Adventures With Neti Pots

Oops, where did November go. Uh, so, Thanksgiving happened, more Huntington drama happened, I got hired at the LEGO Store in the mall, they're filming on the street I babysit on and I might see Kevin Bacon one of these days! That's a summary of everything I didn't blog about (not in chronological order).

Now I have a cold (again) and I'm trying out a Neti Pot for the first time to try and alleviate this horrid congestion. Here's to hoping I don't accidentally drown myself?

The Best Cat Video I Have Ever Seen

P.S.

A video of my mother and I's shenanigans following the storm:

In Which Sandy Tries To Cancel Halloween

(Not my picture.)

Halloween was technically this past Wednesday, but as the northeast was still scrambling to right itself again after Sandy whomped it out of place, people were advised to go trick-or-treating today instead of Wednesday. Since, you know, there were still live wires, fallen trees, and flooding all around. 

I went out trick-or-treating regardless on Wednesday (take that, authority!) with my younger cousins. I wish I had taken pictures because they were all so cute. They originally had power through the storm, but then some guy drove beyond a police barrier on one road and ended up electrocuting himself and his car, knocking out the power in one big part of Thiells. So on Wednesday, their whole block was out of power. We started out around 5:30, going to houses that looked like they had faint candlelight shining through the windows. We probably only hit up around 10 houses before we decided to call it quits because it was getting too dark out.

I'll take the time here to talk about Sandy and her aftermath. The worst I personally experienced wasn't even all that bad. My house lost power Monday night around 8pm and got it back the next day around 3pm. So only a night without power - considering what some other parts of the northeast went through, it was a cake walk. 

I briefly ventured out into the howling winds on Monday night mostly because I really like intense storms. I was kind of expecting to get drenched with rain and shaken by thunder. There was none of that, though; it was really just really high winds whipping everything around. The sky hung low with dark clouds and some parts of the sky throbbed with reflected light in a really cool way. I went up my street to see why light was shining from it; it was just a utility truck blocking the end of Hudson Ave. Bright flashes lit up the sky every now and again. At first I thought it was lightning, but then I realized it was transformers that were exploding. 

I heard a sawing sound and looked to one of the houses to my right: a big tree branch had fallen on a house but was still attached to the tree. Someone was leaning out of a window, sawing the branch off. The town's two-toned fire signal was sounding, but after a few minutes it became warped and low-toned in an eery way. Finally it just settled on one low, warped note that sang for two minutes before it was cut off. I went inside before the wind could throw a tree at me.

Inside, my parents and I passed the time by swapping ghost stories by candlelight for a bit. My mom went to bed (too many watermelon vodka drinks had made her sleepy) (read: I put her to bed) and my dad and I settled in downstairs to watch a movie on his laptop while it still had power. The laptop didn't last the whole movie, but by the time it died I was feeling tired so I went to bed. 

The next morning dawned gray and rainy. We didn't have any trees down or major property damage, luckily. I took a short walk around some of the neighborhood to see if there was any major damage. The most I saw was some big trees that had fallen and power lines down.

All the big trees in St. Mary's churchyard were uprooted.

 

 They had fallen on some cars :/

I found out why the utility truck had been blocking Hudson Avenue on Monday night:

 Wires were hanging everywhere; some laying on the road.

The county's been slowly getting itself back together. It's been almost a week since the storm and not everyone has power back yet. Some communities that were close to the Hudson River have been destroyed (example: Ba Mar Basin and all the homes along Stony Point's Sea Wall).

A whole new problem brought about by the storm is the gas shortage. Suddenly everyone and their mom needs to gas up their car. Pumps in New Jersey aren't open, leading Jersey drivers across the border into New York; gas stations can't get new gas from their suppliers because the suppliers were damaged by the storm and lack of electricity; people are afraid of running out of gas so they're hoarding it. It's turned the county into a dangerous place to drive. If you want to get gas you have to wait for at least half an hour in a line that backs up traffic. People are so focused on finding/getting gas that they are driving selfishly and erratically. Add this to the fact that some traffic lights still aren't working and you have a recipe for disaster; multiple car accidents have already been reported. The limited pumps are making people frustrated and angry, leading to fights at the gas stations. Police are spread thin trying to regulate all the traffic and pump stations. In short: it's crazy out there, don't drive if you don't have to.


All the running around in inclement weather has finally caught up to me and I have a small cold. AKA mucus and sneezes - mucus and sneezes err'where.

Happy Halloween from a sick raptor~

A Brief Discourse On The Unique Applications Of Blog Titles

Some of the Tumblr blogs that follow me are titled very interestingly.

 

Re-Stringing The Uke

 I can't believe it took me this long to realize 

there are adorable little dolphins on the back.

 Prep.

 Reminding myself which strings go where 

because I'm scatterbrained and I knew I'd forget.

 New Aquila strings, ready to go :)

 Apparently my pretty little 

instrument is breaking :'(

And then the power went out.

I finished it this afternoon when it was light enough to see.

Hurricane Sandy Cheeks Chased Me From Geneseo

It's kind of hard to be afraid of hurricane named Sandy. 

But all joking aside, there's a hurricane yo. So far it's not that bad here yet - just a light rain and some wind.  The closest body of water I live to is the Hudson River and I feel like I'm far enough away from it (probably like 3 or 4) that I shouldn't be anticipating any flooding. Sometimes my backyard collects enough water to come up to our patio door, but that's easy to deal with.

I was in Geneseo this weekend! I was going to come home today but my parents wanted me to come home yesterday because no one was sure when exactly the storm would hit, or where. I was glad I was able to get away for the weekend. I stayed with Gabby at her Valley View apartment. We ended up watching all of the Paranormal Activity movies (including the one out in theaters right now) and were astonished to find that they actually had a storyline. (4 didn't expand on the plot very satisfactorily, though.)

On Saturday night we all got dressed up in our costumes and went out. I was surrounded by Scrubs characters and some bikers and a blue collar worker. While we were getting ready and pre-gaming, Wenley and I had a butt competition. We ultimately decided that I had a better butt, but Wenley had waayy better quads.

More documentation of the night:

I ended up losing Gabby and kind of roaming lost around town trying to find her for a bit. My phone was dying and I was getting scared that I'd had to spend the night outside in the rain because I didn't know where anyone was, but luckily my friend swept me off my feet and to the Crow's house for the night, what a peach :)


The next morning I had breakfast at the Omega Grill for the first time ever, so now I can check that off my non-existent "Did That In Geneseo" checklist. Uhhh, I don't know, what else happened this weekend? I got some new tongue rings, including one that has a lil smiley face on it:

I guess that's pretty much it. It wasn't a highly eventful trip, but it was supes fun. Oh boy, a fire alarm is howling away now. Is it bad taste to say that I'm excited for the storm to be bad? It's not like I want millions of dollars in property damage or a tree to fall on my house or flooding so bad that thousands of people are temporarily displaced. But I remember Hurricane Floyd, when I was in like 6th grade, and it was freakin' AWESOME. The little road in front my house turned into a mini river, and pieces of the road started to come up so I surfed on them. 

It feels like the world's come to a temporary stand-still. Schools have been closed and not a lot of cars are out. I feel like we're all holding our breaths, waiting for the worst of the storm to come.

I think I'll re-string my uke while I wait for the Frankenstorm~

Oops

I messed up my sleep cycle again (for like the twelfth time in my life).

Oh, Fionna

I collected all of my confidence and threw it into one video...then posted it to YouTube. 

The results are below! Please excuse my constipated expression in the thumbnail.

Gettin Real Tired Of Your Shit, Huntington

Seriously. You're like an neglectful boyfriend, HLC. "I'll call you on Tuesday!" you promise. I wait around all weekend, to no avail. I cry into my pillow at night, "What did I do wrong? Why don't you want me? Was it something on my resume??" Tuesday passes with no word from you, so I call on Wednesday, heart in my throat. But my call goes to your voicemail. I leave a short message, ending it with my number - to be sure that you still have it, and so that you can't use not having my number as an excuse not to call me. Pretty soon I'll be standing in the rain outside of the Learning Center, holding a sign that says "CALL ME". Don't make me do that, HLC. Don't make me.

Okay, so, dramatics aside, Huntington Learning Center has to get their shit together. I might work at the Lego store or Victoria's Secret part time instead. I really would prefer to not work in retail again though, such bad memories from Express *shudder* Save me, Huntington!

I'm slowly working on the JET application package. It's gonna be so tedious to put everything together. I've asked my old music teacher to write one reference, and I'm thinking of writing to one of my old bosses to get the other reference letter. My mom is the cutest. She helped me brainstorm who to ask for a reference, and then while she had free time working at her school she drafted an email I could send to my old music teacher (since he's now the principal of her school). I'm really thankful at how supportive she is. I really have to start writing out my Statement of Purpose asfjkadl; They haven't released some big parts of the application yet, though, like a questionnaire I have to fill out online and then print out and sign and make copies of, and a medical form. I wish they'd release all that stuff now so I have more time to work on it and get it together.

I think this blog should be re-titled "Learning Patience" because I need some of that stuff right now.

The Huntington Saga Continues

OH also, I found out what happened with Huntington Learning Center. The dude who was hiring me, Mike? Yeah. Douchebag. He suddenly up and left the company, and didn't feel the need to tell any other employees about me; didn't feel the need to tell me he was peacing out. Dick move.

I found out 'cause my mom works with this Jeanette person (lovely lady) who also works at Huntington. So Jeanette reminded the Huntington people that I'm still looking for employment. I got a nice call from a Daniella today, apologizing for what happened with Mike. She's gonna call my references, grade the ACT I took (except I thought Mike did that already, but I guess he was just trying to be the most unhelpful person in the world before he left the company), and get back to me by Tuesday. So I might yet become a tutor!

Meanwhile, babysitting is going swimmingly, and I've got both my costumes just about done for Halloween. If Huntington ends up not giving me a lot of hours, I'm gonna see if I can work part-time at Victoria's Secret with Charmander. Whoa man, three jobs? Don't remind me. I don't think I've been this productive since junior year of Geneseo.

Edit - The application for the JET Programme also (finally) came out, so I'm working on getting that done, too!

Today I High-Fived Healthiness (after eating Taco Bell, of course)

Alright! For the past few months I've talked a lotta talk, dropping phrases like joining a gym, running, and getting back into exercising. Today I felt guilty enough to do something about it! Guilty why? Guilty because of Taco Bell. I had it last night and this afternoon, om nom nom. I love me some chalupas.

See, it's common knowledge that to be healthy you gotta eat right and exercise. At first I gave up on exercise, after being sick in June.

Me, laughing at the idea of exercising  

while being hooked up to a heart monitor that would 

shock my heart if I went into cardiac arrest.

 Thanks for pulling through, kidneys.

The I'm recovering excuse molded into My body is still too weak, which then turned into Wait I have to watch six more episode of How I Met Your Mother. And it was slightly okay because I had lost weight from being sick anyway, so I could get away with lying around in bed all day. And I was still eating alright!

And then I moved back home, and started eating a ton. And I was still laying around in bed all day. And now I get fast food at least three times a week. I personally blame McDonald's for deciding to have their Monopoly game going again.

So I had given up on exercise and eating well. I reached my "Warning Weight" - the weight at which I told myself, if ever reached, I would start acting healthy again. Except when I reached it, I shrugged and went back to bed to watch Netflix.

So now that I've surpassed my warning weight, I'm like, alright. Listen up, body. If I'm going to eat fast food three times a week, then I gotta exercise at least as much. So today after getting Taco Bell and delivering my first babysitting paycheck to da bank (cha-chinnnng) I went to Bowline Lake Park Thing (yeah, I'm not really sure what it's actually called) and walked for a while. [Edit: It's totally called Peck's Pond and I'm an idiot because I've known that my whole life.]

I was pleasantly surprised to find out that the park's gotten a lot nicer and workout-friendly since I was last there years ago. There are now 10 different workout stations set up around the lake's path so you can walk around the lake and work out a little bit as well. And they have this little off-path section that actually has outdoor exercise equipment (like a rowing machine, leg press, shoulder thing, and spine-alignment-twisty-thing). So now I don't even have to join a gym, I can just go to the park :)

I rediscovered the raptor mask I never returned to the GSTV prop room

This is what I would look like if I was a raptor:

Classy as fuck.

Anticipated Halloween Costume

A female Team Rocket Grunt.

I really want to visit Geneseo for Halloween. My aunt is throwing a Halloween party a week before the actual holiday, though, and I don't think my family will understand what a Rocket grunt is, so I may have a secondary costume.

Edit - I will have a secondary costume and it is a motherfuckin LION.

Life - er, Job Update

Since I've been home I've suddenly and mysteriously begun sleeping like a normal person. It literally happened overnight. This is revolutionary because for my entire life I've been a night owl, and the thought of sleeping before midnight just felt wrong. But now, I fall asleep sometimes as early as 11:30pm - and I've been waking up around 9ish, as opposed to any time between 12 and 4pm. Is this...adult life? Experiencing mornings instead of sleeping through them? Weird.

Fall is coming er, here! This means tea and boots and apples and pumpkins and acorn squash and sweaters and pretty leaves and further feelings of doom when I think of the future. So that's fun.

I hate writing these kinds of posts because they're so boring. I get caught up between thinking "No one wants to read about this" and "They'll take what I give them, it's my blog." I should mostly just apologize to my (sole?) reader, Brendan, for making boring posts...they can't all be about playing Batman, I guess.

[Edit: HI ANGELA!] 

Okay, but really, I'll give some life updates. [Edit: Heh, I started writing this post a week ago and am only now picking it up again....] [Edit again: it's not so much a 'life' update as it is a 'job' update, you're gonna have to deal with that.]

I'm pretty fed up with Huntington Learning Center. At the beginning of the month I went through the hiring process and passed with flying colors and all that jazz. I thought I'd be traveling to Colorado so I told them of my expected travel dates, and that they should call me in for training towards the end of the month; they were cool with that. Then my trip got cancelled (read: crashed and burned, with my parents holding the blowtorch). I called to let Huntington know that I could come in at any time for training...but the dude, Mike, that I'm trying to coordinate things with, wasn't in. I left a message for him but Arceus knows if he ever got it. In the past three weeks since then, I've called and left numerous messages for Mike to get into contact with me, but to no avail. I haven't heard a word from anyone at Huntington for over three weeks, so screw them.

I kind of have another job now, anyway. My aunt recommended me to one of her friends and now on Tuesdays and Thursdays I babysit for her twin sons :) It's kind of the best. I get to their house around 2:30, meet them when they get off the bus, help them do their homework, drive them to tae kwon do, make them dinner, then make sure they get into bed. I also do some other simple chores around the house like feeding the pet lizards, taking out the recycling, and prepping morning protein shakes. Today I got to pet one of the little lizards :D

The only negative thing I can say about this job is...you know that horror story about the babysitter who gets threatening calls from a serial killer? This family lives in the kind of house that I'd get murdered in. Don't get me wrong, it's a really nice house. But it's got a ton of large windows and decks and twists and turns and it's in the woods and oh my god I'm going to be killed one of these days while the twins are upstairs sleeping...!

So like I was saying, it's a really nice house, and the family is very well off. How well off, you ask? This family is so rich that the twins own their own Macbooks and Beats by Dre headphones. This family is so rich that the drawers and cupboards in their kitchen are automatic. This family is so rich that they leave the lights on when they leave the house. This family is so rich that I once joked about crashing my car and one of the twins didn't understand why I wouldn't just buy a new one. This family is so rich that I can't even relate to them on some levels. Example: I was talking to the mother today about her husband working in NYC. I asked if he drove in or took the train; she answered that he drove. I said he was brave for driving in the city, because city driving makes me terribly nervous. Her response: "Oh, he has a driver." WELL THEN. (The driver is also an ex-NYPD officer fjdksalfja;)

Haha all that aside, though, it's a pretty sweet job. I'm still looking for another one, though progress is at 0% on that. I've started looking on new job posting sites like Monster.com and USAJobs, but my search is a fruitless and frustrating as ever (mostly because of my own hesitations and indecision though).  I actually got so frustrated/stressed about my lack of job options (and about my lack of sleep) the other night that I almost applied to the Peace Corps at 5am. I'm also frustrated that the JET application was supposed to come out last month and it hasn't yet, boo. I wanna teach English in Japan, dammit!

So my Job Hunt Progress is either at 100%, if you count the fact that I'm babysitting twice a week (technically I'm employed!),  or 50%, if you count the fact that I'm only babysitting twice a week and am still looking for further employment. 

I think that's where I'll wrap this post up, as it's getting rather lengthy. Tune in next time to hear about my family weekend and Bannerman Castle~!

On the Presidential Debate and Election

Okay, this is going to be a legitimate political post (or as much of a legitimate one as I can muster, seeing as I know next to nothing about politics and the issues). But first, you have to appreciate this gif at least as much as I do:

I read an interesting opinion article by George Farah today about the nature of the presidential debates. It basically talks about the Commission on Presidential Debates, claiming it has kept the election debates from actually being legitimate debates and that it ensures that candidates are asked safe questions, and even limits the number of debates the candidates actually have. I excerpted my fave parts from the article:

"This year's debate sponsor, the Commission on Presidential Debates...is a private corporation that was jointly created by, and for, the Republican and Democratic parties. In 1986, the parties ratified an agreement "to take over the presidential debates" from the nonpartisan league, and the commission has sponsored every presidential and vice presidential debate since.

"Undoubtedly, the commission's monopoly over the presidential debates has harmed our democracy. Without a [bipartisan] sponsor willing to criticize the Republican and Democratic campaigns, the debates are often structured to accommodate the wishes of risk-averse candidates, not voters.

"Because the candidates fear making a costly gaffe, fewer debates are held than necessary to educate voters. In 1858, Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas debated seven times. Earlier this year, the Republican primaries featured an unprecedented 27 debates. The commission, meanwhile, has only scheduled three presidential debates this year.

"Even more troublesome, the few presidential debates held are often governed by rules that impede actual debate. Remarkably, contracts negotiated under the commission's tenure have prohibited the candidates from talking to each other. The contracts also require all questions posed by audience members during the town-hall debate to be prescreened . And the moderators are vetted by the candidates and thus unlikely to pose surprising questions.

"Third-party candidates also are routinely excluded from the commission's debates, even when a majority of voters support their inclusion."

But it's also an opinion piece, and this came up:

"Every four years, the commission demonstrates its fealty to the Democratic and Republican candidates. Behind closed doors, negotiators for the major party nominees draft secret contracts that dictate how the debates will be structure."

Laying it on a bit thick there, eh? Farah doesn't really give any evidence to back up the claim that the nominees draft secret contracts, and that all sounds pretty hokey to me. But for the most part I liked the article and the information he presented.

I have been making an effort to cast an informed vote in November, so I've tried to keep up with the candidates and what they stand for. I watched speeches at both the RNC and DNC, watched the presidential debate last night (and plan on watching the impending ones), and have been trying to do some online reading, but there's a problem. I'm getting a lot of information from Reddit and from my friends - all sources that are biased to the left and hate Romney. So my opinion is probably skewed. For the most part, I don't like the idea of Mitt Romney as the president. I like Obama - for the most part. I also like Jill Stein, but the system is so heavily stacked against third-party candidates that voting for anyone but Romney or Obama is a waste.

I watched the debate last night and tried to stay attentive, but I still ended up getting lost or confused with what the candidates were saying some of the time (I'm a political n00b, sorry). For example, when they were talking about Medicare/Medicaid: Obama said Romney wanted to turn it into a voucher system, and I don't really know what that means.

During the debate Romney came off as admittedly on-point and aggressive, but I wasn't entirely comfortable with what he was saying. For example, in the beginning of the debate he said that he supported green, renewable energy for future generations. The rest of the debate, however, he proclaimed "I love coal," said he supported the Keystone XL pipeline, and vowed that if he was elected he'd do his best to ensure America wasn't relying on imported oil. He even tried to attack the fact that Obama's backed green energy/companies.

EDIT: OH WAIT. I had a huge fit of rage when Romney was talking about healthcare and he was like, "I want to be able to choose my healthcare, I don't want the government to tell me what to do." SAY THAT TO MY VAGINA YOU REPUBLICAN JIZZSTICK. That made me angry, since the party he represents is trying really hard to dictate what I can do with my lady parts. I apologize for the crude words, but they felt really good to type out.

Mitt's stance on the military budget also makes me uneasy. He wants to keep funneling money into the military - money that, as Obama pointed out, is unrequested. Mitt would rather put more money into the military - and cut funding elsewhere to do so - when the military isn't even asking for federal money. To my understanding, war is now privatized in a lot of ways, and I don't think our military needs more federal money than it's already getting. Mitt also seems to want to keep an American presence in countries like Afghanistan and Iraq, whereas Obama would like to systematically withdraw our troops; I support Obama on that issue.

People keep saying that Obama was too laid-back during the debate, but I think he was fine. To me he came off as calm and collected. In my opinion, Obama knows that Romney will most likely trip himself up (since that's all he's been doing lately, what with performing poorly diplomatically overseas and the leaking of the now infamous 47% video); it was almost noble of Obama not to take those cheap shots at Romney like he could have. But I also know nothing about rhetoric or debates, so don't listen to me.

Here are some things that have helped me learn more about this election and the two big candidates (just in case someone reading is as apolitical as I am):
1. "The 2012 Election: My Attempt To Be A Responsible Voter"
2. politifact.com
3. Was there a #3? I don't remember...

One last thing - watching the debate was actually fun for me. I was kinda proud of myself. I giggled a lot when Romney threw a tantrum about wanting the last word, and at how he kept interrupting everyone.

[Yes, tumblr was live-gif-ing the whole debate and yes of course I followed along.]

AND the classic moment when he said that if he's elected he'll cut federal funding to PBS. He said this to the moderator, Jim Lehrer. You know, the executive editor of PBS. 

Neil deGrasse Tyson was quick to come to Sesame Street's aid, tweeting that "Cutting PBS support (0.012% of budget) to help balance the Federal budget is like deleting text files to make room on your 500Gig hard drive."

I hope Jim took a long, hot bubble bath after the debate last night, then fell asleep snuggling his wife and watching his favorite movie. He deserves at least that, after what Mitt put him through. 

That time I got some people arrested

One night the other week I was woken up to the sound of a car alarm going off. At first I was super pissed because my Haverstraw neighborhood seems to be so loud all the time. Living on Center Street in Geneseo was so quiet and tranquil (when the raccoons weren't around, at least). Now there's this loud ass train that goes by all the time, cars zoom down the road with their stupid roaring motors and amped up music systems, and rude drivers beep at people to come out of houses instead of being polite and going to the freaking door...I can't even. I'm not even gonna mention the birds that sit on the power line outside my window because they know I'm in my room trying to sleep while they're being chirpy jerks.

So it's 2am and some buttbrain's car alarm is going off. I grumbled and rolled over to check the time on my cell phone (yup, 2am, grumble grr) - and then I heard someone running. They were running very loudly and suspiciously.

So, being the nosy person I am, I peeped out my window. I am blessed with a window that looks right out onto a main street - which was exactly where a dude in a long-sleeved white shirt was running, away from the noise of the car alarm. You motherlover, you just tried to break into a car, didn't you? I thought to myself. Good, go away. 

And then, halfway down the street, he stopped running. He swaggered back up the middle of the road, looking into cars on his way up. He even tried the handles of several cars.

Now, I'm the kind of person who likes to give people the benefit of the doubt. Maybe he was drunk and forgot which car was his. Maybe a friend drove him to another friend's house on that road and he got cold and was going to get his hoody from his friend's car, but he forgot which one it was. Or maybe he was trying to find an unlocked car so he could take any money or important belongings he found. Scumbag.

Either way, I thought I should probably call the cops. But I wasn't 100% sure! So I went downstairs, where my dad was watching TV. I told him what I had heard and seen, and asked if I should report it to the police. He said, "Yes, you definitely should do that," and then he gave me the number for the actual police station so I didn't have to call 911, because this wasn't really an emergency, just suspicious activity.

So I called the police station and a nice dispatcher lady picked up. I told her what I had seen, described what he was wearing, and kept an eye on him from my bedroom window. While I was on the phone, White Shirt Guy was joined by two friends, Plaid Shirt Person and Red Shirt Dude. I saw Red Shirt Dude try the handle of a car almost directly across from my house - and it was open, so he got in! While he was in the car (that may or may not have been his), White Shirt Guy and Plaid Shirt Person walked down the street and out of sight. After a few minutes Red Shirt Dude got back out and started walking down the street.

By this time, I had hung up with the dispatcher and saw a police car come creeping onto the street, it's spotlight beaming all around the street. I was very impressed with how quickly they had reacted to my call. The cop car stopped halfway down the street and an officer came out on foot, using a flashlight to look at all the cars parked along the street. He stopped at the car I had seen Red Shirt Dude get in and out of, and I could hear him say over his radio that the glove box was hanging open and inside was empty. So I guess that means I witnessed a robbery by Red Shirt Dude.

I ventured outside with my father, ignoring his pleas for me to please go back inside and get some shoes on because I felt more badass going barefoot and we weren't walking very far, anyway. The cops saw us coming and intercepted us. We discussed how I was the vigilant neighbor who had so graciously called the police on these insolent, thieving wretches. I confirmed that the car I saw Red Shirt Dude get into was the one that they suspect had been robbed (along with another further along the street). They even had me identify Red Shirt Dude, who they had already caught! It turns out Red Shirt Dude was actually an androgynously dressed female, however, so I must change her identifying name to Red Shirt Chick.  

Then we went back inside our house and I kept watching out my window to see if anything interesting would still happen. Nothing really did for a while so I talked on the phone with Silvia and then with Carolyn, until the finally caught White Shirt Guy (who was definitely a guy). They walked him up and down the street, trying to get him to confess to all of the cars he had gotten into.

By then it was around 5am and I was very tired so I went to bed, disappointed that I never got to give a statement to the police. Now I will only be known as that anonymous caller who busted some petty thieves. You're welcome, neighborhood. 

And to Plaid Shirt Person, who evaded arrest that night: I don't know if you participated in the illegal activities of your friends, but you should probably hang around different people, eh?

Lost In Translation

 

Lost In Translation - Storypeople

democratic raaaage!

Watching Clint Eastwood speak at the Republican Convention has sent me into a democratic rage rararaaarrrrr {:V} <-- (that's a raptor emoticon, deal with it)

Another Article and Obama Eating Billy's Ashes?

I also read a Cracked article today about the 8 Most Badass Make-A-Wish-Foundation Wishes and now I'm thinking about what I'd wish for, if I was in that situation. I honestly have no idea. Billy said he might wish for his remains to be eaten by President Obama, and now I'm caught between being grossed out and laughing. He said his only regret would be not being able to watch it happen; I told him if he haunts me he'd be able to see it, because that is something I would not miss for anything in the world. I am a good friend.

Oh, more things I did today: the ACT! I was really worried about taking the math portion because I am many things, but a mathematician I am certainly not. I tried to study for it last night, and...well, I struggled as much as any other person who hasn't done any math in the last five years. Luckily, I was able to opt out of taking the math portion, taking all other three portions instead.

Job Hunt Progress: 45%
After finishing the ACT, I set up an interview on September 5th.

T Rex also has an interview then - add it to the list of coincidences our lives keep coming up with :) I think I might try to visit him next weekend, if I don't have to start at Huntington that soon.

The 9 Nanas

"Somewhere in West Tennessee, not far from Graceland, nine women -- or "The 9 Nanas," as they prefer to be called -- gather in the darkness of night. At 4am they begin their daily routine -- a ritual that no one, not even their husbands, knew about for 30 years. They have one mission and one mission only: to create happiness. And it all begins with baked goods. ... 'We wanted to help as much as we could,' Mary Ellen said, 'without taking away from our own families, so we became coupon clippers. And we’d use green stamps. Remember those?'"
- "It Ain't Over: The Business 9 Women Kept A Secret For Three Decades"

One of those "restore-your-faith-in-humanity" articles :)

Addendum!

Job Hunt Progress: 25%
I just called Huntington to make sure they got my resume. Some dude ("Mike") glanced over it while I was on the phone with him, and told me I could be a subject tutor (in History) and a/an SAT/ACT instructor.
In order to teach for the SAT or ACT, I have to take one of those tests again. So tomorrow at 11am, yours truly will be taking the ACT for the first time in about five years. Wish me luck!

Leaf Puns

I've been putting off calling Time Warner to cancel the Internet at my old Geneseo apartment, but I just called today and found out that it's already mysteriously been canceled and I don't even have to pay one last bill! Thanks, universe. 

Living at home is...a roller coaster ride. I was sad and depressed and frustrated for a couple days, but now things have calmed over and I'm feeling more like myself. 

I've finally started to unpack...yeah. Mostly I've been unpacking, reading, Internetting, and running small errands. Oh, last night I saw The Odd Life of Timothy Green with my mom. I think I would have liked it better if I was actually a parent. I mostly just kept making leaf puns with my mom hehe. 

My last LWARC paycheck comes in on Friday, and I'm hoping to use that money to finally buy a plane ticket out to Colorado, to visit Shadowcliff and T-Rex :)

Job Hunt Progress: 15%

I picked up applications to work at A. C. Moore (a crafting store) and a local hotel (*knock knock* Housekeeping!) but have yet to hand them in, because I'm waiting to hear back from...

Huntington Learning Center. My mother and I were driving past it the other day and decided to stop in to see if they were hiring. I sent in an application and will (hopefully soon) be called in for an interview.  I hope I can get a tutoring position with them, and I can use it as a stepping stone to teaching English in Japan.

on living at home

i hate living at home.
i hate the
feeling
and the
noise
and the
music
and the
loud fan.
i hate the
memories
and the
mess
and the
disappointment
in my father's
eyes.
i hate
being the bearer of bad
news.
i hate the initial
relief
in my mother's
eyes
and the following
sadness
when i tell her
i don't want to
be here.

HomeGymNopeUnpackingJobNope

I came home Tuesday night a very quiet reception. I eagerly pulled out my laptop, excited to finally have ready internet access. But it didn't work :( Turns out, my mom broke the internet. I had to wait A WHOLE 'NOTHER DAY and I couldn't even Skype T Rex like we had planned, boo. We finally got it up and running the next day, though (and T Rex and I shared a phone call instead) so all is good.

Being home after living in Geneseo...it's like being in a different time zone. A time zone in which I actually get sleep like a normal person...? Very strange. I don't hate it, though.

What I do hate is unpacking, meh. It took me two days just to get things out of my car. Now I have to go through everything, throw/give away things I don't use anymore, and reorganize.

Add this to the Yay Factor, though: I switched out my old twin-sized bed for my new double-sized memory foam mattress :D

I almost joined a gym today. I got a tour through their very nice facilities (pool, sauna, new machinery, cycling/pilates/yoga classes...!) and then heard that it was $60/month, plus a $78 startup fee. Yeah, so maybe when I win the lottery I'll add joining that gym to the list of things I'll spend my fortune on (after buying a house for my parents, paying off mine/my sisters' student debt, and various other things).

I got the idea to remodel one of the bathrooms while I'm living here, so maybe that will actually come to fruition one day? Don't say I never warned you. What color should I paint it?

I still can't believe it's 12:45AM and I'm tired.

This blog is going to be boring for a whiiiiiiile. Maybe I'll make it part of all blog entries to include how I'm doing on looking for a job, you know, to spice things up a bit.

Job hunt progress: 1% (or rather -1%?)
I looked into substitute teaching (well, my mom did, as she was doing other school/TA-related errands) and it looks like a dead end. The district is more into firing than hiring right now, and even substitute teaching has been affected by that. Because there's no hiring going on, prospective teachers have turned to being substitutes. Now the substitute list is so long that I have little to no chance of being called if I add my name to it :/

Things that make my heart pull

• Having a resident ask when I'll be back and confessing that it's actually my last shift at this house
• Telling residents that I'm leaving, in general
• Explaining why (in the best way I can, because there's no one solid reason that I'm leaving)
• Some of them telling me there are houses and apartments for sale in the area that they are sure I'll like living in very much
• Some of them not understanding that I'm not coming back, or asking multiple times for me to stop joking about leaving
• Telling coworkers like Cailyn, Brenda, and Susan that we've just had our last shift together

I've genuinely enjoyed working here. There hasn't been a resident that I haven't liked, and I've gotten along with most of my coworkers splendidly. Tomorrow is my last shift, and I will be sad when I walk out of the Second St. house's door for the final time. 

Moving out, etc.

I survived my haunted shift - BARELY.

Just kidding, nothing exciting happened. The other day, I did accidentally lock myself out of the house I was working at, though: I was taking out the trash and the door locked behind me. Luckily I was only out for half an hour, and nothing important had to get done at the time, so I didn't get in trouble or anything.

Now it's my day off! Later this evening I'm going to go mini-golfing with Gabby and Wenley, but for now I'm sipping a Pauper Jack and leeching Internet from Muddy Waters Cafe in Geneseo (much to the chagrin of my mother :P).

Though I have officially moved out of Geneseo, I still find myself in the town quite often. My dilemma was that I had to move out of my apartment by the 10th, but I have work scheduled until the 20th. Luckily I have a friend living in Mt. Morris (the next town over), and he has graciously let me crash in his apartment until the 20th. The only downside is that he doesn't have the Internet. If you know me, you know that this causes me GREAT suffering. I have since turned to lurking in various cafes and Wegman stores, in order to leech off their free wifi.

There's not much to say about the moving process. It took two days and exhausted me because I also had to work, so I didn't get more than five hours sleep in each day.

I have mixed feelings about leaving Geneseo. Part of me is sad because, I don't know, I really like Geneseo. It's such a nice, safe, pretty town. I've lived here for going on five years now and made a lot of memories that I'm reluctant to leave behind. Part of me is relieved and ready to go, though. I feel like I've gained everything I'm going to get from living here already...and I don't want to be that one person who graduates but never leaves, heh. It's also been a rather lonely and stagnant summer due to my awkward work hours, so I'm happy to go back home where I know more people and don't have to pay rent for a crappy apartment.

Since my Internet access is limited, I've had to turn to watching movies and reading classic literature to fill my off-duty hours. I finished King Solomon's Mines the other day (Allan Quatermain, what a character) and have just started Verne's Journey to the Center of the Earth. I also caught up on my Batman movies, thanks to Gabby.


Fun fact: Mt. Morris is the birthplace of Francis Bellamy, who wrote the Pledge of Allegiance in 1892.

The Haunted Shift

The house I'm working in right now is haunted.

According to bits of gossip I've picked up from various coworkers, a woman named Gene (Jean?) used to live in a room on the second floor. One day she passed away in that room. She was mourned and cremated, her ashes spread in the backyard.

Now her spirit haunts the second and third floor.

Multiple workers have reported hearing footsteps in the upper floors when no one else was supposed to be in the house. Walk out of the clean, orderly office, and you will sometimes return to filing cabinets and drawers opened, papers strewn about. I myself sometimes hear the sound of the backdoor opening at all hours of the night, when I know no one is going either in or out.

One particularly talkative coworker told me that she believes Gene can detect whether or not a person is suited for this line of work; if they do a poor job, her spirit targets them.

Maybe she was just trying to scare me into not slacking off during my shift. But Jean's picture hangs in the living room. In fact, it's staring at me right now....

Sufjan Stevens - Chicago

First Post Awkwardness

Woah, this website's undergone a few layout changes since I was last blogging on it. So many fun new things to play with!

So, obviously, I've made the decision to start blogging again. If you care about my reasons to do so, know that they are very simple. I find it hard to stay in touch with people and often forget to tell people what is going on in my life, so I use it as a way to keep in touch with family and friends. I also sometimes use it as a place to clear my head; writing things out makes them make sense, for some reason.

I like my blogs to have themes (kind of). My first one was about life as a college senior; my second was about my experiences in Colorado. This one is...about me starting the rest of my life. It's scary to do that alone, so I'll be taking any and all of you readers with me. Thanks, for that. And thanks for not completely judging the blog's stupid title, I came up with it on the spot.

Updates to come on moving out of Geneseo - for now I have to, you know, move out of Geneseo.

And hey, take this Sufjan Stevens song. I'm listening to his Illinoise album as I putter about my packing - thanks for the suggestion, Billy :)

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/iLUT-y6Adqw" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

...Okay, that didn't work, so I posted it as an entry after this one. Herp derp, what is the internet?