I'm in my apartment this brisk Tuesday morning, with the window open, because I'm waiting for a phone call that I'm not looking forward to, and as a consequence, am literally sweating bullets. Contrary to what some would think, I dislike conflict immensely, but I tend to expect a lot of people (you know, CARE about what you're doing, don't be a lazy ass! that sort of thing), and as result, there will be some conflict. It's brisk, in the thirties, and the sprinkler system suddenly comes to life! Never mind that the last two weeks we have been deluged with constant rain, and this is the first time that the sun has tried to make an appearance. But what is most unnerving to me this that, because it is so cold, the sprinklers aren't just sprinkling, they're sputtering forth near frozen mist. It's a waste. And waste makes me unhappy.

[ rain, rain, go away... ]

I'm ready for the rain to end. I'm ready for the clouds to go away. There's not much light in the living room (where I do my work and writing), as the patio faces North, and it's really hard to stay motivated. All I want to do is nap, or read a book. Worst thing is, there's a long winter ahead.

[ thanksgiving 2008 ]

This was the first Thanksgiving in my parents’ new house. Despite mom’s very vocal disappointment in the first few weeks about the house not having a formal dining room (even though their old house didn’t have one either), she didn’t say a thing about it as we were dining off of a portable plastic table in their living room. I was very proud of her for getting past the fact that they didn’t really need a formal dining space that would have only been used three times a year, at most. The food was yummy, and dad showed how little he knew about fireplaces, as he wanted to turn the gas starter on everytime he put a new log on the fire, not believing that it would catch fire otherwise. He was wrong, and at the age of sixty, learned something new that day.

I had seen on the national nightly news about a family who, in these difficult economic times where children are mourning the loss of “stuff”, made their children write out a list of the things that they were thankful for Thanksgiving. As it turned out, what the children were thankful for was family and friends, and turtles that didn’t stink. The things they were most thankful for were things that couldn’t be bought with money, and these children and their families realized that they could get through this economic downturn without new material things. So on Thanksgiving, I asked my four year old nephew what he was most thankful for. He thought for a moment, then said, “videogames”.

[ extended coverage ]

Is it really necessary to have extended weather watch coverage for two inches of snow in Wisconsin? I don’t think so.

[ why baby why?! ]

I was awoken today at 6:00 am by the sound of my upstairs neighbors doing their laundry (we have in-unit washers and dryers), which was bad enough, but then my next door neighbor's baby started screaming bloody murder and I found myself trying really hard to find my happy place: "I want a house on a lake, with a boat, and a dog named Rufus", I kept chanting, but to no avail. I have been overwhelmed lately with the amount of inconsideration that people have for one another in this apartment complex.

The upstairs neighbors seem to think that they live in a bubble which sound and gravity cannot permeate. They used to dump their old mop water over the balcony (and onto our patio) until I complained three times. If it’s not laundry at 6:00am, it’s laundry at 1:00am! They also got a drumming game at one point, as if banging on something for ten hours a day (sadly, not an exaggeration), would be okay with the people living below them. The maintenance guy had to come over, stand in our living room, listen in horror, then promptly go upstairs and tell them that the drumming was louder than hell downstairs, to which the guy responded, “really?”, and he told them they needed to get rid of it.

Actually, both next door neighbors have babies and it’s driving me a little nutso. The one that was screaming this morning has parents who like to ignore his cries. I know, I know, you’re saying that it’s not inconsiderate to have a kid, but it is inconsiderate to ignore the little monkey because you don’t want to get out of bed. This same neighbor also thought it was okay to install his own satellite dish (in the middle of the night), one hundred feet around the corner of the building, in front of someone’s kitchen window mind you, then run a cable on the ground past two apartments (one of which is mine), and then drill a hole in the side of his apartment wall, to hook up his television. How does anyone think that this is okay? It has since been taken down because it’s totally against the rules.

One final rant: The baby on the other side needs to hear “The Lion Sleeps Tonight” (totally not kidding), in order to calm her down from her fits of uncontrollable crying. Let me just say, I used to like that song. Used to.

[ I guess I'm nontraditional ]

Last night I went to the Nontraditional Student Recognition reception in the UWM Union art gallery. Every year the schools within the university pick an exceptional nontraditional student to represent them. My school, the School of Information Studies (SOIS), did not pick me, but the Office of Adult and Returning Student Services (OARSS) did. As OARSS gets so little recognition within the school (and probably money too), the reception was a low-key affair, but special nonetheless. I brought Melissa, and my parents too. My dad was a big ball of tears most of the time. He and mom are so proud of me. I’m the first one in my family to go to college, and my parents never even finished highschool.

I’m not big on the whole socializing with strangers thing, especially ones that have read all about me on a display at the front of the room. I got to meet the woman SOIS did choose over me, and was immediately intimidated because she’s superwoman (full-time school, full-time work, part-time National Guard). I’d had her in some of my online classes, and could tell that she was an overachiever. The best part though, was that she (and her husband) seemed a little intimidated by me, when I told them that I was a double major. So take that!!

Anyway, it wasn’t something that I was looking forward to (because of my anti-social tendencies), but I actually had a good time. How odd to have someone taking photos of you as you’re trying to have a conversation with people? I kept wondering, “what are these pictures for anyway?”

[ number one ]

This is the first post and I have no idea what to say.