Cranky

Reasons why I'm pissed:

1. The economic stimulus package: I'm unemployed and, if/when the SP is passed, I will be (hopefully) working in a field that benefits enormously from it and is STILL PISSES ME OFF. What a huge waste of money.

2. Unemployment: I supposedly live in the city with the lowest unemployment rate in the country....So, where's my job, biatch?

3. Having to avoid the woman at Starbucks who, for no reason, scolded me for reading 'A Year of Living Biblically'. I see her all the time now, and, because I'm a nice person who was raised with manners (unlike SOME people), I feel like I need to say hello and exchange niceties with her.

4. My former adviser.

5. My mom hurt her back.

6. I'm about to be offered a job that pays crap. Seriously. Like, imagine what you might think would be normal for someone in my field with a Master's degree and experience, and then lower it. Lower. Lower. That's about right.

7. I'm ambivalent about children.

8. It's February.

9. Next month will be March.

10. I LIVE IN WEST VIRGINIA FOR GOD'S SAKES.

Knoxville

I'm heading to Knoxville for a wedding this weekend. Scientist and I will be literally minutes from Smoky Mountain National Park and the 1600 black bears that supposedly live there. Maybe I'll get mauled by a bear for my thirty-first birthday, wouldn't that be cool?

Speaking of being old, I will officially be in my thirties come Monday, September 24th.

Stupid Grades

So, my Epidemiology test went horribly awry, apparently, because I totally tanked the last exam. I'm not even kidding. Oh well, at least I still passed with a B (I hope). I have no idea what I got on my Biostats final, but I have a feeling I got a B+ on both the exam and for my final grade.

I know I shouldn't be so hard on myself given that a) this is my first semester of grad school, b) I haven't taken math since I was 17 and b) I didn't take the prerequisite course I should've for Biostats, but....damn it, I was nearly a few tenths of a percentage point from an A- in both classes and due to very little sleep the night before my finals and nerves, I blew As in both classes. Damn ITTTTT!

Enough. I'm on vacation. I should be relaxing for God's sakes. Jesus. What is my problem?

For the past three days I've worked new location of the coffee shop I work for. My tips were much better yesterday than they usually are at the location I use to work at, plus I really liked some of the people I worked with. Closing didn't even suck that much (when I worked at B & N I closed all the time and grew to hate it with a passion, along with the fact that the boss I had never ever closed), although I'm going to be sure to do it as little as possible next semester.

My mom and I are going to do a little shopping this afternoon, but other than that, I'm pretty much going to chill. Ah, I love vacation.

My Russian Winter Vacation

Now that my semester of math is finally over maybe I can actually update this blog every so often. Really, though, who am I kidding? I always find other things to do other than update this blog. Like, say, watch episodes of Lost with Scientist while snuggling and drinking hot cocoa (I'm not even kidding: we're that disgustingly cute).

One thing I've been promising myself I'll do over the next month or so is brush up on my Russian. When I got back from Ukraine last year I pretty much purposely avoided do ANYTHING with Russian--I was so sick and tired of speaking it, reading it, writing it, hearing it....After acting as translator for another volunteer for over a year, along with using it to do normal every day sorts of things, I need a break. I never thought I'd get to that point, but I did. And my desire to speak remained at an all time low for almost a year.

But now I'm ready to pick up Harry Potter or Master and Margarita where I left off. I think I'll maybe even seek out a Russian conversation circle if I can (I've heard rumors of one existing here in Iowa City). I mean, I might start practicing now--I'm going to need my language skills for my overseas practicum for the summer of 2008....I know that sounds like the most anal retentive thing to do ever; to start honing and refining my Russian skills for something that's still a year and a half off, but Russian is a difficult languageand my standards are extremely high. Seriously.

Other than that I'm going to try to spend some serious time at the gym, read and work. We'll see if I get all these things accomplished. I'm always super ambitious when I have copious amounts of free time and then, ultimately end up doing squat.