Jeans and Sneakers

I finally got one.  A macbook.  And not just any macbook, the newest, awesomest, coolest macbook that is definitely worth the high price tag (but not too high, student discount, ftw!).

I’ve wanted a laptop since I first saw one, and now I finally have one.  This thing is awesome.  I’m imagining all of the silly things I can do with it.  :]  I might even blog more often having a full sized keyboard to rant on.

I’ve been pretty busy.  Between work, class, rehearsal and homework, I’ve got enough time to sleep, and shower.  Things are going fairly well I guess.  I’m supposed to have my 6 month review at work soon, and I’m going to try to push for a raise.  It’s so hard for me to ask for things, but I’m really not making much money at this job and it’s really tough to be happy in a place when you know it’s the reason you’re struggling.

I overslept today.  It felt nice while I was sleeping but as soon as I woke up it was all pain and headache.  We got to play with Rob’s parents new puppy today.  She was cute and all, but I was far more impressed with the baby squirrel Rob’s mom is taking care of.  She might end up keeping her, which would be awesome.  The squirrel was mad friendly and curious.  Not too coordinated yet though, it was cute.  :]

Don’t really want to go back to work tomorrow, but lately it always seems like the weekend is far too short.  I guess it’s because I have rehearsal on Saturdays, I don’t really get a day to just stay home and veg out.

I’ve come to the realization that the reason my knitting has stagnated is because of this whole “Year of the Stash” thing I’m doing.  With no new yarn, nothing’s really pushing me to get my current projects done.  Even before I started school and everything.

Oh! I designed something!!  For the musical, they’re having a contest for cover art for the playbill and t-shirts and stuff, but no one submitted anything.  I wanted to give it a go, but I was kind of worried that I wouldn’t be able to come up with anything.  I tried anyway yesterday after I did my homework and this is what I came up with.

It’s pretty dark, darker and kind of more dramatic looking than the usual artwork for the musical, and actually, it looks very serious.  The play itself is pretty comical, sort of romantic.  But there’s a purpose behind the design, if you know the show at all, it involves an emerald and something called a “Green-glass” love, so it makes sense.  We’ll see if they actually use it.

I started reading Atlas Shrugged again, and I’m actually really getting into it.  Reading it whenever I get a spare chance.  The story’s picking up and things are good!!  Once I finish this book, I have two others and then I want to get the Brisingr book that’s the third of the Inheretance Trilogy.  I’ll probably just get the box set, because I don’t remember everything that happened in Eragon and Eldest.

That’s all for now!

I’m surprised I didn’t write about school yet.  School has been an interesting experience so far.  My classes are sort of varied, I’m taking Intro to Microcomputer Applications, Intro to Computer Programming (with Visual Basic.Net), Writing for Effective Communication (online class), and something called Adults in Transition.

Now, Adults in Transition is a class meant for people over 40, who are returning to school.  The main theme is that no one really knows how to “handle” any kind of major life change on their own after all the “guidance” we get through adolescence.  The ideas are pretty common sense, to me at least, and the professor has a tendency to . . .hmm.  How shall I put it nicely??  Even though he is teaching tolerance, understanding, communication, and open minded-ness, basically he’s old, and has a preconcieved notion of how young people are, and what young people think.  He made the basic cover-your-ass statements about how there are exceptions to every rule, but basically, he thinks that anyone under 40 has their heads up their asses, and while they think they know everything about the world, they actually don’t even know themselves.

He claims to have lived through this stage himself.  I’m not buying it.  While yes, me saying that I think he’s wrong and thinking I know better fits right into his charming little stereotype, I do agree with some of the things he says.  I just firmly believe that the stages of life’s maturity are not so staticly attached to specific age groups.  He tries to say this also, but always defaults to saying what he truely believes, that young people don’t know anything.  It’s annoying.  I’m keeping my mouth shut for the most part during class, because much of what he’s saying some people have NOT come to conclude or realize on their own, and it’s good knowledge to have.  Just because he’s got this one stereotypical point of view that happens to offend me does not mean I should disrupt the class and impede everyone elses learning.

My English class is going well, though it is A LOT of work since it’s entirely online and has no class hours, there’s no videos to watch, just weekly reading assignments and then writing assignments.  It’s a lot of work.  My Microcomputer Applications class is kind of silly.  I’d take a test to prove I don’t need it, because I already know much of Microsoft Office, but they’re going to go over Access in the end of the class, and I know nothing about it, though I would like to learn.

Programming I’m sure I’ll make it through, but I think I intimidate my professor a little bit, he tends to try and put down my suggestions in class, even if it’s his preferred way of doing things.  So weird.  I’ll make sure to take my next programming class with someone else, hopefully they won’t be a total tool.

Other than class, things have also been busy because I now have rehearsal to go to. . .I got cast as Muzzy in this semester’s production of Thoroughly Modern Millie.  It’s pretty cool, but very tiring.  I’m already looking forward to November, when I can just deal with classes and homework.  I’ve wanted to do a musical for awhile, but I don’t think now was the best time to get involved.  Lol.

That’s about it for now, Turbo’s doing much better, he’s making a full recovery, so thank you if anyone did think good thoughts for him.  :]

Monday was Labor Day, and so we had off work.  I spent the day relaxing and playing video games with Rob, trying to not dwell on being nervous about starting school.  All in all it was a really good weekend.

Going back to work after a long weekend is always hard.  I find it really tough to concentrate on things at work after being home and relaxed.  I managed through though.  Thursday was my birthday!!  I was pleasantly surprised to find that my coworkers like me a lot more than I had assumed.  There were festivities at work, and Rob came to have lunch with me on my break.  When I got home I found that Rob got me a web server for my birthday!!  He’s going to teach me all about web hosting and running a web server and everything.  It’s awesome.  :]

Today it was just getting everything back to normal.  Rob took Turbo to the vet, his eye is better but he’s still not eating solid foods.  The vet said that his back teeth were growing up into his gums, which caused the eye infection.  They drilled the teeth out, and said that basically this is his last chance.  :[  Hopefully he gets better.

Tomorrow I have orientation for college, and we were going to do the bday bbq but it looks like it’s going to storm.  We’ll probably  just take it easy.  I have some homework to do, and Rob wants to teach me server stuffs.

A week from today will be Rob’s bday and my audition for the musical!!  I’m pretty nervous about it.  I still have to pick a song to sing.

Holy crap.  Today while browsing the web, I came across Just Bento’s Homemade furikake recipe, and I thought, “hmm, I could probably make that.”  Gomashio, or sesame salt furikake is one of my favorite kinds of rice seasoning, and the last time I bought a container of it (around $3 and change) it was gone in a few days.  But I remembered that I had some sesame seeds from the baking section of my supermarket (a much bigger container, for a lot cheaper), that I had planned on using for some kind of bread tastiness.  Rock.  I came home and decided to play in the kitchen.

Also while browsing the web, I came across this recipe which includes a “sweet egg onigiri”, which sounded interesting to me.  So I tried that out also.  I can’t tell you how it is until I eat it though.

But oh man.  OH MAN.  I am NEVER buying gomashio furikake ever again.  EVER.  The recipe was simple, and the result is DELICIOUS.  I had some left over rice from dinner and my egg onigiri, so I made some little gomashio rice balls and put them in the freezer.  My first bento lunch stash item!!  I will never throw away seemingly useless amounts of leftover rice again either.

I also packed a full lunch bento with the leftover dinner I didn’t eat.  I’m set for the rest of the week, since Rob’s taking me out to lunch on my bday.

Tomorrow’s my first day of SCHOOL!!!  So nervous, but it shouldn’t be a big deal, because it’s only this one class this week.  It’s not even for a grade, it’s pass/fail.  Right on.  I got everything straight with the school offices (I hope!), and I’m all set to go.  I even bought all of my books already.

ANNNNDDDDD. . .my school is putting on Thorougly Modern Millie.  HOLY CRAP.  I’m going to audition.  I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to do it because of my schedule, but I emailed them and they said that it shouldn’t be a problem.  My audition day is Rob’s birthday, and he’s going to come be my own personal support group (he’s awesome like that), and then I’m going to cook him dinner.  :]

And just one last little side note here. . . .store bought waxing home kits. . .don’t work so well for me.  :[

I know, I know, I haven’t blogged in a mad long time.  There’s a partial reason for it.  I have some pretty big news.

Holy crap, I’m engaged!  Today was our 5 year anniversary, and man did Rob surprise me.  He picked out the perfect ring, cooked me steak dinner, got my favorite kind of wine, got down on one knee, and even hid it inside something sweet.  I was totally shocked (and still kind of am!), and happy.  :]

Secondly, I’m going back to school!!  I didn’t want to write about it until I was fairly certain I’m going, and I’m all registered for my classes and stuff, so that’s that.  I start on my birthday.  There’s been a few complications, including having to go part time instead of full time (unless my letter to the dean actually does anything), because of my bad grades from my first attempt at college.  And since I’ve registered late and all, I’m kind of stressed because I haven’t heard back from the financial aid department yet, so I have no idea how much I’m going to owe them if anything.

But I’m going for a BS in Computer Information Systems.  It’s going to take a while, since I don’t have that many credits from school before, and I’m going after work, not during the day.  I’m super excited and Rob’s being great and supporting me and stuff, and I can’t wait to begin.

I also had a car problem, and some work stress and a trip to Philadelphia, so I’ve been kind of busy, not to mention last weekend Rob started wiring the lower level of the house so that we can begin to finish it.

I did start knitting again, the socks.  I’m finding it so hard to keep an interest in knitting socks on one circular.  The razor cami has come to a halt. . .even after I bought a knit picks circular needle for it, I keep messing up the pattern.  I might pick it up again, sometime.

I also sort of stopped reading Atlas Shrugged again.  Last weekend it was all I wanted to do, but then I got up to one point and it just got repetitive, and I put it down.  Other than all that, I’m glad it’s weekend!!

I forgot my password and had to reset it.  :[

This weekend was supposed to be our first do nothing weekend in the house, but it’s ended up being a running errands weekend so far.  And I haven’t yet gotten everything done that I wanted to do.

The good news is, I started working on Forecast again, and I’m almost done with the body!  Well, sort of.  I’m doing the lower border now, then the sleeves, then the button bands.  I don’t know how much I’m going to get done tonight, I didn’t realize it’s already 1:23 in the morning.  :[

Tomorrow Rob’s going to be awesome and work on my car, and we’re going to get library cards, because we didn’t get to today.

I ordered some awesomeness from some Asian store on the internet, and I’m getting good rice, Furikake (rice seasoning), Nori (seaweed wrappers), Lychee nuts in a can (mmmmm), and some other seasonings, and I can’t wait for it to get here!  I want to make foods!!

I’m making banana bread tomorrow.  Oof, I should get back to work on that sweater.

Today was a looooooong day.  We woke up early to go look at a car, which ended up being a waste of time, as the lady who posted it up for sale neglected to mention or show that the car clear coat was peeling and in one spot there was body rot.  Nice.

I got to work and after a while my boss asked me to come in and she offered me a counter to my resignation letter.  A very good counter.  I told Rob about it and decided to call the new job guy at lunch to see if he could give me any kind of idea of the growth opportunity with his company.  To make a long story short, he gave me a very different impression of him from the first one I got, and I’m not taking the new job.  He told me today that the pay would be less than he told me on Saturday, and that’s just not going to fly.  So tomorrow, I tell my boss I’m staying, and start learning my new position.  From the sounds of it, my boss has plans for me, and they’re not too shabby.  Though not entirely art related, but they’re trying to get some graphic art stuff in there, so we’ll see.  Worst comes to worst, I’ll keep looking for a different job.

I skipped the part where the banker got back to Rob and said that the mortgage approval came through this morning, and they’re hoping to close by the end of next week.  :]  January will be our last month in this stupid house, and then we’ll be in the new one.  We couldn’t be happier or more excited.

And I think I’m going to buy a small xmas tree tomorrow.  :]

So I’m feeling pretty good.  I woke up late today, I somehow managed to unset my alarm clock last night before falling asleep.  So I woke up at the time that I usually leave the house.  Any day that I wake up late is usually a bad day, because I start out feeling rushed and then I’m in a bad mood to start off with.  Well today wasn’t like that.

Last night, I made my first entry into my art journal.  I’ve got a cool idea for decorating the cover too.  It’s not my typical style, but I’m suprisingly happy with it.  Usually when I get a sketchbook or something I’ll go to draw something in it and I’ll hate how it comes out and I’ll either tear it out or leave it there, either way I still feel like the sketchbook is tainted, and I don’t want to draw in it anymore.  But with this, it sounds silly, but with this book, SuziBlu said it’s ok to draw or paint or color the worst crap in the world in there.  So that’s ok.  It doesn’t matter what goes in this book, no holds barred, it’s totally free territory.  And that feels great.  So great that I almost couldn’t wait to put something else in there.  Oddly enough though the next thing I put in was a drawing that I drew for some reason on a postit.  Again though, I like it the way it is.  I put it on the next blank page and I used a piece of tape to make sure it won’t come off.  I even hid a drawing behind it.  I like where this is going. 

Today I made an appointment for Wednesday for my first ever Voice Lesson.  I’m so excited.  And nervous.  But mostly excited.  I’ve been saying for years that my voice isn’t what it used to be, but I had no idea how to try and get it back on my own.  So I took the plunge and I’m going to get help.  And learn some necessary stuff that I wouldn’t have learned on my own along the way.  The guy sounds awesome, we spoke on the phone today and he was super excited for me, considering I’d first contacted him about lessons at the end of August, but couldn’t afford them yet.  He was happy that I’m still interested, and he seemed excited to get started so quickly.  And it didn’t seem like a monitary thing, he had another student there practicing when I called, he’s been doing this for years, and it doesn’t seem like he’s hard up for cash.  I’m excited.  And nervous. But definitely mostly excited.

I’ve been in kind of a funk for the past week or so, little things had culminated and really altogether began to bother me in a large way.  Rob nudged and nudged me yesterday until I spoke to him about one thing, which lead to me talking to him about some of the other things.  I think that somehow, different elements in my life have come together now, to bring me some focus.  I realized that I was looking all over for something, when all along I really knew the answer.  When you ask yourself, what do you really want, sometimes you have to listen to the tiniest of voices to get the truth.  I asked myself, when I was little, what did I want to be when I grew up?  That answer came easy enough, a Singer and an Artist.  An Artist and a Singer.  Either way, they both had equal importance to me.  I told this to Rob and explained to him how over the years, in my life, for different reasons, I lost those things.  I lost music, I lost art.  I had left myself with nothing, wondering why my life had no direction.  So now, I’m trying to get them back.  And I feel really good about it.

Oh.  I didn’t go rollerskating today.  I don’t really want to go by myself, but I don’t have anyone to ask to go with me.  I asked Rob, but I knew that he wouldn’t want to go, and that’s fine.  I just don’t want to go by myself.

Edit: I also painted today!  For some reason I didn’t want to paint in my art journal, but I found some blank cards I had and painted one of them.  Maybe tomorrow I’ll take a picture of it and post it up.  I think I’m probably going to redesign the blog in the near to not-so-near future. :]

Yesterday was our annual Bday BBQ.  I suck and didn’t take any pictures.  Almost everyone came out, including Wyn, and a good time was had by all.  There’s still tons of food left over and I’m excited about it.

I’m mostly done with the doll.  The self-guilt-trips will stop soon.  I’ll also be able to buy the yarn for the forecast I’m planning on making.  YAY for first cable-ing project!!

A girl at work asked me if I’d show her how to knit during lunch sometimes.  I said ok.  Speaking of work, it’s going well.  They gave me a free demo phone with free service.  I’m totally going to stay at this job for as long as I can.  I got my first regular paycheck on Friday and it was awesome.

I ordered an old vintage dress pattern on Ebay, and it came in the mail.  I’m pretty excited about that too.  I just have to find some awesome fabric to make it out of, but I don’t think that’ll be a problem.  I know of a cool discount fabric shop online.

I’m gonna go start a game of Kingdom Hearts now, Arigato Bay-san!