Epics+Exams = Watch what you're reading

I have discovered something that, as it would turn out, is quite important.  I do not, under any circumstances, recommend reading more than one epic at a time.  I am currently in the process of reading The Lord of the Rings for the first time.  I know the story very well, thanks in part to the movies.  But I obviously missed many of the best details.  I find myself struggling to put my book down, even as the night wears into the morning.  I'm falling in love all over again with the characters of Aragorn, Galadriel, Sam Gamgee.  The tricky part is that at the same time I am taking a class that focuses a lot of time on the epic poetry of Homer.  So I have all these fantastic characters running around in my head with names that could be easily mistaken for each other.  Sitting down to an exam and not being able to remember suddenly who takes part in what is no fun.  Achilles, Alcinuous, Eomer.  Obviously I am not about to write down that Frodo was involved in the Sack of Troy or that Galadriel was a monster Odysseus ran into on his quest, but the confusion still causes unnecessary stress.  Moral of the story: One epic at a time ladies and gents.

Hello out there

I realized it has been awhile since I last posted.  So I'm calling in to say that I'm done with school for the holidays and will have much more time to rant about what irritates me and/or fascinates me.

I am pissed off!

Actually, at this point I am much more than pissed off.  I'm so pissed off that I can't even see straight.  I just discovered on my card some subscription to some membership program that has been charging my credit card 12 dollars every fricking month since June!!  Something that I had never heard of, much less signed up for, so I don't even know how they got my credit card number to begin with.  But that's five months of them essentially stealing $12 every month!!  How much is that... $60!  I could have bought another pair of shoes for that.  Or some excellent books.  Or just been that much less in bloody debt.  I mean, I'm already a student so the debt is inevitable.  But on top of that, I'm a student with a terrible shopping addiction and so the debt is higher than it should be.  About 3 Grand higher than it should be.  And this damn company is so not helping.  You can bet your ass that when I wake up in the morning and their bloody call center is open that I will be calling and getting to the bottom of this.  And they better hope they can tell me how I got signed up for this in the first place and then reverse it because they are going to be dealing with a fraud report otherwise.  Stealing from me is one thing, but preventing me from buying that potential pair pair of shoes is so not okay.  On so many levels.  GRRRRRR!!!!!  

Anyway, so that was my rant.  Though I'm still pissed off I can talk about something else. Theoretically.  Another thing that bothers me is how those damn call centers aren't open when I need them to be.  I'm one of those personalities that likes to solve a problem as soon as I learn of it, so this whole having to wait thing is just not okay.  Yes, I could look at it from their point of view and think "Would I want to work 24 hours a day?"  And no would absolutely be my answer.  But one expects a call center to be open.  I can call Verizon anytime I want.  I can call Target Credit Services whenever I want to.  It's bull shit.  Why can't they all be open.  Besides, it's the late night people that are the fun-est people to talk to anyway.  They're usually tired, or bored because no one else calls, or vampires that can't go out during the day so they work at night.  (Of course I don't actually believe in Vampires.)  

Does anyone even read my lonely blog?

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince

I found this today and it made my smile.  Yes, that's right I am a huge Harry Potter fan.  Those of you who know me, know this to be true.  Those of you who don't, well at least I can admit it.  Enjoy, I do!

                                   

Babies = Awesomeness, Officially

It is absolutely awe-inspiring the effect that a newborn can have on ordinary people.  Today I watched my best friends coo and bubble over our buddies brand new baby.  I know I was completely turned to mush as I held this little boy in my arms, and it was all I could do to not burst into falsely maternal tears when I had to pass him off.  I also observed my guy friend turn into a softer version of his perpetually masculine self with one stroke of the softest, thinnest baby hair you've ever seen.  All of us girls were wishing we had babies of our own by the end of the night.  And my guy friend who wasn't the baby-daddy was thanking God he wasn't a father.  It is absolutely amazing how two people can go from dating one moment to head-over-heels in love and parents of a newborn the next.  I love my friends, but tonight I loved them in particular even more. 

What if babies were the key to everyone's happiness.  Think of what would happen if everyone held a newborn baby once a week or so.  Their paternal/maternal tendencies would strengthen, their happy endorphins would grow in number.  Everyone would be slightly happier.  At least the people who like babies.  The ones that don't would just be a little more pissed off.  In other words, they would be like New Yorkers: pissed off but highly productive.

                                           

P.S.  This is the best video you'll ever see.  That's what my parents tell me anyway.  And yes, that is me riding a kayak down a sand dune.  Enjoy

My Poor Cat

My poor cat Lily is getting spayed today.  I think I am starting to understand a little about the parental spirit because as the vat sedated her and took her away, and I was forced to exit and leave my baby in the hands of strangers, I felt absolutely terrible.  I didn't want to leave the room, much less the building and drive back over the river and continue my life for the day.  And dear god!  I had to take her collar off!!!  What if she gets lost?  Or they confuse her with another cat??  I know that these are completely inane questions.  They know what they are doing and I should trust them right?  Especially since I know perfectly well that my dad takes and has taken all of our family pets there.  I'm being the stereotypical, irrational mother type.  I know it.  But wouldn't you be too, if you had this cute little girl curled up to you every night?

You are the Captain of your own ship

I think that modern society is so limiting.  Something my high school theatre teacher said to me sticks in my mind and I think it's very telling.  He said "We wake up every morning in our boxes, we then get in another box to go to work to spend all day in another box to go back home to our box."  We live in a society of boxes.  We are dictated to about how to act, dress, live.  It's sad and shameful.  And the public education system is absolutely no better.  So to hear a professor tell an entire class, granted it is a creative class, that we are the captains of our own ships was absolutely refreshing.  To just imagine that we essentially have the unbridled, unstructured, uninhibited freedom to just use our minds and passions was just that: freeing.  I wish more classes were (un)structured like that.  I wish more aspects of our lives could have that freedom of possibility.  Like, what if at our jobs our bosses told us that they didn't care how we did our job, as long as it got done, and we could feel free to do it that was best for us.  Imagine that.

On another, and unfortunately more depressing note.  I personally own stock in my company through a company stock sharing program thing.  I couldn't explain it if I tried.  I'm 21 years old and only have this investment because I thought it would be an excellent way to get started paying off my student loans.  Anyway, in my youthful naivete I allowed myself to believe that the current economic crisis wouldn't affect me.  And then I got my stocks statement in the mail today.  What a slap in the face that was.  I think that is when the economic trouble of a country is truly serious: when even the successful youth are being hit hard.  But we are a strong people and a strong country.  I know we'll bounce back, and I'll indeed be able to pay my student loans...  Eventually.