Tuesday, April 28, 2009

The Definition of Irony

I've had this song in my head all night and J. had never witnessed this video before. I had to show him. It's too obnoxious not to. I mean, she's singing a song about not having sex until marriage, but the whole video is her thrusting her girly parts in our faces. And can someone please explain the robot arm? I really don't get it.

It's about tiiiiiiiiiime (clap clap clapclapclap)

Wow, I graduate next weekend. That's crazy. And the Monday after, I start my official full-time job. All this change has me thinking about the past few years.

When you tell someone you're a student, they have one image--short skirts, lots of beer, sleeping until noon. They picture the hostess at Cheeseburger in Paradise, driving around in Daddy's shiny new car. They see such an easy life, full of dates and parties. I know several stereotypical college girls, and while it's definitely not all fun and games, they definitely live in a completely different world.

(Now, before I get a bunch of angry comments, let me just say, I have nothing against the stereotypical college girl. My sister happens to be one of them, and she works REALLY hard. All I'm saying is that there are a lot of things about college life that I do not understand, mostly Greek traditions. Have a conversation with K. and she'll tell you I would NEVER fit into her sorority!)

Sorry about that tangent, I'll get to my point. My college career has been anything but easy. I have never been the traditional college student. I'm far to introverted. The first two years I spent curled up on my bed with a book. Then, my sophomore year I got a job as an after hours customer service rep and dispatcher for a local plumbing company. That same year, I met J. Those two took over. I loved my job, I felt like I was actually doing something productive. And you all know what happen with J. :). Anyway, about the same time, I started taking my business courses, and that's when the real disdain for college started. I LOVED my core classes (well, except astrology and math). But I never saw a point in the business courses. I made the mistake of being a Business Administration major, instead of something more specific. The major has no plan. I had to take a few classes in each department, but there was no real direction. I have had a very hard time connecting what I'm learning in accounting to what I'm learning in human resources. And throw in finance and it's all over (literally. I failed my last finance class. Upper level theoretical analysis of investments just could NOT take root in my brain, no matter how much I studied).

My junior year, I really started to feel awful about school. While I've never been the smartest person in my class, I've always felt somewhat intellegent. But that year I really started to feel stupid. Add to that the fact that J. was in Iraq and my main source of support was now limited to 1 line emails and 4 minute phone calls on tapped lines. It was a rough year, but I made it though. But I wanted to quit. Ask anyone. I just wanted to drop out, I would NEVER make it though my senior year. I was beaten up. But, I'm too stubborn to quit with only one year left.

Then I took that finance class I mentioned above. I also got married the same semester. It was awful. The decreasing confidence I had was completely dashed. I was exhausted. But I had one semester left. And luckily, I only had 3 electives and 1 business course (and 1 10 week internet course to replace the finance class, but that wasn't a big deal). Which really shouldn't have been bad except I've been sick more this semester than I've ever been. I even ended up in the ER a few weeks ago.

But now, I'm almost there. I'm going to make it. I'm going to walk across that damn stage (and then wait a month for my diploma to arrive). Then, I'm probably going to burn my books and notebooks and Ball State sweatshirts and anything else related to college. Ok, not really. But I will clean out all of my notebooks. And then I'm headed out of town, with or without my husband, depending on if he can get off work. But either way, I'm out of here. Going down to visit my cousin in North Carolina for a few days. And I'm taking AN ENTIRE WEEK OFF. 7 whole days! I didn't even take that much off when I got married. I'm really really excited! Can you tell?

Sunday, April 26, 2009

Networks

My fellow business students can attest to this: Today's world is all about networking. Almost every professor I've had tells us to start expanding our networks, and every time I get online, there is yet another social networking site to join. And I do, because I'm an addict and I can't help it. From Facebook to Twitter, from LinkedIn to Last.fm, everyone is meeting new people online. How many times a day do I get on and change my Twitter status? Some say way too many, but by using sites like Twitter, I am able to converse with people outside my small town Indiana network about cooking, housekeeping, beekilling, etc. I get questions answered from people all over the world. I have friends in Florida who cook, in Arizona who plumb. I have a friend in Ireland who worries about my health, and my "Twitter Mom" in Bluffton who looks after me too. I've met people with different experiences than I have had (for some reason I really like to follow moms on Twitter, as well as their blogs). For the most part, it's all in fun, and most of the conversations aren't serious. But sometimes, somebody's real life is touched by their online life. Who starts a blog about their family expecting it to be a door to crucial funding to save babies' lives? Or who would imagine that a celebrity would notice a regular joe's status update and help them get the psychological help they need? Just a few examples.

So whether you like to post your recipes on Blogger, or just use facebook to post pictures of your latest drunken excursion, take a moment to notice the people around you in your social networks. You may be touching their lives more than you know.

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Lunch at Concannon's

I FINALLY got to try out Concannon's new deli cafe here in Muncie. I've been a Concannon's addict since I first discovered them my sophomore year at Ball State, and when I found out they were building a new shop, I was super excited. Gimme more Concannon's! However, the new cafe is on the opposite side of town from where I live, work, and go to school, so three months after the Grand Opening I still had not tried it.

This week, I've had THREE different people reference the new cafe, so I knew it was time. A quick post on Facebook and I had a date with my Aunt Susan and her daughter Maycee! Unfortunately, I ordered the wrong thing. I have this problem where I order something with Jordan in mind, which doesn't always work out. I had the Flaming Roast Beef, which he would love. It's got lots of jalepenos and some sort of red chilis (which I mistook for a grape tomato, until I popped one in my mouth!), pepperjack cheese, and a spicy horseradish sauce all wrapped up in a tortilla. It definitely had potential, but I think the sauce took it over the edge for me. The wrap just did not have enough substance to counteract the spice. It would have been better with some sort of thick spongy white bread.

Don't take this as a bad review though. Judging from the delicious looking meals around me, I will definitely be back. On one side of me, two women had amazing smelling cheddar soup; on the other there was a beautiful cranberry walnut salad. And there were sooooooo many sandwich choices. Add to that the 50 feet of candy and pastry displays and you have a great restaurant. It's definitely a success, don't go at lunch time if you can help it. We went at 1:45 and it was PACKED. Apparently, an hour before the line had been to the door (overheard from one of the other tables). I'm also looking forward to trying their new homemade ice creams.

Saturday, April 18, 2009

Anniversaries

You know, when I was a little girl, I wanted nothing to do with anything feminine. I loathed dresses, bows, the color pink, even JEANS were too girly! I LIVED in those colorful windsuit pants that we all wore in the 90s (come on, you know you had some). I wanted to be able to run around and race the boys. I was SUCH a tomboy! I mean really, I didn't even know how to pull my hair back in a ponytail until I was in middle school. My mom always did it for me, to make me look presentable in public. I just plain didn't care. While my sisters played with Barbies, I played with Tonka trucks and Breyer Horses. I bragged that I could run across our gravel driveway without shoes on and it didn't even hurt!

I hated dolls. I never saw the point in them, I thought they were silly (never mind that I had a huge collection of stuffed animals. THAT was different!). I hated babies in any form, flesh or plastic, it made no difference. I had a birthday party when I was in second or third grade and one of the girls gave me a cabbage patch doll. I threw a fit because anybody who knew me at all knew that I hated dolls. Poor girl, she left the party crying! I feel bad now, Cabbage Patch dolls are worth a fortune! (ok so that's not the only reason I feel bad.)

Along with my hatred of babies, I also swore I would never get married. I had no sense of romance back then, I wasn't one to giggle over the cute boy in the class. I was best friends with the cute boy in class! And I could run faster than him too! I was going to be a successful jockey (or something horse related), and I would have no need for a husband.

Flash forward a decade. I became reacquainted from one of those boys I used to race around the school yard, and we fell in love. Six months ago today, I married that boy. He drives me absolutely crazy, but I'm crazy about him! I'm still trying to figure out this whole domestic wife thing. It doesn't help that I'm a full-time student and have an all but full-time job. Most of the time laundry sits on my floor until I have time to fold it, and I don't always get my dishes washed at night. My mom will be disgusted when she reads that, but for me, those aren't the most important things in my life. Dishes and laundry come second to quality time with my husband, and trying to keep myself from getting burnt out. Sometimes, I just have to unwind in the evening, instead of working even more. I'll figure out the routine eventually.

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

Stuff

We watched The Story of Stuff in my Life Management class today. If you haven't watched it yet, I encourage you to click the link and check it out. It's about 20 minutes long, but very fast paced and really interesting. It discusses how our materialistic world got started and how it's affecting our Earth.

This got me thinking. I have geek lust for the new Kindle 2. It's an electronic device that's about the size of a piece of paper, and the thickness of a pencil. It's a method of reading ebooks, newspapers, newsfeeds, etc. But my question is, which is worse for our environment, paper books, or electronic devices like the Kindle? On one hand, trees have to be chopped down to make the paper for old school, printed books. On the other, how many resources are used to make disposable plastic and silicone-based electronic devices?

Something that really stressed me out about this video is that 99% of the things we buy are thrown away within 6 months, because of planned and perceived obsolescence.

Just something to think about today.