athena1

04:05 pm: OMG tired...
So yesterday the Sirens had a ridiculously busy day. First we had a performance at the Cultural Festival for a half an hour, then about an hour and a half break followed by a 2 1/2 hour drive to the north side of Chicago. Then another performance and and the drive back to Bloomington. I slept like the dead last night. I was out for about 11 hours before me body allowed me to get up again.

Here is the part I don't get. Time spent actually dancing=about 20 minutes or so. It's amazing how much the other stuff can really wear you out.

11:40 pm: It is a very good thing that there are people in the world who are kinder and gentler than I.

So my neighbors (yes, the ones who threw a dead cat at the neighbors two houses down and stole my gas cap)got their power turned off, presumably because they did not pay their bill. So what did they do? They waited until Tim came home and asked him to ask me if they could use an extension cord to plug into our house electricity so that they could watch TV tonight (They say that their power will be turned back on tomorrow night.)

So now I am put in the position of having to be the mean bitch next door who denies the mean nasty children television for the night. This alone would not bother me, except that when those children are mad, my shit gets messed with. It annoys me that instead of accepting the natural consequences of their actions (or inaction as it were) they put me in a position of having to either let them mooch from me or pissing off the kids. (Point of order: I HATE MOOCHERS!)

I would be willing to help out at least if they could provide me with a better explanation than "We want to watch TV." If they needed power for medical equipment or something I would be happy to help. I suppose my biggest problem is that they were mean to me and made my living experience here thus far quite unpleasant. Now they want me to help them avoid the effects of their actions. I suppose a better person might do so. I am not a better person.

01:35 pm: Dear Universe,
Ok, I get it. You're in charge, I'm not. I understand now that all of my attempts at controlling my life and my destiny were solely at your behest and that I am a tiny powerless mortal. Having established that, d'think you could give me a freakin' break! Thanks!

07:41 pm: update
In the last 6 hours I have

1. Made 2 days worth of my Sausage, cabbage and pasta dish
2. Made 3 batches of muffins
3. Made a box of Creamy Chicken and noodles
4. Made my enchiladas
5. Gone grocery shopping
6. Burned a CD of 60's TV show theme songs for my dad
7. Done the dishes

I will now reward my diligent efforts with a glass (or two) of wine and a couple episodes of the second season of Rome.

I still have the boot on my foot which is cramping my style to say the least *grumble*

09:00 pm: Good news/Bad news
Good news: The podiatrist has discovered what is wrong with my foot and there is a solution!

Bad news: The solution involves an expensive and annoying boot on my foot for at least the next week and a 7-day prescription at the bargain rate of $30 (not to mention a doctor's bill that will come complete with X-rays).

Good news: I got my tax rebate check today!

Bad news: Every last red cent of it will go to pay the almost $600 in medical bills I currently owe.

Good news: I am one of the fortunate Americans to have medical insurance!

Bad news: If I want my insurance to pay for anything I have to call them and forcefully (but politely) insist to the overworked, underpaid call center rep on the other line that according to my policy, this bill (and every other one) is bloody well covered!

Ahh, the never-ending waltz of one step forward two steps back....I want a beer...and a wubby...

Tags: health, medical bills

09:32 pm: Holy Sequins Batman!
Me=Awesome!!

I just finished the base of my first handmade bedlah set! It's not fancy and I still have to add the gold chains at the bottom of the bra and belt to finish it off, but it's still handmade by yours truly!

Yay!

09:41 pm: I win!
I shopped the JCPenny clearance sale yesterday and got two (count them two) fleece pullover/jackets for $13.29 total! I love clearance sales!

On another note, I'm glad to be back in more belly dance classes! I am at a point now where belly dance is becoming really fun again and practicing doesn't seem like such pain!

Now hopefully I can get this analyst position at State Farm! If the gods are kind and allow me that courtesy, I will be set. (oh pretty, pretty please!)

Final thought: I listened to a segment on NPR this afternoon about Iraqis that are being tortured by extremist groups from their own country who are sabotaging the Americans and Iraqi allies. They are doing horrible, horrible things to these people! They even beheaded a frightened little 11 year old boy. How do you fight evil like that? Where do you even start? Mercy seems useless...cruelty only feeds the cycle of hatred and violence...and the single thought I keep returning to is to thank the gods that I am as lucky as I am.

08:48 pm: :-)
I spent vast quantities of time this evening on Tribe.net and I still don't want to stop. The giant knot in my shoulders is telling me I have to. I also LOVE CDbaby.com. I spent way...too...much...money on belly dance music:)

Purchased:
Djinn: Middle East Side
Solace: Moon Moth Mixes
Knossos: Dark Light in the Wake of Silence

I will be gleefully swimming in some fabulous beats for at least two days!

I am working on a cabaret costume for the belly dance recital I have on Saturday. It doesn't look too bad for costume made entirely of sequins. I hope I'm not sick by that point though. I really don't want to have spent this much time and effort for a performance I am too sick to participate in.

I know I had a lot to say when I started this post and now I have nothing. Perhaps I will have more to say later:)

10:23 pm: Update
So...things have happened and, so far, life is still pretty good. Synergy Syrens (name of my bellydance troupe) are performing at the Bloomington Cultural Festival on August 18th and, if the guy arranging all of the performances keeps his end of the bargain, we are going to get paid!!! I am so excited! It's not very much obviously, but it's still about 40 bucks I didn't have before.

Work is still pretty good. I apparently got into a high pressure OSS job where I will have about 15-20 big-wigs breathing down my neck for their reports for the first two weeks of the month every month which I didn't realize was part of the job. My team, while they are nice, have absolutely no idea how to train me, and my boss has already made it clear that he doesn't think I can do the job. How encouraging right?

But I have resolved that I will simply do the best I can and what happens, happens. Thankfully, because I have a contract, I will still have a job even if my boss decides that he wants to replace me. They will simply assign me to another project, and my boss will have to deal with training somebody completely new and possibly getting someone who is even worse at this job than I am. Oh well.

Tim+Me=VERY GOOD! That's about all I need to say on that.

My car got fixed for $43!! Anyone who knows my luck with cars knows that is an amazing occurrence.

Particular point of joy: I get paid every week from my employer and next month I get paid 5 times!

Love and shimmies
Athena

07:54 am: I had the nicest moment at work a couple of days ago. When I worked in Support at AFNI I used to sit by these two sweet middle-aged women from China (who spoke English very well). As we got to know each other, one of the women, Sharon, would bring me little chinese candies and on occasion she would give me a little baggie with a few jasmine flowers from her home. The flowers were wonderful because if you kept them at your desk you could smell jasmine all day long.

I went into work on Wednesday and found a handful of jasmine flowers sitting in front of my keyboard. I nearly cried. It was such a sweet thing to do!

In other news, I had a brief tour of Corporate South yesterday in preparation for my coming there on Monday. I was amazed at how many cubicles there are and how nice they are too. I mean, yes, they technically are little cubby holes that coporate America sticks us in, but they are soooooo much better than any other work environment that I have been in. I guess it's just new and shiny to me.

Note: I have way too many garb ideas and not nearly enough time. I also have another bellydance performance to prepare for on Saturday the 7th. Why couldn't I have had these problems when I had three weeks off. Oh well.

06:08 pm: Hello!
I have finally managed to make it out of school and into the real working world (which I am enjoying). Right now I am going to TekSystems five days a week and training on Lotus Notes, Excel and Access. I have learned everything that I am supposed to know, but since they are paying me to come in for a month and learn I pretty much have to spend my days wasting time in front of a computer without looking like I am wasting time. I have tried an ebook but their version of Acrobat Reader flat out refuses to recognize protected media, so I am playing a lot of Solitaire and reading NY times. NPR is also a good use of time.

I am also working at AFNI part time three nights a week which is awesome because I am the only one in the support department there after 5pm. It's nice being able to complete work without anyone else there taking up your time and attention.

So far the real world isn't nearly as bad as all of the "grown-ups" in my life make it out to be. I mean money is tighter than it was in college (mostly because anything I made was just spending money), but with help of my well-planned budget, it's not that bad. Now I know that I am starting off with a tremendous advantage with not having any debt out of college, but if I had to, I could budget for that. I suppose my biggest difficultly with my dad and his girlfriend is convincing them that I really have been a frugal individual throughout college (for the most part). Also, the working schedule that I am on is WAY better than the amount of time I was spending on homework and lesson plans and grading etc etc in school. 52 hour weeks are actually a slowed pace compared to school.

This weekend I am going to Tribal Revolution in Chicago. Malum and his parents were nice enough to put me up for a couple of nights while I am there. I am thinking to should get them some sort of thank you gift for letting me stay at their place, but I am a little bit at a loss as to what I should give them. I am seriously looking forward to drumming, dancing, and spending quality brain time with Malum.

Tags: bellydance, life after college, work

01:54 pm: Just one week left
I only have two days worth of lesson plans, one review day, and one test day left with student teaching. Beyond that I have to create my portfolio (yes, I haven't even started on it), pack and move and make sure that the university will actually let me graduate. It doesn't sound like a lot until I look at the 600 point portfolio I have to create.

Oh yeah, and the flash drive that I saved all of my work on for my portfolio, just crashed. This isn't going to be fun.

05:45 pm: Wheeee!
Just had an interview with Tek Systems (on of the outsourcing agencies for State Farm) and all went very well. There are still a few more hoops to jump through, but it looks like a decent job might actually come of this. Thank God! I need one.

Can't wait until the end of the semester. I have one of the worst cases of senoritis. I almost feel like just BSing the rest of the semester's classwork and just focus on getting through the rest of the month. I can't wait to get out of school!

07:30 pm: ugghh
I ended up getting sick (like tossing of cookies sick) at school today along with a headache and general sleepiness. I probably could have made it through the day if I wanted to, but I didn't really want to. I don't like student teaching. I am good at it though. Every experienced teacher who has ever observed me teach has given me raving reviews. I know this is something I can do. But it is not something for which I have a passion. Every single day is just one long battle and there is nothing at the end of my day that I can look at and go "I am proud of that." If I continue on this path I will become a disenchanted, grumpy teacher who takes all of her frustrations out on her students. While my students can be exasperating sometimes, they certainly don't deserve that.

I have to find a different way to make a difference in other people's lives (and pay the bills). A recruiter from a technical outsourcing company (Tech systems) called and left a message for me (step one in the process of hopefully getting a job with them). The next few months to a year are going to be difficult but there is no avoiding it.

01:43 pm: Haven't posted in a while and I feel the need to distract myself from the massive amounts of work that I have to do.

My grandfather's 80th birthday was this last weekend for which the whole family came out and celebrated. I got sick on the car ride up and back so I wasn't exactly energentic, but it was a pretty decent weekend. My grandfather is so cute!

I came back from this weekend to go directly to the auditions for the bellydance troupe that my teacher is starting. All went well and we are meeting on Wednesday to figure out what the next step is. I am really excited about this troupe but I have no energy left after teaching all day that I am struggling to find the motivation to practice and do work outside of my normal work day.

I should have dropped the education part of my degree and just finished my degree next semester in order to avoid having to student teach, but it's too late now. Plus, people tell me that having a degree in education will be helpful someday. The good news is that this will eventually end. I don't think it will get any better before it does end, but I know that it will end.

Overall, I just need more energy.

01:04 pm: YEAH!!
Unit 5 schools were closed today due to "transportation problems." I am so happy I get to spend today sipping tea and relaxing instead of observing and having to go to a meeting with my university supervisor. Yay for not having to drag ass all day long at school. Now I just have to finish a project tonight and I will be ready to go for tomorrow.

01:25 am: Well that was fun

You scored as The Oak. In Celtic astrology, you're an Oak, the most sacred of trees. The animal symbol that accompanies this tree is the wren. The ancient Druids say Oak people are wise, strong, responsible, self-motivated, optimistic and good leaders in the face of adversity. However, Oaks may be prone to being overly serious, intense, or even pompous. </td> The Hazel 70% The Ivy 70% The Oak 70% The Vine 65% The Rowan 65% The Birch 65% The Holly 65% The Reed 65% The Ash 60% The Hawthorn 55% The Willow 55% The Alder 40% The Elder 30% What Tree Are You? (Celtic astrology) created with QuizFarm.com

07:22 pm: (Deep breath) Ahhhh....
In cleaning my room I have accomplished the following:

1. Reorganized everything I own so that I can actually find it again
2. Throw out/gave away a whole bunch of things that I do not need, thereby creating a whole lot more space in my room
3. Cleaned my room (dusted, vacuumed, etc)

In cleaning my room I have also learned the following

1. Cleaning window blinds=stupid. It takes a lot of time, effort and Pledge to clean off the grime from the blinds and in the end the cleaning isn't really that noticeable.

2. I am a young adult that owns too much useless, and not very sentimental, crap from my childhood. I learned that it is better to keep a few things that mean a lot to you and get rid of the stuff that is just getting in the way.

3. I really do feel so much better when things are organized and clean. In the future I will make an effort to make sure my environment reflects this so that I have one less thing to stress about.

12:21 am: Just got back from a trip to Florida to visit my sister and help her pack up and start sending things home. My mom, stepdad, and I all of course went to Disney World as well. I had an absolute blast!!! The weather was fantastic and my sister hooked us up with a whole bunch of passes that got us onto a lot of the rides almost immediately meaning that we didn’t have to wait in line nearly as much. We stayed at one of the resorts for half price, didn’t have to pay for admission to the parks or for parking and my sister got us discounts on merchandise and fabulous meals anywhere from 20-40% off!! It definitely paid to have a sister that works at Disney World. Plus, I missed my sister and was glad to see her.

I am in a much better mood than I was before I went to Florida. I thought this vacation wasn’t going to be a whole lot of fun because almost all family vacations to Disney World have been incredibly frustrating and tiring experiences. This one completely different because I wasn’t with 10 other people trying to do conquer all of Disney World in three days. It was so nice and relaxing.

Now, I have a Christmas break where I can’t work because I can’t find a job that will only hire me for 2 ½ weeks over the Christmas break. So instead of complaining I am going to take this opportunity to make jewelry and garb, read, and do all of the other wonderful hobbies that I never get and opportunity to do during the semester. Hopefully, I will still have enough money for the rest of next semester which should be fun with student teaching and all.

07:39 pm: I have to remind myself why I like winter
You know, summer never engulfs your car with a six inch sheet of ice followed by a healthy layer of snow. Summer never clogs up the road with dangerous ice and snow that don't allow you to go anywhere even if you can get your out from under the ice sheet. Summer never traps you into your house, literally. Summer is just hot and uncomfortable and sometimes makes sleeping a little less pleasant. Summer never forces you to declare jihad on your father's driveway.

I do enjoy the view of the trees covered in ice, although I will take a leafy tree over an icy one any day. I do enjoy sledding and snowball fights and building things in yard with the snow. I also enjoy a nice warm cup of joe after engaging in a holy war with the driveway.

I only had one class today, which I could have skipped if I really wanted to, so the precipitation didn't get me out of work or anything. The one thing about being a students is that most of the work you do is from home. My dad said they closed State Farm today for the first time in the 26+ years that he has worked there. This event is unprecedented.

Maybe tomorrow will be better for mobility and there will still be pretty snow on the ground. I must move south the first time a good job presents itself down there.