Not Running from the Cops

So I started running - like real running. How did this happen?!

Easy answer, my friends are persistant and know how to make me feel guilty.

"We're doing a 15k, come on, you can do 5."

"Well you're already signed up for one race, you can do another!"

So I signed up for two and started running, an activity that I have always hated and still kind of hate. Running makes me angry and frustrated. Sure, I feel awesome afterwards, but while I'm in the process I just want to punch someone. Interestingly enough, my asthma is the least of my problems while running. I just have shitty leg muscles! So I figured fine, that will start getting better soon... I'm going to do pretty well at the Color Run!

Then I got a nasty cold. Well shit. No, that's ok, I got some antibiotics and started feeling better and would be fine for the race even with a few days off running!

Then my dog sat on my knee. When I'm sick, my dog knows it and sticks really close to me. He didn't mean to sit on my knee, we were cuddling. I didn't even realize it was hurting me unti I got up. My leg was really stiff and at some point I twisted it. Ugh, damn. Fine. I bought a knee brace. I figured it would help enough to let me run normally.

It didn't. I woke up the morning of the race limping like a gimp. Well damn. Two of my friends were kind of hungover - I wasn't because I'm a smart cookie who knows her wine limit. Looked outside, it's raining. Wait, is that my period? Yup. AWESOME.

So, despite everything going wrong for the Color Run, it was a lot of fun. Team Rainbow Connection made a good showing and despite a gimpy walk/run, I managed to do the 5k in 40 min which I'm impressed with. And we crossed the finish line holding hands like a bunch of 12 year olds. YEAH! Don't be jealous of how cool we are.

Well, now, almost 5 days later, my knee is still hurting pretty bad. I'm wearing a knee brace to work, limping, and generally being cranky about it. My mother is telling me I need an X-Ray and may need to see an Orthopedic doctor. This is both hilarious and embarrassing because I am not a serious athlete. This was my first run, and this may be a dog injury. It's like the least cool way to injure youreself. I can't go in there and be like "yeah, man, I hurt myself on my daily 10 mile run. I was going up this gnarly incline and just twisted". No. "My dog sat on me, then I ran a 5k. I'm stupid."

Who does that? God it's hard to be such a cool pro-athlete.

[Insert something about being an adult here]

I'm a big kid now!
Sort of!

Well, I got an internship for the summer. Only problem is that it's unpaid. It's with this nice lady who works out of her home in Oak Park. She's a freelancer and seems to have a nice, steady stream of business. I'm hoping that I can learn a good amount from her so I can do some of my own freelancing and not totally f it up. Also, I'll own the work I do and have the rights to it so I'm not getting totally robbed and I'll be learning a lot from her.

Also, her house is the cutest thing I've ever seen. You can totally tell it belongs to a designer and an architect (her husband). It's small, but it's super cute. She may or may not be Martha Stewart in disguise. Anyway, so I'll be working part time for her, a couple days a week for the next 8 weeks. After that I figure I'll look for a big girl job or start freelancing. It doesn't pay, but it's a good way to transition from college to a full time job. I'm going to learn some things I can apply to a full time job and some things I can apply to freelancing.

I'm planning on expanding my Etsy shop too. Soon, hopefully, I'll be working on some greeting cards to put up for sale. I've got two designed right now, a Christmas card and a Thank You card. My biggest obstacle there is figuring out the best way to print them, but once I smooth that out, I'm going to be a card designing fiend. I'm going to work on jewelry designing too, I've been messing around with it and it's fun, but I'm going to hit up some flea markets to find things to use as pendants. (I'm not into the huge homemade glass/wire globs that artists usually make into pendants). I want to make little clusters of charms using little things I find and whatnot. Maybe a little metal work. Hopefully that will supplement some of my lack of income over the summer.

We're also planning on having a garage sale again this summer. It went well last time and I have a bunch of crap that I could get rid of. Lots of old college stuff, old art supplies, old purses... stuff that takes up room. I have a lot to do!

Graduaaaaation!

Congrats to me, I'm a college grad!
But of course now it's the time for post-college crazy that is the job hunt, being broke, etc.
I would love nothing more than to take a few months off to get my shit together. My mom is on board with that, but my dad isn't so much. I'm sure I could convince him, but I may not even get a job anyway, so I may get a couple months off regardless.

I've been checking job boards every day since mid-April and there really hasn't been a whole lot worth anything to me. Most jobs are asking for 3-5 years experience, even in the junior level, so that's frustrating. I know it's fine to apply anyway, but without that experience, I may be tossed to the bottom of the pile. Most studios don't say that they're hiring or whatever so a lot of what I need to start sending out are cold emails, but I have to be careful about that because some studios don't like them.

The parents have been sending me job postings almost every day, which is hilarious because a lot of what they're sending either require too much experience or are not in the right field (advertising does not necessarily = design, neither does marketing). They're trying to help, and it's not really bothering me, but it's funny. They think I'm lying when I say there aren't many design jobs right now so they keep sending these thinking they're design jobs that I somehow missed. I promise I know my way around these online job boards, really I do.

For the immediate future, I'm going to start to do freelance work, hopefully. I'm also going to make some greeting cards/thank you notes/stationary/holiday cards to sell online to hopefully bring in some extra money.  I'm starting to design some things for that already.

In the meantime, I'm working on subleasing my apartment, but the guy that was interested is taking his sweet time in getting back to me. I'd like to not pay the extra money, but its looking like I might have to. On the plus side, I can take my time moving out and cleaning up and could come down here over the summer to have fun and have a place to stay, but on the negative, I'm broke and would not like to dip into my savings to pay off my last two months rent.

Here's to hoping I get my shit together and soon.

The Final Countdown

You know it's been a busy semester when I haven't made a post since February.
It. has. been. CRAZY.

Every week I have had something due whether it be a paper, a project, or another piece of my soul (or my tears. My reviewers seemed to want those... They got them, but after I got home). Since March, things have not let up one bit. Every day, I'm reminded of how much I still have to do and graduation is only 20 days away. Still today I have to finish up some projects, write a paper, pack to leave tomorrow, send in some sources for a different paper, and go to work. And it's going to rain. And my apartment smells like chalkboard paint, ew.

but.. www.katiedamato.com is live and so is www.etsy.com/shop/misskatiedesigns !!

Tomorrow I leave to go home for the weekend. Friday is my final portfolio review in Chicago, it's going to be this big, artsy to-do with people from studios all over the city looking to scrutinize our work and possibly hire us. I'm not crossing my fingers to get hired, but the interviews will be a good experience. I'm pretty sure it's going to be snobby and I'm going to be annoyed by pretentious art people the whole time, but I guess I signed up for that. I'm kind of looking forward to the possibility of having a few months off after I graduate. I need to decompress and relax a bit. Maybe take a little vacation or lay around the house and be lazy for just a little bit. I know my dad doesn't want me doing that, but my mom seems on board, so who cares.

Anyway, still to do after this weekend is prep for another art show that is starting on May 4th and runs for a week or so. Then I have a big paper to write for Italian so I can get my advanced credit to finish my minor. Write another religion paper. Then, apparently, I get to graduate. And then yeah.

Yeah.

It's all coming to a close. I'm not freaking out quite yet. Check back in August when I'm not packing up to go back to school. I think that is when I'll start realizing that it's really over and lose it.

Going All Night Long

Coffee for breakfast, lunch, and dinner!
Its only been an hour, but I'm shaking from the caffeine intake today.
Last night I pulled the first all-nighter of the semester and I'm definitely feeling it.

I feel old. I'm not old, but I feel it.

Had a good old-fashioned mental breakdown over the weekend. Sometimes you just need to cry and whine about how much you suck and how useless you are for a few hours in order to feel better. And then cuddle with the dog all night to make it feel all better. I'm still kinda in a funk, but definitely not as bad as I was last week.

Last semester of college, yo. It's screwing with my mind.

My brain is full of the not-ready-to-graduates and the I'm-going-to-suck-at-whatever-job-I-get-if anys... Ew.

Anyway. To pass more time, I've made my first foray into jewelry-making. It's kind of fun, and I have a lot to learn but its really zen and I like it. I'm selling it at our Graphic Design craft fair, along with a few other things and baked goods.

I'm currently sitting in crit. It is super boring, as usual. I like to see it as a way to spend 4 hours doing absolutely nothing (although I need to write a paper that I blew off last night while finishing my project. ew.)

And on and on and on and on.

The Longest Weekend Ever

This weekend has felt like an entire month, even though it was only three days.
I spent the whole thing in my apartment laying on my couch watching movie after movie after movie. And the SAG awards.

For the first time since childhood, I have the stomach flu. College is such a cesspool.
It is just as awful as I remember it, except this time I had to go it alone.
No parents at my disposal to get me things. I had to get off my sick butt to get ginger ale and saltine crackers and gatorade and pepto.
Being an adult sucks haha, but I'm glad I don't have roommates because it would have just grossed them the heck out all weekend. Better off no one had to share in it.

Had solid food for the first time yesterday, rather unsuccessfully, but tried again today. Seems to be going well so far. Yay for small accomplishments. Unfortunately, though, this means I haven't gotten any real work done this weekend and that is a huge problem. I have so much work to do , especially for my GD studio it is unbelievable. Three projects going at once, no work done because I was too sick to deal with it. When we did portfolio reviews this week, mine did not go well at all. It makes me very nervous to graduate. I'm going to need to do a lot of extra work to even be at par on graduation. More than most other people in my class, it seems.

I'm going to do it, I have to, especially if I want a job at some point. I don't even know what I want to do yet. I know I'm not doing grad school right away, I'm going to get a job and work for a couple of years and then I might go on for a masters in art education, get certified to teach and all that. I know I can do that at NIU, so I could commute there and it wouldn't be too bad. But that's a ways off to think about. Its the immediate future I'm more worried about. What do I want to do? So much to think about... and not much time to think about it anymore! Eek! I'm a firm believer in whatever happens happens and that it will work out so... well, I'm sure it will work out!

For now, the more immediate concern is feeling better.. but damn do I hate Gatorade. Ugh.

Week 1 Roundup

Its the beginning of the end, people.
For real this time.

I can sum up my first week of class in a few words: I'm a wimp.

I have class on Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday which is awesome, but each of those days I had an 8am class. I don't like that. My 8am Tues/Thurs was an exercise class. I signed up thinking 'Ohh, great! Group fitness! I bet it'll be some yoga, some kickboxing...'

WRONG.

Its running and weight lifting. I don't mind weight lifting so much, but running I absolutely cannot do. Its pathetic to watch me run. On the second day of class the teacher (A former Korean pro-baseball player who barely speaks English and goes by 'Hank') made us run a mile. I felt like I was in high school, only less in shape. Needless to say it didn't go well. I did it, but it was pretty sad. I have since dropped the class. I'll figure out some other way to stay in shape haha.

GD is going to be crazy. I have so much work to do. Projects to revise/re-do, portfolios, new projects, all sorts of things blending together. I'm going to lose my mind for sure. Good thing I'm not in any other studio!

I Live With a Bunch of Grinches

I usually love being home for break.
Christmas is always my favorite time of year.
Not so much this year.

Maybe I'm just cranky because there hasn't been any snow yet. I mean, what's a Christmas without snow? Weird, that's what! I don't like it one bit! I'm still holding out for a surprise snowstorm or something.

But I think it's more than that.
It's just depressing to be around the house this year.

Everyone is super cranky and/or sad and/or stressed. Name a negative emotion and it's probably hanging over my house. This is, of course, super frustrating when you're the only one with the Christmas spirit (and believe me, there isn't much left). I decorated the whole tree, 90% of the house, have made most of the cookies so far, and will probably have to make the rest on my own as well, and have wrapped all of the presents that aren't my own and will not be surprised if I have to wrap some of mine (and not peek) as well.

My mom and my brother fight like... every day.
He's always cranky anyway, it's like a chronic condition I swear.
Dad was super depressing the last two days (thank God he seems to be better now).

Tonight I finally had to escape upstairs to get away from it all.
Hopefully they won't find me or come looking for me until I have to go out with my friends who are all (FINALLY) home.

Those in the house will be lucky if I don't bite someone's head off in the next few days.
They are all seriously killing my Christmas buzz. Huge bummer.
I hate it when you're trying so hard to be in a good mood, but everyone else just has to bring you down. It's so tempting to go back to school early at this point. I don't know what I'm going to do after I graduate.

I sincerely hope that my brother moves out before I move in or I don't know if I can do it.

Someone give me some happy pills or something, I'm going to start putting them in everyone's food when they're not looking.

End of Semester

This is a very easy end of the semester, for once!
I'm already done with my Graphic Design final which is due on Wednesday. My professor really likes it (so he says now...), so I'm really hoping I do well on it. He said, and I quote "You really rocked it out this time".

First time I've ever heard that.

I'm done with my photo project and just need to print it tomorrow and take a few photos of my GD project. That's easy.

Anthropology... I'm not too worried about the final. I'm a little worried about the grade. I got a little lazy mid semester and didn't go for awhile, but I did well on the Midterm and the other big test, so if I do my reading and watch the one movie I missed I should be ok. Less worried now.

The only other thing is a five page paper for Art History which really isn't a big deal. I need to do relatively well on it in order to get an A. I think I can, though. I've got like an 89.5 in the class and she's one of those professors that, if we made an effort and she can tell, will round up for us.

In other news I ran out of my headache medicine on Saturday and have had little headaches ever since. It's obnoxious, but it's not worth it for me to tell my parents and have them overnight a few pills. Furthermore, it's letting me try out some holistic methods I've been wondering about. Some work better than others, and they're not bad ones so I'll be fine for two more days.

I'm almost done! :)

Silly Thought

So today when I went into my bathroom to take a shower, I had a funny thought.

When I was younger, I went to my Grandpa's house in Chicago.
I accidentally locked myself in the bathroom there. My Grandpa had told me not to lock the door because the lock was broken but I did it anyway.

Oh boy was he mad.
I remember sitting on the edge of the tub listening to him yell at me through the door (mostly, I realize now, because he was afraid he'd have to break the "damn door" down...)
I was terrified. He always scared me because he was so loud, but hey, I didn't listen that time.
It's funny, because I think if he was still alive today it would be totally different. I think we'd be a lot alike, especially from stories I hear now.

Anyway, the apartment I live in now is old, kind of reminds me of Grandpa's house. I have never, not even once, locked that bathroom door. The first day I was there, I found that the doorknob was kind of hard to turn. Every time I have trouble with it, I think about my Grandpa telling me not to lock the door. I won't do it. Can't.

I'm listening now, so that counts, right?

Also, I found this on Pinterest, thought I would share it. May have teared up a little. Why aren't there more people like Mr. Rogers out there?

Soooo Clooooose...

It's almost Thanksgiving break!
I'm so excited!!

No, seriously, because I need to get the heck out of Champaign for awhile.
Too much school and too much work, ew. Luckily the only things I have left for this week are an annotated bibliography (ewwww) and a photo project both due Thursday. I can handle that, but it is quite a bit of work. Luckily I have a work day in studio tomorrow to do whatever, so I can do that.

Furthermore, I'm over not getting into that class. The more I look at it, the more I realize that I really need to be able to focus on my last senior studio. I have a lot of work to do to get my portfolio into any kind of shape for after graduation and that is a big undertaking.

Sounds like there's a fight going on outside my window right now. Love hearing drunk people. I feel like there have to be better things to do on a Tuesday night than to go out drinking or at least to get THAT drunk, you know? My favorite was two very drunk girls the other night who were arguing and the one goes "It's like you don't want me to be happy or something... Why can't you just let me be meeeee?" It was great until the other girl started yelling back and I thought I was going to have to dump water out my window to get them to move along.

Three more days of class then I can get out of here for a much needed break (sort of! because I still have lots of work to do!)!

Funk

I've been in a funk for the past few days.
Not sure why, really, but I'm probably just PMSing. I just registered for my last semester of classes and registered for graduation and shit, as they say, is getting real.

There was one class I kind of wanted to take this year at some point because my adviser said she recommended it to all graphic design students. It's a competitive class so you have to apply to get into it. Well, I didn't get into it this semester, so I figured I'd try again in the spring. Next semester it is being taught by a professor I have now, so I figured since he knew me and my work I'd have a better chance of getting in. Just got the email that I didn't. Again.

It's not a class that I'm dying to take and I know that it isn't going to make or break me academically or professionally. I understand that. It just sucks. It makes me wonder what I did wrong, what is missing from my work. Did I not show enough variety? Was it just that unimpressive? Its kind of disconcerting and I don't know what to think. There are people that have gotten accepted into the class for multiple semesters, to take it again and here I can't even get into it once. Why? Of course, if you email these people the answer you'll get back is 'We just found that other candidates were better suited blah blah blah...' like it's a job interview or something. Ugh. I'm glad I don't have studio tomorrow because I know I couldn't go in there and face that professor and be nice. I mean, it's like he barely thought over the decision or already knew who he was going to accept. I got the response back within 4 days. At least the other professor thought about it all summer. This guy took 4 days. I find that hard to believe, especially with such a "large number of applicants".

Well, fuck him, now I'm going to take ice skating. Ha.

I'm not even sure if design is my thing anymore. Of course I'm going to graduate with my degree, I am. I just don't feel like I fit in in the design world. I don't want to work at a corporate office and small studios are so snobby and hipster. I might just work for a couple of years and then go back and get a teaching certification. Everyone loves elementary art, right? Then I can do what I want on the side, too. Sounds like a deal to me! That, however, is at least a little ways away and I don't have to think about it quite yet.

Summary:
- I hate this professor.
- I'm PMSing, GRRR.
- I get to take ice skating, so ha.

Internship

SO.
I'm makin' money this summer.

Anyway, its going well so far. I'm in my third week and have pretty much gotten the hang of things. My boss says I'm getting better at designing things in their style. Their style is... old fashioned, to put it nicely. In this company, their chief buyer is a woman in her 40s-60s. Its a collectible company.

Most of the stuff I'm creating ads for are Thomas Kinkade things. Everything is Christmas in my division, so I'm working on ads for Christmas villages, trains, ornaments, and nativities. They're all pretty darn ugly except for some cute Disney princess things I did the other day. One of the marketers even said "If we think its hideous, we know it'll sell..." Whatever, its money and good experience and everyone here is really nice.

The office is cool too. Its like a big greenhouse, there are plants everywhere, palm trees (real ones!), bamboo, and waterfalls all over. Its unlike any other office I've been to. I have my own cubicle and its pretty darn big! Other than the commute, I don't really have many complaints.

But the commute does suck.

The second day I was going up there, my car died in the middle of rush hour on I294. I couldn't even pull off the side of the road. I put my hazards on, called 911 for the first time in my life, and then cried as a couple of nice Mexicans pushed my car to the shoulder for me. Thank God for them, seriously. The cop that pulled up behind me had a good sense of humor, so that helped. He was super nice. It was quite the ordeal, but what gets me is that they couldn't find anything wrong with my car, so now I'm paranoid about driving it. I've been driving my dad's car instead (the battery died on that yesterday, but at least it was Sunday).

Other than that, its been raining every damn day.
Which I guess is fine since I can't be outside to enjoy it anyway.

--

As a random, final thought for now, whenever a friend of mine posts a surprising status on Facebook, or really anything that calls for it... I'm going to post a link to this video in lieu of a comment:



God, I love TBBT. <3

Tuesday Blues

Well, not really blues.
Just in the morning, I guess.

Today, I had to get a mole removed. There was nothing wrong with it other than the fact that it was huge and right on my bra line so it rubbed on everything. I've been wanting to get rid of it for awhile.

Only problem is that I'm terrified of any sort of medical procedure involving needles or scalpels or anything that could potentially hurt. I was a mess all morning. I woke up a few hours before the appointment and felt like I was going to puke all the way through the end of the appointment. I was almost hyperventilating in the room, it was awful as nearly all trips to the doctor are for me haha.

Of course, the procedure itself took like a minute and other than the initial needle stick to numb me, it was completely painless. I'm just a huge baby. It also helped that I was distracted by a GIANT SPIDER in the room. I have never seen a spider that large, at least not indoors. It was big, black, and looked like it wanted to eat my face off. I pointed it out to the dermatologist, she freaked out too and went to get someone to kill it for us.

So, all in all, I'm glad its over, glad its gone, and know that I am a huge wuss.

It didn't hurt then, but it sure does now! Thank goodness there's vicodin in the house. Mom gave me half of one and soon I'll be nice and drowsy and forgetting that there's a big ol' hole in my back haha.


Also, I should hear about my internship soon. Cross your fingers! :)

Raccoons are Terrifying

I have to say, not much has been going on in my life as of late.

The internship search has hit a sort of dead end. I got a call back from a company I had a phone interview with and its sounding good but I'm not holding my breath. It doesn't help that my mother bugs me about it every. single. day. I mean, I know she's just trying to be helpful but it gets annoying after so long, haha. I really am trying my hardest to find one. I sure as heck don't want to work at Walgreen's again.

I will if I have to, but I'd rather not. I actually started sewing again and am thinking of starting up an Etsy shop to avoid having to work at Walgreen's if all my internships fall through. I've been making little zipper bags, like make-up bags and pencil pouches. They're really cute. I've started attempting to make dog toys too and next on my list is baby bibs. I've also been making magnets out of old buttons, they're super cute. So I'm hoping that maybe I can make some money off of that instead of working at the good ol' Wal. Hey, I could put going into business for myself on my resume, right? Ha.

I'm currently down in Champaign for the weekend, initiating another group of pledges for APX. Its been fun, actually. Theres like no one else in the area since all the students have left and I went out to the bars last night with Sean and Kyle and they were totally deserted. It was so cool, I wish they were always like that. Its also super weird to not be in my apartment anymore. I'm staying there while I'm down here, but I'm sleeping on the couch which is weird when what used to be my bedroom is like twenty feet away haha.

Anyway, interesting story: Yesterday, I was attacked by a raccoon. No joke. I was outside with a big group of people, just minding my own business. It was still light out at the time so it was weird to see a raccoon anyway. I saw it prowling around on the roof of the house next door and didn't think anything of it until it came bounding around the corner and charged into the crowd. They scared it off for a second and then it came right back and right at me. I screamed louder than I've screamed in a long, long time. It ran right between my legs and around me and I kinda-sorta kicked it (to get it away from my legs!) and it ran off again.

I wasn't bitten and it seems now that I wasn't scratched either (I thought I was but looking at it today, theres no evidence of a scratch). I was seriously scared that I was going to have to get rabies shots! Looks like I won't though, luckily. I'm thinking it had a nest nearby so it was probably defending its babies, but we had no idea there was a nest anywhere. I still don't see one but I'm not about to go and investigate. I might call animal control, though, and see about relocating them. Its kinda dangerous when you think about it. Wish I'd brought the dog with me to initiation! He would have scared that thing off before it even got to us!

Intense Weekend

Its been an intense weekend, to say the least.

It was formal this weekend, probably my last APX formal even though I'm not graduating. More because I'm a senior anyway and I don't know that I'll want to go next year.

I have to say, I haven't been that drunk in a long time. It was a good night, my dress was cute and everyone was having fun. I went back to the hotel around 11:30 and after that I totally blacked out. I woke up on the bathroom floor, presumably after puking. I guess I had actually been in bed before that but I didn't learn of the rest of my exploits until later that day.

Apparently I made out with one of my good friends. Yeah. Two described it as "hard core making out" which embarrassed me a great deal. I have absolutely no memory of this at all. None. I felt so guilty about it because its not like I really have a thing for this guy or anything. I think it was the culmination of booze and the fact that I hadn't made out with a guy in a long time so it just happened. He didn't remember it either, but apparently after being told he started to remember some of it. He said I was saying weird things and I told him not to even tell me what I said. We agreed that it was no harm done, at least we were having fun. Furthermore, I'm a little more pissed that there were like 10+ people in the room watching us but not doing anything. Oh well, at least we didn't have sex, right?

If that's one of the worst things I do in college, then I'm doing far better than most people. I just hate it when I don't remember things. I expect things to be a little awkward this week despite that we both apologized and agreed that it was fine and that we were still friends, but after that I'm sure things will go back to normal.

Apparently I also peed in a bathtub. I guess I went into the bathroom to pee, somehow missed, fell into the bathtub (I have a huge bruise on my leg as proof) and decided that since I wasn't going to make it out of the bathtub in time, I would just pee there. I suppose that's not as bad as some things I could have done in there. I've seen people barf in tubs and I rinsed it out later. All I can say is that I'm quite classy, huh? I had the worst hangover like all day the next day and I definitely almost puked on the train on the way home.

Shit happens, right? That's about all I can chalk this up to.

I also went to my Grandma's house on Sunday to take a few things I wanted before they do the estate sale. I don't know how much I want to talk about that because it was really kind of depressing. I cried a little in the car on the way home, but didn't tell my mom that. Its hard to have been in that house for the last time. Also, it was a memorable last visit because I found a giant centipede and totally freaked out about it.

Anyway, yeah. Glad the weekend is over. Looking forward to finishing up these last few weeks of school and getting the heck out of Champaign for the summer. Hopefully I'll end up with an internship. Cross your fingers!

Annoyed

Don't you hate it when you're just irritable for no reason?
I've been like that all day today.

Of course, not wanting to be a total recluse for the day I went out to dinner with some people and watched a movie. They're still here hanging with my roommates but I am in my room. I don't want to be out there with everyone when all I want to do is slap them haha. I'm one of those people that needs regular breaks from other people. I like to go and hang out with people and have fun but then come back, relax, and re-center myself.

Its also annoying when they lean over mid-movie and ask you if you have eggs so they can make a mess making cookies in your kitchen.

Guest: Do you have eggs? I want to make cookies...
Me: You're not using my kitchen.
Guest: Whyyyy? *whine*
Me: Because you'll make a mess and leave it there. No.

Thankfully I seem to have won that argument. And the same person asked if they could use our coffeemaker no more than twenty minutes later. Luckily, no one in the apartment drinks coffee so we don't have one.

Its not that I don't want people to have fun when they're over, I just hate cleaning up their messes and furthermore when I'm already super irritable and PMS-ing, I don't want to deal with that. Maybe I'm just being a bitch tonight, but everyone deserves one night like that, right?

Squish

Note to Self: Never complain to your 3 large male roommates that you are cold. They will either sit on you or get into bed with you.

I made this mistake the other night and all three of them hopped onto my bed. Now it smells like boy.

Also, I informed them about my desire to write a book about my year with them and they are actually quite excited about it. They want to pick out their own names for the book rather than me referring to them by their real names. Not that they are afraid of being called out by first name in my book, but they think it would be cool.

Now I'm afraid they're going to purposely do obnoxious things in the attempt to get it into my book. Ohhhh boy.

The Blueberry Waffle Hole

Every day I live in this apartment, I become more and more convinced that I need to write a book.
Honestly, my life is ridiculous.

Last night, our revenge on one roommate got the best of us. See, he put all this food in the freezer last semester and forgot about it. Never touched it. So.... Sean moved it into the freezers of our mini-fridges (ie - beer fridges). Now, those freezers don't work very well and Sean opened the mini fridge.

The smell was overwhelming.
Unbelievable.
It was -2 outside but we still opened the sliding glass door to air the place out. It was like a bomb went off. A horrible, rancid blueberry waffle bomb.

After that fiasco, we decided to watch a movie. Since we're all mature adults, we watched Cars. About halfway through the movie, Sean gets up and here is the conversation.

Me: Where are you going?
Sean: Gonna go fart in the laundry rooom.
Me: No, don't. I have clothes in there.
Sean: Doorway?
Me: Ughhhhh....
Sean: What? At least I have the decency to do it somewhere else!

Aaaand then giggles ensued. These are the types of conversations I have come to expect. I could write an entire chapter of a book alone on farting or the blueberry waffle hole. I wonder if anyone would read it...?

Goodnight everyone and remember: Have a heart, don't fart.

Homework Sometimes Makes me Think.

I've just finished reading a couple of articles on sustainability and current product design and I have to say, we're screwed. We're all going to get cancer and the Earth is going to heat up to a billion degrees and melt us all someday.

Its unbelievable the types of things that go into everyday items that we don't even think about. Your shoes release carcinogens into the air every time you take a step. Did you know that?

Sitting on the couch is dangerous.
Drinking out of a bottle can put all sorts of toxins in your system.
The things we eat will give us cancer.

Its so easy to become resigned to this fact.
Businesses have, that's why they continue to produce products with all this crap in them. They don't care as long as they make money. At least they can afford their cancer treatment that they'll inevitably need someday.

Why is it that when you purchase something you have to fight to get it out of the package? Why do we need such a large bottle for twenty pills? And why does that bottle need to be in a padded box three times its size?

How did we become this way?
It all seems so selfish.

"Currently, more money is being spent on breast implants and Viagra than on Alzheimer's research. So, in the very near future there should be a large elderly population with impressive breasts and magnificent erections, but no recollection of what to do with them"
- Sally Feldman


That is so funny and yet so depressing all at once.