So, as of May 14, I'm officially halfway done with my college education. I can't believe it: two years from now I'll be looking for my first out-of-college job, presumably as an English teacher in grades 4-8. All I can say is wow. Two years down, two years to go.
This past semester was... er, eventful. Still, despite the shitty roommates, I felt like I had a good semester all in all. I got the opportunity to really start to understand the English language and all of its complexities. It never ceases to amaze me just how much you can learn about something you've been using your entire life. It's like learning some new technique of walking! Oh wait, I did that with marching band already. ;) Anyway, I really think I've got a better grasp of English grammar than I did at the beginning of the semester, which is, naturally, the intent of such a class. I walked away from that class able to diagram most any sentence and identify any and all of the parts of speech in a sentence. All I have to say is that native speakers do some screwy stuff with the language when we speak.
What else, what else? Oh, yes: I start work next Wednesday. I've decided to take back my job from last summer at the kennel, seeing as how the other place I used to work at is now closed. Sad day! The good news is that my boss said, when I went into work on a random day at the end of Spring Break, that he had fixed the air conditioner in the back. Maybe now the kennel work won't be quite so oppressive!! Of course, there's always cleaning up messes left by dogs, but since I had to clean that grody bathtub that my roommate refused to clean, I think some dog messes won't be quite so bad. I'm still gonna have to grin and bear it when it comes to giving out medication to the dogs, as that involves large globs of wet dog food in the palm of my hand and burying pills within. It's McGross, for sure. The good thing is that this year, I'll be starting with days on reception within my second week of being at work! Yay!! I love the thrill of the reception desk: the constant calls and the computer... oh, it's lovely. I'm a little worried that I've kinda forgotten the system, but I'm hoping that a brief review of the policies and procedures packet will serve to adequately refresh me.
This job will kinda be sucking up my summer, I'm afraid. It's kinda looking like I'll be working 4-5 days a week. At 9-10 hour days, it's looking like I may have a 40-50 hour week. At least I know that the money's going to be real good. I got bumped up to $9.25 an hour, which is INSANE for a summer job. This summer's going to be real good for racking up a generous savings account, which will be helpful for when my job is no longer quite as lucrative as this one, i.e. when I'm teaching. So, if nobody sees me quite as much this summer, this is why.
Oh well! At least I have a really good weekend ahead of me. Memorial Day weekend is looking like it's going to be splendiforous. There's supposed to be a Civil War re-enactment happening in the historical district of town on Saturday and Sunday, which I'm pretty excited about. All of the people involved are real enthusiasts, and they're supposed to know their stuff. It's so exciting to be around people who are just as nerdy about history as I am, although I will admit that my expertise doesn't lie in the actual battles and whatnot of the Civil War. Really, I'm more of a "culture of the time" type of person. What can I say? Gone with the Wind really intrigued me!
Then Sunday or Monday the family is going to go and do Renaissance festival. I'm so excited!! I've been sewing furiously for the past week, putting all the finishing touches on my dress. I'm just hoping and praying for good weather, especially for it to be not so hot. The fact that the dress is primarily home decorator weight fabric (aka HEAVY), I'm going to be wilting by mid-morning if the weather doesn't cooperate. That would be sad after all the work that's gone into this thing! Oh well: guess there's only one thing to do, and that's to wait and see. Surely things will all work out! :)
Well, that's about it, really. Hopefully I'll update again soon with some sort of crazy work story! :)
~Rachel
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Friday, April 10, 2009
Two Decades
So, April the seventh came and passed, and here I am, twenty years old now. Strange. I'm two decades old now. Frankly, I can't say that the view from twenty is any different than the view from nineteen, but I figure it's a good time for reflection. So I'm going to go through google and try to figure out what it was that I all lived through.
Enjoy.
-Tienanmen Square Riots
-The Fall of the Berlin Wall
-The Inauguration of 3 (different) Presidents
-Attack on the World Trade Center (which I remember vividly)
-Surviving a flood in Houston
-Hurricane Ike
-War on Terror
-O.J. Simpson murder case
-Clinton is impeached (but not removed....)
-Gulf War
-Introduction of the iPod
-Popularization of the cell phone
-DVDs replace VHS tapes
-Dolly the sheep is the first cloned animal
-Death of Princess Diana
-Release of "Titanic"
-Oklahoma City bombings
-Columbine HS shootings
-"You've got Mail" with the World Wide Web
-Space shuttle Columbia is destroyed upon re-entry
-Pope John Paul II dies, and is succeeded by Pope Benedict XVI
-Everybody survived the change to the year 2000. Whoa!
-Barbie changes into a tramp
-All the most amazing Disney movies are released (i.e. Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, Lion King, etc.)
-"Friends" has its series finale
-Rachel grew up. :P
Enjoy.
-Tienanmen Square Riots
-The Fall of the Berlin Wall
-The Inauguration of 3 (different) Presidents
-Attack on the World Trade Center (which I remember vividly)
-Surviving a flood in Houston
-Hurricane Ike
-War on Terror
-O.J. Simpson murder case
-Clinton is impeached (but not removed....)
-Gulf War
-Introduction of the iPod
-Popularization of the cell phone
-DVDs replace VHS tapes
-Dolly the sheep is the first cloned animal
-Death of Princess Diana
-Release of "Titanic"
-Oklahoma City bombings
-Columbine HS shootings
-"You've got Mail" with the World Wide Web
-Space shuttle Columbia is destroyed upon re-entry
-Pope John Paul II dies, and is succeeded by Pope Benedict XVI
-Everybody survived the change to the year 2000. Whoa!
-Barbie changes into a tramp
-All the most amazing Disney movies are released (i.e. Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, Lion King, etc.)
-"Friends" has its series finale
-Rachel grew up. :P
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
It's Spring!
...well, okay, maybe not technically. But considering that we've had a collective week of days above 70 in the past 3 weeks, I'm gonna say that we're a heck of a lot closer than we were before. :) Besides, a lot of cool stuff comes in spring. Like a lot of my friends birthdays. And Easter. And my birthday. And Easter.
Oh yeah.... then there's this little thing called Spring Break.
I'm just going to come right out and say it- I love that I get a week in the spring to kind of relax and chill. The later part of last week was beyond stressful for me, because this semester all of my professors, it seems, decided to give midterms. Let it be known that I, Rachel, HATE midterms. One of my midterms (the english one) counted for 25% of my total grade. Talk about pressure, eh? It sort of helped that my music for children professor abruptly moved our "midterm" (and I do use the term loosely) up to Tuesday rather than on Thursday, meaning that I got all of Thursday morning to devote to studying for the massive Music Lit test that I had at 12:30. My brain was hurting by Wednesday night. I read over a 100 pages in my text over the course of two evenings, and that's not even counting the number of times I had to go over the pages of handwritten notes that I had taken. My head was so full of Bach and Beethoven, Handel and Haydn that I thought I would explode by the time I walked into my test. Of course, it didn't help that there seemed to be a thousand and one distractions for me that morning that I had to fight through in order to get my last minute cramming done.
Of course, after that test was done, I felt compelled to immediately bring out my English textbook. I'm not going to lie: as nerdy as it is, I really have come to enjoy English grammar. There's so many nuances and little things to know about it, it's like breaking some complex code. When you get it, it's like you're joining an elite bunch of people who know the rules of grammar and how to dispel any ambiguity (a key word, don't ya know?). Of course, that's not to say that I didn't almost rip out all my hair when I couldn't seem to remember how the heck I was supposed to diagram an adjective or which type of clause was an adverbial and which was an adjectival. (Just so you know, relative means adjectival, subordinate is adverbial.) Then the diagrams of said things were insane. Grr... suffice to say I went a wee bit bananas with that.
There's a happy ending, though: a 99 on my English midterm! YAY!! I was so excited when I saw that, I nearly started dancing for joy. I still don't know how I did on the Music Lit test, since the listening portion was more than a little sketchy for me, but that will come in time.
Beyond that, my band director is once again being difficult in regards to family obligations. My brother's Confirmation (one of the seven sacraments of the Roman Catholic church) is on the same weekend as our last (albeit very INFORMAL) concert in May. It really pisses me off that these little conflicts never cease to crop up. Anyway, in explaining this to my band director, he still was floundering and saying that while he wouldn't just say 'no', he also wasn't going to say yes. I understand that it's a big deal to miss a concert, but this is a pretty legit excuse: it's my brother's Confirmation, for the love! Yet for my school, a religious commitment doesn't really seem to carry much weight. Now I'm (once again) going to have to enter into negotiations so that I can at least enjoy my grandparents' company for a couple of days before I have to whisk myself off to school for Dead Week and finals. It kinda stinks that I'm going to have to stay up there clear until Thursday to finish up with my last finals, but I'll get over it, I know. If nothing else, it's more time to pack. Seeing all the stuff I have in my apartment, it's going to take from when I get back from Easter to when I go home for summer to get all that stuff somehow packed away into a semblance of order.
Anyway, I think this post is long enough for now. Until later!
~r
Oh yeah.... then there's this little thing called Spring Break.
I'm just going to come right out and say it- I love that I get a week in the spring to kind of relax and chill. The later part of last week was beyond stressful for me, because this semester all of my professors, it seems, decided to give midterms. Let it be known that I, Rachel, HATE midterms. One of my midterms (the english one) counted for 25% of my total grade. Talk about pressure, eh? It sort of helped that my music for children professor abruptly moved our "midterm" (and I do use the term loosely) up to Tuesday rather than on Thursday, meaning that I got all of Thursday morning to devote to studying for the massive Music Lit test that I had at 12:30. My brain was hurting by Wednesday night. I read over a 100 pages in my text over the course of two evenings, and that's not even counting the number of times I had to go over the pages of handwritten notes that I had taken. My head was so full of Bach and Beethoven, Handel and Haydn that I thought I would explode by the time I walked into my test. Of course, it didn't help that there seemed to be a thousand and one distractions for me that morning that I had to fight through in order to get my last minute cramming done.
Of course, after that test was done, I felt compelled to immediately bring out my English textbook. I'm not going to lie: as nerdy as it is, I really have come to enjoy English grammar. There's so many nuances and little things to know about it, it's like breaking some complex code. When you get it, it's like you're joining an elite bunch of people who know the rules of grammar and how to dispel any ambiguity (a key word, don't ya know?). Of course, that's not to say that I didn't almost rip out all my hair when I couldn't seem to remember how the heck I was supposed to diagram an adjective or which type of clause was an adverbial and which was an adjectival. (Just so you know, relative means adjectival, subordinate is adverbial.) Then the diagrams of said things were insane. Grr... suffice to say I went a wee bit bananas with that.
There's a happy ending, though: a 99 on my English midterm! YAY!! I was so excited when I saw that, I nearly started dancing for joy. I still don't know how I did on the Music Lit test, since the listening portion was more than a little sketchy for me, but that will come in time.
Beyond that, my band director is once again being difficult in regards to family obligations. My brother's Confirmation (one of the seven sacraments of the Roman Catholic church) is on the same weekend as our last (albeit very INFORMAL) concert in May. It really pisses me off that these little conflicts never cease to crop up. Anyway, in explaining this to my band director, he still was floundering and saying that while he wouldn't just say 'no', he also wasn't going to say yes. I understand that it's a big deal to miss a concert, but this is a pretty legit excuse: it's my brother's Confirmation, for the love! Yet for my school, a religious commitment doesn't really seem to carry much weight. Now I'm (once again) going to have to enter into negotiations so that I can at least enjoy my grandparents' company for a couple of days before I have to whisk myself off to school for Dead Week and finals. It kinda stinks that I'm going to have to stay up there clear until Thursday to finish up with my last finals, but I'll get over it, I know. If nothing else, it's more time to pack. Seeing all the stuff I have in my apartment, it's going to take from when I get back from Easter to when I go home for summer to get all that stuff somehow packed away into a semblance of order.
Anyway, I think this post is long enough for now. Until later!
~r
Sunday, February 22, 2009
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
The little survey Fluff sent me...
So you're supposed to put a little 'X' beside the ones you've done. Here we go!
( ) Been to Europe
( ) Been on a cruise
( ) Gone on a blind date
(X) Skipped school - Only so I could eat an Easter dinner with my family...
( ) Watched someone die
( ) Been to Canada
( ) Been to Mexico
( ) Been to Florida
(X) Been on a Plane - starting when I was 8 weeks old!
(X) Been lost - profoundly
(X) Been on the opposite side of the country - opposite both ways: to both Minnesota and California. Ha.
( ) Gone to Washington , DC- I wish
( ) Been to Vegas
( ) Climbed a lighthouse - Maybe? I don't know...
(X) Swam in the ocean - I'm pretty sure I did in North Carolina.
(X) Cried yourself to sleep
( ) Seen the Cherry Blossoms in Washington , D.C.
(X) Played cops and robbers -I think?
( ) Owned a boat -My grandparents did. Does that count?
( ) Watched grandchildren grow - I'd have to have kids first, wouldn't I?
( ) Recently colored with crayons--. -The fact that this isn't 'x'd is sad.
( ) Been to the Kentucky Derby
( ) Been to Key West
(X) Been to a rodeo--
(X) Sang Karaoke – .
(X) Paid for a meal with coins only? -Does Sonic happy hour count?
(X) Done something you told yourself you wouldn't? -Again, who hasn't?
(X) Made prank phone calls - Unsuccessfully, but yes.
(X) Laughed until some kind of beverage came out of your nose -Diet Coke or carbonated beverages hurt coming out of your nose.
(X) Caught a snowflake on your tongue
(X) Danced in the rain -I've also marched in the rain.
(X) Written a letter to Santa Claus
( ) Been kissed under the mistletoe
(X) Watched the sunrise with someone -Try 400 other someones. Oh marching band.
( ) Seen the green flash at sunset (This seriously exists? It's not just on POTC?)
(X) Blown bubbles - Oh blowing bubbles on the bus. Good times.
(X) Gone ice-skating - I failed miserably.
(X) Gone to the movies -Er, yeah.
( ) Owned a convertible
1. Any nickname? Ray Ray and Rewind
2. Mother's name? Elizabeth. We're facebook friends. ;)
3. Favorite Beverage? Diet Coke, sometimes Vanilla Coke Zero
4. Body Piercing? Just the hole in each ear.
5. How much do you love your job? How much? We'll go with 60-80% depending on the day, who I'm working with, and if I have homework.
<6>
7. Hawaii? What about it?
8. Ever been to Africa? Nope
9. Ever eaten just cookies for dinner? Potentially, although I can't really recall if I have or not.
10. Ever been on TV? If you count being in the Rose Parade
11.. Ever steal any traffic sign? Nope- I lack the nefarious mind to think to do that sort of stuff.
12. Ever been in a car accident? Not a real one: just a couple parking lot altercations
13. Drive a 2-door or 4-door vehicle? Mildred's got 4 doors.
15. Favorite number? Haven't got one
16. Favorite movie? I can't really say- I don't know if I really have one.
<17>
18. Favorite dessert? Er... well, something sweet is always nice. I like ice cream a lot, especially when it has M&Ms mixed in and it's put in a waffle cone. Mmm.
19. Favorite food? Mexican and Italian. Not together- it's just a tie. ;)
20. Favorite day of the week? Er, Friday?
23. Favorite smell? Vanilla
24. How do you relax? A lot of different ways. Watch tv. Hang with friends. Read. Write. Play Sims 2. It's all good.
25. How do you see yourself in 10 years? Teaching. I'd love to be married by then, but some guy will have to get off his posterior and ask me out before that could happen.
26. Furthest place you will send this message? I'm not *sending* it anywhere, but given that it's going out to the web at large... I don't know. Someone let me know how far this travels, k?
27. Who will respond to this the fastest? Nobody will respond since I'm not emailing it.
28. What was the job you liked best? Working at the front desk at the vet clinic.
29. What is the weirdest animal you have ridden? Ooh! I think a camel at the zoo. Or maybe an elephant. They're pretty traditional riding animals, but I think they're about as 'strange' as I've gotten.
Sunday, January 25, 2009
Since I'm bored...
I'll update my blog! We'll just make this a productive time after all! :)
Anyway, not much of note happened this week, except for starting classes. I went and bought my books on Tuesday, and subsequently parted with $390- a lot more than last semester. It seems that all my classes this semester required at least one book, and that even getting them used didn't seem to help: the bookstores still slapped me in the face with prices. Guh.
I'm only taking 16 hours this semester, and I can already tell that I'll be bored a great deal of the time. MWF only has 2 classes: Structures of English at 9, and band at noon. Tuesday/Thursday, on the other hand, is craziness on a stick: I go almost non-stop from 8am til 2pm. Can you say eew? I do have a half hour that I can eat lunch (although not in the cafeteria), so I packed myself a peanut butter sandwich and some tortilla chips to eat, but stupidly forgot a drink, so I ended up getting a strawberry banana smoothie in the student center. The smoothie, I must say, was the best part, although for almost $4.50, I was a little disappointed with how very icy it was. Memo to smoothie people: less ice, more fruit/yogurt combo. The lady who made my smoothie (who I think transferred down there from Starbucks) had to spoon it out of the blender, so I guess I knew I was in for a pretty thick beverage. Oh, and there were a bunch of munchkins, probably about 5th grade, who were visiting campus for some event or another (I can't keep track of how many times I see children wandering about the student center in nice clothing and nametags...), and so this little boy who was waiting for some ice cream at the same place I was getting my smoothie at decided to strike up a conversation with me about just how nasty the sushi he tried (presumably at the neighboring place) was. I just kinda smiled and nodded, and tried to be a good person by acknowledging him and even engaging a bit in a conversation. I was a little surprised that he would talk to me, but whatever floats his boat, I guess!
Friday was uneventful for the most part. I only had the 2 classes again, and in English I was one of only a handful who were able to successfully diagram a sentence on a diagnostic quiz that we took. My 8th grade grammar teachers would be proud that I managed to dig all that nonsense up. Frankly, I didn't see what the huge deal was: I mostly figured the little sentence diagram (which was fill in the blank) out by looking at the different marks. Lines to separate nouns from verbs from direct objects, little tails to put adjectives and adverbs on. Yet there were people who had no idea what was going on. Oh well- guess that's why you take the class, eh? My friends and I went to go see HSM3 that night at the student theater that night, and I realized how much I missed the dollar movies. I frankly don't know what I'll do after college, since I always put off seeing movies until they come here so I don't have to spend the $7.50 for a movie in the regular theater.
Other than that, I was up half the night on Friday for various reasons, but I'm trying to move beyond that so I won't go in to detail. Saturday morning I woke up, called my mom, and then one of my friends called asking if I wouldn't come help them move. Facility transfers were moved up to Friday, and so both of my friends transferred into the same complex as me. We spent most all of yesterday just loading up cars (since their old rooms had to be completely empty before they could check out- eew), then subsequently unloading the cars into their new rooms. It took awhile, but overall I think we made good time: we got 2 people moved out and in in about 4-5 hours, which is not bad at all, considering it took the better part of days to move another one of my friends out last semester. In gratitude for our help, Liliana took Meghan and I to Zest-e-Burger. Zest-e is this little hole in the wall burger stand kinda on the outskirts of town, and our band director will never shut up about it. So, since neither Meghan or I had ever gone, we decided to see what all the fuss was about. Turns out that Campo knew what he was talking about, since they were actually really good burgers. Everything was wrapped in wax paper, which was such a refreshing change from the normal paper that you get at most fast food places. The burgers were pretty juicy, too, and their meals were like $3.50 for a burger, fries, and drink. Can't beat that!
I worked last night for the finals of the Schmitbaur (sp?) Competition. It was, according to one of my co-workers who sat in on it, really good: the performers were the finalists of the junior division and from what I heard from the lobby, could really perform their pieces. It never ceases to amaze me just how stupid people can be when it comes to recital etiquette: I must've had 3 people ask me, after they arrived late, if we would seat between movements. Even if it wasn't common sense, there was this huge (and I mean prominent) sign that detailed the etiquette expected of all concert-goers, which clearly stated that you could only enter/exit when a performer was done. *shakes head* Then came the catering thing. Apparently the Friends of Music (or somebody) hired catering to come and do a little reception afterwards. The music secretary, Missy, had been selling tickets and left after the first performer was done playing their two pieces. I totally could understand her logic: no point in her sticking around when there wasn't a whole lot of call for tickets 20 minutes into the concert. Anyway, she tells me on her way out that if catering asks, tell them to set up in the main lobby of the concert hall, not in the lobby in the main music building. Alrighty- sounds simple. So when catering showed up, trundling in with their carts, they looked at me and my co-worker and asked where to set up, which I was able to answer. They then looked around and then wanted to know where the tables were. Tables? What tables?! I honestly told them I had no idea, I was simply told that they were to set up in that lobby area. The girl kinda rolled her eyes at it all (you could tell she was not pleased to be doing this on a Saturday night) and dragged her fellow workers to find them. About 10 minutes in, this other older guy comes and kinda guides them in the task at hand. Meanwhile, they're making a tremendous ruckus and my co-worker and I are exchanging these looks like "Er, hello-there's kinda a concert going on inside, and these walls are far from soundproof. Maybe it's not that cool to be talking loudly and setting up/knocking down tables in here." Then, this frazzled older lady comes out, mumbles something about flowers as she walks past me and out to the lobby, and there's another exchange of looks. The lady returns with this, no joke, HUGE flower arrangement and looks helplessly at the yet-to-be set up tables and decides to put the arrangement on the bench, instructing me that the flowers should go in the center of the table. Er, alright: so now I'm an events director? *raised eyebrow* So, after overseeing that the table is put together (which mostly meant that I stood around and watched as the catering people did their thing), the catering folks cleared off, and I was left eyeing the sheet cake that they had put out. It looked so yummy, and I could've used the sugar, given that I only had what amounted to a couple handfuls of popcorn for dinner. But just as I was eyeing the other little sweets they had put out, out comes one of the other recital crew people asking if I had seen "Kevin". I don't know who Kevin is, why he'd be important, and certainly don't know why this girl would need to find him so desperately. I reply in the negative, and this poor girl goes running off to find Kevin, who is apparently one of the performers and actually won the competition. Smooth. Add person finder to the long list of things that we do that aren't in our job description. Anyway, she ended up finding him and the concert ended at about 9, which was nice. I hopped into my car and came home, stopping by a friend's room for a little while before crashing in my quiet bed.
I think that about wraps the week. I have work today at 2:30 (which means I need to be there at 1:45), and after that I'm free to peruse my English book and hang out with my friends.
Until next week,
~r
Anyway, not much of note happened this week, except for starting classes. I went and bought my books on Tuesday, and subsequently parted with $390- a lot more than last semester. It seems that all my classes this semester required at least one book, and that even getting them used didn't seem to help: the bookstores still slapped me in the face with prices. Guh.
I'm only taking 16 hours this semester, and I can already tell that I'll be bored a great deal of the time. MWF only has 2 classes: Structures of English at 9, and band at noon. Tuesday/Thursday, on the other hand, is craziness on a stick: I go almost non-stop from 8am til 2pm. Can you say eew? I do have a half hour that I can eat lunch (although not in the cafeteria), so I packed myself a peanut butter sandwich and some tortilla chips to eat, but stupidly forgot a drink, so I ended up getting a strawberry banana smoothie in the student center. The smoothie, I must say, was the best part, although for almost $4.50, I was a little disappointed with how very icy it was. Memo to smoothie people: less ice, more fruit/yogurt combo. The lady who made my smoothie (who I think transferred down there from Starbucks) had to spoon it out of the blender, so I guess I knew I was in for a pretty thick beverage. Oh, and there were a bunch of munchkins, probably about 5th grade, who were visiting campus for some event or another (I can't keep track of how many times I see children wandering about the student center in nice clothing and nametags...), and so this little boy who was waiting for some ice cream at the same place I was getting my smoothie at decided to strike up a conversation with me about just how nasty the sushi he tried (presumably at the neighboring place) was. I just kinda smiled and nodded, and tried to be a good person by acknowledging him and even engaging a bit in a conversation. I was a little surprised that he would talk to me, but whatever floats his boat, I guess!
Friday was uneventful for the most part. I only had the 2 classes again, and in English I was one of only a handful who were able to successfully diagram a sentence on a diagnostic quiz that we took. My 8th grade grammar teachers would be proud that I managed to dig all that nonsense up. Frankly, I didn't see what the huge deal was: I mostly figured the little sentence diagram (which was fill in the blank) out by looking at the different marks. Lines to separate nouns from verbs from direct objects, little tails to put adjectives and adverbs on. Yet there were people who had no idea what was going on. Oh well- guess that's why you take the class, eh? My friends and I went to go see HSM3 that night at the student theater that night, and I realized how much I missed the dollar movies. I frankly don't know what I'll do after college, since I always put off seeing movies until they come here so I don't have to spend the $7.50 for a movie in the regular theater.
Other than that, I was up half the night on Friday for various reasons, but I'm trying to move beyond that so I won't go in to detail. Saturday morning I woke up, called my mom, and then one of my friends called asking if I wouldn't come help them move. Facility transfers were moved up to Friday, and so both of my friends transferred into the same complex as me. We spent most all of yesterday just loading up cars (since their old rooms had to be completely empty before they could check out- eew), then subsequently unloading the cars into their new rooms. It took awhile, but overall I think we made good time: we got 2 people moved out and in in about 4-5 hours, which is not bad at all, considering it took the better part of days to move another one of my friends out last semester. In gratitude for our help, Liliana took Meghan and I to Zest-e-Burger. Zest-e is this little hole in the wall burger stand kinda on the outskirts of town, and our band director will never shut up about it. So, since neither Meghan or I had ever gone, we decided to see what all the fuss was about. Turns out that Campo knew what he was talking about, since they were actually really good burgers. Everything was wrapped in wax paper, which was such a refreshing change from the normal paper that you get at most fast food places. The burgers were pretty juicy, too, and their meals were like $3.50 for a burger, fries, and drink. Can't beat that!
I worked last night for the finals of the Schmitbaur (sp?) Competition. It was, according to one of my co-workers who sat in on it, really good: the performers were the finalists of the junior division and from what I heard from the lobby, could really perform their pieces. It never ceases to amaze me just how stupid people can be when it comes to recital etiquette: I must've had 3 people ask me, after they arrived late, if we would seat between movements. Even if it wasn't common sense, there was this huge (and I mean prominent) sign that detailed the etiquette expected of all concert-goers, which clearly stated that you could only enter/exit when a performer was done. *shakes head* Then came the catering thing. Apparently the Friends of Music (or somebody) hired catering to come and do a little reception afterwards. The music secretary, Missy, had been selling tickets and left after the first performer was done playing their two pieces. I totally could understand her logic: no point in her sticking around when there wasn't a whole lot of call for tickets 20 minutes into the concert. Anyway, she tells me on her way out that if catering asks, tell them to set up in the main lobby of the concert hall, not in the lobby in the main music building. Alrighty- sounds simple. So when catering showed up, trundling in with their carts, they looked at me and my co-worker and asked where to set up, which I was able to answer. They then looked around and then wanted to know where the tables were. Tables? What tables?! I honestly told them I had no idea, I was simply told that they were to set up in that lobby area. The girl kinda rolled her eyes at it all (you could tell she was not pleased to be doing this on a Saturday night) and dragged her fellow workers to find them. About 10 minutes in, this other older guy comes and kinda guides them in the task at hand. Meanwhile, they're making a tremendous ruckus and my co-worker and I are exchanging these looks like "Er, hello-there's kinda a concert going on inside, and these walls are far from soundproof. Maybe it's not that cool to be talking loudly and setting up/knocking down tables in here." Then, this frazzled older lady comes out, mumbles something about flowers as she walks past me and out to the lobby, and there's another exchange of looks. The lady returns with this, no joke, HUGE flower arrangement and looks helplessly at the yet-to-be set up tables and decides to put the arrangement on the bench, instructing me that the flowers should go in the center of the table. Er, alright: so now I'm an events director? *raised eyebrow* So, after overseeing that the table is put together (which mostly meant that I stood around and watched as the catering people did their thing), the catering folks cleared off, and I was left eyeing the sheet cake that they had put out. It looked so yummy, and I could've used the sugar, given that I only had what amounted to a couple handfuls of popcorn for dinner. But just as I was eyeing the other little sweets they had put out, out comes one of the other recital crew people asking if I had seen "Kevin". I don't know who Kevin is, why he'd be important, and certainly don't know why this girl would need to find him so desperately. I reply in the negative, and this poor girl goes running off to find Kevin, who is apparently one of the performers and actually won the competition. Smooth. Add person finder to the long list of things that we do that aren't in our job description. Anyway, she ended up finding him and the concert ended at about 9, which was nice. I hopped into my car and came home, stopping by a friend's room for a little while before crashing in my quiet bed.
I think that about wraps the week. I have work today at 2:30 (which means I need to be there at 1:45), and after that I'm free to peruse my English book and hang out with my friends.
Until next week,
~r
Monday, January 19, 2009
I'm on a roll!
This looked interesting, so I'll fill it out and let you read it!
Name: Rachel!
Eye Color: Not sure: my driver's license says hazel if that helps, but a lot of times they look more blue/green nowadays.
Shoe size: Either a ten or eleven, depending on the brand- for example, the Nine West pumps I bought yesterday were 10.
Height: I'd say 5'8" on a good day. Don't ask me what it could be on a bad day.
What brands are you wearing right now? Brands? Like clothing? I'm wearing my Allen Animal Shelter shirt and some Access 9 capri pj bottoms from kohls. I also have a Dell laptop sitting on my lap, if that counts.
Favorite Number: See last post- I don't have one!
Favorite drink: Diet Coke or Diet Citrus Green Tea
Favorite Month: November (but not for Thanksgiving- just because it's a cool month)
Favorite Breakfast: Toast, with butter. And a Diet Coke. Or, occasionally, Starbucks. Mmm.
***********Have You Ever*****************
Love/Liked someone so much it made you cry? Negative.
Been in a police car: Not in my memory.
Came close to dying: Yes! That car swinging out of the Chick-fil-a parking lot onto North Street into my lane... *shudder* But I came close to dying with a carload of friends, so it's all good.
Been in a hot tub: I think I have, actually.
Fallen asleep in school: Yes: back in the day, we called it nap time.
Broken someone's heart: If I have, it's news to me.
Cried when someone died: Are you kidding? I cry when a fictional character dies...
Fell off your chair: *twitches* Yes... although "fell" really should be changed to "fallen"
Saved e-mails: Gmail saves all of me emails. HA!
Ever been cheated on?: For that to happen, I would need a significant other...
***********What is-****************
Your room like: Which one? The one at home? Or the one at school? How about we describe both! Home- bright green, a bit messy, with blue and white curtains. Quite empty given my absence at school, but currently full of things I need to put in the car. School- clean, cold, tastefully decorated, and homey.
Last thing you ate? Dinner last night was amazing hamburgers my dad grilled, on onion rolls and with sharp cheddar cheese. Waffle fries with it.
--------------------------Ever Had- -------------------------------
Chicken pox: Yup, second grade. All I can remember is being itchy and oatmeal baths.
Sore throat: Uhm, yeah, I think everybody has: mine always came from yelling too much at the football games.
Stitches: Nope.
-------------------------Do You------------------------------------
Believe in love at first sight? *shrug* It sounds nice...
Like picnics? Not particularly- something about eating outside on the ground seems a little... *shudder*
Like school? I can't give you an objective answer on that... I have conflicts of interest.
-----------------------Questions-----------------------------------
Who was the last person you danced with? Uhm- probably my friends at college.
Who makes you smile? My family and my friends.
------------------Who---------------------------------
Did you last yell at? LOL- my brother
Do you wear contact lenses or glasses? Both, though I've been wearing my glasses a lot more than I used to.
Do you like yourself? Eh, most days I do.
---------------------Final Questions---------------------------
Favorite song? It changes too much.
What did you do today? Er... got up. Oh, and I checked my email and forums. It's 7:50- what do you expect?!
----------------------RANDOM--------------------------------
Hate someone in your family? I supremely dislike, sometimes, but probably not hate.By the by, this quiz lies- the last section said final questions.
Good singer? Am I a good singer? Ha! Suffice to say there was a reason I opted for band over choir.
Diamond or pearl? Diamond's my birthstone, pearls are less ostentatious.
Are you oldest? Of my siblings? Yes. Of other things, no.
Indoors or outdoors? In, most days.
----------------------------Today did you------------------------------
Talk to someone you like? I talked to my mommy.
Get sick? I hope not... that's the last thing I want. I'm attributing a icky stomach to the fact that I don't like leaving to go back to school, even though I always like it when I get there.
Sing? Not yet- although given that I'll be driving for 3 and a half hours, I imagine that I'll sing at least once.
Talked to an ex: Don't have any except for ex-roommates, two of which I'm not really on speaking terms with.
Miss someone: I imagine I'll miss my family when I get to Nac.
Tell someone you loved them? Yup- my daddy before he left for work.
----------------------------Last person who---------------------------
You talked to on the phone? Uh... good question. Not a lot of phone communication going on.
Drove in the car with you? My mom.
Went to the movies with you? My family. We saw Yes Man.
----------------------------HAVE YOU-------------------------------------------
Been to Mexico: N'ole.
Been to Canada: Negative, eh?
Been to Africa: Er, no. Although I know someone who has and I've seen the pictures.
----------------Random-----------------------
Do you have a crush on someone: Fictional characters if anyone.
What books are you reading right now? Well, I just finished my mom's class book "A Paradise Called Texas", and I've been re-reading the Chronicles of Narnia.
Best feeling in the world: I imagine it depends on the person.
Future kids names? No idea: kids won't be coming for a long while.
Do you sleep with a stuffed animal? Of course!
What's under your bed? Bed at home? Lots of crap, dust, and perhaps a cat sleeping.
Who do you really hate? Hate? I don't think I hate anybody.
Do you have a job: Yup! I babysit music students and reinforce how they're supposed to act in a concert. It's technically called recital crew, but I think it's a bit of teacher training, too.
Ever liked someone you didn't have a chance with? Fictional characters are so hard to pin down... ;)
Are you lonely right now: Not really- I've got animals and an obnoxious little bro to keep me company.
Name: Rachel!
Eye Color: Not sure: my driver's license says hazel if that helps, but a lot of times they look more blue/green nowadays.
Shoe size: Either a ten or eleven, depending on the brand- for example, the Nine West pumps I bought yesterday were 10.
Height: I'd say 5'8" on a good day. Don't ask me what it could be on a bad day.
What brands are you wearing right now? Brands? Like clothing? I'm wearing my Allen Animal Shelter shirt and some Access 9 capri pj bottoms from kohls. I also have a Dell laptop sitting on my lap, if that counts.
Favorite Number: See last post- I don't have one!
Favorite drink: Diet Coke or Diet Citrus Green Tea
Favorite Month: November (but not for Thanksgiving- just because it's a cool month)
Favorite Breakfast: Toast, with butter. And a Diet Coke. Or, occasionally, Starbucks. Mmm.
***********Have You Ever*****************
Love/Liked someone so much it made you cry? Negative.
Been in a police car: Not in my memory.
Came close to dying: Yes! That car swinging out of the Chick-fil-a parking lot onto North Street into my lane... *shudder* But I came close to dying with a carload of friends, so it's all good.
Been in a hot tub: I think I have, actually.
Fallen asleep in school: Yes: back in the day, we called it nap time.
Broken someone's heart: If I have, it's news to me.
Cried when someone died: Are you kidding? I cry when a fictional character dies...
Fell off your chair: *twitches* Yes... although "fell" really should be changed to "fallen"
Saved e-mails: Gmail saves all of me emails. HA!
Ever been cheated on?: For that to happen, I would need a significant other...
***********What is-****************
Your room like: Which one? The one at home? Or the one at school? How about we describe both! Home- bright green, a bit messy, with blue and white curtains. Quite empty given my absence at school, but currently full of things I need to put in the car. School- clean, cold, tastefully decorated, and homey.
Last thing you ate? Dinner last night was amazing hamburgers my dad grilled, on onion rolls and with sharp cheddar cheese. Waffle fries with it.
--------------------------Ever Had- -------------------------------
Chicken pox: Yup, second grade. All I can remember is being itchy and oatmeal baths.
Sore throat: Uhm, yeah, I think everybody has: mine always came from yelling too much at the football games.
Stitches: Nope.
-------------------------Do You------------------------------------
Believe in love at first sight? *shrug* It sounds nice...
Like picnics? Not particularly- something about eating outside on the ground seems a little... *shudder*
Like school? I can't give you an objective answer on that... I have conflicts of interest.
-----------------------Questions-----------------------------------
Who was the last person you danced with? Uhm- probably my friends at college.
Who makes you smile? My family and my friends.
------------------Who---------------------------------
Did you last yell at? LOL- my brother
Do you wear contact lenses or glasses? Both, though I've been wearing my glasses a lot more than I used to.
Do you like yourself? Eh, most days I do.
---------------------Final Questions---------------------------
Favorite song? It changes too much.
What did you do today? Er... got up. Oh, and I checked my email and forums. It's 7:50- what do you expect?!
----------------------RANDOM--------------------------------
Hate someone in your family? I supremely dislike, sometimes, but probably not hate.By the by, this quiz lies- the last section said final questions.
Good singer? Am I a good singer? Ha! Suffice to say there was a reason I opted for band over choir.
Diamond or pearl? Diamond's my birthstone, pearls are less ostentatious.
Are you oldest? Of my siblings? Yes. Of other things, no.
Indoors or outdoors? In, most days.
----------------------------Today did you------------------------------
Talk to someone you like? I talked to my mommy.
Get sick? I hope not... that's the last thing I want. I'm attributing a icky stomach to the fact that I don't like leaving to go back to school, even though I always like it when I get there.
Sing? Not yet- although given that I'll be driving for 3 and a half hours, I imagine that I'll sing at least once.
Talked to an ex: Don't have any except for ex-roommates, two of which I'm not really on speaking terms with.
Miss someone: I imagine I'll miss my family when I get to Nac.
Tell someone you loved them? Yup- my daddy before he left for work.
----------------------------Last person who---------------------------
You talked to on the phone? Uh... good question. Not a lot of phone communication going on.
Drove in the car with you? My mom.
Went to the movies with you? My family. We saw Yes Man.
----------------------------HAVE YOU-------------------------------------------
Been to Mexico: N'ole.
Been to Canada: Negative, eh?
Been to Africa: Er, no. Although I know someone who has and I've seen the pictures.
----------------Random-----------------------
Do you have a crush on someone: Fictional characters if anyone.
What books are you reading right now? Well, I just finished my mom's class book "A Paradise Called Texas", and I've been re-reading the Chronicles of Narnia.
Best feeling in the world: I imagine it depends on the person.
Future kids names? No idea: kids won't be coming for a long while.
Do you sleep with a stuffed animal? Of course!
What's under your bed? Bed at home? Lots of crap, dust, and perhaps a cat sleeping.
Who do you really hate? Hate? I don't think I hate anybody.
Do you have a job: Yup! I babysit music students and reinforce how they're supposed to act in a concert. It's technically called recital crew, but I think it's a bit of teacher training, too.
Ever liked someone you didn't have a chance with? Fictional characters are so hard to pin down... ;)
Are you lonely right now: Not really- I've got animals and an obnoxious little bro to keep me company.
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