One week down - 15 to go.

So, I made it through week one of work + school with few scars. I have completed all of my homework for the week, and still managed to get in about 30 hours at the job. I'm only keeping that pace at work until after Labor Day. (so I can get the holiday pay.) Is it really worth it? Probably not - but I can't say no. One day, I'll need a favor - and one of the favors I've done will be ready to cash in. I hope.

I worked today, so it just now feels like the weekend is beginning. Unfortunately, for me, tomorrow will be clean the house day. This place is beyond messy. Marmee told me to get used to it - because the further into the semester I get - the less time I'll have to worry about housework, or cooking, or bathing... Maybe she didn't mention bathing. Hard to be sure. But, my thinking is - clean while I have time to clean. Then there won't be layers of filth. Or - at least not as many layers.

After work today, Alex and I went to his Mother's house to pick up some boxes of his things. She has been trying for 6 or 7 months to sell her house, and he's been procrastinating on getting his things out. I don't know what I'll do when my Mom finally decides she's selling our house. I have SO MUCH CRAP piled up in that house, it's UNREAL. After going to his Mom's - we went to Marmee's and had dinner. It was a good time. Marmee is such a riot. She gets to laughing, and her face turns purple, and it's just contagious. :)

I meant to post on here that before school started, I read the cutest book. For anyone who is a teacher (or becoming one), I recommend Thirty-two Third Graders and One Class Bunny by Phillip Done. Despite the fact that I am wanting to teach college-level students, and NOT 3rd grade, I found the book to be inspiring, funny, and relevant. I know most of you are in school - either teaching, learning, or both... But maybe over Christmas break - look into it. You'll love it. :)

Okay - I'm babbling at this point. So I'll end for the day.

Grad School - Day One

Okay - so day one, class one... I'm thinking I've got this in the bag. The prof let us know that we have an 87% chance of an A in the class - the rest with B's and very few if any grades lower than that. He quelled all my fears. Then I went to Lit Theory. And all my fears were confirmed!! This class is going to be CRAZY hard!! The teacher's style is like watching a Tarentino film! Completely non-linear and tangential. I'm SO freaking out!!! This class is going to be my undoing. I'm seriously considering dropping down to 9 hours. I think 12 hours might be too many. When I'm facing a 5 chapter research paper, 2 12 page papers, and who knows what else... Maybe that's enough.

I can't believe that I was sitting here in this living room already doing homework last night. I realize that for a lot of people - grad school is just like undergrad, except more expensive. I think that for me - it might be a helluva lot more of a challenge. We shall see.

What was nice was that I heard from some of the girls I made friends with last semester at NSU today. I miss seeing them everyday, since they were the closest thing I had to friends here in Tulsa. And it was perfect, because we were in-class friends. That way, we could hang out, and be friends, but still have our personal lives. It really appealed to my flaky side.

Can I just say that I am so thankful for Alex?? He is such a wonderful guy. He takes EXCELLENT care of me. What would I do without him???

Pre-First-Day-of-School Jitters

Can I just tell you all, I'm a little TERRIFIED of starting grad school!?!?! I always have some trepidation before a new semester - but this one has created bowl-shaking nerves... That might have been an overstatement, but you get the general idea.

I'm scared.

Not of the professors or the students. Just of the workload. And of the fact that I have to maintain above a 3.0 to stay in the program. YIKE! For the bulk of the summer I've had myself believing that the GPA requirement was just a good indicator that the classes would be easy and it would be no problem. But I think I knew the whole time that wasn't likely. And now I'm sure of it.

What I'm taking:

Educational Research
College Teaching
2nd Language Acquisition (online class)
Literary Theory

I am the most afraid of the Lit Theory class. Mostly because I'm worried I don't really know anything about it, and I'll be laughed out of the classroom for aspiring to be an English Prof with such little knowledge base.

What I'm finding to be surprisingly true, however, is that most - if not all - people have fears like these. Being found out as a fraud. Being busted for being underqualified, or worse yet - being discovered to be the moron you truly are. I am trying to seek comfort and solace in this idea. It's sorta working.

I also - at some point this semester - have to take the MAT (Miller Analogies Test) and pass it to remain in the grad program. Have any of you taken it? Do you have any pointers? Since it costs $115 a pop - I'm hoping to only have to take it once. We'll see how that works out.

I'm off to have nightmares about showing up naked to the wrong class now.

Sweet dreams to you, readers...

A few more pictures...

Here are just a few more pics from NY... I am working on scrapbooking for this trip, too - so those of you who live close by can see more tangeable evidence of out vacation.

I've got more pics that I'll post this week! So many to wade through!

PS - Do any of you watch Big Brother?? Cause, man - that was CRAZY this week.

Central Park

Central Park,
originally uploaded by amberqt.

AWWWW!!! Aren't we the CUTEST!?!?!?!?! We walked through Central Park, and this is when we decided to sit down for a rest. We watched people ride through the park on rickshaws, and lots of rollerbladers and joggers. It really was cool that in the middle of a huge city, you can forget about the skyscrapers and subways, and just enjoy being outside.

Brooklyn Bridge

Brooklyn Bridge,
originally uploaded by amberqt.

From the harbor cruise we got a beautiful view of the Brooklyn Bridge. What you can't tell from the picture is that it was 4000 degrees out that day! We were SO hot!!

The View from our room

The View from our room,
originally uploaded by amberqt.

Despite the sorta scary mold marks on the window - we really did have a nice room. The window was a little... uh - dirty. But I think that was mostly because it housed a window unit air conditioner.

This view was really amazing at night. Even the traffic was pretty.

Rainy


It is at long last raining here in Tulsa. It's been too hot and too dry all summer long. I'm so glad to hear thunder outside my window - and I hope it means Fall is on its way!!

I really hate summer. Only because it is so unbearably hot. I realize that there are plenty of places in this world where it is MUCH hotter than here - and I pity those people. Because no human should have to live in a place where by 7 am it is already 93 degrees outside. Especially not me.

So - that's my rant about summertime.

I do have all the pics from NYC in my possession now. I'll post them at some point. Although I am delusional enough to believe that you are reading this just to see what I'm up to - and not necessarily just to see pictures from the NY trip.

On to what I'm up to...

I bought my books for the upcoming semester on Monday. Didn't look at them - just bought the ones that I was supposed to for the classes I'm taking. Wednesday night I actually looked at them and found that the 2 books for the Cognitive Learning class I enrolled in were "Teaching Secondary Students" and "Teaching Elementary Students". Um - okay - this class IS on my degree plan as an elective, but - being that I am wanting to teach college students - I didn't think that this class was exactly the one I want to take. So - I dropped it, and added instead College Teaching, which sounds like EXACTLY what I want to be taking. What was even nicer was that when I returned the 2 books I no longer needed - I purchased the book for the new class, and there was only one book required. And it is a small book. I always feel comforted by a small book requirement for a class. It just gives me a warm, fuzzy feeling. :)

I'm transferring to a different store at work. Instead of schlepping myself out to Owasso, I'll now be working at the store across the street from Eastland Mall. (The mall that time forgot) For those of you who know Tulsa well - you'll know that is less than 1 mile from Marmee's house. MUCH closer to school and home = less driving for me. :) I'll be at the new store as of Monday. HOORAY! Also - I'm going to part time hours. No more than 25 hours a week. I'll be poor - but I'm thinking that will leave me enough time to get all of my homework taken care of. I HOPE!

There are a few lingering nerves about starting Grad school. It sounds so intimidating, and I remember watching Marmee work her ass off when she was in Grad school. But I'm trying to remind myself that this is necessary to get to the classroom - which is where I ultimately want to be. (In front of - not just inside of) ;)

Today - Alex and I are going to see The 40-Year Old Virgin. Should be good times.

More soon. Thanks for reading! If you have a blog - let me know, I'd LOVE to read it!!

Photos on the way!


I have FINALLY taken the film to be developed. :) It is due to be picked up this evening. I'm hoping that with my day off tomorrow - I can get some things posted.

In other news I am feeling much much better! And, as a plus - my company has decided that we no longer have to work late hours. HOORAY!!! NO MORE LATE NIGHTS!

I've purchased my books for school - and I'm all set for the Fall semester!

Aren't you all just excited beyond recognition????

Keep those comments coming! I love hearing from you!

No pictures today, folks.
I’ve been WAY too tired and scatterbrained to even take my rolls of film in to be developed. One of the downsides to using real film, I guess.

I’m currently not feeling so well. I’m guessing that my allergies are pissed that I’ve come back to Oklahoma. Because for allergies – Oklahoma might as well be the seat of Hell. So – I’ve been sniffling, and coughing for 2 days now. And night before last – I was awakened by something that I haven’t been woken by in at least twenty years… Snot actually running down my face. I know it’s gross. And most of you are thinking this is WAY more information than you ever wanted. But tough. This is MY blog, and I can talk about whatever I want!! So – I had to sleep last night with a Kleenex stuffed up one of my nostrils to prevent future dripping. I’m sure I looked hot. Poor Alex.

Another weird occurrence last night was that around 3am, the smoke alarm in our apartment went off. There are several layers of weird here… A – There was no smoke. B – Our electricity went off last night, too – and popped back on sometime after the alarm started going off. And C – it took FOREVER for it to register in my mind that the beeping I heard was not my alarm clock, my neighbor’s alarm clock, somebody’s car alarm, or an alien ship coming to kidnap me. It was probably only 30 seconds – but in that “I just am coming out of a really deep sleep” fog – it felt like it took me 3 or 4 minutes to realize what was going on. And Alex slept until I got up. So – if there is ever a fire – I guess we’d burn.

That’s sad.

Especially since the smoke detector is RIGHT OUTSIDE OUR BEDROOM DOOR.

I had a hard time getting back to sleep after that, because my brain kept saying “what if that’s a carbon monoxide detector too? And you’re going to die because you ignored its warnings!!”

Sleep was more important than investigation.

I’m congested. Why is it that when you’re sick, it’s always worse at night?? LAME!!! I felt okay during the day today. Okay-ish, really… But now, I’m starting to feel all fuzzy headed, and tired. DAMN SINUSES!!

On a more serious note – I heard that my best friend and his new wife got into a car accident yesterday. They totaled the car – but the last I heard was that they were both okay. Philip & Jessica – my thoughts are with you. I wish you both a speedy physical, mental, and financial recovery from this!

I’m spent. That’s all I got tonight. Remember – I’d love to hear from you guys too… Comments are open to whomever – and my email DOES receive notes in the inbox. (Or – I THINK it still does – haven’t gotten any to test that theory recently!)

I’m out.

Thanks for reading!!!

Thank you all for reading my blog.

Coming up this week: More tales and pics from NYC
Ranting about the cost of school & books
Psychotic babble about work and it's lameness
Lots of surprises & kwirky twists!!

Just a quick note. I've gotten some emails asking if we got engaged while in New York. No. I will DEFINITELY let everyone know when that happens...

For now, we're happy living together. Very happy.

Part Two

NYC skyline,
originally uploaded by amberqt.

We rounded out our pilgrimage by visiting Ground Zero. It wasn’t anything like the OKC bombing site was before the memorial was erected. Perhaps it is because it’s in New York City, the land of construction, but to me, if I didn’t know better, I would have thought it was merely an unfinished construction site. That was only my impression from close-up, however. From a distance, like from the harbor cruise we took, the space that the twin towers used to fill was haunting, and empty, but at the same time full of sadness and resolve. I know that Freedom Tower will help to fill that gap, just at the memorial site helped OKC fill theirs.

Broadway

Broadway,
originally uploaded by amberqt.

We ended that day by seeing RENT with my Aunt Donna & cousin Nick. It was SO GREAT! I had seen it once before in OKC - but the Broadway production was FAR superior. (Not to mention, of course - the fact that Frenchie Davis of American Idol fame was in the cast!) The show was SO great - and afterward, we hung around and got autographs from the cast. I have to say - they were WAY nicer than I thought they would be. They hung around outside the theatre and took pictures, signed autographs, and just talked to the fans for at least 30 - 45 mins after the show. I think even Alex enjoyed the show. He didn't fall asleep once! We tried to get tickets to see Spamalot as well - but they were sold out until mid - October, and we didn't want to stay that long. ;)

Central Park - Strawberry Fields

Imagine,
originally uploaded by amberqt.

Wednesday morning, we got up and headed uptown... We walked through Central Park from Strawberry Fields all the way to - um... Well I don't remember exactly what the street name was, but we were by the Time Warner Bldg. (PS - Glenn, we didn't go to Jazz, because by the time we had schlepped our sorry selves across central park - we were WAY too gross to go into a restaurant like that.) Meanwhile - keep in mind that it's about 98 degrees outside while we're doing all this walking. For those of you who have never been to the city - check out a map - this was a HUGE walk for a couple of out-of-shape mid-westerners like us! ;)

THEN we walked to 57th & 5th... (Any of you ladies who have been there know, this means little blue boxes with white ribbons!!) Yep - we went to Tiffany's. But before anyone gets excited - we purchased NOTHING. I considered a pretty silver ring (for my right hand) but it was $250, I didn't like it as well as one I saw at James Avery for $45, and they didn't have it in my size. I contemplated shelling out $60 for a keychain or something just so I could have the box, ribbon, and little sack; but decided that was pathetic - even for me. I did, however peruse the diamonds before we left the promised land, that is Tiffany's... Gotta say, girls - if you (or your man) have the means, I HIGHLY recommend checking those puppies out!! BEAUTIFUL!!!! The website doesn't do them justice, but take a look anyhow.... Tiffany's

We walked by Bloomingdales - but didn't go in. I've been to the one in Chicago enough times to know that I can't afford even a pair of socks in there... And going in T & Co. was a humbling enough experience for my wallet and me for one day.

Serendipity

Serendipity,
originally uploaded by amberqt.

We decided to go to Serendipity. I really wanted to have a frozen hot chocolate. Um, what the movies & TV don't tell you is that the entrance is as big as - oh, maybe a bedroom closet; it's not air-conditioned; the hostess is this 3,000 year-old hag who's been smoking since 675 A.D., and obviously has a very rigid object lodged in her hind quarters; and the wait will be AT LEAST 1 hour IF NOT LONGER!!!! We waited about 25 mins but when 15 more people came and packed their hot, sweaty, cranky selves into the waiting area - I had to get out. So we left. The rest of that evening was low key. The bummer about our trip was that we would get up and go go go, only to be COMPLETELY exhausted by dinnertime. So much so that we RARELY did anything at night. Not that we’re the club or bar types anyhow.

By Thursday morning, we were POOPED! But I was on a mission… I HAD TO HAVE at least one knock-off purse. If you’ve never been to NYC, you may not know… But these are A – illegal, and B – drastically varying in quality. After a THREE hour hunt – I found a guy who had some. I bought 3 Coach’s and 1 Kate Spade. They’re great. Furthermore, I only spent $110 total. Feel free to be jealous.

We didn’t do much else Thursday because we knew we were getting up at 4:30 Friday morning to head out. So we read, and rested in our hotel room. Looking at this – it doesn’t seem like we did very many things, but we both feel like we saw and did everything we wanted to while we were there. And we’re both SO GLAD to be home!! I have to go back to work starting tomorrow. (yuck) So, that is all I’ll write for tonight.

Thanks for reading! I’ll post more pictures as soon as I get them developed.

The Empire State Building

The Empire State Building,
originally uploaded by amberqt.

New York City – Center of the Universe

Alex and I got home from our almost 26 hour drive back from NYC about an hour ago. I decided that I should type up everything we did and post it before I forget the details….

We arrived on Sunday, July 31st in the late afternoon. We had time to do one thing, so we picked the one closest to our hotel – the Empire State Building. The line was CRAZY long, and un-air-conditioned. No fun…

Top of Empire State Building

Top of Empire State Building,
originally uploaded by amberqt.

But it was worth it! And a perfect first thing to do in NYC! It was only 3 city blocks away from where we were staying… But that’s like 6 Oklahoma blocks, if not more! And everywhere, we were surrounded by these New York women in flip flops, or stiletto heels walking around in the city. My feet were sore, and I wore tennis shoes the WHOLE time. I definitely salute the women of NYC – you definitely take to heart the saying “beauty is pain”.

Harbor Cruise

Harbor Cruise,
originally uploaded by amberqt.

Up early Monday morning, we took the Subway to 42nd street and walked to the pier. We took a 2 hour harbor cruise. It was nice, and a really good idea – BUT, I was dumb. I didn’t bring sunscreen for us, and I chose seats on the upper deck of the boat – IN THE BLAZING HOT SUN. Needless to say, we both got sunburned. Alex is still peeling. Poor thing! From the Harbor cruise we saw everything from the Chrysler building, to Mary Kate & Ashley Olsen’s condo. Oh, and of course… Her majesty, The Statue of Liberty.

Statue of Liberty

Statue of Liberty,
originally uploaded by amberqt.

Back on land, we grabbed a couple of $9.00 sandwiches, (PS – did I mention NYC was EXPENSIVE?!?!?) then on to the American Museum of Natural History. They had room upon room of dinosaur skeletons. VERY cool! They also had a HUGE display devoted to the Big Bang Theory. It was all really fascinating. We stayed until the museum closed. Grabbed dinner, and POURED ourselves into bed…. More on our adventures in the City tomorrow… It’s time for me to pour myself into bed now.