Come On Over

I don't know why I thought I could keep up with 2 blogs...but I can't :P

So, if you want to keep up with me and my crazy ass life, I suggest you head on over to:

My LIVEJOURNAL!!!!

Ok, hope to see you all there :D

Who Needs Sleep?

I think I've slept too much today. I went to lay down again around 8 and just could not get comfortable any more. John tried helping by putting in a Lewis Black DVD. Normally if I can't sleep I put on a stand up comedy DVD (either Lewis Black or Eddie Izzard) and I'll be out in no time. But I've been laying down so much my muscles started cramping up.

I think in a minute or two I'm going to try and upload all of my 356 challenge photos that I haven't uploaded here yet. There's a lot...and I need to take one for today.

John did even more of my Ethics homework for me, without me even asking! Don't you just love the irony of it all?

Gah. Gotta go figure out a photo for me today, then I may try and post them.

And To Top It All Off:

I'm fucking SICK!!!

Damn it!

BUT John was so sweet and did some of my homework for me!!! Yea!! That means, I technically don't have any to do today...but I still may try and get my paper written tonight so I can go to the zoo tomorrow...unless I feel too much like shit...then I'd stay home.

GAH!!

Today I took a 5 hour moc. test for coding. I got it done in about 4 hours.

I have so much school shit to do this week that I don't believe it to be possible to do and keep my sanity.

So, with that said, I shall be MIA until around the 13th which is when my last final for this quarter is.

John and Kim(ber) move in to the townhouse on the 8th. After this Monday I'm not even going to see John until the 13th 'cause he and I both have way too much shit to do.

Wish me luck.

I'm gonna need it.

Is It Over Yet??

Jessie called Obama the 'N' word to my face today. Then she laughed at me when I got angry at her. I left the table and sat by myself until she left and then I rejoined Amanda and Carolyn. I've never been so angry in my life. I was literally shaking. I WILL NOT associate myself with such a blatant raciest. I CANNOT do that.

I said in this post all I need to say about how I feel on the subject of racism. But today I hear also that Bill O'Reily from Fox News made comments about Obama's wife saying something about needing to lynch her (here's an article about it.). I cannot get over the amount of racism I'm experiencing all of a sudden.

Now I'm watching a documentary on Obama on MSNBC....I am praying that he is elected president. I feel so much hope that he will change things.

I don't know what to say. I'm exhausted; I'm spent. My mind literally hurts from the shit I had to deal with today from Jessie. The only good thing out of this is that I will never deal with her again. I could go into school tomorrow and she may act like nothing happened. But something DID happened. I saw in myself that I can stand up for what I believe in without yelling. I always say, "the louder you yell, the less they'll listen," and that is true. If I had yelled at Jessie she would have gotten defensive. I walked away. I was the bigger person. I walked away.

She ran to Dr. Hammond's office. He's the guy you go to if you have a learning disability or something so you get the accommodations you need. She's in his office (literally) at least once a week, often more. For petty things. In coding today, she came in late and said she was in Dr. Hammond's office.

I did NOTHING that I could get in trouble for. No matter how angry she is at me. I walked away. I did not say anything that could be taken as a "verbal attack" or "assault" because I SAID NOTHING. And I have 2 witnesses.

I wish I didn't have to go to school tomorrow. I don't know how much more drama shit I can take. (Note that this was not the only drama that took place today...the other things are very inconsequential but added to my stress level.)

Tomorrow is Thursday (my Friday)...one more day. One more day.

We've Been Mentioned on Tellie!!

Louisville, KY was just mentioned on MSNBC about how important we are to the Democratic primary election!!!! They compared us to Western Virgina and said that Obama could "over perform" here (meaning that he could do well)!! This makes me happy for 2 reasons: 1) Obama could win Kentucky, and 2) Kentucky is actually important in the primary election...and our primary isn't until May 20th!!!!

Onto other stuff:

I've decided (with groovcat's instance) that I'm going to jump in a bit late for the 365 photo a day challenge. Granted, I started on day 48, but still.

Day 48:


Day 49:

I'm sitting at my computer.

Day 50:

I'm really driving in this photo. Took this on my way to school this morning. I put the camera on my dash board. Took me forever to do this 'cause, well...I was driving and well, I have priorities such as not dying in a car crash.

I've decided that I'm not going to follow any prompts. I'm just going to do a "day in the life" type thing.

Black History Month Means NOTHING to Jessie

So, this post will actually be about school today and not the weekend, like I had wanted it to be. I guess I should say it's more about people and their attitudes and why I am still constantly surprised by them.

First of all, today at school my friend Carolyn had a conversation with Jessie which, sadly, I was not present for. I need to preface this: I DO NOT LIKE Jessie. She is a narrow minded, hypochondriac who must meddle in everyone's business. I do not wish her any harm. I just wish she would leave me alone. I have actually told her to her face that I do not like her, and she laughs and calls it our "banter" and "what we do." Ok, there is no "we." She just does not get the fact that I can't stand her. She's like a stray cat that you fed once and now won't leave you alone.

Ok, so with that said, Carolyn and Jessie were sitting in the lunch room before class and some how the subject of the presidential election came up. And some how or another Jessie called Barack Obama the 'N' word. She actually used the word. I was speechless when Carolyn told me this.

I knew for a while now that Jessie is prejudice...she told me in so many words when discussing why she was so angry that her sister in law was marring a black man. I was just flabbergasted that she actually used that word.

There are reasons that at school I do not tell everyone that my boyfriend is transgendered. I do not want to risk what could happen if someone was to find out. Jessie told me that she has "no problem with gay people." (And I know I'm clumping gays and lesbians into the same group as transguys and girls...but I'm quite sure she doesn't even know what transgendered means...) But then when talking about David (who is THE [literally] gay guy at school) whom she says she "loves to death" she describes him by making a limp wrist motion. She takes unnecessary pot shots at many gay people's sexuality...even fictional ones.

I continued to express my shock at the fact that Jessie had called Barack Obama what she did when Amanda (another student) heard us. After we told her what had happened she responded that I shouldn't be so surprised. After all, we *do* live in Kentucky.

That got me thinking. While, yes, I live in Kentucky, I have been fortunate enough to 1) live in Louisville, a relatively liberal city (especially for the south), 2) have been brought up by parents who did not distill any type of prejudice in me and 3) live now in a bit of a bubble of my own making; of friends and other people who I know will not give me shit. And while I know that discrimination and hatred exist in the world going to school at Spencerian has opened my eyes to the harsh reality that they exist in my backyard.

I don't think in my life time I have ever dealt with a person who was openly hateful of another "type" of person. Granted, in high school I dealt with kids who would shout the word "fagot" at a friend of mine while throwing candy at him. But they, I thought at the time, were just kids being stupid. I now know that those "kids" have not grown up and that they might now have kids of their own who they are teaching these hateful views to.

What baffles me even more though, is to know Jessie's back story. In high school she was picked on relentlessly by the kids at school. Presumably (though she has not told me) due to her weight and her various medical problems. She knows what it is like to be treated like shit because she is different. But yet, she hates others for the very same reason.

The only thing I can think of is that these two things (her being treated poorly in high school and her own 'prejudice' of black people) do not form a connection in her brain. She feels that they have no common thread. Because, I'm sad to say, she does not view black people as either people who have feelings or who diserve to be treated equally.

I am thankful that I have been able to tell a handful of people at school about John. I pick and choose very carefully who those people are. Very few people know, but I am becoming more open about it. I talk about it freely in the lunch room with Carolyn and Amanda and Amy when she is there. I told a guy in one of my classes today who was totally cool with it (he said since he grew up in Bosnia he was just thankful to be alive and didn't have any desire to hate others since he saw so much hatred in his own country.).

Part of me wants to tell Jessie. 1, I know that she could not do anything physical to me, and anything verbal she could say to me I could come back at her much more eloquently. I was an English major after all. Besides, anything that she could say would mean nothing because her words are backed with hate and not knowledge. And 2, maybe it would get her to leave me the fuck alone.

"Snow? What Snow??"

So, after taking 2 long hours to get John home from work on Monday I decided I was going to take a personal day, even if school was in session. I have no absences this quarter (except one in Filing) and it's already week 7 so, who cares. I had heard a rumor that Spencerian has only declared a snow day ONCE in recent memory, so the chances of having one on Tuesday were slim to none.

As the night was drawing to a close, WHAS11 news (the news channel we are told to check for school closing btw) had listed on their ticker that Spencerian was CLOSED. It did not say for what day, but it also did not specify night classes. This was at about midnight. I got up at 8:00 assuming we did not have school (and know I wasn't going to go even if we did...) only to log onto the school's website to find out that we were on a 2 hour delay.

JCPS (Jefferson County Public Schools for my Non-Louisville friends) was closed. About 80% of Spencerian's student population is single mothers with school aged children. Classes would not be letting out until nearly 6:00pm.

Did they *really* expect ANYONE to show up???

Apparently, about 30 students did. And only a handful of teachers. So many teachers weren't there, in fact, that students were instructed to go to the cafeteria for an "exciting seminar" (according to the signs still on the wall today) which turned out to be about how to take a test. If you did not show up for this seminar and sign in, you would be counted absent.

So, today, JCPS was on a delay, but we were on a regular school. I didn't make it to 2nd period (I don't have a 1st period....and yes, I'm in college and we have periods...and bells...) because of traffic and the fact that my neighborhood was covered in ice and snow. But Mrs. Wilds told me 3rd period (I have her 2 periods in a row.) was that our test that was to be on Thursday has been postponed until Monday. Same with 3rd period. Our quiz that was to be today will now be tomorrow. And our test that was supposed to be tomorrow will be on Monday. It's as though school was out, even though it wasn't.

There are rumors going around about if we'll be counted absent or not. The 30 students who WERE there don't think others should be 'cause they actually "braved the elements" and showed up. Those who didn't go say it shouldn't count as an absence because it said on TV that we were canceled, and once you have your answer, you're not normally going to recheck it later. Some rumors going around are that if you missed tomorrow and would have been dropped from class because of too many absences it won't count. But otherwise it will. I don't think that's fair because it should be everyone or no one.

Spencerian needs to get their fucking shit together. That is all I have to say about that. If the TEACHERS cannot get to the fucking school then *maybe* you shouldn't have class. Or at least make a decision and stick with it.

I'm tired of the bullshit of this school. Mrs. Wilds went over our test that will be on Monday. Basically asking us the questions that will be on the test. She got to one of them, a question about a specific drug. Turns out that drug was NOT ON OUR LIST of drugs to know. This list is made by the head of the department. The test is made by the head of the department. We told Mrs. Wilds that we did not have that drug. And said, "Then why is it on the test?? [pause] Well, I guess you all get a freebee."

I'm trying to stay calm about the whole thing. But I cannot get out of this school fast enough. If any of you ever think about going to Spencerian I HIGHLY DISCOURAGE it.

Random Trip to Meijer

So, John and I did not want to go home after going to Denny's, so we went to Meijer and we found a few interesting things:

.
For
jgkimmy
'cause I know how much she loves converse. It's a planter btw.


Next to the converse planter I found the fattest squirrel ever! Some of you might not know how much I love squirrels...but I do. I almost bought it until I discovered it was $18.00!!


We found a camouflage (sp?) crock pot to which John remarked "Mom! I can't find the crock pot again!!"


This sign was down the "ethnic" food isle at the store. You know, the isle that has Mexican and Chinese foods. Well, apparently "Southern" is now an ethnic group.


And this is how we found this poor giraffe. Poor little guy.

In other news: I had lunch with James yesterday. It went well actually. Slightly awkward, and we haven't talked since then yet. But Kris agreed that if it had been Jason that broke up with James instead of James breaking up with Jason then I shouldn't give him another chance. But since it ended the way it is, then giving him another chance is okay. Not that if Kris had disagreed with me then I wouldn't try to pursue this friendship. It's just nice knowing he's behind me on this.

Also, I got a new printer today. It is wonderful!! I've never seen pictures printed so crisply! It's a HP Photosmart C6280 All-in-One. I <3 it much.

That's about it for now. :D

The Bitch Is Back

groovcat is now officially one of my favorite people ever:




I don't know why it's so small....it's bigger on groovcat's page.

I Was Kidnapped!!!!!

Today was much better than yesterday. In fact, yesterday got much better after dinner. Kim, John and I went to the mall and well, went kinda crazy. It was so much fun to just let loose and not worry about anything or anyone. I didn't think about homework or what people were thinking. It was just pure fun.

We went to Pottery Barn, and I sat down at one of the desks where it's set up to show you how your desk could look like if you were rich and shopped at Pottery Barn. Anyway, I picked up the phone that's sitting on the desk and a little boy (maybe 3 years old) walked up to the desk and looked at me, so I said, "Do you have an appointment?" and he just looked at me like I was crazy. Then he said he wanted to play with the phone, so I handed him the phone and he tried to dial it and "talk" to the person on the other end, but he looked at me and said, "No one answered," so I told him that they must be at lunch. I also, at some point, asked him if he brought a resume, and what preschool he went too before his father dragged him away. It was too much fun!

Also at the mall 2 gay guys hit on John. Good times.

Today I was kidnapped by John and Kim and we went to the zoo. That, too was a lot of fun, but I was getting WAY behind on homework. After the zoo I got sucked in to watch The Puppy Bowl on Animal Planet, and homework/studying still did not get done. Then, Kim went crazy and John made us go to Lowes to look at paint.

At Lowes we walked around designing our future house that we're apparently going to all live in together with the money we're going to make from our hypothetical scrapbook store we're opening one day. We already named it: Scrapin' Crap.

We then went to Applebee's (T.V. commercials really do work since we saw a commercial for it during The Puppy Bowel) where the waitress was a saint putting up with us.

All in all it was a great weekend. I will more than likely fail my Pharm quiz tomorrow...but it will be okay since it's not worth too much of my grade anyway. I need to relax more and have fun.

I did tell them that they are not allowed to kidnap me any more this quarter. Only one kidnapping a quarter, and they used it up.

I'm exhausted. So, I think I shall go for now :D

This NEVER Happens Here

Major storms tonight. Mostly wind. But damn, it's a lot of wind.

Shelbyville Rd is trashed. John's not sure if he'll have to go to work tomorrow. And here's why:

This is a BILLBOARD sign!!! It fell down! Almost into the road, but just missed it. Amazingly no one was hurt.

These 3 photos were all taken right next door to where John works. He's going to call first to see if they'll be open or not.

And this photo was taken down on Dixie Highway. My school is on Dixie Highway, but that road is SO LONG this could be no where near the school, I have no idea:

This is some scary shit. I've lived in Louisville nearly my entire life, and I've NEVER seen damage like this here. It's still very windy, but there are no big trees near my house...so I think I'll be ok.

I tried to drive John home, but it was nearly imposable...we did manage to get back to his apartment, but then I drove him back to my house 'cause the storm was still scaring him. You can't really blame him: he's from Florida, so high winds are frightening.

The drive to and from John's apartment was not fun. I could barely keep my car on the road. I've never driven through anything like that.

I think I'll be going to bed soon. Too much excitement for one night.

Oh, and btw, all these photo were taken from the Courier Journal's website. Just sayin' ;)

Lots Of LOs

Is There a Bird On My Head?
by Octopusouphut
Scrapbook.com

I Unwrapped a Kim{ber}
by Octopusouphut
Scrapbook.com

Smells Like Kitty?
by Octopusouphut
Scrapbook.com

Christmas Bites
by Octopusouphut
Scrapbook.com

Scooter Nooooo!
by Octopusouphut
Scrapbook.com

Captain Fantastic
by Octopusouphut
Scrapbook.com

Aubrey's View On Marriage
by Octopusouphut
Scrapbook.com

Octopusouphut
by Octopusouphut
Scrapbook.com

Rock On!
by Octopusouphut
Scrapbook.com

Fast Friends
by Octopusouphut
Scrapbook.com

Goodbye Caffeine
by Octopusouphut
Scrapbook.com

I Spend Too Much Money on Gas!
by Octopusouphut
Scrapbook.com

How I Remember You
by Octopusouphut
Scrapbook.com

Now What?
by Octopusouphut
Scrapbook.com

The Owl Saga Part III The Final Fronter...Or Something

So, this will be quick 'cause it's 1:30 in the morning, and though I have nothing to do early tomorrow, I feel I should try and get up at least by 9:00.

On my way to my PT appointment today I drove by the Starbucks (not a bank, like I thought) where I saw the Owl Wednesday. I saw that it was still there, so I decided to pull into the parking lot to see if I could get a picture.

As I'm driving around the building, I realized that it was a fake owl. A FAKE!!! WTF??!!??

I'm assuming they put the owl up to scare off birds or squirrels or something.

At first I was really upset, like I had been cheated out of a really spiritual moment...or something. But then I thought, the feeling was the same even though now I know the owl was not real. I don't know how to explain it...but it worked out in my head. :D

I'll (try) and update more tomorrow 'cause stuff happened today, but for now I'm going to bed.

I Saw The Sign

So, in response to my post yesterday about my friend on Scrapbook.com asking me what was going on she sent me this (keep in mind I saw an owl yesterday...):

Was the owl out at daytime?

My friend used to be the state archaeologist. He found himself in a tense situation where he was invited to do something archaology-y by a Native American who turned out to not have the right to speak for the rest of the Native Americans in the state. So basically he had most Native Americans in the state pissed at him - they would show up and have silent sit-in whenever he was scheduled to discuss the issue and the finds from his dig. Eventually he became friends with a few of them and one presented him with an amulet for good luck.

Some weeks later he was driving along and had to stop because there was a live owl in the road during the day. It is unusual up here as well, although there are a lot of owls around. He mentioned it to the friend that gave him the amulet who told him the owl was probably a sentinel sent to watch over him for luck and protection.

Maybe that was what your owl was? Maybe the Powers That Be (God, spirit guides, ancestors, the CEO of Coca-Cola or Wal-Mart, Oprah, take your pick) tried to send you something nice in the middle of a craptastic day?

Wow. I mean. I don't normally believe in signs or god talking to me or whatever...but this really touched me. My reaction to that owl yesterday was very intense. I mean, when John called to ask me where I was all I could say was "I saw an owl" and just started bawling all over again.

Maybe it was a sign that things will be ok.

Just Need To Get Through Today...

A friend of mine on Scrapbook.com PMed me and asked if I was ok. Here was my response. I think this is the best way to sum up my life since Thursday or so. I wanted to do an actual post going into a lot of detail about everything...but yeah, we all know that'll never happen. So, here it is:

Too much homework; too many tests on the same day (tomorrow) w/o enough time to study (as in getting the info. for the test and going over the entirety of one of the chapters that will be on the test the day before.); A horrible car crash outside of my school; the homework for one of the classes not making sense; my friend dealing with a lot of issues and needing me to help talk it through (not that I mind helping, but I just couldn't deal with it then.) ; my shoulder and neck hurting so bad I can barely sit at the computer; my theripist forgetting to call me last Thursday; my diabetes doctor appointment coming up (and knowing I'm going to get yelled at for a number of this at this appointment); my teacher asking in front of the class what was wrong as I'm having a panic attack and then taking me later (still while class is in session) into another room to try and help me with the test material only to not have any ideas.

I think that's it...and all of this lead to a nervous breakdown on my way to pick up John during witch I cried when I saw an owl (a live owl. Something you don't see often in Louisville), an ugly car, and when someone "stole" my gas pump at Kroger Fuel.

Plus Heath Ledger's death really got to me. Then the bs from Phelps and some jerk on Fox "news" as well.

I'm just worn out.

Just need to get to the end of today. I think I'll be okay then.

1979-2007

Grades and Doctors

So, I got my grades for all my test I have taken thus far (except for the 2 I took today...)

In Med. Law I got a 100%, even though I missed a few. I turned in a work sheet which was worth 5 points towards the test.

In Pharm I got a 92% after a 2 point curve. Awesome indeed.

In Coding II I got a 95%. I only missed one question, and it was the question I *thought* I had missed. So I wasn't too upset. I would have been upset if I had missed one that I thought I had gotten right.

In filing I deserve a medal. Since I get my homework (called Jobs) done earlier that nearly everyone else, Mr. Shafer "lets" me help other students that need help. I don't mind helping. I really, really don't. IF they are trying and have at least read the material before hand.

The 3 girls that sit behind me, haven't read anything and aren't really trying. They called me over and said, "I haven't done Job 1 yet, so do I have to do Job 1 before I can do Job 2??" I said yes, since it builds on each other. The cards that you file in Job 2 will be filed within the Job 1 cards. They looked disappointed and said, "Well...now I'm behind!"

Honey, you were behind last week when I helped you with Job 1 since you hadn't read the book. Then I had to explain to one girl what an acronym was. When I explained it to her she lite up like a Christmas tree and said, "Ohhh! That makes sense!!"

The same group also didn't understand what a cross reference card was for. Let's say the guys name is Richard Allen. You would want to make a cross reference card for Allen Richard since either of those names could be his first or last name. The girls thought that you would file Richard Allen under 'A' (correct) and file Allen Richard under 'A' as well (very, very wrong!!) What good would that do????

Okay, I'm going to stop bitching about my stupid filing class now with one last point, I did tell the teacher about them, not to be a tattle tale, but just to let him know. I said I don't mind helping people...if they try first. We'll see what happens.

Tomorrow I have a dr. appointment with a new GP. I'm going to tell her about my neck/shoulders and hopefully she'll tell me to go to some physical therapy

I Can't ThinkOf A Title For This

3 Great Ways To Start a Phone Conversation:

1. "AHHHH I HATE FELONS!!" <---Kim(ber)

2. "OMG! OMG!! Guess who I just say on TV!????!!!! Guess, guess GUESS!!!!!!" <---Emily

3. "So, I'm not sure if you'll find this funny or not, but....." <----Kristen


In other news about my day:

I got my first Filling test back today. I got the highest grade in the class, a 95%, a fact I know because the teacher informed the entire class that me and Joel (female, pronounced Joe-L) got the 2 highest grades in the class. Not that it was hard, it's freaking FILLING!!!

Took my first Medical Law and Ethics test as well as my first Pharmacology and Laboratory Terminology (aka Pharm) test today and think I did well. Even though I did not study for Med. Law at all. I'm sorry if the Judicial system is common knowledge for me. And I'm sorry that I am the *only* person in the class (including the teacher) who enjoys this class.

I wanted to hit Jessi today for getting mad at me for "picking on her because it stopped snowing." Man, I hate that girl. I also wanted to strangle her Thursday when she took it as a personal offense that it was raining. No I am not joking at all.

I have a test in coding tomorrow which should be no problem at all. In Med. Law we are starting the movie "John Q." which I have no desire to see. It seems interesting enough, but I *HATE* watching movies in class. The desks are not comfortable enough, and I have a hard time paying attention.

Not much else happened today. So...yeah.

In A Nutshell

Hey all!! I think I've found a height for my desk chair so that I can sit at my desk and use my computer with out killing my neck and shoulders. Yippy! Now if I could just find enough time to use the computer!

Anyway, so much has happened since I last posted, I don't even know how to start. So, I guess it's bullet time!!

• School has started, and while it will be a very busy and in ways tough quarter, it may also be one of the most enjoyable.
• Kim is moving to Louisville! Though she isn't going to move it with John as we first thought, she'll still be in town which will be awesome!
• John is looking for apartments of his own as well. He hopes to be in his own place by the end of the month.
• John told his boss's about being FTM and they are totally cool with it. They even changed his name on his pay check before he could get to the bank to do so!
• Back to school: My first class isn't until 9:10, which means I get to get up at 7:20 instead of 6:00 in the morning! Also, my last class lets out at 1:45 instead of 2:45 which means I get an extra hour to do whatever the hell I want
• I'm the only one it seems in the entire school who enjoys a class called Medical Law and Ethics
• There are only 5 people, including me, in my coding class this quarter, and 2 of them I cannot stand!
  

I think that is all for now. I will try to update more regularly.