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If she weighs the same as a duck, she's made of wood. And therefore... A WITCH!

The biggest challenge for me with having a blog is remembering to post when my life gets busy and interesting. Of course, when things are dull I have ample time to post about how bored I am but that's not going to get me e-famous.

Work has been going swimmingly. I am becoming a retail goddess, selling things at a higher volume than has ever been seen before and crushing my numbers like so many crushable... things. Well, okay, so that's a rather large embellishment. While work has been going fairly well, I am certainly no retail goddess. I'm less clumsy when handling people's change and putting things in bags (except I still cannot for the life of me figure out how to open our stupid plastic bags with one hand because they stick together impossibly and I always end up nearly ripping the thing in half while trying to finagle it open). Also, I suck at counting my drawer and usually have to do it a minimum of twice to get things right.

But otherwise, it's been pretty good. I haven't had anyone yell at me (yet) and I haven't broken anything. I did drop a headband while putting things into a customer's bag, only to find it an hour later on the floor. Oops. I suppose, though, that mistakes are part of the general learning process and eventually I will get the hang of it all and become somewhat retail god-like. Or I'll find something more up my alley to replace it with.

Beyond the realm of selling things for a living, I've been spending time with Terrell and Allison when she's been around for visits. It has been really nice getting to spend time with her and Rachel again the past month or so, but after a couple of weeks from now they'll both be gone for good - one in Maine and the other in L.A. and then it will really sink in that my college era is over. When I think about it, I feel blessed to have lived with the same people for the entire four years of college. During that time, we became best friends--more like sisters--and formed a bond that I can't see being broken by mere distance from one another. Yet I'm still going to miss them!

We journeyed to the Sterling Renaissance Festival on Sunday, which was great fun. It was the "Pirate Invasion" theme weekend, so we saw lots of people in elaborate pirate costumes parading around, including the best Jack Sparrow impersonator I've ever seen. As the three of us crowded around him for a picture, he declared "Ooh, double... er, triple. I can count!"

I had never been to a Renn fair before, and would definitely like to go back again. It made my inner seventh grader weep with joy :D

Cute shop selling emu and ostrich egg art.
Jousting! Mmm, men in armor on gigantic horses thrusting sticks at each other.

Sir William, the evil knight. Booooo!
Sir Robert, the good knight.
What made one evil and the other good, you ask? Well, Robert represented the side of the field we were on and William represented the other side. Ergo, William evil and Robert good. Makes perfect sense! Also, Robert won so good prevailed (:

This dude was the best dressed non-worker there. I finally was able to get a picture of him when he stopped to buy a pretzel from a man in a kilt.
The sheriff (center), his son (left) and the executioner (right).
Before we left, we watched a public execution. I have to say, I was more excited for this than the jousting. That's probably rather telling about my potential to be a bloodthirsty psychopath.

This dude had some of the scariest faces ever. HUGE TEETH!
So, yes, it was a good time indeed. I unfortunately didn't get to buy the wine slushie I wanted, but I had seven samples so it's likely I actually did have the equivalent of one whole one. Hee!

I'm sleepy now. Not good since I've got work from 1:30-10 tonight and it's 11:00... perhaps I should take a nap. Arg. First I need to go to the UPS store and get my camera shipped to Samsung so they can fix whatever's wrong with it. I used Terrell's camera at the fair, hence the poor quality (and significant lack-there-of) of pictures. I want mine baaaack! Then I can post more pictures in this blog, and more pictures = more interesting posts for my lovely readers.

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My cat thinks she's a purse dog.



This is her new favourite place. Terrell was a dear and opened the thing so she could crawl in (thanks, boyfriend, for getting cat hair in the purse I take to work). She tries to do so anyway when I leave it on the bed. Silly thing.

When she's not crawling into my purse, she prefers this shoebox:



(Seriously, though, that's a super great deal. One cat for $9? If you want her gimme a holler and I'll even toss in a free poop scooper!)

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Redesigning, brb.

I'm sick of using a template and am going to spend my time off in the next few days to researching blogger layout designs then finding a template to practice on, then making my own. Should be a fun adventure. I haven't coded anything in a while, so... yeah. But in the meantime, if anyone (and by this I mean Rachel, my one follower) notices sudden influx of crap when checking here... that is why.

On a side note, if anyone with marginal artistic talent does happen to read this, I am looking for someone to draw me a super awesome demon llama to use as a logo of sorts. I would repay you in cookies and/or pimpage for your site or whatever. I would attempt, but my artistic talent is rather non-existent.

Here's an example of what I mean:



Edit:

Despite my general lack of artistic talent, I found a tutorial on how to draw a llama and practiced in paint. I liked what I saw, so I put a ring on it... *ahem* I mean of course that I designed a layout around it. Well, okay, I designed a nifty colour scheme and created a banner in photoshop to go with it. All of the real coding work for this layout can be credited to Our Blog Templates, so give them a round of applause. Super yay for having a pretty customized layout instead of that crap boring template!

The banner feels a little... empty, so I might change that. Will be attempting to add a couple more widgets and fix any mistakes in colouring. Let me know if you notice any issues.

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Can I have a broccoli, spinach, and banana vodka shake to go?

Nine long months after the discovery of several small pulmonary emboli (blood clots) in my lungs last October, I have finally been cleared for takeoff cleared for any remaining issues related to that incident. I began seeing a new doctor at the beginning of the summer who actually talked to me about my progress and he decided it was probably time for me to come off the blood thinners. After a CT scan, two more blood draws, and an appointment at a pulmonologist office this morning I am finally FREE!

Blood thinners come with a lot of diet change requirements. Many foods interact badly with the medication, either making it less effective (in the case of bananas, broccoli, spinach, potatoes, and pretty much anything with too much potassium/vitamin k) or more effective (alcohol). And it's also pretty much glorified rat poison, so to have been taking that every day for almost a year is terrifying indeed. But no more! Of course, I did just refill my prescription yesterday, but it was only $1 so no big deal really.

Though I will admit, it's somewhat scary to know I'll have no protection in place to prevent new clots from forming. They never did really determine what the cause was. We blamed my birth control and a recent train trip, but it wasn't an exact decision. I will have to simply keep working on living healthy, exercising more (!!! I am so bad at this part), and pay attention for any issues in the future. But oh god do I hope there aren't any. I am sick of doctors and blood draws and hospitals and fear.

After my appointment, I wandered up the hill to campus and sat for a while on a bench on the quad reading/writing down ideas for the layout I'd like to try making for this blog. Being on campus makes me ridiculously wistful and almost sad. I still wish I could just go back to college and start all over again. I want classes and assignments and a real purpose for life. I'm sure I wouldn't feel nearly as mopey about the whole thing if I had a job which left me fulfilled, but I just can't help feeling like I somehow went backwards instead of forwards after graduation.

Or maybe it's just a sign that I'm doomed to be a complete nerd for life. Because I actually do miss classes and homework. That's what grad school is for, I suppose, and I'm going to make it my #1 goal to do at least an hour of GRE study every day in August. I have slacked like crazy on that, and if I'm going to attempt to apply to schools this fall I need to take that damn test in September/October.

For now, I'm going to shower and do some epic cleaning because this apartment is HIDEOUS and I am embarrassed for my cat to have to live in such filth.

And I am so going to steal some of Terrell's vodka while I'm at it. Because I can!

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Britain is a hologram

I say weird things. People who know me know this, but since this is a blog and not real life it occurred to me that my readers who don't know me might not know. (Try saying that sixteen times fast!)

This is a conversation Terrell and I had yesterday while driving to Wegmans in a failed attempt to pick up my prescription:

Me: "It's weird seeing people on TV in real life because you can never tell if they really exist or are just holograms."

Terrell: "What?!"

Me: "No, seriously. I am convinced Simon Cowell is a hologram. He's so stiff and robotic."

Terrell: "He's British."

Me: "Maybe Britain is a hologram. Have you ever been there?"

Terrell: "No..."

Me: "Then you don't know for sure!"


And really, you can't know for sure. I know some people might comment saying they've been there, and hey, maybe you have. But there are places you haven't been. What if every place you currently aren't at really is a hologram? You'd never know.

*spooky music*

Ahem.

I think I had a point to this post. But I can't really remember it now. So, I guess I'll leave you with this picture of Katie from Horton Hears a Who. She's a character I feel I can really identify with.

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The Great American Idol Adventure

For some inexplicable reason, my (former) roommates Rachel and Allison and I spent pretty much all of our spring semester this past year watching season 9 of American Idol. I always watch the initial audition episodes because they're hilarious, but haven't actually watched the rest of the show aside from the seasons Taylor Hicks and Carrie Underwood won. It's just too time-consuming. Or so I thought.

And yet every Tuesday/Wednesday night, there we were, in our living room screaming at Tim Urban to grow some talent or GTFO and swooning over Crystal/Casey. Naturally, we decided one of the last things the three of us should do before splitting off to different parts of the country was to go see the AI live concert in Albany. Tickets were bought, schedules were adjusted and the date was set.

Around 3:00PM yesterday, we piled into Allison's car and headed down the road. The weather there was clear and hot. New York State is unbelievably gorgeous, especially the further upstate one travels. To New Yorkers in the City area, "upstate" means anything not in the immediate vicinity of NYC. But the real upstate is the part we drove through to get to Albany and it is full of breathtaking views of hills and valleys and rivers. I am still amused that the majority of people I run into outside of the New York/New England area seem to think that NY State is nothing but miles and miles of city and concrete. For months after I moved to Syracuse, people from high school would ask me how "the city" was and I'd have to explain to them that I wouldn't know--considering it's 5 hours away. New York has far more to offer than that one small area everyone around the world knows and loves, and it's actually a real shame that so many people don't realize that.

Anyway, enough waxing poetic about nature. We arrived at the venue around 5:30 and located the box office to pick up our tickets after parking. Due to a super odd set up, the tour buses were parked right next to the box office and they used that as an entrance for the performers/crew. This resulted in us getting asked rather rudely to leave while we were trying to look at the venue seating map to figure out where our seats were. Once outside, we noticed people were crowding around the fencing that had been set up around the buses. Figuring it might be more fun to stick around and try to get some autographs to sell online cherish and treasure forever and ever than risk getting accosted by someone in a hideous bee costume at the venue's entrance, we stuck around. And it was well worth it, because out came Casey James in all his Texan deliciousness.

We watched him get screamed at and fawned over from a safe distance, then decided if we (meaning I, of course) wanted any kind of contact it would be best to mosey over there. And we did, just in time to watch some woman old enough to be his mother accost him with a picture she'd printed off the internet of him in his HOUSE. She was positively glowing that it had startled him so much, but lady? If the poor man looks like a deer in headlights it's probably because you are creeping him the fuck out. He left after that, to much disappointment and pouting from me.

But then the winner, Lee DeWyze came out, and all was well and good. We ended up on the complete other end of the fencing, smooshed against some horrendous Stage Mom and her daughter who I will forever refer to as Pouty Face. You know those girls who think that walking around with a perpetual pouty face makes them look super hot? Yeahhh. More makeup caked on than a 1980's hooker and a loud-mouthed mother who actually attempted to squeeze me out of my space at the fencing despite like 5 feet of clear space to their right. I was content to bide the time waiting for him to make his way back around by drawing a zombie cat but we realized he probably wouldn't be coming back and headed over.

I got my picture, and then an autograph. As he was signing, I told him kudos for being super talented and he looked at me strange then said I looked familiar.

"Do you follow me on Twitter?" He asked.

"Um, yes. I think I do!" I responded.

Well, that was a lie. I wasn't sure if I did, and you know how in the moment when something is happening, like a pseudo-celebrity saying you look familiar, and you just want to rush to agree or respond or whatever? Yeahhhhh. So, sorry, Lee DeWyze of American Idol. I lied to you. But I follow him now. That makes up for it, right?


Mmm, delicious guitarist posterior.


How sweet.

So, that was fun. He left and it was getting close to show time so we headed in and found our seats. The show itself was rather interesting. Putting ten performers with vastly different styles together in one concert has all the makings of a super train wreck. Long concert was hella LONG! And the audience was the most passive I've ever encountered. Every concert I've ever been to was brimming with audience energy, with the standing and the clapping and the dancing/screaming. This one? Not so much. Not so much at ALL.

Didi Benami performed first and reminded me how much I really, really love her voice. It's so unique. If she ends up releasing an album I will probably buy it. Hopefully she can have some sort of career beyond the Idol stuff. I understand why she was kicked off early based on the show's usual requirements, but I think anywhere else she would have held her own for a lot longer than the 10th spot.

Andrew Garcia did his usual thing covering "Straight Up" and "Sunday Morning". I had to explain to Allison why I was laughing so much when he started the second song: it always reminds me of sophomore year when Terrell and I had just started dating and still lived in the dorms. We both had roommates, so it was rare to get any alone time for *ahem* alone stuff. Sunday mornings were our one time to be together completely uninterrupted because my roommate would go to church really early. Now every time I hear that song it reminds me of sexytime and thus, I lol.

I can't remember the exact order everyone performed in. I know that Tim Urban came out and destroyed two songs I love. It's such an utter travesty that he made it into the top 10 because that boy cannot sing to save his life. He seems like a genuinely nice, friendly person who would probably save puppies from fires and make soup for the homeless and stuff like that, but every time I have to hear him butcher Coldplay and the Goo Goo Dolls I can only think about my desire to physically remove his vocal chords and throw them into a boiling pit of lava. He was so bad that Rachel went out during his set to see if she could win a prize doing pull-ups for the Marines (she won a lanyard).

Katie is an amazing singer, but whoever was in charge of designing the accompanying graphic displays for her set needs to be fired. They went with a comic book theme, which is weird enough for such a normal all-American girl, but then amped it up for her cover of "Fighter" by displaying the lyrics in comic book POW! format for nearly every. single. word. And sounds! "Dah-dah-dah-dah" should never be up for display anywhere unless it's kareoke night. Some examples (sorry for the crap images, my camera decided to completely keel over right as the concert started and I had to use my phone instead):



The designer for Siobhan's set, on the other hand, deserves an award. She shocked the socks off of all the parents and small children in the audience with a cover of "Paint It Black" complimented with dark colour themes and intense strobe light action. It was incredible, and up to that point the most worthwhile part of the show. She's someone I would definitely go see again. Allison is convinced she should go to Broadway and play Elphaba in Wicked (and I'm inclined to agree).

Immediately following was sweet little Aaron and his put-me-to-sleep-why-don't-you country music. Kid will have a future, just not anywhere near my ipod... it was quite a jolting contrast to have him follow directly after Siobhan nearly put us all into epileptic shock with her finale.

And then there was Casey, and all was good and sexy. I turned to Allison at one point and tried to explain my strange infatuation:

Me: "All musicians just ooze sex. It's what they do. Except the hairy ones."

Allison: "And Gwar."

Right, Gwar... while they may indeed ooze something, sex appeal probably isn't it.



(The answer, of course, is awesomeness. And fake blood.)

Crystal and Lee were, of course, incredible. Both would have been deserving of the win, though I'm still semi-surprised after all this time that it was Lee. I guess when you take into account the fan girls it makes sense, but she was such a clear-cut favourite from the start. Oh well, they're both hopefully going to have real careers beyond all of this. After Lee's set finished they did a group sing finale thing and then it was done.

All in all, a fairly nice time. Not the best concert I've ever been to by far, but again I'll cite the difficulty in throwing a group of 10 vastly different performers together for one huge long show. Most people were there for probably one or two people at most, and it's hard to build enthusiasm and excitement from people who don't really care about 2/3 of the show. I do feel rather bad, especially for the earlier performers because the audience enthusiasm was pretty much at zero then, and that has got to get you down somewhat. But hopefully some of them will go on to play venues full of people there to see them and only them.

The whole experience really got me thinking about fame and pop music in general. I grew up in the era of 90's boy band fever and was a gigantic fan of The Backstreet Boys. I remember being so excited and enthusiastic, hopeful that maybe if I could just look into the eyes of one famous person they would see me and I would be touched by fame. The desire for fame and celebrity, either to have it or to be touched by it, is a huge thing in our culture and I think a lot of people simply take it at face value rather than digging deep into the subconscious reasons for it. All of this musing has renewed my interest in doing real actual scholarly research on this topic because at the end of the day it still fascinates me; it always has.

I can remember performing full concerts in my bedroom to Britney and BSB cds, pretending I was in front of a crowd of thousands. I never got into the whole hairbrush as a mic thing, instead I simply pretended one was in my hand. It was tragically embarrassing, and I am so thankful that god didn't invent youtube until I was old enough to know better.

Though I don't want to be famous any more, not by a long shot, I can still feel that undercurrent tingle of wanting to be touched by fame - wanting to be on the inside of things rather than the outside looking wishfully in. This is something I think almost everyone feels at one point or another. It flares up more at times when you actually do brush up against fame, like my thirty seconds of blabbering to Lee about following him on Twitter. In truth, he's not actually any different than me except that he happens to be so good at what he does people follow him and come from miles to see him do it.

I hope in my lifetime to become good enough at what I do that people recognize it. I'd love to have book signings and know people read what I write and maybe even love me for it. But I am realistic enough to realize fame is not something I want nor need. I'm too odd of a person to have every second of my life analyzed. And really, who would want to? Except maybe some kind of documentary maker doing a piece on insanity or really weird people.

Then I'd be the perfect subject.

Anyway... to end this epic concert post, I'll just say that something out there didn't like the fact that we attended the concert. The way home was full of hail, lightning of epic proportions, and crazy rain. But we did make it home, eventually, and there was True Blood and rejoicing the next day.

Which is technically when this post was written. Actually, not really. I wrote it on Monday because I am supremely lazy and forgetful and also, did I mention True Blood? Yeah. Thank blogger for enabling post backdating!

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Cats are evil. And fluffeh!

Oh hay there, I'm not dead! I would say that work has kept me from blogging, but the truth is I've just been lazy. But my cat, Possum, has inspired a post with her crazy antics, so here I am.

Becoming a cat owner again for the first time in four years has been an interesting experience. The benefits, of course, are cuddles with a furry creature and unconditional love based on a necessity to survive (I do provide the food). But there are other things, good and mildly perplexing, which I forgot about during my catless years.

Like the fur. EVERYWHERE. We got Possum this neat little brush to keep her from shedding everywhere and raining down hair upon us like fluffy doom. And it works, sure. But only if we brush her six or seven times a day! I never knew a creature could have so much hair, and she's what's considered a "short hair" cat. At any moment in at least one room of our apartment there will be a lone wad of cat hair, floating like a fluffy tumbleweed through the air. Pleh.

And maybe the fur thing wouldn't be so bad if she didn't insist on sleeping in and on top of our stuff. I have never met a cat more lazy than Possum (and yet she is so tiny... how does she do it?!) and the past couple of days have only gone to further her laziness. Two days ago, Terrell and I finally caved and decided to do our laundry. Eight loads in the washing machine probably indicates that we've reached a catastrophic level of procrastination around here. *gulp* Anyway, so I dutifully sorted all the clothes into whites/towels and darks/colours and sent Terrell in to grab one of the baskets.

He comes out carrying a heaping clothes basket topped with a furry monster. SHE DIDN'T MOVE THE ENTIRE TIME, FROM THE BEDROOM TO THE LIVING ROOM. In fact, I'm willing to bet she probably would have stayed there all the way to the laundromat. Maybe we should have taken her. Nothing like a washing machine bath to rid a creature of all loose fur!

Other recent sleeping spots include: curled up on top of a shoe bin under the clothes hanging in the closet, inside a TINY shoe box that my new sandals came in, my purse, my visiting little brother's suitcase (where is right now), and one specific spot on our bed (as shown). She is literally the laziest creature I've ever encountered. For a while there, she was in the habit of leaping epicly from a small shelf beside our bed up into the top shelves of the bedroom closet but the erection of a gigantic bookshelf in the way has deterred that act of heroicism. For the time being. I'm sure she'll figure out a way up there again soon. Sneaky cat is super sneaky.

Speaking of sneakiness... her other (least fun) habit is CLAWING OUT OUR LIVING ROOM SCREENS. We have this really great full porch adjacent to the living room. It's great, it's big, and it's on the second floor so we don't have to deal with random people staring at us. Except for the people living next door. But they're gone now and nobody else has moved in yet. So, awesome porch and of course Possum likes to be out on it and we really don't mind because she can't jump onto any trees or anything and run away. But the stupid animal lacks the patience to wait for one of us to open the door and let her in/out, so what has she done? Oh, that's right: CLAWED OUT OUR LIVING ROOM SCREENS.

This means, of course, that we can't keep the windows open anymore so she doesn't do more damage. And because we can't keep the windows open and it's the middle of a heat wave of epic proportions, Terrell and I (and our visitors) are literally melting to death from the incredible heat and humidity that is overpowering our living room.

Why did I get a cat, I ask myself?



Oh. Right.



Because she's freaking adorable and gives me cuddles (on occasion) and constant squee moments of kitty joy.

(:

Although, if she hacks up another hairball like the disgusting mess the other night I may have to make her live on that beloved porch of hers...

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At least it's not fast food.

Well, my first day as a working adult is over. Pretty typical stuff: sell things to people, sell as many things as possible, and reorganize the things they knock over in the meantime.

Though I did enjoy my first day, and I know it will be an interesting job, there is a voice in the back of my head telling me "You can do so much better." I'm proud to have gotten a job less than two months after graduation, but I suppose I imagined myself doing something a little more fulfilling than minimum wage retail. Especially coming out of such an amazing work-study job as an editorial assistant for a publishing press. Still, a job is a job and I desperately need one. So I will memorize the hot new fashion trends for tweens and put up with hours of Justin Beiber wailing about his "lover" (cue some serious ick, he's like ten years old).

And really, it could be worse - at least the store is air conditioned. After almost a week of weather in the 90's that is a huge relief! Seven hours in that environment left me totally unprepared for the humid, disgusting world that awaited me past the mall's glass doors. All I can say is thank god for half an uneaten watermelon in the fridge and my bedsheets in the freezer.

I know this is all only temporary, and that the lack of fulfilling jobs is due completely to my location and the economy. But I can't help but feel like I've already failed somehow, in not being able to land something amazingly perfect right away. It's silly, though, and I know when I look back on this I will be proud of myself for serving my allotted time on the lower decks of the flag ship of life (okay, these metaphors are getting out of hand and lacking sense -- I blame exhaustion). I just kind of hope that the next year flies by until it's time to make some real decisions about the future and make my way out into the world.

Blah. There was way more I wanted to say. I think some part of me planned on finding my camera's charger and connecting it to the computer to download and post some of the pictures I took on the fourth of July. That part of me is clearly insane and has gone away to its padded room. And I think I'm going to follow its lead, except I'll just stick to my nice padded bed.

I did only get about 4 hours of sleep last night. Oy.

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Book Review: The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova

I love reading. It's kind of my thing. Since I read a lot, I figure it might be useful for myself and anyone reading if I reviewed the books I've finished. We'll start with one that kept me busy throughout a good portion of June.

Elizabeth Kostova's The Historian is a book I've been wanting to read for a long time. I had only a fuzzy idea of the plot, but remembered reading the summary around the time it came out and thinking it was a book for me. When one of my roommates dumped a copy into our communal donation bin during moving week, I snatched it up for myself. And I am rather glad I did.

First of all, I am an absolute sucker for historical fiction. History is most certainly my "thing" and I love any piece of historical fiction which can suck me into a time and place other than my own and paint an almost tangible portrait. Kostova does this with a detail and intricacy rarely seen. Her research guides every word, as she takes us from 1970's Amsterdam to 1940's Bulgaria (among other places and time periods). At the center of this story is a father and his daughter, and their relationship with history. Though they occasionally share the narrative with others, the bulk is told through their recollections. Dracula is the guiding force of the storyline, and I think Kostova manages to refresh the oldest of our modern vampire myths in a way that sticks true to their historical origins. In a time when most people's idea of a vampire is something between Buffy's spike, True Blood's Bill, or (god help us) Twilight's Edward, there is something to be said about the author's ability to make the Dracula of history - the real Vlad the Impaler - terrifying and very real. No sparkles here, just a nightmare of freakishly realistic proportions.

The only complaint I have about The Historian is its density. While this makes for a truly compelling and excellent read, if it takes a history-loving and voracious reader such as myself more than two weeks to read then there's a likelihood of many others putting it down for good after struggling to get through the extremely slow first section. Even at the height of the action, the volume of prose kept the pace steady and slow. However, I would urge anyone with an interest in history and vampires to give this book a read because it is well worth your time. It certainly kept me slightly chilled during several warm June nights.

My Overall Rating: A

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And so, the next chapter of my life begins! (Or, I've decided to stop being lazy and start writing about it now.)

52 days, 1 hour, 30 minutes.

That is how long I've been a college graduate. That is also how long I have been unemployed. But as of 1:30PM tomorrow, the latter will no longer be a problem. After weeks of filling out applications, writing cover letters and handing out resumes I have finally found a place in the corporate machine to fit my cog into. Though it isn't exactly what I pictured, the retail position I start tomorrow will provide the most basic necessity of a newly-minted adult: financial security. And I've been hurting for money bad.

52 days of unemployment has brought out a whole range of emotions and experiences for me. The first couple of weeks were bliss. After four years of exams, classes, studying, and work I was more than happy to kick back and do what I wanted... for a while. Then reality set in, at about the same time the final paycheck from my work-study job came in. No more money = many, many more problems. Terrell and I are sharing an apartment now, so my expenses are less than they used to be, but I still have expenses.

As June blazed into existence, I became antsy. More applications were filled out, more cover letters written, more resumes printed and handed out. I called places back only to be told they weren't hiring or would "contact me later". In case anyone reading this doesn't know, the economy kind of SUCKS right now -- something I wasn't prepared for after graduation when I started college four years ago. Graduating was great, a real accomplishment. But the nothingness that I faced along with many of my friends is anything but comforting.

The desperation set in a couple of weeks ago when I finally sat down to complete my student loan exit interview online. They forced me to not only calculate exactly how much debt I have ($50,575.00) but what the estimated monthly payments are. PANIC TIME. Suddenly my education is looking like a waste of time. Suddenly I feel like a waste of space and time and money. How will I ever pay those loans back? How will I make the monthly payments when my income is -$400 a month? Most importantly, how will I ever be able to afford the boxed set edition of Sex and the City?!

But around the middle of June, I finally got two interviews at two vastly different retail stores: Apple and [store name redacted] a jewelry boutique. I interviewed with a store manager at the jewelry boutique on June 22nd, which went extremely well. And then the district manager from the jewelry boutique called me last week on Tuesday, and after a twenty-minute interview she promised I would receive a phone call in the coming days for the final decision. The Apple interview was in a group setting, and I was the only vagina present for that one. Awkwarddddd.

Just as July was setting in with a heavy dose of panic and dreams of faking my own death and escaping to the Bahamas to live on an island and carve celebrity's faces into coconuts for a living, news of two vastly different kinds came.

Monday, I got the dreaded "Thank you for your time but we've decided to pursue other candidates" email from Apple.

Cue a sense of utter defeat. [side note: initially I thought "cue utter defeation" would be good here, but that isn't a word -- however, firefox wanted to insert 'defecation' in its place, which would have made the statement simultaneously hilarious and awful.]

But! Today, as I was preparing to call the jewelry boutique back to figure out what was going on my phone rang. And the heavens opened up and the angels rejoiced and It Was Good. I am no longer unemployed. I have meaning, purpose, and a paycheck! And I get to look good and buy cute jewelry at 50% off while I'm at it.

I had intended to start this blog back up weeks ago and chronicle my job-hunting experience but alas, I was lazy and wasted that opportunity. However, I've been itching to have something to do besides play The Sims and study for the GRE's math portion so the full intent is for this blog to become a habit. I've never been good at keeping to my blogs, so hopefully this one sticks.

Tomorrow, I have to go with Terrell at noon to take my younger brother Dylan to the train station so he can travel back to my mom in Buffalo. And afterward, I will head to the jewelry boutique to begin my retail experience.

Wish me luck!

*edit* So, I learned in my training that I'm not supposed to talk about my store by name online. Because this is my blog and I want to be able to be honest on it, I've removed any references to the place by name and will henceforth refer to it as simply "the jewelry boutique".

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the girl

the girl

the blog

This blog is about me - my musical discoveries, my efforts to lose weight and live a healthy lifestyle, my wedding plans, my adventures and mishaps as I navigate the world. Sometimes it'll be boring, sometimes it'll be sad, sometimes I hope it'll be hilarious. Stick around for recipes, photographs, lists, musings, music and ramblings a-plenty.

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