And this is even more fitting for today!

Happy Pi Day everyone!

3/14, 3.14. An excuse to eat pie without the guilt, and tell really corny pi jokes and solve geeky math problems. I will be celebrating with the roommates this afternoon, and wanted to hear your own pi day celebrations! Too bad it falls on a Saturday this year or all you teachers out there could ham this up for your students. Here's a really cool PI DAY website! Have fun!

I seem to be posting weekly now

For no good reason at all...of course I could use the guise that I've been insanely busy trying to be the best I can be at work and at school, as well as at home, but really, I just haven't made the time for blogging. I'm not even quite sure where blogging fits into my life anymore. I've been watching movies for fun, not sitting down at the computer. I've been working out to relieve stress, not sitting down at the computer. Eventually, I would like to return to blogging and writing in general, but until then, until an inspiration hits, you lovely readers will have to deal with this mess of a blog to read. Random musings and quizzes and movie reviews when I feel like it. I did choose a new template, which I seem to do every month or so. I'm going to leave you now and go get some actual papers written and decide which assessments I am going to give for my case study this week. Oh, and probably do some reading in there. Feel free to leave comments on what you would like to see in this space, or just tell me to give it up, now! Happy Monday, and Happy Presidents Day. Enjoy the day off work, those who get one. And enjoy the day at work, those that are there.

I'm back!!!

From the frozen wasteland/wilderness/Camp Menogyn having slept in a quincy hut/igloo and having jumped in a hole in a frozen lake. Yikes. This makes me sound crazy, but I had tons of fun while doing it, I promise. I haven't lost all my marbles...yet! Because on our way home I saw not one, but TWO moose on the side of the road and an eagle later on closer to home. I love holidays.

And, I found out that I just got 5/6 on my writing section of the GRE. Worst essay I've ever written too. Weird. I'll take it and go apply to schools now. Sweet.

Holiday time means...

Movie time!

Two great ones I saw this year are Atonement and P.S. I Love You. I recommend them both highly. But only in that order. Heavy, then light. Always the way to go.

Another blast from the past...

As I browse back through my google documents, I was looking at some of my old journal entries from the beginning of NCCC. I thought I'd post it here.

7/12/06
2:55 p.m.

Today was another long day of in-processing bullshit. We got our uniforms in the morning, and we moved swiftly through the in-processing checklist to travel reimbursements to banking to lunch and ID badges. Half of the morning stuff I didn’t need, so I just kinda sat there while others talked, which I did all of yesterday as well sorta came to the conclusion that people like to hear themselves talk just for the sake of talking. I’m in my room now, for a brief couple of hours, until we have to go back to the 202 building for boot sizing at 4:30. I’m totally stoked we get to wear steel-toed work boots. I’ e never done anything where they were a requirement before, so of course I’m going to be stoked.

Getting to know my team a little better as well. This could potentially be a very good experience. I have a feeling that there will be 1 or 2 (probably girls) that I will end up being close to and the others will just be there. I know I am a person that takes a while before I warm up to everyone and right now I’m falling into my “quiet girl” mode. I want to break out of that role badly, but I know it will take some time. So far everyone is really nice. I also know that tonight after boot sizing we’re off to some “group bonding” activity Maggie has planned for us. Sounds interesting in theory, but I know I’ll probably end up putting my emotional guard up and not share anything. It’s probably going to be one of those group initiative thing that I hate any way. Who knows? We shall find out later.

I suppose I can go and list my team members and first impressions now. Maybe in ten months I can go back and reassess, because they will, most likely, will have changed.

Our team leader Maggie seems really sweet and excited to be here. Really excited and enthusiastic, though I’m wondering how long the façade will last. Certainly a person cannot keep things going for as long as ten months, without one gigantic happy pill. There has got to be an evil side to her, and I’m wondering when we will see it and how long it’ll last. Maggie also keeps saying how tired she is and how she hasn’t slept that much, but when ever we ask her a question she’s right on the ball, so I don’t get it. I totally trust her with my documents and paperwork, and believe she will be an amazing leader this year.

Interesting reading, now that I'm a year and a half removed from the whole situation.

Exactly why I do NOT want to live to be this old

Home Alone. A 79-year-old woman, Mary Ann, dies in Los Angeles.
She's lived alone for decades. No one knows her, or her next of kin.
There's a body to be buried, a house full of stuff to get rid of. It
so happens there's a county bureaucracy for just this type of problem.
In this show, we follow around the person charged with figuring out
what to do with the remains of Mary Ann's life. This and other stories
about what happens when people are left alone.

http://youtube.com/talwithiraglass

To many...

decisions, resolutions, changes, year-end general cleaning up and maintenance to do. No, I don't want to go to grad school if I'm not truly sure it is what I want to do. But I don't want my two years worth of education award from AmeriCorps to go to waste either.

No, sitting home ALONE on a Saturday night does not usually lead to good thoughts about anything, particularly not such heady things as what my future will hold in three or four years from now. But I think, because that's what I do. I think and then I write. And it's not always coherent writing. But that's OK.

Do the JET Programme? Sure, I certainly know two people that have done it and loved every minute of it. And I certainly know someone in Japan too! It might be cool to be close to my long time pen pal again. But it's such a risk! I can do it, and there shouldn't be anything to loose there, and it would be quite the experience.

I need to gather more information.

That's the bottom line here people. More information needed.

Back to the Grindstone

Tomorrow I head back to the Twin Cities for the final crunch of the year. I'm excited to be going back, I really am. It was nice to come home, but really, there is nothing here in Atlanta for me anymore. Aside from the few friends I have here and my immediate family, there is nothing to do here and nothing keeping me here. I will miss my mom, dad, Sam, Emily, Alisha, and others that once resided here, but it really is time to move ahead. I need to establish who I am and who the greater world intended me to be. I know it intended me to be something other than what I am now. And I need to establish this far, far away from here.

When I fly out of this city tomorrow morning, I will set some goals for myself. I'm not quite sure what those goals should be, but I will come up with them and write them in my more personal journal. I don't know how much of those of those goals I want to smear all over the world wide web. I'll decide and get back here to report my decision. I also have a laundry list a mile long of things I need to do for school on Monday. I'm trying not to stress out about it or think about it until I get to work. I need to separate work and play more, I know this. But I also need to be a lot more organized about my after school art class that I'm teaching and I need to invest in an apron for said class. I need to write more by hand just for me, and spend less time on the Internet wasting time avoiding writing. I need to do more things just for me. And I need to work on goal setting strategies and sticking to them consistently.

I need a mission statement for my life. Anyone want to help me draft one?

I'm home for Thanksgiving Break, 2007

And I'm not in the mood for holiday shopping. I never am, really. Lines make me crabby. People make me crabby. Spending money makes me crabbier. But I still need to find gifts at a relatively low cost for everyone on my list this year. I'm compiling a list of online shopping sites I can look at whenever the shopping bug hits me. My goal is to have my holiday shopping done for under $300 by December 10th. We'll see how it works out. Since not meeting my NaNoWriMo goals this month, I don't have an incredible track record going for goals. But this is different. I will accomplish this one. Here's the link list I have so far. Thanks QLC.com forums!

Of course, there's always the all-encompassing Amazon.com!

For the shoe lover on my list, there's Zappos.com
Revolve Clothing seems cool too
Accessories galore!
Another clothing site
Bargains
There's always bluefly, an old standard
Nordstrom
More bargains
Book deals galore!
Still more bargains
If you do the eBay thing
I love Old Navy!