WOW! Don't wanna be an American IDIOT!!!

I have come to realize that the world view of the "American" is ... as such...




but really...

Doesn't this sound more like YOU?

Quarter Centuries and Last Days

I love last days! Everyone is so nice and you get free lunch and chocolate cake! I really am glad to be starting at Saggio's again. Good people, good pizza, and better $ and bosses! I even get to keep my dental insurance for a while... SWEET Even more exciting ... I get to start school again in January. I've decided to do GIS (Geographic Information Systems) instead of AUTO CAD because it will be better experience for my planning passion! I'm happy this job is coming to an end, but sad to leave the fun people here. I'm afraid my myspace and blog will be worse for the ware.
Todd is now 25. That is correct... a quarter of a century old. The old fart pulled off his birthday very well! Actually it was more of a birthWEEK than a birthDAY. We went out on Wednesday for birthday dinner, Thursday for birthday beer, Friday was spent putting up birthday decorations for his SECOND birthday party! It is almost impossible to surprise this boy, but I think we did the best we could! What worked out the best, I think was having a decoybq! He thought that his party was a small bbq at his sisters until we blindfolded him and drove him to Chad's house for his REAL birthday party! Luck of the Irish Birthday bash was SO much fun! Everyone showed up, and there was much rejoicing... and drinking... and eating... and being very very merry happy!

MEGA!

Yes! Only 6 days left of working with the mega bitch! As my mother would say, "Praise JESUS!" I'm so excited to work at Saggios again, and why wouldn't I be? Better hours, better pay, faster work days, better co-workers, better bosses! I will miss a few people though! It was being introduced to the professional world, and it was nice to have educated and experienced people to talk to everyday. Too bad I was miserable! I'm so excited to go back to school in the spring! Hopefully the last two years have not completely rotted my brain away.

I had such a crazy, fun weekend!
Megan had a housewarming party! Drunken fun! Those crazy kids and their beer bongs! I think I had the WORST hangover of my LIFE the next day!

Todd's sister&hubby had a bbq the next day. I LOVE TODD'S FAMILY! I've been told you're family is who you make it, but I don't think I could make a family as great. They are so kind, and thoughtful, and supportive! I took a few blows from my own family at my brother's wedding... Don't get me wrong-my family are good people (excuse my english). But, they somehow don't understand propriety, and have a very difficult time understanding anyone who does not understand their strict Christian values. I suppose, in my family I'm a bit of a black sheep! Jen's friend who I like to call "Surley" really made me feel better about everything. I am a good person! Just because I didn't end up just like my parents doesn't mean that they have a right to look down on me (even if I am a bigger person... and can hold my tongue). Hopefully my example with speak the words to them that I cannot.

Fickin bedpans!

More sudafed please!

Well, after my hope and longing for a part time (BETTER!) job, it looks like I won't be able to afford to quit till the end of the month... but alas... that's only the end of the month! My brother's wedding cost me a fortune! At least it was a vacation away from work!
Wedding Rundown:

Wed: We were picked up by my parents from the airport, had dinner with PIE!, and did a little bit of shopping at where else but WAL MART? We got to my parents house and relaxed for the evening. I got to see my groom-to-be brother's apartment. It's cute and has big closets... I don't think my brother will ever learn how to do dishes!

Thur: We set up camp at Interstate Park in St. Criox Falls, WI. My gramma let us use what she calls her "community car" all weekend. THANK YOU GRAMMA! We got back just in time for my mom and I to start prepping food for the wedding. I spent 4 hours cutting up fruit (3 watermelons and 13 cantaloup) with my aunt and mom. This is how my brother begins to owe me his soul!
We spent a little more time with my parents loading their trailer with stuff to bring to set up for the wedding reception (adding to the tab of the brother's soul!) ... then bought my brother some cervesas for his last night as a bachelor!
After a long day of work, we finally head to the campground. RELAXATION! Todd and I proceed to drink Leini's (a delicious WI beer!) After a few too many... I enjoy an hour of being a nudist, a loose the KEYS!

Fri: We wake up early to look for the keys... we finally give up and call the parents. Just as they are leaving to bring us a new set Todd finds the lost set and all is good again! Todd found the keys 100 feet from anywhere we thought we had been, so I blamed it on a raccoon!
Todd and I arrive just in time to pick up some food to bring to the reception and begin a hung over day of decorating. (a 9 hour day of decorating that is!) We set up tables, chairs, ate greasy Chinese, and everyone watched as we strung hundreds of yards of tool and christmas lights. TEAM LIGHTS!
OFF to the rehearsal! Everything went well and we ate some delicious "Mexican" food! I tried to show off and eat a jalapeno only to be shown up by Natasha's brother Alex who didn't shed a tear!
After the rehearsal we went to the Polk County Fair! Cows, cheese curds, truck pull, and tons 'o fun!
We headed back to the campground for our final night, made smores, and SLEPT IN!

Sat: Wedding day! I <3 playing dress up! The wedding was BIG! I saw so many people that I hadn't seen in YEARS! It was fun to see all of my cousins and my gramma and Grandpa. Hooray for family! The wedding was cute... my BABY brother is married!
The reception was fun. We ate lots of food! Todd, me, & some of my cousins had fun outside ;) ;). We decorated Luke's truck! Twas a blast! I really had fun with some lipstick... writing all over it! Then we went back in to dance the night away!

Sun: My feet hurt in the morning! We survived though, and went for gift opening at Natasha's parents house. After my Nambe gift was dubbed a "bed pan" we left to go hang out with my cousin Shari and her husband Jimmy. Good times!
THEN... VACATION BEGAN!
We drove to Hudson to watch my friend Brandon play soft ball and hang out with friends! I already miss Brandon and Carrin!
I LOVE HUDSON! Todd and I found a restaurant with a patio overlooking the river and had some beer and cheese curds (HOORAY WISCONSIN!). We walked on the river walk and had a few more drinks at a fun bar we found on Main Street called Twisted.
We watched the softball game, and had a blast hanging out with Brandon, Carrin, and Dawn!

Monday: We left River Falls, and went back to my parents, but not with out stopping at <3<3<3Culver's<3<3<3 first. DELISH!
We did our final packing to leave and headed out with my parents. We stopped in St.Criox to develop pictures and have some ice cream... then we were off to the airport.


What a BUSY vacation! It felt more like 10 days than 5, but my little brother was successfully married off, and we had a fun, action packed trip!

"Why I love you"

“Why I love you”

I love the way you make me smile when I’m sad,
I love the way you make me happy when I’m blue,
I love the way you always make me feel better when you hug me,
I love the way you try to disprove me when I say that you’re beautiful,
I love the way you kiss me,
I love the way you touch me,
I love it when you correct me when I’m wrong,
There are a million other reasons why I love you,
But please take comfort in the fact that I love you!!!


I LOVE MY BOYFRIEND! (even though he can't rhyme!)

Schmoozing

YAY! I've been buttering up to my dad about taking out a loan for me so that I can go to CNM to get my Auto Cad degree. I'm going to be an architectural drafter! I'll make twice my salary and actually have a job that I can use my BRAIN! Hopefully I can talk him into it ASAP so that I can try to get in this fall semester... if not I will ABSOLUTElY be in for the spring. I am so HAPPY and excited and hopeful. No more stinking mean bosses... HOORAY for school!
Next wednesday I will be flying into Wisconsin for my brother's wedding, some camping, and lots of visiting family and friends! ...(and some schmoozing) It feels so good to know I'm going back to school... how I miss it!

FINITO!

Shhhh... Its a secret... But... the official date I'm putting in my 2 weeks notice: August 3, 2007. I hate my job. No, I don't care about ink toner. No, I didn't get the e-mail you sent me 5 seconds ago, and I'm too busy blogging anyways! No, that fax has not been there all day... the effing machine is broken! Yes, I will change the light bulb AFTER the project I am working on right now... I AM NOT YOUR SLAVE! I am a smart, coherent individual that deserves to be treated like one, thank you very much. Maybe I'll go back to Saggios!

Hidden Treasures

Indeed, treasure has been discovered! An entire library of treasure! I just found it yesterday... a few shelves chalk full of planning/architecture text books in the back of my office. A plethora of knowledge to add to my personal studies... and just when my job was getting unbearable! Hooray! I will be a planner if it kills me! I am now learning about the motion, position, and context of townscape. ***big sigh of relief!*** A breath of fresh air in my mundane work life! Little things to make my crazy life a bit more pleasant.
My brother is getting married in 13 days! I just ordered his wedding present today, and last details are falling into order. I still can't beleive that my little buddy is getting married! It doesn't seem like that long ago I was giving a scared little middle school brother girl advise before he left for summer camp. Ahhhh, nostalgia! Speaking of cheezy, gooey memories, I need to get on writing a wedding speech!

I'm drowning slowly

Ben Folds Five-Brick

6 am day after Christmas
I throw some clothes on in the dark
The smell of cold
Car seat is freezing
The world is sleeping
I am numb

Up the stairs to the apartment
She is balled up on the couch
Her mom and dad went down to Charlotte
They're not home to find us out
And we drive
Now that I have found someone
I'm feeling more alone
Than I ever have before

She's a brick and I'm drowning slowly
Off the coast and I'm headed nowhere
She's a brick and I'm drowning slowly

They call her name at 7:30
I pace around the parking lot
Then I walk down to buy her flowers
And sell some gifts that I got
Can't you see
It's not me you're dying for
Now she's feeling more alone
Than she ever has before

She's a brick and I'm drowning slowly
Off the coast and I'm headed nowhere
She's a brick and I'm drowning slowly

As weeks went by
It showed that she was not fine
They told me son, it's time to tell the truth
She broke down, and I broke down
Cause I was tired of lying

Driving home to her apartment
For a moment we're alone
Yeah she's alone
I'm alone
Now I know it

She's a brick and I'm drowning slowly
Off the coast and I'm headed nowhere
She's a brick and I'm drowning slowly

Littles

My poor, poor kitten must love me a lot to come home after I torture him so! Todd and I headed up to his parents for a 4th of July barbecue this Wed. It was tons of fun and I stuffed myself silly as usual circa a Taylor bbq! While we were putting some things together for dinner, Todd's mom discovered a little hat that she had gotten for their dog, Abby quite a while ago. This hat is SPECIAL! Indeed, it is a technicolor masterpiece! Todd's dad bet Todd a 12 pack of beer that he could not get our cat to wear it for 2 minuets. Needless to say, Todd won! Alas: Our little flaming kitten looking quite fashionable in his new hat:

Reality Check

Well, this is the point in time I must admit to myself that I cannot keep doing this to myself! I am working way too much. Although I should have been saving money to get back to school for the past 2 years, I have failed miserably! But, lets face it... how difficult is it to save $2,000 when you only make $10,000 a year? IMPOSSIBLE, I tell you, IMPOSSIBLE! That is 20% of NOTHING ...Now that I have a drive to do this, to save... things just get more complicated! I'm afraid I'm just setting myself up for disaster. I've talked myself, and all of my friends, into getting back into school this spring semester. This means I would have to save about $400/month in Aug, Sept, Oct, & Nov. That sounds simple enough, but I pay $600+ in bills every month (Ironically $250 of that is STUDENT loans). So, There goes the barely $1,000 a month I make every month, leaving no $ for groceries, grooming, fabulous nights out with my wonderful friends, or even food for my kitten:( As I am realizing that school by January is quite impossible, I am getting very depressed. HOWEVER... now that I have this extreme ambition, and the support of my amazing friends I will start saving money. All of the hard work I put in on the weekends reffing volleyball at my second job will pay off... literally! Thanks to the advice of my lovely and too smart for her own socks friend Kitty, I will be depositing DIRECTLY into my savings the money I make every Saturday and Sunday. As I will no longer need to make the meager extra $50 I make at my horrid job, after I take complete advantage of my medical and dental benefits I am OUTA HERE! It's really just not worth being miserable for. School WILL come. It will take time... but I will appreciate every minuet of it because I will EARN it myself! Cheers to growing up, good friends, and getting back to school.

This Sucks!

June 28, 2007

Moscow police detain gay activists

Moscow police blocked gay rights activists from holding a demonstration in the capital Wednesday and detained two of them despite the protest being authorized by city authorities.

The approximately two dozen activists aimed to hold the rally outside the European Union's representative office in Moscow to demand that the E.U. impose a visa ban on Mayor Yuri Luzhkov, who has banned gay rights parades and called homosexuality ''satanic.''

Although the planned demonstration had been sanctioned, police said they decided to block it because it would interfere with construction taking place nearby.

''Authorities in Moscow have broken the law again by not allowing our picket,'' said activist Alexey Davydov.

Demonstrators tried to unfurl a banner, but police dispersed them, grabbing Davydov and another demonstrator and forcing them into a police bus.

A group of gay rights opponents stood nearby, but did not interfere.

''There must be no propaganda of sexual perversions in Russia, especially if it is Western-funded,'' said Mikhail Sinitsyn, leader of the nationalistic People's Union youth movement.

Russia decriminalized homosexuality in 1993, but opposition to gay rights remains strong and frequently turns violent.

In May police detained gay rights activists, including two European lawmakers, as they tried to hold a demonstration in downtown Moscow while members of a hostile crowd punched the activists and pelted them with eggs.

Homosexuality is denounced by the dominant Russian Orthodox Church, and President Vladimir Putin, during his annual news conference, implied gays were undermining the country by not having children. (AP)

exhausted

yes, in fact i'm too exhausted to use capital letters anywhere in this blog. all apologies. i've been working so much so that i can go to my brother's wedding in wisconsin and save money to go back to school. thank god i will be done with my job in january. it's not so bad, but lets face it... i'm just not secretary material! organizing supply closets, assembling report, and answering phones is just not my passion... call me crazy! i need to be intellectually stimulated! i need to use my brain to think of things other than who gets what mail or who is at which meeting. i should be at these meetings! this job is mind numbing. at least i can read and study on my own while i'm at work. in fact, that is what i do for 4 hours of my day at work! no wonder i'm just a "satisfactory" secretary.
ok, back to work on my application essay
here is what I've got so far, but it has to amazing because i MUST get back to school. yes, it was worth capitalizing must, but i must admit i cheated and used the caps button instead of the shift. one key at a time...


My time away from school has made me realize how much I aspire to proceed on the path of working toward my degree. I have discovered a true thirst of knowledge in my personal studies, expanding my knowledge of cultural and religious studies. This knowledge has peaked my interest in how diverse members of a community coexist with one another.
One particular course I participated in during my time at the University of New Mexico made a lasting impression on me. I enrolled in a freshman learning group course, designed to allow students to take two courses in tandem. It was a great way to challenge myself by combining an English course with something new. This is when I was introduced to the University’s community and regional planning program.
What a breath of fresh air! This is an interest I had been cultivating all of my life. Growing up in a very small town, the proverbial “There is nothing to do!” seemed to be very prevalent. This was when my curiosity of making communities vibrant and livable was peaked. I was involved in a committee to create a community center, which I was able to help design, but unfortunately was never able to be built. More and more I find myself evaluating neighborhoods, and speculating what could be done to make them better places to live, work, and play.
Over the past year I have had the opportunity to work for an architectural planning firm. Observing the planners has given me a drive to achieve my goals, and begin the course of pursuing my passion.



note: this is a first and very rough draft! input welcome

Long December

It is decided! By January I will be in school! I will be applying to UNM in November. I am SO excited! Hopefully after I put all money matters behind us, UNM will find it in their hearts to let me continue my education. If not, I will be going to Massage Therapy school! I figure, why not have some type of training rather than continuing horrid, boring, worthless jobs that pay me in rocks and stones? ... and who wouldn't want a friend or girlfriend that is a massage therapist? Todd, you lucky man, you! There, it is settled. Come December I will know where the next path of my career road will lead me!

Happy Pride!

There are few things today that make me, as cheesy as it sounds, "proud to be an American". One thing that I do take pride in however, is PRIDE! How great to live somewhere where we can have a beautifully diverse population and celebrate it! I spent last Saturday morning at O'Neals on Central watching the Gay Pride Parade. It was a BLAST! Hopefully events like this will bring us one step closer to liberty and justice for ALL!

The wonderful? wold of blogging.

I've finally caved! A new page to add to my addiction of online reality. Don't get me wrong, I thoroughly enjoy the wold of quick comment, quirky pictures, and networking! It is time though, that I have a real life, honest to god blog. As a good friend of mine would say, I am contributing to the world's ever growing "internet consciousness". (so true!) There was a couple from England who's teenage daughter advertised a party on myspace. The party ended up being so large, professional cleaners had to be called in the next day. The father called it a "house rape". Every room in the house was trashed! Beds were burned, food and messages left on the walls. Although you have to take into consideration the responsibility of the parents allowing their teenager to have a party, It is still incredible how much response a posting on the internet can generate.
Here's to many happy blogs!

~tam