Gossip Girl

I heard of Blair Waldorf and Serena van der Woodson and knew their stories before I even know what Gossip Girl was and associated them with it. 

Never in my wildest dreams did I think i'd be one of it's millions of viewers. This year things changed.  It wasn't really until I got home today, finished with a hard week of school and felt oversurged with joy when I realized I had 3 recorded gossip girl episodes to catch up on that it hit me: I'm addicted.

But why? I can't figure out if I actually like the plot, or if I'm just hooked because the characters and schemes in it are so twisted that I literally can't stop watching. I wait for Serena's crazy outfits. I wonder what smart-alec comment will fly from Blair's mouth next. I cring as Vanessa continues to scheme and manipulate people.

It's kind of like Nip Tuck. It's rather twisted and sick but you become hooked, regardless of whether you enjoy it or not. 

Then I thought about it a little harder and realized, there's been a theme going on with my television viewing. That theme seems to be: the more mindless a show is, the more I want to watch it. Maybe it's because I want to rest my brain?

Most likely, due to my recent trends in watching Real Housewives, Gossip Girl and America's next Top Model it might just be that I am caught up in witnessing the glamour that goes on in other people's lives. It takes me to a completely different world that I'm in, because literally, I can't understand how somebody could buy $5,000 necklaces for their girl's 16 birthday party favors, for instance. I sit there in awe, probably with my mouth hanging open, trying, just trying to imagine what goes through somebody's head when they just toss money around like that. Or trying to fathom what it'd be like to have a different dress to buy each week to attend the latest charity event of New York's elite (although I'll skip the blue sparkly sequin dress, thank you). 

Long Overdue Update

I'm not so sure people even read this thing anymore. Funny though, I just read through my updates and realized that unfortunately not much has change since my last set of updates.

Right now I am juggling work and school. My life has kinda flip-flopped from last year. My social life due to school and work has taken a ginormous slide. But I am in love with everything I'm doing and the people I get to work with and learn with every day. If doing what I love requires 2 years of hardcore immersion in the subject and a little less fun with friends I'm definitely going to go for it. I'm so much happier this year because I feel like I've finally found my purpose.

What's really funny is that my parents, the same ones that I felt like tried to hinder my social life in highschool and college are now promoting it.  Yikes!

Other than that I'm just trying to prepare for the cold weather (not looking forward to it!) I should mention that I found the CUTEST scarves at Walgreens. In my defense the purchase was completely unintentional; I accidently passed them (I didn't even know Walgreens had scarves??) And I couldn't resist. You all should check it out.

I'm a Nerd.

Sorry for the slack in updates!

Grad school is officially in full swing and so is my new schedule : Early morning workout class, study/read allll day, evening classes, review class notes, go to bed. Wake up. Repeat. So far I've had ample time to fulfill a social schedule alongside of that but I foresee that dwindling in the very near future.

I also foresee myself learning just as much from my classmates as I do my teachers. Of my class mates, the 2 that I find interesting: a male gynocologist and an ER doctor who's provided trauma care on the front lines. Their participation is almost as effective as any information coming from the teacher.  

Among the group of students I've found some new study buddies/friends as well. 

Changes I've noticed in myself with the onset of school:

-I'm a HUGE health nerd. I subscribe to all sorts of health updates, health news releases, google "health reform" ... for fun.

-I'm so riveted during class time that an otherwise grueling 3 hours seems to fly by.

-I love reading my textbook.  This is not a joke. 

-Even worse: I bookmark my textbooks, and its not required. Refresher on what exactly that entails: 

-highlighting different types of facts with different colors of highlighters

-taking notes in the margin

-typing up the notes in the margin for a study guide

-completing the homework questions at the end... voluntarily.

-I don't care about my grades, I care more about learning the material. 

-I start bringing up health policy outside the classroom. How I know it's gotten bad:

-I receive the "I think it's cute that you love school but I don't particularly care" smile from Kevin on Skype and realize I've accidently rehashed 20 minutes worth class material

-I frequently have to suppress the urge to unnecessarily enlighten people about things they should probably know but don't care about

-I now hold my own in political debates with my parents. This one's huge.

-I get into deep discussions with classmates about their occupations, and fire questions at them. After all, every medical profession has different viewpoints on different things.

-Unless something really fun is going on, and certain people are going to be there, I will abstain from going out because I find it more worthwhile to study/get ahead.

All in all, I can say that I'm loving my new life and have regained that sense of purpose I once had in college. The only thing that remains left to be fulfilled is my need for a part-time job. I interviewed with St. Luke's yesterday and will hear back on Friday! More updates to come later.

Update.

Sorry for the slacking! It's been a while. So here's the last month in a nutshell...

I put in my two week this week.
Somebody once asked me how that feels.
I can’t quite explain the feeling of googling “how to write a formal resignation” , so you all will just have to experience it yourselves someday to see :). It makes me feel light on my feet. It makes me feel guilty whenever co-workers find out. It gives me a lot more to do/wrap up at work. It also takes away any remaining motivation I have, which in turn makes the latter a seemingly monumental task.
My schedule is about to change, a lot.
In fact I’m having fun daydreaming about my new daily routine. Get up, go to workout class, go to the school library, study all day, go to class at night (Class times are from 4-7 or 7-10 Monday through Thursday). I’m also looking for a part time job to take care of what I like to call my “recreational fun” ie: cab rides, clothing, roadtrips, plane tickets to see the boy, ect. Hopefully that will end up in a hospital or healthcare facility doing some filing duties, and not as a waitress at a restaurant, but I’ll take what I can get.
I’m about to be surrounded by a completely different crowd of people.
The average age for my class is 29. This leaves a lot to the imagination, seeing as how there are only 29 people in the class. According to my advisor, there are 3 people in my boat with a communications background, 2 physicians, 2 lawyers, some medical and occupational therapy students, but the majority of them are law students interested in the healthcare sector (I thought this was interesting!) I’m not one for group projects but I might develop an affinity toward them if I’m working with people like this because I feel like I would have so much to gain!
I have face book stalked every single one of them.
I felt like I should make this a category on its own. Come on, don’t tell me you guys have gotten a list of future co-workers or classmates and haven’t felt tempted to turn to the Book! When there’s a list of a meager 29 people it takes no time at all. It looks like there are a decent amount of people my age, lots of KUers (oh boy) . And then there were about a third who didn’t have face book. I’m assuming they’re the ones who are older than 29. Needless to say, I’m so excited to make new friends!
My summer has blown by.
Somehow I have managed to be out of town or have visitors every single weekend! Not only has it been fun and I’ve had plenty of catch up time with friends, but it’s also put a huge dent in other sectors of my life. It’s not good when each week you don’t feel okay til Wednesday because you’re recovering from sleep-deprivation, sunburn, hangover, jet-lag, ect.
This week's example: It’s Friday and it still hurts to wear clothes (because I’m peeling) or to smile (my lips got surnburnt).
This weekend I said my first “no” to an Ozarks trip and am staying at my apartment alone to clean, get ready for school, job search, get my oil changed, ect. And I’ve never been more excited.
Long distance relationship can work.
With a slow start and inexperience combined with insecurity I wasn’t sure what to expect out of this situation. All it took was a little patience and communication. I once googled “long distance relationships” (can you tell I like google) and vowed never to do it again, because all I found were negative warnings about them. But somehow, some way, this is working, 8.5 hours distance. And it’s going quite smoothly. I feel like a very lucky girl. The worst part of it is missing each other, but when that’s the only problem you have, you know there’s not much to complain about. We’ve gotten to go to Chicago, to Kansas City, and then went camping out at his lake 15 miles south of Paola. So much fun! If lying in a tent at 5 am in the morning unable to sleep because your dripping sweat (did anybody else feel how hot it was last wkend!??!) isn’t a bonding experience, I don’t know what is.
I’ve joined a gym.
Called Fusion Fitness. If anybody is interested in getting a (pardon my French) “Ass-whooping” this is the place for you! It combines barre combinations, dance, yoga and pilates . Some days the only way I make it through class is by desiring to look like the majority of the girls in the class. Maybe someday it will happen? And they play great tunes so sometimes I pretend like I’m jamming to the radio in order to ignore my muscles crying out for help. Anyway, joining this gym has been energy-inducing, challenging, exhilarating, and humbling all at the same time.

And I'm out of things to say... for now! Til next time!

For the next 2 years of my life...

... I will be going to KU Med as a full time student getting my masters in Health Services Administration : ) .

After a sleepless month of anxiously refreshing my e-mail pages, compulsively checking my phone and running up and down stairs to double check mail my waiting is finally over. PaRtY!

According the the admissions counselor, all 28 positions offered accepted, however they decided they could squeeze in the first on the waitlist (me) regardless. I couldn't be thankful enough.

The e-mail arrived in my inbox at the ideal time: a day before The Boyfriend moves 7 hours away and the morning after a terrible freakout about my future. Needless to say it put a much-needed halt to this rather long funk of a mood i've been in.

Goodbye job, good bye early morning wakeups, goodbye boredom, goodbye relying purely on my social life for happiness.
Hello sleeping in, studying with the roomies, 4-10 pm classes every night, being challenged and doing what I love.

I never thought I'd say this but I can't wait to jump on the study bandwagon!

Now it's off to the beach for some relaxation. I can enjoy thinking about my future and spend The Boyfriend's first week away in Texas in a place other than my apartment. Couldn't have come at a better time.

Due to my spare time I will most likely be posting a lot in here! Til then,

~Julie

F.M.L.

http://www.snopes.com/crime/warnings/bottlebomb.asp

^ An article about how people should now avoid throwing away random plastic bottles/litter because they might be “bottle bombs”.

Initial reaction to this link: this has gotta be a joke.
Secondary reaction after thoroughly reading the article and watching a demonstrative video: What is our world coming to!? Do people really do this?

But a more important question crossed my mind. How ironic is it that author of this article is genuinely concerned about the well-being and safety of its readers yet launches into a full explanation of how to make the bottle bombs so that anybody can replicate them?
Am I the only person who’s noticed this about the news? When is “informative” too informative?
Example: Is it really necessary to broadcast the security breaches in airports? Why don’t we just draw out a map for any terrorist living in the US and tell them how to sneak around American security systems.
Just some food for thought, I’d be interested to hear feedback.

And now for an update about my school situation: The Waiting Continues.
It is true that I was supposed to receive a letter from KU Med last Monday.
It is true that I accidently put the wrong zip code on my application . FAIL.
It is true that they told me they sent it out this Monday (after the zip code was fixed)
It’s true that it didn’t arrive at my mailbox til 3 painful/anxiety ridden days later (Thursday).. Seriously?? How can mail from 5 minutes away take that long. I could send mail from ADPi and have it get to KC in 1 day.
And it is true that I will CONTINUE to withstand this waiting game, because…
I am #1 on the Waitlist.

If that’s not a FML moment then I don’t know what is!!

Of the ppl that applied, 70 were interviewed, 28 accepted, I’m # 1 on the waitlist. Normally I would be very excited about this but because of the competitive grad year, the small class, and the fact that nobody from the waitlist got bumped up last year, I am extremely worried. I’ll find out at the end of next week so keep your fingers crossed for me!
Til next time!

Waiting.....

There's no clever meaning behind this title, it's just literally, what I'm sitting here doing.

My grad school mail which was supposed to get here Monday has yet to make an appearance. I'm hoping that by some fluke it will show up on a Saturday, so I sit here staring at the clock ticking so I'll be ready to start checking the mailbox every 10 minutes or so starting at noon (when it usually gets here). 

Waiting seems to be the theme of my life lately, because there are so many unknowns. I'm at a point now where everything is so up in the air it's hard to even have something tangible to look forward to. I don't know where I'm going to school. Kevin's moving to Dallas in two weeks, which will be a challenge/adventure in itself, everything at work is switching around. 

Maybe I'm being naiive but I'm trying to keep a positive outlook on everything. With unknowns comes so many "what-ifs" and negatives but I find that if I avoid thinking about it my attitude and well-being have remained in tact. 

I'll keep you updated as to what happens!

Relationships

I think I wrote in one of these earlier posts that going to college and joining a sorority is like having your future friends handed to you. Being in a network of 120 girls also has other social perks. There is never a day/weekend where there isn’t something fun you can go to or participate in.

Similarly, boys are easy to come by. They’re everywhere, they’re dying to meet girls, and it’s convenient to hang out with them 24/7admist friends, social events, parties, date functions, class, Aggieville, ect.

You automatically have something in common with these people, whether it be mutual friends, a favorite bar, a difficult class, an organization, the awful food in your sorority, or the most obvious one: the same college.

To sum it up in short terms, in both high school and especially college relationships are easy to form and maintain.

After almost completing a year post-grad I’ve learned that relationships with those you care about take more effort than they did in college.

So here's list of what i've learned. Enjoy!

Proximity: Isn’t there. Because Aggieville isn’t a stumble away from your home anymore. You can’t turn the corner and walk into the room of your five best friends. You can’t stop at your boyfriend’s house on the walk home from class. If you want to see those people you have to make the effort to see them. Sometimes miles of distance make talking the only plausible form of communication.
(Why else would my g-chat, texting, face book chat and BBM skills be as finely tuned as they are? …)

Convenience: disappears. Hanging out with one person you’d like to spend time with might mean “tagging along” with a bunch of people you don’t know.
Example: being with a bunch of people from a rival school who think they’re better than any breed of K-Stater (this may or may not be referring to my KU boyfriend) OK so I was completely exaggerating just had to throw that one in here.
But for the record, it makes a great example. Before we had mutual friends I would suffer the anti-K-State banter alone. Now that our friends know each other and get along we can all go places together. But it took a couple months of effort (and a lighter attitude about the college jokes) for it to reach that stage.

Communication: Becomes extremely important. Because everybody is at completely different stages of their lives pursuing completely different goals I’ve learned that now more than ever is the time where it becomes necessary to communicate effectively.
A completely hypothetical example: as a person working from 9-5 you might not understand why your roomie can’t talk to you when you come home and want to be social. Your happy hour time equals their study time. Without this understanding, resentment thrives, and the next thing you know, you aren’t talking to each other and you both don’t know why. Without the endless distractions you used to have in college these tiny misunderstanding can turn big. Because each person’s lifestyle is now starkly different from the next, sometimes it becomes necessary to explain where you’re coming to prevent somebody from taking things personally.

Options: Aren't always there and available. Sometimes there won't be plans for a Friday or Saturday night, and you might have to *gasp* make them!
Which brings me to my next:

Creativity: keeps relationships from going stale.It gets easy to fall into a routine but with any type of relationships switching it up keeps it alive. The two best matched people in the world could get bored with each other if they did the exact same thing all the time.

Find commonalities.
A perfect example: I never get to spend time with my roommate who’s in nursing school but we both joined the same fitness club and now we get to go to work out class together. (Although this might be more accurately described as “trauma-bonding” because we can relate to each other’s daily aching muscles)

Make daily effort: Even though you don't always feel like catering to somebody else. I’ve learned it’s important to keep the effort going on both ends. A “good morning” from a roommate or an extra hug, kiss or kind word from a boyfriend can make a huge difference in my day.

Self-fulfillment: Because if you aren’t happy with yourself, you won’t fully be able to give to somebody else. You’ll either a) take your problems out on them or b) depend on them for your happiness; both of which aren’t fair. That’s why a little alone time to take care of yourself/make yourself happy never hurt anybody.

Money: becomes more of a necessity. Sometimes it takes a full tank of gas or a plane ride to see a friend. Suddenly you watch your wallet empty as you realize that more often than not, spending time with friends or a boyfriend in KC requires some more cash expenditure.

Time: Flies out the window and the next thing you know you’ve had none to yourself. Sometimes I realize it’s been a week since I’ve worked out, grocery shopped, or done any laundry. Trying to maintain friends and/or relationships on top of a full-time job will do that to you. But it's also necessary to sometimes make sacrifices to your daily schedule. You can't have your cake and eat it, too.

Speaking of time, an hour of my work day has just flown out the window and if my supervisor asks what I’ve done it wouldn’t be wise to have nothing to show for myself. So I’m out of here. Sorry to end so abruptly hope you enjoyed reading!

HoLy Cow!

AKA it’s been entirely too long since I’ve updated this thing. Either I’ve suffered from a multi-month bout of writer’s block, or I was just hibernating for the winter season. The 76 degree temperatures and sunshine filled evenings made their entrance back into my life thus and restored my resting energy.

So get excited for my completely nonsensical ramblings again.

To start off, a short, sweet to-the-point bullet point synopsis of the past 4 months in a nutshell:

-I am currently wrapping up my grad school applications for a Masters in Health Services Administration. My first choice is KU Med and I will be finding out after next week whether or not my application scored an interview. As a PR major in a sea full of applicants with medical background I feel like I’m a fish swimming against a current. But I have been accepted to UMKC so it’s nice to have a fallback.

-I just returned from my first business trip to Western Kansas. It was insightful and enlightening. I gained more appreciation for my company as a whole. I learned that what I’ve seen of my company thus far has only been the tip of the ice berg. Whereas I used to view my job as temporary sustenance til I found the next best thing I now see it as holding a myriad of opportunities. You know how you go to those conferences for sororities or for organizations you were involved in with college, and you come back with a renewed spirit? That’s how I feel right now. I’m hoping this lasts; it makes the workday alarmingly bearable (have any of you noticed my absence on face book chat lately? I’m pretty proud of it…)

-Now to combine the first two bullet points.. I’m swaying back and forth between going to school full time to finish in 2 years or to work and do school to finish in 4.

-I have a boyfriend, and we’ve almost been dating 5 months. WOW. What happened. Not where I saw myself at this point in time but that’s the way things happen sometimes.

-I recently signed a lease to live another yar with my current roomies. Has it really already been a year since I’ve moved in?

-I’ve started volunteering at North KC Hospital with cancer patients. Not quite as happy as I thought it would be. I’ve learned to never take anything for granted, however.

-Milo has been to H-E double hockey sticks and back, and I’ve watched a month’s salary disappear before my very eyes to save him. I might end up writing a whole entry about this one later if I feel like it, but moral of the story is, I saved his life with 1/12 of my salary.

-I’m so so happy it’s Spring!

And that’s about all I have time for currently. I’m kinda excited to go back and read what I’ve been missing out on, looks like I’ve got about 7 hours worth of blog –stalking I have to do for all of you

Til next time,

~Julie

Thanksgiving

In honor of Thanksgiving :

What I’m thankful for.

My amazing friends. You know those girls who snag the man of their dreams? Whose faces just glow and their eyes sparkle while they say : “I don’t know how I got so lucky” ? Well that’s honestly how I feel about my friends.
My job. OK, so I complain sometimes but now that I’m busy I’m enjoying it! Plus I’m just glad I have one. Because if I didn’t I’d still have a midnight curfew. Haha. But in all seriousness with an income I’ve been able to establish more independence than I’ve ever had before in my life; it’s very liberating.
Milo. It’s impossible to verbalize how the daily presence of an innocent creature adds happiness to your life, but it does. It’s non-stop entertainment.
My roommates. We’re all so different from each other. We’ve got the free spirit/hippie, the conservative organized one, and then me, who I guess is smack-dab in the middle of that somewhere. But we have yet to get sick of each other and have all agreed it will probably never happen. We are “those girls” who annoy people because we live with each other but hang out mostly with each other even in a room full of 50 people and laugh at things nobody else would think is funny. Plus I’ve never met girls who like eating as much as I do.
My apartment. Because it’s such a positive environment, I feel like regardless of life circumstances I’m always happy while I’m there. No matter how stressful the day or night walking into the front door of my apartment is like breathing a sigh of relief.

And now for the smaller, less important but fun stuff:

Hen House lunch menu: Seriously, where else can you get fresh soup or salad for under $5? If you’re looking for healthy, fresh and cheap this is the place to go. It’s saved me many dollars and a pounds.
My gym: Which, is actually, to clarify, a community center in Mission. It’s a big cedar lodge complete with every workout machine you can imagine, a pool, hot tub, water slide, lazy river and a hot tub and sauna (which I use every day to relieve any post-workout knots.) Not only is it a fun family-oriented environment but it’s $25 a month. Can you believe that? Neither can I . . .
Caffeine: because without this little invention I have no clue how I would get through my workdays.
Quick Trip: If you can ignore the crowded parking lot and the interesting characters that frequent its facilities this place is genius. There’s no way to make a faster or cheaper food or gas run, complete with a friendly staff that says “See you later!” each time you leave. I’m lucky enough to have Quick trips near my apartment and my workplace.
Quick Trip Kitchens: This deserves its own category. If you haven’t had a Quick Trip donut you haven’t lived. The advertisements about fresh food aren’t lying; my roomies and I had the privilege of trying fresh warm donuts straight from the Quick Trip Kitchens truck as it was unloading one lucky Saturday night at 3am. Our taxi driver was extremely impressed.
The plaza lights: The plaza is one of my favorite places in Kansas City and this added perk will just make it ten times better.
My free time: I’ve learned to cherish the fact that work stays at work and then I have every afternoon and weekend to do whatever I want. The accounting class I have to take next semester is looming over my head like a giant thundercloud because it will put an end to this relaxing freedom.
Shark Bar: is the shiznit. I’m not the biggest fan of Power and Light or its many obnoxious regulars but I haven’t had a bad night at Shark Bar yet. If you are looking for a place that plays tasteful (read: 80s and 90s) music that you can dance to and just have a blast this is your place.
Blue Bunny family-sized ice cream buckets: If you like this delicious dairy delight as much as I do there’s no better way to save money. If you have room in your freezer, that is.
Satellite radio: It’s like Christmas for compulsive channel changers like myself. 115 stations with everything from hip hop to show tunes to add onto the AM/FM stations I’ve already got programmed into my car. The catch? My free subscription expires December 1st. FML. I’ve already started burning some CDs to make this transition a little easier.
TV shows: I’m sure any of you working folk can relate to this one. When nothing too exciting is happening in your life, no happy hours are scheduled and your two roomies are being study bugs sometimes having a TV show to look forward to in the evenings can be the highlight of your day. My all-time favorite is Grey’s.
Mission, KS: It’s close to everything. By this I mean it’s an 8 minute hop to either downtown, Brookside, Westport, the plaza, my work, and KU med (which I will hopefully go to next year) . But it’s far enough away to be safe. I also mean this in a second sense, as in from my apartment it’s about 2 minutes to the grocery store, gas station, post office, gym, hair salon, every fast food place, ect. I could literally walk anywhere if I wanted to.
Lunch breaks: I look forward to them every day. And I’m going to leave because I’m about to go take mine now.

That’s it for my random ramblings of the day; hope everybody has a great Turkey Day!

Nerd Alert.

Right smack-dab in the middle of my whirlwind of a busy work week I had a startling realization about myself: Writing is more than my hobby, it’s my stress outlet.

I didn’t fully realize this until work started getting busy. The more stressful the day the more my fingers crave to fly on the keyboard. Mind you, not even to ventilate about work, just to write. Whether it be about general ideas/lessons/realizations relevant to concurrent situations in my life or topics as pointless and unexciting as “fortune cookies” (see entry below).
Nerdy? Maybe a little bit.

Why writing?

It challenges me to see the “bigger picture”.
Because I’m strongly averse to revealing my life details to the entire cyber world, I’m forced to think about my situations as lessons, ideas, realizations and generalizations that I wouldn’t mind the public seeing. In the process I end up learning my own lessons.

It gives me an outlet.
Pardon my language, but I’m fully aware of the fact that half the things I write about on here, nobody gives a shit about. My brain works about ten miles per minute and I have to have somewhere to put my pensive musings about life. Better on here than talking somebody’s ears off.

It’s forces me to be creative instead of complain.
For example: I would love to rant about my job I know that’s a huge no no. Using Face book to metaphorically describe how most newly-employed grads are just as bored at their jobs as I am I is a much more socially acceptable, job-saving, non-whiney way to portray this.

Which brings me to my next favorite hobby: Reading great writing. Especially writing that uses humor to describe everyday aspects of life. Writing that candidly puts it all out there on the table. We all are thinking it, but that person has the balls to actually say something about it. It’s refreshing, relatable, funny and usually true.

tickledbylife.com is one of them.
Stuffwhitepeoplelike.com (honestly, the person who wrote this is brilliant)

2 examples to check out on a rainy or boring day!

Til next time!

Fortune Cookies.

I used to be the girl who chucked my fortune cookies straight into the trashcan, or handed them off to a willing friend. Fact of the matter is, I didn’t like the taste of the unique wafers nor did I believe a word on the flimsy pieces of Panda Express paper.

Now reading fortune cookies brings a little highlight to my workday. Granted I don’t get Chinese food very often but when I do it’s an added perk. In fact, I have a section in my desk drawer where I save them all.

Todays: “Be Daring. Try Something New.”

I am going out tonight. So we’ll see what happens!

OK I’m kidding a little bit. Honestly, I think what I get most out of fortune cookies are just little one-liners of inspiration for the day. Think about it. Who gets a debby-downer fortune cookie? If they started making those then that would defeat the purpose and piss people off.

This brings me to my next newest addiction: Horoscopes. This was an initial hard-sell for me. My roommate and friends would start sending me forwards of my daily horoscopes and I honestly wouldn't even look at them. Until work got really, really boring. Like I said, it's amazing what you'll find yourself doing with 40 spare hours in a cubicle (although it's definitely no longer like that).

Then I realized how strikingly relevant the horoscopes were to my life. Do I plan my life according to what my celestial forecast has to say? Heck no. But I do subscribe to a daily horoscope e-mail sent to my phone. Because sometimes it's fun to see how a horoscope's words of wisdom align with my daily life. I'd be interested to hear who does the same.

I swear the longer I'm in the "real world" the more easily-amused I become.

College.

Ironic: I don’t think I understood the full impact of college until I got out of it.

The realization actually hit me at 2:30 am this past Friday morning when I was in town for the KU/ K-State game.

I was snuggled up on a friend’s loveseat, thrilled about the fact that scoring a couch meant a less exhaustion for following day’s tailgating shenanigans. I was just about to slip off into a slumber when the banging began. Then the laughing. The doorbell. It sounded like there were people outside trying their hardest to get in. I say trying their hardest because it took them about 20 tries to punch in the proper door code. I’m pretty sure somebody actually fell down trying.
I held my breath.

Please don’t get it. Please forget. Please just pass out on the doorstep. Go next door!

Dangit. Apparently their intoxication levels weren’t high enough to completely prevent entrance. As feet came thundering in I heard the words I was dreading the entire time:
“AFTER HOURS!”

…

You’ve GOT to be kidding me.

The tailgating begins at 8 am tomorrow morning and you want to do after hours!?
Even better: I managed to have staked my claim on the couch directly above the sub system downstairs. I may as well have just partaken in the festivities myself.

Instead I settled for listening to the intense conversation taking place on the top of the stairs. At first the banter was harmless but my ears perked up at this:
“Stoooooop!” I heard a whiney mouse-like voice say.
“Why should I ?” I heard a guy say, forcing his voice to drip with a deep (and if I do say so myself, failed) sexiness.
At this point curiosity killed me and I craned my neck to size this guy up.
Skinny, spiked hair, collared shirt, sunglasses (??REALLY?) , crocodile on the left breast pocket. Yep . Most likely a sophomore frat boy.
“Because!” the girl cooed, trying her hardest to stand up straight, “I have a boyfriend!”
And that’s where my eavesdropping stopped.
“EXCUSE ME!” I intervened. The girl seemed so startled she about took a straight tumble down the stairs. “Does one of you live here??”
“Yeah I do.” The guy said.
“How old are you??”
“A sophomore”. (a HA! I was right).

** Side note: why freshmen and sophomores who can’t even go to Aggieville need “after hours” is beyond me. If you guys can figure that one out, let me know.**

“Well just to let you know there are about 4 of us sleeping up here. We’re friends with your older roommates.”
That’s about all I said. As long as that chick didn’t cheat on her boyfriend I didn’t care much. After all, it is college. Let them have their fun.

One hour later, the sub music ceased.

Two hours later (This is now 6 am in the morning) the party resumed. Atleast they were our friends this time around. Due to my comatose state I can’t describe exactly what I saw to you, but I do remember watching a bunch of dudes parading around in a line clanging pots and pans, hearing Irish bagpipe music shake the entire house, and hearing the words “A screwdriver to start off the morning!”

It was that moment exactly when the epitome hit me.

How did I ever used to be able to do this??

Granted, no matter how gung-ho I was in college I never made it to after hours before an early morning tailgate, and “early” for me meant 8 am, not the crack of dawn. In fact, for most early morning games I hit the hay at midnight the previous night.

I guess that’s also a big difference between girls and guys. Watching guys get ready for games is probably one of the most entertaining things I have ever seen. They are like little kids anxiously waiting to go see what Santa brought them Christmas morning. The beer, the music, the food, the drinking, the “spiritwear” so to speak.
But that’s a whole other story.

So the tailgating began, we had a great day, and then the sleepiness started to set in. Luckily, we found another friend with an abundance fluffy couches to take our naps on.
Sweet.
Until half an hour later when about 15 people paraded in, turned on the music and began playing drinking games.
Well, there went that. Apparently a nap was not in the cards for us. If you can’t beat them, join them. (Although luckily I got to go visit a friend in Junction City instead.)


Don’t ask me how I survived an entire night at the bars afterward and still managed to have fun, because I don’t know. And just for the record, the whole weekend was a total blast and I’d do it all over again!

But I do know that it took me atleast 4 days of napping and chugging water to feel normal again. I literally had to strain my brain at work and double check everything I did because I was positive it wouldn’t be able to fully function after a weekend like that.

And to think that I used to be able to do this in college, wake up go to class, work, take tests, ect by Monday...

Drunk Texts

Drunk texting. If you aren't guilty of it, chances are you know somebody who is .

Check out this article = ) :

http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/03/19/the-iphone-gets-a-new-weapon-in-the-war-on-drunk-dials/


I see this as three things.

1.) Hilarious. Seriously. I laughed outloud when I read it.

2.) Relevant.
Why else would "textsfromlastnight.com" become an instant hit? I think we can all relate to this situation to some extent. Sometimes all it takes is a single drink to convince us that texting an ex, a crush, or whomever is a wonderful idea.

If we haven't already experienced what I like to call a gigantic "texting fail" that we cringe at the next morning, we've atleast had to exert some serious self control to stop ourselves from doing so. All of us have at some point atleast been on the recieving end. My roomies and I last year had a great time swapping "texting fail" stories if we ever had any. Drunk dial fails too. (It's pretty funny, when it isn't happening to you!) If you haven't experienced either, well then congratulations; you're probably the minority = ) .

3.) Pathetic. Because no matter how useful or funny it is, is this what our world has really come to? Is it sad that most of us can read that article and immediately apply it to our lives or people we know and understand why this application might actually be useful? (no matter how hilarious it is).

Alcohol + keypad = trouble!

Way to go Apple for realizing that!

Responsibility.

Ironic:
Last week I was writing about how my midday boredom leads to face book usage.
This week I have so much to do I barely have time to go get lunch.

Don’t get me wrong; this drastic change is definitely a positive one.
Yesterday was a mile marker in my “Big Girl Job” world. For the first time, I was given a big responsibility.

My job? To take over the most high-maintenance sales rep team we’ve got here. Their team and accounts right now are in such a state of mess that I am not sure this is a compliment or a way to get me fired. I’m hoping it’s the first option.

Obviously I can’t go into detail on here. But I can say this. By 5:00 yesterday afternoon all I wanted to do was get an enormous amount of food, a large glass of wine and pass out.

Goodbye face book, goodbye day long g-chats with Emily = ) , good bye texting all day, good bye long essay-like blog posts. And good riddance. I won’t miss those days. About time I got paid be productive and do something with my life.

Now let’s just hope I survive it!

Til next time!

Facebook.

You’d think the craving would dissipate when you graduate.

Unfortunately, it only increases.

The culprit? Entry-level jobs. Thanks to face book I’ve discovered I’m definitely not the only one who sits at a cubicle with an unbearable amount of free time on my hands.

Now before you go judging me and thinking to yourself “man julie must have no life and a really crappy job” I am telling you that I am not alone. Don’t be fooled; people will never admit it, but I’ve begun noticing trends.

For instance:
-I feel guilty when I sign online at work, only to notice that almost every single one of my co-workers is also signed on.
-“Chat buddy” friendships evolve out of sheer convenience (I mean hey if your both bored at work then who honestly cares if you aren't best buds)
-Other working folk know an ample amount of information about you. Sometimes they’ll even slip the whole “I saw it on your face book”
-If they aren’t visibly “online”, they’ll send you a message, post something on your wall, or comment on your status. (a-HA! They are ashamed and hiding)
- My daytime newsfeed is clogged with status updates of other youngsters such as myself, bored at their jobs, either
a) discussing their boredom
b) commenting on other people’s newsfeeds
c) proclaiming other random pointless facts about their lives because they have nothing THAT interesting to talk about midday in a cubicle

Why Facebook?

Again, the trend changes after college. It’s no longer a stalker tool. It’s more of a social network.

Here’s why:
-A painfully slow day of work doesn’t seem so bad when you realize your face book chat scroll is filled with people who are in your exact same shoes.
-You are constantly entertained between 8 and 5 p.m. by status updates that you can usually relate to. Believe me, when people are stone-cold bored you’ll be amazed at the intellect that can come out in a status update (as well as the amount of funny entertaining websites)
-You feel connected to the world. It can get awfully lonely in a cubicle.
-If a friend sends a chat message your way it provides a great break from, say, reading the Wall Street Journal online or whatever other incredibly boring activity you’re doing to fill time.
-There’s an unexplainable combination of comfort and empathy that comes from seeing/hearing other people lament about their job situations. (aka it selfishly makes you feel better about your own situation)

Every once in a while, this concept backfires.
For example seeing status updates such as:
"Thirsty Thursdays!"
"What a beautiful day"
"I love sleeping in"
or "business trip to England!"
won't exactly boost your morale. Likewise, daytime stalking is best to avoid if you think you won't like what you see. Because let's face it, in a cubicle you don't have many positive distractions going on. And that clock will start moving slower than you ever though it could.

Also be fair, this definitely doesn’t apply to the whole newly-grad population.
The outliers:
Those lucky enough to stay busy and challenged at their first “grown-up” job
Those whose companies are smart enough to block face book
Those who remain students at grad school, law school, ect.

to the above people: I am very, very jealous of you : )

"Take Care"

Everybody says it but not everybody means it. That includes all the doctors and veterinarians out there. Between this awful marathon of my mongo Sinus Infection and Milo’s recent diagnosis of pneumonia it’s been a rough and expensive week for the sickly.

Ironically enough, my rapidly declining health conditions, failed doctor’s visits and my newly adopted financial frugality led me to a gold mine of “Quality of Care”: Walgreens.

How did I stumble across this hidden treasure? For the sole purpose of spiting my primary care physician, who failed to properly diagnose me the first time and left me with the option of either splurging for Friday night “Urgent Care” costs or suffering the entire weekend sans antibiotics.
To my own surprise, I had actually ended the angry phone call with:
“No thanks. I’d rather go to Walgreens.” *click*.

… Holy cow. Did I actually just say that?

Then, the light bulb went off in my head. What if I really did go to Walgreens?

And so it goes. After signing in the computer-automated system, getting my name on the electronic “list” (and Purelling my hands afterward) I resigned myself to a waiting seat alongside screaming babies and other individuals who sounded like they were hacking up their lungs. I grabbed a magazine in an effort to distract myself from eyeing the population next to me or from hearing their germs fly into my surrounding atmosphere. I came very close several times to giving in and going to the Urgent Care. Ironically enough, the tattooed individual next to me told me he just came from the place and there was a two hour wait. So I hung on to my faith and held tight.

Twenty minutes later, I was in. Twenty minutes later, I was out. With an antibiotic. Vwa-la! Now was it really that hard the first time Mr. Primary Care Physician?

Half the wait, a third of the price, and a fourth of the drive it would have taken to go to that Urgent Care. No need to take “time off” from work; they’re open til 7:30 p.m. every weekday. Complete with a follow-up “How are you feeling?” phone call two days later from the "Take-Care. Clinic" themselves. It’s brilliant! I would highly recommend it to anybody.

This particular Walgreens actually won some more brownie points in my book because they were the ones who enlightened me by telling me that a “medicine” my vet had recommended for Milo’s pneumonia was actually a human dietary supplement taken to manage weight control.

...Excuse me!?

What are doctor’s coming to, these days.

Money Money Money

Now that I am financially independent, it impacts almost everything I do.

I didn’t realize how true that was until yesterday at work, when I was sick as a dog. (I literally felt like a fat man was sitting on my lungs.) Under normal circumstances I would have dropped everything to drive to the nearest urgent care center. Instead, I signed online to my insurance to figure the cost and decide whether or not a doctor’s visit was worth it.

Because of my hypochondriac tendencies the fact that I pondered price versus doctor visit for an entire hour when I could hardly breathe speaks volumes. For the record, I did end up going. And it ended up only being a $20 copay.

Which brings me to the next part of my rant.
Copay. HMOs. 401k. PPOs. Claims. Point-of-Service Plans.
What the heck.
Is this an insurance website or a vocabulary quiz? I feel like I need to take a class. No wonder it took me that long to figure out how much a doctor visit would cost.

Needless to say, being financially independent can be very empowering but very daunting at the same time. Not only do I have trouble wrapping my mind around insurance, 401k, savings accounts, ect. but I’ve noticed I think about money more now than I have in my entire life.

Here are some examples. Enjoy!

You know you think about money a lot when…

-You’ll bear the cold ride home instead of turning on the car heater. Heat=gas.
-You spend 15 minutes peering into the Bluebell, Edy’s and Breyer’s ice cream freezer doors and trying to figure out the lowest price at which you can get the largest volume of ice cream.
-It feels like Christmas when coupons come in the mail.
-You’ll make sure the only lights on in your apartment are those of the room you’re currently in. -You feel like you’ve accomplished something by spending the weekend at your family’s because you ate for free, didn’t go out, and didn’t drive anywhere.
-You start judging other peoples’ spending habits. That man just spend $14 on a salad!?
-You call shops to make sure they’re having sales before you allow yourself to even look.
-You acquire an uncanny ability to recall every single dollar each one of your friends still owes you.
-You hoard the month’s receipts and double check every single one to the credit card statement you get in the mail. (I would actually recommend this; they mess up and overcharge you a lot.)
-You feel excessively happy when you have a relatively cheap grocery trip.
-You get irrationally angry when somebody steals some of your food. Especially restaurant leftovers.
-You second guess every single bill you get. Did we really use that much water this month?
-You start thinking about what to put on your Christmas and Birthday lists 7 months before either one is happening.
-You think about entering your cat in a photo contest to make some extra money. And you think I'm kidding.
-Your math skills improve. Example: If I make this meal, it is more expensive, but in the end it’s overall less money than this Lean Cuisine because it will make 4 meals instead of one.

.... And to think I used to agonize over deciding between the expensive Express jeans or the half priced Kohl's ones. What I would do to go back to those days!!

Thus goes the transition of going from having Mom and Dad as backup to being completely kicked out of the nest, so to speak. I imagine it would be the same reaction whether I were to make $500 per year or $100,000. Rich or poor, being on your own truly forces you to appreciate the value of a dollar.

So I thought I'd share! I'm sure some of you can relate : -)

BRRRR...

Saturday morning was definitely one of those mornings. The ones where you wake up and realize the only heat available is that under the cocoon of blankets you’ve been sleeping in all night. One of those mornings where it doesn’t matter how hungry you are or how badly you have to pee, you will do anything to avoid confronting the cold.

On this particular morning as I chattered my way to the thermostat I realized that not only had our heat failed to turn on but the maintenance man was out on Saturdays. So I headed to the gym for the sole purpose of sitting in the sauna to restore warmth to my frigid bones.

As I sat in there feeling extremely sorry for myself I thought about how much I struggle with cold weather. Last year, it effectively made me think twice about going to class, running errands, going out, going to the gym or even making a grocery store run.

My goal for this year? To prevent the winter from impeding on my everyday life. In an effort to do this I’m going to list out all the positive things about the season change in order to amp up my optimism. So here we go:

Things I like about winter:
Candles: Nothing beats coming home to the smell of Pumpkin Spice.
Scarves: My favorite way to accessorize. I already have 11 different colors but I’m still looking to add to my collection.
Laziness: Because sitting on your butt watching movies all day curled in blankets doesn’t give you the same guilt trip that doing so on a warm summer day does.
Soup: One of my favorite meals. Cheap, delicious and easy to switch up. Although I’ll gladly savor a selection from my giant Campbell’s collection any day doing so in the winter tastes good AND keeps you warm, making it that much better.
The plaza lights: They truly capture the essence of the holiday season.
Cookies: Because it’s more fun to bake when it’s cold out.
Christmas: OK so it’s months away but it definitely adds some cheer to the chill
Star 102: Plays Christmas music for two months which makes car rides more enjoyable
Pumpkin Patches: Hay rides, pumpkins, mazes and , most importantly, homemade donuts… Need I say more?
Milo: Because I can’t WAIT to pose him in pictures with a little Santa hat.
The Nutcracker: One of my favorites.
Football season: Ironic, because I don't even care about football. But something about having a game on in the background on Sundays cheers me up. Tailgating does, too : ) .
Winter Break: Oh wait, I don’t have one anymore.

Oops! before I start getting sarcastic I better end my short list. Hey, atleast it’s a start right?
I would greatly appreciate any ideas as to what YOU guys look forward to about winter, because it will help me stay positive! Thoughts?

A day in the life.

Throughout the past couple months I’ve discovered a new hobby: learning about other people’s lives. I don’t mean it in the sense that I’ve become the “busybody” that knows all and tells all, likewise it isn’t because of the lack of excitement present in my own life; my motivations are purely to satiate my curiosity.

Let’s face it, we are all in transitional phases of our lives. Married, kids, jobs, different cities, schools, ect. Each lifestyle vastly differs from the next thus making it both intriguing and enlightening to see what life’s like on the other side of the fence, so to speak.

In having conversations with people post-graduation it’s very easy to quickly discover what they’re all about. It’s no longer about who they’re friends are, what Greek house they’re in, what bars they frequent, what their major is, and what other mundane differences they might have. Conversations nowadays divulge all sorts of fun interesting facts like what their passions are, what they want to be, who they live with and where, what their job is like, what they do in their free time, what they’re studying at school and why. There’s more meat to it. Granted, I still love to have fun and just relax and hang out, but I’ll never grow tired of an enlightening conversation .

Sometimes it doesn’t take a convo to efficiently portray a lifestyle.

For instance, I went to a loft downtown. I was completely content just visualizing how different daily life downtown would be.
Parallel parking on the traffic street. Keying in a passcode to get in. Passing the security guard. Taking the elevator up to the 5th floor. Watching TV that continuously echoes and reverberates off the cement walls. Sleeping in the same room as the kitchen. Watching the constant chaos of Power and Light District from your window. Where would you even go grocery shopping?
I guess you could say I’m easily amused.

I guess you could also say it’s a sign of maturity, as my thoughts of “different” people have transitioned from judgemental to open-minded. After all, it’s what keep things interesting and exciting!

Blogs are another great way to keep tabs on the ins and outs of peoples' lives. In fact, Megan’s post on marriage inspired me to write this.

So keep the good entries coming!