Monday, September 20, 2010

Ramblings of...

...books. I finished my most recent book today: Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman. I thought it was pretty darn excellent. Overall, I'd recommend Neil Gaiman for a good read. But if you liked the movie Stardust, for the love of all things holy, don't read the book. Normally, I'd never say that. But I absolutely love the movie. And I like Neil Gaiman. So I decided to read the book. I have never been so sad and let down over a book in my life. If they had never made the movie, I would probably have thought the book was okay. Back to Anansi Boys. I'd definitely recommend it. Other than that, most of the other books I've read recently are Sophie Kinsella books. I totally blame Vix on this one. They have become an absolute guilty pleasure.

...school. So it starts Thursday (technically), but I have a four hour program meeting on Wednesday. I'm so nervous. Like the type of nervous you have when you have date with someone you really, really like, and you're excited about it because you like the person, but you're scared witless because you're pretty sure you'll do something, and they'll hate you. Like that. Except with a school. How weird. I got my textbooks the other day, and realized, all through undergrad, I never really appreciated what a real textbook looks and feels like. Just one (yes, there are more for the class) of my anatomy and physiology books is like 3 inches thick and could be used to hunt lions. I started reading another one of my textbooks the other day - yes, I'm that excited that I'm actually reading the stuff before school starts. I know, what a dork! But I've come to the conclusion that at least, the anatomy and physiology class is going to hunt me down and devour me. But it should be fun...ha!

...me. It's not so much any more, but every now and then, I still get the impression that people that know me still categorize me as the girl that got married. That is my major accomplishment in life. I feel that this is wrong. Not just because I feel like it underscores my achievements and worth as an individual and a woman, but also because I feel like it cheapens marriage. Marriage is not an "achievement," like the little medals you got in school for the read-a-thon, or something you unlock on Xbox live. I get the impression that people see getting married as a medal, and then it's something that you can point to on your mantle and brag about. It's more like a book or a piece of artwork. You start it, at the beginning, and you continue to work on it until the end. It's a personal piece of artwork, not one that you finish quickly to show off to everyone. And it doesn't come with guarantees and sunshine and happiness; that's part of the work you have to put into it to get closer to finish the painting. Otherwise it'll never be done. Like, just because you're married doesn't mean you'll actually eat together more than once a week. But life goes on. And it's fine, because you work it out.

Okay, enough of me pretending to be smart!

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Ignorance. I has it.

Okay, I'm not going to try to spout infinite wisdom on immigration or anything, but let's get one thing straight and stop pretending. Racism IS a large part of the problem. And I can say this surely because I've been on the receiving end of it, as well as my mom and my dad. Apparently, people are more likely assume that you're an Mexican, most likely illegal, if you work in the service industry. Which is racist to begin with. I don't get as much of it as my dad does, since I live in like the liberal capital of the south. I'm not normally disrespectful of old people no matter what, but I can say that the most of it can be summed up by what this old, white-trash, prick said to my dad one time when he was at his shift at the gas station: "We need more [Mexicans] like you" because my dad can speak English well and his job requires him respectful to assholes like this guy.

It takes a special kind of ignorant to make a statement like that.

Friday, May 28, 2010

Hola!

Yes, I know that I'm missing the upside-down exclamation point at the beginning of the name of my post, but I don't know how to make one of those, so there. It's been so long since I've updated! Time's flying all of a sudden, and I don't know why.

We went to a wedding of our two friends this last weekend. It was fun, and we got to see all of our friends (basically trivia people and a few others). And I got introduced to an amazing drink: vodka-soda with a splash of orange juice. Gross, you may think, but 'tis my favorite. Let me tell you, weddings are so much more fun when they're not yours :-D

So, I've been cleaning today and doing things while I have some spare time. Went to get the oil changed and waited at the place for an hour (they originally said 2 hours). I couldn't go anywhere because we have one car, :-P , that was getting it's oil changed and tires rotated. But I sat outside against the building in the shade, reading, and it was actually very, very nice. It was funny, because when I went inside to pay and get the car key, the guys were making fun of me saying, "You already finished all the chapters?" I like them here better than the other place we used to go. The other place was more expensive, and they were supposed to check the fluids, and *surprise, surprise* not even a week later our brake light came on because the brake fluid was low.

As far as the cleaning goes, I've been packing up winter clothes and such and putting them away to make room in the closet. Rasha's been prancing around after me. This little dog LOVES to travel. Any time I start packing anything, she gets all excited because she thinks she's going somewhere (even if I'm just cleaning or unpacking). She loves riding in the car. She even like the car wash. She was a little nervous when it started at first, but then she got really interested in what was happening outside the car.

I just finished reading an article on Sarah Palin - these really entertain my brain. Anyone with half a brain and a TV or YouTube can tell that nothing intelligent has probably ever come out of that woman's mouth. My brain like to concoct situations where a person like her, even dumber and more belligerent than W, got a hold of the country and totally ran it into the ground. Then it likes to think on questions like, "when things get absolutely horrible in the States, and people try sneaking into Canada, will they (the Canadians) start talking about building a military fence to 'keep the crazy Americans out'"? :-D Now imagine that situation Canadian Bacon style. Hilarious.

Hmm... I keep forgetting to eat lunch, then end up eating really late, so when I look at the clock, I panic when I see 3:40! Well I guess it's time to go finish cleaning and packing for Greenville.

:-)

Monday, April 26, 2010

Yay Arizona!

Of all the negative things that everyone saying about Arizona's recent law-passing spree (the clear violation of civil rights against anyone of not white skin tone, flashbacks to the days of slavery and the stars that Jews were made to wear by the Nazis, etc.), I have something positive to say:

...At least, Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert have someone else to bash besides South Carolina :-D

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Mad Post-Zombie-Apocalypse Skillz

So it's been an interesting week (or so). Mostly just life as normal - busy, busy.

Recent accomplishments:
- Finished a sweater(-ish?) thing that I started a while ago and promptly forgot about.
- Confessed my love for refashioning old things and thrift stores. Chuck just realized that he has nicer clothes now that we shop at thrift stores, and he gets hand me downs from my brothers.
- Started planning my trip to SC while Chuck's living it up in Florida. Seems like I'll be in Cola on the first, making a side trip to Charleston to see Kay (or maybe meeting half way?) on Sunday, then in G'ville until Wednesday morning.
- Realized that April is nearly over, and I'm still confused about where March went.
- Need to sit down and review algebra so I can take my math test next week (hopefully).
- Found a new allergy medicine that is like magic :-D My old one just can't stand up to the pollen here. Finally had to change (I was stubbornly clinging to "I'm fiiiiine") after I had to call in sick to the hospital on Thursday. I'm pretty sure having their volunteers look like they have the plague isn't exactly what they're after.
- Realized that I need to be more up to date on local politics (I would've gone to the rallies if I had known about them ahead of time). The Georgia government was seriously thinking about cutting the Arts Council as part of budget cuts. The Arts Council provides much of the funding for pretty much all the arts in GA. They had a rally at the capitol building this Monday that I would've loved to go to :-( The governor's fiscal plan cuts 2/3 of the Georgia Arts Council's funding, which effectively destroys the Arts Council. Without the Arts Council, Georgia doesn't have another agency that would qualify for the National Endowment for the Arts, so we would lose that funding as well. And that would effectively make Georgia the only state (including territories) without a state arts council. Also, it would effectively raise the unemployment rate SIGNIFICANTLY from the all-time high we're at now (10.6%). In that case, we can't even comfort ourselves by saying, "Well, there's always Alabama."
- Another political rally I wish I had gone to was last night. This dilemma actually made national news. MARTA currently is the 9th largest transit system in the country, and of those, is the only one that doesn't get state aid. They run solely off of fares and a penny sales tax in two counties (of the 28 in the Metro Atlanta area). And of that sales tax, it is ILLEGAL for them to use 50% of that revenue for day-to-day cost. They HAVE to use it on new things. So basically they're asking the state for money (like everyone else), and are pretty sure they aren't going to get it, but what they'd really like is for that law to be rewritten so they can use their money for their operating costs. If the state decides to do nothing, MARTA will have to cut a THIRD of it's service, raise fares (again), and lay off up to 1,500 of it's 5000 employees. Can you imagine what would happen to Atlanta if 30% of the trains and buses were stopped? We've already got like the second worse commute in the country (at least LA's got us there) - and you're just going to put that many more cars on the roads? Not to mention that about half the people that ride MARTA have no other form of transportation available. The state of Georgia has always had it in for MARTA (and Atlanta) - I think they're being even more pissy now with all the liberal things that have happened at the federal level lately. Oh, and proof - they're working on other legislation which will basically let individual areas (districts) tax for transit systems - and they specifically, by name, said these funds cannot go to MARTA.

Basically Georgia's doing it's best to make sure we (as a state) continue to spiral downwards economically. But we can handle it - because we've recently started categorizing our skills in terms of how useful they'd be after a zombie apocalypse. And we've started honing our skills to prepare for such an event. We'll be prepared for when Georgia becomes the ass end of the U.S. and then eventually the country gets so tired of us, they'll just boot us out :-P Or maybe they'll just send in special forces to take out the great governor Sonny Perdue.

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Update after talking to Chuck's mom: apparently Perdue snuck in (without telling ANYONE) a merit-based pay for teachers in his budget without telling anyone after the state legislature voted against this last year. Merit-based pay is basically saying, well we'll pay you, but only equivalent to the progress we think that your students have made. Naturally, this has the teachers up in arms (especially Chuck's mom - can you imagine getting paid on the "progress" the government thinks your special needs students have made?) And one thing EVERY politician in Georgia should learn: DON'T PISS OFF THE TEACHERS. They're the only reason that Perdue got voted in (when his predecessor was asked why GA schools are the rear-end of the country's school systems, he said "Oh, it's the teachers' fault." Ironically, GA has some of the most politically active teachers in the country). So, I hope Perdue is ready to go down in flames.

Also, the State Senate voted to restore some of the money that the House approved to cut from the Arts Council. So the Arts Council lives, but barely - it still got over half it's budget cut.

Monday, April 12, 2010

Innovative :-D

Scrolling through the inter-webs, I came across this during lunch today. The Royal Shakespeare Company is "performing" a modernized version of Romeo & Juliet via Twitter over then next five weeks. I thought it was a cool idea. The article that I read that I found out about it from had some people going on about what a travesty this is and such. Get over it - it's art and creativity. One of the biggest things about creativity is trying new things. So whatever - those are probably the same type of people that would have told Van Gogh to get his eyes adjusted and would have tried to tell Seurat that you can't paint using dots. And they probably would have told Picasso that people don't have that many corners.

Hah, anyway, here's the link to the main page. Check it out :-)
http://www.suchtweetsorrow.com/

Wednesday, April 7, 2010

Atlanta is YELLOW

So...the trees are horny. Extremely so here, apparently. There is a yellow haze in the air. A blanket of yellow covering anything and everything outside. The horizon looks yellow unless you look straight up from where you are standing. Also, we think the the pollen count chart is broken. Here's how it works. It counts the number of pollen particles in a cubic meter of air over a 24 hour period.

Here's the ratings:
0-30 = Low
31-60 = Moderate
61-120 = High
120+ = Extremely High

.........Today's pollen count in Atlanta is 5733.

X_X I think we broke their rating system.

Monday, April 5, 2010

Just my luck.

http://www.usatoday.com/life/lifestyle/pets/2010-04-02-dolittler02_ST_N.htm

Lol. It's not the article that's funny, it's the timing of the study release. And as Chuck, oh-so-kindly pointed out, how closely the personality description resembles my own. Heehee, I'm not worried though - that's why I'm tiptoeing into the kiddie end of the pool instead of diving off the deep end and trying straight for vet school. Hmm... I never liked diving boards anyway. I've had this fear of them ever since I took swimming lessons, and they made us jump off the board. In this case, doing something does not make that something less scary. So there, swim instructor at the YMCA. There :-P

Friday, April 2, 2010

Same thing we do every night, Pinky...

Hmm... I'm in the mood to watch cartoons. But not new cartoons - the old ones I used to watch. Just to see how different they'd seem now that I know more. Speaking of old cartoons, a few weeks ago we had a question about the Animaniacs at trivia. (What was their last name?) We got it on a guess; a very clever guess at that.

So I'm writing this while I eat, as part of my lunch break. So I still work from home, but we've decided that I'll go in once to twice a week to show the progress and get feedback. That's good for me, because I can concentrate better here, and I don't have to commute every day. I did go out there (to Kennesaw) on Tuesday afternoon, because I had a lot of questions, and I wanted to see the mock up they've made. Got most of my questions answered so I can work now (yay!), and got to see the container that they had partly built out. It was really cool. They hadn't finished it, mainly because they did it to see if what works in theory, really works. They're thinking about changing the floor material because it's not very water resistant (just plywood currently). He's hoping in a month or so that they'll be able to fully build out one of the single container houses. Which would be awesome :-) And I got my first check as I was about to leave (in advanced I guess, b/c I hadn't really done much by then), so yay!

Paid the rent ON TIME this month, but our new lease started so we had to pay more anyway :-P Had a little sadness episode on Wednesday as a worked because I got the invitation on FB to Tracey's going away party. And I was working on Sketch Up (which we used to do a lot on the couch, and I haven't really done any architecture stuff since we lived together) and listening to the music that I got from her (that we would blare when Sonal wasn't there to yell at us :-P). So it just kind of made the perfect moment for it to sink in that she's moving like so far away (Albany, NY), and I already barely get to see her - only twice, once at my wedding (so it doesn't really count) and on New Years. Talked to my mom and cried a little about it because I felt like it deserved it. I guess it wouldn't bother me so much if Andrew wasn't going with her - because then it would be like, well she has to come back because of Andrew at least. Ah well. But I'm so happy for her! And now that I've given it the proper amount of tears, it's okay :-) Don't ask me how it works, it just does. Besides, this gives me more incentive to make that road trip real! Especially if Sonia ends up at Columbia or Brown, she's basically told me that the reason she'd go there is to see my family more - so in that case, I guess I have no choice :-P

I found out from my online banking that everyone (Gwinnett Tech, Clemson, Greenville Tech, and College Board/AP Exams) has cashed their checks so those transcripts all better make it to my application and everything better be hunky-dory. And last weekend we took Rasha and went for a long walk on this hiking/walking trail that's on Emory's campus. It was really amazing, in that it felt like we were in the woods, away from the city, but the whole time we were really only about ten minutes from downtown Atlanta. Talk about weird. But I took a lot of pictures for fun and hopefully I'll have time to sort through them and put them up on Flickr or Picasa or something.

Anyway, enough for now. Time to try to take over the world!

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

A little bit of everything.

Okay, this post is going to start with a rant and go on to other things that I've been meaning to write about. So if you're not in the mood see ranting skip ahead to the second dotted line.

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So, first of all, let me put this out there, I am in no way going on a rampage to make everyone I know a vegetarian. That said, please, PLEASE stop using the excuse that you will shrivel up and DIE if you don't eat meat. I don't usually go on political rants and political issues usually don't get to me as badly as some people (coughCHUCKcough), but this really hits a sore spot. To the point where I have to concentrate on not having to sock the person talking to stop the spew of ignorance. I think it's because when people use that argument, it implies that I'm allowing my body to wither away because I don't give it enough protein to live. That I'm just that stupid. Well, sorry to burst your pretty little bubble of a world, but I'm not that stupid. I'm not depriving my body of anything vital that it needs to live. There are plenty of other sources of protein, that are very available, especially since we don't live in a third world country and have lots of pretty stores that sell pretty much anything we'd ever desire. There are NO health detriments to being a vegetarian, in fact, being a vegan is one of the healthiest things you can do. Unfortunately, I love my dairy too much to be a vegan, and I have no problem admitting that as the reason that I probably will never be a vegan. On the other hand, when you make up reasons, cite reasons that have NO factual basis, that means (to me at least) that you just can't admit the fact that you like meat, therefore you don't want to be a vegetarian. So please, if you don't want to be vegetarian, that's fine - I don't care, I'm not offended, and I don't judge your lifestyle. But please be kind enough not to slander my lifestyle in the process of trying to justify your own to yourself. I don't do it to you, so you shouldn't to it to me. Especially to my face. Then you might get socked.

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Okay, now on to the other stuff I've been meaning to talk about. I think that, for a little while at least, this blog might just become a place that I reflect on stuff that I'm realizing about myself and life in general. I've realized that it helps to write these things down and re-read them when I start to doubt myself.

First of all, the more I think about it and live with my decision, the more I think this is the best thing for me to do! Animals are one thing that I'm truly passionate about, and it's one thing that hasn't changed for most of my life. I'm passionate about other things, but they kind of come and go in waves. And now that I'm pretty much 99.9% certain about this, I feel more creative too. Like, since I don't *have* to be creative, I enjoy it more now, and I feel even more creative - like I don't have boundaries now!

Another thing that I'm excited about is that not only is this going to be intellectually challenging, and physically, but it'll also be emotionally challenging. And that will make me a better person. I'd love to work with the Humane Society or the SPCA one day. That's another thing that helping me see that this could really work - I can actually see myself working as a vet tech. I never could see myself working as an architect. I always just kind of assumed it would happen once I got tossed into the "real world." I guess that never happened!

So the last few weeks I've been waiting and talking back and forth with Gwinnett Tech to find out if I'll need to take a pre-req chemistry course that's required to be done before June 20th (the admission deadline). Basically, if I needed to take it, I'd have to find a Maymester course somewhere that would transfer, enroll and take it. I would have to start working on that immediately, so I was waiting to get all that straightened out before I started a job so I would make sure I had time for a class if I needed it. But I found out today that AP credit transfers (hooray, Mr. Dalby!) so now I get to go find a job (which should be easier now for a whole list of reasons) and save money for tuition! Hopefully I'll get in :fingers crossed: and if not, I'll keep trying until I do. I really like the way this program is structured, and Gwinnett Tech is supposed to be really good. Not to mention that I met with Dr. Ballard, the vet who is the head of the program, started the program, and is one of the two permanent professors in the program, and I really like her. She's very no-nonsense and straight forward.

Other than that, we visited my parents this past weekend. I got to see a good bit of Mallory! She came by after work on Friday to have some banana-chocolate bread (made by me!) while she waited for her friend to get off work. She ended up staying a good while, because of some totally stupid customers her friend had to deal with, and we got to talk a good while. Then we got to have lunch on Saturday, wander Falls Park, and go see Totally Red at the Children's Theater. It was really cute. And if like me, you have never been to Falls Park, for the love of everything holy, GO! You have no excuse - as I had no excuse. And while you're there, go to Blueberry Frog - absolutely the BEST frozen yogurt I've ever had. Then Saturday evening, we hung out with my mom and play monopoly - which I won for like the third time...ever. Overall, an excellent day. Sunday on the other hand...it's amazing how a well-placed, snippy, snide three minute conversation pointing out all your flaws can totally ruin your whole day. If Saturday hadn't been so good, I'd say my whole weekend. Especially when the person talking is your dad. Le sigh. I spent the rest of the day going through cycles of crying and being very angry. But Chuck and my mom are awesome; they gave me lots of hugs, and told me all the right things.

Then yesterday, now that I had a plan and was about to go out on Wednesday (once I found out about the class) and pretty much beg for a job at whatever store, when I got a call from Jay asking if I'd like to do some design work for one of his friends. His friend actually asked for another of Jay's friends that's in advertising, but she never got back to him. So he was checking with me to see if I'd be interested, and then he was going to talk to his friend. So that looks promising, but I'm not getting too excited or anything. I'll meet with Jay and see what happens. But I think even if that doesn't work, I could get a job at any store now, because they won't be worried that I'll run off once I get a awesome architecture job. I almost got some jobs like that before, but pretty much they all decided to with someone else b/c a high school student would be more permanent than I would. But now, I'd be more permanent! Heehee :-)

I think there was other stuff I wanted to write about, but I'm hungry b/c I decide to write this instead of eating. I didn't think it would take as long, but I got interrupted by a text convo with Tracey! She's going to Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute for her Master's in Architecture! It's in Rensselaer, New York, pretty close to Albany. I'm so excited for her! I'm already planning a road trip for Chuck and I (even though we have no money right now for it :-P) to visit her and Andrew up there, and Vicky on the way! Maybe if my dad decides to move to the Halifax plant, (waaaay in the future, so I'll talk about that later - hunger takes precedence :-P) we'll visit my parents too! Heehee, I'm silly sometimes in how excited I get.

Much love 'til later. Now time for noms. ^_^ (Yes, I know I'm having a very, VERY late lunch.)

Wednesday, March 17, 2010

AAAAHHHHHH!!! :squeeeeeaaaaal:

I DID IT!!!! I have *finally*, FINALLY figured out how to alter my own pants. And on top of that - I DID IT!!! And it's awesome, and great, and amazing, and everything! I finally did it on this pair of nice black pants with this checked/boxy design (sounds totally 80s and gross, but it's really cute and not overwhelming...Think pinstripes but in both directions) that I got in the juniors' clearance for like seven bucks. The waist was waaaaay to big (even bigger than usual on me) because everyone knows that all juniors are built like logs with no curves what-so-ever. Duh. But anyway, so I managed to take in the waist and shorten the legs by 1.25," and it doesn't look home-sewn at all! It's like the pants were just made for me :-D It took me the better part of the day to figure it out (and work up the guts to actually take the pants apart to do it), but I did it! Yay me! Now if I could actually work up the guts to make a pair of pants... :-D

Friday, March 12, 2010

Wow O_o

It's things like this that make me want to move far, far, FAR north when I have children - so they don't become brainwashed by people being ridiculous and trying to re-write history. Honestly? You can't just CUT OUT Thomas Jefferson from the American Revolution because you don't like what he said.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/13/education/13texas.html?emc=eta1

Thursday, March 11, 2010

Meh. Not awake enough to title this post.

So, yesterday I got ALL of my paperwork done and mailed off in an orderly fashion for Gwinnett Tech. Now it's just waiting for the post office to do it's job. So that the college gets all it's info then can contact me. In the mean time, I'm continuing to sift through jobs at all the hospital systems and healthcare systems. Yeah, I *just* realized that Atlanta has a metric crap tonne (yes, spelled the British way - it's that big) of hospitals, and they've *got* to have some people doing desk/secretary/appointment scheduling type of work.

In other news, I have insomnia again. But not in the I-just-can't-sleep kind of way. Also in the once-I-do-get-to-sleep-I-wake-up-at-dust-bunnies-sneezing kind of way. I've gone through sleeping through football games in Death Valley to waking up to rain. How messed up is that? Rain makes people sleepy! Not wakes them up, then taunts them with all it's watery noises. Blah. This is getting so annoying. Especially the other night when I took a sleeping pill (like benedryl but a stronger antihistamine), and went to bed all happy that I'd get sleep...only to not sleep...urgh.

Well, I'm off to try again with this sleeping thing.

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

College Board LIES

Just a note:

So remember back in high school when the AP test people told you that if you ever lost that little booklet with your AP number on the back of it, horrible, horrible things would happen? The world would end, there would be an outbreak of zombies and we would all get our brains eaten? Worse of all, you'd never, EVER get your AP scores ever again?!

Well... they totally lied. :-D Damn scare tactics.

Monday, March 8, 2010

The latest, I suppose...

So I figured it's time to write again. Practice doesn't work if you don't, well, practice.

This weekend wasn't bad - part relaxing, part thrift store-ing, part being mad at the insurance company, and part hanging out at the in-laws. The first two parts are pretty self-explanatory. So I'll skip them.

Insurance company: Our insurance company is Aetna. Chuck gets his through his deal with Emory. So we only have to buy mine, as a dependent on his policy - and anyone that's paid for health insurance knows it ain't cheap. And since he's a student, pretty much all of our medical stuff goes through student health. That's all good and fine. So we paid my third quarter payment, like good little children. Day after we mail off the check, we get a notice in the mail saying "if we don't get the check by such and such, your policy will terminate." We thought, well okay, we mailed it yesterday, it's fine, the notice and our check probably crossed in the mail. So fast forward a month to this past Friday. We get a notice in the mail saying that my coverage is terminated, with an addendum at the bottom saying, "if you paid, then please disregard this message." Let me just say - there are SO many things wrong with this situation.
Firstly, you can't just send out mass termination messages without being at least 90% sure that the person hasn't paid - talk about mass hysteria. Secondly, they had cashed my check on Feb. 25th, five days before that letter was postmarked. Thirdly, if you take away a week each way for mail time (which is generous), that still leaves two work weeks for them to update their system. Fourthly, I had (no longer do) an appointment on Wednesday for an annual physical (not even anything special), and apparently I don't have insurance, that I paid for.

That leaves two possibilities: someone other than Aetna cashed that check, or they took my money and ended my coverage. Turns out it was the second one. I mean, seriously? Talk about interdepartmental communication failure.

Okay, so enough ranting about that - hanging out at Chuck's parents' house was fun. Got to play with all the dogs. And got to see Amy and Josh because it's their spring break. Unfortunately, Chuck's dad had to run around a lot because Chuck's mom's car decided not to turn off. They had to pulled some fuse/relay thing out of the engine before it overheated, and tow the thing to the dealership.

Other than that, not much. We've been taking Rasha on longer walks to this dog park that's maybe 15 minutes away. The first time we took her there she was really overwhelmed and bared her teeth at all the doggies that tried to say hi to her. But this time she was really shy but she explored the whole dog park and even said hi to some of the dogs. But the best thing was that she actually went up to this one lady there, albeit cautiously, and actually let her pet her! I think that Rasha's a little more trusting of people that she sees with dogs. I believe that her people to trust meter goes like this, from most trusted to least:

Chuck and Puja -> Chuck's and Puja's families -> Mallory (she was allowed to come into the apartment, so that makes her okay) -> Vix, Kay, the maintenance man, and some of Chuck's friends -> strangers with dogs with them -> strangers that smell like dog -> strangers that have nothing to do with dogs -> kids

Poor neurotic puppy. I think she's terrified of kids because she's never been exposed to them. And when they see her, they don't understand that she's scared of them and keep trying to pet her. Oh well, she'll learn eventually.

Friday, March 5, 2010

Picture Crazy

Hah! This picture is everywhere. It's slowly going to take over the world. Rasha the Wonder Puppy - AWAY!

If this is any indicator of the type of mom I'll be one day - the kind that takes a gazillion pictures of their babies - then the world is doomed. I'll be so busy taking pictures, I'll never have the time to find a cure to cancer. Alas. I'm sorry in advanced world.

On a completely unrelated note, I've recently discovered GTA San Andreas. This game is hilarious - such an overblown satire. Makes it very hard to take any of the game seriously.

On a completely related note, I'm bored and just writing to see myself write. Nobody said anyone actually had to read it. That's the beauty of the internet.

I am SO indecisive.

Okay, first, sorry that this isn't the next part of the story. It's been a LOONG few days, and I'm pooped. But I just wanted to go ahead and post about my question/answer session at Gwinnett Tech - the school I'm thinking about going to for the vet tech stuff. I met with the program director, Dr. Ballard, a veterinarian, who actually started the program and is one of the two permanent professors. It went well. The program seems really intense and hard. It's really competitive, and they only accept about 30 students every fall. It's a day time program (for the most part), and only about half the students graduate... Which of course, makes me want to do it more b/c I'm a sadist like that. She also explained a good bit about vet school later on (she used to be a vet tech too). Also the program is supposed to be really strong b/c it was the first program of it's kind certified by the AVMA that doesn't have animals on campus. That in turn makes it stronger b/c all of the students' hands-on experience has to be done off campus at clinics. So graduates of a normal/traditional program graduate with about 40-50 clinical hours, while graduates from Gwinnett Tech graduate with about 850 clinical hours. Needless to say, that makes job placement very easy (in addition to the apparent shortage of vet techs).

I guess the only thing really now is myself. I keep second guessing myself, and to be completely honest, I'm not sure why. I don't know if it's because it kind of goes against everything that I grew up with. My family (not my brothers really I don't think) doesn't really get why I would want to work with animals when I could do the same thing with people. And I wouldn't really make much money... I don't think it would be too bad. My dad doesn't know yet, and the general assessment I get is I shouldn't tell him until I'm enrolled and taking classes. I keep thinking that I'm talking myself into this, because it would be easy. But then the rational (itty bitty little) part reminds me that I've already made more of an effort in this field to make contacts, done more research, can actually see myself doing it, and I actually wanted to be a vet when I was little but my family made fun of me so I stopped. AHHHH! I need to make up my mind. Chuck thinks that I've got my heart set on it, I'm just rationalizing it to shreds.

Bleh - I'm so indecisive. I'll write the story after I wake up from my sleeping pill induced sleep :-) Love you guys!