Hi, I'm your cousin/nephew/brother/son, and I'm a pescitarian.

Okay, over Christmas, everyone found out that yes, I tend to follow a pretty strict vegetarian diet (only because it's healthier, and yes, I know what to eat to make up for what I'm missing for not eating meat), but still allow myself to eat fish, thus making me a pescitarian. I'll be honest, the only reason I still eat fish is because I love it so much.

Anyway, we quickly determined I couldn't eat any of the "anything you can eat with a spoon" entries, which even I was surprised at. While I didn't mind, and it's something I'm getting used to, mom and Aunt Carrie came to me Christmas morning, with an idea.

A vegetarian throw down.

I said it was good.

They then told me I had to come up with the rules, since it was assumed I would eat chicken stock (I will not).

So, here is where I'm coming from.

At first I said it could be a pescitarian throw down. I've since changed my mind.

I'm going to give my reason as to why.

I think that most of us are blessed with somewhat of a cooking ability (except Shae, let's be honest...I love her to death, but I've eaten too many raw pancakes growing up to say she can cook). So I think that we should challenge that. We're really going to broaden some horizons, I think.

I almost made the rules to be a vegan throw down (meaning no animal by-products such as cheese or milk could be used), but I think that's too much all at once.

Okay, finally. The rules.

1. No MEAT or MEAT BY-PRODUCT may be used. This includes the following, but is not limited to: chicken, fish, shell fish, red meat, pork, any broths or stocks made from meat, cooking in the same pan meat has been cooked in without washing it, bacon (yes, that really does count as meat).

2. Animal by-products are okay. They include things like cheese, milk, cream, yogurt, butter, etc... Eggs are okay.

3. Meat substitutes are okay (soy and tofu, though if you've had tofu, you know it's disgusting), and will probably be useful.

4. Your dish needs at least five ingredients (meaning steaming a bowl of broccoli doesn't count).

5. A vegetable tray also doesn't count.

6. Any dish. It's not limited to soups, or anything.

7. No bread bowls.

I will likely be able to tell if you try using a meat by-product. I'm extremely sensitive to the taste now.

There are many websites with very good vegetarian recipes.

Two brands that will help you GREATLY are Morningstar and Boca.

www.bocaburger.com

www.seeveggiesdifferently.com (Morningstar's website)

I tried to make these clear. If there are questions, feel free to ask.

Mainly for Shae and Scott.

I would probably say if Shae, Scott, and I shared a favorite viral video, this would be it.

Maya Rudolph and Shia LaBeouf.





You've just got to love Hulu (this video was taken off of YouTube).

Six of the same posts?

Though we talked about it, I'm still going to do a short Christmas recap, though almost everyone was there.

Quite obviously, I haven't been having the easiest fall and winter, thus far. 2008 has ended badly.

The last two days were just what I needed.

I'm so glad almost everyone made it out, and that I was able to relax for a couple days.

Within a few weeks I'll have the vegetarian rules posted.

They're pretty simple.

Okay.

It's Hulu time.

Break? What break?!

So I just found out that some people have are on "winter break" right now from school.

Allow me to explain.

I was having the best year of my life until around October. And since it has been constant stress and anxiety. I've been looking forward to these fourish weeks since October, thinking I'd have some time to breathe, and de-stress before next semester.

I've worked over ten hours straight (12 today) since the day after I got out of school. I have one day a week off, and it's been looking like the trend is calling people in who have days off. It doesn't help I already don't like my job, but we're now all working almost every day, no breaks, and I'm the lucky one to get the nice 10-12 hour shifts (the lowest ranked person in the store).

I'm more stressed out and anxious than I was two weeks ago, before finals.

Things probably won't be so bad, but I'm constantly talked down to, there's no order of operations (meaning I have to change daily, according to who I'm working with), I'm never told when I do something correctly, I'm only ever corrected.

This is, by far, the worst job I've ever had.

I'm ready to be done, and just collect my losses on this (being unemployed), and deal with it.

Thanks for letting me rant.

Spanish Assessment Results.

So I forgot to mention I had my Spanish assessment today.

Overall, I did okay.

For anyone who hasn't had a language assessment done, it's a pretty simple process. You sit down with someone who speaks the language, and have a conversation.

Between my nerves, and the fact I don't have anyone to speak Spanish with around here, I slipped up a lot. After I left, I realized there was a lot I could have done better, and a lot more I could have said, that I just didn't think of while I was being assessed.

The woman who did it is the head of Modern Foreign Languages for SVSU, and incredibly nice. She simply laughed when I'd get nervous and switch back to speaking English (we jumped back and forth a lot between Spanish and English).

She asked me a lot of basic questions like what I'm studying at SVSU, how long I've been here, my name, the date (I said it correctly, but said the wrong date), what time it was, what I like to do with my free time, where I've worked, how old I am, where I learned Spanish.

The end result: I get to skip all 100 level classes, which is awesome, since Spanish is my minor. I can go a lot farther in the program than I would have originally been able to, had I not learned more in Indianapolis (where I learned almost all the Spanish I know now). She said what I already knew, my grammar needs a lot of work.

She laughed the most when she told me she was placing me in Spanish 212, which is about the same as a third year high school class, and I said "Thank you very much" to which she replied, in Spanish, "Michael! How do you say that correctly?!"

The only downside to all of this is there's only one section of Spanish 212, and it conflicts with my Theatre class that my professor overloaded for me. So I can't take the Spanish class until next year now. However, the worst is over, I was very nervous for my assessment, and for being so out of practice, I actually did pretty well.

I am done.

Finally. I am done for the semester.

Semester recap: Bad. That's all I'll say. I didn't expect to do amazingly, it's been a long time, but I just didn't do well. I plan on working my head off next semester, and making up for that.

I have an interview at American Eagle to finish out the season. That'd be nice. After I not only wanted to walk out, but told my Supervisor I wanted to walk out, everyone at Subway seems a bit on edge with me lately.

On that happy note, I get about one day off a week from work from now on. That sort of sucks. The money will be good, but it'd be nice to have at least a bit of a break for my school break.

I hope you're all doing well.

See everyone at Christmas for the Throw Down.

(I still have no idea what I'm making.)

My birthday recap.

First off, happy birthday (again), John! 15. It's a good age. (Ha ha. Sorry, man.)

Secondly, thanks to everyone, for the birthday wishes.

My actual birthday was pretty uneventful. I ended up leaving mom and dad's house Thursday night to come back to Saginaw. I went to work at 11, ended up only really doing deliveries around the mall, and filling vegetables, and things of that nature. I got to leave early. It was a good day. Then I just hung around my apartment all day by myself. Quiet, a bit boring. Severely disappointing. Then about 11:30 my friend Kyle asked if I wanted to go back to Midland to see our friend Tyler (not the same Tyler as last post). I, of course, said yes, because I love hanging out with them, and Kyle's hardly ever around. So they managed to salvage my birthday. We went to see some band Tyler knew at a bar in downtown Midland, then went to our friend Jenny's apartment.

Last two weeks of classes. We'll see how they turn out.

An epiphany.

Obviously, things have been rough for me. Between everything going on, it's been taking quite a toll on me.

So tonight, while I was driving 40 all the way home from work (I work 30 miles away, so obviously it took me quite awhile to get home), I was cursing the snow. I drive a Chevy Metro, so snow doesn't treat my already problematic car well. I was getting off my exit on I-75 as I was talking to Joni, when I got a phone call. Joni and I said bye, and I took my other call. Tyler asked me to go eat with him, so I told him I'd meet him.

I wear cloth Vans most of the time, and always to work, so I was cursing the snow more as it started filling the holes in my shoes, packing in the snow. My feet were cold, my hands andface were cold. I was just angry with the world. I noticed people building snow men, having snowball fights, and I didn't understand the joy they were taking in this awful condensation filling the campus.

So Tyler and I ate. I wasn't surprised I was feeling better already, Tyler has that effect on people (one of many reasons I try to keep him close). So we walked out together, and he left when we walked by the Jungle, where he lives. As I was walking through the snow, I started noticing how beautiful everything was. The trees, the apartments in the Village, the parked cars with icing. As I kept walking, I saw more snowmen. Suddenly I saw the makers for what they were. Children at heart. I started seeing the true beauty in what the snow was bringing out in them. They were having fun being small again, when snow brought new, exciting change, and a hope of snow days (which I think we're almost all hoping for, to bring us an extra long Thanksgiving break).

As I kept walking toward my apartment, I saw a girl looking at me, balling up some snow. As I predicted, she threw it at me, and it landed about five feet short from me. I simply laughed and said "Good effort!" She smiled and said "I didn't think you actually wanted to be hit." As she said this her friend bent over, and balled some more, and threw a much more accurate shot at my leg, which I managed to dodge. The three of us laughed again, and I kept walking, while they continued building their snowmen.

I love that for that moment in time, it didn't matter we didn't know each other. To be honest, had I had gloves on, I would have retaliated. Snow is bringing out the kids in everyone here, and I love that. For the first time since the first week of school, everyone seems stress-free. For this single night, we can relax, and enjoy the snow, and communally hope for that snow day tomorrow.

I finally realized why I'm in love with winter. This story alone is why.

Anxiety.

I have pretty severe anxiety problems sometimes.

It's pretty bad right now.

Probably won't be hearing much from me until the end of the semester.

Just wanted to check in quickly, let you know I'm still alive.

I'll be finishing up the semester in a little under a month. My birthday is in a couple weeks. If I do anything worthwhile (I rarely do on my birthday), I may post.

Love.

New job? Yes? Maybe?

I'm waiting to hear from American Eagle to see if they'd like to employ this kid.

Regardless, I'm working Black Friday night there.

Long story.

Sometimes life hands you just what you need.

Friday night when I got out of work, I had a few texts, a couple missed calls, a voicemail. A bit more than usual, but I usually have something of the like after 9 or 10 hour shifts.

One text struck me as strange. It said "What are you doing tonight?" from my friend Kyle, who lives in Grand Rapids. I hadn't seen Kyle since right after I moved to Indiana. I texted him back, telling him I wasn't doing anything, so he told me he'd call me, because he was at his parents' for the weekend (Bay City).

So Friday night we decided to go downtown in Saginaw to a bar, just to say we had, which was a bust. We met my friend Kristy, my old roommate Shelby, and their friend Josh in one of the lamest bars I've ever been in (not that I have a ton to compare it to). Last night we decided to hang out again, and try Bay City instead.

Then we decided to go to Midland to see our friend Tyler, since the three of us never get to see each other, especially all at once (which is funny, because Tyler and I work in the same food court at different restaurants). We decided to go to a bar, when we finally decided that bars are bad for conversation, and we just couldn't get into it, since none of us really drink that much.

So we went to the Tridge, mainly for old time's sake, since it's been so long since all three of us lived in Midland (Tyler's still there, Kyle went to Grand Rapids, I went to Indianapolis). Then went to our friend Jenny's apartment where we ran into a ton of people we knew from back when I lived in Midland.

The point is, though...things have been sucking for me. A messy break up isn't easy to deal with, and it seems like it just gets messier every weekend, and my friends either go home on weekends, or are commuters, so there's no one around.

Having Kyle here this weekend was amazing. I loved seeing him, and told him how much I had missed him about every ten minutes.

A final note: Cougars hang out in Bay City bars. Just a warning.

It's a beautiful fall day...

...For pumpkin cookies!




Attached to the cookies was a bill with a post-it attached that read:
I thought I would "spread" the wealth for the government decides to do it for me."

Ha ha.

Thanks, Aunt Carrie, for the cookies. They're delicious. I really love pumpkin.

Another video!?

Yaaay!





This is just too funny.

I fell in love.

You'll keep me warm on cold, winter nights.

You'll be mine, until I decide to let you go.

You're beautiful.

You have style.

You let me have choices (but you know what I want).

You'll blend into my life quite nicely.

You're conservative-looking, which my family will love.

And as of a week from today, you'll be on your way to me.

Yes. I'm buying a new winter coat.

Real commitment.




In all seriousness, though. I love this freaking coat so much.

I miss my old pea coat a lot (I hate the way it fits).

W.

Probably a single perk to my job, is my owner has struck a deal with Midland NCG Cinemas, that they can trade their free employee passes for free subs. So once in awhile, that trickles on down to us, with our double meat bonuses (yeah, I get money for all the double meat subs I sell) we also get movie passes. And September was a lucky month, because sure enough, when I opened my double meat bonus, along with my cash...two movie passes.

So last night my friend Alicia and I saw W.

Two things to describe this movie:
Long.
Drawn out.

Yes, there were some funny parts. Anytime Condi was on the screen was enjoyable (the woman who played her did it well, and it was very comical).

Honestly, we only went and saw it, because I heard it was funny (not so much), and because I hate horror movies.

On the off chance you were thinking of seeing it. Don't. It's well over two hours, and moves very slowly. There's little to no climax in the movie, making it hard to tell when it will soon be over.

A video!? Wooo hoooo!

Okay, two videos.

Video On Trial makes me happy when I'm sad. It's a Canadian TV show on MuchMusic, that is never available in the US. Ever. I can only watch it on YouTube.

Anyway...comedians make fun of music videos. It's usually pretty funny.

Here are two of them.
(Shaelynn, Joni, and probably John...you will probably be the only ones who think these are even remotely funny.)

Vanessa Hudgens: Sneakernight



Flo Rida f. Will.I.Am: In the Ayer

Never before.

I hate my job. I've never hated a job as much as I hate this job I have.

I've been there over a month, and I'm still a "trainee". Which doesn't mean anything, except my name tag still says "trainee", which is basically just a blow to my ego (stupid, yes, but it still bothers me).

I've always worked for big companies (McDonald's, Hot Topic, Target), so working for a small franchise is hard. It's completely disorganized, and there's no order to any operation they do. The Supervisors all treat me as though I've not only never worked in a restaurant, but never even had a job before. I almost felt like I needed to remind one of my Supervisors today I used to actually run a quite successful restaurant in the past, and know quite a bit about that type of business, but decided it was better to keep my mouth shut.

Then, because the Supervisors can't cut hours when they need to, the Manager just cut all my hours, taking me down to less than 20 hours every week. So I'm driving to Midland five days a week, to work a few hours, then leaving.

Waste of time now.

I want a new job.

I awoke with a familiar feeling.

My alarm went off. I leaned up, to grab my phone, to turn it off.

Then I felt it. On the inside of my nose, it was running down. I touched my nose with my hand, and when I looked, sure enough, my nose was bleeding.

I like that I'm weeks shy of my 22nd birthday, and I still get nose bleeds for absolutely no reason.

When is my body going to figure out I'm not 8 years old anymore?

It was embarrassing enough as a kid. It's even worse as an adult.

A Top Fifteen List I Actually Wrote.

I believe I wrote this probably three years ago.

The Top 15 Reasons Tacos are Better than Girls
1. Tacos don't cry.
2. Tacos don't care if they look fat.
3. Tacos never want to talk about their feelings.
4. It's legal to buy tacos.
5. You can share tacos with your friends. (Not that I want to share girls with my friends.)
6. Tacos don't get jealous if you eat other kinds of tacos. Even if it's just as friends.
7. Tacos don't write scathing blog entries about you.
8. We don't need guns to protect ourselves from tacos.
9. Tacos are so damn tasty.
10. If you were to date a taco (which I don't condone), I bet it wouldn't make you always hold it's hand all the time.
11. You never have to worry about taking an eye out, when you're around tacos. (Let's here it for biblical humor.)
12. A taco will never want to commit. It's completely up to you.
13. Tacos don't play with your emotions.
14. You don't have to call tacos.
15. Tacos love everyone.



Ha ha ha. Three years later, this list still makes me laugh.

I do love a good Top Ten list.

Top Ten Reasons to be a Communist

10. You're better than those damn stinking Yanks!

9. Tell people you're a communist, and it'll scare them into letting you do anything you want. Or is that capitalism?

8. All the free "I Love Stalin" bumper stickers.

7. You can make a date out of waiting in a bread line. It takes up time and it's cheap food.

6. Your girlfriend doesn't expect fancy gifts.

5. Remaining inconspicuous is easy--no one cares about communists anymore.

4. Enforced sharing.

3. Your crappy car is a political statement, rather than just a crappy car.

2. If I don't do any work, I'll still get the $50 a year I need to live.

1. Vodka...lots of Vodka.




I only wish I could take credit for writing this. After a few failed attempts, I jacked it offline. I'm not going to bother citing it. If you wrote this, sorry. I'm not taking credit for it. Besides, I'm pretty sure anyone who wrote a top ten reasons to be a communist list would be fine with that, anyway.

Awwww...October is a good month.

Want to know why?

Both of my lovely sisters were born in October (even though Kate cheated, and came early).

In honor of October.

A picture of the two most important girls in my life and myself.



Picture isn't too shabby for being taken on my cell phone, eh?

Happy Birthday, Older Sister.

25.

Wow.

Quarter century old.

I'll keep the 22 I'm turning this year.

I love you.

Have a good birthday.

I will see you Saturday (Mallary still will not).

<3

Pseudologia Fantastica

I just like that he claims to know the law.

I'm fairly sure in my half of semester of my law class, I know more about the law than he does.

Because I do know that without committing a felony or very specific misdemeanors, we don't deport illegal aliens.

Of course, though, in O'Reilly's world, it's simply the loudest who wins.

Good job, Bill O, you were the loudest. You win.

Fox News...Or Fox Opinion

Something I'm watching in my English class right now.

While I haven't really looked into the opposite side of this too much, since I just started watching it today, I'm remaining pretty hesitant on believing a whole lot of it, and some of it seems a bit shady.

However, it's hard to deny that O'Reilly is insane, and definitely comes off as a pathological liar (as he tells a guest he's only told someone to shut up on his show once in six years, followed by a montage of him tells various people to shut up on his show, a weak example, but I couldn't stop laughing at his expense).

A quick example.

I realize I really wasn't clear on why I'm done blogging for the semester. I took a picture, to help illustrate my need to concentrate on my priority in life right now (school).



What you're looking at me holding is a section of a play I have to read, study, and know for my Theatre class. Yes. That's over 100 pages of one SECTION of a play. I still have more I need to print off. This is just the first of the five I have to read, and know well. Not to mention putting in time at the Theatre department (seven hours, to receive full credit), plus I have to review two performed plays.

And I have four other classes.

And now a job.

Blogging takes time, and planning. Time I feel I can't be taking right now, from other areas of my life.

I know that Shaelynn, Sarah, Joni, and now John are in the same boat as me, but they didn't take almost three years off between high school and college, so I'm definitely struggling to keep up this semester. The workload is more than I remember from Bethany (probably because it's a bigger workload than I had at Bethany), and I'm definitely not having an easy time. As semesters pass, I do think it'll be easier for me, but I'm so out of the mindset everyone else has most likely kept transitioning from high school to college.

I may post quick blogs here and there, but it's really just not likely.

Goodbye.

Maybe this will last a year, maybe only the semester.

However, I've been giving this a great deal of thought, and have decided that probably, at least until the end of the semester, I'm done blogging. I have other things I need to concentrate on, and as much as I love coming on here, to read, and write, it's simply just one more distraction. The biggest problem I guess I'm having is being taking so literally, when I was trying to do just the opposite. The whole vote/don't vote ordeal put me through quite a bit, emotionally, I guess. I was visibly upset for a few days, and I suppose I'm trying to avoid a major distraction from everything like that again, at least until I have some actual time to devote to writing and planning blogs, that won't come off the wrong way than I intended. I realize that I unknowingly pit myself against almost everyone else (except my dear sister, who often has to rescue me), but that was never my intention. I will say it one last time: I was simply posting a video I found humorous, that had to do with politics. I'm very persistent in life, trying to just find the humor in whatever I can. I was glad to finally find it in politics. The entire thing was definitely blown out of proportion. And, in short, my feelings were just hurt. I realize I brought it on myself, but this is more about prevention.

I'll still probably read them from time to time, but I won't be posting again until later on this year, or early next year.

It's been grand, everyone. I've enjoyed these. Mom, you're a genius for starting this whole whirlwind.

Everyone have a fantastic rest of the semester (or just...year, for those of you who are lucky enough to be done with college).


Seacrest out.

Second job?

Yes, I'm trying to get a second job.

My friend Michael got one tutoring German students on campus, and said they probably need more Spanish tutors, so I eMailed the tutor place on campus today, asking about it.

That'll be good. Way more up my alley than Subway, but at least Subway is year-round. Tutoring would only in the fall and winter semesters, most likely.

However, I'm excited, if I do get it. The only problem I'm seeing is I haven't actually taken a Spanish class in a few years, since I learned a majority of my Spanish by immersion. However, my friends are sick of me speaking it to them all the time, trying to keep up my vocabulary.

Other than that, I'm finally done analyzing suicide rates for the world. That was a fun couple of weeks of Sociology. I'm glad we've moved onto the Mexican-US border patrol issues. I have way more interest in that than suicide, to be honest.

Long days, long nights.

Had quite a weekend. Went to a birthday party in Milington (your guess is as good as mine as to where I was) for my friend Sam, who I met at Cornerstone.

Because of the whole breakup with Mallary thing last weekend, I wasn't really feeling like I wanted to go anywhere, but my friend Tyler forced me to go, and I definitely don't regret going. I got to see pretty much everyone that went to Cornerstone with us this year. At the party, though, Tyler ended up getting in a huge fight with the girl that gave us a ride from SVSU to Milington, so we sort of lost our ride back to SVSU yesterday. So we spent most of the day trying to find one. However, I got back last night, so I studied the rest of the night, since that was my plan for Saturday. Tyler felt bad when he lost our ride, because he said he took my Saturday from me, and lost so much of my Sunday. It worked out, though, he got us back, and we had fun.

Other than that, I have a friend who is getting mircodermals done today (look it up if you don't know what it is, it's so hard to explain), so I'm going with her to do that, since my friend is doing them. I'm supposed to be applying at Red Lobster today (since Subway couldn't interview me for two more weeks). So I'll do that.

Then homework. Lots and lots of reading.

Things have been rocky lately, just in life. They're getting better, mostly thanks to Tyler, the most positive person in the world. He's been looking out for me quite a bit.

However, they're looking up. I'll probably have some pictures of the party soon, since Alicia was there, snapping away. She told me last night she took around 250 pictures, which is pretty conservative for her. I have seen a few of them, though, and they're really good. At one point the light, and the sky was just right, and she had Tyler and I in a field, taking pictures of us (this is what we do, we party hard).

*EDIT*
Subway just called me back. I got a job. Finally.
*EDIT*

Yes, I'm glad to laugh at politics.

It's no secret, I don't vote, I don't care, but I'm glad to be able to find humor in this, as well.

If you can get past the beginning, it's quite funny, in my opinion. The beginning is a bit well...pointless. I know what they're spoofing, but it's not worth it. The second parody in the video is of "I Kissed a Girl" by Katy Perry (who is such a waste of a singer).

The video's language is pretty explicit, so if that bothers you like it does me, you may not like this as much, especially if you're not understanding the parodies.



The second thing I want to talk about. The other night I got a text at about 12:30 AM, asking if I was still up. I was reading for a class, and told them yes, I was. He then asked if he called me. So I called Fathead (the guy's blog that I posted), cutting to the chase, wondering what in the world he'd want.

Through the grapevine (or my friend Katie, ha ha), he found out that I had re-posted the blog, and he read through the comments, and let me know that he appreciated it, and said it was cool seeing it re-surface again. Just another example of how nice he is.


*EDIT*
I just read that John did a blog on almost the same subject, and I want you all to know, this is a simple matter of timing. I respect John's love of politics, it's his future profession, and I'm glad people like him care about it. This isn't to attack anyone's beliefs. I honestly couldn't care any less about politics than I do now. Just a video I thought was a bit funny.
*EDIT*

"We The Modified"

This was written by a friend of mine, who just happens to be a body piercer, as well, and is who I've gotten any and all of my piercings (past and present) from. He wrote this back in December of '07. However, I've read it several times, enjoyed it, and thought I'd share it here.

We the Modifed
Written by Fathead



we the modified have spent much of our time hiding in your ideas of us. you spend your days thinking because a person has a nose ring he is some sort of sexual deviant that would beat the hell out of your child , rape your grandmother and worship satan. as a modified myself i can stand and say that none of that is true. i would like to state to you the things that i have done even as a "freak" that still makes me completely normal.

i get mocked and pointed at because of my hair color.

frequently asked "does that hurt? can i touch it? are you pierced anywhere else?"

people stare like i am 2 seconds from stealing their money

im made fun of because im different

people try to bury my dreams and my aspirations just because i have larger holes in my ears telling me i will never get a better job because of the way that i look

families try to not accept me when they find out that i have a few tattoos or shiny objects in my face



i am generally stereotyped as all "modified" people are... i would like to stand before you today and speak my mind on the things that i have done as a "modified" person.

i have held hands with an elderly woman as she crossed the street

i have helped take care of a handicapped girl in a wheelchair everyday for 6 months

i have held the door for people with disabilities i.e. broken arms, on crutches, wheelchairs....

i have offered to help carry things to a persons car on the other side of the mall because i saw them struggling to carry their stuff

i have helped take care of my own cenile, herniated, alsheimer afflicted grandfather during the times that my mother was supposed to help him

ive given my last 5$ to the salvation army bell ringers knowing ill figure out a way to get my next meal, because im more resourceful than the less fortunate.

i have loved

i have had things ripped form the palm of my hands and never once did i curse anyone

i have taken care of the sick

i watch over my friends sick mother and do any housework she needs while he fights in iraq.

i have many many many friends of all different walks of life that accept me for who i am and the way that i live my life, realizing after getting to know me i am not different, strange, or violent.

i have laughed at many of the same movies that you have.

i have some of the same dreams that you have i.e. marriage someday and a family to follow, my own house, my own achievements

i cry at the same times that you would

i have been hurt by others as everyone else has.

i have needed to be a friend and a rock and a counselor for different people, all the while setting aside my own problems to help someone else.

all of these things i have done and many many more. i may look strange or mean, but i am and most anyone else like me are some of the nicest most giving people you will ever meet. why? because we know what it is like to be persecuted, to be laughed at, to be discouraged, and looked over because of the way that you look. we dont want to become those who mock us and more or less belittle themselves by pigeonholing us.

here are somethings i want you to think about.

the mechanic that works on your car, has a tattoo, you probably dont see it, and probably never will. but he goes home at night just like you and I to his family and stays up all night wondering how he was going to pay his bills and put food in his kids mouth. but you will ever so easily disregard him because hes dirty and has ink in his body.

the guy in the back of your favorite restaurant has a piercing in his face, he prepares the wonderful meals that you salivate over and tell your friends about. yet if you saw him with that hole in his face you would not want him cooking your food. why? because apparently that piercing in his face makes the food taste different somehow.

a professor at a local college is covered head to toe in tattoos. literally. you see him walking the streets and you would be quick to judge that he is a drug addict and a satan worshipper and that hes mean to his family and that he is an outcast. in all honesty you are wrong, he is a man that teaches our children to learn , to give them the knowledge that they need to carry on and prosper in their lives. he helps shape the future. but you wouldnt want him to sit at your dinner table.

we all have different reasons of why we get tattoos and piercings. some people get them because they like the way that they look, some get them because their friends think that they are cool. those of us who ACTUALLY have reasons on why we do these things to our bodies do them for other reasons such as commemorating the passing of a loved one, a milestone in our life, to show the love of another human being, sacrifices we have made, trials and tribulations we've made it through.a few personal meanings of the tattoos that i have are:

- the death of comedy - noone laughs anymore, everyone is always so serious and apparently you cant have fun or laugh at things during certain times in your life because depression has now overrun our population.

- my love for my family - the story is told through two zippos and my nickname, and a music note, an 8 ball, and 3 playing cards. the two flames from the zippos unite to create one large flame (me) which runs underneath my nickname. the music note and left zippo symbolizes my mother, she gave me the gift of music and that will forever stick inside my mind and carry with me till i pass. the 8 ball and the right zippo symbolize my father, my father taught me that life is a game and you have to do what you can to win, also taught me a love of billiards. to which this day i can say that im pretty decent at. something i really truly enjoy from the both of them. forever etched into my arm.

- faith- i have a rainbird tattooed on my right leg. it symbolizes a belief in something that you cannot see. something you cannot feel. it stands for my belief in god and the after life and all of my religious beliefs.

now when certain people like to look at me and just think that i have those tattoos cuz i wanna look scary and or cool. they are just making a common misconception and making a huge mistake in not taking the time to get to know me. i wanted to write this bulletin because earlier i opened a door for an elderly gentleman and held it for him when i went into speedway. when i went to open the door he gave me sort of a nasty look because i had to hurry to get in front of him to get to the door before him so i could hold it. but the moment that i opened the door and held it for him, he looked amazed and shocked that a guy that looks like me would ever hold a door for an elderly person. in closing all i want to say is open your mind, you dont have to become one of us, just drop the barriers that seperate us. accept us as you would accept your own family, we are hardworking, loving, caring, funny, entertaining, giving, honest, peaceful. we are all the things that you are.



i chose the lyric that i have typed in a sense of irony for the simple fact that if you look at ted bundy, one of the most notorious and sick and twisted serial killers, he is a clean cut man , with attractive looks and nice clothes no tattoos and no piercings, yet what ted bundy did is what most people think would come from your average "freak". kinda like poetic justice huh?

"on the surface i seem normal, farther down though, im so ugly, something you wont ever see"

Eh. Bad weekend.

I'm not going to go in to too many details, but Mallary and I broke up.

Put a bit of a damper on the weekend, but it's not so bad, I guess. Anyway...a video.

I've been showing everyone this video lately. It makes me laugh a lot. And yes, it's fairly appropriate.

The benefits of being friends with a photography major.

As some of you may remember, my friend Alicia is a photographer, whom is pretty talented. She came to hang out with my friend Tyler and I, and we were sitting in the living room of my townhouse on campus, and she said she was upset she forgot her camera. So I offered her mine. Though much less sophisticated than she was used to, she made it work.

Me.


Tyler.


Alicia's favorite shot of the day.

The good and the bad.

One nice thing about this semester. I only have classes on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

One bad thing about this semester. I have class from ten to ten on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

I have tons of reading to do for my classes today (I still don't have all my books). I have Theatre in about an hour (we're all required to take an art class, I picked theatre). Followed immediately by English, an hour break, then Sociology. A few hours between that and Criminal Justice. Tuesday is the exact same thing, but my last class is Math, instead.

Other than that, things are better. My roommates are fairly entertaining (huge into partying). Normally, not really guys I'd hang out with a lot, but I enjoy them a fair amount.

Anyway, I just got out of the shower, I need to get ready for my long day of classes.

My First Night

So I'm at SVSU, tonight is my first night here.

I'm not going to lie, or cover up anything I'm feeling at the moment.

I'm pretty lonely. There are probably 10-15 people downstairs in my townhouse, all drinking, and being down there, well...feels weird. I'm not the hugest fan of drinking (the door bell is ringing, more people are coming in), and right now, on an empty stomach, it just doesn't sound very fun.

Sure, my best friend and girlfriend go here, but my best friend commutes, and my girlfriend has her own friends already, and I feel bad monopolizing her time, because I don't know anyone on this side of campus (that's the other thing, she lives on the completely opposite side of campus than I do).

So, here I sit, in my tiny bedroom, contemplating the night ahead of me. I still have plenty of unpacking to do (I've hardly done any), organizing, I need to raise my bed so I can hopefully fit my dresser under it.

Just a lonely night, thus far.

I know it'll get better, once classes start, and I have something to concentrate on.

Blog, blog, blog.

Happy, mom?

: ]

The picture I've been waiting to reveal.

This picture was taken only days after I moved to my parents' for the summer.

I've been waiting to post it, for when I had literally nothing for my blog.

Katie and I, dressed similarly.

I don't understand why this is so hard.

I have 15 days to come up with all the money for my first semester (I was trying to do the whole year at once, and realized that was much more overwhelming).

Tuition is actually due in two days, but since I don't sign up for classes until mid-August, my tuition isn't due until that day. Unfortunately, it's really hard to provide a proof of enrollment when banks want a tuition bill, because I don't get my bill until it has to be paid.

So I've been trying to find a loan like mad, that doesn't need it until I realized, I still have an Indiana ID, I haven't gotten a Michigan ID again yet. So I look up what I have to do for that...and basically, I can't provide proof of Michigan residency, because I don't pay the utilities here, don't have a job right now, don't have a credit card...

I'm so frustrated right now. The anxiety I've been feeling all summer is slowly just turning into panic, that I won't be able to start school this fall.

Small victories in life.

The last McDonald's I worked in was...let's just say it wasn't up to the standards I was used to, or normally enforced in my restaurants. That being said, the boss I had when I first got there used to get frustrated with how badly we were doing, so when a small positive occurred, I'd send her an eMail, almost always closing with "small victories, Emily, small victories..."

In honor of that, I got a piece of mail today (I forgot to get the mail yesterday) that informed me that as long as I don't lose my parking permit at SVSU, I don't have to pay for it.

I know in the grand scheme of college paying for parking isn't usually that expensive, but at this point, after just paying the last $500 of my last student loan from when I went to Bethany, it's a true blessing to not have to pay for something I assumed would be charged.

This is Andrew. He grew up about an hour from where I went to college in Canada. He's hilarious. I don't know him, though, one of my friends turned me onto his channel on YouTube.



Give him a shot.

Mostly for Shaelynn and Scott.

So, chances are, the rest of you won't find it funny.

Anyway.

Shaelynn and Scott,
Mo Collins as Shakira, in "Translation". I finally found it again. Enjoy.

I miss adult interaction.

That's all, mostly.

Been spending all my nights with Kate.

I've been enjoying the time with her, but I think we're slowly tiring of each other.

Shae spent the afternoon with me yesterday (ransacking the house for "her" stuff, but that's another story).

Tonight I have Youth (I'm on Youth staff, as of last week). Shae is bringing the Wii over for Kate to play with.

I tried finding a video for today's post, but they were all so appropriate.

Happy birthday, aunt Carrie!

Apparently I don't blog enough.

It was brought to my attention last night that I don't blog enough.

I have nothing to blog, as of now.

So a video that I'm sure my mom will be ashamed I posted.

It's no secret I dislike Rachael Ray. She's annoying.

That being said, enjoy Nicole Parker as Rachael Ray.

Cornerstone '08

After seeing John and realizing he's the only one who's gone longer lately without posting, I couldn't lose, and be the last.

I don't have much.

Cornerstone was awesome. I do have a couple pictures from that (Alicia's, I haven't uploaded mine yet, that would require unpacking to find my port).



Myself, Alicia, and Mel, drinking some Yoohoos. They made me really sick (it was in the 90s every day). Despite the heat, I kept eating/drinking dairy. It was so stupid, because I got so sick every time.



Sam, myself, Mel, Tyler (Mel's boyfriend), and Alicia on our way to Wal-Mart to get some food for the week. Who knew five people could fit in my car? Tyler is actually a freshman with me at SVSU this year, and I'm pretty excited for that.



Mel, Tyler, myself, Amanda, Dave, and Sam (Brian is in the middle, on the floor). Alicia is the only one missing, because she took the picture. We were in the tent Alicia, Mel, Tyler, and I shared. And sometimes Sam. It was a big tent.



Sam used her hand to tease one section of my hair, and teased straw into it. I was unhappy.



All in all, a good week.

This was me after work.

Why?

Because today was my last day.

Now I'm done stressing over someone else's budget and money, and can worry about my own (and worry, I do).

The pictures that need to be hidden.

What's funny, is if I remember correctly, this picture was more or less my concept.

You can see Kate is having much less fun than Shae and I, with that moose.

I miss those two.

Something I love.

Among living in the exact definition of an inner city project, there are many joys in my life.

The joy of the moment?

Everyone shooting off fireworks in the parking lot.

Have to looooove relaxed firework laws, eh?

Home stretch.

Lucky me.

I work every single day until I move.

Well, I have next Saturday off, but I'm on call the whole day, so it doesn't really count.

And I've been closing every shift for the past month and a half, and all the sudden work all mornings, because I'm the only Staff in my restaurant this week.

So that's not going well.

I'm already pretty late today, and haven't even showered yet.

*EDIT*6/21 22:55*EDIT*

So I've been pretty worried on the job front, moving back to Michigan. My Area Supervisor here in Indianapolis keeps trying to get me to go back to Michigan, telling me I can probably keep my same job (Michigan is far more competitive than here, because we have pretty much no Staff down here, and people wait a really long time to move up there), more than anything, not wanting me to lose my time with the company. I do understand that, because when I decide to go back, I'll have to start over, with my vacations/sabbatical time/years of service, however, my old Area Supervisor really disliked me, and it'll be extremely hard for me to stay away from him, as the community is much closer in Michigan than it is here (our Market is really spread out, between several cities, that are very far apart). So I told her no. A few times. I'm sure I'll be asked again on the conference call Monday morning.

Anyway. I've been pretty stressed out about getting a job, so today I made a phone call to the Hot Topic I used to work at, and it turns out, they're looking for some people. I was pretty well-liked there, so I think I stand a good chance of getting that job back. Plus, I enjoy selling things, and I was pretty good at it, once I got the hang of it. It's not a ton of hours, really. The standard is around 10 a week, but I may be able to stretch that, by picking up other shifts (I used to do that a lot at Target and Hot Topic). What's really nice about Hot Topic is they don't make you wear their clothes, since I like very little of what they have. They just want you to look good, so I can do that. And their appearance guidelines are pretty relaxed, and after four years of McDonald's, it'll be a bit nice, I think, to not have to worry about my hair being too long, forgetting to take out my nose ring (which I've been doing a ton lately, for lack of sleep, I think), or keeping my tattoos covered.

All in all, good news for me. It'll ease a lot of stress I'm feeling once I know for sure. I have to call back Monday, and talk to the Assistant Manager (who hired me the first time).

*EDIT* 6/21 22:55*EDIT*

By the way, I just noticed I did that edit on a 24 hour clock.

Both my computer and cell phone also run on a 24 hour clock.

John should understand why.

He's probably the only one who will.

Father's Day

So I wanted to post this before I left for work today, but didn't have the time, unfortunately, because I take after a great man, and enjoy my sleep.

That being said.

A father's day tribute.

My dad and I haven't always seen eye to eye on things in the past. In fact, very rarely, do we agree on much.

We share a similar sense of humor, but would never admit it.

I could only wish to match wits with that man.

The older I'm getting, the more I see my dad in how I look. People used to always tell me I look like my mom. More and more I hear I look like my dad.

How many people can support (or even feign support) when your child tells you they don't want to go to college? Though that changed, both my parents have been nothing but supportive through the almost three year break I took between high school and college.

Seriously, he's just plain witty. There's no way around it.

I do dress better, but I'll give credit where credit is due. My mom picks out some nice clothes for him.

He's even learning to assemble them into outfits now, and mixing and matching.

After almost 9 years in the same hobby (4H), again, nothing but support when I decided to quit halfway through a project to pursue another hobby I've always loved - theatre.

Who else could see me dressed up as a nun, and hardly utter a word (it may have had something to do with the fact we were all dressed as nuns)?

The older I get, the more I appreciate each of my parents, but my dad is a very special person to me. He's helped me make a lot of decisions, and helped me grow into someone I hope he's proud of. Though I've made some bad (and just plain stupid) decisions in the past, he's still been there to share with me the good ones, too.

I know he's not always understood the changes I've gone through, or how different I am than he was at my age, but he's let it go, very quietly.

Dad, I know you have a blog account, and I'm sure you read these, and I do hope you read this. I know I don't tell you enough, but I truly appreciate all you've done for me. You were my financial backer through all those 4H years, and I know that couldn't have been easy. You've watched me be rather idle these past few years, as far as my schooling goes, and just encouraged me, anyway. You couldn't have been more supportive in high school when I came to you, and told you I wanted to be a manager at work, and you understood how I was so completely bored in my job.

You helped me move to Canada.

I came to you late Christmas Eve, and told you I wanted to drop out of college. You understood, and helped me move back to the States.

You helped me move to Indianapolis.

You're again, helping me move back to your house.

I strive to be like you, because I know I probably never will be quite as successful.

Happy father's day, sir. I'll be seeing you.

Before this gets ugly.

Okay, okay, you all win.

Shaelynn posted a comment regarding this (though we specifically spoke about my hesitation regarding the issue) and then five minutes into a phone call from my mother, it was brought up again.

Obviously, with Mallary and myself being in different states, it'd be hard for you to meet her.

Actually, though, you all stand a better chance of seeing her right now, as Tawas, where she is from and staying this summer, is much closer to you all (well, okay, except Aunt Carrie and Uncle Chris), than Indianapolis, where I currently am.

Either way, here is a picture of us.



It's as good as it gets for the time being, folks.

Live with it.

And yes, I find it as disgusting as you should she's not wearing shoes. I kept telling her to put them back on. She's stubborn, a trait you should all relate to.

What disappointment.

So, as many of you know, I recently bought a Mac. I love it. It's cool, it works well, I can produce music, and videos on it. It's awesome.

So today, I went on the Apple site, and immediately, my face turned to this.



Why, you may ask.

Because not even two weeks after I purchased my beautiful iMac, Apple started giving away free iPods (your choice, anything from the Nano to the Touch) with purchases of Macs, for college.

And yes, my purchase was for school, as I knew my laptop wasn't going to make it through four more years (since it crashed before I even started school, and crashed last time I was in college).

I do have an iPod, yes. A Nano, and I love it. Unfortunately, when my laptop crashed, my music went along with it, leaving me with only a few CDs (I don't really own CDs anymore), and an iPod that can no longer be adjusted, because it's configured for Windows, and not a Mac (if anyone knows the way around this, please, help me with that).

The irony in my life is simply too much.

However, onto other things, I am dating someone. Someone who speaks english, no less (sorry, Joni, but your secret is still safe with me, for now)! More on that later. But she's fun, I enjoy her. Yes, mom, her name starts with an M, but it's far too early for that to matter. I have a couple pictures of us, but not any that I really like.

My day started normal.

So I had a couple friends visiting me this weekend, and we were all sort of waking up mid (okay, late) morning yesterday, talking a bit (I don't talk much in the morning), just kind of trying to wake up, and figure out what to do with our day.

I started talking to my friend Alicia online, and she asked when I was moving back, and casually mentioned I'd be back in time to head to Cornerstone Festival with her and a friend.

I immediately got excited. Cornerstone Festival is, in my opinion, probably the best mix of bands ever, all together for one week every year, with a great message. Not all the bands are Christian bands, but the venue and nature of the festival is. It's been something I've wanted to participate in badly the last four or five years. It looks as though I'm finally going to have my chance.

We quickly worked out the rest, how much it is (I've never bothered to look, because I always knew I couldn't go), how we're getting there (we're meeting her friend downstate Michigan, and driving to Indiana from there), and how to get a tent (everyone camps, mostly because we can't afford motel rooms).

The first week of July I'll be more or less unreachable (I'm not taking a phone charger, so phone calls/text messages will be scarce, but I do plan on calling my parents every couple days, just so they know I'm fine) experiencing what I feel like may be a once in a lifetime deal for me. I'll be spending six days at Cornerstone Farm with tons of other music lovers, living out of a tent, camping in a field, simply going from band to band. My friend Alicia is an incredibly talented photographer (www.myspace.com/viewfromherephotography) and she covers Cornerstone every year, and many bands look to her for action shots during their shows (and she captures them beautifully).

I do realize that I'm probably the only person in our family that is overly excited about this. I immediately called mom, to make sure they didn't have plans that week, that they would need a sitter for Katie for, to make sure I'd be able to go. I then started just getting really excited and every few minutes exclaiming, "I get to go to Cornerstone this year!"

Of course, this does mean I have to buy and wear copious amounts of sunscreen, as I'm chalk-pale. Need some different shoes (shower shoes being the most important). I need to figure out the best way to have and keep water, since the recommended thing to do is drink at least half a gallon a day.

This is my world's Woodstock, if that makes this any clearer. This is for the hardcore music junkies (I don't mean hardcore as in the type of music, either) of my day/genre. I am friends with a couple of the bands that will be there, and probably the best band I've ever seen live, Showbread, will be performing, and you can bet I'll be there for the entire show.

This is a very big, and nice, dream come true.

The video: Showbread "Mouth Like a Magazine"

Times I miss Joni.

I miss her when I find pictures like this, I forgot I had.

Ha ha.

What a fun night.



(To clear up any assumptions as to what is taking place here: I believe we were putting to practice the various techniques that have been learned from Tyra Banks on America's Next Top Model. I, myself, am not a fan of the show, but once dated a girl for a few months who was mildly obsessed, so I often watched simply to mock. Anyway...this resulted, in an unplanned trip to Joni's once. I was practicing my fierceness, I believe.)

The storm.

So, in case you didn't hear there was a really bad storm in Indy last week. So bad, in fact, we completely lost power for about 24 hours. My internet for about three days (I may pirate a wireless signal...).

That was part of the reason I was MIA for so long. And this is the magnificent post I have planned for you.

Because we have pictures.



The green you see (I know it's hard, it was difficult getting closer to get a picture of it) is electricity. It's about midnight, and we have no idea what's really going on, except our building (which houses about 12 apartments) has no power, and other buildings are flashing like crazy, and a couple across the parking lot have partial power (yes, I live in a project, by definition, we looked it up). My roommates and I kept trying to get better pictures with our phones, or whatever, but it was difficult, since we were so far away. Every once in awhile the green would go away, and we'd see the enormous fire. We knew people were trying to get on the bridge to get a better look at what was going on (that picture was taken from the back of my building, so it was pretty close), but the police were turning people away. When I finally went to bed, the storm had mostly stopped, but I was lying in bed, and all I could see were the flashes of lightning and only hear the claps of thunder, I can only assume were attracted by the electricity burning up 200 feet from my bedroom.

George (one of my roommates) and I woke up kind of early the next morning, I think simply out of restlessness, and decided to have a look at what was going on.



As you can see, a pole broke. If you look, you can see George standing amidst all the wires, and wood. So we decided to keep walking a bit further, and get on the bridge, to try to get a better look, and see what the river looked like.



Nice! Downed power lines IN THE RIVER! Also, the river is way higher than it normally is. The river normally doesn't have quite the rush it had that day. As George and I are standing on the bridge, he sees something else, and points it out to me. It takes me a second to see it, but then I do.



Something is still smoking! When we were standing in front of the pole before, we didn't see it, but standing on the river, sure enough, something is still smoking. So we started walking back to our apartment, and decided to get one last shot, to really show you want caused the green light, the night before.



If you look, you can see all three pieces of the pole, not to mention the various lines going everywhere (we were watching where we were walking, just in case, because there was plenty on the ground, also, around our feet).

The pictures really don't do this storm justice (especially the electricity, because that was incredible).

Anyway, I survived, all is well. It wasn't as bad here as it was in some parts of the city.

(I apologize for the way the pictures are posting. Photobucket and Apple are frustrating me. My camera doesn't work well with a Mac, apparently, but we're working on it, taking this relationship one day at a time.)

Hey, Blogspot, been awhile!

Hey, okay. Been awhile, guys.

I have a good post planned for a close future date. Just need to get everything worked out with my camera and my Mac. They're having trouble getting along (and I need to find my USB for my camera).

That aside.

Take this video for face value.

: ]

One last benefit

So my friend Jessi was here this past weekend.  She was my roommate for a few months, in the fall, and we became really close while she was here.  Anyway, she visited, knowing I'm leaving soon, and we spent Saturday just going around downtown, and having a lot of fun.  And I remembered, one last benefit to working for McDonald's (although it took me awhile to get it).

I have a reserved spot in our parking garage.

So Jessi and I took an "awkward awards style" picture of it.

I need a favor from everyone.

Okay, there will be more details on this later, but for now, I need everyone to go to www.indy.com and please pick a restaurant from either Downtown or Broad Ripple, in the $10-$18 price range (or under, if you find a good one, for less, of course).

And leave a comment, with the name, and why you picked it.

I'd appreciate it, everyone.

And happy anniversary, Shaelynn and Scott!

Someday I'm going to have my own ideas.

It'll be awesome.

Until then, I'm following suit, with my mom and sister. John, you seem to have a knack for starting viral blogs. Good job. Think of all the tables you can wait with that skill. : ]

Anyway.

As you guys know, I work for McDonald's, and have for the last four years (my four year anniversary was last month, actually, I was hired in Sanford, as a Crew Member on April 4th, 2004, don't ask me why I remember that). I was a Crew Member for four months. A shift manager for close to three years. And now an Assistant Manager.

I do like my job, and pretty much always have. I've met some awesome people, and made good friends through McDonald's.

My job isn't all that thrilling, and I don't necessarily make a difference in anyone's life. However, I go to work everyday, for at least nine hours (usually more, nine is the minimum for Staff), and work. My job changes all the time, which I love. Whether it's product changing, new employees, learning new things to do around the store. I used to be quite handy, back in the day. I could tear apart, clean, and fix numerous pieces of machinery, such as toasters, shake and orange juice machine, an ice machine one (I'll admit, that one ended badly). However, the equipment is incredibly different now, and I don't spend as much time on the floor as I used to.

No more uniforms. Ha ha. I love that. I just wear dress clothes to work everyday.

What my job consists of at this moment (it's changing a lot, because I just got a new boss). I do Crew schedules, which are easy, but not very fun. It's time consuming, and tiring, since I look at a screen for hours at a time. So I drink coffee, it's good. I'm in charge of training, which I love (and where I hope my career is headed, I'd like to train Restaurant Managers at Hamburger University). I do a little bit of hiring, but mostly my boss does that (I used to do 100% of the hiring). I'm in charge of our People Promise Manager, which is a Crew person who sort of acts as a "delegate" to the Crew. She knows all about Crew insurance, policies, and does all orientations of new employees, plus a lot of the training (in big stores, Crew Trainers are usually part of a large group, but we have very few employees). I do all the ordering for the store, and deal with our distributor, and also am in charge of supervising all product deliveries, and the integrity of the product upon delivery (basically, if something doesn't look right coming off the truck, I tell the driver it is to go right back on). I'm also our bilingual manager, meaning I deal with anyone who doesn't speak very much english, which is fine. That's not actually a role, but my new boss doesn't speak much spanish at all (my old boss was married to a mexican man, so she spoke tons of spanish). I'm also in charge of safety and security, and making sure the Crew know how to deal with unsafe situations (we have a lot of crazy homeless). Lastly, I'm in charge of promotions and in-store advertising. Menu boards, those window clings, any signs in the store, if you walk into my McDonald's, I put up and/or approved the location of every single one of those.

There are less fun aspects to my job. My new boss is a bit of a (sorry, mom, no better word for this) bitch. She tends to blame things on me, that aren't my fault. She took away a lot of my job responsibilities I really enjoyed, and put me in charge of the things no one else wants to do (which is fine). She often feels, because I ran the store so long with no one above me, I should be stronger in my role than I am (keep in mind, I went from an overnight Shift Manager to a Restaurant Manager in a matter of months).

There are two kinds of Assistants. 1st and 2nd. I'm a 2nd, only by title. We don't have a 1st Assistant, so I have to sort of step up, and take the role, even though I'm in charge of more than I normally would be, in a regular restaurant.

Upon understanding I was being overwhelmed awhile back, and felt as though people were having a hard time taking me seriously, my Operations Manager (who normally doesn't deal with Restaurant Managers, let alone Assistant Managers) assured me when I come back to the company, after school, he will not put me in a SPOD restaurant (Special Point of Distribution), but a regular, free-standing, high-volume restaurant, so that I actually have the right kind of exposure for an Assistant, and will be better ready to keep moving up.

*EDIT*EDIT*EDIT*

I'm back!

First things first.  Why does everyone have this idea of me, that I'm this huge, liberal Democrat?

I'm really not liberal, much.

And as far as Democrat/Republican goes...I couldn't care less, really.  I sort of hate politics (my, how far we've come in four years).

I got my Mac!

I'm sort of just playing with it right now, it's so much different that a PC, it's a bit hard to use right now.

And this screen is enormous.  Way bigger than I remember (my friend has one).

Anyway...give me a little time, I'm sure I'll have some posts that are somewhat interesting for you guys.  

*EDIT*EDIT*EDIT*EDIT*

My laptop crashed.

Yes. About five days ago, my laptop crashed.

Mom is in Indy for work, we went out to dinner, and she's watching Survivor, and I'm using her computer. Heh.

I bought a new computer today. A Mac, to be specific (I'm super excited), which will be here in 12-16 days (not sure what kind of time frame that is). I've been planning on buying one for awhile, and then when my laptop crashed last week, it just really pushed me, and all the money lined up right (tax rebate, last quarter's work bonus, plus economic stimulus check), so it all worked out.

Anyway. The reason for my absence, I do apologize. I promise something awesome when I come back, really.

Exciting things are on the horizon. I've missed you guys in the blogging world, and I'll be back before you know it!

I have a new eMail address.

My new eMail address from now on: malong12@svsu.edu .

: ]

Thanks.

Guess who's a model?

Ha ha ha.

That would be me.

Basically, because extra cash is always nice, right? I have two days off a week from work. I like Indy. I like meeting people.

So. I signed up with an agency that provides local companies and businesses with promotional models around the city.

My first job is beginning of May. My suit fitting is in a couple weeks.

So weird...

-Mickey

It is Wednesday.

And I'm sure you're all dying to know what I was talking about.

Heh.

Anyway...let me explain something quickly. My restaurant is part of a group of restaurants called a Patch. Which is part of a bigger group of restaurants called a Market. From there a Region. Then the grouping basically stops. I work in the Indy West Market, in Emily's Patch (she's my Area Supervisor...sort of our version of "District Managers", which actually don't really exist at McOpCo McDonald's).

Now. My restaurant manager's name is also Emily. Not confusing at all.

Three restaurants are being affected by what's going on. They are:

Broad Ripple: Linda (I used to work there, under Linda).
Hyatt: Emily (I work there now, and Emily was actually promoted out of Broad Ripple, into the Hyatt).
Zionsville: Cindy (Linda used to work there). Zionsville isn't actually in our patch, though.

This is what is taking place. Linda is going back to Zionsville. Emily is going to Broad Ripple (I'm so sad...), and Cindy is coming to the Hyatt.

I'm not going to go into details as to why. Just some personal stuff from one of them.

Anyway. Here is the great irony. Back when I was still in Broad Ripple, I was doing overnights five nights a week, because we were really in a bind for overnight managers at the time. I was getting really worn out and frustrated, because I knew I was so close to being promoted, yet I felt like I wasn't being considered, because no one was ever seeing me. I also knew I'd never be promoted in Broad Ripple, because we already had four Staff. So I ended up working a convention in the Hyatt, and met Emily, who knew I was planning on leaving the company at that point (I had already accepted another job), and offered me to come to the Hyatt, saying she needed an Assistant, and it's what I wanted to be. So after about a month, Emily (our Supervisor) gave the okay for me to be transferred. So off I went. After about three months, sure enough, I became an Assistant...and then a Store Manager for six weeks.

Throughout this experience, Emily and I have become pretty close friends. I have pictures of her son on my cell phone (chicano babies are cute, what can I say?). I was staying in Indy, only because I knew Emily would have a hard time without an Assistant, and she later told me she'd have a hard time finding an Assistant as good as I am (which surprised me, because I often feel I'm not really that great at my job).

A recap: I was unhappy in my old job. Emily convinced me to come to the Hyatt. Emily and I always talk of going back to Broad Ripple. Emily gets to go back to Broad Ripple as the Store Manager, and I'm stuck in the Hyatt.

Ironic.

I know only my family has been to the Hyatt where I work, and thought it was actually a nice store.

I believe in the ten minute conversation I just had with Emily on the phone, I told her of about seven things that are currently broken.

Emily was what made my job fun, and enjoyable.

In the end: I'm coming back in late June. With Emily not being there anymore, I feel no obligation to stick around.

School in the fall again.

I'm excited.

(Sorry for the long McDonald's post...vacation is coming up, expect pictures.)

My apologies.

Why I haven't written in awhile.

Yesterday I worked 2-10 in my old store, as a favor to my old boss.

I work 5:30 AM to at least 8 PM tonight. We'll see how I'm feeling, to see if I want to stay later to count inventory. I'm also the only manager scheduled today.

I work at 5 AM tomorrow, to do inventory/food cost.

There's a lot of stuff going on at work, but I can't really talk about it until Wednesday. However, it does affect me pretty greatly, and also when I'll be leaving Indy. Expect more on that after Wednesday.

I'm so tired.

Why I hate social networking sites.

Okay, I am on Facebook. I hate it, just like I hate MySpace. However, I use them, mainly as a means of communication with people I don't see often. I'm busy, my friends are busy, so delayed communication such as eMail, Facebook, and MySpace are what work best for us. Also, I'm the only out of all my friends that has a job where I can answer my cell phone at work.

Anyway...Facebook has application (a bit like Blogger, I guess, where you add things on the sides, top, and bottom of the blog) among of these, is one of the most popular, called Compare People. I got Compare People pretty early on, and it does just what it sounds like. It shows you two friends, asks a question, and you choose a friend for the answer. The questions are pretty trivial, such as who would I rather date, kiss, sleep with, go to a party with, shoot up with (okay, not that one)...I stopped using the application about a month after I got.

However, Compare People is definitely one of the most popular applications, like I said. A majority, if not almost all, of my friends had it, and used it actively for quite some time. It is a fairly good (okay, well, not good) way to pass time.

From time to time, Facebook will send you an eMail, telling you how your friends compared you recently. I check my personal eMail about once a week (work eMail, about four times a day).

I went through my Facebook applications the other day, deleting almost all of them, including Compare People. I decided I just didn't like the concept anymore. Plus, my rankings were starting to suck, as I didn't have as many Facebook friends as most people, so I was coming up fewer times to be rated than other people, therefore, lowering my rankings.

Anyway...I noticed today, I received an eMail from Facebook about Compare People. My final one, regarding my ratings.

Read below:


"Here is what your friends think about...

... your strengths:

most punctual
kindest
most kiss-able

... your weaknesses:

most talented
most fashionable"

So...I'm on time (Porter gene, we already discussed), kind (yeah, okay), and most kiss-able (?).

And I'm also...untalented (ouch...), and unfashionable (yeah, right).

So my friends would all want to kiss me, but think I have bad clothes?

At least I'm on time, and nice, I guess.

1986 brought you:

Something I was less than thrilled with. I Wikipedia'd music in 1986. I didn't recognize a whole lot. So I picked the only song I did recognize, off the top ten.

Sorry.

Update on my return to Michigan.

I realized I haven't really told anyone (including my immediate family) when exactly I'm coming back to Michigan.

RIGHT NOW, this is how I hope things will be working out.

I go on vacation next month. I'll be back for about ten days, it'll be nice. Then my lease here is up June 30th. I plan on moving a majority of my things back to Michigan after that, however, I will still be in Indy.

I'll be staying more on the North side (I live on the West side now), in...I'm not sure what to call them. They'll cost me about $70 a week, to stay there. My last day at the Hyatt McDonald's (and McDonald's Corporation, for about five years) will be August 8th.

My SOAR (some thing I'm forced to attend for SVSU...we're Cardinals...soar, get it?) date is August 13th. I believe orientation starts about ten days after that.

I have a bit of a rushed summer. I'm realizing as I type this out, it's going to be rough. And makes me just want to come back in June, when my lease is up. However, the restaurant I'm in right now really needs me as long as they can have me. While our hours of operation are minimal (we're only open about 15 hours our longest day of the week, which isn't even that bad to work the whole thing, I've done it several times) we only have four managers right now, and only three of us are able to work any time. And two are hourly, so they can't have overtime, meaning any left over hours go to my boss and myself (okay, they go to me).

Anyway.

Inventory today. Well, the other half, I did a lot last night, so I could sleep in an hour longer today.

Open management interviews tomorrow (my day off).

My life.

A video.

I'm sure you all hate when I post videos, because my sense of humor is quite different than most everyone else.

That being said, I showed this video to my dad once, and he thought it was hilarious. I showed it to my mom, and she was thoroughly disgusted with me (and yet, I was a bit surprised by that).

Anyway. It's by a comedy group called DerrickComedy. They have quite a few videos on their YouTube account, and I enjoy quite a few of them. I'll probably post a few more of them along the way.

Enjoy.




Happy Easter.

National Hug A Red Head Day.

It's today! That's right! Everyone's favorite day of the year.

Find a red head near you, and hug them!




(This is what we look like.)

Photo credit: Joni. I believe this is the last time I saw her. I visited her randomly one night last semester. So randomly, in fact, those are her sweatpants (I forgot pajamas).

I miss you, Joni!

Think I'm overdue for an oil change?

Sorry these are so blurry.
My camera just wouldn't focus on what I wanted it to, and I was losing patience.




That's 94,920. Not too bad, considering the car had a high 50k when I got it.

When I need my next oil change.




This one is much harder to read. Sorry. It says 12,434.

Anyone else think I need an oil change?

(What actually happened...I did get an oil change last week while I was in Michigan, and I realized later that night driving somewhere with my friend Jill, that the girl must have accidentally switched the stickers with the car in front of me. Needless to say, I laugh everytime I look up at it.)

Tyra Banks is a psycho.

Credit to this video being in the know goes completely to Joni. She showed it to me probably a year and a half ago to two years ago, and I couldn't get enough of it.

I wanted to show this video to my dad not long after, but alas, YouTube had required whoever posted it to take it down, due to copyright infringements.

Anyway...I found it again, and I thought I'd post it. I'm not at all a Tyra fan (in fact, I'm a bit anti-Tyra).



All that, over Vaseline...

What a cult we've started.

My all-time top ten favorite things in order as they come to mind. Credit to Shaelynn for starting this.

1. My sisters. It's true. I love my sisters, I will always love my sisters, and it's a bond that's very special to me. I always wanted a brother, that's true, and even now as I make friends with people who have brothers and are close to their brothers, it's hard for me not to have one. However, I wouldn't trade my sisters for anything.

2. My parents. Although it may not always seems like it, my parents do rank second on favorite things that come to mind. We do have our disagreements (and quite often), and rarely understand each other, but my parents are supportive of me, no matter what crazy things I think of to do (moving to Canada, moving to Indiana, taking an almost three year break from school). I know I've probably turned out to be the most difficult out of the three of us (Shae is often quick to remind me), but I keep reminding my parents I'm also the most fun out of the three of us (sorry Kate and Shae).

3. Spanish. It's becoming pretty widely known I speak spanish. Unlike a lot of people, I don't speak a little bit. Or am able to say "Hi, how are you? What is your name?" I can carry on conversations, and have friends that don't speak any english, and we usually communicate just fine (usually). There are days I speak more spanish than english. I love speaking and learning more. It's getting more difficult, because I'm starting to learn the finer points of the language, so naturally the progression of my learning is slowing down at a really fast rate. Plus, I really, really, really like latin girls. A lot.

4. My friends. From everyone here in Indy (Emily, Juan, Bryant, George, Aurelia, Naum, Isaac, Cindy, and Chelsea), to people I met at Bethany I'm still friends with (Chris, Julie, Ashley, Nicole, Tiff, and Nate), to those back in Michigan still (Joni, Michael, Emily, Trish, Shelby, Jill, Libby, and Jenny) I love my friends. It'll be hard to someday mend these worlds (the language barrier being the biggest obstacle I see), but I do hope someday to get almost all these people together in one room, because absolutely nothing would be better.

5. Ice cream. I use ice cream as comfort, and am not ashamed in the least to admit it.

6. Working. Yes, I'm a workaholic (which is why I suck at dating). I sometimes complain about the amount I work, but I put myself in the position I'm in. I fought hard for my promotion, received it, along with about 30 more hours of work a week. Thus is life, being salaried, I suppose.

7. Music. Performing, writing, listening, creating, I love it all. I no longer believe in genres, only because so much of music has blended together (meaning music being made modernly...today). Music was so much of my life until these past few years. I stopped playing music, and haven't sang in well, years. I struck a deal with my mom, regarding a certain song I would sing, only if my dad and sister did it with me (Shae, because Kate can't sing...seriously). I listen to everything. When I worked at Hot Topic, people would always ask what kind of music I liked and I'd say "fun".

8. Fun. Naturally. Ha ha. I love fun. I don't mean like, outrageous, drunken, crazed fun. In fact, I rarely drink, really. Fun means anything from going out with friends, to driving all night for nothing, to going downtown at 4 AM to try to find the canal (we never did, because I got all turned around), to watching documentaries with my dad (a favorite past-time of mine, when I lived with my parents).

9. My innocence. My friends often sayI'm one of the most innocent-seeming people ever. I have a very care-free look on most of my life, while still managing to really care about what's important.

10. Loyalty. I've also been told I'm a loyal person. But more than that, I love when people are simply loyal to what they believe. Upon meeting me, a lot of people rarely realize how strongly I feel about a lot of issues (politics, religion, abortion, immigration). I'm loyal to those things. I'm loyal to the people I love (which is almost everyone, anyway).

This got hard as I went, for sure.

My top 10 favorite things.

I hope to see your's soon.

Thanks, Shae. I enjoyed this.

What happens when I move out.

I used to have my own bathroom in my parent's house. Ever since Shaelynn moved out my sophomore year of high school, I basically had the entire basement, and 2nd floor bathroom to myself. Katie slept upstairs, but used my parent's bathroom, because she was still too young to do most things on her own.

This is what apparently happened, though, when Shaelynn ended up moving back to my parent's, and her and Katie got an idea (I think Shae got an idea, and Katie followed suit).



Now, whenever I stay at my parent's, I use their guest bedroom (which was my bedroom originally, before I moved to the basement). What's right outside that room? This hideous mess.

One of my all-time favorite pictures.

I like the picture itself, but I did edit it a bit.

Anyway...this is one of my favorite pictures of us, because we were both completely natural (as I didn't even know it was taken until much later).

So I sort of really love Mo Collins.

She's an actress on MadTV. Well, she used to be, I should say. I'm not sure she still is.



A Shakira parody.



Alanis Morrisette parody.



And one last one I found just now. Alanis Morrisette doing a parody of well...herself, sort of. Ha ha.

No more!

Today was my last day as the store manager.

My boss returns in the morning, and I can finally go back to just being the Assistant.

: ]

Not to mention, after tomorrow, I noticed I have three days off in a row.

What a good week.

There are days I feel a bit of guilt.

I read a post written by my cousin John today. About my grandparents, but in particular, my grandpa.

I won't pretend to be close to him, or any of my extended family, really (except Joni). Most of them don't ever really know what's going on with me, or anything. It's what partially got me to start this. I want my family to know about me, and I want to be able to discuss things with them when I see them. As things are right now, I think I am, by far, the best at distancing myself from them, and I don't think I know why I'm doing it.

So often I feel incredibly guilty for taking off to Indianapolis. My motivation: my career. My real motivation: part of me wanted to just get away from that damned dirt road. My childhood wasn't bad. I wasn't exactly an easy kid to deal with, that's for sure. I rebelled, in my own ways. Often, without anyone really even knowing.

I never liked living in the country, and it wasn't a secret. Everyone knew I liked cities, and always wanted to live in one. When Bethany didn't work out, and I moved back to my parents for a few months, I was constantly working on trying to get back out, on my own. I remember moving to Midland, it was great. Far enough away I didn't feel like I was idle in my life, but close enough I got to see my parents and my sisters (which turned out to be pretty rare). From Midland, I came to Indy. I remember sitting in my 2-bedroom apartment the third or fourth day here, and just feeling lonely. I missed everyone already. I think I visited my parent's within just a week, or two, of moving down here. I decided I had the time, I should go. So I called my dad, to let him know I'd be there pretty late, and sure enough, spent a small portion of a weekend with them.

So much has happened to my family over these past couple years. Living in such a small community, if something happens to one person, it happens to everyone. And so often, I've chosen work over things that I should have been at. I chose work over just being around right now. While, yes, things are amazing here. I love Indy, and I'm sad to leave in the summer, to go back to school full-time. I'll miss it the entire time I'm away.

I guess I just feel that constant guilt, hearing stories about people I should see, and should be seeing, that I'm not. That I don't make time to see when I am in town (which is getting rarer and rarer).

Hopefully that will change in June.