Hi Blog!!! I missed you. The past few weeks I never really had anything to tell you about so I stayed away from you so you wouldn't have to hear about uninteresting things that were happening to me. This can range from reading fanficiton, doing homework, crying about homework, being stressed, planning a road trip, more homework, etc. See this is all very boring.
So I figured I'd just hold out on you till I had a good story to tell. Wanna hear a good story?
Well it started on Thursday night. I came home from night classes and did a final check of my stuff for the road trip to Calgary. There were two purposes to this trip: 1. See my favorite Canadian band Marianas Trench and 2. Get fairly wasted.
Now I don't get wasted often. I enjoy a drink every now and then, but I prefer to do this in a social setting, not in my bedroom alone. This means I AM A LIGHTWEIGHT. Being 5 feet tall does not help this fact.
So on Thursday night I packed a bag and headed over to my cousins. Me, my boyfriend Jesse, and my cousins Nick, Kelly, and Mandi were going to pull of the 8 hour road trip into Canada, there and back, in 2.5 days.
Friday morning we left, and the first three hours of driving were great. We were young, excited, and ready to take on Canada. We stopped at a gas station to buy some beer and wine because it was cheaper to buy in America, then headed to the border.
Here is where things go a little wrong. How about a scene for you?
Canadian border patrol guy (CBP): *asks incessant questions*
Kelly (who is driving): *Gives constant honest answers*
CBP: Any alcohol, drugs, or tobacco in the vehicle?
Kelly: 3 cases of Kokanne, no drugs, no tobacco.
CBP: Any mace or pepper spray?
Kelly: Nope.
Holly: *I didn't pack my mace did I? No...I'm pretty sure I didn't...I didn't...*
CBP: Any weapons?
Kelly: No.
CBP: Please pull forward and park on the side of the building and don't get out of the car.
Holly: Wait! I might have mace in my purse, it's in the back of the car, I can't remember if I packed it or not. I might have.
CBP: It's too late for that.
Kelly: *Drives over to said area*
Holly: What the hell does that mean?
Nick: Does my pocket knife count as a weapon?
Everyone: YES!
Kelly: I think I have Cigarettes.
Mandi: We didn't claim that we had a bottle of wine...is that bad?
Everyone: Probably.
CBP: *shows up and has white gloves on* Driver step out of the vehicle. *checks Kelly for weapons and leads him into an outdoor room with a window to look out of where you can see the vehicle*
CBP: *Does this to each of us until I'm the last person in the car*
CBP: Last girl, step out the vehicle. *I step out of the vehicle*. You're in a world of trouble.
Holly: ...why?
CBP: You didn't claim your mace.
Holly: I don't even know if it's in there. I can't remember if I packed it or not.
CBP: Any weapons on you? Anything in your pockets, your boots?
Holly: ...no...
CBP: Go stand in the room. *I go into the room and he locks us inside*
Jesse: What the hell?
Holly: He said I was "in a world of trouble". What does that mean?
*All of us watch as he grabs the wine, pocket knife, cigarettes, and mace out the vehicle*
Everyone: We are totally F*(@#d
CBP: *Unlocks door* So here is the deal. I found tobacco, alcohol, a pocket knife, and mace that you didn't claim. You all left your rights as U.S. citizens at the border. I have enough here to charge you all and take you to jail and take away your vehicle. You all lied to a federal agent.
Everyone: *Looks of horror*
CBP: But hey, we're practically cousins here. It's hard to remember that this is a foreign country sometimes I mean we all talk the same and basically look the same. So what I'm going to do is let you four go.
Holly: *...isn't there 5 of us....*
CBP: And you *points at me* are going to come with me, you are in a lot of trouble. You guys can hang out in the car and I'm taking her back inside with me to fill out some stuff.
Holly: *Holy S*@# what did I do...!?!?!?!*
Pretty much, the guy had enough to eff us over big time. Even though almost everyone in the car didn't claim something that was considered dangerous, I got screwed because I was the one who SAID something...remember:
"Holly: Wait, I might have mace in my purse, it's in the back of the car, I can't remember if I packed it or not. I might have."
Because I said something AFTER he said he was going to search the car I GOT EFFED! He didn't want to give us a full punishment...more just a reminder, it's not like he could just let us go for free. So my tiny 5 oz bottle of self defense mace (apparently scarier and more dangerous than a 7 inch pocket knife) got me six years of being in the system of the FBI and CIA. Anytime I try to leave the country I will probably get searched.
But as my friendly "cousin" and CBP guy put it: "If you have nothing to hide you'll be fine. You just might want to leave for flights a few minutes earlier than usual. I can tell this was clearly a mistake of forgetting."
Hell yeah it was.
Really not a big deal, but when I was in an interrogation room alone with the guy and he was telling me I had no rights...well I was a little freaked out. You can't tell me you wouldn't be too.
He was a nice guy who knew we were just dumb kids. He basically just wanted us to take Canada more seriously as a "foreign" country. It's hard to think of it that way just because it's not as exotic/different of a place than say if we went to Germany or something. I mean Canada is practically America and America is practically Canada. PRACTICALLY. Minus the way we say about, out, and eh.
After that small discrepancy...we got to Calgary around 9pm, checked into the hotel and 3/5 of us decided to sleep including myself, while the two others just got wasted until 4am and they passed out.
The next morning we went to Boston Pizza for breakfast and I ordered a drink with alcohol in it. This is the second time I've been able to do this legally. The first being in Australia. I was thrilled, it was kind of cool to do something different. A $8 drink though! I will learn on this trip the cost of tiny alcoholic drinks is INSANE.
Afterwards we hung out again at the hotel after driving through downtown a bit (super gorgeous city).
That night was Halloween, Mandi and I dropped the boys off on 17th ave downtown *A prominent bar hopping spot* and went off to our concert.
Needless to say Marianas Trench was worth being on a surveillance list for the next 6years. They were so good! And very talented guys. It was so much fun! The lead singer dressed up as Little Bo Peep and the rest of the band was 'the sheep'. Hilarious.
Afterwards, it was midnight so we went to the bar where the boys were at. Mandi is only 17 so she couldn't go inside which was a huge bummer. Nick was VERY MUCH done drinking (passed out) so we hauled him outside and threw him in the back seat and Mandi drove him back to the hotel.
I then proceeded to follow Kelly and Jesse into the first bar/club I'd ever been in. I had one beer, one tiny rum and coke, and one tiny vodka tonic (a total of $27!!!). I had no idea what to order so I just picked generic things I'd heard people order on TV before and hoped it sounded legitimate.
We got a cool little VIP booth the boys had had for the night. It was so weird being in a club. I wasn't sure how to act, but everyone was so friendly and drunk and in a costume no one really cared. So I just let my inhibitions go and had the time of my life. I even got my *I never ever dance* boyfriend to dance with me. It's amazing the things drunk people will do.
A few hours later Mandi picked us up. Kelly proceeded to yell 'America' out the widow and moon people. Normally this would have infuriated me as being very stereotypical American and really obnoxious and rude. However, I was so drunk I laughed the hardest I'd ever laughed at anything. The Canadians all dressed in costumes hanging out on the street were too drunk to care as well and I even saw a few of them laughing.
It was a great time. Back at the hotel we continued to indulge in the 'fire whiskey'. It was about 5:30am when we finally went to bed. I woke up this morning and almost puked 10 times. I had the worst hang over I've ever had, which only felt mildy better when I indulged in greasy bacon. Worth it? Yes. Worth it again and again. So fun! I love Calgary, everyone was so nice and cool. The city is beautiful was well. Canadians know how to party.
Here are a few things that I always want to remember from his trip:
A drunk man with a smiley face taped to his face and a giant joint taped to it.
'WINDOWS DOWN! WINDOWS DOWN!'
Giant Marshmallows.
Haddaway's 'What is love'
'Is a pocket knife considered a weapon?'
Popped Collar dude
'TREE SWAMP!'
Calgary hitch hikers
'You are in a world of trouble'
Jessica ABLA
'This is hilarious!'
That tall guy who bent low so that us people under 5"3 could see
'I'm sorry I can't finish this song that guy looks like such a douche bag'
Sal's bar
'Richard no!'
Mandi screaming at us for being drunk and having to pick us up, then proceeding to get smashed with us later.
'Did you just burp right in my face?'
Nick hitting on every waitress and getting turned down
'I've never been this drunk before'
High fiving feet
And now I'm home...back to boring life. I have finals coming up in a month and NaNoWriMo all month to keep me PLENTY busy.
-Holly
Sunday, November 1, 2009
Thursday, October 15, 2009
I'm a gLeek
Today is me and my boyfriend's 2 year anniversary. What a guy to put up with me for 2whole years eh?
We were going to go some place fancy after I got out of class, and we were gonna spend like $120 on an okay meal. But I'm really not into that kind of thing. I just wanted to come over to his place, have him get the night off, and order a pizza and watch Dexter. See this is why we get along so well.
Last night I accidentally "downloaded" aka didn't click out of on time, this virus that latches onto you computer called Cyber Shield. Oh wow, did it mess up my lap top. I was up with 2:30am trying to fix it. I just finally re set it back 24 hours, but not my macafee security won't work. BAH. My boyfriends coming over in a bit and I'm gonna make him breakfast and he's gonna go through and install a ton of spybot protection and anti-virus stuff.
I took my first test of graduate school yesterday. It went pretty well even though it nearly took us all an hour to finish, we really didn't think it'd be so long with so much writing! Luckily I'm good at that. Anyway, my prof Igor Klygukanov (I call him Igor Karkaroff in my head) was kind of sick so we just briefly discussed what we read and he actually let us go early...like at 8:30! I was so thrilled. I kind of freaked out excitedly in class and this kid was like, "Do you have somewhere to be?" To which I should have replied "Yeah, I'm totally meeting all my cool friends for drinks." But instead I said, "OMG NO! I CAN FINALLY WATCH GLEE ON T.V. TONIGHT!" In which he preceded to call me ridiculous and I said something like whatever, I'm a gLeek.
Last nights episode: amazing. The cover of "Keep holding on" was fantastic! I have a huge hate/love relationship with Sue. Who I hate, but she has the best one liners EVER. "I'm going to ruin you." "I'm going to vomit down your back." AND "I hate to see kids get emotional, unless it's from exhaustion." Also, Terry (Will's wife), her sister is HILARIOUS. You wouldn't think it cause you're too busy hating her, but she's really great. I love her ADD children.
On facebook yesterday I picked 5 people who I would form a team with and help me save the world. I chose:
The Doctor (From Doctor Who)
Hermione Granger (From Harry Potter)
Katniss Everdeen (From The Hunger Games)
Clary and Jace (From The Mortal Instruments)
Arthur Dent (From The Hitchhickers Guide to the Galaxy)
After I complied this list...I realized I'm a HUGE HUGE nerd. And I loved it.
-Holly
We were going to go some place fancy after I got out of class, and we were gonna spend like $120 on an okay meal. But I'm really not into that kind of thing. I just wanted to come over to his place, have him get the night off, and order a pizza and watch Dexter. See this is why we get along so well.
Last night I accidentally "downloaded" aka didn't click out of on time, this virus that latches onto you computer called Cyber Shield. Oh wow, did it mess up my lap top. I was up with 2:30am trying to fix it. I just finally re set it back 24 hours, but not my macafee security won't work. BAH. My boyfriends coming over in a bit and I'm gonna make him breakfast and he's gonna go through and install a ton of spybot protection and anti-virus stuff.
I took my first test of graduate school yesterday. It went pretty well even though it nearly took us all an hour to finish, we really didn't think it'd be so long with so much writing! Luckily I'm good at that. Anyway, my prof Igor Klygukanov (I call him Igor Karkaroff in my head) was kind of sick so we just briefly discussed what we read and he actually let us go early...like at 8:30! I was so thrilled. I kind of freaked out excitedly in class and this kid was like, "Do you have somewhere to be?" To which I should have replied "Yeah, I'm totally meeting all my cool friends for drinks." But instead I said, "OMG NO! I CAN FINALLY WATCH GLEE ON T.V. TONIGHT!" In which he preceded to call me ridiculous and I said something like whatever, I'm a gLeek.
Last nights episode: amazing. The cover of "Keep holding on" was fantastic! I have a huge hate/love relationship with Sue. Who I hate, but she has the best one liners EVER. "I'm going to ruin you." "I'm going to vomit down your back." AND "I hate to see kids get emotional, unless it's from exhaustion." Also, Terry (Will's wife), her sister is HILARIOUS. You wouldn't think it cause you're too busy hating her, but she's really great. I love her ADD children.
On facebook yesterday I picked 5 people who I would form a team with and help me save the world. I chose:
The Doctor (From Doctor Who)
Hermione Granger (From Harry Potter)
Katniss Everdeen (From The Hunger Games)
Clary and Jace (From The Mortal Instruments)
Arthur Dent (From The Hitchhickers Guide to the Galaxy)
After I complied this list...I realized I'm a HUGE HUGE nerd. And I loved it.
-Holly
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
COLD
Is it October already? Wow.
Soon there will be snow all over the damn driveway and I'll be pressing the garage door opener 50 times until it unfreezes and I can get out. Then there will be the massive bulid up outside the garage door that will inevitably take me 30-40 minutes to clear.
While I take out my medieval shovel and work away the layers of cold the neighboors will take out their giant snow blowers and clear the driveway and the mailbox area in less than ten minutes. They will look at me sympathetically, stop for a few seconds and consider snow blowing my driveway because it'd only take them a few minutes and it would be the nice thing to do. Well ever since we stopped mowing and watering our lawn more than twice a year, they've never helped.
Currently I'm also typing with fingerless gloves on because there is not enough money in the world to keep a heater on pre-snow months. Also, I'm on day 3 of recovery from a cold.
Clearly, I feel pretty awful about winter. Well hopefully we have another month or so until the snow hits. Until then...October is going to be a good month for me.
I feel that this is the month I will finally get a job. On the 15th is me and my boyfriend's 2 year anniversary. We're going to this super fancy restaurant which we will feel awkward about because neither of us is into that sort of thing. He took me to Jason Mraz for a gift and I'm taking him to SCARYWOOD on the 17th. It's this theme park normally called Silverwood, but they've transformed it this October to be SCARYWOOD, where everything will be haunted all the roller coasters will be open, and there will be a scary train ride and the rapids will turn into this scary monster thing. It should be fun. And cold...very cold. But fun.
Plans for Canada trip at the end of October are coming together. Me, Mandi, Jesse, Nick, and Kelly are planning to drive up to Calgary and see a show Saturday night (Halloween) and hang out and enjoy the lower drinking age and just have a good time. If we pull off the pricing and the hotel arrangements I'll be thrilled.
Speaking of Halloween (2 sentences ago), I decided to be a ZOMBIE for Halloween. Cool eh? There WILL be pictures. Have you ever heard about the year I was Princess Peach???
Well I was! It's true!
And last year I was peter pan...so I decided to go with something SCARY this year.
Anyway the band I love (Marianas Trench) is playing only in Canada (because they're canadian) and they're playing ON Halloween so it will be a dress up show...cause I said so.
Tonight, I saw ZOMBIELAND. And...HOLY CRAP. AWESOME. So good. All I have to say is: Bill Murray, hell yeah. My friend said I looked a lot like Emma Stone in Zombieland, and I kind of see it, but obviously she's a lot prettier (I mean she's an actress afterall). Anyway, what do you think?
Um, I really need to go write this paper that's due tomorrow on a bunch of stuff I read but didn't comprehend...so yeah...MISSED YOU BLOG!
-Holly
Soon there will be snow all over the damn driveway and I'll be pressing the garage door opener 50 times until it unfreezes and I can get out. Then there will be the massive bulid up outside the garage door that will inevitably take me 30-40 minutes to clear.
While I take out my medieval shovel and work away the layers of cold the neighboors will take out their giant snow blowers and clear the driveway and the mailbox area in less than ten minutes. They will look at me sympathetically, stop for a few seconds and consider snow blowing my driveway because it'd only take them a few minutes and it would be the nice thing to do. Well ever since we stopped mowing and watering our lawn more than twice a year, they've never helped.
Currently I'm also typing with fingerless gloves on because there is not enough money in the world to keep a heater on pre-snow months. Also, I'm on day 3 of recovery from a cold.
Clearly, I feel pretty awful about winter. Well hopefully we have another month or so until the snow hits. Until then...October is going to be a good month for me.
I feel that this is the month I will finally get a job. On the 15th is me and my boyfriend's 2 year anniversary. We're going to this super fancy restaurant which we will feel awkward about because neither of us is into that sort of thing. He took me to Jason Mraz for a gift and I'm taking him to SCARYWOOD on the 17th. It's this theme park normally called Silverwood, but they've transformed it this October to be SCARYWOOD, where everything will be haunted all the roller coasters will be open, and there will be a scary train ride and the rapids will turn into this scary monster thing. It should be fun. And cold...very cold. But fun.
Plans for Canada trip at the end of October are coming together. Me, Mandi, Jesse, Nick, and Kelly are planning to drive up to Calgary and see a show Saturday night (Halloween) and hang out and enjoy the lower drinking age and just have a good time. If we pull off the pricing and the hotel arrangements I'll be thrilled.
Speaking of Halloween (2 sentences ago), I decided to be a ZOMBIE for Halloween. Cool eh? There WILL be pictures. Have you ever heard about the year I was Princess Peach???
Well I was! It's true!
And last year I was peter pan...so I decided to go with something SCARY this year.
Anyway the band I love (Marianas Trench) is playing only in Canada (because they're canadian) and they're playing ON Halloween so it will be a dress up show...cause I said so.
Tonight, I saw ZOMBIELAND. And...HOLY CRAP. AWESOME. So good. All I have to say is: Bill Murray, hell yeah. My friend said I looked a lot like Emma Stone in Zombieland, and I kind of see it, but obviously she's a lot prettier (I mean she's an actress afterall). Anyway, what do you think?
Um, I really need to go write this paper that's due tomorrow on a bunch of stuff I read but didn't comprehend...so yeah...MISSED YOU BLOG!
-Holly
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Jason Mraz and My Grandma. Yeah that's right.
Hello all! I am feeling MUCH better than I was last blog post. I took Megan's advice (thanks) and I talked to a few professors and my head of department and it looks like I won't be going to a mental hospital at the end of the quarter due to a nervous breakdown after all.
Although classes are extremely hard, I know as long as I do my best and stop comparing my intelligence to others I'll be okay. I spent every spare second this weekend doing homework and I have a better grasp on what communications is and what is expected of me in this program.
Anyway, let's NOT talk about school because that's all that has been consuming my thoughts lately.
Friday, my amazing boyfriend took me to see Jason Mraz live for our 2 year anniversary. How cool is that? Jason Mraz is an amazing person (very selfless and cool) and he is a great singer (better live than on track).
However, I was kind of bored with him live, and I hate to say that because I mean it's Jason Mraz FTW. He just played all of his songs in a weird way I'd never heard before. I mean I know you're bored with playing the remedy over and over, but I just want to hear you do the original (IIIII IIIII WON'T I WON'T WORRY MY LIFE A WAY EH EH OH OH NO). Instead he had to do this Rastafarian version that didn't even really work so no one could get into it or sing along. He did this with EVERY SINGLE SONG. Some were better than others but STILL.
He also didn't play these songs that I absolutely love:
Wordplay
Geek in the Pink
Curbside Prophet
Did you get my message
You and I both
Too much food
Mr. Curiosity
I WANTED TO HEAR THESE SOOOO BAD. STILL it was worth it. I finally got to see him live and he is just so damn talented. The best part of the night was when he broke out into a full on opera voice! I KID YOU NOT. He did SO good. It was truly incredible, he really has a voice. Even my boyfriend, who isn't a fan of Mraz, was very impressed.
Afterwards we went back to my boyfriends place and watched Who Framed Roger Rabbit because we do really awesome things like that sometimes. I hadn't seen that movie in so long.
On Saturday I did homework until I drove out to my Grandma's for dinner. Have I told you about my Grandma? Because she is unlike any Grandma you know. For one, she lives in this giant house in the "country" aka a VERY small town about 35 minutes away from the city. She has a barn and cool pond and a ton of trees and land. It's really a cool place where I've spent a lot of my childhood.
Now with this picture of her house in mind you're probably expecting her to be the kind that bakes homemade cookies (wrong she bakes homemade bread), and slips you $1 bills and tells you not to spend it all in one place. Not quite
Well try a Grandma who cooks amazing food from all over the world, and slips you plane tickets for trips to places like (for some reason blogger wanted these to be huge...sorry):
England
France
Australia
D.C.
and
Chicago!
and when she's not in a foreign country with you she's in a foreign country by herself exploring all there is to see in the world. She just got back from Pakistan and is planning a trip to the Mediterranean (for the 3rd time) next month. She has pictures all over her house of her riding camels around the desert with pyramids in the background, and skydiving, well you get the picture. She's pretty much the coolest. So that was Saturday night.
Then on Sunday I went out to my boyfriend's parents house for dinner with his parents and his brother's girlfriend. We were told old stories about how my boyfriend's younger brother (who is 21 now) was an unintentional animal hurter when he was little (example: he launched 2 kittens off a spring so they flew in the air and blood came out of their eyes, and he drenched a kitty in a bucket of lighter fluid). No animals died on his behalf, but he sure gave some a scare. He explained himself like this:
"Okay first of all I liked the first 2 kittens and I wanted to have fun with them on the spring launcher just like I did with my beanie babies, and the lighter fluid just happened to be in the bucket which I placed the other cat while I went to go find my mom to show her I found a cat!"
This resulted in a lot of laughter and Josh's girlfriend giving him fake horrified looks. I am so lucky my boyfriend's family is so cool. I love them all.
Anyway, today and tomorrow I'm back to the class that makes me cry. Hoping for better results...
-Holly
Although classes are extremely hard, I know as long as I do my best and stop comparing my intelligence to others I'll be okay. I spent every spare second this weekend doing homework and I have a better grasp on what communications is and what is expected of me in this program.
Anyway, let's NOT talk about school because that's all that has been consuming my thoughts lately.
Friday, my amazing boyfriend took me to see Jason Mraz live for our 2 year anniversary. How cool is that? Jason Mraz is an amazing person (very selfless and cool) and he is a great singer (better live than on track).
However, I was kind of bored with him live, and I hate to say that because I mean it's Jason Mraz FTW. He just played all of his songs in a weird way I'd never heard before. I mean I know you're bored with playing the remedy over and over, but I just want to hear you do the original (IIIII IIIII WON'T I WON'T WORRY MY LIFE A WAY EH EH OH OH NO). Instead he had to do this Rastafarian version that didn't even really work so no one could get into it or sing along. He did this with EVERY SINGLE SONG. Some were better than others but STILL.
He also didn't play these songs that I absolutely love:
Wordplay
Geek in the Pink
Curbside Prophet
Did you get my message
You and I both
Too much food
Mr. Curiosity
I WANTED TO HEAR THESE SOOOO BAD. STILL it was worth it. I finally got to see him live and he is just so damn talented. The best part of the night was when he broke out into a full on opera voice! I KID YOU NOT. He did SO good. It was truly incredible, he really has a voice. Even my boyfriend, who isn't a fan of Mraz, was very impressed.
Afterwards we went back to my boyfriends place and watched Who Framed Roger Rabbit because we do really awesome things like that sometimes. I hadn't seen that movie in so long.
On Saturday I did homework until I drove out to my Grandma's for dinner. Have I told you about my Grandma? Because she is unlike any Grandma you know. For one, she lives in this giant house in the "country" aka a VERY small town about 35 minutes away from the city. She has a barn and cool pond and a ton of trees and land. It's really a cool place where I've spent a lot of my childhood.
Now with this picture of her house in mind you're probably expecting her to be the kind that bakes homemade cookies (wrong she bakes homemade bread), and slips you $1 bills and tells you not to spend it all in one place. Not quite
Well try a Grandma who cooks amazing food from all over the world, and slips you plane tickets for trips to places like (for some reason blogger wanted these to be huge...sorry):
England
France
Australia
D.C.
and
Chicago!
and when she's not in a foreign country with you she's in a foreign country by herself exploring all there is to see in the world. She just got back from Pakistan and is planning a trip to the Mediterranean (for the 3rd time) next month. She has pictures all over her house of her riding camels around the desert with pyramids in the background, and skydiving, well you get the picture. She's pretty much the coolest. So that was Saturday night.
Then on Sunday I went out to my boyfriend's parents house for dinner with his parents and his brother's girlfriend. We were told old stories about how my boyfriend's younger brother (who is 21 now) was an unintentional animal hurter when he was little (example: he launched 2 kittens off a spring so they flew in the air and blood came out of their eyes, and he drenched a kitty in a bucket of lighter fluid). No animals died on his behalf, but he sure gave some a scare. He explained himself like this:
"Okay first of all I liked the first 2 kittens and I wanted to have fun with them on the spring launcher just like I did with my beanie babies, and the lighter fluid just happened to be in the bucket which I placed the other cat while I went to go find my mom to show her I found a cat!"
This resulted in a lot of laughter and Josh's girlfriend giving him fake horrified looks. I am so lucky my boyfriend's family is so cool. I love them all.
Anyway, today and tomorrow I'm back to the class that makes me cry. Hoping for better results...
-Holly
Thursday, September 24, 2009
This is my personal hell
I had my first class as a graduate student on Wednesday. I wanted to blog immediately after, but I decided to wait until after my class today just in case it went better and I had something good to talk about.
It did not go better. You know when you walk into a room and right away you can tell that everyone else has something you don't? Let me give you examples of this from my own personal experience over the past two days.
First, everyone in my class is older than me. Now I'm used to this, being 19 and having already earned my B.A. Degree. However, I'd say the median age range in all of my classes is about oh...maybe 27?
Second, they all know each other. They have all attended this specific university before as undergraduates or they've been in the program as a graduate student for awhile now. They have either taken classes with each other before, or have taken classes with the professor before. Oh and they have ALL at least taken one course in communications. No matter how basic.
Third, they all use big words and smarty pants theories I've never even heard of before. Even the Professors. Do you know anything about the "Dreyfus model for skill acquisition" or "Neo-Aristotelian rhetorical criticism" or "Double Hermeneutics"? ME EITHER! There is a list like this of 60 terms all just as weird and confusing that I have to memorize (and their definitions) by the end of the quarter (plus loads more stuff I WON'T go into detail about because you'd be so unbelievable bored and you might faint).
Fourth, they all have thought about their thesis. You know a thesis. That huge thing you have to do at THE END of your graduate career. That thing that all your classes PREPARE you for. Well apparently everyone here is a genius who has already thought about these things (OBVIOUSLY). And the Professors just assume you've thought about it too! In fact they assume you know nearly EVERYTHING about communications cause hey! this is all a review for you right? Right! They also know everything about theory and this philosopher and that writer and what's that? You want them to write their thesis based around "classical genre rhetorical criticism", oh that's no problem. Cause they know these things (DUH EVERYONE DOES). They live and breathe these things. And when one girl says "Oh I'm mostly interested in late structuralism with a slight emphasis on Phronesis." The teacher just jokes, "Oh that's okay WE won't hold that against you!" Because it's a joke! Because they all know what it means and that it's funny and hahah hahahaha hahaha ahhahahhaha. WONDERFUL.
I have to come up with a thesis in a specific field of communication by Wednesday (never mind that I don't know ANY fields of communication because all my professors just assume everyone knows). Plus a MOUNTAIN of reading and homework that I hardly understand. I won't go into details because you might die if I do.
Basically: Bad mood.
Basically: I cried all over my Dad when I got home.
Basically: Not even blast o butter popcorn and Doctor Who made me feel better.
Basically: Welcome to Grad school.
Basically: FML
-Holly
It did not go better. You know when you walk into a room and right away you can tell that everyone else has something you don't? Let me give you examples of this from my own personal experience over the past two days.
First, everyone in my class is older than me. Now I'm used to this, being 19 and having already earned my B.A. Degree. However, I'd say the median age range in all of my classes is about oh...maybe 27?
Second, they all know each other. They have all attended this specific university before as undergraduates or they've been in the program as a graduate student for awhile now. They have either taken classes with each other before, or have taken classes with the professor before. Oh and they have ALL at least taken one course in communications. No matter how basic.
Third, they all use big words and smarty pants theories I've never even heard of before. Even the Professors. Do you know anything about the "Dreyfus model for skill acquisition" or "Neo-Aristotelian rhetorical criticism" or "Double Hermeneutics"? ME EITHER! There is a list like this of 60 terms all just as weird and confusing that I have to memorize (and their definitions) by the end of the quarter (plus loads more stuff I WON'T go into detail about because you'd be so unbelievable bored and you might faint).
Fourth, they all have thought about their thesis. You know a thesis. That huge thing you have to do at THE END of your graduate career. That thing that all your classes PREPARE you for. Well apparently everyone here is a genius who has already thought about these things (OBVIOUSLY). And the Professors just assume you've thought about it too! In fact they assume you know nearly EVERYTHING about communications cause hey! this is all a review for you right? Right! They also know everything about theory and this philosopher and that writer and what's that? You want them to write their thesis based around "classical genre rhetorical criticism", oh that's no problem. Cause they know these things (DUH EVERYONE DOES). They live and breathe these things. And when one girl says "Oh I'm mostly interested in late structuralism with a slight emphasis on Phronesis." The teacher just jokes, "Oh that's okay WE won't hold that against you!" Because it's a joke! Because they all know what it means and that it's funny and hahah hahahaha hahaha ahhahahhaha. WONDERFUL.
I have to come up with a thesis in a specific field of communication by Wednesday (never mind that I don't know ANY fields of communication because all my professors just assume everyone knows). Plus a MOUNTAIN of reading and homework that I hardly understand. I won't go into details because you might die if I do.
Basically: Bad mood.
Basically: I cried all over my Dad when I got home.
Basically: Not even blast o butter popcorn and Doctor Who made me feel better.
Basically: Welcome to Grad school.
Basically: FML
-Holly
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Waking up late...too late
I have GOT to set a better sleep schedule for myself. I was up last night till 1 reading dramione fan fiction (you caught me). I slept wonderfully. Usually I get woken up sometime during the wee hours, then go back to bed. However, I was fortunate enough to get a full nights sleep without being woken up until my body was fully ready. Unfortunately, my body wasn't ready to wake up until 1:58 pm.
Believing that I would never sleep that late, I did not set an alarm as I should have. Once I felt awake enough, I grabbed my cell phone from under my pillow to see what time it was. Surely I had enough time for a quick work out and a shower still. Upon seeing the time, I quickly fell onto the floor, shoved on the same outfit I wore yesterday, grabbed a to-go cup of coffee, and got in the car. At this point I had 50 minutes to drive 45 minutes to a building I'd never been before on a campus I'd hardly am familiar with.
I got there around 2:50 and had 10 minutes to find this building I'd never heard of. After a quick look at some campus maps I found the building and walked in. I needed to go to the 2nd floor. Upon entry I saw that on the 1st floor I could get my picture taken for my new student ID. The downtown campus (only 15min away) is the one I'll be attending for classes and they don't have a student ID office there. This place closed at 5 so I wanted to make sure I got in to get a picture before they closed so I wouldn't have to drive all the way out there again. Besides, showing up early/on time to silly things like "orientation" makes you look too eager and freshman like. This was a graduate student orientation after all.
I ended up taking one of the worst pictures of my life (which is now permanently etched onto an ID card I'll have for the next 2-3 years) considering I still had bed head and never bothered to look in a mirror that afternoon. I ran upstairs to this orientation about 10 minutes late and ended up gaining annoyed looks from everyone in the room. Not to mention the only seat still open was in the very front. After an awkward pause from the speaker and several annoyed grunts from people as I pushed my way past to the front, orientation began. It turned out that the speaker I int erupted was the head of the graduate committee (you know the one which determines if your thesis is good enough to graduate) so it was nice to know that him and I got off to a good start.
It was all standard stuff in which we learned important numbers and people to talk to. We also learned that the average age in the room was 28 (I'm only 19 so that felt weird). Around 4:30, after receiving my flu kit, library information, and business cards, my stomach told my brain that I hadn't ate anything yet and I was starving. Although the orientation was supposed to stop at 5, it went until about 5:20.
On the way out I realized there were cookies and punch that I missed on the way in. I must have looked like a real A**hole when I lunged for these, grabbed 2 cookies and had a full cup of punch, then refilled it on the way out. Then, I forgot where I parked so I spent 20 minutes walking around the campus in search of my vehicle looking like a complete moron.
On the way home I got a call from this new movie theatre that's opening next week. I applied for a job as a joke a few weeks ago because I knew I'd never get the job. See, I worked in a movie theatre for two years, it was my first job. Pretty much I got fired from that for not a particularly FAIR reason, but nevertheless I got fired. I figured this theater would call my old theatre and ask why I left and they'd say I was fired. Naturally you can see why I assumed I'd never get this job. However, it turns out that they want an interview and since I'm poor and have no money I said "Why not?! It's not like I planned on never working at a movie theatre again!!!!!!!!!!!!" Except I did. Oh well, the economy is so bad and I SO need a job.
So my interview is next Thursday, my first class for grad school is tomorrow night and minus the whole "sleeping till 2pm" thing that I need to fix soon, things are looking up.
I'm also planning an insanely cool road trip at the end of October to Canada to see one of my favorite band Mariana's Trench. They're Canadian (obviously) so they don't play shows in America but I live 2 hours from the border so I'm going to drive the eight hours to Calgary for the weekend with some friends. It should be fun. Plus the drinking age in Canada is 19, so what's not to love about a weekend away?
-Holly
Believing that I would never sleep that late, I did not set an alarm as I should have. Once I felt awake enough, I grabbed my cell phone from under my pillow to see what time it was. Surely I had enough time for a quick work out and a shower still. Upon seeing the time, I quickly fell onto the floor, shoved on the same outfit I wore yesterday, grabbed a to-go cup of coffee, and got in the car. At this point I had 50 minutes to drive 45 minutes to a building I'd never been before on a campus I'd hardly am familiar with.
I got there around 2:50 and had 10 minutes to find this building I'd never heard of. After a quick look at some campus maps I found the building and walked in. I needed to go to the 2nd floor. Upon entry I saw that on the 1st floor I could get my picture taken for my new student ID. The downtown campus (only 15min away) is the one I'll be attending for classes and they don't have a student ID office there. This place closed at 5 so I wanted to make sure I got in to get a picture before they closed so I wouldn't have to drive all the way out there again. Besides, showing up early/on time to silly things like "orientation" makes you look too eager and freshman like. This was a graduate student orientation after all.
I ended up taking one of the worst pictures of my life (which is now permanently etched onto an ID card I'll have for the next 2-3 years) considering I still had bed head and never bothered to look in a mirror that afternoon. I ran upstairs to this orientation about 10 minutes late and ended up gaining annoyed looks from everyone in the room. Not to mention the only seat still open was in the very front. After an awkward pause from the speaker and several annoyed grunts from people as I pushed my way past to the front, orientation began. It turned out that the speaker I int erupted was the head of the graduate committee (you know the one which determines if your thesis is good enough to graduate) so it was nice to know that him and I got off to a good start.
It was all standard stuff in which we learned important numbers and people to talk to. We also learned that the average age in the room was 28 (I'm only 19 so that felt weird). Around 4:30, after receiving my flu kit, library information, and business cards, my stomach told my brain that I hadn't ate anything yet and I was starving. Although the orientation was supposed to stop at 5, it went until about 5:20.
On the way out I realized there were cookies and punch that I missed on the way in. I must have looked like a real A**hole when I lunged for these, grabbed 2 cookies and had a full cup of punch, then refilled it on the way out. Then, I forgot where I parked so I spent 20 minutes walking around the campus in search of my vehicle looking like a complete moron.
On the way home I got a call from this new movie theatre that's opening next week. I applied for a job as a joke a few weeks ago because I knew I'd never get the job. See, I worked in a movie theatre for two years, it was my first job. Pretty much I got fired from that for not a particularly FAIR reason, but nevertheless I got fired. I figured this theater would call my old theatre and ask why I left and they'd say I was fired. Naturally you can see why I assumed I'd never get this job. However, it turns out that they want an interview and since I'm poor and have no money I said "Why not?! It's not like I planned on never working at a movie theatre again!!!!!!!!!!!!" Except I did. Oh well, the economy is so bad and I SO need a job.
So my interview is next Thursday, my first class for grad school is tomorrow night and minus the whole "sleeping till 2pm" thing that I need to fix soon, things are looking up.
I'm also planning an insanely cool road trip at the end of October to Canada to see one of my favorite band Mariana's Trench. They're Canadian (obviously) so they don't play shows in America but I live 2 hours from the border so I'm going to drive the eight hours to Calgary for the weekend with some friends. It should be fun. Plus the drinking age in Canada is 19, so what's not to love about a weekend away?
-Holly
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Short Blog
I began writing this blog at 4:55pm while I eat my breakfast, which consists of Cheerios. I was afraid once classes start (on the 23rd) this ritual of waking up sometime after noon will be over. However, upon closer look at my schedule I discovered I have all night classes, which absoltely thrills me. This will become a regular event then and I am very pleased with this prospect.
I started watching Vampire Diaries last week. I very much like it. It's a little cheesy but I give it props for being completely based on this book series called Vampire Diaries that came out in the 90s. Makes it more original and I give it more credit, that even thoguh it is kinda similar to Twilight it's story line DID come first so.
I also read and finished The Hunger Games and Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins in 2 days. They were amazing. It's the first book in a long time I haven't been able to put down or stop thinking about. I suggest you all read it.
Thanks to Maureen Johnson, I can't stop singing the combination pizza hut and taco bell song and it's annoying everyone around me. Job well done, I say, since I believe it was her intention in the first place.
Short blog, but I will make up for it later.
-Holly
I started watching Vampire Diaries last week. I very much like it. It's a little cheesy but I give it props for being completely based on this book series called Vampire Diaries that came out in the 90s. Makes it more original and I give it more credit, that even thoguh it is kinda similar to Twilight it's story line DID come first so.
I also read and finished The Hunger Games and Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins in 2 days. They were amazing. It's the first book in a long time I haven't been able to put down or stop thinking about. I suggest you all read it.
Thanks to Maureen Johnson, I can't stop singing the combination pizza hut and taco bell song and it's annoying everyone around me. Job well done, I say, since I believe it was her intention in the first place.
Short blog, but I will make up for it later.
-Holly
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