The Thanksgiving that Sucked

Well... Where do I start.
I'm still waiting to hear that life-changing news. The powers-that-be are 'working on it.' I got an update today and it's not sounding good.

I left last Tuesday for Texas. I got sick the day before I left and I only got worse while I was down there. I gave up and went to the Dr. who gave me some serious anti-biotics but I've used the last of it today and I'm still sick, though I am better than I was.

I did manage to have Thanksgiving dinner with my Mom's family and dinner on Saturday with my Aunt & Uncle on my Dad's side.

Friday was an unbelievably sad day. My sweet baby Jake - and she starts tearing up - who lived to the ripe old age of 17... I had him put to sleep on Friday. That sweet puppy was with me through some good times and some really bad times - He was my constant companion, and for a time he was my best and only friend. Whenever I was home he would give me a guilt trip the first day and then he'd let up and be by my side again. I always felt horribly guilty when I had to leave him at the end of the holidays. A piece of my heart broke off. I felt it shatter when I made the decision to do it. My parents were going to wait until I left, I didn't know they'd already made the decision. I told them I thought it was time and that I wanted to be there for him. My Dad said he'd take care of it, but I needed to be there for him and I'm really glad I could be there for him to the end, because he was always there for me.
Ugh. I can barely remember what my life was like without him. I was 10 when I got him and it's been 17 years....
Silly puppy!
I'll love him forever.



I also had to begin saying goodbye to another friend... my home. My parents bought a new home this past summer and moved all the stuff to the new house the weekend before I came down. I can't describe how wierd it was to see all my stuff in a different house... but not as wierd as it was to walk into my home and find it virtually empty. Before I moved up here I'd only ever lived in that house. The new house is REALLY nice and my new room is almost 4 times the size of my old one and it's BEAUTIFUL purple! (I got to pick it out)

Lesee....

I flew out of Texas on Monday morning, only to find myself stranded in the cities, alone, sick, and without my luggage. Nasty ice storm up north = airport closings. I was stuck there for two days, making my way back up here today.

Overall, I'm just really glad to be back, though I could have used more of a vacation. This one was too stressful and way too emotional for my liking. Hope Christmas goes smoother.

*edit*Oh, and then there was the 25 minutes I spent scraping the ice off my car, after the heater had melted it some.

Ugh I'm so behind on my blog reading...

Especially since Aya's decided to blog 5 times a day ;)

Another year older and only slightly more bruised

Thanks for all the birthday wishes, minus Froyd ;)

Got to see HP twice, once at the 12:01am showing and once at the 4:30pm showing. Much easier to process in the afternoon. LOTS of stuff coming at you really FAST. Not sure how I would be able to follow it unles I had read the books, but other people got it. I think reading the books just gives you so much more insight into what the little things mean - and this was all I could think about the first time I saw it - they skipped that, that person didn't do/say that, that's right on, what's next?.... which made the second time I watched it much easier, because I knew what was coming and I was able to enjoy it for what it was. Not sure if that makes any sense....

I had a fun dinner at Applebee's with some friends, though I felt bad for our poor waiter - not that we were a rowdy bunch, it's just there were quite a few of us and I think big groups must suck for waiters/waitresses.
Aya got me a boogie-snow-board-thingy. I think she's trying to kill me.... or maybe she's just found something she really loves and is trying to get her best friend to enjoy it with her. Or maybe she's had enough of me, wants me gone, knows what a klutz I am, and figures this is the fastest way ;)
Cool looking board game from D... looking forward to giving it a spin... *cough*hint*Aya*cough*

HP and Applebee's were the highlights of my day. The rest of my day sucked though. I received some rather bad news (I'd say very bad - but nobody died or got hurt). Spent the majority of the day writing a letter to appeal a decision which has been made. BAH! Freaking sucks. I'm going to wait until I find out the decision of the appeal before I share the details. But I will say if they say no my life will be changing.

BAH-ity-BAH-BAH-BAH
/sigh

Twenty-seven, Twenty7, 20seven....oooo I like that one!

I am 20seven today.
That looks good right? Better than 27?

Bah
Screw it
I'm 27 today!
Happy Birthday Me!

And there's SNOW everywhere!
WOOT WOOT

Ode to Snow

I love snow.
Snow loves me.
We're a happy family.
With a hug from me to it,
Don't you think it is the....

hmmmm....
That wouldn't exactly be a PG ending...

-----

HEHEHEHE I just checked Aya's blog and saw her 400th post... checked mine and realized that THIS was my 400th post....
rofl....
What are the chances?
Seriously though... we're a little TOO similar sometimes ;)

Signs that winter is FINALLY here!

Snow.
I've broken out my hat and mittens.
Snow.
The Scr-r-r-r-r-aping of ice off car windows.
Snow.
The ground is covered in a lovely white blanket.
Snow.
A *crunch* *crunch* *crunch* sound follows me wherever I go.
Snow.
That stinging sensation of tiny, frozen particles smacking into my face.
Snow.
Wind howling at my window.
Snow.
Baby steps so I don't biff it.
Snow.



Oh... did I mention that I LOVE SNOW!?
*tee hee*

Slacker!!!

Wow I've turned into Aya... well... ok so I'm not quite THAT bad ;)

It's been a week.... What's happened in the last week...

I went bowling - just for fun - one night. Had lots of fun with that, I forgot what it was like to bowl without pressure. Not that there's any pressure on me when I bowl in league, outside of the pressure I put on myself.

Got a head start on some projects/presentations/papers which will be due... rather soon actually. Maybe not so much a head start then... hmmm... I mean most of them aren't due til the first full week in December, but when you figure next week is totally shot cuz I'm going home to help my parents move... yeah... it'll fly by! Eeep.... pressure! I feel it squeezing me down... I'm shrinking! hehe

K... so did I mention I've been in a wierd mood lately? Totally hyper at bowling on Sunday... oh bowling... *cringe* we're down to third place and we got beat down this week as well. LOL Granny's got game! The team we were playing beat us all 3 games and in overall points, the two women were these cute, smiley grandma types. But seriously, they kicked our collective hiney's and the guys were good too. hehehe Granny Bowlers!

To Do:
*Buy tickets for HP
*Call Res Life
*Pick up Mics
*WATCH HP *bounce*
*Pick up homecoming picture from HUPB
*Set up computers in 405
*Article for LC
*Wiki page for Presentation on Thursday
*On Duty Monday night
*ReDesign of WebPage for Tuesday
*Analysis of Photoblog
*Review PKD - begin Paper
*Finish - PKM
*Continue/Finish - KA
*Pack!
*Fly home Tuesday @ 1:05pm

Happier Thoughts

Come from Harry Potter.

Why was that again?

A 70+ year old woman has her pinky chopped off for a $10 ring, just one of three such incidents (probably connected).
A woman is stuffed in her trunk and almost murdered, gets away by shear luck.
A man accused of killing 4 family members.

Oh. That's right.

This is why i don't watch the news anymore.

"Love stinks"

I hate it when people I love - leave and/or forget about me.

Go Grease Lightnin & Run Bambi Run!

Busy weekend. Drove 4 hours to see the musical Grease, starring one of Aya's cousins. I love the musical, so I fully enjoyed myself. Aya, D, Aya's Cousin, and I all rode down together and we kept ourselves entertained for 8 hours of driving. Visited with Aya's family and such.

On the way back, yesterday, I saw 45 dead deer and only 3 of them were road kill.
ish... yuck... ish...
Remind me not to drive around MN during hunting season again.
I didn't see anything for the first hour and then all of a sudden I saw a bloody gut facing me from the oncoming traffic and then I couldn't help but notice all the others. 42 hunter's kills, and that's just what I could see. (I've never seen so much hunters orange either.)

Apparently I contradict myself. I was having a discussion with some male friends last night... I understand the need to hunt - lower number of deer, cheap meat, etc. However, I personally don't want to go out and hunt and it makes me a little sad to see dead animals, whether it's roadkill or death-by-hunter. I certainly don't enjoy seeing dead animals or pieces of animals as decoration/trophies. Yes I eat meat, no I'm not against killing of animals for survival. But.. I dunno.. I would never kill something unless I was starving to death and I needed it to survive... or if it ran in front of my car. The taking of another life, animal or not, is a big deal to me. And yes, I've heard of the horrid treatment of the animals we eat...
/sigh
Whatever.
I have no intention of going out and shooting a deer, duck, goose, bear, person, etc.
Period.

Dear Wicked Witch of the West,

You are an evil, conniving hag. You reek of hateful spite and your claws are non-retractable.
I wish you would control your temper and learn to bite your tongue.

Sincerely,

Aspen E

Hellllp! There's a pirate after me!

Ransom my arse!

Greetings from MSUM

That is all.

PLUGS INC

OAK HAUNTED HOUSE
Monday, October 31st
5:30pm-9:30pm
Oak Hall Basement
$5 - regular admission
$3 - 12 and under/BSU student with ID

and afterwards...

LINDEN/BIRCH HALLOWEEN PARTY
9:00pm - whenever
Monday, October 31st
Linden 2nd Floor Lounge
Free Free Free
Snacks, Games, Costume Contest, Music, Pumpkin Carving Contest results...
FUN! FUN! FUN!

Temptation

Out from his coffin, Drac's voice did ring

"Walker is my name and I am the same. Riddley Walker. Walking my riddels where ever theyve took me and walking them now on this paper the same." Riddley Walker by Russell Hoban

Some quotes stay with you, and this is one that's stuck for me.
It's taking me forever to read this book... here's the reason:
"He dint say no moren that. The crowd 1/2 of them larft out and 1/2 of them syd deap."
He didn't say more than that. Half the crowd laughed out loud and the other half sighed deeply.
Hoban succeeded in making the reader slow down and process what he wrote.
I'm enjoying the book and it's the first one I've read written in a different dialect, but it's definitely a challenge.

To the master bedroom where the vampires feast

What do you do when someone you thought you knew, turns out to be someone else? Someone you've always considered a caring friend... What do you do when your friendship deteriorates to harsh words? When suddenly you find yourself pushing buttons before you realize they're there? When your buttons are being pushed and you can't think rationally?

Happy Birthday Chris
Happy Birthday Ashley
Happy Birthday Loralyn
Happy Birthday Jo
Happy Birthday Steve

I know 5 people with birthdays this week. 5 out of 7 days this week.
What are the chances?


You are Kermit the Frog.
You are reliable, responsible and caring. And you
have a habit of waving your arms about
maniacally.

FAVORITE EXPRESSIONS:
"Hi ho!" "Yaaay!" and
"Sheesh!"
FAVORITE MOVIE:
"How Green Was My Mother"

LAST BOOK READ:
"Surfin' the Webfoot: A Frog's Guide to the
Internet"

HOBBIES:
Sitting in the swamp playing banjo.

QUOTE:
"Hmm, my banjo is wet."


What Muppet are you?
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From my laboratory in the castle east...

I'm looking into schools where I can get a PhD in Education or English. So far the best I've found is a degree in Adult and Higher Education from Montana State University in Bozeman, MT.
/love Montana
/fear getting PhD
Hummm...
PhD = another 3 years (minimum) + learning a new language = Eeeep!
But I want to teach at the University level - this is something, which becomes abundantly clearer every day – and therefore I must have a PhD. The good news is I might be able to get a teaching fellowship/graduate position, where I would teach classes while taking some of my own. This is exciting because I really want to get into the classroom. I spoke to a professor about my future today and he gave me some great advice, helped me get my thoughts organized and such. :)
I have a couple of years to think about this (or at least another year), but I'm one of those crazy-planning people who has to know the who, what, where, when, why's and how's of everything. That's not to say my plans don't change a hundred times before I actually get there ;)

Things to do:
*Decide on class schedule (register Monday)
*Get car washed
*Follow up on portable proxima
*Wednesday - 10am meeting, 12pm meeting
*Set up computer for B
*Email csd about computers
*Ask about job for Spring semester for V
*Follow up on microphone
*Finish reading Riddley Walker
*Type paper for LC (due Monday)
*Get goodies from Res Life
*Finish halloween dress for Monday
*Thursday - meet with V for Monday nights presentation
*Friday - buy goodies and decorations for Monday's Halloween Party
*Saturday - Tri-College RA Conference in Moorhead
*Sunday - bowling, set-up for party
*Monday - register, present, and set-up for party/contests
*Help Aya if I have time =0)

Ohhh Aye Said the Sailor...

Castpost rocks.

Finally found a place to upload my Pirate Party Video.

Enjoy!