Bounce

Good things recently.

[If you aren’t into the whole “glass half-full” thing, you might want to leave now.]

 1. Being sick: You may be thinking “But illness is generally a bad thing….,” to which I say,  yes, it does suck. Especially when your ears are completely stuffed up and you have a Latin final during a time when you wish you could be at home watching re-runs and trying not to get sucked into the abyss of a head cold. But, what does not suck is when you start feeling better, and every day you wake up you feel progressively more like a human being again. Ah, to be able to appreciate the everyday normal workings of one’s sinuses. Plus, whenever I start getting down about my allergies (which are at their best right now, as I live in the capital of tall-growing sneezy grasses) I remember that they aren’t as bad as the recent evil cold.

Ok, so I don’t have a window, but still…

2. New Job! So, as of this week, teaching English 99 will soon be over. Classes themselves are officially over. No more lectures about topic sentences and thesis statements, no more fervent 1a.m. grading sessions. I’m a bit sad not to be teaching at SSU anymore, but I was also getting a bit weary of it all. But, I will not be unemployed in the Fall – you’re looking at (well, reading at) SSU’s newly-appointed WEPT person. Which means an office upgrade; I get my very own little office (with a door and everything!) in a corner of SSU’s administrative building with which to do lovely WEPT-related tasks. I can only thank God (or the patron saint of employment, whatever) for giving me a reason to be away from home and to have a space of my own (well, for a time anyway) at school where I may escape into the small, bureaucratic world of filing, phone answering, and email replying. 

3. Finishing Latin: One whole year, down! Now to decide if I want to submit myself to the slightly-masochistic realm of language one again. I’m also considering French…whenever I look into Ph.D programs the language requirement makes me feel rather inadequate as an intellectual. I’ll work on it.

4. Europe Trip: Less than 2 weeks away! Am I freaking out a little? Yep. Am I still in disbelief that I’m going, and that I actually have the money to pay for it myself? Indeed. Very, very excited.

5. Gluten-Free Cinnamon-Sugar Donuts: Enough said.

Overall, general bounciness. I still have a pile of work to do before the semester ends, but there’s light at the end of the tunnel. A super-shiny-travelly-light.

 

This weekend in Lols…

Because, quite honestly, I can hardly put together a sentence from the combined lack of sleep, inability to breath like a human, and overdose of allergy pills. Plus, who doesn’t need a laugh this time of year?

 

 

Ugh.

 

Thanks to my air filter

For some reason, I am more completely aware of time slowly passing while waiting for nail polish to dry.

Today is better than yesterday!

 

Cheers?

I find myself in an odd state.

This morning I woke up at 3am to work at 4am. I might also add that only a short time ago I was going to bed at  3am – my body is going through early morning shock, though frankly, 3am shouldn’t be called morning at all. What’s wrong with this picture?

Life is full of trade offs. By going to work early I get home in the morning with the whole day ahead of me, but of course going to bed at a decent enough time to get some sleep is proving difficult. This is not a job I can see myself doing for a very long time, though I really hate to give up the hefty Gap Inc. discount (50% off at Banana Republic? Swoon).

But honestly, from where I sit right now, summer is looking a little dismal – no trips planned, work 3 or 4 days a week. And while I live in the beautiful country, I haven’t been able to really enjoy it, due to the my friend, the allergies. I want to travel, to go away to someplace where there are no allergies, or at least get a health plan that covers Allegra, which has never gone generic, and insists on being over-priced.

I think I need cheering up.

 

 

Jobs that (potentially) pay the rent

It’s odd how the end of the job search can be so sudden and yet, at the same time, very anti-climactic. After searching for a summer job since February, after attending several interviews which seemed very lovely but came to no success (I blame not being hired for summer camps because of all the teachers flooding the job market) I finally got a call: Someone wants me.

And mind you, this is not my dream job. This does not utilize my UC degree, nor my grad school-skills, and has no real place in my future. However, it will get me out the house while my father, returning from UCI for the summer, stays in my house. (Plus it will pay the bills for my new very fantastic cell phone. Yip!) But economic beggars can’t be choosers, it seems. Plus I get to play with clothes all day.

So I received the call that I was hired on May 23rd, and was told I would start on June 1st. Great, I thought. Just enough time to lay around being bored, I thought. HA! they said. Not so fast. Fast forward to Monday, when they call and say that I’m now going to have to come in June 9th and 11th instead. Honestly, by the time it takes to find a summer job, get hired, and go through paperwork and training, there is no more summer left!

(Though they don’t know I’m only planning to work the summer…it’s not like I’m going to jeopardize school and teaching for a little more than minimum wage.)

When you know you’re going to have to work soon, but not too soon, it first seems like freedom. Then, the freedom turns into something like anticipation, which turns to furrowed brows and yelling “Just start already!!”

Also, I think the weather has become aware that I recently acquired a watercraft that should be used in warm weather. How come finals week has an extreme heat wave, and summer is filled with wind and rain? Hmmmm?

Thus I have spent more time indoors, shopping indoors, and working out indoors. This is an odd thing; have you ever discovered some random muscle that is completely weak compared to the rest of your body? As in the machine on the lowest weight setting feels like you’re lifting an anvil? Just wondering…

To explain, no sum up, I re-watched The Princess Bride again last night. Oh, the awesomeness.  Following is a chart describing said awesomeness. That is all.

 

I think I need a new hobby

I’m in summer limbo.

I don’t have to start work until next week, and yet I can’t really go outside and do summery things, due to the pollen circulating through the air. And who shall I blame for this? Well, I could blame the SSU student health plan, which has terrible prescription coverage. Or I could blame Allegra for never going generic and trying to rip people off at the pharmacy. Or I could blame Claritin for not being ineffectual in general. Jury’s still out.

Therefore, there are a few options left for me to do today;

1. Shopping – generally this is a good distraction for me, but since I have bills looming over my head and spent mucho dinero on fruit at Costco yesterday (and I did not buy a hot dog, congratulate me!) I really shouldn’t. Though I do want to buy another copy of The Deathly Hallows since I lent it to my mom months ago and she let it get exposed to some sort of dampness.

2. Library – hmm, I do need books, having just finished Helen of Troy, which I do highly recommend. However, there is the small matter of owing fees to the local library, of how much I do not know, therefore going to the library could cost me more than shopping. Potentially.

3. The gym – sigh.

4. The couch – my present location, watching What Not to Wear, wondering why my life is dull, yet relishing in the dullness. Another sigh.

5. Make low-calorie carrot cake – very temping, and tasty option. Curious? Here’s the recipe. Yet I have no ingredients to make them, therefore a trip to the store would be needed, and there’s that money thing again. Dang. Plus I’m not sure if running the oven on a hot day in a house with no air conditioning is a smart thing…

6. Swimming – ok, not really an option, but I wish.

Ok, so for the next half hour or so, I think I’ll be doing #4, and then showering.

You are so jealous of my life right now. Admit it.