Hello real world!

So I realize it's been awhile, and a lot has happened, I'm just getting lazier in my old age (22).

Big events: Mayo, Spay, Book, Move, Job.

Went in to Mayo to finish my study. Spent a lot of boring time sitting around and napping, but hopefully that means I'll be getting a nice fat paycheck any day now. Of course they'll send it to Rochester but I'll get it eventually. Still haven't decided what to do with the money, but a desktop is sounding better and better.

So Belle got spayed on Wednesday. Same day as the Mayo study. I felt so bad for her. We (mom and I) went to pick her up after the Mayo study and she was all loopy/dopey. It was kind of funny because her eyes were half-closed and she'd just stand there and then start leaning. On Thursday it was a bit difficult with her because she was all excited and stir crazy but we couldn't really let her run around too much in case her stitches came out.

On Thursday I also finally called the library to ask what to do about the book I lost. And it turns out someone had returned it! Woohoo! I don't even know if I ever talked about it here but yea.

On Friday night Gramma Karen came up. The rest of the family and her went to the homecoming parade and football game while I furiously packed.

As far as my quilt goes, it's nearly complete (the front side at least) but the sewing machine kept messing up and so I had to stop.

Back to the main events, on Saturday we got up and mom, dad, gramma, and I drove up to Minneapolis to move me into my new place. Megan drove over from Eau Claire and met us there right after we had finished loading everything in. My room looks amazing, the house is great, and my roommate is incredibly nice and laid back. We went to McDonald's to eat and then everyone but Megan left. Megan helped me unpack the stuff into my room and then we went to Target for some stuff I needed. Eventually Megan left and I spent the rest of the night finishing organizing.

On Sunday I spent the day riding around the neighborhood clocking how long it takes me to get to the closest grocery store and to the VA. Then Sybylla and her mom took me out to lunch at Noodles and then over to Target to get some milk. Went back home and worked on the paperwork the VA sent me. Eventually took a shower and went to bed watching Firefly.

Finally, today (Monday) I got up at 6:40am (way too early), got ready for work, sat around nervously waiting, and finally left at 7:30am. Got there extremely early and waited. Eventually the room filled up (interns, cafeteria workers, doctors, it was full of new employees from all over the VA) and for the first 2 hours all we did was the paperwork I'd gone over the day before. So I went downstairs and wandered around. Eventually we watched some dress code video and had an hour break for lunch. I didn't pack one so I rode my bike home and had a sandwich, which was nice. Went back to the VA and learned all about the benefits offered. It was intense, and a bit overwhelming. Finished with the orientation stuff around 3pm and then was taken (finally) to the lab. I got assigned a desk space and then spent the rest of the time going over more computer orientation stuff. I did meet the other new lab tech (Amanda) and another one who works at the lab who graduated from St. Olaf in '08 (Alana or Elena or something like that). Got home, hung out for a bit, and then rode my bike over to Oxendale's to get some taco cheese. Rode back home and cooked tacos, mmmm. Now just watching some Family Guy until I shower and get to bed.

I'm crafty!

So I spent a lot of yesterday and a good part of today finally doing something I'd been wanting to do since I was, like, 9 years old. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, I have finally started actually making a quilt out of old t shirts! I spent all the time picking out the shirts, ironing them, cutting them into squares, and arranging them in a semi random, semi patterned arrangement. I've got everything from Girl Scout camp to Australia in a variety of colors - and it really emptied out my dresser. This project came about when I was attempting to clean up my room in order to make packing a lot easier. Basically I emptied my dresser onto the floor, saw all the t shirts, and was inspired! Which means that now there are cut up pieces of t shirt all over the basement floor and the rest of my clothes are still covering the floor in my room. So much for cleaning.

In other news, I finally started the Mayo poop study I signed up for back in June. Basically they fed me some radioactive eggs on Wednesday morning and took pictures of them moving through my system all day Wednesday and in the early morning Thursday and today (Friday). Now I have to take a couple of pills for a couple weeks and then do it all over again. But hey - they're paying me for it! I haven't decided what to do with the money yet. I could be a smart, responsible person and save it for a rainy day or to help start paying off those loans. Or I could use it to buy myself a new, much needed, computer (desktop or laptop? It's so hard to decide). Or I could use it towards a brilliant vacation to somewhere I've never been! If you read this, vote on it! Help me decide! Or if you have another idea feel free to share it.

So Megan just called. Apparently her computer's virus/malware just crashed and now her computer keeps crashing and her school's IT can't even figure out what's wrong with it. And I thought my comp was bad - her's is barely a year old! I suppose I did have times when I freaked out about it - like when I got the blue screen of death. Luckily I had the kick ass Dell warranty. Not anymore though!

So I've got all the squares cut out and laid out and I really want to start sewing, because I know that soon I'll get bored with this project and then it will never get done. Like that other mitten that I never knitted. Sigh. Mom won't let me start sewing it without her. She's convinced we'll need to use like a special needle or something, but I just want to get the sucker done! It doesn't have to be perfect, heck half the t shirts have paint stains. But her, dad, and Sara are all at the Century-Mayo football game.

I just got done watching Two Weeks Notice (I love Sandra Bullock) and now I just found one of the best movies is playing on tbs - The Holiday.

Belle's been cute today - following me all around the house, playing with the t shirt scraps. Now she's sleeping in the bed that my mom made for her.

Hmm I wonder if this is an Imogen Heap song. It must be! I just heard part of one on the radio the other day as background to a new song. It was kind of infuriating because the announcer didn't give any credit to them, just to the dude who sang over their song. Now that I think about it, I probably lost all their music when I got the blue screen of death. I should work on recovering that.

I also finally managed to design Sara's homecoming tickets, that she asked me to do months ago. The first one I did was, according to Sara, too boring and simple. So then I did another and that one was too complex and cluttered. So she took both versions to the rest of the student government, and lo and behold, they chose my first design.

This weekend I only work at night, which is kind of nice because I can finally go outside and enjoy the nice weather. Of course I probably won't. Or it'll rain. But tomorrow morning, if it's not raining, dad and I are going fishing again. Hopefully we'll have better luck than last time.

I really want to see Gamer and Surrogates. They both look amazing. I finally saw Post-Grad with mom, Sara, and Emily L. It was funny, but of course everything worked out for her in the end. Which just looked like a big fat lie to me. That and she chose to leave her dream job for the guy she discovered she loved (the plot was a tad predictable), which no one ever really does. I like movies.

I'm drinking root beer through a straw, and I'm convinced the straw has a leak in it but I can't find a leak anywhere! It's really frustrating in a not very frustrating kind of way. Ouch, I just hiccuped while burping and something just hurt when they crossed. Ouchies.

I want a Jude Law. Or even a Jack Black, I'm really not picky. Actually he's very sweet in this movie.

I'm still feeling crafty. I should exploit that and go work on my latchhook pillow or knitting or painting or something. Instead I'll probably just finish watching The Holiday and then whatever's on after that until I finally go to bed.

I don't know if it's good or bad, but all the time I spent gaming while I was at school I now spend watching TV. And it's generally nothing all that good either. I watch crap like Project Runway and America's Next Top Model. But they show them on season-long marathons during the day and it just gets so addicting, and the next one is always on right after the first so I have to know what happens next! Sigh. On the latest ANTM one of the girls is from my hometown. And she won the first challenge! So if you watch that, cheer for Rae! She's my age too, but I don't know her. Apparently my dad knows her dad though.

So I'm probably definitely moving into a house about 5 blocks away from the VA with a 27 year old guy and his 2 year old yellow lab. I can't remember if I've talked about this before, probably have, but it's a really nice house. I want to get a nice big adult-sized bed. My parents were all for it at first, but now they're chickening out, which is one of many things that have ticked me off lately.

The freaking VA. I actually don't want to go into all the latest horrendous things they've done to me, but I'll sum it up briefly. Apparently, my birthday has been changed to September 30, I was offered the position first by the lab and then two weeks later by HR, and it's impossible to just get things done: it all has to go through someone else in another department after getting background checks, fingerprints, and physicals.

Sigh. And yet I'm still going to work for them because I also continue to get rejection emails from all around the US. So I'll put in my two years, save up every penny I can, and then fly my ass somewhere else. I should have done that back in June, when I still had 6 months before having to pay back my loans. By then I would have probably found a job wherever I flew to and could always have the amazing story as part of my life. Remember after graduation when I flew off to ______ for a year? That was so amazing. Oh well. There's some saying about regrets but I don't remember what it is.

The leaves are turning color. I don't know what made me think of that since it's very dark out and I can't see the leaves. But they are, and it saddens me. It can't be fall already! And I can't still be at home during the fall, it's just unnatural.

I think I've finally run out of things to talk about. Thanks for sticking with me so far! And remember to vote!

PS - I FOUND THE LEAK! It was in the bendy bit. I knew it!

Post #100

Yep, that's right. This is my 100th post on this blog. Kind of sad and impressive at the same time. If each post was a page, I'd have a 100 page book already written. Of course some are a lot longer than a page and some are a lot shorter, but they might even out. Anyway, a lot has happened since Kristin was here.



First of all, I can't believe it's already September. I don't know where the summer went but I am not ready for it to be over.



Well I spent the days after Kristin left mostly working at Culver's. On Wednesday I got an email from the VA finally officially offering me a job. And on Friday I emailed them back accepting it. Still not sure if that was the best move but it's not like I have any other offers on the table. Since then I've been looking for apartments in the cities close to public transportation.



On Saturday the whole family (including Belle) drove up to Eau Claire to move Megan into her school. We had to rent a U-Haul and because they double booked the size we wanted we ended up getting a gigantic one. It was freezing cold and we couldn't figure out how to put her stupid futon together but it was kind of fun. Went to Arby's afterwards.

On Sunday we got up early again, this time to drive up to the Metrodome to watch the Twins beat the Rangers 5-3. We parked on the street and walked over and hung out at the food plaza for awhile, then watched the game and lost our voices cheering. The fans were great - the wave went all the way around the stadium 4 times before dying. Mauer was kind of having a sucky day but the rest of the players were doing pretty good. After the game, I drove home and first mom made me drive around the neighborhoods where I looked up craigslist ads for places to live. Basically we were the drivers everyone hates, slowly driving past houses, getting lost following the GPS. Finally convinced them to let me drive home.

Monday I got up later - on my 22nd birthday! Got dressed and headed up to the cities again. This time I went to Sybylla's house where I met her and Vicki. Then we headed to a church for the shuttle to the state fair. Spent the day at the fair, eating fried food on a stick and seeing animals and walking around. We saw a sheep give birth to triplets, I ate a footlong corndog, got a bucket of delicious cookies for my birthday along with all you can drink milk for $1, rode down a giant slide on a potato sack, watched a pond full of fish, and a bunch of random state fair fun with the roomies. After that, I went over to visit one of my potential living situations. It's in a 3 bedroom house with a 27 year old guy and his 2 year old lab. It's also about 5 blocks away from the VA - yay walking distance! His name is Jordan and he is really nice. I could easily see myself living there. It is a little more expensive than I wanted though.

Tuesday I slept in and did nothing all day but bring Belle to the dog park and then to puppy class.

Today I got up early and went to Mayo to do a screening. They had to take blood and I got a bit light-headed. It took forever, and every time I go there it's going to be like at 7 am. Ugh. At least the study is going to pay well. Then I took Belle to the dog park, and then came home and I was going to start packing stuff up. That didn't work too well though. Then went to work and had to train a 14 year old with ADHD. UGH. She didn't pay attention, was slow as molasses, and then proceeded to tell her friends who came in that she was "learning quick" and "hardly needed any more training." I wanted to strangle her and just do it myself. I hate training. Luckily she was only there until 7, and then I got to have more fun in drive thru and then set and then just helping people start closing. At some point I stupidly agreed to work until 8 tomorrow, but I did get to get off an hour early on Saturday (we're going up to the cities to see a Lynx game).

Now I'm just watching some George Lopez and wondering what to do. Getting tired though so I may head to bed early. Sorry this post is so late - I actually started it last night and forgot to finish it. Good thing it autosaves!