rachel how are you?"
"i'm bad. i'm getting collection calls from the bills YOU ALL still have not paid"
"what? it's not my fault"
"well whose fault is it? who picked gallager and basset (their insurance company)?"
"calm down"
"it has been four months tony"
"well don't attack me"
"i'm not attacking you, you asked how i am. and i am upset because i am getting calls from collection agencies. that's how i am"
then he walks away visibly upset. my coworkers are like STUNNED and silent. he comes back
"ok start over this is the first i've heard of this"
"no it's not. you asked how i was right when the renovation started and i said "bad my medical bills still haven't been paid" so you have heard about this before"
"ok. well what is going on?"
"well most of my bills have been paid, but the lab bills and the er doc bill still hasn't. i have mailed them and faxed them to my contact at gallager basset and she says she is paying it but now i'm getting calls because she hasn't"
"you have to understand it is a really big company"
"EXACTLY. it is a really big company so they should be able to deal with a few medical bills in a timely fashion"
"well it hasn't been that long"
"YES IT HAS if i am getting calls from collections agencies"
"well tell me about it ask me for help maybe we can make resolution" (sometimes i don't think he understands english)
"ok here is her name and number" he took it, called her, came back and asked for YET ANOTHER copy of the bills. i left them in his office door yesterday. i got a call tonight. WHAT THE FUCK JUST DO IT MOTHERFUCKERS WHY MUST YOU RUIN MY DAY AND MY CREDIT
so that sucks. seriously you guys DO NOT get hurt at work (although it isn't like i planned it) because i really don't think hms host is special in its suckiness.
oh and apparently the thing i'm doing with ofa is SUPER FANCIPANTS. I'm a summer organizer and i was on a conference call for it the other night and i put NO effort into getting this, steve completely hooked me up i think, i didn't even have an interview. and i learned on the call 1. that everyone else had an interview 2. that they only accepted 20 something applicants out of 100 plus. WHO KNEW.
ok now that i have written a novel i am going to eat leftover cheeseball
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
One of my students told me to fuck off today. To my face. Only he said it in Polish, so was obviously not expecting me to understand him. I'm not sure if I'm more disturbed by the fact that he said that or by the fact that everyone else in the class laughed when he said it...as if showing such disrespect to a teacher is a good thing. Uggggh how do public school teachers EVER survive?!? I have so much more respect for my past teachers now!!
Saturday, May 14, 2011
5 weeks left!
Hi everyone! Hope all is well. The end of this semester is in sight; I have only 5 full weeks of teaching left before I am totally done for this semester. I'm not gonna pretend that I'm not excited. The kids are antsy to be done (and the seniors are no longer in school but instead are in the middle of month-long university entrance exams...yikes.) Meanwhile, with the weather getting nice (finally) and with a quarter of my friends on Facebook freaking out about finishing school, I'm feeling antsy to be done, too. The closer I get to the end, the more anxious I am to be done....it's like the last few weeks have just been draaaaagging on and on.
I have signed my contract for next year, so I will be in Poland for another year. However, I am going to Hamburg for the summer. No more long distance relationship as of June 22!!! Yay!!
For the most part I like it here, but I do get frustrated at times. I have like 3 friends cause this town is so freakin' small, and sometimes I feel like all I do is eat, sleep, and work. So, I get homesick on occasion, and I really wish I could meet more people, but what can you do?!
On a positive note, I'm super excited about traveling this summer. One reason I came here was so I could take advantage of the location. You can travel for cheap when you don't have to buy a super crazy expensive plane ticket across the Atlantic Ocean!! So, June 23-July 11 Jeff and I are going from Hamburg to Vienna to Budapest to Sarajevo to Mostar (both in Bosnia and Herzegovina) to Kotor (Montenegro) to Dubrovnik (Croatia). Should be a fun adventure :) We've also been invited to visit one of Jeff's coworkers in Lithuania (they have a house there) so all we'd have to pay for is a Ryanair flight...super cheap! We're also going to Morocco for a few days in August. The rest of the time this summer, we'll be teaching English in Hamburg before we head to Poland in late September for the start of the next school year (beginning of October.)
Otherwise, my life is pretty boring. No big news or anything on my end. The most exciting part of my day usually consists of me correctly ordering a coffee to go in Polish :) Hah.
Monday, May 2, 2011
my job = doing everyone else's job and mine. i hate it. i cried all the way home. because i am fucking miserable.
glad your all's lives are going well though.
i asked my boss's boss today why we don't fire people. It went like this.
"i was just hoping you could explain our policy of not firing people" (COMMON KNOWLEDGE)
"what are you talking about? what policy?"
"well we all think there is a policy against firing people. Because no one ever gets fired"
"that is because things aren't documentated. " yes, he said documentated. MULTIPLE TIMES. and then he went on and on about how if we dont documentate then his bosses will make him hire that person back. And he asked who I was complaining about. I told him pretty much everyone, and it is exhausting having to do multiple people's jobs. I singled out Tierra. And I told him what happened yesterday.
First day of may = worst day of may (i hope) despite the fact that i did say rabbit.
Me, Geraldine, and Daniel (new guy who is a big smart ass, and so new he knows nothing) were opening. Rosie (EVIL EVIL LAZY ASS BITCH WHO SLEEPS ON THE JOB CONSTANTLY) was the manager, got mad at geraldine because she "had an attitude" and sent her home. At 4 am. We had an incredibly AWFUL day. Because Daniel isn't quite a real employee, and HOlly showed up so it was JUST ME AND HOLLY WORKING OUR ASSES off. And fucking Rosie. I HATE ROSIE. I SHOULDN'T BE WRITING THIS DOWN BUT I WANT TO CUT THAT BITCH'S FACE OFF. I SERIOUSLY HATE HER. Rosie didn't help us at all. She was busy sleeping on the clock.
I conveyed some of this to Tony. "oh"
"hang in there kiddo"
HANG IN THERE KIDDO?!
IS THIS WHAT THE FUCK I WENT TO COLLEGE FOR?!
HUH?
WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH ME? NO ONE EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVEN CALLS ME FOR A REAL LIFE MOTHERFUCKING JOB WHERE PEOPLE ASSUME I HAVE A COLLEGE DEGREE
Also today a customer saw one of our mice. BOUND to happen because we have had mice FOR MONTHS AND MONTHS AND MONTHS and have done NOTHING THAT I CAN SEE about it. fucking humiliating. So i was upset. Jonathon (manager) asked evie "what's wrong with rachel?" evie said "the same thing that's wrong with me and holly! We find the mice disgusting, wished someone besides us cared, and are freaking sick of working our butts off while everyone else is lazy. And it doesn't matter because no one ever gets fired"
But you guys have good lives. Kelly is engaged, Tiffy's loving her NYC producer life, Amanda's living it up in Europe, Patrice got into Jet (YAY!), so I will just sit here and miserably rot with my kitty cat alone.
I. HATE. MY. JOB.
and i can't get another one.
so glad i have years of great work history. so glad I did unpaid internships.
and I am so lonely.
glad your all's lives are going well though.
i asked my boss's boss today why we don't fire people. It went like this.
"i was just hoping you could explain our policy of not firing people" (COMMON KNOWLEDGE)
"what are you talking about? what policy?"
"well we all think there is a policy against firing people. Because no one ever gets fired"
"that is because things aren't documentated. " yes, he said documentated. MULTIPLE TIMES. and then he went on and on about how if we dont documentate then his bosses will make him hire that person back. And he asked who I was complaining about. I told him pretty much everyone, and it is exhausting having to do multiple people's jobs. I singled out Tierra. And I told him what happened yesterday.
First day of may = worst day of may (i hope) despite the fact that i did say rabbit.
Me, Geraldine, and Daniel (new guy who is a big smart ass, and so new he knows nothing) were opening. Rosie (EVIL EVIL LAZY ASS BITCH WHO SLEEPS ON THE JOB CONSTANTLY) was the manager, got mad at geraldine because she "had an attitude" and sent her home. At 4 am. We had an incredibly AWFUL day. Because Daniel isn't quite a real employee, and HOlly showed up so it was JUST ME AND HOLLY WORKING OUR ASSES off. And fucking Rosie. I HATE ROSIE. I SHOULDN'T BE WRITING THIS DOWN BUT I WANT TO CUT THAT BITCH'S FACE OFF. I SERIOUSLY HATE HER. Rosie didn't help us at all. She was busy sleeping on the clock.
I conveyed some of this to Tony. "oh"
"hang in there kiddo"
HANG IN THERE KIDDO?!
IS THIS WHAT THE FUCK I WENT TO COLLEGE FOR?!
HUH?
WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH ME? NO ONE EVER EVER EVER EVER EVER EVEN CALLS ME FOR A REAL LIFE MOTHERFUCKING JOB WHERE PEOPLE ASSUME I HAVE A COLLEGE DEGREE
Also today a customer saw one of our mice. BOUND to happen because we have had mice FOR MONTHS AND MONTHS AND MONTHS and have done NOTHING THAT I CAN SEE about it. fucking humiliating. So i was upset. Jonathon (manager) asked evie "what's wrong with rachel?" evie said "the same thing that's wrong with me and holly! We find the mice disgusting, wished someone besides us cared, and are freaking sick of working our butts off while everyone else is lazy. And it doesn't matter because no one ever gets fired"
But you guys have good lives. Kelly is engaged, Tiffy's loving her NYC producer life, Amanda's living it up in Europe, Patrice got into Jet (YAY!), so I will just sit here and miserably rot with my kitty cat alone.
I. HATE. MY. JOB.
and i can't get another one.
so glad i have years of great work history. so glad I did unpaid internships.
and I am so lonely.
Sunday, May 1, 2011
I'm getting hitched!
Hi friends!
Sorry it has been a million years since I've posted. Been busy and all that jazz.
I only have 5 more weeks until I'm halfway done with my masters! Wow! It goes fast. Thank goodness, since I'm really over the whole school thing.
As all of you know, Patrick and I are getting married! (Surprise). It was a cute proposal, he just got down on one knee and popped the question in our hotel room on our 1 and 1/2 year anniversary weekend. It was sweet! Our wedding is probably gonna be in late May next year (almost a year away!wow!)
I went wedding dress shopping with Rachey (super fun) and we also saw the ballet (drunk) which was amazing. I didn't get a dress that weekend, but I got one last weekend! It's really pretty. I'm not gonna post any photos though because I want everyone to see it at the wedding!
Patrice, I am soooooo excited for you for Japan, as you already know. That is awesome. I will write you back soon.
I applied for a job at Carnegie Mellon University: Director of Music Enrollment and Recruiting. Basically like the head of the admissions office. It is pretty much my dream job, if I still got to play music on the side. If I get it and they want me to start this year, I'll prob leave CCM and try to finish up my MM there. If not, no biggie, I'll just stay at CCM. Blaaaaaaah school.
I'll be heading out to Blue Lake for the 5th time this summer at the beginning of June. Patrick is working there this summer too!
My puppy is getting bigger, but she is still adorable!! I wish you all could see her, she's real cute.
Anyway, that's all I can think of for now. Hope you are all having a great start to May :) Miss you all!
Sorry it has been a million years since I've posted. Been busy and all that jazz.
I only have 5 more weeks until I'm halfway done with my masters! Wow! It goes fast. Thank goodness, since I'm really over the whole school thing.
As all of you know, Patrick and I are getting married! (Surprise). It was a cute proposal, he just got down on one knee and popped the question in our hotel room on our 1 and 1/2 year anniversary weekend. It was sweet! Our wedding is probably gonna be in late May next year (almost a year away!wow!)
I went wedding dress shopping with Rachey (super fun) and we also saw the ballet (drunk) which was amazing. I didn't get a dress that weekend, but I got one last weekend! It's really pretty. I'm not gonna post any photos though because I want everyone to see it at the wedding!
Patrice, I am soooooo excited for you for Japan, as you already know. That is awesome. I will write you back soon.
I applied for a job at Carnegie Mellon University: Director of Music Enrollment and Recruiting. Basically like the head of the admissions office. It is pretty much my dream job, if I still got to play music on the side. If I get it and they want me to start this year, I'll prob leave CCM and try to finish up my MM there. If not, no biggie, I'll just stay at CCM. Blaaaaaaah school.
I'll be heading out to Blue Lake for the 5th time this summer at the beginning of June. Patrick is working there this summer too!
My puppy is getting bigger, but she is still adorable!! I wish you all could see her, she's real cute.
Anyway, that's all I can think of for now. Hope you are all having a great start to May :) Miss you all!
Wednesday, April 27, 2011
I'M GOING TO JAPAN ON A JET PLANE!!!! haha
So, as you all know I got shortlisted for the JET Program!
(Shortlist means those on the list to get contracted with organizations, alternates are those who aren't yet on the shortlist but could be upgraded if those on the short list reject the position or fail to turn in paper work on time)
This is a dream-come-true!!! OMG!!!!! I've wanted to do this from sooo sooo long. I even wrote it on like a statement of purpose or whatever that I wanted to get a college degree then work in Japan on the JET program. OMG!!! yeah. okay. I was really worried I wasn't going to get in since I'm so used to rejection. But yay!
So....paperwork.....I realized that I'm an idiot and I should have signed up for medical through Borders. I was supposed to sign up in the beginning of March but I didn't because I thought I could still be covered on my moms plan. Long story short, I don't have medical, it's too late to sign up and now I have to pay out of my ass to get my medical from filled out.
Lets see.....work, the mean gm quit. We only have 2 managers!!! But then this other guy from the closing Borders came over, so now we sort of have 3 managers. It was kinda crazy when for a while, but now I have a ton of hours since the mean gm isn't here to not give anyone hours. Been working almost 40hrs a week. I'm going to be so happy next week when I see a big ass paycheck. All these hours are good, but now it's harder to go to the gym.
My birthday was fun too. Went to a Japanese buffet and had a ton of crab and uni (sea urchin). SOOOO GOOD!!!!!
My goal was to get my license before it expires in August, but I haven't been driving and I'm about ready to give up.
Lastly, not to be a debby downer, but be careful. A coworker from camp died last week. She was riding her bike to work or class or whatever and a big truck hit her and she died on the scene. I don't really know what to say about that. So yeah.
Anyway! It's almost summer!!!!!
(Shortlist means those on the list to get contracted with organizations, alternates are those who aren't yet on the shortlist but could be upgraded if those on the short list reject the position or fail to turn in paper work on time)
This is a dream-come-true!!! OMG!!!!! I've wanted to do this from sooo sooo long. I even wrote it on like a statement of purpose or whatever that I wanted to get a college degree then work in Japan on the JET program. OMG!!! yeah. okay. I was really worried I wasn't going to get in since I'm so used to rejection. But yay!
So....paperwork.....I realized that I'm an idiot and I should have signed up for medical through Borders. I was supposed to sign up in the beginning of March but I didn't because I thought I could still be covered on my moms plan. Long story short, I don't have medical, it's too late to sign up and now I have to pay out of my ass to get my medical from filled out.
Lets see.....work, the mean gm quit. We only have 2 managers!!! But then this other guy from the closing Borders came over, so now we sort of have 3 managers. It was kinda crazy when for a while, but now I have a ton of hours since the mean gm isn't here to not give anyone hours. Been working almost 40hrs a week. I'm going to be so happy next week when I see a big ass paycheck. All these hours are good, but now it's harder to go to the gym.
My birthday was fun too. Went to a Japanese buffet and had a ton of crab and uni (sea urchin). SOOOO GOOD!!!!!
My goal was to get my license before it expires in August, but I haven't been driving and I'm about ready to give up.
Lastly, not to be a debby downer, but be careful. A coworker from camp died last week. She was riding her bike to work or class or whatever and a big truck hit her and she died on the scene. I don't really know what to say about that. So yeah.
Anyway! It's almost summer!!!!!
k fine i will then.
i am ordering new friends. off amazon. should get here next week.
in other news. my toe is fucking bloody and that just tells you how my stupid life is. nevermind you guys don't want to hear me whine
only good thing to say- had fun climbing on a mountain.
in other news. my toe is fucking bloody and that just tells you how my stupid life is. nevermind you guys don't want to hear me whine
only good thing to say- had fun climbing on a mountain.
Monday, April 25, 2011
Saturday, April 9, 2011
I AIN'T SHADY!
today is Patrice's b-day! yayyyyyy!
everyone knows i got a per diem gig at wnyc! It's not like I can quit whole foods though... its only per diem, but still, now i'm a freelance producer!
i'm moving in with ryan....is that shade?
moving here
my room is right next to wall poetry. yay!
k, gots to sleepypoo. I have a 10k in the morning
everyone knows i got a per diem gig at wnyc! It's not like I can quit whole foods though... its only per diem, but still, now i'm a freelance producer!
i'm moving in with ryan....is that shade?
moving here
my room is right next to wall poetry. yay!
you guys should check out my segment on the bach cello suites.
I hear that a certain someone tried on wedding dresses today....can we get preview pics on the blog? pleeeeeaseeeeeeeeuhhhhh.
k, gots to sleepypoo. I have a 10k in the morning
CIAO!
Tuesday, April 5, 2011
shady
tiffy has news that i doubt she has reported to everyone
i do not know the details of one of the news things at all
i find this shady
any thoughts from the others?
i do not know the details of one of the news things at all
i find this shady
any thoughts from the others?
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
i am writing a blog post
so here is the news. i am writing a blog post. ALERT THE PRESSES
right now my dad is very angrily putting away the dishes. I do not know why, but I think he is angry with my mom... now he is talking about his job. his job SUCKS. he and i have job suckoff competitions pretty regularly. i think he *technically* wins just because some people do not expect this job to last me forever... some people.
speaking of this job - i am officially (finally) a LEAD. Judy told me today (while she was peeing) that she got my performance review and I get a 50 cent an hour (there is no cent sign on a keyboard. WHO KNEW) raise!!!! Next week hopefully Rich is going to give me an 8 key. The 8 key opens the stock room door and also the downstairs and the thing that covers the coffee and like a zillion other things. As Marcel says "it is the key to the world". I also need to get my security badge fixed so that it works the elevators again so that I can go downstairs again. Man working in an airport is complicated. still 50 cent raise! So guys, guess what this raise means to me. It means I am going to spring for - unlimited texts. It is on the to do list for this week for me to call verizon.
also on the to do list- figure out my stupid insurance. i pay circa 10 dollars a paycheck for dental and circa 40 for health. stunningly, i am already out of "wellness benefits" at aetna, the health insurance. i have a $90 bill and a $70 bill for a freaking check up at the gyno. glad i pay for insurance regularly. and i went to the dentist for a cleaning (all that my insurance provides is two cleanings) and couldn't find my dental card blah blah supposedly we don't get a card and we have to request a form from the dentist. my dentist was like "WTF MAN?" so now i have to call judy (hr lady) and try to deal with it so i don't have a monster dental bill as well. being a grown up is lame.
um what else is up in my life....considering getting back into ofa. trying to find jobs to apply to. I helped my friend get a PAID marketing internship with the ymca. See, tiffy? Random airport connections can be awesome. I just started interrogating her while selling her coffee, and found out that she did communications for the ymca. I was like "is there marketing in that? it sounds all marketingy" or something and she was like "oh yeah! tonso marketing!" to which I said "oh well I have a friend who is a marketing whiz, she is studying it at ius. Her name is Holly. Come here, Holly" and Holly chatted with her and got an email address! Which led to the internship she started yesterday! Mucho excitingo.
Kelly is gonna go see the ballet with me soon :)
I got a letter from Cait today! And one from Patricey earlier this week! I love getting letters from you guys. It makes me feel less abandoned by all my friends. tj and trew didn't help that this week... anyway yay letters!
I think ima buy a used ab lounge so when i sit here and watch intervention i can make my abs flat and sexy. This intervention is really sad. Aren't they all?
k nothing else is goin on. i miss you guys!
right now my dad is very angrily putting away the dishes. I do not know why, but I think he is angry with my mom... now he is talking about his job. his job SUCKS. he and i have job suckoff competitions pretty regularly. i think he *technically* wins just because some people do not expect this job to last me forever... some people.
speaking of this job - i am officially (finally) a LEAD. Judy told me today (while she was peeing) that she got my performance review and I get a 50 cent an hour (there is no cent sign on a keyboard. WHO KNEW) raise!!!! Next week hopefully Rich is going to give me an 8 key. The 8 key opens the stock room door and also the downstairs and the thing that covers the coffee and like a zillion other things. As Marcel says "it is the key to the world". I also need to get my security badge fixed so that it works the elevators again so that I can go downstairs again. Man working in an airport is complicated. still 50 cent raise! So guys, guess what this raise means to me. It means I am going to spring for - unlimited texts. It is on the to do list for this week for me to call verizon.
also on the to do list- figure out my stupid insurance. i pay circa 10 dollars a paycheck for dental and circa 40 for health. stunningly, i am already out of "wellness benefits" at aetna, the health insurance. i have a $90 bill and a $70 bill for a freaking check up at the gyno. glad i pay for insurance regularly. and i went to the dentist for a cleaning (all that my insurance provides is two cleanings) and couldn't find my dental card blah blah supposedly we don't get a card and we have to request a form from the dentist. my dentist was like "WTF MAN?" so now i have to call judy (hr lady) and try to deal with it so i don't have a monster dental bill as well. being a grown up is lame.
um what else is up in my life....considering getting back into ofa. trying to find jobs to apply to. I helped my friend get a PAID marketing internship with the ymca. See, tiffy? Random airport connections can be awesome. I just started interrogating her while selling her coffee, and found out that she did communications for the ymca. I was like "is there marketing in that? it sounds all marketingy" or something and she was like "oh yeah! tonso marketing!" to which I said "oh well I have a friend who is a marketing whiz, she is studying it at ius. Her name is Holly. Come here, Holly" and Holly chatted with her and got an email address! Which led to the internship she started yesterday! Mucho excitingo.
Kelly is gonna go see the ballet with me soon :)
I got a letter from Cait today! And one from Patricey earlier this week! I love getting letters from you guys. It makes me feel less abandoned by all my friends. tj and trew didn't help that this week... anyway yay letters!
I think ima buy a used ab lounge so when i sit here and watch intervention i can make my abs flat and sexy. This intervention is really sad. Aren't they all?
k nothing else is goin on. i miss you guys!
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
I HAVE THE INTERNETZZZ!!!
So I think someone next door just got wifi or something...i'm using their signal!
This is very exciting! Now I can live like it's 2011!!! PARTAY ON DA INTANET!
k, so i gots to take a shower n stuff then go to bed. I'll have another update soon.
Ciao friends!
This is very exciting! Now I can live like it's 2011!!! PARTAY ON DA INTANET!
k, so i gots to take a shower n stuff then go to bed. I'll have another update soon.
Ciao friends!
WEBCAM!!!
So..I am like 5 years behind and just got a webcam. I need to skype with you guys!!!! This so soooo coool!
Why doesn't anyone write in here anymore?
Hmmm.....lets see....I'm still pretty much just working out at the gym and going to work.
Waiting and waiting again to hear from JET, but I bet it will probably longer since Japan is in such a mess right now. Yikes. Its really sad to keep watching the news about Japan.
On Thursday Hawaii did get a tsunami warning to hit at around 3:15am-ish. It wasn't that bad though. The sea level was supposed to have changed 2 meters (6ft ish?). Some of the harbors, marinas and boat owners got messed up, but not casualties. Someones house on the Big Island floated away. They got hit with bigger waves.
What else can I write about here....I read the Hunger Games Series by Suzanne Collins. If I've ever told you guys about Battle Royale, it's kinda like that. These kids or youth rather are selected to participate in these games and they have to kill each other. They get special training then like off and kill. Kinda like Lord of the Flies (I didn't read that).
I'm gonna read that Girl with the Dragon Tattoo Series next.
Ok. Hope you all are well.
Why doesn't anyone write in here anymore?
Hmmm.....lets see....I'm still pretty much just working out at the gym and going to work.
Waiting and waiting again to hear from JET, but I bet it will probably longer since Japan is in such a mess right now. Yikes. Its really sad to keep watching the news about Japan.
On Thursday Hawaii did get a tsunami warning to hit at around 3:15am-ish. It wasn't that bad though. The sea level was supposed to have changed 2 meters (6ft ish?). Some of the harbors, marinas and boat owners got messed up, but not casualties. Someones house on the Big Island floated away. They got hit with bigger waves.
What else can I write about here....I read the Hunger Games Series by Suzanne Collins. If I've ever told you guys about Battle Royale, it's kinda like that. These kids or youth rather are selected to participate in these games and they have to kill each other. They get special training then like off and kill. Kinda like Lord of the Flies (I didn't read that).
I'm gonna read that Girl with the Dragon Tattoo Series next.
Ok. Hope you all are well.
Tuesday, March 1, 2011
PARTY @ MY HOUSE!
haha, My title is what normal people would do right if there parents were gone for 2 weeks......but i don't really have friends anymore to have a party....
My parents are going to Las Vegas and somewhere for my dad's 60th birthday. Man hes old. We had a early birthday party with some of my dads cousins this past weekend too.
We had a big dinner at this Chinese dinner at this fancy restaurant. Even had Shark Fin soup (so in Hawaii we passed a new law that you can't eat Shark Fin....but if the restaurant has stock they can use it....).
Anyway....I started this entry and then my mouse broke......so I'm continuing this entry. It is now Thursday, March 3rd. Drinking some wine alone in my room.....off the next 2 days anyway. Drinking wine kind of reminds me of Franzia, which reminds me of Violins vs Violas....miss those days. But I have to say wine taste much better when I'm not chugging it.
Brother is going to Hilo(Big Island) for the next few days to play with the orchestra there. Isn't it sad that they have to fly people in from the other islands to play in the UH Hilo campus orchestra for their concert. Pretty much have the house to myself (my Aunt lives downstairs, we live upstairs; shes gonna be around though). I should so have a party....oh man.
So....my interview went okay....There were 2 people from UH (University of Hawaii's East West Center, that's where Anna Kung was working when she was in HI last year during WT) 1 Japanese guy, and 1 former JET participant, she was a younger looking girl, well when I say young I mean in her 20s. I thought I had some good answers, and some generic not memorable answers....so we'll see. There was the one guy that kind of asked hard q's and tries to intimidate the interviewee...but he wasn't that scary. The LA interview was way more scary and intimidating. At one point I was talking about how I wanted to share the concept of the American Prom.....I have no idea where that came from, but when I was telling them about that their eyes kind of popped out and had an ahhh like that was something new and never heard before.I find out early April. If i get short listed that means I'm selected for the program, but if I get an alternate then I could be updated to the short list if people drop out.
Anyway, what else....my brother has this girlfriend. Her name is Monica. Shes a year older than me, but shes still in college. Nursing....? Maybe another year and a half..... It is almost impossible to graduate in 4 years at UH. Good thing I didn't go there. Anyway...thats crazy that anyone would date my brother. Hes so weird.
So Borders.....filed for Bankruptcy 11 like 2 weeks ago....maybe....and a ton of stores are closing due to that. I looked at the list and some in Indy, Broadripple....a ton in Indiana are closing. I remember going to one in Indy, it was a huge Borders. 2 stores in Hawaii are closing, ones on Kauai and the Big Island. Now the outer islands (islands other than Oahu; I live on Oahu; most populated island; population is about 1 million) have no Borders and pretty much no book stores at all..that's pretty sad. It makes sense not to close the ones in Hawaii since shipping costs a ton and people do buy stuff from the stores vs online. You know how there is free shipping and such....but it excludes Hawaii and Alaska.
Anyway....my GM is fucking dumb bitch dumb fuck. She like didn't fill out the paperwork to keep some of the seasonal temporary people we have and so we had to let them go last week. So we lost a ton of people and 3 others quit. One had a full time position and was in charge of paperchase (the notebooks, cards, stationary stuff). Her reasoning was that the GM made her feel so anxious and she was getting anxiety and such. I totally understand since I felt the same way when I first started and almost quite like a month after I got hired. She was working there for almost a year too. We let her handle all of paperchase since that was a section of its own, and now nobody knows what to do with her stuff. HOTT mess. And 2 other guys quit, 1 lived kind of far away and working closer to his house is more convenient since he can't drive. And the other guy was a military dependent, so I guess his family and stuff is shipping out.
So I think we have about 17people on staff....kinda sad. And there is a hiring freeze because of all this bankruptcy stuff. But we had 2 interviewees today for somereason. And the GM didn't tell anyway. OHHHH and one of the other managers is quitting. Shes one of the managers that did my interview and hired me. I'm kinda sad that shes leaving. This is the 2nd manager that is quitting since I started working. Its because of the GM. She is a real BITCHZILLA! Anyway......I don't think I'll be quitting anytime soon until I can find another job. Kinda feels like I'm going down with this sinking ship....
Oh yeah, so I think I'm playing in this gig with my brother next Friday. Oh man. I haven't played a gig in like 4 years. And I really hate playing with my brother.....and I haven't change my strings in like a year.....this should be interesting.
Tiffypoo, that haircut looks good. OMG I'm proud that you are still running. We just had the Great Aloha Run (an 8 mile run) this past weekend. We also have the Honolulu Marathon, but that's crazy.
Kellypoo, your puppy loookssss sooooo cute! You know what..I was actually going through old DPU stuff that I kept, and I found a birthday card you wrote be when we were freshman. It said you hoped we would get to play chamber music together someday. To bad we never made that happen. You weren't there I think, but I told the DG's to play chamber music with each other. It is a good bond to share.
Rachypoo, I'm glad your arm is doing better! Take all the baby steps that you need so that you can get it fully healed. Your trio pics look sooooooooo COOOOOOLLLLL!!!! And it is quality photos. Congrats on your promotion! :)
Amanda, I bet that being locked in your apartment was a really bad experience, but I sounded like a really good and funny story. Sorry if thats a little insensitive of me. its like fml statements that you know it sucks but its funny when you look back on it.
Sounds like you are getting a ton of teaching experience. I might ask you some tips/pointers and suggestions on ESL stuff if I get selected for JET.
Anyway....hope you all are doing well. I MISS YOU GUYS!!!!!!
My parents are going to Las Vegas and somewhere for my dad's 60th birthday. Man hes old. We had a early birthday party with some of my dads cousins this past weekend too.
We had a big dinner at this Chinese dinner at this fancy restaurant. Even had Shark Fin soup (so in Hawaii we passed a new law that you can't eat Shark Fin....but if the restaurant has stock they can use it....).
Anyway....I started this entry and then my mouse broke......so I'm continuing this entry. It is now Thursday, March 3rd. Drinking some wine alone in my room.....off the next 2 days anyway. Drinking wine kind of reminds me of Franzia, which reminds me of Violins vs Violas....miss those days. But I have to say wine taste much better when I'm not chugging it.
Brother is going to Hilo(Big Island) for the next few days to play with the orchestra there. Isn't it sad that they have to fly people in from the other islands to play in the UH Hilo campus orchestra for their concert. Pretty much have the house to myself (my Aunt lives downstairs, we live upstairs; shes gonna be around though). I should so have a party....oh man.
So....my interview went okay....There were 2 people from UH (University of Hawaii's East West Center, that's where Anna Kung was working when she was in HI last year during WT) 1 Japanese guy, and 1 former JET participant, she was a younger looking girl, well when I say young I mean in her 20s. I thought I had some good answers, and some generic not memorable answers....so we'll see. There was the one guy that kind of asked hard q's and tries to intimidate the interviewee...but he wasn't that scary. The LA interview was way more scary and intimidating. At one point I was talking about how I wanted to share the concept of the American Prom.....I have no idea where that came from, but when I was telling them about that their eyes kind of popped out and had an ahhh like that was something new and never heard before.I find out early April. If i get short listed that means I'm selected for the program, but if I get an alternate then I could be updated to the short list if people drop out.
Anyway, what else....my brother has this girlfriend. Her name is Monica. Shes a year older than me, but shes still in college. Nursing....? Maybe another year and a half..... It is almost impossible to graduate in 4 years at UH. Good thing I didn't go there. Anyway...thats crazy that anyone would date my brother. Hes so weird.
So Borders.....filed for Bankruptcy 11 like 2 weeks ago....maybe....and a ton of stores are closing due to that. I looked at the list and some in Indy, Broadripple....a ton in Indiana are closing. I remember going to one in Indy, it was a huge Borders. 2 stores in Hawaii are closing, ones on Kauai and the Big Island. Now the outer islands (islands other than Oahu; I live on Oahu; most populated island; population is about 1 million) have no Borders and pretty much no book stores at all..that's pretty sad. It makes sense not to close the ones in Hawaii since shipping costs a ton and people do buy stuff from the stores vs online. You know how there is free shipping and such....but it excludes Hawaii and Alaska.
Anyway....my GM is fucking dumb bitch dumb fuck. She like didn't fill out the paperwork to keep some of the seasonal temporary people we have and so we had to let them go last week. So we lost a ton of people and 3 others quit. One had a full time position and was in charge of paperchase (the notebooks, cards, stationary stuff). Her reasoning was that the GM made her feel so anxious and she was getting anxiety and such. I totally understand since I felt the same way when I first started and almost quite like a month after I got hired. She was working there for almost a year too. We let her handle all of paperchase since that was a section of its own, and now nobody knows what to do with her stuff. HOTT mess. And 2 other guys quit, 1 lived kind of far away and working closer to his house is more convenient since he can't drive. And the other guy was a military dependent, so I guess his family and stuff is shipping out.
So I think we have about 17people on staff....kinda sad. And there is a hiring freeze because of all this bankruptcy stuff. But we had 2 interviewees today for somereason. And the GM didn't tell anyway. OHHHH and one of the other managers is quitting. Shes one of the managers that did my interview and hired me. I'm kinda sad that shes leaving. This is the 2nd manager that is quitting since I started working. Its because of the GM. She is a real BITCHZILLA! Anyway......I don't think I'll be quitting anytime soon until I can find another job. Kinda feels like I'm going down with this sinking ship....
Oh yeah, so I think I'm playing in this gig with my brother next Friday. Oh man. I haven't played a gig in like 4 years. And I really hate playing with my brother.....and I haven't change my strings in like a year.....this should be interesting.
Tiffypoo, that haircut looks good. OMG I'm proud that you are still running. We just had the Great Aloha Run (an 8 mile run) this past weekend. We also have the Honolulu Marathon, but that's crazy.
Kellypoo, your puppy loookssss sooooo cute! You know what..I was actually going through old DPU stuff that I kept, and I found a birthday card you wrote be when we were freshman. It said you hoped we would get to play chamber music together someday. To bad we never made that happen. You weren't there I think, but I told the DG's to play chamber music with each other. It is a good bond to share.
Rachypoo, I'm glad your arm is doing better! Take all the baby steps that you need so that you can get it fully healed. Your trio pics look sooooooooo COOOOOOLLLLL!!!! And it is quality photos. Congrats on your promotion! :)
Amanda, I bet that being locked in your apartment was a really bad experience, but I sounded like a really good and funny story. Sorry if thats a little insensitive of me. its like fml statements that you know it sucks but its funny when you look back on it.
Sounds like you are getting a ton of teaching experience. I might ask you some tips/pointers and suggestions on ESL stuff if I get selected for JET.
Anyway....hope you all are doing well. I MISS YOU GUYS!!!!!!
Monday, February 28, 2011
fudgey does not like this
she is really mad at me right now for not petting her.
you guys should apologize to her
So I'm glad to see most people are doing well. Although that getting locked in your apartment story SUCKED amanda. sucked. i think i would have cried. Don't you just hate it when that shit happens? you're locked in and your phone doesn't work and then someone doesn't pick up their phone.... le sigh. That was like my Saturday at work, which began with me being the ONLY one there. No manager, no other opener (the stupid new kid was late. predictable), no one at quiznos. It was super sucky.
Speaking of super sucky - I have gotten medical bills for my WORKER'S COMP injury. I am not paying them. I called my rep at Gallagher and Basset freaking all week last week. I just called her again. no answer. I called and got the operator (after pressing about 7 thousand buttons) and he did not help at all and transferred me to the supervisor who also WASN'T there and I left her a message. I am going to get this worked out, I know, but right now I am pissed about my $426 emergency room bill. Medical bills can fuck with your credit score. I am working really hard on repaying my loans so that I will have a good credit score. It is just pissing me off. I'm gonna email Jerry, the lawyer I have already emailed about this. I will get it worked out.
Like my trio on fb! Trying to get some publicity. Classical Nuovo. We have some crazy looking (professional) photos on there too. And btw, those recordings you can play are SO not us.
I went to the gym yesterday! Who is proud?! I AM. I kinda used my arm as an excuse not to gym it for a while. Luckily I have to walk constantly at work so I am not gaining weight. But I am hella sore today. It's hard to stand on your feet/walk at work and then work out after. It was easier when I worked at meijer, I could work out before. Anyway whatever. Back to the gym for me!
My manager said today he's gonna go ahead and push through my promotion!!!! FINALLY. I'm not gonna celebrate it until I get the raise though. The thing is that our starbucks manager for the region, Pam (we are a franchise so we have a starbucks manager and an hms host manager) has quit (in like november) and we STILL don't know who the newbie is. So just waiting on jonathon (baby manager i work with every day) to push it through to tony (jonathon's hms host boss). My pushiness will help.
Glad to hear everyone's relationships are going well! Patricey and I need to catch up! Gonna be hard for me because i have absolutely no social life, lol.
OH you guys might understand this. Newbie at work, who is super cute and kinda niave and in LOVE with jesus, is kinda dating (but not really. she can't date him until she knows god approves. LITERALLY) chandler. She took chandler to work sunday. He was nervous and I asked her about it today. her "I asked him about his beliefs. He said he definitely believes in God, but he also believes we came from apes!!!!! I mean really?! That is so much harder to believe I think!" Evie (a massive fan of jesus herself) "Well that is more complicated than just that we came from apes, and it is possible to believe both... The important thing is that he believes in salvation and is on a path to get to heaven"
that right there? pretty normal day at work for me. And those are the people i like!
for the record, everyone, i do believe in evolution. Just in case that might affect your friendship with me (what newbie was worried about)
my dad's play is getting produced in la this week! And last week actually. But he and my mom are going to see it this week! YAY!
k that's all I got. Miss you guys!
you guys should apologize to her
So I'm glad to see most people are doing well. Although that getting locked in your apartment story SUCKED amanda. sucked. i think i would have cried. Don't you just hate it when that shit happens? you're locked in and your phone doesn't work and then someone doesn't pick up their phone.... le sigh. That was like my Saturday at work, which began with me being the ONLY one there. No manager, no other opener (the stupid new kid was late. predictable), no one at quiznos. It was super sucky.
Speaking of super sucky - I have gotten medical bills for my WORKER'S COMP injury. I am not paying them. I called my rep at Gallagher and Basset freaking all week last week. I just called her again. no answer. I called and got the operator (after pressing about 7 thousand buttons) and he did not help at all and transferred me to the supervisor who also WASN'T there and I left her a message. I am going to get this worked out, I know, but right now I am pissed about my $426 emergency room bill. Medical bills can fuck with your credit score. I am working really hard on repaying my loans so that I will have a good credit score. It is just pissing me off. I'm gonna email Jerry, the lawyer I have already emailed about this. I will get it worked out.
Like my trio on fb! Trying to get some publicity. Classical Nuovo. We have some crazy looking (professional) photos on there too. And btw, those recordings you can play are SO not us.
I went to the gym yesterday! Who is proud?! I AM. I kinda used my arm as an excuse not to gym it for a while. Luckily I have to walk constantly at work so I am not gaining weight. But I am hella sore today. It's hard to stand on your feet/walk at work and then work out after. It was easier when I worked at meijer, I could work out before. Anyway whatever. Back to the gym for me!
My manager said today he's gonna go ahead and push through my promotion!!!! FINALLY. I'm not gonna celebrate it until I get the raise though. The thing is that our starbucks manager for the region, Pam (we are a franchise so we have a starbucks manager and an hms host manager) has quit (in like november) and we STILL don't know who the newbie is. So just waiting on jonathon (baby manager i work with every day) to push it through to tony (jonathon's hms host boss). My pushiness will help.
Glad to hear everyone's relationships are going well! Patricey and I need to catch up! Gonna be hard for me because i have absolutely no social life, lol.
OH you guys might understand this. Newbie at work, who is super cute and kinda niave and in LOVE with jesus, is kinda dating (but not really. she can't date him until she knows god approves. LITERALLY) chandler. She took chandler to work sunday. He was nervous and I asked her about it today. her "I asked him about his beliefs. He said he definitely believes in God, but he also believes we came from apes!!!!! I mean really?! That is so much harder to believe I think!" Evie (a massive fan of jesus herself) "Well that is more complicated than just that we came from apes, and it is possible to believe both... The important thing is that he believes in salvation and is on a path to get to heaven"
that right there? pretty normal day at work for me. And those are the people i like!
for the record, everyone, i do believe in evolution. Just in case that might affect your friendship with me (what newbie was worried about)
my dad's play is getting produced in la this week! And last week actually. But he and my mom are going to see it this week! YAY!
k that's all I got. Miss you guys!
Sunday, February 27, 2011
Key fail
So it's 8:05 am as I'm starting this post. My first class of the day is supposed to start at 8:15. It's one of the classes in which I teach judges and prosecutors--pretty cool, actually. I wake up at 6:45, get ready, etc. etc.....I go to the door to leave at 7:45 so I have enough time to walk to my class and get there on time, only to find that there are no keys in the lock. You see, the doors here are such that the only way you can LOCK the door to prevent thieves and kidnappers from coming in is to lock it with a key. At night, my flatmate and I put one of our sets of keys in the door in case there's an emergency and we have to escape....otherwise we'd have to sit around while we found our keys, found the right one for the lock, etc.
You can imagine my surprise when my keys, which I put in the lock yesterday, are not there. I check the chair near the door. No keys. I had just cleaned the hallway on Saturday...could they be lying around somewhere unusual? Nope. No fucking keys anywhere.
Now, my flatmate is notorious for being, shall we say, absent-minded. He's already lost the keys a classroom once or twice. I can see the situation now: he gets up this morning and goes to work about 30 minutes before I get up. My keys are in the door....he grabs them, puts them IN HIS POCKET, and leaves....with his keys as well...then afterwards locking me IN my apartment and preventing me from leaving for class.
Nothing malicious on his part at all; total pre-7-am absentmindedness. All the same, FML.
To add insult to injury, Polish phones have this whole pay-as-you-go or pay monthly thing going on. My brilliant network decides to block your phone after a certain amount of time if you add minimal amounts at a time. For instance, I add only 10 zloty at a time because I rarely use my phone. As a result, after a week or two, my phone is blocked from making and sending calls and text messages (can only receive) until I add more money. I've been putting off adding more money because I figured, hey if I really need to make a call, I can always just add money when I'm out. Never thought that I'd be trapped IN my apartment and unable to call for help. Again, FML.
To make matters even worse, I came up with the brilliant idea of calling on Skype. I have a couple dollars Skype credit left, so I'll just look at the teacher's register for the numbers of the teacher who co-teaches this court class with me....she'll be there and can tell my class. I call the first number listed...."invalid". I call the second number...it's her fucking MOM. Her MOM. Who doesn't speak English. Somehow I manage to get the teacher's number, in Polish (and numbers are like THE hardest thing in Polish....arrrrgh!!) and call, but there IS NO ANSWER.
Luckily, one other teacher has a class there this morning, so I called her and go through.
But I feel like a total idiot. I'm locked IN my apartment. Seriously, how does that even happen?! I just hope my students don't hate me, or don't think I flaked out on them or something. Ugh. So embarrassing.
***
In other news, things are going relatively well haha. I'm working a lot, but I'm starting to get into the swing of things. Last week was my busiest week yet because last Saturday I had to proctor a mock Cambridge English exam, which took over 4 hours to proctor (not including grading time....multiple choice for 3 sections and in total 10 essays.) Wednesday I had to do the speaking part of the same exam, which took over 4 hours. That was in addition to my normal classes. Plus in two of my classes I had to give other standardized English mock exams and grade them. Plus normal book tests for my ordinary classes. Busy busy busy :)
But in spite of that, I managed to have more free time than usual. I think this proves my long-standing theory that I work much better under pressure and when I have less time. I'm hoping to do more with my Polish. I have only one 45-minute lesson a week, but I'm going to try to see if I can find a conversation partner I can buy coffee and a drożdżówka (pastry) for in exchange for an hour of haltingly painful Polish with me :) I'm also starting to study for the GRE. No definite plans yet, but I figure it'd be good to take the GRE in case I want to go to grad school down the road.
I had a two-week holiday (look at me, I'm starting to talk like a Brit. Yikes) at the beginning of February. I took a bus (14 hours) from Krakow to Hamburg to see my boyfriend. Over one weekend, I hitched a ride with someone--paid 25 euros instead of 80 euros for the train--to Cologne so I could see Amy Jantz. Spent the weekend with her, which was amazing, and hitched another ride back, again paying 24 euros instead of 80. My trip back to Tarnow was painful--about 16-17 hours on the bus--but I made it :) Jeff is coming to Tarnow on March 16, so I'm really excited about that. Also, Amy Jantz is hoping to come either in March or in April, so I'll get to have some visitors to my humble abode!!
Admittedly, I'm reallllly missing playing in chamber groups, especially. I've been practicing more, but I miss my string quartet and things like that. Kelly, sorry you have to deal with such crappy violinists....not too uncommon, unfortunately :( Oh, on the subject of music (and radio...) Tiffy, I couldn't get that file to work you posted :(
Well, nothing else exciting is going on in my life right now. I like my classes, and I'm learning how to be much more effective with my planning, which is making me generally less stressed out. At times I feel really discouraged about my language ability (especially since I'm losing Russian at the moment) but I know that I am getting better, cause I managed to get that phone number this morning. Siedem dziewięć pięć dziewięć dziewięć sześć sześć.....yeah have that thrown at you at the speed people normally say phone numbers. SCARY!
Anyways, sorry for the incredibly long post. I had to start off with venting about my ridiculous situation first haha. Hope everyone's well!
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Puppy! (Warning: huge blog)
Well, I figure I haven't blogged in forever so I probably should. At any rate, THAT'S MY PUPPY! Her name is Clara (after Clara Schumann, one of the best and far most unappreciated female composers ever). She is so cute and I love her. I have had her for 3 weeks now and she is making lots of progress, though as I write this, she is staring at me while chewing on crap she isn't supposed to chew on (ie her crate). But she's not going to hurt anything by chewing on that.
I got her from this place called SAAP, Stray Animal Adoption Program in Newport, KY right across the river. Her mom was a shelter beagle and she was fostered with her bros and sisters. She got really lucky because every pup in her litter got parvovirus (kills puppies, basically) except for her and she's perfectly healthy! Though I am taking her to the vet tomorrow because I think she has an infection around where she got spayed. Oh well. Potty training her has been the hardest part, but she now knows to go to the door when she has to go, which is a huge improvement from having like 4 or 5 accidents in the house every day. Now she has 0-1 or 2 accidents every day, which is much less stress for her mommy. She is half beagle half dachsund (wiener dog). Beagles are super smart but dachsunds are dumbasses so I think she is just average. But I'd like to think she's pretty smart for being practically housebroken in 3 weeks :)
I love her...it's made my time in Cincy a lot less lonely since I don't have much of a social life. This quarter has been NUTS. I played for the opera (Marriage of Figaro) which was stressful because even at CCM, the violins suck. I mean, the singers were better than the violinists. How messed up is that? But actually the singers at CCM are freaking amazing because it's a great opera school. Well the violinists are actually really good but they don't practice their damn music. It made me miss you, Amanda! We actually have a concert this Friday night (playing Firebird and Sensemaya, remember that orchestra kids???!!) and our director threatened to have (GASP) graded excerpt tests for JUST the violins! Which is cray cray because we NEVER do graded excerpt tests here. Weird.
Patrick isn't going to DePauw anymore. Without getting into too many details, he's basically just taking a break and is hoping to transfer into IUPUI to get a music technology degree in the next couple of years. He is actually far happier to be away from DPU and I'm happy for him as well. Just a warning...he and I will hopefully be engaged within the next 2-4 months.!!!!!!!!!! Crazy.
School is going pretty well, though like I said, this quarter is nuts. I finally nailed down a recital program for the fall: Brahms Eb Sonata, Hindemith Op. 11 No. 4 Sonata, and Stravinsky Elegie. We have to give 2 recitals as MM students and most of us violists do 2 in our second year, one in the fall and one in the spring. That's basically because our teachers spend the whole first year changing our entire technique and way of playing (which is totally happening, though it's for the best). Now my dog is biting my feet. OUCH. And now back to biting the crate.
Rachel and I were talking the other day about how much we miss people from DePauw and the SOM. I told her that all I asked was to be able to play drinking games vs. the violins, but considering there are 39 violists in my studio here and like 3 times that in the violin studio, we'd be a little outnumbered. We'd probably win anyway, though. I'm pretty good friends with like 5 violists in my studio, but that's about it. I don't even know everyone's name still, how messed up is that?
Anyway, I think that's all I can think of. But I miss you all and hopefully it won't take me this long to update again!!!!! Peace.
Sunday, February 20, 2011
Springtime! (it's almost here...)
HEY GUYS!
Rach: how's the arm? s'bucks? the new car?
Patrice: update on borders? (heard about it on the news last week) so excited for the JET intv...i'll be sending positive thoughts your way on Wed.
Kelly: How's school? you got a puppy?!?!
Amanda: How's it over there in your neck of the woods?
All the other followers: what's up?
So it's almost springtime! SO CLOSE! tired of cold, dreary weather. yayyyyyy
I think this is update #2 for me. I officially have Sunday's off now! For the month of January I only had one day off because Whole Foods was messing up my sched, but now thats all fixed. So Sunday is the best day to get a hold of me!
WNYC is good. I worked on my first "idea" segment (on how artists build setlists for shows). It's a segment that I pitched and saw through from the beginning to end. Very fun stuff...a little stressful though doing interviews and finding guests. You can listen to it here:
WNYC: Soundcheck. The Art of the Setlist
I'm trying to do a few more idea segs before my internship ends. I've pitched a few already that didn't really ring for the producers, but I just came up with two today: Breakup albums (records or songs that people made after/during a break up) and *ahem* Drinking songs/bands (a seasonal seg for St. Patty's I think). Not sure what the outcome of this internship will be...perhaps I'll get an offer, but I don't want to get my hopes up. I'm kind of in this weird spot right now in which i'm not sure if I should go back to school...are my radio chops at their best? I think I'm going to speak with the senior producer of the show to get his advice.
Other updates:
I joined the New York Road Runners and ran in my first race a few weeks ago in Central Park. I did pretty well considering I slipped on a patch of ice right before the race and banged up my left knee. It's all better now (no where near Rach's encounter with ice) and I think I'll be running in another race next month, a 15k.
Ryan and I are thinking about moving in together in the summer. I think we want to stay in Jersey City, but move closer to "downtown" where it's more "hip" and not as ghetto. It's cheap here and not as pretentious as Brooklyn. My place is not bad. I have heat now and the downstairs bathroom is all set up, but I'm kind of over living with my landlord and following her weird rules. I shouldn't complain though because it's so cheap and it is her home. so yeah.
I cut this guy's hair:
(also this is ryan)
this is what's happening right now: listening to arcade fire and drinking banana beer
thoughts on this?:
Monday, February 14, 2011
singles awareness day???!!!!!
So.....I kind of don't like valentines day even though during valentines day there are a ton of pink things.
I haven't updated in a while, but i finally have stuff to update on.
I got a JET interview. YAY!!!! It's on the 23rd. I'm super happy/excited/relieved about it but also worried and nervous for the interview.
I recently bought a Sony Pocket Reader. Its pretty neat. I like it so far, except for the shade of pink it is not. More of a fuchsia/magenta. I've been reading a lot. There are tons of free ebooks and my library ebooks to borrow. But I have been buying more and more stuff from my store.
Oh and so I hear that Borders is going to file for bankruptcy sometime this week. But we are told to tell the customers we haven't heard anything and are still operating as normal until then. I read somewhere that they may have to close 1/3 of their stores, meaning 20,000 jobs will be lost. Kind of makes me sad. I really did like Borders more than Barnes and Nobles.
So I officially have to start paying back my loan on April 1st. Doesn't that sound like a joke. Hahaha...to bad it's not. I will be poor come April.
Oh yeah, I've been practicing driving too. The other day it was raining while I was driving. I did not like that.....It was way too distracting. My goal is to get my license before my permit expires in August.
Hope everyone is doing well.
Saturday, February 5, 2011
grrrr
um i am pissed, not that yall will respond.
my kids played at solo and ensemble. they were nervous. they played GREAT
they both got twos or silvers, whichever you want to call it
the judge was fucking evil. gave out 4 golds or ones all day
apparently my shit luck is rubbing off on everyone around me
they were so sad. but they played so well!!!
and i am mad
my kids played at solo and ensemble. they were nervous. they played GREAT
they both got twos or silvers, whichever you want to call it
the judge was fucking evil. gave out 4 golds or ones all day
apparently my shit luck is rubbing off on everyone around me
they were so sad. but they played so well!!!
and i am mad
Saturday, January 22, 2011
Sunday, January 9, 2011
nice update
Okay so I'm going to try to do a "good things in my life" update for everyone
FIRST - since I know Patrice, Amanda, Cait (phone), and Kelly (email) (others have more important things to think/care about) are concerned for my health let me begin by saying that I am officially FINE! YAY NO AIDS OR CANCER! Apparently cancer goes the opposite way anyway. If they say your white count is crazy high, worry about cancer. That's what my uncle told me after this whole scare was over (he's a nurse). The nurse lady told me that if they called it meant something was wrong - so hope for no call. I gave them my home number so I was like spazzing in waiting. Apparently spazzing either isn't a word or isn't spelled correctly. Hmm. Anyway I get home from work on a MOnday and the doc himself left a message circa 830 z(right when they open) to TERRIFY me apparently and then, after a minute of babbling, tells me I'm fine. HIP HIP HOOOOOOORAY!
But I'm not quite fine. Because my dumb ass cut my hand with scissors Friday. Or thursday... no i think friday. Anyway I was using my mom's SUPER GOOD scissors that I'm not really allowed to use (now i know why) to cut up my old health insurance cards so no one stole my identity and straight ahead into my hand, like the fleshy part of my left hand under my first finger. It hurt like a MOTHERFUCKER and kept reopening and bleeding all day that made for some kind of funny situations (walking into a middle school and asking for a bathroom cuz my hands were covered in blood...) and makes it hard to do normal things... but it'll heal. My nurse uncle (yes I ask him for everything) says that it's a judgement call, but unless it starts bleeding again I probs don't need stitches.
Okay but that wasn't very happy. Why is okay a real word?
Happy news - Amanda feels totes happy and comfy in her life now! YAY AMANDA! Me = jealous but SUPER happy for you. Sidenote - did I tell you Jamie (curtner) is gonna be in the EU (can't remember where) soon? I KNOW I've said this to you before, but I can NEVER remember if you guys are friends or if i just think you should be, but if you are then you should hang. She, incidentally, is gonna be teaching too. ANyway YAY amanda!
Patrice, why are you hanging out with NIck so much? Move on. Do you want to get back together or just have osmeone to hang with? If it's just someone to hang with then I approve. Otherwise, I do not.
That blows that your hours are getting cut. I'd be pissed, but then I'm full time. So it would mean no health insurance. Speaking of, still now sure if I have it. I got sent cards (yay) but they didn't take it out of my check (boo) and I didn't call about that letter for fear that I wouldn't have health insurance (i know i know). Hopefully the mystery will be solved soon.
Oh hey music stuff. Yay practicing without feeling shitty! (my blog posts are long...) I don't practice. Sorry. Right now I think it'd hurt my hand, and probs make me cry. Can't deal with that just yet. Once seeing my fucking recital cds made me bawl, just seeing them. But anyways HAPPY THINGS. I just play shitty versions of "la bamba" and random seitz with my students. Speaking of, I have six now and just recently got a call about some more. YAY MONEY. But teaching is always like "oh man i have to teach today" but it's never as annoying as i think it will be. I still dunno if my students like me....
My promotion is finally making progress - yay! I have been trained in doing the order and inventory, I still hafta be trained in taking the order in (notoriously easy) and doing the schedule (i'm not gonna be doing that anyway...) but i get my new fancy badge that can take me downstairs and through the gate and everything TOMORROW and soon i will get KEYS. Yep. I'm a bad ass. Everyone at work (not everyone) is still lazy as fuck but I'm starting to be zen about it and have no expectations for anyone but myself. But that sentence bugs me. Oh well.
I got to see friends this week! MULTIPLE FRIENDS! Me and Nate, my work friend (who quit but it's still a good distinction) met me for a movie. First louisville friend since like october probs. Then I drove to newport and saw Katie (bestie from home) and spent the night with her and had breakfast with the one and only kelly houpt in the morning. Pretty fucking fantastic. Seriously. I don't care if I have to visit everyone (i say that now) cuz i like seeing them. Made me super happy.
AND I finally got a classy mp3 player. No, not an ipod. I am not suckered into that apple shit. It's a 16 gig like memorex or some shit, and so far i like it and can play music that's not the radio in my car. So YAY.
Two more yay things then I'm out. 1. My paycheck was bigger than expected, like $100 bigger. 2. I got my car titled and register and it was about $150 less than expected. YAY AGAIN.
Anyways I love you guys and i miss you tons. I hope everyone stays well
FIRST - since I know Patrice, Amanda, Cait (phone), and Kelly (email) (others have more important things to think/care about) are concerned for my health let me begin by saying that I am officially FINE! YAY NO AIDS OR CANCER! Apparently cancer goes the opposite way anyway. If they say your white count is crazy high, worry about cancer. That's what my uncle told me after this whole scare was over (he's a nurse). The nurse lady told me that if they called it meant something was wrong - so hope for no call. I gave them my home number so I was like spazzing in waiting. Apparently spazzing either isn't a word or isn't spelled correctly. Hmm. Anyway I get home from work on a MOnday and the doc himself left a message circa 830 z(right when they open) to TERRIFY me apparently and then, after a minute of babbling, tells me I'm fine. HIP HIP HOOOOOOORAY!
But I'm not quite fine. Because my dumb ass cut my hand with scissors Friday. Or thursday... no i think friday. Anyway I was using my mom's SUPER GOOD scissors that I'm not really allowed to use (now i know why) to cut up my old health insurance cards so no one stole my identity and straight ahead into my hand, like the fleshy part of my left hand under my first finger. It hurt like a MOTHERFUCKER and kept reopening and bleeding all day that made for some kind of funny situations (walking into a middle school and asking for a bathroom cuz my hands were covered in blood...) and makes it hard to do normal things... but it'll heal. My nurse uncle (yes I ask him for everything) says that it's a judgement call, but unless it starts bleeding again I probs don't need stitches.
Okay but that wasn't very happy. Why is okay a real word?
Happy news - Amanda feels totes happy and comfy in her life now! YAY AMANDA! Me = jealous but SUPER happy for you. Sidenote - did I tell you Jamie (curtner) is gonna be in the EU (can't remember where) soon? I KNOW I've said this to you before, but I can NEVER remember if you guys are friends or if i just think you should be, but if you are then you should hang. She, incidentally, is gonna be teaching too. ANyway YAY amanda!
Patrice, why are you hanging out with NIck so much? Move on. Do you want to get back together or just have osmeone to hang with? If it's just someone to hang with then I approve. Otherwise, I do not.
That blows that your hours are getting cut. I'd be pissed, but then I'm full time. So it would mean no health insurance. Speaking of, still now sure if I have it. I got sent cards (yay) but they didn't take it out of my check (boo) and I didn't call about that letter for fear that I wouldn't have health insurance (i know i know). Hopefully the mystery will be solved soon.
Oh hey music stuff. Yay practicing without feeling shitty! (my blog posts are long...) I don't practice. Sorry. Right now I think it'd hurt my hand, and probs make me cry. Can't deal with that just yet. Once seeing my fucking recital cds made me bawl, just seeing them. But anyways HAPPY THINGS. I just play shitty versions of "la bamba" and random seitz with my students. Speaking of, I have six now and just recently got a call about some more. YAY MONEY. But teaching is always like "oh man i have to teach today" but it's never as annoying as i think it will be. I still dunno if my students like me....
My promotion is finally making progress - yay! I have been trained in doing the order and inventory, I still hafta be trained in taking the order in (notoriously easy) and doing the schedule (i'm not gonna be doing that anyway...) but i get my new fancy badge that can take me downstairs and through the gate and everything TOMORROW and soon i will get KEYS. Yep. I'm a bad ass. Everyone at work (not everyone) is still lazy as fuck but I'm starting to be zen about it and have no expectations for anyone but myself. But that sentence bugs me. Oh well.
I got to see friends this week! MULTIPLE FRIENDS! Me and Nate, my work friend (who quit but it's still a good distinction) met me for a movie. First louisville friend since like october probs. Then I drove to newport and saw Katie (bestie from home) and spent the night with her and had breakfast with the one and only kelly houpt in the morning. Pretty fucking fantastic. Seriously. I don't care if I have to visit everyone (i say that now) cuz i like seeing them. Made me super happy.
AND I finally got a classy mp3 player. No, not an ipod. I am not suckered into that apple shit. It's a 16 gig like memorex or some shit, and so far i like it and can play music that's not the radio in my car. So YAY.
Two more yay things then I'm out. 1. My paycheck was bigger than expected, like $100 bigger. 2. I got my car titled and register and it was about $150 less than expected. YAY AGAIN.
Anyways I love you guys and i miss you tons. I hope everyone stays well
Saturday, January 8, 2011
First post
Hi everyone. I figured it was about time for my first post! Yesterday I finished my first week of my first real job. I moved to Tarnow (which is in eastern Poland, about an hour and a half train ride from Krakow) last Friday, and so far I'm really pleased with my situation. I work full time at an English language school called Brytania. I've got a really strange schedule...I teach some mornings (EARLY, as in 7 am) at a company elsewhere in the city, and then I teach at the school in afternoons, typically from 3:30 to 8:30 pm. The whole staying alert and interesting for 90 minutes at a time, especially from the 7-8:30 chunk is sometimes really hard, but hey, at least I'm staying busy.
Overall, things are going well for me at the moment (really the first time I've felt good about my situation since graduation.) I even practiced violin today for an hour, and loved every minute of it. I hadn't really played since whatever my last concert at DPU was. I just so desperately needed a break before I totally burned out. But I'm starting to get back into it again, and instead of feeling blah like I used to after practicing, I felt really good and accomplished today.
So, that's my life post graduation in a nutshell, up to this point. More to come later. Thanks for letting me join the blog :)
~Amanda
2011 post
So....no one has written a post in the 2011 so I'll be the first one.
all my friends that came home for the holidays are peace-ing out. hung out with jeremy wong once. heard some stuff about dpu, but nothing that juicy. hung out with nick a few times....but its so frustrating because hes so shy and doesn't do anything! any tips to make shy guys grow some balls???? saw the black swan the otherday. it wasn't as good as i was expecting it to be.
work is steady. starting to get less hours again....so this guy i work with, his name is noah, hes 21, been working for borders for 3 years and just became a full time manager. he'll be a good manager, but it got me thinking about what my higher goal in life should be. not that i don't want to be working at borders forever, but i don't know what else i want to do either. ahhh
i should be hearing back from JET in the next week or so if i'll get an interview.
been practicing a lot lately, well not a lot...but more than i was before. i keep telling myself that i'm going to do a recital with jeremy when he comes home for the summer.
my horoscope says that 2011 is supposed to be a good year for work, love and money. something about 6 planets lining up in my sign in may, and this is super rare. we shall see.
hope you all are doing well.
all my friends that came home for the holidays are peace-ing out. hung out with jeremy wong once. heard some stuff about dpu, but nothing that juicy. hung out with nick a few times....but its so frustrating because hes so shy and doesn't do anything! any tips to make shy guys grow some balls???? saw the black swan the otherday. it wasn't as good as i was expecting it to be.
work is steady. starting to get less hours again....so this guy i work with, his name is noah, hes 21, been working for borders for 3 years and just became a full time manager. he'll be a good manager, but it got me thinking about what my higher goal in life should be. not that i don't want to be working at borders forever, but i don't know what else i want to do either. ahhh
i should be hearing back from JET in the next week or so if i'll get an interview.
been practicing a lot lately, well not a lot...but more than i was before. i keep telling myself that i'm going to do a recital with jeremy when he comes home for the summer.
my horoscope says that 2011 is supposed to be a good year for work, love and money. something about 6 planets lining up in my sign in may, and this is super rare. we shall see.
hope you all are doing well.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)