Got Bored on the Internetz

Delicious Things That Gross Me Out:

-canned peaches
-stroganoff
-shrimp
-tiramisu`
-ham sandwiches
-yogurt with fruit chunks
-grapefruit
-red and black jelly beans
-licorice
-juice with pulp

And some disgusting things I delight in:
-BONE MARROW! MMMM! *slurrrrrrp*
-apple cores

Status: Employed

I got a job today with the Bacteriology department (I think. Might be Microbial Sciences).

I'll be setting up and taking down the undergraduate labs that will be held in the brand spanking (oh yeah. spanking) new Microbial Sciences building. I got a bit of a tour of it and it's amazing inside. I've been watching it get built from the studio windows for months now and think they did a pretty decent job.

I start the week of August 27th, after they move into the new building from the old one. I'll be working with like 5 or 6 other people who I haven't met.

My boss is pretty cool, or at least she seemed to be when I spent almost an hour with her this afternoon. She said I can wear whatever I want (even sandals, because "Well, I wear them all the time in the lab so I don't really care what you do.") which is cool.

I'm glad I'll have some income again. This summer was nice and relaxing, but I miss money.

However, I'm a little tired of getting jobs that any monkey off the street could do. That's about the only thing that sucked about this summer: I learned I haven't got any valueable skills. :(

This must change.

File Under: Miscellaneous

I've been keeping a journal of all the dreams I remember for about a month now. It takes me forever to write them because when I do I start replaying them and then I daydream about other stuff and it's all very time consuming. So I'm considering starting a separate blog just for that, since I can type way faster than I can write. Not sure if it's a good idea though. I never censor anything about my dreams and some of them can be pretty graphic and really weird.

So my mother has offered to cover the entire cost of my insurance through the university this coming school year. HUGE relief. However, my dad was then supposed to do the same for my sister (each parent covers a kid, seems fair, yes) and is refusing to. Buzz kill. So I'm pretty sure I'll be helping her pay for that. Someone's got to. I feel like a bad person for not offering to pay the entire fee though. She's too young to have to worry about this stuff, but she's worked all summer and I haven't, and we got about the same amount of grants/loans this school year. So she should be more able to afford it than I am, but I hate that she'll have to. GRRR.

Ever rediscover a food you love? I used to eat applesauce all the time as a kid, but then didn't. I recently had some and have gone ape for it. Today I ate an entire 25 oz. jar of the stuff. Opened at 5, empty at 7. I AM NOT ASHAMED! hahaha Hey, at least it wasn't ice cream or something.

I wrecked all my paint brushes this week because I was an idiot and went to sleep without rinsing them or even leaving them in the glass of water I had for cleaning the damn things. BOO. Trip to the art supply store, anyone?

My old man walks like an old man and this irks me to no end. Keep up, dammit!

I haven't thought about sex in weeks. Weird. I should get some panties that say "out of order."

I'm excited to toss my twin size bed to the curb. Yay! I count as a grown-up now, right? But my mom killed my fun by asking "why don't you get a queen size?" Well, Ma, cuz I can get a double for cheap from a friend versus paying a bunch more for a new one or get a used one from some gross person I don't know.

I miss my boys. :( The reunion once they all move back is going to be amazing. And possibly fatal. Wait and see.

I spent the afternoon with my former roommate yesterday. None of you ever have or ever will experience such a good pairing of people to live together. Which is especially lucky, because we were put together randomly in the dorms.

Next summer, I want a landscape internship so bad that I will move wherever I have to for those 3 months to get it. Could be fun?

*slap*

Today in the grocery store I overheard this:

Old Hag: I want to pay with debit, but I don't want to pay the 35 cent fee.
Cashier: That's fine, just push the credit button instead.
Old Hag: But I NEVER put groceries on a credit card! And in all my time coming here I've never been charged that 35 cent fee.
Cashier: I don't see how that's possible. It does it automatically. And if you push credit, it will still take the money out of your checking account, so it's not a charge.
Old Hag: NO, I don't WANT to pay with credit.
Cashier: It won't be, it will still come out of your checking account, but it won't charge you the 35 cent fee.
Old Hag: It's the PRINCIPLE of the thing. I've been coming here since this place opened. I'm a loyal customer. I should not have to pay the 35 cent fee this time or any other. I'm going to come in tomorrow and talk to John about this.
Cashier: *gets flustered* Fine. Are you going to run your card through as credit or debit though?
Old Hag: I NEVER PUT GROCERIES ON CREDIT!
Cashier: Then it's going to charge you an extra 35 cents...
Old Hag: I refuse to do that, on principle.

(a second cashier chimes in and backs up the first one. eventually the bitch pushes the credit button)

Cashier: Ok I just need you to sign this.
Old Hag: Why?! IT'S DEBIT!
Cashier: Because we ran it as credit to avoid the fee!
Old Hag: I'm going to talk to John about this and I'm going to have my reciept in my HAND. And in OTHER stores they don't make you sign unless it's more than $30. *gets ready to leave*

(now this wrinkled old cunt puts the icing on the cake...)

Old Hag: UM, EXCUSE ME. I asked for PAPER, not plastic.
Cashier: *REALLY upset, clumsily rebags food*

A few comments to the Old Hag:
1. The cashier told you how to avoid the fee. You didn't listen. Suck it.
2. What "principle" is it that's been violated? Yeah, didn't think so.
3. You HAVE been charged that fucking fee before, many times. You just haven't noticed, and this makes me very very happy deep inside.
4. I saw you after you left the store, and I saw you take your groceries out of the paper bag you demanded and put them back in the plastic bag. I wanted to give you a swift kick in your saggy ass. Not that you'd have felt it through the diaper.

One comment to the Cashier:
Hun, just quit your job. It doesn't get any better.

Oh Baby, Get Me WET!

I passed the Lake Lesson and Swim Test today out on Lake Mendota. Though tiring, it was a hell of a lot of fun. I realized how much I miss being in the water.

It also occured to me that since I have been 6 months old, I have been in the water on a regular basis (at the bare minimum, once a week) up until the diving season ended my senior year. Then I stopped swimming, diving, wading, whatever, cold turkey, for stupid reasons not worth getting into. So getting back in the water (albeit disgusting lake water) was amazing.

To quote a classmate of mine, "I love it, miss it, I need it in my life."

Therefore, I've added finding a swim buddy to my list of things to do.

I also want to dive, but I'm too afraid to. I don't dive without my coach, as a rule, I'm not nearly as flexible as I ought to be to safely do the dives, and the muscle memory is GONE.

Ugn! But I reeeeeeeeeeeeeally miss it!!!! *sigh*

On Apologies

Something I've learned to do just in the last few years is to properly apologize for things. We were always forced to in day care, but they never meant anything and the lesson didn't stick. I remember, though that one of my friends "got it" as early as first grade.

This girl had no reservations about walking straight up to me after we'd been fighting and simply say "I'm sorry" and then we'd hug and that'd be the end of it. I did the same a few times but after she moved I didn't really keep it up.

It always kind of felt demeaning, like apologizing for something meant that you were crawling up to someone with your tail between your legs and begging their imperial forgiveness. Admitting that you were wrong is difficult.

In high school people seemed to just get over things or not, and apologies were hardly ever offered for anything or anyone.

Then I got to college and started noticing that some people would own up to having been hurtful or inappropriate or assholes in general and would walk up to someone, of their own accord, and say they were sorry for whatever it was they had done. I immediately respected these people 10 times more than I had before. And I also noticed that no one was jerks about being apologized to. No "yeah you BETTER be sorry," no "go fuck yourself," or anything like that. And the people doing the apologizing didn't seem as embarassed as I remember being when forced to apologize in day care.

So I tried it later, after having screwed up one way or another, and although I was pretty nervous, it felt damn good when I was done. Turns out apologies are 100% appreciated.

It feels good to have someone acknowledge that they did something they shouldn't have and that they didn't mean to hurt anyone and they truly do feel badly about it.

And it's funny how only certain types of apologies have this effect. For example, "Sorry" on it's own is pretty casual and doesn't mean a whole lot. "I'm sorry" is more serious and means a lot, and "I'm sorry for ______" is the best.

Anyway, what I've learned is that apologizing properly for things is:
1. NECESSARY
2. Appreciated
3. Easy
4. Required for me to consider someone an adult

An Open Letter

To the swarm of bugs outside my window:

You have officially worn out the welcome that you never had. Your habit of flying in here, pissing me off for a few hours, and dying on my keyboard when I sleep wasn't funny the first time and it certainly isn't now.

While I thank you for not being of the biting variety, the gap between the screen door and the door frame was NOT designed as a point of entry for you. It's simply my landlords being lazy.

Furthermore, what was up with the woodstock-esque scene around the garbage this afternoon? I half expected the lot of you to sacrafice a goat or something. (Although, were you to sacrafice the cat, you MIGHT win my affections.)

In conclusion, it's time for you to leave. I will continue to squash you one-by-one with my pack of post-it notes until this message becomes clear to you.

(Anything but) Love,
Catherine

Apple Envy

Why is it that people who use Apple products fancy themselves as members of some elite and special club?

Furthermore....why do I believe them?! :P