Now that I am really, really, nearing the end of my time at UT I am already turning my eye towards WHAT ELSE I CAN LEARN NOW. I did the smart thing and went for something I thought would be moderately useful, and it will be. But NOW what will I do? Well, just as I suggested that Casey learn about Automotive Technology once he's done getting his degree I have a list of things I want to learn. Tied for being the first thing I want to go after is an associates degree in ACC's Interpreter Preparation Program or Education. The rest are listed in alphabetical order:

Anthropology - I loved physical anthropology when I took it in college. I like this kind of scientific history.

Art - You all know it - I love making things. This would force me to do so, and I would enjoy every minute of it - unless there was foam core.

Creative Writing - I need work here. The personal narrative and I get along quite well, it is fiction and academic writing that usually stump me. What I was to work on that!

Culinary Arts - I love food. I would like to be able to do more with it.

Dance - My big sister got to be the ballerina. I want a piece of the graceful, rhythmic action.

Geology - I LOVE ROCKS. I had fantasies involving plate tectonics when I took this course my freshman year. I learned more last semester with Oceanography. Hooray Rocks!

Health & Kinesiology - Well, if I am going to go for dance I may as well try for coach or aerobics instructor too. Plus, I find fitness, health, and nutrition really fascinating. Blame it on being a vegetarian athlete (only a tiny, tiny, bit- but I do like to research how a rider's fitness affects elements of equine sports).

History - My brother studied History. I have never been very good at it, and I have never understood why. It is something I would like to know and be good at. I mean, especially if I am going to know, and be good at, everything else!

Jewelery - see "Art."

Music - I miss singing and sight reading. I'd like to be able to add piano to my list, and I'd like to improve my understanding of sheet music. I always just followed the notes instead of reading them.

Personal Fitness Trainer - see "Health & Kinesiology." Plus, I may be able to improve my ability to give riding lessons. And, if I've made it this far down on my list I'll be a very active person, and this will only make sense.

Photography: People - portrait focus - Who do you know with a blog who doesn't also like to take pictures? Yeah.

Radio - Television - Film - Because I couldn't get into the college of communications at UT. I think that my Scandinavian film class makes me a good candidate.

Sociology - I liked Sociology a lot in college. In some of my education courses we very lightly touched on various sociological viewpoints.. Much like History it is something that I want to understand and be good at.

Art Metals - see "Art." Plus, what girl doesn't want to learn to weld?

I think that these will keep me occupied for the rest of my life, but won't I be smart? The nice part is that some of the classes I had at UT will apply, and many of them require the same courses, so I will be able to get to the good stuff quickly. Who knows, maybe with that sort of advantage, it would only take me 20 years.

And the silly part is that I really want to try and do it. I guess I'll go and see an advisor in the fall about resuming the interpreting program. I need to retake at least one sign language course to regain my fluency and memory. Otherwise, I have already fulfilled many of the requirements. Woo-Hoo!

I look forward to...

... not working weekends so that I can sit in a comfy chair and skim the paper (probably online - it wastes less paper) while drinking my morning cup of tea and listening to weekend public radio.

I do not currently have a "morning cup" because I am always rushing off - and who has time to make sure they're not over-steeping their green tea (over-steeping = bitter!) when trying to brush teeth, shower, dress, and leave the house in a ten minute window (that is quickly closing)?

I don't know that I will ever REALLY make it into that chair, but I sure hope I find something similar.

Brilliant

I mean that as a compliment to the detainees, and an insult to the officers.
Thank you, New York Times online.

10 Detainees Pull Off Escape as Visitors Take Their Place
By ALISSA J. RUBIN
Published: March 17, 2007

Just "Submit"

I have been at the University Co-op's website for over an hour, ordering graduation announcements and Bachelor regalia.

I finished putting in all of the information 45 minutes ago. I have checked it six or seven times, how incredibly stupid would I look if I had a typo or misspelling on my announcements? I called my father twice to make sure I should put certain tidbits in like my middle name, and "Do I have to have it say, 'Saturday, May 19, 2007' or should it just say, 'May 19, 2007?'"

I never thought that I would see THIS part as such a big deal. I am excited and nervous AND SO FREAKED-OUT!

More Reasons to Love Saturdays

Did you miss the seething anger I expressed in blog posts long past?

1) first thing said to me by a co-worker: "Whoa, someone was loaded last night!" (Last night I went straight home after work, and was in bed by 11. Thanks. I let him know that he's really not allowed to talk to me anymore.)

2) I had to force my lunch break. No, really. I wasn't going to get one otherwise (Yeah, this is illegal).

Oh, it gets better! Update at 4pm:
3) I have a coworker who keeps BLATANTLY interrupting me. A customer walks through the front door and I begin to direct them and he RUNS (not an exaggeration) across the showroom to begin to talk over me so that he can tell them exactly what I was going to. No "Excuse me," no need to clarify anything. Just being an ass. Mr. Carload? You are not more important than me, and you are sure as Hell not smarter than me.

4) I am pretty much ready to kill people.

I cannot make the service department pick up the phone. That voice mail box that you get? Leave a message. That is what it is there for. There is not a party, spa day, or any real fun back there. They don't answer the phone because they are all either ON the phone already, or with customers. Sure you can get mad at me, but that will only make it harder to get through to them. Don't believe me? Try again. What? You want to talk to one of the 'regular' managers? They will send your call back to me and say, "This person is calling for service -"

Same goes for you, Lady who called 6 times for Mr. Roper. If her were able to take your call at some point in those 10 minutes I'm sure he would have. I know that you have gotten his voice mail because I sent you to his cell phone. Did you need to talk to someone right now, because that would fall under the "Would you like to speak with someone else who might be able to help?" category.

And Ms. Freeman, even though you called last night I am still mad at you too. When I talked to you and your licence plates weren't ready I told you to call and talk with the title clerk on Monday, even though your temp plates are still current, and you only JUST enetered the window of time in which they normally arrive. So you called your salesman who - surprise!!! came to ME to see if your plates are ready. NO? TEN MINUTES DIDN'T CHANGE THAT??? HOLYFUCK! So I told him to tell you that "you'll have to call the title clerk on Monday, just like you had to 10 minutes ago." I'm not sure if he used those exact words, but I sure hope so. Especially since you called AGAIN after that.

Pissing me off DOES NOT make your life as an owner of a new vehicle any easier.

For Real.

I am feeling moments away from quitting this job. Seconds. Nano-seconds.

Deep calming breaths.

My Narcoleptic Life

It takes a lot of dedication to sleep through three alarms.

People train for shit like this. For me, it just comes naturally.

I'm not the only one bored at work...

Mr. A is too!

Happy Holidays!

Corley [kor-li] - proper noun

or,

events and such that define my being 5-10

- When I was very young I had very high fever, and because of it I had a seizure. When treatment was all over I was the youngest person in my family to have had a drug addiction. I don't remember it, but apparently withdrawal from phenobarbital is a bitch.

- Looking back at how the mind develops through childhood, I particularly like the time I had to get stitches in my forehead best of all. I was in the passenger seat of my dad's truck, I was waiting in it, parked in the driveway, while my dad had gone into the house to get something. During this time the balloon I had been playing with, made its way over to the floor boards of the driver's side of the truck. My little 4 year old brain couldn't realize that I could just move to the driver's side, reach down and grab the balloon. I had only ever been on the passenger side, through the passenger door. I had only ever seen my dad on the driver's side, and he got in through the driver's door - follow my logic? I got out and went to run around the back of the truck, only, I didn't realize the tailgate was down and I hit it hard. So hard that I fell over and gashed my head open. One way to learn to just scoot over.

- About six months later my Grandmother, Annie Tannie, died. Her funeral was the on the same day me pre-K class talked about the letter C. Can you see how this was confusing, too? I had been so excited - C! My name starts with C! There is a very nice watercolor sketch of a white cat next the the C! on the wall! I like cats! I was there for A and B, and the - D? Scarred for life. Now we all know why So-so Def (my ex's cat) and I never got along. After a few months, my parents were finally able to convince me Annie Tannie wasn't ever coming back. One weekend we went to the house where she and her husband had lived to visit him, Poppy Tom ( As the first grandchild I got to be the kid calling the shots. I like titles made up of two names.), and I was so confused! There she was - sitting in the living room! She was talking to Poppy Tom, my parents, and me - and she was NEVER coming back! ? The little wheels in my head first peeled out, and then came to a grinding halt. It was way too much for me. And then she leaned over and said in the sweetest way you can possibly tell a small child that you are not the one person that they want to see most in the universe, "Corley Ann, I am not your Annie Tannie." She wasn't. She was Tannie's sister, Sara. This is where I believe I began to cry. And if I didn't then, it is where I begin to cry every time I tell the story (even right now). I really wanted it to be her. I had been wishing on every shooting star, in every night's prayer, I still wish it had been her. That moment is vividly burned in my mind, I can see Aunt Sara's silhouette (it was kind of dark), and I can hear her Southern sing-song voice - that sounded just like Annie Tannie's - saying "Ah" instead of "I."

I have to limit it like this to keep from over burdening myself emotionally. This is not what I originally expected to write! I was think of something much more brief - oops!

Maybe next time I'll do 5-10 years, if I can take it.

Dolly Parton, who seems to be quickly becoming a recurring theme, is on Studio 360 today. They're "Making Over Christmas," I haven't yet figured out what she has to do with this theme, except that she made over an album's worth of 60s' protest songs about a year ago, These Were the Days.

My God, she is so funny!

Check it out, scroll around. This is one of my most favorite shows.



(This is post 500!)

There is a Center for Puppetry Arts? Someone please remind me to go to Atlanta!

Rudolph and Santa, as Good as New
By BRENDA GOODMAN
Published: December 23, 2006

What Calligraphy Hand Are You?

Insular Majuscule- You are spiritual and well rounded. People look to you for advice, but sometimes find you difficult to understand.

I found this jewel of a time killer in Madge's Archives. I'm having to read her early posts since she's on holiday and not posting.

Slow Saturday

"Waking up without you is like drinking from an empty cup."

Mr. A left for Michigan last Sunday. Until this week I hadn't realized how much time I spend with him, or how boring I am without him. Oh yeah, and how I turn into a sniveling baby when I get lonely. If I hadn't fallen asleep in front of CSI: Miami I was seriously considering watching Garden State and finishing off a six of Negra Modelo so that I could cry myself to sleep.

Hooray CSI: Miami and its sleep inducing powers! When I actually made it to bed though I didn't sleep so soundly, nor did I get out of bed so easily this morning. He'll be home Tuesday afternoon. Most likely after I go to work, so I won't get to see him until that night. Tuesday will SUCK because I have the whole morning off to sit and think about the fact that my man is a mere 2 1/2 hours away, as opposed to being across the country. *sigh*

Now do you understand why I am incessantly listening to melancorley Damien Rice, Samantha?

Can you see the love and admiration in my eyes?

Yuck - Saturday

Thank you, NPR, for teaching me about:

Antikythera Mechanism

and the books Animals of the Ocean, in Particular the Giant Squid (You must scroll down a bit, but the whole list is interesting),

By Doris Haggis-on-Whey and Benny Haggis-on-Whey,

and Sister Bernadette's Barking Dog: The Quirky History and Lost Art of Diagramming Sentences, by Kitty Burns Florey

And then by way of Internet diversion - English as She Is Spoke: Being a Comprehensive Phrasebook of the English Language, Written by Men to Whom English was Entirely Unknown , by José da Fonseca, Pedro Carolino, Paul Collins (Editor)

Not doing homework yet today

Things for me to look for at Half-Price Books:

Gray Horses

by Hope Larson

Black Hole

by Charles Burns

Other interesting things from 'The Times'

I just realized that you have to have a 'log in'.. I hope you do! I just get a daily e-mail - I never thought about it!

From November 25, 2006

Still, these are worth looking at:

For Graphic Novels, a New Frontier: Teenage Girls
by GEORGE GENE GUSTINES

On Traffic-Signal Boxes, Art That Stops Traffic
by ALISON LEIGH COWAN

In South Korea, Immersion in Buddhist Austerity
by CATHERINE PRICE

All That’s Missing Is Mr. Whipple
Editorial

Attention, Holiday Shoppers: We Have Fisticuffs in Aisle 2

By MICHAEL BARBARO
New York Times (online)
November 25, 2006

'the two operated under strict instructions: “Once we get started,” Ms. Brooker said, “no one’s allowed to eat, drink or go to the bathroom until we are done.” '

The Good Thing About My Saturday Job:

I can listen to NPR Streaming -alldaylong- My heart warms at this. Austin's NPR station isn't too hot. I love that I come from the live music capitol of the world and all, but I like my informative radio. KUT plays too much music. Instead, I listen to KERA, Dallas' public radio station.

I was listening to Weekend Edition and I heard this story:

Remembrances
Ms. Pudding: A Feline Farewell
by Alice Furlaud

It will be available in audio at 1pm ET. Listen to it, if you can. It's a really beautiful remembrance of a cat that highlights the importance animals come to play in our lives, and human fears of the responsibility death leaves on loved ones - Human or animal.

Once, about two years ago, I did what I thought was right and answered the phone when a credit card company called me on my delinquency. I haven't done it since because of the experience I had that day. The man on the other end belittled me and treated me like I must have HAD the money, I was just not giving it to him. Instead of asking me when and how much I would be able to give them, he kept asking me how much I could give them now. Honestly? Because I was digging for change to put gas in my car at the time.

I am late on my Visa payment. Today they called and I answered, against instinct. The woman on the other end told me why she was calling and then said, "Honey, what happened?" And I instantly wanted to cry. I told her that I am a full time student with two jobs and her response, "Oh, girl, being a student is a full time job." I let her know when and how much I could give her and she told me that if I added $30 to that by a date about a week from now I could prevent a mark against my credit. Wow, not only is she not making me feel worthless, but she's trying to help me. Yes, in the end she gets more money, which Visa wants, but her karmic balance improves as well.

There is also something about the incredibly long (11 hr) Saturday shift I work each Saturday that makes me very sad. The last Saturday I worked I wanted to cry for approximately 6 hours. I only actually cried once when the girls in the back office didn't let me know they were ordering food, and I hadn't had breakfast. That day there was no one to replace me so I didn't get a break longer than 5 minutes or so. I cried for a bit until Casey called and went to bring me lunch. I got to eat about five. I sit alone at a desk all day, sometimes I feel really lonely and forgotten about. Eleven hours of that is not easy.

So here we go again. I'm only in hour two, and I'm already tearing up.