J and I finally went to see "Up" this past week, and I barely kept it together during the first 20 minutes. Like, holding back massive, heaving sobs. I've got to get this checked out.
But in our post-movie sentimental haze, we did go order J a wedding ring. So there's that. I guess I've learned the power of sappy Pixar movies.
We got the ring from Buchowsky Jewelers, who with their complete absence of hyperactive hovering and gem-pushing made us instant customers. They're good people. Go visit them if you're looking for some fancy new stuff and don't want to go re-used or recycled.
J and I are getting married this summer. Maybe you know, maybe you don't. Being that we're both unemployed as of tomorrow, though, we're not sure where we fall on the whole honeymoon thing. One the one hand, we're unemployed. So we've got a LOOOOOT of time to spend travelling, and we're not constrained by this ridiculous thing you working people call "vacation time." Whatever that is. On the other hand, we're unemployed. We have no steady income, beyond the money I get from my webmaster gig, the money J gets from his dad for help with the antiques business, and the money I'll get now from working the bagel stand at the St. Paul Farmer's Market. (Seriously. I was just hired by the guy who, until tomorrow, is my employee.)
We've got a good chunk of money set aside in an undisclosed location, which should pay for rent, food, and miscellaneous through November or so, at which point we'll throw ourselves at the merciful feet of the Barnes & Noble seasonal hiring managers for income. And we've planned for a low-key honeymoon on the cheap--a road trip to some beautiful national parks in Utah.
SO. Do we say, "To hell with it," and take the honeymoon using the money we've saved for it? Or do we set it aside, skip the honeymoon, and hope the money goes to good use paying for one whole month's rent?
J--understandably--feels pretty awful and guilty about spending any extra money we have while we scrap and save on other fronts. He's starting to feel the stress of a completely desolate job market for GIS folks pretty keenly (seriously, if you hear of anything, please let us know!).
I'm leaning toward taking the honeymoon as one last hurrah--enjoying the last bit of coordinated vacation time we'll have in a while, and celebrating the hard work we've put in toward the wedding this summer, as well as all of our hard work job-hunting and networking. A mental health break, of sorts, to start out our marriage. Then again, though, I'm still employed through today. I haven't had a lot of time to think about the complete lack of tenable job prospects out there.
Aaaaaand now I'm depressed.
Time for feel-good happy fun time. Super fun, if you're a softie like me.
From Rants from the Pants: "Frenchman Micheal Llodra had to forfeit his match against German Tommy Haas today after losing his balance during a rally and crashing into the umpires chair (and the face of a ball girl). Haas wasn't quite ready to leave centre court yet though, so he dedided to treat the audience to a little game with the ball boys and girl."
For a kid who grew up dancing, Michael Jackson was the primary source of my after-school self-taught choreography sessions. I'm guessing I'm not the only one who spent hours in front of the TV, wearing out the tape while rewinding the VCR to learn the dance break from "Beat It." (But it worked. I still know it. I'll challenge you to a dance-off sometime.)
This spinning crotch grab is for you, MJ.
My favorite breaks: Smooth Criminal (which seems a bit cracked out here; just go get the HIStory DVDs) & Remember the Time; the embedding is disabled, naturally.
J moved in a few weeks ago, at the beginning of June, and it's been an interesting, if very fulfilling, experiment so far. We're learning to navigate around each other at breakfast time, learning to close the bathroom door when it's stinky, and getting better at maintaining our space when I'm pasted to "So You Think You Can Dance" and he just wants to read foreign English.
We still run all of our errands together. We're just used to doing it that way--the weekend was always errand time during school, and since J would be in town on the weekends, we'd just go together to maximize our time together. Now that we're not bound by time, it'll be interesting to see how long the co-errand running lasts. But I'll enjoy it while I can.
One thing we do like to do is watch YouTube together. Some of our favorites, if you've got a spare hour or two:
Thanks to Mark for the heads up on this one; J and I had a good giggle this morning.
Watch all three parts of the Lorry Challenge; Top Gear is always great:
Anything involving Flight of the Conchords is welcome:
The old standards, naturally:
And this one's in memory of my dearly moved-out roommate. There's a fair amount of profanity:
Maggy London (except in a cornflowery blue color):
The winner? We'll let you know on Monday, when she decides which she prefers, and then we override her choice with the blue ombré above. (Just kidding.)
Five maid of honor dresses from the Mall of America: $955
Fries and tacos, to get through a six-hour shopping marathon: $20
Barreling through six hours at a mall without getting into any fights with your partner: Priceless.
I'm marrying the coolest guy ever. He even suggested a trip to the American Girl store for me. Man, this is love.
Now we get to take the dresses up to North Dakota, where our maid of honor will choose one. I hope it's more Cinderella for her, and not more of "These are hideous dresses and you people have awful taste." We'll see. She's 16 and I've never seen her in a dress, but I think she'll be cool.
Now that I'm done with school, it's book orgy time. My library card won't know what hit it.
I'm thinking about keeping track of the books that I've read. I keep a list already on Facebook, but who actually uses the Books list on Facebook? (Alright, I do. I'm also OCD. Keep this in mind.)
Have any recommendations? Please let me know. Which means clicking out of your RSS feed and commenting (I know, it's demanding work).
It was like handling a baby that didn't have a head, did have wings, and had a smelly messy body cavity
Did I mention it smelled?
Smelly smelly smello chicken, you smell like smelly chicken
I had a hard time keeping it together, and had to back away from the sink a few times. I'm up for just about anything, and I'm first in line with the gross-out poop jokes, but this was just too much.
As your friendly neighborhood public health student, I'd like to talk to you today about handwashing. Take a seat. This will only take a moment. Jimmy, take your hand out of your nose. You can wash it when we're done here.
Last week at lunch, a classmate told me that, in addition to "Yankee Doodle" and "Happy Birthday," the middle section of "Bohemian Rhapsody" is the perfect length for a good hand-washing. From about "I see a little silhouetto of a man..." through "...For me, for me, for MEEEEEEEE!" is the right length to wash your hands. It seems a bit long to me, but it sure beats "Yankee Doodle"--the Yankee Doodle version I remember comes from my 1989 Casio keyboard (which I still have, thank you very much) and involved some pretty Peaches-esqe breakdowns. So if you see me headbanging in the bathroom while I'm washing my hands, you know why. I've found a new soundtrack. Rock on!
Yeah, we actually have conversations like this in school. Handwashing and immunization and the like. My roommate fancies herself the Annie Oakley of ICD coding. Give her a death, and she can code it: "Death by drowning on a tarmac in June with a comorbidity of excess fingernail growth!" "E.489!" It's cooler than it sounds.
Also: After getting the impression that NO ONE on my committee has read my thesis from beginning to end (?!), I'm completely re-writing it. As in, tearing it apart and putting it back together. I think I remember Laura Ingalls doing something like this with her dresses every spring. It sounds a lot more fun when it actually involves ripping and throwing things. Argh.
Neil Gaiman (YouTube); J and I heard Mr. Gaiman read this last June, and I finally realized I was alright with eventually having daughters, a little passel of Blueberry Girls
Reminiscing about Norway, where we ate a permutation of Squeeze Bacon on bread for a few lunches (Serious Eats); I know, more Norway photos are coming soon...
Also: We made the chicken in milk, and it was sweet and sagey and awesome. Chicken with garlic is this weekend (I forgot the thyme and rosemary the first time around).
I went to meet with my advisor yesterday to discuss my thesis draft, which I sent to her this weekend. Lest you think four days isn't enough time to read a draft, she chose yesterday to meet, not me.
When I arrived, and she was hastily reading through my thesis, and was only on page 16. Of 47.
I hate being a grunt.
This is happening, naturally, after I sent her a rough outline two weeks ago (which she also didn't read), and after I showed up for a meeting last week with her to discuss the draft (at which point I was informed she was in Colorado).
Of course yesterday's meeting yielded wonderful insights, like her saying "Have you thought about discussing this?" and me saying, "It's on page 32." Repeat this 14 times, and you've got my afternoon. Ugh.
A group of friends from Valleyfair and I went to see Adventureland tonight, and while we went in expecting, in one friend's words, "Knocked Up but at Valleyfair," I think we came out feeling surprisingly nostalgic about our summers at the park. The days when you could run around like an idiot or just date anyone are gone (not because you actually can't, but because you know better now), when you had no responsibility to anyone but yourself. I wouldn't want to repeat them, but they were fun in their own particular way.
I got especially wistful, oddly enough, thinking of the groups of friends I had become so close to each summer (or at least close enough to spend every waking hour at their Shakopee apartments), most of whom I haven't seen in years, but a few of whom are still good friends. I supposeyou get that feeling from any summer job, but it feels different having worked in Live E, where you literally spent half of your shift sitting around and playing cards out back. You got to know your co-workers a lot better than you ever thought you would--too well in many instances--and you kept coming back for more. (A few of us, real gluttons for punishment, even became managers.) I think the movie nicely captured the inbred family that is an amusement park, where everyone dates each other (within the tidy confines of their own departments) and everyone knows everyone else's business.
But let me tell you: I do not miss the part of the day before the park opens, before guests arrive. I am thankful that I never have to experience that again. And our maintenance guys were definitely not that hot. And I totally called that the games kid is related to the Pepsi girl.
Posts
