”If you've ever been alone in the dark blue, If you've ever been alone you'll know” - Jack's Mannequin

It sure has been a while since I’ve last written. Now I’m *gasp* internet-less, and I’ve just managed to find enough to put the finishing touches on the construction of this update and send it out.

Last I wrote I believe I was just going into finals. The finals themselves went well I think. Mostly it’s just nice to have them out of the way. Three of my four were take-homes, which was nice in the sense that I could e-mail everything in and theoretically not leave the nice warm building. In actuality most professors at Ripon only give take-homes when the exam they wrote will take longer than the three-hour allotted time period. End jealousy, begin pity...

Right around that same time our sorority had its officer transitioning. Elections were interesting: I am now officially freed of the time commitment that is inevitable with the treasurer position and the task of decorating the hallways with colorful door decorations. On the flip side, I was elected to the positions of Assistant Finance Vice President, Panhellenic Representative, and Alumnae Relations Chair. Granted all of the positions I am taking on are smaller positions than the ones I had before, briefing others on all the things my old positions entailed and being briefed on all the details of my new positions took significantly longer than expected. NOT what I needed during take-home finals fest 2006.

The go-see Monday went really well. The place was easy enough to find, and everyone there was really nice. When I was talking to the gentleman conducting my interview-ish thing, he actually said that he was almost positive the company would choose me for the photo shoot. Sure enough I got a call from my agency on Tuesday “congratulations, you got the job!”

Unfortunately the job was not quite as easy to find. It actually took place inside someone’s home, which was located inside this mesmerizingly twisty subdivision. The home was actually that of the #2 and #3 sellers for Veridian homes, and as you may have guessed it was designed and built by Veridian as well. The place was gorgeous, all of it. We didn’t use all of it, however; the cameras were set up to look at one angle in the living room, and they did not budge the entire five and a half hours I was there. There were also a number of outfits that the advertising agency had chosen for me to wear. While I assumed I might be in all of them, I was really in one for a majority of the shoot, and another top for a few shots. It was nothing like I had expected, but Danny and I did get a sweet lunch out of the deal. He came along as my navigator and sat through the entire ordeal, which I’m sure was terribly boring with nothing to do. What a trooper. : )

As I was leaving Madison on Wednesday, I got another call on my cell phone from my agency. “How did the photo shoot go? Great. Ummm, are you free Friday to do another shoot for EasyBay? Awesome, we’ll send you details for that too.” This was the busiest modeling week EVER. It was a good thing finals fell like they did! When I got to Wausau on Friday, I found that I would be modeling two outfits. The first was pretty simple, a pink and white Red Sox fan jersey and some jeans (look for me, but I don’t know when). The second was the Strength Training gear that EastBay sells. I’ll link it all so you can see it: black and red matchy-matchy vest, shorts, and shoes. Of course this super-athletic gear required a super-athletic action shot to do it justice. Everything was fair game: running, high-knees, bounding, and jumping with the weighted jump rope, all from all angles. That day was fine. The NEXT day I realized why it was called strength training. Apparently they’ll be using those photos for years and years, and possibly online and in magazines. Look everywhere for those. If I get copies of anything in print, of course I’ll share.

Friday night I was flattered as an honorary roommate at Emily, Jamie, and Lydia’s Holiday Soiree. Madison is so different than Ripon when it comes to their get-togethers. Ripon: “ummm, yeah, I think there’s another soda in my fridge. I have a half-bag of chips; you can have some of those. Hold on, I’ll make popcorn.” Madison: food has been cooking all day; some if it they made the day before. Homemade cider is mulling on the stovetop for which the recipe was carefully selected from many worthy candidates. By the end of everything the entire coffee table was covered with homemade food, complete with costumed-Santas for serving.

I worked a couple shifts at Roma’s since break which has provided a miniscule thread of normalcy. Thursday I packed up and began my mini-Midwestern travels as well. Danny’s step-mom was busy with wedding preparation, so he told me not to rush. My parents called and said that freezing rain was fast approaching the western side of the state, so they told me to hurry up. How do I hurry up while wasting as much time as possible? Make a pit stop, of course. I couldn’t pass up an opportunity to go that close to the twin cities without seeing Kaplan, so I met up with Kaplan and Venessa (who happened to pop in the same day) for dinner. Completely oblivious to the evening’s events, we decided Champp’s would be an excellent choice for dinner. A little of everything, right? Almost. There was a notable shortage of Packer-fans amid the sea of Viking helmets. I’m not kidding, real helmets, with the horns and the fake braids and everything. There is no scarier place than being a Wisconsinite among big scary Viking fans.

Emerging unscathed post-dining, I headed from Kaplan’s back east to Danny’s. The drive was boring, but easy. Nothing the GPS couldn’t handle...until I got there. Not a single house had a mailbox, and the house numbers were impossible to read without any lighting. Apparently a town that size has no in-town mail delivery. I thought East Troy was small! Clear Lake felt a lot like home, though, especially being around Danny’s family. I’ve never had to help my family plan to put on a wedding, though. Friday was busy busy busy getting ready for Saturday.

The wedding was fun, especially meeting the entire family on both sides. Having spent the holidays as a family of four for the last many years, I had forgotten how much fun Christmas with lots of people around can be. And kids! The kids were so excited when Santa stopped by for a visit. It was sad leaving all of that excitement on Christmas Eve when I made the drive back to be with my family. We celebrated our Christmas on Christmas Day, just the four of us once again. Talk about your polar opposites, but we had a nice relaxing day, which was much needed after all that travel. My favorite present from the family this season was Jack, a GPS navigator, and he’s already saved me from more lost-ness than I care to imagine.

Yesterday was my first day out on the ski hill. I skied the morning and snowboarded the afternoon. In hindsight, maybe I should have kept it to one set of muscles for my first day. The snow was nice, but working the storage wax off of the bottoms both sets of equipment was apparently more work than I originally thought. Today was pretty chilly too, not temperature-wise, but that through-your-layers kind of chilly that comes when the air is moist. Burrr! Here’s hoping for some better days to come.

I’ll be working at Roma’s Sunday night for their New Year’s Eve celebration; anyone who will be in the area should stop by at least for a little while. Sorry this one got so long. I’ll keep up to date next time. ; )

Happy Holidays!
<3 Rebecca~

"Just when you think you're in control, just when you think you've got a hold, just when you get on a roll...here it goes, here it goes again" - OK Go

Ripon experienced its first real stay-put snowfall last Friday. As for campus snow removal, they got a late start, making the trek to and from class quite interesting. The class buildings are all uphill from all of the dormitories. On the way back, I would describe my motion as snowboarding, except substitute what would be my boots with clogs and substitute my snowboard with...actually just take that out. Just crazy.

Saturday was our martial arts Federation's Annual Christmas Party and Awards Banquet. Both my mom and my dad earned their first-degree black belts in Judo, among a number of our other students getting various ranks and awards. I'm so proud! In situations like these you usually you see a picture of the proud parents with the accomplished child; for once the tables turned:

Danny was sweet enough to be my date. In particular I thought he did great. Last time I brought a guy to one of these types of things he was terrified of my parents AND everyone else in the room. I never understood why this was a frightening experience: a room full of people who could break you a dozen ways before you hit the ground. Oh wait, maybe that's it... In any event, props.

More papers this week. I have one final tomorrow, and the rest are take-homes. Three cheers for such an awesome finals schedule! It works out perfectly, actually, because I got a call from my agency for a go-see in Madison Monday. If all goes well with that I'll have a shoot next Wednesday. It's for some home development company. I'm sure I'll know more in the next few days. Wish me luck!

Stay sane!

<3 Rebecca~

"I was caught in the rain, wasting my time on the ground. It was you who could get me high with whatever you say. You're telling me something real"

There are puddles everywhere and green grass as far as the eye can see. I do believe I'm in Seattle. Everything else looks like Ripon, but it's raining like Seattle. No joke. Bring on the snow!

This Thanksgiving was the first in a while when we haven't gone up north to go skiing. We had a nice relaxing Thanksgiving at home in East Troy and went to see Casino Royale, the new James Bond movie, afterward. The most pleasant surprise of all pleasant surprises was Danny coming to visit and meet the family. Friday we head to Minnesota to visit my aunt, uncle, and grandpa. On our way out of town, we stopped by the nursing home to say goodbye and managed to sneak in a picture.

Saturday morning I got to meet Danny's parents. They were so nice! It's funny realizing not only how much we have in common, but how much our parents have in common too. Just ironic. Sorry, I'll stop being such a sap. But I'm a happy sap. ;-) Just throwin' that out there.

This week was the week of presentations. It's nice to have those out of the way. I dub next week the week of papers. And the week after will be the week of take-home finals. Then the week of much sleep. Man, I can’t wait for the week of much sleep...

Alright, a little side bar: Sudoku anyone? No really. I’m completely addicted. Not only to that, though, I also have sound a recent affinity for creating stuff -- anything really -- on Photoshop. Possibly in the week of much sleep I’ll have some time for that stuff.

Best of luck to everyone in the upcoming weeks with finals and whatnot!

Happy Holidays,
<3 Rebecca~

"There is no question there was some connection. I gotta follow my heart no matter how far. I've gotta roll the dice:...never think twice" -Papa Roach

Happy Thanksgiving! First and foremost I have to say congratulations to Ms. Sammi! A happy, healthy Ayden Brielle entered this world on Friday the 17th with an amazing drug-free delivery. Props to you, girl(s)!

Two Fridays ago my sorority had it..s annual Blind Bash. It's intended to be a blind date with someone to see if they..d make a good date for the upcoming formal. I went with a hilarious friend of mine, Mike, and we had an awesome time at the dive of a bowling alley where we went. Formal was even better, all dressed up going to Royal Ridges - a really nice banquet facility in Ripon .. with great food and awesome company.

The past two weeks have been fraught with meetings and assignments. I don..t know why everything seems to work that way: one week you..ve got a typical, manageable schedule, then the next two everyone and their grandfather just needs something from you. What gives?

In non-scholastic news, I thought I would share that I am dating the sweetest man I do believe I..ve ever met; his name is Danny. Every day we..re finding more and more we have in common. In particular, conversations are lovely: even on those days where you can..t seem to spit out what you..re trying to say, he completely understands. It..s magnificent. I..ve got a good feeling about this one. ;) Stay tuned for further updates. I don..t have any great stories yet, but I..ll throw in one more photo. It..s a tad blurry, but it..s one of my favorites.

I don..t see much hope for much to-die-for interesting things happening in my life in the last two weeks of school. Anyone want to volunteer to write a paper or ten for me?? I promise to try to keep on track with these, though. Until Wednesday, take care!

<3 Perk~

"one day our generation is gonna rule the population so we keep on waiting, waiting on the world to change" - John Mayer

As I write you all this lovely update, I am snacking on some cheese and crackers. These aren’t just any crackers, though; these are cheese crackers. Yes, spreadable cheese on already-cheese-flavored crackers;
only in Wisconsin. Would you like to hear something completely un-Wisconsin? It is currently 66˚ and mostly sunny. Even the weather is happy that Wisco went blue! That’s as far into the politics as I’m going to go via blog. (Sorry Ryan.)

This past weekend was wonderful: Kaplan came to visit from Minnesota! We watched the season premiere of The OC – as I will continue to do religiously until the finale – and pretty much did nothing. We’re really interesting people, just take my word for it. This weekend actually turned into an unofficial Alumnae weekend, as we were graced with the presence of Kristin and E-beth since their boyfriends’ formal was on Saturday.

Instead of being chic and glam on Saturday, I spent 6 gothic hours wearing my black provided tee shirt, black pants, and black closed-toe shoes in the Fond du Lac Wal-Mart promoting Axe again. As much as these jobs rule, I just wish I had free stuff to give out or, at the very least, a coupon. Instead we have a half-page stuffer-style advertisement to give out. I was actually surprised how well it went.

I was promoting the new line of body washes, and there are four scents. In particular we were focusing on the green one, “Recovery,” but it didn’t hurt to let people smell all four of the scents. Seriously, though, what makes people feel the need to squeeze it out of the bottle onto the top of the dispenser and then close the lid? It honestly reminded me of ketchup bottles. Sick! One woman even squeezed so much out that a huge glob went running all down the side of the bottle; she proceeded to close the lid and put it back onto my CARDBOARD shelf. Ummmm, hello? I’m standing right here? Wouldn’t you be embarrassed? Some people...yeesh.

School is going fine. Now is that time of year when all the big projects are lurking on the horizon. It kinda makes me feel like Red-Rover. This is the complete opposite, however, of my boy situation in that there is none. No one in particular, and no swarm of prospects. I’d so much prefer that this situation be reversed. What’s a girl to do?

Take a nap. That’s my answer. My cheese and crackers are done, and so am I. Happy hump day! It’s half over, thank god...

Much <3 Perk~

"Hello. How are you? Like your shoes. Love your hair! Hello. How are you? Love that shirt. You look great!" – Early November

My last few weeks have been so uneventful, you would have gotten to read about how I spent all of the previous week doing homework. I was doing you a favor by not writing...or at least that’s what I’m choosing to tell myself.

Since I’m such a snooze, I almost thought about telling you about someone else’s week. Sweet, huh? Then I decided you all love me just the way I am...or at least that’s what I’m choosing to tell myself.

There were a few costume parties on campus this week. I surveyed the costumes I saw and the vast majority fit into three categories: store-bought, something plain with a mask, and pirates. Some fit into more than one category. I proceeded to see how others’ Halloween parties were. You should have SEEN some of this creativity!

Not all of them were a lot to write home about, but almost everyone I saw from photos from Madison had an original, homemade creation. Peanut butter and jelly sandwich? No, I never would have thought of that. No chance. A Grey Goose? Not just any bee, but the Cheerios bee? This is way more planning than I would ever put into a costume, but they looked awesome! There’s always hope for me next year...

Saturday I’m promoting Axe again. Visit (you can ask where if you want to know) or wish me luck! Ummmmm, my life is boring. I keep it interesting by solving other people’s problems and living vicariously through their drama. haha

Tomorrow will be exciting: Kaplan is coming AND the season premiere of The OC is on. More excitement in my Thursday than there has been since I wrote last!

Hope everyone is staying warm!

<3 Perk~

“I’m runnin late, and I don’t need no excuse cuz I’m wearin my brand new shoes.” - Paolo Nutini

This week I blame Fall Break for my lateness in e-mail. Wednesday was an extremely long (but not terrible) day of driving back from visiting Kaplan in Minnesota.

Venessa and I embarked on our westward trek on Saturday afternoon after a myriad of distractions. Unfortunately I don't have any great stories from our mini-trip, but we do (well, Kaplan does) have plenty of great photos. This is all attributed to Venessa's general hilarity and in no way due to us doing anything that anyone else would consider fun. Whenever she gets those off her camera (don’t hold your breath) I might share a few.

Talladega Nights was good. Have you seen it yet? Go see it. I challenge you to do it for less than $1 like we did. ; ) Kidding. Sorta. Actually just buy it when it comes out. If you like Will Farrell you'll like Talladega Nights. Also see Mambo Italiano if you haven't yet and if you can handle gay comedy. Actually the first condition is optional.

Enough with the movie advice; let's just face the facts and admit I had the most boring week ever. If VH1 did a show on that, they'd be pounding down my door. "So you, uh, went bowling? And drove a lot? Sweeeeeeet." "But producer-guy! We've got pictures of Venessa!"

Yeah he's gone. And so am I. Goodnight! And hey, it's Friday!
Perk~

"If you reach deep inside you’ll see my heart is true" - 12 Stones

The past week hasn’t been terribly eventful. I did forget last week with everything else to report to mention that I made senior class board. We plan a bunch of stuff for the senior class. That’s pretty much all I know about it right now. BUT I do know that there are only 5 of us from the entire senior class, so that’s pretty pimp.

Saturday was busy but fun. In the morning we had an alumni cook out, which – with me planning it – turned into an alumni order-in. We got a big party sub from SubWay and hung out with some ADPi alumnae.

I left for home right afterward to head to the Aerosmith and Motley Crue concert. When I arrived I found out I would be working VIP instead of my normal Import Station. We were bummed at first because not only were we not warned, but we then found out we’d be getting done two hours later than expected. Booooooo. It turned out being pretty fun, better lit, and nice to not be the one responsible for making sure everything balances at the end of the night. Note for next year: take over VIP with girls who aren’t bitches, i.e. MY girls. :-D
(our before photo)


Afterwards I was able to meet up with my girls for a little while, and we saw a ton of people we knew, as usual. Emily and Kate and I ended up hanging out at my house catching up. It was great, like we never missed a beat. Then the girls went home. : ( Breakfast with the Mouilso family the next morning was amazing, though. It was good to see one family while I was home for my less than 24 hours, though.

Saturday Venessa and I get to go visit Kaplan in Minnesota. We’re stoked. I’m already done with all of my midterms (as of yesterday, as a matter of fact). That didn’t really matter too much, but it makes me feel accomplished. Anyway, I then get to come home on Wednesday and see my parents for the first time in what seems like a long time. I’ll let you know how all that stuff went next week.

This afternoon I worked a promo for Sunsilk. THAT was a blast. They sent me 450 samples ahead of times to pass out today, but they said that I needed to familiarize myself with them. Hello, tons of free shampoo and conditioner! It was pretty fun, but, like usual, a lot of mean rejection from people who don’t want to be pressured into buying something. Who doesn’t take free samples?!
What’s this world coming to?!?

Anyway, that’s all for now. Take care, stay healthy (unlike me), and don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.

Rebecca~

"Watch the Rain Fall, I Don't Care. I'm Yours and Suddenly You're Mine...and It's Brighter Than Sunshine" - Aqualung

Welcome to a special week-and-a-half-late edition of my life journal. I’ll try to keep this brief, but I’ll be honest: I’ve accumulated a lot of strange links in the past 16 days, so I’ll need enough words to link those to. ; )

In the past 3 weekends, 2 of them were philanthropy filled fun: Derby Days for the Children’s Miracle Network and Frisbee Golf for Leukemia/Lymphoma. Derby Days involves a lot of Follies-like (for you ET folk) activities: with your forehead on the end of a vertical bat, spin 15 times around it then try to run (quite funny because people fall down and unintentionally run into buildings), try to drop the insides of as many of your dozen raw eggs into your Derby Daddy’s mouth as possible from the 3rd story window while he lays on the ground below, hot dog eating contests, etc. Lots of fun…usually. The guy running it this year was kind of a prick, and by “kind of” I mean “really.”

For Frisbee Golf you have a caddy or two and you go around trying to hit things with your Frisbee. We had some pretty awesome and some pretty un-awesome players, which makes for the best possible time. Whenever your Frisbee flies astray, if it’s in the woods or down by the creek or deep in a shrub it’s the caddy’s job to fetch it for you. I wish I had taken pictures!

Last Friday I was part of a Date Auction to raise money for one of the dorm buildings on campus. Lame cause, fun idea. Four friends and I auctioned ourselves off. I was purchased for a whopping $16 dollars, but I still haven’t gotten official confirmation of my buyer.

This week is Homecoming week at Ripon, and I will once again be working for the Homecoming football game. Senior year and my Homecoming game attendance still stands at a whopping zero. Sad. Tomorrow is the Aerosmith & Motley Crue concert at Alpine. Not only will I not get to see my parents at all, but I have to be back in Ripon by noon Sunday anyway. Lotsa driving for this girl this weekend.

After this, though, there’s only one last week until Fall Break and seeing-Kaplan-in-Minnesota time. I’m really excited. Keep your fingers crossed for me to get back onto a weekly schedule with these!

Love,
Rebecca~

"Honey, why you callin me so late? It's kinda hard to talk right now." -Hinder

Happy Humpday! Since last week SO MUCH has happened, but I’ll do my best to keep this free of needless rambling.

We were in the middle of initiation week last time I wrote, and now the newbies are fully initiated members of Alpha Delta Pi. Congrats to them!

Friday was not only Venessa’s birthday, but it also signified 24-hours-and-counting until my birthday. After our classes, Venessa, Paula, Steph, and I went to Appleton for birthday pedicures. It was sooooo nice. When we got back to Ripon, we found Kaplan (who had been in Ripon since about 12:30, wandering campus and saying hellos) and immediately proceeded to order take out Chinese in accordance with tradition.

The girls decorated my room with streamers and a “Happy Birthday” banner and a TON of balloons. They proceeded to decorate me with a “Birthday Princess” crown, plastic hoop “Princess” earrings, a Mardi-Gras-esque “Princess” necklace, a gaudy pink feather boa (that itched terribly, for the record), and some birthday handcuffs. Those came in handy for not losing Kaplan later.


We went to the bars at midnight, and made it to two before bar time. I was not carded. I was sad. I guess the crazy get-up might have been a give away, but really! Oh well. Good friends, good times, an overall pleasant birthday.

Saturday night Emily, Katie, and Kate came up to visit from their respective towns of residence. It was miraculous, really. We had a great time, and I got quite the gambit of gifts from them, which was pretty funny to be opening at the restaurant when we went out for birthday dinner. The food was good, the company was great, and the service was sub-par. The early evening averaged a good+, company carrying more weight than service.

That night there was a lounge party on campus. Read: tons of people, mostly-empty room, large speakers, and – for the girls from home – a room of perfect strangers. We had an exceptionally good time. Knowing virtually everyone on campus has its advantages: the birthday girl got to make unlimited song requests. More often than not they would be on next. It was like my own personal party!

After the lounge party shut down (or slightly before) my now completely legal group of friends trekked it the 2-3 blocks to Bert’s, a bar in town that was having a foam party. Having never seen this ever before in my life, I was in awe. Another great at-the-door story: I hand the bouncer my ID, and WHILE he’s looking at it, Emily says, “it’s her birthday!” He hands me my ID BACK and says “oh yeah? How old?” How old? You were supposed to have just looked at my ID! Do the math! And realize that the date where it says “under 21 until” is TODAY! Oh Ripon intellect…

Since then I’ve basically been catching up on homework and slowly picking up my room. Most of the balloons are now just hiding under my bed. Sorry I didn’t have better birthday stories, but I would say overall that it was a great 21st. Thanks to everyone who sent birthday wishes! It was much appreciated. :)

Rebecca~

"Don't cry to me...If you want me, come find me. Make up your mind." -Evanescence

Peeves:

#1: The grounds guy moving the lawn right now, only worsened by the simultaneous weed-whacking by another grounds guy. Don't they know I'm trying to write a very important e-mail? I closed one window, but it's a little hot n humid out today, and I want my fan on! What is it about the noise of lawn machines that is so grating? If I get distracted or off track, I blame the yard guys. (Nowhere near as cute as the yard guys on The OC, unfortunately.)

#2: The amount of blue on my calendar. I've given up trying to hide it, and I'm pretty sure we all know I'm a nerd with a pretty well developed case of OCD. I have my schedule on my computer, on my Palm Pilot, and posted outside my door for all to stalk. Blue happens to be the color for sorority events. Don't get me wrong, at times it's great, but when there's more blue than purple (school related events), I kinda want to rip my hair out. And by kinda I mean really.

#3: Each day only comes with 24 hours, and the longest hours are those spent sitting in class. Not sure what it was -- maybe the weather, maybe that it's hump day, maybe that my birthday is obscenely close, maybe that the stuff just interesting -- but class today was the worst two hours in all my recent class recollections. AND it was only two hours spent in two different classes. That should have been cake! Aye.

On the flip side, I would have liked to trade some of those long hours for the short ones I spent at home this Saturday. Venessa and Paula (my neighbors) drove home with me for the day to hang out on the lake for probably the last skiable weekend of the year. We had a great time, but it would have been greater had we actually got up at 9 like we planned instead of 11:30. It was good to see home again, and a good reminder how close it really is if I ever need a sanity-break from Ripon.

#4: BUSY WORK! That seems to be all I've been getting lately. My favorite was a teacher's oh-yeah-I-forgot-to-tell-you-but-these-two-readings-and-papers-are-due-tomorrow stunt. Suuuuper, I'll just add that onto my already huge list of tasks. Then apparently we only had to do one paper. Oops, she misspoke. MISSPOKE? How about a little extra credit for the misspeak? No? Figures...

That's enough whining for me for one week, I suppose. Next's week's should be full of good stories after the big 2-1 on Saturday. Gifts can be sent to 600 Campus Dr. #568, Ripon, WI 54971-1400. kidding. sorta...

Happy Hump Day!
Rebecca~

"Bring on the [freshmen] and their pick-up lines!" -Gretchen Wilson

It’s been a busy two weeks. Sorry I’ve been scarce, and thanks to those of you who badgered me enough to make sure this one got out even though it’s a day late. The two-week update task is kinda overwhelming, so I’ll try to categorize.

Work: The end of my run at the golf course was nice and stressful. I was blessed with 4 days of poor shifts in a row as my final 4 days there. Luckily Roma’s was good. Not good financially, just good for all the same reasons I love Roma’s. Alpine still has two shows remaining, one this weekend and another in October.

School: Today was day two of classes. Fortunately day two was significantly better than day one. Today I was supposed to have two hours of my senior seminar, and it lasted 15 minutes. Glorious! Day one I was assigned a gigantic amount of homework for tomorrow and Monday. Aye. On the plus side, I’m pretty much settled into my room. It could use some decorating, but for now it’s acceptable. And I only forgot a few (dozen) essentials at home...

Comedy Sportz: Tuesday Ripon College was graced once again by the traveling comedy group known as Comedy Sportz. They’re usually a pretty good time. They’re an even better time when you’re on stage like I was. Ahhhh, love these guys. They’re based in Milwaukee, and next time I’m home (fall break maybe? over Christmas?) I think it’d be fun to get a group together and go. Any takers?

Boys: I’ve been witnessing a lot of relationship drama lately. It makes me glad that I don’t have that on my already overloaded-feeling plate. There’s still no one in particular, but I thought it would be worth mentioning that there is a quite attractive crop of freshmen this year. ;)

Volleyball: Speaking of my plate, I’m thinking sporting might have to be scooped off the edge. It’s getting to be too far away, and there’s enough going on here at school to keep me content. Our captain is getting not-so-fun to play with, too, which makes the long drive from school seem even less worth it.

My Brain: Clearly it’s fading fast because as I’m writing I feel like it’s all just stream of consciousness, not all that focused. I guess I’ll wrap this up and hope for better luck next Wednesday.

Thanks for reading! Have a great week.
Rebecca~

"I love it when she calls my phone. She even got her very own ringtone; if that ain't love then I don't know what love is." -Gym Class Heroes

Another week, another update with not much to say. You know what that means: lots of links. ; )

Once again I pretty much spent all my time at the golf course. It’s been quite stressful, but I only have 10 more possible days, then it’s back to college. Maybe before I go back I’ll find some time to unpack all the stuff I brought home last May, and of course I’ll need to scrounge up some time to repack.

People keep asking if I’m excited to go back to school, and I can’t really say yes. I’m excited to go back and see everyone I haven’t seen in so long, but I’m not so excited about the redundancy of classes and homework and tests and whatnot.

I had my one day off on Monday. The weather was nice, so I thought it’d be a good day to spend on the lake. A friend just flew into Wisconsin from California the night before, though, and had nothing to do all alone at the friend’s house where he was staying, so I picked him up to come out with me. A “few” errands later, we weren’t back to East Troy until 3:30, and didn’t have everything ready for the boat until 4:30. The 82˚ day got chilly pretty quick after that, but it was obvious by my distinct seatbelt tan line that the better sun was out before I was ready for it.

It’s funny how time flies in the summer, and just draaaaaaaaaags on when you’re going to class every day. One year left, I guess. ONE MONTH UNTIL MY BIRTHDAY! That’s something to look forward to…

Hope everyone had a great Humpday,
Rebecca~

"I was out of touch, but it wasn't because I didn't know enough; I knew too much" -Gnarls Barkley

Well there goes another week. It just FLEW by! I actually had yesterday off of both jobs and completely plan free, BUT I didn’t even realize it had been a week since I last wrote. Unfortunately the upcoming workweek doesn’t look much better: another six days at the golf club, but only one where I also have to close the bar afterward. Upside: I have the day after off, which seems to be the best possible placed day off I’ve seen in a while.

We rocked volleyball last week. We had a double header, and one of the teams was the one currently ranked first in our league. Like the champs we are, we took all three games with what didn’t seem to be much effort. In the second match we won the first two, and narrowly dropped the third. Everyone was pretty exhausted. During game 5 I had to ask what game we were on. Bad sign.

Saturday we threw a graduation party at the house for my brother. It sounded like a good time with great food and even greater company, but unfortunately I missed it for my workoholics anonymous meeting...which ironically takes place at work.

Actually Saturday night was a blast: not only did I get to work with Kate who’s always chipper and fun, but also Roma’s hosted another comedian. The opener was good: funny, but didn’t respond to the crowd very well. The headliner, Tim Joyce, was AMAZING!! I wish I were working the next show... :-/

I wish I had something more interesting to write about than work. A mere 18 days until I move back into school, though, so hopefully that’ll generate some good stuff for ya. As for this week, enjoy the links.

Rebecca~

"You saw everyone has an angel...I think everyone has a devil waiting in the wings" -O.A.R.

I even push my own due date back to Wednesdays, and it’s still late. Sorry gang. Happy Day-After-Humpday! Good news: one day of the workweek left for all of you with real jobs…uh, unlike myself.

Let’s see, since last Wednesday I’ve worked at the golf course five days. I feel like I never leave, and I’m finally getting the hang of how they operate. Thankfully all this is happening just in time for the end of summer. Better late than never, right?

Last Saturday I worked yet another Ozzfest at the glorious Alpine Valley Music Theater. Years past I’ve had to be in at 7 Am, but this year it was 8 AM. Believe you me, I was a happy girl. Not so happy that my stand didn’t have to be operational until 3 PM, however. Logic here? I’m not sure. There must have been some, but people just are not looking for $8 beer at 8 in the morning. Especially not when they can drink their less-than-$8-per-six-pack beer in the parking lot. The show went alright, though. I recognized maybe three songs anyone played all night…

Roma’s has been good. Last Sunday was slow, but my regular crowd was there, and they were a good time. This Saturday (as in the 29th, yes, two days from today) we’re hosting another comedian in the bar. $7 admission; show starts at 9:00. The lovely Kate and I will be there bartending, so we’d love for some of your friendly faces in the crowd. ; )

Volleyball last Thursday went well. We only lost one of the games (therefore winning the match), and it was a close back and forth battle. No shame there. Speaking of volleyball, I’ve gotta be getting there. Sorry again for the late update. Check for another one next Wednesday (fingers crossed), and hopefully it’ll have more links and whatnot.

Rebecca~

This Is What I Brought You, This You Can Keep

Another late update; my apologies. The last few days have been unbelievably busy. The beginning of the week started out nice and low key, though. Out to dinner a few times, got a dress for Kari’s wedding that Saturday, nothing too earth-shattering. (Except that I cleaned and reorganized my room Wednesday. This is the cleanest I’ve seen my room in years, no joke.)

Thursday I was called in early for the bev cart. Night owls like myself like to know when they will be expected to pull their strength-less bodies from their beds at an ungodly morning hour to go to work. Knowing is all I ask. Is that too much? Rhetorical question, because we’ve all heard me whine about this before. Luckily I was back again on Friday, making two financially underwhelming days in a row.

Not to let my workaholic self slack, I also worked a wedding Friday night after being on the cart all morning. It was a small group of 55, but the place was loud. After singing Karaoke Thursday night and yelling over the noise in the wedding Friday, I was well on my way to developing Sunday’s voiceless self.

Saturday morning I made my way to Neenah for grandma Kari’s wedding. It was so cute to see her and Dan together, all dolled up and finally tying the knot. Speaking of all dolled up, recall the dress I purchased earlier in the week? So I arrived at the Venessa’s house to get ready for the ceremony, and Kaplan walks out of the house already dressed. “What a cute dress!” I think to myself. Upon further inspection, even after spending 2 months apart we still have the exact same taste: we picked out the exact same dress. As if people didn’t confuse the two of us enough!

The ceremony was short, like 25 minutes. It was nice because it was 100˚+ outside, but coming from a Catholic family I wondered where the rest of the wedding went. The reception was really nice too. The room was gorgeous, and there was a cheesecake on every table. What more could a girl want?

Of course I had to be back for work again on Sunday. Last week Sunday lunch was super busy, so I came in early to help with the lunch crowd if need be. We saw all of 6 people. Oh, that must have been because they all showed up for dinnertime. I usually see in the ballpark of 20 people my entire Sunday, but this week I had more than 20 in the bar for a good few hours. I never realized how much the heat really convinces people to go or order out!

Monday I worked for Kate so she could prepare for a speech. Once again I was really busy from what I remember of her Mondays. I also thought about sitting down to write this last Monday, but I wrote a review for the comedy show Roma’s hosted on Saturday instead, and I was out of writing creativity. Anyone in the ET area who wants to come to the next one, let me know. It’s Saturday, July 29th at 9 PM.

I had to work bright and early at the golf course again on Tuesday morning. After 3 hours of sleep and sleep deprivation since the last time I worked, this felt like one of the longest shifts I’ve had. Nonetheless, I came home and attempted to write this update. And fell asleep. That’s right, I was sitting on my bed with my laptop, paused for a moment, and fell asleep. I think we’re good now. I hope.

Happy Humpday, readers!
Rebecca~

Did I Shave My Legs For This?

Once again it’s Monday, but it’s currently 2:30 AM, technically still my Monday, so I feel better about that. I do, however, have a mosquito bite in the arch of my foot; I feel worse about that. All in all I think it averages out. Any grievances can be addressed to my complaint department.

All in all I’ve had a pretty interesting week. Let’s just lay out the ground rules, though, and refrain from mentioning the B-name. Haven’t talked to him since Monday. We’re through. Wednesday I had an awesome time visiting Steph and Mike and Kent and Alex in Ripon. We had cheap Chinese food and watched TV and just hung out. It was amazingly fun in its own relaxing sort of way.

Volleyball went alright this Thursday. Despite my own inconsistent performance, we won the first two games and just narrowly lost the third.

Friday was my second and last of the Axe Body Spray promotions at area Wal-Marts (not really on the pic). This one was worse than the last. For some reason I ran out of scent cards (you know, the pieces of cardboard you spray stuff on that people can take with them) two hours before the promo was supposed to end. For whatever reason, it was much more difficult to get the West Bend customers to let you spray the Axe right on them than it was in Lake Geneva. Read: The last two hours were a huge waste of time.

Saturday night and tonight I closed at Roma’s. Knowing people rocks. That’s all I have to say to summarize the two evenings. Besides creepy thin man, I really don’t have any good stories, and that one isn’t really a good story, just creepy and weird.

Best wishes to Grandma Kari with the last minute plans and her wedding this weekend. Congrats to Sammi on five months with child. Happy Birthday to Ms. Katie on Thursday, and best of luck in California.

Hopefully I’ll have some good wedding stories for next week’s update.

"I Don't Want To Stand Here And Say I'm Sorry. I Just Want To Drink Beer And Play Atari. You Can Tell Your Mom How I Make My Money. I Don't Care."

Happy 4th of July! Well, at least it was when I typed this... The internet is on the fritz.

It’s been a busy week. I worked somewhere or another every day except last Tuesday. Monday night Brian tried to catch a line drive during rec league softball with his ankle. He wouldn’t let me take him to the hospital to get it checked out until Tuesday, though. Luckily it wasn’t broken, but understandably it was still pretty painful. Tuesday I spent the day taking care of him, so that was pretty much like work anyway. Good work, though.

Thursday I got a special visit from Steph all the way from Ripon. It was gorgeous out, and we got to spend the day on the lake relaxing. LOVELY! Today was great too. AMAZING weather. If you weren’t outside today, you should have been.

Friday was interesting. I did another promotion for Axe, this time for the Body Spray. I’m pretty sure I said, “have you experienced the Axe Effect?” about a thousand times. And don’t get me wrong, I’ve done enough work for Axe that I’ve learned to love the smell, but it was so poorly ventilated that I was gettin pretty light-headed. I can’t wait to do it all again this Friday.

Saturday and Sunday Dave Matthews graced Alpine Valley. The crowd was surprisingly better the first night than the second. After the show on Sunday some fans got into my beer cooler and thought it would be funny to chuck 7 kegs down the lawn (6 empty, 1 full). As far as I’ve heard no one was hurt, just some fences.

Last night we got to watch the Summerfest fireworks at Veteran’s Park from the sweet spot Elise’s family staked out. After the show we headed over to Katie’s apartment and got to meet Elise’s new boyfriend, Matt. He survived all of our interrogation and initiation. Props to him!

I still haven’t worked at Geneva National since before I left for Florida. I couldn’t explain that if I wanted to. It’s frustrating, though. Roma’s was busy last week, but I won’t be there until Saturday night this week. I missed the last 3 sand volleyball games, though: the 1st 2 for Florida, then last week because of last-minute work. If anyone is interested in coming this Thursday, let me know.

This Sure As Hell Ain't Normal, But We Deal, We Deal... -PANIC! At The Disco

This week just seemed to fly by. The end of the Florida trip went well. We basically relaxed and socialized Wednesday, cleaned house Thursday morning, and were in transit home Thursday afternoon and evening. While we were all sitting around on Wednesday the family was swapping some pretty interesting stories. This particular story was about my grandma:

Yes, she's really as sweet as she looks. Anyway, apparently she was watching Erin Brockovich a while back. I guess there's a part in the movie where Erin produces an enormous number of signatures or something along those lines. A co-worker asked how she got all of those, and Erin says "I gave 200 blow jobs today." So dear, sweet, soft-spoken grandma was recapping this story on a car ride with daughters Mary and Kathy and their husbands, and grandma follows up, "doesn't that just sound like our Kathy?" Dear, sweet grandma had no idea what a blow job was. From what we can tell it was supposed to be a compliment, like "our Kathy, what a go-getter." Not quite the same effect...

Home has been nice so far. Friday afternoon before I had to work we went out slalom skiing for the first time this summer. It was a great time, but I'm clearly out of shape: my body STILL hurts and it's Sunday. Even little things like walking up stairs makes my legs ache, and shifting my car into 6th and reverse has become a pretty tough task for my wimpy little arm muscles. Long story short, I'm pathetic.

Last night I went to boyfriend's football game. They lost terribly. LIke, 25-0 terribly. Ouch. What do you say to that? It was their first game of the season, so I'm chalking it up to "working the bugs out." If anyone has free Saturday nights and wants to keep my company at the games, that'd be super.

Off to work. A+ for me for finally getting this out while it's still Sunday!
Rebecca~

HAPPY BIRTHDAY KAPLAN!!

Miss you!!

The Weather Is Here, Wish You Were Beautiful! - Jimmy Buffett

Greetings from Florida! This is the first access to internet I've had since Sunday, so I thought I might as well send out a mid-trip update while I was managing all of my other messages.

Last Tuesday was a great farewell to Wisconsin. I got to spend the afternoon on the lake just enjoying the weather and my company (Brian), then went out the dinner and spent the evening with the boy as well. Wednesday the rain ruined my lake plans as usual and I spent the day inside cleaning instead. I of course put off packing for our trip until about 10 PM.

We got up bright an early to get to the airport. Usually 4 AM is closer to my bed time than my wake-up alarm, but apparently today I have to run on the rest of the world's clock. We had what I would consider one of my best-timed trips to the airport in all of my travels: we arrived, parked, walked to check-in, checked in, made our way through security, and arrived at our gate, and we only had to wait about 5 minutes before they started boarding. For some that's too close for comfort, but for ME it's confirmation that I wasn't needlessly awake when I could have spent more time sleeping.

Most of our time down here has been spent at my Aunt Kathy and Uncle Ralph's home, in and around their lovely saline pool. I've been here 6 days and I'm way past spoiled. A few trip highlights: Saturday night my Uncle Tony's band was playing at this restaurant/bar place in Daytona Beach. I have photos (many) if anyone is interested. Monday we rented a pontoon for the day and spent 8 hours on the water in the sun looking for gators and manatees. The quest produced lots of gators and suntan, but no manatees. Again, I have plenty of pictures. Today we putzed around at a few of the local establishments, hit up the beach, and spent more time at Aunt Kathy's. Tomorrow we're heading into Daytona, and we're flying back Thursday evening.

I hear my Wisconsin readers are enduring hotter and more humid weather than we are down here in Florida. Overall it's been in the mid 80's to mid 90's and less humid than I remember. It's only really rained once while we've been here. Overall it's been great.

Until next week,
Perkalicious~


(Sorry, no time for links and whatnot!)

"These Days, These Nights, Are So Ordinary" -Lucky Boys Confusion

Thursday I finally got to go get my oil changed, and rather than sit around and wait for them to do it, I decided to test drive some cars at the dealership. Just for fun I asked if I could take the 2006 edition of my car out for a spin. If you have a spare 30 minutes or so, I highly recommend test driving one for yourself. Lovely.

Thursday night we had sand volleyball again. Just like every week so far there were some new additions to our line-up, but at least we had 6. A narrow 26-28 loss in the second game, but we took the match in game three. Every week we play I see more and more people I knew from high school. Don't get me wrong, it's nice seeing people I know, just a little weird since I'd never seen anyone I knew the past two years playing there.

Once again on Friday I have big plans to go out on the lake and get some sun, but the sun was less that cooperative. Instead I cleaned my room. Fuuun. (not)

Saturday was our first concert of the season at Alpine. Jimmy Buffett put on a great show, I think, although I was all near the top of the hill and working through the performance. I work at the Import Station where we have 25 different beers for sale, most of which are imported and not twist-off tops. About halfway through the show somebody decides that they need my bottle opener more than I do and walks off with it. THAT made the night interesting. The stage looked pretty festive, but not as much as previous years I didn't think.


The other interesting thing was that we weren't allowed to give out ANY bottles, even if they were plastic, which meant we had to pour everything into cups and throw the bottles away, We had one garbage can. That filled up around 7 PM. The best part was that we kept asking for things that would help us do our job (change the garbage, another garbage, LIGHTS), but nothing ever got done. Here's Jamie (the girl I work with) and I with our semi-cleaned stand at the end of the night.



Yesterday night I was at Roma's again. The remodeling is looking really nice. The main bar is at the point where we can no longer serve from it, though, so we're transferring shop to the banquet room bar. The old flooring has all been ripped out of the main bar, and they are laying the new tile. Rumor has it they will be able to be back in and operating on Thursday. Too bad I won't be able to see it for it's big debut: I'll be in florida with my mom visiting family.

I'll try to send out another update while I'm there, but we'll see what internet options I have. Have a great week! I hope everyone (in this area) enjoys this great weather we should be having!

Rebecca~

Hey baby, you like fine cooking? Cuz you know what? I've got a Swanson dinner in the freezer...with your name on it!

Oops, what do you know? It's Wednesday already (Friday by the time this made it to my blog). The beginning of last week was slow. As far as I knew the whole week would be slow, just out on the beverage cart on Thursday. When I got into work, I found out I also had to be at 7 AM on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Always nice to know. That made Sunday a nice long day, working from 7 AM, then driving straight to Roma's and working until close there. I also worked last night, which is why I don't think I remembered to write this until today.

We WON in sand volleyball this week. It musta been all the great fan support we had. Thanks to Jamie and to Katie & Co. for coming out. We play again this Thursday -- er tomorrow -- (in Wind Lake at Kelly's Bleachers II) at 8:30 if anyone is free.

Monday was a pleasant surprise from Steph: she stopped to visit me on her way up to her apartment in Ripon from her home in IL. We went to Sauce in Milwaukee for dinner Monday night. By dinner I mean food at 9:50 PM, which in our case was dinner. If you've never been there, I highly recommend it. We had great plans to go out on the lake Tuesday, but did the weather cooperate? Of course not. Rained until about 10 or so and was sunny for a little while, and as soon as we got out on the water it was overcast with a chilly wind. Figures.

Saturday night I went to the Troy Center street dance, and that was quite the high school reunion. I saw one girl there, Lindsey, with whom I went to the same preschool in Lake Geneva and we both coincidentally to move to East Troy in second grade. So we catch up a little; she's married now. Another girl from my high school class who I saw is as good as married. When did all of this happen?! I have to admit I felt kind of behind...

Our first Alpine Valley concert is this Saturday: Jimmy Buffett. That should be a pretty good crowd for everyone to get in the swing of things. Since my stand is the only one that sells Corona, we always hope this show will be a good one for us, but it fluctuates. Wish us luck!

Rebecca~

P.S. Happy Birthday to Mary (uh, Wednesday)!

Is the Thong Song really still popular?

Wow, another super-busy week. Monday morning I woke up with pink eye. Not fun. I couldn’t get in to see my eye doctor of my regular doctor until the next day, so I basically just dealt with it. Tuesday I went to Madison with my dad for his neck checkup thing, and I finally got my eye drops. TAKE THAT, pink eye!

Did I get my prescription filled at our local pharmacy, right next door to my eye doctor, though? I sure did not. Don’t get me wrong: I’ve always tried to support smaller businesses when I can. I walked into the pharmacy and stood at the counter for probably 6 or 7 minutes without anyone saying “hello” or “I’ll be right with you.” I saw 4 staff members. No one said a word. Angrily I left, deciding I could find a Walgreens somewhere in Madison. Did anyone say “goodbye” or “have a nice day” or “thank you”? No. How do businesses survive like that?! I was furious.

Anyway, I covered a bar shift at Roma’s Wednesday. I got lots of weird “who are you” looks since I was wearing my glasses (no contacts with pink eye). A couple regulars even asked me my name and reintroduced themselves.

Thursday I got really excited for volleyball once again. As I was driving out to Wind Lake I finally checked my voicemail since I have poor reception at home. I had so many that by the time I got the “the other team forfeited; don’t bother driving out” message I was already halfway there. Kinda ruined my night.

Friday, Saturday, and Sunday I worked again. I don’t really have any good stories, and the three nights all blend together. I feel like I never really leave. We’re remodeling, though, so getting there Friday and Saturday blew me away, walking into a literally torn apart bar. So much for any cleaning the closer did the night before. Right now all of our lighting has been replaced, the ceiling tiles are all new, and the wallpaper has been stripped. The walls will begin to be painted tomorrow. It looks like night and day.

I feel like I hardly ever hear from some of you, though. Feel free to drop a line and let me know what’s new. I’d love to hear from you!

Rebecca~

22 May 2006

Would you look at that? Another week has passed again. I think over the last week I wanted to sit down and write this update at least 3 different days because I felt like a week's worth of stuff had already happened. Now I've forgotten most of it.

I started training at Geneva National at 7 AM on Thursday morning. Frankly I'm surprised that I made it. I had been waking up early Monday through Wednesday mornings just to call them. It was a whole lotta phone tag, then a whole lotta training followed. 7-4 (9 hours) the first day, then 8-3 the next day (7 hours) because I had to work at Roma's that night.

Saturday morning I got to be on the cart all by myself. : -D It went alright, I think. GN has 3 18-hole courses, and each day one of them is designated as members-only. I was on the member course Saturday. A lot of them live within the Geneva National gates, so they don't want much: they bring their own coffee, they go home for lunch, etc. I wish it wasn't like that so I could make some money, but it's better than nothing, I suppose.

Roma's has been alright, but it all seems to be the restaurant being busy (read me making a lot of stuff for the wait staff) but the bar being kinda ho-hum. Then for all the stuff we make for the wait staff they tip us like $2 or $3 each for the whole night. Not great money.

Last night in the bar made me angry. There were some semi-regulars in there for several hours. Three of them ordered dinners, which was a pain to run around and take care of with so many orders coming from the wait staff. None of them tipped on their dinner bills, so I figured they'd leave a nice tip when they were done drinking. Of the 4 of them total, $9 was the biggest tip, with the two married persons leaving $2 in total. Their food alone was $19.95, let alone whatever they drank. I was extra upset because I wanted to go home but stayed open later just for them. We'll see if that ever happens again... >:o

On the up side, sand volleyball started at Kelly's Bleachers II this week Thursday. Of course I was exhausted from my early morning and 9 hours of training, and we had a double-header that night. Apparently since there are only 5 teams in our league this summer, at least one team will have a double header each night. Weird. Of our team of 6, 3 were there, and Katie came back and played with us. 4 on 6 in an A league is tough, and the underdog (us) did not prosper. Hopefully we'll have a full team next week and perform a little better.

Time for me to start unpacking some more college stuff. Happy 21st Birthday to Kate on Wednesday!!

<3 Rebecca~

14 May 2006

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9 May 2006

Once again it is definitely not Sunday. My parents came up Sunday afternoon to help me move all my stuff out of my room and either home or into storage. Man, was there a ton! It's extra frustrating since I'm moving into the same room next semester. Why can't I just leave it all there?! : ( All Saturday after my final and all Sunday until my parents arrived I packed like mad.

Finals went alright. Nothing too extreme. I think my longest one was an hour and a half of the three hours allotted. The best news was thinking I had a Monday afternoon final, then realizing there would be no final and I would be done by noon on Saturday.

Work is still up in the air. I have a possible job as an accounting assistant at Geneva National, but she's looking for someone who will be able to start Friday (was Monday, then was Wednesday...) and can work through the end of September. What college student can do that? Maybe a UW-Whitewater student or something, but not this girl.

Roma's is looking good. I called April on my drive home to tell her I was on my way early, and she gave me my work schedule right then and there for the next 2 weeks. Friday night, Saturday night, Sunday all day, Monday night, and the following Saturday for a banquet. I stopped in to visit Kate yesterday. While I was there chit-chatting with her Erica came in and asked if I'd work Wednesday for her. Hello? Poor college student who hasn't worked since winter break. OF COURSE I'll work. It'll be a busy week at the Roma. The downside: I can't make it to graduation at all. Not even for a little while and say goodbye to any time with my mother on mother's day...

All of my junk from school is taking over the basement, literally, and we have a pretty sizable basement. Whenever I'm not working, I'll be unpacking this week. Not exciting.

Since I didn't have much to write about this week, I attached some links for your amusement. enjoy! Let's hope the next update actually comes out on Sunday...

<3 Perk~


P.S. Congrats to Emily on all your recent awards! Congrats to Kappy and all my other graduates! Best wishes!

I'm Alive

So life has been pretty typical: class during the week, socializing on the weekends. Ripon itself is getting pretty boring. I can't wait until the school year is over, and I can go home. If you knew my home town you'd know how truly odd of a statement that was.

Recent life highlights:
• Got a visit from the stallions a few weeks back. The night started out fine, but coulda ended better. Sorry, gang.
• I'll be in April's EastBay catalog. I got advance copies of the inserts, and i saw myself three times. There's a possibility of the cover, but I won't know that until I get my copy.
• I've had a lot of good fortune cookies lately. Saweet!
• I'm going home for Easter weekend. I can't wait to get out of this town.
• Went to Theta Chi's formal with Ed, this sweetheard of a guy...

My life is boring. This is all for now.

Mad-Face

so I spent all this time making a post with a bunch of links again, but then I got distracted by something else and quit the browser completely. All that hard work gone. Makes me pretttttttty frustrated...

Three Semesters Left and Counting

So second semester just began today. Well, "yesterday," Tuesday, whatever. My class schedule shouldn't be too bad, and I really don't have any interesting stories or classes to discuss, so I'll just throw these links out there that found their ways to my inbox today.

My father sent me this one. A good reference. I guess. It shows all the proper uses for everything on a formal dinner table. There a bunch of stuff on which stemmed glasses to use for what also a little down the page.

The next one is this indoor ski tube thing. Winter sports year-round. The thought really appeals to me, but I'm not really a cold-weather gal.

Check this out if you don't want to kill your kids or the kids you babysit for or your little siblings or whoever.

This website has a bunch of oddly shaped buildings. I really like the Painted House in WV and the Beagles in ID.

The last one is a game where they drop a ball and you have to keep it from dropping down some hole. It took me a bit to figure out what each panel did, but the bulls-eye makes it bounce super high, the caution ones make it bounce really low, anf the blank ones are in the middle. The coins are used for scoring or something, and then there's a treasure chest that's like a bunch of coins. Oh, and the trick is to use the shadow of the ball. In the 2 minutes I played, I got 14 bounces, so I hope you all do better than I did.

Goooooood night.