It's That Time of the Year

I'll cop to it! I have yet to write my Thanksgiving entry. I swear I'll get to it! Maybe sometime this week after my papers are written and my finals have started to be studied for... there are some amusing stories to share certainly.

But I'm bothered. So I'm pushing the Thanksgiving entry back, stepping away from my studies to take a moment to write about an issue that on the face looks... nice enough, but at the crux is problematic.

On facebook, there is a group called "Help Keep CHRIST in Christmas". Interesting concept. I can see where there would be some Christians who would want to remind their fellow man to enjoy the holiday, but also respect where the holiday came from. I have no cause to find this problematic.

But now, for the description...

The purpose of this cause is to keep CHRIST in Christmas. Since so many people today are trying to ban Christ from everything, School, Courthouse and even Christmas. In a time when all things religious are being discouraged and swept away, it’s refreshing to know that the Order established the “Keep Christ in Christmas” campaign to remind people that Christmas is above all a day God want us to remember the birth of His Son, our Savior

First of all, what is the "Order" that established this campaign? I haven't seen evidence of this particular campaign anywhere else, so that particular misnomer, "campaign", seems a little inappropriate. Regardless, neither of these are the crux of my problem, they're just glaring inadequacies that need to be explained to those who may not see the inside of a church every Sunday (even then, I don't believe the pastor I frequented back home would discuss this). But, alas, I am being petty because the real problem I have with this comes next.

The "ban Christ from everything" line got to me. And it made me an unholy shade of red mad. I believe in the tenants of freedom in this country, I believe that you have a choice to decide your religion and I believe that you can choose not to have another's religion foisted on you in the laws and in education when there is this freedom of religion. Christianity should not have the upper-hand and there are folks who seem to think it should because those of the faith raise an un-godly amount of money for their pastors (notice, I don't say societal issues). Folks are more than welcome to have Christ in their lives, they are more than welcome to be prejudice and racist (although I may not choose to overly interact much with said folks), but to operate on the assumption that Christ should be taught in the public school classrooms and have a place in the legal system is absurd. If folks want to put their children in private schools where the Christian faith is taught all day long, please, do it. If folks want to live in a country where Christianity rules all, then there is nothing stopping them from moving away.

And then let's address the final line of the description of this group's "cause": "remind people that Christmas is above all a day God want us to remember the birth of His Son, our Savior".
Remind what people? All people or just the Christian people? There is an inherent vagueness to this statement that just further shows the incorrect assumptions of society made by this group. First of all, it assumes that everybody is Christian, that they believe in the Christian god, and that the Savior is everybody's. Now, I know of somebody who would dispute this and say that only Christian folks will be reading this and hearing about it. Great. So what's the campaign for then? Ostensibly speaking, pastors and preachers are going to cover the topic of the holidays in their sermons, the true meaning behind the day.

But that's ok, because this is all a ploy. It is a ploy to continue teaching prejudice, to continue teaching that it is okay to discriminate, to make money... Oh... isn't it interesting that this group has raised over $2,000? What is this money going to? It has this little writing at the top of the page - donations will go to X group. Oh, oh gosh. Let's take a minute to look at the group who created the page. I'll be kind and not name names, but I did click on the link to their facebook page. The group itself, while a little too preachy too me, seems like it's actually trying to help folks. They have a Bible rehab program for homeless folks in an urban area. Oh, isn't that interesting? They've made no money on their page. They want 5 million dollars and couldn't raise it on their own... and they've just raised almost 2 thousand dollars by marketing this campaign. Hhhmmm. Sneaky tactics right there. I am impressed at the marketing skills actually. $2,000 is actually quite a bit of money for facebook.

But... they're using a campaign to their own benefit. I find that rather shady. Granted, I find the whole lot of it shady, but this is absolutely a ploy. A ploy to make money when they couldn't make it on their own by stepping on a campaign bandwagon.

Honestly? I would have been okay with the concept behind the campaign, of teaching where this holiday originated. But I would have also been encouraged to have a statement about learning about each other's religions, so that we might understand and respect each other further. I would have been encouraged if it was suggested to go to some page for Hanukkah, so that folks might learn about this holiday, and Kwanza and... the options are many and varied. Religious respect is what is lacking here. Not only this, but they are so concerned about putting Christ back in to Christmas. Yet, they too will be buying a host of gifts (not frankencense and myyrh like in the Bible) that furthers the lack of understanding how this holiday came to be. They too will jump on the Capitalistic bandwagon and buy an insane amount of gifts for only one person (got kids anyone?) and then they wonder why people are greedy and forget the meaning of the holiday. I'm spoiled, so I have no problem with getting an insane amount of gifts, but nor do I preach that everybody has forgotten what this holiday means, that it has turned to a Capitalistic wasteland, and then turn around and perpetuate that very wasteland.

So as we go into this holiday season, I implore you to keep an open mind. Take a few moments to find out what holidays are coming up, regardless of the religion, and learn about them. I'm not asking you to convert, I'm asking you to open your mind and your heart to all peoples. What is Hanukkah? What is Kwanzaa? What is Christmas? What am I missing?

Take the time to learn, donate money to a cause where you know where the money is going, donate your time if you have it, meet new people, try new things, enjoy everything this season has to offer -- regardless of what religion you practice.

Change

Tonight was mind-boggling and history making.

At the beginning of this elections process, I wanted Hillary. I liked Hillary and I have no reason not to like her now. I didn't know about Obama, I didn't know his history, his politics, or anything else for that matter. And then he took this country by a storm. I am a fairly firm democrat, but I hung back, I waited. I wanted to see what Obama and McCain both had to say.

Four years ago, I liked McCain. He was a maverick in a great many ways and I respected his history in both the military and in politics. It was in this election that he erred. He pandered to the religious right, he picked a joke of a VP candidate, and he became mean. So then I had to take a harder look at Obama. I still don't think he has the experience, but I do think Biden does. There were also quite a few of his policies I do like. I'll not discuss them overly much here as now we'll wait and see what happens.

What is interesting is being in this city and with people who care. For the elections that I've been able to vote in, I honestly haven't much cared. Of course, I exercised my right to vote, but the results? I could wait to read them the next morning. I sat with a group of people tonight and we discussed politics, we laughed, we ate, we drank, and we watched. Hours flew by because the company good and the race was better. I enjoyed watching with this group of people and don't think I could have ever imagined sitting on a couch watching election results when I have a 20 page paper to complete, readings for class, and a weekly write-up.

That being said, I am now home and watching a different race. The race of the propositions in California. I stayed a California voter for a few reasons, the main one being that I knew I would need to make my vote count and it would count in California. There are two propositions that I am passionate about and continue to watch, in some amount of fear, and think about why they matter.

First there is Proposition 8. Proposition 8 would create a constitutional amendment that makes marriage only between a man and a woman. I've had many a discussion about this particular proposition. I am a firm believer in equality, therefore I voted NO. We may never reach complete equality, but that should not stop us from trying. Let me list out some of the Yes arguments and why I disagree with them.
*Protectmarriage.com tries to say that Prop 8 does not discriminate against gays, "it simply restores the meaning of marriage". I would have to thoroughly disagree. Of course it discriminates against homosexual people. It makes them not equal. It puts them into a lower class of their own. You can sit there and blabber about civil union all day long, but it is NOT the same.
*Protectmarriage.com tries to say that Prop 8 will require teachers to explicitely teach that marriage is between x and x and y and y. This is not so. If marriage is taught in the classroom, then it can simply be taught as, "Well, marriage is when two people fall in love and choose to make it permanent".
*Protectmarriage.com tries to say that Prop 8 does not interfere with "gays living the lifestyle they choose". Well, yes, it does. If they want to get married and have that outwardly sign of commitment, then they aren't able to do so under this proposition.
*A family member (whom I once thought was socially liberal and found out otherwise with this proposition) mentioned that the state shouldn't be up in our private business. Well, then, why would you be voting yes on a constitutional amendment which would keep the state all up in our private business?
*Another family member (rather religious) mentioned that Christians love the sinner, but hate the sin. Well, instead of tramping on their parade, why not create equality? The Bible can say all day long that laying with a man is wrong, but not everybody follows this religion. Not only that, but... what about creating a different option? One that works for both this and the previous argument. What if you vote NO on this proposition and then create another one? One that says all unions are civil unions and the word "marriage" has no place in the constitution, period, as it is a construction of religion and religion has no place in politics.

I'm sitting here now, 33% of precints have reported in and the Yes vote is up by 53% to 47%. Most counties are voting Yes. They are voting for discrimination and prejudice. It blows me away that we've just elected a Black president and this is the result of proposition 8 so far? There is a reason why it is called Proposition Ha8te. Regardless of your reasoning, this country was built for the purposes of equality, granted, that didn't always happen. But since the inception of this country, change and the striving for equality has occurred. I can no longer consider California a democratic state if it votes Yes on this prop. We used to be at the forefront of change and now? We're simply mediocre. If prop 8 passes, I'll be ashamed of the state and of its constituents.

And then there's prop 4. Which essentially states that legal guardians are to be notified 48 hours in advance of a minor's abortion. This is another hot button topic for me. I'm not going to get into the why's and how's and my decision to be pro-choice, but I'm upset about a few things. In a discussion about this topic with a young, Christian, white male, it really hit home for me what neo-conservatism is, what religion to the point of prejudice and alientation is and I just was blown away. I asked him what would happen should he have a daughter, what would happen if she were raped, got pregnant, but couldn't stand the thought of bearing the child? Because it is a child made of hate and not of love? He responded that if his daughter really didn't want the child, then she would have to have it, but give it up for adoption.

I was frankly horrified. And upset. I cried over this fictitious girl, knowing that there are a great many like her out there (having been a crisis counselor, I've talked to my share). These young ladies feel alienated from their families, feel like they have nowhere to go, and the consequences to such despair can be drastic.

I took a step back for a moment and thought of my own parents, not of my extended family as I'm not entirely certain how supportive any of them would be in certain situations, but my parents. I've never had to come to them with a situation like this, but I can think of a young girl who wants an abortion, but feels alienated. I can think of my own self in context of having my hearing impairment, having a disability. Never have my parents said I was an abomination, never have my parents implied that I'm being punished (or in the case of abortion, are a sinner for considering it), never have my parents done anything but encourage me to make the best decisions I possibly can with the most information at my fingertips. I realized again tonight how lucky I am to have such an open and inviting parental unit, one that may have their prejudices, but don't let them affect their relationships with each other, friends, and most of all, me.

I hope that any family members that I have, any friends that I have, know that I would try to be open, that I will listen to what you have to say and then discuss options. I'm not going to push anything on anybody, nor would I encourage abortion--it's a huge and incredibly emotional decision that I wouldn't wish on anybody, but the option is there. I would hope that they'd realize I will always love them, that I won't turn them away.

As I sit here, No on Prop 4 is ahead in the reporting and I hope it stays that way.

I realize this is a more serious blog than one I have written, but I'm angry. I'm angry that people think it is okay to allow religion to rule politics, I'm angry that people think it is okay to not allow equality, I'm angry that people think it is okay to deny love to someone because they are different than you or offer a different opinion.

I hope in the coming years we do see change. That we see change that allows for all people to have the opportunity to be of the same status.

Change can happen and I believe it started tonight.

Delinquent

I have been one!

It has been a month since I've updated. A looooooong month.

There has been a good amount of adjusting necessary to learn how to budget my time for school, work, and a modicum of a social life. I'm still trying to find the right amounts of time for what needs to get done without getting too insanely stressed out.

Classes are still going well enough. I've been re-evaluating the life path a bit and am continuing to leave my options open to see where the wind will blow me next. So far though, I am liking the learning process and I am happy to be here.

That being said, I am really liking the East Coast. Granted, I have yet to live through a winter, but the general atmosphere is one that I'm quite pleased with. I will probably be moving again in June though as the rent is just obnoxious and I have really no safety with my loan monies, which I would like to have. So, time will tell whether the move will happen to Virginia or to Maryland. I'm currently leaning toward Maryland to be with near two of my new bestests, Lauren and Megan - but we still have a few months and life to go, so we'll see what actually ends up happening.

Off to dinner with other friends... will try to not be such a delinquent next time.

Or maybe I will...

Double Dose

And I have two classes to write about this evening.

My second class last week went insanely well. As I noted, it was my fem theory class. There's a couple of folks in the class that I really enjoy and I love the professor. She's really enthusiastic, helpful and just generally full of knowledge and support. She'll push us, but you'll want to do well only because she's just that good. I really think she'll be able to help me hammer out the theory portion of my thesis, as well as advise me on how to go about getting a thesis advisor.

It really got me jazzed up for the remainder of this semester and all the fun I'll be having.

And then there were three. This evening was my third class. Technically first if you're looking at it from a week to week point of view. It's my research methods class. First of all, qualitative not quantitative. For those of you who might wonder what the difference is - it means I don't have to do math - which is good. Me trying to do math at this point in my life would be just the biggest joke. But I was still concerned that this would be my hardest and most boring class. It turns out, it just might not be. And not only that, but it will provide me my research proposal toward my thesis.

Follow me?! Three classes and two of them will provide me huge portions of my thesis. Already!!!

Which is great as the other night I was speaking to one of the second years and she mentioned that if I should want to go onto a PhD, I should aim to be published by mid year next year. This will certainly immeasurably help in that goal.

Overall, there will, of course, be some downs this year, but right this second... things are going great. I couldn't ask for more from my classes or professors.

And now for the big news.

I am...

so excited for the Cal-MD game this weekend!!! I'll be going to the pre-tailgate party thrown at UCDC by the DC Cal Alum to start the weekend off right. Just to share the pure insanity that is me when it comes to Cal, and Cal football, I have a date that night. I told him either he comes with me or we'll have to reschedule. He chose to come. Aaaahhh, I do so love converting folks into Bear fans. Then Saturday will be gameday, which, of course, I am going to. I talked June into coming with me, so that will be incredibly exciting to say the least. June is a gal who lives in my building who also grew up in LA and also went to Cal. Talk about a small world!

I'll keep you updated on the weekend when the time comes.

Until then...

GO BEARS!!!

Class?! Finally!

Last night was the first night of classes of the Fall 2008 semester. It was my Women and the Law class.

To start: yesterday was spent a bit nervous. I was wondering why I would leave a up and coming career to come back to school... regardless of the fact that PR was simply not something I wanted to spend the remainder of my life doing. This is a lot of money, a big move and for... a Masters in a subject I've never even taken a class in.

But... of to class I went. And really enjoyed it. We had reading due (yes, for the first class), so I did my reading out of a very large book. I wander down the stairs, into a room (not classroom per se) and we end up with only five students in class. Excellent!!! At Cal, we had discussion sections upward of 40 people. Finally, an opportunity to engage in intellectual discourse surrounding a text.

Tonight is class #2. It's my Fem Theory class. So if my next blog involves man-hating, man-bashing dialogue, don't be overly surprised.

Cal Bears Football

I had a glorious evening last night. I joined up with the Cal Alum at the Sign of the Whale in DC - rather close to where I live.

Why would I do this you ask?

To watch our first football game of the season of course!

They were loud, obnoxious and seriously fun. The bar was PACKED with Cal fans and that just made it incredible. It was like being back in Memorial Stadium... but not.

We sang Cal songs (I need to brush up - how could I forget the drinking song?! Maybe I wasn't drunk enough... Mom will be happy about that...), ate wings, drank beer and delighted in a Bear win over the Michigan State Spartans.

I even met up with somebody I haven't seen in years! He and I kept looking at each other, wondering, knowing we somehow know each other, but... so we started chatting and realized we were in CalSERVE together (party/activist group on campus). So we're going to go ahead and be nutty together at games as we're both rather effusive people.

Upshot is: viewing parties are going to be awesome and I think this joining of the Cal Alum will work out quite well.

GO BEARS!!!

One week...

Until the impending doom of school.

I'm kidding! I am looking forward to it immensely. I've been dragging my feet a bit since my mother left a week and a half ago, being a lazy bum and getting very little done. I finally got off my rear-end, am at Starbucks (gee, how things change...) and taking a break from, gasp, working!

My apartment is actually set up! Well, ok, I'll tell the truth. MOSTLY set-up (my mother is going to cry when she reads that line). I'm still finishing up little things, like getting out my change of address cards, which, of course, take up the entire floor of my living room... or should they not? ;)

In the next few weeks, things I need to remember to get. Real spoons. This might seem odd, but all of my spoons are MASSIVE. It's rather difficult to eat cereal and yogurt with oversized spoons, so I am rather looking forward to having a normal sized utensil. Blank cd's to save work on - new computer means I'd like to not plug up the hard drive too soon. I'm sure there were a couple of other things - but I've promptly forgotten, me being me.

My first half day alone after taking mom to the airport brought a wonderful experience... I had food poisoning. Welcome to DC! Two days later, I proceed to trip up a set of marble stairs. My left knee now looks like somebody took a bat to it. Clearly, I am proceeding with my usual grace and elegance.

I'm starting to meet people, make friends, do things. Since I've been here, I've been to an O's game (Orioles... Major League Baseball...), been to Wolftrap (an outdoor music venue) where I saw a compilation of performers singing music off the Beatles Sgt. Pepper album and found the DSW! Was I ever excited to find that! Of course, that was at the end of a rather uneventful date and, clearly, the highlight of the evening (not that it wouldn't be the highlight any other time of course).

All in all, things are rolling along and any concerns any of us may have had, are going to waste (luckily!)

Now back to work, study for my personal training exam (I'm not sure I'll be ready by Friday... whoops) and hanging out in my lovely little apartment that is MOSTLY picked up.

And yes, I've been a delinquent working out too. Maybe it's time to stop being a delinquent. Yes, mom, that includes erasing that MOSTLY and saying my apartment is as neat as a whistle.

Until we meet again through the wonderful world of on-line blogging,

Keep the peace.

Moving Day and On

Talk about the pain in the ass of the century. The stuff was heavy, dad and I both managed to drop stuff on us and talk about missing Mikey and Dan both. They would have been insanely helpful.

I may be going into Women's Studies, but now I realize the use of men - grunt work.

Since moving day, the apartment has been mostly put together. We've made more trips to Target, Bed, Bath & Beyond and Best Buy than I really want to remember. Once everybody's gone and I'm able to just settle, I'm sure I'll get a much better sense of how I feel about this whole situation. Until then though, it's all rather discombobulated and confusing.

I will say that I feel like a human being again. I got my hair done, got my nails back on and talk about the wonders of these two small acts. Everything is just a little bit better now.

Today is a day for buying a new camera (again), doing some work (under deadline), studying and getting things ready to send out. Mom wants to see Mama Mia, so that will be on tap for today as well.

This week will be spent starting to get into the swing of things, mom will be here until Thursday, so my actual routine will start next week.

Until then... I'll be back when there's more to report and when I can figure out how to add pics to share.

Drive Day #4

It's been a few days since I have seen the inside of a car for a long-distance trip - which I am forever grateful for. I've needed these days to get over the drive and distance.

Day 4 was relatively uneventful. We left super late, only to realize my mother left her flat-iron in Nashville and I left my brand-new camera in Nashville (talk about painful and talk about a breakdown). There will be a letter written to the hotel as the person who cleaned our room clearly did not have the integrity to return our products, which would have been appropriate.

Regardless, what's done is done. Everybody made it safe and sound and we cannot ask for much more.

Drive Day #3

I am finally writing at the end of the day!!! Go figure that I can finally make this happen.

Truck incident number three is an UPS truck essentially cutting me off and almost running me off the road. I royally disliked UPS to begin with, I now REALLY don't like them. Therefore, I'll stick with FedEx.

The ride itself was uneventful. We went straight through Arkansas (lots of... land...) and into Tennessee. A funny town in TN? Bucksnort in Hickman County. I kid you not.

Dad has been quite excited because he discovered what Mom and I call the NASCAR trick. He tucks in behind a truck going 75 mph (which is all he can go in his little Penske truck), and gets great mileage because he sits in the draft of the truck. I'm not entirely certain of the dynamics of how this all works, but finally Dad watching all those races counts for something.

We ended up in Nashville. My mom's cousin and her husband drove down from Kentucky to visit us and it was quite enjoyable. We went wandering through downtown and took tons of funny pictures (not all on my camera). As soon as I can get pictures uploaded... and can figure out how to post them here... then I'll share. Me in a cowboy hat is oh so sexy... really... heck, even I don't believe myself. I had a great time going through all the stuff and had much fun laughing. It was fun being a tourist. I got a Christmas present for a friend and a couple of souvenirs for myself, including two pairs of cowboy boots! No, they're not the bright red, pointy toe kind. They're MUCH more sedate, but still look great under a pair of jeans and Dad swears that they're all I'll wear in the winter. Excellent!

I'm looking forward to finishing this drive up. While we've had some excellent times, I'm ready to get there and get this party started.

And my butt will thank me upon arrival I'm sure.

Drive Day #2

This drive day was not quite as eventful as yesterday's - thankfully!

The big news of the day was the drive through the panhandle of Texas. Now, I must note that in our family, Texas is known as Tex-Ass. If you're from there or have an affinity for it, I do apologize, but... while in my collegiate career, Cal was about to go to the Rose Bowl and the coach of University of Texas complained so much and sweet-talked the Texas reporters so much, that Texas ended up at the Rose Bowl and we ended up at a shit bowl (which, yes, we did lose, because, hey now, we deserved to be at the big one and who wants to play well against a nobody?). Anyways, I hold a grudge against all things Tex-Ass (except for one of my best friends who's currently residing there).

But it was while in Tex-Ass that I was reminded of a story from Drive Day #1. Mom and I are driving along, me in the drivers seat, probably still in Zona or maybe in NM. Mom's talking about something or other (I lose track), when I spot animals up ahead. To which I yell, essentially at the top of my lungs, BOVINE! You can just hear my mother thinking, "What the ****?!". It was a moment - I mean, who does that? They're cows, but apparently I thought otherwise at the moment. (Yes, bovine are cows, but who actually refers to them as such?)

There have been many interesting factoids and streets that we've driven past. For instance, we've driven past the hometowns of Garth Brooks, Carrie Underwood, Brian Urlacher, Troy Aikman and Susan Powell (Miss America, 1981). Then there have been roads like Shinarump Drive in Zona. Can you imagine living on Shinarump Drive?! Clearly, there are moments when I can act like I'm two again and seeing this road sent me straight back, thinking of all the ways I'd tease a friend who lived on this particular street - not that any of my friends would...

Oklahoma City turned out to be quite nice. We, of course, somehow got a bit lost making our way to the hotel, so ended up at some lake. It was a lovely sight to which we then figured out where we were going. I was rather surprised at how green Oklahoma is, expecting to be desolate like New Mexico. Mama kept talking about how nice it might be to live on one of the lakes of Oklahoma - as it's just so beautiful. I reminded her of a little mother nature phenomenon called tornados. She grew up with them, but regardless - they're much more prevalent in OK, then in her little area of Iowa.

We're currently mid-way through Drive Day #3 and yes, there will be stories from today.

I'll give you a hint to whet your appetite - it involves trucks!

Drive Day #1

Well, drive day #1 came to a close around 8:00 p.m. last night. It was an interesting, amusing and seriously boring day to say the least.

Dad pulled out about an hour after estimated departure time at 9:00 a.m. (yes, we were planning to leave at 8:00 a.m.... rrriiiggghhhttt). Mom and I, on the other hand, didn't make it out until 10:30 a.m. It's not my fault we packed all my nightclothes and didn't account for a trip! So, rush to Target we did (fastest Target trip of my life!).

Mama started out as, I'll admit it, I couldn't afford a California speeding ticket - I've already gotten one recently. Whoops. I'll risk one in another state as it just might not follow me back to CA. She did an excellent job starting out and then I took over for a while. In the period of time in which I drove, I had two lovely truck incidences.

The first being: I look in my rearview mirror and see a truck coming up. I'm in the left lane, behind another car, passing a truck, so not entirely certain why this truck is hauling some serious rear-end. And then there's the grill filling my entire rearview mirror, this guy is seriously about an inch away from shooting me up the highway. I start tailing the guy in front of me, who sees what's going on and is speeding up, the FedEx truck next to us slows down and both the other car and I get over real quickly. Mama and I took down his trucking company and his plates to report as that was just freaky!!!

The second incidence was quite scary as well, but normal and it was not malicious in any way - he simply didn't look down to see dinky me. We're driving along when it tells us that in a mile, we're moving down to one lane as they're ostensibly doing road work (um, haven't seen evidence of road work yet, although there have been a whole lot of signs with nothing to show for it), so the truck decides to get over... while I'm right next to him. I literally had to pull onto the shoulder, honk my horn and slow down. I scared the living daylights out of him with the horn honk, but what can you do? I didn't want him to finish coming over when half my car is still in the lane!

So that's that. We went through a chunk of California, through Arizona and stopped for the night in New Mexico - Gallup, New Mexico to be exact. On this route I discovered that there are some armpits to this country - meaning absolute wastes of space that are simply butt-ugly.

Mama and I continue to try to figure out what these folks do on a daily basis. The best I can come up with is that they sit on their booties at night (maybe they work?) and drink - what else would you WANT to do in an armpit?

Back to drive day #2 where we'll finish out New Mexico, go through the panhandle of Texas and into Oklahoma. I'm sure there'll be a story or two for you then.

5 days!!!

The insanity of it all is hitting. I have five days to finish packing up 23 years of life (either to take or put in storage) and those 23 years have been full of a great many material blessings.

I have been finding random objects I'd forgotten I owned - such as the first Cherished Teddy that I received as a child - "Zachary", a sailor with a boat and now worth a good chunk of money. Over the years, I have received an inordinate number more and, to this day, continue to collect them. Granted, unlike when I was a youngster, other people purchased them for me whereas now, it's all me (and mom when I can con her into coughing up some dough toward the collection ;)).

What I have left to physically pack is my jewelry (for those of you who know me rather well, you'll know this will be a trip in and of itself), my workout gear (also an insane amount of "stuff") and necessary paperwork that is currently dumped on the floor as the furniture holding it is now in the garage ready to go into the Penske truck.

I've been to Mama D's and the Village - so got those checked off my list. I have left to see: Sergey (tonight), Andy (tomorrow), Mikey (Thursday), Sena (hopefully Wednesday), Dan (Wednesday) and hopefully everybody else and their mother's on Friday. I have doctor's appointments to finish up, lunches to have with prior bosses, as well as a good amount of "oh shits" to be said. Nobody ever said I was perfect ;)... except for me of course!

The next few days are going to be swamped, insane and full of excitement and a little bit of saddness. Already I'm trying to figure out when to do what and realizing just how little sleep I am going to get. And we all know what happens when I don't get a whole lot of sleep... uh oh! Watch out folks! Hurricane Morgan is gearing up for landfall. Hopefully, this particular hurricane will be diverted, but best be prepared with provisions - such as chocolate, iced tea and a wall to bang my head on. This should be sufficient.

Until next time...

"Don't tell me the sky's the limit when there are footprints on the moon" ~ Anonymous

The Countdown Begins

Hello, good morning, good afternoon and nowhere near good night.

This is the first of many blogs to be posted in the ensuing time to come while I am at grad school and figuring out where the wind will blow next. The purpose of this is to keep you all apprised of my fabulous (and not so fabulous) experiences in DC and at school. Some will be funny, others will be serious, others will be straight up pissed off (hello? did you forget who you were reading about?). So please, enjoy it all with me and be ready for a hell of a ride.

To recap: I am attending the George Washington University in Washington D.C. for my Masters in Women's Studies. I grew up in Southern California and went to school for my BA in English at the University of California, Berkeley - Cal - GO BEARS! I, and my parents, leave August 2nd to begin the trek across the country to DC. We'll pound pavement for four days, stopping in Gallup (NM), Oklahoma City (OK), Nashville (TN) and finally, arrive in DC. In Nashville, we'll be seeing family and an olllllld friend of mine from way back when (no Drew, I'm not calling YOU old...).

Yes, just about everybody I know is concerned about how I will survive in the cold. It is an adventure - not because I am leaving my family and friends behind, not because I haven't been a geek in a few years, not because I'm starting over - but because I don't know the meaning of weather.

I have 10 days to go. I have yet to finish packing just about everything I own. But! I have finished my shoes. I own an un-Godly amount of shoes and have pared it down to only about 75 pairs. We are talking some serious talent that I possess - who else can handle choosing only that few?

My schedule is a bit batty trying to fit in everyone and everything, but I'll manage. Until then...

Things To Do Before I Go (Please remind me if there's something I forget!):
-Eat at (clearly, food is my first priority):
-El Som
-Mama D's
-Chart House
-Food Show
-Shop at (clearly, shopping is my second priority):
-Galleria
-Village
-Katwalk (I decided to forgive them)
-DSW (duh?!)
-See a movie
-Go OUT (and look cute of course - documentation must be made)
-Take a walk on the beach

I will be home for the Holiday break (no Thanksgiving for me! That will be in St. Louis).

For now, I'll leave you be. Check in, check back, subscribe, do as you will.

And wish me luck.