Hey amigos, I need your help. My dad and I are applying to The Amazing Race to be filmed in June 2006, we figured, why not. We could see the world, possibly win a million dollars and get to spend time together. Anyways, one of the application questions is "What famous person reminds you of yourself?" and I'm pretty much stuck. I was thinking Audrey Tautou as Amelie... but that's a character not a famous person. So, do you have any suggeststions? lol. the questions they ask are all pretty interesting. We're also trying to come up with an idea for our three minute audition tape too.
Oh, this is funny!
Gracias!

That is awesome!!! oh my gosh, it'd be so cool if you guys got on there. I love that show! You'd be my first friend-turned-reality-show-contestant! As far as the questions go, that's tough. You kinda remind me of Eleanor Roosevelt- very humanitarian and wise. Or think of someone funny. You gotta stand out, of course. They want TV drama. Sound super competitive. Good luck and let us know what you end up doing on the tape!
Posted 12/29/2005 9:46 AM by steph421

Thank you, and Happy New Year's as well!!! You know, I watched the first season of the Amazing Race but haven't watched it for a long time. I would totally make time to watch if you made it on - that would be so cool!! Haha! And you definitely wouldn't be one of those fighting teams! I'm not sure if I can help you with the question, though. Have you decided on anything yet?
Posted 12/30/2005 2:42 PM by uruka

I am happy! Life, despite my car being in the repair shop, and being incredibly behind at one of my jobs, is good. I'm looking forward to a new year and a new semester and the challenges that it will present. I'm looking forward to this new relationship that, for the first time ever, is actually something good that might just last a bit longer than the last relationship (wait, it already did... lol). I'm looking forward to spending some quality time with my family tomorrow before work starts up again Monday. I'm looking forward to life. Even the car bit, I've learned a bit more about cars and what you do when the car breaks down and you have to get it towed somewhere. I've learned not to work three jobs during the same week and much less, during the same freaking day, especially the week before Christmas. Last night Logan and I went to a caroling party thrown by a friend of mine from high school. It was actually, really nice and I got to see tons of people I hadn't seen for years, including one long-lost friend from 9th grade and part of 10th who has been in Croatia for the last year and a half. Then we went to my apartment and watched the Skeleton Key and basically, it was good... it was all good.

God Bless you all and Merry Christmas!

Hanging out ended up being picking Logan's younger brother, Ian, up from the airport last night. It was nice though. On the way down we just talked, I met Ian, and then on the way back was more chatting and comfortable silences. That's pretty rare, the only person I've ever had comfortable silences with is my Dad... maybe Mom and I'm sure a friend or two. Tomorrow night we're going Salsa dancing and then probably watching the Skeleton Key.

I'm ready for a break. I know it is break, but I can't wait until this week is over because then there will be just less in general for me to cram into each day. The new job working on vacates for I-House is going well, but I'm behind. I don't think that matters though. Especially because yesterday I went in to talk with the office manager and she found a bunch of vacates that weren't done by one of the managers that I now add to my growing pile. I wish I'd said no to this job, it's kinda ongoing and something I should take an hour each day to do, but can't necessarily. After Christmas it will get better however.

I'm off to LSOP to work and then the library to work and then some vacates and then a staff meeting at I-House.

**edit** I passed all my classes with As and A-s (apparently in grad school A- is not a 4.00, though) and that's super exciting!

Woo, back at home for the next week or so. The roomie doesn't seem bad so far, but she is slightly messier it seems, but not bad. And the room smells different, but she is a different person than Karin blah blah. I feel kinda bad leaving her there while I'm home with family for Christmas when I could be getting to know her. But it was her decision to come back here right when everyone else will be out of town. I don't know why she did that. Do Armenians celebrate Christmas? I should ask when I next see her.

I'm just glad to be off of school, whatever I end up doing during the days during my vacation. Even the trying to manage multiple jobs isn't bad considering I don't have to worry about having to read anything or do any homework. I needed the break so bad. And now I'm crafting myself to death, which I like. Though knitting is a bit harder than I thought, I really messed up something on my sister's scarf today and after taking out 5 rows still didn't figure out what I had done, but somehow fixed it. lol

I'm also going to be reading alot. I really wanted to pick up the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe but found, to my dismay, that I packed it away when I was back in my parents' house in September because I just had too many books to fit on the shelf. Why did I think it was one that I wouldn't read again in the near future? Curses. Tomorrow perhaps I'll find a copy at the library, but I doubt it (stinkin movie).

Tomorrow night I am also going to be heading for coffee with Logan, and then just general "hanging out." Any clues as to what this might mean to a guy? In any case, it will be nice.
'night and Merry Christmas to everyone!


Yay for being back home! I feel the same way about jobs- I'd rather manage odd jobs full time over break than be in school. School is stinky! And yay for another date or get-together, whatever, with Logan. You'll have to let me know how that goes!
Posted 12/20/2005 9:34 PM by steph421

I'm done! And Karin moved out tonight, which was sad. As the semester went on we ended up talking a lot more and I like her, she was just so different from anyone I know, but cool. So my new roommate, Natalya from Armenia moves in Saturday, which means that tomorrow the custodial staff will be cleaning the apartment all day. Ugh. The funny thing is, Natalya is the same girl who moved out from my room in September so I could move in, and now she is back.
I've heard horror stories about the dishes she leave in the sink forever, and the food she leaves uncovered in the fridge and lets mold, and this dish she cooks that smells bad... but I've also heard that she is very nice. So, I'm hoping for the best, and stocking up on plastic wrap and remembering that nothing can be as bad as Sophmore year (despite the good friendship formed!)

Good point. Why would someone lie about a thing like that! Lol! Best of luck with the new roommate. Maybe you can lay some ground rules together at the beginning so that things don't get tense later on? Grossness should not be tolerated!
Posted 12/16/2005 10:23 PM by uruka

Test? Completed! Left? Two smallish papers for my Ecotourism class. My goal is to have them done by Thursday afternoon.

Today starts my Christmas Break work-athon, or what ends up looking like one anyways. Suddenly I find myself with four jobs, and also advertising to the Mom's Club that I will be babysitting over the break. That on top of all the reading I'd like to do and the craft-making I'm doing for Panama fundraising along with craft-making for Christmas presents and just other things I'd like to do, like hanging out with friends, going out with Logan (though apparently he'll be working a ton too) and being with my family.

I think I can manage it:) And I'm excited to be working all these different jobs.
My passport is supposed to come tomorrow, which is super exciting!

Tonight I got to participate in some package wrapping at the new Barnes and Noble in Loveland with Clayton, the director of service learning at CSU. He's going with us on the Panama trip because he knows Spanish. He's such a neat guy, and we had just wonderful conversation the past two hours. I met him before Panama because he came to chat with my research methods class about service learning and involving the community in your research etc. And then I met up with him after that to just discuss how my project will be different becuase I'm going into the Peace Corps.
So tonight was great because we just had lots of conversation about how the country is treating change towards being more inclusive of different cultures and how we deal with the change, and how it isn't inclusive and stuff about indigenous cultures and how people alienate themselves and then come back to the culture depending on what is more beneficial. Anyways, incredibly interesting. So during this 2 hour period I came along alot further in my thinking about grades verses just having great life experiences. I have an awful statistics test tomorrow morning, but I would rather have had this conversation tonight than an A on my final and in my class. I feel much better about life if I have these experiences, rather than focusing so much on my studies. Maybe it's a handy way to excuse myself from the studying that needs to be done, but so far my life experiences haven't gotten in the way of anything I want to do academically.

So now, I do continue to study:)

haha, I think I called you back like right after you entered this post! I like to disrupt people's studying! You better watch out or you're gonna like two boys :) Heather's such a guy magnet.
Posted 12/12/2005 10:10 PM by steph421

Oh Kansas and evolution...Grades are sooooo overrated.
Posted 12/13/2005 11:32 AM by Shannona

Currently Listening
Rent (1996 Original Broadway Cast)
By Jonathan Larson, Jeff Potter, Anthony Jackson, Daniel A. Weiss, Ira Siegel, Kenny Brescia, Steve Skinner, Adam Pascal, Aiko Nakasone, Anthony Rapp, Byron Utley, Daphne Rubin-Vega, Fredi Walker, Gilles Chiasson, Gwen Stewart, Idina Menzel, Jesse L. Martin, Kristen Lee Kelly, Rodney Hicks, Stevie Wonder, Taye Diggs, Timothy Britten Parker, Wilson Jermaine Heredia

What I'm so excited about and thankful for:
1) Good movies
2) Amazing dates!
3) Long lost friends suddenly calling you!
4) Being invited Christmas caroling with old friends
5) Getting that 4th job (the Manager's Assistant)
6) Holding hands:)
7) Samantha, Laura and Amy who listen and are happy when I'm happy!
8) The prospect of calling good friends with good news
9) Getting Christmas cards out on time
10) The (almost) end of the semester

I'm feeling pretty good right now... most of the above (ie: 1, 2, 3, 6, 7, 9) happened today too:)


Awwww! Yay! So many good things! I'm glad tonight went well! ; )
Yes!!!! I thought Aslan was wonderful. Some of the other cgi characters were good, but every time he was "on screen" I was so impressed! Haha! I just wrote more about the movie in another post....guess I really enjoyed it! Happy almost-end-of-the-semester to you as well! (too many exclamation points!)
Posted 12/11/2005 11:22 PM by uruka

Currently Listening
Our Little Corner of the World: Music From Gilmore Girls
By Various Artists

The proposal is done and turned in! Another good thing about today... I learned that I don't have hallucinations when I'm stressed.

earlier...

I've decided that I really hate the APA 5th edition style of formatting and citing papers. The citations are not that bad or hard, but for someone who was trained many years ago that two spaces go between sentences, and now they have to write an entire proposal with only one space between sentences, you begin to hate the space bar. It might be because it is late also, but I don't think so. I think it's just the stupid APA. Why do they do this to us students? It's just so they can make some money, sell this stupid style manual to the dopes who decided that their discipline would use this style manual over one of the millions of others. I'm still working on my proposal. I should be done relatively soon, especially since the lit review portion is the longest/hardest and it is about half done and then all that is left is the methods. I may actually get a tad bit of sleep tonight... that is if I start working again.

Next semester... I'm not doing this to myself again.

ps-just so you know, I'm actually quite happy and content with life, things get out of proportion when you have a proposal due tomorrow and a guy who asked you out a week ago but never did call again and who you have to ask about that tomorrow with little to no sleep in your system. yah, that tends to make one a bit grumpy... ;)

Aww, Heather, sounds like you are overwhelmed. Good luck on finishing your proposal and with the guy. Perhaps he's just as overwhelmed as you and that's why he hasn't had a chance to call you? I dunno, just a thought. He could also just suck and not be worth your time, but I'm trying to give him the benefit of the doubt first :)
Posted 12/8/2005 10:32 AM by steph421

OK, so now onto the proposal itself. The presentation turned out good, really good in fact. I got a 49/50 on it, and compliments as well. If only they all knew that what they took 2 weeks to prepare I prepared in a day. I feel like I'm cheating. I think it's because I do most of my work (before I ever sit down to type anything up) in my head. I've always been this way, I have to think about it a long time before anything coherent will come out on the page. It makes for long nights usually, but it works, I guess. I do need to change though...

Tonight I have an interview for the manager's assistant job I'd like to have the rest of the school year. I hope it goes well, because it would be a great way to be more involved in the apartment!

Good luck on your interview!
Posted 12/7/2005 11:20 AM by BluesOn22s

Good job on the presentation!! And good luck with the interview. I will post more sometime, but you're right, it is about the car.
Posted 12/7/2005 7:30 PM by steph421

Working on my proposal presentation for tomorrow... something I present on but I haven't even written the proposal yet (due Thursday). Oh fun. The background is done and I have maybe 10 more slides to go, but they're the hard ones... stuff like what theories I'll be using and my needs statement/problem statement. YUCK! I can't wait for this to be over.

My favorite thing is waking up in the morning and looking outside to discover the first snow of the season!


Sooo jealous!
Posted 12/3/2005 8:53 AM by uruka

Thank you so much for your comment, Heather. I guess I just never expected my parents to get older, as silly as that sounds!
Posted 12/4/2005 1:47 PM by uruka -

Happy December! I gave blood today and it didn't hurt much at all, and she stuck me in the middle of my arm unlike normally when they stick me further to the side! I knew it could happen!

I'm on to working on my proposal. Did I ever say what I hope to study? That is, if I get a favorable Peace Corps placement. I want to study Community Based Natural Resource Management in Latin America. WOO!

Yay Panama! Tuesday was a day for filling out a plethora of forms for the trip.