Depressing

Will my students ever learn?

We had another death in our community last weekend. A 22 year old male. He was a community college student who was initiated into a fraternity despite the university policy that states our organizations cannot do that.

The story: He had been drinking the night before and went to sleep around 2am. When he was admitted to the hospital around 1pm he had a BAC of .21. There is also talk of a variety of drugs- from valium to cocaine. Toxicology reports should come back in the next few weeks.

It's been really tough on the guys, regardless of chapter. It's the second death we've had in less than a year and I sure hope they can learn from this.

I'm not sure what sort of action is going to be taken on the chapter.

I'll keep you updated.

Sadly, this hasn't had much of an effect on me. The death happened in our problem chapter and while I am sad that is occurred and feel for his family and friends, I feel no sympathy about the judicial action that will take place with the chapter as a result of this situation.

Is it awful that this has had so little effect on me?

Now I actually have to work

HOTMAIL IS DOWN! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! I can't check my email. Crap!

That's all I wanted to say. Just ANNOYED my page keeps timing out when I try to access Hotmail. Every other website it FINE!

Poop.

PS - I still need a job. haha

I'm gonna see some moovies!

Oh, Hollywood. You fill me with so much rage. But! I am not above escaping from the dismal boredom of my own life and into the romantic, tense, sometimes tragic, sometimes comic, drama of yours! Like how I can't stop watching Becoming Jane on DVD, and how I keep talking people's ears off about how much I love Atonement and TJM (That James McAvoy). Whatever. Just be glad you didn't know me during the Titanic/Leonardo DiCaprio days...it was a roughie!

Anyways, I'm excited about a smattering of upcoming movies and I'd like you to share in my excitement/provide you with an opportunity to mock me in private/on the blog!



Penelope: Premieres February 29th (that's this Friday!!!). Starring Christina Ricci, James McAvoy, and Reese Witherspoon, this Reese Witherspoon-directed modern fairytale is about a sweet young woman named Penelope who, due to a family curse, was born with a pig's face (read: nose and ears, she's still uber cute with the prosthetics FYI) and must be loved by a high society blue blood in order to break the curse. Her mother, played by Catherine O'Hara, has hidden her away from the outside world and is now engaged in the monumental task of finding a husband for her daughter, while a sketchy tabloid photog (Peter Dinklage) has dedicated his life to getting a snap of Penelope's face and selling it for lots of money. Enter James McAvoy, a little bit of a scoundrel with (I assume) some sort of debts, who agrees to help the photog by luring Penelope out of the house. His scheme both works and backfires, and Penelope leaves the house to see what the real world is like. See the trailer here. I'm so excited to see TJM with an American accent (we'll see how that goes), and can even forgive the mad fauxial hair he's got going on throughout. Seeing this on Friday.



Semi-Pro: Premiers February 29th. Bri and I are planning a double-feature on Friday night to go see Penelope and Semi-Pro. For those of you who haven't seen the trailer (I hadn't until two days ago!), the movie concerns one Jackie Moon (Will Ferrell), the owner/captain of a semi-pro basketball team that is getting shut out of their league's absorption into the NBA. So of course Jackie, being a Will Ferrell character, has a fit about it and then determines to raise his team's record so that they can get coveted spots in the NBA. Wackiness ensues.



Sex and the City: Premiers May 30. I'm ridiculously excited, even though the new trailer does reveal some sad plot lines: Big ditches Carrie at the altar, Miranda's husband Steve may have cheated on her, and Samantha's ability to commit to Smith (by far the vastest character growth on the show over six years, which is sort of sad but also sort of true--oh, wait, Charlotte ditches her "perfect" Park Avenue prince for a man who she can really love forever, that's growth) seems to be wobbling. The only person whose life rocks is Charlotte's, who has adopted her Mandarin daughter with Harry and then finds out she's pregnant. Which is awesome, because I feel like Charlotte was made to be a mom like Ms. Neely was made to be a mom (except Ms. Neely is real). Can't wait for this flim, it will be magical.



Untitled X-Files Sequel: Premiers July 25th. Do I even need to say anything about this? Except, have you seen the weird pirated trailer on YouTube? Who is that guy with all the hair? Bri: "Maybe it's just Chris Carter running around in a wig?" I don't know how I feel about this trailer. You see Scully and Mulder each like once and it looks very weird and, dare I say it, cheesy? Also, the Arctic? That's been done, bitches. Gah, who knows what this movie will be like? I hope it's good and that it's nothing like the "trailer". No, no, no, good thoughts! It will be wonderful.

What a Happy Ending!

My favorite picture from Saturday night at Happy Ending! Okay, I was just posting to say that Cambria should put up an Oscars fashion post.

Don't be jealous!

I had a productive weekend! (Don't you just love those?)

On Saturday I went to the Phi Sigma Sigma Leadership Conference (the organization has five- this one was in LA). I am going to be serving as the Chapter Key Advisor (head honcho if you will) to the Iota Kappa chapter of Phi Sig at the Universit of Colorado at Colorado Springs. It is a virtual advisor position, meaning all of my interaction with the women will be by phone and email (obviously since I'm a few states away). I got to meet with e-board from the chapter and let me tell you, these women are amazing. I think they were more excited to meet me than I was to meet them!! The day was great, and I got some fun new stuff. A Phi Sig bag, a tshirt, and a towel! :)

Today, I went to the first meeting of a book club at Jennifer and Steve's. We have no name yet, but I promise it will never be as cool as Mother California. It made me sad that MoCa never took off as a book club, but excited that the name stuck!

Then, after returning to San Diego I was still productive! First, please do not judge me based on my evening activity...but I cleaned out my hotmail account. I had over 3000 unread emails and thousands more read but unfiled and really...unnecessary. So I spent approx. two hours cleaning out my inbox and fixing up my files. I'm s huge loser for finding this a productive activity, but I have been wanting to do that for months and never had the motivation to do so.

I also watched the second half of the Oscars. What a blast!

Now I just need to clean up my work email...hmm...we'll see how long it takes me to do that...

...it's alive!!!...

Hey! I know I've totally been MIA recently, I suck.

I've just been keeping myself busy with work and such.

A few weeks ago I went up to Jennifer's for her birthday and got to spend some time with Maggie. It was really great seeing her!

Last weekend I went to Florida with my mother to spend some time with my extended family. I don't see them often and it was great being able to spend some time with them. We celebrated my Grandmother's birthday and my Grandparent's 60th anniversary.

For now I am just keeping myself out of trouble.

This weekend I have Phi Sigma Sigma advisor training on Saturday (I am going to be an advisor to one of our chapters in Colorado) and book club at Jennifer's and Steve's on Sunday.

Next weekend Jennifer and I are going to Disneyland! One of our councils is having their retreat there and agreed to bring me and a guest along. I'm really looking forward to it. Briz- I'll let A-Bomb know you said hello.

I don't any more of a real update, as my life is very boring.

Let me go home....and find a job.

I can't focus today! Ahhhhhhh!!!!!!

I need a job! I put my notice in at Fox yesterday, for March 21st. I know that's a month away but I really would like to have some job leads. I do have CVS and as soon as I call the stores, I am sure I can just work there until I find a solid job. I will probably have to work two jobs, but I'll do whatever I have to to be in San Diego again. This is just the nervous/anxious stage.

I am up for suggestions and DEFINITELY any help ANYONE can give.

Oh PS - Kim may be flying out here to join me on my roadtrip back Easter weekend. WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

I NEED A JOB!

No justice in this world

Why is it that stupid eighth graders can post Bumper Stickers saying "Sumr 08 gonna get crazyyyyy babyyyy" on fucking facebook but I cannot post this:

Or maybe you'd prefer this

Celebrate a different kind of "V-day".



This, and more single girls' Valentines created by the incredibly funny Wendy McClure, can be found here.

A little V-day card from me

Free shit from Oprah

Hey ladies (and Scott, although again, whether or not this applies to you is kind of up to you--do you still read this)! Since I can't be sure y'all read my blog with any regularity, hie ye to Oprah's website, where until tonight at 8/7c you can download Suze Orman's Women & Money for frizzles. It's a .pdf file, so if you don't have Adobe Acrobat Reader, you're SOL, unless you download it for free here.

Love you! Happy Valentine's Day!

assorted crap

Hey Friends,

Sorry I haven't posted in a while, life has just not been that spicy lately. My toilet is broken, going on 48 hours now. I feel like I'm living in another century. And I think the people at the bar across the street are getting a little sick of me. Still hoping the plumber will show today. Hey, it's only been an hour and a half since he said he would get here! It could happen. There was a big fire in the building two doors down from mine this afternoon. Very scary, lots of fire trucks.

Been working on my portfolio a lot lately and cruising the internet for jobs. So far I have not been all that aggressive. That probably needs to change soon.

Very excited about that p. runway tonight! I saw an article about Christian in the paper yesterday and they are calling him "the cockatiel" because of his hair. Haha, funny! Chris is my love, but I'm not sure he will win. I do hope we get to see his collection though, interesting to see what he will come up with.

Today for lunch I had a grilled cheese sandwich made with brie. WOW, just wow. You should try it. I'm going to get fat.

What else? Music of the day! Why not?
1. "So Sorry" by Feist
2. "Snowy Atlas Mountains" by Fionn Regan
3. "Our House" by Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young
Just what I've been playing on repeat this afternoon. The last one makes me feel warm.

Er, that's all I got right now. Love to everyone!

I have been flagging in my duties

Sorry Carrie! I totally hear your call to arms, but I have to say that not much has been going on lately and I feel like I have nothing to post about. But let me try and think of something...

Well, it's snowing. That sucks. Not in theory, but in practice. I really don't like trudging through the precip. and though snow isn't as bad as rain, it can be pretty nasty, like now, esp. when you didn't expect it and are wearing cheap, ancient Old Navy flats instead of the warm, snuggly UGG boots you wish you were wearing. In any case, it's quite a change from last week.



It's not much, I'll grant you. I don't know how long it'll end up sticking around, either, but let the record show that, as the New York Times so helpfully pointed out, while it's only really snowed (meaning that some of it actually stayed for longer than than the nanosecond it takes to melt) once this winter in New York, two years ago today there was a HUGE blizzard, with a record 27 inches of snowfall, so...who knows? More could be on the way? I hope not, because my aunt Kika and cousin Emma are coming to visit for the three-day weekend and we're going to see The Lion King on Broadway!!!111ONE



I don't know what else we're going to do. They were here a few years ago and did the Statue of Liberty and Empire State Building, etc. I know that Emma wants to do some shopping, but other than that I guess it's sort of open to spontaneity. If anyone has any suggestions from their various forays to NY, let me know.

(Have you noticed I include photos to make this very boring post more interesting?)

Hmmm, what else? Trying to entertain, trying to entertain...Oh! Wanna see something funny?



"...and pick up all that shit!" is my favorite line.

In blogosphere news, I'm sort of a newbie fan of The Anti-9-to-5 Guide, which promises tips and tricks to help you "flee the cube farm." It's probably the best resource for aspiring freelancers, and I'm not sure any of us are, but sometimes there are helpful little hints about other industries as well. Maybe you want to be a freelancer! Well, find out why it's worth it (or not).

Going along with the linkage, if you're not reading Jezebel, you should be (except Scott--it is very lady-focused). You should also be reading my friend Kate's undeniable style, and commenting--then maybe she'll post more!



Okay, and maybe this makes me a bit of a freak, but I'm really enjoying these morbid Barbie murder photos that I found for sale on Etsy. I mean, I don't want to own any of them, but I have to say that I think they're sort of brilliant. I might be inferring, but I see a sort of feminist commentary in them, on the role of the woman and the oppressiveness of the Madonna/whore dichotomy that, in part, is helping to inspire self-hating women to write alarmist essays about how settling is better than being alone. Please don't read the whole article; you'll only feel shitty about yourself, and then you'll feel shitty about letting Lori Gottlieb make you feel shitty about yourself for being single and childless--completely normal things for women our age!

Ugh, seriously, that article assumes so many ridiculous things: (1) That your ultimate goal in life is to get married, (2) that if you concentrate on your career and don't settle that you'll regret it, but that if you concentrate on finding a man and do settle that you won't regret that, (3) that any fucking man will do which he won't, (4) that women fall into two categories--the ones that settle and the ones that have ridiculously unrealistic fairy tale fantasies when it comes to men--which is patently false, and (5) that the women Lori Gottlieb knows represent any statistically significant cross section of women that deserve being written about as if they represent the majority of women, WHICH THEY DO NOT. "Marry Him!" just goes to show that projecting your regrets onto people can result in unwarranted, specious fear mongering. I'm personally of the belief that, barring any chemical imbalance, the way to be happy is to go through life trying to be happy and not sink under the pressure of always wanting more. That doesn't mean you won't want more, or that you shouldn't embrace those desires and strive to fulfill them, but we as human beings can never be perfectly happy and we shouldn't want to be because then we would stop existing and fade away because human nature? Thrives on the struggle. And that's all I have to say about that.

Wow. Very philosophical for a post that started with some "um"s and some blather about the weather. Sorry! But, ooh, check out my pic on my work website...it's my facebook photo but the McDonald's sign in the background is gone!

Okay, I'm tapped. Somebody else grab the baton...I'm Audi.

Where's MoCa?

Anna hasn't posted for a WEEK?! What is going on? You all (notice how I didn't say Y'ALL! I REFUSE!!!!) are failing to entertain me at work! Step it up people! lol

UPDATE:

Haven't given notice at work yet, but my last day at Fox is 3/21. I want to be available to start jobs in San Diego on Monday 3/24. I had one phone interview and I've applied to dozens of jobs, now the wait begins. CVS said I could just call one of the San Diego stores and they will transfer me (AWESOME!). Need to follow up with a friend, but looks like I will be staying in El Cajon at my friend Donna's house (she's my mom's age and her kids are grown and out of the house). I am trying hard to get a job at SDSU (KIM!) or UCSD because the salary starts out good and good benefits. SDSU preferably because I want to get my Master's from there. That's all I know now but as the weeks go by I am sure it will get clearer.

Happy Valentine's Day my friends. Miss you all!

Only nine more shopping days until Valentine's Day

This classy gift and more at Love Is Lame.

I'm Out

I need to tell you all of you what has happend in the last 24hours.

Yesterday morning I was approached very violently by my step father, accusing me of "saying things behind his back" and being "self-centered". Yelling at me within a inch of my face, I was threatened that my stuff would be thrown out of the house. I was also grabbed by the arm and pushed from the house. I can tell you that I was very scared, and I still am. I took the rest of the day off yesterday, went to the house and packed all of my stuff. I am staying with my friend Natalie and her husband Andrew, until I can secure a job in San Diego and move back with even a little savings. I have a few books, guitar and kitchen stuff at the house...but no worries, Natalie is coming with me tonight to get that.

Thought you should know my step father has changed the code for the alarm and called the constable.

Kim, I need to talk to you when you have a chance. And for anyone who knows about a job in San Diego...let me know.

I will keep everyone updated. Miss you all!

This is who I am in Jane's World

Take the Quiz here!

You are Elinor Dashwood of Sense & Sensibility! You are practical, circumspect, and discreet. Though you are tremendously sensible and allow your head to rule, you have a deep, emotional side that few people often see.