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Rant

• I hate school. I've only had a one month break from school in the past year. 12 months of school is no fun.
  
• All my homework assignments have been so high school--meaningless busy work that makes me just plain angry that I have to do just to get a good grade
• None of my classes are particularly inspiring. I can't switch cause I just need something, anything, that qualifies so that I can graduate.
  
• Work is killing me. I love my new promotion, really, I do, but 27 hours a week while taking a full load of classes is way too much.
  

168 hours in week
-27 for work
-57 for sleep
-10.5 for eating
-10 hour for actually being in class
-12 for the amount of time teachers expect you to do work for their classes
-3.5 hours I spend getting ready each week
-3.5 hours a week I spend walking and driving to class
-2 hours I spend commuting to work

That leaves 6 hours in a day that I actually have to get anything else done and that's usually homework.

• I'm mad depressed cause Steven is 4 hours away and my best friend is 2 hours away.
• Winter is the worst season there is because it is so dull and cold.
• I'm sick of the cold. My skin is so dry it just hurts all the time
• I have to declare that I'm not renewing my lease even though I have no place lined up to live and that's stressful.

Ugh, life just whomps right now.

Brides

My best friend got me a gag subscription to Brides for Christmas.
The more I read it, the more I'm like...I just want to elope.

Old School Poem...no, really.

My friend Dianna requested to see some of my creative writing. I've never been one for the creative vein, but I am a sick person who deep down loves poetry and sonnets.

I wrote the following poem for my high school senior English class sonnet competition. It won 2nd place. I think it didn't get first because no one knew what was going on. I used a Victorian flower book to write this poem. All the flowers mean specific things and add to the mood and meaning of the poem. I still wouldn't expect my peers to get that. Laughs. So yeah, embarrassing poem of my youth, take one:




Anemone
"The Language of Flowers"

One stone-walled garden I stumbled upon.
The gate adorned with roses purest white.
Ominous oleanders o'er the lawn,
Exotic green labyrinths lured my sight.

Within, cold, stone faces stared down the path.
Concealed in the maze, a spark'ling fount stood.
Peering in the pool, youth drowned in the bath.
Through the iron-gate, return I ne'er would.

Beyond the gate, a willow held a swing.
On the hills beyond, passion flowers splayed.
And in lush lilies, like bells all twink'ling,
I sought to rest my weary body's pain.

I longed to brush the lilies' fair petals.
But, was embraced by dark, bitter nettles.

*written with the help on my soul-friend Sonia who spent a whole day helping me learn iambic pentameter. Gosh I miss her being around.

80 Year Old Moment OR Yay for Calcium!

So I totally just fell down in the shower. The water was too hot when I got in so I ran to the opposite side of the shower,
somehow I twirled, slipped, and down I went. My hip hit the side of the tub, but thankfully I landed in the tub and didn't fall out, grabbing the shower curtain and ripping the rod from the wall.

However...for the purposes of this blog I kind of wish I had landing soaking wet on the bathroom floor with my cats staring at me, wrapped in the shower curtain, and dodging the falling rod.

My hip is most likely going to develop an epic bruise. Pictures will follow.

Last Dance for Mary Jane

Pandora must think that I'm obsessed with this song by Tom Petty. I am, now that Pandora has played it for me every day, multiple times, for a month. I went with a live version (not as kickin') because the music video for this song gives me the creeps...

What the heck. I know you're curious.

BABY!

Facebook sucks sometimes. It's down at the most crucial of times.

I got this text from my colleague Lindsay:

Amy just called me she thinks her water broke! She is very excited and is going 2 call me with an update! Yay!

Now...how she "thinks" and doesn't know about that slip-and-slide situation, I'm not sure. SO I'm assuming that it did indeed break and that a healthy baby girl is on her way into the world...4/5 days late.

My predictions:

She has Amy's nose and that Amy changes the name from Lillian Marie to something completely different once she sees her.

* The picture is apparently a baby shower game called "my water broke" where you make baby ice-cubes. I'm normally opposed to all those cheesy baby shower games...but I'm intrigued by this one, laughs.

I've been holding on to this picture for a while. I think it sums up this semester for me. I mean...really. It's the first week and I'm already stressing way way too much.

I need to go clean something to calm down.

Skype Mishap

When Steven and I do the long-distance relationship thing we use Skype to keep in touch.

Occasionally, Skype freezes on us.

Tonight, it froze while I was making a very interesting face.

Steven was fortunate enough to capture it.

Zen Moment

I finally made the leap to the aluminum waterbottle. Kroger had some Gaiam (you know the awesome people you buy yoga mats/videos from) bottles on sale. Not ridiculously on sale, but enough that I had to get one to help out my planet.

I fell in love with the tree...to be honest. Plus, no icky plastic chemicals and weird bacteria issues and this baby is completely reusable and recyclable when I'm done with it.

New Project...well sort of...and shocking events.

Today I decided that it was time to do something about my windows. In the winter, windows are just a simple way for energy to escape. Since today was a warm 11 degrees here in Blacksburg and my last energy bill was $89 to heat a one bedroom apartment the size of a shoebox, I made a trek to Lowe's and picked up clear plastic and some tape. The concept is kind of like a greenhouse effect. It seals up the air from getting in and going out and the plastic heats up with sunlight. My dad used to do this to the windows in the garage. Who knows how well it works, but it gives me some piece of mind that I'm at least trying to save some energy and some pennies. You know, added to the fact that I don't keep anything plugged in unless I'm using it. That includes my TV, microwave, computer, lights, internet. I mean, I don't keep anything on. It drives Steven nuts. Laughs. The $89 comes from my prehistoric heater. If the weather was nice enough to just open my windows my bill would only be $15 a month.

Anywho! The real drama and reason for this post...as I was putting up this plastic on my windows...I realized that there was ice...on the INSIDE of my window all around my windows because condensation had FROZEN, yes FROZEN on the inside of my windows.

Maybe with all the money I save I can retire in Mexico one day. Si!

Too Cute For My Own Good

Ugh! I found these super-duper cute tights on modcloth.com, they're also available in brown. I love how they look with a pair of boots.

Wouldn't you know that they're $30 bucks...sigh. I won't be getting them any time soon. However, I love them so I had to share.

Sorry that I've dropped off the planet. My winter break has been pretty boring. I work, I come home, I clean, I listen to Weezer, I go to bed.

Things should pick up again when school starts Tuesday since I use this blog to procrastinate.

Winter Allergies

Lately, I've had the feeling that I'm having allergy problems. Nothing as bad as the pink-eye I got during the summer. I have a runny nose and eyes, but I feel fine over all so I know that it isn't a cold.

Apparently, according to WebMD (laughs, I know, I'm one of those obsessive web-searchers), winter allergies affect more than 40 million Americans. It looks like I'm one of those year-round allergic folks.

Where's my Clariten D?

Steven's Graduation

I may, or may not, have mentioned that Steven graduated December 17th. I'm so proud of him! He's only the best computer scientist ever. ;)

PS- I had to sew panels in the sides of his gown. Can't even tell, can you?

Dear Diary:

I spent my New Years watching Bridget Jones and going to bed early. My tummy hasn't been feeling too swell lately. Bridget Jones' Diary was rather appropriate for the evening since the whole premise of the movie is that she starts a diary for the New Year in order to fix some things in her life. Not only is her character based on Elizabeth Bennet in Pride and Prejudice (a personal favorite) but it's just down right hilarious and I relate to Bridget immensely.

To quote Bridget, her New Years resolutions were:

Resolution #1: uggg - will obviously lose 20 lbs. #2: always put last night's panties in the laundry basket. Equally important: will find nice sensible boyfriend and stop forming romantic attachments to any of the following: alcoholics, workoholics, sexaholics, commitment-phobics, peeping toms, megalomaniacs, emotional fuckwits, or perverts. Will especially stop fantasizing about a particular person who embodies all these things.

Now, I've got the guy thing in the bag, however, I think that numbers 1 and 2 could definitely be added to my expectations for the new year.


So, Amanda's New Year resolutions:
1- will obviously lose 20 pounds
2- make sure that yesterdays panties make it to the laundry basket
3- carry trash from my car when I make it
4- graduate
5- continue growing-out hair: do not cut it
6- add probiotics to my diet
7- take my vitamins regularly
8- find an adult job
9- buy a house
10- strengthen long-distance relationships

What are your goals for 2009? I wish you all the best in what is sure to be an interesting year ahead.