Week 39: Early Mornings and Lazy Days Part 2

Let's pick up where we left off last night shall we?

So, we got my car to the Ford dealer. Once we got inside we let them know that we were looking for a second opinion after having taken it to the independent place down the street. They asked for a description of what exactly it had done before refusing to move, and so we once again explain the whole situation that had occurred in my sisters driveway Saturday night.

Based on our description they seemed to be inclined to think that it was a timing issue. They took my information and promised to look it over the following morning and give me a call. Before heading home dad and I went to look over what used cars they had available, particularly what Ford Fusions they had to offer.

Since it is impossible to look a cars in a dealers lot when they are open without being approached by a dealer, we were approached and asked if there was anything in particular we were looking for, so we let him show us the used Fusions that they had.

The had one that was kind of a shimmery tan/gold color just marked down. It was a 2007 and had brand new tires. It was right in my price range. We ended up taking it for a test drive, and once we got back sat down to fill out the paperwork to at least see if I'd be able to get financing on it either on my own or with my parents. It never hurts to at least see. Right?

By the time we left there the dealer that I had spoken to had promised to call me the next day and let me know if I had been approved for financing, and the man in the service department had promised to call and let me know what was REALLY up with my Ford Focus.

Thursday morning, I was STILL on the 6am shift, but even by my lunch had not heard anything about either car. By the time I got out of work I called my parents, who had found out that it wasn't the engine  that had gone bad in my Focus. Rather it was the timing belt, suspension belt, and the water pump which all amount to less than $700.00.

This sounded much more reasonable then a blown engine. It blows my mind that that guy said my car had a blown engine, it really does. Guess who won't be getting any more business from me...

By the time I got out of work I also had a message left from the dealer that dad and I had spoken with. I was approved for financing on the car, and all by myself too! I wouldn't need my parents to co-sign! The question then boiled down to what I wanted to do.

In all honesty, I've been drooling over the Fusion's for a while. I've really wanted one, but haven't had any reason to get one. But this one was perfect! It was the right price, in great condition and would help me really built my credit history. Plus, this whole situation really showed us all why it would be useful to have another car.

It made it difficult to keep up with four adult schedules when we only had one car between three drivers. It wasn't impossible, but definitely difficult.

As it turned out, we decided that the perfect solution would be for me to go ahead and buy the Fusion, and then my parents would repair the Focus and keep that because in all honesty it would be cheaper to fix the Focus than to buy another new used car later and my Focus is in fantastic condition, considering.

So that's what we've done. I bought myself a brand new used car and am absolutely loving it! It's funny sometimes how seemingly bad situations work themselves out sometimes. This past week has been such a strong example of the blessings that God can create in our lives, and we don't even realize it until we look back later.

It's fascinating to take the chance every once and a while to take a step back and look back at where you've been, and just see the blessings that God has created in your life. He is so good, all of the time.

But anyway, I spent the early hours of Thursday afternoon on the phone with the dealer and our insurance company ironing out details, and then that evening I went in to the dealer and signed all of the necessary financial paperwork. While I had been there when we signed the papers on my first car, this felt so different. It's strange to encounter these situations that you've never before encountered such as buying a car on your own for the first time. It's such an "adult" experience. You know what I mean? There was just something very surreal about the whole thing, but surreal in a good way.

By the end of the night Thursday I drove away in my new Fusion.

Friday, thankfully was the last day of my 6am shift, at least for last week (it starts all over again this week), and by the end of the day I was pretty tired.

Yesterday I spent most of the morning catching up on sleep and just generally lazing around. At noon I watched my Spartans beat the Central Michigan Chippewa's (45-7!!!) and then proceeded to catch up on YouTube videos in my subscription box along with my other usual Internet travels. Like the title implies, yesterday was my lazy day, and I'm sure today will include a fair bit of laziness as well. Perhaps today will be the day I finally finish reading my latest book...

I'll talk to you soon.

Week 38: Early Mornings and A Lazy Day Part 1

When you work in retail you spend a certain amount of time, at a certain time of year, preparing for the busy holiday season which basically begins on Black Friday and lasts through the first few weeks of the new year. This prep time is important, because if you don't spend the proper amount of time prepping you'll never catch up once business starts really picking up. 

At work we have hit that point in the year where we begin preparing. We've started making the proper layout adjustments to the setup of our floor, adjusting the placement of product and moving out the old to make room for the new. This kind of preparation means that I've been working the early shift all week, as in 6am early...

Now, of course, there are perks to working such a shift such as getting out in the early afternoon and getting the entire weekend off. These things, of course, are nice. The thing to remember here though is that by the end of that shift, not only are you tired because you've been up since 6am (and probably didn't sleep much the night before if you're like me), but you've also got the rest of the day ahead of you. 

This week, most of my days after work were filled with various errands and most importantly hashing out the debacle of my car. As you may recall, last Saturday my car mysteriously died and we were therefore forced to push it from my sisters driveway to the parking lot of a local mechanic. 

Seriously, Saturday was only the beginning of the craziness that was going to take place this week. 

So Monday, since I was at work as of 6am, my mom called into the mechanic and let him know that my car was in his driveway and the key in his drop box. She also filled him in on WHY it was there, obviously. Of course, he had a pretty packed schedule for the day and said he probably wouldn't be able to get to it until Tuesday, which even though it wasn't ideal for us, mom said it was fine because really what else could you really say?

Within no more than an hour the mechanic calls back with a diagnosis. According to him the engine was blown and it would cost nearly $3,000.00 dollars for him to replace it. Obviously, I was a bit stunned with this diagnosis, and dad was a bit hedgy as to the veracity of it. How could it possibly be the engine? There hadn't been any oil when we popped the hood, it hadn't been leaking oil, and I take really good care of it. I get oil changes regularly. How could it be the engine?

Then of course it was down to weighing the options. There was no way I was paying this guy nearly three thousand dollars to put a new engine in. There is just no room in the budget for that. So then I started researching what it would cost to buy an engine myself and have my cousin install it. That would be manageable, but do I want to put that kind of money into this particular car? It might be better to get a new used car.

The more we considered the guys diagnosis and how quickly he had come to it the more unsure of it we became. It just didn't sound right, you know? By Tuesday night we determined that we wanted a second opinion, and that if it was the engine then it would be best to buy a new used car as long as I could get financing one way or another. 

With this plan in place, my mom called in to the mechanic on Wednesday, because once again I was working the 6am shift, and asked if we owed anything for him looking at the car and let him know we planned to come in that evening and pick up the keys/car. He said that there was no car, and asked what we planned to do with the car. Rather than say that we planned to get a second opinion, we told him we were going to push it to the Ford dealer down the street and see about a trade-in. He said that with a blown engine they probably wouldn't offer us much and asked if we'd let him know what they did offer.

This, again, made me a little suspicious. We think he probably wanted to buy the car to fix it up and re-sell it. 

So we get there, and he had told us my car would be moved out of the back lot and we'd have access to it, but we don't see it anywhere. Dad and I go inside and tell the woman at the counter we are there to pick up my car, and she at first has trouble finding the key. She does eventually hold up a key and ask if it looks like that one and would be untagged.

I tell her that yes, that is my key and she hands it to me and says that we are all set. But then, we remind her that we actually need to know where the car is... So doesn't know either, so she heads out into the back to ask someone else, having re-taken my key. 

She tells us it is probably in the back lot and they will drive it around, and as she leaves dad and I look at each other and wonder how they are going to drive a car with a blown engine around front. We wait a few minutes before heading outside to wait by my dads van. As we are waiting and looking towards the back lot, she yells over to us that the car won't start and they have to jump it. How do you jump a car with a blown engine? Of course it won't start, that is why we brought it here. That is why we PUSHED it here....

We wait another minute or so, and then head back inside thinking she and this other guy don't know the real deal with my car. She isn't at the counter, but we stand there and wait in case she wanders back so we can clue her in to why the car may not be starting. I'm looking out the front window when all of a sudden I see my car drive out into the front. HOW DID THEY DRIVE A CAR WITH A BLOWN ENGINE AROUND TO THE FRONT!

I tell dad that they've just driven my car around, and we both go out to investigate. The guy that drove it around has popped the hood and is looking under it when we approach. He says that it's "running rough". No, really? He says that in order to keep it from stalling out, you have to drive it with your feet on the gas and brakes at all times. 

With this tidbit duly noted I jump into the drivers seat and put the car in gear. I drive out of the driveway with my feet on gas and breaks. Dad is right behind me in the van as I turn onto the road. The car stalls out halfway to the dealer, and so dad pushes it the rest of the way just like Saturday. 

And that is where my tale stops this evening. But I promise there is more, and if you click back tomorrow you to will know the rest of this fascinating story. Until then, I have some reading to catch up on and a desk to finally clear off. 

I'll talk to you soon. 

Week 34: Taxidermy lamps, A Kayaking Adenture and A Contest

I work in retail, and in my particular retail department we sell lamps. We sell a wide variety of lamps, but today I would like to talk about a particular kind of lamp that we have sold in the past.

At this point I can’t remember exactly what the name of the lamp was, but it was essentially a taxidermy lamp. The base was made out of a (rather large) glass jar, and inside was a diorama featuring a taxidermy bird.

I know there was one that had a Quail in it, and I want to say that there was one featuring a duck…

So anyway, the other day I had a customer who was looking for floor lamps that my store carried aside from the ones that I actually had in store. I pulled up our website, and as I was browsing for floor lamps I noted some of the rather… odd lamps that we currently have to offer.

Later in the workday I mentioned some of the lamps to a co-worker, who recounted a customer having recently come in seeking the taxidermy lamps that we used to carry. Since we can no longer get those, she offered to search Google for possible leads as to where they could potentially seek out a taxidermy lamp to complement those that they already have.

Have you ever Googled “Taxidermy Lamp”?

Probably not, because let’s be honest, why would you? But let me tell you, some of the results are truly bizarre. So I have told you all of this, so that I could show you this, because quite frankly now that I have seen it, how can I possibly keep the image to myself? That would be selfish of me.

Now that I’ve, in all likely-hood, horrified you completely I’ll tell you about today’s completely awesome adventure. Despite initial fears that the lovely Michigan weather would once more annihilate our plans, several friends from work and I finally got to go kayaking, and we had a blast.

I actually turned out to be a gorgeous day out on the river. Because none of us had been out on this particular river before, and two of us hadn’t ever been kayaking before, we took the shorts trip, which was about an hour and a half long.

Once we’d paid for the trip and signed the necessary paperwork, we loaded up in the of the parks vans and they drive us to the launch point. After having us strap into life vests the staff gave us a hand getting into our kayaks and we were off.

Not too long into the trip we were joined by a rather friendly duck who was content to float along-side us. She stayed close to Sarah for quite some time… We figure she probably thought that we had food for her.

We kept a pretty leisurely pace, chatting and taking pictures and just generally enjoying the scenery. At one point we noticed what was either a Crane or a Heron hanging out over by the bank, and near the end of out trip we spotted a swan.

The first swan sighting wasn’t too bad, since that one was a ways away from us. The second one was hanging out under a bridge that we had to go under to finish our course. It was a little close for comfort, I think for both us and the swan. But everyone (including the swan) kept cool and there were no swan incidents… so that’s a plus.

The tail-end of the trip was probably the toughest, because though the water was really fairly clean, the water near the landing dock really wasn’t. The water there was full of these plants that made it super hard to paddle. It was a real work out trying to navigate through them!

All in all it was a lot of fun, and next time we go we’ve got to take one of the longer trips because it was over way too quickly this time around!

I rounded the day off by entering a contest over at Claire Legrand's Blog to win “Steampunk”, an anthology that a lot of totally awesome authors contributed to. If you are so inclined you should definitely check it out!

I’ll talk to you soon.

Week 32: Missing Flash Drives and Memory Lane Therapy

After a week of working 4am's, getting a full night's sleep last night was heavenly. I don't know how people that regularly begin their day at 4am do it. They say your body adjusts to it, but I don't know... not mine I guess. All I know for sure is that there is no way I could work that shift long term.

as you may have ascertained today was my day off, and if you didn't, well now you know I guess. It was a glorious day of doing absolutely nothing, at least nothing that I had to think too much about. Sometimes it's nice to just be able to sit back and not have to think. You know? Am I right?

It's been quite a while now since I moved back home from my year at MSU. A little over a year in fact. I distinctly remembered bringing three flash drives home with me in the move, but of course could not recall where I had stowed them upon getting home. Let me remind you, more often then I'd like to admit my memory fails me. The point here, is that I've been missing these flash drives since about the time that I moved home, but I knew that they made the move with me because I distinctly remembered packing them to make the trip home.

I have remembered them off and on over the course of the past year, vaguely noting to myself that I was sure that they were here, and also that each of them was loaded with information that I wasn't really interested in losing. You know, stories and poetry, essays, music back-ups, photos... those sorts of things. The drive I was most interested in finding was the one with all the things that I have written/am in the middle of writing.

There are YEARS worth of writing on that drive. It would be no small tragedy for me to lose it, because stupidly, that data isn't stored anywhere else.

So yeah, I cared that I hadn't been able to locate these drives, but determined that I didn't care enough to go to the trouble of really undertaking a search for them. That is, until today, because what the hay, I had the day off.

Early this afternoon I began my search.

I began by sifting through the boxes at the top of my closet, which to be honest, I should have known that would be a fruitless search because it wasn't all that long ago that I went through and organized them all. Had these drives been in any of those boxes, I would have found them a couple of months ago. But I looked anyway.

This of course led to me coming across a box full of cards that I have received over the years. Birthday cards, Christmas cards, Thank you cards, Thinking of you cards... I have a plethora of cards. Is this strange? Do you hold onto the cards that people send you?

Even though I don't often look over them, I still like to keep them, just in case I might ever like to look at them, because sometimes I do. Sometimes I like to lose myself to a moment of nostalgia, to take a moment and reflect on where I've been in relation to where I am. When I find myself feeling like I'm stuck in a stand-still it's important for me to look back to see how far I've come in order to remind myself how far I have to go. When I was younger I used to feel stuck in a stand still a lot, so when I start to feel that way now I can remember those times and remind myself that it takes time to move forward and I just have to be patient even if that hard to do, especially when that's hard to do.

So, right. The flash drives where not in my closet. So I moved on to my filing cabinet. This has a ton of stuff that I've filed away from Elementary-High school as well as the mission trips that I have participated in. Once again, it was time to take a moment to traverse memory lane. But like I said, for me, moments like this are therapeutic.

Going through my "files" also gave me an idea of what to do with all of my cards. At one point in time, for some purpose now unknown, I bought a mini binder and mini plastic sleeves. I unearthed this bind in my hunt for my flash drives and it just clicked, that binder is the perfect size for cards!

At some point in the fairly near future I plan to organize my cards into binders. A kind of card scrapbook/ memory thing. It's a step up from storage in a box at the top of my closet anyway... Searching through my closet and filing cabinet took most of my afternoon, and though I wouldn't call it completely fruitless, I did not find what I had ultimately been looking for.

Rather than search further though, I took a break, and I told you all of that, so that I could tell you this... I FOUND THEM! About a half an hour or so ago I decided it was time to sit down and blog, and that I was going to tell you all about my failure to locate these flash drives, but before I sat down to write I took a second look at a cabinet I have hanging near my door. I had looked at the tin that I have sitting in this cabinet earlier today, and considered looking in there for the drives, but then discounted that idea. Why would I have put them in there?

Indeed, why did I put them in there? I have no idea. I will never know, except that I did and that is where I found them. My advice? Never make assumptions, if you think you put something somewhere, check it out no matter how crazy you think it would be for you to have placed it there, because that's probably where it is.

Oh, and just to dispel the elephant in the room, no I did not blog last week. Yes, I was supposed to, and I have no excuse for not following through last week. I will try to do better in the coming weeks.

I'll talk to you soon.

Week 30: A recap, a return... no excuses.

One might perhaps call my long absence an epic fail as far as my blogging goal this year… and I am not here to disagree. I am not even here to offer an excuses, because I happen to abhor excuses. But perhaps I may renew my attempt for what remains of the year, and begin that renewal by relating to you what exactly I’ve been up to in my absence.

It would be pointless, for one to even attempt to recount point by point my time spent away from blogging, not to mention boring. However, here are the highlights, the cliff notes version if you will.

There was a span of roughly a week that I spent in Texas. It was a spur of the moment trip that I took for work. I was asked to travel there to assist a new store in opening. It was a quick turn around in that within only a few days after to agreeing to it I was boarding a plane an on my way.

This was my first time flying, and I must say that I was initially super nervous about it, but it wasn’t bad at all. Each flight went really smooth, and ultimately I really enjoyed the experience.

While the hours we worked while we were down there were long, it was a lot of fun to be able to help a store get ready for their open. I really enjoyed working alongside the people that would be working down there, and giving them ideas as to how we run things in our own department here in the MI.

Plus the weather there was gorgeous! The locals thought we were a bit crazy, because for them the temperatures were a bit cold, but considering we took this trip during the first week of April, their weather was much preferable to our freezing temperatures.

The next notable event of my absence was the All Time Low concert that Sarah and I went to at the end of April at The Filmore in Detroit. It was so much fun, and such a great show! All Time Low was the headliner, but The Summer Set, Hey Monday, and Yellowcard were also at that particular date.

There just aren’t words, I’m telling you…

I took a photography class this spring.; it lasted ten weeks, and just ended two or three weeks ago. It was a lot of fun to finally take the time to really learn how to use my Digital SLR camera. I bought it when I graduated (4 years ago, can you believe it? I can’t!) and just haven’t taken the time to really play with it.

I mean, yeah I took a photography class my senior year, but a manual camera is a lot different than a digital. More so than you would think… But ultimately I'm glad it's over. It was a bit much taking a class two days a week, considering I had to fit it in with a full time work schedule. I'll finish my degree, eventually.

I have all the time in the world after all.

But really, at this particular point in time, the most exciting thing is that I went and saw the final Harry Potter movie last Friday. I can hardly believe that it’s done, that the final movie has come out…. Let me tell you, it was SO good. I loved it from start to finish.

I didn’t find it quite as emotional as the book, but I’ve never found the movies to play on my emotions the same way that the books did. That’s not to say that that is a completely bad thing, it just means that there is no way to really accurately compare the books to the movies. It’s best to consider them to be separate entities.

Anyway, this is my lack luster reemergence into the world of blogging. I’ve taken the moment to give you a brief catch-up, if you’re out there, what have you been up to in my absence?

I’ll talk to you soon.

Week 7: Life Is Good

Do you ever have weeks where it just seems like things are all coming together? I feel like this week was very productive.

I'm really excited to have to just re-launched my book review blog. However, I change up the format of it, so I suppose with the implemented changes it's now more of a blog dedicated to my commentary/analysis of what I am presently reading than it is a review blog.

You can check it out here. I'm hoping to get the first part of my first 'commentary' up in the next day or so. It's already kind of written, so it's just a matter of going over final edits and getting it posted.

It's been a full and busy week, but really I wouldn't have it any other way. Aside from the blog re-launch, I also offered and accepted a new position at work that I had put in for. Plus I got some great news concerning my student loans.

Right now, life is good.

Twenty-One

I spent today at work, where I proceeded to have a really good day. It was super busy in the fudge shop, which was good. Personally I enjoy working when it is busy the most. Some people find it stressful, but I think that it all depends on your perspective. On some level, in order to decrease your amount of stress you have to accept that you are only one person and only capable of so much.

It's also good to understand that sometime people are going to be upset with you, you can't make everyone happy and while it's nice in theory to try it is imperative to accept that sometimes, in fact most times, it isn't possible. There are those who cannot or will not be appeased.

I am now home, where we lit candles and stuck them in the cake that my mom made in honor of today being my birthday. I sat in front of the fire for a little while while I ate my slice of cake, and am now watching Law and Order:SVU with my parents and younger brother. This is my favorite way to spend any day, let alone a birthday.

All in all it's been a very good day.

New Years Day

The store was fairly busy today, but that's to be expected I guess considering it's New Years Day. I closed the fudge shop, and was scrambling at the end of my shift to get everything I wanted to get done finished. I didn't get as much done as I would have liked, but for the most part the department looked up to par.

It was strange to drive home around six and have it already be dark. I really don't like the time change, I'd rather have it stay light longer. I guess it really doesn't matter what I'd prefer though.

Tomorrow is my birthday. I'll finally turn twenty-one and plan to spend the day at work. Birthday's really aren't that big a deal, for the most part it's just another day the only difference being that you're a year older. The most exciting thing about turning twenty-one is it's kind of like officially becoming an adult.

While technically you're an adult at eighteen, it still holds restrictions, and you still have a license that denotes you as somehow short of adulthood. You are recognized as an adult with the exception that you cannot drink. Twenty-one is really only a milestone in that it means there are no longer any restrictions placed upon your behavior. To an extent anyway.

I'm excited to get a license that's horizontal rather than vertical. That is a pretty cool perk!

New Years Eve

This project ends on Saturday and I've already nearly forgotten that I needed to get a blog post up today. That would have made twice this week!

That being said, it will be strange to no longer have rules in place that ensure that I need to write and post something by a particular deadline. That being said I've learned a lot over the course of the past year. I've made a few blunders, and definitely achieved some amount of success. I've definitely tackled the initial goal of writing more often and consistently.

Maybe over this next year I can get some more of that novel written. That would be cool, especially since it's a project that I started working on nearly seven years ago. It's definitely a work in progress.

I have two more days left at work as far as this week is concerned, and then I have a week before I head back to school. Hopefully I'll be able to pick up some more hours next week. It all depends on how busy the store gets and if they can spare any hours for seasonal's.

I turn twenty-one on Saturday and plan to spend the day at work, which in all honestly I prefer since it may be my last opportunity to work over break. At any rate, I'm excited for the coming year. It's full of potential.

Next Week?

Today wasn't all that eventful. I went to work, where it was initially busy customer-wise, and then near the end of the shift the number of customers dwindled while I still had plenty of things to keep me busy.

Really, it was the best kind of day to have because when I go to work I prefer to be busy. The way I see, I am there to work, and so I want to get paid for doing my job and not for standing around. While it is true that I'm getting paid for being there, it is also true that I am wasting my time if I'm not keeping busy.

I'm not sure what I'm going to do with myself all of next week. I'm not scheduled to work, although they know that I'll be available, so hopefully I'll get a call. It'd be awesome if I could get some more hours in before I have to go back to school. Besides it's nice to be back to work, it feels so normal and I'm not sure that I'm ready to give up that feeling of normalcy.

Crazy Dayz

Yesterday did not seem like a Monday, which is the major reason that I forgot to blog until I laid down around midnight, looked at my alarm clock and immediately thought, "It was Monday, and I didn't blog. Crap!"

It probably didn't help much that yesterday was a fairly busy day. I opened at work, which means that I was there from eight to five. It was a good day, as most days at work have been recently. It was actually really busy too. The store was unusually packed for a Monday, which is both good and strange. Today was a similarly good/strange day at work. It's going to be hard to leave it all behind yet again.

Once I managed to get home last night, I met up with Sarah and Nichole and we went and grabbed something to eat. It was nice to get to sit down and catch up. We went to one of the small diners here in town, where the food is equal parts good and cheap. Both of these features are greatly appreciated when you consider that we are all college students.

All in all it's been a hectic few days, and I'm looking forward to working a closing shift tomorrow rather than an open. It's nice to get out of work early, but lately I haven't been sleeping well. It's difficult to get up early consecutively when you aren't getting enough sleep. Now I'm off to read, watch the Golden Girls and maybe think about getting some real sleep.

Christmas Eve

It has been an enjoyable Christmas Eve thus far.

I spent the morning at work, where it wasn't incredibly busy but I enjoyed dealing with the customers that did come in and it was nice to get to talk with those that I worked with today. That's four days back, and I'm still loving every minute.

After work I came home and had dinner with the family and have basically been watching crime shows with Dad while sitting in front of the fire that we have going in the living room. It's a relaxing way to spend an evening.

We just got back from my cousins house, where we sat around the kitchen table and talked over tacos and nacho's. Again, not a terribly exciting evening, but an enjoyable one nonetheless. Tomorrow my brother, sister, brother-in-law, nieces, and two of my uncles will come over for lunch. That will probably devolve into watching movies as it has the last few years.

It's nice to get to spend time with family. Honestly it feels like break is going by incredibly fast, and I'm not sure how to feel about that.

Crafty

I am presently putting the finishing touches on a couple of Christmas presents, and am then perhaps going to get roped into assisting my younger niece in a craft project of her own. It is going to be a long night. I work in the morning, which is still as exciting now as it was a couple of days ago. I am really enjoying being back at work. I don't think even I realized exactly how much I missed it.

There wasn't a lot of variety in my shift today, but the store was plenty busy. I'm actually kind of surprised that the customers aren't as cranky this year as they have been the previous two. I wonder if it's a difference in their attitudes or mine...

It seems like break is going by faster than I anticipated that it would, and my feelings are kind of mixed about it. On the one hand there are things that I miss from being back on campus, and at the same time I'm really enjoying my time here at home. It's hard to reconcile the two, because there are things about both atmospheres that I really love and I miss when I'm in one place over the other.

Grades and Awesome Days

Just as I suspected, I did not do as well in my Macroeconomics class as I needed to, and therefore one way or another I am going to need to retake it. I'd like to be able to do it over the summer at WCC, but we'll see.

I had an awesome day at work. I don't know if it's just because I've been away at school or what it is, but this was my second day back and I'm still loving it. I just really enjoy getting to see everyone, and meet the new people, and even dealing with the customers. I guess you don't realize how much you enjoy something until you return to it after a brief break.

I did super well in my other three classes, which helped out quite a bit with my GPA, but it would have been a lot better if I could at least gotten the 2.0 that I needed in my Macroeconomics class.

The Daily Grind

It has been about twenty-four hours since I was last on the Internet. Can I just say it is awesome to be home?

I'll be making two posts today, since I obviously forgot to post whatsoever yesterday. But yesterday was really cool. After my final final, which was at seven-forty-five in the morning, my parents met with me back at my dorm and we went about loading my things into the van. By about nine or so I was all packed up and ready to go.

My car had been parked somewhere along the route so that we could easily stop so that I could hop in and head off to work. Yesterday was my first day back at work, and despite the fact that there are many who would call me crazy I had an awesome time I work. I am so stoked to be back!

It was almost like I'd never left in the first place. There were a few cases where they had begun new organization systems that I wasn't aware of but for the most part everything came back real easily. It was funny in those cases that I had a little difficultly finding things, because in both cases others in the department forgot that I'd been gone for several months because it was so natural for me to be there.

It was awesome! Today I have to go up to Grand Rapids for my cousin's wedding. That should be fun and leave me with plenty to blog about as well.

Christmas Break?

I managed a 3.5 in my JRN 200 class, which is awesome. My Macroeconomics and Lit/Cultures classes haven't reported grades back yet, so that's still up in the air, and of course I have one more final to take tomorrow so that class obviously hasn't reported anything back yet.

I'm little nervous at this point as far as Macroeconomics is concerned. I have a feeling that I didn't do as well as I was anticipating in their, and very possibly didn't do quite as well as I needed to. I may be taking that class again despite my hesitancy to do so. It was boring enough the first time. However, if I had put more time into learning the material than merely getting by there wouldn't be cause to worry.

In any case, it was a learning experience. Maybe it wasn't the one that I was looking for, but there you go.

I'm just excited by the prospect of being finished with my first semester after tomorrow morning, and getting to go back home for a few weeks. I'm also very excited to get to go back to work and see everyone there. I'm really enjoying the idea of getting to return to a work place that I feel super comfortable in. I'm excited to jump right back in where I left off in August, though even now the department is obviously structured a little differently.

It's an adventure that I'm definitely ready to take!

Crummy Tuesday

Today hasn't been the greatest, but thankfully it's almost over.

I went to work this morning, only to go back to my room after a half an hour. I felt so sick to my stomach that there was no way I would have been able to last the whole shift. It's annoying, but at least they were staffed to the point that it wasn't a big deal. Hopefully tomorrow I'll be feeling better and will be able to last through my whole shift.

I took my Macroeconomics final this afternoon, once I woke back up. That could have went a lot better than it did. It was online so I had the opportunity to use my book and notes, and even though I did I still only managed a forty percent. It's disappointing, but I have a feeling that I'm going to have to retake the class regardless. I'm fairly certain that I didn't manage the 2.0 minimum that I needed in order to get into my major.

It was snowing earlier but that has since tapered off. I'm hoping that we don't get too much snow in the days to come. I want to be back home before the major snow starts, and would be nice if we didn't have to drive through heavy snow to make it to my cousins wedding on Saturday.

That would be fantastic!

Four Post Sunday

I forgot that I need to write four posts over the course of this weekend. As it is already Sunday I obviously owe four posts over the course of today.

That shouldn't be too difficult to manage.

This is the final week of school and the. I'm off on break after my final on Friday. Then I get to go back to work which is super exciting. I'm so pumped to be going back to work. I've missed working with everyone and to an extent I've missed the job itself.

Today we're having Christmas dinner with my extended family. It's going to be fun to get to hang out with everyone for the day, plus I don't have to drive back to school until tomorrow morning.

I'm so excited!!!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPod

Double Fail

I didn't even realize until some point earlier today that I forgot to write anything on Wednesday, and then failed to write anything today. That's alright though, the evening was productive even though I failed to hold up to my blogging plan.

I'm all packed and ready to head for home after class in the morning. The roads aren't too great at the moment, but I'm hoping that by then they'll be better. If not though, it's not like it's the first time that I've driven in the snow. It may end up wearing on my patience but I'll exercise some caution.

Today was my final day in my JRN 200 class, and I think it went well. I didn't end up blogging Wednesday because I was furiously working to finish my final story for that class. As it was, it was four-thirty Thursday morning before I had that and the extra credit article written. Though really it was totally worth it.

I braved the cold to turn in my papers and then have a one-on-one with my teacher about my grade, which I ended up doing very well in that class. I got at least a 3.0, maybe better depending on the grades that I end up getting on these final two papers. It was a tough class, and I'm glad that it's over, but I definitely appreciate the things that I learned in there. It was an important step in gearing up for my journalism career.

However, my three and a half hours of sleep are catching up with me, and if I'm driving home in the snow I need to be awake, so I'll fill the next few days with explanations regarding the last few post lapses.

Journalism and Work

We had our final test story in JRN 200 today. I'm fairly certain that I managed to turn it in without any fatals in it. Hopefully that is the case. Now I just need to decide whether or not I want to write the extra credit article or not. I'm tempted to, though I guess it'll depend on how motivated I get.

Although it would wipe out three of my fatals, so maybe I should double check to see how many fatals I actually got. If I only got three or less than I suppose it would actually be work it to do the extra credit. There's no way that I'm going to 4.0 the class, but maybe I'll manage to get close. I probably should have stayed after today to find out what my grade was. Oh well.

Work was an interesting combination of pleasant and boring. Pleasant because apparently I've been nominated during the last few shifts as the most recognized worker or something along those lines. What this means, aside from an ego boost I have no idea, but it's nice to be appreciated. Then of course it was boring, because before I got to my shift today, they had someone else come in and work a shift that was slightly earlier than mine, and then overlapped mine, so they basically got everything done that I usually do when I get there.

I stayed busy, but it was difficult to find things that needed to be done.