Update

So apparently I need to update my blog more often as my public needs me....(yeah right). So we just got back from Chicago, which sucked. First of all the guy whose house we stayed at didn't actually live in Chicago...he lived in a suburb about an hour away that didn't even have a Walmart, or a movie theater that I could tell. I then proceeded to spend 3 1/2 days alone in this guys house with nothing but his 400+ channel cable (which was nice) and his stupid cats for company. I'm allergic to cats. The guy's house had two levels. Upstairs were bedrooms, kitchen etc...and this was all hardwood floors. Hardwood floors and leather furniture do not attract and retain hair and dander like carpet and upholstered furniture do. Our room and the television were downstairs with wall to wall carpeting. There were tufts of cat hair floating along the hallway and as I slid off of our bed a ball of cat fur would inevitably follow me to the floor. Our room was also right next to the laundry room/cat haven. Where the litter box and cat food were. The entire lower level of the house smelled of cats and seemed to get stronger the further down the hall you went, culminating in a cloud of gag-inducing cattiness emanating from the cat haven...which was, again right next to our room.
So my husband would get up at 7 am and leave with his friend to go hammer all day at their other friends house/forge. I couldn't go to his house at all because he had two dogs, which I am deathly allergic to. So he would leave, I would sleep in until noon or 1pm then spend the day sneezing and watching endless movies on the t.v. set in my room. That is when I wasn't foraging through our hosts non-existent pantry for some form of substinence to feed myself and my growing baby. I'm pregnant. I need food every couple of hours or I get sick. These people work all day, their children eat at daycare, and then they order food when they get home. There was no milk (hey we at least buy some for our guests), not enough cereal in any of the boxes to fill a cupped palm, much less a cereal bowl, and only a few cans of yucky soup. I ate the soup. Also, being pregnant and on a weird sleeping cycle as its summer, I generally get a little peckish around 1-2pm, again at 5-6, then at 8-9, 11-12, and 1-2. I could eat in the afternoon, then again at dinner, but I didn't want to be found pawying through our hosts meager supplies while they were in their beds for the night (they went to bed around 10pm...waaaaay too early for my tastes). So instead I sat in our room starving, sneezing, and living on benedryl, none of which could be good for the baby.
Dinner: Wednesday night they wanted Chinese. The last time I had Chinese while I was pregnant it made me sick. I mentioned this, so our host agreed to get me a hamburger. Thursday: we had thin-crust pizza, with hardly any substance to it. Friday: we had a bbq with, you guessed it; hamburgers. Saturday; Brian and Patrick were running behind so stopped by a...wait for it...hamburger joint to pick up some food for dinner. By the time we left Sunday I was so sick of this "beefy goodness" that I don't think I'll ever be able to eat a fast food hamburger again. (I'm sure I'll get over it, but I still currently feel that way).
Sunday was "my day" to go into Chicago and see what there was to see. Our host first asked if we would like to stop at a McDonalds for breakfast. Starving pregger that I am, I agreed even though the thought of their usual fare made me quesy. He then proceeded to drive past not one, not two, but four, maybe even five (I fell asleep) of these establishments. When I pointed this out to him he exclaimed; "Oh! I didn't even see them! I was too busy talking my mouth off about stupid crap that no one cares about and breaking traffic laws to notice! And...oh no! There aren't any more until we get into the city. Oh well." At this point I was ready to kick that stupid smile off his stupid pudgy face and grind him into the ground with my heel. But instead I smiled and reassured him that all was well. Upon arriving in the big city the man repeatedly asked me what I wanted to do, was it okay if they took a taxi, where do I want to go....having never been to Chicago I had only a vague idea of what attractions it held and expected him to list a few options. Nope. So after a stomach -turning lunch of turkey on a soft pretzel bread (which has always made me sick, but for some reaon I over looked when ordering), we went to the Art Institute of Chicago where I looked at art that I would have liked to share with my husband and he and his ''friend" gazed adoringly at the rows of armour on display for hours on end. We didn't get to the museum until noon and it closed at five. We finally left around 2:30 and headed to the Field Museum....in a taxi. (which I have no problem with, but our host made a big deal about) After a mere thirty minutes of viewing various stuffed dead things to which I am allergic I was about to collapse from fatigue and hunger and begged a break in the museum's bakery. There I ordered the most delicious tomato basil soup, grilled cheese sandwhich and a carton of milk and sat back and enjoyed the first real meal I'd had since leaving. By the time we were done we had less than twenty minutes to see the rest of the vast four level complex. We didn't see very much. Our host then dropped us at the airport an hour and a half early and I limped around to our terminal (recall that my back has been hurting, that it gets worse with walking and that we had been walking all day) and collapsed on the uncomfortable seats. Good things though: I got a yummy smoothie in the airport and we got to read Harry Potter on the plane there and back. So now I am still recovering from too much cat exposure and malnutrition. The end.

Okay one more thing: These people have two daughters, ages 3 and four months. They both work all day and the girls are in daycare from 7am to 6pm. The daycare feeds them and changes their diapers and oversees the potty training the parents are trying to teach. The kids are woken up at 5:30 am, picked up at 6pm, fed and put to bed by 8pm. These people see their children for a total of three hours a day. How can they expect to have any impact on their lives if the kids see more daycare people than relatives?! This upset me so much that, again hormones/pregnant, it made me cry. The guy kept saying how he loved being a dad and it was so great. I think that's a load of crap and what little interaction he has with his children shouldn't qualify for that title. Okay, now I'm done.

The Best things in life are free....

...or so the song goes. I think that's a load of crap. For example: a home. I think having a home, a place to keep your things, to sleep and get away from the world is pretty important...however if you want to keep this sort of luxury you need money to pay for it. Our house, even though we have maybe the sweetest deal in Denton, is still too expensive for us. We never got enough money to pay rent last month and still don't have it to pay for this month. Lucky for us the landlord is a little absent-minded and probably won't kick us out right away.
Food: Food, in my opinion, is one of the best things in life. I love nothing more than a really well-prepared meal. However, once again, unless you happen to own a large amount of land which you farm regularly, this cost money. (of course the farm would probably cost money as well in terms of taxes, overhead, current market value, labor, seed, etc... so I guess that's not a good example). We've been digging into our very meager food storage for the last month as well. Now we have Patrick's new "apprentice" living with us and eating his weight in food. For instance: we bought two gallons of milk on Monday when Patrick went to pick him up. We still had a little bit left from the previous gallons too....now we are out of milk again a mere five days later. This guy drinks it with every meal, even though I think it's pretty obvious that the rest of us are trying to conserve our resources by drinking water. When I was growing up, milk was a luxury not to be wasted with drinking. We could have milk with our cereal in the morning and that was it. It was too expensive to let a family of seven each have a glass at dinner (although I seem to remember mom getting some), and if we were caught sneaking a glass during the day we were punished. (Well until half of us moved out and my littlest brother decided it was a good idea to start drinking nearly liter size glasses of milk in the middle of the day and then leave the still half-full glass lying around going to waste...and he never got in trouble either! Spoiled brat). Anyway, so I guess what I'm trying to say is that we're dirt poor and the situation doesn't seem to be improving with time. We still owe $800+ worth of bills from last month and can't even begin to think about paying this months. Unfortunately we have to come up with at least $350 for my insurance asap or they'll drop me....and you don't even want me to go into the nightmare that is trying to get insurance with no job, a pre-existing condition, and a baby on the way. I'm trying to get a job, but I still haven't started on my practicum yet (which is a whole other story) so I don't know what my schedule will be for the next month or so. This makes it a little difficult to get a job when you aren't sure when you'll be able to work. *sigh* So, money sucks. The best things in life may be free, but you can leave them to the birds and bees....I WANT MONEY!!!

Secrets...

Me, I'm a big fan of secrets...as long as I'm the one that knows about them. If one of my friends or acquaintances did something they shouldn't have or are embarassed about, I think it's great if they tell me about it. I think I'm a good secret keeper in most cases because: 1) I don't really talk to that many people and the ones that I do interact with, I don't tell stuff about myself, much less my friends. 2) Most of the time the people that tell me the secret tell everyone else within a few days and there's not much pressure on me. 3) If I do need to tell someone I can tell my sister. She lives over 2000 miles away in Seattle, WA. Who here is going to care if she knows? There are also a few reasons why I'm a bad person to tell a secret to...1) I generally do end up telling someone. Whether it's my sister (see above) or my husband (I firmly believe spouses shouldnt/don't count). 2) If the secret is just too exciting and you catch me minutes after I've been confided in I may start dropping clues and hope that you guess for yourself. For example: I have a secret. One I don't really want to spread too much just yet. However, even having told my family and my husband I still feel the need to tell a few more of my close friends. The problem with telling people secrets though is that you're never quite sure who they are going to tell (I firmly believe that everyone has their own list of exception people). So I could tell my friends that the reason I haven't been feeling too well for the past month or so is because a certain someone told me she wanted to be an aunty in the near future and I couldn't let her down...and if she wanted to know when this change in her stature from friend to aunty were to take place I'd have to say sometime around January 13th. But then you never can tell who they'll tell. So I guess I'll just keep my secrets to myself and trust those of you clever enough to have seen through this ruse to keep it to yourself as well. Because as we all know, a secret isn't any good if it's public knowledge...so: shhhh!

Summertime Blues

Remember when you were a kid and you were so excited for school to be out? You'd think it was so great that you didn't have to do anything and you could sleep in and play all day without any consequences...then, in my case at least, by the end of the summer you're so freaking bored you can't wait to go back to school so that your life will at least have some sort of purpose again. Well, it seems you don't really grow out of this. I was so excited for school to be done so I could have some time to sit back and relax before starting my summer classes. I had ordered four new books to read and was really excited to have nothing to do. Well, May rolled around and my books came (and they were totally worth it, but over much too quickly), but I started feeling sick and spent alot of my time lying on the couch reading or watching t.v.. Now I've actually started my summer readings for school and I'm working out the last details to begin my practicum and I just have to wonder why I'm doing any of it. I mean, I know I'm trying to graduate and I don't plan to do this forever, but I just need to push through these last few courses so I'll be done, but I really don't care about any of it. The prospect of reading a bunch of anthropology crap and writing some papers is not enough to motivate me to get out of bed before noon. Then even when I do get up, I still spend the day on the couch reading this stuff with intermittent breaks for snacks and paper writing. This is totally making me feel like crap, but I'm not motivated to go out and do anything else. I feel like I'm turning into a fat slob, though this is the lowest weight I've maintained consistently in awhile. I'm working with a partner on my practicum and I feel like she's the one doing all the work. She's all ambitious and wants to do a good job and I just want to take the easiest way out. So when she changes stuff and wants to know what I think, I just nod my head and say 'whatever.' I guess I just feel so disconnected with everything right now...maybe it's from sleeping too much, maybe it's from not exercising enough, or maybe it's from spending all of my time studying this stupid stuff I'm not interested in. I think it may also be from not having a job and thus feeling very out of touch with my financial situation...I wonder if I could handle a job on top of the school stuff I'm doing...

waiting...

I'm currently sitting here waiting for my visiting teachers to show up. I haven't cleaned my house and I hope they don't notice....I've also realized that our landlord should be sitting on the porch when they arrive and this could freak them/him out. Stupid cats...
Summer is very boring right now. I don't get to start on my practicum until June and I'm supposed to be getting IRB approval in the mean time, but my stupid partner won't get back to me. So I have nothing to do but sleep in until noon and sit around reading all of my new books...this would be okay except that I'm almost done with them and then what will I do? *sigh* Maybe I should get a job...but I don't know what my schedule at the museum will be like, so I can't yet. Oh well. Sorry, this isn't very interesting.... On the bright side I got straight A's again...so I still have a 4.0 GPA for grad school...maybe they'll let me wear special tassels or something...that'd be cool. :D

So apparently I'm a jerk...

Growing up in Utah I've always been the quiet, nice one. Everyone always mentioned how I didn't say much, but that I was a nice person. At my jobs I was often commended on being so efficient and such a good worker. Many times my supervisor would compare me to workers they'd had in the past and say how I "really had it" and that they would like it if I could stay with them forever. One employer liked me so much he said I should drop out of school and work with them full-time (I'm not sure how serious he was). My teachers always complimented my work and told me what a good student I was. Then I moved to Texas.
I now have a former best friend/roommate who will not even talk to me anymore. I have tried on several occassions to mend our troubles, but she has refused point-blank to even consider associating with me ever again. This is a girl that I had been friends with for over a decade and within a matter of months now no longer considers me worth her time.
I got a job as a secretary. My co-workers complained about me not doing a good job, of being lazy. I was written up and given a "trial period" in which to prove myself or I'd lose my job. My fellow secretaries would not give me work to do and when they did would explain it to me as if I was stupid. This seemed to be a common conception around the work place that my intelligence was to be found wanting and my work below par.
Last semester I did a case study on a local museum. This was a critique based upon my experiences of visiting the museum, taking a tour with a school group, interviewing the curator, and attending one of their lecture series. I was less than impressed with the curator who also seemed to think I was an idiot, but as she requested to see my paper before I handed it in (to make sure I didn't "misrepresent" her or her museum), I refrained from saying anything negative and was, according to my professor, entirely too generous in my assessment. I forwarded the paper to the lady as she requested, and received back corrections to my grammar and punctuation. That's it. "It's" instead of "its," "than" instead of "then," that sort of thing. One semester later I am interviewing with a completely different museum for the possibility of conducting my practicum there. The interview is going well when the director brings up an experience her fellow museum manager had with a student last semester. Apparently this student wrote an extremely offensive and one sided paper in which she made "scathing remarks" regarded the establishment and the exhibits. This student, she claims, did not bother to ask for clarification on any subject but rather invented all sorts of cruel lies about the establishment. Robyn (the museum lady) now refused to even consider working with another student again because this was such a traumatizing experience in which her trust was betrayed and now this paper was out "in the public" for all to see. This was my paper. I explained this to the new lady and she agreed to still let me come this summer. I then went home and reviewed my paper and, finding it lacking any offensive material, forwarded a copy to the lady and asked her if this was in fact the paper to which she was refering as I was no longer convinced after re-reading it. She said that it was the paper and that she looked forward to beginning a discussion on my writing style and the manner in which I offend people (as she was amazed that I failed to see what was so 'scathing' about it). She also proceeded to say that she did not appreciate emails and would I please refrain in the future. Shocked and taken aback I did. Until three weeks later when I had some questions about the project. She had emailed me with several concerns about my methods and the prospect of me offending and alienating their small clientele. When I explained that I was there to do what she wanted and that everything would be cleared first and that I wouldn't do anything she didn't approve of, she answered me by saying that a staffing problem had come up and they would be unable to devote to me the amount of time I would need for my project. Good luck, and good riddance...
Apparently I have also offended some of my friends as well as their family, who no longer even speak to me in church. So apparently I'm a jerk....or maybe it's Texas?!?!

AAAAGGGGGHHHHHH!!!!!!!

Sorry I haven't been updating like I should...so much stuff has been going on with school and let me just tell you; drama, drama, drama. I don't have time to go into it right now and may not for the next two weeks, but after the semester is done, it's blog-central baby. ;)

Transcribing sucks

So I finally finished transcribing my second 35 minute interview today during our lunch break. You wouldn't think something so short would take so long. Over the span of two days and three different typing/listening sessions I think the last interview took about four hours. Now it's not that I'm a slow typer, it's just that people talk a lot faster then you'd think...add on to that a thick spanish accent and an echoey room and it starts to become very difficult. So, anyway, it sucked.
Today was my preservation class. It's taught by the School of Library Science, and we are supposed to be learning how to preserve books. The class only meets six times for the whole semester. So far we've learned how to: erase pencil marks, tape tears in the page, color, mat pictures, fold mylar, create cradles for books on display, and mount artwork for display....so when I started this list it didn't seem like we'd learned much, but I guess two meetings from the end of the semester, it seems like more now. However, the first half (read 3.5 hours) of class we colored pictures and ate candy. It seems a little ridiculous to me that I'm receiving 3 graduate-level credits for attending this "class" but hey, if they want to give me credit for coloring then I say go ahead. We get an hour long lunch break between sessions and I usually spend mine reading/napping in an empty building across the quad. Today however, I had to transcribe the above interview and didn't get a lunch. Luckily I finished it, but unluckily I have yet to start on next week's assignments which consist of 200+ pages of Anthropological drivel. Maybe I'll skim it...
Patrick's grandparents came into town last night and stayed in our guest room. This morning we all got up at 6am (yes, we are insane) and went out to breakfast. This wouldn't have been too bad if I hadn't stayed up until nearly 2am transcribing....I then had class all day and am now exhausted....so maybe I'll take a nap while Patrick's at his Priesthood session.
I'm listening to Billy Idol's new CD. After meeting him in Austin and listening to him live, I figured we should at least have one of his albums. It's pretty good...I especially like the "Rat Race" and "Plastic Jesus" songs. You should definitely check them out.

So I'm a little slow...

So I just spent the last fifteen minutes trying to figure out how to post here. I know, I know, obviously I've done this before as there are already multiple posts, so how hard can it be to remember? and to that I say: "HEY! It's not like there's an icon on the page that says "New Post" or anything...who designed this site? It's not exactly user-friendly!" *whew* Anyway...
So I just finished my book...I hate it when that happens...unless the book sucks of course and you're looking forward to the day you can put it down and never look at it again. This was not the case today. In my opinion there is nothing worse then finishing a really good book...that's in a series. I think that these sort of books should go on and on so that the excitement of living vicariously through fictional characters can never end. I hate going back to real life, it's never half as fun as what happens in books. Plus, to top it all off, the next book doesn't come out for months! MONTHS!! What am I supposed to do in the mean time? Read a different book? I don't want to! I want this book! NOW! Of course I felt the same way last week when I finished a completely different book, so I suppose I'll get over it. *sigh* It's sad when so much of your happiness revolves around escaping reality. Now I have to go to my stupid Anthropology class...I don't like school. I don't want to be an Anthropologist and I don't like talking about all of the intricacies involved in being one when I never plan to be...I'd rather be at home with a good book then getting a college education anyday. ;) Well...most days that is. Okay maybe I do like school, but just not these classes...I have to interview three more people, moderate a focus group and read the equivalent of a latin bible (large, boring and full of needlessly big words) during the next few weeks....oh and write a gazillion papers also using big words and trying to sound intelligent about a subject I care nothing for so my teachers will give me A's. Why don't I drop out if I hate it so much? Because it's pretty much free and after this semester I only have three papers and one class left and I'm done....so I've decided to push on so that I at least won't regret not getting a Master's degree when I had the chance...even if I'll never use it.

Why U2 is the best band on earth

Well, I've been thinking about this and I've come up with a few ideas:
1) Bono: Bono is an extremely good-looking Irishman. So first of all he's got the looks going for him, then on top of that he's Irish (i.e. one of the sexiest accents on earth). Besides his outside appearance Bono is one of those few famous people who actually use their fame to support worthy causes...and I don't mean their favorite political candidate. Bono is a huge supporter of ending third world debt, AIDS, and abolishing hunger around the world. Not only does he publically make known his feelings, he also travels to these countries, possibly putting himself and his wife in danger (healthwise) to help these people. He hosts benefit concerts and donates literally millions of his own money to help eliviate world debt. He is undoubtedly an extremely AWESOME individual. Besides all this Bono has also been married to the same woman for over twenty years. That's really saying something about committment in this day and age. ..he's also never had an affair, as far as the media is concerned and is father to not one or two, but FOUR children. He is such a stud!
2)The rest of the band: They are all also good looking and Irish (well, except for Adam who's Welsh, but that's close enough right?) They've been together since Larry, the drummer was 14. That's a long time. They are still performing to sell out shows even though they've been in the business for 25 years. Larry plays even though he has a back injury that causes him pain, Edge played through a bitter divorce (which ended well for him I think as he was able to marry the Bellydancer from their Pop tour), and Adam may very well be the coolest guy ever. He's so laid back and hip at the same time.
3) The band looks good in drag. How many guys can claim that?
4) Obviously, the music. Their music is eclectic, and catchy and if you listen to the words, is actually very meaningful. They don't swear (unduly) there's no killing, no sex (well not too much anyway) and they have some of the best beats and tunes in the industry. They keep coming up with new material even though they've been around forever and it keeps selling like hotcakes.
5) The fans. U2 fans are some of the nicest people you'll ever meet. Based on membership in at least five different boards, I have found these people to be generous and giving, kind and patient. One guy even burned 30 cd's for me of bootleg tour stuff. It's incredible!
And these are just some of the reasons why U2 is the best band on earth. :D

Grrr...argg