land of Oz

I may be going to Sydney! I always planned to go sometime, but right now the travel prices are really cheap and so I may be going in Feb of 2009. I am beyond excited about it, but a few things have to be worked out first before I decide if I am actually going to go or not. It'd be about $3,000 for 22 days, which is a lot but not really if you consider that it includes round-trip flight + hotel. Plus I think I'd have to budget in about $2k for food/fun? So $5,000ish total. That's a huge chunk of change and I'm not quite sure if I'm confortable spending it, even though I really want to go. Responsibilities, or fun? Sigh.

I also have to make sure that I'll be able to go for a month without interfearing with my school schedule. As far as I know I can go, I don't think that my practicum is something binding that I wouldn't be able to skip out on for a few weeks and just make up later. I think I'm going to call and find out sometime.

Also I need to see when exactly I can expect to get my money that I need. Everything kind of depends on this, obviously. No money= no trip.

I also need a passport. And a visa. I think there's some sort of electronic visa now, which is cheaper. Cheap= good, since I think my passport is going to cost about $200 since I'll most likely need it expedited.

I also need to lose weight! Holy moly do I need to lose if I'm going in Feb. Don't expect me to eat anything or sit down until then, ok? I'm just kidding of course, I'd never have the willpower to not eat (I LIKE eating) and lord knows I sit down a lot. That may change soon though because my family just bought a Wii + Wii Fit (it should arrive tomorrow!) so hopefully I'll be moving my arse more.
Do I get a job now and take a leave of absence in Feb, or wait til I come back to get a job? Either way I'm going to need a job so I can get some more money together.

Somehow this turned into more of a to-do list for me than a post, but it's all the thoughts that are going through my head right now so that's what you get! :)

site update

Today/tonight I plan on adding pages to the site, so that at least on some pages you won't just see that annoying 'coming soon' text.
update: My about me and links pages have been updated and now have stuff on them!

.:.:.:.:. (just blather)

My parents are driving me crazy. Just thought I'd let the world know.

I apparently need more than Twitter's 140 characters to get my point across. Although I like the idea. Maybe I just need more practice?

My nails are green. No, I do not have a fungus. I painted them green, 'mint' green to be exact, and looking at the one with a giant chip of nailpolish already gone reminds me of how I used to paint my nails when I was younger and then immediately (accidentally) end up chipping them anyway. That never stopped me though, I'd just haul out the polish again. And then I'd get in trouble for "stinking up the place" with my cheap polish fumes :)

My room now is, quite possibly, more messy than when I was little. It stays insanely messy until I can't stand it anymore, and then I do an intense cleaning job- it's like one of those Taz the tazmanian devil spins... except everything winds up clean instead of broken into a billion pieces.

I was so happy today because I got a Christmas card from my friend in Alaska's family :) Roscoe is in the military now, and I miss talking to her as much as I used to.

My personal life may be pretty awful right now (see: parents) but I'm trying to stay positive and focus on the good. Like the fudge pops I have in the freezer... yum.

Because I bet I'll be asked this question

One of my education teachers showed this video in class, and I thought it was amazing. I even came home and shared it with my family. So, now I'm sharing it with my online family :)

Taylor Mali- What Teachers Make (transcript available on his website.

StopDrop&Blog HP entry

This is entry requirement #4 for StopDropandBlog.com's HP Magic Giveaway! Go here to enter yourself!
You have another chance to win at Living In Theory! This entry is pulling double duty for both sites since I can't see the point of posting the same info twice :)

One of the laptops that I'd receive would go to a great guy in Australia. His computer (6 years old) broke 7 months ago and since he cannot afford to even buy a $300 refurbished computer (he lives with/takes care of his elderly ailing mother), he has since lost touch with many of his best friends- and he worries about them constantly. He's the kind of person that stays up all night if a friend needs a shoulder to (virtually) cry on- and I should know, because I've taken advantage of him that way plenty of times. The poor fella. He just truly cares about people, and, in return, so many people care about him. Having a computer will allow him peace of mind and enable him to get back in-touch with some of the people that mean the most to him.

I would give the touch-computer and printer to my mom. She is the owner of a (very) small business, and her business is really struggling right now. Having the up-to-date technology would really make a world of difference in how she operates & manages her inventory (books). Her computer is pretty out-dated; the tower's size alone is a hindrance but when you add in the bulky monitor plus her 'mom-clutter' it gets a little crazy to try to type up book descriptions. Also, it's very very slow. I scan it weekly for her for spy/adware and viruses, but it still struggles and hesitates to open up new pages/etc.

Besides the business reason, I really want to surprise her with the new computer because she's sacrificed a lot to raise (and home school) me and my younger siblings. This prize package alone is worth more than she made most years (including this one) to support our family of 5, and yet if one of her kids ever needed anything she'd move Heaven and Earth to get it for them. I'd really like a chance to see the look on her face when she opens up a brand-new computer (assuming she doesn't faint!).

I would give my sister the mini. She is in her first year of college. She commutes an hour away 2 days a week currently, and that amount is about to be raised to 5 days a week next semester. She has worked very hard, and has just been nominated Editor of her College's newspaper. In addition to taking 12 credits now (18 next semester) she works 4 days a week at Walmart as a People Greeter (she's the happiest people greeter they have). We're all very proud of her, and I know her life would be a lot easier if she could take the mini with her instead of having to schedule in time to run across campus to use the school's computer labs between classes.

I would use one of the laptops myself when I graduate from Grad school with my Secondary Ed and Special Ed teaching certificates. I plan to teach in a Pittsburgh public middle school- I love the age that middle schoolers are at and I feel like I would do the most good teaching in an urban environment (and I love Pittsburgh- the atmosphere, the people, the passion!).

If the shoe fits...

I know I haven't posted in ages, but I found this (via here from here) and thought it really suited me so I'd post it.

Your result for Are You a Jackie or a Marilyn? Or Someone Else? Mad Men-era Female Icon Quiz...

You Are an Ingrid!

You are an Ingrid -- "I am unique"


Ingrids have sensitive feelings and are warm and perceptive.

How to Get Along with Me

• * Give me plenty of compliments. They mean a lot to me.


• * Be a supportive friend or partner. Help me to learn to love and value myself.


• * Respect me for my special gifts of intuition and vision.


• * Though I don't always want to be cheered up when I'm feeling melancholy, I sometimes like to have someone lighten me up a little.


• * Don't tell me I'm too sensitive or that I'm overreacting!

What I Like About Being an Ingrid

• * my ability to find meaning in life and to experience feeling at a deep level


• * my ability to establish warm connections with people


• * admiring what is noble, truthful, and beautiful in life


• * my creativity, intuition, and sense of humor


• * being unique and being seen as unique by others


• * having aesthetic sensibilities


• * being able to easily pick up the feelings of people around me

What's Hard About Being an Ingrid

• * experiencing dark moods of emptiness and despair


• * feelings of self-hatred and shame; believing I don't deserve to be loved


• * feeling guilty when I disappoint people


• * feeling hurt or attacked when someone misundertands me


• * expecting too much from myself and life


• * fearing being abandoned


• * obsessing over resentments


• * longing for what I don't have

Ingrids as Children Often

• * have active imaginations: play creatively alone or organize playmates in original games


• * are very sensitive


• * feel that they don't fit in


• * believe they are missing something that other people have


• * attach themselves to idealized teachers, heroes, artists, etc.


• * become antiauthoritarian or rebellious when criticized or not understood


• * feel lonely or abandoned (perhaps as a result of a death or their parents' divorce)

Ingrids as Parents

• * help their children become who they really are


• * support their children's creativity and originality


• * are good at helping their children get in touch with their feelings


• * are sometimes overly critical or overly protective


• * are usually very good with children if not too self-absorbed

Take Are You a Jackie or a Marilyn? Or Someone Else? Mad Men-era Female Icon Quiz at HelloQuizzy

Burgh Baby: The Biggest One Day Contest EVER

I just recently found Burgh Baby's site, and I love it because not only does she tell adorable stories about her daughter, but she lives in Pittsburgh! And I want to (eventually) live there, get a teaching job there... Anyways, Burgh Baby's mom wrote a very touching 9/11 tribute that you can read here. I encourage everyone to read it.


And there's also this:
Burgh Baby: The Biggest One Day Contest EVER
*UPDATE* I won the WearPittsburg shirt!!! I picked this one because I wanted it to be big and comfy and it is! Its a chocolate brown like the description says, not like the gray color the picture shows. But anyways, the staff was super nice and I highly recommend them if you're thinking about buying from them (and you should, who doesn't want a pierogie shirt?!) Thanks WearPittsburg, and thanks to TheBurghBaby.com for hosting the contest!

life

My parents keep fighting. I spend most of my days just waiting for the next bubble to burst, the yelling/fighting/bad moods to commence again. Sometimes I hope it won't happen again; most of the time I know better.

I'm still looking for a job, but I've just about given up hope on getting one actually decent- I think I'm just going to work at wallyworld. At least they're nice, and the pay is better than anything else around here. Its not as bad as the media/whoever makes it sound. At least our wallyworld isn't.

I love 'house italian' dressing so much that now when I eat my old favorite (ranch) it tastes disgusting. Except I hate how italian leaves a weird aftertaste and really bad breath. But Ranch did that too.

I've taken up chewing gum (to counter the bad breath?). I currently love Stride's Sweet Berry, however, it does NOT last very long at all. Don't believe the hype, you will have to chew another piece. And soon, because it doesn't last near as long as other kinds. I'm always tempted to try Extra's flavors, as they sound so yummy, but I was always told it can cause cancer (it says so on the label!) and so I avoid it like the plague even though I'd so very much like to try it.

This post was just to get me typing on here again, as I'm sure you can tell. If you have, thanks for sticking with me. If not, well, I don't blame you. :p

new look!

Well, what do you think? Not everything is done, the only link that actually takes you to content is the blog and email at the moment but that'll be fixed soon. Let me know if you find anything else that needs to be fixed.
(The picture in my banner is one of my favorites, I took it last year for my photography class :)

I guess this is a 'blob'

click here to understand what I'm talking about

Ouch

I injured my leg over christmas break. Somehow I fell in the hallway. I had a massive bruise/bump for a few days, and then the bruise went away but so far the bump is still there. I'm thinking theres nerve damage or its affecting the nerve someway cause if I lay on it certain ways or put my leg a certain way my thigh gets insanely tingly/numb. Very annoying, it wakes me up some nights.
Anyways, heres a crappy picture that doesn't really show it but kinda sorta does. Its worse (or better? depends how you look at it) depending on the angle and it's a lot bigger of a bump if you feel it then just looking at it.

the blahs

Today has been an off day. Usually my cheerful mood is kept throughout most, if not all, of the day. Today however I found myself being sarcastic/mean to people that maybe didnt' deserve it to the level I took it to. And not only that, but at one point I wanted to be this smiley-sexy-happy chica but that ended up as me as buddah-roly-poly 'eh' that doesn't even come close to how I wish I could have felt. And I find myself alternating moods perhaps moer than I should. And I find myself not wanting to go to bed early and sleep the day away. I slept 13 hours one night, and I still could have slept more, it didn't bother me one bit to have slept that much. All I want to do is sleep with my comfy covers pulled around my head hiding me from the outside world.

Sometimes the outside world can seem like a harsh, unforgiving, and scary place when you don't even know what's going on inside your own head.

(I apologize for the parenthesis)

The third night of taking notes is when our Photography instructor finally decided we could have the cameras. The $655 (each!) cameras that the school is loaning to us (pain of death if we don't return them).

So supposedly what the 3 nights of notenaking did was prepare us (the students) for the advanced features of the camera. We learned ISO, aperature, exposure, the difference between wide-angle and telescopic lens (ok, so that difference is easy so it doesn't count). We learned all about focusing and how to prevent blurry pictures.

Obviously the instructions go into my ears, bypass my brain, and go directly to my fingers and I write down the instructions. Really, there's no other excuse for not knowing how or what each adjustment is after coming from a class where we talked of nothing but how to adjust the settings. But like I said, I have a sound/ear/pencil/hand thing going on, cause of the 10 pictures I took (just messing around, nothing for an assignment or that anyone is going to see), there were only 2 decent ones (well, decent if you don't count my unbrushed hair and the mucky mirror).

sigh

My website appears to be undergoing technical difficulties. Hopefully, they are only temporary. My email also appears to be faulty too.

weirdness

Ok so I decided that since nobody really reads this anyway, I'd share with those who do. Whenever I feel like it (but probably before sunday) I'm going to post almost-random bits of weirdness about myself. Something that I do/think that others may think is weird. And yea, I probably know it's not 'normal' but I do it anyway. Or think it. Anyways. Here you go:

- Making instant pudding depresses me. Somehow having a huge amount of yummy milk turn into a semi-creamy, only half-tasty glob of brown/white stuff is just sad. I never make pudding unless I have tons of milk available to me.