I tried to get my friend Brenton to come to Ames last night (he was originally planning to before the Iowa-Iowa State game was cancelled), but the bastard weaseled out of it. He missed a good time. Oh well. I ended up calling him after I got home from Natalie's last night to see if he wanted to meet me halfway between Ames and Omaha for lunch today, so that's what we did. It was good to see him.
I called Jim last night around 2:30 or so... I wonder what I said. I remember he told me that I sounded drunk. Well, after I told him that I was drunk. Smart boy, that Jim.
I think I'm going to stick around here one more night, but this one is going involve A LOT less alcohol. Probably will involve a movie somehow or another. Either a rental or a dollar theater flick. I voted on Shrek at the dollar theater... we'll see what becomes of that.
Anyway, so I had a flight out of Cleveland at 9:30am on Tuesday (9/11) and actually got on my plane only to learn all about the kamikaze hijackers and the Twin Towers from the captain about 10 minutes later. Craziness. Absolute craziness.
Luckily, my dad was flying out of Cleveland at the same time to go to Chicago. So, thinking that the airport was probably going to be shut down for the day, we started driving around 10am EST. And listened to the news a lot of the day. While many people were glued to their televisions, I didn't see any footage of stuff until later on that evening. Howard Stern, surprisingly enough, had excellent coverage of everything, so we listened to him for awhile. Anyway, Dave was a great friend and picked me up in Janesville, WI and brought me back to Madison after we'd been driving all day. I hung out with folk in Madison (ok, hung out with JIM and dropped by to see a few other people for short amounts of time). But the bar-hopping I had envisioned didn't exactly happen due to the lack of party mood in the country.
The next day (Wednesday), I stuck around long enough to take Jim to his 1:30 class and drove home. And was very glad to be there. Had my dad not needed to be in Illinois yesterday, I would still be in Cleveland. Anyway, still no word from the uni in Germany. Damn them.
This weekend, I'm going to Ames to hang out with old Iowa State/high school friends, and I'm excited. I'm leaving sometime tomorrow for that.
Well, since I borrowed my mom's car today, I need to go pick her up from work. Bye.
I say this for a couple of reasons. Firstly, I did not die after getting my wisdom teeth out. I did, however, gargle one helluva lot of warm salt water. Blech.
And this next one needs some background. So, I've been trying to get to Cleveland to visit my dad for a couple of weeks now. Two problems. I don't have a car, and I started looking for plan tickets too late. Most tickets were $400+ to get from Waterloo to Cleveland, so I was starting to think I was going to have to take a Greyhound. Then I kinda convinced my mom to let me drive out there by myself. (Wow! Major breakthrough.) But, on Friday night, I saw a deal out at www.lastminutetravel.com for a flight from Madison to Cleveland for $130.50. Wow. But it was for the next morning. OK, friends are here, so I'll update later.
Mr. Movies had $.49 movie day yesterday, so I rented 4 and borrowed 2 from a friend of mine. I hope I'm not bored the next few days. I'm going to be making pudding and jello before too long. I'm not allowed to eat before the surgery and I'm getting hungry. I accidentally had 2 M & M's this morning. Oops.
So, I found out a few days ago that my friend Nick's in town! I've been hanging out with him the last few days, and Angie (she's back in town) and I slept there last night. That makes me happier. But they're leaving this weekend! Damn them.
Umm... I can't think of much more to say. I'm nervous about the surgery, but I'm sure it'll all be ok.
I think that I'll be somewhat bored the next few weeks, so I'll probably update this a bit more often. In case you were wondering, here are my plans for the next few weeks:
9/4: meet with dentist (annual checkup) and oral surgeon (see 9/5)
9/5: get wisdom teeth out
before 9/15: visit the dad/recover from wisdom teeth
weekend of 9/15: visit Iowa State friends
9/21-9/23: go to Madison, say farewell
9/25: leave for Germany
Right now, I'm just feeling kinda sad. Leaving good friends behind is never easy. Leaving good boyfriends behind is even harder. I'm going to be back in 3 weeks, but for today, I'm feeling kinda down. I'm glad I drove home and had something to concentrate on or else all I would have thought about was leaving Jim behind. Uncharacteristicly, I've been all emotional (rightfully so, though) the past week or so. Kinda like severe pms. Only it wasn't. Leaving sucks.
What sucks as well is the fact that I only have 2 friends who are in town right now. Angie, who I'm going to be living with all next year, and Audrie, who probably has to work all the time. Hopefully I'll be able to find one or both of them tomorrow or Tuesday.
I don't want to depress myself of anyone else by dwelling on leaving any more, so I'm going to sign off. Bye.
So, now I'm moving into Jim's apartment for a few weeks. I guess we'll see how that goes. Hercules has been driving me absolutely nuts the last few nights. That damn cat has been so hungry for attention! He wakes up in the middle of the night and won't shut up unless you follow him around and give him lots of attention. Sunday night I went to bed around 11, but Hercules meowed for about 7 hours total, so I only managed to get like 3 hours of work. I was pretty tired. He's probably kept me up about an hour every night since then.
What else? I'm almost finished at work. I'm so ready to be done! I've been training the next project manager, and I think she'll do a great job. She has more enthusiasm and better ideas than me, which is great. (Speaking of my job, I had a dream the other night that as my going away gift for doing such a great job, my bosses gave me and Jim a trip to Korea! How random. I think it meant that I was going to have to get my wisdom teeth out *AFTER* going to Germany, but oh well.) Anyway, I'm leaving for Germany on September 25 and arriving the 26th. I'm going to *just* miss my birthday in the US. I think I'll be able to deal.
Well, I need to get back to work. I don't know if I'm going to be able to write in this much in the next few weeks, but look back in September definitely. I'm going to be home and pretty bored.
I've been bored this week. Jim's been gone since last Sunday (he's in New York), and I've been on my own. So I haven't been bored *all* week. Maybe only for about 2 hours today. I finished my book, so that's probably why. I'm already about a fourth into the other books that I own, and the fact that I'm not diving into them right now is a good sign that I probably won't get around to reading them anytime soon. Like in the next year.
Anyway, so this pseudo-lonliness. I think it's just me avoiding actually admitting that i miss Jim. Oh well. Good thing I've become friends with his next door neighbors... they've provided lots of entertainment for me this last week, not to mention lots of action for my roommate (we set my roommate and one of their roommates up a few weeks ago, and they seem to be getting along great!)
This summer is a lot of fun... if only there weren't this whole work thing. I really don't mind the money, but I'm sure going to be glad when the job is over. I don't like working with the people that I do. It is, however, excellent experience, so I shouldn't bitch too much. I was on TV once this last week and on the radio, too! Enh. Not a big fan of the media. I just have the picture of rats scavenging for the worst words you say to print/broadcast for everyone to hear. Oh well. Anyway, I'm somewhat anxious for some new people to join the team, and they will be shortly. Yay!
I went sky-diving a few weekends ago. It was pretty kickass. But, as I probably could have told you beforehand, it sure is hard to make yourself climb out of a plane. While it's at 4600 feet. Going about 100 MPH. Yeah.
Oh that note, I'm signing off. Until next time.
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Saturday, June 23
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Man, it's been a long time since I've written anything here. Sorry.
Basically, my time's been occupied by work, going out and grilling. What a life. I was sitting around on my porch today thinking, "Hmm.. so what should I be doing right now?" And the answer was... NOTHING. It feels good. Nothing to read for school, no papers to write, and work doesn't (or shouldn't at least) carry over into the weekend. yay for summer!
Speaking of work, there's so much going on! We finally got the ambassadors out on the streets and there's been lots of media coverage and stuff. I've already been to one city council type meeting, I got an e-mail requesting an interview on the radio, I'm supposed to appear on a public access-type TV show in about a month, and I'm supposed to speak at a meeting for all of the downtown business owners in a month, too. It's almost overwhelming. So, we have an office, we have all the ambassadors we need, and now all we need is a phone. And that's on Tuesday. Hopefully.
I was at the farmer's market earlier today, and that place is great. :) So many fresh vegetables! I held myself back and only bought lettuce and cilantro. I'm going to make tacos later this week, so that's what it's for.
I don't know where Jim is right now, so I'm going to try to go find him....
but here's the big news.... I got promoted! I'm excited about it. I'm going to be "project manager" for the program. Which means a lot more money. And the same job, plus a few more office-type duties. And I might get to hire some people. and I may have to train some people. Both possibilities thrill me. :) This should be an awesome resume-builder. I can't wait to tell me dad.
Anyway, my roomies got home after not being here for about 5 or 6 days, so I think it's about time for me to go home and clean the kitchen. And catch a bus. Later.
Speaking of Jim, I give him major cool points for going with me to the Stuart Davis concert last night. I made him listen to one of his songs a while back, and his response: "I think that at one point in my life, I would have listened to him..." Meaning, of course, NOT NOW. Anyway, I dragged him along, despite the fact that his tonsils are not only swollen and hurt like hell, they're also bleeding occasionally. He told me today that they're a bit more swollen and a little whitish. Not good. He went to the hospital, and all the nurses could tell him was that he didn't have strep. And that he should drown his miseries in Ibuprofin (or howeveryouspellit). Oh yeah-- back to the show. So Stuart Davis rocked my world, like usual. He's just really good in concert. He's pretty quirky and very funny. Not to mention that he has a really cool voice, he's talented with the guitar and is attractive...
My roommates are going to be gone until Wednesday. I think I'm going to get lonely before then. But my training as a "walking concierge/ambassador" will have started by then, so I'll have something to tell my roommates by the time they're back.
Well, I think it's about time to get something to eat/shower/go home (not quite sure of the order yet). Bye!
Not much has happened since, umm... last night, BUT I did get off my ass and do something (last night). I was very tempted to just sit around my empty apartment and read, but I ended up calling not one, but TWO people to see what they were up to. AND I tried to find a friend's birthday party (but with no luck). I only had one drink at the Pub, but I had a good time anyway, and I got about 10 hours of sleep. ahh... the weekend.
today, I got a call from Jim saying that his tonsils were about to explode and that he was going to the doctor... I guess he's not dying, but no kissing for him for a few days. Anyway, I was just about out the door to make fun of.... I mean, to make Jim feel better, and then my brother called. He was in town, so we had lunch together, and while we were out, 2 guys from Iowa State (Joel, who apparently now goes to grad school here and Tom, another random honors student who probably graduated this last year) were eating at the same place. Talk about random. Anyway, that's about enough out of me... I have a date tonight.
The apartment's all moved into. I met the 3rd roommate, Sarah, shortly thereafter, and she's cool. My dad came to town, and Jim met him... he took us out to dinner one night at a Japanese place and tried to get us kinda drunk. Well, maybe didn't try, but I didn't leave there completely sober. Friggin' saki.
I went to Tucson last weekend and had a blast hanging out with an old high school friend, her boyfriend, and another friend from Iowa State (katie, jonathan, brenton). We went to the zoo, heard a mariachi (or however you spell it) band at a mexican restaurant, got drunk at this crazy polynesian bar with crazy drinks (and a parrot!) and watched Shrek. When Brenton and I were waiting for our respective flights at the Minneapolis airport on our way home, we ended up getting something to eat and drink, and I started out my flight home to Madison somewhat tipsy; i was amused.
I think I have a job for the summer now. Too bad I'm going to look like a friggin' bumblebee... I have to wear a uniform and it's black and yellow. I'm trying not to imagine the worst, but I'm sure that's exactly what it'll be. But I'm going to be a walking ambassador to downtown Madison. I'm going to basically walk up and down State Street and around the capitol and that's my job. All day. I'll answer questions people have and if I see any fires or whatever, I'll use my handy walkie talkie and call the fire department or whatever. It's full time, and training starts on Monday. I'm interested to see how I like it.
I have my apartment to myself for the weekend. yay! anyway, I think it's time to take off for the bar. Until next time..
Anyway, well, I only have 1 more final. It's tomorrow, and I haven't even started studying. But it's not until 5PM, and I don't think it'll be all that hard. Not like I really even care about the class, but that's an entirely different story.
Has anything interesting been going on with me? Not really.. my dad's coming to town on Saturday, I think. I was *kinda* planning on crashing at Jim's place that night (partly because one of the guys in my soon-to-be apartment isn't going to move out until Saturday evening), but my Dad asked me if he could crash at the apartment, so umm... I guess there goes that plan. Now to figure out what to do with my dad while he's in town. Hmmm..
I have this friggin' cold and it's not making me all that happy. I don't have a single cold all semester (or not that I can remember at least), and then I get one RIGHT before finals week is supposed to start. And noooo..., it can't be one of those 2-day colds. Damnit. Oh well.
Off to study for the test (over coffee with Jessica.. I wonder how much is going to get done...).
Anyway, I have 2 finals tomorrow, and oddly enough, I don't really think that I need to study for either of them any more. I looked over all of my computer science stuff, and I couldn't really find anything that I hadn't heard and that I didn't alreadu know how to do. But I looked over it for like half an hour, so that makes me feel pretty ill-prepared for the final.
German, on the other hand, is going to be a killer. 2 hours straight of writing! It's not so much the subject matter--- it's my poor hand that I'm concerned about... I'm meeting with Andreanna tomorrow (right after my comp sci final) to go over everything one last time before the exam. Friggin' 19th century German authors-- why did they have to write so much?! I decided that one way to study for the exam was to call one of my German host families, so that's what I did. It was nice talking to them. :)
Hmm... main things: I started a job tonight. I'm going to take about a week and a half break, then start up again for a week. It's just temp work. Telephone surveys. Fun, fun!
Last day of classes today. I just realized that if things work out, I'm not going to be taking classes at the US for more than a year! Yay Germany!
Ya know, actually, I was surfing tonight, and ALL I really wanted to post (before I started rambling) was Tom's homepage. What a weird guy. New York's the place for him, most definitely.
Oh yeah. I'm excited to go to visit Katie and Jonathan... only 2 more weeks!
I think it's time for bed now. Gotta start studying for finals tomorrow!