B's Blog

Dumb People.

2012-01-02T19:00:00.000-08:00

I realized I haven't updated this in months, and I don't honestly plan to for awhile, but I had to share with you all this Facebook post I saw on my wall.

One of my FB friends posted a rant about how some 'idiot' thought that chickens could come with ALL dark meat. Why someone felt so strongly about people's thoughts on chicken meat that they felt they needed to update their FB status is an entirely different story, perhaps to be addressed at another time.

Regardless, someone commented on his post and said the following (I copied and pasted):

dear *****, if your calling someone an idiot can you please use correct grammer and say "chickens do" instead of "chickens does" that way you can make yourself look smarter when trying to correct someone :)

....................................

Aaaaaand that, my friends, is what is wrong with our education system.

Racism against Citizens

2011-09-29T09:44:00.000-07:00

http://www.cnn.com/2011/09/29/opinion/valencia-racism-latino/index.html?hpt=hp_c1

There's a great article on CNN today about racism against Latinos - not just racism against illegal immigrants, but against US citizens as well. The article got me pretty emotional, because I know this is happening in cities all over the US every.single.day. Specifically, it happens to my grandma in Texas all the time.

My grandma is Nicaraguan. She was born in a village near Managua and moved to the US in the 1950s. Her father was a doctor in the village and was very well-respected. She met my opa (who is clearly German) and they had 5 boys. My dad is the 4th in line.

My grandparents have been divorced since the 1980s and my grandma has lived several places... she was in Charleston, SC for a looong time, then she was in Orlando for awhile, and just within the last few years has moved to Texas. Since moving there, she's encountered absolutely unbelievable racism. A few examples:

1) Within a few weeks of moving into her house, my grandma put in a new fence around her house. The next day, her neighbors tore it down purely out of spite. I am not making this up.

2) She has repeatedly had letters/notes left on her door or in her mailbox telling her to go back to Mexico. This absolutely infuriates me. Uhhh, #1, she's not Mexican, so she can't go 'back' to Mexico, considering she never lived there. #2, That's digusting. I'm sure YOUR parents or grandparents were legal immigrants, too, so what makes them any better than MY grandmother?

3) She has had people throw things at her house, thus damaging her siding.

She eventually called the cops about all of this... their advice? "Buy a gun." Aka they can't do a damn thing to protect her.

The ironic part is that my grandmother is the most vocal person I know when it comes to illegal immigration. She HATES the fact that there are illegal immigrants in the US. HATES it. Yet here she is, being accused of being one and being told to leave. When, in reality, if people took two seconds to look past her dark skin, they'd realize they actually feel the same way about the issue. Absolutely absurd.

Another hilarious thing to me is that she's been a citizen since 1951, I believe. Which means she's been a US citizen longer than most of the people who are tormenting her. Funny how that works.

I also wonder why my dad doesn't have the same issues as my grandma. His skin is pretty much just as dark as hers... he has brown hair and brown eyes, too. I mean, he's been called Egyptian and Greek and Turkish and who knows what else, just purely out of ignorance, but he's never been distinctly targeted like she has. No one's ever thrown things or yelled at him because of his skin color. At least not that I know of. Weird.

Anyway, the moral of the story is that I literally feel nauseous when I think about the fact that things like this are happening all over the US. To all sorts of people. Including 77 year old GRANDMOTHERS. Like... at what point did our country become so dumb that our citizens now think that anyone that speaks Spanish and has dark skin is cleaaaaarly a Mexican? And that they're illegal? Just... what? Seriously, how did that happen?

Not a fan. Not a fan at all.

Traveling for Work

2011-08-11T16:20:00.000-07:00

As I'm currently traveling for work and bored out of my mind, I figured I'd write a little something on the perks and drawbacks of traveling. I know that some of my very few followers likely don't travel a lot (or at all) for work, so here you go.

I'm currently staying at the Westin in Cincinnati right on Fountain Square (aka in the heart of downtown). It's a GREAT location, and I'd definitely recommend the hotel - very nice. Maybe just avoid staying here during the summer - I'm only staying here two nights and both nights have had concerts from 7 to 10 pm on the square (like... right outside my window). Luckily I haven't had any work to do, but it's VERY loud and not all that enjoyable. It's kind of like sex boy is in the apartment next door all over again. Bummer.

Anyway, here's a few things I've noticed about traveling:

PERKS
1. Hotel points. Hands down the #1 perk. If you're going to start traveling for work anytime soon, BE SURE to sign up for like, every hotel rewards program you can think of. Marriott, Hilton, Starwood (they're the ones that have Westin), Choice... everything. It's basically free money, so why would you not?

2. Mileage. Making $0.55/mile is amazing. For example, my round trip to/from Cincinnati is banking me about $132. Considering it probably only cost me $30-40 in gas... that's awesome. Granted, yes, it's also paying for the depreciation on my car, which is actually pretty huge since my car is so new but... still. My car is kind of a sunk cost so... YAY PROFIT!

3. FREE MEALS. Oh my gosh, meal allowances are amazing. I'm even MORE jealous of people who have per diems but... you know. Can't complain. My company allows me to spend I think $20/day on breakfast and $45/day on dinner while traveling in Cincinnati. Awesomeeeeee. It's especially nice when you're with other people, so you can get some drinks or a bottle or two of wine and it's a great time. It's not so nice when you're by yourself because ordering a steak and bottle of wine and not having anyone to share it with gets pretty old pretty fast. Like... today I got Skyline. And wasted $34 of basically free dinner money. Meh. Anyway, it's awesome when you can spend it on alcohol/really nice dinners. Every night.

4. Variety. Traveling mixes everything up and is a nice break from the mundane work schedule. The days seem to go a lot faster and work doesn't seem quite as bad, for some reason.

CONS
5. Being away. Let's be honest, no one would rather be in a random city where they know no one by themselves for an extended period of time than be at home with people they love. When I'm traveling it feels like I'm back in college, doing the whole long-distance thing with Donny, only being able to catch up by phone every so often. Ugh. Enough said.

6. Access to the familiar. You just don't have the amenities you're used to having at home. For example, this hotel doesn't have Lifetime or E!. Who has the NatGeo channel but NOT Lifetime or E! ?? Slash... WHY would you have NatGeo and not those two channels? Blows my mind. I realllly wanted to watch some Project Runway reruns tonight but... alas. Always using travel-sized shampoo/conditioner is just sad, too.

7. Forgetfulness. You inevitably forget something important almost every single time. I haven't discovered anything I've forgotten yet during this trip, so that's good. Last time I left an entire drawer full of clothes in my hotel room. Thank goodness they found them and I was coming back the next week anyway, so I was able to pick them up. Phew. I've also forgotten contact solution, glasses, a toothbrush, and once I even forgot underwear. So horrible. Luckily a Walmart was close by. Eek.

8. Being alone. It's incredibly lonely if you're traveling by yourself. I just ate dinner by myself at Skyline Chili. How humbling/depressing. And now I'm going to sit in my bed for the next 4 hours, minus maybe a half hour to work out. Boringgggggggg. I'd leave and go exploring, but I would have to pay for parking twice and that just sounds like a pain.

All in all, I really like traveling if it's every once in awhile, and it's not for an extended period of time. Last busy season I had to drive to middle-of-nowhere Indiana every week for 5 weeks. It was terrible. Really terrible.

But these 1.5 week stints in places like Cincinnati really aren't too terrible :)

2011-07-30T07:55:00.000-07:00

Due to a severe downturn in working hours for me this summer (yay!), I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the sense of accomplishment I feel in my job, and how starkly it compares to how relevant my job REALLY is. This is what I mean: I, as does any other person in their job, feel incredibly proud and relieved when I figure out an issue at work, regardless of how small. When I finish auditing an account (like inventory, accounts receivable, etc.), it’s a REALLY big accomplishment and I’m ecstatic.

Then I compare that to what my job is REALLY doing and I get incredibly depressed. My job provides such little meaning to the world in general. I mean, I spend weeks auditing what essentially boils down to ONE NUMBER on an annual report that NO ONE reads. The worst is when I am on a non-SEC job (aka a client that does not have stock that’s traded on the stock market)… because literally no one reads those, because they’re not available to the public usually. So recap: I spend my life auditing numbers no one looks at.

So then you’re probably thinking, ‘what’s the point of auditing if no one reads this stuff?’ yeah, great question. Sometimes I’m not convinced there is a point. But technically, auditing is really important, especially for business that ARE publicly traded, because we provide assurance to you, the public who are investing in the stock market, that the companies you’re investing in are telling the truth about how much they’re making (because that, in turn, changes the stock price of the stocks you own). If you have a 401k, you should care about auditing because everything in your 401k is invested in stock. If the stock you’re invested in is for companies that are saying they’re making 2093480239482 million dollars, their stock price is going to keep climbing (making you money), but then turns out they’re actually only making 20 million dollars, your money is at risk. The stock for that price will plummet, losing you tons of money. So that’s why my job is important – we come in and make sure that they’re telling the truth about how much money they have and how much money they make/spend.

But really, when it comes down to it, I still just audit ONE or TWO stupid numbers in a sometimes 300 page report that no one reads. So really… fml. It’s just not gratifying. Slightly unfortunate.

Post Office Encounter

2011-07-08T13:12:00.000-07:00

Well hellooo, everyone. Time for my quarterly update (or so it seems). But I don't really feel like updating so I'll just tell you all a story instead.

Today I had an especially awkward encounter with a gentleman at my local post office. I returned from vacation on Sunday, expecting to receive my mail on Tuesday (I had requested it be delivered to me on Tuesday). Tuesday comes and goes, no mail. Ditto with Wednesday and Thursday. I get incredibly annoyed by today and call them. They inform me that they are not allowed to deliver it to me - I must pick it up. Keep in mind that when I filled out my 'hold mail' request online, usps.com gave me the option to have it delivered to my doorstep. Silly me, clicking the 'deliver to me' button. Silly, silly me.

Anywho, guy at the post office tells me that I have to now come in to pick it up. GRRR. Slash... FINE BY ME if that means I can leave work early to do so. Thank you, government work hours.

So I make my way to the post office this afternoon. The following ensued:

Guy: Let me guess, your postal carrier didn't deliver the mail to you.
Me: No.... the person I talked to earlier today said that you're not allowed to deliver it to me anyway.
Guy: Oh well... I was going to have someone come take it out to you.
Me: Oh... Well... um... I'm here now.

[guy takes my ID]

Guy: Westerville, huh? (Note: I haven't changed my address on my ID... it's still my parents' address. Oops.)
Me: that's where I'm from.
Guy: So you're a richie, huh?
Me: Um... nope.
Guy: You don't have to lie to me.
Me: ................

[Guy awkwardly pauses, then goes to get my mail and returns]

Guy: Yeah, I'm really sorry about that. Your carrier's on vacation and the two people filling in for him don't have a single brain between the two of them.
Me: [awkward laugh #1]
Guy: Let me guess, you probably haven't gotten any mail at all this week, even though your hold was only through Tuesday, right?
Me: Right...
[Guy shakes his head in sadness]
Me: Okay... well... thanks!
Guy: You aren't wearing a ring. I'm very observant.
Me: ... nope, I'm not wearing a ring.
Guy: Let me guess, you're probably too good for me. Some brainy genius engineer or something.
Me: [awkward laugh #2] um... nope! I'm an accountant.
Guy: See I was close. Is that your Hyundai out there?
Me: Yep...
Guy: That's a brand new Hyundai. That's probably a 6 cylinder too. Is it?
Me: Um... I literally have no idea.
Guy: You don't know how many cylinders your car has?
Me: Nope.
Guy: Well it looks like a nice car, richie. So you going to be married sometime in the next year?
Me: Uh... maybe? Soonish?
Guy: You got a candidate lined up?
Me: [awkward laugh #3] I hope so!
Guy: Well that's just too bad. You remember me if things don't go well between you two, I'll be here.
Me: [awkward laugh #4]
Guy: Or hey, how about this - if he does something to hurt you, I've also got me a dark black ninja suit...
Me: [incredibly awkward laugh... like... what!?!?!?]
Guy: ... and a Louisville Slugger if you need me to whap him upside the head.
Me: You will be the first person I inform if he does something to hurt me.
Guy: Good, good.
Me: Okay... thanks... BYE!
[i run quickly out the door]

So. Bizarre.

In other news, I have my mail. I just got finished going through it. Apparently that brand new possibly 6-cylinder Hyundai of mine has a recall. FML.

This may be a doozy.

2011-04-25T17:03:00.001-07:00

Turns out I haven't updated my blog in awhile. And by awhile I mean it's been over 4 months. Oops.

Let's see. I last updated January 4. What's happened since then?

1. I'll get the boring stuff out of the way first. Work. I went through my first-ever "busy season" this January-March (even though I had one October-December... whatever). This entailed 5 weeks of traveling to random middle of nowhere Indiana, as well as some weeks spent in town. Unfortunately, those weeks spent in town required me to work 60+ hours for about 5 weeks straight. My record is now 74 hours worked in one week (7 days straight... Monday-Sunday). Of course, I also worked the next Monday-Friday, but who's counting? It was, to put it bluntly, absolutely miserable. I CANNOT (and will not) do this for the rest of my life. I can't even do this for the next five years. I have no idea how people stick around long enough to progress to a manager role. Like... I'm a staff 1. I'm the first to get sent home. When I go home, everyone else stays for another 1-3 hours. People go home and work until 2 AM. Every day. Like... no. I am NEVER doing that. Which means I will NEVER be successful at this job. Which is fine, it really is. I never thought I would stick around for more than a few years. However, this does kind of bring up the bad part - I have absolutely no freaking clue what I want to do with my life after I leave this job. Accounting is all I know how to do. I like it, but I want to work 40-45 hours a week. I also want to make the same amount of money I do now, if not more. There are like, 10 accounting jobs like that in the entire world that fit those criteria. I just don't have anything else I'm good at. Like... I can organize things sometimes. So... I'll be a professional organizer? But wait, I don't really have any awesome organizing skills that could change people's lives. Cross that off the list. I like to read. So... I'll... read to people? No, thanks. I love learning. I'll be a professional student for the rest of my life. Oh wait, that requires me to SPEND money, not MAKE money. You see where I'm going. It's a disaster. Oh well. My backup plan (if I don't find the world's most perfect accounting job) is to simply find a 9-5 job that pays the bills because honestly, at least I'll have a life. I'll be bored out of my mind but... at least I can have a family and friends. Womp. Depressing.

2. In the past few months I've been able to visit both of my frooms! I first went to Chapel Hill, NC to visit Kiley in March. I got to see her roommate Lauren's BEAUTIFUL house, play with her psycho dog Izzie, and just enjoy some quality one-on-one time with Ki :) We went to Duke Gardens, which was so beautiful and it was SO nice out. Pollen wasn't really an issue yet, so I got to enjoy nature for once!!!! So exciting. I was sad to leave!

But I did have something to look forward to, because less than a month later I went to Atlanta! I was able to see Jamie, Zach, AND Monica, which is awesome. They took me to this AMAAAAAAZING place called Tin Lizzy's where you get the most delicious chips and salsa/queso I've ever had in my life, plus some daaangerous drink called a 'sangrita' (a mix between Sangria and a margarita... yes please). We ended that night at a bar called Flip Flops (?) which is apparently owned by Dunbar and Ace from Real World.. crazy! I definitely attempted to talk to Dunbar... horrible experience. I just said the first thing that came to my mind, which was 'What kind of fish is that?' and I pointed to a giant stuffed marlin on the wall. Like, okay. Nice one, Britney. So ridiculous haha. At least I was a few drinks in and didn't really care. The next day Jamie and I went shopping (paper-source.com... such bad news), Jamie made us a delicious fajita dinner, and we went out to Blake's, which is the same gay bar we went to last time I was in Atlanta. Not QUITE as awesome as it was last time, but still a pretty great night :)

I was sad to leave both of my frooms, but it's never THAT sad, because I know I'll always see them again. I don't always know when, but never is never an option :)

3. Still living with Donny (thankfully!)! Things are going well! We're looking into moving to Victorian Village or the Brewery District this fall, so that will start taking up some of our time this May-July. I was hesitant about moving downtown (I have a hard time rationalizing paying WAY more money for WAY less space), but I think everyone's convinced me that I have to at least try 'city living' for a year. Which I can do. Donny keeps telling me that we have our whole lives to live in the suburbs, which is true. I just really like our place now and don't want to move! Oh well. It's not really fair to him to live here... he drives 45 minutes each way to work every day, which is just horrible. Living downtown would cut that in half. I work all over the place in Columbus, so it doesn't really matter where I live. I'm excited about looking for a new place, though, now that we've pretty much decided that we are definitely moving!

4. I've started weightwatchers, which is a whole new thing for me. I'm still struggling with it, but overall it's really worked! I've lost about 12 pounds to date. I have been fluctuating up and down by a pound or two the last few weeks, but that probably has something to do with 1) The copious amounts of Easter candy I've been eating, 2) the copious amounts of alcohol I've consumed lately and 3) the fact that I'm still not exercising like I should be. Once I get a constant workout schedule, I'm sure I'll lose even more weight, but for now, I'm just pumped it's working!

Not sure what else there is to say! I've got a few things to look forward to in the coming months:
- Kiley moving home!!!!!!!! Ahhhhh, finally someone to be nerdy with again! I can't wait!
- Random vacation days I've scheduled from now until August, just because I can!
- My cousin's wedding in Colorado in August
- The annual EY bus party. Omg. Yes. So excited already. This is all you need to know: literally hundreds of jello shots.
- and um, DUH BEACH HOUSE! My high school friends and I rented a beach house for a week in the Outer Banks, NC in June and I am just so freaking pumped.

Yay! :) Lots to look forward to!

Update: Dallas

2011-01-04T12:59:00.000-08:00

I no longer like Dallas.

Reasons:
1. The people here are weird. I realize this is a huge generalization. Let me revise. The people I'm in training with, all of whom are from the Dallas office, are weird. Maybe I just got stuck at a table with the weirdest, but they are all just... so intense. I feel like at the trainings I've been to with other Ohioans, we generally try to make it through the trainings without a lot of exertion. That is, we don't try incredibly hard to complete our tasks. We'll DO them, but we won't try to overachieve. Dallas? Slightly different story. These people are INTENT on finishing everything to the best of their ability, even if it's a stupid game or something we've already done 10 times. Again, maybe it's just the table I'm sitting with but... sigh. They wear me out. And I feel like I probably look like a bitch, because I just sit there and watch this all go down and don't offer to help in group assignments. Why? 1) I don't care 2) they seem to have enough trouble deciding among the 4 of them. Adding my opinion would only complicate things. They also like to tell stories about absolutely nothing. I'm sorry, I really don't care that your boyfriend is going to Mardi Gras and you're paying for his hotel room with your Marriott points and now you think his friends should pay you for part of it since you're essentially paying for their portions of the room too, but then that made your boyfriend mad. I DONT CARE!

2. Another reason I don't like Dallas is that it creeps me out. Granted, I've been confined to about 5 blocks of Dallas. It's just... empty. It's creepy. There are skyscrapers, but barely anyone going into them in the morning. My walk to the office was about 3-4 blocks today, and I passed two people. At 8 in the morning. Just... bizarre. When I walked home today, I felt kind of unsafe. I got honked at twice and someone told me 'I like your walk.' Who even knows.

3. Oh, and I got hit by a car.

Yes. I literally got hit by a car today. NBD.

I was walking home from the office and was crossing the street to get into my hotel (like... the door was right in front of this crosswalk). There was a guy turning left. Obviously I have the right of way. He was not paying attention AT ALL. When I realized he had no intention of stopping, I started running but he hit me in the hip/butt. Seriously? How do you not notice a person until after you've hit them? In the split second before he hit me, I put my hands out to slam down on his hood, as if to say 'um, what the fuck.' I had a bag from CVS in one of my hands. It was hanging down from my wrist so when the car actually hit me, the bag got hit and broke open and everything went flying. The guy stopped his car, but never got out. That's right. He never got out. He never asked if I was okay, he never even rolled down his window. Some random guy down the street came running, asking if I was okay. I was terrified and mostly just overwhelmed so I just burst into tears, gathered my scattered belongings, and ran to my hotel haha. The people in the hotel had luckily seen it all happen, and they came running out. One scary black guy went up to the car, which was still parked, and got the license plate and everything. Not until I was INSIDE THE HOTEL did the guy get out of his car and asked the scary black guy if I was okay. Heaven forbid you ask ME if I'm okay. What a douche. Anyway, the hotel employees were incredibly nice and kept asking me if I needed anything, and if I wanted to go find the guy, and if I wanted to press charges, etc. I told them no and went to go get on the elevator just because I wanted to get back to my room to compose myself. When I was waiting for the elevator, the guy who hit me came walking into the lobby, so I just bolted. I had no desire to speak to him. A few minutes later, one of the managers came up to my room. They had collected the guy's info and gave it to me in case I did want to press charges, which was nice of them. A few minutes after that I got a call from the front desk asking if I needed anything, or if I wanted any freshly baked cookies hahaha. I declined. I am somehow not hungry at the moment.

Aaaand then here I am, writing this. This literally happened like 15 minutes ago. My heart is still racing.

Sooo.. I don't know that I want to go out in Dallas tonight haha. I was going to go about a mile away to what I think is a Buckeye Bar to watch the OSU game but... I don't know how I feel about that anymore. There's a TGIF about 20 yards from my hotel, so maybe I'll wander over there if I feel like getting a drink and watching the game but it's completely possible I'll just sit in my hotel room now. Womp.

I want to come home :(

Dallas

2011-01-03T14:44:00.000-08:00

Well friends. It seems it's been awhile since my last post. Sorry about that! Things have been a little crazy with work and then the holidays. I was lucky enough to have a few days off in late December, and although they were jam-packed with other things, it was still great to get almost two full weeks off.

New Years was wonderful, but I had almost no time to rest after that. After my iPhone failed to wake me up on New Years' Day, I feel like I've constantly been running late. I was late to my grandparents' on the 1st because of the iPhone alarm glitch, and it seems like I haven't stopped. There is always just so much to DO now that I'm working.

Yesterday (Sunday) I flew into Dallas for more auditing training. Believe me, I'm beyond excited to be somewhere with a high of 60. However, I'm completely by myself and it's a little lonely! That is, no one from my office or the Cincinnati office is here (they're the ones I've gotten to know through other trainings). There are about 30-40 people in my training class, and EVERY single one of them is from Dallas except one other girl from Witchita. This is just very sad to me. Usually trainings include people from multiple offices, and you go out to eat with other people and hang out all night. But all of these people are just... going home every night. Hence I will be spending 4:30 PM - bedtime alone every night. I'll be eating by myself, which is maybe the worst part of it. Guess I'll get room service every night? I'm not really one to just go to a restaurant and eat by myself at a table. Maybe one day I'll have the courage to do that but... I'm not there yet. Luckily there's a TGIFridays nearby so I can walk there and get carryout if I get sick of room service.

The other not so exciting parts of this trip:
- my return flight gets in at 11 PM on a Friday night. Not only that, my training will be over by 3 PM at the latest. Which means LOTS of time sitting in the airport on Friday. Lame.
- My room's heater makes TERRIBLY loud noises but I'm too lazy to pack up all of my stuff and request a new room
- I have no car which means I'll have to request a shuttle to/from training every single day. This is made a little more difficult by the fact that we have no idea when we'll get out on any given day.
- I have no one to watch the OSU game with. This is perhaps the most depressing aspect of the trip.
- Everything is an hour off. I'm terrified I'm going to miss SVU on Wednesday. Or the OSU game.

However. Several good things about Dallas/this week:
- I am allowed to spend $45 a night for dinner. Yes, please.
- The employees at this hotel are super friendly and are so chatty whenever I am in the lobby
- Diet Dr. Pepper is in the pop lineup for training. This is awesome. Usually it's just your standard Coke, Diet Coke, Sprite, and water. Diet Dr. Pepper is just... nuts. This is really all I have to get excited about during training.
- Southern people are hilarious to me. Not all of them in this office are Southern-born. You can definitely tell who was born and raised in Texas and it's awesome. So many 'y'alls' and silly phrases like 'holy smokes.' There is one girl who also says 'um' really oddly but it's fascinating. MANY of them are married/engaged, which is bizarre to me. Not a single person in my class in Columbus is engaged. I'm the only one that's even in a long-term relationship. Also, there are multiple guys with the Southern Boy Swoop as I like to call it. See below for an example.

The other thing I've seen that I am PRETTY sure is a Southern thing (but I could be wrong) was when I drove by a GIANT building on my way from the airport that said in HUGE letters formed by Christmas lights 'HAPPY BIRTHDAY JESUS.' I mean, really, I've never seen anything like that in Columbus.

Amazing.

Life update!

2010-11-15T17:19:00.000-08:00

Not so fun stuff first: work is fine. Long hours still to come (I'm working on average until about 7 PM every night now... next week will turn into 9/10 PM), but it's all going well so far. I feel like I've learned a LOT in the past month and a half, but I know I still have 23094820823 things to learn. I've got my own parts of the audit that I'm in charge of, which is terrifying but also nice to have my own thing to work on. Granted, my senior is basically doing the work with me because I don't know how to do any of it on my own, but still. It's nice to 'own' something. I also have a lot more things on my plate now, which is both good and bad. Before, I would finish my assigned task and then just sit around waiting for another. Now I have enough tasks that I'm never really sitting around waiting. It makes the day go by a LOT faster. Getting food is also going well... I haven't terribly messed up anything yet. I'm also not getting food two times a day anymore, because a staff 2 has generously offered to trade off with me every meal. Yay! And finally, I think I'm starting to slooooowwwllyyyyy build some client contacts, which is nice. I received my first phone call from a client today (eeeeeek), so that was fun. I had to be like, 'Um... I'll have to talk with Jen about that..." because I didn't know what the answer was but still. I felt like kind of a big deal. Plus, I was able to answer PART of the question, so I don't think the client thought I was a complete idiot. And my coworkers are SO NICE. I just love them. It makes having to stay late SO MUCH more enjoyable.

Slight worry that came up today, though. My senior on this engagement I'll be on in bufu Indiana from January-February IM-ed me and told me that they are going to put us in a room that basically has no heat. Um, hi. That will not work for me. She said she spent last winter there and literally spent the entire day in her coat, scarf, boots, and GLOVES. She did work in her GLOVES. Also, they wouldn't let her bring a space heater. I'm so screwed. I asked her if she thought it'd be okay if I brought an electric blanket, and she said she'd have to ask. FML. Oh, and this is ALSO the town in bufu Indiana whose only claim to fame is MAKING CASKETS. I kid you not. I really kid you not. Caskets. Alsoooo, they have three places to eat in town, one of which is a deli inside a gas station. Sweet. .....send me care packages?

Other not-so-fun thing in life... I randomly have bronchitis. Who knows. All I know is that Wednesday night I turned deathly ill and could barely move. Friday I went to see a nurse practitioner who tried to diagnose me with like 18 things I was NOT there about, and finally told me i MAY have bronchitis and prescribed me amoxicilin. It's taking me forever to recover, but I'm finally feeling better! I have basically every flu/ear infection/sinus infection/bronchitis symptom you can think of (except stomach issues), so I'm pretty worn out still. I left work early both Thursday and Friday, which was kind of frustrating. I hate feeling like a slacker after only being there a month. Boo.

Onto the better things in life. Aka everything but work and being sick!

Donny and I early-celebrated my birthday on Sunday! We went to Las Margaritas so I could get my staple of beef and cheese nachos :) No margarita, though, since I felt like death and am on antibiotics :( So sad I couldn't get one. Then we came back to our place and he gave me my present, which was this AWESOME wine cooler!!!!! I'm SO excited. I've wanted one of these forever. Wine and cheese night SOON!!!

The blue light is the coolest part fo sho.

I get another birthday celebration next Sunday with my family, too! My mom's lasagna = best birthday meal EVER. Mmmm. Also, possible funfetti cake... it's going to be amazing.

Then, somewhere in the midst of working 60+ hour weeks, there will be Thanksgiving and Megan's bridal shower and the OSU/Michigan game and maybe the 05 reunion and MIAMI FRIENDS!!!! :) Soooo excited.

Okay. Laundry time. Ugh, I'm so domestic now.

2010-11-03T16:18:00.000-07:00

Newbie mistakes this past week:

1. Well, this isn't completely my fault. But it made me feel like shit. Sooo I was supposed to be filling in an excel file... pulling info from ANOTHER excel file... but the numbers weren't really matching up... long story short, my senior told me (i thought) to change the format of one of the excel files. this ended up taking me 3-4 hours. afterwards, he told me i shouldn't have done it. i had to undo it. and since it took me 3-4 hours, i had clearly saved multiple times and there was just no undoing (or control-z-ing) the whole thing. he wasn't being a jerk about it or anything, but i legitimately was about to punch someone. there was just a clear miscommunication that happened somewhere.

2. We're having a happy hour for my engagement team tomorrow night. I was told today to send out an email to the whole team (about 15-20 people) about it. I sent it to everyone, including the partner. My SENIOR MANAGER (so like... right below partner status) comes out and asks me to please resend the email with the correct address this time. Apparently there is a NEW bar by the SAME NAME that is JUST DOWN THE ROAD from the bar I thought I was looking up. This new bar also does not exist on the internet, so googling it did not pull up anything except the OLD bar, which I obviously put in the email. Sigh. So now I have to send an 'oops!' email to everyone. Including the partner. I also have to somehow find the new bar's location, even though it does not exist on Google. Bahhhh.

That's about it. Sigh. Newbie mistakes. They are so annoying. Not that I'd rather be making REAL mistakes, but these mistakes are just stupiddddd.

In happier news, I am pumped for SVU tonight. Work isn't terrible as long as there is something to look forward to every night!

Work, Volume II

2010-10-21T15:45:00.000-07:00

Another post about work – apologies. However, it’s the majority whatl I do these days so… oh well!

I think the most awkward thing about working in a large company like mine is that I never know who to go to about anything. So many examples:

I was in charge of ordering/picking up the food for 20 people for a big meeting yesterday. I was told multiple times that I should not mess this up because these people are serious about their food. Okay, no pressure. I was told Panera would be a good idea – fine with me. I get online and go to their catering menu. There are like a million options. How am I supposed to know what these people want? Is there a budget? I have no idea. WHO DO I ASK?!
We have an office-wide event next Friday morning that’s pretty much designed solely to have people meet with their ‘counselors’ to go over our yearly goals. For new hires this is pretty important because we haven’t set ours at all, and goals are a HUGE DEAL here. My counselor is pretty insistent that I go, but I’m scheduled to be in Indiana that week. My counselor wants me to go to the meeting, but how do I do that? Do I talk to the counselor and tell him I can’t come? Do I talk to my senior on my engagement in Indiana and tell her I need to leave a day early, even though I’ve been here like 3 weeks and have no power to say something like that whatsoever? Yet again, WHO DO I ASK?!

Other slight annoyances:

I’ll try to make this as short as possible. Basically we keep our prior year work just to have as a reference. In order to signify that it’s prior year work, we go through all the files and put ‘zz’ in front of them. That was my task one morning last week. To go through 200+ files, right click on them, hit ‘rename,’ and type ‘zz’ at the beginning. Seriously. Now, no one told me that the zz needed to be lowercase. I did them all uppercase. Now, literally as I’m typing this, I was told to go through them all and change them to lowercase. Jlskfjw;oierjasf. Seriously?
I don’t get enough email. I’m sure I won’t be saying that in a year, but like… when I have NOTHING to do, I check my email every 10 seconds. Ugh.
I have to LEAVE my house at 5:30 AM on Saturday to do an inventory. Enough said. I also have to purchase steel-toed boots to do this inventory. Granted, I get reimbursed since they’re a ‘business expense’ (aka no way in hell would I own them if it weren’t for this inventory), but it’s still an obnoxious thing I have to do in the next few days.
We aren’t allowed to take vacation from January to March because that’s generally our busy season. However, I am going to be on a busy season in November-December, NOT at the beginning of January. I want to take a couple of days off in mid-January to go to LA, but the scheduler is telling me I can’t without a good reason. Like… that’s not fair. I don’t have the same busy season, therefore, I shouldn’t have to follow that rule. That means I can’t take ANY vacation November-December (because I’ll be in busy season) OR January – March. NOT FAIR. I’m still working with her to get it sorted out but… ugh. The even MORE annoying part is that I’m not scheduled for an engagement those days I want off. No one has picked up my time yet. Therefore I think I should be able to take vacation!!!!!!!! Blah!
I’m supposed to be in Indiana all next week. Today is Thursday. I still have not heard whether or not we’re actually going. People are supposed to be getting back to me but like… I have to book a hotel. I would also just kind of like to know where I’m going to be next week. If we’re NOT going, I need to find something to do all week which means sending out tons of emails asking for stuff to do.

But there seem to be tradeoffs for everything. As annoying as the ‘zz’s were, I also do pretty legit work, like testing fixed asset additions and disposals and preparing flux analyses from quarter to quarter. I realize this means nothing to you if you’re not an auditor, but whatevs. The gist of it is that I’m also getting some good experiences.

I also am realizing that, at least at my lowly level, there are tradeoffs in regards to time worked. I know busy season is going to be balls. I’m talking 55+ hour weeks for multiple weeks. However, I have some downtime now. Even if I’m in the office 8-5 every day, I don’t always have work to do so I get to kind of just hang out. Other days I’ve left a little bit early. So I’m working less than I should be now, but it’ll kind of balance out with busy season. Although it’s not necessarily the ideal work schedule, I’d rather have this than work 55+ hour weeks every single week, which is what I’ll be doing in about 2 years :(

PS if I haven’t said it enough already… don’t plan on seeing me from Thanksgiving to roughly mid-March. FML.

Work summary

2010-10-19T04:43:00.000-07:00

Here's a summary about how I feel about work:

1) I am torn about how I feel about being the food bitch. By this I mean the 'new girl' who is sent to get food for everyone else. Sometimes I'm a little offended, because really, I have a Masters degree and shouldn't be going on food runs. However, I also get kind of excited because it's a nice little break in the day when I get to go pick up the food. I get to be by myself for 20 or so minutes, and that's always nice.

2) I have been insanely spoiled since I've been at work. My classmates (aka the people who started with me) have been working 12 hour days, even on Saturdays. I get out at 5 every day because I happen to be on a tiny client who isn't really getting us the stuff we need to work on... therefore there's not much to do. I know I'm going to be hit really hard with busy season, which kind of sucks, but I'm trying to enjoy my easy hours while I can!

3) I'm going to get so fat. There is just no way around that. I eat out every day for lunch. It's basically required that you eat with your teams. I don't really want to be difficult and bring a sack lunch to Applebees, so... guess I'll eat out every day. And then when busy season starts, you eat dinner at work, too, which is ALSO a required team event... meaning I'll be eating bad food then, too. Not to say that I'm the healthiest person in the world, but I definitely do NOT want to eat out 5+ times a week. And on top of eating horribly, I'll also not be able to work out during busy season, since that entails 8 am - 10 pm days six days a week. Sigh.

4) I actually think I like the work so far. So far. I don't think I'll like how MUCH of it I'll be doing soon enough, but at least I like the work. Hopefully this gets me through busy season!

5) I LOVE the people I work with. They are just so friendly and helpful. I ask my senior questions 029380375 times a day and he doesn't care. It makes being a newbie a lot easier.

Welp, time for said work. More later!

The Job

2010-09-29T10:47:00.001-07:00

Well. It's been awhile! I just got back from my first day of big-girl work, so I thought this would be an appropriate time to update.

First things first: I passed all sections of my CPA exam. There's really nothing else to say about this except that the day I found out I passed the last one was probably one of the top 5 happiest days of my life. Also, I cannot WAIT for my CPA bonus. Holy crap. It will be awesome.

Donny and I have moved in together and it's wonderful!! Nothing TOO horrible yet... just minor spats here and there :) It's difficult to be around ANYONE 24/7, let alone someone of the opposite sex... yikes. But we're making it work and it's been awesome so far!

Onto my job.

We had to show up at the Columbus office this morning at 9 AM. Of course I'm an idiot and forgot we had to wear pantyhose if we want to wear skirts. Because clearly it's still 1950. I had already decided what I was wearing and I did NOT want to deal with picking out a new outfit (because that would add at least another 10 minutes onto my getting ready time), so I decided to go to Walmart to purchase some pantyhose. I then had to put on my pantyhose IN the Walmart parking lot, because duh, I had to be wearing them when I walked in. I wasn't going to get to the office and be like, "Hi. Can you show me the bathroom so I can put on my pantyhose? Thanks." So yeah, my professional career got off to a wonderfully sophisticated start.

I got to the office right on time. It's nice, because I know two of the guys starting with me. One was in the MAcc program with me and the other guy interned with me in 2008, so it was nice to see him again, too. We basically just spent the morning hearing about random stuff and taking a tour of the office, etc. We had a conference call with the woman in charge of our schedules. We also got our schedules from now until the first week in February. Let me just have a chat about my schedule.

So it's pretty much expected that you'll work at least one busy season as an auditor. Generally this means January-March, since most clients have a December 31 year end. However, the Columbus office has all these random year end clients, so our busy seasons are all over the place. SOMEHOW I got scheduled two busy seasons back-to-back, which will be just... amazing (note the sarcasm). I'm the only new hire assigned to the first of my two clients, and they need me during the week that all the other new hires are having another week of training. Somehow this means that I'll be attending training in Dallas with other random Texans. Like... what? How on earth did you pick Dallas, Texas as my training spot?! Bizarre. So yeah, that will be interesting. I've also been assigned a couple of inventories already. This basically means I'll be going BY MYSELF to random warehouses and acting like I know what I'm talking about... and I'll be counting stuff. Lots of stuff. As in... just... opening boxes and counting. And if a box is wrong (aka it says there's 25 shirts and there's only 24), then I'll have to choose another FIVE boxes to count. Oh, did I mention these are done on the weekend? YAY MY LIFE!

What this means for me is that I will be MIA from around the time of my birthday (ugh) through at least Valentine's Day. I was told I would probably be expected to work the weekend of Megan and Jake's wedding, but have no fear, I put a stop to that. And I don't really think they can force me to take a vacation day on a SATURDAY, so that's good. I just have to clear it with my engagement team, but I'm sure it'll be okay. Thank goodness. I'm going to need to DRINK that weekend for sure.

This means that the entire holiday season for me will be slightly less than holiday-like. I'll be working at least 50-55 hours a week. In January, they've got me scheduled for 55 hours a week for 3 weeks. You know when you already know 3 months in advance that you'll be working 15 hours of overtime a week it's going to be a FUN job.

Sigh. I'm trying not to stress about this. I just REALLY love the holidays and now I'm not even going to get to enjoy them. Aside from the inventories I already know about, I'm 'on-call' 12/17 to 1/7 (on the weekends) to run to whatever inventory needs done. It's not just me, it's all 8 of the people I'm starting with, but still. Like... this means I could be called New Year's Eve to go do an inventory. And that's actually VERY likely, because tons of companies take inventory on December 31 or January 1. I'll also not be allowed to take off any days the week of Thanksgiving (except the day of, obviously), because my first client's busy season kind of peaks that week.

So goodbye to my birthday, Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years Eve and Day, and Valentine's Day. I'll hopefully see you next year.

Anyway. As I said, I'm trying not to stress but it's not working very well.

Perks of my job? Many. Great benefits, a pretty good 401(k) plan, awesome people (seriously, they're all so fun and friendly), lots of office activities (happy hours, sports leagues, community service), a pretty decent salary, aaaaaaaaand my CPA bonus. As soon as I submit my paperwork showing that I passed the tests, I will get a pretty freaking awesome bonus. Yayayayay I CANNOT wait!!!

So in summary, I'm going to despise the hours I'll be working, but I'll be working with really great people, so hopefully it'll go by quickly. Apparently I lucked out and got on an AWESOME team for my first big client so thank goodness for that.

I'm off to Cleveland tonight for two days of orientation (getting our laptops, explaining benefits, etc), and then back here for the weekend, then to Cincinnati for a week of audit training, and then onto my first job! Eeek!

Friends

2010-08-07T21:39:00.000-07:00

Today was great :) I was able to spend time with Kiley this afternoon, just sitting and talking which is pretty much all we do when we're together haha. Although this afternoon we mixed it up a bit and went DRIVING while talking. I just drove us in circles though haha meh. Anyway, I just am obsessed with the fact that we're able to not see each other for months at a time and then just pick up like we were still at Miami and saw each other for hours every day. Love. love. love. it. Plus there was the bonus of having Jamie call WHILE I was with Kiley so we got to all be on speakerphone together... sigh. So wonderful. Those girls just make my life.

Then I went to Chipotle and to see Charlie St. Cloud with Megan, Katie, and Shelley tonight! (PS Charlie St. Cloud is dumb. Don't see it. And this is coming from a girl who likes pretty much every movie she sees.) It's just so nice to be able to go out with the girls and just chat about all sorts of different life topics :) It probably makes me happier than it should haha. Like, I just really really love girl talk. And I feel like we're growing up now, so we have more grown-up discussions and it's so nice to have people to grow up with, if that makes any sense. We're going through the same things so it's nice to have people to relate to.

Then after I got home, Shelley and Katie were still hanging out and I realized I shouldn't be lame even though I have to get up for work in like less than 7 hours haha. Oh well. So I went back out to meet up with them at Johnny Rockets and we just stayed and chatted for a couple of hours. It's just nice to be able to talk about your feelings with people, as mundane as that sounds. But think about it - do you really have people that LISTEN to you on a day to day basis? Who are REALLY interested in what you're doing or saying? If so, I think you're lucky because I think that we've all become so self-absorbed that we don't pay attention to other people as much as we should. So when I get to have moments where people DO listen to me, and not just my stupid stories about my day-to-day events, but my actual feelings, it gives me hope for the world haha. And it makes me feel loved. It's just little moments like these that get me through :) It was nice to be able to open up to Shelley and Katie in a more intimate discussion (as opposed to a large group setting) and to actually talk about our feelings and our fears and what we're going through in life. It's just so refreshing to be able to get stuff off your chest like that, and I think girls nights are an absolute must. But small girls nights... not like 15 girl girls nights haha. 15 girls is like... go out to the club girls night. Which is ALSO enjoyable, but I'm getting completely off topic. My point is that I think everyone should get together with 1-3 girlfriends every once in awhile and just spill your guts. It's pretty therapeutic.

I still wish I had like ONE girlfriend that was my BEST friend and I was her BEST friend, though, you know? I've always wanted that. Like, just one person who ALWAYS had your back and who didn't have any other best friends, if that makes sense haha. I realize that sounds selfish lol but... it's true! I've just never had that. Obviously I have several wonderful awesome girlfriends, but I haven't ever had one that was just MY best friend. That might sound petty, but growing up it's what I always wanted. A girlfriend with whom you didn't have to discuss what you were doing that night, because it was clear that the two of you would be hanging out... a girlfriend who you could just always count on for everything. And a girlfriend who didn't have a bunch of other best friends. But I guess as much as it might make you want to puke, Donny's kind of become that person for me, which I guess is okay too :) He just came a little later on in life. And I, of course, still have my friends, and hopefully always will!

Okay I really do need to get to bed, yikes. But in summary: today was full of girlfriends and I loved it :)

Blah

2010-08-04T14:35:00.000-07:00

Fingers crossed that after Friday, I will have NO MORE UPDATES about the stupid CPA exam... meaning hopefully I pass the section I'm taking on Friday. If I can pass this one, and if I passed the one I took in July, then I'll be FINISHED!

Oh wait, no I won't be, because then I still can't call myself a CPA until I've had 2 years of experience. UGHHHH. It never ends!!

Anyway, studying sucks even more than usual. I've just completely lost any and all energy I once had for studying. And now that Donny's home for GOOD (!!!!), I have even less motivation. Hang out with my boyfriend who I haven't been in the same city with for more than 3 months at a time since 2005... or study? FML.

In other news, I cannot WAIT to be done at the call center, either! It's getting to be that hectic time when kids are about to start leaving for college... and of course people wait until like, the DAY before their student moves to be like 'Hey, I need to order linens... also, I need them here tomorrow at 6 AM because that's when we're leaving." Like... no. Sorry. That can't happen. Today was especially bad. I had a lady cry on the phone within the first 45 minutes of my shift. Seriously. People get REALLY REALLY upset about linens for some reason. Don't they know they can just drive to Bed, Bath, and Beyond??!?! and on top of that lady, I had three sup calls (short for 'supervisor'... ones where they ask for my supervisor because apparently I'm incompetent) and our systems just completely shut down for about an hour. Phew. Like I said, can't wait to be finished!

Donny's back and it's basically the greatest. I haven't actually been able to see him a ton because I've been studying so much, but the few times I've seen him have just been great. However, as we had predicted, we ended up hating each other yesterday. We were completely right!!! We predicted we'd despise each other by August 3 hahah. Meh. We're better now. We just aren't very good at being physically near each other haha. It will work itself out.

Other than that... let's see. Moving's coming up soon, HOORAY! Donny and I have been discussing cable/internet packages, etc, and figuring out utilities. I forgot that we're moving into a place thats exactly twice the square footage of my current apartment, which means twice the gas/electric bills :( Boooo spending money.

Also, August 21 is coming up, which will be a blast! We're getting a cabin in Hocking Hills with some of the Westerville crew to celebrate Donny and Jake's birthdays! Can't waaaaaaittt, it'll be so nice to get together with everyone before we move in!

Other exciting August things:
Kiley's in town (but I can't see her until I'm done studying, boo)
Jamie's ALMOST in town
probably going to see the Titanic exhibit at COSI with the fam!
Wicked with Donny and the fam!!!!!!!

Yayayay Friday at 2pm will be the start of a great month :)

Laughing gas

2010-07-28T14:17:00.000-07:00

I just got back from my second dentist appointment, to finish the last of the fillings. Let me just say right now that I truly wish they put me on laughing gas from the moment I enter that building and only take off the gas when I step out. Not necessarily just because of the procedures they do, but because of the stupid, stupid things my dentist says. When I'm on laughing gas, I don't want to punch her as much. I mean, I do, but I at least think it's amusing. Today she was getting a good chuckle out of the fact that the federal government is trying to get rid of the Arizona immigration law but we are also making mortgage brokers get fingerprinted. She then began talking about how terrorists are coming into the US from the southern border because they can pass off as Mexican. In her words: "They can't come in from Canada anymore, because, well, they don't look like Canadians." I wish I was making this up, but I'm not. Then she said that Connecticut or another eastern state has the same laws already in place and no one's making a big deal of that... then she said, "But I mean, they probably don't have to enforce it like they do in Arizona... because like, they're not going to try to get rid of Canadians coming over the border into Connecticut." Who gives these people medical licenses?

But truly, laughing gas is the greatest. I kind of wish I could get my hands on some to use recreationally. While on laughing gas for like, 25-30 minutes straight today, I decided that laughing gas would be my drug of choice. Some people choose weed, some people choose coke, I choose laughing gas. While the dentist was busy annihilating my teeth, I decided that laughing gas gets me to the point where I feel like I'm drunk. But a good drunk. The kind of drunk where you go to the bathroom and all of a sudden you're like, "Holy crap. I'm drunk!" and it just comes on really quickly and in full force. Like... you're pretty drunk but not to the point of being miserable and/or sick. When I close my eyes when I'm on laughing gas, I feel the feeling like when I'm drunk and I finally get to go to bed and I just lay in my bed and think how happy I am to be laying down and not in heels and a dress anymore. THAT kind of drunk.

Well, I suppose that ends my ode to laughing gas.

The poor hygenist from last time was assigned to me again today. She was like, "Are you going to want laughing gas?" And then she realized who I was and said, "Oh yeah. You'll want laughing gas." Hahaha. Oops. Apparently I was memorable last time. What was it, I wonder? The tears? The bitchiness that came out after I had been waiting 50 minutes to get a damn filling? Who knows. Either way, I'm excited that they're so willing to give me laughing gas.

I sound super creepy, I realize, but I have been through more than one traumatizing dentist experience in these past couple of weeks. Let me have my laughing gas, at least.

Oh my slash yay?

2010-07-27T14:26:00.000-07:00

Oh dear.

Update on the whole thing on how I'm suddenly going to be a teaching assistant at OSU for a few days in September.

So the last thing I heard about this, I would be leading sessions from 1:30-5 PM on seven separate days in September. Basically the students will be doing problems in teams for half the session, then I'll bring them all together and go over the problems for the second half. This already makes me want to cry. It seems like a lot of pressure. Plus these people are my age, if not older. Sooo... I will have absolutely no authority over these people. Yikes.

Then today I received an email just confirming that I'd be available, etc. The professor in charge ALSO just informed me that I will likely need to prepare 4-6 HOURS for EACH DAY of teaching. OMG. Whaaaat??! Seriously?!?!? This is becoming a MUCH more intense thing than I thought. Keep in mind that I was originally asked if I'd like to 'grade papers.'

...

So I mean, there's that. They DID say they'd pay me for my preparation, so... that's a perk. I'm going to be getting WAY more money than I'd previously thought. I'm thinking this 7 day gig will land me about $650 (pre-tax). So... holler. Still. I'm getting more nervous now.

Even more snippets.

2010-07-23T10:27:00.000-07:00

Another gem from the girls at the call center. This is word for word, because I wrote it down soon after it happened. I have started to be on the lookout for more dumb things they say. Too bad it's illegal to record someone without them knowing. Hearing them speak is really the only way to get the full effect. Anyway:

Girl 1: yeah so unfortunately Ryan and Amy both got me the new Usher cd for my birthday.
Girl 2: Um, I'll take one!
Girl 1: I mean you can totally have it if I can't get any money back for it.
Girl 2: Do you have a receipt?
Girl 1: No...
Girl 2: Then you probably can't get a refund...
Girl 1: Oh my God that's so retarded.
Girl 2: I know right...

This girl also got a $75 Forever 21 gift card from her boyfriend (Ryan). He ALSO took her to the Melting Pot... their bill was $90. Oh, rich kids.

Then today there were two guys sitting hear me, which was a TINY bit better than listening to girls until they pulled this:

Guy 1: Dude bro [seriously, he said both of these together], at Lake Erie this weekend I saw the hottest chick I've ever seen in my life.
Guy 2: Dude, I don't really like, know your type of girls, so I can't really know if she's hot or not if you describe her.
Guy 1: Dude, seriously, though... she's so hot. Anyone would think she was hot. So I was just sitting there and she walked onto the beach and I was straight up staring at her, and she saw me so she gave me like this little wave. It was cute as fuck. So I was like, 'Ok, she's like, an inviting person.' So I just went up to her and started chatting with her, and got the digits, so we hung out the rest of the time I was there. Like... she's seriously a perfect 10. She is so hot. She's got like a perfect body, because she runs track, so her stomach is flat and she has nice legs and a nice ass and... she's so great on top. I'm thinking like, a high C cup. And her teeth are like perfect and she has pretty eyes.
Guy 2: So like, does she have a 6 pack or something?
Guy 1: There's a little definition there.
Guy 2: I mean, really you just want a flat stomach. You don't really want it too flabby or too muscle-y though.
Guy 1: Yeah she might have like a two-pack. But dude, seriously.. so hot. I would just do the most terrible things to that girl.
Guy 2: Dude then why are you even back at work? Why aren't you still hanging out with her?
Guy 1: Dude I have to work if I'm scheduled! But listen, she totally lives in Hillard! So I'm gonna try to get with that.
Guy 2: Duuuude seriously she is like RIGHT HERE! You should not even be at work right now.

Omg. This is seriously what I listen to ALLLLL DAAAAYYY.

Worst Dentist Experience of my Life

2010-07-20T14:17:00.000-07:00

Well. I have just returned from the worst dentist trip of my entire life. Let's start at the beginning.

I was told last week at the dentist that magically, in the course of 6 months, I had 4 cavities develop, two of which were one level away from being root canals. A few problems with this. One, nothing in my dental hygiene has changed in any way, shape, or form in the past 6 months. So... that's odd. Two, I really just think it means that they missed it the last time I was in. Because I really don't think a cavity that severe develops in a matter of a couple of months. Maybe I'm wrong; I'm not exactly a dental expert, but whatever. It seemed fishy. So then they told me I needed to get them filled, and they suggested breaking it into two appointments. I was like um, false, I hate your office more than anything else in the world... I'm not coming back TWICE. Do it all in one appointment. They rolled their eyes (literally) and scheduled the appointment for today.

So I freak out all day today about getting these cavities filled. I get to the dentist's office at 2:45. They immediately ask how I'm going to pay for these. I just stare at them and say, "Um, you always just bill my parents, and they pay the balance when they're in..." And the lady just glared at me and was like, "Ummm... nooo... that's not how it works. You need to pay the balance the day you get work done." And I'm like... bitch you are crazy. I have been coming here BY MYSELF since I was 16, and I've never ONCE paid myself. So, no, you're wrong. And she was like [BIG SIGH] Well.... I guess JUST THIS ONCE we can let you go without paying..." Like... just get over yourself, please. I am not making this up. I don't have hundreds of dollars just laying around to pay you, and I never have. The hygienist was standing there to take me back, and as we were walking, she told me the policy just changed. Like.. okay. Do NOT act like I'm a freaking nut job when YOU just changed your policy!! what on earth.

So we go back, I sit in the chair. The hygienist is being super nice, and offered me a blanket because they keep the office at approximately 40 degrees (slight exaggeration but still). I wait about 5-10 minutes before someone comes in. It's the hygienist and the dentist. They ask me if I want laughing gas - clearly the answer to that question is ALWAYS going to be yes. So all they were apparently doing was numbing me. It seemed kind of dumb to give me laughing gas for a shot in my cheek... like, I get shots in my arm once a week, I get millions of shots in my back for allergy testing, I used to have shots in my cheek at my old dentist all the time. So it really is not a big deal for me. Then they tell me that they need to wait 10 minutes for the numbing stuff to set in, and they'll be back.

.... 50 minutes go by. I am getting FURIOUS. I text my mom, who tells me that numbing takes 30 minutes. That's fine, but they probably should have said 'thirty' instead of 'ten.' And there's no way I mixed up the numbers, because, well, ten sounds nothing like thirty. I finally get up and ask a hygienist how much longer it's going to take and she just says 'soon.' Okay, great. Soon. So I've been waiting for 50 minutes, and I'm already TERRIFIED about getting these fillings. So letting me sit in a chair for 50 minutes to ponder this is definitely making things better...?

By the time they come in, I'm like... near tears because I'm a mixture of utter frustration, anger, and fear. They pretty much begin drilling immediately. I have only felt worse pain twice in my life: when I had my ACL surgery, and when I had a ruptured ovarian cyst. It was just... complete agony. So I just start sobbing haha. Like... tears were FLOWING out of my eyes. They finally realize and finish up quickly. They THEN tell me that I should have TOLD them that it hurt. Right. Right. I was going to SPEAK while you had a drill against my tooth. Definitely. Then later the hygienist was like, 'You should have raised your hand!!' Right, again. I was going to hold up my right hand, risking hitting the dentist's hand, which is holding a drill inside my tooth, or hold up the left hand, risking hitting the hygienist's hand, which is holding the suck-y up-y tube against my tooth and could easily hit the drill. Right. Like... you've got to be joking. Somehow this all turned into my fault.

They asked if I wanted laughing gas. OBVIOUSLY. Like... you were going to give me laughing gas for a shot, but you weren't going to give it to me to DRILL INTO MY TEETH? Omg. So they put me on laughing gas again which was just fantastic. It's like being drunk but with no horrible side effects. So they finished up with the other cavity. But while they were working on it, they then took the time to start scolding me. "You really need to floss more." "You really need to pay more attention to between your teeth." Like... can you please stop? I'm sobbing, you are drilling my teeth in half, and you're scolding me? I think I understand that I need to floss more at this point. They then told me they highly suggested I come back later to get the other two, because I'm clearly in so much pain. At which point I agreed, because, well, I was drunk on laughing gas and just hated them so much that I just wanted to get out of there. And tears kept coming out of my eyes because, well, I'm still annoyed, and because once I start crying, it's hard for me to stop.

The dentist left, and left the hygienist to finish up doing whatever she was doing in my mouth. She then took my tears to mean I'm like, a gigantic baby, so she started treating me like I was 2 years old. Some of the various things she said:
-"You're going to smell a really stinky smell..."
-"Now I'm going to put water in your mouth.... now I'm going to suck the water up from your mouth... now I'm going to pull on your tooth a little bit... now I'm going to pull a little more..." Like... JUST DO IT. You don't need to walk me through every step!
-"You raise your hand if this hurts at all, okay?" (she literally just put the lamp in my mouth. The lamp. That dries the filling. ............ no, the light from the lamp does not hurt. Surprising, I know.

UGHHHHHHHHHHHH. So that was the dentist. Now my teeth don't feel like my teeth, and it stresses me out. The right side of my face is also still numb and does not seem to be getting any better any time soon. And I get to go through this all AGAIN next week for the other two cavities! HOORAY!

More snippets from work

2010-07-19T13:54:00.001-07:00

I find that I work in a terribly boring place, yet it can sometimes produced some amusing anecdotes. I thought I would share some with you.

More on the recent Desales graduates:

[between one guy and one girl]
Guy: Dude, are you seriously reading Harry Potter right now?
Girl: Omg yesss, it's sooo good.
Guy: You are seriously the biggest dork ever. You are such a geek. It's kind of cute though.
Girl: Omg I know but I still love it. I don't like, go around telling people I love it though.
Guy: Yeah, people would think you're so weird.
Girl: Omg I know. Amy thinks its like the weirdest thing ever. She keeps calling me a freak whenever she sees me reading it.
Guy: Dude, I read the first three books and they're like, just so repetitive.
Girl: No, you TOTALLY have to read the last ones. They're SO much better.
Guy: Oh really? So I should like, read those?
Girl: Yeah, totally. I have them if you want to borrow them!!
Guy: [thinks is the funniest thing he's ever heard] Haha, okay. Do you like the books or movies better?
Girl: Omg, the books for sure.
Guy: Dude, yeah, Daniel Radcliffe is like, such an over-actor. He's so retarded. The movies are terrible. [slight exaggeration, but okay.]

I have found that their favorite words tend to be 'freak' (as in, 'omg you're such a freak!'), 'retarded' and 'gay'... clearly signs of their maturity level.

They also complain about how stupid customer service is, and how much it sucks, and how hard it is. They complain to the people who have been here for like 4+ years. Clearly they are going to get absolutely NO sympathy from us. Like... please. You just started. Shut up.

Another gem between a different guy and a different girl:
Girl: What are you doing tonight?
Guy: Going ouuuuut I can't wait [keep in mind that he's probably 20, tops]
Girl: Oh yeah? Are you drinking tonight?
Guy: A better question is will I be able to BREATHE tonight!! [chuckles to himself at the joke he just made]
Girl: What do you like to drink?
Guy: Um... beer?
Girl: Oh like what?
Guy: Bud light, Nati, whatever.
Girl: Ohh okay. So like is that the cheap stuff?
Guy: I mean, yeah. I used to drink Absolut like all the time because that stuff gets you fucked up but it's too expensive to drink all the time.
Girl: I like rum.

Oh my.

And then there's the customers:
Me: Okay ma'am, could I have you look in the bottom, right-hand corner of your order form? There should be a code in a box. Could you read that to me?
Woman: [long pause] ... do I have to unfold the order form?
Me: [equally long pause] ... yes. You would need to unfold the order form, if it's folded up. Otherwise you would not be able to see the order form, including the code.
Woman: [paper rustling] Oh, okay. I see the code now.

Or there's the similar conversation:
Me: Do you have your order form with you?
Customer: Yes.
Me: Could you read me the code that's located in the bottom right-hand corner of that order form?
Customer: I don't have the order form.
Me: ..... You just said you had the order form.
Customer: No, I just have the catalog.
Me: ... So you DON'T have the order form?
Customer: THAT'S WHAT I JUST SAID.

These are legitimate conversations that I have had MORE than once. Oh my gosh. Why do these people exist slash reproduce slash let their children go to school?

Random tidbits

2010-07-13T11:55:00.000-07:00

As usual, my life has no one definite reason for me to actually ever write in this thing, so here's another jumbled assortment of things going on with me:

1. I took the CPA exam on Saturday. Let's just say it did not go well.
2. Right after the CPA exam, I left for Pittsburgh. It was a great, great time, minus one little incident but... c'est la vie. I suppose 48 hours cant be COMPLETELY perfect.
3. Now that I'm home, I'm ready to start packing up my place! The problem is that I don't know what to pack. I have 203489207 books (approximately), but I can't put them all in one box, because I'll never be able to lift it. My solution last time I moved was to basically just move in a few stacks of books at a time. I would like to have a slightly faster move-out this time, so does anyone have any suggestions on how to pack books?
4. Donny and I have started a wish list for our apartment. This feels creepily like a wedding registry, but oh well. It also is a little more out there than a wedding registry. For example, it includes things such as a punching bag, a shower curtain liner with low VOCs, and a beef jerky maker (guess whose additions those were). The beef jerky maker is what happens when Donny and I go into Sur la Table. Sigh.
5. A few weeks ago, my boss from OSU asked me if I was interested in grading papers for the PreMacc. I said yes. Somehow, 'grading papers' turned into 'teaching students how to do really difficult financial accounting problems for 3 and a half hours straight for 7 days.' FML. I'm terrified, mostly because these students HAVE to know this stuff going into it. And I have to like... prepare and learn how to do these problems myself. This stresses me out slightly.
6. I've lost my TV remote and this stresses me out even more than the thought of teaching a class full of students who are probably smarter than em. Like... it is NOWHERE in my apartment. So now I'm sitting on the couch, annoyed because now Kathy Griffin is on tv and I don't feel like getting up to flip through channels. Blah.
7. Round 4 of the CPA exam has commenced. I am 5 pages in. It is not going well. Not because it's hard... it's not. But it's because I have zero energy left for this. I would just like to get it done.

That is perhaps all.

Dumbbb

2010-07-08T11:17:00.000-07:00

I'm a huge moron. For at least the past month or so, I've been convinced that I scheduled the next section of the CPA exam for this Friday, June 9th.

Nope. I did it for the 10th.

Meaning a few things:
1) I unnecessarily called off work on Friday.
2) My trip to Pittsburgh obviously cannot begin until Saturday afternoon, now. Meaning I will have less than 24 hours in Pittsburgh :(
3) I'm dumb
4) This is probably a bad omen to how the exam is going to go.
Sigh.

I CANNOT WAIT to be finished with this stupid section. Donny's roommate just took it and he didn't really sound very encouraging haha. Yikesss. If I can pass this one, I should be good to go, because apparently the one I saved for last is the easiest. Fingers crossed!
In other news, Pittsburgh will be MUCH NEEDED, even if it's only for a day. My paycheck that I'll get on Friday will ALSO be much needed!

As soon as I get back on Sunday, I'm going to start packing up my apartment. I don't care if it's a month and a half early. I am SO READY to be done with this apartment. The combination of sex boy and his roomie, the shady management, the people across the hall with the noisy bird and noisy dog, the people who honk their horns at 7 AM repeatedly until the person they're picking up comes out, the garbage trucks who let the giant dumpsters fall to the ground at 6:30 AM, the large amounts of dog poop people leave everywhere, and the crazy Indians who walk their children in strollers at 10 PM in the dark while wearing dark clothes so that you almost hit them with your car... have basically made me lose my patience.

If you're friends with me on facebook, you've likely already seen these pictures, but I'm posting some again just because I love them. Background: while at my grandparents' for the Fourth of July, I stole (slash borrowed) a container of pictures my grandma had. She like... could care less about pictures. She maybe took like 10 rolls of film the entire time my mom and uncle were growing up haha. And they're all just thrown in boxes now. There's ONE album she put together of pictures of them when they were little... the rest are still in the envelopes from the developer. Ohhh grandma. Anyway, here are some good ones...

This is my grandma, grandpa, and my mom on a road trip. My mom looks exactly like my sister Melaney here. Which is weird, because in other pictures she looks exactly like me or my other sister Lindsey. At least none of us were adopted?

I highly enjoy this picture. There are five generations here!! On the left is my great-great grandma Kreager, my great-great-great grandma Courson (she lived to be 101, crazy woman), my great-grandma (who died when I was in middle school) Williams/Dotson/Giles (yeah, she had three husbands) .. and my uncle Steve is in her lap. Then in the back is my grandpa, and he's holding my mom. So yeah, five generations. Awesome!

I just think that's crazy because the oldest person I've ever met from my family was my great-grandma... can you even imagine meeting your three-times great grandma? False. That's insane.

I wish I sometimes had something more interesting to say. C'est la vie.

Update:
It's about two hours after I made that original post. Guess what has happened to me since then?

THE BLUE SCREEN OF DEATH.

UGHHHHH. TWO DAYS before the CPA exam and I get the blue screen of death?!!?

Let's also recall that my computer CRASHED the DAY OF my CPA exam in April. THE SAME DAY. I had to go out and buy a new computer... aka this one. Clearly this is some sort of fate... I am obviously not destined to become a CPA. I mean... serious computer problems before taking two of the three sections? And I need my computer to study... it's not like I can just read the book. There are thousands of homework problems on the software that are really the best way to prepare for the exam. So yeah, apparently I'm not cut out to be a CPA... so glad I spent the last five years of my life and over $50,000 to be one. Not to mention countless hours of studying. FML.

Anywho, Ryan from HP (who secretly sounds like he's from the Ukraine or something) helped me and two hours later, my computer is currently running. Knock on wood. He also told me he can't guarantee he fixed it, which is just fabulous. Ohhhh HP and how I hate you and your computers. Cannot wait for my CPA bonus so I can buy a Mac.

Jumbled

2010-06-30T15:09:00.001-07:00

My entries never have a common theme anymore. They're just a bunch of jumbled thoughts. Apologies.

- I am BEYOND excited to move. You have no idea. I want to start packing NOW... even though it's still a little less than 2 months away. I'm already trying to go through and figure out what I can start throwing away.
- I got to see Kiley this weekend!!! And Jamie the weekend before!! Simply fabulous.
- Both Toy Story 3 and Date Night were hilarious. I recommend them both. And yes, I realize Date Night came out ages ago. What up dollar theaterrr.
- Today I saw a woman with a 'baby on board' sign on her back window... and she was smoking. Like... seriously? You're concerned that I'm for some reason going to have the urge to slam my car into yours UNTIL I see the 'baby on board' sign... yet you're not concerned about what smoking is doing to your child? Insane.
- Within 5 seconds of seeing the disaster listed above, I also saw a couple that was out on the sidewalk advertising for ballroom dancing lessons. Like... you know how sometimes you'll be driving and you'll see people on the side of the road holding signs saying things like, 'Mattress outlet!!' or '$5 hot and ready pizzas at Little Caesars!'? It was like that... except for ballroom dancing. Not only did they have to stand on one of the busiest intersections ever (Cleveland and Shrock), and not only did they have to hold an obnoxious sign, but they were ALSO required to BALLROOM DANCE on the SIDEWALK. Not joking. They were clasping hands... as you do in ballroom dancing... and between their hands was the giant obnoxious advertisement. And they were dancing. So sad.
- My FAVORITE HOLIDAY EVER is coming up - The Fourth of July!!! I LOOOVE the 4th. It's everything great rolled into one (minus presents) - warm weather, people in good moods, America, the color red (my favorite), family, friends, parades with candy, popsicles, corn on the cob, lemonade, grilling out, and FIREWORKS. Omg. Yesssss. Sadly, Donny will not be home :( Bummer. However, I am still determined to have a wonderful day.
- I take the next section of the CPA exam in a week and one day. This test is definitely not looking good. I definitely feel less prepared than I did for the other two... yikes.
- The call center is the usual. Boring. Soul-sucking. Freezing cold. Full of only two types of people: 1) ghetto people 2) 18 year old Desales graduates who talk about 10 octaves higher than anyone normally should. 'Hiiiii, this is Kimberly, how can I HELP you today?!!?!?!?!?!?!' When they're not on the phone, all they do is discuss the following topics:
1) Which $300 purse they're planning on buying. I am not joking.
2) Credit cards. By that, I mean the conversation went as follows:

Girl 1: Um... so like, the person I just talked to, their credit card had declined. What does that even mean?
Girl 2: Um... I think that's like where you spend too much money.
Girl 1: What do you mean?
Girl 2: Like.. the bank only lets you spend so much money on your card.
Girl 1: Weird. So like... how do you know how much they let you spend?
Girl 2: Ummm... I have no idea. Maybe they call you or something.
Girl 1: Omg. Good thing I don't have a credit card, hahaha... I would be soooo broke. My credit card would decline like ALL the time.
Girl 2: Yeah probably.

3) People they don't like
4) How stupid every single customer is. Since these girls are all new, they don't realize that the customers are asking LEGIT questions that we get all the time. They think the ONE customer who wants to know the thread count just called them. They'll get off the phone and be like 'omg. that lady just asked me like 4 questions about the thread count!!!!!!!!' Like... hi. I answer roughly 15 calls a day SOLELY about thread count. You sell linens. This is to be expected. Shut up. This one girl today was also laughing HYSTERICALLY (on the phone... AT the customer) because the customer thought this girl was at her student's school. This happens all the time. It's because our company sends out brochures specifically with the student's college's name on it. Therefore a lot of times the parents think the school is selling the linens themselves... when they're really just contracting through us. So it's not a ridiculous question. They'll call us and be like 'Hi, can I talk to the housing department?' But this girl was legit like, insulting the customer by laughing at her. Sigh.

Other than the call center, life is good. Moving right along. I'm trying to be as LAZY as possible until September, since that's basically when my life ends... AKA I start working 50-60 hour weeks. Hooray.

Yay :)

2010-06-22T10:32:00.000-07:00

Things have been going just... so well lately. Some highlights:

- Jamie came home this weekend and we spent a wonderful Friday together shopping, stuffing our faces with the Pizza Hut lunch buffet (omg yum) and laying out!
- I also got to see a lot of friends I don't usually get to see... Laura, Sam, and Heather!!!
- I PASSED THE AUDIT SECTION OF THE CPA EXAM!!!!!!!! And please keep in mind that this is the one I took in May... I still haven't found out the score from the financial section which I took in April. Dumbest thing ever, but oh well. I passed!! I got an 83... a 75 is a passing grade. However, I feel like I did better on audit than on financial, which worries me because that means I did WORSE than an 83 on that section... not a lot of wiggle room. Eek. Fingers crossed, because I do NOT want to take ANY of these again.
- First paycheck from the call center comes on Fridaaaayyyyy!! AND I found out today that I will be getting an extra FIFTY dollars on my paycheck because I had both the highest average order (a $25 prize) and the highest percentage of people upgrade to a better threadcount (another $25). Yesssss. Granted, it's not really fair, because I was only there for like 4 days, so my percentages are a little skewed (for example, getting people to upgrade on 6/8 calls is obviously a lot easier to do than 600/800 calls)... pretty sure I'm not going to win any more of these contests for the rest of the summer haha. So I'll take it while I can!
- I have seriously gotten like 15 books in the last few days from my Amazon orders. This makes me happy to no end. I'm such a dork.
- Donny graduates in just over a month, and then that means he and I will FINALLY be permanently in the same city!!! I don't even know what to do about that. It's going to be a huge change. But a very, very exciting one.
- I probably shouldn't be happy about another person's misery, but... oh well. The NASBA coordinator for Ohio was fired recently. This is the guy that ignored my 10+ calls/emails/voicemails. It's his fault it took me 9 weeks (instead of 6) to get my notice to schedule for the CPA exam. He's just... a disaster. When I couldn't get ahold of him, I ended up calling the Accountancy Board of Ohio, and they were NOT happy with him... so I'm wondering if that's what kind of set this in progress. Oops. Oh well. For something as important as a CPA license, they should NOT have idiots in charge. We're all better off now. Like, seriously. That's exactly like having someone in the Bar Association just ignoring calls of prospective lawyers who are trying to take the bar exam. You can't do that. And it feels like a small personal victory for me haha.
- My boss from OSU just emailed me asking if I wanted to help grade papers/be an assistant for the Pre-MAcc program in September!! Hooraaaay extra money!!! (It's $11 an hour to grade papers... yes please.) The PreMacc is basically a program for students going into the MAcc that did not have accounting as their undergrad degree, so they may still need to get some prereqs out of the way or just brush up on what they've already taken but probably forgotten. Thank goodness for extra moneyyyy.

Wonderful day so far!

2010-06-17T12:40:00.000-07:00

My day is going wonderfully so far! Reasons are listed below:

1. Perhaps most exciting... Donny and I got the townhouse we wanted!!!!!!! We'll be moving in late August. I'm SO excited, you have no idea!! Twice the room I have now for barely $100 more a month, too!
2. It's finally NOT 90 degrees outside! It's beautiful!
3. I spoke to Cindy McCain on the phone today. Like... John McCain's wife. Seriously. She called the call center to check to see if we got her fax order. I was suspicious it was her, because their address was in Arizona, but obviously I wasn't going to ask. I looked at her student's name and sure enough, it's one of her children's names. CRAZY. She was really nice, although I basically made a complete idiot of myself. I was trying to look up her order by using her last name and zip code and I couldn't hear her because she was speaking so softly, so I asked her to spell her name for me. Then she did and I was like ah. yes. And I rambled on for ages about how we may not have entered the order into the system yet because we don't always enter fax orders in the day we get them... blah blah blah. Like, glad I just wasted 5 minutes of Cindy McCain's time. Anyway, while I could certainly not be called a McCain supporter, it was nice to know that she's doing all these menial tasks herself! I'm sure she's incredibly busy.
4. I've started to get shipments from Amazon on the HUGE purchase I made a few days ago... HOORAY! I love getting new books :)
5. I got my diploma in the mail today! ... in a shitty looking cardboard folder, but oh well. I'm going to get it framed eventually, I suppose. Anyway, it was exciting to see in the mail!
6. I'm ALMOST caught up on CPA studying... almost.
7. I'm going to a farmer's market near campus with Raymond in a bit, and then later tonight the midnight showing of Toy Story 3 with some friends :) Should be a good time!

A few thoughts

2010-06-15T12:49:00.000-07:00

A few thoughts:

- The Westerville Public Library is far too big to have such a dinky parking lot. Please fix. Thanks.
- I was a moron today at said library. When trying to do self-checkout, I kept scanning the book's original barcode, not the library's. So then I waited in line at the front desk for 10 minutes, claiming that my card must have something wrong with it. The woman at the desk was like um... no, you're just scanning them wrong. Ooooops.
- Second day at the call center and it's ALREADY a long summer. AND I'm only working part time. I can't imagine my attitude if I was working full-time. However, I have a new supervisor this year and he is quality.
- The only thing I like about working at the call center again is that I get to be in Westerville again for little spurts of time :)

Year end wrap up

2010-06-04T14:05:00.000-07:00

I'm officially (well... kind of) finished with my MASTER'S program. It just seems too crazy to even type.

I say 'kind of' because I'm really not even finished with my finals yet. I'm just close enough to make this blog post haha. I just turned in my final paper for one class this afternoon. I have a final on Monday morning at 7:30 AM (seriously?) and a take-home final due Monday at 9:30 AM. Siiiick. I've been working on the take-home final on and off since Wednesday... probably about SEVEN HOURS combined so far, and I'm not at all near finished. Like... honestly, is that necessary to make an exam that difficult? I can't even google the answers. Anyway, so Monday at 9:30 AM I'll be finished with all of my work. Then I get to do NOTHING all week (!!!) until Friday which is our MAcc pre-commencement ceremony. I'm not going to the REAL commencement, so I'm considering this my real graduation And it's only going to be like an hour long, HOORAY! They've requested that we wear business formal... I'm not really sure what that is. If they mean business professional, that means wearing a suit... and HELL NO am I wearing a suit at 4:30 PM in the middle of June. No no no. So I bought a cute sleeveless professional-ish dress. Meh.

I'm also excited for the bar crawl on Thursday! Goal = not to still be hungover at 4:30 PM the next day haha. My favorite part about this upcoming bar crawl is that since we're doing it as a group (ALL Fisher grad students), we are having a twitter feed for where we are hahahhaa. Like, omg. Business students WOULD use twitter to update everyone about where we are. Love iiiiitttt.

Anyway, I've been wanting to do this since Jake started doing them ages ago... so yes, I'm completely copying off you, Jake...

here it is, my year in the MAcc program:

Classes taken: 11
Amount I will have paid after interest on my student loans for ONE YEAR of school: $32,000
Times I have cried after taking a test: 3
Times I have cried WHILE taking a test: 3 (2 of which are during my take-home final for the class I mentioned above... sad face. And yes, this means 1 was during an actual exam in a classroom. Embarrassing.)
High school GPA: 4.22
College GPA: 3.72
Grad school GPA: 3.4 (notice a trend?)
MAcc phone numbers in my phone: 21
People I will probably talk to after a year or so: 3
People I will be working with at E&Y: 1
Hours I worked as an ambassador: 300
International interviews performed: 29
Students I took on visits: 15
Amount by which my starting salary for E&Y was decreased: $2,500
Additional amount I was supposed to earn at E&Y for having my Master's: $2,500
Hours spent studying for the CPA exam so far: 263 hours
Sections of the CPA exam taken: 2 (of 4)
Amount paid for the CPA exam: $963 (not counting the $3,000 more I would have had to pay for my review materials if E&Y wasn't amazing)
Weeks I waited for my notice to schedule for the CPA exam: 9
Weeks my classmates waited: 2 (story of my life)
Presentations given: 10
Times I have cursed myself for taking Accounting for Mergers & Acquisitions: Every day of my life since beginning the class
Subway points accumulated: 68
Times I've cursed Taco Bell for being located so close to my apartment: countless
Lunches that turned into drinking at the Varsity Club: 2
Times I've been to Gateway this year: 3 horrible, horrible mistakes.
Lokos I've attempted to choke down: 2
Diet Cokes I've purchased in the Gerlach vending machine: Dear lord. Probably close to 150. Yiiikes.
Times jumping in Mirror Lake: 1
As of this fall, number of people in my immediate family who will have gone to Ohio State: 4. The only 4 that are college-aged. We are kind of sickening.

Others:
Most enjoyable class: governmental/not-for-profit accounting. I liked the subject (this is my second time taking it), I liked the professor, and I liked only having two projects.
Least enjoyable class: Accounting for Mergers & Acquisitions. God-awful. The professor is clearly just there for research. She's just... not good. The exams were horrible. Every class was an hour and 48 minutes of hell.
Worst class I know I'll be glad I took later: Financial Management 2. All sorts of awful things like hedging and derivatives and credit swaps. Ughhhh. This is also the class I took where I cried during an exam. But I also know I'm going to need to know this stuff for my job so... gross.

I'm sick of making this list. 05. 05 has pretty much been my motto for the entire MAcc program, so I guess that's fitting haha.

Recipes!

2010-05-21T20:52:00.000-07:00

I've decided to make a recipe box. I had a binder where I put recipes, but I decided that wasn't cute. When I was little, I LOVED reading my mom's recipes on cute index cards so I decided that, although I don't have any adorable recipe cards (does anyone know where they sell them?!), I do have index cards, and I'd love to have the same sort of system. I think there's something just... so traditional and cute about having your recipes on little cards. You can give them to others to borrow, you can keep them in a nice tidy box... overall just really adorable.

So I've added all the recipes I have to this box (90% of which I haven't actually attempted haha). I color-coded them, too... pink is desserts (duh they need their own category), yellow is entrees, green is appetizers, and orange is random stuff... haha as of now, orange solely consists of really yummy-sounding cocktail recipes I've stolen from Cosmo and other similar places. Mehhh.

Do you guys have any recipes to share?? I'd love to add to my collection! ... Keep in mind that I don't like any chunky foods. Haha.

Here's a SUPER simple one... I probably shouldn't even call it a recipe, it's that easy. It's basically a take on an ice cream sandwich... just like, a thousand times better for you and I personally think it tastes better:

Graham Cracker Ice Cream Sandwich
Ingredients:
Low-fat graham crackers
Low-fat or sugar free Cool Whip

Um... that's basically it. Put one or two spoonfuls of cool whip in between two graham cracker halves. Freeze them in a big Tupperware containers, and enjoy!

Best part: They're 100 calories. Compare this with your average ice cream sandwich which is 240 calories. They're also very low in fat, since you're using low-fat stuff... only about 4-5% of your total saturated fat. The average ice cream sandwich (At least the ones I found online) are 25% of your total saturated fat. Soooo yummy, too, and very light. Perfect for summer :) The only problem is actually only eating one at a time.

A few random things

2010-05-19T10:43:00.000-07:00

1. No, I have not yet received my CPA scores from the first section. I could get them anywhere from today until June 30. You know, any time in between. Ridiculous. At this point, I'd rather NOT know my scores until after I take the next section (one week from today! YIKES)... because if it turns out I failed it, my confidence is going to be completely shot.
2. People have just been bugging me today. Especially drivers. Seriously, water being on the road does not mean we all must drive 20 mph under the speed limit. You will be just fine if you go the prescribed speed limit. Promise.
3. I'm getting a temporary roommate tomorrow! Merrie will be living with me for a few weeks while she looks for another place to live. I'm slightly nervous, considering I haven't had to think about anyone else for the whole school year haha. I think I got used to living alone pretty quickly. But it'll be nice to have someone around... it'll make me less lonely and less likely to pig out on food. And more likely to actually try to productive so she doesn't think I'm a loser. Ha.
4. In case anyone is keeping up with Donny's travels, he is in India at the moment... he's been doing some traveling, but he's headed for Delhi either today or tomorrow where he'll spend the last week of his trip. The highs for this week are around 113 or 114 degrees. I'm not joking. Ewwww. He also thinks it's the beginning of monsoon season. That pretty much sounds like my two of my least favorite things in the world: sweating and lots of rain.
5. I'm watching an E! True Hollywood Story about women who date rapists and murderers even while they're in prison and it's creeping me out.
6. I CANNOT WAIT for this year to be over! So close! Less than 25 days, to be exact. Holding me back are four case studies/papers (one of which also includes a 30 minute presentation) and two finals. Bah. Just hurry up already.
7. I haven't really studied much for the CPA exam in the last couple of days. I am struggling. This time, the material is much different. In the last section, it was like... PURE rules and math and 'calculate this' and whatnot. This section is NO math... just a lot of rules. It's so difficult. Everything sounds similar. And, as mentioned in another post, there are like infinite amounts of mnemonic devices and it just makes me want to puke. I feel like all of my energy went to the first section and now I'm just like meh. I hope I can get my shit together and actually start studying hard.
8. SVU finale tonight!!!!!!!!!

Ohhh, Nicaraguan grandma.

2010-05-16T07:26:00.001-07:00

My Nicaraguan grandma (my dad's mom) is just.. so weird. I have never really liked her. She's just not a nice person. She is SO rude to my mom and is just generally pretty obnoxious.

That being said, since I've been trying to find out more about my ancestry, I decided to email her.

Some background info: My grandma immigrated to the US in the 1950s (I think) from Nicaragua with her brother and sister. I think they ended up in California. As I said in an earlier blog post, my opa immigrated from Germany in the 50s as well. He went to Missouri, but then ended up in California, which is where my dad says the two of them met. They had five boys (and a girl who apparently died when she was 1, which I didn't know about until like a year ago), my dad being one of them. They divorced in the mid 1990s and don't really get along. They're just really awkward people. For example: at my Miami graduation, my family was arriving to my apartment. My Opa comes in and says, "Where is my ex-wife? I would like to say hello to my ex-wife." This is like... in front of all of my friends and other side of the family. Who says that? Who asks for their ex-wife? Just say her name or something. Ugh.

So... 1) clearly I don't know a lot about my dad's side of the family, and want to know more and 2) even though my grandparents dont really like each other, I knew my grandma would still want to see the manifest of the ship my opa came to the US on. So I attached it to the email I sent her, just showing her what sort of things I could find on ancestry.com and I told her I'd love to find out more about her family.

This is the email I receive in reply (copied and pasted)

Please let me have day of rest and I will answer your most welcome letter. You should have a lot of information on your Opa's side as Hittler checked them out to make sure they were pure arian. I just got back today from Uncle Kurt and Aunt Doris. Came to find some of the switches don't work for the outside lights. The Security system I have, called me twice that the alarm had gone off. They called the police, for a false alarm and they are not happy. They left a note to the effect. Love Grandma

...........

Like... seriously? 1) Thank you for the history lesson, but I am actually already aware of who Hitler was and what he did. 2) I don't really understand how Hitler's Aryan race means I have a lot of information about my Opa's side. I am not really seeing the connection? I have info on Opa because he told me, not because of Hitler...? Whatever. 3) It sounds like you are very angry about Opa coming from Nazi Germany. Um... you didn't have to marry him? That was your choice. 4) You need a day of rest to talk about your family, but you can write me an email about your security system? Seriously? 5) I have no idea what you're talking about with your security system.

She is just... so weird.

Genealogy

2010-05-05T17:33:00.000-07:00

Greatest recent decision of my life: doing a 14 day free trial of ancestry.com.

I will seriously purchase a membership afterwards, too.

I have found SO MUCH COOL STUFF. Granted, I am a self-proclaimed genealogical NERD. I LOVE researching my genealogy... whatevs. My uncle and I both have really had an interest in it, but I hadn't done any REAL research, as in like... looking through census records and stuff until I just signed up for the website.

I'd say the coolest things I've found, other than census records of my ancestors from as far back as 1860, are the following:

My Opa's documentation of immigrating to the US from Germany. He's the 'Kurt R Peters, age 20'... awesomeee.

My grandparents' wedding announcement!!! It's probably too small to read, and unfortunately I can't really even tell that's my grandma, the quality of the picture is so bad but... it's freaking adorable. They go into SO MUCH DETAIL!! Like, here's a quote: "She carried a white Bible, a gift of her parents, topped with a white hybrid orchid and a shower of white charm roses and feathered alabaster roses." Like... what on earth. Anyway it's the most adorable thing I've found and I love it.

And my grandparents' engagement announcement!!!! Gahhhh my grandma's picture haha she totally has the 50's glasses. I love love love it. I also think it's hilarious that the caption is 'Norma Jean Lane- Bride-elect.' Like... what? Haha.

Yayayay genealogy!

Stupid.

2010-05-04T17:21:00.001-07:00

Tell me how "a CPA CO CAREs about CURVed assertions" is a mnemonic device. Seriously. 1) That's just a dumb sentence. 2) It doesn't make sense. 3) THERE ARE 13 PARTS TO IT. THIRTEEN LETTERS! Four of which are 'C'!! How on earth am I EVER going to remember that? And it's not like this is the only mnemonic device. For this ONE section of the CPA exam (which I am only 2/5 of the way through studying) I have already encountered the following mnemonic devices:

1. CPA CO CARE CURV
2. IMACPA
3. FIND
4. TIP PIE ACDO
5. RAPMEAM
6. ADMITS
7. FINE (Obviously completely different from FIND)
8. RECC
9. DORCS
10. PRIME
11. HELPME
12. ALARD
13. ULIARCPA
14. AMIASAD

I truly wish I was making this up. I could not tell you what a single one of those is, other than FIND and CPACOCARECURV are even about, and that's only because I just reviewed those. I don't even know what the letters in CPACOCARECURV stand for, I just know what it's a mnemonic FOR.

Keep in mind that I am still less than halfway done with this exam studying. Meaning... at this rate, I will have about 30 of these to memorize.

Here's another one for you: FML.

Pay it forward

2010-04-30T08:40:00.001-07:00

Hopefully I'll have time to make a full blog post later, but for now I just wanted to share with you a story I heard on the Morning Zoo on WNCI this morning:

A woman wrote in to the Morning Zoo to tell them about an experience she recently had. She said that this past year has been rough for her, as both she and her husband lost their jobs. Her husband has been working at a temp agency, and she has been cleaning houses part-time. So they were really excited to get their tax refund in the mail. As soon as they got it, they deposited it and went to Walmart (the one I go to!). She said they 'went crazy' in Walmart, picking out clothes and tons of household items that were falling apart at their house, making them depressed since, until this day, they couldn't afford to replace these broken-down things. When they were finished, they went to check out and found out it had totaled $609, which is obviously a ton, especially to a family that is struggling. However, the check would cover it. Unfortunately, they found out that the check hadn't cleared yet, so her credit card was declined. She called the credit card company and they told her it would be another 24 hours before it cleared. She said she was incredibly embarrassed, so she was speaking with the manager about holding the items for her until the next day. While this happened, the manager asked her to please wait a minute, and went to speak with the customer behind her in line (I think the customer called him over or something). A few minutes later, the manager came back, gave her a receipt, and told this woman that her entire order ($609!) had been taken care of by the customer behind her in line. The woman ran to catch up with this other woman in the parking lot, and she said, "I think you've made a mistake..." and the woman replied, "Just let it happen. I'm just trying to pay it forward." and with that, she got in her car and drove away. So this woman who wrote into WNCI was basically letting people know that people really do pay it forward. She said something like, "Obviously I can't pay for someone's $600 grocery bill, but I'm so determined to find something I can do to pay it forward."

Is that not just the greatest story ever? I cried haha. Little stories like this just make my day :)

Lots going on!

2010-04-20T18:28:00.000-07:00

Lots going on recently... here's my quick attempt while procrastinating on studying for the CPA exam:

Computer broke. Lost my draft of the exit exam for my program. Luckily it wasn't too far along, but still. Annoying. Paid $150 to have them tell me my computer was broken. Paid $400 for a new laptop (a great deal, but I still don't have that money just laying around). Luckily parents are helping me out!
Beyond annoyed at my parents for inviting NINE people to my MAcc graduation ceremony. It's NOT like the official commencement... it's like a small, intimate gathering. So inviting the equivalent of 10% of my MAcc program is not exactly going to go unnoticed. I'm so embarrassed. Everyone else is bringing 2-3 people. Awesome. Just awesome. The best part is that my parents were thoughtful enough to email the woman in charge of the ceremony to see if SHE thought it was acceptable to invite that many people... but they failed to ask ME if I thought it was okay. You know, it's only MY graduation. No big deal. I realize that it's really, really awesome that that many family members are willing to fly in to see me at this ceremony, but I just would have appreciated being contacted first.
Going to Pittsburgh this weekend... suuuuuper excited but also trying not to stress about the infinite amounts of work I will NOT be doing while I'm there.
Saw a movie last night... sneak peek for a movie that'll be out in June. Hilarious at parts, but overall not so great. I already forget the movie title... oops? Anyway, it was fun going.
Overwhelmed by my mergers & acquisitions class. It's awful. I would have dropped it if i knew of any other good classes to take. but i don't so... here i am. stuck. my group presents a case on thursday and it's killing me. not to mention the punk ass girl that's in my group that i want to strangle. she's the type of person who... well let me just tell you what she did. We present on Thursday. The case was made available online on Saturday afternoon. By Sunday afternoon, she had finished the entire case (at LEAST 3-4 hours of work) and emailed it to our group. Like... I'm sorry, I thought this was a GROUP project? THEN she gets mad when I bring up potential problems with her answers. Like... bia, you could have just waited to do this as a group. Don't get so defensive. UGH. Not my fault you're such a ridiculous overachiever. And she is sending emails to the whole group that are addressed to me... "Britney, you're being contradictory in what you wrote in the last sentence to #7D..." um... okay. whatevs. sorry for trying to help out on our GROUP project. And then we like split up the parts for our presentation via email... how awesome for her that she chose the EASIEST section. Like, what?!?! you had the balls to take over the entire case, including the REALLY hard parts! freaking have the balls to explain it in class!
speaking of this presentation, i'm terrified. our professor is just... so intimidating. at the end of our presentations, she doesn't just let us sit down. she makes you stand up there and GRILLS you for about 15 minutes on topics we don't really understand. if someone doesn't know the answer, she just stares at you. seriously. she does not say a word. After awhile, she'll just say, "Okay. My next question is..." and never tells us the answer to the first question!!! what the heck! how are we supposed to learn from that?! bizarre. just bizarre.
the only class i like right now is my governmental/not for profit accounting class which is OF COURSE the one class i dont have any real grades in. like... its the ONE class i could find motivation to study for. we don't get our first grade until 1 week before finals week. omg. what. we also only have 2 grades... a presentation and a case study. sigh.
i'm over a week behind on the cpa studying. fab.
i'm trying really, really hard to not be so negative but i just feel like i've been beat down constantly lately. i've just had issue after issue (computer, allergies, M&A group, this graduation drama with my mom, etc.) and i just want to be issue-free for like, a day or two. i know it'll come sometime, but sooner rather than later would be wooonderful.

i'm going to make myself say some good things because this entry has been somewhat emo. let's see...

my rent is $30 cheaper this month because we didn't have to use the heat so much last month! YAY!
pittsburgh will be wonderful. pittsburgh will be wonderful. pittsburgh will be wonderful. PLUS donny's roommate bought a 55 inch tv... yesssssssss.
less than 2 months until graduation!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
less than 6 months until real money!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

phew

Dixie Carter

2010-04-11T19:54:00.000-07:00

Sad news in the entertainment world (at least for me)… Dixie Carter died :( If you didn’t know me in middle school, you likely don’t know how much she meant to me. If you don’t know who she is, she was an actress, most famous for her role as Julia Sugarbaker in the tv show Designing Women. She was basically a badass, loud-mouthed, but classy as hell feminist. Aka my role model haha. Seriously. I started watching Designing Women when it was on Lifetime when I was like, in sixth grade. How ridiculous haha. How many sixth graders watch Lifetime? Actually, my earliest memory of Designing Women/Dixie Carter is actually one of my first memories EVER... I was about 3 or 4 years old and I was watching Designing Women with my mom (when it was actually airing for the first time!) and I went into the kitchen to get something to drink during a commercial break, and I had my mom's HUGE late 80's glasses for some reason. I was dangling them in my fingers like Julia Sugarbaker so often did, and I said, 'I'm Julia Sugarbaker, S-U-G-A-R-B-A-K-E-R," and I must have been repeating a line from that episode, which, now that I've seen all the episodes, I actually know well. See, I was a fan from a very, very young age :)

Anyway, for some reason, the show just SPOKE to me; I don’t know. I’m not Southern and I’m not an interior designer, but the themes the show addressed just like… made sense to me. I would record (on a VHS… ha) the shows because they would be on right after I got home from school, and I always had to do my homework right when I got home. Then I’d spend the night just watching the episodes. I was OBSESSED. Julia Sugarbaker was by far my favorite character, and I just wanted to be everything about her. I wanted to be classy and educated enough that I could just RIP someone apart that insulted me or made me mad haha. Her speeches on the show and the things she fought for truly shaped me. As an impressionable young 10 year old, I learned about issues relating to women’s rights, because the show’s main writer was a huge feminist. Social issues were really featured on the show and really influenced me. Julia was kind of the liberal feminist of the show and her tirades were famous on the show… here’s a few samplings:

Allison: Oh, Julia, just so you know, the next time you see your lawyer on company time, it's going on your record.
Julia: Just so YOU know... The next time you speak to me in that tone of voice, you're going to the moon.

[Background: a guy wanted to come take pictures of their design firm to feature them in an article called ‘Women of Atlanta’ but then when he got there he was trying to take all these super sexy pictures of them…]
Julia: I'm saying I want you and your equipment out of here now. If you are looking for somebody to suck pearls, then I suggest you try finding yourself an oyster. Because I am not a woman who does that, as a matter of fact, I don't know any woman who does that, because it's stupid. And it doesn't have any more to do with decorating than having cleavage and looking sexy has to do with working in a bank. These are not pictures about the women of Atlanta. These are about just the same thing they're always about. And it doesn't matter whether the clothes are on or off... it's just the same ol' message. And I don't care how many pictures you've taken of movie stars - when you start snapping photos of serious, successful businessmen like Donald Trump and Lee Iacocca in unzipped jumpsuits with wet lips, straddling chairs, then we'll talk.

So anyway. I’m incredibly bummed. Dixie Carter was just as classy and awesome as her character and she will be greatly missed.

Now they just need to hurry up and release every episode ever of Designing Women. I mean, I have the first few seasons on DVD, but seriously… all of them, please. Kthx.

Oh, my. Oh, my.

2010-04-09T11:02:00.000-07:00

So. I took the CPA exam today. Well, the first of four sections.

People keep asking me how it went. I have no idea, honestly. I could have passed. I could have failed. Who knows. Some questions I just stared at and thought, "Fuck if I know," before just randomly selecting an answer that wasn't a round number (ususally the answers like 430,293 are more likely to be correct than the 450,000 answers). Some I flew through easily, which was nice. There was one section that I bombed... whatevs.

But let me start at the beginning of the day, because, really, that just kind of sets up what sort of day this has turned out to be.

I set my alarm (well, like, 8 alarms) for 6 AM. I knew I had to leave my apartment by like... 7:10 to get there when I wanted to. That left me about an hour to study (obviously I had no intention of showering, etc.). So I woke up, walked to my computer, and attempted to turn it on. Yes, attempted. Turns out my computer would not turn on. Turns out my computer IS BROKEN. Seriously. OF ALL DAYS.

So I woke up an hour early for nothing. I wasn't able to do practice problems, like I had planned. If I fail this exam, I honestly would like to sue HP for the $300 it cost me to take the exam. It's completely their fault. Kind of.

Anyway, LUCKILY I had already printed out my 'notice to schedule' which was a piece of paper I was required to bring to the test. Like... what if I hadn't printed it out ahead of time? I wouldn't have been able to print it. Aka I wouldn't have been able to take the exam. It's not like the library is open at 6 AM so I could have gone there. Nope, nowhere to print. So thank goodness I'm OCD and had it printed out like, 2 weeks ago.

So then I get to the testing center, and it's fine. They actually let me start at like, 7:45 which was nice. I went through the whole test, and then I hit submit. It looked like it was sending, and all of a sudden it was like, "error." ummm awesome. I'm like, getting upset thinking about it so I'm going to stop talking about it now, but let's just say that I'm not 100% sure my test even went through. I THINK it did, but I can't be positive. AWESOMEEEEE.

And that's my life. On top of my horrid, horrid allergies and my sinus infection and my ear infection. And I think I lost my 'fearlessness' necklace which... I also can't talk about without getting upset.

omg. vom. Off to take my computer somewhere to see how horribly it's broken... luckily it'll only cost me $150 to even have them LOOK at it... because clearly I have that kind of cash laying around.

Whew.

2010-04-03T20:44:00.000-07:00

I'm falling asleep as I write this, so let's hope I make it to the end.

Donny and I spent a full day looking at/researching apartments. This included 3-4 appointments at various places. I think we have it kind of narrowed down. There's only one place that we're completely sold on, like YES, we want to live there. The only problem is that it's a very small community, so it's completely possible that a unit won't even be open when we would need to move in. They're townhouses that like, legit families live in, so it's not like people are coming and going every year. There's probably only about 50 townhouses at the MOST, so... yeah. We'll see. We don't really have a back-up plan yet, so that's what we're working on now. PS... going apartment shopping with your boyfriend immediately makes you feel really, really old.

I came home tonight (to Westerville) to spend the night here before waking up in the morning to do Easter baskets (yes, I still get one, and they're AMAZING) and the Easter egg hunt (my 13 year old sister insisted we still continue this haha) and then heading to my grandparents for lunch. My family decorated the Easter eggs today (this is the first year I've missed doing it... booooo)... i got to look at them when I came home. My family is just... absurd. A sampling of the things written on the Easter eggs:

"My name is Britney and I'm love-nest shopping."
"Green." (the egg was green.)
"AK-47" (This was one of like, 4 eggs my brother decorated with various gun names.)
"Mark loves boys"
"Mark sucks"
"Mark really sucks"
"The person who decorated this egg loves Nick"

There were also numerous puke-green eggs dyed by my dad. My dad also likes to draw pictures on his eggs... so we have an egg with goldfish, an egg with my cat, etc. We also have two eggs that say Ohio State, but none that say Miami because my mom refused to put Miami on an egg.

This is seriously my life.

Update!

2010-03-24T14:55:00.000-07:00

Update on my earlier post from today:

Bahahahaha. The people at the Accountancy Board of Ohio are AMAZING. They somehow got in contact with the guy who has been eluding me for weeks. I am pretty sure he's in trouble. He sent me an email today (!!!!!!!) and there were two people copied on it that work at the Board. Hahahahaha. Awesomeeeeee.

So yeah. I'm eligible to sit for the exam. Apparently there was a "processing error" and my application was "misfiled". Suchhh bullshit. Whatever. I'll be getting my notice to schedule via email within the next few days. Hopefully there are still spots available for me to take the exam the first weekend in April.

Ridiculous. I'm literally shaking my head in disgust.

Oh my.

2010-03-24T07:01:00.000-07:00

Let's see. Where shall I start? Perhaps I'll start with the bad/annoying news, then go to the good news!

As many of you know, I have applied for the CPA exam. The plan was to take the first (of 4) sections the weekend of April 2 (either April 2 or 3). However, it looks like that won't be happening now. Why? Because the people who approve applications are absolute morons. Let me explain. I submitted my application and paid the $963 (YES... almost $1000...) application fee on 1/20/2010. I purposely submitted this really early because I knew I wanted to start taking the exam the first weekend in April, and I also knew that they promised you'd receive your Notice to Schedule (NTS) in 6-8 weeks. 6-8 weeks from 1/20/10 was 3/17/2010 at the latest. The LATEST. Well, it's 3/24/2010 and I still haven't received it. The NTS is what gives you a code to take to Prometric and use to schedule what time/day/where you'll take the exam. So like... I really need it. I've essentially planned my entire YEAR around taking this exam, and not receiving my NTS is really messing up that plan. Like... a lot. If I don't get it in the next week, I'm going to have to take at least one section of the exam while I'm working. This is just... completely insane and no one in their right mind does it. Like, sure, let me work from 8 AM until quite possibly 7 PM, then come home and study for 3-4 hours. False. Not happening. That's why I PURPOSELY APPLIED EARLY so that I could get it all done by August.

So anyway. I've been in the 'final review' stages for 3-4 weeks now. My online application status says this should take 'no more than 5-7 business days'. Um, yeah. It's clearly been more than that. So I've contacted the Ohio coordinator for NASBA which is the ONLY contact info I have for ANYONE at NASBA. He literally has not responded to a SINGLE one of my 3-4 emails or 3-4 voicemails. My voicemails HAVE been getting progressively more bitchy, but I mean... it's your job. Please just answer me.

I literally think about this maybe every 20 minutes. That's how stressful it is to me. So yesterday, I decided to contact the Accountancy Board of Ohio. Let me explain - NASBA is an organization that receives my application and decides whether or not I'm legit and whether or not I should take the test. The Accountancy Board is who actually CERTIFIES me... that is, they're the ones that give me my license once I pass all the parts of the exam. I talked with my mom, and she said she's always been really impressed with the board, so I decided to email them. Best decision ever??? Yes. Definitely. I emailed a random woman whose email address I found off the website... it said she was involved with licensing, so I was like 'Hmm, maybe she'll care that NASBA is ignoring me." She emailed me back this morning and 1) was very apologetic 2) said herself that the Ohio coordinator is frustrating and won't respond to their emails either and 3) that she would forward my email to another woman who deals with inquiries like this. Within 20 minutes of reading that email, the 'other woman' emailed me, also apologizing and saying that she would personally contact the Ohio coordinator and get an answer for me by tomorrow at the latest.

HOORAAAAAY!!!!!!! So excited. Anyway. So that was the bad news that literally turned good WHILE I was typing this email because that's when I got the response email from the Accountancy Board haha.

Now I'm tired of typing. Good news entry (aka visiting Atlanta) will come later today hopefully :)

A few tidbits.

2010-03-15T07:39:00.000-07:00

Hello, everyone. Just a few tidbits for you all today:

I was on campus dropping off a take-home exam and a paper when I realized the funeral procession of Larry Wallington was going through campus. Larry Wallington is the man who died during the shooting at OSU this past week. All of the maintenance workers and custodial staff were standing along the road, waiting for it. It was very sad, but also very uplifting to see so many of his co-workers paying respects. There were also a LOT of other random people there to pay their respects as well. Very touching. And of course the news was there. Sigh.
I went to my professor's office to turn in my take-home exam, because he told us he wanted to speak with all of us. I got there, and went into his lounge (yes. My professor legitimately has a LOUNGE attached to his office. Ooooo business professors. Granted, he's like one of the top faculty in the dept, but still.). I saw that he was with this guy who I shall call Jeremy (that's not his name. Obvs.). Jeremy was in one of my groups last quarter, and I really liked him. Our group actually got pretty close, and I enjoyed having meetings with them. This quarter, my ENTIRE group was in the other section of this class except me, so they all formed a group. Apparently something happened with Jeremy, and essentially just dropped off the face of the earth. I literally saw him maybe 3 times all quarter, which is odd... the building isn't that big. After speaking with his group members, I learned that he barely did any work for our projects during the quarter. I mean... we only had two projects. Literally. We had no other work in that class. Just two projects. And our final was a take home exam that was to be done individually. Sooo I get to his office, and Jeremy is in there, speaking to the professor. The professor looks at me, says, "One minute." and goes back to talking. I'm like ok whatevs, and sit down in the lounge. Our professor is the NICEST guy ever. Like... so ridiculously laid back. He actually told us, "If you can't do all of the problems on the take home final, that's fine. Don't worry about it." And he meant it. Soooo the next thing I know, the professor is YELLING at Jeremy. It was so bizarre. 1) We're in grad school. Who has a professor yell at them? 2) As mentioned, this guy is the most chill, laid-back, hilarious Indian dude I've ever met. And he was YELLING? So odd. So of course I like, kind of try to eavesdrop. The door was open, it's not like they told me to close the door or anything haha. Basically it sounds like the professor is making him do all of the assignments again?!?! Maybe he found out that he didn't really contribute to the group for the first two... and I'm assuming he came to tell the prof that he didn't finish the take home final. Which is absurd, we've had it for like 3 weeks. Anyway, the professor also said something like, "You need to tell me AT LEAST 24 hours in advance if this is going to happen. And don't you DARE let me hear it from another instructor; I better hear it straight from YOU." Whoa. It was just odd. Then it went on for a little while longer, and Jeremy left. I went in, and the professor was totally normal. He was like, "Britney, I'm so glad I had you in class. You were in every class - I don't think you missed a single one, did you? But yes, it was a true honor to have you in my class; you were quiet and spoke when you needed to speak, and I really appreciate it. I really do. Do you have a job lined up after graduation? Oh, good, good, well, they are very lucky to have you." Like... so totally him. I wanted to be like ummm were you just yelling in here?! But false I did not. So tempting, though.
Last tidbit. This is a good one. The best for last, I suppose. Sooo last night around 7:30 I was overwhelmed all of a sudden by the distinct smell of weed. It just... wafted on in. At first I tried to ignore it, but it got so strong that I really couldn't ignore it anymore. I got up from my computer and walked towards the door, where I was hit with the smell SO STRONGLY that I gagged. It was REALLY bad. I opened the door and it was definitely coming from another apartment in my building, although I'm not sure which. I shut the door and tried to go back to studying, but my throat started closing up and I got so nauseous I truly thought I was going to throw up. I got a horrible headache. Sooo essentially I got high off this smoke. Awesome. I called my apartment complex and left the bitchiest voicemail of all time. First sex boy, now this. Great. (PS I texted sex boy and he said he wasn't home so it wasn't him... and he said he didn't think it was his roommate. I believe him.) In retrospect, I should have just called the freaking police, but it didn't come to me at the time. I also wasn't sure which apartment it was... I dunno. Anyway, I was getting so nauseous that I couldn't stand to be in my apartment anymore, so Megan and Jake were nice enough to let me crash at their place for awhile. I left their apartment an hour or so later and luckily the smell had disbursed. The property manager called me this morning... he's going to knock on everyone's doors and give them a notice or something. Basically the same bullshit he did with sex boy and the music. Whatever. Hopefully it doesn't happen again, but if it does, two things will happen: 1) I will call the police immediately, 2) I will demand to be let out of my lease immediately, to get my full security deposit back, and a return of the last month's rent. If I have to move back home, I will. I'm not dealing with this anymore. It's absurd.

Those are my tidbits. Enjoy.

Boo ex-boyfriends. Boo being hungover.

2010-03-06T19:34:00.001-08:00

Well, I had quite the interesting night last night, to put it mildly.

It was Tyler's birthday celebration night, and I was really excited about the prospect of getting to really go out for the first time in a long, long time (thanks, CPA exam). We were all told to wear plaid... I mean, seriously, every sign pointed to the fact that this was going to be an awesome night. We went to Shelley's to pregame before heading to Lucky's. I may or may not have had three drinks before I left... two of those were Sparx. Like, as in, 8% alcohol. The other drink included a shot of cinnamon schnapps (101 proof). So... clearly ridiculous. We get to Lucky's, and I'm just having a blast. Almost everyone in Westerville was there, and we were just goofing around, having a good time. I saw a guy from my program there, as well as two people I interned with. And I just kept drinking. Before I knew it, I was basically hammered. Not my finest moment. So then, because my life is awesome, Mike Phillips shows up. Now, I realize that we broke up 6 years ago. Yes. It is pathetic that I still am bothered my this situation. But... I really never got closure. Like, when we broke up, it was a completely amicable break-up. He gave me some bullshit line about how he wanted us to still be friends, and I completely bought it. Within two days of breaking up, he was ignoring me. That's not really what bothers me still, though. I've had worse break ups. No, what really still bothers me is the fact that I never got to give him hell for what he did to me. Long story short, if you don't know already: I found out a couple of months after we broke up that he only dated me to see if I would have sex with him. Needless to say, I did not, so he got sick of me and wanted to break up with me. It's not like I shouldn't have seen it coming. We weren't anything alike, and I was really just attracted to the idea of him. I've always had a thing for intellectual guys. And he was just kind of a shitty boyfriend. One day he said, "I smoke weed and drink. I hope that's okay with you." Um, no, that was not okay with me, but thanks for caring. I told him it wasn't okay, and he said, "Well, that sucks. I'm still going to do it." Okay, super. Thanks.

Anyway, so the bar. I see him walk in, and immediately basically lose it. I was just ANGRY. I'm still so furious that he just got away with USING me like that. No one has ever made me feel as cheap as he did. I consider myself a very intelligent, independent, strong, classy woman and to have someone get away with using me is just... reprehensible and I have never forgiven myself. I literally have not been able to get past that for six years.

So of course, since I'm drunk, I'm not thinking clearly. I was just... embarrassing. He was talking to Merrie, and I kept finding excuses to go up to Merrie and tell her something, just so I could ignore the shit out of him. OK... clearly that just made me look pathetic. But at the time, I didn't realize it. In retrospect, I'm SO ANGRY at myself for doing that. So so so angry. Anyway, my friends were being wonderful and were saying things to make me feel better. I was just still really angry/upset. Finally we left and I'm pretty sure I cried while walking to Five Guys haha. Yikes. Anger was just spilling out of me. If I had been a little less drunk, I honestly should have just given him a piece of my mind at the bar and I know that I would have felt so much better and I could let this whole thing go. But false. I made a fool of myself instead. Awesome. I'm also worried because there are many parts to the night that I do NOT remember, so who knows what other embarrassing things I did/said.

Side note: Bobby Opalenik was there, too, so... two ex boyfriends in one bar! Keep in mind I only have three real ex boyfriends. So that was thrilling. I hope you can note my dripping sarcasm. But seriously, Bobby and I are completely cool now and I adore him. He's a great guy. It was just kind of bizarre that there were two ex's there.

I mean, I really did have a great time last night, despite that small road bump. It was great to see all of my friends out, and I loved it. I did NOT love the hangover that lasted until about 4:30 this afternoon, but you know. You win some, you lose some. And I know that my life is going exactly the way I want it to be going, and when I compare my life to where he is in his life, I should just be happy for myself. And not even care. It's just very, very difficult to let go of the feeling that I get when I think about him. Rage doesn't even begin to describe it.

But I know that I have the greatest boyfriend in the world who has been by my side for 5+ years and I am in such a better place than I was when I was dating Mike. I seriously love my life, despite how he made me feel. Donny has had to deal with a lot of the aftermath of Mike, and I can't begin to thank him for that. Donny is the man I want to marry, and I know our life together will be wonderful. I am so grateful to be with him. I owe it to him to just... get over this but it's a struggle. One day. One day. I'm mad at Mike for doing this to me and for using me, but I'm just as mad at myself for being such a stupid girl that trusted someone so easily and without caution.

I would now like to quote the Pussycat Dolls, the group that always knows how I'm feeling (ha).
Nobody gonna love me better
I'ma stick with you forever.
Nobody gonna take me higher
I'ma gonna stick with you
You know how to appreciate me
I'ma stick with you my baby
Nobody ever made me feel this way
I'ma stick with you

Haha. Ohhh the Pussycat Dolls.

Sooo in other news, because of my epic hangover, I am staying in on a Saturday night and doing work. It's 11 PM and i still have about 2 hours ahead of me. Hooraaaaay!

People are crazy.

2010-03-04T13:04:00.000-08:00

I have come to the realization that people are just crazy. In a good way. Like... okay. The Fisher grad programs (so MBA, MAcc, MLHR, all the business masters programs) host an annual auction to benefit the Children's Hunger Alliance (WHAT UP KIIIIII!) and the Columbus Children's Theatre (WHAT UP MERRIEEEE). The students and professors donate services, time, items, etc. to the auction and it's being held on Friday. I probs won't go but I mean... the list of things people are donating just makes me so happy. SO MANY PEOPLE donated, and it's amazing. The reason I think people are CRAZY is because there are so so so many diverse things on this list. Please keep in mind that all Fisher grad students probably total up to about... 500, tops. 90 things are being auctioned! And 90% of them are awesome. Here's a list... the diversity of people in Fisher just blows my mind.

Home-cooked Italian, Mexican, German, Indian, Chinese, Korean, Nigerian meals cooked by students that ARE THESE THINGS. Like... good ol' Claus is making a German meal that includes something called Kaesespaetzle. What the heck.

A Scotch-tasting for 6 (plus dinner) from some guy that apparently knows a lot about Scotch.
Various personal trainer sessions by people that are certified personal trainers (you know, when they're not busy working full-time and going to school for their MBA)
a custom horoscope and astrology reading based on Indian Vedic astrology
one of the negotiations professors is offering an hour session on how to negotiate something of your choice (buying a house, a salary negotiation, etc.)
wine tastings
a bike tune-up by someone who has 8 years of professional experience
scooter tour of Columbus
various tutoring sessions for classes
Starbucks for a week
Valet for a week
Piano/guitar/capoeira/shooting/tennis/home beer brewing/self defense/cooking/Taiji Quan/swim/jewelry making/volleyball/dance lessons. Oh, and don't forget the soccer lessons by someone who was on the 1992 Olympic soccer team and played in the MLS for 9 years. Duh.
a pair of those freaking red mittens from the Vancouver Olympics

Then there's some funny ones, like 'I will be your wing woman for a week. Includes drinks.' or Brief speech on being epic, guide to several epic bars, epic dress (No Ed Hardy/Affliction/Christian Audigier) and DD duties.'

Just... what? And that's like, seriously less than half of the list. Blows. My. Mind. It makes me like, so proud to be at Fisher or something haha. Oooo corniness.

Haha I seriously just came back to edit this entry because I discovered there was ANOTHER tab of donated things on the excel spreadsheet. These are ridiculous. They include:

"Curling with the Canadian" donated by a professor
A dozen roses delivered to you anywhere in one of the following costumes: 1) chippendale's dancer 2) captain america 3) the SituAsian (Jersey Shore style)
All-expenses paid trip for 4 to Hocking Hills, including rappelling and climbing with equipment, protection, and instruction provided by the donor
An over-night trip for 4 to Cuyahoga National Park. The professor will ALSO prepare for you his signature baby back ribs and pulled pork. THEN in the morning he will make you a southern-style brunch including biscuits and gravy, bacon, eggs, and mimosas.
chauffering around Columbus for up to 5 people in a 1951 mint condition Cadillac
Tickets to a Cavs game sitting 5 rows up from the Cavs bench
a BBQ for 10-12 people

People are just... crazy.

Blah.

2010-02-24T17:00:00.000-08:00

It's inevitable that my grades would start to slip now that I'm studying so much for the CPA exam, but I didn't think I'd feel the pain as quickly as I have haha. I took a midterm awhile ago that was worth 45% of my grade (yeah... whatttt...) and I really didn't get it. I truly, truly, did not understand over 50% of the material going into it... it was all horrible statistics and stuff. But I didn't care enough to really learn it, especially since I'm cramming for the CPA. Aaaand we got our grades back today... 71%. Like... that is FORTY FIVE PERCENT OF MY GRADE in that class. Which means... basically impossible to get an A. Or almost even a B at this point, considering the final is cumulative and ALSO worth 45% of my grade.

:( I don't know what to do. I can't afford to study for the CPA exam any LESS than I'm studying now. There's no way I'm going to get it done in time if I do. Luckily I don't really have any exams coming up until finals... even then, I don't know how much time I'll have. Yikes.

Spring quarter cannot come soon enough, when I'm only going to be taking 12 credit hours!

2010-02-23T14:11:00.000-08:00

"Gold, silver, and other precious metals, and meat and some agricultural products are valued at net realizable value, which is net selling price less costs of disposal. In some exceptional cases, such as precious metals having a fixed determinable market value with no substantial cost of marketing, inventory may be stated at the higher market value."

omgggg I don't careeeeee. When am I EVER going to have to account for precious metals or farm products? Oh, I don't know, perhaps NEVER?

eff this.

Study Break

2010-02-16T15:59:00.001-08:00

Okay. I'm interrupting my CPA studying to bring you this RIDICULOUS note.

So, since the CPA exam is absurdly difficult and confusing, and they're always adding new questions to the review software, questions come up from students all over the country about the lectures and the review software questions. So Becker (the review course I'm using) has a 'knowledgebase' where they post updates to their questions and the textbooks. Sometimes they post corrections to mistakes they've made, and sometimes they post clarifications on really confusing questions.

So I was confused about a question, and - surprise - it was on the knowledgebase.

This is the end of their clarification: "If we had divided, we would have computed 250,000 franc / $.20/franc, or franc / $/franc, and we would have ended up with franc2$, which makes no sense whatsoever, even on Pluto, back when Pluto was a planet."

This is legitimately what I deal with on a daily basis.

Other gems from the Becker review course (yes, I keep a word document open and I write down these quotes during my studying):

If a shareholder dies, who cares?!
Let's go back to the notes. Don't you feel sorry for your friends and family right now? We're off doing something else. Maybe they're sleeping, taking a nap, out drinking, doing something, while you're enriching your mind, right? Going to be a big time CPA. Just think about all that money you're going to be make, right? Big car you're going to drive, nice house you're going to live in. It's going to be a good time.
Okay, next page. Multiple step income statement. Here's your date for Friday night. Whatever you were going to do, you need to cancel those plans immediately.
Your life, while you're studying for the CPA exam, you having fun while studying for the exam most definitely should be an extraordinary item. It'd better be both unusual and infrequent. (Yes, this is an accounting joke. For something to be considered an 'extraordinary item' it has to be both unusual and infrequent in nature. Gag me.)
There's an inverse relationship between your happiness and your likeliness to pass the exam.

Great. Great.

It's been awhile!

2010-02-15T21:26:00.000-08:00

It's been awhile since I've updated. Let's see...

I got to see Donny this weekend, so that was a huge perk, to say the least. In this crazy, mixed-up world we live in, it's so unbelievably calming to know that there's someone right there with you every second of the way, even if they're not physically with you. And when they ARE with you, it's even better! We didn't do anything spectacular... it was our SIXTH Valentine's Day together, though!! How insane is that? But yeah, we kept it pretty low-key, as we do for pretty much everything in our lives haha. On Saturday we woke up, made brunch which was nice, then headed to his house in Westerville to hang out for a bit. It's always nice to see his family, too. Then we headed towards Polaris to buy him a camera for Ecuador (!) and then it was off to Olive Garden at 4:15 haha. We knew it'd be crazy the day before Valentine's Day. We only had to wait 20 minutes (they told us 45), and our server was hilarious. My chicken alfredo was delicious, and I don't care that our server made fun of me for "getting what I always get." Yum. Pluuuus infinite breadsticks. Pluuuus delicious wine that Donny didn't like so more for meee!

After dinner, we went to World Market, got a bottle of wine I knew we'd BOTH like (white zinfandel... my all-time favorite wine), then went to see Couples Retreat at the dollar theater (what uppp). The movie was pretty good... not everything I was hoping it to be, though. Then back to the apartment where we watched the Olympics and drank wine and traded Valentine's Day cards :) And then we went to bed early because we are old. Ha.

Him leaving on Sunday was even harder, knowing that he's going to be in ECUADOR in less than two weeks! He's going with other people in his program (it's like... through his program) for their spring break... but they are going to actually be gone for more like almost two weeks. He'll basically be in the jungles of Ecuador doing sustainability stuff (what that means, I have no idea). He's turning into quite the world traveler... by this summer, he'll have passed me in countries visited! (I've been to England and Italy... he's been to China and soon Ecuador and India... his countries are more legit than mine, anyway.)

Coming up:

seriously concentrating on the CPA exam. I didn't get off to quite the amazing start I was anticipating. If everything goes well, I'll take the first test in less than 2 months... AHHHH.
Kiley coming home for a bit!! And our Oscar party!
hopefully surviving finals
SPRING BREAK! I'm starting it off by flying to Atlanta to see JAMIEEEE and then I'll come home just in time for my dad's birthday, then it's off to Pittsburgh to spend time with Donny!!

Today was a bit of a bummer, though... I didn't sleep well, I've been experiencing a few health issues, I got DEMOLISHED by my assurance midterm (like... literally did not even answer some questions), and then the snow happened. Getting home took 40 minutes when it usually takes 15 at the most. Katie and I had to cancel our plans to see Valentine's Day. AND to top it all off, OSU won't freaking cancel class.

Really, the worst part of the week is over (the assurance midterm) so I should just concentrate on being HAPPY that the rest of the week should be somewhat better. Phew.

More CPA stuff. ::shrugs::

2010-01-31T17:35:00.000-08:00

So, more CPA stuff. Sorry. I'm warning you in advance in case you want to skip this haha.

I think the worst part about studying is the fact that EVERYTHING is critical to memorize. Like, I basically have an entire textbook worth of accounting knowledge to memorize. And that's for ONE section of this test. So it pretty much re-teaches you accounting... and like, ususally when you read a textbook, you can pick out what's most important. Nope, not anymore. Every single word they say needs to be memorized. They've like, basically condensed all of accounting into an outline and so it's ALL the most important points. It's so overwhelming. Because I find myself flying through a page like 'yep, I know that, yep, I know that.' And then I remember "I mean, yeah, when I read it, I know it's true, but I doubt I've memorized those 6 types of events that can result in changes of accounting estimates I just skimmed over.

I don't know if that made sense or not. It makes sense in my head.

Anyway, maybe I should just re-title this blog "Britney's CPA Exam Journey." I'm sorry that this is going to become even more boring to read for the next 6 months, but literally, this will be my entire life. 25-30 hours a week of studying (on TOP of my schoolwork) will do that to you.

Maybe some really badass events will happen in the next 6 months that will keep you all reading. Ha :)

In other news, I'm still only on season 4 of The West Wing. I seriously watch SO many episodes (like, I probably average 2 a day) and I'm only halfway through the series! It blows my mind.

A guy in one of my groups for school didn't come to our meeting today because he was 'sick.' I was just on Facebook (clearly studying...) and another guy (we'll call him 'Miami Boy') in our program posted pictures from this weekend... apparently Miami Boy invited a few MAcc guys to Miami for the weekend... the guy from my group was in some pictures from Miami. Sooo clearly 'sick' means 'horribly hungover.' Ummm THREE of the 5 people that showed up to the meeting were hungover (including me) and we all managed to drag ourselves there and get a lot of work done. So... the moral of the story is SUCK IT UP, LAME-O.

Big Bang (the piano bar) was AMAZING last night, even though we had to wait for 30 minutes out in the cold to get in. And even though I lost $20 in cash, after spending $28 on my credit card on mine and Katie's drinks. Add in parking and the cover, and I had about a $55 night on the town. Sad face.

I'm basically procrastinating, in case you couldn't tell. Sigh. Time to get back to "Accounting Changes and Prior Period Adjustments." Omg.

Beginning the CPA exam...

2010-01-26T14:14:00.001-08:00

So as many of you know, I am in the process of figuring out when I'll be taking the CPA exam. As of last week, I officially submitted my application! They're still waiting on transcripts and GMAT score reports before they process it. Once they process it (which takes 6-8 weeks somehow), they'll send me what's called a "Notice to Schedule," or NTS. The NTS allows me to actually schedule when I'll take the exam. There are 4 parts to the exam, and I can take them however/whenever I want. The only stipulations are:
1) I have to take all of the parts that I applied for (I applied for all 4 at once) within 6 months of them sending me my NTS. So, for example, if they mail out my NTS on March 15, I have until September 15th to take all 4 parts.
2) There are certain months that are banned for testing. I'm unable to take any part of the test in March, June, September, and December.

My current goal is to take one part in late April (yes, while I'm still in school... eek), one part in late May (again, still in school), one part in early July, and one part in early August. I am very nervous. This gives me about 1 month to study for each section. Especially while I'm in school, this is going to be difficult. But I really wanted to avoid trying to take it while working, considering I start with E&Y in October. I've heard it's much harder to find time and motivation to study while you're also working full-time.

So as with any big-deal exam, there are review materials available. The leading CPA exam review provider is called Becker. Their review course basically provides you with everything you could possibly need to study to pass the exam. You have three options as far as taking the review course: you can do self-study, which is what I'm opting to do, you can do like an online classroom, where you have to submit homework to your 'professors' online and they'll give you feedback, or you can physically go into a classroom and take classes from a CPA in the area. All three options cost the same.

I was Becker's campus rep at Miami, so I was actually offered the entire review course for free as compensation (I believe the review course is near $3,000). However, E&Y already offered to pay for it. So I told the Becker lady this, and she said that she'd give me their flashcards (like a $200 value) and their "Final Review" course (a $550 value) which is like a crash course you're supposed to use the last week before you take the exam instead. So essentially I am getting every product that Becker has to offer for free. Not a bad deal.

I placed my order for the materials, and the flashcards and Final Review books came today. This is the box of flashcards. There are over 1,000 flashcards. I literally laughed out loud, because my life is about to get so ridiculous.

And of course, I opened the blue cards (clearly the biggest section) and promptly dropped them all over the floor. They were numbered and in order, too. So of course my OCD kicked in and I had to re-order them all haha. Oh dear.

Anyway, so that's an update on what's pretty much the most important thing going on in my life right now. Hooray!

My life lately

2010-01-25T13:03:00.000-08:00

I feel like my life is pretty freaking boring.

I mean, seriously. I'm not in an exciting city - I'm in the same city I've lived in my whole life, minus less than 4 years when I sort of lived in Oxford (also a not exciting city). I'm not doing anything exciting - I'm in grad school for accounting. I don't have any relationship updates and haven't had any for like... 3 years (although I'd consider this a very, very good thing, it's not exactly exciting). My days are incredibly boring. For example, take today:

8 AM - wake up, shower, get ready, watch a few minutes of The West Wing
9:30 AM - leave for class
9:45 AM - park in the commuter lot, wait for the bus
10:00 AM - get to campus, bum around until 10:30. Realize I can't make it through the day without a Diet Coke, purchase one.
10:30 AM - Foundations of Accounting (like I've mentioned before, this is NOT as easy as it sounds. In fact, it pretty much sucks)
12:30 PM - lunch... usually I forget mine, so I run to Subway and get the same sub I've gotten since I was 4. If I remember my lunch, it's always a turkey and provolone sandwich, with a side of mixed nuts or an apple. Always.
1:30 PM -Information Quality and Assurance Services (not nearly as easy as I was hoping it'd be)
3:20 PM - Change my clothes in a tiny bathroom stall - from regular clothes to work clothes
3:30 PM - Work... usually I'm fairly busy, but on days like today... I was definitely not busy at all. And I wrote most of this entry there.
5:00 PM - Catch the bus to my car, drive to rec, change clothes AGAIN - obviously into gym clothes this time
5:45 PM - get tired way too early, leave
6 PM - Usually I'd do about an hour of homework, spend 30 minutes wondering why I don't have more homework this quarter (it's a freak thing, I don't know), then spend the rest of the night watching TV.

MY LIFE IS SO BORING.

Health care fraud

2010-01-19T12:27:00.000-08:00

My favorite class of the quarter (so far) is my fraud examination class. As an auditor, I'll certainly be looking for cases of fraud, but it's not really going to be the main concern of my job. And if I DO find an instance of fraud, it's usually turned over to E&Y's fraud department, so I wouldn't even get to work on the investigation probably. So basically this class talks about everything that I WANT to do in my job, but won't ever get to haha.

Anyway, today we had a speaker from the Ohio Bureau of Worker's Compensation. He's in their anti-fraud department, meaning he investigates claims of fraud. Examples: a doctor that bills for expensive procedures they didn't perform (because the BWC pays the bills), or an employee who files a worker's comp claim saying they were hurt on the job, but they're just abusing the system and are actually completely fine. So essentially they handle various cases of people screwing the state out of money.

He gave some examples of cases he's worked on, and they are just so unbelievably interesting. It makes me sad that my job is going to be so NOT interesting compared to this.

Here's a case of his that was highlighted on the TV show "American Greed" on CNBC, if any of you have seen it. This is a completely egregious case, so not all of the cases are like this, but it's an example of the kind of work they do. They'll work with other departments in Ohio like the state attorney, the Department of Taxation, etc. They'll also work alert Medicare and Medicaid if they think they're getting screwed, too (and oftentimes they are).

Anyway, here's the link to the American Greed website on the case: http://www.cnbc.com/id/19488935

The doctor's from Cleveland and long story short: He was basically acting as a legal drug dealer. He also gave people unnecessary shots and billed them as shots that were much more expensive than the ones he was giving (therefore pocketing tons of money).

I feel like this just has me like, riled up now about the issue of health care fraud. Soooo many people are scamming the system, causing us as taxpayers and as beneficiaries of insurance to pay SO MUCH MONEY. Like, the state pays out this money. I don't know for sure, but I would assume that this is taxpayer money. Doctors are screwing the state by "upcoding" (saying they performed more services than they actually did, thus getting more money as a reimbursement), employees are screwing the state by making worker's comp claims that they're permanently and totally disabled... if you make that claim, you're legally NOT ALLOWED to work. But they track down people every day who are doing just that. So they're receiving disability checks AND they're working, so they're essentially getting two paychecks out of this, which is completely illegal. UGHHHH it drives me crazy.

And it doesn't help that this makes me feel like my job is totally inadequate. I'll just be reviewing financial statements for the rest of my life. The people that work in this department are helping the state get money back that's rightfully theirs. It just seems so much more... noble haha. And they get to do sweet stuff like go undercover to doctor's offices, they get to testify in court... basically my dream of living out Law and Order: SVU. One day. One day.

Taxes.

2010-01-06T17:53:00.000-08:00

Attention: Just because I am an accounting student (and I will soon be an official accountant) does NOT mean that I know anything about taxes. Seriously. Yes, I had to take ONE tax class in undergrad, but I tried to forget it as quickly as possible.

Accounting actually has several different paths. The main two are tax and audit, especially if you work for a public accounting firm. The two paths are VERY different. Ask anyone, and they'll tell you that tax people are generally more reserved, they rarely have to leave the office to go to client sites, and never travel. They work slightly better hours. Auditors are generally more outgoing, are at clients' offices 85% of the time, and travel anywhere from 10-90% of the year, depending on their clients. They also work shit hours. I'm in auditing. Good and bad, I guess.

But it's GOOD because I don't have to deal with taxes. At my company, 'tax' really means doing taxes for HUGE corporations. We rarely do personal income taxes... we only do them for very wealthy people who have a very complicated tax situation. ANYWAY.

So this quarter, the MAcc Association is offering the opportunity to do VITA. This is an IRS-sponsored program that has volunteers prepare tax returns for low-income people. They are generally very easy returns that can be completed in about an hour or so, and that don't require a lot of tax knowledge (no crazy investments, etc.). As a volunteer, I have to complete VITA training, and then I will be scheduled to work a few weekends throughout the next quarter at various sites around Columbus. It's going to be a really great experience. HOWEVER... the training is balls.

Please look at this picture:

Each of these links is a lesson within the "Basic" training. Each lesson says it takes about 45 minutes. You do the math. THEN do the math to find out how much time I'll spend doing the "Intermediate" and "Advanced" courses as well. EFF. ME.

I just keep telling myself it's going to be worth it to see how happy these people are when I tell them how much they're going to be getting in tax refunds...

Oddities of the day

2010-01-05T13:35:00.001-08:00

Strange day today. And it's not even over yet.

Random occurrences:

I had two horrifying dreams. Since the beginning of the day, I've already forgotten one. The second one, however, had to do with my car plunging into a lake and me not being able to get out. Yikes. I rarely have nightmares, so it was odd that I had two in one night.
On the bus home today, this girl was on her phone and said, "Wait, so you ARE pregnant?!" [short pause] "GIRL I CANT BELIEVE YOU ARE! YOU ARE SO CRAZY!!!" [ridiculous laughing] Like... I don't really know many girls my age that think it's hilarious that their good friend got pregnant. I may totally be misjudging the situation, but based off the rest of their discussion, said pregnant girl didn't exactly seem to be like... married and financially secure or anything. Very odd.
Also on the bus back to the parking lot where I park... someone got on the central radio and said something along the lines of, "I'm at Carmack 1... a woman came onto my bus and told me that she hit a man with her car and that he needs an ambulance." For those of you non-OSU-and-west-campus-parkers, there are like at least 4 carmacks in this GIANT parking lot I park in. The buses go to all carmacks during their route. And IMAGINE... I park at Carmack 1. So I'm secretly kind of excited to see the drama going on. Two ambulances FLYYYY by our bus about 2 minutes later. We got to Carmack 1 and had to be let out a little before where we usually are because of the ambulances and policemen blocking the drive. Which was fine, because then I got to walk by slowly and observe. I think the man was fine, because the ambulances weren't rushing off with their sirens blaring or anything. They just sat in the lot. I didn't see him at all. but I DID see the police talking to the woman who supposedly hit this guy. Oooo dangerous snowy parking lots. So yeah, everyone BE CAREFUL driving in parking lots. I don't know the end of the story, because I figured I probably shouldn't loiter during a police investigation.

I know there were other odd occurrences but whatevs. I forget them.

Other news:
I had my other two classes today, Fraud Examination and Managerial Negotiations. I think both classes will be decent and certainly relevant to me. Fraud Examination is taught by the same professor that taught my research class last quarter. Here's to hoping the class is INFINITELY more exciting than that one. I think it will be. How can fraud NOT be interesting? Plus we get to watch movies... always amazing. Granted, they'll be about accounting, but still.

And Managerial Negotiations is a class from the MLHR (Master of Labor and Human Resources) program that we're allowed to take. It's basically exactly what it sounds like.... learning how to negotiate and get what you want in various situations, whether it be salary disputes or how to do a union contract negotiation. I'm absolutely horrible at negotiations and confrontations in general, so I'm hoping to gain something from this class. It was so odd though... there are only MBA and MAcc students in the class, plus one lone MLHR girl. The MBAs sat on one side of the room, and the MAcc students sat on the other. Very representative of our feelings towards each other haha, although I don't think it was really intentional. I think we all just sat by people we knew, who all happen to be in our program.

Other other news:
I spoke with the property manager at my apartment complex about sex boy. They seem to be handling it completely well. They are very honest and very helpful. So let's hope he shuts up.

Day 1 of Quarter 2

2010-01-04T19:01:00.001-08:00

Well, I finished my first day of my 2nd (of 3) quarters today. Same old. Nothing incredibly fascinating. I have a "Foundations of Accounting" class which sounds supremely basic but I have feeling that will be the hardest class I have. I truly have no idea what it's about, even after sitting through an hour and 48 minute class of it. It seems to be very, very conceptual. We'll see. We'll see.

My second class of the day was Assurance Services... aka auditing... aka what I'm doing for the rest of my life. I have a feeling this will be a hilarious class. Reasons:
1) My professor's hair looks a lot like this:
2) My professor's son's name is Chip.
3) He (the professor, not Chip) plays the synthesizer for his church.
4) He let us play a stock market game for about 45 minutes. We find out which team won on Wednesday. If our team wins, we EACH win $20. Like, real money. Um... clearly I am excited about this.

In other news, I unsuccessfully negotiated with Time Warner. That is, I'm actually paying $18 MORE a month than I was before just to get digital cable and DVR. DUMB. But... I AM waiting to hear back from WOW Cable to see what they can offer me. If it's anything below what I have now.... sucks to be Time Warner.

Other relevant news: I bought incredibly too many groceries today. Donny leaves Wednesday morning and I'm sad. I feel like this break brought us even closer together... something I never think is possible, but always is. I'm obsessed with watching the West Wing ever since I got the ENTIRE series for Christmas. I have to call back my apartment complex to have a discussion about Sex Boy. I am slightly nervous about this conversation slash happy that they are willing to hear from me.

That is all.

Email to my apartment complex RE: Sex boy

2010-01-03T17:10:00.000-08:00

Copied and pasted directly from the email I sent 30 seconds ago:

Hello,

I previously wrote your office an email regarding the tenant living in the apartment directly below mine (I live at xxxxxxxxx, Apt D... I am speaking of the tenant(s) living in Apt B). The email stated that I was unhappy with the very loud music frequently coming from their apartment. Specifically, the bass was usually turned up so loudly that my family room floor vibrated. Unfortunately, the problem still remains.

I have now gone downstairs to complain about the noise six or seven times. Keep in mind that I have not gone down to complain every time their music is loud - sometimes I have to leave my apartment to escape, and sometimes I just give up. I have written them notes and put them on the door, as well, since often they do not hear my knocking (to me, that's a clear sign that the music is too loud). Since writing you the email, I have been woken up at 2 AM on a Monday morning because they turned their bass UP at that time. I had a final exam at 7:30 that morning and was especially annoyed to receive very little sleep. When I asked them to turn it down, they apologized and assured me that they would. It took them 10 minutes to do so. This is absolutely unacceptable to me. Currently I am writing this email from my bed, because I cannot stand to be in my family room due to the constant music blaring up from their apartment for the past FIVE hours. The fact that I cannot study or function in my apartment as freely as I should be able to is incredibly frustrating and ridiculous. I can't watch TV when their music is on, I can't work or study when their music is on, I can't sleep when their music is on, and I can't even entertain my own family and friends when their music is on. I am not sure what action was taking last time I emailed you, but it has failed to adequately resolve the situation. Part of the problem is that our walls our absurdly thin - this is not the tenant's fault. However, I am not willing to accept that I should continue to have my life interrupted due to the unfortunate thinness of our walls. I am sick of dealing with the tenant myself, and do not think I should have to do so anymore.

If you are going to take action, please forward me any communication you have with the tenant so that I may have it on file. I am certainly willing to call the police about this situation with my downstairs neighbor but I would rather avoid doing so.

I trust that something will be done soon.

Thank you,
Britney Peters

So now I'll just wait. Let's hope they maybe do something a little more impressive than stick a note on his door like they did last time.

2009

2009-12-31T08:38:00.000-08:00

2009 was full of ups and downs. As Joanna said in her blog, I feel like this is one of the most life-changing years of my life thus far.

Big Life Events of 2009:

- Getting in to grad school
- Graduating from college
- On that same note, leaving my Miami friends
- Moving in to a new apartment/living by myself
- Starting grad school
- Doing big girl things like taking out loans
- Me and Donny celebrating our 5 year anniversary

It kind of blows my mind how much I accomplished in 2009. Granted, none of it was SOLELY accomplished in 2009... graduating from Miami was a 4 year process, and graduating from OSU will continue on into next year. But I feel like a lot happened. And of course, there were other great memories of 2009... Green Beer Day, our senior campus/bar crawl, 05 CRUISE!! (and winning Quest), spring break in West Palm Beach, Megan and Micah's wedding, spending time with Donny in Pittsburgh (a new city for both of us), getting to see my family much more often than I did while I was in Oxford, watching my friends move on to bigger and better things... it's been a crazy year. I'm SO proud of all that my friends have accomplished, but I'm still so sad that a lot of people have moved away. Some of my best friends are now living in LA, Atlanta, North Carolina, Colorado... but I am still fortunate enough to have some great friends still in Ohio.

2010 is shaping up to be an even bigger year, with even more grown-up things happening. I feel like 2009 is like the training bra for 2010 haha. It's tried to teach me how to handle 2010... hopefully. 2010 will include all of the following (plus more!):

- hopefully moving into ANOTHER apartment... WITH DONNY. AHHH.
- graduating from grad school
- taking and passing the CPA exam (I'm being optimistic)
- starting my full-time job
- doing things like paying off loans, buying a car, etc.
- Megan and Jake's wedding
- Donny getting a job
- Spring break to Atlanta and Pittsburgh
- Hopefully taking an RV trip west to LA with Donny (and others?)

Crazyyyyyyyyyyyyyy. I'm SO excited and SO nervous for the new year. I hope you all have a wonderful New Years Eve/Day, and GO BUCKS!

I love Christmas :)

2009-12-24T13:39:00.000-08:00

I just love the holidays. I know sometimes I get way too stressed out over it all (mostly just being at the mall and trying to park and just driving at this time of the year in general), but when it comes down to it, I really love this time of year.

I'll try to do a year-end wrap up between now and New Years. But for now, let's see. We're having our annual family Christmas Eve dinner (immediate family only) tonight... steak and shrimp, yum!! Then we'll rush around for a few hours, wrapping like crazy. Then we'll get our yearly new ornaments from my mom, put those on the tree, attempt a few family photos in front of the tree, and open any presents from relatives that have been sent. Side note - it's extremely saddening when you no longer get presents from relatives because you're grown up. It's just... awful. Not the fact that I don't get presents anymore... just the fact that I'm old. Anyway, then we'll wake up in the morning (as we're getting older, we're able to wait and wake up later and later... YAY!) and open presents. We always come down, wait for my mom to start the monkey bread we have every year for breakfast, then open stockings and open about half of our presents. Then the monkey bread is finished baking, so we eat it, then come back and do the second half. And the kids all get the same number of presents so we can all open one together :) Aaand then it's off to shower and get ready for Grandma and Grandpa's! Donny is coming this year, which is REALLY exciting for me. It's the first time he's come to our Christmas celebration! Then he'll leave to go to his family stuff, and I'll eventually make my way over there - first time for me, too.

I LOVE CHRISTMAS. THAT'S ALL.

Everyone that's traveling over the next few days, please be safe! And Merry Christmas!

Growing Up

2009-11-30T20:28:00.001-08:00

It's weird how quickly time goes. Honestly, every single time a Thursday comes around, I'm shocked. I felt like I JUST was celebrating the end of the week like, the day before. On a more long-term scale, I was reminded of how quickly time flies today. For my job, I brought a group of students from a small, in-state liberal arts school to visit our program. There were 6 students and one professor. The students ranged from sophomores to seniors with varying levels of interest in doing a MAcc. It wasn't really a "prospective student" visit; it was more of a "here's what a MAcc is, here's why you should consider getting one, and here's why our program is good," thing. Just in talking to the students briefly I realized how INSANELY young they seem to me, and how absurdly old I feel around them. And I'm young for my age! I mean, I should be 23. Anyway, it was just crazy. The sophomore came up to me and asked about my internship experience and about applying for them. She said, "Yeah, I'm just now starting to look into them, like where I want to apply, and what kind of internship I want..." First of all, props to her because she's actually almost a full year ahead of schedule. Second of all, it seriously does not seem like that long ago when I was sobbing on a daily basis about getting an internship. But that was actually over two years ago. And think about how much has happened in those two years!! I had my internship, accepted a full-time offer, graduated from college, moved out of my parents' house, started grad school, saw good friends get married.... Like... I'm sorry, WHEN did this all actually happen? Because apparently I missed it!

And then I think about how crazy this next year is going to be, and I have a feeling that it's going to fly by, too. One year from now, I will have graduated from my master's program, taken (and hopefully passed) the CPA exam (oh, you know, just the most important test I will ever take in my life), and STARTED MY FULL TIME JOB. Oh, and possibly moved in with my boyfriend (how grown uppp). It doesn't even seem possible. I'm freaking out haha. Slash... I'm really, really excited. The past few years went crazy fast but they were beyond enjoyable. So I'm certain this next year will be just as great :) But... oh man. Time is just crazy.

My life lately

2009-11-20T17:23:00.001-08:00

My life has been pretty great lately :) Minus the copious amounts of work, which is why I'm currently in my house at 8:30pm on a Friday night... nasty.

Recent great things:
+ my birthday! It was wonderful. I received numerous cards, phone calls, messages, etc. and it just really brightened my day! I got to go home for a traditional birthday dinner at my house, consisting of my mom's lasagna (amazing) and angel food cake! mmm. My grandparents were there, too, which was nice! I also got some awesome presents... including Guess Gold perfume which is delicious, in case you haven't smelled it.

+The OSU/Iowa game!!! I am SO glad I was there! By winning in overtime, the Buckeyes clinched both the Big Ten title AND a spot in the Rose Bowl!! All of the students rushed the field and it was just an absolutely wonderful atmosphere. We got to just hang out on the field for awhile... people were just laying on the field, soaking it all in. Here's a picture of what we looked like:

Preeeetty amazing.

+MAcc friend situation = improving. I've hung out with them a lot lately, and I really, really enjoy them. They're just laid back and fun to hang out with. I wouldn't go so far to call many of them my FRIENDS, but... I have fun with them, they're nice to me, they include me in things... what more could you want haha.

+the thought of Thanksgiving being so close!!! Then the thought that AFTER Thanksgiving, I only have TWO WEEKS OF SCHOOL. And that INCLUDES finals!!! YAYYYY.

Other random thoughts:
+I can.not. wait for my boyfriend and my frooms to come back to Columbus (or even just Ohio, for that matter).
+I have to tell you about my experience with the Chinese businessmen. Sooo one of the MBA ambassadors at work had to help put together this visit for a bunch of Chinese businessmen. They were mostly middle-level managers... a few executives. There were probably about 15 of them in total. Somehow I got roped into giving them a tour of our building with another MAcc ambassador. So we went to the room that they were in so we could wait for them to be finished so we could take them on their tour. It was pretty awesome. They had a translator, because they really couldn't speak English much at all. I've never really been in the presence of a real translator haha I just see them on tv. And it was just really awesome to observe, because they were talking about how important it is for the US and China to work together in education... I believe this was the same day that Obama was in China speaking to Hu Jintao. So kinda cool. Anyway, so after that whole formal process of 'welcome to our school' was over, we took them on the tour. It. Was. So. Hilarious. They were obsessed with me for some reason? A few of the younger guys were like, clearly daring each other to come up and talk to me. Sooo funny. Then they ALLLLLL wanted their picture with me. At one point, I was about to take a picture with one guy, and their "leader" literally kicked him out of the picture so that HE could get a picture with me. Amazing. Then one of the guys spoke English pretty well and came up to me and said, "My friend wants you to have his name card so that you can have his contact information so you can come visit him in China sometime, maybe come to his business." Seriously, so awesome. I got a business card all in Chinese. So yeah... homeboy, I'll definitely just read the Mandarin and come visit you haha.

+I'm still emo about staying in on a Friday night. Sigh. But I'm going to be even MORE emo if I did it for nothing... aka I must get stuff done. Adios!

Grad School Pros/Cons

2009-11-03T09:32:00.001-08:00

I have realized that, since coming to grad school, my life is both better off and worse off. Some examples:

Not-so-Good Things About Grad School
-My self-confidence has plummeted. Since coming to grad school, I have received a legitimate 0% on a quiz, and I have also failed a midterm worth 30% of my grade. The fact that I have to maintain a 3.0 to even stay in the program does not help alleviate my stress. In addition, I constantly feel dumb in class/group meetings. I'm surrounded by absolute geniuses, and after being sort of at "the top of the class" for every other year of my life... it's kind of hard to swallow.

-Everyone talks about the CPA exam and it stresses me out beyond belief. Literally just hearing "CPA exam" gets my stomach all fluttery. I do not even want to think about it. I have to start studying in the spring :(

-MBA students. They suck. They think they are the shit and they are not. The end.

-As MAcc students, we tend to get called on during classes in which there are other non-MAcc students (MBA, HR students, etc.) to answer technical accounting questions. This is not fair. I cannot have my entire undergraduate accounting textbook library memorized. I'm sorry. It's just not possible.

-Grading seems inconsistent. In some classes, the curve is enormous. In others, it's either non-existent or very minimal. One professor said he will "decide at the end of the quarter whether or not he feels like giving out plusses or minuses." Um... that could possibly determine whether or not I'm allowed to stay in the program, so feel free to "decide" a little earlier.

-Just the horrible, horrible amount of time required to do ANYTHING. Projects, memos, case studies, reading... anything. I'm so sick of staying up until 2 AM researching accounting rules.

Awesome Things About Grad School
-As mentioned before, I am getting a definite reality check about my intelligence level. However, I also view this as a good thing. I guess we all need one every once in awhile, huh?

-This might seem kind of minor, but whatevs. The average age of people in my building is probably around 25 (due to the MBA students being older and whatnot). This is INCREDIBLE news. Why? Because I am no longer using the same bathroom as people who think they can leave pee on the seats. Seriously. It's awesome. You never have to worry about people leaving the seat a mess, or not flushing. You can pick ANY STALL and actually get to use it. I am very thankful.

-My resources. By being a MAcc student, I'm truly able to access a LOT of resources I wouldn't have been able to access before. This includes access to research materials/databases, great physical facilities, a staff that will bend over backwards to help you fix something or get you access to something, etc.

-My professors. They. Are. So. Smart. It blows me away. I am being taught what is essentially how to do the research I'll need to do for auditing... by a guy that was a partner with Arthur Andersen for 15 years. I'm being taught corporate tax by a guy that writes the most commonly used tax textbook in the country. Like... who even ARE these people and why on earth are they teaching?? I'm in a corporate financial reporting class with a professor that hasn't bragged about his credentials, so I have no idea what his background is, but he is probably one of the smartest people I've ever met. As of right now, his class is the most helpful class I've ever taken in my life. I'm just so happy that I get to interact with these professors on a daily basis.

-My classmates. As I mentioned earlier, they are unbelievably smart. Part of me hates them, because they are making me look bad, but part of me LOVES them because they are simply so good at what they do. Most of them are just naturally smart, but some of them have worked SO hard to get here. There are people here that weren't accounting majors. I'M struggling, and I WAS an accounting major. Some of them did not take intermediate accounting until 6 weeks before our program started... and they're still here, so they're obviously doing okay. I am SO proud of them for working so hard. And plus, they're fun to go out with :) And we make corny accounting jokes and everyone laughs. Haha love it.

-My job! I love being a student ambassador. I mean, I get 1/2 of my tuition waived because I'm doing something I love to do. I just answer emails all day from prospective students. For example, international students have a lot of questions about the language exams they have to take (TOEFL) and the also have to get their transcripts evaluated, so they have questions on that, too. Or people want to know certain things about the application, etc. The other part of my job is scheduling visits for people who we think are legit. If you know anything about me, you know I LOVE bragging about things I'm involved with, and i LOVE planning things. Therefore... I have the best job.

-Overall, just feeling like I'm learning a lot. Now... this is very class-specific. Do I feel like I'm learning anything in finance? No, not at all. I was lost in that class from day 1, and I've stopped caring. Am I learning anything in corporate tax? I hate the subject, and it's not INCREDIBLY relevant to me, so I try not to, which is probably horrible to say. But do I feel like I'm learning a lot in my research class and in my corporate financial reporting class. They're the most relevant to me, and I like those professors the most, which probably says a lot. But I just really feel like I'm learning stuff in those classes that is SO RELEVANT to my career... which is exactly why I decided to do the MAcc to begin with - I knew I had a ton more to learn.

Well... I should be doing homework as usual. Vom. Bye. :)

Example of why I suck at school

2009-10-28T17:51:00.000-07:00

This is one (of several) reasons why I am currently NOT doing so well in grad school:

"Barnes & Noble purchases CDs from record companies and they can't be returned. They purchased 18,000 copies of K-Fed's album 'Playing With Fire' for $11. The retail price was $16. Almost 13,000 CDs did not sell. Barnes & Noble would need to sell the remaining CDs for about $9 to break even overall. True or false?"

Now, ignoring the fact that this is actually probably the easiest problem I've encountered in grad school thus far... SERIOUSLY? You expect me to FOCUS when I'm given problems about K-Fed not selling albums?!?! Omg. Ridiculous.

Another example:
"On 4/10/09 my son was home from school and cleaned out his room for once. He found a $25 gift certificate I had purchased forh im as a birthday gift on 6/13/07 from AMC Theaters. The gift certificate expired 12 months from the day of purchase. What is the accounting treatment on 6/13/07, FYE 12/31/07, and 6/13/08?"

Okay. All I'm thinking is, "omg, what an ungrateful child. He just made you waste $25. It's not like he DIDNT go to the movies during that year... he clearly just forgot you bought it for him. That's so sad." Like... am I thinking, "hmm, this is probably unearned revenue for the first 12 months..."? No. No I am not. I am thinking about Dave Williams' ungrateful son.

In other news, in a completely unrelated class (tax) I got my first ever zero. On a quiz I legitimately studied for. And it's worth 5% of my grade.

Ohhhh grad school.

aw.

2009-10-26T18:14:00.000-07:00

Today I got a completely random but really nice compliment. I was at work, helping another ambassador with a visit. Two students and two professors from a small school in Iowa came to find out more about our program. I was part of a student panel, and then I went to lunch with them. After lunch, we all went back to our building and the other ambassador took the two students on a tour of the building. Meanwhile, I was chatting with one of the professors. During the panel, I had mentioned that I was going into auditing. While we were talking, the professor just goes (out of nowhere) "You are going to make a really great auditor; I can just tell." And I was so taken aback. I literally said, "Um... what?! Why!?" Haha great, how professional. And he said, so sincerely, "I was an auditor for 15 years before becoming a professor. So much of that job is personality. You have the personality for it. Your communication skills are great, and you just seem really personable." I was like, so blown away. I don't even KNOW this guy. I had literally only spoken to him directly during the panel... we were at opposite ends of the table during lunch. I just that was so, so incredibly nice. Hooray for random acts of kindness :)

All Natural Cheetos

2009-10-25T13:17:00.000-07:00

I just got back from the grocery store where I purchased All Natural White Cheddar Cheetos.

They are delicious. Of course, the fact that they're all natural means I can eat like, the whole bag at once and still be okay, right?

Oh, sex boy.

2009-10-20T16:09:00.000-07:00

I finally spoke to sex boy in person today. This was the first time that's happened. I've knocked on his door a few times, and no one's answered... although the last time I knocked, his FRIEND answered and was super nice about the loud music emitting from my floor/his ceiling. I've even written a note. Today, however, when I went to knock... he answered! He didn't even say a single word. It went like this:

[i knock on door]
[he opens it]
me: HI! could you please turn down the bass a little bit?
him: [grunt]
me: THANKS!
[i run away]

So... I mean, he turned it down, but my floor is still vibrating a bit. I really just think we have a horribly thin shared wall. It's not really fair to either of us. I should be allowed to sit in my couch without it vibrating, and he should be able to turn up his music. Vom.

Cat lady that lived across from me moved out today. It made me slightly sad. She was SO QUIET. I NEVER heard her, even though we share one huge wall. It also just makes me nervous because what if another sex boy moves in? Fingers crossed it is an old lady or something. Or, better yet... someone my age exactly like me. HOORAY!

I have done NOTHING with my life in the past 2 days. After I got home last night from the gym (around 7), I did NOTHING. I didn't have any homework! AMAZING. Then today my tax class was canceled, which meant I didn't have to be on campus until 1:30 for my other class (as opposed to 10:30 for tax). So I drive to campus... get there around 1:05... and I wait until 1:24 for a bus that supposedly comes every 7 minutes. And of course at this point I was going to be AT LEAST 15 minutes late for class. And of COURSE this is the professor that said on the first day of class not to even bother coming to class if you're going to be late. Great. Great.

So I texted a girl in the class, and she, too, thought it best that I not show up 15 minutes late. She promised to give me her notes, so I guess that's good. I HATE missing class. This is my first time missing a MAcc class, too... sad day.

Yeah, so I literally haven't done a THING all day. Unless you count hanging up pictures and watching hours of Roseanne and Say Yes to the Dress "doing something." And like... I don't have any homework for tomorrow, either. This is a fluke week or something, I don't know. Like, I KNOW of stuff coming up, but my professors haven't discussed the assignments yet, so I can't start them. Oh, crazy grad school.

I hate being a waste of space. I don't know what to dooooo. I cleaned a little bit... stretched some... I don't know. There's not much to do alone haha.

I'm 90% sure the bass just got louder again. Ohhh how I am going to call the office tomorrow.

Life lately.

2009-10-08T13:18:00.001-07:00

I have been really bad about updating this. It might have something to do with the ridiculous amount of work I've had to do lately.

School has been really hard, and a lot of work. I wish it were one or the other... either really hard, but not a ton of work... or a TON of work, but all busy work. But it turns out I signed up for GRAD school, which does not entail anything being easy.

Um, let's see. Short summary: my classes are super hard, I don't like any of my classes really although I love the professors, making friends has not gotten any easier and I am close to giving up, Donny came to visit and it was SUPERB and I miss him a ton already, I went to UNC to visit Kiley last weekend and it was AMAZING and made me realize how I definitely DONT have friends at school because none of them even begin to compare to my frooms, I haven't cleaned up my apartment in over a week, I have a B- average in school right now (I have to have a B average to 1) maintain my GA award and 2) stay in the program), aaaand thats about it.

Phew. So anyway, what's new? Um... well, we had a meeting at lunch today about what electives we can take in the upcoming quarter. What I LOOOOVE about my program is that I only have one required class per quarter, and I can fill the rest of my time with electives. So some professors gave brief descriptions of their classes today. There are like, infinity tax classes offered. I'm in one now (corporate tax), and it's the worst class in the world. We don't have ANY outside work, but it's still ridiculously hard. I would rather eat strawberries and bananas TOGETHER than take another tax class. Sorry, MAcc program. But I think I'm going to (TRY TO) take audit (yaaaaay), fraud examination, the required class which is basically talking about why accounting exists (except 10 times harder than it sounds), and maybe a class on leadership or something. Too many accounting classes will make my life suck so I need at least one non-accounting class.

Anyway. Um... yeah, pretty much school has taken over my life so I don't have anything else to talk about haha.

PS Who wants to hang out this weekend??

First day!

2009-09-23T16:03:00.000-07:00

Oh my. First day of grad school is FINISHED!

I went to work from 9-1 today... I'm technically supposed to work 9-12:30, but my boss kept talking, so... I stayed til 1. I'm not sure if this is allowed? Meh. I'm clocking those hours for sure.

Had a quick lunch in the Fisher graduate student lounge... awkwardly chatted with some first year MBAs. Thank goodness another girl who did her undergrad at Miami came up and found me. She and I walked to our first class together... aw, how reminiscent of high school haha.

That first class is basically accounting research. What a thrill. It's going to be PURELY group work, which kind of makes me want to throw myself off a cliff. But the girl from Miami is in my group, along with 3 other people that seem legit. That's what I like about grad school... everyone CHOOSES to be here. In undergrad, you're like... forced to be there, kind of. But everyone wants to be here, which is great.

The next class is the finance class that I added at the very last minute. It's going to be a LOT of work... but just for me. I basically shouldn't be in this class, due to the fact that I haven't learned a lot of the prereq stuff yet. The prof uses a lot of stock market terminology that is completely over my head. He said "in-the-money" today and I almost cried because for the first time, I knew what he was talking about. And that's ONLY because my dad taught me what that is, not because I learned it before. So yeah. It's going to be rough. I feel like I'm going to have to play catch-up a lot which is kind of daunting to know on the very first day haha.

So yeah. It went well. Tomorrow I have corporate tax (omg kill me) and financial statement analysis & valuation, which I think will be pretty cool. As cool as accounting classes can get, I guess. While corporate tax will surely suck, I have one of the top professors in the country, so at least I have that going for me. And I've already met my valuation prof, and he's so nice.

The one thing that bugged me today was that some kid in my finance class was like, texting obnoxiously the whole class. Like I said earlier, you CHOSE to be here. So why don't you CHOOSE to be professional and just freaking listen to the professor who has years of experience in the field you're trying to better understand? Kthx.

SVU premiere tonight :) feel free to watch it so you can discuss it with me later haha.

Also... my #1 priority at this point really should be to get a lamp for my office. I am typing in the pitch black. It's creepy.

OH. I almost forgot. I dealt with sex boy in the apartment below me. Every evening, his music becomes like, unbearably loud for about an hour or so. For the past two nights, I've actually gone down and knocked on his door (which, for me, is a HUGE deal. I'm such a baby usually), but both times it's sounded like water was running. I've deduced that he probably just turns it up really loud when he's in the shower. Okay, 1) freaking get a shower radio and 2) just because once you step in the shower, your music gets quieter doesn't mean it gets quieter to those NOT in the shower. So it was bugging me that I wasn't able to tell this guy to turn his music down. I ended up writing him a note and putting it on his door. I tried to be nice but not like... overly nice. It was gone when I looked this morning, so I hope he got it. And doesn't think I'm a bitch. We'll see. His usual shower time is coming up soon.

Have good nights :)

2009-09-15T20:11:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone! A lot has happened in the past couple of days, so here we go:

On Monday, I was asked to start my GA position early, which was fine with me. I have to work a total of 300 hours over the year in order to receive my 50% tuition waver and my stipend. Starting early means I have less to work over the same amount of time… which is great, especially since I already have at least two days I need to ask off. Rob is my boss… the same guy I’ve been in contact with from day 1 about attending the program to begin with. He sends me pictures of his dog, he comments on my facebook statuses... he’s an overall hilarious guy. Anyway, so my job is basically to be a student ambassador. I know I’m so grateful to have gotten this job, instead of like a TA job or a research position. Essentially my responsibilities include answering emails, phone calls, and in-person questions from prospective students. The questions can range from anything like, “Where should I live if I attend your program?” to “Will these classes count towards the prerequisites?” and stuff like that. I’ll also apparently be interviewing international applicants?!?!?!??! I’m a little bit nervous for that. Just a little. What on earth makes me qualified for that position?! I have no idea. Meh. We’ll see how that goes! I’ll also be helping with various administrative tasks… like yesterday, I stuffed some mailboxes with recruiting information. I spent the majority of the day just answering emails, though. And finally, I’ll be setting up tours for prospective students that are like, quality, and then I’ll be actually taking them on tours. It’s really more of like, an office visit (I’m trying to relate it to my experience in interviewing for internships haha). I plan an entire day for them at Fisher. So they’ll show up, I’ll kind of chat them up (aka secretly sort of interview them), introduce them to various people around the office such as the chair of the department, etc. They’ll have 15-20 minute meetings with the chair, Rob (he’s the assistant director of the program), and at least one faculty member. They’ll also sit in on a class, if they’d like… and they can meet with someone at Career Services. Then I’ll take them to lunch at the Blackwell (yummmmmm… free lunches ALL.THE.TIME.) and kinda show them around. Aaaand that’s pretty much it. Then I’ll evaluate them and pass along my thoughts to the department. So to sum it all up… I completely lucked out by getting this job.

So that’s that. Then that night (aka last night), my dad finally got home from his vacation with his brothers, so he was able to help me move all of my furniture into my apartment! This weekend when he was still gone I worked on moving the little things (dishes, bathroom stuff, etc.), but it was still really frustrating to have all of my clothes here, but no dresser to put those clothes into. So I was so happy that we got it done. It was SO EXHAUSTING, especially since I had already made SO MANY TRIPS to and from my apartment, and from my car to my apartment. I am already so sick of walking up my stairs. But now pretty much everything I need is here now, which is nice! I keep remembering things that I’ve left… like my makeup pads. I had to run home tonight for my tennis shoes because I need them for orientation tomorrow. Stuff like that is just annoying. Buuuut yeah. Everything’s here… nothing’s where it’s supposed to be, but at least I know it is at least in this apartment. Half of my bathroom stuff is in my office, and half of my clothes are in the family room… meh. It’ll get worked out eventually. I really can’t wait to get everything put away so that I can start decorating! I think I might like to have some people over this weekend, but I have a TON of work to do before that’s possible.

Then today was my first day of orientation. So overwhelming. It was basically just a ton of people talking to us about the same thing over and over. Which was fine, and I mean, I enjoyed finding out who these people are, and hearing what they ahd to say. It just got a little repetitive. It was mostly like ‘take the road less travelled,’ ‘challenge yourself,’ ‘don’t worry about grades,’ blah blah. HA. Don’t worry about grades? Um, tell that to me when I’ve lost my assistantship because of grades… right. Anyway, like we met the dean, and the director of all graduate business programs, and the chair of the department, and the director of the MACC program specifically… and a lot of the professors. So that was cool. There are 6 people total from Miami! Hooray! But I’m torn about this. Do I like, cling to them, because I know I like them and they’re cool people? Or do I like, ignore them and try to make new friends? I feel like doing something in between is hard. Because I don’t want to be missing out on Miami people stuff while I’m trying to awkwardly meet new people. I don’t know. Anyway, I am determined not to make this an issue. It’s mostly just my self confidence going crazy. But I really like the Miami people… I didn’t know any of them too well, so it’ll be fun getting to know them. We had a small presentation on the graduate business association basically… it’s pretty much just the social group for everyone. They have events every single Thursday, which I think is awesome. And it’s like, everyone. MBA, MACC, MLHR (labor and human resources), and MLBE (I think its… logistics and business… something?). so I think that’s cool. They’re having a kick-off to the year on Friday. Stacy (the one girl from Miami I like, sat with today haha) is going to be out of town, sooo I’m going to go by myself. This is a very, very big deal for me haha. Stuff like this makes me insanely nervous. I’m just going to have to awkwardly walk up to a group of people and force myself into their conversation… eeeeek? Whatevs. 05. That’s pretty much my motto once again. It was a great motto for my senior year of high school… why not grad school? Haha.

Hopefully anyone around here can come over and see my apartment when it’s mostly finished. I would love to have anyone over!

Okay. Time for bed. I hate being old again. Like, back to waiting up at 7 AM. Gross.

New apartment!

2009-09-11T09:30:00.000-07:00

Well, I made it to my new apartment! It's nice! It's definitely no C-suites, but you'll have that. I don't really know how all of my stuff is going to fit in here... I also don't know where my tv is going to go. The only cable thing in the living room is like... in a random tiny corner facing the sun and I would never in a million years put my tv there sooo... we'll see. The Time Warner guy is going to be here in less than a half hour, and I fully plan on making him decide where my tv should go. He'll also be installing my internet... but 1) I can't find my ethernet cord and 2) I'm stealing someone's wireless right now, so that's not as big a deal right now.

My plan for the next few hours: assemble both my tv stand and my huge bookshelf... without tools. Because I forgot to bring any from my house. Oops? We'll see how it goes. Again, the Time Warner guy will be here soon... hopefully he can spare a screwdriver for a few minutes, if need be. haha.

It's kind of creepy being by myself. This is going to take some getting used to.

Well, I need to go lug an infinity pound bookshelf in a box up a flight of stairs. Adios!

Ignorance

2009-09-10T11:11:00.001-07:00

In case you can't read this, the signs in the window say "Cut government spending NOW!" and "Dumbass Hussein Obama Sucks"

I just... didn't even know what to do when I was driving behind this person. I just kept shaking my head. When I got up a little further on the road, I was able to pass him, and he was just this sad looking old man. I felt sad that this man has lived such a long life and still doesn't understand what is going on. He is so angry and feels like he has to scream his dislike and prejudice for Obama from the back of his van windows. It is really just kind of revolting.

And yet, at the same time, I was filled with this sense of pride. This man has the ability to tape hate-filled signs on his van and he won't be persecuted for it. His free speech is, ironically, protected by our country which is led by Obama at the highest level, but whatevs. Anyway, the fact that he can say what he wants to say, regardless of who it might offend, is such an amazing right that we all have that I know I don't stop and consider enough. As much as I wish he didn't have such nasty signs on his window, I'm glad he has the ability to have them there. Mainland China blocked Facebook this summer... while I'm able to sit there and view people's stated religion and political parties, and no one here gives a second thought about it. They also simply just shut down numerous internet portals and discussion boards for a few days during the 20th anniversary of the Tienanmen Square protests. The South China Morning Post stated,

In order to improve the internet content and provide a healthy environment for our netizens, we have designated 3 to 6 June as the national server maintenance day. This move is widely supported by the public

Like... really? Was it really supported? And you just happened to choose those days as the national server maintenance days? Hmm. Interesting.

I'm not saying our government isn't shady as hell sometimes, but I'm pretty sure they'd never get away with shutting down the internet for a few days. Thank goodness I live here. Honestly.

2009-09-08T17:45:00.000-07:00

Over the past few weeks, I feel like I've had a bit of a life-changing period in my life. Nothing extraordinary, I suppose, but enough to make me feel like something important has happened. I don't think that anything necessarily set off this off (ooo, ending sentences with prepositions), which is kind of odd. I just felt... overwhelmed. And I just kind of all of a sudden decided that I'm just... DONE with my life being stressful. I'd say that more than half of the stress in my life is self-inflicted, which just seems silly now. I'm not going to sweat the small stuff anymore. It's going to take a lot a LOT of work on my part but... I want to do it. And the rest of the stress in my life... the stress inflicted by people other than myself... well, they're not really worth the hassle, are they? Why should I continue to allow people into my life that do nothing but cause me headaches and heartaches? It sounds a little dramatic and a little cold-hearted but I'm not going to cut people out of my life forever. I don't have it in me to do that. I'm not good at just cutting people out of my life. But I'm not going to allow people who do nothing but bring me down CONTINUE to do so. It's going to be incredibly hard, I'm afraid. And I hope I'm strong enough to do it successfully. I have to, for my sanity. Maybe for once I'll put my peace of mind before my loyalty to some friendships. I don't have the time or the energy anymore to be brought down by others anymore. And I definitely don't have the time or the energy to be brought down by myself. So my summer/fall/forever resolution to myself has officially started... to not let myself fear what MIGHT happen, and to not allow others to stress me out, either.

Beautiful day!

2009-09-01T13:05:00.001-07:00

Isn't it weird how a 75 degree high and a perfectly clear sky can make not only your day but your LIFE seem infinitely better?

2009-08-22T23:21:00.001-07:00

I know that I am an incredibly lucky human being. I mean, for starters, I have more than enough food, water, shelter, and clothing. I don't worry about where my next meal is coming from. I have a job. I have a degree that my parents paid for. I have more THINGS than anyone should ever have, really. My room is FULL of just... stuff. I feel guilty, sometimes, for having so much. Does anyone need as much perfume as I have? No. Absolutely not. Does anyone need 30 bras? Nope. Sure don't. Does anyone need hundreds of books? Nope. Does anyone need 20 sweatshirts? Probably not. So I feel guilty for having all of these material things. But then I'm lucky on a whole other level. I have a family that loves me unconditionally, and that would do just about anything to make me happy. I have a boyfriend who doesn't beat me or belittle me or make me feel worthless... and on top of that, he's just a pretty amazing human being. I'm honored to know him and to have him like me back. And what pretty much prompted this post... I just have unbelievable friends. I believe that I am TRULY so incredibly blessed in this life of mine to have two groups of just... unbelievable friends. The fact that I have two decently large groups of people to run to when I'm sad, or to run to when I'm ready for a good time haha, is just... wonderful. This evening I hung out with my friends from home. We didn't do anything mind-blowing... we literally just sat around and talked for a good 4-5 hours. There is something so reassuring about friends from home. They understand you and where you come from. They just get things about you that people from school couldn't possibly comprehend (although not possibly for a lack of trying). Some people at work were kind of dissing people that still hang out with their friends from high school, saying that you must be pretty lame if you're still hanging out with your high school friends because that means you haven't made better friends at college, blah blah. I was just shocked. I'm sorry you had shitty friends in high school? I mean, seriously. I LOVE my high school friends and I am so glad that we're still hanging out and enjoying each other's company. They are just... home. I am so comfortable with them and I love love love knowing that they'll always be there for a laugh or a cry or a Wendy's run or a night of just watching tv and gossiping.

And then I have my Miami friends, who just continue to put smiles on my face even though we're not at school together anymore. Tonight was the first night I've gone out where I realized that I should have been going out at Miami instead, if I hadn't graduated. And it just brought back a whole flood of memories. And then I came home and had an email from Erin waiting... we've had an email chain going where we just all email each other updates on our lives and what we've been going through, and it honestly gets me through the day sometimes. Anyway, the email from Erin was just so... wonderful. I mean, it wasn't all happy... in fact, a lot of it wasn't, but I found myself just thinking that I am SO proud to get to call her (and everyone else) on the email my friend. I truly have been introduced to some incredible people in my life and I can't believe I've actually been able to be friends with them. If you're reading this, chances are you're one of the people I'm incredibly thankful to know :)

It's just hard to think that I won't ever get to stumble home with Jamie, throw some popcorn in the microwave, and eat the whole bag while snuggling in her bed, laughing about the nights' events and whatever's on tv. I won't see her pour herself a DC or put salt on just about everything, including pizza. It's hard to think that I won't be living with Kiley anymore after 4 straight years of doing so... not only that, but I won't get to see her antics. I won't get to see her folding herself over the top of the couch anymore, or slapping her thighs together, and I won't be cheered up by her constant optimism. Tim won't be around anymore to talk to about tennis, or to play tennis with. I won't get to use his spotless bathroom anymore (because clearly, who would choose to use Zach's disgusting bathroom?) and I won't get to listen to his pure sass on a daily basis. I won't get to see his standard pose... shoulders raised up a bit, hands shoved in his front pockets. And I won't have Zach to joke around with and complain to about whoever is annoying us at the moment... I won't be able to have fat nights with anyone now that he's not around. Late-night McDonalds won't ever be the same. Luckily Erin and Alyssa will still be around so I don't have to bother with being super sad about them :) I love them a lot and I cannot wait to spend the next year hanging out with them and continuing to build our friendship that blossomed out of Oreos and peanut butter.

I just... am in a reflective mood tonight, I guess, and although this is really long, all that you really need to have gotten out of this (if you're still reading) is that, since you ARE reading, you are probably someone I consider to be a wonderful friend and I am extremely, extremely thankful for your friendship. I love you!

Taco Huts

2009-08-15T13:31:00.000-07:00

I would like to publicly express my gratitude to whoever came up with the idea of the TacoHut. I mean, yes, I am assuming it was someone with Yum! Brands... but for real, whatever individual decided this would be a good idea was absolutely correct and should be thanked. Where else can you get a steak quesadilla and Pizza Hut breadsticks (two of my all-time favorite foods) in one stop? Sigh.

I think I'm going to campus tonight to meet up with Alyssa and her PT classmates. Should be fun! I'm gonna have to leave relatively early though, due to my 10 AM start time at work tomorrow. Boo. Work has a tendency to ruin the fun things in life.

Facebook

2009-08-13T18:29:00.000-07:00

I'm officially disturbed by the large number of relatives on Facebook. This is a very recent discovery, and it has left me feeling kind of uncomfortable. It all started a few days ago when I came home from work and found an email in my inbox stating, "Lisa Peters has added you as a friend on Facebook." I literally YELLED downstairs, "MOOOOOOMMMMM. YOU'RE ON FACEBOOK?!?!?!?" to which she meekly replied "Yes..."

Then, through viewing her friends, I discovered that my 12 year old sister and 13 year old brother ALSO have Facebook. Why? Honestly. Why would you possibly need to be on Facebook? You don't need to keep in touch with anyone because you are STILL IN MIDDLE SCHOOL! Gahhhh!

Then today I paid another visit to my mom's profile where I discovered like, a million more relatives. I was obviously already friends with all of my cousins that are near my age. Turns out, however, that numerous aunts and uncles are ALSO on Facebook.

I'm just waiting for the day when my computer-illiterate Grandma gets Facebook. I'll probably die.

In other (sad) news, everyone is leaving. Jamie left already, Donny left today, and Kiley leaves Saturday. I tried my hardest not to cry when Donny left because, let's be honest, this is literally the fifth year we've done the long distance thing. However, my poor attempts proved unsuccessful. I'm such a girl.

Kiley and I had a dinner date at Due Amici tonight. They have a happy hour where, for $10, you can get a (huge) (and delicious) pizza and either a well drink, a beer, or a house wine. Not a bad deal. Here's the best part: we didn't get carded. Probably the first time in my life I can make that claim. Needless to say, I was very proud of us.

The next few weeks of my life are going to be full of trying to get in as many hours at work as I can until my last day on August 27th... it can't come soon enough. I'm planning on going to Pittsburgh on August 28 to visit Donny on his birthday weekend... then I'll just be hanging out and packing and getting ready to move into my new apartment! I am SO excited about that... I'm nervous but really looking forward to living on my own. I feel grown up :)

For the present, however... I'm just looking forward to going to bed sort of early tonight, and sleeping in tomorrow. No work tomorrow :) Huzzah!

Kelly. Clarkson.

2009-07-29T20:21:00.000-07:00

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

2009-07-25T12:48:00.000-07:00

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...?

2009-07-13T21:57:00.000-07:00

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

2009-07-09T10:12:00.000-07:00

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

2009-07-08T13:46:00.000-07:00

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!

My Sister's Keeper

2009-06-30T22:32:00.000-07:00

Good movie. It definitely makes me incredibly, incredibly grateful to be healthy and to have my entire circle of friends and family be relatively healthy and happy.

during one of the saddest parts:
katie: [starts giggling]
voiceover: my sister died that night...
katie: [dies of laughter]

I guess I should clarify that she had already sort of been laughing BEFORE the really sad part, but still :) She was remembering how hard I was crying during the Notebook, and somehow that was FUNNY to her, so she started laughing haha. Ooooo katie :)

But I'm glad I saw it. I have a hard time wanting to watch movies that I know will make me cry a lot. Um, like, when was the last time you watched Stepmom? Exactly. It's such a good movie, but I mean, who enjoys reliving the sadness of that movie? Thats kind of how I feel about this movie. I don't know if I'll be able to watch it again. Yay sad movies. But it was still soooo good.

My new obsession

2009-06-30T14:23:00.000-07:00

Aquafina Flavor Splash in Raspberry. Mmmmmmmmmmmm. The one good thing the call center has to offer.

Another rant post

2009-06-25T22:30:00.001-07:00

I literally have not had one good experience with Ohio State (outside the Fisher School of Business) thus far. I have had problems with numerous offices at the school, and it just kind of makes me lose hope in the school. I was SO excited to go there, and now I'm just like... getting depressed about it. The ONLY thing that is saving it so far is that Fisher just... has their shit together. And gives me a little more confidence.

It makes me realize how much I took for granted the small-school atmosphere at Miami. If you had a question about ANYTHING, you would at least get to talk to someone within a few minutes. At OSU, I've been waiting days for a phone call or an email back, and it's not coming. At Miami, you were always answered so quickly. I understand OSU's a huge school, but Miami isn't exactly a 500-student school, either. I just think I thought I was going to get the same kind of treatment at OSU that I received at Miami, and it's just coming as kind of a shock that it's pretty much the complete opposite.

:(

Cyclists.

2009-06-24T16:16:00.000-07:00

Okay. Okay. This is a rant post.

It is one of my biggest pet peeves when there is a cyclist just biking down a major street. Especially in Westerville. Have you NOT been informed that there are literally MILES of bike paths around our town? Not to mention the SIDEWALKS surrounding your homes? If you were like, trying to bike to and from work... that's a different story. But NONE of these people look like they're going anywhere important. They're just out for leisurely rides. 1) They are putting yourself in grave danger. 2) They hold up traffic for unbelievable amounts of time, especially if they are on a busy road.

It just blows my mind. There is NO part of me that desires to bike down a road that's 45 mph. None. Like, personally, I don't enjoy being one foot away from a car that could easily kill me if they hit a pothole. Um, no thanks.

Ugh. For real. Get off the damn main roads.

'05 Cruise!

2009-06-19T13:43:00.000-07:00

I just got back from my cruise a few hours ago! It was a blast!!! I must say, Key West and Nassau kind of disappointed me. But CocoCay was soooo awesomeeee. Anyway, I'm getting ahead of myself.

Day 1 (Monday) - Miami
I woke up at 3:30 AM on Monday (after going to bed at 11:30 on Sunday night), and Donny and his dad picked me up at 4:30. We met up with Megan and Jake (who were on our flight) at the airport, andur flight left at 5:55 AM (yeah, sick) for Ft. Lauderdale. Once we got there, we met up with Tyler and Jon and caught a shuttle to the Port of Miami! I was actually kind of nervous getting onto the ship. I was positive that we would turn into the next Titanic, even though I know that like, that NEVER happens anymore. I saw the lifeboats hanging off the side, and I instantly thought 'oh no. I hope there are enough for everyone.' haha like, what? I'm pretty sure they have that figured out by now. Anyway, here's our ship, the Majesty of the Seas:

Well, thats as much of it as I could fit in one picture haha. Anyway, the ship was gorgeous. And there was always something to do. The food at dinner was deliciouuuus (I literally had steak 3 of the 4 nights... oops?). The rest of the food was so-so, but there was always some place open to get food, so that was nice. At dinner, I tried a few new things... scallops (it was a scallop risotto), oxtail broth (i dont even know what that is, honestly. Even now that I've eaten it haha), and... ESCARGOT. Yes, I tried escargot. Honestly, it wasn't that bad. I don't know if I'd choose to eat it again, but I could handle eating it again. It probably helped that it was drenched in butter and garlic... mmm. Oh, and I also tried lamb... I did NOT like it. The texture was gross.

Anyway, so the first day we set sail at I believe 5 PM, so we all watched that. Then we just explored a bit and went to dinner at 8:30 (that was our dining time every night). I truly don't have any clue what we did the first night. Oops?

Day 2 (Tuesday) - Nassau
The next morning we docked in Nassau. It poured until like, noon, so that sucked. We finally got off the island and went to the straw markets (kind of claustrophobic and stressful, plus they all just sell the same stuff) and bought me some band-aids. The night before, someone knocked a heavy metal boxy trashcan onto the top of my foot and it was a REALLY deep gash and it pretty much bled for like, 2 days straight. Gross. Then we went back on the boat for awhile, collected everyone, and went to SENOR FROGS!

The bar had a GORGEOUS view... it sat out on top of the clear blue water of the Bahamas! Senor Frogs and when we played Quest (I'll get to that later) were probably the two best memories of the cruise haha. I mean... it all started when the boys bought buckets of beer, and the girls (plus jake :) ) bought something called 'The Yard' which was basically just a HUGE glass... I got the house margarita, frozen. It was DELICIOUS but it took me ages to finish. We watched a mom get drunk off her ASS and make a total fool of herself in front of her two young daughters. Sad, but also sort of hilarious. Then some employee decided to nominate Donny to participate in a chugging contest... he came in 2nd! Then the same employee created a 'Free Shot Conga Line' in which we all just... literally did a train around the bar, and at random points, employees would be waiting with a bottle of SOMETHING and they would squirt it into our mouths. I literally felt like it was the crazy college spring break I never had haha. It was insane. Then we of course had all had a biiiit to drink and ended up dancing like fools on the dance floor. Keep in mind that we were pretty much the only people dancing. Whatevs. It was SO FUN oh my gosh.

That night was our formal dinner, which was nice! We went to a laaaaame show afterwards. Donny and I left like, halfway through it because it was so dumb. It was like... a bunch of 70s songs, and it was beyond cheesy. We didn't really do a whole lot else the rest of the night, I don't think.

Day 3 (Wednesday) - CocoCay, Bahamas
I would say this was the best day, overall. I LOVED CocoCay, which is Royal Caribbean's own private island. It's tiny and cute and I love it. The unfortunate part was that it felt like it was 120 degrees outside. Note to self: Never, ever take a cruise to the Caribbean in the summer. I couldn't be out of the water for more than probably 5-10 minutes. It was that hot. I, of course, got burned... it's already pretty much gone away, which is nice. Other 05 cruisers were not so lucky, however. Donny's back is burned to a crisp, and others had various other body parts burned haha. I bought a Coco-Loco (the drink of the day on the cruise) and it was probably the most delicious drink I've ever had. I honestly had no idea what was in it (other than rum), so I just Googled it... here's what I came up with:

3/4 ounce dark rum
3/4 ounce coconut rum
1/2 ounce cream of coconut
1/2 ounce papaya nectar (optional)
1/2 ounce orange juice
1/2 ounce pineapple juice
1/4 ounce grenadine
1/2 banana (optional)

The only thing I'm confused about is that my drink had like... orange... sherbet in it or something. Whatever. It was so damn good.

Anyway, so there's that. My graduation present to Donny was one of the 'excursions' offered by Royal Caribbean... we went snorkeling in CocoCay! It was SO FUN, minus my mask kept leaking and I kept inhaling salt water. We saw a sting ray, TONS of schools of fish, and just lots of pretty, pretty fish! We also saw sea urchins... Katie found a starfish... it was just so fun! After snorkeling, we ended up having to put our lounge chairs in halfway in the water because, like I said, we literally couldn't NOT be in the water. It was fun though, and so, so relaxing. We had to go back kind of early though... Donny and I waited until the very last second to board the last boat back to our cruise ship (it was tendered further out in the ocean). That night, we went to a Newlyweds-ish game and it was just so freaking hilarious. Then we played Quest. Ohhhh, Quest.

Our group (10 of us) was group 4... and I found this description online: "Basically it's a form of a scavenger hunt - but with a twist. Points are awarded in this form - 1st person to arrive with the items gets 10 points. 2nd person - 5 points. 3rd person - 3 points. Everyone after that gets 1 point. When you arrive to the cruise director (the one on the microphone), you are to present your number and show him the items. Once that item is pronounced 'CLOSED', no more can be accepted." It started out with tame things... "I need one business card," or "I need one picture of a child." Laura, Donny, and Sam had all been on the cruise before, so they knew what a lot of them were going to be, so we came prepared haha. We were BY FAR the most intense group! I'm sure everyone else hated us. '05. Anyway, it eventually turned into like, 4 people on our team being in their underwear, boys demonstrating on other boys their favorite sexual positions, boys demonstrating on GIRLS their favorite sexual positions, girls showing tattoos and piercings in scandalous places... oh man. It was seriously one of the funniest nights of my life. I was dying of laughter. Katie just... took so many for the team haha. We saw her underwear so, so many times. She also bit a hole in Jake's sock... yeah. I dunno. hahaha. Some picture highlights:

I think it's safe to say that we absolutely dominated the game. We won with like... 70 points. The 2nd place team didn't even have 45 points. Like... absolute destruction. It was so fantastic. When they announced that we were the winners, we were SO obnoxious and like, shoved people out of our way to rush the stage and cheer and chant 'O-H' 'I-O' and oh my gosh it was just a fantastic moment.

Day 4 (Thursday) - Key West
Okay, there's basically nothing all that fun to do in Key West unless you have unlimited money and can go parasailing or something. We walked around, but it was miserable because it was so hot. Donny and I eventually ran into everyone else (minus Megan and Jake, who were off snorkeling and catamaran-ing) and went to the original Margaritaville, which was fun. Donny and I got the house margaritas and they were delishhhhhh. I guess they should be, since the place is called Margaritaville. Anyway, Donny and I were sick of it after that, so we headed back to the ship and packed, since we had to leave so early the next morning. We had our last dinner (where I had my third steak in 4 days...), and watched a decent comedy show. Then Donny and I headed to bed since we had to get up at 6 AM!

Day 5 (Friday) - Miami
We arrived back in Miami this morning to a beautiful sunrise. We were up early to take advantage of the 'Express' checkout or something... turned out to be not worth it at all, since we ended up sitting on Royal Caribbean's shuttle to Ft. Lauderdale for an HOUR. Omg it was the most annoying thing in the world. Luckily we got to the airport on time and got home with no problems.

I'm sorry this is the longest post of all time. Summary: the cruise was awesome, ridiculously hot, tons of fun, relaxing for the most part, and I hope I can do it again soon :)

CRUISE.

2009-06-14T14:15:00.000-07:00

My cruise in the Bahamas begins TOMORROW! I can.not.wait. I've never been on a cruise, so I'm super excited. We'll be stopping in Nassau, Coco Cay, and Key West. yaaaaaaaayyyyy. :) The only bad thing is that our flight leaves at like, 6 AM tomorrow morning. Nasty.

Donny's graduation was yesterday morning. It was cooler than Miami's. Meh. Anyway, it was nice to see him graduate! I did have to get up at 5 AM to get to OU, though, haha. That was a bummer. But I drove down to Athens with his sister, and it was fun to chat with her and learn more about her.

We got back to Westerville, I had some yummy steak with my parents, and then I headed back over to Donny's. When I got there, his entire family was at the next door neighbor's high school graduation party. ALL of the adults were drunk. It was slightly hilarious. This one woman kept yelling at me to buy Bonine instead of Dramamine for the cruise, and that taking one of those and a Pepcid AC before drinking would lessen the effects of alcohol while on the cruise haha. She also informed us that eating a peanut butter (sans the jelly) sandwich before going to business meetings (she claims that ALL business meetings "inevitably end in drinking" hahaha) will also prevent hangovers. And the host kept giving Donny's dad shots and it was hysterical. Oh my.

Donny's parents gave me my graduation present... a Coach umbrella :) :) IT IS SO CUTE. I have wanted one of these FOREVER... and she didn't even know! I feel like she has developed a great sense of my tastes haha. First the cute Vera Bradley makeup bag and wristlet for Christmas... now this... props to her.

Time to get ready for dinner. I'll have cruise updates in a week!

Rollerblading

2009-06-06T09:58:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I decided to bust out my rollerblades and give them another shot. They were going to be my path to fitness last summer, until I forgot to wear high enough socks, and I soon received such intense cuts that I still have scars. So the rollerblades were quickly forgotten for the rest of the summer. HOWEVER. I have decided to bring them back. I went yesterday and this morning with my sister, who claims she never learned how to skate when she was little. This is a bold-faced lie. Anyway, it's kind of nice going with her, because I get little breaks when I have to wait for her to catch up hahah. Plus, that way, when I start back up again, I'm using more muscle. See how it all works out so nicely? Anyway, my butt and hips and thighs are totally feeling it, and I'm so pumped. I just looked online at how many calories I burn doing this... it's like, more than running. And I hate running. So... yay for that. This is also a much cheaper alternative to joining the gym, which I was contemplating doing. It's still a possibility, but so far, this is working out great. And I don't work until 10 this summer, so I can get up, get in some exercise, then get to work. Perfect.

Ohh, the eye doctor.

2009-06-04T16:16:00.000-07:00

What my house currently contains: a bruised, vicodin-riddled mother, a pukey sister, a father who just purchased an andrea bocelli cd on a whim and is now listening to it non-stop, and two very, very unnaturally studious other siblings. It is a very weird time in my household.

On top of that, I can't decide about my new contacts. I have a very hard time going to the eye doctor. I just... get stressed about my answers. "Is 1 better... or 2? ... One? ... or two?" OH MY GOSH. I DONT KNOW. THEY LOOK THE SAME. I always get nervous about whether I'm really answering correctly. Because my prescriptions never end up looking quite as good as I know they could be. And when I said something about it today, he re-checked me and said they were right. We'll see. At least it's an improvement over my OLD optometrist, of whom many of you have heard. He was probably the meanest, crotchety-est old man in the world. He was SO MEAN to me. I cried on two separate occasions in his office. He insulted pretty much every member of my family to their faces. And, on top of that, he just didn't really know what he was talking about. I had my first appointment with the NEW optometrist today and it was like, lightyears better. First, he didn't yell at me or make me cry. Second, he actually showed an interest in what I'm doing with my life. Third, he was SO careful and just showed me that he really wanted to get it right. My old optometrist once forgot to test me for glaucoma... admitted this to my face, and then told me it was "probably fine" and made me leave without getting tested. Somehow I feel as though that would never happen with this man. Like, when I told him that my new prescription still felt a little funny, he completely retested me. Like, THAT gives me confidence. That makes me feel so, so much better. At least he cares.

I ALSO found out from this appointment that my prescription is completely wrong, thanks to Mr. Crotchety Old Man. I'm THREE STEPS TOO HIGH in my right eye, and ONE step too high in my left. I'm sorry, but there is just absolutely no excuse for that. That's ABSURD. No wonder I was getting headaches. Also, I apparently have astigmatism. WHO KNEW. I always knew I had a tiny bit one in one eye, but this doctor has informed me that I have fairly developed astigmatism in both eyes. Um, good to know. He told me that my vision problems are partially due to this, which has never been treated before. He gave me trial contacts that treat the astigmatism (at the lower prescription which I should have been on all the time), and my vision is completely the same, if not better. Which tells me that all along, my eye troubles have NOT been due to worsening eyes, but to the astigmatism instead. Like, if I can get along with a prescription that is THREE steps lower in one eye, but one that also treats astigmatism... um... yeah. Shoulda been on that YEARS ago. Ugh.

So anyway, I still don't know how I feel about these contacts. Contacts that treat astigmatisms have a specific "up" and "down", so they have to be in place all the time, whereas regular contacts can just kinda spin around and it's fine. So that feels very weird to me... I keep blinking a lot. And I've developed a slight headache, but I think that's just because I'm not used to this prescription or these contacts. Hopefully this all works out.

Another thoughtful thing this doctor did was give me a new solution that is supposed to help with allergies. Like, seriously, I don't know why this doctor is infinitely nicer than the other guy. But he is, and it's great. He's Donny's optometrist, and Donny recommended that my family see him, and it was such a great decision. YAY finding new doctors! YAY abandoning old horrible doctors!

Now that I've spent 15 minutes typing up stuff about my eyes I'm sure you don't care about... my mom had kidney-stone-procedure-ish stuff done today, and she's recuperating. She's in a lot of pain, but I think the Vicodin is definitely helping when it's not wearing off. While she and my dad were at the clinic, I got a call saying my little sister was puking at school, and that I had to pick her up. Me + puking do NOT go well together, so I was a little worried, but she was done puking by the time I got there, thank goodness. It was SO weird to go back to my middle school, though. It's been so long since I've been in there. Looks the same, though. My sister's best friend who helped her to the bathroom mysteriously ALSO puked later in the day, so I dunno what's going on there.

My dad asked me for a book to read while he was waiting at the clinic for my mom to be done with her procedure. How embarrassing when your dad comes to you for a history book. I know that's what he wanted. How even MORE embarrassing when you're able to offer him approximately 15 books on the Nazis, and pretty much nothing else. He ended up going with one about the Black Death... ohhhh, how happy and cheery my preferred line of literature is.

Agenda for the rest of the night: tend to mother's needs, avoid pukey sister even though she's not puking anymore, perhaps read some more, and perhaps watch Rachel's Getting Married (my new Netflix). I'm excited.

Emily Post

2009-06-03T18:44:00.000-07:00

After lunch today, we stopped by The Book Loft in German Village. I noticed a book on the shelves that I've had on MY bookshelves for a long time, but have never gotten around to reading, and that is the biography of Emily Post. She was (and probably still is) the most popular etiquette expert in the US throughout the early to mid 1900s. I've been reading it pretty much nonstop since I got home. I don't know why other people's lives fascinate me so much, but they do. She grew up extremely privileged (her father became a very famous architect, and her mother's family was in railroads)... she attended a private girls' school, had a debutante ball, and everything else that basically went along with being a rich girl in the late 1800s. I just think things like that are SO INTERESTING. Which is why this book will probably consume the better part of my weekend.

Through reading today and discovering the Book Loft, I've renewed my love for books. I don't know why I haven't read in so long, but it's pretty silly. I honestly (this is not an exaggeration) have at least 15 books I have purchased and have not read. Most of them are pretty daunting... I'd say almost all are 500+ page books about Nazis haha. Yet another area of history I find fascinating. ANYWAY, I have so much to read and I fully plan on finishing the majority of those books this summer. Hopefully the slow early summer at the call center will allow me to get some headway on that. I can't forget re-reading the entire Harry Potter series in time for the new movie, either... yikes.

My mom's "procedure" (I don't know what to call it, since it's not technically surgery) is tomorrow, so just keep her in your thoughts :) I know she's really nervous about it, just because she's never had any sort of procedure/surgery/major medical issue before, but she will be fine.

Also... I'm sad that Thursdays no longer include watching the Office. They need to just go ahead and start the new season. ALSO. The SVU finale was INCREDIBLE. That's all I'll say.

Off to read more about Emily Post :)

2009-06-02T12:25:00.000-07:00

Just kidding about going to Cincinnati on Friday... my mom is having kidney surgery on Thursday, and it sounds like she'll be pretty sore for a long time, and I'm the only one that will be around on Friday to take care of her most of the day, so I'm staying home. Kinda bummed, but it's my family, so there's no second thought there. And there will be more Reds games :)

Also, I have come to the conclusion that I need to throw away roughly half the stuff in my room. It's impossible, but I have to start somewhere. There's no way any of this will fit in my new apartment.

Upcoming events

2009-06-02T09:24:00.000-07:00

Tonight is the Law & Order SVU finale. We don't even need to get into how excited I am for that. But seriously, Mariska Hargitay is absolutely beautiful. If I could look like anyone, it would be her... and maybe also Reese Witherspoon.

In other news... other upcoming events:
Tomorrow: lunch in German Village with... people? Haha I don't even know who is going yet.
Friday-Saturday: going to Cincinnati for a Reds game and quality friend time!!
Monday-Wednesday: getting re-trained at the call center! YAY MONEY.
Saturday: Donny's (and the rest of OU's!) graduation!!!
Sunday: Opening the '05 time capsule!!! What am I most excited about? Opening the bottles of wine that have been in there for four years haha.
Monday: oh you know. Leaving for our cruise in the Bahamas (!!!!!)
Other June events: Laura's cookout, Donny's graduation party, and FIREWORKS at Kiley's!

My only concern about all of this is money. I just took a LARGE sum of money out of savings to pay off my ridiculous purchases on my credit card. I'm extremely ashamed of all of this and I am sick of spending money I don't have... especially when I'm supposed to be SAVING money for my rent this year. Not to mention the $15,000 in debt I'll have in a year.

Nonetheless, I'm excited for everything to come. This summer has been a blast so far, and I can't wait for it to continue! I'm excited for more Westerville friends to come home so that we can all hang out!

I bought my OSU football tickets and I am BEYOND excited. When I went online to buy them yesterday, I was seriously so nervous that my heart was beating audibly. It was THUMPING. Aaaand I got them. For a measly $170... vomit.

Two things I do not like about OSU so far:
1. The prices for everything. I know this isn't really a fair comparison, but I didn't have to pay for anything at Miami. I didn't have to pay NEARLY as much for a parking pass, I didn't have to pay for ANY sporting events... sigh.
2. I am already feeling like just another number at OSU. I NEVER felt that way at Miami. I never slipped through the cracks at Miami, and that's already happened at OSU and I haven't even started yet!

Anyway. I'm off to eat lunch and maybe read some HP in celebration of the upcoming movie (slash... I have to re-read so that I remember what actually will be happening in the movie)... and then bumming around until my sister's softball game! AND THEN SVU. YAYYYYY.

Jon & Kate + 8 + other stuff

2009-05-25T20:27:00.001-07:00

Okay. I'm just going to get this off my chest quickly. Jon & Kate Plus 8 has provided me with endless hours of entertainment, laughter, wanting to kidnap their kids (joking), and just good mushy happy feelings. But honestly, it is ruining their marriage and their family. They claim that everything they do is for their kids. Their show (also "for their kids") is ruining the structure of their family. Therefore, I think they should cut this show off immediately and just work on fixing their family. They should STOP doing publicity for their show/their book/themselves, they should STOP doing speaking engagements, and they should definitely STOP filming. And they should focus on their family and repairing their marriage. Kthx.

Also, Kourtney Kardashian is an idiot for dating Scott for as long as she has. He is clearly the shadiest guy of all time (perhaps second to Spencer Pratt, but that's a minor detail). Okay. Enough tv show talk.

Anyway. I feel like I've become really emotional lately, and I've had a hard time accepting all of my friendships and everything that is going on around me. I'm unsatisfied with a lot, and it's really bothering me. Both the fact that it bothers me, and the actual state of my friendships themselves. I can't decide if it's me overreacting and overanalyzing, or if there's really something wrong. I think I just need to kind of get away for awhile. I don't know if escaping is the right answer but that's all I really know. When I have problems, I pretend they don't exist for as long as I possibly can. Like, I don't even let myself think about them. I just completely push them out of my mind. But it gets to the point where it is now, which is where I can't ignore them any longer and I just get super emo and sad. I hate it. Mostly I just hate the fact that I have issues. I like to pretend that my life is perfect. Haaaaaaa. False.

Anyway, so I think I would like to get away for awhile but um, a few problems with that. 1) Where would I go by myself? Weird. 2) That would probably require a somewhat significant amount of money. The amount of money I have spent on clothes in the last two days is pretty much disgusting, so I'm attempting to not spend as much money right now. and 3) Pretty much #1 again. Haha. Seriously, where does one go to like, just get away? By themselves? The spa? Okay, that's like, half a day. I'm talking like... 2 days. So... a hotel? Boring? Any ideas?

In other news, it was really wonderful to hang out with some Westerville friends this weekend. I just haven't seen some of them in so long, and it was great to reconnect. We can always get together and act like we just saw each other yesterday, even though it's been months. That's one of the many reasons I love us. They're so dependable, in the sense that they are just so welcoming and consistent. And I can expect that every time. I love it :)

I also loved reconnecting with Shelley. Again, she's one of those friends that I can just not see for literally MONTHS, and then we can hang out and immediately talk for hours like no time has passed at all. We've definitely had our ups and downs... but like... there's something about her that I have never found in another friend. I can't exactly put my finger on it, but I know that I won't find it again. We are so incredibly different, but there's something about us that just... clicks. I don't know. It's kind of great. Anyway, I'm so glad that I am going to be going to school with her again (for the first time in 4 years!). I can't wait to meet her new friends and have her meet/hang out with Erin and Alyssa and all my new MAcc friends. AH yay just the thought of it puts a smile on my face :)

Basically, what this long post comes down to is the fact that 1) reality shows have consumed my life, 2) I have psychological issues, 3) I am looking for a way to get away, and 4) I love reconnecting with friends. The end.

2009-05-24T01:09:00.000-07:00

What. Is. My. Problemmmmm.

I am NEVER satisfied.

This weekend

2009-05-17T16:23:00.000-07:00

This weekend was so great! On Thursday I drove from Columbus to Athens to visit Donny at OU! We went out Thursday night, and it was a lot of fun! ... Minus getting verbally-sexually assaulted by a girl haha. Turns out I have a nice ass.

I went out to lunch with Katie on Friday while Donny was at a meeting. We got Chipotle... mmmmm. And she stood up for me when I got like, zero steak in my burrito bol. What a good friend :)

Donny and I were going to go hiking on Friday, but it ended up being a little too hot outside. Gross. It was too bad, because I finally got excited to do something outdoorsy haha. So we just ended up hanging out around campus and walking around. I feel like I don't really say a lot about my relationship with Donny, but I'll just say this: I really, really love him a lot. He makes me incredibly happy, and I can't believe that I was lucky enough to find him so early in my life. Just walking around with him, something that's so incredibly simple, was just so wonderful. :)

Anyway, so Saturday we got up and I took him and Tyler to 6 Fest on my way to Miami. Zach's graduation party was Saturday night at a bar in Covington, so I stopped by my apartment, got ready, and then we all went to the bar. It was actually really, really fun! The bar was so chill and his family was there, and I mean, we drank for free, so that was also great. We watched a bartender do tricks with fire, which was fun. And then we got back to our apartment and just hung out! It was so, so nice to see everyone again, just a week after graduating.

But I think I also have a problem. I just feel the need to move on too quickly. I know that I am supposed to be sad and like, in mourning of my time being over at Miami. And I am sad. I'm going to miss Miami more than I know right now. But I don't like dragging it on. I think I need a nice balance between being incredibly sad and being ambivalent about it all. I need to work on that.

This summer is shaping up to be incredibly fun!
May 21-23 Joining the fellow recent Miami alums at James' cabin in Pennsylvania
May 27 BBQ for soon-to-be MAcc students!
May 29-30 Going to OU (possibly) for some sort of dance event?
June 13 Donny's graduation
June 15-19 CRUISE IN THE BAHAMAS!!!!!!
June 21 Laura's cookout
June 28 Fireworks at Kiley's!
July 29 KELLY CLARKSON CONCERRTTTTT

And much more, I'm sure!

Yay :) Off to watch The Women (or is it underlined... I don't even know)!

Post-Graduation

2009-05-12T21:17:00.000-07:00

Graduation weekend was so hectic! Plus I was borderline sick due to my allergies, so that didn't really help things. Overall, though, I am so happy that my family was all able to come to watch me graduate. I kind of felt bad that I wasn't able to spend more time with them, but let's be honest, it was more important to me to see my friends that I am going to miss soon. I think (slash hope) they understood! I was also SO happy to have Donny there. He definitely, definitely kept me sane throughout the whole thing. I can't wait to be there when he graduates in a month! Plus I bought a new dress to wear, so that's exciting.

So now I'm back at home, slowly but surely unpacking, while enjoying my new TV :) It is my graduation present from my parents and I am SO happy with it! It's actually funny how it happened... I was just randomly talking to my parents, and I let them know that I wanted to buy a new TV with the graduation money I got. My dad sort of disappeared for a few minutes and when he came back, he had a TV with him! They were going to give it to me the next day, but figured it was too perfect of an opportunity to pass up! And it's nice, because it's bigger than the one I would have bought for myself, so yay! Now I get to keep that money to spend on something else, too!!

"The Real Housewives of New Jersey"... let's just say that I just watched my first episode and I am completely, completely addicted already. I love Bravo beyond belief. They just need a "Real Housewives" for every city in America... "The Real Housewives of Des Moines"... it might work, yeah?

In other news, Laura is saving my life by GIVING ME (FOR FREE) a great black leather couch, a super kitchen table and chairs, a mattress, a desk, end tables, a few appliances, and maybe a couple lamps for my new apartment. Aka... she is saving me at least $600. I LOVE HER. We're going to have to figure out what to do though... I really don't think we have room for all of that furniture in my basement, especially since my dad is trying to finish it. I don't even know if we can get the couch downstairs. Meh. I'm not about to turn down this furniture. If you're not planning on going to her garage sale, you definitely should, because she's going to have so much great stuff!!

Plans for the rest of the week:

finish unpacking
finish Zach's t-shirt blanket
maybe stop by the call center and verify that they really will take me back for the summer. Honestly, if not, I have NO idea what I'm going to do. I REALLY need a job.
schedule a lunch with my grandparents and cousin
go to OU!! then drive to kentucky for zach's graduation party!

I'm really looking forward to this 4.5 month summer :)

2009-05-03T18:34:00.000-07:00

Four years ago, I stepped onto this campus with low expectations. I wasn't one of the many current Miami students who can say they knew they belonged here the second they stepped on campus. I thought it was pretty, sure. It's undeniable how beautiful this campus is. But I didn't have an overwhelming feeling that this is where I belonged. I wanted it to be that place, but I wasn't sure it was.

Four years later, I've come to realize that maybe I still don't belong here. But you know what? I can't imagine myself anywhere else. I've come to love the place I was unsure about at the beginning. I've made friends that are just... so phenomenal. I'm sitting in a room with almost all of my best friends right now and I'm just... so happy. There are other not-so-good things going on in my life right now, but in this moment, I know that I am perfectly happy. These people ARE Miami to me. I was so nervous about leaving my group of friends from high school. I know that hardly anyone had what I had in high school... a huge group of friends who all truly loved each other. I knew that I couldn't duplicate that. I was scared I'd never find anything close. But I have. I've found a group of people who have supported me for the last four years. They have been here when my high school friends couldn't be (or weren't). They have been here when I've struggled with my long distance relationship. They've been here to cheer me up when I've been in the worst of moods. I've felt alone many times, sure, but I know that at the end of the day, I will always have them. Always.

Beyond that, I've received an incredible education, received a full-time job offer, and have been accepted into grad school. I've learned from absolute geniuses, and I've found fields other than accounting that have captivated me and have made me expand my interests and my views on the world (particularly women's history). I've met classmates who I am positive will have a huge impact on the world. I am so excited to see where they all end up, because I know they will go far.

All in all, it's been an incredible four years. I've run out of good adjectives to use to describe them, so I guess I'll just stick with incredible. I know that the rest of my life holds so much more, and I'm excited to continue with new experiences. But I will always, ALWAYS look back on my time at Miami with fondness.

Four years have come and gone and I have a lot to show for it. The best thing I got out of this time is my wonderful group of friends :)