Kelly. Clarkson.

I am going to try my hardest to restrain myself in this post. But let me just get this out now... KELLY CLARKSON IS SO FREAKING AMAZING.

Okay. Now. The concert was tonight (in case you hadn't guessed). I went with Jamie, which was a blast, because we both knew the songs and were able to scream to them and whatnot. Eric Hutchinson opened... I hadn't really heard of him, although I apparently had heard of a couple of his songs. He's really, really good though. He seemed like a fun guy, too. Jamie and I decided he's a perfect blend of Jack Johnson, Ben Folds, and Jason Mraz. He plays the piano and the guitar, so that was cool. We decided Kiley should date him. Meh.

And... Kelly is just a FANTASTIC singer. I don't know how you could possibly argue that she's not. I mean, you can not like her music but... she has a truly wonderful voice. It makes it so much more enjoyable when you know that it's just... easy for her. She doesn't have to force it. And it ALSO is great when she's live and she sounds exactly like she does on her CD. It makes her so much more legit. You know she's not getting her voice retouched or anything, which is good.

Some highlights:
+ well, every song basically.
+ specifically, since u been gone
+ because of you
+ behind these hazel eyes
+ i have to stop listing songs because I'll just list all of them.
+ an AMAZING cover of patsy cline's "walkin' after midnight" ... I've loved this song ever since I heard the Garth Brooks cover... Kelly made it really blues-y and jazzy and it was so good.
+ just all the moments she was talking... she's hilarious. And so down-to-earth. You can tell she really loves her fans, and she was so humbled that we all knew the words to EVERY song.
+ the ADORABLE girl sitting beside me. She couldn't have been more than 8. As soon as I sat down, she turns to me and goes, "DO YOU LOVE KELLY CLARKSON?" hahaha like, how cute. I was like "um, YES?!" haha. Then she goes "Is this your first Kelly concert?" omg. adorable. The best part was that she had NO clue what I was talking about when I said I saw her in the American Idol tour. Silly me. That girl was like, 3 months old when that happened or something. Made me feel OOOLLLLDDDD.

Some sad things:
- she did not play "sober," "just missed the train," or "beautiful disaster"
- she DID play whyyouwannabringmedown. What a dumb song. Sorry, Kel.
- the random annoying men in front of us that were screaming "fuck head" and other such unnecessary words at each other. Um, hi, there's an 8 year old girl behind you? Thanks?

ANYWAY. Omg. Amazing. Amazing. I will be so happy for so long now haha. I told Jamie that it's become my life goal to meet her. I don't care if I'm 80 when it happens... as long as it does. Haha I've decided if the possibility exists for me to have her play at my wedding, I will forego the food... everyone gets Wendy's dollar menu stuff for the reception... because she WILL play at my wedding. Just... a heads up in case you want to reject my wedding invitation haha.

I have to go examine my videos and pictures. Yayayayay.

Time

I somehow just realized today that when Donny gets back from vacation (he left yesterday), we will have one week together before he moves to Pittsburgh. How depressing. I'm always such a mess leading up to us being separated again. I know we've done it before, so I'm not worried, it's just... hard.

I got my financial aid award from Ohio State, so that makes me feel a lot better. I officially accepted loans last night, which is scary. I'm not ready to be making loan payments for the next 10 years of my life... eek.

I'm re-reading the entire Harry Potter series again. I'm on book 4 now. It's SO GOOD. I just really admire J.K. Rowling's ability to visualize this entire fantasy world. It really is its own WORLD. And that's why I love the books so much more than the movies... she's great at details, and that doesn't come through in the movies. Like, just things like Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans... that's just so clever. And she created an entire series out of this. Sigh. She deserves all of her millions and millions of dollars.

Kind of a disjointed entry... meh.

My biological clock...?

I feel like this is slightly creepy... and feel free not to tell Donny... but I think my motherly instincts or whatever you'd like to call them are legit kicking in. Like, I am just always wanting to hold a baby or an animal or something. Is that normal? I can't decide. If so... like, hey there, biological clock. Give me a few years, thanks.

Donny and I were watching Animal Cops on Animal Planet for 3 straight hours today. And then he left to go home, and I am stilllll watching it as I type. I can't stop crying about how horribly people treat their animals. How do you just like... have an animal, and then not give a crap about it anymore? Seriously, I can't understand it. Or people that raise roosters for cockfighting? Um, what? What sort of entertainment is that? Ugh. It's disgusting. And people that just leave their animals to fend for themselves... djlskdjf;sdf. It makes me so mad. And back to the motherly instinct, I like, CRAVE holding these animals. A few years ago I would have been sad, but I wouldn't really have felt like... a longing for them... I'm creeping myself out.

Damn it. They're starting to show Animal Cops episodes that were on earlier tonight. Guess I'll have to find a new show to watch for the rest of the night.

I hate the economy

I got a call today from the E&Y recruiter out of Columbus letting me know that my starting salary has decreased by $2,000. I don't even start working for over a year. The economy can suck it.

I AM thankful I have a job lined up, don't get me wrong. I am reminded of that every single day when I'm at the call center and I know that I have SUCH better things ahead of me. It's just so frustrating to have not even started with them and to get a call saying my salary is decreasing. I haven't even met the woman who called me to tell me. You could tell she felt bad about it, though... she kept saying, "I'm so sorry to be the one to tell you this; I've never even met you..." I mean, it sucks for her, too, to have to call everyone and tell them.

I knew it was coming, though. Micah had his salary decreased AND his start date moved up (with another firm), so I knew it was a possibility. I've heard of other firms completely taking back their offers. So I'm glad I'm not in that position. I'm just thinking long-term... those $2,000 could really help pay off student loans. I'm the type of person who pays off my credit card balance like, every week because I'm so scared of having any sort of debt and I refuse to ever pay interest on a credit card. So the thought of being $25,000+ in debt in less than a year is pretty terrifying to me. This news from E&Y doesn't help.

Call Center

The call center is already wearing me out. It's just a constant grind. Same thing every.single.day. And it's not even like we're busy... we're completely dead. Sign #1 the economy sucks, I guess... July is our busiest month. Two summers ago, we had a whopping 1.5 seconds between each call, that's how busy we were. And now 20 minutes can go by without a call. Sitting at a cubicle all day is infinitely more enjoyable when you're getting calls back-to-back... the time flies. Staring at your co-workers for 8 hours, however, is a much different story. So when they ask me if I'd like to go home early, I rarely say no. It's hard to justify sitting there and not doing anything. I also don't consider the extra $9.25 I would have made by staying another hour today anything that spectacular. Knowing that I'll have $20,000+ in student loans by this time next year kind of makes everything else seem pointless. Like, oh, what's another $9? Probably a bad habit to get into, meh.

In other news, I'm headed back to Oxford one last time this Saturday to finish cleaning out my apartment and to turn in my keys. It'll be sad, but I'm kind of excited to be done with it. Knowing that I need to go back and clean has been a big annoying burden in the back of my mind for the last two months, and now I can finally get rid of it.

Oh, dumbass me left my car running... with my keys inside... and the door locked... for about 3 and a half hours at work today. I went out to sit in my car during my lunch break and realized it. Luckily my mom came with my spare key. I'm such a mess. Keep in mind this is like, the second time this has happened THIS SUMMER... let's not even try to count how many times it's happened in my life. Jeez.

I kind of can't wait for my real job to start, because that means SO much more money than I have right now. And then I remember it's all going to student loans the first couple of years and I want to cry. My dreams of a new car will have to be put on hold, most likely. Sad face.

In slightly happier news, I'm going to see Erin tomorrow, and I'm really excited about this. I am also really excited that I'm only working for three hours. Hooray!