Muzak

If you don't listen to Opeth,

You should begin to.

As soon as possible.

Oh HE-EY!!!

Alrighty... so there has been a long lapse in blogging. I've had, more important things to do. I quit The Market, took a little vaca to the 'port,' and have a week of Wawa under my belt.

Let me clarify: not Wawa the store-associate-I-wanna-kill-everyone job. I work for corporate now! I'm on the product development team. There are two women going on maternity leave in a month so I'm going to be doing their jobs while they're gone. Awesome!

This co-op is a lot more important to me than my Campbell's co-op was. I'm not sure what it is about this job that makes it so much more... more! I think I'm more mature and now I don't have school to go back to. This is my career now. Career. What a grown up word! I really want to impress at this job too so that it can either turn into something long term or give me awesome references.

This also gives me a substantial paycheck. Money, more than anything else, means Independence. I can't wait to move out. I'm ready.

I should keep writing... but I'm sleepy and the TV is on and I have to move laundry. I just thought I would give a five second update. Oh, and FYI: I can't wait to go see Julie & Julia.

A boo-hoo update!

The number of posts for my photoblog is catching up so quickly with that of this blog!

It seems that I have a lot on my mind... but it's just cycling through and would take way too long to type into words... I can't focus my attention on my silly thoughts THAT much. Besides, I think my photoblog says a LOT about what's going on in my day-to-day. Maybe I subconciously think it would be redundant to put my photo's into paragraph form? I already give a little synopsis for each photo and I hope that each speaks enough for itself.

Or maybe my life is just too drama-free. I don't really hate anyone, I don't want to rant about work, I'm not a single gal searching for the perfect relationship, nor a married one complaining because I feel it's my wifely duty. My friends don't create problems, my family is pretty easy going. There's no school anymore to ponder on. Hrm. Maybe I'm just a boring fuck face.

I'm never bored but I don't feel like what I do is in anyway interesting enough to waste time putting into words for other people to waste their time reading. I'm far too normal and keep my opinions to myself ("play the game"). I'm not a pushover but I'm not an instigater. I don't hang out with "the wrong crowd" for thrills. I'm not a generally angry or uptight person. I want to be out there experiencing things... not seeing them through a computer screen.

I will do my best to update here and there... but until BIG NEWS strikes, I think I'm gonna lie low and focus on my photo blog. I lurve you photoblog!!!!

Bring it!

I know... I'm supposed to have more time now that I've graduated... and here I am still neglecting my blog.

There isn't any good way for me to put into words how I felt on my graduation day, so maybe that's why I haven't written anything about it. Imagine being as proud as your self as you've ever been and being surrounded by people that are thrilled to death my your achievements and surrounded by hundreds of friends feeling the exact same way. It's absolutely mind blowing!!! All the support I've gotten in the past four years from my family, immediate and extended, and Wes and my friends was all turned into happiness for me and beamed towards me in one day. I still get goosebumps when I think about it!!!!

All that happiness and euphoria and pride is still there... but now it's job hunting and moving on with things. Moving out and getting a job I like seem so within reach that I can't stand waiting any longer! I'm always on the edge of just going berserk with insane happiness that I can finally move on with things and get a place that I'm content and comfortable with.

Don't get me wrong though, it's very, very strange and almost uncomfortable that I won't be going back next semester... but I don't ever really intend on being "done" with school. I'm pretty sure I could go for the rest of my life... but it just doesn't "pay" to be a full-time college student and I need to make some $$ gosh darn!!!

I don't think I'm going to hold out for the "perfect job," but I am going to try and find something that I can learn a lot from and enjoy for a while... or a long time, even.

I'm ready for the real world!!!

quick update

Tonight, Wes and Mike provided my "photo session."

We went to "guth" and I photographed them doing silly and ridiculous boy things.

Hopefully tomorrow morning I'll have the photo's up... once I get them onto my computer and edited (they're nighttime photo's so need a little bit), I'll get a couple up. There are two that I really wanna post...

So wait, and see!!!

All The Time in the World...

THIS is what free time is!!

Having no homework, no tests, no papers, nothing to print, edit, or proof-read leaves me with a lot of free time.

Tonight... after work, Wes and I went to see The Soloist. Very profound. Very enjoyable. Makes me just that much more scared of someday developing schizophrenia. Then we went to Dairy Queen and shared an ice cream cone while sitting in the trunk of his car huddled under a blanket (it's in the mid-fifties, ya know).

And then?... I surfed iTunes for music. Didn't find anything worth getting excited about... but the fact that I could dick around and not be doing it to distract myself from legitimate work is an AWESOME feeling.

I could get used to this...

Catching up!

ALSO
I felt that my wintry theme was screaming "this is a neglected blog!" so I updated and made it a little more current-weather-conditions-appropriate.

Maybe a little too "girlie" for me... but they're happy, feel good colors. So be happy and feel good!

Motorbikes and Tattoo's (what else is new)

I have so much catching up to do on my beloved photo blog... and on this... abused, left-for-forgotten blog.

The good news is that from the grades I've gotten back so far, I can tell I'm not going to need to worry about changing the "3.7" I got tattooed a couple of weeks back. So far all A's and one B+. My 3.754 may actually go up a smidgen!

The bad news... I'm am not stuck in that college-graduate-young-adult-responsibilities-versus-fun state of mind. Wes and I visited his cousin yesterday and looked at her motorbike. It's a 1995 Suzuki GS500E that she bought brand new (15ish years ago). There are only 5,700 miles on it though! Apparently, she got into an "accident" on it a few years back and never really bothered to get back on. She fixed it and all... but just let it sit. Which is probably the worst thing she could've done because now this visually stunning little beaut doesn't work. She'll start up, but there's smoke and stuttering and I guess it stalls out when you push the throttle at all. Wes is pretty sure he can fix it (and I'm sure he can too). She was going to pay to have it fixed, an estimated $400, and then sell it to us for $1,000. Wes told her that he was confident in his ability to fix it (seeing as how his bike had been in a thousand and one pieces only a few months ago) and she said, "ok, fine. As is for $750." Which... doesn't make any sense? But whatever. She's family so he doesn't feel comfortable haggling.

So then the question: Is it worth spending a possible months rent on a motorbike for me? I am completely happy riding on the back of Wes's, but I sure that I would looooove having my own. Plus, it would just be the $750 up-front. No monthly payments. And insurance would be, what? $50 a year? Pft. But then, you have to take into consideration the 'rents. The parents, that is. Wes' parents make scowling faces at us whenever we leave the house. I work a lot. But I don't make a lot. So, even working 40 hours a week for $8/hour, I make enough to pay for my car (payment, insurance, gas), my credit card payment, my ring payment, and Wes' parents monthly rent fees. All said and done, I have diddly squat left. I've been able to put a few hundred dollars in there... but it's still measly. Either way though, we get the pressure about moving out and blah blah blah.

Look: I could have all the money in the world saved up. BUT if I'm not bringing in enough to support my current lifestyle, that money will run out sooner rather than later. That was part of the problem before. I got a (small) student loan out to pay for rent while we lived in Gwynedd, but we didn't make enough to live without that money. I do NOT want that to happen again. I am not going to deplete my savings on first and last month and security deposit and have nothing left for the following month. I need to make sure that what we're bringing in will let us live without tapping into what we've been able to save.

That said, some people (cough) just don't seem to grasp that concept. They just think that it's saving up money now to live off of later. That's STUPID and it didn't work before... so why would it work now?

To return to my initial point... can we justify pulling $750 together for a motorbike? Keep in mind, this is an extremely good deal for a motorcycle such as this. Even though it's un-ridable, it's still a steal. But the pressure to move out is overwhelming at times... even though we've been told that there is "no pressure."

So... I have a plan! First, I would like to get my permit and have Wes and I take the free motorcycle courses that PA offers. There is classroom and motorbike time. I want to get the feel for it and make sure it's something that I'll enjoy as much as I think I'll enjoy it. Then, as the end of the class, you can take your test and get your motorcycle licence. That would be doubley good for Wes and I to have. By the time all that happens, we'll have hopefully figured out my job situation and our living establishments and know if we can spare $750. If I do indeed love to ride and we do indeed have the money, I honestly don't see why it wouldn't be a good idea to buy. Worse comes to worse, we buy it, spend a few hundred dollars to fix it and turn around and sell it for $2,000.

We'll see... there are just too many variable to consider right now... too many things can could go one way or another.

*sigh* at least there is no hurry to make a decision. That really helps the situation.

P.S.
The new tattoo is feeling great and I love it more and more!! It's my first visible one so it's a really big deal to me. Lynette's seems to be going well too. The healing process can be uncomfortable but she's handling everything very well. Yay!

I have my next one planned: portrait of Da Vinci with the quote "Simplicity is Ultimate Sophistication." Lovely!

tattooz

I know I haven't been so good with keeping up with this blog lately... but there's an excuse for that... and it's collge.

Now that I am DONE with school, I hope to find more time for this blog AND my beloved, ignored, on-the-back-burner photoblog.

While we're on the subject of my lack of blog... I thought I might as well just blog while I'm here!

I got a new tattoo today (check the photo blog for the picture!). I got the MySpace message a few days ago, went in last night, looked at the available designs, and made my appointment.

While look through the 100+ designs, I found one that I KNEW was for me and exactly where I wanted it. A first for me? Being able to make a definitive decision? Yes!

So my friend, Lynette, accompanied me on my quest for lovely body art today. She's been saying for months that she wants a panther tattoo on her back... so she and my tattoo artist (Karel... check him at Fyre Body Arts in Perkasie PA, he's awesome) set up an appointment for Friday (today? alread?). He only quoted her $200 and I was think hers would be $300... so that pretty much sold her!

So, not only did I get a lovely piece of art tonight.. but I get to go in again tomorrow and watch a good friend get her first piece. It's a lovely thing :)

Foodz

yeah, yeah, yeah. I know. It's been too long.

I discovered Food, Inc. today and thought that that was worth writing about.

It's a movie that tears apart the food industry.

Look, I've spend the past four years learning the ins and outs of the food industry and I know it's crap. But, for the general consumer, this movie is going to scare them. Remeber The Jungle? Yeah, that was this movie about 60 years ago. Does the food industry need to change? Absolutely (there are reasons I didn't apply to work at Campbell's ya know). Are people going to be willing to spend more on groceries than they already do? No. Are people going to start cooking more so that they can control all the ingredients in their diets? No.

The problem, of course, begins with the food industry but it's the consumer that demands convenience and low prices that fuel it. People want to convert to all organic meats? Alrighty, but don't expect it to be cheap or always there when you want it. No pesticides on vegetables? Again, alrighty, but your produce is going to be smaller, not last as long, and will probably look like shit. No preservatives? Ok, just expect short shelf life, gross colors and lots of off flavors. Stop buying Dorito's (msg alert!) and deli meat (whoa sodium and sulfates and nitrates!) and anything baked, pop corn, soda, "fruit" drinks, cereal, peanut butter, TV dinners, ice cream and about 90% of all the stuff on the shelves (high fructose corn syrup). Don't eat any hydrogenated fats, aka saturated fats, aka "bad" fats (solid at room temperature).

Bah. It needs to change from both sides. Producers and consumers. Gosh darn!