ohioacer's Xanga

Thursday, July 13, 2006

Thu, 13 Jul 2006 00:23:37 GMT

I am still alive!!!

It's been a long time, as usual. I think everytime I get on here I say I'm going to make an effort to make my visits more frequent... Sure. Sounds good.

Anyway, here's an update on what's going on around here...

Randy and I took another trip out west to Colorado and the Grand Canyon. We had a fabulous time cruising around in a convertible all week. I fell more deeply i love with Colorado this time around. We took a scenic route back from the Grand Canyon through the central part of the state. Beautiful!!!

I took the LSAT and did decently, but I'm thinking I'm going to take it again in September just to try and pull up my score a little bit more. So more news on that later.

After months and months of eager anticipation, my promotion at BABW is finally going through. Arwa starts her new job August 7, and she's hoping to have July 27th-ish be her last day. I'm supposed to meet with our disctrict manager this week to hammer out the last of the details, but it's finally here!

Hmmm... what else? Not much else. I'm pretty boring. I promise to have more for y'all soon.

Friday, May 19, 2006

Fri, 19 May 2006 15:38:04 GMT

Long Time, No See

I know it's been awhile. Now that I can't use school as excuse, I can't imagine what I've been doing...

The weather was absolutely beautiful a couple weeks ago. We took full advantage of it by heading out to Oak Openings practically every day. Now it's cold and rainy... And that will inevitably give way to hot, humid, muggy days of summer.

I've been working. Not a whole lot. We're no longer operating like a new store nd we've lost some hours, but I'm still getting more than everyone else. And my promotion is now definitely a sure thing. I've been training every night and I pretty much have the closing stuff down. Now they need to get me started on opening, cause I have never opened the store... I wonder when they'll catch on to that.

I take the LSAT in about 3 weeks. Eek! I'm totally scared. I've been preparing for it a lot lately, but I don't seem to be improving. I don't wanna be around me come the week leading up to June 12th...

We're jetting off to Colorado in about a month. A little less than that actually. It's gonna be just me and Randy this time! We both enjoyed being just the two of us down in Florida that we decided to do it again. We're making a trip to Chicago to catch a flight to Denver, hanging around the Mile-High City a couple days, then trekking down to Colorado Springs to do all the stuff around there. Then we're heading out to the Grand Canyon again - this time to hike down into her. Sounds an awful lot like our other trips, huh? This vacation will never get old!

Alrighty, y'all. I gotta jetta. Catcha lata...

Wednesday, April 19, 2006

Wed, 19 Apr 2006 19:46:26 GMT

Responsibility...

I have been forced to take on quite a few additional responsibilities lately. The word is out at work that the Associate Manager position will be mine come mid-August (or whenever the current manager leaves the Workshop.) Our "bearitory" leader Lindi visited our store over the weekend, and apparently she and Jason had a detailed conversation about giving me th position. That apparently set the wheels in motion... Yesterday when I went into work Jason essentially put me in charge and took the night off. LOL! That is a bit of an exaggeration, but he did in fact give me a lot of control last night and told everyone else that I was in charge and that they were required to listen to me. Then he let me do the entire closing procedure on my own. Considering Build-a-Bear has one of the easiest closing processes ever, I feel pretty comfortable with that already.

Then today I had a Student Judicial Board hearing (the first in a long time). When our advisor walked in she turned to me and said: You're our chair today. At first I thought she was joking. She wasn't. Now, I've been on the Board for two years already and I still haven't served as chairperson. But in those two years I've sat on less than 15 hearings, so I thought my hesitation was understandable. But I was forced into it this afternoon, but I have to say it wasn't so bad. There's a whole script for us to follow, so that makes it really easy. And then the form that the chair is required to fill out isn't as bad as everyone always made it out to be.

Stress...

2.5 weeks. Including Finals Week. I'm a bit stressed right now. After Latin American Lit this morning a friend and I were tallying all the things we need to do in that time... Here's what I came up with:

Latin American Civilization: 1 presentation, 1 exam
Latin American Literature: 1 expository essay, 1 exam
Spanish Composition: 1 5-6 page argumentation essay, 1 5-6 page expository essay
Principles of Law: 1 8-10 page paper revision, 1 exam
Principles of Political Theory: 1 exam (most likely essay)

Now, some of those things don't seem that bad (like the paper revision...) But I have to say, the paper revision is proving to be one of the more difficult assignments. I already have the rough draft, and the projected grade I got on it is really high, but the paper is crap! I have to admit that. It is. So I'm trying to rewrite it to imrove it, not just to get the grade... So it's hard... So everything on that list above isn't quite as nice as it seems... Grrrr... 2.5 weeks!

Sunday, April 09, 2006

Sun, 09 Apr 2006 02:51:49 GMT

Good Times...

I just got home... I know, big deal, right? Well, for me it is. My schedule's become so monotonous lately, and I just needed to do something to break up the monotony. So tonight after work I went with Liz, Nikki and Allie to Applebee's for a drink (ok so only Liz and I had a drink as the other two are still underage) but a good time was had by all. We need to do this sort of thing more often....

I have like 5 papers to write in the next few weeks... And it just now dawned on me that there are only like 3 weeks left in the semester. I have two more papers for Spanish Comp, one for Latin American Literature, one for Principles of Law, and one for Political Theory. I have a presentation to give in Latin American Civilization (we have to plan a trip to a Latin American country with only $5,000 to spend. I'm planning on going to visit Bolivia... I have a friend who lives there so I'll have a place to sleep ) After that I have 4 tests to take, and this semester is done!

Haven't heard anything back about the ACLU, so I need to email Jerry next week to figure out what's going on with that...

We're suing our old apartment complex. They're trying to rip us off by making us pay for typical cleaning and crap, and after the way I was treated on Thursday when I tried to talk to someone about it I'm pissed, so this should be fun...

Good times....

Wednesday, March 29, 2006

Wed, 29 Mar 2006 21:28:04 GMT

Field Experience

I had an appointment to meet with one of my advisors to talk about my Field Experience project. (Somehow after joining the LST program I found myself seeing three different advisors for various problems and concerns. Ben is my primary advisor who helps me figure out class schedules and answers any of my questions about the curriculum... Jerry is in charge of the Field Experience project, so I get sent to him with all my questions concerning that... and Sam is UT's Pre-law advisor, so I go to him with any questions about law school and such. Today's meeting was obviously with Jerry.) It didn't last nearly as long as I thought it would, but instead of that being a bad thing, it could prove to be quite the opposite.

I've been stuck for a while trying to figure out what to do with my Field Experience, but today Jerry said he could get in touch with someone in the ACLU. And it's not just some guy who has connections in the ACLU, it's someone who actually is one of the connections! I've been interested in getting involved with the ACLU in some way, but because the local chapter is based in Cleveland, I've been kinda shy of basing my Field Experience in it. But Jerry said we may be able to work something out so that I can hopefuly do most of the work here in Toledo. The only drawback about the whole thing is the guy is heavily involved in death penalty concerns, and I must admit I haven't really given a lot of thought to the whole death penalty debate.

Naturally I'm much more interested in LGBT rights and concerns, but I'm willing to wait this out and see what happens with it. If I decide I really don't want to stick with the death penalty work, maybe this guy in the ACLU can get me in contact with someone else working with the LGBT sector. That would be cool.

Anyway, I'm breathing a huge sigh of relief right now because I'm finally going somewhere with this, which at this point seems like a big step!

Friday, March 24, 2006

Fri, 24 Mar 2006 16:22:47 GMT

Playing Catch-Up

It's been a long time, I know. I apologize. I've been busy. So here's what's been going on around here.

A couple days after my last post (so long ago) Randy and I hopped a plane to Orlando for a 4-day getaway. The trip was my birthday gift, and it went wonderfully. We spent the bulk of our time in FLA at Universal Studios, which was right across the street from our hotel. The weather was beautiful and we had a great time. One afternoon we decided to make a trip to Daytona Beach. That was undoubtedly the worst part of the trip. It was the start of spring break and the middle of bike week in Daytona. Simply stated: the beach was overcrowded. You could park your vehicle on the beach, so it was impossible to find a place to sit. The sand was hard from being compressed with all the driving. And the shoreline made it seem like we were in some third-world nation, which wouldn't be a problem if there was a culture to match. I don't know if that was the result of bad weather or just a lack of care, but I wasn't impressed.

Our last night there we decided to visit Downtown Disney. We ended up slurging on tickets for Cirque du Soleil's La Nouba, which was awesome! We had second row seats and I have to say, if you ever get the chance to see Cirque du Soleil, DO IT! I don't see how you could be disappointed. We ate dinner at a Cuban-style restaurant. (I had to order for Randy since the menu was mostly in Spanish.) And I managed to steal some thunder from the show by giving Randy his engagement ring! I had been planning on giving it to him all week, but the timing never seemed right. And then, when I finally managed to give it to him I chickened our of dropping to one knee and giving him a long, heart-wrenching speech. But that's okay because all he remembers is walking along the waterfront with fireworks going off in the night, so it's all good.

Since then I've just been hitting the books hard and working. Everyone's hours at work are being slashed - except for mine! Jason says its because I'm the only one available when they need people. I think it has more to do with the fact that I get the job done and they want to make me a manager. Either way, I'll take it.

I have a skeletal plan for next year's class schedule. I pulled up my degree audit and was taken aback by all the blue. (All your requirements are written in red until after they are completed. When there's no more red on the audit, you are officially able to graduate.) I only have 6 more techinical requirements to fill! That's kinda scary. But I've ended up taking extra classes in order to maintain my full-time student status because without that I would have to start paying back loans and stuff... and I refuse to do that yet.

Along with preparing for my last year, I am preparing for the next step. I'm all registered for the LSAT this June. I need to be getting in some good prep sessions in the two months between now and then though, otherwise I'm screwed. I also need to start thinking about who I'm going to use as references for my law school applications... that's a hard decision just because I'm not sure which of my professors I've made the best impression on, or which ones feel they know me well enough to write a strong recommendation. I have a meeting scheduled next week to meet with one of my advisors about my Field Experience. I'm really stuck on that. I have no idea what I want to do. Actually, I've been thinking a lot about doing something with either gay marriage or the military's Don't Ask, Don't Tell policy, but I'm not exactly certain how I might go about fulfilling the field experience requirements with those... hence the need to discuss it with the advisor.

I realize law school is still quite some time away, but I have a calendar that outlines when certain things need to be done over the next year, and looking at it reminds me that it actually is upon me already. That's such a gut-wrenching feeling. I'm nervous and excited and stressed. It's hard to balance all aspects of life right now. I'm working a lot so I don't have a lot of time to study. But I don't really want to lose hours at work because 1. it keeps me sane (how strange is that) and 2. it helps pay the bills. And when it comes to school I'm so worried about pulling up my grades that I will sit up all night writing papers and doing homework. Of course, that leaves next to no time for Randy, who I think gets a little frustrated with me sometimes. I can't say I blame him. It has to be hard for him to deal with my obsessing over everything.

So anyway, that's where I'm at right now. Now you know... We'll see when i get the opportunity to stop back in here again...

Sunday, March 05, 2006

Sun, 05 Mar 2006 03:34:31 GMT

With as little as Randy and I have seen each other in the past few days, we're going to need a vacation just to catch up with each other. If I hadn't made time to have lunch with him Friday afternoon, we might have only seen each other a full 15 minutes since Thursday.

But of course, because vacation is just around the corner, this has been the longest weekend ever. Especially today... I'll just barely make it through tomorrow. But tomorrow is going to be one of the best days at work in a long time... it's going to be all cool people. My favorite manager, Arwa, Liz, Nikki, Brittany, and I work open to close, so it's a strong team and a lot of fun... So my late day before vacay will rock!

Alright, I know this is short, but I'm beat and I have some things I need to do before we leave, so I gots to go. I'll be sure to fill everyone in on all the wild fun later on....

Ciao!

Wednesday, March 01, 2006

Wed, 01 Mar 2006 15:20:28 GMT

This is absolutely repulsive! Joanne Mariner is a human rights attorney who writes legal commentary for the legal research website Findlaw.com. The link takes you to her latest commentary about punishment in the military. What's so disgusting about it? Well, let's see, after discovering three soldiers had consensual gay sex on a video played on some unnamed website, the military sentences the men to 5 years in prison for sodomy, dishonorable discharges and forfeiture of pay... Pretty harsh, especially compared to the punishments for violent crimes like, oh, homicide....

Mariner provides a few examples of various murders carried out by military personnel - one of the more appalling in my memory being the man who was stuffed in a sleeping bag, wrapped in electrical tape and suffocated to death. The punishment for this and similar acts? Maybe a written reprimand, perhaps a reduction in rank - and that's only if anything is done in response to these crimes.

How sick!!!!

Tuesday, February 28, 2006

Tue, 28 Feb 2006 02:36:21 GMT

My concentration keeps wavering. I'm supposed to be writing a paper for a class right now, but I can't stay focused on the task at hand. I was on a roll with the paper a few days ago but I had to stop writing in order to go to class one day, and since then I've hit a writing wall and can't think of the words to express my thoughts.

My problem may be due in large part to the fact that I'm utterly exhausted! I worked more in the past three days than I typically do in a full week. I'm blessed to have managers who go out of their way to look out for my best interests. After missing close to two weeks when I had pneumonia, they did whatever they could to help me make up hours this weekend. That didn't prove too hard considering closing took us until 10:30 on both Friday and Saturday... and then we had a 2-hour long meeting yesterday, so I didn't work anything less than a 9-hour shift each day this weekend.

Now, you would think that working so much this weekend would have made me absolutely sick of the Workshop, but it hasn't! I would actually prefer working there all day than going to my classes at this point. I am so completely frustrated with school it's not even funny. I'm not usually one to complain about school, but each semester seems to just get worse and worse. As this semester goes on I just seem to be losing more focus and doing worse in my classes, and it seems the more I try to catch up the further I fall behind. It's so disheartening sometimes (like this afternoon) I just feel like curling up and crying. But I press forward because I haven't any time to waste if I want to graduate on time and get on to law school. I just can't help but wonder if I made the right decision declaring a minor in Spanish. My LST classes give me no problems, and if it wasn't for my Spanish classes I would be excelling in my LST classes. But because it takes me 2 to 3 times as long to grasp my Spanish work as it normally would, and there are only 24 hours in a day regardless of the fact that it takes me that long to do my Spanish homework, I tend to lose time to focus on my other classes. I've tried staying up later to get everything done, but that only causes me to sacrifice sleep, which naturally causes me to be exhausted the next day in class, which ultimately hinders the quality of my performance anyway. So I seem trapped in this lose-lose situation and I'm stuck in this vortex of sucky grades that doesn't appear to have an exit. So not a good time for me right now.

On a happier note, some of my friendships with a couple people at work seem to be solidifying more and more each day. I really get along with a couple girls in particular, but other than going out together a couple nights and of course working together most every weekend, we never really do a whole lot together. Still, I have a closer relationship with them than I do most of the people I actually do consider to be my friends. But the other day when I returned to work after being MIA for so long I was welcomed back to the store with hugs and endearments. It felt like a return home from somewhere far away. Somehow our conversation turned to our relationship and the girls told me that they each consider me to be one of their best friends. I don't know why, but that just caught me off guard. I guess I was so wrapped up in my everything else that I failed to realize just how close we all have grown. But it makes sense. So much of my time is spent at work there are weeks when I see my coworkers more than anyone else I know. But more importantly, at a time when I seemed to be losing more friends than meeting any, this came as a welcome change.

I know many of you read my post a while back when I was ranting about how friendships change and fade regarding my best friend from high school. The issue has in fact been bothering me a lot more than I let on. I talk to only a handful of my friends from high school, and most of them were people I barely hung out with then. Even the friends I made here in Toledo seem to only pop up every so often. That's mostly my fault since I'm typically stuck in work-school-boyfriend mode. It's hard enough for me to balance those three aspects of my life than to throw in a whole social life on top of it all. I've tried to do better with that this year, but I've been doing a poor job of it. But having Liz and Nikki tell me that I am one of their best friends makes a world of difference. I'm even a bit surprised just by how excited I am because of it. I feel like the junior high reject who has just been invited to a party by the most popular kid in school. LOL! And then, when I went in to the store today to check my schedule, my manager Tina invited me to celebrate her birthday with her, Liz, Nikki, and probably a couple other girls from the store in May. She's a big NY Yankees fan so she wants to go to the Detroit Tigers - Yankees game on May 30 just to do something different and have a day out with a group of awesome people. Thank goodness all this is going on just when school is becoming so aggravating! I need something to keep me sane.

Now to completely change the subject... Randy bought me a copy of Melanie C's newest album Beautiful Intentions. (If the name sounds familiar and you can't figure out why, it's because she was a Spice Girl.) I became a fan after first hearing a few of the songs from her first solo album on our first road trip out West. Since then, Randy's been buying me copies of her new albums when they come out, but I have to say BI is by far the best so far. It's abso-freaking-lutely addictive! I finally had to force myself to listen to the whole CD because I've only been listening to the first 4 or 5 songs before replaying the same songs because they are all so good. Her sound on this album is very pop/rock. I can best describe it as a raw sound, like something you might hear a garage band play at a bar or something, only not as lame (no offense to you garage rockers out there). And then she throws in a soft melodic ballad. Some of the ballads have yet to grow on me, but I can't really say there's a bad song on the album. I'm totally hooked. Especially on the song "Next Best Superstar." Everytime I hear I can't help but think that it would be the perfect theme song for American Idol or something.

Alright, well, I best be wrapping this up. I'm probably not gonna finish my paper tonight. I've really lost all concentration and it's late and I really just need some sleep. I'll make myself get up early tomorrow morning to write the last three paragraphs (the last of my body paragraphs and the introduction and conclusion, which are really the same paragraph only slightly reworded, so it won't be so hard.)

Approximately 6.5 until we are on a plane to Orlando. They're calling for scattered showers down there when we're in town, but there's still plenty of time for that to change.... (ifitknowswhatsgoodforit... illbep-o'diftheweatherscrappytheentiretimeweredownthere....)

Okeydokey, nighty-night everyone.

Wednesday, February 22, 2006

Wed, 22 Feb 2006 02:55:00 GMT

Yesterday didn't go so well for me... I already wrote about the two tests that didn't go quite so well. I should get my results of those tomorrow *Gulp* Afterwards I went to my Spanish composition class. That's really the only class that I fell behind in during my illness... Generally we write three versions of a composition before writing a final draft for grading. Well, because I spent most of my week either sleeping or being so completely exhausted to do anything, I didn't get any work done on my composition. But we are just now entering the third phase of the writing process - which means I came back just in time to get my final copy in on time. But the professor was a bit harsh when I turned in a copy of my composition for him to revise... He went on and on about how I should have emailed copies of my work to him (sometime in between my naps which lasted on end and hacking up a lung - sure.) I let his remarks roll off my back and intend to work hard on making my composition a good one just so he realizes I'm not just a lazy college kid... But I have to admit it frustrates me a little.

On a happier note, I got an A on an important assignment in my Principles of Law class. Part of our requirement in that class is to keep a blog, where we are required to post at least twice a week on issues we discuss in class or note elsewhere... My blog has been receiving a lot of good attention in class from my professor, and on my first official grade for the assignment I got high marks on everything. That lifted my spirits and put me in the mood to step up my participation in all my classes. So today I took advantage of all my free time to really focus on getting my homework done. I feel all organized now...

In other news - I'm totally sunburned right now. Some of the medication I was on last week warned about spending prolonged periods in UV light. Well, I risked going tanning with Randy and stupid me spent 15 minutes in one of the more powerful beds that had just had its bulbs replaced. Now, normally I don't think I would have burned so badly. My skin is pretty tolerant of the sun... I may burn periodically, but usually the burn turns into a tan within a day or two... It's taking a bit longer this time, and it really hurts. I'm finally starting to feel a bit better today, but I'm still very red... I just better be over this by the time we go on vacation... 2 weeks!!!!