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?