For some reason, a memory popped into my head of these commercials for this little babydoll called Tattoodles. Does anyone remember this? She's the baby that you can put tattoos on, or you can stick them to yourself. In the commercial, they even had tattoos *on her face.* Weird. I wanted to find an article or picture, and I found this, which is even better, becuase it talks about a couple of other bizarre dolls.
Oh, and you guys all know that season one of Pete and Pete is out on DVD now, right? And it's cheap on Amazon, too!
posted by Beth at 2:34:00 AM
Thursday, June 23, 2005
*I* heard that Oprah got snubbed, because she attempted to go shopping in a store that had closed fifteen minutes prior to her arrival. I really hate her.
I'm still loading up my mp3 player. Connecting it to the computer wears down the battery very quickly. I'm lucky if I can get fifteen CDs on there, before I have to stop and recharge.
I still don't know what's going to happen with my financial aid. {growl}
No one believes it at this point, but I still mean to write about MonsterMania, which happened a whole month ago. But for now I will write of something else (and I'm too lazy for links)...
On Monday, Nathan and I went up to Jersey City to visit erin for the first time in over a year. While there, I got to see the new apartment that belongs to people, which was very nice. I also met three cute cats. Then we went into NYC and I had Thai food for the first time ever. I ordered duck, and it was really, really good, as were the spring rolls that we had as an appetizer (but I don't think I've ever had a spring roll that I didn't like). My uncle tells me that there's a Thai restaurant near the Echelon Mall, so I think I should look into that maybe this weekend. We also went to Books of Wonder where I got a pretty cupcake that got ugly by the end of the day. We had dessert at an Italian bakery-type place, and I had excellent chocolate mousse cake, and then we went to Toy Tokyo, where I bought some little Super Mario Bros. magnets. Today I brought them into work and showed Dan, and he seemed quite impressed with them. I told him that if and when I get back there, I'll buy him one. The last thing we did in the city was visit Jordan at the bookstore where he works. Jordan rocks, I can't even explain how much. He's a good egg. Then we went back to the apartment, or Penthouse, if you will, for awhile and chilled with Tavie. I never see Tavie, but I like her a whole lot. We should be good friends or something. I had such a good time just sitting around and talking to people. The trip was really good for me on so many levels. I wish I got to see everybody more often. Oh, and that day was June 20th, which is a pretty important day for me. On that day in 1999, I went to NYC for the free TMBG concert in Central Park. It was my first time going to the city alone, and it was also my first time meeting sarah, who was the one who showed me a whole lot of kindness by inviting me to meet up there. I also met her mom and sister, erin, Tavie, Jordan, Matt, and Jordan's friend Daniel (but I think at least half them didn't know who I was at the time {g}). But anyway, that day is the day that I met some of my most favorite people ever, so there ya go. {g} I really mean it!
posted by Beth at 8:07:00 PM
Thursday, June 16, 2005
Oh man, I was just watching the Daily Show and Ed Helms was in Cape May reporting about the lift of the ban on speedos. I had actually heard about that a week or so ago from the local news. Anyway, it was just exciting to see him in South Jersey. He also mentioned Atlantic City and Wildwood. Yay, South Jersey!
posted by Beth at 11:59:00 PM
Maybe I should mention that I got my replacement mp3 player six days after the first one broke. So far so good, but I remain nervous. I'm still loading it up. It takes forever, because the battery runs down super fast, when connected to the computer. The one time I tried plugging it in while connected to the computer, it froze, so I'm not going to try again out of fear.
I still haven't written my account of MonsterMania 3. I smell. By the time I attempt to do so, I won't remember any of it.
Haha, oh boy, guess what crappy thing happened to me on Tuesday! Well, I went to work and that was fine. I like work, and that's great. While there, I looked through a booklet listing all of the available minors and their requirements. On my first go through undergrad school, I minored in psychology, and I liked it. Since coming back last year, I'd been thinking of doing a minor alongside getting this degree, and looking through the book, I thought maybe Spanish would be a good bet. It's only 18 credits or six classes, and I remember a fair amount from middle and high school Spanish so that I should be able to coast through the early classes without any problem. I talked to an advisor, the business advisor, and asked her if she thought it was wise, and she said it was. So I felt happy about it.
Wait, that's not the crappy part! I got home and got my letter from financial aid. I was glad, because I need to know my loan and work study situation for the upcoming year. I opened it up and it said that I was denied financial aid, because I didn't meet their requirements. What the hell? Actually it turns out that I was denied for having too many credits. The cutoff was 171, and I now have 181. (Yes, I know. I spend too much time in school.) The letter said I could fill out the attached form and appeal their decision. Except that I didn't get the attached form. What I got was someone else's letter. Poor girl. Lucky for her I'm not an identity-stealing thief, as her SSN is on the letter, but I glanced at it, and she's denied aid, too. She has too few credits. Ugh. Let's just cancel each other out, okay?
Yesterday, I went to school for work, and while there, I showed the assistant dean my letter. She'd never heard of that situation before, and she said I should appeal it. I intended to do so anyway. I also showed it to the nice secretary and she, too, said I should fight it. Of course, I have to fight it. They closed the office early, at 3:45 so I rushed off to the financial aid office. The school site said the office would close at 4:30. I got there and showed the lady at the window both letters. She took the other girl's letter and didn't say anything about it. She also took mine and went into the back. She came out and talked to someone else for about three minutes, while I sat there and waited. I couldn't hear what they were saying, and it made me nervous. She then gave me an appeal form and said I could fill it out right then and there. I went to the waiting area, and filled it out. It was really short, and really, really unrelated to my situation. It just asked personal information and then it had multiple choice answers for my circumstances and my plan of action to correct things. The circumstances were totally irrelevant, because every last one of them dealt with not having enough credits. The options were stuff like changing majors, illness, or death in the family. There wasn't even an other, so I left it blank. The other question had to do with how I was going to fix things (what am I going to do, take credits away?), and the options were stuff like taking summer courses and meeting with my advisor to make a plan. I chose other, and I always meet with my advisor, and I have a plan. I know I'm going to finish the degree in May '07. Feh.
The form also said I needed to submit I typed letter of appeal. At that point, I still thought that the office was closing at 4:30, and I knew I wouldn't be in the next day, so I was in a huge hurry. I ran to another building and up to the computer lab to frantically type up a letter. I wrote about a page in fifteen minutes, explaining my situation. Adding that I only get loans and work study. The loans get paid back, and the work study I must earn hour by hour, so I don't see how it's a loss to them. I also explained how many more credits I needed and when I intend to finish up the degree. I didn't have time to proofread it, so I'm sure it's fraught with errors. Maybe they'll read it and think I'm a moron, and deny me the money for that reason. :P Then I ran back to financial aid and handed it in at about 4:33, and they weren't close to being closed, so I hurried for nothing. Grr. The lady at the window was nice, and she didn't sound concerned at all. The impression she gave was that it was just a question of them having no idea of how long I intended to stay in school and how many credits I need. Of course, she never told me not to worry about it, but she also never gave me the impression that I should worry. Now all I can do is wait for them to review it. Now, I know I could always get non-government loans. That probably wouldn't be terribly hard. A lot of people do that. But I prefer that all my loans come from the same place. I'm also worried about losing my work study. I'd really hate for that to happen. It's pocket money, it's work experience, everyone is really nice, I think it's good for my anxiety. I'd miss everyone, and I feel like I'm helping them out and they're helping me out. Fleh. Pray to both Jesus and Baby Jesus for me.
Last night, I watched Napoleon Dynamite, and I thought it was just totally awesome, funny, and happy. I don't know what Nathan's problem is. I really love the Netflix, though. Next up, I have A Dirty Shame and Se7en waiting for me.
Oh man, I totally left out something important from yesterday. On my way in from dropping off my appeal, I ran into my clarinet teacher. Actually, I was in a huge hurry, and she saw me first, so I dropped my letter off and ran back to her. We chatted for a couple minutes. I hadn't seen her in two years, when she moved out of her apartment and into a new house that was a little farther away. I asked her how things were going and she said they were good. She asked about my family and about Nathan, and I said things were good and next month is mine and Nathan's fifth anniversary. Then I told her how I'm back in school. She was in graduate classes, and she needed only one more class to be finished, but it was canceled for the summer. On our way out of the building, I realized that she's pregnant and due next month with a baby girl. I told her I'd email her, so I need to do that soon.
I'm having one of those momentsevenings where I put something down for a second and can't find it at all. It probably won't turn up for months. :P
posted by Beth at 8:17:00 PM
Saturday, June 04, 2005
1. I am extremely thankful that I got to do work study until the end of May. And they were so nice and prompt at getting back to me that I got more funds that I can earn until the end of June. After that, I could possibly work there through to the end of summer, and I'll definitely be working there once school starts in fall. I'm really appreciative that they want and value my help. It even makes up for the Awfulness that occurred last year. 2. MonsterMania happened two whole weeks ago, and I've yet to write about it. I will do so later. It was awesome. 3. Anyone else out there who subscribes to Netflix should totally be Netflix friends with me and Nolan. It will be fun! Two of y'all rock enough to have already done so. 4. My hair has been dyed a very slightly different color and is a little past my shoulders. First time ever dying and first time in many years that it's this short. Go me. 5. This past Thursday, I totally passed right out at the doctor's office during an unplanned blood extraction session (BES). This was my third time ever passing out, and my least favorite to be sure. 6. Yesterday, my fancy 60Gb mp3 player arrived. I began loading CDs onto it, and that same night, something went wrong somewhere. I would plug my USB cable into it, but the player and my computer wouldn't acknowledge that they were connected. I didn't get the connection screen on the mp3 player, and my computer listed the device as being hooked up to the USB port, yet said it was disconnected. I reinstalled everything three times and that didn't help. Today I called the tech support guy and he gave me a number of nice things to try, and none of them helped. I came home and decided I'd try a system restore just for the hell of it. It worked, and they were connected. But somehow in the process of trying all kinds of things, the mp3 player got stuck (not frozen, but stuck) on the restore menu, meaning that it wouldn't go back to the main menu, and, therefore I couldn't listen to any of the songs that I'd now be able to put on. In fixing one problem, another was created. I'll have to have amazon do an exchange. I really wanted to have it for my busrides to and from Philadelphia on Tuesday. {sigh} 7. It was close to this day, when Gypsy died last year and when Sam died three years ago. I miss them both so much.
posted by Beth at 2:25:00 AM
