I look like crap for a good reason...

I look like crap.  My hair is in an 80's ponytail and it's all greasy and out of place .  I'm wearing a dingy tshirt and sweatpants.  My face is red and oily and I'm not wearing any makeup.  Oh, and I stink.

But these are all good things!

Because I just came from the gym.  I have been working out for the last three days in a row.  Go me!  I joined Cardinal Fitness, which is one of those no contract, no frills, $20 per month gyms.  Cuz hey, what do I need frills for?  Some of the gyms we visited had a mini spa in the locker room and complimentary laundry service and padded benches in the locker rooms.  I don't need all that-- I just come in, work out, then go home.  Bam.  Twenty bucks.  No biggie. 

It feels so great to jump right back in to this whole exercise thing.  I am tempted to overdo it, though.  I'm walking on the treadmill and a great song comes on and I'm like, "I could so run right now, for like at least 15 minutes."  But I know I have to work my way back up to running.  I hate that, when you try to pump it up and then you have to stop maybe 5 minutes into it because you bit off more than you could chew....

For now I just did 35 minutes on the cross trainer thingee and 30 minutes on the treadmill (on an incline!) 

I don't know if I'm really trying to lose weight or not.  I just want to be in better shape.  Or have the option to blow off steam with a workout if I need to.  I haven't weighed myself because I haven't weighed myself in more than a year.  The number, I think, would haunt me.  It did haunt me pretty badly right after I lost all the weight.  But once I stopped caring what the number was, and just focused on how I felt and how my clothes fit, I was a lot better-- well, that and Overeaters Anonymous and several counseling sessions.

But anyways my point is, I'm working out.  I'm not expecting to be a size 6 by June or anything.  I just think I can feel better by doing this. 

I'm going to take a shower now.

Death by Dyeing...

Have you ever heard of painted glass fish?  They look like this:

Very pretty, right?  Well, the name implies that they were painted, but the store assured us that it was a naturally occurring color.  So we bought three, and put them in our new fish tank (we have three tanks now).  A few hours later one of the fish began to show signs of ich (small whitish dots on its fins which are a sign of disease).  We still had the receipt so we took it back and they said that they would refund the money and treat the rest of the fish in that tank.

We came home and did a little research about them and it turns out that this is a horrible, horrible thing that is happening to tons and tons of fish.  The fish are injected with brightly neon colored paint.  This is not just one injection, but many injections with a large gauge needle.  On top of that, the fish need to be dunked in some sort of chemical which strips them of their protective outer slime coating and then after they are injected they are dunked in another chemical that stimulates their bodies to reslime themselves. 

This process is so shocking for the fish that there is an 80% mortality rate.  Even the fish that do survive will be prone to disease and will most likely die within a few months after purchase.  And if they do survive, the paint will fade off of their bodies in a matter of time.  It just stays long enough for the unsuspecting customer to be fooled into purchasing them!

Doesn't this sound like cruelty to animals?  Well, it is not technically classified as cruelty to animals because those laws only apply to mammals.  The dyeing process occurs in places like Malaysia and Thailand where unskilled, low wage workers are injecting the fish.  Any shop that sells these kind of fish should be boycotted, and we are abandoning our favorite fish shop because of this as well.  We were going to the small mom and pop fish store, because we like to patronize small businesses whenever possible.  But just the fact that either the help has been instructed to lie, or they do not know what they are talking about at all, makes us not want to go back there.

I feel so stupid for not having thought about the fact that a freshwater fish probably does not have a naturally occurring blue, green, yellow, orange, or purple stripe in it.  Fish are so beautiful in their own natural state, there is no reason we need to torture them for our own sick purposes.

If we wouldn't have been lied to (or if we would have done some reasearch first) this would never have happened.

Grand Ball

I went to the MATC Grand Ball on Saturday night.  (It's like a prom for adults)  My sister was my date.  I was joking around like, I hope when we walk in, we look enough like sisters that nobody thinks we are lesbians.  Somebody was like, "They will probably just think you are friends."  I'm like, "Oh yeah."  And it was too funny, when our cousin was helping us get ready, somebody said something like, "Dont flirt with any boys"  And I'm like, "Why are we going, then?"  Tom would be upset at this but I was kidding of course...

Jesse did my hair up all cute.  She hooked me up with the huge hot-roller springy 50's style curls with tons of body.  I pinned a little flower clip in my hair and it was stunning until about five minutes on the dance floor....

My dress was a black halter cocktail dress that came just below the knee.  My shoes were hot (for Payless shoes).  And I had ear bling, arm bling, and ring bling.  I just felt downright hot.  I also got to walk in the court because my friend Chris was up for King and I escorted him.  Damn that spotlight was bright!

After a few drinks, I just danced and danced.  I was instructed to 'save a dance' for like six different people (I'm probably exaggerating but at least three).  I felt so popular because I actually knew a lot of people there from the Senate, so there was always someone to go and talk to.  None of this awkward looking around bullshit that makes me usually hate shit like that. 

Anyways my feet were killing me by the end of the night.  I really had a great time.  And I don't usually do things like this so I am very proud of myself.  The other thing I am very proud of is that I did not tell a bunch of people that I don't dance, because then they MAKE you dance when you don't want to.  I learned that if you just keep your mouth shut, the chances of being pulled onto the dance floor decrease tenfold.  But still, my sister pulled me up there, and by that time, I was glad someone did, because I was ready to have a good old time!

We did the mandatory 2 a.m. breakfast at 1 a.m., and then went home and crashed. 

You know what?  I kind of told myself that I was going to start attending more social stuff even if I am scared and nervous most of the time.  Because with each new thing that I do I'm learning that it really does make me feel better and not worse.  So yes, I am patting myself on the back.

Looking For An Excuse

I got a C on the exam I took the day that I went through all that hell with the tow lot.  I used that as an excuse.  I did poorly because I was tired and cranky and I hadn't eaten.  I hadn't cracked a book all week either. 

But only one person in our class and one person in the other section of the same class got anything higher than a C.  And the prof is sitting here letting us all have it about how we need to know this stuff. 

I think a lot of the questions were ambiguous and poorly worded.  I also know from experience that this prof comes to expect things that she hasn't made perfectly clear.  She want us to read her mind when it comes to formatting, etc.  And then she swears up and down that she told us exactly what she wanted.  Lady, there are at least fifteen people adamantly saying that, No, you did not tell us this. 

So back to the original subject.  The test.

Doesn't that tell you something when the majority of your students did quite poorly on your exam?  Half of the class got D's and three people failed!  These are all students who have received nothing but A's and B's their entire college career.  I know this isn't the kind of test that would be graded on a curve, because a lot of the answers were essay and such.  However, I think that most profs (and maybe they have been too easy on us) would look into it and perhaps take some fault of their own, or maybe offer some extra credit.

This was enough to make a few people get quite upset.  One girl was in tears and was about to walk away from her entire college career over this.  Granted, she's going to need a bit tougher skin than that, but this goes to show you how important it is to students in this program to perform well.  This is a program where a D as a final grade is considered not passing.  And this is the last required course before students enter their internships!

I've probably lost you by now, dear reader.  You've been to college, you know it's tough.  At the university this may happen all the time.  I have a feeling that they have a great deal more slackers and less time to grade and sit down with individual students.  This is a class of less than 15 that I am in.

There are better things to get worked up over than a C, I just needed to rant and rave about this.  What do you think: If everyone does poorly on an exam, do you think it is through some fault of the professor?

I just need someone else to blame I think.  Wait, don't answer that.  Unless you totally agree with me.  Or if you wanna set me straight, now is the time to do so. 

Wild Party

On Saturday I went to a birthday party.  No, not one of those cake-and-balloon parties --

...A wild-irresponsible-college-kids party.  I normally try to stay away from these, but I actually had fun.  For the most part, I tried to make conversation with the few people who weren't completely blitzed, which required yelling over the music and saying "What?" a lot.  Finally I gave up on that and just got blitzed.  Four green beers later and the fun began...

I was not, however, so wasted that I was gonna let some kid put his hands all over me.  This 22-year-old kid was wasted beyond belief and walked by and grabbed my ass!

So I got to do something I have always wanted to do...

I smacked him clear across the face.  And hard!  It felt so good!  I was not that drunk, and I am too old to put up with that shit.

I found the person he came with and told him he needs to be beat up if he does that again.  (I was joking!)

So, a group of us went to get some 2 am breakfast, and when we came back, the host was showing us the trail of blood that was left from that kid getting stomped.  There was literally a trail of blood from the kitchen to the front door.  I guess the kid tried to flush his tshirt down the toilet?? ( I told you he was fucked up!)

Rumor has it he came back the next morning to show off his stitches. 

This is why I don't go to wild-irresponsible-college-kids parties.  (makes for a good story though, no?)

Endorsements

I'm going to get a nose job tomorrow.  I'm just sick of my nose, it's right in the middle of my face and its always in the way...Im just getting it moved to a more convenient location.....

Just kidding!  Boy you were thinking I was the most ridiculous person you ever met weren't you?!  There's really no point to that.  Here are some things I want to endorse though, so just bear with me through that:

The Chancery:

If you are ever in Wisconsin and you want a fun experience, visit the Chancery Pub and Grill.  Unique things about this restaurant: they serve you free popcorn on the tables, have a cute menu that you don't want to part with after you order, and they have very Wisconsin-ey foods like hot bean salad, beer cheese soup served with a hot pretzel, shredded onions....and the portions are very Milwaukee -- what I mean is they are huge.  The entrees are about $10 but you will never finish them unless you plan on unbuttoning your jeans after the meal.

Musicovery:

Thanks Anthonyc!  This is a streaming music site where you can specify what genre of music, what tempo, what mood, what era, and it chooses what you might like.  If you don't like what they chose, you can usually find another bubbly link to something you do like.  Or just change your settings with one click.  I've had it on all morning and I've discovered all sorts of new music that I like.  And here I thought I only like indie rock.  Turns out I like almost anything if the mood and tempo are right!

Mia Rose:

Controversy over whether she's backed by a label aside, this young lady can SING.  I love her sound, her look, her American English accent, everything.  The first time I heard "Say It Right" was Mia Rose singing it on YouTube.  She owned this song completely.  The link is to the video of her singing Say It Right and I just love her shades here.  If you like that check out her channel, there are lots of good songs there.

Absolut Raspberri:

Went to a party on Saturday night and this drink was a hit.  Just Absolut Raspberri and pineapple juice (pine-orange works well too) in a shaker, shake, pour, ice, enjoy.  Probably tastes better in a glass but we had the drinking party red plastic cups and those do it justice so whatever works for you.  Warning: just a few and you may wind up like the people in pic behind the link!

Ordering From Amazon

So, I'm just about to order a few things from Amazon.com when I can't muster up the courage to double the cost of my order just to ship it.  I might as well not save any money and buy it at the store.  Ridiculous, I tell you.

At first I just wanted to order a charger for my phone because I lost my original.  I found one for only 75¢ so I ordered two.  Then I thought, I might as well get a car charger, too, because they start as low as $4.  Now I had two items in my cart.

I thought to myself, "This is sweet.  It's Sunday and it's snowing out and I'm shopping from the comfort of my desk chair."

So I spend a few minutes looking over Treo accessories.  A 1GB SD card for $14.95?  Sign me up!  I click 'Add to Cart' excitedly.

What else can I buy?  Handbags, Dvds, Books, Jewelry?

Yes, Jewelry!  I found a lovely celtic ring for $10.99.  Add that, quantity one, in a size 7 please.

Time to proceed to checkout.  I only spent $33-something.  Not bad at all.  I can't get out of Target spending less than that.  But after I went through all the filling out of forms and such, the total had jumped to $52!!!

Forget it!!  I started deleting items.  First the ring, because I have enough jewelry, and besides, it might turn my finger green.  Then off came the SD card because I already have one, and I might lose such a small thing as that.

So now I am down to just the two charger cables.  Retail value $6.45, but to ship it I pay more than $14!!!

Cancel my order, I'm outta here. 

I'm going to the store.