Wednesday, April 27, 2005
No more dorm life for me. I checked out yesterday at 4:45pm, never to return. Funny, I think Corey and I may remain friends; she wasn't nearly so bothersome at the end of the year. And I think we'll get along better since I don't have to live with her. :PI didn't want to move back home. I don't think it will be too bad, but I'm still feeling bummed about it. Plus the whole I-don't-know-what-I-want-to-do-with-my-life thing is really starting to weigh me down. I have my short term goals - save up money, get an apartment. I still want a place of my own above all else. But beyond that, I don't know. I'm thinking I'm going to have to take some kind of big risk, give my weary self some kind of extraordinary wake-up call. Chicago, perhaps? Apply to Columbia College, go into debt thousands of dollars, and try to make it in the art world? I feel like I should do something drastic to get myself out of this rut...not having any idea what to do with my time makes my life look pretty bleak.
I really don't know what this summer holds for me. Work, time with Dan. Though I don't know how much time. I generally work at night; he works 8-430. Plus all of his gaming...I really don't care to spend my summer nights hanging out with the cats while he and Matt wear out their keyboards on Diablo II and World of Warcraft. Granted, I love the cats, all 5 of 'em (Matt's got 4 and Dan's got Clarice) but they aren't much for meaningful conversation. Neither are Dan and Matt, when they're concentrating on their computer screens.
I've decided that I need a summer project to take on in my free time. I'm planning on taking up sewing (seeing as I have a sewing machine I don't know how to use; not to mention, it's a handy skill to know and if I plan on making it in the fashion industry, I'll probably need to be able to do it) but I'm thinking I want something more consuming. More exciting. Maybe Alex's movie will provide a good project, depending on how involved I can get into it. I want to create something, something big and worthwhile...
I'd like to actually start my scrapbook too (woo hoo, exciting, I know). I bought a lot of the supplies after our trip to NYC and Jersey (God, I miss New York. And Jersey.) but I never got around to putting it all together. Corey said she'd help me. She's like a scrapbooking queen. I can't tell you how many times I'd come back to the dorm and find bits of paper and clippings of pictures and other random art supplies spread across the room. Admittedly though, some of her pages are pretty cool.
Like you guys care about scrapbooking.
I just feel like my life is missing something. I'm so irritated with that feeling. It's been coming and going for as long as I can remember and I really wish I could just figure out what that missing something is.
Posted by Rachel at 3:10 PM |
Friday, April 22, 2005
Tonight is the Ludacris concert.I tried to get out of it, but Ryan couldn't find anyone to buy my ticket. It's no big deal though; it's not like I have anything better to do tonight anyway.
You know, I realized that I have never been to a concert for an artist whose music I actually own. I don't own any Johnny Cash, or Tim McGraw/David Lee Murphy, or George Thorogood (in my defense, the first to I was taken to by my grandparents, and the third was with Jeff and his free tickets). And tonight will be the first concert that I've ever attended indoors - all the others were at an outdoor festival/fairground.
T minus 18 minutes til takeoff.
Posted by Rachel at 4:47 PM |
Wednesday, April 20, 2005
I almost think I'm gonna miss living in the dorms. It was kinda nice to just be right there next to everything, able to leave at the very last minute to get to class. Heck, I might even miss my roommate. Because for all of her annoying habits the residence's shitty parking, and the fact that I was hardly ever there, living on campus as a whole was generally a good experience. I have to be out by April 28 at 5pm - back to the dad's, at least for the summer. My stepmom is bringing her truck to SVSU Friday morning so that I can load up most of my stuff -- it'll be a lot easier than trying to pack everything into my little convertible. I don't think living there again will be too bad; my stepmom seems to have mellowed out a lot (I get along with her much better than I ever have in the past). But I have no idea how long I'll be there or when I'll get the opportunity to move out. I guess I'll just have to deal with it, deal with not being able to be on my own. At least not yet. I shall remain optimistic however...I'm very excited by the fact that classes are over in less than a week (at least for me). I'm actually trying extra hard not to procrastinate on my final projects for art and creative writing, in hopes that it will pay off.
This weekend Dan is off to Ohio for the weekend. I have my Ludacris concert (I still don't know why) and work and...a birthday party at a bar Sunday night. Saturday night is open thoug; anyone got any fun plans?
Posted by Rachel at 10:23 PM |
Tuesday, April 19, 2005
I have $250 left on my meal plan to spend in the next 9 days. Anyone care to help?Posted by Rachel at 4:06 PM |
Thursday, April 14, 2005
Why someone would want to dedicate an entire Winamp internet radio station to playing only Rush, of all bands, is beyond me.Posted by Rachel at 9:42 PM |
Oooooh. The shepherd's pie they have at the Doan is fantasmic. Beefy mashed-potatoey vegetabley gravy goodness. Must...get...more...
Speaking of good stuff, last night at work my boss informed me that since my promotion, I should be getting paid more for the position I now have. However, the company won't allow her to give me a raise until evaluations in June/July. So she's going to try to get me what she called "equity pay" - she wants to give me an extra chunk of money to make up for the raise I should have gotten already for the extra work I've been doing.
This greatly brightened my day.
I've also set up my shedule for fall semester, after much thinking, cussing, and rearranging. Sadly I think SVSU is running out of courses I'm interested in taking; their most popular programs as far as I can tell are nursing and teaching, neither of which I have any interest in.
Anyway, the classes I signed up for are:
English 202
Psych 100
Biology 105A (plants!)
Biology 111C (it has a lab, so it goes toward my gen ed requirements)
West Coast Swing Dance (because I can take it for free and I wanna learn)
I'll be at SVSU from like 830 in the morning til 9-930 at night, but I'm hoping it will be worth it to have an extra 2 days off every week.
Posted by Rachel at 12:08 PM |
Wednesday, April 13, 2005
I like to think of myself as strong (or at least strong minded) when it comes to most things - I'm not afraid to strike out on my own and I rarely get nervous or intimidated (at least not unless it's an extraordinary situation).However, I'm very much a wuss when it comes to medical stuff, especially medical problems of my own. For example, I could never give blood. I get queasy just thinking about them sticking the needle in the crook of my elbow. And last spring when I was really sick, before I knew it was mono, I sat and cried on Kurtis's bedroom floor because I didn't know what was wrong with me. Then I cried again when I told my dad and stepmom that I should go to the Dr. for it (I like to partially blame it on the fact that my parents and I weren't quite on good terms then). And today when I talked to my stepmom on the phone about symptoms I've been experiencing lately and she told me that having blood in my urine was very bad (sorry, I'm sure no one cared to know that detail) I started again.
And here I like to think I'm all growed up. Sigh.
I have a UTI, for the record. Paid the doctor a visit this morning - antibiotics and lots of water for me. And an irritated kidney that causes pain when I walk. :( It should get better pretty quick though.
Posted by Rachel at 9:55 AM |
Monday, April 11, 2005
Dan and I went and saw Shakespeare's "The Tempest" performed here at SVSU on Sunday. Then we went back to his house to look up the plot on the internet, because neither of us could quite figure out what we'd just seen.People seem to find this amusing.
Posted by Rachel at 3:56 PM |
I got a fortune cookie the other day whose fortune said, "Your dearest wish will come true." Pretty specific, eh? Usually my fortunes are a little more abstract - "It is quite possible that you will achieve greatness in your lifetime," for example.
Now, if I knew what my dearest wish was, this might be pretty exciting news. But I really don't. It would probably have something to do with finding my supposed "soul mate" (or knowing for sure who he is, if I've already met him) or being truly happy in life - the things most other people would probably want too. Then again though, maybe my heart has some weird unknown desire - to publish a book in 37 different languages, or to ride on the back of a dolphin, or to get a...chin job, maybe (is it weird to not like your chin?).
Anyway. I filed my Michigan taxes today. Well, actually I redid them, because the form said to put in my "Adjusted Gross Income" from the Federal tax form onto line 10A (or whatever it was) of the state form, instead of the amount of money I actually earned for the year. Well, since my dad can still claim me on his taxes (because I'm on his insurance), my income was adjusted from Completely Pathetic to Still Pretty Pathetic (I had to add like $250 to my actual taxable earnings).
For some reason, I realized that I forgot to put the adjusted amount on the form after I'd already sealed and addressed the envelope. So I peeled the envelope open (carefully, so as to be able to reuse it - these things cost money, after all), put the right amount on the line, and refigured my tax refund.
The state owes me $1. Yes, a whole entire dollar. Sounds like a pretty complicated and ridiculous process to go through to get an entire dollar back, doesn't it? It'd have been well worth the work if I was getting $11 back, which is what I originally figured, but nooooooo (I almost think I'd have gotten more satisfaction out of it if the state and I were completely even - neither of us owing the other any money). Unfortunately, the instruction booklet claims that if you file a federal tax return, you have to file state as well. And I did file federal, because I'd be missing out on approximately $20 in refunds if I didn't. Twenty dollars is like, half a tank of gas.
Don't even get me started on that one.
Posted by Rachel at 3:08 PM |
Tuesday, April 05, 2005
Yesterday in honor of the beautiful weather, Jeff and I sought an adventure. As per usual, we found one, but this time it was much more memorable than usual.It started with me suggesting a trip to the Red Eye for the usual Sexual Chocolate. Upon pulling into what's referred to as "the Pit," we noticed a girl sitting alone on the asphalt near the staircase, playing an acoustic guitar and singing. Jeff, being so smitten with the guitar as he is, decided that we should stop and talk to her. So we sat down next to her and introduced ourselves (her name was Amelia), and she played songs for us - one or two of her own works as well as several selections by Sublime. Random strangers came and sat with us for awhile then left again; the one who stuck around the longest was a guy with a quiet demeanor who introduced himself as Paul and played through the entire Nirvana song "About a Girl" on Amelia's guitar. Another guy came up to talk to us later on; judging based on all the people who came by and greeted him, he's pretty popular out there in Old Town. He didn't have to introduce himself, even; the pair of girls who came flouncing by calling out "Sean!" pretty much gave it away.
Either way, Sean turned out to be one very cool guy (likewise with Amelia). He's a photography major - he's got a couple pictures hanging up in the back room of the Red Eye, actually - the two black and white photos on the wall across from the bathroom. The group of us (as well as another guy who wandered over from across the street - I never did catch his name) discussed war and religion, careers, money, saving the rainforests, and using society's own capitalism against itself, as well as what there is to do in Saginaw on weeknights.
Once it got dark we moved our discussion into the Red Eye; we lost a couple people in the group but gained a couple new ones; most memorably a guy named Shamus (I probably slaughtered the spelling) who shared with us his idea for a pornography entitled "Throb and Sob." I'll not go into detail...
As the evening wore on, Sean, Jeff and I were the eventually only ones left. We discussed parties and buying houses, shark attacks and dolphins who save lives and Swedish kings and learning languages and a sleep system designed by a guy who discovered that you only need 20 minutes of sleep to recuperate after every 4 hours of being awake.
Intelligent conversation ROCKS.
Toward the end of the night this guy came and sat at the table next to us; I'm pretty sure he was on something (or just drunk) but generally nice nonetheless (though something unknown made me a little wary of him) . He introduced himself as Brian. Upon sitting down he asked me, "Do you work here?" I said, "No." He said, "Have you ever worked here?" as though he was sure he recognized me but couldn't pinpoint from where. He asked me about whether I went to school and what I was studying, and told me I had nice eyes. Then he said, "My eyes are like that too sometimes, only a different color." And mentally I said, "um....what?"
Six hours after arriving, Jeff and I decided it was finally time to leave. We exchanged numbers with Sean and made plans to get ahold of each other if a party was taking place or if we were looking for something to do.
On the way home, Jeff and I decided, we need to get out there more often.
Saw Tiffany there, on a sidenote. She didn't even make eye contact or acknowledge us. But you know, like Dan pointed out, I can't really say that I care. We were never close anyway.
(my sketch of Amelia. Jeff was smitten with her too, by the end of the day...)
