Bleh. Normally, the last week of October is really fun for me, but this hasn’t been a great week at all. During the first part of the week, I’d been preoccupied with a project I had to do. Last night, I went to a Halloween parade with my mom and her boyfriend. I should have stayed home and worked, but I wanted to be nice. Those things are really boring. It’s all fire trucks and the like. When I came home, I found out that one of my Aunt Marjory’s dogs, my favorite one, Molly, had died. On Sunday, she broke out in hives, and no one knew why. They took her to the vet on Monday and gave her steroids and antibiotics and sent her home. The antibiotics made her throw up and she didn’t want to eat or drink. She was supposed to go back on Wednesday, but instead, the vet just decided to switch her medicine. She died that night, before the vet even called them back like he was supposed to. No one is sure what caused her to die or what made her become sick in the first place. The medicine might have been what killed her. And then the vet said something about how she might have had lupus. Or maybe she was somehow poisoned or got into something in the yard. But we aren’t going to find out, and I suppose it doesn’t really matter. It was so fast, and she was only five years old and very energetic and friendly. I miss her, and I had been looking forward to seeing her on Sunday; I always go to their house on Halloween. Then that got me thinking of Gypsy, who was only four when she died this past May. Her fifth birthday would have been this Monday, and I think about her all the time. Since last night, I’ve been having a hard time concentrating on things, not surprisingly.
Tonight, I’m supposed to go to Philadelphia to see Rasputina. Doors aren’t til 11, and I have no clue if there will be an opener or what time the show starts and ends. Since my uncle is driving me to the bus station, I’ll be getting to the city at about 9:30, and then I’ll have to find ways to spend the time until I can go to the venue. I’m thinking of going to Chili’s and maybe having a bowl of soup, maybe a salad, and a dessert. Fortunately, everything is nearby, so I can very easily walk everywhere. Right now, I feel sort of drained and tired but not sleepy, if that makes sense. I am looking forward to the show, though. This is my first time seeing Rasputina as the headliner, and only my second time ever seeing them; last year I saw them open for Belle and Sebastian. I’m also looking forward to seeing a concert by myself. I forget when the last time I did that was. Probably some TMBG show several years ago.
posted by Beth at 7:06:00 PM
Sunday, October 24, 2004
Shhhew. I've been a bad egg in that I did no homework at all Friday and Saturday nights. I was too tired, and I went to sleep at about 2:30am both nights, and that's really unusual for me on weekends. On Friday, Nathan and I went to Great Adventure for Fright Fest. It was pretty cool. We rode some rides and felt frozen and stuff. On Saturday, we went to Clementon Park for Hallo-Screams and rode some rides and felt frozen and stuff. Unlike with Great Adventure, we checked out some Halloween-specific attractions at Clementon Park, namely the train ride and the mansion thing. They were both pretty cool. The first time we got in line for the mansion, we waited for maybe 20 minutes, and then I almost passed out, so I had to go sit down and eat a hard candy, then we rode some rides and came back to the haunted mansion line later on, when it was shorter. My reason for feeling so sick was because I was listening to the girl in line ahead of me going into way too much detail about getting needles and IVs and the size of the needles and how one shot is as compared to another kind and giving blood and blah blah. I have a terrible problem with needles, so listening to all of this actually made me feel the way I do, when I'm getting the needle, which is to say that I felt like I was going to fall down. So I needed to leave and sit down and eat a piece of candy, and I felt better in a few minutes. I've never ever had a reaction like that in my entire life just from listening to someone talk about needles before. Normally, I just feel sick and I cringe and that's just about it, but I guess I'm getting worse? Right, so aside from that we rode the new rollercoaster, the Tsunami for the first, second, and third times ever. This is an excellent wooden rollercoaster. It's very fast and very steep and very wild. I get the impression that it might age badly, though. Rolling Thunder, a double wooden coaster at Great Adventure, has gotten considerably rougher in the past ten years, but that ride is older than me. I give the Tsunami the highest rating I can give it, plus extra snaps for being at Clementon Park.
As part of my Halloween excitement fest, last night, we watched Halloween 4. I think I'd only seen it once before, when I was in high school, and I watched Halloween 5 a few days before that, which messed things up in my head. The Halloween movies were something I had to catch up on in high school, as opposed to the Nightmare on Elm Streets which I was with since the very beginning (as opposed to the Friday the 13ths, which I've still only seen a couple of). So anyway, the ending of Halloween 4 kind of really stunk big time. Those "pass the torch" endings usually do not fare well. I think that Danielle Harris was very good, though. Ever since hearing her speak at Monster Mania, I was looking forward to seeing the movie again and paying special attention to her. She beat out Melissa Joan Hart for the part of Jamie, y'know.
Blast, I should go and do some homework.
posted by Beth at 7:34:00 PM
Sunday, October 17, 2004
Things:
- I am displeased with Friday night's rain, since it caused me to miss out on going to Clementon Park and on a hayride. Time is running out for me to do Halloweeny things, and Nathan is a workaholic, so that gives me even less time.
- Last night, I dreamt that a couple people in my family and a couple of the speakers from the Monster Mania convention had lunch together at the Showboat casino.
- I think that Nick at Nite commercial with the talking Furby and the over-caffeinated guy running around on the ceiling is hilarious. Much more so than the ice cream one.
- Last night I practiced the stockinette stitch, reverse stockinette stitch, ribbing, and seed stitch. Good for me.
- I don't know why it bears mentioning, but I felt like I should include how I bought GameBoy games last week. I promised myself I'd buy a game with my first work study check, so I went to Bandit, and I bought Mario Kart Super Circuit. While looking around, I saw a used copy of Metroid II, and I've been meaning to get that, so I picked that up as well. Super Circuit is fun. It has new tracks, which I wasn't expecting. For some reason, I thought it was exactly the same as the SNES Mario Kart. I only played Metroid II maybe twice up to this point. It's exactly what you'd (I'd) expect from a Metroid game: the world is incredibly vast and you can easily get lost and lose track of what you were intending to do. Metroid intimidates me so.
- I was just looking at an AOL article about rockstars and politics. I'd link to it, but I think you need AOL to view it. Instead, I will just copy and paste this chart of musicians and whom they're supporting.
Bush - Clint Black
- Pat Boone
- Brooks and Dunn
- The Gatlin Brothers
- Reba McIntyre
- Wayne Newton
- Kid Rock
- Britney Spears
- Lee Ann Womack
Kerry - Bruce Springsteen
- Dave Matthews Band
- The Dixie Chicks
- Good Charlotte
- John Mellencamp
- Pearl Jam
- Bonnie Raitt
- R.E.M.
- James Taylor
Oh Reba, you disappoint me so.
- Boston Market is always out of coleslaw. That fills me with anger and sadness, when I would rather be filled with coleslaw.
- And Colleen may have saved me from a terrible fate. I shall know for sure tonight, hehe.
posted by Beth at 8:09:00 PM
Thursday, October 14, 2004
Phew. I've been meaning to write a catch-up post for the past two weeks; I do not count my last anger-filled ranting. But I was busy with schooly things. I've had a test in every one of my classes since then and some quizzes as well.
I guess the biggest thing was that exactly two weeks ago, Nathan and I saw They Might Be Giants at the TLA in Philadelphia. It was a really fun show, and I liked the setlist pretty well. The venue song about the TLA was 80s-themed and went something like, "TLA TLA/How do you spell TLA" and "Look in the mirror, no one's there/where you sit, an empty chair." And I remember Flans saying something I found funny about how the word "venue" was eventually going to become part of everyone's vocabulary, like the words "segue" and "font" did in the last century. Or something like that. {g} And before playing Meet James Ensor, Flans set it up as a song about being in a dark room full of people and feeling alone. And then called it a "song about art history class." I am overwhelmed by the truth in that statement. I liked that "Alphabet of Nations" song a lot, so I'm looking forward to that project. So, yeah, it was a really neat show, and it was nearby, and I will miss TMBG until they come back again someday, much like Frosty the Snowman.
Also, Corn Mo was the opener, and it was my third time seeing him. He sang a song about how you should take Hershey's Miniatures everywhere you go, and how TDK told him to play it. He mentioned him and everything. {g} Corn Mo's songs have really started to grow on me, so I decided to buy his album. Really, I paid for only half of it, because that "Vote John and John" shirt ran me $25. {growl} The girl selling his CDs seemed to really hate me and she gave Nathan a pin but not me. Hmph. Corn Mo signed the CD for us, and I would have chatted with him for a minute, but he was busy or something or maybe that lady made me feel nervous, I don't remember, but we left.
Outside the building we met John and Amy in person. I spotted them before Nathan did, because I rool. {g} They're really, really nice and friendly people. We stood outside for quite awhile just talking about different things. We really should meet up with them again sometime not too far away and do something. Amy reminds me a lot of Colleen, and that is a compliment. While we were talking, Corn Mo left and said, "bye Beth and Nathan!" and I was really impressed that he remembered our names. I like his CD a lot. It turned out to have lots more piano and less accordion in it, which I found pretty neat. I especially like "Picture Days."
What else have I been up to? Monday night, Nathan rented three movies. I told him to get Candyman 2, Hellraiser and a movie of his choosing, so then he picked some crappy movie called Motel Hell, because he was trying to prove some kind of point. Okay, we haven't watched that one yet, but I don't think I'm going to need to go back to this post and write in, "EDIT: Motel Hell is the best movie! I can't believe it!" So Monday night, we go to watch Candyman 2, and my VCR has had a history of being a jerk, so it decided to put a twist in the tape as soon as I stuck the tape in. I knew it was going to be bad, because my VCR growled as soon as it took the video. As I recall, this was the first time this particular VCR put a twist in a tape, but another one of my VCRs once put a twist in a rental tape before. My mom was able to fix it for me, though. I have such trouble with VCRs. It's ridiculous. So I took the tape and we were able to watch it in the living room and we did, and I like that movie and it's a very worthy sequel and blah blah blah. I could very easily have just rewound the tape and brought it to my mom and asked her to fix it, but I'm too impatient for that kind of level-headed approach. Instead, I tried to fix it myself, and I shouldn't be authorized to do any such thing. I was trying to get the tape out, so I could untwist it and wind it back in, but it got stuck. The twist made it too fat to fit through the slot-thing, so I pulled a little harder and BROKE IT. But then my mom fixed it, because she has magical powers. All is well. The first three out of five previews are kinda messed up but the last two are okay and there's no damage at all to the movie. I'll be returning it like nothing happened. Does that make me a huge jerk?
On Tuesday, I unhooked my jerky VCR and hooked up my other one. It had just been sitting there waiting. I used to use it for dubbing, but I don't even know when the last time I've done that was. That night Dorothea went out with us for dessert and then she came back and watched Hellraiser with us. Neither of them had ever seen it, and I hadn't seen it in years. I like it better than I liked it before, but I don't at all love it. Apparently there are now 8 Hellraiser films; the latter half have been straight to video, I think. This version of Hellraiser was on a two-tape set. The other tape included a few interviews with Clive Barker and the actors and some trailers and TV spots for the movie. One of the old movie slogans was, "Satan's done waitin'," which is totally idiotic because there's no Satan/devil character in those movies in the first place. That's the dumbest thing I've ever heard...
Until I watched the debate Wednesday night. Bush is such an ass. I, too, am sick of his stupid "go to community college" nonsense. My uncle is very much right in that Bush does not care at all for laborers (and that's what everyone I live with happens to be). Oh wait, he wants to outsource all of those jobs. :p Didn't he also say something about every other country being jealous of our healthcare? Doubleyou tee eff question mark Oh oh and another thing, why are people saying that Kerry's comment on/mention of Cheney's daughter was crossing some kind of line? How is that? I've hated Bush even more with each debate.
So today, huh? Well, after beginning to learn to knit in July, tonight was my first experience with purling. That sounds crazy, but you mustn't blame me for it. You see, the book I've been learning from teaches the knit stitch and then it has all of these projects (beanbag, hat, scarf, patchwork blanket, doll, two different puppets) that require only the knit stitch. I wanted to work in order and make each thing, and so I have. I didn't have any trouble attempting the purl stitch, but I admit that I'm somewhat clumsy and slow with it. That should get better with time.
I'm very much ready for the next Lemony Snicket book, but not so much for the movie.
I feel so whiny about the work I have to do. It isn't a large amount of stuff, but I just don't *feel* like working on any of it. Over the weekend, I have to do what's called a busy slide project on PowerPoint. That's a project that's all on one slide, and it has to contain at least 25 objects and 25 actions and is timed, so that it can run on its own. I can't even think of a theme. I also need to do some things using Peachtree, which I think I will get to after doing my statistics.
posted by Beth at 11:02:00 PM
Friday, October 08, 2004
Gak. I was in the check-out line at the grocery store with my mom tonight, and the cashier was telling the next cashier over how she was going back to school, because she was accepted at a community college. The other girl asked her what she was going to go into, and she said communication. So then my mom had to point at me and tell her how I majored in communication.
"What did you study?"
"Radio/TV/Film," I muttered.
"You sound sad about it."
"Well, I couldn't find a job in it, so now I'm back at school for accounting."
"I'm studying this, because I'm interested in it."
And then I started to say something about how I was very interested in it as well, but then I didn't want to continue it, as there is no point to it. Anyway, I don't think there's a person in the world who would major in communication, if they weren't interested in it. I can see where someone might do that with business or computer science, but not communication. The whole thing got me irritated. I wish my mom hadn't dragged me into it, and I didn't feel like trying to explain myself to the cashier; I also didn't want to say anything that might sound discouraging to her. But the whole thing got me very bitter and irritated. It reminded me of a whole bunch of situations I've been in where people act like the reason that a graduate doesn't have a job is because of a personal failing on the graduate's part. Last year, I applied at Walgreen's, and a woman talked to me briefly on the phone. She asked me what my degree was in, and I told her. She could not believe that I couldn't get a job. Really, I tried to explain it to her, and she wouldn't accept it. And I admit that I was somewhat picky in the sense that I won't go where the work is. If there's an opening in Montana, I will not be willing to move to Montana. That's not what I want. And in coming back to school, when an advisor or professor asks me why I'm back after one year and studying a different thing, and I mention the job thing, they always kind of stop and make a face at me. While I was in the midst of earning my communication degree, I pretty much thought I wanted to be a board operator at a radio station. I had an internship one summer at a radio station, and I spent half of my days working with the guy who operated the boards during Dr. Laura's and Rush Limbaugh's shows (the assiness of those shows is not related to this particular post). Since those shows were syndicated, he didn't even have to say, "more after this!" or anything. All he did was play commercials at the appropriate times and check them off on the log. The guy told me that he worked 24 hours a week and after working there for over a year, he made about $8 an hour. As this is very obviously not a living wage, he spent his weekends and evenings DJing. Last year, I applied for a board operator position (and I only ever saw one such opening). Of course I didn't get the job. But this job was one day a week, $9 an hour, and for me to get there, I would need to take a bus into Philadelphia, get off, take another bus out of Philadelphia and into Bala Cynwyd, and then walk half a mile up a narrow road that did not always have sidewalks. It wasn't til I was almost totally through earning that degree that I realized I was insanely nervous about being responsible for what goes on the air anyway. Up to that point, I'd never worked at the school radio station, but in my final year, I attempted to. I passed the written and hands-on exams that you need to pass, and then I spent a week sitting with a girl during her shift to watch her do the job (By the way, her job differed from the other guy's in that she had to talk and introduce songs and read traffic and weather and stuff). After that, I never signed up for my own shift, because I found the whole thing too nerve-wracking. The truth is that I know that if I had gone on with it, I probably would have done a shaky job at the beginning and then gotten better over time. I've listened to that station. A lot of those kids are really terrible on the air, muttering, mispronouncing names and places and such. I'm sure I could have done an equally shitty job, but my nerves prevented me from trying. I liked my classes and I found them all very interesting, but my personality was always better suited to the theoretical stuff more than the hands-on stuff. And any sort of job that functions in real-time is going to cause me to get an ulcer in the first month, because I require something that always me to check my work. While I got A's in all my classes, I probably wasn't the best communication student. In that sense, my lack of a go-getter attitude and my lack of self-confidence might have caused it to be my own fault for not getting a job in that field. That could be true, except that there were hardly any jobs in the area that I would have been qualified for anyway; I can't think of a single other job relevant to what I was taught in school, aside from that one I already mentioned. But has anyone ever really said that the need for those jobs are all on the rise? That certainly isn't true in South Jersey, which is where I want to stay. People make jokes about communication degrees for a reason, you know? Feh. A large part of my reason for trying again with accounting in particular is because there are far more businesses in South Jersey that require accountants than there are radio and TV stations that require communication graduates (many of those positions are through unions, and I get the impression that few of the people who work those jobs even have or need degrees). I'm just saying that I take great offense, when people act like it's through my own personal failings that I do not have a job in my originally intended field. I won't even mention that the communication curriculum doesn't even suggest classes where you can learn popular computer programs, so then I never learned them, so I couldn't even apply for secretarial work, I won't go into that or how it left me ill-prepared for any kind of backup plan. Does anybody else know how that is?
And since I'm writing all of this bitchy crap, I might as well mention the other two things I really really hate.
1. I hate when I mention to someone that I was unable to get a job in communication, and then they act like I'm crazy, because they know this one person who got a really kick-ass job in it. That happened to me this past week. I told someone about my past, because she asked about it, and then she looked at me and told me how she knew someone who studied communication and now she works on the staff of some ABC show.
2. I hate it when I say I'm trying to get a job in accounting and people tell me that there are no jobs in accounting. Oh, and usually the people who tell me that aren't even in accounting. I mean, I couldn't get a job in communication, but I never tell anyone that there are no jobs there. I'm very careful about that, because I don't want to discourage other people. I say, "*I* could not get a job in that field." My school occasionally has job fairs. The majority of the companies that come to talk to students are looking for business students. I always check these things out, and I have never seen any kind of open house or job fair for the communication students. I think that says a lot about the difference in the two fields.
But then, maybe other people are right about me, and it is all my fault and shit. If you want to work in radio, television, or film, then southern New Jersey is like the Mecca of jobs, I'm sure.
EDIT: Grr, and don't get me started on the people who only get jobs, because they know someone or have a family member in that field. Everyday, I subscribe more and more to the "it's not what you know, it's who you know" philosophy.
posted by Beth at 10:37:00 PM
